Chapter Two
AN: Sorry its been a while, but I promise I'll update sooner, or at least try to. Anyways, here's chapter two.
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Levy sat on her hospital bed, watching her daughter sleep in her father's arms. The small six year old seemed so much smaller when placed against Gajeel's largeness. Her soft snores sang harmony with the mountainous man's rough ones. A kitten's purr dancing with a train wreck. A smile stretched across the blunette's face as her heart filled with love a moment before sorrow ripped through her chest. One day her little wild card would have to stay with her iron dragon of a daddy permanently if the treatments didn't work. Heart broken, Levy curled into a ball on her hospital bed, tears filling her eyes.
"Shrimp?" Levy hadn't realized her sobs had escaped her mouth and woken the mountainous man across the room. "Oi, Shrimp don't cry. Let's go for a walk. Kat will be fine. Droy and Jet are still here."
"Gajeel, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," the blunette whimpered.
A sudden warmth spread through Levy's arm as the raven haired man reached out to help her stand up. Still weak from the treatment a few hours ago, her petite frame rested unsteadily against his firm body. She could feel his strength. Gajeel could snap her arm in two just as easily as he could gently caress her palm with his finger tips. His large muscular arm wrapped around her waist, leaving a trail of blazing heat across her skin, keeping her steady as they began to walk.
The two made their way out into the hospital's garden. The large three mile square was tucked into the center of the health care facility, it's diverse plant life and peaceful trails gave the patients a safe, calming area to walk, exercise, and rebuild their strength. Designed by the hospital's founder in the late nineteenth century, the garden held nine different tree species, ten beautiful breeds of flowers, and eight different types of bushes. Two different footpaths wove their way through the plant life to intersect in the middle in front of the marble statue of the founder's three young daughters, Blain, Kitatia, and Xerianna.
The statue stood in the center of a large coy fish pond. Lily pads dotted the pond's surface as the three marble girls stood in a perpetual state of play. Blain appeared to be the tallest and oldest of the girls. Her stone body forever frozen in the form of a young teenage beauty. She stood in the center laughing as she played an acoustic guitar. Her young frame was cloaked in a beautiful marble dress that flowed from her body to the earth in stone waves of silk. Her sister, Kitatia, sat among a patch of rock flowers, weaving the never dying blossoms into a flower crown. She wore a similar dress to her older sister and appeared to be around ten years of age. Her gracefully carved mouth lay open as if the child were singing, trapped for eternity mid verse. The youngest of the three, Xerianna, appeared to be gently cradling a small stone kitten within her slim, glossy white arms as she spun in a dance of joy to the sound of her sister's guitar.
Gajeel and Levy walked silently up to the statue, watching the moonlight dance across the marble skin of the three playful girls. The small blunette panted as she wiped an all too thin hand across her forehead, removing a sheen layer of sweat. Her weakened body, exhausted from the leisurely walk, slid onto a bench that rested beside the pond as her large hazel eyes met Gajeel's crimson gaze. The raven haired man sighed as he knelt before the sickly woman.
"Levy, be honest with me, I deserve that much," the man's voice shook with emotion. "What have the doctors told ya?"
"I had a tumor in my heart that was left untreated for the nine months I was pregnant with Kat. The tumor had all but taken over my heart by the time I gave birth to her. I was rushed into surgery a month later for a heart transplant," Levy took a deep breath. Her eyes filled with tears as her hands began to shake. "By then the cancer had spread to my lungs and I had started chemotherapy. By the time Kat was two I had beat the cancer. I fell ill again about a year ago and came back for answers only to find out my cancer was back. I have a small tumor in my left lung. It was too large at the time to be removed safely so I began chemo treatments again. The tumor is small enough now to be removed safely through surgery. I go in next week to have it removed. Once the tumor has been extracted, I'll have to remain here for about a week or two to recover and have a check up, then I can go home."
"I guess I should call Makarov in the morning and tell him to find another guitar teacher for the orphans." Gajeel lifted Levy's hand to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss over her knuckles. "I'll head back to Magnolia in a couple days to get some fresh clothes. Tomorrow, Jet, Droy and I will head over to your place and get things ready there for when ya get released."
"Gajeel, no, you don't need to do that. I'm not your problem to deal with. Just take Kat with you so I know she's safe. I'll come get her when I'm strong enough to take care of her." Levy looked away. Staring up at the stars, the young mother fought off her tears as pain filled her soul. She wanted to tell Gajeel to stay, to beg him to take her back, to go home to the house they shared years ago in Magnolia, but she couldn't. He wouldn't allow it.
" Levy McGarden, I told you ten years ago when you were sixteen that I'd never love another and I meant it. I wanted to married ya. I bought ya a house and gave ya a child ya hid from me. Ya left me alone and broken for seven long years and I've missed ya, Shrimp. I want my woman back. I want my child home with me every night. I want to dust off my leather jacket, boots, and faithful guitar and get back into writing and releasing music. Now stop your whining and kiss me," Gajeel ran a finger over the tiny woman's lips as he spoke, lowering him lips to hover just above her's.
Levy lifted her head slightly to press her lips against the man's, tasting him mouth with a vigor she hadn't realized she'd had. The sweetness of mint mingled together with an oddly metallic flavor to overpower her senses and remind her of the very first time they shared a kiss. A gentle moan slid from her soft lips as she drifted into the old memory.
Sixteen year old Levy McGarden sat beneath an old weeping willow tree reading Sherrilyn Kenyon's Bad Moon Rising. She had just got to the part where Aimee agreed to help Fang track down and kill each one of the Daimons who had stolen a piece of his soul to free him from the coma like hell the were-hunter was trapped in when a shadow blocked the sun from view. Glancing up from the pages of her story, the blunette met the gaze of her long time crush, the dark and mysterious, eighteen year old bad boy, Gajeel Redfox. A gentle blush dusted her pale cheeks. What had brought him here?
"Hello, Gajeel. Is there something you need?" Her voice drifted on the breeze, anxious but warm.
The large man shook his head, dropping down to sit beside her. Silent as the dancing grass the older teen lifted the book from the tiny girl's hands, slipping the photo of Levy's parents into the pages to hold her place once again. "Shrimp, I got something I want to ask ya."
"Sure, what's up?"
"We've known each other for years, right? I mean we've sat next to each other in classes before and we walk home together a lot. We've been neighbors for years and I was there the night you lost your family. I guess we weren't close but I think we're friends, right," the boy's face a deep red, he cleared his voice. "I'm failing here, Shrimp. Maybe I should go." He moved to stand.
"Gajeel, stay." Levy caught hold of the red eyed boy's arm and gently pulled him back down beside her. "What was your question?"
"Levy, will ya be my girl?" Gajeel's cheeks flamed as he finished the question.
"Are you asking me out?"
"Yes, Shrimp, I am."
"Of course I will, ya big lug." Joy replaced the redness of his face as Gajeel stood, swinging Levy up into the air, her yellow sundress fluttering in the breeze. As he set the girl back on the ground, Gajeel had lowered his lips to hers. Mint and metal mixed with the sweet taste of sugar cookies and jolly ranchers as the teens explored each others mouth.
Levy broke free from the kiss, coming up for air. A smile stretched across her reddened lips as a peaceful glaze coated her hazel gaze. Her heart hammered, wild and hopeful, in her chest. Suddenly, the future didn't look so dark.
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Gajeel came awake to a sudden screech, blinking rapidly to clear the sleep out of his eyes. Peering around the hospital room, the man tried to place what was causing the ear splitting noise echoing around the room. Levy lay upon her bed, holding their daughter as the two blunettes looked up at him, clearly startled by the sudden noise as well. A book lay open on her leg, forgotten for the moment. Beside the bed, a tray of half eaten breakfast grew colder by the second. Jet and Droy sat cuddled together on the hospital room couch, rubbing sleep from their half open eyes while Meredy, nested in a pile of blankets on the floor, slept on, music blaring from the headphones perched in her ears.
Suddenly, the door opened, revealing an annoyed looking Rogue. "Some idiots got into a fight in the cafeteria. The nurse hit the panic button to call for help breaking them up. Apparently, there was some faulty wiring which caused a short in the alarm system resulting in the screeching we are all hearing now."
"Was it a loud mouthed pink haired man and an icy black headed guy?" Droy grumbled.
"Yea. The pink haired guy was a burn victim and the other looked like he'd been trapped in a freezer for a few days."
"The burn moron is Natsu Dragneel, he lit a meth lab on fire a month ago. He got caught up in the resulting blast and burnt about seventy percent of his body. The moron he was fighting with is Gray Fullbuster. His brother, Lyon, lost his mind in a jealous rage when the woman he was obsessing over fell in love with Gray instead of him and locked the couple in the freezer of the restaurant the brothers owned together. An employee opening the place two days later opened the freezer and found them half frozen inside." Jet informed the group. "Natsu and Gray have never gotten along."
An explosion sounded from the hall, rattling the walls and shattering the window to the left of Levy and Kat. The terrified child screamed as glass rained over her and her mother. A thick red liquid trickled from the girl's forehead causing Levy to gasp. A shard of the shattered window had rebounded off the heart monitor under the now nonexistent window, picking up speed, and embedded itself in the six year old's face. Gajeel saw red as his child began to scream.
At six foot eight, Gajeel was a wall of solid muscle and a pool of rage. He barreled from the room into the hallway just in time to see the pink haired burn patient leap at the frost bitten, half dressed man in front of him. The remains of a pressurized oxygen tank lay scattered across the floor and planted haphazardly into the crumbling walls. Nurses and doctors rushed into rooms of patients trying to calm and treat those injured during the explosion. Orderlies rushed the two brawling men, trying to force them apart, only to end up an unconscious pile of flesh littering the ground. Gajeel rushed the mess of limbs delivering blow by blow to the attached bodies, knocking the two involved into the ground. He grabbed a fist full of pink then wrapped his fingers around a chunk of black, heaving both battered and panting fighters to their feet. With a rage filled growl he drug both bodies, kicking and screaming, into Levy's room where his tiny daughter continued to cry out in pain and fear. Upon seeing the frightened child both men became calm and ashamed of their actions, choosing to face the floor rather than meet the eyes of the young child injured by their foolishness.
"Ya got three seconds to make my child smile before I bury yer asses." Gajeel's eyes burned holes into the men as they contemplated his threat.
Gray made his way to kneel before the child. "Hey there, little one, are you okay?" The man's voice shook with shame.
Kat shook her head, sending small droplets of blood everywhere. She was perched on the table beside her mothers bed while Jet and Droy attempted to extract the still weak Levy from the glass filled bed. Meredy and Rogue were busy searching the room for bandages and alcohol pads they could use to patch up the injuries sustained during the chaos.
"What happened to your head, sweetie? Were you hurt when we were fighting outside?" Kat nodded.
"Here let me see if I can get that taken care of," Gray said as he reached into his pocket.
The man pulled out a small first aid kit. Opening it, he extracted an alcohol pad, some tweezers, and a couple band-aids. The band-aids had small cartoon characters on them that made Kat smile. Gray placed the items on the table beside the child and sighed. He picked up her small stuffed teddy bear from the floor and handed it to the blue haired girl. "Sorry, kiddo but this is going to hurt. I have to do it though or you could get really sick. We don't want that, do we?"
Kat shook her head, "So it's like a shot?"
"Yea, like a shot, but this is gonna hurt a bit more then a shot. I'm gonna have to remove the glass, clean the cut and then you can pick a band-aid to put over it, okay?" Gray smiled at the girl. "Ready?"
"Yes." Kat hugged the small stuffed animal to her chest.
Gray picked up the tweezers, gently gripped the glass shard and pulled it free from the girl's flesh. Kat didn't cry out or move, making the process easier and less painful. As he opened the alcohol pad, he explained to the child how the pad worked and that even though the pad was used to disinfect a wound, it would sting and hurt. Kat whimpered but never moved as he cleaned her wound.
"Okay, which band-aid do you want?"
"The Scooby-doo one, please." Kat smiled.
Gajeel nodded to Gray once the younger man was finished. The pouting pinkette next to him hadn't moved or spoke the whole time. As the frost bite patient rejoined the group the pink haired burn victim made his way over to the now smiling child. Once in front of the small child, the man bent down to her level. Kat's smile slowly disappeared as the gauze wrapped, scary looking man placed a hand on her tiny shoulder. "What's your name?"
"I'm Bellakatra, but mommy and daddy call me Kat," the small six year old said in a quiet voice.
"It's nice to meet you. My name's Natsu. How old are you, Kat?"
"Six. I like your hair." A tiny hand reached out to touch the man's hair, only to pause midway and shrink back to the girl's body. "Are you gonna hurt me?"
"No. I'm sorry you got hurt. I never meant for an innocent to get hurt. I lost my temper. Will you forgive me?"
"Will you buy me ice cream?" Kat's counter-question made Levy laugh so hard everyone turned to look at her.
"Kat, you are way too much like your father. Why don't you see if Meredy wants to go to the park?" Levy spoke making her way over to her child. "Thank you, Gray and you as well, Natsu, for calming and helping my baby while we cleaned up the glass."
"Don't ya thank those losers, Shrimp," Gajeel broke into the conversation. "They caused this mess so it's only fit they fix it. They're just lucky I don't kick they're asses for hurting my child."
"Gajeel Redfox, you have only just met Kat a few days ago. You don't know her. Don't you dare start acting like you gave birth to the girl. I'll thank whoever I want to thank for her safety and that includes you. Don't you dare pretend you were there since day one. I won't allow you to bypass my mistake like that." Levy's voice was low and dark, sending shivers down the backs of all in the room. Anger radiated from the woman as she walked, on unsteady feet, past Gajeel out of the room.
Jet moved to stand beside Gajeel, ignoring his 'get lost' glare, and clapped him on the back. "Don't sweat it, man. She's just hurting right now. She kept Kat from you and it bothers her to see how great of a father you already are. She's overcome with guilt and there's nothing she can do to fix her mistake."
"Jet, your her best friend, but if ya don't remove your arm, I will break it." Gajeel growled. "I know my girl. She did what she thought was right and I respect that. She made a decision and she stuck with it. She had no way to know I'd react like this. I could have snapped on her. I could have rejected booth my girls. I'm not mad at her for it. I understand."
"Gajeel," Meredy's voice made the men jump. The pink haired woman stood in the doorway holding an unconscious Kat. "Something's wrong."
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AN: Here you guys go. Sorry it's taken so long to upload. I don't have much time to write lately. Anyways, things are about to get really heated in this story. Please keep reading and reviewing. I love you all.