Saying No

Summary: Gildarts just can't say no to his little girl, although if he'd known how this mess was going to end he would have at least tried a little harder. Maybe. Probably not.

Disclaimer: I don't own

AN: Hey guys, its been a while. Thank you all for being so patient, things have been really hard lately, especially with the holidays. I'm not okay, none of us are, but i think i've gotten to a point where I know that I'll be okay eventually. Shiftfiredragon thanks for the prompt, working on something so sugary sweet was a nice change of pace.

Gildarts had a problem.

Well, it wasn't really a 'problem' per say.

He just liked to see Cana happy- was that such a bad thing?

And yes, maybe he had a problem with telling his little princess 'no' when she asked for something.

Cana was a good kid and she had never asked for anything too crazy.

The odd new toy or dress every now and then, the ice cream sundae with the dinosaur cookie (okay… yes giving it to her before dinner was a bad idea but she had just looked up at him with those big sad eyes and said 'please' in that special way that just made his heart melt) and getting her those new ballet slippers even though her old ones were perfectly fine.

And maybe he had a habit of letting her stay up past her bedtime and let her slide on the vegetables more than he should, but Cana was a good girl and she deserved treats every now and then!

He was tentatively willing admit that he kinda, sorta, might have a tiny problem with saying 'no'.

Yet somehow it was not difficult at all this time.

"No." Gildarts said firmly, his tone making it clear that he was not going to budge on this.

"But Daddy- "

"No means no Cana." He said, trying to shut this down.

But Cana Clive had inherited more than just her looks from her mother. "But Daddy!" She said passionately, following her father around the kitchen like a baby duck," If I can beat you up then they'll have to let me in the guild!"

"Cana, drop it." The Ace said in a no-nonsense tone that usually got good results, as it was all it got was his daughter shooting what she must have thought was a terrifying glare at him. "There are no shortcuts in magic- you want to join Fairy Tail you have to learn magic just like everybody else."

The little girl huffed and stomped out of the room and her father sighed.

No way was that the end of this.

But like hell he was going to fight his eight-year-old so she could join the band of loudmouth drunkards he affectionately called his guildmates.

Cana can pout all she wants- he was not going to budge on this.

oOOOOo

Okay, he budged.

But it wasn't his fault!

She had started crying after he said no again and being the good father he is, he immediately picked her up and tried to comfort her. And yes, she may have said some things that had almost made him coo over her ("I wanna be in Fairy Tail so I can go on jobs with you Daddy- if I'm with you then no way would anyone try to be mean to you"), and a few things that stroked his ego ("I wanna be strong like you Daddy"). And it wasn't like she'd really be in any danger. He knew how to pull his punches, and this was his baby, so he'd pull them even more.

Conny called him a wuss.

She obviously didn't know what she was talking about- he wasn't a wuss he was an involved father who liked to encourage his daughter's career pursuits.

So… now here he was in a sparring ring with the entire guild watching as his darling little girl did her best to beat him up.

Did this count as father-daughter bonding? It felt like it should.

"COME ON CANA LET HIM HAVE IT!" Macao yelled with the biggest grin on his face.

"GO CANA!" Laxus yelled from the sidelines, "DON'T YOU LOSE TO HIM!"

"KICK HIS ASS CANA!"

"WE ALL BELIEVE IN YOU KIDDO!"

"I GOT MONEY ON THIS- BEAT HIM DOWN KIDDO!"

Gildarts wasn't sure if he should feel offended that everyone was rooting against him. Sure, he had no intentions on fighting seriously and everyone was well aware of this fact (except for his little princess of course), but he was a bit put out that everyone apparently wanted to see him get beat up by his eight-year-old.

Cana let out a yell as she tried to punch him again, her frustration evident as he once again dodged without putting any effort into it. The little girl puffed out her cheeks as she took a deep breath and readied herself to take another shot at him.

"Stop dodging!" She growled as she continued to take swings at him.

"But Sweetie!" Gildarts said wide-eyed in mock shock as he easily moved out of the way," If I let you hit me then I'll obviously be wounded! You don't want Daddy to get hurt do you?"

"Yes I do!" She snapped as she jumped toward him and him taking a few quick steps back had her landing in the dirt.

That stung a little bit actually.

The Ace tried not to let it get to him as he continued to dodge Cana's clumsy attacks.

The little girl had gotten Master to agree that if she managed to beat him, then he would bend the rules and let her join the guild. Of course, the old man knew that there was absolutely no way Gildarts was going to fight seriously- which was likely the only reason he'd agreed in the first place.

The old man was standing next to Conny- his wife was giving the two of them her patented 'you both are idiots but I love you' look.

Yeah… convincing her had been surprisingly easy all things considered. She had just looked at them both blankly, snorted and told them to knock themselves out. Not the blessing he'd hoped for, but he'd take what he could get.

Gildarts tuned back into the fight, rolling out of the way to avoid a kick to the shin from the little girl, who's mood was rapidly going downhill.

She let out a small sniffle as she picked herself up out of the dirt for the fifteenth or sixteenth time and he felt his heart break a little bit.

Giving her one free hit wouldn't hurt…

Now how to make it look realistic? Outright standing still would be suspicious, telling her he'd give her a free hit would probably make her upset he let her win (he'd learned his lesson from the checkers incident)- so if he was going to let her win he couldn't be obvious about it.

An 'accidental' trip?

That could work.

Gildarts carefully hid a grin as he purposefully skipped a step on his dodge, the upset in his balance leaving him staggering just as Cana reared back- wait was that-

The Ace barely had time for his eyes to widen as the little fist coated with extremely familiar magic nailed him right between the ribs.

BANG!

Every single jaw dropped straight to the ground.

Cana let out a yelp as the shockwave sent her tumbling ass over teakettle and a dust cloud blew out from where her father had previously been a moment before.

The tiny brunette looked up at the dust cloud in front of her.

"Daddy?" She asked dumbly, looking around at all the shocked people around the ring (was Grandpa crying?!).

Mommy had her hand up to her mouth and Cana couldn't read anything off her, so she turned back to where Daddy should have been.

Where was Daddy?

'If I let you hit me then I'll obviously be wounded- you don't want Daddy to get hurt do you?'

Cana felt a rise of complete terror- where was Daddy? Had she- did she-

The little girl felt tears bubble up in her eyes as she started to bawl.

"No wait don't cry!" A high-pitched voice yelled out desperately.

"We're fine Sweetie!" Another yelled.

And suddenly Cana was surrounded by a swarm of tiny Daddies all saying encouraging words and trying to make her laugh.

"You did magic sweetie!" One said proudly, wrapping its arms as far around her wrist as he could as a hug," Look at this! A chip off the old block!"

"And so powerful too!"

"She'll be knocking down buildings by Christmas!"

"Such a good girl!"

"We're so proud of you Cana!"

The brunette let out a small giggle as the swarm of Daddies did their best to cheer her up. Wait…

"I did magic?" She said in complete surprise.

"You did!" One of the miniature Daddies said proudly, and another bounced off him.

"Perfect crash magic down to the very last bit!"

"Since I did magic and I won that means I get to join Fairy Tail right?"

Everything went quiet- all the mini-Daddies stopped talking and everyone outside the ring went quiet. Cana turned to look at Grandpa who looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Are you okay Grandpa?" The little girl asked in concern.

The old man floundered for a moment before he let out a devastated squeak," …there's two of them…" He said, his skin going white and hair visibly falling out," Paperwork- property damage-"

Cornelia let out a loud laugh and whacked the guildmaster on the back," Of course it does Sweetheart." The woman said, grinning like the cat that got the canary," A deals a deal- Grandpa wouldn't think for a second of breaking his promise, right?"

Makarov let out a squeak like a dying mouse.

Everyone decided to take it as a 'I would never dream of it!'

The mother nodded," I thought so. Congratulations Cana- you are now officially the youngest member of Fairy Tail."

The little girl's face almost split from the smile," Really?"

"Really!"

"You hear that!" One of the tiny Daddies squealed," My baby is the best!"

"Best little girl!"

"So strong!"

"We're so proud of you Sweetie!"

Laxus finally got over his shock and cheered," I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!"

As if on cue the entire guild exploded into cheers, all proud to congratulate Cana Clive on defeating the Ace of Fairy Tail with a single punch.

And poor Makarov quietly continued to have his mental breakdown in the back, the thoughts of damage reports and lawsuits that would be flooding into his office in the near future made him wail and move up his retirement plans.

He'd barely survived Gildarts- and now he had to do it all over again?!

oOOOOo

Cornelia let out a loud laugh as she poked her no-longer-miniature husband in the stomach," Losing to our little girl Gildarts?" She said with a grin," My oh my, how the mighty have fallen."

"Conny!" He complained loudly.

Cana didn't get the teasing and cheered happily," I kicked your ass Daddy!"

Gildarts pouted but happily scooped his daughter up onto his lap," Yeah you did." He agreed easily, well aware he was never going to hear the end of this from anybody. "Guess that means you're the new Fairy Tail Ace, huh?"

"No, she is not!" A familiar voice snapped.

The family turned and Cana brightened.

"Hi Grandpa!" She greeted happily.

"Master." Cornelia said with a polite nod, trying not to laugh at the look on the old man's face as he walked over with the paperwork.

"A deals a deal." He said morosely, looking as though he was signing his own execution order. "By both displaying crash magic and defeating the current Ace, you are now officially a Fairy Tail wizard."

Cana let out a thrilled squeal as the old man passed the paperwork over to the parents," You two have to sign for consent… the council's going to have my head for this…" He muttered as the two signed the forms.

"Where would you like your guildmark Sweetheart?" Gildarts asked proudly as he set down the pen.

The eight-year-old grinned and lifted up her shirt to expose her lower belly," Right here!" She declared pointing to her left side.

Makarov nodded and pressed the stamp to his granddaughter's stomach and when he pulled it away, the Fairy Tail emblem was proudly displayed in black.

The old man finally smiled for the first time since the fight," Welcome to the guild Cana."

He was in for damage reports and lawsuits up to the ceiling, but there was nothing wrong with being proud of his granddaughter for pulling this off.

Besides, they were all going to milk this for all it was worth. The entire country was going to hear embellished stories of how Cana Clive one-shotted her father- he was fully intending to brag about it to everyone at the next guildmasters conference.

And he was also going to take this as a learning experience: he was never, ever agreeing to a bet like that ever again. Never.

He'd like to keep his remaining hair thank you very much!

AN: So what did you think? My usual quality control is still completely out of whack- for the longest time i couldnt even look at my stories without crying, but you have to keep going. God knows someone needs to be holding things together my mom is doing her best but its like shes sleepwalking. Going through the motions without really being there, you know? They were married for almost forty five years. Forty five years, and a double digit number of children. Honestly the thing that scares me the most is that I'm not sure if I'm ever going to get my mom back.

So, yeah thank you all for being patient with me, all I am doing right now is putting one foot in front of the other and trying to keep everyone above water. Its funny, at first the thought of trying to write made me cry, now its getting to a point where its amost a release. Because I love writing, i love all of you, and i loved my dad and im trying to inject a little bit of him into everyday.