Curie laid in her bed, mind racing with thoughts of her and Nate in suggestive situations. She constantly attempted to rid the thoughts from her mind permanently so she could focus on her work as a medic and scientist, but always to no avail. Ever since she walked out of the Memory Den in her new synth body, she had felt an rush of new feelings and emotions. And she did not like it.

Not that the idea of her and Nate was so terrible. It was just so much simpler as a robot. She didn't have to worry about getting a bullet in her shoulder from a raiders flimsy pipe rifle while being carelessly distracted by her traveling companion. Or the constant anxiety she felt in his presence, always feeling like she would say the wrong thing and he would never wish to travel with her again.

Curie was tossing and turning in her bed so much she was sure all of Starlight Drive-In could hear her. The area had been claimed by the Minutemen two years ago and they turned it into a settlement big enough to rival Diamond City. Traders and travelers alike were constantly arriving and leaving the town, making it the biggest settlement under Minutemen control and the Minutemen's biggest moneymaker. There was a Trade shop, run by the former Vault-Tec Rep. Curie had a chance to converse with him while looking for a new microscope. She found his story quite tragic, but was interested how he had more of a history with Nate than anyone else in the Commonwealth, well... except for Codsworth. Starlight had an extremely large amount of living quarters, instead of low profile settlers sleeping on mattresses outside like in Diamond City and Goodneighbor, everyone had a roof over their head. It's what made Starlight such a desirable living spot, so much that eventually their population grew to triple digits. There were two bars, a clothing store, an armor shop, a weapon stand, and her favorite, the doctors office. Nate had built her a little lab of her own inside, she remembered when he had shown her.

Flashback

"Are you're eyes closed?" Nate asked. "Yes monsieur, but why exactly are they closed?" Curie asked. "It's a surprise. Keep walking... just follow my voice." Nate said. Curie smiled. Surprises were in most cases good, they could be a gift, a party, or a new car.

But she knew that none of those were commonly found nowadays so suprises were meant to be taken with a bit of suspicion. She felt them enter a building and maneuver around some furniture into what she guessed was a back room. "Okay... now open your eyes." She lifted her eyelids apart and squealed in delight as she took in what was in front of her. There was a chem workstation, a table covered in science tech and chem ingredients, and some Vault-Tec grade medical equipment. "Oh my monsieur! This is wonderful!" Curie said with the biggest smile on her face possible. Nate let out a silent chuckle, she looked like a kid in Nuka-World. "Well it's yours and yours alone, your own private little laboratory." Upon hearing this she turned to face him, her face in shock. "This is all for me?" Nate nodded and instantly felt her arms lock around him. "Thank you very much, Monsieur thank you!"

End of flashback

Curie cringed at the memory. Even though it was an affectionate moment between the two, her mind was able to turn the purest of memories into awkward orderals when she was in bed. Soon her shifting and fidgeting tired her out enough for her to fall sleep.

When she awoke the next morning she could already hear the sound of Brahmin shuffling around and scavvers chatting in the market area. She got up and shed her sleepwear. She button up her lab coat and headed to her lab. When she wasn't traveling with Nate, she was working on her stimpack formula with mutfruit. She was making slow progress though, like always her mind lingered on Nate. She wondered how humans functioned so easily with this constant flood of thoughts so deliciously distracting. She fought away images of Nate lacking certain articles of clothing so she could focus on her work. Eventually midday arrived, she could tell because she could see the guards changing shifts through the cracks in the wooden walls. She looked at what she had accomplished so far and found herself in almost the same state of research she was a few hours ago. She sighed in frustration and sat in the chair she had moved from her home to her lab. She began to surrender to her subconscious minds demands to think of Nate. She sat in her chair staring into space, deep in thought for what seemed like an eternity when she heard to office door open and close. It wasn't Ellen, the settlement doctor because she had arrived shortly after Curie did. She didn't hear and groans of pain so it wasn't a patient. Her speculations began getting ridiculous when her lab door opened and Mate stepped inside. He wore his usual traveling attire, it was a copy of the duster worn by the man they met in Far Harbor, Longfellow. But after spending some time in the dirt and dust environment of the Commonwealth instead of the humid, foggy, and wet one of Far Harbor, the coat had been stained a tan brown color. He leaned against the door carrying his automatic combat rifle in his hand with the safety on.

"How's it going Curie?" And once again he somehow made her insides do a flip with the simpliest of sentences and his usual smug grin. "My research has hit a bump, I just cannot remain focused." She said in her best flirting tone. She might as well try to calm these thoughts, and the best way to do that she thought was to try and make them a reality. Nate seemed to pick up on her flirting and said "Well... what could possibly cause that?" He said, his voice lowering to an almost whisper. "Well monsieur... if I had a partner here... maybe that would help." She said. Dear god she hoped she wasn't stepping over any unspoken boundaries. I mean he had returned the gesture, or she thought so, no. No that was definitely him flirting back so she had nothing to worry about right? "Well..." his face was inches from hers at this point, she could smell his breath, like tarberrys and Nuka Cola, it made her feel like she was in heaven. "Maybe I could have Cait join you in here." He finished. She playfully shoved him away while laughing. He was teasing her, nothing more. She was relieved but a large part of her felt disappointed. "No monsieur, she would break everything in here with her raider level buffoonery." She said as she plopped back down on her chair. Once Nate had stopped laughing he leaned against the wall. "I just wanted to let you know that me and Preston are heading to Quincy tomorrow." She felt her insides drop as she stood up, ready to protest. "What? But Nate, Quincy is full of Gunners! They'll kill you!" She forced her way into Nates grasp and wrapped her arms around him, he did the same trying to push back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "Yes I know it's dangerous. But if we can retake Quincy from the Gunners that'll be a huge victory for the minutemen. And it won't just be me and him, we'll have a few dozen minutemen with us." He pushed her back and brushed her chin up with his finger, forcing her to look him in the eye. "I'll be fine." She collapsed back into his chest and held him there for as long as she could.