Sting's mornings had become a wretchedly unpleasant routine. One that consistently began with a bout of dry wretching. It left him trembling, his throat raw, his stomach empty but aching so badly that he had to remind himself he needed to fill it.

Whether Rogue was there to help take care of him or not, he'd learned the routine. Warm up ginger tea. Or wait for his lover or Lector to brew it for him. Drink. Rest a few minutes. Have a glass of orange juice. If that stayed down, There were homemade muffins in the fridge. Rogue had sweetened them, since that seemed to help, and made sure to always have some kind of fruit mixed into the batter. (The current batch was apple.) Should those run out while Rogue was away, there was a bakery a block down the street that sold doughnuts, and Lector and Frosch could run down there and buy Sting a batch.

Rogue had been away often, lately. Sting sometime found himself eating the muffins at lunch and even dinner time, when he looked at the leftover Rogue had stocked for him and felt queasy imagining himself eating them, and he ended up either sending the cats for doughnuts or going to buy them himself more often than he liked to admit.

He understood the logic behind Rogue being gone. They had another kid on the way and one of them was no longer helping to support the family financially. Add to that how close they came to going broke when he first became pregnant, and it made sense to Sting that Rogue try and gather up a savings for them to fall back on should anything happen. That didn't mean he didn't hate it. Ever since the incident years ago where Rogue had come home claiming to be pregnant despite them having never slept together, ever since Sting, feeling betrayed, had turned Rogue away and then felt for the first time what it was like to be alone, Sting hated being apart from Rogue for too long. That their separation had resulted in Rogue quickly attaching himself to Natsu didn't make Sting feel any better. He didn't doubt that Rogue was his and his alone, but that shock when he'd gone to apologize to Rogue and seen that the love of his life had turned to someone else in his absence still resurfaced whenever they were apart too long.

At least Rogue tried not to be gone for too long, taking jobs that he could finish before nightfall, so he was usually there to crawl into bed for Sting to snuggle with.

Except Rogue had agreed to go on a three day escort job with Gray. For as high as it was paying, Sting didn't blame him. He did plan on guilting Rogue into staying put for a little while once he came home, but he didn't blame him for taking the job.

He was curled up on the couch, munching on a chocolate glazed doughnut and watching Alex and Frosch's tea party, when he caught an unpleasant scent and realized that there was a second disadvantage to Rogue taking that job with Gray. He'd split up Gray's team in doing so, making the rest of his team mates less likely to go out on some job or another until they returned.

The upside to that was that it meant Erza was more likely to be around to come and help if Sting was so sick he couldn't properly look after Alex. The very massive downside was that Natsu was prone to hanging around town.

Sting didn't need to get up and open the door to know who knocked, but Lector and Alex looked curious. Also, making Natsu wait at the door was a good way to get your door kicked in.

He forced himself up and over to the door, and his hand hesitated there. While the part of him that idolized Natsu growing up hadn't died out completely, things hadn't been… smooth between them. Really, the whole of the Grand Magic Games had been a disaster on that front. One that was eclipsed by the two of them fighting over Rogue for the next nine months after. They'd parted on such bad terms that they hadn't spoken or even deliberately maintained eye contact in the two years since.

So what was Natsu doing, paying him a visit?

He opened the door and put his focus into looking displeased. "Rogue's not here."

Whatever Natsu had planned to say, this disarmed him completely. Sting bristled seeing that. He and Rogue had been together since they were kids, and Rogue had only gone to Natsu briefly when the two of them hit a rough patch. For as awesome as Rogue was, Natsu needed to not freeze like that after two years.

"I know," Natsu said finally. "I wanted to see Alex."

"Why?"

"Because Erza left town with Kiseki to visit Jellal this morning, and Alex is the only other little kid I know."

"Go play with Asuka."

"She isn't little enough anymore," Natsu protested.

"Why do you even need to play with a little kid? You're an adult. Find someone your own age and do adult things with them. Act your age for once."

Natsu narrowed his eyes at Sting, who realized that was the pot calling the kettle black. But rather than call out that point, the roset said, "Let's make a trade. You show me how to play with Alex, and I'll teach you how to cook without burning everything."

"Maybe some other time. I'm a little sensitive to smells at the moment, so I'd like to keep the cooking to a minimum." There was plenty he could learn to make that wouldn't use ingredients with smells that upset him. In fact, the fridge was stocked exclusively with foods that pregnant Sting found less offensive to the nose. But he wasn't going to admit that any sooner than he would admit how badly it bruised his pride to be offered lessons in how not to burn everything from Natsu.

"Well… maybe I could play with Alex now, and then give you lessons later? You know I'm good with my word. I can make you lunch, while I'm here. I got pretty good at cooking while… So I'm sure I can make you something you'd like. And if you aren't feeling well then wouldn't it be good to have someone to help you with your daughter?"

Natsu got to be good at cooking because that was how he spoiled Rogue. Rogue, who was good at cooking despite despising the chore because Sting couldn't cook, had been delighted during his time with Natsu to be the one someone else cooked for. Sometimes, when he was frazzled while making dinner, Rogue might let slip that the recipe was one he'd picked up from Natsu. Rogue had plenty of specials already, but every single recipe he took from Natsu was a quality one, and Sting could only imagine the effort the roset put into making those meals for Rogue, trying to hold on to him even after Sting came back into the picture and begged Rogue to return.

"How do I know you won't poison the food?"

Catching himself before he said something awful had always been a weak point of Sting's.

They both went rigid when he said it. It had been two years. Two years since Natsu said he couldn't take the competition between the two of them anymore, and that he was giving up on Rogue. Two years of Natsu avoiding them. Of them avoiding him. After two years it seemed like the animosity between them ought to have worn off. For Natsu maybe it had. He hadn't even been with Rogue a year, and Sting had seen him with Lucy since. But it was no small matter to Sting. He'd been dead set on being Rogue's, on Rogue being his, since the two of them had met a decade ago. Natsu had been the interloper who tried to take his Rogue away. Who came so terrifyingly close to stealing his beloved, his daughter, his everything. And two years of not sitting down and trying to smooth over the friction that caused between the two of them had done nothing to calm Sting on that front.

Natsu, who had been smiling moments earlier, pressed his lips into a thin line, eyes widening a second before going narrow.

"Not while you're pregnant. The kid did nothing wrong."

"Goodbye."

Natsu stuck his foot out, blocking Sting when he tried to slam the door shut. Of course. He wasn't fighting, so he was kidding himself thinking he could physically force Natsu to go away. Granted, that yelp when the door smacked into Natsu's foot had been pretty damn satisfying.

He glared at the fire slayer, bracing for whatever verbal jabs might come his way, and was completely unprepared when Natsu shook his head and spoke.

"Sorry. I'm not here to fight with you. Really. I want to make amends."

"Rogue's not here."

"Really, Sting. I'd like things to be friendly between us. Us. Me and you."

"Rogue—"

"I know he's not here, stupid! Gray told me they were leaving the other day, and his scent's too weak anyway." Natsu scowled. "I don't want to see Rogue."

"Sure."

"I left him."

"Congrats. You beat him to your breakup."

Natsu growled, but couldn't say anything to that. He had, after all, ended things in large part because he'd come to the conclusion that Rogue was never going to let go of Sting. Even if he thought they could have made a good couple in the blond's absence, he'd known he was never going to have an absolute victory.

"Look, Sting. I'm over Rogue. Really."

"Really."

"Really!"

"So you've been avoiding Rogue because you don't feel anything anymore?"

"No… it's just…"

There was no good way to tell Sting the real problem. That he didn't want Rogue falsely accused of disloyalty again—even if Natsu was the only one Rogue had actually cheated on. That even if it no longer hurt to think about how he hadn't been enough, there was still some part of him that felt like he ought to have fought harder, that regretted backing off whenever he heard Rogue laugh or saw him smile. That he'd been genuinely excited at the thought of helping Rogue raise a child, and now he saw the baby girl that had almost been his tagging along behind her mom and dad, never even noticing him.

Sting would take the first as an attack on his character. He hated being reminded of how he'd hurt Rogue. Especially by Natsu. The second he might take as a sign that Natsu still had some intent to try and take Rogue back. The third might get him punched in the face. Sting adored Alex, and as the biological father, had despised the idea that Natsu might raise her if Rogue chose not to return to how things had been before learning he was pregnant.

"It's just awkward with him. After everything that happened. We're past that… but then what if the subject came up? I don't want it to look like I'm trying to come between you two, but if one or the other of us said something, and it made us remember something from while we were living together…"

Sting had yet to stop glaring. Natsu took it as a sign that it wasn't a good subject to discuss with the white slayer either.

"I know how to make fudge. I even brought ingredients for that. And I promise you I don't have any poison on me. All I want is to make friends with you."

"If I weren't pregnant, would you have brought poison?"

"No. And you would have gone off on a job with Rogue anyway. And I wouldn't have had the chance to talk to you. I don't want to poison you. Honest. Just don't be mean. I'm trying to make a friendly gesture. We're guild mates. We should get along better."

Sting continued to glare as he considered the situation. Natsu, it seemed, had no intentions of leaving, and he couldn't force Natsu to go. If memory served, Natsu was about as good with kids as Sting was with cooking, but he and Lector would both be there to make sure nothing went wrong with Alex. And fudge sounded good.

"Fine. It's Alex's nap time soon. You can join her tea party and make fudge once she's asleep."

Grinning, Natsu stepped in and looked around, spotting Alex on the floor on the other side of the couch. She paid him no heed, instructing Frosch on how to properly drink pretend tea. Frosch, of everyone in the apartment, was the best to pair off with Alex when it came to this game. No one else took it so seriously.

"I figured Frosch would go on jobs with Rogue," Natsu said to no one in particular.

"That's how it usually goes. But Rogue asked her to stay here." In case something went wrong, and one or the other of them to run out and get help. So there could still be someone there to watch over Sting. Which was silly. Sting knew that Rogue had worked while pregnant and spent plenty of time more or less alone. Why Rogue kept watching him like he might suddenly fall apart, Sting had no idea.

Not that he minded. Even if it was a tad overbearing at times, having Rogue pay so much attention to him was nice.

"Ah. That so?" Natsu shrugged, thinking little more of it, and went to sit down beside the two. "Hey? Mind if I join in?"

Alex looked up at him, studying the near stranger, then looked to her dad for a verdict.

It hurt Sting to be honest. "Natsu's a nice man. You can play with him."

She wordlessly passed Natsu a little plastic cup.

While Natsu did his best to be a part of the tea party, Sting made himself comfortable on the couch, watching closely. It might have been more fair to let Natsu know that Alex was at the age where it was common for kids to be shy around strangers, but then being fair to Natsu wasn't high on the list of things he wanted to do. Alex wasn't so timid that she needed to hide from someone her parents gave their thumbs up to, but she wasn't keen on talking to Natsu in her little toddler babble, and Natsu quite clearly had no idea what to make of that.

The next twenty minutes were entertaining enough for Sting, watching Natsu fumble for a topic he could engage Alex with. She poured him a new cup of imaginary tea whenever he set his cup down, but otherwise ignored him, instead telling Frosch about the dinner party they needed to dress up for later and all the cake they needed to have ready for when the bear queen joined the party. (Rogue, for whatever reason, had brought no shortage of teddy bears with him when they set up Alex's nursery. Sting had no idea which one the queen was. He suspected it changed regularly.)

When Alex began to nod off mid tea pouring, Sting scooped her off the ground. Natsu followed the two of them as Sting carried her to the nursery and set her in her crib, pulling her blanket over her and setting the cat plushie she'd been given for Christmas and her favorite stuffed dragon down with her.

He paused a moment, then said to Natsu, "She's old enough for it to be safe."

"For… what to be safe?"

Given the horrified look on Natsu's face, Sting didn't want to know what the roset was imagining them doing to his sleeping daughter.

"For her to have soft toys with her in bed."

"Why would that not be safe?"

For a completely different reason than usual, Sting thanked the heavens that Rogue had chosen him in the end. Suddenly, the idea of Natsu raising his daughter made him feel uneasy in a whole new way. Poor Alex wouldn't have lasted a month with this idiot.

His horror must have been evident on his face as well, because Natsu looked down and said, "Little kids are hard."

"Yeah. They are." And there was another baby on the way now, which would double the work.

Sting absentmindedly rubbed his stomach.

"I thought that… " Natsu shook his head. "How far are you? Is there a bump yet? Rogue tried to hide his as long as he could. I only got to see it by accident."

Sting hadn't had a chance to see Rogue's pregnant stomach until the shadow slayer's most form concealing clothes no longer did the job… but that was his own fault. "My clothes aren't really meant for hiding anything," Sting admitted. "It's only been eight weeks. I haven't noticed any outward changes yet. Now, what was it you were thinking?"

Natsu grunted.

"You practically forced your way into my home. If you wouldn't let me enjoy my afternoon in peace, I'm not going to let you change the subject."

"I promised to make fudge, didn't I? I should get on that."

"You should. And while you make it, you can tell me about this thing you were thinking of."

-o-

Sting let Natsu work in silence while he measured on the ingredients, but once he got to mixing, the blond spoke up.

"So whatever you really came here for, why couldn't you bring Happy?"

"I really came to get on better terms with you, and to play with Alex."

"And your motive for that?"

"I don't like having guild members who I don't get along with."

"And you thought insisting that you engage with my daughter, my daughter who you almost prevented me from being able to raise, was going to get you on my good side?"

"No. But I didn't realize you'd be this touchy about it."

"So why did you want to play with Alex?"

In part, it was because, like Sting, Natsu had wanted to raise her. He really had liked Rogue. He really had meant it when he said he could be Alex's father, since Sting seemed to be out of the picture when he made the offer. Even if he'd been woefully unprepared to care for a baby, he'd been excited for it all the same.

But that was the last thing he was going to admit when Sting all but confessed to hating him near Alex. Natsu gave the other reason, the main reason, instead.

"Lucy and I are together."

"I thought so."

"She asked. A few months ago."

Sting raised an eyebrow. "Her?"

"Well, I…" Natsu blushed. Taking the initiative was more his thing. He'd dove head first into a relationship with Rogue. But after how that ended… "I suppose I was being cautious. She got less and less subtle, but I didn't want to make a move until I was sure. And then she beat me to it."

"Ah."

"Anyway. We haven't been dating that long, but we were already pretty close. She was talking about families and stuff, and it made me remember what Rogue said, when he'd openly compare the two of us. He said that he had to consider what was best for Alex on top of what he wanted most, and he thought you would make a better father. No matter what I tried to get good with raising kids, I never changed his mind on that one."

"Well, I never learned to cook," Sting said, rather than admit to just how much time he spent studying up on child rearing when he realized how seriously he needed to make it up to Rogue for not believing that their baby was really his—even if it was Rogue who had done a terrible job of explaining how that was possible. "So you thought you'd practice on my kid before having one of your own?"

"Yeah."

Natsu could out blunt both Sting and Rogue, and if he had an ounce of tact, Sting hadn't seen it.

"I can keep making sweets for you guys. And I'll only come when Rogue's not here. I'd really… Until your baby's born at least, I think it would be best if we kept avoiding each other." No sense in stressing Sting while he was pregnant. "I mean, he'll be able to smell that I was here, but we don't have to see each other. I can come to help with whatever, so long as he isn't around. And you can supervise while I'm with Alex, if you want. Is that alright?"

Sting considered it. Keeping Natsu and Rogue apart sounded good to him. As far as he knew, that wasn't a guarantee if he didn't make this deal. So long as he watched closely, Natsu shouldn't be able to do too much to Alex with his well intentioned ignorance, and if he tied down with Lucy and started his own family, Sting would never feel any worry about Natsu still vying for Rogue again. There was also the that Rogue was good at making pies and cakes and ice cream, but that was his entire repertoire of sweets. Being pregnant had intensified Sting's sweet tooth beyond belief.

"That depends."

"Depends on what."

"How good the fudge is."

Natsu grinned. "We have a deal then."