Alright, alright, alright. It's been a very long time since this was updated, and for that, I'm tremendously sorry. Ironically, my writing degree kind of made me hate writing. Probably because I was trying to write in a way that wasn't exactly me, so I lost what I enjoyed about it. Anyway. It is what it is. I'm almost done with it though, finally, and since I'm in my last few units, I'll be able to spend a bit more time finishing up and working on some of these projects on here.
My writing groove is finally coming back after a long stint away, and I want to say thank you to those have have continued to read, follow, and occasionally review, reminding me to get my ass into gear and work on my stories again. I wouldn't have continued with any of you guys. You mean the world to me.
Anyway, this story is, unfortunately, almost over. Next chapter will be the last one and while I want to say it should be soon, given that this story has been at the forefront of my mind since 2015, I know I'm going to have trouble writing it. I want to do this story justice and give it the ending it deserves.
With that, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's been a long time coming. It's a bit all over the place, timeline wise, but I hope a few of the skips make sense. I look forward to hearing what you all think, and I can't wait to get back to work on some other stories. A Peculiar Situation, How I Met You, as well as the smaller series are all coming, I promise.
(Also, if anyone would like to yell at me about not updating shit on Discord, feel free to PM me on here and I'll gladly add you.)
"Is it bad that I kinda just want to go home right now?" Lucy asked, snow crunching under her boots as she walked alongside the frozen canal.
Bickslow kept eyeing her warily, as if she'd slip and fall into the canal with one misstep. "You do remember it was your idea to go into the guild today, right?" he pointed out. Bickslow would've been quite happy to stay home that day. They'd barely been back in town for twenty-four hours. Maybe it was because he'd just been sick of trains and walking and people by that point, but Bickslow had half expected Lucy to want to just spend a couple of days recuperating at home.
But, no. She hadn't. No, Lucy had woken up bright and early that morning, after their first night back in their own bed for three months, and told him they were going into the guild that day.
And she hadn't liked it when he'd groaned and rolled back over with a pillow over his head, either.
"Yeah, but… I don't know." Lucy sighed deeply. Her heel slipped, just enough for her to lose her footing for a second on the slippery ice and snow. Bickslow caught her around her middle, gently still as his arm rested against the rounded bump hidden beneath her thick winter coats. Lucy could only smile as she got her footing back, Bickslow scowling at her as she caved and let him help her step down from the canal edge. "You can say it. I know you want to say it."
Bickslow wasted no time. "I fucking told you so." He shook his head.
Lucy grinned up at him, her gloved fingers twisting with Bickslow's. "Yeah, you did. But you know I never listen."
Bickslow knew that all too well. He sighed again, wrinkling his nose as the cold bite in the air began to sting, a rosy hue settling on his cheeks. "Anyway, we're going to the guild. I'm up. I'm dressed. You wanted to go see our friends, so we're going to see our fucking friends. You can't change your mind now, Cosplayer," he said.
"Aww, but are you sure?" She leaned in to his shoulder, pouting and batting her eyelashes at him. "With the babies, we could be back home, all warm and cosy in bed with hot chocolates in a matter of minutes. Are you saying you don't want to stay in bed with me all day? Keeping each other warm?"
"Woman, you know damn well that's what I would rather be doing. But no. We're going to the guild. Stop tempting me."
"Guild! Guild!" the babies chanted in support.
Lucy huffed but couldn't keep the small smirk from turning her lips. "Fine," she muttered. She hadn't really expected anything less from her stubborn and petty husband. But it had been three months since she'd seen her other family, and while part of her was dying to see them again and tell them about all their adventures around Ishgar (and the baby, too, she supposed), there was another part of her that just… really didn't mind if she waited another day or two to do it. There was only so much time left where it was just her and Bickslow, and the more the baby grew, and the bigger her belly got, the more Lucy wanted to cherish that time left.
The guild would always be there. At least Lucy hoped.
Bickslow had been seconds away from pulling the large, wooden doors to the guild open when he paused, one hand on the heavy iron handle, and looked back over his shoulder. Lucy just stood there, hands wringing together in front of her belly with the babies hovering cautiously behind her.
He frowned at the worried look on her face and his hand fell away from the door, turning his back to it to take the few steps over to his wife. "Lucy?" he said softly. "You good?"
She looked up at him, chewing the inside of her cheek before staring back at the doors, and all the deep gashes and burn marks ingrained in the wood from years of fighting. She'd never really noticed them before.
Maybe we leave Fairy Tail.
She could hear Bickslow's words echoing in her mind, the ones she'd done her best to ignore since he'd first said them barely two weeks into their trip. She'd hated them before, and she hated them now. But something felt wrong—very wrong. And for the first time in a long time, Lucy wasn't sure she wanted to go through those battle scarred doors and into the place she called home.
Bickslow's hands dropped to her shoulders, squeezing her arms gently when she didn't respond. "Hey, baby," he repeated softly. "What's going on?"
"What if you were right?" Lucy whispered, looking back up at him that time.
"What?"
"Leaving. What if leaving is the right thing?"
Bickslow sighed deeply, glancing back to the doors behind them before gently scooping Lucy up into his arms and stepping up onto the babies as they settled into formation in front of him. He knew when to not push her. If that was what was eating her up right then, then Bickslow knew they weren't going through those doors that day at all. "Alright. No guild today. Let's go home."
Bickslow had never been one for pacing. He'd also never been one for biting his nails. But as he waited for his wife to return to their hotel room after a day out with his sisters, he was sure he was going to have to pay for the carpet to be replaced in their room by the time he was done walking the narrow path between the bed and the small sitting area.
"Stop, stop," the babies said for the umpteenth time, nudging their master's hand away from his mouth as he moved onto an already dangerously short fingernail.
He flexed his hands and huffed, balling them into fists and trying to keep his hands busy as he kept walking back and forth. "I know, I know."
But it wasn't long before he was absentmindedly bringing his hand back up to his mouth and the taste of iron sat on his tongue.
"Fuck," he hissed, only stopping the chewing to suck on his bleeding finger and stare up at the small clock by the door. It was nearly seven already. Lucy should've been back by then. But knowing his sisters, Bickslow was already sure they'd just found something else to distract his bride with, and Lucy was just too polite to say no to her sisters-in-law.
And, for the most part, Bickslow liked that. Because he knew Lucy adored his sisters, probably more than he did, and the fact she got along with his family was just a miracle because Bickslow wasn't really sure what he'd done if it had turned out he couldn't stay in touch with them after being reunited the previous year. Lucy not getting along with them really just would've made things difficult and Bickslow wasn't really that good at choosing.
But, on the other hand, Lucy really should've been back by then, and Bickslow had had the unfortunate pleasure of spending his afternoon with Xander and Rory. And of course the fools had asked if he and Lucy would be leaving the mage life behind now that they had the baby on the way, and Bickslow just hadn't been able to just say no. Because the second he'd said fuck no, of course not, the twisted cogs in his brain had started turning and all of a sudden his head had been full of images of monsters like Thorne snatching his child away in the middle of the night, and Bickslow had made enough enemies in his life that he would give up his work in a second if it meant keeping his family safe.
It had been hours since then though, which meant it had been hours that Bickslow had been there in his hotel room, waiting for Lucy to come back from her day out with his sisters, and ask her the dumbest question he was sure he ever would ask her.
It was so dumb that Bickslow was torn between going against his better judgement and not saying anything about leaving the guild at all, ever, and actually trying to have a conversation about it. But surely it was a conversation they needed to have, like the responsible adults they were—or, like Lucy was at least.
Finally, he heard the sound of a key being fumbled with just outside the door, and after a brief moment of panic, Bickslow breathed a sigh of relief and stopped in his tracks. He looked down to his nails and the dried blood in the cuticles and quickly pulled his sleeves down over his hands and folded his arms. The door opened and Lucy smiled apologetically at him as she saw him.
"Your sisters are very hard women to say no to," she said with an airy laugh.
Bickslow was momentarily distracted by the trail of spirits behind her. Taurus was first, his torso and head obscured by the mountain of boxes in his arms, with Loke and Virgo following behind the bovine spirit, their arms and hands equally full with colourful tissue lined bags and boxes from various boutiques.
"I thought they were taking you to a spa," Bickslow said incredulously.
"They did." Lucy collapsed onto the plush sofa with a sigh, closing her eyes and breathing deeply for a few moments. Even for such menial tasks, having three of her spirits out at once wasn't Lucy's idea of fun, and the strain on her magic only made her physical exhaustion that week all the worse. "You guys can go now though," she said, finally sitting back up and looking to where Loke carefully placed the last of the shopping boxes atop the pile now sitting on the coffee table. "Thank you for the help."
"You are mooost welcome, Lucy," Taurus said.
Loke bowed before taking his leave. "Any time."
"Of course, Princess," Virgo said last. "Was there anything else you needed?"
Lucy shook her head and smiled. "No, thank you."
The maid spirit nodded politely. "Well, good evening then, Princess." Virgo looked to Bickslow then. "Prince."
Bickslow couldn't keep the shiver from going down his spine as the last of Lucy's spirits finally left. He couldn't even remember when Virgo had started calling him that, or why she had, but he was sure he'd never be able to get used to it. There was something almost disturbing about it.
But Bickslow wasn't going to complain about his wife's less than normal spirits right then. He had the rest of his life to do that as far as he was concerned. And while he was sure he should instead be asking Lucy how her day had been, or just what the fuck she'd ended up buying because he had never seen so many shopping bags in his entire life, Bickslow just couldn't stop thinking about what he'd been worrying about all afternoon.
He cleared his throat, rubbing his arms anxiously. "Hey, so, um—"
"Are you hungry? I'm hungry." Lucy said quickly, slipping the hotel's menu out from under the pile of boxes. "Oh. Sorry. What were you saying?"
"Uh… No, not really. But, I mean, we can eat now if you want."
Lucy waved her hand and set the menu back down, smiling back up at her husband. "No, it's okay. I can wait." Maybe not forever, but she already knew the hotel kitchen made the best banana pancakes she'd ever had in her entire life, and she'd been waiting to get back and order them again ever since Bickslow's sisters had dragged her out the room that very morning.
But it didn't take Lucy long to realise her husband wasn't his usual self, and her smile quickly faded and her worry grew as she wondered just what it was that had Bickslow in such a state.
"Bicks? Are you okay?" she asked softly, scooting over on the sofa to pat the space next to her. "Come on, talk to me, baby. What were you wanting to say before?"
He sat down reluctantly, tucking himself into the edge much to Lucy's disappointment. "I've just… I've just been thinking a lot about the guild today. Like our jobs, and our lives, and our friends and all that," he began, shoving his hands between his knees to resist the urge to bite his nails again.
"Uh-huh…"
"And, you know I really fucking love the guild."
Lucy smiled. "I know you do."
"But I think… I think we should leave—quit being mages and move somewhere else."
"…Excuse me?" Lucy couldn't help but laugh, leaning away as she looked to her husband in shock. "You're kidding, right? You're joking."
Bickslow tried not to look away or sink in on himself. He'd expected Lucy to react that way, although perhaps he'd expected her to be a little more mad at him. Bickslow knew he'd be acting the same way if it were reversed. Still, he knew he couldn't just shy away from it now, and while part of him did want to just say that it didn't matter and just pretend he'd said nothing at all, Bickslow knew it would eat him alive if he didn't say anything at all. Even then, the thought of something happening to Lucy or their child was already bound to keep him up at night, and if something did happen after he'd decided not to say anything at all, then Bickslow wouldn't be able to live with himself.
But Bickslow didn't even need to say anything for Lucy to get her answer; his silence right then was all the answer she needed.
"No." She shook her head, quickly getting up and turning away from her husband and crossing her arms. She found it hard to believe he was actually being serious. "No, absolutely not," she repeated. "How could you even think about suggesting that?" It was like she was talking to a completely different person.
"Because I care about our family and not fucking dying," Bickslow snapped. Lucy looked back over her shoulder, looking down her nose as if she were daring him to say something he regretted. Luckily, Bickslow liked dares. "This shit is dangerous, Lucy. You get hurt almost every time you take a job. Fuck, you almost died less than a month ago and you're acting like it never fucking happened, again."
"So do you!" She didn't get hurt whenever she went out. Not all the time, at least. And if she did, it was hardly ever major—a few scratches and burns here and there, but Lucy had dealt with worse. But Bickslow? When Bickslow got hurt, he really got hurt. Lucy had started to think the Raijinshuu were the cursed ones who just caused trouble wherever they went. But she spun back around then, filled with anger and rage, and pointed to him on the couch. "And you're one to talk," she shouted. "I sat by your side for an entire week waiting for you to wake up after you got that stupid scar."
"And I was only there because your team were stupid enough to get lured in by Thorne's guild!"
She tried not to take his comment personally. "But it happened again—that… that thing, from Tartaros! Your entire team would've died if Porlyusica hadn't made that antidote."
"Yeah, and you lost our fucking baby."
Lucy sucked in a harsh breath, and she couldn't help but find herself taking slow, careful steps backwards. Had it all been a lie? Was that how Bickslow had truly felt all along? Was that how he saw her? Lucy wasn't sure she recognised the man in front of her.
"That has nothing to do with any of this," Lucy said, mustering all the calmness she could in the moment.
Bickslow regretted the words the second they'd left his mouth.
"I… I know, I'm sorry, I didn't—"
"I think I need a little air," Lucy said softly, not so much as looking in Bickslow's direction as she brushed past him, grabbing her purse and keys and heading for the hotel door.
"Alright, alright. Come here," Bickslow sighed, sinking into the corner of the plush sofa and pulling Lucy into his lap as soon as she'd shrugged her winter coat off. "Tell me what's got that pretty little face of yours all worried now."
Lucy's mouth lifted into a small smile, suppressing a laugh as she tucked her head against her husband's shoulder. "I don't know," she said softly.
"Well… How about you start with telling me why you think I might be right?" he asked instead. "Because, I mean, I'm never right."
"Always wrong!" the babies agreed.
Lucy stifled another smirk. They always did know how to try and cheer her up, and, well… Lucy did like to remind Bickslow that she was right most of the time, too. But for once, Lucy was willing to admit that she might not be, and she hated that more than she should.
She took a deep breath, stretching slightly in Bickslow's lap and leaning back into a pillow as she tucked it behind her back. "When we got to the guild, I just… I kept thinking about all the fighting, and the amount of times I've walked in and had to duck just to have a chair thrown at my head or something."
Bickslow shrugged. "I think I'd be worried if there wasn't at least one fight per day," he mumbled.
"So would I," Lucy agreed.
Lucy had lost count just how many times her team's petty arguments had ended in guild wide brawls, or how many beer glasses she's dodged over the years just from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And as for her husband's involvement… Well, Lucy had really just stopped paying attention after the third or fourth time she'd seen him fleeing to the rafters and cackling like a maniac while avoiding the wrath of whoever he'd pissed off that day. The guild just really wasn't the same unless it was in complete chaos, and still, Lucy wasn't sure she'd change anything about that.
But now…
"But I don't know if that's the kind of environment I want to be raising our child in," she said.
Bickslow frowned, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head. It had been nearly two months since they'd last talked about any of that, and Bickslow had long since accepted his defeat. "I know it's not. And you know I don't want that either. Fuck, I'd keep the kid in a safety bubble for the rest of his life if I could," he said.
"His?"
"Her life, I don't know. Figure of speech. But we talked about this, Lucy. You said you didn't want to leave."
"I know, but... That was then. This is now. And… And it's different now! I mean, before… It just felt the same, and now…" She lifted her head slightly just to look down to her hands clasped over her rounded stomach, where Bickslow's thumb traced idle arcs over the baby's favourite spot to kick every now and then. "It feels more real now," Lucy whispered.
"I know. But, do you know what else I know?"
Lucy couldn't help but try not to roll her eyes then, as if Bickslow wasn't about to tell her something she should probably already know. "What?"
"Those morons wouldn't do anything to hurt our kid." Not intentionally, at least. Bickslow was still trying to figure out how to stop the unintentional, though. But Lucy knew he had a point, only offering a meek shrug. "And besides, do you think Al and Bisca would've practically raised Asuka in that hall if it was that much of a death trap? Laxus and the Demon, too."
"I suppose so…" Lucy mumbled. And it wasn't as if things hadn't calmed down a little over the years, too, but Lucy figured that was just everyone growing up and settling down. Still, of all the people to remind her of that, Lucy didn't really expect Bickslow to be the one to do it. He was supposed to be telling her that the guild was full of lunatics and psychotic baby-eaters and that they needed to go live on a remote island somewhere in the middle of the ocean. "You know, you're really not so great at this, though."
"Aren't I?"
"No. No, you're not. You were supposed to be convincing me to leave."
"Was I?"
"Yes."
Bickslow shook his head. "Mm, no. No, I don't think so. Are you thinking of someone else?"
Lucy pouted, but the infectious grin on her husband's face soon won her back over. "Why don't you want to leave anyway? It hasn't been that long since we last talked about this, and you were just about begging me then," she decided to ask then.
"I do want to leave," Bickslow admitted with a heavy sigh. He couldn't even lie about that, nor did he want to. But even having accepted that leaving the guild to raise their family wasn't something Lucy would be all that willing to do, part of Bickslow would still give anything to do it.
But, it was just that: a part. And Bickslow had learnt to deal quite well with the parts of him that didn't agree with how the rest of him—the likely more rational parts of him—felt. He mostly just ignored them.
Still, as much as Bickslow did still want to whisk Lucy off to some deserted island where they could raise their kid away from everyone and everything evil in the world, he somehow still knew that there was no better place than right there to raise their family.
"But like I said, none of our friends would've stuck around with their kids if it was that bad," he said gently. "You know that at the end of the day, those morons would be the first people to come help if our kid was in danger." And, Bickslow knew they'd do the same for their friends as well. He may not particularly like Jax, but he'd sure as hell drop everything for that little demon if Laxus and Mira needed him to.
"I don't like it when you're right," Lucy grumbled, tucking her head against his chest and feeling the rumble within from the gentle chuckle he let out.
"Yeah, neither do I," Bickslow agreed.
"You're…"
Lucy nodded, sipping bemusedly on the banana shake in front of her. "Yep." She couldn't help but admit she'd missed Mira's shakes while she'd been travelling. There was something about strawberry she still couldn't quite deal with, but the banana shakes with all the whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles, and cherries on top were a new kind of delicious and Lucy almost hoped that her glass would never empty.
Still, as she'd walked into the guild that morning, all of her fears and worries about staying and raising her child there had instantly disappeared. Ironically, it had been Natsu spotting her across the guild as he'd been about to throw a blazing chair at Gray that had done it, too.
"Lucy!" he had shouted, a great big grin plastered on his face at the time. "You're back! And you're fat!" Which, naturally, hadn't been Lucy's ideal way of telling her friends that she and her husband were having a child, but it sure had saved a lot of time since Natsu had drawn their attention to her.
"How far along again?" Mira asked.
"About six months now."
Mira rubbed her forehead. "But… But you've only been away for three."
Lucy nodded again. She had a feeling Mira hadn't slept in a while, if the bags under her eyes and her difficulty accepting the simple maths were anything to go by. "Yep."
Evergreen didn't seem to have as much patience though. "Mira, for the love of god, tell that idiot partner of yours to take the kid for the rest of the day, and go home and take a damn nap." The kid wasn't much older than a year, but Laxus had fathered a demon more hellish than anyone could've ever expected and Evergreen was kind of just sick of watching Mira do all the work on top of trying to keep the guild fed. Laxus was, somehow, very capable of looking after his own child. At least she hoped.
But Mira still sighed, a guilty look on her face as she glanced over to where Makarov and her son were playing in the corner of the hall. "No, no… I have too much work—"
"Mira, go home," Lisanna agreed, a gentle hand squeezing her older sister's shoulder.
"I suppose I could take the night off… Just this once…" Mira mumbled, already setting the dishes and rag down. Lisanna and Kinana could take care of the bar, surely. She set her sights on Lucy then though, and Lucy couldn't help be just a little worried with the insistent gleam in her eyes. "But you're going to fill me in on all this baby news later, okay?"
Lucy nodded as she laughed. "Absolutely."
Eventually, Evergreen and Lisanna were able to get Mira through the doors and on her way home, offering Lucy just a few minutes of reprieve, but all too quickly she was the target of their pestering again. Lucy couldn't really help but enjoy it—that, and the slight flutter in her belly the whole time.
"I can stay, really. It's not a big job. It's not like they need me."
"Stay! Stay!" the babies echoed.
Lucy rolled her eyes. She'd expected her husband to be more of a brat the closer she got to her due date, but she hadn't expected him to be quite so bad.
Heaven forbid she go more than a day without him by her side to ask her stupid questions. Just the week before, she'd spent too long in the bathroom and he'd burst in asking if it was baby time. It had almost been the most mortifying moment of their entire relationship. She couldn't even go and pick up groceries on her own just in case she slipped and fell on her way to the small grocer just a few streets away, or in case she somehow, miraculously, went into sudden labour in the middle of the street.
Sure, at that point, she was just a few weeks out, but Bickslow had annoyed her and invaded her personal space so much over her last trimester that she'd threatened to go to Crocus to have the baby, and she'd have his wonderful, amazing sisters forcefully keep him away from her throughout the delivery. Of course, she'd mostly meant it as a joke, and she'd kind of felt bad for saying it seeing how quickly he'd shut up. But Lucy was a strong, independent woman who was (at least she hoped) quite capable of having a baby on her own.
Besides, Lucy still wasn't too sure about letting Bickslow see any of it anyway. Months earlier when they'd been talking about birth plans and the such, he'd joked about how watching her bring their child into the world would be like watching his favourite bar burn down. Lucy hadn't been able to get it out of her head since. She also hadn't let him go anywhere near said favourite bar since either, much to Bickslow's dismay.
And hers.
Still, there was just a few weeks left before their precious bundle would be in their arms, and while Lucy could no longer take jobs with her team, Bickslow could. The problem was, he was being a brat.
"He's right—we don't need him," Laxus chimed in, flicking the leaf on one of Lucy's plants in her front garden. It was too close and too green.
"He's pretty useless anyway," Evergreen agreed with a slight sigh. "Mostly too busy talking about you to be of any use."
"See! See, they don't need me!" Bickslow said. "Ever, fuck you," he quickly added over his shoulder, a scowl on his face before he looked back to his wife. Evergreen snickered.
"I don't care if they don't need you," Lucy insisted though, slowly stepping forward and forcing Bickslow back towards the open door. One more step forward and her belly would be pushing him out the door. "I need you out of this house so I can get some peace and quiet for once."
Laxus and the rest of the Raijinshuu snickered from outside, and Lucy could just make out the yelp that came from all three as Bickslow sent the babies flying into the back of their heads. "But… But what if something happens with the baby and—"
Lucy groaned. "If something happens, the guild isn't that far away, and all four of you have lacrimas so it's not like I won't be able to tell you to come back early if I need."
Bickslow didn't like it, but he knew when he was defeated, even if it did take him a while to realise that fact. But Lucy was right, probably. She wasn't wrong very often. Everything would be fine. He could go do a simple job with his team, come back home, and his wife would still be pregnant and grumpy when he got home. Probably.
He pursed his lips, a frown forming and horrible creases settling in his forehead that were beginning to become annoyingly permanent fixtures on his face those days. "Are you sure?" he asked worriedly, already knowing Lucy would simply groan, roll her eyes at him, and try and push him past the threshold of their home.
"Yes," Lucy replied, doing exactly what Bickslow expected. "Now please, go and get out of here before you all miss your train."
"Yes! Wonderful idea, Lucy!" Freed said exasperatedly, stepping up onto their small porch to grab Bickslow's arm. "Let's be off."
Bickslow fought Freed's impatience just to stretch and press a chaste kiss to Lucy's lips. "Fine, alright, alright," he grumbled. "But promise me you'll call if something goes wrong, okay?"
"Promise! Promise!" Pappa and the rest chirped.
Finally, Lucy breathed a sigh of relief as the Raijinshuu dragged her husband off the porch, Laxus not bothering to wait around for a second longer before he zapped himself away to meet the rest of them at the station.
Sometimes Lucy couldn't help but miss the times when they struggled to find time to be with each other. Now, Lucy just missed having a little bit of time to herself once in a while.
Bickslow nearly jumped out of his skin as Evergreen skipped up and threw her arms around his and Freed's shoulders. "Can you believe it, Freed?" she said. "This is the last time the three of us will be able to go on a job before our idiot here goes off to baby jail."
"I know. Isn't it wonderful?" Freed teased. "Bickslow's babies won't get us into trouble for a change."
"Yeah, I guess," Bickslow mumbled.
Freed and Evergreen shared a worried glance. Normally they couldn't say a single bad word about Bickslow's babies. Right then, they could probably say whatever they wanted and they weren't sure Bickslow would care.
"Is everything alright?" Freed asked.
"You've been quiet since we left Magnolia," Evergreen added. "Not that I mind or anything, but, y'know."
Bickslow supposed he had been a little quiet. He'd been mostly lost in his own head since they'd left. He looked down when Pippi nudged his side under his cape, a silent urge to talk. "Do you ever just… feel like something is about to go wrong?" he asked, beginning with a deep sigh.
Freed shrugged a little. "Sometimes, I suppose. Why, do you feel like something is going to happen?"
"I don't know. I just… I feel like I should've stayed home."
"You're worried 'bout Blondie," Laxus chimed in from just behind them.
Bickslow shrugged. "I guess so."
"I felt like that right before Demon had Jax."
"Naw, look at that," Evergreen giggled. "Papa Laxus has feelings."
"Call me that again and I'll shock the living shit out of you, Ever."
That, Bickslow couldn't help but chuckle at. Still, Laxus had a point. The closer Lucy's due date got, the more Bickslow worried. He'd found a grey hair just a week earlier. But even as much as he constantly worried, it wasn't the same as how it felt then. It just didn't feel right. And the only thing Bickslow could think about was how he knew he should be back home, fretting over his wife enough that she'd threaten to divorce him precisely eighty-three times.
"Well," Freed cleared his throat, "I can't say I know too much about pregnancy and childbirth—"
"Hold on," Evergreen interrupted. "Are you saying there's a topic you aren't a know-it-all in?"
"There's many topics I'm not a know-it-all in, Ever. But, as I was saying, I'm certain you don't have anything to worry about, Bickslow. Lucy made it this far without any complications, didn't she?"
"I guess so…" Bickslow mumbled. Getting through the first trimester had almost been worth celebrating as far as Bickslow was concerned. Then again, Lucy had done most of that before he'd even known she was pregnant.
"See? I'm sure she can handle a few days without you by her side pestering her. We'll be back before you know it, Bickslow."
Bickslow decided not to delve on the insult—when was Evergreen not insulting him anyway—and kicked a small pebble in his path. "Fine."
As night fell though and they reached the town their job was in, Bickslow still couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. At one point, he'd debated calling home and checking in on Lucy to put his mind at ease, only to realise he'd never packed his lacrima in his bag, and Freed had refused to let him use his in an attempt to get him to stop worrying over absolutely nothing. Naturally, it hadn't helped, but Bickslow had already decided he wouldn't beg Freed for the lacrima.
Probably, at least.
Lucy had had everything planned. With Bickslow out of the house for a couple of days, she had every intention of enjoying the peace and quiet.
She had laundry to do—mainly the bed sheets—because as much as Bickslow tried to be useful and help out with things around the house, he always added way too much detergent and Lucy was sick of scratching all night. The fridge and pantry needed to be cleaned out; if she had time, she'd probably even go grocery shopping. The floors needed to be mopped; there were still a few boxes in the basement they hadn't sorted out; her bookcase needed to be reorganised again because Bickslow could just never put books back in the right spots and most of the time, Lucy just couldn't be bothered fixing it…
And, if she had time after all of that, she had some writing to do. Well, she had some writing she wanted to do. It hadn't exactly been easy to work on her novel when the baby had decided it would practice its swimming every time she sat down at her desk. Bickslow, of course, found it amusing. Lucy did not. He could have a five pound creature moving around in his stomach and see how he liked it.
Still, despite all of her plans for her few days of solitude while Bickslow took his last job for a few months, every single one of them fell through once that annoying little cramp Lucy felt while pulling the bedding off the mattress, decided to happen several more times throughout the rest of the day. Far more than she liked.
Luckily, Lucy had managed to find her lacrima in the little cleaning she had managed to do before the panic set in. She hadn't really wanted to call Bickslow over nothing (probably), but the more logical part of her brain decided it was a better idea to summon her husband and his team back home. Just in case, really. She called Bickslow first, only to end up hearing the faint chime of his own lacrima coming from the dining room where he'd left it. Freed was next. Freed will be responsible. Freed will have his lacrima on him. It went unanswered. Lucy groaned and threw the lacrima onto the nearest cushion. She swore right then that Bickslow would never hear the end of it once she finally got hold of him.
"This is fine." Lucy took deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth.I'm not due for a couple more weeks. This is fine. She remembered Levy telling her that she thought she'd been going into early labour at least half a dozen times before she'd actually gone into labour, only for Porlyusica to tell her she was an idiot each time. So Lucy decided right then that she probably wasn't actually going into labour—it had only been a few hours since she'd felt that first cramp, she'd probably just pulled something while doing the laundry—and imagined Porlyusica standing in front of her and grumbling about the current generation of mages being dumb, or something equally as demeaning.
Still, Lucy knew better than to stress on her own—not that she was stressing. Nope. So she still had to drag someone else into her misery. But with her husband and his team unreachable, it took Lucy a few moments to think of someone to call. And she had just the person.
Evergreen sighed in disgust at the blood stains on the side of her dress. "I should make him pay for my laundry when we get back," she scoffed.
Her clothes had been clean, but then Bickslow had gone and fucked everything up and it was a miracle they weren't all dead. All he'd had to do was keep the mages guarding the front of the compound busy while Evergreen and the rest could sneak their way in the back and take out the leader of the club as quickly and quietly as possible. But the Seith had been too damn suspicious and the guards had shut down the compound, and when the compound got shut down, all the interior guards flooded into the boss' room.
They'd completed the job, of course, but Bickslow had seemingly bailed the second the alarm was raised.
"I'm sure he would, you know," Freed said. Freed wasn't too happy about the situation (at least Evergreen didn't have blood and other bodily fluid in her hair), but he knew his teammate and he was certain Bickslow left for a good reason. "And I still think there's a perfectly logical reason for him leaving." Or, he hoped.
It was well past dark when the team eventually made it to the town's train station, their job finished, payment collected, and ready to head back home. Evergreen would've liked to find an inn for the night, or at least a bath house, but Laxus had insisted they just head back and try and make the last train back to Magnolia that night.
"Sorry, ma'am," the small man in the ticket booth said, "the next train passing through Magnolia isn't until quarter past eleven."
Evergreen pouted and her face scrunched up. Freed noticed and quickly wrapped his arms around the mage's shoulders. He knew that look. "W-Wait, Ever, it's not his—" Freed smiled awkwardly at the man as Evergreen pushed her glasses back up her nose with a huff. The last thing they needed was to have Evergreen turn the station attendant into a statue. "Apologies," Freed began then, roughly pushing his comrade away and fishing out enough coin to pay for all of their train tickets—along with a hefty tip for probably cutting a few years from the man's life. Freed had, at least once, been on the receiving end of Evergreen's Stone Eyes. "My friend just really wants to get home."
"O-Of course…" the attendant stammered.
With the tickets, Freed went off to find his lost team. Laxus had already wandered off somewhere but Evergreen was off sulking in the corner. He offered the woman a kind smile and her ticket for her to shove roughly in her small bag. "You can't just turn everyone you dislike into a statue, Ever," Freed reminder her.
"I know. But he called me ma'am. Do I like look I'm old enough to be a ma'am to you?"
Freed knew better than to answer that question. She might've only been in her mid-twenties, but Freed already knew that Evergreen was going to insist on being eternally twenty-nine even when she was in her fifties. "He was just being polite," he said instead. He cleared his throat, then, "Anyway, we've a while to wait. I'm sure there's a… somewhat clean bathroom somewhere. You might try rinsing the blood out a bit before it stains."
"Probably," Evergreen muttered. As much as she wanted Bickslow to pay for her getting into such a mess, she did happen to like that dress in particular, and it would be a shame to have it stained and only have a future as a rag. She sighed, quickly glancing around to see if she could a spot a sign for the bathrooms. "Well, I'll go do that; you go find Laxus and make sure he hasn't gotten lost somewhere."
"He likely already has," Freed snorted.
Thankfully, Laxus hadn't gotten lost or wandered onto the train tracks like a lunatic (he had, somehow, done it before). But he seemed to have found a friend, one Freed didn't expect to be seeing again for the rest of the night at least.
"I thought you would've been on a train back to Magnolia by now, Bicks."
The Seith looked back up, raising his head from his palms. "I missed it by a few minutes," Bickslow replied with a heavy sigh. "I'm so sorry. Really. I just… Something didn't feel right and I wanted to get home as fast as possible. Laxus said you finished the job, and… And I'm glad you guys got out okay, and—wait." Bickslow's eyes darted around the platform behind his visor. "Where's Ever?" Laxus had already told him the details of the job and the trouble he'd caused them, but he hadn't mentioned anything about Evergreen. Surely, she was just off somewhere, perhaps getting a drink or yelling at some poor child for getting in her way. At least, Bickslow hoped.
Freed waved his hand as he took a seat to Bickslow's left. "Oh, Ever's just cleaning up," he reassured Bickslow with a gentle pat on the shoulder. "She'll be sending you a laundry bill, however."
That, Bickslow could deal with. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, nodding to himself and sinking back into the uncomfortable bench. "Good… Good…"
Laxus clicked his tongue then, reaching into his coat pocket for a crumpled envelope before holding it out in front of Bickslow. "Here."
Bickslow shook his head. "Fuck, no. No, you guys split my cut. I don't deserve it."
"You don't," Laxus agreed, shrugging. "But, you're getting it anyway. Think of it as a baby gift. This was your last job for a bit. You and Blondie could use it more than any of us could." It wasn't like it was a high paying job anyway. It had only meant to be something fast, something easy—a way for them to just do what they do best one last time before Bickslow got too distracted by the family life. Even if Bickslow had always said that it would just be for a few months, that once the baby was a few months old and he and Lucy had settled into their new roles a little, he'd be back to work and they'd continue on their Fiore adventures, Laxus and the rest knew that it would never really be the same again.
For a long time, they'd never really had much to live for outside of each other. They'd been reckless and put themselves in harm's way more than any other mage would've, purely because they could. But they'd opened themselves up to more. The guild they'd been part of for years became more than just a way for them to make money. It had become what it always should've been: their home.
But Laxus knew better than anyone that things would never be the same again. And that was something he was okay with. They would, surely, still go on jobs together whenever they all found the time for it, but Laxus knew it was only a matter of time before Evergreen and Freed settled down as well, and eventually, they'd all be just like Wakaba and Macao and all the rest—permanent drunken fixtures of the guild hall.
He'd done his bit to make Fiore a better place. They all had. His son was going to grow up in that world and Laxus wanted to make sure he was there for it, and he knew that once Bickslow and Lucy's baby arrived, they'd want the same. The kids were what were important now.
Still, Laxus hadn't really any need for money those days. Neither did Freed or Evergreen. Their walk back to the train station earlier had been mostly silent, all too busy remembering the days gone and knowing what that job represented, but Freed had suggested they offer the job's pay to Bickslow as a gift of sorts and it was probably the fastest they'd all agreed to anything.
Bickslow took the envelope, staring down at it for a moment. "Thanks, guys. I appreciate it," he said softly. He was usually too proud to accept money, especially since years of doing S-Class jobs with Laxus had made it so he hadn't needed it either. But the house, the wedding, and the baby had gone through just about all of what he had tucked away in the banks. And it wasn't like he would've spent it on anything else, but it was going to be months before he or Lucy took on any more jobs, and bills didn't just stop when you weren't working.
Although, that was assuming Magnolia hadn't just somehow exploded, like part of Bickslow thought it had. The last two hours of him sitting on that bench, pissed at having missed the earlier train by a mere few minutes, had been filled with nothing but stress and dread over the fact that he couldn't stop feeling like something was very, very, wrong, and that he shouldn't have left Lucy to go on the job so clue to her due date. He'd even gone so far as using the pay-lacrima at the station and calling Lucy, but she hadn't answered.
Evergreen eventually joined them on the platform, her dress annoyingly wet from rinsing it in the bathroom sink and echoing Freed's original statement of wondering why he wasn't already gone. "Well," she announced, after hearing the story of the missed train, "I'm starving. I think we passed a diner on our way here. Come on, let's go get something to eat. Bicks is buying."
Bickslow snorted, pulling himself up from the bench. "Yeah, alright." He supposed it was fair. The babies seemed to think so, too.
Freed hung back for a moment while the others slowly headed back to the entrance. Bickslow and Evergreen were already arguing and Freed smiled to himself softly. He pulled his small satchel around to the front, digging around in the mess of rune scrolls until he felt the small lacrima. He'd vaguely heard the small chime earlier when they'd been busy fighting but simply hadn't had a chance to check it until then. His brow furrowed and his smile faded as he saw the faintly glowing image in the lacrima.
He looked up, clearing his throat quietly. "Laxus? A word, quickly?"
"Eh?" Laxus looked back over his shoulder to Freed still by the benches, only glancing forward again to Bickslow and Evergreen as they kept walking, either not hearing or caring what Freed could say to Laxus then. "What is it, Freed?" Laxus asked. Freed held the lacrima out to him. "When?"
"A few hours ago. When we were at the compound, I assume."
"Bicks said he tried calling her from the station when he got her. Said she didn't answer, though." He'd tried telling Bickslow then that Lucy had probably just been busy, maybe even asleep. She'd not answered her lacrima before. If anything, it was a rare occurrence for her to answer it. But that hadn't really meant much to Bickslow when he'd left them in the middle of their job just because of a sick feeling in his stomach from something not feeling right back at home. Still, Lucy calling Freed wasn't a sign that anything was wrong. "She was probably just checking in," Laxus said, although he couldn't tell if he was reassuring himself or Freed.
"Of course," Freed agreed. "Should we tell Bicks?"
If they did and Lucy had just been checking in, then there would've been no point in telling Bickslow at all. But if something had been wrong and they told him, then there was no telling what Bickslow would do. His sanity was questionable as it was and Laxus didn't want the man breaking down any more. There was nothing they could do out there; they were stuck waiting for the train no matter what and they still wouldn't be back home for hours.
"No," Laxus eventually said. He wasn't sure it was the right decision. He wasn't sure there was a right decision. But Bickslow knowing Lucy had called wouldn't do him any good.
"Are you sure? I can try calling Lucy and—"
"No. It's late. Let her sleep. If… If something is wrong—" Laxus swallowed, his throat feeling a little dry all of a sudden "—if we get back and something happened, and Bicks would've been better of knowing she called, then it's on me. I'll deal with it."
It was well after midnight by the time the train passed through Magnolia and Bickslow was already waiting at the carriage door before the breaks had stopped squealing and Laxus' face was no longer green. The second he could, he stepped up onto the babies and simply said to take him home.
The more rooftops he floated over and the closer he got to home, the more Bickslow's heart hammered in his chest. He still felt sick, and the second he stopped moving Bickslow knew he was going to throw up somewhere but he couldn't stop moving until he knew everything was fine. He hoped, against all of the negative thoughts he'd had swimming in his head for the last twelve hours, that he'd get home and find Lucy fast asleep and not a single thing out of place.
She's fine. I'm crazy. Everything is fine. He repeated it like a mantra as if it was the only thing keeping his feet steady on the babies. There'd been no reason for him to fret something was wrong but Bickslow had learned to trust his gut when something did feel wrong. He'd nearly lost too much too many times before but there was too much on the line then for Bickslow not to trust his intuition. He wouldn't forgive himself if he let himself believe that it was just all in his head.
The lights were on and Bickslow felt his whole world crashing down around him. The babies tried telling him it was okay before he lost his footing and stumbled onto the cold pavement. It had only been a few metres but Bickslow hissed and groaned in pain as he picked himself off the ground hastily. His shoulder would be bruised come daylight but that was the least of his concerns.
He quickly made it up the front steps, fumbling clumsily with the key in the lock with trembling hands for a few moments before he heard the floordboards creak from the other side of the door and it swung open. For a moment, Bickslow had hoped Lucy had simply fallen asleep on the lounge and he'd woken her up. But instead it was Gajeel, his nine month old infant asleep on his chest, and Bickslow wasn't entirely sure what to think for a moment. His heart was in his throat but fear and concern melded into confusion when Gray came out from the hall, an unlit cigarette in his mouth, and raised a finger in greeting before heading out onto the back porch.
"Ah, fuck. I thought Erza was still in here," Gajeel grumbled from behind him—his daughter down on the couch next to Lily, already curled up in a ball—and Bickslow spun around.
"Am I missing something?" Bickslow finally asked. Was he going to find any more stray mages in his house? The fact that no one was telling him a horrible accident had occurred and that Lucy had spontaneously combusted into a fiery ball of flame was really the only thing putting his mind at ease for a brief moment. "Why are you here? Why is Gray here? Where the fuck is Lucy?"
"In bed, probably," Gajeel answered. "And I'm only here because Blondie called Shrimp because she thought was goin' into labour—"
"Labour? Why the fuck didn't you start with that?!" He didn't give Gajeel a chance to explain anything else before he rushed off down the hall. Something had gone wrong. The sick feeling was back. "She wasn't supposed to be due for a few more weeks, why the fuck—"
"Shhh, keep it down," Erza commanded, appearing in the doorway just as Bickslow reached the threshold to his bedroom, her voice quiet but no less threatening. "They're resting."
"Was, resting," Lucy corrected. Erza moved aside to return to her post on the foot of the bed, her tea is hand, and Bickslow continued to stand in the doorway, frozen in time as he stared through wide eyes. "Not that I'm sure you could call it that anyway," she mumbled.
"You… Is that…" Bickslow struggled to find his voice. Natsu grinned at him like a madman from the corner of the room, perched in the chair that Bickslow had fallen asleep in so many times before. His arms were full with the bundled joy and Bickslow could just make out the tiny pink nose and cheeks from within the blankets.
Lucy watched Bickslow almost creep into the room, like he was sure one misstep would set the world on fire. He dropped his visor, shed his cloak, and Lucy couldn't help but let out a tired, airy giggle at the incredulous look on her husband's face as he turned to her, pointed, and then pointed back to Natsu with their newborn. "I did try calling, but you left your lacrima here and Freed didn't answer his," she said.
"Holy shit," Bickslow whispered. He didn't make it as far as Natsu though, instead only reaching the foot of the bed where he collapsed down, still staring at Natsu with the baby for another few moments. He'd woken up that morning kissing and holding Lucy's belly as he had every morning, telling them that he couldn't wait to show them a world full of love and wonder and finally hold them in his arms. He just hadn't expected to finally arrive home after a day of panicking that something was wrong and Lucy had somehow been in danger, just to find… a baby. His baby. Their baby. All tiny and pink and warm.
"He smells good," Natsu said, still grinning down at the baby as he carefully stood up and made his way over to Bickslow. "Sweet, kind of. Wanna hold your kid, Bicks?"
His shoulder already beginning to ache was long forgotten as Natsu helped settle the baby into Bickslow's arms. His heart felt full—calm, though—and Bickslow had never felt so much joy, love, or adrenaline course through him. He vaguely heard Natsu, Erza, and Gajeel leave the room, but Bickslow could only stare down at his son, the new centre of his world, with choked back sobs.
"I was thinking Hunter," Lucy said softly from behind him. If she had the energy to, she'd be sitting back up next to him. For now, she was fine. She had a lifetime of watching and holding their son.
"Hunter," Bickslow whispered, tasting the name on his tongue and lips. "What do you thing, babies? Hunter any good?"
The babies chirped their approval with echoes of the name and Bickslow chuckled. "Hunter it is," he said.