AN: So I've been gone from this site for months and firstly I apologize for that. In addition to college finals coming up I got a new job so I lost all mental strength to keep writing. As a result I haven't updated any of my other fanfics so to make up for it...(drumroll please) We have a NaLu oneshot! Yay! Ok so this is NaLu centric and I got the idea from a prompt on tumblr. Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Juvia live in the same town, Natsu, Gray, and Lucy go to the same college and Gray and Juvia have one child whom Juvia takes care of at home. The prompt was; I asked you to the store with my kid but we met my distant relative who now thinks we're married with kids. The kid is Gruvia's but same difference soooo... Just a simple oneshot I wrote in an attempt to give my followers something to read! So, followers, thank you for being you, and anyone new reading this, thank you for reading it! You're all awesome! (Hope this makes up for two months away)

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of it's characters. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Lucy sighed in relief. Her fingers graciously let go of the pencil she'd been writing with for hours. But she wasn't writing her book, although she'd have liked to get some progress on that, no, Lucy Heartfillia was stuck in her apartment writing her last college thesis. At least after this one the semester would be over and she'd have next week off. She ran her fingers through her hair, ruffling up the blonde locks. Oh how good it felt to know she'd be free next week, with no one to answer to, no where to go, she would be free to do whatever she wanted. She smiled a bit and decided to retire until her class came, for which the thesis was due, this afternoon.

No sooner had her butt hit the couch and flipped the TV on did her phone go off in the other room. Lucy groaned loud enough for the neighbors to hear and reluctantly got up. She heard the cell phone ringing from somewhere in her bedroom, but the stupid thing wasn't anywhere to be found.

Lucy rummaged through the sheets and flipped pillows, disturbing her dog Plue in the process. After one agonizingly long minute of frantically tearing apart her bedroom she found her phone still ringing under the mattress. When had she put it there? She certainly didn't remember tucking her phone between her mattress but there was no time to contemplate it as she hit the green button.

"H-hello?" She asked gruffly rubbing the sleep from one of her eyes.

"Luce! Thank god you picked up!" Natsu's voice came over the other end. He sounded excited about something, or was it nervousness she heard in his voice? Whatever it was certainly had him worked up. "You gotta do me a huge favor!"

Lucy managed to suppress an inward groan and dared to ask what he meant. Natsu hesitated. Her best friend of seven years was many things but he was not one for hesitation. For as long as she'd known him Natsu had always charged into everything head first and thought about consequences later. Whether that be for good or bad he choose to find out in the end rather than think things through. So listening to him ramble was a first for her.

"Ehh, well ya see it's um…I got this thing I gotta do, but I don't...well it's about-"

"Natsu!" Lucy interrupted. "It's not like you to beat around the bush, just spit it out already!"

She heard a forced sigh come from his end. "Gray left me with his kid for the weekend cuz him and Juvia wanna go outta town or something,"

"Yeah…" Lucy prompted him to continue, making a special note to ask Gray later why he thought Natsu would be a good babysitter.

"But now the kids going crazy and I can't calm her down!" Now that Natsu pointed out what was troubling him Lucy noticed the faint screams in the background. The poor kid was screaming her lungs out.

"What do you mean going crazy? What did you do! Gray and Juvia only left a day ago!"

"I know! I'm terrible at this, Luce, that's why I need your help!"

"You want me to help you take care of Gray's six month old child whom, if I remember correctly, you said would be 'no trouble at all'."

"...mmm, yeah…" The screaming got louder and Lucy heard Natsu swear under his breath. Something hit a wall and the phone dropped to the floor. Moments later Natsu picked it back up breathlessly saying, "Please, Luce."

Lucy rolled her eyes; "I'll be there in a few minutes."

Natsu's voice immediately picked up an excited tone. "Ah! Thank you so much! You're an angel and I'll make this up to you I swear!"

"You'd better!" She ended the conversation, slipped on her heels, grabbed her keys and purse and headed out the door. Natsu only lived a few minutes away from her, almost walking distance but it sounded like he needed help right now and driving would be faster. By the time she pulled up to his apartment complex, which lay closer to the college they went to then she'd have liked, Natsu could be seen running around his apartment, baby in his arms screaming and crying.

Lucy shook her head. Dear me, it's worse than I thought. She locked her doors and quickly hurried up the stairs, using the key he gave her to get in.

When she walked in she was greeted by a ball of blue fur and the stench of three week old takeout still rotting on the TV stand. Happy, Natsu's cat, bolted out the door, probably driven away by the stench and crying baby. She made a note to find the cat later and rushed to help Natsu.

"Please stop crying. Please stop crying. The neighbors are gonna think I'm a child abuser! Dear god, what do you want!?" He had, Ultear, Gray and Juvia's six month old daughter, on the kitchen table, a hastily made baby bag with it contents spread out lying next to her.

Natsu noticed Lucy standing behind him and turned around, eyes wide. She put her hands on her hips and a disapproving look on.

"Help me." Was all he whispered, his voice easily drowned out by Ultear's screaming.

She sighed and picked up the child, making sure to support her head. She bounced Ultear on her hip a few times and soon she had stopped crying enough to find out what was wrong. Lucy almost didn't smell it over the stink of Natsu's leftovers but with the baby in her arms, she smelled it's diaper clearly.

"How did you get her to stop crying?" He asked, stunned.

"Ew, Natsu, did you even smell her diaper? No wonder she's crying." Lucy ignored his question and went straight for the task at hand. "Are there any fresh diapers in the baby bag Juvia left you?"

"Er…" Natsu quickly went through the contents of the baby bag on the table. He rummaged through the whole thing even holding it upside down to shake out remaining items. But no diapers. Natsu looked at Lucy helplessly.

She sighed again, "Get in my car, we're going to the store." So much for her peaceful rest of the afternoon.

Once they had Ultear strapped in her car seat they hurried down Main Street to the local convenience store. Luckily Lucy had found one of those baby backpacks in Juvia's premade baby bag. Now Ultear sat in a holster in front of her where Lucy could keep an eye on her. She was still crying and Lucy tried desperately to quell her cries before they got in the store, to no avail though. Ultear was crying all the way from walk-in to checkout. Once Natsu paid for the diapers plus a few more items they had brought on a whim, she took them into the bathroom and changed Ultear's diaper as soon as possible. Lucy secured the last strap over Ultear's hip and finally she had stopped crying.

Another women walked into the bathroom as Lucy turned around, nearly bumping into her. "Ah, s-sorry, mis-" Lucy stopped short when she realised who it was. Her distant cousin, Michelle, dressed in her usual pink princess like gown, with her long dirty blonde hair held back by a pink bonnet, Lucy never understood why her cousin fancied that kinda stuff but who was she to judge.

"Michelle?"

"Lucy!" She chimed clapping her hands together and pulling Lucy into a hug, while being mindful of the child still in Lucy's arms. "What are the chances of seeing you here!"

Lucy chucked nervously, her family and her had never been on good terms and although Michelle had never had an issue with her just the thought of family got her worked up. "Eh, ha ha, yeah. What are you doing here, I thought you still lived with my father?"

"Oh I do, my betrothed and I were just travelling for our vacation and happened to need some supplies while in town. I had no idea I'd run into you here, though, oh what a lovely surprise!" She hugged Lucy once more and suddenly seemed to just notice the lump between them. She jumped back with a loud gasp. "Is she your little one! Oh how cute she is!" Michelle chimed, fawning over Ultear like she was a precious gem, cradling her round face and stroking her dark hair. Ultear as a response stared back with the best death glare a six month old baby could have.

Lucy cursed herself out in her head, Michelle was here with her betrothed as she called him, it must have been an arranged marriage then, it only made sense on her father's part. After she had run away seven years ago he had to have some way to connect the Heartfilia family to another wealthy one. It was all business with her father, Lucy knew, and Michelle had just enough blood ties with her father to make that work. She also knew that if Michelle found her after all these years there was no doubt she would mention this to her relatives back home. And if they find out I'm still in college and have no idea what I'm doing with my life away from home everyone will think I'm a deadbeat! Lucy panicked as she ran those thoughts through her head.

"Y-yeah. Her name's Ultear!"

Michelle gasped once more, "Who's the father?"

Lucy panicked again, saying quickly, "He's right outside wanna meet him!" She smiled, the look coming out a bit more forced than she would have hoped but Michelle didn't seem to notice.

"That would be lovely! I wanna hear all about how you've been doing these past seven years!" Michelle hooked arms with Lucy and walked out of the bathroom with her.

Lucy guided them to the car where Natsu said he would be waiting. When he spotted Lucy with Michelle clasped to her arm in addition to Ultear strapped to her chest, his eyes grew wide. He was leaning against the car previously but now righted himself to stand in full view next to Michelle as they came over.

Lucy spoke first, "Natsu, meet Michelle, my cousin. Michelle, meet Natsu."

"Hi…" Natsu said tentatively, wondering what was going on. By now he had noticed the way Lucy stood, tense and nervous looking. He knew something was up.

"It's so nice to meet you, Mr.-"

"Dragneel." He answered for her.

Michelle turned back to Lucy. "Lucy Dragneel!? How fitting, it looks like you've made a wonderful family while away from home.!" Michelle had her back turned to Natsu so she didn't see him flinch, but Lucy sure did. Not only did he flinch when he heard 'Lucy Dragneel' but he put his hands up wildly and mouthed. "Whats going on!?"

Lucy tried to portray a message to him through her eyes only, giving him a warning glare to keep his mouth shut. "Yeah, we've been doing great! Engaged for two years, married for five, isn't that right, hon?" Lucy grabbed Natsu's arm and stood close to him, closer than they'd ever been before. Natsu's face paled.

"Uh, y-yeah. That's right, sweetheart!" It was a poor performance but Michelle looked fooled and she even bounced a little on her heels.

"Oh how sweet! Everyone back home would love to hear how well you're doing!" Lucy laughed nervously, ignoring Natsu's death glare. "I have an idea, Lucy! Why don't you tell them yourself?"

"Eh?" She had almost thought that fiasco was over. She had almost thought she was safe. She almost was.

"Your father is holding a big family reunion for next weekend, he wanted to invite you too but you left so suddenly no one knew where you were. But now you can come to the reunion and show everyone how cute Ultear is!"

The panic button was hit for a third time. "That sounds like fun! I'll definitely be there!" She regretted saying it the instant the words left her mouth. Natsu fidgeted next to her but kept appearance and smiled at Michelle when she looked at him. Maybe she would be the one who had to make this up to Natsu instead.

"Wonderful!" Michelle clapped her hands together, excited once more. "The reunion is going to be held on your family's estate, it starts at eleven so don't be late, kay?"

"You can count on me being there!" Why not? I mean I'm already neck deep in this thing I might as well commit. Lucy regretted what she said, regretted the thoughts in her head, she regretted everything about this day.

Michelle couldn't have been happier, when a car pulled up next to them she claimed it was her ride and she had to go but she hoped to see the Dragneel family soon. When they drove away Lucy dared not face the rage she had earned herself.

"Lucy Dragneel…" She couldn't tell if that was a question, or a threat.

Putting on a brave face she turned around. "Surprise! We're married!" She put her hands up in fake excitement and prayed to god Natsu wouldn't kill her. He didn't look impressed. "Say hello to your new daughter…" Lucy chuckled nervously, making sure to point out Ultear strapped to her chest and sleeping soundly.

After a while he asked, "We don't really have to go to this do we?"

Lucy hesitated before answering. "...How much do you love me?"

Natsu groaned, it looked like next week wasn't going to be as relaxing as Lucy thought.