Cana Alberona does not do love.

She wakes up and smiles, because she never thought it could be like this.

Easy. Effortless. Comfortable.

Warm.

Her husband twines his arms around her waist, pulling her closer against him, nuzzling his nose into the nape of her neck. "Cana," he growls, half-muffled by his pillow, "go the fuck back to sleep." He rumbles in satisfaction and molds his body to hers when she relaxes into his arms.

She remembers first meeting the forbidding lightning dragonslayer, intimidated by his much larger frame and much more powerful magic. He'd been so strong even then, strong enough to catch her attention as he slouched against the wall, listening to his music. That strength had caught her by surprise during her first S-class exam, and she'd spent the following week analyzing exactly how he'd wielded his lightning so that she'd know how to counter the next time.

They'd grown older together, unwilling friends, enthusiastic enemies. She'd fought him twice again during the S-class exams, left each time hurting in the dust. He'd grinned while they'd fought, told her she needed to concentrate more on him as an opponent than him as a guildmate. She'd hit him with everything she had, refusing to acknowledge his point: that when she attacked, all she could see was the little boy who first introduced her to Fairy Tail.

She smiles as she thinks back to their first kiss, their first time. She'd danced for him, loving her control over her body, feeling his heated gaze stroke over her form. He'd wanted her then, told her so in no uncertain terms, and she'd agreed, following the urges of her flesh. He'd been dark and dominant and impatient, setting her skin ablaze with the trails of his hands and body. She'd been unable to break her addiction to him after that, craving him like a drug, returning again and again, and he'd come back to her too, helpless against his body's yearning.

Fantasia shattered the guild after that. He left while she stayed behind, both feeling the loss burn against them like a missing limb, though unrealized at the time. His betrayal stung her heart. Her abandonment froze his. The S-class nominations shattered through their pain, forcing them back together on one of her missions. They'd started to heal there.

Tenroujima and Acnologia forged them together, and afterwards, left them to settle back into normalcy. He'd returned. They'd rebuilt from their ashes, renewing both the guild and their relationship. The chaos of Tartaros had almost ended him, but he'd survived. She'd realized that she couldn't live without him.

She still can't, she muses, glancing back at his disheveled blonde spikes. This arrogant, proud, powerful man has slipped his way into her heart for good.

"'M not letting you go," he grunts in his sleep, his grip tightening around her. "Stop being so damn stubborn."

Baka. She'd worried that their lives wouldn't mesh, that she'd be too weak for him to be strong, that he'd be too broken for her to be whole. But her worries had been in vain. Gildarts had been the one to set her mind at ease, nursing his wounds after a scuffle with the lightning dragonslayer at her wedding reception. "Even if he's a power-hungry, thick-headed, insensitive asshole," her idiot father had muttered unhappily, avoiding her furious glower, "I suppose he's smart enough that he won't do anything reckless and hurt you." And he hadn't.

In fact, he'd given her the greatest gift of all.

Love. Trust. Family.

"Mommy! Daddy!" A short brown-haired boy speeds into the room and leaps onto the bed, shoving his way between Cana and Laxus. "You guys said we could go to the guild early today and see Grandpa Gildarts! Let's go, let's go!"

Laxus moans pathetically and tries to bury himself in his pillow. "Five more minutes, Luke."

"Daddy, come on!"

Laxus tries to evade the six-year-old's pleading grey puppy eyes. "Cana, please—"

"He's your kid," she groans back, squeezing her eyes closed. "You deal with him."

A little girl springs up on the bed next to Laxus, violet eyes glimmering under jagged blonde bangs. "Daddy," she wails dramatically, "you said we could go!"

"No, I didn't, Conny," Laxus mutters gloomily. "I hate that bastard."

"He said he'd teach me how to break walls today!" Luke squeals joyfully, bouncing on top of a prone Cana.

His sister pouts, playing with strands of Laxus' hair. The dragonslayer groans pitifully and tries to cover his ears with his pillow. "He didn't say he'd teach me that!"

"It's because I'm better."

"No way, baka!"

"Yes way, stupid!"

Cana, taking pity on her exhausted husband, reaches over and grabs her son under one arm, bundling her daughter under the other. She plops them down on the bed in front of her. "Both of you, behave, or no one gets to walk through walls with Gildarts today. Understand?"

Her children immediately bolt upright, eyes wide. "Aye, sir!"

"Good. Now Mommy's going to go back to bed for a little while, okay?" Oh, sweet, blessed sleep, come to mama.

"Okay," Conny mutters sulkily, kicking her feet unhappily.

Luke opens his mouth, glancing out of the room, then closes it again. "Um… Mommy?"

Just ten minutes. Sweet Mavis, please. "Yeah, sweetie?"

The little boy frowns. "I know you said if we don't behave we don't get to walk through walls with Grandpa…"

"That's right."

Her son glances up at her with worried steel-grey eyes. "Then why does Lila get to?"

What?

"Lila's already practicing!" Conny exclaims, eyes narrowing with the unfairness. "Mommy! You said!"

Fucking hell. Detaching herself from her warm, cozy bed, Cana lets her two kids drag her through the doorway. Her mouth falls open in shock when she sees her four-year-old daughter sitting on a pile of bricks, staring through a newly gaping hole in the living room wall. "Lila, baby, what happened?"

Lila beams at her mother through her mop of auburn curls. "It got all dusty!" At Cana's frozen expression, the little girl purses her lips thoughtfully. "You wanted another window, Mommy! I was helping."

"Laxus!"

Her husband appears in the bedroom doorway at her shriek, shirtless and sleepy, blearily rubbing the back of his head. His eyes fly wide as he takes in the scene in front of him. Lila sits happily in the pile of rubble left by a gigantic hole in the wall. Conny and Luke cling to Cana's hands, jumping around and bickering about who gets to see Gildarts first, as Cana tries to explain to her four-year-old why sometimes "listening to Mommy when she comes home from the bar isn't always the best idea, sweetie."

Her words flow like water off the little girl as Lila critically examines her new "window" and pronounces it the "best window in the world!"

"Come here, princess," Laxus groans, scooping up his youngest and heading into the kitchen. "I'm making pancakes," he adds, almost magically summoning Conny and Luke with him. Lila waves gleefully at her mother as she disappears into the kitchen, accidentally taking out part of the doorframe with her hand.

Sweet Mavis. Cana pales as she realizes that she now has a magically aware four-year-old on her hands— who happens to possess the same affinity for destruction as her father. Whatever I did to offend you, I'm so, so sorry.

She wonders if it would be better to have stayed in bed after all. Then again, her crazy family would've found a way to wake her up anyway.

"Cana," Laxus calls from the kitchen, poking his blonde head through the doorway. Flour whitens his morning scruff, and a dollop of dark jam slides gracefully down the bridge of his nose. "Banana or blueberry?"

She's never thought he looked more handsome.

"Berry for me," she murmurs back, walking over to take his hand.

He grins, leaning in to brush her lips with his. "Good morning, Thunder."

"One of the best." She sighs, laughs helplessly, returning his kiss with a smile. "Now, you mentioned pancakes?"

He smirks, ushering her into the kitchen with a bow. "Only for you, milady. Only for you."