Story Time

"What about this one, Daddy?" Nashi asked, pointing down at the request flier on the next page of the photo album they were looking at. Natsu, Happy, and the kids were lying on the couch, looking through a photo album Ryū stumbled upon while creating strife in his parents' bedroom. The father was lying stretched out across the couch, Nashi curled up beside him with his arm draped over her shoulders as he held the album over her lap. Ryū sat on his stomach, finding more interest in the scarf around his father's neck than the old pictures and job requests, and Happy sat on the arm of the couch behind Natsu's head.

Natsu readjusted Ryū's weight before looking over at the indicated flier. On the picture was Duke Everlue, smiling nastily while twirling the hairs on his mustache. Natsu chuckled as he recalled the memory.

"That was the first official mission I took with your mom," he answered easily, a reminiscent smile gracing his features. "We took it three days after she joined the guild."

"That was when Team Natsu was born!" Happy exclaimed, pointing at the request over Natsu's shoulder. Nashi leaned forward, squinting her eyes as she tried to read the request.

"O… obt…" she tried, struggling with the word, one she'd never seen before.

"Obtain," Natsu said for her, grinning as he watched his daughter try to read.

"Obtain a b… book by the name of D… Da…" Natsu reached over and placed his thumb over the second half of the word.

"What does that say?" he asked.

"Day," she answered after a moment's hesitation. He repositioned his finger.

"And that?" The young girl had more of a difficulty with this one, sticking her tongue out to the side as she thought about it. It's only five letters, it shouldn't be hard to say. Let's see. B-R-E-A-K. Br…eek? No, that's not right. Br…aik? No, that doesn't work either. "Want some help?" Natsu asked, trying not to laugh at the face his daughter was making. He swore he could smell her hair burning.

"Mm, mm," she hummed, shaking her head. The Dragon Slayer and the feline exchanged glances, both of them equally amused. Come on… it's just five letters! This is easy! What sound does 'E' and 'A' make when they're put next to each other? Br…ache. That's it! "Break!" she shouted, looking up at her father for approval. He nodded.

"There ya go," he said, patting her head. He removed his thumb. "Now, put them together."

"Day…break?"

"Yup."

"What does 'daybreak' mean?"

"When the sun comes up in the morning."

"Like a sunrise?"

"Exactly."

Nashi nodded in understanding, looking back at the request. "Obtain a book by the name of Daybreak," she repeated, before slowly moving on, going back every time Natsu corrected her. "Burn the book… once in po…p…possession. The re…reward?" She looked up at Natsu to see if she said it right. He nodded. "The reward for d-doing so is… um… what's that number?"

"Two hundred thousand."

"You and Mama got two hundred thousand Jewels just by getting some book and burning it?" she asked exasperatedly. Natsu laughed.

"Well, we got the book, but Mama found a hidden secret in it," he explained, waggling his eyebrows at the words 'hidden secret,' causing his daughter to giggle. "We took it back to the client, and it turned out the book had a spell put on it to make it seem like a regular novel, when it was really a letter to the author's son, who happened to be the client. But since we didn't do what he requested of us, which was find the book and burn it, we didn't get paid."

"Although Lucy threw a fit about not getting any money," Happy added. "And then complaining the whole walk home." The Dragon Slayer turned to the fuzzy creature.

"That was the day we found out she was writing a novel, wasn't it?"

"I think so… Yeah! It was, because I remember her blushing like crazy when you brought it up, and begging us not to tell anyone."

Natsu scoffed. "I don't know what she was so embarrassed about. Her writing is great, and coming from me, that's saying something."

"What about this one?" Nashi asked. The whole time Natsu and Happy were reminiscing, she was flipping through the pages in search of a picture that looked interesting. The Salamander looked down at it. It was of him, Lucy, Gray, and Erza dressed in swimming attire. They were on a beach, and there was a casino in the background.

"Oh, that was when Lucy's spirit, Loke, gave us tickets to an island resort," he said. He laughed lightheartedly. "That went well, eh, Happy?"

"Aye…" uttered the Exceed, recalling the… strange string of events that happened way back then. Who would've known at the time that Erza was going to marry the man who tried to kill her?

"That was when we met Uncle Jellal."

"Uncle Jellal?" Nashi echoed. "I thought Aunt Erza knew him since they were kids…"

"No, that was when the rest of us met him. And, believe it or not, he was a bad guy."

Nashi gasped, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Uncle Jellal was a bad guy?!"

"Yup. In fact, he tried to kill us. He nearly succeeded in killing me and Erza…"

"Really? Why did Aunt Erza marry him then?"

"Well… he was possessed," Natsu said slowly, pausing to see if she knew what it meant.

"What does that mean?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Er… let's just say he was tricked into doing bad things. He thought the spirit of Zeref – the world's darkest, more dangerous wizard – was telling him to do it. It's kind of a long… really confusing story, amai. Jellal Fernandez is one odd person…" Nashi nodded her head, lifting a hand to brush her bangs back. "He repented for his sins, though," he said reassuringly. Her brown eyes looked up at him, confused at the big word. Natsu chuckled. "I mean… he did what he needed to do to be forgiven for his sins. He's cool now."

"I like Jellal," Nashi said contentedly, snuggling closer to him and resting her head on his shoulder. "He's really nice. And his tattoo is awesome." Natsu laughed. A few pages later, they stumbled onto a picture with just Natsu and Lucy. They were in the infirmary at the guild, and Lucy was beaten up pretty bad, with several bandages wrapped around her head and arms as she reclined in a white hospital bed. Natsu had a fading bruise on his cheek, but nothing too major as far as the picture showed. Despite the situation, though, both of them were smiling as they looked into the camera.

"Who took this one?" questioned the little girl, yawning as she slumped further into her father's chest.

"I think Mira did," Happy answered, his eyes slightly heavy as well. "That was after the fight with Kyōfu, wasn't it? Why wasn't I in the picture?"

"That was early in the morning, after Lucy woke up," Natsu replied, still wide awake. "You were still at home, little buddy."

"Why is Mama all beaten up?"

"A week before that picture was taken, me, Mama, Gray, Erza, and Happy went on a mission, and we ran into a man named Kyōfu," explained the Dragon Slayer. "He was really strong, and managed to take down Gray, Erza, and myself within ten minutes. I was the only one awake when Lucy was attacked. She was tortured in front of my eyes, and I was able to drive that bas—" He stopped, catching himself before he swore in front of his kids. If Lucy knew he said such a word in their presence, he would get an earful. He cleared his throat as he mentally edited his sentence. "I was able to drive that jerk away before he killed her. It was still a close call, though…"

Nashi looked up at the sudden sorrowful tone in her father's voice. He stared blankly at the picture, and she knew he was replaying what had happened in his head. She touched his hand. "Daddy? Are you okay?"

"Uh… yeah, I'm fine. It's just…" He looked at her with a sad smile. "Your mother almost died that day. She would've died in my arms if Wendy hadn't shown up when she did." There was a pause between them. Nashi swallowed a small lump in her throat before asking her next question.

"Were you and Mama dating when it happened?" she asked quietly, barely above a whisper. He shook his head.

"No. We were just friends at the time, but it was the scariest day of my life all the same."

"You were scared?"

He nodded. "I was terrified. Even before I knew I was in love with her, your mother always had a special place in my heart. She was my best friend since the very beginning, and the thought of losing her, especially like that… it scared me more than anything else."

"Did you love her then?"

He thought for a moment. "I think I kissed her without meaning to when she woke up…" he thought out loud, furrowing his eyebrows.

Nashi giggled. "On her mouth?"

Natsu scoffed, nudging her with his arm. "No, silly girl, on her hand."

She teasingly poked his stomach. "You did love her!" she sang.

"I-it was in the heat of the moment," Natsu defended, oblivious to the pink blush on his cheeks. "I was relieved to see her awake after a week, is all…"

"You had a crush on her."

A goofy grin formed on his lips, a soft laugh bubbling up his throat. "I probably did…" Nashi laughed lightly, and it quickly morphed into a long yawn. Natsu smiled and looked at Ryū, who'd been sleeping peacefully on his chest with his scarf clenched tightly in his small fists for a while now, and then he looked up at Happy, who was nodding off. "Alright, you guys. Time for bed."

Nashi clasped onto his shirt. "I don't wanna move…" she whined softly, nuzzling into him as he set the album onto the floor.

"Nashi…"

"Please?" She looked up at him with tired puppy-dog eyes. And he found he couldn't say no to those dark chocolate eyes, just like he couldn't say no to Lucy's. He sighed in resignation.

"Fine."

Lucy sighed as she opened the door to her house, quietly closing it behind her, not wanting to wake up the other residents. Not even bothering to take her bag to the bedroom, she dropped it to the floor beside the door and staggered sleepily further into the house. She stole a glance at the clock in the kitchen. 11:12 PM. That mission took longer than they expected. She told Natsu she was going to be home two hours ago. She made her way toward their bedroom, but as she passed the couch, something caught her eye. She turned, and was unable to stop the loving smile as it fluttered onto her face.

Her whole family was asleep on that couch, Ryū snuggled blissfully against her husband's chest, and Nashi sleeping on the edge of the cushion, Natsu's strong arm being the only thing that kept her from falling onto the hard wooden floor below. Happy was curled on the armrest beside Natsu's head, his ears twitching slightly as they picked up small noises. Giggling gently to herself, she approached them, kneeling down beside them. She placed a tender kiss to her daughter's forehead, her eyes catching the black book on the floor next to her.

Their photo album, she realized without even investigating it. Natsu's must've been telling them stories, no doubt. He's always been a good storyteller. She loved going on missions with just him and Happy, because when they had to camp out for the night, he could go on for hours telling stories. May it be just one tale or several, fiction or otherwise, it didn't matter. They were always riveting, so full of detail and color, like she was actually a part of the story.

Looking up at his sleeping face, Lucy lifted a hand and gently weaved her fingers through his hair. The action caused him to open his eyes and look at her, as if he hadn't been sleeping. He smiled. "Hey," he whispered.

"Hi," she murmured back. "Did I wake you?"

"Not really. I was kinda half-awake anyway." His face suddenly turned serious. "Luce."

"What?"

He briefly looked at Nashi, indicating her with his eyes. "We've been in this position for three hours. I can't feel my arm." A silly smile curled on his lips. "Help me…" Lucy laughed airily and rolled her eyes, standing up and reaching for Ryū. She carefully lifted him off of his father, bringing him to her chest. She stirred and whimpered tiredly.

"Shh…" she whispered into his ear, placing gentle kisses to his head. "Shh, baby boy… It's okay… You're okay…" Ryū relaxed at the sound of his mother's silky voice, resting his head on her shoulder and burrowing his face into her neck. Natsu cautiously slid his arm out from under his daughter and slipped off of the couch, bending his elbow over and over again to regain feeling. His right arm from the bicep down was numb, and began to tingle as it stirred back to life. He hissed at the uncomfortable feeling, coiling and uncoiling his hand into a fist and flicking his wrist. Once he regained full use of his arm, he lifted Nashi up from the couch, cradling her like a bride.

"You got her?" Lucy asked, holding up Ryū with one arm and gathering Happy into the other.

"I got her," he answered, making his way toward the kids' room. Now that Nashi wasn't sick anymore, Ryū was able to sleep in the same room as her. He gingerly sat her down in her bed, pulling the covers up to rest under her chin as Lucy entered the room as well. Placing both Happy and Ryū into Ryū's crib, she gave them both a kiss before exiting the room with her husband. Silently closing the door behind them, Natsu yawned like a lion, stretching his arms out to the side, wincing as pins and needles pricked his skin. Sensing his discomfort, Lucy reached for his arm and massaged it, hoping to soothe it. He sent her a grateful smile.

"What were you guys doing with that photo album?" she asked.

"Looking at old pictures and job requests," he answered, falling onto their bed. Lucy followed him, kicking off her shoes as she crawled onto the mattress. She resumed massaging his arm as he spoke again, laughing lightly. "Nashi asks a lot of questions."

Lucy laughed as well. "She's always been a curious child."

"She likes stories, too."

"It's good you're so great at telling them."

Author's Note: Before I say anything else, congratulations to DeathBerryHime for being the 400th person to review! 400 reviews… wow. You guys are so awesome, and you are the reason this story has thirty-five chapters. I love you guys so much, you have no idea.

On a completely unrelated note: how many Dexter fans do I have here? Are you guys keeping up with the story? Watching the new episodes every Sunday? Are you guys ready for the series finale? Because I'm not… I don't want it to end, you guys! It's just so good, so intense. I am, however, curious to know how it's going to end. Is Dexter going to get caught? If so, by who? Is he going to die? Is he going to go to prison? Who the fuck is the Brain Surgeon? What's going on with the doctor chick? Are Quinn and Deb going to get back together? Is Deb going to kill herself? Or has she really moved on? SO MANY QUESTIONS!

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Dexter is an amazing show. Dexter Morgan witnessed his mother's death when he was three, and he grew up to be a serial killer known as the Bay Harbor Butcher. But, he works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a forensic technician who specializes as a blood splatter analyst. If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it. It keeps you on the edge of your seat from the very first episode, the acting is magnificent, the story is great, and trust me, you will be hooked on it. Take it from me, a fellow Nalu fan.

Anyway, please leave a review, you guys! Tell me what you thought about the chapter! If you have any ideas for other chapters, let me know! If you're a Dexter fan, tell me! I want to know more about my lovely reviewers!