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You know, Raleigh is the kind of guy that's fairly forgiving. He can admit when he's wrong, when he's fucked up, and when he needs to forgive and just forget.

This? Not gonna forgive, not gonna forget.

He'd looked the other way when they stole kisses and held hands. He'd lied for them, blocked them from view, helped cover for them when they went on their little trips to Hong Kong and Australia and wherever the fuck else they went.

Now, he feels betrayed. It's irrational and ridiculous, but when Raleigh finds out that Herc knocked Mako up and then asked her to marry him?

He's pissed.

And honestly, he only knows because Mako told him -- mercifully, it's not a rumor that's circulating but it's still something that makes his blood boil. It seems some kind of disservice to her, like Herc didn't fucking respect her enough to ask her to marry him months ago, and now this happened.

Fucking dick.

So when Raleigh sees him in the hallway, he marches straight towards him, murder in his eyes.

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Raleigh keeps his face as impassive as he can.

"No Sir," he says, trying to ignore both the bruise and the glares he's getting.

"It's urgent."

He feels bad about interrupting his lunch - but if he doesn't do this now, he may never do it.

Herc managed to gingerly shave this morning, despite the pain, which meant that he didn't even have his beard to disguise the mottled color spreading across his jaw. Fucking enjoy it, Raleigh.

Slowly, he makes to stand, waving his hand when one of the crew members asks if this means he can finish the pork on the Marshal's plate. Whatever. His appetite is suddenly gone. He hasn't even left the table before his plate is divvied up between the people sitting around him. It's fine, really, it means he doesn't have to bus his tray.

"Right." Yeah, he's still pissed. But at least he's not being outright hostile. "Lead the way, then."

...Buzzards. Jesus.

Raleigh leads the way down the hall and towards one of the empty offices - he doesn't care much what's in it or if its a storage closet. He just needs some privacy.

He gestures for the Marshal to go in first, and then he'll follow behind. Only once the door is shut does he turn to face him, back straight and hands at his sides.

"I owe you an apology, Sir."

Herc's used to it, whatever.

He's noticed that people are quicker to step aside for him now, their salutes sharper. He's not sure if it's because his bruise makes them think he looks tough or if they're pitying him, but he's too tired to care, so whatever.

His arms are already crossing over his chest when Raleigh shoos him into the empty room, his press conference face sliding into place.

The only response he's going to get will be Herc's eyebrows lifting slightly.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me.” And in truth, he doesn’t really want him to. Raleigh had pulled a major dick move, and yeah – it’s kind of unforgivable. “But I did want to apologize.”

He rolls his shoulders, but he still stands straight, almost at attention, like he’s apologizing to a drill sergeant over a smudged boot.

“It won’t happen again. Ever.” He coughs.

“Sir.”

Hercules is silent for a good long while, letting Raleigh stew. It's kind of a dick move on his part, too, but he's too angry to care.

"I don't need you to like me, Ranger," he starts eventually, his voice dangerously quiet. "I don't need your approval, or your friendship. You can think whatever you want about me, lord knows everyone else does." He's not foolish enough to believe that everyone in the 'dome is ecstatic for him and Mako; he knows there are more than a few people who think this is weird and kind of gross and think he's taking advantage of her in one way or another.

"But I will not have you making life harder for Miss Mori. She's terrified and is trying her best to keep it together in the face of a life-changing accident, and having you sabotage our attempts to adapt and make the best of this by throwing temper tantrums like a spoiled child and shouting her secrets for the whole 'dome to hear is not helping." He's utterly still, his arms still crossed over his chest, the lines of his face hard and unrelenting. It's possible he's not over the fact that Raleigh knew about all of this before he did, that Raleigh will always know about Mako's secrets before he will, if he ever knows about them at all.

He'll probably never be over it.

"You may be her copilot, but I'm going to be her husband, and if you can't accept that with any modicum of grace then you need to find yourself a new job."

It is a dick move, but Raleigh doesn’t really deserve much more than that. And honestly – he kind of sees what Herc says coming a mile away. He’s stiff and rigid, but he’s nodding. Herc’s right – there’s a lot of nasty rumors to go along with the good ones.

“To be fair Sir, I kept it down.” He is going to remain firm on that point. He’d purposefully kept his tone low for that reason alone. He cares about Mako – more than he should in this situation, that’s obvious, but it’s the truth of it. It’s because of Raleigh that she stopped getting into that conn-pod, stopped exposing herself to radiation. Herc can hate it all he wants, but Raleigh does know more about her, he did know about it before Mako was even really aware.

“Like I said. Won’t happen again.” He keeps his eyes fixed on the Marshal and remains still as stone. “Plan on putting in for a transfer anyway, Sir.”

His eyebrows lift again, the only indication he's surprised to hear what Raleigh says.

"Have you spoken to her about this?"

Because while Herc may have insinuated that he'd transfer Raleigh to another 'dome if he keeps being a dick, it would have taken a lot to get them to that point, and he wouldn't have dreamed of doing it without talking to Mako first. Because he knows damn well how hard it is to be away from your copilot, and to have that broken up by someone else?

Would have made him furious.

He gives a quick shake of his head.

"Not yet. Wouldn't do it without talking to her."

He's trying to do the right thing here. He fucked up, and he wants to fix it. Getting out of their hair might be the best thing right now.

You're goddamn right he fucked up.

But if he thinks that turning tail and running is going to fix anything, he clearly doesn't know Mako as well as he thinks he does.

"I suggest you go speak with her," he says mildly, instead of all the things that are bouncing around in his skull. Clearly Raleigh and Mako need to sit down and discuss a whole lot of things, before Raleigh does something stupid like disappear for another five years. "Soon."

"I'm planning on it."

You can go to Hell, Hansen. He just doesn't want to cause any more problem. He's well aware that he's been a burr for quite a while now, and to be honest he's fucking sick of it, too.

Like this doesn't utterly suck for him, feeling how in love she is with this man that's double her age.

"Thank you for the advice. Permission to be dismissed?"

"Good."

Raleigh needs to stop being a baby. This sucks for everyone, and they all have to make do with what they've got. You think Herc likes knowing that no matter what, Raleigh will always know Mako more intimately than he will? Forget physical intimacy, every single thought that passes through her head will also pass through his. Every emotion, every idle wish, every dream she has is open to him.

Hercules won't get that, ever.

"Permission granted," he says, quiet and tired and more than a little resigned.

He hesitates, lingering a little because goddamn the Marshal just looks kind of old right now.

"I am sorry," he say quietly, breaking 'soldier' mode in favor of a more 'man to man' speech pattern.

"Wasn't thinking. Didn't...mean to make things worse for her."

Hercules just nods slowly, as much to indicate he heard what Raleigh said as to indicate acceptance or forgiveness. He hasn't forgiven him for what he did, but shit, what does it matter?

His head still hurts from his lingering hangover, his face aches, he hasn't seen Mako all day, and all he wants is to crawl back into bed for a little while.

"Try thinking next time," he says, motioning. You're free to go, Ranger.

Raleigh isn't dumb enough to think its forgiveness, but it at least acknowledges that Herc heard him, knows its sincere.

He salutes once, then backs out of the office, heading down the hall to try and find Mako.

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