For probably the seventh time, she refilled on the coffee, right before a stern-eyed woman pulled the thermos from Kylie's hands, while the masses were slowly clearing out of the hangar. Yet, there was little to no energy in her body to follow them outside. In her head, she mused about the revelations that meetings had provided.
"I figured I'd find you here…" she suddenly heard a deep, mellow voice behind her. She jerked around, only to see Herc standing there with his piercing blue eyes and his usual lopsided - almost apologetic - smile. The freckles on his slightly tanned face stood out even more than she remembered but then again, she hadn't really seen him with his face clean. But apart from that, he looked very much the same to what she remembered. She had been in a lot of pain back then, though. "They're recruiting, it seems."
She didn't even have the chance to reply to Herc.
"Yeah! For war! And I can tell you, this time we will kick the Kaiju's arses!" That voice was unfamiliar and it didn't come from him. Kylie looked over his shoulder at the man that had snuck up on both of them. The resemblance was uncanny. He was a little less stocky but had the same short cropped, ginger hair and blue eyes.
Herc had followed her gaze and now cleared his throat, and when Kylie looked at Herc, she saw a worried frown flit across his face. "This is my brother, Scott."
The tone of his voice made her frown a little. It almost felt as if he didn't want both of them to meet.
Eagerly - maybe a little too eagerly - Scott extended his hand and grabbed for hers, shaking it as if they were old friends. "Such a pleasure to meet you, darling!"
Even that very first exchange of words rubbed Kylie the wrong way, the fact that Scott was a lady's man was irrefutable. She nodded politely in his general direction when she heard Herc hiss a stinging "Don't!" at him. Scott let go of her hand and stepped back, but not without a smirk on his face. Kylie tried to ignore him and turned back to Herc.
"So I see you brought the chopper back…" What an awkward way of starting small talk.
"Told you I did..." Herc was painfully trying to keep that little bit of conversation they had there going.
"Yeah…" she said. "I saw it sitting in its usual spot coming in."
"Heavily guarded this time. Our doing, I suspect." His voice was hushed. "I was actually accompanied by one of the gate guards, just to make sure I wouldn't try to steal it again." Herc's mouth twisted into a slight smile, which disappeared as quickly as it had appeared when he now leaned in closer.
"Thank you…" He whispered without looking at her.
Kylie waved a hand dismissively, unable to even look at him. He got the clue, and didn't go on. They didn't need to talk about what happened.
"You look...well." He said after a slight pause.
Kylie pursed her lips into a slight smile. "You too…"
They both sucked at lying, and both had to snort out a laugh. The last time they had seen each other, they both had been a wreck, literally speaking.
"How's your boy?" Kylie asked now.
"Quite well, he's with his grandparents at the moment." Herc looked her dead in the eye. "It's not been easy, he asks for his mother every day. I don't know what to tell him."
She looked away, not being able to bear his blue eyes piercing hers. "I wouldn't know what to say…"
And then there was Scott again. "Listen, you two lovebirds, it looks like they are about to close this hangar and we are literally the only three people left in here. Maybe we should take it elsewhere?" He swung around, squeezed into the space between the two and put his arms around them, probably thinking it was funny. "You should come with us get a bite to eat. It will be fun! I bet you two have some catching up to do." Scott beamed from ear to ear, and Kylie hated it. He talked too much, that was obvious.
Herc - as well as Kylie - was visually upset with the lovebird remark and Kylie understood only too well. He had just lost his wife. But Scott wouldn't back off. He actually dared to hook his arm under hers and pull her with him. He didn't even know her! Herc's face showed despair, but he simply tagged alongside his brother, nodding to Kylie that it was ok if she tagged along - at least that's what she thought he meant.
Before they stepped out of the gates of Glenbrook, they were stopped by the man that had been on stage, Stacker Pentecost. After a sharp nod towards Kylie and Scott - which apparently was supposed to be a greeting - he pulled Herc to one side, out of hearing distance.
Scott had an idiotic grin on his face as he now leaned over to her. "They go way back, those two."
Kylie rolled her eyes. 'Who asked you, anyways?' she wondered and hoped if he thought that he was making an impression on her.
She watched Herc and Pentecost talk for a couple of minutes, pretending to not hear anything that Scott said. He didn't even seem to care, he apparently liked to hear himself talk. But Kylie didn't like what she saw. Pentecost suddenly placed one arm around Herc's shoulder and leant in close and the next thing she saw was that Herc's usual upright posture changed - his shoulders slumped forward, his head hung low and she suspected that he had just received some really bad news. But it lasted only for a second, he straightened up immediately, brushed his hands across his chest to straighten out his uniform and - quite formally - shook the other man's hand before retreating.
He came back with a very fake smile plastered across his face. Ignoring Kylie's questioning glance, he set course for the parking lot and didn't look back once. Kylie however did, and saw Pentecost leaning against the frame of the small door in the much larger hangar gate with a wistful look on his face, before Scott dragged her along quickly to follow Herc to the car.
Scott took them to Zambrero, a classic Mexican Restaurant just a few minutes' drive away from the Glenbrook base, a little off the M4. Many of the restaurants downtown that had not gotten totally destroyed, were still recovering from the damage.
Kylie liked Mexican food, she would often order take away from Mad Mex or go to Flying Fajita Sistas or Mejico with her friends or colleagues - before. It hit her quite hard - almost like a painful jab to the stomach - that she didn't seem to have any friends anymore, nor colleagues she cared about. She realized that she kind of missed those nights out on Tequila.
They ordered a couple of burritos, tacos and nachos, and accompanied the food with beer for the men and wine for the lady. Kylie at least hadn't even been that hungry to start with, but with the food and the good company came the appetite. Herc was grumpy as usual, but became a little livelier as the evening went along, and Scott, however annoying he was, gave the whole situation a funny edge.
The waitress, a busty, flirty little blonde, already seemed to know him, as they got familiar quite quickly.
Herc didn't seem to care. He asked Kylie about how she had been, how recovery came along and apologized for not having visited her in the hospital or later at home, even though he realized that it would have been an awkward undertaking. She noticed that he was very careful to not let his questions go too deep. Kylie in return asked superficial questions about Chuck and how he had been dealing with the situation.
It wasn't what could have been considered entertaining conversation. Scott finally excused himself from the table and both Kylie and Herc watched him chase after the waitress.
Herc was the first to audibly sigh. "I am sorry for that…He's…"
"...an ass?" Kylie offered as an answer, which in return made him smile a little.
"Yeah, kind of. He has always been that way."
Kylie bit her lower lip. Was he making excuses for his little brother? All he needed was a good kick in the arse. Yet, it was useless to reprimand Herc - being the older brother - about Scott's shitty behaviour. "You're just so different, that's all."
How Herc had to laugh a little. "Thank God for that!"
"So, what about that buddy of yours? He was quite convincing up there on stage." Kylie changed the topic.
"Pentecost? Well, Stacker went into the program not entirely selfless." Herc smiled lopsided. "I guess everybody who volunteered had lost someone in the Kaiju attacks. His sister was killed by a Kaiju, the first that attacked San Francisco and now all he thinks about is finding a way to destroy them. Her loss was a heavy blow for him, emotionally speaking, as she was the only family member he had left."
Kylie swallowed hard. Stacker Pentecost wasn't the only one who had lost loved ones. She then tried a half-hearted smile to mimic his. "And you?"
"Me?" That gave him pause. He thought for a moment, his eyes searching hers as if looking for the answer. "I guess that's why I am here…" He looked at her. "That's why we all are here. There are many capable men and women in the Australian military, and many are eager to enlist."
"As you are…"
"As I am…"
Both sipped their beer in silence. Then Kylie couldn't hold back anymore.
"What was it that you and Pentecost talked about back at Glenbrook?" she asked in a low voice.
He didn't answer immediately and Kylie didn't force it. She just watched him play with a napkin for a few moments, while she sat back, thinking about how insensitive her question had been.
Just when she was about to apologize and take the question back because it was none of her damn business, he cleared his throat.
"My wife has been officially declared dead in absentia…" he dropped on her right before she could open her mouth. She almost forgot how to breathe. "She was working downtown. Reports showed that the building she worked in was completely destroyed. Maybe she got out, but she should have resurfaced by now, one way or the other." Kylie was surprised how emotionless Herc related those details. "I guessed it was just sit and wait for any new info since there was no way of knowing until all shelters and hospitals had their databases up to date. The RAAF assumes that enough time has passed."
Instinctively, she reached out for his hand and squeezed it lightly. His smile now had a heartbroken quality to it. She couldn't even have imagined that his wife hadn't made it out. She was left speechless.
"I kind of knew, though. And I will have to accept her death, even though hope dies last, she might still be alive out there." He took a sip from his beer. "Chuck is a totally different story, though. He blames me, goddamnit, I blame myself! He doesn't know any better, he's still so young, but I really hope that he will find it in himself to forgive me one day."
Kylie listened to him with her mouth gaping until he finally stopped. "What on earth are you rambling on about? None of it has been your fault. That little shit can be happy that he's alive. And let me remind you, he's only alive because of you! He is alive because you risked your life to get him and his mother out. And you're telling me know that all of that isn't good enough for him?" She had to try real hard to not raise her voice.
It was Herc's turn now to glare at her with his mouth open, before he lowered his eyes to look at her hand on his. "Well, he's only a child, he needs time. Angela and I…well, we were having problems lately." Herc didn't seem too comfortable talking about his private life. But then again, Kylie wondered, why would he share that kind of information with her? His face changed, the hardness she had noticed earlier had left his eyes. "He saw that. I guess that's on me."
Kylie wanted to slap the man sitting opposite her, but at the same time she felt sad for him. Being a single parent - which Herc seemed to be now - was never easy, especially not under the present circumstances. And with an angry and upset child like Chuck seemed to be was hard to handle, especially for the type of man Herc seemed to be.
Both sat brooding for a while, then Kylie said apologetically: "I am sorry about calling Chuck a little shit. It's none of my business."
Herc just shrugged and smiled a little. "He might just be." His eyes were tied to her hand still holding his and Kylie really only then realized how inappropriate that was.
Suddenly, Scott was back, the giggly waitress in tow. Both seemed a little drunk, but happy. Herc wasn't having any of it. He ordered the check, growling under his breath as he addressed the waitress, and never cast a glance at his brother as he silently paid for everybody's meal. Being the old-fashioned gentleman that he was, he didn't accept Kylie's offer to pay or split the check. To her, it felt like the concept of him not being the one to pay didn't compute for him.
Herc drove as Scott was sulking in the back seat. He wasn't anywhere close to acting like a grown up person, Kylie reminisced but didn't say anything.
The drove in silence until Herc pulled up in front of Kylie's apartment complex.
"Thanks for the, boys." She smiled as she got out of the car and walked around to the driver's window. "And thanks for the food and the good company. It felt good to be able to take my mind off of everything that had happened."
"The pleasure was all mine!" came the slurred reply from where Scott laid sprawled across the back seat.
Herc growled again, which made Kylie smile. "I had a great time…" she said quietly and in return, Herc smiled as well before nodding a goodbye and driving off.