Over a year ago, Nate rose out of Vault 111 and almost immediately changed the Commonwealth. He may have been looking for his son, but he was never afraid to rescue someone, or defend a settlement. That was what attracted Hancock to him, the idea of being able to follow his favorite philosophy. “If someone needs helping, we help them. If someone needs hurting, we hurt them.” Hancock was happy to relive that thrill as he helped clear out the HalluciGen building, but the problem was that he was not a vault dweller. Unlike Nate, Hancock couldn’t simply release the prisoners and be called a hero.

As mayor, Hancock had responsibilities that went beyond cleaning out a building. MacCready and Cait unlocked all of the trunks and chests that held hostages in them, and collectively they rescued seven people, including Marian. Two more people were beyond saving.

He had to speak with each hostage in his office. He had to find out which caravans they belonged to so he could reach out to their employers. Hancock had to find out who could go back to working on the caravans, and who was too broken to leave Goodneighbor. He will need to find jobs for the ones who are too afraid to work caravans, and he had to find out what they wanted to do in Goodneighbor.

All the hostages needed to have their basic needs met. Food and water provided in amounts that would keep them from hurting themselves trying to overeat or overdrink. New clothes provided and resources so they could all finally be clean again. The humans could feel like humans again, and the ghouls could feel like ghouls. If there were any synths in the mix, no one spoke up. He had to make sure they were all treated for their physical wounds, and that Dr. Amari would be able to help them with their mental injuries in the Memory Den. He had to make sure there was enough space for everyone to have a place to sleep that night, and they would be given food for the next few days as well.

It was hours before Hancock was finished taking care of everything and everyone. He made sure to take care of MacCready’s friends first, so the three of them could catch up with each other. He paid for them to have a room at the Hotel Rexford, and they were probably all asleep by now. Hancock should be asleep, but he felt he had one more responsibility to take care of.

“Boss,” the guard greeted as Hancock passed the night shift Watch at the base of the stairs before leaving the building.

The night chill hit the ghoul, making him glad for the relatively heavy coat and tri-cornered hat he was wearing. The weight of that hat felt almost oppressive the whole afternoon and evening as he wanted to check on the one person he just now could allow himself to. The streets were mostly quiet with the shops closed and almost everyone in bed. Hancock wasn’t fooled, he knew that was when his city was the most dangerous.

He made his way to the house that once sheltered Bobbie-No-Nose and let himself inside. He quietly made his way into the basement, ready to let himself back out quietly if he needed to. He saw Nick sitting in the one armchair in the room, writing notes into his file. The synth looked up and the ghoul silently waved at him before looking over at the mattress on the floor.

Hancock was happy to see Marian was sleeping tightly. She had cleaned up and was back in her normal outfit. Her bruises and swelling were faded to almost a non-existence, showing that she had used at least one stimpak to help her heal. Hancock was surprised to see that instead of her cuddling up to Faenus, or even Cait, she was cuddling up to a teddy bear.

He turned his attention back to Nick. “I didn’t expect to find you here still,” he said quietly. “I thought you would have made your way back to Diamond City by now.”

“I just wanted to make sure she was alright,” Nick explained. “She wasn’t in the mood to do much with Cait, and Cait isn’t much into babysitting.”

“So, she went back to the Combat Zone?”

“She left pretty quickly. They shared a promise and then Cait left and Marian passed out.”

Marian started moving at that moment, giving Hancock some guilt. This may be the best sleep she’s had in years, and she may never be this safe again. He didn’t want to disturb that.

“Step outside with me for a smoke?” Hancock suggested.

Nick closed his file and put it away as he stood up. The two friends walked outside and stood in the alley that lead to the front door. Hancock pulled out a cigarette and offered one to Nick. The detective waved it away.

“You’re not on the job anymore,” Hancock said around the cigarette as he put the pack back into his pocket.

“I hired her to do another job for me in the morning,” Nick told him. “I thought it would be polite not to smoke until that job was done.”

Hancock lit up his cigarette as Nick talked. It was nice to have time to enjoy a smoke after all the stress of the day. He took a moment to feel the adrenaline course through his veins. “Suit yourself,” Hancock finally said. “Was she cuddling up to a memento of her past?”

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“That bear? It was from me. I normally carry one in case I have a job with a kid. She was about to sleep with her gun, Faenus, I think she calls it.”

“Faenus,” Hancock confirmed. Hancock knew why she called it that, but Nick didn’t need to know that.

“I just thought, after everything, she deserves something that isn’t made out of metal and plastic,” Nick explained. Hancock could feel his own heart breaking at Nick’s comment. He knew Nick was never happy about being a synth but had always made the best of his situation. He never heard Nick act like he was anything less just because he wasn’t human.

“She deserves to be happy,” Hancock agreed. “I think the only person who thinks otherwise is her.”

“She said something earlier about being paid a lot for this case. I’ve been asking around about her, but I have never been able to pin down her going rate.”

Hancock sighed and smiled. He remembered having to listen to her try to explain to him why she would have troubles paying off her taxes in his city. He had found out from his own contacts that she was having troubles in Diamond City and Bunker Hill because of her inability to handle money. “We came to a deal that I would help her friends start a new settlement here in the Commonwealth. I thought I would put them in the Outpost Zimonja with a complete setup. Now I’m thinking they may want something with some rads. Like near the Skylines Flight. They may have to break some stuff down and build from scratch, but there’s all the rads a ghoul can ask for, and still have plenty of area for Marian to safely visit them.”

“And not much farther South than before,” Nick accused. “It’s almost like you don’t want her visiting her friends before she goes back to the Capital Wasteland.”

Hancock looked down at his half-burned cigarette. It suddenly didn’t taste as good as it did a moment before. “More like I’m afraid she will visit her friends one day and keep walking South. She’s been wanting to go back to the Capital Wasteland ever since she got here. I would happily give her this house if it meant keeping her in the Commonwealth. Not that she would ever accept it. But the spare key is hers.”

“Why not let her go?” Nick asked.

“Going back will get her killed. She wants to save lives, but MacCready insists that she won’t survive getting back there.”

“She has survived alright so far.”

“She has survived, but can you tell me she has done anything more?” Hancock pointed out. “Damnit Nick! You know as well as I do that if she was given the right connections and opportunities she can thrive. Back there, her most powerful connections want her and everyone who knows her dead. MacCready showed me some of his scars from those connections. Surviving is a miracle there. Imagine what she can do if she got away from that fear and got to truly help people.”

Nick chuckled, “She could be the next vault dweller.”

“I don’t know about that, but she could make the Commonwealth safer.”

“That leads me to another thing I’ve been wondering about her.”

Hancock raised the ridge that once had his eyebrows. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions about her.”

“Do you know anything about her parentage?”

Shit, what did he know about that? Probably just suppositions. Marian may be secretive about her past, but childhood habits still snuck out of her speech and behavior regularly enough to confirm any supposition Nick may have. Hopefully he didn’t judge her on that.

“She told me about it pretty early on,” Hancock confirmed. “What do you know about it?”

“Almost nothing, but I was thinking she seemed a lot like you were at her age. And we both know what you were like when you were a teenager.”

Hancock had to laugh out loud at that comment before he stopped himself in fear of waking the Neighborhood. “She is pretty far from that,” he confided in Nick. Hancock flicked his cigarette away. He watched it bounce off a wall and flicker out on the ground. “I would tell you not to worry about it. Don’t even try to find out where she comes from, but I know you will. Sooner or later, someone will say just the right thing for you to figure everything out. When you do figure it out, just know, she’s not her heritage. She’s better than where she came from.”

“That’s all you’re going to tell me?” Nick asked.

“That’s more than I should tell you,” Hancock confirmed. “But I don’t want you hating her again when you figure it all out. She doesn’t deserve it. You’re hate may be the last thing she deserves. I want to check on her again before I turn in for the night. She has carte blanc for this city from now on, it’s the least I can do for what she had to go through to help save us. Do me a favor, make sure she eats before you guys leave. Tell her it’s on your cap if you have to. I’ll need to fix things with her later, she’s probably still mad at me for that trick I played on her.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Nick quietly agreed.

The two men entered the house again and went back into the basement to find Marian awake. She was holding herself up with one hand, while clutching her teddy bear to her chest with the other. She was looking around her with fear and confusion on her face. She made little squeaking noises, but nothing that was loud enough to alert anything that wasn’t already paying attention to her.

Nick hurried away from Hancock and rushed to the frightened woman.

“It’s ok, Doll,” Nick cooed as he sat on the mattress next to her and gently touched her face.

Marian’s face shifted, as if she was coming out of the dream she was in and started recognizing Nick as real. She continued to clutch her bear, but she started wrapping her other arm around the synth. He didn’t push her away, but instead he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, letting her bury her face into his trench coat.

“I’m here, you’re safe,” he told her as he held her. “You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”

Hancock turned around and left the house, making sure to lock it as he left. The ghoul wished he could have said those same things to her. The problem was he liked trouble too much, he liked finding it and causing it. Marian needed someone to get her out of it and protect her from it. Hancock couldn’t do that, and MacCready admitted he was never able to do that. Maybe Nick will be able to show her how to see trouble coming and not run into it. Or at least help her out of it when she did sacrifice herself for strangers.

Maybe Nick will be more for her than ever was for Hancock. Maybe he could be everything for Marian that Hancock wished he could be for himself.