"If John Lennon was right that life is what happens when you're making other plans, parenthood is what happens when everything is flipped over and spilling everywhere and you can't find a towel or a sponge or your "inside" voice."- Kelly Corrigan
Chapter Seven
Disclaimer: Don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters, only Haru and all the trouble he causes.
The morning light fell across the bed and caused the occupant to stir restlessly, groaning and burying their face in the pink pillowcase to avoid the sting of the light.
Lucy reached out her hand to the side of the bed that she didn't occupy to find it empty. The sheets under her hand were still warm from Natsu's body heat, indicating he hadn't been out of the bed for very long.
Sighing, she rolled onto her back and blinked blurrily at the ceiling above her. As she struggled to wake, she heard the distinct sound of baby laughter coming from the living room and a smile formed on her lips. Stretching, she sat up in bed and pulled the warm sheets from her body. As she walked through the open bedroom door, she couldn't help but admire the scene that greeted her. Natsu stood with only a towel wrapped around his trim waist, water streaming down his torso and dripping from his soaked hair. In his arms, a naked and active Haru flailed his arms as his father tried to dry him off, but he kept pushing the cloth from him, his hands reaching for Natsu's dripping locks.
Natsu sighed and blocked his son's hands with the towel, finally wrapping it around his tiny body and stopping any further movements. Haru squealed in protest and a pout began to pull at his lips. Turning upset eyes up at his father, he poked his lips out and whimpered.
"Just chill out for a minute, buddy," Natsu said, grinning at the look on the baby's face. "Let me just dry you off, then you can play all you want."
"Need a little help, Daddy?" Lucy asked from her position leaning against the bedroom doorway. Natsu looked up at the sound of her voice and a smile stretched over his face. It still made him start a little whenever someone referred to him as a father. The paperwork for Haru's adoption had only been finalized for little over a week and still Natsu couldn't get over the thrill of it. He looked down at the baby in his arms that had since wiggled out of the towel and had stuck a corner of the material into his mouth to gum it enthusiastically.
Grinning down at the baby, he ran a hand over Haru's soft head, brushing the thin hair from his brow.
My son, he thought giddily. He distantly heard Lucy pad over to him and felt her arms wrap around his waist as she peered at Haru around his arm.
When Haru saw Lucy, he let the towel fall from his drooling mouth and squealed in excitement, his arms reaching toward her. Sighing, Natsu handed her the fussy baby.
"He's been fussy all morning. Did he wake you up?" Natsu asked as Lucy settled Haru against her chest, flipping her hair from his reach as he tried to grab the locks.
"No, I was already up. But I heard you guys having so much fun in here, I thought I would join you." Giving Haru one of her fingers, she watched as he instantly stuck it into his mouth, drool slipping out of his mouth to trail down his chin.
Jerking in surprised pain, Lucy pulled her finger from his mouth. "Ow!" Looking down at her finger, she watched as a small bead of blood welled up in her finger tip and frowned. Natsu stepped forward and lifted Haru's lips to open his mouth. Just poking out of his pink gums, a sharp white tooth fought for freedom.
"Looks like his baby fangs are coming in," Natsu commented. "We'll have to start using that teething stuff we bought him."
Lucy bounced the baby in her arms a little as she walked to the sink to rinse off her finger. "I'm surprised that he hasn't been crying. In the books I read, it said that when babies start teething, they can cry almost constantly because it hurts them."
Natsu leaned against the counter next to the sink and shrugged. "Maybe we just got lucky."
Twelve Hours Later…
Lucy groaned and staggered to her feet as the screams of the baby erupted from the cradle next to their bed. From the sheets, Natsu rolled onto his stomach and buried his face into his pillow.
"Make him stop!" he yelled into the pillow. Frowning in irritation, Lucy shot him a dirty look.
"I would if I could Natsu! It's not like I like never sleeping!"
Lifting the screaming baby into her arms, she murmured soothing things as she paced the space of the bedroom, trying in vain to comfort the pained baby. She winced as his screaming went up a notch and he fisted his hands into the material of her t-shirt. She could feel her nerves fraying as his screams made her ears begin to ring.
"Please, Haru," she said desperately, her voice tinged with panic. "Please, just go to sleep."
Natsu set up in bed, his eyes bloodshot and burry as they focused on Haru and Lucy. Looking around the room, he looked for something, anything that would satisfy the irritable baby. Happy had fled the apartment the second Haru had first started crying around nine that evening, saying something about thinking of permanently living with Charle and Wendy. Spotting one of his teething rings, Natsu reached for it and walked toward the increasingly distressed pair.
Lucy's eyes were tired and wide with panic when they landed on Natsu. "He won't stop crying, Natsu," she cried. "He just won't stop!"
"Here, try this," he said, handing Lucy the teething ring. She pulled Haru back enough to stick the ring into his mouth mid-bellow, hoping beyond hope that it would work. But Haru spit the object from his mouth and renewed his bellows of irritation.
"There has to be something wrong with him!" Lucy cried, tightening her grip on the baby. "There's no way he can cry this much and it be healthy! Do you think he's sick again?"
Natsu sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Chill out, Luce. He's not sick. You said so yourself, babies cry a lot when they grow teeth."
"But he hasn't stopped crying for hours! I just…" Her lips trembled and she looked up at him. "I'm just so tired."
Natsu felt a stab of alarm when he saw her brown eyes begin to swim with tears. The last thing he needed was two crying people to sooth! He could barely handle one at a time!
Beginning to panic, he rested his hands on Lucy's shaking shoulders and peered into her face. "Hey…hey, calm down Lucy. Crying isn't going to solve anything. What about those books you read? Did any of the have any ways to help?"
She began to shake her head, but stopped and her eyes widened in realization. Her tears seemed to dry up instantly as she urgently handed him Haru and wordlessly went into the kitchen. Natsu watched her go with a small frown, but then a particularly loud wail made him wince and he began to pace and bounce Haru in his arms.
When Lucy reemerged, she held in her hands Haru's baby cup, filled with ice water.
"One of the books said that drinking something cold might help the pain and let him fall asleep." Stepped forward, she offered the baby the cup and frowned when he only turned his head away. Trying again, she felt frustration take hold when he continued to dodge her efforts. "Please, Haru! Just do this for me. Just drink the damn water!"
Haru seemed to understand her frustration and quieted his screams to watery sniffles as he looked up at her with pitiful red eyes. His chin trembled and his cheeks were wet from his tears. When she saw how piteous and sad he looked, Lucy's face immediately softened.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. I know it hurts." She ran her thumb over his flushed cheeks and smiled at him tenderly. One more fat tear escaped his eye but he stopped his whimpers. She lifted the baby cup to his lips as an offering. "Drink this, sweetie. It will make you feel better."
Hopefully.
Natsu watched the scene with a small, curious smile twitching on his lips and he couldn't stop himself from chuckling. When she glared up at him, he wisely wiped the smile off his face and focused his attention on Haru, who had latched onto the baby cup with enthusiasm. Once all the cold water was gone, Lucy pulled the cup away and seemed to hold her breath.
In his arms, Haru smacked his lips once, twice, then sighed and burrowed his face against Natsu's shoulder, his mouth opening in a tongue-curling yawn. The adoptive parents watched with bated breath as the baby's eyes began to droop and he blinked up at them sleepily. With a sigh of defeat, Haru finally succumbed to the pull of sleep and drifted off now that his gums were temporarily soothed from the pain.
"It worked," Lucy breathed, afraid to speak too loudly or risk waking the child and having to start all over again. She looked up at her boyfriend, a brilliant smile breaking out on her face. "I can't believe it worked!" Her shoulders slumped and she closed her eyes briefly. "Thank god."
Natsu didn't bother to smother his laugh this time as he walked towards the crib and gently set the baby down amongst the blankets. Pulling his hands away, he watched with relief as Haru simply clenched his little fists in the blankets and settled to sleep.
Straightening, he turned and couldn't quite stop his wide grin at the sight that greeted him. Lucy hadn't even bothered to get under the covers before collapsing onto the bed and falling asleep. Shaking his head, Natsu pulled the covers out from under her and scooted in beside her, covering them both. He turned his head to look over at her and saw just how exhausted she looked even in sleep with a small pang of sympathy. He often didn't need much sleep and had simply been eating flames for small boosts of energy all night. But Lucy had no such energy source and coffee could only do so much.
He watched as she muttered something too low for him to hear in her sleep and rolled towards him, her arm coming out towards him and wrapping around his waist as she buried her face against his chest. Grinning, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.
What had he done right in his life to deserve someone like Lucy that, at the age of twenty, was helping him raise an orphaned Fire Dragon Slayer and returned his feelings enough to date him? How on Earthland had he gotten so fucking lucky?
Who cares? Just lay down and enjoy it.
That sounded like sound advice, so Natsu listened to that happy voice in his head and closed his eyes to the soothing sounds of Lucy and Haru's calm heartbeats and the smell of Lucy's shampoo in his nose.
(AN: I know I've said it before, but I will say it again. I don't have a baby and everything I'm going off of is coming from books and movies, so if I got something wrong, please tell me and I will try to fix it. That being said, I'm sorry it was so short, but I just thought I would get the teething thing out of the way, although I might mention it in the next chapter. From here on out, expect time skips of months or sometimes years. Thank you all so much for your lovely reviews! I adore you all!)
Jane
