The Danse Dilemma

1. Frozen Heart

No...

No...

No!

He can't be dead! That can't have happened! It's all just a bad dream! Just some... shitty dream... Is what I kept telling myself, as the tears rolled down my cheeks and met the frozen fingers of my dead husband. After cryogenic sleep, something... someone... paused the stage, I woke up... Nate and Shaun woke up, and they.... He killed Nate and took my baby.

"I'll find whoever did this. I'll kill them."

The pod was still freezing cold, goosebumps raced over my body. I closed my eyes and his face was there... that scar... I can see him opening his mouth as he looked me dead in the face.

"Bark."

'What the?'

Light blinds me as I tear my eyes open and jerk in the bed from sudden consciousness. Dogmeat stands over me in the bed, licking my face from the sweat that has built up.

"Bark"

"I'm up buddy, it's just those damn memories." I tell him while I stretch out across the bed, deflating with a sigh, Dogmeat watching intently. "Ready for our big day, buddy?" I ask man's best friend, and get a couple of bounces and spins in the bed of excitement. I giggle with a smile at his eagerness. "Well, let's get it started then."

I have been out of that hole in the ground for a least a few months now, but you tend to loose track of time out in the Wasteland. I saved a group of Minutemen from Concord and helped rebuild Sanctuary up a little, enough to become livable. I refuse to sleep in my own house and we settled with sleeping in the house across the street, the Rosa's house. I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

After getting dressed for the day, I had a big list to do before I headed to Diamond City to meet up with Nick Valentine. I had to make sure everyone here was set and good to go before I took off for my, I don't know how long, adventure.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"So, you finally ready to head to Diamond City?" Preston asked.

I nodded as I loaded up my gun. "I'll leave within the hour. You sure you're all going to be all right without me?"

Preston chuckled at me. "I'm sure we'll be fine. Don't worry Y/N, you need to find your son. I get it. We'll all be here for you when you need us."

I shrugged. "And I guess if you need me, I'll be in Diamond City." So true to my word, after I stocked up on some food and added some leather armor on top of my vault suit, me and Dogmeat left.

The walk was... annoying. Not lonely or boring, just annoying. Everything I remember about Boston, my home was ruined. I hated looking at it all, the ruined buildings, the crumbling statues... the bodies... I stopped for a break, this was too much all at once. I had gone past Concord and now I regretted leaving the safety and certainty of Sanctuary.

The sun was almost touching the horizon and I groaned as I realized I should have left in the morning. As I continue South down the road, I can see the big billboard before the diner. As I top the little hill on the road, I can see Trashcan Carla standing at it's base, looking through one of her bags on her packed brahmin. Carla comes to Sanctuary often to make trades or if she needs a place to stay for a night.

"Oh hey, Y/N. What brings you this way?"

"I'm actually on my way to Diamond City." I wasn't looking forward to the long walk to the city.

"That's good. Oh and be careful up ahead... Some junkie boys are trying to rob Trudy up ahead." Carla warns me. Come to think of it, I do hear yelling up ahead. I am sick of this gangs always trying to take what they want. Raiders. Wolf gangs. Gunners. Their all the same.

"Thank you, Carla. I'll take care of them." As I roll my eyes and proceed to the Drumlin Diner.

As I get closer, I can make out more clearly on what this guy is on about. "We had a deal Trudy. Hand over the goods. You owe us." The first guy demands with his fist in the air.

"I ain't handing you chem pushers anything. You know what that junk did to my boy?" Trudy yells back from the diners window.

"He bought them fair and square, Trudy! Ain't our fault he's strung out. Now don't make me come in there and shoo... -"

As I get closer, the other gang member notices me walking up to them and taps his friend on the arm, my 10mm at the ready. "Whoa, whoa. Easy there, vault girl. This doesn't involve you."

'Vault girl? That motherf...'

"You stop waving that gun in my face, or it's gonna involve me." I say as I pull up my gun, pointing it right between his eyes.

The first guy eyes widen. Apparently he didn't expect he would die today. "Okay, okay, Just take it easy. We'll lower our weapons, all right? Just don't do anything crazy."

'Crazy? CRAZY? I'll show you crazy!'

"I'm calling it right here. This world can officially bite my ass. Now hand over your money. All of it." I say as I turn the tables.

"Hey, just keep calm, all right? Here. That's everything I have." As he throws a small bag down towards my feet that jingles indicating that there is definitely some caps in there.

"Now get the hell out of here. Both of you." I say as I cock the hammer back on my gun, letting them know that I mean business.

"You gotta be kidding me?" The man sighs. "Fine. We'll leave. Just my goddamn luck." He whispered the last part as him and his friend turn tail and run down the road. The same direction that I need to go. I roll my eyes at this realization, bend down and pick up the little bag on the ground and head into the diner.

"Hey Trudy... Here" I say as I hand her the bag of caps.

"Can't believe you made that scumbag turn tail and run! Here, you take it. You need it more than I do." She hands the bag back. "Good luck out there."

"Thank you, Trudy." I wave bye and head in the same direction those thugs went. The time on my Pip-boy read 6:28 PM. I check out the map on the Pip-boy and see the town of Cambridge was nearby.

Cambridge. I remember Nate taking me there on a date once. We had a great date at the park. We had intercourse and several months later, we had Shaun. I sigh and push the fond memory in the back of my mind, knowing that's the least of my worries right now. Right now, I must seek shelter for the night. I look at the map once more and see a place just before Cambridge. Jalbert Brothers Disposal. We always drove by that place. It was some kind of scrap yard. 'That place will have to do'.

It was about a thirty minute walk from the diner, the chain link fence coming into view. Dogmeat starts to growl as he senses something I don't see. "What is it, boy?" I ask as I train my gun in the direction he's looking. Sure enough, four molerats come popping out of the ground and me and Dogmeat make quick work of them.

"Good job buddy." As I scratch the top of his head a little, my Pip-boy makes a chime indicating that it picked up a new radio broadcast. I look at my wrist as I scroll to the radio stations and see that it was a military frequency. I turn to the station and turn up the volume to try and drown out the static.

(I'm sure pip-boys don't have a volume button or knob, but why not? I mean, it has everything else right? Let's pretend they do 😉👍)

It was a pre-recorded message that was on repeat. It was a female voice in distress. "Automated message repeating. This is Scribe Haylen of Reconnaissance Squad Gladius. Any unit within transmission range. Authorization Arks Vera 9-5. Our unit has sustained casualties, and we're running low on supplies. We're requesting support or evac from our position at Cambridge Police Station."

I turn the radio off and look down at Dogmeat, his head tilted to the side like he could understand what the woman was pleading. It wasn't just my Pip-boy he perked up to, he quickly whipped his head back around toward the town of Cambridge, hearing something. I can hear it too, faintly. It didn't sound like any normal gun. It almost sounded like... an energy gun? It was coming from the police station, it had to be the same woman from the radio. "Only one way to find out, I guess." I made sure my gun was locked and loaded before heading towards the gunfire.