No Matter What

One month later…

"Ugh, this isn't working," Lucy said irritably, turning to look at herself sideways in the mirror. After her pregnancy with Ryū, her body has yet to regain its original shape. It's been seven months since her baby boy was born. She was able to get thinner within five months after Nashi was born. Why is it taking so long this time? Erza and Jellal's wedding reception was in thirty minutes, and she had this really pretty dress that she's been dying to wear. But… it doesn't look the way it did when she tried it on at the store, a month into her pregnancy. Her breasts were bigger than before, her hips were fuller, her waist was wider.

"What isn't working?" Natsu asked as he walked into the room, fixing the tie around his neck.

"This!" She gestured to herself. "I look like the fat woman you see at carnivals…" Natsu snorted and rolled his eyes as he walked up behind her, hugging her from behind. He rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Don't say that," he said softly, pressing his lips to her neck. "You're beautiful. If you gain a little weight, or even if your hair turns grey, you'll always be beautiful." He trailed tender kisses passed her jaw and up her cheek, which was now slightly warmer than usual and tinted a pretty red. He smirked.

"Natsu…" she whispered, feeling her cheeks get hotter.

"What?" he murmured gently against her temple, his breath fanning out across her skin and causing icy chills to dance down her spine. One of his hands slid down to grasp her own, lacing his fingers with hers. He grinned mischievously, deciding to make her blush even more. "It's true. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met. You're gorgeous." Lucy turned her head to look at him.

"Are you guys being gross again?" a voice questioned, making them both jump in surprise. They turned to face the one who possessed that voice, their six-year-old daughter. She was dressed in a pretty coral blue gown, her feet adorned in shiny white slippers. Her shoulder-length fuchsia hair was messy and unkempt. Her nose was scrunched up as she looked at them, her eyes narrowed with distaste. She tsked and folded her arms. She shuddered. "I mean, ew. Why do you guys have to be so gross all the time?" Natsu snickered and stepped away, his hands falling from her waist. Lucy cleared her throat, a light pink blush dusting across her cheeks.

"C'mon, N-Nashi," she sputtered, approaching her daughter. "Let's get your hair fixed up." She gently cupped Nashi's shoulder and lead her to the bed, sitting down and positioning her daughter in front of her. She grabbed the brush from the nightstand, peeking up at Natsu, who was watching them with a warm smile. She gestured to the door. "Go get Ryū ready, Natsu." The Dragon Slayer rolled his eyes with a playful grin as he stepped out of the room. "Sweetheart, how did you manage to mess up your hair?" she asked, running the brush through her daughter's soft locks. "We've been here for five minutes."

"I'm sorry, Mama," Nashi said, wincing slightly when her mother pulled out a particularly large knot in her hair. "I just really needed to get those annoying bear-ets out of my hair…"

Lucy laughed. "Berets, sweetheart. And I understand." The blonde leaned forward, as if about to tell a secret. "I don't like them either." The two girls laughed as Lucy continued brushing Nashi's hair. The little girl lifted a hand to her mouth and coughed. Lucy furrowed her brow. "Are you sure you feel well enough to go to the party?"

Nashi nodded. "Yes, Mama. I feel fine."

"Okay…" Just as she finished brushing her child's hair, Natsu walked back into the room, carrying Ryū in his arms.

"Ta-da!" he announced, gesturing to the tux his eight-month-old son was wearing. Both of the girls' eyes lit up at the sight, and Lucy stood up from the mattress and approached them.

"Look at you!" she cooed, taking Ryū into her own hands. "So handsome… You're almost cuter than your father."

"Almost," Natsu stressed, narrowing his eyes a little. Lucy rolled her eyes and placed a gentle kiss to Ryū's cheek, earning a happy giggle. "You ready to go, Luce?"

"Ah! No!" She hastily handed Ryū back to Natsu and ran into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

"Mama's slow," Nashi said blatantly, folding her thin arms across her chest. Natsu chuckled.

"Yeah, she's always been like that. She always takes her sweet time getting ready to go on jobs, parties… even when she knows we're on a tight schedule."

"I heard you!" Lucy hollered from the bathroom.

"You were meant to!" Natsu yelled back, smirking as he leaned up against the wall.

"Jerk!" Natsu's smirk softened into a warm grin as he rolled his eyes, something that his young daughter didn't miss. She'd caught him making that face several times after her mother had called him a name, or told him he was lazy, or scolded him about his language in front of herself or otōto-chan. He'd always make a silly face – like he was right now – and come back with a goofy "sorry, Luce" or a soft "yeah, yeah." He never seemed bothered when she was annoyed with him, even when she was flat-out angry with him. Nashi had never seen her parents get into an argument, a real one. It would always be Mama yelling at Daddy about something stupid he said or did, and he would always smile and say he was sorry, like he was apologizing for bumping into her.

But the weirdest part about her parents' "arguments" is that Lucy would always forgive him, right on the spot. He'd look at her with that face, and the angry look on hers would melt away. She asked her mother once why she was able to forgive him so easily. And her reply was simply "because I love him."

"Daddy?" she spoke, looking up at him with innocent eyes.

"Yeah?" he said, turning to her as he switched Ryū from his left side to his right.

"Do you love Mama?"

"Yes. Of course I do."

"For how long?"

Natsu thought about that question for a moment. When he had an answer, he shrugged and grinned. "Probably for as long as I've known her." He thought about his answer, before nodding once. "Yeah, that's right. I fell in love with her the day I met her. But I hadn't realized it until long after that."

Nashi scrunched her nose. "How did you know you were in love with Mama?"

"She made me feel weird," he answered quickly, walking over to the bed to sit on the edge. Nashi lifted her eyebrow as she sat down next to him.

"Whaddya mean?"

"Well… you know that feeling you get in your stomach when you're nervous?"

"You mean… like butterflies?"

"Yeah." He placed a hand to his abdomen. "She would give me butterflies just by smiling at me."

Nashi's eyes widened. "Just by smiling?" she repeated, baffled. Natsu laughed.

"Yup."

"What else?"

"Hm… I would get really scared when she was hurt. I still do. Seeing her cry breaks my heart every time. Making her laugh, seeing her happy automatically makes me happy too. She hugged me when Fairy Tail won the Magic Tournament a few years back." He paused, a silly, reminiscent smile stretching across his lips. "It made me feel like I could do anything."

"Is that why you can get her to forgive you so easily?" she inquired. "Because you love her and she loves you?"

He nodded. "I suppose. That and the fact that I'll always love her. No matter what." There was silence for a moment, while Nashi processed everything her father just told her. But before she could ask any more questions, Lucy walked out of the bathroom.

"Alright, you guys, let's go," she said quickly. "Before Erza kills us." Natsu and Nashi hurriedly jumped off the bed and followed Lucy out the door.

Nashi held her mother's hand on the walk back to the guild, her face scrunched up as she continued to think. He said he'd always love Mama, no matter what. To Nashi, it seemed a little hard to believe that they would love each other forever. But then she remembered how often they kiss, how he tells her he loves her several times a day, and in vice versa. Nashi sees their reactions when the other comes home from a mission, how they whisper to each other, how well they get along, how little they fight. She thought maybe, just maybe, her parents will always love each other. She looked to the side, between their bodies.

They were holding hands.

Author's Note: So what's with Erza and Natsu turning into little kids in the last chapter? I have to admit, though, when I saw Natsu as a little boy, I had an epic fangirl moment. I don't know if you guys know already, but I'm a diehard Natsu fangirl. I absolutely love everything about him. I love his hair, his eyes, his body, his voice, his sexy half-smile, his idiocy, his obvious crush on Lucy, his magic, his scarf, his clothes… I think I'm just in love with him.

Enough with my Natsu-rambling. Moving on to more important things, please leave a review you guys! I love your feedback, and I missed hearing from you during my absence. Speaking of which, I promise to never make all of you wait so long for an update again. And I also decided to put a timeline at the beginning of every chapter. Because all of the timeskipping is actually starting to confuse me as well. Ha.

On another note: I'm working on something new. I don't know what it's gonna be called yet, and it's kinda difficult to explain in a few sentences, so just be on the lookout, okay?

Again, review please! I love you guys so much! (And Natsu of course.)