Piper and I were camped out in a building, breathing quietly as a gang of Super Mutants moved past. "…This is really important?" She asked.

She didn't seem convinced.

I nodded. "…Yeah. This is the only lead I have on someone I may know from before." I told her. "I might know the ghoul."

She tilted her head. "You aren't going to know every pre-war ghoul…you know? Aren't you from the Hoosier Wasteland?"

I nodded. "Someone I knew from my town…she went to college here in Boston. She was into Psychology too. I just need to know, you know? If it's not her…I can at least say that I tried." I shrugged.

Piper nodded. "That's why you ditched MacCready, right?"

I nodded. "He wasn't going to let me go. Now I know it's because she is right next to the Common. I don't know what lives there that everyone is so afraid of, but I know now to avoid it if necessary. This though, this is necessary."

Piper chewed on her bottom lip for a while, peeking out the window. "Okay, kid. Coast is clear."

I got up and lead the way as Piper watched from behind. I took a deep breath, anticipation and worry eating away in my gut. If this wasn't Jazz…I didn't want to get my hopes up for nothing.

Getting to the Common was easy. Getting around the Common without 'waking the beast' was what took thirty minutes. Piper would have us walk twenty paces and then stop and hide in an alley. There was a faint rumbling, but nothing that was too close to not continue to move.

I couldn't help but feel annoyed. This beast was apparently huge….so why wouldn't I be able to see it? Passing an old metro station, we finally made it to the bar. A red painted sign read 'Keep Out Raiders.' I took a deep breath.

"…Do you want me to go in with you?" Piper asked. I hummed. "No. I think this I need to do alone." I told her. She didn't seem convinced.

I placed my hands on her shoulders. "Look. I know I look all soft and "Pre-War" but I'm fine. I can handle this, Piper."

She sighed and nodded. "Okay, but I'll be right outside." She told me. I smiled and pushed open the door.

I walked in, wishing that the boots I was in were more silent against the aged wood. The bar seemed untouched, like no one was around.

I took another step forward, holstering my gun for the time being. I couldn't sense anything in the immediately area, so I dropped from my crouched position and walked calmly to the other side of the room.

I didn't make it too steps before cool metal was placed at the back of my neck. "Hands up." A raspy voice muttered. I immediately placed my hands next to my head. The cool metal backed up an inch, but I could feel it tickling the hairs at the back of my neck.

"Why did you come." The voice whispered. The voice was layered with years of use and radiation damage, but I could recognize that voice.

"To find you." I told her. She scoffed. "You don't need my medical expertise. It'd be better if you left. I don't help people who look like you. You bring back too many memories, smooth-skin." She rasped. I took a step to turn towards her and she fired a warning shot at the ground by my foot.

"I know how to handle a weapon. I'm 219 years old, pal. You best show some respect." She rasped.

"You have to listen to me." I told her. "No. Not many people know where I'm stationed…. If I let you talk, if I let you walk, you'll tell everyone. I'll have everyone from Diamond City to Goodneighbor on my trail. Thinking I'm some sort of monster."

"…." I didn't know what to say to her. "I think I need to kill you to stay safe. I promised someone I would always stay safe in the big city." She rasped. My eyes widened as the familiar whirr of an ecto-weapon was in my ear and I dove behind the bar.

"HEY." Piper's voice yelled as she burst into the bar. "Quiet it down, ghoul. You'll wake the swan." Piper snapped. "Did you kill him? I swear to god."

The raspy voice scoffed. "No. He dove before I had the pleasure."

I peered over the bar, familiar long red hair tied above her head, her skin mutilated by radiation and years of being alone. "Listen, Ghoul. He came a long way to find you. I don't know why, but he did."

"What interest would he have with a Pre-War ghoul with an unfinished undergrad in Psychology?" Jazz said, crossing her arms, her ecto-rifle holstered behind her back.

"Because I'm a Pre-War too." I spoke standing up. She turned quickly, her eyes widening. "Because I made you promise to be safe in the big city when you went to college and left Amity Park."

Jazz's hands started to shake, and her no-nosed face scrunched up in sadness and pain.

"Because I owe you an apology for not giving you a home to come back to." I finished.

Jazz unhooked the rifle from her back, allowing it fall to the ground in a heap, Piper jumping back in surprise. Jazz walked forward, shaking hands grasping my face and black eyes looking deeply into my own.

"Danny?" She whispered.

"Hey Jazz. It's been awhile." I sniffed.

Tears rolled down Jazz's face as she pulled me over the bar and into her arms, sobbing over my head. "I thought I lost you. I heard the town was frozen over and no one got out….and I turned into this monster…Danny, oh my god." She sobbed. I hugged her back with as much force as she did, her body small and lithe from years of running.

She pulled away and looked to Piper. "Thank you for bringing him back to me." She whispered.

"I really don't know what's going on." Piper said, smiling at me. Jazz wiped her eye. "Piper, this is my big sister. Jazz Fenton." I introduced.

Piper's hands flew to her mouth. "No shit?! No wonder you wanted to find her so bad."

"Is this where you live?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Yeah, Diamond City threw me out after I lived there for 30 odd years. McDonough—"

"Is an asshole." Me and Jazz said together, laughing at the end. "Come to Goodneighbor." I told her. "I live there in the State House, under Hancock's protection. We can be a family again."

Jazz rubbed the hair at the top of my head and nodded. "I'm never leaving you again." She told me. I grinned.

Piper smiled. "I'm going to head back to Publick Occurrences. This is a story that I need to tell. Good luck with MacCready." She saluted and left the bar.

"Come on. Goodneighbor isn't far." I told her. She placed her hand in mine and together we walked through downtown Boston as the only people around who really knew how much it had changed.

I took her in the back way to avoid the Super Mutants, and MacCready was standing there, arms crossed talked to an irate Hancock.

"I told you to fucking look out for the kid, not lose him." Hancock snapped. MacCready winced.

"We were on our way back to Goodneighbor when he disappear-Daniel!" MacCready snapped when he saw me. Hancock pivoted on his heel, his glare now on me. "I know you have freaky ass powers but that doesn't mean you can ditch your bodyguard." Hancock snapped.

I flinched. "I'm sorry-"

"Hey, Jasmine." Hancock waved at her. She smiled. "John." She smiled. I narrowed my eyes. "John?"

He shrugged. "She knew me when I was a smooth skin. Back when I was John. Anyways, thanks for bringing the kid back to us." He thanked her.

I smirked.

Jazz waved him off. "Honestly, I didn't. If anyone knew how much trouble he got into back in Amity, you'd be surprised he didn't ditch the first day he was here." She smiled.

MacCready blinked. "You knew him?" He asked.

She smirked. "Yeah, he's my little brother." She said in her raspy voice, ruffling the hair on top of my head. Hancock looked like he was about to faint while MacCready threw his hands up in the air. "I'm tired of his games." He mumbled, walking back to the Third Rail.

Hancock sighed and ran a hand down his irradiated face. "Okay. Fine. Relatives, I'll let your runaway escapade go unpunished. This time." He pointed at me.

"I got one of the Warehouses all cleaned up. You and Jazz can call that your home now, okay?" He said. I nodded with a smile. Jazz tipped her head at him in gratitude. "It'll be nice to live in a town with walls." She said, handing the ecto-rifle to me. I took it with a smile as we walked to the Warehouse, bantering as if nothing had changed.

…

Meanwhile in Amity Park

Hoosier Wasteland

"Dr. Brenner. More alive." Someone shouted at the Doctor who froze. "Another?" He asked.

The intern nodded. "Yes. About thirty feet back from where we found the boy, reaching out to him. We can perform a safe evac for the two of them, but that would be about it." She explained.

Dr. Brenner nodded. "Do it. If you think they'll survive, I'll send them out to Goodneighbor as well." He told her.

She nodded, grabbing a hazmat suit and yelling orders on the way out.

The evac was routine, and only one scientist got radiation poisoning from the Rads. Two lives were saved from the ice and it was only a matter of time until the two teenagers were successfully thawed.

He was pleasantly surprised when he walked into his office around six hours after evac, to see purple and teal eyes blinked at him, one clutching a necklace around her neck and the other a piece of technology from before the war.

"Welcome to the Wasteland."

…

That's probably all I'll save from Amity Park. Tucker and Sam both were "irradiated" with ghost radiation when they were under the control of ghosts, so it would make sense they wouldn't die from the ice.

Anyways, see you soon.