===Chapter 2===
Of Thumbtacks and Hormones
Levy normally spent most of the waking moments of her life reading. She didn't know what her hormones were doing to her exactly, but she was now quite content to sit in her armchair, her hands slipped under her small bump and burble meaningless nothings to her unborn son. For hours on end.
For a son he was indeed. A visit to Porylusica had identified the gender of their baby. No names had been forthcoming so far, but she was only three months along. Plenty of time to decide yet. Maybe something old fashioned like Albert or John? She couldn't see Gajeel agreeing to that.
She frowned slightly. Gajeel had become something of an absentee father of late, taking multiple missions at a time in order to stockpile cash for their child. In recent times, a large amount of their money had been sunk into buying this house. It was a fantastic investment though, meaning they were set up well for the future. They'd always have a roof over their heads, but a bit of food on the table never hurt.
Levy was a bit bored, but she refused to do any missions. Even the simplest had an awful habit of going awry, and she would not put her son in any danger. She giggled. The very idea gave Gajeel a cold sweat. He was determined to be super-dad, bread winner extraordinaire and caring husband all rolled into one. She hoped that he wasn't going to push himself too hard.
Then again, she thought glumly, he had literally a body of iron. She wasn't even sure if he had an upper limit to hit. She, on the other hand was constantly drained and tired. It wasn't the first time in the life that she cursed her diminutive stature, and it wouldn't be the last. She was not looking forward to the day when this child was taller than her! She knew that Gajeel was planning a raft of jokes for that day!
The door practically crashed open as Gajeel stumbled in under a weight of bags, followed by a similarly burdened Lily.
"What's all that?" Levy asked happily, legs swinging back and forth.
"This is all baby stuff!" Gajeel stated proudly. Levy's gaze swung warily to Lily.
"Don't worry, I reeled him in," the Exceed assured her. "We got a crib and paints for the babies' room."
"Oh great!" Levy's expression fell. "It's not an iron crib and black paint is it?"
"Wood and blue," Gajeel spat, annoyed. Lily wouldn't let him have any fun. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Ah! I had an idea for a name!"
"Really? What is it?"
"Ahem. Takamura!" He declared proudly.
Levy frowned. It wasn't a bad name, but why had he chosen it? Think Levy…
"Ah! You want to shorten it to Tacks, don't you?" Gajeel started, amazed. "You've picked the nickname first, and then chose the name based on it! And you chose tacks, something that's small and metal, which are your spheres of interest…wait a minute! You were at a DIY store! You literally saw some tacks and took the name from it!"
"Holy crap, yer smart…," Gajeel noted.
"It's why you love me!" She replied with a big grin.
"Nope!" Gajeel said teasingly, setting the bags down and kneeling next to the chair to tussle her hair. "I love ya because yer the most teeny-tiny thing in the whole world!"
"Not for much longer, I think!" She said happily, gazing at her extended tummy. "I'll be big soon!"
"That'd make ya normal sized, not big," Gajeel sardonically corrected her. His hand gently went to that stomach, and Levy smiled to watch that childlike expression on his face. She knew that this was incredibly alien and mystifying to him. The brute who brought only pain was crafting a new life. His expression shifted. "I'm gonna go and make ya dinner. Gotta make sure that little Tacks grows up big and strong!"
"Oh? Have we decided that that's his name?" Levy asked.
"Well, I'll make food, ya decide!" Levy could remember the clumsy man who couldn't boil rice. It was amazing how much he'd enjoyed learning to cook. And once she'd managed to hammer home that she couldn't digest iron (at least not like him), he was actually pretty good at it.
Lily hopped up onto the arm of the chair. "Hey, I wanted to ask you, are you aware of the training Gajeel's being doing lately?"
"Huh? No!" Levy exclaimed. Did he need to get any stronger? Was he planning to take some giant quest?
"He's scared, Levy. He's scared of hurting his child. He's been practicing restraining his power. After all, he has the strength to smash through walls and crush metal. So, he's been working with things like eggs, improving his fine motor control."
"W…what!?" Levy yelped, tears forming in her eyes. Oh…damn him! Why couldn't he just let the past go? She'd completely forgiven him for that! He was still hanging on to his greatest fear…of hurting his loved ones again. It was stupid! He could hold her perfectly gently!
"Well, I wanted to let you know, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's something that gives him a goal, drives him to be a better man."
"I don't want my husband to be in pain!" Levy snapped - an unusual reaction for Lily to suffer. However, he merely smiled.
"You do know Gajeel, right? Pain is his salve, it gives him strength. It is the very reason why he's so strong."
"Go away," Levy said curtly. Lily knew better than to argue with a pregnant woman and leapt down, saying that he'd put the crib together now, rather than let Gajeel display his DIY skills. About half an hour later, Gajeel emerged from the kitchen, handing a fork and a plate of something that smelled delicious to Levy. The baby was making her ravenous and it swiftly went down, although still slower than Gajeel.
"Hey, Gajeel…"
"Everything alright, Shorty?"
"Um…how can I put this…you're worried about our kid, right?"
Gajeel was slient, studying her with his eyes. The question was pretty vague and open ended, but he suspected that he knew what she was driving at. He'd have to have Lily spayed.
"I'm really strong."
"I know that."
"Babies are really vulnerable."
"That's true."
Gajeel pursed his lips, clearly annoyed by her demeanour. "Ya know that I can't do that again."
"And you won't, it'll be fine."
"Ya don't know that."
"I do."
"What if I slip up? Drop him, or squeeze a bit too hard?"
"Accidents happen. It's good for babies to get a few bumps and bruises!"
In any other moment, Gajeel might have become enraged, but there was no way he'd become angry with Levy while pregnant with his kid. He turned away, solemn. "I can't bear to hurt my loved ones again. It'll break me."
"Gajeel, in the creation of this baby, you gave me more than a couple of bruises!"
"That's different! Yer a grown-up, ya can look after yerself."
"Gajeel…I trust that you'll do fine," Levy said reassuringly.
Gajeel looked up at that. "Ya trust me?"
"Of course I do! You're gonna be a great dad!"
"I'm going to be a great dad?" He was staring off into the middle distance, sampling the words like some kind of fine wine. They didn't seem like they should apply to him. While he was not getting any sex, he kinda hoped the baby would just stay inside her. That was easy. The scary part was when he came out. No, Gajeel hoped that he'd just take all of the time in the world.
6 months later
"Get this thing out of me!" Levy screamed. Gajeel screamed in unison as she crushed his hand in her tiny grip. Gajeel cursed the entire universe: for some reason comedic violence broke the laws of physics. His small wife could easily harm him in her hormone induced rages. It was the same way with her handbag.
"We can't! Not until yer water breaks…," Gajeel mumbled. He was kneeling next to Levy in an armchair. She looked vaguely like she'd swallowed a beachball. Gajeel had mistakenly made that comparison once and been put through three walls. And poor Levy…she was so little that her weight had gone up by nearly fifty percent. She was constantly tired and exhausted, which combined with her hormones made her blindingly angry.
"Oh? Suddenly an expert, are we? Tell me, how long is a pregnancy?"
"N..nine months," Gajeel replied sullenly, knowing where she was going.
"And how long has it been?"
"Nine months and week," he filled in.
"Stop kicking!" She screamed at her stomach suddenly. "If you want out, then get out! This is your fault Gajeel! You and your dragon genes!"
"It's not in my genes…it's just a long pregnancy. He'll come out when he's ready," Gajeel said as soothingly as he could, guiltily flashing back to his earlier wish for little Tacks to take his sweet time. Levy's forehead cracked against his nose and he howled with pain.
"You! This damn baby is so energetic! That doesn't come from me!" Gajeel vaguely recalled the sunny little thing that bounced happily around the guild but wisely chose not to mention it. She looked at her chest and scowled again. "And aren't your breasts supposed to become bigger? Is this all I've got? How is that fair?"
"It won't be much longer," he soothed.
"How do you know? How can you possibly – I think my water just broke!"
"I don't think – wait, what!?" His wide eyes slowly slid down to the wet patch at Levy's crotch. Abject fear lent him wings, running to grab the bag of birthing things they had ready at all times. Returning to Levy he scooped her up bridal style and took off towards the hospital as fast as his legs could go. Which was pretty goddamn fast when you factored in two reinforcement spells and dragon force.
Oh god oh god, it's happening! I'm about to be a dad!
It is my plan for Gajeel and Levy to have two kids. I wanna get on with having the kid first, so I'm skipping this pregnancy. The second might be more elaborated on, but I want to have at least one kid around to get on with the family dynamics.
Natsu and Lucy are having a girl, I need name suggestions!
