Gajeel was used to waking up cuddling with a small cat, that was just his life ever since he'd found Lily, but waking up next to a kid (he wasn't sure if she still counted as a toddler or not) who was currently sucking her thumb, was something he never thought would ever happen. He stared at her for awhile, his gaze soft and non-threatening for once, then by chance he happened to notice the clock.

Shit, it's already 10 o'clock! The train left at noon and he still had to pack up his crap, feed Ira, and take her shopping for something other than his shirt to wear.

He quietly got out of the bed and started getting his clothes together in his bag, luckily he travelled light and was done within a few minutes. Now for the kid...

"Hey. Ira. Wake up." He said as gently as he could manage, which was still pretty gruff. She just rolled over, completely ignoring him. "Ira. Up." He shook her a bit, already losing his patience.

Ira woke up and for a second was terrified, which Gajeel could easily tell by her scent and eyes, but the girl calmed down as soon as she recognized it was just her new papa and not someone who was going to hurt her. The tiny girl hugged the large man, making sure he was actually there and she hadn't dreamed it all. She knew it was real when he hugged her back while picking her up.

"Come on, kid. We gotta get you fed and dressed." he said, lifting her up to sit on his shoulders and grabbing his bag. "Whadaya want for breakfast?"

"What's breakfast?" she asked. She'd heard the word many times, but wasn't sure what it meant. Gajeel just sighed and walked out the door, intending on going to the diner he'd ate at the last week.

"Well hey there honey! I thought you were gonna be long gone by now." The overly cheerful waitress said. "I'm guessing you want the usual but what about this little cutie?"

"Anything look good to you, Ira?" Gajeel asked. The little girl had a kids' menu with pictures but she was so overwhelmed with all the choices she had no idea.

After about a minute He figured she wasn't going to pick for herself.

"Get her a couple pancakes, a scrambled egg, some bacon, and a big glass of milk." He ordered. She had to like at least one thing he picked out, right?

The waitress smiled and came back with their food a couple minutes later. Gajeel wasted no time on his meat lover's breakfast with scrap metal thrown in, but when he looked over at Ira she still had the overwhelmed look on her face, not really knowing where to start.

"Oy hurry up and eat your food or I won't have time to buy you new clothes." he said with his mouth full. Seeing that her father was serious Ira started chowing down and ended up having her plate finished before Gajeel did.

"Papa I finished. Can we go now?" She asked, her big brown eyes begging the same way Levy's did.

"Yeah come on." he said as he swallowed his last bit of food. He sat the money for their breakfast on the table and picked her up, placing her back on his shoulders. They only had an hour to pick her out something to wear and get to the train station in time.

Gajeel walked through the accessories store that he was forced to enter with Ira. She already had a black dress with a blue jacket and a pair of combat boots, but a bandana in the window had perked the girl's interest. As they were walking back to the front of the store with the bandana she finally decided on, Ira suddenly stopped.

"Oy, kid, what's wrong?" Gajeel growled, he'd had enough of all this girly shit to last a lifetime. Ira just continued to stand there staring at another little girl getting her ears pierced.

"What? You want to get your ears done too?" She nodded and continued to stare.

"It hurts, ya know." he stated, and as if on cue the other girl started to cry.

"I don't care." Ira said. "I won't cry. I wanna be like papa."

Gajeel laughed and gave in, picking Ira up he carried her over to the booth that did the piercings and sat her down on the stool.

"She wants her ears done." He barked at the young lady who surprisingly had a face as decorated as his own. She smiled and asked Ira to pick out a pair of earrings. It was almost like the breakfast menu until she saw the perfect pair.

"These ones." she said, eagerly pointing to a pair of small silver earrings that looked like dragons. Gajeel smirked and before they knew it Ira's ears were pierced and they were running to the train station, getting on at the last second.

"The train's not going to get home until later tonight," Gajeel said as he stretched out on 2 seats. "so you should take a nap or something. If you need anything just wake me up." and almost instantly the dragon slayer fell asleep.