Pairings: Eventual Natsu Dragneel x Lucy Heartfilia (Eucliffe) and numerous clichéd other pairings which I'm positive you already know.

Timeline: AU

Warnings: Uhh, extremely slow progressing romance and some mature situations

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

Authors Note: I'm glad to know people's receptions of this story were positive in the prologue! So I present to you, chapter one of White Flowers.

"In every conceivable manner, the family is a link to our past; a bridge to our future."

~ Alex Haley

~x~

He's still not used to parenting by himself. Although even when Lisanna was here she didn't help all that much the first year, but she was still there. She still provided Natsu comfort in the wee hours of the morning when he felt like he was ready to give up; she offered Natsu everything he needed when the stress became too much. It just wasn't enough. Somewhere between the diaper changing and work, they lost the love.

Natsu covered his eyes with his arm. His free arm brushed against the vacant side of his bed which used to be warmed by Lisanna. His emotions were still raw. He remembered waking up one morning, turning over to lovingly gaze at his wife and when he looked at her, he no longer felt the love they'd shared for years. Ten years of love lost because both of them realized they were only together for their daughter.

It's only been a year since Lisanna packed her things, kissed their sleeping daughter and walked out on Natsu. He wondered if her could have prevented her from leaving – if he even wanted to stop her.

The bed shifted and he felt a smile coming on. His daughter, Elise, crawled underneath the sheets and repeatedly jabbed his side. Natsu peered out from under his arm. She peeked up at him from under his blankets with a semi-toothless grin. Her front tooth was missing.

"Daddy, if you don't get up we're going to be late," she said. She threw the covers off of them. Natsu's smile drooped. He forced himself up and ruffled her straight, shell-pink hair.

"I promise I'll do better as a parent," he vowed. Elise tilted her head once Natsu dropped his hand. Her bright sapphire eyes which were clear and large reflected Natsu's forlorn and bitter expression back to him. He faked a cheerful disposition.

"You're doing your bestest, daddy," Elise assured him and patted his arm. Natsu let out a breathless laugh. Her honesty astounded him if he was to be perfectly truthful. Elise opened her mouth only to snap it shut after a moment of thought. Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Where's… where's mommy?"

Natsu's jaw wired shut. He's not even sure how to answer her. He wanted to tell her that he didn't know – which was the truth – and that she might not even come back… but when the corners of her lips tilted downwards, he knew he couldn't say that. She appeared like she was ready for him to tell her that her mother didn't love her and wouldn't ever come back. He might be giving her false hope, however, he knew the day would come when he would have to tell her the truth and he'd be glad to face her wrath when the day came.

So he told her, "Mommy's busy right now so she won't be coming home for a while. So let's wait patiently for her together," instead. Elise beamed at him. His heart sank. His guilt for lying to Elise was overwhelming yet he felt like it was the right decision. And what other choice did he have?

~x~

Elise bounced from foot to foot. "Daddy, hurry." Natsu didn't even think it was possible for him to go any faster. Was there a way to speed up cooking pancakes? Dammit at times like this he really could use superpowers. Wait… moving at the speed of light wouldn't really aid his cooking time. If anything it'd probably look like he had a rabid squirrel in his pants. "Dad you're burning it!"

"Oh fu—fudge!" Natsu quickly caught his curse and fleetingly attempted to save the burnt pancake. He flicked it off the pan. It landed in the sink with a plop. Black smoke from the pan wafted towards the smoke detector. Panicking, he snatched a kitchen towel off the rung of the stove to diffuse the smoke. Thankfully, he was successful.

She ducked behind him and clicked off the stove. Somehow, he's grateful he taught her how to use the stove… Elise giggled. Natsu's wobbly legs gave out and he plunged to his knees. He liked fire as much as the next guy but that was almost too stressful even for him.

"Let's just have some cereal," Natsu suggested much to Elise's relief.

Plopping down two bowls of cereal on the kitchen table, Natsu all but fell into his seat. His morning hasn't been this hectic since that time Lisanna went to a spa retreat for a week with her sister. Not only did he have to get Elise ready and fed in the mornings now, he also had to drive her to daycare and then himself to work.

Elise had insisted he braid her hair so she could make an impression on her first day. So her hair was clumsily braided and she even went as far to say she loved it. Elise made him pick her clothes too. Confused by what little girls wanted to wear, he gave her overalls and a long sleeved green shirt. It only further ingrained that he wasn't capable of taking care of Elise the way she needed to be in his head.

She hummed to herself and ate her cereal, oblivious to the mental argument Natsu was having with himself. Something sharp grazed against Natsu's leg through his jeans. He inhaled sharply and jerked his chair away from the table. His Russian blue cat named Happy purred, rubbed against his leg and meowed. Natsu glanced over to the cat's dish and chuckled.

"I guess you're hungry, huh, little buddy," he said, reaching down to rub Happy behind his ears. He's usually so good at remembering to put food in Happy's dish each morning but he supposed he dropped the ball once again. Happy mewled in response and trotted away from Natsu to wind his body around Elise's legs.

As he stood up to prepare Happy's dish, a part of him went back to Lisanna. It seemed no matter how much time had passed he was more attached to Lisanna than he'd ever want to admit.

~x~

Frankly, being late to a daycare center was not on Natsu's to-do list for his first official day of work in Hargeon. Especially considering how much he had to beg and plead to even get the transfer to Hargeon.

Natsu fumbled with Elise's plastic clasp on her car seat, repeatedly neglecting the belt to glance at the time on his dashboard. His situation wasn't improved by Elise's constant struggling to free herself.

"We're thirty minutes late, dad!" Elise all but shrieked. Natsu threw his hands over his ringing ears and took a deep breath. He was about two seconds from destroying the buckle. He returned to his task and finally, after what seemed like eternity, he unclasped the seatbelt. Car seats should come with a warning label, adult proof.

Elise took off running towards the daycare. Natsu made a serious of random hand gestures, scooped up Elise's abandoned backpack and kicked the door shut to chase after his daughter. She had just hobbled up the steps when a blonde woman exited from the daycare and attempted to calmly walk down the stairs. Natsu passed her on the steps.

"Waaaaaaaaait!" Natsu cried, just barely slipping in through the closing door. He grabbed Elise by the back of her shirt and chuckled. Elise grinned at him.

*Lucy*

Lucy's boss was thankfully more forgiving about being late than most bosses were. Cosmos, her lenient boss and owner of Cosmos' Flytrap, simply told her to watch her time in the morning and to go arrange flowers in the cooler.

She had endeavoured to explain to Cosmos about getting lost trying to find the daycare but Cosmos just pointed towards the freezer. So for about the last half-hour, Lucy emptied the stock into the cooler into the desired plastic wrappings. The chill was only now beginning to bother her however she scrubbed her sleeved arms and continued wrapping.

Every so often, she checked the list Cosmos provided her only to realize she'd either made a mistake or brought in the wrong bundle of flowers to dispense. Nevertheless how arduous the task, Lucy remained humble for even getting the job.

After apprehending her blunder of grabbing chrysanthemums instead of daisies – a task even she's not sure how she screwed up – she returned the chrysanthemums to replace them with daisies. She giggled about her little fiasco. Sting sure will get a laugh out of this…

Lucy blinked repeatedly. She must have gotten something in her eyes. She swiftly set aside the bundle of flowers to press her palms against her eyes. Damn dust.

"Lucy? Come out here already. It's Ikaruga turn in there anyways," Cosmos said, peering into the cooler. "Hey are you okay?"

Wiping her eyes with her palms, she spun around and smiled. "Yup! I must have just got some dust in my eyes or something. Did you want me manning the counter?"

Cosmos slanted her head inquisitively. Instead, she went along with Lucy's statement rather than prying further into Lucy's business. "Well I have to show you how to use it. Come."

Lucy patted her cheeks and followed Cosmos into the store front, giving a small wave to her co-worker Ikaruga. The pastel pink haired woman acknowledged her and took Lucy's post in the store room.

She definitely had something in her eyes. Why she's pretty pathetic to cry at the drop of a hat for merely mentioning his name. It frustrated her how much she still thought of him. Time was supposed to be the best way to heal wounds… only it seemed that time made more wounds.

Although, skimming over her orders from before, Cosmos' actually strayed away from showing Lucy how to fully use the register aside from the basics. Lucy gently tapped her fingers on the buttons of the register while she idly listened to Cosmos' ranting.

The store was basically empty excluding the three women and this gave ample reason for Cosmos' tirade. It actually gave her more evidence to back up her abrasive statements.

"That dammed Construction Company! I swear it's as if they purposely picked that location to mess with the businesses on this street! Ever since they started ripping up the ground with their jackhammers and god knows what else, business has been horrible. Honestly sales have dropped thanks to them, I know it! I talked to Yajima the other day and he agreed. Why couldn't they tear up another area?" Cosmos blustered.

"What are they building?" Lucy asked, resting her elbow against the glass counter. She stole a glance out the window. Across the street, a huge crane was lifting supplies up to workers on the metal framework of the building.

Cosmos caressed a few roses, a surprisingly tender action for the fury still evident on her face. "A spa; can you believe it? Why would they build it across from a café, a flower shop, an organic grocery store and a sex shop for Pete's sake? Out of all places!"

Grinning, Lucy added, "I guess people really like to get a massage after buying a sex toy." Her boss shot her a slightly amused look and returned to her rambles as if Lucy hadn't spoken.

~x~

8-Island café smelt intoxicatingly like fresh coffee and gooey chocolate chip cookies. Lucy didn't quite understand how a place could have an aroma of gooey cookies but if she had to describe the interior, it'd be gooey cookies.

Lunch time had approached faster than Lucy anticipated it would when she started work that morning. She walked over to the café for coffee rather than actually eating something except she couldn't help but buy a cookie too after catching a whiff of one. She nibbled on the edge of her cookie and it practically melted in her mouth.

She knew sooner or later her job at the Flytrap wouldn't be enough to pay the bills and she'd have to get a second job. Her bank account's balance persisted to be moderately high from Sting's life insurance. She recalled the day he insisted they both get a life insurance despite barely making enough money for food. It was a few days after she told him she was pregnant with Kiryuu. He told her he wanted to make sure if anything ever happened to either of them, Kiryuu would have access to anything he needed.

She didn't mind. She's used to it.

Her mind began to wander once her cookie was devoured and her cookie luke warm and half empty. This is the first time in a long time she'd been away from Kiryuu for so long. Lucy isn't sure how she felt about it. She pondered how his day went so far, if he made any friends, how the daycare was…

The bell tinkled above the café's door. Two construction workers walked in, one with massive muscles and olive hair; the other one had pink hair and a… muffler around his neck? Both of them had hideous yellow construction hats, neon striped vests, blue jeans and what Lucy assumed were steel toed boots.

"I swear the boss gave me the evil eye when I showed up this morning," pinky said.

The other chuckled boisterously, "You showed up forty-five minutes late! It's understandable."

Pinky grumbled and both men ordered their respective coffees. Lucy returned her attention to nursing her coffee and absently checked her good old flip phone for the time. Her lunch break was over in five minutes.

"God I just realized I won't be able to pick up my daughter from daycare on time." Lucy went rigid, having unconsciously slipped back into eavesdropping on the construction workers' conversation. It didn't help they sat just a few empty tables away.

"Which one is she at?"

"Happy Lambs Daycare," pinky replied. Lucy went slack jawed. What a coincidence…

"Bummer. My wife and I have our little tyke in the one near the port. It's also got a fruity name. Something like Bright Stars center, I don't know but it sounds like a place where you put your kids if they have a learning disability," the other one mused. "If it had been the same place I could have gotten my wife to watch her for you."

She lost their conversation stream. She couldn't even fathom what she was considering. Lucy oddly felt… compelled to help.

"My son goes there. I could watch your daughter for you if you wanted," Lucy said. Her eyes widened. Somewhere between her vacant mental state and speaking, she'd gotten up and walked over there. Her legs carried her over to a strangers table to offer her assistance in watching said stranger's daughter.

There wasn't a word in the English language that could accurately describe either man's expression. Confusion just didn't do their faces justice.

"Um… excuse me?" Pinky queried, arching his eyebrow and slanting his mouth. Lucy giggled timidly. Since when did she become so… forward?

All she wanted to do was retract her statement, run away and crawl into a dark hole where she could live out her shame… Yet she stood there, lips flapping with a fruitless effort to come up with something that didn't make her sound like a creepy stalker.

Unfortunately every scenario she thought up ended up with Pinky calling the police on her. Oh why did she stand up?

~x~

Woah, this was a process to write! It turned out about as long as I anticipated… just a fair warning, chapters will be just as long if not longer than this one! Also, I must apologise about the frequent, brief time skips. I'll do my best to work on those so their less… random. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and look forward to the update!

~Emerald~