Nick shot the feral Ghoul that tried to attack him with his claws. His laser pistol cut right through his head. Another one was quickly dispatched by Nate with his hook. Nate's hook, The Bloodletter, was a memento from his first trip to Far Harbor twelve years earlier, when he helped Cassie Dalton exact revenge upon the ones who destroyed her family. After Cassie died in 2296, Nate renamed the hook The Dalton, to ensure that the family name will not die with the last of its bearers. After modifying it to increase its lethal potential, The Dalton became a signature weapon for Nate. With the last Ghoul dead, the detectives proceeded to the ruins of an art gallery.
"According to our evidence, this is the place! Diane Lopez is here."
"Tread carefully, Nate. We don't want to attract any of those Ghouls."
The building was dilapidated, but its works of art were surprisingly intact, but strange. One painting, in particular, was very disturbing, with a bloody baby in the arms of a woman wielding a knife and underneath the picture the words There is no hope were written into something red, which both Nate and Valentine hoped it was not blood. Further into the gallery, another painting was there, freshly created as it didn't even have time to dry. It was a city, with a blue sky above it and not even a bit damaged.
"Wow… it is even prettier that I remember!"
"How so?"
"This is Miami. Or at least, how it looked before the war."
"Impressive. I think Diane is our artist. Those paintings are still fresh. She is very talented…"
"WAS… very talented…"
"Come again?"
Nick approached Nate and realized what happened. Diane sat on a couch, with a bullet wound in her head and her face pointed towards the city painting. Her pistol was still in her hand and a letter in an envelope nearby.
"Shit… Oh, God!"
"Self-inflicted bullet wound. Suicide. I think this is her farewell note."
"Well, Nick, we owe her to impart her last words to her husband. I think he should be the one who opens the letter."
"It says here: To be opened by anyone who finds me"
"Well, in that case…"
Nate proceeds to open the envelope and read its contents:
If you are reading this, then I am no more into this world. I know, you don't care who I am or what I am, but let this story of mine be a lesson for you, dear finder.
I was born in Megaton, in the Capital Wasteland, and since my childhood, I only wanted to escape this world we are in, this messed up, God forsaken place we are forced to live in. I found my solace in painting things that I imagine, things I wished they were true. I left Megaton with a caravan… I fell in love to one of its guards, my beloved Juan. I lived ever since in Lexington… Well… lacking a better word for it, let's call it "living" … Or maybe just surviving. I thought it was happiness the things I felt, the emotions that filled my heart. But it was not happiness, but longing… Longing for another world, one in which I won't have fear for the life of my husband whenever he goes outside the house or whenever I take a sip of water. I just want to end it all…
I discovered a few days ago that I was pregnant… I didn't tell him and please, whoever you may be, don't tell him, if you ever meet him. I can't bring a child into this world, to suffer! I am not an egoist. I don't want my son or daughter to become sick with radiation or to be butchered by ghouls or mutants or raiders… In this art gallery, my refuge, my sanctuary, you will find two paintings… my pain and my joy. I used to read in the old books, before the War, about Miami and its beaches under a warm sun… I wanted to die there, or at least, die seeing it. Do what you wish with them. As for me, don't tell my husband how I died. Make up a story, if you have compassion… or if there is any compassion in this world. On my finger is my wedding ring, something he created at a workshop in the Capital Wasteland. Show it to him and he will believe you. Thank you… Diane"
Nick and Nate were perplexed.
"Nick, when me and Sandra had Daniel, we never thought about being egoists. God, what have we done?"
"Now, now, calm down! They lived here in Lexington where life is as it is. There in Diamond City, he has a pretty normal childhood. Stop beating yourself over this thing. Now, what are we going to do?"
Nate went to the paintings and after thinking for a bit, replied to Valentine:
"We are going to tell Mr. Lopez that his wife was… butchered by Feral Ghouls. I know it's an awful thing to say but otherwise, he would want to see the body. As for the paintings, we will give him the Miami one. I will keep the Hopeless Mother."
"Hopeless Mother? Got a nice ring to it. Why?"
"Because I want to remember every day I am home what I am fighting for: To avoid the scene in the painting to happen to my family and every other family in Diamond City."
"Good. That's a hell of an image to avoid."
"Exactly."
"Now, let's bury Diane and get the hell out of here."
"Yes…"
After the two buried Diane behind the art gallery, Nate decided it would be good if he spoke a few words about the deceased. Nobody deserves to die without anyone to say a kind word about them.
"Diane was… a dreamer. I never knew her personally, but I can see that she was a sensible soul and a great painter. I promise you that no other woman will go through your hell if I can avoid it."
After the detectives returned to the Lopez house, they told her husband the Ghoul story and showed him the ring. Predictably, he started to cry and be angry. However, he calmed down and accepted the situation. His pain was ameliorated when Nate showed him the Miami painting. Now, Juan has something to remember his wife by. He paid the detectives and sent them on their way.
After they exited Lexington, the two heroes wandered what should they do next.
"Now what?"
"I am going home. I need to be home!"
"Absolutely. Come on. Diamond City awaits us!"
"You know, Nick, I sometimes think the worst about this world. But now, I know something: I will never let my wife become a Hopeless Mother."