SOOOOOOOO... I found out my husband and I are expecting our first child. This is why there has been a lack of updates. I have NO energy. This story will be finished but I'm going to need some time. I'm 8 weeks today, so I'm not very far. I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks. I knew that early. Thanks for you patients!

It was the next morning that Lucy woke up to a shock. At first she thought it was her husband teasing her, but she looked over and he was sound asleep. She had to check his breathing. Cause the great mighty Laxus doesn't snore. He really doesn't though. Only when he's sick. Which has only been once in their whole entire relationship. He was kinda cute when he slept. He looked so at peace. Now that the nightmares were gone, he slept so much better. His mood even seemed better. After Cobra's story last night, Laxus had sat out by the pond for what seemed like hours. He was reflecting on everything. He and Cobra had a screwed-up understanding of each other. It was like a secret brotherhood. Something that only they understood. Something that they would never speak of, but they knew they had each other. Gajeel was kind of involved, but he was a whole different case. He had a dragon that had raised him. Cobra and Laxus were implanted. There wasn't a lot more to discuss with them. They just had an understanding of each other. She knew Laxus would rather die than tell the group about what he had to do, and that was okay, but he connected on a deeper level with Cobra in the choices they had to make. And then coming around with the question how would mom feel about this? Laxus has struggled with that question a lot. He and her had talked quite extensively about it. They had serious conversations about it. She was slowly putting him back together, but it was a slow process. He was getting there though.

Lucy got up to use the bathroom. She also needed a shower, and with Laxus out it made it the perfect time. It was too hard to shower with that perv always around the corner. She quickly turned on the water and stepped in. That's when she felt a spirit's energy arrive.

"Loke. I'm in the shower!" She whisper yelled.

"Yeah, yeah. Not here to hit on you, I promise." Loke said taking a seat on the closed toilet seat. There was a wall between him and her. He knew Laxus would still kill him from being in here, but they needed to speak. Alone. "How are you feeling?"

"Loke." She said with a groan.

"I'm your closest spirit. Speak to me."

"You know nothing about pregnancies." She tried to reason.

"I learned with Levy." He shrugged.

"It's different." She countered.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?" He pestered.

"Because…I don't know how I'm supposed to do this. I don't know how I'm supposed to act. Do I act all happy and girly? Or do I keep my excitement to myself, because this is a major problem?"

"It's not a problem. It's a blessing. And you are happy right?"

"Yes."

"Then be happy. You've never been girly about weddings and babies; now is not the time to start."

"Why are you here?" She groaned.

"I want to tell you something." Loke said, almost childishly.

"What? You're secretly in love with Aires?" Lucy joked.

"NO!" Loke said offendedly.

"Then what Loke? What made you disrupt my one shower I get alone?"

"I'm here to tell you that Cobra's story…um…there's a lot more to it than he knows. I'm scared when he finds out, it'll make him so mad that he breaks in two. And I'm not saying I love the guy, but I really don't want this to get to him. It will only make his life ten times worse than he thought it was. I need him level headed, and that means certain things are kept from you guys. I know things that would almost kill all of you. I just really can't let Cobra find out."

"Stop being cryptic. What are we talking about?" Lucy said sternly. She was not playing this game today.

"Cobra was an experiment." He said softly. "He was artificially inseminated. He has a dad, but we don't know who. Just a john doe that gave sperm away. His mother was an addict. She was getting paid to do this. The group that hired her,"

"Dragons Blood." She said softly.

"Everything was an experiment."

"Even the love he had from the old couple?" She felt hot tears in her eyes.

"Yes."

"They'll try to make him weak with this won't they?"

"Yeah, and just so we're clear, the experiment failed." Loke said.

"Why?"

"Because he's who he is today. Because he's good. And he trusts you guys."

"So how do I protect him?"

"That's for you to figure out. I'll help in whatever way, but this is on you girl. I'm not in this equation."

"Thanks, jackass."

"Lucy?" They heard Laxus yell from bed.

"Gotta go!" Loke said.

"Loke!" She whispered yelled.

"LUCY?!" Laxus yelled again, even more angry.

"In the damn shower!" Lucy yelled back. Before she let him get in what he was going to say she said, "On my way out!" She was in no mood for shower sex. She was too heartbroken from what Loke had said.

Laxus laid in bed waiting for his wife to come out. He felt rigged that he wasn't getting his shower sex, but he figured he had sixty more years of it. He saw his mate open the door. She had on a new set of pajamas and was drying her hair. He looked at her closely. Something happened. She had gotten bad news. That look on her face told him everything.

"Babe?" He asked concerningly.

"You can tell that quick?!" She said infuriated.

"Sorry?" He said cautiously.

"Is that a statement or a question?!"

"Statement?" He said. She threw her hands up.

"I can't fucking hide anything from you!" Her anger was misplaced, but it felt good to yell.

"I can't from you either, remember. Mates? Bonds? Dragons?" He said calmly.

"STILL!"

"Can I ask what's,"

"NO!" She yelled.

"Damn woman." He said standing from the bed. "I'm going to go shower. Don't burn down our house."

"AHHH!" She screamed, and he stood and went to the bathroom.

Lucy flopped on the bed. She was mad and confused. She hated this. She hated having to make these decisions on her own. Laxus was a leader too! Why didn't Loke go to him instead of her! That seemed like a better idea than the crazy pregnant lady. She was crazy with rage, but not at Loke. She knew he was just the messenger. And you don't ever shoot the messenger. This just sucked. It was hard and a decision she didn't want to make, but she was the leader. This was her job. She had to make these decisions. She didn't have a choice, and never would. It all was a lot right now. The fact that Cobra had a shittier upbringing than he even knew made her heart hurt in the worst ways. It wasn't the pregnancy either. This was too…she didn't know. It was too something, but the word never came. There had to be a word for it, but her mind couldn't think of it. She knew it never would. She was too far in thought to even realize she hadn't found the word. Her mind just kept spinning. It spun and spun and spun. Around and around. With the thought that the love Cobra felt and was given was a lie. All of it was a lie. And there was no word to how messed up and sad that was. And if there was it was a word she had never know or felt, until today.

It was hours later that everyone was at the training field. Laxus had avoided Lucy and piss poor attitude. He cared, really, but she'd come around she always did. She just needed a bit, and pregnancy didn't help much. She was glaring at Loke the whole time Perun gave instructions. Perun was just saying how today was going to go. What to work on, what to avoid.

"Lucy, is your spell up?" Perun asked.

"You poor poor soul." Laxus said under his breath.

"Yes! I put up the fucking spell!" She yelled at him. Everyone else watched in awe. She was pissed off and they had no clue why. She was never this angry. Never.

"Luigi, are you okay?" Natsu asked bravely. That's when it hit Lucy. She was not okay. She was a mess. A big, fat, fucking mess.

"I'm sorry." She said softly. "It's been a day." She looked to the ground. "I have a lot on my mind, and I just need an outlet that isn't you guys. I just need to pull a dragon slayer move and beat the crap out of something."

"Then let's do this." Natsu said softly.

They had been training for hours. Most of them were growing tired, but Lucy kept going and going. Finally, Loke told her she needed to stop. Baby L was in danger. Levy had been keeping up better than they had ever hoped. It seemed being a mom gave her some new powers. But even she knew something was wrong with Lucy. Something none of them could fix. She put a soft hand on Lucy's shoulder.

"We need a break girl. We all do. Slow down a bit." She said softly to her best friend.

"I know. I know. I just need,"

"No. No more one more hits." Laxus said. "Babe, you're gonna hurt him."

"I know." Lucy said softly. "Let's go eat. I could use some food." Everyone nodded, too afraid to piss her off.

Loke was mad at himself. He should have gone straight to Cobra. There was no need to put this much pressure on Lucy. Especially in her condition. He had royally fucked up. To his surprise the man in question ushered everyone inside and then turned to Loke.

"Listen, I could pretend that I don't care. I could pretend that this her was all due to pregnancy. But this isn't her, and both of your energies have been off with me. So give it to me straight. What did I do this time?" He almost laughed.

"Can I take you for a drink. Just the two of us?" Loke asked. Cobra's eyes went wide. He knew then that something was very wrong.

"Sure. Hold on." He pulled out his phone and called his wife to tell her not to wait up. Then they started walking to the bar. They said nothing. It was an eerie, almost frightening, silence. They reached the bar and Loke held the door for him. They took a seat and ordered a drink.

"Man, you're fucking scaring me." Cobra said quietly.

"Dude, I hate this." Loke responded. He looked at his drink. He stirred the ice nervously. This is what he did when he was stressed. He ordered a drink, but usually only played with the ice. It was a nervous tick he had.

"Is she okay?"

"She's fine. Feisty, but she's good." Loke almost laughed.

"Then why are you two so upset?" Cobra said taking a sip from his beer. "This has to be something big to have the two of you so stressed out. And something says it's about me, so just spit it out."

"Your parents that loved you, they never really cared about you." Loke said bluntly. He then regretted his words, because Cobra's face fell.

"Figured." He said softly. He tried to hide his tears, and he did very well at it.

"I didn't mean that as mean as it came out. I'm sorry. It's just,"

"You told Tink so that she would tell me so that when they exposed it in battle I didn't cry. Because you guys know how much I'd hate that."

"I told her so she could take care of you. The way that only Lucy Dreyar can do."

"I figured when everything came out about our paths being this way, that mom and dad weren't really mom and dad. I also figured that the city hadn't burned down the way I thought. It hurts man. It really fucking hurts." Cobra said vulnerably. "I just can't believe what these people did to us."

"Neither can I. I hate it. I hate it all. I hate everything so much these days." Loke played with his ice. "I really hate how attached I am to all of you."

"Just like me." Cobra chuckled softly.

"Pretty much." There was a long silence. Loke had finally taken a sip of his drink, and Cobra was polishing his off.

"We gotta go back. I have to talk to Lucy." Cobra said. They paid and left shortly after. Loke still didn't finish his drink. He was too nervous. He was too on edge.

They got back to the guild and saw everyone at their table. Except Lucy. Cobra walked up to Laxus. "Man, where's your wife?" He asked.

"Upstairs in my office, taking a nap supposedly." Laxus said agitatedly.

"I know why she's upset. I'll take care of it right now. It's got a lot to do with me." He looked down. Laxus was going to go off on the man as to why he pissed off his wife, but the look in Cobra's eyes spoke that it wasn't even his fault. Loke was nowhere to be seen, so that spoke a lot too.

Cobra softly knocked on Laxus and Lucy's office door. He could hear Lucy crying softly. His heart broke. He knew he was going to shed some tears. He knew that there was no hiding it from her.

"Tink, let me in." He said softly. He heard her sniffle and move off the couch. She opened the door and he could tell she had been crying for hours. He went into the room and sat on the couch, making her sit next to him.

"You know." She said with a small sob.

"I knew when I told you guys." He was trying to keep himself composed, but her sobs made him weak.

"I hate it." She said with an unimpressed chuckled. "I hate it!" She was starting to seethe. She was starting to get pissed. "Why?! Why you?! Why us?! Why me?!" He knew the slayers could hear her yelling now. Probably the whole guild could.

"Because it was our destiny Tink." He said softly. "I'm not happy either, but it is what it is."

"But why?!" She yelled again. She stood from the couch. He took out his phone and shot Laxus a text saying the power was going to flicker, but not to come up.

"Because we're going to save our species." He said at a normal volume. "Because we're saving your baby."

"But-But," she just screamed again. That's when the power flickered, and she started to glow. "It isn't fucking fair! We could have done this without all the fucking trauma!"

"No, we couldn't have Tink!" He yelled back at her. "There was no way that we would have all bonded together had we not had the trauma! We needed it!"

"But that isn't fair!"

"Tink, life isn't fucking fair!" He was yelling on her level now. "Except now it is!" She looked at him stunned.

"How the hell is all of this fair now?!"

"Because I have you! Because I have a family! Because I have all of you by my side! Fuck my parents! I have you guys! I have a real fucking family! So it is fair! Because I won with you fuckers!" Lucy stopped glowing and the power returned to normal. Her voice softened.

"You mean we're worth it?" She said almost childishly. He smiled and laughed softly.

"You're all worth it. You're all my family. And you all love me unconditionally. We're the family we all never had. It's okay that I wasn't really loved and it was all a ruse. It's okay. Because I have you guys. That makes all of this worth it. It always will." He paused. "But you gotta stop being a bitch right now. They're gonna kill you." They both laughed.

"Yeah. Loke told me early this morning when I was finally getting a shower by myself. Laxus was asleep. I was finally getting alone time. But Loke ruined that, and then I was just mad all day. Which wasn't fair, but I was so mad and hurt."

"I'm sorry it hurt you, but thanks for caring about it. It kinda sucks, but it was all worth it. I'd do it all over again for you guys to be at my side." He smiled at her, and she smiled back before enveloping him in a huge hug. They stayed like that a moment, before deciding to head back downstairs. They knew that they didn't need to tell anyone. All they had to know was that they hashed it out and it was done. She was okay. But who knows what other secrets were hiding? Who knew what was next? Definitely not them. And boy was the next few months going to bring a lot of surprises.