1Chapter Two: Honored
"Sorry to bother you with this, General, but the Abernathys are having problems with ghouls again."
"Let me guess: Wicked Shipping Fleet Lockup?" Nate snorted. "How many times do I have to clear that place out?"
"Hopefully this'll be the last," Preston replied sympathetically.
"I think you said that last time, too," the general of the Minutemen grunted as he grabbed his gear. It was then that he noticed that, other than the two of them, Hangman Alley was empty; even Dogmeat was nowhere to be seen. "Hey…where is everybody?"
"Out on patrol, sir," Preston said smoothly. "Listen…you mind if I come with you this time? The turret defenses you built should be able to hold things down while we're gone."
Nate studied his second-in-command for a moment. Something seemed strange, but he couldn't put his finger on it. So, he shrugged. "Sure; it's been a while since we've teamed up; it'd be a nice change of pace."
Preston gave his CO a relieved smile. "Glad to hear it, General."
From Hangman's Alley they headed northwest to Oberland Station. On the way, they intercepted one of Isabela's old Autmatron patrols and took it down, potentially saving more lives…for the time being.
"I'm tired of these damned things," Preston complained as they combed the wreckages for resources. "Oh, well; at least they're good for parts for defenses."
Nate grunted his agreement as he filled a pack with several circuit boards. He had been wanting to add better turret defenses to the Finch's homestead, so the boards were a godsend.
After a brief stop at Oberland to check its progress as well as a stop at Greygarden (where Supervisor White seemed more flirtatious than usual), they followed the tracks north. As they walked, Nate remembered that he had led Ada on a similar trip not too long ago. He then realized that he hadn't seen the former Automatron in a while. "Hey, Preston? Have you seen Ada in the last few days?"
"Of course, sir," the minuteman replied easily. "She'd come by to sleep, but she has been out a lot lately, on salvaging missions with Danse and such."
Nate thought that his second-in-command sounded a little evasive, but decided to not press the matter.
He smiled as Abernathy Farm came into view. He and the Abernathy patriarch, Blake, got along quite well and, even though he was tired of having to clear out the same place over and over again, the conversations with the farmer more than made up for the tedium.
"Hey, good to see you, friend," Blake greeted as the pair approached. "I want to thank you for thinking of me and my family."
"Um, you're welcome?" Nate replied, confused. "I understand you're having problems with ghouls again?"
"Yeah," the old farmer said as he scratched his beard. "Strange thing is, they seem to be coming from the north this time; normally we get them coming from Wicked Shipping…"
"Yeah, I know about that," Nate groaned at several memories.
"…but this time they seem to be coming from north of Sanctuary."
Nate's blood froze. "Vault 111? No…"
"General?" came Preston's concerned voice.
"Nora?" He started off at a jog, headed toward Sanctuary. It didn't take long for him to break into a sprint, making it difficult for his second-in command to keep up.
By the time Preston arrived at the Vault 111 entrance, the elevator had already descended. With a smile, he headed over to the nearby control hut, pulling a suit out of his pack as he did so.
The elevator couldn't descend fast enough for the Sole Survivor. He ducked under the gate as it raised and scrambled up the stairs. Heading down the hallway leading to his old cryo-pod, he half expected to find his wife transformed into a ghoul. What he found instead shocked him even more. "What…?
All of his friends stood in two lines along the sides of the pod room. At the far end opposite him, he could see Ada's familiar blue hair, swaying as she shifted anxiously from foot to foot. It was then that he noticed that they were all wearing Vault suits.
The first one on his right was the former Brotherhood Paladin. "Danse, what's going on here?"
"I'm sorry," he replied in his usual gentle tone, "I have been instructed to not say anything to you about this matter."
"Strong not fit in ugly suit," the giant would only say when asked the same question.
"Yer talkin' to the wrong girl," Cait replied.
Piper was just as evasive: "I only report on things after the fact, Blue."
"You'll find out soon enough, I promise," the synth detective said, also wearing a vault suit, much to Nate's surprise.
"I'm sorry, sir; I'm not at liberty to discuss the matter," Codsworth lamented.
"Not my place to say, kid," Longfellow intoned.
MacCready almost spilled the beans, though. "You've done so much for us, boss, that we-" he was cut off by Curie covering his mouth.
"There are some things you have to find out for yourself, no?" she said, tears glistening in her eyes.
"Sorry dude; I'm under a gag order," Deacon said.
"I'm just here as a representative of Goodneighbor," Hancock said. "Don't mind me."
Of course, Dogmeat simply barked happily.
Nate wasn't stupid; he knew that he was being led to his wife's pod, and he finally found himself standing before the former automatron as she stood next to it. "What's going on, Ada?"
"Just a minute please, sir."
A short time later, Preston joined them, standing at Ada's side, also wearing a Vault suit. He drew himself ramrod straight. "Group: atten-tion!"
Nate reflexively snapped to attention with everyone else, impressed with his subordinate's military demeanor.
"As you were, sir," Preston amended with an embarrassed smile. "The call-to-attention was for the rest of us."
"Understood," Nate replied as he relaxed to 'at ease'.
Preston pivoted to Ada, who responded in kind. "They're all yours, ma'am," he announced as they exchanged salutes. He then pivoted back toward the rest of the group and marched, eventually taking a place in a gap in the lines.
"If you would, sir," Ada said, Indicating the space next to her, which he took. "We are here to honor Nora, the wife of our dearest friend. We do not know much about her, but we can know that she must have been a wonderful person to have been married to our comrade-in-arms…"
As she spoke, Nate thought back to when he and Nora first met, to their first date, their first kiss…their wedding, the birth of Shaun…and had to swallow the lump that formed in his throat.
He had to swallow several more as each of his friends approached the cryo-pod and told their stories to Nora, each finishing with how Nate had impacted their lives. Understandably, Strong had difficulty with the concept of talking to a dead body but, to his credit, he didn't try to eat her.
"Sir? Would you like to say something to her before we proceed?" Ada prompted.
Nate rubbed his palms together as he approached his late wife. The truth was, things had gone so quickly that he really hadn't had time to think about it, from finding Kellogg to finding Shaun, helping his friends with their problems as well as protecting the Commonwealth from the Institute… "I…" Any possible words caught in his throat. "I…don't know what to say."
"Whatever is on your heart, Monsieur Nate," Curie encouraged.
He looked up to the face of his late wife, and was distressed to find evidence of decay on her cheek. "Oh, god…I'm so sorry for leaving you in there that long. I…need to move on, but I'm…I'm going… I'm really going to miss you, hon." He felt a tickle on his own cheek and reached up the wipe the errant tear away. "I wish I could have saved you from that bastard…I wish I could have saved our son…" he tried to continue, but the tears kept flowing, and he clenched his jaw and fists in an effort to make them stop.
He jumped at a gentle touch to his back and looked to find Ada gazing at him with a look of sympathy and sadness. "It's okay, Nathan; let it out."
"Dammit, Ada…" Nate ground through his teeth before grief finally overwhelmed him, dropping him to his knees as his friends gathered around, to support him to the best of their ability.
Blake wouldn't take 'no' – or caps – for an answer. "No, my friend, I insist; I'm giving you the land. My family would be honored if you would bury your wife here."
Nora was finally laid to rest next to Mary Abernathy, and Nate knelt at her graveside, barely hearing the others as they headed back to Hangman's Alley after expressing their sympathies one more time.
"Good luck, Ada," Preston, back in his Minuteman uniform, said as he clapped the former automatron on the shoulder.
She swallowed hard as she nodded and, as Preston followed the others back, headed cautiously to where Nate was placing flowers next to the headstone. "N-Nathan?"
He chuckled humorlessly. "Finally figured out how to use my name, huh?"
She knelt at the end of Nora's grave. "It was force of habit at first," she admitted.
"Why were you so eager to bury my wife?" he asked rather abruptly.
The blue-haired girl flinched, but took a deep breath. "Because…I love you, Nathan."
"Trying to get the competition out of the way?" he asked bitterly.
"No!" she cried out before regaining control of herself. "I think…because I feel this way…I want the best for you... And...to see you hurting like this…"
He rolled back to a seated position to better see her face.
"Nathan?" She looked down at the grave. "Even if I can never have you…I want you to be happy…or, at least, not sad anymore."
His glare softened. "I see. Sorry for doubting you, Ada."
"It's understandable, sir," she replied. "Any of the four of us would want the chance to be with you."
"Four?" Nate asked with a furrowed brow.
Ada's head whipped up with a shocked expression. "Oh, no! That was supposed to-!" she blurted before snapping her mouth shut.
"Spill it, Ada," he demanded. "What's going on?"
Ada took another deep breath. "I am not the only one who is…attractedtoyou," she hurried. "Piper, Cait, and Curie have wanted to get closer to you, but have held back because of your wife."
"Really? Huh." Thinking back on some of their behaviors, it made sense. But… "I don't know what to say."
"I am sorry if my affection bothers you. I will try to suppress it if it does."
He rubbed his nose with the back on his hand in response to an itch. "You know, the funny thing is that it doesn't." He looked over at his friend with a small smile. "Truth is, I've actually been pretty fond of you since we first met."
"First met?"
"I like how you knew what you wanted, and that you were willing to do what you needed to in order to get it done," he explained. "Kinda reminds me of Nora."
She blushed as she looked at the ground between them. "N-Nathan…?"
"Come on," he said, getting to his feet. "Let's head back."
Ada looked up to see him with a kind smile and his hand held out to her, and she hesitantly reached out and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. "Y-yes, sir."
She started to release his hand but was surprised when he maintained his grip on hers. So, with a shy smile and a shuddering sigh of relief, she returned his grip as they started back home.
Rough Draft complete
