I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does!

I have had this idea running through my head for quite some time and I decided it was time to put those thoughts to paper. Let me know how much you like, or dislike, this is if you want me to post further chapters!

Chapter 1: The Beginning

It was finally over, not only had Fairy Tail come out on top of the Grand Magic Games, but they had defeated future Rogue and Motherglare. It hadn't taken long for the guild to return to normal however, fights and drinking abundant. The only thing that Natsu could think to do to pass his time was to go on consecutive jobs. It wasn't the same without his friends though. Looking back over the past few days, nothing had been the same. His partner, and best friend, no longer had enough time to go on jobs with him. She was constantly out of the guild, claiming she was seeing someone. Juvia had finally forced Gray to either admit his feelings for her or let her go, and without a second thought, Gray had asked her on a date. He denied his feelings for the woman still, but for the two, it was a step up in their relationship.

Erza was another problem all around. She was more than willing to fight alongside Natsu, but her mind was off on another person, in another place. Even with her joining Natsu on his missions, he still felt alone. Two weeks ago he had stopped asking her to go with him, though he wasn't sure that she entirely noticed anyways. Happy hadn't left Carla's side since they had gotten back to Magnolia, having finally reached a point in his relationship with the Exceed where she didn't mind spending time with him. Natsu was ecstatic for his friends, he had never seen any of them happier and it only brought a larger smile to his face when he saw them.

Said Dragon Slayer sat on the edge of the bar while watching the Guild interact with one another until his eyes finally fell upon the small child that was sitting on top of one of the tables not too far off. Asuka was a near clone of her mother except for the fact that she had her father's hair. The small child noticed Natsu watching her and smiled brightly before waving over at him excitedly. He smirked slightly and gave her a small wave. He couldn't help but overhear her parents talking in the background.

"Please Mira? We only need a couple of hours to ourselves; we haven't been on a date since before the games." Bisca asked the white haired barmaid.

Mirajane was quickly running around the guild, serving alcohol and food. She stopped long enough to lean on the counter and wipe sweat from her brow before shaking her head. "I'm sorry, but unless you feel alright with leaving Asuka here at the guild, I don't think I have time to watch over her." Breathing a sigh, Mirajane bent over behind the bar and grabbed a barrel, dropping it on the counter in front of Cana.

"We understand Mira, thanks anyways. We can always find someone else." Bisca said with a sad smile before scanning who was leftover in the guild. She caught sight of her daughter staring at Natsu and developed a genuine smile, if somewhat mischievous. "Natsu?" She called over to him.

The Dragon Slayer turned from the little girl to look at her mother, tilting his head to the side. "What can I do for you Bisca?" He asked hopping off the bar and making his way over to her curiously.

"Well Azlack and I are in need of a little time to ourselves and we need someone to watch Asuka for a few hours." Bisca said sweetly.

Natsu raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't understand. What do you need from me? Why don't you take her with you?" He looked between Bisca and her daughter, not understanding what was taking place.

Bisca sighed and waved a hand in the air, trying to come up with the right words. "We need a little Adult time…" She said bluntly. The look on Natsu's face told her he still didn't understand. "Do you think you could watch her for us?"

"Doesn't Mira or Lisanna usually watch her?" Natsu asked.

"Mira and Lisanna are busy. Would you mind watching her for just a couple of hours?" She asked flashing her eyes at him.

"Something wrong with your eyes?" Natsu asked furrowing his brows. Bisca huffed indignantly at his ignorance of her attempts to bring him into what she wanted him to do. "I don't mind watching her though."

Bisca's eyes widened slightly but she smiled brightly before throwing her arms around Natsu's shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug. "You have no idea what this means to us. I promise we will make it up to you."

Natsu gently hugged her back with one arm and chuckled. "I'm just surprised you would want her to be watched by me. Surprised you trust me enough with her." He said when she let him go and cast a look over to the small child.

The girl giggled when she saw him watching her and ran over to her parents, hiding behind her mother's legs. She peeked around them up at Natsu. "Honey, Natsu here is going to watch you while Daddy and I go out for a little while. Are you okay with that?" Her mother asked, Asuka nodding happily and smiling in a way that only reminded him of her mother.

Natsu squatted down and held his arms out to her, picking her up to toss her on his shoulder to look back at her parents. He flashed them a bright smile. "I'll take good care of her, you two have fun." He watched as the two gave their daughter a quick kiss before turning hand in hand and heading from the guild. "What do you want to do, Asuka?" He asked the girl on his shoulder.

"Let's play hide and seek!" She cried out before dropping to the ground in front of him. "Count to ten then come and find me!" Natsu smiled and closed his eyes before he started counting.

Natsu didn't know when it had happened, but somewhere in the time that he had been watching Asuka, he found that he wasn't just watching her because he had been asked to. It felt good to have someone rely on him, if only for just a few hours. Darkness had set over the guild long ago and Natsu found that he couldn't move from where he sat against the wall across from the bar, Asuka lying against his chest fast asleep. He sighed and smoothed out her hair while she slept, enjoying the small sleeping girl hanging off of him.

As soon as he heard the sounds of someone cooing he shot a glare up to see that Mirajane was watching him with the small girl. Setting a firm gaze over to the barmaid, Natsu couldn't help but smile. He could feel several sets of eyes on him and looked around to see others pointing up at him. Men laughed, but the women smiled at him, whispering things along the lines of 'Between them, I don't know which one is more childish', 'He is so cute to play with her like that', and 'Could you picture Natsu as a father?'

If he hadn't been afraid of waking the small child up, he would have screamed at them, instead resorting to shaking his head, speaking in a low tone that wouldn't travel too far. "I can hear you, you know that right?" More giggles ensued, angering Natsu even further.

Grumbling to himself, Natsu looked over at the clock, noticing it was a few hours past when he had expected Bisca and Azlack to return for their daughter. Looking down at the girl against his chest, Natsu shook his head. The guild wasn't a place for the girl to sleep the night off; he had to take her somewhere better. He motioned Mirajane over to him and asked her where he should take her.

"Why not take her back to your place?" She suggested sweetly.

"Too unsafe." He said bluntly, knowing full well that his house looked like a hurricane had gone through it. "Besides, I don't have a bed for her to sleep in; all I have is Happy and my hammocks."

Mirajane looked up at the ceiling as she thought about his choices. "Tell you what, take her to one of the spare beds in the back, Azlack and Bisca should be here in a little while to get her."

Natsu nodded and held the girl to him before taking her into the back room, lying her down and tucking her in. He sat down on the edge of the bed and gently rubbed her hair while she slept. Looking down at the small child, Natsu couldn't help but wonder what it felt like to have someone look up to you like Asuka did to her parents. Everyone had seemed to move on without him realizing it until recently. Shaking the thought from his head, Natsu lost track of time until he heard Bisca asking about her daughter.

Poking his head out of the door he waved the couple over. Watching the two pull Asuka into their arms, Natsu sighed and shook his head. They couldn't have looked happier in that moment. He stood there for a few moments before leaving the three to themselves and heading out of the guild, giving his goodbyes to everyone that was left over.

Natsu sat frozen in his chair. His partner had finally brought her boyfriend to the guild, but he hadn't expected this. No, this was far harder to deal with than he had thought. Anyone other than this blonde Dragon Slayer would have been fine. He could have dealt with it if it had been Gray, but this was too much. "Everyone, we have an announcement!" Lucy called out, drawing Natsu from his haze. "Sting here is going to take a small break from Sabertooth to help us with a few things. So make him feel welcome!"

Natsu felt his face pale. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to process the situation. Suddenly it dawned on him how petty he was being. He should have been happy for her, not worrying about what had happened in the past between the two of them.

Idle conversations started to strike back up after the initial shock of the new temporary member and Natsu left the couple to go pick a new job from the board. He barely listened to Mirajane's off-hand comment about the cute couple before sliding a randomly picked job over at her. "Are you okay Natsu?" She asked, seeing his withdrawn attitude.

Natsu flashed a quick smile, giving her an offhanded wink to throw her off a little. "Never better, Mira. I should hopefully be back by tomorrow night. I'll be waiting to hear about what happens when I'm gone." Before she could respond to him, the Dragon Slayer turned and jogged out of the guild.

Mirajane sighed and shook her head at the Dragon Slayer as he ran off. "Good luck…" She whispered.

Natsu only slowed when he had put a large distance between himself and the guild, his fists clenching despite the fact that he had told himself he needed to get over the past. Slow even breaths calmed him down until he could think about something other than the new guild member. He focused on the job at hand, heading to the train station. This was bound to be a long and tiring mission.

Natsu finally drug himself off the train, wishing that he had taken the time to ask Wendy to cast Troia on him to prevent his motion sickness. Shaking off the last remaining effects from the train, Natsu quickly made his way to the address on the flier. He stopped dead in front of the building, looking down at the job flier and then up at the building. It seemed that he was in the right place. He could only sigh in dismay at his luck of having chosen a job that had nothing to do with fighting, but at least some manual labor would be enough to clear his mind.

As soon as he stepped through the threshold of the building he stopped and had to look back down at the flier in his hand to reread it. His short hesitation was enough to catch all eyes though. "Who are you?" One of the older boys yelled, planting himself directly in front of Natsu.

"I'm Natsu, I'm here for…" Natsu gestured with the flier in his hand. "There was a request to come see a Clarissa, do you know where she is?"

The boy frowned, but finally relented. "I'll go get her, stay here and don't break anything." Natsu huffed in irritation, but kept his place next to the doors to survey the kids inside. There had to be at least two dozen children running around doing tasks here and there or simply sitting at tables coloring. Strangely enough, just watching them all go about their business succeeded in taking his mind off the Guild.

"Excuse me?" Natsu flinched at the voice and he turned to see an older woman standing next to the boy he had met earlier. "Are you here about the job flier?" She inquired. Natsu hummed in acknowledgement and handed over the flier to her. The woman sighed in relief and smiled brightly. "Thank goodness, I was just about to lose hope that we wouldn't find any help soon."

"Well, I'm here now so what do you need me to do?" Natsu asked pointedly, not trying to be rude, but still trying to get to the point.

"Yes, yes, we need a little help around the orphanage. What with there being no men around, we need someone to chop some wood, tend to a few repairs, and I also need help in occupying some of the older children. Does this sound like something you are capable of?" She asked tiredly.

The more Natsu looked at the woman, the more he could see that she wasn't actually that old, but rather she was overworked and was just worn out. "Yeah, I can do that." Natsu replied pumping his fist in the air. "You can count on me!"

Clarissa clapped happily. "Thank goodness. Winter, would you mind getting together the other boys and giving Mr. Natsu here a hand?" Winter nodded and ran off to the other kids. "There are logs in the back; if you could get started there I would very much appreciate it."

"No problem, Clarissa. It's my job after all." He said grinning. "Winter!" He called out, waving at the young boy. "Meet me out back!" The boy nodded as Natsu ran out the back door.

After a few minutes Winter came out back with six other older boys, each of them taking up an axe. Natsu frowned at them, not understanding why they weren't smiling; it seemed like fun to be around so many of your friends at once. He shrugged and went back to work by setting up a large log on top of another. With a roar of power, Natsu brought his hand down on the top of the log, splitting it in half.

"Whoa…" Winter muttered. "That was cool, how did you do that?"

"Huh?" Natsu asked confused. "What? This?" He stood the two halves of the log back up and attacked them again in two rapid strikes breaking them in half, then in half again, leaving them in eights of what they had originally been. "I'm a mage, this is nothing!"

"What else can you do?" Winter asked, fully intrigued now. Natsu chuckled and lit a fire into his fist, drawing attention from all of the boys outside, all of them setting down their axes to ask Natsu questions about what it meant to be a mage.

By the time Natsu was done with the tasks he had been given, he had ended up burning more logs than he had actually cut, and though he had managed to complete the repairs, he had caused more damage to the wooden supports in the building.

"Thanks for what you did today; I can't tell you how much we appreciate having someone else here. Especially Winter and the other boys, they have taken a liking to you." Clarissa admitted, sinking into a chair tiredly. "Hopefully with what you have done for us today we can bring more willing parents in to come and adopt more of the kids. It's sad to see them all without families other than each other."

Natsu sat down next to her on a bench and cast a look over at the kids. "What do you mean adopt?"

"Their orphans, I'm trying to find them all loving parents." Clarissa said with a sad smile. "Can you imagine what it would be like to grow up without anyone to look after you as their own?"

Natsu looked down at the ground and felt his heart seize in on itself. "Yeah, it must be hard for them." He agreed, silently wondering where Igneel could possibly be at that point in time. He hoped his father was happy wherever he was, but also hoped that he would come home to him one day. "What are going to do if they don't find parents?"

"Take care of them until they can take care of themselves. At least that's the plan; maybe one of them will take over for me one day." Clarissa suggested halfheartedly. "Anyways, here is your reward, thank you for coming by and if you ever find yourself in town feel free to stop by again."

Natsu hummed and watched the kids for a few minutes longer before he stood up. "I should get going; I have to get back to the guild." Natsu stopped just before getting to the door. "Can anyone… adopt or is there some kind of requirement you have to meet beforehand?"

Clarissa smiled over at Natsu and shook her head. "We try to pair kids up with couples because there is a better chance that the couple will be able to support them. Single parents are nice too, but we won't just give a child to anyone, don't worry they are in good hands here. I won't just give them away."

A group of kids ran up to Natsu before he could leave, grouping together in front of the door. "Are you going to be coming by again Natsu?" One of the girls he had come to know as Myou.

Natsu smiled and patted her head as he passed on the way out. "I'll be back, don't worry."

True to his word, Natsu continued to head to the orphanage every day for the next three weeks. Not only did it give him a reason to be away from the guild, but he was starting to become friends with most of the kids. It saddened him at the same time, no matter how close he got to them; one by one they were being adopted.

On one hand he was ecstatic for them, happy that they were all getting families of their own; on the other hand he felt another pang of guilt that he wanted them to stay at the orphanage so he could see them more and have someone that depended on him.

Natsu kicked in the door to the guild, surprising those that were standing nearby. "Lucy!" He called out happily, his mind finally set.

The blonde in question broke away from Sting at the bar and turned to him. "What's up Natsu? Got another job you need help on?" She asked. "Not that I mind, but would you mind if Sting came along with us?" She asked with a small blush, holding the hand of the Dragon Slayer sitting next to her.

Natsu shook his head and took up her free hand. "I need just you for this, and it's not a mission."

Lucy cocked her head to the side but let herself be pulled towards the door. "What do you need Natsu?"

"I need you to help me get a kid." He responded with a large smile.

Lucy ripped her arm back from him. "What do you mean help you get a kid? You can't mean… you can't mean THAT!" She exclaimed.

Natsu looked back at her in confusion. "What do you mean by 'that'? Come on, it won't take that long, I only need your help for a couple of hours then you can go back to Sting." He said taking her hand again.

"Natsu, you do know how a kid is made right?" Lucy asked hesitantly, refusing to let him pull her along any further. "Besides, I'm with Sting, why would I do that with you? We aren't even in a relationship. I'm saving myself for marriage." She said crossing her arms firmly in front of her.

Natsu groaned and turned on her. "What are you on about? I told you, it isn't like that, just… come on I want to get this out of the way."

"Look Natsu." Lucy said, her voice rising angrily. "I don't care that you don't have a girlfriend, you can't just go asking someone to make kids with you." A few eyes had turned to look at them at this point.

Natsu blushed in embarrassment. "Lucy, please, you are the only person I can ask of this. We are teammates aren't we?" He whispered back. "I wouldn't come to you if it wasn't important."

"No Natsu, I can't help you. Maybe we shouldn't be teammates if this is how you are going to act when I finally have a good guy to rely on."

Natsu flinched back. "You know what, maybe you're right." He admitted, making the blonde take a step back at how bluntly he had put it.

"Natsu, I'm sorry, maybe I was a little hasty saying that… Maybe…" She started but Natsu made a gesture to cut her off.

"No, you already said it; you don't need me acting like this when you 'finally have a good guy to rely on'." Natsu said, hurt by what she had implied. "Go back to Sting, I'll find a way to do this by myself." He turned and left, alone.

The Guild sat in silence for a moment; finally it was Gajeel that spoke up. "That was… harsh bunny girl." He said quietly to her. "I don't think he even knew what you were going on about. I don't think Igneel told him about kids and how they are made."

"Maybe it's for the best." Lucy said, almost as if was meant for just herself. "He needs to find someone to rely on besides me." Still feeling bad about how it had gone down, Lucy went back over to the bar and sat next to Sting, but wasn't feeling in the mood to be lovey-dovey with him at the moment.

Well? Does this deserve a follow up chapter to continue, or is the story stagnant where it left off?

I am sure you see where it is headed, but what will happen with it when it starts heading down that route. Does anyone want me to continue this?