The Park was as green as it could ever be, with kids playing on the swings and climbing around, laughing. And as if this wasn't good enough, Nate had one of his own, Shaun.
Nora was sitting next to Nate on a bench, cradling Shaun as Nate had his arm around her.
This was a perfect life.
Nora shifted closer to Nate, putting her head in his shoulder.
"I love you" She said, her voice smooth and angelic.
"I love you too" Nate said.
Nate sat there for what seemed like an eternity, loving every second of it.
"Do you mind getting the baby food, Nate?" Nora asked.
"Sure" He replied with a smile.
He got up and walked over to a bag that was nearby, tripping on a rock. He fell face first to the ground, but he didn't hit the floor. Instead he went through the floor and shot up, lying down on a mattress.
"I was wondering when you would wake up, I was beginning to think you'd bite the dust" A voice said.
Nate trying to get his bearings, but was stopped by immense pain in his chest, grabbing the pain with his hand.
"That's sure to hurt a while longer, it was a massive problem to remove the bullet, but the stimpaks helped"
Nate looked up at the voice to see a man wearing a lab coat, he was lying next to the chemistry station out in the open. "Thanks doc" He said, slowly remembering what transpired before his dream.
"What do I owe you?" Nate said, sensing that the topic would've been brought up sooner or later.
"Don't worry, since this is your first time in Diamond city this one's on me, but Ill charge you if you come running down here with bullet holes again"
"Thanks, that's really kind of you"
"Yeah, sure" The doctor replied in a slightly annoyed tone, and offering his hand to help Nate up, "You should be ready to make a full recovery in someplace that isn't here, I suggest the Dougout In"
"Thanks again doc" The doctor nodded and shewed Nate away.
Nate stepped out into the city. It was a lot more built than he expected, he thought every one was in scattered groups like Preston and the rest. Seeing people rebuild like this gave him hope that humanity wasn't completely lost.
Not one second after stepping away from the doctor he heard another voice coming from his right.
"Hey! You, yeah, you. You okay enough for an interview? I been dyin' for a proper article and I think you might fit the bill"
Nate turned to see what looked like the woman screaming at the intercom.
"How'd you get in? I was barely conscious and I could see you'd been locked out"
"You made an opening for me - so are we doing this interview or not?"
"Sure" Nate said, trying his best to ignore the pain aching around his body.
"Piper" The woman said, extending her hand.
"Nate" He replied, shaking it.
"We cant just do an interview anywhere, come with me to my hou- err -office"
Nate followed her, slightly limping, to a red shack with a rusted door. Piper opened it and invited Nate in.
"Gimme a second, I have to get my stuff" Piper said, gesturing to a couch that she wanted him to sit on.
Nate sat down and waited for a few minutes, until Piper came rushing down the stairs with a wooden chair and a pen and paper.
"So, I already got the basics from the security guard that helped you, said you were from the Combat Zone, but we'll get there eventually. I want to know the full thing" She said sitting down on the chair. "How'd you get there and what is it like outside the vault- nice suit by the way"
"Thanks" Nate said, slightly confused.
"So" Piper said, readying her pen. "Which vault did you come from, and why did you get kicked out?"
"Bold of you to assume I was kicked out" Nate said, offended.
"Well I don't think you'd choose to leave the comfort of a vault willingly, so…"
"The vault I was in couldn't be further from comfortable. I don't know the full story, but I'd wager a guess we were some sort of lab rats for Vault-Tec, cryogenic chambers that we were put in when the bombs dropped an-"
"Hold up 'when the bombs first dropped'? You talkin' crazy here Blue" Piper said.
"As I said, cryogenics. I was frozen in one of those chambers for 200 or so years. I only thawed out about a month ago"
"Jesus, this has gotta be a kick in the head for you" Piper said, jotting down in her notebook. "Were you the only one, or did you have some friends with you?"
Nate tried to forget about his wife when he wasn't in the vault, it practically made him numb when Nora was at the forefront of his mind. After staring into the air for a few seconds, Nate replied with "No, I was the only one"
"I call bullshit, you couldn't of been the only one. You're from before the war, everybody then was buddy-buddy with their Neighbors, hell, you kind of look like a family man. Tell me the truth Blue, it can't do any harm"
Nate started to feel tears well up in his eyes, determined to make them go away, he replied with "I. Was. The. Only. One" as he looked Piper in the eyes. They looked kind of like Nora's, Nate thought.
"O-Kay, we'll just put a pin in that one for now" She said turning over another page in her notebook.
"So what'd you do when you got outta the vault?"
"I met some people, one of them was a 'Minuteman'. He seemed like a decent guy. I got them out of a scrap with some raiders, then they got settled in the town I used to live in before the war"
"Damn, that's gotta do something to your phyche. Seeing the town you lived in become a shadow of it's former self -oh that's a good one"
Nate brushed off the comment, seeing it was just the rambles of a reporter trying to write a article.
"I stayed with them for a while, I slept in the house I lived in before. It was jarring to say the least"
"I'm sure it was" Piper said, sounding sympathetic.
"How'd you end up by the Combat Zone, that's not just a place you stumble on by accident"
"Ironically it was" Nate said with a bit of a laugh. "I wanted to go straight to Diamond City since I was told it would be a good place to start looking for someone. I went down the wrong corridor apparently"
"How'd you end up with them face scars and bullet wounds? What happened inside the Combat Zone?"
"The face scars aren't from the Combat Zone, I served in the Military before the war, did a couple of battles near Anchorage"
"Oh, I see. You were quite the soldier before the war judging by those scars. No wonder you got out of the Combat Zone alive"
Nate continued with the question. "I got knocked out by a couple of raiders I didn't see. Woke up in a cage, I punched the life out of one guy, got my weapons back because, I guess it was apart of their 'policy' or something. Tried to shoot my way out of their and that's how I ended up with some bullets in me"
"Normally they wouldn't let someone like you walk out, not even if you shot most of them"
"I shot all of them, Piper. Everyone except for the announcer, although if I found him, I would've"
"I'm sure you'd of killed the bastard" She replied, scribbling more notes inside of her notebook, not all of them for the newspaper. "So Blue-"
"I could've sworn I told you my name a few minutes ago"
"Blue's fitting, what with that vault suit your wearing and your constantly down personality, I'd say 'blue' describes you pretty well"
"I'm sure you'd also be 'blue' if you'd gone through hell like me"
"You know Blue, not everything stays hidden if I have my say in the matter, so you can either spill the truth now, or let me find it out on my own"
"Never gonna happen Piper" Nate said with a bland expression.
"Fine, hardass"
Then an idea struck Piper, what if she could gain his trust first, go around with him on what ever he does, help him and maybe find out what he's hiding on the way.
"How about I go with you, you'know, on whatever grand adventures you have goin' on, I'm sure you could use the help. And I could definitely use a break from this shack"
Nate sat there, contemplating the offer, he could see right through Piper's veil of helpfulness, but she'd be useful none the less.
"Fine, on one condition, you have to follow my orders, if I say 'Stay there' or whatever, you gotta do what I say"
"Sure, cant wait to get started" Piper said with a glint in here eye.
Something was going to happen, Nate thought, although he couldn't pin down whether it would be good or bad.