"Papa, Mom, Happy look! Both beds are so big! And soft!"

Upon entering their inn room for the weekend, Nashi began jumping back and forth the two queen-sized beds in euphoria. The family had gone to the town of Gazania, where the Sabertooth guild resided. Since she had come to the future, other guild had heard of her presence in Magnolia. Of course, they all thought that it was their time's Lucy, but Fairy Tail quickly cleared up the misunderstanding with the blonde woman's permission (granted she did not think they needed it, but they insisted).

Once everyone was aware that their Lucy had not come back and that it was a past version of her, there were still some that would like to meet her for old times sake - one of them being Yukino. The four of them would go to Sabertooth tomorrow, but thought it would be good to arrive a day earlier so that they could show Nashi around. The last time she had been there was when she was still a baby when her mother was still around.

"Alright Nashi, that's enough jumping around," Lucy said as she and Natsu put their bags of things away into a corner. "You don't want to use all you energy before we go out into town, do you?"

That made the peach haired girl immediately stop jumping and landed on her bum on the bed while giggling. "No way!"

The peach haired girl immediately put on her shoes and went to grab her backpack. Unzipping the bag, she dug through it while the other three just watched her curiously. She took out a little notebook and Lucy could not help but gasp at it. The book looked similar to her diary, but was slightly bigger and clearly new. Nashi began flipping through its pages, stopping somewhere in the middle and showing them the list she had written down.

"Whatcha got there firecracker?" Natsu asked crouching down to meet her eye level.

"It's our to-do list!" she replied while posing, her right hand that held the book in the air and her left on her hip.

"Oh? So what are we doing today, Nashi?" Happy asked, climbing up Lucy's body and settled himself on her shoulder.

Lucy followed Natsu and crouched down to meet Nashi's eye level so that she and Happy could also see the list; visit the market and buy souvenirs; eat at a diner in the town's square; have dessert in a café; play at a park nearby; take pictures wherever possible and to top it all off, have fun with her family. Lucy and Happy's hearts warmed the more she went down the list while Natsu shared his usual toothy grin at his daughter while ruffling her hair.

"Well will you look at that, our little Firecracker did all the planning for us, huh Luce?"

At his words, Lucy felt her cheeks heat up. Ever since visiting Natsu's home to play with the rest of the kids, she had become more hyper aware than ever, that she and Natsu would eventually fall in love and grow a family together. As much as she considered the fire dragon slayer one of the most important, if not the most important, person in her life, she never thought she would be looking at him as anything more than that.

Her mind went back to that altar near the stairs in his, their, home. The wedding photo of her future self and Natsu. The blonde wondered how her future self felt that day. It was a smile that she had never seen on herself. Even big and brighter than the one she remembered wearing when she first joined Fairy Tail. She had always been grateful to Natsu, and try as she might to deny it since arriving in the future, Lucy wondered when that gratuity turned into love.

Of course, she would never admit that to Natsu - current or future self. Knowing the Natsu from her time, he would not understand what she meant and assume she loved him in a nakama sort of way - like how everyone feels about the guild and tease her about it. She thought back to what everyone told her when they went to their first job as a team, about how exactly she and Natsu became a couple. Considering how stubborn she was and how dense Natsu is in his line of thinking - they were definitely a pain.

"Mom?" Nashi asked, breaking her out of her trance.

"You okay, Lucy?" Happy added to which she nodded.

"Oh yeah! Sorry about that," Lucy apologized before standing up. "Come on, we gotta go before the town gets crowded!"

The other three matched her energy and got up as well, Natsu and Nashi posing together like they were about to head into a fight. "Aye sir! We're all fired up now!"

And did the group of four do everything that was on the peach haired girl's itinerary and more, the father and daughter duo causing chaos while Lucy and Happy tried to disassociate when things got a bit too much. The blonde had to admit though, she had gotten so used to Natsu acting like a father that she did not expect for him to indulge Nashi with his goofy side. But then again, Mira did say that before her future self disappeared that Natsu still did what he wanted.

It was safe to say that he figured out a way to do both of their jobs for Nashi. While Happy was telling her about what to expect when they go to Sabertooth the next day, she watched Natsu and Nashi eat dinner after their exploring was done. Even though they started their own eating competition, Lucy could easily tell that Natsu was purposely holding back to match Nashi's pace. She had not seen him do anything like that since they babysat Asuka for Bisca and Alzack.

On their way back, Natsu walked ahead while carrying Nashi piggyback-style. The child was slowly falling asleep and the rocking motion while he carried her was making it difficult to keep her eyes open. Happy was being carried and Lucy's arms, yapping away while the blonde's gaze was fixated on the pink headed slayer's back. She did not know why, but her heart felt so light but full at the same time.

"Say Happy," she spoke up, causing the exceed to stop talking and look at her.

"Yeah Lucy?"

"Why didn't you join Natsu and Nashi in their eating competition?"

The exceed blinked at her before giggling to himself, causing her to raise an eyebrow. "I guess you could say I grew up a little," he replied with a smug grin.

"Oh come on," Lucy replied, poking his cheek. "I'm serious you know."

"Hehe, yeah. I know," he said before looking ahead to focus on the father and daughter. "I've been with Natsu for a real long time - he raised me and is my best pal ever. But when Nashi was born, and Carla and I got together, I decided to reel it in a bit."

"You serious?" she asked in disbelief, causing the exceed to nod.

"Don't get it twisted - I will still bicker and be crazy with Natsu when I get the chance, but in the end, we all grew up a bit after the kids were born."

The two of them shared a smile, and Happy made Lucy swear to not tell Natsu anything he said; something along the lines of 'Natsu will deny him of ever growing up' which made Lucy chuckle before promising. Eventually, they all got back to their inn and went to bed. Natsu and Happy on one bed while Lucy and Nashi slept in the other. All four of them with the most peaceful and satisfied looks on their faces.

"Lucy!"

"Yukino!"

The two celestial mages fave each other the tightest hug; Yukino bawling her eyes out while Lucy hugged her back just as tightly. Just like everyone else, Yukino was just grateful to see Lucy - regardless if it was a younger version of the one she knew. The blonde woman could easily tell that she missed her older self just as much as Fairy Tail. They did share a strong bond since they were both celestial spirit mages after all.

Natsu and Sting greeted each other with a fist bump while Happy urged Nashi to greet Sting and Rogue's children; a platnium blonde girl named Sierra and a midnight black haired boy named Riku. The peach haired girl stayed behind the blue exceed, feeling very shy while the two other children just stared at her with curious eyes. This was the first time each of them met another kid that's not a part of their respective guilds and neither knew how to act.

When Natsu noticed his daughter being more quiet than usual, he crouched down next to her with a concerned look. "Hey firecracker, what's wrong?" he asked. "You got a tummy ache."

Nashi shook her head and immediately went to hug her father, but did not break whatever stare down she was having with Sierra and Riku. "I think she's just feeling a little shy," Happy explained.

"Ohhh..." Natsu said before a grin formed on his face. "Don't sweat about it Nashi! If they're anything like their dad's I'm sure they would be down for a guild brawl!"

"Uh sorry to burst your bubble, Natsu," Sting spoke up as Rogue approached them since Minerva also went to talk with Lucy. "But our kids are very well behaved and don't cause brawls."

"No thanks to us anyways." Rogue added.

"Hey!"

"Nashi is plenty responsible too, Sting!" Natsu retorted, crossing his arms while puffing his chest out in pride. "She's just also crazy strong so she can't help but wanna fight like her dad."

With the tension between the three dragon slayers rising, the three children mentally facepalmed while rolling their eyes in unison. Happy, who was joined by Lector and Frosch, also sighed, already foreseeing how the conversation was going to go. He had half a mind to ask Lector to bet on how they each thought the conversation would end, but ultimately thought against it in fear of the chance he might lose.

"Sierra is pretty strong too y'know," Sting retorted again. "I just don't think it's worth to use her magic right now."

"Oh I don't doubt that. I'm just saying Nashi's stronger."

"Wanna bet?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth."

Within a second, while Rogue rolled his eyes along with the kids and the exceeds, Natsu's flames covered his fists and Sting's aura covered his body. The rest of the guild, remembering the last time the white and fire dragon slayers brawled inside their guild hall, immediately hid behind the various counters on the first floor or fled to the second floor. Some were excited to watch the fight while some could only hope there was minimal damages in the end.

Nashi and Sierra glanced at each other before turning to where Lucy and Yukino talked without a care as to what the dragon slayer's were doing and ran over to them in unison. Riku knew exactly what Sierra was doing and sighed to himself. He did not know what Lucy would do, but knowing his aunt, she was not gonna let his uncle go without a bruise or two. Well, she seemed to be in a happier mood than usual so he thought perhaps she would be lenient.

"Mom!" Nashi called.

"Mama!" Sierra followed.

The two celestial mages and Minerva turned to look at the two girls and instantly noticed what was going on. Lucy was not so surprised by Natsu's behaviour, but she flinched when she saw Yukino's demeanor changed to something like whar Aquarius looked like whenever she bothered her. "Sting."

The white dragon slayer turned to his wife with a sheepish look, forgetting about Natsu who stood dumbfounded at the reaction. "Honey... we weren't gonna-"

"You were and I don't care," Yukino said, putting a stop to his upcoming excuse and placing a gentle hand on her daughter's head. "We don't need a repeat of what happened the last time you two fought in here."

As Yukino ranted, Sting, Natsu and Sting's eyes travelled down to look at Sierra, whose grey eyes went from big and innocent to mischevious as she stuck her tongue out at her father. The two dragon slayers were flabbergasted while Nashi chuckled, catching the other girl's attention. They exchanged a look of acknowledgement and fist bumped each other from behind their mothers' backs. The two supposed they could get along after all.

Minerva, who had gone to join Rogue, Riku and the exceeds, also noticed the exchange between the two children and exchanged a knowing look with her husband. "It seems the guild is going to get more chaotic from here on out."

"To be honest, we should've known it would be like that when Sting became master," Rogue replied.

"Hey, I could've told you that." Lector said.

"Fro thinks so too!"

"Aye sir!"

"You've gotten scarier, Yukino," Lucy noted aloud. "Being married to Sting must've been a lot."

When the white haired celestial mage finished her nagging, she chuckled at Lucy's comment. "When your older self was still around, we bonded often on how extreme both Natsu and Sting could be."

Lucy blushed at those words. "Y-Yeah?"

Yukino nodded. "Sting and I started dating quite a bit after you and Natsu got together. I would always go to you for advice on how you keep Natsu in check."

"I can imagine."

"We both had our fair share of chaos."

The two turned to look at Natsu and Sting, who were bantering with their daughters. And by bantering it was more like the two fathers were trying to chase their daughters while said daughters were taunting their fathers as they ran. Somehow along the way, Rogue, Riku and the exceeds were brought into the mix. Nashi had taken Happy ,who grabbed onto Lector and Frosh for dear life, and Sierra took Riku. Rogue running for both his exceed and son.

"Say Yukino," Lucy spoke up. "Was it... weird when Natsu and I got together?"

The other celestial mage thought to herself for a moment. "You probably heard enough from the others in Fairy Tail, but..." she chuckled before continuing. "When you two became a thing, just know the world cheered."

"Huh!?"

Yukino nodded. "Yup. You'd be surprised how many people were betting and rooting for the two of you. The amount of work that everyone put in to speed up the process was just baffling."

"We were that bad?"

"You'll see at your own pace." The two of them began to make their way to the others. "You're still quite a few years away before the two of you get the ball rolling."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

As the two continued to watch the others mess around, Lucy rested her right hand where her heart was. She could feel it ache in a way that was unfamiliar but not painful. The more she learned about Future Natsu and Nashi, and the more people shared their knowledge of their relationship, the more she thought about things she never otherwise would think about her Natsu. It made her miss him more and made her wonder if he was doing okay.

I wish you could see this Natsu... I hope you and everyone else are okay.