[canon is pacific rim]

[ahansen]

So, you know two things about me: 1) I have a nine year old son and 2) I'm married to a pilot. That's it. Yet, you still decide to make me your so called 'muse'.

Good luck, sweetheart. You're going to need it. Hope that imagination of yours is as good as you say it is.

Comments

[ahansen]

[Angela gently kisses his face several times. She doesn't care if he reacts or not.]

I want to know. Please show me.

[oldmanstriker]

[He does. He kisses her forehead, just the once.]

Follow me. I have the machine on lockdown.

[Being the Marshal had it's advantages. He didn't want Newt to go drifting with a slug or something.]

[ahansen]

[Angela smiles after he kisses her. She grabs his hand without thinking. Old habit.]

Lead the way.

[oldmanstriker]

[And his hand tightens around hers as he leads the way, pausing by a door to take an ID card out. He swipes it and enters the doorcode, his body shielding the pad.

No offense, Angela.

The door opens and there's this ugly-looking machine in the centre of the room. It certainly doesn't look safe...]

Put this on.

[He holds out the pons headset.]

[ahansen]

[Angela says nothing when he shields the keypad. Perhaps it was for the best.

When he shows her the headset, she gives him a funny look.]

What? This thing? Looks bloody stupid.

[oldmanstriker]

[Herc already has his pons headset on, the connector activated.

You just get a look, Angela.]

[ahansen]

[She gives him a look back.]

Well, it does.

[She slowly puts the headset on.]

Well, get on with it then.

[oldmanstriker]

[The second the headset is on and powered up, Herc turns to the keyboard.]

Setting system for neural handshake. Auto-calibration set.

[He looks back at Angela.]

You're sure about this?

[ahansen]

[No, not at all. But if she wants to see her son...]

Yes, I'm sure. Live dangerously. That's what your brother always said.

[oldmanstriker]

[A snort. Well, she'll find out how dangerously her brother-in-law lived in a moment.]

Alright. Neural handshake in 5... 4...

[As he counts down, his hand hovers over the red button that starts the bridge, and will meld his and Angela's brains into the Drift.

He presses it as the clock reaches zero.]

(- Two kids playing in front of Sydney Harbour Bridge... A 15 year-old Herc in a garage, working on an old Ford Escort... His first day in the ADF... Passing his pilot training... The fear and worry as he pilots a Bell Kiowa chopper into Downtown Sydney. The choice clear in his mind; Angela or Chuck?... A ten-year old Chuck screaming "I HATE YOU!" and slamming the door... His first day in the Jaeger academy with Scott... finding out they were Drift Compatible... Fighting in Lucky Seven. Numerous Kaijus, a few close shaves... nearly dying because of what he saw in the drift about Scott... watching his brother walk out of his room, bag slung over his shoulder after his dismissal... His first drift with Chuck in Striker Eureka, the boy a mere 15 or 16... The 10 Kaiju that Striker had slain... Herc opening the flare gun compartments. "...do something really stupid."... Well, my father said... He said, you have the shot, you take it -)

...Neural Bridge established. Handshake stablising.

[ahansen]

[Her mother and father watching as she stood next to her sister in a bridesmaid's dress..the first time she ever met Herc and turned him down...when he asked her to marry him and she said yes...their first year together and her crying on the couch during one of his deployments...Going into labor with Chuck and Herc driving them to the hospital, almost wrecking the car...Chuck crying in the middle of night...Her carrying him to the doctor and holding him as the doctor gave him a series of shots...Chuck taking a nap next to Herc on the couch...Her telling him that they should have another baby and how badly she wanted another baby...Chuck waving goodbye to her on his way to school.]

[oldmanstriker]

Neural handshake is stable.

[Herc's voice cuts through the mist.]

Don't latch on, Angie. Let everything flow.

[ahansen]

[Angela didn't know about 'chasing the R.A.B.I.T'. She had never piloted a jaeger and thus lacked the experience to control her memories.

So without warning, she latched onto one memory and couldn't stop.

Chuck was around ten months old and was standing in the middle of the living room. She was holding a video camera, looking at her son and smiling.

"C'mon love, walk. Come to mommy," she said. Baby Chuck was having none of it. He stood there, staring at her and laughing.

"Oh love," Angela said and started laughing. "I told your dad I would get your first steps on camera. And all you want to do is be a little comedian. "

Herc had been deployed again. He had been gone for two months already, and Angela wasn't happy. But what could she do? Orders were orders and he had to follow them.

"C'mon, sweetheart,"she said. "Please walk for mommy."

Chuck just stood there.

Angela gave up. She turned the video camera off and sighed. At that moment, her son decided to run, not walk, over to her and jump into her arms.

"You cheeky little..." She couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I guess I'll have to tell your dad about it instead."]

[oldmanstriker]

[Herc knew it had happened the second it did. What did he expect? He knew this was a bad idea.]

Angela, listen to me. Listen to my voice, okay?

[He says that as he stands in their living room, trying not to focus on it, trying to use his own mental experience at hiding things from the drift, trying to impose his calm on Angela.]

Angela? Listen to me, please...

[ahansen]

[Angela didn't listen. Instead, she clung to Chuck as they both sat on the floor. She kissed the top of his head and smiled.]

Hey, let's try again okay?

[She stands up and also stands Chuck up. Grabbing the camera, she walks a few steps away, then turns and faces him.]

Alright, first steps. Well, first steps, take two.

[She turns the camera on and waits. Her son stands there for a moment, then begins to cry.]

Don't cry. [Angela frowns.] You can do it.

[But Chuck continues to cry and Angela gives up. She puts the camera down, walks over to him and picks him up. He continues to cry.]

Hey, hey, don't cry love. It's okay. Mommy's here. [She kisses his forehead.]

I won't let anything happen to you.

[oldmanstriker]

[He's hovering over the disconnect controls, but wants to give this a chance.

She's in his mind. Maybe he can pull her free, like he had to do with Chuck sometimes. Either way, he's trying to clear his own thoughts and pull Angela with him, mentally.]

C'mon, Angie... out of the burrow...

[ahansen]

[Angela closes her eyes, and when she opens them again, Chuck is no longer in her arms. She's not standing in their living room anymore. The only person she sees is her husband, and suddenly she feels confused.]

What in the hell....[She looks down at her arms, making sure her eyes aren't playing tricks on her.] I just....