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Gajeel had been wandering near the camp he had been sharing with Alte temporarily, when he heard some mewling pup noises.
"What in the world?" he thought, surely if there were parents near by he would have been confronted a long long time ago. Then someone was there, from the somewhat creepy sensation, he knew they were a shaman. This particular shaman had a newborn clenched between his teeth by the scruff of the neck.

"You," he said, in a gravelly, rumbly voice.

"Me?" Gajeel asked coyly. "Me what?"

"You are the lonely one I hear howl late at night, wishing for a family of your own yes?"

Gajeel looked down and away. "Maybe," but he knew the other new the truth.

"Today is your lucky day, these four lost both of their parents in the great flood, and they are yours for the taking if you will have them."

Gajeel looked up with hope in his eyes, a family of his own, wolves who needed him, there was no doubt in his heart by this point.

"I will take them, and raise them as my own." He promised. Maybe Alte would help, he was old enough to have had kids of his own at one point right? If the four were too much for him, Alte might have ideas. "I might have help with them too."

"Very well." The shaman heaved a sigh, "I'll help you carry them to wherever you are staying after that they are yours to contend with, be careful they bite."

~

Gajeel toted two squirming bundles into his makeshift camp making two trips, as did the shaman. They did bite for the record, one had to hold them gingerly out from the body to avoid the sharp little teeth. Maybe they were related to Alte after all.

Gajeel then lay down with them all clustered in a heap of adorableness before him. They looked similar to him, and similiar to his companion, very odd but not an unhappy coincidence. He would love them as if they were his own.

He waited for Alte to notice their new members, if the male decided to leave that was his decision, Gajeel would figure out this father stuff on his own if he had to. First he would have to get them onto meat. Its not like he had a she-wolf at the ready to nurse his new young. He wondered idly as he watched them squirm what fate had befallen their parents. But they would not go without he swore to himself. He would be there.

"Well, I was given them actually. Apparently my incessant lonely howls caught the attention of a tired old shaman who had found a group of recently orphaned pups..so here we are." He sat up and peered down at the pile of squirming mewling pups, which seemed determined to wriggle away from each other. One bumped into his leg and he had to force himself to hold still and risk being bitten.

"You don't have any ideas do you? I'm pretty new to this, maybe if we chewed up meat really good and fed it back? I think thats how my mother did it. It was so long ago but I'll never forget her home cooking." He grinned brightly at the other wolf..shark.

"I'm excited but terrified. What if I do this wrong? What if I roll over one in my sleep? Then what?"

"Well if her kids bite like that already, I'm glad there is no female either." Gajeel shook and fluffed out his fur. 'Apparently no one ever taught them not to bite..and they have really sharp teeth for newborns.

Gajeel pondered the fish and the food deficit that they were now facing..."I think a mix of both is a good idea, and I don't know how long I would be able to coral them without a tail like yours, I'll be back as soon as I can to help feed..don't get too eaten yourself in the process. If you need me howl but not like your desperate, that will bring others running and I would rather figure this out before they get here.

Gajeel helped get all the babies into the safe embrace of Alte's encircling tail, that thing sure came in handy he wished he had one. Despite his appearance Gajeel knew the babies were in good hands with the old one. So he left swiftly to hunt as much as he could before they ate their babysitter. He chuckled.

One rabbit, two rabbit, three rabbit, four. Done, it would have to do, by himself it was not worth the risk to hunt larger things, the problem with rabbit was they were time consuming..and fast. His feet hurt but he dragged his catch home proudly and set about readying it to feed the little munchkins.

"I hope they were not too much trouble while I was gone?" He asked, half amused, half anxious.

Gajeel wasn't sure what he would have done without the other male's help, he would have taken the cubs for sure, that much he knew, but it would have been much harder to take care of them without someone else there while the other hunted. He watched as the cubs fell asleep one by one, kind of melting in place, except for the one who fell on its face. Once he was sure it was not hurt he smiled. He was a daddy at long last.

Low and behold there were two rabbits left for him to eat, thank goodness. He didn't want to leave the pups again for a while, with or without Alte.

Gajeel rose from his light doze, miracle of miracles every single pup was curled up beside him sleeping peacefully to the point where the shocked look on his face must have been quite comical. "Didn't I?" He asked, inspecting his body. "Maybe its just when they are hungry?" He asked inquiringly of his companion, "I would bite too if a shaman in his infinite wisdom didn't bother to feed me."

"Well I want to lick them clean but I really don't want to wake them up..maybe if I just try one and see how that goes." He picked one of the snoring greyish bodies and did a thorough cleaning job on the tiny face and paws. The pup didn't seem to care one wit, so Gajeel did the rest of them too.

"Also, nice duck..or is that a seagull? Do they taste fishy?"