Rays of sunlight separated through the slits of the closed blinds, while birds sung their happy morning song. With morning came, already awake energetic children, but my overly warm bed begged me to stay.
With my eyes still closed, I listened out for the slightest movement, but only heard the snoring of the man beside me. He got home not too long ago, and crashed as soon as he stripped off his clothes and landed in the bed.
He immediately cuddled up behind me, draping his arm over my waist, letting out a relieved sigh. I thought about quickly asking him about the events that happened before he finally made his way home, but I thought it was better for him to sleep for now.
It's been a few hours since he came in, and I enjoyed the feel of his warmth, hoping to stay in that moment just a little longer this morning.
The sound of bare feet slapping the floor running into our room, reluctantly awakened me more. I felt the edge of our blanket tug as a small body pull themselves up onto the bed.
"Mama…Mama…" a soft voice sung as I felt a small hand lightly smack my face, causing me to peek out of one eye.
"Yes?" I groggily questioned, to the small girl that looked down at me, her pink pigtails dangling.
"I'm hungry," she pouted.
"Is that so? Well what do you want to eat, sweetie?"
"Brother says, we should have cake." her eyes sparkled with excitement. A smile spread across my face, as I recognized the serious sweet tooth I passed on to her. I know Sting only wants cake, because its junk food but I know he'll be happy eating anything.
Placing a hand on her head, smoothing out her bed head, I gave her a different offer, "how about eggs, bacon and mini pancakes?"
She sat there as if contemplating my offer, before nodding her head. "Is daddy going to eat with us?"
Looking over my shoulder at the sleeping face of my husband, I thought it better to let him sleep. "No, we're going to let daddy sleep in; he'll wake up soon."
Her little head hung low in disappointment, making my heart clenched wanting to smack Natsu awake. But, all that would do is get me a groggy detective begging for 30 more minutes.
"Don't worry sweetie, he'll be up as soon as I start cooking, now go tell your brother not to touch that cake." I spoke, pulling her down to kiss her on the forehead. She gave me a bright smile, before sliding off the bed.
As she ran down the hall towards the kitchen, I easily slid Natsu's arm off of me, slowly slipping away from him. I'm pretty sure, he'll wake up anyway, when he realizes I'm no longer here. Happens every time, even when I get up to go to the bathroom during the night.
Looking down at his sleeping face, I giggled at the line of drool that started to run down his chin. He really was tired.
I was making my way to the door when I heard my phone vibrate intensely on the nightstand. Quickly, I grabbed it and answered.
"Hello?" I whispered into the phone, hastily making my way out of the room.
"Lucy! Hey, goooood morning!" a familar cheerful voice said.
"Good morning, Cana. I'm surprised to hear you up so early."
"Well, I was trying to catch Levy at the bookstore before it got busy, but she's not open yet." she said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"Maybe she overslept or something." I suggested, shrugging my shoulders as I entered the kitchen. Sting had a smudge of chocolate icing on his cheek and was being scolded by his little sister. It was by far the cutest scene you could ever see.
"You know that's not like her. Even when she's sick, she tries to open this place up early. I even tried calling her but she didn't pick up."
"Did it go to voicemail?"
"Yea."
"Phone might be dead."
"I don't know Lucy, I have a bad feeling about something and even my cards had a bad omen today." she said her voice dripping with fear.
It's not often you hear Cana afraid of something and the fact that her cards showed a bad omen, means bad business. I don't really trust psychics but Cana's different. Her cards never lie, it's like she has some magic power over them that shows her what's to come. But even so, her gut feeling is even more powerful than that.
I got breakfast started as I listened to Cana worried voice enhance mine. She was right, Levy always made sure the bookstore is open early, but answering the phone is a different thing. She can be so wrapped up in a book, that she doesn't even hear it ring.
"I'll call her as soon as we're done talking, and if she doesn't answers, I'll drive to her house." I said, flipping over a few small pancakes.
"Text me when you're about to leave, and I'll follow you. I just need to reassure myself with my own eyes that she's ok."
"I'm pretty sure she is."
"I really hope so." she sighed before saying goodbye and hanging up.
Cana is really distressed, maybe I'll see if I can get through to her.
Finding Levy's contact, I pressed it, then placed my phone to my ear.
"Hey it's Levy McGarden! Sorry, I missed your call, so leave a message and I'll get back to you."
Beeep!
"Hey, Levy! Call me back as soon as you get this message!" I spoke feeling my nerves tingle with fear.
Cana may be right, something seems off about this. I have to quickly get the kids and I ready, so we can run to her house. If Natsu doesn't wake up before we leave, I'll just leave him a note.
"What's that smell?" a groggy voice asked as a hot body pressed against my back.
I let out a surprised squeak, while warm arms wrapped around my waist and hot lips being placed on my neck, sending shivers down my spine.
"It's breakfast, you hungry?" I asked taking out the last pancake from the pan, placing it on a plate.
"I'm always hungry." Natsu said turning me around by my waist, placing a kiss on lips.
"Eeeeww!" Sting and Nashi said in unison.
"Eew? Did I just hear ew? How about I give you a kiss?" Natsu stated running to the table, causing the kids to wiggle out of their seats and run. Natsu chased them around the table making kissing noises, as they squealed.
I smiled at the rambunctious trio as I made their plates and sat them on the table. Natsu eventually scooped them both up in his arms, kissing them all over their faces as they squirmed and shrieked in delight.
"Alright, enough! Everyone sit down and eat, before the food gets cold."
"Yes ma'am." they cheered running to their seats.
I followed suit, feeling a set of eyes watch me as I ate. It's not strange to have Natsu staring at me for a while, but this was different. He was analyzing me, and I was starting to get annoyed. I shot him a glare, earning a concerned smirk.
It didn't take him long to demolish his plate, but that didn't stop him from staring at me from across the table.
"What's wrong?" he finally asked, sitting down with his second plate of food.
"Nothing, why do you ask?"
"Something's wrong. Is it Levy?" he asked, causing me to flinch.
How did he know? There's no way, he would've known specifically what it was. Maybe he feels the same bad feeling Cana and I feel?
"What?" I questioned.
He just shrugged his shoulders, swallowing the pile of food he stuffed in his mouth. "I tried calling her early this morning to warn her about…something, but she didn't answer. I figured she was asleep, since it was 4 am, and got nothing but her voicemail."
Warn her? Warn her about what? I wonder what he's hiding. Must be the big case him and Gray are keeping secret. If I ask him what it is, maybe he'll…no, he's not going to tell me until the captain gives the ok. And you don't want to go against the captain, unless you're prepared for the wrath.
"I'm just worried, so Cana, the kids and I are going to go to her house after breakfast."
"We're going to auntie Levy's house? Is Rogue going to be there?" Sting asked with a playful glint in his eyes.
"Yep and I think Rogue is there."
"Rogue, that's the kid Levy looks after right?" Natsu questioned, taking a moment to think.
"Yea. Why?"
"That name sounds really familiar." he pondered, scratching his head, hoping something would come loose. After he came up with nothing, he continued to eat and converse with his kids.
Once everyone was done eating and the dishes were cleaned, Natsu got the kids dressed and ready, while I did the same. Natsu went back to bed to sleep some more before heading back to work, but not before the kids gave him a kiss goodnight.
I sent Cana a quick message saying that we were leaving, before securing Nashi in her car seat and making sure Sting, buckled his seat belt.
"Yay! Auntie Levy's!" Nashi cheered, bobbing her head side to side in excitement.
"Yea and Auntie Cana, is going to meet us there." I smiled, trying to hide the concern in my voice.
Let's just hope everything is fine.
Halfway there, Cana and I met on the road and I followed behind her, my nerves on edge and my hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. She'll be ok; Levy is a very strong woman, even stronger than me or Erza. I just hope we're both wrong and this gut feeling is just a bad bug going around.
When we arrived at her house, her car was still in the driveway, and her house was dark even though the sun was beating down on us with its intense heat. I got Sting and Nashi out of the car, walking over to Cana who was standing in the lawn.
"I'm kind of regretting bringing the little ones." I whispered to Cana, earning an agreeing nod.
We walked up to the porch, feeling our hair stand on end. Cana started to knock on the door, but when her knuckles touched the wood, it slowly opened.
"Oh my mavis!" I gasped looking at the wrecked kitchen from the doorway.
"LEVY?!" Cana wailed bolting to Levy's room. I heard her heeled shoes clicked against the floor as she ran around. I stood in the middle of the doorway, with my hands on the back of Nashi and Sting as they held my legs.
"Cana? You find anything?" I asked as she came running back.
"No! Her room is destroyed and there was some bloody tissues found in the bathroom."
"Oh no!" my voice broke as I felt tears sting my eyes.
"Mommy? Where's Auntie Levy and Rogue?" Sting asked looking up at me with uneasy eyes.
"I'm not sure, but we're going to call daddy and he's going to find out ok." I said, earning a nod as he continued to hug my leg.
"You call Natsu, I'll call Gray." Cana said pulling out her phone.
Without a word, I quickly called Natsu, saying over and over, pick up as the phone rang.
"Mmm, hello?" his drowsy voice spoke.
"NATSU!"
"What's wrong?" he asked the sleepiness quickly disappearing from his voice.
"It-It's Levy. She-She's not here! Her house is a wreck and-please get here soon!" my voice croaked as I felt hot tears sting my eyes, threatening to fall.
"I'm on my way now! Stand outside and don't go back in!"
"Ok," I nodded, before hanging up. "Ok, come on kids, let's go outside and wait for daddy."
"Gray said he's on his way." Cana said as she ran out the house.
Nashi sensed the emotional and scared air around us and started to cry, wailing for her Auntie Levy.
"I want Auntie Levy!"
"It's ok, sweetie. She'll be back soon." I soothed, picking her up in my arms, bouncing.
As I soothed Nashi, I tried my best to calm my own nerves. So many haunting thoughts ran through my head. Is she ok? Where is she? Did someone take her and if so, who? Where is Rogue? Is he with her or did his father come and pick him up before any of this happened?
I was wracking my brain, driving myself crazy with worry and fear, until Cana placed her hand on my shoulder, giving me a weak smile.
"It'll be ok," she said her voice cracking a little.
I was tempted to respond but the sound of sirens and two cars racing down the road caught our attention.
"Daddy!" Sting yelled as he bolted for his father that got out of one of the cars. Gray got out of the other and they both ran towards us.
Natsu picked up Sting with ease, with one fluid motion as he continued toward us without losing his pace. As soon as they arrived a few cop cars arrived right after them, with CSI workers bolting out of the cars and towards the house.
"You ok?" he asked placing a hand on my cheek, rubbing it softly.
I just shook my head, too afraid of how my voice would sound. He leaned his forehead against mine, instantly calming my frantic nerves and I let out a huff of air I didn't know I was holding. With one kid in each of our arms, they calmed down too.
"It'll be ok, we will find her." Natsu barely whispered, before kissing me on the forehead. "I'll explain everything later but for now, get them out of here and go home." He said putting Sting down, ruffling his hair.
"Actually, if you don't mind going to my house and hanging out with Juvia for a while. She's crying like crazy, because of this and needs some company." Gray interjected.
"That's fine, I haven't seen her in a while, so that's perfect."
"Cana, you stay here, we have to ask you some question before you go." Gray said with an apologetic look.
"That's ok, anything I can do to help. I'll meet you at Gray and Juvia's place when I'm done." She said to me.
Nodding my head, I ushered the children to my car, reluctant to leave Natsu or Cana, but knowing I had to get out of here, Nashi and Sting needed to get out of here