#and can't help but chuckle now and think of the potential that she (and travis) might have actually been seething at that kindness 😂

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

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[lookbluesoup]

I'm particularly interested in "Nate's Deflowering" and "Putting Nora to Rest" if you're up for them!

Thanks for the ask! :D

I answered Nate's Deflowering here, but I can give you another little snippet from slightly earlier in it:

She kissed him, reaching for a hand which Nate clasped eagerly. Nora dragged it downward, urging his fingers beneath the lip of her skirt where heat was already pooling between her legs.

Nate broke the kiss abruptly, doe-eyed as he pulled away. “What are you doing?”

Nora scoffed, a little stiff in response to the harshness of her suitor’s rejection. “Haven’t you ever been with a woman before?”

He hesitated, moonish eyes stuck on her and seemingly unable to blink, then retorted with a defensive grimace, “Have you?”

“Maybe.” Nora smirked, but the grin faltered as suspicion claimed her. “Nate Ronan, am I really the first girl who’s ever wanted to sleep with you?”

AND NOW FOR PAIN :)

There's actually a LOT I wanna say about this one so picking just a handful of things was hard xD I've never quite managed to decide where to set this in Nate's timeline, except that it's before he and Piper are officially together. It's one of my rougher WIPs that has a lot of potential to change if I can ever manage to finish it. When Nate wakes up from cryo he doesn't bury Nora, she stays locked in her pod. Back then he thought he'd be able to catch up to the people who took Shaun. But then he just. Doesn't go back. It's too painful. He can't afford to, now while he's looking for his son.

He and Piper go out one night to the Dugout to meet up with friends, Travis, Vadim, MacCready, and various others. Vadim teases Nate that he and Piper are on a "date", which Nate denies. Piper shows up in a red sequin dress, which makes him look like a liar. And maybe he is. A few hours and a lot of drinks later, and Nate and Mac's conversation tilts into some uncomfortable territory:

“I’m convinced my wife wiretapped our house. The minute I’d get testy she would pull out some obscure quote from a previous me down to the exact day I’d said it.”

MacCready laughed deeply, tilting back in his chair clutching his stomach with mirth, “You know, Lucy - she would do that too. Couldn’t win a darned argument with the woman! Had the memory of a Deathclaw.”

Nate chuckled. But it didn't take long for a wave of sorrow to creep in from the back of his mind. His expression soured slowly. Thinking of Nora no longer made him feel sick with hopelessness. He supposed that meant he was healing. But the deep ache - the emptiness he was afraid to touch - that hadn’t gone away at all. And maybe it was the drink talking, but before giving it much thought the question slipped out, “Does it ever weigh on you?”

“What?”

Nate’s lip quirked in a consternated frown, and he felt a surge of regret for even asking.

MacCready nodded, tipping his chin. “Ah…” The mercenary took a deep swig, then answered simply, “Yeah. I miss her like hell. But at some point you gotta move on, right?"

And Nate finally reaches a point where he can think about what it would mean to let Nora rest without losing what she meant to him. And realizes he needs to face what he's been running from all this time. He leaves that night fairly abruptly, doesn't tell any of the others at the Dugout where he's going. But he doesn't go alone, either, and stops by Railroad HQ to pick up the one friend who might understand without needing it all to be said aloud. Deacon helps Nate get back to Sanctuary, back into the Vault, and later, back through Nate's old house. He stays by Nate's side while he buries Nora, and gives Nate the security he needs to let grief wash over and through him. It's a hard thing that Nate still has to work through mostly on the inside, but Deacon shadowing in the background makes all the difference in the world.

This was supposed to be home. The hedges were trimmed. His wife’s shopping list was stuck to the fridge. She would return soon, wouldn’t she? How could she possibly be gone forever, when all these echoes of her still existed? Why did accepting that feel like such a betrayal?

I thought I had more time.

The hardest part, really, was being stuck in between. His love for Nora remained immortal. But Nora was not in this place. Not anywhere he could reach. Ever again. Comfortable familiarity once taken for granted had now been taken away forever. He knew he had to let go, his questions no longer carried answers, and the suffocating, world-shattering weight of knowing was far worse than the action itself.