Herc approved of the scans and examinations, though he hadn't been happy that it would be Newton Geiszler doing them. The man might hold six doctorates at an age where most people still struggled with the completion of their first, but he was also a very unconventional scientist.

Which, Q argued, was what they needed.

And Hermann would be there to supervise.

"You think he can do damage control?" the Marshall asked.

"I think if anyone can, it's him."

It got Q a look. Narrowed eyes, a faint glint, and then a slow smirk.

"Maybe that's right," Hansen said slowly.

x X XX xx

So Newton was there when they Drifted for the first time since the closure of the Breach, even though Skyfall Prime wouldn't be deployed.

The Drift was amazing, stunning, beautiful, like the first time, the last time, any time. It was breath-taking in its intensity, and the neural handshake established fully, without a dip, a stumble, a surge.

They looked at each other, thoughts flowing freely, and James knew he wouldn't let this go.

iNo, never/i, echoed between them.x X XX xx

There was a look of almost-envy on Newton's face afterwards. The man looked like he wanted that experience again, even if it wouldn't be like that he had been through. Nothing would ever be like that.

And maybe, just maybe, it was their imagination that Hermann looked just as envious, stood just a little too close, placed a careful hand on Newton's shoulder and squeezed.

Then again, maybe not.x X XX x XX x XX xxx X XX xx X

Newton was in their faces whenever he met them, asking a million questions. He was a bottomless well of questions, of need-to-know, of actual need.

That it helped handle his own echoes, the once floating between Newt and Hermann, was another matter.

It was where Q helped, where he mediated, and where he had his hands up to his armpits in data. Because no one had ever drifted with a Kaiju before, twice in Newton's case. No one had ever been part of a hive mind, had been inside an alien brain.

"Would you do it again?" Q asked once late night as they were going over the data.

Newton looked almost thoughtful. His tie was askew, the white shirt rumpled, his hair more tousled than before. He had pushed the sleeves up, revealing the colorful tattoos of the Kaijus slain by Jaegers.

"Yes. No. I don't know," he said quietly. "Not alone." His tone of voice was almost uncharacteristically soft, thoughtful. "It almost killed me the first time. Like the first Jaeger pilots trying to fly them solo. Hermann… his mind was what I needed and look what it did to him. Us. It connected us."

Q nodded. "But you are still your own."

"Like you and James?"

"Yes."

"You want him close." It wasn't even a question.

"Yes. Very much."

"Even now? After months?"

"Yes." Q smiled slightly. "We're still our own people, Newt. We're individuals. We don't share every thought or breath."

"Neither do Hermann and I. And when he was in the Drift, this crazy three-way," he grimaced at that, "don't tell him that I called it that, he was what got me through."

"Counter-balance."

Newton rubbed his eyes. "Maybe. I just know… after all this… we always could work with each other, y'know. It wasn't half as bad as someone might think. Pentecost wouldn't have tolerated it if it hadn't been good. I could have had another lab, but I liked riling him up. And I think he liked me making him mad. I was in his head, he was in mine, and together we were in the Kaiju hive. I changes you."

Q nodded. He hadn't been there, but he knew how the Drift had changed him, how Drifting with James had become everything. Nothing would get him away from his partner. No job in the world, no amount of money. If they had to leave together, so be it. If Bond would become Marshall somewhere, so be it.

So be it…

"We were all that was left of the research division and now we're… I don't know. Maybe the only experts? Real experts? Because we were there? And I can't think about ever not having him there, Q. It's frightening."

It was a huge confession. One Q understood.

"Does he have family?"

"Had," Newton answered quietly. "She died. Same with mine. Most of mine anyway. No wife or girlfriend. Or boyfriend," he added with a breathy laugh. "No time. Too many Kaijus. Now it's too much research. We have so much… it'll keep generations busy. So, no. No family."

And maybe it was where both men would be happy. Together, doing science, making amazing breakthroughs. Q watched Newton play with one of the scanner probes.

Like him and James would be happy wherever they were, as long as it was together. The only difference was the depth of their physical relationship. The expression of their emotions through intimate touches.

Newton gave him a tiny smile, as if he understood Q's thoughts.

"Right now I can't imagine working with anyone else," he confessed, voice wavering a little. "Living with anyone else. I mean, it's not like you and Bond," he quickly added.

Q almost laughed.

"It's just… the dreams. We seem to dream… together. And we know it. And sometimes…" He blew out a breath. "Do you know why there is a door between our places? It's not what the gossip girls say. But yes, we share a bed sometimes. Often. Well, more than sometimes and often. When we dream, it feels cold and lonely, and then there's suddenly someone and it's good and right and… we wake up with each other. It's safe. We dream and we sleep. And if we wake up alone we have nightmares."

He scrubbed a hand through his already messy hair.

"It sounds awful, right?"

"No," Q said softly, voice very quiet. "It sounds good."

Newt looked almost relieved. "I know he's… not proud of it. I mean, he's a brilliant guy and all. He's… he doesn't need anyone."

"You were in his brain."

A soft exhalation. "Yes. And he had the same crappy childhood all geniuses have. And he doesn't like to be alone. And he's... stuck with me now." Newton stopped, laughing softly. "His greatest curse, huh?"

Then his whole mood shifted back into that sometimes rather manic Kaiju Nerd expression.

"Well!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands. "Let's on with this!"

Q accepted the change of topic, smiling a little to himself as the presence he sometimes thought had to be James increased a little, as if his partner had turned his attention to Q.

Yes, this helped Newton, too. In a different way. Hermann might not always seem to be listening what they were doing, but Q was convinced he heard every word, paid close attention.

Because he cared.

Because Newton cared about his colleague.

And what they had seen, had shared, had been through, it had connected them in a way no one would or could have foreseen. They might never be completely separate, just like James and Q, but at least the first sliver of acceptance was there. They had made compromises on their living arrangements, on their work, within their lives.

Acceptance was the most important aspect needed in this.

Everything else would develop from there.

x X XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX xx X

Q lay underneath him, naked, looking sated and calm. His eyes were half-lidded, his lips displaying a warm smile.

"Got it out of your system?" James asked with a lazy expression. He leaned down and kissed him. "You are insatiable."

"Look who's talking."

"I'm just feeding a need."

Q laughed. "Right. So selfless. You do know that I was in your head. Still there sometimes."

James nuzzled his neck. "Never slipped my mind."

Q sighed softly, burying one hand in the tousled head.

"And you don't mind."

"No."

"If we Drift again for real, in a Jaeger…"

"When, Kian. When." There wasn't a single flicker of doubt in his mind.

The brief moment for the sake of science, to test a few theories, hadn't been like a true Drift. The neural handshake had been there, but there hadn't been the connection to the Jaeger. They had missed the sensation of being close to three hundred feet tall, made of steel, armor-plated and badass.

Q wasn't cleared for a full interface with the Conn-Pod due to his arm either. The scars were too fresh, too sensitive, and Dr. Weng had been adamant.

"This could become more."

"Maybe."

He met the dark, unshielded eyes, read everything in there. Q wasn't afraid, simply careful.

"I want this. You. Us. You know it. I don't fucking care about anything else. We will Drift again. And we'll always be this close."

"Yes, we will," was the soft answer.

x X XX xx X

That evening, within the privacy of their bedroom, Bond brushed back a strand of hair, smiling as the lock bounced rebelliously back. Q gave a sleepy mumble, but James kept up the gentle caress. He loved the feel of that wavy hair. He loved the feel of the slender form next to him. He loved feeling.

Q sighed, then curled closer. The hair fell back over his forehead and James smiled more.

Happily.

At home.

He wanted this. He wanted everything. He wouldn't give anything back and would fight to keep what he had already.

x X XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX x XX xx X

The quickly growing relationship between Raleigh and Chuck – from enemies to wary colleagues to friends and now… speculations were ongoing - came as no surprise. No one gave them a second look when they showed up in the hangar bay, close together without really touching. Drift partners were known to be close, some never actually straying far from the other. Like the Kaidanovskys. Like the Triplets. Like the Hansens. Yes, even Herc and Chuck had found themselves being physically closer, even if Chuck had never confessed to it.

Now he and Raleigh... They had never Drifted.

They hadn't even been in the Kwoon together.

But the closeness was there and no one looked twice.

The only gossip was how far the two men had taken this, if it was a relationship, a friendship or something else. No one wanted to bring up a definition of what was between them.

x X XX xx X

There had been moments in the infirmary, when Q had been there to get his arm checked out. He had seen them, soft touches, the expression in Raleigh's eyes so intense, Chuck had sometimes looked almost shocked. Raleigh had always been there, for every examination, Q's doctor had told him with an approving smile. It helped the other pilot heal, it helped egg him on to follow the therapist's instructions, to go to every session.

x X XX xx X

There had been moments in therapy, too. Q had needed some to keep his fingers mobile, and to keep him from overdoing it when he was busy typing where some muscles would lock up involuntarily.

Gentle touches, fleeting contact, a look, sometimes stern, sometimes encouraging.

And sometimes Herc would be there, a silent support, a father who wasn't taking the crap anymore now that the war was over. A father who wanted his son happy, who fought back, who approved of the relationship, who wanted his son in his life as family, not the eternal shouting-match partner.

Things were progressing for all three men involved.

Slowly.

Steadily.

x X XX xx X

Bond kept up his morning runs and usually Raleigh joined him. It was a regular thing now, meeting up, running, sometimes talking. Not much was said, but that wasn't necessary.

"You still haven't killed him."

Raleigh laughed, keeping pace. "No. Not for the lack of wanting. He drives me insane."

"Probably. But it was your choice."

"Yeah. Yeah, it was."

"Can't always make sense of choices."

"Like you and Q?"

Bond grinned a little, his moves still easy and smooth. "Probably. M called it desperate times, gave me free choice of a co-pilot. We wouldn't have Drifted otherwise."

"But you would have met."

Yes, they would have. One remaining in the Shatterdome, the other fighting Kaijus.

x X XX xx X

One morning Chuck was there was well. He still looked too pale, too thin, but he no longer seemed to be close to a collapse. Dressed in gray sweats, face set in a determined mask, he dared Bond to say something.

James wisely didn't.

He never did unless the younger man was running himself into the ground. With Becket there, he doubted he would have to worry about that.

"Slow," Raleigh told him when Chuck wanted to push.

It was a round of easy running. Not fast, no competition, and he was watching Chuck closely.

"You undo more with overdoing it than helping the healing along."

"Shut the fuck up," was the breathless hiss.

The feral expression was almost comical. There was still the fight, always the fight, despite the closeness of the two men. Chuck never went down without that fight and he never just gave in. It was something deep inside his soul, that refusal to surrender, even if he already had before. Even if Raleigh would never call it submission.

And Chuck doggedly continued. Bond quietly shadowed the two men, sharp eyes on Hansen's movements, which were a little less ragged than two months ago, but he wasn't even close to back yet.

Sweat streaming down his face, the other man finally stopped, hands on the metal railing. He was out of breath and his expression was close to angry again. He was out of shape and it wasn't something Chuck Hansen was used to.

He fought.

He fought so damn hard not to be seen as weak.

Raleigh waited. He knew anger and frustration. He knew what it meant to be grounded, to be less than before. He knew what rehab meant, what the pain was like, emotional and physical, and he knew what it meant to have support.

He hadn't had any.

He had pushed everyone away.

Finally Chuck pushed away. He was still sweating, but his breathing was under control. The stubborn line between his eyes stayed.

Raleigh grinned. "You'll get back on that horse. And inside that Jaeger."

It got him a snort.

"And you'll do it in one piece. No need to aggravate Dr. Weng any more than necessary."

"You don't know that!" Chuck hissed.

From the looks of it, it was an old argument.

"If my leg can't handle the Conn-Pod interface, I'm off the list! Just some crippled has-been!"

Raleigh rolled his eyes. Yes, it was an old argument. Ignoring their company, he stepped forward and leaned down into a soft kiss, brushing their lips together.

Bond smirked at the immediate reaction Chuck showed, how his hands clenched into the dark sweater, pulled Raleigh closer, and he shook his head.

Fire and oil. Lit match and a can of gasoline.

Yeah, those two were an explosive combination.

"Keep it above the waist, boy," he called, startling them apart. His laughed and gave them a wave, continuing his own rounds.

When he glanced back, he saw that while, yes, they kept it almost above the waist, there was no holding back. Up here, on the track, no one would really stumble upon them at this time of the day.
And since Raleigh was the more sensible of the two, they would hopefully get a room before things truly became more interesting.

tbc...