Lucy was sulking when she walked out of the bathroom and slowly padded over to the bed, and Bickslow knew exactly what the reason was. He could only sigh quietly as he lifted the blanket up for her to climb under, and as soon as she did, he was dropping it back down over her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest.

It was that time of the month again, and while it was ordinarily a good thing, it just wasn't anymore. Not that year. And for the last three months, every time her period came, Lucy just got progressively more and more disappointed. She'd known not to really expect anything to happen, at least not right away, but it was still disappointing to get that annoying reminder that yet another month had gone by where she still wasn't pregnant.

"It's not the end of the world," Bickslow said softly, ducking his head down just to press a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "We'll just try for next month again." He'd been saying that since the end of January. Bickslow just hoped he wouldn't have to say it for much longer.

"I know…" Lucy whispered.

But, even if she was telling herself to just try for the next month and hope for the best, she still couldn't help but start thinking again that it just wasn't going to happen. And Lucy knew that she really had no reason to think that at all, but she just couldn't help herself. She was just so worried that it was just never going to happen for her, and while that terrified her and had kept her up at night more than once, Lucy was more worried about what it would do to Bickslow.

She knew how much he wanted a baby. She knew how badly he wanted to have their own little family. And, she knew that there was more than one way to have a child, too, but… It wouldn't really be the same.

But still, Lucy wanted to be pregnant anyway – or at least she wanted to be again. It was just that that time, now that they were actually trying to make it happen, Lucy couldn't help but think that it wouldn't happen, because the world was stupid like that, and sometimes, or at least right then while her uterus was wreaking absolute havoc and having one hell of a tantrum, Lucy just thought the world was out to get her.

"It'll happen eventually," Bickslow assured her, although it was partly for his own benefit, too. "You just have to give it time."

"I don't want to give it time though," she mumbled.

"I know you don't."

Lucy sighed quietly against Bickslow's chest, keeping her head ducked and her knees tucked up against her chest. Bickslow slowly dragging his hand up and down her back was as soothing as it ever was, especially so when he rubbed gentle circles at the small of her back every so often. Sometimes she just wanted to stay in bed like that forever. It was so nice there, but they very rarely just got to spend quiet nights in with each other like that. They were each spending so much time out with their teams just to be able to afford everything for the house – the remodels that hadn't been already organised and paid for by the previous owner were coming in with a higher price tag than anticipated, but that was still okay – and get it as perfect as it could be. And half of the time, whenever they did spend time with each other after getting back from a mission, or just the guild or even errands for the day, all they wanted to do was sleep and nothing else. No cuddling, no quiet conversations about anything and everything. Just sleep.

And when Lucy thought about it that way, it was really no surprise that she wasn't pregnant yet. They made time for each other pretty much whenever they could, but for the most part, they'd never really gone out of their way to actually be with each other. If one or both or them hadn't felt like it, then they just didn't try. Sex just wasn't fun if it felt like a chore. But still, even if they had agreed to try and get pregnant after the new year, nothing had really changed. So far, they hadn't really gone out of their way to try and make it happen. Or at least, they hadn't been trying as much as they could.

Lucy knew that there were better times than others to actually try. But she hadn't really paid much attention to that. Not that year, at least. She'd kept it in her head when they'd been together the first time, before they'd broken up, because at that point, she really hadn't wanted a baby all that much. The most they'd done to actually stop that was to just avoid having sex altogether for a few days every now and then… Or, well… Bickslow had just pulled out instead, although Lucy knew that wasn't really that great of an alternative. That, and it just been messy, and Lucy really didn't like messy all that much.

Still though, that time around, where they were actually trying to get pregnant and have a baby, they weren't really doing anything extra to make it happen. They were just… doing what they usually did. Which, for the most part, was just sleeping together as they usually did without really paying much mind as to what could happen.

But as Lucy was realising, that just wasn't good enough. She wasn't going to get knocked up if they kept doing that. Or if she did, it was going to take a hell of a long time. And frankly, Lucy just didn't have the patience for that. She wanted it all to just hurry up, and she knew she had a better chance of actually getting pregnant if they actually tried and made sure to do everything at the right time.

She lifted her head then just so she could look up to Bickslow still resting his own head on the pillow and continuing to smooth his hand over her back. "I want to try harder," she whispered.

He peeked his eyes open. "Hm?"

"I want to try harder," Lucy repeated. "To get pregnant, I mean."

Well, he'd assumed that much. But Bickslow wasn't quite sure how they were supposed to do that. He'd already kind of assumed that they were trying. "Okay? But I thought that's what we were already doing."

"We are, but… We're not really doing anything different."

"Well, last I checked I wasn't cumming on your stomach anymore," Bickslow mumbled. He thought that was a pretty good sign that they were trying.

Lucy only sighed through her nose, rolling her eyes a little for good measure. "Yes, well, there's that," she said, "but that's not what I was talking about."

Bickslow chuckled quietly. "Then tell me what you're talking about."

"I just mean that… We're not trying as much as we could be." She watched Bickslow for any kind of reaction, but seeing none, she continued, "I know that we said we'd try after the new year, but nothing has really changed. We're just… We're just sleeping together as we usually do."

"So… What then?"

Lucy shrugged. "I just want to try harder," she said. "You know, by… By making sure that we try at the right time so we have a better chance of actually conceiving. We don't really have anything to lose…" She had nothing to lose to begin with, so really, as far as Lucy was concerned, all they could do was try that little bit harder to make it happen.

But if that was what Lucy wanted, and if that was what it would take to actually have a baby, then they'd do it. For the most part, Bickslow didn't really care what they did, as long as they got there. And really, the sooner the better. He didn't care that their wedding was just five months away, almost do the day. Actually marrying Lucy wasn't anywhere near as important to him as getting her pregnant. Sure, he'd still love to do it, because he loved the idea of being able to wake up next to her every morning (or most of them) for the rest of his life and know that she was his wife. But it would just be that much nicer if they had a kid. And getting that kid was far more important to them than getting married.

Admittedly though, Bickslow wasn't too sure what the whole 'right time' thing meant. Not entirely, at least. He certainly had his assumptions though. For the most part though, Bickslow just thought it was best to let Lucy deal with anything to do with bleeding and cycles and anything else even slightly related to it. It was her body, after all. It was safer that way.

After a moment, Bickslow gave a small nod and smiled, saying softly, "If that's what you want to do, then that's what we do." Lucy was right though. They really did have nothing to lose.

Lucy returned the smile as she tilted her head up just to press a gentle kiss to Bickslow's lips, quickly curling back in on herself with the top of her head just barely peeking above the edge of the blanket. She knew it would still take time, even when they were trying to make it happen with everything they had, but at least Lucy would know that they were trying.

And if it still didn't happen then… Well, Lucy was going to try her best not to think about that at all. She had to be optimistic. She had to try her best to stay positive, no matter how hard it was.

For the time being though, she was just going to try and convince Bickslow to let her sleep right where she was. Because she was comfortable and warm.

Levy stepped back from the now almost completely lavender wall just to gently place the paint roller back in the tray, and then carefully sit herself down on the floor. The floor was so far away, and she knew she was going to have a hell of a lot of trouble getting back up, but there was no furniture in the nursery yet, and Levy just really, really needed a break for a few minutes.

She was certain Lucy could handle the few patches left on the wall, though.

Levy reached for her bottle of water on the ground beside her to take a large gulp, asking first, "So have you started planning the wedding yet?"

"Um… A little bit," Lucy hummed in answer. "We decided—well, I decided on a colour scheme a few weeks ago." Somewhere around the time that she'd started taking the whole 'trying to get pregnant' thing a little more seriously, she'd started thinking about the wedding again. For the most part, Lucy had just been leaving it. They'd been putting most of their time and energy into trying to conceive, but now that they were really just focusing on those few days in the middle of each cycle, Lucy found she had a lot of time to do everything else. So, between jobs, she'd started planning her wedding.

After all, at that point, it was really only another three-and-a-half months away. She still needed to get a wedding dress, too. Although on the off chance she did miraculously get pregnant before August 25th, she was mostly just trying to put off getting a wedding dress made for as long as possible.

"What colour scheme did you decide on then?" Levy asked.

"Purple, blue, and gold," Lucy said with a smile. "Or maybe silver instead of gold. They're basically the same anyway." Although the purple and the blue were really just for the bridesmaid dresses and her bouquet, and Lucy had long since decided on having a purple and white calla lily bouquet.

Levy sighed wistfully, "That sounds so beautiful. I wish I could get married. Gajeel doesn't want to."

"You're already having a baby!" Lucy laughed.

"I know… But a wedding would just be so nice. Then again, I'm pretty sure Gajeel would want everything to be black or grey and that doesn't sound so appealing…"

"Hey, black weddings can be classy, you know. Especially black and white." Bickslow had even tried to make her consider having a black and white wedding when they'd first started talking about it, but he'd quickly caved and agreed to the purple and blue.

Although then again, he had also said that he really didn't care all that much about the colours of everything anyway. He only cared about being able to stand up there and marry her. That, and he was more inclined to just let Lucy take care of everything just so she could make it the wedding she really wanted. It was just better that way.

"I suppose so…" Levy mumbled, taking another drink from her water bottle. "But what about bridesmaids?" she asked then. "Have you chosen them?"

Lucy nodded. "I have, actually." She'd been thinking about that the most, because she knew that it was going to mean a lot to whoever she did ask to be a bridesmaid. She also knew that she was going to offend some others by not asking them, and Lucy had wanted to avoid that as much as possible. Still, she'd managed to narrow it down to four wonderful women, including the maid of honour. Now all Lucy had to do was actually ask them.

Levy could only grimace then. She'd been waiting to talk to Lucy about that, but she knew her friend had had other things on her mind over the last few months so bridesmaids and wedding planning hadn't really been a priority. Now that Lucy was actually starting to plan and choose everything, Levy could talk to her about it. "Well… I know that you're going to ask me to be your maid of honour," she began, leaning back on one hand while her other rubbed tiny circles on the side of her large bump. Lucy could only glance back to her with a blush forming on her cheeks. "But… I'm going to save you the trouble of asking by saying no to it now. I'll have the baby by then and I'll just… I'll be so exhausted and I wouldn't want to ruin your day because I'm busy."

Honestly though, Levy would love to be Lucy's maid of honour. She was her best friend and her getting married just made her so happy. But… Her daughter was also supposed to be due at the end of May, and even if the wedding wasn't until the end of August, Levy just didn't think she'd be up to really doing anything while she had a three-month-old to look after.

Lucy couldn't help but feel guilty after that though. She could understand why Levy would assume that she'd be asked to be the maid of honour, but… Honestly, Lucy hadn't been planning on asking her to be. A bridesmaid, yes, but not the maid of honour. And as she rolled the brush in the tray of lavender paint again, Lucy almost wished she didn't have to quietly admit, "Well, uh… I wasn't actually going to ask you to be my maid of honour…"

"Wait… You weren't?" Levy stammered, and Lucy shook her head. She wasn't used to making a fool of herself like that. "I just… I just assumed, you know, because I'm your best friend, and…" She groaned into her hands, shaking her head slightly. "I'm so sorry, Lu."

Lucy left the now finished wall behind to crouch down in front of her friend. "No, no. I should be apologising," she said softly. Levy was right to assume that she would've been chosen just because she was her best friend. She'd only ever considered two people to be her maid of honour, and it had honestly been a hard decision for her to make. But, Lucy was happy with the decision she'd made, even if it was kind of upsetting her best friend in the process. "I was going to ask you to be a bridesmaid, though. I'm guessing you're going to say no to that as well though, right?"

Levy finally looked up and shrugged slightly, a small smile on her lips when she looked back to her friend. A bridesmaid… Well, that would be less stressful, but… "I'd really love to, Lu, but yes, I'm still going to say no," she said softly. Even if she'd have less to worry about, it would still be a lot of work and she just really wouldn't have the energy for that.

Lucy nodded and sighed quietly. "Well, I would've loved to have you up there with me, but I get it," she said, collapsing down onto the ground beside Levy to take a drink from her own water bottle.

It was good Lucy understood. Levy hadn't wanted to say no, but she could also tell that Lucy hadn't really wanted to upset her by not asking her to be her maid of honour, either. But honestly though, Levy wasn't really that upset. It would've been nice, but… It wasn't her day. It was Lucy's day (and Bickslow's, by extension), after all, and Lucy should get to choose who she wanted to be part of her wedding party without having to feel guilty for her choices.

But… Even if Levy could see that, she was curious who Lucy had chosen to be her maid of honour. "Just out of curiosity though…" she began then, with Lucy glancing in her direction as she took her own break now that the room was completely painted. "Who are you going to ask to be your maid of honour? Is it Erza?"

"Oh. Uh… No, not Erza."

"One of Bickslow's sisters then?"

Lucy shook her head. "Nope." She had considered it for a moment though. She'd even considered asking them to be bridesmaids, but… Well, they hadn't made the cut, as much as Lucy had wished they could. She also wished she could have like ten bridesmaids, too, but she couldn't.

"Mira?" Levy asked after a moment. "Or maybe Cana?"

"No and no."

Well, Levy had run out of ideas. She really had no idea who Lucy was going to ask. And shrugging slightly, she only mumbled, "Well, I'm out of ideas. Who are you going to ask then?" She was almost willing to beg Lucy to tell her, she was that curious.

But begging wouldn't be required. Because Lucy was all too willing to answer with, "I was planning on asking Evergreen."

Lucy had known she wanted Evergreen to be part of her wedding party from the minute she'd actually started planning it. Evergreen was like family to Bickslow, and with Lucy marrying into that family, she really just wanted Evergreen to know that she was going to consider her as family, too. She already did in a way. The only problem was that Lucy just hadn't really been able to show her that, because Evergreen had always been so distant or so quiet whenever Lucy had been near her. She understood that, though. She knew Evergreen wasn't so great with talking to people sometimes, so she'd never tried to make her uncomfortable.

But… When it came to her wedding, Lucy just really wanted Evergreen to be a part of it. And when she'd told Bickslow that she was planning on asking Evergreen to be her maid of honour, just a little over a week earlier, he'd only looked at her, asked her if she was serious, then just about squeezed all of the air out of her he'd been hugging her that tightly while telling her that he thought she was making a really great choice.

He still hadn't told her that Evergreen had been hoping to be at least a bridesmaid, and he probably wasn't going to.

Still, when she'd thought about Evergreen being her maid of honour, Lucy just thought that it felt right. It wasn't entirely logical, just because they weren't really close and for the most part, Lucy didn't know all that much about her. But it still felt right. Lucy felt like Evergreen would be able to handle it. And Bickslow telling her that he thought it was a good choice really just made her all the more certain that it was.

It took Levy a moment to actually process that, though. She couldn't tell if the reason she'd been so surprised to hear it was because she'd been expecting to be asked, or if it was because Levy just really hadn't thought Lucy to be that close to Evergreen. Although once Levy thought about it some more, and once she remembered what the maid of honour was supposed to do… Well, she had to admit it kind of made sense.

She was actually kind of perfect for it. If anyone was going to be able to help Lucy get everything planned perfectly, while also (mostly) keeping her calm, well… It would be Evergreen.

"You know what?" Levy murmured. "She actually makes sense."

"You think so?" Lucy asked.

She nodded. "Sure do!"

That was relieving to hear for the most part, and Lucy couldn't help but let out a little sigh of relief. "You're not too upset with me, are you? I mean, I know you said no anyway, but…"

Levy smiled at her friend, and shuffled over to wrap her arm around Lucy's shoulders to quickly give her half a hug, resting her head on Lucy's shoulder for a moment. "Lu, I'm fine," she said with a kind smile. "It's your day anyway. You should be able to choose who you want without having to worry about anyone else's feelings. And anyone else who does think they get a say in any of it… Well, they're probably not the kind of people you should want to have involved anyway."

"I don't know what I'd do without you, Levy," Lucy sighed. The woman really was a godsend sometimes. Plus, she was almost always right, so that was pretty great.

"You'd probably be doing exactly what you're doing anyway," Levy giggled. "But anyway… How's the other thing going? Still no luck?"

Lucy sighed again and shook her head. "Not yet. Still aiming for next month, as usual," she mumbled. She'd told Levy that they were trying to have a baby, but only because Levy was her best friend and she told the woman everything. Pretty much no one else knew, other than Bickslow's family in Crocus. Even then, Lucy didn't think it was appropriate to tell other people, other than her best friend and her family, of course. It was as personal as it got.

"It'll happen eventually. Don't stress."

"I know," Lucy whispered. "I'm just getting impatient, that's all." She was still trying to be optimistic, though. She knew it wasn't going to happen right away.

Unfortunately for Levy, she didn't really know what else she could say to Lucy about that. She didn't think there was anything else to say, either. So instead, she only set her bottle of water back down on the ground, a little bit out of the way, and said with a sigh, "Well, I need to get out of here before the fumes give me a headache, so how about you help me get up?"

"You… You want me to be your maid of honour?"

Lucy nodded. "Yep!"

"Actually… me?"

"Well, last I checked, I only know one Evergreen," she laughed. "So yes, of course I mean you!"

Evergreen was almost at a loss for words. When Lucy had asked her over the lunch that day, she certainly hadn't expected to be having that conversation with her. And admittedly, Evergreen really had been hoping that Lucy would ask her to be a bridesmaid, but she hadn't expected it to happen just because she knew that they weren't even really friends. They were more like… half friends.

Still, for Lucy to actually ask her to not just be a bridesmaid, but to be her maid of honour? Yeah, Evergreen was definitely a little speechless.

But… Evergreen couldn't help but think that it was just because Lucy had no one else to ask. Surely Lucy wouldn't have even considered her unless everyone else had said no. And Evergreen was sure Lucy meant well… But… It wouldn't be the same if that was the case. She didn't really want to be the last choice, but she could understand if that's what she really was.

"Why me, though?" she whispered, hanging her head slightly.

Lucy noticed the shift, too. She'd thought Evergreen would be excited, not… sad. "Well, because I trust you, and… And you're practically like a sister to me already because of Bicks, and… Well, because I think you'd be perfect for it and I wanted you up there with me," she answered. Although if Evergreen said no, then Lucy would be zero-for-two as far as her bridesmaid-asking goes, assuming she counted Levy. And if Evergreen said no… Well, Lucy really didn't know what she'd do.

"Do you mean that?" Evergreen asked softly, looking back up again. She knew that Lucy didn't lie by nature, but… She just wasn't sure yet.

"Ever, of course I mean it. I wouldn't have asked you otherwise."

"So… So you're not asking because you have no one else to ask?"

"What? Of course not!" Lucy wasn't even sure where that was coming from. "You're the first and only person I planned on asking, by the way," she said. Levy only half counted, since she'd technically said no before she could even ask. But, Lucy still hadn't planned on asking Levy to be her maid of honour. She'd only ever planned on asking Evergreen.

But, once the words left Lucy's mouth, she barely had a chance to react before Evergreen was quickly leaning forward and throwing her arms around her. Lucy thought Erza's hugs were strong, and then Bickslow's when he was ridiculously happy, but Evergreen was giving both of them a run for their money.

"I'd love to be your maid of honour!" Evergreen squealed, squeezing Lucy tightly. Oh, she was just so excited. Saying yes was no problem when she was sure that she wasn't just a last resort, and Evergreen believed Lucy when she said that she wasn't. Granted, she still wasn't entirely sure why Lucy thought she'd be so perfect for the job, but she was really just honoured to have even been considered, let alone actually be asked. "I won't let you down, Lucy. I promise you that."

She didn't think Evergreen could let her down anyway.

Lucy walked determinedly ahead of her team on the way back to the guild. They'd been gone for the last week. And ordinarily, being gone for a week wasn't a problem, but when she'd only agreed to going with her team because she'd been under the assumption that she'd only be gone for a fewdays… Well, that was when it became a problem.

Especially when being out of town meant she'd already missed two of the days where she supposedly had a better chance of conceiving. She really only had that one day left, and Lucy just wasn't willing to waste any more time than she already had quite literally cleaning up after her team's mess.

She knew Bickslow would be in the guild though. The house was done for the most part – only their bedroom needed to be painted and the bookshelves in the living room needed to be assembled and attached to the walls – but it was still getting late in the day, which meant Bickslow would no doubt be sick of either painting or packing up the apartment, so he'd be drinking at the guild.

She mostly just ignored her team behind her telling her to slow down. Aside from really not wanting to deal with them after all they'd done was argue for the last six days straight, Lucy really did have better places to be.

Once Lucy did reach the guild, it didn't take her very long to spot Bickslow sitting with Levy and Gajeel. The bright blue hair made it so easy to spot him, and Lucy really did love that he didn't wear his visor around the guild anymore. She weaved her way through the tables to head straight for where he fiancé was sitting, and smiled at him when Bickslow looked in her direction.

"Cosplayer! I was wondering when you'd be getting back," Bickslow said with a grin.

Lucy ducked down just to press a quick kiss to his lips before reaching for his hand. "Yeah, well… Things came up." She could tell him about her chaotic job later. For the time being, she had plans that involved him. Or, well, a part of him, at least. Her team had caught up to her by then and all but collapsed into the empty seats around the same table, already complaining about Lucy walking so fast again. Lucy could only roll her eyes. "Anyway, we gotta go."

"What? Why?" Bickslow asked. "Come on, come sit. I just ordered food from Mira. Stay a little."

"Nope, we have somewhere else to be." She tried pulling on his hand, but he was a heavy son of a bitch so she really ended up just lifting his arm. "Bicks, come on. We really need to go. Like, right now." Lucy was trying so hard to be as vague as possible, because the last thing Lucy wanted to do was make it obvious to everyone else (or, just her team, really) that she was really just trying to get home as quickly as possible so she could have sex.

Except the vagueness was still going over Bickslow's head, and he tried pulling her down to the empty seat next to him, rolling his eyes as he did so. "Lucy, come on," he whined. "Just for a little while. You just got back. Relax for a little bit."

Lucy rolled her eyes then. "Bickslow, I really mean it," she said softly. Her team were all giving her odd looks. Only Levy seemed to be disinterested, too busy resting quietly with her head on Gajeel's shoulder. Lucy doubted she was actually asleep though. No one could sleep in the guild. But, glancing back to Bickslow, Lucy was sure she felt a little warmth creep up on her cheeks as she quietly added, "It's… You know… Time."

"…Oh!" Now Bickslow understood why Lucy was being so vague. She wasn't exactly going shout out in the middle of the guild that she was ovulating. Oh no. Bickslow didn't exactly want her too, either. "Oh, well, uh… Right, yes, okay. Totally gotta go then," he said quickly with a nod mostly to himself.

The rest of Team Natsu only watched on in confusion as Bickslow quickly got up from his chair and let Lucy mostly drag him out of the guild. They shared looks with each other, confirming that each of them really had no idea what had just transpired, or what time it supposedly was.

"So was that just me, or was that really weird?" Gray mumbled, with Natsu and Erza nodding in agreement. It had been more towards Gajeel and Levy, who still didn't seem that fazed by any of it.

"It wasn't that weird," Levy murmured, her head still on Gajeel's shoulder. Honestly, she'd thought it was obvious. But it certainly helped she already knew why Lucy would've been acting that way.

"Why not?" Erza asked. "Do you know where they're going so quickly then?"

"Mm-hmm. Home, no doubt."

"Why would they be in such a rush to go home? That makes no sense," Natsu mused. "We walked past their place on our way here."

Levy let out a sigh as she sat up, lifting her hand to rub at her tired eyes as she opened them. "Because Lu's trying to get pregnant and she can't do that on her own, dummies," she mumbled.

"She's… She's trying to get pregnant? Really?" Erza whispered. She hadn't been expecting that in the slightest, and judging by Natsu's and Gray's silence on either side of her, she knew they hadn't been expecting it either. If Levy was right, Erza didn't really know what to think, though. She thought Lucy would've told them about something like that. It was a big thing, and they were her friends. "I at least thought they would wait until they were married before they started their family…"

"Why? It's not like she was married the first time she was."

"First time she was what?"

Levy rolled her eyes. "First time she was—" But she stopped herself promptly when she realised what she'd been about to say, and then everything else she'd already said. "Oh no," she whispered. Her face quickly went beet red and she didn't need to look up to know that Gajeel was no doubt staring at her like she'd grown a second head. Gajeel still knew just as much as she did, but Gajeel also hadn't been the one to just blurt out someone else's business.

Levy still knew she'd fucked up though. She hadn't really meant to say what she had… She just hadn't been thinking. She'd barely been sleeping over the last few weeks, and she was just exhausted. Lucy was going to be so disappointed with her… But Levy didn't even have the time to worry about Lucy herself, not when the rest of Team Natsu were closing in on her, clearly wanting her to explain just what the fuck she'd blurted out.

Lucy was just taping up a cardboard box for the move when there was a knock on the door, and she set the roll of tape down to go answer it. Her team were awkwardly awaiting just on the other side, and Lucy instantly stepped back to let them all in. "Oh, I wasn't expecting any of you to drop by," she said, laughing quietly to herself. When they all just waited outside, still looking as awkward and uncomfortable as ever, Lucy arched an eyebrow at them, asking, "Are you going to come in? Or are you going to stay out in the hall?"

"Well, uh… Are you, um… busy?" Erza asked. After getting the rest of the story out of Levy in the guild earlier, Erza's first thought had actually been to just rush over to Lucy's straight away. It had been Gray's, too. But then Natsu had grabbed both of their arms and pointed out that if they really were trying to have a baby, then they should probably wait a little while. It had been a few hours since then, so Erza was fairly confident that Lucy wouldn't be busy, but the last thing she wanted to do was intrude or ruin anything.

Lucy shrugged. "Nope, not busy," she answered. "I'm just packing up some things while Bicks is picking up dinner."

Erza breathed a sigh of relief. She was the first to finally enter the apartment, with Natsu and Gray following behind her.

"So, any reason in particular you all stopped by?" Lucy asked as she closed the door and then returned to the box to finish taping it shut. "Or were you just stopping by for the sake of it?" She really didn't mind either way, though. She was just curious.

"Well, um…" Erza wasn't very often nervous, but she was right then. And since the boys had already made it clear on the way over there that they didn't really want to be the ones to bring anything up, it left Erza to do the job. But it was difficult, because by not telling them about any of it in the first place, Lucy had made it clear that she hadn't wanted them to know about anything – not her miscarrying before, and not her trying to get pregnant again. But they still knew about it anyway, because of what Levy had told them, and even if it had been an accident, none of them could just forget about it or pretend that they didn't know about any of it. They just couldn't.

So that left talking to Lucy about it. And for once in her life, Erza was actually trying really hard to be mindful of her words.

"The thing is…" Erza mumbled. She kept looking down at her hands as she tapped her fingertips together. "Uh… When you left the guild earlier… With Bickslow…" Lucy picked up the roll of tape and then a flattened cardboard box to carry it down the hall and to the bedroom, careful to keep listening to Erza's slow words as she followed Lucy down the hall as well. "Levy, um… Told us some things…" Erza finished quietly.

Lucy stopped in her tracks, right inside the bedroom with her back still to her team following her. "Oh…" she whispered. There was really only one thing that Lucy could think of that would warrant her team showing up like that, but for the life of her, Lucy just couldn't figure out why Levy would've told them.

They were all almost too scared to step past the threshold into Lucy's room. Natsu and Gray only peeked nervously around Erza as she took but a single step forward. She'd seen how Lucy's shoulders had dropped when she'd said it, and as she watched Lucy slowly move again just to sit down on the edge of the made bed, Erza's first instinct was to just run over her and squish her in a big hug. But she was stopping herself from doing that, just because she didn't know what was going through Lucy's head right then.

"I don't believe Levy meant to tell us, though," Erza said softly.

Lucy shook her head. "It's fine," she mumbled. She was disappointed, and just a little hurt, and definitely confused, but it wasn't really the end of the world. Still, it was almost as if every time she started moving on from losing the baby and actually getting over it to an extent, someone would go and bring it up again. And that stung.

Granted, it wasn't as bad anymore. But it still kind of hurt.

Hesitantly, they all finally moved into the room and piled onto the bed around Lucy – Erza next to Lucy, Natsu on Lucy's other side, and Gray next to Erza. Lucy let out a quiet sigh when Erza spoke again softly, "So I imagine it's true then. You were pregnant before." And Erza had believed Levy, but… She kind of wanted to hear it from Lucy herself.

Lucy shrugged. There wasn't really any point in trying to deny it, especially when she didn't know how much Levy had told them. "Yeah…"

"You could've told us, Luce," Natsu mumbled.

"I know… But I just… I couldn't."

"Why not?" Gray asked.

"Well… Because… Because everything with Tartaros had just happened…" Lucy mumbled, still looking down to her hands in her lap. "And you guys were all busy with things. And I just… I didn't want to tell any of you." It had been her thing to deal with, and the only reason she'd told the people she did was because she really hadn't had a choice in it. And even then, that had mostly been Wendy's doing but Lucy didn't blame her for that.

But even if she hadn't wanted to tell any of them, she just still hadn't been able to anyway. She hadn't been able to face anyone back then. She'd needed time to herself to actually be alone.

"But we're your team," Erza whispered. "You should know that you can come to any of us for anything, no matter what else is going on."

"I do know that…"

"But you still didn't tell us."

Lucy shrugged again. "Like I said, I just didn't want to tell any of you. I didn't want to tell anyone." She didn't really understand why people had such a hard time understanding it. She'd never had any obligation to tell anyone about it. "But if it makes you feel any better, I didn't tell Bicks either."

"Seriously?" Gray wondered.

"Seriously," Lucy sighed. "I only told Wendy because she was here. And Wendy told Laxus and Gajeel. That's it. The only reason Levy knew was because I brought it up in a letter when I was in Crocus. And Bicks… I didn't tell him about it until the guild was already being rebuilt." At that point, Lucy was almost inclined to believe she'd told less people herself than what everyone else had. Wendy made two, and then Levy made three more.

But Lucy herself? Lucy had really only told four people. And that one number difference kind of stung.

But, hearing that Lucy hadn't really told anyone about her miscarrying did seem to put everyone's minds at ease. It was horrible, but at least they hadn't been the only ones to not know about it.

Still though… They really did wish Lucy had told them. Erza at least could partly understand why Lucy wouldn't have wanted to tell people, but not really. They were a team. They were supposed to be there for each other for anything. And she got it – Lucy was getting married and wanting to start her own family and get on with her own life. But that didn't mean she had to forget her other family.

After a moment, Lucy seemed to find three sets of arms around her, all squeezing her tightly and pulling (or pushing, in Gray's case) her back to the middle of the bed. She'd never really figured out how their attack hugs could be so in sync. Still, only squealing at first, Lucy quickly stopped, just because she had to admit that being smothered by her team was always a good way to end a night.

"We're sorry you had to go through it alone, Lucy," Gray said softly.

Erza nodded against Lucy's shoulder. "We're a team," she said. "That means you never have to do anything alone."

Lucy was almost sure she felt tears prick at her eyes. She knew that they were right. She'd known it all along. But… Part of her might have forgotten it. Still, they were the people she was supposed to be able to go to when she couldn't go to anyone else. She probably should've told them in the beginning, or at least at some point. But, even knowing that, she didn't regret not telling them. The only person she'd ever regret not telling sooner was Bickslow, but they'd both moved past that.

"I love you guys so much," Lucy said with a sniffle. "I really do." Her team only squeezed her tighter, but Lucy didn't mind.

"You know we're always gonna be here for you, Luce," Natsu said, and Lucy glanced back to him just to see his infectious grin. "Even when you can't take jobs with us anymore because you'll have a kid."

"W-What? Why would you say that?! What do you mean?!"

"Well, Levy said you and Bickslow are trying to have a child…" Erza mumbled. "It wouldn't be wise for you to take so many jobs afterwards. At least not when you're expecting."

Lucy instantly felt herself blush, and she managed to pull her arms free just to hide her face in her hands. "Is there anything Levy hasn't told you?" she wailed. Maybe I shouldn't tell Levy so much… "God, that's embarrassing…" She'd been trying so hard to avoid that. And then it had all gone and been ruined anyway.

"Why is it embarrassing?" Natsu asked.

She spread her fingers over her eyes to peek at the pink-haired Dragon Slayer resting on her shoulder. Was Natsu really asking that question? Of course he was. "W-Well, because… Because it's private, and… And well, it involves… You know… And… And I didn't want to tell you guys because it's embarrassing!"

Natsu shrugged. "I don't get it," he mumbled. "Igneel always said it was natural – sex and babies and all that. None of us would exist otherwise. I don't think that's anything to be embarrassed about. Besides, you'd make a great mother!"

Lucy wasn't the only one staring at Natsu in shock right then. Gray was almost convinced he was dreaming, and Erza just wondered if she'd actually heard the words to come out of his mouth. But Lucy was the only one that was beginning to cry again. He had truth to his words. But the last part he'd said… "Do you really think that?" she whispered.

"That'd you be a good mother? 'Course!" Natsu grinned again. "You're Lucy, after all. You're good at everything you do."

Lucy managed to pull herself free from where Erza and Gray were still squishing her just to throw her arms around Natsu, squeezing all the air out of someone else for a change.