"Nice and strong heartbeat," Porylusica announced, bringing Lucy's shirt back down to cover her stomach. She pushed the ultrasound lacrima away, "You're closer to 4 months than 2 ½ months."

Lucy's mouth dropped open, "But that means –"

"You got pregnant almost right away," Porylusica interrupted, "Apparently no one explained to you that that's what happens when you don't take measures, which you obviously did not. Strong baby. Everything is fine. Now get out of my house. I'll see you again in a month."

Natsu and Lucy exchanged glances.

"Can you tell the sex?" Lucy asked, "GENDER!" she said quickly, stopping her husband's comment who had his mouth half-open.

Porylusica slammed her fist down on the table, "I said you're 4 months pregnant! I'll see you in a month and maybe I'll check for you then. Now goodbye!"

Taking the hint, Natsu grabbed Lucy's waist to help her down off the table, holding onto her hand as they headed for the door.

"It would kill her to be pleasant," Natsu stated, "Like literally kill her."

"We're a lot further along than we thought," Lucy replied, enjoying the feel of her husband's hand as they walked back toward Fairy Tail, "I thought I was just entering the second month. Now I have to read my book again and see what stage we're at. I guess I'll be getting fat pretty soon. You're gonna stop loving me and run away with some other girl that's tiny."

Natsu smiled at her, stopping to cup her cheek, "You're Lucy. No matter what size you are, you're my Luce. And you're beautiful. And that's our baby. The one we made out of our love. Don't you go shooting your mouth off about stupid things, okay?"

Lucy rose to her tippy-toes to let Natsu kiss her lightly, "You always know what to say," she mused, "I really love you, Natsu."

"I love you too," he replied.

She was quiet for a moment as she allowed him to lift her over a giant boulder.

"Natsu, are you worried about the others?"

Natsu was quiet for a few minutes. Part of him hoped she'd forget she even asked the question, but as if she would.

"Yeah," he finally admitted, but didn't elaborate.

"Does it bother you that you aren't going…because of me?"

He stopped again, laying both hands on her shoulders and looking straight into her eyes, "My place is with you, Luce. Only with you. In case you haven't noticed, I've done a bit of growing up. It's okay to let Gajeel and Gray take care of things. I have one priority…and that's you and our baby."

"That's two," Lucy couldn't help pointing out, suppressing a giggle.

"Our family and our guild," he tried again.

"Still two," she sing-songed.

"Oh c'mon!" Natsu protested as she skipped ahead, "You know damn well what I mean – our family! Meaning our little unit of you, me, Happy and the baby, and then our guild!"

She turned and threw herself on her husband, squeezing him in a deep hug, "I know what you mean," she whispered, "And I love you for it. I'm sorry you can't be on the front lines this time."

He stroked her head, "I won't lie, Luce. There's a part of me that wants to be. But it's time for me to grow up. Besides, I'm busy helping putting up defenses around Magnolia. It's a big job. Lots safer."

He buried his face in her shoulder, pushing back the feeling of not doing enough. He'd always been at the front lines. It was more than hard to hold back. He knew his place was with Lucy, though. And she would need protecting, especially in her current condition.

She keeled over slightly, panting lightly.

"Are you okay?" Natsu asked, immediately taking her in his arms.

"I'm fine," she promised, "I think it's just the strain of having Virgo and Cancer out for so long."

He nodded, knowing she'd lent them out to the castle for several hours now.

"They should be done soon," he said, turning his back and motioning for her to get on.

She would normally protest, but she was feeling very tired and she was warned not to overexert herself for long.

"I'd say they'll be done very soon. My bond with Virgo tells me they're close."

Natsu didn't reply, taking off through the trees with her on his back to get back to Fairy Tail. There was still lots of work to be done.


Back at the guild, preparations for defense were in full swing. New defensive walls were being built around Magnolia. Freed was busy placing runes everywhere in the forest. A national bulletin had gone out to the guilds. Max created sand traps nearby every rune that Freed set out while Macao provided purple nets for some of the runes. Anyone who could not contribute to rune contents was busy building the new wall around Magnolia. Catapults with large rocks were built and tested within city walls. Mirajane and Laxus were tasked with polling the town to see who had potential to use weapons, then Elfman, and the Thunder Legion trained them in hand to hand combat. Citizens weren't told why, but it was expected that all citizens would remain in their cities for the time being. They were warned any travel was dangerous for the time being.

Master Makarov had sat in on a lacrima meeting with all the other guild masters and the Magic Council, discussing the potential threat. Now fully briefed, he worried for his children who would be invading the depths of hell. In the same token, he was proud that his children were chosen. Fairy Tail had reclaimed their place as the country's strongest guild.

"Hello First Master," he said, feeling her presence before actually seeing her.

"You're worried again," Mavis said, sitting beside him. Her feet dangled over the edge of the 2nd floor lookout.

"Of course I am. How is it that peace never seems to stay for long?" Makarov sighed, "Our guild has suffered so much. I thought we'd be in for a break."

"It will be okay," Mavis reassured him, "Look at all this guild has overcome."

"I know," Makarov acknowledged, "But I can't help but have that feeling."

Mavis said smiled, lightly stroking his arm, "Have my strategies ever let us down before? I can't help knowing we'll find a way through this. We are not defenseless. We are the most capable mages in Fiore. Trust me…I've told you before…Unwavering faith and resilient bonds will bring even more miracles to your side."

Makarov nodded, "How long do you think we'll be able to hold Natsu back?"

Mavis considered the thought. Natsu had changed in the past few years. She knew this was largely due to Lucy. Now that Lucy was pregnant, maybe he'd stick to his decision to stay by her side to protect her. She slapped herself upside the head, surprising Makarov. This was Natsu they were talking about. She just wondered what event would push him over the edge and when.

"I can't believe Natsu is one of the first to have a baby coming," Mavis giggled, changing the subject.

Makarov sighed, "Yeah, we're going to survive this war…but how are we going to survive a Natsu-Junior?"

Mavis giggled and returned her gaze to overlooking the busy guild members, "Same way we survive a Natsu-anything," she replied, "We'll rely on Lucy."


At the castle, Jellal and Erza had just finished repeating their vows to one another with Tomo officiating. Erza was wearing the gorgeous wedding gown she kept in her requip closet.

At Tomo's announcement that they were now man and wife, Jellal leaned in and kissed his beautiful bride.

"NOW we can kick demon ass," he whispered into her ear.