The next morning found myself sore but in an otherwise good mood. Mikasa and I were up well into the night, cleaning and sorting through her ruined museum. We'd actually managed to get the pieces back for quite a few ships, and it looked like they'd be able to be fixed fairly easily. And by some miracle, we even found her model of the Yukikaze absolutely untouched underneath a few overturned shelves. However, a vast majority of the models were beyond repair, although at that point, it had gotten so late we decided to call it a night and come back the next day.

On a hunch, I woke up early and headed out the door a full hour before I was expected to show up at my office. A quick stop by the galley to grab a coffee, a green tea, and two breakfast sandwiches to go and I was off again. This time, arriving at Mikasa's Model Museum just as she was unlocking the front door.

"Busted," I jokingly admonished her, much to her surprise.

"How did you…?" she managed to say, after staring at me as if I were a ghost.

"You had a look in your eyes last night when we closed up, that you weren't really done with it yet. Had a feeling you'd be back before everyone got to work, so I thought I'd help. And bring breakfast."

She eyed the meals I'd brought with me and raised an eyebrow. "What if I already ate breakfast?"

"The thought had occurred to me, but if I showed up with breakfast for me, but not you and you hadn't had breakfast, I would be a jerk. I'd rather err on the side of caution and have an extra breakfast rather than be inconsiderate."

"Or you could have offered to split the one breakfast with me," she noted with a bemused grin. As I was stammering, trying to find some sort of reply, she continued. "But I do appreciate the thoughtfulness."

"Oh. Uh, you're...you're welcome," I managed to blurt out.

"Come on," she smiled, holding the door open for me. "The back office should be clean enough to eat out of."

As it happened, the back office had escaped much of the destruction relatively intact, and I dragged a chair in front of Mikasa's desk as she cleared off space for both of us. Once I made sure we each got our proper meal and drink, I took a seat and finally took a sip of my coffee. "So," I began cautiously, not wanting to upset her, "If you don't mind me asking, did you ever find out what happened to cause...all this?"

Mikasa nodded and set her tea down on the desk. "Mutsuki activated the self-destruct system. Don't know how, I tried to put it out of range of the kids, but…"

I held up my hand to forestall her train of thought. "Hold on. You have the museum wired to self-destruct?"

She looked at me as if it was completely normal to wire a priceless model collection with a kill switch. "Of course."

"Why?"

"Well, I don't want my precious models of all the kids falling into the wrong hands," she huffed. "The thought of some grubby Purifier or Tester getting a hold of them…" A shudder ran through her and she emphatically shook her head. "No no no, better to have the self-destruct system in place rather than risk that."

While I could certainly understand her concerns, I did think it may have been a bit...excessive to go so far as to install something like that. And considering I didn't want to see Mikasa so distraught ever again, I decided to strike a compromise. "That's understandable, but perhaps we could work something out where you don't have to install a self-destruct system that one of the destroyers could get to?"

Mikasa looked nonplussed as she thoughtfully chewed on her grilled salmon, but nodded slowly. "What did you have in mind?"

"In the event of invasion, the base does have protocols regarding the elimination of essential facilities and documents. I could simply slip the Museum onto that list. It should only take a minimum amount of time and effort to destroy it and thus deny the enemy access to the museum."

Her amber eyes gazed out into the middle distance as she thought it over, idly tapping the chopsticks against her lips. After a few moments, her eyes refocused on me and she nodded curtly. "Agreed. I'll leave the self-destruct system disconnected and trust that you'll put it on the list."

"You have my word on it," I declared, my hand on my heart. "Hopefully we'll never have to put those plans into action, though."

"Absolutely. And don't think this is any sort of judgment on your leadership ability, Commander," she quickly added, "I just like to be prepared for any sort of eventuality."

I smiled and shook my head as I washed down the last bit of my breakfast sandwich. "I get you. I'm the same way. Expect the unexpected, especially against the Sirens."

Mikasa nodded and took another sip of her tea. "Speaking of plans, any more ideas about what to do with your upcoming free time?"

I was about to sigh and shake my head when I suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Actually, if it's alright with you, I'd like to help fix the museum."

A surprised look crossed her face as she raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" she coolly asked. "Surely there's other things you want to do beyond help out an old kansen clean up her museum."

"Of course I'm sure," I said with a smile. "You need all the help you can get, and I just wouldn't feel right if I was off relaxing while you were here toiling away by yourself."

She thought it over for a moment, then smiled a familiar smile. I'd seen that smile before, during fleet exercises. It was the smile she always gave someone who underestimated her, right before she mopped the floor with them. "Alright. On one condition."

"Shoot."

"Build a model with me."

I suddenly found myself on the back foot, wondering at just what game she was playing. "What?"

"You can't fire on all four boilers all the time," she smiled softly. "You need to take a break once in a while, or you'll burn out. And you said you've built models before, correct?"

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts," she declared. "If you want to help, that's my price."

The determined look in her amber eyes told me I would have no choice but to accept her terms if I wanted to keep helping her. "Just to make sure we're clear on this," I said slowly, "I haven't built a model in years."

"Uh-huh."

"And never one that would equal yours."

"Okay."

"And you still want me to help you with building a model?"

"Of course!" she said with a warm smile. "It's not for display, it's for fun. To relax. And I'll be here every step of the way with you to help out."

My fears allayed, I finally nodded my assent. "Alright, then," I sighed. "So what's the model gonna be?"

"That's for you to decide."

I pondered my choices for a moment. I could go with a more modern ship like Shokaku or Zuikaku, or someone powerful like Bismarck, or get some representation for the Eagle Union with Enterprise or Intrepid. In the end, I decided on something a bit more...vintage, but no less impressive. "How about the Mikasa?"

Her face flushed a beet red as she nearly choked on her tea. "M-me?" she stammered. "Why me?"

"Your idea, for starters," I shrugged, "And since you'll be helping me, I can't think of anyone who knows you better than, well...you."

Mikasa grappled with the idea for a few moments, the debate as plain as day on her face. In the end, she gathered up her resolve and gave me a determined nod. "Very well, Commander. I believe I still have that model of myself somewhere in the back room. We'll get started tonight after work."

I held up my coffee cup in a toast. "To new ventures."

Mikasa mirrored my gesture, tapping her cup against mine with a smile. "To relaxing."

I was still nursing my coffee by the time I made it to my office. To my surprise, I wasn't the first one there that morning. Shokaku, Zuikaku, and Soryu were all gathered around the door, anxiously awaiting my arrival.

"Is there some sort of meeting that I wasn't aware of?" I asked as I tried to keep my voice light and casual.

"We need to ask a favor of you, Commander," Zuikaku announced.

My curiosity piqued, I shooed them aside so I could unlock the office door and usher them all inside. Once we were all in, I shut the door behind me and sat at my desk, hoping the three kansen would follow suit. They did not, choosing to stand as they surrounded the desk in a semicircle. "This seems important…" I stated.

"You need to make Mikasa your secretary!" Zuikaku blurted out, much to everyone's surprise.

While Shokaku and Soryu gaped at their junior, I managed to keep a relatively straight face, leaning back in my seat as I coolly raised an eyebrow. I waited for a moment as Zuikaku continued to anxiously stare at me.

After a few silent seconds, I finally said, "I don't take well to demands regarding who is and isn't assigned as my secretary, but out of sheer morbid curiosity...why?"

"Because we need you to keep her out of the way while we prepare a surprise for her!"

I sighed and looked over at Shokaku, who graced me with a calm, soft smile and explained things a bit better than her over-eager sister. "Pardon my sibling, Shikikan," she began, "But we're trying to organize a surprise for Mikasa and we need her...otherwise occupied so she won't stumble across it by accident."

Now my curiosity was well and truly piqued. "What kind of surprise?"

"We're trying to rebuild her model museum."

I have to admit, I was surprised and more than a little bit touched that they were willing to go so far for Mikasa. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have been quite so surprised, given their devotion to the former Combined Fleet flagship. "That's a very admirable goal, but I do have a few concerns. For starters, I've already agreed to help her clean up the model museum, and even if I hadn't, wouldn't it look odd that I'd be pulling her from something important to her to act as a temporary secretary?"

That gave all three kansen pause, and I saw all of them pause and ponder this sudden obstacle. In the end, it was Zuikaku who spoke up first. "Well...how long do you think it'll take to clean up the museum?"

I ran the numbers in my head and answered, "If she stays on-track for how much she's cleaned already, with my help, probably another day or two."

"How about this: when you and her finish getting the place cleaned up, invite her on as your secretary? Tell her Soryu had to go on some sort of special assignment and you'd love to have her as a temporary replacement."

"That...sounds reasonable," I slowly nodded. "Yeah, I think that can work. You have no problems waiting, then?"

All three of them emphatically shook their heads. "We need to get replacement models for the ones that were lost and figure out which ones could be salvaged," Shokaku replied. "It'll probably take a few days to get those replacements in, along with enough supplies."

"Even so, it'll probably take you guys a while to finish things…"

The elder crane smiled proudly. "It's not just us, Commander. All of the Sakura Empire girls are pitching in to get things fixed as quickly as possible."

"Mikasa is more than just a grand veteran," Soryu chimed in, adjusting her glasses. "She is a symbol of the glory and majesty of the Sakura Empire, a sign that we can conquer all if we believe strongly enough in our convictions. When she is hurt, the Empire hurts with her, and we will do all we can in our power to help out any way we can."

Sometimes I forgot just how powerful of a symbol Mikasa could be at times. Her caring, doting nature and humble demeanor often made one forget that she was such a powerful veteran of dozens, if not hundreds of battles. She helped the Sakura Empire rise to prominence and was an enduring icon of those early struggles. The War God, indeed…

"Alright, I'll do it," I agreed. "This is important to you, it'll help her out, and honestly, I think she would be really happy to see everyone coming together like this."

Zuikaku happily hopped up and down, Shokaku smiled softly, and even Soryu seemed mildly pleased by my answer. "Excellent, Commander!" Zuikaku grinned and gave me a thumbs-up. "Just keep her busy and we'll do the rest. You won't regret a thing, I promise!"

"I'll hold you to that, Zuikaku…"

That night, Soryu and I managed to finish up early again and I headed out to keep my appointment with Mikasa. Once again, I found her in her museum, diligently cleaning, although it wouldn't be fair to call them "ruins" anymore. She'd done an amazing job so far in getting things cleaned up, and while she'd certainly need a hand with disposing of the larger display cases and shelves, there wasn't much else for us to do in the way of cleaning.

Mikasa looked up from her broom and dustpan and smiled broadly as she saw me. "Good evening, Commander! How was your day?"

"It went well enough, I guess," I sighed as I picked up a broom and began to sweep with her. "The usual mountain of paperwork and reports. Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying the quiet, but sometimes it feels like I'll go insane if I have to fill out one more requisition form in triplicate."

She laughed, the sound warm and mellow, as she continued to clean. "Without robust logistics, even the mightiest fleets will turn into a disorderly mob," she playfully admonished me. "But it can get quite a bit monotonous, I agree. Perhaps you should do something to break the tedium?"

"Like what?"

"Maybe host a competition for the fleet, some sort of fun exercise, something everyone can get involved in."

The more I thought it over, the more the suggestion appealed to me. Not only would I have something beyond dry expenditure reports, we could use it as cover for the Sakura girls' restoration of the museum. "That sounds like a good idea," I said slowly as if I was still unsure about it. "Would you want to lead the Sakura forces to victory once more?"

"No, no," she quietly demurred, "I think it would be better to let one of the youngsters take charge of the Sakura. Perhaps Zuikaku or Shokaku…"

I stopped and leaned against my broom, pretending to give it some thought. "Probably rotate Soryu out for the exercise as well, so she and Hiryu can stretch their legs." I paused another second before focusing my gaze on Mikasa. "Would you mind filling in for her if we do the exercise?"

As expected, she cast a conflicted glance around the room, and I quickly added, "It'll take a day or two to get things set up, so we should have time to at least finish with the cleanup and getting all of the cases replaced, or at the very least, removed."

Her objection addressed, she nodded once and gave me a confident smile. "Alright, then, I'm in. Just say when and I'll be there for you, Commander."

To this day, I'm not sure why, whether it was her tone, her words, the sincerity in her voice, or a combination of both, but when she said she would be there for me, I knew in my heart she meant it, and I took great comfort in that. "Thanks, Mikasa," I earnestly replied. "That means a lot to me."

She smiled back for a moment, before she caught the look on my face and the tone in my voice. The veteran peered searchingly at me and asked, "Are you alright, Commander?"

"Huh?" I quickly realized I'd gotten lost in my own memories and shook my head to clear any errant thoughts. "Sorry, sorry, it's just...it's been a while since I've had someone say they'd be there for me."

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. "Commander, you have to know everyone in this fleet is here for you."

"Of course I do!" I shot back a little more defensively than I had intended. "But it's been a while since someone's said it." And longer still since I've believed someone when they said it. "Just good to hear every now and again."

"Well...thank you, Commander."

"You're quite welcome, Mikasa," there was an awkward pause between us, and I quickly attempted to dispel it by changing the subject. "By the way, were you able to find that model?"

Mikasa smiled and relaxed again, the momentary awkwardness having passed. "I did. I thought we could get started tonight since we're almost finished getting things cleaned up."

"Sounds good! Although we probably would have been done sooner if you had a vacuum cleaner…"

"Nonsense!" she emphatically decried. "Cleaning is meant to be done with broom and dustpan! Only when you move your body can it truly be called cleaning!"

"Alright, alright," I laughed, holding up my hands in mock surrender.

Mikasa harumphed as she resumed sweeping and said, "Laugh if you want, but it's an excellent way to calm your mind."

I began to object, but as I thought about it, I realized helping her clean over the past couple of days had actually done a pretty good job of keeping me centered and clearing my head after a long day. In addition to the added benefit of helping out a friend. "Yeah," I quietly admitted, "you may be right, there…"

"Of course I am," she confidently confirmed. "I know some of my methods may seem old-fashioned, but sometimes there's a good reason."

"Like how you didn't want to order a vacuum cleaner online?"

Her face fell, "Who told you about that?"

"Nimi," I grinned. "Got the whole story from her, along with a stern lecture about 'being sloppy.' By the way, thank you for confiscating that copy of the key Taihou made."

"Anytime, Commander. Those four were good workers, even if they wanted to take shortcuts."

"They're good kids," I agreed with a nod. "Some of the most hardworking bunch on the whole base."

"Taihou put in her fair share, even if she did have nefarious motives. Oh!" She let out a surprised yelp and began to pat down her pockets. "I still have that spare key on me, actually, if you want it..." As she spoke, she finally found the right pocket and fished out the duplicate, holding it out to me.

I began to reach for it, but something held me back, a feeling deep inside, and I withdrew my hand. "Keep it. You're my secretary now, or will be in the next couple of days, so you'll have access to my office soon enough. And more importantly, I trust you with it."

A slight blush crept across her cheeks as she closed her gloved hand around the key. "Thank you, Commander…"

"Anytime, Mikasa."

We smiled at each other for a few more seconds before returning our attention to the task at hand, and in no time, we had swept up the last bits of debris. As we dumped the last of the broken glass and plastic into the garbage, I turned to Mikasa and said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"How come there wasn't a model of you in your museum?"

Mikasa turned a deep, deep red as she answered. "W-well...I just…I didn't want to have my model where everyone could see every bit of me in detail...it's just...it's so embarrassing!"

Personally, I thought her embarrassment was adorable, but I understood where she was coming from. Sort of. "Hadn't thought about it that way, but...what about all the other models you're putting out there of the other kansen?"

"Oh, I got their permission before putting the model on display. I don't want to expose someone like that unless they're okay with it."

"That's fair. But you're not much of an exhibitionist, I take it?" I teased.

She looked at me as if I'd suddenly started speaking French. "A what?"

"An exhibitionist," I repeated, and when she continued to give me a confused look, I asked, "Have...have you never heard of that before?" She shook her head. "Oh, boy…" I muttered. "An exhibitionist is someone who enjoys being seen by large crowds, typically in ah…" I gestured at my body.

She peered at me a bit longer until it clicked, at which point she turned as red as a battleship's hull. "How disgraceful!" she exclaimed. "D-do you think any of the kids are into that sort of thing?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to know," I declared, "I'm pretty sure there are a few out there, but I also think most of them don't feel the same way about their models being shown off the way you do."

"Oh…" she said quietly, almost crestfallen.

"I think it's really cute that you feel that way, though. And I also take it that it took a lot of trust in me to work on your model, right?"

She lifted her head back up at me and nodded slowly.

"Thank you," I smiled. "I'm honored that you've put that trust in me, and I'll do everything in my power to make sure that I'm worthy of that trust."

Mikasa smiled for a moment, then put on a stern face. "You may have my trust, but you still got a long way to go to earn my respect!" The serious expression melted back into a smile and she chuckled softly, "So that's why I better stick by you. 'Til you're too good even for me…"

A/N- For those who've seen the Mikasa's Model Museum memory, you'll know where I'm going with this setup. For everyone else...well, I guess you'll just have to wait and see! Until next time, fair winds and following seas!