I'd like to apologize for the uncalled hiatus :l
My initial plan was to finish an arc from my other story, ILC, and then work on finishing this one. Of course, plans don't always... well… go 'as planned'.

ALSO, there was a small discrepancy in Lucy & Natsu's age. Both in the past are 23, and in the present should be about 37 to 38 years old. Back in the second chapter I had written that her cake said 42… I obviously can't do math.

Enjoy~!

Note: Italics are snippets of the character's past; different from the flashback.

Dawn was just approaching as Natsu gently nudged his daughter to wake up. Her hair was sticking up everywhere, and a small trickle of drool ran down the corner of her mouth. "Five minutes dad… Wake up Iggy firszzz…" she started snoring lightly again, making Natsu chuckle. He sat awkwardly next to her. They slept in the same tent, like they did in every mission, except that she had brought her sleeping bag closer to his, and even had her fingertips touching the small of his back all night.

Is it selfish of me to wish that this side of her never leave? Mr. Dragneel raised his arm that was resting on his lap, and brought his hand towards his daughters head. When was the last time I touched her? The last time I woke up before her and give her a good morning kiss on the cheek? His hand loomed over her head, his body still for a second as he tried to remember how he used to wake her up thirteen years ago.

-flashback-

His wife groaned as she slapped her hand over the buzzing alarm and dug her face into her pink pillow, "Honey… it's your turn to wake up the kids…" Natsu groaned as well, stretching out his limbs and sighing loudly, "They could sleep for a little longer…"

"They have school… and Iggy starts daycare today…"

Natsu eyes shot open, "Daycare?" He turned his head to the side, where his beautiful wife looked at him drowsily, "Yea… The games are coming closer and we need all the time we can get to train." The dragon slayer sighed again, turning his body completely and bringing his arm under the covers to hug Lucy closer to him, "You know I'll kick all their asses. In fact, you should stay home more often," he smiled widely, "since now both kids are out of the house for most of the day, that means that you and I…"

Lucy giggled as Natsu buried his face into her neck, and tickled her back. "It would be like you to be more happy about sex than our children's education and our standings as number one guild," she tsked, only to have Natsu say in a muffled tone, "Oh, I care! But I also care about this…" he grabbed his wife's left cheek and squeezed, making Lucy squeak. "Natsu, stop that!" she laughed, "The kids-"
"are still asleep." he finished, propping himself up and over his wife, so that his body was on hers. His wife stared back at him, with an eyebrow raised and a smirk appearing on her face, "Last night wasn't enough, huh?" Natsu only laughed, "It's never enough," he leaned down and kissed her, letting his member find it's way into his wife and feel the high he always felt when both Lucy and him made love.

It wasn't long before their high ended and only a buzz remained. Natsu was smirking as usual, with his hands behind his head as his wife traced lines on his chest. A muffled crying was heard from the room next door and Lucy sighed, "Baby's awake." She was starting to get up until Natsu grabbed her gently by the wrist, "It's my turn, remember?"

He let her kiss him gently before getting up and grabbing his purple robe. Opening his door and walking out towards the room next door, he quickly opened Iggy's door and came inside to find his son pouting and complaining in baby language. "Hey, kiddo, sorry about that… here we go," he grunted as he picked him up and rocked him around, "You know, you're pretty heavy for a three year old, mister. And, you're about to turn four! You're a big boy now," he brought Iggy off his shoulder and stared at his chocolate eyes, "Big boys don't cry."

Iggy clenched his tiny jaw, "Sowwy, daddy…" he pouted once more and Natsu rolled his eyes, "'Atta boy, Iggy. Now go on and go brush your teeth while I wake up your sister." His son nodded in agreement and Natsu placed him on the floor, where he half-walked and half-waddled out of his room and to the bathroom he shared with his sister. "Dun get buwned…" he said lazily, closing the bathroom door behind him. Natsu only laughed lightly, "Ah, I won't."

He walked silently towards the other side of the hallway, where a pink door with the sign 'dragun peepl onli!' in paper was taped. As he opened the door and walked towards his daughter bed, he mentally took note to make her clean her room before her mother found the huge mess of crayolas spurred around the floor. Kneeling down right beside her bed, he brought his hand to her crazy pink hair and patted it softly, "Good morning, princess," Natsu cooed, "Time to wake up."
"Five more minutes…" Nashi groaned, "school starts in September."
"It is September," he replied, bringing his lips together to not laugh.
"September… fifteen?" she asked lazily.
"Yup."
Nashi turned her body and stared at him lazily, "Princesses shouldn't have to go to school."

"But you aren't a normal princess, Nashi, you're a Dragon Princess! And Dragon princesses need to be extra smart and kick-ass!" He bit his tongue immediately as the word came out, hoping somehow his daughter didn't hear that ending. Nashi gasped and sat up straight on her bed, her tiny hands removing her long hair from her face.

"Oh my gosh daddy, you're right! I've gots to be smart!" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and ran out her room towards the bathroom. "Heh," Natsu mused, "she really didn't get-"
"Move outta the way, Iggy! The smart and kick-ass dragon princess coming through!"

Natsu brought his hand up to his face in exasperation as Lucy scolded Nashi and walk towards her daughters room, ready to give him yet another long talk about children and bad words.

-end flashback-

He let his hand rest on her head, "Wake up, honey. We gotta get to Sin before the afternoon. Uh, you can go wake up you- ... Caleb." They aren't together yet... He thought annoyingly, letting his eyes go up to the top of the tent and groan in annoyance. Immediately Nashi got up, whiping the drool off of her mouth and trying to fix her rather messy hair. "Oh gosh," she said as she rubbed her eyes with her palms, "dad you should've woken me up sooner!" Now pouting, his daughter looked towards him, "I look like shit dad!" Flailing her arms as she groaned, she tried to stand up, only to trip on her sleeping bag almost fall to the floor.

She felt her fathers strong arm catch her; she hadn't noticed how fast he had gotten up and how soundlessly he had taken a step towards her to save her face from the dirt. What she wanted to say was, 'Honestly dad, what would I do without you?' and hug him senseless. "Thanks." She grabbed his arm and let her thumb rub his forearm as she said it, hoping he'd get the idea that she was glad she wouldn't be going to Caleb with dirt stuck between her teeth and coming out of her nose. Walking outside, she turned towards Caleb's tent, wondering why she had such a hard time saying how she felt and why the hell her stomach hurt the closer she got to her crush's tent.

He stared at his forearm, the warmth of his daughters thumb rubbing it still there. He knew some of her actions could still be coming from the high she had the night before, when her body finally kicked into the "marking" behavior. "It feels good, Lucy," he whispered to himself as he turned over and began rolling up his sleeping bag, "this small love... It feels good."

In the Past

"Alright, so here's the deal," His father began, only receiving silence as Iggy tried to ignore his rant, "Luce and I will do everything. You just sit down and take notes and don't bother us. And NO. TOUCHING." His neck should've cracked because Iggy swore the speed that Natsu was moving his head to look at both Iggy and Lucy was ridiculous.

"It was a hug, chill out," he grumbled, his left hand sinking more into his pocket and balling it into a fist. His father was really a pain the ass. In the future, he'd mostly leave both him and his sister alone, only being minorly annoying when it came to choosing missions; which usually had to be easy enough that a disabled teenage boy could do it.

He sighed loudly, closing his eyes and breathing in deeply, just get close enough so that you can tell her what she should be careful for and then leave. Although he thought this should've been an easy task, now looking at his father stomp towards the train station made him uneasy. He let his eyesight focus on the blonde next to Natsu, who was cheerfully walking next to him and humming some tune. She didn't even seem fazed by her boyfriends behavior, "This must be usual then," he mumbled to himself as he walked behind the two.

The moment they boarded the train and the whistle blew signaling the start of the engine, Iggy's father went completely limp and fell face first onto Lucy's lap. The young Dragneel smirked, "Still the same." Lucy looked up from Natsu, a confused look on her face, "What do you mean still the same?" Again, Iggy inwardly cursed as he spoke too much, "Er, you know... In the future. He'll always stay the same... Getting sick the moment he gets into any transportation."

Lucy only sighed, a small smile appearing on her face, "He's all bark, but there's no bite coming from him as long as he's on something that moves." She laughed to herself, subconsciously putting her hand on her stomach and looking out the window.

Hand on her stomach.

"L-Lucy!" Iggy staggered, sitting up on his seat, "You're pr-..." he looked down at his father and wondered if she had actually told him, which he must've thought otherwise since his dad wouldn't even let her so much as walk if he knew, "pretty tired lately, and uh... You know... It isn't exactly wise to be going on a mission," he pressed, "when you're tired."

He was beginning to think his mother hadn't quite got his attempt to say that she shouldn't be going on any mission if she was pregnant, but her facial expression changed to one of understanding and she only bit her lip. "Iggy," she said slowly, making his stomach go in knots as he cocked his head to the right, trying to hear as much of her voice as he could to be able to memorize it, "it doesn't seem to be a difficult mission. We are only posting as guards for a night at some wealthy man's house. The town is very quiet, and we only are getting a small amount of jewels so the most dangerous thing we'd get would be a family member getting too drunk and hitting on me."

Iggy raised his eyebrow, noticing how Lucy brought her pointer finger to her cheek and winked, note to self: mom is conceited. "Yea... So I'm guessing you haven't told d- Natsu about your uh... predicament." Pursing her lips the blonde girl groaned, "Natsu is... a bit difficult. Luckily he knocks out cold when we are on the train." She smiled lightly as she looked down and ran her fingers through her boyfriends hair. "I plan to tell him once I start noticing a bump. Natsu and I aren't even married, so I'm just trying to... Well, honestly I..." Her eyebrows knit as she tried to search for an answer, finally looking into Iggy's eyes and sighing.

"You don't know how he'll react," Iggy responded, absent-mindedly covering his right ear with his hair, "since you got pregnant even before he popped the question."
"Exactly," Lucy smiled sheepishly, only to have her face light up as an idea came to mind. "Oh, Iggy! You said you see the future! What do you-"
"He will love her. Not as much as he loves you, but that baby girl will be his everything." Of course, I'm awesome too but I always did feel less wanted, less admired. Maybe I was always meant to be with my moth-
"Well, that definitely makes me feel better. Although, I know I'm going to love this little girl like crazy... But I was kind of hoping for a boy!"

He excused himself after giving his mother a soft smile. He walked quickly to the bathroom, all the way at the end of the train cart. Locking the door, he put the toilet lid down and sat on it, his shoulders beginning to rise and fall. "Your boy is right in front of you," he cried, his salty tears entering the from the corners of his mouth, "Mom I'm right here."

"That was a really short ride! Hah, I'm all fired up now!" Flames came out of his mouth as he walked proudly towards the exit of the train station, stopping only momentarily to grab a town map. "It was four hours long," Iggy said, his eyes still a bit puffy from crying and his head aching from the lack of sleep, "You knocked out right when the whistle blew. Lucy and I had to stay up. Let's just find this place and sleep."

His father raised an eyebrow, a playful grin coming to his face, "Grumpy pants, you're what? Sixteen? Live it up! When I was your age, I NEVER slept. I was up and down Magnolia fighting evil with my best friend, Lucy!" He ran towards her and placed his arm around her shoulders, his smile widening. Lucy only laughed, "You mean to say,'going on a bunch of missions with the girl of my dreams'! It took you how long to ask me out?"

Natsu turned to look at her with a pout, "Aw c'mon Luce! I'm no love expert! I didn't know any better!"
"I'm sure you still don't know much..." Iggy muttered, only to receive an elbow to his gut by his mother. He looked towards her apologetically and she winked in return as a small smile played on her face. "Alrighty then, boys," she started, placing a hand on her hip whilst still holding her boyfriends waist with the other, "We have to find a hotel close to Lord Markus' home and get some rest. Apparently, the party starts around five thirty, meaning we have most of the day to ourselves."

Iggy was beginning to enjoy the fact that they had all morning together, until he saw his father's smile somehow reach ear to ear. Oh God, he thought, suddenly seeing Lucy's cheeks redden as she glanced up towards her boyfriend, they're so disgusting. Letting out an awkward cough, the young man looked towards the ground, "I don't have much money for a hotel room…"
"Don't worry!" Natsu spoke, apparently too caught up with the sign of privacy to care too much about being mad at Iggy, "I'll pay for your room, since you're new."
Igneel raised an eyebrow, "Are you serious?" A small smile appeared on the boy's face, well that was easy.

The town of Losboro was pretty small; cottages were lined up in rows and the market place must've been a quarter of the size Magnolia's was. There was a mall awkwardly placed in between cottages with a huge roof and glass windows all around. Igneel questioned about it outloud, only for his mother to tell him it was the first of many renovations Lord Markus was making for this town, "Most are grateful but apparently there are few who find him to be a terrible addition to this town." Iggy looked around and saw how happy the people were leaving and entering the mall, "But how can you hate someone who's giving you things?"
"Think about it like this," Natsu had butted in by then, "How would you feel if you were forever in debt to someone? That's a lot of power one man has over a small town."

The conversation died down by then, only each of them casually pointing to something interesting in the village and trying to find the best hotel that would be near the Markus' home. As the stars began to fill the sky, the team had found a good looking hotel just a few blocks away from their mission. Natsu reached the front desk and rented out two rooms for two nights, quickly giving the key to the sixteen year old brat and lugging Lucy to their own room.

The room was bare having just a single double bed, two nightstands on each side, and an oversized wardrobe. Each wall held a picture of some part of the town, and was decorated with what seemed like flower wallpaper that would've been cool back in the X700's. Natsu shrugged off his bag and flopped on to bed, grabbing a pillow a placing his chin on it, "I just don't like the kid."

Lucy only sighed, rummaging through her own bag and looking for her night gown. "Ever since a month ago that you marked me, you've been disliking every male." She found the laced pink dress and quickly stepped towards the bathroom, hearing Natsu grumble from the bed. Looking in the mirror, she let her eyes fall quickly to her stomach, turning to the side and trying to see whether or not she looked fatter. Clucking her tongue as she remembered she'd practically been pregnant for two days, she turned away from the mirror and began undressing herself. "I think he's a sweet boy. I don't know how to explain it, but he somehow feels… I don't know, special?"

Natsu raised an eyebrow, momentarily blocking his perverted thoughts as he imagined his girlfriend getting undressed, "Special? Luce we barely know the kid… although he came in smelling like us. Creep." Thinking that he should change, he quickly scooted to the edge of the bed and reached for his bag, pulling out some baggy gray pants. Still lying on the bed, he shrugged off his vest and pants, kicking them to the floor and leaning towards the side of the bed to get his legs into the pants. All the while, he listened carefully to his girlfriend in the bathroom.

The blonde woman opened the door and stepped out, a hand on her waist as she looked towards him with a raised eyebrow, "Don't you think he smells like us because you punched him? And now of course he'll have our scent now because we're around him." She walked towards the right side of the bed and sat down, her back resting on the headboard, "I think you're just overreacting, which is mostly usual in your case." Natsu only sighed before propping himself on his elbows are moving towards his girlfriend, opening his girlfriends legs and placing his body in between them with his head laying comfortably on her stomach.

"Are you sure you don't have some long lost family, Luce?" he questioned, his right hand came up and onto her thigh, with his thumb rubbing it gently. "I know the difference in smells and… well he, agh," he buried his head into Lucy's pelvis, making her blush. Still after a year of dating and many nights of 'playing around', he was as dumb as a doorknob and had no idea that the smallest of things he did made her get… excited.

"Well… no. All my family is dead Natsu, you know that. I had one uncle but he had all boys and they live overseas. There's no way he could be related to me… but I can ask? Maybe he's shy about confronting me? I mean… you do have a way with intimidation," she poked his head at the last word, raising an eyebrow as he looked up sheepishly, "It's not my fault… I just, I need you by my side and well, I don't want to ever lose you."

The blonde looked down at him, her expression softening, "You won't," she brought her left hand up and pointed to a faded scar on her wrist shaped like a crescent, "According to this, we will always be together…" she then pointed to her heart, "And according to my heart and yours, we'll never be apart."

Natsu propped up on one elbow and took her left wrist, a warm smile on his face, "it was the best thing that ever happened to me… this, us, I love it, Luce and I wouldn't trade it for the world."

In The Future

"I wouldn't trade it for the world", Natsu whispered to himself as he held on to the boats railing, his face green as the few contents in his stomach swirled and made him sick. The only way he would not pass out was to think happy thoughts and take small sips of the potion Wendy had made him for the trip.

He turned his head a little to get a view of Caleb, who was currently holding all of Nashi's weight as she leaned on him. Unlike her father who had a good amount of years on him and experience with motion travel and sickness, his daughter had only been on trains; boats were the mother of all motion sickness madness.

"Turn her body around and let her face the ocean. She needs air." The dragon slayer looked at the young man for a few more seconds and then looked back toward the ocean, focusing his sight on the horizon and remembering the countless times he went to the beach with his wife. He heard Caleb whisper softly into his daughter's ear, telling her that he was moving her only a bit to make her feel better. Of course, his daughter only mumbled some incoherent words.

Natsu let out a sigh before speaking loud enough for the guy to hear, "Thanks for staying with us. You didn't have to-"
"I do it for your daughter."

The sickness seemed to slip away as the dragon slayer brought his full attention on Caleb. His bi-colored eyes stared right back at him, "I love y-"
"I know, Caleb," he sighed heavily once more, bring his hand up and passing it through his salmon hair, "And I know she loves you."
"She does?" the hopeful voice he gave made Natsu smile sadly, reminding him of the past when Lucy told him how she felt.
"Yup," his eyes became soft as he looked at him, "I'm not easy, but that's the last woman left in my life," he brought his hand out towards Nashi's face and tucked a pink lock to the back of her ear, "I won't let her go easily."

Caleb grinned, feeling a bit relieved with how Nashi's father was acting towards him. He was expecting to be thrown off the boat, but hearing Mr. Dragneel tell him that Nashi loved him? Best day ever. He was about to tell the dragon slayer that she wasn't going anywhere, until a familiar crescent flag came into his peripheral vision.

Gasps were heard throughout the boat as a man flanked by two black nights walked into the boat from the port, and stopped in front of the three. Natsu could hear Caleb's heart beating rapidly, and already could tell they were in trouble. The man in the middle was tall and dressed in a black cape with a single silver coiled crown placed on his head. He had a black long goatee with his beard being shaved on the sides to show elaborated lines and hair that reached his shoulders; immediately Natsu saw an eerie resemblance, his own heart beginning to beat fast as he cursed to himself.

The man smiled, yet the smile did not reach his gray eyes, "Son," he said, looking straight at Caleb, "How pathetic of you to show your face to the kingdom you disgraced."

The knights had begun to move forward, Natsu's hands began to engulf in flames and Caleb was now bringing his hand forward to levitate the knights out of the way. Nashi only moved forward, stumbling through the knight and facing the man, "The... fuck are... you?"

"I'm Reed, King of Sin."

The man looked proud only for a second, before Nashi smiled weakly, and threw up on his black cape.

It would be like Nashi to just walk over and barf on her father in law.

;o