So yall, things are locking down where I am. We've received a stay at home order for the next 30 days, although as yall know, things aren't changing too much for me as I still have to go to work in office (Essential employee) so it hopefully just means less traffic in the mornings. I don't want yall to worry; I'm good, and I'll keep posting content for ya just as long as I'm able.

I know these are tough times everyone, but humans are crazy intuitive, scrappy and super clutch, so thank those who are getting creative to still their part to support their friends and neighbors. It's been crazy to see, in the best of ways, so plus one to humanity on this COVID battle. Nice job!

Now, it looks like I've picked up a few newish readers over these past few weeks, so I want to give a formal hello and say thanks for stopping in and supporting the cause. I update each Sunday morning, I like to chat far too much, and if you can't tell by this 50+ chapter story, dear lord I'm a long-winded queen and I don't pull my punches. I'm still writing up new material on a perpetual basis and as we speak, I've got a little over 70 chapters written and edited. Dear Lord guys, on my end I am getting close to writing out the very last plot arc (gasp!) and it's messing me up, for real. I don't want it to end, but it's getting there and it's sooo surreal!

Until then guys, one week at a time.

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Petra tapped his back with a featherlight press and looked up at him with a gentle expression, "Levi, come on. I don't bite, just let me take a look at it, okay?"

He stared at her longer still in reluctance, and when Petra merely returned his gaze with a knowing expression, because they both knew she would win out in the end, he gave an accepting sigh and moved both himself and her to the edge of the bed as he gave a sort of long suffering sigh and sat down without further resistance.

Her previous smile only grew all the more at his sullen, suspicious stare, and she rolled her eyes because considering he could easily outpower her at any given time, let alone when she couldn't so much as walk on her own, his unease was just silly. Petra lightly grabbed his opposite arm that didn't seem to be as irritated, speaking as she did so, "Here, will you turn your back toward me, Captain? I may not look it, but I happen to know a thing or two about back and shoulder injuries. Don't worry, I wouldn't risk your health by doing something that I'm uncertain about – just trust me."

Without comment, Levi adjusted his position and couldn't help the sudden tenseness he felt in his now coiled muscles, being reminded that relationship or not, old habits die hard. Even though he trusted Petra immensely, there was still something about her being behind him at a time where he was admittedly tired and worn down, weakened and in some degree of pain, and he wasn't entirely surprised when he actually flinched at her touch as her hands fell onto his injured shoulder. Rather than being offended, there was a sudden laugh from behind him.

"Geez, touchy much? I told you, Captain, it will be fine; I know what I'm doing here, so just try to relax okay?" She brought her hands up over both his shoulders, her fingers kneading into his back in a sort of tactile approach; searching for whatever sort of damage he may have done to himself and starting by feeling out how the one side of his back felt in comparison to the other, searching for any anomalies that may give her some sort of insight to whatever was causing him such obvious discomfort. Her touch was light, but intentional and focused with a manner that spoke of experience, and from the other side, Levi's face had contorted into a sort of frown as she drove her fingers into his sensitive muscles, though he said nothing and endured her actions without complaint with the pride and discipline that was expected of a soldier.

Her voice was pleasant and unhurried, as though she really had done this a hundred times, and she spoke in a casual exhale, "You see my dad, he's a carpenter. You knew that, right? It was just him and me growing up, and the doctor's house was a good hour away. As you can imagine, I got pretty good about putting in stitches, working out knots, keeping swelling down - all sorts of first aid if you can believe it. Basic stuff granted, nothing too miraculous. Either way, Dad had a special knack for injuring his right shoulder in particular, so I'd like to think that I've seen it all. He damaged it once pretty good, dislocated it before I was born or something like that, and it never quite healed right. Growing up, it seemed I was always fixing up something every few months because it would pop out of place, he'd over strain his muscles, pull a joint, that sort of thing."

Petra leaned in closer toward him as she worked, her eyes narrowing as she felt a tenseness near his shoulder blade that felt significantly more taut than it's mirroring counterpart, and she used the adjusted angle on the bed to run her fingers over the edge of his shoulder blade with a bit more force, moving her fingers slowly and precisely across the ridge of the bone, and finally Levi gave a quiet, but unmistakably pained grunt. Petra nodded in satisfaction and released the pressure in her actions, her palms now resting lightly across his back, having finally found the source of his injury.

She gave an exhale through her nose and nodded, sitting back at her findings as she spoke and taking a breath, "Thought so. Tight wasn't actually the worst word to have used here, Captain; you've really aggravated your muscles here and your shoulder is locking up as a result, trying to protect itself from further injury. It's a mix of being sprained and just plain and simple overworked, like you said. I'm not a doctor, so I can't tell you if it's a ligament or tendon or whatever, but whatever you did here, it's really swollen."

She leaned to one side so she could meet his eye contact directly, and she watched him with a serious expression because it wasn't that she was angry with him, but even still…damn, he should have just said something earlier. "Captain, I really wish you would have said something back at the meeting. We could have readjusted your training over the next few days to accommodate you a bit more intentionally, but it's a little late now so we'll just have to make it work for at least tomorrow morning because the schedule's already been set and twenty minutes just isn't enough time to rework it all."

Levi negated to respond, and Petra sat back into her heels, looking back toward his injured shoulder and shaking her head as she ran the options through her mind purposefully, "Still though, I'll talk to Erwin tomorrow and we'll see if we can't have something a bit more tailored to you organized and implemented by lunch time. You'll be able to keep training of course; we'll just use rotations that make use of your lower body more than your upper body to give your shoulder a bit of a break. For the teams that need that focus on upper body specifically, we'll have them use Mike or Eld as their point of contact – at least for the next few days, until we can get the inflammation under control."

Hearing her instant, and rather simple, solution to the problem, Levi could only give a silent nod of gratitude, never having even thought to tell them about his shoulder because he didn't see it as an actual problem, but he supposed if there was such an easy fix, he would take it gladly. Satisfied by her solution it seemed, Petra's hands were back over his shoulder blade, moving with a renewed and laser force that caused a pained frown to return to his face, and Petra spoke with a tense voice that reflected the sudden effort she was putting into the task as she drove her fingers into his back intentionally, "I can take some of the pressure off, help with the swelling a bit, but-" she gave a sort of grunt and continued, "Damn Levi, this is bad. You're lucky you didn't pull something! For real, you'll need to take it easy over the next few days or it will keep giving you problems that will just get worse and worse until something does tear. You should plan to ice it tonight as well, take some aspirin, that sort of thing. I'll make a note to check on it in a few days, and if it doesn't get better, we'll figure out something long term at that point. We can't afford you to actually fall victim to a true and significant injury right now, and I trust that you'll listen to your body and take it easy before it ever comes to that."

Levi gave a low sort of grumble at her speech that seemed to outright baby him, but none the less seemed to accept her words. Petra continued running her hands over the section that was giving him frequent problems, but as she tried to locate more of the source of the swelling and focus her effort there, she found the silky fabric of his shirt kept interfering or wrinkling in her hands, and she gave another exhale in admitted frustration.

"Hey Captain, your shirt. It's kind of getting in the way here. Do you mind?" she pulled at the fabric with an irritated huff, and Levi gave a slight stare over his shoulder. Though his expression was blank, there was a certain degree of smugness to his tone, knowing that Petra was asking him to remove it for her.

"No, I don't mind. Do you?"

The ginger rolled her eyes at his subtle teasing and snorted, "Alright Captain, go on and get your jabs in. I wasn't going for that, but for your information I happen to have just a little more self-control than that. Granted no thanks to being on that medicine, I don't think you'll ever believe me – but let the record show that it's nearing six years on your squad where, you know, aside from the whole marriage thing, I've been the very picture of professionalism. I think I can handle seeing you without a shirt, so don't flatter yourself."

Levi gave a slight chuckle as he began unbuttoning his dress shirt, giving a tempered exhale as he removed the fabric from off his tense and aching shoulder, the rotating action only igniting a sort of fire deep within the joint. Without further comment, he set the shirt neatly beside him and Petra picked right back where she had left off, only this time able to be all the more precise now that his shirt was not hindering her efforts.

Levi gave a sort of hiss as her fingers drove into his back with a heightened force, and he couldn't help the sort of grimace that left him because it had admittedly hurt before, but now that his shoulder was being intentionally singled out with skin to skin contact, it was extremely painful.

"That bad huh?" Petra mumbled sympathetically as she could feel his muscles press and coil tightly against her in defiance, and she used her other hand to, more gently, run up his skin because he needed to relax, "Sorry. Just try to sit through it as best you can. I can work out some of the irritation here and you'll feel a lot better for it, but still, I know full well it's not exactly the most comfortable thing to endure. Dad always said I had no compassion."

Again a silence fell over the room, and Petra focused on her self-appointed task, testing how much she had accomplished by again feeling his other shoulder, over the planes of his arm, down the side of his neck, around the back of his shoulder blade and the muscles that framed his back, and she suddenly gave a chuckle as her thoughts began to wander, "I was actually thinking about this before you came in, but even more so now. This all reminds me, you know, of when you were sick?"

He gave a groan, and Petra couldn't help the warm smile that now decorated her lips, "That was a while ago now, and I don't think I've actually been to your room since, not even once. Somehow, it's all a bit nostalgic for me, being back here like this, with yet another ailment I'm tending to. A lot has changed since then, Captain, wouldn't you say?"

There was a low, but hesitant 'Yeah.' from her Captain, and Petra sighed at the realization of just how much had changed in such a short time. She had him move his arm up behind his back, highlighting a new series of muscles previously hidden underneath his shoulder blade, and she set to work, speaking with a warm smile, "Honestly Levi, we were friends, even back then, right? I mean, I would have considered you a friend for sure but now…it's a bit more difficult for me to label."

Petra gave a small smile and shrugged in admission, "At this point, well…you're probably my best friend. I mean, I still love the guys, and Eld and I will always be close but…" She stuck her head to the side so she could look at him more directly, and she gave him a bright smile, "Oi Levi, maybe I should make little friendship bracelets or something - you know, as a sign of our upgraded friendship status. What do you think? One could say 'Best' and the other could say 'Friends' or 'Buddies' or whatever? It would be super cute!"

The Captain snorted and rolled his eyes, "Fuck no. Besides, I thought that was the point of wearing this wedding band. Everyone already knows that I'm yours woman, and I don't think some fragile bracelet is going to drive that point home anymore than this already does."

Petra didn't respond to his words, to the extent that Levi mentally winced because damn, he had probably hurt her feelings by rejecting her offer of a shitty friendship bracelet or whatever. He should have just accepted it because it really didn't matter to him if he had some braided, ridiculous bracelet across his wrist, if it somehow made her happy at such a weird time where they never got to see each other.

Levi turned over his shoulder, opening his mouth to tell her that if it really meant that much to her then he didn't care all that much, so long as she knew that with all his training demands it would probably fall off into the forest and there wasn't much to do about it, but as he turned around, he noticed that Petra had fallen silent not from having her feelings hurt like he had suspected, but rather because…she was blushing, to the extreme.

Levi blinked in surprise and he watched her with a growing mix of confusion and sheer amusement as her blush only deepened now that he was witnessing her dramatic reaction, and he motioned toward her with a nod of his head, "What the hell, Petra? What did I say?"

She gave a dramatic shake of her head, refusing to look at him as she spoke in embarrassed alarm, "It's uh, nothing Captain! Nothing! I uh, look, you're distracting me and I'm really trying to fix your shoulder so if you could just-"

He quirked a single eyebrow, "Wait, are you distracted by me? Where's that professionalism you claimed to have?" His expression fell and he watched her with a fake stare of accusation, "Do I have to put my shirt back on for you to take this seriously?"

"No, keep it off! I just…" she stammered out in flustered protest, and as she looked into the bed, she gave a shy smile and pressed her lips together lightly, "Sometimes you surprise me Captain, that's all. And that's all I'm going to say about it, so turn your smug-ass self around and let me get back to work."

Levi gave a final pleased grin and faced back toward the wall. It was as Petra watched him fondly, watched him turn around with that fitting smirk across his face, that she shook her head and almost chuckled.

Levi – Humanity's Strongest – had said in such a casual, simple manner that he was…hers.

Even out of context, Petra decided that that was something she could certainly get used to hearing more often, and the red hue returned to her face for a second time.

She shook the matter out of her head and again leaned forward with a forced exhale of renewed focus, building up her pressure bit by bit, eventually using her body weight as she moved up onto her legs to help force circulation back into his muscles that were tight and coiled from the beginnings of a more serious injury. For a long while, there was no conversation exchanged as she continued to work the prominent knots out, digging her palm or fingers into his skin until the swelling began to weaken and his shoulder began to feel more similar to its non-injured counterpart. Levi would grunt, press his back into her hands to help build the pressure, tell her a little to the left or right if he felt that she was missing the injury's focal point, until it became gradually more difficult to locate – until the pain was less present and harder to centralize in his mind because the pain was undoubtedly being dispelled bit by bit the longer she worked.

As Petra sat back with a relieved sigh, because she could also tell that his back was finally loosening to the extent that his shoulder was less strained and taut, she found her hands moving with less purpose, still massaging the skin and running her fingers over his aching muscles in a way that was less therapeutic, and simply meant to help him relax and unwind after weeks of constant demands and never ending deadlines. While Levi was aware of this shift outright, could tell the clear difference between what was once done out of necessity, versus her actions now that were more gentle, soothing, and admittedly rather intimate, he found himself subtly leaning back toward her, ever so slightly, and allowing Petra to touch his skin and run her hands over his side and neck; rubbing and massaging his tense muscles in a way that admittedly felt quite nice.

He gave a loud sigh as she leaned up against him for a better angle and lightly ran her index fingers from the hollow of his throat, all the way up the length of his neck to the dip just below his ears – and Levi almost closed his eyes and sighed again as he fell back into her a little more. With her closeness, combined with the hectic and demanding few weeks that had undoubtedly ran him ragged, he could feel the stress leaving his body little by little as Petra continued to gift him with her touch, time, and attention.

It had been so long since he had spent time with her, so long since it had been just the two of them alone like this, and as she reached a hand between them and rubbed his back in gentle circles, speaking random bits of this or that, she eventually asked in a quiet whisper if what she was doing was actually okay with him and she wasn't making him uncomfortable, right? Levi responded with a simple shake of his head, unable to find the actual words to properly respond, because to say he never wanted her to stop would just sound too intense, where it would ruin the calm they had fallen into, he was sure of it.

And yet.

That was just how he felt. In that moment, Levi was certain that he never wanted her to stop; that he never wanted her to leave his room and that he could very well have her sit beside him like this until the very end. He knew full well that when she stopped, that meant their time would be up. The morning would come too soon, and he'd be back shouting commands, teaching cadets and living life as though he didn't have an extremely kind, understanding, intelligent, and attractive wife, a mere hallway away from him.

And so, Petra continued, and it was only when his head fell forward and he jolted to life with a sort of blink, that Levi realized he had almost fallen asleep. It had taken him by surprise, and Petra had given a small laugh of her own, "Oh, so that good huh? Perhaps I'm in the wrong line of work after all!"

Petra had asked him to lay out on his bed, out onto his stomach, because if she was going to give him a back rub like this, she may as well do it right. He didn't complain and had laid out across his bed, and they spent what felt like a timeless eternity together, sometimes conversing back and forth about the military or upcoming deadlines and meetings, other times about more personal matters, and eventually…nothing at all.

Petra's massage had eventually weakened as time went by, until she was simply tracing her fingers, light as a feather, up and down his back – a sensation that was surprisingly pleasant for how simple it was, and it made his mind cloud over because it was just far too relaxing during a time where he was utterly exhausted. He knew he was falling asleep; he knew that all it would take was a simple change of position to wake him back up, perhaps moving so he was resting up on his back, perhaps moving to his side, sitting up and talking with her, but by the time he felt the need to do so, apparently he had missed his chance because he jolted awake in surprise at having actually fallen asleep at all.

He had opened his eyes in surprise, blinking in wonder and hoping that he hadn't missed whatever conversation Petra was probably trying to have with him even now, but as he pulled his head up from the pillows, he noticed first and foremost that the room was apparently dark; seemingly devoid of life and completely still.

Where was Petra?

He looked across his room in half awake concern, seeing nothing but empty space, and he gave a weary groan, because he hadn't meant to outright crash like that.

Had Petra… left then? She must have.

Levi sat up slightly as awareness slowly came back to his mind, and he sat up and on the edge of the bed, rubbing his head and giving a slight exhale as he blinked yet again. What time was it? He looked around his dark room, only surprising himself all the more upon realizing that it was apparently a little after three thirty in the morning. It seemed that he hadn't just casually nodded off for a moment or two like he had previously thought – he had been out out, for hours – almost the entire night.

Levi rolled his neck, wondering absently if he would even be able to fall back asleep or not, because truth be told, he felt damn well rested – the most rested he had felt in over a month now. The dull ache that had been in his back was gone completely, and the sharp throbbing that had once been all consuming in his shoulder blade was now nothing more than a minor discomfort at best. True to her words, it seemed Petra had known what she was doing, because he couldn't deny the results, and Levi rolled his shoulder a few times, amazed when the action didn't come partnered with immediate pangs and tenseness. It had taken a few hours, but his shoulder felt the best that it had in almost two weeks and he had her to thank for it.

Levi almost sat up from the bed, thinking about grabbing a drink of water from the kitchen when a soft, feminine sort of sigh suddenly caught his attention, the sound coming from behind him on the opposite side of his bed. As Levi turned over his shoulder to see the source of the noise, he was surprised to see Petra's form, laying out across his bed and close to the wall. He inwardly marveled for a moment how it was even possible that he hadn't noticed her right off the bat, but with how she was pressed up against the wall, as though trying to not bother him and take up as little space as possible, he supposed it was no wonder, because she really was rather small when she wanted to be.

Still, what caught him by surprise more than that though, was the fact she was there at all. He found himself staring at her sleeping form for a long moment, wondering if something really was wrong that she had wanted to talk to him about, or maybe something she wanted him around for, because it wasn't like her to do something so…he struggled to find the right mental word.

Was it scandalous, perhaps? No, they were married so by all accounts she was welcome to his bed if that's where she wanted to be, but even still, Petra had always asked him what his comfort level was and never just assumed with him – something he appreciated greatly because there were things he was admittedly particular about. Even earlier today, she wouldn't so much as touch him without his express permission, and so for Petra to just mosey into his bed without so much as a moment of hesitation…

The normal Petra would have just left of her own accord. He knew that she felt guilty for being involved, if not directly responsible, for how overworked he was, and he knew she would have never found it in her heart to actually wake him up after such an exhausting line up of responsibilities. Still though, it wasn't like there was anything preventing her from just getting up, moving to the door and –

Levi's eyes widened and he pressed his lips together in attempts to keep himself from groaning, instantly realizing his mistake and remembering that he had intentionally moved her crutches to the opposite side of the room, intentionally making it so she couldn't leave without his say so.

Levi looked toward Petra in sudden understanding and shook his head, feeling somewhat guilty as he looked her form over and realizing that she had been forced to go to bed in the same clothes she had worn throughout the day – which didn't look to be all that comfortable.

It certainly wasn't on purpose. At the time, it had been just a sort of teasing, an insurance policy that would all but guarantee that whatever conversation they fell into, if they bickered or teased each other, he would have the last laugh because he was the only one capable of returning her crutches to her and allowing her access to her mobility again, but then she had started rubbing his back, he was just so damn comfortable around her, and like that, he had fallen asleep completely.

With a half-smile, Levi shook his head in amusement and turned more fully to look toward his sleeping, tender hearted wife that was too damn selfless for her own good. She could have woken him up, that wouldn't have bothered him in the slightest, and reminded him that she needed her crutches so she could get back to her room and get to bed, and yet, of course she just hadn't been able to. Fuck, he would have killed to see the look on her face when she realized that he was officially asleep; watch as indecision plagued her as she decided how to handle the situation and if she should just wake him up or not.

The fact she was pressed up against the wall like that, as though trying to be as utterly small and non-imposing as possible, suddenly made even more sense, and Levi held back a chuckle because it was an amusing concept.

He laid down onto his side across the bed, moving closer toward Petra and allowing himself to nuzzle against her, running his nose into her hair as his hands pulled around her small frame, pulling her away from the wall and up against him instead. At the movement, there was a breath of surprise and Petra stiffened slightly, tensing for a moment as she woke up in complete confusion.

"Mhn? Levi – uh, Cap'n?" she blinked, and suddenly bit her lower lip as she groaned outright, her words slightly slurred from clear exhaustion and she shook her head in an uncoordinated fashion, "I'm so sorry, I know I shouldn't be here b'you were asleep n'you've been so tired so you need t'sleep. Dn'worry I'll go now, m'kay? I just-"

"Shh." he continued turning her until she was on her opposite side, facing him, and he shook his head once, "Petra, it's almost four. No point in you heading back to your room now; it's fine. Just fall back asleep, okay?"

"Four in t'morning?" she repeated with a questioning look, being so exhausted that he was certain she didn't completely understand his words, and Levi gave a simple nod.

"Sleep, Petra."

She gave a barely coherent, obedient nod and allowed her head to fall back onto his pillow. It was only as he was holding her against him, as though second nature, that he realized he was holding her against his bare chest, and he frowned because he supposed that wasn't something to just force on her, innocent or otherwise.

He gave her a gentle shake, nodding between them once he caught her half open, veridian orbs, "Petra, is this…okay? I can grab a-"

She cut him off with a yawn and shook her head once, her cheek suddenly pressing into his chest as she repositioned off the pillow and rather onto him absentmindedly, curling her body around him as she spoke, "Levi, stay…with me. I love being close t'you…like this."

Levi had heard her words, his mind running wild as he wondered if there was a dual meaning to what she had said, debate if her words were meant to be taken at face value or if in her sleep deprived state she was speaking what was on her heart now that her mental defenses had perhaps fallen a bit lax, and Levi looked at Petra with wide, questioning eyes.

What…what did that mean?

Of course, she was already asleep.

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End of Chapter

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And that will do for this week!

Interesting trivia here for yall, but on my word doc, the file that I write on got so large that when I tried to write out new material, it stopped loading properly and so I had to start a new document and call it Homeward Bound part two. This chapter here marks the end of what I called the first half (don't worry, we are definitely more than halfway done haha) and all the new material is written on a separate document from here on out.

Like I said above, I'm writing out the second to last arc right now, gearing up to write the final arc of the story and guys, I literally cannot believe it. I think for me, maybe another 10-15 chapters need to be written out, and really…that's not a lot left. So yall keep being awesome, and say a prayer for me because I have been writing this story now for so long that it is going to be SO weird to move onto my next project and put this piece to rest.

(Silently kicks secret project aside that may or may not already be in the works)

But! As for where we are HERE – well, we've got a long way to go!