Souls and Spirits

by apriiil

Everything seems to fall into place when the right person comes into your life. That was what Bickslow realised, anyway, but if it hadn't been for them getting paired up for a job together, he never would have realised that Lucy was that right person who would light up his world in ways he never thought possible.

45. Chapter 45

"Do you think Mira and Laxus will be in the guild this morning?"

Bickslow shrugged as he let the blonde step ahead of him when the rebuilt guild was in sight, and he barely had to increase his pace when she began to pull him towards the building with her hand in his. "I don't know," he said as he quickly caught up to her. "They haven't really been coming in that often. But on the days they did come in, I didn't get in until late. And even then, it wasn't exactly like I was paying much attention to them… I tended to avoid them, actually."

Bickslow still had an awful habit of sleeping late. Of course, when he hadn't been sleeping, he was honestly just awake whenever. It had taken him months to get to a point where he could actually sleep alone well enough that he could shut his mind off and get some rest. But that had never stopped the dreams of Lucy when he'd been gone. Every night he did get some sleep, she was in his head, and it had been like that until just last night.

It wasn't only the first time he'd had a decent night's sleep since everything had happened – from Lucy shutting herself off and then them breaking up and going their separate ways – but it was also the first night he hadn't dreamt of Lucy. He just… slept. Nothing more, nothing less.

When he finally did get back to Magnolia with the rest of his team, and after seeing Lucy in Hargeon and hearing about everything he hadn't known about, it had gotten just that little bit harder to fall asleep again. He couldn't shut his mind off most nights, and more often than he really should have, he ended up just passing out from being blind drunk, which had played a part in him not getting into the guild until late, because more often than not, he was hungover to hell. Between almost loathing his existence again for not being there for Lucy when she shouldn't have been alone, missing her far too much to put into words, not exactly wanting to be around Laxus and Mira and Jax all that much (on the odd days they were there), and hating all things bright and loud for the majority of his days… Yeah, he didn't have many reasons to actually get up and function properly or be an integral part of society. So he stayed in bed.

But now? Now he didn't have that many reasons to stay in bed, staring at that damn book on the nightstand or the frame on the wall. He had a reason to get up, to smile and to be happy. He would still hate himself, because more than anything, he wished he had stayed and tried to do more for Lucy. But it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it had been just a few weeks earlier. Because now he had Lucy again, and he was sure as hell not going to be leaving again.

Bickslow cleared his throat when he saw her looking up at him, the concern in her eyes doing nothing to ease his guilt over everything. Bickslow knew that Lucy understood why he would have avoided the new family, but he didn't want her to feel bad about that. He squeezed her hand that was in his, and smiled softly at her for just a moment as they kept walking towards the guild. "Why do you want to know, anyway?"

Lucy's face suddenly changed, and though the concern was still there, she was only showing the sheer excitement as she tried her very best not to jump and scream with joy like a child. "Because I want to tell someone!" she beamed, her smile only getting brighter as she saw her excitement mirrored in Bickslow's eyes and face. "Don't you want to tell your best friend?"

"Well, yeah," Bickslow said slowly. "But why Laxus? I would have thought you'd want to tell your team first." Hopefully they don't have a complete meltdown… Bickslow had still planned on telling her team at some point that he was going to propose, but, yeah… Things just hadn't worked out. And he sure as hell hadn't had the time to suddenly run off back to the guild just to ask her team if he could marry her. It didn't help that he was sure they would have just looked like he was even more of a madman than he really was, considering they'd been apart for a year, and suddenly he was wanting to propose.

"I do want to tell my team, but Laxus… I think Laxus helped the most with everything. Because he… Well, he knew about the baby…"

Bickslow sighed. "I know. I kind of went off at him about knowing, too." He paused when he heard her quietly begin to sniffle, and he pulled his hand from hers just to wind it around her back to rest gently on her waist, and pull her into his side. Smiling softly, he said, "But hey, I'm still not mad at you for not telling me, okay? I get it. I do. And I know that you didn't even tell him. Wendy did."

"Yeah, well… She's sweet, and she's an angel, honestly. And I know she didn't really mean to let it slip, but…" She let out a shaky breath when she looked up to see the large guild doors just ahead of them. "It was just nice knowing that someone else knew. And I'm really, really sorry that I didn't tell you last year."

"Water under the bridge. Don't worry about it anymore, alright?"

Lucy smiled up at Bickslow as they came to a stop. She loved that Bickslow was so understanding of everything, that he was so willing to completely forgive in her just a single heartbeat for her mistakes. Every time, he'd always done that, no matter how big or small it was. Lucy admired that part of Bickslow, too. The fact he was kind and caring, and he was just incredibly forgiving. And if things had been the other way around, Lucy didn't think she would be able to just completely and instantly forgive someone for not letting her know about something as huge and important as a baby. Especially when that other person was the other parent.

But Bickslow… Bickslow was just doing his best to make Lucy feel better about it. She knew that he was hurting too, or at least he had been if he felt it necessary to avoid his best friend and his son. Lucy had wanted to avoid Bickslow getting hurt – knowing any pain – but she could see that it was a necessary pain. She had wanted Bickslow to know, because he deserved to know, and there was just no scenario that existed where he wouldn't have been hurt just a little bit. It was his child for heaven's sake; of course it was going to be painful. It was just that they could move past it together now. With Bickslow, Lucy would be able to accept it and forgive herself (again), and it would get less painful with each day. She knew that.

"I'll do my best not to," she said softly with a small nod. She pulled Bickslow's hand from her waist just as she stepped forward, and let their fingers intertwine between them once again. She gave him another brilliant smile, then as her mood completely shifted again, she laughed, "But can we go into the guild now? I need to find someone to tell before I completely burst at the seams or something!"

Bickslow chuckled at her overflowing excitement as they took the last few steps across the rebuilt courtyard, and he found the more excited Lucy got, the more he did too. "You know, I really never expected you to get like this."

"How can I not be? I mean, I'm marrying my best friend."

He gave her a tongue-lolling grin just before they reached the wooden doors. "I thought Natsu was your best friend? Or was it Levy?" he mused.

Lucy shrugged. "Both are, but you're my bestest friend," she giggled. "Don't tell Natsu I said that, though."

Bickslow leant down just to lightly kiss her temple as they kept walking before a hand went out for the heavy doors. "I really don't plan on it," he murmured. "But you're my best friend too." And she was, and she always would be. Not Laxus, not Freed, not Evergreen, not Gajeel. It was Lucy. And it was just truly great to know that he was going to be able to marry his best friend in the entire world.

Slowly, Bickslow pushed the doors open for them to walk through, hand in hand. It wasn't that early, but it also wasn't late. And given the time the two arrived, the guild was slowly filling up by that point so when they did walk in, they definitely received more than a few shocked looks and second glances in their direction. It wasn't as if they minded though, and if anything they were a little used to it. It really wasn't the first time they'd walked into the guild together to have everyone stare at them. The first time had been the day after Christmas and the day after he'd told the entire guild as well as Lucy that he loved her, but that was different to right then. That time they'd known they'd been together for the last couple of months, but this time… This time, everyone knew they'd been broken up for the last year, and yet suddenly, they were walking back into the guild like nothing had ever happened.

And that was what truly mattered. Everything was going back to the way things were, and neither could be happier. They were picking up right where they'd left of (sort of). They both knew that they'd have a bit of explaining to do to the guild, to their friends and family, but neither cared. It was warranted, after all. But that was okay. Explaining they could do.

They remained mostly silent as they walked through the guild and over to the mostly empty bar, with Lucy only whispering something about how the guild looked the exact same as it had the year before. Cana was probably out dealing with a hangover somewhere else for once, and Master Makarov was probably upstairs. With Mira and Laxus mostly out because of their son, Lisanna had taken over the bar with the help of Kinana, but neither were out just yet. Most likely busy in the guild kitchen just to the side of the main room, since that was where Mira was usually to be found around that time of day.

Bickslow took a seat on one of the bar stools towards the centre of the large counter, a few seats away from where a couple of other mages whose names he'd never bothered to find out sat (he recognised them, but there were a lot of people in the guild. More so than he actually remembered just the year before, but that was to be expected since they had just re-opened), and then just another couple of seats away from Elfman and Evergreen, who at that point, was too busy scolding the only male Strauss to pay any attention to what he was staring at, wide eyed, just over the top of her head.

Bickslow could only grin at his oblivious friend and teammate, and he only made himself comfortable on his chair as Lucy did the same in his lap (just because he was enjoying having her incredibly close, and for the time being, he was completely fine as being used a chair, or a pillow, or whatever). Lucy's eyes slowly roved over the half-empty guild again from where she sat, only smiling softly to those who were still looking at the old-yet-new couple in complete shock. Neither her team nor her closest friends outside of Team Natsu were there (aside from Evergreen, really, and Lucy was just waiting for the Fairy mage to turn around and most likely squeal in delight with her), so she really had no one to tell just yet. She didn't want to blurt it out to the guild. No, it would be their teams and their close circle of friends first, and then no doubt once Mira found out, the entire guild would hear from her anyway. That was how it would happen, and that was perfectly fine.

"Are you even listening to a thing I'm saying?" Evergreen asked the Take-Over mage in front of her, her eyes narrowed and her fan poised and ready to swat the idiot with for not listening.

"Uh…" Elfman's eyes continued to flick between his irritated girlfriend who was probably on the verge of lifting up her glasses just to turn him to stone, and to the couple sitting just behind her, both with wide grins on their faces as they waited silently. Though, Bickslow did know that his fiancée in his lap was having a hard time keeping quiet. She was nearly shaking in his arms that were tightly wrapped around her middle she was that excited. Bickslow knew it was taking everything she had not to just say something to force the Fairy mage to turn around and look at them. But in a way, he was still just a little amazed that no one in the guild had completely made a scene about them yet.

Yet…

But had Elfman been listening to the Fairy mage in front of him? Nope. But had Evergreen been paying attention or noticing any of the times he had tried to stop her rambling and ranting and get her to just look behind her? Definitely not. Evergreen sighed as she rolled her eyes, then muttered, "Of course not. You probably weren't—"

"Ever, honey…"

"—even listening to what I just said then. It's a wonder I manage to get anything through that way too thick skull of yours sometimes. You probably just see my mouth moving but hear nothing but 'man' coming out."

Elfman rolled his eyes then, and quickly leant forward from where he sat on his own bar stool, and he placed his large hands on the (in comparison) small woman's shoulders, and forced her to swing around to face the opposite direction. "I was trying to get you to stop talking so you could turn around," Elfman explained over her confused shrieks and the sound of her paper fan hitting his hands and wrists.

Evergreen's eyes suddenly went wide, and she suddenly understood just why the Take-Over mage had been looking so downright puzzled. She had thought it was because she was just explaining something that he was just too dense to understand, but now? Now she really understood it. And she really did not blame him for not listening to a word she had saying.

She looked between the two mages just in front of her as her paper fan fell to her lap and then to the ground.

"About time," Lucy laughed at the speechless mage.

Evergreen pointed to Lucy and then to Bickslow. And then she did it again, her brows drawing together as she took in the sight before her. "You two?" she whispered.

"Mm-hmm," Bickslow hummed as he lowered his head just to press a light kiss to the side of Lucy's cheek. Just for emphasis, really.

Lucy turned her own head just slightly to glance towards Bickslow, and with a bright smile she matched completely, she turned back to Evergreen, who she could see was slowly becoming less confused and a slow grin was forming on her lips, just like Elfman had. "We…" Lucy lifted her hand from where she had them folded over Bickslow's own, and she held it up for Evergreen to see the sparkling ring on her finger, then continued, "Are also getting married."

Evergreen quickly looked between the two and Bickslow's grin got wider when he saw her get just that tiny bit more excited along with Lucy. "Oh my god! Really?!" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," Lucy laughed quietly.

"Oh my… This is…" She paused as she tried to find the words, only to sigh in frustration for not being able to find them, before stepping forward to throw her arms around the blonde's shoulders. "Congratulations!" she squealed, and when Lucy began to… Well, Bickslow couldn't really describe the noise that she made, but it was somewhere between a very high pitched squeal and a laugh (and of course, he loved it because he knew it was just one from how excited she was), he tried his best to get his ears away from the two women. They were loud. Incredibly loud. And he valued his hearing.

Evergreen was truly happy for her friends though. Not only for Bickslow, because she was damn well proud of him for actually asking her to marry him (finally!), but for Lucy too. Just like Freed and Laxus, she'd grown to care about the Celestial mage a lot in the year that the two had been together before everything had fallen apart. They'd each let her in and welcomed her into their little family, and over time as they got to know her, they'd truly been able to see why Bickslow loved her as much as he did. It wasn't so much that she was surprisingly a perfect match for him, but it was more that she was a brilliant person. She was smart, she was kind, she was surprisingly funny (well, to Bickslow at least), but most of all, she was the amazing Light of the Guild that everyone loved in their own way.

But when it came to Bickslow, Evergreen was truly over the moon for him. He was basically her brother, just like Freed and Laxus were, and it hurt her to see Bickslow as anything but the laughing and grinning and idiot she'd always known. Just like it hurt all of them, really, because for a long time, all they'd had was each other. And even after they'd been welcomed back into the guild after everything with the Battle of Fairy Tail, it had still taken them a while to truly open up to others and step out of their comfort zone. They'd still kept to themselves, and they'd still never really taken part in the guild-wide events – although Bickslow had always been the exception with that. He'd always been loud and obnoxious, and on the days they were in the guild, he was either hanging or sitting up on the rafters just because he liked the form of solitude it gave him, or playing pranks on people.

But… Over time, it had gotten better. Their tight-knit family had made room for them to grow as their own people. Laxus had found Mira and Erza in a way, given that they were the few S-Class mages other than Gildarts who actually went in to the guild. Evergreen had found Elfman and the other Strauss's. Freed had always been close to Levy, just because they'd shared a few common interests. But Bickslow? Well, Bickslow had probably taken the longest to actually get out of his comfort zone. He'd always had his babies, but eventually, he'd started getting along with Gajeel, and he'd ended up becoming one of his closest friends.

And then there'd been Lucy. Lucy had changed everything for all of them. Not just for Bickslow, but for his entire team. But it was in a good way. Somehow, though, Lucy had been the driving force in making their family and circle of close friends just get that little bit bigger. Bickslow had brought Lucy into their family, and Lucy had brought the entire fucking guild. Well, almost. With Lucy came her own team, and then Levy and Gajeel. And then suddenly, it wasn't just the four of them, and they all loved that.

But with Lucy came a better Bickslow too. Being with Lucy had made Bickslow a better person, and they'd all been able to see it. Even long before anyone had found out the two of them being together. He was happier, and he wasn't even half as much of an asshole as he'd been for a really long time. Hell, he was a little smarter too, and even just a little more thoughtful and caring. Lucy had just brought out the very best in Bickslow, and they all loved her for it.

And right then, Bickslow was happier than Evergreen had seen him in an incredibly long time. Honestly, Evergreen was sure it was the happiest she had ever seen him in all the years she had known the Seith mage. And just to see Bickslow like that, and to see the way he was looking at Lucy… It made Evergreen happier than she could put into words.

After seeing how much pain Bickslow had been in for the last year – and just the last few weeks alone, too – she had needed to see Bickslow truly smile again. She had needed to hear him laugh, and as much as she really hated how he stuck his tongue out, she needed to see that great big grin of his. She knew as well as Freed did that having to leave Lucy had completely crushed him. Giving up on the life that they had both wanted and telling her to go and live it with someone else… Evergreen could really only imagine how Bickslow had truly felt, because undoubtedly, it would have hurt him to leave the one he loved more than life itself more than he would ever have let on. He'd never exactly talked about how he felt as they'd travelled Fiore, only ever saying he'd be fine one day, once he knew that she was happy again and living the life she deserved

To love someone so much that you'd be willing to sacrifice your own happiness and future, just so the other person could get theirs. No matter what. That's what Bickslow had done. He had willingly made himself miserable when Evergreen was sure that he'd known deep down that he would always be miserable without Lucy. And that, as horrible was it, Evergreen admired. Just a little bit. Because what Bickslow and Lucy had, that was true love. And she wanted to get to that point with Elfman one day, because without a doubt, if push came to shove, there was no way in hell she'd be able to do what Bickslow had done. She didn't think Elfman would either… But one day, she liked to think that either one of them would be able to do that. If it were absolutely necessary, of course, because Evergreen knew, just like Freed and Laxus did, that if Bickslow wasn't sure leaving Lucy was the best and right thing to do for her, then there was no way he would have done it.

But oh, to see her best friend and one of her closest friends back together and happy again, it warmed Evergreen's not-so stone heart. That was what they'd both needed, because without each other, they didn't stand a chance at being happy, and everyone else knew it. Because undoubtedly, seeing two people who quite obviously belonged together fall apart wasn't only heartbreaking to those two people, but it was to everyone around them too.

"I am so, so, so happy for you two," Evergreen said with a warm smile as she sat back down on her own stool next to Elfman once again. "And I'm sure everyone else will be, too. You know Mira's going to completely freak when she finds out, right? So, you know, try and make sure she's not holding Jax when you tell her, alright?"

Bickslow quietly chuckled along with Lucy as he lowered his chin to rest on her shoulder. "Thanks, Ever," he murmured. It really meant the world to him that one of his best friends in the entire world was thrilled from him – for them. "But yeah, she probably will, but we'll try our best to make sure no one who has a tendency to pass out at the slightest sign of romance is holding him," he laughed, turning his head slightly just to press another light kiss to Lucy's cheek. "Won't we, Cosplayer?"

"Of course we will, Bicks," Lucy giggled. There would be no newborn-dropping anywhere near her that day. Or any day… Though with Laxus's track record from what she'd heard, well… Lucy could only hope that Laxus wouldn't drop his own son in front of his partner.

---

Slowly, the guild began to fill up, and as the day went on, more and more people came up to congratulate the happy couple on their engagement and getting back together, and Bickslow and Lucy couldn't be happier with it all. Things were truly going back to normal, and that was what they needed.

After they'd calmed Lisanna down – who after hearing squealing coming from the bar, had come running back out to find out what was going on, and had promptly channelled her elder sister's matchmaking prowess and enthusiasm for happy couples and all things romantic and cute – and finally managed to get something for breakfast from herself and Kinana, they'd left the bar just to go and sit at a table with Evergreen and Freed once he'd arrived.

Just sitting there with Bickslow's team, listening to everything they'd done over the last year, made everything feel like it was truly normal again. Even though her own team and her other closest friends who she wished would just hurry up and get there so she could tell them weren't there yet, she felt like she was home. The guild, Bickslow, her friends and family… That was what only Magnolia could offer her. Not Crocus, and not even any other town in Fiore, or even the world. Because without everything she had then, she would never truly be home.

"So did you guys do anything special for Christmas?" Lucy asked before she took a sip from her smoothie, turning slightly to glance towards Bickslow next to her. So far, she had learnt that they'd spent the first couple of months after they'd broke up just travelling Fiore, only taking on a few odd jobs where they could get them.

Bickslow's head tilted slightly as he tried to remember just what it was he'd done on Christmas. He'd spent most of every holiday between leaving Lucy and coming back to Magnolia just getting completely wasted. It was just a way to make it a little less painful. But, he still had the awful ability to be able to remember almost everything he did when drinking, and there'd been plenty of times where he'd hated that he could do that, because more often than not, he really didn't want to remember some of the things he did when drunk.

He sighed as he remembered the last Christmas, beginning with walking in on Freed and Evergreen just to find them reading that damn magazine that he really wished had been porn, the more he thought about it. "I got drunk on a rooftop," he muttered as he lifted his hand up just to stare at his polished nails. "Not sure what those two did."

"Why on earth did you get drunk on a rooftop on Christmas?"

Freed and Evergreen remained suspiciously quiet as they tried their best to remain inconspicuous and let Bickslow answer it. They'd quickly realised it was best to let Bickslow do all the talking when it had come to what he'd done over the year. Not because they thought it would be best to leave it to him to decide what he wanted Lucy knowing (though they also saw that he had no problems with telling Lucy absolutely everything, including just how bad it had been for him for a really long time), but because he'd actually spent a lot of his time alone. He had always been going off on his own, and more often than not, he could disappear for more than a day at a time.

He'd always come back though, and they'd never talked about it much. It was always just Bickslow needing somewhere quiet to go and clear his thoughts, but there had been just a few times where he'd come back heavily intoxicated by… Well, something. They never really knew just what it was he'd had or taken, and from what they had been able to tell, Bickslow never really had either. But it was thankfully just a few times, but each of those times had been around a holiday or another date that meant a lot to Bickslow.

Like Valentine's Day, and the 25th February (though Freed and Evergreen had never figured out just why that date had been so special). His own birthday had been just another one of the times he'd disappeared for three days and come back in less than stellar shape, and Lucy's birthday was much the same. To say that the first few months of the new year had been more than terrible was a gross understatement.

But Bickslow was more than willing to talk about it all, even in the middle of the guild, because there, he believed that nothing could bring him down. Not when he had Lucy right there and everything was getting better again. He could talk about his past, because it was the past. "Weekly Sorcerer," Bickslow sighed again as he turned to look at Lucy, just to see her grimace at his worlds. "I mean, you looked hot as hell, but… Yeah… It was just a little depressing." Or a lot.

"Oh, god…" Lucy groaned as she quickly turned and ducked her head against Bickslow's chest, shaking her head as his other arm that wasn't already around her joined his other. "I was hoping you didn't read that edition," she muttered. She had been so mad at the editors for weeks after she'd found out what they'd done. The modelling itself she had no problem with. It was just what they'd published it with. That had been more than unfair, and not in the slightest bit true. He hadn't broken her heart (not really, at least), and if that wasn't bad enough, it was that Bickslow had actually been named. "I had no idea they were going to put all of that in there… I'm so, so sorry you saw that… It wasn't… It wasn't true at all."

Bickslow smiled down at her softly as he shrugged. "It's fine. I know it wasn't your fault, but it did give me another reason to hate the stupid magazine anyway." And he had plenty of reasons to hate it. The only reason he'd even read it at all in the last year was because Lucy had articles and stories published in it. Other than that, he would prefer to be burning every single copy that existed. When Lucy looked back up with another frown, Bickslow could only smirk as he sat back on the bench, one arm going back to rest over the top of the backrest, and the other remaining around Lucy as she slowly sat up. Leaning in just that little bit more, smirk still firmly in place, he murmured, "Besides, I get to spend every single Christmas with you from now on, because you're all mine."

Lucy giggled as she looked up again. "That I am," she whispered. She was all his, and he was all hers. Again and forever, and it was a great feeling.

So Lucy continued to learn about what Bickslow and his team had gotten up on their year apart. Bickslow didn't ask about what Lucy had done much, but he didn't stop her from answering when Freed and Evergreen asked what she'd done just a few times. It wasn't that Bickslow didn't want to know what Lucy had gotten up to, because he really did. Laxus hadn't really told him much about Lucy in the letters he'd sent, only a few bits and pieces about how she'd finally settled down somewhere (Bickslow never knew where), and that she had a new job and that she was working on herself. It was just enough to let Bickslow know how she was doing; to know that she was finally moving on like he'd been waiting and wanting her to do for months.

Of course, when Lucy told Mira about her horrendous dates that her co-workers had all but forced her to go out on, Laxus had found it prudent to tell Bickslow that too. And sure, it really hurt like hell to know that she had started dating again – it was why Bickslow had spent the week around Valentine's Day mostly out of it – but it was just a little satisfying to know that her date had been terrible. He knew he shouldn't have felt that way, but he really couldn't help it. Just because he'd told her to go and live a life with someone else, it didn't mean it didn't hurt to see her moving on.

But still, Bickslow would absolutely love to know about everything Lucy had done in the last year. From the terrible dates to her job to… Well, everything. He wanted to know it all. He just didn't want to do so in the guild, because there were things he wanted to talk to her about that he didn't think should be discussed in a room full of people. For now, though, Bickslow was completely fine with just talking about what he'd done, because he was more than happy to curl up in bed later with her and just listen to her stories of her grand (or not so grand) adventures. Never would Bickslow get sick of that.

It was only a little while later when a yawning Dragon Slayer and a Script mage made their way into the guild that morning. When Levy stopped dead in her tracks, books clutched to her chest with wide eyes, Gajeel with his eyes closed mid-yawn ran straight into her, and on instinct, his hands caught her just in case she did fall. "Jesus, Shrimp," he muttered. "What'd you stop there for?"

Levy didn't answer though, and when she remained silent, Gajeel's pierced brows drew together at the shocked expression on her face before he slowly lifted his eyes and turned his head to try and follow her gaze. So when he saw his best friend visorless and clad in normal clothes for once and his ex-girlfriend sitting at a table together on the near opposite side of the guild, his own expression mirrored his mate's just beside him. "Holy shit," he whispered just before he took off after Levy, who was suddenly weaving her way towards them.

Lucy turned as a quick dash of blue streaked her peripherals, and she looked to the blue haired woman suddenly sitting beside her with a warm smile. She had the same look on her face as everyone else before them had had prior to finding out they were indeed back together. But of course, it really wasn't that hard to figure out. People just needed to hear it, because for all they knew, they could just be starting out as friends. Incredibly close friends judging by how close they were sitting (but then again, they'd also been dating for a year, so there was that to take into consideration), but friends nonetheless. Of course, that wasn't the case and everyone really already knew it. It was just courteous to ask and then congratulate upon hearing the news, really.

Levy looked between Lucy and Bickslow just next to her. "So?" she said expectedly, barely paying any attention to the silent high-five Gajeel gave Bickslow as he sat down next to the Seith mage. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Well, what do think this is?" Lucy asked.

Gajeel snickered when Lucy shifted her left hand on her lap, expertly hiding it from Levy, but not from him. He knew that there was bound to be a story to go with just how they'd gone from broken up one day, to engaged to be wed the next, and involving those two, he was sure it was going to be just a little interesting. Or at least he hoped.

Levy shrugged as she finally placed her heavy books on the table. "I'm hoping that this means you two are back together." And she did hope that. Really. Knowing the hell Lucy had been through, and then not to mention the last few weeks alone for Bickslow… Yeah, she really fucking hoped that two of her closest friends were finally going to be back where they belonged – with each other.

"Well, Bicks," Lucy sighed as she leant back into the chair and Bickslow, and she turned to face the grinning Seith mage. "Do you think being engaged classifies as being back together?"

"It might do," Bickslow answered. He could see Lucy was just having fun with it, and he was sure as hell going to go along with it. After all, where was the fun in straight out saying, 'hello, yes, we're back together and getting married' to every person who came up to them and asked? They'd only really been in the guild a little over an hour and they'd already had to answer that question more times than they could count. They both knew that they'd be having to answer that question a lot more times that day alone, so yeah, spicing it up a little was going to make things interesting.

Levy let out a shriek that had Bickslow wincing (again) along with Gajeel, and before he knew it, the two girls were giggling and hugging each other. As expected, really. Bickslow barely paid any attention to just what it was they were saying to each other in their super high pitched voices, and to be fair, he wasn't even sure he'd be able to understand it if he tried. So instead, he just sat back and folded his arms across his chest and let them be, because after all, as long as Lucy was happy and excited and giddy and whatever the fuck she was, Bickslow was too.

Gajeel nudged the Seith mage in the side and nodded with a smirk, gesturing to the women just beside him who were far too deep into their conversation… And apparently admiring the ring, of course. "So? How'd you do it, huh?" Gajeel asked.

"Do what?" Bickslow replied, suddenly looking to the Dragon Slayer with an eyebrow slightly raised.

"Ask her." Was Gajeel really wanting to know just how the guy had managed to ask her to marry him? Yeah, he really was. He was his best friend after all, and given that Lucy was Levy's best friend, he'd taken far more of an interest in their relationship than he would have liked. Plus, Gajeel knew his own girlfriend very well, and he was sure she would love to know how they'd come to be back together again. "Get down on one knee and all that?"

Bickslow shrugged as he lifted a hand just to sift through the hair above his neck. "Not really," he mumbled. "Kinda just… asked her."

Levy suddenly leant to the side to look past Lucy as she settled back against Bickslow's side. "What? No grand romantic gesture or anything?" Levy asked incredulously.

"It wasn't romantic in the slightest. I didn't even plan on asking her, to be honest."

Lucy laughed as she lightly pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Oh, come on. It was at least a little romantic."

"There is nothing romantic about an unplanned, practically on impulse proposal. Especially when you're covered in bandages and we hadn't even brought up whether or not we wanted to get back together at all."

"That's what makes it so sweet, you dork," Lucy laughed again. It was their proposal story, and even if he'd asked her while they were having a goddamn shower, she still would have found it all romantic. Bandages on, dried tears on her cheeks and all. It was romantic as all hell to Lucy, especially considering the date. "That, and it just happened to be the twenty-fifth yesterday. Although, I am just a little curious now…"

Freed suddenly looked up with confusion etched on his face, and he looked between the two opposite him. "What exactly is so special about the twenty-fifth?" he asked softly.

"First date was on August twenty-fifth," Bickslow smiled before he looked back down to Lucy, then guessed, "Though I'm guessing you want to know how I was going to ask you last year?" Lucy nodded, and he sighed as he lifted his arm to wrap it around her shoulders once again. "Wel—"

"Wait, hang on," Evergreen cut in suddenly. "So your first date was on the twenty-fifth, and I'm assuming you proposed at some point yesterday…" Her brows drew together slightly as she tried to piece it all back together. She'd never been particularly good with dates and such; that was what Freed was always good with. "And if you'd planned on proposing last year… You know, before you broke up and all… I'm guessing you were going to propose on the twenty-fifth of last year?"

Bickslow nodded. "That was the plan."

"Holy fuck, you romantic son of a bitch," Gajeel laughed. "Asking her exactly a year after you wanted to? That's pretty fuckin' romantic." Even by Gajeel's standards it was, and even if the guy hadn't planned it, it was at least pretty damn nice.

"Seriously? Even you think it was romantic now?"

Lucy giggled along with Levy before she gently shoved his shoulder just to wipe the scowl off his face when he looked back down to her. "If Gajeel says it's romantic, then it's romantic. Just deal with it," she giggled, only getting a slight frown from her fiancé. "But come on, tell me what you were planning." She really was curious, because whenever Bickslow did plan something, he did seem to go all out and amaze her every time. It wasn't as if she'd wished he'd asked her any other way – the point was that they were engaged, and that was all that mattered – but she just wanted to know what she would have found waiting for her just a year earlier.

Bickslow shook his head slightly. He was still entirely convinced it wasn't romantic in the slightest. Not anywhere near what he'd been planning, anyway, and if Lucy – and everyone else, for that matter – wanted to know what his grand romantic gesture should have been, then he'd tell them. Sighing again, he began again as he kept looking at Lucy, totally lost in the depths of her soft brown eyes. As usual. "So, I was going to take you back to Cartervale on the twenty-fourth, so we'd have the entire day and not just the afternoon to do everything."

"Why Cartervale?" Levy asked quietly. "Isn't that like a five-hour train ride from here?"

Lucy turned slightly to smile at her friend. "That was where the job we first got paired up on was."

"Anyway," Bickslow continued, smiling again when Lucy looked back up at him. "So I was going to take you to that café near the station for breakfast. That one we went to just before we left after that job. And then, I was going to let you drag me around the town and let you decide what you wanted to do. Like shop or do touristy things or whatever. It wasn't like I had the entire day planned out."

"Let me drag you around town, huh?" Lucy said slyly. In their time together, she'd quickly realised that Bickslow had hated being dragged around with her. Especially when she went shopping. Of course, there had been the few times where he'd just given up and let her take him around to all sorts of tours or book signings and god knows what else she could find on. But when it came to shopping… It was always with his money. Not that he ever cared though, because he always insisted that she do so. He really just liked spoiling the hell out of her.

"All day," Bickslow laughed. "But between doing whatever it is you wanted to do, I was going to take you out to lunch. And then at some point, it would be back to the hotel – which, if you hadn't gotten us banned for life from the other one, would be the same one we stayed at the last time – to get ready for dinner."

"How on earth did Bunny get you banned from a hotel?" Gajeel asked, the corner of his mouth lifting up into a knowing smirk.

Bickslow smirked back at the Dragon Slayer before he quickly said, "Noise complaints." Lucy not-so gently elbowed him in the side then, and Bickslow could only turn to his blushing bride-to-be with a wide grin. She may have been engaged to a total pervert, but she still wasn't fond of talking about her sex life with people. Well, other than Levy, of course. There were practically no secrets between the two when it came to their bedroom escapades, and of course, their partners were none the wiser to just how much was shared between the two. "Well, it's true," Bickslow chuckled. "But… Then we were going to go down to that trail, and you know, I was probably going to do that entire speech thing again and all that like I did last time, but I wasn't actually going to propose. Not yet, anyway."

"You were going to make me think you were though, right?" Lucy asked.

He nodded. "So then it would be dinner at this like, super fancy restaurant, and I'd keep talking about how things had changed so much in a year and how great you were and how much I loved you and all that. You know, keep leading up to what you'd hopefully think was me asking you to marry me."

Lucy saw the way his grin slowly turned more mischievous as he went on, and her own mouth twisted into a tight line. She was sure she would have quickly grown frustrated and confused by it all, had it actually happened. A great day with so many opportunities for Bickslow to propose, only to be kept waiting and have her impatience grow as he kept making it seem like he would be. She was sure that's what would happen, because just hearing what Bickslow had been planning had her feeling that same way. Though it wasn't anywhere near what she expected, she was still just that little bit frustrated.

But she knew she would have still kept waiting and hoping that he would ask her, even if it meant she'd have to had kept her frustration at bay.

"But I wouldn't, of course," Bickslow continued. He knew what was going through Lucy's mind, and it was honestly exactly what he hoped for. "So then, you know, back to the hotel. And then hopefully by then, you'd be really annoyed at me, 'cause you probably would have expected me to ask you by that point in the night, but I still wouldn't. And you wouldn't say anything, because you're too proud for that."

And Bickslow was right. She wouldn't say anything. She would stay quiet, avoid the entire topic and she would definitely not, under any circumstances, ask whether or not the guy was going to ask her to marry him or not.

"So then, right when you're probably on the verge of hating me, I would ask you," he said softly. "Right before midnight; eleven fifty-nine. I'd put one of the babies' souls in the ring, and then I'd ask you."

Lucy sighed as she shook her head, and she couldn't keep the smile off her face. Not even if she'd tried to. An entire day… She'd have spent an entire day waiting for him to pop the question, only to have him finally ask it when she really would least expect it and when she'd no doubt be more than a little disappointed. But Bickslow would know that, and Lucy could see that it was why he would wait until the very last minute of that day. Just because it would be when she least expected it.

And that… That, Lucy really loved. Because even when she'd be disappointed and more than a little frustrated with Bickslow, it would take her less than a second to give him her answer. She wouldn't need sixty seconds to decide. And that, she knew Bickslow also would have known. So as Levy and Evergreen continued to gush at the happy ending to what would have been their proposal story, Lucy smiled up at Bickslow before she lifted her head just a little bit more to lightly press her lips to his. "Sometimes, you're an ass," she whispered. "But I still love you, even when you do frustratingly romantic and sweet things like that."

---

By noon, the table at which Bickslow and Lucy sat was just a little crowded – themselves, then the rest of the Rajinshuu, Gajeel and Levy, plus Cana, and Lucy's own team. To Bickslow, having Lucy's team know and just be happy for himself and Lucy was what felt the greatest to him. They were her best friends and the closest thing she had to a family, and if anything, they should hate him for leaving. He knew that they didn't know the half of what had gone on, but that didn't matter. The point was that he'd still left when he shouldn't have.

But maybe it was because Bickslow wasn't going to be able to forgive himself for it – for not trying harder, maybe – that had him believing that no one else should forgive him. It wasn't exactly like he deserved to be marrying Lucy, because even though they'd spent a year together, and it had truly been the best year of his twenty-four-and-a-half years of living to date, he'd never really once been able to convince himself that he ever deserved to have someone like her in his life.

Lucy had always known that Bickslow felt that way too, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. She'd been able to stop him from believing that she deserved someone far better than him – for the most part, anyway – but she hadn't been able to stop him from thinking that he didn't deserve her. No matter how much she tried to make him see differently, she just couldn't. Bickslow was always just going to believe that he didn't deserve to have her, and after everything that had happened in the last year, he believed that even more.

It was his guilt getting to him then though. He left when he shouldn't have, and yet, she had forgiven him for it. Instantaneously. Hell, she hadn't even had to forgive him at all, apparently, and that, Bickslow didn't quite understand. She should hate him, not love him. She shouldn't have agreed to marry him and spend the rest of her life with him. At least, he still didn't think she should have.

But the fact that Lucy had (sort of) forgiven him was just one of the many things he did love about her. She always managed to forgive and see past the bad in someone. No matter what. She'd forgiven Bickslow for all he'd done on the day they'd met – hell, he'd tried to break up with her, broke her heart, and then he'd still ended up getting laid after it all – and she'd forgiven him for leaving. Because she knew that he'd thought he was doing the right thing at the time, and she truly believed he had.

But… He just didn't believe he deserved her. He didn't think he ever would, to be honest. But he was okay with that. He was okay with feeling like he was the luckiest man in the entire world, just because he had the greatest woman in the entire world who was so far out of his league that it wasn't even funny, and he would do for the rest of his life. Bickslow wasn't going to take that for granted, either. He never had, and he never would. He was damn well aware of the fact that if he screwed things up again, he wouldn't get another chance with her. He wasn't going to screw up what he had with Lucy ever again, because right then, he was far too selfish to even think about doing so.

He wanted to marry her. He always had. He wanted to cherish her and spend the rest of his life with her, because he just wanted to be happy. And after spending so long in a state of misery, he didn't want to give up on that happiness and future again. It didn't really matter that he didn't deserve to have someone like Lucy love him either, because the point was that she did. She loved him just as much as he did her, and Bickslow knew it. She was the one that he needed the most, and he was hers. Like it had always been, because without her, he just wasn't complete. She was, without a doubt, his other half, and even to that very day, it still amazed him that he found the love of his life in such a person.

He wasn't going to let that go again. He would stay there, with her, for the rest of his life, because it was where he belonged. It was where he'd always belonged, and everyone around them knew it. It was why they were all so happy for them and not at all caring about how they'd gone from not seeing each other for a year, to suddenly being engaged. It just didn't matter, because the point was that they were back together.

So as they sat there with their teams and their friends, yelling and laughing at each other like they always used to do, the conversation shifted away from what Bickslow and his team had done in the year, to what everyone else had done. Everyone was just catching up with each other and quickly falling into the routine of how things had once been.

It was only when Natsu and Gray were arguing about who was going to be Bickslow's best man (Gray was trying to tell Natsu that he would probably pick Laxus, and Bickslow was just sitting there listening since he really wasn't going to say that he hadn't even started to think about it, considering they'd been engaged for less than twenty-four hours) did the last two people that Lucy and Bickslow really wanted to tell about their engagement finally show up.

As Laxus walked in, he instantly grimaced upon hearing the screech that could only come from the guild's resident Fire Dragon Slayer. But it was only when he paid attention to the actual words coming from his mouth did Laxus freeze, and he was more than glad that Mira had made a beeline for the bar – no doubt to go find her siblings – with Jax in her arms. She was completely oblivious to rowdier than usual table in the unruly guild hall, which meant she was unaware of the two people sitting right in the middle of that same table.

When Bickslow saw the blond slayer quickly crossing the guild, just a small smirk on his face, he turned back down to Lucy beside him and whispered by her ear, "Sparky's coming."

Lucy looked away from Levy suddenly and quickly looked up at Laxus just as he reached the end of their overcrowded table. She smiled up at the other blond before she impatiently swivelled on the bench slightly just to tap the Seith mage beside her, who could only roll her eyes at her. "Come on, let me out," she giggled. Sure, she could stand up on the bench and climb over the back of it, but that wouldn't exactly be very ladylike. Especially when she was wearing a skirt.

So she waited for Gajeel to slide out from the table, and then Bickslow, before she quickly did so herself and stood to greet the Dragon Slayer with a tight hug.

"You wanna explain why those two are talking about being Bicks' best man?" Laxus chuckled with an eyebrow raised at the blonde in front of him.

Lucy shrugged as she pulled back. "Probably because he's going to need one eventually," she replied, only quietly laughing at the completely shocked expression that crossed Laxus's face.

"You two are fucking engaged?" Laxus asked when he looked down to the Seith mage taking a seat on the edge of the bench once again after Gajeel moved next to Levy.

Bickslow nodded. "As of last night."

"Huh. So that's where you disappeared to," Laxus muttered. He'd suspected that Bickslow had gone to talk to Lucy after he'd rushed out of the guild in the middle of the day – the same day that everyone knew to avoid him because he was brooding in the corner – straight after the rest of her team had gotten back. But, he'd expected him to go and talk to her, not to fucking propose. But, with those two, it was probably one in the same, and regardless, Laxus was more than happy for his best friend and someone he saw as a sister. "You two do realise Mira is gonna pass out once she knows, right?"

Lucy smiled as she let out a quiet sigh, and she slowly stepped back to slide along the bench just to let herself be pulled into Bickslow's lap once again. "We know," she laughed again as she leant back against his chest. Her head turned towards the bar where she was sure she'd seen the white-haired mage before, and she grinned back at Laxus and said, "So you might want to go and make sure she's not holding Jax, because I think Lisanna might be telling her now, actually."

And as if on cue, there was an ear-piercing squeal from the opposite side of the guild, and Laxus turned just in time to see his mate glance over to the table he was standing at and then fall to the ground just behind the bar. He could only roll his eyes and sigh in relief to see his sort-of sister-in-law holding his son, and confident that Mira would be fine (considering she passed out at least once a week, and she seemed fine after the hundreds, if not thousands of times she'd already done so), he heavily sat down at the end of the bench next to Bickslow and Lucy, who were, of course, sitting with matching grins.

"So are you two good now?" Laxus asked softly, ignoring the still bickering Dragon Slayer and Ice Make mage opposite him, and tuning out to the conversations that everyone else were having at the table.

"We've still got a lot of catching up to do, and just a few more things to talk about…" Bickslow smiled softly at his fiancée in his lap before he lightly kissed her cheek, then quietly, he answered, "But yeah, we're good now." And they were more than good, because everything in the world was amazing.

"You two still manage to make me want to throw up sometimes," Gajeel suddenly muttered.

Bickslow chuckled as he turned to his other side as Levy elbowed the slayer's side. "You know, Gajeel," he said, his grin never faltering. "I don't actually care if you wanna be sick, and it's because you're one of my best friends that I'm going to do this." And quickly, Bickslow lifted one of the arms he had wrapped around Lucy's waist just to hold her chin between his fingers and turn her face towards him, and he roughly pressed his lips to hers, his tongue instantly slipping past her lips and into her mouth in her surprise (and everyone else's surprise, for that matter).

It wasn't like they'd ever made a habit of being overly affectionate in the guild. Or at least, when they were in the middle of it, surrounded by everyone. But right then? Yeah, Bickslow really didn't give a fuck, and neither did Lucy. They were both inclined to just believe they were making up for lost time… by making out in the middle of the guild.

"Alright. I'm done." Gajeel suddenly shot to his feet, only barely nudging the table and those next to him. He quickly stood and stepped over the back of the bench, and as he shook his head at the laughing mages, he lifted a hand just to wave to them before he slowly began to walk off. With just a slight smirk on his lips, he said, "Congrats and all, but I can't deal with the PDA. I need to go and find my damn cat."

---

Lucy's nose crinkled up slightly as she walked into Bickslow's apartment. The smell of bleach and god knows how many other cleaning supplies filled her nostrils and she was sure she got an instant headache as soon as she walked into the room. "Damn, Bicks," she laughed quietly as he closed the door behind them. "Ever heard of opening a window or something?" She was sure her eyes were beginning to burn with how strong it was, and as she looked around the dim apartment, she was almost positive she saw every single surface fucking sparkle.

Bickslow quickly crossed the room to walk into the kitchen part of his living space, and he reached over the sink to push open the window. "Sorry," he mumbled, walking back around the breakfast bar to push open the panes at the top of the window by the lounge. "I kind of stopped noticing it." After weeks of compulsive cleaning just to try and distract himself, the smell of bleach and various other citrus-scented surface cleansers was one he almost welcomed – even if he got an instant headache from being in his apartment for more than five minutes.

"When did you even start cleaning this much anyway?" Lucy asked as she slowly began to walk around the room. She hadn't been to Bickslow's apartment since she'd left for her grand adventure, not even when Bickslow had come back earlier that morning just to change before they met up again and went to the guild together.

Seeing everything the way it had been when she'd last been there had so many memories flooding back, and they were all good ones that had her smiling and reliving them in her head and her heart. The place had been her home for the better part of a year, even if she hadn't officially moved in.

But still, with all the time she'd spent there, she didn't think she'd ever seen any surface in that place sparkle, not unless she'd been the one to clean it herself. It wasn't as if Bickslow was anything even close to being a slob, because he truly wasn't. He just wasn't exactly a compulsive cleaner, and if anything, Lucy was convinced she'd cleaned his apartment more than he had, but that was really only because her team tended to make a lot of mess, and she was left cleaning up after them.

"Um… Around the time I got back from Hargeon," he answered as a hand rubbed at the back of his neck. "I, um… I couldn't find you when I got back, because you were out on that job but I didn't know that until Laxus told me. It started out with just wanting to clean because I mean, everything was covered with dust since nothing had been touched in like a year, but then it turned into a distraction, and... Yeah… Became a compulsive cleaner, I suppose…"

Lucy turned away from the bookshelf as her lips turned down into a small frown, and she slowly padded over to where Bickslow was leaning against the end of the breakfast bar. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she lifted her arms to lace her hands together at the back of his neck.

Bickslow smiled down at Lucy softly as he lowered his head to rest his forehead on hers, and he slowly let his arms wrap around her waist. "It's okay. It doesn't matter anymore. I was just… I wasn't in the best place." Seeing the sorrow that suddenly set in her eyes made Bickslow realise he really should not be saying any of it. He wanted to try and make Lucy forget about the guilt from miscarrying, not make it worse. When he brings up that he wasn't in the best place and took to cleaning just to take his mind off things, he knew that it really wasn't helping. He sighed as he lifted his head, and he forced himself to smile once again. "Come on. It's getting late, and I still haven't heard about your year."

"Bed then?" Lucy laughed quietly, stepping back and instead letting his hand wrap around hers.

"Bed."

Bickslow slowly pulled Lucy down the short hall and to the end of it, pushing open the door and stepping into the dim room, only letting go of Lucy's hand just to go and switch on the lamps on each nightstand. He turned around again just to see her looking around at everything again with the smile he loved seeing so much – from the Seith magic book on the nightstand that was once hers, to the story on the wall above the bed, and to the small mementos they had around the room and the apartment that really made it a home.

She turned to look over her shoulder as she pulled open one of the drawers she knew to be hers, and as she saw Bickslow duck into the bathroom just to the side of the room, she called out, "Everything is still here?" All of her clothes, neatly folded and organised in the drawers that were hers, like she hadn't been gone for a year at all.

Bickslow came back out just as Lucy was pulling on a dark purple tank top that went with the light grey cotton shorts she already had on (her preferred sleepwear when she wasn't wearing the shirt of Bickslow's she'd stolen long ago and was in her apartment anyway, and when clothes were actually involved), and he shrugged as he switched off the light in the bathroom and made his way back over to the bed in his own pyjamas. "I couldn't really touch anything of yours," he finally answered. "Just felt weird moving any of it so I just left it. I think I washed it all once or twice eventually. Just needed something to do when I couldn't sleep." And when he couldn't sleep, he drank and cleaned everything. And did a lot of washing, as it turns out. On the upside though, all of his clothes were basically all permanently cuddly soft and smelled like fucking summer, somehow.

"That's okay," Lucy sighed as she slowly climbed into bed and under the dark sheets and blanket that she realised smelled the exact same way her clothes did. She was sure as soon as her head hit the pillow she could've fallen asleep right then and there, and it really wasn't even that late. She was just comfortable as all hell, and she had really, really missed the comfort Bickslow's bed gave her, especially when she was curled up right there beside her.

When he did finally climb into the bed from the other side, he quickly made his way to the centre of the large mattress, and his arms instantly wound around the blonde – one around her waist, and the other her shoulders – before he sighed against her neck. He loved that feeling, just having her in his arms and being able to hold her against him while their legs tangled up together. That was where he was home. It was where he was happiest, and it was where he always would be. It didn't really matter where it was, as long as he was just with Lucy.

"So… About this moving thing…" Bickslow said slowly as they gently shifted to better positions, both of their heads resting on the pillows as they stayed in each other's arms.

"Just one quick question before we talk about that, though," Lucy said sweetly with a small smile.

Bickslow raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "Okay…?"

"Can you maybe bring the babies out?" she asked quickly. "I mean, I haven't seen them since… Well, since I kind of made you fall off them in Hargeon. Which, I really didn't mean, by the way. I just haven't, you know, seen them for a while, and I missed them, and I just… I kinda want to cuddle with them all right now." It wasn't like they'd ever really actively cuddled with the little wooden dolls (or whatever physical body Bickslow put them in), but there were a few times where they had, or at least Lucy had.

But as Lucy rambled, she didn't notice the slow forming smirk on his lips, nor the five totems that were silently hovering in the air just behind her. She'd never really been able to tell when he was using that part of his magic, because once he'd stopped doing the gestures that went with it, there had been nothing to signal him moving the souls over into physical bodies, or into new ones once they got damaged or destroyed. Lucy knew the babies were always around Bickslow – constantly, actually. They were just rarely in the tikis that most people recognised them in, and unless they were in some form of physical body, Bickslow was the only one who could see them. Hearing them was a completely different issue, because even when they were invisible to anyone who wasn't a Seith mage, everyone could hear them.

And of course, it usually freaked the hell out of anyone who happened to hear them, only to look around and find nothing. Great for pranks (as Bickslow had explained on multiple times), but it definitely caused a lot of confusion when people would either see him talking to invisible… somethings, or they'd think they were the voices inside their heads.

But when they were invisible and not in any of their physical bodies, it was really hard to cuddle with them, and that was all Lucy wanted to do. So when she felt them begin to gently nudge her neck and between her shoulders before they came up and over her, she began to giggle. "Hey, babies," she laughed when she looked up to see them begin to zoom around just above her like the little show-offs they were. "I missed you guys."

"Missed Lucy! Missed Lucy!" they all chanted happily, settling themselves around the pillows or nudging their way under the blankets to get between the two.

Lucy looked back up to Bickslow with a shocked smile. "Aww, they actually missed me?"

"Of course they did," he answered. He was convinced the babies loved Lucy as much as they loved him – if not more so – and knowing that Lucy loved them too was just another one of the many things he truly did love about her. So he just laid there for a moment, smiling at the love of his life giggling with his babies as they talked about just how much they'd missed the blonde, because the sight right in front of him was just another one he wouldn't get sick of seeing. "But… Going back to the moving thing now," he said softly once they'd settled down again and Lucy was only gently running her fingers across the doll's wings that was sitting just between them. "Did you want to move in here? Or..."

"Well…" She pulled her lip between her teeth when she met his garnet eyes, before she slowly said, "I was thinking… Maybe I move in here with you, and then after a little while, or after we're married… Or just whenever, really… We get our own place?" She paused for just a second when she saw the cogs in Bickslow's head slowly begin to piece together what she was trying to say. "You know, a bigger place," she said finally, pulling her lip between her teeth again.

She knew it probably wasn't exactly something they should be talking about right then, but she wanted to. That, and it really just seemed to lead on perfectly from moving in together.

Bickslow nodded thoughtfully. "A bigger place," he whispered to himself. He was sure he was getting what Lucy was trying to say, and just the thought of that actually being the case had Bickslow feeling like he could suddenly burst from being way too excited and happy… But, he needed to make sure. He needed to know, and he had to ask. "That's actually something else I wanted to talk to you about…"

Lucy already knew her answer, and she was pretty confident she knew what Bickslow was going to say, but she wasn't going to answer the question before he could even ask it. That would just ruin the fun. "Mm-hmm," she hummed, smiling softly at the slightly nervous Seith mage before her.

"Okay, so… I know it's not something we ever talked about seriously, or at all, really. And I know it's probably not something we should be talking about just yet anyway, considering we just got back together and all… But… I want to talk about it now, you know? And I know you know what it is, so if you don't want to have this conversation right now, or at all, I'd totally understand."

"Bicks, you're rambling."

"I am, aren't I?" he sighed, gently lifting a hand to rub across his brow.

"Just a little bit," she laughed quietly.

Bickslow took a steadying breath to calm his nerves as he moved his hand back down to her waist and opened his eyes again. He was sure it shouldn't be a painful conversation, but he couldn't help but feel like it would be. So Bickslow did his best to put the daunting thoughts about what Lucy's answer would be to the back of his mind, and instead focused on the patient smile she held, and remained hopeful.

"Earlier today, once Mira had woken up again and you know, started squealing and all that like she usually does… You said something, and it… It made me wonder if you meant it, or you just said it to get her to drop the subject. Which, I'd totally understand and I get it, I do."

"You mean when she started going on about blue-haired and brown-eyed, and blonde-haired and red-eyed babies and all that? And she asked when it was going to happen?" Lucy said softly.

Bickslow nodded, his bottom lip between his teeth again. All he wanted to do was cave and change the subject, but he couldn't. He knew that. The fact that the hair and eye combinations didn't even scratch the surface of what could happen was irrelevant - it was something he hadn't ever explained to Lucy though, because he'd never thought them having kids would be in their near future at the time, so he hadn't found it necessary to tell her the things she would need to know about how their magic (or his, more importantly) had a big impact on a lot of things… Like eyes, for example. It was strange, but it needed to be explained. That just wasn't going to be that night.

"Yeah, and you just said it would be one day," Bickslow replied. Either she could have meant it, she hadn't even begun to think about it again, or she just wanted to avoid saying no to Mira, just because she didn't want to explain it. The problem was that Bickslow didn't know, and he really did need to know. So after waiting for any small sign from Lucy and instead getting nothing but the smile that hadn't faltered for even a second, he finally asked, "Did you mean it? I mean… Do you… Do you still want to have kids?"

Ah, and he finally asks. "Do you?" Lucy answered with her own question.

"I-I… Wait, what?" Bickslow spluttered, his brows drawing together and creasing the mark across the bridge of his nose.

"Do you still want kids one day?" she asked slowly.

Bickslow was almost at a loss for words as he just stared at the bright smile on his fiancée's face. Why is she asking me if I want kids? "It's not about me, Lucy," he said quickly, trying to turn it back around. "This is about you, 'cause I mean, if you don't want kids anymore because you miscarried before, then I get it. I'll still support you with whatever you want to do, you know that. I just… I just wanted to ask and make sure we're on the same page with this."

Lucy sighed as her eyes flicked down to the little, quietly purring (strangely, since Lucy had never really figured out how they did that) soul nestled just on her chest, before she gently pushed it up so it could settle itself with the other four that were scattered around them on the pillows. "Bickslow," she said softly as she lifted her eyes again to meet the ones that she could see were filled with worry, and she smiled again. "I think I need to tell you some things."

Bickslow could feel his heart sinking and breaking just that tiny little bit at her words. Take that as a no then… And really, he did understand if Lucy didn't want to have children anymore. After losing a baby, he didn't blame her if she was scared of it happening again. He was too, if he thought about it, and when he thought about how scary that thought was for him, he remembered just how scary and devastating it must have for Lucy when it had happened; when she'd been alone and she hadn't had anyone to help her through it.

But even though Bickslow couldn't think of anything nicer than to have kids one day with the woman in front of him, he would accept it if Lucy didn't want that. He wouldn't lie and say that that didn't hurt, because it did. It honestly hurt like hell for Bickslow to even think about the future where they wouldn't be actually starting their own family, and even more so to know that it had been so close once upon a time. But… Bickslow would accept it, if that was really the case. If Lucy didn't want to try and get pregnant again, then that was that. He wasn't going to press the matter, not after what she'd been through, and no matter what, he would remain by her side because that was where he belonged.

But maybe… Just maybe… One day, if Lucy really didn't want to have kids of her own after miscarrying, they could adopt. Maybe somewhere down the track, they'd decide that they still wanted to have a family, and even if the child wasn't really theirs, they would still love them and call them their own. Bickslow liked to think that that would be an option in their future together, if she really didn't want to have kids. Regardless though, he wasn't going to press the issue, because for now – and for an incredibly long time – he was fine with just Lucy. As long as he had Lucy, he was okay. Forever and always.

"It's okay if you don't want to have kids," Bickslow whispered, doing his best to hide the sadness in his voice. Though he knew his eyes gave it away, like they always did. "You don't have to explain it. I get it, I do. You can just say no."

Lucy shook her head as she lifted a hand to slowly begin to thread her fingers through the shorter strands of hair on the side (though she did barely register that they were in fact shorter than she remembered them to be) and gently push them back. She wasn't going to do that – say no – because she didn't want to. She had no reason to say no, but she also wasn't going to straight out say yes, either. Sure, she probably should, because she could see that Bickslow already thought she'd answered his question, but she wasn't going to. She needed to make him understand that after everything that had happened, she still wanted kids.

She knew that to make him see that, she'd have to remind him of some things he probably didn't want to remember, but she also knew it would be worth it, just because she'd get to see that look of surprise and joy on his face when he managed to wrap his head around everything.

"Do you remember what you said to me the day you left?" she finally asked, her fingers still running through the thick tufts of hair.

"Lucy… Please don't go there…" The truth was that he remembered exactly what he'd said to Lucy on that day. Almost word for word. It had hurt him to say it then, and it hurt him to even hear them echo in his head, reminding him of what he'd done and given up on. "Please…"

Hearing Bickslow almost begging her not to go on with it had Lucy on the verge of just stopping right there, instead just wrapping her arms around him and giving him the straight truth like she knew she probably should have done in the first place. But, she wouldn't. She'd started, and she wasn't going to stop then, even though she knew it would be painful. Just for a little while. "Do you remember when you told me to find a guy that wasn't a total moron and didn't have a kickass mohawk?"

The corner of his mouth lifted up in a small smirk, and he nodded slowly.

"And do you remember when you told me to settle down somewhere, fall in love with them, have kids and have a family?" Lucy could see all of that guilt and all of that regret come back to the surface, and the smirk was instantly wiped off his face. She really was hating that she was doing that, but he needed to see. So when he nodded again after a moment's hesitation, his eyes no longer looking into her own, she whispered, "I didn't want to do any of that. I know that you wanted me to, because you wanted me to be happy and move on, but… I wouldn't have been able to do that. I wouldn't have been able to have a family one day, because I just didn't want to."

"Lucy, you know I wouldn't have said any of that though if I'd known how… How close we had been to having a family. I wouldn't have said any of it… Or done any of it…"

"I know, baby. I know," she sighed as a soft smile set on her lips. "But… Do you know why I didn't want to have a family one day after all of that?"

"… Because of the baby," he mumbled.

"Nope." The sudden confusion on his face had Lucy letting out a quiet laugh. "Well, a little, but it's really not what you think," she said quickly. Losing the baby had played a part in her deciding she couldn't and wouldn't ever have a family with someone one day, but it wasn't the only reason. That was what she needed Bickslow to see. But… Not yet.

He only blinked back at her, his brow creased in confusion as he tried to understand how he could have been wrong. Well, sort of wrong. "I don't… I don't understand… What?"

Lucy only smiled again as she swiftly managed to roll Bickslow onto his back, pulling herself up as his arms fell back to the bed so she could sit over his hips. He always said she was adorable when she was confused, but she was convinced that Bickslow won the grand prize when it came to that.

Keeping her eyes locked with his, her fingers lightly traced over the faded scar that curved across his side and stomach, and she slowly said, "Do you remember the day you got this?"

"I try not to… You know, considering the whole thing where I almost died…"

"Do you remember what I said though? When I told you you couldn't leave because I told you that I wanted to have kids with you some day?"

"And I freaked the fuck out because you joked about it that same morning," he chuckled.

Lucy nodded when she saw the pain his eyes disappear beneath the surface again, and her smile could only get brighter. She knew that the pain was still there for Bickslow, and she didn't expect it to go away any time soon, just because she'd always known he had a hard time forgiving himself for anything, especially when it came to things involving herself. But that was okay. Like she had the last time things had gotten bad for Bickslow and his guilt got close to getting the better of him, she would help him. She would help him see the good in things and remind him of everything he'd done that made it all okay.

She'd remind him that she would always forgive him, even when she really didn't have anything to forgive him for.

But just seeing that guilt that she knew was completely destroying him on the inside, and had been for a long, long time, disappear beneath the surface and be masked by his happiness, it had Lucy remembering just why she was doing what she doing. She was helping him see everything in a way that she knew would make sense and make him see it all clearly. A trip down memory lane was just the perfect way to do that.

"And do you remember when you decided to be the best boyfriend ever and give me that amazing – though extremely weird – massage or wh—"

"Weird didn't seem to stop you from letting me do it every other fucking month," Bickslow laughed, only to get a few fingers dug into his side from the blushing blonde above him just to get him to stop laughing. "But I remember," he said quietly. "Because I told you that I wanted to have kids with you one day."

"So…" Lucy began slowly, her eyes still locked with Bickslow's. "Do you want to know why I didn't want a family after you left?"

Bickslow shrugged when his gaze flicked elsewhere, down to the bandages that were peeking out from beneath her shirt around her waist, and the thinner one around her thigh still. "Kinda," he mumbled. He was sure it was going to hurt, he was also sure there was a reason Lucy had decided to take them on a trip down the rocky memory lane to all the times having children together had ever been brought up.

"Because I didn't want to have a family with anyone else but you."

He could only blink at her once again as he stared up at the never-fading smile on her lips. "You… Huh?"

Lucy sighed as she began to lightly trace over his tattoo, her fingers memorising the path of the cursive font in the centre of the key, and for just a moment, her smile faltered. "You know… When I found out I was pregnant, I was really, really happy," she whispered, her brown eyes showing just a hint of the sorrow that still lurked within as she kept them down. "I know it wasn't planned and that it was a surprise, but I was still happy. I was so excited to tell you that we were going to have a family, and even though it would have been a lot earlier than what either of us thought it would ever be, I really hoped that you'd be as glad as I was."

"I would have been," Bickslow said quietly. "I would have been over the fucking moon."

Lucy smiled again as she lifted a hand just to tuck a strand of her long hair behind her ear. "But then everything happened, and I know that it wasn't really my fault and it just happens sometimes… And… Well, you know all of that already," she mumbled. "But then when I did kind of start dating again…" Lucy paused when that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach grew again. She knew that Bickslow already knew she'd been on a few really terrible dates with a few other guys in the year they'd been separated, and that Bickslow was no longer the only man she'd been with, but even if he did know and he said he didn't care – after all, they had been broken up, and he'd told her than she should move on and all of that – it still felt weird to talk about it at all.

But… She knew she had to. She had to just get it over and done with so they could move past it and everything was explained. Taking a steadying breath to try and ease her worries and discomfort a little bit, she softly continued, "When I did start dating again, I knew that even if I did eventually fall in love with someone, though it would never be as much as I love you, I wouldn't want kids. I had accepted that I would never have children with anyone, because I just didn't want to have them with anyone that wasn't you."

"So… Does that mean…"

"It means that I still really want to have kids," she giggled at the far too adorable expression on his face, then, leaning down just so she could take his face between her small hands, she said softly, "With you, and only ever you."

It was only then did Bickslow's face completely drop, and instead of staring up at the grinning face of his fiancée with his own matching grin, he could only raise an eyebrow as his mouth set in a firm line. "And you didn't think to, I don't know… Maybe start with that?" he said. "I mean, instead of having me lying here on my back as you decide to take a trip down dreary-as-hell memory lane, make it seem like you really don't want kids anymore? And, you know, making me worry and pretend that I'm actually totally fine with it all because even when I really fucking love you and I would still be here if you did decide you didn't want kids, it would still suck. But I'd get it. I just… I really, really want kids. You know, one day."

"…Wow."

Bickslow groaned as he lifted a hand just to cover his face with it. "Sorry," he mumbled, his fingers spreading over his eyes slightly just to peek through them and up to Lucy. "I don't… I don't really know where that came from." And he really didn't. He rarely had outbursts like that, and right then, Bickslow was sure it had been a terrible time for one.

"No, it's okay," Lucy said quietly as her brows slowly drew together. "I just… I always thought you were kind of impartial when it came to the whole kids thing… Like, I just… I really didn't think you were that into it."

She had always hoped that Bickslow would truly be excited when it was time for them to actually have a family – and she knew now that Bickslow would actually be excited – and she had known that he'd said on a few occasions that he wanted kids, or least wouldn't mind them, but… She'd always thought it was something he just wouldn't mind all that much about if it didn't happen. But maybe it was because Lucy had always known that Bickslow hadn't ever really been particularly fond of children as it was that she thought that. Of course, he'd said that their own kids would be a different story entirely, but still…

Lucy couldn't help but find it all confusing now. If Bickslow really did feel that way about having kids, then it really was amazing, because part of Lucy couldn't wait to start actually trying to have their own family. It was just that Bickslow had surprised her. In a good way, of course.

So as Lucy slid off to lie on her side again, Bickslow rolled with her and they quickly went back to having their legs barely tangled together in amongst the sheets. "Why wouldn't I be?" Bickslow said softly as he reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear once again.

"I don't know…" Lucy shrugged slightly as she settled her head back on the pillow next to Bickslow's. "I guess I just didn't think you thought so strongly about it… Like, if we didn't end up having kids. I mean, I know you've never liked children much…"

Bickslow smiled when her eyes flicked back up, and his thumb only gently brushed across her cheek. Oh, how the conversation had turned around, but Bickslow didn't mind at all. "I used to hate kids, but… I also used to hate the idea of settling down and having any form of relationship," he said truthfully. "But then I fell in love with you and I realised that I wanted to do all of what I hated. Well… Eventually."

"So, what?" Lucy whispered, her eyes slowly lighting up again as her lips twitched with the urge to smile. "You suddenly don't hate kids anymore?" Sure, it was entirely possible, considering the last time they'd talked about kids they'd only been dating for five and a bit months…

A lot of things can change in just six months. She knew that much.

"Well, I don't hate them. I don't exactly love them either though," Bickslow mumbled as his hand dropped down to her waist under the covers again. "I just… I grew up. Surprisingly. And I mean, when we'd only been together for a few months, it wasn't exactly something I'd even thought about, but then you brought it up when I was kind of dying—"

"You weren't dying."

Bickslow frowned, and for a brief moment, he was completely serious when he quietly said, "I was, and I should have died and you know it. I was lucky that day. Very lucky." Of course, Bickslow never did forget just how lucky he was, because he was sure as hell glad he hadn't died that day. "But… I never told you about what I saw when I was asleep that entire week," he continued.

It had taken a little while for Bickslow remember what he'd seen when he'd thought he had actually died. He didn't remember it straight away, but over the weeks that followed, he slowly remembered the dream that he'd had, because they came in bits and pieces in other dreams. Bickslow never told Lucy any of that though, because he just didn't think it would have been the best idea. After all, it had only been a dream, but still, it had helped Bickslow realise just how much he wanted all of what he'd seen.

And now? Well, now it seemed like a good idea. It was still probably going to be a little weird, talking about a damn dream he'd had more than a year ago (he hadn't been able to forget it once it had all come back for whatever reason), but it was okay.

So when it was Lucy who was the adorable and confused one, Bickslow's mouth pulled up into an even wider grin. "I had this like, really strange dream," he began. "I didn't remember it straight away when I woke up, but for some reason, it all came back in bits of pieces."

"What was this dream about?"

"Well, it was about us."

Lucy blinked. "Us?" she whispered.

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. Us," he smiled. "But, it was really strange, because at first, it was just me. Like, it was my entire life, so I guess it kind of made me feel like that I really had died, because I saw everything all over again and it felt like I was reliving it all." He paused when he could see Lucy trying to understand it already, and when he was sure she was about to ask just where he was going with it, he continued, "And I saw the day I met you, and when I asked you out, and when I kissed you. And that was where it got weird, because there was nothing else after that."

"… I don't… I don't understand?" Lucy mumbled, her neat brows drawing together once again.

"Like I said, it was strange," Bickslow sighed. "But I remember there being a moment in the dream where there was just nothing. It was just, empty, almost. And then I was suddenly watching myself. Well, I was watching us, actually. I remember this one part of it… I was standing there in a park, or a field, or something like that, and I turned around to see myself running around after you, and we were both laughing and having fun. And then, you know, I end up catching up and I pull you down onto the ground with me."

"And then what happens?"

"Then… I turned again, and I saw these two kids running up to us," he said slowly, his grin only getting wider when he saw the corner of Lucy's lips slowly pulling up into a soft smile. "So then I stood there and watched us all just laugh and have fun, and I realised that it was our family. I mean, I know that it was just a dream and all, but I still felt like that I had actually died and I was just somehow seeing what I was going to be missing out on. Because I wouldn't be there."

Even though Lucy could see that it was putting Bickslow in pain to talk about what he'd seen in his dream that he'd thought had been his entire life and the life he was missing out on, she was still smiling. Because she could see that even though Bickslow was in pain, he was still happy. But even if it was just a dream, to know that Bickslow had pictured them having an actual family, it had her heart warming and tears forming in the corners of her eyes, just because it made her happy.

"Did you see anything else?" Lucy asked as she propped herself up on an elbow on the pillow.

Bickslow nodded. "A few other things. It went backwards from there though. I think… I think the next part was just after you'd had a baby, and I was sitting there next to you, with like half of the guild around us, and I was holding them."

"Boy or girl?"

"I don't know, to be honest. In my dream, there was one of each, but I couldn't tell who was the oldest, and with the baby, I just had no idea," he answered. "But… We just both looked so happy. I looked happy. And then it just kept going backwards, and for the most part I could remember just seeing glimpses and pieces of what happened in that life – in my dream, at least – but there were some parts I actually saw."

"Like…" Lucy drawled.

"Like… Me asking you to marry me in Cartervale, and of course, you saying yes…"

But then, when Bickslow's grin faded once again and he only barely twisted to look up at the ceiling in the dim room, Lucy's own faltered and she was worrying once again. "Bickslow?" she said softly, laying her hand on his chest as she sat up slightly. "What is it?"

"There was just…" He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth when he suddenly wondered if he should tell her the rest of it. If the fact that he'd thought his dream was his entire life and the life he was missing out on just happening because he was dying wasn't strange enough, then the rest of it definitely was. It was silly, really, but he couldn't help but feel a little anxious about it all.

But… No matter how anxious he was, and no matter how worried he was about Lucy thinking he was even more insane than he already was, he knew he had to tell her. There had never really been any secrets between them, and even when there was, they never stayed hidden from each other for very long. They told each other everything, no matter how stupid. Right then was no different.

As Bickslow let out a sigh, he lifted a hand to push it back through his hair, and lifted his head just enough to rest it on his hand on the pillow, before he finally continued, "The last part of my dream was us just lying in bed. Asleep. And even though it was really simple, just… Just seeing something like that made me realise just how much I was going to miss you, because I still thought that that was for the end for me. Even though I know it was just a dream, I realised that I was going to miss all of it. All of what I saw with you, I would miss, but… But I accepted that that was it. I wasn't going to get any of what I saw in that dream, and then I just had to turn around and leave it all behind because I'd have no choice."

Lucy's hand slowly lifted and she lightly turned Bickslow's head to look back to her, her fingers barely resting against the side of his jaw. She could see the worry in his eyes, and Lucy really didn't like that. Not one bit. Because right then, she knew it was because there was something else to all of what Bickslow was telling her, and she wanted to know why.

"Why are you telling me all of this now?" she asked softly, watching as Bickslow's eyes avoided actually looking at her.

"Because… Because part of me feels like it wasn't actually a dream," Bickslow answered after a moment's hesitation. "And I know that doesn't really answer just why I'm telling you all of this, but… I think it kind of does."

"What do you mean?"

"You told me that when I was in a coma for that, that I should have woken up after just a few days at most, but I didn't. And I mean, I didn't remember any of what I saw when I was asleep when I actually woke up, so at first, I thought it really was just a dream…" He paused again when he had to remind himself that telling Lucy everything was the right thing. She'd explained everything to him, and now it was his turn to do the same. Rolling completely onto his back and pulling his legs free from hers, he looked up to the ceiling with another sigh before continuing, "But once it all came back in bits and pieces after a little while, I began to wonder if it really had been just a dream. You're not supposed to remember dreams in almost perfect detail, but I could. And, you know, sometimes I wonder if I woke up when I probably shouldn't have, just because I saw the life that I wanted to have and thought I was going to be missing out on."

Lucy blinked back in surprise for a moment when she sat up suddenly. She was smart, and it didn't take her long to understand what he was trying to say. And, if she was perfectly honest, it did make a little bit of sense. "So you think that you pulled through just because of what you saw?" she asked, a smile on her face as she did so.

Bickslow nodded as his eyes quickly flicked up to Lucy. "I know it's stupid, but—"

"I don't think it's stupid."

"You don't?"

Lucy shook her head as her smile got brighter, and leaning back down to rest on her elbow, she slowly began, "I think you seeing what you did gave you a reason to fight it. I think… I think you seeing a future you wanted helped you push through and come back to me so you could get that future one day." She could see the relief instantly wash over him, and even though he was only just telling her now about something that had been bothering him (at least a little bit) for a long time, she was still glad.

It didn't matter to Lucy that if she thought about it logically, it really probably wasn't the reason he'd woken up. He'd been asleep longer than anyone expected him to be, but he'd still be healing and his health had been improving with each day. But, maybe, just maybe, Bickslow had been closer to death than anyone did ever realise. Maybe the entire time, he'd been right on the verge of dying and what he'd seen had never just been a dream. Maybe him seeing his life and the life he could've lived had actually helped him pull through that last little bit. Maybe it had actually helped him finally wake.

Lucy really did want to believe that Bickslow seeing them have a family in a future was enough for Bickslow to fight back against it all. Maybe, even though he'd accepted his death at the time, him not being able to let go was what had him waking up in the first place. Maybe it was because he didn't want to leave everything behind just yet. Lucy didn't know, but she wanted to believe in all of that. Because that? That, she loved.

So as she laid down beside him again, her arm draped over him and her face right next to his, she softly asked, "Is that why you want kids?"

Bickslow nodded when he finally turned his head to face her. "Once I remembered seeing us as a family, I realised that it was what I really wanted," he answered. "But, until I did remember what it was I saw, I still didn't really mind if we ever had kids or not. Once you brought it up though, I did think about it, but not a lot. But when I told you that I wanted kids one day, I really did mean it, but I still wasn't really set on having them, you know?"

"I get it," Lucy smiled. "I mean, we hadn't really been together for very long then, so I can understand you not thinking much about the future. I knew what kind of person you were when I started dating you, and I knew right from the beginning that you didn't think about those kinds of things. But now…"

"But now…"

"Now, a lot of things have changed. You've changed a lot, and so have I…" Lucy said slowly. "And now..."

The corner of his mouth pulled up into a slight smile as he moved his hand from behind his head, just to lightly cup her cheek. "Now," he began. "I'm thinking about our future together, and I know that I want us to have a family. More than anything." And when he saw the sheer happiness on her face behind her watery eyes, he leant forward just that little bit and tenderly pressed their lips together. With his forehead resting against hers when they barely pulled apart, he whispered, "And… When you're ready to start trying, I'll be ready too."

In truth, knowing that Lucy still wanted to have a family one day had Bickslow almost wishing they could start working on it right then. He couldn't wait to finally have kids with her, but he knew he would have to wait, at least a little while. Just knowing that right then, if things hadn't happened the way they did, they could have already been a family had Bickslow so anxiously awaiting the day that they could actually start trying.

But even Bickslow knew it was far too early to be trying to start their family, especially when they'd just gotten back together and were still trying to catch up with each other. Right then, they didn't need to stress of actually trying to have a baby when Lucy would be in the middle of moving houses, and then they'd have a wedding to plan. Besides, Bickslow was sure that Lucy wasn't even ready for that just yet anyway, not when she was still coping with the loss of the first.

But no matter what, they had other things to deal with first. Like… Catching up. So as his lips pulled up into a wide grin as he let out a quiet chuckle, his arm wrapped around her waist again as he pushed her back onto her side so he was leaning over her slightly. "Now… I believe we got off topic. In a good way, of course, because, I mean, I don't even think I need to tell you how glad it makes me that you still want to have kids one day… But, right now, I really just want to hear about those terrible boyfriends of yours and what you got up to."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "They weren't my boyfriends," she laughed.

"So… Fuck buddies?"

"O-Oh my god, no!" she shrieked, her cheeks quickly becoming a flattering shade of red as she stared incredulously at the cackling Seith mage with his head thrown back into the pillow. It was almost as if she had more of a problem with the fact she'd slept with other people than he did – regardless of the fact they'd been broken up and Bickslow had most likely been with any number of people in that year. And still, even if the guys she'd been with hadn't been her boyfriends, they sure as hell had no been her fuck buddies. "They were… Just…"

"I was kidding, Cosplayer," Bickslow laughed, his tongue hanging from his mouth with his wide grin in place. "Now, tell me everything."

And so Lucy did. sSe told Bickslow about absolutely everything that had happened in their year apart. She told him about how she travelled around Fiore for a little bit, taking on just a few small jobs in her travels. She told him about getting a job at Sorcerer Weekly (and of course, just how much she'd hated the fact she'd started out as a model, though Bickslow really didn't mind Lucy having been a model… Even if what had gone with it really sucked), and then how she ended up finally get a job where she actually got to write for a living.

She told him about settling down in a new house in Crocus after she got her new job, and she told him about how her co-workers had constantly told her she needed to get back out into the world of dating. Every single terrible date she'd been on, just to get her co-workers who weren't quite her friends to leave her the hell alone, and all about her near non-existent sex life (of course, Bickslow took great pleasure in hearing that no one else got to have the honour of hearing her screams, which is precisely why Lucy told him all of it – though not the details).

She told him how she kept tabs on everyone as best she could, which Bickslow thought was sweet, and how she kept in touch with Laxus and Mira the entire time, as well as Levy and a few others from the guild. It was only then that Bickslow finally told Lucy that Laxus had been giving him just enough information about how she was doing to keep him from fretting and worrying about her more than he already was, and that, Lucy found sweet. Even when he'd had no idea where she was or what she was really doing, he had still been doing his best to make sure she was okay.

She told him everything, and Bickslow listened to every single word, just because it felt so nice to finally know what she'd been doing when they'd been apart. It filled in the gaps for him, and it almost made it feel like they hadn't just gotten back together just the day before, and that for the entire time, they'd had some sort of contact.

But when Lucy told Bickslow about how she was one of the reporters for that year's games, and how every day, she'd walked the same streets he had and sat on just on the opposite side of the arena to his team, he stopped smiling. Finally. They'd been in the same town, and he hadn't known. Neither had she, and so when Bickslow told her that his team had gone to Crocus just to watch the games and relax a little between the gruelling freelance jobs they got, she'd been more than a little shocked.

Once they'd both gotten over the initial shock though, it made the storytelling just that little bit more fun, because when she laughed with Bickslow about Natsu suddenly storming in and completely destroying the arena, it really did make it feel like they'd been there together. They'd been there, together yet not together, and they hadn't even known it.

Of course, once Lucy had brought up that the heat from Natsu's flames had quite literally melted half the clothes off her body… Well, Bickslow didn't take that one too well. Partly because a whole heap of people would have seen her topless, and he hadn't. What could he say? He was still a perv.

"…And then I was on a train out of Crocus that night with Natsu, and we were on our way to get everyone else back to Magnolia," she said tiredly, though with a smile on her face.

"Sounds like you had a good year then," Bickslow said softly, only getting a hum from the blonde as her eyes struggled to stay open. Even though it was just a little past midnight, they'd both had a long day and were more than ready to finally retire for the night in each other's arms. "I wish I'd have run into you or something while we were in Crocus though. Would've been nice."

"Yeah, it would have," Lucy agreed. Even though there had only been a few weeks between the Grand Magic Games ending and them finally seeing each other again, she couldn't help but wonder if things would still have turned out the way they were then if they'd seen each other in Crocus. Of course, to Lucy, she couldn't help but find it a little amusing that in a city so large, she'd run into his sisters of all people, but not Bickslow. So as her eyes slowly opened again, her lips pulled up into an even brighter smile, and she slowly began, "But speaking of running into people… Guess who I saw in Crocus."

A sigh escaped Bickslow as he sat up to prop his head up in his hand with his elbow on the mattress, and he shrugged. There was no way he was actually going to guess, because if that were the case, he could be up for hours just trying to figure out who the mystery person that Lucy saw in Crocus was. "Who?"

"Your sisters."

Bickslow's eyes went wide as he stared at Lucy in complete shock. Suddenly he wasn't feeling all that tired. "What? When? How?" he asked quickly. He'd barely told her anything about his sisters, not even their names or showed her a single photo (because he just didn't have them to show her). He just didn't understand how Lucy could have met them.

"It was on the last day of the games," Lucy said. "I had a bit of time before I had to go down to the Domus Flau, so I went through the markets that had opened up for the games, since I didn't really get a chance to do so on every other day. So, as I was walking, I saw this one stand with—"

"Snowglobes," Bickslow finished for Lucy, watching as confusion quickly etched on her face. "I know, I was there. I saw them on the last day right before the games started too."

"You did?" He nodded as a slow smile crept onto his mouth, and as Lucy's exhaustion slowly disappeared, she quickly went on, "Uh, anyway… I was… I was looking at them, because I saw this one with Kardia Cathedral in it and I thought it was really pretty, but then they recognised me somehow. And at first I didn't really know what was going on, but then they said they had a brother in Fairy Tail and then said it was you, I kind of pieced it all together and realised that was why they looked so familiar."

Bickslow rolled his eyes. "They read too much of the Sorcerer. That's how they would have recognised you, because they gave me so much shit about leaving once they saw me." It was then that Bickslow realised that Lucy had said she'd seen them on the last day, right before that day's events started, and Bickslow had remembered hearing her laugh right before his sisters had recognised him. Maybe… Just maybe… He hadn't been imagining it. "Hey, so… You said you saw them on the last day, right?"

Lucy nodded. "I only got to talk with them for a few minutes before I had to go though."

"Right, well, I know it's a bit of a weird question…"

"Most of your questions are weird, Bicks."

The corner of his mouth briefly lifted up and showed just a quick smirk, before he continued, "True, but… Did you… laugh? I mean, you know I love your laugh, and I know it anywhere now, but… I swear I heard it that day, and now that I think about it, it was almost right before they saw me and I went and talked to them."

"You know, I think I might have, actually…" She quickly tried to remember the conversation she'd had, and as she did so, she suddenly began to giggle just with the mental picture appearing in her head once again. "Oh, yeah," she laughed. "I asked if you always did that thing with your tongue when you talk, and then they told me about how you got it stuck to a pole when you were sixteen."

If Bickslow could care about how he was sure that story had was taken out of context (he wasn't being an idiot; it had been a dare, from his evil sisters), he would have. Instead, he was far too focused on the fact that they really had been closer than they'd thought. He'd been close enough to hear her laugh in a sea of people, and he'd put it down to his imagination. She'd been right there, with his only living family left, and neither of them had had any idea.

Of course, Bickslow was just a little confused by the fact that his sisters had obviously just run into his ex (and technically, future fiancée) barely minutes before they'd seen him, and yet they hadn't said a single thing. They'd talked to Lucy, yet they hadn't told him. Instead, they'd decided to keep their mouths shut and let Bickslow think she was on the opposite side of the country or something, all while giving him hell for letting her go when he shouldn't have.

But… He wasn't going to let that go. Oh no. He'd been meaning to go and visit them anyway, just because he had nephews and a niece to go and meet, and two sisters to catch up with just because they really were his only living family, but with everything with the guild coming back, it had been pushed back. Now though? Now, he'd be able to take Lucy with him, and he'd be able to tell them that he was definitely not letting her go again, all while giving them hell for not telling him about meeting her in the first place.

Yeah, Bickslow was going to have a lot of fun with that.