Welcome Home:
AN: I know you guys having been asking for Lorelle finding her magic, and that is coming, but I've had a rough day so I needed to write some fluff to cheer myself up. (Also, I've seen a lot of fanart and fanfiction depicting Lucy taking care of a hurt or sick Natsu, so I wanted to see how it would be the other way around. Enjoy!)
Four days. That was the rule. If either Natsu or Lucy hadn't been heard or seen from four days after they were supposed to return from a job it was time for the other one to go looking for them. That was the rule they'd decided on when they were forced to go on jobs seperately after the children had been born. Thankfully they'd never had to use that rule before.
But it was currently 11:25 p.m. of day three and Natsu had not heard a peep from Lucy. He glared at the clock hanging on the wall, as if it was somehow the contraptions fault his wife was currently M.I.A. He huffed a sigh as he stomped down the hall, heading to the living room with a basket of laundry in his hands. The kids made it impossible for him to get anything done during the day, so he had stayed up the last three nights doing chores. Well, that and waiting up for Lucy.
Who still had yet to come home!
He told himself she was fine. She was and S class wizard who was more than capable of handling herself. Not to mention she was with Erza and Cana, two other S class wizards who could hold their own in just about any situation you could throw them into (except when Ichiya was involved.)
He roughly folded up one of his shirts and started a pile. Well, folded was a polite term. More like wadded it into a messy ball and tossed it. He could just hear Lucy chastizing him, telling him how the clothes would get wrinkled that way. Man, he wished she was actually here yelling at him.
He checked the clock again. 11:30. Thirty more minutes and it would technically be day four, which meant he could go look for her.
Of course he'd have to go get Happy to watch Nashi, Layla, and Igneel first. Happy wouldn't be happy (no pun intended) about being woken up at midnight, but that little blue guy owed him...for something. Natsu couldn't think of anything off the top of his head, but he was sure there was something he could call in on his old friend.
Ah, what of it? He was over reacting. This was Lucy he was talking about. His wife wasn't a wimp! Far from it! She would be fine. Still, neither of them had gotten past late morning of day three without coming home, or at least getting word to the other one that they had been delayed. The fact that it was snowing buckets outside wasn't helping him feel any better, either.
He threw one of Lucy's miniskirts into a newly started pile. Yeah, she still wore mini skirts, even after having three kids (though she wore leggings under them during this time of year.) And she still rocked them! And, no, he did not have any problem with his wife and the mother of his children still dressing to impress, thank you very much! It still shocked him how often he got asked whether or not he was worried or upset that Lucy still dressed and looked like, well, Lucy.
Seriously, what was with the idea that women just had to give up everything and become a live in housekeeper after getting married and having kids? Where was the fund in that? If he'd wanted a housekeepr he would have hired one. But he didn't. He wanted Lucy to be his wife so he married her, and as long as she kept the good stuff exclusive to his eyes and his eyes only he didn't care what she wore. In fact, he liked that she still made a point to look her best whenever going out. Her confidence and pride in herself were one of the many qualities that made him fall in love with her. He didn't want her to lose that and turn into a meek and submissive little house maid just because she was a mother.
She was Lucy Dragneel! An adventurer. A hero. A warrior. An S-class wizard. The greatest Celestial wizard of their age (if not ever). A goddess!
He adored her adventurous spirit and her can-do attitude.
At least he did until it got her in trouble like now!
No, no, he didn't know she was in trouble, she was just late. He looked back up at the clock. 11:45.
"You got fifteen minutes before I'm comin' after you, Luce," he grumbled to himself as he threw down a pair of Layla's shorts.
As if on cue he heard someone fumbling with the front door knob. He jumped to his feet just as the door opened. He smelled her before he saw her.
"Lucy!"
He ran out of the livingroom and to the foyer, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his wife.
She smiled weakly at him. "Hey."
He didn't return the greeting, though. "Why are you limping?"
"Because I've been on my feet for 10 days straight," she grumbled, closing the door behind her and shuffling into the livingroom.
"And I may have fallen down a bluff and twisted one of my ankles," she grumbled under her breath as she limped towards the couch.
"You what!?"
"I'm fin-Natsu!"
Despite her protest he scooped her into his arms and carried her to the couch, setting her down ontop of it. He squatted down in front of her and pulled her boots off. She hissed as he yanked of her left one. Taking note of her reaction he gingerly reached up and cautiously rolled her sock off. It was his turn to hiss.
"Gosh, Babe, that looks awful!"
"Gee, thanks," Lucy scoffed as she looked down at her ankle. He was right. It looked terrible. Swollen, purple, blistered, and bloody, it barely looked like a foot anymore.
"Well, now you know what took me so long getting home," she sighed as he began taking her other sock off.
"No kidding," he replied, noting that while her right foot was covered in blisters it was in better shape than her left. He shook his head as he stood up and began unbuttoning her wet and snow covered coat. He also pulled off her mittens, hat, scarf, and the sweater she wore under her coat. As he pulled the turtle-necked sweater over her head, he noticed a series of bruises on her shoulders and neck.
"The heck are these!?"
"Bruises," she answered plainly.
"From what!?"
"It was an S Class mission to infiltrate and break up Forbidden Magic Paraphanalia trade rink, what do you think?"
"Someone tried to strangle you!?"
"I didn't say that!"
"But they did, didn't they?"
Lucy sighed. "Yes. Try being the key word."
"Tch," Natsu turned his head, glaring at a lamp that suddenly looked like it deserved to be smashed repeatedly against a wall…
"Natsu, I'm fine."
"I don't care! No one puts their hands on my wife and gets away with it!"
"Uh-huh. Which is why they are in jail, and I'm at home safe and sound without a scratch."
"Without a scratch? Luce, have you seen yourself?" Natsu asked as he began untying the ribbon holding her messy and ice coated hair in a top knot on top of her head.
"Yes, I have, but you didn't see what he looked like when I was done with him," Lucy answered with a smirk.
Natsu smiled down at her and kissed her forehead. "That's my girl." It was then he noticed a lump near her hair line.
"Good grief, Luce. Any other injuries I should know about?"
"No."
He frowned at her, not believing her for one minute.
"Just a few odd scartches here and there, but nothing-"
"Show me."
She sighed as she rolled her sleeves and leggings up to reveal several cuts and bruises marring her skin.
"Okay, seriously, what did you do?"
"Broke up a forbidden magic trade rink. I just said that. Where have you been?"
"Could you not have nearly killed yourself?"
"Overdramatic much, love? And besides, when you mess with a criminal's income they don't take kindly to it."
"Tch," Natsu shook his head again.
Lucy sighed, rolling her eyes as she reached into her pocket. "Here's the payment I got."
Natsu took it from her and casually dumped it onto the coffee table as he began to walk off.
"Hey, that's a lot of jewel!"
"A few hundred jewel or taking care of my injured wife," Natsu held both hands up as if to weigh the option before holding up the hand he'd indicated as Lucy above his head. "I think I'll take care of the love of my life first, thankyou."
"The safe's on the way to the kitchen, just toss it in on your way there," she sighed.
"Fine," he scooped the bag back into his hand. "Don't move," he ordered, poking her in the brow as she walked off. Lucy could hear him rummaging in the kitchen and hallway. She shivered as she waited for him to return. Even out of her wet and frozen clothes she was cold. She'd been hoping she could cuddle up to her hot (in more ways than one) hubby when she got home. But he had other plans in mind other than snuggles, obviously. She was so tired she could really care less about tending to her wounds. She just wanted to sleep: in her house, in her bed, with her husband's arms around her.
Natsu came back into the livingroom, a bucket in in one hand, a cup of hot tea in the other, and a red box tucked under his arm. He set the bucket in front of her.
"Feet in," he ordered as he set the cup of tea in her hand.
She stiffly obeyed, letting out a sigh of contement as she felt warm water seeping through her chilled skin…
...only to yelp when her blisters began stinging.
"Did you put salt in that?"
"Well, how else we gonna disinfect your blisters?"
"Ouch, that hurts!"
She began lifting her feet out, but Natsu set his hands on her knees and pushed them back in.
"Uh-uh. It'll hurt worse if they get infected," he said as he pulled the box out from under his arm, revealing it to be a first aid kit. He first pulled out a bottle of pain relievers, opened it, popped two pills into his palm and held them out to her. She took them and swallowed them down with her tea, smiling when she realized it was apple-cinnamon, one of her favorites. As she sipped on her tea he pulled out a bottle of ointment and began to gently apply it to the many cuts and scrapes along her limbs. He then wrapped them up with clean strips of cloth.
"They're not that bad, you don't have to banda-"
"I know they're not that bad. But I also know there's a lot of them and you didn't stop to take care of them before coming home," he stated as he gently grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her arm towards them. He started at her elbow, wrapping the bandage all the way down her arm. As he worked her feet began stinging again. She hissed and tried to pull them out, only to have Natsu's arm pin her knees in place. She whimpered in protest, but he paid her no mind, still focused on his work.
His pinning her down did mean he only one hand free to tie the bandage off around her hand. Thinking he'd move his arm, giving her a chance to slip her feet out of the bucket. He instead wound the end of the bandage around her hand, crossing the edge to tie it off. He craddle the back of her hand to keep the bandage in place. Now was where she thought he'd use the other hand to pull the knot tight. She gasped when instead he used his teeth, a warm breath tickling her palm before he jerked his head back and finished the knot.
Dang it, why was her husband so attractive?
Natsu seemed to notice the effect his action just had on her, for he cut his eyes towards her playfully, smirking as he kissed her palm before working on her other arm. It was only after both her arms hand been bandaged that he let her take her feet out of the bucket. He took her left foot into his hands, gently bending and pointing it.
"Augh!" Lucy gasped, hissing with pain. Natsu pursed his mouth into a tight line as he continued examining it.
"Doesn't look broken, but you've definately done something to it," he pulled out another set of bandages and began wrapping it up. He put about four layers of bandages on it to keep it from moving before wrapping the rest of her injured leg up. He then took her right foot into his hands. Instead of wrapping it immediately, though, he began to run one of his hand along her sole. He quickly noticed how tight her muscles were and began to gently dig his thumbs into the bottom of her foot to massage it.
Lucy tensed at first, but then began to relax as the soreness left. She moaned as she felt him kick his body heat up a few notches to make sure his hands were warm and sooting against her aching feet. Being married to a fire wizard certainly had its perks. Once he's worked out all the tension in her sole and ankle he wrapped her leg up.
With that done he stood up, scooped her back into his arms, and began carrying her up the stairs.
"I can still walk, y'know?" she asked.
"Not on that foot you ain't."
"Natsu-"
"Nu-uh."
"But I'm fine."
"Nope."
He carried her all the way to their bedroom and set her on their bed. He searched through her drawers until he found a pair of sweat pants and a fluffy hoodie for her to wear. He helped her out of the rest of her clothes and then set the sweats onto her. She sighed when she felt that he had used his magic to warm the clothes for her while carrying them from the dresser to their bed.
Natsu took her hair brush off the dresser, sat behind her, and began gently working out the wet and cold knotes and tangles. Lucy sighed and closed her eyes, smiling when he made sure to massage her scalp as he worked the brush through her golden tresses. Once he was done there he divide her hair into three sections and began braiding it (a skill he picked up soon after Nashi turned three). Tying the end of the braid off with a ribbon, he then set it over her shoulder and began gently running his hands up and down her neck. Just as he suspected, he found a crick just above her left shoulder and began massaging it.
Lucy sighed, tilting her head as far as she could with the injury her husband was currently trying to remedy. He took his time, making sure to be gentle, working his way up and down her neck until the tightness was gone. He then exlored her shoulders, finding a few knots here and there that he massaged away with his thumbs. As his hands continued to work their way down her back he scooted closer to her, leaned over and began kissing each of the bruises marring her neck.
"Natsu," she sighed, eyes fluttering closed.
"Hm?" he asked as he moved his head to kiss the bruises on the other side of her neck.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"Don't mention it," he replied, still working his way up to just below her jawline. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into his lap as he kissed her cheek.
"Welcome home," he whispered in her ear.
She smiled as she snuggled closer to him, turning her head to face him. "Good to be home."
"I missed you," he said as he kissed gave her a small peck on the lips.
"I missed you too," she replied, stealing a slightly longer and more passionate kiss from him in return. Before the kiss had even broken, Natsu had scooted them towards the head of the bed. As Lucy pulled her lips away from his he reached down and pulled the blankets back. They both laid down and he tucked them in with one arm, his other keeping her held flush against him.
"Good night," he whispered.
She didn't reply because she was already asleep.
He chuckled at her as he laid his head on the pillow, tracing her face with his free hand.
Boy, was it good to have her home!