Disclaimer: I don't own fairy tail or any of it's characters
Rogue sighed, "This was amusing at first but this is rapidly becoming stalking."
"I can't just walk in there! What if she doesn't recognize me? What if she does and she thinks it's weird that I'm here!" Sting banged his head into his steering wheel causing the horn to beep. He hopped up in surprise, grabbing his chest, "Shit, that scared me."
Rogue could barely speak, his body was shaking so hard with silent laughter, "I don't think honking the horn is the best course of action."
"Don't laugh, it was an accident!" Sting threw himself backwards, covering his face in shame.
Rogue placed a supportive hand on his friend's shoulder, "You have been coming here for two weeks now, this is ridiculous. Just go in there and order something. If she doesn't recognize you it doesn't matter, just talk to her like you haven't been watching her go in and out of work for two weeks. If she does recognize you I'm pretty sure she won't think it's weird that you would go to her place of business and purchase something. Generally people who work in this industry like when that happens. I'm pretty sure the only thing that could go wrong is that she noticed you've been watching her outside her window like a creep."
Sting frowned and wiped his friend's hand away, "Some pep talk."
Rogue patted the dash, "Well I'm going in then. I'm done helping with your stake out." He opened his door and stepped out of the car, ignoring Sting's cries of protest. Rogue was halfway to the bakery when he heard the car door slam behind him. Sting jogged up next to him, when he caught up he attempted to walk at a normal pace but instead moved into a sort of limp with jerky shoulders.
"What are you doing?" Rogue asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"I'm playing it cool, this is my playing it cool walk," Sting said with a smile. His smile dropped when he noticed Rogue's expression, "What?"
"It looks like you're in pain, is there something biting you in your pocket?"
"What no!" Sting shook himself and attempted to walk normally, and failed. "Oh god, I don't remember how to walk!"
"This is back to being amusing," Rogue said as he opened the door to the bakery. The inside had a comfortable feel, it wasn't pretentious like the cake bakery that Yukino had been at before. He also noticed that the prices were much more reasonable, they would have no trouble finding something to purchase.
"Can I help you guys with anything?" asked a pretty blond. She smiled as she waited for their reply. Behind her Yukino stood with her back to them, laughing at someone who was out of his view. Rogue tried to think of a way they could get her attention.
"We're just looking for right now if you don't mind," he said with a smile. Maybe if she went to the back, Yukino would replace her when they were ready.
"Alright then, just let me know if you need anything," she said with a grin.
Sting was still standing in place, staring at the back of the bakery. He swallowed deeply, "I can't believe it, she's actually here."
"You mean in all the times you drove over here, you haven't seen her once?" Rogue whispered.
This snapped Sting out of it, he turned to Rogue and hissed,"No, of course not. It's not like I sit in the parking lot all day, just during lunch. She hasn't left once. I had no way of knowing for sure."
A pink haired man stepped out from the back, "Well I gotta get back to it, Ill see you later Luce!" He bent to give the woman behind the counter a kiss. Rogue noticed Sting froze again.
"Natsu Dragneel?" he asked dumbly.
The man turned and looked at Sting with a confused expression, "Yea?"
"Oh my god, I can't believe it's you. Sting Eucliffe, I wrestled you in high school? We were just a year behind you," Sting explained.
Natsu stared at him with no recognition in his eyes, "Sorry man, doesn't ring a bell."
This made Sting angry, "You've gotta be kidding me, I just barely lost to you in states. I broke your record the following year!"
"Yea, that was a long time ago . . ." Natsu grinned and Rogue had to wonder if maybe he was just messing with Sting's head.
Sting stormed up to the counter, "How can you forget something like that!"
"Sting?" Yukino had finally stepped out of the back. Rogue smiled, yelling like a madman was definitely a way to get her attention, not one he would have picked but certainly effective.
Sting turned bright red and rubbed the back of his head, "Hey Yukino, long time no see!"
The blond smiled, "You know these guys Yukino? Why don't you help them and I can walk Natsu to his car."
"Alright," Yukino smiled as she watched Lucy drag Natsu out the front door, then turned in Rogue and Sting's direction, "So what brings you guys over this way?"
"You," Sting said before he seemed to realize what he was saying, he turned bright red, "I mean Orga told us he ran into you over here so we thought we would come by and say hi."
Yukino's smile grew, "That's so nice of you guys! It's been so long. How is Rufus doing?"
"He's good, I'm sure he remembers your cake fondly," Rogue joked.
"I'm sure he does," Yukino said with a serious face. "Well do you guys want anything? We've got some really good stuff here!"
"Can I get one of those ham and cheese croissants? And I'm sure Sting wants something," Rogue turned to his friend, noting he was quietly staring at the girl on the other side of the counter. Rogue slapped him firmly on the back, "What do you want man?"
Sting cut his eyes angrily at Rogue, then breathed deeply and turned back to Yukino with a smile, "Umm Yukino, would you maybe wanna get a drink some time?"
Rogue couldn't help but smile, knowing how hard it was for Sting to get that out. Yukino looked surprised, but her face rapidly changed to a pleased expression, "I'd love to!"
Sting couldn't smile wider, "Awesome."
"Do you want me to get ya something to eat too? Why don't we go sit a chat for a sec, Lucy should be right back and she won't mind if I take my lunch right now with you guys."
Sting chuckled,"Just get me something you made Yukino, I'm sure I'll like whatever you pick."
"Natsu, you knew that guy didn't you?" Lucy scolded as they walked into the parking lot.
"Maybe," Natsu said, not really wanting to give himself away.
"That wasn't nice! Why did you do that?" Lucy exclaimed.
Natsu laughed, "Did you see how worked up he got? It was hilarious!"
Lucy smirked and called him out,"You just don't like being reminded about the record thing."
"It isn't fair! The wrestlers his year were terrible! You can't compare, I was better!" Natsu hit the side of his truck and pouted.
Lucy smiled, chuckling at his tantrum, "I'm sure you were." She kissed him lightly on the lips.
"You're good with going to the Connell's next Saturday right?" Natsu asked.
"Yea, that sounds like fun!" Lucy smiled.
"Awesome, I'll give him a text back." Lucy was starting to retreat back towards the bakery but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him, kissing her firmly this time. He smiled at her dazed expression when he pulled away, "See ya tonight weirdo."
She acted annoyed at his insult, but then grinned and blew him a kiss as she walked away, "See ya roomie!"
"So how do you know Bisca and Alzack again?" Lucy asked as she watched the countryside pass by. It never failed to amaze her how quickly her surroundings could change from cement and asphalt to trees and grassy pastures.
"They went to high school with all of us, they were a year ahead of me, in Erza's grade, but they hung out at the house a lot," Natsu replied. "Gramps was pretty lax so a lot of people hung out at the house back then."
"They were at the grand opening of the restaurant right? I don't think I've seen them other than that." Lucy just barely restrained herself from calling out cow when they passed a field full of them. She laughed at herself, Natsu probably wouldn't share her excitement.
"Well they don't go out much. They live kinda far out here and they have a little girl, Asuka, she's like five or six now. It's kinda a hassle to get a sitter. I should have taken you out here sooner though, their place is awesome," Natsu smiled fondly.
"Oh my god, baby sheep!" Lucy pointed enthusiastically out the window.
Natsu chuckled, "You don't get out to the country often, do you Luce?"
"Well duh! I haven't had a car in like three years and now that I have one I spend all my time with you! When would I have time to get over here?" Lucy smiled at him and then turned back to look out at the farms.
"Well you are going to like Alzack and Bisca's place, lots of horses," Natsu grinned.
"Horses? Yay!" Lucy clapped her hands, then looked embarrassed when Natsu laughed at her. "I just really like horses."
"So does Bisca, when Alzack's grandparent's passed away the farm was left to him and they moved there immediately. Now Bisca uses the property to teach riding. They also have a shooting range on the property and a few years ago they planted grapes to start making wine. I'm not sure if they have a good bottle yet though." Natsu turned the truck onto a dirt road
"Wine and horses? Are we going to heaven?" Lucy sighed falling onto Natsu's shoulder. She watched as row after row of grapevines passed by, they were beautiful.
Natsu laughed and kissed her head, putting an arm around her to pull her closer, "It just might be close."
"Hello Mrs. Redfox! I'm Michelia, the nurse practitioner with the practice. I'm very sorry, but this morning Dr. Law was called away on a personal matter," the woman stood in front of Levy with a hand outstretched.
"I don't understand, does this mean I won't have my doctor for my birth?" Levy asked, her concern making her rudely ignore the woman's sign of greeting.
Michelia smiled, awkwardly taking back her hand, "No, of course not, it shouldn't take Doctor Law more than a few weeks to get this settled and you're just at thirty weeks now, that's plenty of time! We also have plenty of other capable doctors to take her place if she can't be there."
Levy looked at Gajeel trying to use her eyes to communicate her panic. He gave her a smile and put a hand on her shoulder, "It'll be just fine shrimp," he turned to glare at the poor nurse practitioner, "Dr. Law will back with plenty of time."
The woman's face showed her slight terror, though she attempted to keep smiling, "Yes, yes of course!" She held up the fetal Doppler, "Let's hear that baby's heart shall we?"
Levy pursed her lips and nodded her head, just barely resisting the urge to put her thumbnail in her mouth. Michelia smiled sweetly and squirted the blue gel onto Levy's abdomen, spreading it around with the Doppler and then studiously watching the output screen while she moved it around, pressing it firmly into Levy's belly. Her eyes lit up and she smiled, "There it is! Nice and strong! And . . ." the woman's face dropped to one of confusion.
Levy lost the ability to breath, why did the nurse practitioner look like that. She looked up at Gajeel again, his brows were furrowed in concern. "Hey, is something wrong?" he asked.
Michelia seemed to finally realize she was worrying them, she gave a forced smile. "No! Of course not, nothing wrong, nothing wrong . . ." She stood up straight and wiped Levy's belly clean. "You know I just have to check something really quick in Dr. Law's notes. Just one second, I will be right back!" She ran out the door.
Levy frowned and looked up at Gajeel, he was staring at the door that the woman had just escaped through. When he looked down at her and saw her worry his face turned into a small smile, "Don't you worry Shorty, I probably just scared her away. We'll figure out what's going on."
Michelia's head popped back into the room, "Could you all come with me? We're just going to do a quick ultrasound. There's something I need to check." Now Levy really felt like she really couldn't breath. The baby seemed to sense her distress and began kicking and hitting her from all sides. She closed her eyes and prayed, please don't let anything be wrong!
Natsu loved watching Lucy at Bisca and Alzack's place. You would think he had taken her to some grand palace or national monument, her eyes sparkled with delight at each new sight. She loved the mountain backdrop, she loved the terrible smelling stables, she loved the old farm house, and she loved the ramshackle wooden pavilion that Bisca and Alzack had built for future wine tastings. She even loved the ragtag group of stray dogs that roamed the property, even if they covered her face with sloppy kisses and her legs with dirty paw prints. After seeing where she had grown up it was slightly surprising that she would like such a rustic aesthetic.
Still he wondered why he was so surprised? She loved his house and his property. She had thrown away a chance to go to college for free and walk right into a job making extremely good money, to spend all day working with her hands and making people happy with her sweets. He really wished he could get over these doubts that he had in the back of his mind. Rationally he knew he had nothing to worry about, Lucy loved him and didn't care about money or status. But a small part of him just couldn't fully let it go.
"Natsu?" he looked down to see tiny Asuka, with her giant cowboy hat, tugging on his pant leg.
"What is it short stuff?" he asked.
The little girl pouted, "How come you don't come see me anymore?"
"What? I come see you all the time!" he countered, feeling guilty because it wasn't true.
"Do not!" Asuka clenched her fists at her sides and furrowed her tiny brow, "Last time you were here was snowy, and it's sunny and hot now. That's a long time!"
He smiled and patted her head, "Yea, I guess you're right, but you know, I had to stay away . . ." He pulled his hand out of his pocket, tightening the muscles in his fingers while holding it in front of his face. "I've got this thing living inside me. . ."
Asuka's entire body tensed as if ready to bound away, but her lips turned up in a wide grin. "What is it?" she whispered excitedly.
Natsu slowly turned to her, his eyes widened with fear, "It's a . . .tickle monster!" She squealed and ran away. He could easily catch her with her tiny stride, so he lumbered after her slowly, every so often catching up to tickle her sides. "Asuka! You have to save me! This tickle monster is taking over my body!" He fell to the ground writhing and convulsing.
Asuka giggled with glee and leapt on top of him, "I'll tickle them out Natsu!"
He made an 'oof' when her knees hit his chest, then groaned, "Oh thank goodness, you kneed them out." Natsu pulled himself to a stand, easily placing her on his shoulders.
"Natsu onward to mama!" she cried pointing in Bisca's direction and smacking him on the head.
"Geez runt, still bossy as ever," Natsu protested, scrunching up his nose, but he ran in the direction of Bisca and Lucy anyway
"Yay horsey yay!" she said with glee, kicking her legs happily.
Alzack called them all from over near the pavilion to let them know the food was done on the grill. Natsu made a relieved sigh, "Oh thank goodness Asuka, I was getting so hungry I was ready to eat you!"
Asuka crossed her arms, "No way Natsu, I'm not food, I'm a girl!"
Natsu acted confused, "Are you sure about that?" He rolled her off of his head and into her arms, blowing a raspberry on her belly, "Damn you know what, you're right!" Asuka squealed and giggled, begging to be let down. When he put her on the ground she ran at a full sprint to her mother. Lucy stood next to Bisca, watching Natsu approach, a wide happy grin on her face. Yea, he really liked seeing her here.
Gajeel was nervous as hell, it didn't help that Levy kept looking up at him for reassurance. How the hell could he make her feel better when he was scared out of his mind? Why couldn't that stupid woman just tell them what she was worried about? They entered the cool dark room where the ultrasound was, Michelia gave them an apologetic smile, "If you could just take a seat on the table Mrs. Redfox, I will go track down the tech." Then she disappeared into the hall, closing the door behind her.
He couldn't help but love the way that sounded, Mrs. Redfox. He looked over to see poor Levy struggling to get up on the high table with her large belly and tiny legs. Gajeel walked over and lifted her easily, setting her on the edge of the table. "Gihihi, I guess they don't make these Shrimp sized."
Levy's eyes were sad, "What if something is wrong Gajeel, what will we do?"
He bent over to give her a small kiss and fold her into a hug, fully recognizing that he needed it as much as she did, "I don't know Levy, we'll just have to wait and see what they say."
Michelia burst through the doors with what Gajeel could only describe as a young teen following after her. "This is Eve he's going to be our ultrasound tech today," Michelia said.
Gajeel scoffed, "You've got to be kidding me," earning him a smack on the arm from Levy.
"I can assure you sir, I am older than I look," Eve said, sitting at the computer next to Levy's table. "If you don't want to be here, you don't have to be. Thank you for coming."
Gajeel crossed his arms, "Not on your life boy."
"Okay," Michelia smiled uncomfortably, "Eve is very good, the best we have Mr. Redfox, I can assure you. Otherwise I would have picked . . .you know never mind." She put a hand on Eve's shoulder and hissed, "You can't tell the father's to leave."
Gajeel helped Levy to lay back on the table, keeping a hand in his to give her support as Eve squirted the gel on her stomach. "Such a lucky child to have such a beautiful mother," he said.
Levy gave him a look of discomfort, Michelia covered her face with her hand, Gajeel was ready to punch the little punk. "Watch your mouth kid," Gajeel warned. Eve only grinned and winked.
The picture came up on the screen, Eve running the ultrasound wand across Levy's stomach until he found the feet. Michelia sighed, "Just as I thought."
Gajeel had had enough, "What? What! What the hell did you think? You're freaking us out here!"
"Well this hardly ever happens," Michelia turned to look at them, a weird smile on her face. "I have to say congratulations, you're going to have twins!"
Gajeel's mouth dropped in shock, he turned back to the ultrasound seeing, sure enough, three feet. "How the hell are there two babies in there now, when there was only one ten weeks ago!"
Levy exclaimed she turned to the nurse practitioner, "Really though, how can this be?"
"Well, I reviewed the images and I spoke to the ultrasound tech who did the last scan." Michelia frowned, "Apparently for your last scan she was very worried about upsetting the scary father who was scowling at her the whole time. She really didn't want to accidentally reveal the sex since you were adamant that you didn't want to see it and it may have made her rush through the scan."
Eve continued to move the wand around, taking measurements and typing in notes. The screen now showed both babies' heads, clear in black and white. "Lucky for you sir, I don't scare easily!" he said with a big grin.
Levy hit Gajeel again, "Gajeel you have to stop scowling at everybody!"
Gajeel held up his hands in defense, "I'm not doing anything! This is my damn natural face! It's not my fault that woman couldn't do her job under pressure."
Machelia smiled, "Both babies look healthy though, good strong heartbeats. So far the measurements look great!"
Levy sighed in relief, happily looking up at the screen, "That's great, what a relief!"
Gajeel fell into the seat behind him, suddenly feeling dizzy. "Holy shit."
"Gajeel are you okay?" Levy gave him a look of concern and grabbed his hand.
Gajeel gave her a forced smile and nod of his head, but couldn't say a word. He watched the screen and breathed out deeply. Two babies, he and Levy were screwed.
"What made you and Bisca decide to get married when you did?" Natsu asked Alzack. They sat out on the pavilion, with beers in hand, watching Bisca, Lucy, and Asuka catch fireflies.
Alzack glanced at Natsu from the corner of his eye, a grin on his lips,"What makes you wanna know now?"
Natsu relaxed back in his chair and looked away,"Well I don't know, just thinking about stuff. You guys were just so young when you did it, do you have any regrets about tying the knot so soon?"
Alzack stared out at his wife and daughter, "I have no regrets. At the time I just didn't see a reason to wait. Mom nearly had a heart attack when I told her, she said people don't do that anymore, you're too young. Everyone kept telling us we were crazy and that we might change our minds, but I knew from the first time I kissed Bisca that she was the only one for me. That's kinda a strange feeling for a high school sophomore I know, even I'll admit that at first the idea kinda freaked me out. Still, I didn't want anyone else and I don't want anyone else now. All I saw in my future was her. She was my best friend, I wanted to live with her, start our life together. It seemed silly to wait for some preconceived notion of the right time you know."
Alzack took a sip of his beer and chuckled, "You know it's funny, you seemed like the last guy of our group who would want to settle down."
Natsu frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well for the longest time you didn't seem interested in girls at all, and then when you were, you like, weren't. You didn't take any of those relationships seriously, it was obvious they were one sided. I had you pegged for a commitment phobe."
Natsu shrugged, "Everyone kept insisting I had to date someone and setting me up with people, not my fault I wasn't feeling it."
Alzack pointed his bottle towards Natsu,"Yea, but it didn't even seem to matter to you, like you weren't even looking. You were so independent and comfortable in it. It's a good thing but it's just so strange to see you making so many compromises and actually excited to share so many parts of your life with someone. I had you pegged as a lone wolf."
"Hmm, I guess so," Natsu had to admit, Alzack was right. It wasn't that he couldn't recognize that women were attractive, he just hadn't found one that seemed like they were worth the effort. All his previous relationships had been instigated by someone else and he had been going through the motions, trying to do what everyone expected of him. Natsu had never met anyone who made him feel like Lucy.
"Obviously that's changed, we haven't seen you here in like eight months. You used to be here every other weekend," Alzack laughed.
"Well you guys are good cooks," Natsu admitted with a grin.
"You going to ask her?" Alzack motioned with his bottle towards the blond running around with his wife.
"I don't know, maybe. I was thinking about it, but . . ."
Alzack raised a brow, "You aren't sure if she'll say yes?"
"It's just all happened so fast, I'm not sure she feels as strongly as I do," Natsu sighed. He was stopped from saying anything else because Lucy came at him at a full sprint. She jumped into his lap. "Oof, Lucy, watch the landing!" he complained.
She gave him a big grin, "Look I brought you fireflies!" She opened her cupped hands in front of his face, letting loose twenty of the glowing bugs. She watched as the rose to the sky, her smile wide and excited; Natsu just watched her face. When they disappeared she looked back down at him, "Weren't they pretty?"
He smiled back at her, "Yea Luce, they were."
Thank you so much for reviewing queenbee24 (I had a friend who forgot the water in her cup of noodles and the microwave in her dorm was shared by the floor, they had to evacuate the whole building and needless to say she never admitted it was hers XD) and sunflowerchrysalis!