The Battle Coat
Half-Naked and Confused
It was about 6am when the barefooted figure stepped across the bridge into the Sanctuary settlement. Too early for anyone to be up, meaning no one would see her tip-toeing down the cracked pavement toward her old house. She was light enough to where her footsteps didn't make loud stomping sounds. Of course, she wasn't wearing any shoes so that was of no consequence.
In fact, Nora Howard wasn't wearing much of anything at the moment. The only thing she wore, despite leaving a day or so before in an orange Brotherhood of Steel uniform, was a thick leather coat that was way too big for her tied at her waist and her Pip-Boy. She really didn't want to tell anyone why she was dressed this way or how much her bare feet ached. She just wanted to get to her house, get dressed, and get a little bit of sleep. In that precise order.
The sun was starting to rise so she didn't have much time to do those things before the other settlers woke up to start the day. Ever since she left Vault 111, Nora's life had been one crazy adventure after another, but this one was by far the most humiliating.
Not able to walk any further, Nora leaned against the frame of an under-construction building. Sturges was building some kind of ware house for the settlers of Sanctuary to store their salvage and dry goods on the foundation of an old house and it was part-way done. Nora had to rest, she couldn't go on with her feet throbbing this bad.
Nora sat down on the cement foundation and rubbed her feet. She looked around the settlement as she did so. This wasn't the life Nora envisioned she'd have when she married her husband, Nate. She didn't envision waking up two hundred years in the future with the world in ruins. Nora thought about all of this many times during her travels. She remembered stumbling, disoriented, into the remains of Sanctuary and finding her home a shell of what it once was. Her robot butler, Codsworth, survived the devastation and directed her to the ruins of Concord, where her life changed again.
Now, Sanctuary was a thriving settlement and the Minutemen, the people she helped in Concord, were a growing force. Nora figured she had accomplished more now than she ever had or would before the bombs dropped two hundred years ago. Two hundred years ago, Nora Howard was a housewife. She married Nate when he graduated basic and settled down to a pretty typical life. She was a law student before meeting Nate and had graduated just before they married. They were living off the money from Nate's army retirement, which was very generous, and things were seemingly perfect.
Before the war, Nora busied her days with cleaning, taking care of newborn Shaun, and taking Codsworth to help her with the shopping. Sometimes, she'd do her gardening, or have coffee at a neighbor's house, or just watch television, but that was the extent of her excitement. One was not short on excitement nowadays. Every time she left Sanctuary, something new happened and it normally involved shooting something.
Last time she left Sanctuary, Sturges had been working to reroute the plumping to get water from the river, meaning the bathrooms and sinks would work again and hopefully no more using outhouses on the outskirts of the settlement. The one thing Nora really wanted working was the showers. She could really use one right about then. She brought in some filters from a factory she scavenged and was hoping they could filter out most of the rads in the river water.
As she rubbed the feeling back into her bare feet and tried to keep the jacket from untying, Nora tried to arrange the events of the last day or so in her mind. She remembered needing to clear her head after the mess with Paladin Danse and Elder Maxson. Despite being affiliated with the Minutemen (she was their General, after all), and the Railroad, Nora had been spending a lot of time with the Commonwealth's newest power players: The Brotherhood of Steel.
Truth be told, she didn't like them much. They hated everything she swore to protect. It never mattered to Nora who was a Synth or a Ghoul or a human, she wanted to protect the people and help rebuild. The Brotherhood just had the technology and know-how to do all of those things. When she met Paladin Danse on her way to take back the Castle, she gave them a hand in finding a deep range transmitter (whatever the hell that was) and helped them reinforce their outpost to the best of her abilities. When Paladin Danse offered to sponsor her entry into the Brotherhood of Steel, told him she'd think about it. She actually didn't think she'd ever see him, Scribe Haylen, or Knight Rhys ever again until the Prydwen flew overhead during the sunrise.
It was then Nora Howard knew what she had to do. If anyone in the Commonwealth was going to help her get into the Institute to find her son, it would be them. If they built a massive flying fortress like the Prydwen, then building a way to get into the Institute would be some building and a few fetch missions away. Nora would need to fake her way through some missions, but one does not go to law school without learning how to fake charisma.
It had apparently worked, because before she knew it, she was a Knight without having to do much of anything. Even after the molecular transporter had been built and used, Nora didn't see much reason for her to stay in the Brotherhood of Steel. She got the answers she needed, though not the ones she wanted. When Elder Maxson asked for a full report after she returned from the Institute, she only gave him a few pages and never spoke of it again. From what the report said, Maxson fully understood why.
Nora knew why she stayed, but she didn't want to admit it was for such a petty reason. Paladin Danse was her sponsor, her mentor, and her friend. Every time they went out on a mission, or were just walking around on the Prydwen, Nora felt at ease. He was a tough commander; stubborn, strong-willed, and didn't accept anything except 100%. When she first saw him at Cambridge, she almost fainted. She would never admit this to him or anyone, but save for a few scars, he was almost the spitting image of her late husband. She almost called him Nate the first time they talked, but she stopped herself.
Then the shocking truth came in the form of Elder Maxson accusing her of hiding things. Maxson sounded like a jealous lover the way he accused Nora of knowing that Danse was, in fact, an Institute Synth. Of course, this news nearly knocked Nora off her feet. Everyone in Sanctuary always joked that Danse had a stick up his ass, but none of them would have guessed he was a Synth.
"It's not right!" Nora had shouted to Maxson when he gave her the order to execute Danse. "I won't do it! Danse deserves a chance to explain himself!"
Elder Maxson was not a debating man. He was young, probably no older than twenty by Nora's estimate, but already looked like a man of about thirty. When Elder Maxson wanted something done, it got done or there was hell to pay. He was handsome, in a weather-beaten thousand-yard stare type of way. His eyes were sometimes cold, but she sometimes caught him looking at her with an unfamiliar softness whenever she and Danse left the room. He was stern with her whenever Danse was around, but when they somehow found themselves alone, Elder Maxson spoke to her like she wasn't someone directly under him. But the evening the truth was revealed, he talked to her like she was a child about to be punished.
"You will do it! This is not up for judgement or debate! I am giving you a direct order, Knight! And I expect you to follow it without question!" Elder Maxson had said before turning to face the window. "I'm not blind to the fact that Danse was…" he looked like he was looking for the right words to say. "…your mentor, and this isn't an easy burden to bear. But if we are to remain strong, we can't afford to make exceptions, even when it means executing one of our own." He said a few more things about Proctor Quinlan that she wasn't paying attention to and then refused to acknowledge her any further. When Nora started to leave, Maxson shouted for her to stop, but still didn't turn to look at her. "Knight, there is a promotion for you riding on the results of these orders, so don't disappoint me."
Nora thought about this entire debacle for the last few days. She wanted to leave the Brotherhood anyway, now that she got what she needed, but couldn't bring herself to leave Danse. Nora thought about the gun she held in her hand when she descended down the elevator. She heard the orders a thousand times in her head, but when she finally reached the bottom floor of the bunker and saw Danse sitting behind the window, she couldn't bring herself to harm him. Nora had never seen that look before on Danse. He was accepting failure, which was something he taught her to never do.
Through tears and words of encouragement, Nora talked Danse into choosing life. She wasn't going to kill him. She'd take hell from Maxson if she had to back at the ship, but she was planning to go back there and tell him where he could shove his new rank before giving him the finger as she left. While she confidently planned this all in her head, she was still terrified to see Elder Maxson standing outside the bunker, his personal Vertibird parked nearby.
Nora brought the jacket closer to her chest when a soft wind came through the empty streets of Sanctuary. The coldness reminded her of Elder Maxson's face when she and Danse left the bunker. His expression was like he had caught them in an intimate tryst. The way he yelled at her about disobeying his orders made her feel that way, anyhow. Somehow, they had talked Elder Maxson into not executing them both right there in the middle of nowhere.
But it was what happened when she returned to the Prydwen a few days later that resulted in her making a mad dash into Sanctuary at 6am wearing nothing except a thick leather coat and her Pip-Boy. Nora decided she had rested enough and made sure no one else was around. She had been making a list of regrettable actions in her head, and now she had something to add to it. Somewhere near the top, though not number one. Or maybe it would be, after she had time to think more clearly.
Thinking she was alone, Nora slowly made her way to her old house. She had fixed it up and cleaned it out as best she could and even put a little patio table and two chairs in what was once her back yard. Nora made her way to the side door, which was under a car port, and leaned against the side of the house. She had fixed up and jury-rigged an old gas station ice freezer to work and put it there so the settlers could store meats and other dry goods while Sturges built the warehouse. It was also where she had stored some beer and decided to help herself to one. She realized she probably shouldn't be drinking, since drinking was one of the reasons she was now half-naked.
"Isn't it a little early to be drinking, Blue?" said a voice from behind Nora. Nora slowly turned around and saw Piper Wright standing behind her with a hand on her hip. Piper had been staying in Sanctuary for a little while, mostly to do a story on how the Minutemen were slowly rebuilding and gaining in numbers. Of course, most of the settlers found Piper to be nosy and in the way, but Nora liked having Piper around. It was refreshing to talk to someone who didn't sugar coat things for Nora, as most people did when they found out she was from a Vault. Piper then noticed what Nora was and wasn't wearing. "…and a little too cold to be walking around almost completely naked?"
Not bothering to ask why Piper was up so early, Nora just sighed. The jig was up. "There is nothing I could make up on the spot that wouldn't sound more insane than the truth." Nora said, leaning her now aching head against the freezer.
"It's my job to bring the people the truth, no matter how bad it hurts." Piper smiled, knowing she couldn't take credit for that line and that Nora wouldn't understand the reference.
Nora decided she had to tell someone or it would eat her alive. Piper was probably the closest friend Nora had made since leaving the Vault. She had accepted a long time ago that whatever she said to Piper might end up in her newspaper, Publick Occurrences. But Piper was a good friend, and normally kept what Nora confided in her a secret. Piper never published anything without Nora's consent. Piper may have been nosy and prone to getting them into trouble for the sake of a story, but she was loyal and Nora treasured that most of all. "Piper, I have a story I need to tell, and though I know it's probably going to end up in that paper of yours, I need to tell someone before I explode."
Piper grabbed a beer for herself out of the freezer and followed Nora to the backyard patio table, where they wouldn't be bothered. The two sat down, Nora forgetting that she was still only wearing the jacket and nothing underneath. "Blue, you know you can tell me anything. Now, what's wrong?" Piper asked. Piper looked concerned for more than just the obvious reason. She had never known Nora to look so distressed, except when she came back from the Institute the first time. She had visited Piper right after reporting back to the Brotherhood and told her everything, including the truth about Shaun.
"Piper, promise me you won't think any less of me for what I'm about to tell you." Nora moaned.
"Blue, everything we've been through, there is nothing you could say or do that could make me think less of you." Piper smiled reassuringly and it gave Nora some comfort. "Now, you want to tell me why you're sneaking around Sanctuary this early in the morning with nothing on except an oversized leather jacket with the Brotherhood insignia on it?"
Nora whimpered a bit, trying to find the best way to begin this story. "Remember how I told you about Danse being a Synth?"
Piper nodded. "Yeah, you came back here to rest and put some gear away, I remember. You barely said hello, much less good-bye before you made your way back to Boston Airport. Does this have to do with what happened after you came back? Did something happen with Elder Maxson?"
Nora only nodded.
Piper looked concerned. "Blue…" she looked at Nora intensely. She felt she already knew what Nora was about to say. "…What happened?"
Nora looked like she was about to cry, but she only gave Piper a pitying look. She felt like she was before a jury of everyone she had met up until this point and she was going to be judged for this crime. She groaned and buried her head in her arms. Nora decided to just say it and get it over with, hoping it would allow to tell the story without incident.
"…I slept with Elder Maxson…"
Hi, hi everyone! I'm Luna Peachie!
You might know me, but if you don't, hello! Nice to meet you! Lately, I've been trying my hand at some Fallout fics. I already have one roaming around here somewhere called Silver Lining. I'm actually quite proud of that one, so I decided to try my hand at another one. This one would be more adult oriented, meaning there will be sexy times, as well as violence, dirty jokes, badly described nudity, and sock puppets. Don't ask me how that last one fits in. When it happens, you'll know.
As evidenced by the name of this story, most of the chapters will revolved around Elder Maxson's famous battlecoat in some manner. That coat is going to get some mileage put on it, let me tell you now. Thing will be done in, on it, and possibly to it. I don't think Abaxo will be able to get those stains out lol.
I know this is only the first chapter, but how did I do? I really have a good plan for this story and I want to keep it going. So, write me a review and let me know how I did! Writing Fallout fiction is hard because there is a lot of lore going on that you have to take into account and the fandom is not shy about letting you know about one slip-up. It's good in a way, but also frustrating to the writer who is trying to bring entertainment, as well as stay lore friendly. I'll do both to the best of my abilities!
So, you know the drill! Well, you will soon anyway! Read, review, and be merry!
Fallout belongs to Bethesda.