Homecoming
It had been 6 months since she had had even a sip of alcohol or a hit of jet. And 6 months since she had met Paladin Danse. She had grown to look up to him as her superior and to see him as a friend. She was now comfortable talking to him privately and in confidence about things that she had done. Things that he never judged her for. She had joined the Brotherhood of Steel at this point as well. A military-esque group led by a slightly fanatical yet very charismatic man Named Maxon. She hadn't been back home in a long time now. Codsworth must be worried. She had been eating better but not enough to actually gain any significant weight but she was okay with that.
" Danse, do you think you could accompany me somewhere?" Nora walked up to him and looked up at him. The height difference was striking now that she could stand properly. She was a very small 5'3" And Danse was at least 6'2" maybe as tall as 6'5" she was never intimidated by the height difference though.
"Anytime Nora, where are we going?" He said quizzically looking at her and smiling. Leaving off with Nora was always exciting. It seemed that trouble and adventure found her just as often as she went looking for it. Nora had really changed his view of her from the first time he saw her. She was a little firecracker. And had nearly explosive emotions. Like she felt everything as intensely as she could. Danse decided that of all of the people that he knew Nora was one of the few that he genuinely liked. And the longer he spent with her the more he liked her and the more he knew that he would go to the ends of the wastes for her.
"I need to go back to Sanctuary Hills. And back to-" Nora took a deep breath and shakily said, "Back to the Vault." She dreaded going back but it needed to be done. She needed to bury Nathan. She needed the finality. She needed to know it was okay to let him go. Nora walked towards the door and looked Back " You coming?" she said with a sad smile.
"Yes, mam." Danse scrambled to get his things together, forsaking his power armor in favor of a lighter leather armor nora had made. She was amazing at crafting these sorts of things.
The journey was rough for Nora. Going back through where she had spent so many nights in a drunken stupor and going back by the places she knew were safe. Well safe enough. No matter what though she always felt safe with Danse. It was much different this time and she realized that she had taken a REALLY roundabout route coming this way. She also realized that one of the places that she had been through was much further away from her old home than the police station was.
"I thought Good Neighbor was around here somewhere..." She voices one day when they where almost out of Boston.
"Goodneighbor? No mam. Goodneighbor is the other way actually. How on earth did you end up there?" Asked Danse with understandable curiosity.
"I traveled with some traders there They said it was safe for 'someone like me' which meant you're a drunk and an addict so we are taking you somewhere you will be looked after a bit. It was a great place actually. The Rex is very comfortable. And Mayor Hancock is a great guy. He took some kind of chem and ended up with a ghoulish exterior but he is really, well not friendly but kind and just. He runs his town well and keeps people out of trouble, for the most part."
" He sounds like a stand-up man. I am glad he took care of you." I know Hancock, he's a ghoul... I don't know about him as a person tough. If Nora says he's good people I guess I will trust her judgment ...for now at least. He thought as they walked passed a group of traders going the other way. Their brahmin lowed at them from its dual heads.
"He's not bad to be close to really, his skin doesn't feel like you'd think it does. It feels almost like a burn scar." Nora remembered the day she met Mayor John Hancock It was her first day in Goodneighbor and she was being harassed by a strange man, then out of nowhere Hancock comes sauntering up like a king in his court.
"Lay off the extortion crap." He had said to the man who was talking to her trying to get her, albeit meager possessions.
"She needs 'Protection' here."
"I said lay off the extortion crap," Hancock said straightening up to full height. Although not very broad he looked like he was pure muscle and his skin looked... different Like he had been in a horrible accident. He was the first sentient ghoul she had ever met. The first one she had ever seen really. He strode forward, so fast that she barely saw it when he stabbed the strange man in the stomach several times.
"Why couldn't you just listen... I'm sorry you had to see that miss...?"
"N-Nora," She said back weakly. And collapsed from a combination of blacking out from being drunk, nearly starving and exhausted.
Nora woke up in a stately room. Laying on a couch that smelled like smoke and something she couldn't really identify. It was sweet and she had a very vague memory attached to the smell. As she opened her eyes she saw only the stained maroon of the couch back. She had no idea exactly where she was. Then a husky but distinctly feminine voice came from the other side of the room,
" Oh, you're awake. I'll get my dad." The unseen stranger said. Nora tried to turn over and sit up but only managed to turn over and prop herself up on one elbow. The woman, no more of a girl no more than 15, stood with a cigar in her mouth and a large cage-looking thing like she had seen a few others wear by her side she was small-framed but very strong looking. She strode off and a moment later after hearing an even gruffer, very husky, and very masculine sounding voice, the man who saved her from the extortionist came out. He had his shirt open and his coat off showing his bony chest and prominent collar bones and he had an ancient American flag wrapped around his waist like a sash.
"Well, you gave us quite a scare there, Miss Nora. I thought you had gone and died on me. And right after I had saved you at that." The mas said "I am Mayor Hancock, John Hancock. And you," He said gesturing to her "are very lucky you walked in when I was going back home. I knew that man and he would have killed you and defiled your still-warm corpse." He said with a wink and a smile. Nora hoped that meant he was joking and not that he may do the same.
"Here." Said the young woman as she handed Nora a round white container. Nora sniffed it for a second and realized it was just water and quickly drank it. The water wasn't cold but to her hot body, it felt like ice washing over her stomach. It left a slightly sloshy feeling there too.
"Thank you." Nora managed to get out. She looked over at Hancock and smiled at him.
"You look like a Jet kind of girl, here it'll take the edge off of whatever you're coming down from." He says handing her a small red and white inhaler. She takes it and takes a hit. Time slows and she feels the soft edges of the world closing around her.
"Nora. Nora? Hey Nora!" She was suddenly broken out of her daze and looked around. She saw the bridge. And the statue. And could hear things going on just ahead. She was home.
Nora could see the mountain that the vault was on from where she stood at the foot of the wooden bridge that crossed a once deep and wide river that was now a shadow of its former self. She looked up at Danse who was halfway across by now looking back at her worriedly
"Nora are you okay? You've been silent for quite a while now."
"Yeah... just remembered some stuff. No big deal." She smiled and looked into what was now a bustling settlement and remembered the promise that she had Preston Garvey make. "No One enters my house. I don't care if there are super mutants in there if you go in there I will shoot you." She had said angrily after finding someone trying to loot her home.
"Okay. I promise no one will set foot in or around your house. I swear on my loyalty to the Minuet Men. It will not happen again." Preston said in a very military tone. As if he were speaking to a commanding officer.
"It's strange being back." She stated as she began walking across the bridge and into the now busy little settlement. "this place has sure grown since I was here last." She looked around and could barely recognize the place. Most of the houses were now occupied by new people and shops. She was happy to see the place so full of life again. She made a beeline to her house and Danse followed her not matching her pace but following slightly behind her. He noticed that she was eyeing a path that went into the woods.
"It's this one." She said pointing to a quaint home with nicely trimmed bushes and a Mr. Handy outside seemingly guarding the place
"Ah Mrs. Nora! So good to see you again!" Said the robot in a very cheerful voice. The little robot floated up to them and began asking if they would like to eat dinner and who Nora's 'Handsome Friend' was which made Danse blush tato red. They entered her home which had been repaired and decorated for the most part. It was by far one of the coziest places Danse had ever been. The couches were clean and the floor was swept and polished. There were actual working appliances and things he had never really seen before. There were fresh vegetables and meat and some kind of grains for dinner that night which he ate across from Nora in candlelight. Codsworth busied himself in the kitchen cleaning up and then went into the laundry room to 'rest' while Danse and Nora sat to chat.
