As she slowly awoke, Rose noticed a variety of slight aches all over her body. Apparently, she had fallen asleep on one of her arms, and it had lost all sensitivity. Also, her feet felt swollen inside the shoes she had forgot to take off the night before, and her eyeglasses were painfully embedded into her nose. Her head felt heavy and when she managed to sit up, her vision went black for a few seconds. She didn't remember having drunk the past night, but it would have explained her hangover-like sympthoms. What would have...?

Oh- she thought, as the bitter memories of the previous night came back to her-, right. The whole ordeal with Nick.

That did explain it. She used to have those non-alcoholic hangovers back in the day. When she had been crying, or really, really pissed off. With a deep breath, Rose got up from the bed while opening and closing her numb hand. With hesitant steps she made her way to the desk in the corner of her room, and replaced her eyeglasses with a pair of shades.

Maybe a cup of tea would help, she was a firm believer that tea was always the answer. At least she had been back in 2077, when her life was not a mess and her family was not dead or lost. Pressing her index and middle fingers againts her temples, Rose walked slowly to the kitchen, picked a can of purified water and, after opening it, she emptied it in a kettle. She felt a tight knot in her chest, and as soon as she put the kettle on the fire, she turned to look at the only pristine object she had found upon returning to Sanctuary. On a shelf behind the kitchen table, an old but well preserved photo showed her and Nate on the day of their wedding. Playing with the gold band in her left ring finger, Rose remembered how happy she had been that day, how scared she had been for the entire time he was in Anchorage. How much the idea of losing him had terrified her. And now he was gone... Actually gone. Dead. His loss still burned her heart after two months, but the night before... She hadn't cared about him while Nick held her. Did that mean she was forgetting him? Was Nate going to become just another washed up memory from the past, like pretty much everything in this destroyed world? -Thank goodness Codsworth didn't see what happened last night- she thought-, he would have lost all respect towards me. And my poor Shaun is still gone...-

The water in the kettle started to boil. Rose carefully grabbed it and filled an old mug that once was green, and now was more like a light yellow with little greenish streaks. As she reached for a tea bag from one of the many boxes she had recently salvaged from Super Duper Mart, the sound of footsteps aproached. Her face turned to the doorway to see Preston Garvey knocking on the frame of the open door.

-Good morning, General- His voice held his usual formal tone, but his expression was friendly-. I have the guards report from last night. Nothing out of the ordinary, once again. Mind if I come in for a second?

-Preston, hey- she had feared for a second it was Nick coming, and her heartbeat slowly returned to normal when she saw the Minuteman-. I'm glad to hear that. Would you like a cup of tea?

-Thanks, General, but I must decline- he responded, smiling. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and waved it in front of him-. I got you a list of settlements that could use some help, and they are right in your way to the Glowing Sea. Also...- his tone became less official- I came to see if you were alright. I know everything has been pretty heavy on you lately, and, well, I worry about you.

Sighing, Rose put the teabag in the steaming mug. She had felt so alone at first, when she first emerged to the Commonwealth, and it really conforted her when someone showed they cared about her. She carried her mug, a spoon and an old tin canister filled with sugar to the table and sat down, smiling slightly.

-Well, it hasn't been my best night- she said soflty-, but I'll recover. Thanks for checking on me, Preston. I guess I didn't really notice I needed it.

-Well, you might be the General of the Minutemen- Preston smiled again and sat in the chair across from her, leaving his laser musket againts the wall behind him-, but you are still my friend.

Rose slowly nodded, absently staring at the deep dark red swirls of tea in her mug. Then, emerging suddently of her thoughts, she spoke.

-Preston, am I a bad person?

-What..?-his smile faded instantly, and he looked at her worriedly- Are you... Of course not! Why would you say that?

-Well I... Listen, a lot of shit has been going on, Preston- Rose made an effort to keep her face straight and her voice firm, but ultimately broke down as she went on- And I need to know if... would start to forget what I left behind be a bad thing...? Would start to forget Nate make me a bad person...?

A spark of understanding crossed Preston's visage and he leaned back on his chair.

-Oh, I see were you're going- reflexively, he nibbled on his right thumb nail-. I don't think you should torture yourself over that. You can't hang on to it forever, sooner or later you'd have to let yourself start living again- he put his hands on the table and got up as he spoke-. Love comes in short supply this days, Rose. If you find someone who can heal your wounds, you better not let them go. Now, General, if you'll excuse me- Preston fixed his hat and swiftly picked up his musket- I should get back to work. If you need anything else, I will be in the sniper's nest.

After a short military salute, Preston left the house holding his musket close to his chest, as he always did, and left Rose alone, thinking. Maybe, just maybe, she could consider... But this was not the time. She shook her head. Anyway, her friend's words had lightened her heart a little. Rose wondered for a second if he knew something about what had happened, but discarted the idea, while pouring sugar in her tea. There was too much to do, and all of this was just theoretical talk until she did something about it. Not wanting to delay her departure much longer, Rose got up and walked towards her bedroom with the mug full of tea in her hand. The radiationproof suit was folded already, so she only had to stuff it in her shoulderbag. When she picked one of the Rad-X bottles from the desk, however, she noticed she could barely read the label, wich reminded her she was not wearing sunglasses, not the ones she needed to see. She sighed, took these off and squinted around searching for them, but as she put her cup down on the desk, the sound of a small object hitting the floor made her look down. Blindly, she kneeled and reached out for the source of the noise, but even without her glasses she noticed it was a holotape, bright orange and with the words "we are done" scribbled on it. She didn't even need to put it in her Pip-Boy, she knew what was in it already. It was adressed to Boston Police detective Nick Valentine, and it contained the words of his captain, telling him to seek psychological help after his fiancé was murdered. Rose frowned, and slowly got up to put it on the surface of the desk. Perhaps in her own spiral of self loathing she had forgot that she wasn't the only one with a dead loved one. If what had happened modified her relationship with the synth... wel, she really didn't want that.

Rose picked her mug and drank a sip of tea, an sighed. At least one thing hadn't really changed that much. Calmer now, she noticed her glasses were still sitting on the desk, right where she had left them. She put them on, and the fog around her dispersed. It was time to get to work.

It hadn't taken her that long to get everything in place. It didn't really matter that the shoulderbag was heavy with ammunition, spare weapons and first aid supplies: it would be the power armor that did most of the work carrying it. Rose zipped her Brotherhood of Steel uniform (with the Minutemen logo painted over the BOS one) and decided to face the first hardship of the day, besides wich the whole Glowing Sea thing seemed pretty harmless: talking to Nick.

She walked out of the front door, looking around her for a sign of Nick's presence, but nothing gave her a clue, so she just started walking. From the cul-de-sac one had a pretty nice view of the river, so she decided to start looking there. However, upon arrival, the rustle of paper guided her to the backyard of one of the intact houses. Some of the patio furniture was still standing, and Nick was sitting in a rusty green chair, reading a cheap-looking book. When he heard her appear, he looked up without a word.

-Hey, uh...-Rose started, but the speech she had planned had disappeared from her mind- You wanna get going?

He kept staring at her for a couple of seconds, and she feared he didn't want to travel with her anymore, but then closed the book and put it in some inner pocket in his trenchcoat.

-Sure -his voice sounded somehow more enthusiastic than she had expected. He got up and patted the dust away from the back of his pants- I started to fear you'd leave me rustin' here forever. I'd rather rust on the road. Lead the way.

As they walked back to the House of the Future, Rose heard herself say:

-Y-yeah! I'm glad you still want to come -she said, but regretted it inmediately. "None of this happened", that was the deal. However, he didn't seem to mind.

-With you? I wouldn't miss it for the world- Nick smiled and looked at her for a second- It's nice havin' someone watching my back out there.

They were now standing in front of the house. In the driveway, the X-01 suit awaited. To its feet, the full shoulderbag and Rose's modified combat shotgun, the Ass Kicker, rested. She turned to look at the synth.

-Let's go, Nick.