Another Mark 3

*CHAPTER FIVE*

The next morning I was up and out with Mako, letting Pentecost know about the morning trials that would be held for me and Raleigh to find co-pilots. 

"The candidates are ready. We will commence the trials immediately, sir." Mako informed Pentecost as we walked into the control bay. 

"Good." He replied sharply. 

"But there is one thing." 

"Mako, we have talked about this." He turned to the two of us. I stared at him intensely. "We will not be talking about it again." 

"And what about me, Marshal? Huh?" I shot at him. His eyes grew, but he turned and started to walk off. 

"You promised me." Mako cried. She then started to speak in Japanese. "I should be the one driving Gipsy with him." 

"No, you shouldn't. I should be!" I yelled at Pentecost and Mako. Tendo, who Pentecost was talking too ran away quickly as he knew I was growing angry. 

"Kristen, you cannot take that level of emotion of what happened to your sister into the Drift." He slowly said. I shook my head. 

"How is it any different from him! It's the exact same thing, Marshal! You cant deny that!" I then turned and stomped out of the bay and headed down to the cafeteria. As I was leaving I heard Mako arguing with Pentecost to try and get her say. Usually if Pentecost and I didn't agree, there was no hope for Mako. My mind was on fire and if I was to get to angry, I was going to snap.

Walking into the cafeteria I kept my head down. Everyone knew if my head was down you shouldn't talk to me, except if you were one person. 

"Raleigh. Kristen." Herc's voice called. I turned to him and he was holding three plates of food. I walked over to him, keeping my head in a shadow. "Come sit with us." 

"Oh, I'm okay, thank you." Raleigh said as he looked at the food.

"Ah, come on, there's plenty of room at our table." Herc pushed the plate of food into Raleigh's hand and came to me, Raleigh close behind. "You too, cranky pants." I couldn't help but smile a little. Her was the only one that could cheer me up when I was in a bad mood. Pushing my plate into my hands, Herc led us to our table. 

"I haven't seen bread in a while." Raleigh cheered as we made our way around the table to sit on the other side of Chuck and Max. 

"Hong Kong. Beauty of an open port, no rationing." Herc happily said as the three of us sat down. "We've got potatoes, peas, sweet beans, decent meat loaf. Pass the potatoes." He then grabbed the pan of potatoes form the other side of the table. Gesturing to Chuck, he introduced him to Raleigh. "Raleigh, this is my son Chuck. He's my co-pilot now." 

"He's more my co-pilot. Right, Dad?" Chuck smartly said, god I hate him. "So you're the guy, eh? You're the guy who's gonna run defence for me in that old rust bucket of yours?" I clutched my fork tightly and Herc had to tap me on the shoulder to get me to calm down. Raleigh even looked to me and gave me a conserved look before replying to Chuck. "

That's the plan." He then continued to eat. I then heard Chuck cooing Max as he gave him something to eat, before speaking again. 

"So when was the last time you jockeyed, Ray?" 

"About five years ago." Raleigh swallowed. 

"What have you been doing for five years? Something pretty important, I reckon." 

"I was in construction." 

"Oh, wow, that's great. I mean, that's really useful. We get into a fight, you can build our way out of it, eh, Ray?" I then placed my fork down after swallowing another bite and my hands turned into fists on the table. 

"It's Raleigh." He calmly shot back. 

"Whatever." Chuck then took a breath. "Look, you're Pentecost's bright idea. And my old man, he seems to like you. But its guys like you who brought down the Jaeger program." My fingernails where now digging into my skin and I was close to lashing out. "To me, you're dead weight." He then stood up. "You slow me down, I'm gonna drop you like a sack of Kaiju shit." I slammed my hands on the table and stood up. The room went quiet. Looking up at Chuck, cap on, he smirked. 

"It's people like you that brought down the program. It's dick heads like you that think their better then everyone else. Those people are arseholes like you and if you don't stop with bullying everyone, especially my friends, I'm gonna drop you like a sack of Kaiju shit!" I yelled. He looked to Raleigh while grabbing his jacket. 

"Get your little girlfriend under control. I'll see you around, Raleigh." He teased, dragging out Raleigh's name. "Come on, Max." he walked off with the dog barking happily and I started to pick up my pace when breathing. I looked up to see everyone looking at me. 

"What! What you all staring at!" I screamed. Everyone instantly when back to talking and I felt a hand brush my arm. Looking down I saw Raleigh looking up to me. I brushed him off. "I'll see you later, Raleigh. Thanks for the food, Herc." I then got out of my chair and stormed off out of the cafeteria in the opposite direction Chuck had headed in.

"Kristen. Kristen, wait!" I heard Raleigh call, but I kept walking. 

"Go away, Raleigh." I then felt a hand grab my wrist and I then stopped. Turning my head I saw Raleigh with a plan expression on his face. "What do you want?" 

"Well, Herc's really sorry." Raleigh said as he let go of my wrist. 

"What did he say?" I said crossing my arms, still infuriated by Chucks behaviour.

Kristen had stormed off and I was ready to chase after her but Herc stopped me. 

"She needs time to cool off for a second." He said. "You can blame me for that one. I've raised him on my own. He's a smart kid, but I never knew whether to give him a hug, or a kick in the ass." Herc then took another spoonful of food into his mouth. Looking to him, I took a breath. 

"With respect, sir..." he looked up to me, "I'm pretty sure which one he needs. Not just for me, but for Kristen." I then stood up and ran after her.

I was shocked that Raleigh said what he said. But I knew there was something little he was leaving out. I could tell something had changed between the two of us and I think I just realised the feelings I had been experiencing around Raleigh. Although I have really gotten to know him over the past day, but I did know him before when he and his brother where still rangers.

I think I had developed a crush on Raleigh Becket...