A/N FINALLY! THE NEXT CHAPTER! (sorry guys, school got in the way TnT) Anwho, This chapter has been split into two parts. It's about visitation day and will feature two jaegers each. Read, review, enjoy. :D )

Gipsy had been through some challenges in her life, from battling kaiju back when she was a mechanical behemoth to mastering an organic body. Both were quite hard, but not as hard as putting on the sweater that Raleigh had knit for her.

"I made it too small, didn't I?" He frowned, discouragement sinking into his face.

"No,no," her voice came out muffled as she flailed inside of it, "it's just that I can't find any holes for my arms."

"Here,' with gentle patience, Mako stepped over to help, "your arms go here, and here."

"Oh, in these little tube thingies?"

"Yes, those are called sleeves."

"Wow," with a pop, her messy black and red hair came through the opening, her golden eyes alight with wonder as she stared down at her arms, "I've never had sleeves before." Excited, she began flapping around, grinning happily in her baby blue sweater.

"You like?" Raleigh leaned against the mint green wallpaper of her bedroom, thumbs tucked into his belt, a tentative smile on his face. He let out a surprised grunt as Gipsy tackled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and burrowing her freckled face into his chest.

"Yuh! It's awesome! Almost as awesome as that pack of cookies Mako gave me!"

Mako let out a giggle at Raleigh's face, playing with the buttons on her dark grey jacket, "Gipsy always said cookies beat everything. "

"Yeah! Cookies beat everything!" The jaeger echoed gleefully. "Thanks so much!" She turned back to Raleigh, face suddenly serious. "Make is really nice and cool. When are you going to marry her?"

"BWUH?!" The blonde's face turned bright red, mouth gaping open like a fish as he broke away from Gipsy, "G-G-G-GIPSY W-W-WE PROMISED NEVER TO T-T-T-TALK ABOUT THAT!"

The room erupted into a cacophony of stuttering and apologies, loud enough to be heard from down in the back yard.

Striker gazed up at Gipsy's bedroom window forlornly, the muffled noises grating against his ears. He could feel Herc's presence beside him like a looming iceberg as they sat in the grass together. They didn't talk, they didn't even look at each other.

Frowning, the Australian jaeger kept his eyes rooted on Gipsy's bay windows. Maybe if he ignored Herc, the old man would go away.

"…I visited Chuck before I came here. The boy seems to be doing alright," the phrase awkwardly stumbled out as Herc struggled to make contact with the person who used to be his jaeger.

"Has he woken up yet?" Striker icily shot out the question, making the older man pause.

"No, not yet," his voice was soft.

"Then I wouldn't say he's doing alright considering he's still in a coma." Bringing his scraped knees up to his chest, he let out a huff as he played with his worn plaid board shorts. "What are you even doing here, Herc? You should be wasting your time with your son, your real son. "

"Striker, we already talked about this. I know that recent events have been…."he motioned towards him," weird, but I'm willing to-"

"Shutup, old man, I know where this is going," the jaeger pulled himself to his feet, sneering down at his pilot, " you think I'm stupid?! I've been inside your dusty little head, you don't have to lie to me. You don't have to pretend you like this whole "jaeger to human' thing, because I certainly don't. You don't have to pretend that I'm your new son, cuz' I'm not. I'm no son of a human scew-up like you!" His shout was loud enough to startle the nearby Wei triplits from their basketball game.

Slowly, carely, Herc got up. His face was grim, he wore shadows under his eyes, compliments of many sleepless nights. Right now, he didn't look like Herc in his dark green vest and pants, he looked like an old man, too tired to live yet too afraid to die. Carefully, he opened his mouth, the words rasping out, "You sound so much like Chuck right now."

Striker staggered back, hazel eyes wide, "Don't-"

"You even walk like him, I don't think you realize it, but you do. I don't think you truly know how much of his personality you copied. I don't think you know why you act the way you act, you just act on the imprints that are already there in your head. "

"What's that supposed to mean?! I'm…I'm no copy," he stuttered angrily under his breath, turning his brunette head to the grass as he crossed his arms. "I'm no Chuck…no matter how hard I try to be…."

Something softened in Herc's stony face. Slowly, he extended a hand to pat Striker's now shaking shoulders. "You're not him, thankfully. I can only deal with one Chuck,' he gave a hoarse chuckle, "you're Striker Eureka, best damn jaeger on the planet. Your my jaeger, and I'm quite proud of you, too."

Slowly, Striker tilted his quivering chin up. "H-Herc….?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I have a hug?"

Before the old soldier knew what was happening, Striker had glomped onto his chest like a sobbing leech. He was stunned for a few seconds, then awkwardly sank into it, cracking a smile as he patted the kid's back.

"Herc….one more thing?" Striker sniffled.

"Yeah?"

'I guess it's okay if you're my dad, but you can't tell anyone about this whole 'hugging and crying' thing, okay?"

"A'right, I guess it's fair trade. But can I tell people about your massive crush on Gipsy?"

"HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?! ER-I MEAN, SHUTUP! THAT"T NOT TRUE!"

For the first time in weeks, Herc truly laughed.