A New Family

Chapter 10

What Did You Say?

"Hi Natsu." That tear was still lingering around on her face.

"What's going on? It's kind of strange to see everyone here all at once. Did you hold some party while we were gone? Kind of inconsiderate. Don't you think, Wendy?"

"Um, Natsu-san, I think Lucy-san wants to tell you something." He looked down at Wendy and then up at Lucy to see something in her hand. All of this time, she was rather quiet with a lot of patience in her face.

"Did you want to tell me something?"

"Haha, kind of. It's nothing serious." Lucy was starting to act a little strange. She paced the floor while everyone was watching her with wondering eyes. "I don't really know how to say it. It's kind of weird when I really think about it."

"Are you okay Lucy? You seem kind of off."

"Oh really? I don't mean to be. I guess it just took me by surprise." Lucy finally wiped away that one tear on her face.

"What?" Out of nowhere, Virgo wrapped her arm around Lucy's neck and stared right at Natsu.

"Hime-sama is pregnant. I guess it's time for my punishment now, right?" She played it off so nonchalant and yet, the whole house went silent. Even her spirits who already heard the news were silent. They couldn't muster up the words for the situation. Lucy's face was all red as she examined Natsu's reaction. He was completely silent yet he slowly walked to where she was.

"Natsu, this is what we both wanted, right?" It took a few seconds until he finally made it over to her where he stopped in front of her and looked her in the eye. "Aren't you happy?"

"Happy?" His voice was so quiet that she could barely even hear him. "Am I happy? Are you kidding me?" He suddenly grabbed her by the waist and picked her up and spun her around in the air. "I'm thrilled." All of the tension inside of the house was gone in that instant. Everyone cheered as the news was such news that it was more like a party than anything else. Meanwhile, Wendy was still at the front of the house with a blank look on her face. Natsu and Lucy took notice of this and walked over to her.

"Hey Wendy, did you have fun today?"

"I'm confused. You're pregnant."

"Yep."

"So that means you're going to be a big sister." She stood there with a blank look on her face for a while. It took her a long time to digest the things they were telling her, but when she finally figured it out, she tackled them to the ground with a huge smile on her face.

"I'm gonna be a big sister!" Natsu and Lucy couldn't help but laugh as Wendy finally settled into the situation she was presented. Immediately after that happened, all of the spirits announced that this was going to be a baby shower.

However, the three of them were a little surprised since baby showers were very planned out and organized beforehand, but they insisted that this would do. They disappeared for a few seconds and then reappeared with all sorts of party stuff. They tried getting the Spirit King to join them, but he told them that he was busy, but he did ask to give Lucy his congratulations. It was just incredible that she had such a bond with the spirit world, and the more incredible thing was that all of her spirits gained enough power to come into this world on their own. Before, it was only her high-ranked ones, but now, everyone was here enjoying the night of great news.

As the party got underway, everyone found their spots inside of the house and things started to pick up. Sagittarius, Scorpio, and Loke all hung out with Natsu and reunited since it's been awhile since they all seen each other. Crux, Horologium, and Plue hung out with Wendy since those were the ones she knew the most. As for Lucy, she didn't really have anyone to hang out with. They were all hers and they all knew her quite well so it was better that they were hanging out with the others. However, there something missing; or rather, someone was missing. She scanned the area and noticed that there was someone missing. She calmly searched the area until she found the missing person. It was Aquarius. She was outside all by herself. Although this was pretty typical behavior of her, Lucy couldn't let this go by. She grabbed a blanket and headed outside, not allowing the others to notice her departure.

"Hey, what are you doing out here all by yourself?" She turned her head and gave Lucy a dirty look.

"Ch! Shouldn't you be inside enjoying your little party?"

"I was worried about you." At that moment, Lucy threw the blanket over Aquarius' shoulders.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"It's a blanket. I thought you'd be cold out here."

"Ugh! I'm the water bearer. I can't get cold."

"That's true." Her harsh behavior was such a common thing that Lucy's gotten used to it. However, for some reason, it felt a little different this time. She grabbed a lawn chair and pulled it right next to Aquarius. She didn't say anything. She just stared out to the horizon and remained silent.

"Say, Lucy…"

"Yeah?" She turned her head to face Aquarius and saw that she was blushing quite a bit; a little more than she's ever allotted if her memory serves her correctly.

"I just… I wanted to say thank you."

"For what?"

"For restoring my key." At that moment, Lucy remembered what happened them. Things got down to the wire and she was forced to do the worst possible thing she could think, but after some time, she worked on righting what happened. She asked her other spirits to tell if they knew how to fix her and they gave her the rundown. After some time, she mustered up enough magic power to return it to its normal state.

"Oh right. It's no problem. I couldn't just leave your key like that."

"You know… you didn't need to do that."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you went through a lot to do that. I didn't ask you to do that. I understood the sacrifice when it happened."

"Why are you talking like this?"

"I'm just happy." Out of nowhere, a smile emerged on Aquarius' face. This was such a rare experience that Lucy didn't really know how to react. "I was your first spirit if you can remember that." Lucy nodded her head like a clueless idiot. "And I know I don't really show it, but the truth is that I l… I l-" Aquarius was stopped midsentence by Lucy's hand on her shoulder.

"If you're not comfortable saying it, don't stress about it. I know. I love you too." Lucy wrapped her arms around Aquarius and hugged her. On the other hand, Aquarius was so shocked that her face turned bright red. As Lucy remained in that hug, Aquarius realized that this girl wasn't leaving anytime soon she wrapped her arms around Lucy and smiled.

"Oh gosh, watching you grow up all of these years was such an honor. I do love you." At that moment, Lucy's heart was finally put to ease. They were such simple words and yet, they meant so much than anyone could ever realize. She's been waiting so long to hear those words come out of her mouth and now, it finally happened and she couldn't have wished for it any other way.

End of Chapter 10