A/N: Hi, yes, hello, I am alive and this fic is alive. I am incredibly sorry, I swear I didn't plan on taking a half a year long break ㅠ0ㅠ My last semester and anxiety were kicking my ass and it sort of... happened? I'm sorry, I'll try not to let that repeat itself ^^;;

Eren was glad to get out of the carriage when they finally arrived the next day. The travel to town was awkward, Krista's efforts at small talk largely failing over Levi's and Mikasa's inability to indulge in it. And so, most of the time was spent sitting in silence that was only filled with the sound of hooves and the carriage bumping on the uneven road.

As soon as they got out, however, Eren felt like he could breathe again. Even early in the morning as it was, the market was already bustling with activity and there were many things to look at and chose from, fruits and vegetables that made Eren's mouth water, spices and herbs, but also household items like spatulas and brooms, lots of different cleaning products, axes and saws, and a few stands even sold books.

But that was not what Eren was there for, at least not today.

"Krista, Mikasa. You two have Nanaba's list?" Levi asked as soon as he got off the carriage.

The two girls stood at attention immediately. "Yes, sir; I have it right here," Krista answered. pulling the paper out of the little bag she had to carry the few things she needed.

Levi nodded in approval before glancing at Eren. "I'll leave the shopping to you two then. I'll take Eren to get his clothes and shit and I expect you to be done by the time we're back. Be here in two hours. Dismissed."

Eren, Mikasa, and Krista all saluted before the girls walked off, leaving the two mates by themselves. Eren and Levi exchanged a look as Levi sighed. "Come on then."

"Yes, Captain," Eren responded without missing a beat, following his alpha who led him away from the busy market and into the town's narrows streets.

The place they were headed for was a small clothes shop hidden a bit away from the town's center. It might have been tiny but they held a surprising amount of clothing items for everyone to chose from, newly made and second hand alike, offering small adjustments and tailoring, all for a ridiculously cheap price. So obviously, half the town and all of the Survey Corps soldiers shopped – and sold old clothes that didn't fit anymore – there. It got to the point that the seamstress, a young girl barely out of her teens, who inherited the shop from her parents, knew most of the soldiers by name.

When the two of them entered the little shop, they were greeted with the quiet, cozy atmosphere, and a cheery, melodic, "Welcome!" coming from the back of the shop a moment later.

"Hi, Emma!" Eren called back. "No need to hurry, we'll just look around first," he assured when the sound of running steps carried over to them.

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry, I'll be back out in a bit!" Emma called back, sounding a bit sheepish.

Eren saw Levi shake his head as the alpha walked past him inside the shop and Eren suppressed a chuckle at the barely there smile he noticed on his lips. Looked like even Levi liked the young, enthusiastic woman.

Looking around the shop to see where the section for male clothing was, Eren headed that way immediately, wanting to have this done and over with so they actually had time to look around the market before it was time to leave. He did still want to look for a present for both Levi and Armin, after all. The omega opened his bag and pulled out one of his shirts and pants so he could compare the sizes, and dived into the mountains of clothes to find some new ones for himself, not paying his mate any attention.

It was only minutes later, when he already had several shirts and sweaters and a pair of pants chosen to try on and see if they fit correctly that he looked up. He wanted to ask Levi his opinion on a tunic that would have been perfect, lose enough to hide his stomach while still looking like it was supposed to be that way – only it was a very bold, orange color. However, he was only met with Levi's back, the alpha apparently frozen in place and staring at... something on the opposite side of the store.

Eren frowned slightly, picking up the tunic and walking up to his mate carefully. Only when he was standing directly behind him, trying to peek over Levi's shoulder, did Levi jerk, turning around while trying – and failing – to keep his expression a bored neutral. Instead, he looked almost guilty.

"What do you need, Eren?" he asked innocently, but Eren only cocked his head to the side as he studied Levi's expression.

Finally, his curiosity got the better of him and he side-stepped Levi to see what he was hiding. And as soon as his eyes fell on the things Levi was staring at so intently, a giggle nearly escaped him.

Baby clothes.

Levi was staring at baby clothes.

"Stop it with that shit eating grin," Levi muttered and if Eren didn't know any better, he'd think it sounded embarrassed.

Looking around the shop quickly to make sure they were still alone, Eren noted teasingly, his voice almost a whisper, careful nobody could hear. "Isn't it still a bit early to look for stuff like this?"

Levi narrowed his eyes at his mate but didn't say anything in his defense. He only huffed and turned to look back down on the tiny overalls and even tinier socks. "Fuck, Eren, look how small all this shit is."

Eren smiled softly, following his mate's gaze to where Levi's fingers were lightly tracing over a cute, green, little coat. "It is," Eren nodded, suddenly as much wonder in his voice as there was in Levi's. "It's incredible."

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Levi turn his head a bit and a second later, he felt his eyes on him, watching him as intently as he was watching the baby clothes moments before. Feeling a comfortable weight settle inside his stomach and a smile tug on his lips at the undivided attention he was getting from Levi, Eren slowly turned to the side to look at his alpha.

There was a complicated expression on Levi's face, something between worry and adoration and embarrassment and so much wonder and Eren's breath hitched. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours, neither saying anything, feeling like the world stopped around them.

That was, until a muffled bang came from the back room, the doors slamming open with Emma emerging from the inner parts of the shop, a little flushed but smiling in that happy, friendly way of hers. The atmosphere broken, the mates jumped away from each other in shock, hoping the girl didn't see anything – and that she wouldn't think anything of the section of the shop they were standing in.

"Eren, Captain Levi! I'm so sorry for the wait. Do you need any help?" Emma asked, looking between the two of them, not sure whom she was asking.

"Actually, yeah," Eren answered maybe a bit too loudly, taking a few quick steps towards Emma while trying to fight down a blush. He heard Levi move behind him, casually walking away to make it seem like he was just wandering around the shop and not staring in fascination at baby clothes of all things. Raising the orange tunic up to show to Emma, Eren continued, "I was wondering if you had something like this, in a more neutral color?"

Emma hummed to herself, taking the tunic from Eren's hands to go search her stock. Behind her back, Eren sighed in relief. He was so close to kissing Levi back there. It was dangerous. They were starting to act dangerous, not nearly watching themselves enough. With all of the people closest to them knowing about their relationship, they were slowly getting less and less careful. It was bad, and they needed to start paying attention to their actions and words again.

And to think they had managed to hide this from everyone for months. It used to be so natural to Eren, so easy to distinguish when they were alone behind closed doors and when people could see and hear.

The only thing that kept Eren from feeling as guilty was the fact that Levi was obviously having as much trouble keeping up appearances as the omega did. Not that that made things any better, it actually made them worse, but at least the blame didn't fall only on Eren's shoulders.

Still didn't change anything about the fact they would have to talk about this. Glancing at Levi over his shoulder as he followed Emma back to the men's section of the shop, he noticed the alpha was just as tense as he was, probably on edge for the very same reason. Aware they had been very close to fucking up.

Yeah, they would have to talk about this.

Meanwhile, in the town's market, the two girls were busy going from stand to stand, looking for the items on their list. They had already managed to secure some of it, Mikasa carrying two bags full of soap, new rags, and several other things, but they still had to find more than a half of the items on the long list.

Mikasa followed wordlessly for the most part as Krista weaved her way through the small crowd of shoppers, navigating expertly to wherever they needed to go. She was much better at all this than Mikasa was after all, the small beta knowing exactly where the best goods were sold and which sellers were weak to her angelic smiles, getting them discounts with a single bat of her eyelashes.

And so Mikasa just let her lead the way and handle the talking while she just carried most of the bags and looked around the market, taking it all in. Watching people. Scoffing when someone was shouting at the poor sellers or smiling to herself when she saw little girls and boys clinging to their mothers' skirts, scared to lose sight of them in the crowds. Sometimes she also looked through the goods offered around them, laughing at some ridiculous things or wishing she had the money to buy some of these for her friends. Or for herself, like she did right now.

As she waited for Krista to finish her bargaining at one of the vegetable stands, her eyes fell on the stand next to them. There was an assortment of handmade dolls, sewn out of old cloth. They weren't the most pretty dolls you'd ever see but they were... nostalgic.

Without even realizing, Mikasa reached out to pick one of them up. It was small, smaller than the rest of the ones displayed, but it was cute; patchy, obviously made from small leftover scraps, making the doll more colorful than most of the others. Somehow, it reminded Mikasa of the time, so long ago, when her mother used to teach her how to sew on little pieces of cloth that were unusable in any other ways, and looking at this doll now made her feel like she was back there, back in the warm safety of her childhood, on her mother's lap. Before anything bad ever happened.

"Do you want it?"

Mikasa jumped at the soft, curious voice that suddenly came from next to her. Blinking a few times, she looked at Krista, a guilty look probably adorning her face, judging by the kind smile Krista gave her. Putting the doll back where she found it maybe too quickly, Mikasa shook her head in denial, even as she still couldn't tear her eyes away. "No. It's silly, what would I do with a doll like that."

Krista huffed at that, picking the doll back up to look at it more closely. "It's really cute. There's nothing silly about that," she said clearly, looking up at Mikasa with an amused sparkle to her big, blue eyes. "You're allowed to indulge yourself in things that don't involve chopping up meat, you know."

The alpha looked down to where Krista held the doll, holding it out towards her. Mikasa couldn't deny she wanted it but... she was torn. It didn't serve any purpose; it was just sentimental.

Seeing Mikasa was still wavering, Krista took a step closer, making the other girl look at her. Smiling gently, she spoke up in a quiet, sweet voice. "You know, there is soon going to be someone who would absolutely adore something like this. You don't have to get it for yourself."

It was a blatant lie and both Krista and Mikasa knew it. If she got the doll, it wouldn't be for her niece or nephew. It would be for herself.

But Mikasa couldn't deny it was a good excuse. An excuse to herself more than anyone else, really. She stared at the doll for a few more moments, before finally nodding hesitantly, reaching out to take the doll from Krista. She would buy the doll and she would study it and learn how to make them herself so she could gift the baby with more of them, as many as the tiny human would want.

Krista's smile widened as she pressed the doll to Mikasa's chest. "Get it then, I'll be at the dishes stand."

Mikasa nodded, a small, embarrassed, yet grateful smile as Krista walked away with a wink and something that could only be described as a smirk on her lips. Turning back to the old woman who owned the stand and who had been watching the exchange between the two girls patiently with a warm, knowing look in her eyes, Mikasa sheepishly pulled out the little purse that held her personal money, handing the lady the amount to pay for the doll.

The woman smiled warmly at her as she accepted the payment. "You are a strong young lady but even strong alpha girls are still girls. Your friend was right, you are allowed to like cute things as well. You don't need to be the strong one all the time."

Mikasa paused, taken a bit off guard by her words, but then she blushed slightly, puling her scarf up a bit and looking away. "I... Thank you."

"No problem, sweetie. And congratulations? From your conversation I assume there is going to be a baby in your family! A little sibling?"

"Ah," Mikasa paused, taken off guard. "Something like that, I suppose," she finished vaguely, shrugging.

The woman thought nothing of her words, clapping her hands excitedly. "That's amazing," she sighed, smiling at Mikasa as the girl nodded uncertainly. "You seem like a very kind, strong young woman, I'm sure they will love you when they are born. Now, your friend is waiting for you, I'm sorry, I won't keep you any longer; I hope you like the doll."

"I do, thank you very much." Mikasa smiled politely before quickly saying her goodbye, ready to go look for Krista. Just as she turned away from the stand, somebody bumped into her roughly, not even pausing to apologize or at least acknowledge her. They were obviously in a hurry to get wherever they were going.

Mikasa narrowed her eyes, instinct warning her that something was off. There was no reason for someone to rush like this inside the market. If they needed to get somewhere else as soon as possible, they would avoid the market altogether. Not to mention their attire. The weather was chilly but it wasn't cold enough to wear a long coat like this, combined with the hat that obscured their face. It was suspicious. More than suspicious and Mikasa immediately took of after them, careful to keep her distance and not alert them of her presence.

The warning bells in her head started getting even louder as soon as she realized they were going the same direction Krista had walked away in. She didn't know why that seemed like a big deal, it was probably just a coincidence, but she still started carefully scanning her surroundings in search of her friend. When she finally spotted her, chatting away with a man at the dishes selling stand a little bit away, she heaved a sigh of relief.

That was, until she realized that was exactly where the person she was tailing was headed. Her eyes snapping back to the suspicious figure in front of her, she watched at they reached inside their coat to pull something out. It was a movement alarmingly similar to the one soldiers made when reaching for their blades and Mikasa's blood ran cold. Cursing the fact she was not in her uniform and without her own gear, she started to run, praying she'd catch up in time. She found herself right behind the person just as they pulled out a short fire arm, quickly taking aim in the direction of the stand Krista was at. Trying to stay as silent as possible, Mikasa ducked low, slipping under their outstretched arm.

"Krista, duck!" she shouted, just as she kicked up with all the force her body could muster, hitting the suspect's forearm and causing their whole arm to jerk up high above their head, the gun flying out of their hand.

In the same moment, a loud gunshot echoed around the market.