Family Ties(Erwin x Levi)

Paternitās

A:N Paternitās: noun (late Latin)--fatherly feeling or care.

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       The sound of tired whimpers and shifting against bedding reached Levi's ears immediately. His head turned against the pillow toward the bedside table where the baby monitor was. Though the distance from his eyes to the image wasn't far, he did have to lean up and lean in to see what was exactly going on. With squinted eyes Levi watched the image of the three- month old baby girl turning her head from side to side and rousing herself from sleep. The whimpers turned into low, tired cries.

Levi's brows knitted together as he willed her to go back to sleep. Little Mikasa had proven herself to be capable of sleeping through the night but lately she'd been restless; waking up every hour or so in search of something Levi couldn't quite figure. Was she hungry, uncomfortable? Was she just exhausted but couldn't get herself to sleep? These were the eternal questions Levi supposed would never leave his brain now that Mikasa was an actual living being in his house and no longer just a distant relative he'd never heard of until two months ago.

Somehow, her father had been related to his mother and uncle. Third-cousins, Levi thought, although Kenny hadn't given him a straightforward answer when the news had been broken to him. Kenny hadn't seen nor heard from him since Levi's mother's funeral, which had been close to twenty-six years prior. Levi had wracked through his memories to try and see if he'd remembered the man but his memory had been greatly impacted by the stress of losing his mother at such a young age. He had no memory of the fair-haired man nor of his darker-haired wife prior to the images flashed across the news and sent to his phone from Kenny.

Apparently it had been a home invasion gone wrong. Luckily, a neighbor had heard gunshots and the police had arrived in time to stop the men from harming the baby. Unfortunately, nothing could have been done to save her parents, though not for lack of trying. It had taken the infant's mother a week to succumb to her wounds. Her father, meanwhile, had been found downstairs with defensive wounds covering his body. The man had given one hell of a fight. Levi had to respect that.

There had been no next of kin, which shocked Levi to the core. Apparently there wasn't even much of a will. There was no direction as to what would happen to the infant girl. Likely, he imagined, she would have gone into the foster care system or been adopted. But Levi had briefly experienced that personally as well as second-hand. He knew how bad it could be. He'd seen how it had affected him as well as his friends growing up and he felt a determination not to let that cycle repeat.

"If not us, who the hell else?" Levi had asked Erwin over dinner two months prior. His fingers had gripped the rim and sides of his tea cup rather tightly as he spoke, giving him something to do as he spoke. "Don't want some other brat's life fucked up before it even has the chance to start."

Erwin had nodded as he drank from his own cup of tea. His laptop and pile of papers to be graded had been moved aside so he could concentrate fully on the conversation with Levi. His face had been contorted into a concentrated expression. There had been sympathy yet also signs of resistance on his face. "I suppose I'll have to go to Nile's tomorrow after work," the blond had said. "Tell him we need that crib back, anyway. At least we'll get the intended use out of it, won't we?"

Levi hadn't missed the expression of grief which had clouded Erwin's face for the briefest of moments. His free hand had extended to take his husband's, giving it a firm squeeze of support. "Yes, I suppose you should."

Erwin had placed his cup down and returned the squeeze. "It's unfortunate it had to happen this way, isn't it?"

"Life's a fucking bitch," Levi had replied, his voice having withdrawn for a moment.