Vacation

"Wow..." Lara gazed at her new house ahead, open-mouthed, "I knew you had a lot of money saved, dad..."

With the help of Hange and Levi, she was unloading her belongings from the carriage that had brought her on Sunday morning. Levi had not let her see the house before, for he wanted it to be a surprise. He and Hange looked at each other, with a little smile, at seeing that their daughter had a gleaming in her eyes of happiness.

"It is just like the brochure..." whispered Lara, with a big smile on her lips, then she turned to Levi, "Dad, thank you so much, really... You didn't need to do all this... It's one of the happiest days of my life!" Levi approached and ruffled his daughter's hair, with a smile.

Hange and Lara couldn't help but feel immense gratitude for everything Levi had done for them, especially for buying that house, so now they could finally live happily together.

When the carriage left, Levi got startled when his girls suddenly gave him a big hug at the front door, showering him with kisses. He then took them by their waist and led them into the house. Even though Hange had already been living there for a week, when she walked in again, now accompanied by Lara, it was like she was seeing it all over again for the first time.

Lara wasn't able to close her mouth, such was her admiration as she contemplated the house interior. She began having a fit of laughter, while feeling tears coming out of her eyes. When she finally arrived at the door of her new bedroom and saw how beautifully decorated it was, her body couldn't take it and she simply fell to her knees on the floor, bouncing her shoulders, crying, while only managing to say:

"Thank you... Thank you... Thank you..."

Hange and Levi got startled by their daughter's sudden fall and knelt down to see if she was okay, but Lara just continued to cry, while clinging to their necks.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, between sobs, "Thank you for adopting me! You're the best parents in the world!"

Hange couldn't hold back the tears and hugged her daughter back, tight. Levi felt such a strong love rise in his heart at that moment, seeing his girls there by his side, that he had an intense urge to hug them too, and so he did, placing a kiss on top of their heads. They stood there for a few moments, feeling each other's love.

That night, while having a delicious dinner made by Levi, Lara asked if it was possible for the three of them to take a week's vacation, because they had never taken one and she would much enjoy being able to spend some time with her parents in the new house.

Fortunately, since Hange was now the Survey Corps Commander, she talked to her superiors and they allowed her and Levi to take another week off, with Lara.

The new family spent what was one of the best weeks of their lives. Just like Hange, Lara also took some time to get used to her new home, exploring every inch of it, as if it was a tomb full of hidden treasures.

She was also extremely surprised by seeing the basement and told Levi that if they covered the floor and walls with soft rugs, that place would turn into an excellent room for fighting training. Levi kept that in mind and every now and then, he would catch himself standing at the basement door, wondering how he could execute this project.

Lara was very happy with her new bedroom, for it was spacious and had a gorgeous view of the mountains afar. As Levi knew she was fond of drawing, he placed a large desk there, so she could let her imagination run wild.

Right at the beginning of the vacation, the three of them went downtown, and Hange bought several board games. So every night, after dinner, they played a few games, and whoever lost had to do the dishes. Hange and Lara thought it was weird, because Levi was losing in almost every match, and then, the girls came to the conclusion that deep down, he really wanted to do the dishes.

There was one night in particular when it had warmed up a bit, when Lara suggested they move the futons out onto the lawn in front of the house, so they could lie down in the open air, watching the stars. The experience was so wonderful, that when Hange and Levi were in bed to sleep, they found themselves talking about how regretful they were for not having made love out there on their honeymoon, under the stars.

So, they ended up agreeing that, as soon as they had the opportunity, Hange would ask Lara to go do some work in another District, to spend a night out, so they could fulfill that wish. They went to sleep feeling like terrible parents, but couldn't help a fit of giggles under the sheets.

Finally, mother and daughter were able to enjoy the new laboratory. They did some research while Lara told her what it had been like to spend a week living alone. She said that it was quite strange at first, because she missed her mother's snoring and her talks before bed. But Lara had in mind she would need to get used to it, for she soon would have to sleep all by herself, when she moved in. Lara also said she cried a lot when saying goodbye to the old bedroom, for she had wonderful memories of the time the three of them spent there together.

Lara got pretty embarrassed the first night she tried to sleep alone in her bedroom, because she was afraid to be in a totally new and unfamiliar place, although it was an extremely pleasant room. But what had frightened her was that, as they were surrounded by trees, the sounds of many nocturnal animals came through the window, which gave her chills, for she was not used to it at all.

The embarrassment Lara had felt, was because, despite being a grown-up girl, a childish needy feeling got into her heart and when she least noticed, she was knocking on her parents' bedroom door, asking if she could sleep with them for only that night.

Hange and Levi felt pity for her and ended up allowing her to stay. In the end, it was a very pleasant night for the three of them, for they slept in the family sandwich format, but this time, Hange and Lara were the slices of bread, and to Levi's happiness, he was the filling. Just like Lara did when she was a child, Levi buried his face into Hange's chest and slept like a baby, feeling the embrace of his girls.

Lara and Levi also spent a lot of time together, having fun. She helped him cook and, unlike Hange, she was a little good at it. Well, at least she didn't burn any food, as far as Levi had judged. One day, Lara woke up early and prepared a nice breakfast for her parents, bringing it to their bed, which made them smile.

Father and daughter had a lot of fun in the yard in front of the house, playing ball and practicing some fighting moves. Hange watched them from the porch while drinking some tea, feeling extremely fulfilled and happy.

She felt great joy in her heart to see how attached Levi and Lara were. During almost the entire day, when the three of them were not together, most of the time, Lara was on Levi's heels, doing everything to make him happy and vice versa. Hange didn't feel jealous at all, for she had already heard that fathers were very attached to their daughters. In fact, she thought it was good for them to spend a lot of time together, so she could focus on her research in the lab.

Whenever they had nothing to do, Hange would find them lying on the futons on the lawn, watching the clouds, just as they used to do after eating oranges during their training breaks. She felt a warm feeling in her heart at seeing how Lara snuggled into Levi's arms, who embraced her affectionately, while they watched the sky.

Once, when Hange left the lab to get some water, she found the two of them playing fight in the middle of the living room, where they had dragged the couches to the corners and covered the entire floor with futons. Hange watched them from the kitchen, a big smile on her face, allowing them to play at will, instead of trying to make them stop, afraid they would get hurt, as she usually did.

But Hange and Lara also spent a lot of time together, not just in the lab. Hange would lay on the couch and Lara would snuggle against her chest, telling her how much she loved her, which brought up the wonderful memory of when Lara called her "mommy" for the first time. Hange would stroke her daughter's hair, who would fall asleep in her arms.

The girls also enjoyed the wonderful landscape around the house, and explored some plants, flowers, and insects. In addition, when Levi was having his tea on the porch or cleaning up anything that was in front of him, Lara and Hange would lie down on the double bed for their own spa day, placing cucumbers over their eyes and wet towels on their foreheads, while listening to relaxing music on the phonograph.

Indeed, the phonograph Lara had bought proved to be very useful and a great source of entertainment. When they had gone downtown to buy the board games, Lara also bought other vinyl records with some more upbeat songs, and then, in the afternoons, the three of them would dance and sing.

Levi took longer to get loose and was embarrassed to dance in front of the girls, but one day, Hange and Lara woke up to the sound of the phonograph playing quite early in the morning, and they both met in the hallway, in pajamas, their hair completely disheveled. Together, they peeked through the corner and spotted Levi wearing his cleaning kerchiefs, while he excitedly danced with his broom and swept between the couches.

Hange and Levi were surprised to see how Lara had so much imagination to come up with different things to do on vacation, for example, on a certain night, they watched her cover the floor with the futons, arrange the couches in a certain order, to put several blankets over them, making a large tent in the middle of the living room. The family spent the rest of the night playing cards inside the tent and slept right there, huddled together.

One afternoon, when they were tired of having so much fun, Lara went to her bedroom to take a nap, while Hange and Levi also went to their bed to get some rest. With a light breeze coming through the window, the couple talked about how nice it would have been if Lara had been born and raised in this house.

They kept wondering what kind of mischief the girl would do when she was little, such as jumping from one couch to another, exploring the forest behind the house and waking them up on Saturday morning, jumping madly on her parents' bed.

They felt so much joy when imagining all these things, that at the same time, they looked deeply at each other, imagining what it would be like if they had a little child in that house, and then, without saying a word, they both tried to "order a little sibling" to Lara.

On Sunday afternoon, the last day of vacation, Lara invited Hange and Levi to have a picnic on the lawn, with several tasty snacks and cookies that her father had prepared. Together and embraced, they watched the sunset with a great feeling of gratitude in their hearts.