Light flooded my vision when I finally opened my eyes again. It couldn't have been past noon because the room still had a very soft glow to it. I noticed I wasn't in my uniform any more, as well. Instead, I had on a loose pair of pants and a plain white t-shirt. My face flushed at the mere thought of Levi changing me, but I assumed Hange was the one who had done it, hopefully. My hair was an absolute knotted mess atop my head and my throat felt like it had never had a taste of water before.

I tried to sit up when suddenly a great surge of agony shot through my body. "Damn it!" I hissed. I lay there just staring at the ceiling trying to let the pain alleviate. I can't believe I said those things to Levi. And he definitely won't let that go. I can't believe I passed out in the middle of talking, either. I thought to myself, annoyed.

The door opened slowly and Hange crept in. Her face lit up when she realized I was awake. She rushed over to my bedside. "Oh, you're finally awake! How do you feel?" She asked hurriedly. "Wa.. ter." I responded horsely. There had been a cup next to the bed and she handed it to me. I drained the cup in one go and handed it back to her. "Thank you. How long have I been asleep for?"

"Roughly three days."

"Three days?! Oh my god!" I replied, utterly shocked. "Well, yeah. You sustained massive trauma to your body. I thought you would be out longer, to be honest." Hange spoke. "So what the hell is up with you and King shorty?" She asked rather bluntly, getting down to the point. I sighed heavily. "He kissed me while we were training and acted all weird and distant right up until I got injured." I replied, a little sadness in my voice, and then sighed, "just please don't say anything." I didn't want to tell Hange that I'd known Levi since I was young just yet; she didn't need to know.

"I can't believe he actually kissed you. That's terribly out of character for him. He's must feel really strongly about you. But don't worry, your secret is safe with me." She smirked and pushed her glasses up, "you're lucky I like you." She paused to snicker and winked at me. "And here I had assumed that he hated you." I just raised my eyebrows in agreement and let out another heavy sigh.

The two of us continued to talk about the experiments and how 'Jack' was doing. I honestly couldn't wait to get back on my feet and do some of these experiments with her. She said she'd bring some notebooks by later so I could get caught up on everything.

"Well anyway, I'm okay right now. I think I might go back to sleep actually." I said quietly. Hange nodded her head. "You know, we're all really glad you're okay." I smiled weakly, and she returned the smile before walking out the door. It made me feel really good to know I was actually considered one of the team now.

I lay there for another few minutes, drifting in and out of sleep when there was a knock on the door. "Come in." I called as loud as I could. To my surprise the entire team walked through the door, save Levi, and made themselves comfortable around my bed.

"Oh, Europa! I'm so glad you're okay! I-I was so worried! I didn't know what to do! I'm so sorry!" Petra was the first to break the silence. I closed my eyes slowly and smiled slightly. "It's not your fault Petra, it's mine for letting that titans yell frighten me. Don't worry. You were great." A few tears escaped her eyes and she smiled back. I was beginning to grow very tired now.

"You're a real fighter. That's a good characteristic to have. Glad to have you safe." Eld piped up. Gunther and Oluo nodded their heads in agreement. "Okay guys let's let her get back to sleep. We just wanted to say it's good to have you safe." Petra said with a huge smile plastered across her face. It warmed my heart to see that they really considered me one of their own. They all said their goodbyes and left the room one by one until I was left alone once more.

The silence in the room became heavy as I thought about Levi. I was a little hurt that he hadn't come to see me. I had thought, no, hoped, he would have come by now. But he hadn't. I held out as long as I could, but eventually my eyes closed and I drifted back into sleep.

When I awoke again, the room was dark and there was one lone light next to my bed illuminating the whole room. I looked over towards the light and my heart got caught in my throat. Levi was sitting there, teacup in hand, staring out the window in deep thought.

"Levi?" I said feebly. His head snapped in my direction and relief flooded his face. He set the teacup down and moved closer to me. "Hey." Was all he said. I smiled a little wider and replied, "Hi." The room became thick with some sort of emotion; I couldn't quite place my finger on it, but whatever it was it made my heart beat fast and butterflies dance in my stomach.

He took my hand in his and began tracing little circles on it with his thumb. His touch set my skin on fire. A warmth spread throughout my body and I swore it could have healed my wound in no time. My smile grew even wider and he noticed. "What?" He inquired, monotone as always." I laid my eyes upon him and stared deep into his cloudy gray ones. "You just make me happy." I answered honestly. He faltered for a moment, clearly unsure of what to say back.

"What were you going to say? Before you passed out?" He asked, acting like I hadn't said a thing. My face fell just a bit and I looked away from him. I wanted to take my hand away, but I decided I also wanted to hold it as much as I could until he let go. I felt like he would do that after what I was about to say.

"I can't do this with you, whatever this is, right now. I need you to choose between turning this into something more or just dropping me all together. I don't want to play these games and I don't want my heart to hurt anymore." My voice started shaking a tiny bit. "You make me really happy. You make me feel..." I searched for the right words. "You make me feel whole. You feel like home." I finished, whispering the last part. I kept my gaze away from his and braced myself for him to take his hand away.

He didn't.

Instead he moved onto the bed and laid next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and gently pulled me to him. It was apparent he was new to being this close to another person because his movements were awkward and seemed forced.

Despite that, my body melted into his and I breathed in his scent. It was earthy, with hints of cleaner buried under the smell of fresh air. It was heavenly to me. It made me relax almost instantaneously and I could barely feel the pain in my leg at that moment.

"Europa, I watched you almost slip away from me. For a moment I thought I had completely lost you and I realized I couldn't bare losing you. I told myself that if you made it through all of this, I wouldn't shy away from you anymore." He paused for a moment. His words sank in and I felt tears well up in my eyes. "I just need you to give me time to figure out how to deal with these emotions. I'm still struggling with how to show you I want you. But please know that I do." He added.

I placed a hand against his chest and nuzzled my face into it. His hand found my own and held it clumsily. We sat there for a while, just enjoying each other's presence. My eyelids grew heavy and slowly got lower each time I blinked. Half awake, half asleep I spoke to him. "Please don't leave." I said, meaning it in more ways than one. I didn't know if he replied because soon after, I fell asleep.

When I awoke again, the room was bright, but Levi was gone. My spirits sank immediately. Is this what it will be like then? One moment he's mine, the next he's a stranger?

Just then the door opened and Levi walked in, fresh bandages in hand. I sighed in relief, a little annoyed with yourself for thinking he had left.

He was his usually silent, stoic self, but there was a gentleness in his movements when he was around me. He set the bandages down on the bed and peeled the blanket back from my legs. I turned beet red when I realized that he had to take my pants off in order to wrap my bandages.

"Ahhhh. Uhhh. Umm. I think I can do my bandages. It's okay." I said hurriedly, shrinking away from him with an embarrassed look on my face. His eyes met mine and I quickly looked away. A smirk crept into his face. "Whatever. I'll be back." He looked me over once more and then left the room.

A huge burst of air hissed out of my mouth as the nervousness left my body. It's not that I didn't want to be with Levi that way, I just wasn't ready for him to see me. And especially not when my leg looked all mangled and bloody. The heat from my face slowly sunk back down my neck and eventually disappeared.

Trying to take my pants off was perhaps the hardest thing I had ever attempted. Every tiny movement sent a wave of torturous pain crashing over my nerves. By the time I had gotten my pants all the way past my knees, I had noticed a slight sheen of sweat had beaded my forehead. I lay back for a minute, wiping my forehead, and catching my breath. Well now I kind of wish I had had him do this. This is exhausting. I sat back up and grabbed the bandages and set them next to me. Tentatively, I undid the bloody, crusted bandages around my leg and I bit my lip from the pain.

My leg looked awful, like a horror story, to put it mildly. There was both fresh and old blood around the cut creating a sort of rusty red mosaic over the skin. A bowl with a rag in it sat on a table next to the bed, no doubt Levi's doing. I grabbed it, surprised by the warmth, and began cleaning up the stitches. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow!" I repeated over and over until I finished wiping the area. I closed my eyes and took a minute to prepare myself for the pain of putting the bandages on.

A heavy sigh escaped my lips and I began wrapping my leg. "Fuck me. This is so painful. Damn it." I cursed through gritted teeth. I dipped the bandages in the water so that they could act as a sort of capillary action for the bacteria in the wound, drawing it to the surface and eventually drying on the bandage. It was an old method, but I didn't have many options at this point.

After I finished wrapping my leg, I secured the bandages, noticing faint spots of red already coming through. "Awww man. Come on." I whined. It wasn't a lot of blood, and I had expected it to bleed again, but it still irritated me. I slipped my pants back on as carefully as I could and collapsed back on the bed.

I stared up at the ceiling, thoughts racing through my head. I wondered just how I was suppose to be of any help to anyone right now. My recovery time was going to keep me on house arrest for a long while. Just as soon as I get comfortable with everyone I have to get injured. Uhgg. I was mad at myself for being afraid of the titans howl. I tried to convince myself it wasn't my fault, I had never heard that sound before, afterall. I knew that they made that sound though, so at the same time I felt I should be mad at myself.

The door opened again and this time Levi and Hange walked in. "Europa?" Hange asked timidly. "Oh yeah. I'm up. Just laying here looking at this really exciting ceiling." I replied sarcastically. Hange laughed and walked over to me and helped prop me up. "It's good to see some life back in you." Her smile was infectious and I found yourself smiling too.

"Well down to business. We clearly need to get you back to the city. We're almost out of bandages for you and it doesn't seem like you're going to stop bleeding any time soon. I mean, it's slowed considerably, but we need to get you to an actual infirmary." Hange stated. I nodded my head in agreement but then an idea struck me.

"Actually, do we have any honey here with us?" I asked. Both Levi and Hange gave me the strangest look. I looked from Hange to Levi and spoke to him directly. "You, the one with the tea, you must have some honey, no?" I asked, mockingly. His jaw tightened in slight annoyance at my playful remark. "I do, actually. Why?" He asked, genuinely curious. Hange leaned forward too. "Yeah, what for?" I was mildly surprised that Hange didn't know why I wanted it, but then again, not many people had the type of medical knowledge I had.

"Honey is a natural antibacterial ointment. If I put some on before we depart back to the city, my leg may bleed a little less and thus create a safer journey for me, and a less stressful one for you guys." I stated with ease. Both of them just looked at me with completely confusion. "Just what did you have to do when Shiganshina fell?" Hange blurted out. I winced from the memories for a fraction of a second, but Levi had noticed my face change.

"Ah. My mother actually taught me that. She was a doctor as well. I don't know how she learned about it, I just know it really does work." I replied timidly. I didn't like to talk about my parents much. Hange placed her fingers on her chin and nodded her head. Shrugging her shoulders she said, "well you are the official doctor here, so I trust your judgment. Go get her your honey, short stack." Hange ordered Levi. His jaw visibly tightened at the stab at his height. "Whatever, shitty glasses." He rolled his eyes and quickly left the room. She shook her head and laughed, sitting down next to me on the bed.

"So how's Jack?" I inquired. Excitement overtook Hange. "Oh, so marvelous! I'm learning so much! I really cannot wait for you to get back into the swing of things. I'm sure there's just so much you can add." She rambled on hurriedly. I smiled intently at her and replied. "Well, I may be stuck doing just labs and notes for a while, but I'm equally as anxious to back to work. It's a real bummer that I never got the chance to work directly with him."

The door opened again, Levi had returned, honey in hand. He stuck it out to me and I grabbed the bottle. "Did you bring anything to apply it with?" You asked casually. Levi's eyes were the only thing that gave away his emotion. He was a seemed annoyed he had forgotten something as simple as that.

"Awesome. I just love doing it with my hands." I said with mock enthusiasm. I inspected the honey with my eyes, the smell bringing a rush of memories to my mind. A sad smile crept onto my face. I capped it and set it to the side. I was going to let the bandages dry a bit before I unwrapped them again. Plus, I was exhausted from doing it the first time.

"When are we leaving?" I asked, eyes already closed. "We wanted to leave tonight, actually." Hange replied.

"At night?" I said, a little caught off guard.

"Yes. It would appear the titans are less active when the sun is down. It's still risky regardless, but it's safer than going during the day."

I mauled this thought over in my head. In all honesty, it terrified me down to the bone. Not only were there titans out there, but I wouldn't be able to see one until it was right in front of my face. And then what would I do? Not to mention I was completely useless at the moment.

I realized Hange and Levi were still in the room and wondered how long I had been silent for. "Oh. Well, okay then. I'll let my bandages dry a little more before I apply a new set of dressings with the honey." I paused for a second, hoping they had just assumed I was thinking about the situation and not dumb-struck with fear. "Do we still have anything to use as a bandage?" I finished. Hange looked over at Levi and then at me. "I don't think so, but shorty over here will go look, won't chya?!" She told Levi. He shot her a death glare. "Okay jeez. I'll go." Hange rolled her eyes and sighed, "God forbid I get in between him and MY partner..." She whispered sarcastically. I giggled silently to myself as she made a very dramatic exit from the room.

Levi sat there and stewed in his emotions, saying nothing to me. I sighed and spoke first. "What is it you want to talk about, captain?" He shot a look of annoyance at me, but it quickly faded. "You're afraid." He stated directly. This time I stayed silent and waited for him to speak again. "It's okay to be afraid," he started, his voice suddenly soft, "but you can't let the fear overpower you and control you in times of crisis. That's how you end up dead and left behind out here." He finished rather darkly. I remained silent. I had wanted to ask him a question, but it was something personal, and I knew how Levi felt about personal anything.

So, instead I let the conversation end. Levi always surprised me with his brief moments of tenderness, and I had wished they were more frequent.

Tension radiated from his body and I was beginning to wonder what else he was thinking. Before I could ask him what was troubling him, Hange came through the door with bandages in her hand.

"It's not much, but it should do the trick." She sighed and handed them over. "This is the last of it though, so we definitely need to leave tonight." I nodded my head in agreement and examined the bandages. They would suffice, I concluded. "I should be ready to go by the time the sky turns dark." I replied, still examining the wraps.

"Perfect! Well I'll see you then. I'm gonna go head back over to get my last few moments in with my precious Jacky-Jack. Oh, how I can't bare to leave him!" She wailed, real tears forming in her eyes. I nodded in empathy, knowing all too well the heartbreak of not being able to continue your studies.

The door clicked shut and the room filled with tension once more. Levi had been silent for far too long and it was starting to get on my nerves. I tried not to let it bother me; I knew he wasn't used to expressing his emotions, but I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed and hurt that he didn't trust me enough to share what was on his mind.

"What's bothering you so much?" I asked finally. He didn't move, not even to look at me, and kept his mouth shut. Wincing in pain, I sat further up and folded my hands neatly in my lap. "You can trust me with your thoughts, you know." I muttered, staring at my hands. Yet still he remained quiet. "Well if you aren't going to tell me what's wrong, then at least drop your attitude." I snapped. That got his attention. His gaze pierced mine with such intensity that it almost made me look away, but I held it, meeting his intensity.

"Watch your mouth, brat." He snapped back at me. A fire ignited inside me at that comment.

"I know you don't think you can speak to me that way. I get it when other people are around, but when it's just you and me, don't you for a second think I'll take that shit from you. Unlike a lot of people, I won't hesitate to kick your don't scare me, Levi." I replied with a tinge of venom in my voice. His face completely changed to that of utter shock. He clearly wasn't used to people talking to him this way.

"Tch. You don't scare me either." Was his reply. Although he didn't say the words 'I'm sorry' I knew that was his way of apologizing. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "Can you come over here? Please?" I asked. He looked you up and down. "Why?"

"Uhg. Just get over here." I sighed, patting the bed. He reluctantly stood up, walked over to me and sat down. "What?" He asked lazily. I grabbed his face in my hands and brought him close to me. I stared into his eyes and then kissed him gently on the lips. "You are one of the most frustrating human beings I have ever encountered." I smiled, "but please trust me enough to let me into your head. You mean so much to me, but I feel like you keep your distance from me, emotionally speaking." I dropped my hands from his face and stared off behind him. "I know you aren't used to it, but I need you to at least try. That's all I'm asking for." I finished. I returned my gaze to his and found that his silver orbs were overflowing with emotions I couldn't quite make out.

"I'm..." He started. "I'm afraid too." He said, answering the question that I had wanted to ask him earlier. "I'm afraid something will happen to you. You're already injured and we have a long distance to travel before we're safe inside the wall." He said somberly. "I just got you back and I don't want to lose you again." He whispered the last part. A lump formed in my throat and I immediately grabbed his hand and laced my fingers with his own. He mirrored my movements and held onto my hand snuggly.

"I'm not going anywhere. Wherever you go, I'll be right behind you, because I can't stand the thought of losing you again, either." I replied with as much truth in my voice as I could muster. He brought our entwined hands up to his mouth and kissed my hand with a feather light touch. Nothing more was said, we both just sat there, letting the weight of tonight's journey settle upon us.