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Natsu couldn't sleep at all that night. The image of his daughter's eyes was burning into his soul, the two black, sparkly orbs staring straight through him. She took after him under that aspect, too. That made him feel even stranger.

It was weird, finding out about being a father in such a way. And the worst thing was, Natsu didn't know what to do. How to approach Lucy, how to even look her in the eye. And Nashi? Even if he could turn around that one year of absence and start parenting, he didn't have the slightest clue about babies. And now he's missed the first step, first word. He would know her younger face from pictures. He didn't know if he could survive a pain like that. And there was always the issue of Lucy. He knew he loved her, all this time he kept thinking about her - but he can't hide the times, where he loved, but couldn't quite remember who he loved. Or what was the name of the guild, who's mark he wore on his shoulders.

Easy to diagnose, it was memory loss.

Natsu sighed and rubbed his neck. Through half-closed eyes, he looked around Lucy's living and now noticing all the small details that gave away the presence of a small child - toys, accesories, clothes. The Dragon Slayer started wondering, what is in this room, that Nashi took her first, unsure step or shyly lisped a few simple words.

The fire mage got up quietly and walked over to the kitchen. He opened the frigde and lazily grabbed a few random products, aspiring to make himself a sandwich out of anything. But then, he couldn't focus on even that. He put jam on the bread instead of butter, and then mistaked paper for cheese. He decided to screw it and stuffed the mega sandwich into his mouth all at once. Just as he was about to swallow, he heard the sound of small, wonky steps behind him and froze.

He turned around slowly and nearly spit out everything he had in his mouth.

Nashi was standing near the kitchen table, holding onto a chair for support. She was wearing a light pink t-shirt patterned with flames and matching pajama shorts. She was pressing a white scale scarf to her cheek and then Natsu noticed, that on her right shoulder, was a dark red Fairy Tail mark.

"Mama."

"You can talk?!" screamed Natsu when his daughter unexpectedly spoke. Nashi looked groggily at her father with her big, black eyes and the Dragon Slayer felt the hard feeling of anxiousness and guilt melt like ice-cream. He shot the small girl a warm look and reached out his hand to stroke her head. Nashi backed away immediately and buried her face in the scarf she was holding even deeper.

Right. I maybe her father, but I'm still a stranger.

"Mama," repeated Nashi, biting her lip nervously.

"Mama's not here," answered Natsu, running his hand through his hair. Lucy was still probbaly sound asleep, so was Happy. That left him and Nashi.

"Mama," insisted Nashi, rubbing her eyes.

"Mama's still asleep."

"Aunty Iva?"

"Aunty Iva's not here either." Who the heck was she?

"Papa?"

"Papa? Do you have a papa?" If she knew the word, Lucy must've mentioned Natsu at some point, right? Or at least so he hoped.

Nashi shook her head and Natsu fell.

"Papa is far away." The Dragon Slayer's daughter then turned around and pointed to the coffee table, that was still littered with cards from last night. On top of that mess was the frame Lucy shattered yesterday. Natsu walked over to the table and his hand hovered over the broken frame. Nashi followed in his steps and rested her small head on her father's strong shoulder, although she was still a bit scared of being close to him.

The fire mage took a deep breath and lifted the frame, taking special caution to not hurt himself or Nashi with the falling glass. He looked at the photograph and felt as if someone had just punched him in the stomach. It was an ordinary photo of him and Lucy, but that wasn't the thing. Lucy was heavily pregnant in this picture. He was leaning on Natsu and he had his muscly arm around her, as if saying that he's protecting her. His hand was resting on the blond's baby bump and hers was laying on his, while her other arm was looped under his shoulder and ruffling his hair. It was such a cute pose, but the most romantic thing about this photo was the face expressions. Both Lucy and Natsu were lit up with bright smiles and their eyes were filled with so much happiness, the kind nothing could destroy. They were still so joyous, so in love - so naive. Simply looking at this photograph was painful for the Dragon Slayer.

"Papa is here," Nashi said suddenly, pressing her finger to the surface of the frame, where Natsu's face was. The fire mage couldn't fight tears. It was all his fault. He didn't mean to forget, but he did and now everything's caught up in this crap.

"Nashi. Do you know who I am?"

"No."

"I'm Papa."

Nashi looked unsure and confused, but then she noticed that the man speaking to her had exactly the same scarf as she did. She put her thumb into her mouth and started listening.

"Do you understand? I'm..."

"Nashi?" Lucy's voice suddenly sounded in the room and Natsu immediately stopped talking. "Nashi, are you here? Darling, come out!"

The blond mage then noticed her daughter talking to her guest and she froze. Now she would have to face Natsu, tell him the responsibility. And... explain why she didn't say anything. Oh God. But how to do it? How, how, how? Screwed questions!

"Nashi! There you are! I told you not to move the loose bars around, sweetie! Didn't I tell you?" Lucy walke over to her daughter and took her in her arms, greeting the girl with a loving kiss on the cheek. Nashi giggled and hugged her mother back.

"Sorry, Mama!"

"Seriously... What am I going to do with you? You're giving Mama gray hairs! But first, let's get you something to eat, yes? What do you want?"

"Yo-go!"

"Yo-go it is, then!"

Lucy took out a strange, flat object out of a cupboard and unfolded it into a high chair. She strapped Nashi in and reached into the fridge to pull out a cup of yogurt, the dragon fruit flavored one that Natsu wanted to eat yesterday. She opened it, took out a small spoon fro the drawer, and sat down on a stool to feed Nashi. The Dragon Slayer watched this scene and smiled to himself, pretending not to notice the small glances Lucy was shooting towards him now and then. The blond mage herself tried to play it cool and act relaxed, but she knew that the longer she was going to be putting off the inevitable, that is the conversation she had to have with Natsu, she would just be getting more and more nervous. And to top it all off, she knew it was damn immature to be scared to face her... Exactly, what was Natsu to her? Before he left, they had been dating and even engaged, but now... Lucy couldn't say friend, that would be cruel. But it's not boyfriend or fiance, and certainly not husband either, so what? Complication on the highest level.

When Nashi was fed, Lucy changed Nashi and put her down to play in the living room, when she couldn't drag out those actions anymore, she went and sat down beside Natsu, who was watching his small daughter with a really swellin feeling of fatherly pride.

"She's very lively," he finally said, and Lucy nodded.

"I know she is." She folded her hands, not knowing how to answer. She wanted to tell him how Nashi was when she was younger. She could wail and whimper and gurgle through the whole night and keep Lucy awake. Or when she learned to talk (quite early, too!) and wouldn't close her mouth even once, the darling chatterbox...

"But she seems very... developed? I mean, she must be only one. And still, she understands everything, she talks, she walks... Is that normal?"

"I actually took her once to the doctor, to check. He said that it's all connected to the origins of the child's parents. And since you and I... I mean, she was born of two mages. She'll be different like that, it's nothing to worry about."

"Listen, Lucy..."

"No, you listen. I didn't tell you about Nashi because you didn't remember about her. And since you seemed so free-minded and still childlish... I would've felt bad, if I dropped such a burden on you and destroyed your youth. And still, even so... The thing we had before you left... It's gone. Feelings are fragile things, prone to being defeated by time, distance. So..."

"Are you saying I don't love you anymore?"