[ His gaze drops and Mako feels it even though she can't quite see it, Herc's cap obscuring the blue shock of his eyes and the flicker of pale lashes. Her impulse is to turtle slightly, shoulders lifting in an almost defensive posture caught halfway between fight and flight. Of the four of them Mako has always been the flightiest and it's something that colors her in an odd way. For the longest time she had been nothing but constant, having tried so hard to fashion herself in her adopted father's image. A rock, a stone, an island; due north, like the tail of the Big Dipper. Mako had learned the power of stillness but circumstance had pulled the foundation out from under her, screaming at her with the wail of sirens to run, Mako, run.
Even now it seems a struggle, the conflict writ clear across her expression. She wants to be here and she doesn't. (She's afraid of the moment when it stops, when it's taken away from her or when it's broken.)
The hand on Herc's elbow tightens, fingers digging into the cords of muscle that tense underneath the sleeve of his jacket. Drawing him in close, like an old lover, Mako's brow pinches as her face leans up into the shadow of the brim of his hat. It's with a strange mix of aggression and tenderness that she guides his hand to the front of her coat, palm pressed to the softness there. A definite bulge, her body swollen.
For the longest time Mako doesn't say anything, her tongue moving slowly behind her teeth like it's trying to find the shape to the words she means to say.
no subject
Even now it seems a struggle, the conflict writ clear across her expression. She wants to be here and she doesn't. (She's afraid of the moment when it stops, when it's taken away from her or when it's broken.)
The hand on Herc's elbow tightens, fingers digging into the cords of muscle that tense underneath the sleeve of his jacket. Drawing him in close, like an old lover, Mako's brow pinches as her face leans up into the shadow of the brim of his hat. It's with a strange mix of aggression and tenderness that she guides his hand to the front of her coat, palm pressed to the softness there. A definite bulge, her body swollen.
For the longest time Mako doesn't say anything, her tongue moving slowly behind her teeth like it's trying to find the shape to the words she means to say.
Eventually: ] A grandson.