Hey guys, im still alive and annoyed at myself, this chapter was meant to be written ages back it was even drafted at the start of August, but then I got rather sick with since it was winter in Queensland and we had a nasty virus going around at the time which wiped me out for a while and by time I was better Uni was in full swing again and it's my last semester, although it's rather ironic though since this chapter is actually based around being sick, so there you go if you write about innocent characters getting sick then the universe will apparently punish you by making you sick as well bah

*In Australia a cold is generally referred to headache, cough , drowsy and a running nose and sometimes vomiting*

starts at Dragneel house

Lucy sighed as she walked tiredly around the kitchen to the stove where a pot of soup was cooking, the blonde slowly began to stir the food in an zone out manner as she stared into its contents in an zone out manner, it was possible to see that she was exhausted as her movements were slow and visible rings under her eyes evidence that sleep hasn't come easy for the mother in the last few days. She was brought out of her own world as a door creaked opened, slowly turning around she sees Natsu leaving the twins room holding empty glasses.

'Are they doing any better?' she asked silently.

'Better than yesterday, they're both awake' Natsu grunted in a exhausted manner grabbing a couple of bowls

After Kai's magical outburst despite the fact that he seemed fine after waking up a few hours later he had seemed that in his weakened state he had developed a small fever which then turned into a cold which only got worse, unfortunately in their panic and unsure state while they were focusing on making sure Kai was ok and not getting worse they had forgotten to keep Nashi away causing her to also fall sick due to having a weaker immune system when compared to her parents and they didn't have Happy to help them out since all three of them assumed that the boy would be alright so the exceed decided to return to Charle before she got to mad at him for taking off. That along with the recent attack of Blood Rose showing strong evidence that they knew where their house was Natsu insisted that he'll keep watch and be on guard, after some strong words he then much to his displeasure agreed that they can take turns keeping watch.

'at least that's something' She whispered back, looking back into the soup. Natsu looked at her with concern in her tired walked from the bench to join her at the stove before placing the bowls down, so that he could wrap his arms around her pulling Lucy to him, causing her to let out a surprise gasp.

'Natsu?' Lucy looked up at the fire mage and grew concern as she saw the grim look he had, as she joined the embrace.

'It's just..so frustrating' Natsu sighed, as he rested his head against her shoulders hiding his face 'It feels we can't do anything, just giving Kai and Nashi the medicine Polysucia gave us isn't enough, it's not even anything special just normal medicine' He paused before tightening his hold on her. 'To make it harder we don't know what Blood Rose is planning, they knew about the Wyverns and this is the only place in the area, what will we do if they attack now' He finished, Natsu hated how he sounded right now but lack of sleep and concern was taking it's toll, he knew that both himself and Lucy can handle themselves amongst even the toughest of mages but how would he be able to focus on a battle when the twins were so nearby in a weakened response Lucy slowly moved her hands up his body before gently cradling her husband's face pulling him back so that they had eye contact. She knew that he was feeling guilty for allowing Nashi to fall ill in their ignorance, but she knew that at this time there wasn't much they could do other than make sure that the twins were eating, resting and taking the medicine.

'If that guild dare to attacks than we'll definitely give them a run for their money regardless of circumstances and i have my spirits to help us in any battle' She reassured both Natsu and herself before pulling him in for a gentle kiss, breaking apart once a small cough interrupted them with a concern glance at the children's bedroom door, Lucy silently picked up the two bowls before filling them with soup while Natsu unwrapped himself from the blonde to measure out the liquid cold medicine. The parents glanced at one another before silently heading towards the room before glancing at one another before heading inside. Nashi who was holding a plush dragon was lying her side with another couple of plush next to her, while Kai was sitting with a couple of figures on the bed showing evidence that the parents were doing their best to distract them.

'Hey you two, time for lunch' Lucy cheered with a fake happy mood as she entered the room followed by her husband.

'yea Lu..mummy made us some tomato soup' Natsu added placing the two bowls on the bedside table between the beds as Lucy went to Kai to pick up the discarded toys on his bed while Nashi slowly looked up before making a face as she looked not going unnoticed.

'Nashi what wrong' Natsu asked rapidly with some concern assuming that the girl was feeling worse due her reaction to the food, his tone catching the two blondes attention.

'I don't want tomato soup' the girl mumbled in a croaky voice.

'what?' Natsu gasped feeling the relief was over him as his wife turned her attention back to Kai making sure that he was doing better. 'and why not sweetie' the father questioned in a softer tone.

'Cause, it has no taste or meat' she replied simply.

'and then you give us yucky medicine' Kai added in a weak voice.

'Oh you two' Lucy replied with a soft sigh as she patted Kai's head before swapping places with Natsu so she was now with Nashi as she grabbed a bowl. 'I'm sorry, but you can't have anything with meat in it, if you do then your stom..umm..tummys will begin to hurt a lot again, and you need to have the medicine if you want to get better' Lucy spoke in a gentle tone putting on a smile as she finished before helping Nashi up, straightening her earmuffs as she changed her position so that her daughter was sitting in her lap and leaning against her stomach as she offered the food who after giving the offending food a dirty look reluctantly began to eat it.

'Yea and think off it this way, the more you eat the 'bland and boring' food and take the 'yucky' medicine then the sooner look guys would be better then the sooner you can eat meat without feeling bad' Natsu cheered trying to encourage the two children to continue with their medication and eating habits.

Both Lucy and Natsu had spent a few more hours with their children in their room since they then demanded to have a story and between the coughing, bathroom visits, Natsu's lack of sudden improv storytelling and Lucy's still existing problem of using terms and descriptions that a almost six year old can't understand leading her to stop and explain, it took a lot longer to finish the story and by then the two were barely awake after saying their goodnights despite it only being the early afternoon both Natsu and Lucy left the room.

'They seem to be getting better, Kai seemed more aware and Nashi's stubbornness is beginning to reappear' Lucy spoke softly more so to herself as she cleaned the dishes while Natsu stood in the small living room with the back door open, making sure there were no threatening scents in the area his paranoia and lack of sleep showing.

'Maybe we should get Wendy to help' Natsu stated loudly so that he could catch the celestial mage's attention, said person froze at the statement.

'I don't think we really need to, their getting better, definitely on the tail end of this, i bet they'll be better in the few days Lucy replied hesitantly heading to the living room to join her husband.

'Yea but if we get Wendy then Nashi and Kai will be better by this evening or sooner' Natsu retorted in an irritated voice. Causing Lucy to release a concern sigh at where this was going, and that Natsu's was unconsciously letting his dragon instinct of need to protect his mate and family take control.

'but Natsu, we can't always go to Wendy when something is wrong, she has her own life as well and they've been getting a lot better with the medicine Polysucia gave us and at this point we don't need Wendy's help they're not even that bad, it's just that we weren't sure on what we were doing at first' Lucy finished looking straight at Natsu who refused to make eye contact and had began to lightly shake as she finished her statement.

'Not even that bad?' Natsu lightly growled 'How can you even say that when they're both in bed all day, coughing and can't even eat anything else than soup' His voice growing as he spoke stepping forward.

'Yes I know that' Lucy stated feeling frustrated 'But we can't just go bother Wendy because the kids are sick with a cold which is showing all signs of going away' The Blonde stepped forward letting her frustration stress and lack of sleep finally get the better of her attitude.

'yea we should go get Wendy because the twins are sick period, we need to make sure that they get better now' He growled 'they are sick, the medicine we have isn't good enough, we either need to make Polysucia give us something stronger and better or make Wendy help us' Natsu growled back also letting his lack of sleep, paranoia and instinct cloud his judgement

'Natsu, getting better medicine or having Wendy heal them isn't going to help Kai or Nashi in th..' however the stressed and frustrated mother never got to finished as she was interrupted.

'Isn't going to help, Lucy how the hell isn't it going to help them' Natsu shouted exaggerating his arm movement as he reached his boiling point.

'If you let me finish Natsu, I was goin' She again started.

'No, all i'm hearing from you is that we shouldn't get them any help' Natsu stated angrily as he started pacing clenching his hands as small sparks began to appear, as his wife tried to interject.

'Natsu that's not' The celestial mage shouted only to be ignored as the fire mage reached his last straw no longer listening to reasoning.

'it seems liKE YOU DON'T EVEN CARE' He burst as flames covered his body before instantly stopping as they both looked at each other in pure shock as Natsu finally realized how he had been acting as he looked at Lucy's widen hurt eyes as she took small steps backwards before shaking her head as she turned her back and left the room. They have had fights before, ones that were just as bad but none seemed to have words that were that harmful. He couldn't believe that he had said that.

'Dammit' he growled sadly 'I'll be back' he said knowing that she heard him, as he left the house, before heading down the path towards the town, leaving scorch marks in the grass trying to calm himself down as he headed towards his destination.

A short amount of time had passed as the fire mage found himself just outside a small apartment complex, letting out a soft breath he had considerably calmed down after the previous events but couldn't escape the amount of guilt that had consumed him but he felt as if couldn't go back home, not just yet at least, so after a moment's hesitation he knocked on the door, despite the his current mood he couldn't help the small smirk as he heard the occupant shuffle around stating something about not being able to find the door keys before hearing the door opening revealing a disheveled Wendy.

'Eh Natsu?' The slayer greeted the older mage who gave her a concerned glance.

'Wendy did you only just wake up' Natsu questioned as she let him inside since it was unusual to see for Wendy to look so untidy.

'Oh yea you guys weren't at the guild so wouldn't know yet, well I was up most of the night with Laxus and Lisanna, she went into labour late last night and kept freaking out because she was early..by two weeks and according to Mira she wouldn't calm down until I got there since she believed something was wrong because she was early' Wendy let out a small smirk 'personally I think she got herself a bit worked up with comparing herself to Mira, Lucy and the others when they were pregnant and when into labour' Wendy finished letting herself fall into the small couch in the room. The pinkette was about to question Wendy further about how Lisanna and the baby were their gender and name but didn't get the chance as the bluette continued 'eh sorry Natsu, I kinda went off on a rant there, why are you here?

'I need a favour, Nashi and Kai have been rather sick the last couple of days, so could you come help us out' The father asked looking at the tired young adult as she place her hand over her eye.

'Ah didn't she tell you' Wendy whispered lightly before standing up looking directly at her fellow slayer as she spoke firmly.

'Natsu i'm sorry but the answer is no' The younger slayer stated feeling minor guilt at her statement as he looked at her with anger.

'What the hell, Wendy' Natsu started before pausing taking a deep breath refusing to let his anger get the best of him again 'Fine then if you won't help me then I got no other reason to be here' He spoke slowly in order to control his frustration before turning to leave however was stopped as a harsh wind slamming the door before he could leave, turning in surprise to the wind user.

'I hate slamming the door like that' she exclaimed before continuing 'but I doubt that you would have listened to me otherwise, now the reason why I won't help is that if I use my magic on Nashi and Kai now then it'll be worse for them in the future' seeing the confused look on her companion's face decided to expand 'If we keep using magic to heal the kids every time then there immune system and pain tolerance would never develop properly meaning that they'll get sick easier and their bodies wouldn't be able to fight it any sickness, so by letting their bodies deal with the disease without magical aid then they'll be less likely to fall ill' The slayer exaggerated 'didn't Lucy tell you any of this, she asked the say thing when we bumped into each other at the market yesterday' Wendy questioned surprised at the lack of communication between the two. However Natsu couldn't believe what he had just heard, how could have been so ignorant, thinking back to the fight he quickly realized that Lucy had been trying to tell him exactly what his companion had just stated but he wouldn't let her.

'dammit i've been a big jerk' he spoke as he sat down on the sofa head in his hands 'Wendy i'm sorry' He apologized as he felt the girl join him on the seat.

'It's ok, I can imagine that it would be hard for someone with dragon instinct to not be able to help those close to us' Wendy teased being one to have a decent understanding. causing her friend to have a sarcastic smirk.

'Yea I kinda did let them take over, hey is it ok if I wait here for a bit, I said...I said something I really shouldn't have and hurt Lucy as well as making her angry, from the past I know that it's best to give her some space, I also need a moment for myself to think some things through' Natsu exclaimed.

'Yea fine' Wendy exhaled.

'Hey are you doing ok?' Natsu asked since the girl had been acting a bit off since he arrived.

'I'm just a bit annoyed, i've heard that Happy has been back a few times but no sign of Charle, I just miss having her around and I just feel a bit..hmm upset that she hasn't come back while Happy has' Wendy finished looking at the roof 'When Charle and Happy first started dating everyone was in such a celebratory mood since Happy's persistence finally paid out and me and Romeo had more time with just us..but if I knew that it meant that the two would one day just disappear then...ah I don't know' Wendy exhaled.

'Yea I get what you mean, even with the everything that's been happening, I miss having Happy around, and when he has come back it hasn't been for very long, but oddly enough every time he does come he mentions something about Charle being moody or picky, one time he was really upset and all I could get out of him was that she told Happy that he wasn't helping and should just go away' Natsu explained as Wendy frowned.

'I can't help but wonder what they are doing that requires them to disappear or for Charle to be in such a mood, I will admit she can be a bit hard sometimes but she had soften a lot since joining the guild' The slayer let out a sigh as a small silence came over the room before Natsu let out a small laugh catching Wendy's attention.

'Just realized that it's very similar to how pantherlily was acting at one point and it's always rather amusing at how the "great pantherlily" was so scared of another non-transforming exceed' Natsu explained causing Wendy to smile.

'That right Lilly used to disappear quite often going back and forward from the exceed village until he just disappeared for a while altogether'

'Yup and metal face was so upset thinking his cat left him but then he came back with…' Natsu immediately stopped talking as a thought came to mind.

'Then he came back with Rippie' Wendy finished having come to the same conclusion 'Natsu you don't think that?' she questioned silently as the s-class mage turned to her.

'No it's not possible..right..?' He replied equally confused both staring at each other before breaking into a small laugh at the idea neither knew why they found it amusing, maybe because the idea was so absurd but at the same time it wasn't. 'I guess we'll just have to wait to find out then' Natsu laughed before signing as he noticed the room darkening 'I better head back home now, i've been here longer than I anticipated' Natsu reasoned before getting up, offering his hand to the younger slayer as they headed to the door.

'hmm it is beginning to get late, i'm guessing i'll see you at the guild in a couple of days time?' Wendy questioned receiving a nod 'neh Natsu i'm sorry for not helping' she finished only to receive a smile as Natsu began to walk out the door.

'It's ok, I was acting a bit rash and you helped me a lot with feeling better about all of this' Natsu clarified waving while he walked down the street.

The sun had just set by the time Natsu arrived home, opening the door slowly and quietly in case the kids were sleeping or settled he look around and saw no sign of Lucy, so he decided to follow her scent, locating her in the twins room sleeping in a chair that she must have moved so that it was between the beds, entering the room he quietly check Nashi and Kai noticing that they seemed to be a lot more relaxed in their sleep then they have been previously and that neither of them were coughing,he gently kissed thier foreheads in a means of saying goodnight before turning to his wife. Honestly he couldn't think of anything that could possibly make up for what he had said so he went with the plan he was best known for...the impulse straightforward one. Walking over to her he carefully picked her up bridal style making sure that his grip was firm, he noticed her stirring the moment he had left the room heading into the master bedroom.

'mmm Natsu' Lucy mumbled in her half awake state cuddling into his chest, however he didn't get the chance to take another step as Lucy became fully conscious 'Wait..Natsu?' Lucy confirmed as she tried to sit up finding herself in his arms being carried, previous anger instantly returned 'Natsu, put me down now' She demanded however upon feeling his grip only tightened she sent him a shocked look before attempting to struggling out of his grip trying to make eye contact so that she send him a glare but from where she was being held she had no luck seeing his face as her husband continued walking. 'Natsu I swear if you don't put me down right now...ahh' She was silenced as he sat down on the small lounge chair in thier room while still holding her in fact he brought her closer to him as one of his arms slid up to her neck and head to cradle her as he immediately buried his head in her shoulder where she could feel him shaking 'Natsu?' Lucy questioned silently with a frown.

'Lucy, im so sorry, I didn't mean it, I wasn't even listening to what you were saying, I'm the one was acting as if I didn't care' Natsu sulked still buried in her neck, while Lucy who had long since stopped struggling stayed silent for a few minutes before slowly wrapping her arms around his neck'
'We're still new at this' She admitted talking a lot more gently 'you would think almost six years would be enough practice, and yet here we are tired, frustrated and paranoid' she paused 'We still let our emotions of not having one but two children to look after and, to raise and to take care off along with the growing threat of blood rose, get the best of us so here we are saying hurtful things that in end we don't mean' Lucy stopped noticing that Natsu had pulled away from her neck and was staring at her wide eyed, softly smiling she continued 'and yet I must be crazy because despite all of this I would never want it any other way' Lucy finished offering a small smile before feeling a hand softly push her head forward into a gentle kiss before leaning back touching foreheads.

'Thank you so much for everything Lucy, I really am sorry, I don't even know why I' he was silenced by a finger on his lips as Lucy slowly shook her head a sad smile, he instantly knew what she meant, no more what happened, happened. What he had said can never really be taken back but in time it'll be forgotten, it was one of thier golden rules, one that was established after they're first big fight so many years ago, neither of them remembered what it was about just that it hurt both of them but the feelings it had cause had long been forgotten.'I love you Lucy and that will never change' He whispered grabbing the small blanket that Lucy who was currently shuffling into a more comfortable position uses when she reads on the small lounge chair on the colder nights, before wrapping it around themselves, before she faced him.

'I love you too Natsu, despite the fact that you're a pyromaniac idiot' she smirked snuggling into him closing her eyes welcoming what was promising to be the first good night sleep in a long time.

'Better than being a blonder weirdo' He mused only receiving a small annoyed humm as a reply before, it wasn't until after he could hear her steady breathing that the dragon slayer allowed sleep to consume him.

Done, It's done, this chapter took way too long to complete, but doesn't matter now, it's finished hazah

I know that everyone is a bit OOC in this one but wanted to show the less lovely dovey fluff side of Nalu and try and experiment with them have a argument as well as how easy it can be to let your emotions get the better of you. Also I did mention "dragon instincts" quite a bit and my interpretation is that dragons have one mate and males are protective of their spouse and children which why I had Natsu getting so annoyed at the lack of progress or magical help.

also there's probably about only one more chapter left until blood rose's big move the one part i've been wanting to write.

until next time

violet120