A Day Later

"Hey, guys!" Lucy and Natsu called to the guild, earning several 'hey's back in reply. Happy was off on an early morning fishing trip, saying that he hadn't been able to go for a 'long time' because he was too busy 'taking care of Lucy'. It had been a day since Lucy's morning sickness had begun.

Natsu ordered food for the two of them. Lucy, since her fifth week had begun, had been eating more than she usually did, which wasn't unusual, but Natsu had a thought that she would eventually be eating just as much, if not more, than he did as the pregnancy progressed. It was partially his kid she was eating for, after all. After the couple sat down at a table, Wendy approached Lucy. The sky dragon slayer, learning of Lucy's morning sickness starting, had gone to Porlyusica the night before to know if there was anything for the bluenette to tell Lucy. Wendy was inexperienced with pregnancies, but since Porlyusica couldn't stand people, Wendy was doing as much as she could for the couple. Their regular checkups would still be with Porlyusica, though.

After asking how the pregnant woman was doing, Wendy continued. "Porlyusica told me that you should start being careful about being at the guild. Now that your morning sickness has started, even the most simple smells will make your stomach turn, and there are lots of strong smells here."

Lucy took a deep inhale. "Doesn't seem like anything's making me queasy right now, but I'll be wary." The bluenette smiled and nodded her approval before leaving again.

"What kinds of smells could make you sick?" Natsu wondered as he began digging into his oatmeal, heavily flavored with cinnamon and apple. He laughed at how quickly Lucy was scarfing down her own oatmeal, once again thinking that the baby was going to take after him as far as appetite went.

"It's different for everyone. Some women get sick at seemingly everything, others are fine except for just one or two specific smells." Natsu hummed his understanding. "Since I haven't smelled anything and thrown up because of it, I'm probably the latter."

"Only a few smells will make you sick?"

"Maybe."

"Why-"

Lucy put a hand on his chest to indicate that he needed to stop talking. "As much as I love to talk about me throwing up, let's not."

Natsu snickered. "Yeah, of course. Sorry, Luce. I just want to know how you're doing."

The blonde smiled. "I understand. Thank you for worrying about me." She pecked him on the cheek. Just as she leaned back, a smell graced her nose. Or rather, a smell offended her nose. One of her hands immediately went to her mouth while the other frantically reached for a dish. The dish she happened to grab was Natsu's still half-full oatmeal bowl, but she was without care as she barfed all the oatmeal she had just eaten into it.

"Lucy!" His voice was laced with both concern for his wife and annoyance at his ruined food. He decided to confront the former first. "Is it your morning sickness again?"

Lucy spit into the bowl to get rid of the remaining grossness in her mouth, then pushed the bowl away before it made her get sick again. "I'm really sorry about your food!" Lucy gagged again and grabbed her empty bowl to throw up the rest of the contents of her stomach when she smelled that disgusting smell again.

Natsu sighed and rubbed her back soothingly. "It's okay. Was it your morning sickness?"

Lucy coughed, her throat stinging. "Yeah, but it was because I smelled something. I swear it was f-" The smell came again. Lucy covered her mouth as she gagged, but her stomach was empty now, so there was nothing to vomit. "-ish..."

Happy flew in front of them with fish in his paws and a grin on his face. "Look at all the fish I caught!" Lucy smiled at him before gagging again. She stood up and ran from the table quickly.

"What's the matter with Lushi?" Happy asked Natsu with concern.

"Sorry, Happy. I think your fish is making her throw up. I'm gonna go check on her. Good job with how many you caught, though. That's a lot!"

Happy smiled proudly, then drooped sadly. "Tell her I'm sorry!"

Natsu nodded, then went to the bathroom, where he had seen Lucy disappear to. He didn't care that it was the girls' bathroom; he had to make sure Lucy was okay.

Lucy was standing over the sink, breathing heavily. From the smell of soap in the air, Natsu realized that she had been washing her face and hands. "Luce, you okay?" She turned around to look at him. Natsu could see her eyes watering pretty badly. He pulled her into his arms.

"You know how I said that I probably have the morning sickness where only one or two scents bother me?" Natsu nodded. "Yeah, fish is one of those scents. And it's bothering me really badly."

"Happy says he's sorry for making you barf."

Lucy smiled. "Well, tell him that he's okay. It's not his fault that I can't stand the smell of fish."

"Why not just tell him yourself? He can put the fish away."

"Because the smell will still be lingering on him, strong enough to make me gag. What are we gonna do about this? Happy loves fish, but I can't be around it!" Natsu shrugged and hummed 'I don't know' a little sadly. "Maybe Wendy can do something," Lucy suggested. They both nodded, then left the bathroom to go find the sky dragon slayer.

Upon leaving, Lucy could see Happy watching her from a distance. Lucy smiled at him to tell him that she was okay, and he smiled back in an apologetic way.

"Hey, Wendy?" Natsu started once they found her. "Fish makes Lucy sick. Do you have a spell for that?"

Wendy looked a little nervous. "It's part of your morning sickness?" Wendy asked, directed to Lucy. Lucy nodded, and Wendy bit her lip nervously. "No, there's not a spell for that... Magic can do a lot, but there's not much for soothing pregnancy symptoms."

"What!?" Lucy shouted. "There's no spell for that!? So what are we supposed to do!? Just isolate Happy from me or force him to stop fishing for the next eight months!? We can't-"

"Lucy, calm down!" Natsu placed a hand on her shoulder.

"How can you ask me to calm down!? This is your best friend we're talking about! Ugh! This is all your fault for-" The color drained from Lucy's face as she realized what she was saying. "I'm sorry, Natsu!" Tears filled her eyes and she hugged him tightly. "I didn't mean it! I love you, and Baby! I'm sorry!"

Natsu rubbed her back soothingly. Wendy smiled at her fellow dragon slayer, mouthed the word 'hormones' to him, and left to give the couple privacy. "Hey, it's okay, Luce..."

Lucy raised her head back up and started shouting again. "What!? No, it's not okay!" Many of the guild members around them couldn't help but snicker quietly at the confused looks on Natsu's face as he tried to deal with Lucy's first serious mood swing. "I told you I would try to keep a check on my hormones, and now, only a day later, and I'm already yelling at you for making me pregnant! I'm a terrible wife!" Tears were filling up Lucy's eyes again, and she leaned her forehead on his chest. Her body racked with sobs while Natsu internally screamed to the heavens for help. How did he deal with this!?

"You're not a terrible wife! You're the best wife I could ever ask for! Better than I deserve!"

Lucy sniffled. "Natsu, I want ice cream. Really badly."

"Huh?" Wasn't she just crying? Where did ice cream come in?

"I need ice cream. Need it."

"But, Luce..."

Lucy pouted, her bottom lip protruding out. "Please, Natsu? I really, really need ice cream right now."

Damn, she looks cute like that. Natsu chuckled as they walked to the bar. She had him wrapped around her little finger, and he was perfectly fine with it. "Yeah, I'll get you ice cream. Mirajane?" Mirajane smiled to Natsu and nodded.

"What are your cravings telling you for a flavor, Lucy?" Mirajane asked carefully, but with a chuckle.

Lucy thought for a moment. "Brownie. Chocolate ice cream with chunks of brownie in it. And chocolate syrup on top. And strawberry halves."

"That's really specific, Luce. You're craving all that? Ow! Mira!" Mirajane had whacked Natsu in the arm.

"Natsu, the most important thing to remember about pregnancy cravings is that you don't comment on them." To confirm her words, Lucy was giving him a slight frown.

Natsu started sweating a bit. He didn't want Lucy to get angry again! But then, Lucy's face softened and she sighed.

"I'm so sorry, Natsu. These pregnancy hormones are so much harder to deal with than period hormones, and I was never good at dealing with those, either."

Natsu pecked her on the cheek. "I forgive you, Lucy. Like we said, we're both willing to do this so we can have our family." Lucy smiled to him. It was then that Mirajane brought out her ice cream, and Lucy shouted with glee.

"Yes! This is exactly how I wanted it!" Before anyone else could comment, Lucy, quite literally, dug in. It only took her a few minutes to scarf down the mounds of ice cream, and after she was done, she was struck with a strong headache. "Eh... I ate too quickly..." Lucy moaned as she rested her head on her husband's shoulder.

Natsu could tell that she wasn't in a cranky mood, so he decided that a little teasing was okay. "Yeah, you ate way too quickly. Come on, Luce! Even I know not to eat ice cream too fast!" Lucy let out a mixture of a laugh and a groan as she snuggled further into him. At this point, Lucy had her legs twined around the bar stool's legs, so that she wouldn't fall off as she cuddled her husband. Lucy heard Natsu laugh lightly, then felt one of his strong arms wrap around her shoulder as she started to drift into sleep. Within her state of half-sleep, Lucy felt her legs unwrap from the stool's legs, but couldn't do anything to stop them. Before she could even think about panicking, though, she felt Natsu move for a second, and then she was lifted up. Before she was put down again, she was completely asleep, lulled by Natsu's steady, thumping heart.

Mirajane was still at the bar, currently handing a slice if strawberry cake to Erza. They both watched as Natsu held his wife lovingly.

"Pregnancy seems to have hit Lucy like an Etherion Blast." Mirajane remarked with a laugh.

Erza swallowed the first bite of her sweet concoction. "Yes, seems so. Morning sickness starting yesterday, and now the fish smell worsening it. Not to mention that she's now eating much more food than normal, a crazy mood swing, exhaustion, and cravings. If every day continues like this, then they'll both be in for a tough time."

Mirajane smiled. "Yes. It's a good thing they both love each other so much."

A/N: Here you go: a longer chapter. I probably won't update this one for a bit. I'm trying to finish up another multi-chap fic so that I can start posting it. It's called "Idiots in Love", and hopefully you'll see it soon. Bye!

And thanks for the reviews, guys!