Natsu tried to slow the rate of his descent, not wanting to drop the bulk of his weight on her suddenly, as he slumped down against her and buried his face into the side of her neck. He waited for his heart to calm down while listening to Lucy catch her breath, the air from her pants rushing against his ear. He stayed that way for a while, just enjoying the sounds and touches that proved she was here, until he decided that he wanted to look at her face some more. Licking his lips, he pushed himself up to hover over her again.

A drop of sweat rolled down the side of her face, and when she licked her lips too, he wondered if they tasted salty from sweat like his had. He thought about tasting them to check, leaning in a little, when she said, "It's a bit sad."

His eyes shot up to focus on hers, realizing that her mind had moved onto something different and feeling a bit bad for not noticing sooner, "What's sad?"

She looked shyly away from him and up at the ceiling, "Well that we can't – might not ever be able to have any children."

Natsu froze, at a loss for what to say.

Her eyelids lowered a little, sadly, as she continued, "There's not enough time in six months for a pregnancy. And, we have…less than that now. Not to mention it wouldn't be very right to bring someone into this world to be motherless if…if we didn't manage to find the cure."

She looked back at his face and his expression must have been something, because she backtracked, "I'm sorry, I just sprang that on you and we were…"

"No, don't be sorry," he said, shaking his head. "I like when you tell me how you feel and what's on your mind."

That brought a smile. A small one, but it was a smile nonetheless. "It sucks, thinking that the only thing that will ever make me sick will be this disease and there's nothing good coming from that. It won't ever be because of pregnancy."

"You get sick when you're pregnant?"

She looked at him strangely for a second, before realization took over, her mouth opening with a soft click of her tongue, "Oh, you haven't been around very many pregnant ladies, have you?"

"Not really," he admitted, feeling the small jolt of embarrassment he always got when his lack of more normal experiences surfaced. "I've seen them before, sure, but I've never been around one while pregnant for a long time before. What's it like?"

"Being pregnant?" Lucy hummed a little, a thoughtful look on her face, "Well, from what I've observed, it can actually be quite difficult. Women tend to get sick often, sometimes having what is called 'Morning Sickness.' They get all sorts of aches and pains and their feet swell up a lot. They get all these crazy food cravings, too, sometimes for foods they don't even like.

"It's hard to sleep, too. The baby weight is awkward and makes it hard to get into a comfortable position. And, the getting sick thing doesn't help with that, either. One of my maids got really sick when she was pregnant with her son and could barely sleep at night. She ended up cracking a rib from the force of her coughing."

Natsu stared down at her, "Pregnancy sounds terrible."

"It can be," she laughed.

"I wish I could be pregnant for you, so you didn't have to suffer," he said, his eyes still wide at the surprising unpleasantness of pregnancy. "I don't know if I could like any little heathen who'd make you so sick you might crack a rib."

"But, you would," she assured him. He brought his hands up higher, touching his fingers together so that the arms that braced him over her also framed her, curving around her head. "You don't want to hear about the pain of labor for a woman, though."

She shuddered a little, probably picturing what it'd be like. No, he didn't think he did.

"But, pregnancy is also a beautiful thing. A mother gets to experience life growing within her and starts to love the baby before she even meets him or her. It's…," she broke off, emotion suddenly clouding her expression.

"What do you think our child would be like?" he asked. "I…I think we'd have a little girl."

"You do?" Lucy asked.

He nodded, "She'd have your sweet smile and your big brown eyes."

"And, your pink hair," she whispered.

"Yes," he said, "But, hopefully she will act more like you."

"I don't know, I think it'd be alright if she took after you. Maybe she would have your crazy strength and pick fights with all the kids of her age," she said.

He felt horrified, already protective of this hypothetical child, "Now, I really hope she's not like me."

She laughed again, "What do you think we'd name her?"

"Maybe an 'L' name, like yours. That way she'd know who she's supposed to take after," he said.

"You know the more you say that, the more she'd be sure to be just like you."

"I know. Any child of ours would be stubborn like that. But, I hope that she would be like you, too. There's so many things you have to pass down that a child of ours has to inherit."

Her face lightened, "I like the name Leda."

He kissed her cheek, "Me too."

"Tell me more about how you'd think Leda would be."

Smiling, he did.

#62 Leda

(Posted two chapters this time! This one and "Heat" as an apology for taking so long to update. I trying to work on my writing skill so it isn't so inspiration and mood (in other words - unreliable) driven. Thanks again for all your reviews and support!)