Levy was in the middle of a captivating chapter on the nesting habits of pregnant she-dragons when fingers snapped in her face, breaking her eye-contact with the pages. "Earthland to McGarden!" Came an exasperated voice over the sound of Levy's growl. She swiped a hand at the snapping fingers and tried to focus back on the book, but it was snatched away and snapped closed. Levy snarled and lunged for it, only to have Gajeel's arm wrap around her waist and yank her onto his lap, trapping her there.
"What the hell?" She growled. In this one day, which wasn't even half-through, she had been denied—not once, but twice—the reading of a stack of new books, and now some brave, stupid mage had dared to pull a book out of her hands and lost her place. The guild hall was silent, mouths falling open. No one, no one, got in between Levy McGarden and her books; it was guild law. The last time was when she was a child, maybe eight years old, and Jet and Droy had been bored and ready to go train with their team mate—she wasn't leader of Shadowgear just yet. They had pulled a book a few inches away from her, and accidently spilled a glass of orange juice all over the pages. What happened next could only be described as a one-sided rampage, a tiny, blue-haired devil-woman that left pain and destruction in her wake. It was what finally put her in the leadership position with those two. Ever since, the wizards of Fairy Tail were extremely careful not to touch Levy's books. Until now, it seemed.
Lucy had been the one to snap in Levy's face. But it was Erza who held her precious book. Levy's lip curled. "Now, Levy." Erza scolded. But there was a note of nervousness in the red-head's tone.
"Come on, Lev!" Lucy said, forcing her voice to sound chipper, as though their very safety was riding on the line. "It's time to go shopping." Levy's ears perked at that, but she remained glaring at her book. "Maybe you can find some more books to add to this stack for Gajeel to carry. And I will buy you some bedtime stories for the baby." Levy turned her gaze to her friend. That did sound wonderful.
"Brother's Grimm? Leather-bound collector's edition? Illustrated?" She asked. It had already been on the 'need' section of her 'need, want, have' list for the baby. Lucy nodded almost frantically, and the entire guild let out a sigh of relief at Levy's smile. Erza very gently set the Draconic book down on the stack, and Cana slapped a card down on it quickly, encasing them in her magic before some drunk fairy could walk by and spill something on them or knock them to the floor, or—Mavis forbid—tear a page.
"Let's go!" Lucy said excitedly, taking Levy's arm in hers and pulling her out of Gajeel's lap. Gajeel grumbled about blondes stealing his woman and stood, following the horde of women out the door. It was going to be a long day.
Erza brought her luggage cart with them, empty and ready to be filled. The shopkeepers of Magnolia saw the incoming fairies and saw dancing dollar signs, smiling and ushering them in. Word spread quickly around town that they were shopping for baby things, rumors spreading and spreading, and the stores moved around displays to show their cute, baby-themed items. Everyone in town new what it meant with the Fairy Tail girls headed out to shop; they would buy a vast amount of items that they didn't need, and they weren't afraid to spend obscene amounts of money on them.
Gajeel's eyes got bigger and bigger as the day wore on. They had to have stopped at every store at least once. There were even several stores they stopped at multiple times. They bought a new couch, with two matching armchairs and a leather and iron studded coffee table; a big kitchen table with six chairs; four new bookshelves and a desk and big padded chair, and a bench for the window in the library downstairs; a vanity dresser for their bedroom; a crib, changing table, wardrobe, bookshelf, and rocking chair all a matching deep crimson—and that was just the furniture! All the girls bought outfits and toys for the baby, some of them gender-neutral, but they second they saw a cute dress, they bought it, and a cute boy's outfit to make up for it. Mira winked and said if the first one was a girl, they could use the boys' clothes for their next child. Levy had just laughed, and Gajeel hugged her tight. He liked the mental image of a house full of their children.
Levy was amazed; Gajeel didn't complain once, even when they spent an hour in the bookshop, ending up with two dozen children's books, and another dozen or so on pregnancy, parenting and child-development. The last stop on the girls' agenda was maternity clothes, and they forced Levy into a changing room, occasionally throwing new dresses and shirts and leggings over the door and new shoes under it. Gajeel sat on a couch outside the changing room. He watched the fairies flutter around like, well, like fairies. They were in their element here, He saw Juvia hand Levy a dress the same shade of blue as his mate's hair with a white paisley design over it, showing her the matching flats, and a baby-sized version of the same outfit. Lucy and Virgo kept handing her outfits covered in stars and sequins, and a pair of knee-high, dark brown leather boots with a short heel that showed off her long legs. He kept an eye on those boots. If they didn't buy them for her, he would. Erza was excited because she found a tiny Heart Kreuz suit of armor for a toddler, gushing over how adorable it was. Gajeel rolled his eyes, but didn't object. Mirajane kept handing Levy low cut tops and high-cut miniskirts. Luckily, Lisanna was on veto-duty. Evergreen was lurking around the lingerie section, and kept sneaking past him, hiding the outfits from his sight.
"Trust me, Levy, you will have him begging for you." She said.
Gajeel laughed outright at Levy's whining response. "It's not that. I'll only wear it once, because he'll tear it off." The girls blushed at that, but Levy just pouted. He did see her tuck a couple of those outfits between some of her dresses, though.
Several armfuls of clothes and a dozen baby blankets later, the girls finally announced they were finished, and headed down the road towards their new home, the cart so full that Gajeel ended up grabbing the last few bags before they could fall off. Levy walked beside him, her arm wrapped around his waist, leaning against his side. "Thank you, silly dragon." She murmured, closing her eyes and trusting him to keep her upright.
Gajeel grunted and had Cana store the bags in his arms in one of her cards, then reached down and picked his shrimp up, carrying her princess style. She must have been exhausted, because she didn't complain, curling her face towards him and breathing in his scent. The girls smiled at the two of them.
Lily met them on the porch. "Lemme take her upstairs, and I'll help ya unload," He grunted. The exceed nodded and shifted into his battle form, taking in the sight of the stuffed cart and the couple of cards in Cana's hand, shaking his head.
Gajeel gently lay Levy on their bed, pulling back the blanket and settling it over her shoulders. Levy held onto his shirt though, pouting when he tried to pull away. He smiled and smoothed the hair off of her forehead. "I'll just be gone a couple of minutes, love. I'll be right back."
"Promise?" She said sleepily, wriggling around to find the most comfortable position.
Gajeel kissed her cheek and stood. "Promise." He backed out of the room and shut the door softly. He stepped as quietly as he could downstairs. The others gave him knowing smirks, and he just scowled back. "Ya better be quiet. You wake her up, ya got me ta deal with." He growled. Mira mock-saluted, and the group broke down in giggles, making Gajeel roll his eyes. "Come on." He and Lily started unloading furniture. They didn't bother arranging it yet; they knew Levy would want to do that. The girls began sorting through the clothes, arranging them in piles that made no sense whatsoever to Gajeel, but he didn't interrupt them. The sun was set and the moon high by the time the cart was empty. Lucy and Lily had put tea together, and they all sat around the kitchen and living room taking their last sips and glancing around at their haul, looking quite pleased with themselves. Gajeel slumped down in one of the new chairs—which he had helped pick out—and sighed, worn down from their day of shopping. He didn't know how they did it. Or where all the money they spent on this stuff came from.
Finally they all trickled out the door, and Lily disappeared into his bedroom, shutting the door after a knowing look towards Gajeel. He stood with a groan and quietly ascended the stairs. He opened the door, trying not to wake Levy up, but she was already sitting up in bed, the lamp by the bed on as she scribbled in her notebook. "What're ya doin, shrimp?" He asked, smiling as he pulled off his shirt and flung it into the basket across the room. His jeans followed it, and he slipped under the blanket and pulled her close.
"I think we should leave the morning after tomorrow." Was her reply. He looked over her shoulder to see a packing list. He groaned when he saw no fewer than 17 books on her growing list. "That gives us time to arrange the house, pack everything up, and set it up to get my books delivered to the archaeologist's home. If we leave the next day, by the time we arrive at our client's house, our books should be there. He is taking his crew and their books and supplies—and us—on a ship, and has a mage who can transport all of our luggage so we don't have to carry it. I figure that the four of us can then enter the tombs, talk to the Guardian, then welcome our client inside. We take that day to set up our house there and help them put together their camp, then we start work the next morning. We can take turns babysitting them. While you and I watch them, Natsu and Lucy can practice their magic, and vice versa. After we are certain they can be trusted on their own, we will have more alone time." Levy looked up finally, but he could see she was still in business mode. "I need to know how long we plan on staying. I do kind of want to have the baby here, at home. But, I don't know if that will happen. I know you said a few months, but I need to be more specific. Three months wouldn't be long enough. Six months would probably work, but I had originally been planning on staying a little longer than that. I mean, we could always come back for a few more months after the baby is born. But seven or more months, and we will have to bring things for the baby as well. And if the baby is going to be there with us, too, then we would need more space in that hut, so we have to bring materials and tools to add on, and—" Gajeel cut her off with a kiss, earning a surprised squeak. He slowly pulled the notebook out of her hands and reached over to turn off the lamp, pulling her down in the bed.
"Sleep now, list later," He growled. She started to protest, but he pulled her back against him, cuddling into the pillows and pulling the blanket up. "Sleep." He ordered, closing his eyes. But he was smiling. That was his shrimp, alright.
