Note: Calling it here. I think this makes an adequate end for a project that went about 80,000 words over my expectations. Thanks for reading! :) (minor notation editing, a misplaced italic. Sorry)

It was easier to push the button than she'd expected.

Maybe that was just her anger, finally able to have an outlet. Maybe it was because she'd expected it to be so much more difficult, because she'd put expectations on herself. Maybe it was even a little disappointing how easy it had been, but...

Ruby sat on the edge of the Mass Fusion building, staring out into the Commonwealth. Clouds of dust had rolled out through the city, pushing debris everywhere, after the massive explosion that destroyed the Institute. She could see the gaping hole in the ground, see the haze that hung over it. Everything down there would be massively irradiated now.

It was finally over. All that they'd been a part of, all the people who had been taken, the pain that the world had gone through by having the Institute around...

She could barely feel the pain of Shaun, anymore. She couldn't feel the terrible torture of falling in love with MacCready, or the crippling ache that had happened when she'd found out Danse's origins. In the months that she'd been a part of this new world, she'd changed herself and others and made the Commonwealth safer.

It would stop, here. The Institute was gone.

Ruby stared at the hole in the ground and felt herself sinking. The ground loomed below her, so many stories down from the top of the building. She'd never been afraid of heights, but the pressure that had been lifted... she should feel elated, excited to continue her life. She felt... relieved, instead.

It seemed appropriate. Her hands gripped the ledge as she balanced on the edge of the world. Appropriate that she was now left hanging without a clear idea of what would happen next, but that feeling put her mind at ease. She snorted, and closed her eyes.

It felt like when Shaun was just born and she had no clue what the hell to do with a baby, and it felt all those nights spent rocking him and falling asleep passed out in the rocking chair from exhaustion when he finally slept.

She'd had no clue what would happen after he was born. Having Shaun... having him and finally realizing that she'd made a person. A person who would grow up and it was her job to make sure he grew up well. The unbridled hope she'd felt then, it was astounding.

She wouldn't let what had happened taint her feelings, anymore. The past was to be remembered, learned from, and kept as memory.

Ruby tilted her head down, stifling a yawn. She was tired. Banged up from fighting so many synths. Her knee was still aching from the break, she needed a doctor to look at that. Worn out. Felt older than she had before, like the whole experience added more than the two hundred thirty six years she'd―technically―been alive.

Down in Goodneighbor, she'd run into the Vault-Tec rep who placed them in the Vault. Her heart ached for the man. Ghoulified and left wanting, all because of the sick experiments of―either the Vault-Tec people, or the Institute, she wasn't sure. She hadn't known it would end up like it had. She wished it hadn't, at the time. Now, after everything...

"Ruby," Danse said, coming up behind her and placing a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Are you... alright?"

"Just thinking," she said, opening her eyes and staring out over the Commonwealth again. She couldn't see the clouds anymore. The only proof of the CIT ruins would be the leftovers of the nuclear explosion.

"There's time, now," he said, somewhat cryptically. Ruby blinked, turning her head back to him. There had been time before, time enough for her to agonize over the decisions she'd made and time enough for her to find and fall in love with MacCready, time enough to...

To destroy Danse's life, unintentionally, and then to repair what she could. Ruby sighed. "There's always been time," she muttered, darkly. "Now there's too much. I don't know where to start. Even... even thinking about where to start is confusing."

Danse nodded, looking away and into the distance. "I would start with MacCready," he said, in a quiet voice.

"What about him?" Ruby asked, curiously.

"MacCready is in a different position, now. He will undoubtedly bring his son back to the Hills, and, well..." Danse looked uncomfortable. "I will remove myself. It would be better for you both to have that time to adjust. Give him time to come to terms with his new family, so to speak."

For a moment she was confused, and it must have shown on her face, because Danse continued, "My presence might make things worse, especially with the boy synth there. ...And I think it might be a good idea to reflect on my own situation, while alone."

Ruby closed her eyes again, feeling the wind brushing against her face as it swept through the area. "If you think that would be best," she said, "then it probably is."

Danse glanced at her, sharply. "I had expected you to put up more of a fight. I'm leaving, Ruby. You do understand?"

She met his gaze with an equally sharp one, but a smile rested on her face. "I know where you'll go," she answered. "You aren't hard to figure out, Danse."

"I hadn't considered myself all that simple," he replied, sounding a bit wounded.

"It's comforting," Ruby said. She looked at her hands, making a face at the mess of blood and debris that coated them. "Knowing you, knowing how dependable you are. You've not been a pain in my ass, like everyone else. And I appreciate that," she scolded him, "because you're one less trouble for me to worry about. It's been a constant I look forward to enjoying in the future."

"That's why you consider me a brother? Because I am predictable?"

She pursed her mouth and fixed her eyes on him, thinking about what MacCready had told her, prior to the assault on the Institute. "Is there a reason I shouldn't think of you as a brother?"

Danse hesitated. The short pause was enough to answer all her questions, including the ones wondering why he and MacCready had been at each other's throats for so long. She found it unsurprising, actually. What she'd told the ex-Gunner had been the truth―Danse would keep her alive, and not because of what she'd done to save his life. He didn't need to pay her back for that and he knew it. Instead, he'd...

He'd stuck around because he loved her. And if that was the reason he couldn't be around in the future, she had no control over it. Her heart wasn't hers to give, now.

Made your grave, she told herself.

"No," Danse said, firmly. "It is not in either of our best interests for me to cause you doubt in that matter. I'm sorry, Ruiz."

"Why did you start calling me Ruby if you're not going to keep it up?" she wondered aloud, watching him.

Danse flushed slightly, which was―something she'd been familiar with over the past few months, and had a side-effect of making him seem much younger than his synth body probably was. She wondered just how human a synth really was...

Another hole in the ground, there, Ruby thought, cringing inside.

"I felt it was... appropriate, in the heat of the moment," Danse said, slowly. "I apologize if I've confused you even more. Being familiar with my subordinates isn't a decision I make lightly."

"My name is Ruby, Danse. You can call me Ruby. It won't make any difference." She threw her legs over the ledge and back onto solid ground, pushing herself up from the ledge. "I'm not your Initiate anymore and I'm certainly not your superior, either. We're friends. Please call me Ruby."

"As you wish, Ruby," Danse said, looking embarrassed again.

"Wipe that awful look off your face and let's get going," she added, feeling drawn out like a string about to snap. There was so much to do, now that the Institute was taken care of, she wasn't in the mood to handle interpersonal affairs with her normal aplomb.

"All of the people who would have been living in the Institute were evacuated," she went on. "We'll have to figure out how many want to stick around, and how many are going to leave, and if you're not going to be around, I'll be stuck with Preston, rounding them up."

"You'll manage, Rui―Ruby." Danse's mouth curled in a proud smile. "You always do."

"First, though, I'm going to go sleep for about three days straight," she groaned, rubbing her neck. "I feel like someone put me inside of a rock tumbler."

"Sleep is a cure for many ills," Danse said, his smile widening slightly. "But I expect you won't do much of it, in the future."

"I never do," Ruby laughed, turning back toward the building. "I never do."

"Godspeed, soldier," Danse called out, nodding at her. "You know where I'll be."

"Be safe, Danse."

"Ruby!" MacCready called, when she had finally made it home. Ruby walked right past him, noticing the synth boy wandering through around the old house. She didn't mean to ignore MacCready, but she was sore and exhausted and she couldn't string two thoughts together. All she wanted to do was lie down, get some sleep, and sort it out later.

She moved into the house by the workshop. Made her way back to the back end of the place, stripping off her leather armor and shaking out her hair. Her knee groaned in pain as she pulled everything but her underwear off and plunked herself onto the bed.

She flopped backward with her arms out, staring at the ceiling for a quiet moment. The everyday sounds of the settlement were muffled. She wondered if her hearing had finally gone, from all the gunshots and explosions and laser burns she'd take to the face. That would be just her luck.

MacCready followed her into the room, leaning on the door frame just in the edge of her vision, staring at her with that little boy pout on his face and his arms across his chest. Probably mad she hadn't tackled him the minute she saw him... Ruby closed her eyes, turned toward the wall, and sighed.

She must have slept. She didn't remember it being dark out when she got back to the Hills, but she woke up with the light of a waning moon streaming through the holes in the wall and MacCready at her back.

His hand was laced through her arm, holding her around her waist so tightly she couldn't breathe very well. She worked her fingers through his, feeling the roughness of his knuckles. He was breathing on her hair, his other hand wound through it and his face nearly flush against her scalp. She didn't want to move. This was perfect.

Well, except that her bladder started protesting its case. If she was to judge it accurately, they would both end up unpleasantly wet. "R.J.," she whispered, urgently. "I need to get up. It's an emergency."

A long few seconds later, his hand untangled itself from her hair and the pressure on her stomach lessened. Ruby breathed out in relief, excusing herself quickly.

She found herself standing on the porch of the house, later, staring up at the stars and shivering in the cold. She felt... neutral. It was a strange feeling. Not sad. Not happy. Just... there. Wasn't sure how to handle it, yet.

And MacCready was at her back again, his arms around her shoulders and covering her. "You came outside half naked," he said, talking into her ear. "You'll catch your death."

Ruby flushed all the way to her toes. She did, oh God. She'd come outside in her underwear without even thinking. Wasn't thinking, just had to pee and―Ruby turned, moving back to the house. "Long day," she muttered.

"The longest," he agreed, his voice serious.

"I'm sorry," she said, curling back up on the bed beside him.

"What for?" MacCready's eyes bored through hers even in the scant light.

She wound her fingers through his coat, her forehead resting against his chest. "Everything. And I know. It's just..."

"You got your ass handed to you out there," he muttered, one hand around her shoulders and the other pushing her hair behind her ear. "You walked home on a busted knee?"

"It doesn't hurt," she answered. It didn't, anymore. Sleeping must have done her some good. Danse was right, yet again.

"How'd the mission go?"

For a moment, she entertained the thought of forgetting it had happened. How nice it would be to forget everything that she'd seen inside the Institute, to loose everything from her thoughts into a void and seal it up. But she knew better.

" 'Father' was dying," she said, quietly. "He was ill even when I saw him, before. He wanted me to... fill his shoes. To take over the Institute. When I left him behind, I couldn't even bear to be in the same room as him."

MacCready sighed, wrapping both arms around her and squeezing her to his chest. She couldn't cry. Not anymore. All the feeling she thought she might have to feel... she was removed from it, now.

"But," she said, her voice steadier than she felt, "I said my goodbyes, anyway. I couldn't have done what he wanted. And... he wasn't mine, anymore. The only thing I have left is... well... Shaun."

"That synth boy?" MacCready breathed out, noisily. "Are you sure, I mean―"

"It's a memory that I wasn't able to have," Ruby said. "Something I wanted, before." Her body started to shake―it was as cold tonight as the Vault, but she didn't have the energy to get dressed. "I couldn't leave him to die in there."

"This'll just make you feel worse," MacCready said, his arms loosening around her and fingers moving to rub her. "Last time..."

"I won't go running off to the Vault again," she promised. "Some battles are better fought head on."

"Yeah," he agreed, sighing. "Yeah, I know. But―"

"Running away won't fix it." She stared at him. He gave her a miserable look. She didn't know where she would be without him. Without everything that he was, combined with everything she was... "I love you," she whispered.

"Ruby―"

"And I'll never let go, you know that. I need you to be there for me more than ever, now―"

"Oh, shut up," MacCready grumbled. "Just... just cry already. Ruby. You deserve the chance."

She shook her head, rubbing her face into his coat. "I can't. That's it. I just can't. This is what Nate would do. Bring him home, start over. Make things feel like home again." She sighed. "I can't cry, because it's... it's a happy ending."

MacCready's hands moved up, pulling her back a little and looking down at her from the awkward position. "Happy things can make you cry, too," he said, softly.

Ruby couldn't look away. "I refuse to cry," she said, a tinge of stubbornness in her voice. "There's nothing that's sad about this. The Institute is gone. I got Shaun back―and―and I've got you, and Duncan, too, I hope. I couldn't ask for a better ending to a story."

Her eyes stayed on his. MacCready looked like he wanted to cry, for a moment. His arms crushed her to his chest, sputtering out an exasperated laugh. "Dammit, Ruby," he muttered, into her hair. "You're such a snot."

"If I'm a snot, you're a butthead," she threw back. He really hasn't grown up... she fought the urge to laugh.

"You should've seen me in my heyday," MacCready laughed, pulling her back to him and rubbing her skin in a rough circle. "I was the most annoying little butthead you ever saw."

"Yesterday was your heyday?" she teased, gently.

"Smartass snot," MacCready amended his jab. "...But, listen. You know you can... if you need it. Talk to me."

"I know," she answered, sighing contentedly. "I just need time to figure myself out, again."

"Plenty now, huh?" MacCready asked, his hand moving up and down her shoulder.

"Have to figure out what we're going to do next," Ruby murmured, feeling sleepy and warm as she snuggled up next to him.

"Got the whole of our lives ahead of us, now."

"Yeah," she answered. "Our whole lives."