It had been so tempting for Simon to just up and quit after what had happened to his sister. Their parents had moved to the inland safe zones as soon as possible, and refused to support their children stupid enough to stay out on the front line, leaving him as River's sole guardian. Simon had tried everything to persuade her to join them, but she had been adamant; if he was staying to help, so was she. He was the only family she had left.
He'd given in, and provided her with the parental permission the Jaeger Academy required of its underage applicants. She wanted to do some good, to join the fight against the kaiju somehow, and her brilliance in the physical and mental discipline required of the cadets had proven very quickly where she would be best suited. She'd had so much promise; the older Rangers had sometimes joked that the only problem might be finding her someone who could keep up.
And now she was… not exactly a shell of her former self, but certainly not quite herself any more. As often as not she was only half-aware of the world around her, or less; the damage done to her brain now caused her to go into Drift with herself at random, and keep her there for anything from a few seconds to hours on end. She was certainly no use as a pilot any more, though when she was able to focus the trainers in the Kwoon Combat Room were always happy to have her help out.
Preferable as it was to have her taken somewhere safe well away from the coast, or even to go with her, Simon had stayed - for a number of reasons. Firstly, he was needed. The Los Angeles Shatterdome could probably cope without the help of an expert surgeon and biologist who was one of the best the program had on human-Jaeger interfacing, but that didn't mean it would cope very well. When he wasn't researching or working on ways to try to help River, he was often fixing up the candidates' sparring injuries or damaged Rangers who'd got overconfident.
Secondly, it gave him access to ways to help River. He was almost sure he could, with enough tinkering, find a way to help her control the impulses that dragged her into the Drift so often. And the only way to do that was to have access to the technology that was so necessary to the cause. Here in the Shatterdome, he was allowed all the time and access he wanted, as long as it didn't interfere with his other duties. He suspected Marshal Pentecost had arranged it as some sort of recompense.
Thirdly - and this was mostly linked to the second reason - he had help where he was, in the form of one of the Jaeger pilots. Well, several of them, actually, but it had all started with Kaylee.
Kaywinnet Lee Frye was one half of the Ranger team assigned to the Jaeger known as Cherry Dino. The petite, pretty, perpetually cheerful young woman was also one of the more gifted mechanics in the Shatterdome; it was how she'd first got involved in the program, until she'd been found to be Drift compatible with one of the other pilots, and assigned to the very Jaeger she'd been helping to build. Simon had met her while scavenging through bits of discarded technology in a storeroom, and once he'd explained what he was doing there she'd immediately offered to help.
Now, in her downtime, she was always keen to exercise her talents helping Simon with his experiments. He wasn't quite sure why he felt butterflies in his stomach every time he heard the familiar, "Hey there, whatcha got for me?" at his workroom door, but it never failed to put a smile on his face. Not only was she extremely capable in helping him figure out his ideas and putting them together, she genuinely liked River, who - when lucid enough to notice anything - seemed to regard Kaylee as an older sister and showered her in affection.
It was through Kaylee that the Tams had made friends with the rest of her two-Jaeger team, who were, admittedly, a rather odd little group. Her co-pilot, a solid older man who went by the name of Wash, was so happy-go-lucky it was hard to believe he had been a renowned daredevil pilot before the Kaiju War. His personality certainly seemed a good match for compatibility with Kaylee, though; they had the same sunny outlook, easy self-confidence, and a fondness for bright outfits, although it was sometimes said that Wash's favourite Hawaiian shirts could be used to blind the kaiju all on their own.
He was usually quite happy to help out with their experiments; he'd tried Drifting with River a few times in modified tech, though nothing had ever been satisfactorily achieved, and was always ready with a joke and a hug when she seemed particularly miserable. Simon couldn't help feeling grateful and relieved whenever he saw the pair together. The boundless optimism Wash brought to a room was enough to make anyone feel better.
His wife Zoe was almost the exact opposite. Reserved, serious, and quiet, with the bearing of a career soldier, it was initially hard to see what she and Wash saw in each other; the two seemed like chalk and cheese. However, as Simon got to know her better - a tricky business with someone so uncommunicative - he began to understand their relationship as well.
She softened up around her husband, smiled and rolled her eyes at his jokes, and found an outlet for everything she usually kept bottled up. And Wash clearly admired her capability to weather even the worst situations and shrug them off; she was his rock, his grounding influence, and his idol. Tough as she was, though, she had her soft spots; she'd helped mentor the new cadets in the Jaeger Academy, and even now was kind enough to donate her time to keep River's combat skills up, just in case.
Zoe's co-pilot, Malcolm Reynolds, was rather infamous within the PPDC. He was fiercely attached to Serenity Valley, his early-model Mark 3 Jaeger, and had a reputation for being a complete wild card. He followed orders when it suited him - which was about half the time, at best - and rarely fought in any way that could be considered predictable. If it hadn't been for the fact that he and Zoe were also an extremely successful team, he would probably have been thrown out of the program on his ass.
Mal didn't seem too keen to make friends with people; he tended to glare at them until they went away, unless someone he already liked vouched for them. On the other hand, he was incredibly protective of the few close friends he did have, and of any underdogs he knew were around; he'd put the fear of God into a couple of younger Rangers who'd attempted to bully new cadets once, and by now there were very few people who weren't cautious around him. River was one of them, always skipping up to him with a smile if she recognised him in the corridors, and quite happy to tuck herself under his arm and chatter away. Despite his own reservations, Simon had a soft spot for the man's unhesitating acceptance of his damaged little sister.
It didn't really sink in until one day about six months after River's accident. Simon was running a bit late, having been stitching up a cadet who'd taken a nasty cut to the calf in training, and came into the mess hall some time after everyone else. He glanced around, balancing his tray, and spotted the familiar little group at a nearby table. River was giggling uncontrollably, practically collapsed against Kaylee, who wasn't much better off. Wash was grinning broadly - presumably at his own joke - Mal was chuckling, and even Zoe looked amused.
Simon was almost startled to realise he was smiling himself as they turned and waved, calling out greetings, and Zoe and Mal scooted up along the bench to make room for him. He sat down, touched by the warm welcome, and was suddenly struck by the thought that this might be what having a family felt like. He'd almost forgotten what it was like to come to the table for dinner and have a whole group of smiling faces welcoming him to join them.
They had been their own little family before, of course, but they'd opened their arms to the Tams and brought them into the fold, offered them support and kindness and friendship… Simon swallowed the lump in his throat and hid it by taking a large bite of his food.
He had a family. And, more importantly, so did River. They'd do anything to make sure she was all right. And keeping her safe was all he'd ever wanted.