Pairings: Natsu x Lucy and other wonderful surprises shall be revealed as we go.

Timeline: After the GMG's arc. Give or take seven years.

Warnings: None other than mild cursing, violence, sexual themes and some gore; perhaps a wee bit of confusion.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

Authors Note: I'm getting somewhat better at updating! And the drama is just beginning.

.X.

Lucy denied it. She denied it like there was no tomorrow. No matter what spin he tried to take it, she couldn't accept what he said. Natsu was somewhat offended by her outright rejection but nonetheless ate the food she prepared.

Now, sitting alone in the all but empty bookstore behind the counter, she contemplated his statement. Unconsciously, she found herself touching her flat stomach. There was no way… Although, it has been a few days since he last proposed the idea.

"Miss…?" Lucy shook herself from her thoughts. Her smile froze halfway. Before her stood an obviously pregnant lady with red eyes and puffy cheeks, she looked like hell. She set a stack of pregnancy books down. "I'm surprised you're manning the place by yourself."

Lucy laughed, "Kyle is doing inventory in the back." She cleared her throat, evidently remembering she's working. "Is this all?" Lucy started writing up totals, slowly breaking down the large pile of books.

The woman snorted, patting her stomach. "This isn't even my first pregnancy and I suddenly felt very nervous. I guess you'll never know what to expect with triplets. You're so young, I envy that."

She didn't reply. For some reason, this woman's assessment of Lucy offended her. She finished her task silently, only offering her customer a faint farewell once she paid. A part of her wondered if she was being rude, that part however was smothered when she thought of what the woman said. She envied Lucy for not being pregnant. What a laugh.

Touching her belly gently, she pondered over Natsu's blunt statement days ago. Gathering her belongings, she sprinted to the back of the bookstore to consult Kyle.

"Boss?" the blonde asked, peering through the dark space with narrowed eyes. Kyle appeared from behind boxes resting on crates. His messy brown hair was poorly restrained with a cap and his glasses were covered in dust.

He cleaned his glasses, "Ah, yes, Lucy, what can I help you with?"

She laced her fingers behind her back. Lying wasn't her strong suit, so she figured bending the truth would be enough. "I'm not feeling quite up to par. I think it might have been what I ate last night. It didn't agree with me."

Concerned, Kyle contorted his body through the small gaps between boxes to reach out and clasp her hand. "My dear, you should go home if you feel ill. I can handle things here."

"I'll come in early tomorrow," she promised, squeezing his fingers back. Kyle smiled reassuringly, her words easing some of the worry.

"Just get better," Kyle said, patting her hand and turning her about. "Leave before all this dust begins to get to your system." Lucy nodded and left the storage room. She waved once more to Kyle and swiftly left the bookshop. She wasn't exactly positive of where the butcher shop Natsu worked at was located, but she did know that wherever it was it would be missing a pole.

Lucy set off in search of Natsu's mysterious place of work, occasionally asking individuals if they knew were the accident her husband caused. (Of course she didn't specify his name or anything lest people begin avoiding the butchers shop.) She actually had to walk quite a long distance from her bookstore.

The crowded streets paid no heed to Lucy as she clutched her purse, hugged her stomach to push through the masses. Huffing, she finally ended up in front of Thomas' Butcher Shoppe. Directly across the quaint shop was the pole Natsu destroyed. He sure was something else.

A bell twinkled pleasantly when she entered the butchers. An older man minded the front counter – a job Lucy had recently just been doing herself. He peered up through thick lenses and smiled.

"Welcome to my shop, Miss. How can I help you?" Thomas – or so Lucy presumed from his declaration of owning this place – asked. Lucy padded over to the counter, placing her purse on the edge.

"I was looking for my husband, Natsu?" Lucy said.

Thomas' eyes widened, "That youngster's got a wife like you? Well I'll be dammed. Give me a moment, miss. I'll go grab him." She smiled, sending him off with a brief wave as he went to collect Natsu.

Minutes later he returned with Natsu. Natsu had a splatter of animal blood on his cheek while his apron was stained entirely red. He tilted his head curiously at the sight of Lucy.

"Luce? What are you doing here?" Natsu inquired, ignorant of his bloody uniform.

Her smile weakened. "I—I think you're right; about what you heard a few nights ago."

His expression changed instantly, "Are you serious? Did you go get a test?"

"No," Lucy answered, shaking her head. At this point, Thomas went about wiping down the counter, humming, in a poor hope to give the couple privacy. Lucy silently commended him for his effort. Her voice quivered, "I'm too scared to go alone. Can you come with me?"

Natsu's dark eyes bore into hers. Finally he nodded and twisted to face Thomas. "Ji-chan…? This is going to sound bad since I just started working here but I need to go with Lucy for an hour or so. Do you think you can manage without me?"

Thomas' eyes flickered between the couple momentarily. "It's that important? Okay, go, but I expect you to be here twice as early tomorrow morning."

Natsu eagerly faced the backroom when he hesitated, "Wait, I said I would be back."

"You're wife clearly needs you, son. Just take the rest of the afternoon off," Thomas said, grinning like a fool.

"Aye, sir!" Natsu exclaimed, hurrying away to clean up his dreadful mess.

"Thank you," Lucy said quietly, her emotions getting the better of her. She felt choked about how much this man cared. He cared about their situation without even asking enough to let Natsu take the whole afternoon off. Her insides twisted at the prospect that there aren't enough good people like this in the world.

Natsu returned, sweeping around the counter to take her hand. He saluted to Thomas and pulled her from the store. Lucy didn't miss the encouraging smile he sent them as they left the shop.

.X.

Flicking the vile full of crimson liquid, the doctor beamed. "Well Miss Lucy, we should have your blood results back in a few hours. Please be patient and remain in our waiting room." Sliding the test tube into her lab coat, she bowed her head and exited the room, leaving Natsu and Lucy alone.

Once the door clicked shut, Lucy heaved a sigh. Natsu stroked her arm just above where the needle went in. He touched his lips to her temple.

"Come on, let's go wait outside. It'll be more refreshing out there than in here or the waiting room," Natsu said, helping Lucy off the doctor's table. Lucy brought his hand to her lips, grateful he was there for her. At times when she didn't know what was up or down, it amazed her to have him at her side.

He slung his arm around her shoulders to direct her passed the women with swollen stomach and posters of genitalia towards the exit. He gestured to the secretary and with that they departed from the doctor's office.

Safely outside, plunking down on a bench in the shade of a tree, Lucy exhaled heavily. Natsu chuckled.

"Weirdo," he commented.

Lucy rolled her eyes and massaged her lower abdomen. "It is weird. We literally have no memories of anything and there could be another person at stake here."

"What I think is weird," Natsu put in, "is that I don't even remember having sex with you."

An assortment of odd looks followed from Natsu's outburst. Though she giggled, her natural reaction was to immediately blush. Lucy shoved him.

"Natsu!" she chastised teasingly. Natsu's statement didn't trigger a thing in Lucy's blocked memory, which terrified and shocked her. Usually when something contradictory was said, she would remember something. Anything. Unfortunately for her, nothing of the sort came up.

He cleared his throat, drawing her nearer. Maybe he felt it too, the lack of recognition, but whether or not he did – or she for that matter – they had other things to worry about. More pressing matters than this one memory were at stack, or so Lucy had to believe. Natsu slipped into a comfortable silence, dwelling in his own thoughts, brushing her knuckles.

When they sat together, mute and relaxed, while her heart remained at a constant soft beat in her chest, did she know things would be okay. Locked away within her amnesic mind was their past and whatever it was, she knew she could rely on Natsu. Natsu, her best friend, confidant and lover, her perfect half; he, the person she was destined to meet.

Even thinking this couldn't shake the impending memory that she did have lingering in her mind. The voice of a man who in no way was Natsu staking his claim on her. Peeking up at Natsu, she wondered if she could have loved someone other than him.

Unfortunately, plucking at her very soul was the constant doubt loitering in her body, whispering falsities in her ear. Rather, what she prayed were lies.

.X.

The doctor's chair crinkled as Lucy plopped down, gathering her wits about her as she folded her hands in her lap. Natsu stood behind her, leaning against the back of her chair with his arms crossed. Lucy nibbled on her lip, perspiring at the brow, awaiting the most life changing results of her short life.

After moments of thumb twiddling and small talk, the doctor waltzed into the room, hardly able to contain her grin. Lucy's heart sank.

"Congratulations, you're by all accounts, twelve weeks pregnant!" Lucy's hands flew to her lower abdomen. It didn't feel any larger than before, nor did it feel like a tiny person resided in there.

"How can you be sure?" she argued. "I'm not showing in the least! All my clothes fit fine…"

The doctor's smile thinned, "Miss. Lucy, not everyone is the same in their pregnancies. Some may not even experience weight gain. Eventually you may see signs of your stomach growing."

"I haven't thrown up once," Lucy retorted. It wasn't that being pregnant that caused her to act to brashly, reasonably, its thanks to her disbelief of bringing a child into this predicament.

"Maybe the amnesia tricked your body into forgetting you're pregnant so that's why you don't puke," Natsu explained casually. Lucy glanced back at him, concerned for where his head was at.

"You have amnesia?" The doctor exclaimed, her eyes widening.

Lucy nodded. "We both do."

If someone had told Lucy earlier that admitting to your doctor you have no idea who you were was a bad idea, Lucy wouldn't have consented to Natsu's statement. The doctor cleared her throat.

"This… complicates things for the both of you. As you are aware some cases of amnesia are irreversible and therefore you will be trapped with your limited memories. Raising a child in that environment is… unwise," the doctor said with cold conviction. "It would be easiest on all three of you to let the state care for the child once it's born until your memories return."

Insulted, Lucy motioned to speak with an uncouth hand gesture only to be cut off by Natsu. Natsu, whose nose arched slightly towards the ceiling, his black eyes glazed over with repulsion. "It's none of your business what Lucy and I do with our child."

Shrinking back into her seat, the doctor's eyes wavered, suddenly frightened by the aura Natsu was emitting. Lucy got to her feet, palming Natsu's hand, giving the terrified woman a curt nod. "We'll be leaving now."

Once half-way to Mariana and Richard's, Lucy – who had been fuming most of the walk – rasped out, "How dare that woman say anything like that? Who is she to judge?" Perchance it was spiteful of her however, more than ever she wanted to give birth to this child just to prove she could.

Natsu's eyes were shadowed. His clenched jaw gave Lucy every indication she needed of his internal fury. Lucy took a breath, recapping to herself that they were going to be parents soon. They couldn't react so negatively to a situation when their baby was here.

Lucy tapped him on the shoulder, hoping her smile came off cuter than it most likely came off as. "We're going to be great parents, Natsu. I promise you."

He swooped down to capture her lips with his, squeezing her tightly against his firm chest. She clenched his shirt, willing away anymore pessimism left in her. In this moment, she desperately sought nothing more than to keep this memory alive.

Though the haunting whispers of the faceless man who proclaimed his love for her continuously flittered through mind, regardless of how much she endeavoured these murmurs to end.

.X.

This chapter was actually quite boring, my bad. Not much drama aside from revelation that Lucy is in fact, pregnant. Well, that and the mystery man from chapter two resurfaces once again to spoil NaLu moments we so dearly adore. The drama really picks up next chapter and from there, be prepared for a roller-coaster of emotions.

~Emerald~