Off The Beaten Path

Lose Yourself

She paced the wooden floor, anxious and terrified and oddly excited.

Levi was supposed to be back today.

After their romp in bed she'd dozed off and he'd left without saying what she knew he was going to say. 6 weeks. She folded the satin sample and set it back on the shelf, ignoring the other anxious women who couldn't seem to sit still. It was an awful thing to not know if someone you cared about had lived or died. Bernell hoped that the majority had survived. She sat back at her station, adjusting the band on her pants to cover the gentle swell of her stomach.

Part of her was still in disbelief that she'd conceived again. She thought it might be a joke, a sick trick but they had been together multiple times over the span of a couple months. She had been gambling with pretty predictable stakes. Bernell wasn't upset at the outcome, merely nervous. She and Levi hadn't exactly discussed the option of children - nor what they wanted their lives to look like.

"Stop pacing." Madam Salish scolded from her table to the head of the store. "You're making everyone else nervous."

"Sorry." Bernell mumbled.

"Is it your gentleman?" She inquired, her eyes were bright with knowledge, her mouth twitching up at the corners.

Bernell froze, narrowed her eyes and nodded. Unconsciously her hand dropped to her stomach. Madam Salish's eyes widened before Bernell realized what she had done.

"All this worrying is making my stomach upset."

Madam raised her brow. "Mm-hm. I'm sure." She responded dryly. "Go have a seat, stop worrying." She leaned forward a little, Bernell followed suit. "I'm sure he'll be thrilled to know." She whispered.

Bernell snapped back. "I'm not sure whatyou mean." She shot out, quickly returning to her seat.

~*~*~*~

The wall towered over them, their horses were tired and covered in sweat. Levi looked to the gate as it raised, allowing them through. For the first time in years Levi wasn't looking forward to the shower awaiting him, instead blue eyes and dark brown hair haunted his thoughts. Supple thighs, soft skin, and breathy sighs. He shifted in his saddle as the memories, as tangible as the nights they were spawned, flooded him. His physical reaction nearly involuntary.

It had been a good trip for a change. The number of deaths was less than twenty and the supplies lost were minimal. For the first mission of the year it had been, by all accounts, a success. The handful of slain titans was an added bonus in his mind; a good outlet on the days where his long dormant desires were too much to manage. They rode through the streets, a single wagon shared the memoirs of those killed in action along with some of the items the higher echelon had sent to to retrieve. Levi felt good. Better than normal after a return from titan territory.

Half an hour later they were standing before the processing department. It was a long and arduous process of going over all the equipment that had been damage,d handing over any new findings of significance, making note of the soldiers who had been lost. A new branch of the Military Police took the recovered items and weighed their value, saw to any damage, and rewarded the branch of the military as agreed upon. Not that the Scouting Regiment had much say on whether they were paid fairly or not.

Levi was finally able to start towards the house around sun down, horse stabled and fed - his own personal lists tucked into his pockets, his smuggled memoirs stuffed into his bag. His skin felt grimy, his hair was plastered, he knew without being able to smell himself, that he smelled like he hadn't washed the whole trip. The rivers had been brutally cold with winter run off, normally not warming till mid-June, early July. Still he had forced himself to wash his body and clothes. His toes would go numb in the water and still it was not enough. He hurried down the path, unaware of the figure in the distance waving her arms and hurrying to catch up to him.