A/N: There were a few reviewers really questioning why Fate left and what happened between her and Vivio, and I didn't want to leave you guys hanging for too long. This chapter will be shedding more light on those issues. A special thank you to all the positive reviews for the story! It really keeps me motivated to keep writing =^..^=

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from or the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha anime, nor any other movie, actor, song, or character referenced or stated in this story.


SURRENDER REFLEX

by : ~Nissanity~

Chapter 3 – More By Accident Than By Design


~Flashback, 13 months prior~

Nanoha tapped her thumb impatiently on the steering wheel as she waited for the light at the intersection to change from red to green. She checked her makeup one more time in the rear view mirror, and then sat back in the seat and exhaled loudly. Her stomach had been in knots ever since she had left Fate and Vivio alone in the house to go on a date with Yuuno that evening.

"I must be losing my mind," she muttered as the light turned green and she pressed the accelerator again. Visions of the small touches and hugs her best friend and daughter had shared over the past few weeks continued to creep into her mind, despite her best efforts to block them. She didn't trust her rebellious 16-year-old daughter around Fate in the slightest, but she did trust Fate to be the adult in the situation, and that she would stop any escalation that might occur between them. Maybe.

Nanoha growled and pulled the car over to the side of the road. She reached into her jacket pocket and retrieved her cellphone, and she pulled up her previous text conversation with Yuuno on her phone.

"I know it's last minute, but something came up at home and I need to cancel tonight. Sorry, I'll call you later," she wrote.

"Thanks for nothing," was the reply she got after a moment. She threw the phone away from her onto the passenger seat in anger after reading the response. She had already wanted to end it when him for a while, and that response was the last bit of ammunition she needed. She knew she wouldn't be calling him that night or ever again.

As Nanoha began the journey back home, she recalled the few times her and Fate had come close to crossing the line of friendship over the years themselves. The mutual feelings between the two were undeniable, and their friends and family would often question the two raising a daughter together without actually being in a romantic relationship.

Nanoha would never allow the relationship to progress into anything more than close friendship, though. Fate was deployed or stationed overseas more often than not over the years, and that was not the type of relationship Nanoha envisioned for herself. Fate respected her wishes and never pressed the issue, and Nanoha made sure her best friend always had some place to call home when she was on leave. Nanoha had a string of failed relationships to show as a result of the decision, and she had just added a new one to the list that evening.

As Nanoha pulled into the driveway and exited her car, she tried to recall when it was that Fate and Vivio had stopped having a mother-daughter type relationship, and started being friends instead. She figured it must have been during Fate's current leave home. She had been working long hours recently, and she hadn't spent much time with the two of them these past few months to notice the change before now.

She slid the key into the deadbolt and opened the front door quietly, and as she looked over from the front hallway she noticed the movie was currently paused on the television. She walked towards the living room, and then abruptly stopped in her tracks when she spotted Vivio on top of Fate on the couch. Fate's hand was currently resting on one of the younger girl's breasts, with Vivio's hands on top of it holding it in place.

"Oh, shit! Nanoha!" Fate yelled when she noticed her enter into the living room.

Vivio removed herself from on top of Fate, and quickly stood up beside the couch. Nanoha began to approach Fate in a rage, but Vivio grabbed her arm to try to stop her before she could.

"Mama, don't - !" she tried, but Nanoha threw her hand off of her arm in anger.

"Don't you dare touch me right now, Vivio!" Nanoha seethed. "Just... don't."

Fate attempted to stand up from the couch. "Nanoha, please let me explain," she started, but her comment was greeted by a hard slap across the face. Fate reflexively grabbed her cheek and looked back at Nanoha in stunned silence.

"Explain what, Fate-chan?! That you can't fuck me, so you are going to go after my daughter instead?!" she shouted.

"It's not like that!" Fate shouted back. "Tell her, Vivio!"

Vivio crossed her arms and stared at the floor. "Fate and I have been sleeping together for a while now, Mama. We just didn't want to tell you right away," she responded quietly.

The confession hung heavily in the room, and Fate let her hand on her face drop to her side heavily. "Vivio, why would you tell her - ?"

"I've heard enough, Fate-chan! I can't believe you would do something like this!"

"You won't even let me say anything in my defense, though!" Fate countered.

Nanoha threw her hands up in the air. "What's to say? I saw it with my own eyes, and Vivio just confirmed it."

"What's wrong, Mama? Huh?" Vivio then taunted. "You can't stand to see Fate happy with someone else or something? It's pathetic. Just go back to screwing your weird boyfriend and let the two of us be happy."

"This isn't happening," Fate muttered, and put her hands on her head as she sunk back down on the couch.

"You're sixteen years old, Vivio. And she is practically your mother. You don't have any idea what you are doing!"

Vivio shook her head. "No, it's you who has no idea what you were doing! Do you know what kind of torture it was for Fate to have to come home and see you with different people all these years? Well, you know what? I was here for her all those times you weren't."

Fate eventually stood up from the couch and left the room without a word, leaving Vivio and Nanoha to continue fighting about her as if she wasn't even there. She needed some time away to process what had just happened, and she knew her continued presence in the house that evening would most likely make things worse between the three of them.

She quietly exited through the front door of the home, and as she was walking down the driveway she retrieved her cellphone from her pocket. She dialed the number to her longtime friend and platoon commander, and she was thankful she was able to catch her on the first try.

"Hayate...? Yeah, it's Fate... Hey, are you busy right now? I was hoping I could talk to you."

oOOOo

~Present Day~

Vivio deposited seventy-five cents into newspaper vending machine outside of Signum's gym to buy a paper. Her mother had kicked her out of the house the previous evening, and she knew she needed to check the want-ads as soon as possible to find a job to support herself.

She entered the gym afterward and left the newspaper on the front counter, and she spotted Signum trying to fix a broken elliptical across the room. As she came closer to her instructor, Signum first nodded her head in greeting, and then stared up at Vivio in confusion.

"Wait, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" she asked.

Vivio stuck her hands in her pants pockets. "My mother kicked me out of the house last night. I have to try to find a job, so I'm probably going to have to drop out of school and MMA. I was just coming by to tell you first."

Signum sighed and shook her head in disappointment before returning her vision to the equipment. "I'd ask what happened, but it doesn't matter. It's been a long time coming anyway."

Vivio fidgeted a little. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Why are you dropping out of MMA?"

"Well, I doubt I'll be able to afford the gym costs. I'm going to have to start paying rent somewhere, I'm sure," Vivio replied.

Signum grunted in acknowledgment and picked up a different tool from her toolbox. "Welcome to being an adult, huh? Well, I hate to see you go."

"Me too. I'm sorry, Signum. I'll still come by and visit when I can, though." Vivio turned to walk out of the gym, and she was about halfway across the room when Signum spoke up again.

"You can still train here, Vivio. We can waive the fees."

Vivio stopped and spun around. "I'm not looking for a handout, okay? I did this to myself. I know that."

Signum stood up from the machine. "I didn't say it was without a price. You can still train here if you take Sieg's place in the tournament in exchange. The gym needs someone to represent them."

Vivio weighed the proposal seriously. She knew it was an incredibly generous offer to come from her instructor, and one she didn't rightly deserve after everything she had done.

"Take it or leave it," Signum added and held her hands out in front of her.

"Okay, I'll do it," Vivio confirmed.

"Another thing, Vivio. You can pick up some weeknight and weekend shifts here if you need the money. Vita wants to become a personal trainer here instead, so I'll need the counter and cleaning help."

"Why are you doing all this for me, Signum? Seriously, I don't get it?" Vivio asked in astonishment.

"This isn't charity, Vivio," she replied. "I expect you to work hard and to produce results. And if you so much as think about screwing this up, you're out of here."

"I won't let you down," Vivio replied.

"You'd better not. Now go to school. I'll ask around today to see if anyone has a room for you to rent somewhere, okay?"

Vivio nodded in compliance and turned away, and she felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She looked down at her watch and noted that classes at school had already started that morning. She knew it was better to just skip the entire day and make up an excuse for the absence, rather than to show up late and risk getting detention.

Even though Signum had offered to try to find her a place to stay, Vivio still felt responsible to look for somewhere to live herself. She grabbed the newspaper from the counter before she exited the gym, and she sat down on a bench to browse the 'rooms-for-rent' section of the classified ads.

Vivio glanced over briefly to the other page after a moment, and noticed an small ad for the gym she knew Einhart trained at. She decided to make a detour there first before she started calling all the ads she had circled in the newspaper.

oOOOo

"Hey, Nove! How's it going?" Vivio greeted as she entered the gym and spotted the girl behind the counter.

"Vivio! Hey, how are you doing? Sorry about the cops the other night at the party," she said. "Man, Genya and Quint were pissed at me yesterday!"

Vivio laughed. "Well, no shit! I probably would be too. Are you going to be holding any more fights there again, or no?"

"Yeah, I was thinking we would in the next few weeks, actually," she replied. Nove's face then fell a little after a moment. "Sorry about Sieg, by the way. That really sucks. I hope the injury didn't ruin her for good or anything."

"Yeah, me too," Vivio replied quietly, and the two paused for a moment in uncomfortable silence. Vivio reminded herself that she needed to call Sieg at some point soon, now that she had the freedom to so.

"Hey, is there any way I can get in touch with Einhart?" Vivio asked next. "I have something I wanted to tell her."

Nove pointed towards the door to the gym. "You can go talk to her right now, actually. She just finished sparring a few minutes ago."

Vivio thanked Nove and stepped away from the counter. When she opened the door, she noticed Einhart standing next to the gym's practice ring, and she was currently taking off her gloves and hand wrapping. Her opponent was sitting on one of the benches by the wall in a daze.

"Hey, Einhart," Vivio said as she approached her.

Einhart looked up at Vivio, and then back and forth between her and the gym door in confusion. "Vivio? What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you. Is this a good time?"

"Well, I was actually just leaving," Einhart replied as she zipped her gym bag and threw it over her shoulder. "You can come with me if you want. I'm just headed home."

"Yeah, that's fine. I'm not doing much right now anyway," she shrugged.

The two said goodbye to Nove as they exited the gym together. "So, you're not in school today?" Einhart asked as they entered onto the street.

"No, not today. I kind of got in trouble with my mom last night, and she kicked me out of the house," she replied. "I'm about to start looking for a place to stay now." Vivio held up the section of the newspaper that had the ads circled for Einhart to see.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said.

"What about you? No school today either?"

"Later this evening. I decided to take night classes, so that I could train during the days. So, you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Yeah, I did. I wanted to tell you that I'm going to be competing in the tournament next month after all," Vivio informed her.

Einhart stopped walking completely, and Vivio didn't notice until she was a few steps ahead of her. She turned around and raised her eyebrows at her.

"Is that okay? Or... no?" Vivio asked.

"Sorry, that just surprised me," Einhart replied, and jogged to catch up to her. "What made you change your mind?"

Vivio shrugged. "It was an agreement I came to with Signum, actually. So that I could continue training at her gym."

Einhart looked to the ground. "Oh. So, it's something you are forced to do then?"

"Well, I guess. But either way, I'll be competing in it. That's something, right?"

"Hmmm..." was Einhart's only response. She continued to avoid eye contact and stared at the pavement as they walked, and Vivio felt a little deflated and confused at her response.

"I'm also going to start working at the gym after school and on the weekends," Vivio continued. "Signum offered me a job there."

Einhart seemed a little bit more receptive after hearing that news. "Well, that's good. I think it will be a positive step for you, Vivio."

"Me, too," she replied.

They walked a short distance from the gym to a nearby apartment complex that was for college students, and Einhart led them to a set of outdoor stairs. The stairs ended at a balcony with two apartment doors facing each other on the second floor. Einhart climbed the stairs and retrieved her keys from her bag while Vivio watched her from the base of them below.

Vivio was about to say goodbye to the girl and walk away, but Einhart stopped her before she could. "Are you coming inside or not?" she asked as she looked down at her from above.

"Huh? O-Oh, right," Vivio stammered as she climbed up the stairs behind her.

Vivio entered into the small, one-bedroom apartment shortly behind Einhart. The living room and kitchen were clean and organized, and the furniture was simple and efficient. Vivio was not surprised at all by the way Einhart's living space was set up.

"Would you like something to drink? Water, or maybe tea? I'm afraid I do not keep alcohol in the house," Einhart informed her guest.

Vivio was a little taken aback at the jab. "Um, water's fine. Thank you."

As Einhart went to retrieve the drinks from the fridge, Vivio sat down on one end of the couch. She was surprised by how comfortable it was despite it's appearance, and she bounced up and down on the cushion. She looked across the room and noticed there was no television where one would usually be present. Einhart reentered into the living room with two bottles of water and sat down in the armchair next to the couch.

"No television?" Vivio asked her.

"No. Do I need one?"

Vivio pointed to effects around the room. "Well, how do you know which direction to point the furniture in without one?" she joked.

Einhart studied Vivio carefully after her comment. She glanced down at the armchair and over to the couch, and then across the room where Vivio had pointed.

"It's fine," Vivio finally said, unable to stand the awkwardness she caused with her joke any longer. "You don't need one. Television is pointless anyway."

"I never have been interested much in it, honestly," Einhart responded. "I've never really had time to watch it."

"So do you live alone?" Vivio asked next.

Einhart nodded. "Yes. I just moved in here about a week ago. I wanted to be closer to the gym and school from where I lived before with my parents."

"How can you afford this place by yourself?"

"Well, I had saved up some money when I worked in high school, and I recently took out some student loans. I just did what I had to do," Einhart replied.

"Well, that doesn't sound like much fun," Vivio commented.

"Life isn't about fun and games all the time, Vivio."

Vivio leaned forward on the couch to pick up a water bottle. "You think I don't know that? I know you think I'm just some fuck-up now, but I wasn't always like this, okay?"

"So what happened that made you what you are today, then?" Einhart asked, and she sat back in the armchair to get comfortable.

"Well..." Vivio began. "I guess things got bad when my mother caught me trying to have sex with my other mother a year ago."

Einhart choked on the water that she had just taken a drink of, and she looked at Vivio harshly as she wiped her mouth. "Don't say weird stuff like that, Vivio! I can't tell when you're joking or not."

Vivio scratched her cheek and smiled a little in embarrassment. "It's actually not a joke. It was my adopted mother, Fate. She, uh... Well, she is a soldier in the military, and things got pretty screwed up when she was on leave last year."

"So was she with your other mother in a relationship? I guess I don't quite understand," Einhart replied.

"No," Vivio shook her head. "My mother, Nanoha, didn't want to be in a relationship with her. She told me once when I was growing up that she didn't want to be a 'soldier's wife', as she put it."

"That must have been hard on Fate, though?" Einhart guessed.

"Yeah, it was," Vivio confirmed. "My mother... She was always dating someone, going from relationship to relationship. Almost like she was trying to prove to herself that she didn't need to be with Fate, you know? Fate would always try to be supportive of her, but I think it nearly killed her inside to see my mother with other people."

"So what about the part about you trying to sleep with her?"

Vivio looked down as she recalled the night that Fate left. "Um..." she began, and she felt the words catch in her throat. She then looked up and smiled uncomfortably at Einhart. "I guess I was trying to give Fate what my mother wouldn't. It seems ridiculous now, but at the time I thought I was trying to help her get past my mother. I wanted to protect her, in a way. I still do."

Einhart shook her head. "I don't think that's ridiculous, Vivio."

"My mother walked in and saw us on the couch together, and Fate ended up leaving that night after a huge fight. We haven't spoken since. It's been a little over a year, and I just kinda gave up after she stopped talking to us."

Einhart abruptly stood up from the armchair she was sitting in. "Thank you for sharing that with me, Vivio. I know it must not have been easy to talk about."

Vivio stood up from the couch in response, and she was unsure if this was a cue for her to leave or not. "Y-Yeah, no problem."

Einhart pointed down at the couch now behind Vivio. "You may sleep there if you wish, at least for now. You can pay for half of the utilities and a portion of the rent, and buy your own food and anything else you need."

"Wait, what?!" Vivio cried in disbelief as she looked behind her. "Are you sure? You barely know me. I don't want to intrude on you or anything."

"It is your decision," Einhart replied. "I could use the help paying bills here."

"Oh. Well, I accept the offer then. As long as you're sure it's okay?"

Einhart turned towards the kitchen. "I would not have offered if it wasn't." Vivio watched as Einhart pulled open one of the drawers beside the sink in the kitchen, and she retrieved something from inside. She held it in her hand as she approached Vivio again in the living room.

"What's this?" Vivio asked as Einhart placed the object in her palm..

"A key to the front door. I'm not here at the apartment very much. Just make sure the deadbolt is locked whenever you leave."

"Right. Well, I guess I should go get some of my things from my mom's house then?" Vivio mentioned awkwardly as she started heading towards the front door. She placed her hand on the doorknob, but paused as she looked back at Einhart.

"Since this is your place, do you have any rules or anything for me?" Vivio asked.

Einhart turned her head to the side in confusion. "Rules?"

"Well, yeah. Things you do or don't want me to do around here?"

"Yes. Pay your bills on time and clean up after yourself," Einhart replied. "If you can't figure out how to take care of yourself after that, then that's your problem."

"Got it," Vivio replied as she pulled open the front door. "I'll see you later, Einhart."

oOOOo

Vivio walked carefully around her mother's spare vehicle that was parked in the garage, and she began searching for containers to pack her belongings in. She eventually located a pile of flattened cardboard boxes behind one of the shelves that ran along the wall. As she slid them out carefully to avoid knocking anything off the shelves, she heard a car door shut outside. A few moments later, she heard the front door open and someone enter into the house.

"Vivio?" her mother's voice called out from inside.

"Damnit..." Vivio muttered under her breath. She had been hoping to avoid seeing her mother that day, but there was no way out of the garage without being detected.

Vivio held the cardboard boxes under one arm as she exited the garage door, and she found her mother standing in the kitchen. Nanoha turned in surprise at the sound of the door opening, and she glanced down at the boxes in Vivio's hands.

"Hey, Mama," Vivio cautiously greeted.

"Your school called and said you were absent today," Nanoha informed her. "I thought I would come check and see if you were here."

"Just for now," Vivio replied. "I'm here to get a few things from my room before I leave. I'll try to get as much out as I can today."

Nanoha leaned against the counter next to her. "You know, Vivio... I was really upset last night when I said what I did. But you are my daughter, and I have a responsibility to make sure you are taken care of. You don't have to leave."

Vivio paused as she contemplated her mother's words, and the boxes shifted a little bit under her arm. She looked past her mother into the unlit kitchen, and visions of happier times with Fate and their time together as a family in that room came to her mind briefly. She shook her head to clear away the thoughts.

"I can't stay here, Mama," she replied quietly.

"Why not?" Nanoha countered.

"Because nothing will change if I do. Fate is never coming back, and it hurts too much to stay here knowing that."

Nanoha looked to the kitchen counter and fought back the tears that were threatening to fall. "I can't change that, Vivio. I'm sorry."

"I am too. Look, I found a job and a place to live. And I can still do MMA. I'll do my best to figure out school, but I'm not sure what's going to happen with it, honestly."

"So, you're really leaving then?" Nanoha asked, and she bitterly wiped away a few tears that manage to escape.

"Yes, I have to."

Nanoha rubbed her eyes and moaned a little in frustration. "God, I can't stand this! How did we even get to this point?"

Vivio set the boxes down on the ground. "Really, Mama? Do you want to have that discussion, or do you just want to avoid it again like we usually do?"

Sapphire eyes flashed when Nanoha pulled her hands away from her face. "What? Is this where you blame me again for her leaving? Just save it, Vivio."

"No. You need to hear this. She deserved better than what you did to her," Vivio replied.

"You think I don't regret everything now? You think that I don't wish everyday that I could go back in time and tell myself to stop being so selfish? Yes, she and I should have been together from the start. But it's too late now, isn't it?"

"I was talking about the way you flaunted your other relationships in front of her the whole time. You didn't even care about her feelings, did you?!" Vivio yelled.

"Well, she certainly paid me back for that, didn't she?!" Nanoha shouted back. "Sleeping with my own daughter in my house... I think that's pretty good revenge, don't you?"

"Yeah, it was," Vivio confirmed, and Nanoha clenched her fists tightly in response. "At least you finally understood what she was feeling all those years."

Nanoha grabbed Vivio's by the arm and glared at her. "Were you really sleeping with her, Vivio? I don't believe that you were, honestly. Just tell me the truth."

Vivio pulled away and picked up the cardboard boxes at her feet. "It doesn't really make a difference now, does it?"

"Just get out," Nanoha growled, and she walked passed Vivio and exited the kitchen towards the living room.

Vivio climbed the stairs and entered her bedroom, she hastily threw her most important clothes and toiletries into one of the boxes. She knew she would have to make time to get the rest of her things later, but she wanted to get out of the house before another argument with her mother could occur.

Nanoha was nowhere in sight as Vivio descended the stairs back into the kitchen. She left the house with her single box of belongings quietly, and she headed back to Einhart's apartment as quickly as she could.

oOOOo

~Afghanistan, Present Day~

Fate was currently in the middle of her graveyard shift at the entrance station to the base when she heard footsteps in the dirt approaching the building. She had just completed her mid-shift checklist when she felt warm arms embrace her from behind.

"Hey, Fate! Guess what? Guess what?!" the familiar voice exclaimed.

"Hey, Ginga! What's up?" she replied as she turned around in her swivel chair to face her friend. Ginga held a piece of paper out in front of her for Fate to see.

"They are sending us home on leave in two weeks! Isn't that awesome?" she replied.

Fate attempted to muster up excitement at the announcement. "Oh, yeah? That's... great."

"Well, that's not quite the response I expected," Ginga frowned.

"Sorry, but you know how it is for me back home."

Ginga placed a hand on her shoulder and met her eyes. "Then come hang out with me at my parent's place. We can keep each other company."

"Well, maybe? How are Genya and Quint doing, by the way?"

"They're good," Ginga replied. "Nove still lives there with them there, too. She's a lot of fun. Come on, just go back with me!"

Fate paused and weighed her options, and the thought of a break from the current tour did sound good. She smiled genuinely at her blue-haired companion in front of her. "Alright then, Ginga. I'm in."


A/N: Well, then... So, I'll update when I can. See you then! ~Nissanity~