Greetings, y'all! It's been a while but with work and life being annoying it's been a bit difficult to write.
I'm not giving up on Lost Fairy. It's just on hold until I can rewrite it.
This is unrelated to the other two and just a one shot. Nothing special, I just thought it would be cute. I hope y'all enjoy it. Please review and let me know any mistakes or if you think there's something I could've done better.
Natsu woke next to his wife and daughter feeling utterly content. He decided to continue to enjoy their presence and avoid his next mission for a while longer. He nestled closer to them, nuzzling Lucy's hair, breathing deeply, and moving a hand to their infant's stomach as she lay between them, feeling her heart beat.
Natsu knew he couldn't doze much longer; he had a family to provide for and he'd be damned if he let them down. Lucy couldn't work for several more months, not with a newborn needing her. This was just so perfect, he never wanted to get up.
Lucy woke to her favorite person snuggled around her, sighing dreamily in his sleep. She took note of their position. Facing each other, the crown of her head tucked under his chin, the baby in between them, he had a hand placed gently on her stomach securing her. Lucy smiled to herself thinking how perfect this was and how she never wanted it to end. But alas, today was not going to wait and she might as well get it over with; this was really going to suck.
She climbed over the dragon slayer as she'd done the night before, then gently lifted the baby girl away from him. She and the baby took a shower, then got dressed for the day. As she walked towards the kitchen, she noticed Natsu was fighting waking up; it wouldn't be long now. She placed the baby in the little chair she'd bought and started cooking.
Natsu tossed and turned, refusing to wake up. He'd had the best dream of his life; it had been so real! But the sun had other plans, and the fire mage grudgingly opened his eyes and glared at the sun as it glinted off the snow on the sill. Asshole, he thought bitterly.
For some reason, he was eternally blessed that Lucy had decided to let him sleep rather than waking him, quite rudely if he was being honest, and she was making breakfast. He was not about to show her his foul mood so he plastered on a smile, not a fake one but less jovial than normal, and walked into the kitchen.
Lucy stood at the stove, singing softly. It was something she only did with him and only when she thought he couldn't hear her. As much as he wanted her to just let him listen to her, it did make him feel special that she only did it around him. She wouldn't sing if even Happy was around, only Natsu.
She turned to take a plate to the small table, finally noticing him. She was shocked to silence and wide eyed for a moment before smiling gently at him in greeting, eyes lighting up his world in a way the sun never could, and made her way to the table. She's in a good mood this morning, I wonder what's going on, he thought as he tilted his head in curiosity.
She turned away from the table and greeted him again, "Good morning, Natsu. How did you sleep?"
"Great," he replied, leaning on the door frame. "Had a really great dream I didn't want to wake up from."
She smiled again, "That's nice. Breakfast?" She gestured to the table a little nervously. He smiled and nodded, curious as to why she was nervous. She'd come home late, sure, but that wasn't a reason to be nervous. Ah, that's why she let me sleep, she's trying to make up for coming home late, he rationalized.
He would normally tease her a bit, but as she was being sweet at the moment so he'd lay off, for now. That and his dream was still messing with his head. He supposed he could pretend a bit longer.
Suddenly, a little noise from the other side of the room caught his and Lucy's attention. Lucy immediately turned and walked towards the noise, stooping to pick the maker of said noise up, to begin shushing it like any mother would of a newborn. There was just one problem... Lucy doesn't have a baby, he thought in slight alarm.
His mind went into overdrive trying to think why she would have an infant. She'd just gotten back from her solo mission two days late the night before, he'd already been asleep when she'd gotten there.
She couldn't have been babysitting for anyone they knew. This infant was completely new. Not only to him but to the world, she was only four days old at best. Lucy certainly hadn't been pregnant, nor had she ever done anything that would get her pregnant, because, yes, he could smell that. She didn't smell like Lucy other than being in Lucy's possession... for at least four days... what's going on here?
Lucy turned with the infant in her arms, catching the bewildered look Natsu was giving her. Well, it's time, she thought sadly.
He saw the sadness in her eyes as she looked at him. He hated that look, even more when it was directed his way. "What's wrong," he asked, sobering up from his confusion, knowing she would explain the mystery baby soon enough.
"Just worried," she said glancing down at the tiny bundle in her arms then back to him like he was what she was worried about. That thought was enough to panic him. Lucy should never be fearful of him.
He rushed over to her and placed his hands on her arms, assisting in supporting the new tiny human. "Why?" he inquired quietly, fearing her answer. Her only response was to start tearing up and lean her forehead into his chest, hiding from him.
Realizing she was struggling to form the words to just tell him, he took a different approach. "Who's this? I've never met her, have I?" he asked softly, trying to keep her from fully crying.
Lucy shook her head and pulled back to look at the baby again. "No, you've never met her," she stated quietly, smiling at the tiny girl with what could only be described as a mother's love.
To say Natsu was confused would be an understatement but he tried again regardless. "Well, who does she belong to? Are you babysitting?" he asked while tilting his head, some pink spikes falling over to the side.
When Lucy looked back at him, she began to giggle, "You look like a puppy when you do that."
He smiled at that. Hoping she wasn't still afraid of him, or his reaction as he was starting to realize was likely the case where Lucy was concerned, he stuck his tongue out at her, then looked back at the baby waiting for the explanation.
She sighed and looked back at the infant again. "She's mine, Natsu."
"I don't remember you being pregnant?" he questioned.
Lucy looked up wide eyed. "No! No, not mine, like I gave birth to her. Mine as in I adopted her," she amended quickly.
"Why'd you adopt her? Not that it's a bad thing, I think it's great, but just why? Why her and why now?" he questioned, trying to understand his partner's reasoning.
"Well, I was actually suppose to come home two days early from my mission," she started before looking back at the little bundle in her arms with a smile, "but I got a bit distracted."
He could see she was pleased with her decision which made him smile. But, he wanted the whole story, mainly on principle, honestly whatever made her happy he was okay with. He nudged her a bit to get her attention, urging her to continue.
She sighed and smiled at him, one of his favorite looks she gave him. Then she started to ramble, "I wanted to surprise everyone and come home early. There was a town to the west of my trail home, out of the way by a few miles but I didn't want to go out of my way to stop for the night. I spend entirely too much time with you, so I found a small cave and chose to sleep there. I was getting firewood, it was freezing. The snow was falling very so hard."
She took a moment to look at the little bundle again, this time with tears in her eyes. I'm not going to like this, he thought before she took a breath, attempting to calm her nerves, and continued.
"I found her in the snow," she said tearfully. "She was wrapped in only a sheet and they didn't even bother cutting her birth cord. She was so cold, Natsu! She's so small and helpless. I couldn't leave her there, I couldn't!" she sobbed in near hysterics as Natsu took her fully into his arms, attempting to soothe her.
I knew I was going to hate this, he thought angrily. One, it made Lucy cry. Unacceptable. Two, who abandons an infant in the woods in a snow storm? Bastards should be ashamed of themselves.
Guess that explains why it took her so long to come home, the adoption process.
Then another thought came to him. "Lucy, single people can't adopt a baby. Not legally."
She flinched at that. "I – I know." Her nerves now completely on edge, fearing the worst.
"So how did you adopt her, then? You're not married... unless there's something I don't know about?"
"Well," she began before faltering.
"Lucy?"
"I," she started before going quiet again.
He was starting to worry. Did she get married and not tell him? Did anyone else in the guild know about this? No. He'd have smelled some guy hanging around her. What is going on?
"Lucy," he began before being cut off.
"I told them that we are married!" she rushed out, turning the same shade as Erza's hair.
He blinked. We?
Had he misunderstood her? We? As in the two of them? Natsu was married to Lucy? Lucy was married to Natsu?
"You and me?" he clarified, hopeful.
"Yes," came her sheepish reply.
He inhaled deeply, it came out sputtering when she panicked. "I'm sorry, Natsu. I didn't mean to drag you into this. I just couldn't leave her there. And I know you're probably mad at me. You have every right to be. You don't have to do anything, I will take care of her. I love you. I never wanted to force you into anything. I'm rea-," whatever she'd been about to continue rambling was lost to Natsu gently taking the baby in his arms and setting her back in the little chair.
When he turned back to Lucy, she was beside herself. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"That I put on a legally binding document that we are married. It can be annulled. Or you can divorce me," she sighed pathetically knowing he was probably going to do just that.
"Why would I want to do that?" her eyes shot up to find him smiling at her with his arms crossing his chest.
"Well," she faltered again, looking at the floor, cursing her nervous nature.
"I love you too, Weirdo."
"Huh?" she asked dumbly, looking at him in disbelief.
His smile grew larger. He placed his hands on her waist, confident he wouldn't be kicked for it, and leaned his forehead against hers.
They both calmed slightly. Lucy's eyes closed, completely comforted by the action. Natsu smiled wider, if that was possible. So I wasn't dreaming after all.
He started chuckling before throwing his head back into a full blown belly laugh. Lucy simply stared at him in confusion.
"I really do love you, Lucy," he said still giggling, as he sobered. "Can I kiss you, now?"
Her eyes widened for a moment before smiling herself and nodding. He placed his hands on either side of her face and gently pressed his smiling lips to her forehead before moving to her own. I can get used to this.
He took her more securely in his arms. "So you're my wife now, right?"
Lucy jolted upright, still nervous. "Well, legally, yes."
The look in his eyes told her to run. Mischievous bastard was up to no good. She should've known he wouldn't be mad at her. No, he'd just use it to tease her. Even worse now that he'd kissed her, he was also going to use THAT to tease her as well. And now she'd never be rid of him! I shouldn't have told him, there was no way around it, but I shouldn't have told him.
She tried to get away from him but he held fast. He quickly began showering her face in kisses causing her to giggle. She tried to shove him off her but her efforts were in vain as she started to laugh. He lowered her to floor before she'd realized it and simply continued to kiss her face, neck, and shoulders. Whatever she'd mistakenly let him reach.
"Natsu!" she shrieked as he blew a raspberry against her neck.
"What was that, my wife?" he said mockingly, glee practically pouring out of his ears as he continued.
Lucy shrieked again but stopped as their adopted daughter started crying. "You scared her, Natsu!" she scolded lightly.
"Me?" he squawked indignantly, letting her get up. " You were the one making all the noise."
"You shouldn't have been tickling me," she stated plainly as she scooped the child back into her arms.
He smiled. "I wasn't tickling you," he affirmed, "I was kissing you."
Lucy gave him a light glare before turning her attention back to the baby who was only whimpering now.
"So what's her name," he asked, grinning at his new family.
"Tana," Lucy told him, still smiling at their baby girl. "After a character in one of my favorite books. She's a fire goddess that saves her people from an ice god."
Honestly, he loved the name and the meaning behind it. He felt fuzzy inside watching Lucy blush as she'd described it to him.
He quickly thought of another way to tease her, even though he was sure he knew the answer already. "So," he began cheekily, "did I take your name or did you take mine?"
His already brilliant smile, turned into a chuckle, followed by an gasping, crying laugh as Lucy slowly turned bright pink and tried to hide her face in Tana's blanket.
Once Natsu finally simmered back to snickering, he cuddled his two girls close. Lucy rolled her eyes at him as he leaned to kiss her again, which she returned then snuggled into his chest. Natsu looked at his daughter, happily playing with her tiny hands.
"Welcome home, Tana Dragneel," he murmured as he leaned down to kiss her head.
Another thought struck him cold. Erza is going to murder me!