Chapter 52

"How is your grandfather?" Levy smiled at Wendy as they sat in a cute little cafe with their coffee. Wendy smiled back.

"Great. He's really happy about the alliance, I think." she hummed before giggling at her friend and former boss. "But I don't think you asked me to coffee to talk about that." she had a mischeveous tone in her voice that made Levy blush.

"G-guilty." Levy laughed nervously. She gave Lily a serious look, a warning to keep this secret, and he gave her a smile and a nod. "I... Gajeel and I have been trying for a baby." Levy finally admitted with a blush. Wendy giggled knowingly. Of course they were. They were quite past the honeymoon phase, and there were rumors that they were still going at it like rabbits and traumatizing the guards that got stationed at their house.

"That's great news, Levy." Wendy smiled happily. Levy gave a small smile before it slipped into a frown.

"I... I think there's a problem, Wendy." the senior doctor gave a small sigh. "We've been trying since before the wedding. It's been over six months now, and I haven't been so much as late, let alone showing any signs... I just... I know I'm overthinking it, and I know what I would tell a patient in my shoes... but I need someone else to tell me what I should do. Does that make sense?"

"Perfect sense." Wendy nodded. "Doctors tend to over-analyze things when it comes to themselves, after all, and hearing it from another professional helps." She told her, before sitting back and thinking. "It sounds like just bad luck, so far. I wouldn't worry until it's been a year, but it's good to keep an eye open for anything weird. And your cycle is normal?"

"Incredibly so. To the day." Levy nodded.

"You've been trying around ovulation?" Wendy checked, and Levy nodded. "Well... if there was a problem, it could be on his part. Low sperm count, wrong temperature, high stress, you know all this." Again, Levy nodded. "My professional opinion is to relax. Both of you. De-stress, tell him to wear boxers, and stop trying so hard. And stop worrying. You have plenty of time to get that baby." Wendy ended with an amused giggle. "You're what, twenty-three?"

"Twenty-four." Levy admitted with a small blush. Her birthday had been shortly after their wedding. It was hard to believe that just a little under two years ago she'd been a doctor with no friends, living alone in her apartment and just taking it day by day. Here she was now, married to the most wonderful man, trying to have a baby, and one of the most influential people in the city...

"You have plenty of time, Levy. You're young and healthy. He's healthy. Not sure how old Gajeel is, actually."

"Twenty seven." Levy supplied quietly.

"See? Young and healthy. I say don't worry so much and just enjoy your time with your husband, cause once that baby comes, you won't get to enjoy this level of privacy again."

Levy was finding it hard to keep the blush off her cheeks as she made her way through the mansion. Her talk with Wendy had helped ease her anxiety, but it had also doubled her determination. She was a woman on a mission, now, and she was heading straight for Gajeel. They needed to talk about this.

She rounded a corner, only to run into Gray yet again. He quickly caught her to stop her from falling, apologizing furiously.

"I'm so sorry, Levy. Two days in a row, yikes." Gray sighed heavily as the men he was escorting snickered a bit.

"No, it's okay, Gray. Really." Levy gave a small giggle. It was pretty funny that it happened twice now. And both times he was escorting Jet and Droy. She gave them a smile. "You stayed the night here?"

"Er, no, at a hotel." Droy chuckled.

"Yea, they don't let us know where the mansion is. We're blindfolded on the way here." Jet shook his head with a wry grin. Levy gave them an apologetic smile for Fairy Tail's privacy measures. "Say, where are you heading to in such a hurry?"

"Oh, um, I was going to see Gajeel." Levy answered, blushing a bit as she remembered why she was going to see him.

"He's not in his office." Gray told her with a small smile. At her inquisitive glance, he sighed. "Downstairs."

"Eh? Down there?" Levy's eyes widened a bit. Gray nodded and she frowned a bit. "Do you know how long he'll be?"

"No clue. Natsu's the one with the key, and I saw him in the kitchen, so it must be a long one." Gray gave her a light smile. He knew she was still iffy about that side of Gajeel's life. Not that she wasn't okay with it... she just didn't enjoy seeing it very often. Levy bit her lip as she debated on what to do. Maybe she could ask Natsu if he knew how long it would be before Gajeel came upstairs. She didn't want to interrupt Gajeel's work, after all, and she knew her presence might throw him off a bit and ruin the interrogation.

"Thanks, Gray. I'll go find Natsu, I guess." she decided. Gray just gave a small nod. Levy smiled to Jet and Droy before walking off toward the kitchen.

"Hey, what was that about?" Jet's question could be heard as she got further down the hall. "This place has a downstairs?"

"Why did she seem so tense about it?" Droy asked. Levy didn't hear anything else as she rounded a corner. It wasn't until she heard heavy footsteps behind her that she realized Gray actually told them what was downstairs. She turned around as Jet and Droy ran towards her with concerned expressions on their faces, Gray trailing behind with an annoyed look. He gave Levy an apologetic frown; he hadn't known they'd react this way when he'd told them.

"Levy, don't tell us you're going to a place like that?" Jet demanded, eyes fully of worry.

"With Natsu, yea." Levy hummed, knowing Natsu would be going down at the end of the interrogation to let Gajeel out of the cell.

"We... we can't let you see something like that, Levy!" Droy protested instantly. Levy felt a pang of annoyance go through her. Again with them thinking they had any kind of control over her! She bit back that remark to level them with a cool stare.

"I've seen far worse before, I assure you." she told them easily, and Gray nodded for emphasis.

"But... but you know what he's doing down there... right?" Jet questioned warily. Levy just nodded. "How can you be okay with that? With seeing him do it?! With being married to someone that does that?!"

"Look here. If you think I married Gajeel without knowing the kinds of things he does every day, you're dead wrong." Levy snapped, crossing her arms with an annoyed huff. "I've seen Gajeel do far worse than a little bit of torture, and I'm sure I'm going to see worse things in the future, too. I assure you, I can handle it, and I am quite happily married to him despite knowing what he does."

"But..." Droy started, but Levy cut him off with a raised finger.

"No buts." she huffed. "Guys, I appreciate the concern, really. But you do know I'm married to the next Don, right? What kind of Don's wife would I be if I couldn't handle something like this?" They were about to protest again, but she spoke first. "And another thing! You two are guests here. This is my home as much as it is Gajeel's and the Don's. Who are you to tell me where I can and cannot go?" She demanded, watching as they shut their mouths and cowered like berated puppies. "I'm going now. Gray, kindly escort them to wherever you were taking them in the first place." With that, she turned and started to walk away.

Gray had stars in his eyes, and he was grinning widely. Levy was turning out to be a great fit with the family. And Levy was fuming, more annoyed than angry, honestly. Forget her plans to go down at the end of his interrogation. This conversation made her want to prove herself. She was going down there with Natsu now, dammit. So she continued on to the kitchen, the fire of determination in her eyes.

It seemed she was determined to do a lot today. First it was with trying for a baby, and now this. What next?

"Oh, hey Levy!" Natsu grinned cheerfully at her as she marched into the kitchen. Lily was cooking something at the stove, and he turned to greet her as well, but frowned at seeing her in the mood she was in. It was cute, really, seeing her pouting with her cheeks puffed out, her eyes full of both determination and anger. Once Natsu noticed her mood, he also frowned. He moved to ask what was wrong when she turned sharp eyes to him.

"I need to see Gajeel. Right now." she said so sternly that Natsu could only gulp and nod. He stood up and followed her out of the room, wondering who pissed Levy off.

"Wait, isn't he downstairs?" Lily called after them, but was ignored.

A few minutes later found Natsu leading the way downstairs. Levy was still in an annoyed mood, but he'd managed to convince her on the walk there that he should go first so Gajeel wouldn't be thrown off during the interrogation. She stayed by the door of the stairs while Natsu approached the cell Gajeel was in. She flinched a bit at hearing a horrible male scream. Whatever Gajeel was doing, it must be painful. Now she was a bit thankful that Natsu went first. She could handle seeing what Gajeel was doing, she knew, but she'd still prefer not to see it. The man's screaming stopped once Natsu got Gajeel's attention, and Natsu spoke to him for a bit, though Levy couldn't hear with how quiet they were being.

"Boss, got a small situation." Natsu said quietly as Gajeel approached the cell door.

"What is it now?"

"Your wife needs ta see ya." Natsu explained, scratching the back of his head. "She's, um... in a bad mood. Wouldn't take no for an answer."

"That so?" Gajeel hummed, wondering who pissed off his little wife this time. "Fine, I was done here anyways. Got what I needed a while ago, but the damn idiot went and pissed me off." He shrugged, glancing back at the broken man chained to the wall behind him. "Let me out. You can take care of cleanup."

"Aw, man." Natsu sighed heavily, unlocking the cell door. He hated cleanup duty.

Levy had calmed down some during this time, but she was still pouting when Gajeel approached her. He was in his usual suit, minus the jacket, and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. There were a few obvious splatters of blood on his shirt and arms that, a year ago, would have had Levy reeling back in fear of him. Now... it was almost normal to see him this way.

"Levy, do I need ta disappear someone?" Gajeel's joking offer made her smile a little, and he grinned at this. Well at least she wasn't unreasonably angry. He pulled her into his arms and gave her a quick kiss. "Who ticked ya off, shrimp?"

"Oh, just Jet and Droy again. They keep thinking they can tell me what to do." Levy sighed heavily, leaning into his embrace. "Don't worry, I told them off again." she smiled wryly.

"Che, are they tryin ta sabotage their chances at gettin our help?" Gajeel scoffed at this. You'd think that, with their family's survival on the line, they'd be trying to get on their good side... not pissing Levy off.

"Well... they did have good intentions." Levy sighed. "But they need to understand that I'm not a little girl anymore."

"Yer anything but." Gajeel grinned, running his hands along her wonderful curves. She giggled softly at this and looked up at him.

"I did come down here for a reason. I need to talk to you. Privately." she requested, fluttering those hazel eyes at him. How could he say no to that?

"Sure thing, shrimp. I need ta write down the info I got first." he told her, releasing their embrace and opening the door to the stairs. "After you." His grin gave away his intentions, and Levy couldn't help but giggle.

"You're such a perv, sometimes." she said, but her voice was nothing but amused.

"Do ya blame me?" Gajeel grinned, urging her to go. She obliged him with a blush and a grin, knowing that he was ogling her ass as he followed behind. "Levy, for the love of Mavis, please wear jeans more often."

"Alright, shrimp, I'm done. What do ya need to talk about?" Gajeel sat back after finishing his report, turning his eyes to his wife. She'd taken a seat across from him, and had been reading one of the books she'd left in his office. She marked her place and set the book aside before looking up at him with an adorable blush.

"We need to stop having spontaneous sex." her words only got a brow raise from her husband. Then he let out a soft sigh and motioned her towards him. She hesitantly moved around the desk, and he pulled her down onto his lap, grinning a bit as he had her straddle him. Even like this, she was still shorter than him, much to his amusement.

"And why is that, shrimp?" His voice was mildly amused, but more curious than anything.

"W-well, because... um..." Levy wasn't quite sure how to word it, and Gajeel was taking advantage of her position to palm her ass, distracting her just a bit as her blush deepened.

"Is this about the baby thing?" he asked intuitively. Levy could only bite her lip and nod. "Knew it. Lemme guess, ya wanna double down on tryin for the baby?" Another mute nod. Gajeel let out an amused sigh. She really wanted this baby, huh? But... "Shrimp, I want a baby, too... but where's the rush? We've only been married a few months. We have plenty of time, Levy."

"I-I know, I just... I've always wanted to be a mother, Gajeel... and just thinking of a little bundle of joy with your hair and my eyes makes me so happy..." She trailed off with a small smile. Gajeel couldn't help but smile at that image, too, and he gave his wife a light kiss.

"Levy... if you really want to, we'll get serious about trying." he promised. "But, if you ask me... we really shouldn't rush it. Let's just enjoy our alone time while we can. Let it happen when it happens." Levy sat there and thought on his words for a moment, before giving a soft sigh. Gajeel was right. Wendy was right. She should really stop trying to rush things, because it was only stressing her out... and that definitely wasn't good for conceiving. Besides... she did like all this alone time that she got with her husband... and a baby would interfere with that.

"I just... need to relax, don't I?" Levy finally sighed, earning a soft chuckle from Gajeel. She gave him a light smile. "Alright. Let's just let it happen when it happens."

"Good. Now... I got plans fer this ass..." Gajeel grinned wickedly, pulling her closer with a hungry kiss. Levy could only smile and kiss him back.

A few minutes later, a familiar trio was walking past Gajeel's office on the way to see the don. Gray, Jet, and Droy all froze upon hearing what was obviously Levy moaning. Red faces looked at each other before it was silently agreed that they should leave the area immediately and never speak of this again.

And another chapter for my lovely readers... who aren't commenting for some reaason?! I only got 2 comments on the last chapter. That really hurts guys T.T

Please, please, review! I need to know if you guys are liking where the story is going or not. And if you guys like the regular updating. I'm shooting for once a week updates, maybe on Mondays. Maybe twice a week, depending on how many comments I get...

Thanks for reading,

-Nerdy12