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On a warm summer afternoon, momentary peace had spread throughout the headquarters of the Scouting Legion. Each member held their breath, awaiting the new addition to their family. Tiny wails of a newborn filled the infirmary where three women occupied.

“It’s a boy!” Hanji excitedly declared and held the baby in front of me. I gave a weak smile in return, exhausted from the hours of labor. The child retained his father’s jet-black hair yet, kept large (e/c) eyes like mine.

“Hey there,” I greeted the small bundle of joy in Hanji’s arms. “Come on now, smile for mama.”

The baby ceased its crying and curiously looked up at me.

“What are you going to name it?” Petra eagerly asked me as Hanji passed the baby to her.

“Hmm..Levi and I decided on the name Elliot if the baby was going to be a boy. Speaking of which, where is he?”

“He should be returning from the expedition soon.”

“Haha, he’s going to get so angry when he finds out that I had the baby without him here.” I laughed and as if on cue, the wooden door burst open and the great Corporal stomped in with his gear still strapped on.

“Oi, where’s my kid?” He asked and his eyes darted across the room in search of his baby. Little Elliot erupted into tears from the sudden intrusion and Rivaille’s head snapped towards Petra’s direction.

“He’s right here sir.” She handed the baby to him with a nervous laugh.

I watched a barrage of emotions ripple through the usually composed face of Rivaille. He looked at the child with confusion at first as if he could still not comprehend the fact that this child was his own. Then it transitioned into one of disbelief; did nine months really pass by this quickly? Finally, he settled on one of joy and relief. All of the stress and worry that multiple years of bloodshed brought him were now wiped clean off his face.

“Let’s leave them alone for a while.” Petra whispered to Hanji and the two of them shuffled out.

Rivaille walked over and sat on the edge of my bed. I’ve never seen him happier as a rare, genuine smile graced his features.

“You brat,” He spoke with a shaky voice. “I thought I told you to wait until I got back.”

“The baby’s gonna come when the baby wants to come, Corporal.” I replied with a light laugh.

He brought his free hand up to brush his thumb gently over my cheek.

“You tired?”

“Very.” My reply was accompanied by a long yawn. “This beats the three hellish years of training by far.”

His response to this was a light chuckle as he leaned in to peck my forehead. “The kid’s cute.”

“Ehh, so you call our child cute but you’ve never called me cute in all the years that I’ve known you? That’s very unfair, sir.”

He rolled his eyes and flicked my nose. After that, he scooted next to me so I could get a closer look at our child.

“Be a good little boy now, Elliot, and don’t grow up with a cleaning obsession like your Daddy because Mama doesn’t like to clean.” I whispered to the little boy as I gently poked his cheeks.

Being surrounded by his parent’s warmth, little Elliot’s eyes began to droop as he fell asleep in his father’s hold. Rivaille watched with fascinated eyes as his child fell asleep on him.

“What do I do now?” He asked with uncertainty.

“Just hold him, silly.” I instructed and slid my head down to rest on Rivaille’s shoulder. “We finally did it, huh.”

“Yeah.” His answer came muffled as he buried his nose in my hair. The three of us slept until Petra came in to scold us for falling asleep on the child.

---
Watching Elliot grow up was fun, but watching Rivaille attempt to take care of the kid was even better. Being the stickler for cleanliness that he is, Rivaille made sure that every inch of the building was sparkling and this only intensified with the arrival of our child. So sorry for the recruits but they’re stuck with double the chores for the time being.

At five months old, Elliot was able to eat simple foods such as mashed potatoes, despite Sasha’s complaints about her new potato rival. This led to a lot more work for Rivaille and a lot more entertainment for our squad. Every time Rivaille has to feed the child, everyone else gathers around the room to watch.

“Would you just eat the food!?” Rivaille growled as Elliot spit out yet another spoonful of food. Not once, however, did he give up midway through the meal. He would patiently wait until Elliot eats as much as he could. Of course, if someone like Eren was stuck in Elliot’s position, he would get the bowl of food smashed on his face so fast, we wouldn’t even have time to blink. There are only certain people that can capture Rivaille’s patience for so long and Eren was definitely not one of them, we already tried.

Nothing was more entertaining than watching Rivaille clean up his baby’s mess. As Elliot threw up after another failed attempt at feeding, Petra carried him off to the other room and all of the younger recruits trailed after her for a chance to play with the child, which left Rivaille, Hanji, and I in the room.

“Smells like shit…” He muttered and began to wipe the mess off the table. Hanji and I always had a good laugh as we watched him tidy up and adding in curses as he cleaned.

He’s never skipped out on diaper duty either, claiming that I’m such a klutzy idiot, I’ll probably drop the package of shit on the floor. I’m not complaining. If the man wants to change the diaper then he can go ahead and change the diaper.

Although Rivaille spends more time taking care of Elliot’s needs, the child still clung to me more, most likely because I play with him the most. It was decided since the beginning that I would be exempt from expeditions after my pregnancy. It was a devastating fact but there was no choice so my days were now spent around the HQ organizing paperwork or playing with Elliot when Rivaille was out.

I’ve found something worse than going out into the field and slaying titans; it was waiting. Every time the soldiers went out, a wave of dread flowed through me no matter how small the mission was. As a soldier out in the field, there was no time to fear but as a soldier waiting in behind the safety of the walls, I spent every living minute in fear. While I put every ounce of trust in them, I still couldn’t shake away the image of the titan’s looming over their victims, ready to slaughter.

Immediately after each outing, Rivaille would come back, strip away his gear, and walk around the base in search of Elliot and I. He would then gently kiss our baby’s cheek before placing a soft kiss on my lips as well. The reunion would always end in tears for me as he would wrap his arm around my shoulder and bring the three of us closer together.

In his usual, impassive voice, he would always answer: “I missed you too, idiot.”
---
One night, as I carried Elliot back to our room, I came upon an interesting discovery; the Corporal fast asleep on his desk. His papers were neatly stacked as always, under his arms and his head laid atop it all.

Elliot made small gurgling noises and I placed a finger over his lips to shush him.

“Be quiet now, Elli. Daddy’s tired and he needs to sleep.” I whispered and continued to walk to our room. A spark of mischievousness stopped me in my tracks as I passed by his desk.

“Oh who am I kidding, I’ve pissed this guy off since we were still trainees and I am not stopping now.” I hovered dangerously over Rivaille’s sleeping form and held Elliot by his armpits. “Okay Elli, baby, we’re going to play a fun game it’s called ‘Dance on Daddy’s Head’.”

Gently, I lowered Elliot until his tiny feet touched the top of Rivaille’s head. The little boy giggled in excitement as he began to bounce up and down on his daddy’s mop of black hair, using me as support. Not even two seconds into the game, Rivaille’s head snapped up just as I lifted Elliot high above his father’s reach.

“What in the hell are you doing now?” He grumbled as his child dangled above him.

“Elli and I were playing a game.” I told him nonchalantly as he took hold of Elliot. Rivaille held the baby with one hand and tugged on my sleeve with the other towards our bedroom.

I lulled Elliot to sleep and placed him on his tiny crib as Rivaille changed out of his uniform. He snuck up to me and hugged me from behind as we watched the baby sleep. A tired sigh left his lips.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him and he shrugged.

“Hey,”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to tell you this before I regret it, but I love you.” He mumbled quietly and I turned around to stare at him for a while before I burst into laughter. “Oi, what’s so funny, brat?”

“I don’t know…I just never expected that, I guess.” I gasped out between fits of giggles. “…but in all honesty, I love you too Rivaille.” I confessed and hugged him closer.

“I’ll protect you and Elliot. I’ll make sure that he lives to see a world without titans.” He vowed with utmost sincerity.

“As long as you promise that you’ll be there with us cause I refuse to change diapers without you here.” With trembling lips, I told him as tears threatened to spill over.

“Of course, like hell I’m gonna leave you with that responsibility. I don’t need anymore shit-stained floors after the first time you tried.”

I let out a tear-filled laugh and kissed him with closed eyes, unaware that the stoic captain had droplets of his own tears spilling down as well.