Please Stand By

Chapter 4: Wake Up

"Get her out of the power armor!" a deep voice echoed.

"She's stuck!" a twangy voice replied.

Charlotte tried to open her eyes but they felt glued shut. Everything hurt. She felt herself drifting and let the darkness wash over her.

"So you're telling me she lived here? You lived here? Two hun-" the deep voice echoed through her thoughts then faded.

"C'mon honey, what are you sleeping for?" Nate's voice called out to her. "It's almost 10am." He giggled and she felt something brush against her arm. She tried to open her eyes again but it felt as if sandbags anchored them closed.

"Honey? After breakfast I was thinking we could head to the park for a bit. Weather should hold up." Nate said, warmth in his voice. "We could bring Shaun..." he paused. "Wait where is Shaun?" Nate's voice faltered. "Honey, where's Shaun?!"

She heard Nate get up from a chair near her. "He's not here Lottie. Lottie!? Lottie, what's going on?!"

Charlotte fought to bring herself to the surface, memories flooding her mind. The bombs, the Vault, Shaun and Nate. She felt a tug on her chest as if there was a hook around her heart and someone was pulling.

"Lottie!" Nate yelled, voice fading, "Lottie, I love you. Please Lottie find-" his voice was gone.

Charlotte gasped, eyes flying open as she woke on a bed. Pain seared through her back and chest, keeping her stationary on the bed. She glanced around, moving as little as possible, taking in her surroundings.

The room was a bedroom with faded yellow walls, broken windows, a ruined dresser, and a collapsed holotape player. The ceiling fan above her was gone, and the roof itself was missing in several parts of the room, something Charlotte felt was a common occurrence in the home. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before bracing her hands on the sides of the bed to push herself up.

"Woah now, hold up. You probably don't want to get up just yet." Sturges said, appearing just outside her vision in the doorway.

Charlotte sighed, relaxing her body back down. "Why?"

"Well, you're not fully healed yet. You - ah - back there, took quite the damage during that fight with the Deathclaw. Took us longer than I'd care to admit getting you out of the wreckage." Sturges pulled a chair up to the edge of the bed and sat next to her.

"My... back?" Charlotte paused, trying to remember the last thing she had been doing. "I... remember fighting what you called Raiders. And..." her eyes grew wide as she recalled more details of the attack. "That creature was called what??"

"Deathclaw. Pretty self explainitory if you ask me." Sturges ran a calloused hand through his dark pompadour-styled hair. "Remember anything else?"

Charlotte shook her head. "No. After I tried to get into the power armor I don't recall anything. Where are we?" She asked. "How long have I been out?"

"You've been out for almost a week and a half. Didn't think you'd make it at some points during the week. And we're in Sanctuary."

"Mama Murphy told us to come here next, that this place would be safe for us. She...saw it," Preston said, walking into the room smiling at Charlotte. "Glad to see you awake. I was... worried you weren't going to wake up after all you did to help us." He said.

Charlotte smiled back, "Thanks. I'm glad to have helped. And thank you for taking care of me," she said.

"Of course. Once we got here we ran into a Mr. Handy, who said he knew you."

"Codsworth is here still?" Charlotte asked, pushing herself up into a seated position, wincing through the pain. "Where is he?"

Sturges winced with her, covering his eyes. "Girl, you really want to rip those stitches open don't ya?"

Charlotte ignored him. "Can you please get him?" she asked, taking in a better view of the room. Then it hit her-

"This is my room." She whispered, sadness creeping into her heart.

Sturges cleared his throat and Preston looked at the wall uncomfortably. "Uh, yeah. The Mr. Handy said this was your home, from before." Sturges mumbled. "We didn't believe him at first but he told us about the bombs and how you and your husband and kid left for the Vault when the bombs fell. He even took us to the entrance."

Charlotte snapped to Preston. "You didn't go in, did you?" She asked, worry etched across her face. She didn't want anyone finding their bodies down there, not until she was ready to have a proper burial for all of them. It was the least she could do, and they deserved better treatment.

Preston shook his head, "No, we respect your privacy." He lookde at her, opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again.

"What?" she asked.

"It's just... the Mr. Handy mentioned you a family but when we got here, there was no one here. Is he..."

Charlotte felt her face flush and shook her head.

"He's.. Gone. Someone... someone killed my husband while we were frozen. Woke us up. Took my son. And..." her breath hitched in her throat as tears fell. "They killed him."

Preston bowed his head and Sturges looked away solemn. "We've all lost important people Charlotte. And we're here for you, if you ever need to talk." Preston said after a moment. "And... I'm sorry. I really am."

"Do you have any idea who took your kid? Or when?" Sturges asked.

Charlotte shook her head, the sound of Nate screaming, the gun shot, Shaun crying all echoing in her head.

"Actually, I'd really like... I'd like to rest some more, if that's ok." Charlotte whispered slowly and carefully lowering herself back down on the bed.

Preston and Sturges looked at each other, worried. Preston looked as if he wanted to say something but thought better of it.

"Alright Charlotte, we'll let you rest." Sturges said quietly. "Dogmeat is here if you need us. Just... have him come find or somethin'." He said, patting her hand lightly before standing up and exiting the room. Preston tipped his hat in her direction, smiled sadly, and left. She closed her eyes.

Deathclaws, ghouls, Minutemen. This all confused and frustrated Charlotte. None of it made sense. Growing up, she'd learned that in the event of a nuclear war, things would become mutated, but this? It didn't seem possible.

She sighed and reached out slowly to Dogmeat. He licked her hand. Smiling slightly, she patted the bed and he jumped up by her feet in response.

"Just... lay down okay? Lay down." She whispered, eyes still closed. The sensation of the warm dog on her feet reminded her of her own dog, long before the end of the world.

"Annie used to sleep like this with me. Before she ran away." Charlotte said in a low voice to Dogmeat. He licked her boot in response. She giggled then moaned. The movement pulled at her stitches.

"Thank you Dogmeat," she whispered, before falling back asleep, wishing with all her might that things would go back to normal when she woke up.