Good morning everyone and happy Sunday.

Today's shout out goes to my 'newer' readers, shall we say? Of course yall who have been here in the beginning are real MVP's and seriously, thank you sooo much, but I wanted to shout out those who saw this story at some 50 or 60 chapters or whenever you joined the brigade and had to play catch up. Thank you for taking the time to join the journey and for the kind words and encouragement yall have left along the way. (Side note, the husband studies muay thai as well! He's been the one really watching over my fighting/weapon material, because myself – ehh, I'm more the rehab, science and book knowledge kinda gal so I have to defer to him for accuracy when it comes to the sparring and such.)

Either way, we're still trucking through this arc bit by bit, so I'll wrap it up! Yall enjoy :)

…

…

Petra's father had left about an hour ago now, and the couple had wasted no time to begin training for the day, because if Petra's father wasn't around to sneer or make passive aggressive comments about her ankle or how she was reduced to limping around the house, Levi felt that perhaps they'd actually be able to train and see some real progress regarding her rehabilitation today.

At least…that's what he had told himself.

The first hour of warmups had gone just fine and about as routinely as ever. Considering he wouldn't be visiting the Outpost today, Levi had decided to actually join her for basic conditioning, where they had each done a number of pushups, crunches, lunges, and Petra had bitterly remarked that he was just showing off because the Captain was easily doubling the number of reps she had managed to accomplish. At her bitter and jealous gaze, Levi had confirmed with a smirk that maybe if she applied herself and stopped bitching at him, she'd actually accomplish something because not only was she slow, but her form was shit too. He had sat up from the ground and asked her with a knowing stare if something was, perhaps, distracting her?

Petra had grumbled to herself and returned back to her assigned work without further comment, and Levi almost chuckled at her mortified, telling blush. He hadn't outright said anything, but more than once he had caught her pausing midmotion to watch him instead, as admittedly, it wasn't often he joined his squad for conditioning considering he was busy with surveying and facilitating their material instead. After seeing Petra's obvious intrigue and almost bafflement to watching him do the same exercises he so often assigned to them, Levi mentally noted to himself that perhaps he'd have to do their physical conditioning together more often.

When they had started her actual training, Levi's relatively good mood had changed into sheer annoyance because that was when Timmy had shown up and Levi found he just simply wasn't in the mood. He had his hands full enough with trying to balance his work at the Outpost, trying to support Petra as she confronted her father - not to mention trying to keep his hands to himself because he knew her father would give them endless hell if he were to try anything on his precious little daughter, so Timmy's constant unsettling and unwanted presence was a headache he didn't need.

It wasn't that the man overstayed his welcome, it was just…fuck, Levi couldn't quite place his finger on it, but the man was charming and supportive and a sheer delight to everyone except him. In all fairness, perhaps that wasn't all that concerning, considering most people had a natural, primal sort of fear around him, but it just irritated him that Timmy always seemed to have some reason to come around the Ral family. The man was Petra's friend, a client of her father's, they had all grown up together – Levi supposed it made sense, and yet, he couldn't shake his gut level suspicion that something was off about the oh so put together man.

Even though Timmy had more than rubbed him the wrong way, at the end of the day Levi just hadn't had the time to dwell on it; not with her father around and all the extra baggage that alone brought to their unpredictable schedule. And yet with her father now gone, even if the time would likely present itself, Levi hadn't exactly expected that they'd see too much of the blonde.

Yet here he was, not even two hours later as though he didn't have anything better to do on a weekday but spend all his time pestering the Rals. Worse still, and something that had put the Captain on instant edge, Petra had stopped her routines without even a moment of hesitation to greet him, regardless the fact that they were in the middle of a training sequence, and she moved toward Timmy with an apologetic frown. She explained that he had come too late because her father had already left for the day and Timmy, ever the 'gentleman' that he was, said that he wasn't sure if he'd actually catch him or not, but hey since he was already here, he may as well stick around because it was so rare that Petra got to be here, so he'd wait for them to be finished with their training for the day, and maybe they could all do lunch or something.

Levi had barely contained his sarcastic grumble, because of course Timmy would want to do lunch with them. Damn, maybe her father had paid him off or something – using the blonde as a way to keep tabs on them while he was away from the house. Petra would probably deny it, but it wouldn't surprise Levi in the slightest if that was what was secretly at play here.

Levi had intended to decline his offer, about to say that he wasn't sure when they'd do lunch considering it would be more of a lunch break, because they needed to keep focused on her training now that the time had actually, finally presented itself. Unfortunately, before he had been able to get in a single word edgewise, Petra had accepted his offer outright, "Yeah that's fine Timmy. If you don't mind waiting, we'll keep at it for a few more hours and we'll go from there!"

And so Levi found himself again training with her, but this time, with an audience.

In truth, he wasn't exactly sure why it had bothered him so much, to the extent he kept shooting the blonde narrowed, accusational glares, because it wasn't like he had made any secret plans or that his training material was so exclusive that it needed to be a private affair, and yet there was something so demeaning about trying to give Petra one on one training while Timmy just sat there watching them.

As they kept training and Levi tried his damndest to just ignore her friend's far too direct stare, to not make a point of holding her closer than necessary because Petra was married to him so that should already speak for itself, to just stick to the task at hand and focus on her training, but of fucking course, out of nowhere it started raining.

At first it had been a mere light sort of misting, but within fifteen minutes the rain had grown all the more irksome until their clothes began getting a little damp and itchy from the light, but persistent drizzle, and Levi found himself standing up more completely with a defeated sigh. It seemed Petra was also on the same page as him because she gave an equally tense exhale and looked toward the sky with a disgruntled frown, "Damn. I don't know how much longer we'll be able to stay out like this, Captain. The weather changes so fast around here – I know it's not raining all that hard but the winds picking up and I'm starting to get cold. Do you think we should call it for now? By the looks of things, it's only going to get worse."

"Yeah, that may be for the best. Let's get out of the rain for now, shit's cold." Levi looked toward the side of the house, where Timmy sat dry as a bone due to being under the roof's ledge, and he nodded and began pulling Petra behind him with a light nudge, "Sorry about your training Petra, I really thought we'd be able to make a day of it but that all depends on the weather. We can monitor it and once the rain lets up, we'll get back to it."

"If it lets up." Petra added in solemnly, and after joining Timmy near the edge of the house, Petra gave a quiet thank you when Levi had pulled a hankie out of his pocket for her. She dried off her face and arms, goosebumps cresting over her skin because the rain had brought an undeniable chill to the air, and when she finished, she wordlessly handed the fabric toward Levi, who also began wiping down his skin in attempts to somewhat dry off. In the distance, the lightest rumble of thunder could just be heard, and the intensity of the rain continued to increase; the more prominent rain drops finally starting to make the lightest of pinging sounds on the roof and grass.

It was as Levi was continuing to wipe down the back of his neck that Timmy spoke, and Levi had to bite his inner lip to keep himself from lashing out when the man wrapped an arm around Petra and began rubbing her arm slightly with a concerned frown, "Aw Pet, you okay? You've got goosebumps all the sudden; you want my jacket?"

Petra shook her head and she laughed at Timmy's worried expression, "It's just a cold chill Timmy, I'm fine. We're not even all that wet, it's just that the water is pretty cold." She paused and gave a long glance toward the road, "I hope Dad's okay. He should be far enough away where he's hopefully outside the sudden weather shift, but still. Based off the clouds, I think he may have hit the storm before we did."

Timmy had given her a half smile and shook his head, "Petra. Your dad will be just fine; it's just a little rain and he's endured far worse over the years. For now, let's just focus on you, okay? If you guys can't train, then how about we do lunch? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty hungry and I've just been sitting here so you must be starving. We can all go out together of course, but I was actually thinking, it's been a long time since just you and I have hung out, right?"

Levi froze in place, hand still on the back of his neck as he heard Timmy's sudden offer, and Petra looked between the two men in question as Timmy continued factually, "Honestly, it may be time to let your Captain take a break, you know? Think about it Pet; I'll bet he doesn't want to say it, but bear in mind that when he's not here with you and your Dad, he's out at the Garrison, training and doing everything else even though it's supposed to be vacation for you guys. He's been going nonstop since you arrived, and a man needs his downtime, Pet. He's been here almost a week now without so much as ten minutes alone and I'd bet that he's exhausted. With your Dad gone, this is a good opportunity to finally let him relax a little, wouldn't you say? And it's not like it's forever or anything – just a day to unwind a little."

Petra looked at Levi with a clearly concerned frown, but the Captain hadn't caught her stare because his own focus was presently on the blonde as he stared Timmy down in sheer wonder, because the fuck was this arrogant prick trying to pull all of the sudden? Timmy placed a hand on Petra's shoulder and he gave her a light pat, to which Levi actually shook his head slightly, some part of him amazed that this asshole could be so damn brazen, like he didn't think he'd rip his hand clean off if it came down to it.

Timmy grinned at Petra's conflicted expression and actually gave Levi a sort of smirk when he caught the Captain's infuriated stare of warning, "Come on Pet, how about you let him rest up and unwind by himself for a bit. In the meantime, I can take you out. We can get lunch, and what, a few drinks, then maybe later on we can stop by my place for a few hours? I'll give you the grand tour, and we can all just kick back and relax a little."

Levi stiffened, his mouth parted in further wonder because this fucker thought he was so damn smooth, but Petra didn't seem to notice Levi's sudden irritation and she thought the idea over in silent contemplation. Eventually, she looked up at Levi with an embarrassed, sheepish exhale, "Sorry Captain, I guess I hadn't even thought of that, but maybe Timmy's got a point. It's okay, you know? Dad and I can be a bit of a handful, so if you need some space that's totally fine. Besides, maybe I could use a night out to catch up and unwind. It's fine with me, you know, if you wanted the house to yourself for a bit while Timmy and I-"

Before Petra could even finish her sentence, there was a low, "Oh hell no." that tore out of the Captain's throat, and without warning, he grabbed her arm in a painfully tight grip and pulled her behind him without so much as an explanation, "House, Petra. Now."

It was as he stormed toward the door with Petra in tow, that Levi turned over his shoulder and shot the man a scathing, hateful glare, "Let me state this clearly you smug fuck - you're spending the day alone, Timmy. Piss off."

"It's Timothy."

"I don't give a shit! Go fuck yourself, you meddling, dickless asshole. If I were you I'd get lost because Petra's not interested in-"

"Levi! What's gotten into you? It's fine, I told you he's a friend! If you don't like the idea then that's fine, but there's no need to get so upset all of the sudden! It was just an offer; nothings been set in stone!" Petra reprimanded sharply, and the Captain's gaze settled on her with a snap.

"There, you heard the lady, so how about you back off? Don't forget, you're the outsider here!"

Petra paused in her tracks at the sudden anger in Timmy's words and she gave the blonde a sharp glare, "Woah. Alright how about the both of you just chill out because-"

"No. Not another goddamned word Petra. Inside."

It was due to the ferocity of Levi's voice and the palpable anger that surrounded him that caused Petra to give a nervous nod, being reminded of her Captain Levi more than her friend Levi, and she obediently allowed herself to be pulled in behind him as he led them both into the house and furiously slammed the door shut behind them.

She had expected that the second the front door closed, he would have turned toward her and explained whatever the hell it was that had suddenly made him so upset as to outright attack her friend like that without cause, but instead of stopping then and there to confront her, Levi continued pulling her further into the house without so much as a word - through the living room, past the kitchen, down the hall, and finally, straight into her bedroom.

Her nervousness only continued to rise as he wordlessly stormed through the house, but she knew better than to defy her Captain when he was this upset.

Levi released her arm as he closed the bedroom door behind him, and Petra had taken a step as she tried to turn toward him, more than unnerved by his strange, out of nowhere, riled up behavior, but Levi seemed to beat her to the punch, because just as quickly as she was freed from his grasp, she was suddenly in his hold again – and in a very unpleasant way that caused a sort of startled gasp to tear from her throat.

Levi had grabbed her one arm and twisted it up behind her back, earning a sharp hiss from her as the borderline painful sensation made her arch slightly, and Levi outright pushed her firmly into the wall – her front uncomfortably pressed into the surface and all but knocking the wind out of her as Levi stood behind her commandingly. His forearm was across the plane of her shoulder blades, preventing her from turning around to face him, and when she used her free arm to try to push off the wall and turn back around, Levi's other arm grabbed her by the wrist, holding her perfectly in place as he used his arms and body to hold her forcefully against the wall.

For a moment she struggled and squirmed against him, however when Levi's grip merely tightened, when he pressed her so firmly into the wall that it caused her to wince and her lungs to ache, she fell still and knew she could do nothing other than fall into the will of her Captain in hopes to understand what had upset the Ackerman so much.

A minute passed by, two minutes, then three. Levi didn't say anything for what seemed like the longest time, and Petra found that while she legitimately had no idea what had suddenly made him this upset, she couldn't deny the fear building in her stomach, because in all her years of working with Levi, of all the things she had done to irritate him, things she had struggled to master that required his intervention as Captain – he had never done such a thing to her and she wasn't sure what to make of the strangely escalating situation that she now found herself in.

"Do you know why Erwin was reading your mail, Petra?" Levi's quiet, calm voice came from behind her, and Petra felt her mouth drop open in confusion because now she really had no idea what was going on, and she turned her head to one side in attempts to look at him – to see his expression and try to gauge what the hell was happening, but Levi was placed just perfectly so that she couldn't, and with a sigh, she merely shook her head miserably because she found herself almost afraid of his anger, afraid of the unknown, and afraid that she had somehow hurt him without even knowing it.

"It's because, dummy, it just doesn't make sense that your simple carpenter father, who has always hated you being in the military, has suddenly become an expert at law and knew exactly when, and how to force your hand in a way that would make you resign from the military. Had he known those things all along, he would have forced you back years ago, or prevented you from going at all – meaning something very recently changed that afforded him such knowledge."

Levi gave a deep, low sigh that made Petra flinch, because though his voice was calm, she could feel the agitation in the air and knew full well that Levi 'talking it out' like this wasn't a way for him to express or vent out his frustration – he was just as angry, just as livid, and was gradually working his way toward telling her why. No, they hadn't even gotten to the true depths of his anger just yet, and she was truly intimidated by his dark, foreboding aura because it was somehow all directed at her specifically.

What had she done to him? He was fine not even five minutes ago! It just didn't make any sense and…again she tried to turn her head just right in attempts to look at him, but still couldn't quite find him from where he was positioned behind her and gave an exasperated sigh of defeat.

There was a low huff from Levi, and for a moment, there was only silence. When Levi finally spoke again, his voice was softer, but almost quipped; a certain edge to his tone that made him sound guarded and distant.

"You should know that I came here for you; at your request, and while that fact isn't a lie, it isn't the whole truth either. I wanted to come here myself to see what was going on, try to understand what we've been rather blind to, and make sure that while you were here, your father didn't try to pull any other fast moves on you or do something that we weren't prepared for."

Levi's voice grew more irritated then, a growing bite and anger to his words, and Petra flinched again at his tone as he spoke, "What I didn't expect to see, was this fucking mess you left behind, and the fact that you are too damn oblivious to see any of it."

Levi leaned closer toward her then – she knew this because she could feel the fabric of his shirt against her back, and could feel his hot breath over her neck - and his grip on both her arms tightened all the more, causing her to give a weak cry because his grip was more than just 'borderline' painful now.

"Levi, you're hurting me." She whispered fearfully, and there was almost a chuckle from him at her timid admission.

"Good. Maybe it means you'll fucking listen to me, because if you ask me you've been intentionally blind to what's around you, and it's pissing me off. Tell me Petra, your so called 'friend' Timmy – he's been away at school for however long, right? What school? What's his profession? Have you wondered why he hasn't reached out to you once in over eight years, but now all of the sudden, he's popping up left and right? You don't find it strange that him and your father have an obvious friendship that formed over who knows when while you've been away? Have you even thought to ask?"

Petra's mind blanked, and she would have shrugged, had it not been for the immense pressure on her upper body. Though she couldn't see him, she could feel the weight of his angry stare on her, and her voice all but cracked as she tried to respond, shifting slightly against the wall as she tried to lessen her sheer discomfort from the terrible aching of her twisted arm, "I don't – Levi, I haven't had contact with him in over eight years now, you know that! I have no idea! Why does it…why does any of it even matter?"

At her own equally frustrated and shrill response, Levi growled, his voice raising from his own frustrations with her, "Oh for fuck's sake Petra, the man graduated last fall! You don't find it the slightest bit suspicious that not six months after his return, your dad is suddenly a fucking wizard with all these rules and regulations regarding the military and his rights over you?"

There was a long pause, and Petra tried to reign in her own heated emotions, because she knew Levi was talking down to her. Whatever he was saying appeared so 'obvious' to him, to the extent he was all but mocking her for it, but all she could really make out from his words was the overwhelming fact that Levi did not like her friend in the slightest and was taking it out on her. She exhaled through her nose, ignoring the aching in her back and limbs as Levi's grip continued to cause her continual discomfort, "Alright Levi, you've got my attention. So what exactly are you saying in all of this?"

At her pointed, almost sarcastic question, Levi pulled her backward toward him, only to slam her back into the wall with a firm shove, and Petra gave an aggravated groan at the less than pleasant contact with the hard surface of the wall. His voice was dripping with malice, "You know damn well what I'm saying, you just don't want to admit it. It's obvious – he's been in school for eight years right? Just graduated? Petra, the man studied law; he's the mastermind behind all of this. He's the one that told your father what to say, he's the one that's been coaching your father on what questions to ask, the timing, everything– it's been your stupid precious Timmy this whole damn time. Your situation is because of him. You're married to me, because of him. Yes, your father was the name on the paper but he was just the fucking puppet. It's been that smooth-talking snake this whole time!"

As Petra tried to catch her breath from the wind being knocked out of her yet again, at his passionate tirade she fell perfectly silent and still, more than unsure of what to make of Levi's bold accusation, and seeing her immediate puzzlement, as though she really hadn't stopped long enough to read the writing on the wall, Levi gave a low sigh.

Sometimes…he forgot just how trusting she really could be.

Of course she hadn't seen it. Of course the red flags and the signs had all passed her by. To be suspicious, to assume the worst in someone - it simply wasn't her nature. With her father's bickering, her inconsistent and fruitless attempts at training, no, the blonde had slipped under the radar completely and Petra was only now seeing it for the first time.

Levi's grip on her slackened, ever so slightly as he continued to hold her against the wall with a much more muted degree of force, and Petra gave a sigh of relief and rolled her shoulders to further dispel the aching discomfort from his previous vice grip. When Levi spoke again, his voice was different, more quiet and withdrawn.

"Truthfully, I was suspicious of him from that very first night he came over, but what was throwing me off was motive because by all accounts he didn't seem to have one, and it's not exactly a secret that I don't like him. I knew that my suspicious nature was creating a notably biased perspective, so I tried not to read into it. I figured that I had to be wrong, because if my suspicions were correct, then surely you would have told me flat out on your own – and you didn't. When all the puzzle pieces started to fit together and it would have made so much sense for him to be the culprit – even still I assumed I was missing something because, Petra…"

He gave a sudden frustrated, desperate exhale, and when he spoke, there was a dark, angry accusation that laced his tone, and from behind her, Levi shook his head in outright dismay, "What I'm trying to say, is that I didn't trust my gut because I trusted you instead. Dammit, I trusted you Petra, but after seeing that damned display, I realized that I was right all along and I wasted this whole damn week ignoring the fucking obvious and I'm pissed as hell because of it!"

Hearing his anger, anger that was being used in attempts to disguise hurt, Petra spoke up in instant concern, "Levi, whatever I did, I'm sorry, I just…look, can you just tell me what's wrong? I'm sorry that I'm frustrating and dense but even still you are going to need to say it flat out because you're not making any sense!"

At her words, Levi seemed to find something amusing, because he gave a bitter laugh. He allowed his head to drop lower as he looked down into the floor, and he tried to take a calming breath, because there was something suddenly sour, something akin to nervousness that twisted his stomach and made his body ache as though he were nauseous.

"That fucking pencil-pushing pretty boy…" Levi found he could only whisper, and he remained staring toward the ground as he forced the words out of his mouth bitterly, "He's your ex-boyfriend, isn't he?"

When Petra stiffened in his hold, a sort of sharp gasp coming from her and a silence that answered his question more fully than she ever had, Levi pressed his lips together in a tight, enraged, and pained snarl, the twisting in his stomach tightening and churning all the more as the reality of the situation overwhelmed him.

"So he is then."

Another long silence followed, and he snarled heatedly because her silence was deafening, "Well?Fuck Petra, aren't you going to say something?"

A sigh.

"…It's true, Levi. Timmy and I, we used to date. He's the boy I told you about."

Hearing this, her defeated and simple confirmation, Levi's eyes narrowed into thin slits, and he took a breath as he spoke through clenched teeth, feeling himself shaking in sudden unchecked frustration and betrayal, because he had known the answer, he already knew that he was right, and yet hearing Petra herself confirm it, hearing Petra admit that she had deliberately kept it from him, stirred a torrent of emotions within himself that he hadn't expected.

"Why. The fuck. Didn't you fucking tell me?"

Each word had been hard to get out, his tone hardly more than a breathy whisper, and he found that some part of him didn't even want to know the answer because thinking about him and her, putting a face to the boy she had once loved and knowing it was that man's face, knowing it was those lips that had kissed hers, knowing those hands had trailed over her body with lust and possession, knowing that Petra had once been truly and fully in love with him where she had wanted the man's touch, in the same way that she now wanted his – it caused a pain that burned and twisted his gut until he felt like dry heaving.

Everyone in that household had known about their past relationship the entire time - everyone except him. That's why Timmy had been so smug, so fucking arrogant and unpleasant and purposefully present at the worst of times. That's why the blonde had made such a point of riding that line all week, but never quite crossing it. Why would he? His place in the Ral family was practically seamless; her father loved him, Petra still cherished their bond, where even though she was already married, the blonde still felt confident enough to purposefully intervene because Petra had belonged to him first.

Fuck, Timmy had actually been rubbing it in his face all week, and now he felt so fucking stupid because he had written off what had been staring him in the face from the very beginning.

He could hear Petra's lips part, hear her take a few breaths as though attempting to respond, but when the silence extended all the more, Levi exhaled lowly again, and he wasn't sure why his breathing was suddenly so erratic as his volume rose considerably, "Dammit Petra! You knew I'd want to be aware of something like that! What, did you think that I'd judge you or something? That I'd hold it over your head or act irrationally? Since when-" his throat felt suddenly tight, and he had to pause and take an additional breath in order to keep speaking because it wasn't just his throat now, his entire chest felt suffocated and inexplicably immobilized.

He swallowed thickly and gave a shaky exhale, not sure if it was hurt, or concern, or anger, or complete betrayal that he felt most strongly. He just…he didn't understand. Petra was so devoted, and so trusting; her loyalty to the military, and to him – as her Captain but also as his friend – had always been so unwavering. She had told him so many times that she had owed her very life to him, that she believed in him and cared for him, so since when-

"Since when have you needed to keep secrets from me?"

"Levi I-"

"No. You had all week to tell me, and you didn't, so don't you dare try to fucking explain it all to me now." he bit out sharply in anger, and Petra fell silent with a defeated nod, and he continued just as hotly, "Not only do you not even fucking tell me, but then he asks you out on a date - right in front of my damn face no less – and you have the audacity to actually accept! As if I'd ever be okay with that? What the actual fuck, Petra?! Look, I get you two are damned soul mates or whatever, but you've lost your mind if you think that I'm going to just sit back passively and watch it all go down because-"

"Levi, Levi! No, you've got it all wrong because that wasn't a date! I told you that I have no feelings for him, and I meant it; none. When he was talking earlier, he brought up some good points and I just didn't want you to feel suffocated after being stuck here all week. I know you've had a long week and I feel bad because it's my family and my situation and I thought that if you just wanted some time to yourself then it would be okay-"

Petra was speaking just as quickly as she could, willing to risk his anger and whatever pain that may result from her interrupting him yet again, because it was obvious that he had the wrong idea. She took a breath and continued, "Levi, you know I would never try to date someone else, right? When he offered to go out, I didn't think it'd be an issue. Sure he's my ex, but that doesn't mean we can't have a casual outing. We're just friends now, and you heard him yourself - it would have been simple; just food, a few drinks, and then we'd go back to his place and-"

Petra's words began to come out slower and slower as she actually heard what she was saying, because though she had accepted the outing as a way to get out of the house and let her Captain relax for a change, now that she thought it over, well…that certainly sounded like a date.

And then there was the invitation of going back to his house, for whatever reason? What had Timmy meant by th-

Oh.

As if sensing that Petra had only now realized the error of her ways, only now realized all of what Timmy's offer entailed and why Levi had responded so furiously, there was a long, exhausted sigh from the Ackerman, "He's still in love with you, Petra."

…

End of Chapter

...

Sorry to end on a bit of a cliff hanger guys. Believe it or not that's not my intention, but honestly this collection of chapters, starting with Petra training and then dinner and all – they read best as one singular chapter, but that's literally like forty some thousand words, which is WAY too long for one chapter so I'm having to break it up at the most /logical/ breaks based off chapter length, and unfortunately that puts this chapter ending here as next week's chapter is even longer.

AssassinDolly, I am so sorry to have ghosted you for two weeks regarding Timmy. Obviously, this was worked out quite literally before chapter one was even posted, so I couldn't well reveal my puppet master plot driver in an author's note after almost two years of work. It wasn't really meant to be a mind boggling, crazy reveal plot twist so much as just…they've been busy. Had it just been Timmy coming up out of nowhere, I personally think Levi would have noticed (kinda like he did from night one), but actually have the time to fester and dwell on it, vs this arrangement, where he's been so busy between the Garrison, Petra, her father and the random things they find themselves doing, that like Levi stated in his mental dialogue, Timmy just slipped under the radar and the issue was put on the backburner in favor of what seemed more pressing at the time.

Even still, I am so happy to have posted this chapter up because it's one of my favorites – as is this whole section, in fact. I know it's been a painful arc, but for me as the writer, it's been sooo much work to get here. A lot of how I've been building Petra's character culminates in this arc, not to mention getting more answers about the how and why this whole plot got started and while yes, this section has a LOT of darker undertones...are you surprised? I won't go off on a tangent, but any person that is either so selfish, or so unaware that they force someone to do something under the guise of I know best - that's dark plain and simple. There. One sentence. Not bad, right :) Either way, I love when I get to post plot heavy chapters that somewhat confirm that none of it, none of it – was just for fun.

Thanks for the support, your patience, and for showing up week after week like yall do. I'll see yall at the next update!