Just as Nate and Piper left Hubris Comics, Nate heard his Pip-Boy's radio crackle as it picked up a new radio signal. He adjusted the tuning knob on its side to refine the signal and heard a well-spoken voice on the other end.

"Help, or… mayday… or whatever it is one says on a radio," it began. "My name is Rex Goodman. I'm being held on the top of Trinity Tower. I think the super mutants plan on eating me soon. I'm setting this to repeat – oh, shit, gotta sign off! One of the super mutants is coming!" Then the signal looped around to its first few words, so Nate clicked it off with a quick twist.

Checking the map screen on his Pip-Boy, he said "Trinity Tower is pretty close by. You think we should go check it out?"

"The guy sounded like he really needed help," Piper replied. "I don't think we have a choice, do we?"

"No," Nate said. "I just thought you might want to avoid super mutants after what they did to your arm, that's all."

"You think a little thing like a broken arm is going to stop me from doing what's right?" Piper scoffed. "I was reporting on the Children of Atom with my arm in a sling."

"The Children of Atom?" Nate asked. "Who are they?"

"Oh boy," Piper said, rolling her eyes. "You really don't know anything about the Children of Atom?"

"Not a single thing," Nate said, shrugging slightly. "Never even heard the name before. Are they a raider gang or something?"

"I wouldn't call them that, exactly. They're a… church, I guess you could call it," Piper began. "They worship radiation like it's some kind of god – a god they call Atom. They think it's their duty to give us all the 'glow', as if anyone needs more radiation these days." She sighed. "Anyway, I was chasing up a lead about irradiated drinking water in Bunker Hill and found myself right in the middle of a bunch of them down in the sewers. They almost killed me, but right before they threw me down a pipe into toxic goo I spun some bullshit lie about getting a vision from Atom – and they bought it! Even gave me some new threads when they made me a member of their church." She laughed. "I wasn't a member long, though – I hit the bricks as soon as they looked the other way. Didn't want my hair to start falling out in clumps, for one thing."

"Sounds sensible to me," Nate agreed. "So are these guys just a local thing, or do we have to keep an eye for them everywhere?"

"From what I can tell, there are cults all over the place, but they're not exactly connected to each other," Piper explained. "They all follow the same basic script but they do everything else in their own way, so you're never sure whether you'll meet kooks or maniacs."

"Well that's… not reassuring," Nate said ruefully. "Just another thing to watch out for, I guess."

"That's one way to put it," Piper said, a wry smile crossing her lips. "Time for the Silver Shroud's first mission, don't you think?"

Nate smiled, drawing himself up to his full height and balling his fists before putting them on his hips in an heroic pose. "Then it is agreed!" he said in the melodramatic tones of the Silver Shroud. "Follow me, stalwart Mistress of Mystery! We must help those most in need of it!"

Piper burst out laughing. "Knock that off right now, you goober," she said once she had composed herself. "You sound so dumb."

"Fear not, sweet Mistress!" Nate exclaimed, tilting his chin up to exaggerate his pose even further. "When our quest is complete, the Shroud will melt away into the darkest night once again!"

"Why did I save you, again?" Piper asked, rolling her eyes.

"Because I'm the story of the century, remember?" Nate said, winking. "Now let's go play hero…"

Piper watched Nate creeping closer to the entrance of Trinity Tower, his body language completely different to the bravado he had shown earlier. He had whispered to her to hold back as he looked around the corner of the building to assess what kind of threat they were facing, but now he opened the fist he had been holding up and beckoned her forward with a couple of quick motions of his fingers. Piper moved as quickly and quietly as she could, drawing level with him and taking in what he could see. In amongst the fly-coated meat bags and tangled clumps of twisted girders with which super mutants liked to decorate their strongholds were a couple of idle mutants seemingly playing a game with each other, which apparently entailed them alternately throwing large, jagged shards of metal into each other's barrel chests.

"What the hell are they doing?" Nate said, incredulous. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"From what I can tell, most super mutant games do," Piper replied with a shrug. "How do you want to do this?"

"We can try and sneak past them if they're distracted," Nate said. "If they notice us, we'll open fire, but not before – I don't want to waste any bullets. Who knows how many more of them are in that tower?"

"Good point," Piper said. "Lead the way."

Nate began creeping forward clutching his rifle to his chest, keeping as low to the ground as he could as his boots scraped on the rubble-strewn ground softly. Skirting the edge of the foyer, darting from each metal structure to the next, the two of them were almost at the elevator when one of the mutants bellowed "Humans! I see humans!"

"Shit!" Nate exclaimed, raising his rifle and unloading a short volley of fire at the mutant who had spotted them, hitting it squarely in the centre of its barrel chest. It did nothing except laugh.

"Is that the best you can do, human?" it said mockingly. "I'll bathe in your blood!" It began a headlong charge towards the two of them, raising a wooden board full of nails above its head as it did so. Nate switched his aim downward and Piper saw two wounds blossoming on the thick muscle of one of the creature's thighs. It staggered then, snarling with rage as its leg began to drag, but it still kept coming, hobbling towards them with a determined expression on its misshapen face. While Nate set about finishing it off, Piper noticed its counterpart following up its charge, a crude pipe rifle in its lumpen hands. Quickly she raised her pistol and sent a couple of shots towards it, planting a solid hit on its lower torso and making it pause its advance just long enough to paw at its torn flesh, as if it couldn't believe what a puny human had managed to do to it.

Piper knew that wouldn't occupy the creature for long, though, so she followed Nate's lead and pumped a trio of rounds into the mutant's leg. Her pistol didn't do nearly as much damage to her target as Nate's rifle had done to his, but then again she hadn't expected it to – just slowing the brute down for a few seconds was all she needed. "Nate!" she yelled as she tried to outflank the enraged creature. "Get to the elevator!"

"On it," Nate exclaimed, coolly firing a couple more shots at her target as he did so, the other super mutant's corpse lying sprawled on the ground. A single lucky shot found the super mutant's left eye-socket and turned the creature's misshapen face inside-out. The headless body stayed upright for a second, swaying on its tree-trunk legs before collapsing backwards into a haphazard spreadeagled position. As it did so, Piper joined Nate in the elevator, where she exhaled the breath she had been holding in before reloading her pistol and tucking the empty magazine into one of her pockets. It never hurt to have a spare receptacle for any loose ammunition she might come across in her travels across the wasteland, after all.

"Good start, huh?" she asked, running a hand through her hair.

"I think so," Nate replied. "Neither of us lost any limbs, so if we keep that up, we're all set."

Piper laughed, despite the situation. "That's… surprisingly positive," she said. "Let's hope it's just as easy upstairs."

That hope was shattered within a few moments as a sandpaper-rough voice boomed a gloating taunt, seemingly out of the ether. "More humans come to rescue Rex? You only kill the weakest of us! You only make us stronger!" Obviously there had to be a speaker system somewhere – but it was extremely well-hidden, which surprised her. Super mutants were not exactly known for being sly or clever, their forte usually being anything blunt, bloody and violent. For a moment she hoped that this particular warlord was just good at crude bravado rather than anything more tactical, before that hope was dashed by the gunfire unleashed at the two of them shortly after they exited the elevator. Nate quickly motioned for her to stay behind him as bullets from the mutants' scavenged rifles bounced off his armoured coat and pinged into the pitted, scarred walls and floor, returning fire as best he could before the two of them found some cover to catch their breath.

"Shit," Nate spat in frustration, shaking his head. "We're pinned down here – got any grenades?"

"Sorry, I left them in my other coat," Piper said, exasperated, before she heard a sound that made her blood run cold. It was the telltale bleeping of a ready-to-detonate mini-nuke, the signature weapon of the deranged super mutant suicider cult. "Nate, they've got a bomb – we need to move!"

"We can't break cover now," Nate said. "They'll cut us to pieces. Let me handle this." He raised his head gingerly above the shattered piece of ceiling panelling they were sheltering behind and settled his rifle on it, popping off a single shot. Piper waited for the searing heat and deafening noise of the nuke's detonation, but nothing happened. She risked a peek over the top of the barricade and saw the body of the suicider flat on its back and missing most of its head from the jaw upwards. The nuke itself lay pristine on the ground, no longer beeping ominously. Nate exhaled heavily, before he nodded at the bomb. "Sit tight, close your eyes and cover your ears," he told her. "Time to make that thing work for us." He popped his head up one more time and pulled his rifle's trigger with practised ease. Then the pulverising shockwave and blistering heat of the nuke exploding struck Piper like a hurricane, the sound of the blast searing her eardrums even through her hands. When the rush of pressure had faded, she risked opening her eyes and taking a look at the nest of super mutants, and she saw nothing left but smears of blood on the walls and chunks of flesh scattered on the floor. "What'd I tell you?" Nate asked with a grin. "Easy as pie."

"For now," Piper admonished him sternly. "Let's not get too cocky yet, Shroud."

"The Shroud, as always, errs on the side of caution!" Nate replied, with a shrug. Piper had to admit his way of instantly switching between his calm, grounded military attitude and the exaggerated bravado of his new alter ego was… intriguing, at the very least. She resolved to ask him how he was able to so effortlessly turn from one to the other if they managed to get out of this situation alive.

"Well, the Shroud had better keep it together for the next couple of floors – looks like the greenskins made themselves a little assault course," she said, gesturing towards the end of the corridor where a strip of ceiling had peeled downwards and become a ramp up to the next floor, the entry to the genuine stairwell jammed full of rusty, twisted sheets of metal so as to make it inaccessible.

"You call that an assault course?" Nate asked in his normal voice. "I was in the Marines – we did assault courses worse than that twice a day and asked for seconds."

Piper sighed. "All right, show-off. You can go first."

"With pleasure – try to keep up, okay?" Nate said, giving her a little nudge with a balled fist before he got to his feet.

Rolling her eyes, Piper followed him as he headed up to the next floor.

Nate jammed the blade of his knife into the eye of the super mutant warlord, finally putting paid to the voice that had taunted them during their ascent and feeling the spray of hot arterial blood splash across his face. His coat had been peppered with hundreds of rounds from the warlord's minigun, each bullet pinging off in different directions, including into the warlord's own flesh on a couple of occasions. Shaking it to dislodge the last few squashed bullets, Nate heard a plaintive voice coming from behind a locked door at the back of the warlord's little command centre. Behind the mesh of the door he saw a man who he presumed was Rex Goodman, and who was probably in his mid-to-late fifties, his hair and clothes still immaculate despite his circumstances. "Oh magnificent one!" he exclaimed. "You answered my call – are you here to rescue me?"

"Yes, I'll get you out of here," Nate reassured him. "I just have to find the key to this door first."

"Try the chest over there," Rex suggested, gesturing urgently at the large steamer trunk in the corner of the warlord's makeshift headquarters. "Our captor stored all kinds of things in it. Perhaps it may yet hold the secret to our freedom!"

Nate cocked his head slightly. "'Our captor'?" he repeated. "Who else is in there with you?" He took a step back in shock when a hulking super mutant looked out of the shadows of the cell, and was about to raise and fire his rifle when Rex took a step in front of the mutant and raised his arms above his head, putting as much of himself between the monster and Nate as he could.

"Hold your fire!" Rex cried. "Strong is unlike his brothers – he will not harm you!"

"I don't believe you," Nate snapped, tucking his rifle into the crook of his shoulder and curling his finger around the trigger. He was about to pull it before Piper laid her hand on the weapon's barrel and pushed it down gently.

"I believe him, Nate," she said in a low, calm voice. "Let's get him out of here. We can deal with the big green guy later if we have to."

Nate pulled his mouth into a fine line before he shouldered his rifle and walked over to the chest, pulling out a key with a severed finger attached to it by a length of ragged thread before opening the door. Instinctively he took a step back as the super mutant stepped through, but the green behemoth did nothing except give him a withering glare.

"Rex not lie – Strong not hurt humans," it said. "Strong will show humans how to get back to ground." It raised one of its heavy, blunt fingers and pointed to a pathway that snaked behind the cell. "Follow Strong that way." The hulking giant lumbered in the direction it had indicated, Rex following closely behind him. Nate glanced at Piper to see what her thoughts were, and she rolled her eyes.

"Do you want to get out of here or not? Follow him, you dummy!" she said in exasperation, shooing him forwards with both hands. Nate sighed and did as she asked, feeling an uneasy shudder slither down his spine as he padded swiftly after the monster. It led them to a rickety cradle elevator that rested against the outer wall of the building, and the slithering sensation got worse as Nate realised how absurdly vulnerable the thing was – if either of the supporting cables were cut, they were all in for a very long fall with a very abrupt end. That being said, however, it did seem like it was their only option for a direct escape, so he clenched his fists, steeled himself and pushed the activation switch. The gears of the elevator's mechanism creaked a little as they were set in motion, and then began lowering the cradle at a frustratingly leisurely speed.

"Two more stops, then back to ground," the super mutant said as they descended.

"What?" Nate asked.

"Need to change two more times, then walk to ground," the monster replied, sounding a little annoyed. "Strong will lead you."

As it turned out, the super mutant had not been lying – they had to cross two floors to switch from one cradle to another before they were able to access the stairs to the building's lobby. Nate had to admit it felt good to have solid ground under his boots again, instead of unstable, decaying flooring. He turned to Rex resolutely, feeling an explanation was long overdue, and said "Do you mind explaining to me why you were up in that cell now?"

Rex drew himself up to his full height haughtily for a moment, as if he was mortified at the mere notion of having to give any reason for his captivity, but then deflated. "I wanted to try reaching out to them," he said despondently. "I thought I could break their savagery with the words of the Bard."

"Seriously?" Piper snapped, astonished. "What did you think was going to happen – they'd sit down and invite you to tea?"

"Strong liked words," the super mutant interrupted in an almost indignant tone, "but Strong's brothers not like. Strong say give human chance, but Strong's brothers say they want to eat human. Strong try to stop them so they lock Strong up with human. Say human will make other humans come so super mutants can eat more humans."

Rex's expression twisted in confusion. "You… you mean… they were using me as bait?"

"Strong thought you knew," said the super mutant with a puzzled shrug. "Strong went along with it."

"You two can work this out later," Nate cut in before Rex could reply. "Right now we need to get out of here."

He felt Piper's hand grasping his arm then, and he turned to face her, only to see her pointing towards the entrance of the building. Another group of super mutants had arrived, no doubt drawn by the sounds of battle and the cries of the warlord. Their weapons were raised and their beady eyes were full of bloodlust.

Nate felt his shoulders slump a little before he raised his rifle again. This is not my day, he thought sourly. "Strong, you're with me. Let's take these guys out."

Piper crouched down behind the lobby's reception desk as the incoming mob of super mutants laid down a disorganised field of fire, hearing the bullets smack dully into the desk's thick outer surface. Next to her, Rex cowered in terror as the green giants roared and hooted with the thrill of battle. "How you doing there, Goodman?" she asked, only a little sarcastically. "Glad you tried playing teacher?" Rex did nothing but look dejectedly at the ground, which caused Piper to sigh in exasperation. "Look, just stay here where it's safe, okay? Nate, Strong and I will clear those other greenskins out and then we can all get out of here." She gestured to the crude pipe pistol in his hand, which the super mutants had somehow not taken away from him. "Of course if you feel like giving me some cover, I'd appreciate the help." When Rex did not react, she rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the shoulder so that he was forced to meet her gaze. "Come on, Rex, I need you to back me up here. Are you with me?"

"I – yes, I'm with you," Rex said in a raspy tone, his eyes watery.

"Good," Piper replied, squeezing his shoulder briefly to try to reassure him. "I'm going to head to the right, so I need you to try to keep those mutants distracted until I can find some more cover. If we can get them in a crossfire, they won't have any choice except to retreat. Do you understand?" Rex nodded, causing Piper's lips to briefly twitch upward into a smile. "Great. Make sure your shots count, okay? I'm counting on you."

She took a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair, feeling the beads of sweat threading through her hair and down her forehead. Then she closed her eyes and counted to five before she launched herself into a run towards a pile of bloated bags of meat and bone. The bags smelled repulsive and there was a huge cloud of flies buzzing all around them, but the pile was big enough to give her some decent shelter while she tried to figure out what to do next. She knelt down and instinctively checked the magazine of her pistol, grimacing for a moment as she realised she had put her knee directly in a sticky puddle of curdled blood. Off to her left she could hear the sound of Nate's rifle firing, each shot followed by an anguished shriek from one of the mutants, and behind her she could hear the staccato sound of Rex's pistol. At least he had decided to help, so that was encouraging at least.

Realising that she could not stay where she was for very long, she stood and prepared to run again – only to find herself confronted with the barrel chest of one of the mutants, which had obviously had the same idea as her. Before she could raise her gun, the mutant had grabbed her by the throat, lifted her up one-handed and begun to squeeze the life out of her. With splotches of colour painting themselves across her vision as her lungs started to protest, Piper tried to aim in the general direction of the mutant's torso, weakly pulling the trigger and hoping for the best. The giant roared in anger, furiously throwing her across the lobby. She had no time to even register which way up she was before she slammed into the wall, her world instantly going black.

Nate pulled his knife from the body of the last mutant, wiping its blade on the thing's tattered loincloth before putting it back in its sheath. As he did so he saw Rex and Strong approaching him, the older man looking deflated and drained, his already-pale face gone an even more sickly shade of wan while the mutant merely looked annoyed that the fight was over.

"Thank you, sir," Rex said shakily.

"You're welcome," Nate replied, switching out the empty magazine from the body of his rifle. "Any idea what you're going to do now?"

"I think it would be best if I travel south back to WRVR and resume my career in radio," Rex said. "Let this be the last time I attempt to teach super mutants about the Bard."

"Maybe Strong go with Rex?" Strong asked, his eyes filling with hope. "Strong would like to know more about Macbeth and milk of human kindness."

Rex smiled weakly. "Well, I suppose I don't have much of a choice," he said "Come along, then. Perhaps we can add you to our cast."

Nate watched the two of them leave, Strong chattering away in excitement as they did so. When they had disappeared from view, he suddenly noticed that Piper was not standing nearby, and he looked around to try to find her.

His blood ran cold when he saw her sprawled on the floor next to the east wall, her limbs splayed out awkwardly. Rushing over to her he gently eased her onto her back before touching his fingers to her throat to try to find a pulse. Feeling nothing, he pinched her nose shut and pressed his mouth over hers, emptying his lungs into hers before compressing her chest. Come on, Piper, he thought, trying to keep calm. Help me out here. He knew he would never forgive himself if he let her die – he had kept him alive more than once, and now he needed to do the same for her. He pumped her chest again, feeling her sternum flex uncomfortably under his hands, and for a moment he thought he had failed her – and then she opened her eyes and took a deep gulp of air, a look of disorientated bewilderment on her face. She made as if to sit up, before he put both of his hands on her shoulders and made her lie flat on the ground. "Easy there, papergirl," he said softly. "No sudden moves, okay? I'm going to take you somewhere safe."

Piper mumbled something unintelligible before she closed her eyes and drifted back into unconsciousness. Gently, Nate picked her up with both hands and carried her out of the building, her head tucked against his chest, before he wondered exactly where 'somewhere safe' could be. Then he had a flash of inspiration and headed away from Trinity Tower, hoping he would never have to return to it.

Piper opened her eyes blearily, her head pounding like a drum as she did so. It took her a moment to work out where she was, before she realised that she was back in the old Boylston Club, lying prone on a dusty table.

"Sorry I couldn't find somewhere better," came Nate's voice from her left. She gingerly turned her head towards him without raising it off the table, finding him sitting at a booth with his gun across his lap. "This was the only place I knew that would be safe for the two of us. I cleaned up that puddle I left the last time we were here, by the way – I didn't want you to wake up to that smell."

"Very considerate of you," Piper said hoarsely, rubbing her forehead with her hand. "I'm not going anywhere for a while, am I?"

"I wouldn't recommend it," Nate replied. "I'm no field medic, but I know a concussion when I see one. I'd say you need at least a few days' bed rest – I don't think a stimpak will help you much."

"Gee, thanks, Doc," Piper retorted, scowling for a moment before she felt a spike of pain in her temples. "Can I get a second opinion?"

"Maybe when we get back to Diamond City," Nate said. "No way am I letting you stay out here."

"Wait… are you going to carry me all the way back home?" Piper asked. "I don't want to slow you down."

"Way ahead of you," Nate told her, before he pointed to a table adjacent to his own, where she could see a large tarpaulin which looked as if it had been taken it off the pool table, its edges frayed and ragged. Next to it were two pool cues, as well as some lengths of what looked like electrical cables, thick and coated with industrial rubber. She didn't even want to speculate on where those had come from. "Give me a little while and I think I can make a stretcher out of this stuff. Won't be all that comfortable, but at least you won't have to walk."

"My hero," Piper said before noticing Nate's face fall a little, as if he was disappointed in her reaction. "I mean it, Nate," she added hastily. "This is real sweet of you." She smiled. "I guess you only owe me one favour now."

Nate's mood visibly lifted, and he laughed. "You know, I hadn't thought of that," he said as he unsheathed his knife and began to cut holes in the tarpaulin. "I might just pay off that debt yet."

Piper laid back into the tarpaulin, feeling her headache pulsing against the inside of her skull. Nate had used the electrical cables as makeshift straps to keep her from moving, folding them through the holes he had made with his knife, and had used the pool cues to make two handles.

"We used to use these kinds of single-man stretchers when I was deployed in Alaska," he explained. "Came in handy if you were the only guy still able to walk." He gestured at the end opposite her head apologetically. "Usually they'd have wheels on that end, but I couldn't find any in here. This is going to be a pretty bumpy ride, I'm afraid."

Piper smiled weakly. "Don't worry about it. You did what you could with what you had," she said, trying to sound reassuring. "I think I can put up with one bumpy ride."

Two hours later, Nate was in the kitchen of Publick Occurrences after he had carried Piper arduously back to Diamond City and got Doctor Sun to take a look at her. As he had suspected, Piper had suffered a mild concussion and would not be leaving her house for a week at least. Doctor Sun had been very specific about that, and Nate intended to make sure his instructions were carried out to the letter.

Ascending the staircase to what passed for Piper's bedroom, Nate handed her the gently steaming cup of hubflower tea he had made her. "Here," he said. "Drink this – Doctor Sun says it'll help with the headache."

Piper took a sip of the tea and instantly wrinkled her nose. "That's… not so good," she replied. "Can you put some sugar in it for me?"

Nate shook his head. "Sorry, Doctor Sun told me it had to be completely free of any additives, or it wouldn't do you any good."

"Is that so?" Piper said sceptically, arching a brow. "Are you telling me the truth, or did you just make that up?"

"I'm not lying," Nate insisted. As he spoke, he marked an X across his chest with his finger. "Cross my heart."

"You better," Piper said, with a little chuckle, before she set her cup down on its saucer and her face took on a slightly more serious expression. "So… are you going to be leaving soon? I don't want you worrying about me – I've been through worse than this, I'll be fine. Besides, I have Nat here to help me out while I'm healing up, so you don't have to stay in the city if you don't want to."

"It's okay, Piper," Nate said, trying his best to sound reassuring. "I'd like to stay here. I still owe you one, remember? I figure making you a bowl of rad-chicken soup every day ought to help with that."

"Every day?"

"Well, maybe not every day," Nate conceded with a shrug. "Every other day, maybe."

"I'll hold you to that," Piper told him, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Nothing but the best for me, okay?"

"Wouldn't dream of giving you anything less," Nate said. "I mean, if I didn't, you might tell the entire city I'm an asshole. I'd prefer it if we kept that between ourselves."

Piper laughed, a strangely joyous sound considering what the two of them had been through that day. "No danger of that, I promise," she said before her face twitched with pain and she touched her hand to her forehead. Nate suddenly had a flash of inspiration and began moving away down the stairs, before Piper asked "Wait – where are you going?"

"Just to Chem-I-Care," Nate told her. "Solomon might have something that can help with that pain. I'll be back before you know it." He kept his promise, taking about five minutes to buy a bottle of paracetamol and return to Piper's bedside, handing her two tablets which she eagerly swallowed down with a couple of mouthfuls of tea.

"Thank you for everything you did today, Nate," she said, sounding genuinely grateful, before her expression changed to something slightly more . "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure," Nate replied, intrigued. "Fire away."

Piper folded her hands around her cup, focusing on the liquid inside for a moment. "Well… this is kind of embarrassing, but I feel like I have to tell you or I'll go nuts."

"Okay, now I'm worried," Nate said. "This isn't anything bad, is it?"

"Depends on your point of view, I guess," Piper said. "It's just… when I woke up in Trinity Tower and I was looking up at you, I thought for a minute that you were my dad."

Nate felt a sharp shock lancing through him and he stared at Piper in disbelief, his mouth abruptly refusing to find any sounds. He managed to unscramble his thoughts and begin to say something before Piper burst out laughing.

"Oh, man," she said, amusement reverberating through her words. "I can't believe that worked. You should have seen your face!"

"How long have you been waiting to say that?"

"Since we got back here," Piper said, lifting her shoulders in a brief shrug. "I just needed to wait for the right moment, that's all."

"Just don't give up your day job any time soon," Nate told her. "Your material needs some work." He jerked a thumb towards the front door of the shack. "I think I'll go check into the Dugout so you can get started on that."

"Are you sure?" Piper asked. "I can get you some cushions for the couch if you want – it'd be cheaper and there are fewer rad-roaches."

"I'd hope so," Nate reassured her as he got up and moved towards the stairs, "but you need some peace and quiet. Promise me you'll get some rest?"

"I promise – cross my heart," Piper said, mirroring his earlier gesture as she did so. "See you in the morning?"

"Bright and early," Nate said. "Maybe we can grab some breakfast together?"

"I'd like that," Piper replied. "Would nine o'clock be good for you?"

"Sure, that works," Nate said. "See you in the morning, Piper." Making his way down the stairs and out into the chilly evening air, Nate began strolling towards the Dugout Inn.

It was only when he had paid for his room and laid down on the ratty mattress that a realisation dawned on him.

Did I just ask her out?