A week later and it was back to the busy work days of the week. The port buzzing with activity; hulls of warships sitting in dry docks either in middle getting repairs or in the rare cases, upgrades and refits to them to make them stronger on the battlefield. Shipgirls going about with their daily tasks whether it being they were preparing for a sortie, going about their lives at the Main Plaza or in their respective Faction Dorms, providing some lessons about combat and tactics to the younger destroyers in the Lecture Hall or Tactical Class respectively, or scheming a prank or two together especially if those shipgirls are Saratoga and Sims, among other things.

In his office Max at in his chair behind his desk, starring at the towering stack of papers that was standing just off to the side along with a couple of folders here and there, and off to the other side of his desk was the sorted pile whether it be approvals for requests (or denied depending on the request), reports and other things of importance having been dealt with and filed away, and yet when ever he looks to the stack to still be viewed it almost felt like it kept getting bigger each time he looked at it.

A small heavy sigh as he leans back and sinks in his chair, this part of the job was always the most grueling and took a lot of time, even feeling repetitive no matter the time or day as by the end of it can be very draining.

A hand was felt being laid on his right shoulder making him look over and up along the arm followed by the pleasant greeting of Takao's face offering him a comforting smile. Off to his left and sitting on the couch in the office was Atago looking through a book only to pause and meet her Commander's gaze also giving him a soft smile. The two of them weren't always around depending on the day or if they were needed for something be it Fleet Exercise or were part of an assigned task group for a coming mission set by the Sakura Empire, to name a few things.

The few times that they were free and able to be with him during these long days helped give him a bit of a morale boost, but even when they weren't here there was always his Secretary ship and roughly nine times out of ten she was here with him in the office to help him out with the paperwork.

He glanced over to check up on her as she sat by her own desk in the office, Shangri-La was his recently appointed Secretary for this rotation. She had pushed her glasses with her fingers to set them back on properly before working diligently at her assignment.

Another soft sigh from him as he pushed himself away from the chair and back to his desk, right now he was slacking and needed to get back into it. This stack of papers weren't going to just move and get themselves checked out by themselves after all, so he grabs another group of papers that were stapled together and sets it in front of him before picking up his pen to arm himself for battle.

After Action reports, patrol logs, updates about their economy, fuel storage or provisions like food and other necessities… Status updates about shipgirls that were currently under care by Vestal… Vacation requests from some of girls… Reported sightings of Sirens in areas that were once previous cleared, and so on. Hmm… It had been a while since he heard anything about or from the META girls, wander what they are up to…

"Oh, Commander?" Shangri-La's voice called out to him, making him perk up and pulling himself away from one report he was just reading so he could focus on her. "Yeah? What's up?"

"The Fleet Exercises are suppose to take place on Friday and they still need their fleet assessment signed off by no later than Thursday. Just so they can start making preparations." She would remind him of the upcoming event as well as gesture to the aforementioned folders that were near the completed stack of papers.

"Ah, right. Thanks for the reminder." Max would say to his Secretary who just gave him a curtsy nod before resuming her work.

Looking through the folders it quickly looked like it was going to be a battle between the Eagle Union and Sakura Empire, some interesting choices on both the Main and Vanguard groups for both fleets. He half expected to find Akagi and Kaga wanting to have a rematch with Enterprise, but with said carriers currently out on assignment that wouldn't of been a possibility. After giving the papers one more thorough check he'd sign off on both of them and put them back in their respective folders before he looks over to his Secretary. "Hey, Shangri-La?"

"Yes Commander?"

"If you feel like taking a little break from the reports, I got the Eagle Union's group ready to be delivered." He would offer while holding up the folder.

"Are you sure, Commander?"

He just gives her a small smile and a nod of his head. "Yeah, go on ahead. Get some fresh air, maybe even bring back some drinks if you want. Gonna be a long day after all."

"Very well then." The carrier would smile, getting up from her desk and retrieving the folder before she turning for the door. "I'll be back as soon as I can." And out she went.

"As for the Sakura Empire's Battle Plans…" He quietly muttered. He couldn't of have Shangri-La deliver both plans without it looking like possible intentional sabotage of leaking info ahead of the battle. As he was looking around the office while in his own thoughts he stopped when his eyes fell onto Takao. Ah, perfect.

"Takao?" He would ask for her who turned and stood next to him. "Hai?" He'd grab the remaining folder and hands it to her. "Would you mind making sure Souryuu gets this? Let her know that her proposed group sounds pretty strong and that I'm looking forward to their performance on Friday."

"Of course. I'll get right on that." Takao stood at attention before she took the folder and like any trained officer marched out the door. A small amused laugh left him as he watched her leave. "Never change, Takao…" He said under his breath before he leaned back towards his desk and was about to continue on with filing out reports, but as he was a few minutes into it was when he heard Atago's voice off to his side.

"Oh Max~" She called to him, getting up from the couch and strolled up beside him. He stopped with his work and turned to look at her with a questioning look. "Yeah?"

She held her hands behind herself, keeping a soft smile on her face while she stood there while she spoke, "You do know that something important is going to be coming up soon, right? And no, I don't mean the Fleet Exercise."

He blinked. "Huh? Something important?"

"Mhmm~ Something very important. Care to figure out what that might be?" She giggled in her soft tone, which just left him more puzzled.

Hmm… Okay, what's coming up soon, he wandered. Looking back over to his desk looking for his phone, he reach for it and picked up. After a quick unlock with his password to open it up, finding the icon he was searching for and pulled up the calendar.

It was currently May 1st and the Exercise on Friday the 3rd. Nothing major going on for the 2nd… So he continued to look through the month… Hanging out with Javelin, Laffey, Ayanami, Z23 and Unicorn on the 5th…

Meet up with Bismarck, Tirpitz and U-556 on the 6th after the office… Tea time with Queen Elizabeth and the Royal Navy ladies on the 7th, eh, he wasn't looking forward to that but hopefully her Royal Highness is in a more reasonable mood that day… Busy, busy, busy… So far half of the month is him having to do one if not two things in those days while the rest of the month was still left open to be filled out should anything come up and needed to be set as a reminder.

Hmm, the further he was going there were a fair bit of stuff that were high priority stuff for him to attend but he couldn't quite make out anything of importance that was coming up soon that immediately stood out at him and a quick glance towards Atago showed that she was still patiently waiting for his answer with that soft smile of hers, and he doubt this an attempt at a joke, so he went through it once again and took a moment to thoroughly examine each day… The 8th, 9th, the 10th, 11th, nothing popping up in his brain.

Was it something that had to do with Atago herself? Nah, unlikely… Mean there was a possibility but he ruled that out quickly. So if not with her then who… Blink… Wait a second, the 12th? He stared at the date for a long while, straining his brain just to dig up the importance for it till it finally clicked as his jaw drops feeling like an idiot. "Oooohh you gotta be kidding me… Not only is Takao's Launch Day coming up but it'll also be my Anniversary with her as well…"

"Bingo~" Atago giggled before stating, "It'll be over a week from now."

Max just stares at his phone for a moment before he sets it down and brought his hands up and palms his face letting a long groan into them getting some of his frustration out before he continued. "I was gonna mark it down but I got side tracked with work and completely forgot about it once I was done..."

His arms felt like lead weights as they just dropped to his lap, looking over to Atago before asking, "How did you know that I-"

"Might of forgotten such a special date?" She'd finish the rest of his question, to which he just gave a few nods of his head before she just smiled. "Because you had been quite busy lately. And well… Wouldn't be the first time some important days flew under the radar for you, what with you running an entire base after all and as well as leading everyone."

"You hit the nail right on the head." He weakly laughed.

Atago's smile though weakened a bit watching how he was behaving so she followed up with an assurance voice. "Truthfully? I wasn't aware if you had completely forgot about it, I was merely making sure you knew ahead of time with how close it was getting."

"And the truth of it is revealed, hmm?" He'd heave out a long sigh while bringing one hand up just to palm it over his face while he sinks back into his chair. "God I must be the worst…"

Taken back a bit by this Atago's dog ears drooped while she frowns, even when it has been a little over two years now when she and her sister properly met the Commander for the first time and began to serve under him that they slowly learned what kind of a person he was and how serious he takes his role. It isn't often but when he made a mistake he always tend to take it hard, sometimes he might be a little harsh on himself over a simple matter but when it came to the other mistakes especially when it is in regards to those he cares about he tended to feel like he had failed them.

In some ways he and Takao were similar in some cases in how much they care about what others think about them, that they feel like they need to be perfect all the time and to not fail in their eyes, how they try to be the example for others and so forth.

Atago stood there for a moment reflecting in her own thoughts then looks back to her husband but before long her ears would stand again as she smiles when she thought of something.

He sat there rubbing at his forehead, but before he could dwell any further in his own thoughts of his mistake he felt a pair of hands grabbing him by the shoulders and start to pull on them making him and the chair tilt backwards. Not like he was going to fall or anything but it still left him curious as to what was going on. "Eh? Atago? What are you-"

Boing – His words were cut short and his eyes widened when the back of his head landed on something soft, it didn't even take him a second to realize what was going on as his head was now laying in the comfort of Atago's large chest.

Seeing that she now had his undivided attention her quiet yet infectious giggle rings in his ears while her hands began work on his shoulders, squeezing at them or kneading into them with her fingers feeling how tense he was and slowly working her magic to work out the kinks and making him relax. While she was working on him she then spoke in a soft soothing tone. "No, I don't believe you are. However I do feel you are a little too hard on yourself about it. Besides, it isn't like you are just now learning about this the day it were to take place."

A small groan was heard as she massaged him, it hurt a bit at first with how tight his shoulders felt but over time the feeling began melt away to the comfort being provided with her hands. He was starting to feel relaxed, yet that bit of doubt in the back of his mind about the subject crept back up on him and making him resist for a moment. "True… but I-"

"Nu-uh~ No buts about it." Atago quickly countered him not giving him a moment to argue, she just smiled and continued to work on him. "Now just sit back and let your big sister take care of you~"

A small quiet amused noise came from Max, even after a while she still tended to address herself as "big sister" to him. Sure she liked to think of herself as a big sister to everyone even outside of her own sisters, be they the smaller destroyers and submarines to even those that are bigger than her like the battleships and carriers, yet it was part of her personality and her wish to be a good companion and supporter to those close to her.

Eh, what ever makes her happy he'll allow it. Plus he certainly can't argue with her when he was feeling good and more relaxed in her hands or how she'd run her thumbs against the back of his neck applying pressure here and there or drawing big circles along it down to his shoulder blades.

Of course sometimes her methods to calm others might be a bit questionable to many, one needn't look further than the few times she'd try to help her older sister Takao relax when a lot was on her mind and so she'd provide her with a massage or should that fail she would then resort to some caresses that borderline appeared sexual in nature.

Whether intentional or not, she'd sometimes go to that razor's edge just so what ever was troubling Takao it almost always tended to work in taking it off her sister's mind or at the very least distracting her long enough for it to not matter till later, but of course she always made sure it would never go more beyond that so to not make others uncomfortable. So because of that Atago would sometimes appear as a tease or a flirt in some cases while in others she becomes a huge comfort to those that just need a hug to lift their spirits.

There had been times when it was difficult for him to tell if she was being a tease or if her "Onee-sama" energy might be a bit too much when she tried to be some comfort to him. The first time she tried the same massage she was currently providing for him, especially allowing him to use her chest as a pillow, he was shocked to say the least and how felt it was inappropriate since they weren't even dating back then. But over time when they started to get more closer and him more comfortable around her it was embarrassing at first yet that embarrassment would soon fade away and welcoming later on.

It certainly did help him relax as it the quickest way for his worries to just melt away and to calm his nerves as well. Max had lost track of time when she finally finished with the massage and she gently steps away that it took him a moment for him to regain his faculties and becoming aware of his surroundings again, taking in a slow breath through his nose before exhaling through the mouth and his eyes slowly open up again.

Catching sight of her off his Peripheral vision as she leaned down to him he turns his head to his left and gazes up to her who greeted him with her loving smile as always. "Feeling better?"

"Mmm… Much." He nodded before took in another deep breath then releases it. He looked and felt more relaxed and clear headed again as he smiled to her. "Thanks, Atago."

A soft giggle was her initial reaction over a job well done. "You are quite welcome~"

He nodded and just sat there for a bit in this little peace of mind that she had provided him. After a moment had passed he would glance over to her right hand that he'd reach over for it and takes it into his own. He'd lightly squeeze at it while his thumb brushing over the top of her knuckles. The two of them locked eyes once again as he spoke, "Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without you or Takao by my side."

Atago giggled softly upon listening to him, she quietly hummed while she'd returned that squeezing gesture on his. "I am sure you would of managed just fine without us. You certainly achieved that well before we arrived."

He quietly chuckled while adverting his gaze, she wasn't wrong on that statement though. He perked up a bit when she saw and then felt her left hand cupping the right side of his face and guided him back to looking at her, seeing that her smile grew more and they just stared at each other for a second before she leaned in to give him a peck on the lips, letting it last for a moment then she pulled back and greeted him with that loving smile once again before saying in a soft gone, "But considering how much we rely on you, it's flattering to know how much you rely on us as well."

Max quietly let out a small amused noise and shared in that big smile with her as he nodded his head in agreement before they'd close their eyes and lightly press their foreheads together soaking in this moment of bliss they shared, although of course such a moment would have to come to an end soon as she reminded him that he had to get back to work which he reluctantly agreed when they had to be separated.

Instead of immediately returning to the couch she decided to stand there by his side for a while longer to give him that little bit of morale support as he picked up the pen again and went back to filing out reports, working on them with renewed determination to get today done as tomorrow he would have a lot of planning to prepare for the following days to come.