Storyline: Continuation of 'Happy' - Part Two

"Natsu..." Lucy groaned as she let her head hang back over the couch as Natsu sighed and leaned on the door frame to the living room.

"Again?" he asked, and Lucy whimpered with a nod, resting a hand on her swollen stomach. Natsu chuckled good naturedly before walking over to her and helping her from the couch. She offered a tight smile before patting her belly.

"Not long now," she muttered, looking up to smile so brightly at Natsu it made his head spin.

It had been eight months since Lucy found out that she was pregnant and her needing the toilet every five minutes was something they had both gotten used to. He led her over to the bathroom to do her business and made his way back into the kitchen to fix himself up a coffee.

The guild was overjoyed to hear about his and Lucy's engagement, but they were beyond thrilled when they told them about the baby. Makarov actually burst into tears when he, without saying a word, slid a picture of the first scan of his and Lucy's child on the table before him. He swore his Gildarts teared up too.

They decided to leave the wedding till after the baby came. They were in no rush. Lucy wasn't too keen on having her wedding day either being sick, moody or fat, and they wanted to concentrate on the pregnancy till the birth of their baby boy.

"'Kay," Lucy said and she stumbled out of the bathroom, a hand on her bulging stomach. "M'done. He sure is needy."

"Like his mother," Natsu teased, and he poked her cheek. She swatted his hand away playfully.

"Shut up, you stupid pyro," she shot back. Natsu just shrugged and helped her sit back down on the couch to sit beside her. He laced his fingers behind his head and closed his eyes.

"Whatever, fatty."

He grunted as Lucy thumped him in the chest.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Lucy asked as Natsu rubbed his sore chest. She'd been on maternity leave from missions since her sixth month and Makarov suggested that Natsu be with her through the pregnancy, so he was by her side every step of the way.

"Anything you want. Or are capable of…" he said looking at her form, making her shake her head at him with a smile.

"Oh, be quiet. We could go for a walk. Oh, or maybe we could go visit Levy or Erza! Oh, or mayb-" She cut herself off to take a sharp intake of breath through her teeth, her hand flying to her stomach.

"Ah," she squeaked and sat up straighter to massage her stomach as Natsu leaned towards her, his eyes already narrowing.

"Are you okay? What's wrong? Is he okay? Are you? Is-"

"Natsu." She cut him off, relaxing for a second before her eyes widened. "Natsu, oh my god, Nats-"

"Lucy, calm down, what's going on?" he asked as he grabbed her hands. She looked up at him with very frightened eyes.

"M-my water just broke." She choked out, looking down on herself before looking back to Natsu's face.

Natsu's eyes widened until they couldn't widen anymore - He jumped up off the couch to run a hand through his hair, looking down at her distressed form at a loss of what to do.

"But you're only eight months along! The baby isn't ready yet!"

"Natsu, I don't think we really get a say in that matter!" Lucy snapped. "He's obviously coming now!"

He shook his head to himself. He swallowed his own fears to crouch down before her and take her face in his hands.

"Hey, hey," he muttered. Lucy's eyes lost some of their panic at the sound of his voice. She looked up to look into his green orbs, her own eyes softened when they met his. He smiled before running his thumb over her cheekbone.

"We're gonna meet our baby."

Lucy coughed to hide her cry. Her lips pulled up into a bright smile before her hand dropped down to her stomach.

"Jude, eh?" she muttered, looking down to her stomach. "Can't wait to meet him."

Natsu released a strained half laugh and he smiled at her. "Me too. Now, we need to get you to the hospital."

Lucy nodded and tried to pull herself from the couch when another contraction hit her, making her fall back into the couch in a huff.

"They're not -" she gasped. "That far apart, are they?"

Natsu shook his head before pulling her off the couch. He grabbed her favourite pillow off the couch, his keys and phone before guiding her to the door.

"You'll be fine sweetheart, we just need to get you to the hospital," he assured her as he locked the door behind him.

"Hey, did we miss it?"

Natsu's head snapped up when he heard Gray yelling. He watched him reel around the corner with Juvia to where Natsu was pacing in the hospital corridor just outside of Lucy's room. Natsu sighed with relief at the sight.

"No, you didn't miss anything, I just came out while the doctor inspected her to get some air…" Natsu stopped as they reached him, dropping his eyes to gaze at the floor in shock. "Stripper, I just can't believe this is happening now."

Gray chuckled before slapping his friend's shoulder, Natsu looked up to grin at him.

"Ready to be an uncle, Ice Freak?"

Gray barked a laugh.

"I was born ready, Flame Breath," he laughed before turning to nod towards Levy, who had arrived a while ago with Gajeel. "Your boy will have two baby cousins when the twins are born."

Natsu smirked before shaking his friend's shoulder.

"Alright man - Go wait for Erza and the rest, will ya? I need to get back to Lucy." Juvia gave him a quick hug.

"Good luck, Natsu-kun," she said sweetly before they both rounded the corner once more.

Lucy was leaning back heavily in the bed. Her pillows were stacked behind her, and she looked up to smile at Natsu when he walked back in to sit beside her, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Gray and Juvia made it here?" she asked, holding his hand as he nodded.

"How long did the doctors say?" he asked, Lucy was about to reply before another contraction hit. She only found the breath to reply afterwards.

"That's the thing," she managed when the pain ceased. "He's a month early but he wants to come out soon - I'm eight centre metres dilated, so not long now. The contractions are coming on fast too, and they're getting worse."

Natsu hummed sympathetically. His chest clenched when she groaned as another contraction hit her.

Another hour passed until Lucy finally dilated ten centre metres. It was a long hour of screams, hair pulling and the constant: "You did this to me," accusation till she finally got to push.

It was ultimately to most amazing and terrifying moment of Natsu's life. He stuck by her head at her request, but he preferred to be there for her in that moment anyways. His hand ached in hers and her screams would have hurt his ears if his blood hadn't been pounding so loud in them.

It took no longer than fifteen minutes, but it felt like hours till their child was born.

Lucy collapsed back into the bed and Natsu stroked her hair from her face before pressing a kiss to her temple.

"You did amazing," he whispered before looking up to see his son. The doctor's expression was troublesome as he looked down at the tiny baby in his hands. Natsu frowned and the breath caught in Lucy throat as the baby was whisked out of his hands and to the back of the room where a small oxygen mask was pressed to his face.

"W-what is it?" Lucy asked, sitting up despite Natsu's attempts to make her lay flat. "Why isn't he crying?"

The doctor continued to check her over before he looked up.

"Your baby is having trouble breathing since it was born so early - Our team is trying to get oxygen in their lungs to get their blood flowing and make them stable."

Natsu's breathe hitched as dread gnawed in his stomach though he kept his expression neutral for Lucy. Lucy nodded before casting a scared glance to Natsu, who opened his mouth to assure her when a loud, high-pitched cry cut through the air.

Natsu had never in his life felt relief such as that in his fucking life.

Lucy released a small cry as she looked over to the other side of the room where a kind looking nurse wrapped up their baby. She placed a small hat on his head to walk over to the couple.

"Are you ready to meet your daughter?"

Wait. Daughter?

Natsu released a small laugh of shock when the nurse tucked his new-born daughter into his arms. After being told at twenty weeks that they were having a boy, they had gotten very used to the idea of a son. The fact that he had a daughter was just – insane.

Lucy smiled as tears streamed down her face when she looked on her daughter face in her finance's arms. She was so tiny Natsu thought that just by stroking the pink tufts on her head might break her.

When the little girl opened her eyes Natsu and Lucy could fainted with the love they felt. It seemed she had also inherited Natsu's green eyes as well as his pale pink hair, but she had gained the almond shape of Lucy's eyes as well as her lips and nose. She was so perfect it was hard to believe that she came from them.

"A daughter," Lucy murmured as Natsu tucked her into her own arms. She laughed gently as the baby looked up at her in bewilderment.

"We didn't have any names for a girl," Natsu muttered back as he gazed at his daughter's face. A look of love Lucy had never seen before was present in his eyes that made her heart clench before she looked back down to her baby in her arms.

"Well, I chose Jude, and you were going to go with that," she whispered as she looked back up to her fiance's face. "So, you pick. Whatever you chose I'll love no matter what."

Natsu smiled up at her before looking back to the baby in her arms. Their baby.

"How about… Nashi." He said tentatively. Lucy smiled and her green eyes lit up. The name seemed to feel perfectly right for the piece of perfection in her arms.

"Nashi," she repeated, loving the sound of the name on her tongue. "Where did you hear that?"

Natsu shrugged before drawing up his hand to brush the tufts on his daughter's head.

"Mira came up with it," he told her. "She was kidding about mixing our names up, Lucy and Natsu, to make a girls name, but I always thought the name was beautiful."

Lucy grinned as a few more stray tears fell down her face. "It's perfect, Natsu. She's perfect."

Natsu chuckled as he rested his head on top of Lucy's. "Yeah, she is. Our little girl."

Lucy nodded before tilting her head up to press a small but sweet kiss to Natsu's lips before they both looked back down to their daughter's face as she fell asleep.