Yes, I'm still alive. Here's Chapter 10. There was some technical world-building stuff I had to get to my satisfaction, which is why it took so long. Also college. Then, after typing it up, I spent two to three weeks picking away at it to try to get it 'right'. I'm not sure it's as good as it could be (probably not), but I needed to publish it eventually, so enjoy, and if you spot any plot-holes please point them out for me.

Also, before I forget (again), thanks to Keimarios for recommending this fanfic on TVTropes. And thanks for everyone in general for their support.

Chapter 10: TSABOPINST 6000.1 d

Tuesday, June 3, 0065

"Ooh, ooh, how about George?"

"No, it doesn't feel right."

Zest worked the kinks out of his body as he stood. A couple hours of sleep sounded really good right now.

"Bjor?"

"No. Now put that away, we have work to do."

Zest smiled briefly at the odd banter, then moved in front of the closed door on a whim. He carefully schooled his expression, and waited.

"Come on, just one more~"

"Quint-"

"That's a girl's name, silly! We're doing boy's names."

Zest heard Megane growl and slap the button to open the door. He watched in amusement as the door slid open with neither of the two women aware of his presence. Quint continued to flip through a book, while Megane had her back to him. "Quint can be used as a boy's name." He pointed out.

Megane shuddered, and clutched at her chest. "Wha- Zest! You scared a year of my life out of me!"

Quint giggled, and hefted her armload of books in his direction. "Here, take one and help me out! You can do girl's names," she decided with aplomb.

Bemused, Zest complied, taking a book off the top. "Baby names? Should I be congratulating you, Nakajima?" He knew that she and her husband had been trying for some time before they adopted Subaru and Ginga. Perhaps they had decided to try again with more success-

"Not me, her!" Quint squealed, grabbing Megane by the shoulders.

What.

As Megane eeped and turned red, Zest looked her up and down surreptitiously. She didn't look pregnant. He mentally slapped himself. Of course she didn't. She had probably only found out recently… although he was pretty sure she wasn't seeing anyone at the moment… but she wasn't correcting Quint so…

"Congratulations?" Zest offered tentatively, feeling completely out of his depth. Thankfully Megane, who looked as frazzled as Zest felt, took it with a smile (albeit a stressed one). "When is the baby due?" He asked, as if he hadn't been completely blindsided by this. Well, at least it was a better question than 'So who's the father?'

"December," Megane informed him nervously.

Zest did the math. Three times, just to make sure he hadn't misheard. Three months. Well, now he knew who the father was, but that wasn't important. He'd been leading one of his subordinates into battle for three months without knowing important medical information about one of them…

It had worked out, he reminded himself. But he should have known. It was his job to know about things like this and deal with them. He should have taken precautions, warned the medical personnel… there were probably other things he should have done as well, but he cut the train of thought off early.

He didn't let his self-recriminations show, and instead nodded to Megane and led the way into the workroom. "Nothing new came in last night, so we will continue as we did yesterday."

Quint immediately picked up on the 'we'. "Aren't you going to get some rest, sir?" she asked as she set her books down on her desk.

Zest shook his head. He had intended to, but there was no way he would be able to get any rest until he got some measure of equilibrium back. "I intend to spar briefly with Harlaown this morning to familiarize myself with his skills." And work off some of his newly acquired stress. He nodded to Megane. "We will need to talk further, but I must confess that I need to reread 6000.1 d first. For now we will continue as usual, but I would prefer to have the medical officer's report soon."

Don't overreact, that's the key, Zest knew. Nothing has changed from yesterday, you just know something you didn't before. Wait until you know everything, then decide what changes to make. Balance Megane's safety with her duties. Easy enough in principle.

In practice, he was going to need some advice. Now, there was no way he was going to manage to get some quiet advice from Quint without Megane figuring out what he was doing, so who did that leave?

"Look on the bright side, at least you found out before the twenty week mark," Admiral Harlaown pointed out, clearly amused.

Zest shot her a dirty look. 'At least she didn't wait until she was obligated to tell you two months from now' wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear. He longed to talk to Regius instead, but over the past few years they had become old acquaintances where once they had been close friends, and there was a painful awkwardness to their meetings these days. Besides, he needed advice now, not whenever he could schedule a meeting.

He was somewhat starved of options; he could hardly recall the last time he had spent his free time with someone he didn't work with. Nakajima was right, he needed to get out more. Unfortunately, his best option at the moment was Admiral Harlaown… who he had known for what, a day? Lindy spoke up again, cutting his moping short.

"So is this your first time dealing with this?" Lindy asked more seriously, trying to get a feel for the situation.

"No, though it has been a while," Zest admitted. "But the problem is less that and more the person in question."

"Megane Alpine, yes?" Lindy asked innocently.

Zest's eyebrows rose. "Yes. How did you know?"

"You could call it feminine intuition," Lindy said primly, then chuckled. "But in all honesty your other subordinate was quite happy to ensure that everyone in hearing range knows. So what in particular is the matter with Investigator Alpine?"

While Zest did want the admiral's advice, he was also very aware that there was only so much he could say without encroaching on his subordinate's, and his friend's, privacy. The wounds were still fresh. So he spoke carefully.

"She will be strongly averse to not being with Nakajima and I during combat."

"Not uncommon," Lindy said. "Many people dislike being sidelined, especially workaholics."

Zest grimaced. "Perhaps I didn't phrase that strongly enough. Let me put it this way: I really need to convince her to cease going on field operations when the medics advise it. Or she will insist on coming with us even if she's nine months pregnant."

Lindy raised an eyebrow. "Surely you're exaggerating. I know that when I had Chrono I was more than happy to not have to chase after criminals for the last few months."

"I'm probably exaggerating, but not nearly as much as I wish I was," Zest said gloomily. "She got better about it for a while, but… recent events have caused the tendency to resurface." He said no more on the subject; while he needed an outside opinion, the downside was that he was speaking to an outsider. "I wouldn't normally mind, but…"

"But you are worried about how the pregnancy might affect her?" Lindy guessed.

Zest snorted. "That's the last thing I'm worried about at the moment. Alpine is more competent when she's drunk than most people are when they are sober, and she's won more than one fight when starting with a debilitating injury. I'm more worried about my ability to lead objectively than her ability to fight effectively."

"Oh?"

"I'd prefer she not fight at all until she has the baby," Zest admitted. "She knows the risks, and unless the rules have changed since I last checked she is allowed to continue serving fully for as long as she is capable and willing. I'm willing to trust her judgment. However, in my opinion her child has no place on the battlefield, and the two of them are going to be inseparable for the next six months. I'm not willing to go so far as to command her to follow my wishes on the matter though."

Lindy sighed. "As much as I hate to say it, sometimes there just isn't a simple answer. You really just need to sit down and talk candidly with her. It won't necessarily be easy, but you should be able to compromise with her." She chuckled a little at the dubious flicker that crossed Zest's face. "She has read the rules too, you know, I can almost guarantee she's thought this out more than you have. I'd be willing to bet that she will be more rational about this than you seem to expect. But all the same, I strongly suggest letting the medics have the first and last word on the matter of her capability."

Let the medics take the heat from her when the time comes. Zest liked that plan.

"And a word to the wise: remember that her life doesn't revolve around her pregnancy, at least not until towards the end when it starts getting in the way, when it gets rather annoying that your life seems to revolve around going to doctor's appointments and wishing the baby would hurry up already. I'm speaking from experience here. I imagine that she will appreciate it if you let it slip into the background most of the time."

Chrono entered the room then, ending the conversation. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he apologized to Zest.

"No need to apologize," Zest rumbled. "I should have informed you of my intentions yesterday." Not that he had known he would be doing this, but he wasn't about to admit that. He rose, and bowed slightly to Lindy. "Thank you for the advice." Such as it was anyway. But she did have a point: Alpine was far from blind to her own faults. And she was a sensible person, most of the time. Maybe he was over-thinking this.

"Oh, it was nothing." Lindy demurred. "Trust yourself. You know her best."

Hayate's pencil scratched its way across the pad of paper with deliberate speed. The line wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be. An idea of shape, a hint of texture, don't bother to color. What mattered wasn't the picture on the paper, but the picture in Hayate's head. A hat, a dress. Lace. Bunnies. Red. Lots and lots of red.

Perfect for Vita.

"Okay, I'm ready!" Hayate announced.

If there was one thing Hayate loved about magic (besides her family) it was how utterly awesome doing magic was. Well, she wasn't really, it was more like running a program. The Book was doing the magic. But it looked awesome anyway.

The Book opened, its pages (mostly blank) smoothly and speedily turning.

"Anfangen." The Book's feminine yet mechanical voice intoned.

Hayate read aloud from the page The Book stopped on, glancing repeatedly at her drawing and at the real Vita, who stood before her with her eyes closed. As she spoke, a black triangular sigil that glowed white formed beneath their feet, with Hayate at one of the corners and Vita in the center.

"By the authority bestowed upon me as thy mistress, I bestow upon thee this armor."

The image in her mind shimmered as Vita received it, and the Belkan triangle began to spin and flared red as Vita's magic took over. The redhead's pigtails and bangs floated as if in a breeze, and as the glow intensified Vita's clothes sparkled and dissolved and shifted and…

…And then the light flared and receded and just like that Vita was wearing a red dress with lace and a hat with bunnies on it and holding Graf Eisen at the ready.

Hayate managed to suppress her excited squeal, if only just, and gave Vita a moment to examine herself. "What do you think?" She asked, and watched as Vita took off her hat to get a good look at it. "I can get rid of the hat if you think it will get in the way."

"No!" Vita protested, clutching it to her chest, then flushed. "I like it," she said more calmly. "Thanks Hayate." Vita gave Hayate a tentative hug, which Hayate wholeheartedly returned.

"I'm glad," Hayate beamed. "Thank you for your help," she said to The Book, which returned to her arms once Vita left them.

"Does anyone want anything changed?" Hayate asked as she wheeled around to face her other family members.

The knights declined. "I believe I speak for all of us when I say that your work is excellent, Hayate." Signum said.

While she wasn't one to brag, Hayate had to agree. Signum looked regal in her battle dress, the white of the jacket and waist-attached cape and the purple underarmor working well with the segments of muted grey armor plating. Shamal's green and white dress suited her well, as did her cap. And Zafira's blue tank top and baggy pants were simple but effective, much like his metal gauntlets and boots which carried over to his wolf form.

Pretty good work all around, she congratulated herself.

"Well, let's take some pictures!" Hayate enthused, pulling out her phone. "Smile!"

And they did.

Chrono crouched, tensed. He gripped S2U tightly and ran through Aria's and Lotte's lessons in his mind. Across the room, Grangeitz stood with his spear… glaive… device thing at the ready.

He would have to keep his distance, Chrono knew. His opponent was powerful, experienced, and flight capable. If Grangeitz-

"Start." Grangeitz announced. Chrono immediately flew up and back to give himself more space-

"Full Drive."

Shield! His instincts screamed at him and he listened, but his Round Shield shattered under a single blow from Grangeitz's weapon. The blade, which looked horribly sharp up close, stopped just before it would have sliced him open.

"Finish." Grangeitz announced calmly. "Excellent. Good reflexes and a decent defense." The knight withdrew his weapon.

"E-Excellent?" Chrono stammered incredulously. "But you just- My shield- I barely even saw you move!"

Grangeitz chuckled. "That was my best attack, as strong as I could make it without being unable to stop my swing. I never expected you to win this first round."

"First round?"

The older man nodded. "While informative, this did not teach me much about your abilities," he explained. "The purpose of this was to test your response to a sudden, powerful strike." Chrono frowned in confusion, so Grangeitz elaborated. "The greatest threat to an elite mage like you or I is not a numerically superior foe or a powerful opponent, but an unexpected attack of great strength. It could be an ambush or a desperation attack, or in the worst case scenario an opening salvo from an S-rank or greater mage. Because of the mathematically intensive nature of most common magical systems, it is easy to get used to fighting intelligent, rational enemies that fight 'smarter rather than harder' so to speak…"

"…So when you came at me like that without feeling out my abilities first, I was caught off guard." Chrono concluded. He ran his fingers through his hair and grimaced. "In all honesty, I'm not sure what I would have been able to do even if I had known what you were going to do. I don't have anything with enough stopping power to halt a charge with that much force behind it."

"You would have survived, and likely without losing consciousness, had I followed through, though you would have needed medical attention." Grangeitz assessed. "And I now know that I can trust you to do at least as well in a real combat situation. Don't worry too much about not being able to counter my attack – remember that in actual battle you won't be alone. You might not be able to halt such an attack, but Alpine could have transported you out of the way, or Nakajima could have intercepted me and bought you time to counterattack. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and it is better to identify them now than in the field. And on that note," he raised his device, "this time I want you to attack me. Show me what you can do. Start when you are ready."

Chrono nodded and took a deep breath to center himself.

"Stinger Ray!"

It was a painful reminder of how absurdly vast the difference between Chrono and Grangeitz was that Grangeitz had not even worked up a sweat by the time the training was called to an end. Chrono had eventually realized that the older man's barrier jacket was optimized to deal with barrier-piercing magic attacks after his hits (and he was proud to say he got a few on the knight) had yielded less-than-impressive results. Grangeitz was a physical and magical powerhouse, and an experienced one at that. Chrono got by on skill and cleverness and a good mana supply.

To put it simply, Chrono thought wryly as he left the shower and returned to the locker room, Grangeitz was the worst type of opponent for him. Chrono couldn't move fast enough to prevent him from closing the space between them, he couldn't keep up with him in hand-to-hand, and he certainly didn't have anything that could pin the knight down. Chrono made a mental note to learn some better binding spells, something that would help him keep some much-needed space between himself and close-quarters specialists. Perhaps Struggle Bind might be worth the investment of time after all.

Grangeitz was reading from a projected screen when Chrono joined him out in the hall. Chrono raised an eyebrow at that – they weren't supposed to look over material related to the case in a place where people could just wander by and sneak a peek. But on closer examination, Chrono saw the standardized block letters that were only ever used in operational instructions – or as most people usually called them, rules and regulations. Chrono's eyebrows threatened to disappear above his hairline when he saw the file header: TSABOPINST 6000.1 d.

Or as Chrono knew it, the second thing he'd been forced to read after his mother had given him The Talk. The first had been about sexual relationships and, more importantly, what he as an officer was expected to do and not do relating to them. The second had actually been 6000.1 c, the predecessor to 6000.1 d, and it had been a very comprehensive document about pregnancy. And how it affected the mother and her duties, and the father and his duties, and the commanding officer's responsibilities, and what everyone else was expected to do, and…

Chrono backtracked. Why was Grangeitz reading 6000.1 d?

Grangeitz sighed upon seeing Chrono and closed the screen. "Before we go to our office, you need to know three things," he said. "First, just smile and nod and Nakajima will calm down eventually. Secondly, I have not yet talked with Alpine about how much of her current duties she will continue to perform, so I would prefer you not bring the subject up yet; that is something for the two of us to work out alone."

Chrono nodded. Leave that discussion to Alpine's commanding officer. Fair enough… Well, at least that answered the question of who was going to be a parent.

"Thirdly, you will not inquire about the father," Grangeitz commanded, a palpable aura of menace forming. "He died recently, and if you cause Alpine distress by bringing it up I will ensure that you live to regret it. Am I clear?"

Chrono gulped. "Crystal."

"Excellent," Grangeitz said pleasantly. "Let's get to work then."

"…I'll show you how to stitch a wound closed another time, but other than that I think that's about it." Arf finished. "Yuuno, we're done over here!" She called out across the dojo.

"Really?" Yuuno asked, surprised, as he and Fate walked over to her. "I would have thought it would take longer."

"She's a quick learner," Arf said, causing Nanoha to beam at her. "There are probably a few more things, and she'll need practical experience, but that'll have to wait until she can use both hands."

"Are you sure you can't just 'fwoosh' it better?" Nanoha gesticulated with her healthy arm.

Yuuno gave her a deadpan look. "I'm sure that Physical Heal doesn't 'fwoosh' if that's what you're asking."

Nanoha pouted.

"You'll understand shortly," Yuuno promised. "Do you want to move back into the house or stay here? I'll be talking for a while before we actually do anything."

"Here is fine," Fate said before flushing. "I mean, if nobody minds…"

"No, I don't mind," Nanoha was quick to reassure her. Yuuno smiled as well, but privately wondered why she wanted to sit on the hard wooden floor when there was a nice soft couch in the house. Although, come to think of it, the Garden of Time had been very dark, stony and oppressive even if it was spacious. In contrast, the dojo was much brighter and more open.

Once Arf was done repacking her medical kit, the four of them sat in a circle on the wooden dojo floor.

"There are three general ways to use magic to heal," Yuuno began. "The first is to use magic to supplement first aid. For example, if you don't have a stretcher then you could levitate someone with a back injury so that you don't hurt them when you move them."

"Ah, like when Nanoha used binds to splint her arm?" asked Arf.

"Exactly," Yuuno nodded. "It isn't exactly what you might usually think of when someone says 'healing magic' but it can be very effective. I can show you a few tricks, but using your imagination is often the key. Now, the second way is, of course, healing spells. The third way is Shamal's way; high powered diagnostic spells and specific treatments for specific problems. It's the sort of magic that a doctor or a surgeon would use, although I suspect that Shamal is much more capable than the average doctor. It's certainly beyond what I can do, so I'll focus more on the generic healing spells."

He looked around to see if there were any queries; hearing none, he continued.

"Healing spells are just like most spells in that most people can do them, but it takes a certain amount of talent to achieve true proficiency. You three don't have a great knack for support magic, at least not compared to your offensive magic, so while one of you having a talent for healing isn't completely out of the question you shouldn't expect this to be easy to learn." Yuuno cautioned.

Yuuno was pleased to see that his students weren't dissuaded in the slightest.

"Now, a healing spell provides the body with energy it can use to heal itself by either breaking or bending the laws of physics, depending on the spell." He scratched his head. "Well, perhaps laws of biology might be a better description, but you get the idea. Some spells boost cell replication, others create tissue in a mana-to-flesh conversion process. I think it should be fairly obvious that the second one is a great deal more energy intensive, but also faster at restoring full functionality.

"On the other hand, accelerating the body's natural processes uses the body's resources… and the body has only so much available. Which means that the healthier the person you want to heal is, the better it works, while if you are trying to heal someone who is starving or sick there is a risk that they might… run empty. At which point the body starts to cannibalize itself to fuel the healing…"

All three of his students shuddered at that. Yuuno smiled weakly. "It normally is only a danger with extreme injuries and very sick patients. You just need to use your judgment to decide. There are non-magical healing methods as well, and sometimes they could be preferable to magical ones for any number of reasons. Don't worry about it too much, it isn't something you will be running into any time soon, if ever."

"Which is Physical Heal?" Nanoha asked, trying to change the subject.

"Somewhere in between," Yuuno replied. "Physical Heal is a very flexible, if not particularly powerful, spell. I normally fabricate an extracellular framework but let the body do the rest with accelerated growth." He paused. "I should warn you, it can be very mentally intensive to create flesh. It's really complicated, especially if there are more than a few types of tissues involved. I can try to teach you to do it later on, but it's probably best to stick to just boosting the body's healing mechanisms. There's less chance of things going… wrong."

They agreed readily, not particularly wanting the gory details.

"Now, how much work the caster has to do depends on the injury, of course, but it also depends on how the magical the hurt person is. It would be much easier for me to heal Nanoha than Miyuki, because Nanoha has a functioning linker core which can do some of the work for me, while Miyuki does not. This method of healing has another effect: the energy that isn't used, and there is always some, no matter how focused the healer or magical the patient, that energy remains in the tissue once you are finished healing."

Yuuno looked at Nanoha. "This build-up makes healing the area much harder, as it interferes with further spells. For a flesh wound, the build-up would dissipate fairly quickly. Cartilage and bone, however, holds the energy for months. That's why I haven't healed your arm; I'm simply not skilled enough to heal it more than once every three months, so I'd rather only do it when necessary. Also, it would be rather hard to explain to the doctor."

Nanoha humphed out of principle.

"There's just one more thing you need to keep in mind," Yuuno said solemnly, "and that is that healing spells only restore structural integrity. As such, there are some things they can't fix. No matter how good you get, you won't be able to cure diseases or strengthen weak body parts or restore sanity. There's a reason that MidChilda has vaccines and physiotherapy and psychiatrists still. And no magic can bring back the dead."

Yuuno was a little worried about how Fate might respond to that, but he felt obligated to make it absolutely clear. Some things just couldn't be done.

Fate looked a little uncomfortable at the reminder of her mother, but she didn't flinch, which Yuuno felt was good.

"…The living are what matters." Arf said quietly, giving Fate's hand a squeeze.

"Well said." Yuuno nodded. "Now, let's move on to the basic spell."

The green light of his magic flared, a MidChildan circle floating above his hand. Nanoha, Fate, and Arf looked at it intently while Yuuno stripped the symbols off of it to hover in midair.

"These are the equations that I use; you may want to tweak them to suit you. This first one should be familiar to you – it just describes a 'neutral', steady stream of mana…"

"What is the significance of a 'birthday'?"

Hayate took a moment to process that, then responded appropriately.

"What."

"A birthday," Shamal repeated.

Hayate very carefully did not react negatively and instead she scrambled for a good way to put it. It wasn't that unreasonable. Her knights had not been 'born' in the traditional sense, nor did they age. Maybe in the future she could throw them some kind of 'materialization day' party or something.

"It's the anniversary of the day someone was born." Hayate responded, her hopes of Shamal understanding easily dying a quick death when Shamal emoted interest instead of comprehension. "People celebrate becoming a year older... Friends and family give gifts... There's usually some kind of special food, like cake, though when girls turn seven and boys turn five Thousand Year Candy is traditional…" Hayate trailed off, unsure what else to say.

Shamal considered that. "So you… celebrate your continued survival once a year?"

"Yeeeessssss, technically," Hayate said hesitantly. "But I don't think that's the usual focus…"

"What an interesting idea!" Shamal exclaimed delightedly. "Would you tell me more about these presents?"

And as simple as that, the nice relaxing journey back home from the library became a question and answer game, with Hayate struggling to convey the idea behind something she had always taken more or less for granted. The idea that the thought behind a present is more important than the present itself was particularly tricky to explain to Shamal – apparently the closest gift-giving event she could recall was a knighting ceremony, when the new knight received his weapons and armor. The quality of the gift was rather important when your life might depend on it.

It was only when they reached the apartment door that Hayate thought to ask what brought on this line of inquiry.

"Oh, Dr. Ishida called and left a message on my phone when we were in the library." Shamal said blithely as she followed Hayate inside. "She said she wanted to invite us out to dinner after your appointment since your birthday is tomorrow."

"It is?" Hayate said, bewildered, but a quick glance at her phone confirmed that today was, indeed, June 3, and she would be turning nine tomorrow. She had nearly forgotten her own birthday. "Huh. It is. I'll call her and tell her we'd be happy to join her."

While all of the Wolkenritter had cell phones, their telepathic network was easier, faster, and less expensive to use. As a result, the other three knights had finished up their shopping and moved onto the newest item on their 'to do' list. It was a distressingly vague mission, but like all of their duties they approached it as the serious matter that it was.

Shopping for birthday presents, as was apparently expected of family members.

"Remember," Signum said to Vita and Zafira, "anything you obtain must be small enough to fit into the apartment and easy to move into Hayate's house without magic. We should also minimize expenditure."

For Vita, it was simple. Thinking like a young girl with an absurd amount of power but relatively few personal possessions was easy considering that she did it every waking moment. Five minutes and one cuddle-able toy later, she was done.

Shamal, on the other hand, felt that any gift she might have them buy would be meaningless compared to her most important project: restoring Hayate's ability to walk. It was a long-term project that might take months or years, but the Wolkenritter agreed that Hayate would probably appreciate it more than any object.

Signum and Zafira, however, had little success, and after an hour of aimless wandering they finally sent Vita home ahead of them with their purchases.

"Do you suppose she would want to learn archery?" Signum asked somewhat rhetorically.

"About as much as she wants body armor, I suspect." Zafira responded, referring to one of his suggestions which Signum had debunked. "But I think she would agree to do it, if only because she likes spending time with you." Zafira said.

"Really?" Signum said dubiously. "She spends more time with Vita and Shamal usually."

Zafira chuckled. "They are adapting to peace better than we are, I think. Hayate hasn't quite figured out how to relate to us yet."

Signum sighed. "She shouldn't have to relate to us. We're the Wolkenritter."

"Doesn't mean she doesn't want to," Zafira pointed out. "And it doesn't mean she can't. She isn't merely different from normal. I'm pretty sure we've had kind masters before, but she has completely different priorities."

"Try to be a family, try to fit in more, try not to kill anyone…" Signum shook her head. "To a certain degree, I wish she would just give us orders. It would be easier that way. Taking the initiative like this, even to follow previous requests from her, is… strange."

"You'll manage. You always do."

Her mouth twisted up into a wry smile. "Sometimes I wonder if it's even possible for someone like me to adapt to a world where nothing is trying to kill us."

"The only thing that I doubt you are capable of is buying presents," Zafira said with a smile.

Signum took the unusual compliment in the spirit that it was meant.

"…Signum, I don't think we're going to find anything."

"Vita did."

"That was over an hour ago," Zafira pointed out. "If we stay out too long Hayate will worry."

Signum looked around at the shops, hoping for something to leap out at her. No inspiration struck.

"It shouldn't be this hard."

But it was, which was why Vita had already been sent back. Zafira waited patiently while Signum wrestled with the problem.

"We'll try one more thing before giving up," Signum said hesitantly, fishing a piece of stiff paper out of her pocket. From the way she looked at it, it might as well have been a snake.

But she pulled out her phone and dialed the number written on it anyway.

"Hello, this is Shirou Takamachi. May I ask who is calling? Signum?" Shirou raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected her to call him quite this soon. "What can I help you with?"

Inevitably, thoughts that had saved his life during his youth bubbled up as Signum spoke. This was quite possibly a trap. He should bring his weapons, in case he was forced to battle. Another part of him reminded him that he was older and slower than he used to be, and that magical body armor was probably more than a match for his blades. If it was a trap, he was as good as dead either way. But a weapon might give him a fighting chance, though, even if it was a small one.

But Shirou also knew that if this was not a trap, then the correct response was to go unarmed and strengthen the bonds of trust in the hopes of developing a better relationship with the knights. He had given Signum his number because he had once been in a similar situation: a warrior without a war. He had wanted to help her acclimatize to a lifestyle not centered around mincing people. If he wasn't going to take her request for help at face value, why had he bothered?

So even though shopping for presents wasn't exactly what he had expected Signum to ask him to help her with, he agreed to meet up with her. He told Momoko what he was doing, checked up on the kids (who were apparently learning to heal by discussing calculus, which still seemed strange to him) and drove to the shopping center where Signum and Zafira were waiting.

"Thank you for coming," Signum said tightly. Shirou understood; he had, years back, been in a similar position, except he had been looking for a ring for Momoko rather than a birthday present. Signum's pride was probably stinging.

"It was no trouble," Shirou demurred. "In fact, I believe I would like to buy her a present as thanks for her recent help, if you would be willing to give it to her?"

He didn't need to point out that that would allow Signum and Zafira to screen the gift for traps.

As he walked beside them, Shirou resisted the urge to interrogate them. He was no Batman or Sherlock Holmes, but he would still be able to glean some information about their personalities and circumstances by striking up conversation with them. He didn't. His goal here was to improve his standing with the knights from 'kill him first next time' to… well, pretty much anything else would be an improvement. And they might be a little socially inept, but they weren't stupid.

So the only question he asked was what ideas they had had. Zafira's idea of body armor wasn't that helpful, but it was an easy leap from armor to clothes. Shirou helped Zafira pick out a few nice shirts, blouses, and the like, advising the two knights that jewelry and clothes were always acceptable gifts for girls as long as the items were tasteful. On the way to the check-out counter Shirou picked up some floral-themed hairclips (prepackaged to reduce worries) and a pretty necklace, which was much more appropriate as a 'thank you' for saving Yuuno's life. Hopefully it would pass muster with Hayate's bodyguards, but if not then at least the hair clips would probably get through.

After paying, the three of them, continued their slightly tense, mostly silent journey, with their goal this time being the nearest bookstore. It was mostly a guess on Shirou's part, as knowing that Hayate had one (probably magical) book didn't prove that she liked to read, but Signum managed to find something she deemed acceptable (she didn't tell him what and he was afraid to offend her by peeking) so everything worked out.

One incredibly awkward parting and an uneventful drive home later, Shirou finally relaxed. On reflection, the outing would have been extremely boring were it not for the risk of being eviscerated looming over him the entire time. As a 'getting-to-know-you' exercise it was an utter failure, but considering that he had been helpful and was currently in one piece, Shirou tentatively called the outing a success.

Not that he put it quite like that when he told Momoko about it. No need to make her fret over what might have been.

Lindy sighed, glad she had the chance to talk to him so that she could warn him ahead of time. It was much better to talk with her now than to argue publicly with his team later. "It's just a possibility, though a very real one. Alpine could easily be remaining on combat duty for a few more months."

"But why?" Chrono asked. "I mean, I know that it is technically allowed, but nobody I've ever worked with has wanted to go into a firefight while carrying a child. Alpine is certainly capable from what I've heard, but it is an unnecessary risk."

"No, it isn't." Lindy sighed again. "It's discouraged for weaker mages to do so, but once you start dealing with A-rank and higher the policy is flipped. Think about it. One A-rank mage is worth more than this ship's entire complement of enforcers, yourself excluded. And A-rank and stronger mages are rare. We maybe, maybe, have a couple for every Administered world. And for whatever reason, most are female. And we need them all. We can't afford to turn them away. If she can fight and she wants to fight, then we let her because elite mages are the backbone of the TSAB."

Chrono nodded grudgingly, obviously still disquieted. But he knew the statistics, even if he rarely had cause to think about them. Even on Mid-Childa, where 999 out of 1000 children had enough magical ability to cast spells, only 1 mage in 10 had significant strength. Out of those, perhaps 1 in 100 trained in combat magic, and then only a small fraction of those joined the TSAB. Most recruits never made C, only a few reached B. Most B-rank mages eventually made A-rank, but more than that?

Grangeitz was the only S-rank mage Chrono had ever met. And having fought the knight, Chrono felt that in a fight between a battalion and Grangeitz, Grangeitz would win handily. Magic endowed individuals with enormous personal power, and when a criminal with that kind of power showed up the best, if not the only, response was to send in someone with a similar sort of strength.

But try as he might, Chrono couldn't quite convince himself that the same principle applied to the pregnant Alpine.

"I understand," Chrono said. "But I don't like it."

Lindy smiled. "I would be disappointed if you did. But it isn't as if we're throwing her carelessly into battle – the reasons we are willing to let her continue to fight also necessitate that we pull her out when the risk becomes greater than we are willing to accept. The TSAB takes good care of its aces." Schooling her expression, she continued. "You should not get involved. This is something for her commanding officer and the medical officers to discuss with Alpine. Let them handle it and come talk to me if you have a problem, but don't argue with Alpine or Grangeitz about it." She smiled wryly. "Of course, this all becomes a moot point if Grangeitz talks her into standing down for the next six months. I just want to make sure you aren't surprised by the possibility."

Chrono nodded. "Grangeitz already told me to let him handle it. Also to avoid causing Alpine distress. And he warned me that Nakajima was excited about this, but I made the mistake of not taking that one as seriously as the other two." Which was to say that Nakajima turned from a cool, competent, if playful and informal, investigator to a six year old with a sugar high whenever the subject came up. It was rather disconcerting.

Lindy chuckled. "Yes, she is rather… expressive." Changing subjects, she asked Chrono about the investigation.

"Nothing so far," Chrono shrugged. "Grangeitz and Alpine are working on the other half of the case while Nakajima and I are trying to dig up leads in our limited information about Earth. Aria and Lotte will be helping us try to research Earth in the Infinity Library.

Lindy winced sympathetically.

"If nothing else, we'll at least be able to interview them," Chrono sighed. "We could really use a new Head Librarian. The Library just gets worse and worse every time I visit."

"Leti tells me that nobody wants the job," Lindy sighed. "And I can hardly blame them. Organizing the sum total of the TSAB's written knowledge would take more dedication than the pittance of a salary attached to the position instills in people. She's planning on getting a better benefits package for it and raising it a couple of pay grades, but she has to get permission first and it isn't going quickly. There will probably be someone this time next year, but for now you're on your own."

"I can't do that."

The words were out of Megane's mouth before she even thought them, but the truth of them was undoubtable. She couldn't. Not wouldn't. Not shouldn't. Couldn't. And she hated it.

When Zest nodded, an understanding look on his face, Megane felt like collapsing with relief.

"Then I will allow you to take part in field operations until the medical staff on this vessel judge the risk to be too great," Zest told her.

"Thank you," Megane said, and she meant it. Even knowing that eventually she would have to stand back, even knowing that nothing would go wrong and Zest and Quint could deal with anything, this was a huge relief to her. She wasn't ready. She didn't think she could handle not going with them, not having any control over the situation. She wasn't sure she would ever be ready, but she knew that six months of sitting back and hoping that her friends didn't come back in body bags was more than she could handle.

"I will be honest and say that I am uncomfortable with this," Zest said gently. "But I trust in your abilities, so I will try to be objective. That said, I would very much prefer you to take on a support role when possible."

Megane smiled weakly. "Fair enough. I'll let Harlaown pick up the slack. And… I might have a new contribution to the team if Garyuu is mature enough."

Zest's brow furrowed as he considered that. "That is the child-size, humanoid one, yes?"

"Adult-sized, or rather he will be." Megane corrected. "He should be fully grown shortly. He needs experience, but he is stronger than most humans, can fly, and is able to become invisible."

Zest nodded. "Let me know when he is ready."

Megane nodded. "You know that I'm not doing this to put the little one in danger, right?" She said, suddenly worried. "I just… I can't… It's stupid and irrational, but I just can't… I mean, I feel like I'm failing as a mother and my child isn't even born yet…" She slammed her fist into the nearby bulkhead, tears of frustration welling in the corners of her eyes. This wasn't fair, blast it.

"I understand," Zest put his hand on her shoulder supportively. "And I think that you are a strong woman who wants to protect the things she cares about more than anything. Your fears might not be entirely rational, but they aren't baseless either, and I know that they are very real to you. You, I and Nakajima, we'll work through this together. You aren't alone, and you never will be. It will be alright."

"I know," Megane whispered tiredly. She was sick of worrying, or doubting, of feeling like the universe was out to get her. She knew that things would work out, that her friends were strong, that her child would survive, that the world wasn't going to drop out from under her feet again, but still… "But it doesn't help me believe it."

"Then we'll make you believe it," Quint said gently but firmly as she approached her teammates. "It'll take time, but you'll get there and you're worth it to us."

"Spying on me again, Quint?" Megane sniffed, but there was no rancor in it.

"Of course, dear," Quint said, and wiped a tear of her friend's face. "How else will I know when you and Zest finally put aside your silly 'no dating coworkers' rule and hook up?" She smiled and tapped Megane on the nose with her wet index finger to show that she wasn't serious. "Now, I'm using my prerogative as the most socially capable of the three of us to drag you two to dinner with me and my family. Harlaown's got the night shift and neither of you have a social life, so don't even try to weasel out of it. We're going to spend some quality time together and eat some good food and the two of you are going to have fun, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Zest said with a smile.

Megane just giggled. What would she ever do without Zest and Quint?

In the back of her mind, she felt again the fear that haunted her. What would (could) she do without them (with nobody left) if (when) they died (and it was all her fault)?

Quint grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the door and the fear faded. There was nothing to worry about, Quint was right here and Zest was right behind them. Everything was good.

(for now)

Author's Note:

No, Megane doesn't have a split personality or anything. She just has issues, the cause of which I think it is (finally) appropriate to expound upon next update. She's aware of her problems, and she and her friends are trying to work through them, but it isn't a fast or easy process. The only thing that is holding her back is herself, and she can't seem to do anything about it. And that can be intensely, painfully frustrating. The crux of the matter is that you have to face your fears… and for some people that can be very difficult.

Courage is contextual.

On that note, am I the only one who feels like the plot is moving at the speed of molasses? Well, at least it's moving, which is better than the alternative. Still…

I've been finding that Zest is fairly easy to write (he's a normal guy, more or less, if a bit of an introvert) and that Quint is fun to write (she is perhaps the most normal person in the entire cast, between her lack of dead loved ones, her stable, loving family, and her ability to actually socialize with people and enjoy it. She can actual get excited about things and have fun without any trouble whatsoever. If it weren't for the cyborg children I'd almost think she was hiding something) and that Megane is hard to write well, but when I get it right it can really work (it just barely convinces me that the vast amounts of editing and re-editing and re-re-editing and re-re-re-re-re-re-editing of her scenes isn't a complete waste of time).

I would say that I second-guess myself over the quality of Megane's scenes more than any of the other ones.

Now, I do have some more material ready, but it's just 3 to 4 pages of Jail and Numbers stuff which I'll probably turn into a mini-chapter which will go in the chapter after next. So there will be a wait while I write up the next chapter, but hopefully it won't be quite as long as the wait for this chapter.

This chapter's title comes from OPNAVINST 6000.1 c, which I read because I had no idea how the military deals with pregnancy. I took what I learned and did my best to make it fit with the quirks of a magitech military thingy like the TSAB. The other thing that took a lot of work was the healing stuff, which I hope was comprehensible. As always, please let me know if I royally screwed up somewhere.