Nick heard the the high pitched beeping and the explosion that happened afterwards.

Mines.

Everyone in the scavenging party waited for an ambush. The only thing they heard was a slight breeze rustling the dead tree branches.

"If anyone finds pieces of my leg, could you pick them up for me?"

Nick was laying on the ground with the lower portion of both his legs blown into pieces.

"Oh shit." Ben said. "You heard the man. Look for his legs."

The other three members of the scavenging party began to look around and pick up the pieces.

Ben picked up Nick and slung him over his shoulder.

"I've been wanting to do this for a long time." He remarked.

"Well aren't you such a gentlemen." Nick quipped.

"Wait he's leaking." One of the other members pointed out.

Dark blue fluid was pouring from both of his knees.

Jacob tied off Nick's synthetic veins and the party headed towards the settlement.

"Ooh buddy." Tom said when they brought Nick into his shop.

"Set him down here." Tom pointed towards the table.

Nick looked at the workbench. The gen 1 synth head was still sitting there.

Tom removed the remaining fabric of Nick's pants and began to examine the full extent of the damage.

"Could you move my friend over there? He's gawking." Nick joked.

Ben laughed almost uncontrollably. " What's he gawking at? Smooth man."

Tom grabbed the synth head and put it in a box.

"Ben you have guard duty tonight." John said.

"Oh geez just when it's beginning to get fun." Ben said as he walked toward the gate.

John reframed from his reply as Jim ran into the shop.

"Nicky! Are you okay?"

"He will be Jim run along we will let you know."

"Okay. That looks terrible anyways."

"Let Shelia know I'm okay." Nick said.

Ben overheard the statement.

"Shelia the ghoul whore left this morning with a caravan. They said a group of ghouls formed a ghoul settlement near Middletown."

"She did leave a note for you though Mr. Valentine. Don't worry you will find another one." Jim said sincerely.

Ben laughed like a hyena and then actually went to his post.

"Tom." Was all John said.

Tom looked at Valentine. He waved his hand in front of his eyes. No response.

There was still a hum in his chest.

Nick was in the same spot for weeks. The glint of happiness was gone. His sunshine had set him into an never ending darkness. A fucking void.

Memories, flashes of memories were jumbled in his head. His processors synced in and out, blue fluid leaked from his head and chest. His vision blurred in and out of focus. Memories that had been been partially deleted were springing up and overwhelming Nick.

Sure Nick Valentine had been shot on duty. The symptoms of blood loss were almost the same as this. Something screamed in Nick's brain as he struggled to make sense of his surroundings as the memories flooded across his vision.

He wanted to wake up but couldn't no matter how hard he fought. He saw men in white coats, his old desk at the PD, Jenny, blue mechanical eyes, cords, computers and bright lights, the city streets. He saw his synthetic hands, except they were pristine and porcelain white.

Nick Valentine jolted awake. He was in his bedroom. The light from the street poured in through his window. The cigarettes on his nightstand were still warm. Something in his living room was knocked over and shattered when it hit the floor. He tried to get up, except his entire body felt heavily like cement. He heard Jenny scream. Frustration and panic grew into full on terror as Jenny screamed again.

Outside the wasteland was still. A synthetic human lay cold and unmoving, it's eyes open but barely glowing.

The scene switched into a street near the water taped off. Police scene. A women's body lay on the ground. A pool of blood was underneath her.

"Nick you don't want to see this." A voice told him.

Hands pushed him back and his knees were weak. He sunk to the ground.

Suddenly a bright light flashed as his head jolted and there was a spark.

The humming in Nick's chest was reduced to almost nothing as he shut down completely.

Nick blinked as his processors rebooted.

"Nick?" Tom asked. "You there? You rebooted."

"Yes Tom. And from the looks of it all in one piece."

"There was more damage then we initially though. You also must of hit your head after the blast."

"Did you have sweet dreams Valentine?" Ben asked.

"Synths don't dream you moron." Nick replied.

John grabbed Ben by his shirt and dragged him out of the shop.

"For the third fucking time return to your post. Now! Or are you just a liability?" John growled.

When John released his grip Ben walked over to his post. If he had a tail it would of been between his legs.

"I was wondering about that Valentine. All those memories, and the new ones, how does it all work?" Tom asked.

"I have partial memories, some are even just flashes. Something was wrong with my head earlier because they were all jumbled."

"Do you remember any dreams from before the war?"

"Yeah I just relived one of the worse, twice. The institute didn't leave me with any peace."

"Neither does this wasteland."

Nick noticed Jim was standing in the door. He walked in and handed him the note from Shelia.

Nick read the note to himself.

Dear Nick,

I am sorry this is so sudden. I am leaving for a ghoul settlement. I know I will fully fit in there and the road there will be an adventure. Don't worry, you know I can handle myself. Thank you for our time together. We had such a good time. ;) It was very special. Thanks to you all for the kindness you showed me. I will never forget you.

-Shelia

A sensation of grief washed over him.

"I got a little too attached to that ghoulish dame." He muttered.

"Chin up Nick." Jim said.

"You're good as new. As good as possible that is." Tom said.

"Maybe on the outside. Hell what am I saying? No organs." Nick said.

"You're really developing a sense of humor Nick. I mean not that you didn't have one before. You'll be alright."

"I'm sure it took you a while to put me back together. How could I repay you?"

"You can't. If there is kindness kindness shall be. The ten years you have been here you've been good to us. Hell saved our skins how many times?" Tom laughed.

"Well now don't get all sentimental on me." Nick said with a half smirk.

"Nick, I'm proud to call you a brother." Tom said as he put his hand on his shoulder.

Nick was speechless.

Over the next few weeks Nick would go on long walks and even be gone for days at a time. He relived his few memories of Shelia.

Pre-war Nick Valentine was more like post war Valentine then he thought. Nick Valentine needed to process things. Took a hell of a lot longer then the cutting edge technology inside his synthetic cranium though.

The electric report of a burst of thunder from a radstorm echoed across greater Boston. The sky turned green and become overcast with green and grey clouds. The wind speed increased exponentially and his built in geiger counter detected increased radiation.

Nick already had seen several radstorms. He knew he was immune to radiation but wanted to avoid the acid rain.

He ducked into what was a post office just as the rain hit.

He listened to the pitter-patter of the rain. His sense of hearing was much better then that of a regular human. So was his eyesight, and his yellow glowing eyes helped him see very well in the dark.

He didn't appreciate that it often ruined his stealth, so he compromised and carried out his sneaking at dusk and in the early morning light. So far he had been successful in sneaking past the super mutant and raider camps. He was getting better and better at it.

The commonwealth was his, as long as it didn't kill him.

He laughed to himself. Technically he was already dead.

After the storm Nick proceeded to wander. The settlement was an excellent place to be, and the people's attitude had only changed for the better, but deep inside the wish that he could look human again turned into more of a hope. He once again searched for anything that could bring about a miracle.

"Well, well aren't you fascinating." A shaky voice from the shadows said.

Nick looked in the direction of the voice.