Piper was fidgeting.

She wasn't necessarily nervous, mind you.

Okay, maybe a little.

Truth was, she was a long way outside of her comfort zone; sitting in an abandoned house a day's walk north of her home in Diamond City. It was evening and a single lantern illuminated the remains of the living room. Someone had been living here recently; the room was cleaned and free of debris. A Mr. Handy robot, named Codsworth, had checked in on her a few times, apparently delighted that "the mum was entertaining guests again."

For all the traveling she did in chasing down news stories, Piper rarely strayed too far into the rural parts of the Commonwealth. Before yesterday, the furthest north she had traveled was either Cambridge or the caravan post at Bunker Hill. She always felt a little too exposed in the open spaces between the ruins of the small towns, and usually stayed south of the Charles.

Not that the downtown area was any safer, far from it actually. It was just that the dangers there were more familiar. Feral Ghouls, Gunners, Raiders, Super Mutants, the occasional Mirelurk… these were all things that Piper felt confident in outsmarting. Hell, Gunners and Raiders could actually be bargained with, which had allowed her the occasional entry into places like the Combat Zone.

If the stories the caravaners told were true, outside the downtown area things were a little different,. Feral Ghoul packs were larger; Gunners were more vicious; Raiders more desperate; and the Super Mutants better organized. Then there were the critters. In addition to Mirelurks, there were Radscorpions, the Yao Guai and of course the stuff of nightmares; Deathclaws. These things weren't interested in bargaining, they wanted to eat you.

Even molerats could be troublesome in a pack.

The reason Piper found herself so far from home, and fidgeting at each sound coming from the woods behind the house, was currently across the street arguing with the settlers of Sanctuary Hills.

Kate had stumbled into her life only a few weeks ago, but they had quickly become fast friends. The woman was looking for her son, a baby kidnapped from a Vault likely by agents of the Institute. Her story was incredible, almost too much to be believed: frozen for two hundred years and then thrown into a pursuit of the man that had murdered her husband and taken their child. Piper was amazed that the Commonwealth hadn't simply swallowed up this curiosity, but the hodgepodge of armor Kate wore over her vault suit and the sack of weapons she carried that day were a testament that the woman was a quick study. One look at the blue vault suit and Piper knew she had a nickname for the woman, inviting "Blue" over to her office for an interview later.

Once inside Diamond City however, Blue ran into the problematic truth that most of the residents didn't care about the troubles of outsiders. Piper published an interview for her newspaper, hoping to drum up sympathy for the vault dweller's plight, but no information was forthcoming. Nick Valentine was probably her best bet, but he was out of town working on a case.

After their paths kept crossing around town, Piper soon found herself tagging along while Kate solved small problems for people in and around Diamond City. The woman seemed to have a compulsive need to help people that Piper couldn't help but admire.

Kate was just a little bit taller than Piper, and had the same dark hair, but the similarities ended there. The woman was a former college athlete (something called the heptathlon?) and had the endurance to walk all day with a full pack of supplies.

Piper thought that Blue might be Chinese like Dr. Sun. But when she asked, Blue's reaction was an odd mixture of panic and scandal. "No, no, I'm Korean!" she quickly said. Then her gaze turned to the ruins of the city and the reporter heard her say, "I guess that distinction doesn't matter as much as it used to."

The woman's confidence and determination were infectious, and after a couple weeks waiting for Nick to return, Piper agreed to accompany Blue back to Concord to check on the settlers there. The following day the pair found themselves just south of town with a single caravaner named "Trashcan Carla". After some discussion, the trader agreed to add Sanctuary Hills to her route and they escorted her through town up to the settlement.

Then the fun began.

After crossing a bridge they walked into an old neighborhood of houses at sunset. Blue called out a greeting and a minute later she was answered with gunfire. All three took cover and after a few tense minutes of shouting back-in-fourth, a man that looked suspiciously like one of the Minutemen slowly came walking into view. Kate seemed to relax a little and called out to him. "Garvey, it's me! Kate Ryan! Tell whoever is shooting to stop!" After a few more minutes things were sorted out, but if Piper thought their troubles were over, she was mistaken. A couple of the settlers were extremely upset that Kate had returned with two strangers in tow. One sour-faced woman in particular (whom Piper suspected of being the cause of the gunfire) demanded that they leave and not return.

Piper narrowed her eyes at the woman and took a menacing step forward, only to feel Blue's hand on her shoulder. If her friend was upset over someone trying to throw her out of her own home, she didn't show it. Instead she smiled at the woman and said in a calm voice, "I'll tell you what Marcy, why don't we do this: How about those of us that call Sanctuary Hills home get together and talk this out?" She held her hand out in a placating gesture. "Now I know I didn't make the journey with you people from Quincy, but Sanctuary is also where I call home." Kate smiled again and looked over the group of settlers. "I'm sure if we just have a quiet discussion we can come to an agreement."

"Fine!" the woman spat. "Come on Jun, the sooner we get this started, the sooner they'll be on their way." The small group filed into a house near the center of the neighborhood. Kate handed Piper a lantern and asked her to get Carla settled in and to wait for her in the house across the street.

That was two hours ago. While initially there had been shouting and heated words, the conversation had become, for the most part, civil and Piper was unable to hear anything other than the general murmur of voices. In the last half hour there had even been a few bouts of soft laughter, which the reporter hoped was a good sign. Shortly thereafter, the small group began to break up and two figures slowly made their way toward the house already in conversation…

"...just to the southwest." The larger man walking alongside Kate pointed back toward the bridge that lead into the settlement. "If they're friendly, they might be open to trading."

The vault dweller nodded. "Yeah, Carla mentioned that there was a family farm nearby. The Abernathy's, I think. We'll check it out tomorrow."

"Great! In the meantime we'll get started on those fences you mentioned. We haven't seen a peep from anything remotely threatening, but like you said, it's best to be prepared."

The pair stepped into the house, and Kate felt herself begin to relax when she saw Piper's relieved smile. While the former lawyer had been confident that her argument would win out, it was still good to be near someone that she knew had her back completely.

"I think some introductions are in order." Kate said. "Piper, this is Sturges. He's our handyman-extraordinaire of the settlement here. Sturges, this is Piper Wright, Editor-in-Chief of Publick Occurrences. That's the newspaper in Diamond City."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Piper." Sturges said as the two shook hands. "Sorry about the fuss when you came into town. Some folks are still working to put the past behind them."

The reported shrugged. "It wouldn't be the first time that people started shooting as soon as they saw me."

"And I don't look anything like I did when I left you guys last month." Kate gestured to herself. Her blue vault suit long gone, the woman was clad in road leathers, favored by caravan guards, and covered by some patchwork armor.

The big man smiled at them both. "I'm glad it all worked out and nobody got hurt." He began walking towards the hallway that lead back to the bedrooms. "Just gonna grab my stuff and I'll leave you ladies be."

Kate opened her mouth to speak, but Sturges had already gone. She looked over at Piper and gave her friend a tired smile.

Piper gave her a questioning look, "Crisis averted?"

"Crisis averted." was the reply. Kate began removing her armor and hung her jacket across a chair in the kitchen.

Piper nodded once, "Good. I wasn't really looking forward to walking back to Concord in the dark to find shelter for the night." Then she gave Kate a wicked grin. "Would've been easier just to pop that lady in the nose."

"Piper! Shhhhh." But the rebuke was mixed with laughter. The same thought had occurred to Kate at one point during her argument with Marcy.

Sturges re-appeared shortly thereafter carrying two boxes with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, "I have some more stuff in the storage room, but I can clear that out tomorrow."

Kate touched his arm, gratitude evident on her face. "Thanks again Sturges. I know it probably sounds stupid and petty, and I hate putting you out, literally…"

"Now, now, don't you think twice about it. Plenty of other houses to set up in. Besides, how many of the abandoned houses in the Commonwealth have the original owner come back?" He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe if they're a ghoul."

She grinned back at him, "Well, I haven't made a mortgage payment in over two hundred years, so technically the bank owns the house. I'll check with them the next time I'm in Lexington."

Sturges didn't quite get the jest, but he laughed anyway. "All right now. Goodnight Miss Kate. Miss Piper, nice meeting you." He stepped out of the house and left the two women alone.

Piper walked over to her friend and softly punched her on the arm. "I gotta admit Blue, I wasn't too sure about the idea of a town hall meeting to settle the whole caravan issue. I thought we might be run out of town. Also wouldn't be the first time for me."

Kate shook her head, "To be honest, it wasn't even close to a fair fight." Now stripped of her armor, the woman was clearing a space at the kitchen table. "For future reference, don't challenge a lawyer to an argument, especially one that was on UCLA's debate team. You're not going to win."

"Duly noted." Finally convinced that they were staying for the night, Piper pulled off her trusty trench coat and hat, hanging them on a chair with her well worn scarf. She stretched out the tension from her muscles, then turned to see what Blue was up to.

They had encountered a trio of Super Mutants just outside of Lexington that morning and had been able to dispatch all three after a short gunfight. One of the spoils had been a laser rifle that had caused Kate to laugh in astonishment. "I'll be damned… A two hundred year old AER9." She gathered up the rifle and all the fusion cells she could find on the fallen giant.

Now she had the rifle and a small collection of tools spread out on the table illuminated by the light of a nearby lantern. Piper watched in mute fascination as her friend carefully inspected the weapon… applying adhesive tape to a frayed wire or tightening up some loose screws. The reporter dug out her own 10mm pistol and looked it over, ejecting the magazine and clearing the chamber. Every once in a while it would jam and if she couldn't clear it herself, she would take it to Arturo who would fix it for a few caps. It didn't appear that Blue was going to have that problem.

Satisfied that her new laser rifle was in good working condition, Kate watched Piper for a few minutes as the other woman carefully eyeballed her pistol. Looking at the other woman made her smile and not for the first time she marveled at her good fortune in running into the reporter outside of Diamond City.

At first she had thought she could go it alone, a vengeful mother scouring the land in search of her child. Concord had been her first lesson in the truth of this new world. It wasn't just the people… Raiders… that had been assaulting the museum. During the firefight some kind of prehistoric monster had appeared, tearing the remaining raiders to pieces and then bearing down on her. By the grace of God and her newly acquired mini gun, the beast had gone down, but not before the thing had slammed into her, sending her sprawling down the street. If she had not been in Power Armor at the time, there's no doubt that she would've been torn apart. There was little comfort in Garvey's statement that these "Deathclaw" creatures were rare this far north.

Her next lesson occurred a week later near Cambridge. A week spent around Concord had helped familiarize herself with the new world she had stepped out into. Kate realized that her best bet for information would lie in getting to Diamond City, so she made her way south following the old Concord Turnpike toward the ruins of Boston. Once she got close enough to the Charles River, she realized exactly what Diamond City was and she laughed. Laughed hysterically at the absurdity of it all. Laughed at her chances of finding Shaun in this vast, insane world. Laughed until she wept. It was in this state that Kate spotted the men, walking in formation on the other bank of the Charles. Raiders she had quickly become proficient at spotting, adopting a policy of "avoid or shoot first" toward them. These men may have been in worn, dirty fatigues, but they were definitely military. Could they be trusted? Buoyed by the protection of the river between them, she called out to the group.

"Oh hey doll, who are you?" one replied.

"I'm looking for my son... trying to reach Diamond City." she replied back.

"We can help you out. Just stay there and we'll be right over."

Two of the men began to argue, with one man pointing in the direction they had been previously heading. At first Kate couldn't hear what they were saying, but as the argument progressed the pair got louder. Her heart sank when she heard the first man call her "a fresh out of the vault girl that's worth a lotta caps". The third member was a woman standing apart from the others keeping watch. She replied to an unheard question just loud enough for Kate to hear, "I don't care if we keep her or sell her. Just as long as we get to have our fun first!"

False hope had kept her rooted in place, while her gut had told her to run. Her gut won out and Kate turned and fled. Shouts and gunfire peppered after her from the far bank, but she was soon safe. Could anyone be trusted out here? Tired and dispirited, she finally made her way to the gates of Diamond City.

And there Kate met Piper.

She didn't know what to make of the reporter at first. Piper used her to gain access to the ballpark turned settlement, but Kate went along with it. Then she dragged her into an ongoing argument with the settlement's mayor. The younger woman talked fast with a nervous rambling energy as she described the "great green jewel" as the pair made their way inside Diamond City. Once inside Piper pointed out the shops where the newcomer could sell her extra stuff, a place to eat and a place to sleep.

"Look Blue, I gotta get settled." Piper gestured at the shack behind her. "This is my place. "Publick Occurrences." Stop by later for an interview?"

Blue?

"Your jumpsuit, Blue. Always wanted to interview a vault dweller." The reporter winked at Kate, turned and walked away.

The first few days in Diamond City were difficult for Kate. She talked to everyone she could, but no one had any information about her baby or the man that took him. Some people were sympathetic, some much less so. By and large, most people didn't want to get involved. The people that did talk were sure that Shaun had been taken by an organization called "The Institute" and the one person that could help was a private detective named Nick Valentine. Naturally, he was out of town on a case.

Someone who did want to get involved was the reporter, Piper. After the promised interview they talked and a lot of the younger woman's bluster faded as the two got to know one another. They crossed paths frequently the first week which usually led to lunch together or a drink at the Dugout. Kate's frustration turned to action and she began to look for ways to help some of the people in Diamond City while she waited for Valentine to return. Learning about a proposed trip to a nearby Hardware Town, Piper insisted on accompanying her. "Blue, you can't just go off on your own like that! People are gonna worry." Returning late, Kate was too tired to protest when she was lead over to the couch inside Publick Occurances and covered up with a blanket. "Save your caps Blue. We're going to need them to find your boy." As she fell asleep, Kate thought that the word "we" sounded wonderful.

"That was, what, three weeks ago?" Kate mused to herself while Piper continued her inspection of her pistol. They had been pretty much inseparable since then and Kate felt lucky to have made such a good friend.

"Alright Piper," Kate held out her hand, "why don't you let me take a look?"

"Finally!" the reporter said with feigned drama. "I was wondering how long I was gonna have to appear helpless before you noticed."

Kate rolled her eyes as she took the pistol from her friend. "Somehow I don't think "helpless" is a word that would ever describe you."

The reporter batted her eyelashes, "Flatterer."

Shaking her head and smiling, the vault dweller gave the pistol a visual inspection. It appeared to be in good working order, but a quick cleaning probably wouldn't hurt either. Grabbing a cloth and a small bit of oil, she quickly disassembled the weapon and began wiping down the individual components.

While her friend worked on the pistol, Piper looked around the dimly lit room once more. "So this used to be your house, huh? You actually lived here before the war?"

"Yup." Kate paused to look around, then resumed cleaning. "A little worse for wear now, but yeah, this was my home before… everything went to Hell."

"Must be kinda weird to see the place you grew up completely trashed like this." Piper winced thinking how cruel that had sounded. "Geez, Blue I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like a complete ass."

The other woman smirked in reply. "Don't worry about it Piper. You're lucky I've grown quite fond of your ass the last couple weeks."

Piper blushed with embarrassment. "That was really a stupid thing to say… What's wrong with me?" she thought to herself. Piper made eye contact with Kate and spoke earnestly, "Seriously, the last thing in the world I want to do is hurt your feelings."

Kate laughed softly, "I know." She looked up at her friend and smiled as the reporter visibly relaxed.

"But yes, it has been a lot to take in. If I think too much about it, I just…" She closed her eyes and shook her head. That was a rabbit hole she didn't want to go down right now. "I try and focus on finding Shaun. The settlements stuff for the Minutemen? Well, that helps people and that's great and all, but it also puts me in contact with more people. Maybe someone that knows something about the man that took my son." She gestured behind her to the outside, "Like these Abernathy's. They live practically a stone's throw away from the entrance to the vault. Maybe they spotted something."

Piper nodded in understanding, but she had a feeling that Kate was something special. That her friend would be helping with the settlements even if she wasn't searching for her missing son.

They were both quiet for a moment while Kate continued to clean Piper's pistol. "I'll let you in on a little secret though." she grinned when the word "secret" made Piper's eyes light up. "I didn't grow up here."

"Really?!" the reporter wasn't completely surprised though. Her friend certainly didn't speak like some of the locals that had grown up in the Commonwealth.

"Scout's honor." Kate said, holding up two fingers. "I only moved to Concord a couple years ago after Nate and I were married and I was discharged from the Army."

Piper had to interrupt at that revelation, "Wait. You were in the Army? Like before the war?"

She gave the reporter a mock salute, "Lieutenant Katherine Park, reporting for duty."

"So that's how you know how to shoot and take apart a gun…"

"Pistol."

"Whatever." Piper was quiet a moment, trying to recall what she had read about the war before the bombs had dropped. "So, were you at Anchor Ridge? Did you fight in the battle there?"

Something flashed in those dark eyes for a moment before her face settled into a neutral expression. "I was stationed in Alaska and was part of the Anchorage front for a while, but I was just a staff officer with the battalion headquarters. My husband Nate was the big hero." She shrugged her shoulders. "Later I was posted to Vancouver, attached to the Military Legal Affairs group supporting the occupation."

Piper's nose twitched. Blue was definitely leaving out a lot and her response sounded a little too practiced. She could tell there was more to the story, but she was reluctant to push her friend for more details so late in the evening.

"There we go." Kate had re-assembled the pistol and handed it back to Piper. "Just let me take a look at it in the evenings if we've been in a firefight that day. Or, I can show you how to clean it yourself and you can can take care of it on your own when I'm not around."

When I'm not around… Piper felt a pang in her chest at that comment and quickly covered it up with a joke. "Oh sure, I've heard about you army types. Show a girl how to clean her gun and then skip town."

Apparently her joke was far more hilarious than she thought because Blue was soon doubled over from laughing. "Oh, Piper," she wiped a tear from her eye, "I could tell you stories about "gun cleaning" that would make you blush."

It took the reporter a moment to clue in and then she turned as red as her coat. "Oh God, I can't believe I said that." She buried her face in her hands and mumbled, "I'm an idiot."

She felt herself being embraced in a hug and then Blue's voice was whispering in her ear, "You're fucking adorable is what you are." Kate's breath was hot in her ear and Piper felt a quiver run down her body. She felt weak, but in a really good way and it took a great deal of effort not to allow herself to melt into the other woman's arms.

The moment passed and then she was at arm's length again. Piper had put her hands down and could see Kate's face beaming in the soft lantern light. She was so beautiful and Piper swore she felt her heart skip when Blue had called her "adorable". She hated to admit it, but she was starting to fall for Blue. Fantasies about being with her had started to creep into Piper's thoughts and she was beginning to imagine that the other woman was occasionally flirting with her. Then she thought of Shaun and… Nate and that warm feeling in her stomach faded. Blue had a husband, only a month dead. "She's not going to think of me like that," the reporter thought glumly. "I am an idiot."

Those dark eyes were studying her and after a long moment Kate spoke earnestly, "I have no intention of skipping out on you, Piper Wright. So you're going to be stuck with me for a while, ok?"

Piper nodded, not trusting herself to speak yet.

"Good." The vault dweller reached out and took Piper's hands in her own. "I know we've only known each other for a few weeks, but I trust you. And I know that's a pretty rare commodity out here. I trust that you'll help me find Shaun and I trust that you have my back."

Piper could feel her cheeks heating up again and mumbled out a joke. "Yeah, well, traveling the Commonwealth with my own pre-war relic was always a dream of mine." She looked up at Kate's face and faltered. This was a serious moment and she was making a damn mess of it! Piper nodded quickly, "You're right. About all of it and… trust IS a rare commodity and I feel the same way about you." She smiled, "I'd trust you with Nat in a heartbeat and that says a lot. You're an amazing friend." Then she laughed, "And not just amazing in the two-hundred-year-old-thawed-popcicle way either."

Kate laughed too. "Great! Now that we've re-affirmed our friendship, let's get settled in for the night. We've got more walking ahead of us tomorrow."

The pair hugged again and Piper tried to ignore how good it felt.

They took their packs back to the bedroom and spread out the sleeping bags on the large mattress there. Whether or not it was the same one from two hundred years ago, Kate couldn't tell.

The two women stripped out of their travel clothes and put on more comfortable sleepwear. Piper couldn't help but admire Kate standing in the lantern light, wearing only a t-shirt and shorts and putting her long dark hair into a ponytail. The woman was athletic, her body free of malnutrition, disease, radiation and was like nothing Piper had ever seen before. "Gun cleaning," she thought to herself and smirked. She was going to need some "alone time" soon.

Once the lantern was off, the bedroom was far from dark as light from the moon and stars illuminated a night sky free from the light pollution of the now darkened city. Lying still in her sleeping bag, Piper was staring at the ceiling when something Kate had said earlier jumped to mind.

"So Blue, just where are you from anyway?" The reporter spoke softly to the woman lying next to her.

"Torrance, California," was the whispered reply. "My great-great-grandparents came to the U.S. and settled there after World War Two. That was about a hundred years before I came along. Ever hear of it or California? It's near Los Angeles."

"No, I mean, I've heard of the NCR. That's the New California Republic, but that had to come along after the war." She didn't want to tell Blue that she had heard caravaners call that area the "Boneyard".

"New California Republic." A soft chuckle. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me."

"Goodnight Blue."

"Goodnight Piper."

"Piper?"

"Hmmmm?"

She felt Kate's hand brush against her wrist and then slide down to grip her hand. Their fingers entwined and gently squeezed.

"I'm happy I found you."

Piper squeezed back and then relaxed, thinking that Blue would let go of her hand. But she didn't and in a few minutes Piper could hear her friend's breathing even out and the occasional soft snore escape. Still holding hands, that warm feeling in Piper's stomach had returned and she felt a smile make it's way across her face as she drifted off to sleep.

Maybe she wasn't such an idiot after all.

Author's note: Hey! Four years of reading fan fiction and I've finally published something. I hope you like it! Big thank you's to HuntressoftheLight for the initial help and especially to my beta reader, Princess Dystopia.