Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cold. Damp, cold, and tired, despite your frozen nap. You still couldn't believe what you’ve seen, and you just lived through it. Everyone, everything, gone in an instant, being rushed to the vault, being tricked by Vault-Tec… It was all too much. But then you got an extra helping of too much to deal with in the form of a mysterious bald man stealing your baby and killing your husband. Murdering him right in front of your eyes. That image forever searing itself into your memory, every blink, every moment you weren’t fighting for your life against these massive cockroaches shows that scene in grisly detail over and over. BANG! The gun was still deafeningly loud through the cryo pod, your weak attempts to beat through the thick glass failing you yet again as they left you alone and refroze you. Who knows how long its been, weeks, months, maybe even years since your Shawn was taken from you. Would he recognize you anymore?

Too many thoughts fumbled their way through your mind on that long elevator ride up to the surface. You catch a glimpse of yourself in the shiny bits of metal that haven't rusted yet and wish you hadn’t. Fear in every crevice of your body leaks out as you see the surface getting closer, and you wield the pistol you found just as Nate taught you, everything he said down to the placement of your hands on the gun to the stance when shooting came back in a flood when the first large cockroach lunged at you. You silently thank him for small blessings and foresight to teach you different ways to keep yourself safe for when he would have been deployed again.

As the sunlight burns your retina and your eyes adjust to life outside, you feel another wave of devastation hit you. It's gone. It's all gone. Everything is ruined, dead, barren. The skeletons, the vehicles, the bent gate; as you look around you, it all tells a story. A sad tale that ends with so many lives lost. The thought crosses your mind again that you are the only one left alive in the area, but then who took your boy away? There must be life above ground somewhere. Seeing and hearing nothing in the immediate vicinity, you opt for releasing some emotions. Your body falls in a heap to the ground, wailing at the loss of your husband, your son, your neighbors, your old life and the lives of so many others.

You aren’t sure how long you remain like this, not long enough for the sun to set, but long enough for it to move a little. You’ve sobbed this hard only once before, and it's not something you’d ever think to be feeling again. That crushing loss that weighs you down physically, mentally, and emotionally. Drained of most of your energy from the rough crying session, you curse yourself quietly for losing that much water. The vault was smaller than you imagined most would be and the supplies minimal, you read during your escape that supplies were running low and the all-clear never came, creating the perfect conditions for a mutiny. You shift the rucksack on your back a little, the 3 purified waters you managed to find being heavier by the minute.

Deciding to search the immediate area, you notice someone had been watching the vault at some point, and take the remaining water they left. Surely, this was from that bald man with the scratchy voice. He waited here, but for what, better conditions to travel with a baby maybe? Still, the pain and hurt you feel for your missing son and lost husband come back like a tidal wave. This should have been Nate. It should have been Nate to survive, not you. He’d already be on the trail, ready to take on the entire world for your son. He would have thrived in this world, it was what he trained so hard to prevent. Your eyes betray you again and find more liquid to release, falling onto your vault suit.

You manage to shake your thoughts from your head for now and continue down the pathway you ran through what feels like mere moments ago and yet a lifetime ago. The dead trees quiver slightly in the wind, your damp hair from the recent defrost whipping in and out of your sight. The creek is nearly empty, sickly looking puddles litter the creek bed as you pass by on the rickety old bridge. Wasn’t the bridge relatively new? How long has it been? As your legs carry you back to your old neighborhood, you want to bawl your eyes out all over again. The new housing is dilapidated and broken, roof cave-ins everywhere, cars rusted well past the point of being functioning…

Hopelessness overruns all other emotions as you stop in front of your home, nearly destroyed. Walls torn up, door off its hinges and laying in the yard, and inside you peer in to see your favorite couch ruined beyond all repair. Movement out of the corner of your eye pulls out the training again and you slip out the police baton you pilfered from one of the vault corpses into your dominant hand. Crouched by the door, you wait until you hear the intruder coming closer. A little more, and you jump out, baton swinging wildly. Melee was never your strong suit. You hear a metallic THWACK and stagger back to see Codsworth, beat up a bit, of course, but you recognize him.

“As I live and breathe! MUM! IT’S YOU! Oh, how I had hoped you were safe! That’s quite a swing you’ve got there.” He shakes one eye stalk as if to set it back into place. “It seems Master Nathaniel has been teaching you well in your time away. Speaking of, where is he and the young lad?” Codsworth’s eye stalks swivel around, whirring of his chassis more audible than you remembered. You hoped you didn't dent him up too hard, you’d feel horrid if the only family you had left had been rendered useless by your carelessness. You should have known it was a robot in the house by the sounds, and yet you were too preoccupied with your emotions to truly register anything. It’s a scary realization that your ineptitude could kill you so easily.

Oh, right, Codsworth still needs a reply. “Codsworth, did you see a man, a bald man with a scar, rough looking man pass by? He took Shawn and he, he… shot Nate. Please!” You could barely say the words. He shot Nate. Couldn’t even say killed, it makes the situation too real, as if it isn't already. Codsworth floats backwards slightly, as if appalled by what you have just uttered. “Mum, these things you’re saying, terrible things. Are you sure about them? Surely you are just hungry for one of my famous meals and it's made you delirious. Well, 210 years without my meatloaf would leave me pretty delirious, too!”

Time stops momentarily for you as you process this information. 210 years? It was mere hours ago that you were joking about a park tryst and making another baby with Nate while getting ready for his speech. You’ve been frozen in time for 210 years… It makes a bit more sense as to why everything is old and decrepit now. Why the skeletons appeared to have been there longer than they should have been. For all you knew, a bomb was dropped and wiped everyone out, leaving nothing but skeletons. Or at least, that was how your brain tried to make sense of its strange new world. There was no way it had been that long. When did they wake you up? Why did you wake up the second time with everyone else dead? What was the point of that vault anyway? You had so many questions and no spare answers.

Codsworth shook you out of your thoughts yet again by dangling a purified water bottle in front of you. “...Mum? You alright? I lost you for a bit, there.” You take the offered water and drink a long sip. “No, Codsworth, I’m not.” You sigh in defeat and sit in your front lawn, dangling your water between your knees as your arms rest against them. “Well, I think a hot meal will do you some good. Let me whip you up something from the kitchen.” “Codsworth, there is no more kitchen to ‘whip something up’ in. Look at the state of things! Am I alright? The question should be are YOU alright? Did I dent you up that badly?” You look up at him and you can see his chassis sag like he has been deflated.

“Mum, it's been so hard these last 210 years! Do you know how hard it is to polish rust? Rust! And the flowers, everything is dead and there’s NO reviving it! There’s only so much nuclear fallout I can clean from these floors, Nora. And the dust! It’s never ending… I am aware that it is a fruitless endeavor, I truly am, but I have had no companionship this ENTIRE. TIME. This is what got me through each day. My daily chores. Mum, I will do anything in my power to help you get young Shawn back.” If he was a person, he would have sat beside you with his arm slung over your shoulder. You sniffle and stand back up slowly. “Mum, how about we start with Sanctuary Hills? Maybe they are just nearby?” Codsworth tries to sound hopeful but you know better than that. If he didn’t see anyone recently, any trail would be long since cold.

“I’d like that, Codsworth. Let’s go.” With Codsworth in tow, you clean out the surrounding houses of their insect infestations, and learn that one of your neighbors was planning on some bunker activities. As you use some rubble to climb on top of a roof for a vantage point, you find a duffel bag with some guns and ammo. Score! This will be super helpful in your quest for finding your son, especially if everything has mutated the way the cockroaches and mantises have. The next day or so is spent salvaging what you can from the remaining houses and patching up your own. You have enough thin sheets stitched together to cover your bed and have a nice blanket, found 3 pillows, fixed up the couch enough that it's “suitable” in this new world, and even kept the old tri-folded flag from Nate’s time in the service. It sits on your nightstand, now, a piece of him to protect the home when you are away. It's a silly sentiment, but it helps you feel at peace. He will always be with you anyway, you have his ring with you as well as your own.

Codsworth had mentioned there were people in Concord, so when you arrived and found some rough looking folks trying to shoot up a place, you assumed they were bad news bears. Assisting the gentleman atop the roof, you make your way slowly and carefully through. The only thing stopping the tremors from killing your first human is that there are innocents to rescue, and maybe your son is here. Or someone knows where your son might be. Once you reach the settlers holed up in the beat up building however, you see they need more help than you. One good fighter, maybe two if the man named Sturges has ever held a gun, an old addict, and a grumpy woman and her poor husband is all that's left. You sigh. No help for you, then.

When sent up to the roof to grab the power armor, your shaking finally catches up with you. You killed someone. Several someones. Nate, was this how you felt during the war? You curl up into a ball next to the power armor and cry, hands and body trembling with guilt. You didn't know their names, their stories. Maybe this group you are helping had stolen their child, or killed their child. Maybe this group burned down their crops, or raided them. Seems to be the opposite, but you never can be too sure. What if you killed a mother, a father, someone’s son or daughter? Who would be able to tell the family that a member was never to arrive home again? Would they know, or would they assume abandonment? But you know the family would feel like how you did, watching Scars murder your Nate right in front of you.

It feels hollow, how you can shut off the feelings now. It was them or me, you justify to yourself. Them or me. Me. Shawn. You have to find Shawn. You promised Nate you would find who did this and wreck them, get your baby boy back. So that is what you will do. No remorse, no regret, you have to get up and do this. Okay, how did Nate describe walking in power armor again? Think… You take some time to jog your memory, and even from way back when you traveled as the Nuka-Cola Girl to different camps for troop morale. What did they say? Remember where the releases are, how to shut the hatches right. You step in and feel invincible, until it is time to start walking. It’s so clunky and awkward, heavy but yet not heavy. You eye the mini-gun attached to the vertibird crashed on this roof and decide something: it’s time for a movie montage scene.

Like something from Nate’s favorite action films, you jump down and massacre the attackers with the mini gun, the power armor able to easily support the weight of the fall and of the gun. But half-way through, you see a ginormous lizard-like creature emerge from the ground and the bad people scurry away, frightened out of their minds and screaming Deathclaw. You shortly see why, as one person is picked up and torn in half like some spare ribs at your favorite eatery. You scramble to open the helmet and promptly vomit at the gory sight, and the smell of everything hits you. The burning smell from the gun, the smell of blood from the dead humans surrounding you, the… the bottom half of a man being thrown in your general direction. There goes more of your stomach. And his, rolling towards your feet.

You try to pull it together, you really do, but more keeps coming out. That creature grows ever closer to you, screaming at you. It takes a laser hit to the face though, you assume from Preston, the one good fighter of the bunch upstairs. It is enough to stagger your mind back to reality and you pick up the mini-gun again and unleash into its face and neck area as best as you can. You manage to blind the poor creature in one eye, leaving it to scratch and claw at its face for a bit before a final laser shot seems to sink into its brain. The creature falls limply to the ground, body twitching slightly. It’s quite sad, really. These creatures never asked for this either. This wasteland of a world. You remember some words your dad taught you years ago, back when you were a little farm girl in the country: If you ever kill something, you make sure it was worth it.

Dad taught you to skin a deer when you were 12, and taught you to hunt with a bolt action rifle he got from his grandfather. That part of you resurfaces for the first time in decades as you walk over to the dead creature and begin to skin it for hides. You know that this land does not have stores where you can just buy things, you have to make due with what you have. This hide seems tough when it comes to stab wounds, so it would make for a great poncho of sorts. I’m sure someone skilled could even make armor from it, but you need something before nothing. You take a hunk of hide and even some chunks of meat to cook. Not too much, as it's only you to feed. Well… you look back at the roof and find that the crew you met are now walking out to you, salvaging what they can from the deceased. The mean married lady even comes out to the deathclaw and expertly cuts some more chunks off for the rest of the group, you'd imagine.

“Well, I sure am glad you came along when you did. Don’t know how much longer I would have lasted up there. Thank you so much. We don’t have much in the way of things to offer, but I have information.” Preston holds up his hand. “Not about your son, and for that I am truly sorry. We are looking for a good place to settle down, and we think Sanctuary Hills nearby would be great. We would love for you to join us there, maybe help us out in starting a settlement worth coming home to every night?” You actually laugh in his face. Well, not AT him but at the situation. “Just don’t take my home from me and I'll call it settled. I just came from there. My old hom- uh, my ole robot is there in a house I claimed for myself. Let me keep it, please.” Preston nods and motions for you to lead the way, since you have actually been to the destination.

Codsworth is over the moon at having people to entertain again, and Sturges is actually really handy at fixing him up, nearly good as new from your previous bopping. Preston talks with you about his plans to link settlements together across the Commonwealth, the name of this area of the United States, and explains that you will be eating deathclaw for dinner tonight, as well as some of the basics of the ‘Wealth. You eventually tell him once you arrive at Sanctuary that you actually lived here before the war and he balks. You take him to the vault entrance and explain and he seems to believe you afterwards. “Those vaults are mostly all crazy, it would be rare to find a proper working one from what I hear.” He said. You’ll have to ask him what he means by that over your new dinner.

Codsworth truly is a marvel with food, he managed to make this creature taste similar to his meatloaf recipe. You settle in to your home shortly after dinner and let Codsworth handle the entertaining for the rest of the night. You don’t get sleep however, as you keep seeing each set of lifeless eyes you killed. Before you left Concord, you accidentally made eye contact with some of the people you had killed. Preston called them Raiders, so they must have been bad people, but still people. While searching their bodies, you found that the leader seemed to have a decent piece of shoulder wear on him, and relieved him of it. Made of leather, it won’t do much for a bullet but it could still stop a knife from going straight into some skin. You left the bit of blood on the inside of it to remind you of where it came from and how you got it.

You shiver in the dark of your room, the broken window still letting the cold wind through. For what feels like the billionth time today, you cry, but softly so as not to disturb anyone nearby. You still hear distant voices of Sturges and Preston going over their plans for Sanctuary. Each time you close your eyes, you see a pair of dead ones staring back at you. The unnamed raiders, Nate; it changes each time. Your dreams are filled with them, too, and the horror that you actually enjoyed killing people to get what you wanted cropped up in your brain. Killing an animal was a necessity normally for your family. You needed to eat and thin out the deer population eating up the crops. But it is odd how quickly your brain turned killing these people into a necessity, too. Your restless sleep is noticed by Codsworth, making a note to ask you about it for later.

Later comes, and you brush Codsworth off with a “it's a whole different world out there” kind of thing. Preston and Sturges talk with you about how to build a proper settlement, you get a really nice chair for Mama Murphy, and some semblance of crops are started in your neighbor’s old garden space. These Tato things seem to be a hybrid plant of sorts but behave like tomatoes. You have no clue what used to be a mutfruit, though. You managed to get sleeping arrangements for everyone, with the couple together in their own home, and Preston, Sturges and Mama Murphy in another, mainly so somebody would be able to watch her drug addiction.

It took a couple weeks to get Sanctuary up and running like a proper civilization again, and you even had two settlers pass by and join, granting extra bodies to assist with the planting. You had tried your best to come to terms with Nate’s death during this time, some days better than others. Best to keep busy. Speaking of, Preston had you out with Codsworth checking on Abernathy farm, to which that became a whole fiasco. You had to kill some more raiders, get a necklace back, and Codsworth got pretty dinged up. “Better me than you, Mum, I am repairable.” You tried to tell him that you were too but he would hear none of it. “Shawn needs you in one piece, Mum, and so do I.” You love that ole bucket of bolts so much.

Finally you worked up the nerve to go to Diamond City, and on your own too. Well, not quite on your own. Shortly after bringing the group to Sanctuary, you realized you needed some supplies for everyone to live on while the crops grew, so you stopped by the local gas station, the Red Rocket. What greeted you was quite a shock, a wonderful and friendly dog! Mama Murphy seemed to know him when you brought him back to the makeshift settlement, and called him Dogmeat. As you and Dogmeat head out for Diamond City, you could swear Sturges had a tear in his eye watching you leave. You have to make it back to these people, they need you for help as much as you need them for a sense of normalcy. And now you’ve made a proper home to bring Shawn back to, a place of your own.

Chapter Text

After traveling for a while with just you and Dogmeat, you begin to see some signs for Diamond City. Perfect, a nice and easy time here, minimal fighting as you have been rather stealthy if you do say so yourself, and nearly to the “Great Green Jewel” of the Commonwealth. PING! A bullet bounces off the wall next to your head and you duck immediately and find some rubble to hide behind, Dogmeat beside you. As you peer out through a small gap in the chunks of road you dove behind, you count more than you’d like of Raiders closing in. “Ready to run, boy?” You quietly ask Dogmeat. He nudges your elbow in response. Okay, here goes nothing.

You make a mad dash for the opposite direction of Diamond City from your location, winding this way and that to confuse your new “friends” stumbling behind you. A few bullets whiz past your head, with one making a small hole in the arm of your vault suit. Too close for comfort there. With the dodging and weaving through the rubble, you eventually lose the Raiders on your tail. Now to reorient yourself. You hear faint sounds of civilization in the distance, so you head in that direction. Huh. This is shabbier than you expected for Diamond City, but then again, everything is shabbier than expected in the Commonwealth. And Dogmeat is nowhere to be found. You hope he’s okay. Walking into the city left you underwhelmed, then some random guy stops you and tries to make you pay up. Not happening. You stand up to him, but before it gets dicey, a man steps out to speak with him.

Well, “man” in the term that you could assume before radiation took its toll, this was a man. Right now, he looks more like a walking piece of man jerky, missing his nose, big black eyes under his tri-corn hat. He has a gruff voice, but not like the man that stole your son. It’s almost like someone did a really good zombie makeup on him, but you know that kind of thing wouldn’t exist out here, so he must just look like that. Did the radiation really do this to people? Is it still doing this to people? Your Geiger counter on the Pip Boy thankfully has been silent lately. The jerky man speaks with the other for a moment before stabbing him in the gut right in front of you. You’d be horrified if you weren’t so tired from running a moment ago.

You thank the man, Mayor Hancock, and think that of course his name is Hancock based on how he dresses. He claims that this place is called Goodneighbor and is “of the people, for the people”, but you don't see how that could be just yet. You loot the corpse in front of you, something that you’ve found appalling but necessary in this strange new world. Nothing of note, just a knife, a few caps, and a nice jacket. The leather will protect you better than what you currently have, but not by much. You look down at your dirty vault suit and decide you seem to look like a target this way. Finding a shop nearby, you pick up some jeans and a holey t shirt and call it a day. The woman running it politely explained that she was a ghoul, and so was Mayor Hancock. Ghouls. Makes sense. You even got to talk a little pre-war with her, she seems really nice.

Seeing as how you hate traveling at night, and it was getting darker by the moment, you opt for finding a place to bunk down. You've got the caps for it, but best not to advertise that here, it seems. You actually run into the mayor again and he kindly points you in the right direction before taking a hit of some drug or other. Looked like the “jet” Mama Murphy was on about. Those two should meet, you’d bet they’d have some wild chem stories to tell. You follow where Hancock directed you, into the Third Rail. Jazz music floats out of the establishment in waves, and you feel right at home, ready to dance the night away as you did long ago, despite the rush of sleepiness washing over you. Maybe all you need right now is a good drink before bed. Yeah.

You note that the music is live, and hope you get a chance to tell the singer how lovely her voice is. It’s good to hear that music has lived on past the war, all you hear now is the same stuff from way back then. Sidling up to the bar earns a look from the Mr. Handy tending it, before he asks what's your poison. Vodka, as per usual, and you get a large shot glass full of something that seems vaguely like it was Vodka at one point. You shoot it back, the aftertaste tingling your tongue. “Hey there, baby. Awfully pretty to be in Goodneighbor. Did you get lost? I can show you the way, you know.” Some random man grabs your thigh roughly. You throw his hand off of your leg forcefully. “I know right where I am, thank you, and I don't need you harassing me.” This man does not take a hint and throws his arm around your shoulders. “Now come on, don't be like that. I’m just a little out of my element here, you are just too pretty to leave alone tonight. I gotta be gentlemanly to a woman like you.”

He makes a move to kiss your cheek and you shrug his arm off your shoulders. “Not interested.” Another man strolls up to the bar and you assume he's here with this “gentleman”, but he whispers Play Along. “Honey, is this man bothering you? I can have Hancock throw him out, if you’d like.” He slings an arm around your waist, but respectfully, leaving space between his arm and your body so he isn't actually touching you. “Yes, dear, he is bothering me, but I don't think we need to involve the Mayor, do you, sir?” You look at the offending man at the end. He shakes his head no and wanders off. “Thank you, sir. I truly appreciate it.” You slip the man a few caps for his assistance but he pushes them back to you.

“My pleasure. Now, that man is a regular here, so if you plan on spending some time here tonight, we may need to act the part a little more. Dancing and stuff. Is this okay with you? Or if not, I can order a room for you and make sure you find your way alright.” You miss human interaction. You miss your husband. And if you get to play along with this kind stranger for one night, you’ll do it because it is the closest thing you’ll probably get in this wasteland to your old life. You slide him Nate’s ring and show him your own. “My husband is dead, but if you are willing to be him for one night, I’d appreciate it. This town is not what I was expecting it to be.”

The kind man slips the ring on. “Okay, so what's my name then? I’ll play along with whatever you have in mind.” “Nate. His name was Nate. He was a soldier. He died protecting the innocent. He was bad at dancing but he tried for me. He knew all my little quirks and loved them.” You fall silent, talking about Nate is hard and you don't want to start sobbing in this place. “You recently lost him, then. I can see this is hard for you. I’ll do my best to give you a night out with Nate, okay? Bad dancing and all.” He flashes a grin and you just now take stock of him. Bald, but looks like his hair is coming back in a ginger color, pale eyes are prettier than you expected to see and he has a strong build, similar to Nate, but more lithe. He took his sunglasses off when reassuring you, but has since plopped them back on, even inside. Odd, but who are you to judge, you are currently using this man as your husband to avoid getting groped by some trashy man in a bar.

“Want another drink, Honey?” ‘Nate’ asks you. “Sure, you know just what I like anyway.” He motions to the robot. “One bourbon, and a vodka for my lady.” Wow, lucky guess. You touch glasses with ‘Nate’ and link your arms the way you did on your wedding day, taking your shot like this with him. He easily follows along, laughing as you spill just a drop down your face. He carefully wipes it away with his thumb, then tastes your drink from his thumb. “I still don’t know how you can handle the taste of vodka, Honey. Stuff is nasty.” Teasing, huh? “Just like I dunno how you drink that swill you call bourbon.” You joke back with him a bit, playfully nudging his ribs with your elbow.

“Wanna dance with me, Honey?” He asks with his hand held out towards you. “I thought you’d never ask.” You take his hand, letting him lead you to a small space where a few others are dancing. It’s a slower song currently, so you wrap your arms around his neck loosely and his hands gently grab your waist. The two of you sway back and forth slightly off beat, which suits you just fine. You rest your head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat like you always did with Nate. It’s strong, if a bit fast. After the song ends, he gently lifts your head from his chest and kisses you.

You are shocked at first, clearly not expecting anything like that to happen, but you lean into the kiss and start moving your lips back. He’s a great kisser, and it's been what feels like ages since you were able to be intimate with someone, though it's only been a month on the surface. As you grow more eager, your hands slide down his back and pull him in closer, to which he responds by kissing down your jawline to your neck. You let out a small moaning sound before you realize it, and feel him smile against your skin. Somewhere nearby you hear a few men cheer and whoop for you two getting hot and heavy in public. “Wanna find that room now, ‘Nate’?” you ask your ginger date. “Yes, please.”

You take his hand in yours and he leads you to his room, shutting the door behind you before pushing you against it. His eyes remain unseen behind the sunglasses, and he asks you, “Do you wanna do this? Are you sure you wanna do this?” Aww, he is being considerate. Or maybe he doesn’t know if this is still an act. “Yes.” He lifts you up easily and pins you to the wall beside the door, deeply kissing you. Your bag forgotten on the floor, you unzip the front of your vault suit as best you can while pressed between ‘Nate’ and the wall, kisses getting more heated and sloppy in the haste.

‘Nate’ ruts into you and you feel his erection through your vault suit all too easily. Throwing your head back against the wall while he kisses down your neck again to the exposed flesh from your unzipped suit, you moan a little louder than on the dance floor. “That’s it, let it out.” He releases a breast from its confinement and sucks softly on your nipple to gauge your reaction to his tongue. Mewling before him, he continues on one side before moving to the other, using his hand to tease the side not currently occupied with his mouth.

Your hands drag down his back in scratching motions, and you try to pull his shirt off as quickly as you can, wanting more of this mysterious man. He reluctantly ceases his ministrations to your chest to shed his flannel and grubby used-to-be-white t-shirt, still supporting your weight with the wall and his thighs. He unzips your suit as far as it’ll go, and you shrug your shoulders out of it, freeing your chest and back to the cool air in the room. ‘Nate’ slides his hands under your thighs and carries you over to the bed, sitting down with you in his lap. He pulls you close, and you feel his skin on yours, hot and already slightly sweaty. “I gotta get this thing off me,” you pull at your vault suit in frustration as it is the most heinous thing to exist and he chuckles at your actions.

“Here, lemme help…” He stands you up in front of him and slowly slides the blue fabric down over your hips, slipping his fingers inside to take your panties along with them but raising an eyebrow instead as you had traveled without any on. “Sexy.” He continues until you are bare, save for your boots and pulls them off for you to finish stripping you of the offending fabric. “There. Better?” You nod and before you lean back into him, you take in his form. His muscular frame is riddled with bruising, scars, and there’s still a bandage on one shoulder. Your face changes, wondering who hurt him… or who he hurt.

“Hey. Look at my eyes.” He shifts his sunglasses off again and you see warm blue eyes staring back at you. “I’m okay, it’s okay. Are you still okay?” You nod and drag your hand slowly across a particularly nasty looking chest scar. “Brush with a Deathclaw. Was closing in on my location while I was trying to save a s- someone. Instead, they saved me.” He chuckles like it was a funny memory. You trail your hand over a small scar on his arm. “Fell when I was a kid. I was playing in an area I shouldn't have been. I maaay have been a bit of a daredevil.” “And this one?” You touch around the bandage on his shoulder. “A recent job went wrong, though it wasn't my fault. Lost a coworker that day.” You sit back into his lap, but sideways over one leg and slide your hand to his back. “I’m sorry you lost someone.”

“I’m sorry you did, too. But it’s a bit hard to be sad right now with a gorgeous woman naked in my lap.” He smirks at you and you blush. Standing back up, you set to work on his jeans. He lifts his hips so you can slide them down off his ass. With both of you naked, the two of you just stand there and stare for a moment. “The suit was yours, you didn't find it.” It's not a question, but a statement. You nod. “You need to be really careful out here, you can’t trust anybody.” You step closer and place a finger under his chin. “Even you?” “Especially me.” He lunges forward like a predator and swaps your places, then pushes you back onto the bed. As he leans over you, you finally look down and oh my god.

You guess circumcision doesn’t really happen anymore then, based on what you are seeing. And it is quite a large thing you are seeing. You and Nate had not properly… had time to yourselves for things since Shawn was born, and Nate wasn’t built quite like this. Your mysterious man notices the hesitation. “Last chance to back out. You okay?” You gulp and hope you can take him. “I uh, it's been awhile and the last time was with someone, uh, built differently than you. God, it's like a horse.” You clap your hand over your mouth when you realize you said that out loud, your alcohol tolerance must not be what you thought it was either, as your filter slipped. He laughs fully. “That is quite the compliment, ‘Honey’. I’ll be as gentle as I can, okay?”

You slide back on the bed and he crawls over you, kissing every part of your body he passes and then sliding his tongue past your lower lips. As he spreads your legs apart to give himself room, he sucks and licks at your clit, eliciting all sorts of moans from you. His tongue has some experience for sure as he continues to move inside you, hugging your thighs. You’d run your hands through his hair if he had any, so instead you fist your hands in the sheets by your sides. After some time, you feel two fingers slip inside you and curl, his mouth still on your clit. You instinctively clench tightly around his fingers, crying out as the pleasure builds quickly, more quickly than you remember from the last time you were intimate with Nate.

You become a mess when he adds a third finger and promptly fly over the edge into bliss as his digits plow into you, mouth never ceasing its ministrations on your now very sensitive clit. Hugging his head with your thighs, you moan loudly as he keeps going through your high. When he finally ceases his movements and his fingers leave you, he kisses your hip bones and stomach, kissing the stretch marks from carrying your son. He kisses between your breasts, then places one sucking kiss to each nipple as he makes his way up to your jaw. He gently bites and then kisses your lips, and you taste a hint of yourself on him.

You feel him at your entrance, hard and ready to go. “Ready?” “I think so.” He pauses. “I’m gonna need a yes if I’m to continue.” “Oh for fucks sake, yes! I’m just worried about how big you are.” He smirks again and his blue eyes shine. “Yes, ma’am. Parking the car.” What? OH! He enters you slowly but it is still too much, his girth surprising you. “Fuck, that’s tight,” He breathes out, barely able to move inside you for fear of hurting you. He waits until you nod again before moving again, slowly bottoming out.

“I’m not gonna last long with you so tight like this.” “That’s okay, neither will I.” ‘Nate’ moves at a snail's pace at first, careful of the sounds you make and looking for any sign of pain. It hurts a little and you’ll probably be sore in the morning, but you have birthed a child, you know she’ll stretch for him now that you’ve felt him. You nod again and he starts to move at a more regular pace, the sound of his balls slapping your ass echoing in the barely furnished room. Your moaning continues now that he is in full swing, rapidly speeding up the pace at which he plows into your tight hole. Before you know it, he's thrown your thigh up on his shoulder and is deeper into you, fucking you in earnest.

It's a punishing pace, and your second high rapidly approaches. He grunts occasionally with the effort, maybe it's hurting one of his injuries but he doesn't seem to care. Both you and ‘Nate’ are too busy chasing that high to notice someone knocking on the wall for you to be quieter, or that your headboard is beating their wall back from the force. The pleasure is so immense that you don't hold back and scream out profanities as you hit your climax again. Raking your nails down his scarred back, you tighten around him even more. “Fuck! I’m close!” He tells you through heavy breathing. He keeps going through your climax and past it for his, and you hold on to him like a lifeline as your vision gets a touch blurry. Soon, he joins you in bliss and his thrusts begin to get sloppy and uneven, finally slowing to that snail's pace again.

Oh god, a stranger just blasted his baby makers into you. You pray that you don't get pregnant again, especially not from a random man. You try not to panic about it, knowing that if something is gonna happen, then it's already gonna happen. You really wish you would have thought about it though beforehand. He stops moving and rests his head between your breasts, having slid out of you. You rest a hand on his back and one on his head, rubbing his back slowly. “Thank you. You didn’t need to be so kind but you were.” You whisper to him. His voice is a bit rougher when he answers back. “Thank you for letting me be a part of your world for a night. I enjoyed myself, clearly, and I hope you did, too.” You nod and then realize he can’t see it, so you say you enjoyed it too. “Good, I’d like to think I can be gentlemanly.” You look down at him. “You are. Probably the best one here.” He shrugs. “That’s not saying much, we are in Goodneighbor.”

You mull over a question before deciding to ask it anyway. “Will I ever see you again? Tonight was lovely but I would really like to learn more about you.” He thinks for a moment before responding. “Signs point to yes on the ole magic 8 ball.” You giggle at his comment. “You should probably sleep though, wherever you are traveling, you won't get these lovely accommodations again.” He gestures to the room and you giggle some more. “Fine, fine, you tired me out anyway. Care to snuggle?” You open your arms for him to wriggle into. He crawls up your body and nestles in, facing you. Within minutes, you are already asleep. He slowly climbs out of bed and gets dressed again, and you miss the faint, “Goodnight, Nora,” from your mysterious man before he leaves the room.

Chapter Text

You wake up alone in the battered old bed, no sign of your mysterious husband from the night before. Well, aside from the ache between your legs and a few hickeys, no visible signs of your one-time lover are left in the room. You groan as you wake up fully, stretching your sore limbs and shoving the threadbare sheets aside. Thankfully, this shabby town of Goodneighbor seems to have running water in the pipes, though it is cold and not necessarily clean.

You take out the small burner you managed to rig into working partially and your pot for cooking, taking a few rounds to heat up enough water for you to bathe in comfortably in the tub that shockingly still exists in the bathroom. The warmth of the water is barely felt, not quite room temperature but better than freezing. You scrub your limbs and torso vigorously to rid yourself of all the dirt and grime of this Commonwealth.

Your touch elsewhere needs to be delicate to avoid yelling out. It's been awhile since you've had a good railing even before... the freeze. You and Nate never had the time to properly bang one out after having Shaun. And technically, it's been over 200 years since anything occurred down there. It's gonna take a few days to feel back to normal. Hopefully you don't walk as funny as you feel, riding a horse for hours wasn't this bad. "Damn, really should have gotten his actual name..."

You wonder about your mystery man as you finish washing up, your hair being last. You braid the freshly washed hair and tie it back, ready to face the day. Before draining the remaining dirty water, you take the few undergarments you've found and wash them thoroughly, hanging them to dry. You still have this room for a few more hours, might as well make use of the space and accommodations.

You remember that your brief talk with the Mayor here, Hancock, gave you a few bits of information. One was that you were a bit off course from Diamond City but that it was close. The other was that there's a man here that you can hire to keep you safe, and right now you need all the help you can get. You throw on a pair of less dirty jeans and a simple thin T-shirt to walk out of your room, taking a knife and small handgun with you, just to be safe.

Remembering how you met Hancock, you keep your wits about you as you descend the stairs to the bar. Just because he is 'for the people' doesn't mean everyone is. Hearing Magnolia's smooth voice grow louder as you enter, you glance around for your 'husband' one last time before sighing. Hopefully you see him again. You head for the room to the side that you were instructed to go to for the hired gun when you hear three voices.

From what you can tell, two voices are hassling the third, but the third doesn't seem too worried. Guessing the third is your man. The two men leave with ruffled feathers and pass you as they stomp out to the bar. Both are burly men, well-built and covered with weapons. Must be one hell of a fighter inside this room. You cautiously enter the room to find a smaller built man sitting on a ruined couch. His clothes are tattered but well kept, though that seems to be everyone in this new world. An ammo belt on his thigh and a rifle nearby, this man exudes confidence. Handsome, too.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear..." the man before you sighs. "Look, lady, I'm not buying whatever you are selling, not what I'm here for. If you are here to hire me, keep talking." He smirks slightly, leaning back on the couch a touch more. You pull up a chair from nearby and sit, placing your elbows on your knees and clasping your hands. "Before I hire you, will those uh, gentlemen be any problem? Am I causing more trouble for myself if I hire you?" He rolls his eyes.

"Nah, those little shi- i mean uh, those dummies couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a mini nuke. They won't be any trouble at all. I'm your guy, for sure. You won't even see the bad guys before I have them split between the eyes with a bullet." He smiles before continuing. "My name's MacCready, and yes, I used to work for the Gunners but not anymore. Made a clean break a while back and have been solo ever since. Standard rate is 250 caps, up front, no less. Won't regret it, miss."

You sigh and think for a bit. "I uh, I don't quite have enough caps to cover the fee, but I do have ammo for your gun that I can't use. Would I be able to sub some caps for the ammo? You'd need caps to buy them anyway, now I'm just saving you time. Please? I... I really need someone to travel with." You give the puppy dog eyes and even lean forward slightly, the ripped neck of your shirt falling forward a little. You notice he glances down quickly before staying focused on your face. So close. "Fine. Almost a deal. How many caps short and how much ammo?"

You pull a worn note out of your pocket from the last time you did inventory on your stock, 428 caps and 52 bullets for his type of gun. Okay, crunching time. This is for Shaun. "Okay, my last check on inventory says I got 196 caps and 52 of the bullets you can use. Is this okay, MacCready?" You smile at him brightly. The ammo alone makes this a bargain and you can see the wheels turning in his head. "You've got a deal, boss. Where are we headed?" He turns to grab a small duffel bag behind the couch and a bedroll before following you to your room.

"Okay, settle in for a bit, we gotta make a plan. My son was taken from me, he's just a baby. Last known location is potentially Diamond City but I ended up here. I uh, can I be honest with you, MacCready?" He nods and sits on the edge of the bed, looking at the various papers and maps you have laid out over the wobbly table. "Okay. If you want proof of this, I can always take you there and I might anyway, but I was frozen in a vault. I was there when the bombs dropped way back. I only recently thawed out. My husband, Nate, he, he uh... he was killed and our baby taken from us and I was refrozen and woke up again."

You look at his face to read his reaction but he shows nothing. Then MacCready laughs loudly, closing his eyes and leaning backwards. "You gotta be fu- freaking kidding me! There's no way!" He stares at your serious face and his smile drops. "You are serious. Oh my god, boss, I'm sorry for laughing. It's hard to believe." He slowly gets up and really takes a look at you, circling you once before stopping in front of you.

"You're telling the truth. Whoa. You look familiar though... Huh. You don't have the same build that you would need to live out here from birth. Teeth are too clean and straight, your skin is too pristine. Not enough scars from living. Your hair is really pretty, too. Softest I've seen, not natural around here." He touches the end of your braid and smirks. "Yeah, you need me. So do I need to teach you how to properly clean guns and how to load them, or do you know the basics? Either way, I'll be paid, but I'd like to keep you alive so you can tell others about me. Not good for business if you die on my watch."

MacCready laughs softly and looks over everything that you have in the room laid out, smirking as he sees your hanging unmentionables drying nearby. You blush slightly but maintain a decent face, pulling out the pistol you had on your person. Showing him you can take it apart and put it together competently, you explain that your husband was a soldier and taught you the basics. "I'm slower with the pipe weapons I keep finding so I am gonna sell those when I can. Not as familiar with them. I can handle different types of guns well, it's just that I'll need an extra hand and someone to watch my back. My welcome here was interesting, let's say that."

A light bulb clicks and he laughs again. "That was you? I heard that Hancock had offed someone trying to scalp a newcomer, but that was you? Ha! Always hated that guy. Good riddance. I'll always watch your back, boss." He winks and you look away, clearing your throat and explaining so far what you have found out about your son's disappearance. It's relatively quiet between you two as you travel the short distance to Diamond City, but not an uncomfortable silence. Only once did MacCready notice something that you had missed, and it had you quite proud of yourself.

He quietly mentions a few tips and tricks of the area, things to look for in the future, places that raiders would typically try to hide or signs of Super Mutants in the area. He is really quite helpful as far as teaching, not just his sharp eyes. He does mention he prefers not to be in the open like this, though. You can't help but agree. As you round a corner, you both hear a woman arguing with a wall? Ah. The intercom. She seems upset that she's not allowed inside.

She says in a hushed voice, "Play along!" Then speaks louder towards the intercom. "What's that? You are a trader from Quincy? You can restock us for a month? Well i sure hope they let you in, then. We really need those supplies and our Mayor would be so upset to know you got passed up due to the doorman being picky." You hear the crackle before the man speaks back through the com, "Fine, Piper, settle down, I'm opening the door. Just hope i don't lose my job over this. You better not be lying!"

You hear massive metal clanking as the doors grind open slowly and follow the woman inside with MacCready right behind you. You see the guard's station on the right, a few guards hanging out nearby. One of the guards seems familiar... but your thought is cut short as it appears as though you will again be greeted by a mayor, though this one is a bit more rotund. Clearly he eats well, but does the rest of the town? Hmm. He feels like a snake wearing a kind smile and he doesn't seem interested in finding your son or finding anyone for that matter.

"Hey, stop by my place when you're ready, I'd love an interview. I also might be able to point you in the right direction for someone willing to help you find your boy." You nod and smile at Piper the Reporter as she heads further into the city, greeting her little sister and getting an earful about a printing press. You chuckle as you look around, taking in the sights. "God, everything looks so... different. I don't know what I expected but..." MacCready pats your shoulder and looks at you with a soft smile.

"We'll find your boy, boss. I promise. Lemme show you around real quick." MacCready gives you a short tour as well as buys you a bowl of noodles at the stand. After a damn fine bowl of noodles from a bustling robot, you see the shops and things in the main area, visit the wall briefly and then stop by a bar. A booming voice yells for him. "MacCready! How have you been, my friend?" The man behind the bar comes out to do that hug where you clap the other person's back. "Ah, Vadim! Looks like business is steady. Got a room for me?" "Of course, of course. How's Lucy? She and the boy doing well?"

MacCready's face falls slightly. "She uh, she didn't make it, Vadim." "Me and my loud mouth! So sorry, my friend. Drinks and room on the house tonight, my treat." He rushed behind the bar to mix up something for MacCready. "What'll it be, boss?" You think for a moment. "Got any vodka?" Vadim looks towards you and does a double take. "For a beautiful lady such as yourself? Of course, Vadim has tons of vodka! Take one on the house! She's not yours, is she Mac?" Vadim eyes you up and down quickly. "She's my boss right now, if that's what you mean. We just met."

Vadim winks at you. "If this scruffy little man is not your type, you let Vadim know. I'll show you a real man, Miss..?" "Nora, my name is Nora. Thank you, Vadim, you are too kind." You smile at him as he hands you a bottle of vodka. You take a sip and shudder only slightly as the alcoholic contents have changed over the 200 years since it was bottled. Has a bit more kick than you remember. "Ah, that is my special blend! You like?" You take another sip. "I think I do, yes." You click the bottle to MacCready's glass and you both take a deep drink.

Vadim's quieter brother hands you the room key and explains where you'll be staying. After enjoying your drink, you and MacCready head to the room to check it out. One bed, not too big of a deal. "I can take the couch, boss. Slept on worse." He heads towards the small patched sofa to place his bedroll. "No, I uh, please. We can share the bed, I am not used to sleeping alone... if that's okay." He laughs. "Might need to draw a line on day one, boss, if that's fine. We still don't really trust each other yet. At least not fully."

"Of course. Right. Thanks. Yeah, i just, well it's all new to me. Sorry." He slowly walks over to you and makes you face him. "Hey. It'll be okay. Don't worry about offending me, boss. I've heard worse than whatever you can come up with, trust me." Deep breath in and out, then you answer. "Yeah, I'm sure you have. I just- I'm out of my element. Can't help but to think that Nate would have been better at this, he was a soldier after all and I-" MacCready interrupts your spiral. "And you are doing the best that you can in the situation you were given. I've seen people lose their minds for way less, boss, and they were born in this world. You are doing great. I promise."

MacCready smiles a genuine smile and you feel better about your odds out here with him by your side. After settling in some of your gear to your room here, you two head out to sell some of the junk you no longer need before meeting up with Piper for that interview and info. With some more caps made for both of you, small talk is made while walking up to Piper's place. You see something barreling towards you and Mac takes out his gun before you shout, "Dogmeat!!! My good boy!"

Dogmeat tackles you and licks your face, barking once to let you know he missed you. Giggles bubble up and out of you like a fountain, and once Dogmeat is off of your chest, a smiling MacCready grips your hand and pulls you off the ground. "Is he a friend of yours?" BARK! Your loyal pupper is wary of MacCready. "Yes, he is my best friend in this world. This is Dogmeat. Oh, he hates hats, you might wanna take yours off." MacCready reluctantly slides his off and into a pocket on his jacket and the soft growling from beside you subsides.

"You know what's funny, boss? I knew someone else with a dog named Dogmeat when I was a kid. Small world, I guess." "Hmm, wonder if he's the same one? How old are you anyway?" MacCready's eyebrows raise. "How old do you think I am, boss? I'm old enough to be able to have kids but not so old that I would have grandkids. Jesus." He shakes his head but has a smile on his face as he just pushes open Piper's door without knocking. Apparently he's not old enough for manners.

Upon entering her place, Piper's little sister sees your dog and squeals in excitement. Thinking the worst, Piper comes running. "Nat? Everything okay?" She sees her sister under the happy dog, greeted by sloppy licks to the face. Piper rolls her eyes and motions for you to come forward and follow her to another room. MacCready goes to tip his hat to Nat, now crawling out from under Dogmeat and to a sitting position, and realizes it is still in his pocket.

The small interview room she sets up only has one actual chair, so she motions for you to have a seat. MacCready leans up against a nearby wall close to the door, ready for anything fishy. After finding a small broken filing cabinet to use as her chair, Piper begins asking questions, wanting to know the whole story. You sigh and ready yourself for the recounting of the worst day of your life. She starts by asking what it was like in the vault, to which you explain that you were frozen the whole time. Seeming to believe you, she asks another question.

"Do you mind me asking what it was like before the War? Before the bombs dropped, Blue?" You scrunch your face. She gestures towards you. "Oh, you know, you are from a vault, they wear blue…" she waves her hands around, and you nod. "I get it, fair point." Even though you aren’t currently wearing the Blue Suit, you still have that air about you. Apparently. “Everything was green and luscious. The trees, the grass, all green and healthy. The creeks and rivers weren’t irradiated, but clear or blueish. Nothing had rust all over it. It was all shiny and new and colorful. God, I miss it. But there was also a war going on, one that thankfully wasn't on our turf, but was still there nonetheless. It loomed in the background at all times, just a word from a superior and Nate would have been dragged back out to fight again.”

“Sounds like you had it real nice, boss. I’m sorry.” Mac adds. “Thanks, Mac. I did.” “So Blue, you’ve seen Diamond City, how do we compare to that old life then, aside from no greenery, and all the dirt and the rust… You know what, I take it as not as good as before.” You reply anyway, “Seeing communities working together to rebuild is really cool, seeing people want to live and thrive… All I wanted was to just be hopeless when I got out here.” “Aww, that’s really inspired Blue, though I'm sorry your experience out here was a bit rough at first.” You nod and continue the interview.

Piper asks about who might have taken Shawn and if it was the Institute, to which you just reply that you are unsure and that it was a man with a scar. Then she asks for a direct statement to Diamond City, anyone who has lost someone. “What would you say to those people who are just trying to keep going?” “Find out who is responsible and make them pay. It's what I'm doing. But I am also hoping I can see my son again, so also to have hope that you'll find who you are looking for.” Piper points us to someone named Nick Valentine and you freeze for a moment.

Could it be the same Nick Valentine? The one that your family had dinner parties with, Ole Uncle Nicky? Could others have ended up in a vault frozen in time? Has to be a coincidence, right? Maybe a descendant, named after a great great grandpa? Either way, if he is in the same line of work as Uncle Nicky, he's the man you need. You say your goodbyes to Piper and Nat, and with MacCready and Dogmeat in tow, you head for this Nick Valentine guy’s office. After a short walk to the office, you find that Nick is missing and you need to find him first before he can help. Great. As much as you wanna be a nice person and help, when do you get your help and answers? Hopefully soon. You don’t quite feel ready to find Nick just yet, so you opt to help out Preston with a settlement or two first to better your bearings in this world. With MacCready and Dogmeat, you set off towards the first mentioned settlement.