A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I updated. I spent the last couple of weeks revising and editing every single chapter just so I could get a feel for this chapter, and I'm really glad I did since I'd forgotten a few things that I'd written earlier. All of the new versions are uploaded, and I've removed almost all of the notes at the beginning/ends so the word count is a little more accurate.

Anyway. The remaining chapters will all probably be around the same length, between 5-8k words. I'm getting really tired of the super long chapters. Another thing I wanted to quickly mention was that I seemed to screw up the timeline a little bit without realising it. I fixed it in my edits, but long story short was that I originally wrote Levy's baby being due in May, and then I wrote it as being due in August. The correct version was May, so again, it is fixed. That was really the only major timeline issue, so the rest I'm not going to bother mentioning.

For now, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Since there's only five more chapters after this, I'm going to try my best to focus on getting this finished. I'm only doing two units this semester (which also means I no longer have an income, which honestly sucks), so hopefully I'll have a bit more time to write.

Lucy was convinced she was hallucinating as she stared at the little pink lines. The first thing she'd done once she realised her period had been late was go down to one of the pharmacies in town to buy a test – not the one that was just a few streets from the house, but the one on the very outskirts of town just because she'd been worried someone might recognise her and know exactly what she was buying. Although why she was even worried about that, Lucy wasn't sure.

She knew that the tests weren't completely accurate, and there was still a degree of error with them, but the multiple she'd taken the last time had worked pretty well, so Lucy had faith that they'd do well by her again.

Still, after drinking close to a litre of water as soon as she'd gotten home, and then waiting the few minutes for the test to work, Lucy was sure she was seeing things, despite the feeling in the gut she knew to be true, because she'd been down that path before.

Lucy didn't know what to do other than drop the small stick into the waste bin in the bathroom and bury it under some paper just so it was out of sight.

"No no, it must've been a bad test," Lucy mumbled to herself, leaving the bathroom behind to begin pacing in the bedroom. "I can't be. Of course I'm not pregnant. That would just be stupid."

She was certain she had the world's worst luck when it came to conceiving – intended or not – so really, there was no possible way she could be pregnant. It just couldn't have happened already, because it had only been eight months since they'd started trying. As far as Lucy was concerned, it would take her at least a year to actually get pregnant. Luck just wasn't on her side, she knew that.

"I'm just… I'm stressed because of the wedding, that's all," she continued, picking up the basket of neatly folded clothes to tip them back out onto the bed and start all over. She needed something to distract herself. "I'm late because I'm stressed about the wedding. Of course that's it." She nodded to herself once. "Bad test and stress. Nothing else. Of course."

Usually, she missed Bickslow when he was gone. Right then though, she was kind of glad for it. Lucy didn't need Bickslow seeing her all frantic over a missed period, because then he would worry and Lucy didn't want him to get disappointed when she said that it was just nothing more than stress wreaking havoc on her.

But still, while a part of her was very much convinced the positive she'd seen just moments was nothing more than an error, she couldn't quite ignore the tiny voice and the feeling in her gut (that thankfully wasn't nausea) that was saying maybe, just maybe, she really was pregnant again.

A small part of her hoped that was the case, but that also terrified her, because she still felt that slight bit of pain from losing it the first time.

Still, on the off chance she was miraculously pregnant, Lucy knew better than to rely on just one pharmacy-bought test. It had taken her three and a trip to a doctor in another town to convince herself the last time she'd been pregnant, so it was going to take that or more to convince her that time around.

She was sure she couldn't be, though. With the wedding in less than three weeks, it was bound to be stress. She still needed to write her vows, and she still had to go pick up the rings (because Bickslow kept forgetting about it). She still needed to make time for one last dress fitting, and if she was pregnant, then that was bound to be an issue, especially since she'd let Evergreen convince her to go with the way too formfitting dress (although Lucy really did adore it). And then she still had to do a million other things. She hadn't even had her bachelorette party yet - although it wasn't entirely from a lack of trying. She'd wanted to have it in June, but then Levy's baby had finally come on the sixth, almost two weeks after her due date, and Lucy had told Evergreen to hold off on it, only because she'd just really wanted to have Levy at her party. She'd also really wanted to cuddle Levy's daughter a bit, too. And then if she was honest, moving into the house and getting settled had played a part as well.

But still, Lucy was smart enough not to jump to any conclusions. Of course, she was still convinced the test was at fault and the only reason her period was late was because of the wedding, but that was okay. She wasn't, by any circumstances, pregnant. Because she couldn't be. Because luck just wasn't on her side.

At nine days late, Lucy was, for the most part, convinced she was pregnant. How, she really didn't know, because she'd been utterly convinced it just wouldn't happen for at least a few more months, but as she stared at the second glaringly positive test in her hand, Lucy did become just a little more sure that somehow, it really had happened.

But she didn't get a chance to freak out or begin to panic before she heard the quiet jingle of keys in the front door, and she realised Bickslow was home. She hastily hid the test, not in the bin that time but in a drawer in her bathroom that she knew Bickslow wouldn't look in, and then quickly rushed back out into the hall to meet Bickslow.

"Cosplayer?" he called out, closing the door behind himself as he unclasped his visor. "You here?"

Lucy came sliding down the hall as soon as he'd turned back around, barely stopping to take a breath as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around him. "Bicks!"

Bickslow couldn't help but chuckle as he dropped his visor onto the floor just so he could catch her. "O-Oh, okay, alright." He could barely get any words in between Lucy's lips pressing to his, not that Bickslow really minded. He'd only been gone for a week, but he really was coming to love how Lucy was always super excited to see him whenever he did get back. "I wasn't gone that long," he chuckled, turning his head slightly just so Lucy kissed his cheek instead.

"I know you weren't. But I—" Lucy cut herself off quickly. Now that Bickslow was finally back, Lucy was realising that she didn't want to tell him she was pregnant - or, well, that she probably was, although she knew it was far more likely that she was at that point. But perhaps it wasn't that she didn't want to tell him; it was more that she couldn't. "I'm just really glad your back," she said softly instead, hoping that Bickslow hadn't noticed that she paused for barely a second. "That's all."

"Well, I'm glad to be back," Bickslow said. Lowering Lucy to her feet, he reached up to unclasp Lucy's hands from behind his neck and then ducked down to gently kiss the top of her head. "I'm gonna go have a shower. We can go to the guild after, if you want?"

Lucy nodded and gave a small smile. "That sounds good." She waited until Bickslow had disappeared down the hall before she started biting her nails, and she could only groan and rest her forehead on the door once she was completely positive that Bickslow was already in the bathroom.

She felt horrible - and, not because she had been feeling just a tiny bit ill over the last two days. She knew she needed to tell Bickslow, but she just… couldn't. She was too scared to. She hadn't been much further along than she was right then when she'd lost the other baby, maybe just an extra week. And now that was mostly convinced she really was pregnant again, she was terrified of it happening again. It had always been at the back of her mind, the distressing thought that she might miscarry yet again, but she'd done her best to ignore it. Now though, it was the only thing she could think of. She couldn't tell Bickslow just in case it happened again. She couldn't crush him like that, because she knew that's what would happen.

And while there was still a shred of doubt within her about whether or not she really was pregnant, Lucy knew that she just wasn't going to be able to tell Bickslow. And she hated herself for it, too. She needed to tell Bickslow, even if it was just that she thought there was a pretty good chance she was pregnant, but she just wasn't capable of it. Knowing that he deserved the truth just wasn't enough, and it was the same as it had been the last time.

She was just too scared of hurting him.

And Lucy just didn't know what would happen if she was wrong, if she did lose the baby again. She didn't know what Bickslow would do once he found out that she'd kept it from him yet again, because she'd have to tell him if that was what happened. But not even the fear of not knowing how Bickslow would react could make Lucy want to tell him right then, either. She just couldn't do it.

When Bickslow came back out after his shower and leant his chin on her shoulder, she almost jumped out of her skin. "Damn it, Bickslow!" she hissed. She couldn't help but drop the spoon she held in one hand, thankfully keeping hold of the tub of yoghurt in her other. "Stop sneaking up on me!"

"Come on, I'm not even quiet," Bickslow chuckled. Usually, if he snuck out of bed to get a snack, Lucy would be up within minutes to tell him off, no matter how silent he tried to be. Still, he wasn't silent by any means, and with how often he did manage to frighten Lucy by sneaking up on her, he was beginning to think that she had a bit of a hearing problem. "You're getting deaf in your old age, Cosplayer."

Lucy rolled her eyes as she resisted elbowing her fiancé in the stomach as his arms wrapped around her. "Oh, shut up. I am not," she scoffed. "I was just… I was thinking, and I wasn't listening."

"Tell me what's on your mind then."

"Oh, just boring wedding stuff…" She let out a long sigh as she dunked the spoon back into the tub of strawberry yoghurt. "Nothing important."

"Uh-huh… Sure," Bickslow murmured. He had a feeling there was something bothering Lucy, something that wasn't to do with the wedding, because even the most boring details about the wedding, she'd always told him about them, so it was strange for her to use it as an excuse right then. It worried him just a tiny bit, but Bickslow decided not to dwell on it. He figured Lucy would talk to him about whatever was bothering her when she felt like it. "But hey, speaking of boring wedding stuff…"

"Okay…"

"I was thinking, right, that after we're married, we could go somewhere," he said. "Maybe like… Pergrande Kingdom. Or maybe Stella. You know, for our honeymoon or whatever."

"Oh. Uh… I don't know," Lucy mumbled. She gave a small shrug. "Maybe." She hadn't really thought about that yet. For the most part, Lucy had just assumed they'd stay in Magnolia after the wedding. If they were to go anywhere, she would've thought Crocus anyway just because Bickslow's family was there, and Lucy already knew his sisters and their families were due to head back to Crocus just a couple of days after the wedding. But Pergrande and Stella? Lucy wasn't too sure about travelling all the way across Ishgar, especially now that she was (probably) pregnant.

Bickslow sighed and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Well, we don't have to go anywhere." There were plenty of places he'd wanted to see when he'd still been travelling with the Raijinshuu, but he hadn't had the chance to see any of them before he'd returned to Magnolia and gotten back with Lucy. Still, while he'd gone all over Fiore at least twice, Bickslow had just thought that for their honeymoon, if they did decide to have one, that they could go somewhere other than Hargeon, or Crocus, or Akane Beach. "I just thought it would be nice to go somewhere different before we have a kid and can't really go anywhere," he added.

For a brief second, Lucy wondered if Bickslow somehow knew she was pregnant. No, no… He couldn't… He had no reason to even suspect it anyway, not unless… Unless I left the box on the bench. She knew she'd hidden the test, but she couldn't for the life of her remember if she'd put the damn box it had come in in the trash. "Maybe," she said again. She took another spoonful of the yoghurt before reaching down to push Bickslow's hands away from her stomach, and then she was standing up on her toes to quickly kiss him. "We can go to the guild after I get changed."

Hopefully she'd be able to stop worrying once she was at the guild.

With ten days until the wedding, Lucy was utterly and undeniably convinced she was in fact pregnant. Which, with ten days to go until she was married, would put her at exactly six weeks - at least if she could read a calendar correctly. And with ten days until the wedding, Lucy still hadn't told Bickslow. For the most part, she was surprised he hadn't figured it out on his own. All she wanted to do was sleep (Bickslow had needed to literally drag her out of bed the day before), and on more than one occasion she'd turned her nose up at a strawberry smoothie, as well as the smell of Erza's favourite strawberry cheesecake; Levy had definitely given her odd looks for that, as had Mira.

Just that same morning, Bickslow had commented on how she was usually trying to jump him every chance she had by that time of the month - because it was always around the same time, and after half a year of trying to get pregnant, he was way too familiar with the Lucy's cycle. Still, Lucy just couldn't be bothered. Thankfully, Bickslow had believed her excuse, that maybe they just take a bit of a break for one month and focus on making sure the wedding was perfect. But while she thankfully didn't feel ill enough to actually throw up, she did, in fact, feel just sick enough that sleeping with her fiancé was quite literally the most unappealing thing on the planet. She just wanted to sleep and eat bacon sandwiches, that's it.

But, while Bickslow was left believing that everything was fine and normal and perfect, Lucy's dressmaker, however, had been left just a little confused as to why her perfect stitches weren't quite so… Well, perfect. And Lucy had, of course, just laughed nervously and said she'd been eating too many bacon sandwiches and cake samples over the last few weeks. It wasn't like it was a lie, anyway. But with the zip on her dress only just going up as it was, Evergreen had promptly dragged Lucy out of her final dress fitting appointment with the form-fitting gown safely stowed in the garment bag, and then into another boutique just across the street to buy some underwear that they were all going to attempt to squeeze her into on her wedding day.

And finally, after a terrifying ordeal where Evergreen somehow convinced her into buying shapewear that was no doubt going to make it impossible to breathe, and then into purchasing pretty white lingerie that Lucy was certain she was going to forget about, Lucy was allowed to go home where she had more bacon waiting for her.

"Now that all of your dress business is out of the way," Evergreen said, setting the heavy binder she'd been adding to over the last few months down onto the counter, "We can start talking about your bachelorette party."

Lucy groaned and resisted walking away. She'd barely even taken a bite of her sandwich. Couldn't she just eat in peace? "Ever, really, I don't need to have one," she said, finally getting to take a bite of the second bacon sandwich for the day. "It's fine."

"You absolutely need to have one!" she insisted. Evergreen flipped over her binder, turning a few pages at a time until she reached the section she'd dedicated to Lucy's party. "I heard from Freed that he's going the traditional route and hosting Bickslow's party the night before the wedding, so, I mean, you might as well have yours then as well. It's not the smartest idea, but I'm sure if we all behave, you'll be fine come the next morning."

Lucy could only roll her eyes. Arguing with Evergreen had proven to be fruitless over the last few months. Lucy really didn't mind it much, and if anything, she found all the research and planning that Evergreen had been doing rather endearing. She was taking her maid of honour duties rather seriously.

"Anyway," Evergreen continued. Lucy could only sigh and continue eating her sandwich. "I figured that we could have it here, since you've got all this space now and Bicks will be at the guild anyway. I thought you'd want something small, too, so I made an invite list for you as well." She opened up the rings to take the page out and slide it across the counter for Lucy to read.

"Mm, that looks good, I guess," Lucy mumbled. "Add Sara and Saskia."

"Oh. Of course." Evergreen took the page back to quickly add Bickslow's sisters to the list and put it back in the binder. "Now… Do you want a stripper?"

Lucy choked and held her chest as she turned to cough. "No, I don't want a stripper!" she shrieked.

"Really?"

"Really!" If she wanted to watch someone dance around in their underwear (or, really, nothing at all), she could just get Bickslow to do it. She'd even throw jewel notes at him if he wanted her to.

Evergreen sighed and shook her head. There goes my fun. "Well, what about games, then?" she asked. "I was thinking we could get Bicks to answer a whole bunch of questions, and then we'll all ask you those questions to see how well you know him."

"Isn't that a little boring?" While Lucy could accept that she really had no choice in having a bachelorette party, she at least wanted to enjoy herself. And as far as knowing Bickslow went, well… Lucy was fairly confident she'd be able to answer all of the questions with no problem. "I mean, I know Bicks pretty well."

"Oh, don't worry. There's some questions that you definitely won't be able to get," Evergreen said deviously. "And then every answer you do get wrong, you have to, say… take a shot."

Lucy blanched. "Shots? Uh… Yeah, no, I'm not doing that." Lucy shook her head quickly and picked up her sandwich to take it over to her living room across the hall, tucking her feet under her on the lounge once she sat down and shovelled the remainder of the sandwich into her mouth before Evergreen could catch up. Any form of drinking at all was a hard pass, and she hadn't at all thought of it until then. She barely knew how she was going to be able to get out of drinking at her wedding, let alone her stupid bachelorette party.

"What? Come on," Evergreen complained, following Lucy into the living room and setting her binder down with a huff. "It might as well be tradition to get absolutely blind drunk at your bachelorette party, and that includes taking at least one shot."

"Yeah, I'm not… I'm not drinking at all," Lucy mumbled.

"Nonsense. What about champagne? Or, we could do mimosas. I personally vote margaritas or wine, because everyone likes those."

Lucy shook her head. "Ever, I really don't want to drink anything at all, so if you want to drink, then go ahead. But I'm not." And if Evergreen was going to keep pushing it, then Lucy really might just have to put her foot down and say no to any kind of party before the wedding. It was supposed to about her anyway, damn it, so Evergreen should be listening to her.

"You're actually serious?" Evergreen was almost shocked, and she wasn't even going to think about hiding it from her face. She could only stare at the woman beside her with an eyebrow raised. "You're not going to drink at all?"

"No, I'm not."

"Not even a tiny glass of wine?"

"No."

Evergreen shook her head. "Well, you know Bicks is probably going to pass out from drinking so much," she pointed out, turning her attention to her binder and turning to another page with the game ideas she'd written out. "So you know he's going to be hungover as hell on the day."

Lucy shrugged. Honestly, she'd expected as much anyway, since Bickslow had already told her a couple days earlier that the bachelor party was the night before the wedding. She'd already accepted that her husband to be was probably going to have a massive blank in his memory when it came to those two days. "That's fine. Bicks can drink all he wants. But I can't," she said.

"Can't?" Evergreen's head snapped up before Lucy even had a chance to take the last bite of her sandwich. "You can't drink?"

And, it was only then that Lucy realised just what she'd said. And it wasn't like she hadn't been aware, because she had. She just hadn't thought that it meant anything. Not until Evergreen stared at her like she'd grown an extra limb, or just said something horribly stupid. "What? I just… I just mean because, you know… I just…" Lucy tried not to sink down into the lounge as Evergreen continued to stare at her. "I just want to actually enjoy my wedding day, so… So I can't drink…" she explained, quickly shoving the last corner of her bacon sandwich into her mouth.

"You're knocked up, aren't you?"

Lucy was sure the searing heat on her cheeks gave her away. How Evergreen could've figured it out from one misspoken word though, she didn't know. "No? No, of course not," Lucy mumbled with her mouth still full. "What gave you that idea?"

"Holy shit. You actually are. That's why your dress doesn't fit! And, I guess it explains why you keep eating those sandwiches, too."

"Not really. I kinda just really like bacon sandwiches…" Lucy mumbled. No, it wasn't a craving. She just remembered bacon plus bread equaled heaven.

"But you are pregnant though, right?" Evergreen asked softly, turning on the lounge to face her. "That's why you're set on not drinking."

Of all the people to tell, Lucy realised that Evergreen wasn't really a bad choice. She was fairly certain Evergreen could keep a secret, and she'd chosen her as the maid of honour for a reason, and that was because she trusted her - well, mostly. Even then, if she did tell Evergreen, then she wouldn't have to argue with the woman about what she was or wasn't going to be drinking. That, and… Lucy really just wanted to tell someone. She was excited, but she was still too scared to share her excitement with Bickslow. Perhaps Evergreen would just have to do for the time being.

So she gave a small shrug, just the hint of a smile on her lips as she looked up to the Fairy mage beside her. "Well, kinda…" Lucy eventually admitted.

"Kinda? I'm going to take that as a yes." Evergreen didn't stop herself from leaning forward and wrapping her arms around the other woman, hugging her tightly as she squealed. "That's amazing, though! You and Bicksy are going to have a baby!"

"Okay, well… Well don't tell anyone though, okay?" Lucy really couldn't help but laugh as she patted Evergreen's shoulder as she continued to be squeezed. "I haven't even told Bicks yet…"

"What? Why not? Did you only find out today?"

Lucy shrugged again. "I've known for about a week now, but I just… I can't tell him yet," she mumbled. "So please, please don't say anything to him."

Evergreen nodded. "My lips are sealed," she said. "But why can't you tell him?"

"I'm guess I'm just scared something will happen if I do tell him…"

"What, do you mean like you're worried you'll lose the baby after you tell him? I'm sure it'll be fine, Lucy."

"It happened before…" Lucy mumbled.

"Before?" Evergreen echoed. "You mean you… When?"

"Right before we broke up," Lucy said with a sigh. She grabbed the cushion from behind herself to hug it to her chest. She wasn't really worried about telling Evergreen that, either. She'd told Bickslow's sisters, and she'd kind of told her team, and even if she was deathly afraid of it happening again, it still wasn't really that difficult to talk about it.

"That son of a bitch! I'm going to kill him, I swear it."

"Ever, it's fine…" She couldn't help but grimace. Evergreen was a little frightening when she was pissed, and Lucy couldn't help but worry about what Evergreen would do or say to Bickslow the next time she saw him. "I never told him. It's not why we broke up, if that's what you're thinking. He didn't know until the guild was getting back together," Lucy whispered.

Evergreen huffed and sat back against the lounge, crossing her arms. She supposed it wouldn't be entirely fair to go on a witch hunt for her brother's head. "Well, I'm sorry that happened," she said softly. "And I know it really isn't any of my business anyway, but… You really should tell him."

Lucy sighed again. "I know. Just… not yet. I want to wait just a little bit longer."

"Anyway. Back to your party." Evergreen sat forward and picked up the binder to open it up on her lap. "I suppose you could come up with an excuse for not drinking, because the girls are bound to ask at some point anyway. Otherwise we can have it so there's no alcohol at all, although I don't think Cana will come if she hears there's nothing to drink…"

With just one more sleep until the wedding, Lucy couldn't help but be a little giddy. She almost couldn't believe that another year had gone by, not when she could still swear she'd been living in Crocus and doing her best as a reporter just a few months earlier. But she had just one more sleep to go, and then she'd be married to her best friend in the whole world, and Lucy couldn't be happier.

With just an hour left until Freed and Laxus were due to arrive and drag him off to the guild, Bickslow only watched Evergreen and Lucy continue to decorate his house with disgusting pink tinsel and streamers. He was fairly certain he'd seen a string set up that hung all of Lucy's lingerie - well, her panties, at least. He was also sure he'd seen an entire crate of champagne under the massive tray with cupcakes and brownies. Bickslow's favourite of all the party decorates that Evergreen had apparently gone all out on, however, were the balloons. And his favourite of the balloons were all the ones that said 'He Put a Ring on it' because damn right, he'd put a ring on it. Bickslow was a little proud of that fact.

Although, the string that had 'Same Penis Forever' hanging from it disturbed him just a little bit. He had told Lucy that letting Evergreen plan her bachelorette party was a bad idea. Apparently his bride-to-be thought otherwise.

"Do you want to swap parties? Because I am quite happy swapping parties," Lucy said, finally managing to escape from Evergreen's immediate vicinity for two seconds.

"Sure, I'll deal with this… phallic-themed-bonanza…" Bickslow mumbled, watching in slight horror as Evergreen walk back down the stairs to the basement with a crate he remembered seeing in his dining room. "Are those fucking dick candles?"

"Probably," Lucy muttered. "She went a little crazy… I'm pretty sure Erza talked her into half of it, too…"

Bickslow snorted. "Looks like you're in for a fun night. But seriously, am I going to have to bail you out of jail at some point tonight?" He was a little worried, honestly. Evergreen could be trouble when she wanted to be, and while he still really loved that Lucy had chosen her as her maid of honour, he really wasn't too sure if leaving the two of them in a room full of drunk women would be the greatest idea.

"No, you won't have to bail me out of anywhere," Lucy sighed, rolling her eyes. She was more worried about having to bail him out. "And if it makes you feel any better, I'm not even going to be drinking."

"What? Seriously?"

"I would like to be able to enjoy my wedding day without a hangover." Or at least, that was the excuse she was going with, and since she was using it on all of her friends that would no doubt question her about it at some point, she figured she'd use it on Bickslow, too. She already knew exactly when she was going to tell him about the baby, so she just had to wait one more night to share her excitement with the one person who mattered.

"Ugh, how boring," Bickslow muttered. "Don't tell me I have to be sober, too?"

Lucy stood on her toes to kiss her fiancé's cheek. "Don't worry, you can drink as much as you want," she said sweetly. "I just won't feel sorry for you when you complain about being hungover."

Oh, how he loved his bride. But, as amusing as he found Lucy's party decorations, there was just too much pink and there were far too many penis-themed items around the room for him to stay there. It was borderline creepy with how far Evergreen had gone. Even the questionnaire she'd forced him to fill out earlier had been just a little creepy, and while he'd never really cared what people knew about his sex life, with Lucy, he seemed to just enjoy being private for a change. Having to actually write down the riskiest place they'd had sex together, and what his favourite costume for her was, had been just a little embarrassing.

"Well, I'm going to go finish packing," he announced with a sigh, unfolding his arms and turning his attention away from all of the horrendous decorations in the basement. "Freed will be here soon."

"Don't forget the rings! Or cufflinks. Oh, and don't forget your—"

Bickslow silenced her with his lips softly on hers, his hand lingering by her cheek. "Lucy, I won't forget anything, trust me," he whispered. "But since I probably won't see you again before Freed drags me out of here, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon." Of course, he'd much rather be able to stay in his own bed and wake up next to Lucy again, but he could go without for just one night. He ducked down to kiss her again, his lips gently moving with hers for just a moment, then added softly, "Don't have too much fun without me."

"Mm, I'll see you tomorrow then," Lucy whispered. "I love you."

"Love you too, Cosplayer." And, forcing himself to finally pull away, Bickslow turned and rushed up the stairs to finish packing everything he needed for the wedding. He could only hope that whatever Freed had planned wasn't too outrageous. Then again, it was Freed, but that didn't seem to stop Bickslow from worrying at all.

He had a feeling he wasn't going to remember a single thing from his bachelor party at all, and that probably wasn't a good thing.

Bickslow tipped back on his chair just enough to have him scrambling to grab hold of the table. Xander and Rory chuckled as they came to pick him back off the floor when he fell anyway, getting him back upright and pushing the bottle of tequila away so he couldn't reach it again. "Alright, that's enough, buddy," Rory said, patting the Seith mage on the shoulder when he slumped down and let his head fall to the table.

Of all the people in the guild that night, Bickslow was quite possibly the most intoxicated. He blamed Freed. And Laxus. And Gajeel. And he even blamed his brothers-in-law, too. Considering it was Rory and Xander's first time visiting the guild, Bickslow almost wished that it hadn't been for his bachelor party. The guild was a nightmare.

"Not long now until you're done for good, though," Xander added.

Bickslow struggled to lift his head. "Huh? Whaddya mean?" he mumbled.

"You're getting married tomorrow. Your life is basically over, brother."

"Eh? No it's not," Bickslow slurred. "I'm… I'm excited for tomorrow." He was so happy to be able to marry Lucy that he could probably cry.

But now that he thought about it, Wakaba and Macao had come up to him earlier in the night and said they'd miss him… Even Laxus's speech had been more like a funeral eulogy than anything. And sure, it had been a little entertaining, but he wasn't dying just because he was getting married. It was the opposite as far as Bickslow was concerned.

So perhaps it was up to him to tell all of his idiotic friends that, even if they did just mean it as a joke. He was too far gone to stop himself from climbing up from his chair and stepping up onto one of the few tables in the guild that Natsu hadn't set fire to. "H-Hey! Hey, I wanna… I wanna say somethin'…" He swayed on his feet once he got upright and steadied himself with the babies under his hands. "Oooh, I don't feel so good…" he mumbled.

"Speech!" someone shouted.

Bickslow vaguely heard Xander and Rory laughing behind him, but he ignored it as the rest of the guild quieted down and turned to him. "I am getting married tomorrow." He crouched down to take Rory's glass straight from his hand, lifting it back up and pausing the drink the warm beer. "Bet ya thought you'd never see the day where I get married, right?" Bickslow laughed, stumbling as he rose up again.

"Yeah, yeah…" Gajeel muttered.

"And I just wanna… I just wanna say how happy I am, 'cause… 'Cause Cosplayer is the best person ever and I still have no fucking clue why she puts up with me."

"Oi, when are you going to stop calling her Cosplayer?" Gray shouted.

"Never!" Bickslow declared. She was always going to be Cosplayer to him. "But… But I also wanna say somethin' to the people who said… Who said they were gonna miss me, and all that fucking shit, and… And sayin' that I'm dying just 'cause I'm getting married…" He had to pause again to grab hold of one of the babies so he didn't fall. Maybe I shouldn't have had so much to drink… He couldn't quite tell if it was the room spinning or just his head. He was inclined to think it was the room. "You've all gotta reconsider your lives if you think getting married means your life is over."

Laxus couldn't help but sigh as he dropped his face to his palm, shaking his head as one half of the guild just laughed while the other called Bickslow a drunken moron for thinking otherwise. Laxus really didn't know which side he was on.

"I mean it!" Bickslow shouted over the rest of them. "I am suuuuper, super excited for tomorrow, 'cause I'll get to wake up next to the most wonderful, amazing human on this planet every morning, and that just makes me so happy, 'cause… 'Cause Cosplayer is just so perfect and I love her so much, y'know?"

Rory shook his head as Bickslow began to sniffle. "We should probably get him down now, right?" he asked Xander quietly.

He shook his head quickly, still leaning back and looking up at the drunk Seith mage with a wide grin. "Nah, let him go. This is fucking hilarious."

Bickslow sniffed again, setting the nearly empty glass on top of one of the other babies. "But I just… I dunno how people can act like a guy gettin' married and settling down is a bad thing, 'cause I'm fuckin' excited for it, 'cause I get to spend my life with my best friend, and that's super fucking cool, you guys," he finished in a whisper. He reached for the glass to finish it, almost spilling it all over himself in the process. "And! And," he continued, pointing to himself repeatedly, "Me and Cosplayer are gonna have kids soon too, and… And I really fuckin' hate kids 'cause they're annoying and they scream, but my kid will kick all your kids' asses and I'm gonna be the greatest dad ever, just you watch."

"Alright, now we can get him down," Xander said with a nod, quickly rising with his brother-in-law beside him to wrangle the Seith mage.

"H-Hey, you guys… What are you…" Bickslow struggled to get Xander and Rory off him. "I wasn't finished yet…" he said tiredly.

"Yes you were," Rory said, patting the man on the shoulder once he was back in a chair. The wedding crap they could deal with, but the last thing anyone needed to see was Bickslow getting all teary over babies.