(Please please please, see my notes at the end of the chapter before you go!)

"Personal log. July 13, 2258. I just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Beautiful and healthy with big green eyes already, just like her father. Her name is Amelie. I am so sad I will never get to know her. I have to leave the Capital Wasteland, immediately, because my presence here puts everyone in danger. S has already set up a new life for me... I can't say where. I can say... North. The brightest minds once belonged there. Maybe they're still there, developing new technology. Creating something new that could change the face of science."

Amelie spouts, "Oh my god." She stands up suddenly and with purpose. "It's been 20 years. Is there even a chance she's still there? Still alive?"

"There is always a chance. Maybe your mother is unkillable, like you," I say through a smile that she returns.

"So, North..."

"The Institute."

"The Commonwealth?"

"It's a start."

She paces around the room, a plan brewing in her head already. "I can only hope. What do we do? How do we get there? Is it far?"

"Whoa, whoa whoa. Amelie." I cross the room to her and pull her to my chest. "Do you remember how long it took you to get to the Pitt?"

"Yeah. Took like, a whole day to get there on the lever train thing."

"The Commonwealth is further. By train, it would probably be two or three. It's called a handcar, by the way. And I don't know that they ever established a rail system going that far North before everyone in 2077 started launching bombs at each other. If we decide to travel to the Commonwealth, you have to know it may take us a few weeks." She sighs, resigned. "I am not saying it's impossible. I am saying we need to be prepared. I have not traveled that route in 50 years. I don't know what it holds anymore."

Crazy Wolfgang, after helping transport Butch from Rivet City to Megaton, provides us with a rudimentary map of what used to be some parts of Maryland, the area just north of us now. He also gives us the name of a caravan trader friend of his who we may run into on our way, someone who might be able to help. This is all we have - this, and the packs on our backs.

And the dog. Can't forget about him.

"Now, Butch, Wadsworth is now under your control and you are now his owner, but that doesn't mean you get to hurt him or dismantle him in any way."

"I hadn't planned on it, Ame. You're bein' nice enough to let me live in your house for free, I wouldn't do that to you. Or the robot."

"I appreciate that. But I couldn't charge you anything to live here anyway. I don't know if we'll ever come back," Amelie says as she folds clothing to shove in our packs.

"What, so now I probably won't ever see you again? Listen, Ame, that doesn't fly with me. What if you die out there?"

"It is what it is, Butch. Look..." she drops a stack of shirts she had been holding, and sighs heavily. She turns to Butch, putting her palms on either side of his face. "I will send you a note every month telling you I am okay. I can't tell you where we're going, what we're doing... but I can tell you that I'm okay. Does that work for you? Because it's the best I can do."

He stares into her eyes, frightened by her closeness, her wild eyes. He nods once, quick. "A-and you aren't leavin' me with the dog?"

Amelie lets go of his face and smirks, turning back to the shirts she dropped. "I really don't like the idea of putting him in danger like this, but I can't bear the thought of being without him. Sorry. If you want to get a new dog, you're more than welcome to. This is your place now."

Butch nods again. "What's there to do for jobs around here? The housin' may be free, but food and drink and girls ain't."

"Actually, since the only other decent barber in town is Wadsworth, I think you've got a pretty good chance of starting your own business here. Enough to survive, y'know?" He considers it for a moment, then nods. I remember, months ago, he said he wanted to do more with his life than be the Vault barber. Poor kid. "Oh, shit!" Amelie drops the shirts again.

"What? What's wrong?" My heart races.

"Gob. And Nova. We're going to just leave them, let them be stuck with Moriarty for the rest of their lives..."

I cross the room and pull her close to me. "I'll poison him in his sleep before we go. Does that sound alright?"

She chuckles. "That would be ideal, if we could just get that done before we go. Then Gob and Nova can take over the bar and finally be free... hey, Butch, maybe they'd let you open up shop down there! Nova would be giddy to get her hands on you." Butch, eyes wide, looks slightly terrified.

"This Nova… she hot?"

"The hottest." He looks to me for confirmation, as if Amelie's opinion on how beautiful a girl is is not convincing enough. I shrug; Nova is visually pleasing to look at, but I would not say she is the "hottest". That title is reserved for my own partner.

Butch smirks, clasping his hands together in front of him. "Well, alright then! Let's let you kids get a move on, go poison a guy because I guess that's perfectly fine, normal human behavior now, and get this show on the road! You've got a … whatever you're doing, to do! I've got girls to meet and a life to start!"

Moriarty was dead before he knew it, shot with enough Med-X to knock out a brahmin, while he slept. It'll look like a heart attack or an aneurysm, something that could happen to anyone. And even if the Sheriff is suspicious, Amelie and I are leaving town and taking that heat with us… probably forever.

With Colin dead upstairs, his bedroom door still locked from the inside, the five of us have something that resembles a celebration - Gob and Nova still feeling out their freedom, swing dancing together to some old song on the radio, Amelie and Butch joining them with a very sterilized version of the same. I sip my drink, wanting nothing more than to enjoy the show.

(AN: This story is now officially completed. But it's only because I accidentally ended up writing a bunch of stuff for a future arc, and I really felt like it needed to be its own thing. That's coming soon, at least the first few chapters once I get them edited and typed and such. I've had them written for months, I just needed to figure out how to put this one to bed first. I'm so excited to share this with you all.

Also? I know this is like, maybe one of the cheesiest endings to a story ever, but since it's not The End and you can get part 2 very soon, I'm hoping you'll forgive me. I wanted this to wrap up on a good note. I'll probably end up rewriting it in a couple months because I'll look back and have a lot of regrets.)