At midday the following day, we found ourselves on the edge of Magnolia. We had left the place I had called home for almost five years early in the morning after leaving a note at the neighbours asking them to keep an eye on the house while I was away. I didn't plan to sell the place yet, just in case everything went wrong. I wanted a home to return to.

The walk had been long and tiring. Nashi, who had been so excited when we first told her we were going on an adventure, had quickly tired and demanded to be carried. Natsu had picked her up and plonked her on his shoulders without complaint. I had been carrying Theo the entire time anyway, as even though he could walk, there was no way he would have kept up. We hadn't brought much with us, a few changes of clothes and some precious things.

"We should dump our stuff at my place." Natsu said and lead off towards his house.

"Where's Happy?" I asked.

"With Carla of course." Natsu sniggered.

"Daddy? Who's Happy?" Nashi asked. She had started calling him 'daddy' since she woke up and Natsu had taken it in his stride with a bit of a smirk every time she said it.

"Happy is a cat. He can fly." Natsu replied.

"Cats can't fly that's silly!" Nashi laughed.

"Happy can fly." I confirmed and she turned to look at me, completely astonished. "And he's blue."

Natsu's place was cleaner than I ever remember it being, apart from that time I cleared it up. We stopped only for a few minutes before setting back out to the guild. I think Natsu knew I was nervous, because he took my hand as we walked.

"Mummy? Where are we going now?" Nashi asked. She was holding Natsu's other hand now.

"To Fairy Tail." I replied. "It's a guild for people with magic."

"It's where mages can get jobs to go and help people and Fairy Tail is the best one there is!" Natsu said. "See this? This is my guild mark so everyone knows that I am from Fairy Tail."

"Mummy has one of those!" Nashi said excitedly. "Do you have lots of friends there?"

"Yes. But you need to know something. There is a man there who will tell you his name is Gray, but it's not really. His real name is Ice Princess."

I laughed softly at Natsu, but didn't correct him.

"What does he look like?"

"Um, about my height with black hair and has kind of droopy eyes."

"Why is he a princess?"

"He just is, promise you won't get his name wrong?" Natsu said seriously.

"I promise!" Nashi said, grinning up at her father.

That was when I saw it. The Fairy Tail building. It looked no different in the bright sun.

"Mummy, what's wrong?" Nashi asked.

"Nothing." I replied, hitching a smile back onto my face, but I was nervous. I could feel my heart beating rapidly and my palms were going sweaty.

"Pass me Theo." Natsu said calmly. Gently, I pulled Theo out of the cloth I had used to tie him to my front and passed him to Natsu. The young boy woke as I did this and recognising Natsu from the day before, started giggling. "Come on Nashi!" He held out a hand to her which she took. I smiled at the sight of him; his son on one hip and his daughter standing beside him. I followed close behind them, silently grateful that Natsu had taken charge of my, no, our children. "Ready?" He asked me as we reached the big front doors. I took a deep breath.

"Yes."

The doors swung open to reveal the guild hall, just as I remembered it. Mira was serving drinks to Cana and the Master. Macao and Wakaba were arguing in a corner. Juvia was attached to Gray's arm as they chatted with Gajeel and Levy, who had a book in her lap.

But there were new things. A lot of new children. A group of toddlers were playing in a corner with Erza and Lisanna watching over them. Wendy and Romeo looked so much older than I remembered, and they seemed quite preoccupied with each other.

Then two boys, who must have been about ten years old came storming over. They both had green hair, though one was dark and the other light.

"Natsu! Fight me!"

It happened like something you'd read about in a book. Everyone fell silent, turning to look. Natsu had pulled Nashi back onto his shoulders, floored the two boys with his free hand and laughed.

"Maybe next time." He said, grinning. I almost laughed at the look of shock on Nashi's face when I realised almost everyone else was staring at me.

"Lu-chan?" Levy was standing up. "Is that you?"

And then she was hugging me and crying. A moment later Erza and Juvia and Gray and Mira and Lisanna and everyone else was hugging me; half laughing, half crying.

"Daddy, which one is the Ice Princess?" I heard Nashi's voice and everyone let go of me to look at her.

"Who you calling Ice Princess?" Gray growled.

"Oi! Don't go scaring my kid!" Natsu hissed back.

"Lucy? Who are…?" Erza started.

I took Theo back off of Natsu before he started a fight and took hold of Nashi's hand.

"These are my children." I said, smiling nervously. I could see everyone looking between my children and Natsu's hair and I knew they were putting one and one together. "This is Anastasia or Nashi as she prefers, and this is Theo."

Theo had noticed the other small children in the corner who were playing with brightly coloured blocks and I could tell he was itching to get out of my arms to go and join in.

"Is this the one you were pregnant with when you left?" Wendy's voice floated over.

"What? How did you know?" I hadn't told anyone.

"Jeesh, I could smell the change. You and Levy were both pregnant and neither of you were telling anyone. You have no idea how hard it was to keep my mouth shut!" Wendy complained.

"Mum!" A sudden angry cry came from the door. "Mum! Asuka won't give back my slingshot!"

A boy no older than Nashi came storming over to Levy; he had blue hair and looked just as Natsu had described, a smaller version of Gajeel, minus the piercings.

"And were you annoying her while she was trying to practice?"

"Only cos she was taking so long!"

"Geehee." Gajeel sniggered from the bench.

"Oh Gale." Levy sighed. "Look, I want you to meet Nashi. Could you be a good boy and show her around?" Levy looked up at me for confirmation and I nodded.

"Go on Nashi." I said encouragingly and watched as the two kids ran off.

"Bye everyone! Bye Ice Princess!" Nashi shouted over her shoulder and Gray growled again.

"I love that kid." Natsu said, grinning.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Erza said and she dragged me over to the toddler pen. I placed an agitated Theo down with the other children and once he was settled with the other kids, turned back to my friends.

The girls interrogated me for about an hour. I explained everything and it felt like a relief to get it off my chest. I had thought they would resent me, but none of them showed any sign of hostility and soon they were telling me about their own lives. How Gajeel had proposed, how Erza and Jellal finally got together, how Levy had helped Gray with his feelings for Juvia. Juvia even let me hold Tallulah, her daughter who was only a few months old.

"She's beautiful." I said. "And so quiet!" Juvia and the others laughed. "Nashi was never this quiet when she was a baby. Theo was a little better but…"

But Nashi had just run back into the guild and straight to Natsu, who had been chatting with Gray and Romeo. I looked up and watched the interaction, concerned.

"Daddy! Gale said I wasn't proper!" Nashi was whining.

"Why did he say that?"

"He said I wasn't proper because you and Mummy aren't married and because I said I could climb higher up the tree than him and then did it and then he started sulking and…" I could see tears coming to her eyes. "I am proper aren't I?"

"Of course you are. He's just jealous cos he's rubbish at climbing trees and you're awesome at it." Natsu said. I was quite surprised he wasn't threatening to beat Gale to death.

"I don't want to play with him anymore. Can I play with you?"

"Sure." Natsu grinned, picked her up and placed her on the bar. I looked away for a moment to check on Theo and when I looked back, Mira had given her some juice and Romeo was showing her all his different types of fire.

"Are you going to stay Lucy?" Erza asked, breaking me out of my revelry.

"For a bit at least." I replied honestly. "If things turn out well then…" I trailed off. Theo was playing with twin boys, who I guessed to be Rob and Simon, as they had Erza's hair. They were all talking to each other; it was the most I'd ever seen him talk, though Nashi had told me he talked a lot when I wasn't there. It was as if he knew I was worried about how much he could talk and was hiding it from me just to spite me.

We stayed in the guild until after dinner, and then headed back to Natsu's house, promising everyone we would return tomorrow. Nashi had found the pool and though she didn't know how to swim, she desperately wanted to learn. Theo had fallen asleep on the walk back in Natsu's arms and I marvelled at how easily the man had fit into our lives.

Natsu's house was great in many respects, apart from the number of beds. Natsu set Nashi into his old hammock and I made a bed for Theo out of some blankets.

I then took the remaining blankets and made two more beds for me and Natsu. Our children were asleep and the guild had accepted me back. I felt content.

Natsu raised an eye at the two beds I had made for us. He climbed into his, then tugged me over towards him.

"Natsu!" I complained, but he shushed me.

"You'll wake our family up Luce." He whispered. "Now go to sleep, we have a long day of teaching Nashi to swim tomorrow."

"Happy wasn't at the guild."

"Still with Carla I guess. He's going to be so jealous."

"Why?" I whispered.

"Because my kittens are cuter than his could ever be." Natsu replied proudly. "Now sleep Luce."

He wrapped his arms around me so that we were spooning. Smiling, I closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

The following morning, it was Happy that woke us all up.

"NATSU!" The flying blue cat shouted from somewhere above my head. "Natsu! You shrunk into a girl!"

"I'm not Natsu!" I heard Nashi reply. She was giggling. "My names Nashi! Are you Happy?"

"How do you know my name?!" Happy shrieked. I opened my eyes a fraction to see him flying in circles above me. "What happened to Natsu? Did you eat him?!"

"I'm down here Happy!" Natsu said, laughing. Happy looked down and dive bombed Natsu.

"I thought she'd eaten you! She stole your hair and everything!"

I turned over to see Happy hugging Natsu and Natsu laughing at his little buddy. I smiled reminiscently.

"Mum! Mum I can't get down!" Nashi was complaining from the hammock.

"Happy, help her out."

I watched as Happy flew over to Nashi, grabbed the back of her clothes and carried her to our makeshift bed.

"Mummy! He really can fly!" Nashi was squealing excitedly.

"I told you he could!" I said, laughing. I caught my daughter pulled her down so she was lying in between me and Natsu. "Is Theo up?"

As if on cue, Theo crawled over from his bed and started climbing all over Natsu. The toddler did not say anything, but was grinning wildly.

An overwhelming level of happiness rose inside me and tears leaked out of my eyes.

"Why are you crying?" Nashi asked, looking concerned.

"I'm just happy."

"No you're not! I'm happy!" Happy said.

Before I could take a swipe at the annoying little cat, I felt an arm around me. Natsu had taken all of us in a massive bear hug.

"Now listen up." He said as he embraced us all. "We are a family okay? That means we look after each other."

"I know Dad!" Nashi said as she tried to escape.

"It also means that we have to collectively beat Ice Princess to a pulp."

"But he's bigger than me!" Nashi whined.

"Then you need to be sneakier." Natsu replied, grinning. He loosened his grip slightly. "Right, so who wants to go swimming?"

"Me!" Nashi yelled.

We got ready and headed to Fairy Tail for breakfast. A few of the others were already there and so I joined Levy to eat. Nashi was glaring at Gale. I guessed she was still annoyed about what he has said the day before.

"Daddy?" She said after she had finished eating. "Can I leave Ice Princess to you? And pick on someone my own size?"

"Yeah, I suppose Ice Princess is probably too easy for you." Natsu agreed. "Go beat Gale to a pulp instead."

"Could you possibly refrain from teaching my daughter violence?" I said exasperatedly.

"She's making friends!" Natsu replied.

"So you admit you are friends with Gray?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

I could feel Levy's eyes on us, and turned to face her.

"So what are your plans for today?"

"Well it looks like I am going to have to clear up after Gale." Levy said, obviously amused. "Gajeel took a job early this morning, so it's my turn to watch him. We take it in turns you see."

"Does that work out okay?" I asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Theo staggering towards the pile of toys he'd been playing with yesterday. Erza hadn't arrived yet, so he had no one to play with, but that did not seem to stop him.

"Yeah, pretty well to be honest. I mean it's sad that we can't work together any more, but otherwise it's okay."

"I would be happy to watch him for a few days if you wanted time alone!" I offered earnestly, I couldn't help but feel I had to make up for my prolonged absence.

"I don't know." She said, frowning. "I've never left him for longer than a day."

"Well the offer is there."

"Mummy, I don't want us to look after him. He's rubbish." Nashi interrupted, but she continued before I could reprimand her. "Show me your magic!" She said to Levy. I sighed and looked pleadingly up at Levy, who laughed.

"Of course, pick a substance." She replied kindly.

"What's a substance?" Nashi asked.

"A thing that something is made of. Like wood, or fire, or wool or…"

"Chocolate!" Nashi picked and Levy laughed.

"Solid script Chocolate!" Levy said and waved her arm so that a small lump of chocolate in the shame of the word 'chocolate' appeared in the air in front of Nashi. I watched as my daughter's mouth drop open.

"Wow!" She grabbed the chocolate and took a bite. "And it tastes really good!"

"Only the best for my niece."

I looked round at her words.

"Really?"

"Of course!" Levy laughed. "You're my best friend!"

I got up from the table, and hugged Levy, trying to contain the tears coming to my eyes.

Other members of the guild arrived over the next hour or so. I chatted with Levy while watching Nashi going around and demanding demonstrations of magic.

"Have you started teaching her magic?" Levy asked.

"Only a little." I replied. "But I think now she's seen other types she might not want to learn Celestial Spirit magic."

"You think she'll want to be a dragon slayer?"

"I'm not sure. She seems quite smitten with Erza." I pointed to where Nashi was watching as Erza re-equipped between several different armours and other outfits. "Are you teaching Gale?"

"No, Gajeel is." Levy said. "That boy is smitten with his dad." I laughed softly. "I'm sorry about what Gale said yesterday."

"Don't be. It's not your fault."

"I did tell him off for being rude and I set him straight about what made a proper person." Levy sighed. "But he's as stubborn as his father, so I'm not sure he'll actually apologise to her face."

I laughed again and looked round to check on Theo, who was playing happily with Erza's twins again.

"Nashi!" Natsu shouted suddenly. "I thought we were going swimming?"

"I missed the guild." I mumbled as Nashi ran over to her father and they headed out to the pool.

"We missed you." Levy said. "You won't go again will you Lu-chan?"

"I don't think I could even if I wanted to."

It was true. How could I possibly split my family up like that? Drag them away from all these new friends?

"Lucy!" Erza called over. "I am taking my boys outside to play in the sun; do you want to bring Theo out too?"

"Yeah." I stood up. "Are you coming?" I asked Levy, who nodded.

So we all headed out the back to where Natsu was teaching Nashi to swim and Gale was watching enviously. I pointed this out to Levy.

"Do you think he'll ask to join in?"

"I doubt it." Levy said, chuckling. "He'll stand there and watch and scowl at them."

And that he did. It was amusing how well Levy could predict Gale's actions; she could read him like a book.

"So what's happening between you and Natsu?" Levy asked after a while.

"I don't know."

"You want to be with him right?"

"Of course!" I replied earnestly. "And he's been talking about us all being a family and everything, but I have barely seen him in years."

"But he's no different."

"But I am." I confessed. "I feel old, Levy-chan. My body didn't spring back after Theo like it had with Nashi." It felt weird, voicing my private worries.

"And you think he cares about a few stretch marks?" Levy countered. "That man is covered in scars."

"I suppose. We'll just have to wait and see…"

Author's note: Well a few of you requested another chapter, so here is another chapter! I can't promise another any time soon, but I'm not against writing more for this. Though as I have no major story arc ideas for it, it would mostly be fluffy stuff. If you have any ideas I would love to hear them! So please review :)