Sanctuary Hill was silent that night. Only with the lights and sounds of the turrets guarding the perimeters of the settlement. Little orange hues of light flickered slowly from time to time as the guards who were on night shift smoked to pass the time.

He was sleeping soundly, for the last two weeks. No settlement needed help, everything was normal to say the least. Still, blood was spilled and suffering was at the door of everyone. He woke up shaking and sweating terribly. Looking to his side, he noticed how Piper was sleeping there. Her serene face made him smile tenderly and plant a soft kiss on her cheek. The reported simply shifted and snuggled her pillow a bit more.

With his pip-boy back on his wrist, he left the house silently and went to the yard of his old crumbling home. After all he and Piper went trough, after that had transpired in the search for his son. Watching his wife being murdered in cold blood; his son kidnapped, his world turned upside down with atomic fire, his family and friends consumed by the horrors of the Great War. Leaving him alone, in the darkness of a cruel and grim world.

He sat on a rusty chair and put his elbows on the table and covering his face with his hands, he broke down. Memories of happier times flooding his mind; watching the television with Nora, taking care of Shaun like a father should, the green grass, greeting old Mrs. Zenbrick each morning.

But not only the abrupt shift he went through on time was eating him from the inside, the most painful memories now coming out from his mind. Inside the Cryo-chamber he remembered like if it was yesterday when Kellog, the mercenary who ruined his life; his family, his only link to the old world, murdered Nora in cold blood. The pain when his heart broke in two, when his own son; Flesh of his Flesh, saw him only as means to an end.

That was when it hit him, the realization that his family was no more. He has never broke down in front of Piper or anyone else. He didn't want to be seen as a weak individual, he couldn't. In this new cruel world being weak was a death sentence. Nevertheless, the pain that was soaring through his heart was too much to simply ignore. The tears started to appear soaking his palms whle he started to sob as silent as possible.

Feeling the bed empty all of a sudden, Piper woke up and looked around for James, her man out of time, her blue. Getting up, she hung her red leather coat on her shoulder for a bit of warm and looked for him around the house. Her search came to an end when she found his silhouette on the backyard, sobbing. Somehow, she knew, she knew that at one point James would break. He has given so much for the people of the commonwealth. And she was proud of James, proud of the man she had fallen in love with.

"Blue-" Her voice gently whispered like the breeze in the Spring of the old days. He tried to dry his eyes in surprise, Piper has never seen him cry. She walked to his side and sat beside him holding his tear soaked hands on her own, gently pressing her forehead against his.

"Why me Piper-" sobbed James, his tears falling ever constant. The pain on his voice so pure, so sincere. It made Piper's heart wince. She didn't have the words to comfort him right now, so she just planted a soft kiss on his lips and said as loving as possible.

"Let it all out James, I'm here with you" He buried his face on Piper's neck and hugged her tightly. That's when he started weeping his eyes out, unable to muster any word. The pain was speaking for him.

"I've lost everything...I lost my friends in Anchorage, the world I was born into" he said as Piper, with her eyes closed rubbed his back to comfort him as best as possible, she knew how painful it was to lose something so close and loved. So dear. Her own tears started to fall from her eyes.

"I should have held Shaun that day..." he said somberly "I should have been frozen with him on my arms...Nora didn't have to die, it's all my fault" he said still crying as he held tightly yo Piper for dear life.

"No Blue, it's not your fault" she said taking his face and kissing his lips tenderly "Sometimes, destiny works in mysterious ways Blue" He didn't understand at first what she meant, but still Piper decided to explain further.

"If Kellogg had killed you, I wouldn't have met you" she said stroking his face and the scar that crossed his right eye, he still needed to tell him that story and the little she know about that was from the Anchorage front, but nothing more.

"Piper-" James tried to say, but he was cut short by a finger on his lips.

"Don't" she said softly "You've changed my life for the better" she said smiling at him with teary eyes. "You've given me so much hope for the future, you've showed me that there is people willing to give everything to change the world. To find those who are so dear" she said taking a glance at Shaun's room, where a boy and her sister Nat were sleeping there.

Looking back at James she finished "Look, I know that what you've lost can't compare to what you have now. But I just want you to know. That I love you and being with you it's all that I ever wanted, blue."

James looked at Piper and kissed her lips "I love you Piper Wright. You've made this so much easier than I thought. Without you, the Commonwealth would have chewed me like bubblegum" He said.

Piper smiled and chuckled gently pecking his lips again "Exactly, what would you do without me, Blue".

They spent some time there, admiring the stars in the silence of night. Piper decided to stay for a few moments. Noticing that the sun was already coming out, she decided to get dressed and after taking her beloved pistol. She picked some flowers that had managed to grow on the front porch of their house and walked towards the big tree in the middle of town.

There was a little shrine built on it and a grave. In the shrine was the picture of a smiling woman. Piper gently set the flowers on top of the grave and looked at the photo of Nora.

"Thank you" she said softly "I...I hope you're not mad at me" she said like if she knew that Nora was hearing her. "But, James. Your, husband. I think that you already know that, well-" she stuttered, surprised to see that it was so hard to speak to her boyfriend's dead wife.

"-We're...kind of a thing now" she started fiddling with her fingers and kept stuttering "He's a good man, Nora" said Piper. "He makes me happy, and I make him happy, Shaun is okay too. And we're taking good care of him" She said wiping a lone tear from her eye.

"He called me mom the other day...but I know that it should have been you" her voice increasing in pitch as she started to hold her tears. "I'll take good care of Shaun and James, Nora. You have my word" said Piper kneeling in front of the shrine. Kissing her fingertips she put them on the pictures and stood up, walking back to her house, a house that at one point in time, belonged to Nora.

She swore that she saw a woman on the corner of her eye, looking at Piper. And also she swore that someone whispered to her.

"Love them as I did, Piper" but when she turned around, there was no one to be seen. Only a gentle breeze that made the petals of the flowers resting on Nora's grave to move softly while the sun rose from the mountains.