Levi is going in for treatment today.

Levi really hates going in for treatment.

He refuses to admit that he hates going in for treatment, but the way he grips Erwin's hand tight enough to break bone and fiddles with his wedding ring is telling enough. The third time Levi flicks the ring hard enough to knock it clean off Erwin's hand, Erwin looks up from his newspaper.

'How many times have we done this now Levi?'

'Seventy five. Has your memory started going, old man?' Levi snaps, turning away from Erwin's gaze.

Erwin ignores both the slight and the twinge of pain it gives him 'So what is so very different about this particular time?'

'Nothing, I'm fine!' Levi snarls

'Really?' Erwin raises an eyebrow, looking at Levi over his glasses.

'Oh go take a shit, old man, or are you still constipated?'

Erwin gives up and goes back to his newspaper, leaving his left hand lying on the bed. A few moments later, a cold set of digits worm their way into his palm.

...

Erwin doesn't let go of his hand all the time Levi is lying in bed in the Oncology ward.

He doesn't let go of his hand while the porters sort out the bed with the drips and everything to take Levi down to the radiography suite.

He walks beside the bed all the way down, holding onto his hand, Levi's grip getting tighter every floor they descended.

He even holds on when they bring Levi into the preparation room, squeezing as hard as hard as he can, because this is scary for him and if it's scary for him it's probably terrifying for Levi.

'Would you mind popping your ring into this dish sir?' Asks the smiling nurse, as she checks Levi for anything metal. There is silence and Erwin closes his eyes, waiting for Levi's inevitable freak out.

'What the fuck did you just say?'

The smile drops from the nurse's face 'I only meant-'

'This is my wedding ring, bitch, I will not take it off unless – '

Erwin, sensing that the nurse is about to cry, steps between her and his husband.

'It's just a ring of metal, Levi. Why don't you want to take it off?'

'It is not just a ring of metal! It... It...'

Erwin kneels beside the bed, slightly exasperated. 'It what?'

Levi leans forward and buries his face in Erwin's chest 'It means you're with me, shithead.'

Erwin freezes for a second, shocked at Levi's admittance. He gently pushes Levi back onto the bed, placing a kiss on his forehead, before lifting Levi's left hand and pulling the ring off.

'What're you –'

'Shhhh.' The whole room is quiet, watching as Erwin slides Levi's ring onto the smallest finger of his own left hand.

Finally, he leans forward, kissing Levi's lips, brushing the hair off his forehead.

'Now you're with me.' He says quietly, ignoring the disgusted look on the consultant's face. 'We'll both be here when you get out.' And with that, he turns and strides out of the radiography suite.

...

'Mr Smith? Is Mr Erwin Smith in here?'

Erwin looks up from his paper in the direction of the nurse calling for him.

'Over here.'

She makes her way over to him, picking between the worried looking parents and coughing patients lining the walls of the Oncology waiting room.

'Is anything wrong?' He asks coolly. He tries to be nice to people, he really does, but he is worried and that just makes him colder apparently.

'A little, it says in your medical file that you are the same blood type as Mr Smith?'

'Yes, but what's –'

'I need you to come with me sir, if you don't mind.'

Erwin follows the nurse, matching her slightly elevated pace, as they move toward a consulting room. She opens the door and gestures for him to sit inside. Once they are both comfortably seated, she starts to fidget with the clipboard in front of her.

'Ummm... Mr Smith. There's been a small problem with your friend – '

'Husband.' Erwin corrects coldly

'... Husband's surgical procedure.' She says, equally coldly.

'What problem? He wasn't supposed to be undergoing any surgical procedure today!'

'No, he wasn't Mr Smith.'

'So can you please explain why he has undergone surgery? I thought this was supposed to be a normal radiography appointment!'

'Please try to calm down –' She starts, Erwin opens his mouth. 'Because the more you talk, the less time I have to explain!'

Erwin compresses his lips into a thin line and sinks slowly into the chair.

'After your husband's appointment, they noticed that they were getting some strange readings, he was taken for an ultrasound and an additional tumour was found at the side of his jaw...'

Erwin opens his mouth again and the nurse holds up her hand to stop him.

'Please sir, I know this must be upsetting for you, but it's not what I came to tell you.' Erwin closes his mouth once more, cracking his knuckles under the table to try and get his control back.

'They operated immediately to try and remove the secondary tumour, the operation was successful but Mr Smith has lost a great deal of blood and in his weakened condition, we definitely need to replace it as soon as possible.'

'I give my permission for a blood transfusion.' Erwin tells her, face pale and features tight.

'But I...'

'Don't waste my time nurse, my husband needs blood transfusion and I have the necessary blood type, am I correct?'

'Well, yes but – '

'Then don't you think we should be getting on with it?'

...

Erwin nearly collapses when he sees Levi, face pale and bandaged from his nose to his collarbone but breathing, thank god, he is breathing.

Erwin's gaze never leaves his husband's face, all the time that the nurse is tying a tourniquet around his bicep and inserting the needle into his and Levi's arms. In all honesty, there is nothing else to do but sit there looking at Levi and realising that he has absolutely no idea what he'd do if Levi just wasn't there anymore. He is at the point of promising that he'll never look at his secretary again if Levi could just stay with him a little bit longer, when a shrill beeping forces him from these thoughts. Disoriented, he gazes around for a moment wondering what was causing it, before his eyes settle on probably the most important thing in his life right now. Levi's heart meter. Currently flashing red and peaking erratically.

Erwin waits a total of 0.3 seconds before screaming for a nurse.

She arrives, takes one look and starts screaming for a crash team. As medical personnel come streaming into the room and Erwin is forced to let go of Levi's hand and wait in the corridor, Erwin starts to wonder why his head is so light. His arm is feeling strange too, almost numb.

He makes to glance down at it and ends up staring at the, now pale blue right arm. His fingers are nearly navy at the ends and he can't move anything below his shoulder. Blearily he feels around his bicep. The tourniquet. She told him to remove it and he hasn't. It is his last thought before he blacks out.

...

He wakes up a few hours later, bleary and cold in a hospital bed.

His right side is tightly bandaged and feels strange but that's not what he's concentrating on. It's the scowling, teary man lying in the bed next to him and clinging to his hand for dear life. Erwin smiles groggily and reaches towards him with his left hand.

'Levi...'

His hand is slapped away and the scowl intensifies. A few tears leaking down his cheeks.

'You stupid Bastard! You giant idiot! You...' The sentences ends with a gasp and Levi lies back against his pillows, exhausted and sobbing.

'What are you talking about?' Erwin asks, unnerved by Levi's sudden tears. Levi shakes his head, pointing to Erwin's right side.

With some difficulty, Erwin runs his left hand down his r-... where his right arm should be. It's gone, replaced with bandages wrapped around his ribs and a boneless piece of flesh hanging down about twenty centimetres from his shoulder. He turns to Levi in shock.

'What am I going to do?' He whispers.

Levi wriggles closer across the sheet. 'You always said that, when I couldn't walk, you'd carry me.'

Erwin nods, too tired and morphine-blurred to comment on the stupid sentimental phrase.

'Well, you can't carry me anymore, so I'll have to carry you.'

Erwin smiles and passes a hand through Levi's hair.

'Get off, old man, I just had my hair washed by a sexy nurse!'