How I Met You Chapter 14: Home, a fairy tail fanfic

I keep updating this when I should be working on other stories (or more accurately, doing my uni work). Anyway. Since this seems to be the story you all like the most, I'm more inclined to update it. Funny how that works (sarcasm).

On another note, I will just say this now: as realistic as I try to make my stories sometimes, there are some times where I just a) don't want to make things super realistic, and b) I'm not capable of doing so. The latter was the case for the whole thing with Scout/Scarlett in this chapter. While I did research on child custody, most of what I did find, I couldn't actually use. So, as far as the focus of this chapter goes, I'm not claiming any kind of realism.

More notes at the end of this one. For now, enjoy.

When Bickslow didn't come back to the bedroom like he'd promised to do, Lucy grew curious. She didn't worry though, because she didn't think she had any reason to. After fifteen minutes of waiting though, she pulled herself out of bed, and after quickly visiting the bathroom, she was padding quietly down the hallway to go and see what Bickslow was up to.

She expected to find him with his hands full, perhaps trying to balance Scarlett and getting her to take the bottle. But what Lucy found, was the Seith mage sitting silently on the lounge at the front of the room, his arms wrapped around his knees and his face hidden against his arms. That was when Lucy began to worry.

She crossed the room and sat down next to him, sitting on the edge of the cushion and placing a hand gently on his shoulder. "Bix? What's wrong?" she whispered. "Where's Scout?" Lucy could definitely remember hearing her cry just before, and then after Bickslow had gotten out of bed. A quick scan of the room, specifically to the empty bouncer just by the coffee table, told Lucy that Scarlett wasn't there though, and she didn't know why. The half-full bottle of formula just in front of Bickslow was just a little concerning.

"They… They took her," Bickslow said softly.

"Took her where? Who's they?"

Bickslow gave a small shrug. "I don't know…" He still didn't understand what had happened, even after reading the letter he'd been given in place of his daughter. He just couldn't process it. Lifting his arm slightly, he pointed to the open letter next to the bottle of formula. "I don't know what I did…" he whimpered.

Lucy reached for the unfolded piece of paper and let her eyes scan over it. The first time she read it, it didn't make any sense. The second time she read it, it still didn't make any sense. And it wasn't that she didn't understand what was written on the page, because she did. It was just that she didn't know why or how it had come to that.

She'd spent enough time with Bickslow over the last few weeks to know for a fact that he'd received no other letters regarding his custody of Scarlett. He'd had no invitations to dispute resolution meetings. And even if Bickslow had known about it – that he'd been needing to go sit in a room with family counsellors and Scarlett's birth mother to sort out some kind of custody agreement – Lucy knew that he would've told her about it. Bickslow was smart enough to know not to ignore something like that, because he was smart enough to know that ignoring it would've led to that exact situation where a social worker was forced to remove Scarlett from his custody.

"I don't understand," Lucy said. "You never got any other letters, right?"

Bickslow shook his head, sniffling as he lifted his chin to rest on his arms instead. "Not a single one." But now he wasn't so sure. He didn't check his mail every day, just because he didn't get that much to begin with, but he would've remembered something like that. "I fucked up, Lucy," Bickslow whispered. "I fucked up, and now… Now Scout's gone and I don't… I don't know what to do."

Lucy set the letter aside just so she could wrap her arms around Bickslow's shoulders. "Shhh, Bickslow, no. You didn't do anything wrong. This isn't your fault." He really hadn't done anything wrong as far as she was concerned. And the question of Scarlett's future safety that had been mentioned in the letter… Lucy just didn't know where it had come from. She would say she had no idea who could even accuse Bickslow of ever harming his daughter in any way, but really, Lucy knew exactly who was causing that situation.

She didn't think that anything with Scarlett's birth mother would ever happen, not after she'd dropped Scarlett off on a doorstep at just a week old. But here they were, two months later, with Katie deciding she had the right to just change her mind about being a parent, and Lucy just didn't think that was fair. It wasn't fair on Bickslow, and it especially wasn't fair on Scarlett.

"Don't worry," Lucy whispered. "We'll get her back. We'll figure something out. I promise."

Bickslow doubted it, but he couldn't even say that. All he could do was sit there, hugging his knees to his chest, and let Lucy hold him. Although right then, not even Lucy's presence seemed to be enough to make him believe even a tiny bit that things would work out.

When the door opened a little while later, Bickslow didn't even bother looking up. He didn't particularly care to see who had let themselves into his house, and when Lucy suddenly said in surprise, "Laxus," he still didn't care. He didn't have it in him to really care about anything.

"Oh," was all Laxus said when he turned to face the two on the lounge. It wasn't at all what he'd expected to see, but even if it was obvious Lucy had spent the night there, Laxus was doing his best not to let it bother him much.

It wasn't his place to care about that anymore. Still though, it made him just a little uncomfortable.

What made Laxus curious, however, was the fact that there was no screaming child anywhere. And when Laxus finally paid attention to Bickslow, and noticed how his friend had yet to really acknowledge he was there, he grew just a little worried. Something clearly wasn't right there. "Did I miss something?" he asked almost cautiously. Bickslow looked almost… lost. And Lucy… Well, Lucy looked more worried than anything. "Where's the kid?"

"They took her," Lucy whispered.

"What do you mean? Who took her? Where?"

"Her mother. Well, I guess it was actually a social worker…" she mumbled. She didn't exactly know where Scarlett had been taken – that much obviously wasn't information Bickslow would be privy to. "They came not long ago."

"Shit, dude," Laxus said softly. He'd gone there that morning to tell Bickslow about an easy job that they could take together for the day, just to try and get the man out of the house for a little while (Laxus had assumed Lucy would look after the kid) and so they could get their friendship back to normal. Finding out that Bickslow had lost his daughter was quite literally the last thing Laxus had expected. It was even more unexpected than Lucy being there that morning. "Can you get her back? Is there anything I can do?" Because as weird as he still found the whole Bickslow-being-a-parent thing, Laxus still knew how much he cared about the spawn.

"It's in the court's hands now. A judge is going to have to decide whether or not Bickslow gets Scout back," Lucy explained. She bit her lip as she tilted her head to look at Bickslow again for a moment. She could tell he was listening and was actually aware of the conversation. Lucy supposed his silence was more to do with the fact that he just simply didn't know what to say. His world had essentially just been ripped from his hands and he hadn't had a say in it. "But the holidays are coming up, and it takes ages to get a court date… It could be months before any of it is sorted out…"

"Fuck… I'm sorry, Bix. This has gotta suck for you."

"It's fine," Bickslow finally mumbled. Lucy was more surprised than Laxus was that he'd actually spoken. When she sat back slightly, Bickslow dropped his feet to the ground to slowly stand.

"Bix, come on. You had your kid taken away. It's not fine," Laxus said. Even he knew that. If it was his kid, he'd be wanting to tear the fucking town apart to find them. And as much as he wanted to be able to help Bickslow, Laxus had the smarts to know that terrorising or threatening people wasn't the way to do so.

Bickslow shrugged. "It's… It's probably for the best."

"…What?" Lucy whispered.

"I barely know how to look after her as it is. And, sure… I don't exactly want Scout's mother having her either, but… Maybe she's what's best for Scout anyway. She's her mother. Scout needs her more than she needs me. Or, you know, maybe she'll end up with an entirely new family and that's probably still better than me anyway because I'm—" He stopped when there was a stinging pain on his cheek from Lucy having quickly gotten up to slap him.

"No. Don't you dare say that it's for the best," she said, pointing up to his face with her pointer finger while her free hand remained at her hip. Bickslow's cheek was red from how hard she'd hit him, and while she felt bad for it, she hadn't been able to just sit there and listen to him try and convince himself that it was a good thing Scarlett had been taken from him. It wasn't a good thing, and he hadn't deserved it happening at all. "And don't you dare think that you're not good enough for her. You are the one who stepped up and looked after her. You are the one who can give her everything she needs, because you'll make sure of it. I know you will. Don't you dare give up on her just because you're incapable of believing in yourself."

Bickslow couldn't lift his head to look at Lucy. If he did, he was sure he'd just see how mad she was at him, and Bickslow couldn't really deal with that right then. He knew Lucy was right though – she was always right. He was so quickly giving up on his daughter just because he didn't believe in himself. And Bickslow wished so hard that it wasn't like that, and that he actually did have faith in his ability to be a somewhat decent parent, but he just didn't know how to change that. He was always reminded of how out of his league he was with everything, that it was almost logical to think that everyone but him would be a better person to raise Scarlett.

He wished it was different, but it wasn't.

And as far as actually giving up on her went… Bickslow really just didn't see a way of getting her back. No sane judge would deem him a better choice than Scarlett's birth mother. Even if she was some fucked up, drug-addicted, trailer trash hooker (which, she could very well be, as far as Bickslow knew), she would still be better than he was because she was the kid's mother, and that was something Bickslow would never be able to compete with.

So when Bickslow thought about that, he still just didn't know what to do. He didn't even know if there was anything he could do.

What Bickslow did know, though, was that he didn't want to deal with anyone. He still didn't even have it in him to care why Laxus was there so early in the morning. Only lifting his head to give a small nod, Bickslow said softly, "You should probably just leave." There wasn't much point of even Lucy staying, as much as he'd wanted her to stay all day not that much earlier.

Laxus wasn't going to argue it that time, but he still waited until Bickslow had carried himself down the hall and he heard the bedroom door at the end click shut. He wanted to be some kind of help to Bickslow, but he didn't even know if it was possible. Even if there was anything he could do to actually help, Laxus doubted that Bickslow would even let him. They weren't exactly in the best place right then, even if the last time they had spoken, it had gone reasonably well.

Lucy would be able to help Bickslow though, or at least Laxus hoped so. If Laxus knew anything about what the fuck was going on with those two, it was that Lucy was the person Bickslow was letting in those days. She was the one he trusted the most for some ungodly reason. Bickslow had shown that by going to her instead of him or the rest of the Raijinshuu when he'd first found out about Scarlett.

When he looked to Lucy still standing in the middle of the room, arms wrapped around herself as she stared down the hall, Laxus knew he didn't really have anything to worry about when he said, "Get through to him, will you?" Because Lucy was the one who would be able to. And if Lucy couldn't, no one would.

Laxus was realising he had no choice but to accept that.

When Lucy gave a hesitant nod, Laxus finally let himself back out and closed the front door behind himself. I should probably tell Freed and Ever. They would need to know, and he doubted Bickslow would be going anywhere to tell them in person. But Freed and Evergreen were just as much Bickslow's family as he was, and even if Bickslow didn't really want – or perhaps need – their help with getting Scarlett back, he would still have them there for support.

Once Laxus had left, Lucy finally moved from her spot to return to Bickslow's bedroom. She knew that he'd meant for her to leave as well, but she couldn't. She couldn't leave when Bickslow was like that. He wasn't in a good place, and if she left, she'd be constantly worrying about him, and it was easier to worry when she could actually keep an eye on him.

When she gently pushed the door open, Lucy half expected to find Bickslow trying to distract himself, maybe just cleaning up or something. She found a man-sized lump hiding under the covers in the middle of the bed instead. Lucy was almost inclined to think he was hiding from the world as she slowly walked around to the other side of the bed, but she couldn't quite tell if he was actually hiding from her, or maybe just himself.

Bickslow didn't even push her away when she lifted the covers to slide in beside him. All he did was tuck his head beneath her chin when she gently wrapped her arms back around him as best she could, and Lucy knew for certain that staying had been a good idea. She wasn't even sure if Bickslow had really meant it, now that she thought about it.

Her voice was as soft as her fingers slowly sifting through his hair as she whispered, "It's okay. We'll figure something out." That was when she heard the muffled sob break the air, and she felt something warm and wet against the top of her chest where Bickslow's face was.

"I just miss her… S-So much…"

"I know."

A letter with a court date came three days later, much to Lucy's surprise. Lucy hadn't expected them to get any word of a date for at least a few weeks, but they'd been given a date of the 20th December. Lucy liked to think that they'd been given a date so soon just because Scarlett was so young, but she knew that it wasn't that, just because there would've been countless other cases involving babies even younger. Lucy supposed it was just sheer luck instead.

Even having been given a date, Bickslow didn't get out of bed, or if he did, it wasn't for very long. Convincing him to take a shower had been a struggle. Not even getting in there with him had really worked. Getting him to eat had been the hardest part, though. He'd always just said that he wasn't hungry every time she'd told him he needed to eat something. Lucy had to give him credit for trying though, even if all Bickslow had really done was pick at anything she'd tried to give him, but it was still better than nothing – although Lucy supposed that he'd only even tried to eat just to keep her happy.

For the most part though, Bickslow still didn't really do anything. He just sat in bed doing absolutely nothing, and Lucy had gotten sick of it after just three days. She just hadn't known what to do to help him. Trying to talk about the custody case had been a complete waste of time, as Lucy had quickly realised. All Bickslow had done as far as that was concerned was tell her it didn't matter. As far as Lucy knew, he had no plans of getting any kind of lawyer to defend him, either.

"I'm not going to pay someone to lie," Bickslow had said. "No amount of money will be able to convince that judge I'm a good parent anyway."

Lucy had disagreed, but she'd had to admit that she could kind of see why Bickslow wasn't wanting to hire a lawyer, even if it had been for completely ridiculous reasons. If he got his daughter back, he wanted it to be from him telling the truth, and Lucy had understood that. Although she really didn't know how bad the truth could even be, because he was a good parent and that was that.

On the fourth day though, Bickslow had told her that he didn't need her staying and keeping an eye on him. "I'm capable of taking care of myself, contrary to popular belief. I'm not going to do anything stupid either, don't worry." It had been another time Lucy had disagreed – at least as far as him doing anything stupid went – but Lucy had known better than to insist that her staying was for the best.

The guild had found out about Scarlett by the time Lucy walked in the next day and sat down with a heavy sigh. It wasn't a secret that she was the only one who was really looking after him, either, so when she sat down with her team and Gray quickly asked how Bickslow was doing, she just didn't think much of it.

"Still not really doing much," Lucy answered tiredly. "But I guess he's doing a little better."

In hindsight, it wasn't like Bickslow did have much to do. He'd spent the last two months taking care of a newborn and trying to cope with how crazy his life had quickly become. Without Scarlett, Lucy supposed that Bickslow's life was rather boring – or at least it was now, with him having finally started to actually get into some kind of routine with Scarlett just before she'd been taken.

That being said, even if he was finding himself with nothing to do, he could still take care of himself a little better.

"I hope little Scarlett is being taken care of," Erza chimed in.

"Me too," Lucy agreed. She assumed Scarlett was in capable hands, but the thought that she could be being ignored or mistreated in any kind of way just made Lucy feel sick, so she tried hard not to think about it.

"I will cut down anyone who hurts her in any way."

"…Not literally, right?"

"Yes, why?"

Lucy grimaced but smiled. "Maybe put a hold on that idea, Erza," she laughed nervously. Trust Erza to want to literally slice up anyone who hurts Scarlett, but still, Lucy didn't think Bickslow would appreciate it, as honourable as Erza's intentions were.

Erza hesitantly agreed with a sigh. "Fine," she said. "But if Bickslow ever requires it…"

"Hopefully it won't ever come to that…" Lucy mumbled. Quickly then, Natsu hopped up from the table with Happy taking into the air behind him. "Where are you two off to all of a sudden?" Natsu didn't move that fast unless food or fighting was involved.

"Let's find a job to do!"

"Eh? But I thought you all took one yesterday."

"We did," Gray mumbled. It had been a disaster, and they hadn't gotten a single jewel for it.

"I meant for just me and you!" Natsu said. He barely even gave Lucy a chance to argue it before he was grabbing her wrist and pulling her off the bench, dragging her through the guild towards the job board at the front. He found a perfect job flyer in no time, and ripped it off to run straight out the doors, still mostly dragging Lucy behind him.

It was cold by the pond that Natsu had taken her to, but Lucy didn't mind it much. It hadn't taken her long to realise she'd had no hope in hell of getting Natsu to change his mind about taking a job, so once she'd been dragged out of the guild, she'd really just resigned to going along with it. It had been a while since she'd taken a job with just Natsu and Happy anyway.

The job itself was simple, though, and Lucy had nothing else to do but to just sit there on the grass and enjoy the scenery. She didn't mind that much, either. The job was one Natsu could easily do on his own – catch one hundred freshwater fish and deliver them to a restaurant – and since Lucy hated fishing, she was more than happy to just go along for the ride on that one.

"So, how are you doing?" Natsu asked as he cast his reel back into the water again. He was already four fish down.

"What do you mean?" Lucy responded.

"I mean with the whole kid thing. You know, Bix losing his daughter."

"Oh... Well, I'm… I'm not really the one you should be asking about…"

"Yes you are," Natsu insisted. Everyone was always asking and wondering how Bickslow was doing, but no one asked how Lucy was doing, and considering how much time Lucy had spent with Bickslow and his kid over the last couple of months, that just didn't make sense to Natsu. Lucy had to be affected, too. "Just because you're not—wait, what's her name again?"

"Bix calls her Scout…"

"That's it! Just because you're not Scout's mum, doesn't mean you can't care about her."

"I know that…" Lucy mumbled.

"So… How are you doing?" Natsu asked again. "Because I know you care about her. It'd be weird if you didn't, to be honest, considering you've probably spent just as much time with her as Bickslow has."

So it wasn't just as much as time as Bickslow had, but Lucy would admit she'd spent a lot of time with Scarlett. She didn't think that was a bad thing, though. Still, she'd never really expected anyone to ask how she was doing, but she wasn't really that important in the whole situation. "I don't know…" Lucy finally whispered, her shoulders lifting in a small shrug as she reached down to pull at the grass beside her. "I'm fine, I guess… I'm just worried…"

"How come?"

"Well... Because Bix isn't really handling it very well – he's almost given up – and I hate seeing him like that… And… And there's still a chance that he might not get Scout back, and I just don't know what that's going to do to him." Lucy didn't want to admit it, but she knew it was still possible. The judge could deem Katie the better parent, and even if it was all built on lies she'd told to get to that point, Lucy wasn't even sure if Bickslow would bother defending himself. He would probably just take it because that was what he thought he deserved.

"Why would he give up?" Natsu asked, pulling the line back up when he felt a bite on the end of it. "It's his kid."

"Because he doesn't think he's good enough for her."

"What the hell?"

"He doesn't believe in himself, Natsu…"

"But he's Bickslow. He's an arrogant prick most of the time!" Natsu pointed out. "How can he not believe he's a good dad?"

Lucy let out a sigh as she mumbled, "He's really not like that… And you know you're not much better half the time." Natsu could be arrogant when he wanted to be. Thankfully he wasn't much, but Lucy knew what he meant. Bickslow just didn't seem like the type of person to ever doubt himself. For the most part, Lucy still didn't even understand why Bickslow put himself down as much as he did when it came to being a parent.

"Ah. So that's why you like him then."

"W-What? How do you—Who told you?!"

Natsu laughed as he leant to the side just to nudge Lucy's shoulder. "Come on, no one told me. It's not like it's a secret or anything," he said. Half the guild had figured it out, as far as Natsu knew, but no one really cared because they didn't have a reason to.

Lucy supposed he had a point. It wasn't like she was trying to make a point of keeping it from people – not that there really was much to keep to herself anyway, because she just liked the guy. But Lucy just hadn't really expected Natsu to ever bring it up. It wasn't like she could try and deny it, though. Even if she could, there was no point. "I guess so," she mumbled. "But that's… not really why I like him."

"I know. I was just joking anyway." There was probably a whole list of reasons why Lucy liked him, or maybe there was just one reason. Either way, Natsu didn't know why Lucy did, and he didn't really care to find out what the reasons were. It didn't really have anything to do with him. "But, you know, things will work out eventually," Natsu said, mouth turning up into a reassuring smile. "Bix'll get Scout back and then you all can go back to being a happy family."

"Natsu, that's not… That's not what we are…"

"'Course it is."

"How?"

"Because everyone's family in the guild," Natsu said. "You and Bix are family, just like me and you are. And Scout's family too because she's going to grow up in the guild."

And it was another time where Natsu did have a point, but… It was still different. It wasn't as simple as Natsu said it was. The worst part was that Lucy almost felt like she did have her own little family with Bickslow and Scarlett, and not just because they were part of Fairy Tail.

With croissants and hot chocolates in her hands, Lucy let herself into Bickslow's house as she usually did. It had been a few days since she'd last seen him, so she was hoping to find the Seith mage in a slightly better mood. When she walked in, she didn't see any dishes out in the kitchen, so she assumed he still wasn't eating much. That was why she'd brought something for him, though.

The babies greeted her as soon as she got the door shut and set the food and drinks down just so she could shrug off her coat. "Cosplayer! Cosplayer!"

She giggled as Poppo nuzzled her cheek. "Good morning, babies. Where's Bi—o-oh, okay! I'm going!" Three of them flew behind her to press against her back, pushing her forward once she'd picked up the tray again. They pushed her to the stairs and gave her a nudge to get her to finally start climbing them. She supposed the babies wanting her to go upstairs meant Bickslow was up there, so before she reached the top, she called out, "Bix? Where are you?"

Lucy got no response, but it didn't matter because the first room she checked, Scarlett's room, ended up being where she found him anyway, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor and folding and sorting all of Scarlett's clothes. Bickslow barely even acknowledged her presence, only sparing her a glance when she walked in. It wasn't like he hadn't known she was there. The babies had given that away when they'd rushed downstairs.

"What… What are you doing?" Lucy asked. She wanted to think it was a good thing that Bickslow was actually out of bed and doing something… But she had a feeling that it wasn't.

"Just cleaning up a bit," Bickslow answered. "Figured I'd get everything packed away and organised so it's easier to donate."

Lucy frowned as she quickly set aside breakfast, stepping forward just so she could pull the small blanket that Bickslow had been folding up away from him. "Will you stop that already?"

"Stop what?"

"Being so goddamn negative."

Bickslow only reached for another one of the messily folded articles beside him, just to have it snatched away by Lucy again. "I'm not being negative," he said. Even his voice was lacking its usual enthusiasm; it was just emotionless and flat and Lucy noticed it all too quickly. "I'm being real."

"No, you're not," Lucy insisted.

"I'm not getting her back, Lucy. There's no point of trying to pretend that it's going to happen."

"You know, when you keep saying things like that, it makes me wonder if you even want her back," she snapped.

"Of course I fucking do!" Bickslow shouted. He would do anything in the world to get Scarlett back, but he knew that no matter what he did, it wouldn't be enough. He wasn't enough. So to him, there was just absolutely no point of trying. His daughter was gone, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Well, you're sure as hell not acting like it!"

"Because there's just no point."

"There's always a point."

"Not now. Not with this," Bickslow mumbled. The fact that no one else could see that just made things worse. And Lucy still continuing to try and make him have faith that he'd win in court was just more frustrating than anything. He knew she meant well, but it was just a waste of time.

And as much as Lucy wanted to argue that, she knew it wasn't the time to do so. She knew it would be like talking to a brick wall, too, and if she wanted to do that, she could go and talk to Natsu. There was no point of kicking a man when he was down, and Bickslow was clearly that right then. "Well, anyway." Sighing, she set down the blankets she'd snatched from him and picked up the cardboard tray with the croissants and hot drinks. "I bought you some breakfast.

He took the styrofoam cup but ignored the paper bag Lucy handed him. "Thanks, but I'm not really hungry," he mumbled. Bickslow had been hoping it was some kind of coffee as he took a sip of the just-warm beverage, but he could tolerate hot chocolate.

"Don't care. Eat."

Reluctantly, Bickslow accepted it and then picked himself up from the ground just to go and eat downstairs. Once he started eating the ham and cheese croissant, he had to admit it tasted pretty good. He still hadn't really felt like eating, but the buttery pastry tasted far better than the beer and candy snakes he'd been living off for the last three days.

Lucy only ate her own in silence as she looked around the living area. It was as neat as it always was, but things were missing. Namely, the swing Scarlett was usually in, and her playmat that was normally in the lounge room, and there was even a box in the corner of the counter she hadn't seen before that looked to be holding all of the bottles Bickslow used for the formula. He really is serious about getting rid of it all. It only made Lucy want to find a way to get Bickslow to believe in himself even more, but she simply didn't know how to.

She did have an idea, though. The hearing was just a few more days away, and even if Bickslow wasn't showing it, Lucy knew that he was worrying about it just a little bit. She wanted to distract him, if he could, so that was her goal for the day. "So I was thinking," she began, dusting the pastry flakes from her hands before she crumpled up the paper bag her own croissant had come in. "Maybe we could go out somewhere today?"

"…Um, like where? And do what exactly?"

"I don't know. We could go to the guild for a little while?"

Bickslow shook his head. "Not the guild."

"Um… We could go shopping?" Lucy suggested. Bickslow simply raising an eyebrow at her made her grimace slightly. Right. Guys don't like going shopping. "Do you have any Christmas decorations? We could decorate the tree if you haven't done it yet."

"I don't have one."

"What? A Christmas tree?" Bickslow shook his head and Lucy quickly stood from where she sat at the counter. "Well, it's settled then! We have to go buy one!"

"Lucy, no, come on. I don't need one," he protested. Lucy was already cleaning up the rubbish from breakfast and quickly disappearing down the hall to grab a coat and boots from his wardrobe. He really didn't care that much for celebrating Christmas. He bought presents for people if they meant enough to him, but he didn't care about the tree or the lights or any of that. And now that he lived alone, he saw even less of a reason to bother. "I don't even have anywhere to put one anyway."

"We'll find room for one, don't worry."

Lucy woke up to a loud crack of thunder just outside. The rain was still pelting down heavily against the window as it had been all evening. Lucy reached out to feel for her keys she usually kept beside her when she slept, but instead found nothing but the base of the lamp and the edge of the table. I must've left them in the living room with my purse. She didn't need to touch Horologium's key to know it was late though, because it had already been quarter to eleven by the time she'd decided to go to bed.

Pulling the blanket back up to her chin, Lucy rolled over again with the thought of going back to sleep in her head. That thought didn't last for long though, because when her arm slid out, her hand only found a cold sheet where she was fairly certain Bickslow should be.

She quickly turned on the light and sat up, wincing as she let her eyes adjust to the sudden light. Lucy could tell it had been a while since Bickslow had supposedly gotten up, but she wondered just how long it had been. Had he waited until she'd fallen asleep to move? Or had it been more recently, and the sheets had only just lost the warmth from when he'd been there?

Lucy wondered why Bickslow was up at all, too. She liked to think that it wasn't because she was staying there that night, because it wasn't exactly like she'd intended to – the rain had been so heavy earlier in the evening that Bickslow had told her it wasn't even worth her trying to go home – but with how unattached to everything he'd been since his birthday, Lucy couldn't help but worry that her presence alone was making things harder for Bickslow. It wasn't like he hadn't already said it before anyway. It had just been under different circumstances.

She pulled herself out of bed and shivered as the cold air hit her bare legs. Virgo had appeared earlier to offer her some pyjamas to wear , but knowing Virgo, Lucy had opted to borrow a sweatshirt from Bickslow's wardrobe instead.

The rest of the house was dark as she crept down the hall, hand trailing along the wall to feel her way around. When she reached the stairs, she hesitated. Bickslow could very well be sitting in the lounge room for all she knew, but… Lucy had a feeling that he wasn't. Carefully, just so she didn't trip, Lucy began to climb the stairs one at a time. When she saw a small amount of light at the top, she knew she'd been right, but that didn't make her feel any better.

It was the second time that day Lucy had found Bickslow in Scarlett's room, although thankfully, he wasn't trying to get everything ready to be given away that time. Instead, he was just sitting in the plush chair by window with his arms wrapped around his knees.

"I guess I already got so used to having to wake up at this time to feed Scout, that I still can't sleep properly when she's not even here," Bickslow whispered before Lucy could even ask why he was awake. It had been like that all week. No matter how tired he was, he still woke up at the same time that Scarlett would usually start fussing. He could barely even get back to sleep afterwards, at least not that week, and it only made him feel something close to pathetic.

Lucy didn't know what she was supposed to say right then. She wasn't sure if there was anything she could say. All she knew, was that as much as Bickslow tried to say that it was all a waste of time, and as much as he had given up, he was still hurting. And it was expected, of course, because Scarlett was his daughter and any slightly decent parent would miss their child when they'd been taken from them.

But it was clearly affecting him more than he would actually admit, and Lucy hated that Bickslow was even doing that. He had no reason to hide anything. No one was going to think any less of him for admitting just how lost he was with it all.

Still, Lucy didn't think there was anything she could do right then. As much as she missed Scarlett and hoped she'd be able to return home to where she belonged, Lucy just couldn't even begin to understand how Bickslow really felt.

"Do you want me to make you anything?" she offered, feet meeting the soft rug in the middle of the room as she slowly stepped forward. "Or just stay up with you?"

Bickslow shook his head. He didn't need Lucy's company right then. He didn't really need it at all, but he had the babies anyway and they were more than enough for the time being, all piled into the small space between his chest and his knees and poking him with their wings. "No, thank you. I'm fine," he answered. "Just… Just go back to sleep."

Lucy hesitated, but nodded slightly to herself before turning and heading back into the hall. She didn't go back down to the bedroom though. Instead, she went and fetched a folded blanket from the lounge in the living room just to take it back upstairs to Bickslow. She gently draped it over his shoulders once she'd returned, only pulling it tighter around his arms so he would at least be a little warmer.

"Come wake me if you need me, okay?" Lucy whispered then, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to the top of his head. She doubted Bickslow would wake her if he needed her for whatever reason, but it put her mind at ease knowing that Bickslow had heard her.

In the end, Lucy didn't manage to fall back asleep that night.

The morning of the hearing finally came, and the gloomy weather reflected how everyone felt about the day's events. Dark storm clouds covered the sky, leaving no room for the sun to shine and bring a little warmth to anyone's lives.

Arriving at Bickslow's house, she found the Seith mage still in bed. He was awake, just like he had been all night, but it was clear to Lucy that he wasn't going to get up on his own.

She opened up the curtains to let just a little bit of light into the room before walking back around the end of the bed to sit down just in front of Bickslow. "Big day today," she said, though there was no excitement in her voice. It was a big day, but it wasn't going to be a good day. "Are you ready?"

"No," he mumbled.

Lucy realised she should've expected that. She was also certain that Bickslow would never be ready, but that didn't really matter. Getting up that day to go and find out if a judge thought he was capable of looking after Scarlett was what he needed to do. And as much was Bickslow probably wished he could just avoid it all, he knew that he couldn't just stay in bed either. He had to go and face the music one way or another.

"Well, come on, time to get ready." Lucy stood just to give Bickslow room to get up, and she only watched him with concern mounting as he slowly sat up, rubbing his face once he had his feet on the ground. "Have you decided what you're going to wear?" she asked.

"Not yet. I'm guessing I need to get dressed up though, judging by what you're wearing." He thought she looked good though, despite the circumstances. The grey dress that went to her knees made her look a little older, more mature – like she was the kind of person who did have their shit together and a judge wouldn't even think twice about whether or not she'd be a good parent. Bickslow wished he had that.

"Not… dressed up, exactly. But you do need to look respectable. I can find something for you to wear while you take a shower."

"Yeah, fine."

Once she heard the water running, Lucy quickly and neatly made the bed before she found something for Bickslow to wear. She found a shelf with broken, chipped, and cracked metal visors before she found anything resembling a suit. A white shirt had been easy enough to find, but it took Lucy a moment to decide whether a black suit or navy blue would look best. Ultimately, she ended up taking the crisp navy blue jacket from the hanger and went about finding the matching pants.

As early as Lucy had left that morning, there still wasn't much time left before they'd have to leave for the courthouse. The only reason Lucy had left her apartment that early at all was because she'd expected to have to give Bickslow a bit of a push to get out of bed. Thankfully it hadn't been too difficult, but time was still running a little short.

When Bickslow got out of the shower and came back out into the kitchen, dressed in the suit Lucy had chosen him, a simple breakfast of toast and juice was waiting for him. "We'll have to leave soon," she said. "Laxus said they'll all meet you at the courthouse."

Bickslow nodded. "I figured."

Lucy left Bickslow to pick at his breakfast in peace to go and find a tie for him to wear. She spied his glasses sitting on the nightstand as she came back out with the grey tie. She knew why Bickslow wore them occasionally, and she knew that it was to do with how he kept his magic under control. What Lucy had learnt over the last couple of months though, was that he needed them more when he was tired, or when he was tense. Picking them up quickly, Lucy slipped them into the pocket of her blazer. She didn't know if Bickslow really would need them that day, but she'd take them just in case he did.

When Lucy returned, Bickslow turned on his chair to take the tie from Lucy when she held it out. He hated ties more than he hated bowties. He hated suits in general, too, but he wasn't going to complain. His hatred of ties meant he still wasn't that great at tying them, so when he struggled to get the knot right, Lucy reached forward to push his hands out of the way and tie it for him.

"Here, let me." She'd mastered the art of tying a tie from all the times she'd had to help Natsu and Gray do theirs when necessary. But she'd seen her father do it enough that it hadn't taken Lucy very long to grasp how to do it herself. It had proved to come in handy at times, though. Folding the collar of Bickslow's shirt down and pulling the knot tight, she laid the fabric flat before asking softly, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm going to be sick."

"Well… It'll be all over before you know it, then there'll be nothing to worry about."

"That's what I am worried about," Bickslow said. By the end of the day, he could've lost Scarlett for good, and that terrified him, even if he knew that it was the likeliest scenario. As much as he thought he'd deserved her being taken from him, simply because he didn't think he was good enough for her, the thought of it actually becoming permanent really did just make him feel ill.

The last week and a half he'd been doing nothing but telling himself that there was nothing he could do, that there was no point of even trying to say otherwise because no one was ever going to choose him over Scarlett's mother. But he'd never completely believed it, or at least that was what he was realising that morning. He hadn't wanted to have hope that things would work out, because then it would hurt a whole lot more when he ended up hearing that Katie would get full custody of Scarlett.

Somehow though, as much as Bickslow had hoped otherwise, Lucy's constant optimism had gotten through. It had been just a tiny bit, but it was enough that he was all the more scared of having to walk into that courtroom.

He didn't want it all to be over, because then it would be real and then none of it would just be temporary. He was scared of what the ending would be.

"I'm not going to get her back, Lucy," he whispered. "I don't… I don't want to lose her."

"I know you don't." Lucy leant down just so she could rest her forehead against his, her hands resting gently against the sides of his face. "It'll be fine though, okay?" she said quietly. "Everything will work out just fine."

Once the courthouse steps were in sight, Lucy reached for Bickslow's hand to lace their fingers together and give a gentle squeeze. "It'll be okay," she said with a kind smile. "I'm here for you." She doubted it really meant anything, but it was better than saying nothing at all.

Bickslow only gave a simple nod before they climbed the steps, slowly just so neither one of them tripped on the wet stone.

As soon as Evergreen saw Bickslow and Lucy coming up, she left Freed and Laxus behind just so she could go and wrap her arms around the Seith mage. "How are you? Did you get any sleep? Have you eaten anything?" she fussed, standing back to hold his face and determine if the dark marks under his eyes were any worse than usual. "God, I'm so sorry you have to do this, Bix. It's not fair."

"Thanks, Ever," Bickslow murmured, letting himself be pulled into another hug by Evergreen. He rubbed at his eyes once they'd all made it into the foyer and, and he sighed through his nose.

Freed knew that sigh as well as Laxus and Evergreen did. When Bickslow held his eyes shut for longer than necessary, it only confirmed what he already knew. "Do you need your glasses, Bickslow?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I didn't bring them."

"I can quickly go fetch them—"

"Oh! Here. I brought them for you just in case," Lucy chimed in. A slight warmth crept up on her cheeks when all of them looked to her with eyebrows raised. Even Bickslow was surprised, but he was thankful for it since he hadn't even thought to bring them himself. "I figured you might want them at some point…" she added quietly.

"Oh. Well, thank you," Bickslow said.

After signing in at the court reception and finding out what courtroom Bickslow would be in, they went off to wait outside the room. Bickslow sat on the bench directly opposite the doors, knee bouncing constantly as he continued to stare. The tense silence didn't last long before the sound of heels on the tiles echoed down the hallway, and Bickslow didn't even get a chance to look up before he heard a woman shout, "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

It was then that Bickslow looked up to see the vaguely familiar woman with the dark blonde hair tied into a high bun, but when he expected to see her staring at him, he found her staring at Lucy right beside instead.

"First you steal my fucking boyfriend, now you're trying to steal my fucking kid too?" the woman spat.

"Katie, what did I tell you?" the lawyer beside her urged, trying to drag her away from Lucy before she made a fool of herself – or, more so than she already had. "Do not speak to them."

"Yeah, right," Katie muttered. That didn't stop her from glaring back to Lucy once more before she entered the courtroom with her lawyer, just to add, "Stay the fuck away from my family, slut."

Laxus' lightning began to crackle around him as the doors swung closed. He would've been ready to destroy the whole building had it not been for Freed laying a hand on his shoulder and whispering for him to calm down. It wasn't the place or the time for violence. They were there to support Bickslow, not to cause more trouble for him.

Instead, Laxus only asked, "What was that about?"

Lucy shook her head as she continued to stare down to her lap. "Nothing. Don't worry."

Bickslow remembered what Lucy had told him right after he'd gone to her for help with Scarlett. He knew Katie and Lucy had a few problems, just because Lucy had unknowingly slept with the woman's fiancé at the time. But if Bickslow had known Lucy would get abused for being there with him that day, then he would've insisted Lucy stay home.

Then again, he supposed it wouldn't have even been necessary if Katie was more of an actual human being and didn't closely resemble a rabid dog. Bickslow had a hard time believing she was Scarlett's mother.

Once Bickslow decided it was time to enter, right after one of the court officers said the judge would be in soon, Lucy went to sit in the front row of the benches right behind Bickslow's table. She didn't even get a chance to actually sit down next to Evergreen before Katie shouted, "Get. Her. Out of here!"

"Miss, please calm down," the court officer said. "Calm down or you'll be restrained."

"I'll calm down when she gets the hell out of here."

Lucy only wished she could sink down into the wooden seat when Katie pointed to her and everyone else looked in her direction. She wanted to stay and be there for Bickslow, but so far, all Lucy had seemed to do was cause problems. She didn't want to stay if that was all she was doing.

The presiding judge was announced before Lucy could leave, and she stood along with everyone else as the session began. When told to sit, Katie remained standing, and Judge Brooks looked at her over the top of his small glasses. "Is there a reason you are still standing, Miss…" He glanced down to one of the papers at his podium. "Clayborne?"

"Yes." Her lawyer beside her merely shook her head before tugging on Katie's arm to pull her back to her seat.

"I apologise for my client's behaviour, Your Honour," she said.

"Well, I'll forgive it this time. Take a seat."

"I… do have one request though, if I may," she continued.

Judge Brooks glanced back up. "Proceed quickly."

"On behalf of my client, I request that someone in the audience be removed from the room."

"On what grounds?"

"My client has had… personal altercations with them in the past."

The judge shook his head and looked to one of his officers standing by. "Escort whoever it is out, and do so quickly," he sighed.

Lucy didn't need to be escorted out though. She was more than capable of doing it herself. So when Katie's lawyer pointed her out to the officer, Lucy was already standing and excusing herself. "I can do so myself, don't worry." It wasn't ideal, but if leaving was what was best, then she'd do it without complaint.

All Lucy hoped was that her bad day didn't get any worse.

When the doors opened again, Lucy quickly got up and waited for everyone to walk out. Bickslow was the first to leave, and he didn't even seem to notice Lucy rising from the wooden bench as he passed her and headed straight for one of the emergency exits.

"Bix? Where are you—"

"Let him go," Laxus said, dropping a hand to Lucy's shoulder when he came up behind her.

She stopped and instead just watched the emergency exit door close behind Bickslow as he left without a word. Was the hearing going so horribly that Bickslow couldn't even stand to be around anyone? Lucy almost didn't want to know, but she knew she had to at least ask how it was going.

Turning, she found the rest of Bickslow's team with matching expressions. Laxus looked the most worried of them all, though. "I take it things aren't going well?"

"I think that would be an understatement," Freed said.

"I just don't understand why he's not even trying to defend himself," Evergreen whispered. They'd all stopped trying to convince him to hire a lawyer to help him win when he'd told them for the fiftieth time that he didn't want to, but they'd all still expected him to do more than just sit there.

He answered questions when necessary, but he gave the bare minimum. And when Katie's lawyer stood there and told the judge all about how he was irresponsible and unreliable, and painted him to be the villain in his own story, Bickslow just sat there and took it. Evergreen knew that most of it, if not all of it, was just one big lie – there was no way Bickslow would've purposely ignored dealing with something as important as custody – but when he only gave the bare minimum, it made her wonder if what she knew was actually the truth. It made her wonder if Bickslow really had been lying to them about not knowing a single thing about Katie.

And the fact that Evergreen was even doubting one of her closest friends just made her feel horrible. Because if it was bad enough that she was wondering what was true and what wasn't, then what was the judge thinking?

Lucy looked back to the door Bickslow had just left through before she turned to go and sit down next to Laxus on the bench. "He's not going to win, is he?" she whispered.

"It'll be a fucking miracle if he does," Laxus said. "That woman is a piece of work."

"Who? Scout's mother, or her lawyer?"

"Both." They'd come perfectly ready to destroy a man's life, and all Laxus wanted to do was hit Bickslow to knock some sense into him. The last thing he wanted was for Bickslow to actually lose, but he was beginning to see that it was inevitable. "How the hell could anyone actually lie about shit like that?" he whispered incredulously. Laxus would admit, he'd done some horrible things. But he would never be capable of doing what Katie and her walking legal dictionary were doing, and had done.

Laxus wasn't capable of accusing someone of being a bad parent – well, other than his own father, of course. He wasn't capable of saying a child was being improperly cared for when they weren't. He wasn't capable of accusing someone of purposely putting a child in danger, when clearly, they never did. He wasn't capable of going out of his way just to purposely ruin someone's life for no good reason, other than for his own personal gain. Not anymore, at least.

But that's what they were doing to Bickslow. They were calling him the worst of parents. They were saying Scarlett had been put in danger and they had proof of it with medical records and complaints from his neighbours – although Laxus knew for a fact both of those were just total bullshit, because the house on one side was empty and Vanessa on the other was too busy looking after her own kids to care about what anyone else did with theirs. But they were doing everything they could to strip Bickslow of every single parental right he'd ever had or ever could have.

They were using his name, the stupid things he'd done as a teenager, and even the fact he was a mage against him. And it just wasn't fair.

"I don't know, Laxus," Lucy murmured. "I really don't know."

Knowing that it was going horribly only had Lucy wishing even more that she could be in there with them. She knew Bickslow didn't need her there, because he still had his team and they were really all the support he'd need, but Lucy still wanted to be there for him.

She almost felt as if things were going so poorly just because she'd been forced to sit out, but Lucy knew that was wrong. She was out there to avoid causing more problems. Still, all Lucy wanted was to know what was going on, and to be able to be there for Bickslow.

But, Lucy knew she couldn't be. She couldn't go in there without Katie screaming at her. The problem was that Lucy couldn't just sit out there and hope for the best, either, especially not now, knowing how horribly things were going just on the other side of the doors. Lucy just had to do something. She was incapable of just waiting.

Without a single word, Lucy rose to her feet and went off in the direction of the judge's chambers. She heard Laxus asking where she was going, but she ignored it and kept going. Lucy knew she was being stupid – reckless, even – and she knew what the consequences would be, but at that point, Lucy was convinced that it was going to end badly no matter what she did or said. The only thing Lucy had going in her favour right then was that she knew the judge in Bickslow's case personally, so when she found his door with the brass nameplate, she was welcomed in with something resembling a smile.

"Miss Heartfilia, please, come in," Judge Brooks said. He was just hanging up his robe as Lucy gently closed the door behind herself and went to sit on one of the leather chairs opposite the desk. "I trust all is going well?"

"I wish I could say that," Lucy replied.

She'd known Judge Brooks since she'd joined Fairy Tail. One of the first jobs she'd taken by herself had been a simple babysitting job, of all things. The judge was a proud father to three daughters, and Lucy had been tasked with keeping them busy for a day while he'd been busy in court, and while their mother had been sick and getting some rest. But ever since then, the judge had been someone Lucy had trusted. At one point, not long after her own father had tried to have Phantom Lord abduct her and return her to him, she'd gone to Judge Brooks for legal advice surrounding her mostly estranged relationship with Jude. Thankfully, Lucy had never needed to use any of it, but it had helped.

"Ah, yes… I thought it had been you leaving my courtroom before." He'd only caught a glimpse, but he'd thought the woman had looked familiar. That didn't prove to be a good thing, though. "You know I can't exactly talk to you about the case…" the judge said with a frown.

"No, I know that. But… I just want you to know that everything they're saying about Bickslow… It's not the truth."

"Lucy, this really is not a conversation I can take any part in," Judge Brooks warned.

"Please, just hear me out for a few minutes," Lucy pleaded. She knew that it wasn't something the judge could talk to her about, and she knew she had no place talking to him about any of it anyway. But it was what she needed to do, despite the harm it may end up causing. "You don't even have to listen to me, but… There's things you need to know, and I know I have no right to even be here and say anything, but I won't leave here until you do listen. Please."

Judge Brooks sighed through his nose as he sat back in his chair, folding his arms across his stomach. He knew Lucy to be kind and caring, and he knew her to be intelligent, too. She was putting him in an unfortunate position right then, but Judge Brooks liked to consider himself a fair judge, so he was unsure of what to do.

Lucy being so distraught over the case just made the judge worry, though. He'd have been blind to not notice how one-sided it all was between the two parents, and that was new for him. He couldn't remember ever dealing with an issue of custody where one parent had had so little interest in proving themselves. It was clear to Judge Brooks that Lucy had information he needed though, and as uncomfortable as it made him to admit that, he supposed it would be in the best interests of the child involved to actually listen to what Lucy had to say.

"Make it quick then," the judge finally said after a moment of consideration. Whether or not it made a difference to the case though… That was to be determined.

Lucy nodded quickly before beginning, "I don't know exactly what they're accusing him of doing, but please, believe me when I say none of it is true. Bickslow loves that child. He would never do anything to hurt her, especially not intentionally."

The judge had assumed that much on his own. If it was one thing the mother and her lawyer didn't have, it was solid evidence to support their claims. The judge had Scarlett's medical records – she was perfectly fine. It was just the issue of safety he was concerned about.

"And… And while he's not the greatest parent, because he's still learning how to even be one, he's still far better than she would ever be," Lucy said. "She left a one-week-old baby on a doorstep. A doorstep. She abandoned her daughter outside Bickslow's house, not even knowing if he still lived there or if he was even home, and didn't say a single thing to anyone. Did anyone mention that?"

"…It didn't come up," Judge Brooks said quietly. "Is there proof of this?"

"Well, no… But I saw the note she left with Scarlett."

"What did this note say?"

Lucy reached into her purse to pull out the folded piece of paper to hand it to the judge. "Read it for yourself." Why Bickslow had even kept it, Lucy had no idea, but now she was glad for it. Bickslow didn't know she'd found it again, though, but she'd brought it anyway. Lucy liked to be over-prepared sometimes.

Judge Brooks cleared his throat after he finished reading the short note, and quickly handed it back to Lucy. "Well, I can't admit that into evidence, naturally…"

Right. Because we're not having this conversation. She tucked it away and continued quietly, "And since I'm guessing Bickslow isn't saying much or trying to defend himself… It's because he doesn't believe in himself. He's too scared of messing things up for Scout—I mean Scarlett, because he's had to figure it all out on his own, that he won't fight for her. He thinks he deserved this happening."

"He could've avoided all of this if he'd gone to the resolution sessions."

"But he didn't know about them. He never knew about any of this, not until he quite literally had Scarlett taken from his arms," she whispered. "I was there with him that morning when it happened. He had no idea about any of it. They are lying, Mr. Brooks. About everything."

That wasn't something the judge could just believe. He wanted to, but he couldn't. He had to consider it from all angles. He had to consider how Lucy was even involved in any of it, too. "How do you fit into all of this then?" he asked. "You seem to know both parties quite well."

"I knew… one of Katie's previous partners. She's had a problem with me for months," Lucy mumbled. "And Bickslow… Bickslow is a good friend. He came to me when he found Scarlett. I've known her just as long as he has."

"I see…"

Lucy looked down to her lap where she picked at the small flakes of worn leather on the strap of her purse. She didn't feel like she'd said anything useful at all. Even if she had, it wasn't like the judge could use any of it. She rose slowly from the chair and looked back to the judge. "I know you couldn't talk to me about any of this at all, but… Please, please don't judge that man on the lies they are telling you. Ask anyone else and they'll tell you the exact opposite to what they're saying. Bickslow is the best chance Scarlett has, and I'm not saying that because we're close, but because I know he would go to any length to give her the best life. And Katie… She left her own daughter on a doorstep and said she ruined her life. If that was the mother of your children, would you knowingly leave them with her?"

The judge shifted in his seat.

"Just… consider that, please," Lucy said softly. "Bickslow may not ever be a perfect parent, but he'll still always try his best, which is a whole lot more than what Scarlett's mother will ever do. She shouldn't get another chance after what she did, but that's just me."

After that, she turned and quietly let herself out, returning to the benches just outside the empty courtroom. All Lucy hoped was that she hadn't just made things worse.

"Oh. You're back," Evergreen said as Lucy sat back down on the long bench next to trio. "Where did you disappear to? We were worried you weren't coming back."

"Just to the restroom," Lucy replied with a smile. She couldn't actually bear to tell anyone where she'd been, just in case she ended up being the final push to make Bickslow lose his daughter for good.

Thankfully, it was an answer that no one questioned, so they all just sat in silence opposite the courtroom doors, waiting for the session to resume and for Bickslow to return. He did so just as the hearing resumed, walking past everyone and not even bothering to spare a glance in their direction until Laxus asked with narrowed eyes, "Where did you go?"

"Fuck off," Bickslow snapped.

Laxus didn't take it personally, but it still earned a worried glance from Freed as they decided to finally follow Bickslow into the courtroom with everyone else. It wasn't like Laxus didn't know where and what Bickslow had been doing anyway – smoke was hard to mask. He'd known Bickslow long enough to know of his various coping methods. It was just that some were better than others, and half of them were why the man had a misdemeanours list as long as his forearm.

When the judge had started listing everything he'd been fined over, arrested for, or just charged for at some point in his life, Bickslow had known it was over. That was before they'd brought up the time he'd helped Laxus try and take over Fairy Tail, and before they'd pointed out that he was, in fact, a guild mage, and guild mages had never been known for being reliable because of how they made their living.

But right from the beginning, Bickslow had known he had no chance of winning. And when he'd started being accused of things he could never even think of doing, when he'd been made to seem like someone who was incapable of looking after his daughter in every way possible, Bickslow just hadn't seen the point of trying to say that none of it was true. Who would take his word over Katie's?

Mother always knows best.

He'd answered the questions where necessary, but that was it. Katie had won the minute she'd walked in the door. At one point, Bickslow had only wanted to tell the judge to just give her custody and be done with it. It was just a waste of time otherwise.

When the judge had walked back in later, after he'd left to decide who he'd grant custody to, Bickslow had gotten himself ready for the worst anyway. But then when Judge Brooks walked back in and said that he saw no reason for Bickslow to lose custody of Scarlett, he'd cried. He'd broken down right then and there in the middle of a fucking courtroom, and cried.

Katie had cried too, and swore and screamed and just about gotten herself put in cuffs for it. But it had been for a very different reason.

Bickslow hadn't expected to win. Not ever in a million years. He hadn't thought he deserved it, and if he'd been the one judging it, not even Bickslow would've chosen himself. But Judge Brooks had, for whatever reason, and Bickslow had never felt so relieved in his entire life once he'd heard the words.

The worst part though, was that the first person Bickslow had wanted and expected to see behind him when he'd turned around, was Lucy. He'd somehow forgotten that she'd had to leave, just to avoid giving Katie any more ammunition. Still, his team and Laxus had been there, and they'd been enough. It had been one of the rare occasions where he'd been the one right in the middle of them all for a while, getting squished in the tightest hug possible, but Bickslow hadn't minded not being able to breath for a while.

Right before Bickslow had finally been about the leave, the judge came down from his podium to hand him the small card with the details of where Scarlett would be in the morning so he could pick her up once everything had been filed. Bickslow took it graciously. He wished he could go and see Scarlett right then, but… He'd been without her for nearly two weeks. He could wait another night.

"Thank you," Bickslow said, staring down at the address on it. "I just… I can't thank you enough."

"I'm just doing my job," Judge Brooks said with a warm smile. Still, the only reason he'd found to consider granting custody to the mother, was just because she was the child's mother. That wasn't always enough, though. "But… Just a quick bit of advice."

"Oh… Uh, okay."

"The people willing to fight for you against the odds are the ones you keep around, Mr. Redfarrow. Remember that."

"What? I, uh… I mean thanks," Bickslow mumbled. The judge turned and left, and Bickslow was left wondering just what his words were supposed to have meant. It made sense as just a saying, but… Right then? It wasn't like Bickslow had had anyone fighting for him. He hadn't even hired a lawyer to do so, and he certainly hadn't fought for himself. Yet against the odds, he'd still somehow won.

It perplexed him until he was out in the hall and saw Lucy standing with his team and waiting with the brightest smile he could ever remember seeing her with.

Lucy had believed in him when the odds had been against him. That was the way it had always been. But for some reason, Bickslow had a feeling that wasn't all she'd done.

As soon as Lucy saw Bickslow though, she was running towards him to throw her arms around him, almost knocking Bickslow straight off his feet. "You did it! You got Scout back!" she said. She'd started to believe it really wouldn't happen, and when Evergreen had run out through the doors, screaming that Bickslow had won, Lucy had almost felt like crying. "I knew you'd do it!"

Bickslow hugged her back so tightly that Lucy's feet left the ground for a moment. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you." He set Lucy back down on the ground and quickly lifted his hands just to hold her face and quickly kissed her, almost entirely without thinking – although he did vaguely notice Evergreen snickering just behind Lucy. "Whatever it was you did, just… Thank you. So fucking much." Bickslow couldn't care less about what it was Lucy had done. He knew she'd done something, but he didn't care to find out what. It didn't matter.

"I… I didn't do anything though…"

"You did. I know you did." He didn't even feel like pointing out that the red on her cheeks kind of gave it away anyway. Bickslow kissed her again before he added, "And I don't care what you did, but thank you for it. Thank you for everything."

Lucy gave just a small smile as she whispered, "You're welcome." Would she tell Bickslow that she talked to the judge? Probably not. There was nothing to say that what she said to Judge Brooks even made a difference. Lucy was just going to choose to believe that Bickslow had done it on his own. "When do you get to go and see Scout then?"

"Tomorrow, hopefully."

"Perhaps we should celebrate tonight then," Freed suggested.

"I… I don't know," Bickslow said bashfully.

Laxus came up to throw his arm around Bickslow's shoulders then, pulling him away from Lucy and down the hall. "Come on! You got your kid back. We have to do something to celebrate it," he agreed. It was a victory, and victories always had to be celebrated in Fairy Tail.

Bickslow sighed but admitted defeat. Maybe celebrating a little will be nice. He didn't think he had anything to worry about for a while, at least not as far as Katie was concerned. And, he'd be back to sleeping at weird hours and not really being able to go out on his own once he got Scarlett back. Maybe he really did deserve just one night of fun. "Alright, fine," he caved. "Just… Just a little bit though."

"A little bit is fine," Freed said.

Bickslow turned back to Lucy before they all left, finally noticing that she'd mostly been trailing behind them and not really joining in. "Are you going to join us?" he asked.

"I think I might just head home." Lucy smiled softly.

"What? Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yup. Now go on, go celebrate," she laughed, prodding Bickslow in the chest so he could go back and follow his team home. "You deserve it, Bix."

Bickslow almost didn't want to do anything if Lucy wouldn't be there, just because it wouldn't be the same without her, but he wasn't going to force her to do anything. Besides, it was just one night, so he was sure he'd survive.

Nodding, he only waved goodbye and descended the steps with the rest of his team.

Laxus, Freed, and Evergreen had long since left by the time Bickslow was pulling himself out of bed later that night. He knew he should be sleeping, just because it was really only a few more hours until Scarlett would be home and he didn't want to be tired, but he just couldn't sleep that night. He was far too excited to sleep.

He wandered out into his lounge room just to watch the twinkling lights on the tree for a moment. "Scout's going to be home for Christmas, babies," he whispered.

"Miss Scout, miss Scout!" they cheered.

"I know you guys did. I did too." Bickslow would never stop being thankful for what had happened. He'd accepted that Scarlett was gone when she'd first been taken from him, but now Bickslow felt like he was being given a second chance, and he didn't want to fuck it up.

He crouched down to look at the small pile of presents at the base of the tree. Most of them were for Scarlett, from what he could tell – Evergreen had left earlier in the evening just to return half an hour later with her arms full of wrapped presents – although there were a couple for him as well. Bickslow could tell those were all books though, which was fine. But, seeing the presents under the tree reminded Bickslow that he still needed to write a card to go with Lucy's present.

With the babies still trailing behind him, Bickslow went to find the wrapped frame. He'd hidden it on the top of a shelf that he knew for certain Lucy couldn't reach, so getting it down had been easy for him. He checked the festive paper to make sure the wooden frame was still neatly wrapped, before setting it aside and going to fetch an ink pen and the Christmas card from a drawer.

He'd chosen the present itself just a few days before his birthday, and he'd wanted to write something to go with it but just hadn't known what to write at the time. Now though, Bickslow knew exactly what to write. He did his best to keep his handwriting neat and legible, and he read it over six times just to make sure he hadn't accidentally missed a word.

"Such a sap," Puppu teased.

"So romantic," Pippi cooed.

Bickslow rolled his eyes as he slipped the card in the envelope, sticking it to the front of the present. "Oh, shut up." He would admit, it was pretty fucking corny, but it didn't matter much, because Lucy was the only one who was going to see it anyway.

After setting the present down under the tree, Bickslow stayed to watch the lights change colours slowly for just another moment before switching it all off to leave the room in the dark. Just a few more hours, and Scout will be back home. Bickslow honestly couldn't wait.

For the time being though, he decided to head upstairs to make sure everything was neat and tidy in her nursery.

Lucy waited until it was nearly noon before going to visit Bickslow. She hadn't been sure when he'd get Scarlett back, but Lucy had still wanted to give him a little bit of time with his daughter before she went to steal all the cuddles for herself.

"Bix?" Lucy called out in a sing-song voice, closing the door behind herself and laying her coat over the end of the lounge. "Are you here?"

"Bedroom," Bickslow called back.

The first thing Lucy saw through the open door to Bickslow's bedroom was Scarlett sitting in her bouncy swing by the side of the bed. Lucy couldn't stop herself from rushing forward just to lift Scarlett out and smother her face with soft kisses. "Oh, I missed you so much, you beautiful girl!"

Bickslow couldn't help but roll his eyes at the two as he folded up a shirt to drop inside the suitcase sitting on his bed.

"I'm just going to snuggle you forever, okay? So then you can't go anywhere. Deal? Deal."

"Not forever, I hope," Bickslow mumbled.

"Yep. Forever," Lucy insisted. "I'm stealing Scout. She's mine now." She brought Scarlett up just to blow a raspberry on her cheek. "I'll let you see her occasionally. Don't worry."

Bickslow rolled his eyes again as he retreated back into his wardrobe. "Well, I'll take it."

Lucy just smiled to herself as she sat down on the edge of the bed, right next to the suitcase. "It's good to have her back," she said a little softer. "I think Scout would agree too, if she could."

"I don't think she really cares or even noticed anything changing, to be honest."

"Well, one day she might." Lucy was convinced Scarlett would have a very different life if she'd ended up with her mother, and that wouldn't have been a good thing. She was better off with Bickslow. Letting out a gentle sigh, Lucy glanced into the suitcase as she sat Scarlett on her lap, supporting her just so she wouldn't slip if she squirmed too much. "Going somewhere?" she finally asked.

"Uh… Yeah."

"That was sudden. Where are you going?"

"I guess so," Bickslow agreed. He pulled another two shirts from a drawer and took them over to the suitcase to fold them up and stack them neatly on top of the growing pile. "But… I'm going to see my parents."

"Oh." That one, Lucy hadn't been expecting.

Bickslow grimaced. He could tell she was a little disappointed, and that just made things difficult. Pressing down on the pile of clothes, Bickslow began to explain, "I mean, it's not really that sudden… I was planning to go visit them for the holidays this year anyway, because that's what I usually do…" Granted, it wasn't every year, but so far it had been every second year. He didn't miss out on Christmas and the New Year with the guild that way. "But then… The whole thing with Scout happened, and I didn't think I'd get her back so I wasn't even going to bother seeing my family…"

"But you do have her back, so it makes sense to go just like you were planning," Lucy finished.

He shrugged. "Basically, yeah."

Lucy nodded. She understood. It was just that she'd kind of been hoping to spend a little bit of time with Bickslow over the holidays, especially now that Scarlett was home. Still, Bickslow visiting his family was probably a good thing. He had a daughter to introduce, after all. "Well, when will you be back?" she asked. Lucy presumed he'd be leaving in the next day or two, since it was already the 21st as it was.

"Um… Sometime around the middle of January," Bickslow admitted, wincing slightly. "I usually stay for a few weeks just because it's the only time I ever see them…"

"I see…"

It was only then, though, that Bickslow seemed to realise that a few weeks away was going to be a problem. With everything with Scarlett going on, Lucy had been the last thing on his mind – or at least, the fact their souls were fucking connected had been the last thing on his mind. Now though, it was all Bickslow could think about, and it kind of worried him.

Astrantia was a hell of a long way from Magnolia, and Bickslow was certain it would be the most distance they'd had between them since the whole bond started forming. Bickslow would be gone for a while too, and considering he'd hurt from less distance and less time apart, Bickslow almost didn't want to know how bad it could be by the middle of January when he was on one side of Fiore and Lucy was on the other. Then again, Bickslow knew that it got better over time, or at least that was what he remembered from what he'd read when he'd been younger, but the ache and longing was always there to some extent.

But, as much as Bickslow wanted to avoid that pain, he couldn't stay in Magnolia that Christmas. He was set on visiting his parents, as frustrating as they were most of the time, which meant Bickslow was left having to come up with some kind of solution for his little soulmate problem.

"You could, uh… I don't know… Come with me," Bickslow said then, awkwardly walking back to his wardrobe and refraining from punching himself in the face.

"W-What?" Lucy squawked.

"Well, not for the entire time I'm going…" he continued, the words flying out of his mouth before they'd even become conscious thoughts. "But, for a few days or something…"

It took Lucy a moment to process the fact that Bickslow was, in fact, inviting her to stay with him over Christmas while he visited his family. For the most part, she just had no idea what she was supposed to say. She didn't even know what she was supposed to think about it. "Um… Wow…"

Bickslow almost wanted to think it was a good thing Lucy was so uncomfortable. He'd been fucking moronic to suggest her going with him. His parents would eat her alive. Bickslow had absolutely no idea what he'd been thinking when he'd said that. Although more accurately, Bickslow was convinced he hadn't been thinking. Not even a little bit.

"Don't worry," Bickslow mumbled. "It was just a stupid suggest—"

"No," Lucy interrupted quickly. The darkening shade of red on her cheeks only confirmed how little she was thinking of her own words now. "I… I kind of want to go…"

"Huh?"

She gave a small shrug. It was stupid, that was for certain. But… Lucy had to admit she was kind of curious about Bickslow's family. She'd met his father once when she'd been young, but that had been it. All Lucy knew of Bickslow's family was what he'd told her over the last couple of months. Getting to spend a few days with them could be interesting.

It could be a disaster waiting to happen, but it could also be interesting.

Besides, she'd get to spend time with Bickslow and Scarlett too, and that was what Lucy had wanted to do anyway.

"It'd be just for a few days, right?" Her smile was nervous as she looked back up to Bickslow staring wide-eyed at her. "What should I pack?"

Like I said, I can't claim any realism for certain parts of this. I originally wanted to put more detail into the actual hearing, but it was impossible to find any kind of transcript for a custody hearing, which wasn't actually surprising. Also, I probably could've eased up on the whole Lucy-saving-the-day thing, but... Oh well. It happened. (Also, honestly, it's not like Katie/the lawyer would've been able to get away with that shit in real life anyway.)

On another note, yes, the next chapters will feature Bickslow's wonderful family. I've been excited to write these chapters since I first started writing this story. This is probably my favourite backstory for him that I've written, which is why I plan on writing a sidestory to this AU in the future, where Bickslow never leaves so he does end up marrying Lucy and taking over his family's business when the time comes. That idea has been a long time coming, but it won't be anytime soon, either.

Don't forget, BixCo Week is from October 24-31! (It's also my birthday week, yay me.) I have the first four stories finished at the moment, one of them is a sequel to something I've written and another is tied in with the GaLu/BixCo AU...

That's all for now. Reviews are always appreciate... They motivate me to update.