Firstly, I'm still on my hiatus (for those that didn't know, there's a note on my profile). Secondly, I just really wanted to post this now, because I figure this is the one that people are most interested in seeing me update right now? I don't know.

In that moment, Bickslow was wishing harder than he'd ever wished for anything before that it really wasn't Laxus' voice he'd just heard, and that he was sleep deprived to the max and just imagining it all. Really.

He'd been expecting Laxus and his team back in a few days, not right fucking then. He'd really been wanting those few extra days to figure out just how the fuck he was going to tell them he had a daughter, and if anything, he'd kind of wanted Lucy to be there to help him, too. You know, for moral support. Because Lucy was really great and being morally supportive because Lucy was just awesome like that.

Except Lucy wasn't there, because Lucy was off with her own team, doing what she wanted to do because Lucy didn't exist solely for his benefit – or his daughter's benefit, really. But that only meant that Bickslow had to deal with his team on his own. He really didn't want to. Not at all. He would literally rather admit that he really fucking loved The Notebook and it made him cry every time Evergreen made him watch it at three in the morning, and that, was a secret he was going to take to the grave.

But really, maybe it wasn't the worst thing that his team were back early and Lucy was off doing Lucy things, because Bickslow couldn't rely on her. He couldn't get too used to her (well, any more than he already had) being there all the time, or her being there for him. He needed to remember that it was just him. It was always just going to be him, and everything with Lucy was just temporary. She'd just been helping him get his feet flat on the ground.

And even then, the more he thought about it in those short seconds after hearing Laxus' voice – his mind was running way too fast for its own good – Bickslow was realising that it was probably a good thing Lucy wasn't there right then. He was strangely fucking terrified of Laxus right then, and the man had said all of five words. But Bickslow was scared of Laxus finding out about Lucy – or more accurately, him and Lucy, because Lucy was the off-limits girl and he'd been the genius to fuck the off-limits girl.

That was grounds for Laxus wanting to murder him, in Bickslow's book, and he valued his life, strangely. And considering Bickslow was still sure he had absolutely no idea how to actually act around Lucy without feeling like he was a teenager with the most obvious crush in the entire world (honestly, it sucked), Laxus would find out regardless if Lucy was actually there right then. And by under no circumstances could Laxus find out about them sleeping together.

Ever.

Hell, Bickslow was probably just not going to bring up Lucy in a conversation with Laxus ever again. It was for his own safety, really.

So after quickly finishing up with putting the pillows on the bed and glancing over to Scarlett's bassinet by the window, Bickslow was clearing his throat and dashing over the open door. "I'm here," he responded, and he quickly cleared his throat again just as his voice barely cracked. He was off to a great start, obviously, but he decided that it was probably best he leave Scarlett in there with the babies for a little while before he bring her out to meet his team. That way, he'd be able to break the news to them somewhat calmly and then he could bring his daughter out. So Bickslow just made his way out to the end of the hall to greet his team and let his nightmare begin. "Didn't expect you guys back for a few days," he said.

Laxus only stared at Bickslow for a second longer than usual before he just shrugged and traipsed over to the kitchen from the end of the hall. There was something wrong with the Seith mage – something bothering him, maybe – but Laxus wasn't all that interested in finding out, to be perfect honest. Probably just in one of his moods. "Yeah, well, the job was easier than expected," Laxus responded as he pulled the fridge open and stared at the shelves. "Got any orange juice?"

"Um… Try the other door," Bickslow mumbled.

"Are you feeling better now, Bickslow?" Freed asked then from where he sat on the lounge, cup of tea already held in his hands.

Bickslow only blinked. "Huh?"

"You said you weren't feeling well before we left for that mission," the Runes mage explained, eyeing Bickslow with concern. "You still look a little tired now, though. And you're wearing your glasses again, too – another migraine?"

Did I say I wasn't feeling well? Probably. Bickslow couldn't even remember. "Um, yeah… I'm, uh… I'm fine," he mumbled again. "Just a little tired and got a bit of a headache. Nothing major."

"Are you sure?" Evergreen asked. She laced her arm through Bickslow's as she came to rest her head on his shoulder and look up at him. She was worried about him, and sometimes, Bickslow couldn't tell who worried about him the most between the three of them. "You don't look okay. Should we go and just let you get some rest?"

Oh, if only she knew how impossible that was now. But Bickslow only shook his head – he didn't want them to leave yet – and smiled down at her weakly and answered, "I'm fine, Ever. Really. You don't have to go." Evergreen looked reluctant to accept it, and she gave him her famous scowl, but Bickslow only quickly stuck his tongue out at her before he freed his arm to turn her back towards the lounge in front of them. "In fact, I kind of need you to stay, because there's something I need to tell you…" He figured he should probably just get it over and done with.

"What? You finally got someone knocked up or something?" Laxus teased from the counter he was leaning on, mint ice-cream in hand.

Bickslow only wondered how the fuck he could be wanting to eat ice-cream right after drinking orange juice, as well as try and figure out why that was always the first thing Laxus assumed when there was something he needed to tell his team. Of course, it was uncannily true that time, but still, it kinda stung when he assumed it… "Fuck you, Spark Plug," he muttered.

"No? Okay, what about…" Laxus continued with his guessing game quickly, only pausing to get another scoop of ice-cream. "You've finally decided you actually like dick and you hate pussy and you're really just as gay as they come?"

At that point, Freed only sighed into his hands, and Bickslow found himself remembering just how many days it had been since he'd called Laxus a cunt. It had been thirty-four. He knew Laxus only meant it as a joke, because the guy was too awkward in social situations (even with them) for his own good and didn't really know what was appropriate and when most of the time (well, when he wasn't trying to be an asshole, anyway), but the man was quickly irritating Bickslow, and when he was exhausted and stressed, that wasn't a good thing. "Laxus, shut up."

"Still not hitting the mark? Damn. Alright, how about—"

"I swear to god I'm going to punch you if you don't shut the fuck up."

Laxus only stared at the Seith mage glaring at him from the opposite side of the room and nodded mutely, taking another spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth. Bickslow could hurt when he wanted to. Laxus almost thought people were lucky he wasn't fond of violence – or, really, getting physically involved in altercations himself.

And so with Laxus finally realising that he should just listen (and with Evergreen and Freed glad that he'd realised that), Bickslow sat down on the shorter side of the lounge and rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses, only resting his elbows on his knees. Where the hell did he even begin with that? Could he literally just sit there and straight out say 'Surprise, I have a daughter!'? Probably not. Bickslow couldn't do that. This wasn't Gajeel or Levy; this was his team. It was different somehow.

He just didn't know how to start…

So Bickslow decided to just go with the flow and see where his stupid big mouth took him. It was always interesting when he did that – more often than not it had landed him in a cell for the night for doing stupid shit. But with everyone waiting, Bickslow decided to just get it over with.

"I should probably begin by saying that I lied," he mumbled, still rubbing his eyes. "I was feeling fine when you guys left for that job."

"If you just wanted to take some time off, you could have just said so, Bickslow," Freed stated.

"I know that. But that's not why I did what I did." He looked up to find three sets of eyes focusing on him, two more worried and curious than the other set across the room, and Bickslow only sighed. It was now or never, wasn't it? "Turns out, I have a kid," Bickslow admitted a little reluctantly, and he quickly glanced up to Laxus to add bitterly, "So I suppose your first guess was right."

Laxus only shrugged and took another spoonful of ice-cream. "I mean, it was bound to happen at some point," he mumbled, mouth still full. "But good job, Bix. Life lesson there, for ya."

Shaking his head slightly and ignoring Laxus, Bickslow continued, "But basically, long story short is that the kid showed up at my door that morning, and since I didn't know what the fuck I was going to do, I just didn't tell you guys. I just wanted to kind of figure it out on my own, you know?"

Freed nodded. "That's understandable, but Bickslow, a child is a big thing… You should have come to us."

"Didn't want to get you involved 'til I knew what was going on."

"And do you now?" Evergreen asked. She was almost hurt that Bickslow hadn't told them and that he'd kept it to himself, because they were his family and they were supposed to be able to be there for each other when things like that happened – though Evergreen was still finding it a little difficult to believe that the man before her was biologically a parent, or so he assumed.

Bickslow only nodded.

"So, what?" she pressed. "What's going on now? What's happening with this supposed child of yours? Are they with their mother?" Evergreen wanted to assume so, because for the life of her, she couldn't even imagine Bickslow actually raising his supposed child. He was just… incapable of that, wasn't he? At least with how he was then, she thought.

But Bickslow grimaced. That was the natural thing to assume – that his daughter was with her mother – so he didn't even blame Evergreen for asking… But it kind of hurt, because he knew what she thought, too. He knew she didn't think that he could actually do it, and he knew that Freed would probably think the same, and hell, so would Laxus. But Bickslow still didn't even really think he could do it himself. Lucy was really the only one who truly believed he could, and had from the beginning.

And that was what Bickslow was remembering right then, over it all, as he got up without a word and went down the hall to go and pick up his daughter. And then, when he was back in the living room with all three of his best friends just staring at him in silence – Laxus dropped the spoon right from his mouth – and his daughter in his arms, Bickslow only said, "No. She's with me, because I'm keeping her."

"You're… keeping her?" Freed whispered.

"You can't just keep a baby, Bickslow," Evergreen cut in. "That's not how it works. I'm sure her moth—"

"Her mother doesn't want her, so yeah, I can just keep a baby," Bickslow finished for her. "She quite literally left her at the door, claiming that she ruined her life. Her mother's gone. I'm not. And right now, I've all she's got." To Scarlett, he was really her entire world; he was everything to her, and Bickslow had never been someone's everything. Not until her. But it was a feeling he loved.

Evergreen only watched as Bickslow sat back down where he had before, and when Bickslow smiled down at his supposed daughter, Evergreen only thought that it looked almost… natural. Like it wasn't the first time he'd done that, and like he almost looked comfortable and like he knew what he was doing right then. But Evergreen couldn't really understand that. She couldn't understand how not even two weeks earlier, Bickslow hadn't even known the first thing about babies… But now, he'd been looking after one that was his own for the entire time they'd been gone. She couldn't understand how so much could change in such a short time, because honestly, right then, it was almost like Bickslow was a different person.

Just somehow, there was something different about him.

Almost like he'd somehow miraculously developed a sense of responsibility. And Evergreen had thought she'd never live to see the day that happened.

Still, it was almost nice. She couldn't even begin to wrap her head around it, because never in her wildest dreams had she ever pictured one of her best friends keeping a baby under those circumstances – wouldn't it have been wiser for him to give her up like her mother had? – but maybe she didn't even need to be able to wrap her head around it. Evergreen wasn't sure.

But when the room remained awfully silent, Bickslow's eyes only remained glued to his daughter (how could they be anywhere else when she was awake and in his arms? He'd already admitted defeat) as he only sighed and said, "Just say whatever the hell it is you want to say." He needed them to get it all off their chests now and not later. He needed to hear that they doubted him – he knew they did – and he needed to explain himself, for some ungodly reason.

He couldn't sit in silence.

It was Laxus who decided to go first, though, right as he was grabbing another spoon from a drawer and putting the dropped one in the sink. "Why not give the kid up for adoption or some shit?"

"Because I don't want to," Bickslow answered.

"Bickslow," Freed cut in gently. "It's not just a matter of whether you really want to or not. You have to take what is best for the child into consideration, too."

"I know that." Admittedly, it hadn't taken him very long at all to decide what to do, but he didn't care. He knew what he wanted, and he could be what was best for her. Or so he'd try to be, anyway. "I did think about that. I didn't take it that lightly, you know. I'm taking this seriously."

"Okay, that's great if you are…" Evergreen began slowly. Bickslow could still see how sceptical she was. "But are you even sure she's yours? I mean, her mother could have just wanted to have nothing to do with her so desperately that she just left her on the nearest doorstep…" It hurt her to even think about someone doing that, but she knew there were truly horrible people in the world, and there would be someone, somewhere, would could do that to a child.

Bickslow really did have no doubts about him being her father. None at all. He'd even had a paternity test done when he'd been taking Scarlett for her check-up, just in case by some stroke of misfortune she really wasn't his, and he'd gotten those results back just the day before, surprisingly. Unsurprisingly, though, the kid was his. "Positive," Bickslow said. "She's most definitely my daughter."

"And you're positive that this is really what you want to do?" Freed asked, gesturing to the infant in Bickslow's arms. "A child is a huge responsibility and commitment, Bickslow."

"I know that."

"And you're ready for that?"

Bickslow shrugged. "I've made up my mind. I'm not changing it," he said. Bickslow knew why Freed was asking that, though, because even Bickslow knew how weird it was. Him, who had no concept of responsibility and had never committed to anyone or anything in his entire life, suddenly wanting to take on what he thought was the biggest responsibility there ever was. But that didn't bother him. Raising Scarlett was still what he wanted to do.

And they could each see that for whatever reason, Bickslow was serious about it. He rarely bothered to find to motivation to be committed to something, but this… This was different. His team could see that. They seemed to realise then that whatever they said or pointed out, it wouldn't matter. Bickslow had made up his mind in the time they'd been gone, and there really was nothing changing that. He was wanting to be there for his daughter, and even if they didn't quite understand how that was even possible for Bickslow – not yet, anyway – they saw how he was believing in himself right then.

And maybe that was what was important. Maybe the fact that Bickslow believed in himself enough to look after his daughter himself and take on that responsibility was what mattered, because if he didn't have that faith in himself, he wouldn't be there and telling them any of that at all.

But his team knew they had to believe in him, too. They were his family, and they had to be there for him. And now, that just meant helping him with his daughter, because undoubtedly, Bickslow would need it.

So then Freed and Evergreen were suddenly on either side of Bickslow, leaning over him and looking down to the infant he was still holding. "So does she have a name?" Evergreen wondered, fiddling with the hem of the soft white blanket she was wrapped in.

"Scarlett."

"Ooh, what a pretty name!" Evergreen whispered. "How'd you come up with that one?"

"Uh… I don't really know," Bickslow mumbled. He couldn't really say that Lucy had come up with it. Oh no. Laxus was already looking at him weirdly right then. It was making Bickslow uncomfortable. "Just did."

"How old is she?" Freed asked from Bickslow's other side.

"Nearly three weeks old."

"Aw, so small! So precious!" Evergreen sighed. "Can I hold her?"

Bickslow nodded before he carefully handed her to the Fairy mage. "Be my guest," he mumbled, then he was getting up from between the two mages, leaving them to discuss how cute his daughter was, and crossing over to the kitchen where Laxus still stood. He wasn't there to talk to Laxus, though – even though Bickslow was worried about his silence for once. He was there because he really needed something to drink – or maybe to eat – because his chest was still really fucking hurting for some reason.

So he grabbed the carton of strawberry milk (because strawberry milk was like, to die for) and a glass from the cupboard, then leaned back on the counter next to Laxus and slowly sipped from the glass. "You don't like it, do you?" Bickslow quietly and finally observed. It wasn't really a question, because Bickslow knew what he said was true.

"It's just weird," Laxus replied. "You need more mint ice-cream, by the way."

The Seith mage sighed and watched the man beside him drop the empty container into the trash. "Figures," he scoffed.

"But… Yeah, it's just weird. 'Cause it's you," Laxus said again. "Why the fuck do you even want a kid? They're loud. And messy. And you gotta look after 'em."

Bickslow smiled. "I know that, but I don't care. She's my kid and I love her."

"Ugh. Don't tell me you're going all soft now, Bix."

"Never."

He arched an eyebrow at the Seith mage and looked to him from the corner of his eyes, a smirk on his lips.

"Okay, maybe just a little," Bickslow admitted. But it was for a good cause! "But…" he began, just a little quieter. "I know it's weird. Trust me, I do. Because really, who the fuck would be stupid enough to leave me with a baby?"

"The mother, obviously," Laxus said. "Who is she, anyway?"

"Honestly, I can't even remember. I know her name is Katie something, but that's it."

"Seems familiar."

Bickslow shrugged. Whether or not or name was familiar wasn't important. "Still, though," he continued. "I want to do it. You know, I want to… To be her dad, because that's what I am. I want to be able to do this, and I… I know I can, too." Well, sort of. Lucy knew he could, and that seemed to be what was stopping him from having an existential crisis, because he believed more in Lucy believing in him than he did himself. It was odd, to say the least.

But he still didn't really care.

Laxus only sighed and patted him on the shoulder. "Well, it's been nice knowing ya, Bix."

"Oi, I'm not dying, you asshole."

"Close enough."

Lucy had been home for less than hour before she was storming out of her apartment to go over to Bickslow's house, of course with his precious jumper in hand.

The fact she was going straight to Bickslow's after getting home wasn't really that much of an issue. She'd been planning on going to see how he'd been over the last few days once she was back anyway, just because she'd missed him a little (a lot). But… Lucy had originally wanted to spend a few hours at home first, then maybe head over there in the afternoon after stopping by the guild or something…

But then, after she'd cleaned herself up after getting back from the job and kicked Natsu and Happy out because her apartment wasn't an inn, she'd gone to pay her rent that was due, only to find out it had already been paid. And of course, Lucy had asked her landlady what her unnamed rent-payer had looked like, even though she'd already had a feeling who had done it, and unsurprisingly, 'tall guy with blue hair and a baby' had been her landlady's answer.

And then she'd been grabbing Bickslow's stupid favourite jumper (because she'd actually remembered to wash it before she'd left) and storming out of her apartment, not even an hour after getting home, because she had to go and yell at Bickslow for doing something as stupid as paying her rent.

Just what in the world has possessed him to decide to do that? She didn't need Bickslow paying her rent, nor want him pay her rent. She could handle it on her own, thank you very much. She was a big girl. She could take care of herself and pay her bills on time.

Had Bickslow thought otherwise, though? Had he thought that she wasn't capable of looking after herself? Lucy didn't know how Bickslow could have possibly come to that conclusion, because she certainly hadn't wanted him to assume that. All Lucy could remember was mentioning that her rent needed to be paid and that it was mostly the reason she was taking the job at all… But she certainly hadn't meant to make Bickslow think it was some kind of hint. Seeing it as a hint was a stretch, the way Lucy saw it, but she could see how Bickslow could have seen it as one at all.

Still, whether it was her fault or not that Bickslow had felt it necessary to pay her rent for her, she needed to go yell at him about it, because it wasn't the kind of thing that she could just let him get away with. And paying him back was just as important as yelling at him, because she really could afford to pay her rent, contrary to what he probably thought. Just… yelling at him would be more enjoyable. Way more enjoyable.

So Lucy let her anger carry her all the way to Bickslow's house, up the path – she noticed he managed to take the Halloween decorations down while she'd been gone – and up to his front door. She didn't knock, as usual, because it was unlocked already so she didn't even need to use her key, and instead she just quickly pushed it open. "Bickslow, I swear to go—" The sound of the door slamming closed behind her coincided with her voice dying in her throat.

His team was back.

His team was back early.

His team was back early and were staring at her.

And really, Lucy didn't think she had ever seen Bickslow looking so panicked. Not even over the last two weeks.

"I… Uh… Um…" Lucy wished she was able to either turn invisible or control time right then. She wished for the latter more, though, just because then, she would be able to pretend she hadn't just walked into literal Hell. It was almost tempting to just turn right the fuck around and run back out the door. But Lucy couldn't do that, because that would require her explaining just why the hell she'd decided to walk in shouting as it was.

…But if I do walk out, then Bickslow would have to explain it. That could work, right? Wait. No. No, it will most definitely not work, because he'll probably just tell them I'm a psychopath or something. Damn it.

She was going to have to explain it regardless, it seemed. Lucy didn't like that. At all.

But she had absolutely no fucking clue how she was going to do that. Just like how she had no fucking clue how walking into Bickslow's living room right then had simultaneously made her chest stop hurting, and also made her start feeling like she really fucking needed to be there right then. It was almost like how she'd felt when they'd ended up on the lounge room floor trying to tickle each other to death, just… worse.

So. Much. Worse.

But she was trying hard not to think about that particular issue. It was too weird.

Bickslow cleared his throat then when his team and Laxus were suddenly looking at him instead of Lucy. With the look Laxus was giving him, he figured he had all of five seconds to start explaining why, one, Lucy was there and walking in like that, and two, just why the fuck she was wearing his clothes now, too. The latter was something he was confused about, too, if he had to be perfectly honest, but Bickslow knew how bad it looked, because his team knew just how much he loved he loved that particular item of clothing – they'd only been giving him hell about it for years.

But he had to explain before Laxus killed him and they got the wrong idea. His life quite literally (probably) depended on it. "Um, so, uh…" Bickslow began carefully, clearing his throat again and only quickly glancing towards Lucy as he slowly slinked towards the end of the counter. Moving was an experiment of sorts. "I, uh… I had help with Scarlett. Sort of."

"Lucy was helping you?" Freed asked.

Bickslow nodded. He was at the end of the counter then, just a couple of paces from Lucy. The fact he was feeling slightly calmer and anxious at once (honestly, didn't they cancel each other out?) was almost as scary as Laxus was. But weird feelings he could figure out later. Or at least try to. "Y-Yeah. She was."

"So you went to her instead of us," Evergreen stated bitterly as ever.

"Maybe I should go…" Lucy mumbled. She didn't exactly want to stick around to hear whatever it was Bickslow's team, and especially Evergreen, thought of her now. She didn't even really want to think about why Bickslow hadn't felt the need to bring up the fact that she'd been helping him while his team had been gone until she'd walked in the door. It probably meant nothing; he might've just not had a chance to bring it up.

But Bickslow didn't want Lucy to leave. He wanted her there more than he wanted his team there. A lot more. He reached out to gently grab her arm when she turned for the door. "No, don't. Please," he said softly, and then he was just as quickly dropping his hand from her arm and bringing it back to his side. That was… weird. Why the fuck did that feel so weird? Weird like that time he'd first kissed her, almost. But Bickslow almost didn't want to know what it meant. So he just looked back to his team, all still sitting by the door, and he felt a shiver run down his spine.

He really wasn't doing a good job of making them think nothing was going on. Even if there was something going on, his team, and especially Laxus, were literally the last people on that earth that needed to know about it.

So he just cleared his throat, tried to ignore Laxus – scary and confused Dragon Slayer was scary – and attempted to keep himself somewhat calm as he responded to Evergreen. "Yeah, I did," he said. Really, he was just a little offended by what she'd said.

"…Why, though?" It wasn't really like Evergreen had any issues with Lucy herself. It was just that Bickslow had gone to her over them, and she just really wanted to know why Bickslow had chosen Lucy of all people over the three that were the closest to him. What was so special about her? What was it that only Lucy could've given him then that had been Bickslow's reason for keeping the fact he'd found out he had a daughter from them? That was all Evergreen wanted to know.

"Because she's a good person and I knew she wasn't going to judge me as much as everyone else would."

Ouch. "But—"

Bickslow didn't give her a chance to get another word in before he added, "And I'm not going to apologise for going to Lucy instead of you guys, because she's been more supportive of me doing this than the three of you combined from the beginning." He knew that if he'd told his team instead of Lucy, he probably wouldn't have decided to keep Scarlett. He would've started doubting himself too much. And he was glad he'd gone to Lucy instead.

But after a moment of uncomfortable silence, where Bickslow only wondered if he'd been just a little too harsh, Freed sighed and set his hand over his fringe, simultaneously breaking the silence and fixing his hair. Again. "Well, I do suppose that's true…" Freed said. "We weren't exactly the most understanding of your decision at first…"

"You did keep it a secret from us, though," Evergreen mumbled.

"I could've told you before and you still would've been assholes about it," Bickslow pointed out. "I'm not going to be sorry for keeping it from you any time soon."

Evergreen only huffed and sunk down into the cushions on the lounge.

And then the horribly uncomfortable silence came back, and Bickslow just had no idea what to do. He really wasn't sorry at all for what he'd said – though he still did wonder if it had been just a little mean, because his team did have good intentions and they were really just looking out for him – and he most definitely wasn't sorry for not telling them when he'd found out. Evergreen could whine about that for the next eighteen years for all he cared. But with the silence… Bickslow just had nothing.

Laxus was still bothering him the most right then, too. It wasn't Lucy, whose presence alone was borderline driving him insane in a way that he couldn't even tell was good or bad. It was Laxus. It was always Laxus. And that… That was definitely bad. Because Bickslow really didn't want to be thinking about Laxus. That shit was weird.

But Laxus had been quieter than usual that morning. He'd kept his comments to himself (for the most part), and Bickslow had gotten over it and tried his best to stop worrying about it – just Laxus things. But then Lucy had walked in, and she'd honestly kind of just screwed everything up. She hadn't meant to, of course, but that was what she'd done. From the time that Laxus and the rest of the Raijinshuu had shown up, and from the time that Lucy had come to yell at him about something (Bickslow had a feeling it was about her rent), they'd reached an… understanding. They all understood that he was going to keep Scarlett, and literally nothing they could say would change his mind. And Bickslow understood that although his team may not have been all that supportive of the decision he'd sprung on them, they were still there, because they were a family and families stuck together. And the weirdness and awkwardness had mostly gone away when the understanding had been reached.

Or at the very least, Bickslow had just started ignoring the weirdness as best he could.

But then Lucy had walked in, and all of that weirdness and awkwardness had come back. And sure, Bickslow realised he could have saved himself and Lucy some of the pain if he'd just straight up brought up the fact he'd had help with Scarlett over the last nearly two weeks. But he hadn't, just because he'd been so set on not bringing up the fact that he'd spent way too much time with Lucy over the last week and a half, because he really didn't want to give Laxus any more reasons to question what was off with him. Laxus had already picked up on the slightly weirder than usual behaviour, and the last thing Bickslow had wanted was for him to notice how fucking terrified he'd have become if he'd brought up Lucy in a conversation.

He'd had no choice but to do that, of course. And of course he was gonna fucking defend her (and himself, sort of), because he couldn't exactly let Evergreen come even close to offending her. But maybe defending Lucy hadn't been the best idea… Not when Laxus had been there. Because now, Laxus' silence was making Bickslow wonder if he'd be safer moving back in with his parents. At least Laxus couldn't kill him there, and really, he couldn't die.

If he died, they'd find out who he kind of, sort of, put down as a temporary guardian for Scarlett. Though at least if Bickslow died, he wouldn't have to face the wrath that would come from it…

Still, Laxus having not said a single word since Lucy had walked in was creeping Bickslow the fuck out. Was Laxus plotting his murder? Was he waiting until it was just them so he could kill him? Was he thinking of ways to torture him for going anywhere near Lucy?!

Bickslow was convinced Laxus could hear how fast his heart was beating, he was panicking that much.

Well, that was mostly the reason. But surely Laxus couldn't know the other reason… Right? There was no way he could know about them sleeping together… Oh god. Does he already know? Because if Gajeel had figured it out, then Laxus surely could have too… But it had also been like, three days since Lucy had been there. They couldn't possibly smell like each other still – which, honestly, still made his skin crawl. So Laxus couldn't know. That was impossible.

But Bickslow still wanted to know just why the fuck Laxus was looking at him like that. Then again, maybe he should just forget about it all, pack his things, grab Scarlett, and run the fuck back home to the opposite side of the country.

Yes, that seemed like a good idea.

Little did Bickslow realise, of course, was that Laxus was merely wondering just how Lucy had come to be in possession of that stupid hoodie that Bickslow adored so much. He could sort of see why Bickslow would've asked Lucy for help. Sort of. She was smart and relatively unbiased, and, well… She was really great friends with Bickslow, too.

But the hoodie, Laxus had never quite figured out why Bickslow was so attached to it, but whatever. He figured Lucy must have stolen it or something and Bickslow had suddenly grown up, now that he was a father and all, and just hadn't cared. Chicks always stole clothes, didn't they? Laxus was pretty sure Lucy still had at least two of his purple shirts somewhere in her apartment from when they'd been dating. Even Cana was in possession of a few of his shirts, not that Laxus really knew why since the woman didn't even wear shirts in the first place…

But speaking of Cana…

Laxus was bored. He'd been at Bickslow's long enough as it was, and he had a bit of a headache from when the kid had started crying, and he really didn't want to be there the next time it happened.

So that time, it was Laxus himself who broke the uncomfortable silence, not that he thought it was uncomfortable at all. And he merely sighed and got up from the lounge and grabbed his coat from the back of it. "Well, I'm out."

Bickslow didn't know what else to do other than just stare at him. Had he missed something? He was so confused!

"Should probably go find Cana or somethin'," Laxus mumbled. She'd most likely be awake by that point, considering it was close to noon. She'd probably already be well on her way to drunk again at the guild. When he got to the door, the one that Lucy and Bickslow – a very dumbfounded Bickslow, for some reason – were still standing by, Laxus only smirked down at the smaller blonde and lifted his hand to her head to ruffle up her hair. "Later, Blondie," he chuckled. He only just heard her call him an asshole under her breath

Aside from really not finding it all that odd that Lucy had been helping Bickslow, just because she helped everyone with everything – too much, sometimes – Laxus was just a little surprised that she'd managed to put up with Bickslow and his kid for nearly two weeks. He was sure anyone else would have gone insane. Laxus knew he would've. But Lucy had miraculously survived, and really, as much as he wanted to stay to find out just what the fuck Lucy was wanting to yell at Bickslow about, he really did have more pressing matters to attend to. Or… people, to attend to.

Or really, he just wanted to be anywhere where there wasn't a horrible infant that already annoyed him and he'd known her for less than two hours.

He could find out what Bickslow was going to get in trouble for at another point in time, and maybe, just maybe, what had been so off about him. He'd never really been able to drop it, but Bickslow didn't seem to be letting it bother him too much so Laxus had kept quiet.

When the door closed behind Laxus, still leaving Bickslow more dumbfounded than ever, Freed and Evergreen took that as their cue to leave, too. They could check on Bickslow another day. "Uh, well, we should best be leaving, too," Freed said.

And once Evergreen had followed him out and the door was closed and the house silent once again, Bickslow just stared at the door and tried to figure out what had just happened. He was just so confused. Laxus had left without making it even seem like he was out for his blood. And, sure, that was a really great thing, because Bickslow hoped it meant the guy was really none the wiser to the fact that there was really most definitely a something going on with him and Lucy – some-fucking-how. But it was still confusing as all hell.

Right then, though, Bickslow really wasn't interested in thinking about Laxus. With everyone else gone, Laxus was the furthest from Bickslow's mind, because literally all he was thinking about right then was Lucy. It was like he needed her right then, like his life seemed to depend on her in that moment. And he really fucking wanted her, too. But it wasn't as much as he needed her, because he could feel that part of him, the one that was somewhere deep inside of him, almost… hurting, all because he somehow needed something from Lucy.

He hated that feeling just as much as he hated the fact he didn't know why he felt that way at all – still.

But figuring out why he felt like that – and just what the fuck had happened to make it like that in the first place – could come after. Right then, all Bickslow wanted to do was make it stop. And faster than Lucy could even see it coming, Bickslow was turning and cupping her face with his hands, and roughly bringing his lips down to hers.

Because somehow, Lucy Heartfilia of all people had become his addiction and his cure, all in one. He really wanted to know how, too.

And even if Lucy had had a fight in her, she'd lost it in a matter of seconds. She couldn't even really remember why she was there in the first place. Even if she could remember, Lucy doubted it was as important as letting Bickslow pull his jumper off over her head as they almost tripped over each other's feet going down the hallway.

"You can yell at me later," he quickly mumbled before he threw the old hoodie to the bottom of the stairs.

Right. Because she'd been meaning to yell at him about her rent. She could remember now. Lucy only gave a small nod. "A-And… And where's… Scout?" she managed to ask breathlessly when her mouth was unoccupied for another few seconds, Bickslow's instead finding the side of her neck.

"Asleep. Upstairs."

Then, when it came time for Bickslow to lose his shirt (what, with all the bases covered between her yelling at him and where Scarlett was), right as he found himself being pushed back to the edge of the bed, he only tore his face away from Lucy's just long enough again to take his glasses off. But then her hand caught his wrist and she was murmuring right against his lips, "Keep them on."

She fell forward onto Bickslow's chest as the last of the tremors began to run through her, and she didn't have the energy to hold herself up any longer. She barely heard the almost inaudible moan he let out when her walls continued to flex around his shaft – not over the sound of her own breathing. But right then, Lucy just didn't have the energy to move. In a few minutes, she'd move. Probably. Bickslow didn't seem to care right then either though, only having moved one of his hands from her thigh just to drape his arm over her waist, so that was good, too.

Because really, Lucy was kind of comfortable. Like, way too comfortable, considering the fact that he was still inside her, and that… was something that probably, admittedly, would have made her feel a little weird if it had been anyone else… But Lucy really was just too comfortable to care. And strangely incredibly happy, for some reason. But for another minute, Lucy was just going to lie there, on Bickslow, because she was comfortable and happy.

Somewhere between the time she'd gotten to Bickslow's house that morning to yell at him about her rent – which she still had to do, but she really didn't feel like yelling at him anymore – and that moment right then, Lucy had realised that Bickslow had somehow been the reason she'd felt so strange while she'd been gone. She had seemingly gone past the point of no return, not even really questioning just how that was even possible, just because she doubted it could be anything other than what she knew to be true somewhere deep down. Somehow, Lucy was certain it had something to do with Bickslow.

And it always did come back to that something, which was a fact that really did worry Lucy now, because she still didn't really understand what was happening.

But there was a part of Lucy that didn't even care to find out what that something that was different actually was. Why did it even matter? Wasn't the fact that she was enjoying things all of a sudden the important part? Did she even really need to figure out just why being away from Bickslow made her so uncomfortable all of a sudden? Or, how she could feel almost drawn to him from seemingly needing him – or anything from him, really – so much? Was it absolutely necessary that she find out just why she could probably just lie there with Bickslow for the rest of the day and be blissfully content?

The bigger part of Lucy, the one that didn't like being in the dark, thought they were questions she needed answered. Weird didn't seem half as bad as it had a few days earlier, just because she knew Bickslow had needed to be with her right then as much as she had, and had seemingly missed her more and more with each day she was gone like she had too… But it was suddenly the kind of the weird they couldn't just acknowledge and move on from.

It wasn't really something they could just ignore anymore, that much they'd both silently come to realise. But as much as they both had come to realise they couldn't ignore, nor wanted to ignore it, nothing was going to be dealt with at that exact moment in time.

Lucy only sighed into his shoulder when she found it in herself to do something other than just lie on him – but she still didn't really move. Or open her eyes. Not yet. She only lifted her head slightly and mumbled, "You paid my rent."

Then Bickslow sighed as he reached up to pull his glasses off and place them on the nightstand, then let his arm return to where it had been around her. He wasn't even questioning why he was wanting to hold her at all, just because the fact he was comfortable like that seemed to outweigh the fact that he really fucking hated post-sex cuddling. Or anything close to it. "Yeah. I did."

"You shouldn't have."

"Wanted to," he mumbled. He'd figured Lucy would be at least a little mad at him over it, but he could deal with that. Even right then, where he was pretty sure he was actually close to falling asleep.

"I didn't want you to, though," Lucy said, slowly beginning to push herself up. "I didn't need you to, either."

Bickslow managed to open his eyes again to look back up to her then, and almost had to fight to keep them open as he said, "I know you didn't." Really, he knew. "But I wanted to do something nice for you, since you're still refusing to let me do anything to show you how grateful I am for you right now." And besides, she'd spent almost an entire week at his house, so it seemed kind of fair he pay her rent for that month. Sort of.

She let out another sigh as her lips curled up into a smirk. If he's so set on thanking me… "Well, you could always just thank me like this," she murmured.

"What? Thanking you by fucking you?"

"Maybe." And maybe the worst part was that Lucy thought it was a pretty sweet deal. "But… I'm paying you back for my rent, you know," she continued, getting back to the topic at hand.

"No you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"No. Don't be stubborn," Bickslow insisted. "And even if you do pay me back, I'm just going to go and pay it again anyway."

She only gave him a stern look then and she frowned down at him. "At least promise me you won't do it again." Lucy could probably deal with just letting Bickslow having gotten away with paying that month's rent, but not again. If he did it again, she would most definitely be paying him back, and if he paid it again after that, she would keep paying him back.

Bickslow nodded and rolled his eyes after a second. He'd lost that one. "Fine. I won't pay your rent again."

"Good," Lucy nodded in turn, then looked down to where their hips still met. Right. Should probably move… Moving seemed like a good idea. "So, uh…" she began softly, sitting up and letting him slip from her so she could sit on the edge of the bed instead. "How'd your team take the whole Scarlett thing?" Small talk. Small talk also seemed like a good idea.

Sort of.

Well, it was better than silence while she put her bra back on, which thankfully, hadn't disappeared that time.

Bickslow only groaned into his hands as he brought them up to his face. "I don't even know," he sighed. "They don't like it. I know that much. But I think they've accepted the fact that I'm serious about it all, which is good, I suppose…"

"But you wish they were more on board with you keeping her, don't you?"

"Basically."

"I'm sure they'll come around eventually."

"Yeah, maybe," he mumbled, turning his head on the pillow to watch her as she reached for her shirt. Bickslow couldn't help but let his eyes wander down from where her hair reached just above the band of her bra, to the swell of her hips… and to the large purple bruise on the back of her left hip. He rolled then (moving required energy and he had so little of it, but he was still surprised he could move at all), and he reached out to lightly let his fingers trace around it. "Wait, how'd you get that?" he asked, suddenly worried about her.

She looked over her shoulder as she pulled her shirt on over her head, then a nervous peal of laughter was slipping past her lips when she realised what Bickslow meant. "Oh. Uh, just from being clumsy, I guess." She'd gotten the strap of her bag caught on an armrest on the train on the way back, and she'd somehow fallen back and onto it. "Nothing to worry about."

"Hurt much?"

"When you're poking it, yeah."

He quickly pulled his hand away and let it rest behind her on the mattress instead. "Right, sorry," he mumbled again, followed by a sigh into the pillow as he found himself getting too comfortable again, sprawled out across the middle of the bed as Lucy got up to retrieve the rest of her clothes and head towards the bathroom.

And by the time Lucy was coming back into Bickslow's room, dressed and cleaned up, she was stopping just outside the closet, and staring towards the bed in the middle of the room.

Bickslow was seemingly out of it. Like a light. Dead to world. And Lucy couldn't help but find it a little funny. She'd been out of the room for like, five minutes at most, and yet Bickslow had fallen asleep. "Is he really asleep right now?" she whispered, just staring to the Seith mage still sprawled across the middle of the bed with his arm out where he'd left it.

"Think so," one of the babies answered as it flew over to him, three of the others trailing behind.

Honestly, she probably would have been kind of offended had it been anyone else, because how in the world could anyone fall asleep that quickly after sex, especially when she had been the one to do all the work?

But she really wasn't, because she knew how tired he was, and, well… He was kind of adorable when he was asleep. He just looked so peaceful and comfortable and Lucy figured it was best he just let him get the sleep he needs. And when the babies went and held the edges of the blanket between their wooden bodies to pull it up from his waist to be draped over his shoulders, and he only sighed sleepily and curled into it, Lucy couldn't help but roll her eyes before she turned on her heels to leave him in peace.

When Bickslow woke up, it was dark outside. Slowly opening his eyes, he stretched his arm a little further across the bed to turn on the lamp. If it was one thing Bickslow was certain of right then, it was that he didn't want to get out of bed. He was so warm. And so, so comfortable. And naked. Very naked. And he felt like he could probably sleep for another year, he was still that exhausted…

But if it was dark, then he'd already slept for way too long as it was. And he couldn't really sleep for long stretches at a time anymore – he knew that – because of Scarlett, and… Oh fuck. Scout! Shit. Fuck.

Had he managed to sleep through her crying since he'd put her upstairs for her nap when his team had been there earlier? Had something happened to the babies to make it so they couldn't come and wake him up just in case?

Just why the fuck was his house so quiet?!

Bickslow was getting out of bed so quickly he almost got himself stuck in the sheets. He pulled on the nearest clothes he could find – the ones he'd been wearing earlier – and he was still putting his arms through his sleeves by the time he was sliding to a stop at the end of the hallway to the sound of Lucy almost laughing her ass off at him. Bickslow was sure he let out of the biggest sigh of relief in his entire life right then. "Jesus fucking Christ…"

"Y-You should see y-yourself right now," Lucy giggled hysterically. Even the babies were giggling along with her now – well, the immortal ones. The mortal baby was just lifting her head slightly from where she was lying on Lucy's chest.

"Shut up," Bickslow grumbled. Why did she have to laugh at him, huh? Laughing was mean. Especially when Bickslow knew that Lucy was damn well aware why he'd most obviously made himself look like a fool and been close to having a heart attack. But really, considering the fact that Bickslow now knew that his daughter was most definitely safe (and probably happy, too, which was always good), he could deal with Lucy laughing at him. He only let out another sigh as he collapsed down onto the lounge next to Lucy in the corner, and he said softly, "You stayed. You didn't need to."

"Well, aside from the fact that I don't mind staying, you didn't really give me much choice."

"Could've just woken me…" he mumbled, then he felt himself almost cringing as he added, "Though I'm sorry I fell asleep like that… That's, ah… Yeah. Sorry. I promise I don't usually fall asleep straight after sex."

Lucy was laughing at him again now. "You sure? That's the… third time you have, isn't it?"

"Okay, for starters," Bickslow lifted his hand to begin counting on his fingers. "First time didn't count because it was the middle of the night anyway, right? And you fell asleep straight after too, so don't even fucking go there, Cosplayer. And I'm going to assume you're counting that round when Scout woke up after as well, but that doesn't really count either because I'm pretty sure that was at something stupid like four o'clock, and we were both half asleep then anyway."

"Okay, okay…"

"As for this time, though… Well, uh…" Yeah, Bickslow didn't really have an excuse for that time, and Lucy knew it. He just shrugged and looked away sheepishly. "I don't know. I've slept like three hours in the last twenty-four hours. I'm tired, alright?"

"And that's why I stayed, you dork," she giggled again. "You needed to sleep." She already knew that Bickslow hadn't exactly been sleeping at all over the last few days. She'd guessed it first, because Bickslow had only been getting a few hours each night, mostly just before dawn, before she'd left for her job. But then the babies had told her that he really hadn't been sleeping at all while she'd been gone.

She still hadn't minded staying, though. Even if Bickslow hadn't been asleep, she probably still would've ended up staying – if Bickslow hadn't wanted her to leave, that is – partly because she didn't really have anywhere else to be, but mostly because she just liked being there. Too much.

But even with Bickslow being asleep for the last seven or so hours, Lucy had had fun. Sort of. She'd been a little bored at times, because she hadn't wanted to make too much noise, and she didn't really want to do anything that Bickslow thought inappropriate, since she really was still just a guest… But she'd had fun. She'd had Scarlett all to herself all afternoon, and she loved the kid – too much – and the babies had kept her company, too. Well, maybe it was more of a case that she'd kept the babies company, because at some point when she'd been watching a movie and Scarlett had been asleep, she'd had the babies in her lap or in her arms and they'd been purring. But they'd mostly just been telling her all of Bickslow's secrets.

Sort of.

Still fun, though.

The next time Bickslow was coming back down the hall – after he'd so elegantly told Lucy that he 'really needed to piss,' at which point Lucy had only rolled her eyes – he was heading straight for the kitchen, leaving Lucy to continue playing with Scarlett. "I'm really fucking hungry." He knew it was close to 8 p.m. then, meaning he really had slept the entire afternoon, but it also meant he hadn't eaten since the time his team had been there. And, well… He really was hungry.

"Oh! That reminds me, actually."

He turned away from the fridge to arch an eyebrow at the blonde on the lounge.

"I was, uh… I was kind of guessing you'd be getting up soon anyway," she began, a small smile on her lips. "And I figured you'd want something to eat, but I mean, I can't cook, so I ordered some food from Eight-Island." It was one of the few places in Magnolia that could do deliveries, just because Yajima took lacrima orders and had a strange fondness for Fairy Tail, despite all the trouble they'd caused. She shrugged before continuing, "It think it will be here soon now, actually. I hope that's okay…"

"Oh. Awesome." Saved him having to make anything. And do dishes. He hated doing dishes.

"I didn't really know what to get for you, though, so I just ordered—"

Bickslow waved his hand to cut her off as he sat back down next to her. "I eat practically anything. Don't worry." He really wasn't fussy at all. "But anyway…"

"Mm?"

He couldn't help but lean on her, so his back was almost against her side, and get just a little too comfortable. But really, considering the circumstances, leaning was fine. Sort of. "What did you get up to while I was unconscious?" he asked.

"Nothing much," Lucy answered with a sigh. If Bickslow was comfortable, she most certainly was not. So she only turned slightly in the corner, making it so he couldn't put his weight on her, and swung her legs over his lap. Now, she was comfortable. "I… watched a couple of movies, played with Scout—"

"Scarlett."

"Shut up. You're the one that started it," she muttered. "And… just talked to the babies a lot. They're very cute when they purr."

Bickslow snorted. "Super fucking cute. It's why I don't need actual pets. I have souls that are basically cats."

"Does that mean you're a cat person then?"

"No."

"Dog person?"

"Probably," he shrugged. But he really wasn't interested in pets. He didn't have the time to have one so he didn't think about it much. If anything, if he did have the time to have a pet, he'd probably have some kind of bird that he could teach to talk and piss off Laxus. Basically the same as the babies, but in avian form. "But come on, enlighten me. What did you talk to the babies about?" He was curious. Way too curious.

And the sudden smirk on her lips made him begin to worry. The wickedness of it seemed to counteract the fact that he really fucking loved the image in front of him right then, with Lucy seeming way too comfortable and holding his daughter against her chest. Then there was the whole mental image of her cuddling with the other babies at some point, too, because the babies only purred when they got cuddles. They couldn't even feel it. They just liked the attention.

"Well, they told me you missed me," Lucy said smugly.

"Uh…" He scratched the back of his head and turned away from her. Of all the things the babies could have told her, it had to be that. Of fucking course it did. "Babies, why the fuck did you tell her that?!"

"We don't lie," they giggled in his head.

He cleared his throat rather awkwardly. "I, uh… I don't know why they told you that…"

"So you didn't miss me?"

"N-Nope."

"Not at all?" Lucy pressed.

Damn it. "U-Uh, maybe," he mumbled. She knew. She knew damn well he'd missed her. But it wasn't really his fault that he had. Sort of. He pinched his thumb and forefinger together in the air as he just glanced back to her – she was still smirking. "Just a little bit, I suppose."

She knew otherwise, of course. And she could probably tease him a little bit more about the fact he'd missed her, but she didn't feel like it. Bickslow would probably just find something to tease her about. Like, maybe, the fact that she'd really missed him too.

"But, like, in my defence," Bickslow began again, trying to explain himself and get Lucy to stop laughing. "I got used to you being here, and I missed having someone to talk to that could actually talk back to me. That's all."

"Uh-huh. Sure."

"Oh, shut up. Don't give me shit for missing you. You missed me too."

And there it is. "And where's your proof?" Lucy countered.

"You fucked me."

"And?"

The corner of his mouth was tugging up into his own smirk as he leaned towards her again, letting his hand glide up towards her thigh, and ignoring the scowl she was giving him. "You missed me so much you needed me," he murmured.

"Like you can talk," Lucy mumbled.

"Never denied it. Don't plan on denying anything any time soon, either." Besides, hadn't they already passed the point of no return with the whole thing? He'd straight up said that he needed her – or at least he had needed her before – and Lucy had basically said the same, so at least the way Bickslow saw it, they'd crossed some kind of line that they'd probably never wanted to cross…

And really, Bickslow didn't think that anything could be denied anymore. Not really, anyway. The fact that it was becoming way too obvious that there was something else going on made it impossible to completely deny. It probably would be wise to deny everything, but… Bickslow didn't really want to. He was finding it all too interesting, because he was otherwise convinced that nothing about whatever the hell was going on was normal. He wouldn't have felt the way he did – and neither would Lucy – if it had all been strictly normal.

It was all just too weird for it to be normal.

"A-And, um…" Lucy's breath almost caught in her throat. She could feel the warmth on her cheeks slowly spreading towards the tops of her ears, and she was almost tempted to lift Scarlett up, despite the fact she was close to falling asleep now, just so she could hide her fact against the infant's stomach. Bickslow was… too close. Way too close. And she was oh so confused. "What does that mean?" she whispered. "What happens now…?"

And then Bickslow was shrugging and quickly leaning back, crossing his legs back under him while Lucy kept hers on his lap, and returning his hand to a much more reasonable place on her shin. "Wouldn't have a fucking clue." Lucy meant what happens with them, right? What else could she possibly mean anyway?

But he had no idea. Bickslow wasn't even sure he wanted anything to really happen, or if anything could happen. Not beyond what they already had which was… something. And then there was the whole Laxus thing which was something Bickslow didn't even want to think about anymore…

Even if Bickslow wanted to figure out what the fuck was going on, and why being away from her for just a few days could make him need her there so much that it almost hurt… He just didn't know how to figure it out.

Thankfully, the knock on his door – the food, he figured – gave Bickslow a reason to leave the weirdness of their situation behind for a little while longer. If he was certain of one thing, it was that nothing was going to be figured out that night. Partly because he didn't want to, and partly because he was really just too hungry to even think straight.

Lucy walked into a slightly rowdier than usual guild the next evening. Well, sort of. Some of the guild really just looked to be in some kind of daze, some were too busy arguing and yelling at each other about something to even drink anymore, and others just… seemed to continue going about things as usual. Laxus, Gajeel, and Evergreen at one table seemed to be part of those that just didn't care, while Freed and Lisanna were at the bar, busy fanning Mirajane's face.

She'd been out with Levy on a job at the town library all of that day, so it had been another day not spent in the guild or at Bickslow's, but Lucy had only needed to be standing in the guild for all of three seconds to realise that the odder than usual (just barely, though) behaviour was probably because she was no longer one of the lucky few to know about little Scarlett. Bickslow had said the previous night that since his team had found out, it was probably time to let the rest of the guild know. Though Lucy hadn't expected Bickslow to go in and do it that day. Sooner the better, I guess.

Passing through the guild first to grab a drink from Kinana at the bar and only quietly giggling to herself at the state of Mira, Lucy found her own team sitting at one table and went over to join them. "Hey guys!" she greeted them happily. "What's up?" She was really just waiting for them to tell her what they thought of Bickslow and Scarlett. Lucy couldn't very well bring up the topic herself, could she?

"Well, you missed somethin' weird happening," Gray answered first.

"I don't think it was that weird," Wendy disagreed.

Lucy sighed quietly as she set her glass back down. "What was weird that I apparently missed?" she asked.

"Bickslow has a baby!" Happy answered as he climbed onto her lap and began to rub his head under her breasts – why he'd always done that, Lucy didn't know.

"I know he does," she replied with another knowing smile. Her team all but stared at her with wide eyes. Erza only held her fork with the piece of sponge cake on it right in front of her open mouth, and Happy was peeking up from beneath her chest.

"How do you know that, Lucy?"

"Because he told me about her."

"He did?" Natsu piped in.

Lucy nodded. "Mm-hmm. He told me about her a couple of weeks ago." She took a sip of her drink again before adding, "I told you I was helping a friend with something."

"Oh! So that's where you'd been for all that time."

"Yup."

"What were you even doing?" Gray wondered. He wasn't confused about the fact that Lucy had been helping Bickslow (well, maybe just a little, but only because he'd always thought Lucy hated the guy). He was more confused about just what Lucy had been doing. Just how much help could Bickslow need with a baby? Really, wasn't it just a case of making sure they were warm, dry, and fed? How hard could that be? Even Natsu could look after a baby.

Lucy shrugged. "Helping him figure out what to do and how to do everything, I suppose." And… having really great sex and eating really amazing food. "Nothing much. I was mostly just there for moral support I think," she added and she shrugged again.

"Why couldn't you tell us that, though?" Erza asked. "Instead of… Instead of sneaking around. We would have understood, you know."

"Okay, I wasn't sneaking around, thank you very much," she began, rolling her eyes. Although… I guess it's not far from sneaking around, considering the circumstances… And if we do keep sleeping together then it—god, Lucy. Don't think about it actually being a thing. "But I couldn't tell you guys, because Bickslow didn't want anyone finding out yet. Only a few people knew. Don't take it personally. I would have told if you I could." Well, she probably wouldn't have. Oh well.

"Well," Gray broke in again. "It's still weird." At the look that Lucy gave him – she didn't think it was weird at all, but then again, she was probably biased – he added to explain himself, "Not the part where you helped Bix. But the part where he has a kid."

"But she's very cute," Erza said.

"She's adorable, isn't she?" Lucy giggled in agreement.

"She has a lovely name, too. Scarlett, isn't it?" she asked, and Lucy nodded. And then Erza's strangely smug smirk was back as she placed her fork back on her now empty plate. "A fitting name for what I'm sure will eventually be a strong young woman. I'm sure Bickslow had that in mind when choosing her name."

Lucy couldn't help but roll her eyes along with Gray and Wendy. Contrary to what Erza most likely thought now, Scarlett was not his daughter's name because he'd been thinking of a certain mage with fiery red hair – or, well, Lucy hadn't been thinking of Erza at least. Erza Scarlet hadn't crossed her mind once when they'd been trying to think of a name for his daughter. Lucy had really just had his last name stuck in her head, and thus Scarlett.

"I have no doubts that Scarlett will grow up to be exactly that, but I can tell you that you are not her namesake," Lucy said politely.

Erza's smug smirk was replaced by a small frown. "No?"

"No. And, uh… Technically…" She lifted her glass to her lips again and gave a small shrug before she added, "I named her." Sort of.

"Really?" Natsu asked. Lucy only shrugged – Natsu couldn't think Lucy naming her was a problem, right? But Natsu's brow only furrowed before he continued, "But, hey, Luce… Isn't Bickslow's kid gonna think you're her mum or something now?"

Lucy felt the heat instantly flaring on her cheeks, and strangely, it wasn't because of Natsu. Well, sort of. "W-What? Why would she—no. No, she won't," she said firmly. The thought absolutely terrified her, but she knew she had nothing to worry about. To begin with, Scarlett was too young to know who her mother was. Even if she was her actual mother – which she most certainly was not – it wouldn't be that different. Lucy knew that. Motherly-carried-for-nine-months-bond or not, Scarlett probably wouldn't have known then, either. And then there was the fact that Lucy wasn't planning on spending enough time around Scarlett to let her get attached or start seeing her as her mother.

But with that, Lucy only tried her best to draw the conversation away from her and Scarlett thinking she was her mother (because really, it wasn't going to happen. Not even in a million years), to something that wasn't quite so embarrassing. And thankfully, her team were all too willing to oblige and were soon talking about an S-Class mission as a reward for themselves for their lack of destruction on their last few jobs.

She sighed as she closed the door behind her, and she set her bag and coat down on the edge of the lounge before she sat just to untie her boots. Lucy could hear the movie on in the dark lounge room at the back of the house, so she assumed Bickslow was in there, and unsurprisingly when she got up to go and find him, he was.

He merely glanced back to her before turning his attention back to his movie. He wasn't even going to wonder why Lucy was randomly visiting him at eight o'clock, because he just didn't care.

What Bickslow did care about, though, was when she decided to use him as a chair. He couldn't help but groan into the pillow he had his arms folded under when she sat herself down right in the dip in the curve of his spine, knees up and heels against his side as her toes curled around the edge of the cushion. "Do you mind?" he groaned, trying to look back towards her without really moving his head much. Or just moving in general.

Lucy ignored it, though. He was comfortable. "What are you watching?"

"A movie."

"Any good?"

"I guess," he mumbled. He had to stretch out a little bit more just to make himself slightly more comfortable before he was asking, "Why are you sitting on me?"

Lucy only shrugged then. She really didn't have that much of an answer as to why she was sitting on Bickslow, just like why she was there at all right then. It was really just because she wanted to. Was that a bad thing? Probably. Oh well. "I don't know. You're kind of comfortable though," she smirked.

"Thank you?"

"But hey, do you have any food?"

"Stupid question." There was always food there. Always. Bickslow lived for food.

She rolled her eyes. "I mean like, food food." She'd sort of forgotten to eat all day, not even at the guild, and, well… Bickslow made really great food. That was probably part of why she was there. Maybe.

"There's lasagne in the fridge," Bickslow answered with a sigh into the pillow. "Go eat that if you want."

"What? You made lasagne for dinner when I wasn't even here? I'm offended."

"I made it for breakfast, actually."

"Why the hell did you make lasagne for breakfast?"

"Okay, it was like three something in the morning," Bickslow corrected himself. The movie still playing really was long forgotten by him. Lucy was much more interesting. "But I was bored and I couldn't sleep, so… lasagne." It worked well, though, because it meant he could just eat leftovers all day and he got to be lazy as hell.

"Right. Well, I'm going to go and steal some lasagne then," Lucy said, and Bickslow just smothered another moan when she had to dig into his back even more to get up. Though Bickslow supposed he should be just a little glad the woman's ass wasn't bony – or close to it. It probably would've been even more uncomfortable if it was.

But that being said, Bickslow just hoped Lucy didn't sit on him again.

She did, of course. And once again Bickslow was having to try and stretch out beneath her to make himself comfortable again. Once he did that, he was okay. Sort of. Apart from the fact that Lucy was sitting on him and seemingly not there for any specific reason at all, other than to just maybe spend time with him and do nothing else but enjoy his company in an innocent and non-sexual way (which he did have to admit was a little disappointing if that was really the case).

But now Bickslow was wondering just why she was there. It was weird, wasn't it? They didn't just hang out for the sake of it or because they had nothing else to do. Not really, anyway. Whenever Lucy had been there before in the last two weeks, it had always been for something else. Like for Scarlett. Sort of. Because Lucy had been helping him with his kid. Kind of. So just when had they moved onto this weird purely casual hanging out? He was curious.

"Okay," Lucy began, cutting another small triangle from the edge of the lasagne piece. "Why is it you're so good at making pasta dishes?" She paused to take another bite before continuing, "Because I mean, this is like, the best lasagne ever. And every other time you've cooked any kind of pasta dish when I've been here, I've been tempted to just stay here for good so you'd have to keep cooking for me."

Bickslow figured it was best he just ignore the part where she said she'd stay there for good. That was weird. Really weird. "Uh, because my dad's from Bosco?" he guessed. His dad had always said Bosco was like the birthplace of pasta, though he'd never really paid much attention or cared all that much. He just let his dad teach him how to cook. "Basically grew up on the shit. And it's not like it's hard to cook."

"Well, you've like, mastered it. I swear."

"You flatter me, Cosplayer."

"Good. That was my goal." She liked giving compliments where they were due, and Lucy was probably never going to stop wanting to compliment Bickslow on his cooking. Lucy was sure that if she ever managed to see Bickslow's father again – because she had actually met him once not long after her fourteenth birthday, she remembered – she would be thanking him profusely for teaching his sons how to cook, because really, her tastebuds were incredibly thankful. "But, hey," she paused again to take another bite. "I heard you told the guild about Scarlett today. How'd that go?"

Bickslow let out a heavy sigh. It was a good thing he'd seen that movie about fifty times before, otherwise he'd probably be annoyed that Lucy wasn't shutting up. But the guild? That… had been uncomfortable. "Could've been worse, I guess." It really hadn't been that bad. Just… awkward, but there really hadn't been a way to avoid the awkwardness of walking into the guild with a baby, so he'd really just had to get it over with. "Got accused of stealing someone's kid, so that was awesome."

"Who accused of you that?"

"Elfman, actually. He was all like, 'It's not manly to steal a child!'"

"Oh no. That's not manly at all," Lucy giggled. "I'm guessing Mira passed out at some point after she found out Scarlett's yours though, right?"

"Oh yeah. Right down. She wasn't even talking properly by the time I left," he answered. The last time he'd seen Mira, she'd been blubbering about babies. Just quickly focusing on the movie playing again, he added cautiously, "You should probably close your eyes now though…"

"What? Why?" she mumbled around the piece of lasagne in her mouth. But Bickslow didn't even get a chance to answer just why she should close her eyes before she was letting out a yelp and whimpering into her hand at the jump-scare. "Damn it, Bickslow! You should have told me it was a scary movie!" And then he was beginning to chuckle beneath her, and Lucy couldn't help but quickly (and, sort of gently) slap the back of his head. "Don't laugh at me, you asshole."

He was still trying not to laugh as he rubbed at the back of his head – honestly, she hurt. "I did warn you. Not my fault you didn't listen," he pointed out. "And besides, I'd started it before you got here. How was I supposed to know you'd come over and end up using me as a chair and eat my food?"

"Because I'm always here."

Well, he had to give her that one. Maybe that was why she there then, though? Just because she was always there and maybe just because she had nothing else to do right then. Bickslow figured he'd probably go and spend time with (or, annoy) Lucy if he'd had nothing else to do, too – assuming he didn't have a kid to look after, of course. She was fun to spend time with. And hell, he was kind of enjoying himself right then, too, even if she was sitting on him.

But, Bickslow remembered how much of a wuss she was when it came to his favourite movies, so he only stretched out a little more to turn on the lamp on the end table in the corner, and had the babies close the curtains on the back windows. He wouldn't be surprised if she ended up staying, being too scared to walk home again, but that was fine. Sort of.

Though when his daughter woke up not too long after that and started crying from down the hall in his bedroom and made Lucy just about scream, Bickslow couldn't stop himself from laughing at her for the next ten minutes straight.

Bickslow was bored – so bored he'd spent thirty minutes staring at the ceiling. Bickslow rarely got that bored, too. There was always something for him to do, especially those days. He could cook. Or clean (there was always cleaning to be done). Or sleep. Or watch a movie. Or shower. Or jerk-off (that was always fun to do). Or even jerk-off in the shower. Multi-tasking was such a wonderful thing.

But Bickslow didn't really want to do any of that. And, half of it he'd already done because he'd been so bored for the whole day. He'd even gotten Scarlett's nursery all finished (finally) so it was ready for her to move into when she was a little older. But anything else he'd done: none of it had just been able to keep him busy enough for long, and he'd always been back to feeling bored and just not quite knowing what to do with his time.

It didn't help that his only company that day had been his daughter – not that that was a bad thing, because really, he was completely smitten with her. That much was common knowledge to basically everyone by then. His team hadn't stopped by that day, which they usually did every day or two since Bickslow didn't go into the guild every day, what, with Scarlett and all – he didn't like staying in the guild for long. And he hadn't seen Lucy for a few days, either, and she was really his main source of entertainment (in an innocent way, of course, since they'd come to the agreement that sleeping together again was something they should probably try and avoid).

He was actually starting to get a bit anxious again, though. Like when Lucy had gone on that job before and he'd missed her way too much, but… It wasn't quite as bad that time. It was just making him uncomfortable, partly because he was physically finding whatever it even was in the first place that made him feel like that uncomfortable, and partly because he was uncomfortable with the fact that he was uncomfortable.

Still, Bickslow hadn't been able to stop himself from wondering just why he hadn't seen Lucy for a few days. She'd basically been there every single day, unless she was out on a job, and she'd only been on four since he'd gotten Scarlett – he'd counted. He knew she'd come back from another single day one just a couple of days prior, which had been fine (missing her wise, it had been fine. Sort of), but she hadn't come to see him since.

Did that mean she just wasn't going to coming over anymore? Scarlett was a month old now, and Bickslow was pretty confident he had the whole parenting thing down, sort of, so it wasn't really like he needed a babysitter anymore, and Bickslow could see the lack of importance in Lucy being there all the time. But he still enjoyed it. A lot. He loved her being there, and that really didn't have all that much to do with how he felt about her, which as it turns out, was still something Bickslow had yet to determine (or maybe it was just a case of him not willing to actually accept anything). And when she stopped coming around, Bickslow just couldn't help but wonder if it was the end.

He hoped not. He really hoped not. He'd gotten too attached to her being there – and to just how disgustingly domestic it all felt – and he was going to have no idea what to do with himself if he wasn't going to have Lucy to annoy all day. Then there was the whole issue where he'd just really miss her if she wasn't there to keep him company.

But he already missed her and it had only been like, four days since he'd last seen her. It was a problem that he could only go a few days without really feeling like he needed her. But even just seeing her would be enough, or just being near her. He didn't need to touch her, or even physically be with her. Just being near her would be enough. Bickslow knew that. And that was all he wanted: just to see her and be near her again, because he missed her too much to be able to get her out of his head for more than five minutes, and he just wanted to know if he was going to have to get used to missing her that much, and, well… Bickslow really just wanted to get rid of that uncomfortable feeling in his chest, too.

That was near driving him insane again, because he was unequivocally sure that it was not heartburn – or even anything close.

So just half an hour later, right after Scarlett had woken up from her nap and he had fed her, Bickslow was letting himself into Lucy's apartment – she'd given him a key, strangely. He'd teased her about it, but she'd only said it was to make them even. He'd never actually been inside Lucy's apartment before, though, so Bickslow probably would have found himself wanting to actually take it all in if it weren't for the human-shaped mound under what looked like way too many blankets on the bed in front of the window.

"Go away whoever you are," Lucy groaned. She didn't have the energy to lift her head or push the blankets back to even see who it was. She was just a little glad that they'd walked in and not knocked first – although she wasn't sure if they had a key or if she'd left her door unlocked, which was likely in her state – because she most definitely wouldn't have gotten up to answer the door. All Lucy wanted to do was sleep and keep herself super toasty and warm.

"And you think I'm rude," Bickslow chuckled.

"Wait. Bickslow?" She pushed the three blankets she had over her back and pushed herself up onto her elbow to see. "What are you—" But then she could only stop herself abruptly as a grimace set on her face, and Bickslow only had time to raise an eyebrow at her before she was pushing the covers back and running over to her bathroom with a hand over her mouth.

"…Okay then…" Was Lucy sick? She sure sounded like it, and of course, Bickslow worried. He really couldn't help it. Just like as he sat down on her lounge and held Scarlett up in front of him just to stick his tongue out at her and try and get her to make the weird baby noises he really loved hearing (really, they were so cute), he couldn't help it that his mind was instantly jumping to Lucy being pregnant.

But being sick was a thing though, wasn't it? Bickslow had no idea. Not that it mattered anyway, of course, because she wasn't. Couldn't be. He just had babies permanently on his mind, and he figured Lucy probably just had some kind of virus or something. That was it.

He heard the bathroom door open and close again from behind him and let his eyes flick towards the blonde as she continued to slowly carry herself back to her bed. "You alright?" he asked softly, and Bickslow found a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth when he saw her pink flannel pyjamas with the golden keys and fluffy white clouds. How adorable.

Lucy sniffled. "Been better." She'd just started coming down with something the afternoon she'd gotten back from her last job with her team, and come the next morning, she'd been too tired to even get out of bed. That had been the day before, and Lucy was still too tired to get out of bed. She felt like death. Literal death.

"Don't doubt it," he chuckled quietly again. But then Bickslow's mouth was opening of its own accord and he didn't even really get a chance to stop himself before he was asking, "You're not pregnant, right?" Bickslow was instantly regretting it, of course, though he couldn't tell who looked more horrified in that moment between the two of them.

"W-What? No! Why would you even ask that?!"

"I'm… not too sure, to be honest," Bickslow mumbled. "But, like… You're not though, right?" Was he actually beginning to think and worry? Yes. A lot. All because he'd said it and now it really wasn't getting out of his head any time soon. "I mean, it's not like I was wearing a condom or anything each time… A-And, like, uh, that was, what? A couple of weeks ago now? And you're sick and—"

"Bickslow, just shut up," she groaned. She really was too tired to be even thinking about having an actual conversation right then, especially about Bickslow suddenly thinking she was knocked up. She was climbing back into her warm and cosy bed with another sniffle and roll of her eyes as she added, "I'm not pregnant. I can guarantee that."

"But like—"

"I have the flu, you jackass. I'm not throwing up because I'm pregnant." She paused to cough into her forearm. "And even if I was, which I really, really am not, I wouldn't be sick yet."

Bickslow nodded. "Right. Of course." He was just being stupid, wasn't he? Of course Lucy wasn't pregnant. She was probably on some kind of birth control anyway, because she was smart, and he wasn't, and she probably wouldn't have actually slept with him at all if she wasn't and he'd promised her he was clean (which was probably one thing Bickslow always remembered to make sure of), because it wasn't like he'd really thought much about consequences. And really, Bickslow knew he should have, considering he had a daughter for that same reason, but it was obvious he hadn't learned his lesson regarding safe sex yet.

He'd learn it one day. Probably.

But still, Lucy was most definitely not pregnant. Nope. Couldn't have happened. Because Bickslow trusted her that she was fine.

He was just over-thinking things and worrying for no reason.

"U-Uh, sorry, I guess…" he mumbled.

And of course, with Lucy really just wanting to get it away from the awkwardness that had just transpired so she could put it to the back of her mind for all eternity, she was quickly changing the subject. "So," she started. She tossed her used tissue into the small bin by the edge of her bed before she pulled all of her blankets up to her chin again. "Why are you even here right now?"

Bickslow shrugged, though internally he was sighing in relief. He was so thankful for the subject change. "Haven't seen you for a few days and I just, um, you know, wanted to see what you were up to."

"Well, I've been sleeping. And feeling like I'm dying."

"I'll bring you some soup in the morning."

"Mm, soup sounds so nice," Lucy hummed. "But you really don't need to do that. You shouldn't be here now, either. I don't want you getting sick, or… or Scarlett getting sick either."

He waved his hand dismissively, keeping Scarlett in his other arm. "We'll be fine." Then he looked around at where he was sitting on the lounge in the middle of the room, and was only shrugging again as he looked back to Lucy with a smirk. "Well, as long as you're over there and I'm over here, I think. I figure there's less germs over here."

"Shut up."

He would never shut up.

But Bickslow had to admit he was just a little relieved she was sick. Sort of. It sucked that she wasn't feeling well, and Bickslow was probably going to be making her soup anyway because soup was amazing when he had a flu – and he made a really nice lemon and chicken soup – but he figured Lucy being sick was probably why he hadn't seen her for a few days. At least, that was what Bickslow hoped. That made more sense. Sort of.

And still, even when Lucy kept telling him to leave because she didn't want to get him sick – it really was why she hadn't been to see him since she'd gotten back from her last job – he still stayed. She wanted to hate it, because she felt disgusting and all she wanted to do was sleep and stay warm in her bed, but she couldn't hate it. Even with Bickslow just sitting there and not even really saying anything to her, just playing with his daughter quietly, Lucy couldn't hate it. She couldn't hate him being there. She strangely enjoyed it, because she'd started missing him again, even when she'd tried really hard not to.

But as much as she enjoyed Bickslow being staying right then, and Lucy knew why he was, because it was the same reason she didn't mind him being there at all despite being sick and not wanting Bickslow to get sick too, Lucy couldn't quite get herself to fall back asleep. She probably would've been able to if it weren't for the fact Bickslow was doing a really bad job of hiding just what was on his mind. He was trying, sure. Lucy could see that. But she still knew what he was thinking about and it was driving her insane.

Lucy really wasn't interested in telling Bickslow that he really had no reason to worry about her being pregnant, because it wasn't something he needed to know about at all. But apparently, even just promising that she really was not pregnant wasn't enough for Bickslow to get it out of his mind. And really, the last thing Lucy wanted to be dealing with right then was Bickslow worrying about her being knocked up. She didn't have the energy to deal with that.

She needed to get him to stop thinking about it once and for all. Lucy was sure she still had a pregnancy test from around the time she'd been dating Laxus, just in case she ever had a reason to suspect she might be, but she never had, of course, so it had just stayed there because she'd just never gotten around to moving it from the back of her bathroom cabinet. Of course, her lack of desire to ever really clean her bathroom seemed to be a good thing all of a sudden since Lucy was pretty sure the only reason she could get Bickslow to stop internally panicking was if she proved she really was not pregnant. She would probably wave the stupid thing in his face if she had to.

So grudgingly, because she really didn't want to get out of her warm bed at all (though, she really did have to pee so she would have had to get up anyway), she kicked all of her covers back with a frustrated sigh again, and stormed over to the bathroom and slammed the door again. Bickslow didn't think much of it, thankfully, and instead just shrugged and made a face at Scarlett.

So then Lucy just proceeded to sit on the edge of her tub with her chin in her palm as she counted in her head. Part of her didn't even believe she was doing it at all, because she really never expected to be taking a pregnancy test in her life at all. But desperate times call for desperate measures, right? Not that it was a desperate time or a desperate measure or anything. Sort of.

Still, when she'd finished counting in her head and when the time was up, Lucy let out a small sigh when she got up to pick the stick back up from the corner of the sink. She was already completely convinced that it would be negative, just because she had zero reasons to believe it would be anything else, yet she still couldn't help but steal a glance at it out of curiosity.

And then she was quickly looking back at it a second time because Lucy was sure her eyes were suddenly playing tricks on her. But even rubbing her eyes and squinting to try and figure out if she was actually seeing that only seemed to make her heart slowly sink into her stomach, and she felt like throwing up all over again.

That… was not supposed to happen, though. She wasn't supposed to see two goddamn lines. And, granted, it was just a faint line, but it was really there. And Lucy really didn't fucking know how it was, because it really shouldn't be. There was only supposed to be one line! And Lucy could most definitely not wave that in Bickslow's face, because the guy would probably freak the hell out if he saw that and it would make things worse.

But Lucy didn't know what she was supposed to do right then. She wanted to just ignore it, pretend she hadn't taken it at all and go about the rest of her evening as usual (well, as usual as she could get, considering she was still sick). But she couldn't. She couldn't get it out of her head, and she was sure she'd be too busy panicking and being paranoid about that fact that she really was somehow pregnant if she just ignored it, because she already was panicking and being paranoid about it, even though she knew that it was impossible she was pregnant. Even if she was a couple of days late, which wasn't the worst thing to happen – not when she was sick – it was still impossible.

She just couldn't be.

Yet she was still worrying.

Lucy knew she needed to get rid of Bickslow though. He couldn't be there. He couldn't be there because she needed to go and put an end to her worrying and put her mind at ease again, and he couldn't know that she needed to do that at all. All Bickslow needed to know was what she'd told him earlier: that she wasn't pregnant. She was still sure of that.

When she came back out of her bathroom, sniffling again, she went straight over to her door in a rush and held it open. Bickslow gave her an odd look when she did, and she just shook her head and looked somewhere else. "You need to go. Now."

He didn't want to. Like, at all. He really liked her cute little apartment. But he got up nonetheless and quietly asked, "What? Why?"

"Because I… I need to go out," Lucy answered meekly. It wasn't even a lie. She needed to go out and see her doctor, just so he could remind her she was stupid and had nothing to worry about at all. And it was getting late as it was so she really did need to leave before his office closed for the day, so Lucy merely pushed the door open all the way into the empty hall and went over to her dresser. "Please, just… I need you to leave, okay?"

Bickslow was worrying now, though. Not about what he hadn't been able to get out of his head – because really, what if she really was? – but instead about what had Lucy sounding so… frantic. He could hear it in her voice, and how could Bickslow not worry about what was suddenly making Lucy panic? If she'd done a better job of hiding it, he probably wouldn't have wanted to question it and just assumed she wanted to get some rest and didn't want him there because she was sick, but now he needed to question it.

"You okay?" he asked gently as he headed towards her rather than the open door. "What's wrong?"

Lucy shook her head again and continue looking for something warm to go out in. "Nothing. Nothing is wrong. I'm fine."

"You're a terrible liar. I know something is bothering you. Tell me what it is. Please."

"No."

"Come on, tell me." Bickslow came around the side to push the drawer she had open closed and leaned on it to keep her from opening it again. He really could be annoyingly persistent – so much so that Lucy was bound to tell him what was bothering her just so he would stop asking her. It probably wasn't the best way of getting her to tell him what was going on, but it would still work. Well, hopefully. "Seriously, you know you can tell me anything," he said softly.

Except that she couldn't. Lucy only quickly opened another drawer to pull out a pair of jeans and turned her back to him to retreat to her bathroom, clothes in hands. "I can't."

And when she even locked the door behind her, just so Bickslow couldn't be as annoying as he wanted to be, he merely leaned against the wall right next to it and continued trying to make her crack. "You know I'm not going to leave until you tell me," he said through the door. And when he didn't get a response from Lucy, he continued, "Where do you even need to go anyway? I thought you wanted to stay in bed for the rest of the night."

She did. But she couldn't.

"If you need to go and get anything, like medicine or something, I can get—"

"No, Bickslow," Lucy groaned. "Just go away."

"No."

"Please."

"Still no," Bickslow said. He honestly couldn't care less about the fact that Lucy didn't want him there right then. That wasn't necessarily a good thing, sure, but Bickslow didn't care about that, either. "I'm worried about you."

"Don't be."

A smile lifted his lips for the barest of seconds as he looked to the still closed door beside him. "Can't exactly help it, Cosplayer." Really, if there was a way to stop worrying about her right then, he would've found it. "But seriously, just tell me. Please. I'll probably just have the babies follow you if you don't tell me what's up."

The threat of the babies following her had a cold sweat forming on her brow – though maybe that was the fever. She wasn't quite sure anymore. But the babies couldn't follow her. Neither could Bickslow. Because either way, they'd find out where she'd gone, and she couldn't have that happen. It was bad enough Bickslow had run into her just after one of her appointments at the start of the year and he'd seen her at one of her worsts.

She just shook her head as she quickly tied the ribbon up around her ponytail. "They can't do that. Promise me you won't make them do that."

The fact that seemed to scare her made Bickslow all the more curious. "Then just tell me," he said. "I'm not going to leave you alone, you know. I can't. Please, Lucy. Just tell me what's going on. I really am worried about you."

The door was pulled open suddenly and out Lucy walked out without so much as a glance at him. She made a point of ignoring him as he followed her around the room again, just because she was so close to turning around and telling him just to make him stop. But Lucy really didn't want Bickslow to know, because it was still hers to deal with and it was always going to be her problem. Bickslow didn't need to deal with it. She didn't want him to deal with it, either, but she was so close.

"If you don't tell me soon, I'm probably just going to start guessing…" Bickslow continued.

Guessing was bad. Guessing was very bad.

But Bickslow didn't really want to do that, either. He just wanted Lucy to tell him herself. "Seriously, just tell me what's wrong and I'll leave you alone. I promise." It would probably be nothing, anyway. Or it would be something personal that Bickslow wished he hadn't known. But still, he wouldn't have a reason to keep annoying her if she would just tell him. He could be on his merry way once he knew.

But that was what had Lucy spinning around to face him at last, just because it was a promise he wouldn't be keeping, and she was a firm believer in promises. "But you wouldn't," she pointed out, almost desperately. "You wouldn't leave me alone if I told you."

"Why not?"

And Lucy just wasn't able to keep her mouth shut. And with the most frustrated of sighs, she cracked. "Because I took a pregnancy test just before because I knew you were still thinking about it even though I said I wasn't, and it was just annoying me so much that you were still being paranoid about it at all. And I really wanted to just prove to you that I'm really not, but it wasn't negative and I don't even know how that was possible at all and I just… I need to go and see my doctor to sort things out, okay?"

Bickslow just stared at her for a few moments as he tried to process what Lucy had just blurted out. That… wasn't exactly something he could leave alone. Not at all. His brow became furrowed as he continued trying to get his head to wrap around the fuckery that was seemingly occurring. "Wait, so…" He swallowed to ease the dryness in his throat. "You took a pregnancy test and it was… positive?"

Lucy winced. She'd said it. Oh, she'd said it. But it was all Bickslow's fault, anyway. "No."

"No?"

"…Yes." And at the look of sheer confusion on the Seith mage's face, Lucy found herself wanting to just crawl into a box and never come out. At least that way she would be able to avoid Bickslow. She only shook her head and turned to grab a coat to put on. "It was… positive," she mumbled. "But I'm not. I can't be. It's just… I don't know. But I'm not pregnant." But she still needed to go and see her doctor to tell her just how it could have been anything close to positive. Maybe it was just a faulty one or something? Yeah. That was probably it.

And maybe it was because he was an oblivious male when it came to all things related to pregnancy and babies (though, not quite so much babies those days), but Bickslow was confused as all hell. "But… Doesn't a positive mean you are?" It was beginning to hurt his head.

"Yes. But I'm not."

Is she in denial or something? It wasn't like accidents didn't happen – he had living evidence that they did in his arms that very moment. But getting two different women knocked up in the space of a year? Bickslow was sure he was really going to hell for that. And as much as he loved Scarlett and as thankful he was that she existed, he could most definitely not have another kid. His brain couldn't even comprehend that.

But still, just how the fuck could Lucy be so certain that she wasn't pregnant when she'd supposedly taken a test that said otherwise? The fact she'd taken one at all was something Bickslow was never going to get his head around, because it really hadn't been necessary (or maybe it really had been considering the result?). He wouldn't deny the fact he'd still been thinking about the possibility of it, but he would've stopped at some point, because he trusted Lucy and he had believed her when she'd said she was good before and that she wasn't pregnant…

Just… not so much right then.

He only brought a hand up to rub at his forehead. Really, his head was beginning to hurt and so were his eyes. He'd been needing his glasses a lot more than usual. "I really don't understand," he mumbled. "How are you… How can you be so sure that you're not pregnant when the test was positive?"

"Just because."

"And what if you actually are?" Bickslow continued. Lucy was really beginning to get frustrated with him now – that much he could see – but he didn't care. He needed to know what he was supposed to do and think right then, other than freak the fuck out. He needed to know how Lucy could be so sure of herself right then, because he just couldn't find it in himself to believe in her confidence right then. And he really didn't like himself for it. "What if you actually are pregnant?"

"I'm not." She didn't know how many times she could say that without just turning around and telling him the truth she didn't want to say. She only grabbed her house keys and her bag to leave. "I can't be."

"You keep saying that but I don't understand how you can be so sure of that. And I really fucking want to know how you can't be pregnant when you literally just stood there and told me the test was positive!"

That was what had Lucy spinning around on her heels to face him once again, and she could barely keep her voice from breaking when she quickly blurted out, "Because I'm not supposed to be able to have children at all."

Yeah... So that happened. Lots of things happened, really. Sort of. Not really. I don't even know anymore. What I do know, though, is that half of this probably wasn't necessary - specifically that weirdly fluffy (I think) part after Lucy had talked to her team, and of course, the part with her team. I just... I felt conflicted about whether or not they should be there at all, but they stayed.

But as for the other stuff... I should probably apologise for making it seem like Laxus would be out for Bickslow's blood. I couldn't help myself there. But... You know, he will eventually find out. I'm not saying anything about how that will turn out. That's my little secret for now.
And the other stuff... Yeah, that happened. I did have that in the LaLu prequel (Better off as Friends), and so again, there was a reason that this chapter and that story were posted so closely together. But we all know that Lucy's pregnant like five years down the track, too, so there's that... *giggling mischievously in the background*

It's all coming together slowly... I promise everything ties together at some point. It's still back and forth for a little while (you know me), but eventually, there'll be explanations. Funnily enough, this is probably the one story that I've planned out the most. I think I actually have everything planned out for this story. Kinda odd.

Anyway. Fluff is coming, I promise. And actual smut. Eventually. (No, really - this is my sin story before my other story that I was supposed to write last year that is literally just smut.) I still hoped you enjoyed this chapter, though. Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought! (Honestly, tell me you hated it if you want to lmao.)

But again, I am still on hiatus. This chapter was just an exception. I'll probably be coming off in a few weeks once I have a few more chapters written for other stories.

- April