What to do, what to do.

Being a father in the circumstance he was in was easier; a father looks out for his babies. Being guildmaster? Not so much. He had to look out for everyone's babies, the overall health of the guild, and the future of their next generation.

Now that he finally had Layla back home, he had to deal with it.

He asked Yuri to hold his tongue and he had, and Sam…Sam hadn't left his house since Laxus had seen him.

For the time being no one knew what had happened, but he had to make a decision about how to address the events in a way that was right and most beneficial for everyone. Sleepless nights had put him no closer to knowing what the 'right' thing was.

In his mind, Sam was probably only guilty of being young and stupid. Maybe he had wrong motives, maybe he made bad decisions, but there was no part of him that believed he knowingly caused Layla to be put into such grave danger. Even if he had a black spot in his heart somehow and he really had knowingly caused the showdown between Layla and Yuri and Bluenote, that didn't mean he was irredeemable or evil.

They were all so young.

It was four in the morning and he was considering all of this in the living room with a box of photographs Lucy brought him as a reminder that the children had a long, sweet history together.

He asked her several times a day what she thought, but she didn't have any answers either. Despite the fact he'd been avoiding it, Levy and Gajeel had visited him earlier. It was awkward and they seemed to feel they were responsible. The entire situation was weird and confusing for everyone, but he had the displeasure of being guildmaster, so it was all in his hands.

He heard someone stir—a bedroom door opening and then the bathroom, and looked back down.

The baby started crying an hour later, and he went upstairs to the nursery.

"Good morning, son. What's on your mind at four in the morning, hm?" he said as he gently took the baby from the crib and looked up to find his wife tiredly standing in the door.

"Honey, you didn't come to bed? You have to sleep you know," she said with a yawn, "and give me that baby. You need rest."

"I'm fine."

Lucy pulled him down and kissed him on the lips. "You're a good man. Amazing dad. Great husband. Wonderful guildmaster. Everyone knows whatever you do, it'll be the right thing."

"I don't even know what the right thing is."

Lucy changed their youngest son, and he sat in the rocking chair, careful not to let it move. For a dragon slayer, a rocking chair was practically a device of torture. Sadly, sometimes it was the only way Lex would go to sleep, which was never fun for his father.

"What do you think?" he asked.

His wife smiled softly at him. "I've been thinking a lot too. These kids are a little different than we were. When we came to the guild, most of us were alone. No parents, no brothers or sisters. So the guild was the only family we had. Our kids have both blood family and guild family, and I think they haven't had an opportunity to realize how important those bonds are."

Laxus asked, "I don't believe Sam intended for anyone to get hurt, especially not Layla. I think he's an insecure little asshole, but I think I was exactly like that when I was his age."

"Oh, you were a real piece of work by the time I met you. I was thinking about back when Phantom Lord attacked."

Her husband thought about this carefully and thought back to his grandfather's time as guildmaster. Every young wizard made terrible mistakes in an attempt to find their way, some intentional, some misguided, some reckless. Natsu stole an S-Class job flyer and could have gotten his entire team killed, Gajeel was completely misguided, Erza covered up the existence of the Tower of Heaven…they'd all messed up.

Laxus said, "The part of me that is a Dad is infuriated and I think it would be easier for Layla if I expel him from the guild. But I can't make decisions based on that. Gramps didn't make me anybody's dad; he made me everyone's guildmaster."

Lucy fixed the baby's clothes and then held him against her shoulder as she turned to kissed him on the forehead. "Do you really believe that? That it would be best for our daughter?"

"You don't?"

His wife answered, "I think it would be the worst thing. Layla hates Sam, and if Sam disappears from her life she'll continue to hate him. It'll grow and she'll just be angry at him for hurting her. They're guild family, Laxus, and when someone in a family messes up, you don't send them away. She needs to stop thinking of him as her enemy, and see he's a human who made a mistake."

"We don't know for sure it was a mistake. The facts are ugly."

"What if he did have the worst intentions? Let's say Sam did know Layla was going to get hurt and he really has a dark blotch in his heart. He's young. If we embrace him and love him, we can drive that darkness out of him. If we push him away it'll consume him in the end. It might be harder for Layla in the short-term, but it's what's best for her in the end. Even if Sam chooses a darker path in life, she has to face everything and become better for it," she said.

At that very moment, Layla was the bathroom down the hall.

Yuri already made a full recovery from his injuries, but she was lagging behind. She wasn't a dragon, and her body didn't heal so fast. Wendy's magic helped with the wholesale damage, but the recovery process was still taxing.

It was unusual for her to be awake early in the morning, but she'd had a nightmare that left her sweaty and restless, so she decided to take a shower and then she'd attempt to sleep again. She stood under the cool water for quite some time, and then washed her hair and body thoroughly.

Her parents hadn't had any luck finding a wizard who could make her an artificial eye—at least, not one that worked. It was possible she was going to be blind on that side for the rest of her life, and she hated it, but it wasn't anything anyone could change. She still hoped maybe they'd find someone, but in the interim, she'd been given two options: first, her eyelid could have been stitched closed or second, she could wear a glass eye.

She'd opted for the later, but when it wasn't in, her eye was a terrible thing to look at. When her eye was open, there was a mass of sticky, wet-looking flesh behind her eyelid. Bluenote had carved a lot of the skin and flesh from around her eye, so even after Wendy healed it, she had indentation across the skin in a crude pattern that made it perfectly clear someone had gouged her eye out with a rough, terrible instrument.

She'd always been a pretty girl: long light-blonde hair that fell in big, gorgeous curls, huge bright blue eyes with big thick Dreyar eyelashes, and her mother's lips and curves. Now, she was maimed, scarred, and her once-pretty face had been all marked up.

With a cringe, she put the glass eye in and pushed it into place until it squished. It was the same color as her natural eye and didn't really look fake. It could move with her natural eye, and was only really distinguishable as artificial when she was in very low or very bright light since only her natural pupil expanded and contracted.

And then she stared at the scar.

And she stared at her hair.

It was the end of the pretty girl. She felt like she had to be reborn as…something else.

After rummaging through the drawers, she found the scissors she usually used to cut Anna's bangs and started to cut away at her long hair. She cut it into a bob that looked a little wild with her curls, and then she stared at that scar.

First, she tried to cover it up with makeup, but there was no covering up the indentation or the jagged edge of her bottom eyelid.

Then, she tried to tell herself it would be okay since she wasn't the only person in her family rocking an eye scar. She'd never admit it to her father, but his scar was cool to her. But her scar wasn't cool. It looked like someone did something disgusting and painful to her.

She traced the outline of it with an eyeliner pencil, then built up until the edges were clean, and added to it, and wiped off and started over a dozen times until she'd covered the original scar in a lightning bolt shape, with the top half of lightning bolt extending from the inside corner and the bottom half from the outside corner, following along her lower lash line.

It was tough-looking. A little bit sexy. And she decided, that would be just fine—she sure as hell wasn't going to live the rest of her life looking like the sad victim of some gruesome violation. Besides, with a scar over her eye like that, any enemy would know she might be visually impaired on that side and that could get her killed eventually. She knew from listening to Yuri that half the reason he'd beaten Bluenote was because he circled around to his blind side every chance he could.

No, that wouldn't do at all. No one needed to know. She started her work, her lips pressed together in determination.

Down the hall in the nursery an hour later, her parents were still discussing the best course of action to take.

Laxus knew Lucy was right on all counts the more she talked to him. The worst thing for a powerful wizard was to harbor hatred and even if Layla was hurt and angry, time would soothe those wounds if given an opportunity.

"How do we keep the guild from treating Sam like an outcast? That's going to be a big issue," he asked.

Lucy said, "The only people who know about Sam are Layla and Yuri and us. If they don't tell anyone, Sam will be safe."

"Layla's not going to go for that," he argued.

"She will. She has a good heart, and if we as her parents show her the right way, she'll do what's right. Layla knows in her heart to protect her guildmates. I have faith in her. She's growing up and she's a strong woman," his wife answered.

His nose twitched. "I smell blood…"

Laxus jumped up and ran down the hall and banged on the bathroom door with Lucy right behind him. "Are you all right?"

His daughter called, "Much better."

"What's wrong? I smell blood."

Layla dipped the razor blade under water from the sink and continued her work. The nerves were so damaged she really didn't feel much, and it was strangely exhilarating. The sink was full of blood, skin, and some of her eyebrows.

"I'm a girl in the bathroom, you really want to know why I'm bleeding?"

Laxus was completely certain that wasn't what he was smelling, and he started to worry intensely as he stared at the door.

Lucy whispered, "What's going on? Something is obviously wrong! What if she's struggling with her self-esteem and she's hurting herself?"

"That doesn't seem like something she'd do. Layla makes other people miserable when she's unhappy," he quietly answered.

Layla said, "You're bad at whispering, Dad."

Her father answered, "You seem to feel well enough to give us shit, and yet you are bleeding. I'm coming in."

"I'm not decent."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Then I'm coming in."

The lock on the door turned and they found their daughter standing there wrapped in a towel, surrounded by a lot of hair in front of the bloody sink. She was holding a towel over her face.

"Good morning," she said.

Lucy asked, "What's wrong? What did you do?"

She lowered the towel and showed them the design she'd carved around her eye, hiding the original scar.

They just stared for a second, and then Lucy passed the baby off to her husband and lunged for the medicine cabinet. "Why would you…this is…are you okay?" She was in a state of panic as she moved, doubting her daughter's sanity and determination all at once.

Layla seemed calm enough when she answered, "I was going to have a scar. I don't want people to think I'm a victim or to look at me for the rest of my life and feel sorry for me because someone did something bad to me. This way I have a scar, but it's cool. And sexy."

It made sense on a number of levels, but she wasn't surprised her parents were disturbed.

The little blonde looked up at her dad. "You could singe it closed for me so it stops bleeding. Or I could just sit here and keep bleeding you know…forever."

Her father had a number of thoughts on what she'd done, but he could understand why she did it. "Close your eyes."

She yelped when a tiny bolt of lightning coursed over the fresh wound and burned it closed, leaving her with a reddish but very artistic-looking mark that looked like it was purely intentional, like a tattoo. With her glass eye in, it was impossible to tell she'd had such a major injury.

Layla clenched her eyes shut when Lucy sprayed disinfectant on her entire face. "Mom! Stop please…Mom…Mom! You're acting weird!"

"I'm acting weird. Me. I, your mother, am acting weird. There's so much hair on the floor it looks like an animal died in here and the sink is full of your blood and skin. Please, tell me I'm the weird one!" she said.

Layla said, "Anyway, I think I'm okay now. I'm probably going to go back to bed."

"Baby, we love you, but what is wrong with you?" her mother asked.

"Nothing. Everything is fine now. I have a new haircut, a sexy new scar, a pretty fake eye."

Her father narrowed his eyes. "Did you make it 'sexy' on purpose?"

"Sexy never happens by accident, Dad. There are no accidents in life."

Laxus said, "And yet you exist."

"You're so gross, Dad. I'm going back to sleep."

Lucy pointed at the floor. "After you clean this up. And if you cut yourself ever again, we're going to hide everything sharp in this house and find a nice professional for you to talk to. I'm going to assume this is a one-time thing for you and you're doing it to be cute, and not because you're mentally unstable. We'll talk in the morning."

They returned to the nursery with Lex and waited for their daughter to clean up and go to bed. She went to sleep and was snoring nearly immediately, which left her parents a little bewildered.

"That is your child," Lucy said.

Laxus shook her head. "That's your kid. She's very smart, Lucy. The original scar made it obvious she had trauma to her eye. Now, the scar looks cosmetic and will attract attention away from the eye. No one is going to know. I assume she's going to keep it a secret from the guild."

"Do you think she's actually thinking that far ahead?"

"She's always ahead of the game. Ask Bluenote Stinger."

They took the baby downstairs for an early-morning feeding and continued their discussion about how to deal with the kids. Then they snuggled on the couch and Laxus finally fell asleep with his head on her lap with Lex sleeping on his chest.

Lucy noted that they were both just big babies, and eventually wiggled out from under her husband and put their son to bed again.

The kids gradually awoke one by one:

Yuri woke up first and was already confused and disturbed by the time he made it downstairs.

"Mom, the bathroom stinks like blood and I can't find my razor."

Lucy collected breakfast ingredients from the fridge. "You don't want to know. Your dad has an extra in his cabinet."

"There's hair everywhere."

"Is Layla actually good at cleaning?"

Anna crawled onto the chair next to him and said, "Yeah, since never."

Rai the Exceed sat down at the table with them, and uttered the chosen phrase. Almost every Exceed had one particular word or phrase they uttered constantly, and Rai's was a little creepy:

"Meow!"

Lucy was already tired of it and wished she and her husband had stuck to their guns on not letting their children have any pets. One Exceed was somehow far more trouble than the days when a full-grown tiger stalked about the house in the middle of the night. Between a baby with a sensitive stomach, an annoying Exceed, teenagers, twins, and all the drama unfolding, she felt like her emotional and intellectual plates were more than full.

Yuri said, "You down for lunch tomorrow, Mom?"

He'd been faithful to his promise to take her to lunch once a week, and she found this wondrous.

"Of course. I need a break. My whole world is nonsense and stress right now."

Mavis came down next, looking particularly cross. "I woke up to the smell of blood and burning flesh earlier."

Lucy's brow rose. "…and went back to sleep?"

"I assumed it wasn't important."

Their mother was oddly exasperated by this point in the morning. "Mavis, I'm not even going to start with you today."

Layla eventually joined them, seeming oddly refreshed. Her hair was shorter and wild-looking, her eye had a fresh wound carved around it, she had on lip gloss and cute outfit.

They all stared at her until Mavis asked, "Who the hell are you?"

"I needed a new look."

Yuri wasn't sure what to think about it, but if Layla was being her erratic and stubborn self, he felt like it meant she was probably okay. One of the hardest things about what happened was watching his sister go through feeling like a helpless victim.

Lucy fed her children, fussed at them about coarse language in front of the baby, cautioned them against using their time off from school to get into any trouble, made sure the baby had everything he needed for a day with his sisters, and then went straight back to bed.

She was half asleep when she felt her husband slide into the sheets next to her.

Several sleepless nights in a row made her feel grateful he was finally able to get some rest, so she snuggled up to him.

"I love you."

"Love you too," he answered, giving her butt a little squeeze.

Lucy frowned. "Don't even think about it. You're exhausted. Go to sleep. I don't even want your cranky, half-asleep zombie sex."

"Good, I wasn't going to give it to you anyway." He kissed her and pulled her close. "When I get some sleep in me, you're done."

"Yeah, whatever," she said before a yawn.

Laxus awoke in the early evening, took a shower, and informed his oldest children they were going to have a formal meeting with him at the guild after dinner. He passed the message along to Levy to tell Sam, and at eight both Layla and Yuri were sitting in his office.

There were three chairs lined up across from his desk, and Layla glared at the empty one.

"You didn't invite Sam, did you?"

"I did."

She started to throw a temper tantrum and he put up a finger and said, "Not now. Remember I'm your guildmaster, and not just your father."

His voice was firm, and a little threatening.

The door opened and Sam peeked in first. He had a little false confidence because he didn't recognize Layla from behind since her hair was gone. But when he sat down, he looked over and suddenly realized his lifelong friend was right next to him, staring daggers into him. She was so angry she was shaking, and when he looked away from her he found Yuri's face suggested he was going to beat him down at some point in the future.

"Everyone be quiet, don't move. Just listen. I swear I'll zap the first person who moves or talks out of turn," he threatened.

He looked from one to another.

"Sam, you engaged in a series of reckless behaviors and exposed one of your guildmates. I believe you when you say you didn't have wicked intentions, but I don't know for sure. The fact is that you started this. It had consequences for your guildmates. The person you knowingly made contact with stabbed Yuri and busted his head. He nearly killed Layla—she had twenty broken bones and internal bleeding. He also gouged out one of her eyes."

Sam started to speak, but he remembered the threat and looked down, gripping the edge of the chair. He felt sick and disgusted with himself, angry at his own actions, and pathetic. He felt like everything was wrong and he didn't know how he could ever make it right again. He would have done anything and given anything to make it right.

Laxus added, "But Layla disclosed knowledge of the notebook to you after she'd been warned it was dangerous and would create enemies. If she'd been wiser, she wouldn't have told you. That's really the root mistake that allowed everything else to happen.

"Yuri dragged Layla off on a job that day because he saw a job that would put him close to Sabertooth and he dragged Layla into it because it was a job he wouldn't have been able to finish on his own."

After he laid out the blame, he studied each of them. Sam seemed to take it with a little grace, but Layla was clearly infuriated to have any of the responsibility placed on her and Yuri looked a little agitated that he'd been pulled in too.

Laxus added, "All of this happened because each of you made mistakes. It's okay. You're all young. You're teenagers. You suck at life. It's okay. Everyone messes up, gets bumps and bruises, but we have to keep moving forward. We'll move forward from this. You don't have to be best friends, you don't have to feel okay about it."

He knew his daughter was extremely displeased, Sam was clearly grateful, and Yuri didn't seem to feel any kind of way.

If she was mad at him, she'd get over it. Eventually.

Layla glared at Sam, and then her eyes moved down to his hand and arm, where she could feel the dark magic pulsing. He was darkness and she was light; suddenly they were opposing forces in nature.

Laxus added, "To protect everyone involved, I think its best if certain details aren't known by the guild or anyone else. It would be very dangerous for anyone to know Sam was involved, or about Fairy Glitter or about Layla's eye or Dragonforce. Right now we can decide not to tell anyone, and everyone will be safe. Don't test me on this – if any one of the three of you talks, I'll expel you for further exposing the guild to danger."

Layla was beyond infuriated at her father, but she knew he was being serious. There were moments where he was just her dad and moments where he was just her guildmaster, and this was the latter. It made her so angry that Sam was going to be able to continue living his life free of the fallout, and she would have to content with having one eye. It wasn't fair, and she found herself trembling out of upset.

Yuri was fine with this solution, as it was the only thing that allowed life to remain normal. He wanted to pound Sam into the ground, but he also believed Sam didn't intend for Layla to be so seriously injured.

Sam felt undeserving of the grace, and maybe like it would be better if he'd been kicked out of the guild. He felt like he deserved it.

Their guildmaster continued, "Sam, I'm suspending you from going on jobs for the indefinite future. I'm researching ways to get that lacrima out of you. It's not fusing with you, it's fighting you. I think it's either going to make you sick and kill you or take control of you. I'm also disinclined to let you keep it considering how you gained it in the first place. If anyone contacts you from outside of the guild, I expect you to tell me immediately after. If I catch you associating with any wizard who isn't in an allied guild, you can consider yourself expelled.

"Layla, I want the notebook. It's possible Bluenote disclosed its existence to associates, so it's dangerous for you to have it. Don't let on you know any of the spells in the book and definitely don't try to use them. I'll give it back to you at some point later on.

"Yuri, be a little bit smarter. Dragonforce is in your reach as long as Layla is. I assume you might be able to use it with Lilia's power since that's light also. But don't. That's something for desperate situations and no one needs to know you can do it."

The teenagers nodded at their individual sentences and he asked, "Any questions?"

Three heads shook.

"Layla, Yuri, you can go now."

His oldest children stood up and before Layla left, she turned and said, "I still hate you, Sam Redfox."

The boy flinched. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry."

She slammed the door and Sam slumped down in his chair.

Laxus said, "Don't worry. Her temper runs a little hot. Time will smooth most of this over. I think your chances of ever dating her have evaporated, but she'll probably eventually befriend you again."

"Why would she? Look at what I did."

"When I was older than you, our guild was attacked by Phantom Lord. Your father was in that guild. He beat the snot out of your mother, and hung her in East Gate Park. The guild was damaged severely, and I was asked to help. I could have completely changed everything that happened. I mean, I'm not digging your dad, but at that point, I was levels above any of the wizards that were involved. But I said no, that they got what they deserved for being weak. The guild was trashed, and everybody got hurt."

Sam couldn't imagine his guildmaster ever being like that. "People forgave you?"

"Look, you're a product of a relationship that started because your dad beat the crap out of your mom. People get over stuff."

"Is that why you got kicked out of the guild?"

"I got kicked out of the guild for booby-trapping the city and making everyone fight each other, turning the women to stone, threatening to blow up Magnolia, and then trying to kill everyone with a spell that didn't work because I wasn't as much of an asshole as I thought. You're not even close to that level of fucked up. My grandfather was really patient with me until that point, so don't test me, but don't think I'm going to give up on you either. You're young, stupid, and kind of an asshole, but I've been there."

Sam nodded. "Is Layla's eye really gone? Because of me?"

"She's found a path forward and you will too. You can't change what's already happened, Sam."

The boy sat there for a long time, considering everything that had happened. Then he said, "I really didn't mean it. I wanted to become strong for her, but she got hurt."

"Dragons are protectors. You have to decide on what you're going to protect, and your strength will come on its own. You don't need anything else. If you make up your mind that you're going to protect your guild, the rest of it will fall in place, I promise."

Sam nodded. "Thank you, Master."

"You ready to head home?"

He nodded again.

When he put his hand on Sam's shoulder, the boy abruptly embraced him and started sobbing like a baby, feeling a mixture of pain about everything he'd caused and relief that he wasn't going to be removed from his guild family.

"It's all right, Sam. We're all going to be okay as long as we stick together. That's what it means to be a part of this guild. We tackle our problems head-on and we do it together."

Laxus held Sam for a long time and knew he'd somehow found the correct path to take. They'd all be better off in the end, even if it was harder at the moment. It was an important lesson for each of them, and it was better to learn early on than to be stubborn and have to learn the hard way. He knew that from his own experiences, and he didn't want any of their young wizards to end up on the road he'd started on at their age.

He walked Sam home, and returned to his house to find things were more or less like he expected. Anna was dressing up her baby brother whether he liked it or not (and he did not), Mavis was trying and failing to beat up Iggy in the backyard, and Iggy was in the backyard because he felt extremely strange with his girlfriend and her adoration of babies. Between a baby Exceed and her baby brother, Iggy felt more awkward than not.

Yuri was with his mother in the kitchen, washing dishes while she worked on an accounting ledger.

"How's Layla?"

Yuri flatly answered, "She hates you."

"You okay?"

He nodded. "Sam's just stupid right? I don't think he's evil."

"Not even really stupid. Just young. Like you."

Lucy looked up and gave him a little smile. "You're a good guildmaster."

He kissed her hair and then heard the baby yell. "Anna, stop pissing him off. You're not the one who has to stay up with him when he gets in a bad mood. Let the baby chill and go annoy your boyfriend."

"Meow!"

"K!"

They hit the back door after handing a fussy baby off to their father.

Lex was possibly the most spoiled baby that had ever lived, and was more than accustomed to being passed around between his parents and siblings. He was always in someone's arms, always getting a good snuggle in, and when he wasn't, he typically let them know he expected it. He'd quickly made the turn from being a neglected hospital orphan to being the center of attention.

"This kid is going to be such a brat…"

Lucy said, "Like the first four?"

"Why did we have kids again?"

"Cause you got me knocked up on our wedding night?"

Yuri turned. "Eww…Mom. Dad. Please."

"You know we're talking about you," Lucy answered.

"That happened after you got married?" he asked, "I mean, when people get married and then they have a baby nine months later…"

After a terrible stressful few days, Laxus couldn't help but bust out laughing at his son.

Lucy asked, "What are you laughing at?"

"Our son. He apparently thinks he was conceived out of wedlock. What, did you think we ran out and got married because I got your mom knocked up and then along came you?" he answered.

Yuri seemed suspicious. "Well, kind of. I've thought for a long time it happened like that."

Lucy quickly answered, "What kind of girl do you think I am? I'd never!"

"Ummm…" Yuri stared at the dishes still sitting in the sink and considered abandoning his task.

Laxus on the other hand said, "Babe, I didn't really lie to him about…"

"You told our son we did it before we were married?!" she indignantly asked.

Her husband looked at their son, then at his wife. "I didn't know I was supposed to lie?"

"Gah! What is wrong with you?! You told our son we had premarital sex!" she shrieked.

"Our son is having premarital sex, so I felt like it was wise to let him know it is normal and that he should be safe."

Yuri dropped a plate in the soapy water and dried his hands. "I'll come back and finish these later. I need to go upstairs and…I don't know. Hang myself."

Lucy said, "Son, you were not conceived out of wedlock. You're not a bastard child, I promise. We got married, and we made you, and then you were born. The wholesome, good, old-fashioned way."

"Believe her, she'd never lie to you about something like that," his father sarcastically answered.

Yuri took a deep breath. "….do you guys have some rope? And I need to borrow a chair if that's okay."

Their son suddenly broke out into a run and went upstairs, and Lucy punched her husband on the arm.

"Our son thought we got married because I got you pregnant with him. That's so amusing I almost can't contain myself," he said as he turned to her with a smirk.

"You're an idiot."

"Stop pouting. It's too cute."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Your chances of scoring tonight are zero. I'm pissed off and I'm about to start my period. Have a nice life, Laxus. I'm going upstairs to take a long bath, and then I'm going to ignore you for the rest of the night."

She stopped briefly to kiss her baby boy. "You're such a handsome boy, yes you are. You're the only male in this house that doesn't give me grief, Lexy."

Her husband offered one last provocation as she started up the stairs. "You look pretty fine from behind."

"Get a life!"

The last sound as she made her way up was the sound of his low laugh, and then some whispers to their baby boy, undoubtedly about how 'crazy' women were.

He finished the dishes, and watched the twins and Iggy sparring through the window while Lex took his bottle.

"You've got a good family. Crazy, but good. Your Mama is my favorite person ever. I love that woman. Pretty and feisty. When you grow up, find a girl like her and you'll have a great life."

He sent Iggy home when it started to get late and sent his now sweaty, dirty twins upstairs to bathe and get ready for bed. They were good girls; a little wild in their own little ways. All the kids were growing up, and he was proud of each of them.

After everyone was in bed and asleep, including Lex, he noticed Layla's light was still on and had a thought. He ventured into the attic to find a long-lost relic of his young life. The attic was filled with memories: photos, pictures, toys that were once beloved but now outgrown, dresses worn to long-passed birthday parties, and then there was also a lot of junk he didn't recognize at all.

Laxus briefly wondered if age was turning his wife into a hoarder, and then decided he'd address it if the attic became too full.

When he finally found what he was looking for, he felt a wave of nostalgia.

He went downstairs and went into Layla's room to find she was looking at a copy of Sorcerer's Weekly Teen with a pen in hand.

Her face twisted in anger at the sight of him, and he sat down at the edge of the bed.

"Hate me?"

"Yes!"

"How much? A little. A lot?"

"As much as possible."

He held up what was once his most prized possession: a pair of spiked magic headphones. "When I was your age, I got these. When I didn't want to hear anyone's bullshit, I'd turn them up and chill. Then I came to a point in my life where it was time for me to listen and time for me to talk, and I guess I didn't need them anymore."

Layla took them into her hands and examined them. There were some nicks and they needed to be polished so badly. But they were cool to her, so badass and so unique all at once. She'd never seen anything like them.

"I wore these during some of my most important battles: against my enemies and sometimes, against myself."

She held them up to her ears and the magic in her body activated them, causing them to stay on her ears. "Dad, are you lying?"

"Lying, why?"

"There's no way you ever wore anything this cool. I mean, let's be real. You're a middle-aged man with five kids. Your cool factor is pretty low," she teased.

Her father stretched out on her bed next to her.

"Hey, I still hate you. Get out, Dad."

Her father pulled her into a forced hug and said, "Really? You hate me and I'm a middle-aged loser with too many kids and no fashion sense."

"Let me go, you big jerk!"

"Nope."

Layla finally wrestled free from him and sat up. "Can't you just let me be pissed?"

"Of course not. Don't be ridiculous. Besides, I'm very proud of you, you know."

This brought her to a full stop. "Proud?"

"You've always had two dueling sides. You've been one part ferocious and one part prissy princess since you were little. You can't be both at the same time—you can either be a whiny brat or a confident, strong woman, not both. You've suddenly burst from your cocoon and the fiercest version of you has survived. This is an important moment in your life. You don't realize it now, but this is probably the biggest step toward adulthood that you're going to take."

Layla took these words to heart and even though she wanted to stay angry, it was hard. Her father had been there for her every step of the way, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't harbor anger toward him for long.

Laxus reached for the magazine and found the numbers written all over the boys. "What is this?"

"Potential boyfriends list. My search for true love continues. I want to have a boyfriend. I may not be as pretty now, but I want to know what it's like to be with someone, Dad. Hold hands. Kiss."

Normally, he would have broken out the usual rhetoric but he knew the events had taken a toll on her previously impenetrable self-esteem. He assumed any girl that age would feel a little insecure about the changes to her appearance.

He looked over at her and said, "You're still gorgeous, you know. If you were trying to date some local asshole, maybe he'd bemoan your hair being short or not having perfect skin or whatever. But these guys…" he held up the magazine, "They like fierce women."

"I'm kind of sexy and a bad girl now."

"Uhhh, no. You're my baby, I changed your diapers."

"Get out, Dad."

He kissed her forehead. "Thanks for being willing to have mercy on Sam. You'll look back on this in the future and realize how important it was, I promise."

She shook her head. "I still hate him."

"It'll get better. Trust me. You'll forgive him long before he forgives himself. Goodnight, Baby."

"Goodnight, Daddy."

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AN: Thanks to all who are still with me at 50 chapters!

Special thanks to Megumiyoung, Guest, saskiarose, newhee89, pandorababe, 17, T, Morenoel, chan19, wordsaremyspells1331, tiernank, katiekat2001, yed01, kennedydreyar, xxshyxx, guest, highfirebuilder, guest, minsugaCTS420, silverinu93, screennamesarelame, savygirl1515, thornado, rebel.17, b2utifulshawol, helenezahl, flamey owl, aviend, fairy-gg, sassykitten1701, and Paname for reviewing!