Day seventy-six of Gajeel's latest S-Class mission was just the same as the previous seventy-five days. She woke up as soon as her body told her it wasn't tired anymore and didn't know whether that was better or worse than when Gajeel was around. On the one hand, she wasn't awoken as soon as the Dragon Slayer got up to train, but on the other, she wasn't waking to his arms wrapped around her and squeezing her to his chest. She would do her morning stretches completely naked, she had to admit that was nice, and head off to the shower.

The shower, too, was a different experience alone. It was much quicker, sure, but then again she missed the times she was pinned up against the wall, screaming into the water as Gajeel moved inside her expertly, drawing out any sound he wanted from her. Then it was time for her to throw on whichever clothes were washed, she did miss Lily and the military way he ran the house, and head out to the guild.

She had wanted to go with him, of course she did. But even she had to admit it was too dangerous. She really wasn't suited to infiltrating a dark guild, but Gajeel and Lily? They could be scary. They were scary, to most people outside of Fairy Tail anyway. It wasn't made any better by the fact they couldn't communicate back often, and when they did it was usually a one or two minute conversation on a payphone when they could get away. Levy would never be able to describe the empty feeling in her chest whenever she realised she had missed one of their calls. As she walked along the long cobbled road to the guild, she missed the feeling of his arm wrapped around her, and even though they usually walked in a comfortable silence she yearned for the occasional snippets of conversation that came along with it, or even just the bickering between the two men she lived with.

"Have you heard anything, Levy?"

Mirajane stood behind the bar, as usual, washing a beer stein as Levy worked on her latest translation job. The script mage had moved to the bar from the library eight days into Gajeel's mission, finding she was no longer able to work in complete silence. When Gajeel was here they would sit at a table in the corner of the main hall, and if they were at home he would be tinkering with something on his workbench. She never thought she would say she found the silence of the library deafening, but she did. Not even the subtle scratching of Freed's pen as he worked on his runes could keep her sane when he was even there at all. She looked up from the tablet she was busy translating, taking a sip of her drink as she did. She knew Mira was only trying to give her a break every now and then.

"Not since he left Redwater last week. He's had to go deep undercover again and can't risk anyone finding out he's calling home."

Mirajane nodded, she herself knowing the pains of S-Class requests. The other woman had been there to remove Gajeel's guild emblem the day that he went and had witnessed Levy's tears as her husband and his exceed walked out of the town. To the demon's credit she had never said a word, just pulled Levy close to her every time the tears had returned.

"I heard from Team Natsu earlier this morning. They're heading back and should be arriving some time on Tuesday."

Levy smiled. The last week had been especially quiet, what with the lack of the loudest team in the guild running around and causing havoc. It was when it was quiet like this that the loneliness really did hit her. The whole guild was her family, of course. But she really missed those closest to her whenever they were gone.

"And I heard from Jet and Droy. Their message has been delivered and they're on the way home. They'll be back on Thursday at the latest."

Mira put down the beer stein and leant on the bar, glancing around the hall as she did. It was definitely quiet, most of the guild were away on jobs for some reason or another. All of the Raijinshuu were off with their leader doing a mission they had been specifically requested for, and even Cana had disappeared off to the Quattro Cerberus. It was probably the quietest that Mira had ever seen the guild, and that was saying something.

"Have you seen any missions that you might be interested in?"

Levy sighed, reaching her hand out to touch the takeover mage's. She knew Mira was worried about her, but really she was fine.

"You know I have more than enough translation jobs to keep me occupied here. I'm fine, Mira. Honestly. You'll be the first person I'll come to if I have any problems."

The older woman pursed her lips, before picking up another glass to clean it for what Levy was sure was the eighteenth time. Levy smiled, picking up her own pen and going back to the translation. Just a few hours longer and she was going to crack it, she was sure.

One thing that Levy really did miss was the muscle Gajeel provided. Despite the little trolley she had found to pull her books along, it didn't equate to anywhere near the ease getting her Dragon Slayer to carry everything provided. She was always exhausted by the time she got home, but still she would change into gym clothes, strap on gloves and head into her husband's home gym. There was no chance she was going to fall out of practice while he was gone, and let him wipe the floor with her when he got back. After about half an hour of sparring with the punch bag he kept there she would collapse to the floor, breathing heavily as she did. She was getting out of practice with her offensive magic spells, she knew, just like she knew she should ask one of her other guildmates to help her with that but she always felt so odd training with someone else. She rolled onto her front, pushing herself to her feet and going to take her second shower of the day.

It was always part way through the second shower that her mind tended to wander to less than innocent places. She wasn't sure if it was the heat of the water flowing over her, or the time of day, but for the last seventy-six days it had been during this shower that her hand tended to wander south and she found herself thinking of Gajeel. Her fingers were nowhere near as skilled as his, and the lack of surprise definitely took a little something away, but she still always managed to finish herself off and leave herself breathless leaning against the wall of the shower stall.

After her shower she would wrap herself in one of the huge fluffy towels she had bought as soon as she had moved in, and head off to the bedroom. She had never been one for drying her hair before bed, and simply allowed herself to collapse into the heap of blankets as soon as her body was dry. She would tug the small Gajeel doll Juvia had made for her to her side, curling herself around it like it was the man himself. It was when she was huddled in the blankets, long since devoid of any of Gajeel's scent, that she finally let the tears overcome her. Tomorrow would be number seventy-seven without Gajeel. And she knew it would be just as lonely as the first.