Chapter 77

Levy worried her lip as she paced around Gajeel's office. Gajeel looked up from his work, watching her for a moment before sighing softly.

"Shrimp, ya need to calm down." he told her gently. "They'll understand why we didn't tell them."

"How do you know?" she whined. "This is big, Gajeel. It's not like I'm only a few weeks pregnant. I'm five months pregnant."

"And you are the Don's wife and a very big target to my enemies." Gajeel reminded her firmly. "They will understand why we had to keep it quiet." He paused and let out a soft sigh. "I just hope they'll keep quiet, too." The last thing they needed was word of Levy's pregnancy getting out. It was bad enough she was starting to really show now. No amount of baggy clothes would be able to hide the baby soon. Luckily, the mansion's guards were all stationed around the outside and in the halls closest to the exits... so nobody was really ever in the center of the mansion except for Gajeel, Levy, and a few council members here and there. So far, nobody outside of Metalicana and Lily knew about the baby. But that was changing soon.

Juvia and Lucy, with their children, had moved into the mansion until this serial killer was caught. Obviously, they would want to see Levy, who they hadn't seen or heard from in a few months. Not since their last tea party, after all, and that had been when Levy was only about twelve weeks along. They knew she was likely holed up in the mansion because of the serial killer, at Gajeel's insistence, no doubt. But now that they would also be there, they were going to want to spend time with her...

And she was very obviously pregnant now.

Levy had been avoiding them, hiding in Gajeel's office while he worked. They'd been here for two days, already, and Levy knew it was only a matter of time before they thought to ask Gajeel where she was. She feared they might be mad at her for hiding her pregnancy from them... especially for so long. It's not like she'd only hidden it for a few weeks. She'd hidden it for months. From her best friends.

"Shrimp, it's gonna be okay." Gajeel assured his worried wife. "Come sit down. I've got an appointment comin in soon." He gestured to the chair next to him at his desk. Levy sighed softly and sat down while Gajeel walked around the desk to make sure the baby couldn't be seen. Thankfully, his wife's petite stature made it easy enough to hide her stomach behind the desk without raising suspicion. As long as she didn't stand up, you couldn't tell she was pregnant.

"What's this appointment about?" she asked as Gajeel returned to his chair next to her, getting some papers ready.

"One of the businesses we took over ain't meeting their quota." Gajeel grumbled as he dug around in his desk for a certain folder. "It happens a lot, and usually there's good reason, so this stuff rarely gets past Makarov. He's pretty forgiving of most stuff. But this time he thinks they're tryin ta short us intentionally." He paused and gave his wife a small smile. "You sure ya wanna be in here? I'm likely ta get pissed off. Might scare ya."

"I'm sure I've seen you do worse than yell at and threaten people." Levy rolled her eyes, earning a small chuckle from her husband. Yes, she'd seen him do much worse than that. Numerous times.

"Ya remember the rules from last time?" he checked lightly. She nodded. Don't talk, try not to show emotion... don't be afraid of him. He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "We'll get some lunch after this, alright? And then I'm done for the day. We can go relax."

"Okay." she smiled happily at this. He'd been taking more time off lately, trying to spend more time with her as her pregnancy progressed. He'd been doing his workouts early in the morning, before she woke up, and finishing his paper work early. Once he got his appointments out of the way, he made sure to spend time with her, keeping his pager on in case something urgent came up. He'd only been pulled away twice, so far, and he handled the issues fairly quickly.

The meeting was fairly short, all things considered. It didn't take long to realize Makarov was right. They were trying to fake having trouble meeting their quotas, and were selling the rest of the parts on the side for more money. Gajeel was pissed and the business owners were terrified of his wrath. He went on an angry rant before taking a deep breath and calming down, leveling the owners with a cold, heartless glare. Without saying a word to them, he picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Do it." Was all he said into the phone, keeping his eyes locked with the primary owner's. He hung up and all was silent for a moment... until the main owner's phone went off. The owner panicked and apologized for the interruption. "No, go ahead. Answer the phone." Gajeel insisted firmly, seeming a bit too at ease about the interruption... as if he was expecting it. Suspicious and afraid, the owner answered the phone.

"Daddy?!" a woman's voice could be heard sobbing into the phone... and the owner's face went sheet white. He turned horrified eyes to Gajeel, who was still giving him a cruel glare. Levy struggled to keep up an emotionless appearance as she sat next to her terrifyingly powerful husband. She'd heard the girl from where she was sitting, and she could almost feel the dread and fear that the man was experiencing. If she was in his shoes... oh Mavis, she didn't want to think about that.

"You've disrespected me and you've disrespected Fairy Tail." Gajeel's voice was cold and calm as he spoke. "I'm doubling your quota for next month. Meet it, and she'll be returned to you unharmed. Can't promise the same if you fail me again." He warned firmly. "Now get the hell out of my office."

The men fled the office like the devil was on their heels, and Gajeel took a moment to calm down. Damn it, he was pissed off. Everyone knew better than to do this kind of shit but, for some reason, it had been happening a lot lately. Makarov thought it was because he wasn't Metalicana. They thought maybe a new Don would let it slide or wouldn't notice stuff like this. But they were dead wrong. Gajeel had been groomed for this position since he was a child. He knew exactly what he was doing. The problem was in making that clear to everyone else. He was not someone to fuck with.

"What... what's going to happen to the girl?" His wife's worried voice got his attention. He turned to find her biting her lip nervously and avoiding eye contact with him.

"Oi, oi... you know better than ta be afraid of me." Gajeel sighed softly, reaching out and gently taking her chin in his hand. He gave her a small smile when she met his eyes and nodded. She wasn't afraid of him. But the amount of power he had was terrifying. She realized that she tended to forget just who and what her husband was to the world. To the world he was a cold, heartless crime boss who was unafraid to do what it took to get his way. He killed, he kidnapped, he blackmailed, he tortured... but she had a bad habit of forgetting about all that.

Because, to her, he was just... Gajeel. Her husband. He loved her, he teased her, he constantly did romantic, sweet things for her. He was the father of her child. He was just Gajeel to her and she loved him. She loved him so much. Even when she was reminded of how scary he could be, she still loved him and would never be afraid of him. Afraid of his power? His position? Sure. But never of him.

"I'm not afraid of you." she assured him quietly, still worrying her lip between her teeth. "B-but what's going to happen to her?" Gajeel stared at her firmly for a long moment before giving her a gentle smile.

"Absolutely nothing." he shrugged easily, surprising her. "Levy, she's not gonna be hurt, even if they don't meet their quota next month. But... they don't need ta know that." he chuckled lightly, giving her a reassuring smile. "Someone's gonna watch her. She's gonna be fed and cared for. She might be a bit shaken up from the experience, but I gave strict orders to make sure she's not harmed. I only had her taken to prove a point and remind them that I'm not someone they should fuck with."

"But what happens if they don't meet their quota? Will you still return her?" Levy asked.

"Not right away. They'll have another meeting with me before I make a decision. But the girl won't be hurt. She's only sixteen. I ain't gonna punish her for her father's mistakes." he promised gently. "Worst case scenario, she goes home to her mother safe and sound... without a father. But I don't see that happening. This guy's a family guy. He'll do whatever it takes to protect his little girl. Even if he fails to meet his quota, he'll be begging for another chance just as long as his daughter is safe. He plays his cards right, she'll go home with him after that meeting." He smiled at seeing the relief filling Levy's eyes. He knew why she was so worried about the girl. She'd likely put herself in the owner's shoes, with their baby girl on the line. He'd done the same, when he'd decided to use the girl this way, and he knew he'd do whatever it took to get his daughter back safe and sound. He was banking on this man doing the same.

"Feel better, shrimp?" Gajeel asked softly after a moment. She nodded. She did feel a lot better, knowing that the girl, at least, wasn't going to be hurt over her father's mistakes. Of course, she doubted Gajeel would do something like that, anyways. He was cruel, but not as heartless as he often appeared... and he had a soft spot for young women. Not to mention, he'd soon be a father, too. He knew how precious a daughter was, and he knew he'd never be able to kill a daughter just to get at her father. A son? Perhaps. It depended on the situation, of course. But never a daughter.

"Can we go eat? Please?" Levy asked her husband, feeling her stomach starting to rumble. Gajeel chuckled softly and stood with a nod. He helped her out of her chair, smiling a bit despite her struggling. It was cute, seeing her pout at the fact that she now needed help standing and sitting. She could do it on her own, of course, but much slower than usual because of her stomach. Gajeel just smiled and was always ready to help her, without even being asked. Once she was on her feet, he pulled her into his arms with a gentle embrace.

"Shrimp, don't ever be afraid of me. Okay?" he sighed into her hair as she returned the embrace. "Even when I do scary things. Even when I'm cruel to people. You know damn well I'll never be that way with you, right?"

"I know." she nodded against him, sighing happily as she felt him run his fingers through her hair. "I'll never be afraid of you, Gajeel. I promise. I love you."

"I love you, too, shrimp." he smiled, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Now c'mon. I'm hungry, too. And yer eatin for two now. Lunch time."

I'm so glad I got such a big response after last chapter. For the record, I didn't mean to sound as depressed as I did in my note. Sorry if I worried y'all. But I'm glad to see that my story isn't getting stale or boring or anything like that.

Anyways, I felt like I was drifting away from the whole mafia thing a little, so this chapter was just kind of a reminder that the mafia is really scary and really dangerous, hehe. Also! The title of this chapter is a callback to an earlier chapter. Tell me if you can guess which one it is! (It's pretty easy to tell tbh, just look at the titles lol)

Thanks for reading, and please tell me what you think! I love your suggestions and even your criticisms. They really do help determine the flow of the story, you know. For example: honestly Levy was gonna get pregnant way earlier than she did, originally, but a lot of you wanted that to wait a bit lol. And I feel like this is a better story now, because I pushed it back a bit. Truly, you guys really do help make this story work.

Anyways, thanks again.

-Nerdy12