They walked. They talked. They watched the world go by.

Nick Valentine. Samantha tossed the name around in her head. Almost sounds like a hero from a comic book. It also almost sounded vaguely familiar to her. Like a name you heard a single time in passing. Or a face in a dream, of someone you never remember meeting.

They smiled. They wandered. They waited for the storm to come.

Sam had a feeling, too strong to ignore, that they were walking right into a hornet's nest of harm. Sure, they had gotten through a couple of scrapes together. But a ragtag raiding party wasn't the same as an entire gang. The thought alone left her feeling scared.

The scenery wasn't helping either. It felt surreal to Sam, walking towards familiar old downtown. Everything was so similar, yet clearly different from her life before. More a likeness than a perfect copy. Her world reflected through a broken mirror.

Part of her couldn't tell which had suffered more from the destruction, the city or herself. A short, pitying laugh escaped her chest.

"You alright there?"

Not to mention Piper. God, her voice was really starting to become a comfort — an central piece to Sam's impression of the Commonwealth. The new world wouldn't seem complete without that sassy, hopeful, diven reporter of a woman to comment on it as they went. She really hoped that Piper didn't mind how much time they spent together.

"Huh?" Sam tried to feign confusion, hoping maybe to avoid having to explain her self-deprecating laughter. But the determined look in her friend's green eyes cut right through her.

She hung her head. "Yeah, I'm- I'm fine." Coming face to face like this, with just how much had been lost... it pained her, hurt her from the inside out. Piper's presence really helped.

"Blue... We'll find them. We'll find Nick." There was that determination again, in her voice as much as in her stare. But then her words turned sympathetic in their tone. "And we'll find Shaun."

Samantha smiled as best she could. Piper was trying to get a read on her — and understandably — but she was off the mark. Thoughts of Shaun had fallen back into the realm of numbness.

"Thanks," she said with her best attempt at a smile, "but... that's not it."

"Oh? Then what is?" Ever inquisitive.

"Do we have to talk about it?"

"N- no." Her eyes went wide and soft. "Sorry, Blue, yeah. We don't have to."

They walked in quiet for a while after that. Sam couldn't help but feel bad — usually, she was the one to fight the awkward silences. But there were some things she still just couldn't talk about yet, not even around a friend like Piper.

It was part of their friendship, she told herself. They were friends, but friends respected limits. They didn't have to be open with each other about everything. Sam was pretty sure that's what she and Piper were, anyway. Friends. Traveling companions. Maybe confidants.

Nate had been a confidant, back in the day, back in the past. But he had also been away so often, and for so long. He had been a great person to banter back and forth with — a real interlocutor. He had impressed Sam from the start with his thoughtfulness, so uncommon amongst soldiers. Ironically, she had only ever noticed it because they'd had things to argue about, to disagree on. She and Piper, on the other hand, agreed on nearly everything.

"Your thoughts?"

She felt uneasy, just blurting out the question like she did. But Piper didn't seem to mind. She looked over and smiled with compassion, then looked up at the ruined skyline spread before them.

"Would've been nice to have seen all this in its prime."

She sighed longingly and shrugged.

For a second, Sam wanted to take her hand in sympathy. But the moment passed, and the feeling faded. "Hah, yeah," she echoed. "It sure was something, alright..."

She thought back to what everything had looked like then. She could still imagine all of it so vividly inside her mind. The world back then had been a terrible place — bloated, corrupt, drowning in its own aggrandizement. But it had been pretty, in a way.

Her mind drifted farther afield. She tried to imagine Piper living back them. She would have been such a great journalist. Boundless tools and resources available to her at a moment's notice — little things that out here, she'd had to scavenge for herself.

Sam looked over at the woman, sizing her up in a different way. She couldn't help but wonder — would Piper have still been as good a person in that time?

Obviously.

Who could she kid? There was no controlling that spirit. Piper would've fought for the truth just as hard then, maybe more. And she probably would have gotten crushed underfoot just as hard then. Maybe more. She shuddered.

But the attitude on Piper's face left no doubt in her mind — she wouldn't have taken any of it lying down. Piper glanced back, catching Sam's eyes. They shared an encouraging smile, and continued walking. Downtown came gradually closer as they went.

She really cares, Samantha thought. About Nick. About me. She thought back to when she'd first stumbled out of the vault. How convinced she'd been, that all the beauty and compassion in the world had died. Piper proved that wrong.

"I ever tell you about some of the adventures Nick and I used to go on? Back before I started up the paper?"

Now Piper was the one to strike up conversation. Sam shook her head.

"Oh my god, they crazy stunts we pulled sometimes..." and there she was again, the rambling reporter, sharing stories as long as anyone would listen. Not that Sam objected. Piper was good at telling stories, and her voice was comforting as ever.

Samantha walked beside her friend and listened. It meant everything to have someone she could get lost with.