Gridlocked Chapter 4, a pacific rim fanfic

When Raleigh wasn't on duty or in training, he usually settled down with something to read. It relaxed him, took his mind off things. It was a passion he shared with Hermann, which also explained the towering stack of books he had next to the old couch in their quarters. Gottlieb regularly let him borrow new books and whenever Raleigh got his hands on something, he shared the new acquisitions with the scientist.

Chuck wasn't much of a reader. Now, as a koala, he had taken to perching behind the blond, paws resting on Raleigh's head, his behind firmly on the back rest of the couch, and he seemed to be reading along.

Or at least peeking now and then.

Raleigh only ever noticed anymore when Chuck poked his blunt, hard nails into his scalp to stop him from turning a page. Those were the mystery novels or the tech manuals. He didn't get into fantasy of sci-fi and had once drawn the line at romance. Raleigh had laughed, shaking his head, wondering where the dog-eared, water-damaged copy had come from. It had been at the bottom of a pile and he couldn't remember if it had been the second hand purchase in Hong Kong or the bag from Hermann.

They made an odd picture, him and Chuck, and he knew it, though he had only realized it when Herc had walked in, grinning from ear to ear when he had seen the pair. Raleigh with his feet up, head against the couch's back rest, and the koala draped over his head, reading.

"Wish I had a camera," Herc remarked.

Chuck grumbled a warning, which had his father grin even more.

Raleigh smiled, reaching up to scratch the Shifter. "Anything you need?"

"No, just checking. You got everything covered, I see. See ya, boys."

Chuck's comment was probably censor-worthy, but the koala grumbling and snarling was unintelligible. Raleigh went back to his book and so did Chuck.

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While he heeded Herc's order – as a father and as the Marshall of the Shatterdome – and didn't work on the Jaeger, Chuck didn't stay away from tinkering. He poked and prodded at parts the mechanics had removed and wanted to look over. He tried out his handiness with the tools of the trade. He even accepted assistance when he reached his limits.

And he suffered through the nightly baths to remove the oil and grime.

Raleigh was always giving him that tolerant, amused smile and he hated him for it – only to snuggle close and drop off like dead every night. Chuck had no idea if it was his Shifter side or a koala trait – he wasn't a koala anyway – but he slept better with company. Physically close company. It had always been his father in the past, but now Raleigh was just as calming and soothing on his nerves.

Chuck had long since given up on being mortally embarrassed by his snuggling needs.

Raleigh visited Newton without Chuck in tow. Geiszler was still freaked out over what had happened, frantically looking into what in the Kaiju Blue could force a Shifter to change shape, and he wasn't really getting anywhere. He still insisted it was an allergic reaction, but they could hardly test this on other Shifters.

"Though there are those who wouldn't mind," Newt had added when he had gotten the latest update. "I mean, some prefer to be their alter ego. Well, not alter ego. Shifted self. It's not like Chuck's a koala at heart."

He gave Raleigh a slightly frantic grin.

"When was the last time you slept?" Raleigh asked.

Newton blinked up at him. "Slept?"

"Two days ago," Hermann said, sounding as pissed off as he looked. "For an hour. He has this unhealthy tendency to go off the deep end when he can't figure something out."

"I'm not going off the deep end!" Newton shot back, eyes flaring with anger. "I'm invested in my research!"

"Your investment forced a Shift, Dr. Geiszler," came the sharp rebuke. "If you run yourself into the ground, the cure might just be worse than the poison!"

"Poison?" Raleigh exclaimed, alarmed.

"He wasn't poisoned!" Newton said quickly. "Ignore him. I do it all the time. His genetic trait was triggered and like I said, I can't do live experiments, even with volunteers. I'm working with the blood and hair samples from the lab. I've recreated the accident and aside from Chuck getting doused in the distilled Kaiju Blue, there was nothing there to trigger him."

"Then why, Newt?"

It got him a helpless shrug and Newton took off his glasses, massaging his tired eyes. He really did look like he hadn't slept in days.

Hermann limped over, his pale face lined with the same worry Raleigh felt, though he tried to mask it.

"Get some sleep," he said. "You can't think straight!"

"I'm fine!"

"You are not! Every first year intern can see that!"

"Then maybe we should let one of them figure out what went wrong!"

"Right now they would have a better chance than you!" Hermann snapped.

Newton rocked back, looking slightly betrayed.

Raleigh held up his hands. "Uh, guys…"

He knew about Lorse, about the fake signatures, the way the other scientist had foregone safety protocols and security measures, and that he had used an inferior storage tank. Newton wasn't over that yet. He had been and still was the head of the lab, was responsible for everything that happened here, and the betrayal weighed heavily on him.

Newton squared his shoulders. "This was my fault," he said steadily, compounding what Raleigh had just thought about. He was staring at Hermann like he needed to bring the point across. "I can make it right again, okay? All I need to do is figure out what happened to his trigger, what launched this, and we're ready to rumble!"

He stalked back to his side of the lab and Hermann looked after him, his face transforming into one of deep, almost empathic worry.

"He needs to sleep," Raleigh murmured.

"Believe me, I know," Gottlieb answered, voice unusually soft. "So does he. Dr. Geiszler is also one of the most stubborn men I ever had the displeasure of working with."

Raleigh smiled a little. The two men had been lab partners for over ten years. There was no mistaking the deep friendship and maybe just a little more.

Well, a lot more.

It was an open secret and no one would be surprised if they ever showed it more openly than they already did.

"He'll drop like a sack of rice soon," Hermann added with a disgusted sigh.

Raleigh nodded. "What's your take on what happened?" he asked.

Gottlieb glanced at him over the rims of his glasses. "I'm not a biologist, Ranger Becket."

"I know."

It got him raised eyebrows, then a sigh. Hermann leaned a little more on his cane. "I can only speculate. I saw Newton's notes, browsed through the lab reports, went over everything he did. I then compared it to what Dr. Lorse did in the short but unhappily very significant time he graced our lab with his unpleasant presence. Newton was well within safety limits and he knew what he was doing. He is an expert in the field of Kaiju biology for a reason."

Hermann sounded proud. Raleigh could relate.

"By the time Lorse was done, nothing of what Newton did was recognizable and I believe because of the many corners Lorse cut, the distillation process was warped beyond all recognition. The man was atrocious in his note keeping and I can't make a lot of sense out of what he did write down."

Raleigh tried to hide his surprise. He wasn't really successful since Hermann huffed a little.

"The faster this is resolved, the better for the peace of the lab. Dr. Geiszler is an irritating man on the best of days. Right now it's close to impossible to work in peace. But as I was saying, there is nothing that would suggest that anything in a Kaiju's blood can trigger a change in a Shifter human. A lot of blood has been spilled in the past decades," he added, eyes intense. "Various bodily fluids have soaked the ground, has been absorbed by the very earth and the air we breathe. There hasn't been a single incident."

"So it has something to do with what happened to the blood here?"

Hermann nodded slowly. "Either Lorse removed something or added something. Newton has to go back over every scrap and every piece of read-out. It might have been a contamination. It might just be uniquely Chuck Hansen. If he touched something that launched that reaction we might never know."

Well, fuck.

"And… getting his ability to Shift back?"

"He was covered in an alien substance, Raleigh," Hermann said softly. "It triggered him. His skin absorbed part of it, even if the particles were microscopic. If I know one thing about Shifters, it's that their physiology is incredible. They heal and recover faster in their alternate form. I'm no biologist or medic, but I believe that the moment he has cleared his own system, he will be back."

Raleigh gave the other man a smile. "Thanks."

Hermann's face twisted into a frown, his lips forming an even thinner line. He just nodded, then limped off to his side of the lab, but not without glancing over to where Newton was hunched over a tablet, furiously swiping at the images.

When Raleigh was making runs to the bottom of the ocean with Mako, Chuck had to remain behind. He spent that time in LOCCENT, sitting with Tendo or Herc, listening and watching attentively. The runs were for scans of the Breach or to recover whatever they could still find down there and sometimes just to test the new additions to the Mark-VII Jaeger.

It was routine and then again it wasn't.

Having a koala in their midst definitely wasn't, though Chuck was extremely well-behaved. As long as no one made the mistake to react to him like one would to a pet, he was just fine. One of the new LOCCENT techs made that mistake only once, petting him like she would a dog or a cat.

She ran from the control center, mortified, the moment she realized what she had done. She came back apologizing profusely later on.

Chuck had ignored her ever since.

Tendo's amusement knew no end.

Three weeks after the incident, Raleigh really wished he could talk to Chuck. Touch something without fur, with human skin. Look into the mocking eyes, hear that taunting jibes, and just kiss the other man silly.

From the way the koala resting on his chest was staring at him, so did Chuck.

Raleigh reached up, scratching him behind one ear. He knew how much Chuck loved it, how it relaxed him, and the paws curling into his sweater were a clear indicator again. As was the rumbling sound coming from his partner.

They had ended up in bed after a long day with tedious and mind-numbing hours in the lab, Chuck getting poked and prodded to the point he was close to biting whoever touched him next. Chuck had claimed his spot on Raleigh's stomach, inching slightly forward until he was almost nose to nose with the other Jaeger pilot, eyes filled with the same longing Raleigh felt.

"This sucks," the blond murmured, playing with one feathery-soft ear tuft.

He got a soft huff of agreement.

"Would you even know if you could Shift again?"

Chuck narrowed his eyes and snorted.

"Oh. Okay. I guess that means you're always trying, hm?"

The koala nodded.

It had to be so frustrating. Sure, Chuck knew himself as a koala and he could walk and climb and even type, though the typos frustrated him, but he wasn't human. He couldn't go into the Kwoon to work off his anger. He wouldn't putter around the Jaeger bays. He couldn't fucking Drift!

That was most likely the part that hurt the most.

"Sucks," Raleigh murmured.

Chuck's expression reflected a clear 'you don't say!'. He smiled and brushed a single finger over the curving nose.

Chuck wrinkled that nose and went a little cross-eyed.

X X X

Chuck took to exploring the vents again after that. It was his way to work off the frustration. Raleigh guessed that if he was pushed any further or denied this kind of exercise, fingers would be bitten off or eyes clawed out.

The Shifter always came back in the evening, looking a lot more relaxed, amicable, close to purring, and always covered in dust, oil and other substances Raleigh didn't really want to think about. He simply plunked Chuck down in the sink, turned on the water, shampooed the cooperative koala, and finally dried him.

He was turning into a pro.

"Huh. If the PPDC decides to close down, I can always open up a doggy grooming station."

It got him a dripping wet sponge to the face.

"A what?!"

Raleigh frowned as he walked into the lab, Chuck looking over his shoulder from his usual position on the other man's back. His size allowed for a comfortable perch/lean/grab and Raleigh had actually stopped noticing the small weight. He was unconsciously adjusting for Chuck's presence.

"Thylarctos plummetus," Tendo could be heard. "The dropbear."

Chuck made a soft noise, for Raleigh's ears only. It was the koala equivalent of a chuckle.

"There is no such thing!" Newton argued.

"Oh, there is. Rare Australian kind of marsupial. I always suspected Chuck might be more than a koala, with his knack for disappearing inside vents for hours or even days."

Raleigh watched as Newton nervously looked around and then up, inspecting the ceiling fans.

"They are related to koalas," Tendo went on, looking way too amused. "They attack their prey by dropping onto their heads from above. Just saying that you might want to be careful."

"Oh please!" Hermann limped over to them, face reflecting disdain. "Fairy tales and local lore! Frightening Dr. Geiszler has no purpose whatsoever!"

"He didn't frighten me."

"No, more like terrorized," Raleigh remarked.

Newton whirled around, saw Chuck on Raleigh's shoulder, and eeped faintly.

"Dropbear, Tendo?"

Chuck snorted and shook his head.

"Hey, it's true! The Australian Museum has an exhibit on them!"

"Right…"

Chuck snorted again.

"The description says they are about the size of a very large dog, have coarse orange fur with dark mottling, have powerful forearms for climbing and attacking prey, and their bite is terrible." Tendo frowned at Chuck. "Then again, yeah, he looks a bit of a lightweight for a dropbear. Not enough greens as a kid, huh?"

Now the koala Shifter rumbled a warning and flipped Tendo off.

"Color's a bit off, too. Maybe he's in his baby stage."

"You better get going or I will drop him on you," Raleigh warned.

Chuck had by now hoisted himself up on his partner's shoulders, one paw buried in the blond hair for balance, glaring viciously.

Tendo grinned, waved, then he was off. His lack of fear when it came to Chuck was admirable.

Newton eyed the two new-arrivals carefully.

"Geiszler!" Hermann snapped and Newton flinched. "He's not going to attack you!"

Chuck cocked his head, then huffed as if to say he surely wouldn't, unless provoked. Then he could be as vicious as a Kaiju.

"I really am sorry," Newton said. "I didn't mean to harm you, Chuck."

Another huff.

"We know," Raleigh translated. "It was an accident and no one could have known that whatever that stuff was, it contained a substance that triggers Shifters."

"We're pretty close to getting to the bottom of it all," Newton said, some excitement leaking back into his voice. "It's an allergic reaction, just like I suspected. Instantaneous, ingenious, and completely harmless."

Chuck rumbled.

"Well, unless you are a Shifter, yes," Newton admitted. "But it's nothing permanent. I think."

"You think?"

"I've been testing all blood samples Medical sent over and the… contamination, so to speak, is lessening. Some people break out in hives, others get splotches, the next has teary eyes or trouble breathing. Chuck… Shifted. It should be cleared by your own system soon."

"So he can Shift back to human again?"

Newton nodded. "He should have no problem."

"Good to hear."

"I also destroyed whatever was left of the blood," the scientist added softly, looking at Chuck. "A small sample will be kept, but for now distilling Kaiju Blue isn't high on anyone's list. I got a team working on what exactly caused the reaction and whether or not it was Lorse's lax run of lab protocols or something that had nothing to do with him, though I really doubt that. New safety measures include that no Shifter comes in contact with anything Kaiju without wearing full protective gear."

"How many Shifters work in K-sciences?"

"No clue, actually. You don't have to write it in your resume." Newton shrugged. "Actually, everyone is wearing full protective gear unless we know they aren't Shifters. Like me."

"But you don't know if this was a freak incident or something Kaiju fluids can do to a human with this particular, genetic trait," Raleigh said.

"Yeah. Sucks. Thing is, one of the techs has a sister who is a Shifter. She volunteered to be a guinea pig."

Chuck's noise of surprise was echoed by Raleigh's raised eyebrows.

Newton fidgeted uncomfortably. "Marshall said no. No human experiments. I'm all for it, too, dude. Really! We have no idea what this would do to someone else. I mean, an allergy is something unique to the person who has it. Not everyone shares that allergy, so it stands to reason not every Shifter shares what happened to you, Chuck. It could be seriously bad for her."

"But she volunteered nevertheless?" Raleigh asked, flabbergasted.

"I guess. I don't know her, but I know some Shifters don't like what they are or what they turn into or that they can't be their alternate form forever, that they are also human. If she's one of them, no telling what her motivation is."

Chuck grumble-growled something, claws flexing into Raleigh's sweater. While he wasn't a happy camper right now, forced to be a koala, he wasn't ashamed of himself.

Raleigh reached up automatically and scratched him. It was an unconscious gesture and Newton colored a little.

Chuck smacked his hand away and Raleigh smiled. It got him a huff.

"We'll leave you to your work," the blond said. "Lunch is calling."

The koala made a happy noise.

"Want something?" Raleigh asked Newton.

"Nah, I'm good."

They walked out, Chuck muttering something into his ear.

"If this is you asking for hamburger, I've no idea what the kitchen has today. Might just be spaghetti."

Chuck groaned. He liked spaghetti, just the sauce was a problem for a koala who ended up looking like a roadside accident more often than not. Last time Raleigh had to pluck the Shifter off a laughing Tendo Choi, who had had the bad grace to break out in close-to-hysterics over the sight.

Then again, soup wasn't much better in that regard. Some food things were not koala friendly. Give him pizza, spring rolls, fries or burgers any day.

tbc...