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Hey, Readers! I am really, really, really, really tired. Finals suck. Especially Spanish and Physics....A mi no me gustan los finales espanoles. Ugh, so much. I respect spanish people and physicist. Ugh, anyhoo, here's Chapter 24, ENJOOOOY!

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Levy P.O.V

I was freaking out. Not like the usual A-  freaking out. Oh no, this was far worse. 

I was living with a man.

It had all happened so quickly. First, we were kissing like the world was ending, and then next thing I knew, I was staying over at Gajeel's. This isn't right, I thought. I feel like I'm his mistress more than his...girlfriend. The thought of being his girlfriend gave me a warm and buzzy feeling inside. I've only read about these kind of things. To keep my eagerness down, I looked at the clock. It was already seven in the evening. Gajeel had left a few hours ago to get groceries. I paced myself back and forth. The grocery store was just a few miles from here! What was taking him so long.

Then the door opened, and in came a very wounded Gajeel. I covered my mouth and gasped. "Gajeel!" He dropped the groceries and fell on the couch. I rushed over to his side and gasped at his wounds. His head was bloody and his body was covered in scratches and bruises. "What happened?!"

"What can I say: I'm famous," he chuckled. I sighed and went over to grab first-aid. I tended to his wounds, grimacing after hearing each of his painful hisses. I pressed my hand against his forehead and said, "Tell me what happened."

He laughed to himself. "I was just getting some food when I bumped into some of our fellow classmates. They really take my parole to advantage."

"They should be ashamed of themselves," I hissed. I bandaged his head and stroked his long black hair. He looked up at me and smiled slightly. "The only thing that was keeping me back was my parole...If it weren't for that, I would've clobbered them in a second."

I chuckled at his confidence. "I bet you would've." I put the first aid back in the cupboard and looked at Gajeel. He was looking at me as well, smiling a little. I smiled back. Every night I always prayed that people would look at Gajeel and see a kind man instead of a criminal. I wanted people to know how sweet he was, just like how I saw him. Suddenly, my phone rang my mom's ring tone. Anger then rose within me. Gajeel saw the phone and looked at me. I let the phone ring until it went straight to voice mail. Gajeel sighed, "You have to answer the phone sooner or later."

"Not to her I don't have to," I said, grabbing my phone and shutting it off. Gajeel slowly sat up on the couch and motioned me to sit next to him. I hesitated for a while, but ended up sitting next to him. He rubbed his hand on my head, which he tended to do quite a lot. "The woman who you are fighting with is your mother. She probably has good intentions."

"Does her good intentions mean not being able to see you?" I asked him, staring straight into his eyes.  

"I don't want to be the one who tears you and your mother apart," Gajeel  said with a more serious tone. I stared at him with shock. Gajeel looked away and sighed with frustration. I was really confused with Gajeel's emotions. I mean, he did, well, kill his mom, didn't he? I've read psychology books on criminals and how they lose emotional connection. So technically, shouldn't he not really care? And then it hit me.

I didn't know Gajeel' side of the whole story.

I touched Gajeel's shoulder and debated whether to ask him or not. Finally, I built up the courage and asked, "C...Can you tell me...your side of the story?"

"My story?" He asked. But when he saw my face, I knew he knew what I was talking about. His face fell, and he looked away.  He took a deep breath and said, "I don't think you're ready for my side."

"And why not?" I asked. "I don't want to hear other's point of view. I want yours."

"But the question is whether or not you'll believe me!" He yelled. I flinched with shock. He gave me a flash of apologetic eyes and looked away. I could tell this was emotionally hurting him. I grabbed his hand and placed it on my cheek. I loved it when his strong yet soft hand touched my face. I gave him my most sincere face and said, "Please."

He looked at me and sighed. He then pulled my hand forward and brought my head onto his lap. My body burned up with embarrassment. I tried to get up, but he kept pushing me back down. "If I'm going to tell you, I don't want you to see my face."

"But why?"

"Just listen to me!" I quietly obeyed and waited for him to tell his story. I knew Gajeel wasn't emotionally prepared, but was I? This was like a behind-the-scenes story of what happened. And when he was finished, would I believe him? Or would I just turn into one of those hypocrites? Either way, Gajeel told his story.

"I was coming home from school one day. It was an ordinary day: my mom was at home, cooking up a meal for my dad and was making an after-school snack for me. I still what my mother was cooking. She made candy rocks for me and meatloaf for my dad. When he came home from work, he was still acting like a douche; coming home all drunk from the bar.  He began to yell at my mom, and I stood up for her. He then pushed me aside and drew out a suprise gun, pointing it at my mother. She begged for mercy, reminding him of their marriage and such, but he didn't care. He shot my mother right in the heart. I was scared, yet angry. I attacked my father at an instant, grabbing his gun, and threatening to blow his brains out...the cops came and...you know the rest."

I felt tears dropping down my cheek. I knew they were his. I wanted to look at him and comfort him, but I could feel tears burning in my eyes as well. I heard him take a sobbed sigh. "It was...in the kitchen...where it all happened."

"I can't believe," I whispered, "that you're living with that monster after all he's done."

"I have no choice," Gajeel said. "He's my only living relative. I can't escape." I covered my mouth to keep myself from crying outloud. It was no use though, because Gajeel heard it. He lifted me up so that I was facing him. He wiped away my tears with a single thumb. "Why are you crying for my pain?"

"It's just," I sobbed, "you're...misunderstood." I wrapped my arms around him and continued to cry like a little baby. He held me tightly. He didn't say a single word. He didn't have to. All he had to do was touch me and I would autimatically know what he was saying and feeling. He held my head and positioned it so that I would be looking at him. "There has been one posotive to this whole situation."

I sniffed. "What is that?"  He then gently brought his lips upon mine. I gently kissed him back, but adding a little more passion into it. He pulled away and whispered. "You are."

I blushed. I quickly climbed myself off of Gajeel and stuttered, "I-I-I'll go make us some d-d-dinner." I walked over and grabbed the groceries. I brought them over to the kitchen began cooking the dinner. But for some reason, I couldn't stop smiling. I felt happy. 

Really, really happy.

Gajeel P.O.V

After dinner, I took a quick shower. I needed to calm down. I didn't know what Levy was doing to me. She was getting me all emotional. My heart was beating more than it ever did. God damn it, I told myself. Get your shit together. 

I finished my shower and wore nothing but sweat pants. I walked out of the steamy bathroom and looked for Levy. She wasn't in the kitchen, nor was she in the living room. I ended up finding her in my room,  staring at the wall. Her phone was in her shaky hand, so I assumed she was talking to her mother. "You talk to your mom?"

She slowly nodded. "Yup, I sure did."

"How was it?" I asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. She wiped away a single tear and said, "She said a few hurtful words...About both you and me." I sighed at her sad face. I lifted her chin towards me and said, "Don't worry. She'll lighten' up eventually. How about you take a bath?"

"But I don't have any clothes. I've been wearing the same clothes for the past few days and they're beginning to stink..." I thought about it for a while and then came up with an idea. I quickly ran into the other room and stole one of Agatha's pajamas. I went back to my bedroom and handed her the clothes. "Here."

She sheepishly took them from me and went over to the bathroom. While she went to take a shower, I jumped on top of my bed and sighed. My lame-excuse for a father was supposed to be back with Agatha in a few weeks. Would Levy leave before then, or would there still be tension between her and her family? While I continued to think about it, my cell phone suddenly began to ring. "Hello?"

"H-Hey...It's me, Natsu."

"Natsu? What's up? Did Lucy get discharged?" I heard a sniffle from the other line. I already knew by then that something had gone all wrong. "What happened, Natsu?"

I heard even more sniffling from the other line. "It's cancer...She's got cancer, Gajeel."

I groaned with frustration. I didn't know it would end this badly. And I couldn't imagine what Natsu was going through. "I'm sorry man," I sighed. "Is it...ya know...?"

"It's operable," Natsu said, "but I just don't know if I can handle it alone." Was he...asking for company? I stood up straight from the bed. "Do you...wanna talk?"

"Yeah...meet me at Po's, tomorrow at three?"

"Sure."

"Oh, and...don't tell Levy about this. With the whole situtation going around with her family and all, I don't any stress pu ton her anymore."

"Will do. Talk to you later." I hung up and just stared at the floor. So much was happening. Too much was happening. Lucy with her cancer, Natsu having to hep her, Levy leaving her family, me with my family...and who knows what's happeingin to that Erza chick! I never knew the teenage life was supposed to be this...dramatic. I heard footsteps from the hallway, which meant that Levy was done with the shower. "What do I do with my clothes?" I looked over at her, and my mind went wild. She was wearing a long black dorm shirt, barely above the knee. Her hair was soaking wet, falling just above her almost-visible breasts. I quickly looked away and said, "J-J-Just throw it anywhere here." I could hear the sound of her gentle footsteps put her clothes by the closet. She pressed her hand against my arm suddenly and kissed me on the cheek. "Good night," she said.

"Good night." She walked out of my room and gently closed the door. The minute she did, my heart rappidly began to race. My face burned up with embarassment. I fell backwards onto my bed and took deep breathes. Dear Lord, what was that? This was the first time my heart had ever felt this way. I tried to calm it down, but it didn't work.

You're losing your cool Gajeel, I thought to myself. You're losing your cool. 

The next day, Levy left me a note about going shopping, so I headed out to Po's on my motorcycle. When I arrived, Natsu was sitting at a table, stuffing his face with some rice and ramen. For such a serious talk, he sure does like to eat, I thought to myself. I slowly walked over to the table where he noticed me. He pointed to the extra bowl of hot noodles on the otherside of the table and said, "You're noodles are goiing to get cold if you don't hurry." I obeyed  and sat criss-crossed on the pillow. I picked up the chopsticks and took a bite of the noodles. Suddenly, my mouth bursted into flames. I grabbed the glass of water to the right and chugged it down. "What the hell is in this?"

"I like my noodles spicy. I thought everybody did." I looked at him like he was crazy and attempted to eat the noodles. I looked up at Natsu. He looked absolutely exhausted, and his eyes were so puffy, as if he actually cried. "How's...How's Lucy?"

He looked up and sighed. "She's doing alright. She's not scared or anything."

"How are you doing?" I asked. He stopped eating. He swallowed what he had in his mouth and sighed with depression. He looked up at me with sad eyes and muttered, "I'm the one that's scared. The situation isn't really as easy as it sounds. I...I don't want to lose her."

"How is it going to be operated?"

"Some guy is going to do the operation, but that isn't until he finishes some kind of research. That could take forever."

"Well, don't take this from me and all, but you just have to be pacient. Things will turn up for the best."

"How do you know that though?" He suddenly asked me. I didn't know what to say about that. He looked away and began to curse. "This is all my fault anyways."

"How the hell could this be your fault?" I asked. 

"Six years ago," he muttered. "I caused an accident six years ago that made her heart week...That day was one of my heaviest burdens...It's my fault Lucy's heart is weak...It's my fault Lucy is going through all this pain...It's my-"

Before he went on, I splashed water onto his face. He gasped with shock, shaking his now wet hair. "What the hell was that for?"

"Stop blaming yourself," I said simply, crossing my arms. "She doesn't blame you, so you shouldn't blame yourself. You're only job right now is to help her as she goes through the battle. It could be one the greatest battles she'll have to face yet, and I don't think she can do it without you."

Natsu looked at me with surprise. He gave me a wild goofy grin and patted me on the head like a dog. "You're alright, Gajeel! Thanks!"

"Y-Your welcome."

"I can see why Levy likes you so much," Natsu chuckled. "You can be so cuddly-like!"

"H-H-Hey!" I yelled, blushing. "Don't be saying that kind of stuff out loud!"

"Do you guys have nicknames? What are you? Ga-Ga? Or something simple like Honey? Sweetie?"

"I-I-I said stop it!" He laughed and continued to mock me. I ended up laughing along with him. It actually felt nice for once. I mean, it was nice to be with Levy all the time.

But it also felt great to talk to a guy once in a while.