Happy Father's Day to all!

I know days like today can be as greatly anticipated by some just as greatly as they are dreaded by others – it's a very personal holiday for many and I hope that you find yourself at peace and having a good day thru the ups and downs of a day like this one. As for me, I'm blessed in the relationships that I have so on my end, it's a good day of time with family as well as being able to celebrate with my husband the joys he has of being a newish father. (Come on terrible twos!)

Shout out to all those who shared their thoughts last time around – I love that many people have stated they enjoyed the sort of family feel that the Levi squad seems to carry, as well as the fact that their characters have been brought to life while staying true to who they were in the canon universe. I truly strive hard to keep that balance, and the fact that you guys are seeing that and able to enjoy the read all the more just makes me smile :)

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...

Petra had carefully walked back toward the bathroom, taking great efforts to make sure that not single drop of the Captain's tea was spilled throughout her journey.

With one hand she knocked on the door, and with the other she kept a firm and protective grasp on the teacup, "Hey Captain, how's it going in there? Can I come in, or are you still soaking?'

There was a delay in his response, though the Captain did respond eventually. He sounded out of it again, "Huh? Oh, no I'm done. It's…it's fine."

Petra felt a growing concern at his dazed response and wasted no time in opening the door to finally see how he was doing. The moment the door opened, a large wave of steam hit her like a wall from within the previously confined space, and Petra blinked in shock at the practical sauna she had stepped into, mouth agape as she searched for the Captain through the steamy foggy space with squinted eyes.

Levi was dressed and sitting on the closed toilet, leaning back against the wall with a towel draped over his shoulders. Even with all the steam in the room, she could see he had a flushed, feverish glow again.

"Levi, you! You son of a-" she began waving her free hand in the air and trying to clear the room of all the steam that was still visibly floating in the air, "I can't believe you would – you have a fever and you still chose to-" Petra looked around the room in pure disbelief and utter outrage. There was condensation across the walls, the mirror was dripping and fogged over – the fucking child that he was, he apparently decided to take a hot bath in the end.

Damn it, she was going to fucking murder his stubborn ass!

He slowly turned his head toward her, eyes narrowed, "Piss off. Like you're the only one who knows how the hot and cold water works around here."

Petra swore her eye twitched, and she set the tea down on the edge of the bathroom sink, marching over toward him and all but shouting straight in his face as she leaned down closer toward him, "You have a fever Levi, and if you don't take care of yourself properly you're just going to get sicker! Fucking hell Captain, what the hell's wrong with you?"

He looked away from her, not seeming to be the least bit remorseful of his actions. He crossed his arms over his chest, "I was cold."

As Petra watched his stubborn display, she swore something inside of herself snapped. She clapped her hands together in attempts to not start screaming, fingers itching with the sudden need to creep around his flushed neck and drain the life out of the man who was so stubbornly spurning all her attempts to help! She should have just done drills with Eld. She should have just left the Captain to his own devices. Sure it would take him twelve times longer to get over it, but she wouldn't have to subject herself to his stubborn antics like this.

Her eyes narrowed as she stood up fully, and she marched back to the sink, picking up his cup of tea and glaring at him in anger, "You." She seethed lowly, looking at him flatly and then toward the tea in her hand, "You don't deserve this! You know what? I am taking your stupid fucking tea and – ugh! To think that I-"

Levi sat up straight, groaning loudly as he watched her in a mix of worry and irritation, "Fucking shit, Petra. Put. The cup. Down."

She held the cup indignantly as she watched him in outrage, shaking her head sarcastically, "Oh I'll put it down alright, down the damned drain. Mark my words Captain, you've crossed a line. I've been dealing with your bad attitude, your insults, your lack of appreciation of any kind whatsoever, and I've had it up to here with your shit! Your health isn't a joke to me and I'm trying my damnedest to-"

Levi rolled his eyes and tried again, admittedly a little intimidated by the crazy look in her eyes that she watched him with, but trying to play it off coolly and put the matter behind them, "Woman, calm down. It was just a little hot water and I-" he fought back a cough and cleared his agitated, burning throat, "I order you to-"

"Oh, so you order me now? Well piss on you!" Petra laughed and cut him off with a dangerous smile that quickly fell into a scowl, "Out of the kindness of my soul I drew you a bath, had to practically carry your heavy ass all the way here, made you your stupid green tea – all you had to do was sit in the tub so the cold water could bring your fever down, but no, you couldn't do even that one simple thing! Now you think that you ordering me to give you the tea you don't even fucking deserve will help you now? Ha! And here I thought you didn't have a sense of humor!"

Levi had opened his mouth to respond, though his eyes widened as a torrent of loud, sharp coughs erupted from his chest without warning. The force of his coughing was so strong that it almost knocked him down to the ground and he clutched desperately onto the nearby counter to keep himself upright.

Petra watched him in irritation as she waited for the fit to come to an end so she could resume her previous shouting at him, but his coughing continued, and continued still, until it wasn't funny or amusing anymore. He just kept coughing all the more with greater force, and Petra's expression changed from initial anger to undisguised concern.

As he coughed, she listened purposely for the sharp sound that would follow when he would take a gasping breath for air between the spasms, a raspy sort of rattle that would stand out in contrast, but as he coughed and coughed and coughed, the sharp gasp, the rasping…didn't come.

Not once.

"Levi, breathe!" Petra shouted at him in alarm as she set the tea down, taking the few steps toward where he was sitting and crouching down beside him with a panicked expression. She placed a hand over his back and leaned closer toward him. She wasn't sure if he was trying to tell her to back off, or if he was communicating that he couldn't breathe, but he gave a few shakes of his head back and forth, bent in half as he coughed toward the ground in strong, forceful waves. He continued hacking and wheezing with terrifying vigor, and it was then that Petra noticed small droplets of red creeping out of his clutched hands.

….Was that?

Damn it, he still hadn't breathed, his cough just kept coming with greater force, and now there was blood? Petra bit her lip in question, eyes going wide with all the unknows of the situation she found them in. What should she do? She knew she needed to act fast, but it was just so hard to think clearly with all this steam! The room was so stuffy and humid and –

Petra's eyes widened in realization, thinking back to the suddenly intense coughs she had heard all the way from his office. It was those suddenly more ferocious coughs that had brought her here in the first place; it was because of the steam, it had to be. The surrounding air was so thick that it was hard for her to breathe, so she could only imagine the impact the heavy air was having on his sensitive lungs.

It was likely that his condition would get progressively worse the longer he stayed in the room. At the very least, it was better than doing nothing.

Petra stood up and planted her feet in preparation, grabbing Levi by the arm and tugging him forward with a hard yank, not caring if he fell onto the ground or was crawling or whatever happened – he needed to get out of the humid air as quickly as possible.

He stumbled forward onto the ground, his cough not letting up as he tried to move his legs to keep up with the sudden force Petra was dragging him with, half crawling as his lungs continued to heave and expel any air left within him and then some, until there was nothing left in him.

It was hard to think, it was hard to do much of anything – all he felt was the uncontrollable urge to cough and even as his vision began to get spotty and he knew he was on the verge of passing out from the lack of oxygen – his lungs just kept heaving and contracting against his will.

Petra watched Levi fiercely, driven by his lack of color and the blood painting his pale lips, continuing to pull and yank him in determination, forcing him out of the bathroom, out of the hallway, pulling and tugging with every ounce of strength she had until they were finally out in the common room – the room was so large it was always impossibly cold – and with one last yank both she and the Captain fell forward onto the ground in a heap.

Levi was on all fours and barely conscious from his coughing fit that seemed to never end. Fuck, just how much more could he take before he passed out? His coughing had been bad before, but this…this was something else.

His head was aching, it felt as though his ribcage had shattered, his throat was burning terribly – he couldn't remember the last time his breathing had been this erratic - his vision was blurry, and his entire body was shaking as he struggled to keep himself upright and not outright collapse onto the ground.

At this rate, he would pass out, and soon.

Coughs continued to erupt from his body just the same, but there was finally a split-second where he was able to pull the smallest trace of fresh air into his lungs. His coughing resumed a fraction of a second later, although it seemed the cough's intensity somewhat weakened after being exposed to the cooler air, the itching in his chest less intense and his lungs contracting with a muted degree of force. Taking note of this, Levi intentionally fought against his cough with a vengeance, pulling in as much of the colder air as he could manage, despite the pain the sharp breaths brought him, because for every breath he managed to take, his cough continued to weaken in immediate response.

Exhausted though he was, lungs burning, body trembling and the taste of blood hot in his mouth, Levi continued fighting his cough stubbornly, pulling in the cold air with sharp gasps that only made his lungs ache all the more from the repetitive abuse.

Finally, finally his cough subsided.

Levi stared into the ground for a long moment as he gradually regained his senses, oxygen circulating back through his lungs and body with a renewed vigor, his vision finally clearing. He only now noticed the tiled floor beneath him. More than the blood that had been smeared onto the surface, he realized where Petra had brought him and finally, he raised his head to look at her directly.

She was sitting on her rear as she looked up toward the ceiling, arms shaking below her as she breathed heavily from the sudden exhaustive effort and sheer adrenaline. Sensing his gaze, she looked back toward him wordlessly, and he frowned as he realized she had blood on her hands – his blood, he realized.

"Cap…" she took another deep breath as her voice failed and tried again, "Captain are you okay? You really scared me. It's all that steam. You really-" she panted harshly, her eyes suddenly beginning to tear up as she looked away from him and shook her head. Even if he couldn't see her face, she couldn't hide the emotional tremble in her voice, "Levi…you stopped breathing in there; I didn't know what to do! I'm a Scout not a doctor and you- Ugh, dammit!"

Her voice cracked and she refused to look at him further, the weight of her unsaid words leaving him at odds. He didn't know what to say, and even if he did, he wasn't sure he had the ability to say it. He was still panting, taking a moment to lick the blood off his lips and trying to recover from his previous coughing spell that had nearly rendered him unconscious.

Petra quietly brought both hands to her face and smoothed her hair in the same motion, seemingly in attempts to collect herself before finally standing up from the floor. For a long moment she stood there wordlessly, shaking her head as though about to speak, but losing her nerve and sighing in defeat as though at a loss. Eventually, she cleared her throat and gave a slight sniffle as she looked out toward the hallway. Her voice was quiet, exhausted.

"I'm going to go grab your tea. Just…just don't do anything stupid."

Petra left the room quickly, an unease churning in the pit of her stomach that wasn't fully quelled by the Captain's stabilized condition. In truth, she could care less about his tea, she needed a distraction – something to take her thoughts away from the stumbling, frail Levi with blood on his lips and no color to his face. Watching him fight to just stay conscious, feeling so helpless and uncertain - that had scared her more than the Titans ever would, and she found that she needed a moment to collect herself before she faced her Captain again.

She moved into the bathroom and grabbed his teacup, watching the tea sway from side to side in the cup, a result of the tremble in her hands that caused the liquid to ripple within the confines of the small cup. She bit her lip and set the cup back down on the surface of the counter, hanging her head and giving a shaky exhale as she tried desperately to put it all behind her.

Try as she may, her hands didn't steady themselves and even when Petra finally felt put together enough to rejoin her Captain in the common room, she had to keep both hands on the cup to ensure that she didn't spill.

…

…

By the time Petra had returned back to the common room, Levi had moved up from off the floor and was sitting at the table. His hands were resting out in front of himself and he continued to breathe shallowly from the aftermath of his coughing fit that had ended only a few minutes ago.

Petra walked toward him and set the tea beside him on the table, her voice clipped and quiet, "I'm going to get a wet rag for your hands, just a sec." She moved into the small kitchen that housed a few rations and coffee supplies for the squad, taking a moment to wash her own hands off in the sink before grabbing a washcloth and wetting it down for the Captain.

"Here." She said softly as she came back into the room, setting the damp rag down on the table beside him. With that, she left the room again without any indication of where she was going or when she would be back.

Levi watched her leave, mentally making note of her uncharacteristic behavior. It wasn't that her voice showed signs of irritation or anger, but it wasn't like Petra to mince her words and communicate only the bare minimum of what was needed. For as long as he had known her, she had always been extremely social. For all his lack of conversation, Petra could carry on for hours on end, with only a few 'yeahs' and head nods needed to keep her going.

He normally would have spent more time pondering the issue, debating with himself if he would need to talk with her later, or if it was something she just needed to sort through on her own – but he was so exhausted that his thoughts remained unsorted with no clear-cut avenues for resolution. He had been awake now for a few hours and his fever and body aches made it feel as though his mind were perpetually in a haze. He was still himself, but everything felt forced and in slow motion. His thoughts were muddy, his body sluggish, and his lungs and throat were painfully raw, throbbing and itching and burning all at once.

He grabbed the damp rag and set to wiping his hands clean from the sticky blood that was halfway dry and coated the entirety of his palms. Once his hands and nails were finally clean again, he took a moment to wipe his mouth and face, then continued down the exposed skin of his forearms from where blood had been smeared against his skin from Petra's surprisingly brutal force.

While she wasn't a doctor, Levi noted that she had responded quickly; whether right or wrong, Petra made a decision and stuck with it till the end. Without even realizing it, she was making use of all her years of training; thinking on her feet with wisdom and precision when it counted the most. If it weren't for the fact he got the distinct impression she wanted to forget about it as quickly as possible (that, and she wasn't even in the room anymore) he may have actually complimented her on how she handled the situation.

He set the rag down beside him after the task was completed and grabbed the cup of tea Petra had made.

If he were being honest with himself, he was... feeling a bit guilty.

It was only after being exposed to the cold air that he realized the trouble caused for both himself and Petra was almost entirely his fault. While it couldn't be helped that he was sick, he only now realized the dangerous spot he had placed himself in earlier. In retrospect, Petra's claims that he had dismissed, that he was only going to make himself more sick with his careless actions, turned out to be more than justified. What was more, Petra's terrified response as she looked away from him in attempts to keep it together had sparked something within himself – he didn't know what – but his stomach twisted in knots that were unrelated to his nausea and he felt the need to address it somehow because he was feeling somewhat at odds.

She had legitimately been afraid.

For him.

Because of him.

He looked down at the tea – the tea he didn't deserve, as Petra had stated – and sighed. Perhaps he should have just listened to her to start with.

"Drink it while it's still hot." came Petra's monotone voice, and Levi looked up toward her as she made her way back into the room. "We don't have any cough drops here so we'll have to make do with whatever we can find lying around to keep that cough in check. I'll see if I can get any from the medics tomorrow; if we're lucky they may even have some cough syrup for you. We can't afford you going through another coughing spell like that again; your lungs can't take the abuse."

Levi gave a slow nod of agreement and cautiously lifted the small cup to his lips, sampling the tea that Petra had made.

He winced as he swallowed the hot liquid, understanding in that moment exactly where all the blood had come from before. He had been concerned that his coughing up blood was signs of a more sinister disease, however as he swallowed the tea, he could very distinctly feel various raw, torn and ruptured patches within his throat that the hot liquid seemed to soothe and burn all at the same time.

He supposed that made sense. While the fact his throat was torn to shreds wasn't exactly a good thing, it was a much better option than his previous suspicion that his lungs were slowly filling with blood.

He took another sip of the tea, allowing it to cool on his tongue a little before swallowing the delicate liquid again. It did feel good on his throat, but the level of heat was a little too intense for the raw and bleeding patches of flesh and Levi wanted to avoid bringing on another coughing fit if it could at all be avoided.

"How is it?" Petra asked from the other end of the table, though her voice lacked any real curiosity.

"Fine." Levi responded, his voice a hoarse whisper.

He smelled the tea for a moment, having known from his very first sip that this was not green tea. He wasn't exactly sure why Petra had elected to prepare his silver needle jasmine tea for him – an obvious white tea – but he knew it didn't really matter one way or another. It was still hot, tasted good, and helped him unwind a bit from all the sudden tension.

If he were being critical, it was a little on the weak side, but only if he were proactively looking to critique it. More than anything, he appreciated having a hot cup of tea at all. He was completely miserable, drained of any and all energy, his mind was exhausted as he tried to focus and sort through the nature of Petra's odd behavior - even this small comfort after such an exhausting line up was helpful in both mind and body.

"It's time for your next dose of medicine so you'll need to drink some milk as well. After that, I presume you'll be ready to go back to sleep?"

Levi gave a nod, not caring to put up a stubborn pretense or pretend that he was fine. Petra had seen him all but crawling on the floor, hacking and wheezing in a mess of his own blood – there was no point in putting up a brave face in front of her anymore.

He looked toward her, frowning slightly at his new observation. "Your sleeves…" he rasped out, and Petra looked down at herself in question, only then noticing that it wasn't just her hands that had been smeared in blood previously.

She gave a tired nod and waved a hand nonchalantly, "I'll get it taken care of in a bit. No point in rushing now, it's already dried on." She stood up and moved back over toward the kitchen, grabbing out the milk and pouring the Captain a glass. She walked back toward him, setting down the glass as well as two brown pills that comprised his next dose of medicine. She nodded towards the teacup, "You finished?"

He tilted the cup up high and finished off the last of his tea, nodding as she took the empty glass from him and wordlessly returned to the kitchen to begin washing it.

He cleared his throat, the action igniting a burning pain deep within his chest that caused his eyes to water as a result. Even still, he wanted to ensure he would be heard over the sound of the running water, "Petra…"

"Hm?"

He watched her in silence as she continued cleaning up the area, coming back to the table after a moment and grabbing the bloodied rag next, rinsing it out leisurely with no real hurry to her actions. Levi exhaled and grabbed his medicine, his head tilted downward in a humbled manner. He wasn't sure what he had wanted to say, and as the silence prolonged between them whatever words he wanted to say seemed to die on his tongue.

Petra turned off the water and started to dry the cup. She gave an empty chuckle that lacked actual amusement, "Hey in sickness and in health right?" she looked toward him and gave a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, "Take your medicine Captain. You need rest."

'So do you' he thought internally, but chose to remain silent, instead listening to the slight tinking of the glasses as she placed the cup back in its place. Again he noted that she was unusually quiet as there was nothing further she added to the growing silence. She always had something more to say, so her silence unnerved him. He found that he wanted to know her thoughts, wanted to know if she was angry with him perhaps – but without her lead, Levi wasn't quite sure where he stood and didn't know how to express his musings.

He placed the medicine on his tongue, finding the sugar coating to be far too sweet with its attempt to be viewed as enjoyable, before the bitterness of the medicine finally came through after resting on his tongue for too long. The bitterness continued to build in his mouth until it was almost too much to stomach; the overwhelming flavor overpowering his sense of taste. Only then did he finally wash it down, until both the sweetness and bitterness of the medicine was nothing more than a blurry memory.

…

…

Petra gave a tentative knock on the door, standing out in the hallway nervously while she waited for a response.

"Hello? Oh, just a second." Came a familiar voice from within the room, and after a moment Hanji opened the door and looked out curiously, a smile coming to her face after seeing a familiar shade of orange hair.

"Well if it isn't Petra Ral – oops, I mean, Ackerman! I was just about to clean up and get ready for dinner. Is there something I can do for you? I heard Erwin saying something about Levi, that he's sick or something? Everything okay?"

Petra gave a polite smile, clutching the folder she was holding onto and nodding toward the inside of Hanji's office, "About that, I was hoping to talk to you if you have any time? Sorry, I know it's right before dinner."

Hanji gave a slight surprised sort of 'Oh' expression, then gave an uncertain nod. While it was true she often rubbed shoulders with Levi's squad, fact of the matter was their base responsibilities were vastly different and Hanji couldn't think of a single time that Levi's subordinates actually needed to come to her for anything. "Um, sure. Of course I mean, come on in." Hanji turned back toward her office space and busied herself cleaning off a chair that was stacked with papers and boxes of who knows what, "Sorry for the mess, I tend to work with fifty different things at once and my project notes tend to get everywhere."

Petra looked around the office with wide eyes as she sat down in the given chair, admittedly a little surprised at the stark difference between Hanji's office and the Captain's. It wasn't that her office was dirty per say, but Hanji wasn't kidding about things being everywhere. There were boxes stacked across the ground and various papers that seemed to be haphazardly placed on every surface imaginable. Levi would never allow his office to even come close to such a state, and yet Hanji worked and thrived in such an environment.

The titan's expert took a seat at her desk, stacking the various papers across the desk's surface and setting them aside. She looked at Petra with a smile, "Now. What's on your mind my dear?"

Petra exhaled apprehensively, presenting the manila folder she had taken from Levi's room and merely placed it in front of Hanji who observed it coolly with a raised eyebrow. Petra bit her bottom lip and nodded toward the folder, "Just…look at this. This is why I'm here."

She gave a guilty look as Hanji looked at the folder curiously, her eyes widening as she flipped through it, realizing quickly the source of Petra's nervous behavior. This was clearly not Petra's business, nor hers for that matter, though Hanji couldn't deny her outright surprise after seeing just how far behind Levi really was. Being someone with papers and deadlines of her own, she knew full well, even more so than Petra did, that this was bad.

She closed the folder with a sigh, wanting to pick her words carefully. While Hanji enjoyed getting a rise out of the tight-laced Captain, she would consider him a friend and knew he would not want either herself or Petra digging through his responsibilities like this without his knowledge.

"Captain Levi has… a lot of responsibilities on his plate right now. He is behind to be sure, however-"

"It's my fault he's behind though!" Petra insisted with wide eyes, looking down at the folder of all the uncompleted tasks Levi hadn't been able to get around to and feeling responsible, "I saw the folder with all the paperwork from the wedding. I know that's why he's not getting any of his work done…so I thought that maybe..."

Petra seemed to pause in thought and Hanji pressed her lips together. She hadn't been sure if Petra knew about that or not, and while she didn't know if Levi had told her directly or if she had found out through some other means, she supposed there was no use avoiding the subject now.

Hanji took off her glasses and nodded seriously as she rubbed her eyes, "Petra. It's true, those papers have kept him extremely busy as of late, but it's not your 'fault'. Not to be heartless, but Levi knew what he was getting himself into beforehand. He knew there would be a lot of aftermath and that the issue of allowing you to stay in the military wouldn't be as simple as just a ten-minute ceremony with Erwin. It has kept him busy and really put him in a bind for time, but that was the choice he made from the start. Everything has consequences and if he wasn't prepared for them, he wouldn't have said anything to you and you'd be long back at your father's house."

Hanji gave a sympathetic smile as the silence drew out and she tapped the folder gently for emphasis, "I know you are concerned and I can't imagine seeing something like this is pleasant when it's your own Captain that's involved, but there's not much that you or I can do here. I know there are the few forms that I'm needing from him, so I guess I can extend the deadline considering he's sick, but-"

"I want to help him." Petra cut her off with resolve, "I want you to teach me how to fill them out."

Hanji blinked, eyes wide at hearing Petra's request that sounded more like a demand than an actual request or favor. She had assumed Petra was more concerned about deadlines and asking people to give the Captain more time, but considering all she knew of Petra, she should have known from the start that she was just as extreme as her Captain and her sights were set on something much bigger than a simple extended grace period.

She tried to make her voice light, knowing her heart was in the right place and wanting to let her down gently because there was no way she could give her what she was asking.

"Petra, this is work for a Commanding Officer. Erwin would have a fit if he learned that you-"

"Then don't tell him." Petra said flatly, a challenging fire in her eyes that reminded the Scientist so much of Levi, "You know full well that Levi will never ask for help, and as the person who has been keeping watch over him throughout the day, I can tell you that he is in no position to return to work for at least a few days as a bare minimum. He was already falling behind without being sick, and you expect he will magically return to duty and somehow find an extra twelve hours each day to catch up?"

Hanji frowned at Petra's statement; her point made. The ginger shook her head and stared into the desk pensively, "I couldn't get myself out of the bind I was in with my father and everything, and Levi came through for me. So now…I'm going to do the same. I know it's not as drastic – I can't do for the Captain what he did for me, but something like this, surely I can do at least this for him." Petra frowned and looked up at her superior directly, "It's just, I've looked everything over and I don't know how to fill out a vast majority of the forms he's got collected here. I figured you would though, so here I am. I just need a little help getting started."

Hanji stared at her for a long moment, debating with herself if she should indulge Petra's request or not. It felt wrong in so many ways. Petra was not an Officer, she clearly didn't have Levi's knowledge or permission to do such a thing, Erwin would never agree to a non-titled Scout doing someone else's job – and yet past all that, the rules had already been blurred and broken to such an extent that when it came to Petra and the relationship she had with her Captain, it seemed almost silly to hold them to a black and white standard. And again to Petra's point, how else was he going to catch up if he was falling so drastically behind while in good health?

Something had to give.

Hanji laced her hands in front of her face and gave a slight nod, "Alright listen." she began in defeat, giving a long sigh and watching Petra seriously, "I will help you, but this does not get back to Erwin or your squad. If you complete a form, give it to me so I can check it over and then I'll get it to the right hands after that. If you make any mistakes though, even one, you're done. You won't be helping him if things come back two weeks from now due to sloppiness and novice errors."

Petra nodded, a smile bubbling on her face though she tried to remain serious, understanding full well that Hanji was sticking her neck out for her and wasn't exactly happy about it. The Scientist continued sternly, "And keep in mind we all have jobs to see to so I don't exactly have hours of free time to devote to teaching you the correct formats and data you need to find. As for tonight I'm pretty busy, but I can give you maybe... an hour or so? If you're willing to sacrifice your mealtimes, we can work while we eat, but anything more than that and you'll be on your own. It's sink or swim and if you can't figure it out that's your problem."

Petra nodded quickly in understanding and acceptance, standing up with Hanji who gave another long sigh and picked the folder back up in her hands. She adjusted her glasses across her face, "Let's not waste any time then. How about you go and stand in the dinner line for the both of us, grab our food, and by the time you get through the line, I'll be in Levi's office with some data organized and ready for you. Sound fair?"

Petra soon walked out of Hanji's office, a wide smile across her face. She imagined this must be what Erwin felt like when he landed a big sort of business deal with the government. It wasn't long before she had gotten through the line and returned back to Levi's office, where Hanji had set a variety of Levi's folders and papers across the surface of his desk in preparation.

"Now for these tables, you look at the training data Levi has recorded here in this folder, for the past three months. You'll need to calculate the average, then compare them to the previously filled out table and make note of the differences. Once you have those numbers recorded, you can move down to the next section and add the new data to the graph. From there-"

Petra tried to keep up with Hanji's explanation, taking separate notes of everything that was being said for later reference, all while filling out the current document piece by piece and praying she did her calculations correctly. They had been at it for a few hours now; Hanji explaining the current document, what it needed in each section, and how to calculate the data correctly and use it later in a matter that kept building onto itself and increasing with difficulty.

It wasn't that the details required were per say hard, it was just very detailed and meticulous, not to mention time consuming. Hanji had been diligently watching over Petra's shoulder as she worked, pointing out various boxes and notes to review, as well as where Levi was likely storing the data she needed to sort through for the corresponding data. All in all, Petra had to commend Hanji in that she was an excellent teacher. She was thorough and encouraging, but didn't patronize her efforts and had no problem correcting her if her methods weren't lining up to produce accurate results.

Petra was amazed at how long one simple paper was taking. While there was the fact she was still learning (so wasn't nearly as efficient as Hanji or the Captain would be) Petra was just now finishing the first paper out of Levi's large stack of unfinished documents.

With a nervous sigh, Petra set her pen down and looked over the page, "Okay, I think this one is done. It only took me forever."

Hanji laughed from behind her, grabbing the paper and reviewing it, "No worries my dear, you'll get better at it as time goes by. This looks pretty good though; I'll take it with me and turn it in first thing in the morning. Did you write down all the numbers on a separate page? You'll find a lot of these forms tend to get repetitive so make sure to keep good records that you can go back to later for reference. That will save you a lot of time."

"Got it all right here." Petra confirmed with a small exhale, holding up the notepad she had found previously, various numbers and dates scratched across the first page, "I will say, getting a more inside look at what you and the Captain are required to do…it's kind of interesting. Granted I won't lie, I'm not exactly envious because this really eats time up, but I never would have thought Levi actually kept up and knew all these various numbers and statistics."

Hanji smiled warmly at Petra's observation, "Well thank you. I don't know how much Levi actually keeps up with the numbers, but I sure do; Erwin as well. They may just be numbers, but they represent people, and that makes them important. The more we understand about our Scouts, what we do well, what we don't do well, the better off we'll be in the future. We can only hope that we can use data like this to results that contribute to humanity's victory."

Hanji stood up straight and cleared her throat, "Well my dear, I'd love to stay but my time is up and I've got to get back to my desk or I'll start falling behind as well."

Petra stood up from the desk and walked with her toward the door, giving a slight bow of gratitude as Hanji moved out of Levi's office. "Thank you so much Hanji. I really appreciate you doing this for me. I think I'll be busy in the morning with the Squad and everything, but can we plan to do lunch and dinner like this tomorrow?"

"Sure thing! We can go over some other new forms and documents that you'll need to know how to fill out, so just stick to the type I showed you just now and we'll tackle some new stuff tomorrow."

"Perfect, thanks Hanji!"

Petra gave a wave and closed the office door, moving back behind Levi's desk and digging back through the large 'To Do' folder until she found another similar type of form that Hanji had taught her how to fill out. With a sigh of resignation, Petra grabbed her note pad of previous numbers as well as helpful hints about what data went where, and began scribbling down numbers across the first line.

She had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to be a long night.

...

End of Chapter

...

And that wraps it up for this week!

Intense, right?

I will admit, this arc was one that was…oh, what's the word? Granted, back when I was actively writing this section out, it was what, February? It's been a hot minute since I've been in this arc's head space, but I can remember that keeping Levi balanced here was sincerely a good challenge for me. I do feel there is an obvious ferocity to Levi's character, but there is that strange level of softness to him, and writing out a Levi that is out of his element, sick and miserable, but still caring for others in the odd way that he does – it makes my writer's brain go into overdrive and getting to reread all of this and cast my final updates on it four months later is pretty surreal.

I do hope you guys are enjoying reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it and editing it. As always, your support is so special to me and I look forward to getting to reveal the next chapter come every update. So, I will bid you adieu and see you next week! Yall stay safe and have a good one!

Midnight