I'd Never Say No to You
Piper wondered just how and why it had happened: Somehow, she had found herself on her hands and knees, crawling through an old, long forgotten bookstore, searching for one particular magazine among the hundreds and thousands littered about the place.
Well to be fair, she knew exactly how and why it had happened – Blue had asked her to, of course – she just wasn't sure how or why the random and planned events of her life and those of the universe had culminated towards this precise point in human history.
"I don't think it's here, Blue." Piper called out with a pained sigh. Her back was starting to ache.
"It must be!" Blue's voice, normally so bright and cheerful and addictive, now was incensed as it called back from the other side of the room. "It's the very last issue of Grognak ever published, it has to be here!"
Piper was sorely tempted to point out that it didn't matter one jot if it was the last copy of her precious Grognak comics or if it was one of the most common books in existence, like the dictionary or the bible. If it wasn't there, it wasn't there.
Most of the magazines and books Piper was sifting through were all far too damaged to make out what they once were anyway. Many had either rotted down to an unpleasant mulch or else had been torn to shreds by whatever scavengers, wild animals or raiders had come through in the last few hundred years. It didn't help either that the windows had been blown open for God knows how long, granting the elements free reign to wreak havoc amongst all the delicate paper. Chances were that if the comic was there, then it would be nought but dust by now.
She didn't point any of that out however. Piper didn't want an upset, pouting Blue on her conscience. So, she simply carried on with her search.
"What's it called again, Blue?" Piper asked with a sigh.
There was the sound of rustling for a moment. Piper moved up from her hands and knees to peer up over the aisles, giving her back a stretch as she did. She could just about see a blonde bob above scowling, crystalline grey eyes. Blue had presumably found a box to stand on.
"Seriously, Piper? It's 'Grognak the Barbarian and the Castle of the Vampire-Lich-King'!" Nora recounted for what was probably the tenth time that day.
"Right." Piper drawled, and returned to her search with a weary shake of her head.
A part of Piper wondered why Blue was so obsessed with these comics, though perhaps the answer was obvious. Despite her confidence, despite her sunny disposition and all of her achievements, Piper knew that the blonde sometimes struggled with living in a post-war Commonwealth. She hadn't exactly pried – which was unusual in and of itself for the journalist – but from what few details Piper had gleaned of Nora's original life before the bombs fell, it sounded like it had been a paradise. At least, it seemed that way in comparison to the desolate and dangerous wasteland Piper had known her entire life. It wasn't difficult to see why Nora would want to cling to some semblance of her former life, even if it was only in dusty old comics.
So Piper stuck to her task without complaint.
Yet it was only when the sun was setting orange through the dust painted windows, when all hope was lost, when Piper's back threatened to snap in two, that they finally had a breakthrough.
"Blue?" Piper called out, grimacing as she straightened up a little and massaged her poor back with one hand, peering at the slightly faded magazine she held in the other. "Is this it?"
There was the sound of muffled footsteps as Blue wound her way through the maze of destroyed aisles. The blonde emerged from around a corner and looked down at the comic in the reporter's hand.
"Yes!" Blue cried in delight, grabbing the apparently legendary comic – somehow not ripping it in the process – and hugging it to her chest in glee. "This is it! Thank you, Piper!"
"Hurray." Piper groaned with all the cheer she could muster as she gently eased herself back to her feet again.
"I'm sorry." Nora grimaced, seemingly genuinely remorseful. "You must think I'm such an idiot, wanting to spend all day looking for a comic book."
Piper managed to summon a warm smile. "It's ok, Blue, I don't think you're an idiot." – She did, in fact, think that Blue was a complete idiot – "We got it in the end, that's what matters."
"Are you ok?" Blue asked warily.
"Yeah, just fine, Blue, never bet- Ah!" Piper hissed as an awful twinge snapped through a protesting nerve near her spine.
"Piper!" Nora reached out to grab the report by the arm, but the other woman soon waved her off.
"I'm alright. Just a light twinge, nothing serious." Piper smiled through the pain.
Damn, I must be in worse shape than I thought. Piper thought that she generally got plenty of exercise, traipsing across the Commonwealth as she did with Blue on a regular basis, though that exercise rarely involved crawling around on all fours.
"It seems serious enough to me." Blue muttered. She placed her prized comic book on a nearby shelf with the utmost care before devoting her full attention on Piper. She threw her gaze around for a moment before pulling the reporter to another part of the store.
"What are you doing, Blue?" Piper groaned.
"I'm looking after you." There was something in Nora's voice that left no room for argument.
Piper was pulled along to a small collection of chairs at the back of the shop. Nora picked one out seemingly at random and swung it round to face the others.
"Sit." Nora commanded.
Piper duly obeyed.
"No, other way." Blue amended.
"What?"
"Sit with your front facing the back."
"I don't-"
"Sit with your front facing the back of the back of the chair!" Blue made some extremely vague motions with her hands and body that might have been her miming the position she wanted Piper to take. "Please, just trust me, Piper."
Piper did trust her. So, she did as was asked and eased herself up, trying her best to ignore the protesting of her back, before sitting back down facing the other way.
"How's this supposed to help?" The reporter asked with a dubiously raised eyebrow, crossing her arms up on the back of the chair and still feeling her own back twinge.
"Just give me a minute." Blue murmured. "Can you take your coat off?"
"Sure?" Piper hesitated.
"Then do it." Nora smiled wide and beautiful. "Please."
Piper found it increasingly hard to resist Blue whenever she smiled like that. She silently hoped that that power over her wouldn't be abused, though she supposed that Blue probably didn't know about her weakness. So she eased off her old, battered red coat. It felt a little strange to be without it, almost like she was naked, even as she knew perfectly well that she wore plenty beneath it. She'd had that coat for years, ever since rescuing it from a dilapidated fashion store. It was about the best thing Piper owned.
Nora then went round behind Piper with that same smile. The reporter heard another chair being moved around directly behind her. She tried peering over her shoulder to see just what Blue was up to, but another cracking nerve decided that that was not to be allowed.
"Easy." Nora murmured softly, soothingly. "Just face straight ahead."
Piper sighed. "Aye, aye, Captain." She mused with a small smile.
"Right, let's see if I remember how to do this." Blue murmured, more to herself than to Piper.
That wasn't the most comforting thing Piper wanted to hear. Still, she supposed that she'd already come far enough now. She waited patiently for whatever Nora was planning. Still she jumped slightly when she felt foreign fingers make contact with her back.
"Sorry." Nora offered. "Should have warned you."
"No, no. It's alright, Blue." Piper murmured vaguely. She was just glad she didn't have to face Nora for … whatever this was. She could feel Blue's hands pressing into her back, occasionally they brushed into sore spots, but while it did hurt a little, it was not an altogether unpleasant experience. "What … What are you doing?"
"It's called a massage." Blue supplied happily. "It's supposed to help with muscle pain, aches and the like."
"This some sort of old world tradition?" Piper quipped.
A soft chuckle. "Kinda? It always helped me when I was feeling off it, so, I figured it might help you too."
Piper murmured, impressed, under her breath as she quietly underwent Blue's 'massage'. It was strange really; it should have been so awkward. Piper should be feeling such a fool, sat there, the wrong way round on a chair, staring off at a pile of broken bookshelves while her friend was basically just stroking her back up and down, round and round. It didn't though, if anything, it felt strangely … nice, relaxing, almost seductive even. Piper could literally feel all the aches and pains, not just of that day but of weeks of toil as well, slipping away.
"Where'd you even learn to do this, Blue?" Piper asked after a while.
There was a slight pause before Nora answered. "From my husband."
Shit.
Piper bit her tongue. "Sorry, Blue, I shouldn't have-"
"Don't be silly." Blue seemed to chuckle cheerfully, but it was harder to gauge her reactions when Piper wasn't even able to look at her. "You don't have to feel awkward about it. That's all in the past now, right?"
Piper wasn't sure if Blue was really asking her or if she was asking herself. "I guess." She responded after a moment or two.
A slight sigh from behind. "Nate tried his hands at a lot of things before he fell in to being a soldier. One of them just happened to be a masseuse, if you can believe it."
Masseuse? Piper wasn't entirely sure what that meant. She'd only just learned what a massage was, so she presumed the two were related.
"He was a lot better at it than I ever was to be honest, but I think I've learned enough of the basics." There was a slight shuffling noise as Nora scooted around the side to peer into Piper's eyes. "How am I doing?" She wore a radiant smirk.
"Just fine. Like a proper 'mass-use'." Piper proclaimed with a smirk of her own. She wasn't even lying, she already felt loads better.
Blue laughed. "Masseuse." She corrected.
"That as well." Piper chuckled.
Nora chuckled again as she retreated back behind the reporter and returned to work.
There was a short silence before Nora spoke up again. "You must be wondering why I'm with Cait when I was once married to a man who taught me how to massage?"
Piper swallowed a little thickly. "I wasn't. You don't have to tell me anything like that if you don't want to, Blue. I'd never pry into something like that."
"It's fine." Nora replied, still seemingly chipper. Even her fingers in Piper's back hadn't changed their soothing routine. "Honestly, I just like talking about this kind of stuff with you, Piper. You're easy to talk to."
Piper couldn't help but smile at that little declaration of trust. "Thanks, Blue. I'm … I'm honoured you think of me like that."
"You're welcome." Blue smiled. Piper couldn't see it, but she was certain that it was so. "Well, the simple truth is that Cait is just so very different to what I had before."
The fingers and the pressure fell from Piper's back entirely. There was another shuffle as Nora brought her chair around to be in Piper's eye line. The blonde wore a thoughtful expression as she too sat the wrong way round on her chair, leaning arms and chin on the back rest.
"Before … everything, I had all a girl could ever ask for: A nice house in a lovely neighbourhood, a doting husband, a … a son."
Piper reached out to hold Blue's hand in comfort. She knew all too well how that story had ended. She'd seen for herself what Nora's son had become. She gave that hand a gentle squeeze.
"But, I think there was a part of me, even then, that realised somehow that all of that, that life, it just wasn't right for me. I thought I loved it at the time, but- but it was all too stable, all too stale. Like … Like I was drowning in a life that wasn't really mine, you know? Like the real me was always trying to get out, even if I didn't know it." Nora murmured. She gazed down at the floor for a long moment in silent thought. "You know, as awful as everything can be here, as brutal and as dangerous as life is now, I genuinely think I'm happier here than I ever was before."
"Really?" Piper couldn't help but give voice to her incredulity. From everything she'd learned of life before the bombs fell, it sounded like a veritable paradise compared to the wasteland they lived in.
"I know it probably sounds stupid." Nora smiled softly. "But it's true. I have a freedom here that I've never had before. I can finally find a life that's my own. And yes, life is harder. Yes, it's often ugly and cruel, but I have a chance, a real chance, to make it better for people. I mean, just look at what we've done in Sanctuary. We made a place where we can be safe. So, as awful as things can be, I wouldn't change it. This is where I belong." She smiled wider. "And it's where I met the people most important to me. Cait, she's just- she's strong and beautiful and independent and – and I know you won't believe me on this – but there's genuinely a kind, thoughtful person underneath all that grouchiness."
Piper thought that Nora was right, she didn't believe it.
"And it's where I met you." Blue's smile was wide and beautiful. "The smart, sassy reporter. You've stuck by me through everything, and there's no way I can ever repay you for that. You've always been there for me, whenever I needed someone, no questions asked. You're just as important to me, Piper. I wouldn't trade you for anything."
Piper squeezed her hand again with a warm smile. "Nor I you, Blue. And of course I stuck by you, you're my best friend. I'd never leave you out here by yourself."
Nora smiled back, though there was something seemingly sad in her eyes. Then she blinked, and Piper wondered if she'd even seen it in the first place.
"I love you, you know?" Blue smiled. Then she leaned in to press a kiss to Piper's cheek.
"I love you too, Blue." Piper murmured. She lamented that kiss, for it sent her heart into overdrive even as it fractured a little.
Just then, there was a creak as the front door opened. Both Blue and Piper swivelled their heads immediately, both reaching for their guns. They relaxed somewhat upon seeing that it was not raiders or super mutants or ghouls pouring through the door.
"Well, well, well." Cait drawled in that unmistakable accent of hers as she sauntered up to the other two ladies. "Just what have I walked in on here?"
"Cait! What are you doing here?" Nora asked her girlfriend with a wide smile. Thankfully, she didn't seem to have registered just how quickly Piper had dropped her hand.
"I was looking for you two. I was asking around Diamond City and got this daft story about a couple of idiots heading downtown to go looking for a comic book of all things." Cait folded her powerful arms with a humoured smirk. "Figured I'd come see for myself. Lucky I stumbled into the right place really. There's a lot of these damn bookstores in this part of town."
"Hey, at least we found it!" Nora protested with a victorious smirk of her own as she pointed over to where her prize lay. "See? Might have taken us all day, but we succeeded."
Cait shook her head with a chuckle. "Alright, congratulations." She murmured with little fanfare. "Let's get you back home. It'll be dark soon, you know."
"Alright." Blue nodded before turning back to Piper. "You gonna be ok to walk?"
"Of course, don't worry about me, Blue." Piper waved her off with a smile. She was pleased that she found she actually could stand without any issue.
"Everything ok?" Cait narrowed her gaze slightly in concern as she looked between Nora and Piper.
"It's fine, just did my back in a little is all." Piper waved her off before Blue could answer. "It's not a problem now."
"Well, alright, but you just let me know if you need carrying, Pipes." Cait smirked, teasing with that old nickname once more. Though there was something serious in her eyes.
"I can manage. Thanks." Piper smiled out, though she was certain it probably came across as more of a grimace.
The couple shared a quick glance before nodding and turning to leave. Blue made sure to pick up her precious comic book before they reached the door. It would have been a complete disaster had they forgotten that after all this effort. Piper's back would never forgive her.
Though perhaps it had already decided to hold a grudge, for Piper only managed about four or five steps out of the store before a fresh twang sent an uncomfortable shockwave through her back once more.
"Ah!" The reporter moaned as quietly as she could. Not quietly enough it seemed, as both Blue and Cait were on her in an instant.
"Not sure you can manage, Pipes." Cait regarded her warily.
Piper waved the idea off. "No, no. it's just a little bit of pain, that's all. I've got this."
"Piper, there's no need to push yourself." Nora soothed at her side.
"Listen, it'll be dark soon and these streets won't be getting any safer." Cait murmured. "It'll be quicker if I just carry you."
Piper really didn't like that idea. She wasn't sure if it was the notion of putting her body in Cait's hands, or if it was the chance that someone might see her being carried by the brawler that scared her the most. "That's ok, I can manage, really. You don't need to worry about me."
"Come on Piper, it's not worth risking you falling if we have to run for cover or something." Blue implored, with those wide blue eyes that were impossible to ignore.
"Pipes, I won't drop you, I promise." Cait promised, so much more sincere perhaps than Piper had ever seen from the brawler. There wasn't an ounce of teasing humour in her eyes for once, and her back did still feel tender.
Piper eventually, reluctantly, nodded. "Alright."
"Atta girl." Cait smirked with a wink. Then, without further ado, she swept down and lifted Piper up in one smooth motion.
"Whoa!" Was all Piper could manage as she was literally swept off her feet.
"See, this isn't so bad is it?" Cait smirked as she effortlessly carried Piper out into the fresh air.
"Ah- Hmm- Err …" Piper coughed, trying to avert her blushing cheeks as best she could. God, those arms …
"You see?" Nora smiled Piper's way before giving her lover a smirk. "Bet you could even run all the way to Sanctuary with her."
"Let's not put that to the test, thank you!" Piper protested.
Cait chuckled as they set off. "Relax, Pipes. We'll get you back home to your sister, safe and sound."
Piper merely flushed a little more and opted to say nothing. She wasn't sure whether to be thankful or not that Cait and Nora both seemed oblivious to her continued discomfort. Though there wasn't an awful lot of time for her to dwell on it further, as soon enough they reached the familiar walls of Diamond City and were skirting its high walls en route to the city gates.
Alarm bells rang through Piper's mind. It wouldn't be much longer before they would come up to and heading into the city proper. There would be guards there, people Piper knew, maybe even Nat. She couldn't have anyone see her: Piper Wright, journalist extraordinaire; being carried home like an unruly child!
"I can make my own way now!" Piper protested, trying to wriggle free of Cait's grasp. "I'm feeling a lot better!"
"You sure?" Cait asked casually, still carrying the reporter with ease. She was clearly not at all concerned with being seen or other such trivial matters. "Well, I suppose we are probably safe enough now."
"Don't push yourself, Piper." Blue murmured in concern from the brawler's side. "If your back's still tender, Cait can-"
"I'm good, I'm good!" Piper exclaimed as she finally rolled out of muscled arms. "See? Perfectly fine!" Her back still twanged a little as she straightened up, but Piper masked it well enough she thought.
Cait merely shrugged at Blue. Blue shrugged back with a smile, and they carried on to the gates side by side.
A short walk later, they were greeted by the familiar grinding of heavy gears and metal, heralding the opening of the broad, protective gates of Diamond City. They didn't always used to open so readily for Piper herself, though perhaps it was for Blue that the guards made a special exception. The reporter noticed that one of them even gave the former vault dweller a salute, before his mate gave him a shove, muttering something like 'kiss ass'. At least he received a jaunty salute from Nora back.
Once through the outer walls, Piper released a sigh of relief. It was always good to see her home again, as simple and ramshackle as her house was. She was looking forward to getting off her feet and relaxing at home.
"Well, I guess Cait and I'll get a room at the Dugout for the night." Nora smiled.
"You sure? You know you guys can crash at my place anytime." Piper offered. "It's not much, and you'd have to share the space with my printer and all." She remembered the latest edition of Publick Occurrences she had Nat printing off while she'd gone off with Blue. "Fair warning, it might be running all night, but still …"
"Yeah, no offence Pipes, but I think I'd rather cuddle up to a ghoul than your old rag maker." Cait chuckled.
"Hey! Don't be rude!" Nora smacked the redhead in the ribs with a scowl. She then turned to Piper with a smile. "Ignore her. Thanks for the offer, but we'll be fine with a bed."
"Well, if you're sure …" Piper returned the expression hesitantly. She didn't much like leaving them to fend for themselves, even though she knew that they were perhaps the two most formidable women in the entire Commonwealth.
Cait chuckled. "Hey, you could always join us instead, you know, make it a threesome?"
Piper blinked. Her cheeks flushed. She cleared her throat roughly. "I, err, well- I need to go make sure Nat's ok. Goodnight!"
Before either of the other women could say a thing, Piper had already dashed the short distance to the front of Publick Occurences, let herself inside and shut the door behind her.
Piper breathed a heavy sigh, leaning back against the door. She was almost certain that she heard another Irish tinged chuckle from somewhere beyond the door behind her. Her back twanged again, as if mocking her for not letting Cait carry her to the door.