It had been three days since Lucy went on her first job with Future Team Natsu since Fairy Tail disbanded. It had been everything that she missed and more. She was surprised that the team was able to get the reward despite the damage that was done to the town. But the mayor just told her they would have had to rebuild many things once the issue was cleared up anyway so the reward was made with all that in mind. If anything the minor destruction helped with the repairing process.

Deciding it was best to just allow it, Lucy took the reward and Team Natsu headed back to Magnolia by train - much to Natsu and Wendy's displeasure. While the two dragon slayers tried to hold their puke in by hanging their heads out the train window, the celestial mage divided the reward among everyone. She gave Natsu and Wendy's share to Happy and Carla then only gave herself only a bit of the amount.

The others wanted to give her more, since it was not fair that she took the smallest portion of the reward, but she explained that it would not make any sense for her to actually take as much as them since she did not actually have to pay rent in their time. Her portion was more of some allowance money for her to spend on food and things she would like to buy for Nashi. Erza, Gray, Happy and Carla glanced at each other before nodding and accepting Lucy's reasoning.

When they did arrive back at the guild, Natsu and Lucy were immediately tackled to the ground by Nashi while Happy laughed at them. Juvia immediately ran over with Umeko in hand to greet Gray for a job well done. Jellal was at the guild for once, and both he and Senna had a strawberry cake waiting for Erza. And finally, Wendy and Carla went over to Mira to get some dinner. It was pretty late into the evening so everyone was getting ready to go home.

After everyone ate some quick dinner, Erza finishing her cake all by herself for dessert, they began leaving the guild one after another. Lucy was about to go upstairs to her room when Nashi grabbed her skirt tightly. She sat back down next to the peach haired child while said child looked at her with puppy dog eyes. When Natsu and Happy saw her look, they immediately knew that Nashi was up to something - and she was not gonna back down on it.

"Um... Mom?" she said.

"Yes Nashi?"

"Can you sleep over with me tonight?"

"HUH!?" both Natsu and Lucy cried.

The celestial mage became a blushing mess, knowing full well what it meant to sleep over with Nashi. She would have to accompany her to Natsu's house and once she entered their household, she would most likely be faced with all the proof she needed that she and Natsu were more than just partners in this time. That they were in love and married to each other and lived with together with Nashi. She was most definitely not prepared for that.

"Nashi... you know I can't really do that..." she said while the child pouted.

"But you and Papa are okay now right?" Nashi asked to which Lucy cannot deny. "And besides you can fit in my bed, it's very spacious."

"Nashi..."

"Hey Firecracker, what did I tell you about making younger Luce do something she doesn't want?" Natsu said, making the child pull back and just pout in silence. "I get you wanna spend more time with her but you can't expect her to do everything you want."

"Natsu." Lucy said before looking back to Nashi.

"But Papa..."

"Sorry Firecracker, but I'm not budging with this one," he said, taking her in his arms while she sulked. "She might be Mama when she was younger, but that doesn't mean you can expect her to be like Mama. I told you, Mama was really weird back then."

Lucy appreciated Natsu's interference but she could not help but feel a tiny bit guilty that she was not able to do this one thing Nashi wanted. She thought back to her second day being in the future. How the peach haired child told her about how her future self would would sleep with her in the hammock during nap time. She would be lying if she told herself that she was not curious about Natsu and Nashi's home life. The last time she had seen the fire dragon slayer's house, it was an absolute wreck.

"Well I can't really sleepover but how about this," the blonde woman said, bending her knees to meet Nashi's gaze. "Why don't I spend the day at your house tomorrow while your dad goes on a job?"

"Huh?" both Dragneels asked.

"We were supposed to hang out with Storm, Gale and Senna tomorrow anyway, so why don't we make it a stay-at-Nashi's-home day?"

At her words, Nashi's eyes widened in utter excitement. She immediately straightened her posture and her liveliness came back to her. She was practically vibrating in excitement, jumping away from her dad's hold and ran to Storm and Senna planning on what they could do at the Dragneel household and that they need to let Gale know as soon as possible. The other fairies were a bit concerned with how close and clingy their children had become to Lucy.

"You sure about this Luce?" Natsu asked. "I feel like the kids are trying to turn you into their personal babysitter."

"Well, I don't mind it in particular," she replied going over to the kids and picking up Nashi. "Besides, they're all like you and I've had my fair share of making sure you lot don't go insane too."

"As much as we appreciate it, Lucy, you can't keep volunteering to babysit the children every time we go on missions." Erza said.

"Oh c'mon mom, we're not that bad." Senna said while crossing her arms.

Erza smirked while Jellal took hold of his daughter's hand. "To be honest, I think you four put me, uncle Natsu and uncle Gray to shame."

"You guys were that bad?" Storm asked, taking Gray aback.

The ice mage just ran his hand through his hair sheepishly, making Juvia giggle. "I wouldn't say bad..."

"In my opinion, they all resemble you three pretty well." Mira spoke up after she finally finished cleaning the bar. "So if everything's all settled, let's go catch some shut eye."

The celestial mage handed Nashi over to Natsu, who immediately became tired and fell asleep now that her excitement was calming down. Everyone wished her a good night before making their way out of the guild hall, but the dragon slayer remained pensive. Lucy noticed his hesitation and waited for him to say what he wanted to say. The others were curious too, but before they could stop moving and listen in, Mira and Jellal ushered them out in a hurry.

"Something wrong Natsu?" Lucy asked.

The pink haired man avoided eye contact, making Nashi and Lucy continue looking at him with a confused stare. He was thinking deeply, something Natsu did not really do unless it was for something important or serious. And even under those circumstances did he rarely think for as long as he was. But, Lucy did not pry. She should not be used to a thinking Natsu, but he was grateful that she was letting him sort out his thoughts.

"Papa?" Nashi asked, bringing him out of his trance.

"Ah, sorry firecracker," he said before looking at Lucy. "I was just wondering if it's really okay for you to come to our house."

This made both girls look at him with a taken aback look. "Why?"

"I, uh... just don't wanna make you uncomfy, I guess," he admitted.

"Uncomfy?"

He nodded. "There's quite a bit of stuff of Luce and I at home. Our wedding photos, when we were pregnant with Nashi, mementoes from all our dates and anniversaries, stuff like that," Lucy blushed as he listed everything in their house. "I dunno if it's a good idea for you to see them."

Lucy would be lying if she said that her being uncomfortable about those things were a lie. They were the absolute truth. Just the mere mention of their future relationship put her in blushing frenzy. She had never looked at Natsu in that light before, save for that one time she confused his wanting to see Virgo as a want to confess to her, and even then she never thought about the possibility again.

She smiled at the dragon slayer and his daughter. Her partner has definitely grown and her future daughter would grow just as beautifully. "Don't worry Natsu, I'll be okay," she reassured. "You don't need to be careful about that around me anymore."

Both Natsu and Nashi looked at her in disbelief. But the look in her eyes was something Natsu had seen enough to not doubt her while Nashi could just feel that she was telling the truth. They both smiled back at her. Though she was not the Lucy of their time, it still felt like the piece that had been missing from their home was finally coming home. It made Nashi look forward to tomorrow more while Natsu debated on going out on another job again.

"Okay!" Both Dragneels said.

When the blonde arrived to the Dragneel household, the once small house was now a much larger cozy home. There was even a shed built next to it, probably filled with large items that Natsu could not fit inside the house. Or maybe they had large toys that Nashi and the kids could play with whenever they came over. It was so clean and neat, something she did not expect to see when she arrived. Her future self must have put Natsu to work.

The tree that still grew through the house now had a swing attached to one of its branches. Not one of those simple swings that anyone would see at a playground, but one of those couch swings that Lucy remembered having once in the Heartfilia estate. It was tied to the thick branch with reinforced rope and chains since the frame of the swing was made out of a kind of silver material while the seat and the backrest looked to be made of a comfy straw material.

On the mailbox in front of the house, instead of saying "Natsu & Happy' like she remembered, it said 'The Dragneels'. Placing a hand on the box, a small smile crossed her face. Even without stepping inside of the house yet, Lucy could tell that her future self and Natsu truly cleaned up well. The home life looked just as good as the guild life. She walked up to the door, ready to knock, before it swung open to reveal Nashi jumping in excitement.

"Mom! Mom! You're here!" she exclaimed.

Lucy chuckled and picked the child up so that they could hug. "I did tell you I'd be making you lunch, remember?"

"Yay! What kind of lunch are we eating today?"

"Just wait and see," Lucy said as they walked inside. "I don't know if you're dad still eats it, but you'll like it for sure."

"Okay!"

After she closed the door, Nashi wiggled out of her grip and began showing her around the place. Lucy had to admit, she had thought the outside looked different but the inside had a complete turn around. The old dusty couch that used to sit by the window was replaced with a nice L-shaped couch that Nashi demonstrated had the best cushions for jumping. A coffee table was placed in front of it, with a pile of three books without a cover sat on it.

Lucy was about to take a look at the books, because there was no way they belonged to Natsu, but the peach haired girl prevented her from doing so. "Sorry Mom, Papa said you can't read these."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "What? Why?"

"Might mess up the future," she simply replied. "And yeah, they might affect the future."

To the right of the living room was the kitchen and dining table, which looked amazingly tidy to Lucy's surprise. Straight past the living room was an elevated level which led to three rooms. The blonde wondered how the heck Natsu and her future self was able to turn his messed up house into a decent looking bungalow. It could not have been easy... or cheap. Right next to where the stairs to the elevated level stood, there was a small altar of some sorts and when Nashi led her to it, Lucy's eyes widened in shock.

The pictures of her mom, dad and her Michelle doll sat to the right side while a picture of her as a young girl overlooked them; the left side, pictures of Natsu and Happy over the years sat with a drawing of Igneel overlooking them. And hanging on the wall above the alter was a large framed picture of Natsu wearing a white tux and her future self wearing the most magnificent wedding dress Lucy had ever seen.

They were both smiling with the biggest grins on their faces while Happy threw flower petals over top them. Natsu had an arm around her waist, pulling her close while she wrapped her arm around his scarf. Both their free hands raised above their heads to make up the Fairy Tail sign. The other members of the guild were behind them, mirroring their grins while some could be seen tearing up for them. It was a sight so unexpected for the celestial mage - but it felt right.

Nashi pulled her away after awhile and went up the stairs and opened the first room to the left. Lucy immediately knew that it was the child's room. A large bed was stationed at the back left corner of the room with a window right above it. Next to the foot of the bed, a wide desk stood on the other corner. Papers, pens and pencil crayons were stacked on one side while the other side was full of hair accessories and kiddy jewelry with a standing mirror in the corner.

The hammock that Natsu had given her was hung up next to the bed, creating an L-shape like the couch in the living room, with a large pile of plushies and pillows underneath it. Nashi told her that her dad initially wanted to take credit for the idea, but it was actually her mom that came up with the idea. Lucy laughed at that, guessing that Natsu probably thought that Nashi would have a hard head like him so having a pillow pile would have been unnecessary.

After the peach haired girl showed the blonde woman all her clothes that all her aunties bought her, they left the room and Nashi led her back to the kitchen since her stomach started growling. "You won't show me the other rooms, Nashi?" Lucy asked.

She nodded. "The second room is Mama's office. Papa cleans it every week but everything is as Mama left it before she disappeared." She sat on one of the chairs in at the dining table while Lucy looked inside their fridge and pantry to start cooking. "He doesn't want people going in there... even me."

Lucy had found what she was looking for when Nashi said that and looked at her shocked. "Natsu doesn't let you in there? But why?"

"He said there's something in there that I can't see and knowing me, if I found it, I might end up causing an accident." Lucy could not deny that one. "But, he also said that Mama would be the one to show it to me when I'm older because that's what she said when I was born!"

The celestial mage smiled at that. "That's good," she said as she turned on the stove and waited for the water to boil in a pot while she started to sauté some things in another. "What about the other room?"

"Oh that's Papa and Mama's room," Nashi said as her stomach growled again, to which Lucy gave her a glass of water to drink to calm it. "I would show it to you but Papa was in a rush to leave for his job that he forgot to clean it and well..."

"Lemme guess, it's absolutely filthy in there?"

The both of them laughed at that. There was no changing Natsu. "Very."

Eventually, Lucy finished cooking and when she handed Nashi her plate, Nashi got really excited seeing a plate of some good garlic aioli pasta with some jalepeños and red chilis. Once the blonde woman gave her a fork, Nashi immediately dove in. She scooped up large amounts of the pasta before somehow showing it all in her mouth with a content look of deliciousness on her face. Safe to say, she enjoyed her lunch.

"This is to yummy!" she exclaimed after swallowing and drinking some water. "We should definitely make more for Papa later!"

"Sure!" Lucy agreed.

"Nashi! Auntie Lucy! We're here!"

"You're not still eating are you? Can I have some food too?"

"I brought some books and toys! Hurry and let's play!"

Upon hearing the three other children's voices, the two laughed again and Lucy moved to open the door while Nashi finished her meal. "Good thing I made plenty, huh?"

"Uh huh! Guess it's a lunch play date today!" Nashi replied.