Originally posted on ao3 years ago.
Raleigh's shoulders slump as the medic pulls Mako from his clutches and sighs as he forces himself to his feet. A medic beams at him and helps him into the helicopter babbling about checkups between amazement that he is alive and thanks for making sure the rest of the world is too. Raleigh doesn't want to hear it. He just wants Mako back tucked at his side where he can feel her chest rising and falling and hear her words in his ear and be assured that this is not like the last time.
When he is forced into a seat and freed from his suit cold air hits the sore spots on his ribs and his ears start failing him. There is a ringing and then Yancy from one side and Mako's irritated comments on the other and Raleigh can only shake his head at the medic and push him backwards. He doesn't want any of this. He's not ready.
"Can't you see he needs me? gets through the din and then Mako is on her knees in front of him. "Look at me. Me. Me, Raleigh!"
Too much. He should never have been allowed back to active duty. Mako sitting on his right knee and throwing her arms around him is when he realises he said that out loud. "I'm sorry. I tried to tell him. I tried."
Words and thoughts and images he's spent years trying to forget hassle Raleigh's mind until he can focus enough to spit out what he knows Mako needs to hear even if she would never admit it. "You though. You. Important. To me."
Hands grip closer. She slips from English to Japanese and back again as she fobs off the doctors. Raleigh prays they will land soon. It's too fucking much.
Raleigh wakes with a jolt and a punch to the air and a searing pain in his arm when he realises he is connected to a drip.
"You're safe. I am here."
Mako.
He breathes out harshly but falls back onto the pillow and surveys the room. Standard quarantine set up. It feels horrendously familiar but then there is Mako peering through heavy lids and pale cheeks. He isn't alone this time. This isn't like before. He breathes again.
"H-how long are we gonna be in here?"
"Tomorrow we go. Just needed you to wake up."
He nods and then gets angry with himself for not focussing on his partner. She's lost everything. She's where he used to be, in a way. Raleigh needs to get it together and he bites back an irritated gruff at himself, knowing it would only alarm Mako and make the situation even worse. Her memories tumble through his mind, as he reaches out to the unit beside him and takes a glass of water, images of her childhood are bright with some happy and some so painfully sad. Sorry is not something she will want to hear. Neither is if.
"People will try and take over. Cause he was military. I'll fight em with you. Get what you want."
"Yes". And there is a steel to her voice, one that gives Raleigh hope. " But I know what he wanted. We always knew...well it was war."
"You got it, Mako."
Just then a nurse bursts into the room and descends on Raleigh who is already on the defensive. For one thing he doesn't want to be poked and prodded but more importantly, what if Mako was trying to rest?
Discharge papers don't exist in a world falling apart but he is assured word will get to Herc. Herc. The way Mako loops her arm in his as they move through the dome assures him that she doesn't want to have to face him either. How can they? They stand there alive and breathing as his lover and son are lost to the depths with no bodies to even hope to reclaim.
It surprises them all when he doesn't just smile but throws his arms around them both murmuring 'thank god, thank god thank god' over and over again.
Mako only needs a questioning look to get him talking. "I thought I lost the lot of ya. I couldn't...nah. Two kids. I got two of my kids back."
Something in Raleigh's gut churns. Memories of skype calls between the Hansen brothers and himself and Yancy filter across his mind. Herc has always been a good mentor but for years Raleigh just couldn't go there. He still struggles. Everything feels too damn fast. "Herc I-"
"Don't. I know everything he'd say and I still want ye here with me. Not saying anything else on it."
With a pat to Mako's shoulder Herc leaves them be, a wince at his lips as he touches his broken arm. Raleigh knows that will never heal. Not now. Grief will set in the cracks of what used to be whole and ache for decades to come. Herc will blame it not getting set right and people being too busy. Raleigh will know because he's lost a drift partner too. It isn't even that it is family. The drift goes beyond that.
"Guys I'm sorry...I tried to get you time but-"
"There is always work to be done. Where are we needed?"
Mako's voice hardly carries above a whisper but it is firm and gives Raleigh the strength to project the physical strength she can't muster right now.
"The UN insists this is victory. They're moving in to shut everything down. We can't let them."
"Media then?" Raleigh asks.
Herc nods. "I'm sorry to ask, mate. I know Stacker promised you that part of your life was over even on your return."
He senses Mako turn towards him and meets her glance. "Things change. I think Mako will want me in some new clothes though."
"Well you're not going anywhere in the rags you call clothes!"
"They're comfy!" Raleigh protests to deaf ears.
Neither can sleep alone. A corridor between them is too much when the other side of the universe peeks out from the corners of their dreams. Raleigh has the door open before Mako knocks on it. It isn't that they want to share a bed but Raleigh only got a single so they make do. Holding her close because it is the only way they fit Raleigh amuses himself at the thought of them in bunks. Mako would want the bottom bunk but then complain if Raleigh farted during the night. It reminds him of Yancy. It feels nice.
Neither sleeps.
Instead they talk over the things the drift won't quite meet.
"I've always...He's...Raleigh I can't."
"They will be looking at me." He states grimly. "What I've done. I'm the target. I'll take the photographs. You make sure the people who need to listen do."
"That is not fair."
He pulls her closer and smiles into her shoulder. "Life though. "
The first press appearance is upon them and Raleigh settles for looking decent. He is never going to look military. That is not any of them signed up for. They found matches in a world most didn't understand not regulation and uniforms.
He is checking his collar in the mirror when Mako appears at his side. She tucks his collar better. Raleigh feels a pull at his trousers and hears scoffs all round that make him smile. Then she makes him meet her eye and time stops. That is a good thing. Everything has been so fast.
"Are you ready?"
"For this? You know me, Mako. I'm never ready." Raleigh states with a soft smile before taking her hand and pulling her close and pressing a soft kiss to her lips. People will judge. People will talk. But they never cared about people anyway.