Broken Bodies, Severed Feelings (Erwin x OC)

|28| Time Away

A Few Months Later

The university was as busy as ever. It was spring and some people had exams coming up, some others were there to renew their certificates as doctors. It wasn't a particularly practical way to prove someone's knowledge, but these were the rules and it must be done.

Nathalie was... alright. She was alright, she kept telling herself so. She kept trying to convince herself that she was happy. She was a Professor in the university and teaching just about everything on medicine and biosciences. What was most unpleasant – but not surprising, was that she was the only woman who was a professor. The only amongst a hundred other men, old enough to be her grandpas. She hated it, but that was life. Women belonged in the house. No. She was there to prove everybody wrong.

Her anorexic tendencies were back in full force, but she had learned to deal with them. Passing out in the bathroom couldn't be that bad, could it?

Still, better than being in the Scouts. She no longer had to watch people die, nor go out on Expeditions. She no longer had to be someone else's pet. She was her own woman, and she loved that more than any other perk in her new life. She owned an apartment in Trost, nearby to her parents', but she was getting well paid with her new job. Better than she was getting paid when she was risking her life on a daily basis.

And today was one of those days that she had to approve the certificates of fifteen doctors so that they could keep practicing their profession. Nathalie looked down at the next, and last name of the day. She was in her office and waited for a man to walk in.

He was tall, with dark hair and bright green eyes. He was wearing circular glasses and took off his hat to greet her as he walked in. "Dr Grisha Yeager," Nathalie gave him a smile. "Please take a seat,"

Nathalie started making him the standard questions and he began answering everything expertly. He had to admit, it was surprising to find a woman in this place, holding an office amongst the professors. But she was the best of the best, and he had heard her name talked amongst the pupils, but he hadn't yet caught her surname.

"Excuse me, if I may..." Grisha said after they finished with the exam, and she started stamping his papers and putting down signatures. She looked up at him. "...what is your name, Dr?"

She smiled at him. "I'm Nathalie Burgess," She chuckled. "I'm not a doctor quite yet, but I am working on a thesis,"

The man's eyes widened. "E- Excuse me, did you just say you're a... a Burgess?"

Nathalie looked at him for a moment. He looked shocked. Did he... know? Nathalie stood up and shut the door of her office to give themselves some privacy. She approached the man again and whispered.

"What do you know about the Burgesses?"

"I came from Marley," Grisha whispered, and her eyes widened. "We need to talk, but not here,"

Nathalie nodded. "Agreed," A man from Marley? She needed to know. She needed to ask him and make sure that all the information in those memories that came to her were correct.

"Come for dinner tonight if you can." Grisha offered. "My wife makes excellent stew,"

Nathalie shrugged. "A- Alright, what... district you're at?"

"Shiganshina," Grisha smiled kindly. Wow, that was far. "I could escort you,"

༻◊۞◊༺

Dr Yeager was a kind man with ambition. He told her about the restorationists on their way to Shiganshina in the carriage. He told her about his first wife and child and everything just confirmed the things she had written down on those notebooks.