Jack Parsons and the Love in the Time of War

I'm not too experienced at writing anything romantic, so let me know how I did! Also, this is about to become my longest story ever. Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Our valiant hero had finally caved in, and found himself at a picnic. But not just any picnic, but one solely attended by himself and one Piper Wright. Some might even call it a date. Jack resented those people.

He thought it was a stupid idea at first. Why would the General go on a date when his army had just launched a full scale offensive against the Brotherhood of Steel? But his trusted advisors, Preston Garvey and Nick Valentine, had a point. Jack Parsons hadn't allowed himself any rest in weeks. The rest of his soldiers were starting to think that was normal. And that was bad.

Valentine and Garvey told him that if the soldiers saw him taking his leave, and perhaps even having fun, it would be good for morale. Jack couldn't disagree with that. So he allowed himself two hours in the middle of a wonderful spring day for recreation.

That's when his advisors pulled a fast one on him and made sure Piper's schedule was clear for those two hours, as well. They did the thing you do in middle school, where your friends go back and forth and say, 'Do you like so-and-so? Would you ever go out with them?"

When Jack had met Nora, there was none of that. He met her in a bar near base during his third tour, before human civilization started imploding (and eventually exploding). He saw a beautiful brunette woman sitting alone, struck up a conversation, and asked her out. It seemed so long ago, but from Jack's perspective, it had only been about seven years.

At this point, Jack realized he was daydreaming about his deceased wife, the absolute last thing you should do on a date. He snapped himself back to the present. He sat across from Piper on a blanket delicately laid in the Castle courtyard, where, much to his chagrin, everyone could see. For the first time in months, he found himself wearing civilian clothing, a breezy white shirt and khakis.

Piper wore a blue dress. It was so nice and… clean, that it looked out of place amid the rest of the apocalypse. It really accentuated her eyes, though. Jack tried not to stare too long.

They were eating some pretty good food. Noodles of some variety formed the entrée. Jack suspected that Piper's favorite chef, Takahashi, was involved. Jack took a bite and grinned. Piper grinned back.

He noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Preston peeking his head out of one of the nearby windows to spy on them. The figure popped down suddenly, as though Preston hoped Jack wouldn't notice. But there was only person who wore a colonial-era hat with one side pinned up. Jack made a mental note to get him back somehow.

Then, Piper and him began conversing. They kept the topics light, not talking about Father's recent passing, the ongoing war, or any of the thousand other things wrong with the wasteland. Internally, Jack's mental dialogue went like this:

Don't mention Nora. Don't mention Nora. Don't mention Nora.

Although she had technically been deceased for something like 70 years, to Jack it had seemed like less than a year. Because of that, part of him thought that this was moving too fast. But if there was anything the past year had taught him, it was that the entire world could come crumbling down any day. Best to move toward the things you want.

Piper had annoyed him at first, back when they first met. She came off as brash, hotheaded, willing to rock the boat. Everything Nora wasn't. But there was something he couldn't deny about her. A dogged pursuit of the truth, of justice. Piper had been willing, time and time again, to put herself in harm's way to make sure her readers knew what was really going on. And when the moment came, she left at a moment's notice to help Jack find his son.

Once again, Jack snapped back to the present. Piper was looking at him, expecting him to say something.

"I'm sorry?" he asked, hoping she wouldn't be upset for the lapse in concentration.

"I asked, what was baseball really like?"

Jack sighed a small breath of relief and went over the basic rules. Nine players per side, one pitcher and batter at a time, hit the ball and run the bases, don't get tagged out, try to make it home.

"Wait, so there's no combat?" she inquired, looking confused.

"Um, no." Jack responded.

"Moe's been pulling one over on me!" she exclaimed, exasperated. Jack laughed.

Moe Cronin ran a shop in Diamond City, selling mostly baseball gear that he both rebranded and retooled into combat weapons. He was convinced that baseball was a lot more violent than it really was. Jack had done absolutely nothing to inform him of the real rules of baseball, and he supposed, neither had Nick Valentine. In fact, they may have encouraged some of his more hilarious fantasies about America's pastime.

Jack explained the rules in more depth while Piper listened attentively. She was genuinely curious, nodding along and imagining what the world before the war must have been like. Jack may have gotten lost in her eyes a time or two and lost his train of thought. Maybe he was back in middle school.

The date ended up going on far longer than Jack intended. When the picnic wrapped up, Jack went to the command center in the Castle for the evening brief, but found the doors were locked. A note was posted on the door:

We've got it from here, General. Enjoy the evening! —Preston, Nick and the gang.

He put the note down, turned around, and saw Piper standing there. He thought about banging on the door and demanding to help with the war effort that night, but something stopped him. Perhaps all that could wait for one night. After all, he had his best minds on it. And the men needed to see their general take a load off every once in a while.

He flashed Piper a smile, took her hand, and started walking. They stayed within the range they could still call for backup, but they walked around the castle walls, the grounds, and the lake.

The night ended with them staring up at the stars, floating on a boat they had found at the dock. Jack had to assure himself that no mirelurks would attack if they climbed in and drifted away. He remarked,

"You know, I used to have to worry about paying off my mortgage. I was a retired soldier who didn't have a new job yet, and we had just committed to living in this fancy new development. Now, I have to worry about not getting eaten alive by an overgrown lobster."

"What's a lobster?" Piper asked.

This led to Jack explaining the animal kingdom as it was before radiation came along, and pressed the "randomize" button for the species on earth. Piper didn't believe him when he said that mole rats used to fit in a person's hand, and whatever bloatflies used to be could be pinched between your fingers.

He was halfway through his theories about where deathclaws might have come from when Piper kissed him.

He kissed back.