That evening, Goodneighbor
"Daisy," MacCready grinned, and she smiled at him. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Look at you, MacCready. You get younger by the day. How are you, sweetheart?"
"I'm doing better."
I spoke up. "Heard anything about Duncan yet?"
"I did." She looked back to MacCready. "Sinclair's the one watching your boy right now, right?"
He nodded.
"He says the cure worked."
"You're kidding," He gasped out in shock, taking his hat off and running his hand through his hair. "You're kidding... give... give me a second." He walked a few steps over to a bench and sat down, clearly stunned by the information. His elbows rested on his knees as he interlocked his fingers, pressing his hands to his lips.
I walked over to him, trying to decide what to say. Just as I had opened my mouth to speak, he stood up abruptly and pulled me into a tight embrace.
"Thank you so much, Sara," his voice was barely at the volume of a whisper. "I really can't believe it.."
"We did it, Mac," I spoke into his ear quietly.
"...Yeah." He started after a short pause. "We really did it. I couldn't have done it without you, my...." he stopped himself before completing that sentence. He pulled away to look at me, then leaned in and kissed me sweetly.
After a minute I pulled away, noticing a sad look in his eyes. "Let's rent a room at Hotel Rexford until tomorrow," I said lightly. "It would be pointless to head all the way back to Diamond City when we just got here, y'know?"
He nodded, smiling a sweet but empty smile. I thanked Daisy profusely and then walked with RJ to the hotel.
Once we walked into our room, MacCready set all his stuff down and then slowly sat down on the bed. I sat next to him.
"Mac, what's wrong?" I asked hesitantly.
"Nothing, I just..." he sighed, not looking at me. "I'm worried that this is all too good to be true, y'know?" He laughed dryly. "Something has to be wrong, or go wrong, or something."
"What makes you think that?"
"What makes you think I deserve any of this?" He responded rather hostilely.
"What makes you think you don't?" I countered. "You're a great man, Mac. I wish you'd see that."
"No, I'm not. Honestly, Sara, you don't even know me." I guess I didn't. He did have a point. Had I been naïve this entire time? "Have I ever told you about Lucy?"
I froze, not expecting to hear that from him. "Briefly, yeah. She was your wife, right?" It felt like my blood went cold.
He laughed dryly. "Keyword, was. I... we made the mistake of holing up in a metro station one night. We didn't know it was infested with ferals," his voice shook as he relived the memory again. "They... they were on her before I could even fire a shot. They ripped her apart right in front of me, and there was nothing I could do..." He put his head in his hands, releasing a long, depressive sigh. "I really miss Lucy..."
"You shouldn't blame yourself, Mac. You said yourself that there was nothing you could do."
"Still, it's real hard to convince myself that there wasn't... some way that I could've changed the outcome. I still think all the time about, well... about how it might've been better if Duncan and I had died there with Lucy as well."
