She had something in mind. This had occurred to her ever since she got the news of Erwin's encounter with a Titan. She was scared out of her mind when he proceeded to get captured and almost killed by the previous King's Council. She had been away from him for way too long, and they had still been going strong. But, the idea of losing him forever and never being able to see him again shattered her beyond premonition. She knew it was selfish, to be the Commander's girlfriend and expect him to survive every beyond-the-wall survey and not wanting to expect a bad news at any moment.

But how could she help it? He meant everything to her. Without Erwin, there'd be no Aura. He may have disagreed, but she strongly believed this.

She took a brief shower and got dressed. Taking the half-full whiskey bottle and her pack of cigarettes outside the cabin, she occupied one table in anticipation of the guests she invited. She wanted to know the new Cadet Corps, Levi's squad. She also wanted to execute her plan in front of everyone. Initially, she planned otherwise, but something about Erwin's behavior in the morning changed her mind. He may be a little embarrassed, but he'd probably be okay with it. Hell, he may even be happy about it.

"Hey, brat!" her lit cigarette almost fell off her hand, as Levi startled her. He arrived first, Hange and Moblit following suit.

"Oh! Are those mint cigarettes?" Hange sprawled her hands across the table asking for one. Aura gave her the entire pack.
"So.. I was thinking of popping the question!" she declared, not daring to look up and meet the eyes that looked at her, horrified.

"I thought you guys have already had that done, no?" Moblit asked, scratching his head.

"They never really asked each other," Levi answered for Aura, sighing and plopping his one hand over the back of his chair, "Good for us. We get to drink for free one more day."

"Looks like someone's jealous! Sad about losing your boyfriend, Levi?" Hange said, in a louder, cheery tone, puffing out smoke, "it's okay, Levi. We'll find out another Erwin for you."

"We would have," Aura said, looking down at her knotted fingers, "but there can be no other Erwin Smith."

"If you want me to say 'cute', just be happy knowing that I wasn't entirely disgusted by what you just said," Levi scoffed at her.
"I'm happy knowing that you actually agree, Shorty," she scoffed back.

The young ones arrived shortly, bringing more life to the party. Eren and Mikasa were still in a state of dismission of the glee. But, a pitcher of beer down, they joined in too.
"Won't the Commander be joining us?" Sasha asked, stuffing her mouth with mashed potatoes.

"He will," Levi answered again, "he went back to the quarters for some important work."

"Hey Shorty," Aura snapped at him, "stop answering questions for me."
"Hey," he snapped back, "stop calling me Shorty. We are the same height."
"That's not true. You're 5 feet 2 inches, and I'm 5 feet 3 inches."

"No, brat, we're both 5 feet 2! You just wanna call me Shorty, because that's what your boyfriend calls me."

"The Commander uses nicknames too?" Armin's round eyes got even rounder at the newly acquired fact.

"Only for Levi," Hange cleared his doubt, smirking, "you see, they were once in love with each other."

"That is not true," Levi interrupted, looking all offended, "not that I care if you think it is. But, just for the sake of clearing out misinformation, that's not true. The Commander and I are both perfectly heterosexual males."

The party went on without Erwin. Aura shot glances at the door every now and then, but there was no sign of him. The Cadets were all already a couple beers down and drunk. Levi, Moblit and Hange enjoyed their whiskeys, but Aura barely even touched her drink. She had been patiently waiting for this day for the last couple of months. In fact, she had been waiting for Erwin to finally officially ask her for a very long time. But, under the given circumstances, she understood why he'd like to delay any form of ceremony.

From the conversation they had in the evening, it was evident that he was low on self-esteem and thought of himself as broken. On the field, she knew he was a hero. But he did depend on Levi, and his other subordinates to keep each other safe and conduct a useful expedition. And, off the field, the only place he could seek comfort was in her arms.

Back when they were younger, and had recently confessed to each other of their love, Erwin would occasionally embrace her from behind and bury his head in the crook of her neck. Breathing her scent in, he was often found shedding a drop or two of tears in the memories of the soldiers he lost.

He was a strong man, with a fiesty determination, but a kind soul. He was compelled by profession and urgency to sacrifice the lives of soldiers for the sake of the rest of humanity. In those moments when he found himself burdened by the loss of so many lives, he crawled to her in the hopes of restitution of some of his strength. He'd sit at her chamber, waiting for her to finish with the soldiers he could bring back half-alive and come to his rescue.

He often reflected on how he needed her a lot more than she needed him. On days when he had to be strong for everyone else, he knew there was one person he could be vulnerable to. And he loved her for that. And, that was why, he swore to himself to put her happiness first, even before his perennially-unfulfilled dream.

"Dr. Tubrey," the young boy from before came to their table and handed her a small note. Opening it, she saw it was in a scribbly child-like handwriting that she did not recognize.

"Aura,
I'm sorry I couldn't turn up. I got assigned a little bit of paperwork by Pixis. Please say hi to everyone for me. And, once again, I'm sorry. I love you.
Erwin."

Hange read it out aloud, after she claimed herself to be an expert at reading right-handed people's left handwriting.

"Oh my God," Sasha spilled some beer on herself, "I didn't know the Commander could be so sweet. I'm sure you can't even be mad at him, Doctor."

The party was over soon, and the elders had to carry back the drunk youngsters to the quarters. They put them up in carriages and themselves walked back. Hange was pretty drunk and comfortable walking with Moblit, while Levi walked with Aura with his hands in his pockets.

They were very close friends. Levi came into the Survey Corps just a year after she was appointed as the doctor at that regiment, but was not yet dating Erwin. After losing both his friends, Furlan and Isabel, he had followed Erwin back into duty. He soon found friendship in Aura, while the others he was in the same regiment with were either seniors, or colleagues to him. Their friendship was hand-built on their mutual obsession with cleaning, perfectionism, tea, whiskey, cigarettes, thinking Erwin was just a cinnamon roll and calling Hange 'four-eyes'.

In fact, they were such good friends and spent so much time together, there were rumors about them dating. Erwin was mortified until one day, Aura declared her feelings for him in front of her girlfriends - Hange and Nanaba - and Levi made sure he overheard.

"Hey Shorty," Aura started a conversation, "thanks for coming here tonight. I realize how much work all of you have and how tender the situation is right now. I just.."
"I know," he replied, "thanks for taking their minds off the looming failure and loss we may all have to face. Tomorrow we start training again, and you make sure all our cadets are fine. We need you, brat."

They walked in silence for a while before Aura broke it again. "I have a proposal."
"I thought that was for Erwin."
"Tch, Levi! You know you don't have to be so lame all the time."
"What is it?"

"I should probably bring this up with Hange. But seeing how drunk she is, maybe tomorrow!"

"You brought it up with me. You may as well tell me. You know it's not fair to get a man all riled up if you're not gonna finish him off."

"Ewww, Shorty! Not cool. Not cool at all. You're disgusting."
Levi let out a small chuckle. "Okay, lame jokes and inuendos aside, what's the proposal or whatever?"

"I was thinking that, maybe, I can work on the Titan serum you got from Kenny and culture it to make more of it. That way..."
"Hold on, Aura. You can do that?"
"I can try," she replied, taking a gulp of thin air.

"No," Levi shrugged, lighting a cigarette and offering her one.
"What? No? Are you serious? I mean.. I know I'm not sure about it. But I can try."

"Aura, there's only one syringe of that shit. You waste one drop of it, and what we'll get out of it is an Abnormal, like the one that attacked Orvud. I've been given the responsibility of that syringe and I'm saving it.. for YOUR boyfriend. He gets injured during the expedition, he gets it. I'm not letting anyone waste a single drop of it, not even you."

"But look at the possibility, Levi! We can make more out of it. Have some for everyone."

"Everyone? You want to make everyone a Titan shifter? You want to give up on being human and turn everyone into a monster?"
"What? No! No no no! We can just use the regenerative power of it and.. cure diseases, treat wounds.. bring back limbs!"

By this time, Hange and Moblit had walked far away from them. Levi and Aura stood in front of a house, smoking and arguing about the possibilities of her idea. "What if you fail?" Levi demanded, "what if you fail and we lose the one chance at turning this fight on our side? You know we can't risk that."

"What if I succeed? I'll have Hange. She's a genius. She'll definitely figure it out."

"Aura.. I don't think you understand. We have this one syringe. One for the one man humanity needs. No more. If you're so smart as to figure out the possibilities of this fucked up chemical, go figure out someplace else to get it from. You're never getting your hands on it, do you understand me?"

"Yes, Captain," Aura let out a heavy sigh, and got lost in her thoughts again.

They were at the gates of the quarters when she spoke again, "what if..?"
"No 'what if's," Levi sounded done with her idea, "I'm not letting you use this."
"No, hear me out. What if we collect some more of the spinal fluid from.. Eren? Or, the Titans Hange keeps capturing for research?"

Levi stopped in his stead and looked at her. "Look, Aura, you were right. You should have brought it up with Hange. I don't understand half of the shits you're spewing right now. I'm sorry I compelled you to say. Discuss this with Erwin and Hange tomorrow. Just know that if the syringe is your only option, it is not an option anymore. If you know anywhere else to get it done from, you're welcome to kill that bastard cadet I don't give a shit about. I'll also bring you Titans from outside if you need them for research, as long as you're careful."

Levi walked her till Erwin's office. They didn't speak anymore. Mostly because Aura was lost in her thoughts and Levi was worried about what she was thinking. He knew she was smart and her ideas were only for the good of everyone. He also knew that she thought this up only because she wanted to do something to give Erwin his right arm back.
They were about to bid each other good night when Levi spoke again, "I have a proposal too."

Aura smiled slightly at him and asked, "what? You want me to clean up your office and room in exchange of the syringe?"
"You're not getting it, no matter what you do."

"Okay. What is it? What do you want?"
"Can I be the one giving you away at your wedding?"

Aura gaped at his proposal. She had never thought this would be happening. After the death of both her brother and father, she had decided she'll walk down the aisle to Erwin by herself. She never thought Levi would want to do the part. She always thought of him as the best man on Erwin's side. Her face split up into a huge smile and her eyes filled up with tears as she threw her arms around him.

"Of course," she cried into his neck, "of course, Shorty! I.. I.. I don't know what to say. I never thought you'd want to do this." A couple of tears ran down her cheeks as she broke off from the embrace and looked up at him.

She finally bid him good night and knocked on Erwin's door. Her eyes were still wet when he opened the door a few seconds later. "Hey," he greeted her with his huge smile, "why did you knock?"

"What if you were busy?" Aura stepped on her toes and softly pecked his lips.
"I was. But, I'd like you walking in on me doing paperwork any day."

As she went into the bedroom to put down all her stuff, he went back to his desk. Within a few seconds, he found himself drowning again in reading from a rough parchment in the low burning light, something that only Aura would like to do. He could feel himself getting old as he had to strain his eyes to read something he'd have read easily a couple of years ago. "I need glasses," he said to himself in a low voice.

"Not to see this," Aura startled him up from his papers as she stood at the threshold of the bedroom, in a revealing piece of clothing. In the dim light of the candles all around the office, she looked ethereal to him. With just a little bit of retinal adjustment, he could see her clearly, trace every outline, every little detail of her body from under the dress.

She knew he would be wanting her the moment he saw her and he did. He wanted to brush all the grime of the paperwork off his desk and have her there. Right then. And there was nothing in the world that could change his mind, not a billion Titans and definitely not a couple of officers ranking higher than himself.

"Why don't you get back to work?" she demanded of him, "I'll just be here, trying not to disturb you, Commander." He knew what she was playing at, and he played along. He gave her his sexiest half-smile and looked back down to the papers that laid on his desk in the very place he wanted her to be.

She roamed around the room, adjusting a few books here and there, straightening the clock on the mantle - all in the new lingerie that she couldn't wait for him to take off her. It's not like he had to. It was a barely-there, transparent chiffon that showed everything underneath. Just one tug at the knot round her waist, and it'd be off her. The slight tingle of a feeling she had between her legs just at the thought of it, made her wanna take it off and give herself to him. But, she knew he liked the little game of anticipation they were playing at. It only aroused them even more.

She went up to him in a few minutes, and leaned against his desk, standing only a couple inches away from him. As he continued working, Aura took the time to look at him closely. He sure was getting old. Light creases around his eyes and his majestic eyebrows showed his tiredness and anxiety. His beautiful hooked nose was even more hooked as he strained his eyes to read from the paper. His lips were chapped from not taking care of himself for months on end. But she was here now, and she would take care of him and get him glasses and change the dressing of his arm regularly and hold him to herself whenever he needed her.

"So.. did you really go commando tonight?" he asked, finding the proximity even more irresistible.
"I did. I was waiting for you."
"I know. I'm so sorry. See, I even got dressed."

She smiled at him, patting politely on his shoulder to congratulate him on selecting a really nice outfit. He had paired a sweet salmon colored shirt with blue denim and open shoes. He smiled and feigned regaining concentration in work. "I can't," he gave up in a minute, dropping his pen on the parchment.

With his hand, he held her waist. She kept looking at him, as if unwavered. She was sure that in the low light, only she knew how flustered she was. But she was wrong. It was clearly evident to him what effect he had on her. He could almost see the blood rushing to her cheeks as he moved his hand from her waist to her thigh and grazed up the inside with the nail of his thumb.

The anticipation of the proximity was just enough to make a small simple moan escape her lips. He immediately stood up at the sound, completely aware of her and himself and took her lips in his. He held her body to his own, pressed up like they were one. His one good hand grabbed her butt with all its might as they kept moaning into each other's mouths. With her fingers lacing through his hair, she could feel him hard against her thighs.

"Should we take this to the bedroom?" she asked, panting as he proceeded to kiss her neck. "No," he whispered, his heavy voice even heavier than usual, "I want you here. Right now."

She smiled to herself as he removed the top of her dress only to reveal her breasts. He took one in his hand and the other in his mouth. Biting down on her soft skin, he made sure to leave a mark on her.

By then, her moans and erotic chuckles had started filling up the entire room. But he wasn't satisfied. He wanted her to be pleased to the extent where she had to dig her nails into his back and scream his name out. He wanted to make love to her the way he did when he had two functional hands.
For a moment, he stopped to think if he was expecting more of himself, if he could really please her the way she'd have liked.

"What happened, baby?" Aura asked, perplexed by the pause. She stepped on her toes and kissed his lips. As their tongues met again, his mind was completely wiped of the doubts.

She helped him undress and pushed him back on his chair. "Come here, baby," he whispered softly as she sat herself down on his thighs, facing him. Kissing his lips, she took him in her hand and stroked him gently. His huge left hand squeezed her butt as he returned her fervent kisses with even more urgency.

Her moans grew louder as his hand traveled from her ass to in between her legs, his tall fingers reaching inside her. "Oh, Erwin," she let out a heavy moan as her hand stopped working on him for a few seconds. She was being pleased too well for her to be concentrating on anything else. But before she could resume, Erwin took his fingers away and, with only one hand, picked her up - all 170 pounds of her - and set her down on his table, on all his official papers.

The lingerie she wore for him did her enough justice. The chiaroscuro of the flickering candles made her absolutely irresistible to him. Not that he was willing to resist. He only wanted to please her better. What he didn't know was, he was doing the most amazing job he had ever done.

Aura had been with this man for the last decade, but this raging passion of his was previously unwitnessed by her. They had made love every way they could think of, in all the places one could think of, and had always succeeded in pleasing each other. But this night was something different. She felt like he needed her even more now - now that he looked at himself as damaged and broken. He needed that validation and was not willing to work half-heartedly in the pursuit of it.

Also, he had missed her. They had not seen each other in almost a year and he craved her company, the warmth of her body, the sweetness in everything she did, gravely. He felt like nothing would have gone wrong if she was with him.

"The papers," she gasped as her bare butt touched the gritty parchment.
"Fuck the papers," he whispered to her as he pulled one of her legs over his shoulder and buried his face in between her legs.

With every movement of his tongue and lips and fingers, the sound of her moans grew louder. Her fingers went through his golden hair and pulled at the roots as she almost climaxed near his face.

"Not yet, baby," he came back up and untied the knot on her dress. The two flaps fell on the two of her sides, revealing her even clearer to his eyes. He put his mouth on hers and pushed himself inside her. "I don't think I would never get used to your size, Commander" Aura complimented him, smirking, as he accommodated himself within her. With his good arm beside her head, he kissed her forehead. Her tight walls felt good around him as he moaned sweet words of endearment into her ear.

The room boomed with their jagged yet synchronized breathing as they neared their edge. But, Aura found herself longing for more. She didn't want him to leave her body. She knew she'd be done in a few more of his thrusts, but she did not want to be done. "Erwin," she called his name, holding his face. He took one look at her face and slowed down. He bent down on her face and kissed her lips softly. "I know," he said, "I don't want this to end either."

But, it did. They finished each other off and he rested himself on top of her, bent over the table. She held his head to her chest, rapidly rising and falling with every tired breath. In a few minutes, Erwin tried picking her up with his left arm again to carry her into the bedroom. All his energy was drained from the passionate love-making, Aura could see that. She kissed his forehead and said, "I'll walk," getting off the table.

"Hey, babe," Aura drew circles on his chest through his hair as they cuddled in bed.

She was on his better side, her head on the left side of his chest. She could clearly hear his heart thump against her ear. It was awfully pleasant, she had concluded a while ago. She knew he was not asleep. She had lit a cigarette after they had just come into the bedroom and Erwin had raised an eyebrow to it. Although he did not say anything, she knew he would have lost at least one night's sleep over it. In the past, he had tried to get her to quit and had succeeded, only to see himself failing again.

He released a low 'hmm' to her call and opened his eyes. "Do you think we should start planning the wedding?" she asked, hoping to get a positive answer. She thought she finally had the perfect opportunity to execute her plan.

"Maybe after the expedition," he replied, closing his eyes shut again.