[ one tuesday morning, raleigh strolls into yancy's pastel green room to find his son standing in his crib, clinging to the bars and bouncing happily when he sees his calls of daaaa have finally been answered. yancy smiles, and raleigh smiles back, and picks up the toddler to carry him to the changing table and take care of his swollen, pee filled diaper. they change, they dress (raleigh wears blue jeans and a white shirt, yancy wears a red shirt and no pants) and head downstairs for a breakfast of mashed bananas and cheerios (raleigh's in a bowl, and yancy's spread all along his high chair tray).
mako is long gone for work this morning, and raleigh's on casual dad duty because he doesn't have to get them up and anywhere today. there's no important doctor's appointment, and no grocery shopping to do, so the two of them kick back and relax.
they watch the news and build with blocks on the living room until the phone rings. it's a long distance phone call from tendo, one of their bi-weekly check-in's, and raleigh's chuckling at something the other man says and is almost too distracted to realize that yancy's stood up to knock over his block tower and then toddled towards him. it's more than twenty little baby steps to get from the center of the living room to where the landline is hooked into the wall, and raleigh looks over in time to catch the last ten. and it's an amazing sight to see — suddenly all those hours bent double with yancy's little baby hands around his fingers and supporting most of his weight while the child tip toed around seemed worth it, and raleigh's dropping the phone down on the hook so he can sink to his knees and beckon the tiny dark haired baby into his arms.
once they start walking, they can't be stopped, he's been told. but it's still incredibly exciting, and raleigh composes half a text to tell mako before deciding it's going to be better to surprise her.
so here they are, four hours later. raleigh heard mako's car in the driveway and restrained their baby until he heard the door open and close, and the rustle of her jacket. then she calls for them — raleigh? and he takes that as a green light to usher yancy around the corner. he's running for all that a baby can, still not having mastered the heel-toe formation and kind of toddling on his tip toes and bow legs. raleigh's right behind him, urging him on with all the enthusiasim he would with the puppy they planned to get after new years. ]
Go get her — go get mama! Goooo get her, come on Ya —
[ and, of course, about six feet from mako, he faceplants. ]
[ Tuesday evening, and Mako comes home from a long day's work, sweaty but accomplished; it had been an endless day of blueprints and plans and one on-site check after another. There is still much to do five years on, the rebuilding efforts had come a long way with her pushing for it, but politics are politics and sometimes they frustrate her to no end.
That, and the deep-seated misogyny she sometimes faces even if she's one of the very few surviving jaeger pilots left, occasionally leaves a bad taste in her mouth. But it mostly goes away when she reaches home, when her car pulls into the driveway and she sees the warm golden lights of the home she had Raleigh had bought together; knowing that he's inside with their son, and this, this is what matters.
So when she's dropping her keys into the bowl after locking and deadbolting the door, she almost drops the jacket she's hanging up when she realises that her little boy is walking, all adorable chubbiness and amazing intent -- Yancy has his father's piercing blue eyes, and it's a moment that she swears she'd remember forever, because Yancy is walking and the pride and happiness that swells up inside her makes today all worth it.
Their son is walking, and -- oh --
Mako makes a soft noise of distress when he pitches over, maternal instincts full-blown when she starts towards him, her brow knitting with worry. ]
[ raleigh is having a very hard time not laughing at their baby when he faceplants. it's a defense mechanism to keep him from going crazy — laugh when yancy cries — and the crying has actually decreased significantly, especially when it comes to bumps and bruises, because most children fall down and look to their parents to see how they should react. when yancy looks up to see raleigh laughing, he laughs too, and continues going right along with what he was doing before.
so now, when the toddler picks himself up and looks first back at his father, and then at his mother to find her fretting, raleigh softly reprimands her. ]
No no no, don't pick him up. He's gotta do it himself.
[ Mako is tempted to do it anyway, awfully tempted, because... well, maternal instincts. That's her baby boy faceplanted on the floor (which is actually quite funny when you think about it), but Raleigh -- he's spent more time with him, and she trusts that he knows what he's doing.
She stifles her immediate reaction at Raleigh's words, forces herself to relax and to coax Yancy over, to complete the distance because he doesn't look hurt, and yeah, Raleigh has a point, right? Yancy seems to take his cue from the both of them, and she pats her thighs, holding her arms out to him. ]
Come over here, Yancy. Just a few steps more! [ Shaking off the momentary setback, Yancy giggles and completely the last few steps, and Mako sweeps him up to her arms, giving him kisses before looking over at his father with a faint smile. ]
[ mako may be smiling faintly, but raleigh's outright beaming because look!
look what he did, mako! raleigh taught him, raleigh did that! sure, they had an equal hand in making him, and they co-parented as best they could. but these last few months, make had very much been the working mom while raleigh'd stayed at home and cooked and cleaned and read to their son. he'd even endeavored to ween yancy off his binkie, but turns out walking had happened successfully before that. but it's still a huge thing and all he wants to do is hug his son so tightly, to the point of discomfort. but it's mako's turn to revel in their parenting progress (he'll get him in a second). ]
Nah, he's just gotta learn we're not always going to be there to catch him.
[ Of course she sees it, baby, she knows -- Raleigh's spent so much time and effort making their home a welcome place, raising their baby boy without any prior experience on his own; it's tough work, and she's so, so proud of him. They'd always worked as a team during the K-War, and even now, they're a well-oiled team, too: Mako brings home the money, and Raleigh manages the home and the finances while Mako takes over from him after work.
Yancy is giggling, pressing wet, happy kisses on his mother's cheek -- he doesn't completely understand why she's so pleased, but he likes that Mommy is smiling, and so is Daddy, and therefore all is well.
She draws nearer to Raleigh so that she can kiss his lips briefly. Look what Raleigh did, indeed. He's never been happier, prouder of his achievements, and she knows it, giving him his due. ] You're right. It's just... hard, sometimes.
I know, babe, [ he tells her, picturesque understanding and empathy. she gets another kiss on her forehead after the initial one, just for comfort. and just because he wants to. this is totally something that should be hard and take time to get used to, but she shouldn't feel bad. ]
Tell you what, when he falls on his face and actually hurts himself, you can be the first to comfort him — get all the worrying out of your system when it's appropriate. [ casually talking about their baby hurting himself? yup. raleigh smiles and ruffles yancy's hair. ] It's in his genetics, he'll fall lots.
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no subject
mako is long gone for work this morning, and raleigh's on casual dad duty because he doesn't have to get them up and anywhere today. there's no important doctor's appointment, and no grocery shopping to do, so the two of them kick back and relax.
they watch the news and build with blocks on the living room until the phone rings. it's a long distance phone call from tendo, one of their bi-weekly check-in's, and raleigh's chuckling at something the other man says and is almost too distracted to realize that yancy's stood up to knock over his block tower and then toddled towards him. it's more than twenty little baby steps to get from the center of the living room to where the landline is hooked into the wall, and raleigh looks over in time to catch the last ten. and it's an amazing sight to see — suddenly all those hours bent double with yancy's little baby hands around his fingers and supporting most of his weight while the child tip toed around seemed worth it, and raleigh's dropping the phone down on the hook so he can sink to his knees and beckon the tiny dark haired baby into his arms.
once they start walking, they can't be stopped, he's been told. but it's still incredibly exciting, and raleigh composes half a text to tell mako before deciding it's going to be better to surprise her.
so here they are, four hours later. raleigh heard mako's car in the driveway and restrained their baby until he heard the door open and close, and the rustle of her jacket. then she calls for them — raleigh? and he takes that as a green light to usher yancy around the corner. he's running for all that a baby can, still not having mastered the heel-toe formation and kind of toddling on his tip toes and bow legs. raleigh's right behind him, urging him on with all the enthusiasim he would with the puppy they planned to get after new years. ]
Go get her — go get mama! Goooo get her, come on Ya —
[ and, of course, about six feet from mako, he faceplants. ]
no subject
That, and the deep-seated misogyny she sometimes faces even if she's one of the very few surviving jaeger pilots left, occasionally leaves a bad taste in her mouth. But it mostly goes away when she reaches home, when her car pulls into the driveway and she sees the warm golden lights of the home she had Raleigh had bought together; knowing that he's inside with their son, and this, this is what matters.
So when she's dropping her keys into the bowl after locking and deadbolting the door, she almost drops the jacket she's hanging up when she realises that her little boy is walking, all adorable chubbiness and amazing intent -- Yancy has his father's piercing blue eyes, and it's a moment that she swears she'd remember forever, because Yancy is walking and the pride and happiness that swells up inside her makes today all worth it.
Their son is walking, and -- oh --
Mako makes a soft noise of distress when he pitches over, maternal instincts full-blown when she starts towards him, her brow knitting with worry. ]
Yancy!
no subject
so now, when the toddler picks himself up and looks first back at his father, and then at his mother to find her fretting, raleigh softly reprimands her. ]
No no no, don't pick him up. He's gotta do it himself.
no subject
She stifles her immediate reaction at Raleigh's words, forces herself to relax and to coax Yancy over, to complete the distance because he doesn't look hurt, and yeah, Raleigh has a point, right? Yancy seems to take his cue from the both of them, and she pats her thighs, holding her arms out to him. ]
Come over here, Yancy. Just a few steps more! [ Shaking off the momentary setback, Yancy giggles and completely the last few steps, and Mako sweeps him up to her arms, giving him kisses before looking over at his father with a faint smile. ]
Tough love, right?
no subject
look what he did, mako! raleigh taught him, raleigh did that! sure, they had an equal hand in making him, and they co-parented as best they could. but these last few months, make had very much been the working mom while raleigh'd stayed at home and cooked and cleaned and read to their son. he'd even endeavored to ween yancy off his binkie, but turns out walking had happened successfully before that. but it's still a huge thing and all he wants to do is hug his son so tightly, to the point of discomfort. but it's mako's turn to revel in their parenting progress (he'll get him in a second). ]
Nah, he's just gotta learn we're not always going to be there to catch him.
no subject
Yancy is giggling, pressing wet, happy kisses on his mother's cheek -- he doesn't completely understand why she's so pleased, but he likes that Mommy is smiling, and so is Daddy, and therefore all is well.
She draws nearer to Raleigh so that she can kiss his lips briefly. Look what Raleigh did, indeed. He's never been happier, prouder of his achievements, and she knows it, giving him his due. ] You're right. It's just... hard, sometimes.
no subject
Tell you what, when he falls on his face and actually hurts himself, you can be the first to comfort him — get all the worrying out of your system when it's appropriate. [ casually talking about their baby hurting himself? yup. raleigh smiles and ruffles yancy's hair. ] It's in his genetics, he'll fall lots.