January 3rd 2025
10:00am
The next morning they found themselves walking into the mess hall. Raleigh had an arm around her shoulders, holding her protectively close. She had tried to carry Ezra but he had thrown a fit when she had picked him up, insisting that he be put down. Being the mother she was she had set him down and told him that he had to hold her hand. They were quite the sight. An re-recruited pilot, with his arm around his wife as she held their sons hand. The mess hall was crowded with workers and the other pilots and all eyes were on them. She looked at Raleigh for what to do and he shrugged at her as they got in line to get trays of food.
"Raleigh, Ana come sit with us." Herc Hansen called from across the room as they got their trays. He had seen that they were looking for someone to sit.
"No, we're okay. Thank you." Raleigh tried to reject the offer but she elbowed him in the ribs gently, earning a slight scowl from her husband.
"Oh, come on, there's plenty of room at our table." Herc insisted and she smirked at her husband as he was led towards the table. At the table were some workers along with another young man who looked like a younger version of Herc.
"I haven't seen bread in a while." Raleigh said, smirking as he looks over at her as she stuffed her second piece of bread in her mouth. Catching his gaze she slows down to a nibble, a blush on her cheeks. She shakes her head in embarrassment and turns to check on their son as he chuckles at her.
"Hong Kong. Beauty of an open port, no rations. Potatoes, beans, sweet peas, decent meatloaf." Herc explained, she liked the sound of it. They had been surviving on soup in the evenings and eggs in the morning, when they could find some. "Can you pass the potatoes." Herc asked the man sitting next to him who passed a huge bowl of potatoes down to him.
"Who is this?" She asked, gesturing to Herc's look-a-like. The younger man looked at her with a slight look of disdain, as if she should know who he was.
"Raleigh, Ana this is my son Chuck. He's my co-pilot now." Herc introduced and she nodded her head. Having called it she smirked to herself in triumph.
"He's more my co-pilot. Right, dad?" Chuck said to his father. She scoffed to herself realizing that this guy thought he was better than everyone else. "So, you're the guy, huh? You're the guy who's gonna run defense for me in that old rust bucket of yours?"
"That's the plan." Raleigh replied, a little miffed by Chucks statement.
"Good. So, when was the last time you drifted, man?" Chuck asked. She could see where this was going. He was being a jackass.
"About five years ago." Raleigh told him with a tight jaw.
"What have you been doing for five years?" Chuck asks, looking over at her, and checking her out without shame. She gives him a look of disgust and he smirks at her. She had to resist the urge to put her middle finger up at him. "Something pretty important I reckon." His gaze returned to Raleigh's glare, not missing what Chuck had just done.
"I was in construction." Raleigh replied and she could tell he was struggling to keep from punching the guy.
"Oh, that's great. I mean, that's really useful. You know, we get into a fight you can build our way out of there, hey, Ray?" Chuck retorted.
"It's Raleigh. Chuckie." She glares at him and he just fixes her with an equally ugly glare.
"Whatever. Look, you're Pentecost's bright idea. My old man, he seems to like you, but it's guys like you who brought down the Jaeger program. To me, you're dead weight." Chuck stood up and put his hat on.
"Excuse me?" She looks up from her son and stares at the young man who was dissing on her husband. Raleigh, puts a hand on her thigh to keep her from shooting up out of her seat.
"You slow me down, I'm gonna drop you like a sack of Kaiju shit." Chuck threatened.
"Language please." She hisses looking down at Ezra. Chuck just smirks at her. She looks at Raleigh, sees his jaw clenched and places a hand on his thigh to help calm him. He reaches down and takes her hand. Chuck gives Raleigh a mocking wink.
"I'll see you around, Raleigh." Chuck says walking away and calling to his dog.
"What an..." She stops for a moment to cover her sons ears before she curses. "...ass." She finishes, removing her hand from over his ears.
"I'd give a wide berth with that one. I raised him on me own, he's a smart kid, but I never knew whether to give him a hug or a kick in the ass." Herc apologized.
"With respect, sir, I'm pretty sure which one he needs." Raleigh retorted.
"Raleigh..." she chastises and he sighs.
"I'll catch you later." He stands from his spot beside her and gives her a chaste kiss before walking out of the mess hall. She watched him until he was out of her sight before turning back to the table.
"I'm sorry about that." Herc apologized once again.
"Don't worry about. Raleigh is very sensitive about all of this Jaeger stuff. It brings up a lot of memories for him." She explains, handing her son a roll that he had been reaching for.
"How long have you two been together?" Herc asks, changing the subject.
"We've been married for almost a year and a half. We were together on a off before that though." She explains, not wanting to go into detail about it. They weren't the perfect couple. They had had their up and downs but she tried not to dwell on the past. Her goal was to stay in the here and now and enjoy the moments that could pass her by.
"Are you going to watch the tryouts?" Herc asks her. and she looked up, confused.
"Tryouts?" She asks him.
"Raleigh needs a new co-pilot so they are going to test him against the other candidates." Herc explains and she nods her head in understanding.
"That must be where he just ran off to." She says to herself, but Herc catches it.
"I'm sure if you go now. you could watch the last part of it." Herc tells her.
"Ok. I don't know where to go though." She admits.
"I'll take you there." Herc offers. She gives him an appreciative smile and follows him, with Ezra trying to keep up with the pace.
When they got their she could see there was a crowd of people that were watching. Unfortunately due to her short demeanor she couldn't see over the people but with the help of Herc he managed to get her to the front. Raleigh was in the center, beating the candidates with a bow staff. She could see Pentecost and Mako behind Raleigh, watching him with critical eyes. Ezra saw his father and tried to run out to him but she had to hold him back and sweep him up into her arms as the candidate he was fighting hit the mat hard.
"Four points to zero." Mako calls out the score and the candidate walked away from the mat.
"Wha daddy doin mommy?" Ezra asks fussing in her arms.
"Daddy is playing with a friend...very roughly." She whispers the last part to herself, wincing as his opponent hit the mat again violently. As she stood there and watched she could tell that Pentecost was getting a little annoyed with the fact that none of the candidates seemed to be compatible with him. They made eye contact and he squinted his eyes at her, evaluating.
"Four points to one." Mako calls out again. The next candidate come up and Raleigh beats him just as fast as the others, if not faster. Once the match is done he stops and looks over at his judges and sees that they keep looking at him disapprovingly so he walks over.
"Okay, what? You don't like them? I thought you selected them personally." He says to Mako and she sees the girl bristle at his tone.
"Excuse me?" The asian woman asks, clearly offended.
"Every time a match ends, you make this little...gesture. Like you're critical of their performance." He states.
"It's not their performance, it's yours, you jam it. You could have taken all of them two moves earlier." Mako tells him matter of factly and she couldn't disagree with the statement. She had been sparring with him for years and he was going easy on the cadets.
"You think so?" Raleigh challenges.
"I know so." Mako replies confidently.
"Can we change this up? All of this feels too stiff for my liking. How about some familiarity?" Raleigh asks Pentecost. He turns around and looks at her before raising a finger and pointing at her. "How about you let me go one round with her?" She looks at him in shock. There was no way she would ever be allowed in a Jaeger. She had never been in one and all she knew about it was what raleigh had taught her.
"No. Stick to the cadet list we have, Ranger. She has no Jager experience or training." Pentecost says firmly.
"With all do respect sir, she has." Raleigh smirks and the marshall looks over at her with a questioning look.
"To give him a sense of familiarity after the accident I allowed him to train me in combat so he could spar with someone. But you are correct in assuming that I have no Jager experience." She explains, feeling her face turn a little red with all the attention on her.
"What's the matter, Marshall? Don't want her to embarrass herself on the floor with me? One round, that is all I am asking." Raleigh challenges once again. She sees Pentecost hesitate for a brief moment before he looks over at her and nods. With a sigh she walks over and hands Ezra to Mako and gets ready to fight in combat with Raleigh.
"Four strikes markes a win." Stacker explains to her, taking her jacket and handing her a bow staff. She turned around to face her husband, a smirk on her face. They walk towards each other with equally smug looks on their faces.
"Remember, it's about compatibility. It's a dialogue, not a fight. But I'm not gonna dial down my moves." Raleigh explains to her and she rolls her eyes.
"Do you ever, love?" She mocks. She knew the drill already. He smirked at her and lunged at her, bringing his bow staff down in an arc. She didn't even flinch as it stopped not two inches from her face.
"One-zero." Raleigh tells her. She takes a different stance. Closing her eyes and focusing on her surroundings. Raleigh was pacing in front of her and as soon as he stopped she lunched at him bringing her bow staff down not two inches from his head.
"One-one." She retorted. He chuckles at her and quickly takes the next strike.
"Two-one. Concentrate." Raleigh told her. She lunges at him not bothering with focusing in on him. Their bow staffs came together many times sending loud cracks echoing through the room. In the end she took the next strike, holding her staff against his back.
"Two-two. Tired already?" She mocks. He lunges at her and they fight for even longer than before. He came close to striking her several times but each time she managed to dodge them. In the end she took the third strike. "Three-two." They commence fighting again, each one equally beating the other. Like so many time before it felt as if they were dancing. It was a well practiced routine. She was barely sweating and she could see that Raleigh was the same. In the end she managed to pin Raleigh to the floor.
"I've seen enough." Pentecost calls and she lets go of her hold on her husband. They both stand up and face the military man.
"Me too. She's my co-pilot." Raleigh says, placing his arm around her shoulder. She looks up at him in shock. She wasn't sure how she felt about this situation. They still had responsibilities as parents.
"That's not going to work." Pentecost says disapprovingly.
"Why not?" Raleigh asks, dropping his arm from her shoulders to take a step forward and argue.
"Because I said so. Mr. Becket. I've made my decision. Report to the Shatterdome in two hours and find out who your co-pilot will be." Pentecost says and walks away before Raleigh could really argue. Raleigh looks disappointed, and as they turn to leave she sees Chuck giving them a mocking smile. The crowd dispersed and she leaves with Raleigh; Ezra fussing in her arms.
"That's too bad. You would have made an amazing co-pilot." Raleigh tells her, kissing the side of her head as they walked back to their room.
"Why did you have to do that?" She asks, a little peeved.
"None of the other candidates were working. I needed someone I know I can fight well with." He explains. She knew he was just trying to show his superior that he hadn't gone soft, but it had put her on the spot.
"I don't care about that. What I do care about is why you want me to be your co-pilot. I have never stepped into a Jager before and all of a sudden you want me to pilot one with you?" She exclaims as they reach the door to their room. He stops walking and looks at her a little confused.
"I don't want to let a complete stranger into my head Ana. I can't do it, you know that. I trust you more than I trust any of those candidates." He tells her and suddenly she feels like an ass for even chastising him about it. She should have known.
"I'm sorry it didn't work out then." She says semi half heartedly as he turns and opens the door. Suddenly she's overly aware of the child in her arms, thinking about being a pilot and what would happen if they were to both die. What would happen to her son? She would never forgive herself if something to happen to one or both of them on a mission if she did become his co-pilot. For now she didn't have to worry about it.
