2. Embarrassing: A moment of weakness leaves Nora flustered.

Nora's eyes slowly opened. It wasn't like in the movies she used to watch or the books she used to read. Her nightmares never made her jolt upright, she always woke as though nothing happened, like her mind hadn't just been sending her down a dark path.

"Just breathe, Nora." Nate's sleepy voice startled her. She turned to his side of the bed, an ache panged in her chest when she found empty space.

Nora let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. She sat up and dried the tears off her face. Dogmeat was still sleeping at the foot of her bed, she slipped out without disturbing him. Nora paused in the hallway of her decayed home when she heard soft breathing coming from the living room. She crept forward and saw Hancock was asleep on the old couch, one hand thrown behind his head as a makeshift pillow, the other resting on his stomach which was softly rising and falling with every breath. His hat was tilted down over his eyes and his feet were propped up on the opposite arm of the couch, his legs crossed at his ankles.

How he was comfortable on that old couch Nora would never understand. It hadn't been comfortable two hundred years ago, she doubted nuclear fallout helped. She had offered to build him a bed several times, but he always insisted the couch was just fine. Nora stepped into her derelict kitchen, Codsworth still wasn't back from when she'd sent him out to find coffee or anything that resembled coffee in the wasteland, so she got started on her own breakfast.

Sturges had, thankfully, figured out how her pre-war appliances worked, and after rigging the home up to a generator, she was able to use the stove top and fridge. Nora looked over her supplies and decided to make an omelet and add in some tatos. Nora longed for a good slice of cheese to mix into the egg, and briefly wondered if anyone had attempted to milk a brahmin and try to make something resembling cheese. She laughed at herself. Hancock made a noise and Nora turned to see him readjusting himself.

"Got to be quiet." She told herself.

"You don't have to do that, babe." Nora ignored the ghostly feeling of Nate's arms around her midsection, "let me help." His tired voice grumbled in her ear. It felt impossible to breathe, but Nora focused on not burning the food. Her mind kept wandering back to her nightmare. It was the same as it had been since thawing out. Nate being killed. Shaun being taken. Her useless, unable to do a damn thing about it.

Dogmeat trotted out of her room at the smell of cooked food. "Not happening, baby." Nora reached down and scratched Dogmeat behind an ear, "this is my breakfast." She emptied the food onto a plate and took a bite. It wasn't like her mother-in-laws cooking, but Nora would make do.

Another ache in her chest. Nora missed her family so much. All she had was Shaun, and he was lost somewhere in the Commonwealth.

Nora finished her breakfast quickly and went to the cabinet, she pulled out a can of dog food. "Look what I found yesterday." Nora used her baby-cooing voice as she waved the can at Dogmeat. Dogmeat jumped up, tail wagging, and let out a single bark.

Nora remembered Hancock sleeping on the couch and shushed Dogmeat as she cracked the can open. "Here ya go boy." She dumped the can into the dog bowl in the corner of what used to be the dining area. "Good boy." Nora leaned down and patted Dogmeat, "who's a good boy?" Dogmeat's tail wagged as he ate.

"With a view like that, not me." Hancock's gravelly, sleepy voice made Nora jump up. She spun and saw Hancock tilting his hat up with one finger. He had a grin on his face, "how come you never use that voice with me?" He teased.

Nora felt her cheeks burn, "I," she stumbled over her words, embarrassed at being caught in a vulnerable moment. "I-well-I mean," her heart was racing in her chest and her stomach plummeted.

"Heh," Hancock let the hat fall over his eyes once more, "you're pretty cute when you're caught off guard." Nora completely forgot about her nightmare as she threw the empty can of dog food at Hancock.