A good husband makes time for his wife to rest while she's pregnant.

A great husband makes dinner, puts the kids to bed, and runs a hot bubble bath so that his pregnant wife can wake up from her nap and eat ice cream, soak in the warm water, and get the world's best backrub at the same time.

There was calming music in the background and scented candles produced the only light in the room, casting a wonderful glow on the bubbles.

Lucy was facing away from him, leaning on the back of the tub with a bowl of ice cream on the tile ledge that surrounded the big master bedroom and he was behind her, rubbing her back slowly and just the way she liked.

She moaned and her whole body rolled under his touch.

"Are you moaning at me or the ice cream?" he asked.

"Both…this amaaaaazing," she purred.

By this point in life after two pregnancies, Laxus was a master masseuse. He knew how to use every part of his hand to knead, rub, and loosen her neck and shoulders and back.

Laxus leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "You forgive me?"

She pressed her back into his touch. "I'm thinking about it."

In his mind, he didn't do anything wrong and was only being himself, but Lucy was so full of hormones with her twin pregnancy that she was unpredictable in this, her second trimester, like a wild animal that had been cornered. He voiced this comparison to her and things had not gone well for him. What made his blunder especially bad was the fact her back was hurting because very quickly during her second trimester, their babies had started to grow. She had all kinds of aches and pains that hadn't been present during her other pregnancies.

She reminded him who got her pregnant, he reminded her he didn't know anything about it, and it went downhill from there.

But Lucy didn't mind in the least what happened earlier in the day as long as he kept working her sore back with his amazing hands.

He kept up the massage until she felt like she was made out of rubber, at which point she leaned back onto his chest and craned her neck to look up at him.

He kissed her, and she sighed contentedly as his hands rubbed her belly slowly.

"I swear you're better than a professional masseuse."

"You want a happy ending?"

Lucy snorted. "Happy for who?"

He hand slid down between her legs. "For my queen, of course."

"You're getting better at saying you're sorry, you know."

She laid back and let him put his massage skills to work elsewhere, and then laid there under the bubbles for a bit longer once she came. "Sometimes I think back to that day I ran into you, and you asked me out, and I think about how we had no idea."

"I'd love to go back in time and tell you that in a few years, you'd be sitting in a bathtub with me getting a clit massage while you're carrying my twins."

"I'd probably Lucky Kick you in the face for saying something so absurd. I think we were the most unlikely couple."

Laxus twisted a lock of wet blonde hair around his finger. "But when I think about it, I don't think I could have settled down with anyone else. You want me to wash your hair?"

"You're so good to me."

He washed and gently towel dried her hair, and she put on a super soft 'mom nightgown' and crawled into their cushy bed with her body pillow.

"Am I a good husband again?"

"I guess. It would be kind of a pain in the ass to get rid of you and start over now that you're almost housetrained," she teased.

"Almost?"

"Almost."

At five months pregnant, her belly was already fairly big and growing amazingly fast, and Laxus could hear the babies in her womb fairly easily now - two little hummingbird heartbeats, and the swishing, stirring sounds as they moved about inside of their mother.

Laxus rested his head on her belly for a while.

"I'm getting more stretch marks," she whined.

He looked up and said, "Scars are sexy, right? Especially when they remind me of the family you've given me."

Laxus had a way of making everything in the world seem wonderful. She relied on him for that, even if she didn't have to admit it. He was the calm to her storm, and the thunder in her calm all at once. He had always taken good care of her, since the beginning of the relationship.

He relied on her for much, much more. Laxus really had no idea what he'd do without Lucy. They'd been together for years, had a family, and built a nice little life for themselves.

Lucy snuggled up to him and slept like a baby for the next ten hours, only to awaken and find he'd had the kids up, fed, teeth brushed, and dressed and was already at work.

Her daughter was sitting in the living room holding a ball of magic light in her hand. It bubbled outward, and shrank, changed colors and vibrated before fizzling out. And Yuri was nearby clapping his hands together, which produced little sparks of lightning.

Makarov was sitting on the floor with them, talking to them about magic.

"Good morning, Mama!" their daughter called, jumping up from the floor to greet her.

Yuri seemed happy to see her, but he was growing out of the phase where he'd yell in excitement the first time he saw his parents in the morning. Often, if he woke up before them, he'd entertain himself rather than going into their room immediately, although he did still have his moments.

Lucy hugged and kissed her babies and gave her grandfather-in-law a peck on the cheek. She had a busy day before her, trying to divide her time between the construction of their new home on a nice little piece of dirt they found not far from their current house, co-managing the guild with her husband, and taking care of a family.

All while five months pregnant with twins.

Easy, right?

Layla grabbed her hand. "I want to go with you today, Mama!"

As the current and reigning 'baby' of the family, she'd had a pout or two about her mother more or less taking a 'regular' job and being gone most days during 'business hours.' The babies were used to one parent being around almost constantly, so this change was mostly unwelcome. Combined with the fact that everyone seemed excited about the 'new' babies, she felt a certain kind of way.

Yuri clearly wanted to stay at home and probably play the forbidden game of giants as soon as everyone else left, since Chelia was in class.

Lucy agreed and took her precious baby girl with her for a busy day of doing 'mom' things.

Layla walked alongside her, looking like a little miniature of her mother, but with her father's eyes. She had Lucy's hand in one of hers and was using the other to clutch her favorite doll who was, amusingly enough, nothing like her at all in appearance.

Layla had what her nanny referred to as a 'multicultural' doll collection and didn't seem to have a preference for the ones that looked like their family. Her favorite doll had dark skin and hair, and she believed this one to be her 'most handsome baby.'

"Mama, what will the babies look like? Like Baby?"

"The babies will probably look like you and Yuri. With blonde hair."

"You already have those. You should have one like Baby."

Much of their walk to the builder's office was spent deep in a conversation about why Lucy wanted more babies that looked like the ones she already had. In Layla's mind, she should have wanted a collection of babies with different hair and skin, and Layla spent more than a few minutes trying to convince Lucy to have a baby that could not have come from Laxus.

Lucy couldn't wait to tell him about this conversation just to watch him cringe.

But, it made her happy on so many levels to see her daughter had not even the slightest hint of prejudice or preference in her. Their children were very open-minded because of their somewhat eccentric upbringing. The housewives in the neighborhood had opinions about the lesbian nanny, the mermaid, and the tiger, and the collection of assorted strange people that made up Fairy Tail, but Lucy wouldn't have it any other way.

When they made it to the builder's office, Layla sat patiently on the table while Lucy reviewed swatches, pencilled in selections, and spoke with their contractor about the ongoing construction.

During this process, she held up two pinkish carpet swatches. "Which one? This will be the color of the floor in your room."

"No."

This led to the girl sitting on the floor with an enormous book of carpet swatches and flipping through them. Lucy really had no idea if her daughter had any idea of what she was doing, but after much deliberation, she pointed to a square.

"Thisssssssssss!"

Lucy stared in disbelief.

"Is like RaiRai!" she exclaimed.

Her two-year-old daughter wanted orange and black tiger-striped carpet in her room. And Lucy realized she might have burned up the rug, but the spirit behind it was alive and well and had been passed on through her very womb somehow.

The blonde took the swatch book. "Okay, no."

"Why?"

"Because orange and black tiger stripe is tacky."

Layla didn't understand what this meant, and even if she had, she wouldn't have cared. To a baby raised in part by a tiger, there was nothing more marvelous and wondrous than the silky, striped fur. "No! It's pretty."

Lucy sighed. "You are his, after all."

This led to a furious disagreement, and the clashing of the wills of mother and daughter.

"I WANT THIS ONE!"

Lucy was exasperated by the time they finally left and was amazed at how much terror Layla had caused with her obstinacy. Layla was turning into a little bit of a brat, and she knew it was partly because her father gave in to her every whim, no matter what it was. Laxus seemed strangely inept when it came to disciplining her, but he'd zap Yuri in a heartbeat when he got out of line.

Lucy went on to the guild with her daughter who forgot she cared about carpet before they arrived, and they found Laxus hard at work on a mid-morning nap.

Layla seemed a little less than amused by the idea that this is what her daddy was up to when he left every day. "Daddy's not working!"

Laxus' mouth gaped open as his head rolled and a snore escaped from his mouth.

Lucy decided to let him nap since he'd been running a little extra harder than normal at the guild and with the kids. She let Layla go play with her toddler friend Sam who happened to be at the guild and got to work on their tasks for the day.

Laxus looked cute, sleeping like that, and she smiled up at him now and then.

Marriage had been an interesting ride for them so far as they slowly learn to juggle different roles. Their lives had changed so much from when they first married, but Lucy loved every minute of their crazy lives.

When he finally woke up, it was to the smell of the unholy union of peppers sliced and eaten with chocolate pudding. Laxus opened his eyes, twitching his nose curiously until he saw his pregnant wife with a bowl of things that did not belong together in any vessel.

"Good morning," she said.

"Good morning."

She stretched a hand holding a spoonful across her desk across toward his. "Want a bite?"

"Not even to save my own life. How are my babies?"

Lucy said, "Which ones? One of them is playing magic with Gramps, one of them threw a temper tantrum in the contractor's office, and the last two are playing 'kick the bladder.'"

Laxus' brows rose. "Suddenly, we have four kids. We're a family with a lot of kids."

"Are you going to make some comment about your semen?"

He shook his head. "Those guys are bastards. This morning our son sneezed lightning and set my pants on fire. Bend your mind around this little idea: lightning snot."

Lucy laughed because for some reason, their son only had these little magical mishaps with his father.

"Where's Layla?"

"With Sam."

Laxus made a face. "That jerk…"

"He is the sweetest little cutest fattest baby ever, and you need to stop acting like that. I want at least one of our babies to be cute and chubby like that. But, you know, after he or she comes out of my vagina, and not before," she said.

Laxus smirked. "I've something fat for your-"

"I'm pregnant enough, thank you."

They were discussing disciplining their children and working on a budget - something Makarov had forgotten to make about thirty years in a row - when the mail came. Lucy was opening and sorting it when she spotted a letter from the Royal Treasury and tore it open.

Laxus saw her eagerness as she tore open the envelope, and then unfolded a letter.

Lucy read the letter first, and then held out a banknote signed by the king himself for 800,000,000 jewel.

"Fuck, how in the hell did you…" he mumbled.

Lucy flipped her hair. "Look, I'm not just cute and I'm not just a kickass wizard. I'm also smart, aggressive, and ambitious about the things that matter to me. I always play to win."

"Well, I'm a little duller, I don't know anything about handling enormous sums of money. If only I knew someone who was raised from birth to manage a large fortune," he answered.

Lucy came around to his bottom drawer, where the deposit slips were kept in days past, but when she opened it, she just found all her missing panties that he'd claimed. "You're like a dog that collects bones and buries them all over." She heard his chair creak as he turned to her and look up at a devilish grin. "...I promise if you make a joke about place you put put your bone, I will punch you in your smug little face."

His grin widened a little. "The best jokes are the ones I don't even have to tell."

"Are you horny? If I take ninety seconds and handle your little problem will you behave?"

"I'm not really in the mood. I feel kind of weird today. Sick almost. I haven't been sick in almost two decades by natural means, but I think it feels like this," he said.

Lucy reached up and felt his forehead. "Oh wow, you are just a little bit hot."

"It's fine. I'm still alright. Itchy, weirdly enough."

Lucy took his word for it and went to her desk, and filled out the deposit form. She was halfway through when the door opened and Gray came in and asked, "Hey, I have a question for you guys. Have you guys both had chickenpox by any chance?"

"Yes, why?" Lucy asked.

At the mention of the word 'chickenpox,' Laxus pulled up his shirt to examine the itchy spot he'd been scratching for an hour and found a cluster of little bumps. "Fuck…" he mumbled.

"Layla's got bumps all over her back. I've already had it, but I didn't want to bring her in here if Lucy could catch it," Gray said.

Lucy looked at her husband's rash. "I'm safe. Laxus, I didn't even know you dragonslayers could get sick."

"This is news to me also."

Gray returned with Layla, who had over the prior three hours, turned red and feverish, become limp as a ragdoll and couldn't have been whinier, crankier, or more pissed off to be awake.

Lucy left Gray with a to-do list, and Gray mentioned Iggy Dragneel had shown signs of it the night before. Iggy had spent the afternoon prior at the Dreyar house.

The blonde knew the onset would be pretty quick, and Laxus just looked like he'd be whiny and dependent while ill, so she carried her daughter home while he sulked. "It's not my fault, you know, so stop sulking."

Laxus made a grumble, and then he remembered something.

"Do you remember yesterday, when I came home, and you were letting Iggy and Layla take a nap together on the couch? And I was going to put that kid on the floor and you said...what did you say, Lucy?" he asked.

She sighed. "I said, 'What's the worst that can happen?'"

"How about this? He contracted a terrible plague and passed it onto our daughter," Laxus answered.

Lucy explained, "This is what kids do. Chickenpox is kind of a social disease. I'd be willing to guess you've never had it because you probably didn't have a lot of friends when you were a kid."

"Kids are both carriers and spreaders of disease, so I don't regret that at all."

He scratched his side and she slapped his hand.

"Stop scratching!"

"It's itchy!"

Lucy decided she'd send Yuri to stay with Gray if he hadn't caught the illness, but when they got home, Chelia had come home from class, easily recognized Yuri's new rash as chickenpox, and gone to the store to get medicine.

Chelia and Makarov had already had the chickenpox as well, so that just meant Laxus and the kids were susceptible, and they'd all contracted the illness.

Unfortunately for Fairy Tail, they'd been hugging and playing with babies and soon there was practically an epidemic unfolding. Porlyusica was busy going from house to house, dispensing herbs and advice and repeating Lucy's new top phrase, "STOP SCRATCHING!"

Three days in, Lucy was sure she'd have to say it until she lost her voice.

She'd watched the sores spread on all of them from head to toe, but as an adult, Laxus had become especially ill, running a terrible fever and absolutely covered with hundreds of pox.

Lucy had two feverish, cranky, itchy babies and and an even crankier, more feverish husband to deal with.

A sick Laxus was much like she expected him to be. Like all men, he was a big whiny baby when he didn't feel well and required coddling, sympathy, and great amounts of attention.

On the fourth morning after the outbreak, Lucy found Makarov rubbing lotion on her husband's back after she woke up and medicated their kids.

"How's my widdle sick dwaaagon?" Makarov asked.

Laxus had his face down on the pillow, but lifted a middle finger in reply.

"Poor baby needs his Gramps to give him medicine?"

Laxus rumbled and then sat up, glaring furiously. "Fuck off already."

His grandfather reached over to ruffle his hair. "You're always so cranky when you get sick."

Lucy came in and their two spotted babies followed, climbing up on the bed to their father. "Chelia and I have some soup on, and then after you guys eat, baking soda bath time. Then I have to run to the guild and take care of a few things. Then I have to visit Porlyusica."

"Don't leave us, Mama!" Yuri desperately pled.

His mother sat on the edge of the bed. "You guys will be fine until I get back."

"Noooooo!" Layla cried.

Laxus tried to play the role of the big tough guy, although he really wanted Lucy to stay home and baby him for the rest of the day also. She was like a superhero and mother and wife all at once in her current mode of operation, delicately balancing taking care of her sick family, tending to urgent business at the guild, and taking care of her own pregnant self.

"She's not leaving forever. Probably," he said.

This was a poor choice of words for cranky, annoyed, sick babies, and Lucy found herself trying to contend with two crying children begging her to stay.

"We need you, Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Yuri cried.

It was getting to be fairly rare to see him cry, so she reassured them that she was going to return and that she would never leave them alone forever regardless of what their father said.

While they were sitting at the table eating their soup, Lucy helped Layla since her coordination wasn't quite ready for soup. She was pleased to see Layla seemed to have a bit of an appetite, and saw Yuri was eating a little better too. Being sick for the first time had been hard for them and they regarded it as the end of the world, but once Lucy explained that getting sick is actually fairly normal, they accepted it and were taking it fairly well.

Laxus on the other hand, took his illness as a sign of insult to his dragon slayer powers. He tried beating the illness through magical means by turning into lightning and back again and by using lightning to raise his body temperature higher than was healthy. Neither of these worked and when he tried to get Wendy to come over and do her great work, Chelia informed him that because she'd never had the illness, Wendy wouldn't be coming anywhere near the house.

Gajeel and Natsu had also come down with the chickenpox, and they took it equally badly.

Once they finished eating, she filled the big master bath with cool water, baking soda, and oatmeal, and put her spotted babies and husband in to soak.

"I want to go with you, Mama," Layla pled.

Lucy kissed her hair. "Get better and then we can go do stuff together and have lots of fun, okay? You're sick and right now you have to get better."

"Why I gots to be sick?" she asked.

Laxus said, "You got sick because of Iggy. That's what happens when you take naps with little boys. They give you diseases."

Lucy thumped him on the nose. "Laxus!"

"It's the truth. Tell me this is the first time in history a girl has ever awoken with a guy and gotten a disease from it and I'll take it back," he argued.

She narrowed her eyes. "You are terrible."

Layla said, "But Iggy is my favorite boy."

Laxus turned to his little daughter. "You know that I am also a boy?"

"Mhmm."

"And Iggy is your favorite?" he asked.

She nodded.

Lucy saw her husband sink into a full-forced sulk about this comment, and she really felt like he had it coming. She saw his eyebrow pulse a little, and was greatly amused. "Layla, that's cute. Iggy's a good friend, right? And he didn't mean to make you sick."

Layla answered, "He's handsome."

"Yes he is," Lucy replied with a smile.

Yuri looked up at his father, as if to ask, 'what is going on here?'

And Laxus shook his head. "Don't worry, son. You will never understand women, ever. And that's okay. Sometimes I think I really don't want to."

Once Lucy left, Laxus asked his daughter a series of questions and learned that Layla found him less handsome than Iggy, but more handsome than Sam. But, Sam was bigger than Iggy, and she seemed to find that favorable, and her father was her favorite 'really big guy.'

Yuri found all of this annoying and bothersome, as he and his father didn't speak about who was handsome or who was not. He'd reached a point in his life where he had toys Laxus enjoyed playing with as well, and was looking forward to time where they could play dinosaurs or run through the house shooting cap guns at each other.

Being stuck in the house for days was causing both of the males to get a little stir-crazy.

Once Laxus decided his daughter's mind was already more complicated than his was, his thought process wandered on to other subjects, like how long it had been since he slept outside and enjoyed nature. It was one thing he missed about going on regular jobs and when he looked down at his adorable spotted babies, he decided he'd like them to know how wonderful it was too.

"We should go camping," he said.

"What's that?" Yuri asked.

Their father answered, "It's where you go out into the wilderness, and you sleep outside and enjoy being in nature and away from people. Listen to the sounds of bugs and birds and water and the wind in the trees, take in the smells of the forest...I think you're old enough to learn how to hold a fishing pole. We could catch and eat fish and see wild animals and mountains."

Yuri was so excited by this he almost couldn't breathe. "Let's go right now!"

Laxus looked at his daughter, who seemed less than excited. "Sleep where?"

"Outside. On the ground, under blankets. Maybe in a little tent."

She added, "..and bugs?"

Yuri said, "Big bugs?"

"Huge bugs," their father answered.

Layla was very dubious about this, but Laxus knew she wasn't quite as prissy as she seemed to act at times.

Laxus made little plans in his mind to take them to his favorite little spot. It would give Lucy a nice little baby-cation after the chickenpox debacle was over and he'd get to spend some quality time with the little ones before Lucy was so pregnant he didn't want to leave home. He'd start teaching them the basics of life in the wild, about fishing and foraging and eating berries straight off the plant.

The idea made him so excited he almost forgot he was covered in blisters and that his daughter found a baby to be more handsome than him.

Lucy meanwhile was at the guild paying the bills. It was quiet, because in the two days before Layla manifested signs of chickenpox, all the babies had been there and they were passed around happily as always. Both dormitories were practically under quarantine, and the people who weren't out on jobs or sick were staying away from the guild to keep from getting sick.

It was nearly empty except for a few people who had acquired immunity.

Mirajane was sitting at the bar, waiting for someone to need something; it had been slow for days at that point.

Lucy was on her way out when she took a look at the sparse crowd. "It's amazing we all stuck together against Phantom Lord and Alvarez, but scattered to the ends of the earth over chickenpox."

She giggled. "Isn't it? Men are such big babies. Freed's kinda cute when he's sick."

"Really? Laxus couldn't be less cute. He's so needy."

"That's what makes it cute. I think men never really outgrow being babies, and when they get sick, they revert back. Freed promised me I could have anything I want if I take care of him," she said.

"What did you ask for?"

Mirajane grinned. "I told him when he gets better he needs to get in there and get me pregnant already. He threw up - I don't know if that was because he's sick or not. I just know I'm not going to let Lisanna raise a family while I stay a barren old hag. Everyone is having babies except me."

"It's really not that widespread. Just Gajeel and Levy, Natsu and Lisanna, and Laxus and I. There are lots of people not having kids."

The white-haired mage said, "Well, I want to get pregnant and that's that. Besides, you have a bun in that oven so often you might as well keep it preheated and ready to go."

Lucy decided to leave Mirajane and her biological clock alone for the time being. In a family with two girls, it was customary for the eldest to get married and become a mother first, but poor Natsu had disrupted the flow of this, however accidentally.

She went on to see Porlyusica, who was worn out from making house calls to Fairy Tail members.

"Come in," she said, "How are the babies?"

"They're doing better. I think that yesterday might have been the worst point. Today they were eating a little better. Laxus seems a little better as well," she answered.

The old woman gestured to a bed. "Oh, I'm not worried about Laxus. He's like a cockroach. Nothing can kill him."

Lucy slipped her panties down under her dress and sat on the bed. Now five months into her third pregnancy, she knew the drill. The old woman pulled on some gloves, and did an exam, asking about the kids and life in general. She'd been very difficult when Lucy first started coming for exams, but she'd warmed up, especially towards their family.

When she finished, Lucy put her underwear back on.

"You want to know what you got cooking in there?"

Lucy nodded and held out her hand.

Porlyusica made a tiny cut on one of her fingers, let the blood drip into a little bowl, and then went to her grand apothecary work, mashing herbs and magic tinctures. "Are you hoping for boys, girls, one of each?"

"I don't know...after today, I'm not sure if Laxus needs anymore daughters. He's weird."

"Weird?"

The blonde said, "Layla told him today that Iggy is her favorite guy, and that she finds him more handsome than her father. I bet he's still sulking. And when she acts up, he really doesn't discipline her very well."

Porlyusica smiled just a little. "Sounds like he's shaping up to be alright after all. You can always look on the bright side. However he treats her is how she'll expect to be treated by men. She'll probably grow up well...maybe a little bratty, but she really gets that from you."

"...hey! I'm not a brat!"

"Laxus spoils you to death."

"No! Since when!"

Porlyusica crossed her arms while she waited for her potion to cure. "I think because he's always spoiled you, you don't realize he's doing it. Since the beginning, people have talked about how he adores you, gives you gifts, puts you on a pedestal...you have a nanny and have two spa days a month. You are spoiled. As far as I know, he's never told you no on anything ever."

Lucy asked, "Why would he?"

"Because that's what normal un-spoiled wives hear often. Personally, I believe you'll probably be spoiled for the rest of your life."

Lucy felt like her world was suddenly upside down while she considered her life. On their first date, he bought her a gorgeous dress and treated her to the time of her life. After that, their courtship was a series of wonderful dates, great gifts, and him making sure she was happy all the time. She really couldn't remember anything she really wanted that he hadn't let her have. And that didn't just apply to physical things, either.

How many pregnant women got to eat ice cream in a warm bath while getting a back massage?

How had she been married for four years and not ever realized exactly how spoiled she was?

Once Porlyusica told her the genders of her babies, she headed home and found her husband sitting shirtless on Yuri's bed with a bedtime story with equally half-clothed and blister-covered children.

They were all so happy to see her because they all as individuals preferred it be Lucy who looked after them while sick. She was the nurturer, the nurse, the soup maker, the wife, the mother, the everything to all of them at the moment. A nanny or grandfather was nothing compared to that, and she felt a little special to see how happy they were that she was home.

Once the kids were rubbed down with ointment and in bed, Lucy took her husband to bed and after rubbing him down, she laid in the bed and smiled at him.

"Your exam was good?"

Lucy nodded. "The babies are growing well."

He rolled over to rub her belly. "You take such good care of us."

"What can I say? I kinda like you."

"Kinda? God, I wish my cock wasn't covered in chickenpox."

"Do you want me to…"

His expression soured. "Please don't touch it. That'll probably be the only time in my life I ever say that."

She smiled. "So, guess what I found out?"

He looked over at her. "What?"

Laxus was expecting her to tell him about what the gender of their babies was, since she'd hit the point she found out during her other pregnancies.

Instead, she rolled on her side to face him and said, "I'm really a spoiled wife."

"Of course you are. I kinda like you," he teased.

Lucy stared up at him in the most adoring, sweet way and he wished yet again that he didn't have sores on his penis. Normally, if she gave him that look, he nailed her to the nearest hard surface. He tried to think of something to say or do, but he really didn't have words for her. He knew it was ridiculously gross they were all not only sick, but blistered and really needing a lot of attention, but Lucy took good care of him and their babies.

"I want to take the kids camping once they're back to good," he announced.

He excitedly told her of his grand plan, and Lucy knew Layla probably wouldn't appreciate the 'great outdoors' very much. Layla didn't even like walking in grass that was too tall, but she knew he wouldn't let them get hurt and he'd probably just carry her everywhere like always.

Lucy believed it was good for them to share a variety of experiences with the kids, and she felt like it would be good for them to spend time alone with their father. It was healthy for them and for him also.

When he was almost asleep, she said, "So, names for our babies. I have some ideas."

"Oh?"

"How about Anna and Mavis?"

"And boy names?"

"We don't need any."

He sat up. "They're both girls for sure?"

Lucy nodded. "A boy and three girls. That's a nice little family."

"That's perfect."

"A whole family of spoiled girls?"

Her husband kissed her belly. "That sounds great, really. It's something to be father to a daughter. It'll be fun having a bunch of little girls."

"So, I'm never getting pregnant again," she announced.

"I don't think I want you to. Four is a good number. Five, six, seven...that's a bit much since we have a lot to do."

Lucy asked, "Is now a good time to talk about vasectomy?"

Laxus sat up in the bed. "When your husband is covered in sores is the best time to bring up genital mutilation."

"I get pregnant kind of easily."

He looked down at his crotch. "Understatement."

Please Review!

AN: Melee: Fight Your Way to Love is almost over, so I started another Lalu called Star Crossed Sarcasm.

Special thanks to zsummern, boyceashlee, guest, numinous-alqua, rere97maui, kurakieiritr JIO, yumeyumi1986, w1n6s-0f-f1r3, aoutre, Thornado, silverghostkitsune, mewhee89, paname, killer-kelly420, xxshyxx, katieboom, katelyn, sassykitten1701, lunastarlady, katiekat2001, otaku4ever731, savygirl1515, megumiyoung, deathassassinfaerie, andy24amk, and the alicehuntt for reviewing!