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Meredy awoke to the sun shining on her face. Yawning she turned over a few times before her bladder finally forced her out of bed. Afterwards, she went to put the kettle on. There was nothing like a cup of her beloved coffee in her own kitchen of her own flat. Her eyes fell onto the lacrima on the counter, and she wondered how she had forgotten to take it with her to bed.

The night had been long, she remembered. Party preparations had been straining, she had had a glass of champagne or two and then there had been Juvia whom she needed to check on, it dawned on her. Since the water mage had fainted with a smile on her face, the coffee could come first.

Pouring hot water over the pestled beans, she waited for it to brew. Her attention shifted back to her lacrima, so she picked it up.

103 missed calls.

Meredy's eyes nearly popped. Jellal! Her thoughts raced. Erza. The baby! She only had time to grab her boots on the way out, sprinting down the hill and into town, stumbling as she tried to put them on midway. Puddles splashed under her socks, then boots – a thunderstorm had roared over Magnolia in the dark of the night, but she had not heard.

She cursed to herself, lungs burning, mind screaming.

Two weeks, he had said; two weeks to go. Then again, they had found out by chance, and how precise could the old hag determine time anyway? Another thought hit, because they all blindly trusted in Porlyusica's abilities. What if it had come prematurely?

Was it even of use to go to their house? Were they at the hospital? At the guild? No, at Porlyusica's hut for sure. Where did that human-hating lady live again? She did have a house, right? Considering it too late, Meredy missed the turn to Lucy's place where she could have sought answers. Her feet were flying, soaring across the cobblestone and to their house. She prayed the key had not dropped out of her pocket – she would have to cut down the door, she swore.

A premature delivery. Birth complications. Magic overload. It all howled through her mind like a hurricane, adrenaline pulsing rapidly through her veins.

She was still panting by the time she arrived at their house. Swiftly, she unlocked the front door, then stopped in her tracks. Everything was silent. A shudder of fresh panic ran down her back but she forced herself to be quiet as she removed her boots. Her heart was hammering wildly.

Perhaps they were gone, she thought. Perhaps they really had gone to the hospital – or been picked up, it hit her more forcefully than anticipated, gory scenes playing in front of her inner eye. If Erza had not made it, Jellal would have already followed her, Meredy knew, swallowing a thick clod in her throat.

Perhaps nothing had happened at all – a malfunctioning lacrima was all there was to it. She could not convince herself to believe that. He had not been drunk, and he always played everything down. This was real.

Cautiously, shakily, Meredy pushed against the ajar door of the bedroom. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the half dark. Then they widened, a hand flying up to cover her mouth.

The end of the bed was covered in towels, stained with blood and water and other liquids, partially having soaked through into the sheets. More towels were scattered across the floor, and there was a dagger next to a cooking pot of bloody water with… something resembling an organ inside. An organ with a cord attached – the umbilical cord, Meredy suspected. So then…?

She ventured a peek towards the bed.

Erza was there. Lying on her side, a blanket covered her up to her ribs. Her skin was pale and flushed at the same time, glistening with dried and fresh sweat. Her hair was a mess. She was breathing peacefully, exhaustion written all over her now relaxed face.

Meredy's heart stopped when she caught sight of the bundle of terrycloth in front of Titania's chest. A little pink face was poking out. Erza had her arm around it, her forehead resting against Jellal's, who laid on the other side of their petite treasure. He was holding his wife gently with both arms around her waist, a faint smile on his lips even now.

Meredy felt her eyes water at the sight. She was so taken, she needed another moment to realise that she absolutely had to capture the scene with her lacrima. It shook in her hand, the other never retreating from her mouth to muffle any abating pants. She froze when the baby gave a noise, cooing with its high, still weak voice.

"Mmmh," it frowned its soft forehead, reaching out a tiny hand. Both Jellal and Erza stirred. She opened her eyes tiredly, wincing when rising complaints turned into satisfied gulping as the tiny mouth had found its aim before she could have understood and offered. She held her breath for a second longer, finally relaxing. Her eyes softened as she watched lovingly, stroking down that fragile back with the tips of her fingers. It hummed into her, undisturbed and greedy with hunger.

A smile formed on her lips. She let her gaze travel upwards, meeting the warm one of her husband. Both of their smiles widened with happiness and pride. He leant in to place a long, tender kiss on her lips and she did not open her eyes again afterwards, inhaling deeply when his forehead came to rest against hers once more.

Meredy carefully knocked on the doorframe. Jellal noticed after a moment, glancing up. Surprise turned back into a smile almost instantly. She could see that there was no need for her guilt anymore, but she still felt it gnaw on her. He gave a small nod, gesturing for her to advance. Shyly, she did, only then making enough sounds for Erza to be aware of her presence as well.

She was smiling just as widely as her husband. Extending a hand – slowly, exhaustedly – she welcomed the pink-haired mage, inviting her by patting the mattress behind her. Hesitantly, Meredy sat down. Her eyes remained as if glued to the bundle in the couple's midst.

"I'm—" she started, wanting to apologise but Erza's hand found hers and she was paralysed once again. She was nearly quivering with anticipation when Erza guided her hand towards that tiniest of human beings. Her heart skipped so many beats upon touching the fine, smooth skin of the baby's hand, she could not grasp how the two coped with being its parents – her own body was reacting so strongly despite the baby not being her own. She gasped lightly when wee fingers curled around one of hers, squeezing as much as they could.

"Meet Rosemary," Erza's voice was hoarse but gentle. She was smiling so brightly, the sun itself was no match for her. Meredy felt her eyes brim anew with tears. She met Jellal's eyes, finding them to be the very image of joy; like nothing she had ever seen. They were a different kind of warm, even from when he looked at Erza. And proud. They were so immeasurably proud.

"I love her," Meredy managed with her voice squeaking and fading into sniffling. "I'm so sorry I didn't come – I didn't have the lacrima there and when I brought Juvia to her room yesterday, I—" she stopped when Rosemary let go, giving a whine. Even more guiltily, Meredy clamped her lips shut.

"Do you want me to—"

"It's alright," Jellal leant over to kiss the top of Erza's head, "miracles get to stay in bed," he lovingly cut her off. Meredy was so focused on Rosemary that she neither noticed that Jellal was shirtless, nor how there were tears standing in his eyes. She saw, but she did not register. The way he held the baby to him – clumsy yet so dearly – and how he was practically eating her alive with his marvelling stare was more precious than Meredy had been prepared for.

She frowned when seeing that his hand was bandaged, but he disappeared in the bathroom before she could ask.

"How are you?" She asked instead. Erza let out a long sigh, sinking back into the pillows.

"Tired," she said. "Jumpy, sometimes – it all went so quickly, it's almost as if it's still happening," she gathered the sheets around herself for other reasons than covering herself. "He says it has a name; it only took three and a half hours, then she was already here," Erza smiled, eyes sleepy and unfocused. "He nearly passed out twice," she chuckled.

"Labour was too much for him?" Meredy asked, starting to relax.

"No, the baby was," Erza twinkled. "He's head over heels; once she was there, he was completely and utterly besotted," she nodded towards the door. "Go on." Meredy followed the gesture.

Obviously not having been ready for the unexpected arrival, they had improvised with old shirts and fluffy towels for nappies. The results looked accordingly professional. In the place of a change unit, the new clothes basket had been repurposed, providing a makeshift but with laundry padded elevation on top of the washing machine.

All of which had been contrived and implemented on the same night of the birth – it made Meredy feel even more guilty. To her surprise, the feeling had not reached her yet this time. She was too overwhelmed; too touched by what she gladly witnessed.

Despite the lack of practise, Jellal had already finished changing his daughter. Somewhat hanging over the hamper, he cuddled the freshly filled belly with his face. Simply breathing, holding, taking in the life he had somehow managed to help bring into the world, he stood there, his eyes closed, not a single sense spared for the intruder.

Meredy's awestruck smile grew. On silent feet, she neared him. He did not startle when she put a hand on his shoulder, at peace with himself.

"Look, look," he recognised her, his glance flashing from her to the baby like a dog indicating where the treats were. She glanced down, just when Rosemary blinked her eyes open. For such a small being, she had huge eyes. The sight of them made Meredy gasp lightly.

"Your eyes…" she whispered, giving Jellal's arm a squeeze. Clueless, dark green eyes were gaping back at her.

"Why does that make me so happy…?" he asked breathlessly, at the same time not expecting an answer. She put her arms around him, neither of them looking away from the chubby pink face. He returned the gesture, and they remained there for a while. A single tear was making its way down his cheek.

"You did it," she quietly said after a minute. He nodded, then shook his head.

"I was so scared," Jellal confessed. He held out his bandaged hand, letting it hover above the baby. It was still shaking the slightest bit – or perhaps it was shaking again, the shock returning with wakefulness as it did with Erza.

"Of course," Meredy tightened her arms, and he held on to them as they kept watching slightly aimless eyes. "What happened to it?" She wiggled her arm where he had hooked his fingers on with one hand, the other looser, slacker.

"I let Erza hold it during contractions," he absently explained. "It felt sprained, but Erza said she heard something crack," he indicated the hand, then moved it back to Rosemary. She blinked in response to his touch over her belly, otherwise silently observing the world around her with sparse curiosity. She was only a day— no, a few hours old, Meredy reminded herself.

She was not overloaded with magic power, at least not noticeably. She was not weak or ailing like Jellal had feared due to the pills during early pregnancy, and she had not come prematurely in spite of no one having anticipated her arrival just yet. She was fine, and so were they. Meredy could not stop smiling on his behalf, any panic from earlier as if evaporated.

Bare feet padded across the tiles. Tiredly but with content, Erza joined them both in the hug, Meredy just as much as Jellal. He let out a deep sigh, making her smile.

"I'm still all sweaty," she mumbled, having changed into his crinkled shirt.

"Me too," Jellal confirmed. "Oh, no," he retracted his hand from Rosemary.

"What?"

"Now she'll think we always stink like this," he started to lose his cool, uncertainly seeking his wife's gaze. "What if she doesn't like us?" He whispered. Meredy's eyes softened, as did Erza's.

"I'm rather certain she likes the two people closest to her," Erza shifted to lean into him, giving a gently playful nudge with her hip.

"Easy for you to say," Jellal looked from her to the baby and back as if he did not want her to overhear their conversation. "She needs you to survive," he pouted. Jealous of nursing – that was something only he could be, Meredy thought to herself. She and Ultear had come up with many housewife-ing scenarios – most of which had come true – but him as a father was unknown territory; as predictable as it was unpredictable. Always a surprise, yet so typically Jellal.

Either having forgotten about his dilemma or too overcome by emotions, he had already picked his daughter up again, cradling her against his neck. His face dropped to her shoulder.

"She smells so good," he drawled, still whispering; still shaking lightly. Erza chuckled.

"Why don't we do the same," she stroked down his arm, jerking her head towards the shower. He looked at it, then at Rosemary, repeating the process. "Meredy can watch her; we'll be out in a few minutes anyway," she tried to convince him. His eyes were weeping, mind torn between reason and heart like never before.

The girls had to wait for another minute until he gave in. While Erza let the water warm up, already soaking her hair, he had yet to let go of his baby. Eventually, he brought her to the middle of the bed himself, and Meredy saw just how fixed he was on the tiny being when the urge to pick up the dirty towels at the foot of the bed did not kick in. He walked backwards until he had to round the corner and break visual contact.

Snickering to herself, Meredy crawled up to her new niece.

"I think someone's obsessed," she told her in secret. "Let's hope he'll practise with me, so you won't end up on a leash," she jested. Rosemary took a moment to locate the strange voice, then regarded her with big eyes. "I can't believe you're here already," Meredy grinned, sinking down.

The shower stopped not much later – earlier than expected. The bathroom door had never been shut in the first place, so it only took a couple of seconds until Jellal was back, standing in the doorway, dripping with water. Staring. Admiring. At least he had hastily put on a towel, Meredy noted with a chuckle.

Erza mirrored it where she joined him by far less nervously. Already dressed herself, she draped her bathrobe over his shoulders, then rose up to her toes to towel his hair dry. She pecked his cheek once done, relieving him off his trance. Taking her wrist, Jellal leant down to kiss her, and it eased his tensed muscles to some extent.

"I'm starving," Erza announced.

"I can make you something," he offered but she hummed negative.

"There's plenty left from yesterday. But you should eat too," she said. He nodded, contradicting himself as he crept up to the bed. Meredy retreated, watching him climb up nearly noiselessly. Like a seal, he shuffled over to Rosemary. She turned her head with effort and not without needing another moment to comprehend the direction of the noise and associate it with an action on her behalf. Her eyes were starting to fall closed again, something no one could blame her for.

Only out of the womb for a few hours and already having eaten several times, been changed twice – or more, for all Meredy knew – and carried back and forth. Not to mention a stranger's appearance. Jellal seemed as if he would follow suit any second, his lids heavy with exhaustion.

"Jellal," Erza gently reminded. He gave a hum, but not an answer. He had propped his head up on his hands, mesmerised by green eyes that fogged with sleep. He resembled a teenager engrossed in a magazine.

Sighing under her breath, Erza left for the kitchen. Meredy followed, hasting to reach the fridge first. Erza must have noticed, because she dropped into a chair, gratefully waiting until a plate appeared in front of her. She emptied nearly the entire fridge.

Afterwards, Meredy made three cups of tea.

"I can't believe you did it all by yourselves," she remarked. Erza nodded unbelievingly, though more to herself.

"It really went so fast," she retold, letting her tea's steam warm her face. "At some point, Jellal started yelling 'it's red, it's read' and I thought I was bleeding out," she said. Meredy held her breath, the sip she had taken remaining in her mouth. "He meant the hair," Erza smiled to herself. "He was so overjoyed to see it, I almost didn't feel the pain anymore," she chuckled. "When she cried – and thank the gods that she did; she cried and breathed almost immediately – but when she did, he started crying too.

"He had to wash her with that injured hand because I still had to deliver the placenta – he was so scared to drop or hurt her, I was afraid he'd pass out," she went on. "He didn't leave my side for even a second. He commanded the towels and the pot with telekinesis, and then made water and boiled it with fire magic. We dressed her in that baby romper I bought months ago, but she ruined it within under an hour," she had to laugh softly.

Meredy listened, almost spellbound as her brain conjured up the images of the story. From the sound of it all – and since having seen Jellal's state – it was incredible how the two were awake and standing. Somewhat, at least. She could not imagine how it must have been for Levy with twins, more than relieved that she had had the entire hospital's staff at her disposal.

"To think that all those restless days and nights of worrying were in vain," Erza heaved another sigh. Her heart must have been heavy with concern about her husband's fatherhood. She could not have predicted that it would all be resolved by holding his baby in his arms, and he must not have seen it coming either. He was trapped, but happily so.

Until Rosemary started crying.

Erza jolted a little in her seat, the previous horror of sudden labour rushing through her as fleetly as it vanished. She got up, but Jellal had already entered the kitchen while she caught her breath. The baby wailed in his arms. This time, Meredy saw how his own eyes had tears standing in them, his sympathy getting the best of him.

Erza had to chuckle, so Meredy allowed herself a giggle too. Retrieving her daughter just as inexpertly as he handed her over, the Queen of the Fairies sat back down. Indecisive between pulling her shirt up or down, tucking here and there but hustled by her snivelling child, Erza simply unequipped, then shoved the bra cup aside. She had to be helped for a heartbeat, but once attached, Rosemary was suckling eagerly.

Jellal – having remained unmoving until then – sank down on his knees. Erza tried to shift the baby in her arms, using her spare hand to grasp his hair. He let her, his head unresistingly dropping into her lap. By the time Rosemary was satisfied and asleep, he was too.

Half an hour of silence passed. At some point, Meredy got up to refill Erza's tea the way she had been taught the other day – lots of honey, no fresh leaves – but remained standing afterwards.

"If you want, I can go shopping," she proposed. Erza smiled gratefully, her lips tightening where she did not want to agree just yet.

"You don't have to, although…" she regarded her baby, then her husband. He was not going anywhere, she realised – at least not without her or the baby. In her sleep, Rosemary gave a moan. It roused Jellal almost immediately, a wince shooting through his body. Lifting his head, he glanced at the slumbering newborn from below, then at Erza's soothing smile. She picked up her caresses to his hair.

Setting down his chin on her knees, Jellal kept watching the bundle. Erza surrendered it to him, knowing the break he had allowed himself to be over. With both of them on her lap, his arms securing Rosemary, and his face touching the top of her head, Erza let her own arms sink.

"She ate less than before," she informed.

"So then she's taking after you already," Jellal noted. "Or perhaps not – you always eat more dessert than main course," he grinned tiredly. She flicked at him in response, but would not stop smiling herself.

"Would you mind retrieving Porlyusica first?" Erza turned to Meredy, who nodded.

"Does she let herself be retrieved?" She doubted, raising a brow.

"She better," Erza muttered to herself. "I'll show you where she lives," she said, summoning a map of Magnolia and the surrounding forests. Meredy leaned back to get a pen from the drawer. She left it open on purpose – their minds were occupied elsewhere, but they would want to make a new to-do list for all they were still missing.

While Erza drew in lines, a big X and a few small ones, Meredy peered over the table to where Jellal was hypnotised by his daughter again.

"I still can't believe you did it all by yourself," she said. "Why didn't you call someone else, come to think of it?" She asked, making him look up. Fairy Tail's healer did not have a miniature communication lacrima, but many others did – not to mention those who knew the location of Porlyusica. "Erza's lacrima is full of contacts of the guild—"

"I was having a baby, okay?" Jellal pouted, feeling attacked. The light blush on his cheeks told as much.

"I was, sweetheart," Erza calmly said, giving his head a pat. Meredy held back a giggle.

"Same difference," Jellal grumbled.

"Tell that to my nine months of pain," Erza retorted, but it was obvious how much she was enjoying their verbal blow exchange.

"You didn't even know the first four months," he stuck out his tongue. It prompted her to take his face with both hands and pull him up into a kiss, something he did not fight in the slightest. When she released him, he returned to peck her lips again. It seemed to revive them as much as it mellowed them, the tension easing more and more.

Meredy left with the map while the couple sauntered back into the bedroom. She had not yet reached the outskirts of Magnolia when somebody knocked on the door to the house.