Gray let out a long breath before he turned to Lucy and asked, "You ready?"

Heaving an identical sigh and putting on her 'game face', Lucy kept her gaze ahead as she responded, "Ready as I'll ever be."

Reaching down to adjust Mila's blanket one final time, Lucy smiled first at her daughter, then half-smiled, half-grimaced to her spouse as she said, "Okay then. Let's get in there."

Pushing open the door, Gray poked his head inside to take a look around first and make sure that their 'family' hadn't done anything too ridiculous.

"Surprise!" "Welcome back!" "Good to see you again!" "Oh, how we've missed you guys!"

Similar exclamations continued as everyone seemed to be trying to restrain their enthusiasm to see the infant. However, the sleeping Mila never stirred as all words were said barely above a whisper. Then, everyone quieted down as Makarov solemnly and boldly stepped forward to stand in front of Lucy. Without hesitation, Lucy smiled kindly down at the Guildmaster as she carefully laid the infant in his arms.

The entire room froze in anticipation as the old man gazed down at the baby for a time before pronouncing proudly, "Welcome home, Mila," then looking up at Gray and Lucy, he said, "Welcome back, both of you."

Wrapping an arm around Lucy's shoulders, Gray replied, "Thanks, old man. It's good to be back."

While it was plain to see that most everyone wanted to take their turn holding Mila and fawning over her, only a handful of guild members took a turn as the rest looked on adoringly, knowing that they would eventually have a chance even if it wasn't that day. Looking around, Gray and Lucy both realized that a few very important people seemed to be missing from the group and after a quick word with Makarov, left to find them. Just before exiting out the side door, Gray reached down to grasp Lucy's hand for an affectionate squeeze while she smiled, rose up on tip-toe and gave his lips a quick smooch.

Outside, it took their eyes a moment to adjust to the afternoon sun and once they both located their son, both parents felt their hearts stall and falter as they saw Silver dodging what looked like a fireball. Moving quickly for a two-almost-three-year-old, Silver was grinning as he spun around and quickly conjured an ice missile, shooting it in Natsu's direction before ducking to avoid getting hit by a blast of lightning, which neither parent needed to look around in order to figure out where that had come from.

Gritting her teeth and unconsciously planting her fists into her sides, Lucy demanded in her loudest and most fierce maternal tone, "What the blazes is going on?!"

Immediately Natsu and Silver froze in their tracks while Laxus reacted just quickly enough to extinguish the crackling ball of electricity that he had been about to release. Deciding that this was one of those situations where his wife really didn't need to have him standing alongside her in order to give the reprobates and stern talking-to, Gray subtly took a step back and to his right so that he was hopefully 'out of sight, out of mind' for this next bit. He also fervently hoped she wouldn't call upon him to offer up his two cents as he was definitely going to say the wrong thing and then land himself in the same frying pan as the three poor souls in front of him.

As was to be expected, Lucy fixed her fierce gaze first on the two adults as she began in a low, dangerous tone, "I don't know what the two of you were thinking of, trying to lambaste my two-year-old son. Did you both really lose all your functioning brain cells during all those battles we fought over the years that you actually thought this was a good idea?!"

Evidently not as familiar with Lucy's temper as the other two, Laxus attempted to interject, "Silver said he wanted to learn to spar so that-"

Eyes widening to alarming proportions, Lucy's decibel level rose as she declared, "Firing fireballs and bolts of lightning that are more than twice his size is not the way to train a two-year-old! You've fought against literal monsters and yet you're fighting with my son as if he were on the same level?! Do you realize how ludicrous that is?!"

"Oh my, my...what's going on here?"

At the sound of that particularly sweet voice, Laxus' face did fall lax with shock and borderline terror as Lucy turned around to tell his wife, "Your husband and my so-called friend thought it would be a smart idea to spar with Silver. I came out here to see my son barely evade shots from both these men who apparently don't know the meaning of restraint!"

Mirajane crossed one arm around her midriff while resting the elbow of her other arm in her hand so that she could cup the side of her face and look at the two crestfallen but mostly terrified men with a look of surprise and disappointment as she said, "Oh dear. That doesn't sound very wise at all."

Laying a hand on Lucy's arm, Mirajane said confidently, "Don't worry about those two. It seems as though they have a lot of pent up energy from not being able to go out on missions recently, but I know of a few major, energy-consuming and very important projects that need to be done around the guild hall that should keep them busy for quite a while. Just leave it to me."

"That sounds perfect," replied Lucy in something like her usual cheerful tone that maybe was a touch too bright.

"Wonderful," then turning her gaze that may have looked just as sweet as always, but had definitely taken on a more sinister effect, Mirajane stated matter-of-factly, "Come along then, you two. Lots of work to be done."

Author's Note:

This chapter isn't finished yet, but I thought I would post what I have at the moment, just to prove that I haven't forgotten about this story in the last 4 years or so. It has been on my mind...I've just been extremely lazy about finishing.