Their Favorite Christmas Story

Fallout 4 Songfic

Characters: Nick Valentine (POV), Ellie Perkins, Sole Survivor, Takahashi, Sheffield
Pairing: Nick ValentinexSS
Word count: 3,087
Rating: G/K
Inspired by: "His Favorite Christmas Story" by Capitol Lights

Note: See the fic also on Deviantart under Vampiricyoshi

Note: Updated Artist comment below, regarding the removal of the lyrics

It was a rare year when Officer Nick Valentine didn't get a call into the station with some horrible Christmas-time burglary or assault case to work on. He had been expecting it, so he hadn't made any plans. But he knew when Barney, his partner, heard he hadn't done anything with his time off he'd get one heck of an earful.

There was a Christmas party at a hotel. It wasn't exactly an invite-only so he saw no harm in slipping inside and spending a few hours mingling with strangers.

The party was nice and had a friendly atmosphere. There was pleasant chatter and the music was modern and made Nick feel at ease. Though it couldn't make him forget that he knew literally no one there.

But then, he saw her.

Her dress was as red as she was beautiful, her make-up expertly done and highlighted with a deep red lipstick that just seemed to glisten in the lights with the dress. A perfect match. She was there with friends, unlike him, because she was chatting so easily with a few other people.

She was a gorgeous dame and she looked like she had a fun personality.

Nick couldn't help looking over at her every once in a while, watching her make small talk with other people, drink cider, eat chocolate and cookies… A few times he even caught her watching him as well.

He felt like he was in high school again. There was dancing at this Christmas party and he wanted to ask her to share one with him, but he kept losing his nerve. He almost couldn't stand it – he was a grown man. What was wrong with getting up and asking this dame to dance?

He finally couldn't wait anymore – something in the back of his mind kept reminding him that the station could change their mind at any moment if, God forbid, an emergency or crime took place. He had to ask her before this could happen.

Taking two long gulps of his cider, Nick set down the empty glass and made his way across the floor toward the woman in red. He waited politely for her to acknowledge him before speaking to her.

"Excuse me, miss, but if you don't mind… I'd like to take this dance."

The dame looked at him and a smile broke across her face. "Sure," she said and set her own glass down on a table.

Nick felt his heart jump as she put her hand in his and let him lead her to the floor. As the first in the song started he turned to her and watched her as he lightly put his hand on her waist. She smirked at him and put her hand on his, making him press it more firmly against her dress before she took his other hand. She then lay her arm against his and started moving, getting him to sway to the music.

Nick quickly caught on and started to lead the dance. He heard a clock chime, letting them know it was almost eleven at night.

It was a perfect moment.

He never even learned her name.

It was getting cold.

Not that it really bothered Nick, mind you. The most inconvenience for him was the slight stiffness of his joints, but it wasn't anything a little exercise couldn't fix.

And with the people of Diamond City doing their best to keep warm in the cold December month, there wasn't a shortage of work that people would rather have a synth do than do it themselves.

However, this Christmas Eve, Nick didn't have any pressing jobs that needed done, so he was standing in the Market with the lights and the lone tree by Power Noodles waiting for someone to approach him with work. Problem was, though, that there was hardly anyone out in the cold weather.

Note, the word 'hardly'.

Nick could eventually see a young woman approach him. She was wearing a tattered, well used and loved black coat. She had wraps around her legs for added warmth and he could see the tubes of old socks on her wrists and hands. She was carrying what looked like a long, tan coat draped over one arm. It must belong someone else, Nick figured, if she wasn't wearing it herself.

The woman's eyes were bright and she was smiling as she approached him. He didn't usually see smiles like that toward him. She was definitely a dame on a mission.

The woman – Ellie Perkins, if memory served him right – stopped in front of him, making him stand up straight.

"Evening, Miss Perkins," he greeted, bowing his head to her slightly and giving her a friendly smile.

She looked surprised for a moment. "Oh – you know my name, Mr Valentine?"

His smile grew a little wider. "A beautiful dame like you? It'd be a crime to not know the name to go with that face."

There was a brief flash of memory in his CPU – a red dress and red lipstick. No name to go with it. Old Nick's memories were popping back up again, as it did on occasion. At least this memory was in time with the season, he supposed.

He wasn't gone long in the flash – maybe only a second. When he came back, Ellie was flushed slightly, and it didn't seem to be from the cold.

He kept grinning at her. "Now, what can I do for you, Miss Perkins?" he asked her.

"Call me Ellie," the human told him immediately. "And, well… I got something for you."

His smile dropped, he was so surprised. "You what?" he asked, even as she unfolded the coat in her arms and held it out to him. It was a long, tan trench coat that had seen some hard times but it looked that Ellie had taken it upon herself to fix it up with careful hand stitching and secure patches.

"It's cold out," she said. "And, well… I figured any resident in Diamond City shouldn't be without a coat. And with it being that time of year and everything…"

He stared at her – being unable to blink, he was aware, probably looked a bit odd to her.

"Miss… Ellie, I…" He slowly reached out and took the coat from her, looking over it as he spoke. "This… this is amazing. You didn't have to, kid…"

"I wanted to," she said. "You've done amazing things for Diamond City, despite… well, everything. And after helping out the Mayor and his daughter… you're a hero, Mr. Valentine. Besides… I saw the coat and I thought… I thought it'd suit you."

Nick laughed. "Well, you have great taste," he told her. "Thanks. Uh… I don't really got anything for you, thought."

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Valentine," She said, still smiling. "It's just that time of the year. 'Tis the season, you know?"

"Oh, I know," Nick said, grinning. "But I can't help it. I outta get you something too."

She chuckled. "Well, find me a job and I'd be happy as a mutfruit," she joked. "But really, Mr Valentine…"

"Ah, Nick," he said. "Call me Nick."

She smiled. "Okay. Nick."

He thought a moment, looking at the coat in his worn hands. "Hey… how about I treat you to a Noodle Cup?" he asked.

She looked surprised, but then she smiled. "Sure! Anything to stave off this cold."

Nick smiled and started to pull the coat on. He thought for a moment, but then he decided to offer her his arm. She took it without a second thought and Nick smiled before leading her the ten feet to the noodle bar where Takahashi stood, unfazed by the cold himself.

"Nani ni shimasu ka?"

"Just one, pal, thanks," Nick said, setting down the caps needed to pay Takahashi for the one noodle cup set in front of him. Without missing a beat, Nick slid it over to a jittery Sheffield.

"T-this is mighty kind of you, Mr. Valentine," he said, slowly pulling the cup toward him.

"Don't mention it," Nick said, smiling at him. "Sorry I didn't have any Nuka on me, but I didn't feel right not giving you anything."

Sheffield struggled a bit with the chopsticks, occasionally glancing at nick out of the corner of his eye as he ate.

"Nani ni shimasu ka?" Takahashi asked.

"That's alright, bucko, we're good for now," Nick said, waving at the robot. "How you doing, by the way? You doing okay? Anybody bothering you, you let me know, okay?"

The protectron bobbed its bulky body, as if to nod to Nick. "Nani ni shimasu ka?"

"You're awful nice for a synth, Mr. Valentine," Sheffield murmured through a mouthful of noodles, not looking up from his cup.

Nick just gave him a slight smirk. "If it bothers you too much, you can blame the tree over there and the memories of a dead man."

As he said this, he could still clearly picture that red dress dancing through his head, as it did almost every Christmas Eve.

His hand was getting worse, Nick noted. The screws came loose much more quickly than he'd have liked and he was growing more conscious of the time he spent fixing it. One of these days this thing was going to get him killed if he didn't keep on top of it.

About time, he supposed, but it would be completely inopportune now that he had someone counting on him to watch her back. Which he wished he could do right now, but his d*mn hand…

Solstice found him once again fiddling with the screws in his hand. They had found a spot to hunker down for the night, as the two of them were out in the Commonwealth heading back from a raid. She had been out checking around to make sure the spot they picked was safe and hidden. While she was gone Nick had started a fire and when she came back she immediately knelt by it. She pulled off her worn gloves and blew warm air on them before holding them out to the fire.

"Oh boy… it's cold," she hissed through her teeth.

Nick chuckled, finishing with the screw on his wrist. "It's that time of year, doll," he told her, slipping the screwdriver back into his coat. "It's the middle of December, after all."

Solstice wrinkled her nose at him playfully. "Well, this isn't your first Christmas out in the post-war Commonwealth," she teased.

He grinned. "No, it ain't," he admitted.

They spent some time in silence, warming by the fire and letting it chase away the cold and stiffness in their joints. Nick's mind began to wander to pre-war Christmas time once again, as it often did. Wander to the he memory of the woman in the red dress. That particular memory appeared so often that Nick felt more and more like it was his - more than that sandwich shop Old Nick seemed to like so much.

It got him wondering… what did his partner Solstice do for her Christmas before… everything? Well, he could always ask. If she didn't want to talk about it, he'd respect that. He usually did most of the talking anyway.

"You got any fun Christmas stories?" he asked her, putting polite curiosity in his voice.

Solstice looked at him for a moment, but slowly she started to smile. It was that smile that someone got when they had a particularly fond memory of a special time.

"Yeah, I do," she said. She waited a moment, looking into the fire and rubbing her hands together before she started. "A few years back…"

"More than that," Nick commented smartly.

Solstice pursed her lips at him in mock, annoyance. "A few years, plus two-hundred and ten, then," she corrected. "This was before Nate came from the war, so I hadn't met him yet."

It figured she pick a memory without him. She was understandably still having mixed feelings about the death of her husband and the world around her.

"I was at a Christmas party with some friends," she continued. "It was taking place in some hotel in Boston. It was a nice party with food and cider and dancing, but honestly I was getting a bit bored there." She smiled slightly. "I mean, parties aren't usually my scene. I found them a bit exhausting sometimes. But while I was there I saw what I thought was the cutest guy I'd ever seen. And… he was looking at me like I was something special. He kept watching me through the night. It sounds creepy, but… I found it kind of sweet and endearing."

Nick smiled. He supposed he wasn't the only one with a mysterious dance partner.

"I kept watching him right back," Solstice said. "You know, waiting for him to come up to me and talk to me or at least offer me a drink. He didn't though – not for the longest time, and I was getting ready to just walk up to him myself and demand a dance out of him."

That got a laugh out of Nick. "Guy was probably shaking in his boots, looking at a gal like you," he said.

Solstice gave him a mock look of offence. "Hey! I'm not that scary!" She laughed though. "But anyway, it was getting close to eleven o'clock at night and I was starting to wonder if it was worth it to stay for much longer. But finally, a bit before the hour, a new song started. And this guy, no bull, just seemed to finally have convinced himself and just downed his entire glass of cider before coming up to me. I'll never forget the words he said – it was just so endearing – he said something like 'Excuse me, but if you don't mind, I'd like to take this dance?' Ending it in a question, like he was already sure I was going to reject him."

Nick's smile started to fall as he listened. No… it couldn't be…

"Of course, I said yes," she said. "And the dancing… it seemed to last forever. He was a bit nervous at first, but when he figured I wasn't going to bite he seemed to get more confidence. And we just kept dancing, even after the song ended and another one started." She had a smile on her face as she remembered. "It was… a perfect moment, really. Too bad I never got his name."

She looked back at Nick, but then she frowned when she saw his face. "Nick? Is something wrong?"

Nick just watched her, silent. He was buried in Old Nick's memories of the night… the red dress, the lipstick, that hairstyle she had… yeah, he could see it on Solstice. He could see it perfectly. He came back, seeing her look at him with a confused and slightly worried face.

Nick made the motion of a swallow, even though he didn't need to do anything like that with his body anymore.

"Solstice," he said softly, not taking her eyes from her.

She blinked at him. "Yeah…?"

He smiled slightly at her. "Nothing. Just… I think Old Nick would have liked to know that name."

She was obviously very confused. "I don't… what do you mean?"

Nick's smile grew a little. "Well, I suppose it's my turn to share a story. It's about a dame wearing red lipstick to match that pretty dress she wore to a certain Christmas party."

The understanding that fell over her face would have moved him to tears. If he could cry, anyway.

End.

.

Author's Note:

Ugh, I'm sorry I couldn't get this up right away! I'm hoping that my writing isn't too rusty.

I had this idea bouncing around a bit in my head lately, especially when I finally got Nick Valentine in my party.

Solstice is not what my Sole Survivor is called - I wanted this one to be kind of generic so that she'd apply to many a SS out there. So the name Solstice is kind of a pun on the world 'Sole'. Don't hurt me too bad for it.

I also tried to make the SS and Old Nick's descriptions ambiguous as I am aware there are many different headcanons for him as there are for peoples' personal SS (I personally think of Cary Grant as Nick because of the closeness of the era he's based on, but that's just me 0w0)

I hope you guys enjoyed this. And I hope I translated Nick's character well in this. Happy holidays!

Reminder: Check this piece out on my deviantart and my tumblr at Vampiricyoshi!

Edit: I have been informed that I can't post song lyrics on Fanfiction. This may force me to take down my Animaniacs piece. I am upset by this because without the song I feel like it removes the experience I want to present by showing the words that the story is meant to be tied to. And I am not making any money or anything from this- It's a fanfiction site. I can't make money from it. I am in understanding that their concern is copyrights, so I feel like their argument is a bit weak in that regard.

If anyone has an idea of a site that will allow me to post a songfic in its entirety, then please - let me know. Otherwise, I encourage you to check out the piece on my deviantart at vampiricyoshi qdotq deviantart qdotq com(slash)art(slash)Fallout-4-Their-Favorite-Christmas-Story-oneshot-580199724 . Please direct all comments about the story there.

Another thing: The measures taken to keep links from being posted also annoys me. I use links to site references, but this site makes it impossible. Again, I do not make any money from any of this. In fact, I'd love to be able to site the inspiration and resources I use in the writing that I do because I know I can't take all the credit for the work I make.

I apologize for the rant... I hope this doesn't sour the story too much.

Song "His Favorite Christmas Story" (c) Capitol Lights
Fallout 4 (c) Bethesda
Writing (c) me - please do not steal