Hindered

Nobody had dared to move. It wasn't as if the noise they would have made would reveal them, as the collective howling throughout the entire hotel effectively exposed them, despite their greatest efforts towards discretion; whoever took it upon themselves to move first would be obligated to answer the knocking at the door. When a verbal warning was directed toward them, one had been audacious enough to stand and quietly advise her friends to leave. She offered no credence in listening to their refusals as she demanded once again that they flee. 

The multitude of animals coagulated throughout the stairs hindered their escape while she went for the door. She hadn't the chance to unlock the knob before a gloved fist punched through the glass. The hand turned the handle and opened the door, narrowly avoiding her. The lack of windows in the front of the building hid the fact that there were both a police cruiser and animal control vans parked directly in front. An officer had been the one to damage the door.

He appeared to have the intention of speaking, but she hadn't allowed him the opportunity to, for she kicked him square in his chest, sending him backward and down the steps. The door had been slammed shut before he made any contact with the ground. The following turnaround towards her associates was pregnant with the implication to immediately run.

The young adults were well near the rear exits by the time the officer had entered the establishment. She had opened the door and ordered all of them to leave immediately. A flash of freckles and blonde were the first to pass by, immediately followed by a curse, then, finally, a red flash. She slammed the door behind her just as she heard the officer command that they stop.

She was the very last to reach the fence. The three that remained coached her over it, even offering aid. She landed on the ground when the officer came outside. He laid the chase to rest, reentering the building. The quartet could only stare on in disbelief, watching the fruits of their labors flee from the haven they had worked so hard to create

"Armin, Eren, Mikasa... I'm sorry," she clenched her fists.

"It's not your fault," the young lady replied, pushing her scarf back. 

"We were preparing for this to happen. It's amazing we sheltered them as long as we did," the blond assured.

"Let's just go home, guys," the third offered.

"I guess you're right, Eren," she whipped her head back to the scene, "They have Bobo!"

Of all the wayward strays, she found herself drawn to the small dog bound by hind leg wheels. The canine futilely snapped at the catcher. She started in their direction, but the trio restrained her, mainly through Mikasa's grip. She could only struggle as she watched her beloved pet be tossed into the back of the van, where countless other animals were being caged. It was after just about all of the animals had been rounded up and the doors had been closed that she stopped resisting. Her friends loosened their collective grip on her. They walked forward.

"Come back here!" Mikasa yelled, already chasing after her.

The young woman left them behind her trail. The vehicle had already been activated and put into drive. Luckily, a bicycle had been resting on the side of a neighboring house, so she took it upon herself to grab the machine and peddle towards the van in spite of the loud protests behind her. Before they merged into the lane, she grabbed onto the back door handle.

"Come on, let go," Eren reasoned, almost to himself, as they ran in her direction, "Let go! LET GO, DAMMIT!"

She could see her dog among others on the floor of the vehicle. While holding onto the opposite handle, she fiddled with the other one, to no avail. She already knew she hadn't the strength to punch the window in but had no other action plan equipped.

The only reason their faces resisted tear stains had been that the wind against them had wiped them as they cried. Eren and Armin were slacking in their pace, so Mikasa grabbed hold of their clothes and pulled them along with her. Her speed kept the van in their sight only because they were still in residential streets. It was the oncoming highway merger that prompted the oriental to sprint even faster. 

She hoisted herself upward with the handle in response to the front bicycle tire collapsing and wobbling her balance. Her hands vice gripped the doors while her legs held onto the bike. At this point, she reasoned that her best bet would be to try to get onto the roof and get off at the next red light. The sweat from the hold caused her to fall backward a bit. It was that swing around that revealed to her that her friends were chasing her. In fact, that was the last image she saw before the van took a sharp left turn, sending her flying in the other direction.

She flipped on the ground four times before consecutively rolling and stopping. The traumatized trio only ran faster toward their fallen friend. She laid on her side in the wet street under a sun-forsaken sky. Even with parts lost from the multiple impacts, the back wheel stayed on the warped frame, hovering over her motionless body. Her breath slowed with it; it rolled in its crooked path, soon only swaying, and, after a few more quiet squeals, moved no more. 

For as long as he could remember, Levi was absolutely maniacal about sitting with perfectly good posture. Lately, he had been breaking that rule by slouching in a chair, his arms propped on his thighs simply so that he would not slump over. There was no debate among anybody that he had a very well-shaped physique that could make the average bodied man envious; now, his muscles waned as his body became a bit weaker through many days of stationary sitting. The most he did every so often while sitting was a sigh in a melancholy pitch.

She had been in the process of waking up for a few minutes. The young woman made no indication of her consciousness as she attempted to recollect recent events. As far as she was aware, her memory was intact, for she remembered being thrown from her bike and into the street. It took no detective to understand that she was in the hospital. She turned her head and found Levi sulking beside her. 

"Levi?"

He hadn't responded to her.

"Levi," she declared, a bit loudly.

He snapped his head upward, stammering at the sight of her opened eyes. His shaking hand stroked her face while he wondered at the authenticity of the moment he was witnessing. She began to ramble off a modem of questions she wanted answers to immediately. He glowered, earning silence.

"Your friends told me exactly what happened."

She looked away.

"I have to say, I'm even impressed that you kicked a cop and managed to still run away."

She was facing him again, "It was just him. And animal control- Oh my God, what happened to Bobo? Is he dead?" She started to tear.

"Calm down, calm down," he reassured, pulling his chair closer, "I picked him up a few days after you were admitted. That Eren kid said that it would be something for you to look forward to when you got better..." He trailed off, blushing.

"What?"

"______," he stared into her eyes, "You really fucked up. You really did."

"I know, I'm sorry, but I had to, Levi. All those poor strays, they have nowhere to go! And that hotel's been abandoned longer than I have been alive-"

"-That's it. You don't know how much you fucked up. This is beyond those animals, beyond your friends, everything. You're completely paralyzed from the waist down."

Neither one of them disturbed the silence hovering in the room. She eventually broke it with uncomfortable and inappropriate laughter.

"Levi, I know you're a rough guy, but that really isn't funny."

"I'm not fucking laughing, the doctor is going to tell you the same thing, very soon. Try to move your legs!"

She deeply frowned at his hostility. With little regard for the assortment of needles and tubes connected to her, she lunged forward for her former guardian, but only her torso had moved. Again she attempted to sway from her hips, only to work up a sweat as her legs remained in place. Her breath raced as she grabbed her appendages, shaking them and yelling at herself to begin moving. It was at this time a doctor had entered the room and cut Levi off from restraining her. The syringe drained into her thrashing body. She subsided to the drugs, releasing a fat tear before falling asleep. He wiped it away with his thumb and held her face, looking down.

Paradigm 

Levi had finished the third routine cleaning of the shop, with intent to complete a fourth, but the sight of ______ sulking in the corner discouraged him. With his inventory accounted for and locked, he took ahold of her wheel chair handles, then left the building after locking up. He walked toward the city.

"I like Sundays, I get to close by noon. Where do you want to eat?"

"I don't," she stated, continuing to rest her head on her shoulder.

"Would you rather us go home?"

She replied that she would, so he continued onward until they reached his house. The walkway was completely accessible to her before reaching the porch, where he would lift her into his arm and carry her chair with the other as she used her hand to open doors. The system was a tad clunky, but after three months into it, they had perfected it in their own way.

"Alright, do you need to use the bathroom?" He asked.

"Levi! I don't need your help using the bathroom!"

"Oh, you're right. I keep forgetting the bars were installed."

"I still say that was a waste of money," she mumbled as he walked up the stairs. 

"Oi, cut the shit. I told you since they day you moved back in that I can more than happily afford any accommodations you might need. Besides, the more of them we get, the sooner you might be able to stay by yourself. Even then, I think I want you to start wearing an emergency pager."

"Great, I'm twenty-three years old and am already the decrepit old lady everybody has to take care of," she complained as he laid her on her bed.

His tongue remained sheathed in his mouth. He originally was going to counter with the logic of had she not been irresponsible in the first place, she would still be living independently with functioning legs. Instead, he frowned a little deeper, pulling the covers over her frame.

"______, this has got to stop."

"I don't follow,"  she breathed, pulling the blankets over her head.

He retracted it, "This. You've been nothing but miserable since the accident."

"Thanks for telling me, I wouldn't have noticed."

"You're not eating, you're sleeping more than twelve hours a day, and your friends have to see you on their own accord. Textbook signs of depression, here, and it's no damn mystery. You can't just wallow in a pity party forever, or you'll become mentally crippled, too."

She dragged her eyes to meet his face, "You don't understand."

"Then talk to people that do."

"Like who, Levi?"

He sighed. 

"I'm going to make dinner now. I'll be back soon. And stay put," he hissed.

He closed the door behind him. She was thankful for the timing, for she wept profusely when she was alone. Practically through muscle memory, she pulled a lighter from her nightstand and withdrew the blankets from her body. She grabbed her left ankle, pulling the limb closer to her center. Like the other, it was littered with heinous sizeable burn marks concealed in scar tissue. She sparked the flame, held it to her skin, watched the flesh melt; she became increasingly frustrated. 

She tossed the lighter in disgust and threw herself back onto the mattress. The pillow she concealed her screaming with had been heavy with preceding instances of misery at the source of her paralysis. The pity she felt for herself grew with each passing moment, building and turning bile. Her sadness had darkened to contempt for her willingness to resign to her ordeal.

The dust-laden nightstand sported a minute mountain of both "Get Well" cards and written letters through the mail. Every person involved in that night, especially Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, had made multiple conscious efforts to incorporate her into their lives as she previously had been. She held no contempt for her able-bodied associates, as she understood that it was her own doing that led to the gradual deterioration of their relationships. Behind the mass stood a framed picture of herself and the group, all together, inside the hotel with a few animals on the first day they had worked on it. She turned the glass on its face.

She inched her way to the edge of the bed, stopping when her feet were on the floor. The young woman pushed from the mattress in order to stand, but fell straight down the very moment she attempted to stand up. She had no initiative to pick herself up from where she landed, so she stayed there, even nodding off when the fatigue returned.

"Shit," Levi barked, entering the room with a plate of hot food and setting it aside, "What did you do?"

He picked her up and sat with her in his lap while he looked at the marks on her legs. They were most definitely post-injury. He ghosted his hand over the scars, stopping over the newest one.

"What are you doing?" He asked, a hint of a whimper behind his scowl.

"I'm just so tired," she cried into his chest.

He held an arm around her shoulders and held her head. 

Paradigm Shift 

"Your choice: take the brakes off, or I carry you in like a child."

She knew when she had been beaten. A reluctant hand took its time to press the bars back to allow full mobility to the wheels. He had been on point in expecting for her to resort to a childish pout with folded arms. He ruffled her hair as he walked them down the hallway.

"At least your chair looks pretty normal here," he noted, discretely looking about their surroundings.

"That's not funny, Levi," she spat.

"Dispense with the attitude," he warned. 

"I'll be around. Try to do something," he tousled her hair again, then walked away.

She wasn't oblivious to the fact that other people were in the room with her. The perpetual staring at the floor led her to see the circle formation of various pairs of feet. In that, she took note that none of them appeared to have amputations, or at the very least without any compromised legs. She continued to ignore her surroundings.

"... Usually, the new person speaks first," a gentle voice claimed.

She looked up. Five others sat in the circle, with a sixth, vacant seat beside her. Clockwise, there was a young woman with strawberry blonde hair confined to a body wheelchair; the next man appeared years older, but nonetheless, normal; then, a boy that seemed to be her age, with a shaved head; a brunette in a ponytail, who was staring off into space; and, finally, an androgynous person sporting an eye patch. 

"I'm not going to snap at you guys because I was forced to be here, but I was forced to be here, so I find that rather inconvenient."

"Can't be worse than the reason you're in that chair," they said, pushing their glasses up, "You're new, but you'll warm up to us. We put this group together a while ago, sometimes we have more, sometimes we have less. One of our guys are running late, besides that, it's just us. So, even though most of us know each other, let's go around and talk about how we got where we are now. I'll start; my name is Hanji Zoe, and I lost my left eye as a result of an explosion. I would have died, had it not been for a trusted associate of mine. He pushed me from the blast but lost his life in doing so. I've had the eye patch ever since."

"I'm sorry, that's terrible," she authentically sympathized, "But if you guys think you're going to guilt me by telling me how much worse your circumstances are, it's not going to work. I'll admit I'm just a bitch at this point."

"You really are Levi's daughter, aren't you?" The blonde asked.

"He's not my real dad. Wait, how do you know him?"

"Sorry, I'm breaking rotation. My name is Petra Ral. I graduated from the Police Academy and got assigned to the precinct your father worked for. I came in just before he retired. I was on my first call, a group of teenagers had been spotted burglarizing a store, so I started a chase. Soon it became on foot. I followed them into a building and onto the roof. They all jumped onto another, and I followed them, but I didn't jump far enough. The next memory I had was waking up to my dad crying at my bedside. Now, I don't feel or move anything below my neck."

The young woman hadn't faltered in recounting her story. Though she would not admit it, the paraplegic began to feel immense shame for her callous behavior toward them previously. She intended to speak with a filter, but she found herself asking;

"Now what do you do?"

"I need around the clock care now. I need help to use the bathroom, bathe, everything. I don't do a thing on my own... I always wanted to be married," she began a tangent, "I was like a lot of girls who always dreamed of their wedding day. I have to accept, now, that I will never be married. Nobody is going to take the burden of taking care of me for nothing in return. My career ended before a full month working, and my dad's losing years with the stress of caring for me."

She had been so enamored by the tragedy that she hadn't noticed that the vacant seat had been filled. Petra went on to confirm that she was only nineteen herself, which made her cringe in knowing that she was older than her and ostensibly in a better place.

"I'm so unbelievably sorry," she stated over and over, "I can't keep with this. You deserve better than to have to deal with me."

"_______, we do not judge each other here. We only listen."

"Uncle Erwin?!"

He smiled, "Let's continue with this. Mr. Borzado?"

The man hadn't uttered a word. He scanned the group before settling his eyes on the newcomer. His mouth concaved to a smirk, then dissipated again. She asked why he remained silent. He responded to her by opening his mouth, revealing an empty orifice.

"We graduated together, actually," Petra added, "He was doing crowd control at a festival, horseback. He decided to talk some shit, and when the horse bucked, he bit off his tongue."

The mute rolled his eyes. She, fittingly, had no words for the man. It perturbed her that he was of the same age as the young woman in the body chair. The next person spoke.

"I'm Connie Springer. I got in a quadding accident and banged my head up pretty good. I even got brain damage- and before we make jokes- I get it, I'm even slower now. I, uh... I won't lie, it was really frustrating, especially at first. I was missing my senior year of school, and progress seemed to take forever. I'm still in recovery to this day. I'm only in good spirits now because, after only seeing my mom every day, I met my best friend, and she's sitting next to me right now."

"Oh, you're gay," she teased, whacking the space in front of him, "Dammit! I missed again!"

"Sasha, continue on, and you get seconds at dinner time," Hanji coaxed.

"I'm Sasha Blaus, it's nice to meet you," she waved to the side, completely missing her general direction, "Well, I used to love hunting. Me and my dad would go out together and make our meals with what we got. When I was fifteen, the hunting post we were on broke. The wood got into my eyes and went in deeper when I hit the ground. I woke up, but I didn't know at first. I've been totally blind for about eight years now."

"But, how do you get around? You don't have a cane and glasses?"

"For being crippled yourself, you stereotype. Well, I'm about to go on one myself and tell you that my other senses are awesome. Really, just put a roast in a room and I will find it. Plus, Connie's my seeing eye dog. I keep him company, so we just help each other out."

She had no time to recover from the deep conversation before Erwin took the center of attention.

"I don't need to introduce myself, and you already know I lost my arm on the job with Levi. I was his commander and it was his first year; it was a riot. Instead, I think you should tell your story."

"You already know about it," she whipped her head to the side.

"Yes, I do, but they do not. Don't be shy. No one here is better or worse, not in any way, and we don't need to compare each other. The world picks up that slack plenty well for us. All we do is support each other. All we do is love each other."

She sighed, then looked at every individual before speaking, "My friends and I have been keeping stray animals in the abandoned hotel on Main Street, it started in the winter, and we just ran with it. We'd make sure it was clean and we raised money to buy them food and blankets. It was going fine, but someone found out and told animal control. They took many of them, including my dog..." Her voice trailed off.

"Honey, you can tell us," Hanji assured.

"I don't know why I did it, but I hopped on my bike and chased after the animal control. I grabbed onto the back door. When it started speeding so it could merge with the highway, my front wheel went. It took a sharp turn and just flung me across the street like a rubber band. My best friends were chasing me the entire time. I'd bet any amount that they are the only reason I'm alive."

"Your friends, they seem loyal. Have they remained in touch with you?" Erwin asked.

"No. I mean, they always try to talk to me, but I don't give them the time of day."

She looked down at her hands in her lap. She missed them so dearly and knew that they felt the same. It was only at that moment did she realize how much she missed them. She dodged the onslaught of questions, deterring from the substance inside. Her "Uncle" decided that he would need to take an invasive approach to her evasive straying. 

"_______, what's your living situation?"

"I had to move back in with Levi."

"Had to?"

"Well, he wouldn't let me live on my own, so now I'm back to eating on his dime," she shook her head for a moment, "It's not fair... So close to independence, and then I fuck up his life by fucking up my own."

She was unaware that she was beginning to shout, "He finally opens his dream business, get's ready for an easy retirement, and now he's taking care of me until the day he dies! He keeps installing bars and seats for me so I won't crawl around like a feeble moron when he is supposed to be saving his money! Now he can't ever enjoy his life because mine is dragging him down, and he won't let me just accept my punishment for being reckless and stupid!"

"Do you think you are a burden to him, ______?"

"I know I am," She whined as her face reddened.

The older man stood briefly, then knelt in front of her. 

"I've had to work nearly all of my adult life to be as close as I am with Levi," He took her hand; she squinted her watering eyes, "But he chose you and has stuck with that decision with absolutely no regrets. He'll love you until the day he dies."

"Y-you... How could you know that?" 

"Because I tell him that every day," Levi confessed.

His hand was on her shoulder before she could attempt to look for him. He knelt beside his former boss, holding her free hand. By then, her tears liberally fell as the short-statured man hugged her torso tightly. The commander squeezed her hand while she unraveled.

"______, I will sooner die than let you struggle alone. Please believe that," he buried his face in the crook of her neck.

She held him as tightly as she used to when she was a child.

Later that evening, Levi laid her down on her bed, for she stated that she wished to rest. Instead, she found herself transfixing her gaze toward the ceiling while she digested the conversations from earlier. She scratched an itch on her nose, pausing the action when she thought of Ms. Ral's laments of longing to use her hands again. 

"Maybe trying to walk again isn't just in vain, but vain itself?" She wondered aloud. 

Knowing that Levi was in his own room, she decided to experiment one more time. As an incentive, she pushed her chair out into the hallway. She crawled with her arms until her back was on the floor and she could contain her legs with her arms. The young woman sat erect, willing with all of her might, to move the atrophied muscles. Her hypothesis had sadly upgraded to theory; there was no more sport in trying. She sighed, crawling to her apparatus and working back into it. 

It was when she celebrated her victory by plopping back into her seat did the wheel give from under her. Coupled with her own downward momentum, the force sent her blow, rendering a tumble through the staircase. The initial half of the descent brutalized her abdomen with the remainder hosting a twist that caused her to roll until the perpendicular wall absorbed her velocity.

"Levi," she dragged on, inspecting her upper body for immediate contusions or lacerations.

She counted to the number sixty without hearing so much as a footstep from the man. Again she called him, only to be neglected. She turned her head towards the stairs in order to decide whether or not the ascent would be worth her toil. The young woman inhaled with the intent of yelling for him again but she had been beaten to it by the tea kettle's whistling. 

"Shit!" She heard, followed by rapid shuffles, "Dammit, I'm so sorry."

He looked about her person, somewhat glad to find her apparently unscathed. 

"Fucking Christ, are you okay?!"

"I... I can't feel my legs," she moaned.

He spat a mean glare at her, "That's not funny," he bundled her into his arms, walked with her to the couch and settled her onto it. 

"What happened?" He sat beside her.

"I sat back down in my chair and the wheel came off. What happened to you? I've been calling you for almost five minutes!"

"You have?" He asked, arching his brows and softening his frown.  

"Yeah... Are you okay, Levi?"

He sighed, "No, no I'm not," he took her hand into his own, averting her eyes, "I've been keeping this from you for some time, but it's not safe to do that anymore with you in this condition."

"What are you talking about?"

His eyes closed shut as he brought his face level to hers, then opened them, "Do you remember the day I took you home?"

"Actually, I don't. I don't remember much of it at all. I guess I was too young."

"You were about five then. You were with your parents, they were at a protest that day, and I was working behind the shield. It was only a few years after I started working under your Uncle Erwin:

There was no telling in who struck first, but it was evident that both sides had the purview to finish everything. The young corporal firmly believed in the power of a baptism by fire, but handling his first riot was going to take more of his stamina that he had originally anticipated. He made little use of his barrier, ultimately abandoning it so that he could use both of his hands in his combative fluency.

The swarm of civilians outnumbered the police forces so heavily that an aerial shot of the coagulating violence would reveal that the officers were encompassed by their opponents. While many found themselves struggling with individual assailants, Levi almost pitied his attackers with how easily he disengaged them with single strikes. He had been the only one to find a vicinity to himself for brief increments before more would come for him. 

His periphery allowed him to observe the creeping fog coming from behind him. He had a gas mask around his neck along with his fellow comrades, though instead of utilizing it, he chose to propel himself forward from a kick a rioter received in the jaw and land himself at the perimeter of the fight. The steel irises broke their gaze from the entropy to pay proper attention to the victim in front of him. 

Even with her face freshly bloodied, she stood quiet and still. He knelt down to her level, gently pushing her locks aside to source the injury. She sported a rather deep gash along the part in her hair. He cursed her parents for permitting her to be near the scene, then asked her where they happened to be. The child made no indication of where they were.

"You like games, kid? Let's play hide and seek."

He picked her up, astounded by her oblivion, "Close your eyes and let me count to ten."

"One," he walked back into the frenzy.

"Two," he kicked in front of him, burrowing his path, "Three."

"Four," he pushed his way closer to the center, "Five."

"Six, seven, eight," he strained as he counted the particular set, using his free arm to perpetuate a safe sphere for her.

"Nine," he spotted a fire escape attached to an adjacent building. 

"Ten. I found you," He said; she transfixed her awe unto him. 

He positioned himself behind the dumpster. She kept her eyes shut in the halting of his count while he kicked off from the garbage container and grabbed onto the ladder of the escape. One by one, he raised the two of them over each step until he was able to place her on its last level. He instructed her to stay while he went back to "fight some bad guys".

Levi took advantage of his position to scour for Erwin. The newly appointed Commander held his own since the beginning of the riot until he found himself ambushed by multiple parties. The man had already prepared to jump from his position, but upon seeing the upright machete being thrown down, he darted into the crowd with genuine ungodly speed. The older man's arm had been completely dismembered. His subordinate took it upon himself to spew his brain matter. The overzealous strike prevented him from dodging the gun aimed for his head, allowing the bullet to nearly graze him. He spun around and pistol-whipped him unconscious before succumbing to the rings.  

"... In all honesty, I glare at everyone cause half the time, I can't hear what they're saying. I just give my look and shit gets done."

"You've been half-deaf this entire time?"

"Yes. With that, my hearing has gotten worse. The doctor says to expect complete loss within a few years."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" She took his hand.

"I just always wanted to be your hero, I guess."

"This doesn't change that. Just like blood doesn't change that you're my dad. I love you," she leaned over and hugged him.

"I love you too, brat," he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, kissing her head, "Shit, the tea," he left for the kitchen.

In his brief solitude, he observed the scenery outside the window. Their pond's surface had witnessed the melting of the ice film that had settled over winter. Levi did stare off at it, noting to himself that the water must have been miserably cold. He envisioned its state within the following months; warmth permeating beyond the surface and restoring the homeostasis in the small ecosystem. Until then, the warm mug of tea in his hands would have to suffice.  

Able

"Come on, just one more! Please," she pleaded through laughter.

"That was your fifth 'one more', besides, they're closing now. You guys ready?"

They both nodded. Levi rose from the coaster car and Erwin walked toward them from the exit stairs. She raised her arms outward, cueing the men to grab her hands and hoist her upward. The shorter man boosted her in the air in a sudden shift of momentum that allowed him to catch her on his back. After he secured his hold on her dead weight, he walked forward, with Erwin carrying her wheelchair.

"Now this is what I call a paradigm shift," Erwin smiled.

It was a bit ironic that the trio had spent their day at an amusement park only for the other attendants to find themselves enamored by the enigmatic group. Aside from occasional reminders from his comrades, Levi, and the others maintained their composure despite the stares they had to endure. It was the very first time since the accident that he had heard his daughter squeal with any amount of laughter. The distant, familiar tune rested nicely on his ears throughout the day and the ride home. 

They sent Erwin home with a goodnight and appreciation for his company for the day. When they reached their own domicile, the older man wheeled his daughter into the living room, informing her that he was going to draw her a bath. 

"Hey, dad," she called just in time for him to turn his head to her, "thank you."

He nodded and went upstairs. In likeness to the previous baths he ran for her, he adorned the water with suds, Epsom salt, and essential oils. It was by the time the tub had filled near the top that he realized that he stared off into nothingness the entire time. He turned off the water and left to carry her back. The last step hosted his loss of footing, causing him to curse aloud.

"Damnit," he muttered, furrowing his brow as he looked up, but he had been colored silent. 

She shook her head when he motioned forward. The rest of her strength toiled in her limbs as she supported her body with her arm upon the bookshelf. She grabbed her pant leg, pulled her appendage forward, and after a few moments of centering her balance, slowly dragged her other leg in front in independence. The opposite trudged the littlest bit ahead, and it happened once more before she collapsed. Instead of smacking the floor, she found herself in his arms. He tried his damnest to imagine his little girl, from the day he saved her, but he couldn't see her as anything less of the marvelous young woman she was, and he wept at the sheer beauty.

"That'll do, baby," he kissed her head, "that'll do."