~ Shooting Stars Across Fiore ~

NaLu Week 2017

Just trust me, ok?

Special #3: Pregnancy

"You are pregnant, Misses Dragneel," the doctor repeated for the third time.

Lucy stared at her OB/GYN doctor in shock. She had been cramping irregularly for a few days and had come in for a checkup to see if there was a problem. This was not the answer she had been expecting.

Sure, she and Natsu had been trying to conceive… they had been trying for years but after the last fertility treatment had not worked they had given up on having kids of their own and were starting to move forward with other plans. They had their third meeting with an adoption agency the next morning.

"Misses Dragneel?" her doctor said to get her attention.

"Preg-nant?" she whispered shakily.

The doctor nodded, smiling as the disbelief in Lucy's face transformed into pure excitement. "About a month along. We'll have to keep an eye on you, make sure your body stays healthy so you can carry to term. Do you still have the books we recommended last year?"

"I never get rid of my books," Lucy admitted with a laugh.

"Good girl. Let's make a follow-up appointment for two weeks out, ok? Eat well, not too much. If you start getting sick, call the office immediately and come in."

"Thank you," Lucy smiled and jumped up from the table. "I have to go call Natsu."

The doctor left her to get dressed, returning to hand Lucy the small sonogram photo to prove that the words were true. Lucy rushed out of the building as soon as her pants were zipped up, stuffing the small photo safely into her purse.

She dialed Natsu's number as she ran out to the car.

"Hey babe," he answered. "Everything ok?"

"Everything's amazing Natsu," she panted, winded from running through the lines of cars. "I have something to tell you. I'm so excited. Can you come home early today?"

"Heh… about that… Gray and I decided to play hooky after lunch. Something told me to come home so we're at the house playing poker."

"You better not be betting with real money, Natsu Dragneel," she chided.

"Jelly beans only. I know, love. I grabbed the sour ones he hates on the way home." She smiled as her husband snickered when their long-time friend started cursing in the background.

"Alright. I'm going to head home then. Work can suck it." Lucy smiled. Her gut was urging her to be with them.

"Awesome!" Natsu cheered through the receiver.

"Hey Lucy," Gray called. "Can you grab some of those pizzas on your way home? The really good deep dish ones from that place on the boulevard."

"Sure, Gray. I'll grab a few. Call Erza and invite her over too, will you?"

"Will do!"

"Bye, Luce," Natsu returned to the phone. She could hear the smile in his voice. "I'm glad you're coming home."

"I'll see you soon," Lucy promised. "I love you."

"Love you too, Luce."

Lucy finally found Natsu's beat up red charger at the end of Row G and climbed into the front seat. She called in their pizza order before turning the car on so it would be ready by the time she got there. After strapping herself in carefully, Lucy ran her hands lovingly over her stomach while the car warmed up.

"I'm so excited to meet you," she crooned. "Your daddy is going to love you so much."

She pulled out of the parking lot carefully and slipped onto the highway without incident. The roads were clear, people presumably still being responsible at work. She saw a car approaching quickly behind her.

They're going way too fast, she thought and pulled over a few lanes to let the car whizz past her. She checked her surroundings before pulling back over, one hand resting protectively across her stomach.

She sighed in relief when she made it to the pizza place and picked up the overabundant number of pies for her boys. She hated driving on the highway alone and was grateful that the rest of the way was a straight shot through the backroads to get home.

She pulled into their driveway, parking next to Gray's giant truck, cringing at the unnecessary girth of the beastly contraption in front of her home.

"Gray! Your truck is a monster!" she shouted, entering the kitchen first to drop off the food.

"LUCY'S HOME!" Natsu shouted from the other room. Lucy heard the sound of his chair being pushed back across their wooden floors, followed by pounding footsteps that brought her husband flying into the kitchen.

"No shit she's home, stupid. Who else would just walk into your house?" Gray asked, following the excited man into the kitchen. Lucy laughed as Natsu picked her up and swung her around.

"Everyone walks in without knocking, Gray," Lucy reminded him. "I'm pretty sure every friend we have has a key to our house, too."

Gray nodded in acceptance and made a beeline for the food. He grabbed one of the boxes and walked away with it. "Thanks Lucy!"

"Ditch day!" Natsu shouted gleefully before putting Lucy down and grabbing a box for himself.

"Hey Natsu?" she called hesitantly, stopping him in his tracks. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," he replied, a piece of pizza halfway to his mouth.

"Can we go in the bedroom?" she asked quietly. She did not know why she was suddenly feeling nervous.

Natsu looked at his pizza longingly but set it down and gave her a warm smile. "Of course."

Natsu flopped onto their bed as Lucy closed the door behind them. She was grateful when he spoke first. "You were excited about something, right? What's up?"

Lucy twisted her fingers together, trying to quell the rioting in her gut. "So, I went to the doctor today."

Natsu sat up, suddenly serious. "Your stomach, right? Is everything ok?"

Lucy turned away and pulled the sonogram photo out from the depths of her purse. She took a deep breath, pressing the photo against her chest, and turned back around, tears starting to prick at her eyes.

"Lucy, what's wrong?" Natsu stood up, his eyes concerned. "I should have gone with you. I'm sorry."

"Shut up, Natsu," Lucy stammered, smiling as tears streamed down her face. She shoved the photo in his hand. "You're coming with me every time after today though."

Natsu stared at the photo in his hand blankly. The moment recognition clicked, his eyes went wide and he looked up at Lucy, questions in his gaze. She nodded and smiled, choking back her tears of joy so she could watch the excitement flood his expression.

"Are you serious?" he whispered, looking between the photo and Lucy's face.

She nodded again, laughing.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" he shouted, his hands reaching for her stomach.

"Yes, I'm pregnant." It felt liberating for her to say the words out loud. "We're going to have a baby, Natsu. Our baby."

"We're having a baby," he echoed, his own tears of happiness pouring from his eyes. He ran his hands lovingly over her stomach before pulling Lucy into a passionate kiss.

Natsu pulled away and grinned. "We need to tell everyone."

"Everyone? Right now?"

He kissed her again. "Right now. Call everyone. I'm going to shout it from the rooftop. I'm going to be a father!"

Natsu threw the bedroom door open and ran out into the hall, towing Lucy behind him. "GRAY! GRAY! GRAAAAYYY!"

"What's wrong?" Gray shouted from the other end of the house. His head poked into the hallway, followed by a head of scarlet red.

"Is Lucy ok?" Erza called out.

"We're having a kid!" Natsu shouted, releasing Lucy to pounce on Gray, the two men falling to the floor.

Gray and Erza stared between their friends, their family-in-choice as they said, in surprise.

"Lucy?" Erza asked cautiously as the men tussled on the floor behind her.

Lucy nodded, smiling as wide as her husband. Her excitement bubbled and she started bouncing on her toes. "I'm gonna be a Mama, Erza."

Gray and Erza started screaming. Laughter and tears pouring down their faces as they rejoiced with the happy couple. They had both been there with Natsu and Lucy through every treatment and every failed attempt at conceiving a child. Their joy was just as pure and sincere.

"You're going to be a Mama," Erza squealed and pulled Lucy into a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm going to be a Father!" Natsu shouted from where Gray had pinned him to the ground, thrusting his fists into the air.

"What does this mean about the adoption agency? Are you going to withdraw your application?" Erza asked practically.

Lucy and Natsu shared a warm look across the room and she shook her head. "If we get approved, our family will gain two children instead of one. No questions about it."

They spent the night together as a family, playing games and stealing one another's jelly beans as sneakily as possible. Nothing could ruin the tranquil happiness that settled over their house that night. True to his word, Natsu climbed up on the roof as the sun came up the next morning and shouted to the world everything that made him feel like the luckiest man alive.

A/N - I almost had you there at the beginning, huh? I promised no more sadness! I love you, my readers.

NaLu Week is officially over for me. Please keep in mind I may pull some of these and make longer segments of them or add them in other fics later, so if you see it around, that's why. Feel free to message me with suggestions or questions. I'm fun to talk to sometimes!

Smut Smut Land and the Shadow Theatre will be making appearances in my regularly scheduled programming, so keep an eye out. -xoxo