He'd taken his shift not too long ago, his hat cocked upwards in an effort to keep his eyes up and aware. The fire crackled before him, embers dancing upwards as the clouds passed over the stars. Everything was uncharacteristically quiet. Except her.
He glanced down at her beside him, her hair falling over her doll-like face as he noted she was already off in a dream. Sleeping came easy to her, which he envied in his own passive way - the fact that she didn't need chems to dose off was truly a gift. He wondered for a moment what went through her head as she let out little sighs and soft noises, what she even dreamt of - this woman out of time.
A few moments later, he got his answer. A name he'd never heard before. "Nate..." her brow furrowed in confusion, she shifted restlessly and hugged herself tighter. He exhaled softly so as not to wake her up. Ever since he first laid eyes on her, he knew she was a widow - he had a knack for reading people pretty well, especially women. The ring on her finger and the one matching worn around her neck under her armor, the way she responded to people complimenting her physique, and the way she would laugh off his flirtations and lightly direct the conversation to more pressing matters without completely shutting him down. All signs indicating she was still emotionally married - even if the husband was long gone.
Once when they had stopped for the night in Sanctuary she told him to rest up while she worked on modifying her favorite energy weapons, yet when he awoke she was nowhere to be found. He looked around the town, not wanting to entertain the idea that she'd left without him because what the hell was he supposed to do now? Preston had no idea where she'd gone, hadn't seen her and offered to help the ghoul look.
Eventually they found her in her old house, in her sons old room, laying on the cold dusty floor holding the sheet of his baby blue crib to her bosom. Tears streamed down her sleeping face as a recording played on repeat. A deep masculine voice, "hi honey", amidst some cooing baby sounds. Preston and he exchanged a look, a knowing look, and led the other away from the scene.
"Mmm..." she moaned, content in her own dream, and Hancock found his eyes wandering back over to her. Her smooth cheeks, her puffy lips, long dark eyelashes dancing across her skin. He'd be lying if he said he didn't find her beautiful, he was sure everyone with eyes could see that. She had this... energy about her when she walked into a place, like it was hers for the taking. She always knew what to say and when to say it, had an even better knack for reading people than he did.
Yet she was such a do-gooder, too. Had a strong moral code and a fiery tongue when she needed it. People he met often had moral codes, whether strong or not it wasn't uncommon, but never would they act on it like she did. Told that Brotherhood doctor to fuck off when she was asked if she'd ever slept with a ghoul before. Later that same day she punched an initiate for making a nasty comment about him, he could physically feel the woman's nose break. She stared down the other initiates and knights in the room and proclaimed loudly "if you're going to make a shitty comment about my friend then I'm going to give you a shitty broken nose."
He grinned stupidly at the memory and lit his cigarette, taking a slow drag off it and looked up into the night.
He'd never been so into a woman before.