They were back at Oberland Station. Piper worked the water pump while Blue sat in the shade and recovered her strength.
It was strange to think that mere days prior, they had been here for the first time. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. The fights. The talks.
It had been a hard couple of days, but the experience had also allowed Piper to see her friend in a new light. She felt ready to finally sit down and really write the upcoming article about her. That was the other reason she was glad to be heading home.
The local farming couple came over and struck up conversation with Samantha. Piper couldn't make out their exact words over the sound of the water pump, but the sentiment was clear — they were offering their thanks, again, for how the two of them had helped against the raiding party. And Blue, classic, classic Blue, just wanted to make sure everything else was fine for the two settlers.
Always on the lookout for others, she thought. It was admirable. Sometimes even a little bit obnoxious, if only because of the work ethic that underlay her constant compassion. It left Piper feeling almost lazy.
She finished pumping. One of the farmhands came and helped her haul the pot of water into place above the nearby campfire. Blue wrapped up her conversation, and the settlers went back to their duties. Piper sat down in the shade next to her redhead friend. There was nothing for them to do now but wait for the water to boil those excess rads away.
"Hey, thanks," Sam said as soon as they were side-by-side. "I know it sets our timetable back a bit, but... taking the time to clean some water for me like this..."
"Of course!" she interrupted. "You'd do it for me, Blue, were our roles reversed. Don't try to deny it!"
She considered playfully ribbing her friend in addition to her words, but the act proved unnecessarily. Blue fidgeted enough just from having the truth laid bare before her. "You're right," she admitted. "Ugh, I'm such a sap."
"And that's a good thing," Piper replied. Blue was such a good person. She couldn't help but smile thinking about it — the expression just came to her naturally, it seemed. "We need more people like you in the Commonwealth."
Blue smiled back.
Piper was ecstatic, but scared to let it fully show. So she just sat and smiled instead, grateful to be so close to such a source of happiness and good. With anybody else, she would have forced a constant conversation. But with Blue, quiet moments actually felt okay.
Their eyes met. Neither of them looked away. Piper suddenly started to feel flustered.
"What?" she stammered.
Blue blinked. "What, what?"
"You were just..." but she realized, not even she knew where her sentence was headed. "Oh, never mind!"
"Fine," Blue said, laughing. "I wasn't minding to begin with."
It was Piper's turn to fidget in place. She tried allowing her mind to wander, but for once it seemed content to stay in the moment. Some help you are, she thought to herself.
She looked back at Blue. "Cap for your thoughts?"
Blue returned the glance. "Alright," she said. "But you gotta pay up first."
She couldn't believe her friend. "Oh my god, are you seriously—" she rolled her eyes, and reached into her pocket. "Fine, here, punk! Your thoughts had better be good."
They both ended up laughing at the whole exchange. Blue twirled the cap in her fingers, clearly lost in pulling her thoughts together. The mood shifted.
"I've been thinking," Sam opened, "about the conversation we had, the other night. In the Museum of Freedom?"
Piper felt a small chill pass through her. "Go on..."
Blue continued fiddling with the bottlecap. "You really don't like raiders, do you?"
The chill inside her turned to heat. A fire of complete disdain. "You could, uh... you could say that, yeah." She thought for a moment. "For multiple reasons, Blue, not just my own past with them, you need to understand that."
"I do," Sam reassured. "And for what it's worth, I think I know the feeling."
Blue reached over and patted her on the knee. Piper's thoughts in response were mixed. Her friend meant well, at any rate. But she didn't enjoy having her tragedies compared to others' — something about it didn't sit right with her. The gesture was nice, at least.
"Just, keep going, if you don't mind."
Blue nodded. "Right. So, raiders. Real bad."
She could see Blue turning and looking at her. Looking into her. She averted her own gaze, taking sudden interest in whatever was trying to grow out of the dirt.
"But you'd still prefer a raider attack on Diamond City."
That caught Piper's attention. She looked up, looked back into Blue's eyes with her own. This time, she was determined not to let the eye contact bother her.
"Over the infiltration of an Institute synth?" she clarified. "Yes. Any day."
She could practically see where the train of thought was going, at that point. "The Institute really is that scary, Blue."
No reply came. Blue just nodded in a quiet, humbled kind of understanding. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back to rest against the wall.
"Sorry if I pushed, Piper."
"No, it's- it's alright," she said back automatically. "And I get it. You have your doubts. You've never lost anybody to the Institute. You don't know what it's like."
She looked back down to the ground herself. "And to be fair, neither do I, first hand. But I've known others who have. And I wouldn't wish it on either of us."
A quiet fear crept into Piper's mind. She wished she had someone willing to hold her.
She desperately sought to change the subject. "But hey," she said, standing up, "let's see how that water's doing, eh?"
Blue nodded, and packed to leave.