STA: This story is meant as a companion to Cue The Storm. By no means do you need to have read CTS to follow this. If anything from CTS does come up, it will be as a background detail with no more explanation needed to understand than what's given. That being said, there is a line in CTS suggesting that Ultear is still with Crime Sorciere after the events of the Grand Magic Games, what with that fic being written before the arc ended and all. Since this story is set in the same fic-verse, I'm going to ignore that she's supposed to be an old woman who left everyone behind for the sake of fanfic continuity. Which is good, because now I have an excuse to not get rid of the opening I came up with for this thing over a year ago.

-x-

People generally think you're a lucky guy if you have a girl hanging off of each arm. What they don't realize is that this is highly situational. For example: If these girls are hanging off each arm to keep you from running from a third girl, a third girl who you have been lying to, then odds are you're out of luck.

Not that luck was something Jellal ever had much of.

That thought made Erza laugh nervously, even while her brain worked frantically to figure out what was so important that Ultear and Meredy would hold him in place. He didn't want to be there, clearly, so it had to be something he didn't want her to know. Something with the tower? No… no he was too guilt ridden to hide anything regarding that. What did he hide from her? He'd lied about the fiancée. Were they making him come clean? What if he was engaged after all? The idea had her so worked up that she looked more anxious than Jellal did.

Seeing that he wasn't the only one dreading what he was going to say, and hoping that whatever Erza was imagining was worse than what he had to tell her, was what it took to loosen Jellal's tongue. Taking a deep breath and deciding to make the most of his moment of courage, he got right to the issue at hand.

"I'm pregnant."

While Erza was too stupefied to react, and while the girls were relaxing their grip now that he'd come clean, Jellal seized the opportunity to activate Meteor and bolt out of the clearing.

"The fiancée was more believable," Erza said once she'd found her voice. "And the fiancée wasn't all that believable."

"It really wasn't," Meredy agreed. "But he is pregnant."

Erza had no good response for that one. She smiled, blankly, at Meredy and Ultear and waited to see when they would drop the act. Unfortunately, the two kept straight faces, serious faces even, and continued to keep with their story.

"As the father, we thought you ought to know," Ultear told her.

"The father," Erza repeated, not sure if she should laugh or shake her head.

"Is that not the right term? You aren't the one carrying the child, but by all means it should be yours, so father seems more appropriate." Ultear glanced in the direction Jellal had fled, considering it. "We've been calling him 'mother' since we found out, but he might not mind if we switched terms."

Pregnant or not, Erza suspected Jellal wouldn't mind if his companions stopped calling him mother.

They seemed to be serious about it. Erza gave in and humored them. "How would you figure I'm the… the mother? With his fiancée Jellal and I haven't exactly… you know…" Her cheeks felt warm. Was she blushing? "I mean… we haven't… made a child."

"Magic." Meredy told her, politely ignoring Erza's embarrassment. "You might remember that there was a spell that misfired a couple weeks back during the Grand Magic Games. It left the people it hit dazed. They weren't sure whether or not to halt the event."

Erza did remember that. Jellal still having been disguised as one of their guild members at the time, there had been a bit of panicking on their part when it became apparent that the spell had left him a bit on the disoriented side. She had been forced to flee a match temporarily to go to his side and keep watch over him until he'd fully regained his senses.

She also remembered that when they said their goodbyes after the tournament, it had been mentioned that he hadn't felt quite right since being struck by that spell.

Her cheeks felt cold then, and Erza was certain color was draining from her face as it sank in that they might be telling the truth.

"So that spell caused Jellal to… to…"

"To become pregnant," Ultear finished for her, producing a crystal ball from beneath her cloak as she spoke. "With another spell, we were able to verify that you're the father. Not that we expect you to feel any obligation. With our guild's need to stay on the move, we can't stay near Magnolia too long, so if you wanted to be involved with this whole affair, it won't be easy. Even keeping you updated on where we're going would be a risk. Although if you want, we could establish a place where we can leave money in exchange for supplies that it's difficult for us to get on our own. Normal food we can manage, but baby food…"

Well, if it was her baby, she wanted to make sure it was fed. "I… I can do that."

Ultear nodded. "We'll arrange something, then. In the meantime, let me find Jellal for you. Whether he wants to or not, this is something the two of you really should talk out."

-o-

It must have been convenient to be able to scry people with a crystal ball. Ultear had not only located Jellal, but also found the shortest path to him. This was still a two mile walk for Erza, but using Meteor, she didn't doubt that it had seemed like a short distance to her target.

Jellal had disappeared into the woods not too far from Magnolia, and found himself a nice pile of rocks to sit on and sulk. Erza lingered in the trees, watching him and considering whether or not it was a good idea to approach. She had come all this way, and seeing him look down, her immediate instinct was to go up to him and find out what was wrong. But she knew what was wrong. He was pregnant, apparently, and he'd clearly been mortified with having to tell her so. For her to come after him might not have been what he wanted.

But if it was her baby he was having, then Ultear was right. They needed to talk. And that was fine with her. When he'd left after the tournament ended, she hadn't been sure when she'd be able to see him again. To have him come back again so soon wasn't something she was opposed to. Maybe, if he wasn't too embarrassed to be seen with an eventual baby bump, this would mean more chances to talk with him regularly. At least for the next nine months.

So she stepped forward, making no effort to quiet her footsteps. Jellal looked up at the crunch of pebbles beneath her feet, and blushed when he caught sight of her.

"Ah… You… Uh…"

"Ultear helped me find you," she told him. "You aren't going to run away again, are you? It would be a bit of a hike back to ask her to locate you again."

Picking up on the implication that she would pursue him until she had what she wanted, Jellal's shoulders sagged. "I'm fine with staying put," he lied.

"That's good."

Erza took a seat on a rock beside his, looking out with him into the woods.

"You're really pregnant?"

He looked down at his lap. "So it would seem."

"What… What is that like?" Erza asked. "I've never been… That is, I've never had a boyfriend, so there haven't been many opportunities to become pregnant myself. It's been about a month, hasn't it. Do you still get nauseas?"

Jellal's chuckle was forced. "All the time."

She glanced at him. His gaze was still down. If he wasn't about to flee, now might be a good time to lay all their cards on the table. It wasn't exactly that she wanted to push him before he was ready on his own… but if they were going to be parents then there were a few details that needed clearing up.

"How is your fiancée taking it? That you're pregnant with another woman's child?"

Jellal flinched and looked up at Erza, eyes wide. "Ah. W-well she... I… W-when I told her… Oh forget it." He sighed. "She's couldn't have possibly taken it badly. You need to exist before you can be upset by something."

Erza waited to see if Jellal might see anything else, but he didn't. And there was no reason to badger him for having lied. If he ever felt like coming clean about why he'd lied then he could do that when he was ready. She already knew why anyway, or was pretty sure she did. What was most important then was that they didn't have to pussyfoot around the pretend fiancée anymore.

"I…" He took a deep breath. "I didn't meant to hurt you, if my making her up…"

"You didn't."

Okay, maybe it had hurt a little. But now wasn't the best time to mention that.

"It was just that… You could really do better than me, you know."

She doubted that. Oh, sure, she could find someone who wasn't on the run from the law and hadn't previously attempted to kill her, maybe. But if Jellal was who she wanted, then how could she do better than Jellal?

Again, not the best time for that. His hands were trembling, so rather than start an argument that would inevitably lead to him going into why he hated himself for what he'd done again, Erza reached out and put a hand on his.

"You're doing fine, Jellal."

He nodded, but his eyes were downcast again.

She rose from her rock, twirling to face him, and put a hand under his chin to lift it up. He wouldn't meet her gaze.

"It doesn't matter right now. Whatever happened in the past. Don't fixate on it."

"Right." But even though he agreed, his eyes wouldn't lock with hers.

A kiss right then and there might have gotten his attention, and curse it, it still wasn't the right time. Instead Erza cupped her other hand on his cheek, which made Jellal blush and turn away, now looking more flustered than depressed.

"I-I'm fine," he told her.

"Alright." She sat back down. "But since you're pregnant, we need to work things out. Ultear and Meredy seem to have plans for the three of you taking care of the baby, but if I'm the… um…"

"Father," he supplied.

"Mother. If I'm the mother, then I want to be able to see them growing up. I know you can't stay in one place forever, but if we could arrange some way that I could see you and our child when possible…" She almost forgot to add 'and our child' to that idea. Jellal, Meredy, and Ultear all seemed convinced that there was a child on the way, but the notion was still awfully abstract for her.

"Yeah. We'll… We can do that. We should be able to, at least. Our route seems to be a bit erratic, but we could probably come up with a few places we always hit on the same date." He looked at her then, managing something akin to a smile. "It would take a few years for anyone pursuing us to notice a pattern. And as the father, you should be able to see your child."

"The mother. I'm a woman."

"And I'm the one who's pregnant," he said with an overacted sigh. Was he amused with her insisting on the correct terminology.

Erza forced down her irritation at that and focused on keeping the conversation productive. "I suppose. But that baby is calling me 'Mommy' when it learns how to talk." She paused. "Do you know the gender yet?"

"No. Meredy said it will be a few more weeks before she can verify that. She was the one who figured out that there was a baby in the first place."

He moved to rub his stomach, but thought better of it, and put his arm down. Still, the action caught Erza's attention, and she held a hand to the hem of his shirt. "May I?"

"It doesn't look any different yet."

That wasn't a major concern. "I'd still like to check. Just in case."

He blushed and looked away, which she took as permission, and lifted his shirt.

He'd told the truth. There wasn't a baby bump yet. Though his abs looked a bit on the soft side… But maybe that was just her imagination.

Letting his shirt fall back down, she asked, "How long ago did you figure it out?"

"Meredy's been insisting since a week after the tournament," Jellal confessed. "It took her a while to be able to convince me and Ultear. Having morning sickness set in didn't hurt her case, either."

He looked fine at the moment, but… "Ultear asked if I could help with getting baby supplies. I can get medicine for your stomach too, if you need it."

"I'll manage. But thank you." He smiled for her then. The first actual smile he'd managed.

She smiled back. "Alright. But if I find out you're getting really sick, then I'll have to insist on it. In the meantime, maybe I can help with finding whatever foods you might be craving? As the mother, I do want to do something for you."

He chuckled. "I haven't had too many cravings, but if it really matters that much to you, then I suppose you're welcome to help with groceries. We've set up camp nearby for a few days. The plan is to keep moving, but stay near Magnolia for as long as we can manage. I'll be sure to keep you updated on where you can find us."

It probably still wasn't an appropriate time for it, but Erza felt like she'd earned something for resisting the urge to kiss him, and she leaned forward and wrapped Jellal in a warm hug. To her relief, he relaxed into her arms, and after a moment even but his around her.

"I'll be sure to visit."

-x-

STA: The last time I wrote a Jerza mpreg, Jellal was presumed to have died in the Tower of Heaven. I'm not kidding there. If you check out the author's notes, there's one where I'm freaking out because the chapter where you see Mystogan's face had just came out. The main thing I remember about writing that story was being frustrated with how long it took to have Jellal become and discover he was pregnant. In case you didn't notice, I had no patience for such buildup this time around.

But now that he's been around more, and while not being brainwashed to boot, I feel safe in saying that Jellal strikes me more as a mother type than Erza. She's just too stubborn and awkward about things. I feel like she'd wear the pants in the relationship, and Jellal would be the one who knows how to be reasonable about raising kids. If he stayed a fugitive, she would even be the one to go out and work and support the family while he laid low and watched over their children.