A/N: As I have an inability to update things in a timely manner, I'm entering the world of oneshots/various drabbles. Hooray for my lack of commitment! Bonus points to anyone who can figure out what song this is inspired by. I've read Goliath by the way. Spoilers! A few months pass between the end of Goliath and the beginning of this. Please pardon the (possibly) bad German.

Deryn Sharp was twenty three feet in the air, upside down, and thinking about life. She was Deryn once again. For now, she wasn't Midshipman Dylan Sharp: decorated soldier who faked his age to fly. As she dangled from the thick tree branch, she observed her surroundings. Glasgow, Scotland...her old home. Nostalgia washed over her in waves. She grew up here and would only be spending three more days here before the start of her new job. Three more days until the soft grass under her bare feet became unfeeling streets. The original two weeks ticked into mere days far too quickly. The lady boffin was probably right, making me go home before we head to London. Ma didn't know whether I was dead or alive. She would have gone barking mad if Alek wasn't there when I came home.

x x x x x x

Mrs. Sharp didn't know whether to laugh, cry, scream, or faint. After a year, her cross-dressing daughter had returned home from war with nothing but a medal and a quiet "Ma, I'm home," as if she were returning from school. The bewildered woman settled on the first three.

"Deryn Alana Sharp, how dare you walk in here without so much as a letter in six months! You could have fallen off of one of those bloody airships!" The tirade continued as she engulfed her daughter in a suffocating hug.

"Ma..." As Deryn started struggling free, Mrs. Sharp looked up and took notice of the young man standing just inside the door. He was awkwardly shifting his gaze between the two women and the floor, grasping his elbow with his opposite hand.

"Who is that? You brought home a boy? Why is he so nervous? He got you pregnant, didn't he? God only knows how you got pregnant dressed up as—"

"Blisters, Ma! I'm not pregnant! I brought 'this boy' home because I thought you might like to be introduced to His Serene Highness over there," Deryn gestured behind her. "Prince Aleksander Ferdinand of Hohenberg; my best friend is standing at your doorstep, and all you can do is accuse him of getting me pregnant!"

Deryn's mother stood aghast. A thick silence fell over the room as Mrs. Sharp blinked repeatedly. Eventually, she managed to compose herself enough to talk to the boy.

"Hello, Your Highness. Celia Sharp." She weakly extended her hand. Alek, still terrified —though significantly more embarrassed than when he walked in— shook her hand.

"Please, call me Alek. No need for titles now that I'm not going to become an emperor." He mumbled disappointedly. Deryn snorted.

"If you don't mind my asking, why did you abdicate the throne?" Celia's eyes grew wide as Deryn turned red. The corners of Alek's mouth turned upwards as he glanced shyly at her daughter. She promptly regretted not passing out when her daughter walked through the door. She decided it would be best for everyone if she excused herself to go lie down with a cool compress. As soon as she was out of earshot, Deryn turned to Alek.

"That went better than expected." She smirked.

"Bist du verrückt? Ich denke ich habe sie umgebracht!" He sat on the stairs with his head in his hands.

"Let's put it this way," Deryn sat next to him and gently lifted his head up. "Are you still standing here?"

"Yes."

"Am I in a dress?"

"No."

"Then you have nothing to worry about." She kissed him gently and went to check on her mother. Alek ran his fingers through his dark coppery-brown hair. After she left, he whispered softly.

"Ich werde nie aufhören, sich Sorgen um dich."

x x x x x x

A bird calling from the other side of the tree nearly startled her enough to release her grip. With a sigh, the blonde righted herself. Deryn traced the pattern of a small "X" in the tree trunk. This was the first tree she ever climbed. Almost a decade old, the "X", though it was much higher off the ground, marked the spot where she fell out of the tree and broke her arm. As her father rushed over to her, Jaspert scrambled up the tree with his pocketknife. While the doctor set her arm, her big brother explained how he marked where she left off. She would know when she got even closer to the sky.

Climbing even higher up, Deryn could see for miles around. Last night, she told Alek about how, when she was little, she used to sit up on the hill in the distance and dream that she had wings.

x x x x x x

Her mother had shoved her into skirts again. They had gotten more poofy since she left for war. At least I missed the hobble skirt. She shuddered at the idea. How are you supposed to run in that thing? Why Mrs. Sharp was so insistent on the dress and high heels for a simple walk in town was beyond her. Who really cared if they thought her a boy? Nevertheless, she wore them. The second she was beyond the paved streets, she took those sodding shoes off. Leaning against a lamppost, the dim light made it hard to unfasten the buckles. It was well worth the struggle. Nobody had to know that she put them back on while walking down the path to her home.

Shoes in one hand, Alek's hand in the other, Deryn wiggled her toes and let out a sigh of contentment.

"Do you see that hill up ahead? When I was younger, I would go up there and watch the clouds. I would stay up there until the clouds became stars, and dream that I had wings to fly to them. I ran up that hill, thinking that if I went fast enough, I would take off. I can run up a hill faster than anyone in this city. You probably can't get up there faster than me either."

"Do you honestly think that you can beat me to the top that hill? You're just a girl after all. A girl in skirts!" Alek's eyes twinkled. Midshipman Sharp came burning through at that moment.

"Aye, dummkopf! Skirts or not, I will beat you, and you will cry like a lassie. Why? 'Cause I was a boy when I learned how to run!" With that, she took off. Though the two were now the same height, Deryn's long legs gave her an advantage. When he finally caught up, he dove at her legs, driving both of them to the ground. After struggling and much laughter, Alek had Deryn pinned beneath him.

"Admit that you cheated."

"You're full of clart!" She lifted her head slightly to kiss him. Alek met her halfway. Using the slight shift of his weight to his advantage, she twisted and managed to knock him over. With a gentle push, he rolled back down the hill like a log.

"Who was it that cheated, your princeliness?" The prince flipped onto his back. Deryn did the only reasonable thing she could think of in that situation...she rolled down the hill the same way that he did. Lying next to Alek at the bottom of the hill, Deryn rest her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. Alek admitted his defeat with honor.

x x x x x x

Deryn and a tree against the world. That was how it had always been. The tree was part of her home. She had escaped into it when her brother's teasing had gone too far, or her mother lectured her about her tomboyishness. The bark soaked up her tears when her father died. If she needed to fly, the tree was there. The tree didn't judge her; the tree didn't take sides. It wasn't a fabricated Darwinist tree, or an engine-powered Clanker tree...it simply was. It's only objective was to be; to exist. Deryn took comfort in that.

At long last, the time came to shimmy out of the tree. When she got to the final branch, Deryn hesitated...getting back to the earth below was always more difficult than leaving it behind. A small cough came from below her. His Serene Highness himself was sitting against the tree with a book on his lap. He stood up.

"Jump." He instructed, holding his arms out.

"Jump?"

"Yes. Jump. I'll catch you!" Deryn looked skeptical.

"Deryn, no matter how high you climb, I promise that I will always be waiting at the bottom in case you fall. Now jump!"

This tree held more memories than she could count. This tree would always be there for her...in some ways, the tree was more like her home than the stone building a few paces away. Soon she would be leaving for London with a boy and a boffin, and the tree might never get to be her home again. The thought frightened her for a minute; only for a minute. Her true home was where her heart was. Once upon a time, her heart was set here in Scotland. Her heart used to call her back to this town, this yard, and this tree. Her heart was on the Leviathan for over a year. Now she knew: her heart was in the safe possession of the young man standing beneath her, patiently waiting. Wherever he was, her home would be too. She wasn't scared anymore.

Deryn took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and jumped from the branch.