Chapter 1
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Protection; the act of protecting or state of being protected.
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Natsu's ears perked up as he heard the slight sound of bare feet hit the cold wooden floor. He slightly opened his right eyes to find his wife doing the same while they faced each other in their large bed. A slight smirk brewed on Lucy's mouth as she closed her eyes and pretended to go back to sleep.

"Shh!" a hushed voice whispered loudly,

"I am being quiet! It's you!" said another voice giving a slight nudge to the other.

Two pairs of feet slowly pushed open the wooden door leading into their parents room and they quietly made their way to either side of the bed, the small boy raised his hand and held up three fingers. He put one finger down, then lowering the second and finally, as his third finger hit his palm, the two children jumped over the side of the bed to land on the figures below.

However their parents were a step ahead of them and their plan backfired. As they jumped upwards towards their parents, the two mages caught their offspring mid-air and pulled them downwards to they were pinned to the bed.

"Do you think a tickle punishment is in order?" Lucy asked while turning her head to Natsu.

"I think so!" He said while starting to tickle the small girl in his grasp. Lucy started to tickle the young boy she had in her hands while he protested,

"Muuuum! I'm too old for this! P.. p.. please stop!"

"I don't think so! You think you can jump on your helpless parents while they sleep?" She asked while continuing to tickling him.

"Exactly!" Natsu agreed while moving in to plant sloppy kisses on his daughters face.

"Daddy!" The little girl exclaimed while pushing his face away with her little hands

A few minutes and a lot of tickling later, the small family all lay on the big bed, gasping for air.

"Time for breakfast?" Lucy asked in a simple tone and there was uproar in the room. "I'll take that as a yes…" She said after it has quieted down. She flipped her feet off of the side of the bed onto the wooden floor and walked away from her family and into the kitchen.

The small cottage in which the stellar spirit mage lived in with her family was located on the outskirts of Magnolia. It was quite a blessing when her and Natsu had found it, after recently expressing their love for one another and expeditiously gotten married with a second thought. Shortly after three months of living together, Lucy had found herself pregnant and another bedroom was added on with the help of Fairy Tail.

As Lucy reached the small kitchen at the end of the corridor; she got out all the ingredients for pancakes and got to work. She had never really been the domestic goddess before she got married to Natsu; however she learnt the way of keeping a house and husband in check.

She was just finishing mixing the batter when she heard the pitter-patter of footsteps enter the room.

"Mum? I want my own room." The boy stated.

Ryuu was nine years old with a mop of blonde hair on his head, he was the average height for a nine year old and also had bright chocolate orbs, just like his mother.

"You'll have to talk to your Dad about that. And then maybe speak with Grampa, because he helped a lot when your current room was being made." Lucy replied to the little boy while mixing the batter still.

"Can't you talk to him for me?" He retorted back while pulling a stool out.

"I know your Dad is a scary guy, but there's no harm in you asking." She said while patting Ryuu on the head. He pulled his head away from her touch as Natsu entered with a small girl over his shoulders.

"Who's a scary guy?!" He demanded while barging into the room.

"Mummy said you are Daddy!" The small girl cried in a high pitched happy voice from the back of Natsu, her short night dress was pulled up slightly so it showed her pick bunny knickers.

The little girl was one of the tiniest five year olds ever seen; she had pink messy hair and always had a smile on her face. She went by the name of Layla.

Natsu slowly set her down on the tiled floor as he stumbled over to his wife and gave her a 'good morning' kiss.

"Ewwie!" Layla squeaked as she climbed up a stool to sit besides her brother, finally reaching the stop she said, "Oooo! Pancakes!" And she slammed her tiny hands on the table while licking her lips enthusiastically.

Natsu pulled out a drawer and set out knifes and forks while Lucy got plates out of the cupboard next to the stove. She smiled to herself as they did the normal morning routine.

After many pancakes were demolished Lucy began to clean up, as usual while kids were in their room getting dressed.

Natsu sneaked up behind his busy wife and eagerly wrapped his hands around her waist. In doing so, Lucy dropped the plate she was washing and was spun around by the pink haired man. Natu's lips soon captured Lucy's and they heatedly kissed. Lucy brought up her soapy hands and rested them on either side of his face. She then tried to pull her face back and say,

"Natsu, stop. I'm trying to wash up!" She wiggled her hips to try and get him to move his arms.

"Doing that won't help. It's just turning me on more." He whispered in an animalistic tone while his breath slowly made its way down Lucy's neck; making her shiver in delight.

"Shh! The kids might hea.." The sentence got lost within his lips as they once again came crashing down hers and hands went south to fondle with her buttocks. Slowly prying her mouth open, Natsu's tongue gently explored his wife's mouth as the kiss got more heated.

Lucy lent back and captured more bubbles in the palm of her hands, without a second thought; her hands came plunging down and she deposited two large handfuls of suds the the top of his pink locks.

"How dare you…" And he wiped his hand over his hair collected bubbles, as he did so and tried to go for his wife, however Lucy was prepared with more bubbles and wiped a load more on his cheeks.

"Har har!" Lucy laughed mockingly as she stepped around and under Natsu's extended arms to the other side of the kitchen. The dragon slayer then grabbed a handful of bubbles from the sink and threw them over the room towards Lucy, covering her head to toe in water and bubbles. A dark aura then came around Lucy and her eyes glazed over in annoyance.

"Daddy, why is Mummy staring at you like that?" Layla asked while pulling his trouser leg. He didn't even notice the small girl come running into the kitchen wearing a pink pinafore dress and bunny ears.

"Layla, it's time for escape plan number five we talking about..." Natsu said while not taking his eyes off the very angry mage, he gently pushed the small girl towards the door. As soon as Layla was through the frame, Natsu threw her over his shoulder and ran towards the kid's bedroom.

As soon as she left, Lucy laughed at their family dynamics and began cleaning up the water logged kitchen.

Three soaked kitchen towels later, Lucy finally left the kitchen and walked towards her and Natsu's bedroom. As soon as she entered the scarlet walled room, the sound of the heavy wooden doors opened.

"Now stop playing and get ready for school." She heard Natsu say from across the hall. The door then closed and the one leading into her room opened.

Lucy was sat at her dressing table when she stared at the pink haired man through the mirror.

"Why did you do that?!" Lucy exclaimed as she picked up her hairbrush and threw it at her husband while he was pulling off his t-shirt.

"I did it because you look so beautiful when you're wet." He replied with a smirk and wink as he dropped his shirt on the bed and walked over to Lucy.
She stared at his through the mirror, still refusing to look him in the eyes. Needless to say she was pissed off, however used to the fact that she had such a wacky and yet utterly perfect family. she took one last glance at her husband' now pulling a pout with wide apologetic eyes and she caved in.

"Fine! Just get dressed and take Ryuu to school!" She turned around on her stool and smiled at him.

"I love you." He said while pulling a toothy grin.

"I love you too."

Natsu quickly pulled on his usual clothes and exited the bedroom after planting a soft kiss on Lucy's cheek.

After a short debate, Lucy opted for the simple short skirt and cute pink shirt that matched the ribbon in her hair. She quickly did a once over in the mirror and went to join her family in the living room.

"Okay Dragneels! Line up!" She shouted as she came into view of her family. Happy has seemed to have joined them, he was currently being dressed up by Layla in a dolls costume. While Ryuu was pushing a wooden train set back and forth with his index finger that he had been given for his previous birthday by the resident 'wood-make' mage, Laki.

All the Dragneel's (and Happy) head's turned towards Lucy and they jumped up at her order. They quickly lined up in height order.
"Ready?" Lucy asked Natsu with a sweet smile.

"Ready as I'll ever be." He replied, pulling her in for a kiss while they got a chorus of 'ewws' from the two children and Happy who stood next to them. Lucy pulled away and side-stepped to stand in front of Ryuu,

"Ready sweetie?" She asked and all she got was a grunt while her son crossed his arms over his dark shirt.

Lucy finally reached the last person in the lineup and thought about how cute her daughter looked with her pink hair in two small pigtails on each side of her head. She also had a multi-coloured backpack on her shoulders most probably filled with crayons and toys. Her white socks were pulled up to her knees and her buckle-up shoes were shining from last night's weekly polish. She was a cute and pristine mini Lucy with pink hair.

"Ready Layla?" She asked while holding out her hand.

"Umm hmm! Lets go see Grampa!" Layla shouted with a nod and smile as she jumped up to take hold of her Lucy's hand.

"We will sweetie, but we've got to take Ryuu to school first." She smiled down at Layla.

"I don't need my whole family to walk me there." Ryuu grunted from somewhere behind the two girls.

They walked towards the front door as Layla took hold of her Father's hand on her left side. They made it out the small door with Ryuu following sluggishly behind. The small family made their way down the gravel path towards the city of Magnolia.

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A/N: I'm back with another NatsuxLucy fic! I hope you all enjoy it and everything! I already have 10 chapters written and I'll be uploading them on my own schedule since I already have two other fics on the go. So please understand if I'm late with the updating!

This was originally a GrayxErza fic and it was poorly written, so I'm taking this opportunity to change it into my OTP pairing and re-upload it for you lovely people.

It's rated M for later violence and possible sex, so be prepared and if any of you are under-age! Don't say I didn't warn you!

Reviews are greatly appreciated and please just enjoy it! :)