The Man Behind Those Darn Sunglasses

"Tell me," Nora urged X6-88. "I want to know why you think I'm wrong. What are you feeling?"

He took a step back, but gently put his hands on Nora's arms and guided her into a position so that they would be properly facing each other. Then X6-88 lifted one of Nora's hands so that it was stretched out, ready to receive something. With the hand he'd barely been using, he carefully placed that something in her palm.

It was a ring—Nate's wedding band. Nora stared at it with disbelief, before melancholy sunk in. She hadn't left it on with Nate's body on purpose. It was just that Nora hadn't been the one to remember to pull it off and keep it. Why didn't she think to retrieve it?

"It matters greatly that you were the one that survived, and not your spouse," X6-88 spoke as she contemplated the ring. "You may not matter to the world. But you matter to those who you've had contact with. Whether it was by choice or not." He closed Nora's hand over Nate's ring. "It matters to me that you were the one who survived. I don't think it would have the same effect if it was Nate who I was handing your ring to."

She smiled and blushed. But it only lasted a few seconds before Nora was gloomy again. She realized she wanted to kiss X6—just a little kiss, one that would show her appreciation.

But not now. Not next to the pyre her husband's body was burning on, and while she held her dead husband's ring, clutched in her hand. No matter how short of a kiss or simple one it would be, Nora would not do it here.

So she pocketed the ring and turned back to the pyre. She did nothing and said nothing. And X6-88 quietly stood there with her. She was sure her synth friend would stand there with her for as long as she needed him to. Or leave if she asked him to.

Instead, Nora briefly left X6's side saying, "I'll be right back." She went and found a stick not too far away that she returned with in hand. Then she sat down, cross-legged in front of the pyre as if it was a campfire. She started poking the ground with the stick in an anxious rhythm. "Sorry, I just needed something to twiddle with. Everything's been happening all at once, and I just need… time to sit and think." She poked the ground a few more times before she asked X6, "Do you mind sitting with me," without looking up at him. He was watching her, but making no open judgments about her anxious behavior.

"It may be best that we head back to the Institute soon," he finally told her. "The reason I went searching for you is because Dr. Volkert wanted to speak to you about Father's condition. It is worsening, and though Father wishes his needs to remain confidential to all but Dr. Volkert, Dr. Volkert feels there is still something vital which you need to know."

Nora continued to poke the ground with what seemed to be indifference, but soon she replied, "I understand. But he will have to wait. I need a plan, and I could really use your help. May I ask you some questions?"

It took a long moment, but X6-88 eventually took off his Courser coat, threw it aside, and sat next to Nora, mimicking her posture. She let silence pass for a little while.

"Father doesn't have much time left," she bluntly stated after she started doodling in the dirt with the stick. "Is that why I matter to you, X6, because you know he's dying and you think I'm the Institute's best shot at not falling apart when he's gone?"

"You are the Institute's best shot at not falling apart," he strongly responded.

"Is that the only reason I matter to you?"

"You want an emotional response," he almost sounded humored. "Very well. Though, you matter to me because of the role you must play with the Institute, you also matter to me because you are my friend." Nora stopped twiddling with the stick to look at him and listen. "There are moments I worry about you when I am not with you. When you left by yourself to eliminate the Railroad, I was worried. I volunteered to retrieve you for Doctor Volkert, because… I was worried."

"Just so you know…" A small smile formed on her lips. "You don't have to reply to any of my questions sentimentally," she informed him. "Not if it makes you uncomfortable. But it is incredibly warming to know that you think of me as a friend. And you know I think of you as the same. And as of today, you are the most important person to me in the world."

"I feel the same about you," he declared. But he declared it so dully, as if it wasn't as big of a deal as it was, that Nora laughed.

"That wasn't sarcasm," he countered.

"I know, I know," Nora said through more laughing. "You're just… so adorable when you say something so earnestly, but what you say is... so heartwarming."

"I'm uncomfortable now," X6-88 stated; and Nora had to bite her lip to keep from laughing again. She turned and doodled some more, until the moment eventually passed.

There was easy silence until Nora cautiously said, "I made a promise to someone that I would free all the synths in the Institute. I intend to keep that promise."

X6-88 was staring at her with surprise, and she stopped twiddling to gaze back at him. "You are included in that promise, X6. You are, after all, a synth. The other Railroad Agents may not agree, or even understand, but I want to free you and the other Coursers. Will you help me?"

She watched X6's face, keenly, for any kind of reaction. When he had yet to move, or reply, Nora had the sudden urge to remove those darn sunglasses of his. She tossed her twiddle-stick and scooted closer to him.

X6-88 suddenly pinched his brow. His breathing became uneven, which seemed impossible for the man that always stayed level headed. Nora slowly reached her hands out, stopping midway to see if X6 would stop her in some way. He did nothing, so she gently, as if they were extra fragile, removed X6-88's sunglasses. After folding them, she set them aside.

With determination to see and understand X6-88's thoughts, Nora gazed at X6-88. She immediately tensed. Her chest tightened; breathing became… difficult.

Because X6-88's eyes were… astonishingly focused. As intense as fine charcoal against white canvas. They were serendipitous specks on a lifeless, empty horizon. Or the inky dot of where a pen first makes contact with paper.

His eyes were… the most determined eyes she'd ever seen. And they were looking at her with an intensity that hurt. Hurt because his determination had been shaken. And he was shaking.

"Oh, X6," Nora guiltily cried. "I'm… I'm sorry." And she leaned into him with an embrace almost as forceful as an attack that sent him backwards. "I don't know what to do," she gasped and clung to his chest, where she had fallen. "I don't know what to do," she said again. Emptiness came to her. She felt empty. But for the first time in a long time, she wasn't alone in her emptiness. It was an emptiness that felt bearable.

She whispered into him, "If you tell me to go back to the Institute with you, I will. And they'll be no treachery from me ever again. I'll be loyal to the Institute until the day I die."

X6-88 sat up, bringing Nora up with him. He positioned her so that her legs were curled up to her side and she could remain leaning into one side of him as they faced each other. Her left arm was around his waist; her right arm he moved to his left shoulder. He had both his arms around her waist.

Then he brushed the hair out of her face, before he leaned his forehead to her forehead and cradled her. Nora instinctually brought a hand to his cheek. He placed a hand on her chin. They stared at one another, and Nora felt warm but weightless.

Thereupon, X6-88 whispered, "It's too late. If anyone at the Institute found out about… this." He inched their faces closer so that their noses touched and they could breathe each other in. "I would be recalled, indefinitely."

He smelled of clean air and leather. Nora's lips trembled to taste him as well, but she vexingly controlled herself. She felt that if they kissed—if he dared kiss her, here and now—her insides would go off like an atom bomb, losing herself completely to the man behind those darn sunglasses.

"We need to stop," X6-88 calmly told her seconds later.

She closed her eyes and an uncontrollable whimper escaped her chest in protest.

"Besides the fact that we are sitting next to the pyre we burned your spouse on," he expressed exactly what was screaming in the back of Nora's mind. "Your friend is watching us."

Nora's eyes snapped open. "Deacon," she hissed and aggressively pulled away from X6. She twisted herself in a panic to get up, thinking, "Fuck. What is Deacon going to think of me?"

Tossing her head and darting her eyes, she spotted him. There Deacon was, leaning on the fencing a distance away, with his arms crossed, and wearing his minuteman get-up—and his sunglasses. Nora wanted to run, but…

X6…

She picked up X6-88's Courser coat and waited for him to be standing before handing it to him. "Stay here," she said. "I have some explaining to do to my friend over there."

AN: Why can't she just decide? For realsies. Institute or Railroad?... Come on! It's not that hard of a choice. It's only for the sake of the Commonwealth. It's obvious which one she needs to go with.

Hope you liked the chapter, X6-88 fans! ;P