This a Gift fic for Groovymarlin over on AO3.
The first time Sturges saw Nora, he had little faith that anyone so green could help them. She had one on those vault suits on, but no number he recognized. Maybe one of the vaults had been opened recently. The last thing he expected was for it to be in their backyard once they arrived in Sanctuary.
"That's fantastic! Maybe we can talk some of your vault friends into helping us set up base here!"
"That…wouldn't work." She said, growing sad. "I'm the only one left. Everyone else…"
"Oh mum, we don't need so speak of that now! Here, let's go back home, I'm sure one of your dresses survived all these years. Won't that make you feel better?"
She smiled weakly. "Sure Codsworth, let's go see."
That was one funny robot, but Sturges wasn't gonna judge. But what did he say about her house? All these years? Maybe machine A.I can go crazy after a while.
After a few days off collecting supplies from nearby ruins and setting up a big enough farm to live on, Sturges still couldn't shake what that Mr. handy had said. Preston had insisted that no one look a gift horse in the mouth, and not question Nora after everything she had done for them…but Sturges still wasn't sure.
Finally, one night when he couldn't get to sleep, he took a walk up the hill to vault 111. The floor that lowered to the actual vault was loud, but surely not loud enough to be heard all the way in sanctuary, he thought.
The place was cool and humid; the air had this distinct taste to it that stuck and the back of his thought and made him cough. There were crates full of supplies; mostly junk, but nothing he couldn't repurpose. Then he came to the cryogenic chambers.
"Good God…"
Rows upon rows—and every single one broken. Then he came to an open one….the only open…one.
"Nora…"
"Now you see why I left." Sturges nearly jumped out of his skin. Nora was leaning against the arch way of the exit. "Difficult crowd. No matter which…icebreaker…I used." She laughed bitterly, rubbing her shoulders as she joined him on front of her own pod.
"You're…pre-war…"
"Cryo-chambers do wonders for the skin."
"Nora, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have—"
"No! Don't." She stopped him with a hand. "It's not like I locked the place. And the supplies here would be useful…" She turned, putting her left hand on the window of the pod opposite hers.
"Just…help me bury the dead, ok?"
Sturges didn't miss the ring on her finger. He thought better of bringing that up. They each grabbed armfuls of supplies before heading back up to Sanctuary. The next day, after everyone was buried, Nora walked among the graves, each marked with a plank of wood. Nora had written everyone's name that she knew. Preston had said some words…as best he could, anyway. But she stayed at one in particular. Her husband's—Nate was his name. When she finally came back, she was quiet. Sturges couldn't help but feel guilty when he noticed she wasn't wearing her ring anymore.
Nora came and went, sometimes with Preston, sometimes she brought someone else from out in the Commonwealth, each helping where they could in the tiny community that was steadily growing. Sturges heard her on the radio sometimes, helping out more settlements like his, even about defending some Brotherhood solders against a pack of rabid ghouls.
He had a good laugh at that; imagine! All those solders in heavy armor needing the help of one woman. Then again, it was Nora. She…she was something else!
After she took back the Castle, many of the settlers wanted to move. Nora was back in town! Even if it was only a few days to help escort everyone across the Commonwealth.
Sturges was rifling through one of the houses. All immediate repairs around town had been made, no raiders in sight, which meant he could finally work on that holotape player. The three stations were fine and all, but after listening to the same tunes year after year…well…things got a little repetitive to say the least. He tossed a broken flag frame into his box of junk before looking through the drawers. More odds and ends, until he came across a cigar box that rattled.
"Now I'm no connoisseur," He muttered, "but I've never seen anyone smoke a holotape, no matter how desperate for a fix they were."
The song titles weren't anything he'd ever seen before, "Hound Dog", "Blue suede shoes" Some of them had dates or "Live" in all capital letters.
Taking the haul back to his garage, he set the holotapes aside and took out his glasses, cleaning them carefully before getting to work.
His eyesight wasn't that bad, but things got a little blurry when he was this up-close. The outer wood paneling of the tape player was as smooth as he was gonna get it, but the circuitry inside was fried. He threw in a tape and pressed play, figuring it would start playing when he connected the right wires. Just as he was about to open the panel, he heard a knock on the garage door.
"Sturges," That voice…
He couldn't help but smile. She claimed the cryo sleep had made her voice a little rougher, but he liked it. She was leaning against the wall, cigarette between that smirk of hers. Nora was hiding something behind her back.
"I'm headed to the castle tomorrow; are you sure you don't want to come?"
"Quite sure, darlin'. It may get a little quieter here, but that's just how I like it."
"And Marcy Long moving to the castle has nothing to do with this, does it?"
"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean." He grinned, "So what did you bring me?"
She pulled a leather jacket from behind her back. Not just any jacket…his.
"I was in Quincy a while back, and one of the terminals had some entries from you. I connected the dots." She explained as he put it on over his overalls. Still fit!
"This is…wow, Nora, thank you!" When Quincy had been hit by raiders, he lost everything that wasn't on him. She blushed, biting her lip as she smiled. "No problem! What are you working on?"
"Trying to get this little lady to sing." He gestured to the holotape player. "Can you pass me that pile of circuitry? Some of them have to work, right?" He winked, watching her bend over to look through the mess that he swore had a system. Not bad…he felt a little bad for ogling, but there was no helping it for an ass like that. And it's not like he would try anything. Nora was…something else.
"So," She settled down next to him. "Only about ten or fifteen settlers are staying. Between the self-automated water purifier and generators recently repaired by yours truly, you aren't going to have much to do around here, huh?" Nora watched him work, admiring how he looked in glasses.
"I have a feeling this little project will keep me busy for a while, but yeah. I'm thinking a tato farm is in my future. It's strange to think about," He mused, "but the Commonwealth has gotten quieter since you took out the Institute. Weird to think I might get bored out here."
"I could come by to see you once and a while, if you don't mind visitors." She leaned forward to get a better look at his work. Sturges felt her hair fall against his shoulder.
"Sweetheart, this will always be your home first." He turned to find her impossibly close, subconsciously leaning closer to her, he added softly, "And I'd never say no to help around the tato farm." His finger brushed against the console as he moved to brush the hair out of her face.
"You ain't nothin' but a hound dog, cryin' all the time!—"
They both jumped back as the music blared, a little louder than they expected.
"Oh! It's working…"Sturges moved to lower the volume.
"Those are my tapes. Man, I haven't heard Elvis in forever." Nora jumped up, brushing the dirt of her vault suit as she looked away shyly. "Sure brings back memories…"
"Good memories, I hope?"
"Mostly." She smiled, stretching her limps. Damn, she was beautiful. Nothing about that vault suit was conservative, either. "And hey, don't worry about looking through my old music tapes. I read your terminal diary, so I guess we're even."
Turning up the volume a bit, Sturges went to grab them a couple of beers from the fridge.
8888888888888888888
"Some of those tapes are live; you saw this Elvis guy in action?"
"Oh yeah! The King was a great performer!" Nora wobbled slightly as got to her feet, dancing to the rhythm of the old world rock.
"You can knock me down, step on my face,
Slander my name all over the place,
Do anything that you going to do,
But uh, uh, honey lay off of my shoes!"
Even drunk, she was sure-footed enough to gyrate her hips to the guitar riff at the end of the verse. Sturges was floored.
"Hot damn, what was that?" he jumped up to catch her as she fumbled slightly.
Nora giggled, clinging to the front of his jacket. "It was this thing he used to do! Real hit with the ladies!"
"What, like this?" Sturges, despite his own inebriation, tried shaking his hips, but it only ended in Nora laughing harder.
"Not quite! Like this:" incorporating her knees and feet Nora went a little slower this time. "See it's not all about the hips, but those are pretty important too, see?"
She moved his hands down to her hips rolling them in a figure eight. "Not too hard once you get used to it."
"I guess I'll need to practice then." He held her a little closer. The alcohol was leaving his mind, but that didn't seem to change how she was looking at him.
"Maybe I can help you, then. Maybe after helping you with that hypothetical tato farm of yours."
"I wouldn't say no, but I'm a slow learner." What was he doing? This wasn't wrong, just…strange? There were so many others that would have fit her better. Nora was a hero! Maccready, Danse, even that Deacon guy. He was a home-boy, not one for adventure. He wasn't a soldier, or a leader, or...anything really. This defender of the wasteland was coming on to him an old greaser turned mechanic and farmer.
"Are you sure you want me though, miss? To train, I mean..." He tried to look away from those gorgeous eyes of hers, sparkling slightly in the candle light of the garage.
She stopped him with a kiss, holding his chin between fingers that had no right to be that gentle, that soft. By the time she pulled away, he was breathless, moving to follow her retreating lips.
"I'm sure, Sturges. Have been for a while, but since you've been ignoring all my advances, I was beginning to thing you had more than just a professional relationship with that hammer of yours. Wanna get the door?" She smirked stepping back and working on the fastens of her jumpsuit.
Sturges heard her laugh as he nearly tripped on his overalls to close the garage door. Was this really happening? He had already asked if she was sure, but...
"Are you sure?"
She raised her eyebrow at him. "If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have shaken my ass to Jail House Rock for you. Now is there anywhere softer to do this?"
"So you planned all of this, did you?" Sturges couldn't help but grin, watching her peel the suit from her chest, leaving nothing but a white bra.
"I wouldn't say planned so much as, saw an opportunity and took it." Nora pulled the cloth off a car that had been sitting there in the garage since before the war. He had been doing his best to fix it, but for now with power cores in such short supply, the best he could do was clean and maintain it. Opening the back door, she sat down and looked over at him expectantly. He smiled back. Who was he to judge her taste? Turning to the holotape player, he changed it to something that sounded slower.
"Wise men say
Only fools rush in."
He swayed his hips to the song, undoing the buttons to his overalls with each step. Nora covered her mouth playfully, swaying to the music as she watched him with hungry eyes.
"Darling, so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand,"
With this, Sturges, fully naked except for his underwear, held out his hand smiling from ear to ear. Shaking with laughter, she yanking him forward until they fell against the car cushions, firm with age.
"Take my whole life, too
For I can't help falling in love with you."
She kicked the rest of her suit off before pulling him into another kiss, fingers trailing into his thick dark hair.
"Softer than I expected." She said with a hum as his mouth travelled lower to taste the salt on her neck. "I usually keep it out of my face with glue." He muttered, playing with her breasts and tweaking her nipples. He shivered at the sounds she made from this.
"You're such a dork!" She giggled. "But, I guess that's what drew me to you in the first place, huh?" Somehow, her hand had found its way into his pants without Sturges even noticing. Nora gave him a few firm strokes—not that that was very necessary, he had been half hard since she first shook her ass at him.
"Oh yeah?" he asked, kissing his way up to her ear, "And what about a humble mechanic like myself drew a larger than life vault hero like yourself's eye?" he purred against her ear before taking it between his teeth, his hands going for her waist and dipping farther down. She moaned gently as his fingers played in her curls and outer lips.
"Well that hair was quite the eye catcher, first off. Then that keister in jeans couldn't be ignored long after. But the biggest thing...well, second biggest I should say," she gave his cock a small squeeze, "was your personality."
Sturges scoffed, pulling back to look at her incredulously. She laughed, rolling them over so she was on top. Easier said than done in the crowded space, but Nora knew what she was doing.
"No, really! You're just so...down to earth! It's hard to live up everyone's idea of me—like I'm some big faker. You always seemed to see me for what I was. Just another wastelander who wanted to feel a little safe out here." she eased the glasses off his nose. "I always feel safe around you." Her words broke off as Sturges pulled her close, kissing her passionately. She smiled into the kiss, pressing her tongue against his lips to taste him. There was the sharp taste of old beer, but Sturges didn't smoke like her. Nice touch.
His breath grew erratic as she grinded slowly against him. Rolling to the side, he pressed her into the back cushion, fingers drawing circles against her clit before pressing into her warm heat.
"Ohh..." She pressed into his crooked fingers, nails digging into the muscle of his arms. That was another thing she loved about him: That white t-shirt of his never hid the muscles he was sporting. Throwing her leg over his hip, Nora began to shake, squeezing tortuously around those fingers that were just barely not enough.
Thick, calloused, but just not enough.
"Sturges!..." She groaned desperately.
He chuckled, "All right, ma'am," before pulling them out and rolling back on top of her. Lining himself up with one hand, he paused to admire her body just a little bit longer. Fingers brushed appreciatively along the dark red jagged stretch marks on her legs up to the long cut across her abdomen. It was reassuring to see scars from before the war. That she wasn't some helpless gal that got thrown into the wastes and had to grow strong from there. Nora had always been tough. Always strong. Always Nora.
"Like what you see?" She pulling him closer and he had to catch himself from falling on top of her. Sturges pressed his nose to her hair.
"More than you can imagine, sweetheart." Easing his cock between her folds, they both hissed at the feeling. He was definitely bigger than she expected. His thumb went back to tracing her clit, teasing at the sides, but not getting to close. Nora bucked against his length until he filled her to the hilt.
"Come on Sturges, you've been teasing me long enough. I need more than what you're giving." The weather was hot outside, and the car wasn't helping, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to press her farther into the cushions and through her leg over his shoulder. And he did just that. "Careful what you ask for, ma'am." He pressed a kiss to her lips before pounding into her at a gloriously fast pace. Endurance was one thing, but this?
"Oh…Sturges! Yes, right there!" The car was shaking and she was too loud, but Nora didn't care and neither did Sturges. He was getting close, but he'd be damned if he finished without her.
"Fuck, Nora! Do you know how much I've wanted this? You're gorgeous, smart, tough—everything a guy could ask for…Any guy would be lucky to have you to help with his tato farm."
She couldn't help laugh at that, but it was enough. She came laughing and clinging to his chest as she rode out her orgasm. A few more thrusts and he followed after her with a throaty shout. They laid like that for a few minutes, catching their breath in silence before Sturges reached over her to open the window.
"So…" Sturges looked down at her awkwardly. Where did they go from here? Was this a fling? God, it was, she was leaving in the morning! He caught her shiver. Pulling a blanket from the bed of the car, he pulled her close and wrapped them both up.
"Now who's planning?" She mumbled, snuggling in close.
More silence.
"I ah…" She looked up at him, pushing the sweat matted hair from her face before smiling up and him and doing the same for him.
"I don't like beating around the bush, but…I'm more of a one gal kinda guy…what about you?"
She made a face. "Well I wouldn't call myself a one gal kinda guy…but I would call myself a one guy kinda gal." She kissed his nose before resting her head against his chest.
"I have an early morning, but if you have any room at all in this crowded settlement of yours, I'd love to help around the tato farms."
Warmth bubbled in Sturges' chest. Pulling the blanket to cover her more, he said, "Well alright."
