Workschedule from hell nearly destroyed me. Alas, I live, and shall prosper! This is possible my favorite chapter, because of you know, it has Nanoha being Nanoha.
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Vivio did a lot of thinking during the following days, and to be honest, there were a lot of things to think about.
The primary parameters of her next mission and destination arrived. She would spend six months moving between several planets. It was her longest deployment yet as STG assignments were usually resolved in weeks if not days. She did not look forward to telling her family that her leave would be cut short. Her thoughts went to Hayate as she went through the data and put in the request for her team, wondering if the general already knew.
Caro dropped by on a visit, swooping in on one of her smaller dragons to Fate's delight and their neighbours' dismay. Vivio passed an afternoon with them, watching her foster sister being ridiculously pampered over her choice to become a mother and took part in the obligatory deluge of awkward questions. It was as silly as it was fun, but most of all, it was family. Caro had lived a hard life before Fate's intervention and while the shy girl had grown up to become a confident, albeit timid woman, Vivio knew her sister secretly loved to be doted on. She and Erio made such a good couple, and the young Takamachi hoped her brother would do well in his valiant efforts to sweep Caro off her feet.
Fate received a stiff glare or two from Nanoha for landing their daughter in the infirmary but the familiar argument mellowed out almost as soon as it got started. A night on a coach was a night with Fate lost, and Nanoha was just too happy to have both of them home to waste any real time being angry.
As Vivio got older and her career progressed, her chest would ache a little when she thought of Nanoha. The fact that she too was beginning to be sent out on duties taking her further and further from home was not lost on Vivio. The STG missions weren't as lengthy as the naval deployments but hugging her mama good-bye always stung. Nanoha had spent the better part of her life sending Fate off with a cheerful face while Vivio knew how horribly they really missed each other. To know that she now added to Nanoha's burden did not weight easily upon her heart.
She was also secretly relieved that she, like Fate, could hide the nature of their assignments behind protocols of tight security. Nanoha knew her daughter's missions were dangerous but Vivio wasn't quite as keen on revealing the more morally ambiguous stuff. Her mama was an Air Force officer after all, meaning she was as brilliantly daring as she was heroically stuffy and full of the TSAB front-page ideals.
After her and Hayate's unintentional display of heated affection, Nanoha seemed to have resigned to the fact that Vivio was indeed sleeping with one of her childhood best friends. It wasn't that Nanoha didn't support their relationship. On the contrary, the woman had encouraged their early courtship with giddy enthusiasm, but like any mother, Nanoha had realized perhaps too slowly that her child would one day want to go further beyond just snuggling and holding hands. The fact that Vivio's introduction to the more intimate details of a relationship would happen through the same woman she had taken junior high exams with certainly didn't make things easier.
"Mama, do you want to talk about it?" Vivio one day asked, tired of Nanoha's jittery behaviour as soon as she mentioned Hayate.
Nanoha balanced the teapot in her hand, her blue eyes widened at her daughter's question. "I suppose we could. I'm just not quite sure of what there is to say." Nanoha answered with some humour in her tune, shooting her daughter a uncertain smile. The younger Takamachi took that as a good sign.
"How about you try to imagine what grandma Momoko would say?" She offered. They were seated on their Japanese-styled veranda, Nanoha with a cup of green tea and Vivio with an obscenely large glass of chilled caramel milk. "She must have had this talk with you too, once upon an ancient time."
Nanoha swatted her daughter in mock-outrage, nearly making the grinning girl spill her drink. Mother and daughter shuffled around for a few moments, laughing.
"She did. I'm just unsure if I am wise enough to channel your grandmother for your time of need. My girl deserves the best after all."
"You're wise aplenty, mama." Vivio reassured. "Besides, grandma didn't spend her life getting belted to the ground by huge hammers. She's got all her womanly smarts intact. You'll just do the best you can, like always."
"Thanks honey," Nanoha replied warmly. "It's good to have my parental skills vindicated."
"That's what I'm here for." The young blonde leaned over, resting her head on Nanoha's shoulder.
They stayed like that for a few moments, at peace in each other's company while they watched the flushing evening sky. High summer was drawing close and Vivio realized sadly that she would miss the raspberry season. She had loved the Earthian fruits since being a little girl and there were no better ones than those from their garden. The thick bushes crawled along their fence, blooming in gentle white and smelling of wet herbs. Then, her opinion could be biased. Her mamas had planted the bushes for Vivio's birthdays, one for each year until she turned eighteen. Nanoha's fingers brushed soothingly over her daughter's hand while she contemplated her next words.
"So," She began, her voice swaying between factual and mischievous. "You and Hayate are doing the mattress mambo. I'm glad."
"You are?" Vivio asked, trying not to act so obviously awkward about the topic while she snickered at her mother's choice of euphemism.
"I had my suspicions. Hayate is a grown woman after all, and now when I've been given a few days to digest the scene of my daughter trying to smooch my best friend through her wall—"
"Mama!" Vivio sunk her head between her knees and knew that it was hopeless. Her parents would never let her live that one down.
"—I've come to realize that I'm glad, really. You're an adult now Vivio. I've been expecting you to shoulder duties and dangers for someone twice your age for years. It's only natural that you would show the same level of commitment to your relationship." Nanoha approved while patting Vivio's back. Her eyes sparkled of something the younger Takamachi found difficult to place.
"Duty first, compassion foremost." Vivio repeated the words Nanoha had instilled in her. "You taught me to fight hard but love harder."
"Was I wrong?"
"No. I've never regretted being with Hayate, whatever people may say of me. It's difficult yeah, but then what relationship isn't? I didn't choose to love her, but certainly decided to pursue her attentions on my own. The easy thing would have to just let it slip but I didn't. I know you probably worried about me walking into an adult relationship prematurely but it was a responsibility I willingly accepted."
"I hope she was kind to you." Nanoha said, and then added worriedly. "And I hope she had to good wits to wait."
"She did, on both accounts. Trust me, mama, it was driving me insane." Vivio chuckled, taking a good sip of her drink. "She took her responsibilities to me a tad bit too seriously if you ask me. In the end however, it was a choice we made together."
Her mother sighed in relief. "I'm very glad to hear that, Vivio, for both your sakes. You're my daughter, but I was worried for Hayate too for so long, albeit for slightly different reasons."
Vivio blinked curiously: "Really? Why?"
"Three reasons: she's overworked, has been for a long time. I know everybody seems to think that she's indestructible but I and Fate were there when she was a sickly, dying child in a wheelchair. The Wolkenritter take care of her well but there were plenty of times when we thought she would crack from her burdens. Hayate always believed that life gave her a second chance and she's doing her damnedest to use it to the fullest. With you involved in her life however, she's forced to make time for herself which has done her health wonders." Nanoha explained. Vivio felt a chill run down her spine at the thoughts of how the general had lived on her own as an orphan, enduring a disease which had crippled her with pain. "Second, even after you convinced her that dating you wouldn't trigger the wrath of heaven, she was still scared. She expected you to grow out of your infatuation and break off with her eventually."
"What? I would never!" Vivio gasped, flabbergasted.
"You can hardly blame her. Most girls grow out of their first loves during the late teens, even the more persistent ones." Nanoha shrugged and clinked their glasses together in a cheer. "Hayate's lucky we Takamachis keep to our marks."
Vivio curled her lips in a knowing, lop-sided grin, matching the one on her mama's face. Kinship was truly so much more than just the passing of genes.
"So what's the last reason? You said there were three." She asked in good humour.
Nanoha's smile, if possible, grew even wider and with a hint of wickedness to it. "Lastly: Hayate and I grew up together playing games, taking tests and sharing the school gossip. We got drunk for the first time together and paid our dues with our first hangovers. I've taken hits for her in field and she's certainly saved my life on more than one occasion. It really boils down to the fact that Hayate is my friend, and as her friend I wanted her to get laid because that's what friends do. So in the end, all three of us got what we wanted thanks to you. Well done, daughter."
Said daughter choked on her drink, not laughing. Her mother sipped tea.
"Question is… was she any good?" Nanoha slipped the question lightly while looking at the girl with sparkling, innocent eyes.
Vivio didn't buy it for one second. Her Takamachi traits kicked in, making her nearly jump up as she glared at her mother, face darkened in full flush.
"Better than you ever got!" She shot back without thinking, shoving Nanoha embarrassedly and outraged at the woman's apparent lack of shame. Fate chose this exact moment to walk out onto the veranda, balancing a jug of lemonade and a plate with sliced sunnymelon. She looked between the two women of her life with a nonplussed, curious expression, no doubt taking note of Vivio's scandalized face.
"Got better than what?" She asked unwittingly and happily.
Nanoha looked at her wife in amazement; then exploded decisively into fits of howling laughter.