A/Ns: So. I kind of sat at my desk for a while, right after I'd finished editing this, wondering if I should post it not or wait until I'd gotten part two at the very least finished. Spoiler alert: I haven't even started part two.

Anyway. I've had this AU sitting in my WIPs for a ridiculously long time. And, after writing 'Dawn' (that ficlet that made Chapter 17 of Fairies of Fiore), I found the motivation to start working on it again. So, I finally got this part finished. Originally, it was supposed to be a one-shot with a possible sequel. But, the last time I'd touched it, it was around 8-9k words anyway, and I thought about how I'd split it up since I'm trying to avoid writing the ridiculously long stories/chapters for the most part (key word: trying). I thought that this would be a good place to split it, which means part two will be the second part of the original one-shot, and then part three will basically be the sequel.

Make sense? Probably not. Anyway, onto the story.

The mobile buzzing on the edge of the table just had Lucy's laughter quickly dying and a frown etching on her lips when she saw that it was her daughter's babysitter calling her. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd gone on a date with someone and had been actually enjoying herself without being interrupted by her babysitter.

Still, as long as it had been since she'd been on a date that hadn't completely ended in disaster, Lucy knew she couldn't just ignore her phone. As tempted as she was to do so just because she'd been really enjoying herself that night, her daughter came first. So with an apologetic smile to her blue-haired date sitting opposite her, Lucy only sighed and picked up her phone before pushing her chair back to excuse herself. "I'm sorry… I really have to take this."

Bickslow just nodded. "No worries, go ahead." He would admit that he'd found Lucy checking her phone for messages every now and then just a little strange, but he'd put it to the back of his head just because he'd thought their date had been going pretty well. When Lucy came back after just a few more moments though and with a worried expression masking her face, Bickslow couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. "Problem?"

Lucy sighed. "Unfortunately, yeah," she mumbled. She really didn't want to be doing that to the poor man, but she didn't have much choice.

The worst part was that she already really liked Bickslow, yet she was completely blowing all chances at going on a second date with him. Not a single person she'd been out with since starting to date again had been interested in her after finding out she was single mother, so even if she wasn't having to leave in the middle of their date right then, Lucy was certain Bickslow would be no different. She'd even stopped telling guys before going on a date with them that she had a kid, just because it seemed to be an epic turn-off. She always just waited until the end to tell them.

She'd been planning on telling Bickslow about her daughter. She'd just hoped it would be a little later in the evening, and not because said daughter happened to the reason she had to leave the restaurant he'd taken her to.

And considering the amount of good-turned-bad dates Bickslow had been on, he only assumed the call Lucy had received had really just been her escape card. God knows how many times he'd that happen to him. But Lucy… He'd had high hopes for Lucy, just because from all the times they'd found themselves at the same get-togethers and parties with their mutual friends over the last few months, he'd only thought she was a genuinely decent person – and that was a whole lot better than half the other people he'd ever found himself attracted to.

"Have to leave, I take it?" he asked when Lucy put her cardigan back on over her blouse.

"I really wish I didn't, but yes," Lucy replied with an apologetic smile. Their waitress came by and she quickly snatched up their bill from the table to take care of it herself, despite Bickslow's efforts to convince her to let him pay for it. She was tucking her credit card back into her purse as she finally said with a grimace, "That was just my babysitter who called. My, uh… My daughter apparently started throwing up just before, so I just really need to go."

Bickslow only stared at her in shock. "You… You have a… daughter?" he whispered incredulously. He hadn't been expecting to hear that in the slightest. He couldn't even begin to figure out why he was only just finding out about it then, because he was sure it was something he probably should've already known.

"I do, yeah."

"Oh. Wow…"

Lucy wasn't even surprised by Bickslow's reaction. It was exactly like everyone else's when she told them she had a daughter. But with Bickslow, she only felt guiltier than usual for not bringing it up much, much sooner. "I'm really sorry for only telling you now," Lucy continued once they were out the front of the restaurant. "It's just the whole dating with a kid thing is really complicated, and… And, well, most people aren't interested once they know I'm a single parent…"

"Yeah, I can imagine…" Bickslow mumbled. He actually thought it was a little daunting, because kids were complicated – especially when they were someone else's. And he honestly doubted Lucy was the type of person who was just looking for someone to replace her kid's father or anything, but he could see how other guys would jump to that conclusion when Lucy waited to bring up the fact she had a daughter.

And even right then, Bickslow would admit that his interest in her had just dropped a hell of a lot after hearing she had a kid. It just hadn't dropped all the way to zero. Yet.

She stopped and turned back to her uncomfortably silent date for the evening once she'd reached the empty taxi bay at the front of the restaurant, and then continued once again, "But look, if it's any consolation, I was having a nice time tonight. But I just… I can't stay, not when my kid is unwell. And again, I'm really sorry for not telling you before."

"No, it's fine… I, uh… I get it."

Lucy didn't really know what else she could say, so she didn't try to come up with anything else. Thankfully though, a taxi was just pulling up into the empty bay, and she had all intentions of getting in it. It was obvious that Bickslow didn't really want to be having to talk to her any longer or draw their awkward conversation out anymore, so Lucy decided to quickly wrap it up for both their sakes. "Well, thank you for tonight," she said. "But I really do need to get home, so goodnight."

Bickslow only nodded as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, night…" And when the taxi just pulled away again with Lucy heading home to her daughter, Bickslow only turned back around and went into the restaurant to make a visit to the bar.

"Oh, look who decided to actually show up today."

Bickslow rolled his eyes at the brunette that sat in one of the cubicles opposite next to his. "Oh be quiet, Ever," he mumbled as she sat down at his own desk amongst the group of four. "I'm barely five minutes late."

Evergreen shook her head as she continued to pester the man over the short dividing wall between their desks. "But five minutes is all it takes, Bix," she said. "Before you know it, five minutes has turned into ten, and then ten is turning in an hour. Before long you'll be just like Macbeth and we'll be lucky to see you at all! Right, Freed?"

The green-haired man barely had time to set his tea down on his own desk before his opinion was supposedly being called upon. Though honestly, Freed had no idea just what his opinion was supposed to be. He'd stopped listening to Evergreen and Bickslow's constant bickering sometime around the time Evergreen had actually started working there and been given the empty desk next to them, and that had been a long time ago. "What was that, Evergreen?"

"Bix is going to end up being just like Macbeth if he keeps coming five minutes late."

Freed sighed as he finally got to sip on his perfectly prepared beverage. "Ever, Bickslow will not disappear off the face of the planet just because he's occasionally a few minutes late for work."

"See?" Bickslow said as he gestured to the only one of his small group of friends that actually knew how logic worked. "Thank you, Freed." He liked his job anyway, so he had no intentions of just deciding to stop coming in one day and entirely work from home just like Macbeth had done. The only reason he was ever a few minutes late to work anyway was just because the publisher he worked for was in the city, and Bickslow unfortunately did not live in the city. And since he'd never really been fond of driving into work every day, he'd started catching the train in not long after he'd started working there. But strangely enough, he wasn't capable of stopping the trains from running a few minutes late in peak hours.

Evergreen sighed, slightly defeated. "Fine… But hey, you had your date with Lucy last night, right?"

"Oh…" Bickslow cleared his throat unconvincingly a few times as he pulled his laptop from his backpack and set it in front of him on the desk. "Um, yeah, I did."

"So? How'd it go?"

Except Bickslow still hadn't really figured that out. He was inclined to believe it had been going really well, but the fact he hadn't known she had a daughter was kind of making it hard for him to see it as anything other than a complete disaster. "I, uh… I don't really know, to be honest," he mumbled. He quickly spun on his chair to face the blond at the desk directly next to his then, and asked despite the headphones the man was wearing, "Hey, Laxus? You've known Lucy longer than me. Did you know she has a kid?"

"You mean Violet?" he responded without looking up from his computer. "Yeah, I knew about her. She's a fucking nightmare, too. I swear all Lucy does is feed the kid sugar."

"Oh, don't say that," Evergreen argued. "Violet is lovely."

"Yeah, sure," Laxus scoffed. "If by lovely you mean a spoilt brat with ADHD."

"She doesn't have ADHD, Laxus," Freed sighed. "She's four; she's merely being a child."

Bickslow just looked between the three of them disbelievingly before blurting out, "Am I the only one who didn't know she had a kid?!"

He knew that his friends had known Lucy from when she'd supposedly been his boss's assistant a few years earlier which had been before he'd even moved to Magnolia, and that they'd been friends with her since then, but Bickslow himself had only known Lucy for just a few months from when they'd first met at Evergreen's birthday – the first of what ended up being many events they'd found themselves both invited to. He could understand Lucy not bringing it up right away, and it certainly hadn't helped that they hadn't really spent much time together at all before he'd even asked her out. But his friends not doing so much as asking if he even knew about the kid was really quite frustrating, especially since it had quickly become obvious to him that they'd all known about Lucy's daughter for a considerable amount of time.

"Are you saying you didn't know she has a daughter?" Freed asked from where he sat opposite Bickslow.

"No, I didn't know! I only found out because her kid got sick and she left halfway through dinner."

"Oh, I hope Violet's okay," Evergreen whispered, lowering her chin to rest in her palm. "She's been getting sick so often this year, the poor thing."

"I'm sure she's fine, Ever," Freed reassured the woman before turning back to Bickslow with a small shrug. "We assumed you already knew about her once you'd asked Lucy on a date."

"Well, I didn't know then," Bickslow mumbled. And he was completely certain of that fact, too, because had he known that Lucy had a daughter, he probably wouldn't have asked her out at all – or at least he thought that was what he'd do.

"So what now?" Laxus asked as he slid his chair across to Bickslow's desk to lean on the corner of it. "Are you going to go out with her again?" After listening to the guy go on and on about how nervous he was to even go on his date with Lucy, Laxus really couldn't help but be curious about whether or not the two would go on a second date. And honestly, he was strangely hoping that Bickslow did want to go out with her again, just because he'd had to put up with Lucy's over-excitement and constant questions about his friend all of the previous day. He even knew that Lucy hadn't told Bickslow about Violet herself yet, but he'd hoped Bickslow wouldn't freak out like all the other idiots Lucy had ended up going on dates on with since she'd had her daughter.

Bickslow shrugged. "I don't know," he mumbled again. "Maybe?" That was the part he had trouble with. On one hand, he'd had a really great time with her before her babysitter had called and she'd had to leave to take care of her kid; so great that he probably would've been fighting the urge to call her as soon as they'd both left the restaurant, had the date gone as planned. But on the other hand, she had a kid, and he'd never dated anyone who had a child before so he had no fucking clue where to even begin when it came to that. And even then, at twenty-nine, Bickslow would willingly admit to anyone that he was most definitely not ready for kids. And if he wasn't ready for his own kids, he was even less ready for taking on someone else's kids – but that was really just jumping too far ahead anyway.

Still, Bickslow didn't know what he was supposed to do. Even liking her as much as he did, and even understanding Lucy's reasons for not mentioning her daughter earlier, Bickslow was still just a little irritated by Lucy not mentioning her daughter beforehand, and that made it really difficult to determine whether he actually wanted to see her again and – god save him for even thinking it because he couldn't remember the last time he even had – see where things could go.

It was all just way too complicated, and Bickslow didn't particularly light complicated, especially when it came to dating.

Lucy looked back to the bathroom counter when she heard her phone begin to ring. Her daughter was presently occupied by washing herself with the fairy floss scented soap she loved, so Lucy only quickly dried her hands on the nearest towel to reach back for her phone and see who was calling her at half past six on a Monday night.

It was Bickslow, much to her surprise. After their date, she hadn't expected to hear from him again until they were probably invited to the same get together and awkwardly forced to acknowledge each other – and she'd been fine with that, even if she'd also been disappointed by it because she'd had high hopes for Bickslow. Still, it had been nearly two weeks since their disastrous date, so the only reason she was deciding to answer her phone right then was because she wanted to know Bickslow was even calling her in the first place.

She kept her eyes on her daughter playing in the tub as she finally answered her phone. "…Hello?"

It had been ringing for so long that Bickslow had been sure it would only end up going to voicemail, so he was taken by surprise when she actually answered it. "H-Hey! It's… It's Bickslow. How are you?" he asked as he slumped down in his desk chair, just to begin idly spinning around in it.

Lucy's confusion only grew more, but she knew the only way to find out why Bickslow was even calling her was to actually keep talking to him. "I'm, um… I'm good, thank you," Lucy replied. "What about you?"

"I'm doing okay." Bickslow only suddenly wished he'd texted Lucy instead of calling her, just because texting didn't involve any awkward silences which was what he found himself dealing with at that exact moment… But he wanted to ask her out again, and Bickslow really doubted Lucy responding if he'd happened to do so over text. He'd much rather be turned down verbally anyway. But as uncomfortable as the silence was, and as nervous as he was to be actually asking her out again (it was almost worse than the first time he had where it had only taken him three entire weeks to find the courage to ask her out), Bickslow knew he just had to get it over and out with. "Look, I wanted to—"

"Mummy, Mummy, who is it?"

Lucy sighed as Violet stood up at the edge of the tub and tried to reach for her phone. She always let Violet talk on the phone when it was someone like Uncle Natsu or Aunty Erza – or even her father, occasionally – but she couldn't let her talk to Bickslow. "Shh, not now, sweetie," she said, temporarily lifting the phone from her ear so she could gently help the small girl sit back down in the tub. "Come on, sit back down now before you slip and hurt yourself."

Bickslow only then realised the time, and mentally cursed himself for not noticing it sooner. Of course she's busy at this time. She has a kid, moron. And it wasn't exactly like he could forget that fact, but he did forget that not everyone had the luxury of having nothing to do as soon as the work day ended. Lucy had her daughter to look after, and judging by all the giggling and what sounded like splashing, he was sure that he was distracting her from something far more important. "Is this a bad time?" he asked after a moment. "I can call you another time or something, it's okay."

"Oh, no! No, it's fine," Lucy quickly assured him. She was curious now, and Violet really wasn't much as much of a problem as some of the other children she knew. She had her moments (and a lot of them), but she wasn't a complete nightmare like one of her former co-workers claimed – and really, Lucy knew perfectly well that Laxus had a soft spot for Violet. Laxus was a big fat liar according to her daughter. But in an attempt to keep Violet preoccupied for a little bit longer just so she could actually talk to Bickslow, Lucy only shifted so she had her phone held against her shoulder, and was picking up the shampoo bottle to squirt some into her hands before massaging it into her daughter's wavy maroon-coloured hair. "What did you want to ask me?" she inquired after another moment.

"Oh. Well, I, uh… I just wanted to see if you were interested in maybe getting coffee with me sometime?"

"Do you mean like a… date?"

"Well, that was the plan."

"Oh, um…" She hadn't been expecting that in the slightest after their last date, and considering how long it had been since then, Lucy had been convinced that Bickslow had lost all interest in her. Still, she still had feelings for him, ones that had only made her disappointed and guilty, and as much as she wanted to say yes to coffee, she couldn't. She was biting on her lip and idly massaging the shampoo into her daughter's long hair as she nervously asked, "Are you sure you haven't gotten me mixed up with someone else?"

"You're the flight attendant, right?" Bickslow responded quickly.

Oh no… "Um…"

Bickslow grimaced and let his head hit the edge of his desk with a hard and loud thud. "Shit, I'm sorry…" he groaned as he lifted his head slowly. "That was a joke. A really, really terrible joke. Just… Just ignore that." His sense of humour really wasn't what people tended to like about him, just because it was mostly inappropriate and somewhat offensive. And when he was nervous, he tended to use humour to try and lighten the mood. The only problem was that it rarely worked in his favour, and that time was no different.

Admittedly, it made Lucy feel somewhat better to hear that he was just teasing, but she had no intentions of laughing. "Oh. I see…" she mumbled. "So… You really want to see me again?"

"I do. 'Cause, you know, I um… I really like you. And I had a really great time at dinner before. The whole kid thing kind of just… threw me off a bit," he reluctantly admitted. "But, wait, she's okay though, right? Your kid?"

She was already smiling like a bit of an idiot at that point, but Bickslow remembering that it had been Violet getting sick that had caused her to leave only made her look even more ridiculous. It was a good thing the only other person who lived with her was her daughter. "Yeah, she's fine now. It was just a bit of an upset tummy."

"Oh, that's good." That'll make Ever happy. "But, if you want to, I'd love to see you again." And he'd just thought coffee would be a good idea, because as good as dinner at a restaurant had been for their first date, Bickslow thought something simple would be more appropriate.

"I'd really like that, Bickslow," she whispered.

And with that, they quickly sorted out a time for their coffee date, and until it was time for Violet to go to bed, Lucy only kept having to come up with excuses for why she was smiling so much all of a sudden.

Their coffee date set for the following Sunday came around, and despite leaving later than she would have liked, Lucy still ended up arriving twenty minutes too early. It seemed to be some kind of curse that made her unable to ever arrive somewhere exactly on time. It was always early, and nothing else.

She didn't really mind being early that morning, though. Bickslow had let her choose the place so she'd decided on one of her favourite places – a charming little café across from a playground she often took Violet to on the weekends. The staff there knew her by that point too, so she wasn't stuck having to keep checking her phone every five seconds just out of boredom. With her book and her friends there, she was all set.

"No Vi today, huh?"

Lucy looked up as one of the waitresses placed her banana and blueberry muffin on her usual table in front of her. She'd been going there for so long that she was on first name basis with all of the staff. "Not today," she said with a kind smile.

"Her dad in town for the weekend again or something?" Minerva wondered. She already knew Violet's father wasn't an active part of their lives, but the kid still knew who her dad was. As far as Minerva knew, though, the guy only came by once or twice a year, usually around her birthday the week before Christmas.

"Nope," Lucy answered. "She's with Natsu and Gray for a little while today."

"I still can't believe you willingly leave her with those two morons," the barista behind the counter commented.

"Oh, be quiet, Max," one of the other baristas scolded the man. "They're not that bad."

Lucy smiled at Yukino coming to her defence. Admittedly, Natsu and Gray were never her first choice for babysitters – strangely, her heavily pierced neighbour Gajeel was – but Violet was perfectly safe with them. She knew that.

Rogue, one of the managers at the Saber Coffee House, was coming over to her table with a fresh pot of coffee and filling up her mug in front of her. "Well, as much as we all love seeing Violet here, we're also glad to just see you occasionally. Everyone needs a few hours to themselves, and you're always welcome to spend that time here," he offered kindly. His employees might not have been able to say it, but he knew they were thinking it. Lucy was part of the family there, even if she didn't work there.

"Thank you, Rogue," Lucy replied softly. "But… I'm not actually here to just take some time for myself."

"Oh?"

"I'm meeting someone for coffee, actually."

"Oooh! Is this someone a guy?" Minerva purred as she sat in one of the free seats.

"Maybe…" Lucy shrugged. They were all going to see who she was meeting in just a few more minutes anyway – or at least that was what Lucy thought until she looked to the windows at the front of the café and saw Bickslow walking past. Looks like he's early. Seeing the tall man finally make his way through the doors at the far end of the room, she was quickly waving her friends away, lest they embarrass her. "They're here now, so shoo. Go do your jobs!"

Rogue was having to pull Minerva out of her chair as she protested, and Lucy only smiled apologetically to Bickslow when he spotted her across the room. He raised his eyebrows at the two dressed in aprons bickering as they returned to the opposite side of the counter, but then decided it probably wasn't worth questioning it as he made his way straight over to where Lucy was sitting. "Hey, I'm not late, am I?" he began as he sat down at the small table. "I'm so sorry if I am." He'd assumed he was early, if anything.

"Oh, no. You're fine. You're a bit early, actually," Lucy quickly assured him, then glanced down to her coffee and her muffin she'd yet to start eating. "Sorry I already got something for myself. I got here a little too early as well, and I just really wanted to get something. I hope you don't mind."

Bickslow only shrugged. "Not a problem at all." He wasn't sure why it would be, anyway. He was feeling a little awkward just sitting there, though, which only made him worry about how things would be once they'd actually started talking. But he honestly had high hopes for their little date, mostly just because Lucy had actually agreed to it in the first place, so Bickslow was trying his best to not let it show just how uncomfortable it felt.

Bickslow decided it was best to excuse himself then to go order himself something to drink, just in an attempt to put the awkwardness on hold for a few minutes. As he ordered himself a flat while and just a slice of raisin toast, Bickslow couldn't help but notice the dark haired woman with the space buns staring at him from down the opposite end of the counter, as well as the man in the apron standing just next to her and giving him an equally as unnerving glare. And sure, they were trying to be discreet about it, but they were failing, and Bickslow would be lying if he said he wasn't uncomfortable.

But he wasn't going to question it. He was just going to ignore it as best he could and try not to be too disturbed by the strange staff.

With his coffee and toast done, Bickslow returned to Lucy's table, and as soon as he sat down, he became painfully aware of the awkwardness that loomed over them. He just didn't even know what he was supposed to say right then. Did he say hey again? Did he ask her how she was? Did he ask her if the damn coffee there was any good? Did he fucking apologise for how he'd reacted to finding out about her daughter? Or did he just straight up bring up the topic of her having a child?

He was at a complete loss for what to say first, and he couldn't quite remember having a date feel so goddamn uncomfortable.

And of course, Lucy was just as uncomfortable, and she could only pick at her muffin for so long before she was sure she'd explode and have some unfortunate outburst. And really, there was only one particular subject that was making things as awkward as they were, and Lucy was pretty sure that it was the reason for Bickslow sitting so silently and making a point of looking down to his coffee whenever he looked up to realise that Lucy herself had looked up at the exact same time and they'd made awkward eye contact.

So, she just did the only thing she could think of to try and relieve the awkward air between them, and stated quietly, "So… I have a kid."

Bickslow couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank fucking god." He was just so relieved that he hadn't had to bring it up himself, because if Lucy hadn't, Bickslow knew it would be the only thing on his mind until he managed to find the courage to do so himself. He couldn't help that it was the one thing he was most curious about. But of course, as soon as the words had left his mouth, Bickslow was realising that an explanation was most definitely in order. Clearing his throat, he stammered, "I-I just mean… You know… Because I wanted to ask about it, but I just had no idea how to, so I'm just… I'm glad you brought it up."

Lucy only stared at the man opposite her for another second before she found the corners of her mouth twitching and a laugh bubbling up inside her. She couldn't refrain from giggling into her hand, and the look of absolute terror that had been on Bickslow's face had only made it that much more amusing. His reaction hadn't quite been the one she'd expected, but it had been wonderful nonetheless.

It took Lucy a few moments to calm down enough to apologise for her little outburst of laughter. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. I just wasn't expecting you to say that at all."

"Oh. Right…" he mumbled. Though he would admit that it was just a little amusing. But still, Bickslow was only back to not quite knowing what to say, and he was dropping his head to take a sip of his flat white.

Thankfully though, Lucy was to the rescue once again and quietly asking, "So you said you wanted to ask about my daughter. What did you want to know?"

"Oh, yes! Yeah, I did…" he mumbled again. "I don't know, though… I mean, I don't even really know what I want to know. This is all so new to me…"

Lucy nodded. "I understand," she said. And since Bickslow didn't know where to begin, Lucy took it upon herself to start with the simple things. "Um, well… Her name is Violet. She just turned four a couple of months ago, and she loves talking. Do you, uh, want to see a picture of her?"

"Sure, I guess." He accepted Lucy's phone when she handed it to him, and looked down to the open photo of the grinning girl in what looked to be a park, with maroon hair styled in two simple braids, wearing a bright blue dress, and holding her hands behind her back. Bickslow glanced up to Lucy quickly before returning his gaze to the photograph. "She looks like you," he mused. Their eyes were a little different – Violet's were… well, violet, and Lucy's were more of a chestnut brown – but their faces were too alike for Bickslow not to automatically assume that the child in the picture really was Lucy's own. "She's really cute, too. Wait, is that weird? Oh god. That's totally weird. I'm sorry—"

"It's fine," Lucy laughed as she took her phone back from the rambling man. "You can call her cute, because she is cute." Her daughter was adorable and she took great delight in that fact, even if Lucy was utterly convinced that Violet had gotten more of her father's traits than hers. Sighing softly then, she added, "But she looks more like her father than she does me."

Her father… Right… Bickslow cleared his throat before taking another sip of his coffee. "And Violet's dad…" he began cautiously, unsure of whether he was crossing a boundary he shouldn't. Now that the conversation had opened up some he wasn't feeling quite so uncomfortable, but still, Bickslow didn't want to ask something he wasn't allowed to. "Is he… You know… around?" It seemed like a fair question to him. By all means, he wasn't looking to replace the guy. He just wanted to know if he was a big part of Violet and, specifically, Lucy's life. He didn't want to offend some guy by maybe starting to date the mother of his child. He could be respectful. But when Lucy sighed through her nose and picked at her muffin, Bickslow took that as a sign of crossing a boundary he shouldn't have. "I'm sorry I asked. You don't need to answer that if you don't want to. I was just, you know, curious," he added with a small smile.

"No no, it's okay. It's just that I've never really been asked that before – not by someone who wants to, like, date me or anything…"

"I see…"

She'd explained her relationship with her daughter's father numerous times, though. She'd told Gajeel when she'd still been pregnant with Violet, and she'd told Laxus when she'd still been working as Erza's assistant, and she'd of course told all of her closest friends. But even having told all of those people, it felt different telling Bickslow. It was more complicated with Bickslow, simply because of that small chance of Bickslow becoming more than just one of her friends.

Still though, as somewhat complicated as the relationship with Violet's dad was, Lucy didn't have a problem with telling Bickslow about it. She'd never had a problem with telling people how she even had Violet at all – and Lucy had most definitely had her fair share of rude women asking her just why she was a single mother, too. She didn't mind it. And if Bickslow was asking about Violet's father, she thought it was safe to assume he'd want to know how she'd ended up being a young and single mother in the first place.

But for now, Lucy was only going to answer the question that Bickslow had actually asked. "Well, he's not actively in her life, if that's what you wanted to know."

"Oh. Right." He was honestly a little relieved that she'd answered, too, and he wasn't sure why. "But… He is part of her—well, your life?" Bickslow asked. He visibly grimaced at his choice of words. He already sounded like the jealous boyfriend and he wasn't even her damn boyfriend.

Lucy only nodded. She wasn't going to judge Bickslow too harshly for anything right then. She knew that he was out of his comfort zone when it came to dating someone with a kid, so he was just trying to figure out what he was possibly going to get involved with. Lucy didn't mind that one bit. "He visits Vi at Christmas every year – she's a December baby," she explained with a gentle peal of laughter slipping past her lips. "But other than that, he's never really been a big part of her life. And before you pity me, because everyone does once I tell them that my daughter's father has never been actively involved in her life – I gave him an out when I was pregnant, because I knew that he just wasn't really parent material back then."

"And is he now? Parent material, I mean."

"No," Lucy sighed. "He'll never be. Not really. But, not everyone is. That doesn't mean he's not one of my best friends." She was certain that he would always be one of her best friends. Not even getting accidentally knocked up had changed that. Pausing to nibble on her blueberry muffin, Lucy continued, "He still loves her, though. And Violet knows that he's her dad, too. She just understands that we're not like all the other normal families. It's not the best, but… It works."

Bickslow wasn't even going to argue what worked and what didn't as far as Lucy's family went, because he knew he certainly didn't have the right to. Hell, he didn't think anyone did. That being said, he did think it was just a little odd.

Now though, Bickslow couldn't help but wonder about something else, except now he really was certain that it was going to end up causing a disaster. "Wait… How old are you again?" he asked cautiously nonetheless.

"Twenty-five this June."

He nodded. "Right, yeah…" He remembered that from their first date. But if she's twenty-five, and her kid is four…

Bickslow was too lost in his own mind for a moment to notice the knowing smirk on Lucy's lips before she said, "You're trying to figure out how old I was when I had her, aren't you?"

He couldn't help but wince. "Guilty."

But of course, Lucy had still been expecting it. "I was nineteen when I got pregnant, and twenty when she was born," she answered. "And no, because I know you're thinking it, she was not planned." Getting pregnant had very much been an accident, and even if she did have the odd moment where she wondered what things would be like if she hadn't become a mother so young, Lucy still wouldn't give up Violet for anything in the whole universe.

"I… I wasn't thinking that…" Bickslow mumbled sheepishly.

"No?" Lucy giggled. The grimace on his face was the only answer Lucy needed. "But enough about me," she continued with renewed vigour in her voice. "What about you? Have any children you haven't told me about yet?"

He chuckled lightly as he rubbed at the back of his neck. He certainly didn't have any human children – or at least he sure as hell didn't know of any. "Well, I have three dogs. Do they count?"

"Oh yes. Fur babies definitely count. What kind of dogs do you have?"

"I have a golden retriever called Pip, a beagle called Benji who thinks he's much bigger than he actually is, and an eight-week old border collie called Inky, and he's a clumsy fucker, too."

Lucy couldn't contain her laughter. "You sound like you have your hands full with them," she said.

"Oh yes. I definitely do," Bickslow agreed.

"Violet really loves dogs," Lucy stated, then took a small sip of her coffee.

"Yeah?"

She nodded. "Every time she sees a dog at the park or when we're out, she asks me to get her a puppy."

"What about you though?" Bickslow asked. "Are you a dog person or one of those horrible cat people?"

"Well… Would you still like me if I was a horrible cat person?" Lucy wondered. Of course, she was assuming that Bickslow already did like her despite knowing she had a child, since he had asked her out on that second date after all.

Bickslow knew full well that it wasn't a serious question, but that wasn't going to stop him from giving a semi serious answer. And leaning forward to rest his elbow on the table with his chin in his palm, he answered with a warm smile, "I would still like you." He liked her a hell of a lot right then as it was, and even after just a few more minutes, he was quickly growing more comfortable.

Lucy just smiled back at him as she ducked her head slightly as the warmth in her cheeks became a little too noticeable. "Well, luckily for you, I am somewhat of a dog person," she said quietly. She was a bit of a cat person too, she supposed, but it was really just because some of her closest friends were cat owners. "I just can't have any pets in my apartment." It was a shame, really. She wouldn't mind having a dog – maybe just a small one. But alas, her apartment had very strict rules when it came to pets.

It certainly didn't help that she didn't have the time to look after a pet anyway.

But an idea was coming to Bickslow's mind then, and once again he was doubting whether or not it was appropriate for him to share it. He didn't think it would be that bad for him to do so though, and already he had high hopes for things going well with Lucy. He couldn't help but be rather glad he'd gained the courage to call her and ask her out again.

Clearing his throat and looking down to the table, he said, "You know, if you want to, you could let your daughter come see my dogs for a little while sometime.

"Oh… Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, they're really friendly so they wouldn't hurt her or anything, and… And I don't mind you letting her see them either…"

Lucy couldn't help but smile. She knew that it would at least be a little while before she even thought about introducing Bickslow to her daughter and her daughter to Bickslow, but even just him offering to let Violet play with his dogs was enough to slightly ease Lucy's concerns about whether or not Bickslow was even okay with her having a kid. Dating as a single parent was as just as uncharted territory for her as it was for Bickslow, but she could see how much of an effort he was making right then, and she really appreciated that.

As far as Lucy was concerned, she was part of a package deal. She wasn't looking for someone to love her daughter unconditionally or become her parent. She just wanted her daughter to be accepted. And Bickslow… He was accepting Violet. He was accepting her existence and he was accepting that if he wanted to be with Lucy, then he had to accept that she was a mother, too, and that Violet was part of that package deal.

And Lucy liked that. She liked that Bickslow was trying.

"I think she'd really like that."

It was three months later, nearing the beginning of summer, that Lucy was taking Violet to one of the larger parks in town to meet Bickslow for the first time. Although slightly tricky, the last few months with the blue-haired dog lover had been some of the best she'd ever had.

Lucy had never realised just how difficult it was to be in a relationship while she was a mother, because until then, she'd never really had one. She'd never really been in one before she'd had Violet, either – she'd been in college and had tried to focus on that. But, even with the little experience she actually had as far as proper relationships went, Lucy figured it would've been easier if she hadn't had Violet. She'd have been able to see more of Bickslow had she not had her daughter to worry about, and she wouldn't have had to be worrying about whether or not Bickslow was someone she could trust to be around her daughter.

Still, even as Lucy realised that things no doubt would've been easier with Bickslow if Violet wasn't part of the mix, Lucy also realised that it was probably a good thing that things were the way they were. Things were slow that way, and Lucy saw that as a blessing, if anything. Three months in and they were still just doing the typical dinner and a movie date or something of that nature, and Lucy wouldn't have had it any other way. And as far as she was aware, Bickslow wouldn't either. Things going slow meant he'd had time to wrap his head around the whole kid thing.

It had taken a little while for Lucy to figure out how to bring up Bickslow to Violet, but she eventually decided that the best course was to just slowly start working her new friend into conversations with her daughter. It hadn't been hard, strangely. She'd been picking up Violet from her pre-school one day when Violet had told her once again just how much she wanted a puppy (one of the other students had brought their new puppy in for show and tell!), and all Lucy'd had to do was say that she knew someone with three puppies! Or, well... A puppy and two big puppies, but that was close enough anyway. But then, it had only been a matter of occasionally slipping Bickslow into random conversations and they were set.

Though really, Violet was only four after all, and Lucy knew that the kid couldn't really care less about anything she said about Bickslow, not unless it involved his four legged friends. Besides, even if Violet did understand that their family wasn't like everyone else's, Lucy sure as hell didn't think her daughter was going to understand the whole truth. Not yet, at least. It certainly didn't help that Lucy had wanted to wait to introduce Bickslow as something more than just her friend to Violet until she knew what her daughter actually thought of him. She had high hopes, of course, but on the off chance the kid didn't like Bickslow, then Lucy knew she'd just have to say her goodbyes to him.

Violet was always going to come before anything else, but that was something Bickslow already knew and Lucy was thankful for it.

By the time they arrived at the park at a little before noon, Lucy was convinced Violet was more excited than she was. Her daughter would've been bouncing up and down had she not been buckled into her car seat, and it was really all because Violet was just looking forward to impressing Bickslow with all she knew about the furry four-legged friends – of course, Violet was also super excited to see the dogs themselves, too, but the 'Cool Facts About Dogs' book that she'd gotten a couple of months earlier was basically her favourite item in the world at that point and she really was rather keen on impressing Bickslow with it.

Bickslow was already waiting at the park by the time Lucy was grabbing the picnic basket and locking up her car, and it was Violet who actually spotted him first, much to Lucy's surprise. Although when she took her daughter's hand after grabbing all of her things from the car, she could see why Violet had already recognised him – it was hard to miss the man with the obnoxiously vivid blue hair that had seemingly become a pillow for a golden retriever, a beagle, and a border collie puppy.

"Mummy, Mummy, is that him?" Violet asked excitedly.

"It sure is, hun," Lucy answered, and when Violet began tugging on her hand impatiently, Lucy had no choice but to let her nearly five-year-old daughter drag her over towards the man with the dogs. She supposed it was a good thing that Violet wasn't just trying to run off to a complete stranger without her, but considering how shy Violet usually was around people she didn't know (hell, even those she did know), Lucy was just a little surprised by her excitement and enthusiasm to actually go and meet Bickslow.

It was only when they'd actually reached Bickslow that Violet suddenly shifted into her usual shy self. Not even the energetic and curious puppies getting off their owner to sniff and see who she was could bring her out of her shell, though Lucy could tell that they were tempting her.

When his dogs left him, Bickslow rightly assumed that it was from Lucy and Violet finally arriving – well, it could've been someone else, since he'd had his eyes closed while enjoying the warmth from his makeshift canine blanket and the sun, but Lucy and Violet were the only ones he was expecting so it made sense for it to be them. So when he sat up and looked to where his dogs were happily barking and panting, he wasn't surprised to see a short blonde he was rather fond of, and then peeking her head out behind her, a small girl that Bickslow was rather excited to finally meet.

"Hey," Bickslow grinned.

Lucy smiled back to him as she reached down to gently rub the large golden retriever's ears – she knew that one was named Pip. "Hey yourself," she replied. "Sorry we're a little late. Vi wanted to stop in at the pet store and pick up some treats for your puppies. Isn't that right?"

Violet only glanced up to her mother nervously and continued to clutch at the bottom of Lucy's tunic.

Bickslow couldn't help but find it a little cute though, and he didn't really mind that Violet was hiding from him. Lucy had already told him that her daughter might be a little shy around him at first – she took a little while to warm up to people sometimes, although she was far better with adults than other children, apparently. "Ah, it's no problem. I'm sure they'll appreciate the extra treats though," he chuckled. Picking himself up from where he sat on the grass just enough so that he was now kneeling between his dogs and just a little closer to Lucy and Violet, Bickslow pushed his sunglasses up to rest on his head and smiled warmly at the girl looking between him and his canines curiously. "You must be Violet then. I'm Bickslow. It's really nice to finally meet you!" he said. "Your mum has told me a lot about you, you know?"

Lucy looked down to her daughter. "Aren't you going to say hi, sweetie?"

"H-Hi…" Violet mumbled. The border collie sniffing at her feet was making it a little hard not to giggle, but then Pip barging his way past Bickslow to get to her and lick her face was what had her cracking. In a matter of seconds, Violet was squealing and giggling with delight as she found herself sitting on the grass behind her mother and being adorned with affection by a fluffy golden retriever, a bouncing beagle, and an overly energetic border collie.

Lucy didn't worry much about it for a moment. She knew the dogs were harmless. The first time she'd visited Bickslow's whilst Gajeel had been watching Violet for the night, the dogs had greeted her much the same – although Inky had been a little smaller then. She thought it funny how fast puppies grew up, now that she was seeing the clumsy animal lick her daughter's chin and try rolling over her. He'd been the size of Bickslow's beagle when Lucy had first seen Inky. Now… Now he was just a little smaller than his big sister Pip.

After a minute, Bickslow decided it was time to call his hounds off the poor girl, lest they actually lick her death – because they probably would if he let them. They loved meeting new people. "Alright, alright. That's enough you lot. Come here," Bickslow ordered them as he rose to his feet. Benji the beagle was the first to obey him (albeit reluctantly and it showed as he wagged his tail happily and sat impatiently where he was told to), simply because he was the oldest and most trained; Pip followed next and laid herself down across Bickslow's feet in hopes of getting her belly rubbed; but Inky… Inky had to be told a few more times to sit. He might've looked fully grown at a little over seven months old, but he certainly wasn't just yet. He was still very much a puppy. Sighing, Bickslow crouched down to pat Pip's head as Lucy picked up Violet from the grass. "Sorry about that, Violet. They can be a bit over-excited with new people. Don't ya, you silly things?" Pip took the opportunity to lick his face and Bickslow just rolled his eyes. "Are you okay though?"

"Ah, it's okay," Lucy said for Violet as she lifted her up with a bit of a struggle. "You're fine, aren't you, baby?"

Violet nodded and smiled brightly.

"Good! Now…" Bickslow clapped his hands together and his mouth turned up into a wide grin. "Someone told me you happen to really love dogs…"

Violet warmed up to Bickslow quickly once she'd gotten over her initial shyness and was allowed to start playing with the dogs. For the most part, Lucy was ignored. All Violet was interested in were the dogs, and since Lucy didn't really know anything about them, Bickslow was getting all the attention. Well, he was getting a little bit of it – the dogs were getting most of it, of course.

Lucy didn't mind it much, even if she had been just a little hurt for a while after her daughter had decided to ignore her for Bickslow. But even if Lucy hadn't spent all that much time with Bickslow over the last couple of months, and it was his first time meeting Violet, she found that she didn't mind much just because she trusted him. She trusted him with Violet, and… Violet seemed to really like him, which made things a whole lot easier for Lucy and it was why she'd been able to just sit under a shady tree and watch with a smile on her face as Violet had played on the jungle gym with Bickslow and his dogs.

Eventually it came time to have their picnic lunch that Lucy had brought, and so she called them out of the sun and into the shade of the large oak tree to relax. Bickslow's dogs spent the good portion of five minutes lapping up water from the bowl that Bickslow had brought from his car, and Violet spent those five minutes laughing at them and the way their tongues curled to lap up the water. She'd even tried convincing her mother to let her drink from a bowl, too (it didn't work, fortunately).

By the time the dogs were all laying in the sun and having their sixth nap of the day, they'd mostly finished their lunch, and Violet was reading her favourite book in the world for what was probably the thousandth time. Of course, some words still confused her, and Lucy watched as her daughter's brow furrowed in confusion before she tried sounding out the word for herself. "Mu… Mu-sc-le…" Violet frowned, but then quickly got up, stepped over the container of carrot sticks and the picnic basket, and that sat down in front of Bickslow, who'd been reclining on his side and keeping his head propped up with his elbow on the ground. "What's that word?" she asked, pointing to the sentence on the page.

Lucy sighed. "Vi, come on, don't bother Bickslow with—"

"Which one?" Bickslow asked. Violet pointed again. "Ah. Muscles. You almost had it on your own!"

Violet beamed as she crossed her legs under her and then leant back against Bickslow to continue reading to herself. Lucy looked just about ready to implode, but Bickslow only chuckled quietly and shook his head. He didn't mind it in the slightest. Violet being comfortable around him already was just a damn miracle.

"Did you… Did you know that dogs have eighteen mus… muscles… in their ears?" Violet said over her shoulder.

Bickslow shook his head. "I had no idea," he answered. He'd read the sentence when Violet had shown him before, but still. "I guess that's why they have so much expression in their ears then, right?"

Violet nodded. "Yeah! And… And did you know that Dalmatians aren't born with their spots?"

"I didn't know that, either."

"They're born white! And then… And then they get their spots later." She flicked through the cardboard pages until she found the Dalmatian page and then held up the book for Bickslow to see. "See?"

"Aww, isn't that adorable," Bickslow chuckled again. He'd been considering getting a Dalmatian when he'd gotten Inky, but the black-and-white ball of fluff had just been too damn cute to pass up.

"Mummy says we can't get a dog because we live in an apartment…" Violet mumbled then. "I wanted a Dalmatian puppy for Christmas but she said we weren't allowed…"

Lucy frowned. So, sure, she wasn't a massive lover of dogs like Violet and Bickslow were, but it wasn't like she'd wanted to say no to Violet then. The kid had been asking for a puppy since she'd learned to talk, and no matter how much she wanted to be able to get Violet a puppy, she just couldn't. No pets were allowed in the building. Of course, it didn't help that her favourite neighbour had a cat, so Violet was always arguing that if Gajeel was allowed a pet, then how come they weren't? Strangely enough though, explaining to a four year old that it wasn't up to her what their neighbours did was a difficult task.

But still, if Lucy had been able to get her daughter a puppy, she would've. But she was going to follow her building's rules, because moving was just completely out of the question.

Of course though, Bickslow had heard that story by that point. And he could see how guilty Lucy felt right then just by lifting his head. But it wasn't like Violet meant to do that - she was only four for heaven's sake (of course though, Bickslow was already having to remind himself of that occasionally). "Well, you know... I'm sure your mum would really love to get you a puppy..." Bickslow began softly as he sat up slightly, just to peer over the girl's shoulder and to the book she was still reading. "But she'd be breaking the rules if she did that, and you don't want her to get in trouble, do you?"

Violet shook her head. "No..." she mumbled.

"Good. How about this though..." He pulled himself up completely, then scooted forward so he was sitting cross legged next to the girl. Grinning when Violet looked up at him curiously, he continued, "If your mum doesn't mind, of course... You can come see my dogs whenever you want to."

Her little face lit up again, and even Lucy couldn't help but smile at it. "Really?!"

"Sure thing. They like you, you know."

Violet jumped up to launch herself into Bickslow's lap, hugging him as tightly as she could manage. "Oooh, thank you, Bickso! You're the best!" she giggled happily. Bickslow could only roll her eyes and hug the girl back. He had to admit that he didn't hate being called Bickso either, not that he was sure how Violet had started doing it in the first place.

The rest of the afternoon was spent much the same as before, with lots of playing and running around after Bickslow's dogs in the afternoon sun. By the end of the day, Violet was completely tuckered out, and was too tired to protest being carried back to the car to finally head home.

Lucy turned back to Bickslow once she was sure Violet was all strapped in, and she smiled nervously while fiddling with the keys in her hands. All of it with Bickslow was just so new and wonderful, and sometimes she couldn't help but get nervous. Especially when he looked at her with that wide grin of his, the one that made her feel annoyingly weak in the knees and made her stomach flutter.

"So I'd say today was a success," Bickslow said as he stopped just in front of her. Behind him, his dogs were all trying to jump over the back seat to stick their heads out the open window, and in front of him, Violet was staring and watching curiously – but she was four, so everything she did was out of curiosity.

"I'd say so too," Lucy agreed with a slight giggle. "Although I do feel like I was ignored just a little bit. Or a lot."

Bickslow chuckled. Okay, so he'd noticed that Violet had been ignoring Lucy just a little, but… Honestly? He'd loved it, even though he'd still come in second to the dogs. "What can I say? Me plus dogs equals awesome. She loves me."

"Honestly, I think she kind of does…" she murmured. It had been surprising, too. She'd somewhat expected Violet to get along with Bickslow, just because of the dogs, but… Well, Lucy hadn't expected things to go that well. It had been amazing. Lucy couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen Violet come out of her shell that much, or if she had at all. She'd always been quiet around people she didn't know, and only after warming up to them did she turn into the 'hyperactive brat' that Laxus loved to call her.

…With Bickslow though, Violet had just been herself the entire time – well, aside from the small bout of shyness when they're first arrived at the park, but that had been nothing. And Lucy didn't think she could've asked for anything better than that. Because she really liked Bickslow, and she'd really, really wanted the two of them to get along.

"But that's a good thing… Right?"

Lucy sighed and gave him a soft smile. "It is. It's a good thing." She was just… Okay, she was a tiny bit offended, that's all.

Bickslow chuckled again before quickly glancing back over his shoulder to find all three of his dogs drooling over the window. "Well, today was really fun, and I'm glad we got to do it. Violet… She's amazing. She's something else entirely, you know that?" And he was more than glad to be able to finally meet her. It was safe to say Violet had become his favourite four-year-old ever… Not that he knew any other four-year-olds, but that wasn't the point. "But, I need to get these demons back home before they break my window again."

He didn't even think about it when he leant in just to kiss her cheek – he'd kissed her after every date, after their second one, at least. But then he saw Violet staring at him again from behind Lucy, and Bickslow remembered that Lucy had only said that he was a very special friend of Mummy's when she'd talked about him at home. And very special friends didn't kiss. Or at least Bickslow didn't think they didn't.

But judging by Lucy's blush, he was right to think that he shouldn't have just kissed her cheek. "Oh god. I… I didn't mean to… I forgot…" Bickslow blabbered on, eyes wide as he grimaced.

Lucy heard Violet giggle from inside the car before she turned to glance back to her, and it only had Lucy blushing harder. "It's… It's okay…" she whispered. She would've had to get around to telling Violet that Bickslow was actually her boyfriend – well, sort of – at some point, right? Now, the conversation was going to come sooner than later, and Lucy didn't seem to think that would be as uncomfortable as she'd thought. It certainly helped that Violet liked the guy.

"I, well, uh…" He scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly at Violet when he saw her. Damn that kid. She was pointing to her mother and then picking up her book to kiss the cover of it. "I get the feeling your kid wants to kiss you again for some bizarre reason, so…" That time, he pressed his lips to Lucy's, and he peeked an eye open just to see Violet clapping and bouncing in her seat.

It was short and sweet, but Lucy was giggling and blushing when Bickslow pulled away. Finally, with Lucy honestly just too stunned (and strangely lightheaded) to say anything, they bid their awkward goodbyes to each other and each turned to climb into their respective cars.

Lucy just sat behind the steering wheel for a second, hearing her heat pounding in her ears, while Bickslow pulled out of the parking lot and began driving away. She couldn't even comprehend what Bickslow had meant when he'd said that Violet had wanted him to kiss her again. But part of her didn't even want to know.

"Mummy?"

Violet's voice drew her from her thoughts quickly, and Lucy blinked twice to reorient herself. "Yeah, sweetheart?" she replied, glancing up to the rear-view mirror to see her daughter's reflection as she reached for her own seatbelt.

"Do you and Bickso love each other?"

"W-What?! No!" Lucy shrieked. "Why would you… Why would you ask that?!"

Violet merely shrugged and went back to reading her dog book.

A/Ns: If you've read 'Dawn', you'll hopefully recognise Violet. So yes, this is the AU I mentioned at the end of this little ficlet. And don't worry, all will be revealed by the time all three parts are complete...