A/N - Please do not do what is described in this story to animals. I looked it up, it cannot and should not be done. Merely decided to go with the concept that it is a story based on an anime and it could happen there.

But, I repeat, do not do what happens in this story...except the end portion between Natsu and Lucy, you can do that with whom you feel comfortable with.

A Mouse of a Problem

By Genavere

"Dead." Happy looked down, his back to Lucy.

From her position, she slowly slid down onto the table chair. Tears stained her face and her fingers turned white from the pressure of holding the chair. "A-are you certain? What if he's not?"

"I know what I'm talking about, Lushee!" He stomped his little paw on the floor and turned to give her a look of indignation. "I am a cat!"

"You're an Exceed! It's different, and I don't care what Gajeel says!"

"Look!" He found a random stick and began poking the presumed dead body of their subject.

"Don't poke it!"

"But it's dead!"

"Then take it outside or something, you damn cat!"

He crossed his arms and lifted his nose in the air. "I'm an Exceed!"

"Happy!" She cried, in near hysterics. "Please…I will get you…five fresh fish from the market tomorrow!"

"Ten!"

"Fine! Ten! Just…get it out of here, please!"

"All right, all right," he giggled. "Geez, Lucy, I never thought you'd be afraid of a dead mouse." Taking the small creature by the tail, he stopped before lifting it entirely. An evil look spread across his face.

Stick in hand, he quickly tied the mouse's tail to it and flew over to Lucy. "Oh no, Lucy! Better run!"

The scream that left her echoed through the house and she flew off the chair. Running around the table, a different chair became her soddy bearer between her and the mouse. "Happy! Stop!" More tears flowed down her cheeks, and he might have felt guilty, but it seemed silly to him that she could be scared of a mouse.

With it hanging between them, he chased her around the table until he managed to corner her. The mouse swung between them. Her wide eyes on it as she sobbed and tried to climb the wall. "I won't get you any fish, you damn cat! Ever! Again!"

"Are you sure you wanna say things like that to me, Lushee?"

"Squeak!"

They both paused. Breath caught in her throat, Lucy looked at the rodent at the same time Happy did and watched it squirm and squeak on its own. It moved. And made noise. The impossible happened and her eyes grew wider. Another scream ripped from her lips and Happy cried out dropping it to the floor.

"It came back alive," he flew up into the rafters and hid.

In a blink, Lucy had somehow flown from the corner to back on the kitchen table where she had been before Happy announced the premature death of the mouse. Kneeling against the rough surface, she squealed as it ran along the kitchen floor with the stick bouncing behind it.

A clamor in the living room shook the whole house. Three pairs of eyes looked in the direction of the ruckus as a shouting voice grew closer. "Lucy!"

"Natsu!"

Coming through the archway, onyx eyes took in everything from Happy hiding in the rafters, his pregnant wife cowering on the kitchen table, and a tiny creature looking like it needed help. Frowning, he picked up the trembling mouse, mindful of the stick hanging from its tail, and looked at Lucy. "What's goin' on? I heard you screamin'!"

Concern filled him when he saw Lucy's face grow paler and he stepped toward her. "Lu—"

"STAY BACK!" Her hands were held out in front of her, head shaking negatively. "Don't bring it any closer!"

"Lushee is scared of mice," Happy said from the rafters, still not willing to come down. "And it was dead!"

Natsu frowned, looking at the mouse as it looked at him. "What? Scared of this?" He held it out further and watched her nearly fall off the table in her scramble to get further away. If this had been any other time, he would have been more than thrilled to chase her around the house with the small creature. But with her so terrified and the visible bump of her stomach reminding him of their precious cargo, he pulled his hands back towards himself.

"Hang on, don't move," he said. Turning, he left the kitchen and made his way out of the house with his small cargo. Untying the stick from the mouse's tail and giving it a toss somewhere over his shoulder, he sat the creature down on the ground by the thicker trees around their home. "Run off, little guy. Can't have you upsetting Lucy. I have enough Lucy Kicks built up for when she's able to again."

He gave it a wave and headed back inside. A sigh left him, glad that the scream he heard earlier had not been something more serious. The thoughts that had filled his head in such a short period of time rushing up the last bit to their home were enough to ensure a life-time of nightmare fuel.

In the kitchen, he gave a nod to Lucy as she pointed to the sink for him to wash his hands. A thick lather of suds coated his hands as he pushed them under the heated water to rinse off after the mandatory run through of the alphabet in his head. Since getting pregnant, Lucy had become afraid of germs way more than he had expected. Though, after coming down with a rare lung infection from a sick guild member and nearly losing their child so soon after learning of them, he could not blame her.

Flames ignited over his hands and evaporated the water instantly on his way to the table. The flames died out as his hands cupped her face gently and his thumbs wiped the tears there. Before he could say anything, she fell against him and sobbed into his chest. Her arms wrapped around him tightly.

"Hey," his arms wrapped around her and one of his hands rubbed over her back, his other tangled in her hair and held her head against him. "It's okay, Luce. I'm here."

"S-sorry…" Her voice muffled against his chest. "When I saw it, I just…"

He hushed her, picking her up gently from the table and carried her out to the couch. With her settled across his lap, his hands rubbed her thighs and back, kissed her forehead, and rocked her back and forth. "C'mon Luce, you cried yesterday when Elfman called you a man. If you didn't to a mouse, I'd be surprised."

A couple deep gasps of air hinted to her tears calming down. The first time she had burst into tears at a scene she read in a book, he had freaked out and spent more time trying to figure out what to do than actually comforting her. They both chuckled about it later on. If only they had realized what the next few months would be like for them.

"I burst into tears when you kissed me yesterday!" She pushed herself up from him and wiped at her face in frustration. "And when Mira surprised me with a fruit smoothie last week." Outbursts of anger were also common, which made him very happy when she could no longer lift her leg high enough to kick his face. Lately, in his defense, he had not been the ire of her wrath for the last couple months.

Kissing her head, he placed a hand on her bump and rubbed it gently. "And all of this will be worth it. We'll have our own Nashi, and I can teach her how to fight and use fire! It'll be awesome!"

Pressing their foreheads together, a grin spread across his lips and she could not help but giggle with him. "I'm glad you are excited about this."

"Hell yeah! Just another adventure for us to share together."

She smiled, closing her eyes. "Yeah, cause we'll be together forever."

"Couldn't have said it better myself."

A/N - This is my reaction to mice without any of the hormonals imbalances of being pregnant. I cannot stand mice, and if they get in the house, my stress levels are thru the roof!

My husband never can understand why I cannot pick up a dead mouse, even with a bag. I just have this irrational fear that it will pop back up alive and jump in my face. It happened when I was younger, and I just assume they will all do it again. Even if they are like completely without a doubt gone. Can. NOT. Do. It.

Nope! Nope! I will face an angry spider before I do a mouse!