Summary: How Cana started drinking….

Pairings: Parental Gildarts/Cana, Cana/Lucy friendship, mentions of Alzack/Bisca, and general other family and friendship feels.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for giving me over FIFTY NINE HUNDRED REVIEWS! And the response to the last chapter was AMAZING. I'm glad you all enjoyed it despite the angst-y element of it all.

It was a quiet evening at Fairy Tail, where most were either away on a job or at home, or in Natsu's case, out cold on the floor because the moron just had to try and fight Gildarts the first moment he sees him.

Can and Gildarts were in the middle of some father/daughter bonding that consisted of drinking as many shots possible without throwing up.

And for some reason, Lucy got roped into playing with them. She had only managed three shots of whiskey before the world started to blur round her and she was starting to wish Natsu was awake and being his usual annoying self so she could have someone to catch her.

With a shake of her head, she tried to organise her thoughts and decided it was best to focus on something else. "Hey," her eyes landed on Cana, "out of curiosity, when did you first start drinking?" she asked.

"Oh I remember that tragic day!" Gildarts burst out melodramatically. "She was an innocent, beautiful, little princess and then those two," he scowled over at Macao and Wakaba who were writing rude things on Natsu's forehead (eh, serves him right. The amount of times everyone else woke up to find Natsu had drawn all over them….), "ruined her by giving her first drink when she was fourteen."

"Actually," Cana said, looking incredibly unimpressed with her father, "I was twelve, and it wasn't Macao and Wakaba who gave me my first drink…though they definitely enabled my addiction."

"What can we say?" Wakaba shrugged, "You were a cool drunk and we were the shittiest babysitters in Fiore."

"What?!" Gildarts cried out. Unbothered by the fact that Wakaba virtually admitted to child neglect….then again, Lucy could hardly judge their parenting skills. If it hadn't been for the portraits all over the house, she might not have remembered what her father looked like. "Who did then?" Gildarts' grabbed Cana's hand and held it tight to his chest. "Tell me Cana- Chan, what vile monster poisoned you with beer?!"

"I am so glad you asked it like that," Cana smirked, "it was….you."

"WHAT?!"

Cana had been watching her father from behind a pillar almost all day. So far he had to fight Natsu four times, and now the pink-haired moron was out cold, hopefully for the rest of the night, chat with Lisanna and admire all of her new adventures she had been on, compliment and talk to every single other child but her, and now he was drinking with Macao and Wakaba, though the two had slunk of home not that long ago.

Hesitatingly, she slowly approached him and tried to smile.

She trembled slightly as he turned his dark eyes on to her and something inside of her screamed for him to finally, finally, recognise her as his child and sweep her into his arms.

"Ah Cana-Chan!" he grinned. "Sit down, sit down, tell me," he herded Cana onto a bar stool next to him. "How have you been? Any boyfriends I need to beat up?"

Suddenly shy all over again, Cana flushed and shook her head rapidly.

"Good, good," Gildarts mumbled distractedly, "look at them," he said softly as he waved a hand at the out cold Natsu, Gray dozing on Erza's shoulder as she tried to eat her cake, the Strauss siblings quietly getting ready to go home, Levy slumped over the book she had been reading all afternoon, and Laxus sulking in a corner with his headphones on. "All quiet and well-behaved, I have no idea what Macao and Wakaba and the others meant when they said they were nightmares to take care of. They behaved for me."

Cana didn't know what to say. It hurt that even when it was just her and him, he still paid more attention to everyone else.

She twirled a curl that fell out of her ponytail and smothered a scowl as she realised Gildarts was staring down at her expectantly. "W-w-what are you drinking, Gildarts?" she stammered, deciding to change the subject.

"BEER!" Gildarts cheered happily. "There's nothing like a nice, cold, frosty beer on a Summer-y night like this."

"R-really?" Cana choked out. Say something, anything, something smart, something that can lead you to telling the truth, JUST SAY SOMETHING! She screamed inwardly to herself. "Can I try some?" she asked.

Damnit! Not that!

Gildarts stared at her with an assessing look and then finally he shrugged. "….Sure," he said as he reached over and poured out her own, smaller mug, "why not?"

This began a downward spiral. At first, she hated the taste, but she was so determined to make conversation, to have something in common with him, to be able to make that crucial connection so she could tell the truth, that she gulped it down and asked for more.

Three mugs later (and ten large ones for Gildarts), she suddenly felt bolder, braver, and more confident than she ever had. She breathed in deeply, this was it, after seven years she was finally going to tell him, she breathed out and smiled. "Gildarts," she said loudly, her nerves starting to get the better of her. "I am your daughter."

There was utter silence at this.

She frowned and nibbled her lips. "Gildarts?" she said quietly as she reached out and touched the man's arm. "Did you hear me? I said I am your daughter!"

"ZZzz…Zzzzz….Zzz…"

Gildarts suddenly slumped over the bar and snored away blissfully unaware of the horror and fury that welled up in his child.

Without thinking, Cana snatched up a bottle of something from the bar, yanked out the cork from the bottle, and guzzled it away.

The welcoming darkness it brought was well worth the headache the next day.

Lucy sat there in wide-eyed horror as she realised Cana practically admitted she was an alcoholic because of Gildarts. Gildarts also looked horrified as he stared down at his daughter who looked smugly, and bitterly, triumphant at getting one over him.

"Oh my God….." Gildarts said slowly, "I am a terrible father."

"Well, yeah," Cana rolled her eyes, "Don't worry Old Man, it was the best thing ever for me."

That didn't really comfort Gildarts…..

"Jeeze, Gildarts," Wakaba ribbed, "you're such a bad influence."

"Shockingly dreadful father," Macao agreed.

"The worst."

"Don't deserve to have a children."

"Oh I am sorry!" Gildarts burst out sarcastically. "But where exactly are your children?"

"Erm…."

Both Macao and Wakaba sweat-dropped as they tried to desperately remember the last time they saw their child.

(Meanwhile Romeo was snarling as he tried to burn the ropes that the cannibals had used to tie him and Wendy up while Charle flew to their rescue and within Magnolia, a small, mousy-haired girl was trying her first cigarette with a bunch of older teenagers as she considered getting a tattoo, just to see if her father would notice.)

"I think it's obvious," Lucy finally found her voice again, "that only Alzack would win father of the year around here."

"Yep," Cana agreed cheerfully, "he's a cutie like that. Bisca picked a good one. Let's all drink to Alzack and Bisca and get stark-raving drunk in their honour. We never did drink at their hen/stag night or their wedding, we should do that now."

She reached out for another bottle of whiskey when she was suddenly snatched away from it by Gildarts, who crushed her to his chest, as he sobbed pathetically. "Cana-Chan!" he wailed. "Daddy is so sorry for all the damage he has done to you! Daddy will make it up to you! Don't worry Daddy will fix you from this poison called alcohol!"

"GET OFF OF ME YOU LUNATIC!"