57th: Kids

Summary: Babysitting duty. Was there anything else to say?

"Babysitting duty," Mira announced with a wide smirk as she patted Cana's shoulder while the Card Mage looked like she needed a drink – or ten. "Since Natsu and Gray messed up quite a lot public propriety, we kinda owe the city as much."

"So, um, who will babysit?" Levy asked as she bit her lower lip and raised her eyebrow.

"Everyone who is there right now – in teams of two," Cana said darkly "I prepared the cards for this case. Every man will take one card – and it will show the face of the woman with whom it will be the easiest to complete the task."

"Well, I will go first since grandfather ditched me with the guild and everything," Laxus said as he rolled his eyes. "Pathetic that a babysit quest will be my big chance to get away from this guildhall for a few hours."

"Here you go," the Card Mage said as she held out the cards. "Choose only one, yes?"

The blond man rolled his eyes as he picked a card. "I am not that insatiable, Alberona," he said with a shrug before Gajeel interrupted him.

"Oi, Shrimp, looks like we are partners in this as well," he announced smugly as the male members of Shadow Gear groaned because their strongest member was teaming up with the Iron Dragon Slayer – again.

"Luce, we are partners as well!" Natsu said as he chuckled. "That will be awesome!"

"Juvia and I will work together too," Gray said while the Water Mage nearly fainted.

Fried nodded at Mira who smiled brightly back at him while Bixslow wrapped his arm around Lisanna and proudly declared her as his 'most awesome and prettiest partner ever'. Evergreen sent them a glare because she felt badly reminded of TenrouIsland.

"Alberona," Laxus said as he nudged her.

"No, Dreyar, you can't change partners with anyone," she said impatiently as she turned around to glare properly at him.

"I wasn't trying to request a new partner," he sighed. "We are partners."

Erza grinned widely as she grabbed a job from the S-class board. "So, darlings, since Romeo and Wendy are the last team and I am nobody's partner, I am going on a job now," she said unusually cheerful as she grabbed her suitcase. "Don't expect me back anytime soon, yes? Jellal said that we could meet up and talk about the good old times."

"Good that you are honest," Mira said drily. "We would have had it figured out in a few minutes anyway because you were just a little bit too enthusiastic and too keen on leaving. Tell me that we all said hello and that we expect him and his guild for our Midwinter party. I heard from Sherry who heard it from Lyon that Ultear makes great cookies."

"Noted," the redhead said as she dashed away.

"Okay, since we have enough teams now, we cou-"

"I am sorry, Mira, but there has to be a malfunction in this system," Evergreen interrupted as she crossed her arms. "Why am I Elfman's partner? Shouldn't he work with someone else? Someone … someone who didn't nearly get him killed last time?"

A lightening bolt missed her by millimetres as Cana fumed next to the bar.

"There is no malfunction, Evergreen," Mira said as her face softened. For a moment, she had been tempted to rip the brunette apart in midair because for a short moment, she had believed that Evergreen didn't want to work with Elfman because she believed him to be weak. But now the Takeover Mage understood that Evergreen was scared of failing again and that her failure would cause Elfman's death this time.

"Don't worry, Ever," Fried said calmly. "This is babysitting. You will be safe – both."

"…say 'man', c'mon," Elfman said as he looked at the small boy they were taking care of as Evergreen started to consider suicide as the best way to uphold her honour. "Man…"

She looked up from her book and sighed deeply. "He is seven months old. He won't speak. And he is supposed to sleep now," she said tiredly as she wondered how the others were doing. She was actually pretty sure that Mira and Fried were faring pretty well while Natsu had probably already burned down the flat.

"Maybe he's a genius and starts to talk earlier," Elfman suggested as he sat down on the couch after he had tucked the baby in. "Lisanna-nee spoke very early in her life…"

"I am bored," Evergreen announced after she set down her book. "We should play a game or something like that before I fall asleep. I never fall asleep during a job."

"I would play 20 questions with Lisanna when she would be bored during a job…"

"I am surprised that you consider this game manly enough," she snorted as she nodded. "But it's actually a pretty good idea. You can begin, by the way."

"Hmh … what's your favourite book?" he asked as he closed one eye.

"That's a difficult question … I think it would be Why fighting for peace is pointless by that silver-haired Water Mage who was Miss Fiore more than thirty years ago before she was killed in action," she replied. "The book was written in a touchy yet sober way." She shrugged. "Why did you and your siblings join Fairy Tail instead of another guild?"

"That's because of our mother … she was Lamia Scale's ace back in the days … her type of magic was the same as Mira-nee's … but she fell ill a long time ago and … withered. Yeah, that's maybe the best way to say it. She disappeared while we could only watch … probably out of grief because two years before she … died, both our father and her best friend didn't return from their respective jobs," Elfman said solemnly. "We didn't join Lamia Scale because the thing we remember the best about our mother is her deep red guild stamp … on the inner side of her wrist … it was always there, you know?"

"I understand," she said as she awkwardly patted his shoulder. "Believe me, I understand."

"Your next question awaits you, Ever," he said. "Why are you following Laxus?"

She was silent for a moment. "It's because I see things differently from most people," she finally said. "Every member of the Thundergod Tribe has a gift regarding his or her eyes … and sometimes I believe that we don't see the people as what they are but as what they will be. It's no fortunetelling – that is still Cana's thing but … it keeps us all going."

To drag child and man to the park had been one of her smarter ideas and so Evergreen was very busy congratulating herself when she spotted something which was pretty hard to believe: Laxus and Cana had been tied to a tree and despite their obvious attempts, they had failed to free themselves so far. Around the tree ran two hyperactive boys who were maybe five years old – but obviously skilled enough to outsmart two full-fledged mages.

"Ever!" Laxus called out. "Would you mind to free us? We can't move our hands and so Cana can't use a card to get us away from this damn tree."

"Language, Laxus, language!" Cana snapped at him as she tried to glare at the children which failed pretty pathetically because her eyes were hidden under her hair.

"Be a man and free yourself, Laxus," Elfman said with a little wave.

"Elfman!" Laxus said annoyed. "Cut off those stupid ropes, now!"

"Not so bossy, Laxus!" his own partner said as she managed to kick him. "You really should start working on your social skill, damn!"

"Water Slicer!"

"Thanks, Juvia," the Card Mage sighed as she massaged her wrists before she ran after one of the boys. "Hurry up, Laxus, this is a mission like any other!"

"You saved us from hours of bitching," Evergreen sighed. "Cana and Laxus should really get their act together and make out – and get over with it."

"Juvia agrees," the Water Mage said tiredly as she braided the hair of the two-year-old girl she was babysitting with Gray who was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Gray?" Mira asked as she crossed the park with Fried who was carrying a child in his arms trailing behind. The S-class mage turned barmaid turned S-class mage radiated a murderous aura and Elfman shuddered slightly.

"He is getting something to eat for both Juvia and Lyra-chan," the blue-haired woman replied cheerfully. "He has been very cooperative so please, don't worry, Mira-san."

"…ah, so the job is already over?" Gajeel inquired with a slightly unhappy expression as he returned to the guild along with Levy. "That's too bad – I just got used to the brat…"

"As if you weren't blushing half of the time when he called you daddy," Lily taunted.

"S-shut up!" the Iron Dragon Slayer said as he paled in fury and Levy chuckled.

"That was in fact an awesome job," Gray said as he casually rested his hand on Juvia's waist. "Far better than to hunt bandits and stuff like that…"

"We don't even have to ask Cana and Laxus, they were arguing like a married couple when we saw them," Lucy said amused as she leaned against Natsu's shoulder.

"Elf-nii, Evergreen-san, how was the week for you?" Lisanna asked innocently before she winked at Bixslow who was trying very hard not to laugh.

"N-nice," the woman said as she fought back a blush. "The child was very easy to deal with and so the mission wasn't all that difficult. We actually offered the orphanage to take care of it again if necessary … since it got used to us and so on…"

"And this has nothing to do with the adoption form we found in your flat, Ever?" Fried asked but even the stoic leader of the Thundergod Tribe had to fight a smirk.

"I-I have no idea what you are talking about, man," Elfman said with a blush.