Expect the unexpected

Nick Valentine hated winter. Hate is even for him a strong word but the coldest time of the year didn´t do something good to him at all. It already starts in autumn, when the leaves started to fall and the humidity gets unbearable high. He always needed to be careful that his unprotected hand didn´t rust away, but especially in the wet days of fall, the humidity crept into his core like cold crept into bones. He felt like, he was corroding from the inside.

But that wasn´t the worst of this time. Nick needed to change his coolant twice a year. When the days became colder, he needed one with anti-freeze in it, which was thicker and his pumps had more work to do to keep it circulating if needed. The process of exchanging was humiliating, too. He needed half a day, just sitting there and waiting until the old coolant was out and the new coolant with the anti-freeze got pumped in. Just sitting with an open chest and waiting. Nick tried to distract himself from the terrible feeling he always got in the process by reading. He read a book or went through some case files. Besides him was always a cigarette burning. Sometimes, he put it to his lips. This old habit from his former self was soothing somehow, even if he didn´t get something out of it physically. Until the new coolant was finally in him, he emptied a whole package. Fortunately, cigarettes was still as common to find as NukaCola.

He cannot bear company during this time. Ellie sometimes helped with the tubing, but he didn´t want to bother her too much with it. He didn´t want her to saw him so vulnerable. Heck, he only can bear to be seen like this by people he really can trust, which was Ellie, Nora by now and his first mechanic, he didn´t know his name anymore. He did many of his repairs by himself most of the time, but sometimes he just needed a helping hand.

But the coolant wasn´t his only issue in the winter. His joints got stiff in the cold and exchanging the lubricant was a far more difficult tasked, so he often stayed inside when the weather got too extreme, which wasn´t always possible. Nick had been once surprised by a snowstorm, which were pretty rare after the bombs and even more unpredictable. It had frozen him to one place. As a human, he probably would had been dead, but he wasn´t keen on waiting until summer to be finally able to move, again either. But he had been lucky. He was found by a caravan who he had helped out once. They had warmed him up and escorted him back to diamond city. This winter he found enough excuses to not leaving his agency or at least DC.

And last but not least, he was haunted by memories, which wasn´t his own. Prewar Nick Valentine loved winter and especially Christmas. The lights, the smells, the food. And he had loved it because Jenny had loved it. She had decorated the house, cooked and baked the most delicious food. What would he do to properly taste food, again. The institute messed up his taste buds, but hey at least he got some. Even if food hadn´t a big effect on him physically like smoking. The food just got combusted and produced some heat, but that´s all. And through his messed up taste buds, it even didn´t taste good. Sometimes, Nick´s memories made it better, remembering the taste, but nether the less, he didn´t enjoy eating anymore. Food was also a rare resource and the people of the Commonwealth need it more than him.

Nick shook his head to dispel the memories, which stung in his chest. Maybe it was his pumps fighting with the thicker coolant. He thought, after killing Eddie Winters, Nick Valentine was finally gone, but his memories were still there. He still lives in him with all his good and bad times. But especially the good times were the ones hurting the most. The memories of Nick´s fiance smile, even if it became indistinct.

The good thing was, the people of the Commonwealth didn´t know the traditions anymore. They had other problems to deal with than buying expensive presents and decorating a way too big tree. So, this memories weren´t directly triggered around every corner. Maybe it would had been something else, if the bombs dropped two month later. He only was reminded of Halloween here and there, which was kinda ironic in a post apocalyptic world. And in all his years around the Commonwealth, he only saw two or three times really snow, which he wasn´t mad about.

Nick was pulled out of his thoughts when his door opens. Still sitting there with an open chest.

Tag list: @psybrepunk