Burning Love
The sounds of groups of guild mates filled the guild hall early Friday evening. Everyone was celebrating the return of the thunder legion after a yearlong journey. They had returned to Magnolia successful in completing a mission to defend the outskirts of a town called Jimawabe, south of the capital.
Mira, Lisanna, and Elfman happily visited with Evergreen. She and Elfman were now husband and wife, making the Strauss family one member larger. Laxus visited with Makorav, talking to each other about unknown topics to everyone else, letting out laughter every so often. Bickslow and Freed sat alongside Cana and Max, telling them about their latest job.
However, in another corner of the room sat Erza, Wendy, Loke, Gray, Juvia, Happy, Gajeel, Natsu, Lucy and Levy. The boys were gathered around a pool table in the room while the girls sat the table next to where they were playing. Everyone was having fun, most of them all drinking, aside from Wendy, who didn't enjoy drinking so much, and Levy, who was six months pregnant. Natsu and Loke were playing pool against Gray and Gajeel.
"That's cheating!" Natsu exclaimed.
"It's not cheating ash breath! It's called being good!" Gray retorted as he hit the last striped ball into the corner hole. He walked to the other side of the table, aiming for the white ball once more, hitting the 8 ball directly and knocking it into the closest hole.
"Nice!" Gajeel exclaimed, putting his hand up for a high five after Gray won the game.
"Dammmiittt!" Natsu yelled, turning towards the exit.
"Don't be a sore loser!" Loke yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth.
The girls sat nearby, giggling at the boys being themselves. No one was surprised by Natsu's reaction; he always was a sore loser when he lost, which in most scenarios, never happened, but in games that required patience, he lost.
Natsu leaned against the exterior wall of the guild, sitting on the pavement. He crossed his arms and let out a long sigh and looked up at the sky.
"Hey man," Gray said, walking towards him.
"Yo," Natsu answered back.
Gray handed Natsu a drink, then sat down a few feet from Natsu. There was a short pause as the two of them looked up at the sky. The sun was about to set, and the sky was clear which meant the stars would be easy to see once the moon came up. The night sky only made Natsu think of one person, Lucy.
"Can I tell you something… and you not tell anyone?"
"Sure, dude," Natsu said, taking a long drink.
Gray took a gulp of his drink, "I think I'm gonna ask Juvia to marry me."
Natsu blinked, looking over to Gray. "Seriously?" he asked.
"Yeah," Gray said, smiling down at his lap. "It sounds way scarier when you say it out loud."
"That's awesome news, man, seriously."
"When I first met her, I never thought I'd ever say that. To think I used to be head over heels for-" Gray stops and clears his throat.
Natsu punches Gray on the arm. "I fuckin' knew it! I always knew you liked her, bastard!"
Gray laughs, rubbing his arm; now sore from the punch. "Yeah, we had a bit of a rivalry going on a little harder than usual there for the first year she was around," Gray looks up at the stars once more. "But after a while, you two just grew closer day after day and then, something just changed between you two after that shit with phantom went down. I knew she wanted to be with you, not me."
Natsu stared at the color changing sky, he could remember the day when Fairy Tail stormed into Phantom's guildhall. The minute he'd over heard about Lucy's kidnapping, something snapped inside of him, instantly fueling his body and magic power with rage. Still, some things about that day still shocked him, like how Lucy knew he would be there to catch her before she hit the ground after jumping from the tower. "Yeah, I guess you could be right. I can't believe that was thirteen years ago."
"Technically six years ago, since we were on Tenrou for seven," Gray adds.
"Yeah," Natsu thinks back to Tenrou island, "I almost told her I loved her, before Acnologia blasted us, but I chickened out."
"You should've told her, you should tell her."
"I just don't want things to change between me and Lu-" Natsu's eyes flicker up to the doors opening beside them, "Luu-cy!" Natsu says cheerfully, trying to cover up that he was about to say her name. He stands up quickly, leaning against the wall once more. Lucy looks over at the two of them, flashing a weak smile. Natsu's demeanor changes as he furrows his brows at the sight of her frown. "What's wrong?" he asks, walking over to her.
Lucy's eyes slowly fill with tears. She lowers her head, looking down to her feet. She slowly walks towards Natsu, leaning her head against his chest as tears fall from her eyes. Natsu gently places a hand on her head, petting her soft golden hair. He wraps his other arm around her, feeling her warm tears dampen the front of his shirt. "I'm just gonna head home," Lucy says, "see you."
"It's getting dark, Lucy. Give me a sec, I'm gonna walk you home," Natsu says calmly.
Lucy nods and starts walking away from the guildhall. Natsu turns around quickly, only to see Gray quickly raise his hands and mouth the works what the fuck?
"I have to pay my tab!" Natsu whispers, "Mira will kill me if I leave without paying again, and I have to tell Hap-"
"I'll handle that shit!" Gray says, pushing Natsu in the direction of Lucy, "tell her, don't chicken out again, what if you never get another chance, she won't wait around forever."
Natsu nods at Gray, jogging towards Lucy. He throws his arm over her shoulder and tries to get her to look up instead of down at her feet. "Didn't feel like waiting for me, huh?"
"I knew you'd catch up," she responds.
"You gonna tell me what's wrong now?" Natsu asks.
Lucy sighs quietly, "Alcohol makes me sad sometimes, it's just got me thinking about a lot."
"Like what?"
"A bunch of things," she responds. Lucy looks up at the sky, thinking of her loved ones she'd lost. She missed her parents and Aquarius dearly; she wished she could see them again. She also thought of Levy, getting ready to have a baby, she was so excited for her best friend and was ecstatic about being the godmother, but she wanted to be a mom too. "I just miss my family," she says after a long silence.
"Yeah, I know how you feel," Natsu says quietly, thinking of Igneel.
There's a long silence as the two of them walk down the streets of Magnolia. They passed many groups of people, all enjoying the warm night. Laugher and people filled the outdoor cafes, lines formed outside popular clubs, and the lights from the shops lit up the street; the city was alive.
"Say, Luce," Natsu said, folding his arms behind his head, "Wanna go somewhere before home?"
Lucy raises a brow at Natsu, "where?"
Lucy shivers at the grin Natsu flashes at her, within a second he was grabbing ahold of her arm, pulling her along as he quickens his pace. "It's a surprise!" he says, turning around to look at her.
Soon enough, the two of them are in East Forest, walking on a path between trees and shrubs. Lucy is close behind Natsu, holding onto his shirt. She frequently looks over her shoulders, scared of the darkness and things lurking in it. "N-Natsu, do we have to go this way? The woods are scary at night…" Lucy says.
"Don't worry," Natsu says, engulfing his left hand in fire, lighting up their surroundings, "we're almost there." After a bit more walking, Natsu stops, causing Lucy to run into the back of him. "Okay, it's right around those trees, close your eyes."
Lucy rubs her nose, "what?" She looks at the trees Natsu pointed to, "how am I supposed to walk if my eyes are closed?"
"Just do it, I'll lead you." Lucy slowly closes her eyes and waits to be guided along by Natsu. She almost jumped at the feeling of his large hand wrapping around hers, pulling her forward. "Stop for a sec," he says, followed by the sound of his feet hitting the ground. Shortly after, Lucy feels Natsu's warm hands once more; this time around her hips, lifting her from the ground and placing her back down, avoiding what seemed to be a gully. The sound of water quickly died down as they grew closer to where they were heading. "Okay, stop. You can open your eyes."
Lucy slowly blinks her eyes open, breath hitching in her throat at the sight. "Oh…wow…" Lucy says with a sigh of content, sitting on the soft grass below her. They were on top of a cliff above Magnolia. From where they were they could see the entire city. The moon was now in the sky, hovering peacefully above the city. It's crescent shape was complimented by the sparkling stars beside it. Just below the still rising moon was Fairy Tail, illuminated in light.
Natsu walks up behind her, joining her on the grass. He looks over to her, seeing her once watery eyes now dry and sparkling at the beautiful view, "so? Are you happy we came through the dark, scary forrest?" Natsu asks playfully.
Lucy nods, and wraps a hand around Natsu's bicep, "this is the perfect view of Magnolia!" She turns and smiles at Natsu, then notices the placement of her hand and pulls it away.
"Yep, the perfect view of our home, Luce." He leans back on his hands, strategically placing one directly behind Lucy. "Sure, Fairy Tail is just a big group of destructive misfits, but we all share the same strong bond, we're a family, and family is always there for each other. We're always gonna be here for you, Lucy. I'll always be here for you. It's alright if you don't wanna talk about why you're upset, but I'll be here if you need me."
Lucy smiles, still looking at the sight in front of her, vision becoming blurry from tears of joy welling up in her eyes. She quickly wipes a tear from her eye, "you always know how to cheer me up," Lucy leans against Natsu, resting her head on his strong shoulder. "Thank you."
The two of them sit silently together, watching the moon rise. Some time passed, and eventually it was at its peak in the sky. "Ready to go?" Natsu asked, standing and holding out his hands for Lucy. Lucy nodded, grabbing his two hands with hers, holding on as he lifted her slowly to her feet. The two of them walked together, talking about anything as they made their way to Lucy's home.
Once they made it back, Lucy walked over to her mini bar in the kitchen of her house, grabbing an uncorked bottle of wine. She raises it in a way that offers some to Natsu, who shakes his head and walks up beside her, mischievously grinning as he opens the cabinet of her minibar once more. "I'd prefer this," he says, holding up a bottle of fireball.
Lucy gets a wine glass and a small glass for the two of them to pour their drinks in. Lucy climbs up on her countertop in her kitchen, sipping on her wine. Natsu walks around, looking at the trinkets and photos she had hung up on her walls. He stops for a while, admiring her award she'd gotten two years ago for her first book. He still remembers the way she looked that night. So beautiful and happy, he'd never forget the smile she had.
Natsu keeps looking around, eventually finding a picture from one of their first missions. "Wow, Luce, we've really changed, haven't we? Look how short your hair was!" He says pointing at the photo.
Lucy hopped off of the counter top and over beside Natsu, "I know, it seems like forever ago when we met for the first time." She glances at the picture, then searches around on her large book shelf, grabbing something from it. "Come look at this, Natsu," she says, moving towards the couch. Natsu doesn't question and follows her over to the couch, sitting beside her, looking over her shoulder as she opens the book.
He sees glossy photos, three to a page. On the very first one, he sees a picture of Layla, mistaking her for Lucy. He steals a quick glance at Lucy and sees longing in her eyes, "you know," he says, "you look more and more like her every day, Luce."
Lucy smiles down at the photo album, turning page after page slowly enough to see the faces of the people in the pictures. Natsu recognizes most of the people as being her family members, some he knew, some he just assumed were family. Soon he starts seeing familiar faces, her spirits. She pauses for a moment over the pictures with Aquarius. Some were from when she was a little girl, others when she was a teenager. He sees a picture of the Celestial Spirit King, which for some reason catches him off guard. They laugh together at the pictures of Happy and Plue dancing on a table at Fairy Tail, and awe at the pictures of them sleeping.
Eventually they make it to pictures of their giuldmates, some of them being heartwarming pictures showing true friendship, some of them being embarrassing photos from past drunk adventures. "Natsu," Lucy says eventually, "you know, you're probably the one who's changed the most over the years."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," she smiles, flipping to some pictures she had of him and Happy together, the three of them, Plue and Natsu, and others like that. Natsu smiled seeing how many picture's she'd taken of him over the years. "Your hair's gotten much longer, you're definitely taller now then you were in X784, you're… well, more muscular now than before," she says with a smile as her cheeks get pink, Natsu grins at her, trying to tease her, "and most of all, you're stronger, and you're much more mature."
She turns a few more pages, stopping once again finding a picture of the two of them at Akane Resort a few years back. In the picture, Natsu has a big mischievous grin and her in his arms, ready to throw himself and Lucy into the water behind them and instead of Lucy's usual look of discomfort, she's laughing. Natsu remembers the day clearly in his mind; he looks over to Lucy, who's still smiling down at her photo album. "A lot has changed since we first met," Natsu says.
"Yeah," she adds, "I guess you're right."
Natsu stands up and walks over into the kitchen to refill his now empty drink. "Hard to believe how long it's been since we met in Hargeon. I remember that day so clearly, it's weird how sometimes you remember things so distant in the past, but forget what you did yesterday."
"I remember it like it was yesterday. I like to think that day was the day my life truly began." Lucy says, smiling up at Natsu, who was now standing behind the couch, looking down at her. "If you and Happy didn't come crashing into my life then, who knows where I'd be right now."
Natsu takes a sip of his drink and climbs over the couch, sitting beside Lucy once more, "you'd probably be married to that fake salamander guy," he says, "if me 'n Happy never came along you may have never broken the love charm he had on you."
Lucy's eyes widen with surprise and she looks up at Natsu.
"What?" Natsu questions.
"N-nothing, I'd forgotten all about the love charm," Lucy said. She blushed, looking down once more, trying to hide her now pink cheeks. Some time ago, she'd read an article about love charms and their spells. It'd said the only way the charm could break is if the caster neutralized it, or by the victims soul mate. She thought about how romantic it sounded back when she read it, forgetting that it had actually happened to her… with Natsu.
"Hey, Luce-"
"Hey, Natsu-" The two of them said simultaneously, causing them to laugh at one another for a moment. Natsu nodded at her, silently telling her to go first.
"I-I was just feeling nostalgic, I wanted to say thanks. For always, you know, being by my side, for always protecting me and keeping me safe. I guess, thanks for being you." She said as she closes her photo album, setting it on her coffee table.
Natsu blinked, a slight blush coming over his cheeks from being caught off guard by her words, "y-you're welcome Lucy."
She smiled back at him, "you're turn," she says.
He blushes and scratches the back of his head nervously, "oh, never mind about it."
"Come on, out with it," she says.
"It's nothin' Luce, wanna make a snack?"
Lucy leans against the couch, crossing her arms and legs. "Help yourself," she says blatantly.
"Well what are ya mad for? It's not a big deal," Natsu says, turning towards Lucy.
"Yeah, nothing's ever a big deal to you Natsu, it's like you don't have any feelings at all."
"Of course I do, Luce, com'on."
"No, you come on Natsu. Just be honest with yourself and me for a change," Lucy snaps. "You can never tell me anything about your feelings or even your actions. Somehow they're always the right ones but I never know why." She stands up, walking away from Natsu who grabs her hand and turns her back towards him. "Quit it, Natsu! We've been in this state of 'more than friends but less than a relationship for years now! Some of our friends are married, some are engaged, some are having babies for heaven's sake… a-and you can't even tell me how you feel about me." She says, looking down at her bare feet. She folds her hands in front of her, letting her bangs hide her face. She feels tears gather in her eyes. She's happy she finally got that out, but now she can't help but feel bad for being so upfront and impatient about it.
As Lucy lifts her head to apologize, she sees Natsu's fierce green eyes boring into hers. "Lucy," he says, she waits for him to say something else, but instead she blinks and feels him wrap his arms around her in a tight and warm hug. She relaxes into his arms, hugging him back. He pulls away from her just enough to rest his forehead on hers. "Lucy," he says once more, "I'm sorry for never being honest with you."
"It's-"
Lucy tries to respond to him, but Natsu cut her off by pressing his lips gently onto hers. Her heart was beating rapidly, increasing as he placed a hand on the nape of her neck and the other tightly around her waist, pulling her body closer to his. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in as close as she could. The two of them only parted for air, until they caught each other's eye.
"Natsu," Lucy breathed.
"Lucy, I've liked you ever since the day you came into my life," Natsu started.
"I-" Lucy started, but was cut off by Natsu placing a finger over her plump pink lips. He grabs her by the hands and pulls her back over to the cough.
"I felt like I loved you the minute I caught you as you fell from the tower you were trapped in after being taken by phantom. My heart sank as I heard you yell my name in the distance; I was terrified I wouldn't make it to you in time. When I overheard that you were kidnapped, my blood was set on fire and I knew I couldn't be stopped 'till I found you." Natsu looked down at his hands still holding hers, "but somehow I still convinced myself that I might just be exaggerating my feelings and I was upset because you're my best friend and someone tried to take you away from me."
Lucy didn't try to interrupt as Natsu told his story to her. She wanted to hear every single second of it loud and clear.
"But, my feelings were made a little clearer after we went through the tower of heaven. Fighting for Erza that day, and protecting Erza that day were different than the times I'd protected and fought for you. For Erza, it was like I was protecting my only sister, whom I love dearly, but for you, it was like I was protecting someone even more special. Then, a few years later, my feelings were made crystal clear. The Dragon King Festival is the day I consider the worst day of my life, so far."
Natsu looked at Lucy, who was looking right back at him. He was shaking, he couldn't figure out why talking about his feelings scared him so much, but he couldn't risk losing her over something so childish. He was willing to do anything for Lucy.
"I still have nightmares about that day, Lucy. When you died- well, when future Lucy died- my heart sank to my stomach. I watched and felt that arrow slide through my fingers, and I was instantly paralyzed by fear. I knew it was going to hit you if I didn't catch it, and I didn't." Natsu could feel himself tearing up; he looked down, closing his eyes, trying not to choke up. "My whole world stopped, and when it started moving again, the future you was lying… d-dead on the floor… I'm still not sure how I felt after seeing that, but it was the worst I've ever felt." Natsu gripped Lucy's hands a little bit tighter, "Ever since that day I never wanted you out of my sight, but I didn't know how to handle that, so I always kept you in a distance I could hear you from and I tried my best not to freak you out."
"Well not ever since that day…" Lucy added.
Natsu nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. "Yeah… I still kick myself in the ass for leaving you behind, I never wanted to leave you, honest. B-but after seeing Igneel die, my mind spun out of control. I needed to get away and do things to get my mind off of it… things I didn't want you to see." Natsu lifted his hand to his neck, rubbing it nervously. "I pretty much fought someone different every day I was gone, sometimes I got beat up pretty rough, others I won, all in all was good training, but not a place for someone like you, Luce."
Lucy looked at him with a confused expression, leaning away from him slightly. "So what you're saying is, you left town on your own to fight random strangers!? You could've been killed, Natsu!"
"I know, Lucy… but I wasn't."
"But-"
"That's not what this is about, if I wanted to get yelled at by you about my decisions almost 3 years ago, I would've told you then!" Natsu cleared his throat, not meaning to raise his voice at her, "Sorry, but Lucy the point here is, I've been in love with you for a long time, I never really thought we needed to say it out loud for it to be known between us."
Lucy's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Are you kidding me Natsu? Of course it does!"
"Why!? I know how you feel about me, you should've known how I feel about you, hell… even the whole guild knows!"
"Yeah, but that doesn't make us a couple!"
"Then what does?"
"Well, we'd hold hands…" Lucy started to blush, "and we'd kiss each other, maybe sleep over together, do things together, go on missions-" Lucy stopped her sentence after the sound of Natsu's chuckles sounded in her ears. "What are you laughing for!?"
"Lucy! We've done all of those things! Numerous times, e-except for the kissing."
Lucy raised a brow, thinking over the things she'd mentioned that couples do. Hmmm…. She thought to herself. "Well… I guess you're right, but I'd always thought my first relationship would start with a date…"
Natsu relaxed into the couch, wrapping his arms around Lucy, pulling her into his lap. He chuckled as he heard her heart rate pick up and saw her cheeks flush with embarrassment. "Well then, we can say our relationship started tonight, since we had a nice moonlight date overlooking Magnolia." He said as he flashed her his toothy grin.
Lucy thought to herself for a moment, then wrapped her arms around Natsu's neck, hugging him gently. She pulled away from him enough to rest her forehead on his, "You always seem to surprise me, Natsu… I don't know how you do it."
"This stuff comes naturally with you, Luce." He said, hugging her tighter and lifting his chin so his lips could meet hers. He kissed her longingly until he felt her pull away.
"Just so you know, next time we're going somewhere fancy, I wanna dress up."
"I'll go wherever you wanna go, forever, Luce."
Ten years later…
Natsu's eyes slowly opened from the bright sunlight shining through the sheer brown curtains across from his bed. Although he was hoping to sleep a little bit longer, he was happy it was Saturday and could wake up on his own instead of by the horrible sound of his alarm clock. As an added bonus, Saturday's were his favorite mornings to wake up early; nothing beat the sight of Lucy sleeping soundly across from him as soon as he opened his eyes. He loved starting out the mornings seeing his beautiful wife sleeping, but unfortunately she was always awake before him on the weekdays and on Sundays most of the time.
He reached a hand out towards his wife, gently moving a few strands of golden hair out of her face, making her wiggle her nose slightly. After he looked at her for a while longer, he reached a little closer to him and ruffled a head of almost identical set golden locks. Piercing green eyes, similar to Natsu's slowly opened, meeting his gaze. The little boy slowly blinked a few more times and smiled brightly up at Natsu. He raised a finger to his lips and motioned a shhing noise. The little boy mimicked his position and climbed out of bed, over Natsu. Natsu held onto the little boys back as he crawled from the bed.
Once the little boy was slowly making his way towards the door of Natsu and Lucy's bedroom, Natsu sat up slowly, trying to get out of bed without waking Lucy. Once he was up, he made his way across the hall into a small pink bedroom, finding his baby girl lying awake peacefully, smiling up at him at the first sight of him
Once Natsu grabbed the baby, her big brown eyes looked up at him and a big smile came across her little face. All he could think of was how much she already looked like Lucy, aside from her long pink hair. He cuddled the baby in his arms as he tiptoed from the room and followed where the little boy was now walking in front of him. The three of them walked down a long hallway before making it to the kitchen.
"Alright, buddy… What do ya want for breakfast?" Natsu asked as he put the baby into a highchair.
"Uhhhmmm.. I think I want fwuity pebbles! Baby sissy will probably want the same," he said as he walked near the living room, coming back to the table with a large dinosaur toy and a mischievous look in his eye.
"If you see mom coming, you better hide that toy… you know she doesn't like when you have them at the table," Natsu said, grabbing a box of fruity pebbles from the cupboard. The little boy giggled and stomped his dinosaur across the table. "Jude," Natsu said, "Can you please go wake up your brother and sister?"
"Yes papa," he responded, climbing down from his chair.
"Be quiet so you don't wake up mama," Natsu said.
After a few minutes, two older children came back into the room with Jude, who took a seat at the table once more, this time with a bowl of fruity pebbles.
"Morning, daddy," the ten year old girl said to Natsu, rubbing her eyes. Her pink hair was braided back into pigtails, and her green eyes shined just as much as Natsu's.
"Good morning, Nashi." Natsu said calmly, stirring a bowl of pancake batter. "You want to cook up some bacon with me?" The girl smiled and walked over beside Natsu, filling a frying pan with uncooked bacon, then grabbing it from the stove and placing her hands on the bottom, after a few minutes, the bacon started sizzling in the pan. Nashi had inherited Natsu's Dragon Slayer Magic since Natsu started training her when she was only a year old, because of her early signs of magic power.
"Show off," scoffed the older boy who was almost nine years old, putting his head down on the table. He came out of his room still with his pink locks tangled and shot out from all angles from their roots.
"Liddan, you can come cook some eggs, if you want to," Natsu said, grinning and holding up another pan.
"No thanks," he responded, making a small beam of light come from his hands, entertaining his little sister. The light comings from his hands made his eyes appear to be yellow, not the brown that they are. Liddan was born with a special kind of magic, Meteor Magic, similar to that of Heavenly Body Magic, but it was more of an astronomical magic mixed with fire magic. Liddan was a late bloomer and started developing magical powers once he was four, but little did he know he was close behind his older sister's progress.
"Daddy, when will I get my magic!" Little Jude wined. "I wanna be like you and Liddy!"
"Whenever your body is ready for it, Jude. You have to wait for it, until then you can help me with little sissy."
"What if Luna gets them before me, daddy? You said Nashi got hers when she was only one years!" the little boy pouted, "sissy could get hers any day now!"
Natsu placed two pancakes, bacon and some eggs onto a tray and turned around to face Jude, "buddy, it doesn't matter who gets them first, or who is stronger at the time of all of you getting them," he raised a brow at Liddan, "because all of your magic will be special, and me and mama will help you every step of the way." He ruffled his blonde locks once more and turned back to the tray, placing on it a glass of orange juice and a small pink and yellow flower. He took the tray in his hands and smiled at his four children. "Now let's go tell mama Happy Birthday! Liddan you grab Luna."
The five of them slowly walked into Natsu and Lucy's shared bedroom, slowly opening the door. Natsu mouthed the numbers, 1…2…3… and they started quietly singing 'Happy Birthday' to Lucy. Jude climbed into bed, shaking her gently as they all sang, being joined by Nashi, then Liddan and Luna, while Natsu walked to the opposite side of the bed, placing the tray on Lucy's lap.
Lucy's smile lasted the entire time they sang, and enjoyed hearing Jude's story of how breakfast was without her. He laughed and hugged her son, then her other son and her daughters. Their group hug was completed once Natsu wrapped his arms around them all. "Thanks for breakfast, you guys. I love you all."
"We love you, mama," Jude said back immediately.
"Okay kids go get ready to leave for Aunt Levy's house, okay?" Lucy said calmly.
The children left the room, leaving baby Luna with Lucy and Natsu. Natsu moved the tray onto the nightstand and sat across from Lucy, putting a hand on her waist. He leaned in and kissed her forehead then resting his on hers, "Happy Birthday mama," he said quietly. "Thank you for giving my life more meaning than ever, all those years ago, and all the years to come," he said as he pet his little girl's soft hair. "She looks just like you already, Luce."
"Except for her wild pink hair," Lucy said, smiling down at the smallest of her four children.
"I wish they'd stay this small forever, don't you?"
"Yeah, it's hard to believe Nashi's ten, Liddan will be nine tomorrow, Jude's four, and Luna's almost a year and a half… where'd the time go?"
"I don't care where the times gone, as long as the rest of its spent with you and our kids. That's all I need."
Lucy smiled at her husband, placing a hand lightly on his cheek, "me too," she said, looking down at her baby, then back up at Natsu, "I have some news."
Natsu took the baby from her arms, pulling her tightly to his body, "What's that, Luce?"
"I'm pregnant."