Part IV.I

We were notified about two new signatures emerging from the breach the next morning. Both category IV.

My mind was spinning: Herc couldn't pilot a Jaeger due to his hand injury, Phoenix was ready to step in, Pentecost was terminal, according to Rico who overheard him and Raleigh talking…all in all we had three functioning Jaegers and only four pilots. To say that we were screwed was an understatement of the century.

"We are the first?" Chuck asked when he, Max and I entered the hangers.

"Yeah, I wanted you to meet someone very important to be before all hell broke loose." I lead the way.

We stopped at the metallic black feet.

"Chuck, this is Phoenix, and she's ma girl." I touched the Jaeger lightly and looked at her lovingly.

"A friend of yours…" Chuck chuckled behind me, Max grumped participating in our conversation and then bumped his head at my leg the way he's done when I first saw him.

"You know, he keeps doing this thing." I turned to Chuck before bending down to give slobbery dog a pet on the head.

Chuck mirrored my actions, barking a laugh: "He likes you."

"Only he?" I teased.

"Yeah, I don't see anyone else who would." He teased back and got rather solid blow to the shoulder. "Ok, fine, I deserved that one."

I was about to reply I saw Tendo and Mako with Raleigh who were already in their Drivesuits near Gypsy. I nodded their way and both of us got up and made our way to the group.

"Tendo!" I called out as we neared them. "Where do we stand?"

"Two category IV Kaiju. They stay at the breach guarding it. They know we want to blow this thing off." My friend supplied.

It wasn't brand new information for a while then. We all knew that Pentecost planned to blow the breach but to me it was always a puzzle how exactly he was going to execute his plan.

"What are the orders?" Raleigh asked.

"What are always the orders?" Tendo murmured. "To suit up and to prepare Gypsy, Striker and Phoenix."

"How? Dad can't pilot with the hand of his!" Chuck grunted.

"And I don't have a co-pilot." I placed my input at almost the same time Chuck did.

We didn't have any more time to argue when the doors to the hanger slide open to reveal Herc in his civilian clothes, and Pentecost and Rico who were wearing Drivesuits. My mind was very quickly sent to an overload destination. Why was Rico in his suit? Did he change his mind about drifting with me? Why was Pentecost all suited up? Wasn't he not allowed in the Jaeger?

When they approached us, Mako wasted no time to take her father aside. I stepped closer to Rico who seemed to like the feel of the suit he hasn't worn for a while:

"So, Ranger, we're back to where we started, then?"

"Not exactly." He smiled at me.

I shook my head slightly not getting him. He put a hand on my shoulder and bended a little so that the height difference would not be so drastic:

"I'm taking Phoenix and Pentecost and together we take the bomb to the breach."

His words were quiet as if he was telling me something sacred that only we could know. My eyes were filled with tears I would not shed because I understood what he was saying: Pentecost would not survive the Jaeger ride and Rico was not about to come back. I tried to get out of his hold but his grip on me was too strong.

"What? No, you're not doing this!"

"I am. Don't worry, our bird will protect us."

"I'm not gonna sit here and watch you die. Don't you know me at all?"

"We don't expect you to." I heard Marshal's rasping voice and turned to look at him.

"We need you to have our back." He said and I detected something in his gaze, something he usually only held for Mako. "You'll be piloting Striker Eureka with Chuck."

I looked at Chuck, he was looking back at me and seemed not to have any objections. I put my hands on my hips and took a deep breath:

"But…are you sure we're compatible enough?"

At this Rico pff-ed and Herc chuckled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The two of then irritated me to no end.

"You'll be fine." Pentecost assured me and took off to give a speech before we go to face the monsters. It felt like it was going to be our last stand.

-\-

The hall to the Jaeger was dimly lit as I exited the Drivesuit room, the feel of my suit alien but welcoming on my skin. My and Rico's suits were metallic black to match our Jaeger.

"You ready for this, birdy?" Chucks voice caught me.

I paused to wait for him and together we passed through the door and could see Herc with Max on the leash waiting for us.

"As I'll ever be." I nodded at him, our eyes meeting, and I nodded again. "You need to say goodbye to your father, just in case."

"Nah…Hansen's are not good at this stuff."

"Yeah, I know." I dismissed his nonsense. "But I never got to say goodbye to my parents, there was not a single day when I didn't wish I could."

Herc was standing strong but his confidence was wavering as I saw his eyes linger on his son, wishing he would be there for the battle by his side. Then he looked at me but I was the one to talk first:

"Don't worry, we are the ones that actually are counting on coming back."

I was referring to Rico and Pentecost, he got that. He nodded at me; that was a blessing and approval, and a request to keep an eye on his sometimes sharp and always edgy son. I nodded back excepting everything he could offer and giving his a silent promise that I'd have Chuck's back no matter what.

Then I stepped further giving Max a pat on the head and gave father and son a moment.

Watching them I understood what Chuck meant by "not good at this stuff". They really weren't. With words not said, hugs not exchanged and I-love-you's not articulated, they stood there with full awareness that they both loved the other more than anything else in this life. But they were the Hansen's and their family business was never poetry or PR, they saved the world. People like them didn't have to actually say anything to each other to say it all.

Instead of hugging his old man, Chuck bended and kissed Max. The dog was acting like a buffer between the two of them.

I smiled and with Chuck asking his dad to take care of their pat, we moved on to the Jaeger.

"Earlier today you showed me someone very important to you." I looked at my new co-pilot. "Now…I want you to meet my very special someone."

We were at the entrance of Conn-Pod by then and Chuck stopped, smirking good-naturally, to let me go in first:

"Ladies first."

I just rolled my eyes but gave him a half-smile as his eyes lit up mischievously.

-\-

"Pilot to Pilot connection engaged." The AI announced as both Cuck and I launched into each other's headspace.

There was a bright light for a mile-second and after I was thrown into a maelstrom of emotions and memories. I was watching a silent movie with Chuck starring in it. I saw his mother, Angela. She was very beautiful with kind brown eyes, always smiling at her son. I saw a much younger Herc, giving his teenaged son a bulldog puppy who they in unison decide to call Max after some very old movie, Max Pain. I saw Australian Beaches that were young Chuck's refuge when he had a fight with his dad in those rare times his dad was present. I saw the Academy years and piloting Striker Eureka, the thing that made Chuck so bitter when it came to his father – that Herc had chosen to save him and not his mom in the Kaiju attack – and how as the time passed he realized that there was never a chose for Herc to make, there was the only choice. I also saw countless one-night stands that meant less than nothing for the younger Hansen but I did not judge, I knew better than to judge when you're in the drift. And finally I saw the changes, drastic ones, in him when he came to Hong Kong and met me… his internal struggling, his fears, his attempts to understand what was going on with him, I felt his feelings the night we spent together, him feeling serenity and happiness like he's never thought was possible before, how he not knowing what to do, did the only thing he was capable of – he held tighter.

Chuck was doing the same thing with the memories and emotions of my life. He saw me a little girl playing in the snow of the Canadian mountains, throwing snowballs at my dad while mother was preparing our family dinner. He saw me watching my parents off as they went on their first mission with Solar Prophet. He stood with me at their funeral, watching as Pentecost and his father offered their condolences. He saw my Academy years and how I met Rico and finally satisfied his jealousy as he felt that the other Ranger was a brother to me. Chuck saw my first drift, my first fight with a Kaiju, my first intimate encounter with a boy when I was seventeen and how I wondered if there was something wrong with me because the only feeling left in me after we were done was the one of disappointment. And the bliss I experienced with him when my whole body and every nerve in it responded to him. He saw it all. And felt it all with me.

"Initiating Neural handshake in ten, nine…" We did not hear Tendo's calming countdown.

There's nothing to hide in the silence of the Drift.

"Two pilots engaged in Neural Bridge." The Jaeger AI announced and Chuck and I opened our eyes simultaneously.

We looked at each other and this time we didn't have to say anything. He grinned and I smiled.

"…going strong and steady."

"Initiate the drop, Mr Choi." I said softly but my voice firm.

"It's good to hear your voice over here, Miss West." My friend answered.

"Same here, Tendo." I smiled again. "Same here."

"Initiating the drop, Striker Eureka."

A\N – There you go Henley and Chuck's first drift)) Now who expected that?)