Chapter 10

"You call that squeezing?" Laxus rose an eyebrow as a trembling blonde squeezed his hands with all her strength.

"Shut up." Lucy half-heartedly glared at the man. "I don't recall your muscles almost getting fried to a crisp."

"I do recall saving your life, Blondie. So, why don't you try being a little nicer to the man who's helping you." He muttered as he watched both of her arms start to shake like leaves.

She huffed in defiance, but a moment later and her arms dropped as the muscles gave out. She grunted in frustration and leaned against the pillar on the porch they were both sitting on. "Sorry."

Both of his eyebrows rose at her apology, not in the least expecting it. For the past few days, she had been a mass of curses and defiance as him and his team helped her with her motor skill exercises. She was slowly getting better, but she was a far cry from being able to do much on her own. But, she had been fighting and biting this whole time, so to see her looking defeated and apologizing, was honestly a little unnerving to him.

He sucked in a long breath through his nose and shifted to watch their daughter practice her lightning in the near distance. That was one blonde who was improving drastically. He would be proud to say that his daughter could probably kick the shit out of Macao, a man who was probably seven times her age. They had started using moving targets just that morning, to which Bickslow whined at having to make new babies, since she destroyed them so easily. He smirked at the memory of Bickslow crying that his daughter was a monster as he picked up the pieces of his little wooden totems. That was something he could agree on wholeheartedly: his daughter was going to be one powerful mage when she grew up.

His eyes shifted to the mother of his child, and his eyebrows furrowed at her completely defeated expression. "What's on your mind?"

She made no acknowledgment that she had heard him, and he almost thought she didn't after she remained silent for a while. Finally, still staring at her daughter, she whispered, "how am I supposed to protect her if I'm so weak?"

Laxus stared at her for a moment, before he smirked. "I don't think she needs your protection anymore."

A tear rolled down her cheek as his words registered in her ears. "Then what use am I if my own daughter doesn't need me?"

He blinked at her, then sighed softly. "Do you need your own mother?"

"Always." She whispered as her hand shakily rose to wipe away her tear.

"Then there's your answer."

Her eyes, wide and vulnerable, shifted to meet his, and a small smile spread across her lips. "Thank you."

He just grunted and averted his gaze back to his daughter, not liking the way his heart beat faster at seeing her smile. After a moment, he glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. He'd been dying to ask her a few questions, for a long time, but he wasn't sure if he should. He supposed that in the beginning, he could have made her tell him or he could've kicked her out. Now though, he knew she wouldn't follow his damn rules, and even if he did kick her out, she'd be unable to function properly. Damnit, he should've asked her sooner. "Was it your choice?" He decided, fuck it, ask anyways.

Her eyebrows drew together, her head tilting to the side as she stared at him. "Huh?"

He rolled his eyes. "Insemination. Was it your choice?"

Her eyes widened. "Why do you want to know that?"

He growled deep in his throat. "Just answer the question."

She frowned at him, her eyes searching his face for something. She sighed, shifted back to look at her daughter, and murmured lowly, "I like to believe it was…"

His lips turned down as he stared intently at the side of her face. "The hell's that supposed to mean?" When she only remained silent, he growled again. "You're in some kind of trouble, aren't you?"

Her eyes slowly narrowed and she turned to glare at him. "Don't pretend that you've got me all figured out. And for fuck's sake, don't pretend to care. If you want to get to know your daughter, by all means, you have every right to do so. If you want her to know who you are, then be my guest, she probably deserves to know the truth. But don't pretend that you give a shit about me when you don't. You want to know your daughter; you don't want to know me."

He returned her glare after he got over his initial shock. "Don't pretend to have me figured out, and I'll return the favor, Blondie." When her face tinted red in embarrassment, his eyes softened back to his normal expression. "You're right though, I do want to know my daughter." Her head whipped around to stare at him in shock, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "So, if you are in trouble, that could sever my chances of doing so. If you're in trouble, then she is too."

Lucy sighed in defeat and watched her daughter flash a particularly bright stream of lightning. Her lips lifted as she saw her daughter grin in triumph. "She's not in any trouble. I made sure of that."

Laxus rose a quizzical eyebrow, but an excitedly Lily was running towards them, so he couldn't say anything more on the matter.

"Mama, did you see me?!" She shouted as she stopped to stand proudly in front of her mother.

"You were amazing, sweetie!" Lucy grinned, causing Lily to squeal excitedly and jump into her arms. It hurt, but Lucy just raised her shaky arms to hug her back.

"Careful, squirt." Laxus roughly chastised as he warily eyed Lucy's shaking arms. If they wore out too much, there wouldn't be any progress.

Lily gasped and immediately jumped away from her mother. "I'm sorry, mama."

She smiled softly in reassurance. "Don't worry, sweetie. I'll be better in no time. Then you can hug me to death if you want."

Lily giggled. "I'd never do that to you, mama. I'd do that to Thor instead."

Laxus' eyebrows drew together as the little girl jumped and squeezed him in a hug, him not really paying any mind to it. "The hell is Thor?"

Lily giggled as she looked up at him. "The God of thunder!"

Laxus rose an amused eyebrow, and looked over at Lucy with a smug smirk. "God of thunder, huh?"

Lucy puffed her cheeks out, remembering when she called him that to his face. She called him that in front of Lily all the time, but it wasn't meant to be a compliment.

Laxus couldn't help but chuckle when she turned her face pointedly away from him. He looked down at Lily, who was still grinning up at him. "Why don't we start cooking dinner."

"Yay, food!" Lily cheered and eagerly ran into the house.

Laxus shook his head and stood up, looking down at the blonde. "You good there? Or do you wanna come inside?"

Lucy sighed; she hated not being able to just walk inside. She felt like such an invalid. "Inside…. please."

He smirked as he bent down to pick her up bridal style. "Look at that, you actually can be nice."

She rolled her eyes as he started walking inside. "That should be my line."

"Mm, touché." He hummed, kicking the door closed behind him and setting Lucy on a chair at the kitchen table.

"I wanna make dinner!" Lily grinned as she stood in front of the refrigerator, with both doors ajar.

"Go right ahead, squirt." Laxus grunted as he leaned against the kitchen counter, arms crossed.

Lucy rose an eyebrow as she watched the two just stare at each other for a good five minutes, neither moving a muscle.

"Umm…" Lily finally spoke, twisting her fingers together and averting her gaze to the floor. "I need your help."

Laxus smiled, and rolled his eyes dramatically. "Why didn't ya just say so, squirt." She squeaked when he picked her up and placed her on his shoulders. "Grab a bowl."

"Okay!" She giggled and grabbed a bowl from the upper cabinet, now being able to reach it.

Lucy's mouth slowly dropped open as she watched the two of them make dinner. Laxus was smiling and making sure she was being put to work, even though he would get things dropped into his hair occasionally. And Lily…she was smiling so big, and laughing, and she looked so…happy.

Tears began to pool in her eyes the longer she watched them. It was the fact that this felt right…that this is what she hadn't been able to give her daughter; a father. A father is what her daughter needed; it's what she deserved. She had been trying so hard to give her daughter everything she needed; to do right by her. But, the only thing she really needed; the only thing she needs now is a father, and she doesn't even know who he is.

Her tears spilled over when she realized that she was too scared to tell her own daughter who her father is. She was scared that Lily would hate her for keeping it from her. Would she despise her and demand to live with her father? Laxus probably wouldn't care; he'd probably be happy to have his daughter to himself. She was a coward. She didn't want to tell her, because she didn't want to lose her.

"You little shit!" Laxus barked out a laugh as Lily smeared the spoon on his forehead.

Lily just giggled. "You're the head chef!"

"Oh my god." He chuckled and wiped his forehead with a hand towel. In the corner of his eye, he saw Lucy crying, and he did a double-take. His movements froze when he looked at her eyes; she was staring at them, but they weren't focused. There was so much sadness, helplessness, and defeat in them, that it made his lips turn down into a frown.

He set down the towel and lifted Lily off his shoulders, setting her on the counter so her back was turned towards her mother. "Keep stirring, squirt." She giggled and swung her legs back and forth as she stirred.

He made his way over to the crying blonde, and sat with one leg on the table in front of her. She didn't seem to notice his presence, so he slowly reached up and wiped the tears from her eye. When she jolted and looked at him in shock, he held up his hand to show the tears and raised an eyebrow in silent question.

"S-Sorry." She whispered, and she tried to raise her arms up to wipe her tears, but they were shaking so badly.

He sighed and lowered her arms. Checking to see that Lily was still focused on stirring, he used his sleeve to wipe away her tears as he whispered, "Why are you crying, Blondie?"

Her eyes lowered to the floor. "No matter what I've done, it was never enough. I was never enough."

His eyebrows furrowed. "The hell are you talking about?"

She lifted her head to look at him; her eyes defeated. "She needed a father."

He opened his mouth to say something, but he clamped his jaw shut instead. He didn't know what to say, because it was the truth. Every child needs their father, and every child needs their mother as well. Finally, after staring at her for a while, he murmured, "she has one now."

Her eyes widened marginally at his claim. So easily he said it, when he was determined not to have anything to do with them before. Did Lily really grow on him that fast?

They both turned their heads when they heard the front door open and close.

"Laxus? Are you home?"

Lucy's eyebrow's scrunched at the familiar voice that she couldn't place. She had assumed it was one of his teammates, since they had gone to the guild that morning, but the voice was different.

"Shit." Laxus mumbled under his breath. Ignoring the questioning glance Lucy sent him, he stood up and made his was towards the front door, wanting to intercept the person before they saw the other blondes in the kitchen. Luck didn't seem to be on his side though, since she practically ran into him in the doorway to the kitchen.

"There you are!" She smiled a relieved smile at him. "I haven't seen you at the guild in so long, I was beginning to get worried!"

"No need to worry, Mira. I'm fine." He reassured.

"Well, then," She reached up and grabbed the back of his head, pulling him down so she could connect her lips to his. When she pulled away, she looked up at him with a smirk. "What have you been doing?"

"Mira!"

Said woman jolted at the high pitched voice, and her eyebrows furrowed when she saw a little blonde girl running up to her. "…Lily? What are you doing here?" Another blonde head of hair caught her attention, and she turned her head to see the little girl's mother sitting wide-eyed at the kitchen table. "Lucy?... Laxus?" She shifted to look at her boyfriend, who was pointedly staring at the ceiling, in confusion. "What's going on?"

So, i know its been ages since ive updated anything... but im not sure i have any fucks to give right now.

Thanks for being your awesome patient selves. I lost my mojo for a bit.

I love you guys...no more cat licks, since i don't have her anymore...still love you guys though.