Anchorage, December 24, 2016

The main holiday celebration—which had been surprisingly rowdy—had died down about an hour ago, leaving the mess hall empty except for a few stragglers, but they were mostly involved in their own conversations and easy enough for Elissa to avoid as she skirted around the edge of the room, heading for the kitchen. If she was lucky, she'd be able to grab some drinks and maybe some desserts; if she was really lucky, there might be some booze lying around, but she wasn't counting on it.

Two people rose from a nearby table and headed for the door. Elissa dropped onto the bench of the table closest to her and tried to look disinterested in their movements. They paid her no mind. She sighed in relief.

When the coast was clear, the redhead continued on her mission, squatting down to peek around the doorframe into the kitchen. Only one guy was inside, and he was completely absorbed in washing the dishes and trays; a cloud of steam surrounded him, and his back was to the door. Elissa stayed low, crept to the fridge, and barely kept her squeal of delight in check when she found a tray with six servings of chocolate pudding, a can of whipped topping, and, stuffed in the back of the fridge, a carton of milk. Carefully balancing her spoils, Elissa rose and scurried into the hall.

She took a roundabout way back to the bay where the now officially minted Gipsy Danger and the Becket boys were waiting, and managed to avoid running into anyone. Thankfully.

With Yancy and Raleigh recently graduated from the Academy but their ride still several months from completion, they were eager to spend as much time as close as possible to their Jaeger, which wasn't always sanctioned. Their planned picnic on the gantry definitely wasn't sanctioned, but everyone had been granted down time for the holiday unless there was an emergency, so the bay was quiet. They shouldn't get in trouble tonight. Raleigh especially seemed enamoured of the machine, and had landed himself in hot water with Elissa's dad and the marshal on more than one occasion; he wasn't very sneaky.

Raleigh's attachment to the Jaeger pleased Elissa to no end—not that she'd tell him that. Or anyone. She'd taken to Gipsy as well, a fact her father hadn't missed. He'd been gracious enough to let her spend all her working hours on the Mark III as long as her help wasn't needed elsewhere; Chris had likely done it to prevent Elissa from working during her off hours, but even so, if she wasn't passed out in her bunk or eating, she was usually suspended somewhere around the Jaeger, goggles on and arms buried in her internal workings.

The situation, and the fact that they were all pretty close in age, had led Elissa and the Beckets into a tight friendship despite them only knowing each other for about two months. Yancy saw Elissa as a little sister and teased her as much as he did Raleigh, though she didn't doubt that he'd stand up for her too, if it was ever needed. He called her Itty Bitty, and where she might have minded the nickname from someone else, from Yancy it wasn't so bad. Raleigh and Elissa however… Well, Elissa wasn't stupid enough to deny that there was more than friendship or a sibling-like affection between them. There'd been something else there, a tension, from the moment they'd met, but neither seemed particularly keen on exploring it. The Shatterdome was close-quarters and what they had, what the three of them had, was good. Too good to risk on young… whatever.

It was the kind of friendship that led to picnics on catwalks on Christmas Eve.

There were no Christmas lights in the Shatterdome, but the colourful lights bouncing off the metal pathways and around the room served well enough in place of actual coloured bulbs. Raleigh and Yancy were sitting with their legs dangling over the edge, waiting for Elissa to return from her mission. She'd spent a lot of late nights working on Gipsy Danger and had become quite adept at sneaking into the kitchen after hours, so she'd volunteered to supply the food for their feast.

She dropped down behind them, grinning widely as the boys turned to face her. "The mission was successful," she said, thrusting the tray forward.

"Nice score," Raleigh said, taking one pudding cup and the can of whipped cream. He added a large dollop to his dessert and then tossed the can to Yancy, who did the same. "Anyone see you?"

Elissa cocked her head, one eyebrow raised. "As if."

"She's too small to be seen by anyone," Yancy said as he handed the whipped cream to Elissa.

She punched his shoulder before accepting it—and squirting it directly into her mouth, glaring at Yancy the whole time. The boys dissolved into laughter, and then the three of them fell into silence as they ate. The pudding wasn't as chocolatey as Elissa would have liked, but chocolate was a luxury, so she hadn't really expected anything else; when the war was over, she would get real chocolate, but until then, it would do. When all six containers were gone, they opened the milk and started passing it back and forth.

"This is probably the best Christmas we've had in a while, eh, Rals?" Yancy asked as he passed his brother the carton of milk. The three of them were in a line now, legs over the side, arms over the railing as they passed the milk between them. Elissa was in the middle, as she usually was.

"Yeah. I don't think we even did anything last year. Certainly didn't have pudding."

Elissa smiled as she took the milk from Raleigh and downed a mouthful. "My dad gives me new tools every year, but we don't really celebrate."

Yancy raised an eyebrow. "New tools? That's all you ever get?"

Elissa shrugged. "Books too—novels and manuals—but mostly tools."

The older Becket rolled his eyes. "God, Itty Bitty, you need a new hobby."

"Hey, I like my tools."

Yancy and Raleigh shared a look and then, at the same time, said, "We know."

She stuck her lower lip out in an exaggerated pout. "I took my tool belt off tonight, didn't I?"

Raleigh snickered as he took the milk carton and drained it. "That you did." He put the empty carton on the tray with the rest of their garbage and then turned his attention to the massive mech standing against the wall of the bay, his eyes lighting up. "When she's going to be ready?"

"You know as well as I do that she's not scheduled for duty for about another five months," Elissa said. "You two have a simulation of Gipsy Danger you can run so you can practice for the neural handshake test. Although, from what I heard, there hasn't been a pair with a drift connection as strong as you two in a long time."

"It's the brother thing," Yancy said, "because I certainly wouldn't have chosen him otherwise."

Raleigh reached around Elissa to punch Yancy in the same spot where Elissa had earlier. "And who says I would have chosen you?" He turned back to Gipsy. "I want to take her out, not some simulation."

Elissa clapped Raleigh on the shoulder. "Patience, Rals. Rushing into war is rarely a smart idea."

"Says she who wants nothing more than to join the academy." Raleigh elbowed Elissa, who giggled.

A familiar click sounded as Yancy snapped a photo on the old camera he carried with him everywhere when he wasn't on duty. He took the exposure and passed it to Elissa when she reached for it: her and Raleigh, leaning towards each other, laughing. Smiling, Elissa passed it to Raleigh and then leaned forward over the railing, arms crossed on the bar, chin on her arms. Raleigh did the same beside her, the photo held in front of them. Yancy draped one of his long arms over both of them.

"This is a good Christmas," Elissa said.

Anchorage, December 25, 2016

The Shatterdome was weirdly quiet on Christmas Day. Yancy had stayed at the Kodiak Island Academy, but Raleigh had felt too restless. After the previous day's celebration, and with those who had gone home to see their families—those that could go home—Raleigh had expected something to happen. It felt weird, wrong, for there to be quiet days like this during a war. Not that he wanted another attack, but he did want something to happen. He could run simulations and workout, and he had for the morning, but now he was hoping walking through the winding halls of the Shatterdome would help. He was also flipping through articles and reports about the year's kaiju activity, all the 'domes that had been established, and the Jaegers that had been deployed and were currently under construction.

He was reading about Marshal Pentecost's deployment in Tokyo Bay when Raleigh realized he'd ended up near the quarters for the Jaeger technicians. Tucking his tablet into his pocket, and not thinking too hard about the impulse, Raleigh turned down a hall and started looking for Elissa's room, even though he knew he'd probably find it empty. She was probably working.

A small smile pulled at his lips. The diminutive redhead was always working. Or reading a manual. Or talking with Tendo about new Jaeger tech. Or dreaming about piloting her own Jaeger. She may have only been sixteen, but she fit right in with the more grizzled mechanics and technicians. She was at home among the metal and oil and gears.

Despite her usual habits, Raleigh found Elissa in her room. For a moment, he just stood in her open doorway and watched her, curled up on her bed reading from a physical book. There were pillows wedged between her and the wall. Her red hair, normally in a braid or a bun at the back of her head, was loose and hanging around her shoulders, hanging almost down to the bed. When she showed no sign of noticing his presence, Raleigh stepped up and knocked.

Elissa started, but she smiled when her hazel eyes found him, closing her book and dropping it beside her. "Hey. Merry Christmas."

"Same to you. May I?" he asked, gesturing at the end of her bed.

"Sure." She watched him settle on her bed with his back against the wall. His long legs hung off the other side. "What are you doing here? I thought you and Yancy would be… I don't know, off doing something to celebrate, just the two of you."

He shrugged with one shoulder. "Yesterday was enough for us, probably. Besides, Yancy wanted to go into the city. There's a restaurant there we've been to a couple times—I think he's got a thing for the bartender."

"And you thought a walk around the Shatterdome was a good way to pass the time?"

"I took a walk outside, ran sims this morning, and worked out, but this lull is driving me crazy. I had to do something."

Elissa sighed and ran a hand back through her hair, pulling it back from her face, strands tangling around her fingers. "Tell me about it. I went for a run, hung out with my dad, checked on Gipsy, and now I'm here reading. Trying not to go out of my mind," she added with a snort. "I had to stop myself from wishing for something to happen."

"Me too."

"We're horrible," she said around a laugh.

"I think we might be." Raleigh pulled his tablet from his pocket, bringing up the article he'd been reading about Tokyo Bay. "Did you know Marshal Pentecost adopted a girl after the attack in Tokyo earlier this year?"

Her brows knit together with her confusion as she took the device and started scanning the screen. "I never would have pegged him for the type to adopt a kid. I mean, he's a good guy, and I know he has a kid—or I heard he had one, anyway—but this…" She snickered suddenly. "Must just be us he finds annoying."

Raleigh laughed. "Must be." He went to reach for his tablet, but Elissa had it so close to her face it was nearly touching her nose. "What?"

She jumped again, like she'd forgotten he was there and his voice had startled her, and then shifted to tuck her legs underneath her. "Sorry—I was just looking at the specs for Coyote Tango. I would have liked to have seen that Jaeger in action with Pentecost at the wheel."

Raleigh was silent for a few minutes, watching Elissa flip through the specs of the other Jaegers. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when she suddenly thrust the tablet back to him, the screen displaying blueprints he'd never seen before. "What?"

"Look at it."

Raleigh's brow furrowed as he looked at Elissa, but he dropped his eyes to the screen. They were blueprints for a Mark III, but not one of the three he knew was set to launch next year, some set to be ready for the opening of new Shatterdomes: Matador Fury, Vulcan Specter, and Shaolin Rogue. This was another Jaeger for Anchorage, to round out the team Chrome Brutus and Gipsy Danger would make and help patrol the long coast between Anchorage and Los Angeles, where another Shatterdome was set to open. It wasn't named or assigned, featured a few experimental components, and wasn't slated to launch until the end of next year—at the end of the Mark III cycle probably—but Raleigh knew immediately why Elissa was so excited.

"When did you find these?"

"This morning, after they were uploaded to the server." He saw the grin spreading across her face and knew what the next words out of her mouth would be. "He's going to be mine."

"You're not even in the academy yet." He'd meant to say it straight-faced and teasing, but he could feel one corner of his mouth pulling up in response to the determined look on Elissa's face, the stubborn glint in her eyes.

"I'm sixteen now, and can enlist. I'd graduated before he was even finished. Just have to convince my dad to let me." Her eyes flicked to the door, almost as if she expected her father to appear there. "But that Jaeger…"

Raleigh studied her face closely when she looked at him again. He knew what she was feeling; he'd experienced it when he looked at Gipsy Danger the first time, although the Jaeger had already been assigned to him and Yancy. "Do you think your dad will let you enlist? I know sixteen is the earliest you can—"

"I have to try. I want to be a pilot more than anything. Before Jaegers, it was planes and helicopters," she said with a small grin. "I don't want to piss my dad off, but—" She gestured for the tablet and took it when Raleigh extended it across the space between them. "I know most people wash out of the academy, but I don't care. I have to try. This Jaeger…"

"If anyone gets it, EJ, it's me."

Elissa's head snapped up from the tablet. "EJ?"

Raleigh's cheeks warmed a fraction, but Elissa's eyes were shining. EJ was how he'd referred to Elissa in his head for some time because he liked the way it sounded. But he wasn't about to let a little embarrassment get in the way of some good-natured ribbing. "Yeah… I figured since Tendo and Yancy both have their own nicknames for you, I needed one too."

"Oh great." Elissa rolled her eyes with great exaggeration. "Another nickname. That's just what I need." But her smile was radiant; she loved her various nicknames. "Everyone gets to call me something different. Gotta say though, I think 'EJ' might be my favourite."

Raleigh grinned along with her. "What? You don't like 'Itty Bitty'?"

Elissa snorted a laugh. "What do you think?"

Raleigh returned the tablet to his pocket and climbed off Elissa's bed. "I think we should sneak into the bays and see if the legends about Jaegers moving when they're not powered are true."

"Sounds like a plan, Becket Boy." Elissa nearly bounced to her feet. Instead of her ever-present coveralls and thermal shirt, she was wearing leggings and a baggy long-sleeved shirt that was probably her father's, but she still shoved her feet into her work boots and laced them tight. "You better follow me though. You're not very stealthy."

Raleigh elbowed Elissa playfully as they left her room and started towards the Jaeger bays. "We'll see about that, EJ," he said and then started running, moving as silently as he could, smiling as Elissa strung together an impressive array of curses behind him.