Herc's Holiday, Chapter 4

Sydney International Airport

May 31, 2025

2015

Herc had always enjoyed flying, but this flight on a Qantas Airbus A380-800 had been borderline uncomfortable. As a result, Herc had let out a sigh of relief as the tires chirped against Runway 16R. At least I finally get to meet Miranda. She was at the funeral, but I just didn't have the time to see her.

The giant airliner taxied to the gate and shut down. Herc got up and stretched, then retrieved his carry-on bag from the overhead bin. He pulled his phone out and turned it on as he left the plane, walking towards the terminal exit. Suddenly, the phone buzzed, letting Herc know that he had a waiting message. He sighed and checked his inbox.

Herc, look for the sign labelled "Max".

Miranda

Herc swept his eyes across the crowd, and spotted the sign labelled Max. He walked straight towards it. All I can see is the sign. Miranda must be small. Finally, Herc spotted the owner of the sign, a diminutive girl with flaming red hair. "You must be Miranda."

"I am. Thanks for coming, Herc."

"No problem. I needed a break, anyways." He walked with Miranda as they headed to the car park. "How're you doing?"

"I'm doing fine." She placed a hand on her slightly swollen belly. "So is the baby."

Herc smiled. "Any idea if it's a boy or a girl yet?"

"Does it matter?"

"Nope. Either would be fine, and I'd spoil them like any good grandfather."

"Then I hope you won't be upset that I want it to be a surprise."

Herc placed an arm around her shoulders. "That's fine, Miranda."

"Ah, here's my car! Come on, let's go pick up Max and Chuck's stuff."

-.-.-

Cargo Terminal, 5 minutes later

"You know, Miranda, I've never asked what your job is."

"Was." Miranda's face fell as she got out of the car.

"What do you mean, 'was?"

"After Chuck died, I couldn't even bring myself to leave my apartment for a week. I just stayed home and cried. It cost me my job."

"Miranda… I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay. The money from the PPDC has helped me for now, but I just can't bring myself to find another job."

Herc held the door open to the lobby of the cargo terminal for Miranda. "What job experience do you have?"

"Only that job."

"Which was?"

"I was an 'Administrative Assistant,' which is a fancy way of saying secretary."

"Who'd you work for?"

"A small manufacturing firm. Why?"

Herc was about to reply when a Qantas customer service representative came up to them. "How can I help you?"

Herc smiled. "I'm here to pick up two items: a bulldog named Max and a footlocker labelled 'Chuck.'" He gave the representative the proper paperwork.

"Right away, sir."

"Anyways, I've been trying to run the PPDC like Stacker did, without a secretary. How he did that, I'll never know."

"Wait, isn't the PPDC due to be disbanded here in three months?"

Herc looked around before leaning over to whisper in her ear. "We're reforming as Pan Pacific Industries."

Miranda's eyes went wide. "What? Why do you guys need to stick around? I thought the Kaiju were gone?"

"We're not sure they are going to stay gone, so we've prepared a contingency plan. So, do you want to be a part of PPI's security and operations branches?"

"It's be my genuine pleasure to work with you, Mr. Hansen."

The Qantas worker returned. "'ere you are, Mr. Hansen."

Miranda crouched to the floor. "Max!"

Max raced over to Miranda, grinning like only a bulldog could.

Herc chuckled. "Don't drool over Miss Schaeffer." He looked at Miranda. "Sees a pretty girl, gets all worked up."

Miranda scratched Max behind his ears, then worked her way down to his ribcage, seeking a particular spot. As she reached it, Max sat down and began to scratch at his belly.

Herc laughed as he picked up the footlocker full of Chuck's belongings. "I see you found his sweet spot."

"Every dog has one; you just have to know how to find it." She kissed Max and grabbed his leash. "Come on, Max! Want to go for a car ride?"

Max perked up at the mention of a car ride, and sauntered towards the door. Herc and Miranda followed, then headed to the car.

-.-.-

Miranda's apartment

2145

Herc unlocked the footlocker, then paused. "You know, I didn't pack it. I have to thank Mako and Raleigh for that." He looked at Miranda, sorrow clearly evident on his face. "I don't even know what Chuck had when he died."

"I thought that there were no secrets in the Drift?"

Herc sadly smiled. "That's generally the case, yes. Chuck and I were barely compatible enough to run Striker. Chuck insisted on being my copilot, despite the fact that he would likely have been much more compatible with Mako Mori." Herc hung his head. "And I wanted to spend time with him. Fat lot of good it did me."

Miranda walked over to Herc and hugged him. "He never told you, but he did love you. And at the end, he had forgiven you for your decision to save him instead of your wife." She took Herc's hands in her own. "Relax, Herc." She moved their hands towards the latches of the footlocker. "You did a good job raising him, despite all the headbutting and arguments and missed chances." She unlatched the lid. "Be proud of him."

Herc nodded and swallowed, then opened the lid of his son's footlocker. Staring him in the face was a photo album. "What?"

Miranda flipped it open. Photos of happier times while Chuck served in the PPDC filled the pages. "He told me he'd been working on this. I never saw it, though."

Herc's eyes misted over. "Angela must have taught him some of this. She loved to make photo albums."

Miranda grabbed a neatly folded article of clothing from the top of the stack. She opened it up and smiled. His jacket from Striker. She slipped it on right as Herc snapped out of his reverie.

"That looks good on you, Miranda."

"Thanks, Herc."

-.-.-

Slowly, they went through the contents of the footlocker, sharing stories about their time with Chuck, comforting each other. The session ran long into the night.

-.-.-

Miranda sat back and wiped more tears from her eyes. "Well, that's about it…"

Herc looked into the footlocker and spotted one last item. "No… There's two last things." He reached into the footlocker and removed the flag from Chuck's casket, folded neatly and encased in a frame. He handed it to Miranda.

Miranda knew what it was, and accepted it gratefully. "Thank you."

Herc removed the last item from the footlocker… and began to cry. "I didn't know he'd kept that picture."

Miranda leaned over to see the photo. It showed Herc and Chuck rejoicing after killing Ceramander off Hawaii.

"That was the only photographic evidence that anyone ever had of us being happy together. I didn't know he'd kept his copy."

"You have one?"

"It's on my desk back at the Shatterdome." A sad smile crossed Herc's face. "You can have this one."

"Thank you, Herc."

Herc looked at the clock. "Bloody hell, how can it be that late?"

"Do you have a hotel?"

"No. I'd been hoping that this would go faster."

"I'm sorry about that…"

"Don't be. I needed to do this, but just couldn't bring myself to do it."

Miranda got up and stretched. "I can sleep on the couch if you want…"

Herc's smile vanished. "You'll do no such thing, Miranda. I'LL take the couch." He chuckled. "Besides, I'd be unable to sleep realizing that Chuck and you had been having sex in that bed."

Miranda hung her head, blushing. "Actually, we only had sex once."

"Your first time?"

"Yeah…"

"Ever?"

A sad smile. "At least it was with someone special."

"Hey… Everyone should be so lucky."

Miranda smiled, this time in pride, as she walked down the hall to her storage closet. "Let me get you some blankets. It gets cold here at night."

"Thanks. Make sure you get some for… Hey, where's Max?" Herc looked around for his beloved bulldog.

Miranda walked back to the living room and spotted Max in her room. "Herc… I found him." She struggled to hold back her laughter to avoid disturbing the scene.

Herc poked his head around the doorframe of her room to see Max curled up next to an air vent… with a long haired cat sleeping contentedly atop him. "Well, I'll be damned," he chuckled. "I didn't know you had a cat."

Miranda looked at the cat. "Sadie's a scaredy-cat. She doesn't like strangers… which makes her choice of bed all the more comical."

Herc smiled. "I don't think Max has ever met a cat before. Glad to see the first one that he met was nice to him. He's a big baby."

"Here's the blankets."

"Oh, thank you." Herc walked back out to the living room and set himself up for the night. "Miranda?"

"What's up, Herc?"

"Serious question, one you don't have to answer now."

"Ask away."

"If you ever met someone else with whom you got along as well as you did with Chuck… What would you do?"

Miranda paused, clearly caught off guard.

"There's no wrong answer to this, Miranda. To me, you'll always be my daughter-in-law. Regardless of the legal standing."

"I… I don't know. I guess I'll have to wait and see what the future holds."

"I see why Chuck liked you. You're wiser than you would seem from just your age alone." She headed to her room. "Do you mind if Max sleeps with me tonight?"

"Go ahead. I'm not inclined to disturb either him or Sadie."

"Okay. G'nite, Herc."

"G'nite, Miranda."

Herc settled down on the couch as Miranda went into her room and closed the door. He moved around until he found a comfortable spot, then swiftly drifted off to sleep.