Chapter 10

Gajeel peeked outside the hospital, observing the scene outside. Cops and swat teams were everywhere, at ever entrance to the hospital, at the doors leading into the maternity wing. Getting out of here without getting caught was going to be no easy task. What's more, he had to leave Levy with the cops. She needed a story about her rescuer, something somewhat believable as to why she was even a hostage in the first place and how she managed to be rescued. This wasn't going to be easy.

To top it off, Levy was still in shock. He needed to get her to work with him, or they'd both end up in jail. He'd taken her away from where Jose's body was, and he'd spent the past several minutes just trying to calm her down and think clearly. Right now, even as he was standing at the window, she was in his arms. She refused to be more than an inch away from him. Normally he'd see that as a good thing, but what would she do when he had to leave her with the cops?

"G-Gajeel, my phone is ringing." Levy held out the disposable phone he'd given her that night they'd met. Gajeel took it from her, knowing there was only one other person who knew that number, and answered it.

"Pops."

"You're in a pickle, boy. Tell me the situation." Metalicana's voice came. Gajeel recounted the day's events to his father, and then everything was silent. The Don was thinking. Finally, he spoke. "Alright, I'll pull some strings. Meanwhile, here's what you gotta do..."

The instant Levy stepped out of the hospital with her hands raised, she was taken into police custody. She watched as over a dozen armed men hurried into the hospital to sweep the place. Meanwhile, she was dragged to a large van that was acting as a mobile command unit. She heard reporters all around declaring that the hostage was safe and swat teams were moving in, going after the man responsible for it all. She could only go where she was being led, and she tried to hold off the panic attack she knew was coming. She was scared for a new reason. What if they discovered her ties to the mafia? What would happen to her? To Gajeel? She forced herself to take a deep, shaky breath. Gajeel needed her to focus. She could panic later.

"Levy!" A familiar voice filled her ears as she was hurried into the van. Levy turned her eyes into the van and was astounded to find Lucy there, her husband standing beside her. The next thing Levy knew, the pregnant blonde was hugging the life out of her. "I was so worried!" Lucy practically cried against the smaller girl.

"M-miss Dragneel, please let her have some air. I'm sure she's been through a lot today." The FBI agent in the van requested. He was odd looking, for an FBI agent. Skinny, but with wild orange hair, he looked rather... effeminate for a field agent. Lucy released her and let Levy sit down in a nearby chair. The agent closed the van's doors, leaving Levy alone with just him, Lucy, and Natsu. "Miss McGarden, I'm glad you're alright. I've been informed of your situation," he paused to roll up one of his pant legs. Levy was surprised to see a Fairy Tail tattoo there, but that put her at ease, especially when Lucy and Natsu seemed to be calm about it. "My name is Loke. For your sake, I'm going to be handling everything to do with this situation. Considering holding hostages in a hospital is a federal offense, I have the authority here, not the police. So you can relax."

"I... okay, thank you." Levy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now, for documentation, I need to know every detail of what happened in there. Er, what the boss told you to say, anyways." Loke told her as he took his own seat across from her. Levy took a shaky breath and recounted everything up until Gajeel arrived. Then she told him what Gajeel told her to say. A strange man in a kabuki mask had sneaked into the hospital. He started talking with the man that held her hostage, and they seemed to dislike each other. Levy saw a chance when her captor was distracted, and she took his gun from him, but she was too afraid to shoot it. But she distracted him, and the kabuki man shot him. He told her to leave the gun behind and leave the hospital or he would shoot her next, so she went outside.

"Good, good." The agent said as he wrote down what she said in his notes. He opened the van doors and called for someone. A large man with a sketchbook came in and sat down down. "This is Reedus Johnan. He's our sketch artist. I need you to describe to the best of your ability what this 'kabuki' man looked like."

"Ah, well..." Levy thought back to the picture Gajeel showed her. She was to describe one of the family's enemies but, since he had on a mask, leave out details about his face. "He wore a white kabuki mask with no mouth and it was painted red around the eyes. He wore all black and baggy clothes, but he was kind of skinny."

"Pardon, how tall, miss?" the sketch artist questioned.

"Um..." Levy stood up and held her hand up. "About here, so... around six feet?"

"Anything else? Any details at all?" Loke questioned her.

"I saw a little bit of his hair. It was blond. And his eyes were hard to see with the mask but I think they were green." She told them. The sketch artist nodded and set about drawing up someone with that description. Finally, her turned the sketch around. The man he drew was pretty accurate to the picture Gajeel showed her, minus facial details, of course. "Yes, that's him." Levy nodded.

"Very good. You're dismissed, Reedus, thank you." He shooed the sketch artist out of the van before turning back to Levy. "Alright. Now, we're going to do some more questioning, but it's all just for documentation. Don't worry, Miss McGarden. You'll get to go with Lucy and Natsu after we're done. I'm going to pull some strings even the boss can't pull, so don't worry about a thing.

"How are you holding up?" Lucy asked Levy as Natsu drove them all back to Gajeel's house. "I know that stuff can be pretty scary."

"I... um..." Levy looked down at her lap. "I'm still trying to process."

"Take your time, Levy. We're here for you. And soon you'll be back with Gajeel. Mavis knows he's not going to let you out of his sight for a long time." Lucy smiled kindly at her, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. They fell back into silence. Levy sat there, staring at her lap, trying to process everything. It had been a long five hours since she'd stepped foot out of the hospital. She'd been tossed between investigators and agents, but the agent with Fairy Tail, Loke, was never far away. He would constantly make excuses for the questions to end, such as something being out of their jurisdiction, or that she was obviously tired, or even that she needed to be checked on by a doctor. All the questions and questioners blended into one... what happened, how did you get free, where is the guy that saved you, what does he look like? It was those same questions over and over until she could answer them without even thinking about it.

She was glad Loke finally got her to be released. But now she was exhausted and she felt numb. She just wanted to sleep, but she knew she would not sleep well. No, she would be reliving the nightmare that was this day over and over in her head. She would relive her internal struggle over shooting Jose over and over. She would relive the pure terror she felt when he took the gun back. She would relive the feel of his blood spraying on her face after Gajeel shot him in the face. Sleep would be worse than being awake. At least while she was awake she could pretend it never happened.

"Levy!" Lucy's sudden shout brought Levy from her thoughts. She blinked and looked up at the blonde, who was giving her a concerned look as she stood outside of the car, the door open to let Levy out. "Are you okay? We're at Gajeel's, and you zoned out..."

"I'm... fine." Levy shook her head to clear her thoughts. "I'm sorry. I'm just exhausted." She let Lucy help her out of the car and into the house. She nearly cried when she found Gajeel waiting at the door for her, still dressed in swat team gear (Natsu had sneaked him what he needed to get out of the hospital safely). He was quick to pull her into his arms, letting her bury her face in his chest.

"Oi, you two did good. Thanks." Gajeel thanked Natsu and Lucy before shooing them away. "Go get some rest. I'll take care of her."

"Let me know how she is tomorrow?" Lucy asked with concern. Gajeel merely nodded, which satisfied her, and Natsu led his wife back to the car. Gajeel picked Levy up and she moved to bury her face in his neck as he carried her inside. He took her up the stairs and bypassed her room, heading straight for his.

"Gajeel?" Levy questioned timidly. She'd never been in his room before. He didn't answer, just carried her through his room and into the bathroom. He sat her down on the sink and grabbed a washcloth from the closet.

"They didn't even let you clean up, did they, shrimp?" he mumbled softly as he wet the cloth and started to wipe away the dried blood that was still on her face and neck. Those cops, once they found out who had been holding her hostage, had really hounded her for information that she didn't have. True enough, they didn't even give her the chance to wash the blood off of her face or change into clean clothes. Levy, in her current state, hadn't even noticed. Levy sat there silently and let Gajeel clean what he could. She kept her eyes on the floor until Gajeel hooked a finger under her chin and made her look up at him. "Levy, I know this stuff is hard on you. I wish you would have never been exposed to that, and you can be sure I'm going to do my best so you never have to see anything like that again." he told her firmly as he looked into her eyes.

"I know we haven't been dating long. But I do care about ya, Levy. Whatever you need from me right now, I'm all yours." he whispered as he caressed her cheek. "If you want to talk about it, talk. If ya need to cry, cry. If you just want me to leave you alone, I can do that, too. Just tell me what you need from me."

"I... I don't know what I need." Levy whimpered, feeling tears in her eyes. She refused to let them fall.

"Then I'll play it by ear." Gajeel gave a small smile. "Right now, I think you need a nice long bath. And then a good night's sleep. Sound good?" Levy nodded and let Gajeel help her down from the sink. He took her over to the bathtub. Had she been in her right mind she would have been envious at how huge it was, and at the water jets she could see in it. Instead, she simply watched him start the water and then pull out a large fluffy towel from the closet. "Take your time and relax, Levy. You need it." Gajeel gave her a soft kiss that all but melted her heart. That kiss helped to snap her out of her shock a little bit. She'd never seen Gajeel be so gentle or caring before. And right now he was being the sweetest man she'd ever seen. It was odd to see him this way, but Levy found it endearing. She kissed him back to let him know she would be alright. Not right away, but eventually... she would be just fine.

So a kind of depressing chapter. Levy's still in shock and it's up to Gajeel to help her through her first experience with a violent death. Gajeel is just a bit out of character, but Levy needs someone caring right now.

Don't worry, next chapter will be happier!

Anyways, tell me what you guys think!

Thanks for Reading!

-Everythingnerd12