TRIGGERS!

Domestic abuse, family tragedy, alcoholism, self-loathing, depression and severe cases of lack of self-esteem due to years of being abused/having to watch abuse.

List of family connections, just in case you've forgotten or didn't quite get it:

Gajeel and Laxus are cousins – their mothers are twins (Khanyisa & Ithunzi)

Sting is also their cousin – Khanyisa & Ithunzi's younger brother's son.

Gajeel and Natsu are cousins – Gajeel's dad had two sisters (one is Natsu's mother, the other is Wendy's). Natsu and Wendy are not related to Laxus.

Ivan and Khanyisa Dreyar are Laxus' parents.

Metalicana Redfox (missing – presumed dead) and Ithunzi (Redfox) Cheney are Gajeel's parents.

Skiadrum Cheney is Ithunzi's husband and Gajeel's step-father (as well as Levy's and Gajeel's landlord).

Rogue Cheney is Gajeel's step-brother, Ithunzi's step-son and Skiadrum Cheney's son.

Igneel Dragneel is Natsu's father and is married to Gajeel's father's younger sister (Gajeel's aunt on his father's side)

Grandeeney Marvel is Wendy's mother and Gajeel's father's youngest sister (Gajeel's second aunt on his father's side).

Quick recap

All the dragon slayers are related, but only Gajeel and Sting are Laxus' cousins, and Rogue is by marriage between his father and Gajeel's mother. They are all Gajeel's cousins except for Rogue who is his step-brother.

Gajeel's father and younger brother were involved in a car accident. He lost his brother while his father fell into depression and became an abusive drunk. His mother shot his father in self-defence, and his father left in the car. His car was found covered in blood, but his father's body was never found.

'Redeeming Lucy' started with Laxus just starting to become an abusive drunk at the age of twenty-nine towards his girlfriend of two years, Lucy. By the end of the first part of Ch16, it's three weeks before Christmas and Laxus has arrived at the hospital in time to help Lucy through labour even though she is still with Natsu. Lucy gave birth to his baby daughter, Takara Dreyar.

After reading this, feel free to decide whether Laxus deserves Lucy back, keep your original decision or change it – that is up to you, but hopefully this story will answer questions questions you had about Laxus' and Gajeel's back-story and help you realise I don't hate Laxus. I actually quite like Laxus, and this story is where the side of him that many seemed to miss/overlook in 'Redeeming Lucy' becomes clearer.

AN: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Hope you enjoy this, it's not exactly the cheeriest story...

M for violence – the triggers are serious! The story starts pretty laid back, but gets stronger as you move through the chapters!

Just in case anyone doesn't know yet, there is a poll on my profile page to vote for what my first one-shot of the New Year will be! ^_^

Chapter One – Welcome to the Family

He growled a warning at the man opening the door in front of them. He was in no mood to put up that idiot's antics today – he had to be on his best behaviour. This meant no fighting with his cousin come boss. He glared his crimson eyes into the storm grey of the man stepping back to let the two of them in. He glanced over his shoulder at the small frame of the younger woman walking in behind him as he positioned himself between her and his cousin. She smiled sweetly up at both men – how could she do that?

They'd been together for six months now, and she still managed to amaze him. He'd walked into work six months ago to find his cousin both angry and very apologetic. He hadn't exactly been too thrilled to be approached by him, he'd still been furious about the Friday night before. The bastard had had his hand on his girl, had forced her to kiss him. He'd never really forgive him for that. However, after finally hearing his cousin out, he'd dragged him to her flat so that he could apologise to the one he'd actually upset – forgetting she was at work. He'd reluctantly had to hold his cousin hostage at his flat across the hall until she'd finally gotten home late in the afternoon. He couldn't even have taken him to where she worked – all he had known was it was a damn library.

After she had walked in past his large form, he followed her towards the empty sitting room to dump their bags, directing her with one hand placed gently on her perfect ass. Damn it was nice to be able to do that! He ignored the giant walking behind him, emanating his usual strained aura. It was Christmas. Christmas at the Dreyar's was Hell. Even for those that held the title 'Dreyar', it was excruciatingly painful. That was why the 'Cheney's' had to be present. Well, they'd been 'Cheney' for twelve years now; they'd been 'Redfox' for the seventeen years before that, and even longer for his mother.

Christmas was when Gajeel Redfox was forced to watch as his aunt attempted to create a loving 'family' atmosphere all day, just to get beaten down by her damn husband, Ivan Dreyar. His mother, Ithunzi, had to watch as her sister was beaten to near-death, remembering the pain she'd went through for three years after her precious baby boy had been killed in a car accident before resorting to shooting her own husband in self-defence. Her current husband, Skiadrum Cheney, would do all he could to comfort her, while the three young men had to sit and watch Ivan treat his wife as he sees fit.

Laxus found the holidays harder than anyone. He couldn't do anything but watch as his father abused his mother, he was still just as useless as he'd been growing up – what was he supposed to do against his father? Last Christmas had been so much easier; he'd had Lucy. He had failed her eight months ago though. He'd become his father, but he had stopped. He had returned to the man his mother and Grandfather wanted him to be, but it had been too late. Lucy had moved on and he couldn't even blame her. They'd come to an agreement though – she'd known how hard Christmas was for him, and knew how much his mother loved having company. However, no company was as welcome as the one that he was walking to right now.

Takara Dreyar.

His baby girl, his greatest treasure. Lucy had allowed him to have her for Christmas. He couldn't believe that he deserved such kindness from her, but maybe she really did still care. Gajeel and Levy were to take her with them to Natsu's parents' the next day when the party would break up. His aunt and her family would leave to go spend a couple of days with her first husband's family – apparently that included the hot head. Gajeel had explained a little about the other side of his family after Flame Brain had phoned him at the office to tell him that Lucy was in labour. He'd been a little surprised strangely enough. Whose boyfriend phones their ex to tell him to go meet her at the hospital while she was in labour?

He picked up his baby girl and she instantly stopped crying, making little gurgling noises instead. He noticed the little blunette watching him with a strange expression on her face; almost as if she thought he was being adorable? He knew she'd spent more time with his daughter in the last three weeks than he had, in fact you could count on one hand the number of times he'd had contact with Takara, but how could he be doing something so wrong as to look adorable to the midget? He smiled at her awkwardly, earning him a giggle. His cousin suddenly appeared behind her, trying to look threatening – he'd clearly been working out more in the last six months, but he still wasn't strong enough to pose any real threat to Laxus.

Gajeel placed her over his shoulder and walked into the kitchen, she'd gotten distracted watching her 'niece' being just as happy as always with the simple presence of her father. Gajeel had planned to introduce her to his aunt, and she'd just stopped to admire the scene. She didn't bother arguing with Gajeel picking her up, as embarrassing as it was; she'd just get him back when they reached the kitchen! Just as she felt him get ready to dump her on the floor in front of him she wrapped her arms around his neck, gave him an Eskimo kiss and a short, sweet little kiss on his delicious lips. She got the reaction she wanted. His entire face was bright red.

Gajeel stood, frozen, as Shrimp gleamed proudly up at him in all his embarrassed glory. He could feel the stares from his entire family and heard the little smirk from his step brother. His fist made contact with said stepbrother's shoulder as he only just dodged a quick blow to the face. He bent down and kissed his Shrimp properly, knowing that would make her face redder than she'd managed to make his. He couldn't have everyone thinking he was a soft bastard that liked cuddles and nose-rubbing!

He gave her a full on, passionate kiss that was textbook firm, matching the roughness suggested by his studded, threatening appearance as he effortlessly lifted her back up to his height by her ass, wrapping her legs around him while he bit her tongue slightly. He started to slide his left hand slowly along her thigh and under her dress, making her moan slightly at his touch, while he enjoyed feeling the smoothness that was his and his alone. His right hand slid further up her back, feeling for the zipper he knew was there.

A cough came from somewhere and he remembered where he was, breaking the kiss and smirking cockily. He looked towards where the cough had come from, putting Shrimp down, and grinned at his stepfather. His face showed no sign of being embarrassed by Gajeel's sudden display, unlike Shrimp, but clearly nodded towards his mother as she stood, completely mortified, next to her sister.

"Shrimp, you've met my mother, Ithunzi. The man with the short black hair leaning on the side of the sink is her husband, Skiadrum Cheney, but I guess you've met him?!" Shrimp's face was a picture as she realised that Gajeel had just humiliated her in front of her landlord.

"Mr Cheney, it's nice to see you again. Em, thank you for being so quick with getting the plumber out last month...I just couldn't get him to take me seriously...and, well, Gajeel was starting to suggest violence...so, em, thank you...and hello again Ithunzi, I'll, em, deal with Gajeel later for that." Gajeel could tell she 'hated' him at that moment in time – he knew she'd forgotten that Skiadrum Cheney was both their landlord and his stepfather. He heard his stepbrother snort at the mention of her 'dealing' with him later and decided to turn the heat onto him.

"So, Rogue, how's things with your boyfriend?!"

"What? We're friend's you sick bastard. He's your cousin, why the hell do you insist on making that joke?" Levy stared at the man to her right that had been leaning on the fridge freezer.

He had barely even flinched at Gajeel's suggestion, he'd spoken, very pointedly, but his voice hadn't risen above a normal level, he'd stayed completely calm and indifferent. She studied his appearance and smiled. He was fairly tall with a narrow build like Mr Cheney and Ithunzi, unlike Gajeel's muscular, broad build. He had black hair, just as shaggy as Gajeel's, only much shorter, the longer strands only just reaching his shoulders while his fringe fell over his right eye.

She stared in disbelief as she noticed his crimson left eye. She looked over at her landlord and noticed the same crimson eyes. Crimson eyes and black shaggy hair...they were certainly an interesting looking family – they certainly looked related. The only one out of the four that had smooth hair was Ithunzi who made her way across the large kitchen to embrace her in a warm hug.

This was Gajeel's family. Maybe one day they'd even be hers.

Laxus walked into the kitchen, Takara in his arms, and headed towards his mother as she stirred the soup while watching the blunette suspiciously. Laxus knew it was because it had been her handprint on his bruised and swollen face six months ago. He had deserved it. In hind sight, he maybe should have handled that a little differently. He'd certainly been surprised the next day when he'd seen his face in the mirror – sadly this was after he'd gotten into his car and driven to his parents, causing his mother to go into hysterics.

He handed his mother Takara and took over looking after the dinner so that she could introduce herself 'properly' – in other words, pretend to like the midget while using her granddaughter as an excuse for absolutely no physical contact.

She was not her sister.

Ok, hope you liked the start of the introductions! Just Laxus' parents now! :)