Chapter 12
"Daddy?" he woke suddenly groggily as he looked over at Layla who was standing there with Happy looking confused. He sat up and looked around "Sun's out. Didn't even notice I fell asleep" he thought as he brough his legs to the floor. Layla stood there in her night gown as Natsu motioned for her to come over. He brought her up onto his leg and rested his head on top of hers. "Morning baby girl. Did you just get up?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes. " yeah. I tried to go to mommy's room but didn't see her." "What do you mean Layla?" he asked getting his attention. "When I went in, she wasn't in there" she replied as he quickly with her in his arms darted out of the pool room and towards the front door and the window next to it. Moving the curtain, they looked out and saw Lucy's car gone. "Goddammnit Lucy" he muttered quietly as his hand turned into a fist. "Daddy?" she said nervously. Putting a hand behind her head, he brought it against his body. "Where the hell did you go Lucy?" he thought as he rubbed Layla's back comfortingly as he set her down a couple minutes later. "Baby, let's get you something to eat alright?" he said trying to stay calm as he could. "Daddy?" said Layla questionably as she saw his hands shake.
"Layla, just get your breakfast" he said through gritted teeth as she quickly went to the kitchen. Noticing he scared her, he let out a deep breath and went to help her remembering she couldn't reach the cupboards. Getting everything down for her, he poured her cereal and had her go sit down. "I'm sorry Layla, I didn't mean to scare you baby girl" he apologized. "Your worried about mommy?" "Yeah..just worried about mommy but it's not right for me to express it on you. Never let a guy or anyone else do that to you alright?" she nodded understanding. Grabbing his phone, he dialed Lucy and held it to his ear. "Come on, come on. Come on" he muttered as it went to voice mail. "DAMN IT!" he yelled making Layla jump. "Sorry sweetheart" Unlocking his phone again, he speed dialed Gray. "Hey Gray, I need you to come over, get the other two" Turning the corner so Layla was out of earshot "It's Lucy. She's gone. I'll tell you when you come over. Please come quickly" he said as he hung up. Turning around, he flashed a smile at Layla who smiled innocently and unaware of the events that had happened the night before. "Finish up your cereal baby girl , we're going to get you dressed." "Okay daddy" she replied as she took the last few mouthfuls and dumped her bowl into the sink as she went up with Natsu to get dressed. Brushing their teeth after they got dressed, they came back down.
Layla was wearing a pink shirt with glittered jeans and blue socks while Natsu put on a red t-shirt and dark blue jeans with black socks. They heard a knock at the door as Natsu said "come in you guys" the door opened as Gray and the other two came in. "Uncle Gray!" Layla exclaimed as she ran to him. "Hey munchkin" he greeted as she hugged him and then went to hug the other two. She giggled as she ran back over to Natsu. "So what's up Natsu?" Jellal asked. "Layla, why don't you go play baby girl?" said Natsu nicely as she said "okay" and walked over to her toys in the living room as the others huddled into the kitchen. "What's going on Natsu?, Gray didn't say much" "It's Lucy" he said serious as they all looked at him ready to do what they needed to. "She got drunk last night" "What?, I thought she didn't drink" said Erza. "She doesn't ..under normal circumstances but last night..I have never seen her this bad. Even after her parent's died. She never got to where she ran away from me to get beer" "I'm assuming you tried to call her already" said Gray as Natsu looked at him with a deadpan expression. " Sorry" he said . "Do you want us to find her?" asked Erza. "No, I can imagine what's she's going to be like, and I know in her right mind that she would never want you to see her like that. I'm taking Gray and going to find her." Said Natsu as Erza and Jellal gave him a look that they understood. "Hey baby girl" he said to Layla as she came back over. Giving her a hug, he said "I'm going out but behave for Erza and Jellal okay?" "Where are you going daddy?" "Just going to go out for a bit." "Okay daddy" she answered simply as she went back to her toys. "I love you" he said to her as he walked towards the door. "I love you too daddy." She answered with a smile as he chuckled as him and Gray walked out the door. "Where do you want to start?" Gray asked. "Let's just drive around town first, see if we can spot her car" he said quickly as Gray got into the driver's seat and started up the car.
They started driving around Magnolia as Natsu looked out the window for any sign of Lucy's car but found no sign of it. "Damn it Luce, where are you?" "Don't worry. We'll find her Natsu" assured Gray. He would never admit it but Natsu was terrified inside of what Lucy would be like when he found her. "I almost couldn't keep ahold of her last night, now she's had who the hell knows how many drinks in her. Fuck , why couldn't you just talk to me Lucy" he thought to himself. Pulling over, Gray in a serious voice said "we've looked around Magnolia, no luck. Do you want to keep going?" "Yes, I don't care how far we have to go. We aren't stopping until she's found" he answered as Gray nodded and went on past Magnolia. "Where the hell could she have gone? there are bars in Magnolia, but she didn't even go to one of them" said Gray.
"I have no..c..PULL OVER!" he screamed as Gray pulled over fast as the tires screeched as Natsu jumped out and ran as fast as he could to see a car crashed into a tree. Gray's eyes widened as he saw the car was Lucy's and It was a wreck. "LUCY!,LUCY! OH GOD, BABY!" he screamed frantic as he looked into the car but didn't see her. Putting his hands to his head, he paced back and fourth. "Where is she , where is she?!" "Natsu, you need to calm down, get ahold of yourself" said Gray calmly. Natsu looked at him as he tried to calm down. "Look, we know she isn't in the car." "But where the hell did she go?" Natsu said worried. "Here's what we will do. We are only a few miles away from Magnolia. We'll turn around and go look inside. Pretty sure we passed a bar on the way out." Natsu nodded his head agreeing letting out a deep breath.
"Natsu, you good man?" asked Gray concerned. "Yeah, I'm good. Let's just find her" he said quickly trying to cover up the shakiness in his voice which Gray caught but said nothing. "He's trying to focus on her without his fear getting in the way. If I say something, It'll break him" he thought wisely to himself as they got back into the car. It took only a few minutes before they got back into town and pulled into the bar. Natsu couldn't get out of the car fast enough as he scrambled out and ran for the door with Gray right behind him. They busted through the doors as they looked around. "Natsu!" Gray yelled pointing to the far corner as Natsu took off to where he pointed. Stopping dead center in front of her, he saw dried blood on her hand. "Lucy" he said quietly as she turned to look at them as they gasped. "Jesus Christ baby" he said moving her hair out of her face revealing a gash on the side of her head. He looked all the way down her body. He saw a few cuts and bruises but nothing severe minus the gash on her head. " She walked all the way over here with that injury" Gray thought as he watched Natsu look completely dumbfounded and lost. Taking a sip of her beer, she drunkenly said "wondering when you were going to find me." "Why didn't you call me?" Natsu said confused as she just shrugged her shoulders. Turning towards the bartender, he said "how many drinks has she had?" "I'd say she's had a span of five beers. She came in this morning." "Looking like that?" Gray yelled mad. The bartender nodded as Gray snapped "Fucking gash on her head and you still gave her a drink! Didn't you at least think to call someone or at least see that she was already drunk" "There's no phone in here and she wouldn't let us call anyone. Besides who are you? Since your so worried about her.
Pissed off but before Gray could say anything, Natsu cut him off "I'm her husband Natsu Dragneel. Leader of the magnolia mafia. This is Gray, my brother also with the mafia." Natsu said in a low voice. "and if you try to weasel out of the fact that you gave an injured already drunk woman more beer, I will knock you on your ass so fast, it will make your head spin " he finished aggressively as the bartender stepped far away from them. "Lucy, put down the beer." Natsu said flatly. "No" she replied. Gray grabbed it out of her hand and slid it down the bar as Lucy jumped him knocking him to the floor. "Lucy, what the fuck!" questioned Natsu as he reached down for her as she was yelling at Gray who held her hands away from his face. "He got you involved" she yelled at him but started screaming as he looked into her eyes which looked crazed. "Natsu, get her off man" "I'm trying stupid" he said as he yanked her off him. As she fought to get lose, Gray put a hand to her head. "What is it?" Natsu asked. "She's hot and her eyes are all over the place" "Yeah, time to go" stated Natsu as he carried a kicking and screaming Lucy. Gray put on the child locks on the car as he helped Natsu get Lucy into the car. Quickly they shut the door trapping her inside.
She yelled at them angrily pounding her fists on the window. "Jesus, what the hell has gotten into her" said Gray. "She's had way too much alcohol. Counting the stuff from last night and now today. She has never had that much ever. You said her head was hot? she's sick. Unfortunately, she's in too much of a crazed state to even see that. We need to take her to Wendy to heal up that wound…" "What else Natsu?" Gray asked raising an eye. "Put her in a room to sober her up" he said blunt as he said nothing else getting into the car. They were down the road when she yelled "Let me out!" but they said nothing. "AHHH" she screamed. "LUCY!" he boomed as he looked back at her pissed off. "Enough" he said cutting straight through to her as she shook from fear of his stern voice. His gaze didn't soften as he waited for her to listen. She opened her mouth when Natsu glared at her. "Don't say a fucking word. Not a single one" he said angrily. She shut it as she leaned back into her seat. Gray let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding as Natsu turned back around. "What was that?" asked Gray. Natsu stayed silent and Gray didn't push so they rode back in silence. Pulling into the back of the hospital, Natsu aggressively pulled Lucy's arm and yanked her out of the car. Gray opened the door as Lucy's eyes grew big. "What, what are we doing here!" she said scared as she tried pulling out of his grip but it was like stone and wouldn't budge. "Wendy!" Gray called out.
"I got your call, what's wrong" Natsu pulled a frantic Lucy out in front of him. "She's sick. Had too much alcohol and got into an accident. We need a room where you can look at her wound and to sober her up" he said coldly . "Oh my god" said Wendy shocked. Quickly, she had them follow her to a room with a bed with leather restraints on it. Seeing it Lucy mad a dive for the door but Natsu pushed her back hard as he threw her over his shoulder. She hit his back yelling "you bastard!, traitor, you said we were in this together!" she shrieked as he laid her on the bed where Gray quickly restrained her. "We are baby but not when your like this" he said feeling hurt. Seeing his face and hearing him, Gray put a hand on his shoulder. "We got this Natsu, go check on Layla. I'm sure she's worried" he said with compassion as Wendy nodded in agreement. Not arguing or protesting, he walked towards the door. As he stood in the doorway, he turned his head to the side looking at Lucy who had rage in her face. "I love you Lucy. Always will" his voice heartbroken as she screamed as he shut the door . He walked outside to call Erza.
"Gray, hold her arm down" ordered Wendy who tapped a syringe as Gray did what she said. Walking over, she injected Lucy's arm. "What are you giving her?" he asked. " A knockout drug. There's no way I can look at her injury with how she is right now" Wendy explained as she took the syringe out. "Why don't you guys understand! I just want the fucking pain to go away" she yelled. Disappointed Gray said "we do Lucy but this goes beyond just heartbreak. Your lucky you didn't die with how much is running through your system right now. What your putting Natsu" "Don't you dare say his name" "Your hurting him Lucy. He hasn't told you but you are." Seeing her eyes get drowsy, Gray went quiet as Lucy said "I'm hurting too.." she slurred as she went to sleep. Letting out a breath of relief, Gray stepped back letting Wendy take over as she started cleaning Lucy's head. "Did she say how she got this?" "No, we found her car in a wreck and her at the bar. Wasn't hard to put them together after that." Sighing, she said in a quiet voice " Is Natsu alright?" She looked up at Gray who shook his head no. She felt pity as she finished cleaning the blood off. "Looking at it now, it wasn't that deep so stiches won't be necessary. She just needs to keep it clean." "That's great. Thanks Wendy." "Absolutely" she replied . "The other wounds are minor so I don't need to do anything to them. Should I untie the restraints?" "No" he answered immediately. "She needs to sober up and keeping her here is the only way to do that" he explained. "She's still going to be out for a while" "That's fine. Let her rest and sleep some of it off" said Gray as they walked out of the room . "I'll come back and check on you guys later. I have to go back on the main floor" said Wendy. "No problem" replied Gray as he stepped outside seeing Natsu with a blank face.