Okay, you all are just too sweet. So here is a small chapter. Its going to be pretty crazy from here on out, so prepare yourselves for stuff and things. Updates will be further inbetween, because i have some major decisions to make creatively.Oh btw, I don't own FairyTail. I hope you all enjoy nonetheless.

Chapter 3: These Aren't My Words

The next morning came too quickly; with a disgruntled growl, she shoved her screaming clock from the night stand. To her extreme displeasure, this did not stop the incessant alarm from pounding away at her patience. Opting to pull the plug and bask in the silence, she was swallowed up once again by the sleepy stupor and her eyes drifted shut.

"Levy?"

A firm jostle of her shoulder roused her once again, though this time she was able to pull fully away from her fatigue when the sight of Lucy dressed and already dirty finally sunk in.

"SHIT! WHAT TIME IS IT!?" Crimped, wild blue tendrils engulfed most of her vision but the concern in Lucy's face didn't go unnoticed. Neglecting to pull her hair from her eyes, Levy jumped out of bed and began rifling through her dresser for fresh clothing.

A hand grasped her shoulder and turned the frantic girl around; her friend brushed the unruly locks from her face and gave a relieved smile. "Levy! You're fine!!" The blond reassured her, "It's a little after noon, but Jet and Droy had to go into town to grab the bulbs Met ordered- so relax for a second! You couldn't have started at normal time anyway!"

Realization hit Levy square in the face. "Y-you let me sleep..." Her arms, clutching her clean clothes sank to her sides, a pair of shorts falling to the floor. Lucy bent to pick it up for her and hesitated at the state of her friend's feet.

"Do some late night wandering?" She smiled at the blunette who promptly hid her reaction in favor of turning to brush out her hair. The embarrassment of having slept in and remembering WHY she had done so crept across her face in a pink stain.

"I couldn't sleep." Levy confessed, untangling the worst of the knots and beginning to change into her work clothes. Avoiding her friend's gaze, she grabbed the shorts from her and pulled them over her ample thighs and posterior. "So I took a walk. It was... nice."

Something unsaid was laid between Levy's words, and Lucy took note, her eyebrows raising in consideration of the dark skin beneath her friend's weary eyes. Deciding to let it go for now, the blond headed for the door. "We have a meeting in a few minutes in the living room. I told a few people you weren't feeling well last night."

Grateful for having some semblance of privacy about her evening, Levy followed her friend out into the chaos. Lunch was spread out among multiple coffee tables, although the platters had all but been picked clean upon their arrival. Seeing one last sandwich half on a platter across the room, the bookworm made a mad dash , very aware that an overly food-possessive wrangler was making for it at the same time.

Snatching the food from the plate, Levy shoved it whole into her mouth as Natsu's fingers closed around nothing.

"OY!" He glowered at girl's stuffed cheeks, "I was gunna eat that, Levy!"

Once she'd swallowed enough to speak, she grinned slyly at the pinkette. " 'Snooze ya lose, Natsu. Don't pretend you haven't had three helpings of everything already."

"Gihi!"

When Levy heard his laugh she sat down hard on Lucy's lap behind her and fixated on the man across the room, completely neglecting her friend's protests as she was shoved off. Gajeel's intense leer made her shiver, his half smile curled in her direction. Apparently his expression was something of an oddity, because a few of the more seasoned members of Fairy Tail halted their conversations in favor of observing in awe.

Ignoring the state of the group, Met walked into the room washing his hands off with a dish towel and stood next to his son. When Levy finally saw the men side by side, she could hardly see the relation; her boss's pale-pink skin was freckled, his steely grey eyes showing the age of a man having known work. They did have a certain rigidity about their movements and speech that could be considered similar, she thought, but that could be learned from years spent together.

Square jaw fixed, Met looked to his son and blinked. "Y'okay?" He grunted at the boy's amused expression that quickly faded to a stoic if not bored form of apathy.

"What?" Gajeel graveled back, his face screwing up unpleasantly at the way his father continued to stare incredulously.

Shaking his head to right his priorities, Met addressed his work family. "Okay, all, a few things: one, the return of my son. I think most of you know Gajeel, but if you haven't had the pleasure yet, I'm sorry ahead of time."

His son's eyes narrowed, the majority of the staff giggling at his expense. Levy wondered if he was being sarcastic or not, but smiled in relief when Met nudged Gajeel's ribs playfully with a hint of a grin in his thin lips.

"Secondly," the man barked, quelling the laughter instantly, "We'll be expanding our 'townie' parking." Focusing on a particularly difficult piece of dirt worked into his callouses, he continued, "I'm sure you all remember trying to get the truck out to the road last year and the shit show that was."

A few groans and many nods echoed around the group. There had been so many tourists interested in the natural charm Fairy Tail had that they had blocked off the exit out of the ranch. It had taken forever to attempt to find everyone who had driven and move their vehicles into a more favorable position to allow movement.

"I've come to the decision that we will be utilizing the space near the stables for this purpose. There's plenty of room there going unutilized and all we would need to do is level the ground out." Having finally cleaned his hands, Met folded the towel over his arm and crossed it with his other in front of him. "Any objections?"

Levy's heart dropped into her stomach. The flowers... they'd all be trampled or torn out. Panicked, she desperately tried to think of a practical reason to keep the field. The more her heart raced, the more difficult it became to think straight.

Desperate, she looked up to find Gajeel already staring at her, his eyes wide until she looked up. Averting his gaze, he nudged his father with his elbow. "It's a shame, given the good the flowers do," he said, shrugging at no one in particular.

Levy's pulse skipped a beat.

"Meaning what exactly?" Met growled, "You seemed all for it when we spoke last night."

"Thought about it su'more," he said, as if he didn't really care about the outcome. "The pollinators the scent brings are good fer the crops. Unless ya'll enjoy store-bought honeycrisps for pie..."

Most of the group wrinkled their noses. Their apple tree produced the best fruit hands down and the thought of settling for less put a decent amount of unrest into the group. Enough that Met put his hands up in defeat. "Alright I hear you, I hear you. Since you're suddenly so opposed to the idea, what do you propose I do about the parking issue?"

Gajeel faltered at that, his brows coming together above his narrowed red eyes. After a second, he became impatient and threw his hands up at it.

"I dunno what should be done, all I'm sayin' is people come to be away from the city." His voice held his frustration clear out on his sleeve. "What kind'a get away will we be providin' if there ain't flowers to be lookin' at?"

Grey snickered behind his palm to Natsu, "Who knew old iron-face loved flowers so much?"

The pinkette smirked and without lowering his voice he laughed maliciously, "Hey Gajeel, have we finally discovered why you never bring any ladies home to meet Met?"

The raven haired man ground his teeth when his father put a hand on his chest to stop him from the inevitable fist fight. "Maybe you can talk shit about my son's love life when you bring a woman home to Igneel, Dragneel... And Grey, last I checked you were giving the cold shoulder to the only girl who's ever been able to tolerate you, so if we're reading signs today..."

Loud whooping and hollering ensued along with laughter and playful shoving. "In all seriousness, though, we need parking and I'm running short on options, folks." The man was growing tired of the chaos.

"Ah-umm..." Levy nervously tried to rouse her boss's attention amidst the disorder.

"So if there's no other suggestions.." Met continued above the noise not having heard her.

"Ahem... excuse me... Mr. Metalicana..." She tried again, hoping his full name would garner more attention.

The room was too loud. Grey and Natsu had begun bickering again, sizing each other up physically while Cana cheered drunkenly from the corner.

"SHORTSTACK, SPEAK UP." Gajeel crowed over the noise, his gruff, jagged voice startling the crowd into submission.

Levy put some steam behind her voice, trying not to tremble at being the center of attention. "W-we could use a portion of the field for parking," She began, her fingers twisting nervously in her lap. "It's not optimal to have parking near the stables, considering the health and emotional well being of the horses."

When she looked up, Met was stroking the stubble of his chin in thought, his son looking to him as he considered the option.

"In addition," Levy continued, her voice finding a foothold, "It would be a pleasant walk around the field to the main house. In fact, we could plant more native wildflowers if you so chose."

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the owner nodded his head. "Any objections?"

None came, spreading a relieved smile across her face. Gajeel looked at her then, something passing behind his eyes, something that never fully surfaced beyond his brow softening.

"Son," Met clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder, giving the boy a start and returning the hard lines to his face when he looked up at his father, "I want you to oversee the project gets done."

Gajeel nodded once in acknowledgement making Levy's heart swell.

The meeting was adjourned, and workers began to filter back to their tasks. She watched father and son exchange a moment of scuffling, Met putting the boy in a playful headlock and grinding his fist into his hair.

"Look at you, growing up and thinking about the business," he grinned and tightened his grip, "Here I thought all this time you didn't care."

Gajeel grimaced beneath his father's armpit "I don't! Get off, shitty old man!"

"You know, Gajeel," Met swung his body to one side, dragging his prisoner with him, "One day you'll have kids and you'll tease them just like this. It'll give you pride in that they can handle themselves."

"Pride!?" Gajeel roared, trying to pry his father's arms from around his neck, "More like some sick form'a sadism! Now let me go, I've got shit ta do!"

Letting go suddenly, Met allowed Gajeel to tumble forward, slapping him on the backside as he doubled over with laughter. Unable to right himself, his son was launched head first into Levy's lap, to which she raised her hands up, unsure how to help. Grasping at her thighs to stabilize himself, the man finally realized who he was groping when he met her wide eyes only inches from his, causing a violent blush to form on his face only rivaled by her own. Quickly getting to his feet he glared at his father and stormed out, saying nothing.

Met snickered louder once he'd left the room. "Kid thinks he's so good at hiding his feelings but he's a goddamn mood ring!" Levy too made her escape, avoiding Lucy's curious stare.

The way his fingers gripped the fleshy part of her thighs...

Shivering involuntarily, she wandered out into the heat, allowing the sun to soak into her bare skin. There were bulbs to plant, and difficult feelings about strangers to avoid.

'Wild aster.' Gajeel penned in the shade of Lily's stall. His untidy scroll percussive against the worn leather bound note. There was too much; his thoughts needed to be acknowledged before they consumed him.

That's what she reminds me of. The delicate, sweet scent of a crisp spring day. Brisk morning air accompanying my ride to move the herd. Eyes like the dewy hillsides catching the sun's rays; all earthy and...comfortable. Yet thrilling, in the way my heart races to meet the collapsing of lungs, I'm unable to keep up. Somehow unafraid and terrified all at once; A sorceress, with a gentle hold of the raw vessels housing my life's worth.What can I do? What could any man do?? I feel powerless to stop the rapidly accelerating nature of our inevitable collision. I am heavy, and the walls close in on my chest to constrict sense and reason- I should not know this feeling.Now, I have felt the... grief... of letting go of skin so divine and I am ruined. The wound has deeply rooted in the cavity of my well-being; what could I ever do to be deserving of resting eyes on beauty such as this?

Pausing bitterly to snap the book shut, Gajeel finished his thought internally: 'I ain't.'