Chapter Fourteen:

"Natsu!" Laxus yelled as he and Gajeel chased after the fire wizard.

"Salamander, where do you think you're going?" Gajeel shouted, just a few paces in front of Laxus.

Natsu didn't respond or stop, though. He kept running. Where, he didn't know, and he didn't really care. All he was trying to get to them before they could touch his baby. Before they could take her away from them. Before they ripped away her chance-

-her right to be a part of a family.

"Oof!" a sharp pain hit the back of his head and he toppled over.

"I said stop him, not kill him!" Laxus shouted somewhere in the distance.

"I'm an iron dragon slayer, what do you want from me?" Gajeel's much closer voice answered as Natsu rolled over to find said iron dragon slayer leaning over him, one hand still a metal pole as the other grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt.

"C'mon you idiot," he said as he lifted Natsu up off his feet.

"Lemmee go!" Natsu shouted, kicking wildly as he beat against the taller man's fist.

"Go? Go where?" Gajeel scoffed.

"To get 'em!" Natsu answered, now swinging and Gajeel's face, though it was no use. Gajeel was familiar with the fire wizard's ways and was holding him out a safe distance away from his face.

"We don't know where they are, stupid! How you gonna get 'em if you can't find 'em?" he asked.

"I'll sniff them out!" Natsu answered.

"We ain't even at the Waas Forest yet!"

"So what? I can smell 'em from here!"

"No you can't."

"Sure I can! I'm a dragon slayer!"

"So am I, pal. That's how I know you can't."

"You're just a wimp!"

"Say what, now?"

He didn't have time for this. There was someone, more than someone out there who was trying to take his baby girl from him. They wanted to chain her like a dog trained to kill on order. He couldn't let that happen. He had to find them and end them. Every last one of them! He knew how these people were. His baby would not be safe until every last one of them were dead in the ground! But obviously Gajeel didn't get that!

"Would you let me go already? I gotta find 'em!"

"And running all across town like a chicken with your head cut out is going to help you do that how?" Laxus asked as he caught up to the other two.

Oh, great! He was here to stop him too? Natsu gritted his teeth, feeling the tingling heat of fire creeping up his limbs. If they weren't going to help him, then he'd just have to push them out of his way!

"Just let me go! I gotta find 'em and kill 'em!" Natsu finally kicked Gajeel in the chest, sending out a burst of fire that effectively pushed the taller man off him. He dropped to his feet and began to run off again, only to be zapped in the neck by a bolt of lightning.

"AUGH!" he screamed, eyes wide with shock and rage. "Wha-wha-what th-th-the cra-cra-crap, La-La-Laxus!" He stuttered between convulsions before toppling over.

"And you told me not to kill him?" Gajeel asked, bewildered.

"Relax, that wasn't enough to seriously hurt him," Laxus replied.

"Looked like it seriously hurt to me," Gajeel retorted.

"He might be sore for a while, but he'll recover quickly, probably be back on his feet them minute he wakes up."

"And how long's a while?" Gajeel asked as Laxus tossed the unconcious Natsu over his shoulder.

"Long enough for us to get him back to the Guild Hall."

"Hmph," Gajeel scoffed. "Still think we could have taken him without deep frying him."

"You're the one who clobbered him on the back of the head with an iron attack."

"And he was able to walk it off, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, and kick the air out of you five minutes later," Laxus reminded him as the Guild Hall came back into view. "Now he can't fight back."

"Kinda not fair, isn't it?"

"We're not here for fair, we're here to keep him from killing himself."

"Alright, you got me there," Gajeel crossed his arms as he spotted a lone figure running towards them. "Ah, now what does this creep want now?"

Jude stopped to catch his breath as he reached the two concious, and one unconcious dragon slayers.

"Is he alright?" he asked.

"Why do you care?" Gajeel asked, earning him a swat on the back of the head by Laxus. "Watch it, Flashy!"

"He's my daughter's husband."

"So?"

"Well, what father would want their daughter to be a young widow?"

Natsu muttered something inaudible in his sleep, before he groggily stated: "I won't let them...ergh…"

"I don't think you have to worry about that," Laxus assured the older man with a pat on the shoulder as he carried Natsu inside. "If there's one thing Natsu's good at, it's NOT dying."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Lemmee go!" Natsu shouted as he jolted straight up into a sitting position, fists ready to punch Laxus and Gajeel's lights out so he could get on with his mission. "Get out of my way!"

"Natsu?" a soft voice called.

Natsu turned to find Lucy sitting next to him reaching a hand to rest on his shoulder.

"Lucy!"

Just the sight of her calmed him. He took her hand off his shoulder and pressed it to his lips, gently kissing her guild mark. His other hand wandered its way across the blankets and to her stomach. She smiled and placed her palm against his.

"She's fine," she assured him.

Natsu let out a small sigh, moving Lucy's hand from his mouth to press her palm against his cheek. He closed his eyes as he let himself just enjoy being close to her. For the moment, at least, his girls were okay. He then began to look around to see where in the heck he was. He was lying, well now sitting, in their bed back at the appartment, dressed in his pajamas, which were nothing more than a pair of oversized sweat pants and his ever prsent scarf. Lucy was sitting on the mattress next to him, already dressed in her regular miniskirt and a collared, long-sleeve shirt whose buttons were all closed. A bit odd seeing as it was warm out. She must have been trying to hide the...ahem...love marks he'd left on her last night. He smirked slightle as he looked about the room. There was no one else there. It was noon by the look of the sunlight streaming in.

Wasn't it just early morning. And wasn't he just...

"Wha-how did I get here?" he asked.

"Laxus and Gajeel brought you here after they stopped you from running all over town like a maniac," Lucy answered in an annoyed voice.

"Oh," Natsu answered before releasing her and awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"They figured no one would try to attack us in open daylight so they sent us home for a little while," Lucy continued explaining, crossing her arms at him, clearly frustrated. "I thought it best to just let you sleep since you have not been doing a lot of that lately."

"Thanks, Love, but I'm-" Natsu winced as a felt a jolt of pain just above his shoulder. "Ouch! What the heck did those two do to me?"

"Laxus may have zapped you to knock you out so you'd stop fighting them," Lucy answered.

"Aw, c'mon," Natsu whined as he stood and walked to the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror.

"And Gajeel hit you in the back with an iron fist," Lucy added as she wandered to stand in the bathroom doorway, watching as Natsu grumbled under his breath, removing his scarf to examine his throbbing were no burns, bruises, or any marks besides the scar that had been on his neck for years now. Well that and the...um...love marks Lucy had left on him the night before. Still, he could definately feel the after affects of his friends rather violent attempts to subdue him.

"Trying to give me another scar on my neck, are ya Laxus?" he muttered as he began rubbing the welt Gajeel left him. Good grief, were they trying to kill him! As if he didn't have enough to deal with.

Lucy sighed. This was more than just pure annoyance on his part. He was angry. Not at Laxus and Gajeel per say, they were just low hanging fruit for him to take his rage out on at the moment. He was furious at the whole situation, and the fact that he was currently powerless to do anything about it wasn't helping. At his core Natsu was a fighter. Having to simply stand by and wait was driving him nuts.

No.

It was killing him. Though Erza was unopposed in her position as the protector of their group Natsu came in a close second. walked up behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest.

"Luc-"

He gasped when he felt her lips close around his neck, just over his scar. Any tension he was still carrying melted away as she effectively sucked the pain away and replaced it with pleasure.

"Lu-ah! Luce, don't you think you've-Mm. M-marked me up enough?"

"You complaining?" Lucy asked in a breathy voice.

"Nope!"

She chuckled as she leaned her forehead against the back of his neck and began scratching and massaging his back, causing him to moan softly as he leaned against bathroom counter, arching his back to make it easier for her to carve her nails against his spine or work out any knots her may have been carrying in his muscles. Lucy smiled as his eyelids fluttered close and his jaw fell over so slightly lack. It was good to finally see him relax a little bit.

The moment was not to last for very long. After a few minutes of blissful silence he sighed deeply and asked:

"Did they tell you?"

Lucy bit her lip. He finally opened his eyes and turned to look at her. She slowly nodded. He squeezed his eyes back closed and turned away from her, all his tension immediateyl returning.

"Natsu…"

Lucy's voice caught in her throat as she watched his grip on the bathroom counter tighten, his veins popping out of his arms as he hung his head, breaths ragged.

"They…" she forced herself to speak. "They've contacted some of the other guilds while you were out."

"Which ones?" he asked, voice heavy with anger, frustration, maybe even shame.

Lucy swallowed before answering. "Lamia Scale, Sabertooth, and Blue Pegasus."

Natsu nodded without lifting his head, but he didn't speak.

Lucy hugged herself, her arms almost instinctivly winding themselves around her belly as she spoke again.

"We've only heard back from Blue Pegasus so far. Hibiki sent a mental message using his archive. They said they'd be happy to hide me on the Christina until-

Bang!

Natsu slammed a fist onto the bathroom counter, cracking one of the tiles. Lucy jumped, tightening her arms around his stomach as he started storming out of the bathroom. He stopped in the doorway, though, and all but collapsed against the frame. Leaning one of his forearms against the wood and burying his face against it. His other hand clenched onto the frame, causing his veins to pop out of his arm again. He was shaking.

"Na…" Lucy took a tentative step towards him, then stopped. "...Natsu?"

He took a deep breath. "Sorry," he muttered. "I just...nevermind."

He turned away from her and walked out. Lucy stared after him as he wandered into the livingroom and collapsed onto the couch.

Natsu ran his fingers through his hair as he squeezed his eyes shut. No matter what he did, he couldn't get Carla's voice out of his head.

"They'll raise her to be a weapon. They'll chain her like a dog and force her to kill us all…"

He tugged at his hair as the premonition echoed in his mind.

"...And she won't even know. That was the worst part. She didn't know who we were. I told her I wanted to help her! I tried to help her! But she wouldn't even talk to me! I don't even know if she could talk!"

Couldn't even talk?

Wouldn't even know who they were?

Just kill on order. That's all she'd know how to do. His daughter!

His baby girl!

That's who Carla had been talking about. Forget that they were going to try and take her away from him. As much as he hated that it didn't hurt nearly as much as the idea of his precious child growing up not knowing what it was like to be loved. To be in a family. That…

He couldn't let that happen. But what could he do? He wouldn't even be able to guard her mother while they hunted down the men wanting to abuse her. He'd have to leave them both, his baby girl and his beautiful Lucy in the hands of someone else. He'd have to trust Ichiya, Hibiki, Ren, and Eve to protect them while he hiked through who knew how many acres of woods looking for some sign, hint, anything he could use to track these monsters down.

He felt the couch shift and opened his eyes to find Lucy sitting next to him, eyes full of worry. He sighed as he sat up and pushed her hair out of her face.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I'm just...I'll be okay. I'm just...just…"

"I know," Lucy caressed his cheek. His eyelids fluttered closed as he leaned into her touch. It was amazing how little she had to do to get him to relax.

"I've got something to show you," Lucy whispered in a happy voice.

"Hm?" Natsu opened his eyes, curious. Lucy smiled as she pulled her shirt up just enough to reveal a small bump. It was tiny. Barely noticeable to anyone who wasn't as famiiar with Lucy's body as he was. Anyone else would have simply thought she'd had a few too many deserts recently. He knew better, though.

"W...wow," he gasped as he reached out and pressed his hand against it. "She's really growing, isn't she?"

"Mm-hmm," Lucy nodded. "And she's going to keep growing from here on out."

Natsu broke into a smile as he leaned down, pressing his ear against the bump. The now familiar sound of the baby's heart beat rang in his ears. He inhaled deeply, then noticed something. A scent. One he'd never smelled before. His lips curled up into a wider smile when he realized it was the baby's scent. He nuzzled his face even closer against Lucy's stomach and wrapped her arms around his chest.

Though he kept his smile, his brows furrowed slightly. Not in anger, though, but determination. So what if he had to be away from his girls for a little while? If that's what it was going to take to keep his daughter safe, to keep her from the horrible fate Carla had predicted, then so be it.

He tightened his arms around Lucy as he whispered:

"It's going to be okay, baby girl. Daddy's gonna protect you. I promise."

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