Hey Guys! It's been a while, I know... I've actually done a ton of writing since my last post, but I've discovered a recent problem. I keep writing, a lot, then I never post what I've written. That being said, in the last year or two, I've written two whole stories(yes, finished and ready to go), plus many partial stories, and chapters to ongoing stories, but haven't posted a word of them. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. What I'm getting at is that you might see a lot of me over the next few days as I post all of these random things that I've written and haven't posted. That being said: enjoy the next few chapters! Don't forget to review! ~HeartQueenVivaldi

The Choice We Make

Chapter 12

It wasn't long before Eren and Julie were best of friends, and Levi watched Eren fall more and more in love with Sarah, the baby. They would go shopping together, Eren would babysit Sarah all the time, and they invited each other and their spouses over for dinner more often than Levi cared to admit. Having friends and family made time fly by so quickly that, before they knew it, they had been in their new house for a year.

In that year, they mainly spent time with family and friends, old and new ones. But they also took a few weeks to go on vacations throughout the year. They ended up in Hawaii for a week, Ireland for a week, and Scotland for ten days, wanting to get some world travelling in before they started the surrogacy process.

Once the year mark hit, it had been a year and a half since Levi had told Eren he wanted to wait a year or two before having kids. So, when Eren came to Levi one day with a hopeful look on his face, he already knew what his younger husband wanted of him. "You want to know where I stand on having kids now, right?" Levi asked when Eren opened his mouth to speak. He looked back down through his glasses at a piece of sheet music resting on the keys of the piano.

Eren exhaled quickly, then laughed. "Yeah actually. How did you know?"

"Do you honestly think I haven't seen the way you look at Sarah? And they've been around an awful lot lately. I also saw you researching Surrogacy agencies the other day when you left your laptop open." Levi said, looking up at Eren over his glasses.

Eren rolled his eyes. They never minded each other looking at each other's phones or laptops. They had nothing to hide, so there was nothing to worry about. "Of course, you did. Well?"

Levi put his sheet music down, pulled his glasses off to put them on the piano, and turned to face Eren. "Come here." He gestured to Eren, then patted the spot next to him on the piano bench, making room for Eren.

Eren sat down next to Levi, knees facing away from the piano, but his torso turned towards Levi so that they were facing each other. He waited patiently for Levi to start.

Levi looked at Eren lovingly and reached out to pull Eren into him by the back of his neck and kiss him sweetly on the lips. They pulled away after a moment and Levi stared into Eren's eyes. "I'm ready." He whispered.

The reaction was instantaneous. Eren sat bolt upright on the bench and a grin spread wide across his face. His eyes were wide and excited, and he pulled Levi back in for a giant hug, then a hundred kisses on his face and lips. Levi let him get it out for a minute, then put a stop to the crazy kissing. "Okay, okay. I get it, you're happy. I am too. Did you find a good agency in your search the other day?"

Eren nodded. "Yes. I found the perfect one. They have a bunch of reviews, and they are amazing. Can I email them?"

Levi smiled at Eren's enthusiasm. "Yes. Go ahead."

And so, the process began. Eren got in touch with the agency, and they assigned an agent to Eren and Levi. They spent the next few months meeting with the agent and lawyers to make the process fully legal, then several months were spent finding the right surrogate mother. They were warned right in the beginning that it could take quite a long time to find the right surrogate, so they were patient as they went through file after file.

It wasn't until a full six months after the start of the process that they found the perfect mother. She looked quite a bit like Eren, and she had all of the right traits that they wanted. After meeting her, it only solidified their opinion, and they chose her. Her name was Jessica.

Everything started to feel real on the day they went to their appointment to have Levi give his half of the needed DNA, or as he said, to jizz in a cup. They went home quietly that day, lost in thought.

"This just got real, huh?" Eren said into the silence of the car as they pulled into their neighborhood.

Levi nodded, "Yeah, it did."

"Are you still okay with this?"

"Yes. Are you?" Levi asked, pulling into the driveway.

Eren nodded and turned to face Levi. "I'm excited. We could have a baby in a little less than a year."

Levi let a small smile spread across his face. "Yeah. We could." He turned the car off and closed the garage door before climbing out of the car. Eren followed him into the house.

"Which room is going to be theirs? Should we do the room next to ours? We should start thinking about turning a room into a nursery." Eren said as he locked the garage door behind him.

"I knew it!" a female voice sounded from the bar top close by. Eren and Levi both jumped and turned to see Carla and Ella sitting at the bar, watching them both with excited faces.

"Good hell, you two. You scared the shit out of me." Levi said, holding a hand to his heart.

"You didn't see my car parked on the street?" Carla said, laughing at them.

Eren shook his head. "No, and don't do shit like that. How did you get in?"

"We noticed Scout was in the back yard, and you usually leave the back door unlocked if he's out, so we came in the back when you didn't answer the door. Now, should we talk about the elephant in the room? What's this about turning a room into a nursery?"

Eren groaned. "That was supposed to be between me and Levi. Can you just forget you even heard it?"

"No way." Ella chimed in. "Am I going to be having a great grandbaby, or what?"

Eren and Levi looked at each other. Levi shrugged, silently telling Eren, they know now, so we might as well tell them. Eren sighed. "We wanted to keep it to ourselves until we were sure we had a baby on the way, but I guess that's pretty well going to happen now. So, yes. We are having a baby. We just came from the clinic."

"Clinic? You're not adopting?" Carla asked.

"Nope. Surrogacy, and it'll be Levi's for this first one. If we decide to have more, I'll do the next one." Eren explained, going to get a glass of water for himself. Levi followed close behind.

"Oh, my goodness, that means you'll have a baby in less than a year." Carla and Ella both squealed, and Eren and Levi both winced.

"Would you not do that. We're going deaf over here." Levi said, then started grumbling to himself incoherently. It always made Eren laugh when Levi got like this. He was irritated enough to talk to himself, but not angry enough to start snapping at people.

"Can you guys not tell anyone, please. Our surrogate isn't even pregnant yet, and we want to make sure everything is going well before we get everyone's hopes up." Eren explained, then handed his mother and grandmother each a glass of water.

"Of course, but Grisha and I better be the first to know. I'm going to be a grandma!" Carla danced a little in her stool.

Eren rolled his eyes but promised her that she would be the first to know of any developments. After that, Eren asked why they were there, and they had to remind him that they were supposed to be planning the upcoming holidays. Eren and Levi had totally forgotten about that and had double booked their appointment with meeting Ella and Carla to plan Thanksgiving.

"The nice thing now is that everyone won't have to come stay at the house, since most of us all live so close together. Except for the Jaegers coming from Germany." Levi stated.

"True. Mikasa will also need a place to stay, and any of your friends." Carla added.

"Yes, but at least it's not thirty people."

"It's not thirty people anyways, Levi." Eren retorted.

"Okay Fifteen, but either way, it's a lot of people." Levi said.

Eren did a quick count and found that Levi was actually pretty accurate. "Well, now we will probably only need to house a couple, and that's if everyone comes. I think Erwin had said that he and Mike will be spending the holidays with his parents, and is it our year with Eric and Corey?"

"Yes, it is. They'll probably want to stay over, and if they do, Mikasa will. We could make her stay with Carla and Grisha, though."

And so, they planned the holidays, and figured out who would be staying where if they came to Shiganshina. Thanksgiving would be the easiest it had ever been, since it would be their smallest group yet, with only Eren, Levi, Mikasa, Eric, Corey, Carla, Grisha, and Ella. Everyone else had other plans. And only Eric and Corey would be staying over. Food was planned for the holiday, and Carla and Ella left a few hours later with food assignments and a reminder to Eren and Levi to keep them updated on baby news.

As luck would have it, about two weeks later and three days before Thanksgiving, they received confirmation that Jessica was pregnant, and everything seemed to be going well so far. So, Eren and Levi planned to tell their families at Thanksgiving.

Eric and Corey stayed over the night before the holiday. They only lived a half hour away but didn't want to make the drive on the day of, and they could help get ready that day. Ella brought Bear with her, as usual, to play with Scout, and the two dogs made it a point to make sure there wasn't a single restful moment between them. The two dogs were eventually thrown out to the backyard to play.

After dinner that day, Levi looked at Eren and nodded. Everyone at the table had sat back and were all chatting, letting the turkey digest before they started cleanup. It was the perfect time. Eren stood up and cleared his throat. "Okay, everyone. Levi and I have an announcement to make." The room fell silent. Eren looked around the room and smiled. Everyone here was the people they cared about most in this world, and it made Eren excited to be the one who would share the good news with them. "Levi and I have spent the last eight months looking for someone to be a surrogate mother for us, and we just received word a few days ago that she is pregnant. Baby Ackerman is on the way."

There was a collective gasp around the room then smiles broke out across everyone's faces. A few people cheered, some laughed, and everyone congratulated them.

Levi looked at Eren, and Eren caught his eye. Eren immediately sat down and scooted his chair closer to Levi and whispered so that their family couldn't hear. None of them were really paying attention to them anyways, but just in case, he whispered, "What's wrong?"

Levi's eyes looked wild and panicked, even if his face was composed, and his body relaxed, Eren could tell he was panicking. "Nothing. I'm going to start cleaning up."

Levi stood and took a few people's plates with him to the kitchen. Carla and Ella stood up to help, but Eren waved them down and shook his head. He needed to talk to Levi alone, and he hoped they understood that. They sat back down with a nod, and Eren went to the kitchen. He found Levi leaning against the counter with his face in his hands. Eren approached him slowly, making a little noise so that he didn't startle his husband.

Eren stood in front of Levi and tried to pull his hands away so that he could see Levi's face. Levi just turned around and started on the dishes. "Levi, talk to me. What's wrong?"

"I just got really nervous. I'll get over it."

"About the baby?" Eren asked.

"Yeah. When you made the announcement, everything just felt so real, and the first thought that came to me was 'too late to back out now.' It just made me nervous. I'll be fine, though." Levi explained, his voice wavering slightly.

"Do you want to back out?" Eren asked, leaning a hip against the counter.

Levi looked up at him and shook his head. "No. I know what I want, and this is it, but the thought just gets to me sometimes. The thought of being responsible for another life. And I know I'm responsible for you, too, but it's different. With a baby, they're completely dependent on me, on us. They literally can't do anything for themselves. They have to be fed, changed, and everything in between. And even once they're older, if they turn out to be a shitty person, people will blame us. We are completely responsible for this little life."

Eren just smiled at Levi, "I know. I'm nervous, too. It's a lot of responsibility, but we are tough people. We've been through a lot. We can get through this too. And this is something we chose to do. Some of the best things that have happened to us have been the things we didn't choose for ourselves, and things we didn't want at first. Think about when we first met." Both Levi and Eren snorted at the thought. "We hated each other. At least I hated you, and I hated the prospect of spending nine months in the same small apartment as you. But we somehow fell in love, and it's been the best thing that's ever happened to us. We are choosing to accept this little one into our home, and I'm sure it'll be the best thing we'll ever do."

"I know that. I am excited, I'm just nervous, too." Levi said and took a step closer to Eren. "Do you want to hear a secret?" Eren nodded, so Levi continued. "I didn't hate you. I never hated you, even for a second. Sure, you falling into my lap the second we met was annoying, but it didn't make me hate you. The problem was that I was scared that I might actually like you, and when you walked through that door with those gorgeous eyes and messy hair, I knew I was in trouble. So, I tried to push you away, tried to not fall in love, tried to make you hate me so that it wasn't even an option. Because I was scared. It didn't work, obviously, because you're a caring person that is willing to give a guy like me way too many chances, and I couldn't help but fall in love with you.

"I know I'll love this baby. I know everything will turn out okay. But just like back then, I'm scared, Eren. Just keep giving me chances, like you've always done, and I'll be just fine."

Eren grinned at his husband and pulled him in for a kiss. Everything was slowly starting to fall into place for them, and they couldn't be happier about it.

They were interrupted by Carla and Grisha coming to help start on dishes. Both Levi and Eren knew that no matter what happened, they also had their family to step in and help along the way. Carla and Grisha were thrilled to become grandparents, and Carla was already offering to babysit whenever they needed a break. Eren could already tell that any and all kids he and Levi had would be spoiled to no end.

…

Levi and Eren's next decision came a few months later, when they were told they would finally be able to learn the gender of their child. They had to decide if they actually wanted to know, or if they wanted to keep it as a surprise. Eren ultimately made the choice for them. He was too excited and couldn't wait.

Levi took the liberty of planning them a gender reveal party. He found a company online that made custom party poppers. The ones with the pull strings that shot confetti from a little canister. He ordered about 25 of them. 24 of them would be filled with white confetti. The last one would be the only one with color in it. Without looking at the results, he sent his request to the company with a copy of the results attached.

Two weeks later, the party poppers arrived just in time for their gender reveal the next day. They had invited everyone. Both of their families, friends, and neighbors. Everyone gathered in the kitchen when they had finished eating the provided lunch, and both Eren and Levi passed out party poppers. They had two extras that Eren and Levi held onto.

Eren pulled the first string, releasing a small cloud of white confetti into the air. He deflated a little, and Carla pulled the next one. Every person was able to participate in the game, and it was a lot of fun. It got all the way around to Levi without the colored filling revealing itself. Levi looked at the two poppers in his hand. Chances that he had it were rather good.

Levi chose one of the two at random and pulled the string. Everyone screamed in excitement when pink confetti flew into the air. Eren was so excited he pulled the string of the second one in his hand. "We're having a girl!" He yelled, then pulled Levi in for a kiss. Everyone around them cheered at the news and a cake was cut and distributed among the party guests.

…

The last months of waiting for the arrival of their newest family member were spent shopping. Shopping for a crib, changing station, rocking chair, blankets, burp rags, clothes, diapers, wipes, and a car seat. Levi had to admit, he was actually having a lot of fun shopping for their daughter.

They had chosen the room closest to their own to be the nursery for the little one. After they painted the room, Levi let Eren loose with his credit card. He didn't expect Eren to drag him along, but he was glad he did. The furniture was easy. There were quite a few matching sets that came with a crib, dresser, changing station, and a rocking chair. They only had to choose the one they liked best. They chose a gray one that would match the room and set it up for delivery the following week.

Eren wasn't done yet, though. While they were in the furniture store, Eren insisted they start looking at decorations for the room, and they found some of the cutest things. The theme of the room ended up being baby animals for some reason, and they went home that day with stuffed animals, framed photos of baby elephants and giraffes, and cute cartoon wall stickers with animals of all kinds.

Once they had the furniture in place, and the room was decorated with baby animals, Eren dragged Levi out shopping again. This time, they went to a department store with a large clothes section to buy outfits for their little one. Once Levi laid eyes on all of the little outfits, Eren had to restrain him from buying the whole store's supply of baby clothes. Especially the ones that said things like "I'm a daddy's girl" or "Daddy's little monster".

"We can't buy the whole store, Levi. She won't even fit into this size of clothes for long enough to wear them all."

"But look how cute it is. It's just so tiny." Levi said, holding up another onesie, this one yellow with baby animals on the front. "And it matches her room."

"Alright, but then we don't need any more onesies. We should go look for socks now." Eren said, taking the onesie from Levi to place it on the pile. "You were so worried about being a dad, but you know what I think?" Eren said, taking Levi's hand in his own as they walked down the aisles toward the socks. Levi hummed, and Eren continued. "I think you love it already, daddy."

Levi snorted at the nickname and replied, "I think that has a different meaning when you say it, Brat." Eren just laughed at him.

They stopped to look at the socks, and again Levi started fawning over how tiny they were and insisting they buy more of them than necessary. When Eren finally talked him out of buying the entire store again, they walked away toward another department, looking for baby blankets. As they walked, Levi picked up their previous conversation. "Speaking of nicknames, what are we going to have her call us? We can't both be 'daddy'. It would be too confusing."

"Hmm, well, maybe I can be dad, and you can be daddy?" Eren suggested.

"I don't know, I think those are still really close, and they would still get messed up. Maybe she could just call us by our names." Levi added.

"That's weird, Levi."

"Why?"

"Because. Kids don't call their parents by their names. What about Papa and daddy?"

"Papa? What, are we in the 17th century? That's weird too, you know." Levi scoffed as he led Eren down an aisle lined with blankets and other bedding.

"Well, maybe we just let it happen naturally. She'll call us what she wants."

Levi hummed in thought as he started throwing more blankets than necessary into the cart while Eren put some back. "I guess that could work."

"You're excited now, aren't you?" Eren asked as they went to find bottles and diapers.

Levi nodded. "I am. I'm still scared, but I can't wait to see our baby girl."