This is my first published story and I know there will be a lot of errors and I will try my best to fix them. Constructive criticism is also highly appreciated and I'm sorry if the characters are OOC. Also thank you Laurenira for giving me some helpful writing tips and encouraging me to publish my stories.
Picking up the child from the floor he made his way to the little girls bedroom. " I wanna play 'Jeel, 'm not sleepy" Wendy whined. He sighed at the little girls' antics "Sorry Wendy but you have to go to sleep" he said. He walked to the purple bed in the center of the room and tossed the child on the bed. She bounced softly and squealed and the sudden movement.
He walked over to her nightstand to grab a book to read before she went to sleep. He sat on the edge of her bed to see her trying to set up her various stuffed animals so they could 'listen' to the story to. "Ok 'Jeel." she said as she arranged the last animal and sat cross-legged.
After the story was finished he tucked in the little girl in and padded down the hallway to his room. He entered the dark room and shuffled to the king sized bed tiredly. It had been a long day at work and he was exhausted.
He had fallen asleep when he felt a tiny dip in the bed next to him. He opened one sleepy eye to see Wendy crawling in bed with her stuffed animal. He had gotten used to the nightly interruption, at first he had been pissed that someone had disturbed his sleep but he found out no matter how hard he tried she would keep doing it.
"What is it Wendy?" he asked sleepily. "I had a nightmare." Wendy cried. She shuffled under the covers and then pulled them over her head to hide under sheets. He sat up wearily and pulled the blanket back to reveal his cousin. "What was it about." this had become a current thing recently so he wasn't exactly surprised when she said it was her mother.
"She's not coming back is she?" she asked. He shook his head and pulled the girl up from her spot. She sniffled and rested her head on one of the pillows. "I miss mommy 'Jeel." Wendy sniffled and pulled the blankets closer to her.
"I know I miss her too." he laid back down next to her. "Do you wanna go visit Lil tomorrow ." He asked, it had been a while since she last saw his long-time friend and Lily had been asking about her recently.
She smiled and nodded her head. "But you have to go to sleep first." he tiredly chuckled. After a minute he broke the silence "Hey squirt." She looked up at him and he couldn't help but think that she looked exactly like her mother at that moment."Ya know yer mom loved you." She nodded slowly and pulled closer to him. He would never admit but he had a big soft spot for his little cousin.
His mind replayed how he gotten custody of the five year old. He had gotten a phone call from Wendy's mother asking him to come visit. Wendy was only four at the time. It was rare that she got to see him so they had went out for the day. They had went to park and as Wendy was playing on the swings he received the shocking news.
"Hey Gajeel there is something you need to know it's the reason why I needed to talk to you." Grandine said. He looked at her curiously. "You know I've been feeling sick for awhile now." she paused trying to find the right words. He nodded at the statement. She had mentioned it a few times but they hadn't really talked about it.
"Well, I went to the doctor recently and they...they found something." she said sadly, and looked toward the swing set that Wendy was swinging on.
The sight was very unsettling for him. He had known Grandine for most of his life and she rarely rarely looked sad. She had always looked so happy. She was always so calm and level-headed. He wondered what could make her look like that.
"I have cancer." she announced after a minute of silence. He stared in mute shock for a moment before his gaze landed on Wendy who was on the monkey bars now with some other kids. Wendy looked so happy and carefree. Then back at his aunt, she looked so tired at the moment. He swallowed the lump in his throat "She doesn't know does she." he ground out.
He saw her shake her head and he kept his face emotionless. On the inside though he was in turmoil. He didn't know what to think at the moment. He knew cancer was bad but many people had survived so maybe she could too, right?
"I was hoping that if anything happens to me that you would take care of Wendy." He snapped his head up and glared at her. "What do mean." he growled. She looked over at Wendy and he could see tears in the corner of her eyes.
"How bad is it?" He didn't need to know. He honestly didn't want to know. She took in a deep breath and continued "It's bad and they said that it won't be easy to get rid of or if they can help me."
Why was he hearing about this now? Why hadn't she said something earlier? He knew she hadn't been feeling well for a while now but she had never said it was this bad. They had talked plenty of times before this so why was he just now hearing about it. He put his put his head in his hands trying to process the new information.
She had helped him when his father suddenly left him. She was there when he had gotten tangled up with Phantom and had saved his ass more times than would care to count. She had been there for him through almost everything. And to see her looking like she did now he didn't know what to think or feel.
The news in itself was shocking but he figured she would get through this like anything else that happened. But the look on her face told him otherwise. "Mommy did you see what I did?" Wendy asked excitedly as she came running to the bench they were seated on. Grandine put on a smile , but he could see it was forced. "I did sweetie." Wendy smiled and ran back to the other kids, she looked so happy and innocent.
Then a thought occurred to him. He didn't know how to take care of a child. How was he going to take care of child never mind the fact that he didn't want to. He didn't have a good place. The people he currently worked for would definitely take advantage of this and use this against him. What school would she go to? How do you take care of a child?
Jose and Ivan were still on his back and it was very tense relationship at the moment. There was absolutely no place for a kid right now. " I can't take care of her and you know that" he responded.
Ivan and Jose would be too thrilled know about this or would use her as a bargaining chip. This couldn't have been more of bad time to take care of her now.
He didn't want anything to happen to the kid although he barely knew her from their one hour visits every few months, but she was family, his only family he had left.
"Gajeel I know right now isn't the best time." He snorted at that. It was a huge understatement. "But I need you right now for this. I want Wendy to stay with you for a little while. I don't want her to see me like this." she sound tired and it was scaring him.
He did not scare easily but seeing as his aunt who was his pillar of support was now practically begging his to take her child her only child it was rather nerve wracking.
He was about to say no when Wendy bounded up to them and sat in between them. Taking the sudden opportunity and distraction she asked Wendy. "Hey Wendy would you like to stay at would you like to stay Gajeels for a bit?" Grandine asked. He shot her a disbelieving stare. Wendy just nodded her head. She had never seen Gajeel for more than an hour at a time. But if her mother trusted him then so could she.
"Mommy I'm hungry" he heard Wendy say. He ran his hands down his face in disbelief. That did not just happen. Shit was hitting the fan right now and he had been involuntary volunteered to take care a his four year old cousin.
Grandine looked at him and hid a triumphant smile. She was grateful that he would now take care of Wendy, she had expected him to say no, but she also needed him right now. She didn't know exactly what was going on with him, but she trusted his enough to handle the child.
She knew it would be hard for him seeing as he was not good that with children and he didn't look thrilled at the prospect but her health was bad right now, and she needed her daughter taken care of. So she didn't want to tell more than what was necessary or how bad it really was. She looked down at Wendy who was smiling brightly at her.
I will never get to see her grow up.
She planned in fighting with everything she had but she also wanted Wendy in good hands. "How about we go get some dinner okay?" she smiled. Wendy stood up and grabbed her mothers hand blissfully unaware of that her life was now in the hands of her only cousin.
They walked back to town and stopped at a random diner. During the dinner she had given him the proper paperwork for what Wendy would need despite his obvious complaining on the matter. They had spent the rest of the night doing small shopping for the girl. Then had went back to Grandines' house to pack for Wendy new arrangement with Gajeel.
She ignored the scowling boy at the doorway and handed a green stuffed bunny to the little girl "This is for you Wendy okay." she crouched so she could look her daughter in the eye. "I don't want you to cry, and whenever you're feeling sad or you miss me hug him tight and he will make everything better." She explained to the little girl.
The girl happily nodded and and hugged her mother. Grandine wrapped her increasingly weakened muscles in a tight embrace knowing full well that this could be the last time she ever saw her again.
After they had loaded her stuff into his car he had asked Juvia to take care of her until he could get a new place and stop all association with the two gangs.
After a week he had gotten everything prepared for Wendy and had stopped taking any more jobs for the crime lords and had found himself an actual job. It was then that he had heard of Grandines passing.
Now he thought looking at the girl who was trying to hog his pillow, this was the happiest he had seen her after the loss of her mother.
It had also taken him awhile to get over his shock of his new life, and an even longer time to let go of his association with Raven Tail. He was thankful he wasn't spying anymore for Ivan but he wondered if any of his enemies would seek him out. He sincerely hoped not thought as he pulled the sheet up to her small chin and before drifting off to sleep himself.