I originally uploaded this on the wrong account, sorry for the reupload!
Where's that man who'd throw blankets over my barbed wire?
…
I know my love should be celebrated. But you tolerate it.
tolerate it
Flowers see a lot of life. They see the best moments: the weddings, the birthdays. And they see the worst at funerals and as the bedside nurse of graves for the ones passed away but still loved by someone. They grow and they thrive, often through harsh conditions. Jude brought them often to his wife's grave. He even brought them into the Love and Lucky guildhall whenever there was a celebration of a valued friend. He took pride in them and, actually, they were rather pretty.
Exiting the train station a man, blonde and pale, stepped out into the busy foot traffic around Magnolia central. He stood, careful not to obstruct passersby, perusing the right way to navigate through the streets. He already knew, having planned this route over and over as to insure minimal obstructions to his day. Whatever fabric his nerves were made out of had changed in recent years, more susceptible to the frayed strands of anxiety piling in his gut and weighing it down piece by piece. He clutched a small gathering of bluebells and snowdrops tighter in his large hands. For an avid reader he was useless with his words if he was tasked with conveying large emotions. The flowers, however, were modest and he hoped they would speak for him, saying everything he'd never had the words to say to his daughter.
Over the decade and a half since he'd last seen Lucy, he'd thought occasionally of the ways he could reach out. There were so many. It was a matter of what could bridge fifteen years of no contact. Fifteen years since he'd turned up outside her building and demanded she lend him money. It hadn't been the best attempt to make amense. Go figure accosting your teenage daughter didn't make up for years of negligent parenting. But now, after five years of watching his daughter through the press coverage of her mages' guild, a letter was enough, and it had worked.
Her house wasn't too far a walk from the train station. He'd taken a route along a canal, similar to where he'd found himself last time, but then through a marketplace full of local vendors all hearty and at home on the cobbled flag market. Some had acknowledged him on his way through, but he'd politely declined each offer of a sale. He had all he needed.
The address he'd been given came to a row of terraced houses a street away from all the hubbub of the marketplace. It was a quaint but cared for place, with iron window planters that sat against the grey brick exterior, with graceful vines and arched windows that absorbed the light of the sunny day.
He collected himself, taking a minute to breathe it in. This is what his daughter had built around her. Not a Konzern or a multi-million jewel business empire. Just a quiet street.
"Mr Heartfilia?" A voice questions and he turns to see the same boy his daughter had introduced him to years ago. Except the boy is a man now.
He's taller than the 17-year-old that chased him away from bothering his daughter for money. His face is home to a small amount of dark stubble, a nice contrast to the pink mess of hair he's seemingly failed to grow out of. But, Jude appreciates, he wears more clothes now.
"Lucy wasn't expecting you until 1." Natsu speaks with no judgement but Jude's inner clock that keeps a shiny record of time keeping to every event winces. It calms a little as Natsu smiles, all teeth and welcoming.
"I was just nipping out for some last-minute supplies for lunch." He rustles the paper bag nestled in his right arm to show him. "Lucy's just inside. She usually enjoys the marketplace, but she was too anxious about your visit to come out. She's probably reorganising the living room as we speak." He chuckles, his left hand rubbing the back of his scarf-covered neck before searching into his trouser pocket for keys.
Jude concludes as Natsu is unlocking the front door that the smart shirt and slacks are just Natsu's attempt to accommodate him.
Natsu's right, the place is spotless. Jude watches as the man shakes off his boots off his feet and onto the hallway carpet just next to a rack of neatly placed shoes. Natsu pauses for a moment before placing them on the rack, but it seems like a move outside of his normal routine.
"Luce, he's here." He calls upstairs for his wife and walks through an arched opening into the kitchen. There's movement upstairs and Natsu tells him to take a seat in the living room. He obliges and goes where he's prompted.
The living room is across from the kitchen so he's still plenty in sight as he takes in the pictures on the wall. There's quite a few to take in and they're a large focal point of the room, although not overpowering to the simple wooden furniture and cotton white walls. It's naturally lit and clearly well used with books scattered on the coffee table and a mug of peach tea forgotten about. Its smell tickles his nose, and he smiles because it has Lucy's mother written all over it. Or some ghost of her.
There's a patter of light feet down the stairs and he hears a small interaction in the kitchen. It sounds domestic and not his place to intrude. The kettle boils and he turns, his eyes following the couple in the kitchen. He mentally reintroduces himself to the petite blonde woman much more mature than the teenage girl he left. She's wearing jeans and a nice shirt. He can't say he's ever seen her in trousers before and it reminds him faintly of his wife way back during their time at Love and Lucky. Her hair is tied to the side in a nice braid. It's practical and embraces the natural elegance she's grown into. Although he would think that, he smiles inwardly, he's her father, after all.
She hands down some plates to Natsu waiting at the island counter where he's prepared the bread from earlier along with a generous spread of picnic food. It's all in Tupperware and waiting next to a woven basket prepped for an afternoon outside that Jude hasn't been informed about. There's a moment where the fraying starts again as he doubts whether he's invited and a solemn feeling washes over him. Anxiety that this was a bad idea, and he should have just stayed the unconnected father. He was fine reading her life through the Sunday paper and the book she published only a few months ago.
The feeling falters when she turns around, her hands focused on the picnic basket but eyes staring up at him, almost like she's surprised he's there. Her brain hasn't caught up to his presence, or maybe it's her emotions lagging behind. Some fussing from upstairs breaks her from the spell and she walks into the living room as Natsu heads up to the source.
"Papa" She greets him, arms hugging herself and abandoning every polite practice he'd groomed into her during her teenage years. She starts rambling to the floor. "I'm glad you made it. There's some work being done on the rails between here and Acalypha, so I was worried you'd get delayed but..."
Her observations are woven with the same stresses that made him check the route here several times over the past week and several more times this morning. He knew about the railway work, but he doesn't interrupt with that.
"I brought these for you."
He sticks his arm out with the confidence his words lack. Straight out like her expects her to shake his hand but an entirely different objective. The fresh flowers he had picked from his garden are now a little drooped from the journey but still lively and in her surprise, she stares at them. Her eyebrows drop the surprise first and morph into a thoughtful look. It's as if she knows, and she does know, the flowers weren't just the only thing he could scrounge from the lack of bloom in the early spring emptiness of his garden. They say sorry. A word he's still learning to say himself. It's taken losing a fortune and dragging him from the pits of a workaholic's office to get him here and he doesn't want her to doubt his progress for a second.
Her pale hands clasp his, hugging her fingers with his as she takes them. She holds them up to her nose and a smile he's been grieving since his wife died blooms behind them.
"How's Love and Lucky?" She asks, opening the door to a conversation with him.
They're sat and have been catching up for a good ten minutes before they hear Natsu walking carefully down the stairs holding a precious cargo in his arms. He's smiling as he looks at Lucy on the opposite couch to Jude as if trying to gauge if this is a good idea or whether he should move and put the squirming toddler back upstairs.
He relaxes when Lucy pours a third cup of tea, placing it on one of the iron gilded coasters they got as a 1st wedding anniversary gift from Levy and Gajeel last October.
"This" He shuffles the toddler in his arms, "Is Nashi."
Jude takes in the small frizzy rose haired girl clutching onto her father's shoulder. She's picking at the stitching of a material she's unused to her daddy wearing and she couldn't be less interested in the reunion happening in the room around her.
A small "Oh" escapes him as he watches in awe. He catches the girl's attention, and she stares as the new stranger in the room, turning to her mum as if to say "Who's this? Who's this my house?!"
The three adults laugh at her screwed up face and Natsu sits next to his wife with their girl on his knee. He busies her with a toy he's somehow magicked –or found- underneath the sofa and Lucy grimaces at the idea of a mess she's only just found out about.
Natsu fits into the conversation more easily than Jude had originally anticipated. He's funny but careful not to overstep when he knows this is such an important day for Lucy.
"I was surprised when you reached out." She says, clasping the mug in her hands. "It's been so many years I sort of thought you'd forgotten about me or moved too far away."
Jude puzzles at this. Any world where he's not constantly worried about the wellbeing of his daughter is a strange one to him and he'd frankly bet one doesn't exist. "Your guild has some interesting coverage in the papers. There's one journalist, Jason. He does nice pieces on you."
Lucy and Natsu share a look, knowing the enthusiasm their reporter friend takes towards their relationship. He was ecstatic when Lucy and Natsu tied the knot and even more so when they announced the bun in the oven too shortly after. The man and his 2-page spread each time the couple so much as coughed could have rivalled the excitement of their guild. Their lives felt ordinary to them, so who was interested in reading these articles was a mystery.
"Did you see the pictures he published from the wedding?" Natsu asks.
It's Lucy that responds instead. Not the Heartfilia Natsu had meant. "It was rushed." She receives blinks from both men before she corrects herself with a start. "The pictures. It started to rain, and Erza was adamant the dress couldn't get wet."
Natsu chuckles, remembering how taskmaster Erza had taken charge of the wedding planning- without being asked. It had taken multiple conversations and an intervention from Natsu to convince Erza a 200-person wedding and a big poofy dress that could hide the entire magic council in its barrage of tulle was not what Lucy wanted. This wasn't a memory Jude was privy to. The pictures showed only the happiness of the day itself and not the stress-induced strike Lucy almost went on before the day. But that was another story. And they had plenty of time to share it with Jude if he wanted.
"It looked a splendid affair." Jude nods.
From her home on her father's lap Nashi babbles up, turning and twisting so both Natsu and Lucy's arms move to prevent her acrobatic ventures from causing a toddler avalanche over his knee. Natsu sweeps the wriggly worm up, moving into the hallway shoe rack where he finds his shoes a little too easily.
Lucy stands having finished her tea. "I thought we could take lunch to the park. It's only ten minutes away and Nashi loves the swings."
Lucy is accurate almost to the dot as it does take ten minutes to get to the park and Jude appreciates this newly learned fact about his daughter. The journey there backtracked them through the same flag market Jude passed through earlier. The shop lenders, now busy with the post-lunch rush take a quick second as the couple pass through to greet them, knowing the two mages and their kid by name and fondly too. Jude can only nod at the few that again acknowledge his presence, finding himself a stranger to the close-knit community formed on the cobbles.
It's an easy conversation, with Lucy and Natsu filling Jude in on their recent adventures and who's done what in the guild while Jude recounts his own dealings as a business advisor at his home merchant guild. However, Nashi is the main talker of the conversation of the short walk. She doesn't actually contribute any words resembling their language, but she does manage a few recognisable syllables every other word and Lucy and Natsu seem to understand well enough.
Jude doesn't offer much when Nashi's talking, but Lucy and Natsu keep him included regardless, translating and directing some toddler babble his way to which he tries to respond. It's a new dilemma for him having to dumb down his language for a brain not yet developed. He finds himself verbally stumbling, suddenly using big words from his time as a business magnate that a kid of Nashi's age has no interest in. She can barely pronounce 'Mama', never mind 'accoutrements'.
Nashi giggles as they approach Magnolia Park, making a break for the playground with Natsu, the older of the two almost more excited to push her on the baby swings.
Lucy and Jude hang back, maintaining the leisurely walk the Nashi-Natsu duo abandoned. It's difficult not to take in how lovely the park is and appreciate the fine weather. Soft August sun gently warms wherever it escapes through the large cherry trees that decorate the park and the canopy their green leaves create is lazy and creates plenty of gaps for light to escape through, leaving many areas of the park uncovered.
It's in these amicable surroundings that Jude evaluates his day. He'd expected a job interview. A polite cup of tea on the table. Looks from both Lucy and Natsu as if they're trying to read what sort of character is in front of them. Is he a person they want in their lives? It's a fragile business running a family. One he knows all too well.
He had wanted to give her everything. The Konzern and the unfaltering luxuries was the break from the cycle of deprivation he'd witnessed through his father. His father had been hard and cruel, unconscious to the deprivation his sons lived in or maybe just apathetic. The foundation of the Konzern Jude built was laid on the back of a young boy deviating from his family's tradition of drink and gambling, naming his magnum opus in his wife's family name. Except she'd die too soon to truly appreciate what he'd built for her and their daughter. The future he could provide for little Lucy if only Layla would stop pestering him to leave the office. The eventual outcome -his daughter running away and his decline into alcohol and bankruptcy- were only the result of his own stupid attempts to gamble risks in the business world. He'd planned out every minute of her life, from her classes to who she would marry to maintain their comfort. Meanwhile she was off making her own name.
He got none of the anticipated interview or interrogation. The park constitutional is a welcome substitute, but he can't help feeling out of place in his sharp cut camel suit. Old habits of the job die hard he jokes in his head, strolling with his hands at ease behind his back. He looks to Lucy to see if she's caught the quirk in his brow at his internal wit, but she's not paying attention, lost in her own thoughts just as he was moments ago.
"You made a lovely bride, Lucy."
He breaks her train of thought with a sledgehammer and the start she gives remembering his company almost makes the breaking sound audible.
"Sorry." He chuckles, earning an apologetic smile back. "I actually framed that Jason's article of the day. Mainly the pictures, but his words were kind too."
Her eyes crease with a flicker of amusement. "You, Jude Heartfilia, made cut outs from a magazine?" She laughs gently and he is further puzzled. "It's nothing. It's just I used to do the same as a teenager. Well, late teens."
The little reference to his strict parenting doesn't slip by him. He's sure it wasn't intentional. Lucy was never the type of little girl to hold a grudge, but it makes a little stab at his heart all the same.
He's here trying to repent for the lack of freedoms he afforded his daughter during her youth. He reminds himself of this fact and straightens his shoulders, coming to a stop where she's now stood watching her daughter and her husband play. They've abandoned the swings for the roundabout where an older child has joined them while their father looks on with a level of concern at how fast the roundabout is spinning. Nashi's delighted shrieks from the built in baby seat reach them all the way across the playground. She hasn't yet inherited Natsu's aversion to independently moving objects and Lucy isn't worried about unsettling Nashi's stomach before lunch. The infant has never needed help with feeding, that's for sure.
"Mom used to take me to the park during your business trips. I must've been to every park on the west side of Fiore."
"Before Heartfilia railways took off you would play in the flower planters outside the front door of our flat in Acalypha. You were perfectly content, although Mr Grabbles our upstairs neighbour wasn't too pleased about his carnations."
This sends them into a fit of laughter, though both maintaining a practised grace and remaining upright.
"Don't tell Natsu that, he'll have me doing all the dirty work on the next mission."
At the mention of her husband a shriek sounds from across the grass where her little girl has nestled into his arms, clutching as tears stream uncontrollably down her pale cheeks. Natsu in a quick response sweeps her up, making a beeline for Lucy and Jude.
"She wanted to see the duck pond." He explains with flustered regret. "I knew it was a bad idea since what happened last time, but she seemed to have forgotten."
"Until she saw a duck?" Lucy questions, unsurprised.
They pass the distressed infant between them, Lucy taking her on her hip. Her lips press to pink locks, shushing gently with a rhythmic bounce to her hold as her hand runs down the back of small baby cord dungarees.
"Why the ducks?" Jude questions. He's worried for a second that he's interrupting before Natsu's tense expression drops, not having intended to direct it at Jude.
"A duck stole her sandwich."
"She gave the duck her sandwich." Lucy corrects, exasperated. "What? She was waving it in front of him. You would've made the same mistake."
Natsu smiles, shaking his head and agreeing.
They find a spot under a nice shade of trees and set to work unpacking the picnic on top of a blanket. It's a summery plaid with some small imperfections of good use and Jude assumes it's Lucy's addition since they had a similar one when she was younger.
Sandwiches are unpacked and Nashi eagerly grabs at the container placed in front of her. The lid flips off, having been partially opened for the infant's ease, and it flips almost perfectly hitting Jude in the cheek.
"Oh!" Lucy exclaims, immediately apologising and tidying up the blanket.
"It's quite alright." Jude chuckles. He lifts a finger underneath Nashi's chin, tickling and chastising her for her antics. It's all in good fun and the little girl entertains him with a scrunched nose and a shaken head as if she understands him.
Lunch goes on without another mishap and Lucy takes her turn occupying Nashi's endless bouts of energy.
Nashi's started a game of tag, or some approximation of it, and her mother who regularly takes down bad guys as her day job is feigning a pathetic run to give their kid a sense of achievement. She's caught her daughter in a daring sweep to the floor and the crowds –Natsu and Jude- go wild. Before Nashi can acclimatise to the devastating takedown, her opponent is off, sprinting like a gazelle to escape her pursuer who in her uncoordinated attempt to get up has given up and traded interests for a tiny ladybird fluttering about the buttercups at her feet.
Lucy turns when a lack of pattering feet happens behind her. Her shoulders lift up and down, making the trek back to her daughter. Jude's mind wanders from the scene, hazy eyes unfocused on the mother and daughter investigating nature in front of him.
Nashi is so like the insatiable child Lucy was, although there are differences, he notes in his head. She's all freckles and mischievous. That part's definitely Lucy. But the big smile and commitment to developing her social skills comes from probably her father. He bets any room is commanded by her babble and every interaction from either parent is born out of unadulterated love.
Lucy was a much quieter child, he recalls. She preferred playing by herself or with her doll, Michelle. There was the odd tea party that had to involve her parents, but it would take some thinking to remember when the last one could have been.
Layla had only shown concern when it was him who neglected the conversation. When he stayed in his office for days on end before and after their strike of gold. Although before their big break his office had been the corner desk of the bedroom they shared with their girl, the book light he'd taped to the wood disturbing an upset baby girl with colic.
Lucy hadn't had a lot to say even before her mum died.
Or, he realises with a quick revaluation, maybe that's all she'd learnt to be around him. The agitated father with no room on his desk for a fidgety little girl.
Lucy knelt, knees carelessly making friends with the dirt as she chats with Nashi over the red and black bug crawling about the woman's fingers. Nashi's awe is unrelentless still and the smile in her mum's eyes tells she knows this. Nature is amazing, not just to the little girl.
"Nashi's developing really well." Natsu boasts from his place beside his father-in-law on the blanket. There's only a little bit of brag behind his sentiment, but it's mostly proud papa bear behind his onyx eyes that Jude is almost jealous of.
"I missed my chance with Lucy, didn't I?"
Natsu's head turns quickly at Jude's conversation shift. The older man was enjoying the day, Natsu had thought, but everything in the blonde's face was a beacon of regret. Natsu, using all the forward thinking he's gained from years as Lucy's partner, takes a minute to form his answer.
"You missed a lot."
Blunt words press into Jude's chest erupting a pained laugh.
"You did and she's grown around that. She's achieved so much with a lot of hurt to carry, and you simply weren't there to see it. But there's no such thing as making up for lost time."
The words are a lot more elegant a response than Jude had been expecting. He suspects that it's a once in a blue moon occurrence for Natsu but shakes the insult from his head. He asked for criticism, and he got it. He doesn't need the steely businessman he left behind years ago to make an unwelcome remark. "Are you suggesting I forget the past and take what I can get or is this you hinting I've overstayed my welcome?"
His son in law smiles, eyes still trained on his wife and daughter who've made home in a daisy patch and have scattered the flowers all over Lucy's lap as she works on an infant-size crown. "I'm not saying forget the past, but I wouldn't be a Fairy Tail mage if I told you to bugger off. She really needs you in her life and you clearly want to be in hers, so just stick around. Make new memories or whatever."
The ineloquence has returned, and it somehow puts Jude at ease.
"Between Lucy's agent hounding her for a new book and her OCD she needs the support. If you have the time, we'd love to see you more."
They allow silence to fall over them for a few short moments before Jude pipes up again. "Does Nashi have another Grandad I need to share her with?"
Natsu shakes his head but smiles nonetheless. There's a story there that Jude's not in the right boundaries to know yet.
He's not worried about there being a lack of family and neither, it seems, are Natsu and Lucy. Their guild, from what Jude has made out over the years of sorcerer weekly scoops, is a family in itself. And while biological family is a different wound to lose, he doesn't doubt that there is a village raising this child. With aunts and uncles and all that Lucy never had.
Later down the line Jude would relate himself to a little blue alien creature from one of Nashi's animated films. His presence in her family was little and broken, but still good... Yeah, still good.
Happy is fine, he's just not about for this one. This was originally written to Noah Khan's 'Growing Sideways'. Specifically the line 'And I'm still angry at my parents for what their parents did to them, but it's a start.' I love exploring Jude and Lucy's relationship, so I might do more on it in future. Please feel free to follow me on Tumblr: notanothertimetraveller ! Any requests or thoughts are welcome. Thank you!