So as Kura JIO pointed out, there was a hard-lined glitch in regards to the marriage, so again, thank you for pointing that out and the help with that!
But... I've also decided to roll with it, so with that, I bring you another addition to the HWHL series.

I hope you enjoy!

"What about this one?"

Lucy sighed as she turned her head to peer at the advertisement on the paper that Bickslow held up. "We don't need a five-bedroom house." She said with a roll of her eyes, snatching the glossy paper from his hands and scrunching it up in a ball and tossing it to the pile of discarded property listings just beside her.

They'd been sitting at the bar all morning, going through the countless properties that were for sale and for rent in Magnolia, and after nearly three hours of doing so, they were running out places to choose from. She wanted the perfect house – two, maybe three bedrooms; close enough to the guild but not right in the centre of the town where it would constantly be noisy. Was that too much to ask? Apparently it was.

"Fine then," Bickslow grumbled, propping his head up with his elbow on the bar as he picked up another listing. He didn't quite understand why they didn't need a five-bedroom house. I mean, it had a pool and a kick-ass bar. Who wouldn't want that? "What about this? It's near your street." He said, sliding the paper across the bar before picking up the almost empty mug from the bar beside him. Was it too early to be drinking? Yeah, probably, but that never really stopped anyone in that guild, especially Cana.

"Hm… not bad." Lucy said with a small shrug as she placed it onto the nearly non-existent pile that was their shortlist. It only really had four or five places, most of which Lucy had picked out.

It wasn't long before both of their piles of real estate listing to go through were depleted and Lucy leant over the bar, her head hitting the counter with a groan. "There is no way we're going to go look at any of those places today." She mumbled, lifting her head to rest her chin on her folded arms.

"Agreed."

Mira looked between the piles of scrunched up property listings and the two quiet mages just next to them with a small frown. "Moving?" She asked simply, not aware that the glass she'd been cleaning with a rag had been sparkling clean for the last five minutes at least.

"Yup," Lucy said, nodding slightly as she lifted her gaze to meet the Take Over mage's. "Although I'm considering just giving up and staying at my place for the rest of my life. This is too frustrating." She mumbled. Even though they'd gone through what was possibly hundreds of listings, they'd still only been able to find eight places that, to Lucy, were only decent at best.

If her place wasn't so tiny, she really would be considering living there for the rest of her life. But… it wasn't like she could do that anyway. There was no way they'd all fit in her tiny apartment.

"Or mine." Bickslow grumbled again. His apartment wasn't that bad. Honestly. Sure, it was formally his 'fuck pad' (as Lucy had so elegantly called it), but… okay, never mind, it really was that bad. Even though his apartment was definitely big enough since he did have a spare bedroom that had basically just been collecting dust for the entire time he'd lived there, even Bickslow knew that his 'fuck pad' was no place to raise a kid. Besides, Lucy hated the place.

"You two don't live together?" Mira wondered as her eyebrows knit together slightly.

"No," The pair said in unison before Bickslow finished with, "Her team kind of made that impossible unless we told everyone."

"But… haven't you two been married for a few months?"

"Six months, yeah. Why?" Lucy asked, lifting her head even more to rest her chin in her palms.

A nervous smile flashed across the barmaid's lips as she looked between the two. "Fiore's marriage regulations state that newlywed couples must be living together – officially – within three months of their wedding…" When both Bickslow and Lucy gave her blank looks, she continued quietly after chuckling nervously for a short moment, "If you two haven't been living together officially – according to the town, that is – then your marriage is most likely null and void." She said, asserting her superior knowledge of the subject matter.

"Eh?"

"…What?"

As Mira continued to smile nervously, feeling guilty for essentially being the bringer of bad news (because really, telling someone their marriage wasn't valid anymore was one of the worst kinds of bad news in her books, especially when she had to admit that the couple before her were strangely adorable), Cana decided to chime in, pushing herself up from where she was slumped over one end of the bar with the barrel of the day just next to her.

"So Bicks and Lu aren't actually married, huh?" She said, smiling mischievously at her stunned friends.

"Y-yes we are. Sort of? I don't know, I'm so confused right now," Bickslow spluttered before he swivelled on the stool to turn to his wife (well, that was debatable at that point) to see what she had to say, because really, the woman would probably explain it and prove them all wrong. They were married. Still. They had to be. Right?

But before he could turn completely, he was greeted by the sight of a certain scarlet-haired mage and the sharp edge of her favourite blade pointed directly at his throat. She leaned over him, Bickslow scrambling to grab hold of the edge of the bar behind him as he leant back, his back pressing against the edge. "H-hey, Erza…" He muttered, a sheepish grin on his face as he swallowed hard, vaguely feeling the pointed edge of the sword through the fabric over his neck.

Erza narrowed her eyes as she leant in even more, her face only an inch from Bickslow's as she tried to peer in through the slats on his visor. Darkness. "So you lied about being married to Lucy?" She said, her voice low.

Lucy was honestly beginning to panic. She didn't think she'd ever seen the woman go from one side of the guild to the other so quickly, but she'd done it in front of her very eyes. And what was it for? To stick a god damn sword up against her husband's (…sort of) throat. When she saw Natsu with one hand around his flaming fist just behind her and Gray with his arms folded, she realised that the fact they were married was all that was keeping her crazy team from actually hurting him.

Even though he probably deserved it for all of the stupid things he'd done, she couldn't really let them do that… not today, anyway.

Besides, she needed Bickslow alive so they could sort out the whole marriage problem that had come up. The fact that for the last three and a bit months they hadn't actually legally been married was a little unnerving.

"Erza, stop. It wasn't a lie." Lucy said, getting up to grip the shiny blade between her fingers, making sure to keep the sharp edge away from her hand.

Bickslow breathed a sigh of relief when the Requip mage hesitantly pulled the sword away and straightened up, still shooting daggers at him.

"For all intents and purposes, we're still married." Lucy said, smiling slightly while looking over the small crowd that had gathered around them. They were all still trying to get over the fact they were married in the first place; now they had to accept that they weren't? Sheesh. So far, telling the guild had caused more problems than expected.

"…Just not legally, apparently" Bickslow muttered.

"So you're not married, which means you lied." Erza insisted, stepping forward again.

"Wasn't a lie. Got the certificate to prove it."

"Somewhere…" Lucy added before pulling the Seith mage from the stool, "We need to go sort this out." She mumbled, her fingers lacing with his and leading him out of the guild.

Even though the two were extremely worried about whether or not their marriage was still valid, they were trying their best not to show it. For Lucy, she had to try and stay calm because if she started to worry too much then she'd start freaking out about everything and then she really didn't need to be stressing out the baby, not that she really knew what it would do. It just was just better to try and avoid it anyway. Besides, if she did get too stressed out, chances are she'd turn into a hormonal nightmare at the drop of a hat again and really, she was still trying to get that under control, if she even could.

She still tried regardless.

Bickslow, on the other hand… he was probably more scared of her team than anything.

So as soon as the two had cleared the guild and everyone slowly went back to what they were doing – Erza and Co. muttering under their breath as they did so – Mira's smile turned to one full of glee. The Take Over mage was no longer worried about telling her friends that their marriage was no longer valid; instead, she was happy that it was.

Which, was honestly a weird thing, and she felt a little bad for thinking so, but it would be worth it.

Turning to the guild master who was sitting on one stool, she asked sweetly, "You can officiate wedding ceremonies, right?"

Lucy sat back on the wooden chair, letting the heavy book fall down to the desk with a loud thud, ignoring the glares from everyone else in the library at the sound. "She was right." She muttered.

Their marriage really was no longer valid, so for the last three and a bit months, they hadn't been married.

Narrowing his gaze, Bickslow stopped his pacing and leant over Lucy and the back of the chair, peering at the thick book with every single rule and regulation regarding marriages in the country of Fiore.

Every. Single. One.

And fuck, were there a lot of them. More than either had expected, anyway.

But when he finally finished reading the pages that were open, he straightened up slightly, leaving his hands on the back of the chair as he looked down at, well, his girlfriend. "So… what now?" He asked quietly.

Because really, what the hell were they supposed to do now?

"I… I don't know." Lucy admitted, looking down at the hands she had folded over her still mostly non-existent belly before lifting them up slightly, beginning to twist the silver ring on her left hand.

"Well then-" Bickslow muttered, and when everyone in the room turned to give him a collective 'shush,' he straightened up, "Oh, bite me, you old hags." He yelled, at which point Lucy started giggling almost uncontrollably.

It didn't take very long for them to get kicked out of the town's library after Bickslow's outburst and Lucy's laughing (which, Bickslow had joined in on as well), so soon they were back to walking the busy streets of Magnolia. Lucy had decided she wanted a nap, so off they went to her apartment.

"So uh… what do you want to deal with first: marriage or house?" Bickslow asked with a slight smirk as they walked, his arm around her waist.

She hummed in thought, pondering what would be the logical thing to sort out. It was actually quite a hard decision, especially since their housing and living arrangement situation was what had caused the entire marriage problem, so essentially, the two needed to be dealt with simultaneously.

"Well, I don't know," She said, her head resting against his side as they walked. "I mean, if we do get married again, we'll need to be living together within three months so this doesn't happen again… but it seems a little pointless unless we can find a place first; that way there's no reason for it to not stay valid."

"Fair point," Bickslow agreed, "But I feel like finding a place is going to be—wait, hang on." He stopped them, turning them slightly so Lucy was looking at what he was.

They stood in front of one of the newer and larger apartment buildings in the town, and it was almost too perfect that the landlord was standing out the front of it, nailing a 'FOR RENT' sign to the main doors.

He looked down at Lucy, she was biting on her thumbnail as she stared at the building. "Come on, let's go look." He said with a grin.

"Oh… okay. Yeah." Lucy muttered, pulling herself free from Bickslow's grip and rushing up to the landlord with a bright smile. It was a nice looking place, and besides, where was the harm in just looking at a place? It was just one, after all. One she could deal with.

The landlord turned at the sound. "Hello, miss," The short man said cheerfully while pushing his round glasses further up the bridge of his nose, "How can I be of assistance?"

"Well, I see the sign you've just put up," Lucy said as she gestured to the sign just in front of her, "So I'm wondering if it would be too much to ask to have a look around the apartment?"

"Oh! Not at all! Come, come," The man beamed, pushing the double doors at the top of the steps open and beckoning them in to the main stairwell, "Right this way."

The two followed the short man up the stairs and to the third floor, passing by the two doors on each floor before rounding for the next flight of stairs. As soon as the landlord had pushed open the dark wood door to the vacant apartment, Lucy was already in love with it and she didn't even have to look at the entirety of it and know anything about it know that that was the apartment they were going to live it.

But of course, Bickslow wasn't so convinced. Yet. But he also knew that just by Lucy's awestruck look that whatever he said wasn't going to make a difference. She'd decided.

So slowly, the two looked around – only because Bickslow basically dragged her around the empty apartment. It was the perfect size – three bedrooms, two decent sized bathrooms, an area for Lucy to have her writing desk and plenty of room for the remainder of the open living space with the kitchen and island counter on one side of the room.

It wasn't too far from the guild and it wasn't smack-bang in the centre of town where it would be too noisy. The main living space had large windows (and that was something Lucy had always wanted, just because her apartment only really had the window above her bed and one above her bathtub) that lit up the entire room, and the best part was that there was a canal in front of the building, which was perfect because Lucy wasn't ready to give up her morning walks along the canal.

Bickslow had come around as he saw the apartment too, but then again, he really didn't care all that much where they lived. With a final glance over to his girlfriend who was admiring the recently remodelled kitchen with the black granite countertops, he grinned and turned towards the landlord who had been standing just by the door. "Well, I think she likes it," He chuckled, "I guess you better go take that sign down."

There was a knock on Bickslow's door a few days later. Looking up from the box he was stacking his books in, he turned to the door. "Come in!" He shouted, just loud enough for whoever was on the other side of the door to hear.

He had to do a double take over his shoulder when he saw not just Laxus barge in, but Freed, Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel too. Hell, even Loke. With eyes wide, he found himself backing into the lounge and trying to get away from the frankly menacing group. "What the fuck is going on?" He demanded, to which they all grinned and all but pounced on him; Laxus grabbing one arm while Gajeel got the other and Gray and Natsu with his legs, effectively lifting him up from the lounge he'd fallen to while backing into it. "Guys?! What are you doing?!"

"Gi-hi." Was all that came from Gajeel with his usual wicked smirk.

Laxus only shrugged along with Loke, but it was Natsu who almost let it slip. "You have to ge-"

"Shut up, Salamander!" Gajeel hissed, kicking the other Dragon Slayer as they walked down the stairs.

Bickslow fell when both Natsu and Gajeel let go of his arm and leg, landing on his side on the stairs with a groan. The two Dragon Slayers were at each other's necks, foreheads pressed together as they glared and insulted each other. It never took much for those two to piss each other off, and if anything, they jumped at the chance to do so.

With a sigh, Bickslow turned to face the other Dragon Slayer who was shaking his head, muttering under his breath.

"Seriously, what the fuck are you lot doing?" Bickslow demanded, folding his arms as he narrowed his eyes at Laxus.

"We can't tell you, alright?" Laxus sighed, "Now, are you willingly going to come to the guild or are we actually going to have to carry you the entire way?"

"I'll walk…" He muttered, glancing at the other two Dragon Slayers who were still in their own world.

"Good."

So a little hesitantly, Bickslow followed Gray and Loke down the stairs as Laxus turned and went back up to Bickslow's apartment, saying he'd catch up with them. Bickslow really had no idea what was going on and honestly, he was a little scared. He'd briefly wondered if they were all there to take him to his execution at the guild or something, since after all, they all kind of had a reason to kill him. Well, sort of. Laxus probably would just because Bickslow had always pissed him off all in the name of entertainment. The rest… well, that was probably just because he'd married Lucy. Gajeel was most likely there for the same reason Laxus was.

But really, it didn't make sense, because if they were going to kill him then he'd probably already be dead. Somehow, Bickslow knew that whatever it was they were planning was much worse. So much worse.

When they all but shoved him through the guild doors, Bickslow really didn't expect to see what he did.

Vines were wrapped around every column and stair railing and bannister in the entire guild, the occasional flower popping up on them. A vast network of vines was above them with the ends tied to the railings on the second floor of the guild building. Dozens upon dozens of lanterns hung from the canopy above, some with his beloved babies painted on them and others with golden and silver keys. Bickslow was a little shocked that the entire guild hadn't burned down yet since the lanterns were paper and fire was involved.

Each table had a strip of white fabric running down the centre with the ends just draping over the sides. Small ice sculptures sat right in the middle of each one – the guild mark sitting atop a small pedestal with a thin heart outlining it with the base where the crest and heart meet the pedestal being the only place they all connected, the rest almost floating.

Down the far end of the guild on the stage, a steel lattice sat in the centre with a few vines draped around it with the same flowers on the columns and railings. In the corner sat Lyra, already playing a quiet tune, the delicate notes drifting across the almost unusually quiet hall. When Bickslow turned to ask Loke what Lyra was doing – since he knew for a fact that she couldn't be summoned on that particular day and there was no way that Lucy herself had summoned her – the Lion spirit only shrugged with a small smile.

It was only when Bickslow looked towards the bar did he realise what was going on and why he'd basically been dragged to the guild without anyone telling him what was happening. A six-tiered wedding cake sat right in the middle of it; each layer with a silver ribbon and bow and a single winding vine that ran from the bottom to the top. Then, on the very top, sat a replica of one of his babies and a golden key leaning on the side of it.

His face split with a wide grin as he turned to face the group that had dragged him to the guild in the first place. Mira had come up beside him while he'd been admiring the guild, because honestly, he had no idea how they'd managed to completely transform the room in just a matter of hours. Both Bickslow and Lucy had come in that very morning before going back to their own homes to finish packing their things for their move, since in a matter of days, they'd been able to finalise everything and by the end of the week they'd be in their new apartment – together.

And of course, it would all be official; according to the town's records, anyway. They'd made sure of that.

"Legal?" He asked the group, because if he was going to get married again, then he was going to stay married for the rest of his life. Well, until Lucy got fed up with him and divorced him.

"Just make sure you both sign everything and get it all handed in to the town hall in the next three months and it will be." Mira said, smiling sweetly.

Bickslow nodded, "Right. Yeah…" He muttered. "You know, you didn't have to do any of this. We were probably just gonna do what we did the first time."

"Which was?"

"Go to Crocus and elope. Again." He said with another grin, his tongue lolling from his mouth as Mira scowled at him. They'd yet to actually talk about whether or not they were going to get married again, to be honest. It just made sense to do it that way again.

"No, that's not fair," Mira whined. "You can't just run off and get married. It's bad enough you two did it and kept it a secret for so long."

"She has a point," Laxus chimed in with a slight shrug. "It's Fairy Tail. Either you invite the entire guild to your wedding or you don't get married at all. If you two hadn't been so stupid, we wouldn't be doing this."

Bickslow raised an eyebrow at the blonde Dragon Slayer, "Wow, Sparky. Didn't think you cared about that."

"I don't." He mumbled. He kinda did care though, and along with everyone else in the guild, he was disappointed he didn't get to see a wedding. His best friend's wedding, no less.

"Sure you don't," Bickslow said, chuckling quietly as he turned back to Mira. "I take it Lucy doesn't know about this either?"

"No, but she should be here soon, so hurry up and go ready!" The Take Over mage beamed, pulling the folded clothes from under Laxus' arms and thrusting them into Bickslow's chest before turning the Seith mage around and pushing him in the general direction of bathrooms.

"Fine, fine! I'm going!"

In a way, Bickslow was getting excited and nervous all over again. Sure, he'd already married her, but in front of the entire guild… it made it feel much more real. Hell, what the guild had come up with was way more of a wedding than their first one, which was really just them, the priest, some old lady playing a piano, Loke, and Virgo. And his babies, of course. None of it had really been planned the first time, but this… this was planned. It was an actual wedding.

Lucy rolled her eyes as Levy forced her down into the chair in front of her vanity. As far as she could tell, her friends had decided to play dress-up with her, and honestly, her back hurt and she was too tired to care. It was bad enough they'd rooted through her entire wardrobe and the clothes she'd already packed up, just to force her into a dress that 'would look so amazing on.'

But really, she was too tired to care. Besides, it was a nice dress; white halter-neck that was loose enough to make her not feel like she was fat (when really, she wasn't), but tight enough to showcase her curves.

When she opened an eye to look in the mirror, she raised an eyebrow, wincing slightly when Erza found a knot in her hair. "Why are you guys wearing the same dresses?" Lucy asked.

They all stopped what they were doing – which for the most part was nothing – and looked at each other with wide eyes. Levy made a point of starting to put books in boxes and Juvia seemed to run off towards her kitchen. Erza went back to brushing out her hair as her face became the same shade as her hair. "Uh, well… you see… there was a sale on… and we grabbed the last of the dresses… because they were so pretty…" She spluttered, nodding once when she considered it to be a good enough answer. Damn, she was good at thinking on her feet.

Lucy frowned slightly as she looked in the reflection. Each wore a silver strapless dress that cinched at the waist and flared out, ending just above the knees. With a slight shrug, she closed her eyes again. "They're nice." She said, wincing when Erza tugged on her hair again.

When they finally finished with her hair, again, Lucy not really paying much attention to what they'd done to it, and pulled her from the chair, she wanted to just curl up in her bed again. Nap time.

But no, they wouldn't let her do that.

"Come on, let's go to the guild!" Levy said, tugging on the blonde's elbow.

She groaned, tipping her head back, "Can't I at least get changed?"

"No!" They all said in unison, to which Lucy just groaned again and let her friends drag her out of her apartment.

Because really, between her back hurting and being too tired, she just didn't care. She'd barely been able to get her thoughts in order for the last couple of weeks so she had yet to piece together everything that was going on. To Lucy, her friends were just being a little more over-enthusiastic than usual.

Hell, the only logical reason for her friends dragging her to the guild that she could come up with was that they'd decided to throw a party that they were planning on letting get out of control.

Of course, she didn't realise at the time how accurate she was.

Bickslow pulled on his bow tie as he paced the stage, walking past the Master who was standing under the arch in the centre, and past Laxus, Freed, Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray – all of them with black suits with silver vests or ties. Mira had gone all out with the planning, and honestly, Bickslow was amazed; partly at the fact that the guild was actually clean for once and half of the people were actually decently dressed and not blind drunk for once (which was pretty surprising considering it was late in the afternoon), and partly because she'd managed to get Laxus and Gajeel to agree to wearing suits.

That, and the fact that she'd managed to get almost the entire guild involved and managed to keep it a secret from himself and Lucy.

He stopped his pacing when he stood in front of Gray, his arms folded across his vest as he waited for Lucy and everyone else to arrive. "Gray, will you please put some fucking pants on?" Bickslow said, narrowing his eyes slightly.

If he was going to have an actual wedding – suits and ties and all – then he was not having a half naked groomsman; especially not one he hadn't actually chosen.

Gray looked down at himself, "Gah, shit!" He cried before promptly running off, hopefully searching for pants.

So he went back to pacing, folding his own arms across his chest. "Shit. Why am I so nervous?" Because the longer he stood up there, the more nervous he got, and it didn't make sense because he'd already been married.

"We're you not nervous the first time?" Freed asked.

"Well, yeah, but… this is different."

"How so?"

Bickslow shrugged slightly, "I dunno. Feels more like an actually wedding, you know? Last one was a spur of the moment kind of thing."

"If you don't stop pacing, I'm going to electrocute you." Laxus warned.

"Right, yeah… okay…" Bickslow mumbled, nodding once before going to stand where he'd been told to, shoving his hands in his pockets before he turned to the men lined up beside him. "Shit, what if she doesn't want to get married again?"

"I'm sure she will, Bickslow." Freed said with a small smile as Gray returned (with pants, thankfully) and went back to his place.

Bickslow nodded again, "Right… yeah… of course. I mean, she did it before, so why wouldn't-"

"They're here!" Mira yelled over the guild as everyone scurried to find seats at the tables before running up to the stage with Cana, and honestly, everyone had to do a double take when they realised she was actually wearing a dress rather than her usual attire of a bikini or bra with capris. It was a shock, honestly.

When they finally reached the guild, Lucy expected to be able to just follow her friends in… but no, that's not what happened. She raised an eyebrow when they blocked her. "Um… guys?" She said.

Levy smiled sweetly, "Close your eyes, count to twenty, and then wait for the doors to open."

Lucy blinked. "Huh?"

"Just do it, okay, Lu?"

"Fine." Lucy sighed, closing her eyes and folding her arms. She really was too tired to argue, but she wasn't too tired to be worried about what it was they were planning.

She could hear Levy giggling as the doors closed behind the three, no doubt, and when she finally got to 20 in her head, she opened her eyes and stared at the closed wooden doors, and for the first time, she noticed just how quiet it was. Usually at that time of day, you'd be able to hear the ruckus from where she stood, but all was silent inside the guild and she didn't know how to feel.

And then, just when she was beginning to get impatient, the large doors opened slowly; Wendy pulling one and Romeo the other, each with large smiles. Lucy walked through the threshold slowly, her eyes scanning over everything in the usually bright and rowdy room, and then she stopped just before the stairs to the lower part of the room.

She could feel the tears well up as she took everything in – from the vines and the thick canopy-like plants above to the paper lanterns with the keys and the dolls and the miniature ice sculptures on each table. It didn't take Lucy long to figure out what was going on, even though she'd been having trouble getting her thoughts aligned.

Everything about it was perfect; the atmosphere was perfect. When she saw Bickslow standing up on the stage with that great big smile on his face, she could have sworn her heart stopped. She didn't know how they'd all done it, but they'd managed to give her the wedding that she'd been dreaming about for most of her life. Ever since Lucy could remember, she'd wanted to have an almost… magical wedding. She wanted it to be almost whimsical, but she wanted it to be beautiful and magnificent, and most of all, she wanted it to feel like it was from a fairy tale. When she looked around, that's what it felt like.

Lucy had only ever told one person about any of that, and it hadn't been Bickslow. No, it had been Levy and it had been long before she'd married Bickslow the first time. And sure, she'd been a little disappointed that she never got the opportunity to stress about planning her own wedding, but in a way, it didn't really matter all that much. She got married because it felt right and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Bickslow. It didn't really matter how they'd done it.

His suggesting they get married when they walked past that 24-hour church in Crocus a little over six months earlier had simultaneously been the stupidest thing Lucy had ever heard him say, while also being the greatest.

But… she couldn't move from where she stood. Even though they hadn't talked about whether they'd get married again since they'd found out their first one was no longer valid only a few days earlier, she knew she wanted to. If Bickslow did, of course. And obviously, he did.

Before anyone could stop Bickslow, he'd jumped off the stage and was jogging down the aisle, only just noticing that they'd replaced the usually green rug with a light grey one.

Lucy was wiping the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hands when Bickslow stopped before her, still towering over her from where he stood on the steps.

"I-I don't… u-understand… h-how…" She whispered.

"Neither do I," Bickslow chuckled, reaching out to grab her hands when she dropped them to her side again, "But it's pretty great, right?"

She nodded, because really, her words were a mess. But without a doubt, it was great. Everything was great and absolutely perfect.

"So, want to marry me again?" Bickslow asked quietly with his signature grin, gently pulling Lucy closer and to the edge of the steps.

"Yes. Always yes." She replied, a short, breathless laugh escaping as she wrapped her arms around Bickslow's neck, pressing herself against him as his own arms wrapped around her waist and held her there for just a second before shifting swiftly so one arm was behind her knees and the other her back and carrying her - bridal style, no less - to which she squealed in surprised.

"We should have done it like this the first time." He said as he walked back towards the stage, looking down towards his sort-of-ex-wife-girlfriend-soon-to-be-wife-again in his arms.

"Yeah, maybe."

When Bickslow finally put Lucy down in front of Makarov and he took his place opposite her, he could feel like his heart hammering away in his chest. It was different from the first time they'd done this, but it was a good different. When he looked back to the blonde before him, he couldn't help but grin, just like he had the first time. There wasn't a single person in the room who wasn't smiling – hell, even Laxus and Erza were smiling.

Sort of.

This was what a wedding was supposed to be like. It was the wedding they should have had the first time around.

But 'should haves' didn't matter anymore, because it was the wedding they were getting then, and it was all thanks to their friends.

Makarov cleared his throat as the two before him laced their fingers together. "Ladies and gentlemen, mages of Fairy-" He began.

"We've been through this before," Lucy said with her smile bright enough to light up the entire room. "Can't you just skip to the end?"

The Master was taken aback for a second before he nodded, and clearing his throat again with a slight chuckle as the guild laughed along with him, he continued. "Well," He said, turning to look at Bickslow, "Do you Bickslow… wait… what is your last name?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

The Seith mage let go of one of Lucy's hands to wave it dismissively, "Doesn't matter. She kept her last name."

"Right, right," Makarov nodded again. "Do you Bickslow, accept Lucy as your soul mate and one true love, promising to share in all that life offers and suffers, to be there for her in times of need, to sooth her in times of pain, and to support her in all endeavours, big and small."

"Fuck yeah, I do."

The Master shook his head, a quiet chuckle escaping once again with the rest of the guild at Bickslow's response. Then, turning to Lucy, he continued once again. "Do you Lucy, accept Bickslow as your soul mate and one true love, promising to share in all that life offers and suffers, to be there for him in times of need, to sooth him in times of need, and to support him in all endeavours, big and small."

If possible, Lucy's smile got brighter and Bickslow swore he could feel his heart quite literally leap into his throat. Or maybe it was his soul? Who knew.

"I, Lucy, take you, Bickslow, to be my husband, my constant best friend-"

"Hey!" Natsu cried, to which Gray elbowed him to a chorus of snickers.

"-my faithful partner, soul mate, and one true love from this day forward."

"I think mine was better." Bickslow mumbled.

Makarov could only shake his head again before he clapped his hands together once, looking over everyone with his own wide grin. "Well, you've already done the exchanging of rings, apparently… so by the power vested in me by the… well, guild, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife... again. You may now-" Before he could even finish his closing line, Bickslow had already leant down, his arms wrapped around his once-again wife and crashed his lips to her as her own arms laced around his neck, already lost to the world. "-kiss your bride…"

The guild erupted into a chorus of cheers, shouts, whistling, and clapping. Mira had fainted (again), to which Wendy had come to be by her side, Levy was squealing as she hugged Pantherlily close to her, and Erza was wiping but a single tear from her cheek. Laxus was still smiling (sort of), and Gajeel was smirking, as per usual.

Everyone got what they wanted that day – the guild got to see two members of their family get married and Lucy and Bickslow got to get married (again). But when Lucy woke up that morning, she did not expect to be getting married again, let alone the actual wedding of her dreams.

But that wasn't to say it wasn't a great day, because honestly, it was.

When they finally pulled apart, Bickslow rested his forehead against hers and whispered, "I love you, Lucy."

"I love you too, Bicks."

If there's any spelling/grammar errors, I apologise. I should have any fixed within the next day or so. :)

Thank you all so much for the reviews on the other two stories in this series, and I hope you enjoyed this one!

- April