Chapter 3

"Inken, my dear, look at you!" Beth Navakov cried as her eyes fell on her daughter-in-law. She frowned as Inken moved past her, returning a nod into her open arms, and approached Malik.

They spoke in quick, hushed, whispers, their eyes darting around each other's faces. Malik slowly reached down to take her wrist in his hand, turning towards his childhood room. "You'll have to excuse us, Mother." The smile he threw over his shoulder was a perfect copy of all the other fake smiles he had thrown her way over the years. It made her frown even harder. "It's a matter of legion business."

Inken turned the grip around, pulling Malik along as she slammed the door shut and sunk her body against it. "We have willingly stepped into a trap," she whispered as she dug into her pocket for an invitation she had acquired.

"A trap set by who?" he asked as she showed him the invitation. It read:

You are hereby invited to celebrate the marriage anniversary of our son, Malik Navokov, and his bride, Inken Lancaster.

Below it was the details of the event, but Malik could already see Inken's eyes darkening as he turned his head up to smile at her. His parents had wanted them to make their vows very public, but Inken had fought them tooth and nail to have that mindset changed. Three years away had clearly erased any memory of Inken's hatred of social situations from their minds. "How did you come to find this?"

"I pick-pocketed it from one of the captain's from our squad." The way that Inken stated this so matter-of-factly without flinching was enough to make Malik a little uneasy. He knew his wife could be sneaky, but pick-pocketing was a new skill as far as he was concerned.

He cleared his throat and put the invitation on his bed. "I'm sure it will all pan out for the better." Realizing his indifference, Inken moved close to him so that when his eyes turned back towards her she was on him. "You have spent three years away from people. At least give them a chance before you condemn them."

"Are we speaking of society or your parents?" she asked quickly, her hands slowly raising up to run along the seams of his jacket.

Malik laughed and brought her hands up to his cheeks. They were marvelously warm, but also calloused. It made for an interesting combination. "Perhaps I speak of both…or maybe just my parents."

For the first time since being back he saw the traces of a smirk slowly raise in the corners of her lips. That brought a wave of peace slowly crashing down onto him as he pulled her into his arms. "I have…" she started and stopped herself, sinking her head into his chest. "I have missed you."

He tilted back, falling onto the bed and bringing her with him. They laid in perfect silence for a few minutes before he whispered, "I missed you as well." His hands slowly began to work through her hair, as he tried to find a gentle way to explain tonight's events to her. "You'll have to wear a dress," he stated quickly, deciding to just rip the bandage off in one quick pull.

Her body went rigid in his arms and he felt her heart rate increase. When her eyes turned up to stare into his face, he knew that he had just unlocked her rage. "I have to wear a what?"

"A dress. My mother picked it out. There's also a necklace waiting for you on the vanity." He smiled at her, shrugging quickly to prevent her from lashing out at him. "I picked that out, just in case you were wondering."

"What if something happens?" she snapped, getting to her feet and throwing her arms out in an exasperated gesture. "What if the Titans break down the wall?! What good am I in a dress?!"

The mischievous smile that twisted across Malik's lips made her turn up the scorn in her stare. "You would be quite good in a dress," he whispered as he propped himself up on his elbows and smiled at her. "You would be quite good out of a dress as well."

Her frown only increased as she stomped past him to look out the window and sighed. "Can I wear my harness under the dress?" she asked quietly as her eyes scanned the wall's horizon. "After all, you do have us on high alert with your suspicions of a weak wall." She suddenly saw his reflection in the window pane and let out a small sigh.

His hands fell to her shoulders and he let out a similar sigh. "It's scary, but we have to learn how to relax while we can. It's necessary to the mind and the nerves." Even as his words escaped his lips he could hear the Titans roars growing louder and louder inside his mind. It made his grip on her shoulders tighten and back go rigid. Inken was suffering from the same haunting. The shadows cast on the window pane were suddenly being splashed red with blood and the unceasing cries of her dying comrades made her nearly deaf to Malik's attempted comfort.

Feeling the skin at her shoulders pinch, she turned her head to see his glassy eyes staring blankly out at the wall. She considered the scars along his cheeks and jaw, realizing that he too had his own close calls, his own lost comrades, and a fragile soul. She slowly raised herself up on her toes and placed her lips against his cheek, causing him to snap out of his trance and stare into her face.

His hands rose from her shoulders to press into the warmth of her cheeks as he whispered. "I love you, Inken."

She tilted her head forward, feeling his lips press against her forehead and let out a long sigh. "I love you too, Malik. Despite your making me wear a dress." Malik knew what the real problem with the dress was. Inken didn't want to admit that she was safe, that she could be beautiful for a night while lives had and were being lost to the Titans beyond the wall. She didn't want to be safe, she felt unworthy of that luxury. "How much time do we have until this ridiculous party?" she asked him as she tilted her head back to stare into his face.

His smile returned. "We have some time before our guests get here." As he leaned down to place an unmonitored kiss against her lips, there was a knock at the door. She smiled as she noticed his top lip quiver in annoyance. "Who is it?" he called as he pressed his lips against her forehead again.

There was another knock, putting them both on edge. "Enter," Inken yelled as she pulled a small knife out of her boot, causing Malik to draw back from her. He began to think that maybe he should spend more time getting to know the events of the past three years, then re-consummating his marriage with his wife.

The door was thrown open as Commander Bene marched in and smiled at them. "I'm sorry to interrupt Malik, but I am here with an impossibly grand proposition for you and your wife….Is Inken wielding a knife?"

Inken tucked the knife into her boot and sat down on the edge of the bed. "A force of habit, Commander." Her whisper was harsh as she kicked her boot against the baseboard of the bed, clearly working to secure the blade.

Malik and Bene stood with their eyes on her for only a second. Malik, floored by his wife's new found caution. Bene, curious to find the breaking point of the hardened Lancaster daughter. Inken merely waved them off, slowly throwing her legs up to rest them on the bed.

"As I was saying," Commander Bene began slowly, "I wanted to tell you of a proposition of mine. Something that I think would benefit you both, as well as honor your families. And your union."

"Then let's hear it, Bene." Malik said as he rounded the footboard of his bed to sit next to his wife. Her eyes were closed, but her hand was resting on the breast pocket of her jacket. Malik knew that that meant she had something on Bene, but she was waiting to reveal it. He took a deep breath and smiled at his commander. "We're waiting on pins and needles."

"With the decimation of your team, we've essentially lost our most competent soldiers, but I see a way for that to be rectified." Bene began to pace with his hands firmly grasped behind his back. "You and your wife will lead the new special operations team, constructed with those that you see fit. This gives you both the freedom to act as you wish beyond the walls, but elevates you to a status befitting your skill sets. Should anyone perish under your command there will be less of a fuss…well, less than what we encountered today."

"An interesting proposition, Commander." Inken said as she sat upright and removed her hand from her pocket. "May we have some time to consider this idea? The remaining members of our team are hardly fit to work together, let alone with other people."

Malik nodded in agreement. "We have always had drastically different friend groups. Rest assured, you will have your answer before we leave these walls again."

Bene nodded back at Malik before turning his stare on Inken. She recognized the way his eyes burned and then smoldered. Not desire, no, but a feeling of knowing what one is not meant to know. It was like looking into a mirror. "Yes, Commander?"

He reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and produced a file. "Your file, Inken. Have you looked it over recently?"

Inken's hand rose to her jacket pocket again. "No Commander. I choose to be blind to the feelings of my superiors."

His eyes scanned the first page and he smiled, "Against general Titans your kill rate is 97 percent. Variant Titans, your ability seems to drop to 75 percent without your team. What is this about a preference of aerial based combat? Isn't that the way we all fight Titans?"

"I raise the bar," Inken whispered. "It's something to be seen and not analyzed, Sir."

They held stares for a few seconds before Bene turned to Malik. "Your wife is certainly quite the enigma. I'm looking forward to reading this in its entirety." With one more quick glance at Inken, he exited the room, shutting the door behind him when he left.

Malik slowly turned his eyes on Inken, watching as her hand fell into her lap. "What do you have on Bene that you're not telling me?"

Inken's eyes rose to meet his. "Trust me to reveal it at the right moment."

The curiosity burning through Malik's body was soothed as he watched Inken walk to the mirror and begin taking her hair down. She ran her hands through the tangles and pushed it up onto her head. "So, would this due for this ridiculous party?"

The way her blues eyes shifted to gaze at him in the mirror told him that any conversation regarding the file was over. "Beautiful, my love."