A/N: hurhur, look who's baaaaack!

Chapter 8

~#~

The sun rose over Magnolia at 6am the next morning. Filling the streets with a sweet September warmth.

Lucy woke up as soon as the sun hit the window pane. She jolted upwards, knocking Happy off the end of the large double bed. He hit the floor with a loud 'plop' and gladly fell back asleep as soon as his whole body was on the hardwood.

Lucy looked down over the side of the bed and sighed, 'What a weird cat.' She thought as she swung her legs over and stood up. She stretched and her short silk night dress rose up slightly showing the bottom of her smooth buttocks.

"What a great sight to see first thing in the morning."

Lucy gasped as the gravelly voice filled the once quiet room. She quickly spun around as a light pink dusted her cheeks.

"Hey!" Lucy shouted out as she pulled the short dress down and smoothed it firmly down around her figure.

"I said 'great' that's not a bad thing!" Natsu said while he was laid on his back with his muscular arms outstretched behind his head. His pink hair was sticking out in all directions and he wore a toothy grin on his face.

"You're such a goof." Lucy said as she walked around the bed, stepping over Happy and came round to Natsu side. "How did you sleep?"

Natsu winced at the question. The images of that blade being pressed against Layla's throat... The dragon slayer quickly shook his head to rid the images from last night.

"I'll take that reaction as a 'no'...?" Lucy asked with concerned eyes.

"I... er... it's nothing!"

She gently laid a kiss of his warm lips. She broke away and shooed Happy out of the room with her foot. Lucy then got changed in a short, light blue dress that was very boob bearing. She combed through her short blonde hair and walked out of the room.

As she left, Natsu sighed and stretched. He rolled out of bed only wearing a pair of blue boxer shorts. As his feet hit the cold wooden floor, a shiver ran through him; however he quickly warmed up again. He sat on the edge of the bed and ran a hand through his messy hair when Lucy walked back in with a slightly pink, freshly washed face and a flowery perfume sprayed on her neck.

Natsu nostrils filled with the immaculate smell that was commonly found on his wife. God, he loved that smell. He brought himself up to his feet and trotted over to Lucy with lazy steps. Natsu brought his arms to wrap around Lucy's small waist and nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck. He took in a deep breath and smelled the beautiful aroma.

Lucy accepted the embrace with eagerness. She quickly turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. Lucy pressed her forehead against Natsu's burning one and they stood in the moment for a while.

His lips then pressed against her's with a burning passion. They stood kissing for a good few minutes. They probed each others mouths with hot tongues while hands moved over heated skin.

Natsu's hands found her round buttocks and tried to hitch Lucy upwards with his strong arms. Lucy broke away from the kiss and said,

"Not right now. I have so much to do for the barbeque!" She placed her hands on his gleaming chest and lowered herself from her tippy toes.

"Okay, okay." Natsu pouted like a four year old and pressed a couple short kisses against her forehead.

Lucy had planned a barbeque for their close circle of friends from the guild. Ever since she had 'retired' she felt as if she had to go the extra mile to see them all. Yes she would go to the guild hall and see everyone, however it wasn't the same as going on missions with the old Team Natsu and she greatly missed that.

But the mages of Fairy Tail were accepting of her new life with Natsu and their children. Master Makarov understood that her first priority was to take care of Ryuu and Layla now, rather than going on missions and risking her life. She missed it though, she really, really missed it and now having Levy being pregnant and in the same boat that she was nine years ago, it brought all the previous emotions back to life within her.

~#~

It was around half past two in the afternoon when people started showing up at the Dragneel house. Layla was sat in the long grass of the back garden playing dress-up with all three Exceeds, while Ryuu and Asuka were sat on the small plastic table dubbed 'The Children's Corner" in which Ryuu kicked up a fuss about, exclaiming how he isn't a child anymore.

Beer flowed and burgers got burnt on the homemade barbeque courtesy of Natsu. However the night was a fun one, filled with joy and family.

Levy and Gajeel showed up later in the day, stating that Gajeel couldn't wake the 'Shrimp' up from a nap and that's why they're late. He got two quick slaps from Levy and Lucy and a lecture on how he doesn't understand how important sleep is to a pregnant woman.

Ryuu, Asuka and Layla stayed together all night playing with numerous toys from inside of the house. Occasionally, the odd drunk guild member would approach them and they would all go running to their respective parents saying that a scary man (or woman, in Cana's case) came up to them smelling like beer and saying strange and embarrassing things about their parent's past.

Lucy and Natsu stayed close all night, unwillingly letting go from each other occasionally when they got pulled into a riot or dance. Otherwise they stayed within one another's touch all night, like what they did when they were younger.

Laughter filled the air as the day grew into night. Small fairy lights lit up around the brick wall of the large garden and whole place shone up like they were floating in the starry sky.

"Mummy… I'm tired." Lucy felt a slight tug on her skirt. When she looked down, and small girl was stood there rubbing her eyes with a tiny fist.

"Okay baby." Lucy leant down and picked up Layla. She gently kissed the side on her face as she leant her head on her Mother's shoulder.

Lucy walked over to Natsu where he was arguing with Gray and Gajeel over something stupid and manly. She rolled her eyes and said,

"Hey, Layla's tired so I think it's time everyone goes home. And it's really late anyway…" Lucy said while handing the small girl over to her father. He took her after he gave Gray a swift punch in the arm.

A collection of 'boo's' and 'party pooper's' came from various people mouths in the garden as Lucy told everyone to leave. however they did- finally -leave.

"See you later." Gajeel said in his deep gruff voice and he slapped Natsu on the back. Gray did the same before ruffling Layla's pink hair slightly.

Lucy went around and did the routine good-byes to everyone. She got a very unexpected tearful good-bye from Makarov, he cried while saying that he was so proud of his 'daughter' and congratulated her on how amazing she had done in creating two of the guilds cutest and soon-to-be, best mages ever.

She finally made her way to Bisca and Levy.

"Thanks for an amazing night Lucy." Bisca gave her a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"You're welcome, I'm glad you could all make it" Lucy said with a sweet smile. "And take care of yourself, Levy."

"I will do." Levy beamed a cute little smile up at her best friend She then walked off towards Gajeel, where he picked her up bridal style and kissed her lovingly.

Natsu walked over with Layla still in his arms and a sluggish Ryuu in tow. Bisca gave Layla a quick peck on the head and a tight hug to Ryuu.

With Bisca, Alzack and Asuka the last ones to leave, Lucy decided that cleaning was a job for the morning and they all made their way into the small cottage.

~#~

Bisca and Alzack reached the street and turned to the left to began walking home. The streets were dimly lit from the street lamps. They were walking in silence with Asuka being cradled in her Father's arms, then all of a sudden and hard force hit Bisca square in the face and she passed out cold with Alzack stood in shock next to her, Asuka had been awoken in the attack while Alzack worried for his wife but stood in a defensive way. He was then hit numerous times by a similar force but refused to go down. His grip tightened on Asuka while she asked,

"What's going on Dadd-oomf!" A dark hand whipped around her face and pulled her backwards. Alzack was hit numerous more times and he fell to the floor with blood streaming down his nose and the side of his face.

He couldn't move. His limbs were stuck to the ground with an impeccable force. Asuka lay unconscious a few feet away from him and Bisca was lay a few more feet away.

"Who are you?! Show your face!" He shouted into the darkness.

A dark figure erupted from an alleyway. The person walked over to Asuka and picked her up so that she was being held like a ragdoll over it's shoulder. Crimson blood glimmered in her dark hair from the street lights and Alzack rose so that he was stood on one foot and the other knee.

The figure walked over to him and towered over his form. It brought its foot up and slammed it down into Alzack's nose and he lost unconsciousness.

~#~

Levy and Gajeel took a left then right from the Dragneel house so that they were walking in the general direction of their small home. Hand in hand, Levy waddled alongside the tall dragon slayer.

"I'm so tired." The bluenette said while yawning.

"We're nearly home." Gajeel replied while looking down at his tiny, swollen lover. He yawned himself. And again. And again.

"Are you okay?" Levy asked.

"I think so…" Gajeel yawned again. "I just got really tired all of a sudden." His eyes started to drop slightly and his knees buckled underneath him.

Levy caught a small portion of Gajeel's weight and held him on her shoulder.

"Gajeel?!" Levy brought her hand up to his face and looked deeply into his eyes. He fell to the floor and lay there. Asleep.

"What's going on?" Levy asked openly. She then heard the sound of footsteps behind her.

Levy spun around as fast as she could manage to examine the space behind her. Nothing was there.

"Look what we have here." And high pitch voice came from above her; Levy flicked her head upwards to find a dark figure above her hanging from a thin web like a spider.

"Wha-?!" The figure's covered hand grabbed the side of Levy's head and slammed it into to cobbles below.

Levy lost consciousness immediately and was carried away into the darkness.

~#~

The floorboards creaked as Natsu walked along the hallway with a sleeping Layla in his arms. He pushed open the bedroom door and flicked the light on, illuminating the room. He brought his sleeping daughter over to her small bed and lay her down. He smoothed a strand of familiar pink hair out of her face and gently planted a kiss of her milky cheek.

"Good night Princess." Natsu whispered as he lifted himself up and pulled the covers up over her tiny frame.

Ryuu wasn't far behind as he pulled off his shirt and rolled into his own bed.

"Good night buddy." Natsu said to him as he pulled up the covers.

"G'night Dad" He replied while yawning.

Natsu left the room silently and flicked the light off while closing the door.

The dragon slayer made his way through the now quiet house towards the kitchen where Lucy was. As he entered the room he said,

"Good night?"

"It was great! Don't ya' think?" Lucy turned her head around slightly and beamed a smile at him.

"Yeah, I had fun." He walked over to Lucy and wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. "And now it's all over, we can get back to what we started this morning."

Natsu turned Lucy around by the waist and planted hot kissed up her chest and neck.

"N-Nat-Natsu… ahh..." Lucy moaned as his hands move north and massaged her large breasts. Lucy's hands grabbed handfuls of pink hair as she pulled his mouth closer to hers.

Their moment was stopped from a high pitched scream. The couple pulled away from each other and stared wide eyed at one another. Natsu turned around and ran full force through the house and into the other bedroom. Lucy wasn't far behind, slipping slightly on the bare wooden floor.

Natsu crashed through the bedroom door into the dark room. In the window frame a dark figure holding a small girl. The figure was crouched, with the lace curtains blowing in the wind behind itself.

The black figure jumped out of the window into the air. It looked like an invisible platform in the sky propelled the figure higher up. Out of pure instinct, Natsu followed the figure out of the window and propelled himself up into the air.

His arm was outstretched. Only a few centimetres away from the ankle of the dark figure, then suddenly the figures hard shoe was hitting Natsu in the face. He went flying backwards into the white cottage wall as the figure got away.

Lucy literally jumped down the whole set of stairs and pulled the front door open, nearly taking it off its hinges. She went running towards a crouched lump on the cobbled street. Lucy wrapped her arms around Natsu as he shouted their children's names.

~#~