Ad Victoriam (Danse x reader)

Quaint Work

Danse scanned the neighborhood.

"This settlement is well fortified and stocked. You've done an excellent job here." I smiled at the compliment, you could never get enough of that these days. We start walking across the bridge and the noise of the settlement gets louder. Gardens grow behind some of the houses, people sit and laugh inside. Sitting at tables and on couches. Towards the middle is where the workshop and other stations are.

"This is where i'll be while we're here. That house across from the big tree is one I built for me, you can hang out there or wander if you want. I've got to talk to some folks." I waved goodbye and walked into the house with the workshops. There I saw Sturges standing on a chair, fixing the light.

"Well! If it ain't my ol' buddy! What can I do you for, Y/N?" He hops off the chair and pats me on the shoulder roughly, his smile causing the corners of his eyes to wrinkle.

"I'm doin' another checkup on nearby settlements. Anything run down or broken?"

He laughed and sighed, "Oh man, more like what ain't broken! Head on down the road with me, I got a few I can think of off the bat but I wrote a list o' stuff when somethin's gone sour." And pulled me along with him towards the house he was staying it.

"Some raiders got us a few days back and jerked a turret bad, another attack caused some of our grain to rot, and don't get me goin on the..."

*

*

*

Danse's POV

Y/n was dragged away by a man in overalls, so I've decided to patrol the area and get a good floor plan of it all. I walked across the street to one of the run down houses, there weren't many people in it, save for Codsworth, who was cleaning the living area.

"That cleaning is useless. You won't be able to get 200 years worth of radiation and rot out of this couch." I stated, one of his eyes looked up at me and he was silent for a second.

"Ah, Paladin Danse! I'm so glad to see you've arrived safely to Sanctuary Hills! I take it that means mum is with you as well?" He spun around, searching for Y/N. "She's working on the settlement. Why are you trying to clean this house?" The robot turned and picked up the Abraxo he had been using.

"This is Mum and Sir's old house! Of course I'm going to try and keep it as pristine as I possibly can!" I furrowed my brow. "Her old house? She lived here before the war?" Codsworth didn't respond but his legs spun underneath him so im assuming that that was a yes. It's so odd to think of Y/N as a pre-war person. It must have been a shock to have lived that way all your life, then everything change and having to adapt to that change within five years... Something made me want to learn more about her...

"What was her life like before the war? With her... husband and son..."

Codsworth sighed, his whirring seemed to slow its beat. "It was beautiful, we had the most gorgeous lawn, Mr. Sumner would host barbecues once a month, and a boy that lived at the end of the street would babysit for mum and sir when they wanted to go on a date. Mum and sir were the pride of sanctuary! A perfect family! He was a veteran and she was a lawyer! Oh! Oh and young Shaun," Codsworth laughs. "That boy was absolutely bewildered by space! Sir's little space gadgets on his crib absolutely delighted him!"

Codsworth laughed at his memories. I dont understand how this robot--a machine with wires and gears-- is laughing, how he can determine what response would go where, how he thinks he can feel these things... I sighed, I need to put that aside, there was one more question I wanted to ask.

"If she lived her before, why did she build another house to live in?"

Codsworth didn't turn around, he was busy with something on the counter, plenty of pots and empty cans. "Because she can't stand the sight of this house."

I was taken slightly aback. "What?"

"Paladin Danse, you're living a perfect life, with your beloved and your precious baby. Then the sirens go off, everyone is in a panic, you leave your home, your entire life, and you go into a vault. They shove you in a pod and freeze you up for 200 years, just to wake up and watch someone shoot your spouse and take your baby. Mum went through all of that and then had to adapt to the Wastelands. While I didn't want it to happen, I understand why she got rid of everything here, even young Shaun's crib." He went quiet for a while, the only noise was the robots body creaking and whirring with whatever duty he was carrying out.

How could she completely get rid of his crib? He was her son! For all she knows, that crib could've been the only thing of Shaun that she had.

I opened my mouth to talk to Codsworth when he interuppted me, the sun beamed through his eyes. "Mum, you're here! How lucky, because I just finished this batch of water! Here you both go." I turned around to find Y/N standing behind me. She looked up at me and smiled, a bit of grime was on her face and forearms. "You gonna let me in? I really want some of that water."

"My apologies." I stammered and sidestepped out of the way. We grabbed the water and drank it in silence. I spoke up after I was done with my cup. "How long have you been standing there?"

She wiped her mouth. "Just got there, was 'bout to kick you in the legs to get your attention. Why? Should I have gotten here sooner?" She glanced at Codsworth, who was humming his own tune and gliding out the doorway. "No, no, I was uh, just wondering. That's all."

"Hm." She responded, looking down at her water. She definitely didn't believe me. It grew quiet once more before she sighed and leaned on the back of a couch.

"So then Codsworth told you my little 'sob story'? It's total bullshit, you know. I wasn't traumatized like I thought I would've been, atleast not as bad." She laughed awkwardly, her foot tapping against the wall. "I think I was more worried about surviving long enough to find Shaun, so much that I pretended like I didnt care about finding him...but everytime I was lying on a bed or a floor somewhere bleeding out, he was the only thing that'd be on my mind." She went quiet, as if she was reliving one of her experiences. "Then I'd uh, you know, stab myself with a Stimpak, shoot a raider in the head and felt good as new."

I looked down, wondering what I should say, but she interrupted me before I could speak.

"Didn't mean to load all of that on you, we can pretend it didn't happen. I know it'd be weird to try and talk about it more." She fiddled with the edge of her carton and I turned around. I understood how she was feeling, I've gone through losses the same as her and trying to open up about them when you're not ready makes it worse. I reached for the counter and grabbed a cloth that codsworth was using and handed it to her. "So then how about we head to that next settlement, then?"

She smiled and grabbed the cloth, wiping at her face.

"Yeah, next stop is Abernathy Farm."