Friday came around and Bickslow was more than ready to head away for the weekend. He'd been a little hesitant about actually going until he'd started packing the previous afternoon just to save himself some time on the Friday, but as soon as he'd folded the last shirt in his suitcase, Bickslow had only completely come around to Lucy's way of thinking and had seen their weird little 'anniversary' trip as being a really great thing. They had to make the most of Ingrid being their only tiny human running around (or not running, or even crawling it seemed, but whatever) while they still could. Because one tiny human to look after was a whole lot easier than three tiny humans, and with three adorable little kidlings to raise at once, they really would not have the time to take a romantic getaway for even a single hour, let alone a weekend.
So it was finally Friday (even though there hadn't been much of a wait at all to get there since they'd even decided to take the trip), and Bickslow was thankful to have been able to leave work early that day just so he'd have time to get something quick to eat and have a shower before they actually left. Except he seemingly wasn't allowed inside his own apartment before he suddenly heard Lucy frantically calling out from within, "Wait, wait, wait! Don't open the door!"
For a second, Bickslow only wondered if Lucy didn't want him opening the door because she was very much without clothes for some strange reason and she wanted to get some clothes on so he didn't see her naked. But Bickslow was quickly shooting that scenario out of his head because he knew that not even Lucy, in all her pregnant and slightly ditzy (adorably so, though) glory, could forget that her boyfriend had, in fact, seen her naked. So then his next thought was that Lucy just had some kind of surprise planned for him that wasn't quite ready, but even that was a long shot, so Bickslow was just as quickly shooting that one down, too.
"Um… Okay?" He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do as he waited in the hall, but he figured waiting was all he could do anyway, especially since he had no clue what was even going on.
Thankfully though, Bickslow wasn't stuck in the hall wondering what was happening for very long. Barely a minute had passed when he heard the soft click of the white door being pulled open just a smidge and then Lucy's voice. "Okay, you can open the door…" she said. "But slowly. And I mean slowly."
What the fuck is going on? Bickslow only nodded to himself before mumbling, "Alright…" And was then resting his hand on the door handle to begin slowly pushing the door open, of course following his girlfriend's weird instructions.
"Okay, stop!"
Bickslow just stared at the now barely open door in front of him. He could most definitely not fit through that gap. "Um, Cosplayer…" He managed to stick his head through the gap to peer into his perfectly normal (from what he could tell, at least) apartment. He'd only been about to say to the blonde standing just on the other side of the door that he was really wanting to know why he couldn't open it any further, but then he looked down after trying to see what could possibly explain him not being allowed to get into his apartment. And, well… Bickslow knew why once he saw what was at his feet, just right in front of where the door had stopped. "Oh. Hello there."
It was daughter, sitting on the ground and looking up at him with her with her big red eyes that were exactly like his.
He didn't get a chance to ask just why Ingrid was sitting on the floor right in front of the door before she was sitting up again and crawling around the edge of the door and towards him. "Oh shit. She's…?"
"She's crawling!" Lucy stated excitedly. She was almost jumping up and down with how excited she was about their baby finally crawling.
All Bickslow could do was stare down at his eight-and-a-half-month old daughter as she crawled through the open door and past his feet. It was only when she began to get away from him and decided to start exploring the hall that Bickslow was coming out of his daze, and he was quickly turning back around to scoop Ingrid up before she got too far from him. He wasn't too fond of having an escape artist as a daughter just yet.
"Well aren't you a clever girl," Bickslow grinned as he lifted her up and then quickly kissed the top of her head. "We finally figured out how to crawl, huh?" He could understand how Lucy was so excited about it, because he was, too. Walking was just around the corner now that she was crawling, and Bickslow honestly couldn't wait for that to happen. He set his satchel down on the end of the counter once he'd actually made it into the apartment, and turned to Lucy where she'd started picking up Ingrid's toys from her play mat. "Did she really just start doing that today?" he asked.
Lucy nodded, then was smiling sheepishly as she admitted, "I might've actually fallen asleep on the lounge for a little while when I put her down on her mat earlier, then when I woke up, I found her under the desk…" She'd had a mild panic attack when she'd woken up and realised she'd fallen asleep in the first place, but then not seeing her daughter where she'd left her had only given Lucy something close to a heart attack. She distinctly remembered not being able to breath for a few moments – until she heard a few odd noises from the corner of the room which had been Ingrid tugging on computer cords and somehow knocking things off the desk. Honestly, Lucy had no idea how Ingrid had managed to knock a folder from the edge of the desk from beneath the desk, but she didn't really care. Lucy was just glad Ingrid hadn't electrocuted herself from the plug that was under the desk. She definitely wouldn't have forgiven herself if that had happened.
"So you went on a bit of an adventure today," Bickslow laughed again with another light kiss to his daughter's forehead. He hadn't quite expected her to be so adventurous after just learning how to move around herself, but he supposed she was just a quick learner – and that, Bickslow had no doubts about where she'd even gotten it from.
"That she did…" Lucy sighed.
And as much as Bickslow wanted to just play with Ingrid for a little while like he usually did when he got home from work and she wasn't taking a nap, he just didn't have the time to do so that afternoon. They didn't want to get to the hotel in Hargeon too late, and that really just meant leaving as early as possible. Of course, Bickslow still wasn't completely okay with leaving Ingrid with their neighbours for a couple of days, especially since the weekend was when he got to spend the most time with her. But he was reminding himself that it was just one weekend, and honestly, he was really looking forward to their trip.
Ingrid would be plenty fine without him and Lucy for a couple of nights, and Bickslow liked to thing he'd be fine without Ingrid for a couple of nights. He had Lucy to keep him distracted.
"So when did you want to leave?" he asked as he gently put Ingrid down on the rug in front of the sofa.
"I was thinking in maybe an hour or so?"
Bickslow nodded. He looked down the hall and then back to the kitchen behind him. An hour he could work with. All he had to do was take a quick shower, finish packing a bag for the weekend, and have a bite to eat just so he wasn't starving by the time they reached Hargeon. Though, judging by how clean the kitchen was right then, which Bickslow had come to realise wasn't all that common an occurrence in their household, he didn't think Lucy would appreciate him making a mess in it right before they left.
"Well, I'm just going to go take a shower and then finish packing," he stated. "I want to pick up some food on the way to Hargeon though. Is that okay?"
She smiled as she answered, "I was going to suggest the same thing." She really didn't want to have to clean up the kitchen again from Bickslow having a snack, so getting something on the way had just been the logical choice. When Bickslow began heading down the hall finally to go take his shower, already loosening his tie in the process, Lucy went back to cleaning up the last of Ingrid's left out toys from the living room. She was only about to check on Ingrid again just to make sure she hadn't already lost her, when she looked up just in time to see the eight-month-old crawl into the hall.
It seemed Bickslow had acquired a new shadow.
Lucy had barely walked through the door to their hotel room before Bickslow was telling her to get changed into something for dinner and to meet him in the hotel lobby in fifteen minutes. He hadn't told her anything other than that, and as annoying as Lucy had found the order, she'd mostly been intrigued by it.
She hadn't quite known what to get changed into, so after all but emptying the bags she'd packed onto the king size bed in the middle of their hotel room, she decided on a striped blue and white sundress. All Bickslow had said was dinner, and since he'd only been wearing a shirt with his chino shorts which was just what he'd changed into after work that afternoon, Lucy thought it was safe to assume that a sundress was going to be okay. She liked to think Bickslow would've told her if she needed to change into something specific.
Still, after sitting in the car for two hours, Lucy was just a little glad to have gotten into some fresh clothes. They'd been starting to get a little uncomfortable with the leather seats.
So having freshened up and changed into her light dress, Lucy headed downstairs to the hotel lobby to meet Bickslow. He was waiting for her on one of the lounges, but looked up from his phone just at the right moment and grinned when he saw Lucy heading for him. Lucy couldn't help but return the smile as she decided to finally ask, "So? Where are you taking me?"
Bickslow only shrugged as he stood up. "Just out to dinner," he answered. He slipped his hand into Lucy's as they walked out of the hotel lobby, and grinned down at her before asking, "Do you have a problem with that?"
"Nope. Not at all," she giggled. "Any particular reason for it though?"
"Well, I figure it's about time I take you out on a proper date."
"Aw, Bicks, you don't need to do that," Lucy said softly. Even though she'd really never dated at all before Bickslow, she knew that actual dates weren't something she needed. Most of the time, she had better things to do with her time than go out for dinner or see a movie or anything else with Bickslow. Ingrid came before all of that, and it didn't help at all that Bickslow still had to spend the odd evening at work to catch up on everything. But really, Lucy didn't mind any that. As far as she was concerned though, the best date she could ever have was just their usual Friday night ritual: curling up on the lounge together after putting Ingrid to bed and eating dessert while watching a movie. She didn't need to be taken out to dinner.
"I know I don't, but I want to," he said. "Besides, I needed to do something nice for your birthday. I couldn't just let you order room service, now could I? That's just depressing."
It was at that exact moment that Lucy remembered that it was in fact her birthday, and her face flushed scarlet. "Oh, uh… I guess so…" she mumbled.
Bickslow was quick to catch on to the sudden shift in his girlfriend, and by how she was looking away and trying her best to hide her blush, it didn't take Bickslow very long to figure out what the problem actually was. With the amount of time he'd spent with Lucy over the last few months, he liked to think he knew the woman – or at least, he knew her in permanently sleep derived, pregnancy brained state.
He couldn't help but laugh at what he already knew to be true, and it only made Lucy's cheeks grow more red as she scowled up at him. "You totally forgot it was your birthday today, didn't you?"
"…No," Lucy mumbled. "I didn't forget…"
"Oh, you so did."
She freed her hand from the former Seith mage's just to reach out and shove him gently – although hard enough that he stumbled off the sidewalk and into the garden that lined it for a second. It was bad enough she'd forgotten it at all; she didn't need Bickslow teasing her about it, thank you very much. "Shut up," she grumbled. Besides, it wasn't like Bickslow had remembered it either, right? They'd both been awake since 6 a.m., but he hadn't even wished her a happy birthday! He'd showered, played with Ingrid, had breakfast, and then kissed her on the cheek on his way out the door. Nowhere in his morning routine had he acknowledged her birthday – that much Lucy could actually remember.
And really, Lucy couldn't help but be just a little disappointed that Bickslow was waiting until right then to say anything about her birthday.
Crossing her arms and not doing anything to hide her scowl, Lucy side-eyed the snickering moron and added, "It's not like you remembered, either, and I'm the one that has a valid excuse for forgetting!" Baby brain was a valid excuse. It had to be.
"Hey, I remembered!"
"Well, you didn't say anything…"
Bickslow frowned down at her before moving to wrap his arm around her shoulders and give a gentle squeeze. "Only because I wanted to make tonight special," he apologised. He was suddenly feeling guilty for what he'd done – or not done, it seemed. If he'd known that Lucy would be so upset about him not saying happy birthday to her that morning or even earlier in the day, he really would have.
The reality was that Bickslow had been trying to come up with a plan to make Lucy's birthday worthwhile since the beginning of the month. With how hectic things had been over the last few months, he'd just wanted to make sure she had a good day and do his best to make sure no one could fuck it up in the slightest.
Strangely though, in his attempt to make Lucy's birthday worthwhile, finding something to get her hadn't even been the hardest part. Usually he hated giving gifts to people, but after struggling to find presents for Mother's Day just before, he'd eventually found some things to give to her. Bickslow's personal favourite of the presents he'd found was a framed photo of them dancing together at the gala. He hadn't even known the photographer had taken it until Evergreen had pointed it out to him on the guy's website just a couple of weeks earlier, but with Lucy having taken all of the pictures down in their apartment, Bickslow thought that one with them – not their other selves – would be a nice place to start in terms of replacing them all with their own memories.
As far as actually making Lucy's birthday enjoyable, that was where Bickslow had struggled. It was hard to plan things when there was an infant to look after. It was only after Lucy had brought up their little 'anniversary' trip and they'd decided to go that he'd actually come up with a decent sort of plan for the night. It wasn't going to be anything grand, but he didn't think it needed to be, either.
"I promise I didn't forget your birthday, Cosplayer," he added softly. "And I'm sorry for making you think I did."
"Well, okay then…" She supposed she couldn't really be mad at him for something as insignificant as that. She was the one that had forgotten it, after all, and it was her own birthday. In hindsight though, Lucy was realising that she should've expected Bickslow to do something like that – well, assuming she hadn't forgotten. He was always full of surprises. "I guess I forgive you…"
They returned to walking hand in hand again, and Lucy took the opportunity to find out all she could about what Bickslow had supposedly planned for their first evening in Hargeon. It really wasn't going to be anything fancy; just dinner at a restaurant the hotel concierge had recommended, and then maybe a nice walk along the beach. That was pretty much the extent of what Bickslow had been able to come up with, but Lucy didn't mind that. As long as she got to end the night with cuddling and chocolate brownies, she'd be perfectly fine.
Try as Bickslow might though, he couldn't seem to stop thinking about how Lucy had forgotten her own damn birthday. Sure, he got that Lucy would space on trivial things every now and then – like forgetting to unload the dishwasher and wondering how they had no plates left, leaving the T.V. remote in the fridge, and then complaining about the stove taking so long to heat up when she hadn't even turned it on. But a birthday? That wasn't a trivial thing, and he didn't think Lucy forgetting it had anything to do with how she should've been turning nineteen and not twenty-three, either.
As far as Bickslow could tell, that was just full-on baby brain, and as entertaining as the entire concept of it was, he couldn't help but be a little scared. Just what else were those damn twins going to make her do next?
Still, even with that slightly terrifying thought worrying him, Bickslow also couldn't help but begin to quietly laugh to himself once again, only shaking his head in disbelief as they kept walking. Lucy eyed him cautiously for a moment, but she didn't need to ask what her boyfriend was laughing at now before he said, "I still can't believe you actually forgot your own birthday."
She had half the mind to turn around and go back to their hotel room, she was that annoyed at Bickslow for teasing her about it… But she didn't, simply because she hadn't eaten anything since they'd gotten something to eat on the way out of Magnolia, and she was really quite hungry (she was eating for three, after all). So instead, Lucy only scowled before freeing her hand from Bickslow's and then walked on ahead without him – well, until he caught up to her and turned her around when she ended up walking past the very restaurant they were having dinner at.
"Room service!"
Bickslow looked up to the hotel door when he heard the knock and the woman on the other side of it. He'd only woken up a few minutes earlier as it was so he'd had no idea about them ordering room service, but considering his girlfriend's appetite and penchant for waking up before him, he wasn't that surprised. Still, with the previous night having ended with yet another round of adult twister (well, that was what he was calling sex those days, at least) after their dinner and lovely stroll along the beach, Bickslow wasn't actually wearing any clothes. And as fine as he was with that, as fine as Lucy was with that, he highly doubted that the poor soul who worked for the hotel would be fine with it.
So instead, he only called out to the blonde that was brushing her hair in front of the bathroom mirror, "Cosplayer, your food is here." Lucy was at least somewhat clothed, even if she was only wearing a tank top and her underwear, but that was still a whole lot more acceptable than nothing.
Lucy quickly set her brush down and grabbed the hotel robe from the door to cover herself before rushing back into the main room. "Oh! That was fast!" she said excitedly, and was then opening up their hotel door just as she finished tying her robe to greet the room service attendant.
Bickslow only watched in silent amusement as Lucy began picking at what he assumed to be crepes topped with mixed berries and icing sugar as soon as the silver lid had been lifted from the plate. By the time the attendant was pushing the empty cart out of the room, the round table by the large bed was completely covered in different dishes – crepes, waffles, full English breakfast with toast, fruit salad, orange juice… Bickslow was wondering if Lucy had ordered the whole damn breakfast menu.
"So were you planning on not eating anything else for the rest of the day or something?" he asked.
Lucy scoffed. "Don't be silly. Of course I will," she answered. Scouring the selection of delicious food now in front of her, Lucy explained, "I just couldn't decide what to order off the room service menu, and you were still asleep and I didn't know what you would want, so I just ordered… everything."
"Everything?"
"Well, not everything. But everything that sounded good."
"Right…" Bickslow thought it wise not to question it too much more, lest he upset her and make her feel horrible for being constantly hungry. He hated it when she cried. He never really knew what to do when she did. Thankfully, things were improving as far as the random breakdowns went – it had been two weeks since she'd last cried over running out of juice – but still, there was the odd moment when it happened and Bickslow usually had to fight the urge to run far away.
Fixing herself a bowl of fruit salad from the platter, Lucy climbed into the bed and tucked her feet under her. Bickslow was on his phone as he had been since he'd woken up, and Lucy couldn't help but peer over his shoulder to see what he was doing. "So what are you doing?" she asked, picking up a piece of watermelon with the fork and then placing it in her mouth.
"I was sending a message to Claire, wanted to check up on Ingrid…" he mumbled.
"Yeah? And what'd Claire say?"
"…She said she'd block my number if I asked her about Ingrid one more time…"
Lucy giggled when Bickslow began to pout and crossed his arms over his chest, hiding his phone under his arm. She thought it was cute, especially how worried he was about little Ingrid. Granted, Lucy was just as worried as Bickslow was about their daughter, and she'd been just as hesitant to actually let go of her when they'd been dropping her with Claire for the weekend, but she wasn't texting the woman every hour just to check in. "Well, that's what you get for messaging her all day," she laughed, offering the sulking man a piece of fruit on the fork. "Besides, the more time she spends telling you to stop worrying, the less she's watching Ingrid. You didn't think of that, huh?"
He continued to pout and sulk for a few more seconds before he reluctantly admitted that Lucy was right. "I guess that makes sense…" he mumbled as he chewed on the strawberry that Lucy had given him. He couldn't help that he worried, though! Ingrid was pretty much his world, even if it had only been a few months. And as much as Bickslow was already enjoying their weekend vacation, he'd feel more than terrible if something happened to Ingrid while they were gone. It was the very reason he'd been so hesitant to agree to it in the first place.
Still, he probably was going a bit overboard by messaging Claire so much. He trusted her with Ingrid, and it was only a weekend after all. Ingrid would be fine without them for a couple of days. She was a baby; it didn't take much to entertain her, and Bickslow supposed that she was already over how upset she'd been when they'd been dropping her off with Claire.
Sighing, Bickslow dropped his phone onto the bed and pushed the blanket back so he could climb out of bed. "So anyway, what did you want to do today?" he asked over his shoulder while crossing over to the adjoined bathroom to take care of his morning duties. "I was thinking we could go to the beach or something later since it's supposed to be really hot today," he added once he emerged a few moments later, his discarded boxers from the previous night now on. Though when Lucy only sighed wistfully from where she sat on the bed, Bickslow raised an eyebrow at her and asked, "What? You don't want to go to the beach?"
"No, that's not it…" she sighed.
"Then what was that depressing sigh for?"
Lucy shrugged as she picked up a strawberry with her fork and dropped it in her mouth. "I was just hoping you'd come out naked again," she mumbled while eating the piece of fruit.
Bickslow couldn't help but give her an odd look, momentarily forgetting about just what he was going to decide to have for breakfast. "Excuse me?"
"What?" She sat up a little and made herself comfortable again before explaining herself, "You have a cute butt." And it was true – well, that was what Lucy thought. She didn't much like the front of the former Seith mage, at least from the waist down, that is (it was kind of gross and weird-looking, if she had to be honest), but his ass… Lucy had to admit she liked looking at her boyfriend's ass. If anything, the more she saw it, the more she wondered just how the hell guys were allowed to have such nice asses. It shouldn't be legal as far as she was concerned. They were men! They were supposed to have the nice… arms! And chests! And jawlines! They weren't supposed to have cute butts.
It just wasn't fair. Girls just got the… cellulite, and the stretch marks, and ugh, it just was not fair.
And as Lucy began to visibly sulk while eating her breakfast, Bickslow wasn't sure if he should be creeped out or just flat out amused. He didn't think anyone had ever called his butt cute. Hell, he wasn't sure if anyone had ever said anything about his ass at all.
Shaking his head to himself, Bickslow turned his attention back to the food laid out before him. "And people think I'm a perv," he muttered. Granted, he was one, but apparently so was Lucy…
Although really, Bickslow had to admit that he liked the fact that his once innocent-as-a-butterfly girlfriend had been checking him out – well, sort of. But as comfortable as he was naked (he at least had to give his other self credit for staying in shape), eating breakfast naked wasn't particularly appealing to him right then.
That was something they could do in their new house.
After seeing a movie in the morning, doing a bit of shopping around town (where they bought Ingrid a little swimsuit for the pool in their new house!), and then grabbing lunch, it was the middle of the afternoon by the time they made their way to Hargeon's famous beach. It was the middle of June, so summer had well and truly started by that point, and hundreds were already flocking to the beach every day to cool down. By the time Lucy and Bickslow headed to the shore though, it was just a little quieter, and thankfully, the afternoon sea breeze had kicked in and cooled everything down. Most importantly, it made the beach sand actually bearable to walk on without shoes.
They'd rented a large beach umbrella from the tourist centre just across the street and found a relatively quiet expanse of beach to set down their things. Not even the refreshing sea breeze or the shade offered by the large umbrella were enough to stop Lucy from feeling the blistering summer heat though, and after just five minutes of sitting on her towel, she was tempted to go back to their hotel room to enjoy the wonderful creation that was air conditioning.
With her paper fan not doing much to cool her down, Lucy sighed and began waving her hand a little more vigorously in an attempt to create more of a draft from it. "Bicks… It's too hot here…" she whined.
The former Seith mage rolled his eyes as he continued to lather himself with sunscreen. "It is not," he argued. He picked up his phone to quickly check his weather app and then pointed the screen towards her. "It's not even above thirty-five anymore."
"It's still above thirty!"
"So what? At least it's not forty," Bickslow said. "Besides, the water is literally twenty feet away from us. If you're hot, go for a swim. I am." There was no way in hell he was going to sit in the sun, sweating his ass off like Lucy was. Granted, he knew full well that the reason Lucy wasn't already in the water right then was because she didn't want to take her dress off and be seen in just her swimsuit – which much to his delight was a frilly pink and purple bikini. Regardless, the issue was that Lucy was just rather self-conscious of her stomach, even if it was really quite obvious at that point that she was pregnant and most definitely not experiencing the weirdest case of bloating ever. But since Bickslow had absolutely no idea how to convince Lucy that she still looked hot as hell (well, that was what he thought, at least) and that no one really cared what she looked like or were going to judge her for not wearing a one-piece (he'd scoffed at that earlier and forced the waterworks), he just wasn't going to try and insist on making her do something she was clearly uncomfortable with.
Besides, he knew that Lucy was feeling the heat more than he was, so he figured she'd cave sooner or later and go for a swim. If she was still being stubborn by the time the sun was going down, however… Well, Bickslow decided he might just have to pick her up and dunk her in the water himself.
"I… I don't want to go for a swim!" Lucy insisted stubbornly, but Bickslow only shrugged.
"Suit yourself."
Pouting, Lucy watched as Bickslow picked himself up from the ground, dropped his sunglasses down onto his beach towel, and then began to head towards the water while carefully avoiding stepping on any of the other beach-goers sprawled out on the sand.
He waded out to where the water reached his waist before submersing himself completely and swimming out a little deeper. The water was the perfect temperature, not too cold and not too warm. If he'd had a rubber tube and a fancy cocktail, Bickslow would've been in paradise.
Back on the beach, Lucy continued to scowl and sweat profusely despite the paper fan she waved in front of her face. Stupid heat. Stupid Bickslow. How was it fair that he got to go and cool off and she didn't? That was just mean in Lucy's book. She was the one that was doing all the hard work – looking after Ingrid all day, nurturing the twins growing inside her and making sure to do everything she needed to do to give them the best chance of staying healthy and happy… And what did Bickslow do? He goddamn left her on the beach to melt into a puddle of her own sweat on her beach towel, knowing full well that she was too embarrassed to go swimming!
The least he could've done was sit with her on the beach for a little while and just enjoy her company. But nooo, he had to run off to the water as quickly as he could.
Stupid Bickslow.
Thankfully, Lucy had brought a book with her, so she wasn't left bored out of her brain with nothing else to do on the beach. So letting out a little sigh to herself when she caught Bickslow waving and blowing a kiss in her direction before ducking under the water again, Lucy reached for her bag and rummaged around in it until she was pulling out her novel and opening up to the page she'd marked. It was the book Bickslow had gotten her for Mother's Day, and much to his relief, it was one Lucy really was enjoying; it was an adventure fantasy, and by God was Lucy a sucker for those types of books. It was hard not to love books where the protagonist was a badass femme fatale who was great at kicking ass.
Unfortunately for Lucy, she often got so immersed in a good book that she completely zoned out to what was going on around her. She'd often lose track of time and look up from the pages to find that it was dark outside – or even light, depending on the time she'd started. However, it had been a while since Lucy had allowed herself to relax that much and get sucked into a book like that. That was because of Ingrid for the most part. Lucy had always just been too scared to take her eyes off the infant for more than a few moments at a time, lest something bad happen to her. But even when Ingrid had been asleep, and she'd had the apartment to herself with Bickslow at work, she'd always had other things to do around that were more important than just sitting down for a while and relaxing with a good book. If it was one thing Lucy had noticed that was different in that world, it was that there was a lot more housework to be done – although most of that housework was just doing laundry. And, well… She wasn't living by herself anymore. The amount of laundry she needed to do each week had tripled.
But now with Lucy finally having some time to actually relax, she hadn't been able to avoid getting sucked into her book. The smothering heat started to bother her a little less, and the rustling of the leaves with the gentle breeze, the crashing waves on the shore and the chatter and screaming of the playing children on the beach all faded out. She was in her own little world for a little while, legs crossed under her on her beach towel, one hand resting on her belly and the other holding the book up in front of her face.
The only problem was that she was so immersed in her fictional paper world that she didn't see Bickslow coming back up towards her, not until he leant over her slightly from beside her and shook his wet hair over her, letting it drip all over her and her book. Naturally, Lucy yelped as the gross seawater dripped onto her (some droplets even landed on her lips, and Bickslow knew all too well how little she liked salty things…), and then slapped the cackling former Seith mage on the leg with her book.
"Bickslow!" Lucy shrieked, leaning out of the way as Bickslow struggled to sit back down while holding his shin. "That was mean!"
"And that hurt!" He rubbed at the red mark that had appeared on the front of his shin and frowned before mumbling, "No wonder Gajeel bitches about being hit with books when he's being a dumbass…"
"Yeah, well… Gajeel probably deserves it most of the time," Lucy said. She'd seen the small woman hit people with books (and she herself had been hit by one a few times) several times, and for the most part, Levy only did it when she had a very good reason to. Most people had learnt to be on their best behaviour around the former Script mage, but sometimes people – namely Gajeel – slipped up, and, well… They got slapped with a book for being a moron.
That was really Levy's only downfall, as far as Lucy was concerned. But she was still one of her best friends and Lucy loved her.
Chuckling, Bickslow agreed with his girlfriend as he left the fading slap mark on his leg alone and reclined back on his towel, propping himself up on his elbows and crossing his ankles. Lucy was already going back to her book after she found her page again, and Bickslow couldn't help but smirk. She was doing such a good job pretending that she secretly wasn't just dying to go cool down. "The water really is quite refreshing, you know," he teased.
Lucy glanced back to him from the corner of her eyes with a twist of her mouth into a firm line. "Is it?" she murmured. "Why don't you get back in it and let me go back to reading in the peace then?"
"Aw, come on, don't be so grumpy."
"I'm not grumpy."
"Yes you are," he chuckled. "The heat really must be getting to you, huh?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, be quiet, you. Stop annoying me." Bickslow was the other reason she'd never been able to get immersed in her books. He was just so goddamn annoying sometimes… Couldn't she just have some peace and quiet for once?
"Excuse you, I'm not annoying you."
"You are so," Lucy argued.
"Yeah? How so?"
Lucy paused, glancing back to him before she finally came up with a response: "By breathing," she said.
Bickslow feigned being hurt with a hand placed on his chest and a look of horror on his face. "Oh, my poor feelings!" he cried dramatically. "How you hurt me, Cosplayer." He only got another eye roll from his girlfriend, but that didn't stop him from sitting up just enough to wrap his arms around her shoulders and her middle and then gently pull her back onto their laid out towels with him. "But that's okay. I still love the hell out of you, even if you're mean to me."
She couldn't help but giggle as she was pulled down, and as soon as she felt her head touch the sand, she squealed and tried her best to squirm away from it and laughed even louder. "Nooo! Now there's sand in my hair!" she cried.
"Baby, it's the beach," Bickslow chuckled. "You're gonna get sand everywhere no matter how hard you try to avoid it."
"Oh, shush."
"Yes, Miss Grumpy-Pants."
Lucy rolled her eyes at him once more, and then just sighed in defeat when Bickslow's arms securely around her shoulders and waist kept her in place. Admittedly, Bickslow was right about the sand thing, but as annoyed as she was at him for… well, for annoying the hell out of her right then, she couldn't help but be weirdly comfortable right then, too. And that was a pretty rare thing those days. She was always either needing to pee (again), wanting to just sleep for a week, or wishing her feet or back would stop aching for just a few hours – or all of them at once, most likely. No one had ever told her that being pregnant was really going to suck that much, but then again, it wasn't like their situation was all that normal, either. There hadn't been anyone to actually tell her about the ever-growing list of woes to do with bringing new and tiny humans into the world.
But still, Lucy was weirdly comfortable, so she couldn't really stay mad at Bickslow for much longer. Instead, she only stopped fighting him in his gentle hold and laid her head back on the top of her towel and said, "I'm guessing you're not letting me go now, are you?"
Bickslow's wide grin was infectious as always and had Lucy smirking back as he answered quickly, "Nope." So Lucy decided to just go with it and make the best of her new position for the time being, shifting slightly just so she could drag Bickslow's folded up shirt from behind her to prop it up under her head as a pillow, and then picking her book back up from where she'd dropped it and attempting to find her page again.
Bickslow only watched silently with a smile as Lucy found her place and began to read again. It wasn't comfortable for him in the slightest – his arm around her shoulders was beginning to cramp something horrible – but sometimes he just liked watching her. What could he say, his girlfriend was nice to look at.
It had been a little while since they'd done that, though – just been sitting together on the lounge watching something, or even in bed at the end of the night just talking about their days, with Lucy tucked into his side. And Bickslow was only just realising right then that he'd missed doing that, even if it was just something so simple, but when was simple a bad thing?
Surprising her, Bickslow leant forward and ducked his head slightly to kiss her cheek. Lucy blushed so hard one would think she was sunburnt and she was sure how she looked was part of the reason Bickslow was smiling like an idiot at her when she tilted her head up to him. "What was that for?" she asked shyly.
He only shrugged as he gave his answer: "Felt like it."
Lucy's blush deepened slightly, though a smile played at the corners of her lips. She typically didn't have a reason to complain about Bickslow's kisses – if anything, she loved them, especially when she was sitting on the sofa at home and he came up behind her to kiss her cheek. But right then, however, she felt just a little embarrassed. They were in public, and there were so many people around them that Lucy couldn't help but be worried that someone passing by would think it inappropriate that she was kind of cuddling with her boyfriend on a public beach in the middle of the afternoon.
"O-Oh… Okay then…"
Bickslow chuckled quietly as Lucy went straight back to reading silently. That just wasn't going to do though. Oh no. "Hey," he said softly then, pulling his arm out from under her shoulders just to prop himself up on it on his side. "Look at me."
"Yeah?" Lucy murmured as she tilted her head back up to him. "What?"
"I love you."
The blush returned to her cheeks but a bright smile adorned her lips that time. "I know you do, Bicks," she said softly. That was something she knew all too well, and it was something Lucy didn't think she'd ever get sick of hearing. "I love you, too." She wasn't going to ask Bickslow why he'd decided to tell her that he loved her right then, because as far as Lucy was concerned, it really didn't matter – that, and she had a feeling Bickslow's answer would just be that he 'felt like it' anyway.
If it was one thing Lucy could always stand to do, no matter the temperature outside or how desperately her hair needed to be washed, it was take a nice, warm, and relaxing bubble bath. And come the end of the night, Lucy really couldn't care less that she could still feel the tiny grains of sand in her hair if she ran her fingers through it, because having a bath that she could actually stretch out in and almost completely submerge herself in was a godsend. And the fact that she had Bickslow sitting behind her, occasionally rubbing small circles on the side of her belly whenever his hand dipped below the water, really just made it all that much nicer. Of course, it would've been even nicer still if she'd been allowed to make it a bubble bath, but nope, apparently bubbles were a no-go.
Despite their visit to the beach earlier in the day not having started out so great – at least as far as Lucy was concerned, considering it involved sitting on the beach and coming close to actually melting – it had certainly ended on a brighter note. And that wasn't because she had eventually caved and decided to at least get up to her waist wet (although she had kept her dress on over her bathers, of course, much to Bickslow's disappointment).
It had had more to do with how watching Bickslow build a sandcastle with a girl on the beach had only made her that much more certain that there was really no one better in her world that she would rather be doing everything with. Of course, Lucy had seen the look of absolute horror on the girl's parents' faces when the grown man building his own sandcastle just a few feet from their daughter had asked to borrow her small bucket, and Lucy had been just as horrified herself when it had happened… But once the girl's parents had seen that Bickslow was really harmless (thanks to Lucy assuring them, of course, since they hadn't been sitting very far apart), and Bickslow had moved on from building his own sandcastle to teaming up with the girl to make one together, Lucy hadn't been able to help but picture the girl on the beach as Ingrid.
Bickslow might not have ever even held a baby until just a few months earlier, but now, Lucy was convinced that there wasn't anyone who could be a better parent to their kids. She couldn't be gladder that it was Bickslow she'd ended up falling for and having a family with in that strange world, because she really did believe that things wouldn't be half as wonderful as they were right then if it hadn't been Bickslow she was getting to experience it all with. And that was something she was going to stand by.
With how everything had been going though, with the baby ending up being two babies, buying the house, and Bickslow getting into a routine with his work and studying to make sure that he could keep his job, Lucy hadn't been able to help but start thinking about the future – and really, considering she didn't really have that much to do during the day, it was hard for her to stop her mind from wandering to places it shouldn't sometimes. She was an over-thinker by nature as well, but that wasn't important.
What was important, however – at least to Lucy, that is – was that she'd realised for sure that she wanted Bickslow in that future. And not just because he was the father of her children, but because she loved him and he made her happier than she ever thought someone like that could ever do. When she thought about her future, she thought about sharing all of it with Bickslow and actually building their own life together with Ingrid and the twins… And seeing him build that sandcastle on the beach earlier had only helped Lucy realise just how much she wanted all of that.
Still, even though Lucy knew that Bickslow loved her as much as he loved all of their children, she wondered if the future was anything Bickslow had seriously thought about. She didn't think that buying that house counted for much, because more space was more of a necessity than anything, and even then, Bickslow had really only been thinking about their kids when he'd started talking about moving. It had all been about making sure they were in a good neighbourhood, close to a good school and all that. As far as Lucy could tell, Bickslow suggesting they buy a house had nothing to do with him wanting to take that step together in their slightly out-of-order relationship and create a proper home that was theirs and theirs alone.
She wanted to know what Bickslow saw in his future – their future together, if there was even going to be one. Because as short a time they'd been together, Lucy knew that how she felt wasn't going to change anytime soon. And as much as she loved him, and as much as she loved having him around and how great he was with Ingrid, if Bickslow couldn't see himself still loving her as much as he did right then in the future – if he saw things falling apart somewhere, then Lucy didn't really want to wait around to have her heart broken. She'd rather end things there and then just work together to find a way to make sure their children grew up knowing both of their parents. If it was one thing Lucy would never do, it would be take Bickslow's children away from him.
Shifting ever so slightly in the tub then, Lucy tilted her head back onto Bickslow's shoulder to gaze up at him. "Hey Bicks? Can I ask you something?" she whispered. Part of her thought she should wait until they were back home and not still on their little getaway to ask whether or not Bickslow saw her in his future, but it had been gnawing at her all afternoon, slowly eating into the happiness she'd felt all weekend, and she didn't really want to wait.
Bickslow didn't bother opening his eyes as he gave his hum of approval, but he didn't need to have his eyes open to sense Lucy's hesitation before she finally asked her question.
"Where do you see yourself in five years?"
That time, he opened his eyes, and he had an eyebrow raised as he looked down to her. "Five years?" Lucy nodded and he let out a sigh as he relaxed even further into the tub and let his arms rest on the sides. Admittedly, it wasn't something he'd thought about in great detail, but he'd done so enough that he had a general idea of how he wanted his life to be. And as the image of that life slowly appeared in his mind and before his eyes, a smile crept onto his lips. "Well…" Bickslow began slowly. "In five years, I see myself coming home to that sexy as hell house at the end of the day, being able to walk in and see the twins annoying the living shit out of each other in the living room or maybe Ingrid being a great big sister and picking on them…"
Still no me yet… Lucy was trying not to let herself be disappointed yet, just because she knew Bickslow was always full of surprises, and a glance up to his face again had her seeing that something was hiding behind his smirk already. "Uh-huh…"
"And… I can see myself maybe walking into the kitchen to find you getting dinner ready because I'll still be the worst cook in the whole damn world in five years, or… Or maybe I'd find you sitting in a big, comfy chair with a book and a blanket and making the most of all the kids being asleep or just quiet before dinner for a change…"
A smile lit up her face and Lucy had to mentally talk herself out of letting a tear shed from her eye. Sitting in a nice and comfy chair with a book and a blanket, or even getting to cook and have fun in that ridiculously large kitchen (well, compared to the one in the apartment, at least) were things she could see herself doing in five years, and she was so glad that Bickslow saw that, too. Bickslow seeing them still being more than fine in five years gave her the hope that she hadn't known she'd needed, but still, that was more than enough for Lucy. All she'd wanted was to know that Bickslow saw a future with her because he loved her, not because they had children together.
"I think that sounds like a pretty decent five-year plan," she said, tilting her head up just a little bit more to press a gentle kiss to what ended up being the side of his jaw. "But… You do realise Ingrid and the twins will be like six and five by then, right? They're not going to be taking naps at the end of the day… Not unless you want to be the one staying up with them all night since they won't be going to bed when they should," she pointed out then with a slight giggle.
"Uh… Yeah, right… I know that…" he mumbled. Bickslow hadn't really been picturing Ingrid or the twins when he'd said that, though. He'd been picturing another baby. Because, well… A big family was something he'd come to really want in the few short months he'd been a dad, and even though babies two and three hadn't even been born yet, he loved the idea of having a fourth with Lucy. The problem was that he'd never shared that with Lucy – and honestly, he hadn't really been planning on doing so, at least not in the foreseeable future or until the twins were a year or so old – and now that he'd come close to inadvertently saying that he wanted another kid, Bickslow wasn't sure he'd be able to lie his way out of it. He didn't think Lucy would buy that he was just as stupid as he let himself appear to be occasionally.
And strangely enough, Lucy didn't. She knew him well enough at that point to know when there was something else he wasn't telling her. "Bicks? You're not telling me something," she said softly. "What is it?"
And when Lucy gave him that face, the one where she looked so sad and worried about him, Bickslow couldn't help but feel like he had no choice but to tell her. Maybe it's a good thing anyway. At least if Lucy knew that he wanted more kids in the future, he wouldn't feel quite so bad for wanting them at all. He didn't like keeping secrets from her – that much he'd already realised.
He grimaced as he glanced down to her again, and with another sigh, he decided to just get on with it. "Have you…" He paused to swallow and ease the dryness in his throat. "Have you ever thought about having another baby? You know, after the twins?"
"W-What? No, of course I haven't!" Lucy almost wanted to laugh. She was only halfway into her second trimester for heaven's sake. The thought of having another baby hadn't even crossed her mind for five seconds, not unless she counted the decision she'd made not that long ago where three children was going to more than enough for her and Bickslow to deal with, especially with them all being so close in age. "Have you?"
"Well, yeah…"
"Wait, seriously?"
Bickslow shrugged. "I like the idea of being able to have a big family…" he mumbled. "I'm not even really sure why I do, to be honest. But you asked where I see myself in five years, and in five years, I see us having another baby. Or having had one already, or… Or something."
Lucy was only able to stare at Bickslow in shock for a moment before she turned forward again and sank down into the tub as best she could, fingers lacing together where they rested on the top of her stomach. "Oh… I see…" She'd been wrong about how much Bickslow had thought about the future, that much was obvious to her. Another baby though? That was something Lucy truly hadn't expected Bickslow to even think about, let alone actually want. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond to that, because honestly, at that point, the thought of having another baby kind of terrified her.
Still, for some reason, Lucy just couldn't tell Bickslow that she really didn't want to have another child, at least at that point in her life, and she didn't know why. "I… I don't know, Bickslow…" she whispered. "I mean, Ingrid and the twins… That's already more than I ever anticipated having…" Really, Lucy had only though about having one or maybe two children once she'd married and settled down, not three children. But still, things hadn't exactly gone to plan, after all. The life she had then wasn't exactly one she'd chosen, even if she did love every bit of it right then. "Another baby is just… I think that might be a bit too much to handle, even for us… I'm sorry…"
"Hey, there's nothing for you to apologise for, alright?" He leant forward slightly to press a soft kiss to Lucy's cheek and brought his arms back into the tub to wrap them around her, laying his own hands over hers gently. Bickslow had expected Lucy not to want another kid, so he wasn't the least bit surprised that she hadn't exactly liked the idea of having another. He wasn't really upset either, because all it had been was an idea, and one for the future at that. He hadn't gotten his hopes up for having another baby somewhere down the track for that very reason – that, and it was so far away that it would've been stupid for him to just assume they'd get to have another child someday. That just wouldn't have been fair on Lucy. "It was just something I thought about. Don't worry about it, alright? We'll just… We'll just focus on the twins and Ingrid. I'm sorry for bringing it up," he apologised quietly.
Lucy only gave a small nod. When the silence came over them again, just a little more uncomfortable than before, she let her mind drift towards the scene Bickslow had just envisioned for their future.
She really had thought it sounded nice, and she honestly was looking forward to being able to watch Ingrid and the twins grow up and make a proper home for themselves there. But where she pictured Bickslow walking up and down the hall with little Ingrid acting as his shadow as just a little toddler, shew drew a blank on the twins.
She couldn't picture Bickslow sitting up in bed after a long day, cradling them in each arm and fast asleep. She couldn't picture them playing on the floor together, or reaching up to her when they wanted to be picked up and be given cuddles, or even just them both asleep in their cribs on their first night home. She couldn't picture her twins or even imagine what they'd look like doing any of that, and the babies she did picture… They didn't feel like hers.
Lucy knew that it was because she didn't even know what she was having, whether the twins would be boys or girls or even one of each. The almost blank spaces in each scene she'd tried to imagine her babies in were exactly like that because she had nothing to base them on. And realising that, she tried telling herself that it really shouldn't matter what they were, because it was just her imagination after all – and all babies practically looked the same at that age anyway. But then she tried imagining the twins as two girls, two boys, and even one of each. She tried picturing what Bickslow would look like cradling tiny twin girls in his arms at the end of a long day; she tried picturing noisy twin boys playing together on the living room floor; and she tried picturing her newborn son and daughter's faces as they slept in their cribs on their first night home.
…And Lucy succeeded, for the most part. The only problem? They still didn't feel like hers, even in her imagination. It just wasn't the same.
When she let out a sigh of frustration, finally opening her eyes up from how they'd been scrunched up with her face as she'd struggled with her own imagination, Bickslow leant his head forward to peer at his girlfriend's face as best he could. "What's on your mind now, Cosplayer?" he asked then. It was obvious to him that there was something bothering her, even if it was just a little bit or even something trivial (which was most likely, as far as he could tell), and he wanted to know what it was. He only hoped it wasn't to do with what he'd brought up just before…
"The babies," Lucy finally said. "You know what they are. The twins, I mean."
"Yeah… Why?"
Lucy chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment before she finally twisted around in the tub slightly, just enough so she could easily see Bickslow's face behind her, and then said, "I want to know what I'm—we're having."
An eyebrow arched in response to her confession but he couldn't help but smile slightly. He'd been inwardly wondering just how long it would take for Lucy to crack and want to know what genders the twins were. He'd expected her to last a few weeks though, not just a few days. "I thought you wanted to wait to find out?" he said.
"I did, and… I still do a little bit, but… I want to know now." Her curiosity was beginning to get the better of her, now that she'd let herself start imagining how things would be like with them actually in their lives. And sure, she had wanted to wait, but what was the point anyway? It was already going to be a surprise as it was, because she sure as hell had no idea what the twins were, even though she was the one carrying them.
Besides, if she knew what the twins were, she'd be able to start thinking of ways to decorate their nursery in the new house in a way that wasn't completely gender neutral, and she'd be lying if she said that didn't excite her.
"You sure?" Bickslow asked. Lucy nodded firmly once, and that was all the confirmation he needed that it was something she really did want to know. "Well, my dear Lucy," he began carefully, slowly enough that Lucy would be able to stop him before he actually revealed anything. She remained silent though, only watching him and pulling her bottom lip between her teeth as he wound his arms back around her waist and ever so slightly rubbing his hand up and down the side of her hip. "According to your doctor, Ingrid will be getting a new little sister and a little brother at the end of October."
Lucy's eyes lit up along with her face and happy tears were already pooling in her eyes. "Really?!" She knew Bickslow wouldn't lie about something like that, and in a matter of seconds she was already failing to contain her excitement – although in the tub, she couldn't flail around as much as she'd have liked, nor could she hug her boyfriend as easily as she wished right then as well. Images of Ingrid with her new little siblings played in her mind, and even if Lucy had absolutely no idea what the twins would end up looking like as they were born and grew up, it didn't matter. They still felt like hers and each scene in her head made her even more excited for the day she got to actually hold them.
Although, as happy as Lucy really was, it didn't take long for her to dissolve into a bawling and blubbering mess in the middle of the tub, mumbling about how perfect it was and how happy she was about being able to have a little boy and another little girl soon.
Bickslow could only roll his eyes and sigh at the mess that was the former Celestial mage before he managed to climb out of the tub beneath her and grab towels for both of them, before offering his hands to her to help her out of the tub next. "Alright, come on, baby. Time to go dry off…"
As the fields that lay just beyond the outskirts of that world's Magnolia slowly became the small industrial area of town with large factories and warehouses lining either side of the dark street, Lucy turned away from the window and to Bickslow sitting in the driver's seat beside her. "How long do you think it will take us to get home?" she asked.
Bickslow stole a glance to the clock on the centre of the dashboard before his attention returned to the road. That part of town didn't have many street lights, and even with the headlights the road was a little difficult to see. "Maybe half an hour?" he guessed. "The traffic shouldn't be too bad in the city at this time, so maybe a bit less even."
They hadn't checked out of the hotel until late that afternoon, but they hadn't gotten on the road until after sunset, having decided to get dinner in Hargeon and do a little more shopping while they were there and had the chance. The drive back to Magnolia wasn't too long thankfully, but with the number of pee breaks Lucy needed, the two hour drive had turned into one closer to three hours.
Claire had already told them that they'd be fine to pick Ingrid up whenever they got home, even if it was late, so they really hadn't been in much rush to get back home – although that was also something Claire had told them to do.
Still, since it was getting quite late, Lucy thought it would be better to message Claire to let them know they were on their way home and almost there, and thirty minutes seemed sufficient enough. "Alright. I'm going to text Claire to let her know we're on our way back," she said.
"Oh. Alright then."
She looked down to search for her phone in the centre console, but something bright caught her eyes and she looked up to see what it was. By that point though, it was already too late, and she barely got a chance to scream "look out!" to warn Bickslow before the headlights she'd seen were so close she couldn't see them past Bickslow's door, and then her whole world was literally turning upside down with a loud crash.