A long silence befell the room. Nate was in full control of himself, he'd managed to ignore his inner feelings for now.
"I'm sorry to ask this, but can you remember anything else from the vault?"
"The merc was bald and had a scar across one of his eyes, like a movie villain" Nate said as he gave a small chuckle. "But other than that, no, I can't really remember anything else"
"That sounds like another case we had" Ellie piped in, rustling around her drawers to get a folder.
"Let's see... ah 'Kellogg', your description fits him to a tee"
"Yeah, now that you mention it Ellie, it does sound like him" Nick said.
And for a few seconds Nick and Ellie stared at each other worryingly.
"Now look..." Nick started, talking to Nate in a calmer tone. "You can't just rush him, but he has a place here in the city. Now I need you to promise you won't go charging down his door until we know it 100% him. Okay?"
Nate took a long breath, "Don't worry Mr. Valentine, I'm not that crazy" He said with a smirk.
Deep down, he knew he was lying, he'd love nothing more than to run in there in a rage and gun down Kellogg, but he had to couldn't. He has to control himself. So, he pushed his anger down and tried to stay calm.
He could already feel the splendor of the night prior wearing off, that along with the headache that refused to go away.
"So, where do we go next?" Nate asked Nick.
"Well, I think I should go to Kellogg's place, -alone- , and ask him a couple questions, just in case you lo-"
"It's fine, Nick, I get it"
"Okay, good. I uh... I hope we can get some answers, for your sake"
Nick said sympathetically. Nate nodded in response. The synth got up from the chair and put on a worn brown fedora, and as he started walking Nate grabbed his arm.
"The things I told you stay between us right?"
"Client Confidentiality, don't worry"
"Thanks"
Nick made his way to the door and opened it. His eyelids drooped as he said, "Oh, that's why he wanted to know"
Before Piper started to bombard him with questions as he walked away.
Nate found himself staring at the ground again, lost in his own mind. Internally fighting over what he should feel.
But Ellie distracted Nate from this fight. "Don't worry sir, I'm sure we'll get your son back in no time" She said with a reassuring smile.
Nate smiled back and nodded, but he knew that there was an extremely low chance of actually finding his son alive. It made his psyche do backflips as it swerved in and out of depression and anger. He couldn't take it anymore.
"I need to go get some fresh air" Nate said as he shot out of his chair and walked out of the room.
He walked outside and just looked up at the now overcast sky.
It looked like everything was meant to make him feel awful.
And just as Nate thought that, he heard a voice that made his day slightly brighter.
"Hey Blue? You okay?" Piper's voice sounded concerned, something that scared Nate as he thought he could hide how he felt.
Clearly Piper could see through it.
Nate liked Piper, but he couldn't give in and explain everything just yet, he needed to hold out a bit longer.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, just needed to get some fresh air"
Piper sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look Nate, you're clearly going through some stuff, and I don't wanna just sit back and watch you unravel. Just let me help you"
Nate was taken aback by how direct Piper was, he stood there for a few seconds just thinking what to say. Nate smiled a little, "Thanks Piper... I-"
Before he could say anything Piper grabbed him into an embrace. Nate didn't know how to respond; all he could do was hug back.
"I know your probably gonna be a hardass and not tell me. I just want you to know I'm here for you."
The hug lasted for a minute, Nate feeling guilty for every second of it, but he couldn't just shove her off, so instead he just rolled with it.
"I'll tell you in my own time Piper" Nate said, removing himself from the embrace and looking at her. "But... just not now" He ended with a smile.
His brain was spinning around in his skull, but he had to pretend he was okay.
Piper smiled back, her eyes seeming to light up "I know you will Blue"
Nate, sensing the moment to be too romantic changed the topic as soon as he got the chance.
"So did you get anything out of Nick?"
"No, that P.I. is gonna make me rip out his P-eyes soon. He didn't say a thing"
A silence started to begin, so Nate kept on a conversation.
"So I take it you and Nick know each other?"
"Yeah, I feel he's the only one who gets me in this damned city"
Nate saw a figure round the corner and could identify as Nick as soon as he saw the trench coat flair up.
"That bastard isn't there" He said to the duo. "We're going to have to find some other lead somewhere"
Nate let out a deep breath, he wasn't expecting much anyway.
"How about we wait for him to come back?" Nate suggested.
"That could take a while, given the... urgency of your case-"
"Really Nick, I'm fine waiting" Nate couldn't stop lying. Something inside of him wanted to go back to sanctuary, back to Nora. The more time he spent away from that place, the more Nora shined in his mind.
That night out seemed to have done nothing.
Nick nodded, "If that's what you want... I'll work on some other cases in the meantime"
And with that he headed back into the office. Nate knew that it shouldn't be long until Kellogg went back to his house, he figured it was smarter than just barging in by breaking the lock.
"I'm gonna head to Sanctuary, see if Preston has any more jobs for me, you want to tag along?"
Piper sighed, "Believe me Blue, I would much rather fight the bad guys than stay in this shit hole town, but I got a job to do, those papers need someone to write them"
"Suit yourself. I should be back here in a bit anyways"
"Well I hope your gonna have more fun than I am"
And with that Piper smiled and left.
Nate held together until she rounded the corner, then he dropped the mask of calm and collected, and his expression changed back to what he felt.
Once again Nate had to push it down to function.
He began out of the city, through the gates and back into the foul-smelling wasteland that was the Commonwealth.
He took the route that usually gets him to Sanctuary with the fewest amount of raider attacks or ghoul ambushes, and luckily for him it seemed to have worked.
The walk to Sanctuary felt longer than usual, with no distractions from himself, he began to want an attack, just to think about something else.
He couldn't hold on like this, he was falling apart at the seams. And even worse, it was getting harder to hide.
Sanctuary began to show itself as Nate walked onward. Pass the truck station and across the bridge, Nate was again greeted by a cheerful Preston.
"Glad your back, Nate"
"Glad to be back Preston"
Nate and Preston talked on as they walked up the road, but all of it was circling around one topic.
"So Preston, you got any work for me?" Nate said, deciding to break the ice.
"I'm happy you asked, we have a special one this time. A trader came from Cambridge and said they heard a distress signal. Some old military frequency, but it sounds like they need some help. And seeing as your number two isn't here, I might as well tag along"
"Sounds good Garvey, I just hope we're not heading into some warzone" Nate was going to have to push it down further until he could see Nora again.
"Well there's no time to waste, lets get going"