Soon after thanksgiving break we were back at school, but time flew by pretty fast. Gajeel and I were still going strong, much to Jet and Droy's disappointment. As Christmas break came closer Gajeel looked excited to go home, which seemed like a pretty good sign. At least he enjoys being home with his father. Gajeel told me about his mother running out on them, but he didn't care because Gajeel and his dad took care of each other. I nearly cried when he told me that story.
I slowly opened my eyes and yawned, Gajeel looked at me and smirked, "It's about time you woke up, were almost there." I quickly rubbed my eyes and looked around, we were in Gajeel's car as he drove through a very nice neighborhood. He pulled up into a huge mansion, it was two times the size of my grandparent's place. Oh wow…
He got out of the car and then helped me out, and grabbed our bags. Then we headed to the door, but Gajeel pulled out a key and walked right in. I followed him in the house and he yelled out, "Hey you old geezer, you home?"
I stared at Gajeel in shock, "Gajeel…"
He walked further though the mansion and then I saw a tall man come around the corner. He had long black hair look Gajeel and dark eyes, he pretty much looked like an older version of Gajeel. Except he was in a suit. The man narrowed his eyes on Gajeel and then looked at me for a moment. He looked really intimidating, I resisted the urge to hide behind Gajeel.
"You're late." He said, "Not only do you show up late, but you decide to bellow for the whole household to hear you?" He crossed his arms.
Oh no. "Yeah, so what's your point pops?" Gajeel asked.
Gajeel's father shook his head and sighed, "Never mind. Come give me a hug, you bastard." He said. Gajeel smirked then hugged his dad. Hmm they sure do have an interesting relationship. Once they were done hugging Gajeel's father turned his attention on me.
"You sure are a tiny thing." He said looking at me.
"O-oh…yeah…well…I…um…" I was trying to figure out what to say to him.
Gajeel rolled his eyes and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, "Leave her alone pop, your embarrassing her."
"Does she speak English?" He asked Gajeel.
I felt my face burn, "Y-Yes I do sir, I'm Levy." I stuck out my hand and he grabbed my hand and shook mine.
"Nice to meet you sweetheart." He smiled at me almost charmingly, then let go of my hand.
"It's nice to meet you too, sir." I said smiling back at him. He no longer seemed intimidating.
"I'll have none of that sir crap, got it? Now tell me, why are you here? Didn't you want to spend Christmas break with your parents?" He asked curiously. I knew he was just curious, but I really wasn't sure what to say to that. Should I just tell him the truth? I realized that this was going to be my first Christmas without my parents. I felt a stabbing pain in my heart but I needed to ignore it for now. I couldn't break down after just meeting his father.
Gajeel grabbed me and brought me to his side, to show comfort. His father looked at him oddly. "I know you're really, really old but you can't just ask that kind of question so bluntly!" Gajeel snapped but then he took a breath and said softly, "She is here because I want her here. There was an accident and her parent's didn't make it. This is going to be her first Christmas without them, so you better make her feel welcomed!"
He looked at him sadly, "I'm sorry for your loss sweetheart, I had no idea."
I nodded, "Really it's alright, Mr. Redfox." I said trying to fight back tears. But before I even realized it, Gajeel's father ripped me out of Gajeel's arms and he was hugging me tightly.
"No it's not, but I won't have any more of this formality between us! My name is Metalicana but I want you to call me daddy or dad!"
"Um…" I started to say.
"What the hell?! She is not calling you daddy!" Gajeel yelled.
Gajeel's father ignored him and started to pull me towards the kitchen, "Has my neglectful son offered you something to eat or drink? Your too thin dear, has he not been taking care of you?"
"I take care of her just fine!" I heard Gajeel yell while following us into the kitchen.
I gigged as Gajeel and his father argued over him not taking care of me the right way. They got me a snack and some soda, then they went back to their bickering which for some strange reason I found endearing. It was cute to watch Gajeel's father poke at Gajeel and him do the same to his father. They seemed really close, an even though they had a small family they were happy. Gajeel and I settled in his room for the night but Gajeel looked at me as we laid in bed while watching TV.
"How are you shorty?"
I looked back at him and smiled, "I'm fine, why?"
"I just meant with what happened today, I thought it might bring up some painful feelings. How are you doing with that?" He didn't really want to directly ask how I was doing without my parents but he did want to make sure I was okay. I wanted so badly to lie to him but he would call me on it.
I sighed, "I'm alright for the moment, if I don't think about it so much I'm alright."
"And if you do?"
I shrugged and looked away from him, "I'm tired, Gajeel let's go to bed. We have a big day tomorrow." I rolled over. I didn't want him to see my face, I felt like I might burst into tears any moment, and I didn't want to ruin his Christmas Eve. We had a pretty good day so far, Gajeel's father pretty much fell in love with me so to speak. He refused to let Gajeel sit next to me and he asked me so many questions about myself. At one point I thought Gajeel might come across the room and beat his father. But one glare for Gajeel's dad, made Gajeel settle down and rethink his options.
I felt Gajeel move on the bed, and I thought that he turned over to go to sleep; but he got on top of me and pinned my arms above my head and glared at me. "Were going to talk about this shorty."
I glared back at him, "Gajeel get off me!"
"No." I squirmed under him but no matter what I did I couldn't get free. I couldn't even bite him, but when I tried Gajeel laughed at me.
"If you don't get off me, I'll scream for your dad!" I threatened.
Gajeel smirked, "You could try, but my dad is already in bed and he's a heavy sleeper. Besides his room is on the way other side of the house, so chances are he wouldn't hear you anyways. Now talk shorty!" He growled.
I glared back at him, "Please…Gajeel I don't want to talk about this…it's too hard for me."
He kissed my forehead but he still didn't let me go, "I know shorty, but it's not good to bottle up your emotions anyways. I saw you earlier today, when I told my old man about what happened to your parents, I was sure you were going to cry. Levy it's alright to cry, you lost two very important people in your life. Hell you whole life dramatically changed!"
By the time he was done with his speech, tears were falling and I no longer was holding back. I did what he said, not because I wanted to but I just didn't have the strength to hold them in any longer.
"It hurts so much Gajeel, some days it worst then others! Somedays I feel like I might die from the pain. Other days I'm okay, but Christmas was my parent's favorite holiday. My mom and I would always decorate the tree together, my dad would lift me up so I could put the star on top of the tree. Then we would make Christmas cookies, and my dad and I would usually so many that it would make us sick. We use to have a contest to see who could eat the most." I said choking up, I started to sob. Gajeel let me hands go and he wiped away my tears with his thumb.
"Let me guess, your dad won?" He asked softly.
I shook my head, "No I did, but we would be so sick afterwards. We would watch movies together and all fall asleep on the couch. And now, I can't that do that with them! I can't ever do that with them again! I'm all alone without them!" I screamed into his chest, letting out all the pain and sadness I was feeling. He held me tightly and let me cry until I could no longer cry. I cried so hard that I stopped breathing for a moment, Gajeel had to remind me to breath.
Finally after I was done, Gajeel got up and went into the bathroom. I slowly sat up and saw he come in with a wet cloth. He cleaned my face for me, then placed it on my forehead. "I'm sorry shorty, I wish there was something I could do for you. But you need to know that you're not alone, you won't ever spend a holiday alone. I will always be here for you, I will always try to do right by you." He said looking at me so intently, that I knew he meant every word he just said.
"Thank you Gajeel." I kissed his lips softly. "I know you will."
He kissed me again and soon our kiss turned passionate, we spent half the night making love. It was extremely passionate and intense, so intense that I've never felt so connected to another person before. The more time I spent with him, the deeper I fell in love.
We woke up in the morning and came downstairs to a Christmas tree full of presents. We sat down with Gajeel's father and opened presents. Gajeel's dad apparently got Gajeel a motorcycle, which made me extremely nervous. What if he got hurt on that thing?
"Don't worry sweetheart, Gajeel knows how to drive one of those. I taught him myself." He winked at me knowing exactly what I was thinking. So apparently that was a family trait.
Gajeel grinned, "Thanks pops! It's awesome." Gajeel came away from the window after starring at it for a few minutes.
"Yeah, yeah! But if you cause any trouble, or hurt someone on that. Well let's just say there will be no place on this earth that you can hide from me." He said darkly. Gajeel actually looked pretty nervous.
"I'm a great driver, nothing's going to happen!"
Gajeel's dad rolled his eyes, "Fine. Now onto the next present! Merry Christmas sweetheart." He handed me a light blue wrapped present. I looked at him shocked.
"Sir…"
"Dad!" Gajeel's dad said, "I told you to call me dad, I won't tolerate anything else."
I heard Gajeel sigh, I smiled. "Sorry. Um…dad…I didn't expect you to get me a gift! You really didn't have to do this."
"I wanted to, now open it!" It wasn't a suggestion. But now I know where Gajeel got his bossiness from.
I opened it and it was a laptop, I was beautiful. It had was the color of my hair, and it looked so fancy and sleek. "Thank you so much!" I put it down then went over to him and hugged him. He looked startled but then he hugged me back and smiled.
"Anything for my new favorite child."
"Hey! I heard that you old geezer!" Gajeel snapped.
"You were meant to son." His dad smirked, "Now Levy, that laptop is not even out yet. I've had it programed for you so you shouldn't have any problems with it."
I thanked him again and turned to Gajeel, "Oh! Gajeel I have a present for you!" I said. I ran back to our room and grabbed a very large box out of my bag and carefully brought it back downstairs. It was hard to carry but I heard Gajeel and his dad arguing about something. Soon as Gajeel saw the box, he came over and plucked it out of my arms.
"How did you manage to hide this from me?" He asked.
"Well I kept it in Lucy's room then she helped me hide it away in my bag so you wouldn't see it. Now open it!" I looked at him. I knew he would enjoy it, whenever we past the shop he would always look at it for a really long time.
He opened it then he looked at me shocked, "Shrimp…this is awesome!" He took the black electric guitar out of its case and started to play it. His dad plugged his ears.
"Ugh! I'm buying you guitar lessons! You're terrible at that!"
I laughed as Gajeel explained to his father that he was a natural born musician. Finally Gajeel grabbed a box and handed it to me. "Your turn shorty, open it."
He watched me as I opened the box and saw that he had bought me my very own kindle! I jumped up and down with excitement. I would be able to have hundreds of books with me at all times, with just a flick of my finger I could read anything I want, anywhere I want. I hugged him tightly, "Thank you so much for this! It's great!"
"Don't mention it, shrimp." He grinned looking happy, that I enjoyed my gift.
Once we were done opening presents, we sat down for breakfast together. Gajeel and his dad continued to harass each other, and I enjoyed just watching the show.
"So son, I've heard from Gildart's you're doing much better in your classes this year. You're even going to graduate on time! Well done, I'm proud of you." His dad said smiling at him.
Gajeel smirked, "I probably would have failed if it wasn't for the shrimp."
His dad sighed, "You must tell me what you did to get through that thick skull of his."
"Well it wasn't easy…" I said teasing Gajeel as he glared at him. The look promised vengeance.
"Hey! I expect this kinda crap from him, but not you too shorty!"
"Quite Gajeel, the adults are talking." Gajeel's dad said. He looked back at me. "So you're a smart girl, huh?"
"She's on the damn honor roll, of course she's a smart girl!" Gajeel snapped, "I only date the best." I blushed at that comment. "She even enjoys books…a little too much if you ask me."
"The honor roll?" Gajeel's dad looked at me and then nodded, "Oh yes, I see now." He looked over at Gajeel, "This is the girl you will marry! I won't accept anyone else for a daughter in law! You better marry her before some else steal her away. You don't find girls like her very often."
Gajeel and I both were really quite for a minute, I felt my face turn at least twenty different shades of red. "Pops…were not even out of school yet…." Gajeel looked a little uncomfortable.
"What's your point? If you want I can get a priest here in an hour, we can have a Christmas wedding!" He said completely serious.
"Ugh…."
"Um…"
Finally Gajeel banged his fist down on the table while looking flushed, "I will marry her, but on my terms not yours! Got it?" He yelled.
I stared at him shocked, but then Gajeel's dad smirked and nodded, "Sure son, whatever you say." That was that, there was no more talk of marriage. We managed to change the subject, we spent the rest of the holiday break eating lots of food while all hanging out and once again Gajeel and his dad went on endless rants. I watched read on my kindle as they smack talked each other as they played some violent video game.
When we were packing up to leave, Gajeel looked at me. "Shorty you're going to marry me." He said.
I froze. Did he just say I was going to marry him? I glared at him, "And do I get a say in this?"
He shrugged, "I don't really know, what more there is to say about it."
I wanted to smack him at this point now, "No, Gajeel I'm not going to marry you!"
"What?" He said, then he glared at me, "And why not?! I'm a god damn catch!"
I rolled my eyes, "Until you come up with a proper proposal, I'm not going to marry you. And it better not be you demanding I marry you! That is not a proposal." I picked up my bag and smirked at him, "And you better make it romantic, if you want me to say yes!
"How the hell do you expect me to do that?!" He crossed his arms.
"I'm sure you'll figure out a way." I laughed at his annoyed expression.
I heard him mutter under his breath as he zipped up our bags, "It'd be easier to hog tie you and bring you to a chapel…."
"What was that?" I asked sweetly.
"Nothing…nothing…" He shook his head.
I giggled as I walked out of the room, then called out, "C'mon let's go back to school. Don't forget our bags."
Author's Note: This chapter was a LOT longer than my usual chapters, but the next chapter is going to be the very final chapter then I'll be writing the sequel. So what did you guys think of Gajeel's dad? I really enjoyed writing him in. This chapter was both fun and hard to write but I really hope you enjoy it. Please read and review, thank you!
