Chapter Text
Piper was quiet after she told her.
The reporter was restlessly pacing inside her companions old house in Sanctuary for over a minute now. They were here to talk, to sort things out, but none of them could get it started. Maybe it was a bad idea, because all the memories were haunting these walls like ghosts so that the Vault Dweller could barely stand it. But no settler would barge in like that, no Preston, no one.
Grace could literally see Piper thinking. How her lips parted, mouthing words she didn't speak out loud, fumbling on the sleeves of her coat, before turning back to her.
The worry and relief in her eyes, the terrified expression from earlier, were gone and had been replaced by outrage, by furry.
Grace took a deep breath, a step back, her mind blank. She had never seen her like that. Her heels hit the couch.
“I can't believe you're actually doing this”, Piper whispered and it made her feel worse than having to hear her shout, “You know what the Institute is doing to the Commonwealth, you know what they did to your son, you ..”
“I know it”, Grace cut her off, growling, stretched the first word, spoke it loud and clear, reminded her that she had been the one infiltrating the Institute and not her, “But you don't, Piper, you don't know anything!”
She watched the reporters shoulders drop, how her body became less tense. She was sure she had to feel some kind of guilt now, barking at her like that, but she didn't. Everything felt numb. The reporter gritting her teeth, wearing a pained expression, her clenching her fists, opening them again and bringing her hands to her face to cover it for a brief moment; All of it did nothing to her.
“Then explain it to me, Blue, please.”
Her voice was still low, but it was trembling, hoarse, on the edge of tears. Rage, Sadness, Disappointment. Could have been all of it and nothing, Grace wasn't that sure, everything was spinning and heat gushed up to her face.
She wanted her to shout, to rage, to be furiously disappointed, to shake her and tell her that what she did was utterly wrong and it would have felt right, but that wasn't how Piper worked. Grace loved and hated her for it at the same time.
It was her family she was trying to save and that didn't include telling Piper her son was the leader of the Institute. She just couldn't. The reporter hated the Institute, but Shaun wasn't a bad guy. He tried to do good or so she was trying to convince herself with a lump in her throat. She didn't want to give him a bad name, he didn't deserve that kind of attention. He was her boy, she could change his mind, make him see.
But she couldn't have Piper around for that. Even if the thought of leaving her for now hurt, she had to think of herself for once. And her family. Something inside of her was clinging on that thought, that concept, that idea. Family meant peace, family was something she recognized from the world before the war, maybe the only thing left. It was comforting to think about.
“I can't, Piper.”
“You are not you, what happened in there?”
The reporter raised her voice, stepped closer and immediately Grace tried to move farther away, but she held onto her arm.
“I am still me, I haven't changed.”
“Blue, you just told me, you joined the Institute!”, Piper blurted out, now not that controlled anymore, “It's like you- “
She cut herself off, her eyes widened, her mouth stood open and the grip on her arm tightened. Time stood still, Grace could hear her take a deep shaky breath before she continued.
“You're .. Are you a Synth?”
Whatever Grace was expecting her to say, it was not that. It was like her touch was sending bolts through her body and there was this sudden desire to shake her off, but that probably wasn't such a smart thing to do considering the ridiculous assumption her companion just had made.
“What, no!”, Grace defended herself, “Of course I'm not a Synth, but I just .. trust me with this, alright?”
But Piper wasn't convinced. It was like she couldn't get this thought out of her head that the person before her was not who she claimed to be. Seemed to have found the solution to her lovers strange, unusual behavior. They had cursed and haunted and fought the Institute for months and now she just joined them? Had they brainwashed her into this small amount of time?
For a terrifying moment there was this thick silence hanging over them, covering them like a blanket, muffling sounds, voices, thoughts. Grace broke out in cold sweat. The situation was tense, not like it usual was. The trust was gone, the comfortable feeling that drew a smile to her face was gone, the warmth and maybe, just maybe, the love – she desperately hoped it wasn't. Instead she was at a loss for words and didn't find herself able to do more than gently stroking the hand on her arm. It was cold.
Then she pulled away.
“Prove it.”
Piper was hissing and before the Vault Dweller could do anything else she felt the barrel of a gun underneath her chin.
Out of an instinct Grace rapidly raised her arms in defense.
“Whoa, put the gun down, Pipes!”
“Prove to me .. you're not a Synth!”
Suddenly the reporters voice was thick with tears, nearly swallowed the last word.
“I don't know what they did to her down there, they may .. you may .. your kind may have killed and replaced her and that's why you're acting like that now, you're not the Blue I know .. and, you know, love.”
Pipers body was shaking, a stern expression on her face though her eyes constantly filling with tears. The more she started to believe her own thoughts the more it hurt her. She didn't mean to inflict this into her, this must have been something like her worse nightmare coming true.
Grace's head was empty. The talks they had, the moments they shared, everything that would have been intimate enough to convince her she wasn't a imposter was just gone. Behind a thick fog of emotions this situation had brought up, no way of digging through it and it was getting rapidly darker – in and around her.
“Piper, I- “
“Prove it!”, Piper sobbed, tears painting marks on her cheeks, her nose turning red. She wanted to kiss and hold her and tell her everything was fine but she didn't even find the courage to touch her. Like she could crumpled and fall apart under her fingertips.
The Vault Dweller opened her mouth but no words found the way over her tongue, were stuck in her throat and still feeling the cool barrel of the gun on her skin started to freak her out, make her paranoid, even if Piper was the one holding it. She seemed emotional unstable, not able to think straight, convinced of her being a Synth, so buried in the fear the whole Commonwealth had that she didn't even believe her own girlfriend.
This wasn't how she had planed this to went out at all.
Preston couldn't have chosen a worse moment to barge in. Maybe he heard them, maybe he was worried about them being in here for so long after the tense talk they had outside, maybe he just wanted to inform her about another settlement being in trouble – again.
As soon as Pipers eyes fell on him she backed off immediately, like she burned herself, her gun still ready, but she didn't release a shot. Grace could have sworn to see a flicker of doubt in her eyes despite what she said, but when she reached out to her she pushed her away.
“Get out, Synth. Be glad I let you live.”
She wasn't convinced. She was struggling with herself. If she would have been completely sure about her being a Synth she would be dead right now.
Though her voice was as cold as ice, her eyes red from crying.
Their eyes locked one last time. Grace resisted the urge to pull her into a hug.
“What is going on here? General?”
Grace didn't answer. She didn't take any supplies, she didn't dare to stay any longer. She had to stick to her original plan, there was nothing she could do about Piper right now. She would feel bad about this decision later, when the emotions cooled off, when the fog was gone, but not now. She would miss her.
She had to go back to the Institute, back to her son and she had to figure out what exactly was going on, how she could help this fraction hidden for years under their feet finally cooperate with the rest of the Commonwealth. Had to figure out how to reach out to her son without accidentally driving him even further away, changing his ideas about saving the people.
Her mind was set on this, this had been the only thing she could think about since she had seen her son again after all this time. He was so old, there wasn't much time left.
“General!”
Prestons voice followed her out when she left with big, confident steps, eyes forward, not looking back.
Pipers wasn't.