Sometimes, Yuri just felt hollow, and strange, like he was missing something.

Being wild was fairly normal for a young male wizard, and as far as the world of magic was concerned, he was on top. In his prime, he'd made S-Class early on, he made good money, he was popular, but the reckless nights of partying were starting to blur together.

Watching Anna and Iggy cling reminded him of how things had been for him back when he was a teenager.

Sometimes, he wanted to find Lilia and find out what she was up to, but she'd cut her ties to Magnolia and left the wonderful world of magic. They hadn't crossed paths and he honestly had no idea where she was or what she was doing.

There were moments where he felt desperately miserable and inexplicably alone, even with a pretty girl in bed next to him. Yet, he didn't want to get close, because he didn't want to hurt another girl or to get hurt.

An unplanned pregnancy might have been a disaster for Anna, but in some ways, Yuri was envious of his sister, because she was with someone she'd loved for a long time.

Layla was a little jealous her sister found true love while she continued to wander through boys trying to find one that felt right. She wanted desperately to fall helplessly in love, but she felt like trying to date was like trying to mash puzzle pieces together that weren't meant to fit.

Mavis wished she could be as honest about her feelings as her twin.

Yet none of them envied the stress or the obvious struggle.

The parents watched the dynamics play out and did their best to support their family while it was in a state of change.

Three weeks after the news of the pregnancy broke and three weeks until the scheduled wedding, Iggy came into his guildmaster's office with dues, fees, and no damage form, which suggested he'd been very careful. They'd barely seen him since he found out Anna was pregnant, and nobody was happy about that. He'd taken a series of dangerous jobs and had progressively picked up a laundry list of injuries that had become too severe for his guildmaster to ignore.

He literally had cuts and bruises everywhere. He looked exhausted and nervous.

…and he had another job flier.

Laxus looked up at him and said, "Are you going on jobs non-stop because you don't want to be around Anna?"

"No, it's not like that."

"Then what's the problem?"

Iggy said, "Look, between the two of us, we have seven million jewel in savings. I've earned another two this past month."

"That's a very respectable number."

"You know the house right across the street from yours is for sale, right? Anna's always thought it's a cute little house, so we started talking about moving out and suddenly they stick this stupid for sale sign in the yard. She's in love with it, and has all these ideas about raising a baby right across the street from you. It's a nice place. It's close to the school, my parents, the guild…it has big trees and flowers and she just loves it," he said.

Laxus leaned back in his chair. "How much is it on the market for?"

"Seventeen million. I can make that money, but I don't have it right now. I went to the bank. Apparently wizards don't get mortgages like regular people because we have a life expectancy problem."

He nodded. "There's a reason most wizards are slumming it. It's very hard to get ahead for someone who never makes S-Class, and you haven't even been at that level for a year."

Iggy dug through his bag for a notebook and handed it to him. "We already have doctor's bills coming in. Did you know it can take two million jewel just in bills to have a baby?"

"Having a baby can be very expensive, especially if anything isn't normal. Lucy racked up almost twice that in bills when we had the twins."

"Well, we definitely don't want to spend so much money we might not be able to afford doctor's bills. Then, we have to find a place, and buy everything that goes in that place like furniture and groceries. Taxes are almost due too, and only one of us can go on jobs right now," he said.

Laxus was nearly miserably with sympathy over the poor kid breaking his back and any other part of his body necessary to try and do well for his fiancé and their unborn child. He also knew Anna always thought the house across the street was adorable, so that means Iggy must have known, and Iggy didn't would rather kill himself on jobs trying than tell her they couldn't afford to live there.

The guildmaster said, "You're in bad shape, kid. Go home and sleep. Go see Anna. She needs you around. I'm not going to approve you taking jobs until after the wedding. I'm not going to let you work until you die like this."

Iggy looked like he was about to flip out or cry or maybe both, which was very out of character because he was normally very calm and optimistic like his mother.

"Iggy, getting married is a really big change. It's not like moving in with somebody of whatever. You and Anna have to work hard to be honest with each other about everything, including your money. You have enough to take care of stuff that's important. It's not chivalrous or brave for you to keep all your stress to yourself. She's not the kind of girl who gets bent out of shape when she can't have what she wants. If you just tell her you can't afford the house, she'll be just fine. She'd rather be an apartment-dweller than a widow, trust me," he said.

Iggy slumped down. "But she's the kind of girl who doesn't really ask for much, so for her to really want something and me not be able to give it to her just feels awful, like I can't take care of her."

"You can ask for help."

"I'm trying really hard to be a man here, you know."

His obstinacy was both admirable and foolish, but every guy knew how it felt to need help and not want to ask for it. Iggy wanted to be a real man and take care of his family, and Laxus honestly wasn't sure if it was a good idea to step on that.

He sent Iggy on and went back to his work.

At the Dreyar house, Yuri and Anna were alone in the house with Lex. Babies and family were at the forefront of Anna's mind, so hanging out with her brother reminded him that he hadn't really been so successful in his personal life.

Sure his career had taken off, and it was definitely fun partying and sleeping around, but it wasn't substantive or satisfying.

He started to think about Lilia. About her scent, and her smile, and the way they'd talk about things that really mattered. She was really the only person outside of his immediate family he'd ever confided in, and back when he was young, he used to tell her everything and that made him happy.

She was still heavy on his mind when his mother got home from making some wedding arrangements.

After she finished talking to Anna, Yuri found her in the living room scribbling something about centerpieces in a notebook.

"Mom, can I ask you a question?"

"Always. What's on your mind, Thunder Baby?"

He sat down next to her. "Do you know where Lilia is?"

"Of course. She writes to me sometimes."

"How's she doing?"

Yuri had never asked, not one time. When they broke up, Lilia pulled back from the world of magic and her ties to Magnolia and he hadn't ever reached out for her. She knew they didn't hate each other, but after so many years of being so attached, it seemed like severing their contact with one another so completely had been the only way for them to really part ways.

Lucy asked, "What's wrong, Yuri?"

"I wonder what I maybe missed out on. Life's fun, but it's not all great. I miss having someone to talk to," he said.

"I'm sure some of your little flings are really nice girls, Yuri. And most of them would probably listen to you if you felt like you had something to say. You could try dating for real. Meet somebody. Go out on a date, get to know her before you get her in bed. You're a really sweet and sentimental person—I don't think the way you do things is very befitting of you, but of course no mother wants her son growing up to be a big manwhore. As your mother, I don't like that one bit," she said.

Yuri knew neither of his parents approved of how he'd run his romantic life for the past couple of years. His father told him he was being stupid all the time, and told him it would catch up with him if he didn't calm down eventually.

"I know things are hard for Anna, but she's going to be happy," he said.

Lucy considered her son's apparent distress and hugged on his arm because he was honestly too big for her to just grab and squeeze whenever she liked. "Son, you're okay."

"So…where is Lilia?"

His mother said, "Engaged. She's getting married in a couple of months."

"What?! To who?!"

"Yuri, it's been six years. You can't get bent out of shape about that. You broke up, you've been living separate lives. She has a whole career you don't even know about. She's not the person you knew, and you're not the person she knew, so leave her alone, Yuri. She's happy."

"Where?"

Lucy knew her son had a mind to be foolish and rash, so she held onto him. "Yuri, I don't think you made a mistake when you broke up with her, but think about this for a minute. You left her. That hurt her. A lot. It was better for her in the long run, but she still suffered. You just went on and everyone knows how you've been. She was alone, and you were sleeping around. She found her own way in the world and she found someone she loves. You can't just crash back into her life because you're not happy."

The idea that he wasn't happy was news to him.

Was he unsatisfied?

Yuri wasn't sure, but he felt a little sick to his stomach when she thought of her being happy with some other man.

Once Lucy felt like she'd talked some degree of common sense into her son, she went back to wedding planning.

Yuri was going through a moment of his own and in this moment, he decided the thing to do was to look through his mom's drawer of letters and find her address, then…he wasn't sure what would happen. He wasn't sure if he wasn't happy. In fact, he really didn't know anything except he'd somehow gotten it wrong in life.

She had an address in Clover, so he jumped on the first train out and after the expected period of nausea, bounded off the train platform.

The address belonged to a neat little row house near the part of Clover that had to be rebuilt the last time Natsu had a job there, and as he went up the steps, he really had no idea what he was going to say or even what he was doing there.

"Who is it?" a male voice called.

Yuri cringed, but he didn't say anything.

The door opened and a man stuck his head out, peering about until he recognized his visitor. "Hello, can I…Yuri Dreyar."

"Right. And you are?"

"Calvin Moore, Lilia's fiancé," he answered, putting a great of emphasis on the last word.

Yuri looked strong in Sorcerer's Weekly, but that really didn't do him justice. He was two inches taller than his father, and the tallest wizard in Fairy Tail. He had huge muscles everywhere, and he was handsome—a heartthrob and heartbreaker.

Calvin was almost a full foot shorter, and wasn't particularly strong-looking.

They shook hands, and Yuri noted his hands were very soft, like he'd expect from someone who hadn't ever done anything serious with them.

Calvin was short, in his mid-thirties with glasses and the kind of body that said he probably had a job that involved sitting at a desk most of the time. He seemed skittish even when he opened the door, like he was scared of strangers.

They stood there, staring at each other.

For a loooooooong time.

Yuri asked, "I was wondering if I could talk to Lilia."

"She's not here. I could pass a message along."

There was a part of Yuri that just felt compelled beyond his self-control to be a complete and total dick. "So tell me where she is then."

"She's at work."

"And where is that?"

"You can't disturb her while she's at work!"

Yuri shrugged. "I'll just follow her scent. Thanks for nothing."

When he turned to leave, Calvin came out and tried to talk him out of it. "Look, you can't just go bother her when she's teaching. You could get her in trouble with the principal. She won't appreciate it."

"Don't worry. It'll be fine!"

When he got to the bottom of the steps, he added, "And I must say that as Lilia's fiancé, I do not appreciate your visit, nor your attitude. She's moved past the careless phase of her life, and she has no need for your interference!"

Yuri waved. "Catch you later!"

He was grievously agitated by seeing the person Lilia had chosen to marry and followed her scent as he considered what exactly he was doing. Was he curious? Did he want her back? He felt very unsettled and very unsure of himself.

While he was thinking about his life, he suddenly heard a chorus of itty bitty screams as he stepped into the schoolyard and immediately had the attention of thirty or so kindergarteners who were shouting his name and grabbing onto him, asking questions and yelling and otherwise expressing their immeasurable glee that the one and only Yuri Dreyar had somehow come to their school.

It distracted him from himself, and from his bizarre stupor. He liked kids; they liked him. Being surrounded by a mob of enthusiastic kids put a big dent in his stress level, and he found himself catering to their little whims, flexing his muscles with kids hanging off his arms and showing them a little lightning.

"Kids, time to get back to class."

Yuri's heart skipped a few beats when he finally saw Lilia and heard her voice.

Lilia sent her kids off with one of the other teachers and crossed her arms. "Well, look who it is. Passing by?"

"I ummm…came looking for you," he admitted.

Her hair was in a bun, probably a necessity working around little kids, and she looked more beautiful than he remembered. Her face was soft and warm, and her eyes were so bright and lively.

She smiled at him and sat down in the nearby swing, and he sat in the swing beside her.

They didn't say anything.

Lilia asked, "How have you been?"

"Fine, I guess. Working mostly. You know what? Anna's pregnant. She and Iggy are about to get married, and I've just been thinking about a lot of things. Well, not a lot of things. Mostly just you."

Her smile seemed a little sad, but she was smiling. "I bet Anna and Iggy will be really good parents. That's pretty exciting, really. You know, I'm about to get married. My fiancé is a nice guy."

"I met him."

"Oh, geeze. Were you a jerk?"

Yuri shrugged. "Of course not. I was afraid I breathed on him too hard, he'd drop dead from fright."

She laughed. "That's probably true. Look, Yuri. I don't like getting hit in the face, and I don't like hitting other people in the face. Magic was not for me. We're normal people. We have normal lives and normal jobs and we do what normal people do. We're happy."

Yuri said, "I don't want you to get married. At least not to him. How about me? I'm a nice guy."

"Yuri, you are one of the nicest and most wonderful people I've ever known and I know you're a great person, but uhhh…you know I've read about you, right? You went on to become a big slut, and I went to university and became a kindergarten teacher. We do not live in the same world," she said.

"You can come live in my world. It's not bad," he offered.

"Yuri, no."

Yuri felt a stinging, sinking feeling in his gut and realized he'd spend most of his day on this fool's errand. In his heart, he knew she hadn't really been a big fan of fighting all along, and she seemed really happy where she was.

"You love him?"

"Of course."

"Are you sure?"

"He's a great guy."

Yuri said, "That's not the same thing. I was passionate about you."

"Yes, and then you were passionate with ten percent of the adult female population."

It was like suddenly, life caught up with Yuri. His career was perfect, and nothing could have been better. Personally, he was a mess, and somehow he hadn't realized it because young male wizards were just expected to act a certain kind of way.

Lilia always told herself she'd have no sympathy for him because he was living it up, but when he looked up at her with those big, sad blue eyes, she couldn't help but remember that he was also her best friend growing up.

Lilia sighed and said, "I never really thanked you for what you did. It was the right thing for me. It makes me sad to think you haven't found happiness. It seems like it should be easy. Any girl would love to be with you. You're wonderful. Kind, sweet, considerate. You should try to fall in love with somebody."

"I did, and I'm not sure if I ever fell out. Seeing you just does something to me, but you're somebody else's girl now. In my head, I'm thinking about all the rotten things I could try to steal you back, but I know that's not right. I want you to be happy."

She stood and said, "I need to get back to my work, and I'm sure you have things you should be doing now too. Goodbye, Yuri."

Yuri knew he'd made dreadful mistakes and that they couldn't be undone. Maybe somewhere in his mind, he'd thought they'd eventually end up together, and they stayed alive in his mind. When he realized he either had to learn how to love someone else or be alone, he felt devastated.

He just sat there on the swings, and played back all his happy memories growing up with her.

Her mind seemed to be more than made up about who she wanted to spend her life with, and that person was somebody else.

Nothing he'd been doing felt wrong until then. His parents had always been clear about drawing lines between things that were immoral and things that were just really foolish. They gave him latitude to be a fool if he wanted to be, but they always reminded him that's what he was with women.

And, when Yuri thought about it, he didn't blame her.

She was beautiful and wonderful, so was it really a surprise that once she found her own way, she also found someone else to be happy with?

He took the train home, and then the next morning decided he'd try to spend some time with Anna. Ultimately, they ended up commiserating about how their own choices led to them no being able to achieve what they wanted in life over a pie Layla had baked. They had two forks in a pie pan and the sobering reality that despite making mostly all right decisions, they'd made a few bad ones that had derailed their lives.

Layla came in, grabbed a fork from the drawer, and sat at the table. "Life sucks."

"Mhmm," Anna and Yuri answered.

"I broke up with my boyfriend. Now I don't have a date for the wedding. I'm going to die alone, and probably fat, in a house full of hoarder's loot and fifty cats," she said, taking a bite.

Their mother joined them after a couple of minutes, asked Anna a few questions about the wedding, and then tapped her fingers on the table. "So, Yuri, I know you stole Lilia's address from me. How did that go for you?" she crossly asked.

Her son gave her a bland smile. "Well, Mom, she tore my heart out and stomped on it. So not exactly like I expected."

"You two need to calm down. Being twenty-two and single is not the worst thing. Or twenty," she said, glancing at Layla.

Layla answered, "Mom, when you were my age, you were married and pregnant already."

When she uttered the phrase 'married and pregnant,' Anna buried her head in her hands and groaned.

Lucy sighed. "You guys are a real bunch of downers. Anna, your fiancé will be by later and you can be gleefully happy again, Yuri, there are millions of women in this country who adore you, and Layla, you can stop dumping your boyfriends whenever you please."

Mavis ran in, and practically slammed the door behind her, only to be chased in by Baby Orga who wasn't much of a 'baby' anymore at twenty. He was shirtless in jeans as always, and she had a Fairy Tail t-shirt on and jeans as she sprinted through the kitchen, nearly slipping on a chunk of pie dropped on the floor by one of her miserable siblings.

Orga followed, she squealed.

Layla looked up at her sister, who was apparently very happy as she had a boyfriend but did not have a baby. "Mavis?"

"What?"

"Get out."

Lucy stood and hugged on her youngest daughter. "You might as well. These guys are like a little hive of desperation and depression. But at least there's pie, right?"

Mavis grabbed the last bite of pie from the pan with her bare fingers, popped it in her mouth and then, with her mouth still full, mumbled, "Not anymore!"

She raced up the stairs and Orga followed, and they heard the door slam.

Anna stared at the empty pie plate. "If you ever needed proof she was the evil twin…"

Lex came down and asked, "Can I go play with Crash?"

Lucy asked, "Did you finish memorizing your multiplication tables."

"Of course, Mom!"

"What's six times eight?"

"Thirty-six, of course."

Their mother stood and said, "That is…very wrong. At least you have a problem I can help with. Let's go practice for a while."

Lex innocently looked at his older brother and sisters. "You guys got problems? Are they worse than multiplication?"

Layla huffed, "They're five times six times harder."

"So…twenty three times harder?"

Anna said, "I think you've studied that about nine times zero hours."

"Nine hours is a lot. Hey…are you guys being mean to me?" Lex asked.

Lucy put an arm around him. "Don't worry. They're just having a little moment. All of them. Together. C'mon, big guy, and geeze, that hair. Is there no dragon boy with hair that doesn't want to stick straight up?"

She felt sympathy for their various trials and tribulations in life, but there were different stages in life and the more stages they went through, the less she and her husband were able to help. As newborns, they could supply every need, but with every day that ticked by as they grew up, they become more and more responsible for themselves.

Truthfully, Lucy wasn't disappointed in any of her children, and knew they'd all find their own path to happiness. They had grown up to be wonderful people, but transitions were always painful and Yuri and Layla had graduated from the phase of life where they were trying to find themseves and awkwardly found themselves searching for companionship in all the wrong places.

Iggy came by to take Anna to a doctor's appointment, and they walked hand-in-hand. Sometimes, they felt overwhelmed by what they were going through, and other times, they were happy. Unplanned pregnancies were a very mixed and intense experience.

He told her the night before they would have to move into an apartment, and she was disappointed, but okay. With the way things happened, some things just had to happen in a different order. She was confident that they'd be quite all right as long as they had each other.

Anna snuggled his arm and asked, "Can I sleepover with you tonight?"

"Sure, if you want, and you don't mind my mom dragging you to the baby store in the morning. Our baby has more outfits than I do," he said.

She giggled at him. "I don't just want to sleep, you know. We could do it."

Iggy felt his cheeks burn as he looked away. "You mean…it?"

"Yes, it. You know, make love," she sweetly answered.

"You want to?"

Anna nodded. "Maybe it'll last a little longer this time."

"Sorry about that. And uhh…for getting you pregnant."

His wife to be giggled, "Who knew it only took sixty seconds to make a baby?"

He cringed. "Ugh, I'm so sorry. It just felt so good I couldn't stop it."

Anna didn't really mind and thought it was kind of funny, but she could tell he was very embarrassed about it. "Don't worry, Orga had that problem too. Mavis bites him if he finishes before her."

"Is there anything twins don't talk about? And that's extremely barbaric of Mavis, yet very much what you'd expect."

She lifted his hand to her mouth and gave him a nibble. "I could bite you."

"Cute, but maybe I'll bite you back."

"My mom had a few glasses of wine a while back and told me all dragons were biters in bed so I just need to prepare myself for a lifetime of being a big chew toy," she answered.

They got to the doctor's office, and Iggy tried to help her with forms but really just mildly annoyed her. Then he followed her into the exam room and heard a lot of words he didn't know followed by an exam that he found gross.

The doctor continued to utter very large words, some of which were a little scary. The man assured them everything seemed quite all right, with one little detail slightly out of the ordinary.

"I can clearly detect two separate heartbeats."

Anna's expression dropped and she sat up on her elbows. "Are you kidding me?!"

"The baby has two hearts?" Iggy asked, somewhat numb to the actual news.

The doctor ignored this comment. "Do twins run in your family? Fraternal twins can run in families because dropping more than one egg during ovulation can be passed down."

Anna's brow was twitching wildly, like her mother's, and she wondered—was this how it started for her?

"I have a twin. Are you sure? Can you listen again or whatever you have to do, because this can't happen," she grumbled.

Iggy was absolutely stupefied. "Wait, wait, wait. There's more than one baby?"

And his mind raced, because that meant his little budget was even less sufficient than it was before. He wondered what would happen if he couldn't take care of his little family, or if something went wrong, or if there complications, or if Anna would just be miserable, suddenly married and then a mother to two kids they hadn't ever intended on having.

Anna looked over at him to see how he felt about it, and it was really clear he wasn't happy about it, and went on her own little mental meandering concerning how terribly she was sabotaging his life with her uterus. Before all this started, he was just a young and powerful wizard on his way to the top. Now, he'd lost focus on being the strongest wizard and had her and two babies to worry about.

The walk home was quiet, and a little introspective.

Iggy had his hands in his pockets, and she walked a little further away from him.

And then she just burst into tears in the middle of the sidewalk.

"H-Hey, what are you doing? You can't cry. I'm supposed to take care of you and make you happy. I guess I'm already not good at that," he said, hugging her.

Anna sniffed. "You're doing a really good job, actually. I'm sorry this happened. I'm supposed to make you happy too, and you look pretty miserable."

"Only because you're not happy," he answered.

"So you're not happy cause I'm not happy. And I'm not happy because you're not happy…"

And then they laughed at themselves, because that was completely ridiculous. Then they held hands, and then she hugged on his arm, and then he put his arm around her.

Anna said, "But think of it this way. Two babies in one minute. That's like thirty seconds a kid."

Iggy sighed. "Please don't tell anyone about that."

"Your secret is safe with me. And you know, my mom. My sisters. And my dad."

Iggy couldn't imagine the context in which she told her father she'd become pregnant during an act of premature ejaculation, but he knew Master Laxus well enough to know he probably appreciated knowing that information about as much as Iggy did knowing that he knew. Mutual horror and disgust was a wonderful tool for silence.

"Oh…and your mom."

"Ugh, Anna! Baby, you're killing me."

"You got me pregnant so I'm allowed. Extra pregnant, because you just have to be an overachiever," she answered before yanking him down by the arm and kissing his cheek. "We're going to be just fine."

They headed to a restaurant where they were supposed to meet with their parents to hammer out some last minute wedding details, and just as they were nearing the front door, Iggy asked, "Can we still do it? You made me kind of want it really bad."

And of course, at that moment, Laxus and Lucy came around the corner.

Laxus glared, and Lucy elbowed him. "She's already pregnant, why do you care?"

He sulked. "It just makes me feel gross, but I'll probably feel better in about a minute. That's how long everything takes now."

Lucy elbowed him again, this time harder. "Stop being terrible. Is that too much to ask?"

Anna hugged her mom, then her dad, and kissed him on the cheek.

They went inside, and sat at a round table in the corner of the restaurant.

Lucy was the organizer, but Lisanna was doing most of the footwork since Lucy had a lot more on her plate.

Natsu and Lisanna had taken the news about like Laxus and Lucy had at first, but both couples were warming up to the idea of the kids getting married and starting their lives together as they watched them grow and do their best to take care of each other.

At some point, Lisanna had gone baby crazy and there were no signs it was going to end anytime soon.

Their 'small ceremony' had become ridiculously huge very fast, and while the moms went over the guest list they'd sent invitations to, Iggy and Anna just stared.

Anna asked, "Mom, I don't know if you know this, but when your teenage daughter accidentally gets knocked up, it's normal for the ceremony to be kind of hush-hush."

"Oh, you hush-hush. You're going to get a lot of stuff and a lot of cash as gifts. These people will fill your place up with stuff you need. Every person I invite provides one less thing you have to buy on your own," Lucy explained.

Natsu was very obviously bored by all the wedding talk, and Laxus' interest was nearly non-existent. Since he was financially responsible for the wedding, he did occasionally incline his ear, but he trusted his wife not to do anything too crazy. He'd seen her estimate and was irritated that he had to pay an enormous sum of money so a man could take his daughter away from him.

Natsu made a paper triangle and thumped it over to Laxus, who returned it, then it flew across the table to Iggy.

Lucy interrupted a dialogue about flowers with, "Are you guys playing paperball?"

The evidence burned up and they all shook their heads insistently.

At Fairy Tail, women ruled the world, and that was that.

By the time the food was finally brought, the wedding agenda had been taken care of.

Lisanna asked, "How was the doctor's appointment?"

Anna and Iggy glanced at one another, and then Anna blurted out, "We're going to have twins."

Laxus choked on his beer, Lucy made a surprised squeaky noise, Natsu laughed, and Lisanna's baby fever reached a new high.

"Are you guys okay? That's a big deal. One baby is a big responsibility, but two is…the twin experience is quite something," Lucy gently said.

It was obvious the kids were very stressed out about the newest revelation, and the parents looked one to another and exchanged little nods, like they knew something Iggy and Anna did not.

Natsu took an envelope out of his pocket. "That makes me kind of glad we did this, right?"

The others nodded again.

Lucy pushed the envelope over to them. "We know things didn't go the way anybody planned. And we know you're both doing your best. We don't want to step on your determination or how responsible you're being, but we wanted to do our best too."

Iggy opened the envelope, and keys fell on the table, along with a piece of paper.

It was the property deed to the house across the street.

Lisanna said, "Laxus told us you guys really wanted it but it was a little out of your reach. We went in on it together. It's our gift to you guys. We want you guys to be able to happy, and start off on the right foot. I know this will take most of the pressure off of you two."

The only person who didn't say anything about it was Laxus, but Iggy knew this was all his doing.

Anna started crying and got up from the table and hugged everyone, then said, "I don't know why I can't stop crying today."

Lucy brushed her hair away from her face. "Crying uncontrollably is actually one of the untold joys of being pregnant, ranking somewhere between indigestion and acne."

Lisanna gave her a sagely nod.

Iggy expressed his thanks and felt so indescribably grateful and relieved. 'Where do we live' was actually a terrifying question when a man had a wedding coming up and two babies on the way. The house was taken care of, and that meant they could use the money they had for furniture and baby stuff and doctor's bills and still have a little wiggle room.

The crushing pressure was gone.

Anna was happy too, because it was a cute house, but the most important thing about it was that it was so close to her family. She really wasn't ready to leave them, so now that she was right across the street seemed like as far as she wanted to go.

Once dinner was over, everyone headed toward their respective homes, even Iggy and Anna who now had a home to go to. They got a bunch of pillows and blankets, made a pillow fort, and decided to sleep over in their new home.

Anna decided to run back to her parents' house to get a pregnancy book to share with Iggy and found her father sitting on a swing hanging from a maple tree in her new front yard.

"Daddy!"

"Hey kid."

She came and sat right next to him. "Daddy…"

He wrapped his arm around her and asked, "You're sleeping over here?"

She smiled excitedly. "It's my home, so yes. I don't even know how to thank you guys."

"I'm just your dad. I like to think as your dad I've been the most important man in your life. It was my job to make sure you were safe and happy, and I did my best. You've always been a really great kid, so it wasn't hard. You were my little girl, and I was your guy. Suddenly, some kid is taking my place and I hate it. So I figure the last thing I really get to do to make you happy," he said.

He heard a sniffled. "Oh God, are you crying again?"

"I can't help it, Daddy! I'll always be your little girl, I promise!" she sobbed into his chest.

Laxus chuckled a bit. "Don't cry, kid. You weren't going to be a little girl forever. When your babies are born, you'll down at them and realize that someday, they'll grow up to. Being a parent has been the most wonderful thing in my life. I'm so proud of how you're growing and getting ready to become a little mom, you know. You're so strong. Smart. Sweet. You're going to be a good wife to that idiot, and a great mom to those little rascals—feel free to walk across the street and drop them off when they get on your nerves."

"I love you, Daddy. Thank you for not killing my fiancé."

"I actually seriously considered it. I even wrote the pros and cons down on a piece of paper. Killing him would result in me having to help you with diapers and feedings at three in the morning, so he gets to live."

(He did, however, give this piece of paper to Iggy so the guy could know convenience was the only reason his head was still attached to the rest of his body.)

She stayed there for a while, weepy and snuggly with Daddy, and then kissed him on the cheek and went to go find the book she'd wanted.

When she ran across the street, Iggy came out looking for her and found a dragon sitting on his swing.

"Thanks."

Laxus said, "She'll be back in a minute, but you'll be done by then, right?"

Iggy's head hung down a little. "I really wish you didn't know about that."

"You ready to be a dad?"

"Not really."

"Nobody is. You'll figure it out. Goodnight."

Laxus was walking across the street when he passed Anna, who ran straight into Iggy's arms. There was excited chatter, and giggling, and he turned back to his own house.

XXX

At two-thirty in the morning that night, Yuri awoke to the sound of his window opening and sat up to see Lilia climbing through. He stared in complete disbelief, and jumped out of the bed and went over to embrace her.

"Oh, I'm so glad you don't have another girl in here!" she said.

"In our house? My mom would kill her, then me. Besides, my sisters are monsters and terrorize any girl that seems to like me," he answered.

She started stripping down on the way to the bed, as if they hadn't been apart for six years and there hadn't been other people.

"Lilia, I…"

"This time, let's stay together. The girl dragon should be with the boy dragon, not the accountant. Seeing you reminded me of who you are and who you are to me. I don't care about the other girls, because unlike them, I know who you are. And you are the kindest, most wonderful man in the world. I believe you're my soul mate, so let's try this one last time."

Yuri grabbed her and pulled her into a deep, hot kiss—the kind the accountant knew nothing of. She might have been living an ordinary life, but she was still a magical creature and that side of her craved him like nothing else in the world.

Wizards were extremely carnal creatures, and it made him a very passionate lover. And, as much as she hated to admit it, he'd had enough practice that the experience was like nothing she'd ever felt before.

They went at it, over and over, until it was already light outside again. In between rounds, he talked about everything in the world.

Lucy went up around noon to see if her oldest son felt like joining the world of the living, but when she opened the door, she found him sound asleep in the bed. She could see long, lilac hair, and Yuri was sleeping so peacefully.

She smiled, and went downstairs to Layla, who was packing up for a job.

Of her three children that had been miserable the day before, Yuri and Anna were happy, and that just left Layla.

She poured a cup of coffee and whispered, "Three down, one to go."

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