It had been just a normal day in Fairy Tail for Lucy. Natsu was being lazy and didn't want to go on any jobs, so Lucy had been talking with Erza and just enjoying a non-stressful perfectly regular day. Cana was drunk. Gray had stripped. Mirajane was smiling. Natsu was on fire. Normal.

"So what is your favorite requip?" Lucy continued, her chin leaning on her entwined hands.

Erza thought. "Probably Japanese Cloth because I do all my badass stuff in that one." Lucy laughed weakly at the bright light in Erza's eyes as she imagined all of her badass moments. And there were certainly a lot.

Lucy looked around. Where was Levy? They had made plans to hang out and head to the library later, but they would be pointless if Levy didn't even show up at the guild. Levy couldn't be on a job, could she? After all, Jet and Droy were bickering at some table and Pantherlily was chatting with Happy and Carla. Gajeel would never go on a job without Lily, so it ruled out that possibility. Unless… Levy had talked about trying a job on her own, but then wouldn't Gajeel be here? Gajeel probably wouldn't have even let her out the door if she said she wanted to go on a job alone. Levy's boyfriend was waaay too overprotective.

Lucy sighed and turned back to Erza. She was overreacting, wasn't she? Lucy should just relax and enjoy the day off, a day from exploding buildings, Natsu's idiocy, and Happy's mean comments about her. Erza had continued to talk about her armors, going into Erza-Conversational-Default mode. Lucy had heard the same descriptions and explanations 40 million times, but she couldn't blame Erza. The woman just wanted to talk about her passions. Lucy understood. She could get that way about books and writing.

The door opened and in walked Levy and Gajeel. They had been dating for a little less than a year now, so them being together was nothing new, but for some reason today, their faces were red. The couple wasn't looking up, only at the floor. What was going on? Levy stood on tip-toe, trying to whisper something into Gajeel's ear and the man bent down to help close the height difference. Gajeel's reaction was a slight nod. However, afterwards, Levy started walking towards her, while Gajeel went to Lily on the other side of the guild. That's weird. They're usually glued at the hip. Something was obviously going on.

Levy sat down next to Lucy, smiling meekly. She opened her book and stuttered, "Good morning, Lu-chan. Morning, Erza," before diving her head into her book, blushing fiercely. Erza nodded and wanted to continue her explanation for why she could never eat spaghetti in Heaven's Wheel armor (it was mainly Natsu's fault), but Lucy took an opportunity to jump on her friend.

"Where were you? Gajeel and you are usually a lot earlier. And you always sit together. Why not now?"

"Um, no, reason." Levy's voice was muffled by the thick-yellowing pages enclosing her face.

Lucy frowned. "Levy, did something happen between you guys? I'm your best friend, you can tell me anything. Did you get into a fight?"

Lucy could hear Levy's voice was a little higher-pitched than normal. It was covered in nervousness. "Um, kind of, the opposite?"

Lucy continued to pester Levy, definitely sure something was off. Erza continued talking to nobody about how Elfman ruined her Giant armor last Tuesday with a dry cleaning mistake. "Well, why did you end your sentence with a question mark?" Lucy paused until an idea struck her. "Wait, why did you say the opposite of a fight? Did he propose?!" Lucy nearly jumped out of her seat.

Levy slowly set her book down, but continued to stare at the floor. "Um, no. It's um..."

Lucy stopped her mini-celebration with an, "Aww," of disappointment, but quickly turned to look at Levy suspiciously. "Levy, I know something's up. Tell me."

Levy looked her friend in the eyes. "Do you promise not to tell anyone until we decide to make it public?" We? Who was we? But Lucy nodded in agreement, her suspicion growing.

Levy cringed. "I'm pregnant."

At that moment, all conversations ceased. All movement stopped. Something whispered so quietly could be heard for miles. If Levy had decided to say the words two seconds earlier, only Lucy would have heard. Two seconds later, only Lucy. But this was one of those moments in life when all stops simultaneously for a second, those rare times when everyone's conversations are strangely paused. When the birds silence their chirping and leaves pause their swaying. But Levy did not have luck on her side that day. Lucy did not have luck on her side that day.

Lucy's mouth dropped to the floor. Her eyes widened. Lucy could've been hit by a two-ton boulder and she wouldn't have noticed, she was so in shock. Not even the crickets chirped. Lucy shook her head in disbelief, trying to make sense of her surroundings. Levy dove her head back into her book as the whole guild stared at the bookworm, in just as much shock, if not more, than Lucy. The air was so thick Lucy couldn't breathe, but that may just have been due to the stopping of all involuntary actions. Levy finally twitched her head in a nod, confirming, that she was, indeed, pregnant.

Lucy gasped and almost fainted onto the floor as Levy's rosy colored face from earlier turned the color of Erza's hair. Simultaneously, Mirajane dropped the tray she was carrying, sending cups clattering across the silent floor, but nobody noticed. There was a bigger matter that needed to be addressed. Levy was pregnant. Levy was seriously pregnant.

Natsu, a boy who couldn't stand still for 30 seconds, broke the silence by breaking out in laughter. He had obviously been holding it in, and it sounded loud and foreign in the soundless guild. "Hahahahaha, Levy pregnant, hahahahaha, that's a good one, hahahahaha-"

Master Makorav smashed Natsu into silence with his giant fist without a second thought. It was easy to tell Makorav was still stunned, and trying to work his way back to sense. Meanwhile, Gray had already returned, and he started thinking out loud, another foreign sound at that moment. "So if Levy's really pregnant, who's the father-?"

All eyes turned to Gajeel, who was hiding in the back corner with a fire-truck red face. His head was in his hands, and he was pacing through the unwanted attention, trying to ignore it, as he thought of the circumstance. He stopped, and addressed the accusation with a weak nod that set the guild on fire.

Jet and Droy started crying profusely. Pantherlily smirked, obviously happy for the couple. Most were still stunned, unable to move from their current positions. Levy and Gajeel both wouldn't look up as the gasps accumulated. Finally, Erza had fully realized the situation. Her eyes started glowing bright red, and Lucy took a mental step back. Erza slowly rose, pulling out her sword.

Erza took a step forward, and it all happened in calm, slow motions until somewhere, someone dropped a pin. Erza sensed the vibrations of the dropping pin.

"GAAAAJEEEEEL!" Erza cried rushing towards the dragon slayer full force. Her sword was lifted, ready to run Gajeel through, but he had started walking out, his face still pink.

"Fuck this. I knew this was going to happen," Gajeel sighed into his palm. He made his way out of the guild, pausing in the doorway, turning back to look at Levy. She still had her face in the book as a barrier between the world. "See ya later, Shrimp." The door slammed shut behind him, echoing through the hall.

Levy whimpered in response. The guild was still too shocked to move, so Lucy took the opportunity to grab her friend's hand without hesitation and pull her out of the guild, away from the stares. God knows Levy needed it.

"We're going. We need to talk."

Lucy sprinted the whole way back to her apartment, dragging Levy with her, who kept tripping and stumbling through her embarrassment. Levy was trying to look down to hide her glowing face, only for her feet to hit loose stones and send her flying slightly. Of course, Lucy had to concentrate hard to not trip as well while her brain turned.

As they ran, Levy got weird looks from people on the street. Lucy looked back at her friend. Did everyone find out those couple of minutes ago? That moment when the whole world paused? Lucy was still in a bit of shock herself, but was pushing through the barrier to reality. She needed to as to understand the situation. Levy getting pregnant wasn't totally impossible, and while she and Gajeel had only been dating for 10 months, they had been friends and hanging out for a while, growing closer. And if you counted their Tenroujima snooze, Levy and Gajeel's relationship had even gone through 7 years.

Levy and Lucy finally hit the last stretch to Lucy's apartment, right next to the river and they ran up the stairs until they reached Lucy's apartment. Lucy slammed the door shut as Levy slumped into a chair.

"God, Lu-chan. What was that for?" Levy panted. Lucy took a seat across from her, and crossed her arms. Levy wiped her sweating hairline, exhaling heavily to regain her breath.

"Spill." Lucy's eyes bore into her friend's. She was mad and a little bit happy but just very very very very confused, and Levy was going to explain if it was the last thing she ever did.

Levy looked into Lucy's eyes, communicating a silent plea to not make her do so, but Lucy won over. Levy darted her head down, picking at the skirt of her yellow dress while she stumbled over an attempt at an explanation. "Uh, um, we, uh…" Levy sighed and blushed before completely giving up.

"You know how maybe a couple of weeks ago all of Fairy Tail went to the one resort?" Lucy nodded, remembering the property damage bill caused by mostly Natsu. "Well, do you remember how I was sharing a room with you, and Natsu with Gajeel? And then Natsu told you and me to switch because our bed was comfier and he got a better night's sleep when he was with you?"

Lucy blushed in recognition, hoping her face wasn't as red as her friend's. "This is not about that flame-brain idiot. This is about you."

Levy nodded and sighed. "Well…" Lucy jumped up at Levy's response.

Lucy's eyes grew to the size of the moon. She couldn't believe it. The world could not cease to surprise her.

Lucy saw her friend sigh in shame, so she calmed down and continued to press Levy for explanations. "So, how did you find out you were pregnant?"

Levy placed her flaming face into her hands and shook her head slightly. "For the last couple of days or so I've been constantly feeling like I need to puke. And recently, in the mornings I'm a dragon slayer on a boat in a hurricane. I went to go see Porlyusica to see if she might know what was going on. I was afraid I was overreacting, but I never get sick like that. So she examined me and told me to get Gajeel and bring him here because she had some shocking news for us. And that's how we got here. I was pregnant."

Lucy grumbled under her breath, "So that old bat knew before her best friend?" But Lucy could tell Levy had finished her story and they waited in silence for a few minutes, neither daring to speak.

Levy sighed and decided to pick up again, much to Lucy's surprise.

"And now things are really awkward between me and Gajeel because I'll be turning 19 next month and we aren't married and we're having a child together for Christ's sake and I don't know how we're supposed to care for this child while going on jobs and missions and I'm not giving this child up, you know? He's going to have a happy childhood unlike the rest of us if it's the last thing I do. And now I've probably destroyed my relationship with Jet and Droy because they've never liked Gajeel and Master probably thinks I'm insane for this and everybody is going to start acting really weird around me and probably not even trust me-"

Lucy cut off her friend's rant by laughing. It started lightly, but slowly scaled to full sobs that rocked her body, sending her rolling onto the floor.

"What?" Levy asked, stress lines covering her forehead as she ran her hand through her crazy blue hair.

"Nothing," Lucy laughed. "It's just that, you worry way too much. You obviously have the whole guild behind you, and we will be supporting you so you can give that child the best freaking childhood he could possibly have. And if Gajeel decides to quit out on you, we all know that Erza will have his severed head on a stick in two minutes. This kid will grow into a fine mage that you and Gajeel will be so proud of."

Lucy smiled at her friend in encouragement and support. And Levy smiled back.

To be continued…