Heartbeat

  Tick... tock... tick... tock...

The clock chimed one, then two, then three. Two weeks. Two weeks since that night. Police are investigating, nobody was inside the building to give reports of what actually happened. The camera footage got fried, sadly.

Gajeel had been in the hospital for two weeks due to burn related injuries and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Levy held his hand as he slept, he'd just been transferred out of ICU. "Oh, Gajeel. Please wake up."

Dolores walked inside the room. "He's not up yet?"

"Sadly, no." Erza sighed.

"Is he in a coma?" Dolores' heart sank at the thought.

"Heavens no!" Erza exclaimed. "He's just asleep."

"Oh." Dolores said softly. "He didn't deserve what happened. His hair... he used to love it when I brushed it."

She opened her purse and pulled out a diamond comb. Levy gawked at it.

"What? I thought it'd be nice to have, tiny girl." Dolores chuckled. She slowly raked it through his hair, humming a soft song. "He's so stupid, fooling around with that girl. He should've just jumped out instead of trying to save her."

"What do you mean?" Levy tilted her head.

"I know Gajeel," Dolores smirked, shaking her head. "He probably was in there trying to get her to jump out with him. It's sad, honestly."

"Damn." Juvia said sadly. "Juvia wonders when Gajeel will wake up?"

"Soon, I hope." Levy kissed Gajeel's forehead.

"He's such a good guy." Dolores smiled softly, hand shaking now. "Growing up, He never did drugs or did anything bad. Hell, the few times he snuck out was just to get a reaction from me. I just..."

Dolores' voice trailed off, tears filling her eyes.

"I feel like it's all my fault! I should've been a better mother!" Dolores screamed. "I should've showed how much I really cared! All of his drawings, I kept! Every time he sung for me, I listened! I pushed him away because he looked too much like his damn father! Gajeel brought back too many things that I'd been trying to forget, but I shouldn't have taken that out on him! It wasn't his fault! And now... we never were close and it's my fault! Now we might never be the same ever again! I wouldn't be surprised if he hated me, I was always so hard on him for no reason! And you too, Juvia!"

"J-Juvia?" Juvia pointed to herself, eyes widening.

"I shouldn't have kicked you out when you got pregnant! I should've supported you!" Dolores sniffled, Juvia crushing her mother in a hug. "I'm a terrible mother!"

"No you're not!" Juvia sniffled. "Juvia loves you and thinks you're a great mom!"

The two cried together for a while.

"Wow." Gajeel coughed, grunting as he sat up. "I didn't know you felt that way—"

"Gajeel Redfox!" Dolores rushed over, grabbing him by his collar. "Don't ever scare me like that again!"

"Sorry—" Dolores' palm connected with his face as she sobbed.

"What makes you think you can stay in a burning building to save a woman who had nothing to do with you?" Dolores said through grit teeth, backhanding him.

"Mrs. Redfox, c-calm down—" Erza sweat, wincing as she slapped Gajeel yet again.

"Why would you scare all of us like that!? Why would you scare me like that!?" Dolores wailed. "Why put your life in danger for her!"

"Mom..." Gajeel started, but was cut off by another slap.

"You stupid boy! You almost died that night! You think that's just... okay!? You sat in ICU for a week, Gajeel! Do you know how worried I was!"

Before Dolores could slap Gajeel again, Gajeel grabbed her wrist, pulling her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry," Gajeel croaked, tears in his eyes. "It's my fault she did it. Amelia lit the building on fire to kill us. She wanted to marry me more than anything in the world, and she'd kill the both of us to have that. It's my fault... she... Amelia's dead because of me!"

"You're dumber than I thought." Dolores sniffled. "It's not your fault that she did what she did! I don't ever want to hear you say something like that again, do you understand?"

Gajeel nodded, making Dolores smile softly. "I think someone wants to see you."

There Levy stood, eyes wide with tears brimming, ready to fall. She was paralyzed, barely breathing at this point. Her heart raced, making Lucy laugh.

Lucy nudged Levy, making her stumble forward.

"I..." The words started to form in Levy's throat, but what was she to say? There were so many things..

I'm sorry

I failed you

I missed you

I'm happy

I was so scared

I hate you

But instead, she settled on giving him a bone-crushing hug. Gajeel started to choke, patting Levy's back as he felt his lungs start to collapse.

"L..Levy— I cant breathe— Levy!" The heart monitor started to speed up as the nurses rushed in, trying to pry Levy off of him. Levy blushed as she slowly pulled away, muttering a soft "sorry, haha".

"I missed you too." Gajeel chuckled, seeing that familiar twinkle in Levy's eyes. "I don't think you wanna kiss me right now, I think my breath stinks—"

Levy could care less, planting a sweet kiss onto his chapped lips.

Juvia took off her shoe, a dark look in her eye as she stalked toward Gajeel. He sweat. "Wait— hold on! Mom just— Juvia, do not hit me with that shoe—"

"Juvia should knock you across the head!" Juvia screamed, tears falling down her face. Her tears were black as they streamed down. "Juvia wasted tons of mascara on you! Do you know how expensive it is!?"

"You can buy as many of those as you want. You're literally a multimillionaire. More than that, actually." Gray sweat.

Juvia swatted Gajeel with her shoe a couple times.

Erza cracked her knuckles, making Gajeel cry out.

"Why is everybody hitting me!? You should all be nice!" Gajeel whined.

"Erza, I don't think we should cripple Gajeel today. Maybe tomorrow." Jellal pulled Erza back.

"Very well." Erza squinted at Gajeel. "So how are you holding up?"

"As good as I can." Gajeel rubbed his cheek. Mira and Laxus walked in, Mira dropping the bag of tacos.

"Wh— Mira, those were good tacos!" Natsu rushed forward to dive into the bag and grab them. "I call the ones that are the least broken!"

"Gajeel! Oh, I thought you'd never wake up!" Mira gasped.

"Welcome back, buddy." Laxus waved slowly.

"Hey Mira. You know what you missed?" Erza snickered.

"What?" Mirajane turned around, tilting her head.

"Gajeel and Levy kissed." Erza smiled.

"OH MY GOD! DO IT AGAIN- wait wait! Not yet! I gotta get my camera!" Mira wheezed, pulling out a whole Nikon from her bag. "Okok, now you guys can kiss! And make it a good one! Maybe add some tongue? Or ooooh! Let's make it steamy! Excuse, Mrs. Redfox, this is quality material!"

"Um, Mira? Maybe we should calm down—" Laxus sweat, earning a dark look from Mira. The smile was completely wiped and her eyes read shut-the-fuck-up-before-I-clap-your-asscheeks-this-is-a-shipping-moment. "—or not, please continue, beautiful w-wife of mine."

Levy kissed Gajeel quickly, making him blush as the camera clicked. Mira was screaming at the top of her lungs, a nurse rushing in.

"What's wrong—" She was out of breath. "Oh. Um, please keep the noise down, other patients are trying to rest."

"Right. Sorry~" Mira clasped her hands together and offered a warm smile.

"Psst, Luce, how does she smile so perfectly?" Natsu whispered. "Is it just a girl thing, or—"

"Oh, so you're saying that I don't smile pretty? You're going to leave me for her?" Lucy whimpered, tears filling her eyes.

"No, that's not what I was saying at all— please stop crying, I'll give you the taco that survived the fall if you do!" Natsu handed Lucy a hard shelled taco that was in near perfect condition.

"This will work nicely." Lucy nodded.

"GAJEEL!" Wendy exclaimed. Romeo was wiping beads of sweat from his forehead. "You're up!"

"I thought you said you weren't going to let her leave the house since it's so close to the due date?" Gray raised an eyebrow.

"Well yeah, I wasn't, but next thing I knew she ran out of the door. Yay, me." Romeo did jazzy hands with an exhausted look in his eyes.

"So did you run all the way here, or—" Juvia tilted her head.

"No, but Wendy over there was screaming in my ear to drive faster, which was not very cash money of you, Wendy." Romeo squinted at Wendy, making her stick her tongue out.

"Are you okay? Have you coughed up smoke? Are you dying? Do you want anything? Are—" Wendy rambled, but Gajeel cut her off.

"I'm fine, Wen." Gajeel chuckled.

"Gosh! Like if you're dying or something, let's sue the hospital!" Wendy smiled.

"Um, I'm not sure if we can do that—" Romeo started, Wendy snapping.

"Yes we can! We can do anything!" Wendy stomped her feet. "See? The baby's kicking, so that means she agrees!"

"I can't argue with that." Romeo shrugged.

The rest of the day was spent laughing and bothering Gajeel.

~

Today was the day that Gajeel finally got to go home. It'd been another week and a half, so just before thanksgiving. He was dressed in a suit with his hair in a ponytail. His burns were somewhat healed, but he was sure the scarring would be permanent.

"Ready?" Levy smiled sweetly.

"Hell yeah." Gajeel grinned. "You know what I want for dinner?"

"What?" Levy giggled.

"Lobster." Gajeel drooled. "Let's go eat someplace fancy tonight while we wait for the new stoves."

"Sure thing! Ugh, I still can't believe you made us get electronic stoves." Levy groaned, frowning.

After what happened, Gajeel refuses to go anywhere near fire, and sure as hell won't have any inside of his home.

"Safety first." Gajeel shrugged.

"So do you want to eat somewhere specific? We are in America, so why not have Red Lobster? I've never had that before— G-Gajeel? What's wrong?" Levy gasped, Gajeel on his knee.

"I'm tying my shoe." Gajeel gulped, sick pit in his stomach. He wanted to vomit.

"O-Oh—" Levy blushed, looking away.

"I'm kidding, my shoes don't have laces." Gajeel chuckled nervously. "A-Anyway..."

Dolores dropped her purse, Mira shrieking and Juvia jumping up and down. Lucy had her hands over her mouth, Wendy grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Erza nodded with a smirk on her face, flashing Gajeel a thumbs up.

"I was originally going to do this at the party a couple weeks ago, but... that happened." Gajeel sweat, rubbing a hand through his hair. "This is actually the backup ring—"

He looked over at Erza and Jellal, both of them making motions for him to keep going.

"S-So um... you make me happy and.. I really want to spend my life with you. At first I thought marriage was whack, but I... I really do imagine your name being Levy Redfox. And just imagine a ring on your finger that I gave you, amazing, right? You make me feel all giddy just when you smile, a-and... you make me want to do mushy stuff. When we first met, you intrigued me to no end. You weren't a gold digger like the vast majority of the people there. And you're so smart, it's crazy. I'm pretty sure you're more stubborn than Erza, haha. I'm pretty sure you're tired of me rambling so..." Gajeel opened a small black box, a rose gold ring with diamond all over it inside. It had beautiful flower on it, with a sparkling morganite in the middle.

By now, tears were streaming down Levy's face. She smiled, looking up at the sky.

It was a beautiful day, clouds scattered across the sky. She could somewhat see the moon, the sun gazing down at her. Levy decided her answer in a heartbeat.