Lara (Long-Fic Levihan | Armin Arlert X OC)

Chapter 73 - New Chance

Hange and Levi walked nervously through the corridors of the infirmary. It was late afternoon the day before leaving for Liberio. Hange held her belly, as if to protect the baby that was growing inside.

"Are you feeling something?" asked Levi beside her, distressed.

"It was just a pang... But it's already gone..."

"Please, don't worry," said Levi anxiously, "it looks like it was nothing serious."

"That's impossible to ask of a mother," Hange gave him a sad smile.

Levi had to agree. He then looked at her belly, which was already in an incredible round shape, marked by the black uniform she wore, as if she had eaten a small melon. Without meaning to, he smiled, despite the tightness in his chest.

Ever since he found out Hange was pregnant, Levi has been taken by mixed feelings of fear, worry, and protection. Although he had already been a father for a long time, Lara got into their lives at the age of ten. He and Hange didn't have to go through one of the most difficult phases: when she was very little or a baby. So it was all new for him, because for the first time, he was going to have to take care of someone very, very small.

Levi found himself imagining that when the baby was born, he wouldn't even know how to hold it, for fear of accidentally dropping it to the ground. He felt a great weight of responsibility on his shoulders, both for the baby and for Hange, who had to be extra careful during her pregnancy.

In the first few days, Levi was very lost about what he had to do and acquired such a caring behavior towards Hange, that it reached an unusual level, having occasions when he wouldn't even let her get out of bed to get some water. So, with all the patience in the world, Hange and even Lara explained to him that he didn't need to overreact.

However, even Hange felt a little lost in what to do, which started to cause her some anxiety attacks and high blood pressure spikes, which is not good for a high-risk pregnancy, having moments when both Levi and Hange were quite stressed out about what to do during her pregnancy.

At that moment, they felt thankful for having Lara in their lives. Seeing how her parents were feeling lost, Lara decided to take action and try to help them in some way.

By the time she turned fifteen, Lara told Levi that she would like him to give her her monthly salary for her to buy some things she wanted, since until now, everything was put in an investment application by her father, as they had agreed some time ago. After talking over a good tea, they both came to a new agreement that Lara's monthly salary would be divided into a system called "70/20/10", where 70% of her money would continue to be invested in some application for her future, 20% she could spend on whatever she wanted, and 10% would be used to help with the household expenses, and thus, teach her to be responsible with the monthly bills.

So, with that 20% of her monthly salary, Lara usually bought drawing materials and tools, some clothes, books, vinyl records, and everything else she wanted.

Hange and Levi were very surprised when on a nice day of early pregnancy, Lara showed up at home with a pile of new books, pregnancy pillows, and even some newborn clothes.

Lara then made a spreadsheet by hand of everything they would need to do to ensure her mother would have the most peaceful pregnancy possible. So every night of Hange's early pregnancy, after they got home from work, the family would gather on the porch and, while drinking some tea, they would read some of the books together and learn all they could about the big world of maternity. Spending that time together did them a lot of good, especially for Hange, who was now feeling much more relieved and no longer lost.

There weren't many books about what to literally do during a pregnancy, but the material they found helped them have a good foundation.

After reading the books, it was time to put everything into practice, so almost every night before bed, Lara and Levi would drag the living room couches away and put the futons on the floor. While looking at her notes, Lara would instruct Levi to help Hange do some exercises that would be good for her and for the baby, like some stretches and very lightweight training. On weekends, they would walk around the house.