Parting Gift

Nick Valentine

Stacks of folders coated his desk like muck through the gutters after a rainstorm in Diamond City. Nick rifled through a couple, all written in Ellie's proper hand. Despite the Commonwealth trying to suck every last drop of blood from people, she took pride in her penmanship - when she didn't have to write it in said borrowed blood.

"The work really piled up while I was out," Nick commented, tossing the first folder aside and diving into the next. "And most of 'em are about people missing."

"Do you think it's related to the Institute?" his assistant asked. She was trying to get the office back into something of a working order after the doors were shut for the few months he wandered the wasteland. Ellie blinked in surprise as she dug a 10 mm pistol out of the filing cabinet followed by a hot plate. Nick chuckled, he knew exactly who left the hot plate behind. She was always gathering the damn things up, then sticking 'em back in strange places. That dame had a fascination with old world tech, which was probably why she suffered him for so long.

"Possibly," Nick sighed, "their destruction blew open holes all across the Commonwealth. No one knows how many pies they had their fingers in, even now."

"And the Mayor!" Ellie plucked at the thread that'd been kicking around Diamond City since he trudged back home. Can you believe it about McDonough? He was one of them robots in bed with the Institute. No, never! Well, someone had known the whole time. Nick had to give it to Piper for getting at least one right.

"Could be even more out there in the shadows waiting to take other people down with 'em," Nick said, punctuating his sentence with a lit cigarette. He didn't know why he kept them around. The old Nick Valentine, the real one, was a three pack a day kinda guy - despite his fiancee trying to talk him out of the habit. This Nick's mechanical lungs only ground funny and stuck for a beat if he tried to inhale, synth parts not programmed to enjoy any kick from the nicotine, but he liked to have a few lit ones sitting in the ash tray. For ambiance, at least.

"Well," Ellie clapped her hands together, "they'll have the best detective in the Commonwealth on their case."

"Careful there, you're liable to give me such a big head my hat won't fit," Nick joked. His assistant smiled and waved her hands dismissively at him, as if he was being facetious. He never told her, not about the real Nick, nor the memories squatting in his brain, the ones he didn't deserve. It was easier to play the liar with Ellie.

A bell jangled on the door and a lost cat wandered in from the rain. This one looked even more soppy than the last, water seeping over the edges of his hat and his coat plastered to a thin frame the Commonwealth would snap like a twig. The kid tried to squeeze water off his hair and hat at the same time, splattering the floor.

"Plannin' on cleanin' that up before you go?" Nick asked.

"Sorry?" his wide eyes snapped up and stared deep into the synth's yellow. Few people lasted more than a second, the willies grabbing hold and shaking 'em good, but this kid held on.

"Don't be a puss," Ellie chastised her boss, moving to rescue the kid. She always did have a soft spot for pathetic creatures. "You must be looking for the detective."

"Depends," the kids eyes dashed from the woman back to the robot rolling a lit cigarette around his flayed fingers, "who's the detective?"

"That'd be me, sport," Nick said.

"I meant your name. I'm looking for a Nick Valentine, the sign on the door indicated..." the kid pointed behind himself to corroborate his story.

"That'd still be me," Nick chuckled, leaning back in the chair. "You sure you're looking to find an old synth?"

He expected the kid to shake his head and dash back out into the rain. Diamond City folks were used to him, but most others from outside would wait until he'd gone to ambush Ellie for help. But the kid sighed, wiping down his hat, "After the day I had with ghouls, and super mutants, and a man in power armor wanting to shoot me from some basement lair, a friendly synth is welcome."