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Jay and MacCready have been partners for some time. Take that as you will; business partners, sharpshooter partners, romantic partners. They never really put a label on their relationship, and both of them were fine with that.
All they knew was that they cared for each other, they trusted each other, and they loved each other. They didn’t need anything else, just the two of them in the vast wastes of the Commonwealth.
The two men trekked through some wooded area, brushing bushes out of their way. Jay always led, he was always the most on edge. He was a paranoid man, MacCready had gotten used to it, though. Jay’s slowly opened up to him about why, but MacCready hasn’t pushed. It took him a while to open up to the other as well, after all.
“Mac.”
MacCready’s focus immediately went to Jay, who continued walking.
“Yeah?”
“Ive been thinking… you’ve told me a lot about yourself. I don’t think I’ve told you much about myself, though.”
MacCready raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah, i suppose not. You finally gonna spill some of your secrets?”
He chuckled as Jay glanced back behind him.
“I joined the army at 18. Nora and I were high school sweethearts, but she was pursuing a law degree, something i had no interest in. So, while she did that, I wanted to be a part of something just as important to me. My father, my grandfather, they had all served before me. It was almost a sub requisite to be a man in my family, and I needed to prove to them who I was. It was difficult, long distance, but we made it work.”
The two exited the wooded area, now on an old run down road that’d be better described as a dirty trail by now. Every so often, Jay would stop and raise his gun, pointing the barrel around them before continuing.
“When I was in the army, I saw a lot of things, I did a lot of things.. when i was discharged, i was a different man. I harbored something, something dark and violent. A new anger at the world.”
MacCready hummed softly, acknowledging Jay as they continued.
“I think I did a good enough job at hiding it, though. I mean… Nora knew about it, of course. When she had Shaun, I promised myself that I would try my best to keep that darkness at bay. I didn’t want to be an angry, violent man for our son.”
MacCready’s face softened, a rare sentiment from the man. Him and Jay weren’t too different, in a sense. They came from completely different worlds, but they still lost someone so deeply important to them.
“When the bombs dropped… I felt a lot. Most of all, I felt useless. My time in the army did nothing but delay the inevitable. My service, the services of my brothers and sisters, it never would’ve stopped the end of the world. It was only a matter of time. But at least we were safe, our perfect little family. When Kellogg took Nora from me, when he ripped Shaun from her hands…”
Jay paused in his tracks, standing still and tilting his head down ever so slightly. He hadn’t opened up to anybody about this, about these details. Here he was though, laying out all the grimy details for MacCready.
He usually wasn’t an emotional man, Jay. He was good at keeping a handle on his moods, keeping himself from lashing out or breaking down. It was always so different when he had to face those memories, though. When he remembered how Nora looked, how she stayed frozen when he opened her chamber and cried, praying that it was all a bad dream or delusion.
“When I saw her after Kellogg had taken her from me, I must’ve sat on my knees in front of her for a while. It was the most id ever cried before… I remember I slipped her ring off of her cold hand, and I promised her that id find whoever did this and rescue our son.”
He lifts his pipboy, marking a nearby area on his map.
“I think I also promised her, silently in my head, that as I found shaun, I would also find somebody to help me show him all the love she held for him. Somebody, not to take her place, but to make sure Shaun doesn’t have to deal with that absence. It’s what she would want for him, and for me..”
MacCready and Jay approached the marker, stepping into a clearing. There were skeletons on the dirt, crates disturbed and scavenged, and a large metal platform.
“Here it is. Vault 111.”
Jay turned on the controls as the two stood on the platform as it lowered. Jay held a very solid look on his face, but MacCready could almost tell that there was a storm under the surface. The way Jay gripped his gun, how his shoulders were tense, he was almost… scared.
MacCready couldn’t blame him for it, though. He never could. If he took somebody to where Lucy was taken from him, he’d feel the same. Once the platform clicked into place and the gate ahead opened, MacCready followed in Jay’s slow footsteps as he lead him through the vault corridors.
“I will say… I liked vault 81 far more than here. Its so… claustrophobic.”
MacCready stepped over the dead radroaches, gun in hand.
“You dont need to step so carefully, most of them should be dead.”
“Yeah, most of.”
Jay ignored him as they entered the room he was searching for. He slowly put his gun in its holster and pressed a large button that opened the cryogenic chamber in front of them. He watched as it opened, his eyes glazed over as he was once again met with the sight.
Nora was a time capsule. her short, light brown hair had ice crystals stuck to it, her skin was cold to the touch, and her vault suit was stained crimson where she was shot, the low temperature had prevented oxidization. She looked the same as she did when it all happened.
Jay stepped up, closer to her as his warm, gloved hand reached out to cup the cold skin of her cheek. He leaned forward, pressing his forehead against hers before stepping back.
“Hey, look Jay, I’m really sorry. You didn’t have to bring me here… I’ll leave you alone for a minute, alright?”
MacCready sort of back-stepped a bit, offering a respectful and quiet moment for Jay while distancing himself from the emotional vulnerability of the moment.
Jay turned to MacCready.
“Mac.. wait.”
MacCready stopped and glanced to Jay’s face, realizing he was actually crying. Jay reached into the breast pocket of his leather jacket, pulling out a wedding ring.
“I want you to have this.”
Jay took one of MacCready’s hands in his own, placing the ring in his palm and closing his hand around it. He rested his hand on MacCready’s shut hand as well, showing his own ring.
“I know this is oddly emotional for me. But… I think she would want you to have it. You gave me your wooden soldier as a token of your trust, so here is mine. And, when we find Shaun, I want you to show him the love that Nora cant. I know you’re good for it. You’re a good father.”
Jay stepped back as MacCready glanced at the valuable looking ring for a moment before sliding it into an empty pocket on his duster.
“I… thank you, Jay.”
He stood there for a moment, still not completely accustomed to being very emotionally connected with somebody. His distance from emotion had been how he’d dealt with the harsh nature of the world, but with Jay he almost.. wanted to connect with him.
“I’ll take good care of it. I promise.. and when we find Shaun, I’ll love him like my own.”