CHAPTER 3

Over the next four weeks Mikasa threw herself into her work with a passion and vigor that she had not employed since she had first gotten out of the hospital over five years ago.

She made it her mission to hunt down her wanted list. She paid little heed to the petty criminals that she had been bogged down with in recent months, instead going after the bigger fish. She was well-known among the authorities and in the criminal world for her ruthless approach to law-enforcement. But over the past couple of weeks she had taken that to a whole new level, caring nothing for loss of life or damage to property.

"Ackerman!" Levi yelled across the office as she traipsed in through the door, wearily. She had been on shift for two hours and had already caught and detained an entire terrorist cell, the head of which was on his way sub level at that moment.

Rolling her eyes, she threw her jacket off in the direction of her desk and turned, bumping into one of the cadets as she walked.

"Oh, hey Ackerman!" The shorter girl squeaked in panic.

When Mikasa grunted and made to move around her, the girl – Gorman - held out a tablet. "I got those surveillance pictures you wanted to see.."

Mikasa took the tablet and pushed past the girl, who stepped out of her way, warily.

Entering Levi's office, Mikasa glanced up from the screen in front of her and took in the scene before her. Levi was sat behind his desk, with Jean in one of the chairs in front of him. She frowned and shut the door.

"What's up?" She muttered with a frown as she sat down. Jean refused to meet her eyes. Strange considering he'd had no problem fucking her into the mattress last night.

He's probably mad that you spent the whole night thinking of someone else.

She shut down those thoughts immediately and turned to face the Captain, one eyebrow raised in question.

"I've been getting reports that you're being a little reckless."

Mikasa's eyes snapped to Jean and she scowled.

"I'm fine." She growled, turning back to Levi with a scowl.

"I'm sure." He said in that maddening way that made her want to slap him. She still had not forgiven him for his role in what had happened and in truth she blamed him for the death of Armin nearly as much as she blamed Jaeger.

She grit her teeth, feeling them gnash together painfully and waited for what he had to say with her hands clenched on her thighs.

"Given what I have seen today-"

"What are you talking about?" She spat and Levi narrowed his eyes at her.

"I'm talking about you blasting into an apartment block in mid city without any backup. I'm talking about you dispatching four members of a suspected drugs ring without authorization. I'm talking about the three citizens injured in the cross-fire and the destruction of three apartments." His voice grew menacingly soft and Mikasa winced internally. He was really pissed.

"But I got them…" she muttered petulantly, twisting her scarf around her fingers and not looking at him.

Levi sighed, dramatically and looked like he wanted to throttle her.

"You've had too much freedom." He barked at her and she narrowed his eyes at her. "Too long I have let you mope about, without answering to anyone. It's time I assigned you a permanent partner."

"No-"

"Yes-"

She and Jean spoke at the same time and she glared at him, noticing the hopeful expression on his face. He undoubtedly wanted to be made her full-time partner and Mikasa shuddered at the thought of being tied to him in such a way. He was a good agent and he was even all right in bed, but she didn't want to have to work with him constantly, day in day out 24/7.

"No." She repeated again.

"Ackerman, this is not a request." Levi glowered at her, before his expression became carefully neutral. "Besides, I've got the perfect solution." He turned to Jean. "Kirstein, you are aware that Collingridge's resignation leaves an opening with Springer."

Both Jean and Mikasa looked at the Captain in confusion.

"Sir? You're putting Ackerman with Connie?"

They all knew that Mikasa was the best agent they had and while Connie was perfectly capable, he would undoubtedly just slow her down.

"No. I'm putting you with Springer."

"Sir?"

"I'm putting Ackerman back with Jaeger."

Mikasa felt blood roar in her ears and rush from her head, leaving a cold sweat in its wake. Levi was saying something to Jean; she could see his lips forming words but she heard nothing but the thudding of her heartbeat.

"I'm putting Ackerman with Jaeger."

Jaeger.

"No." She grunted, silencing the somewhat terse conversation, which had been held in her silence.

They both turned to look at her. She could only imagine what she looked like, pale and sweating, with wide eyes.

"Ackerman, as I have already said, this is not optional." Levi said with a sigh.

"Then I resign." She said quickly. Beside her Jean's mouth popped open, audibly.

"Captain-" he spluttered.

Levi held up a hand to silence him, his eyes trained on Mikasa's, unwavering.

"No you wont." He said after a moment and she cursed him, pulling her gaze from his.

"Kirstein you are dismissed, go tell Springer the good news."

Jean looked like he wanted to say something, but after a moment he stood up and stalked to the door.

"Oh and send Jaeger in, would you?" Levi called and Mikasa felt her eyes widen in horror.

Notreadynotready-

Behind her she heard the door click shut and the sounds of boots falling softly on the wooden floor. She tensed, refusing to turn, keeping her eyes trained on her hands.

"Jaeger," Levi murmured, good-naturedly.

"Captain," the other man said softly, lowering himself into the seat that Jean had vacated.

She raised her eyes to meet his, swallowing her surprise at his transformation. He looked better nourished than he had four weeks previously, the stubble that had lined his jaw was gone and his hair had been cut shorter, back to the style that she remembered. There were still dark hollows under his eyes, but his eyes themselves were brighter and when they met her own he smiled; just a gentle quirk on one side of his lips, but Mikasa felt her stomach tighten.

She turned away quickly, a frown on her face.

"So…" the Captain began his mandate. "Jaeger you're returned to active duty as of today."

Jaeger nodded, obviously expecting as much.

"I'm partnering you back with Ackerman, considering how well you worked together previously."

She was resolutely watching the clock above Levi's desk, but even still she did not miss the sudden flick of Jaeger's eyes to her, before flitting back to the Captain's face.

"Sir, I'm not sure that's such a good idea." Jaeger muttered and Mikasa frowned.

"Oh really?" Levi sat back in his chair and stroked his chin, in deliberation. "And why is that?"

"Well… Sir. There is…history. You know what I- what I did-"

Mikasa bit her tongue. Hard.

"Jaeger, we all know that you were working under my orders. The blame for the causalities of that day does not lie with you. There has been an official investigation. You have been cleared of any wrongdoing. Any residual malice or blame that Ackerman feels can be directed at me. And believe me, it is."

Mikasa felt a growl bubble up in her throat, but Levi narrowed his eyes at her and she quelled it with a huff.

"Ackerman will catch you up to speed on her current cases." Levi turned to face her. "Given Jaeger's recent excitement I think a gentle easing in would be good." The Captain considered this for a moment. "Yes. Nothing more than a class 2 for a couple of weeks I think."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Mikasa threw herself to her feet. "It's bad enough you're pairing me with him, but you're benching me too?"

Beside her she felt Jaeger tense, but she was beyond caring.

Levi scowled at her.

"Watch your tone." He muttered. "I can still dock your pay if you're going to insist upon acting like a petulant child."

Mikasa seethed, her body trembling softly.

"I think that concludes our meeting." Levi stood up. "Jaeger I expect a full report at the end of the week."

"Yes Sir." The other man stood.

They both looked at her expectantly and Mikasa fumed silently. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath, masking her frustration with a deep mask of calm. She opened her deadened eyes and turned to Jaeger.

"Let's go."

Without waiting for a reply she turned on her heel and left the office.

Tap, tap, tap

Mikasa grit her teeth as Jaeger proceed to drum his fingers against the polished steel of the desk in front of her. As partner's they were assigned adjoining desks. Frustratingly, the dividers between cubicles were not tall enough to block the view of one's partner completely and Mikasa found herself faced with Jaeger's bright eyes every day.

Even more frustratingly she seemed to be the only one who was bothered by his presence here. The rest of the office had been dubious and even a little standoffish when Jaeger had walked back in through the doors. No-one had really approached him, preferring to gossip about him behind his back. That suited Mikasa just fine, as although they gossiped about her too, she was secretly pleased that they weren't ready to just accept Jaeger back into the fold after everything.

But then at the end of the first day Levi had made this grand, bold speech about how Jaeger was not to blame for what had happened. Instead Levi had blamed it on an administrative error. A fucking error! She had seethed at that, but the others in the office had actually seemed to feel sorry for Jaeger from that point. There had been talk about how it must have been so difficult for him, killing his friends and maintaining his cover. After that first day they warmed up to him considerably, and while he wasn't exactly everyone's best friend people were not going out of their way to give him the cold shoulder.

Tap, tap, tap

Mikasa rubbed her temple. She could feel a headache forming and she closed her eyes. This week was just dragging beyond all recognition and she could not wait to get to Friday for a much needed rest shift.

She had been benched. Having Jaeger back with her had meant she'd had to walk him back through all the procedures and protocols, many of which had changed over the last five years. It was maddening. To his credit Jaeger picked it up fairly quickly and didn't ask too many annoying questions. What was worse was having to be in such close proximity to him on a regular basis. Wherever possible she avoided talking to him; she never made eye contact and she avoided having to be in his personal space completely. But that made for a rather stiff working environment and after only three days Mikasa was ready to punch someone.

"Hey, can I grab those aerial shots?" Jaeger asked, making her jump and she flushed, grabbing the tablet and handing it across the divide in their desk towards him, not making eye contact.

His fingers brushed hers and she nearly dropped the thing. Letting it go quickly as though burned, she retracted her hand and focused her attention on the screen in her desk, the words of her report blurring before her eyes.

Her fingertips tingled where he'd touched her and she couldn't help but remember how his touch used to make her entire body tingle.

Words whispered softly in her ear and teeth grazing her earlobe.

Gritting her teeth she tried to concentrate on her report, forcing herself to focus on the details of the robbery.

Calloused hands running feather-light up and down her bare back, tracing the vertebrae of her spine.

She sighed, loudly and clenched her fists, God how did Levi expect her to work like this.

"Mikasa…"

The loud ping of her Holo-Comm alerted her to a situation in the field and she swiped her fingers over the screen in front of her, pulling up the details out of curiosity. She'd set up alerts to forward anything from the police scanner to her holo-comm over the last few weeks and opening the details of the report she found herself face to face with the most mundane of jobs.

A burglary. A couple had come home to find their home vandalized and property missing. It was class 1 work. Something that usually she wouldn't have gotten out of bed for. But it beat sitting there with Jaeger only a meter away from her.

"Let's go." She stood up, grabbing her holo-comm.

"What is it?"

Jaeger was by her side in an instant, his own holo-comm in hand and his eyes bright. Mikasa smirked as she slipped the holo-comm around her neck, attaching the microphone to the skin of her neck and hearing the device whirr into action as it booted up and the holographic display screen appeared across her eyes. She flicked the display screen up atop her head, while they exited the office.

"Level 1 burglary."

He scowled as he stalked along next to her and she felt a jolt of satisfaction knowing that he was itching to get back to proper fieldwork, just as she was.

They took a cruiser and Mikasa even relented enough to let him drive. Truth be told she missed her bike. The cruisers were clunky and difficult to manoeuvre, especially in a tight space.

She strapped in quickly, crossing the harness over her chest and locking it in place as he started the engine. They were silent and Mikasa felt it was an uncomfortable silence. What was she thinking, everything about the two of them working together was uncomfortable. She sighed and gazed out of the window as Jaeger manoeuvred out of the HQ docking bay. The city appeared before them in a grey haze of smog and traffic; the buildings, sky lanes and freeways crossing each other in a jumbled mess of humanity.

Jaeger brought the cruiser to the descent point and they rode down slowly. His fingers drummed the controls and she wondered if he was finding this situation as awkward as she was.

"So…" She jumped a little as he spoke. "I found myself an apartment."

She frowned. Why was he telling her this?

"It's not as big as my old place, but it's in a decent location, mid city…level 51 and it's got windows so I can't really complain."

Mikasa sat silent staring out of the window.

Jaeger sighed.

"Are you ever going to talk to me?"

"I talk to you every day." She replied curtly.

"You know what I mean." He muttered.

Mikasa fought the urge to groan.

"I don't think we really have anything to talk about."

"That's bullshit and you know it."

The vehemence of his voice surprised her and she couldn't help but glance his way. He was scowling; his eyes locked on the sky as he turned the ship and joined the sky lane travelling east. They were only 5 minutes from their destination. He turned to look at her and his eyes were dark and angry.

"Concentrate on driving." She muttered, turning away from him.

He didn't respond and they spent the rest of the ride in uncomfortable silence.

When they arrived at the crime scene Mikasa let Jaeger do most of the work, instead sitting on the railings outside the apartment that overlooked the cityline, not that you could see much from here. The majority of mid city was lighter than the lower, but it still sat in the shadow of the upper city considerably and from her perch on the railings she had a great view of some super structure buildings, some freeways and a couple of sky lanes. The nicest thing she could see was a small park, suspended between two buildings a little way below. The artificial grass was the only natural colour to be seen in an otherwise grey landscape.

"So the owners say it happened between 10 and 2," Jaeger said coming alongside her and resting his forearms on the railing beside her. He'd pushed up the sleeves of his jacket, despite the chill in the air and she suspected the apartment owners had their heating on full blast as many chose to do at this time of year.

"Any leads on suspects?" She asked staring off towards the park where a small child was rocking vigorously on a swing set.

"Actually, they've had some work done recently." He scrolled through the notes on his tablet. "A company called Lima Contractors."

Mikasa stiffened.

"Lima?"

Jaeger glanced up at her, his brow furrowed.

"Yeah, that mean something to you?"

"Lima contractors have been investigated previously for ties to Hanzuko…" She trailed off and felt him stiffen beside her. "We could never get the charges to stick though," she muttered, swinging her legs back over the railing and hopping to the ground.

Jaeger looked concerned.

"We need to call this in."

"Don't be such a pussy, Jaeger." Mikasa smirked as she watched his eyes flash in anger. "Let's go pay Lima a visit. After all, it's just some routine questioning…"

She walked away, headed towards the cruiser park at the edge of the level as Jaeger trailed behind her, a scowl on his face.

The workshop was small and dirty. Not surprising considering it was located so far down. Mikasa wondered aloud why a couple living in such a nice location would use a company from such a place. Money, Jaeger had replied, stoically and although she'd never tell him that, Mikasa had agreed.

Jaeger pressed the door chime as Mikasa wrapped her scarf more tightly around herself, stamping her feet against the cold.

"Jesus, hurry the fuck up already." She muttered when Jaeger pressed the chime again.

He smirked at her and she scowled at him. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just I don't remember you ever swearing so much." He murmured with a fond expression in his eye and Mikasa wanted to punch him.

"Well, shit happens and things change." She growled out.

He was saved from answering when a child opened the door. He was dirty and skinny, wearing just shorts without a t-shirt and Mikasa wondered if he was a victim of trafficking, being worked as a child slave. It happened fairly often below level 30 and she made a mental note to follow this up.

They flashed their holographic badges.

"Is the owner home?" Mikasa said levelly when the child looked at them in confusion.

"Me no, English." The kid spluttered.

"What the fuck?" Jaeger muttered in exasperation, turning to Mikasa.

It was very rare that they came across anyone in this day and age that did not speak English. Not since the global language order had been introduced that made English the national language of all nations. Each country held onto their own secondary languages, but English was taught as the primary language in all schools. If this kid didn't speak any English then it confirmed Mikasa's theory that he wasn't being schooled.

"Come on," she shooed the kid out of the way and stepped past him into the workshop, motioning for Jaeger to follow her. The hallway was cramped and dingy. A single, flickering strip light illuminated the room in a sterile white glow.

They caught no sight of anyone as they moved into the large room at the back of the workshop. Tools and machinery sat discarded around the workshop and Mikasa noticed two mugs of steaming fluid sat on the workbench at the rear.

Nudging Jaeger with her elbow she nodded at the mugs and he jerked his chin, intending to go around to the right.

They both drew their weapons as they stepped carefully around the discarded machinery, which provided a perfect hiding place for a suspect. The boy who had opened the door seemed to have disappeared and Mikasa wondered, suddenly where he had vanished to.

And then there was movement to her right as a scrawny and dishevelled man jumped out from behind a circular saw with a yell. He flew at Jaeger, a wrench in hand and actually managed to land a solid blow to Jaeger's forearm causing the brunette to drop his weapon with a frustrated yell of pain.

The two grappled and Mikasa raised her weapon. The struggling pair twisted and Jaeger came into her line of fire.

Take the shot.

She cursed under her breath. She couldn't risk shooting him. For a minute she panicked. If she was alone this would so much easier. What did she need to do?

The decision was taken from her when she felt a blow to the side of her head and she fell, down and down and down into darkness.

"Hold still."

"I am!"

"You're not, just give me your fucking chin and hold the hell still."

She was sat in the passenger seat of the cruiser and Jaeger was kneeling on the ground in front of her, a furious expression on his face.

"Fine!" She let him cup her chin and turn her head towards the light from his holo-comm. Although his eyes and words were angry his hands were surprisingly gentle and he wiped at the cut above her eyebrow with an anti-septic round.

She hissed.

The round came away bloodied and she scowled, knowing that her scarf was ruined.

She'd come to in the passenger seat of the cruiser with both of the suspects handcuffed in the back. All credit to Jaeger he'd handled himself pretty well to be able to apprehend both suspects on his own. Although, the second suspect had only turned out to be the kid that they'd met at the door. She felt herself flush at the thought. Taken out by a fucking child; Jean would never let her live it down.

"It looks pretty deep. I think I should take you to the hospital." Jaeger muttered softly, his brow furrowed.

"I've had worse," Mikasa murmured, without thinking. When Jaeger's face fell she rolled her eyes, she hadn't intended that to be an insult to him. After all, he did save her bacon back there. "I mean…I get hurt all the time this is no big deal."

Somehow that didn't seem to pacify him and he only seemed to look more upset.

"There's some glue in the med kit, just wash it off and seal it up would you?"

He looked up at her. Obviously surprised that she was asking for his help, but it was the closest she could come to a thank you.

He dug out the glue and held it up to her with a frown.

"This will sting."

"U-huh." She didn't meet his eyes, preferring to stare at a point over his right shoulder. He was so close and he smelt like soap with a hint of cinnamon. She tried not to breathe through her nose.

"Does it hurt?" He pauses his movement, mistaking her discomfort for pain.

"What? No."

He frowned in confusion but continues what he was doing, sealing her wound slowly and carefully.

The sound of sirens distracted her and she looked at Jaeger in horror.

"You called a med team?!"

He had the decency to flush.

"You were out for a while…"

"Jesus, Jaeger I'm not some delicate flower. I got whacked on the head."

"Shut up." He growled as he covered her now sealed cut with a bandage spray, sealing it over.

When Mikasa gathered up her things from her desk a few hours later, her head throbbed like a son-of-a-bitch and she felt tired to the bone. The two suspects, had, as predicted, given nothing away, both insisting that they didn't speak English. Given the current climate they would have trouble getting a Japanese translator for a while, so she'd had to accept locking the suspects in the detention cells here at HQ for the foreseeable future until they could be questioned further.

"Are you ok?" Jaeger asked her as she ran a hand across her temple with a wince.

"I'm fine. Stop fussing over me." She muttered at him.

He snorted derisively.

"Something funny?"

"No, it's just this is quite a role reversal here." He folded his arms and looked at her as he leaned against his desk. "I mean… if I remember rightly it was always you hovering over me protectively and I was the one who used to snap at you and moan at you to stop being so overprotective." He shook his head with a sad smile. "Never thought it would be the other way around."

Mikasa didn't know how to respond to that so she just fiddled with her scarf, picking the dried blood flakes from the dark blue material. It might have seemed strange to some that she continued to wear a scarf after Jaeger's departure 5 years ago, but wearing something around her neck had become such an ingrained part of herself that when she'd thrown off that old red scarf she had felt naked an exposed. And so she'd stocked up on scarves, blue ones, green ones, black ones. Never red.

"Hey, Ackerman!" She was saved from responding by Jean's voice calling across the nearly deserted office and he wandered over to where they were stood, his jacket slung casually over his shoulder.

He glanced at Jaeger but did not acknowledge him. Of everyone in the office, Jean seemed to be having the hardest time accepting Jaeger back into their midst.

"So there's a bunch of us headed to Mayonaka tonight and I was hoping I could persuade you to join us- hey what happened to your face?" He frowned when he took in the bandage spray at her temple.

"She got smacked in the face by a twelve year old." Jaeger piped up with a smirk and Mikasa growled at him.

"What the fuck?" Jean looked perplexed. "Anyway, so what do you say? Come with me."

Mikasa didn't miss the way Jaeger's eyes flicked between them before dropping away to his desk as he gathered his things.

"I don't know…" Mikasa mumbled.

"You should probably go home and rest that head," Jaeger said, his voice carefully blank as he slung his jacket on and Mikasa narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah, that sounds good Jean. I'll meet you there at 9." She smirked at Jaeger, petulantly, but he just gazed back at her with that blank expression.

"Catch you guys later." He said good naturedly as he turned to leave, flicking his desk lights off as he went.

"Great, so you're sure you want to me meet us there? I could swing by and pick you up?" Jean was talking but Mikasa's eyes were on Jaeger's departing form. Why did he rile her up so much?

You know why.

"Huh?" She mumbled at Jean. "No that's fine, I'll catch you there." She ignored the disappointed look on Jean's face as she turned to leave, her mind still on the blank expression of Jaeger's face an the endless depths of his eyes that gave nothing away.

The club was hot and sweaty and Mikasa was slightly drunk.

"Ackerman!" Sasha crowed as they downed the shots together. "I never knew you could be so much fun!"

It was true, Mikasa did not tend to socialize much with the others from the office, but that didn't mean that she didn't know how to have a good time. In fact she was a bit of a regular here at Mayonaka and she had certainly learnt to handle her drink.

After getting out of the hospital five years ago Mikasa had thrown herself into work to the point that she had dreaded going home to an empty apartment. She'd started clubbing as a way to avoid her empty apartment and after a while the drinking and the dancing actually became enjoyable to her. Not to mention the men she'd picked up along the way as well.

There were a few more of them here than she had expected. Sasha, Connie, Jean, Annie, Hitch and Reiner were all sat around a small table by the dance floor and between tem they'd managed to consume a healthy amount of booze. The lights whirled around them, and Mikasa watched as the others chatted loudly and animatedly between themselves.

"Oooh, check out the body on that one!" Sasha murmured in Mikasa's ear and the dark haired woman turned to catch a glimpse of a broad blonde haired God smiling at her. She smirked back at Sasha.

"Let's give him something to stare at, shall we?" Mikasa said with a grin.

She jumped up, smoothing the short skirt down and grabbed Sasha's hand, pulling her to the crowded dance floor. The music was loud and the bass line heavy and for a little while Mikasa lost herself in the music, feeling the pulse rippling through her very being, she let it wash over her, swaying her hips and throwing her arms in the air.

"I need to get some water!" Sasha called after a little while. A fine beading of sweat had settled across her forehead and Mikasa just nodded, not ready to head back to the table. She turned back to the crowd, losing herself once more in the crush of bodies around her. Throwing her hands into the air, she closed her eyes, swaying her hips frenetically in time with the music.

After a moment she felt hands slide onto her hips and she smiled to herself. Blondie must have decided to make his move. She pressed back against his firm chest. He was more lithely muscled than she'd first guessed but she felt him grip her hips hard enough to bruise. She felt fingers drift across her bare stomach between the skin of her skirt and her barely there shirt and she smiled, tipping her head back against his shoulder and closing her eyes.

She could feel his breath in her ear and it sent a delicious shiver down her spine. Their bodies continued to sway to the music in a delicious rhythm, pressed together tightly. It felt so good…so right.

"Mikasa…" he breathed in her ear and her eyes snapped open.

She whirled around to find herself face to face with Jaeger and her heart froze. His eyes were dark and his face impassive as he gazed at her. Her own face must have done something drastic as he reached out a hand to her but she stepped back, dancing out of his grasp as though burned.

"No…" she said, turning on her heel and fleeing off the dance floor, pushing her way through the crowd. She headed for the bar, feeling in desperate need of a drink. She found Sasha chatting animatedly to a bald headed guy.

"Did you invite Jaeger?" She asked, spinning the smaller woman around.

"Hey! What?" Sasha yelped.

"Jaeger! Did you invite him here, tonight?"

Sasha frowned.

"Yeah, I was trying to be nice. Why?"

Mikasa sighed. "Don't worry about it." She shouted over the music. Elbowing her way through the crowd that was gathered around the bar she snuck her way to the front of the line.

"Double Vodka. Straight up. And a bottle of water!" She ordered from the barman, not waiting for him to come to her.

"I've got this." Called a voice next to here and she looked up to see the blonde guy from earlier.

"Thanks," she tried for a smile, but found it lacking.

"No problem. Hey, what's your name?" He asked.

"Ackerman."

"That's a strange name!"

"I'm a strange kind of girl." She yelled humourlessly as her drinks were deposited in front of her.

"I'm Michael," the guy called, his face close to her ear.

"Thanks for the drink," she tossed him a small smile that didn't quite meet her eyes and grabbing her vodka, she headed back to her group, freezing when she saw Jaeger chatting with Annie quietly. She hated to admit it but he looked good. Soft brown chinos fit his muscular thighs, loosely, and his torso was covered with a fitted dark shirt, accentuating his slim torso. She swallowed at the sight of him, but he didn't glance up as she approached. Mikasa suddenly felt incredibly uncomfortable and considered leaving. She glanced around behind her, trying to work out the best way to sneak off, unnoticed.

"Hey, Ackerman!" A hand grasped her shoulder and she whirled to find the blonde…Michael standing in front of her, holding her water. "You forgot this!" He handed her the water with a bemused grin.

"Oh…thank you!" She looked up at him. He really was very attractive.

"If you really wanted to thank me you could give me your number."

Mikasa grinned. She could do one better than that. In her drunken state she paid little heed to the voice in the back of her mind telling her that what she was about to do was probably a stupid idea.

Reaching up she cupped Michael's face a leaned in bringing their lips together. He wasted no time in deepening the kiss, but he was a skilled kisser and she found herself humming into his mouth appreciatively. His hands wandered down her back and cupped her ass and suddenly he was spinning her round and around. She broke the kiss, laughing freely with giddy delight. He landed her back on her feet gently and took her lips again with renewed vigour. Her eyes settled over his right shoulder as his tongue parted her lips and across the room she could make out a pair of intense green eyes staring straight at her own, impassively. She felt a jolt in the pit of her stomach as she met those eyes. Jaeger watched her, his face blank. He stood next to Annie who was now chattering quietly to Reiner, a beer held loosely in his hand. His face was carefully blank as Jaeger watched the blonde Michael run his hands all over Mikasa, but his eyes were on fire and she shuddered at the depth of emotion that she saw there. Instinctively she deepened the kiss, tipping her head back, without losing eyes contact with Jaeger, letting Michael trail kisses down her throat and running her own hands down his back to clench his firm backside.

Her pulse was racing and she found she couldn't look away from Jaeger, his emerald eyes holding her pinned to the spot.

And then suddenly she was being bodily hauled off Michael sharply and a voice was yelling in her ear.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

Jean looked ready to kill someone.

"Hey buddy!" Michael glowered at Jean, squaring up to him. "Can't you see we're busy here?"

"She's fucking taken you asshole!"

The others around the table seemed to have noticed the commotion and had wandered closer to see what the fuss was about.

"Jean calm down!" Mikasa called to him, feeling the headache from earlier that day return with a vengeance.

"Hey man, I didn't know she was taken!" Michael said holding his hands up before pushing past Jean and disappearing into the crowd.

"What the hell were you doing sticking your tongue down his throat?!"

Mikasa saw Jaeger step up into view. His face carefully blank, as it had been all evening.

"What I do in my spare time isn't any of your business, Jean!" She shouted at him, feeling her anger flare to life.

"Oh I'm sorry I thought I was the guy you're currently fucking!"

Mikasa rubbed her forehead in frustration. God this had been a bad idea.

"Yes! You're just some guy I'm fucking! And you're not the only one!" She yelled at him and watched his eyes go wide. "We never said this was an exclusive thing! For fuck sake! If you're going to get so uptight over a bit of kissing then I think it's probably good idea that we don't continue with whatever the fuck this was!" She gestured between them. Jean was opening and closing his mouth, his face red.

Mikasa could feel Jaeger's eyes on her but she couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze. Couldn't take the disappointment that she felt sure she would see there.

"This was a bad idea." Grabbing her purse from the table she turned to leave. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

She headed out of the club, grabbing her scarf and jacket from the cloakroom on her way out. It was just after midnight and the air was bitterly cold outside. She made her way to the nearest sky train station. It was only a short walk and she wrapped her arms around herself.

She felt someone fall into step with her and she tensed, her head feeling more fuzzy from the rush of cold air.

"What are you doing?" She growled.

"Walking you home." Jaeger responded, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his wool coat and Mikasa wandered when the boy she'd known since they were eleven had grown any kind of fashion sense.

"I don't think that's necessary." She murmured, her words puffing into the air in little bursts of steam.

"Humour me." He muttered and she frowned, whirling to face him.

"What do you want from me?" She was still drunk. The cold night air was making her feel light headed and brave; otherwise she wouldn't confront him this way.

"I don't want anything-"

"Bullshit!"

He crossed his arms and looked away from her angrily with a huff.

"Fine. I want things to go back to the way they were. And yes before you say it I know that they can't. I know what I did. I know you can't forgive me for that. But it doesn't stop me from missing you. Missing my best friend." He stepped closer to her and she could see the flush rising up his cheeks. He had always been embarrassed to express himself.

"Jaeger…" She warned.

"Eren."

"W-what?" She stuttered.

"My name is Eren. Say it." He was so close to her that she could feel the heat of his body. She closed her eyes.

"No." It came out almost a sob.

"Say it." He whispered, his hands on her elbows. She shook her head, vehemently.

The horn of a nearby cruiser sent her stumbling away from him and she threw her hands up towards him, her eyes wide.

"Stay the fuck away from me Jaeger!" And with that she turned on her heel and ran.