Oh dang! It's taken me five years but I've done it! The promised sequel to 'The Warning Bells' *sweat sweat*. Good lawd, I legit had to plant my bum on my seat for hours on end and toil over this for god knows how long...I say that but the only difference from my normal routine is that I was writing the fanfic instead of reading them oop! (FYI I still read NaLu fanfics everyday haha). EHm yeah, as you can all probably tell, this was a one-shot that got away from me. The word count for the sequel also went out of control but here you go! Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own FT!

Normalcy and confusion. Igneel hadn't exactly been an experienced parent when he had decided to take Natsu Dragneel under his wing and it came without saying that he had stumbled clumsily along the road of parenthood. With that said however, he made a consistent effort to emphasize the importance of courage and loyalty to his son. The ability to act without hesitation even under the most serious situations was thus something that had been ingrained into Natsu Dragneel's mind and body since young. Yet why? Why was he, after Mavis knows how long, suddenly finding himself in a pit of confusion, questioning the normalcy of the current situation? More specifically, what on Earthland was happening between him and his blonde-haired partner?

Pain. Mind-blowing pain.

Natsu felt like he had been dragged a mile down a dirt track littered randomly with fresh horse crap. It had started off as a small ebbing ache in the back of his mind but had gradually worsened throughout the week. He flopped an arm over his eyes in hopes that it would relieve him slightly, but it seemed to be in vain.

"Ughh…What time is it even?"

A glance out the window told him it was approaching noon. Happy had probably ditched him and left for the guild hours ago. It was high-time he rolled out of bed too. The dragonslayer made his way to the bathroom to freshen up. He vaguely recalled the cat yammering on about his next grand plan to woo Carla and something about how Natsu and Lucy needed to clear the weirdness between them. Huh. Natsu twisted his lips in thought, staring deeply at his reflection in the mirror. What on Earthland had Happy meant by that?

For some reason, instead of waving off the comment, Natsu decided to ponder over it during his walk to the guild. In any case, if anyone was being weird out of the two of them, it would be Lucy. He wasn't one to notice the finer details but when it came to those close to him, Natsu would pick it up in a heartbeat and if he had to point out when exactly something had changed, it would be roughly a week ago. Incidentally, it had also been a week since that had happened.

It had started off as a normal mission and had nearly ended as one before one of the bandits had attempted an escape and launched an attack at them in a last-ditch effort. The spell had been aimed right at his blonde-haired companion and it was exactly then that he felt his heart stop. Flashes of what had happened during Tartarus crossed his mind and just like back then, he propelled himself forward to do something, anything. It was like muscle-memory but at the same time not. Fear unlike any kind he had felt before grappled at his very being as he barrelled into Lucy. Head pulsing and breathing harsh, Gray, Erza and Happy's voices were like white noise in the background. Natsu barely registered the fact that he was holding Lucy in a rough embrace. His tunnel vision focused on her unconscious figure, head lolled back, and features clenched in apparent pain. And that was when he lost it.

Gray and Erza had given him looks of disbelief after they had managed to stop him from beating the living daylights out of the man. Granted….he had attacked them with some low level staff magic in the first place. Natsu had ignored them but it was silently agreed upon by the team that they wouldn't discuss what had transpired though he'd heard Gray mutter something about 'overreacting' under his breath. Erza quickly followed-up with a sharp elbow jab to the ice mage's side.

Natsu huffed at the memory. Okay, so maybe he did overreact a bit. To be fair, he was under the impression that her life was in danger. In any case, it was after Lucy awoke that things started to change or more like, she had changed? Slightly? A lot? It was confusing. Things like the fond smile she would direct at him when she thought he wasn't looking…or when they would meet eyes…Really, she was such a weirdo. And also how his intrusions into her house were now somewhat welcomed. The bed though, not so much but the Lucy Kicks had lessened in power and frequency (not that Lucy would ever admit to it). Man, his head hurt. He knew something had changed and it bothered him. There, he said it. Even Happy had noticed….which made him wonder, what about everyone else?

It was when he reached the guild doors that he realized he would see Lucy there, and where Lucy was, he would see that smile again. Why did that make him so nervous? It was then that Natsu started to panic (like really panic), so much so that he felt like his underarms had transformed into sprinklers or worse, twin waterfalls. The fact that he'd be so disturbed by the thought of meeting eyes with Lucy baffled him to no end. He was the kind of guy who'd walk in on her showering to ask where she had placed Plue's lollies and she was the kind of girl who'd leave him bashed half to death on her doorstep (or flying out of the window) not 5 minutes later. Perhaps it wasn't just Lucy who had changed? He was in the middle of an emotional storm at this point and without realizing it, was now also standing in the middle of the guild. Wow, time sure travels fast when you've gone looney.

Conveniently enough, Lucy was sitting at the bar not even five metres away. His heartbeat increased ten-fold when he saw her swivel around in her chair to give him a warm smile and a wave. Shit, shit, shit – was whatever Lucy had infectious? The dragonslayer returned her gesture with a crooked tilt of his lips and a wave that put the tin-man's rusty walk to shame. His hand that wasn't dangling pathetically in the air automatically flew to his stomach. Oh god, he was either going to hurl or the butterflies in his stomach were going to levitate him off to some other part of the guild. He must be dying. It was even more awkward because neither he nor Lucy had broken eye contact with each other. Lucy scrunched her brows in concern and confusion as she witnessed his facial expression go from constipated to I've-been-eating-Indian-for-the-past-week. Natsu hadn't felt so uncomfortable in a long time and he really wished for some sort of divine intervention, even if it came in the form of Erza herself.

"TAKE THIS FLAME BRAIN!"

"What th- GAHHHH!" Okay, Gray was a welcomed distraction too. One heavy punch to the temple made all other thoughts fly out of Natsu's head. The dragonslayer flew back from the force of the attack, leaving a trail of broken chairs and tables behind him. His inner turmoil was quickly replaced by the need to give Gray a good Fire Dragon's fist to the gut.

"Heh! You damned stripper!" Natsu steadied himself from the ground with an arm but for some strange reason, his body felt weak. Wait, what the Hell? Gray's figure slowly warped into what looked like a fuzzy image from one of those realllllly cheap Lacrima-visions from some second-hand store. Something was wrong. He could hear Gray's taunts, but it sounded almost as if he was underwater. Holy shit, was he dying? He felt his body sway and his knees collapse from beneath him and that was when he lost consciousness.

If he thought his headache from earlier was going to kill him, then he dead was wrong. At this point, he felt as if he had been decapitated and his head placed on a metro to Hell. Natsu scrunched his eyes, trying to will his body to function. From memory, he should have been lying on the ground and broken bits of table and chair, but it seemed as if someone had taken him to the infirmary. The bed was soft and felt somewhat familiar, which was strange because the guild beds didn't usually feel anything like this.

"Nngh…" He cracked open an eye to survey his surroundings, only to wince from the sunlight streaming in from the window…Funny, did the infirmary even have any windows? The dragonslayer let out a huff as he directed his gaze to the ceiling. It was a strange moment of silence and clarity. The usual buzz of the guildhall was all but absent. Instead, he heard birds chirping in the distance and leaves rustling with the passing breeze. The floral scent of Spring overcame his senses, reminding him of a certain blonde-haired mage. Great, now that he wasn't preoccupied with the daily guild scuffles and thoughts of food, he couldn't stop thinking about her. Stupid Lucy and her stupid weirdness. There was something happening between the two of them and for some reason, it scared him.

"GAHH! Stop thinking about her damn it!" Natsu flailed on the bed and rolled to his side. His head already hurt like a bitch so you would think that it would at the very least not be running rampant with thoughts of the celestial mage…Things like how eyes were coloured a cute chocolate-brown or how her hair reminded him of spun gold…That's it, If floundering around like a freshly-caught fish and ripping out his hair didn't stop him from thinking about her then he was doomed. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will away the throbbing at the back of his skull along with the endless images of his friend floating in his head.

"What are you doing to me…"

He didn't need a mirror to know that his cheeks were now flushed a healthy pink. The dragonslayer turned to his side once more, positively certain that his inner turmoil and situation in general couldn't get any worse, but it seemed like the universe had other plans because right in front of him was Lucy Heartfilia herself. Sleeping. Next. To. Him. Not. Even. Ten. Centimetres. Away.

"HOLY SH-!"

And that's when the realization hit him. This was no infirmary. He was sleeping with Lucy in her bed and he had no idea how he even got here in the first place. Admittedly, he wouldn't have given a rat's ass about this on any other occasion but uh yeah, he really, really needed to leave for the sake of his own sanity. How on Earthland had he failed to realize that she was literally right next to him all this time? It was a miracle that she hadn't woken from all the noise he was making. Okay, scratch that. Natsu held his breath, mentally listing his escape options when she started to stir in her sleep.

She was sleeping on the outer side of the bed so unless he wanted to do some careful manoeuvring over her body, his only real option was escaping through the window. After a moment of quiet observation, Natsu carefully rose to his knees and blindly reached a hand for the window while keeping a careful watch on the girl in front of him. This would be a piece of cake – all he had to do was open the latch and make a practiced leap of faith to sweet, sweet freedom! He did feel kind of bad for leaving the girl though – perhaps she had volunteered to look after him in her house? How would she react if she woke to an empty spot next to her? Then again, she was sleeping in the bed with him which rarely happened if she had any say in the matter. Maybe he had slept-walked and snuck into her bed and was now saving himself from a Lucy kick? Welp, he was going to be on his merry way back to his house, so he could think over this later, well, that is if he stopped grabbing thin air instead of the damn latch. The dragonslayer swivelled his head backwards in annoyance.

"Where is the damn…wait, what the?! When did Lucy change her windows?"

Ah yes, the universe was against him after all. Did these windows even open? He wasn't sure but with the way they were designed, even if they could open, his escape plan would probably end with his head and torso dangling out the window and his ass facing, well, Lucy. And no matter how good he thought his ass looked, she probably wouldn't appreciate it. Oh man. This meant that he had to go with plan B which pretty much just entailed him hovering over Lucy like some predator and skedaddling out her front door.

"For the love of…" Natsu ground his teeth together as he got on all fours. Man, this really didn't look good and he sincerely hoped she wouldn't wake up in the middle of his escape plan. He let out a breath of air and with stealth that no-one knew he possessed, carefully placed his right arm beside Lucy's head. Then followed his leg, other arm, and remaining leg. If he were to give a PG description of his current placement…he would compare himself to a table and Lucy would be the uh, rug? Okay, that was just stupid. All he had to do now was to somehow slide out without touching her or waking her. Thankfully the flaps of his scarf were positioned behind him, so they wouldn't get in the way and his vest-

"Huh? Where the frick is my vest?!"

Natsu flicked his head all over, trying to catch sight of his current appearance. He wasn't wearing his vest and with the way things were going, he really needed to make sure that he had his pants on. The dragonslayer let out a strangled noise when he realised that he also didn't seem to be wearing his trademark baggy pants (Confirmed: wearing black briefs). Wow. This was a new low. He was a table without a table cloth and this just looked so wrong.

"Nng…Natsu?"

Well, shit. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him for what felt like forever, unblinking and silent. He was a dead man now. Natsu was in his half-naked glory, hovering over a defenceless Lucy and all he could think about at this stage was how he would have preferred having his ass dangling from the window and presented to her like a painting in a gold frame than be in this situation…He gulped when she furrowed her brows.

"Natsu, what are you-"

"I can explain! This is a dream!" It was already a miracle that she wasn't giving him the beating of his life and he was really stretching it with the dream thing but hey, a man can hope right? He felt his heart skip a beat when an amused smile spread across her lips.

"Oh, really now?" Lucy's voice was teasing and frankly, it was confusing. Wasn't this the part where she was meant to beat him to the seventh level of Hell? Or was she just stalling to get her entertainment for the day? Or maybe this was a silent message for him to high-tail it out before he was catapulted to his next life-time…

"Yes, just a dream and oh look, I think you're waking up soon, so I'll just be taking my leave…." Natsu narrowed his eyes as he spoke, slowly lifting an arm to begin his trek off the bed. He kept eye-contact with the blonde, almost like how one would with a lion when backing from its territory. Had she bought the lie? He slowly reached for the end table. Her eyes which shone with mischief told him that-

"Not so fast Mister," She held his wrist in a tight grip and leant forward, "I think I want some things from you before you leave."

Uh, what? Natsu's eyes bugged out. What could she possibly want from him? Wait, did she believe him about the dream thing or not though? He was so confused. Lucy let out a laugh at his puzzled expression before expertly flipping him onto his back and effectively straddling him in the process. When the heck did she learn how to do that?

"Lucy, listen," he gulped, "I really wasn't going to do anything to you!"

"Hmm…"

The blonde gave him a weird look, lips tugging slightly into a frown. He noted that she was wearing one of his shirts and briefly wondered where she got that from since he just bought it last week.

"That's a shame," She spoke airily, "But it's okay."

He quirked a brow at her response and wondered if he was imagining her leaning towards him.

"Uh, it is?" Okay, yep, not imagining her leaning into him at all. He felt his heartbeat quicken – at this rate, he'd die of a heart attack.

"Yep, because I'm going to do things to you."

SAY WHAT NOW. Lucy gave him a smile, one that he had not seen before and one that effectively short-circuited his brain. With confidence that he never knew she held, she closed the distance between their lips. And that was the moment Natsu Dragneel had his first kiss stolen.

"W-wait, what. What did you- You just- Huh. HUH?!" He quickly brought a hand to his lips, eyes wide and face burning with embarrassment. She just k-kissed him? Natsu felt slightly hypocritical seeing as he had once passed off a kiss as something that 'wouldn't kill anyone' but things had changed!Speaking of which, that kiss he shared with Happy didn't count as one.

"Is it that unusual for me to be the one making the moves?" Lucy grinned, completely oblivious to his internal strife. How she could carry on a conversation without even a bit of shame was beyond him. The Lucy he knew would never do such a thing unless he didn't really know her at all…Holy Mavis, that was something to think about on another day.

"Y-You just kissed me!" He raised an accusing finger at her.

"Natsu, it was only a kiss…" Ouch. What was that supposed to mean? Suddenly, he felt like a jerk for whatever he said about kisses in the past. He only hoped he didn't come off as the kind of guy who'd be okay with kissing random girls.

"And we've been married for a year and done a bit more than just kissing so I really don't see the problem here." She huffed.

"Married…MARRIED? WAIT, WHAT?!" Kissing was one thing but marriage, whoa okay. This was really beyond Natsu-territory now. Did she just say that they were married and for one year at that? His mouth worked silently, trying and failing to process whatever was happening. His eyes trailed over Lucy's figure, eventually focusing on that shiny metal band on her ring finger and would you look at that, he had a matching one on his own finger too. Well, shit. If he thought he was sweating waterfalls before he entered the guildhall earlier, he was the waterfall now.

"Natsu, are you sure you're okay?" She gave him a look of concern, "That mission really did a number on the team but you're acting really strange…"

"I-I just have a question…" He took a deep breath to compose himself, "Are you…wearing pants?"

The cheeky grin she sent him just about killed him.

"And that matters why?"

Black spots danced in his vision at her response. Yep, she just killed him.

Holy. Cow. The pain was unbearable. He couldn't even decide what was worse, the fact that he was supposedly married to Lucy and had no recollection of actually tying the knot, or feeling like a human Picasso, that is, anatomically not very well. He winced, trying to gain his bearings. Was he still on the bed at Lucy's place? Wait, was that even real to begin with? More like, was he lying down right now or standing up? Nothing made sense.

He groaned when his vision was assaulted by bright lights, "Mavis, I must really be dead or something…"

"Nope but you will be in approximately five seconds if you're not at the altar by then!"

"GRAY?!" Ah yes, there lo and behold was the ice mage, standing in a penguin suit and struggling not to undo his bow-tie. What was happening?! Now he was sure he wasn't in the guild anymore, let alone Lucy's room.

"The one and only and good heavens, why do you look so…shitty? Don't tell me you've got the marriage blues cos I'm realllyyy not keen on giving you a pep talk. I don't get paid for that shit…"

The m-marriage what? Natsu stood there dumbly, gaping wordlessly like a goldfish. Sadly, that seemed to be the only thing he was capable of doing recently. He heard Gray yammer on about vows and how Lucy really knew how to pick them in the background, but nothing really registered. His brain felt like scrambled eggs as he tried and failed to piece together what the heck was happening. First things first though, he had to make sure of it…

"Wait, I'm not…" The dragonslayer scrunched his face up, once again struggling to voice his thoughts.

Gray raised an exasperated brow, "Yes, you're not?"

"Like you know," Natsu twisted his mouth slightly, "Married to Lucy or anything right?"

"…."

"…."

"OkAy, really now? Have you gone last moment stupid or something? Dude, why would you do this to me? God damn it, I didn't sign up to be the best man to deal with this kind of shit. More like, I was just supposed to make sure you knew your vows!"

"Uh…vows?" Gray was fuming, he was sure of it.

"Okay, listen here you flaming piece of turd," Insert finger jab to the chest, "Life just doesn't work that way sometimes!" At this point, the ice mage had taken two handfuls of his own hair as he paced around what was apparently the waiting room.

"Look, technically you're not married yet, but you will be in what is supposed to be HOLY COW, right now! Sweet Mavis, Erza is going to have my head! Natsu, you proposed to her, so I expect you to treat her right. And by that, I mean not forgetting that today is your freakin' wedding day so get your ass out there and be the best goddamn groom in Fiore!"

Gray was panting harshly by now, blazer discarded to the ground and bow-tie nowhere to be found. He sent Natsu an unwavering gaze hoping that he had channelled his remaining sanity into the fire breather.

"The best WHAT now?!" Natsu's mind was working at a million miles per minute. He wasn't a marriage expert, but he was pretty sure the stripper just told him he was getting married to Lucy right now. Good lord. What were vows even? This was just a horrible nightmare, right? His heart gave a jump but was it out of fear or excitement? He'd argue that it was the former but deep down, the thought of getting married to Lucy made him inexplicably…happy. Okay. He really needed a strong shot of vodka or whatever the heck alcohol they had here, right now.

"UGH. I hate you so much. I don't even care anymore!" Before Natsu could even begin to ask anymore questions, he felt Gray force a small wad of paper into his hands and shove him roughly out of the room.

"Wait, Gray, what's happening?! What did you just give me?" He was so not ready for this. Natsu sent a desperate look over his shoulder but realised that Gray was determined to get him to this altar place. His instincts told him to make a run for it, but it was already too late.

"Those palm-cards in your hands my friend, are your vows and I know you've been reading over them a million times this past week, so I know you'll be fine!"

No, Gray didn't know anything at all! Natsu fumbled with the palm-cards, spotting unfamiliar words and smudged writing. Everything about this situation was ridiculous but seeing how worn the cards were, he knew his friend was right. He had been reading over this the past week and practicing it but that Natsu was not him. Did that even make sense? He let out a panicked whine from his throat as they approached the doors that would no doubt lead to the altar.

He was doomed. He was doomed. He was doomed!

Gray wrenched the doors wide open, almost as if he was showing Natsu something great. How far from the truth was that? The dragon slayer's mouth went dry as he surveyed the cathedral. It was classily decorated and reminded him almost of the royal castle. Why were there so many people here?! Well, it was a wedding and all but still! He saw heads turn and several people give him encouraging looks. Really not helping! His walk to the altar felt like it took an eternity even though in reality, he was just walking in several metres from the side door. His limbs were heavy and breathing somewhat ragged. It was almost as if his consciousness was separate from his physical body. He felt sick.

"You'll be fine." Gray reassured him with a firm pat on the shoulder.

The next few moments went by relatively quickly. In fact, Natsu was so absorbed by his mental breakdown that it seemed it was already time for his bride to be walked down the aisle. He sucked in a breath as the giant doors of the cathedral revealed Lucy with Makarov at her side. Gasps sounded from the crowd along with the flashing of cameras but at this very moment, all he could focus on was her. Beneath all the glamour, the layers of white satin and silk, the dusting of make-up and flushed cheeks, he could see her for who she really was. Lucy, the only person capable of making him feel this way. Her chocolate-brown eyes were directed at him and she gave him a shy smile. Natsu clenched his fists so tightly that he was sure his palm-cards were ineligible now. He wouldn't be able to make the same vows that he had apparently written up and practiced a million times over but that didn't matter. He didn't understand how he had gotten into this situation in the first place but that didn't matter either. To begin with, was this even real? He let a smile settle on his lips. Nothing mattered anymore because he could feel it in his very being that even if he screwed up his vows or was completely and shamefully unprepared for this, he would always say 'yes' to a forever with Lucy.

"OI! No slacking, get hammering!" Wait, was that Erza's voice just then? Natsu shook his head from side to side, feeling the heat of the sun on his back. Wait, wait, wait. What happened to his wedding? He squinted at his surroundings, somehow finding himself squatting on the half-done roof of some house.

"Huh. HUH?! What the hell am I doing up here?!"

"Oh great, the pyro's finally lost it. Erza! Can we seriously get a break? We've been hammering on this roof for like, the past hour!"

Erza sent Gray a glare from her recliner, "Hmm, I suppose a five-minute break wouldn't hurt but I want this roof done before the storm arrives!"

"Ugh lord, this woman is a slave-driver. Bloody Jellal is such a shitty husband, sipping his martinis while we build their damn house." The ice mage grumbled.

Natsu only stared at him with wide-eyes. Erza was married to Jellal? What the heck was happening? Gray gave him a smirk, "What? Don't tell me the heat got to your head or something?"

The dragonslayer ignored the jibe from his friend, instead voicing the first thought that came to his mind.

"Uh…Where's Lucy by the way?"

"Oh shit, you really have lost it haven't you? Naturally, she's with the kids back home. No sane person is going to be out and about in this scorching weather."

"K-KIDS?!"

The ice mage took a sip of water before giving him a strange look.

"Yes, the kids. How are they by the way?"

Wow. How was he supposed to respond to that? It almost sounded like he kind of maybe had more than one child with Lucy and frankly, that was confusing as hell. Fine, he had no recollection of proposing to Lucy and writing up his vows but surely, he'd remember the baby-making process, right? Then again, all these weird scenarios had no build-up. He was simply tossed into a position that had him shitting bricks every damn time. Was this a disease or something? He hoped not but if it was, there better be some cure for this.

"Helloooo?"

"UH, I mean, yeah, they're fine." Natsu replied briskly. Perhaps he could get more information from Gray.

"Huh, that's good. Still can't believe Iggy could even be remotely related to you, what, with how much of a good kid he is and all. Nina though…yeah, let's just hope the Lucy genes kick in one day." The ice mage laughed.

Okay, so he had two kids – a boy and a girl. He mentally jotted it down in his memory. Cool! That was just great, and he was totally not freaking out right now. The stripper was strangely talkative, so he'd let him run his mouth a bit more. It wouldn't hurt to get to know what he was in for this time.

"And yeah, I dunno, this whole marriage thing is just really different, but I guess it's fine since it's Juvia."

Natsu nearly choked on his spit. SAY WHAT NOW! What kind of loopy alternate universe was this? Why was Gray talking to him about all this deep, mushy stuff and why did said mushy stuff even exist? He didn't have time to get a word in since Erza had decided their break was over. For the next two hours, Natsu and Gray worked hard at completing the roof. The sky had gone from a clear blue to a cloudy red, promising a storm for the evening. Natsu had a sneaking suspicion that a neglected Juvia had something to do with this. He wiped the sweat off his brow as he observed their handiwork from ground-level. It didn't look too shabby and he kind of hoped this wasn't free labour though he got the feeling that was the case.

"Okay boys, I'm really happy with the progress," Erza declared proudly as she stared at the freshly tiled roof of her new house, "I'm sure your families would be happy to have you back now."

Strangely enough, even though Natsu had been waiting for this torture to end, he had failed to realize that he now had to go home to his 'family'. Well, shit. Where the heck was his house even? Had he pulled a renovation on his shack or was he living with Lucy in her apartment? Or had they ditched those two places entirely and gotten a new house altogether? It was a mystery. He stood there dumbly, feeling the first drops of rain land on his shirt.

Meanwhile, Gray heaved out a relieved sigh, clapped Natsu on his back and started his trek back home. Great, now he couldn't even ask Gray his stupid questions. He supposed could always go door-knocking but he really didn't want travel all over the town with the impending storm.

"Uh…Erza?"

"Yes Natsu?"

"Where's my house again?"

The red-head stared at him blankly, looking somewhat concerned for his well-being. So, as it turns out, he was going to be heading to Lucy's apartment. Natsu briefly wondered if it was enough room for a family of four (five, if you include Happy) but soon concluded that they must have had some expansion at the place. He stood at the door of their house, still somewhat pondering if this was the right place. Oh well, only one way to find out! He reached a hand into his pocket, thankful for the fact that he carried a bunch of keys with him in this scenario. The next five minutes basically entailed him trying to use every darn key to unlock the door. Jesus, this must have been one of the weird habits Lucy had enforced on him or something. He never kept keys with him…which was also probably why he was struggling so hard trying to unlock a door using one right now. He cursed under his breath when the rain started pouring harder but amongst it all, he swore he could hear the pitter patter of little footsteps.

"AH HA!" It really had to be the last key of the lot that worked. So, this was his house after all! He opened the door cautiously, noticing that it still resembled Lucy's old apartment, but obvious changes had been made. Huh. Not too bad if he said so himself.

"I'm hom- OOF!"

"DADDY! DADDY! DADDY!" What in the name of-! Holy crud. It was real. They were real! Two small children grabbed onto his legs and it took all his concentration and strength to not topple backwards. These kids had to be around five years old or so and honestly, they looked adorable. Iggy had blonde hair and onyx eyes whereas Nina had pink hair and chocolate-brown eyes…. which made sense, seeing as they were his and Lucy's kids but damn, this really put things into perspective. Natsu felt his heart do a funny flip. This had been happening a lot recently. He listened to his kids recount their day excitedly with a smile and tried to make his way into the house with Nina now in his arms. Looks like she was a daddy's girl.

"And then, mama said she didn't remember us! Iggy cried so hard, but it turns out she was just playing a joke. Daddy, you need to teach her a lesson!" Nina huffed.

"Hmm, is that so? Well kids, it's getting late – in fact, I think it's bedtime. Have you both had a bath yet and brushed your teeth?"

"Yesssss dadddd." They drawled. Natsu laughed as he ushered the children to bed, somewhat surprised with how natural it felt to be with them. He was always good with kids, but this was different and not in a bad way. He slowly made his way to the living room, yawning loudly as he did so.

"Long day?"

Natsu froze mid-stretch, snapping his head in the direction of the couch where Lucy sat. She smiled caringly at him as she patted the seat next to her. Suddenly, the realization that he had started a family with her came down on him like a bucket of ice water. Surprisingly, he didn't take the news with as much panic as with the other scenarios. In fact, it only brought a smile to his face. Maybe because he was in the comfort of their house and knew to some extent what was happening? Either way, this moment made him feel at ease. He'd never really had the opportunity to properly talk to her during all these scenarios. Perhaps now was a good chance to do that.

"Lucyyyy. You wouldn't believe how crappy of a husband Jellal is and good lord, Erza is such a slave-driver!" He cried, forgoing sitting down on the seat altogether and instead choosing to lay his head on her lap.

She raised an amused brow, muttering something about never offering her lap but he waved it off.

"And I swear, the storm came on quicker than it should have – Ice Breath should seriously pay more attention to Juvia!"

"Oh, you poor baby! I trust you got Erza's roof all done with Gray though, right?"

Natsu crinkled his nose at that. "Uh yeah, do you think I'm getting paid for it?"

"Natsu," She deadpanned, "You were the one who destroyed her house in the first place."

"Oh."

"Yeah…"

"Well, I forgot so whatever. So, what have you been up to today, aside from dealing with the little monsters?" He grinned. They spent the next hour talking about random things, the conversation eventually dying down. He found himself staring up at her with a silly smile.

"You know Lucy, I really like this."

"This?"

"Yeah, I mean, being with you and the kids and just yeah, it makes me happy."

"Well, I would hope so seeing as we aren't divorcing anytime soon."

"Ha-ha, very funny."

Before he knew what he was doing, he had cupped the back of Lucy's head and lowered her down for a kiss. Yeah, this really did make him happy.

Okay, wow. Did he get run over by a train or something? His entire body was aching and goddamn, his head felt like it was going to explode into a million pieces.

"UGHHH. Oh Mavis, what is it going to be this time?" He groaned. He'd already had his first kiss stolen, gotten married out of nowhere and had two kids with Lucy. It was all so realistic, yet he knew it wasn't his reality. That…kind of sucked. Great, he had been hurtled into all these life-changing situations which initially scared the living daylights out of him but now he couldn't help but feel a sense of loss. Huh. He placed an arm over his eyes. Everything was so bright, and he just really wanted to go home.

"Natsu-san! You're awake!"

Okay, that sounded like Wendy which most likely meant that he had some sort of medical emergency. Wait a second, was he CURED?!

"WENDY!" He cried, launching himself to a sitting position. Screw all the body pain, he was saved! He watched as she examined him with furrowed brows.

"Hm, are you feeling okay?"

"Do I look okay?" He felt slightly insulted when she shut her mouth for a second. Way to tell him he looked like shit.

"….In any case, I have checked your vitals and it looks all good but this magic…." She chewed on the end of her pencil, "This feels like the same thing that Lucy had last week."

"Huh?"

"It's quite strange but it seems like the worst is over. Did anything happen to you while you were unconscious? You do look like you are in quite a bit of physical pain which was something that Lucy-san also experienced but the magic has slight traces of time alteration in it, so I am a bit worried. She didn't mention anything to me though…"

Wendy's words echoed in his head. Did this mean what he thought it meant? Were all those scenarios just pieces of the possible future, if not, the future itself? And when Wendy said that Lucy had the same thing happen the other time…Wait, what had she experienced while she was unconscious? Natsu gulped nervously. Could this be why she had been acting differently this past week? Holy shit.

"Natsu-san?! Your heart rate is increasing?! Also, your face is going really red!"

Natsu let out a whine. Trust Wendy to not know what he was suffering from. At this stage, he didn't care that his body felt as if it were falling apart. He needed to see her. Natsu was somewhat conflicted. Why didn't she tell him about what had happened? Okay, on second thought, there were many reasons why she didn't tell him. What was he supposed to say to her though, now that he had seen what they could be in the future? More importantly, what was he supposed to say to her now that he realized that she was his most precious person? Natsu gnawed at his bottom lip. She was so important to him that couldn't not tell her. He groaned again, ignoring Wendy's advice on bedrest and instead opting to drag himself out of the bed. Yep, the infirmary beds really couldn't compare to Lucy's.

He heard the rumble of the guildhall as he made his way down the stairs. Wait, was he supposed to confess to her? Or should he skip the whole thing and just propose to her? Also, did kids come in after the confession or the proposal? Shit. He was pretty sure there was some sort of etiquette that went with this whole thing.

"Oh, look who decided to wake up from their nanny nap!" And of course, there he was, the person who had appeared multiple times throughout his life-changing ordeal. Gray's jab was met with a chorus of laughter. Goddamn that ice princess!

Natsu sent him a glare, "Shut up and pay more attention to your wife!"

"W-wife!? What the hell? I don't have one of those you idiot!" Natsu heard Juvia squeal in horror somewhere in the distance. Oops. Looks like he had yet to differentiate between the scenarios and reality.

The dragonslayer held back a smirk when he heard Gray mutter to himself.

"Jesus, what's with you and Lucy…First I have a fiancée and now I have a wife?"

Looks like Lucy's incident last week didn't differ too much from his. He eyed the guild, finally spotting her talking to the girls. He instinctively made a bee-line towards her, mind still blank on how to approach his newfound feelings. Welp, seems like he'd be winging it.

"Lucy!" Natsu draped an arm across her shoulders, effectively interrupting whatever conversation the girls were having. He felt her jump slightly at the contact but decided to inch closer anyway, leaving minimal space between their faces. She didn't say anything, but the girls seemed to be sharing knowing looks.

"Did you finally get up, sleepyhead?" Lucy teased, patting his cheek lightly. Ah, there it was. On any other occasion she would be shrieking or putting some distance between them. Something had changed between the two of them and the whole guild knew it.

"Yeah, but only because your bed is better than the ones in here."

Lucy's cheeks flushed a pretty pink and he had to hold back a laugh.

"Natsu, I do not believe Lucy appreciates such an invasion of privacy." Erza gave him a pointed look from across the table as she took a bite of her strawberry cake. HNG. This darn lady. The dragonslayer was suddenly reminded of how she had forced him to tile her roof for hours (granted, he did apparently destroy her house to begin with, but he had no doubt she was going to bulldoze it eventually).

"Well Erza, maybe you should get your blue-haired boyfriend to build you a house for your own privacy." He bit back and boy, he had never seen her face so red in his life before. Erza pointed her fork at him, expression incredulous and mouth working silently.

"B-Boyfriend?"

"Oh wait, I meant husband. Yeah, Jellal's your husband." He watched on as Erza began to cough and hack on her cake. Lisanna attempted to pat her on the back but it didn't help much, seeing as the re-quip mage was wearing her armour. The rest of the girls watched on in horror, their initial thoughts of Erza being in a secret relationship being thrown out the window when they saw her literally foaming at the mouth from the accusations. Or was that cream? They really hoped it was cream.

Natsu just laughed and watched the whole group go into hysterics.

"N-Natsu?" Oh shit. His snickers died down almost immediately when he realized what he just did. He turned to face Lucy, her wide eyes and alarmed features telling him that she had connected the dots.

"Uh…" What was he supposed to do now? They both went through a similar experience, just a week apart but their reactions were vastly different. Lucy had made an acknowledgement of sorts for her feelings towards her best friend and Natsu…Well, he was debating between confessing and proposing…and he didn't even have a ring yet. Natsu gulped, trying to gauge her reaction. He really hoped she wouldn't run away. There was a long moment of silence between the two who were both caught up in their own thoughts. He rarely had moments where he didn't know what to do and when he did, it was beyond uncomfortable. Today definitely took the cake what, with all the scenarios that the time-warp spell had put him through and all. The last thing he wanted was to be at a loss for what to do again.

"Natsu, I- mmph!" So he kissed her. He offhandedly noted that he never really got to share a full moment with Lucy in the scenarios before being dragged into the next one, so when her eyes fluttered shut and she responded to him, he couldn't help but let a grin stretch across his face. They parted seconds later, Natsu's hands cradling her face.

"Natsu," She began breathily, "What did you see?"

Huh. He mentally went over what had happened during his spell-induced moments, face going slightly pink. Did she really want to know? He cleared his throat, feeling somewhat mortified as he deliberated on what to tell her. After a short pause, he looked her in the eye.

"Everything that I want us to be."

Lucy squeaked, her hand which had found its way to his scarf, clenching the material in response.

"What," The blonde took a breath the compose herself, "You're going to have to be more specific."

Natsu could hear her heart pounding in her chest and he was damn sure it would combust with his next admission.

"Dating, kids, moving in and marriage in no particular order."

He heard several shocked gasps from the crowd.

"Jesus Christ, I can't even believe this." Gray commented rather lifelessly from the side. Other guildmates decided to chime in, mentioning how naturally the first step would be dating but Natsu stayed silent as he waited for Lucy's reaction. She had lowered her head slightly while she pondered over his reply.

"I…see." Lucy spoke carefully as she met his eyes once again. Natsu gawked when she gave him a sly look, one that reminded him of the daring Lucy from the first scenario. Wait a second, he wasn't prepared for this side of her yet! He was certain it was a thing that came with their married life but this- this wasn't what he was expecting at all! His heart thudded painfully in his chest when she made a move to intertwine their fingers. She was killing him.

"I think we can afford to skip a few steps." Lucy spoke loud enough for the entire guild to hear. She was either oblivious or she simply didn't care. Either way, Natsu made a strangled noise when she dragged him out of the guild.

*Insert confetti* Hope you all had a good read ohoho! Would greatly appreciate it if you dropped a review cos how else am I meant to inflate my ego *wink wink* Just kidding! I'm wondering if any of my old readers are still here haha. I feel like a relic but yeah, at least I'm a working relic! Wooo! Still have to finish off 'Baby Army' and 'UFO' - coughing out blood. They have not been abandoned...My fanfic writing side may have just re-awoken so yeah, in short...I will get to it teehee! I will beg Cup Ramen to continue writing 'Boom Crash'. I am sure she has a half-written chapter sitting on her computer...

Happy Readings! :)

Sen