"My turn to stand guard. Get some rest, soldier." Paladin Danse said to Nate.

"Thanks." Nate's glad his guard shift is over and gives Danse his spot near the front door of the police station and the sleeping Dogmeat. With three more hours till the sun fully rises, he takes this free time to sleep before heading out.

Passing the sleeping bodies of Haylen and Rhys, Nate goes towards the corner of the room where his companion is lying on a provided bedding. Piper's curled on her side with her facing towards him. He sits on the floor and rest his back against the wall just. Before he shuts his eyes, he looks at Piper's face. Just looking at Piper's serene face makes him whimsical and guilty.

Oh, how Nate misses his wife, Nora, who was taken from him! And blaming himself for almost losing Piper...

...

Nate remembers it clearly, behind the glass window of his cryogenic pod, banging his fists against the shut door as he watched his beloved wife refusing to give up their son, Shaun, to the kidnappers. And he witnessed how the son of a bitch shot her in the head and his son taken from his wife's arms. After that, he was put to sleep.

He doesn't know of the time and date when he woke up again, all he could think of was to check on Nora. When Nora's pod opened, she was leaning against her pod, slightly facing away from him, and covered in thin ice. Only marring her beauty is the bullet hole in her forehead and the frozen trickle of blood. Even in death and covered with ice, his Nora looked so peaceful and beautiful, like she was just sleeping.

Nate reached out trembling fingers to caress that once soft and smooth cheek of his wife. Just a touch and Nate cried. Though there were no tears, his heart is in anguish. The time when he first met Nora at a local bar, the courtship through messages while he was on the front, a quick marriage during his short break from war, the eagerness to come back home and retire from war for good, and a year of finally having a complete family by the arrival of Shaun, all these shattered like broken glass. His whole life was taken away from him. But there was still Shaun and he was out there, somewhere.

Nate then vowed to Nora he will hunt down the bastard who took her away from him and bring back their son, no matter what. When he came to the surface, he discovered how the world changed and that he has been sleeping for more than two hundred years. The image of the bastard burned in his mind and finding Shaun pushed him to move even when he was overwhelmed of the post-apocalyptic world. With those two goals in mind, he has all forgotten Nora. But when he reached Diamond City, Nate started to miss his wife again. All thanks to a certain person.

Outside the doors towards the city is a woman in a press cap and red leather coat, trying to convince the person in the speaker box to let her in. When her request was refused, the woman became frustrated. As if sensing he was looking at her, she turned to face him.

Nate was taken aback when he came face to face with the woman. The woman has a striking resemblance with Nora. And when inside Diamond City, he learned that the woman's name is Piper Wright, an infamous reporter known for being nosy and snarky. He did ponder how he thought Piper looked like Nora as he was going to her office. He tried to compare Piper to Nora based on his observation when he met her.

Piper and Nora has the same sexy, body structure, complexity, and height. Their personalities are almost alike. Both are strong-willed, would speak up what they thought is right and what's in their mind, always exerting themselves to get what she wanted. They also have good charisma. Though, on how they get what they want and use their charisma differ. Piper would be conniving and playful, Nora's convincing powers are logical and part of her nature.

Seeing Piper again, Nate could now compare their looks.

Both women have straight noses and a complete set of pearly white teeth. They also have the same ear and eyebrow shapes.

Piper has a strong jaw and wide mouth that matches her snarky voice. Nora has a soft jaw and rose-bud mouth that matches her soft and gentle voice.

Piper has luscious locks of black hair that reaches her shoulders. Nora has luscious locks of brown hair that reaches her shoulders.

Their eyes, it's Piper's eyes that made Nate think how she and Nora are alike. While Piper has hazel eyes and Nora has brown eyes, they have the same shape and quality: their eyes are almond shaped with the outer edge tilting upward like a cat. When staring at them, they are sharp that feels like they'll look deep into your soul to learn about your secrets. Behind their eyes lie intelligence and cleverness which they'll use as their weapon and defense. Nate needed is to blink and the illusion that Piper looked like Nora dissipated.

Nate doesn't know why he allowed Piper to tag along (must be her charisma working or her bossy nature. And he didn't mind being nicknamed 'Blue' rather than 'Nate'.) but he agreed. She did kept her bargain that she'll watch his back, much to his appreciation. Most of the time when he does side missions like helping a settlement, kill feral ghouls, monsters, super mutants and raiders, he always have Piper with him. The more they spent traveling together and inquiring about her thoughts, the more he gets to know her and appreciates her.

Then out of the blue (nice pun) after hearing her thoughts, some little devil in him made him flirt. To his great discovery and amusement, Piper blushed and stammered. The nosy and snarky Piper is easily flustered. Judging by what she told him about herself, he realized she dedicated most of her life in spreading the truth and taking care of her little sister, Nat. And she looks adorable when flustered. When given the opportunity or coming up with a plan, he would flirt just to see her turn red. The more they spent time together, the more he wanted to tease her.

Teasing her became a habit but he has to do it in appropriate times. He made the mistake of getting her flustered during an investigation in a reported raider's hideout. An incident that happened two months ago. An incident that'll always haunt him.

There was no one around the said building. Thinking it was deserted, Nate started teasing Piper. Red-faced Piper then walks away from his presence while he laughed as he was checking some drawers for some loot. Then a faint volley of gunshots were heard. Nate realized too late that Piper's been gone too long and the raiders have come. He hurried to where he last seen Piper, killing raiders as he continues to search for her. What felt like a year, he finally reached the area where the battle's taking and unfolding in front of him is a sense of dejavu: Piper taking cover in a corner but severely wounded. Weak from her wounds, she sat down with her back against the wall. From the stairs going towards her are two raiders equipped with powerful guns. When Piper saw Nate, she calls out for him.

"Blue..."

The way she calls out pitifully like she was dying made Nate picture Nora's death all over again. Helpless Nora shot down without mercy and he was there to witness it, unable to prevent it. Now it'll happen to Piper.

Never, will he let that happen again!

Blinded with righteous anger, Nate pulled out his sniper rifle and quickly shot the two raiders on the leg, crippling them, then the head. He ran towards Piper, never bothered by the bullets flying towards him. Reaching her side, he quickly used a stimpak, commanded her to stay put then left to finish off the remaining raiders.

When the battle's over with Nate wounded but victorious. He was about to turn back to where he left Piper but was startled to see her coming to him. He was relieved she was alright after getting healed by the stimpak but wanted to make sure, so he was about to ask her. But Piper beat him to it.

"Blue, are you alright?" she asked. Ah, Piper. Always concerned for his welfare.

"I should be the one asking that."

"I'm okay. Thanks for coming for me. Got no wounds anymore but you do. Gosh, Blue! Use a stimpak before you bleed to death."

Nate learned his lesson. He doesn't want anything bad happen to Piper ever again. His conscience made him decide to put her aside for now, to make up with his mistake. What he did was follow up with the son of a bitch who took Nora and Shaun. With Nick's insistence to come, Nate used him as the reason for the companionship swap. He was relieved that Piper never objected. From there, with Nick tagging along, Nate resumed his main quest. But after killing Kellogg and extracted information regarding Shaun, Nate was sidetracked again in helping others. Along the way, he found new companions too.

But after two months, he felt he needed to see Piper. He then decided to visit her and offer to accompany him. And see if she gets flustered by his teasing again...

...

And here they are, traveling together again, with Nate limiting his teasing of Piper. Nate smiles down at Piper's sleeping form before shutting his eyes and think what they'll do next. Their next destination is the Brotherhood of Steel's flying base. He knew that no matter how much Piper disliked the Brotherhood of Steel (so did he, with their self-righteousness and misguided beliefs, but their military background is the closest thing to what he was used to before the bombs fell.), she was giddy to ride the vertibird and Prydwyn, and get some information for her story.

It's really nice to have her as a companion again.