for gipsy_danger

[striker_eureka]

timeline divergence. 

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[striker_eureka]

He lived with the loss of everyone he ever loved for a whole year. To have her back...he's not letting her go again. Not that easily, that's for sure. So he's a little possessive. It will probably dial down soon enough once he gets used to her being back in his life again. Right now it kind of feels like if he takes his eyes off her for too long, she'll disappear.

"Well, hopefully not quite like me," he murmurs, smiling as he leans in to kiss her again.

[gipsy_danger]

"Mmm. No, maybe not."

She smiles affectionately at him, then loops her arms around his neck as she leans in to meet him half way. She adores kissing him; the feel of his lips against hers sends happy shivers down her spine and she holds him tightly to her, smoothing her fingers along his cheeks and neck before resting on his shoulders.

[striker_eureka]

There's something to be said for enthusiasm; kissing Gipsy would be wonderful simply because she is who she is, but kissing Gipsy is even more wonderful because she takes to it so easily, is so eager to try some more, to keep going. It makes it far too easy to nuzzle little kisses along her jawline, leaning in to draw her earlobe between his lips and tease the tender skin with hit tongue just to see how she'll react.

sure did pass out

[gipsy_danger]

She reacts positively; a shudder and a sucked in gasp, eyes fluttering closed as her fingers grip the material of his shirt where her hands rest on his shoulders.

"You have missed me," she breathes, eyelids sliding closed as her head tips back. "My wonderful Hercules..."

yep i put myself to bed there

[striker_eureka]

That was exactly the reaction he was hoping for, and Hercules doesn't even try to hide his smug little smile as he noses at the skin of her neck, his hands spread wide against her body like he wants to touch as much of her as possible.

"I was devastated when you died," he whispers, his voice a little raw. "That was the worst day of my life."

yeeeep

[gipsy_danger]

He's not the only one craving touch and reassurance. Sometimes (in the brief amount of time she has been back online) Gipsy thinks this is too good to be true, that this can't be happening and that it's all going to be snatched away from her at any moment. Who is she to deserves something so wonderful when all the rest of her kind are dead?

"I know." She'd known he would be. "I'm so sorry." Her voice catches a little, and she's shocked by liquid heat running down her cheekbones. "I'm -- leaking." Crying.

[striker_eureka]

He lifts his head from her neck when he hears her breath catch in her throat, and then he's frowning, his hands lifting to cup her face so he can stroke her cheeks with his thumbs to wipe away the tracks of her tears.

"Gipsy, honey, don't cry," he croons, leaning in to kiss her wet cheeks. "It's okay."

Hercules has lived through so much loss and pain in his life, he had resigned himself to living through some more and figured it was just his fate. But now she's back! So it's all okay.

[gipsy_danger]

Gipsy knows there is nothing in the world that she can say or do to make his life 'okay'. He'd lost both her and Chuck that day, and while Gipsy doesn't know what it's like to lose a child, she knows how it feels to lose a sibling (in more ways than one, honestly), It's an ache that never truly goes away.

Crying is a very, very strange feeling for Gipsy and again she has to marvel at her science teams thoroughness. It's a little embarrassing to do it now, and thankfully it doesn't last long. This time, anyway.

"I tried, Hercules." She had. She really had.

[striker_eureka]

"I know, love." He has listened to the whole battle, watched it unfold in little blips on the radar. He knows what she did to save them all.

"And I'm so proud of you. You know that, right? You're incredible and I was proud of you then, even if it hurt to listen to you blow yourself up to save all of us."

[gipsy_danger]

Her hold on him tights and she adjusts in his lap so that she can hold his face in her hands. It all feels a little surreal.

"There was so much I wanted to say."

[striker_eureka]

He lets his hands drop to her waist, squeezing her before sliding them around her and holding her close.

"Well, you can say it now..." He gives her a reassuring little smile. "I've got all the time in the world."

[gipsy_danger]

Saying things outside of the drift is harder than she realized. Her brow furrows and a million thoughts race through her mind; picking a single thing is nearly impossible.

"You will always be my pilot, Hercules Hansen." Her only one.

[striker_eureka]

He kisses her gently, because he's trying to be encouraging and he knows how hard dealing with emotions can be when you're not used to it. Or at least verbalizing them.

"That's quite an honor, Gipsy."

[gipsy_danger]

He tastes of whiskey and salty tears, and Gipsy's thumbs brush affectionately over his cheeks, needing contact in all available places.

From the moment he'd stepped foor inside that cockpit, he'd been doomed. Neither had known it at the time, but their fate had been sealed the second Stacker insisted on sending Hercules to handle Gipsy's test run.

[striker_eureka]

Hercules had probably known before Gipsy, really, because he had experience with this sort of thing (not the giant robot girlfriend thing, but the being so fascinated with a woman that before you know it you realize you're in love thing). It had seemed cruel to admit to anything when it was certain that they wouldn't make it out alive, but now...

Well. Would it make him a coward to admit that he's a little scared?

[gipsy_danger]

Not at all, and if Gipsy were able to see into his mind like she's used to doing, she'd reassure him of that.

But she can't and she doesn't really know what he's thinking, so instead she simply sits here in his arms, her weight a heavy reminder that she's real and solid and no longer a projection or an avatar or a dream of his own conjuring.

Her forehead rests against his and her eyes close; she's savoring this, creating new memories with him instead of relying on the old ones to see her through.

She loves him -- she just doesn't really know how to properly articulate that yet.

She's also a little rattled from having to deal with Raleigh so soon. She hadn't expected that emotional onslaught just yet, though she supposed it was her own fault for not locking the damn door behind her when she'd come in. She'd just...been so eager and excited and terrified that all of her focus had been on the man behind the desk and not the door behind her.

[striker_eureka]

Never let it be said that Hercules isn't intuitive almost to a fault. It's fairly obvious that the mood in the room has shifted dramatically, and he's not going to go around chasing a lost moment. No, he'll just sit here with his arms curled around Gipsy, holding her securely as she rests her forehead against his and tries to sort through her own mind.

Gently, after a minute or two of silence, he finally speaks up.

"Do you want to go back to my rooms?" he asks, rubbing his hand comfortingly over her back. "It's a bit more comfortable in there."

Plus, as is his prerogative now that he's an old man, it's a good place to nap. And Hercules finds that naps tend to make emotionally difficult situations better.

[gipsy_danger]

He is not an old man, Gipsy is going to have this argument with him as soon as he says it out loud.

"Yes." She's aware of what 'comfort' is -- before Tendo had 'released her into the wild' (as he'd so tactfully put it), she'd had a room with a small bed and the basic amenities. It seems much preferable than his office, though Gipsy is content enough in his lap.

Still, she slides off and to her feet, extending her hands out to him to pull (it's more like a jerk, she hasn't quite realized her own strength yet) to his feet.

[striker_eureka]

He calls himself an old man all the time, she should be used to it by now.

She yanks him to his feet and he laughs a little at the abruptness of it all, smoothing his hands over his shirt to try and get himself back into a more presentable state for when they leave the room. The tie is a lost cause, though, and he ends up rolling up his sleeves because he can't be arsed to try and do himself back up that much.

"Here, love," he says, holding out her jacket to her.

[gipsy_danger]

She takes the offered jacket and drapes it over her arm with a little smile.

"Thank you." She's not going to put it back on -- not yet, because she's still a little tingly and warm from earlier, and it'll probably come off again sooner than later.

She reaches for his hand when he's done, fingers lacing with his.

"You look good, Hercules Hansen." Grey or not, he'll always look good to her.

[striker_eureka]

Yeah, he's going to take it off pretty much immediately once they get into his suite, so it's probably for the best that she doesn't bother with it.

"You look better," he replies, winking at her.

He squeezes her hand and opens the door for them to leave, like it isn't strange at all that Marshal Hercules Hansen, who has lived the past year of his life pretty much like a monk, should be seen walking hand-in-hand with an unfamiliar woman. He doesn't care if people stare, though, because his reputation is worth less to him than Gipsy's comfort.

[gipsy_danger]

"Incorrigible," she murmurs, moving out into the hall with him. She's so involved with her pilot that stares? Go unnoticed. They don't know who she is, anyway -- Gipsy's avatar creation had been for them alone and then at the end, Raleigh had broken through her shields and seen everything. The two most important men in her life knew who she was, and that was enough for Gipsy Danger.

It's strange being on this side of things, though -- she's used to towering over every one and every thing -- to go from twenty five stories to five feet ten inches is...jarring.

She holds onto his hand a little more tightly than necessary; the crowd is another thing she's unused to, but there's no incident and Gipsy looks entirely at ease and casually comfortable, her grip on his hand the only thing betraying her.

[striker_eureka]

She's very strong, her grip is punishingly tight, but Hercules doesn't show it if she's hurting him.

He just leads her placidly through the halls like this is an every day occurrence, nodding briefly to the soldiers that snap to attention as he passes by, ignoring the support staff who don't. It's none of their business what he does with his life, or who he does it with.

They manage to make it down to the barracks and to the Marshal's rooms without incident, and the hallway is even totally empty when he unlocks the door and lets her in first.

"Sorry it's a bit messy," he says, closing the door behind him. For Hercules, who has lived his whole life in the military, messy means slightly disorganized. There's a jacket hanging over the back of a chair, and a book lying face-down on the table, but that's about it. He doesn't eat in these rooms, that's what the mess is for, and he still doesn't own a whole lot of personal possessions.

"But this is it. Home sweet home."

[gipsy_danger]

She steps inside and finally releases the crushing grip she had on his hand as she looks around in slight awe. No, it's not much, but that's not something Gipsy realizes. To her, it's a look into the most private sanctum of her most beloved pilot -- where he lives, where he sleeps, where he has his most secret moments.

"It's perfect."

Her hands find everything touchable, from the book, the chair, his jacket, the walls -- Gipsy thoroughly inspects it all. It isn't messy, it isn't too small, it isn't too military.

It's perfect.

[striker_eureka]

He didn't realize when he first let her in here that he was nervous about her verdict; but when she tells him it's perfect in that breathy voice of hushed amazement, he lets out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding.

"It's yours too," he blurts out. "That is, if you want to stay with me. I don't know if you have your own rooms."

He's not even really sure how long she's been conscious, maybe they just kept her in the labs downstairs. In which case, he has a lot of yelling to do and some stupid-ass scientists to threaten.