A/N: Written for the Preston Appreciation Week, ongoing Feb. 1 - Feb 7.
Sometimes it was like her brain purposely woke her up at certain, unforgivable hours- choosing to ignore her exhausted body and aching bones.
Ignoring the fact that she had spent the past four weeks surviving on three hours of sleep every two days.
And yet, as equally sleep-starved as her brain was, it still wanted to wake her up at almost three in the morning- as told by the dimly lit alarm clock next to her refurbished bed. She had removed her Pip-Boy earlier that evening; at first it was to let Shaun play the games that were on it, and then it was because she found the bulky thing uncomfortable to sleep with.
Gone were the days where she kept it on throughout the night, fearing that someone would sneak up on her to steal it while she slept.
... Not to mention, the light on the damn thing was far too bright to use at this time of night- especially since she wasn't looking to burn out her corneas.
Groaning, Nora reluctantly pushed herself up into a barely supported sitting position, before she fell heavily against the cracked headboard behind her. Her mind was in this weird, sort of numb trance as it tittered on the edge of sleep and consciousness.
She slowly rubbed at the back of her stiff neck, and wondered if her brain had been jolted awake in response to the aching in her back, or to the soreness of her breasts. Regardless of the answer though, the two combining pains were certainly enough to keep her awake now. The only thing she could do was massage her lower back and wait for the inevitable cry that would convince her completely out of bed.
...
Sometimes it was hard for her to think back on the last four weeks, or rather, on the passing year as whole.
After the Institute's destruction at the combined hands of the Minutemen and the Railroad, life finally seemed to... fall into place once more. Or at least, as back into place as she would ever get it.
She managed to convince Desdemona to allow the Minutemen to help with the sudden overflow of Synths, and the lack of available Railroad Safehouses. Her men provided protection, and her settlements provided additional housing until more Safehouses could be cleared out and set up. Those Synths who insisted on staying in the Commonwealth were allowed to do so- mostly because a majority of them expressed interest in joining the Minutemen, which they were openly welcomed to do so. To them, it was finally a chance to pay back the Railroad for their charity.
And it was amazing to see the Commonwealth flourish after the destruction of their illusive boogeyman.
With their growing numbers, her Minutemen were able to wipe out most of the Raiders and Gunners in the Commonwealth- as well as drive out the Super Mutants and feral ghouls. And with those hazards gone, they were able to provide safer traveling between settlements and cities for people and traders alike. And doing so lead to stronger and fatter trade routes, which made better open markets and heftier supplies, which lead to healthier and happier settlements.
In fact, they were able to open up more settlements- especially after they had reclaimed Quincy and spent months cleaning up the filth left behind.
It was like a domino effect for the greater good.
And, for once, Nora found herself looking forward to the future- looking forward to seeing humanity push onward through the struggles.
...
And Preston was with her every step of the way.
He held her in a mix of celebration and comfort on top of the Mass Fusion Building after she had nuked the Institute, and Shaun, all to oblivion. He stayed with her while she battled through her emotions and demons in the aftermath; he kept her collected, but took over for her when she couldn't think straight. She didn't think he would truly understand just how much he had helped her along the way- how much he had healed her with his continuous presence and commitment to her.
But, somehow, being back on the road, whether it was to escort freed Synths from one Safehouse to the next, or just go from settlement to settlement, really helped her put herself back together. It helped her refocus her life, and come to terms with the new horizon before her.
It helped her realize that this was a new beginning now, and... she needed to make the most of it- for everyone. She had a lot of people looking to her now, counting on her to help put the Commonwealth back together. But at the very least, she knew that she wasn't doing it alone.
...
After everything they had gone through together, after regaining so many things that had been lost... the two of them found themselves with a little extra to gain.
Despite a whirlpool of crippling emotions at the start, they welcomed a new member to their makeshift family. Born four weeks ago, under the care of Dr. Carrington, much to the man's reluctance, came Ellie.
Ellie Joli Kingsend- Garvey.
...
Nora couldn't say that she ever saw herself becoming a mother again, not after... not after everything that had happened with Shaun. But fate always seemed to have a stick up its ass for her.
She figured this would be her second chance.
This was another sign for her to start over- a new world, a new life... a new husband and child. And maybe, just maybe, she would be more successful this time around.
It had been difficult for her to wrap her head around it at first- not that she was really all that surprised by it; after all, there was plenty of positive chemistry between them. And with everything they had done, between turning the Minutemen into a proper powerhouse, reclaiming Quincy, and setting up proper settlements and such, there was quite a bit of celebrating between them as well.
After the initial shock, and battling demons all over again, Nora focused on giving Preston a hard time about it. If she got tired during one of their travels, she'd insist that he carry her the rest of the way- and he'd give in every single time. And no matter what time her morning sickness would kick in, he'd be there to rub her back and make sure she got plenty of water and rest afterwards. And during those nights where she couldn't sleep because the little monster inside of her wouldn't stop sitting on her spine, he would stay up with her and walk with her if needed be- even if he had to report early for training sessions the next morning.
All in all... she couldn't have picked a better partner, or a better father.
...
The inevitable cry that she had woken up, and had been waiting for, never came though.
Frowning, Nora forced her eyes opened and looked to the refurbished crib not too far away from her. Ellie usually cried at this time every night, whether it was to be feed, or to simply fuss. And as relaxing as the silence should've been, it managed to instill a small hint of panic to go off inside of her.
Nora tried not to get worked up over it- after all, it could just be that Ellie wasn't hungry, or awake yet; the infant could still be sleeping, and choosing to push off her usual crying fit for another ten minutes or so. Still, her mind circled around to all sorts of other possibilities. What if her blanket had gotten bundled up around her, and she couldn't cry out? What if she had rolled over onto her chest and couldn't breathe?
It felt like her stomach was in knots as Nora hastily pushed herself out of bed and hurried over to the quiet crib. Sturges had been kind enough that, after the news of her pregnancy, and while they were gutting out her Sanctuary house for more room, he repaired Shaun's old crib for her to use. It had taken awhile for her to work up the guts to ask him to do it, and even more work for her to actually use it, but... it was a good place to start over.
A good start to replacing the old with the new.
She peeked into the crib, expecting to see her daughter sleeping soundly, or maybe in the process of kicking awake... only to see that the crib was empty instead.
For a second, she was immediately gripped with panic.
But she knew that it was impossible for anyone to have snuck into her house without her catching them. And even if, by some small margin, she did miss an intruder, Dogmeat liked to sleep in the living room from time to time- and he certainly would've heard someone trying to get into the fortified house; and his barks alone would've woken up the entire neighborhood.
It didn't hurt to mention that Shaun was a fairly light sleeper, and he would've been woken up by anyone just walking down the hallway. And he would've immediately come in to get her.
There wasn't an enemy alive who could get in here without being spotted somehow.
...
She was missing someone here- Codsworth.
Maybe Ellie woke up before her usual time, and Codsworth took her out to get some air, maybe a walk around the neighborhood to get her back to sleep. Nora had even made a little basket sort of deal that Codsworth could use to carry Ellie around in with his one, functional robotic hand. He was good with Ellie, just as he had been with Shaun, and he always tried to do what he could before he inevitably had to wake her up for help.
He was no Miss. Nanny after all- but he was damn close.
Sighing, Nora found herself putting everything on Codsworth being behind Ellie missing just so she wouldn't run out screaming into the neighborhood. It was making her jittery and nervous- she didn't like it.
She snatched a loose shirt from the dresser nearby and slipped it on, before she briefly glanced back to the bed in hopes that she hadn't woken up her partner.
And for a second time, she was met with an empty sight.
...
Right.
Preston had responded to a last minute call-to-arms against some Raiders out by Outpost Zimonja the day before. It had taken her quite some time to convince him to go; she had insisted that since the General of the Minutemen was momentarily out of commission, thanks to him by the way, he was the next in the chain of command. And since he was the next rank, he had to respond to it.
She knew he didn't want to leave either her, or Ellie, but they both still had jobs to do, and right now, he had to fill in for the both of them.
She had managed to make a few trips to Diamond City and back, and one trip out to the Castle to introduce Ellie to her new Grandma Ronnie, but traveling was one thing- and fighting was another. She was still getting used to her body again, and she still had quite a bit of healing to go before everything could bounce back into place; somehow, she didn't foresee herself getting back into combat for at least a few months.
It would take him awhile to get back though- she didn't predict his return until late tomorrow maybe.
But that was only if he took the current night off to recover from fighting, and she highly doubted that he would.
If she knew anything about him, it was that he'd want to get back home as soon as possible. And as much as she wanted him to rest, she wanted him back home as quickly as possible as well.
Fingers nervously smoothed out the wrinkles in her shirt as she quietly stepped out into the hallway.
She was desperately hoping that she would see Codsworth in the process of floating back to her room with the cradled basket in one hand. But instead, she spotted him floating about in the kitchen- apparently doing some late-night tidying up it would seem, which wasn't unlike him.
At the very least, it quilled her fear of someone having snuck in here to kidnap her baby.
But it still didn't answer where exactly Ellie was now.
"Codsworth," Nora called, trying to keep her voice quiet so not to wake Shaun, as she carefully stepped down the hallway- minding her naked toes. "Where's Ellie?"
The Mr. Handy rotated the upper sphere of his body around, while his arms remained preoccupied with cleaning. "Oh mum, please do keep it down," Codsworth spoke, keeping his robotic voice in a hushed whisper. "Sir just got the young Ellie and Shaun back to sleep."
Nora paused at the end of the corridor and frowned slightly at the comment- finding it both odd, and... a little bittersweet. Codsworth had always referred to Nate as 'Sir', which Nate had found humorous, and took a little too much pride in being called such. But with how things had become recently, what with the new baby and living together, he had started to refer to Preston as such now. And while Preston had insisted on no formalities, it was simply a battle he could not win against with Codsworth- so he had reluctantly accepted the new title.
It had been a little hard to deal with at first, hearing Codsworth refer to someone other than Nate as Sir, and she would be lying if she didn't think of Nate every time he said it. But it was just a part of starting over. A very small part, but one that she still had to hurdle over.
She watched as Codsworth gestured loosely towards the small living room, and slowly moved her eyes to see what he was pointing to.
...
Nora heard herself snort slightly and moved her hands to cover her mouth to keep from giving out a laugh of surprise.
Quiet footsteps took her through the kitchen and into the living area, where she slowly stepped around the beaten down couch to get a better look at the scene that was presented before her. She felt her heart swell in her chest at the sight, and couldn't help the cheek-numbing smile that came to her.
Preston was passed out on the couch, and still dressed in his full uniform- which told her that he must've just have gotten back from the call; which also told her that he must've traveled non-stop throughout the night just so he could get back to her as soon as possible.
... And tucked safely in the curve of his arm, and held close to his chest, was Ellie, who was still asleep- thankfully.
And then there was Shaun, who was sleeping against him, nestled firmly under one arm, with her Pip-Boy still in his grasp.
The only way Nora figured this could've happened was that Preston had gotten home not too long ago, and got in just in time to hear Ellie crying. He must've taken her out of her crib to calm her down so that Nora wouldn't be awaken by the noise. And somehow, between leaving their bedroom, and retreating to the living room, he ran into Shaun, who probably woke up with the commotion.
It was no secret that Shaun idolized Preston, easily having bonded with him to the point of calling him 'dad' a few times- which had caught Preston off-guard at first. But looking at them now, seeing their bond, it was hard to imagine a time where they didn't know each other. Preston had been with her the moment Shaun had found her during the Institute raid; they both knew that he was a synth, but... it didn't stop them from taking Shaun back with them. And since then, they operated like a little family. He was incredibly protective of Shaun, especially considering the still constant hate of Synths that lingered in the Commonwealth. And Shaun seemed to enjoy having a different kind of father figure in his life.
As for the Pip-Boy, well... she had a wide variety of games on it, and Shaun really enjoyed the Zeta Invaders game- it was his favorite one.
But Preston had the highest score on it, which made her come to realize that Shaun may have a slight competitive streak. He had been working hard on beating Preston's score, but had only come close to it once- and had only missed out by thirty points. So he was probably getting Preston to give him some pointers on how to beat his score.
But it was late, so it was no surprise that they all eventually passed out on the couch together.
...
And for the first time in awhile, Nora felt like she had accomplished something right.
Sure, destroying the Institute, and saving the Commonwealth was nothing to toss under the rug, but... this was something different. This was something she didn't think was possible- something she had even gone out of her way to avoid for a long while.
There was no fighting here, no defiantly trying to prove something...
All of this came together on its own.
And it stayed together.
Despite everything that she had suffered and grinded through to get here, she didn't regret a single choice she had made- not when all of those choices brought her here, to this sight.
In this scraped together world, finding love and having a family seemed like the last thing that was possible to do- sometimes the last thing one should even focus on.
But right here in front of her was proof that it could happen.