Nate sat up and began to walk with the group, preferring to keep his helmet on to cover up the mourning look on his face, trying to bury the memory of his wife.
They walked in silence until they reached the Red Rocket gas station, when Nate realized that Codsworth might ruin his cover up story.
"Guys, I think I'll go ahead and see if there's any… undesirables, lurking about"
"Sounds good to me" Preston replied, with the others giving a mumble of approval.
Walking across the street and praying the bridge wont fall if he walked over it, he made it to Sanctuary where Codsworth was exactly where Nate left him, trying to polish rusted iron. He ran over to the Mister Handy and took his helmet off.
"Ah Mr N-"
"Look Codsworth, there are people coming here and they can't know I've lived here. So just treat me like a stranger, okay?"
"I dare not ask why, because I'm afraid the reason isn't a good one, but I'll do as you wish"
"Thank you Codsworth"
Nate walked over the bridge, not crossing it, fearing he might break it with the armor.
"Hey guys!" Nate shouted from the other side of the bridge, "It should be safe"
The group made their way to the small town, with faces that look like they'd just hit the jackpot.
"Yeah, all I found here was a Mr Handy, it seems friendly enough though"
"Well I'm sure we could use the help around here" Sturges said in a cliche Texan accent.
Making their way further through the town, the sun now almost setting, they chose the house across from Nate's.
It had the least amount of damage, and they found a rusty old workbench inside, so it would be a good start.
"Alright!" Preston shouted, gathering everyone's attention, "It should be good here, we might have to sleep in sleeping bags for the first few nights, but I think we could scavenge enough supplies to fix that, that and everything else around here" He added with a chuckle.
"I'm going to do a bit of recon, Preston", Nate said as he got out of the armor.
"Sure, just make sure to be back when it gets dark"
Ok dad, Nate thought.
He had no intention of searching the area, he instead went straight for the vault. Searching around for a way to send the platform down, he found a bright red button inside a small module.
"What's the worst that could happen?" He said softly to himself as he pushed it down.
Sirens started to blare as he ran towards the platform. He hoped the vault was far enough so that they wouldn't hear it, but something told him that they were extremely confused right now.
Lowering down, he remembered the first time he came here, with Nora. The screaming that pierced his ears, the panic in Nora's eyes that made his heart sink, it was all coming back to him.
Feeling lightheaded as the platform ground to a halt and the gate slid upwards, he slowly made his way through the vault. Every step echoed through the vault, as quite as his feet were, there were no other sounds to block out the sound of it tapping against the floor.
He came upon the room, two of the cryo chamber's doors wide open, only one of them had nobody in it.
He went to the chamber he came out of and flipped the switched to close it, looking at it closing and watching the ice form on the glass when it did.
He sat down and leaned against the door, staring at the still-frozen corpse of his late wife. Nothing else moved for Nate, he was solely focused on his wife, all other feelings and sounds be damned.
He started to feel tears running down his face and onto the ice-cold floor, he didn't look away, he didn't let out a wail, he just sat there are cried… again.
Waking up with a head ache and a numbness in his hands, he gently lifted himself from the floor, walking over to the chamber across from him and sealing the door.
Walking away, trying to regain his strength, he made his way on to the platform and outside the vault. Returning to Sanctuary, with puffy red eyes that didn't hide what he'd been doing, he found Codsworth having a conversation with Sturges.
"So you were here, like, before the bombs?"
"Yes sir, 200 years of trying to clean every speck in this godforsaken neighborhood"
"Can't you just… you know, turn yourself off?"
"No sir, that would give me an option out of this, and clearly I wasn't made for the easy way out" Codsworth finished, sounding like an advertisement for General Atomics.
He heard the conversation continue as he made his way to his house, Preston noticing the broken figure of a man walking away, and so he followed in after him to see what was going on.
"I take it the 'recon' didn't go so well" Preston said, putting air quotes to show Nate he knew he was lying.
"Like you would not believe Preston" He said, his voice sounded beaten down and depressed.
Nate sat at the counter and laid his head between his arms, letting out a sigh.
"So… What did you do?"
Nate lifted his head and looked weakly at Preston, "It's complicated, and even if I could explain it, I wouldn't want to"
"One of those type of things, huh?"
"I guess you could say that"
"Well, when you feel better, I could really use your help"
"Sure Garvey, just give me half an hour"
Time past and Preston was not late, coming back exactly half an hour later.
"You ready?"
Nate rubbing his eyes replied "Sure, what do you need help with?"
"Well, you see, when I first introduced myself, I said I was apart of the Commonwealth Minutemen, It would've been more accurate to say 'I am the Commonwealth minutemen'"
Nate raised his eyebrow and cocked his head.
"The poor bastard out there that you picked the musket off of was the second last one"
"I'm sorry Preston, I truly am"
"Well maybe you can make it up to me? How about, I can recruit you as The Minutemen's newest member?" He said with a smile that cheered up Nate a bit.
"I… I don't see why not"
He really wanted to get out of here more, get his mind off of Nora.
"Great news! I already have someone we can help"
"Really? That was quick"
"Yeah, it's… us. We need more supplies in order to make this a proper settlement, so I was thinking we could send out a few people, scavenge some supplies, whaddyua say, you up for it?"
"Alright, but on one condition, the dog comes with me"
"I don't see a reason why it shouldn't" Preston replied, with another smile.
"No point in waiting around, I'll head out now"
With a wave from Preston, and calling the dog to his side, he was off.
He scavenged around for supplies, occasionally running into poorly trained raiders with Do-it-yourself pistols, but they were quickly dispatched of. He came back, dumped all of his materials and loot he took from the raiders, then went to bed on sleeping bag that they let him have.
Everyone slept in different parts of the same house, but Nate insisted that he should have the house across from it, his house. At the end of every scavenging session, Nate would walk up the hill, disappear for an hour or two, and come back with bloodshot eyes and a depressed demeanor.
No asked why though, Nate wouldn't tell, covering it up with blatant lies and a quick change of subject.
Nate saw no point in looking for his long lost son, he'd been frozen for 200 years, he didn't see the point of hunting down someone who might be a skeleton.
The days blurred together with a boring routine, Nate did manage to get better gear, running into travelling merchants and looting raiders, he managed to get himself a 44. Revolver, and a Frankenstein-ed holster for it and some leather armor to boot.
Every day he put it on he though to himself, great, all I need now is a hat and a southern accent.
He was good with the gun though, every raider meeting a bullet to the head a second after they saw Nate.
It seemed to Nate that, this was his life now, performing charity for a group of survivors.
Until a few weeks later, one day, about 10 minutes after waking up, Mama Murphy decided to speak to the Vault Dweller.
"He's alive" She said, looking into the air while putting her hand on Nate's shoulder.
"You think he's dead, but he's alive"
"What the- What do you mean?" Nate was startled by the old woman who seemed to be drugged out of her mind, spewing prophecies at him.
"You'll figure it out" She said weakly, as she shuffled back to a chair to sit on.
Feeling like this was just the ramblings of a junkie, he went about his regular day, scavenging for food and materials.
He found it especially hard to sleep that night, always getting up to stare at Shaun's crib, pondering the old woman's words. "He's alive… You think he's dead, but he's alive" The words echoed in his head, making it nearly impossible to sleep.
Dawn broke and Nate got up as if he got a full night's rest, walking over to the crops to see if there was anything he could eat.
He grabbed a nearly grown Mutfruit and gazed over the settlement. He'd done quite well, at least he thought he did.
The two houses were fully repaired, all holes bolted or welded closed with scrap metal, two turrets were placed on either side of the road, and there was a water purifier by the river.
They can survive without me, he thought as he took the last bite of the Mutfruit.
Walking away and finding Preston sitting by a table with a map atop of it.
Nate said "Hey, I know this seems odd, but are there any… like… points of interest around here? Like places that stand out"
Preston let out a chuckle, "Well, I don't need to be no Einstein to tell you that's the very definition of Diamond city"
"You mind showing me where it is" Nate asked, "I'm sure I could run a few supplies between here and there"
Preston pointed out a spot on the map, then looking at Nate with a blunt expression, the one that said 'I know what your saying is bullshit'.
"Thanks Garvey, I'll try to come back as soon as I can"
"I'm sure you will" he chuckled
"And remember" Preston said as Nate walked away, "Be sure to offer help to anyone that needs it, it helps to spread the cause of the Minutemen"
"Will do, Preston"
With a wave and a goodbye to everyone else. Nate set out alone, choosing to leave the dog in Sanctuary, he knew he was headed into a post apocalyptic city with mutated creatures and ruthless killers, no matter how quick he was with a gun, he didn't like his odds.