The day Newton drifted with part of a kaiju brain was not something Hermann could remember, even years later, without actually wincing. When he came back into the lab to find Newton shuddering, nearly unconscious, on the floor of the lab, he felt as if his heart had dropped right out of his chest.

"Newton! Newton! What have you done?!" Automatically he scrambled to the floor, somehow managing to turn off the ridiculous contraption on Newton's head. It slipped off onto Newton's shoulder. The man somehow came to. They gripped one another hard. All Newton could do was wheeze. All Hermann could do was take the man's pulse with his thumb and stare wide-eyed until Newton stopped shaking. Newton's movements relaxed to a steady nervous twitching and Hermann decided he'd better be moved off the grubby laboratory floor. He picked up Newton's glasses and folded them into the pocket of the biologist's now very dirty white button down. Hermann didn't completely understand how he had had the strength to lift a man recovering from a drift-induced seizure to a standing position, but somehow it had happened.

"Come on old chap," Hermann said as he wrapped an arm behind Newton's back and leaned half his weight on his cane, feeling as if it could snap out from under him. They had slipped at least once. Hermann leant Newton up against the power strip.

"Are you alright to stand, Newton?" Newton nodded, still in deep shock. Hermann fetched the green chair from in front of his computer and whipped it over to Newton, lowering him into it.

"I'll get you a glass of water." Hermann's hands shook so badly that the glass nearly slipped out of his hand. He rushed back over to Newton, full of fear.

"Don't move from this chair. I'll get the Marshal." Herman raced through the corridors to LOCCENT that he nearly tripped. It's a miracle he's not dead. Bloody fool. I should have called for medical personnel. Why didn't I do that first?

"Marshal! Marshal! I need to talk to you."

"Not now, Dr. Gottlieb. I'm sure you can appreciate how important this moment is to me."

"Newton created a neural bridge from garbage and drifted with a kaiju." And then came the next wave of events. Hermann was terrified to return to the lab. Newton was still conscious, but he was jiggling his leg nervously and blood flowed from his nose. Stacker looked to Hermann as if to query that Newton was alright in mind and body. Hermann just shook his head, disbelieving, angered, confused, saddened, unsure, tears threatening to well up in his eyes. Newton. What have you done? And worse still was Newton's horrifying and unbelievable description that Hermann couldn't bring himself to believe. Not that it was entirely implausible; he simply wished it was. They fought, actually yelled, at a time like this. Hermann kept his distance, as if being near Newton was painful for him. He was rooted to the spot, in shock himself. And then, to Hermann's further disgust, Marshal, a man he respected (and always would), sent Newton, a man who had nearly obliterated his own brain, out on a dangerous mission to meet a known black market criminal was almost more than he could stand. Newton left straight away. Hermann felt like there was a gaping hole in his chest. If only I had said something. Stopped him from going, told him how I feel...

Newton put on his leather jacket and headed for the vast door of the lab.

"Wait!" Newton turned around. He looked far too shattered to walk much less head to the bone slums in search of a kaiju brain. Hermann swallowed, hesitating for a moment before walking up to Newton. "Are you sure you're alright to go?"

"I guess so, dude. I mean, I don't really have a choice here."

"You don't want to go, do you?"

"I do and I don't."

"Yes, I think I understand."

"Well, I gotta go," Newton said, pretending everything was alright.

"Should I go with you?"

"No, that's ok," Newton smiled weakly. "No sense in putting us both in danger." Hermann winced a little. Newton looked as though he wanted to shake his hand or even hug him goodbye. And so Hermann took a chance, moved forward, got into his personal space and leaned in slowly. Newton simply breathed, his face open like a wound. Hermann kissed him. The sensation of Newton's lips beneath his own seemed unreal somehow, as if it only occurred in his daydreams. He kissed him more passionately than he most probably would have in real life in a situation like this, but he was overcome with desperation. He wanted to kiss him so badly. I need to.

"Try to come back in one piece." Newton stroked the side of Hermann's face.

"I'll be fine," he said tenderly. And then he was gone...

Hermann wiped a tear away. What if Newton never came back. He tried not to think of what might very well happen. He could be killed by a Chau or even a kaiju. Anything could happen. Hermann stood in the silence of the laboratory. Their home. Where they had fought, worked in, slept in, eaten in, and Hermann had even fantasized in. Without Newton, the lab would be no home at all. I must find a way to profess my feelings before it's too late.