So the OP of the prompt this story is based on revealed themselves on AO3. Depending on what he/she says, there may or may not be an additional chapter to this story—I've left that up to them.
To everyone else...this is a very fluffy chapter. You have been forewarned...
Chapter 8: Reunion At Last
One day, Raleigh got a call, and it sent him reeling. He didn't know how the hospital staff managed to find him, nor did he know how to feel at first when he got off the phone.
"Mr. Raleigh Becket? This is Dr. Arlene Schmidt. I have some news for you. We have your brother. He's asking for you. Could you come over to the hospital please? We're here in Anchorage."
If someone asked him what he had said to the doctor in response, Raleigh wouldn't have been able to say. He said probably something that sounded like "sure, I'll be there" before hanging up the phone, but definitely nothing more than that.
He sat on the edge of his bed with his fist curled around a piece of paper with a hastily written address in his hand. It took a minute or so for all that the doctor had told him to sink in.
They had found Yancy washed up on the shoreline a day after the attack, the same as Raleigh, but on a different part of the coastline. From that bit of information, Raleigh concluded that Knifehead must have thrown Yancy in the direction of land, and that theory wasn't entirely impossible—the Kaiju having been as large as they were, they had incredible throwing arms.
Unlike Raleigh, Yancy had taken a hard hit to the head, and it had placed him in a coma. Doctors hadn't been sure whether or not he'd make it, but there was something that had kept him hanging on, and that something happened to be Raleigh. Apparently Raleigh hadn't been crazy all these years. The voice he had been hearing in his head wasn't the idea of his brother—it actually had been his brother—which made Raleigh wonder how his brother must have felt all these years. Was he bitter that Raleigh hadn't tried to look for him? Surely he had known that Raleigh thought he was dead. Would he forgive him? Raleigh didn't know. He hoped so.
The voice in his head was unusually silent—had been, actually, for several months now. Raleigh hadn't noticed it right away because he had been keeping himself extra busy, and his thoughts had been going all different directions. He would wonder about Mako and Herc. He would think about the sacrifices made by Pentecost and Chuck Hansen. He finally noticed the lack of his brother's voice one evening when he was lying in bed and wanted to ask a question. When that inquiry was met with silence Raleigh had panicked about it for the next few days before eventually coming to terms with the fact that perhaps it was his brain telling him that it was finally time to move on. Then Raleigh had received the call.
At some point Raleigh finally snapped out of it. He tidied up, changed his clothes, walked out the door and hit the road, making a straight shot for the hospital. He was running on autopilot and didn't remember asking for directions or checking with the front desk to sign in, but he must have, because he had somehow made it to his brother's hospital room with a visitor's badge in hand.
Yancy was awake when Raleigh arrived. He turned his head upon hearing Raleigh and a nurse enter the room, and his lips slowly curled into a small smile. For a moment, Raleigh couldn't do anything other than stare at his brother in awe.
"Well gentlemen," said the nurse. "I'll leave you both to it. Please feel free to call someone if either of you are in need of anything."
Raleigh jumped slightly—he had forgotten the nurse was there. If the woman noticed his surprise, she didn't show it. She only nodded and gave Raleigh a smile before leaving the room and closing the door behind her. Once she was gone, Raleigh turned to look at his brother again once more. His mind told him to move, but his body would comply. He was frozen to the spot.
Yancy chuckled. "Hey there, kiddo..."
Raleigh's hand shot out and he gripped the part of the wall that was jutting out beside him. Suddenly his knees felt slack and his mouth went dry. He felt the color drain from his face.
When he finally spoke, his voice came out as a weak whisper. "Y-Yancy..."
Yancy's eyes looked tired, but they were still smiling. "Come on. Come over."
Something finally clicked within Raleigh, and in seconds he had rushed over to his brother's side. He leaned over the railing of the bed and began pecking gentle kisses all over his brother's face, all the while whispering his brother's name over and over.
"Yancy...Yancy...Yancy..." Raleigh said, breathlessly. "You're real...you're here...you're really here..."
Yancy laughed and ran a hand through his younger brother's hair when Raleigh finally rested it atop Yancy's chest.
"Yeah, kid..." he said. "That's right...I'm here."
He smiled warmly at the sight of his brother. Raleigh's eyes were squeezed tightly shut and one of his hands clutched part of his brother's hospital shirt tightly.
"You never ever really left me, did you, Yance?" Raleigh whispered shakily.
"No, I didn't," Yancy replied.
"God..." Raleigh buried his face in Yancy's chest for a moment before looking back up at him, his eyes glassy. "Why...why didn't you tell me?"
Yancy gave his brother a small smile and tugged gently at a few strands of Raleigh's hair. "Sorry, kiddo...I was out cold. I didn't know where I was...I wasn't even sure if I was alive."
Raleigh shook his head. "You still should have told me."
Yancy half-smiled. "You thought it was easy keeping it a secret? I listened to you suffer all that pain...and once I realized it wasn't a dream...well, I didn't want to let you know until I was sure. In the off chance I didn't make it, I didn't want you to go through all that a second time."
"Still think you should have told me," Raleigh sighed. "How...how long?"
"Hm?"
"How long have you been up?" Raleigh asked.
Yancy chuckled. "For about four months or so now, give or take...but you already knew that, didn't you, kid?"
Raleigh shook his head again. "I mean, hell, Yance...I didn't know what to think. Was that really you talking in my head, all this time?"
"Of course it was," said Yancy.
Raleigh frowned. "Then why did you stop?"
Yancy half-smiled. "I woke up. I had to concentrate on getting better. "
Raleigh sighed. "I really wish I'd have known..."
"I know," said Yancy. "But you're here now."
"Yeah..." Raleigh said, slowly lifting his head. "Hey, Yance...?"
"Yeah, Rals?"
Raleigh's brows furrowed together slightly as he leaned in closer to his brother's face. "Can I...?"
Yancy smirked. "You think you really need to ask?"
Raleigh smiled. "No, I guess not."
The younger brother closed the distance between them and their lips were pressed together gently. When Raleigh pulled away, a steady stream of tears was flowing from his eyes. Yancy cleared his throat, his own eyes becoming moist.
"I didn't want to cry..." Raleigh choked out. "And after...I didn't. I made sure I didn't. Not even once. It wasn't because I didn't miss you...I just—"
"I know, kid," his brother said, gently cutting him off. "It's okay."
"Yancy..." Raleigh whispered. "There's something I've been meaning to say...something I wish I had said to you a long time ago."
Yancy chuckled as he lifted a hand and wiped at some of Raleigh's tears with one of his thumbs. "Oh yeah...? And what's that, Rals?"
"That I love you..." said Raleigh.
"I've always known, Raleigh. You've never had to worry about that, but...I will say, it's good to hear you say it out loud anyway," Yancy said with a smile.
"I'll say it as many times as you want," Raleigh said, embracing his brother. "I love you more than anyone..."
Yancy placed an affectionate kiss to his brother's head. "Me too, kiddo. Me too."
