Work Text:
The house is a bit ramshackle when Raleigh finds it in Porepunkah but when he shows the listing to Herc the other man has a smile on his face.
“Sure it’s gonna be cold enough for you?” he teases. This is the compromise though. They both want to go home, but Raleigh has no love left for Anchorage and Herc has memories of mushroom clouds and a soot streaked, smoke hoarse boy crying for his mother.
“Well, It’ll be the middle of July,” Raleigh says with a grin. “But at least I’ll get to build that igloo I've always wanted.”
And that’s it, the matter closed.
***
Raleigh goes first, because Herc wants his new husband close, but the Marshall has no use for a banged up former Ranger haunting the halls of the Shatterdome during the close down.
Mako comes with him and Raleigh is grateful. She helps with Max and a bit with the contractor negotiating . She has to leave eventually though. The PPDC didn’t have a lot of funds to spare over the years, but what it had was pensions in the name of every employee meticulously collected over the years and she was off around the world tracking down everyone who didn't or couldn't come to their local Shatterdome to pick up their severance.
The place slowly comes together, with it’s ten foot ceilings, crown moldings and the refinished hardwood floors. Raleigh and Herc plan over Skype, a deck, a skylight and bigger kitchen, a less steep staircase and a much larger bathroom.
As he heals, Raleigh puts his back into the work. Turns out Chuck was right, all that work on the Wall really did help in the end, and Raleigh thinks of him in turns infuriated and fondly affectionate as he hangs and sands and muds and sands and paints the drywall. Max gets his paws into the paint pan and leaves little messy bulldog prints all over the front steps and Raleigh makes sure the contractors know to leave the prints as they are. He thinks Herc will like them and he know Chuck would have loved them. They work all day, sleep all night and wait for Herc to come home.
***
Herc comes back with little fanfare and steals into the house in the middle of the night. It would have been romantic if not for Max barking up a storm at the ‘intruder’ and Herc tripping over the materials Raleigh had delivered to finish off the kitchen counter.
Raleigh is a mess of laughter watching Herc swear and shake off a piece of packaging that clings stubbornly to his leg and then his arm and then finally Max as the bulldog manages to charge and knock his owner on his ass for slobbery kisses. Raleigh props himself up on the door frame between the kitchen and the living room and smiles at him when Herc finally frees himself and stands.
“I’d give you a welcome home kiss, but I think maybe Max did a good enough job,” Herc mock growls and Raleigh laughs and tears off down the hall and up the stairs to their bedroom. They've been away from each other for almost three months but Raleigh still gets Herc to shower Max’s attentions off. He softens the blow by joining him though.
***
The renovations finish more quickly with Herc there to keep Raleigh from getting under the contractors feet and he doesn't miss the grateful way the men act when Herc drags him outside to plot out next year’s garden.
The property has a few acres with nothing between them and a gorgeous view of Mount Buffalo and Herc has a peaceful smile on his face as they walk around the yard with Max on their heels. Raleigh can’t help but feel joy at the sight as Herc marks out the best place in the yard for next spring and talks about onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. Raleigh shows him the mason jars on the kitchen wall already filled with dirt and marked up as Thyme, Rosemary, Mint and basil. By the time the first snow falls they have herbs in the kitchen, a deck in the back to watch the sun set and a house that is all theirs and Herc gets Australia and Raleigh gets snow.
***
They grow their some of their own veggies and Herc tries to convince Raleigh to get a goat. Raleigh builds a wooden swing for the front porch and Herc buys an old Chevelle and tinkers with it for months until he gets it going, keeps tinkering with it far past what’s necessary.
Raleigh knits, enough that his sweaters and hats and mitts end up on a table at the local farmers market and winter fair under a different name.
The locals know them but the place is so small, barely a town even, that the ‘war heroes’ never get bothered.
Scott Hansen moves into a house a few miles away and he and Herc slowly repair a relationship that fractured over jealousy when Scott was no longer able to hold a neural drift.
Scott teaches Raleigh to snowboard and Herc laughs at his wounded expression whenever he falls down.
Scott also teaches Raleigh about Drop Bears and Herc laughs at Raleigh’s wounded expression when he learns he’s been had.
They argue over little things and fight over big things and Herc has flashbacks of a different war, one Raleigh has never understood. Raleigh has night terrors of the antiverse and Gipsy. Some nights Raleigh wakes up screaming Yancy's name and some nights it’s Herc calling out for Angela, for Chuck.
They make love every night in their bed and there’s a peace to their lives that Raleigh never thought he would be granted.
***
The big truck rumbles up the drive and Raleigh exchanges a mildly confused look with Herc until Mako steps out from the passenger side. Max lifts his head and gives her a bark in greeting, but he’s old now, too old to be running up to investigate the newcomer.
Mako is wearing a tired and sad smile as she survey’s the house they've built. Three years now and the world is quiet up here and their guest room is always open. They’ve housed a few of their PPDC brothers and sisters. Newt being the latest almost four months ago now. Tired and world weary and not on the run from the mafia but definitely AWOL from the life.
Mako hasn’t been back to Sydney since she came to the house with Raleigh for the first time.
“I’m sorry,” she tells them solemnly. “There’s activity in the breach.”
/end