Upon rereading the terms, I found out I should have made this story M rated for a while ':D not just for the current chapter. Oh, well.

If anyone read the past chapter (184) before I edited the author's comment, I'd love hear your thoughts on the question at the end :)

kuroshiragami0, thanks for taking the time to leave me a review!

User312308102004 (I will learn this number by heart one day thanks to you :D It's PI, isn't it?), thank you so much for such a big compliment! And yes, she might as well have. That reconciliation someone mentioned once between Erza and Laxus will be coming at some point.

Without further ado - hope you'll enjoy!

"Don't ever do that again!" Erza pointed at the ground as if telling a dog to drop its stick, but her hooligan guildmates were already on their knees.

"Yes, ma'am…" they mumbled in unison. All save for Wendy.

She was with Fiore's Council for another brief healing session. It was strange to think of them as 'Fiore's Council', strange to think how many people of high office were currently present in the building. A building that had been attacked almost casually by a handful of mages.

Safe to say, the international guests were furious and frightened in equal shares. Fiore's Council hadn't said anything, either used to the ruckus or still submissive in the face of their tremendous defeat at the hands of two people. Jellal was with them to be healed too.

What Erza wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall. She considered asking Natsu to stretch his Dragon Slayer's ears, but voted in favour of an effective scold and ignore him for a minute.

Master had been summoned to apologise and explain the commotion his children had caused. He had appeared not twenty minutes later, having been on his way to the Council building anyway – only to barge in and protect his family the exact way they had protected Erza and Jellal, minus the broken wall. They had gotten their flair for drama from somewhere. Makarov had long lost his fear of the authorities.

Laxus hadn't left the Master's side for a second. He was with him during the negotiations now, under the intrigued eyes of King Farhang.

In Jellal's office, thoughts with her husband, Erza stroked Rosemary's hair. Would the Council apologise to Jellal, now that they were in a more or less private setting? Would he accept the apology? Would he have accepted it had they not risen in their seats and declared him innocent in front of everyone?

He had stood his ground; he hadn't run. Erza's insides were thrumming an excited, untuned melody. He was accepting his actions as innocent. He wasn't blaming or punishing himself, no, he had reasons to stay and one of them had finally, finally become the firmly settled knowledge of his own innocence.

There would be cake tonight.

"I wonder what's taking them so long," Lucy muttered, still on the ground.

Gray observed Erza's back, then slowly, quietly, rose to his feet. No protest. She was busy staring at the door, sending silent thoughts to her husband.

"Don't know." Gray sunk into the couch behind the shelves. "Wendy said she'd be quick but it's been hours."

"I found the Council looked good today." Lucy crept after Gray onto the couch. Stretching her legs, the soles of her boots grazed the coffee table. "What could she be doing there other than heal?"

"Jellal didn't look that good," Gray muttered.

They watched Erza. The caresses of her daughter's hair were becoming robotic.

"He's fine," Natsu said without lowering his voice to their level. With the same volume, he got up, stretched his arms with a hearty hnngh. Erza didn't react. He grinned. "His gait is a lil' crooked though." His ears perked.

He winced when Erza spun to him. Natsu twitched, ready to drop to his knees again, but then her ears too picked up the steps coming down the hall, laboured but determined.

Jellal nearly ran her over with how closely she stood by the door.

"You're okay." Her eyes raked up and down his body.

He offered a tired, soft smile. "Of course I am." He ran a hand through his hair, self-conscious under the eyes of everyone. Closing the door, having to shuffle in with Erza not budging, Jellal took his time pressing a kiss the crown of her head. The more he lingered, the lower her shoulders dropped. "I'm not in danger anymore. Queen Hisui honours the Council's claim. We should keep an eye on Wendy though."

Wendy entered then, went straight to the couch to slump down next to Lucy with a big sigh of exhaustion.

"You too, Natsu," Jellal said. "I'm almost certain King Farhang's strange fascination lies in Dragon Slayer Magic."

"I'll gladly show him." Natsu's fist ignited. One glare from Erza and it sizzled out again.

"They said something about a new order; a ranking. It will take them a while – another day at least." Jellal went past his desk and opened the window. From a linen bag in the corner, he took a handful of grains for an awaiting pigeon and its partner on the windowsill. "Master will be debating as well. They also sent an invitation to Yajima."

"Yajima?"

"As a former member of the Magic Council. They are even trying to locate Michello."

"Who's Michello?" Natsu frowned – at Jellal and at the pigeon.

Jellal clapped the remains of oats from his hands, leaving the window open. "He held the sixth seat in the former Council. Everyone else is either deceased or…" He chewed his lip, shrugged, pointed at himself.

Erza felt her heart swell with how casually he recalled the past now. Two cakes for tonight. Though perhaps one cake and one thing Jellal would enjoy as well.

Lucy nodded in recognition. "So you'll be discussing with them?"

"No," he immediately said. "I wouldn't want to. A lot of names are being dropped and since I'm already sort of illegally a member of Fairy Tail while working here, I don't want to draw any more attention to me or my affiliations than necessary."

"Names?"

"For a new order," Wendy whispered. "I heard the Council mumble next door." She glanced at Jellal. He nodded. She must have already told him while healing. "They think their titles as Wizard Saints are going to be revoked. At least demoted."

At this, Natsu flared with excitement. "Oh, ho! So, what? We'll be getting titles?" He jumped up and down. "Did you hear that Happy? I'm gonna be a Saint even before reaching S-Class!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy double-high-fived his best friend.

Lucy rather gave her own forehead a high five. Gray rolled his eyes, and even the corner of Jellal's mouth tugged up into a lopsided smile.

"I doubt Fairy Tail will be receiving many titles – they think us all hooligans."

"Hooligans who defended their continent against freaking Zeref," Gray argued. He was gaining an ambitious spark similar to Natsu's.

"In any case…" Jellal sighed. Wistfully, he regarded Rosemary. She answered with a smacking suckle on her pacifier.

Taking pity, Erza handed Rosemary over. Ambrose would not mind, quite the contrary when Jellal went to the old man's office. They worked there to supply the conference with the requested documents: references of mages, completed quests, records of guilds. More often than not, Jellal passed on an appraisal of Fairy Tail's deeds, all the way down to his and Erza's bandit heist in Caelum.

Whomever he encountered, the faces were grim, the tones strained at best, rude at worst. None of the international guests were thrilled to learn that Fairy Tail stuck around. The Council was, very much so, considering the countless coordinated robberies across Ishgar, mostly Era. The prince of Minstrel voiced his concerns about someone breaking in – again, Fairy Tail coming to mind – where the international guests were staying inside the council's guest suites.

Once learning about Team Natsu sleeping over at the mansion district, he took everything back. Being their neighbours was riskier even than staying in the building that had been under attack twice in short succession, it seemed.

The coming day turned into a few, then a week. Yajima and Makarov and even Michello were called in for every debate, Laxus never intimidated by the guards. He sometimes told them what had been talked about, sometimes not. One evening, he mentioned Sabertooth, Mermaid Heel and Gildarts. Whenever it came to discussing Fairy Tail, Master and Laxus were sent out. Yajima too, on occasion.

"I haven't found much information on them apart from names," Jellal managed, supressing a groan. His legs tingled nicely where Erza had worked on them, slick and warm with massage oil. She never circumvented his rear. He had lost his embarrassment about it, just as with her undressing him completely. Her, never him – it was part of her ritual. How his beautiful wife slowly stripping his clothes off his body was supposed to relax him was beyond Jellal, but who was he to complain?

Past the pillow bulging in his face, he glanced at the clock. Twenty minutes since Rosemary had been fed. Two hours until they would get up to prepare breakfast for everyone.

"Would you rather we go back to sleep?" Erza followed his gaze.

He quirked a brow. She grinned, beamed, too adorable for sitting half-naked on his thighs. Long nights of him being at work seemed to deprive her enough to rise at four in the morning. Jellal knew he would have to spend his lunch break napping, but it was worth it. She always was.

Her palms returned to his buttocks. She murmured as if to herself, "I adore this guy."

Jellal snorted.

Erza didn't join, serious, gentle as she leaned down to peck one side. He chuckled, breath hitching for a moment when she lightly bit the other side.

A glance towards Rosemary's crib. "I can take care of the last area I haven't had the pleasure to treat yet too."

"What if she wakes halfway through?"

"Then we'll finally get a chance not to react immediately."

He twisted his neck, bewildered.

Erza gave him a look. "She won't turn out a spoilt brat that way."

"My poor baby," Jellal whimpered, heartbroken with the prospect alone.

"Your poor baby will thank you later. Now," her weight lifted off, "let's get to the part where you'll thank me later."

Obediently, Jellal turned to his front. His wounds were healed but still, moving carefully had settled in. He almost had to laugh when glimpsing her face. More eager than Natsu about dinner, more ambitious than Gray about a title from the Queen. Dare he think even more keen than Lucy about rent money.

"Turn over," Erza said, shoving his hip the rest of the way. Her knee followed her hand, straddling him. The fabric of her knickers scratched his groin almost ticklishly as Erza gyrated with purpose. "Maybe," she panted slightly, already. He wasn't far behind. "After I'm done, you'll be so—" Her face scrunched up beautifully when his body responded on his own, adding pressure where she liked it the most. "You'll be so grateful, you might return the favour— mmh."

Jellal's eyes shut alongside Erza's.

"Protection," he rasped.

"I'm nursing."

"Erza."

"Fine, fine," she growled. Leaning over, her fingers elongated and fiddled within the drawer of the nightstand, thighs unwilling to retreat from her precious spot and make it easier for her to reach. On the way back, she passed his ear, nipped at it until his hips bucked.

Sliding her knickers aside, she soon had to support herself on his chest. A tremble shuddered through her, through him, breaths released in momentary stillness. She grinned when he cursed.

Jellal's hands landed on her rear with a hint of a slap, sending her down and forward, a gasp rocketing from her lungs. "I'm already brimming with gratitude," he hummed, somehow finding his voice. She purred her approval.

Her lips found his neck, trailing wet-hot kisses up to his jaw. "Let's make that peak, shall we?"

His fingers dug in further, ready to spear up to her most desired spot when her hands held his wrists in place. Slowly, moving minimally – something that drove him insane almost more than she could with speed – she guided his hands to lie flat at his sides.

"I believe I said 'after I'm done'."

"Erza—"

"What other information was there apart from their names?"

"What? Ah—" Jellal barely bit down a swear word. His eyes flashed to Rosemary. The mention of work also brought in a new fear Erza had successfully muddled out of his mind: what if anyone woke up? Their friends had a deep enough sleep – Erza always had to go around waking everyone on missions. The mansion wasn't an exception.

"Speak or I'll stop."

"What did I do to deserve this?" Jellal attempted a pout but it only put his lower lip under siege, words swallowed into her mouth. Their guildmates dissipated from his mind like clouds in the wind, Erza's tongue, Erza's fingers, Erza's hips bouncing down on his every thought he might have processed.

"I'm waiting." She stalled. A throb was her response, torrid and needy. She smirked. She was beautiful in the dimmed light of the nightstand lamp, sweat glistening on her skin.

"I'd heard of the remaining Wizard Saint before, apart from the Council, God Serena and Makarov. With Jose and me, there's only one missing of the ten." Cautiously, submissively, he reached for the hooks of her bra. She let him, let him run the straps down her arms. "Almost every country in Ishgar has their own 'saints' though."

"Are they any good?"

"Some, yes," he croaked, hissed when she rewarded him handsomely. His voice trembled. "Not much is said about their magic types. Could be a bluff or a protective measure."

"Which do you think?"

"Bluff—" Jellal thinned out, growled to swallow another curse. She was divine. He couldn't wait to return the favour while at the same time, he hoped she would never stop. "If someone is famous for their magic, at least the citizens of that country would be witness, and since there's too little information— faster, shit." He released her left breast to cover his mouth, praying Rosemary was asleep.

She couldn't understand him, he knew, but somehow, he felt she still would. That she'd know he had said a bad word, even if she didn't grasp the meaning. The last image he wanted his daughter to have of him.

Well, not the dead last, he admitted, nearly undone under his untiring wife.

"Not yet, hold out a little longer," Erza reprimanded. He croaked, whined a plea. Her lips on his jugular had his nerves electrifying as much as liquifying. Her fault if it broke him, he wanted to excuse, desperate for release.

Erza froze. Jellal felt himself twitching involuntarily, seeking the friction she denied him when he too became rigid. A door had opened. Downstairs, with how faintly they could hear. Another opened and shut. The bathroom.

Jellal's breath got stuck in his throat when instead of retreating, Erza set a relentless pace, intent on finishing off what she started. She covered his mouth with her hand, bit down on his shoulder to muffle herself and not a moment too early.

The door of the guest bathroom reopened, then what had to be Gray's door shut. Or was it Natsu's? The boys slept downstairs. At least it wasn't Wendy. Gray, it had to be. Natsu was a sound sleeper. A slim hope, but one they held on to as much as to each other.

With a shuddering sigh, Erza withdrew, collapsing next to Jellal.

"So they're going to name new Wizard Saints?" she panted, though lightly.

Jellal's voice couldn't draw on the same indominable stamina, taking another moment to return to him. "Very likely. I can think of a number of wizards stronger than Wolfheim – no offence."

"Yes, offence. It's about time they updated their system. If not the Grand Magic Games, then the war must have shown them that continuous training is key to upholding the honour of a title like Wizard Saint."

"I love you."

"Or God of Ishgar," Erza barged on, halted. Her frown softened.

He took her hand aimed at his chest, brought it to his lips. Turning on his side, Jellal gathered her closer still, rejoiced in the warmth of her body, sticky and all, against his.

In the comfort of her crib, Rosemary's slumber remained undisturbed.

"I just wish they'll leave us out of it."

Erza hummed – not in consent, not in disaccord. She was an S-Class mage. She had accepted the honour of seventh Guild Master; she would not refuse whatever title the conference came up with. She deserved it well – she had beaten the four Gods of Ishgar alongside him.

"I wonder what she'll choose." Her tone drifted softly like a flower petal on untouched water. Chin on his shoulder, kissing the marks her teeth had left, Erza regarded Rosemary in her crib. She didn't mean the titles, but rather magic, becoming a mage, going on quests as member of a guild.

Jellal stiffened. She felt the bobbing of his Adam's apple against her collar bone. "We really didn't think this through, did we?"

"What do you mean?"

"We— I'm almost thirty." There was a gravity in his tone she didn't understand. He let out a breath through his nose. "By the time she turns twelve, I'll be forty. Forty years old, Erza."

"It's not unusual to have a twelve-year-old at that age."

"I know but I'll be forty." He wasn't making any more sense than before. "I'll be old. I never even thought about it; I didn't think I'd past thirty, but… forty." The number weighed on his tongue like lead. "I might live long enough for grey hair, do you realise that?" he nearly exclaimed, gasped into the warmth of her skin.

Erza chuckled. Tenderly, she brought a hand up from under his arm, wove into blue hair she loved so much. Drawing away but never enough to release his hair, she pecked his lips. "We'll be greying together."

"I'm aging," he said, as if he'd been an alien all his life, suddenly faced with human growth and death. But it wasn't death that scared him, or even grey hair. It was life – the life he got to live, the future uncertain but there, stretching beyond his wildest dreams, day by day by day. In his mind, it had only ever been early death, then the end of the prison sentence, then probably death again, death before redemption, dying in some battle as a member of Crime Sorcière. Dying at the hands of gremlin Meredy.

Now it was life. A life with his family, with himself.

"Me too." She kissed him again, and again, nuzzling into his neck until Rosemary announced it was morning.