"There it is." The woman smirked as her ever curious companion looked up at her words. If only Nate could see me now. Actually searching out Fenway.. Sorry - I mean Diamond City.

Sarah could still picture those memories clearly. His yells at the radio always used to irritate her. His determination to get her to accompany him to a game was cute at first. Eventually she gave in. It didn't win her over. But still he tried again and again. It never worked. Once was enough. Sometimes it seemed like he cared more about that stupid team than her. Near the end that was obviously the case.

And here I am searching it out. Funny how things turn out eh? Maybe you could have been my answer before. I hope you can bring me answers now.

She had woken up two months ago. Woken up to a world that wasn't hers. A cruel world. An unforgiving world. But now it was the only world she had.

Everything she knew was no more. Her way of life had been altered in what felt like seconds when in reality over two hundred years had passed. Two hundred years since the bombs fell. Two hundred years since her last words to her baby Shaun. She still pictured the memory occasionally despite her fight when she closed her eyes to try and catch some rare rest.

The man. The gun. Shaun. Nate.

Gone.

It took days for her eyes to dry. As she sat alone in the ruins of her old house in Sanctuary Hills with the peppy voice of Codsworth becoming just noise in the background, she finally reached for the pistol and took it in her hand.

The choice was hers. And on the fourth day, she made it.

"You must know that I would accompany you mum. All you have to do is give the word."

Sarah smiled. "I know you would Codsworth. But right now.. this is just something I have to do alone. I'll come back. I promise."

Her path alone lasted for five minutes.

She didn't know where the dog had come from, whether he had an owner or not, but from the start it just felt right. Like he was supposed to join up with her and keep her safe.

"I'll come up with a cool name later, I promise." A bark that (sounded?) happy followed. "Lets go, boy."

The seven weeks that followed were remarkably different to her first. In seemingly no time at all had she rescued a group of people from Concord, set them up in a community back at Sanctuary (Codsworth loved having new people to talk to) and somehow had been talked into becoming the new leader of the Minuteman by Preston Garvey. And now she was travelling, offering help to those who requested it while forming new links and bonds on the way.

It was nuts. Absolutely nuts.

Somehow I've woken up in the future. I'm leading a.. I don't even know what this is really, some kind of good-guy save the world troop? And bloody dead people and monsters keep trying to kill me. One day this'd make a good book.

Do people still write books?

Sarah had to adjust quickly to her new world. Gone was the simple way of life. As she reached Starlight Drive-in she couldn't help but smile as she remembered the initial dates that she and Nate had shared there. It was the creatures that had attacked from underground that quickly brought her out of that memory. It was then she knew that she had to close off those thoughts. Because those thoughts were going to get her killed.

This is it - right now, this is it. Thinking of the past will get you nothing but death. Focus. Move.

She had her initial slips once and a while as she wandered, but for the most part, Sarah keyed in and focused on the present. Because despite her initial fears - it wasn't all bad. There were people out there trying, earning and living a full life. She was awed by some of the determination from those she came across to succeed, to be part of something better. It gave her hope. It gave her fire as even on the toughest nights as she hugged her rifle closely that there was something better out there in this world.

Through everything that had occurred on her path, it had taken two months to reach Diamond City. She had met monsters and men, synths and soldiers. After a month she didn't even believe that she was seeing things anymore. After everything she was seemingly walking into, it no longer was a surprise when she ran across something even more horrific than the last thing.

"Robots? Check. Hey, er, Danse right? Are there aliens here too?"

"Focus, civilian."

That man was never in much of a mood for any of her playful tones. It was something she needed to do however. Something she required so she didn't shake as much at night.

An offer from the Brotherhood of Steel came six weeks in. It tempted her. But she said no. If anything, Sarah believed Danse actually respected her a little for saying no. Which was ridiculous in theory, because everything she'd seen of the man screamed the opposite. His offer wasn't closed however - it would remain open to her if she ever changed her mind.

Sarah looked up at the walls of the stadium as Dogmeat trotted next to her, alert as ever. "Want to know something boy? It's quicker to get around here then it used to be. You wouldn't believe how much foot traffic there was before. Okay granted, I only came once and hey maybe that put me off before I even started watching the game. That and the food." Sarah looked down at her companion. "Oh don't give me that look, you never tasted it. But hell.. I could sure go for some of that now. Figures, huh?" She waved a hand carelessly at the turrets, hoping that it wouldn't open fire on them. "They weren't here before." Sarah shook her head as she turned the corner, approaching what seemed to be the main entrance.

The gate was closed with a clearly frustrated figure leaning into what looked like an intercom. Her voice became clearer as Sarah approached her slowly.

"This is ridiculous Danny! You can't let him push you around like this."

The man's voice sounded tired as it replied. "Nobody is pushing anyone around Piper. Nobody except you."

The woman, Piper, threw up her hands in exasperation. "How long have you known me Danny? Mm? Are you really going to leave me out here for the ferals to feast on?" The woman glanced to her left as she caught sight of the approaching stranger and her dog. If Sarah didn't know better, the look on the other woman's face made it seem as if she was about to be dragged into a situation that she didn't belong in.

"Psst, you there." The woman referred to as Piper tried to speak just above a whisper. "You're not from around here, are you?" She nodded towards the gate. "You want in, right?"

"How did you.."

Piper cut her off abruptly. "Just follow my lead, okay." She licked her lips, bringing her voice back to a normal volume. "You're kidding right? A whole month? Goods.. for a month?" Piper nodded extravagantly at her as her she finished lacing her words with an impressive tone.

Eh what the hell. "That's right. Just over a month actually." I have no idea what I'm doing.

"Did you hear that Danny? Our new friend here could keep Myrna stocked for a month! Do you really want to get an ear full off McDonough if you send her on her merry way to Goodneighbour?"

A grin formed on her face as the man responded. "Fine. You win, Piper. This better be worth it."

Piper took a quick glance back towards Sarah as the gate started to rise. "I'm sure it will be."

Hey! I'm Nothinginreturn.

My stories (normally) are all to do with the video game Mass Effect. I'm a big, big fan and I really enjoy reading many of the wonderful stories on this site. So I thought one day - why not join in? This is my first ever story to do with Fallout.

I don't consider myself much of a writer, but I like to think I'm a creative guy. All my stories are big on dialogue, less on action / fighting. No offence to those who love writing/reading the action, but I quickly get bored with it. All my updates are generally between 1000-2000 words: I write it, check it and post it usually within an hour.

So why this, why now? Well I've been playing Fallout 4 for the past month (so much so that it's absolutely eliminated all my writing for my ME stories - whoops) and I've quickly grown fond of Piper. Therefore - I wanted to write this. It's going to be big on Piper and Sarah, the female sole-survivor as they travel and their relationship grows. Unlike say Mass Effect where I'm usually writing around pre-existing missions and stories, I'm going to instead focus here on the two characters in question - their motivations, feelings, past and future. With Piper's help, we'll delve into Sarah's past and see how they'll write their futures together. Lots of conversational stuff, so if this isn't your cup of tea, that's fine and dandy.

If you're in for the ride, welcome! It's full steam ahead from here after this shortish intro. I didn't want to dilly-dally on pre-Diamond City stuff, but likewise, I didn't want to just put them together. So lets go, eh?