Author's notes: I hope you'll all keep reading this fic after Uprising comes in 2 weeks, since it seems less likely than ever that I'll get it finished in time. I make no effort to tie into Uprising beyond maiing Jake exist, because he's awesome. The main plot of this story is closure from the previous war. Hope you like!

Chapter Five: Family

For the six weeks leading up to his departure from London and landing in Hong Kong, Jake Pentecost had spent a lot of time imagining what that landing would be like. Dad was dead. There would be no Dad. But Mako would be there, the one person in the whole world who really understood Jake. She'd be waiting at the airport. She wouldn't want to cry, and neither would Jake; they both hated crying where anyone could see them. But they both just might when they saw each other again, for the first time in this world after war, in this world after Dad.

This wasn't the first time all Jake's imaginings had come to naught, and he doubted it'd be the last. Mako wasn't waiting for him in the airport; she was stuck in the Shatterdome infirmary with influenza, and Jake wasn't even allowed to see her.

"She's going to be okay," LOCCENT Chief Choi reassured Jake on the vidcomm. "She's responding well to the anti-virals, just doing a lot of coughing and being sick because it got into her lungs. She should be over the worst in a day or two; she'll call you as soon as she's awake. And we'll get you over here as soon as the quarantine is lifted."

So Jake was off to a downtown Hong Kong hotel to wait out the quarantine. It was hardly the first time he'd traveled alone on foreign soil (hell, even discounting the time he'd run away and used his PPDC travel credentials to get from London to Anchorage at fourteen), but for some reason he felt more anxious than usual.

But Choi at least told Jake that he wasn't the only one stuck outside the Shatterdome by the quarantine. "My wife and son are staying there too, and so is Dr. Gottlieb's wife. Go say hi to them."

It was even more awkward to meet two women in the nearly-empty lobby, one with a toddler in tow, and the other so pregnant that Jake was surprised she hadn't popped on the fourteen-hour flight from London. "So you're Marshal Pentecost's boy," said Chief Choi's wife. "That's amazing; none of us knew he even had a kid, adopted or otherwise."

Jake shrugged, looking at the floor. "My dad was kind of private."

"I know." The look she gave him was all too knowing. Mercifully, she changed the subject. "This is Tendo's and my son, Antwan. Say hi to Jake, Antwan."

The baby just babbled, but at least it got a grin out of Jake. "I came to see my sister," he said. "But she's sick and they won't even let me into the Shatterdome."

Dr. Gottlieb's wife nodded. "The entire Shatterdome is on lockdown for quarantine. This is the worst influenza epidemic since the war began. The only way to stop is to stop people traveling."

Jake phone buzzed. He jumped and turned on the video call, then just froze. "M-Mako?"

She didn't look very well. "Hello, Jake," she said in Japanese, her voice hoarse. "I'm so sorry I couldn't meet you in person."

"You look terrible," he said without thinking, then winced.

"It's only influenza," she insisted. "I've had worse - " That was belied when her voice gave out, and she dissolved into coughing.

Raleigh Becket put a hand on her back as she caught her breath, and she shot him a quick look. Then to Jake's surprise, the blond American turned to the vid comm and spoke for Mako in perfect Japanese. "The doctors say she'll be fine. The quarantine will be lifted in a week."

A whole week? He couldn't wait that long. "What happened to my father?"

Mako flinched, and Becket frowned, but then she put a hand on his. There was a long silence, but Jake was sure it wasn't a real silence. I wanted to be a pilot once. I wanted to be like this, able to talk to somebody and not make a sound...but what happens if you lose the other person like Becket lost his brother or Dad lost Tamsin.

Or like Chuck Hansen had lost Dad?

Swallowing hard, Jake dared to push. "The press said they blew up Striker Eureka with a nuclear bomb. Is that right? That he didn't...have any pain?"

Mako couldn't look at him anymore. He felt a little bad for the tears in her already-red eyes, but held his ground. He was your Sensei, but he was my Dad. And you at least got to say goodbye to him. Despite Becket's narrowed eyes, after another long pause, he answered, still in Japanese. "No. He didn't feel anything from a detonation that big."

"But Chuck Hansen still survived." That came out more resentful than Jake intended.

Both pilots stiffened. "Sensei didn't give him a choice," Mako croaked. Her voice failed again, and she shot Becket an exasperated look.

"He ejected Chuck against his will," Becket said. "He told us he'd done it. It wasn't Chuck's fault." He glanced at Mako, then went on. "There are a lot of people trying to blame Chuck for Marshal Pentecost's death, but he knew what he was doing. Don't believe what the reporters are saying; most of them don't have a clue."

Jake sighed. He'd had a feeling they'd say that. There were hundreds of headlines about Operation Pitfall and Stacker Pentecost. Dad was a household name now. But Jake hadn't been able to make himself read any of them.

He didn't want to think about this. He didn't want to talk about it over Skype. It wasn't fair that Mako was only a few miles away. He might as well have stayed in London.

"I'll let you get some rest," he mumbled. Mako's face fell, and Jake put a hand on the screen. "It'll be okay. I'll just...hang out." He forced a smile for her sake, and she relaxed a little.

But there wasn't much reassurance for Jake, left twiddling his thumbs in a hotel room. He tried going out, but promptly got recognized by reporters and ran back to the hotel with strangers waving cameras and microphones and yelling at him.

"Jake! Jake! What do you think your father's legacy will be?!"

"Will Stacker Pentecost's funeral be here in Hong Kong or in London?"

"Have you confronted Chuck Hansen about his role in your father's death?!"

"Do you think your father was reckless with the last Jaegers?"

Fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you all...

He was actually very proud of himself when he got back into the hotel room without either cursing at anyone or throwing a punch. Allison Choi knocked on his door a few minutes later with a big grin. "Way to go, kid. I wouldn't have been able to restrain myself from smashing their cameras."

Jake had to grin back. "Even though I really wanted to?" It gave him a pang. Would Dad have been happy? Yeah, he always wanted me to restrain myself.

Something glinted in Allison's eyes, as if she too was feeling some stab of sadness. To Jake's surprise, she shut his door and said, "Your dad had to reprimand me once, back in 2020. I was on Gipsy Danger's crew; my asshole ex took a swipe at them two days after Yancy Becket died."

Jake felt his eyes wide. "Bloody hell. What'd you do to the bastard?"

"Broke his nose in a bar." Jake couldn't keep the smirk off his face and she grinned. "Yeah, I don't feel much regret, but the PPDC regs frown on that - domestic violence." That was a startling thought, but she shrugged. "Well, I never saw him again, and your dad was a stickler for the rules, so I guess I..." she trailed off, looking at something Jake couldn't see. "Anyway." Her smile didn't quite come back the same as before. "Still, the whole world saw you be restrained and dignified. You did good."

"Did you like my dad?" Jake blurted. Allison blinked. "I mean...it's...uh...funny, I never really talked much about him to his crews."

Her sudden silence and blush was...not promising. Shite. "Your dad...he was a great commander. And he was strong; he stayed with the program and didn't ever stop pulling for us."

Jake pondered what she clearly wasn't saying, but couldn't figure out how to ask her about it. They mumbled their farewells and he stayed off the news networks all night to avoid seeing himself.

In a way, Herc supposed, the influenza pandemic gave the survivors of Operation Pitfall a reprieve. "'f there was any justice in the world, fucking President Lunk woulda got it," Chuck mumbled, once he was coherent again.

"At least people're calling him a coward for canceling all his public appearances," Raleigh said.

The most at-risk officer (after Chuck), Raleigh did somehow manage to avoid getting sick despite being glued to Mako's side during her convalescence. By the end of the week, the kids were on the mend, and Herc returned to duties.

Hermann Gottlieb argued daily with his wife and the crews over whether she should go back home or come to the Dome or stay in Hong Kong. Herc wasn't thrilled by the idea of someone going into labor in the Dome infirmary, but Gottlieb was waffling over whether he should stop processing Operation Pitfall data.

As usual, Sasha made the call. "For God's sake - Marshal, relieve him of duty and order him to go be with his wife. She is better off in Queen Elizabeth Hospital when the baby is born, but her husband should be with her."

Herc only needed few beats to agree. "Yeah, I think that's the call. Breach is closed, Doc. Stand down and get your arse to your family. You." He pointed at Newt. "Enforce my order!"

Hermann was still sputtering when Newt exclaimed, "Aye-aye, Marshal," and grabbed him by the collar. But they only made it halfway out the door before Newt went back for his jacket and pulled it on.

So the two K-Scientists were still there as Mako and Raleigh came in. "Did Dr. Tan release you?" Herc demanded.

"Yes, sir," Mako said, smiling faintly. "He has also released the quarantine. With your permission, I wanted to give...Jake Pentecost a pass to come to the Shatterdome."

Herc was relieved that Chuck wasn't there just then. "Sure," he said.

The pair left, and he felt Sasha's eyes on him. Hermann broke the silence by looking Newt up and down, then exclaiming, "Newton Geiszler, did you just do something sensitive?"

Sasha smirked, while Herc stared. "What?"

As Newt sputtered, Hermann pointed at him. "He never wears a jacket. He hid his tattoos when he saw Raleigh Becket approaching."

To Herc's further astonishment, Newt turned bright red. "Just figured it was kind of mean, y'know."

Sasha folded her arms. "You're one of the few people who drifting has ever given manners. Congratulations. Now be off with both of you." Newt shuffled off with uncharacteristic chagrin, and once they'd gone, Sasha remarked to Herc, "He's been hiding Yamarashi for weeks from Raleigh's sight; this is just the first time Hermann has noticed."

"Just when you think you've got a bloke figured out," Herc mused.

Raleigh was hesitant about being present when Mako met her adoptive brother, but she refused to let go of his hand as they walked out to the main doors. They didn't go far outside; the swarm of cameras at the fence surging around the vehicles approaching the main gate was just too much for either of them. But Jake Pentecost was in one of those cars.

When he emerged inside the gate, he locked eyes on Mako, completely deaf to the shouted questions of the reporters and started towards them. Mako and Raleigh retreated just inside the doors so they could close behind Jake Pentecost.

Raleigh tried his best to be invisible. He had a feeling he succeeded.

Mako Mori and Jake Pentecost just stared at each other, silent, dazed, until Mako finally broke through it by falling back on manners. "Jake. Welcome to Hong Kong."

"Thanks," the younger Pentecost murmured, still staring at her.

Raleigh felt the surge of pressure up Mako's throat a second before it showed, and her face broke as she choked out, "You…you've gotten taller," and Jake let out a laugh that sounded equally choked, and they closed the few paces between them. Far closer in height than Mako was to Raleigh, it actually made him a little jealous to see him fall into her arms so easily.

Just like a baby brother ought to.

He took a step away and whispered, "I'll let you have some privacy." But to his surprise, it was Jake Pentecost who looked up and protested.

"No!" Raleigh blinked. Mako cast wet eyes back at him, and Jake insisted, "Stay. You're her co-pilot. It's okay. Stay with her."

That made Raleigh feel a little warm inside.

As the pair calmed down, Jake looked Mako over. "The medics said you're better?"

Mako nodded, pulling a handkerchief from her pocket and wiping her face. "Completely clear. Still a bit tired, but I'll be fine. How…" She visibly slipped into formal mode. "How are your grandparents?"

Obviously that was one hell of a loaded topic, judging by the way Jake stiffened. But Mako was Mako, big on manners, and Raleigh knew she'd feel rude not to ask after Jake's other family.

But either Jake didn't know or he really didn't want to say much. "They're all right, I guess. Still not so pleased with me, but I stopped trying to make them happy years ago."

Raleigh recalled flickers in the drift of an older couple, well-dressed, with gentle smiles for Mako but disapproving frowns for her Sensei whenever she met them. There were vague memories of shouts and tears too. Hm. He'd ask some other time. Someday he and Mako would be in the mood to spill their guts about the anger and recriminations in his memory for his parents and the bitterness and confusion she remembered towards Jake's grandparents. Someday. Not now. They had enough to deal with.

Mako tugged Jake's shoulder to get them walking away from the door. After a second, he glanced up, and Raleigh felt more comfortable resuming his position at Mako's right shoulder.

She led Jake to Bay 05, and Raleigh steeled himself to re-enter. He lingered further behind as they went to Hong Kong's section to look at the memorial to Marshal Pentecost, the picture with Tamsin Sevier beside him.

Jake murmured in Japanese, "I miss her."

"Me too," Mako agreed. "I tell myself now they're together again. He was never the same after she died."

Had Jake Pentecost understood that? What had it been like to look at his father from the other side of the planet? How often had they seen each other before Operation Pitfall, Raleigh wondered.

A twinge of defensiveness came through the ghost drift; Mako believed entirely that Sensei had done the best he could with Jake. Raleigh stepped closer and took her hand, sending softness back. It hadn't been a criticism, not by any stretch.

Jake turned suddenly and looked at Mako. "I want to meet him."

It only took Raleigh a second to realize he meant Chuck Hansen. Despite her apprehension, Mako nodded. "I understand, though…he's…" she groped for a diplomatic way to explain.

Raleigh stepped in. This meant saying (or at least implying) things about himself that he didn't want to talk about to a stranger, but if Mako's brother was open to having her co-pilot here at this moment, it'd be selfish not to trust him. "It's only been a few weeks. It's…hard, after a…co-pilot – in the drift." Well, that was smooth. He looked away.

But Jake answered softly, "I…get that. It's just that he's…" He went quiet for a long time, then avoided Mako's eyes when he finished, "Dad's inside him now, right?"

Raleigh felt Mako flinch again, but he looked at Jake over the top of her head and nodded. Yeah. That's the way it always works when you drift. You carry them inside you for the rest of your life. If the drift breaks, it's even stronger.

Of course, Jake Pentecost wanted to meet Chuck. Chuck was smart enough to know it was coming.

Chuck knew it was coming. For a few hours, he actually considered hiding. Hiding from a kid I didn't know existed six weeks ago. Big brave Jaeger pilot, that's me.

So he surrendered to the inevitable and played tennis with Max out on Scramble Alley. Better to do this where he'd have some air.

He felt Dad coming and knew they were with him, and deliberately didn't turn around.

In a way, it gave Chuck a pang of disappointment. He'd kind-of hoped he might sense Marshal's son. That was stupid, of course. The drift didn't work that way. Chuck knew that; he'd been a pilot long enough to know.

So why did it still disappoint him?

The minute their eyes met, reality fractured. Chuck wondered if Marshal had somehow suppressed it in the drift, or if it'd just been there and he'd been too preoccupied to notice. Because he definitely recognized Jake Pentecost's eyes.

Jake's eyes were wary as he looked at Chuck, not like Chuck remembered them. In the drift memories, Jake had...adored his father. They'd barely seen each other on the same continent twice a year, but Jake had adored Marshal Pentecost. Nothing had been able to change that, not even the subtle degradation of Jake's grandparents.

Wonder what he thinks of me, the guy who could drift with my own old man but barely have a civil conversation with him. Chuck mentally cringed. Aloud, he mumbled, "Hi. Chuck Hansen."

The kid cautiously extended a hand, and they stared at each other as Chuck shook it. Maybe Jake Pentecost was half-wishing for some sort of familial drift to flare up too.

The minute their eyes met, reality fractured. Chuck wondered if Marshal had somehow suppressed it in the drift, or if it'd just been there and he'd been too preoccupied to notice. Because he definitely recognized Jake Pentecost's eyes.

They might've stood there staring at each other for a long time if Sasha hadn't intervened and come over, tugging at Herc and Mako's sleeves until they obeyed, still not taking their eyes off the younger pair. After a long final stare, Raleigh went with them.

Then there were two.

Jake dropped his eyes, as if he couldn't bare the sight of Chuck's anymore. "You knew my dad," he murmured.

"Yeah." Chuck could barely get his voice above a whisper.

"Did he…say anything about me?"

Shit. Of course, that question was coming. Chuck would've asked the same thing five years ago – hell, in a way, he had done it, after Scott was…gone. He'd wondered and wondered. Did Scott ever think about me?

But Chuck had never drifted with Scott, only vicariously through Herc. I knew Scott loved me, but that only made it worst.

He didn't have a right to keep this back, not from Pentecost's son. "He…he didn't say, not exactly. There wasn't much time to talk. But I…I saw you…" You were everywhere, and I was just dim enough not to figure it out. "He was protecting you," he explained clumsily. "All of us. That's why he never talked, 'bout you, 'bout Mako, or any others.

Now my dad has to take over and protect us. He's got Sasha Kaidanovsky, but without the war, there's no way to put them off. Dad's gonna have to listen them take pot shots at all of us.

Jake just kept studying, and Chuck blurted, "I didn't leave him." The younger boy sucked in his breath. Chuck's chest got tight, but he just had to say it. "I wouldn't. Never would. I didn' know what he was gonna do. I'd've stopped him if I'd thought…"

The kids eyes grew wet, and he mumbled, "'s okay. Mako and Raleigh told me what happened. Wasn't your fault. My dad, he…he knew his own mind. He wanted you to live. That's…that's good. He knew he could get it done himself without anyone else dying. He was right, 'n that's good."

Max came scampering over and scurried between their feet. Jake knelt before Chuck had the chance to sort his emotions out, scratching the dog. "I'm glad you're alive. 'Cause if you're alive, part of my dad's alive. Too many pilots never made it home."

It was a pang of grief that swept through Chuck with such power he could barely breathe. So many hadn't come home. So many deserved to come home, more than Chuck fucking Hansen had ever deserved it. What was there for Chuck to do now?

Just keep being a pilot, I guess. One of the last who remembers.

Chuck might have made it to the end of the War Clock with his father, but there were so many others – family in all but blood – that hadn't. Most of all Stacker Pentecost, whose mind Chuck had shared and who would never, ever leave Chuck again even if Chuck wanted to. And truth be told, Chuck didn't.

He had a feeling that was why Jake had been drawn here of all people rather than just to Mako. Marshal was inside Chuck's mind and always would be.

Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. Marshal would have someone to stand up for him, who knew what he'd been thinking. Someone who wouldn't let the other Rangers or their last commander be turned into pawns by governments.

Dunno if I can fill his shoes. But he fills my memories. That'll be enough.

To Be Continued...

Coming Soon: Herc, Sasha, and the K-Sciensts head for Washington and the hot seat. But there are opportunists waiting for the Shatterdome leadership step away so they can get their paws on the remaining rangers in Chapter Six: Plots Within Plots..

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