"Laxus...Laxus"

The whispers of his name didn't wake him, but the push on his shoulder definitely did. He bolted up into an upright positition with a shout. "Shit! Who's there?!" He relaxed when he saw his daughter standing beside the bed. "Hey squirt." He noticed she looked scared, clutching her teddy bear to her her chest. "What's wrong?"

"I had a nightmare." She whispered.

He frowned and opened the covers to her. "Come here then. I'll keep you safe." She crawled in his bed and curled up on his side when he laid back down. "Wanna tell me what your nightmare was about?" He asked as he wrapped a strong arm around her.

Lily whimpered. "Someone took me away forever and I never got to see you or mama again."

He squeezed her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Dont worry, squirt. I promise I'll never let that happen. Okay? You have nothing to worry about."

She tiredly sighed and nuzzled her nose in his side. "Okay."

"Thatta girl." He whispered. He listened to her breath even out before he fell back asleep himself.

"Do you think she'd like this one, Lu?"

Lucy looked at the coloring book Levy was holding and smiled. "Most definitely." It had been a few weeks since everything happened. It only took a few days before the council arrested Jude Heartfilia for child abuse and endangerment and for associating with a dark guild. Apparently that guy he hired worked for a dark guild called Shadow Claw. Whether her dad knew he was in a dark guild or not was beyond her, but she wouldn't put it past him. The day her father's arrest was announced, there seemed to be a party going on in Fairy Tail. She had a feeling that it wasn't a coincidence. These people were so loving and protective of her and her daughter already, it was so insane to her.

Now, though, her daughter's birthday was tomorrow and she asked Levy to come with her to pick up a few things. The girl was beyond happy and wanted to get her a present too.

"Would this suffice?" Freed asked as he held up a fundamentals of the alphabet book. Lucy shared a look with Levy before she giggled.

"That would suffice just fine, Freed." She mocked with a smile. He just smiled to himself and gave a reassuring nod... to himself she assumed. The man had been insistent on coming with them when he overheard their plans earlier. Even though her dad was behind bars, Laxus and his team still weren't entirely comfortable with leaving them alone.

"What are you gonna get her, Lu?"

Lucy frowned, she wanted to get her something really special, nothing ordinary that anyone else could get. "I'm not sure yet."

"Well... " Levy hooked her arm in Lucy's good arm and gave her a smile. "Why dont we grab lunch to think about it."

Lucy reciprocated her smile. "Sounds good to me."

At lunch, Freed and Levy were talking about the theory of fucking everything while Lucy tried to hold her cup of water in her bad hand. Thanks to both Wendy and Porlyusica, her arm had managed to heal. Her forearm was badly scarred and she had no feeling there, but she was slowly learning to use it again. Though, the way her cup was shaking and sploshing water made it seem hopeless.

"Don't worry, Lu." Levy said as she saw Lucy transfer the cup to her good hand. "I'm sure it will get better."

"It is good to see that you're practicing." Freed said.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, I'm getting pretty used to rehabilitating myself."

They both gave her sad smiles and Levy grabbed her hand. "It'll be worth it, Lu. Besides, I can always have Jet or Droy carry all your stuff for you."

Lucy couldn't help but giggle at that. Those two boys loved her to death, and Gajeel would always give them death glares if they got too close to her. "That might make a certain iron dragon slayer happy."

Levy giggled, "but it also might make a certain lightning dragon slayer mad."

"Whatever, he's taken, remember?"

"Yeah, with you."

"Levy!" Lucy swatted the girl's shoulder, but ended up giggling along with her.

Levy raised her eyebrow when she saw Freed's nervous expression. She shared a look with Lucy before she asked, "What's the matter with you, Freed? Are we impugning your master's honor?"

Freed shook his head and set his cup down. "I wonder, Lucy. Do you hold any feelings towards Laxus."

Her mouth dropped and looked at Levy, who narrowed her eyes at Freed. "What do you know, Freed?"

The man just puffed out his cheeks with an embarrassed hue to his cheeks. Lucy caught on to this and batted her eyelashes at him. "Aww, c'mon Freed. You can tell us, we won't say a word. We'd really appreciate it."

"Yeah, Freed. We would love to know." Levy joined in.

Freed cleared his throat and spoke very quickly. "Miraisn'thappywithhim."

Both of their eyebrows shot up in surprise, both having heard him clearly. "Why?" Lucy asked, a worrying suspicion in the front of her mind. "Is it because of me?"

Freed sighed. "It is between the two of them, but I will say that she plans on talking to him. I do not know what she intends to talk about." He put his cup to his lips. "We will just have to see what one of them says."

Lucy and Levy both groaned and deflated, before Lucy remembered something and jumped excitedly in her seat. "Levy, girl I have something for you!"

"Oh yeah?" Levy beamed at her excitement.

Lucy called out Virgo and the spirit appeared, making some people around them gasp for dear life. She handed Lucy a binder with paper in it before she bowed. "Punishment, princess?"

Lucy waved her hand in embarrassment. "No, Virgo! thank you."

"Is that what I think it is?" Levy grinned as she grabbed it from Lucy.

"Mmhmm." Lucy nodded with a grin. "I want you to read it before I send it to my publisher."

"Oh, Lu!" Levy clutched the binder to her chest. "I'll take good care of it."

"I'll hold you to it." She warmly smiled as she picked up her cup again and took a sip. She supposed she should head back to the house, who knew how crazy Lily was driving Laxus... or vice versa.

A knock on the front door made Laxus look up from where he was planted on the living room floor, coloring with Lily. The picture in his hand was what she said was exactly what Freed looked like and he couldn't agree more. It was a green triangle sitting on top of a red, sideways rectangle. It was the best thing he had ever seen. "I'll be right back, squirt." She only nodded her head in acknowledgement, too focused on her current project. He grunted as he got up from the floor, enjoying the way his knees crackled a little. Opening the door, he was surprised to see Mira standing there, hands clutched together. "Hey, beautiful. "

She gave him a sad smile. "Hey, Laxus. I need to talk to you."

He frowned and stepped out on the porch with her, closing the door behind him. "What's wrong, Mira?"

"Well." She inhaled and exhaled deeply before she began. "I'm sure you can tell that we're drifting apart and I think it's about time that we move forward in our lives."

His jaw dropped. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"Oh, Laxus, I love you dearly." She placed a hand on his arm. "But we can't force a connection that just isn't there anymore."

Crossing his arms, Laxus looked at the ground with furrowed brows. "How long have you been feeling this way?"

She retracted her hand. "I think you can agree that we've been stuck in limbo for a while now."

He took a good look at her, at every inch of her face. "Is this because of Lucy?" He wouldn't doubt it, she hasn't been too happy with this situation at all.

She looked at the ground with a sad smile. "Even before this all happened, this relationship had been turning one-sided. I've ignored it for a while, but..." she looked at him and cupped his face, him covering her hand with concern on his face. "You have new responsibilities now, and I think you should focus on being a dad instead of trying to appease me. I want to end this before you start resenting me."

"Mira..." he brought her hand down to both of his. "It really isn't like that and I'm sorry you feel that way."

She smiled, she could tell that he wasn't going to try and stop her, and she was finally okay with that. "Don't worry, Laxus. We'll always be family, and I will still always be here for anything you need, especially when it comes to Lily."

He placed a kiss on the back of her hand. "You're too good for me, Mira. You always were."

"Don't think like that." She pulled her hand back to herself and began to walk away. "I wish you the best, Laxus."

"Same to you." He mumbled to her retreating figure before he crossed his arms and looked down at the ground. Why didn't he wanna go chase her down and change her mind? He'd been with her for five years, so why the hell didn't he want to salvage that? When he thought about it, there hadn't been any fire in their relationship for a long time, and he wondered why he never tried to change it. He supposed their relationship had been slowly dying, the fact that neither of them got upset proved that enough. Shaking his head, he headed back inside, he really needed to drink.

Lucy came downstairs after she put Lily to bed and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator before she plopped down next to Laxus.

"Aren't you too young to be drinking?"

She rolled her eyes at his comment and took a swig. "Fuck you."

Chuckling, he laid his head back and rolled it to the side to look at her. "Did you find her something?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Nothing seemed right. Everything was a little too ordinary. I wanna get her something that no one else can get... I think I know what I'm gonna do." When the silence was a little elongated, she looked over at him, his head was down, but when she turned he looked back up at her. She raised her eyebrows.

He cleared his throat. "And what's that?" He had been drinking all day, so he was pretty buzzed, he wasn't drunk yet, but he hadn't really been listening to what she was saying. Instead, the way her lips moved had caught his interest, the way her chest slightly jiggled as she talked, the way her hips stuck so far our from the rest of her body, how young and innocent she seemed.

She smirked and raised a finger. "You're just gonna have to wait and find out."

She was a tease too. He could play that game. He grabbed the beer out of her hand and placed both his and hers on the table, nervousness wracked through her as he did so. In the next moment, he pushed her on her back and lowered his head so his lips were next to her ear, enjoying the way she squeaked. "I bet I can get it out of you. I bet you'll scream it to me."

As his giant and dominant hands slid up her legs, she was breathless, completely in shock about what was happening. "No way." She wasn't sure if she was responding to him or talking to herself.

He chuckled, the vibration from his chest to hers making her shiver. "Tell me." He whispered as he trailed kisses down the side of her neck, his hand sliding up and kneaded right underneath her round cheek.

He breath was ragged, her hand gripping his shoulder as she arched into him. He was such a big man, encompassing her completely with his body, it was intimidating and dare she say it, thrilling. Her body seemed to have a mind of its own as it reacted to his every kiss and every touch, her mind in a daze, heat flowing through her. However, when one of his hands reached up to knead her breast through her shirt, a spark went through her and reality also hit her. "Wait." Placing her hands flat against his chest, she pushed him back a little. "Wait."

His eyebrows creased as he looked down at her. "Are you a virgin?"

Her cheeks puffed in embarrassment and slight anger at his question. "Well, yes, but what about Mira? We can't do this to her."

"Mira..." he backed away from her, grabbing his beer as he sat back down in his previous position. "She broke up with me."

"Oh god." She fixed her clothes and grabbed her beer again as she frowned. "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault."

He shook his head. "Nah, this has been a long time coming, I was just too stubborn to notice."

Lucy gave him a concerned look and placed a hand on his arm. "Are you okay?"

He looked at her glistening eyes, to her lips then back to her eyes. "I will be." Her cheeks burned bright red and she almost responded before he got up. "Sorry about all this. Goodnight, blondie."

"It's... fine." She whispered a few seconds after he was already gone. Her breath whooshed out of her as she sighed and placed her head in her hand. "Fuck." She groaned before she downed the rest of her beer, trying to calm her libido down, and went to bed herself. Tomorrow was a big day for her daughter.

Omg yall! So I just found out about this and I'm gonna tell you guys, even though I'm sure you all already know because I'm late to goddamn everything, but Hiro Mashima is continuing Fairy Tail! I just read like all the Fairy Tail: 100 Year Quest chapters that are out and the last one, holy shit guys (spoiler alert) Laxus' lightning was red...red! (end of spoiler alert) I just about died.. like how funny is that? Anyways, I wanted to put this up closer to Christmas for you guys, but I didn't wanna wait cuz I know yall don't either. I love you guys! Muah!