The Fairy Tail guild was full of the usual suspects on this Saturday afternoon. Actually, it was very crowded, full of nakama. The years had been kind to the families of the fairy mages, and love and peace had expanded their world. Streamers of many colours were hung from the rafters, party hats were in evidence and copious amounts of adult beverages were being enjoyed. A gaily wrapped pile of presents dominated one corner of the room, a long trestle table of well picked over child friendly snacks and desserts occupied space nearby.

A banner hung crookedly but proud, displaying the message: Happy Fifth Birthday Hikaru & Ume. Many children and a few adults were running around, excited from the party games and sugar imbibed.

"One more game! Please!" Natsu pleaded with Lucy, his black eyes as large as he could make them. "We wanna play another round of pin the tail on the dragon!"

"I wanna play hot potato!"

"It's my birthday too! I wanna play duck, duck, gooth!"

Feeling left out, Happy interjected with his own choice of game, "Pin the tail on the fish!"

Standing sternly, Lucy put her hands on her hips, "Children! We're going to play one more game, only one more. Each of you give me a reason why your game should be played and I'll decide."

Hikaru smiled adorably, he was missing a canine tooth and spoke with a slight lisp. "Ith the best game wif animals!"

Ume stamped her feet and crossed her arms as she shouted, "We can eat the potato after!"

Natsu wriggled with the energy of a puppy, "Dragons are the best!"

Both children giggled and shouted agreement. "Yah! Daddy's right, dragons are the best!" The blonde little boy took the hand of his pink haired sister and danced around their father all the while chanting, "Dragons rule!"

The celestial mage smiled to see her family capering about. About to announce her decision, Lucy opened her mouth and surprised her audience with a grunt.

Mira set down the debris she was cleaning up and walked over to the now panting mage. "Are you okay? Isn't this early?"

Natsu rushed up to his mate and gently settled her into a chair. "I knew you were over-doing things! Where's your bag? Kids! Listen to your godmother Mira! She'll look after you and bring you to the hospital after your new sibling makes their debut." He shouted over at Gray, "I win this bet too!"

Ume pouted, "Mom! Will the baby be born today? Why do we have to share our birthday again?"

Lucy smiled at her daughter and beckoned her over. The pink haired girl hugged her mother's belly. "Your daddy needed to learn to share so we decided to have you on his birthday to make him share. You take care of your little brother and before you know it, you'll have another minion to boss around." Lucy kissed Ume's brow.

"What about our presenths?" Hikaru inquired, "I want to hear the birthday thory you wrote for uth!" He hugged his mother's belly and received a kiss on his cheek and a ruffle of his spiky hair.

"Well, it really depends on whether or not the newest Dragneel is in a hurry to arrive." Lucy smiled at her nakama who had gathered together to celebrate her twins' birthday.

A strong contraction rippled across her abdomen, making the blonde wince. Wendy hurried over to Lucy's side, "We need to get you to the hospital!"

Mira took each twin by the hand and smiled brightly at Natsu and then Lucy. "We'll have a great time! We'll see you later." Chattering softly to the twins, Mira led them away towards the gift table.

"You okay to walk Luce?" Natsu reached out to gently touch Lucy's shoulder. "Happy could fly you if you needed."

"There's plenty of time, the contractions are pretty far apart. Let's get going - we can send Happy to go get my bag." Lucy smiled at her mate; having gone through the ordeal of childbirth before, she was better prepared and slightly more relaxed this time.

Happy was only too pleased to fetch the overnight bag. He still had nightmares from his first experience with natural childbirth and being in the same room as Lucy. "I'll go get the luggage, but I have a date with Charle so we'll visit tomorrow after Lucy becomes human again."

"Damn cat!" Lucy's words were harsh but her voice was soft.

Several hours later, Natsu was holding the newest member of Team Dragneel. A tiny squashed red face with a pink tuft of hair was swaddled in a blue blanket. "Thank you Luce, for loving me and giving us another wonderful child. But Luce, I still get a present to unwrap, right?"

The celestial mage smiled at her husband, "It's buried in the pile of presents for the twins. Now - as per our agreement, by virtue of my winning the best two out of three falls, I get to name him. Say hello to Igneel Dragneel."

Natsu smiled his widest fang tipped grin down at the baby holding the boundless love of his parents. "When your siblings get here, we're going to read a story. It has dragons and fighting and mountain lions in it."

A knock at the door sounded. Levy carried her snoozing three year old son in her arms, followed by Gajeel holding a small gift bag.

"Oi! Where's the youngest Redfox?" Natsu teased the iron dragon slayer, "Nice purse you've got there."

"Shut it moron - it's a baby gift." Gajeel growled and thrust the bag at the smirking pink haired man who deposited it on the nightstand. Levy turned around to glare at her mate and held out their son to him. Wordlessly, he accepted his sleeping child.

Cheerfully Levy explained, "Belle is a little fussy after all the sugar her father let her eat at the party. Lily agreed to babysit. Thank goodness Takeru sleeps as soon as his belly is full." She looked expectantly at Natsu who clued in finally and carefully shifted the baby into the diminutive woman's arms. Levy cooed nonsense words at the baby, smiling in delight.

Another knock at the door announced the arrival of Gray and Juvia. Levy placed Igneel in his mother's arms and hugged Lucy goodbye. "We'll see you real soon!"

The Redfox family filed out and Gray and his heavily pregnant fiancé entered. Gray ushered Juvia into a chair. She sat with obvious difficulty, but smiled at the Dragneel family. "Can Juvia hold the baby? Did you name him yet?"

Gray smirked at Natsu, "I hear you lost the naming rights, so you're gonna have to try again." The ice make mage carefully took hold of the baby from Lucy and carried him over to his waiting woman.

Lucy chuckled, "Um, no. I took pity on Natsu - I named him Igneel." She raised her hand to Natsu and he moved over to perch on the side of the bed to hold her hand. They sat at peace as the newly engaged couple cooed over the new baby.

Strong solid blows rained on the door. Jellal opened the door for Erza who swept in, heading directly for Lucy. "We're so happy for you!" She caught the celestial mage up in a crushing hug and drew Natsu into the embrace, "I don't care how long you've been married, you do anything wrong, and I'll break your legs."

Erza strode over to the newest Dragneel and peered into his unfocused, bleary, baby blue eyes. She brushed a knuckle over his chubby cheek and sighed with longing.

"Does Erza want to hold Igneel?" The water mage looked up at the now dreamy faced warrior.

Jellal produced a small package and large card from one of the many pockets adorning his tailored suit jacket. He proffered it to Lucy along with a smile. "We can't stay, we have an appointment. Our best wishes to your family."

"Thank you for dropping in!"

"Thanks!" Natsu spoke as Jellal and Erza left. "What kind of appointment makes Erza blush like that?"

Lucy exchanged a disbelieving look with both Gray and Juvia before she elbowed her mate in his still rock hard abs. "I'll give you a hint, what were we doing nine months ago?"

The implications took a full minute to sink in and Natsu flushed, "Oh!"

"Juvia needs her rest, so we're gonna get going." Gray held Igneel gingerly and handed him off to Natsu. "Our present to the newest birthday boy is already at your house. We set up an enchanted water and ice crib mobile." Gray smoothly pulled Juvia out of the chair and grabbed hold of her hand, "We'll see you soon - and your present to our bundle of joy better rock."

Igneel started fussing, his face scrunching up and his tiny lungs producing amazingly loud squalls of hunger. Natsu placed his new son in Lucy's arms after she loosened her gown. Soon, Igneel was latched on and suckling contentedly. A few minutes passed and Lucy moved the baby to her other breast.

With a smile, Natsu took a burp cloth and placed it over his shoulder. "Gimme our new son. We're gonna show you the burp of the fire dragon." He rubbed and patted until Igneel urped and drooled. "Ready to read your family the latest bedtime story?" Natsu walked over to the overnight bag and produced Lucy's hand written story. Having lived with her dragon slayer husband for close to ten years, she knew he could hear exactly who was walking the corridors of the hospital.

Lucy exchanged another loving look with Natsu. He held out the story and kissed her knuckles when she reached for the papers. He settled into the chair with Igneel, sitting him so he could be admired by his older siblings.

A firm knock tapped at the door accompanied by small fists hammering excitedly. Freed opened the door for Mira and the twins. Ume and Hikaru rushed over to their mother, jumping on the bed to give her kisses and hugs, exclaiming their love.

Mira sighed with happiness to watch the Dragneel family interact. Freed wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her temple. He whispered, "Let's go find a quiet corner and come back for the twins in a bit." Shivering in anticipation, Mira stepped over to Lucy, "We'll be back in 10 minutes or so to take the kids for a sleep-over."

Smirking, Lucy drawled, "I'll give you 15. You'd better go to the furthest corner of the building or Natsu will give me the play by play later." The demon match-maker flushed and scurried out of the room, towing her husband.

The twins ran over to where their father was sitting with the baby and peered closely at him, sniffing and considering his strange appearance. Natsu grinned at his children, his heart full of love that only grew larger day by day, multiplied by sharing and never diminished.

After each child got to hold Igneel, Natsu pushed the chair closer to the bed and settled in to listen to his wife read to all three of their children. Ume sat at Lucy's feet while Igneel was cradled in one of Natsu's arms. Hikaru sat on his daddy's knee and was hugged by his other arm. They sat spell bound by Lucy's voice as she read the words she had penned only weeks earlier:

Goldy the Dragon was a busy mother - she had twins, a boy and a girl. The girl dragon twin was hatched first and was named by her father. He named her Ume because her shell had been purple like a plum. Not because when she cried her face turned purple. The boy dragon twin was named by his mother; Hikaru because he was like a ray of sunshine. Goldy and Pinky loved each other very much, even when they disagreed on certain things. Lots of times they would disagree and then hold hands and say sorry. After one of these times, Goldy realized she was going to lay another egg. She asked her husband to make their cave bigger. He readily agreed, because he knew saying yes was better than being bitten.

"Why do we need more space?" asked the daddy dragon whose name was Pinky. "We're comfortable in our cave, we have three bedrooms and only two children. Are you making me sleep by myself?" He started tearing up at the thought of sleeping alone.

"No! I wouldn't be able to sleep with you crying in another room!" answered Goldy. "We're going to hatch another egg, so we need a hatching room. We can turn it into a spare bedroom for visitors after."

Goldy took her children out to play in the forest and visit with Charle and Happy, a married pair of mountain lions. Happy was very strong and smart even though his best friend was Pinky.

Pinky used his time wisely and napped for the first hour they were gone. Waking up refreshed, he quickly used his strong talons to score the back rock wall of their cave and dug a sizeable room. He carefully stoked his fire and blasted a super-heated flame that melted and smoothed the jagged edges he'd clawed. Before it cooled off too much, he used his tail to flatten it further.

Totally excited to show off his awesome work to his family, Pinky decided to fly over the Enchanted Forest of Fiore where they lived and find them. He felt a little yucky because of the stone dust he was covered in, so he decided to take a nice refreshing bath in the lake near their cave.

Practically prancing out of the cave, Pinky unfurled his wide wings and launched himself into the air. He flapped his beautiful wings strongly and dive bombed into the bracing cold water of the lake. He floated on his back for a few minutes in the water. Remembering what he'd planned to do, he leapt into the air again and flew towards his best friend's house.

"Hey guys! I'm done! Wanna see the good job I did?" Pinky trumpeted, "Where's my Goldy? Give your sweetums a kiss!"

No one answered his plaintive call. Pinky landed and decided to poke around looking for his friends and family. He walked under his favourite tree and was surprised by his dragonlings dropping out of the branches and attacking him with tickles. He thrashed about, gouging the grass with his powerful claws, but making sure not to hurt his babies.

"Ow! Hahahaha! Stop it! S-s-stop!" Pinky howled and giggled, "I surrender!"

The twin dragonlings giggled and sharpened their talons on their daddy's hide a little bit more and then hugged him.

Ume preened and showed off her newly polished scales. "Daddy, am I pretty?"

Hikaru shoved his big sister off balance, "Daddy, why is the sky blue?"

About to answer his squabbling children, Pinky opened his mouth but was ambushed by Goldy with another tickle attack. She used her front and back claws to make Pinky squeal and shriek with laughter.

Ume and Hikaru gave each other a high-five and smiled. Everything was going according to plan. Their mother always knew the best games to play with Daddy. Happy the mountain lion was watching the tickle fight with his wife Charle and laughing at a safe distance.

After the dragons finished playing, they waved good-bye to their mountain lion friends and launched themselves into the air to fly home together. Back at their cave, Pinky started boasting about how awesome his cave excavation was, how nice he made the room and how hard it had been.

"Daddy, why didn't you clean up after yourself?"

"What? I took a bath right after I finished, Ume." Pinky scratched his scales on the side of his head. "I'm only dirty now because my family cruelly ambushed me with tickles!"

"No, I mean there's rock dust everywhere! Mom is gonna have kittens!"

"But she's not a cat...oh...how about you and your brother help Daddy to clean it up?" Pinky had the sly look on his face when he thinks he's outwitted his children. Unbeknownst to him, Goldy had already coached her children into tricking their father into helping them clean up the mess she knew he would create.

"Okay! Show us what to do!" Both Ume and Hikaru danced around Pinky, demanding that he show them over and over each technique for cleaning.

Half way into cleaning, they actually started helping and were close to finishing when Goldy called, "Supper!" She put down a large platter of monster river fish and jugs of lemonade. Her family gobbled the food and drank the beverage thirstily. Pinky and Goldy smiled at each other, happy to have such wonderful children and another egg that would hatch soon.

Pinky walked over to the bookshelf and started browsing the selection of bedtime story books. "Who wants a story?"

"I do! I do!" Both dragonlings clamoured.

Pinky smiled and picked his favourite book. It was decorated with a scary looking red haired lady, a man with a scarlet tattoo on his face, a half naked black haired man, a pretty blue haired girl with hearts in her eyes, a chesty blonde with pretty brown eyes and a strong, attractive, muscular and pink haired man. On the back cover of the book there was a short blue haired girl holding hands with a surly looking giant man, and many other people, most of whom were smiling and a person could just tell they were nakama.

"Jump into bed and Daddy will read from the Fairy Tail book!" Pinky herded his children into the main sleeping chamber filled with soft blankets and furs. Dragons like to sleep in puppy piles most of the time, only using bedrooms to store personal possessions or to sleep alone when they're being punished for setting things they shouldn't on fire.

Goldy wrapped herself around her new egg and allowed the children to snuggle close and get comfortable. Pinky draped one wing over her side and pillowed his head on his mate. Taking a deep breath, Pinky started reading a wonderful story of love, loss and courage of the mages of Fairy Tail. Ten minutes into the story, both dragonlings were snoring and drooling. Pinky kissed his loving mate Goldy and they both went to sleep, because they knew in the morning they would have more parenting adventures.

Mira and Freed waited for Lucy to finish and strolled into the room just as she laid the manuscript down. Mira cleared her throat, "Time for that sleep-over I promised you! Hug your family goodnight and then we'll have ourselves a pyjama party!"

Ume and Hikaru scrambled to obey their godmother. Soon the room was quiet. Lucy, Natsu and the littlest dragonling, Igneel were alone again. A nurse bustled into the room, pushing a bassinette on wheels. Not giving the father a chance to say no, she tucked Igneel into the baby bed, rolled it to Lucy's side and left as quickly as she had come.

Dimming the lights, Natsu then climbed into the bed with Lucy and held her as she wrapped her arms around him. "I love you even though you're a weirdo."

Smiling contentedly, Lucy replied, "I love you just the way you are, baka."

A big thanks to all who have read, followed, favourited and left reviews - you know who you are and I thank you. OhtaSuzuke, because you really wanted to see the beautiful babies - I hope you approve.