Levy, Lucy, and Juvia talked and laughed as they sat in Lucy's backyard and watched their husbands prepare for the 4th of July celebration that was being held at the guild later that night. Natsu was trying to be a show-off for the kids, catching everything on fire in the process. Gray was getting pissed off because he had to keep freezing everything that Natsu burned, and Gajeel was trying to make home-made fireworks but he wasn't quite successful. More often than not, he'd pack the black-powder too tightly, and it would blow up in his face.

Lucy yelped as a piece of metal went flying by her head. "Levy-chan, shouldn't you stop Gajeel before he kills someone?" She asked.

Levy glared at her playfully. "I could say the same thing. A big patch of your lawn is dead from constantly being burned then frozen."

Juvia jumped up, looking upset. "Don't get mad at Gray, he's just trying to help!" She exclaimed.

Lucy laughed at the water mage, "Juvia, we aren't mad. It was a joke."

Juvia sat down, her face red in embarrassment. Levy and Lucy were in the middle of a laughing fit when there was another explosion, but this one was more powerful than the others and everybody had to shield their eyes. If the girls had been standing up, they would've been knocked over by the force of the blast.

When the dust settled they got up and ran to check on their kids, only to find the were covered by Gray.

The ice mage pushed himself up, shaking his head. "Is everybody ok?"

Levy grabbed her daughter, Lucy grabbed her twins, and Juvia grabbed her son. The women looked the kids over and, when they were content, shook their heads.

"What the heck happened?" Lucy asked while hugging her kids, much to their chagrin.

Rin, her daughter, spoke up. "Daddy thought it would be funny to blow up Uncle Gajeel's firework."

Lucy looked across the yard only to find Natsu and Gajeel both on their back.

Levy and Lucy got up to deal with their husbands while Juvia stayed with Gray and all of the kids.

When Levy reached Gajeel's side his eyes were closed and she thought he was knocked unconcious. She crouched down so she could get a better look at him. His face was covered in soot and dirt, and was slightly burned. That wasn't too bad, but his hands... His hands were completely black, torn and bleeding. There was a small piece of metal sticking out of one of the cuts and Levy reached out to grab it.

She was so focused on trying not to hurt him, she hadn't realized Gajeel had opened his eyes and watched as she pulled the piece of metal from his hand.

Levy smiled in triumph and turned to looked at his face, only to jump when she met his crimson eyes. They stayed like that, just looking at each other for a few minutes. The could hear Lucy yelling at Natsu, but ignored it.

Levy suddenly shook her head and stood up, dusting off her clothes. She held her hand out to him and asked, "You getting up?"

Gajeel grinned and sat up, holding out his hand. Levy was about to grab his hand when he was suddenly knocked backwards by their sobbing daughter.

"Daddy!" She wailed, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck. "Ryuu said Daddy almost died!"

Gajeel and Levy glanced at each other, amused. The blast had knocked Gajeel back a good five meters but had stunned him a little, but that was the extent of it.

The iron dragon-slayer smiled and hugged his daughter tightly. "I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me." He stood up, still holding on to her. "Do you know what you should do now?"

Hitomi leaned back and shook her head.

"Now you need to go beat him up for being an idiot."

"Gajeel! You can't tell her it's ok to beat people up!" Levy chastised. She reached out her arms, showing she wanted to hold the little girl.

"No!" She exclaimed, "I want to stay with Daddy!" She flung her arms around his neck again and this time she showed no signs of letting go any thime soon.

Levy sighed. She knew it was nothing personal. Hitomi was just a daddy's girl, and Gajeel encouraged it. He loved pamper and spoil her when he could.

She started walking toward her friends when she felt her hand was grabbed. She looked down and saw Gajeel's hand wrapped around her own. Looking up, she saw him looking down at her with a grin. She smiled in return and they walked back together.