Part of the Plan

Nashi grunted softly as she fell into the grass on her butt. She huffed in annoyance and crossed her thin arms over her chest, her face setting into a pout. "This sucks…" she grumbled. "I'm never gonna be able to use magic…"

Natsu snorted as he sat down in front of her, crossing his legs. "C'mon, amai, don't talk like that," he said encouragingly. "You'll get the hang of it. It just needs some practice." He reached over and gently patted her head. "Come on, let's try something easier. Sit like me." Albeit a little reluctantly, Nashi did as told, crossing her legs and setting her hands on her knees. "Alright. Do you feel that warm sensation in here?" He straightened his back and placed a hand to his stomach. Nashi looked down at her belly for a moment, before looking back up at him as she nodded. "Good. That's your magic."

"Really?" she said, leaning forward slightly with interest. He smiled and nodded.

"Yup." He paused, recalling the words Igneel had said to him when he was about Nashi's age. "To be able to summon the fire that resides inside of you, you need to focus your magical energy."

Nashi tilted her head to the side. "What does that mean?" she inquired, and Natsu felt a surge of déjà vu. Those were the exact words he said to Igneel. He chuckled lightly.

"You need to be able to concentrate your magic. Close your eyes." She did. "Now, picture that feeling in your stomach as a small flame. Focus on it. Expel all other thoughts from your mind." It took a moment, but everything in Nashi's mind disappeared. The only thing she could see in her mind's eye was a tiny flickering flame, like a candle. Her father's voice was soft as it reached her ears. "Imagine that flame slowly expanding, getting larger and hotter by the second." The fire did exactly that, gradually getting bigger. Nashi could practically hear it crackling and snapping. "By now, you should be able to feel the warmth of that fire all through your body." And she could. She was already warm, due to her abnormally high body temperature and the fact that they were doing this outside in the middle of a late summer's day. But now it felt like…

…like she was on fire.

"Focus that warmth into your hand." She felt the heat of the flame shoot down her right arm and into the palm of her hand as if on cue. There was a pause. She heard Natsu chuckle before saying, "Open your eyes, amai." Nashi did as told, looking down at her right hand. A small flame hand engulfed her hand, licking at her skin. She stared at it in amazement for a moment, before a blinding grin settled on her face.

"I did it!" she cheered. "I did it!" Just as quickly as it came, the fire in her hand vanished with a small puff of smoke. The six-year-old deflated with a disappointed groan.

"No, don't make that face," Natsu said, shaking his head as he reached over and touched her hand. His grin was full of pride, his ego swelling in his chest. "That was good, Nashi. It was really good."

"But I wasn't able to keep it…" she pouted, hanging her head. Natsu sighed, his smile softening.

"Oi, look at me," he said gently, cupping her chin and lifting her head. "I know I keep saying this, but it's gonna take some practice."

"I just wanna be as strong as you…" she said sadly, her dark brown eyes going glassy with tears of frustration. Natsu wiped one away as it trickled down her tanned cheek.

"You'll get there."

"When?"

"I don't know. But that doesn't matter. What's important is that you will. Okay?" Nashi nodded slowly, drying her eyes with the back of her hand. "Okay. Let's take a break. Maybe Mama's making lunch." He got to his feet and reached down, grabbing her from under her arms and lifting her up. He grunted. "You're getting heavy, amai."

Nashi sniffled, laughing gently. "Maybe you're just getting weak, Daddy," she retorted smartly. Natsu scoffed as he made his way from the park back to their abode.

"As if." As soon as Natsu opened the front door to their apartment, they were greeted with Ryū's screaming. Stunned by the sudden onslaught of noise, Natsu closed the door behind him, watching with wide eyes as Lucy ran from the bathroom into the kids' room, their son in her arms and her shirt soaked through with water.

"Oh, my…" Nashi murmured, just as surprised as her father. The two of them exchanged glances before Natsu set her down, walking toward the kids' room. Lucy stood in the middle of the room, bouncing up and down with Ryū to try and calm him down. But his cries hadn't so much as dwindled. Her hair was up, her cheeks were red – with what emotion, he wasn't sure – and her bra was completely visible through her wet blouse.

"Luce?" he called over Ryū's screams. She spun around at the sound of his smooth voice, and smiled warily.

"Natsu," she breathed. She rocked back and forth. "How was training with Nashi? Did she do well?"

Natsu hesitated, wondering if he should humor her or give her a hand. "Er… she did really well, actually…" he said slowly, suddenly remembering what time of the month it was for Lucy. If he wasn't mistaken, she should be PMSing right about now, which meant he was going to have to choose his words very carefully. The last thing he wanted to do was pinch a nerve without meaning to, especially with the current situation. He gestured to her shirt. "What… ahem… What happened?" The stellar wizard looked down at herself, laughing weakly as she lifted her head back up.

"Oh, I was giving him a bath and he splashed me." Natsu nodded in understanding. He stepped forward, holding his hands out to her.

"Want me to take him?" he asked. "So you can change clothes?"

Relief flooded her features. "Oh, would you?" He nodded. She transferred Ryū into his arms. "Thank you, Natsu. I'll be right back." She placed a hasty kiss to his cheek before darting out of the room. He looked down at the distraught boy in his arms, bouncing up and down.

"What is it, little buddy?" he cooed. "Huh? What's the matter?" He lifted him up and sniffed to see if he needed to be changed. He jerked back with a grimace. Yup. Maybe that's what bothering him. He walked over to the changing table on the other side of the room and began the process of changed Ryū's diaper. He felt a hand touch his shoulder and jumped, turning around to see Lucy, a dry shirt on her torso. That was fast.

"You don't have to do that," she said, reaching forward to take over. Natsu shifted his elbow to block her.

"I got it," he said back, gently nudging her hands away.

"No, it's fine, I'll do it," she insisted.

"Really, Luce. I got it."

"I don't want you changing him when you're mad."

"I'm not mad."

"You're doing it wrong."

"Lucy, I know what I'm doing. This isn't the first time I've changed a diaper."

"You are mad, just let me do it."

"I'm not mad, Lucy. I'm getting a little irritated, but not mad."

"Natsu, just let me change him."

"I've already changed him, Lucy," Natsu snapped, his voice coming out harsher than he'd intended. Ryū was still bawling, and now that Lucy was nagging him about something stupid, it was beginning to tweak with his temper. He took a deep breath to cry and calm his nerves. "Luce, just go lay down, take a nap. I'll deal with Ryū. You're obviously a little stressed out right now, and—"

"You think that just because I'm stressed doesn't mean I can take care of my own son?" she hissed, the PMS finally kicking in. Now she was getting overly upset about unreasonable things. She was going to start pushing his limits, he could tell.

"I didn't say that," Natsu defended calmly, trying with every fiber to keep his cool.

"You didn't have to! I hate it when you do this! Whenever I'm in a bad mood or injured, you always just assume that I can't do anything, so you have to take care of everything!"

It must've been the testosterone, the male instinct to be the dominant partner in a relationship that made him straighten his back and take a step forward so that he was towering over her. "First of all," he began, his composure beginning to slip, "that's not true. Second of all, all I did was change Ryū's diaper! Why is that an issue?"

"It is true, and you know it!" she spat, lifting herself up on her toes to get closer to him. "And it's an issue because you were mad while you changed him!"

"I wasn't mad!" he shouted, finally raising his voice as his temper sprang into action like a heated coil.

"But you are now?"

"No," he said sarcastically. "You think I like walking through the front door and being greeted with a screaming child and a pissy wife breathing down my neck? I fucking love it! It doesn't feel like home unless it feels like I just jumped into a sawmill!"

Smack!

The sound of Lucy's palm slapping Natsu across the face echoed through the apartment. It was so loud that Ryū's cries – which had escalated due to their fighting – fell into soft, pitiful whimpers. The force of her strike made his head turn 90 degrees to the right, and the suddenness made him freeze in that position, his eyes wide with surprise as his cheek turned dark red. After a moment of near-silence, he turned his head to look at her, a hand coming up to rub his sore cheek. He felt a stab of regret when he saw tears brimming in her eyes. Damn, he let his temper get the better of him again.

"Shit, Luce…" he said softly, knowing that no matter what he said, it wasn't going to make the situation any better.

"Leave me alone," she whispered. Her voice came out shaky, which made him feel that much more like an asshole.

"Luce, I…"

"Just leave me alone," she repeated, louder and more confident this time. Despite the salty tears that fell from her eyes, her expression was firm, silently demanding him to obey her request. Natsu gulped, swallowing the massive lump that formed in his throat. He exhaled sharply, turning the leave the room. She splayed her hands on his back and shoved him out the rest of the way, slamming the door closed behind him. Natsu stared at the closed door for a moment, his sensitive ears picking up her sobs from the other side.

"Daddy?" Natsu turned at the soft voice. Nashi was standing a few feet away, her hands clasped behind her back. She looked worried and confused, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. He approached her with a weak smile, reaching his hand out to her.

"Let's make some lunch," he suggested. "Okay?" Nashi nodded and took his hand, following him into the kitchen.

"Okay."

That night…

"Hey."

Lucy looked up from writing her novel, turning in her chair to face Natsu, who was standing in the doorway, leaning against the wooden frame. She turned back to her desk. "Hi." There was a pause, the only sound being her pen scribbling on the paper. "Are they asleep?"

"Yeah." He walked up to her. "Finally." He placed his hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently. She sighed, and he took it as a sign to go ahead. He started to massage her neck, the distraction causing her to click her pen and set it aside, leaning back against her chair. "How's the novel coming?" he asked casually, rubbing the skin at the junction of her neck and shoulders.

"It's… coming," she replied vaguely, her head tilting back to rest against his abdomen. They were silent for another moment.

"Luce?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry. For what I said earlier." Lucy stood up from her chair and turned to face him. He gulped, nervous as her smoldering eyes drilled into his. Prepared for the worst, he was not expecting her to wrap her arms around his waist, pulling him into a hug.

"I know. I'm sorry, too. For yelling at you." She nuzzled into his chest. "I know I didn't make much sense either. Ryū has just been a pain lately, and I took it out on you."

"Don't sweat it, Luce. You've been worse." The two of them laughed for a moment, reveling in their embrace. Lucy smiled. She was thankful how quickly the two of them could make up after a fight. She couldn't stay mad at this goofball for very long.

"I'm sorry for hitting you, too," she added. She felt him shrug.

"It's alright. I kinda deserved it." Lucy nodded as she pulled away slightly, reaching over to turn off the lamp on her desk. The bedroom plunged into darkness. She looked up at him.

"How about I make it up to you?" she asked suggestively, stepping backwards toward the bed, pulling him along by the scarf. Natsu lifted an interested eyebrow as she sat down on the mattress and scooted back, her eyes never leaving his for an instant. He crawled on top of her as she unraveled his scarf, draping it over the headboard. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, the force of his kisses pushing her head deeper into the pillow. His hand rested against her hip, blindly trying to find the end of her shirt. After finally finding it, he slid his hand beneath the material and cradled her bare hip, softly stroking her skin with his thumb and leaving a trail of fire in his wake.

He kissed his way down her jaw and neck, to her chest, between her breasts, and down her stomach to her pelvic bone. He grabbed the end of her shirt and reunited their lips as he began to lift her tank top up her torso. Tossing it unceremoniously to the side, the two of them rolled over. Lucy pulled his shirt open, lightly scraping her fingernails down his chest. He shuddered, sitting up briefly to pull his shirt off, collapsing back onto the mattress as he threw it to an unknown corner of the room. She fiddled with his belt buckle and slowly pulled it away, dropping it to the floor with a thud. She began to undo the fastenings to his pants as he slid his hands up her back and unclipped her bra.

As Natsu was in the process of sliding her bra off her shoulders, Lucy pulled away, hovering over him and holding her bra to her chest. "On second thought," she said with a smirk, "I'm still mad at you."

"Eh?" Natsu muttered, still dazed from the mind-blowing kiss that just ensued between them. Lucy giggled and cupped his cheek, directing his half-lidded eyes to hers.

"I said I'm still mad at you," she repeated, although she didn't seem to be angry with him. She gave him a light peck on the lips before sitting up to straddle him. He hissed through his teeth as she settled her weight onto his hips. Lucy lifted an eyebrow as she reached around to clasp her bra. "Seems that you're already excited." She clicked her tongue. "Bummer."

"Lucyyy…" he whined, setting his hands on her thighs. "Don't tease me… You said—"

"I know what I said, Natsu," she cut him off, holding a finger to his lips. "And I changed my mind."

He tsked. "You can't just change your mind."

"But I did." And with that, she slid off of him, swiping her shirt from the floor. She sashayed over to the bathroom to change clothes, knowing all too well that Natsu's eyes were on her hips.

"I hate you," he declared childishly.

"You love me," she retorted, closing the door.

A few minutes later…

"Hey, Luce?" Natsu whispered. Lucy moaned sleepily in response, her head resting on his chest. It was close to midnight, and both of them were exhausted – due to the exertion of adrenaline earlier that day and the heated make out session just a few minutes prior – but Natsu couldn't seem to fall asleep. He wasn't quite sure why this was bugging him so much; it was a silly thing to be bothered about, but he couldn't stop himself from asking. "Do you regret any of it?" There was a silence for a moment, before Lucy propped her weight on her elbows to look at him.

"Any of what?" she asked, her brows furrowed. Natsu gestured around them.

"This. The kids, our marriage, everything." Lucy gazed intently at him, waiting to see if he was joking. But the longer she stared at him, the more she knew he was serious. And that concerned her.

"What makes you think I regret it?" she whispered.

"Well… I know you too well to think that this is the way you wanted your life to turn out," he said slowly, adverting his eyes. "I'm not naïve. I know that you wanted something different. I mean… did you see any of this coming?" Lucy thought about it for a moment, before sighing and lifting herself up, straddling his hips.

"No," she said softly. "No, I didn't see any of this coming. Meeting you, joining Fairy Tail, going on all those crazy adventures, falling in love with my best friend… none of it was a part of the plan. None of this is what I wanted." She smiled, lifting her hands to his face. He finally reconnected their gaze as she brushed his bangs away. "But it's so much better. Out of all of the scenarios, all of the ways I pictured my life turning out, I never even dreamed that something like this would happen. But now that it did, I can't imagine my life any other way." She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his forehead. "I love you, Natsu. I love the kids, I love the guild, I love our life. If I could, I would do it all over again, starting from the moment we met. And I wouldn't change a thing."

Natsu stared up at her, speechless. He didn't know what to say. He hadn't been expecting that. She laughed lightly at the expression on his face, sitting up. She cupped his cheek. "So the answer to your question is no. I don't regret a second of it." Natsu released a content sigh, gently grasping her hand with his own. He moved it to his lips, kissing her palm. "But do you know what would make it better?" she asked.

"Hm?" he hummed, placing another kiss to her hand.

"A new house."

Author's Note: hey, guys! Kind of a pointless argument at the beginning, but I had a fight similar to that with my sister the other day. And when it was over and we'd gotten over it, we looked at each other like "what were we even fighting about?" There was no real conflict whatsoever and we just got into this huge fight over nothing. And I don't know about my other female reviewers, but I get extremely pissy when I'm PMSing. I get pissed off really easily about anything. I could get a bag of french fries with no salt, and I will go ballistic. It's a little scary. And since Lucy is PMSing, technically, she's not on her period yet.

On a different note, I have some bad news. To Be Lucky will be ending in twenty or so chapters. I know, I know, I suck. But I have other ideas in my head, and I can't really concentrate on writing another story when I still have this one going on. Not a very good excuse, I know, but it's the reason TBL will be ending soon. Hopefully it'll have a good ending.

Please leave a review, you guys! My goal is to get to at least 600 before TBL comes to a close! Thanks for sticking with me this long! I love you guys! Until next time!

TBL now has a cover photo! It belongs to ~Karokitten-chan from deviantART.