I'm really sorry it's been so long since I updated but my course is killing me! We have exams every 3 weeks and there's sooo much to remember. I have one in 2 days and this is basically me procrastinating and making sure I'll fail :(! Anyway enough with my gloomy life, I hope someone is still interested in this story and that you like this new chapter. Lucy will make an appearance again ;) As always I don't own anything!
It had been two months since Gajeel and Levy started working at the publishing house. They had managed to find two authors willing to publish their books through them and Levy was working on a third one. This one was actually a surprise to all of them as the author was Lucy. She had written a letter to Levy saying that she was considering giving them the rights to publish her book. Her manuscript should arrive to them any day now but Lucy had specifically asked for Levy as the editor which of course had annoyed Gajeel (this kind of made Levy's day when she read the letter to him and saw his face). Anyway bottom of the line is that they were doing relatively well, however a certain someone couldn't seem to stop huffing and puffing today!
"Sigh!"
"Argh! Seriously what is wrong with you today?"
"Huh...Oh, sorry just thinking."
"Well could you stop sighing it's distracting me and I need to finish editing this book since we'll start production tomorrow."
"Yeah. Sorry it's just that I seem to have found a potential problem."
"What problem?"
"Well we only have the funds to print 100 copies and an order for another 100 just came in! I've been trying to figure out a solution all morning. The client won't give us an advance payment and we can't afford to start asking for loans. If I ask my father he will most likely ship me back to Crocus before I even finish my sentence!"
"Why didn't you tell me this! What happened to we're partners! We make decisions together! If this is about..."
"Stop, right there this has nothing to do with the fact that you refuse to speak to me apart from when it's business related. We have an agreement and I will honour it. I did not tell you because you were busy reading and when you start reading I've learned (from a very young age) that it's best not to disturb you. Also I thought I could handle this, but clearly I was wrong!"
"Right. Well if something like this happens again tell me about it. Anyway, tell me where the problem with the funds lies. How much do we need? Maybe I can ask my father for money."
"The problem is that we cannot afford the labour costs. We pay the workers by the hour and this would require double the amount of labour. As for the paper and ink we have enough because I have stocked up for when we are ready to print the next one."
"Right so how much is it? I can go and ask my father, his office is actually really close by."
"You can't!"
"Why not?"
"Do you remember what they told us when we started this?"
"Umm.."
"The investment was limited to that one time. We cannot ask them for more money. I had already predicted we would be at a loss in the beginning but I was hoping we would have enough to pay or workers."
"Well maybe we can do the work ourselves!"
God she's so cute when she's determined! Right, focus Gajeel! "We...as in the two of us? That's impossible it would take us an incredibly long time and neither of us knows how to work the machines!" And I'm pretty sure you can't reach the handles...Gihi..better not say that
"You're thinking of a short joke aren't you!"
"What no I wasn't! This is serious!"
"This is serious and you're grinning like an idiot!"
"Um.."
"Anyway I have an idea. How about we ask the workers to work for the extra hours and promise them we will pay them later when we have the money!"
"You want them to work for free? And you think they'll go for it?"
"Sure why not?"
"Because they need the money and could probably work somewhere else where they will get paid during those hours!"
"But I'm sure if we explain the situation to them..."
"They will laugh at our face and probably not even work the paid hours"
"But we should at least try!"
"Sigh...fine you go talk to them!"
"FINE!"
Levy stormed out of their office and headed for the printing room. She found everyone coming into work and waited till the room was full. Once she saw everyone was present she went up on one of the tables and addressed the room.
"AHEM! Excuse me! Can I have your attention please? Thank you. So as everyone knows today we start printing our first book and we even got a new order in for another 100 copies!"
Everyone in the room cheered at that. Meanwhile Gajeel was standing in the sidelines dreading what was to come.
"Alright...settle down. I'm not done yet. It's true that we got a new order in but unfortunately we cannot afford to pay you at the moment for the extra hours, so we were hoping that you would be willing to accept a payment later?"
Murmurs and whispers filled the room and Levy started to feel less and less certain of her plan judging by the look on peoples faces.
"And when would this payment come?"- Someone from the back asked.
"Well we don't know for sure. Probably when the payments from the sales start coming in. Once we've settled with the author..."
Gajeel facepalmed himself. Seriously! She had to say that!
Outrage filled the room following her words and Levy felt tears well up in her eyes as she heard some of the words they directed at her. Then she saw a big figure step in front of her. Gajeel!
"Alright! Settle down! What Miss McGarden here was trying to say is that we are in a tight spot and we are trying to come up with solutions. The payment for these extra hours will not come until probably two or three months from now. And I know that that is a long time but we have no choice. As for paying to author we signed a contract with him so unfortunately we cannot pay you before we pay him. Heck if we go bankrupt we still have to pay him. If you are willing, we can write a contract for these extra hours that promises to pay you back within three months and we will even raise the payment by £2/hour. What do you say?"
Gajeel could see the people contemplating it and finally he got the nods of approval he needed.
"Alright then, back to work."With that he dragged Levy into their office.
"Are you okay?"
"Heh...right like you care! You sent me out there to make a fool of myself just to come in with a plan and take the spotlight, didn't you?"
"What are you talking about? I warned you this would happen and I only did what I could come up with on the spot which by the way gets us into a whole new set of trouble!"
"What do you mean?"
"We cannot afford to do what I just offered them! I basically just signed our bankruptcy!"
"But then why did you promise them that?"
"Because you were being attacked up there and I had to do something!"
"But..."
A knock on the door interrupted them.
"Come in"
"I'm sorry to disturb. But there is a letter for you Mr Redfox and a visitor for you Miss McGarden. Shall I send him in?"
"Yes, please do."
Gajeel looked at the letter, puzzled since there was no return address or name on it. He opened it and couldn't help but grin.
Dear Gajeel
I'm pretty sure you need this lets call it anonymous donation by now!
P.
Along with the letter came a cheque for their publishing company.
"Well, looks like we're not gonna go bankrupt after all!"
"What do you mean?"
"An anonymous donation just came in."
"Really? Oh my god! That's great...so we can pay them now!"
"Yes!" Gajeel was about to hug her when "the bane of his existence" came into the room.
"Hello Levy dear. What is all the excitement about?"
"Oh Freed! We just got an anonymous donation that basically saved the publishing house!" Levy beamed at him, which only increased Gajeel's jealousy.
"Well isn't that wonderful! How about we go to lunch and celebrate!"
"I don't know we have quite a lot of work to do..."
"Nah, don't worry about it! You love birds go and enjoy yourselves I can take care of things here!" What am I doing?!
"Are you sure?"
And as he looked into her honey-brown eyes he couldn't help himself. "Sure! Go...have fun!"
"Thanks Redfox!" Freed added as he led Levy outside of the office.
"Not a problem asshole!" Gajeel let out under his breath as he slumped on his chair. Rubbing his face in frustration he kept thinking about what he had just done. I am basically their matchmaker now! What's wrong with me? Argh...but she looks kinda happy with him and I don't deserve her. So yeah Gajeel you did the right thing pal! But why does it feel so wrong? Argh! Never mind I should focus on work!
Later that day Levy returned home after spending almost her entire afternoon with Freed at his insistence. She kept feeling guilty about leaving Gajeel alone though. When she went back into the office everyone was almost finished with their work and Gajeel looked exhausted. Apparently they had been short handed so he had actually helped with the printing. That made her feel even guiltier. Maybe he's not as bad as I thought...and he was so nice to let me go with Freed. Although that turned out to be a total bore! I mean I like books and I can talk about them for hours but Freed seems to like these weird factual sort of book...I honestly cannot keep this up! What if he actually asks for my hand in marriage? God I cannot imagine spending the rest of my life with him. Especially since he is so obsessed with Laxus Dreyar. I mean I know they are friends but seriously, it's like he's in love with him or something. Anyway today I should be getting one of those packages if A. decides to keep this up. I wonder what it will be this time?
Her mysterious admirer had been sending her one present every month on the exact date the 14th since the day the publishing house was opened. She just wished he would tell her who he was in one of those notes of his.
"Sigh"
"Well isn't that a nice way to welcome your best friend!"
"LUCY!"
"HI Levy!"
"Hahaha. You're here! Oh my god you're here!"
"I'm here!"
The two friends hugged and jumped excitedly and finally decided to sit down to catch up.
"SO what's been going on! Tell me everything! I don't want you to leave out any details! Your letters have been so short lately."
"Well there is nothing much to say really! I'm working at the publishing house and it's been doing fine. We have two authors ready to be published and one on the side waiting for their manuscript" Levy nudged her friend.
"And that is what I am here for. To deliver this to you in person."
"Thank you Lu! So anything new from you?"
"Well lets just say that I have a question for you"
"Sure. What is it?"
"How do you feel about being a godmother?"
"Well that's a great honour and I'm sure someday maybe...wait a minute are you telling me you're pregnant?"
"Uhuh!"
-SQUEEEEL-
"Oh my god! Congratulations! I cannot wait. Are you sure you want me as the godmother though?"
"Of course, you are going to be the best godmother ever. You will teach him how or her how to read and write and you will read them stories and when you get married and have children they are going to be the best of friends! And you won't be doing this alone. Natsu is telling Gajeel right this moment I believe. This will probably help you two finally get over yourselves and admit you love each other and get married and have lots and lots of cute babies."
At that Levy froze "Ah Lucy you probably should stop with that fantasy of yours. There will never be anything between the two of us. Besides Freed is courting me right now, so it wouldn't be good to spread those kind of rumours."
"Freed! That bore! Seriously!" What is Gajeel doing? There together in that office most of the time how has he not made a move yet? Also how the HELL DID I GET THAT RIGHT! I was making it up that time!
"Yes and he's not boring he's quite charming!"
"Yeah and I am going to be queen! Seriously Levy, I thought you liked Gajeel and..."
"Well he doesn't like me okay! In fact he has made it very clear what he thinks of me!"
"What do you mean?"
I tears Levy relayed the events of that night to Lucy and it hurt even more now as she thought of the past two months and how great he had been. How hard working and inspiring he was to everyone working at the publishing house, including her. And as she thought about the fact that deep down she still could not bring herself to let go of that slither of hope that maybe he liked her too. As she thought about those feeling that she kept deep inside of her for him that she was not ready to accept.
Gajeel you are an idiot! How are we going to fix this! Lucy thought as she held her crying friend. A knock on the door broke their thoughts as one of the butlers came in carrying a package for Levy.
Lucy looked at it curiously as she saw Levy crack an angelic smile while opening the box and reading the note inside. Then she saw probably the most beautiful headband she had ever seen. It was white and embroidered with a complex pattern in gold and light pink with hints of blue here and there.
"Levy, what is that?"
"Um...this is a headband"
"No I know what it is I meant who is it from?"
"I don't really know but this is the third present I have received from him. At least I think it's a he. It always comes on the 14th of the month since we opened the publishing house. And it's signed A. and it comes with these lovely notes."
"Can I read it?"
"Sure...here you go!"
Dear Miss McGarden,
I hope you enjoyed my previous presents and that they managed to bring a smile to your face. This time I opted for something a bit practical. I know how much you love to read and although beautiful I am sure your hair gets in your way sometimes. I wish I had to the courage to tell you who I am, but to me the simple knowledge that this makes you happy is enough.
I wish we could meet or that I could get a reply from you but that would give me away and I am not ready for that yet. I wish that I could hold your hand and tell you how beautiful you are in person and not just in these letters.
Yours forever and always
A.
"Wow! And you don't know who this is?"
"Nope"
"You really cannot think of anyone?"
"Well at first I thought it was Freed but then he gets to see me a lot and he is courting me so why would he need to hide."
"Seriously! You cannot think of anyone else?"
"Nope why can you?"
"YES! Gajeel"
"That's not funny Lu"
"It's not meant to be"
"Can we just stop talking about him! And don't try and convince me he's A. you'll ruin him for me!"
"But.."
"Please Lu!"
"Fine...Let's see how that headband looks on you!"
And here it is! Sorry I left it at that but I kinda need to get back to studying or I'll fail for real! Rate and review