Immediately after rescue.

[dontchaserabbits]

Mako only let go of him to let Raleigh be airlifted into the helo to go back to the Shatterdome. Only just, though - as soon as Mako rejoins him, her hands are on his head, fingers in his hair. Raleigh does his best to shake off the medics, but in such confined space they all win. (It helps that he is tired as all hell.)

Back at the Shatterdome is absolute chaos when the helo lands. There are no other words to describe it - the tech crews are running every which way, medics charging the landing pad, people wanting to talk to Raleigh, to Mako, to make plans, to debrief, to --

-- Mako exits the helo first --

Raleigh follows after, but more slowly (stupid leg fucking ribs ow)

Mako tries to turn around to Raleigh but is getting yanked away by some middle-management yokel to probably look at paperwork and this is not happening --

"Everybody back the hell off!" Raleigh bellows into the crowd on the landing pad, much to the astonishment of nearly everyone there. So many people have never even heard Raleigh raise his voice; it's all new to them.

But the yelling hurts, so that's the last time for the moment.

Comments

[co_pilot]

She doesn't want to let go of him, not even for a moment - when he slips away from her and her feet touch down on solid ground, even that feels like a great loss, her lungs tight with the effort it takes to keep breathing.

She will breathe for both of them, she thinks. Herself and Sensei alike. This is what he would want for her.

Lost in a swarm, a press of bodies, hands clapping her hard enough to almost bowl her over, head spinning muscles screaming, and then -

Everything stops.

She looks at Raleigh with a blink of amazement before her expression dissolves into a broad smile, and everyone parts for her as she heads for him (the same way they used to part for Sensei, when he'd enter a room). She lifts one of Raleigh's arms and settles it across her shoulders; one of her own winds around his waist.

"You need to be looked at," she murmurs, soft but insisting.

[dontchaserabbits]

"I don't care," he retorts, even as it comes out in a wheeze. "Not if it means."

And it's left there.

"Don't go off anywhere."

[co_pilot]

"No," she answers, resting her other hand against his chest, the strength of his armor under her palm.

"I will come with you."

The med techs will probably want to get a look at them both.

[dontchaserabbits]

It makes sense, to some at least, for the medical treatment rooms to be beyond the dispatch bays of the Dome. For Raleigh it just makes the walk a lot longer.

He still does it. He is just slow.

When they arrive, Raleigh thumps himself down as lackadaisical as always - this time however, he does it on a medical gurney like a good boy.

(Raleigh always has an eye on Mako, even now.)

[co_pilot]

Even when they try to direct her into a separate gurney, she waves them off, choosing to stand over his instead.

(Her hand is resting in his, maintaining the link even as they slowly pry his armor off, scanning him for injuries.)

[dontchaserabbits]

The panels under both arms need to go - to accommodate all this motion around him, Raleigh brings his arm up, ending with Mako's hand being placed on his head.

"Lights are on, nobody home."

Or at least, it's only him in his head now. Make it feel a lot emptier.

[co_pilot]

Her thumb finds the pressure point of his temple, kneads in slow circles.

"Knock knock."

She doesn't want to look down, doesn't want to know if there's anything that may lead to more scars on his body.

[dontchaserabbits]

His laugh comes out kind of as a snort, but the pressure on his head from Mako's hand lulls him into pliability. So much so, in fact, that he doesn't notice the forty-five minutes that go by before the chief medical officer declares him safe to move, but "You really should stay here so that we can --- "

"Nope."

[co_pilot]

She lets them work around her, even allows some of them to remove the panels of armor from her chest, her arms. Some of them are cracked, charred.

There is soreness, but her body is loose. And yet she feels uncoordinated, disconnected from her movements. Not as fluid as they'd been in Gipsy.

She offers a sympathetic look to the medical officer.

[dontchaserabbits]

He's used to it. (Pilots are always complicated.)

Talking more now to Mako than Raleigh: "Will you please make sure he actually takes his radiation and pain meds? And that he sleeps and eats?"

[co_pilot]

She nods, silent but firm - and her hand, on Raleigh's shoulder now, squeezes once.

It will be easier for her to remember for herself if she has to remind him to do it as well.

[dontchaserabbits]

"Fine. Disappear, you two. I'll play dumb for about an hour or two."

Or he'll try, at least - it's hard to keep out the hounds of human curiosity.

Raleigh nods, standing to leave, but feeling kind of naked only wearing the black under-armor suit that all pilots now wear. "I'll lock my door," he advises.

[co_pilot]

There are still pieces of the armor here and there, clinging to her frame; she'll shed the rest later, behind a closed (and locked) door.

After the chaos of the last hour, she needs the peace and quiet of the pilots' quarters - even if they will be the only pilots returning to them.

[dontchaserabbits]

In comparison to leaving the landing pad, getting to the hallway of their quarters is relatively easy.

Until they actually get there, and Raleigh starts walking up Mako's steps to her room.

[co_pilot]

She does not need to look to know that he is following her, though it seems the steps are giving him some trouble.

"Your leg?" she asks, frowning visibly, and ushers him into the room first before closing the door behind them.

[dontchaserabbits]

Raleigh just shrugs. It's as close to a nod as he feels like getting.

The adrenaline's down and sapped away, and Reality is here. He should feel ecstatic. Joyful.

Raleigh yawns obnoxiously wide and doesn't bother to cover his mouth.

[co_pilot]

Her own lassitude is reflected in the obvious slump of her shoulders, in the weariness behind her gaze.

She has to lean over with a minute wince in order to remove the rest of her armor, fingers fumbling.

[dontchaserabbits]

"Don't - c'mere -- "

He'll help. Besides, he can get to the hinges of the leg from his spot on the newly-attained bunk-space.

[co_pilot]

"You have more practice with this."

Spoken as she rests a hand on his shoulder, as she stands over him and glances down while he works at it.

[dontchaserabbits]

"My old suit was so much bulkier. The technology grew so much past the Mark IIIs..."

The armor now takes more of a beating, but it's easier to maneuver in - easier to remove, now.

But then it's Raleigh with his hands on Mako's upper thighs, and they just...stay there.

[co_pilot]

Her hair (with its kaiju blue strands) frames her face in loose waves, tangled and unruly.

She'd kissed him, out there in the middle of the ocean, the way she'd wanted to since she'd first laid eyes on him.

She can't help but think of it now.

[dontchaserabbits]

"You were perfect."

52 drops, 52 kills.

"We're great partners, you and I."

[co_pilot]

Her fingertips trace the shape of his face, the strong line of his jaw.

He'd saved her. He'd saved them all.

"And I think your timing is better now."

[dontchaserabbits]

"No 'two moves earlier' commentary?"

[co_pilot]

"Not this time."

Not when the move had truly counted.

(And he certainly had never held back with her - being in each other's heads had inevitably made that impossible.)