Readjustment Period

For the longest time, all Gajeel cared about was himself. After Metalicana left him, who was there to care about, but himself? And it was a pretty good life too. He wasn't knocking it. Sure, at times he felt something that one might call loneliness, but Gajeel would only down some whiskey or iron, and be back to his normal self in no time.

Then, eventually, yeah, he kinda came to care about that stupid Fairy Tail guild. Maybe. But that didn't count! He cared about it in a very basic way. Maybe not on that he had felt about Phantom Lord, but that didn't mean nothing!

He didn't truly care about another person until his cat.

Man, if Lily wasn't, like, the best cat ever. But duh, he was his cat, after all, so that made sense. They just, like, got one another so well. There wasn't another like him!

And yes, eventually the shrimp got entangled in his emotions too.

Bleh. Her and the cat, they had to have been in cahoots. Making him all soft and shit. Having them do nice stuff for them and things. Had to be their fault. It just had to.

It wasn't until the shrimp had that dang baby though that he knew everything really had changed.

For the record, when she first told him that she was pregnant, he wasn't exactly happy. Or sad. Or angry. Just kinda overwhelmed. The more he thought about it though, the better it sounded. He was proud.

"So what? You forgot to use a rubber," Laxus grumbled after hearing Gajeel talk about it up at the guildhall one day, his usual bored expression on his face. "I'm really tired of hearing about it. Let's just all pray it never happens to Natsu."

But he didn't' care what any of them said. He was gonna have a kid! Something most of them didn't have. And the shrimp was major excited about it too. It was the one thing that she had over the other women, he figured. They always teased her about her chest (or lack there of), or at least she felt like they did, so he thought being the one married and with a kid would give her a one up.

Women were so stupid.

He and Pantherlily were so pumped about the kid about halfway through the pregnancy. They were gonna teach it everything! It was gonna be great.

Then time went on and both he and his cat started to get…well…

Gajeel doesn't get nervous! But he was definitely something close to that.

Then it happened. She went into labor. And then the kid was there and he forgot all about the nerves stuff before (which, by the way, he doesn't have). Everything was okay with the kid and Levy. Oh, and it was a boy, which was amazing.

Had he mentioned that his kid was pretty much the best kid ever?

Of course though, the inevitable happened.

It came home.

Babies are horrible! If they're not crying, they're pooping. And if it's neither of those, they're sleeping. Which should be a good thing, right? Wrong. The you sit there, worried that it's not breathing or something and, oh no, what if it's dead? So then you have to go check and then you wake it up and the cycle starts all over again.

At the first chance Gajeel got, he and Lily took a job and got far away from there.

Not before making sure that Levy would be okay. And she would, she assured them. Besides, Lucy was coming over practically every day (she knew better than to bring the Salamander or Happy), as well as some of the other female Fairy Tail members.

So she was fine.

The job wasn't that far away anyhow. He and the cat weren't gone long.

When they returned three days later though, the house was just how they'd left it.

Filled with the cries of a newborn.

"You guys are home," Levy greeted when they walked into the little boy's nursery to find her there, trying unsuccessfully to quiet him down. Lily only came to stand next to her, staring quizzically up at the baby in her arms.

"What is wrong with him?" he asked. "He does not smell as if he requires a new diaper."

"Oh, you know," she laughed slightly, as if unsure herself. "Sometimes babies just cry."

Gajeel stood in the doorway, staring in at her. She looked…tired. And as if she'd been wearing the same set of clothes since he'd last saw her.

"You need somethin', shrimp?" he asked slowly, still just staring.

"No way! You guys just got home. Go shower and relax. After I get the baby back down, I make you something to eat, huh?"

Well…he did kinda stink. And he didn't think she nor the baby would enjoy that. So he left her then, to go grab a quick shower.

A very quick one.

Fastest one of his life.

And after, he was right back in there, just watching her.

"He still ain't quiet yet?"

"Oh, Gajeel, I'm sorry. I-"

"Not blamin' ya," he said as he came closer to her. She was still just standing there, the crying child in her arms. "I get it. Kids suck."

"Gajeel."

"What?"

Levy only gave him a look as he stood there, just in a pair of jeans, scratching the back of his head. So the shrimp wasn't up for jokes, huh?

"You look rather ragged, Levy."

Lily was back then, coming into the room as well, apparently done with…whatever he'd gone off to do. One sniff of him to Gajeel that the freak had gone off to go eat some kiwis. That was all the downtime his cat needed.

"Oh, no, I'm fine," she assured him, laughing again. Man if that wasn't a hollow laugh. "I just…"

"Here." Gajeel moved to take the baby then. "Let me-"

"No." Levy turned from him. "I have him. "I-"

"Levy. Give me the kid, alright?" Gajeel gave her a look. "Seriously. Now."

It took some prodding, but eventually she moved to gently pass the baby off to her husband. Not that he really wanted it. It reeked of milk and all sorts of other baby smells.

Yuck.

"Go take a nap," he told her then. "And a shower. You need it."

"Gajeel-"

"I mean it, shrimp," he said, shaking his head. "We shouldn't have taken so long."

"What's that supposed to mean? That you think I can't-"

"Did I say that? I think you took fine care of the kid." He glanced down at the screaming mess in his arms. "Three days alone, I'dda probably strangled it."

"Gajeel!"

"I think what Gajeel is trying to say," Lily intervened then, staring up at Levy, "is that we wish for you to have your turn to relax, yes? We are more than adequate at caring for the child."

Levy didn't want to go, but it didn't take a lot of urging to get her to. Gajeel could tell that she was rather tired and he didn't think his son was helping anything.

"Alright," she finally gave in. "But I'm just going to take a quick shower and then a short nap. I just fed him, so he should be fine. I think he's just overly tired. Come get me if you need anything."

Yeah, like that was happening. After she was gone, it was just the Exceed, the Dragon Slayer, and a very loud baby.

"Great," he grumbled down at Lily. "Now what are we supposed to do with it?"

"It smells clean. And she says that she just fed him. So perhaps there is something else bothering him."

"Yeah. He's just as strong willed as me," Gajeel grumbled. "Great. I never realized it, but being an ass and then having a kid means that your kid's probably going to be one too. This sucks."

"Perhaps a change of scenery would help," Lily suggested. "It's a nice day out. Maybe we could take him out on the front porch. Do…babies like the fresh air?"

"Well, I like it. And it stinks like him in here, so we're going."

Gajeel didn't have much experience with young children. He actually had none, really. Not babies at least. He was so afraid of dropping the kid, man, he'd never been more careful in his life. He'd never had a reason to be.

They went out onto the back porch, but the man didn't notice any changes in his son. None at all. He was just as upset out there.

"I think he's defective."

"Well," Lily said slowly. "He is your son, so I suppose that would make sense."

"Ha ha."

"You're so grumpy all the time-"

"I am not grumpy."

"Right."

"I'm not!"

"Growling isn't helping the situation, might I point out."

Gajeel snorted then before glancing down at his son again. "Come on then, Locke. Shape up!"

That did nothing.

"Maybe he wants you to sing for him."

"If you're not going to help, Lily, go away." With a groan, Gajeel tried rocking the baby as gently as possible, fearful hurting him. The last thing he wanted in the world was for any harm to come to his son. "There has to be something that the kid-"

And just like that, the crying stopped. Not immediately. He kept whimpering for a moment or two. Then he was quiet. And, after letting out some sort of weird noise, almost like a yawn, the newborn closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Wow. Being a father was easier than Gajeel had always feared. A lot easier in fact!

Neither he nor Lily spoke then, for fear of awakening the child again. Turning, Gajeel headed right back into the porch to go lay the baby back down in his crib, whispering a slight prayer under his breath that the child didn't awaken before then.

And he didn't. Ha! Gajeel was, like, the best parent ever. Best father of all time material.

Lily went off after that, to go down to the guildhall or something. Gajeel just headed to his bedroom to wait on his wife. She was still in the shower, but didn't seem shocked to find him in their bed when she got there a few minutes later.

"Don't tell me you've given up already," she said, staring at him. He only gave her a wry look back.

"You need your hearin' checked, shrimp? The kid's quiet! Thanks to me. His father. Because, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm pretty good at this baby stuff."

Levy glanced over at their closed bedroom door, holding her breath suddenly. "You're right. He is quiet. How did you-"

"Me and the brat? We speak the same language, yeah?"

"Or," Levy sighed as she moved to join him in the bed. "He was just so tired fro crying for, oh, the past hour that you just lucked out."

"…I like what I said better."

"Of course." She moved closer to him then, bowing her head slightly as she cuddled up to his side. Gajeel had his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling, but at the feeling of her touch, he glanced down.

"You okay, shrimp?"

"Mmmhmm."

"I just…well…"

"How was your job?"

He went back to staring at the ceiling. "Simple."

"You spend the whole time missing me?"

Grunt.

She giggled. "I missed you."

"I doubt it."

"What do you mean?"

"Your days were filled with the kid, huh? What could I have added to that? You hardly even like for me to hold him."

"I get a tad anxious at times, fine."

He laughed. "A tad?"

"This is all still new to me, okay?"

"You ain't gotta defend it to me," he told her. "I get it. If eel it too. Everything's different. A good different, but-"

"It's like readjusting," she said. "You know? Like we have to get used to him being here. It wasn't easy at first, you know, when we started living together."

"No," he agreed, the memory of some of their first few fights still rather imprinted in his mind. "It wasn't."

"That's just how it is. Nothing's easy at first. Then you grow accustomed to it. Eventually, we won't even be able to imagine life without Locke."

He smiled at the sound of his son's name. "Yeah, well, I hope you get used to it too. I don't like seeing you like this."

"Like what?" she asked through a yawn.

"This. All tired and stuff. I shouldn't have taken off. You clearly-"

"I was fine. And besides, I had Jet and Droy come by, like, four times, and then Lucy. I was fine."

"Yeah, well, now that I'm home, I can take care of the kid. He already likes me."

"Does he?"

"Oh yeah. Of course he does."

"Well, you're both very alike. You both cry a lot. And need to be fed quite frequently."

Grunt. He started to reply again, but when he glanced down, he saw that Levy had her eyes closed. She was drifting off.

"Sleep tight, shrimp," he sighed, closing his own eyes. "Got a feeling we won't get much of a chance in the coming hours."

And they weren't. The kid cried constantly. Even Lily got a little frustrated when he returned from the guildhall, holding his hands over his ears frequently.

If he was being honest though, of all the things he'd had to force room for in his life, from his woman to his cat, his kid had to have been his favorite.

"You're gonna be a real mage, brat," he'd tell his son frequently, usually when the child was quiet, nearing sleep once more. As he'd drop him gently in his crib, he'd add, "Trained by me, Black Steel Gajeel! You'll be super strong. How could you not be?"

Bleh. Today was supposed to be a Lost and Found day, but somehow you guys ended up with this. Gajeel and Levy aren't exactly my specialty, so Locke never got a little one-shot like Navi or a full story like Haven and Marin got Remember Me. Now there's this though.