S.R: So I wanted to wait a few days and see what you guys were saying about how the guild would react before sharing this one… But I got impatient. So this one is coming out early.


Cana walked into the guild drawing a lot of attention, but her appearance wasn't enough to make everyone stop talking entirely. Not at first at least. So while she waited for it to quiet down so she could be heard calling for their attention, she glanced around. Wendy was sitting at a table just to her left, happily drinking some juice with Carla sitting across from her. Gajeel strangely was sitting beside the white exceed, rather than in his usual corner but Cana chose not to make a big deal about it. Erza and Gray were at a table close to the bar while Lucy was leaning on the bar counter talking to Mira. Her normal drinking buddies Wakaba and Macao were sitting at a table right next to the bar and they both called for her to join them but she shook her head. The next person she noticed was the master. He was just sitting on the bar counter, but when he noticed her looking he gave a comforting smile and nodded.

Coughing into her hand she called for everyone's attention.

"Ahem. I've got an announcement to make!"

the chatter died down a bit but a few people were still talking away which irritated her.

"I said I've got an announcement to make!"

When she yelled this time the room became silent. Nodding in satisfaction she smiled softly.

"Okay. So you guys all know that I haven't been to the guild in a while. I do have a reason and I want to share it with you all but I need to mention a few things before that..."

No one spoke up though she could see several people were waiting for her to go on.

"First, yes it's true that I haven't been to the guild since taking a job with Natsu. But it's not for any reason you guys might think, so don't go jumping down his throat" She said, before turning to face Erza, her words locking the red head in place as she was raising up from her seat to find the pink haired man. Satisfied that for the moment her partner in this situation was safe she continued. "Technically I was staying away because of something that happened on the job. But what you all need to know is that Natsu's reason for being away as well was a lie. Well the fact that he needed to expand his house isn't but the reason he gave behind needing to do that was a lie."

Gray and Elfman both muttered about how they were going to kick his ass for lying to them, but other than that it was still silent as people waited for her to get to the point.

"We agreed on something and both of us needed to be here to announce it, so I stayed away until he was able to come to the guild hall again. That is the real reason I haven't been here… Now I know some of you are curious, but I need you to stay as calm and quiet as possible when I bring Natsu in."

Even though only a few people were genuinely curious about what the big deal was she made everyone in the guild promise to stay calm and not get loud. When she was satisfied she walked out of the guild and over to the bench.

"I've got them quiet and calm. Hopefully this won't shock them too much though. I'd hate for them to get loud or rowdy and scare Michiko."

"Yeah, that would suck. Though if it does happen you can trust me to handle it. Heck I might even have some help in dealing with it."

Natsu replied as he stood, his words confusing Cana. But she didn't ask because they needed to show Michiko to the guild already. When they walked in with the baby in Natsu's arms it was so silent that a pin hitting the floor would sound as loud as a gunshot.

"Hey guys."

Natsu said nonchalantly. Cana had to suppress the urge to face palm at his attempt to break the ice. But it worked. Several of the women whisper squealed about how cute the baby looked even though they couldn't really see her. They were the ones smart enough to recall their promise to stay quite and calm. Several people raised their voices a bit, but they were drowned out by one person in particular.

"What the fuck flame-brain?!"

Gray shouted. But he was instantly shushed by a growl from Natsu.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't swear."

"I second that actually. Now then for those of you that are curious, we had some unusual circumstances at the end of our job that lead us to adopting this little one."

Cana commented with a smile on her face as she gestured for Natsu to hold Michiko up a bit so everyone could see her. Lucy and some of the older members of the guild shifted uneasily at the idea Cana had just presented, the duo in front of them weren't really known for being responsible. However Erza Re-equipped a sword and pointed it towards Natsu threateningly before they could even try to get more details about things from the two.

"I have nothing against either of you. But neither of you are responsible enough to be parents. Hand her over so she can be taken to an orphanage or to find a foster family."

Michiko was getting a little antsy and scared at the tone of Erza's voice. She wasn't outright crying, but Natsu, Cana, and the adults that had experience raising children could all tell she was distressed, clinging even tighter to Natsu than she had when they walked in. Natsu was growling towards Erza since his instincts were screaming to protect the little girl in his arms.

Most of the guild looked on expecting the master to back Erza, and force the two to let someone else take care of the baby. Yet he was quiet and said nothing as Erza confronted the two. Natsu and Cana had already figured that he wasn't going to intervene until he had too. They were still proving themselves to be capable of raising the little girl after all. But the one thing most of the guild wasn't expecting to see in regards to Erza's demand was that Cana moved stand in front of the pink haired man with her arms out.

"Back off Erza. You don't know the entire situation yet."

Almost everyone was shocked to see Cana standing up to Erza, it was the first time they'd seen her standing so confidently in anything other than drinking contests. But they were absolutely stunned when Wendy and Gajeel stood up and got between the two, staring Erza down. The first part of his comment was directed towards Cana, but the rest of it was towards Erza and the guild in general.

"Unless Salamander mentioned it, I don't think you know the whole thing either. Suffice to say if he's dead set on raising that little girl you'd have to go through the girlie and I to even get to him. That means killing us. You manage that and still want to separate the two? The one of you will die. Period."

Gajeel spoke gruffly, as Wendy nodded beside him. The look in the blue haired girls eyes telling everyone it was a pretty serious situation. Then again the fact that the two of them were already on guard, and very tense was the only clue they needed to see just how serious it was.

"Surely you don't believe they can handle being parents?!"

Erza nearly shouted in outrage at being disobeyed. Several people nodded their heads at that. Cana was the guild drunk after all, and Natsu was… Well Natsu wasn't parent material in their eyes. At this point Michiko was getting really uneasy, whimpering and clinging to Natsu with a vice grip. Since he had told Cana to leave it to him if things went south Natsu gently handed the baby girl over to Cana, though he struggled to get out of her grip without hurting the little one. Once he was out of her reach Natsu smoothly cut between Wendy and Gajeel to stand before Erza with a defiant glare.

"For once in your life Erza, shut up and pay attention to what you're told. I'd hate to see you get killed for not understanding what's going on right now."

Since they knew Natsu was stubborn, everyone had expected him to stand up to Erza, but they weren't expecting the cold tone. Natsu had spoken so harshly, that they were worried he would attack Erza anyway. Lucy was staring at him as if he'd grown another head. Normally Erza scared the snot out of him, and yet he was not only disobeying her, he had basically threatened her as well.

At that point, Makarov cut in. His final test in making sure the two were completely ready to be parents was to see how they handled themselves if the guild disagreed. They passed, and so he stepped in before things escalated too far.

"Enough! Stand down Erza. They've been doing just fine for almost two weeks now."

"You knew about this master!?"

She screeched, which caused the Dragon Slayers to cover their ears in pain. Michiko whimpered a little louder at the sound, which caused Cana to shoot the red head a glare before she went back to comforting the baby in her arms.

"Of course I did! This is a serious matter after all. Ever since they came back to Magnolia I've been testing them to see if they could handle the responsibility. Though I find myself disappointed you don't have faith in them, especially given Natsu is one of your teammates."

Looking around the room Erza noticed a few people agreed with her but were letting her be the one to speak for them, she also noticed that the moment the master spoke up they all were cowed into submission. Since she wasn't going to have anyone backing her she sighed in frustration while lowering her sword.

"I don't like it."

She commented. A few people nodded their heads slightly but didn't speak up, unwilling to risk making things escalate again, because of just how dangerous the group involved was. If any of them fought seriously it would destroy the guild hall at the very least.

"Too bad. It's happening anyway."

Natsu growled, with an agreeing nod coming from Cana. Wendy and Gajeel were still standing behind Natsu, both ready to fight if they had to. Levy of course was curious as to why they jumped to Natsu's aid so fast.

"Okay, putting the matter of everyones thoughts on Natsu and Cana raising a baby aside for the moment…. Why did you two get involved?"

The blue haired woman said as she pointed to the Wind and Iron Dragon Slayers. Natsu ignored her in favor of standing by Cana and making sure Michiko wasn't still scared.

"I can't believe I have to admit it, especially out loud… Salamander is the strongest of us. That means he's the alpha of our pack. We've said it time and time again, we Dragon Slayers are different. As in we are half dragon. Which means we have the same instincts as a dragon."

Gajeel answered, though he made sure he was being loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Gajeel's right. Since we have the same instincts as a dragon, we'll act and behave the same way they would in this situation. Natsu's bonded with her, so we'll protect both of them. The alpha is always the last line of defense in this case."

Wendy continued for the black haired man. A few people were still confused, so Gajeel grunted out a simpler answer.

"She's Salamanders kid, plain and simple. The alpha is always the last line of protection for the hatchlings of a nest. He's our alpha. So if someone wants to get to the kid, they have to go through us to be able to get to him, to get to the girl."

"No, we understood that. We just don't see how that ties in with why you were so harsh towards Erza."

Mira commented her attention not even on the two Dragon Slayers, as she had a smile on her face while she watched Natsu and Cana interact with the baby. Macao and Makarov were the only two in the guild with even a slight clue as to why. After all they were the only ones in the guild that were parents.

"Titania scared the runt. In dragon culture that's perceived as a threat. When you threaten a dragons young the situation instantly becomes kill or be killed, no matter who you are. A dragon would do anything to protect not just their child but the child of any dragon in their nest."

"That's right. It doesn't matter if you are another member of the pack, it would still become kill or be killed. Even if it meant killing our best friend we would do it to protect the young ones of the nest... It was very hard to hold back and not instantly attack Erza because she didn't know."

Wendy echoed, her words drawing frowns from most of the guild, stunned that the young and innocent Wendy could mean what she had said. But they didn't realize that her age and personality didn't matter, she was still a Dragon Slayer and had the same instincts as the other two Dragon Slayers in the guild. Gajeel didn't say anything but they could see he agreed about it being hard to hold back and not fight Erza.

Since they were sure they'd satisfied everyone with their answers the two returned to their seats, but they kept an eye on Natsu and were still tense, ready to jump in front of him at even the slightest threat. Because the diversion was over the guild turned their attention back towards the two that started the whole mess.

Cana had let Natsu take the little girl, hoping his natural warmth could comfort her as she was still sniffling slightly from the fear she had at Erza's actions. But everyone noticed the vice grip the little girl had on Cana's fingers, even as she clung to the pink haired man that was holding her. Makarov smiled, as he now had something to capitalize on in defense of the two raising the little girl. After all he fully supported them even before he'd decided to test them on their resolve to be Michiko's parents. The tests were really just to prepare them to stand up to the guild should someone not agree with the idea of them raising the baby girl.

"When Cana said you didn't know the full situation Erza this is what she was talking about. The little one's mother died after begging Cana to get her child to safety. But when they finished the job, she was clinging to the two of them, completely unwilling to be handed over to anyone else, even the people that helped take care of her while her mother was alive."

Every member of guild looked down at that, sad to hear that the little one was orphaned. Even Gajeel, though he was only paying attention in the hopes of find out as much as he could about why his alpha seemed different.

"Still. Do you honestly think those two can be her parents? I mean Natsu tends to be brash and reckless to the extreme. Not to mention he gets distracted fairly easily. Plus you talk about Igneel around him and he gets tunnel vision. Cana is at least far more responsible in those aspects, but she also spends a lot of her time drinking. Even if it doesn't affect her, the image it presents isn't the greatest either."

Erza tried to argue, though even she was unsure why she was so against it. Makarov just sighed as he realized she was going to be stubborn about it.

"Erza listen to me. No one is perfect, and rarely if ever are people ready to be parents. You always, and I do mean always, learn as you go when it comes to parenting."

"But what about the points I offered? You can't argue against them can you?"

"Actually yes I can. In case you've forgotten Cana used to drink so much you didn't need to be a Dragon Slayer to smell the booze on her even from across the guild… But the scent of alcohol isn't even close to being that strong on her anymore, so at least she's making the effort to be a responsible parent. As for Natsu, why don't you ask Gray and Elfman about how he was when they helped him expand his home?"

Most of the guild realized it after he mentioned it, but Cana definitely didn't reek of booze anymore. When he mentioned that Gray and Elfman helped Natsu with working on his house, they all turned to the two.

"What are you looking us for? He was still the same old Flame-brain we all know."

"Gray, did he attempt to fight either of you at any point while you were working?"

The master asked after Gray spoke out idiotically.

"Nope. He even stopped me from hitting Elfman when he got annoying. Natsu just kept saying he didn't want to take forever to finish the job, or risk a fight starting and destroying his place."

Everyone that didn't already know that fact gasped. Natsu didn't try to fight Gray or Elfman at all? If this had been mentioned before he walked into the guild holding a child, they'd have thought he was sick. But at least in the case of Wakaba and Macao they were able to realize just how serious Natsu was with the entire thing. Though they were still uncertain if Natsu was father material.

Before anyone could say anything about the masters counter points to Erza's argument a giggled echoed from the little girl in Natsu's arms. He had finally succeeded in cheering her up, and just the adorable sound she made was enough to make everyone in the building smile. Natsu was making silly faces for her as she excitedly giggled and reached for his face. Both had sparkling eyes, as their mirth in each others company was evident.

But then Mira realized something. If Natsu wasn't building the extra room for Happy, and he had agreed to raise the little girl with Cana…. She squealed so loudly that Natsu nearly dropped the baby. Luckily Cana was fast enough to make sure their little girl didn't get hurt.

"What the heck was that about Mira?"

Natsu asked with a groan.

"Natsu you built the new room at your house for Cana and the baby didn't you?!"

Her words made light bulbs go off in everyones head as they connected the dots like she did. Erza looked flabbergasted at the idea of Natsu actually thinking about that. Gray was confused as to why Natsu would do that and why it mattered so much to Mira. Wakaba and Macao did spit takes with their drinks. Levy squealed as well, having had the same idea Mira did when she realized it. Wendy looked towards Mira in confusion about why she seemed so happy all of a sudden. Gajeel grumbled that the barmaid was nothing but trouble. Lucy also caught on to what the barmaid was thinking but she shook her head about it since Natsu was a bit too dense.

"We agreed that we were in this together, so I figured why not make it easier."

Natsu responded not knowing what Mira was getting at. Cana did know however and she blushed, unsure of how she felt about Mira's idea. Luckily she was saved from having to endure Mira's prodding. Michiko was getting hungry and it was being made obvious as she started sucking on Cana's finger having not let go of it even though she was no longer clinging to her and Natsu for comfort after Erza's outburst.

"Looks like she's hungry."

Natsu commented with a chuckle. Cana also laughed about it.

"She normally naps after her lunch, so we weren't really planning to stay at the guild this long."

Cana said as the two made their way to the door, intending to take their little one home. No one stopped them as they left. It wasn't until they weren't in sight of the guild hall before anyone spoke up.

"WE COMPLETELY FORGOT TO ASK HER NAME!"

Mira shouted, upset at forgetting such an obvious thing. But the guild master just chuckled.

"Settle down Mira. I can answer that question. Her mother passed away before telling Cana her name so they gave her a new one. Their little girl is Michiko Alberona Dragneel."

Levy being the book smart girl she was, jumped up excitedly at that. She knew about the dead language it was from, and what it means.

"Do you know which one of them came up with that name?"

"Settle down there bookworm. I'm almost positive it was the Salamander that thought of that one."

Gajeel commented with a soft smile on his face as he looked at her. But it quickly vanished before anyone really noticed it.

"Flame-brain? Yeah right he's a dumb-ass."

Gray muttered as he took a swig from his drink. He had decided not to make a big deal about Natsu becoming a parent. He and Natsu were rivals yes, but they were also best friends. Erza was just the only one that knew it. Though that didn't mean the rest of the guild hadn't realized the communicated better through their fists than with words. But because of the fact he was Natsu's best friend he was the only person in the guild that knew just how much Natsu wanted to eventually have a huge family of his own.

Besides, Natsu and Cana had the guild to fall back on and help them fix their mistakes with raising the little girl. So he was pretty happy for them. Though that didn't stop him from teasing the pink haired man even when he wasn't there to defend himself.

"Actually Gajeel's right. Levy you should also know why since you also know what the name Michiko means."

Makarov spoke up. Gajeel just grunted, he and Natsu were raised the same way with the same teachings after all. So if he knew about the dead language then of course Natsu would. Gajeel just happened to pay attention to more than what his adoptive father had taught him. Which was why he would be considered smarter than the Salamander.

"It's from a long forgotten language. The same one as Natsu's name for that matter."

Levy offered for those that were curious. After being prodded by Mira and Lucy, she explained. Natsu was a name that meant 'summer' in that language and Michiko was one of the many names that meant 'beautiful'.

"Natsu seems to be smarter than we all give him credit for."

Lucy commented, getting nods of agreement from most of the guild after the little lesson they'd gotten from Levy.

"He was raised by a dragon after all. Natsu probably knows more old and forgotten knowledge than I do at least. Maybe more than Levy does, but given how much she likes to learn I'm not sure."

Makarov reminded her.

"Master, I know Cana said that they were going home to feed her and then put her down for a nap, but do you think they'd let a few guests come see her?"

Mira asked, already making plans to visit Natsu's home. Surprisingly Wendy was the one that answered her.

"I don't know about Cana but I know Natsu wouldn't mind. Except for Erza. She's really got him on edge now."

"The girlie's right. Titania ain't welcome around there right now. Hell I'm still a bit on guard myself right now."

Gajeel mentioned as he glared towards her. Erza frowned though she understood that she'd really upset them. That didn't stop her from asking what had been on her mind since Wendy and Gajeel explained why they were ready to fight with all they had to protect Natsu and Michiko.

"You guys weren't serious earlier when you said to take her away from Natsu I'd have to kill him were you?"

"Titania you'd have to kill all three of us Dragon Slayers to do that. But no we were not kidding. It's instinctive in all dragons and Dragon Slayers to protect the young like that. Actually it's instinctive to protect any and all young ones, not just those from our pack. You ever want to see what a Dragon Slayer can do when we aren't holding back at all? Watch how viciously we protect children."


S.R: Yeah… Erza's in trouble with Natsu. Which is strange since she's one of my favorite Fairy Tail characters. I never thought I'd write something that has Natsu upset with her. But well it was either her or Lucy. At this point I think I've made it clear in my other stories how little regard I have for the blonde. Plus she doesn't really have the power to stand up to Natsu like Erza does. Oh, before I forget, I answered this in a PM, but this takes place before the Edolas arc.