A/N: I am so sorry for how long this took. But I think you guys have gotten used to having to wait anywhere from two weeks to a month and a half for chapters, so oh well.
Natsu smiled at his daughter, who was currently being fawned over by Levy and Mirajane, with Natsu and his wife watching closeby. Layla gave a giggle and reached for her father before accidentally wiggling from Mirajane's grasp on her. The sixth-month-old fell against the table she'd been sitting on with Mira's help before Levy laughed and helped the baby up again.
The fire dragon slayer noticed an odd scent coming off of Levy as he watched the woman play with Layla. It was different. It had changed. It was really similar to Gajeel's, in the same way Lucy's had become similar to his own not too long after they'd found out about the pregnancy. His eyes widened as he realized what the weird scent was.
"Hey Gajeel," Natsu snickered and looked to the fellow dragon slayer. "Your wife's scent has changed," he continued with a smirk.
Gajeel gulped and gave Natsu wide eyes from over the mug he'd just been drinking out of. It had been almost three weeks since Levy had told him about their pregnancy and they just hadn't known how to tell the guild yet. They didn't know how to say that they were pregnant after insisting to so many that they weren't ready for children yet.
"Natsu, what are you talking about?" Lucy asked, overhearing the dragon slayers' conversation.
The pink-haired husband laughed. "You remember, several months ago, right after we found out about the pregnancy? I told you your scent had changed to be even more like mine?"
"Yeah…?" Lucy hesitantly confirmed as her eyes narrowed in confusion. "What are you getting at?"
Natsu gave a pointed glance between Gajeel and his wife's stomach until Lucy's eyes widened and her hand came up to cover her mouth in surprise. "You're not- you're serious!?" At the red face Gajeel had from Lucy's realization and Levy's flustered and frantic hand waving now that she'd started listening in, Lucy could easily figure out the validity of Natsu's hypothesis.
Lucy looked to Levy with stars in her eyes and grabbed her friends hands excitedly. "You're pregnant!?"
And with that shout came even more shouts of excitement.
"Thanks for letting her tell everyone, Fire Breath!" Gajeel yelled indignantly.
Guild members swarmed the two in a similar manner to every one of the other pregnancy announcements, questions being tossed around and both members of the couple trapped and forced to give answers.
"What happened to 'not being ready'!?" Lucy demanded, with a wide smile still stretching across her face.
"Well, we didn't exactly plan for this to happen!" Levy answered with a red face. "It just did!"
"Ooh, so it was an accident!" Cana suggested with a wink. "Got a little too wild, eh?" Gajeel and Levy's faces both got redder as they spluttered some answers.
And it only escalated from there. Lucy sheepishly apologized for not being more tactful in her exclamation, but it did die down some eventually.
Levy gave a sigh and let her head loll against the bar top, exhausted by the excitement of her fellow guild members. She was ready to just go home and go to sleep. Just as she was about to get up and whine to Gajeel that she was ready to leave, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking up, it was Juvia, wearing an unreadable expression.
"Juvia, I..." Levy had never even thought about that! How did Juvia and Gray have to be feeling right now!? It had only been a few months since Gold's passing!
"Congratulations!" the water mage finally said with a smile. "I wish you the best."
"I... Thank you," Levy responded with her own smile.
"Don't feel sorry for me," Juvia told her. "What happened to our family shouldn't affect whether or not you have yours." Levy wrapped her arms around the other woman in a tight hug. "I'm happy for you," Juvia continued. "And I'm sure your little boy or girl will be a beautiful bundle of joy."
Levy leaned back from the hug and gave Juvia another smile, tears in her eyes. "Thank you," she said again.
oOo
Erza sighed as she walked home, distressed and slightly depressed, but hiding it apparently well, as no one had commented on her behavior while at Fairy Tail.
The day at the guild hall had been eventful, what with it coming out that Levy was pregnant.
Erza was joyful for the couple, of course, but yet another pregnancy announcement was just a reminder to her that she was nowhere near that.
All her closest friends seemed to be married and having kids by now. Lucy and Natsu, Gray and Juvia (however unfortunate that became), and now Gajeel and Levy… Mirajane wasn't exactly close to that, either, though. She and Laxus were still dancing around each other. But at least they could be together.
She couldn't truly be with Jellal yet. Not while he was still on the run from the law. She desperately wanted to be married and start a family, but only if it was with him. Jellal had finally accepted that. For the longest time, he had urged her to stop thinking about him and find someone else that she could do all that with, but she was too stubborn and too in love with him to listen.
Erza sighed again as she opened the door to what suddenly felt like a very lonely apartment.
Or, it was lonely, until someone from inside slammed the door shut behind her and feverishly met her lips with a kiss.
"Jellal!" Erza gasped when they separated, breathing heavily. The space between them was filled again before too long, and Erza hadn't realized they were moving until she felt the back of her legs hit her bed. "Jellal, what are you doing here?" she asked as they fell onto her mattress.
"Meredy just heard about what happened to Gray and Juvia. She wanted to pay them a visit and give her condolences," he responded, sweeping his hands through her long, beautiful hair. "She also wanted to meet Baby Dragneel, but that'll probably have to wait until next time."
"I can't deny that I've been missing you. It's been too long again, Jellal," she chastised, holding his cheek in her hand and gently caressing her thumb across the tattoo underneath his eye.
"You know I just want you to be safe, Erza. The Magic Council is already suspicious of you. If they realized that I visit you, that we're…"
"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't care!?" Erza flipped them over and stared down at him. "I love you, Jellal. I want to see you far more than I get to."
Jellal gulped. "I… I know. I love you too. I want to see you every day, hold you close in my arms every night, brush your hair in the morning when we're getting ready to go somewhere…" He cast his eyes to the side with a frown, but then looked back up at her.
"The appeal…" she started. Erza had submitted yet another appeal for Jellal's charges to be dropped months ago. He hardly thought it would do any good, but he tried to stay hopeful. For Erza's sake. "It's still not looking good. I haven't gotten a single response back." Erza let her weight settle on Jellal and they stayed like that, just holding each other in their arms.
"I just don't know, Erza."
Erza breathed in deeply. "Let's not worry about it at the moment. You're here right now and I want to make the most of that," she said, kissing him deeply, her scarlet hair crowning around his face.
oOo
Erza woke up several hours later to the sounds and movements of Jellal climbing out of her bed. Cracking open her eyelids, she saw the man pull his pants up before sitting back down and laying his head in his hands in distress. Erza brought the sheets up around her chest and moved to hug Jellal from behind, her arms wrapping around his neck and her head resting on his shoulder.
"You weren't supposed to wake up," he told her.
The redhead smacked him.
"Jellal, I know you love me more than anything, but this is so hard to deal with!"
"I just… I get so guil-"
"Yeah, you let your guilt consume you to the point that you won't even say goodbye to me when you leave!? How many times do I have to tell you that you can't just sneak off like this!? How many times do I have to tell you that I love you!?" Erza slumped against his back again and tried to keep her sobs contained.
"I just…"
"Jellal, I haven't gotten to say goodbye to you for two years. You keep running off before I get to. Did you ever think about how I might feel when I wake up and you're gone?"
Jellal thought for a long moment before sighing. "No, I guess not."
"Every time you just leave without saying anything, I feel more searing pain in my heart than I've ever felt in any fight before, Jellal. I love you. I love you so much. But this just hurts so much. Everything about this feels almost like it could kill me."
"Erza, I don't want to put you through this pain-"
"Then start acting like you love me as much as you say you do! Stop letting your guilt grip you like this! There's nothing for you to be guilty about!" The tears finally fell freely now, and with a sniff from the man she clutched onto, Erza realized that she wasn't the only one crying.
"I love you, Erza," he finally said. "And every moment I spend with you is the happiest I've ever been. I'm sorry my ridiculous notions end up making this so hard for you, I just… can hardly believe that I'm allowed to have something like this and then I just start getting so scared and anxietal that something bad is going to happen to you because of me and I leave because I can't handle the thought that I could end up causing you more pain than I already have."
Erza grimaced. "A lot of good that went."
Jellal nodded solemnly. "I didn't realize how much I was hurting you. I didn't think and you're always just so good at hiding how you feel when it comes to stuff like this…" Jellal gave her a look of apology before kissing her softly on the lips. "And part of the reason I don't like us to say goodbye is because every time I say it, it's that much harder to leave."
The redhead gripped Jellal's hand as a way to ground herself. "I think you'd better go."
"What?"
Erza grimaced again. "You heard me. It's time for you to go. I'll see you next time," she told him sternly.
Jellal dropped his head, upset with himself and just wanting to make things right somehow. He sighed. He was an idiot. How could he manage to hurt the woman he loved so much? He'd been hurting her since they were kids and he hadn't stopped, even after finally accepting their love.
"I love you," he told her again as he stood up to put the rest of his clothes on.
"I love you, too," she responded without looking at him.
Jellal pulled his hood up over his eyes and quietly left.
A/N: So yeah, I hope you enjoyed. I've been thinking about how to add Jerza since the beginning, but I think I've figured out what I'm gonna do.
Thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following!