Steps heavy, Nanoha made her way to her bathroom. There, she bumped into Rein who had just finished with her shower. "You're up," the bodyguard greeted simply. "Need help?"

Glancing down at the slightly shorter woman, the executive just stared at her dumbly, not hearing what she had said. 'Of course she wouldn't want you near. You fucked someone else last night, didn't you? This is all part of the plan.' Then why did it hurt so much to see her plan succeed?

Frowning at the lack of any answer, Rein carefully closed the distance between them. The Takamachi heir had the air of a wounded animal, one ready to bolt at the slightest provocation. Not touching the woman, she tilted her head, peering up into eyes of deadened slate blue, "Nanoha? Are you all right?"

Nudged out of her stupor, Nanoha jerked a nod, "Fine. Everyone's fine." Brushing past the silver haired woman who was still in a towel, she stood in front of her mirror, staring at bloodshot eyes that held no answers. She needed to snap out of it or Fate would suspect something. Taking a deep breath, she began rebuilding walls the blonde had so easily torn through. Again.

She squared her shoulders, posture proudly erect, as the heir to Clan Takamachi should hold herself. Voice firm, she glanced at the perplexed guard, "I could use the help, Rein." Nodding, the woman shut the door behind them, shedding her towel to help wash the injured woman.

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Growling, Fate punched at her pillow. She had not wanted to be short with the executive, and now the woman was gone before she could apologise. She was just so tired of being treated like spun glass. It was almost as bad as how her family tried to wrap her up in cotton wool her whole life. "Fucking damn it," she cursed, mainly at herself. She could tell the bodyguards were shocked at her language but she was past caring.

"Fate?" Head snapping to stare at her phone, Fate snatched it up.

"Oh my gods, sorry Alph. I… I had an episode, that's all."

Alph had overheard Fate's response to the Takamachi woman and even muffled, she could tell the woman had been worried for the blonde. The scientist pondered if the regression had taken three years of maturity from Fate or if it was just plain stress causing the shortness of temper.

"Fate," Alph picked her words carefully, "I think it's good you're there. Take your time to centre yourself. I'll try to drop by tomorrow if the rest are okay with it."

Fate rubbed at her temple, eyes closed, "Sure. I'll ask. Do you need the address?"

"Um, yes. Text it to me if I can come." 'Close, almost revealed I knew where Nanoha's place was.'

Ending the call, Fate looked up at her hovering bodyguards, both women uncertain of the woman's mood after witnessing her outburst, "I apologise. I truly am fine."

"Yea, we heard," Edel quipped, causing Ginga and Fate to wince. Ginga gave the strawberry blonde a look, "Kami, you're all brawn and no brains."

Edel frowned, "Oi! What do you mean by that?"

Ginga smiled sweetly at the kid, "Means you're very strong and have big muscles."

"Oh, well, thanks." The doorbell rang, "Lunch is here!" The woman clattered down the stairs, causing the two remaining women to wince again. Edel thanked the delivery boy, sending them off with a tip and a cheerful goodbye.

No one else seemed present on the lower level, thankfully, and Edel hopped back up the stairs, sniffing hungrily at the bag while doing so. Removing their orders, Ginga sent Edel back down with Rein's and the other client's orders.

Fate still had no appetite but knew she had to put something in her. It felt odd to feel out of place in the country she had moved to, just as she was getting comfortable staying in the Takamachi compound, too. Realising her thoughts were leaning towards being whiny, the blonde shook herself and gave the women a small smile, accepting her salad and the fork Edel had dug out for her.

"Itadakimasu~" Thank you for the food. Fate put her hands together over her meal then looked up to find Ginga smirking at her. "What?"

The lavender haired woman shrugged lightly and teased, "Just appreciating your accent. Soon you'll be wearing a kimono all the time." Fate felt her face warm. Unwillingly, the image of her boss looking ridiculously good in her formal men's kimono sprung to mind and a twinge of guilt tugged at her. She had to apologise to the woman when she could. If only the woman would stop blowing hot and cold all the time. One moment, it felt like she cared, another, like she could not care less.

'She did come all the way up here to check on you…' Her mind argued. Poking unenthusiastically at her salad, she ate mechanically, deciding she had to suck it up and apologise after lunch. Maybe she could ask about laundry, too.

Rein had discarded her towel since she was helping the executive wash her hair. She knew the woman was not fond of having her head touched, but it was at Nanoha's own request so here she was. The bodyguard knew better than to take it personally. To someone trained as the heir had been, the head was a thing to be jealously protected in all circumstances.

The woman's eyes were closed while she lay her head back to allow her auburn hair to fall back into the tub Rein was standing in. The chair she was sitting in was pushed up against the side of the bathtub, a simple solution and seemed to be something Nanoha had thought of long before now, since Rein recalled the chair being in the bathroom already the night before. Hmm.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The executive had been exceedingly quiet the whole time Rein had been wiping her down, only speaking in the most cursory manner when necessary and no more. This close, the bodyguard could see the woman's jaw clenching. "Fate had another incident," Nanoha murmured, eyes remaining closed while she spoke, "I was nowhere close. I had hoped that if I avoided being around her…"

"There's no way to control this. You should be prepared that she will remember most, if not everything she had forgotten."

Nanoha's eyes did crack open then, though all they did was stare unfocused up at the ceiling, "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

Rein sighed, "Wouldn't it just be better to sit her down and go through all your shared memories? If she's blacking out even when you aren't there, you may as well…"

"No," Nanoha bit out forcefully, "What if it returned en masse and did something irreparable? If she remembers, let it happen naturally." Lush lips twisted, "Nothing good comes from forcing things. My wants should be the last thing to be considered in this instance."

"Is it? Or are you afraid of wanting and being disappointed?"

"I don't recall Haya-chan hiring you to be my psychotherapist, Rein." The bodyguard could feel the leopard baring her fangs warningly at her. Refusing to back down, she tugged at the executive's fringe before adding it to the hair already shampooed, "She hired me to protect you. And all I see is you constantly hurting yourself over her right now." Rein's acrolectal accent grew sharp, and Nanoha could tell the woman was frustrated with her. No surprise, Nanoha was frustrated with herself, too.

"It will only be temporary," Nanoha muttered, refusing to open her eyes, "She'll make new friends and move on."

Rein's efficient washing progressed calmly, though the woman's voice refused to let Nanoha off the hook, "Why does she have to move on, or make new friends? She has a perfectly good friend right here."

"A friend that let her get snatched off the streets, strapped to a table and injected with kami knows what!" Nanoha's growl was filled with self-loathing at her failure. The leopard's eyes were open now, boring angrily into Rein's, the woman not liking having to go over her pathetic mistakes again.

"Nanoha, I say this with all sincerity. Shit happens. We can't always be in control of everything. Not even the Takamachi heir who owned her destiny since she was a child. You aren't a GOD."

"I knew," Nanoha cut in quietly, the anger in her eyes shifting to undistilled guilt.

Rein began rinsing the suds out of the woman's hair, "Knew what?"

"I caught one of the queen's flunkies tailing us in Singapore. I had my people look into him before Fate and I left for Japan. I deliberately had her come with me, thinking I'd have things under control in my home country." Her smile was pained, "Bloody fat lot of good that did." Rein could see the fist not in a sling clenching and relaxing rhythmically.

"...Shit, Nanoha. And you didn't tell Fate?" The head in her hands shook mutely.

"You need to talk to her. No," Rein refused to let Nanoha escape, wet hands imprisoning the woman's face while the bodyguard glared down at her, "She's lived over a quarter of a century under her family's thumb. This isn't new to her, you saw how calm she was last night. Anyone else would have freaked, the fuck, OUT."

Rein sighed and closed the distance to kiss the stubborn woman lightly, "Look, I know it's your thing to want to protect everyone and be responsible for everything. It's really a part of your charm, all right? But Fate is not a child, she's not going to fall to pieces at the first sign of trouble, she was, IS, the White Devil's AVP, and killing it as far as I can tell. Why else would Miss Hayate be pulling out all the stops to ensure that she remains in TSAB?"

Nanoha's mule-headed expression slowly turned contemplative. Rein knew the executive did not climb up to her position by being completely oblivious to the opinions and advice of those around her, and she hoped this was another instance where the woman would consider the viewpoint of an outsider. Deciding not to push, Rein began working in some conditioner into the lower half of the woman's hair.

"First time I met her…" A wistful smile tugged at Nanoha's lips, "She was like a lioness snapping at the hyenas and vultures of TSAB threatening her pride." Rein was right. In her failure to protect the princess, she had forgotten that core of steel the beautiful blonde had.

"I don't think she's changed much from that," the silver haired woman said quietly while rinsing out the conditioner before applying the hair mask she had found with the rest of Nanoha's hair products. The scent of cinnamon and vanilla filled the bathroom, the spicy combination a quintessential part of the executive.

"She hasn't," Nanoha murmured, expression soft, remembering the woman kindly visiting a total stranger daily, just because other strangers had asked her to. She had given Kaa-chan and Nii-chan a bit of an earful for their meddling back then.

Satisfied that the executive seemed to be amending her stance with regards to Fate and her memories, Rein squeezed the water out of the woman's long tresses, lightly towelling away most of the moisture. Her ear perked at the sound of the doorbell, "Lunch first?"

Nanoha nodded, "I'm due for my meds." Wrapping the large mass of hair up in the towel, Rein tucked the end over and under to hold everything up in the absorbent cloth. Stepping out of the wet tub with care, she was unsurprised to feel the executive finding her hand to hold and support, "You're such a goddamned prince I can't stand it sometimes." Rein muttered.

Smirking, Nanoha lifted the guard's hand to her lips, brushing her lips across the back of it. "Try to keep it in your pants, though," the executive murmured, "We don't want Fate getting the wrong idea, anymore." Warm azure trailed over her guard's naked form, Nanoha continued, "For what it's worth, you were a most pleasant distraction."

Rein returned the woman's smirk, displaying no hint of body shyness, "I know." Curling a hand behind Nanoha's neck, she leaned in for a final kiss, lips tugging lightly at the woman's own. "Fate is one lucky, lucky woman," the bodyguard breathed, shivering slightly at the memory of last night.

That finally got a small chuckle from the moping executive, "Mmm, we're just friends, if she'll have me." Rein rolled her eyes, knowing that blind spot was something she could not fix.

"Your future partner won't be doing too shabbily, you know," Nanoha felt obligated to point out.

That got a chuckle out of the Singaporean, "Heh, I travel too much, but I appreciate the compliment." Sharing smiles, the women exited the bathroom. Nanoha in her oversized white cotton shirt, and Rein back in a towel.

Only for them to bump into the blonde who had been looking for the executive to apologise to her. Fist raised to knock, the woman flushed to see both her boss and her bodyguard coming out together. Smile never leaving her lips, Rein nodded a greeting to the blonde and left to find a fresh uniform to change into.

Only just now noticing Fate in the Gudetama tee Nanoha had lent to the woman all those months ago, Nanoha felt a twinge remembering those heady days when she was first getting to know the woman.

Fate saw something in the woman's eyes, but could not pin down what it signified. She tried not to stare at the lean length of legs the shirt left bare, wondering if Rein appreciated them as much as she did. 'FOCUS, FATE!' She yelled at herself. Instead of being pointlessly jealous, she girded her loins and tilted her head towards the very slightly shorter woman, "Could we talk, please?" She asked the distant woman softly, wine-shaded eyes gently pleading.

Half-expecting the woman to turn her down after her shameful outburst, Fate was heartened when the executive nodded shortly after eyeing her for some moments, "I was about to get lunch for my meds, is it all right if I ate while we talked?"

"S-Sure."

"All right." Hesitating, Nanoha added, "I um, could use the help changing, if you don't mind?"

Biting back a reflex to ask if Rein was busy, Fate nodded shakily. This was the first time the woman had outright asked for help since… Since St. Luke's. Following the woman to her extensive walk-in closet, they passed by the silver haired bodyguard who was straightening her tie. The woman paid them no mind, departing towards the kitchen area as they walked by.

Warm LED lights overhead lit up automatically when Nanoha entered. "I just need some loose things to pull on," the executive said. The look she was giving Fate seemed as if she was expecting Fate to help find what she needed, and indeed, she was making no move to look for what she had mentioned. Well, with an arm in a sling and cast, and the other also in a cast, it had to be difficult for her to sort through all these hangers and racks.

Moving towards a stack of clothes that looked like folded tees, Fate was surprised to find cartoon character after cartoon character on each tee. Most were fitted, not the loose kind Nanoha was asking for. Digging further, Fate froze to find a tee with a design that matched the one she was wearing. 'What the…' Shaking her head, she dug further and pulled out a baggy tee with a sleeping Totoro cartoon character on it. "Would this work?" Fate asked, hiding her intense surprise at seeing all sorts of cartoon characters amongst the various tops the woman owned. She wondered if animated shows had ever come up as a topic of discussion with the executive.

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"That's fine," the executive confirmed. It hurt to see the woman struggling one-handed with her buttons, so Fate stepped forward and with a questioning look that met no resistance, began unbuttoning the woman's top. She willed herself not to blush as she pushed the open shirt off of the woman's sinewy shoulders.

The body cast served to preserve most of the woman's modesty, save for the white, seamless thong that hugged the woman's sinfully lean hips. Swallowing, the blonde helped the woman into the baggy tee, struggling a little with the sling's catch along the way. A little out of breath after triumphing over the damned sling, Fate stepped back and bit at her lower lip. How did the woman look so adorable and sexy at the same time?

The executive took a deep breath, the urge to nibble at that lip being bitten was becoming difficult to resist while she had the blonde in the relative privacy in her closet. "The uh, bottoms are over that side," Nanoha gestured at the other end of the wardrobe with her unslung arm.

"Right! Of course," Fate scolded herself for forgetting shorts existed. Almost jumping towards where Nanoha had pointed to, she sorted through different gauzy sarongs to find loose pants for the woman. Finding a khaki coloured pair with drawstrings, she held it up for Nanoha to see. At the woman's nod, Fate brought the garment over and swallowed again to realise what she had to do.

Slowly kneeling, she held one pant leg open for her boss. She felt the woman's fingers through the thin material of her shirt, Nanoha positioning her free hand on Fate's shoulder for balance. Looking up, she found azure eyes staring down at her, and she shivered at the difference in their positions. A royal since birth, it still felt… fitting to be kneeling before the Takamachi heir.

Tightening her fingers a tad, the blonde's position doing insane things to Nanoha's insides, the heir cleared her throat. Now moving in silence, Nanoha placed one foot, then the next, into the pants laid before her. Sucking in a breath at the feel of the blonde's fingers brushing up her legs, her jaw clenched against the touches on her hips.

"C-Could you lift the hem? I need to see…" Still silent, Nanoha did as Fate requested, grabbing the edge of her tee to pull it up. Fate was being circumspect to avoid the wound in her waist. Keeping the pants low on the executive's hips, the blonde tied the drawstrings securely, allowing a lot of give so that it would hang low and not pinch at the injury. Exhaling a relieved breath, Fate quickly stepped back. The mix of cinnamon and vanilla was giddying and it was becoming difficult to breathe. She had smelled that before.

Mistaking Fate's retreat to be repulsion at the ugly, healing hole in her waist, Nanoha lowered her shirt to cover the unsightly thing, feeling a little stung. "Thank you," she murmured, eyes lowered. Back kept ramrod straight, she left to regroup with her bodyguard who had set the table for the both of them. Fate noted with some curiosity that Rein's place-mat was on the opposite end of the long table, placing the woman mostly out of earshot.

Seeing slices of wholemeal bread and ox-tail stew set out for her with a large soup spoon, Nanoha nodded thanks to the woman already tucking into her own simple lunch of chicken on savoury rice. Rein offered the executive a faint smile of acknowledgement, returning her attention to her cellphone to scroll through her own work emails.

Pulling out the chair adjacent to hers at the head of the table, Nanoha waited for the blonde to seat herself, tucking it in as Fate lowered herself down. It was such a natural thing that Fate wondered if the woman even thought about it.

Picking up a slice of bread, Nanoha broke off a piece in a curious, one-handed move that seemed practised. "Have you had your lunch?" She asked quietly, not tucking in until Fate nodded. Scooping up some stew with her piece of bread, Nanoha popped it into her mouth. "You wanted to talk?" She prompted the still silent blonde. Her eyes remained on her food, the sight of the woman in the Gudetama tee she had loaned her right at the start was too much for her sensibilities right now.

Girding herself, Fate cleared her throat, "I wished to apologise for the tone I took earlier. That was rude of me."

Nanoha stirred at the rich, thick broth, "It was my fault. It wasn't… my place to ask." Again, those eyes refused to look at the blonde, the woman's expression stony. This was not making it easy for the blonde, but she was the one coming in peace after her shameful display to someone who had been nothing but solicitous to her since she had gained consciousness in that hospital in Japan.

"Nanoha." Soprano firm, Fate willed the woman to look at her. Jaw clenching, the executive met the blonde's wine-shaded eyes, "Was this how we interacted, at work?"

Cornered by the woman's direct question, those rich scarlet pools pinning her where she sat, Nanoha's lips pursed momentarily, before she shook her head silently.

"Have I changed a lot without my memories?" Fate pressed.

Eyes closing, Nanoha shook her head again, "You're the same," the woman admitted with a voice gone slightly rough.

"Then please tell me how we worked together. I'm dealing with half a deck here. It's… really difficult for me." Voice falling to a whisper, it took a lot for the blonde to ask, and it showed. Nanoha could not look away from the achingly uncertain blonde, even if she tried.

Hurting for the woman set adrift through no fault of her own, Nanoha castigated herself again. She had to not allow herself to fall into that pitfall of seeing Fate as lesser, because of Nanoha's own failures.

"It was," Bliss. Nanoha licked her lips, trying to find a word that was less laden with dynamite, "Easy. We got along well."

"So you didn't hate me? Or… Or think I wanted to steal your job?"

"No, never." Fate closed her eyes in relief. When she opened them again, they shone with unshed tears, "Are you sure? You must know my family background…"

"Fate-san is Fate-san," injecting with as much conviction in her voice as she could, the executive tried to assure the woman's valid concerns. "It never crossed my mind. I saw someone brilliant and wanted you."

Fate's eyes widened and Nanoha coughed lightly, "For TSAB," she clarified. Awkwardly, she made a token attempt to eat more of her meal, tasting nothing with how tense she was.

Hiding her disappointment, Fate hesitated, then firmed her jaw. She would get nowhere if she let her fears rule her actions. She had lost almost three years, she refused to lose more through inaction. "Then… when you said I would never overstay my welcome," she harked back to that time in the ICU, "Were you just being polite?"

Nanoha was seeing the consequences of her decisions unfurling like a sliced sailcloth, realising it was her hand that had held the dagger. The poor blonde was trying to navigate unknown waters using that sailcloth and it was entirely Nanoha's fault that the sail she was using was faulty and full of holes. "Gods, no! I would never…" Sighing, she dropped her bread and scrubbed wearily at her face, "I apologise. It was not my intention to make you think that. It's just… we're strangers, Fate-san…"

"Perhaps you are to me… But do I have to be, to you?" Expression pained, Fate covered the hand that was in a sling, "I know it's presumptuous of me, you're only my boss, but I'd like to get to know you. To know how we interacted…"

There was a momentary distraction when Rein finished her meal and left the table after clearing her dishes, but Nanoha knew what it really was - the bodyguard was reminding her that Fate could handle the truth, and giving Nanoha the privacy to do what needed to be done.

The executive still baulked at the thought and licked nervous lips. "It's not presumptuous," she allowed, "You have the right to know… I'm just really bad at this."

The woman was having great difficulty meeting her eyes and Fate sensed that to push more now would only have her hitting a wall again. Sadly, she removed her hand from the woman's, feeling it clenched tensely. Rising, she took a step back, moving out of the woman's personal space, "I understand. Perhaps we can talk more another time." Refusing to let the person her past and present self loved see her cry, Fate turned quickly and hurriedly made her way back up to the second level.

Sighing, Nanoha thumped her head on the dining table once Fate was back upstairs, "Fuck. Me. Sideways." She muttered, hating herself more with each passing second.

"I'm guessing it didn't work out too well." The familiar voice of her bodyguard could be heard over her shoulder. Turning a head still plastered to the dining table, she eyed the woman with no little ire, "No, really? How could you tell?" she asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"By how Fate looked like she was going to cry when she left?" Rein was only half joking and her client could distinctly feel the disapproval in the silver haired woman's voice.

Another sigh, "I'm shit at this, okay?" Straightening up in her seat, she forced herself to finish her lunch.

"I never thought I'd ever say you were shit at anything, but yea, you really are." That got a loud snort from the injured woman. Of note was how she did not argue with the bodyguard's plain assessment. Rein hooked Fate's chair over with one foot, settling down next to the executive, "It gets easier the more you try, though. And I don't think the Takamachi heir was built to be defeated by something like this."

Pausing in her unenthusiastic continuation of her meal, Nanoha glanced over at the woman, "You know, aside from you giving me grief, I'd like us to remain in touch once this is all over." Rein blinked at the woman's out of context words, "Where did that come from?"

The corner of the Japanese woman's mouth twitched upwards, "I need people to call me on my bullshit." That earned a chuckle out of the woman, "Sure. I think there's a cute blonde who'd like to fill that role, too. You're just too bullheaded to let her."

The brief moment of brevity evaporated like a drizzle in the tropical noon's heat, "I need time," she admitted. Her mourning period was far from over and to jump right back into trying to befriend the blonde all over again felt tawdry and desperate.

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Returning to her room after her abject failure to bridge the gap between the executive and herself, Fate threw her efforts into sorting out the remains of her forgotten life. Any distraction would help at this point. Ginga and Edel had gone down with her clothes to check with the executive about available laundry services, the blonde not feeling up to banging her head against the brick wall the Takamachi heir kept putting up around her.

Done with her luggage of clothes, Fate pulled out the vacuum bag she had kept the odd couple from last night in. Unsealing the bag to pull them out, she placed the folded towel and Cat Bus plush on her bed and eyed them with head tilted. Picking up the plush again, she studied it closely, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. This close, the scent clinging to it tickled at her nose again, and she brought it closer. Cinnamon and vanilla… Her crimson eyes narrowed.

Putting the plush aside, she grabbed the folded towel and sniffed it. No, it smelt like the usual rose and lilac toiletries Fate used. Still… Lifting it by the edges, she caused it to unfold and cast it over the flat surface of her bed like a fisherman casting a net.

It was just a plain white towel. Why would old Fate bother keeping it aside under the plush? She brushed her hand over the towel's soft cotton bristles. But what was this? A faint glint caught her eye and reaching out, she drew forth a long strand of hair that had been tangled in the material.

Moving closer to the windows, Fate held the strand up to the sunlight. It gleamed rich auburn, scarlet highlights chasing up the strand as it twisted and turned in the breeze of the central air-conditioning circulating through the apartment and her eyes narrowed further. Knowing how her old self felt, she knew now, why the plush and towel combo had been given a place of honour on her bed.

It all felt so timid and one-sided, further confirming to Fate that her previous self had never confessed her feelings to the executive. Had she acted coldly to Nanoha to hide how she felt about the executive? Was that why the woman had such trouble speaking to Fate now? She was getting ahead of herself and shook her head. Both the TSAB CEO and her boss had decided this was the best place for her to remain in for the foreseeable future. "Whatever it takes," she whispered to herself, face set in a determined cast.

Folding the towel once more, she arranged it and the plush the way she recalled first seeing the items, giving up the corner of her bed the way old Fate had done. In a way, she felt a sort of kinship with this woman. How hard was it for her to work daily with someone she cared for in that way, and not having those feelings returned? Thoughts of last night intruded upon her once more, and Fate resolutely pushed them back. The executive and her bodyguard certainly did not act as if they were in love, or were lovers. 'Unless they're as good as old Fate was at hiding it…' Her traitorous mind whispered.

No, she refused to concede defeat. Momoko-san had said to keep trying, and Fate was dead set on doing just that. Remembering the image in her phone, the blonde shot up and hurried over to the clam shell luggage she had brought back with her from Japan. Flinging it open, she dug out the hefty digital camera that her old self had apparently bought while there. The only reason she knew was because the executive had taken her to the VAT counter in Haneda Airport to get her refund before they had been whisked away by that government agent.

She had not used it since she had first found it amongst her belongings and was glad to see there was still some juice in its batteries. Fiddling around to find the power button, she jumped when the internal motors of the lenses made a whirring sound, indicating she had succeeded in switching the device on. Trying different buttons, she finally managed to access the camera's memory card and peered curiously at the image of a black vehicle's rear. There was nothing special about it, so she hit the back button, and gasped audibly at what came up next.

It was Nanoha, looking resplendent in a simple white tank, her hair braided into a thick rope that hung over one shoulder. The setting sun had cast her lean form in brilliant golds and reds and she was looking shyly down at her hand in the most recent picture. A half-finished parfait sat to the side of the image, taking up the small table that was between Nanoha and what Fate could only guess was her old self. She drank in the image of the woman sans all the casts and injuries, and found herself blinking back tears. The old Fate would be horrified to know how badly hurt Nanoha had been.

The digital viewfinder indicated this was the third image of four in the card. Nervously, she pressed the back button. It was still Nanoha, still seated across from Fate, with her head thrown back as she laughed heartily at something. Enchanting was the word that came to mind. The woman looked so much younger here, and Fate realised she had never seen Nanoha laugh since waking in St. Luke's. She wondered what it would take for the woman to laugh like this again, and knew she wanted to be the one to make it happen.

Pressed the back button again, she bit her lip and fumbled around the buttons to find the zoom in feature. Again, it was Nanoha, this time with a breathtakingly lopsided smile. Her brilliantly deep azure eyes were warm and crinkled at the corners while she regarded the person behind the camera fondly. Fate held the camera's screen up close, tracing the beautiful smile with her index finger. Were these the last moments her previous self had had with the woman?

Exploring the camera's features almost feverishly, Fate ruthlessly dug through the camera's software settings to pull out the images' Exif, or Exchangeable image file, data. The date and timestamps stared back at her, and she felt her heart thundering in her chest. From what the police commissioner had told her, the pictures had been taken just before she had been grabbed by her mother's people.

The person this vibrantly alive woman was smiling at, was gone, replaced by… whatever she was. Fate swallowed hard against the sudden lump in her throat. She thought understood now, what she had been seeing in the heir's eyes - anguish and grief. The same anguish Nanoha had displayed in that moment of confusion, when she had held Fate's face after her emergency surgery.

'Tenshi. My fault. I'm so sorry.'

Her head was beginning to throb again. Rubbing at her temple, she kept one hand wrapped around the lens attached to her camera and went in search of a cold glass of water. Leaving the camera on the kitchen island, she grabbed a glass and pressed it to the refrigerator's dispenser to fill it with ice, and then water.

Ginga and Edel had returned, finding the blonde in the kitchen rubbing her head with one hand. Frowning, the lavender haired woman approached the blonde, "Did you have another episode?" Shaking her head, Fate gestured blindly at the camera on the island's marble countertop while pressing the cold glass to the side of her face.

Ginga's relief turned to puzzlement and she picked up the large, digital camera. It had gone into standby mode and a simple button press brought it back to life. A version of Nanoha that Ginga had not seen since she had broken up with the girl all those years before appeared on the LED screen. With a sinking heart, she flipped through the images the camera held. A picture was worth a thousand words, and these… these clearly showed the woman had opened up to…

"Did you take these?" She asked the princess, who shrugged helplessly, "I think? I don't remember."

Edel peered over Ginga's shoulder, not really grasping what was going on. The other client certainly looked a lot better in these pictures than she did now. "Wow, she looks so different. She must've been really hurt after these were taken," the strawberry blonde remarked, surprised at the stricken look Fate sent her way after she had spoken. The look Ginga was giving her was not much better, and she snapped her mouth shut.

"Edel, go to the balcony and do a hundred push-ups," Ginga ordered, putting the camera down to shove the younger guard outside. Slamming the sliding glass shut, she flipped the lock, "I'll let you in once you're done," she said through the glass. Looking confused, Edel shrugged and began her push-ups. It appeared that this was not the first time she had been ordered to workout by her senior in the agency.

Turning on her heel, Ginga dismissed Edel from her mind. Instead, she walked back to where the silent blonde stood and slowly took the glass from her hand, lowering it down to carefully place it on the island, "Do you remember anything about these pictures?"

A mute shake of Fate's head was Ginga's answer and she sighed, whether in relief or disappointment was anyone's guess, including hers.

"The timestamp says they were taken before…" The woman's usually melodic voice was hoarse and the words caught in a throat that was bobbing, "Before I was kidnapped." Ginga felt a twinge in her heart as a piece of the puzzle fell into place. If that smile was what Nanoha was giving Fate before shit hit the fan, then it made complete sense that the Takamachi heir would turn Tokyo inside out to get the woman back.

This blonde was no rival, because Ginga had never been a part of the contest in the first place. Exhaling softly, the Japanese bodyguard gave the blonde a thin-lipped smile, "You have a good eye," she complimented. Stepping away, she left the blonde alone to go count Edel's pushups. If her crossed arms seemed like she was hugging herself, well, that was just a coincidence.

Fate stared at the camera, sitting squat on the marble, lens pointed at her in an almost accusing manner. 'It's your fault the Nanoha in those pictures doesn't exist. It's your fault the person she was smiling at is gone. Why does she even want you in the apartment?' It would have been so easy to fall into the old vicious cycle instilled into her by her mother's words.

"You're just a spare. Remember your place and don't embarrass the family. I can discard you as easily as I made you."

But it was not her sister that this Nanoha had been smiling at, or laughing with, or looking bashfully away from. It was her. What was it Nanoha had just said? Fate-san is Fate-san? "I want her to smile like that again," voicing that desire out loud only cemented it for the blonde. Resolute, she downed her glass of water in a few gulps and smacked it back down on the counter. She had no time to mope or be gloomy. There was work to be done if she was going to find her way back to herself and the woman she knew every iteration of herself loved.