AN: I've got good news and bad news. The good news is I wrote another one-shot for everyone! The bad news is I have to take a short break. It won't be too long. A month at most. I have a very important certification test for the place I work at so I need to pour all my attention into getting ready for this test, but before I disappeared, I thought it would be a good idea to get one more story out before I hit the books. Thus, I hope you guys enjoy it.

What's That?

"Fate…." Nanoha's moan filtered through their bedroom.

She clung desperately to the blonde that leaned over her. Fate looked down at her lover through half lidded eyes. This wasn't how they'd planned to spend their evening. They were supposed to have gone out for a nice dinner together as a family since Fate had finally returned from her latest mission, but things seemed to have gone in another direction….

Nanoha gasped and arched into Fate's touch.

Yup, definitely not what she had planned…this was so much better!

An hour ago….

Fate was so happy to be home. This latest mission had been the longest she'd been gone in a while, almost 4 months. The minute she walked through the door she took Nanoha in her arms and kissed her like she'd been gone for years. It surely felt like she had. Vivio bound towards them, was equally excited to see her mother back and couldn't wait to spend more time with her, but the 12-year old had a feeling that her mother's needed a night to themselves. Vivio may still be young, but she was smart enough to pick up on when her parents wanted to do…..not so innocent stuff to each other. It was thanks to her ability to detect this that she'd been spared ever walking in on their adult fun. Her innocent mind thanked her for sure. She cleverly swindled her way out of dinner by telling her mother's she'd be having a sleep over with Hayate. Her excuse being that there was something she wanted to work on with Vita.

Before Fate could even protest, she was interrupted by Nanoha who asked if she would need a ride. The auburn haired woman realized right away what her daughter was attempting to do. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't excited with the prospect of spending an evening alone with her wife. She and Vivio shared a knowing look before Nanoha offered her daughter a ride to the Yagami's, Vivio though declined. Instead, she called Hayate and the brunette agreed, a little too fast in Fate's opinion, with picking up Vivio. With the deal sealed, Vivio quickly made her way to her room in order to pack up for her night at the Yagami's. Fate had pouted at first. She wanted her family to spend the evening together with a nice meal. She never got tired of being around her daughter and wife. The notion of not spending her first night back with them left her feeling a little put out, especially since they gave her no say in the matter.

Vivio couldn't help but smile slightly at Fate who was now lying on the couch. The blonde was sometimes like an overgrown child, but Vivio knew this was a side of her mother that not only Nanoha came to appreciate, but Vivio as well. Shaking her head, the smaller blonde hurriedly gathered her things and sped down stairs just in time to see Hayate walk through the door.

"Aunt Hayate!" Vivio hugged the older woman.

"How's my favorite munchkin?"

Vivio sported a similar pout to her mothers.

"I'm not that small anymore!"

Hayate chuckled. There was the feisty Takamachi side. The brunette turned to look for a certain blonde who was supposed to have returned home so she couldn't help but wonder where Fate was.

"She's pouting on the couch." Nanoha whispered to Hayate.

The brunette smirked.

"I take it she has no idea what's actually going on?"

"Fate-mama is very dense sometimes." Vivio whispered along with the two older women.

The three giggled as they continued to whisper back and forth about Fate. It didn't take long for the blonde to grow irritated with their whispering. She had no idea what was being said, but she had a sneaking suspicion that it was about her.

"I'm right here you know!" She shot up from her position on the couch.

The three burst out laughing.

"It's good to see you too Fate-chan." Hayate grinned at her longtime friend. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm whisking your daughter away to my humble palace."

Fate mock glared at the brunette. "I hope your intentions with my daughter are pure."

"Don't be silly Fate-mama," Vivio jumped in. "Hayate's too old for me." She finished with a big smile.

Fate smirked as Hayate's grin faltered at her daughter's words. Justice was being served after all the teasing she'd had to endure at the hands of the brunette. Hayate, on the other hand, cried at being called old by a 12 year old. She wasn't that old! She was only 25! This had to be karma for all the times she'd picked on the blonde enforcer. A hasty tactical retreat was her best option at the moment.

"Well, we should really get going. Let's go Vivio!" Hayate patted herself on the back for not stuttering.

"Bye Fate-mama, Nanoha-mama!" Vivio waved and chased after Hayate.

Having said her good-byes, Fate laid herself back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. It seemed like it would be just her and Nanoha for the evening, not that she wasn't happy about it. Only someone who was mental would be upset at spending a romantic evening with their incredibly hot wife. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that Fate didn't even notice that Nanoha had snuck up to their bedroom. The auburn haired woman smirked as she changed into her outfit for the evening. After months of only talking to each other, she'd been anticipating this far more than she'd thought. She only wanted one thing from Fate and that was for the blonde to ravage her, all night, and this outfit would do it.

She walked down the stairs as quietly as possible. She wanted this to be a surprise.

"Fate-chan~" she said in a sing songy voice.

Fate sat up from the couch again only to feel her mouth go dry at the sight presented to her. Nanoha was in a tight, long black strapless dress that hugged her every curve. It was almost like a second skin. A long slit ran from her hip down the side of the dress showing off a generous amount of leg. Did she mention how tight it was on her?

"Ready for dinner?"

The suggestive undertone did not go unnoticed by Fate. She may be dense, but even she could tell when she was being seduced. In a split second, Nanoha found herself pressed between the wall and her wife's body. It didn't take long for Fate's nimble hands to remove the dress.

Present time

"Ah!"

Nanoha's strangled cry seemed to only encourage Fate's actions further.

"Fate….Fate….."

Fate was sure she'd never get tired of hearing her name fall from Nanoha's lips like that.

"I love you." The blonde breathed out as she descended upon Nanoha's deliciously exposed neck. Tonight, they were getting no sleep.

The next morning

Nanoha stared at herself in the mirror. Her lack of sleep was clearly visible in her eyes, but the sacrifice had been well worth it. They'd been busy far into the early morning which was amazing that they'd had the stamina to go on for so long. She blushed remembering all the things Fate had done to her. Yes, it'd definitely been well worth it. That though, was not what she was worried about. No, what she was slightly glaring at was the giant red mark that adorned her neck.

Fate had left a hickey….a big one in a place she couldn't hide it. The offending mark was far too high up on her neck for her to cover up without making it look suspicious therefore drawing attention to it. She walked out of the bathroom and glared at the blonde who still slept. The glare though quickly disappeared and a blush instead rose on her cheeks. Fate was sleeping on her stomach; the sheet was slowly slipping off her revealing a very naked body. Her eyes roamed along the blonde enforcer's back at the scratch marks she'd left.

Nanoha had to snap herself out of her lust induced stupor. She quickly wiped away the drool that had somehow formed while she stared at Fate. Seriously, the blonde was too hot for her own good. As much as she hated to just walk around with the exposed hickey, it was better than putting a band aid over it. She'd get a lot more questions about it if she did. Maybe, if she was lucky, it wouldn't draw a lot of attention. Sighing, she made some coffee for herself before heading out to the base. She prayed that this day would not end in embarrassment.

At the base

Much to her disappointment, it seemed the hickey was drawing more attention than she thought it would. How was this possible? Didn't everyone have anything better to do than stare at her neck? Why were they even staring at her neck to begin with? It made no sense! She unconsciously began to growl. The people around her though, took notice of her shift in mood and gave themselves a few feet between them and the White Devil. They hoped they wouldn't get caught between a rock and a Starlight Breaker for speculating on her sex life.

"Good morning Nanoha-san!"

Nanoha halted her growling and turned back to greet a bubbly ex-student of hers.

"Subaru-chan! Good morning. No case for you today?"

"Haha, not quite, I…..What's that?" Subaru pointed at Nanoha's neck.

She didn't think she'd be affected so much by someone asking, but it did. She felt her cheeks grow hotter and found that it was hard to form a sentence. Subaru seemed to not notice the instructor's odd behavior and instead leaned in to get a better look at the odd bruising on the older woman's neck.

"It looks like a bruise. Did you get into a fight?"

"Ah, umm, y-yeah! Nyahaha, they got a good hit in before I took them out." Nanoha tried her best to not sound suspicious but was failing. Lucky for her, Subaru was just as dense as Fate when it came to certain matters.

"Oh! You must've been sparring with Fate-san! I can't think of anyone else that has a chance at landing a hit on you other than Commander Hayate and she was in a meeting all day."

"Nyahah, yeah I was sparing with Fate-chan."

"Sparring of the naked variety." Nanoha tried not to let her mind fall into the gutter.

"You guys are so amazing! I hope Tea and I can become like you two one day."

"I-I'm sure you will."

"If they aren't already." Nanoha thought. Everyone was speculating if the two girls had consummated their relationship that they still refused to admit to. If only they could get solid evidence.

After making a bit more small talk, Subaru waved good-bye and headed off to get some work done. With a sigh, Nanoha felt like she'd overcome her first hurdle of the day. Now if only everyone would stop staring at her. Shaking her head, she put on a determined face. She wasn't going to let this get to her. There were things to be done and she had a class to teach. With her head held high, she made her way over to the training grounds. Her class was waiting!

At the training grounds

"Nanoha?" Vita stood next to the auburn haired woman as the class did their drills on the field.

"Yes?"

"What's that on your neck?"

Nanoha's reaction was instantaneous. Her hand flew to her neck and landed with a loud smack. Vita's grin grew as she leered at the auburn haired woman's flushed face.

"Oh, I see."

"Umm…." Nanoha was beginning to grow uncomfortable with the way Vita was looking at her. If she didn't know any better, the short red head knew exactly what was on her neck and was going to make her suffer.

"Did you….get attacked?" the grin on Vita's face only grew when Nanoha made some sort of unintelligible noise. "Oh so something did get you."

"Nyahaha, Vita-chan, you know no one would dare attack me. It's…..just a bug bite?"

"Are you asking me?"

"No?"

Silence fell between them.

"So, a bug bite huh?"

"Yeah..."

"Did this bug have blonde hair and red eyes?"

Vita laughed as Nanoha spluttered and turned even redder.

"It's not funny Vita-chan!"

"Y-you're right." Vita breathed out. "It's not funny…It's hysterical!"

After Vita finally regained her breathe, she decided to spare Nanoha further embarrassment if only so she wouldn't be humiliated in front of her students.

"Go see Shamal for a band aid or something. I'll take care of class today."

"Don't you think it'll draw more attention to it if I get one?"

"Would you rather everyone knows of your sexual escapades with your wife?"

Nanoha sighed in defeat and turned towards the building.

"Thank you for watching my class."

"Yeah, yeah." Vita shook her head as she watched Nanoha walk away. "Damn bunnies. If they could reproduce like them, we'd be overrun with mini Fate and Nanoha's."

She thanked whatever deity was out there that they didn't have to worry about that. Yet. Knowing Shamal, she'd have some sort of method for reproduction between two females invented before the year was through. She shuddered at the thought. She better prepare herself for the incoming wave of Takamachi-Harlaown babies.

In a hallway

Nanoha sighed again. At least Vita had been kind to her and didn't pick on her too much. Thank god for small miracles.

"Nanoha-san!"

The aerial instructor froze at the voice that called her out. Stiffly, she turned towards the speaker. To her horror, Caro and Erio were running up to her with worried looks. The fact that they looked so worried caused her fear of them seeing her hickey to disappear. She was more concerned that something had happened either to them or possibly Fate. Why else would Fate's adopted children be there? They were supposed to be off world.

"Caro-chan, Erio-kun. What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing is wrong." Caro answered. Nanoha sighed in relief. What was with the worried look then? "We just happened to be around today for some work when we overheard Subaru-chan tell Tea-san that you and Fate-san had a fight. Is it true?"

"Eh?"

"Ah!" Erio pointed at Nanoha's neck. "Subaru-chan was right! There is a bruise on your neck!"

Nanoha flushed. This couldn't be happening. Not with Fate's, and by default her, children! Caro held her hands together in front of her with misty eyes.

"W-were you and Fate-san really fighting? I'd never thought it would come to something like this…."

Nanoha quickly shook her head. "N-no! We weren't fighting!"

"Then why is there a mark on your neck? Or was Fate-san not responsible for it?" Erio looked at her seriously.

"Oh Fate-chan was quite responsible for it…."

"It's not what you think…."

"Then why would Subaru-chan tell Tea-san that it was Fate-san that left a bruise on you?"

"Subaru-chan….you'll pay for this."

"I-I don't know, but I swear everything is fine. It's just…a bug bite!"

"A bug bite?" they said simultaneously.

"Yes! Now I need to go! Bye!"

The two teenagers couldn't say anything more before Nanoha took off down the hall. They were left to wonder why it was that Nanoha was so red during the entire conversation.

Later that day

Nanoha sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time. She'd finally gotten a band aid on her neck. It still drew attention like she feared, but at least the stares seemed less accusing. She just needed to get home and then she'd teach Fate a lesson she wouldn't soon be forgetting.

"Nanoha-san!" Subaru's exuberant voice echoed off the walls.

The auburn haired woman couldn't believe her luck. In the lobby, blocking her exit out of the building were her friends. Vita was snickering quietly off to the side, Signum smiled knowingly, Shamal shot her a sympathetic look, Zafira stood there stoically as ever, while Subaru, Tea, Erio, Caro waved as she approached. She was slightly relieved that Hayate was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't imagine just how much worse this encounter would be if she was.

"Hello everyone…"

"Nanoha-san! Caro-chan and Erio-kun said that bruise wasn't from sparring with Fate-san." Subaru frowned. "Is that true? Why did you lie to me?"

"Uh, umm,…"

"Yeah Nanoha." Vita snickered. "Or are you embarrassed that a certain "bug" got you?"

"I, uh, I mean…"

"You shouldn't be embarrassed if it was just a bug." Tea chimed in.

"Yeah," Caro added. "Even though it does sound a lot cooler that you got it in a fight."

"Yeah, we wouldn't think less of you if that bug bite was actually just a hickey." A voice rang out behind Nanoha. Unfortunately for her, this voice belonged to a certain commander who had far too much fun picking on all of her friends and subordinates.

You could hear a pin drop at the silence that followed.

Then chaos broke out. Caro and Erio stuttered like the teenagers they were. Subaru and Tea reacted in a similar fashion which was a surprise since everyone was sure that she and Subaru had done far more than just holding hands by this point. It looked like their intelligence had been wrong. Vita fell to the floor in laughter. Signum tried to hold in her laughter but her shaking body was proof that she was having a hard time doing so. Shamal was in a similar state to Vita except she leaned against Signum so that she would not fall to the floor alongside the short red head. Zafira on the other hand…..just walked away. There were just certain things that he did not want to have to deal with and he was certain that Nanoha was not about to remain calm in this situation. It was every man for himself.

"So I see I was right about you showing up to work with Fate's mark of victory. Everyone owes me some money for this…." Hayate would have gone on had she not felt the cold chill of death in her bones. She looked to Nanoha, who had donned her barrier jacket, in fright. "N-now Nanoha, let's not act irrationally…."

[Starlight Breaker]

Everyone ran and hoped that the range on that thing wasn't as far as they thought it was.

They found out the hard way that it was.

At home

Fate was blissfully unaware of the danger she was in as she finished cleaning the house. It was her day off and she'd wanted Nanoha to come home to a clean house and a good meal. Thinking back on her day, she frowned at one particular memory. Strangely, when she'd gone to pick up Vivio, the girl had instead asked if she could spend the night at her friend's house. Fate had been disappointed that this would be the second night in a row that her family would not eat together but she allowed Vivio to go. Unbeknownst to Fate, Vivio had gotten a chill she came to associate with her Nanoha-mama's aura of doom. She figured it was best to stay out of her home and save herself from any potential mental scaring.

The blonde enforcer had just turned off the stove when the front door slammed opened. She jumped at the sudden noise and quickly went to investigate. She was surprised to see her wife standing in the door way and… was that rubble on her uniform?

"N-Nanoha?" Fate called out nervously.

No words were spoken as Nanoha closed the door and locked it.

"Fate-chan…." She said dangerously.

Fate gulped. She had a feeling whatever was about to happen was her own fault. How was it that she always ended up in these kinds of situations?

"You're mine." Nanoha growled.

With that, Fate was soon at the mercy of the White Devil, but she couldn't find it in herself to protest.

The next day

Tea was walking to a meeting when she suddenly found herself comforting a crying Fate.

"Just kill me now Tea!"

Tea looked at her partner and was about to ask what was wrong but stopped and instead blushed. All along the blonde's neck were red splotches. It didn't take her long to put two and two together. It looked like the White Devil got the revenge she'd wanted. No wonder she was in such a good mood this morning. Thinking about the revenge Nanoha got inevitably led her to remember the events of the prior day. She tried her best to block out the terrifying images of a pink beam crashing into her. She knew she wouldn't be the only one trying to get over that trauma at group therapy later that day.

Somewhere on the base, Zafira, in his dog form, slept soundly under a tree. His dreams were not plagued by any pink beams of death.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed this little piece. See you all in a month or so. Check on my profile every now and then as I'll try to update it so I can let you all know what my progress is during my studies. Until next time!