Chapter 73

"Let me just get a better angle, here..." Wendy hummed, moving slightly while looking up at a screen. She smiled brightly as the image came into focus. "There's your little bundle of joy." she said happily, turning to look at the parents. Both Levy and Gajeel had their eyes glued to the screen, watching as the fuzzy gray background became a bit clearer... revealing a very tiny baby face. Levy was smiling happily, and Gajeel was just staring at it in awe. "Look, you can see its eyes and nose and mouth clearly here." She pointed to the screen, mostly for Gajeel's sake. She knew very well that Levy knew what she was looking at.

"It's got your big forehead." Levy giggled up at her husband, who snapped out of his reverie at the teasing. He gave a soft chuckle and kissed her temple.

"Yer right about that, huh?"

"Do you want to hear the heartbeat, Mr. Redfox?" Wendy offered, holding out a small headset. Gajeel eagerly took it from her, but then he handed it to his wife.

"You first, shrimp. Yer the one carrying it, after all." He smiled lightly. Levy awed at the sweet gesture and happily put on the headset. She felt tears pricking at her eyes as she listened to her baby's strong little heartbeat. As an OBGYN, she'd heard millions of little heartbeats like this. But this... this was her baby. Their baby.

"Oh, Gajeel, you have to hear this. Our little baby has such a strong heart." Levy gave her husband a tearful smile as she handed him the headset. He eagerly put it on, listening intently for the sound of the heartbeat. His eyes widened when he heard it, and he couldn't hide his smile even if he'd wanted to.

Wendy let Gajeel listen to the heartbeat for a while, watching the couple with a happy smile. She was so happy for them, and it was clear that they were very much in love. She knew how upset Levy had been that she was having trouble conceiving, and how unbelievably happy she was about this baby. She was so happy for them all that the baby was healthy and growing steadily. Everything was perfectly set for this little baby to grow and be born to some of the most loving parents in the world. Knowing that brought the greatest joy to Wendy.

Finally, it came time to learn the gender. Wendy moved the machine over Levy's stomach carefully.

"The baby is in a great position today." she commented happily, looking at the screen. "Dr. Redfox, what do you see?" She looked to Levy, who was staring intently at the screen. Her eyes narrowed as she looked for the signs of the gender, and then widened when she identified it.

"Gajeel! Oh, Gajeel, we're having a-"

"Oh, it's so nice to get to do this again." Lucy sighed happily as she sipped at her water. She looked around the room with a smile. Juvia and Levy were both happily nibbling on some scones, and now they had a new addition to their group of friends: Wendy Marvell, Levy's friend and coworker and the heiress to Cait Shelter, should she choose to follow her grandfather's footsteps.

Cait Shelter was on the verge of dying when Fairy Tail first discovered them. It was under Roubaul's control, but he was aging. Wendy's boyfriend, Romeo, was being taught how to take over, but he didn't see much point in taking over a dying family. Wendy had no interest in that kind of life, despite being raised in it. She'd much rather be a doctor. But she knew her stuff well enough, she knew how dangerous this life was, and she knew how important loyalty was. That's why, when Fairy Tail took Cait Shelter under its wings, she had zero issue being considered an honorary Fairy Tail member, and keeping the critical secret of Levy's true identity. Fairy Tail was helping her family to survive and thrive, after all, and Levy was a really good friend of hers. She was the new addition to their little group of friends, and she was quite happy about it.

"It is." Levy agreed with a nod. "We've all been so busy lately."

"Yes, it is so nice to meet up after all this." Juvia nodded as well. "And now we have a new friend! Oh, Juvia is so happy!"

"Thanks for letting me join you." Wendy blushed with a happy giggle, sipping at her tea.

"Oh, it's our pleasure, Wendy." Lucy smiled. "It's so nice to have another girl to talk to, and you seem like such a sweetheart." Wendy only blushed further at the compliment, but she smiled all the same.

"Lucy, Juvia noticed you aren't drinking tea." Juvia hummed after a brief silence. Everyone else was drinking tea, though for some reason Levy had chosen Roobios tea for this afternoon's gathering. Lucy, however, had gone for water. Lucy sputtered a bit at being found out, but she blushed and smiled in the end.

"Well, I was going to tell you guys later today. Juvia's got a good eye." she giggled lightly. "Guys, I'm pregnant again." A round of 'awes' and 'congratulations' went through the girls.

"I was wondering about the weight gain." Levy jested teasingly. Indeed, Lucy was already starting to show her pregnancy in a way it was hard to hide with clothes. She tried, wearing baggier clothes today, but it was clear she had a belly now. Levy was still able to hide hers, but Lucy was clearly farther along than she was. "I'm guessing five or six months?"

"Almost six, actually. I'm still pretty flat compared to when I was carrying Kasai." Lucy smiled.

"I see." Levy hummed. "Is that why you didn't drink tea today?" At Lucy's nod, Levy grinned at her. "You know... you can drink roobios tea. It's caffiene free and has antioxidants in it."

"Eh? Really?" Lucy asked with wide eyes. Both Wendy and Lucy nodded with easy smiles. "Don't tell me that's why you chose it today?"

"Well, I had the feeling you might be pregnant." Levy smiled lightly, but it was a big fat lie. She just didn't want the girls to know she was pregnant yet. She hadn't known about Lucy's pregnancy, but it wasn't hard to believe she'd have that information. She was an OBGYN after all, and the don's wife, to boot. "I wanted you to be able to drink tea with us today, so I chose it to be safe."

"That's so sweet and thoughtful, Levy!" Lucy cooed, completely buying the lie. Even Juvia awed over Levy's consideration. Wendy just bit her lip to hide her knowing grin. She was the only one in the room that knew the real reason. But if Levy wasn't going to mention her own pregnancy yet, she wasn't going to betray that trust. Doctor-patient confidentiality, you know. "Say, are there any other teas I can drink?"

"Well, mint and ginger teas are good after the first trimester is over. Technically, you can have black tea and even coffee, too, but sparingly." Levy hummed as she thought about it. She'd done some research recently on tea, because she so loved her teas and coffee. Thankfully, both she and Lucy were in their second trimesters now, so they had more choices on what to drink. "I wouldn't drink anything excessively. Just in moderation, okay?"

"Got it." Lucy nodded while happily pouring herself a cup of tea. "I can't tell you how nice it is to have doctors for friends. It's got some perks." she giggled, looking to Wendy and Levy. "Ah, by the way, Levy... I was wondering if you'd like to take over as my OBGYN like you did with Kasai."

"Oh, I'd love to, Lucy, but I'm afraid I can't this time." Levy sighed sadly. "Too many patients as it is, and Gajeel wants me to reduce my hours a little more." Not to mention, she'd be on medical leave by the time Lucy gave birth... preparing for her own little bundle of joy to arrive. Luckily, all her patients would have given birth by then, and she wasn't accepting new patients until after she came back from maternity leave.

"I have room for another patient, if you'd like." Wendy spoke up, giving Lucy a small smile. "Levy taught me everything I know."

"That would be wonderful." Lucy nodded eagerly. Anything to have someone trusted help her with the birth. She couldn't have anyone outside the family, after all, due to her fairy tail tattoos on her thigh and hand.

The girls proceeded from there to enjoy their afternoon of tea and snacks, gossiping and joking together. Alas, it came to an end when Gajeel opened the door in search of his wife, having finished working for the evening. He found them all talking about babies and, for a moment, he worried his wife had let their secret slip.

"Oh, Gajeel!" Levy looked up with a happy smile as he walked into the tea room. She felt her heart flutter happily at seeing that he was wearing the suit she'd given him. He really did love it, and he wore it often. The other girls silenced their chatting at the don's presence, but gave him friendly smiles. "Gajeel, wonderful news! Lucy is having another baby." Levy told him happily, glad she'd okayed sharing this news with Lucy beforehand. Gajeel's worry passed and he gave Lucy a genuine smile.

"That so? Now I see why yer husband's been actin weirder than usual." he chuckled lightly. Natsu had been acting stranger than usual as of late. Nothing really got to him anymore, and even Gray couldn't make Natsu anything other than super happy... and they usually fought all the time.

"He's been like that ever since we found out." Lucy nodded with a giggle, knowing very well how her husband's behavior could be seen as concerning to those that knew him.

"Well, congrats." the don offered before turning to his wife. "Hate ta ruin yer fun, shrimp, but that designer's back and wants ta know how you want the kitchen."

"Oh! I hope he brought samples of back-splashes today!" Levy eagerly got to her feet. She gave her friends an apologetic smile but they waved her off with easy smiles. Back-splashes and tile choices were far more important than tea.

"I love this one." Levy smiled, pointing to one sample. "I think it would go really well with... this." She found the marble sample she wanted and placed it next to the back-splash sample she loved.

"Yes, very nice." The designer agreed. "And perhaps this wood, for the cabinets?" he placed another sample next to the others, and Levy's eyes lit up happily.

"Yes! That looks lovely!" she declared. "Let's do that."

"Of course." the designer nodded, writing down what he needed to order. "And now, for this new bedroom, here. Would you like to see the carpet now that it's been put down?"

"Oh, yes." Levy nodded, following him to the nursery. "I love it." she awed at the very soft light gray carpet. It went extremely well with the three white walls and the one accent wall... which was painted pastel pink. Levy could already see this room with a crib and toys all over the place. It was perfect... just like she knew their baby girl would be.

Yay! Another chapter! Woo!

I'm updating super early cause I just got off work (at freaking 11:30pm ug) and I'm trying to wind down before bed. I gotta tell y'all updating only twice a week is really hard when I have so many really good chapters written up. I wanna post them so bad! But if I do that, I won't have any more chapters saved up and the regular updates thing won't work out anymore...

Just know you should be excited.

Anyways, please tell me what you think!

Thanks for reading!

-Nerdy12