Briar Rose continued to astound him: even with her dead-set on finding her son, she didn't push the people of the Commonwealth out of her way—she took time to help them. On their search for a hazmat suit for Briar Rose to wear in the Glowing Sea, she accepted jobs of killing Raiders terrorizing nearby settlers or something like restoring power to a water treatment plant.

They had been sent to Back Street Alley to rid the place of some Raiders, but this little group of Raiders was not to be shrugged at. Ever since they walked through the door after killing the guards outside, they had been locked in a severe gunfight. He and Briar Rose took cover behind anything they could: the counter, wooden display cases, pillars, mannequins; the Raiders at the other end seemed to have an endless supply of ammo.

But they had slowly begun to narrow out the group: seven became five, then four, and now only two remained.

"Fuck this; I'm tired!" one of them yelled. Nick heard something pop like a pin in a grenade that then hit the floor near him. He peered around the barricade of tables he and Briar Rose had quickly put together to see that he had heard right—the male Raider had thrown a grenade.

"Grenade!" he shouted at Briar Rose as he kicked a table toward the grenade in hopes of lessening the blast.

Just as Briar Rose started to vault over a display case to take cover, the grenade exploded in a deafening boom. He saw Briar Rose be catapulted over with too much force as the table was blown back into him and sent him flying.

When he landed on his back, he quickly took stock of his body as his ears recovered from the ringing and the smoke cleared—all limbs were still connected and his body was still functioning: good. He started to get up to check on Briar Rose when he heard coughing, and the outline of two figures at the end of the room materialized through the smoke. Nick decided to play dead to catch their guard down—being a robot, he could completely freeze his face and eyes.

"Dammit; did you have to throw a grenade?" one asked as they waved away the smoke—The duo was a man and woman.

"I stopped them, didn't I?"

The smoke cleared enough for them to see the destruction. The taller and thicker one jumped back at seeing Nick's unmoving eyes. "Jesus; one of them's a synth!"

"But he's a dead synth; look, he's not moving. I bet the other one's a synth too."

"Where is she?" the man asked as he started to peer over the display cases.

Because they weren't looking at him, they didn't see Nick move his hand to aim at them. He shot the man through the shoulders; the woman he got straight through the heart. The floor vibrated when their bodies hit the floor.

"Never challenge a robot to a staring contest," Nick said as he got up to his feet. He headed over to the display case Briar Rose went over. "Flower?"

He found her on her chest with her head turned to the side—unmoving.

"Briar Rose!" He ran over to her, then lifted her onto his lap. The left side of her face was drenched in blood coming from a long and wide gash on her temple.

Nick tried to keep fear from smothering him as he cradled her limp form in his arms and ran out.

***

The settlers at Starlight Drive-In did a good job at stitching Briar Rose up, but he remained at her bedside through the entire night, not taking his eyes off her. He had no doubt that it needed to be more than just a grenade to take her down, but he also knew how easy it was for humans to take a turn for the worst; they may appear fine, but the next second, they could be dead—humans were so fragile.

Which was why he was so surprised at the increasing warmth in his chest. It resembled the feeling he felt in his memories of the 'old Nick' when he looked at Jenny. He had always wanted to experience those emotions but didn't think him capable of it—he was a synth, a robot; how could a robot fall in love?

Briar Rose had renewed his hope of it happening by coming into his life; he was smitten the first time he set eyes on her. He had always envisioned Jennifer Lands as the perfect woman because the 'old Nick' saw her in that light; now he saw Briar Rose as the ideal woman. She was funny, strong, stubborn, kind, thoughtful, and oh so beautiful—those qualities didn't come in the same person anymore.

Jenny had always been the 'old Nick's'; he thought he could only love a ghost. Briar Rose was here and attainable; she could be his, or would she?

She stirred in her sleep and her eyes gradually flickered open. He was so relieved to see those green eyes again.

"Morning, Flower," he greeted.

She blinked in confusion. "It's morning?" Her eyes took in their surroundings: the one floor shack was dark other than a few candles—faint snoring could be heard outside of their little room.

"In a few hours, it will be. People usually say 'Night' or 'Evening' when they go to sleep, correct? Well, you just woke up."

Briar Rose cut her eyes at him—she was adorable when she showed irritation; now if she got mad, watch out.

She sat up, tenderly feeling of the new stitches. "What happened, and where are we?"

"A grenade took you out, and I brought you here to Starlight Drive-In."

She slowly looked up with recognition. "I remember Starlight: you could drive in and watch a movie projected on a building..."

When he arrived, the 'old Nick' remembered this place too, and he saw exactly what Briar Rose just described: cars parked in organized lines and all facing one direction, a movie played on the tall wall at the end of the place, and a carhop delivered food or drinks from the diner. It attracted a lot of families, but it was also popular for date nights—Starlight was a frequent date night for the 'old Nick' and Jenny.

Now a large hole had been broken into the concrete and was filled with water, settlers had built wooden shacks where the cars used to park, and a small garden grew on the east. Frames of cars still littered the area, but at least the diner and the tall building still stood.

"Yeah; it was charming."

Briar Rose stared at him. "How do you know?"

He gestured at his form. "This program is from a cop who volunteered for an experiment before the war; I have all his memories and his personality. They scanned his brain and copied it onto the hardware that runs between my ears."

"Wait," she began, "so the 'old Nick' was from my time?"

He nodded. "I remember waking up in the garbage, a body in tatters and a head full of memories belonging to a man who'd been dead for 200 years. Suffice to say, it was a confusing couple of weeks. Folks didn't really know much about synths back then, so when I finally ran into people, they mostly treated me with caution instead of hostility. But the kids... they weren't afraid. I think his name was Jim, the first person to actually speak to me after I got the boot from the Institute. My first human contact in this world. Grilled me for an hour. Once they'd seen I wasn't going to hurt anyone, the other folks in the neighborhood came out to ogle the mechanical man. It eventually turned into a pretty swell soiree. Local mechanic even gave me a once over, free of charge. Those people... they treated me like a human being; I've been trying to return the favor ever since. It's a surprisingly rare trait out here; something I've noticed you got a fondness for. Part of the reason I've stuck around this long."

"Have you ever gone back?"

His mood and voice dropped. "I tried, but that place was wiped off the map. Raiders. I don't know what happened to the people."

Her eyes dropped. "I'm sorry."

"There's no need for you to apologize."

Briar Rose's eyes lifted back to his. "So, you know Starlight because the 'old Nick' visited?"

He nodded and hoped she wouldn't ask why he came.

"Do you get a lot of flashbacks?"

"Off-and-on. If I visit a place the 'old Nick' visited, I see it as he remembered it. I suppose I see things like you do: in two forms, of how it used to be and how it is now."

"That must be tough."

"At first it was... unsettling, but I've gotten used to it." He looked at her. "But you know what it's like seeing two worlds. The only difference is that you have a connection to that world; those memories aren't mine so it doesn't pain me seeing how things have degenerated. I don't know how you do it."

She gave him a small smile. "Shaun needs me, now; I can't be stuck in the past."

"There's got to be things you miss..."

"Of course: air conditioning. Security. Colors. Smells." She looked at him with humor twinkling in her eyes. "The food was much better, too."

He chuckled with her; even though he didn't eat, the food didn't look very appetizing, especially knowing what it looked like before it was cooked.

"Is there anything you miss the most?" he asked.

Briar Rose thought about her answer. "Flowers. There's nothing gentle or picturesque to look at now; everything's washed-out and brown. I know that probably sounds ridiculous to miss, but I guess I just miss the beauty of nature."

No; it didn't sound ridiculous to him. There were times that he longed for that scene in his flashbacks was real—the images could be so surreal and gorgeous. But he had his beauty in front of him; she was a blooming rose in a world full of thorns.