Dangerous Territory

Rosh Hashanah

"I don't care about the clothes, they're yours. Why are you here?" he cried out in a desperate whisper.

"Yelena said you needed to talk to me."

Eren's face went pale. He had not thought yet precisely how he would tell Levi about Louise, and now he cringed at the idea that Levi might get angry and leave again. He tentatively asked, "What do you know so far about the plan to escape?"

Levi removed his flat cap and shrugged off the wet coat, hanging it over the back of a chair to dry. "Yelena doesn't tell me much, other than there's some trouble with the guy who forges documents for her." He rolled his long, white sleeves up and tugged the waistcoat straight. "I offered to convince him to help us, but she doesn't want me to scare her old clients."

"Oh," Eren whispered. "Yeah, apparently that is a problem. She's looking into it."

"So, why did you need to see me?"

Eren grabbed his right hand, hiding the gold ring on his finger. "I'll tell you, but you have to promise me something."

Levi arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"Don't yell at me, don't hit me, and don't leave until I can completely explain everything."

Levi rolled his eyes. "What the hell did you do this time?"

"Well, for one, I ... I got Louise out of the city."

Levi went from suspicious to surprised. "You did? That's great. But how, without fake documents? Did you put her in a barrel or something?"

"No..." Eren closed his eyes, not wanting to see the expression on Levi's face. It took him a moment before he built up the courage to confess, "I married her."

Levi stared silently. Those three words made no sense. He shook his head, thinking he must have translated the English into French wrong. Eren couldn't have said what he thought he heard. "Repeat that."

He turned away, unable to face Levi with the guilt in his heart. He nervously rubbed his right hand, and when Levi glanced down, he saw a gold band there.

"I married her," he whispered again. "As an officer's wife, I was able to get her out of the city. She's with her parents now."

Levi's eyes narrowed and his face contorted. "You..." Both fists clenched. No wonder Yelena had looked like she pitied him as she told him to go talk to Eren. "So, let me get this straight. You took her to a church, in front of a priest, you said 'I do' and you kissed her and you got married?"

Eren meekly glanced back. "Something like that."

Levi felt like he had been punched in the gut. Married! "Do you..." Quietly, fearing the answer, he asked, "Do you love her?"

"Wha- ... No! I hardly know her. I did this to save her. I mean, mein Gott, if I could marry you to get you out of here, I would, and I would mean it..."

Levi looked up in shock at that rushed confession, yet Eren did not realize what he just said.

"...but with her, I did not mean it at all. It was a way we could get her out, und nicht mehr. Nothing more. She has protection so long as Germans are here."

"And when you're not? What are your plans for her long-term? Are you going to keep her in a lavender marriage?"

"In a what?"

"Are you planning to divorce her, or keep her?"

"Divorce, annulment, whatever."

A shot of acid hit his mouth, and Levi gulped it back down. A tick jolted in his jaw as he whispered, "Did you fuck her?"