Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima.

"Mmmm..." Shrimp rolled over, turning to face Gajeel in their bed. She smiled, tilted her head up and laid a little kiss on his jaw, watching his face form a broad smile in his sleep. He was such a beautiful, innocent-looking dragon when he slept... Totally different from when he was awake. "Gajeeelll..." her words sang into his ears, trying to coax him to wake up. "Gajjjjeeeelllll... it's time to get up..."

"Gmmph."

"Come on... if you don't wake up, the bacon is going to be alllll gone!"

"TIME TO GET UP," he grunted, grabbing his wife and stumbling off of the bed, "BACON'S GONNA BE GONE."

Levy started laughing, pulling him back towards the bed, "I'm sorry, Gajeel, there's no bacon! I just wanted you to wake up!"

"Yer so mean to me... ya know ya shouldn't do that to a man. Now yer gonna make bacon."

"Just stay here with me for a LITTLE while longer?" she asked, patting the warm spot on their bed, "Otherwise I'll get cold!"

"Well... we don't want that..." his teeth sparkled as he jumped, tackling her back into the center of their bed and making grabby-hands for everything that felt soft, spongey, or wife-like.

"Not NOW!" she giggled, squirming around underneath his hands, "Just lay down with me! A-OHH! OHH!" she squealed when he touched those special little ticklish spots.

"No bacon, and no rhompin'!?"

"Bacon and rhomping later, cuddling now!"

"..."

"I promise!"

At first he seemed not to believe her, narrowing his eyes and giving her a cautious, odd look. She better keep that promise... He begrudgingly rolled off, back onto his side of the bed and pulling her on top of him.

"Who's a good dragon!?"

"I told ya never say that again!" he grabbed her nose, wiggling her head from side to side.

"Awwh..." Levy slapped his hand away, hugging her head against his chest, "I sort of wish that we could have had a few more days on our honeymoon... it feels weird to be home..."

"I asked ya if ya wanted to stay, and ya said no!" she insisted on getting back to the guild, even when he gave her a million and one good reasons to stay for another week or so.

"Don't blame me, this isn't my fault!" even though it was. "I just wanted to come home... I don't feel right..."

"Eh?"

"Nothing, forget about it," she lifted her head and offered him a smile, "It's nothing. I think I just ate something really bad. I'm fine!"

"... Hmmm..." he studied her face, holding his hand on the back of her head, "Tell me if ya feel somethin' wrong."

"I will... I promise."

"Hurk... HUURAAAGGGH!" Levy's cries echoed out of the bathroom, hunched over on the floor. Something she ate, indeed! How much of it did she eat and when was this supposed to end!? "Gaj-... eel..." her eyes sunk, gripping the floor shakily. He wasn't even home... She sent him out grocery shopping, but she didn't expect to get sick! "G-... ajeel..." but it was hopeless, he was miles away by then.

"WHAT IS IT!? SHRIMP WHAT'S WRONG!?"

"H-... Huh!?" the sick woman turned to see her husband, sweating, panting and staring at her with wide eyes in the doorway. "Where di-... did you... when di-... urk! BBBURRAAAHHH!"

It didn't really matter where Gajeel was or how far away he was; he'd gotten the most terrible feeling in his chest and rushed home on the assumption that his instinct was, in that case, correct. And it seemed that it was!

"Sh-... Shrimp?" despite his sensitive nose, he dropped down to his knees and stroked her back, ears twitching every time she made a gagging sound.

"I – gack – I'm okay..." she gave him a shaky, unsure smile, leaning back into his belly when she felt her stomach settle back down. "Ah..." her eyes closed, ear turned against his chest so she could listen to his heart beating, "Now I'm tired..."

"... Okay," he frowned, patting her hair, "Take a nap." While he cleaned up the bathroom and, apparently, his wife.

Round number two of the grocery shopping went a little bit better. Gajeel paid the bill for the items he'd effectively destroyed – having taken the 'quick' way out of the market by running THROUGH the buildings and stalls, instead of around them. With his debts repaid and actual food in his arms, he pushed through the door of their apartment and set his purchases down on the table by the front window.

"Shrimp?" he called, listening closely for an answer, "Ya okay this time?" he'd been reluctant to go at first, wondering if she was going to get sick again.

This time instead of the hideous sounds of gagging, he heard a light sob and could smell the salty scent of tears that he recognized immediately as Levy's. "SHRIMP!?"

The dragon followed the sound of crying into his bathroom, where the Shrimp was on the floor, clutching something tightly against her chest.

"WHAT IS IT!?" he grabbed her and held her against his chest, rubbing his cheek against her hair, "The hell happened!? I'LL KILL THEM!" assuming it was the fault of another person!

"It's... Gajeel...!" she pulled her head away to look up at him, smiling just a little.

"Eh!?" why was she smiling? Was she crazy? She'd gone mad! Just like the rest of them Fairy Tail members! Was he next!?

"Gajeel, no," she pulled away from him, opening up her hands for him to see, "Look..." there was a tiny little chick, bright pink with happy, fluttering wings. It was smoky, moving like water in the air while it left Levy's hand and started flapping its wings around Levy's head. "Look! Don't you see!?"

"THE BASTARD!" a chick did this to her! He reeled his hand back, ready to smash it into oblivion!

"GAJEEL, NO!" Levy grabbed his wrist, pressing into him and laughing as she sobbed, "I took a test... if the test is positive then the water will turn into a bird, a living bird, and fly around and move and chirp and look happy... but if the test is negative then the water will just remain water. Don't you see?"

"Test? The hell test are ya talking about? When didja take a test? What'd ya pass?!"

"Gajeel... I'm PREGNANT!"

"Hit me again, Mirajane!" Lucy slammed her soda back down on the counter, watching the ice inside swirl around.

"You're only supposed to say that with alcohol, you know," Canna slurred, leaning back on the counter.

"But it's fun to say! And everyone else does it!"

"Everyone else drinks alcohol," the drunk woman noted with a grin. "O-... oy... my head..." she grabbed at her head, frowning, "I have a headache... it's like thunder!"

"No..." Mirajane, behind the counter, shook her head, "No, I hear thunder, too. Or at least... a loud sound..."

"Sounds sort of like a roar or something," Lucy slid off of the bar stool, taking a tentative look at the doors.

Just as she managed to catch her eyes on the entrance, the doors blasted open, leaving in its wake a roaring Iron Dragon Slayer and a tiny Solid Script Mage clinging to his back. "ROHHHHHHHH!"

"Levy!"

"Gajeel!"

"RRRAHHHH!" Gajeel roared, grabbing Levy into his hands and hoisting her like a trophy up above his head, "MY WOMANNN!"

That was crazy, even for a Fairy Tail member. For once Levy didn't even seem to be mad or embarrassed that Gajeel was making a scene! She was smiling, laughing, and crying for some unexplained reason.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked, not sure whether to panic or feel excited; the situation had an air of both. "Did... did something happen?"

The dragon, woman held high above his head, jumped up onto the counter and started waving his wife back and forth like a banner flag, "WE'RE GONNA HAVE A CUB!"

"A..." Lucy twitched a little. The wording was sudden, and awkward.

"DIDN'T YA HEAR ME!? A LITTLE DRAGON CUB! IT'S RIGHT IN THIS HERE WOMAN!" he bounced her up and down, being pointedly careful not to toss her right onto the floor.

"..."

"..."

"..."

For a few long minutes there was just silence. Gajeel kept screaming, Levy kept laughing, but the rest of the guild was – for the first time ever – entirely speechless. Cub? As in a baby? Levy and Gajeel?

All at once there was a sudden rush of air as every member in the guild jumped up into the air and started screaming. A new baby in Fairy Tail! That was fantastic! The last baby had been born while the Tenrou Island team was away... this was the first time that the whole guild could celebrate the birth of a new member!

The windows cracked with the sound of shrieking, the chairs and tables collapsed under their excitement, and the floor flooded with the booze and bodies slipping all around one another.

Gajeel, for the first (and possibly only) time in his life, was quite happy to be completely surrounded by people giving their congratulations and compliments while he stroked his wife's head like a kitten. Because, gihihi, he was gonna have a little cub!