[ 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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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!
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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?
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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.
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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.