A/N: This is a recut of Iron of Red and White, looking back at it I'm not happy with a few things in it and I want to alter things and make things smoother.

Part One – Foxtrot Mike Lima

Have you ever woken up and just known that things are going to screw you over, almost like the universe is out to get you for some unknown past transgression?

If not, then sit back and let me spin you a yarn on how I moved from a Commanding Officer, to a husband with the most challenging person I had ever met.

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After what had felt like the longest day since I took over command of this base from a certain Eagle Union Commander that had gotten involved with one of the Sakura Empire Carriers… Oh, what was her name again? Ka- no, that's not it, it doesn't matter right now.

I leaned back in my chair and pinched the bridge of my nose. I'm not paranoid or anything, but it's just been one of those days, where if it can go wrong, it does. I closed my eyes and rested my head against the back of my chair, and let out a sigh as I turned to look out the window that was behind me. I hated today, I mean, how can I put it? Today was a day that the universe always seemed to go out of its way to punish me. First, it was the deaths of everyone I held dear when the Sirens attacked years ago, and then it was being punished for taking command of a destroyer when the captain proved to be a coward in battle, and political connections being what they are, I got me a mark in my record by the review board. Yet the icing on the cake was today, of all days, was the day that I turned twenty-six.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't hear the door to my office open, in fact, I had no idea anyone had come in until I felt the breath of someone blow in my right ear. I jumped a little and spun my chair around to see my own personal albatross. She had a smirk on her lips while she folded her arms under her bust, a collection of letters in her gloved right hand as she said to me, "Mail is here, Herr Kommandant. Looks like you're a popular one."

I take a deep breath to try and relax a little, Eugen has become a fixture in the office. Honestly, some days I'm not sure why I keep her on as my secretary; she has a real habit of teasing me in ways that are often frustrating. Once I let the breath out, I put out my hand as I say to her, "Thanks Eugen, why don't you pack up for the day."

I watch as she shrugs a little before turning and heading to my drink caddy while she flicks her silver hair over her shoulder, and gives me a wink over the same shoulder. She bends at her hips looking at the various liquors there. I can't help but have my eyes drawn to her, her short grey dress covering nothing, and like as if she can tell my eyes are on her, I hear her tease, "Herr Kommandant, do you see anything you like?"

I swallow hard, I can never tell just how much is teasing from her, but my clue comes when I hear her laugh at my expense when she makes her meaning more clear, "I mean drink, Herr Kommandant."

I watch as her attention refocuses on a bottle I had stashed in the back, one that I had been saving for a special occasion, just what that occasion is, I don't know yet. I feel my heart sink a little as she takes it out, standing back to her full height, I can tell she is looking at it thoughtfully as she remarks, "Bärenfang, Das ist gutes Zeug."

I watch as she bends back over and places it back, I feel relieved, it had been hard to get my hands on that and it sent me back almost a month's pay by the time I got it out here in the central pacific ocean. I hear more bottles clink as she keeps looking before settling on some brandy. She comes and sits across from me, pouring two glasses as she asks, "Any love letters in there Kommandant?"

I go to reach for one of the glasses and she moves it away, a playful glint in her fire red eyes as she teases, "Who said one of these was for you?"

I sigh and redirect my attention to the letters, sifting through them; I can see Eugen trying to peek at the return addresses, when she notices my attention she twists sideways in the chair to swing her legs over the arm of the chair she's in as she is trying to get that peek while at the same time trying to look disinterested.

I spread out the letters into work-related and not so much, as I'm going through them, I see one with no return address. This is unusual, I tilt my head to the side as I pick it up and I catch Eugen looking over at it. When she sees that I noticed her looking, she turns her attention away, sometimes she can be so childish.

I open it and see that it has more in it than I thought it did, I take out the folded letter and open that up just as something falls out of it and onto my desk before I reach for them they are snatched up by Eugen. I start reading the letter, I know I'll get those items that fell out soon enough, I see that I'm being given a pair of passes for something, but I don't need to finish reading as Eugen says out loud, "Admit One, all expenses paid to our local hot spring and spa, who is it from?"

I start scanning the letter again and see that it's from Nagato, and that she is gifting me with two passes and booked some private time for me and a guest for a weekend about a week from now. It takes me a moment to think about why she would've done this, and then I see it in print. She's doing this as a way of thanking me for getting her more wayward fleet elements into the fold.

I look up from the letter just as I see Eugen tuck the passes into her cleavage and she winks, "I'll hang on to these till we get there."

I sigh and say, "Who said I was going to take you, or even use them?"

I see something that I would guess could pass for pain in her eyes for a heartbeat before she stands, flicking her hair over her shoulder and finishing one of the two glasses before she says to me, "Gute Nacht, Kommandant."

I was about to respond when she turns and walks out of my office. As much as she infuriates me, I had to admit, I liked watching her go. Once my door clicks shut, I look down at my desk and see that one of the two glasses she filled was left untouched and I start to wonder if one of them had been for me. I sigh and start to shut down my office shortly afterward, once I cross into the secretarial office I see a little package on her desk with my name on it and a note attached. I take the note off and give it a read,

Happy Birthday, Kommandant!

For whatever reason, you didn't want it to get out, but I wanted to show you that not every birthday needs to be a bad one.

-Prinz Eugen.

I shrug and stuff it in my bag to look at later.

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During my walk back to my quarters, naturally, it started to rain, and I didn't have my umbrella today. Just another thing for me to hate about today it seems. When I get to my quarters I see her sitting on my porch, out of her uniform, soaked to the bone and several empty bottles around her. I sigh inwardly and hurry over just as she notices me and slurs out, "Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Kommandant!"

Once I get over there, I look at her sideways and ask, "Eugen, are you drunk?"

She gives me this sloppy drunk smile and wobbles to her feet to place a hand on my chest as she slurs out, "No, but, if I-*hic* -re, what would you do with m-*hic*?"

I sigh again and take out my phone to see that it's getting late, too late to call on Hipper without incurring the wrath of Hipper. I slip my phone back into my pocket and take out my keys as I say, "Come on, you can crash on my couch tonight."

Once we're inside I toss my bag onto the table in my dining area while I go to get a towel, spare pillow, blankets, and a shirt for Eugen. I don't know how long she'd been on my porch, but long enough to get soaked. When I get back to the living room, I toss her the towel and shirt as I say, "Shower is upstairs if you want to warm up while I get the couch ready for you."

"Thank y-*hic*, Kommandant." She slurs out again before I hear her heading up stairs.

While she is in the shower and after I got the couch ready, I head into the kitchen to see about that package that she left for me. I open the package to see a photo frame and I tilt my head to the side, as I flip it over to see a picture of me standing on the gangplank to the HMCS Algonquin, I can even see the lieutenant rings on my arms while I was turned to face the camera with my duffle on my back. I wonder how she managed to find this picture, let alone know this was me. I mean I had made it a point of not talking about where I or what I served on before this post. And yet, I still can't help but smile a little, maybe today won't be so bad.

Not long after I looked at the gift I heard the shower stop running, and after close to twenty minutes of waiting for her to come downstairs, I went up and found my bedroom door open. I tilted my head to the side and took a step inside, feeling something soft under my foot; I looked down to see a red lacy bra on the end of my foot. Tilting my head to the side I looked to the bed and saw a sleeping Eugen, in my bed. I sigh to myself and quietly take out some sleepwear for myself and leave the room, closing the door quietly behind me and head downstairs to try and get some sleep on the couch.

Once I pull the blankets up and rolled onto my side to look out into the living room, I start to think about how Eugen is such a pain in my backside, and then she goes and does something with the best of intentions, only to do something right afterward almost makes it a wash.

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I wake up in the morning to the sound of the coffee maker going, I sit up on the couch and look to the kitchen, I don't remember setting the coffee maker up last night. I get off the couch and head into the kitchen to see the picture that she gave me sitting in the center of the table with a sticky note on it that she had clearly put on lipstick to kiss and the words, 'Vielen Dank!' scrawled on it.

I'm kind of glad I did some time in the officer exchange program with Azur Lane and spent some time with the Iron Blood fleet. Doing that let me pick up some German, about enough to get my backside into trouble. Still, Eugen seems to be hell-bent on being a pain in my backside, I still don't get why she decided to show up on my porch, drunk, at that time of night.

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose before getting a cup of coffee and settling back on the couch to drink it as I try to wake up and wonder how I'm going to broach this on Monday. I mean, on one hand, I really should put someone else into the position as secretary, god knows Eugen isn't the best at it. But then again, Eugen tends to know what I need before I actually need it. I sigh again and sip more as I think I need a clear head and go to get my PT kit on to go for a run.

While I was on my run, I enjoyed the smell of the rain, having grown up on the west coast of what was once called Canada, I had an appreciation for the rain and the after-effects of the rain. Snow, not so much. It was a four-letter word you didn't repeat in polite company. I kept my breathing controlled for a long run, I listened as my footfalls happened in time with my breathing, the occasional splash as a foot landed in a puddle.

My mind drifts back to Eugen, as I start to wonder how early she got up and left my quarters. I'm just coming around the docks, near the Royal Navy quarter when I spot a dark blue dress with white frilly edging and long silver hair walking in the direction I'm heading. As I get closer I call out, "On your starboard quarter!"

I watch as she effortlessly glides to the left allowing me room to pass before she stops and turns to face me and says, "Good morning Master, what brings you out this early?"

I slowed down and bring myself to a stop as I smile at her and greet her, "Good morning, Belfast, but you don't need to call me 'master', Commander McKenzie works just fine."

Taking a moment to pull up my shirt to wipe my face of sweat while Belfast gives me a courtesy and I can avoid wondering how she doesn't fall out of her dress while she tells me again, for what has got to be the hundredth time, "I would if I could, Master, but I must set an example for the other maids."

I sigh and let my shirt go and look skyward before I answer the question she had asked me as I catch my breath and say, "To answer your question, I'm trying to get my head around Eugen."

She tilts her head to the side and tugs on her apron before saying to me, "That might be more difficult than you think."

I laugh and rub the back of my head with a hand as I confirm, "That's something I've been noticing."

Belfast placed her hands behind her and turned towards the kitchens as she said, "What did she do this time?"

As she starts to walk to the kitchens I move to hurry up and fill her in on the events of yesterday, I see her nod and wish me a happy belated birthday after I tell her about the sleeping arrangements that happened, I hear as she giggles. I honestly had no idea that Belfast even knew how to giggle, she's usually so strict with me, that was when I asked, "Well? What do you think I should do about it?"

Belfast shrugged as she reached for the door to the kitchens and said, "Sleep on it, Master. Don't make any rash decisions that you might regret later."

I sigh again before I tell her, "Thanks Belfast, I'll see you Monday morning."

Again she gave me a courtesy as she said, "Have a good weekend, Master."

I turn and start my run back to my quarters as I call over my shoulder, "You too."

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I was thankful that the rest of the weekend was uneventful, really a nice change of pace from last week. Once I got to the command center and opened the door to the secretarial office, I was greeted by the sight of Eugen sitting at her desk, but slightly behind her and to the left, I saw Hipper. I sighed inwardly when I saw that she's looking to be in her usual irritated state and I started to wonder if that was her natural state. I see Hipper put a hand on the back of Eugen's head and she forces it down to the desk as she says to me, "Thank you for looking after my idiot sister the other night, Herr Kommandant."

I sigh inwardly, Eugen is many things, but an idiot isn't one of them… I put my left hand up and tell Hipper, "It was no trouble Hipper…"

I look to Eugen to see her red eyes looking at me as I add, "I don't think it'll be a routine occurrence."

Hipper let go of the back of Eugen's head and gave me a sideways look like she was trying to figure out if there had been any hidden meaning to my words or not. I watch as Hipper shrugs and give Eugen a tap on the back of the head in such a way that only family can get away with it before she says, "If it does, let me know and I'll have another chat with Eugen."

Before I can even say anything else, Hipper leaves the office and I turn to Eugen who has sat up by this point and started to readjust her hair and I ask, "You okay?"

"I'm fine." She says in a tone that makes it clear that she's not, but doesn't want to talk about it.

I sigh and hang my head as I say, "Seriously, I can have a talk with her about this if you want?"

Eugen shakes her head, folding her arms under her bust as she says to me, "I don't need help dealing with meine flache Schwester."

"If you're sure about that." I say as I start to trail off she snaps at me, "I am."

I shrug and reach for my office door as Eugen turns and says to me, "By the way Herr Kommandant, we should take lunch in the mess hall today; the special today should be sauerbraten with spaetzle and cabbage."

I give her a slightly sideways look, I rarely take lunch in the mess hall, it might be a bit strange if I did, doubly so if I took lunch with Eugen. As soon as my hand touched the door handle to my office Eugen got out of her chair and came up behind me fast, all but tackling me to the ground as she said, "No, wait!"

During our collective fall, the door opened and I saw a collection of gifts and cards all over my desk, the centerpiece being a banner that was hung behind my desk, across the curtains of my window that read in big colorful letters: Happy Birthday!

I let out a sigh and ask, "How?"

"It wasn't me!" she protests and I start to wonder who else could've known, who else had access to my office.

After a moment it sinks in as I say, "Belfast."

Then it hits me, Eugen knew about this and I ask, "Did you know?"

"Only that I saw her and several of the maids leaving this morning." She says as she gets off of me.

I roll to my back and run my hands down my face as I sit up and groan out, "I hate Mondays."

The next thing I know my face is smoshed into something soft and warm as I hear Eugen say to me, "Come now, they can't be all bad."

It takes me a moment to figure out what she shoved my face into before I tap her on the shoulder to get some air and I say, "Fine, we'll take lunch in the mess hall today, but please don't do this, again. I don't want people getting the wrong idea."

Eugen lets go of me and seems to pout for a moment before she gets up, brushing her bust against me again as she did so, and returned to her desk and said, "Then it is a lunch date then."

I was about to protest the word date, but she just winked one of her red eyes at me and I knew she was having a go at me with that choice of wording.

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When we got to the mess hall and got our trays of food we sit across from each other, I can hear whispers from the other tables, not to be totally unexpected since it is so rare that I take a meal in the mess hall, even rarer is me having company at my table. When I take a fork full of spaetzle I feel something slide up the inside of my leg, I raise an eyebrow at Eugen who seems like she is enjoying her meal, even with a beer. I allowed her to grab one but made sure it was nonalcoholic since we still had several hours to put in before the end of the day and well it had been amusing on some level to see her pout at having to go nonalcoholic for lunch.

After a moment I can tell it is a foot pressing on me, I drop my fork and look at Eugen, as if on cue the feeling goes away and she starts to laugh as she teases, "My, my Herr Kommandant, everything is alright?"

I sigh and go back to finish my lunch, out of the corner of my eye, I see her lean forward, resting her chin on one of her hands looking rather bored as she asks, "Well?"

I sigh again and look at my plate before I answer, "Well what?"

"Why didn't you join me the other night?" she asks me.

I blink a couple of times as I try to place what she's talking about and she leans in to whisper into my ear, "It was your birthday, I was drunk enough and ready to give you a birthday you wouldn't forget."

I start to choke on my food and I reach for my water to try and clear it out, while I wonder why the hell Eugen would do something like that? She's got to be having a go at me, right? Yeah, that makes sense; she is a tease after all. After a few moments I lean back and she does as well, before winking at me and going back to her food.

I mean, it's Eugen, a pain in my ass, but well she is attractive. Damn it! Now I've got this on my mind, is she trolling me in some way? I sigh at the fact that I can't help but wonder, I mean Commander Kidd had warned me about kansen, how they can get a little funny with about male officers. I had thought he'd been having a go at me, telling me that building a relationship with a Kansen is important to their development as a person. This however left me to wonder just what did he mean about developing a relationship with a Kansen.

Once lunch was finished we returned to the office and I hid out for the rest of the day, after I put the collection of gifts and birthday stuff on my couch, I really didn't want to deal with all of this. After a few more reports I turn to the collection of stuff and start to wonder what I might find in it.

I put my pen down and walked over to the pile, picking up a card that was wishing me a 'purr-fect' birthday, I can't help but smirk when I see the signatures of Hammann and Sims on it. I could envision Sims strong-arming Hammann into putting her name on it, or just doing it to set Hammann up for something later. I look at the rest of the collection and start to think that maybe, just maybe this might be a good year after all.

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A/N: Chapter one, done. I'm much happier with this retake on it, I've always liked this story, but I knew I could do it better if I came back to it and started over, using as much as I could from each chapter.

PR's Corner: Heya, everyone. I'm Ash, your friendly neighborhood Proofreader, and here in this place I've cleared out for my personal use, I give my thoughts and feelings about this story, as well as life in general. As for today, I just wanna say that I feel like this chapter is targeting me, seeing as I was having a bad day and couldn't fully proofread it. Other than that, I hope you lads and lasses will stay with Wingkia and I to the end of this story.