Parenthood

Chapter 1

"I really don't understand how it could have cost so much," Elfman grumbled as Evergreen showed off her nails to him. Well, mainly to his sisters, but he was seated at the bar too. Mira was behind it as always, seemingly overly interested in the intricate design she was sporting and Lisanna was next to her brother, who was more giggly over the fact that Elfman was annoyed.

"You shouldn't offer to take me to get them done, Elfman, if you don't wanna pay the price," Ever told him simply as Mira found herself giggling too.

"Wow," she said through a grin. "The two of you sure have a weird idea of what a date is."

"It wasn't a date!" they both insisted in chorus. Lisanna almost fell out of her chair with that one, she was laughing so hard.

Mira only grinned though, continuing to wipe down the bar. She was so zoned in on her younger siblings that she didn't even notice when a fresh face walked into the guildhall. The second she heard the sound though of the child in the new person's arms, the woman had her full attention.

"There's a baby," Mira announced over the sound of Ever and Elfman feverishly denying their relationship. Lisanna glanced over her shoulder as Lucy and Levy, who were at a table near the lady that just walked in, both jumped up at the sight of a child.

"Ew," Ever said, glancing over there. "I hope it stays over there."

"What's wrong with babies, Evergreen?" Lisanna asked as Mira, unable to contain her excitement, headed over to greet the woman as well. Err, rather to check out that baby.

"Gee, let's see. They add nothing to my life other than poop and piss. So what exactly is right with them?"

"They're not manly," Elfman agreed. Lisanna only giggled before getting up to go over there as well.

"-looking for a wizard. I think he's a member here?" the woman was saying as Lisanna joined the other girls who were taking turns holding the baby. Natsu, who had been entertaining Lucy and Levy by telling some outlandish story, only frowned over at them.

"What's with this chump, huh?" Natsu asked Happy as they stood by with crossed arms. "Babies get all the attention. And for doing what? Things that if I did, I would be scolded for."

"Yes, Natsu. When you drink too much and throw up all over my apartment, I yell at you," Lucy told him with a roll of her eyes as she and Levy passed the blond haired baby back and forth. "I'm so sorry."

"You should be."

"-believe that he's here," the woman was continuing to speak then, though it was only to Mirajane as the others were so entranced by the baby. "His name's Laxus."

"Oh, yeah, Laxus is here," Mirajane said, giggling. "He's even at the guild today."

Then, glancing around, she frowned when she didn't see him.

"Maybe he's downstairs," she said slowly. "I can go get-"

"What do you want with Laxus?" Lisanna asked as she made a face at the baby. "He's stupid."

"I'm the Thunder God," Lucy mocked in a deep voice making the others giggle. "And I'm the strongest mage to ever live."

"I have tons of women," Lisanna went on, taking over the mockery. "No one's as great as me! Worship me!"

Mira made a face at him. "We have a guest."

The woman before them only said, "I need to speak with him. Please."

"How old is your son?" Levy asked as Mirajane went off to get the man.

"He'll be two next month," the brunette told them as the baby took to whining, apparently not liking all the attention he was getting. When he called out for her, she moved to grab him though she seemed annoyed. "His name's Nathan."

"That's cute," Lisanna said as she took to giggling. The woman only took to moving him to one arm, clearly annoyed with the whole situation. As was Natsu, who had taken to trying to do a hand stand to regain the interest of the women. There was nothing he liked less than not being the center of attention.

Lucy only reached over and pushed one of his legs, making him fall over. As Lisanna and Levy laughed, she only shrugged.

"Luce," he complained.

"Oops."

Downstairs, Mirajane found Laxus with Freed and Bickslow, shooting pool. Well, he was shooting pool as they just sat around and told him how awesome he was. He really liked that.

"Laxus," she sang as she came closer to where he was. "You have a-"

'Bring us some beers," he told her simply, not glancing at the barmaid. "And something to eat. Quickly."

"I will gladly do that," she said, giggling. "But right now, you have a visitor."

He was staring down at the table, assessing the billiard balls. "Send him down."

"She."

That made him glance up. "Tell her fuck off."

"L-Laxus-"

"Don't know what the hell's wrong with women nowadays," he grumbled as took to rubbing the end of the pool cue on a piece of chalk. "Always wants relationships and shit. Whatever. But you come up here? When I'm working-"

"You're playng pool."

He gave Mira a look for that. "Run along, barmaid. And get me my-"

"I don't think she's here for that," she said.

"Why not?"

"She's with a baby," Mira said simply. "And she looks like she's in pretty bad shape."

"Huh." Freed glanced at Laxus before Mirajane. "Do you think that she has a job that she wishes for him to do?"

"Maybe," she said with a shrug. "She looks kinda weepy though."

"We should check it out, boss," Bickslow said.

"Check it out," his wooden dolls that were floating around agreed. "Boss."

Grunting, he shoved the pool cue at Freed. "You two idiots stay here and make sure none of these losers try and mess up my game. And I mean if even one ball is off, I'll-"

"We're on it, boss!"

"Of course, Laxus."

Then he nodded at Mirajane. "Come on."

She followed him up the stairs, gushing about how cute the baby was. He just drowned her out though, slyly turning his headphones, which were in, up. He put up with Mira, fine, because he respected her wizardry, but damn if she wasn't annoying as fuck sometimes.

"Get started on those beers," he told her once they were back up stairs. "This won't take long. I expect my food-"

"You're so cute, Laxus."

Grunting, he headed off then to the front of the hall, where the girls were still hanging off the woman and her child, talking a mile a minute about how cute he was. Once Laxus got over there though, they all scrammed, leaving the baby behind.

Their lives were worth more than a raving over how cute a baby was.

"Wonder what she wants," Lisanna mused as they all headed over to the bar to watch from afar with Mirajane. Natsu, who was still annoyed about not being the center of attention, only frowned.

"Still don't get why you all care," he grumbled as Lisanna only reached over to pat him on the head. Lucy took a seat next to Elfman with a sigh.

"Hope it's nothing serious," she said as Levy nodded, still watching. The woman and Laxus seemed to be arguing and then, shocking them all, she literally shoved the baby into the man's hands as well as tossing the diaper bag on her shoulder at him. Then she stormed off.

"Laxus," Evergreen called, getting to her feet immediately and heading over. Not one to be left in the dust about gossip, Mira rushed over as well. The baby was full on wailing then as Laxus only stood there, holding it far from him, while looking rather devastated.

"What happened?" Mira reached out to take the child, if only to calm it down some. Not to mention, she was kinda afraid that Laxus would drop it…

"Apparently," he said slowly before stopping.

"What?" Ever asked him.

"Apparently I have a child," he said slowly. Then swallowing, he said, "And that woman doesn't want it anymore."

"L-Laxus!"

"Mirajane," he said slowly, glancing at her. "I can't...do this."

"Well, duh." She glanced at the guildhall doors, as if waiting for the woman to come back. "We have to go find that-"

"Can you… Where do you drop off a kid?" he asked as Ever took to rubbing his arm, as if soothingly.

"Drop off?" she questioned as she finally got the child to stop crying, though he was still moaning a little. "What do you mean?"

"Is there, like, an orphanage? Or do I leave it at a church or something?" He only looked to Ever. "Do you know?"

"W-Well-"

"You can't get rid of him! That lady's going to come back." Mira made a face at the other S-Class mage. "Laxus-"

"She says she's not and I ain't keeping it," he grumbled, some of the shock wearing off then. "I mean, look at it. It's crying and I don't… I can't even care for a dog!"

"He can't," Ever agreed. "It's true."

"We can't give him to an orphanage," Mira insisted. "We just have to go track down that woman. Do you know her?"

He was blank face again. "I used to screw around with her, yeah, but-"

"Oh, Laxus, gross."

"Well, what do you want me to say?"

Mira looked down at the baby before at him. "How do we know if he's yours?"

"I don't know, Mira. I-"

"He looks like you," she offered up. Ever made a face.

"Cleary this is some sort of a scam," she reasoned. "To get money out of you or-"

"If that was the case, the hell did she just leave it here for?" Laxus' astonishment was turning to anger quickly. "I can't… Mira, take him down to the orphanage or whatever. I can't do this."

And with that he turned and walked away, heading off back down the stairs. Evergreen looked to Mirajane who was just focused on calming the baby down.

"What are we supposed to-"

"We're not getting rid of it," she told her. "That's out of the question. She's going to come back. She's stressed. That's all. We'll keep him until then. An hour. Tops, I bet."

"But Laxus-"

"Laxus is just being Laxus," she said with a shrug. "You know that."

"I guess so." She glanced down at the baby. "Do you really think that it's his?"

"He didn't seem to know anything about it," she said.

"Maybe-"

"Is it ours?"

Lisanna and Lucy were back over then, bouncing up and down as they came to look at the baby some more.

"No," Mira told her sister with an eye roll. "It's, you know, La-"

"Are you serious?" Lucy put a hand to her mouth. "Since when does he have a kid? I-"

"Ew," Natsu said as he came over too. "Laxus protracted!"

"...Procreated?" Lisanna offered up, making a face at him. "Is that what you mean?

"I don't know what I mean, Lisanna," he complained. "This is a lot for me. How am I supposed to kick Laxus' ass now if he's a father? This changes everything!"

Evergreen snorted. "Not if you talk to Laxus."

"… It doesn't matter." Mira told them after a moment. "The woman's coming back. Just watch."

I'm not even going to play like I know how many chapters this one's going to be. At least five, like always, but probably more. So here we go.