It was a cold and stormy day in Magnolia. The canal by the street of her apartment was flooding and water was lapping at the stairs at the front door of the building. Lucy was thankful she didn't live there anymore and that right now she was in the warmest place in Magnolia, a small cottage in the woods in the arms of a fire dragon slayer, underneath a blanket on the couch as he rubs his hands over her swollen belly that held their growing child within it.

Since the house was on top of a hill, they didn't have to worry too much about flooding but it was pretty old so whenever thunder boomed, it shook the house. Lucy gasps as the walls rattle around her and Natsu held her tighter.

"Don't worry Luce. This old place has been through tons of storms and it hasn't fallen down once." Natsu reassures her with a cheeky grin.

"Yeah but that also means it's gotten weaker with every storm that comes through here." Lucy reminds him.

"Oh..." Natsu says and Lucy laughs from Natsu's lack of thought in that matter.

Natsu smiles when he hears Lucy laugh, happy that her fear had subsided and he pulls her a little closer and gently rubs his hand over her baby bump. "Don't worry little one. I'm not gonna let anything hurt you or your mom. Especially not something weak like a storm."

Lucy giggles again and buries her face in the crook of Natsu's neck.

"Hey what about me?" Happy asks as he flies over the couple on the couch. "You're gonna protect me too right?"

"Of course I am!" Natsu assures him. "But only if you're not being annoying." He teases.

Happy gasps in offense and flies down so he's facing Lucy's baby bump.

"Hey kid, I've gotta warn you, your dad is a real jerk sometimes!" Happy shouts at the baby inside of Lucy.

Lucy giggles from both Happy's insult and Natsu's reaction of putting his hands on either side of her bump like he was covering the baby's ears.

"Happy don't say stuff like that! You're gonna make the baby hate me!" Natsu exclaims.

Lucy watches curiously as Natsu climbs out from under her on the couch and kneel in front of her next to her belly so she moves to an upright sitting position so he can get closer to her bump. She could feel her heart skip a beat as he looks at her belly with a fondness that he only ever reserved for her and gently rubs the side of it as he speaks.

"Don't listen to anything Happy says to you little one." He says to the baby. "The only people you'll ever see me being a jerk to are bad people who try to hurt you, your mom or Happy, and your uncles Gray and Gajeel because they're stupid and they deserve it."

Lucy couldn't help but giggle and smile fondly at the father of her child.

"Natsu, promise me that you won't say things like that to the baby when they're born and can hear you?" Lucy requests.

Natsu looks up at her with a confused look on his face.

"Huh. Lucy what are you talking about? Of course our baby can hear us right now! Isn't that right little one?" Natsu says and rubs his finger against the front of her bump with a goofy grin on his face.

Lucy just sighs and smiles at him endearingly. She remembers how frustrating it was when they first found out she was pregnant during a visit with Porlyusica and it took them forever to explain to Natsu and Happy that she wasn't going to lay an egg and that the baby would be growing inside of her until it was ready to be born. But it seems like there were still some things that Natsu didn't understand about pregnancy and Lucy was fine with that, especially since it was adorable how happy he was when he would talk to her baby.

"Your mom is really smart." Natsu says to the baby and Lucy blushes. "Not only is she smart enough to read these really big books that have tons of words in them, but she can write books like that too! And she's really good at it! She's really good at being a wizard too! I can't wait for you to meet all of her spirits and see how beautiful your mom looks in her star dresses. But she's always beautiful. She's the most beautiful woman in the world, and you're so lucky to have her as your mother. She's set the bar pretty high so I'm gonna have to train even harder to be an equally good father. I may not know a lot about babies but I'm going to put everything I have into helping your mom raise you to be the best person ever because I love you, so I'm gonna be the best dad ever I promise, you understand?"

Lucy was tearing up hearing Natsu say all of those sweet things but then she gasps in surprise a moment later when she feels the baby kick in Natsu's direction.

"Lucy what's wrong?" Natsu asks, concerned and ready to rush her over to Porlyusica if it was anything serious.

But he let his guard down once he saw Lucy's bright smile and she tells him "Nothing's wrong. The baby kicked towards you. They heard you Natsu."

Now both of them were grinning from ear to ear and staring at her baby bump while Lucy pointed out where she felt the kick.

"See! I told you they could hear us!" Natsu says proudly and kisses the spot where the baby kicked.

"I love you too little one." Lucy says as she rubs her bump.

"I love you too!" Happy shouts after landing on the couch next to Lucy.

"We all love you so much and we can't wait to meet you." Natsu says as he gives her belly another kiss.

Lucy smiles at him and holds his hand over hers on her belly. She couldn't even begin to describe the joy she felt from knowing that their baby had learned their father's voice and would know both hers and Happy's as well by the time they were born.