The day passed like a blur and Erza was far from peaceful. It had only been the second day since his return and she was ready to raise her hand against him.

Erza began to hate herself with passion for raising her hand, but she was not wrong in being disappointed with his decisions.

She had to make sure that he knew he too, was in the wrong. Jellal and the children were supposed to be playing outside and it had been quite some time.

Erza went out in search of them and watched in horror as her husband had a massive sword against their son's throat while Azure was standing on the other side with a fearful expression.

"Think. What will you do in this case?", he asked his daughter while Cerulean was busy emptying a pudding container. It was only at that moment did Erza notice that Azure too, was holding a sharp stick to Jellal's copy's neck. Did he bring Siegrain out?

"I...I will stab him", she whimpered.

"Do you think i would care? I would betray him and kill your brother, or he would sacrifice himself to help me do the same. What will you do then?", he pressurised her and Azure burst into tears. Erza was ready to step in before Jellal erased his clone and bent down to Azure's level.

"Do you want to know the answer?", he asked and Azure launched herself onto his chest. Jellal's hand instinctively moved to cup the back of her head, but his hand stopped less than an inch away, and Erza saw his face crumple in disappointment. Azure nodded her head against his chest.

"Try to be as independent as possible. You'd never know when someone will turn out to be a liability. Learn it from someone with experience. Your mother will speak high and mighty about the importance of friendship, but when was the last time you saw her depending on someone in a fight? She knows it too, but refuses to admit it. Take it from someone who used to think the same way, and unless your life depends on it, don't bother trusting your back to someone else because in the end, the words 'I have got your back' applies only when that person is safe. To protect himself, he won't think twice to push you down", he explained and Cerulean stepped forward to thrust the half emptied pudding container to Azure's face.

"Pudding!", he squealed innocently and Azure instantly smiled on seeing him before turning her attention back towards Jellal.

"Lean will have my back, won't he?"

"That is up to the two of you to find out when you grow up", he smirked and got up. Cerulean started to pester Azure about some slug he saw on a tree and the girl followed her little brother.

When the two of them were at a good distance, Erza approached her husband who had his back facing her.

"Jellal, we need to talk", she stated and prepared herself for a fight, but Jellal faced her and sighed.

"Do you want me to leave and stay away from the children?", he asked her with a straight face. This time, Erza could not hold herself back. She stepped forward and slapped him with all of her might. Jellal staggered back and Erza saw the imprint of her hand on his left cheek with a big cut on his bottom lip.

"Satisfied?"

"LISTEN TO ME!", she roared.

"Why do I have to?", he snapped back as he rubbed the blood away.

"Are you just going to assume that I would be asking you to leave? How can you blindly assume that without even giving me the chance to explai-", she ranted but stopped in the middle. This was similar...way too similar.

Jellal smirked and adjusted his overcoat as he walked past her.

"Erza, I believe we could use some time apart", he stated and Erza put two and two together. This had happened on that day with the roles reversed. It would be unfair to call the misunderstanding as a trivial one as their marriage was on the line, but its impact paled in comparison to the one two years back. She stared at her own hand with a concoction of guilt and disgust before slapping herself almost twice as hard as she slapped him, cursing herself as she destroyed whatever minimal progress they had had in their currently rocky relationship.

His last sentence was a complete blur to Erza. What did he mean by time apart? Did he want a divorce? Did he finally decide that he'd had enough putting up with her bullshit?

Erza still could not process what had happened and dropped to her knees as she saw Jellal's retreating form. She feared that this time, he was not lying and truly wanted to separate.

It had not been an entire day, but she had already broken her promise to treasure him.

That Night

Erza was spending her time in the best way to vent her anger out - by training. The training grounds were strewn with hacked dummies, burn marks, freeze marks and marks of heavy weapons.

For the past two hours, she had been trying to clear her mind and no matter how she started, it always ended back to their last conversation.

Requipping out of her armour and into a sports bra and track pants with wrist wraps, Erza started to vent her anger out by shadowboxing.

Another hour passed and Erza dropped down to the floor, temporarily giving up on mental peace. The floor was slick with her sweat and before she knew it, it was the dead of night.

The children instantly went to bed after dinner. Azure could read the room and managed to convince Cerulean to follow suit. It helped that her daughter had inherited her husband's intellect.

Husband

That single word destroyed whatever remained of her peace. Speaking of peace, ever since she started the day's training, she could feel a strong aura a good distance away from their house. Fearing the safety of her family, Erza walked towards the source and to her surprise, it was Jellal.

The man was breathing loudly with a sword in his hand. Secretly observing him, she waited to see his swordplay - something she truly admired. He was in a strong stance and his eyes were closed.

It appeared that he too had been training the entire time, based on the various sword marks on the trunks of the trees, and the fact that sweat was literally dripping from his body.

He was in the stance for at least five minutes and Erza frowned on seeing his hands trembling. For a split second, his wrists calmed down and Jellal's eyes shot up. He stepped forward and set out a massive swing towards a tree that almost instantly cut the trunk in half, and at least the next ten trees faced the aftershocks of the single stroke of the sword, along with the rest of the trees in his radius.

"You should try to hide yourself better if you plan to spy on someone, Erza. Trying to spy on someone while being overly sweaty is an amateur mistake", he sighed as he flung the overcoat over his shoulders and walked towards her.

She tried to look at his eyes and apologise, but she was totally unable to do so. The moment their eyes met, she was forced to avoid his face.

"J...J..."

"I am sorry, Erza", he whispered and Erza shot up. Why was he apologising?

"Perhaps...Perhaps I was still spiteful, but I know that it does not give me the right to do that. I should not have attempted to take my own life. I did not consider the plight of our children and blindly assumed that you would never allow me to meet them. I apologise for being judgemental", he continued and Erza could trace out some disappointment in his eyes. Even if he were at fault, if seen chronologically, yet again it traced back to her.

"And I'm so sorry for slapping you", she whispered and Jellal lifted her chin with his thumb and index finger before tilting her face to the side.

"You did not have to do that to yourself", he whispered as he absentmindedly caressed her cheek with his thumb.

That soft touch...how long had it been since she felt that hand against her cheek? Erza instantly leaned in to his finger before he realised what he was doing.

"Jellal..."

"Yes?"

"Forgive me this one time", she whispered and before he could ask her, she rushed forward and slammed herself onto his chest. She hugged him tightly for a solid minute, pouring her emotions out and finally let go.

"Do you want to spar?", she asked him while playing with his chest. Jellal grabbed her shoulders and instantly pushed her away, taking a fighting stance.

"With or without magic?", he asked with a small smirk on his face and Erza took a serious stance with no trace of smile on her face.

"No magic, obviously"

Jellal tossed his sword and overcoat to the side before charging at Erza. Erza got ready to dodge a big swing with a sidestep, but to her surprise, he faked it with a weak jab, and turned his outstretched hand to cup the back of her head.

Moving away, he pushed her towards a tree. Erza stretched her hand and placed it on the tree, and returned with a kick aimed at his stomach.

Jellal instantly caught her ankle with his hand, and pulled her close. Using him as a pivot, Erza jumped and aimed her other leg at his cheek. To her surprise, he caught her other leg as well anf slammed her onto the ground with a good amount of strength.

Shaking away the concussion, Erza spun behind him and kicked his shins, forcing him to drop down to his knees, and without giving him a moment to recover, she punched his shoulder to move his centre of mass and throw him off balance before landing another hit. When he shifted to his left side, she roundhouse kicked him in the face, but to her surprise, he caught her leg and pulled her down. The two of them simultaneously punched each other in cheek and were sent skidding across the floor while maintaining eye contact.

"Looks...looks like I was a fool for holding back against you", she smiled at her husband who took up another stance.

"My thoughts exactly"

One Hour Later

Both of them lied on the ground, heaving and completely out of breath.

"It is my loss after all. You have become so strong, Jellal", Erza smiled as she stared at the night sky, while covered in soft bruises. Leaning against a tree, Jellal sighed and removed his ponytail, setting his shoulder length hair free. Erza gazed in awe at his perfectly maintained hair. It was a little less unkempt compared to the day he came out of jail, but was still rather rough and gave out a vampirish or beast-like outlook, that strangely managed to suit her better half.

"It's not like I am unscathed. I could not afford to drop my guard for a second, and all the hits you landed on me were because of me underestimating you. I still have lots to work and reflect on", he replied and Erza got up to look at him. She crawled forward and tucked a few strands of hair behind his ear. Jellal started to mutter something in his breath and a warm light encompassed the two of them and their wounds began to heal slowly. Jellal did have an affinity for almost all sorts of magic. Erza was no longer surprised by a new addition to the list, and returned her attention to his hair.

"I was right after all. Long hair really does suit you", she whispered.

"Can I sit on your lap, dear?", she asked and Jellal looked down and avoided answering. With a soft smile on her face, Erza wrapped an arm around his neck and sat on his lap with her other hand tracing the various scars adorning his chest. Both of them were blushing profusely, and Erza could see Jellal's mixed feelings. But she chose to ride on the belief that he did not want to push her away.

Erza smiled yet again on seeing how hard he was trying to ignore her. Jellal after all, could never handle it when her skin glistened with sweat. The feeling was definitely mutual and it took all of Erza's willpower not to run her tongue down his exposed neck and chest.

"Jellal, can I...", she asked as she brushed her lips against his. Jellal's warm blueberry and cinnamon flavoured breath weakened her yet again. Jellal on the other hand, was losing it. Bathed in sweat, her supple skin seemed to shine in the moonlight. The atomic blush on her face, the sweet smell of her sweat mixed with her strawberry perfume started to drive him crazy.

Erza gently pressed her lips against his and he suddenly turned to the side and began to hyperventilate. His aura had suddenly changed and there was a mixture of anger, rage and fear on his face.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?", he smiled. It was obvious that he was angry, but he was also hiding something which she could not decode.

Erza on the other hand, sighed in relief. She had totally lost control of herself. She was thankful for the interruption, otherwise she would never have been able to look at his face again. She wanted to make it up to him from scratch and not seduce him.

Jellal slowly shifted to the side and Erza got up from his lap. Erza frowned on seeing his face but chose to ignore it at the moment. He was afraid to trust her, and that was a bit of truth she had to believe in.

She offered him her hand and he took it while avoiding her eyes. Erza cupped his cheek and forced him to look at her.

"Baby steps, dear", she whispered and Jellal nodded, as he put some distance between the two of them.

"Yeah...baby steps"

To Be Continued...