I'm sorry for any grammatical errors, I was in a rush to get this one finished on time. But here it is!

6. On the Job

Lucy grimaced as she heard one of her team mates walk up behind her. The last thing she wanted was anyone to see her like this, bent over and puking her guts out…she didn't like it when Gajeel saw her like this. She stood, hoping to play it off as nothing, only to immediately double back over and empty her stomach of the last remains of their dinner the previous evening. Wiping the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, Lucy grimaced as she saw Erza standing there watching her, a look of pure horror and concern covering the woman's face. "Lucy, are you…"

The blonde doubled over again as the smell of her previous ruminations wafted toward her nose. As much as she loved Virgo's cooking, the smell of it after it had sat in her stomach all night and then regurgitated wasn't exactly her favorite thing. She honestly didn't know if she'd be able to eat the spirit's stew again for a while. The burning pain of bile and stomach acid had her gasping for breath before she quickly turned away from her last meal. Nodding at the red head, Lucy just took a deep breath of fresh air before she walked back to their camp, only to place her hand on her stomach as the smell her team's breakfast lingered in the air and she fought to hold back her nausea.

"Lucy…" Gray nodded at her, a look of concern on his face as he took in his blonde team mate's appearance. "…I made sure Natsu saved you some breakfast."

Moving for a single bottle of water, she shook her head. There was no way she was going to be able to eat at the moment, in a few hours maybe. "No thanks, I'm not hungry. If Natsu still wants it he can have it."

"See…I told you. With all the retching Luce was doing back there I knew she wasn't going to want to eat." The fire dragon slayer grabbed what was left of the food and began shoveling it in his mouth, ignoring the looks of disgust from all of his team.

"Maybe you shouldn't eat so much at night Lushy…that way you wouldn't get sick." The blue cat held his palms up to his mouth, trying to hide his snickering at the blonde's expense.

Crossing her arms in thought, Erza looked between the annoying cat and the blonde as she tried to figure out what had made her younger sister so sick. The food they had all consumed hadn't bothered anyone else and Virgo's cooking had never made the blonde sick before. "You did eat more than usual last night, Lucy."

The celestial mage winced at the honesty of that statement. She had known she was eating a bit more than usual, but after skipping breakfast that morning and only eating a light lunch on their trek through the woods, she had been starving by the time dinner had come around. "You're right, maybe that's just it. Still, the thought of food doesn't even remotely sound appealing at the moment. I'll just eat something small later."

"Lucy, are you sure you're fine?"

She just smiled at the red head with a nod before she pulled out Virgo's key. "Of course. I feel fine now. You guys just enjoy your breakfast, Virgo and I will start tearing down camp."

"Lucy…"

"I insist Erza. This way we can get out of here, hit those wyverns and head back to Magnolia. I really don't want to camp again."

Hearing the chuckling of her favorite pervert, Lucy turned her gaze to him as he finished off the last of his coffee. "You just don't like not being able to wake up next to Gajeel in the mornings and getting laid."

Her cheeks flamed at his words, and while he was partially right, she did miss Gajeel and hate to be away from him; but it was not the entire reason. As much as she loved Erza and loved spending time with her, the woman was a horrible sleeping partner. Whether they were sharing a bed or a tent, the woman was all over the place. She had honestly woken up one morning with the woman's arms wrapped around her waist and her head rested on her breasts; and despite her normal behavior, Lucy was proud of herself for not completely freaking out over the incident. Instead she had slowly and discreetly woken the woman up by moving a little herself, enough to make it believable that she was just waking up as well. That reason along with how completely uncomfortable she was finding it to sleep on the ground recently, to the point that she was losing sleep. "Gray if you're finished with your breakfast you can help me pack up camp." The ice mage lowered his head in a defeated pout before he stood and made his way to his and Natsu's tent to start tearing it down.

Upon nearing the nest the wyverns were said to be, Erza turned to Lucy with a frown. After her little episode that morning, Lucy had been upbeat and full of energy, despite her not having any food, though she had managed to eat an apple shortly after they had left camp. But the knight was not going to take any chances with the blonde's safety. "Lucy, I know you're more than capable of taking care of one of these yourself, after all you are the only other S-Class mage here…"

"Hey no fair! Luce only won because she had Gajeel with her."

The blonde turned an icy glare to her best friend before she kicked her leg up and shoved it in the center of his chest, sending him flying into a nearby tree before stalking over to him as he tried to regain his senses. "You listen here Natsu Dragneel, what Gajeel and I have is a partnership…on and off of the battle field. One of us is not the cause of any single thing, we do things together."

Natsu looked up to Lucy with wide eyes as he listened to her. "But you're my partner Luce…"

The blonde's face softened as she looked down at the simple minded dragon slayer. She absolutely loved her best friend, but sometimes she wondered how in the world he had made it in life this far or if he really was as dense as what he came across as, or was it all just an act? "I am your partner Natsu, but Gajeel is my mate, that is a partnership as well. It's just a different type of partnership." Her face hardened again as she watched his reactions to her and the events of their S-Class trials replayed through her head.

Only having three S-Class wizards test them, due to the Master not wanting to leave the guild alone again, he had requested S-Class wizards from other guilds to help with their testing. So along with Laxus, Erza, and Mira, the group of six teams also had to compete against each other if encountered, Jura, and the twin dragon slayer, Sting and Rogue. "Gajeel may have helped me achieve my S-Class status, but at the same time I helped him. We fought against Cana and Levy and Sting and Rogue, Natsu. We took down Cana and Levy together and I took Sting down alone while Gajeel handled Rogue. I didn't sit back and let him take care of everything."

"Weren't you supposed to be in pain during those fights though?"

Giving the ice mage a small shrug while her face was red in embarrassment, Lucy looked at Natsu before turning back to Gray. "I was a little sore, but it was nothing that I couldn't handle."

"Regardless, Lucy I want you to team up with Gray to take one of the wyverns. I know you say you feel fine, but after this morning I want you to take it easy." She turned her attention to the raven haired man, her eyes hard as she looked at him. "You will team up with Lucy to take out the largest wyvern while Natsu and I will take out the other two."

"But I wanted to team up with Luce."

The blonde just rolled her eyes before she looked pointedly at the pouting man who was just complaining about her being S-Class status before him. "Natsu you get to take down a wyvern all on your own."

"I guess." The fire wizard continued pouting as he turned to follow Erza toward the nest of wyverns that had been harassing the small village to the south. But as soon as the cry of the first beast reached his ears, the man was fired up and ready to go as he rushed ahead to confront the beast.

Pulling two keys out with one and hand grabbing her whip in another, Lucy called out both Taurus and Scorpio as Gray sent several of his ice lances toward the largest beast coming toward them. With a smile, Lucy instructed her two spirits to combine their attacks, allowing Taurus to use the whirlwind of Scorpio's sand as he swung his large axe, sending it barreling toward the dragon-like creature.

The beast faltered in its pursuit toward them as the ice mixed with the swirling sand as sharp as Taurus' axe whipped against it before righting itself and heading straight for Lucy. Quickly dodging out of the way, she activated her celestial whip, extending the watery-like ribbon around the beast's foot. The wyvern drug her a few feet with it before Gray had been able to assist her and together they were able to pull hard enough to bring the beast crashing to the ground.

Stepping away from the blonde, Gray made a cannon from his ice and aimed it at the enraged animal as it turned to face them with a snarl. As the cannon fired, Lucy ordered her spirits to attack again, this time she stood with them, flinging her Fleuve d'etoiles, enhancing their already powerful attack. After defeating the beast, Lucy sat back with Gray, a smile on their face before they both jumped up at the roar of another beast and realized that their team mates were still fighting their own battles with the two remaining wyverns.

Running toward the two, they paused when they heard Natsu's holler of satisfaction as he took down his creature before Erza had finished with hers. Only the smirk on Gray's face as he stood back watching the fire dragon slayer made them all pause. "It took you long enough, Fire Crotch. I thought for sure the way you were whining and complaining earlier you would have been the first one done."

The fire wizard stormed up to Gray with his fist aflame as his forehead collided with the ice wizard, his voice coming out in a low menacing growl. "What was that Icicle Turd? You wanna go at it here?!"

Gray shoved the man away from him as his eyes narrowed. "What the fuck did you call me, you Burning Asshole?"

"You heard me Frosty Balls, I said let's go!" Gray sent his fist flying toward the man's face before an all-out brawl started between the two men. Lucy just rolled her eyes as she looked over to Erza's fight as she made sure she was far enough away from the two most destructive men on her team. She couldn't exactly say they were the most destructive members because Erza had caused her fair share of damage to multiple towns and properties. While the woman never liked to admit I was her fault, and would often pin the blame on either Natsu or Gray, most of the time both. Claiming the two of them had distracted her or had gotten in her way.

She watched Erza's fight as she ignored the two idiots fighting behind her, making sure that the woman didn't need any help with her own fight. Though it wasn't like Erza would ever need any help from her. If the red head couldn't take down the beast on her own, then Lucy knew there wasn't much of a chance that Lucy would be able to either. As the beast fell, she watched as Erza nodded her head in approval before changing back into her normal chest plate and blue skirt. The look on her face as she realized that Gray and Natsu had started in their fighting again sent shivers down the blonde's spine.

Storming towards the two, Erza commanded their attention. "Natsu! Gray! Are you two fighting again?"

Both men paused as they looked at her, both with bloody noses and busted lips as they threw their arms around one another and shook their heads in denial, only to glare at one another as she turned away with an approving nod. All eyes turned to look behind them as another large winged creature flew straight for the group, all staring wide eyed as it made its way toward the one person who was singled out and alone from all the others. "LUCY!"

Lucy fought the scream of pain as the small village's healer placed pressure on her angry red and seeping wound before the young celestial wizard lost consciousness. The young wyvern had managed to surprise the four of them and grab Lucy at as it was flying overhead before any of them had a chance to react. Erza watched the old medicine woman work as she did her best to dig out most of the green pussy fluid from the large deep gash running from the blonde's chest to her shoulder where the beast's claws had pierced her shoulders. "The poison needs to be treated, there is nothing I can do about it here nor can I do anything about the wounds around her piercings. I suggest removing them and getting her to either Clover Memorial or Magnolia Regional Hospital for care and I suggest you make hast, otherwise she will not make it.

"That is not possible." Tears fell down Erza's face as she looked down at the peaceful looking blonde. "Those aren't piercings, she's mated to a dragon slayer. They are to signify who she belongs to if she ever came into contact with another slayer or a dragon. They can only be removed if her mate removes them and he isn't here." Erza looked up from her unconscious blonde friend lying on the bed as the old woman spoke with her. She was speechless, feeling guilty, and angry. Nodding to the woman, the knight called for Natsu and Gray, informing them of the plan to get Lucy back to Magnolia for care. "What about her wound?"

The small woman turned to look back at Natsu with a frown before glancing back down at Lucy. She believed it was sad that a woman such as the unconscious woman before her would have her unmistakable beauty marred for the rest of her life. "You must be careful in transporting her, the wound will still bleed and she will be at risk of bleeding out. Other than that, she will scar."

"Scar?!" Erza's eyes widened as she turned to look back at Lucy, knowing how much her best friend valued her looks and appearance. "But…"

"Wait, what about Wendy?"

At the dragon slayer's words, Erza's head shot up and looked to the healer hopefully. "We have a wizard at our guild who specialized in healing magic. Will that prevent any major scarring?"

Tilting her head to the side, the old woman thought before nodded at the group. "Could. If she was gotten to your healer promptly before the poison starts eating away at her tissue."

"I can handle that." Stepping forward, Gray iced his hands before he took a breath and laid them over his blonde sister's chest and shoulder." If he could freeze the majority of the wound and slower the woman's heart rate, he was hoping he could preventing the poison from spreading and the wound from being jostled too much during her transportation. He hoped that it would not only save the celestial wizard's life, but prevent her from carrying any scarring from the event for the rest of her life. He didn't believe that it would take from her beauty, and he knew that Gajeel wouldn't think so either, but Lucy wouldn't see things so clearly. She had yet to learn how to move past the strict and superficial upbringing she'd had. "Come on, we need to move. My ice isn't going to keep the poison from spreading, only slowing it."

Nodding in approval, Erza instructed Gray to carry Lucy to the small town's train station, ensuring that they make it to Magnolia within a reasonable time frame. The woman paced back and forth as she waited impatiently for the train to arrive, as much she hated to waiting without doing anything, she knew that they would be saving several hours by taking the train instead of walking like they had to arrive. As it was, they wouldn't be arriving into town until almost midnight and she knew that she'd have to send Happy and possibly Natsu to the girl's dorm to retrieve the young dragon slayer. But she was also concerned about Gajeel. Would he be at his and Lucy's home, or would he be at the guild? Would he want them to take her to the hospital first or straight to the guild? She knew that the man wasn't very trusting when it came to the blonde's safety and she was pretty sure that he trusted the little bluenette more than he did any of the doctors at the hospital. But if Wendy was on a job with Carla or Team Shadowgear then they wouldn't have much of a choice.

Looking up, the red head let out a relieved sigh as the train slowly came to a stop and she quickly grabbed their four tickets before following the boys and the cat onto the train, glaring at the train's attendant, daring him to question the partially frozen woman's unconsciousness. In the end, showing the guild mark of each of them along with Lucy's was enough for the attendant to accept them and give them a private car.

Laid out on the bench, Gray placed Lucy's head in his lap, constantly checking on the woman he considered his sister's condition. Much to the fire slayer's frustration, the ice mage had insisted that the man, along with his warm cat, stay as far away from them as they were able, preventing the ice coating Lucy's wound from melting as quickly. She was much too pale as it was and his ice wasn't doing her any favors as it chilled her skin and slowed her heartbeat, he was unsure how long this would work on her and without the means to check her vitals or the progression of the poison he wouldn't know until they managed to make their way back to the guild.

Natsu sat in the far corner of their car, curled up in a ball as he groaned in his misery and he wondered if this was how Lucy had felt that morning when she was busy throwing her guts up. All he could think about was how Gajeel was going to react to the news that his mate had been hurt while out on a job without him. Honestly, he was curious as to why the man had allowed Lucy to accompany them in the first place; and as horrible as it sounded, he could only hope that the man was not at the guild and would not find out about the situation until after Lucy had woken up and was able to calm the man down. Otherwise, Erza, Mira, and scary Lucy were the least of his concerns.

Dropping the dragon slayer on the ground outside of the train station, Erza spoke to Happy and Natsu as Gray had already began to head to the guild. Once he got her to the guild, he'd have to get the ice melted before the youngest dragon slayer arrived so she could immediately begin her treatment. "Happy, take Natsu and go get Wendy from the girl's dormitory. If anyone stops you, tell them you have my permission and that Lucy's life is on the line."

The blue cat nodded seriously as he grabbed the back of Natsu's shirt and took off toward Fairy Hills as quickly as he could. "Aye." He may tease the blonde, but most of it was because the woman had the best reactions to him. He knew that regardless of the threats she would make to him, she would never intentionally harm him and if it were someone the blonde didn't care about she would give them a serious Lucy kick through the wall. He wanted his and Natsu's partner to be okay…besides, no one made fish cakes as good as Lucy, something he would never admit to Mira.

At high speed, the dormitory came into view just as Natsu began to regain his senses. The dragon slayer's face set in a hard and determined expression as Happy dropped him to the ground and the two of them burst through the door. Without missing a beat he sniffed the air and adjusted his course to find the little dragon slayer, ignoring the cries of anger and surprise that were being shouted at him and the blue tomcat.

"Natsu!" Levy stood behind the man, her small fists planted firmly on her hips as she stared hard at him, several woman standing behind the small female. "What do you think you are doing here?"

Ignoring the girl, Natsu began banging on the door in front of him, yelling out for Wendy while Happy stood on the floor with wide eyes, tears forming as he looked up at the girl. "It's Lucy. Erza told us to come get Wendy."

The script mage's eyes widened as she looked at Natsu's serious expression, knowing something was wrong. "Natsu, don't you dare break down her door. Wendy is a dragon slayer, I know she can hear your yelling, most of the dorm can. Give her a minute."

He turned on her, causing her to take a nervous step back as he glared at her. "Lucy may not have a minute."

Just as Natsu turned to kick the door down, Wendy opened the door and rushed past the group of people after hearing Natsu speak about Lucy. Usually the little blue haired dragon slayer would go on jobs alone with just Carla, but there were times when she would tag along with other groups, mainly Team Shadowgear and Team Natsu, but she had also been known to go out on a few jobs with just Lucy and Gajeel, seeing the couple as older siblngs. As much as she loved everyone in the guild, she had bonded with Lucy, just as almost everyone else in the guild. She paused at the end of the hallway and turned to look at the elder dragon slayer. "Where?"

"Gray and Erza took her to the guild." He watched as she gave a single nod and took off again, her stern white cat following close behind with an unusual concerned expression on her face. Turning he looked back at Levy, dreading his next question. "Where is Gajeel?"

"What's happened to Lucy? Is she going to be okay?'

He walked past the girl, a much more reasonable pace as he was leaving. There was something else he needed to make sure of before he headed back to his best friend. "Wendy is on her way to her. Where is Gajeel?"

The girl blinked as Natsu avoided her first question, quickly moving to follow him, regardless of the fact that she was only wearing her loose blue plaid lounge pants and baggy white t-shirt. "He was at the guild when I left an hour ago. Said he had nothing to do at home without Lulu there."

"Good. He's probably still there."

"Natsu…" The small woman pulled the dragon slayer to a stop as he reached the front door. "…what happened?"

He paused before he looked above the girl's head, making eye contact with a couple of the others in the dorm, Laki, Kinana, and Evergreen being the ones who looked more concerned, the ones who'd had the most contact with her. "She was attacked by a poison wyvern. We need Wendy to heal the wound and remove the poison."

"But she's…" The glare Natsu gave her told her that he knew Lucy's secret and that until the blonde or her mate made that secret known that she was to keep her mouth shut about it, despite how much he disagreed with them. She just nodded in understanding before she stormed out of the apartments ahead of him. "…I'm coming with you."

Gajeel's eyes lifted from his almost empty plate of metal in his darkened corner that he still occupied when Lucy wasn't with him, or when she was having her girl talk with the rest of the girls. But when the foreign scents surrounding her hit his nose, he immediately stood, knocking over his chair and spilling his plate of iron to the floor before he moved his way quickly to the door. He ignored the surprised questions of the people around him and vaguely registered the scent of the lightning slayer on his heels, but before the two of them could make it to the door, it was kicked open by the ice mage with Lucy in his arms. "What the fuck happened?!" The man took his mate from the Gray's arms and glared hard at him before he looked up and stared harshly at Erza. He noticed the ice around the wound was melting as he held her close before he growled and turned toward the back of the guild to take her to the infirmary.

He inhaled her sweet scent that was tainted with the foreign smell closely just as Gray and Erza stepped into the infirmary, the large dragon slayer standing outside the door to keep them from being interrupted. Turning on the couple, the iron slayer's eyes narrowed as he tightened his fists, trying to prevent himself from beating the shit out of the man. "What the fuck happened?! She shouldn't have even been doing anything!"

"Lucy!"

Everyone turned to see the little blue haired healer run into the room, panting for breath as she raced to his side. "Gray, I need to know what happened. Can you remove the ice?"

"Why the fuck does she have ice on her anyway?"

Erza let out a sigh, pushing back her question of the man's statement of how Lucy shouldn't have been doing anything on their job. "Our job was fairly simple. We were tasked at taking out a nest of three wyverns, Lucy and Gray took one while Natsu and I each took one. Lucy had been sick that morning so I instructed her to work with Gray, despite her saying that she was fine."

"What the FUCK happened to Bunny?! I don't give two shits about your job right now!"

"We were distracted and a fourth wyvern came out of nowhere. Lucy was alone and it singled her out. She has deep lacerations and was poisoned."

Nodding in understanding, Wendy looked up at Gajeel as Gray finished melting the ice encasing Lucy's chest and noticed the barely controlled rage in his deep red eyes. She knew that if the man did something now, out of his anger at his mate being injured, he would hate himself for it later and knew that Lucy would be upset when she found out as well. "Gajeel, I need your help. Erza, Gray, please leave us to tend to Lucy."

"But…"

A large hand landed on the woman's shoulder as she moved to protest. Looking up, Erza saw the bright orange eyes of the largest dragon slayer. "Don't push it Titania, leave him for the time being. He'll calm down some when Lucy regains consciousness."

With a sigh of defeat, the woman nodded her head before she grabbed Gray by the elbow and led him out of the room. She could understand the man's anger, she herself was angry at herself for allowing something like this to happen. But what surprised her was Natsu coming through the guild doors with the young script mage riding on his back. As her bare feet hit the wooden guild floors, she took off toward the infirmary door, disappearing behind it before Erza had a chance to warn the girl. Though it seemed that the only ones the anger was directed to was the rest of Lucy's team. But Natsu just sat at the bar and waited for the group to finish in the infirmary, understanding written on his face.

Two hours after Wendy finished her healing, Gajeel sat in the chair next to Lucy's bed, his head lying next to her face as he ran his hand up and down her arm. The light moan he heard from her had him sitting up straight and moving to sit on the edge of her bed to brush the hair out of her face. The feeling of heavy anxiety lifted as the beautiful honey brown eyes opened and met his red ones, a sweet smile spreading across her face as she tried to roll over toward him, only she winced in pain and her eyes widened when she remembered what had happened.

"Yeah, you have every reason to be scared Bunny. What the fuck were you thinking?! Fighting? You said that this was going to be an easy job and that you wouldn't be in any danger!"

The blonde winced at the man's anger, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes as she looked away from him. "It was just supposed to be a few wyverns, no big deal. We've taken plenty of the down before easily enough and without incident. It was just a freak accident that there was an unexpected one."

"No big deal?! Bunny you almost died! How is that no big deal? Do you know what that would mean for me?"

A sob broke from the girl's throat as she thought of the implications he had painted for her. She had known when she left that she shouldn't really be there, but she knew that it would be a while before she was allowed to go on a job again. She had just wanted one last one until she was put on temporary leave. "Gajeel I'm sorry. I-I didn't…"

Exhaling, he moved down to grab her and pulled her close. He kissed the top of her head as she leaned it on his chest and broke down in sobs. "You're fine Bunny. Everything is going to be fine."

"E-Everything?" The blonde looked up with hopeful red rimmed eyes, smiling at the implication that was made.

"Yeah Bunny, everything. But you aren't going on a job again. Not without me, you hear?" His gaze was hard as he tightened his arms around her.

After calming the blonde down, promising her that everything was going to be fine, and he wasn't letting her out of his sight ever again, Gajeel laid down on the bed next to his blonde Bunny Girl with his head resting against her stomach. She was exhausted and had just fought death. Despite Gray's ice encasing Lucy's heart and slowing the venom in her system, it had still taken Wendy a solid forty-five minutes before she had been able to completely heal the blonde. Yet she was still stuck with a very fine scar that she was assured would eventually fade with some time.

He looked up as the door slowly opened and Erza stuck her head in, a frown showing as she lowered her gaze. The position the two were in was much more intimate than she had been expecting, yet it wasn't really provocative. "Gajeel…"

"Bunny didn't tell you, did she?"

"What?" Erza just stared at the woman before he nodded his head toward the door. "Go get the Stripper and the Salamander if they're still here. I'm sure Natsu knows, but you all need to hear this anyway. Damn it Titania, just go get them." He snorted at the disgruntled look of annoyance on the woman, not used to being ordered around. But he'd be damned, when it came to the safety of those he loved he'd boss and order anyone around if it meant their safety.

Waiting fifteen minutes before the woman returned with the rest of her team, Gajeel finally removed himself from against the sleeping woman and looked at each of them. "I'm pretty sure that if Bunny had told you all this then you wouldn't have allowed her to go on that job."

"Yes, I am curious as to why you believe that Lucy shouldn't have been doing anything." Erza crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the dragon slayer, who in turn just ignored her famous icy glare. "She is more than capable of protecting herself and taking care of any wyvern."

"You don't think I know that? I've fought beside Lucy, I've trained with her as well. I know exactly what she is capable of. It's not that she can't handle herself or that she is unable to take out a beast. It's just too dangerous right now!" He watched as Natsu moved to the corner of the room, and took a seat in the far chair, waiting for the explosion to happen; because without Lucy being awake, it most definitely would.

Erza took a step forward, her hands clenched in fists. "That's the same thing!"

"Erza…"

All eyes moved to the blonde, taking in her remorseful honey brown eyes. "Gajeel is right. I shouldn't have been out there right now and I'm sorry I was in the way."

Shaking her head, Erza's eyes softened as she met the blonde's. "Lucy, you weren't in the way. It was just an accident. It could have happened to any of us."

"Yes. It could have, but in my condition I am a liability."

Gray's eyes widened as everything clicked with him before he turned his eyes to the salmon haired man in the corner of the room. "You knew about his and you allowed it to happen!"

The man just crossed his arms over his chest before rolling his eyes. "It's not my place. He's Luce's mate, not me. How was I supposed to know that he wasn't completely clear on the job details?"

"Will someone please explain what is going on? What condition Lucy?" Her eyes moved between Natsu and Gray as she narrowed her eyes at the two of them. "…and what did you know about beforehand?"

"Bunny's pregnant."

"WHAT?!" Erza just stared at the two of them, watching as Lucy slowly moved to sit in Gajeel's lap. Casually blocking her from being able to strike him without going through her. The man just chuckled at her actions before he kissed the back of her neck and wrapped his arms around her, his large hands splayed across her still flat stomach. "How did this happen?"

Lucy raised her brow as a lopsided smile lifted the corner of her mouth. "Erza, do you really need details? To the best of my knowledge, it happened…"

"Stop!" Both women blushed at the thought of Lucy continuing.

The iron dragon slayer rolled his eyes as he pulled Lucy's back flush against his. "It happened on the night of the S-Class trials, when I marked her. It's apparently why I marked her twice and why she wasn't in extreme pain."

"B-But you aren't married?"

Natsu stood and moved to the door of the infirmary, bored with the conversation. Yeah, he knew what the mating and marking was, but he really didn't want to hear about his best friend and the iron dragon slayer that was holding her doing either. The thought made him a little nauseous. "Actually they are Erza. They're a fully mated pair, which is the same for dragons."

"But…"

A weak smile spread across Lucy's face as she placed her hands on Gajeel's covering her stomach. "Congratulations Erza, you're going to be an aunt."

All four wizards looked toward the door as they heard a loud crash, only to see Mira standing there with a scary smile on her face, the tray holding the food for the couple laying on the floor. "Oh my! Little blonde haired red eyed babies!" Throwing her hands in the air, the demon rand back down to the main hall, screaming about t the possible appearance of Lucy and Gajeel's children.

With sigh, Lucy looked at the man behind her with a frown. "Well, so much for telling the guild on our own."