The Bonds that Tie Us: Cooking

"Mommy, I hungry."

Levy looked down to her four year old daughter who was standing at the entryway of the kitchen and had just woken up from her nap, her little cheeks brushed with pink while her slightly darker blue hair was ruffled a bit with some strands sticking straight up from where her head was on the pillow.

"Well Zaha, Mommy's getting ready to make some food for tonight's dinner since Daddy and Temu are on their way back. How would like to be my little helper?" Levy asked with a smile.

"Okay!" Zahara gleefully accepted as her little feet pattered closer to her mommy, her slightly oversized pink shirt slightly bouncing with each step.

Levy gently grabbed her daughter from under her arms, tickling her for a bit before she placed her on her high chair and scooted her closer to the counter, letting her grab an apple slice that was already there from their afternoon snack. Zahara immediately began munching on the apple slice as she noticed a big cooper pot that was right in front of her and in the pot was some potatoes that were already peeled and boiled.

Levy walked back over with some butter and milk, placing both items next to the pot before grabbing a masher and a big spoon. "Ok Zaha, I want you to scoop two spoons," She held up her fingers for emphasis, "Of butter in the pot."

"With the 'tatoes, Mama?" Zahara asked, finishing the apple slice and wiping her hands on a kitchen towel.

"Yes with the potatoes."

Zahara nodded as she scooped one spoon of butter and dumped it into the pot before she did it again for the second time, the tiny look of determination never leaving her face.

"Wow, good job, honey." Levy clapped for her.

Zahara beamed with joy and pride as she placed the spoon down. Yay! She did something for Mama.

Levy grabbed the measuring cup and poured milk up to roughly where she measured it. "Now can you help me with pouring this?"

"Mhmm." She nodded enthusiastically. Placing both hands on the bottom of the cup while her Mama held the handle, the milk was emptied into the pot with the butter and potatoes.

"Ok Zaha." Levy placed the cup into the sink and grabbed the masher. "Next I want you use this and mash all of the ingredients together but you have to keep it in the pot and not make a mess, alright?"

"Yes Mama." Zahara soon went to town on the masher as she began mashing all the ingredients together, being carefully like her Mama said and make no messes.

As Zahara continued mashing the potatoes, Levy began working on another piece: dessert which happened to be her famous brownies with walnuts. Levy knew that when it came to baking, she was a pro but when it was cooking, she had better chances of boiling water for ramen than cooking simple dinners like spaghetti or steak. Thankfully, when she and Gajeel were still *cough* 'close friends', she found out that he can cook and he was pretty damn awesome at it. Apparently when he was younger and still searching for Metalicana, he had come across Councilmember Berno several times who had taken him under her wing and taught him several basic life lessons, including how to survive without just eating metal all the time by cooking.

Speaking of which, Levy looked towards the clock that was in the dining room, watching the clock hand tick-tock across its face, the bigger hands reading six in the evening. They would be home sometime soon.

"Mama, is this good?"

Levy snapped out of her thinking process and turned her head towards her Zahara to see her tilting the pot slightly towards her, the mashed potatoes looking about as mashed as it'll ever get. "Yes, that's perfect, Zaha. You did such a good job." She praised the toddler who was beaming brighter than the sun itself at the compliment she got from her Mama. "And since you have been such a good helper, you get a special reward."

Poor Zahara, if she wasn't soo high up on the high chair, she would have started dancing and giggling, but still it didn't stop her as body began to shake in excitement. "What, Mama? What?"

Levy couldn't help but smile as she got closer. "Ok, ok. Your special reward is….,"She quickly grabbed her daughter and started tickling her. "Unison Raid: Smoochies and Snuggies." She began peppering kisses on the squirming child's nose, cheeks, forehead and every other part of her face, eliciting high-pitched squeals and laughter from Zahara.

Just shortly after, the click of the front door opening was heard. "Yo! We're home."

Zahara immediately stopped squirming as Levy stopped her 'attack' of affection, letting the still-slightly squirming child down to the floor. No sooner than she was put down, she instantly took off to the front door. "Daddy's home!"

Levy turned back to her bowl and continued in whisking the brownie mix before she heard the ever-familiar heavy footsteps coming closer. "Well, look at what I got." The voice growled out.

She turned to see Gajeel with both of their children hefted over his shoulders facing her. Zahara was happily giggling while her brother was looking at her. "Hi, Momma." He waved.

She put down the bowl and moved towards them. "Hey baby." She gently tousled his midnight hair before placing a kiss on the cheek. "How was your day-out with Daddy?"

"Fun." And that was it. Temujin, like his sister, was still developing his vocabulary and talked quite a bit sometimes but he was nowhere near talkative like Zahara was and more often than not, he only spoke one or two words at a time.

"We just went to go do some errands with Lily and line out some things for future missions. Nothin' new." Gajeel spoke out as he swooped down to kiss Levy. "How about you and shrimpling?"

"We read, played outside and started on making dinner." Levy answered back. "Nothing new."

"Of course."

"Hey, where's Lily at?"

That's when he made his appearance, flying underneath Gajeel's raised arms and settling a few grocery bags on the counter. "Right here. We picked up some meat for tonight's dinner."

"Aww, thanks guys."

Gajeel then shifted as he moved back and placed his kids back onto the ground. "All right brats, go play for a bit before dinner."

"Okay, let's go play Temu-chan." Zahara grabbed her brother by the hand and dragged him off to their room.

"I will go and make sure they don't break anything." Lily offered as he took off after the children.

Levy turned back to her mix and was just about finished before she felt a pair of arms bring her into an embrace, lips peppering kisses to the back of her neck and ears. She couldn't help but laugh slightly at the touch as they passed over some ticklish spots. "Gajeel, quit it. You're going to make me drop this."

"So then put it down if you're that worried." He continued in his trail of kisses as he crossed over her neck a few times, coming into contact with her mating mark several times and sending an equal number of shivers racing up and down her spine.

"No, Gajeel. I still need to do this and you need to start working on dinner." She lightly shoved at him, hoping to create some distance so that she could finish making the brownies but Gajeel was having none of that.

"Well, maybe I'm not in the mood for food." He maneuvered his lips down to her guild mark on her shoulder blade, kissing and nipping at the skin there. "Maybe I'll have my dessert now." He slid a hand down her waist and started to make invisible patterns on the inside of her thigh.

This caused a mixture of sweet moans and gasps to escape Levy. "Ahh! Gajeel…," She felt him bring his lips up back to her neck and nibbling at the crook of her neck. "You can have dessert later, I promise, but we can't right now when the kids are down the hall and waiting on dinner."

Gajeel thought on the idea for a moment, letting his caresses still at the juncture before breathing in and exhaling a calming breath. "All right Shrimp. Since you asked so prettily." He left one last kiss on her guild mark, followed by a swat on her bum that made her squeak and jump a bit before he turned to get started on dinner. He was not expecting the little pinch on his own bum and that made him slightly jump. He turned back around just in time to see Levy pull back her hand and start pouring the chocolate mix into the baking pan. "Gihi, ya play dirty, Shrimp." He grinned.

"Well I learned from the best." Levy quipped back as she placed the pan into the oven and set the timer.

"Well, why don't ya show me what else ya learned?" He stealthy moved to grab her around the waist, effectively sealing his lips against her.

The kiss ended too quickly for him as she drew back. "Like I said, after dinner and bed." She mentioned cheekily, teasingly a finger onto the very tip of his nose before placing another kiss on to his cheek. "I'm going to get Temujin and Zahara washed up." And with that, she made her way out of the kitchen and down the hall to the kids' bedroom.

Gajeel didn't fail to notice the little extra sashay Levy added into her step as she left, the very motion of her hips simply taunting him. "Such a tease." He muttered underneath his breath, the grin and cocky sense of pride filling him up as he thought Damn I'm lucky… and continued to prep the steaks for dinner.