No POV
Raleigh and Laura are outside Stacker's room, listening as Chuck yells, saying he doesn't want them on the protection detail for Striker when they attack the Breach. Raleigh paces while Laura just stands there, watching him.
She remembers all the memories they went through very clearly and her reaction when they came out of them. Raleigh now knows what she felt when he left and she knows he felt much the same. She helped him so much in such a short amount of time; she became his rock and he left. She also knows he was wishing he hadn't for weeks afterward and even every now and again through the last five years.
She also knows what happened outside the memories; Raleigh almost died, his heart rate, respiration and blood pressure steadily rose until the point they had to pull the plug it got so bad. He could've died; she could've killed him because she pulled him into her memories, making him get stuck. It's something you're not supposed to be able to do during a Drift. But they did and neither the tech, nor Raleigh could handle the strain. She almost killed him.
The door opens and Chuck comes out.
"Ai, stay there. Give me a moment," Herc says, pointing at Chuck. Raleigh comes to stand next to Laura and looks at Chuck. Herc closes the door and Chuck turns to them, Raleigh glaring at him.
"You two are a goddamn disgrace. You couldn't even handle a simple Drift, and you want to get into a Jaeger. You two are going to get us all killed, and here's the thing Raleigh," Chuck says and looks at Raleigh who is refusing to look at him, glaring at the wall across from them.
Chuck continues, "I want to come back from this mission, cause I quite like my life. So why don't you," he flicks Raleigh's chest and Raleigh finally looks up at him, his gaze infuriated, "Just do us all a favor and disappear; it's the only thing you're good at."
This infuriates Laura, Raleigh is so much better than him in every way, most prominently he's not an ass and a bully. But she's still reeling from the Drift and her memories she saw, in specific the last one and Chuck telling Raleigh to disappear just adds to the irrational fear he will.
"Oh shut up," Laura says, moving forward, but Raleigh's hand on her shoulder stops her. He saw her tense when Chuck told him to leave and he felt her reaction to him leaving the first time, not to mention when they came out of the Drift. He promises to never leave her again. He knows she doesn't want him to, he knows she partially joined the Jaeger program hoping he'd come back one day and he likes her, he really, really likes her. The Drift, seeing all her memories and everything about her just added to him liking her, possibly even moving him more toward not just liking her, but- Chuck's next words rip him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah that's right, you just hold back you're little girlfriend, even if she did almost kill you," Chuck says and Laura flinches under Raleigh's hand, something he notices and this adds to Raleigh's growing impatience with the man. He just hurt Laura twice in the same day.
But Chuck isn't finished yet and says, "One of you bitches needs a leash."
This makes Raleigh snap. He hits Chuck and Chuck tries to fight back, but Raleigh such a better fighter. Chuck lands on his knees and spits out blood.
"Apologize to her," Raleigh says as Chuck wipes the blood off his chin.
"Screw you," Chuck says and gets up, taking a swing at Raleigh which Raleigh easily ducks under. Raleigh pushes Chuck into a wall and Chuck shoves him into the other one. But Raleigh gets the upper hand easily and throws Chuck into some pipes, which burst and steam comes out. Chuck lets out a yell of pain and slowly walks forward, still not finished. If he were smart he would walk away, but he doesn't.
"I said, apologize to her," Raleigh says loudly.
Chuck just moves forward and comes at Raleigh. Laura can tell Raleigh is barely even trying and yet still flips Chuck over and pins his arm using his legs and Chuck yells out.
"Alright enough, what's going on?!" Herc shouts coming out of Stacker's quarters. "On your feet, both of ya!"
Raleigh gets up; backing away from Chuck as he slowly gets up. Stacker comes out and says, "Beckett, Coleman, my office."
Herc intercepts his son who was going after Raleigh.
"This is over! You're a Ranger for Christ sake, why don't you start acting like one!" Herc yells at Chuck.
Raleigh turns around and walks toward Laura and Stacker and they go into Stacker's room. They can hear Herc yelling at Chuck on the way.
"I went out of phase first, it was my mistake," Raleigh tries to explain.
"That had nothing to do with your physical symptoms," Stacker says.
"But the Drift stabilized in the end, even before I went out of phase and the physical symptoms went away. It worked," Raleigh says.
"And what about the next time?" Stacker asks.
"It'll be fine, we've already got stuck in the memories once, it won't happen again," Raleigh says, but they both know there's a risk, the tiniest of risks that it will happen again. It's happened once before.
"No, it's not worth the risk," Stacker says.
"What? So you're grounding us" Raleigh says.
"Not you, just Laura," Stacker says, looking at me. I look up for the first time since this conversation began and meet his gaze.
Raleigh looks between them and says, "No, SHE is my co-pilot."
Stacker says, "I believe I just gave you my decision Mr. Beckett."
Laura stands. "Permission to be dismissed sir?"
Stacker looks at her and nods, "Permission granted."
Laura nods once and looks at Raleigh who's nodding no, but she turns and walks from the room.
"Laura," Raleigh tries but she doesn't even turn around to look at him.
Tears form in Laura's eyes, her dream of being a pilot being crushed. Not only that but she put Raleigh in a lot of danger; she never should've risked it. If he had gotten hurt she doesn't think she'd be able to live with herself.
She can hear Raleigh and Stacker yelling at each other and she blocks it out, holding back the tears until she gets to her room. A minute later she hears knocking and knows it's him. He knocks again and then again when she doesn't answer.
"Laura, I know you're in here, please let me in," Raleigh practically begs and Laura sighs, not being able to deny him. She wipes her face to make sure there are no tears and opens the door, not enough for his to step through, but enough they can talk face to face.
"What do you want Raleigh?"
He visibly relaxes and says, "To make sure you're alright."
She smiles a little, trying to make him think she is and says, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"That's the smile you use when you are trying to convince people you're fine, which means you're not," he says and she frowns, but doesn't say anything.
"Laura, what Chuck said, you know that's not true, right? I'm not going to just disappear again, you know that right?" Raleigh asks.
She nods; she felt that through the Drift before it broke.
"And what about the other part, I… I almost killed you," she whispers the last part.
"But you didn't, the Drift stabilized," he says.
"And what about next time, what if I get lost in a memory again?" Laura asks.
"You won't," he says.
"How do you know that, it's happened once before, it can happen again. Stacker's right, it isn't worth the risk," Laura says going to close the door but Raleigh's hand shoots out and stops it. Laura leans her head against the back of the door.
"It worked and next time will be even easier, we'll know what to expect and how to handle it. First Drifts are rough, but only the first ones," he says.
Laura squeezes her eyes shut and says, "I don't want you hurt, especially not by me."
"I know, I was in your head remember, I know a lot of things now," he says and she hears the double meaning in them. He knows how she feels about him- or at least, how she's starting to feel about him.
She opens her eyes and says, "It doesn't matter, there's no way Stacker would let me be a pilot now."
"The Drift stabilized once we got used to it, it'll be stable next time," Raleigh says.
Laura moves and opens the door all the way, surprising him slightly and she asks, "Why are you so insistent?"
He hesitates before answering, completely honest, "Ever since my brother, I never wanted to be a pilot again. When Stacker found me a few days ago and tried to convince me to come here, it took me hearing your name to convince me. When I heard you were training to be a pilot I, for the first time in five years, knew that if I was to be a pilot, the only person I would except as my co- pilot would be you. And that was even before we fought."
"Why… me?" Laura asks. Raleigh smiles slightly.
"I can't describe it, I just… know, I just… feel it. I want you as my co-pilot, on one else. I… I care about you, a lot," he answers.
She looks at him, intently hearing the last part, not knowing what to make of it. He cares about her but as a friend? A sister? Something more? But she hears the honesty in everything he's said and looks deeply into his eyes before saying, "I'll do it."
He smiles widely and runs up the steps and hugs her, lifting her briefly off her feet before setting her back down.