Two months had passed since the Battle of Quincy and Prestons death. Nates wounds had healed well and Ellen had given him permission to return to his duties as General. Curie still fussed over him though, asking if he felt any pain, keeping close to him at all times, trying to help him perform the simplest of tasks.
Nate found her constant presence very frustrating. Not because she bothered him, he lo-... enjoyed Curies company. But his recently emerged feelings distracted him, and her always being nearby didn't help him focus.
He was preparing to make a trip to the Castle. He needed to meet with Ronnie and discuss what they were going to do, now that the Brotherhood was attacking any Minutemen on sight.
And he needed to put Preston's name on the memorial wall.
The loss of Preston had affected him greatly, and the rest of the Minutemen. He was a shining example of what a soldier should be. Determined, focused, and loyal.
But to Nate he was more, he was the first person he'd met in the Commonwealth, besides Codsworth. And he was one of the few people Nate called a friend, someone he could trust.
He was in his house in Starlight, grabbing whatever he could fit in his bag that would be useful. He grabbed his hunting rifle, some stimpacks, some Med-X, and a bottle of Nuka-Cola Quantum.
He was putting his .44 revolver in is holster when he heard a knock at his door. He walked over and asked "Who is it?" He had learned that you always had to be careful in the Commonwealth, especially with his status as General of the Minutemen. So he had his hand on the .44s grip.
"It's me." He heard the French accent and knew who it was. He sighed, God her voice is angelic he thought as he holstered his weapon and opened the door.
"Curie, what brings you here?" He asked, moving out of the way allowing her inside.
"I wanted to check on you. Make sure you had no pain in your abdomen." She said as she took a seat on the edge of his bed. Why'd she have to sit on my bed? She's so horribly tempting!
"No pain today, Curie. Thank you, and if I do have a medical emergency you'll be the one I go to." He reassured her.
She knew he would say no. He has been saying that for a week. She knew medicine better, she just wanted to see him. But there seemed to be another reason he was saying no. Did he feel uncormfortable around her? Did she overstep her bounds at some point?
"Well... alright..." she said as she stood from the bed, she looked at the floor. "Are you okay Monsieur? You seem distant, like you are always pushing me from you." She confronted. Uh oh. She's onto me Nate thought.
"No! No... no. I just- I- don't want to keep you busy. You're a medic, people need you around here and I don't want to keep them waiting." He stammered out the first excuse he could think of. I'm dead.
"Well, I think they could just go to Elizabeth." Curie said as she looked up at him. He was a foot taller than the synth doctor so she had crane her neck up to meet his eyes. "Do you not want me around?"
"No! No! No! I couldn't live without you!" He felt extremely flushed and embarrassed as he realized what he just said. Curies eyes widened and she gasped.
"I- I'm- I'm sorry?" She asked him to repeat.
"I mean... um- what about you could join me on my trip to the Castle. MacCready is coming with me so it'll be the three of us. And Mac is a good shot but he can't stitch up a wound for shit." He tried to recover and he felt it was working.
"Alright, well I'll get my things." She said, slightly disappointed. She walked outside and proceeded to her home.
She ran inside her house and shut the door. Did he really just say that? She must have been dreaming. The man she had been hopelessly falling for her had just admitted to sharing her feelings.
Wait. That wasn't an admission. He just misspoke. The General is smarter than that. He has a mission, he's not going to let some girl distract him. She shut down her delusions of Nate reciprocating her feelings and started gathering her equipment.
Three hours later
The three Minutemen walked through the ruins of Boston on their way to the Castle. Nate's Pip-boy radio played Radio Freedom, despite complaints from MacCready. He said that the music made him want to throw himself off a building, and a new settlement needed help every ten seconds. Nate ignored him and kept playing the music.
Curie eventually got a bit ahead of the two others and was far away enough to not hear the two conversing about her.
"So... you got feelings for the French girl." MacCready said bluntly. Nate turned to him with a faked innocent expression.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Nate said, denying the obvious.
"Oh please. In the past few months you two have been so obvious. You sneaking looks at her when you think nobody's looking. You get so awkward around her, it's like you're a damn middle schooler." MacCready said as he took a swig from the beer he took from Starlight.
"That's ridiculous. There's nothing going on between me and Curie." Nate scoffed. I'm going to shoot him if he doesn't shut up.
"Then I guess you don't want to hear what she said about you when you were at Quincy." Mac said smugly. Nate immediately stopped him and stepped in front of him.
"What did she say?" He asked, half angry and half hopeful.
"I'll only tell you if you admit you like her." MacCready bargained.
"Fine, I like Curie. Now what did she say." Nate admitted.
Mac took another swig from his warm beer and began telling Nate about Curies visit to the bar when he was at Quincy.
Two months earlier
Curie stumbled around Pipers house. She and Mac were singing along with the radio.
"I don't wanna set the wooorrrrllllldd ooooonnnn fire!" They sang horribly, making Pipers ears nearly bleed. Danse snored on a chair in the corner, the music not affecting him.
"I just want tooooo start... a flame in your heart..." they halted their singing with that line and sat on the couch. Curie poke the merc in the chest and started prattling about Nate.
"I came tonight because I needed a distraction. He's been on my mind for tooooooooo long." She drunkenly slurred. "You wanna hear a secret? I like Nate!" *hic* "Hahahahaha!" She fell asleep on the couch and started snoring loudly, along with MacCready.
Present
"Really? How do you even remember that? Piper told me you were blackout drunk." Nate asked.
"Years of practice, that's the key. And Piper told me about it the next day." The merc said.
Nate was filled with confused emotions. Half of him was ecstatic, Curie had admitted to Mac and Piper that she had romantic feelings for him. But the other half panicked. What if it was just an effect of the alchohol, even if it wasn't, they were about to enter a war with the Brotherhood. He couldn't bare to finally have her, then lose her to some Brotherhood douche.
He was shaken back to reality as Curie yelled to them. "Are you coming? We're almost there!" The two men started following her again and soon the Castle came into view.
Nate decided that he would deal with this later, he had time right?
Well, what he didn't know was that Curie had heard everything, and she didn't want to wait.
