Haunted

"No."

"But Gajeel…"

The man turned to look at his five month pregnant mate as she begged him to let her take this job. It seemed that small town just north of the Phoenix Mountains were having trouble with a haunting in their woods to the south. They'd had several wizards and teams out to investigate and none of them had been able to do anything, Fairy Tail's own Thunder God Tribe had gone, hoping that Bicklsow's rare seith magic would be able to put whatever soul it was to rest. Which is how the job request was now in Lucy's possession.

Bicklsow had told them that whatever was haunting the woods in that area was not remnants of a human and there was no human soul, lost or otherwise, that he could deal with. He had openly admitted that the job was beyond his control and specialty. Regardless, the group had not been hindered and had taken it upon themselves to destroy the creature that had been terrorizing the town for what had felt like months. To that point, they had been the first group to actually see the beast and it was like no ghost they had ever seen. Easily twice the size of an adult wyvern with bright eyes shining as if they were glowing yellow in the pitch black forest. Its scales were as black as the night and its wings would knock the trees down around it when they would spread out wide. But the group had been able to defeat it, heading back to the town where they were told to wait a day to make sure of its assured death. True to the town's words, the beast was back the next night and angrier than it had been before. But something about it had struck the lightning slayer as odd with the way it would manifest and disappear at random, leaving the town to believe it was a haunting.

"Bunny you're pregnant. What the hell do think you can do that Sparky and his team can't?" The anger that shinned in her eyes made the dragon slayer swallow his words before he stepped up to her and turned off the stove where she had been cooking breakfast and cup his hands around her face before moving them down to the back of her neck and into her hairline and pressing his head to hers. "I promise, as soon as the brat is born and you are cleared by both Wendy and the old hag, we will go on a job if you still want to."

His hand moved to the very obvious swell in her stomach as he smiled, marveling at how a new life was growing inside the woman he loved, a life that he had helped to create with her. He didn't even have his child here with him in his hands and he could not understand why parents would abandon their children like his birth parents had done to him, or how Lucy's father had been willing to sell her into marriage. This was his, this woman, this child, and this life, he wasn't giving any of it up for any reason and if he had to he would tie the woman to the bed for the rest of her pregnancy just to keep the two of them safe.

Angered, Lucy pushed his hand away from her and moved out of his grasp. "You don't think I know I'm pregnant? Look at me! I can't fit into any of my clothes, I feel like I eat like a fucking pig, and then I'm forced to sit around either here or the guild on my ass all day and do nothing but possibly help Mira while you, Lily, my team, and everyone else are allowed to go out on jobs whenever you want!"

With a sigh Gajeel lowered his head, unsure what to do when Lucy got like this. He couldn't be harsh with her or she would either snap and do something drastic, like take off on the job alone, or she'd burst out in tears, which he'd learned quickly that he couldn't handle very well. Lifting his head with a frustrated sigh, he brought his hand to his brow, hoping to relieve some of the tension that was beginning to build there. "Okay, what can you do about this job Lucy?"

The woman blinked in surprise, both in the fact that he was talking this through with her instead of cuffing her to the bed and leaving her there for the remaining four months of her pregnancy and that had used her name, which meant that he was getting pretty damn frustrated with her. She smiled as she walked toward him and wrapped her arms around his waist as she laid her head on his chest, smiling as his arms hesitantly wrapped around her. "Laxus and I think this is a spirit."

"Well obviously, the place is haunted."

Pulling back, the blonde just rolled her eyes as she lightly smacked the man's chest. "No…a celestial spirit. He said the fading out it did reminded him of when I call out Plue." The blonde pulled out her keys and summoned the little shivering snowman, a puff of white with what looked like tiny stars appeared on the counter where they little spirit was now standing. The little dog reached out and hugged Lucy's waist as if it were trying to hug the child as well. "See, it's a very distinctive sight and limited to celestial spirits alone."

The gruff dragon slayer chuckled as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter next to the little shaking spirit. "Then send it to Yukino."

Shrugging, the blonde grabbed the dog before she moved to sit in the chair at the table. She was thrilled about the opportunity to get out of the house and town. Since the fiasco with the wyvern, Gajeel hadn't let her out of his sight unless it was to complete a job with Lily and sometimes Wendy, in which case he left strict orders with Mira and Laxus to make sure she didn't run off on anymore adventures without him. And to her great disappointment, Erza had agreed as well, putting all of their girl's weekends on hold until after the baby was born. But at the same time she knew that she didn't need to be going on any job that was even remotely dangerous. Not only could she not move as quickly as she used to, but any injury she took there was also a chance that the child would get her too, she had been lucky that first time. "They tried sending it to her first, but Yukino is out of the country on a job for Sabertooth. It's just me right now and you can't expect those people to deal with that until she gets back."

Pulling a spoon out of the drawer, Gajeel stuck it in his mouth and took a bite of it. Something that Lucy would definitely yell at him for on most days, but he was stressed and they both knew it. So she watched him, waiting for him to make a decision as she could see the gears in his head turning. "I can expect them to wait until Tiger Girl gets back. They aren't my concern Bunny, you are."

She stood with a creased brow, unable to figure out how he could be leaving these people to such a fate. "Gajeel, you've seen how destructive my spirits can be if not managed properly. Imagine if it were our town and we had no way of fighting it and the one person who could wouldn't come."

Turning around to face the sink, Gajeel braced his hands on the edge and let out disgruntled groan. "Damn it Bunny!" The man let out a huff of breath before he looked at her over his shoulder. "Fine. We're taking Lily with us."

Giving him an excited squeal of delight, the woman hopped up and down in place – looking very much like a bunny – before she threw her arms around him. "Thank you." Growling as he felt her chest press against his back, the turned to look at her hungrily before his lips met hers and he picked her up and carried her up the stairs as his hands slid under her bare thighs and moved to cup her ass under his large t-shirt. "But Gajeel, breakfast…"

"Mmm…I've got my breakfast right here, Bunny."

Lucy smiled as she sat down in her usual seat at the bar, watching the barmaid as she smiled as filled the breakfast orders for her fellow guild members. If this were any other day, Lucy would slip back into the kitchen and start helping the barmaid before she realized it and scolded her for doing too much. Sometimes she swore that Mira was worse than Gajeel when it came to what all she could do, telling her that if she pushed herself too hard that her little god babies could suffer for it, regardless of how many times Lucy had told her that she wasn't carrying twins. But this wasn't just any other day, Gajeel had gone up to the master's office to speak with him about this job, telling him where they were going and what Laxus had told her the night before. Then the plan was to leave on the first train out of Magnolia, before everyone could scream and yell at them for taking a job so far along in her pregnancy. "Mira, can I have a smoothie?"

"Of course Lucy, strawberry?" The woman turned to look at her favorite female blonde guild mate with a smile, assuming she wanted her regular, with extra strawberries.

Pursing her lips, Lucy shook her head as she thought for a moment, trying to decide what sounded good to her. Her eyes widening she looked at Mira, "No, peach…with blueberries."

The demon looked at her with a raised brow, curious of the blonde's sudden change. The celestial wizard had been getting the same smoothie every morning since she joined Fairy Tail. "Are you sure?"

She gave a timid nod, realizing that her request was a bit odd for her, but at the moment, that was what she was wanting. She watched as the older woman smiled at her before she started bringing out ingredients. "So is Gajeel going out on a job today? That's the only time you're here this early."

Nodding the blonde smiled brightly, excited to actually get to go with him this time. She may not show it to everyone, but when the iron dragon slayer left without her, she did nothing but constantly worry about him. "Yeah, he's up talking to the master about it now."

Mira creased her brow with a frown as she sat the blender to go before she turned back to Lucy. "But he could have just come to me like always and I could have logged it out for him." Smiling at the white haired take over wizard, Lucy just shrugged casually, she wasn't so stupid to tell the woman that yes Gajeel was going on a potentially dangerous job and he was taking her with him.

"Better get it to go, we need to get moving."

The sound of his voice caused her to squeak in surprise as he snuck up behind her, laughing as she turned and swatted at him before calling out. "Mira, can I get that to go please?"

The blonde smiled as Gajeel laid the jewels needed for the smoothie on the bar as Mira sat the plastic cup loaded with whipped topping before the blonde. "So what are you two doing this early to need a smoothie to go?"

With a shrug Lucy hopped up and started to the door, allowing Gajeel to be the one to break the news to the demon that her favorite pregnant woman was leaving on a job that could very well be dangerous. Yet instead the slayer lifted her up bridal style and took off toward the train station, only to hear Mira yelling at them in the distance as she realized what was going on. That was not a demon either of them wanted to face at the moment. They'd deal with her when they returned safely, to assure her that her little god baby was going to be okay.

But Lucy did feel a little bad, her team had left on a job with Wendy about a month prior and was due back within the next week and she wouldn't be there to welcome them home like she usually was. She was also due for a check-up when the group returned that she would have to miss, sure Porlyusica could take care of it for her, but in all honesty, the old pink haired lady scared the shit out of Lucy. "Hey Gajeel, where's Lily? I thought he was coming with us?"

The man stopped as the station came into sight and set the woman on her feet casually as she sipped at her smoothie. She couldn't tell you how glad she was that she no longer got sick in the mornings and was able to actually eat breakfast. Her eyes looked up to Gajeel as he smiled down at her. "Pantherlily is already in the station waiting for us."

"Oh…" She paused momentarily as she looked at the man of her dreams. Dressed in his long trench coat and a pair of khaki pants with his iron rimmed boots and green bandana, she found him just about irresistible. "So you're saying that we didn't need to go by the guild? You could have just called the master on the lacrima."

"Geehee…you wanted a smoothie, I definitely can't make you one of those." Gajeel just smiled as his blonde bunny bounced up to him and threw her arms around his neck before she kissed him. "Come on Bunny, we're going to miss our train; and I'm not staying in town any longer and taking the chance of the demon catching up to us."

Lucy spent two miserable weeks on the train with Gajeel and Lily, all the while thinking that their roles should be reversed. She should be the one taking care of him while he fought to keep his food down, he should be the one who had his head resting in her lap while she ran her fingers through his hair. Though he wasn't humming like she did with him. But the motion sickness pills that Wendy had given each of the dragon slayers wouldn't work on her and she had no idea why she would be the one feeling ill, that was until Lily had made a very astute observation. "It seems as if your child has taken after Gajeel's dislike of transportation."

Eyes widening in shock, Lucy looked down at her stomach bulge with a frown before whispering words to her little adorable parasite. Right now, that's what she felt like he or she was, sucking the life out of her while she struggled to keep any food down, yet making her hungry at the same time. Her large honey brown eyes looked up to Gajeel as she groaned again. "Are we almost there?"

Gajeel felt sorry for her, he knew the feeling and he couldn't imagine being pregnant was helping her feel any better. Running his fingers through her loose hair while trying to get her to relax some, Gajeel looked out the window. "Yeah. We should be there within the hour Bunny."

"Ugh…so long?"

"You're the mages Fairy Tail sent? But…" The round man stared at Lucy long enough that she visibly shifted in place from her nervousness. The man was staring at her like she was just a common whore, a girl who had just gone out and gotten herself knocked up by some random man on the street. Then his eyes racked over her body, settling on her voluptuous chest. The growl from Gajeel brought all eyes to him as he stood in front of his mate, protecting her from the lustful gaze of the man before them. He found that he was rather offended by the man's actions, so obviously stripping her with his eyes while he stood next to her and while she was carrying his child no less.

The man's eyes widened as he noticed the hostility directed toward him from the angry dragon slayer. His eyes briefly flicked over to the blonde who was now being hidden behind him before returning his gaze to those eerie crimson eyes. "…But she'd pregnant."

"Yeah, and it's mine. We're here to accept your job, take it or leave it. But she's the only one in the country at the moment that can handle it. So it's your choice, keep your eyes and comments to yourself and we take care of your angry spirit or we leave and you can wait another six months until the girl from Sabertooth can make her way down here."

The man nodded his head in agreement before he looked at the beautiful blonde in concern before he put on his business mask and began to address them as he would and had any other mages that had shown up to take care of their problem that was now being deemed a celestial spirit. It seemed that every time a wizard from one specialty would come out, they would claim that it was something else and there was nothing they could do about it, suggesting that he try and call a wizard with the next rare magic out. "Very well, but I must warn you, this beast is very dangerous. We will not take responsibility of any injury that may occur."

"She don't need your protection or responsibility. She's a Fairy Tail wizard, pregnant or not, she can take care of herself." Snatching the details from the butler that had arrived, Gajeel grabbed Lucy's wrist and began pulling her out of the manor.

Lucy smiled at Gajeel's behavior as she walked behind him, carrying Lily in her arms as they walked through the hotel lobby and to their pre-arranged room. Inside was a large queen size bed and a sofa off to the side of the room, the bathroom was large and held a large tub off to the side along with a full size shower next to it. "Get some sleep Bunny, after that train ride you look like you need it. We'll go over the information when you get up and we'll start our search tonight."

Gajeel watched Lucy as she slept before he picked up the file of information that all the wizards before them had collected. Surprisingly there wasn't that much, Laxus and his team collecting more than any of the others. But going through it he had to agree with what Lucy had been saying. Whichever spirit this was it was causing too much damage to allow it to keep going until Yukino got back. Now they just needed to figure out which it was, why it was creating chaos, and how to stop it.

He couldn't help but worry about the sleeping blonde and smiled as he noticed Pantherlily curled up against her swollen abdomen dozing with her. He knew that she would do whatever needed to be done in order to protect their child, including leaving him alone in the middle of a fight, they had already discussed that possibility. As much as he hated the thought of it, he needed her safe and if it weren't for his weakness toward her and her damn bleeding heart then he would have her safe at home in Magnolia. With a sigh he dropped the files that weren't really giving him any information and moved to take a shower before he woke Lucy up. Regardless of the lack of information, she'd want to read over everything at least two or three times before she called out her cross spirit and asked it questions about who this rogue spirit would be, though that really wasn't a bad idea. Who would know the signature of a spirit better than another spirit? He'd definitely mention that to her.

"Bunny…come on Lucy, wake up. We need to go eat dinner and discuss this job before we head out to the woods to find his out of control spirit of yours." Getting the blonde up when she wasn't ready was becoming a harder challenge the further she got along in her pregnancy, another reason he liked to stay home so he could just let her sleep.

Sitting at the table in the hotel's restaurant, Lucy looked through the files the Gajeel had already gone through with her brow creased. She saw nothing in there that could even remotely help them with who it was and there was nothing in there for Crux to be able to figure it out either. Lifting her spoon out of her soup bowl, Lucy stuck it in her mouth before she realized there was nothing on it. A smile pulled at his mouth as he watched her put the empty spoon back in her mouth after looking at it curiously. "Bunny…what're you doing?"

"Hmm?" The blonde pulled the spoon out of her mouth as she looked up to the dragon slayer watching her and glanced at the three empty plates in front of him. If there was one thing that made her feel better about eating so much during her pregnancy was that the father of her child was a dragon slayer and ate almost as much as Natsu.

"The spoon Bunny, there's nothing on the spoon."

She looked down at the spoon again, debating on setting it down before she just shrugged and put it back in her mouth. There was something about the taste of the metal that she wanted. She knew she couldn't eat it like Gajeel did, but that sharp tangy metallic taste seemed to be settling all of her cravings at the moment and she liked the feeling of not being hungry for once. Ignoring his chuckling, she continued rereading through the files they had gotten, hoping to find something that could help them. "Okay…" Pulling the spoon out of her mouth and looking at it wistfully, Lucy put it down and started gathering the papers as she stood to leave, waiting while Gajeel paid for their meal. "…I still don't know what spirit this is; and there isn't enough information here for me to call out Crux. It looks like we're just going to have to go in blind to find any more information. The only thing in here hinting to it being a celestial spirit is the way it disappears and reappears."

The dragon slayer pulled a small metal rod out of his pocket as they began their trek to the woods to look for this spirit and handed it to Lucy, ignoring the blush that spread across her cheeks as she took it from him. He had noticed the look of satisfaction on her face as she sucked on the spoon in the restaurant and he was determined to see it on her again and he could only surmise that if she was getting motion sick on transportation because of her pregnancy than it was possible that their child was demanding the metal as well, but he knew that Lucy couldn't ingest the metal as he could. He's have to talk with Wendy and Mira when they got back to Magnolia and see what they could do with that information.

Lucy groaned as she sat down on a fallen tree in the forest to rest her swollen feet, they had been out there for more than three hours with no sign of any spirit, ghost, or entity. As best as she or any of the others could tell, they were the only ones out in the woods. "Lucy, perhaps you should…"

The celestial wizard closed her eyes and reached for her keys as the familiar feel of magic washed over, calling for Crux to help her name the spirit. "Gajeel…" Lucy opened her eyes and pulled at her mate's coat sleeve as she whispered, trying not to draw attention to them. "…this is definitely a celestial spirit."

Gajeel nods and asks Lucy to summon Loke, requesting that the lion spirit stay with her while he and Lily investigate the spirit. Agreeing to the dragon slayer's request, Loke sits next to his irritated princess, promising her that Gajeel will be fine. "Loke, can you tell which spirit this is?" Lucy looks out toward the direction Gajeel had left, placing her hand over her stomach as the anxiety washed over her. She needed him to be okay, needed him to come back to her…to them. At this moment, she was almost wishing that she hadn't urged him to take this job with her, leaving the town to their fate.

"Princess, I have determined the name of the spirit." Both Lucy and Loke's eyes move to the cross that had appeared before them before Loke had a chance to even focus on the magical energy. "It seems this spirit is not fond of her key being in the possession of humans and had it hidden at the beginning of its creation. But it also seems as if someone has found her key, yet they do not have the ability or enough magical energy to summon her. She sees humans as unfit to wield her and the fact that this human doesn't have the magic power to summon her only reinforces her claim."

"Draco."

Lucy looked at Loke with wide eyes before she realized that Gajeel's first instinct would be to attack her. Jumping up she took off in the direction her dragon slayer had gone, hoping to find him before he found Draco. "Gajeel!" There in the distance she could hear the dragon speaking to him and could tell that she was not happy at having to address him. Her attitude reminded her a lot of Acnologia and is belief that humans were inferior, nothing more than bugs and dirt. But she knew that wouldn't deter Gajeel and Lily. "Gajeel, stop! Don't attack her!"

Running between the two of them, Lucy stood with her arms out to either side. She turned to the dragon spirit with pleading eyes, knowing the man behind her wouldn't do anything with her in front of him. "Please stop. We just want to help."

"Why?" Snorting, the dragon looked past the two humans to see a familiar face. She snorted as she watched the lion spirit walk toward them. "Leo. So this is your master?"

Lucy smiled as she shrugged, knowing her spirit friend was walking up behind her. "I have a soft spot for dragons." She turned and smiled at her own dragon in a human's body before Loke stepped up beside her. He shrugged as he placed his hands into the pockets of his suit before he looked at Lucy. Despite her being pregnant with another's child, she was still beautiful. Dressed in black jeans and a tight black t-shirt with a bright yellow star in the center of her chest, it showed off the generous swell of her stomach. Even with it being completely dark around them, it seemed the woman was exuding a light of her own from within her; and for all he knew, she was. None of them know what type of magic capacity the child within her would have, but with two strong parents, it was a given that the child would have a strong magic. "No, she's my friend and she really does want to help you Draco. You can trust her."

"Hmph. Like she helped you? Enslaving you to do her will whenever she sees fit? No thanks, I'll find my key on my own."

Loke took a step forward, standing between Lucy and the celestial dragon spirit. "Lucy isn't like that; and she did save my life. I was banished to the human world for the accidental death of my former master; I was fading after three years when I met Lucy. She summoned the spirit king and convinced him to accept me back into the celestial world, at the risk of her own life."

"You are lying. The king does not come because of the summons of a human."

There was another flash of light and Virgo stood next to Lucy, handing her a bottle of water and another stick of iron before she turned to face the dragon as well. "My princess holds ten of the twelve of us zodiacs, the most powerful spirits save for you, the king, and a few others. At the time she saved big brother Leo, she held five of us, plus three silvers, myself being one of them." Virgo turned to the blonde woman and gave a genuine smile before turning back. "She summoned all of us at once, showing her determination to save the one spirit she didn't have to even acknowledge. All of us supported her, supported Leo and the king was impressed enough by her that he allowed Leo back into the spirit world."

The dragon just snorted again after hearing Virgo's telling of Lucy saving the leader of the zodiac. The problem there was that after saving him, she had taken his key and used him as she saw fit. She saw it as a reason for her to save him and Draco wanted no part of that, she did not want to be the slave of a weak human. "No. I refuse to have my key in the hands of a human. You may be forced to obey the king in such ways, but I am not. If he does not have a key here on the human world then why should I?"

Lucy stepped up next to Loke a sad smile on her face. She could only imagine what this spirit had gone through with humans in the past. One didn't develop hatred and dislike this strong without a reason. Hatred wasn't born, it was taught, molded, and pushed on people. "It would be too dangerous for someone to hold the power of the spirit king in their hands. I can only imagine that is the reason 'stach face doesn't have a key here."

The dragon leaned her head down close to Lucy, her eyes shooting toward Gajeel as he moved to grab Lucy away from her. "Halt yourself dragon slayer, I will not harm her unless she strikes out at me. You on the other hand should not have the magic of a dragon."

Lucy's eyes widened as realization hit her. She knew why Draco had such an intense dislike of humans and she knew there wasn't a whole lot she and Gajeel could do to convince her that they weren't one of the bad ones. She was sure that before Draco had become the celestial dragon spirit she had been a real dragon, possibly alive before the dragon wars and before dragons started teaching human's their magic. "Draco, Gajeel was taken in and raised by a dragon when he was a child. To this day he still refers to that dragon as his father."

"Oi, she doesn't need to know any of that Bunny Girl!" Gajeel stood behind Lucy, ready to pull her back and away from the dragon should it make any wrong move.

"What happened to your human parents, dragon slayer?"

The man growled low in this throat and Lucy just looked over at him expectantly. She herself had never heard him speak of his human parents, only Metallicana. To him, that was his only parent. "I ain't got any. That giant metal lizard took me in and raised me after he found me abandoned, I didn't need anyone else."

"And what of your own child? Are you willing to let a dragon take that from you to raise?"

Lucy gasped as she took a step back, wrapping her hands around her abdomen. With a growl, Gajeel pulled her behind him and took a defensive stance as he activated his metal scales. "Try to take them and I will tear you to pieces. I don't care if I have to do it every damn day. My brat will learn everything they need to know from me and Lucy."

The dragon spirit nodded in understanding as she sat up, watching the two humans interact with each other. It seemed to her that the man held an incredible knowledge of her kin, and seemed to be a perfect blend of human and dragon instincts. He was much like his dragon father. Yes, Draco knew who the man's foster father was, there weren't many metal dragons. Add that with the fact that the human was crass and had a hard exterior, yet he was gentle and kind to those he cared for…just like his father.

Lucy shoved Gajeel off of her as he tried to convince her to leave and head back to the hotel with Loke while he worked something out with the dragon spirit. She saw the way the dragon was watching them and she knew it was looking for something in them. "Draco, I want to help you. Let us find those who took your key and I will return it to you. All I ask is that you quit terrorizing the area and scaring the town nearby."

Curling her tail around her, the dragon looked between the couple and tilted her head to the side. "You do not wish for the chance to have key as powerful as I? I find that hard to believe, human."

Lucy smile before she held all of her keys out for the dragon to see. "I do not make contracts with any spirit if they are unwilling to be in my service. I don't make demands and I don't force them to do anything they do not wish to do. You have my promise and a celestial wizard always keeps her promises."

The dragon snorted in disbelief. She knew the girl was naive now if she believed that. "There are many celestial wizards that have broken contracts and promises over the years, girl."

"Then they were not true celestial wizards. Did you know there are only two of us left on Earthland, at least as far as we know? Both of us take our promises very seriously, both inside and outside of our magic. You have my word as both a celestial wizard and a dragon slayer's mate that I will not keep you key against your will."

The dragon looked at the two of them before she lit up the area with star light to get a better look at them. There against the base woman's neck leading down past the collar of her shirt were the iron studs that her dragon slayer also sported throughout his body. She moved her gaze to the man, waiting for him to show her his mark from the woman as well. It didn't mean anything to a dragon if only one marked the other. To be a fully mated pair both had to bear the other's marks; and she just didn't see the woman as strong enough to force her magic into another's body, especially one so much stronger than her. "Well, are you going to show me yours as well? Did she mark you?"

Gajeel let out a breath of frustration as he pulled his coat off and wrapped it around Lucy's shoulders and pulled his shirt over his head, baring the two crossed golden keys against the front of his shoulder before he pulled his shirt back over his head. He knew what it meant to bear Lucy's mark, and he couldn't be prouder of it, and of her. "She holds more power than what you can see, I believe you are underestimating her, just like everyone else. Your spirit king knows her personally. Has spoken with her on more than one occasion and taken her to the spirit world to celebrate. Don't underestimate her."

"Very well. I will accept your offer and will leave the town alone. I believe those who have possession of my key are somewhere within this forest to the south, toward the base of the mountains."

Lucy was dreading getting back on the train. Once again, Gajeel had those magic little pills that Wendy had given him, yet since she was pregnant and they didn't know what would or would not affect her baby, he wouldn't give her one. But in all the two months they had been away from Fairy Tail had been fun and the job successful. Despite the horrid mayor of the town's anger at not having the beast destroyed, he was none the less happy that it would not be bothering them any longer and that the bandits that had been plaguing traveling merchants and citizens had been dealt with while trying to obtain Draco's key from them.

Draco had also had a change of heart after returning to the Spirit World and speaking with the king, learning that the famous Princess of the Celestial World was the woman she had been speaking with that night and that the spirit king did indeed hold her in high regard as her dragon slayer mate had said. After offering her key back to her, Draco declined, saying that it would be an honor to be contracted to someone not only powerful enough to summon her, but to a human who understood dragons and held the honor of both a dragon and the spirits.

"Gajeel! Where is Lucy?!"

The blonde looked up from her mate's lap as Mira's demonic voice came through his lacrimas and groaned. She really didn't want to deal with any of this right now. Rolling over, Lucy buried her face into Gajeel's stomach and groaned as she wrapped her arms around him. The man just chuckled at her reaction as he ran his hand through her hair, trying to comfort her in the few ways he knew would work. His was back against the window with one of his legs spread along the seat, while the other one hung to the ground, allowing Lucy to lay between his legs with her face pressed into his abdomen. "Pull your panties out of your ass, woman. She's fine. Apparently the baby doesn't like transportation, so she's suffering…though the…"

"Don't you dare tell them about that!" Lucy looked up and met her mate's red gaze with narrowed eyes. While she realized that the taste of the metal helped with both her cravings and her nausea, she still thought it was weird that she craved it, and really didn't want a whole lot of people knowing about it, at least not until she spoke to Wendy.

Rolling his eyes, Gajeel just looked back to the small picture of Mira on the hand held communications lacrimas. "We've found something that helps."

"When are you coming back?"

"We're on the train now, we should be back within a week and a half. The job was successful. Bunny was right, the town wasn't haunted; it was an angry celestial spirit fighting to find her stolen key. But hey…can we speak to Wendy, privately?"

"Why?! Is everything alright? Is Lucy hurting? Is the baby okay?"

Gajeel growled as Lucy chuckled against his stomach, mumbling something about telling him not to call and calling Laxus instead. "I already told you, they're both fine. Now give the fucking lacrimas to the brat!"

"Gajeel, why do you need to speak with Wendy?"

The dragon slayer laid the lacrima aside while he moved the blonde's hair out of the side of her face and smiled. "To talk to her about your new taste for metal. I know you can't ingest it, but I'm wondering if either she or the old witch can find a way to add the flavoring alone to things like your smoothies and food. The metal makes you feel better, we need to find ways to utilize it."

"Luce! Is it true that you have a dragon now?!" Natsu came running up to the duo as they walked through the guild doors to great everyone, his eyes widening as he saw his best friend. "Wow Luce, you've gotten fat."

Growling, Gajeel threw his fist into the man's face. He had a hard enough time trying to convince his Bunny that she wasn't fat and that as soon as she had their child that she would lose all of the weight. It was all baby weight anyway according to Wendy. "She's fucking pregnant you piece of fire shit!" He looked over at his blonde to see her standing at the bar with Wendy and Mira humming in delight as she quickly sucked down a smoothie that was handed to her. It seemed as if she either didn't hear Natsu or didn't care in the slightest. He could only assume the new concoction she was drinking was what he had spoken to the young dragon slayer about over the lacrima while on the train.

"Lucy, are you ready to have your checkup that you missed two months ago?"

The blonde's eyes widened before she blushed and nodded at the young bluenette. "Sorry Wendy, I didn't mean to leave and miss our appointment."

Hearing their conversation, Gajeel followed behind them, knowing that Lucy had wanted him there for all of the other appointments that she'd had with Wendy. As she reached the infirmary she paused and turned to look out in the guild only to meet his eyes as he made his way toward him, smiling as she lifted her straw back to her mouth before offering him some.

Tentatively, Gajeel took a small sip of the odd colored drink in her hand, his eyes widening as the flavor of iron and strawberries burst through his mouth. "Damn."

"They did good right?"

He just chuckled at her happiness as he gently turned her toward the door and lead her inside the office. "Yeah Bunny, they did good. Now, let's go get this checkup over with, I've got some asshole to beat to shit for insulting my Bunny."

Lucy sat at the bar with a notebook, occasionally marking through the words on the page. Biting her lip she cocked her head to the side and smiled while she circled one in particular and giggled to herself. "Lucy, what are you doing?"

Looking up, Lucy pulled her gray tinted strawberry smoothie toward her and took a drink as Erza and Levy took a seat on either side of her. "I'm going over baby names that Gajeel agreed with. Since Wendy told us we were having a girl I figured we needed to find a suitable name for her. Because as much as I love Gajeel, the metallic star he chose isn't exactly a proper name for a child. So…I think we're going to go with Sitara Maytel Redfox. That way we still get the gist of what Gajeel is wanting for her name."

"Wait, he's serious about wanting to name her that?"

Lucy giggled as she looked up at Erza and nodded. "Yeah. He said that we made her together so she should carry a part of the two of us in her name."

"Who would have thought that man could be so sweet behind closed doors?" Levy looked out toward the center of the guild where said dragon slayer was fighting with Natsu, Gray, and Elfman. Looking up briefly he shot Lucy a wink before throwing himself back into the fray.

The blonde just smiled at him and blushed before she shook her head and turned back to the solid script wizard. "No, it's not just behind closed doors, Levy. He just doesn't want anyone else to see it. Oh, I almost forgot. Draco offered to teach her celestial dragon slayer magic if she was strong enough."

Erza nodded her head in thanks to Mira as she laid a slice of strawberry cake in front of the woman. Shoving a large bite into her mouth, Erza turned to Lucy with a creased brow. "I thought you said she was against humans possessing the magic of a dragon."

Lucy creased her brow as she moved her hand down to her large stomach before she nodded at Erza. "She did…but she said that Gajeel and I…we…changed her mind. I've got to go. Gajeel…"

The dragon slayer was by her side in an instant, his eyes widening as he looked down to see the puddle of what looked like water at her feet before she clutched onto his arm and cried out in pain. The entire guild went silent as the blonde screamed. Grabbing her in his arms, he rushed her back to the infirmary where they had set up a make shift delivery room. Lucy had been adamant that she wanted to have their child in their second home as opposed to a hospital. He looked over his shoulder as he called out to Jet to go find the old bat and for someone to find Wendy.

He was terrified as he sat at Lucy's bedside holding her hand as she screamed and pushed like she was instructed, wincing as he could feel the bones in his hands rubbing against each other before he activated his metal scales. But he could still feel the strain of her strength as she squeezed and screamed. He knew this was one of the only things he could do for her right now. If she could go through the pain of both carrying and delivering their daughter, he could handle the discomfort of a few strains and fractured bones.

And there it was, the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, the crying of his daughter. A part of both him and his Bunny, with her mop of wet blonde hair and her piercing red eyes. As the small dragon slayer placed the bundle in his arms, he smiled as she reached up and grabbed his hand, bringing it up to her mouth and sucking on the metal of his finger. "She's definitely your daughter."

His eyes moved from the baby to her mother, a bright smile on her face. At this point in his life, he couldn't have been any happier. He had both the Bunny that made his dragon happy, and the baby that made his family complete. Reaching down, he kissed his Bunny's head before he set placed their daughter in her arms, chuckling as the small child cried out when the metal was taken from her.

"Sitara Maytel Redfox. Welcome home my little starry dew drop."

A/N: And that's the end of GaLu Week. I had so much fun writing these and I hope you all enjoyed just as much.