Kagura Mikazuchi, third master of Mermaid Heel, moaned when she heard the doorbell ring. Still clad in pajamas and wrapped snug in a purple fleece blanket, she stood despite the relentless waves of nausea plaguing her and shuffled to the front door.

"Erza?" She looked up at her friend and idol in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Behind her, Milianna bounced on the balls of her feet, raising her hand like an excited schoolgirl. "I called Er-chan because you weren't feeling good."

"And I brought Wendy along because I don't know much about medicine," the Titania confessed.

"I'll try my best!" The young dragon slayer vowed as the three, plus Carla the exceed, made their way into the living room.

"I'll make some tea," Erza offered before heading for the kitchen.

"All of this really isn't necessary," Kagura insisted, even as she slumped back onto the couch. "It's just a stomach bug, and Rogue is on his way over."

"He's coming over?" Carla gave a disapproving tut. "Haven't you been married for two years now?"

"Carla!" Wendy chided, her hands glowing teal as she began her examination.

"Three years, nyah!" Milianna corrected. "And they still live in different towns."

"It's not ideal," the swordswoman admitted. "Before Master Artemis fell ill we'd been looking at a place equidistant to Mermaid Heel and Sabertooth. But now I have to stay close to the guild."

She had almost passed the offer on to Araña. But what kind of mage would she have been, what kind of role model would she have been to Beth and the other younger Mermaids if she placed her career on the back burner?

"Then why can't Rogue-san just live here?" Wendy asked.

Kagura gave a weak laugh at this. Risley and Araña had made the same argument at least once a week since she returned, alone, from her honeymoon. "You're a dragon slayer. Would you be able spend four hours on a train to get to your guild every day?"

The dark haired girl paled at the notion. "T-that would be horrible."

"And here we are." They'd been meaning to do something about the situation for ages, but no solution—save inventing a teleportation device—seemed right.

It wasn't that bad most of the time. They just continued on the way they did when they were dating, spending one weekend at her place and the next at his. But there was still a void, a sadness when she came home to an empty apartment, when he was hurt on a job and Yukino or Minerva sat at his bedside, when she'd been throwing up all night and he couldn't get to her until the next afternoon. They had assumed, perhaps foolishly, that wedding vows alone would erase their omnipresent proximity issues.

"It's unconventional," Erza admitted as she placed a mug of chamomile tea in front of her friend. "But not the strangest arrangement there could be." She often had no idea where Jellal was for months at a time, and it still worked between them. "It does get tricky, though, once kids are involved." After Reina and Raiden were born, he tried to stay in Magnolia more, but Crime Sorcière was still a nomadic guild by nature.

"I'm not even going to think about kids for at least another year."

"Well," Wendy interjected, blushing, "the thing is, Kagura-san...I couldn't detect any stomach virus, but there is life in here. Congratulations!"

"Congratulations, nyah!" Milianna shouted, springing high into the air and managing not to break anything this time. "Kagura-chan is going to have the best kitten in the whole wide world, and she's gonna be a Mermaid, and she's gonna love cats!"

Kagura looked down at her abdomen, completely flat and innocuous looking, and wondered what kind of child they would bring into the world. Dark haired, probably. Maybe patient like Rogue, or determined like her. Perhaps they'd have a son big as a house the way her brother always was, or a daughter with the ruby eyes she imagined he got from his mother. But one thing was certain. "Knowing my husband, our offspring will definitely love cats."

The celebration continued until Wendy smelled Rogue coming up the road, and then the girls headed back to to guild to give the couple some privacy.

A few minutes later he came through the door looking a little worse for wear, the way he always did after getting off transportation. Wordlessly, he came over to the couch and pressed a lingering kiss against her forehead.

"How are you feeling, Kagura?"

"I'll live," she said. "Wendy's nausea spell helped a lot." Then Kagura leaned into him, nuzzling her face into his dark cloak. "Did you take the express train here?" He had arrived far faster than she anticipated.

"Anything for you." The dragon slayer draped an arm over her shoulder, all the while trying to forget the purgatorial journey. He stroked her arm lovingly. "Did you find out what's wrong?"

Kagura glanced up at him then, honey-hazel eyes alight with mischief. "You've managed put a child in me, Rogue. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"That's great!" he replied at once, part of him a bit smug that he'd be a father before Sting. Then he recalled his wife's lifelong ambivalence towards reproduction. "But if this isn't what you want right now-"

"It is," she assured, twirling the gold wedding band around her third finger, surprised at how much she meant it. Before they got serious, she never thought she'd want to have a child. With anyone else, she wouldn't have even considered it. "It is but..."

"But our child should grow up seeing both of us every day," he finished. "So that means it's time I moved here for good."

"No," she sighed. "You shouldn't have to do that. I know how much Sabertooth means to you, and everyone knows that blond fool can't run it by himself. And then there's Frosch. She'd be miserable away from everyone. Araña can take over as master. She's always been capable, and truthfully my heart hasn't been in it lately."

"Sting is more reliable than he looks." Rogue paused under the force of her incredulous stare. "Well, at least Yukino wouldn't let anything too crazy happen. And no one would be better at leading the Mermaids than you, Kagura. I wouldn't want to be the reason you gave that up."

Kagura sighed, rubbing her temples. Wendy's spell was beginning to wear off. "This is no easier now than it was three years ago." The only difference was that they no longer had the luxury of ignoring the issue indefinitely.

"Maybe we should just flip a coin."

"Or let the baby decide," she laughed.

"How would that work?"

"If it's a boy, I'll move to your town and he can grow up in Sabertooth. But if it's a girl, you'll come here and we'll raise her in my guild."

There was a lengthy pause between them.

"That seems fair."

"Doesn't it?"

At first they had only meant it as a joke. It was no sensible way to decide where to start their family. Both the Mermaids and the Tigers found it ludicrous, though openly hoping luck would fall with their guild. But when the baby, one Simon Mikazuchi-Cheney, was born they finally had their answer.