Silent Love, Silent Pain [Levi x OC]

109. Intimacy reclaimed 🔥

When the whole world seemed to be burning, going back and forth with alliances and seats in Marley issue, Sophie and Levi seemed to be completely cut off from these things, unbothered by everything but their family.

"Hope, baby please," Sophie cried out as she tried to feed her daughter. She just pouted her lips in response and shook her head shortly after. "Please, do it for mommy," she tried one more time, copying her facial expression which caught her attention. She finally opened her mouth, looking as if she was doing it out of mercy for her poor, tired mother. "That's my girl. Oh...Hope, take more," she requested, but she started acting like before.

"Is there some trouble?" Levi asked as he stepped inside. He just finished his training as he promised himself to exercise daily, no matter how exhausted he would be. It was important for their safety, especially since Sophie focused entirely on motherhood and put training aside. She was still athletic, but Levi was afraid that somehow, despite her combat-blessed genes, she would fall short in fight, especially if the people she'd be fighting with would be other members of the Leitz clan. The mere idea was boiling blood in his veins.

"Our little one starts to rebel," she smirked as he approached them and kneeled in front of Hope.

"Oi, why won't you eat?" Despite the harsh tone at the beginning, his voice got softer with every word he spoke. He just couldn't be tough around his daughter, especially when she looked at him with her big, emerald eyes. It always warmed his heart, no matter if it was Sophie staring at him or Hope. He was defenceless with these two.

"D'nt," she blabbered a barely understandable word that they took as 'don't'. She was already one year old.

"You didn't want to?" He asked just to be sure and she pouted again, this time nodding. "Even for mommy?" He asked and she shook her head. "What about daddy?" At first he didn't like these demunitives. He told Sophie that he'd prefer something that would sound more serious, but as soon as he saw his child, he couldn't call Sophie and himself anything else around Hope.

"I tw'y," she mumbled and urged him to hand her a spoon of the fruit mousse that Sophie was feeding her.

"That's my girl," he smiled at her and her whole face lit up. Not only hers as Sophie seemed content as well.

"I love seeing you like this," she later cooed in her husband's ear when he put Hope to sleep. She wrapped her hands around his waist from behind and placed a soft kiss on his shoulder blade. "So calm and...present."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked as he turned to face her. She was confused, his defensive attitude caught her completely off guard as he seemed fine before.

"N-nothing, I just...I appreciate you so much, you know? And what we have," she said as she gently grabbed his hand and entwined it with her own.

Suddenly his face became less tense and his whole body seemed to relax as he pulled her close, urging her to bury her face in his chest. "Sorry," he just said. He felt guilty at times. Guilty that he couldn't fully focus on his family despite being with them this entire time. He felt like a betrayer for thinking about the Ackerman farms and making sure that he's up to date with recent world's news. Sometimes he wished to be as devoted as she was. She abandoned every doubt she had, every other thing...she dropped it all to be with him and give him what he yearned for - family. Family and peace. A home to come into every night and bed to fall asleep and wake up by her side every day. He wished to have that all. Heck, sometimes he felt like he enforced that on her, subconsciouslly using her fuck ups from the past. And now that he had that all, he just couldn't forget about the issues that were still existing.

He felt like closed in some sort of water globe, away from the issues and unable to fix them. His whole world was limited to the little house he was living in like a rat, hiding from the Leitzes and Tyburs, failing in some many roles - as a man, husband, father, soldier, Ackerman. It was driving him insane at times.