A/N: I own nothing except the laptop I wrote this story on.
Piper couldn't sit still. They were out in the town square, and even though she was sitting at Takahashi's noodle shop in one of the stools, she kept drumming her fingers on her thigh or on the counter. She stopped doing the latter, because the poor robot thought that she was signaling that she wanted more noodles. There was a bowl of them in front of her, and yet she wasn't hungry. Meanwhile, Blue was sitting right next to her, slowly enjoying his own bowl. Hancock was sitting next to Blue, and was rather obnoxiously slurping his.
"Could you not do that, Hancock?" Piper asked. "It's distracting me."
"From what? Frittering away the day?" Hancock asked. "If you're asking me, you're wound too tight. I have something for that, you know-"
"For the last time, Hancock, I'm not interested in taking Jet. Even if you think it would be totally rad to get stoned with me." Piper said testily. She had her notebook out in front of her, and yet so far anything that she'd written was a mess of stream-of-consciousness or nonsense. The ending of that "meeting," if you could call it that, had utterly fried her nerves. In one moment, and in one threat, Piper believed every story that she'd heard about the Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel. The fact that Blue hadn't pissed his pants at the thought of getting cut up by the Brotherhood implied that either Blue wasn't really listening, was high, or really was a lot tougher than she thought. And considering that she knew him the best out of the entire group of friends he'd made in his travels (at least she thought so. He'd brought her along with him for the majority of his missions but not on the mission to destroy the Institute. That kind of bothered her), the fact that she didn't know everything about him was kind of creepy.
"What?" Hancock asked. "You know that you want to." He said with a little grin, and reached for one of the syringes in his bag.
"Hancock, stop peer pressuring Piper." Blue said, not even looking up from his bowl of noodles. Hancock cackled.
"Fine, fine. If you say so." He said. He looked over at Blue and grinned. "Considering that shit you pulled on Maxson, I have to listen to everything you say for at least a day. No questions asked."
"Don't make promises you'll regret." Blue said, still not looking up from his noodles but a small smirk forming on his lips. He then turned over to look at Piper. "You okay, Piper? You're a little jittery."
"Blue, don't." Piper said. "Because you and I know exactly how this is gonna go. I'm gonna say that I'm not nervous, and then I'll spend some time babbling about how I'm not nervous. And then you're just gonna say that I'm nervous and then I'll crack and admit that I'm utterly shocked that you had the balls to tell Maxson to take his 'offer' and shove it and somehow by some unseen deity he listened to you and yet that doesn't change much because now we've got another three days before you meet again and I don't know if anything has changed and somehow you're still not nervous!" She finished, panting.
Hancock and Blue were both staring at her, and then they looked at each other in unison.
"I can't believe she said that all in one breath." Hancock finally said.
"Uggggggh!" Piper threw her hands in her face, and buried her face on the counter. "Couldn't you two take this at least a little bit seriously?"
"Piper."
Piper looked up at Blue. He was not smiling. He was staring directly into her eyes, and his voice was both reassuring and commanding at the same time.
"Don't confuse not worrying with not caring." He finally said.
Somehow those words were reassuring to her, despite the fact that nothing had changed about the status of the Brotherhood and the Minutemen that were squatting in Diamond City.
…
"Well, it's been a while since we've seen Ghouls in Diamond City. And I'd know. I've been here a while."
Piper swiveled around in her seat towards the sound of that voice, and her expression lit up.
"Nicky!"
She practically bounced off of the stool and gave the aging Synth detective a hug. Nick Valentine chuckled, and returned the gesture.
"Careful, Piper. Any more intimate and Ellie here will start to think that I've got a girlfriend." He said. His assistant detective, Ellie Perkins, gave a little wave to the rest of the group.
"Ellie? I didn't think you ever left the agency." Piper said with a smirk.
"Please. Someone had to babysit Nat when you were off getting shot at in the name of 'news.'" Ellie said, a smile on her face. Piper chuckled.
"Oh ho ho. That is uncool, El."
"Ladies, please." Nick said warmly. "I know that you two practice your rapier wit with one another but be careful you don't skewer the rest of us." He turned to face Blue. "Nice to see you around, Boss. I heard through the grapevine that you called the Brotherhood's bluff. Normally I'd say that I'm surprised but…I'm really not, considering who I'm talking to."
Blue's grin was the biggest Piper had seen in a while.
"How are you doing, you old Clockwork Dick?" Blue asked, extending his hand forward.
"It's Synth Detective, jackass." Nick said, but with no venom in his voice as he shook Blue's hand. "And I'm doing fine. You'd think that the private detective business would take a hit in the aftermath of the Institute going up in smoke but…" He trailed off.
"We're getting inundated with requests that Nick look through the wreckage." Ellie said. "To find signs of lost loved ones."
Blue's smile faded.
"I'm sorry, Nick."
"Don't be." Nick said. "You weren't the one kidnapping people, and there's no other way to get rid of the Institute than to get rid of the Institute. And I'm a Synth. I can handle radiation just fine. The levels aren't too bad, despite the fact that you set off a nuke in the middle of the place."
There was a sorrowful silence. Even Hancock took off his hat as a sort of respect for the thankless job Nick was being asked.
"If you need help…" Blue began.
"I know what you're going to offer." Nick said, holding up a hand. "And right now I don't trust the Minutemen's power armor to hold up in that level of radiation. Give it a few weeks, and I'll see what a Geiger comes up with. And then I'll take the backup. But right now I can handle it."
"Nicky…" Ellie said.
"Ellie, compared to some of the cases we've dealt with in the past, this is child's play." He said. "A whole lot more melancholy than most cases, but not necessarily more dangerous."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, clearly to change the topic of conversation.
"So I hear that ol' Arthur Maxson isn't a fan of your stogies?" Nick asked.
"Now who told you that?" Blue asked with a grin on his face, clearly already aware of the answer. Nick grinned.
"Let's just say that she never pipes down."
"Hey!" Piper said. "I'm standing right here!"
"Why, yes you are." Ellie said, a grin on her face.
"Damn it, Ellie!"
…
Their reunion was broken up by the realization that the surrounding area had gotten silent. They looked to see what was causing people to go quiet, and then saw the source. Proctor Quinlan was walking through the town square, studiously looking at different places and structures and taking copious notes in his little pad. Eventually, he reached the noodle stand. He looked at the robot, an inquisitive look in his eyes.
"Excuse me, what do you serve?" He asked.
"Nan-ni shimasho-ka?" Takahashi replied.
That threw the normally stoic Quinlan for a loop. He blinked once, andthen scribbled something down in his notepad.
"I see." He said. "Do you speak English?"
"Nan-ni shimasho-ka?"
"Just say 'yes.'" Nick said. "He's asking if you want a bowl of noodles."
"Oh, I see." Quinlan said, not looking at Nick. "Then yes, I'd like a bowl please. Prepare it extra spicy, if you could." He started to turn towards Nick. "Thank you for your transla-" He stopped cold as he got the sight of Nick Valentine.
"Oh boy…" Hancock said.
Proctor Quinlan blinked once, and then titled his head to the side, in a manner similar to Dogmeat when the dog was confused about something. He walked forward hesitantly, and then reached out and touched Nick's cheek. He drew his hand back swiftly, and started scribbling furiously in his notepad.
"At least buy me dinner first." Nick snarked. This seemed to jolt the Proctor out of his scientific marveling.
"Oh! Sorry, my manners." He said. "It's just…you're so lifelike!"
"You don't say." Nick said, thoroughly unimpressed with what amounted to an apology from the Proctor. Quinlan seemed to realize that he was digging himself deeper, so he verbally backpedalled.
"I'm sorry, it's just that you are clearly a Synth, and yet you display clear signs of necrosis in your tissue. No one could mistake you for being a Synth infiltrator, and yet no one could deny that you're a Synth. It's…it's fascinating." He continued to scribble away.
"Is this guy for real?" Piper whispered in Blue's ear. He just shrugged.
Quinlan finished his writing, and then compared his notes.
"Apologies for the brusque manner, Synth. I'm just not used to seeing a Synth that seems to have the emotional mimickry of humans and yet a physical shell similar to the Gen IIs. You don't look like a Gen III. What are you? Somewhere in between?"
"That's a safe bet." Nick said. Proctor Quinlan nodded.
"And how were your memories implanted?" He asked.
"I have the memories of a pre-war cop named Nick Valentine." Nick said. "So that's my name."
At this, Proctor Quinlan looked positively gobsmacked.
"Your brain waves are copied from a pre-war individual?" He asked. "So…you mean…"
"If you're asking if I remember the world before the war, then the answer is yes and no." Nick said. He jerked a thumb towards Blue. "He's your best bet for non-disjointed memories. But…I remember certain things. I suppose I have a bit more of a blue-collar memory than Mr. White Collar over here." He said. Blue frowned.
"I am not White Collar." Blue said. Nick looked at him and winked.
"And I'm not a Clockwork Dick."
Proctor Quinlan looked blown away.
"So, Mr. Syn-I mean, Mr. Nick. You have memories of pre-war world stored in your brain waves?" He said. "I don't suppose that you'd be willing-"
"If you have questions I'll do the best I can to answer them." Nick said. "Though I wouldn't expect much." He then gestured to Ellie. "If you want to talk but don't want your boss to find out you're potentially palling with a Synth, then you can talk to Ellie here. She's my assistant and my secretary, and she keeps my appointments."
Proctor Quinlan nodded, and turned to Ellie. He cleared his throat.
"I can pay well." He said. Ellie shrugged.
"I just schedule. Nick charges rates."
"Well…I don't suppose…later tonight, perhaps?" Proctor Quinlan asked. "After dark?"
"Not exactly subtle." Nick said. "It makes me sound like your mistress."
Piper would always cherish the scandalized look on the Proctor's face as he realized Nick was suggesting he'd have an affair with a Synth.
"Nine P.M. is the best." Ellie said. "I'll make some coffee, because I feel like you two might be at it a while."
"Thank you. That's wonderful." Proctor Quinlan said. "I do appreciate your willingness to talk, Mr. Nick." He said.
"Nan-ni shimasho-ka?"
"Oh!" Proctor Quinlan said. "Those are my noodles. I'd better get them and be going." He paid for the food, said a brusque goodbye, and then walked back towards the lift that took one to the Upper Boxes. The others watched him go.
"What a strange old man." Ellie said.
"He's a scientist, Ellie." Nick said. "They tend to be a bit lacking in the humanity department."
…
"Travis Lonely Miles here, checking in from Diamond City Radio. Man…gotta say…it's a helluva time to be alive! We've got all sorts of reports coming in about the craziness that's surrounding our fine little city. The Minutemen and their General? The Brotherhood of Steel? Elder Maxson? Who knows what's going on? All I know is, heh, we're in for a pretty interesting couple of weeks ahead of us. And I know that lil' Miss Piper Wright and the Publick Occurrences are gonna be right on top of things throughout this whole 'treaty' or whatever it ends up being. Be sure to stop by and say hello! And buy a paper, because this is a pretty big deal. The Brotherhood and the Minutemen are here and it looks like they're here to stay! So let's hope their decision-making is on point! Here's a little song of motivation for them."
Piper rolled her eyes as the mournful crooning of "I Don't Want to Set The World on Fire" drifted in through her cramped little flat. Nat was already sound asleep in her mattress under the stairs, and Piper was sitting at her desk, scribbling away on the sheets of paper that would be the "master" copy of the newest edition of the Publick Occurrences. She loved Travis like a brother, but that ringing endorsement of his meant that there would be a rush for the paper tomorrow, and she'd better be ready for the whole thing. So it was a late night in the cards for her.
The door knocked gently.
"Come in." Piper said.
The door opened, and she turned around to see who'd entered. She smiled tiredly.
"Can't sleep?"
"You know me, I'm a regular insomniac." Blue said, taking off his General's coat and hanging it on the rack by the door. He took a seat on the couch on the other side of the room. He checked his Pip-Boy. "I have fifteen after ten, so you've got about two more hours of relaxed work before you start panicking." He said with a little grin. Piper rolled her eyes.
"Asshole." She said, and continued to scribble some more copy. She saw that Blue was writing something of his own, and then turned to look at her. "What are you doing over there?" She asked.
"Writing a letter back to the Castle." Blue said. "I'll be sending a runner at the crack of dawn. With luck it'll get to Danse at about noon. And knowing his punctuality, he'll have an evening runner sent back by six. So I'll probably get his response the following morning."
"That's putting an awful lot of faith in your runner, Blue." Piper said.
"I'm having Chibs do it."
"Oh, then never mind." Piper said. Chibs was one of the oldest Minutemen volunteers in the entire organization, with white hair and a wispy beard and wrinkled bronze skin. He wasn't much of a fighter, and he didn't say much. But he was the fastest runner in the entire Minutemen organization, and was the most elusive too. He'd once made a back-and-forth trip between Quincy and the Castle twice in one day, and only had to be treated for blisters on his feet. Blue depended on no more for his correspondence delivery than the grizzled old runner.
"Are you sure you made the right call?" Piper asked.
"You're talking about Danse." Blue said. Piper sighed, and swiveled around in her chair to better face Blue.
"I know that you've seen a lot of combat together, but…I dunno." She sighed. "Danse isn't exactly a popular guy. And that was before we found out what he really was." She then frowned. "And while we're on that topic, why hasn't he softened up since discovering the truth about who he is? He's a Synth, he should be a little bit more sympathetic and yet he's so damned blunt around Curie. Curie is a sweetheart, and anyone that doesn't like her is a real shit."
"Danse spent what he believed to be his entire life fighting for the Brotherhood." Blue said. "That sort of devotion isn't going to disappear because he discovered the truth. At least not right away."
"So why did you put him in charge of the Castle?" Piper asked. Blue just looked at her.
"Where would he be if I didn't give him something to do?" Blue asked.
Piper was about to speak up, and then she stopped. Blue had a point. Prior to his return to the Castle, Danse was apparently planning to spend the rest of his life in that listening post. In completel isolation. All because Arthur Maxson couldn't stand the fact that he was a synthetic copy of life. And yet time and again Blue trusted Danse with his life. Could that really be the sign of artificial life and friendship? She didn't believe it, but then why did Danse make it so hard by being such a dick?
"He'd be alone." Piper finally said.
"Danse is adrift right now." Blue said. "He only just recently found out that everything about him is a lie, and that he doesn't even know who he is. And if I hadn't brought him back to the Castle, he would be left alone in that bunker to think for the rest of his life. By himself. I was in that vault for over 200 years, 60 of them by myself. I was lucky, Piper. I was frozen. Imagine spending years with nothing but your own betrayed thoughts."
"So you're giving him a job to keep him from thinking about it all?"
"That…and Danse is a good managerial fellow." Blue said. "He kept the Cambridge station operating on a shoestring for a very long time before the Prydwen came to the Commonwealth. The Castle is in much better condition than the police station was: he's got a lot more resources to work with."
"Do you have a plan for everything?" Piper asked, smirking slightly. Blue just chuckled, and finished writing his letter.
"I just never stop to think about that." Blue said.
"Good grief." Piper said. "You make it up as you go, don't you?"
"Something like that." Blue said with a wink. Piper chuckled, and got back to scribbling some more copy. After a few minutes of silence, she looked over at him.
"Hey, where are you staying?"
"I haven't gotten around to that yet." Blue said. "I made sure that everyone else got themselves a room at the Dugout or elsewhere. I was thinking that I might stay in the schoolhouse. Zwicky and his wife were willing to give me the couch."
"Oh, Blue." Piper said, making a face. "You don't need to do that. And Zwicky and Edna are up all night anyway grading papers and the like. They're not much for excitement, you know."
"I'm not always looking for excitement, you know." Blue said with a smirk, as he pulled out a bottle of Nuka Cherry and popped the cap off.
"Yeah, but it finds you anyway. And I know that Zwicky and Edna aren't exactly the type to enjoy excitement in their lives." Piper said. "So, uh. I have a better idea." She said, and Blue turned to look at her. "Why not stay at the Publick?" She asked.
There was silence.
"I, I mean you don't have to if you don't want to, because I know that Nat gets up early and likes to play the radio at full blast. And I'm sure that violates all sorts of press conflicts of interest to be housing one of the leaders of these negotiations, but at the same time I know that you aren't the kind of person to just start blabbing things or influencing me or anything like that. So, um, yeah. You know what? Forget I said anything. It was stupid."
"That'd be lovely, Piper."
"I'll go tell Zwicky and Edna you'll be ove-wait, what?" Piper asked. Blue laughed at the expression on her face.
"I said thank you for the willingness to host me. I'd be honored. I'll just sleep out here on the couch. Wouldn't want people to get any ideas, you know."
At this, Piper tried to ignore the fact that her face felt like it was on fire.
"Oh! Right. Of course. Wouldn't want to do anything, I mean cause any suspicion. Right. So, um, great!" Piper said. "I have to get back to work. You don't mind do you?"
Blue chuckled.
"Not at all."
Piper nodded, and hesitantly got back to work. But she found herself somewhat distracted by the quiet presence in the room that was currently sitting on her couch and fiddling with his Pip-Boy.
…
Miles away from the jewel of the Commonwealth, the Castle was beginning its daily rotation of the guard as the moon rose high in the night sky. Cait stifled a yawn.
"Agh. Where the fuck is me relief?" She muttered.
"You've only been on duty for an hour, Cait."
"Fuck off, Danse." Cait growled, racking her shotgun in annoyance. "You don't have ta remind me, ya know."
"Seeing as how you've been complaining the entire time since the General left, I think that I do need to remind you. One of us is going to give in, and it isn't going to be me."
Cait just flipped him off. Danse shook his head.
"Have it your way. Just keep a steady watch and you'll be fine." He gestured in front of the red-headed woman. "Besides, you're on duty facing the ocean. Barring a revelation that the Institute has a submarine like the Yangzte, I think you're going to have an easy job tonight."
"Yeah, fuck off."
"Good night to you too, Cait." Danse said. He walked up the steps of the battlements, and walked through the defense fortifications. He took a mental note of the construction going on in the center of the Castle: the General had ordered a rather ambitious project to build layered levels out in the open, to create a sort of tower-like apparatus in the Castle. Blue had come up with the idea over at Hangman's Alley, and the initiative was so successful that the "floors" built by the settlers over there stretched so high that they actually got above the buildings that Hangman's Alley was already wedged into. Danse was impressed with the resourcefulness of the people in the Commonwealth, more and more by the day.
He stared out over the water, and found his eyes wandering off to the left. He sighed as he made eye contact with the Prydwen. For a moment, he wondered whether they'd incinerated all of his personal effects upon discovery of his synthetic nature. He hadn't even had time to grab his favorite book. And he was sure that they'd given his old Paladin's armor to someone else in the ranks. Someone that didn't have the unfortunate stigma of being a Synth. He wondered if it was Knight Rhys that got the promotion. Rhys was exactly what the Brotherhood wanted: unflinching and uncompromising in his devotion to the Code and the Codex. Danse also wondered how Scribe Haylen was doing. He wondered if she was ok. He hoped nothing had come to her because she'd helped him.
He then was interrupted from his reverie by the sound of movement next to him. He looked down and saw the boy sitting on the battlement, his feet dangling off the ramparts and over the waters below. Danse raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't it past your bedtime?" He asked.
"I can't sleep." Shaun said.
"Is the construction too loud?" Danse asked. "I will notify Curie and Colonel Shaw to tone down the intensity of construction during the nigh-"
"That's not it." Shaun said. He sighed. "I had another nightmare."
Danse raised an eyebrow.
"This has happened more than once?"
"Yeah." Shaun said. "I don't tell Dad because I don't want him to worry."
Danse didn't know what to do. He didn't have any children of his own. He wasn't sure that Synths could even have children. But he figured that it would be unwise to let the kid just sit there. So he took a seat next to the young boy.
"Your father loves you. He'd want to know if he could help you."
"I don't know if he'd understand my dreams." Shaun said. Danse smirked.
"Well, Shaun, you can tell me for practice. I promise I won't tell anyone else."
Shaun looked at him suspiciously.
"You promise?"
Danse stared at Shaun, and then his eyes drifted to the Prydwen. And then he sighed took a deep breath.
"Yes."
"You give your word?" Shaun asked. "Isn't that what men do?"
The breath hitched in Danse's chest. But then he felt a sort of resolution in him that he hadn't for a while. And he spoke again.
"I give my word as a man. I won't tell anyone."
Shaun smiled, and Danse felt a little bit better.
A/N: I love Piper's tendency to get flustered in the game, so I decided to work it a little bit so that whenever she's stressed she doesn't. Shut. UP. I guess you could say…she has a real Gift for gab…
And Shaun and Danse bonding, because why not?