9 Chapter 9

Now completely immersed in her memories, I can see clearly what is going on in her head. She is currently thinking whether or not to get a jar of pickles or not. I smile at the thought but deside to look around. I look around not really knowing what to look for. I decide to view the day this all started in Lucy's apartment that cold winter morning.

I can feel myself blush hotly as the memories flash by a little scared of how much these memories and thoughts mean to me. Physically a pull Lucy in closer holding her tightly in my arms. The thoughts I know are streaming far faster than reality I could basically relive the entire 18 weeks if I wished and it would only take about an hour. But I don't want to keep her waiting that long. I skim through the memories feeling frustrated that I hadn't found anything until something caught my attention.

It was me holding Lucy complaining about how I didn't want to let her go. From her side of the conversation I realize it sounded like I was crying. She probably felt guilty and her emotions were conflicted. In the memory I kissed her and I felt her draw in a breath as if I was all she could think of. It seems like I unintentionally was begging for dear life.

I frown so was I the reason her actions were so weird? I slowly viewed her memories from there reliving them feeling their presence. I smile until I get to the day she woke up. I'm a little confused. Her actions seem a little augmented? Even her thoughts were jumbled and a bit animalistic.

She was determined to stay with me almost like her life depended on it. She couldn't stop grabbing me and holding me. I smile even if it was just instinct that just means she loves me so much her instincts could only gravitate towards me. I feel the memory of the hot sex we had after she woke up. Her need almost burning me. A new sensation in and of itself but a welcome one.

Then I saw/felt her go into labor. For the first time I felt the excruciating pain that she went through to deliver our babies. I almost screamed out at the memory. How could she smile so soon after feeling that? She was like a radiant star, small but so full of light it could light up the darkest corner.

My Luce went through that much pain? To make it worse I could tell that what I was feeling was nothing compared to what she had felt. I felt something wet on my face but ignored it. I sifted through her memories to when Gajeel and Wendy delivered food. She was overprotective because she was sure that they knew about our babies. Kind of makes sense they are dragon slayers after all.

I feel Lucy's hurt at waking up with me gone that morning. Like the end of the world had come. She held onto our eggs kissing them blowing a light fire on them as she cried. Sure that I was never coming back. As if abandoning her was the worse thing that could ever happen to her. It's all my fault she felt these things. The wetness on my face seemed to intensify but I still felt her memories over the last week and realized all the weird food and behavior was either my fault or the pregnancy. I smile realizing that even though she was no longer physically carrying our children; it was like she was, due to the magic that connected them.

I smile finally opening my eyes to the beautiful blond woman in my arms right in front of me. Her back was still to me but I nuzzel into her neck seeking comfort. Not knowing if I wanted to provide the comfort or have her provide me the comfort. Her memories were a lot to take in. She felt so much even when they were good memories, the bad ones seemed to almost pale in comparison. Lucy is my mate and I will protect her, always.

I feel her stiffen in confusion but quickly relax into my arms. I had probably been holding her for hours before I realized that she was shifting around trying to get comfortable again. I release her and she turns around to look at me with those large chocolate eyes of hers. I felt like I was swimming in them before I even realized that she had started crying.

"What's wrong Luce?"

"Your face is covered in tears, what did you see that was that bad?" she asked me trying to suppress her tears.

Confused I reached a hand up to my face and found she was right. I was crying. They weren't even old dry tears, I was still actively crying. "I don't know," I say as I try to wipe them away; failing in the attempt. "I was only thinking about how much I love you and how much I have put you through, That's all I swear!" My tears were now starting to make me sniffle. Oh Mavis what is wrong with me? I wonder to myself.

"Can I look?" She asked timidly. I nod and I feel her sift through my memories. Her mind like a cool balm to my own. I felt myself relax further the longer she searched my mind. In what should have been surprising but it was soothing. I realized that I never had to worry about misunderstandings again she could just simply see/feel for herself what I mean. The thought of never making Lucy cry again was blissful.

I felt my heart lighten at the thought, my mind slowly cooling as I relaxed further into her sweet embrace. Her mind engulfing mine I slowly drifted to off to sleep. 'I love you Luce,' my final thoughts I managed to send her before my mind fell into a deep slumber.

Lucy's POV

I was eating some blueberry cheesecake when Natsu asked me, 'Can I view your memories?' I nodded to him, I don't see why not. It had become a habit to ask while the other was awake but we agreed that while we were asleep it was okay to go ahead without additional permission.

I smile to myself as I feel Natsu pull me in tighter. I wonder if I should get another jar of pickles or not? I decided against it because I didn't want to disturb Natsu. We didn't have to be touching to do this but since it was almost like being in a meditative state it was helpful not to be distracted. I lean into him and think back on the past week. I'm so lucky to have Natsu in my life. I love him so much. I wonder what he is looking for? My mind jumped to the weird question. I trust him of course I'm just curious. Most likely he couldn't figure out how to ask something and decided it was better to see for himself. I grin at the thought, poor Natsu has had a bit of a time taking care of me this week not to mention the 7 weeks before that.

It only took a few minutes but I was beginning to wonder what he was looking for. It normally only took a few seconds so he was probably viewing memories rather than searching them. I smile 'he is probably exhausted,' I think to myself. I have noticed that he likes to relive our memories when he is tired and that it normally helps him to fall asleep.

I feel him squeeze his arms around me. I'm content to lay here in his arms. We should probably get up and stretch some maybe go for a short walk today. I can already feel myself relax and the idea of telling everyone that I was pregnant no longer made me angry. In fact I was really excited. Yes tomorrow was the day that we tell everyone. I feel Natsu snuggle into me I stiffen a little I had forgotten he was there viewing my memories. I smile to myself he must be quite happy right now.

I know I'm happy right now; I am mated to the love of my life, we have three beautiful eggs that will eventually turn into three beautiful children, we have a wonderful house, plenty of space and to top it all off we get to spend all this time together not worrying about stupid things like money. I'm glad we did all those jobs and further I'm happy that Natsu would spend the time he had to away from me doing jobs. Giving us more time together. Life is good.

I'm pretty sure Natsu is done with my memories because I no longer feel his minds warm embrace. Truly the feel of his mind so intimate with mine is like baking in the sun the warmth enticing by itself but add to it the love I feel radiating off of him I normally fall asleep snuggled into his arms.

I start to wiggle around I want to wrap my arms around him, it had already been a couple hours of us laying like this. I feel him let me go and I turn around. I'm shocked to find he is crying. They don't look like sad tears though but not really happy either. What did he see? What was he feeling? Did I hurt him?

I feel myself tear up too. "Your face is covered in tears, what did you see that was that bad?" I feel myself whisper. What have I done?

I watch as Natsu is confused reaching up to his own face. He didn't even realize he was crying? I'm even more confused now.

"I don't know," he says as he tries to wipe them away; failing in the attempt. "I was only thinking about how much I love you and how much I have put you through, That's all I swear!"

"Can I look?" I all him almost afraid he will tell me no. I see him nod and the warm bright light that I have gotten to familiar with opens in my mind. I feel his confusion at his own behavior. I smile a little as I feel him relax. I look through the last couple hours to find he lived through my labor I flinch a little feeling Natsu's arms tighten around me.

I realize he isn't upset he was simply overwhelmed. He got to view labor for himself thankfully not nearly as strong as the actual thing and he apparently felt my hurt the day I woke up without him. I see his tears are because he loves me. He wants to feel everything I do and in response he did. He felt my hurt, my joy, my pregnant hormones all of it. I giggle a little leaving his memories. I look at his now calm face still stained with tears. I clean his face off and snuggle into him.

Again I think about how happy I am, Natsu is the kind of man who cares enough to find out how I'm feeling and willing to feel it himself. I soon also drift off to sleep knowing I love this man.

Natsu's POV

I wake up to find Lucy asleep in my arms. I can't help but smile to myself; she is so beautiful. I wish we were in our bedroom so I could see the sun refecting off her hair and her pale skin softly glow in the morning light. I sigh out loud which must have been enough to wake her because she is soon looking up into my eyes.

I smile at her and pull her close to me. She giggles a little at me and pushes me away enough that she can send a little fire at our eggs before snuggling back into my arms. I chuckled at her before I get a silly, perfect idea. I see her look up at me again and I grin wickedly at her before I start to tickle her.

I can see that I have her crying from laughing so hard before she tried to do the same to me. I just grin at her before I feel her fingers linger and trail down my abs. I suck in a breath and for the first time since she gave birth to our beautiful eggs she is rubbing my muscels. Exploring me, I can't help but suck in air; I hear as the air hisses through my teeth. I hear her giggle but she stops. Barely audible I hear her say, "Sorry to early still." before she pulls away.

I'm frustrated but I understand especially after feeling such a small amount of the pain she felt through her memories. I pull her back and kiss her forehead before carrying her to the nearest bathroom letting her take a hot relaxing bath by herself. I quickly go to a shower and finish far quicker than she does. I look at the clock and see it's about 10 am.

I head back down to the basement and give our eggs a little fire before going to the kitchen to make something for us to eat. I am just finishing the pancakes and setting a jar of pickles and whipped topping on the table when Lucy comes in. I see her smile light up the room when she sees the large breakfast I have made for her and I hear her giggle a little when she sees her craving foods on the table. Mavis I love her.

We eat our meal in peace chatting about different little things when she suddenly says, "Are you ready to tell everyone?" Her excited smile is infectious.

I beam at her, "Luce I'm willing to bring our eggs and show them off. I've wanted to do that since you laid them!" I'm a little embarrassed when I admit that rubbing the back of my neck with one hand. I look up at her and see her smile. It looks like she is the happiest person in the world.

Lucy's POV

"Are you ready to tell everyone?" I ask him barely able to contain my excitement.

"Luce I'm willing to bring our eggs and show them off. I've wanted to do that since you laid them!" I hear the pride in his voice along with a bit of fear. I think he is afraid I will get mad. I'm anything but mad. I'm so happy I could fly to the moon and back.

"Then let's do it!" I tell him.

"Really?" his surprise was so cute.

"Yeah, after Master gets here that is. You said he's coming today right?" I ask him. He nods really fast.

"I'll get a little cushion to put the eggs on and a fire blanket to go under it!" he yells as he runs out of the room. I laugh a little and go and get our eggs from the basement we will no longer be hiding in there with them. It was time to show the world at last.

When I come back to our huge living room Natsu has a large cushion on the floor on top of a fire blanket to keep any fire from spreading. He really can be smart when he thinks things through. I carefully put down our eggs and blow a little fire on each of them. I curl my legs and sit on the floor beside them watching the cushion burn a little as I do.

Natsu is so excited he runs to the front door and opens it before Master can even knock. He quickly brings him into the living room to where I am sitting with our eggs. He came alone. He sees me and smiles coming to hug me before he realizes that the cushion was on fire and then he sees the eggs. He stops short never getting to me.

I smile and wave for him to come closer. Natsu has already stepped behind me and dropped to his knees his arms draped around my shoulders, grinning like the proud daddy that he is. I see him nod from the corner of my eye and Master finally comes to me.

He hugs me tight and tells me "It's so good to finally see you again."

I smile before I respond, "I've missed you Master."

Natsu of course decides that now is the right time to blow fire at our eggs which gets my attention again and when he is done I do it as well. Forgetting for a moment that Master is watching us set our eggs on fire.

"What?!?" He starts, getting Natsu's attention while I'm still focused on our babies.

"Don't worry it's good for them," he tells Master. "After all they are fire dragon slayer eggs." His reassuring smile puts Master at ease. While I finish. It takes me much longer than Natsu because I can sense what they need and how much they need it.

I look at Natsu and say, "Pickles and topping?" I feel my eyes grow large as I make the simple request.

"Coming right up," he says squeezing my shoulders and giving me a small kiss before going to the kitchen. I can't help but smile at him as he leaves.

Master coughs a little like he is about to say something but is lost. I can only guess he doesn't know how to say what he wants to say or if he is even allowed to ask.

"Yes Master?" I ask him.

"Well uh, how are you feeling my child?" he finally asked. I'm pretty sure that's not what he wanted to ask but I smile anyway.

"I feel great!" I look back down, smiling at my eggs that are still sitting on the burning cushion. "Can you believe they are so beautiful?" I ask him.

He sighs relaxing a little, "Yes I can, you and Natsu worked hard for them."

I feel myself beaming back at him, "Would you like to hold one?" I ask as Natsu returns with my desired food. I see as Master watches in disgust as I scoop the whipped topping with the pickle spears.

"I know it's gross, right?" Natsu asked Master as he laughs. I stick my tongue out at my mate before taking a big bite, letting the sound of the crunchy dill pickle fill the air. I smile happily at the taste no longer caring about the conversation eating more pickles and sweet cream.

Natsu's POV

Master and I both laugh a little at Lucy. She is enjoying her gross treat to much to really care. I look at Gramps and I ask him myself, "So do you want to hold one?"

"Are you sure it's alright?" was his response.

Lucy and I both smiled and nodded. I extinguish the fire on the cushion and pick one up gently before turning back to Master. "Here you go, gently now."

He laughs a little too himself, "To think I would ever hear you tell me to be gentle." his light chuckles continued as he held one of our eggs. I watched him coo at the egg as if the baby had already hatched from it. I watched as he did this with each one of them carefully lifting and setting each one down. I was sitting behind Lucy as she ate her snack, holding her in my arms.

She seemed to be getting sleepy since she was leaning back against me her head laying against my shoulder. I purred for her as I held her and we watched the Master handle our young. My grip tightened on her when I heard her start purring back. I nuzzel into her neck still watching Gramps. He no longer seemed uncomfortable with our lovey doveyness and seemed quite at home.

We talked about a lot of things, about the guild, about different things he had read to learn more about dragons, and about our friends at the guild. We laughed and joked and occasionally Lucy or I would take the eggs and blow a little fire on them. They never seemed to get hot though no matter how long or hot our fire was.

"So how do you know when to do that?" Master asked once.

I look to Lucy waiting for her to respond. "I guess it's like instinct? I feel what they need and when they need it. Like the pickles and whipped cream; they let me know when they need it. Also anytime I'm upset or whenever I want to pick them up. I guess it's all instinct really." She answers.

I nod a little, understanding my mate just a little more while Master does the same.

"Are there any foods that make you sick?" he asked next.

"Strawberries," was her flat reply.

I laugh out loud, "Yeah she gets sick just thinking about them. I don't think she has actually eaten one since she woke up."

Master chuckles a little before asking, "When do you think you will return to the guild?"

"We were thinking about stopping by later today actually," I hear my beautiful mate say in her sweet voice.

"Yeah we were even thinking about bringing the eggs with us," I add.

"Already?" he asked us. We are now smiling happily.

"Although maybe you should warn them we are coming first make sure everyone behaves. But we want to tell them about the eggs!" I state extremely serious. I start to think maybe I was a little too mean sounding when I hear Lucy laugh and I grin.

Master gives a huge smile, "How long?"

"Maybe an hour maybe two depends on if Lucy needs a nap or not," I look to my mate and see her tired smile and she nods. 'Maybe three?' she asks me silently.  "Make it three hours," I smile and hold my mate closer to me. "She looks tired," I add.

Master nods still smiling at us, "Going to make some more are you?" He chuckled as Lucy's face turns to horror and crimson red.

"Gramps, no." My face was complete straight not allowing even a sliver of a smile to appear. I hold Lucy in my arms protectively. She pulls away and gives me a quick kiss still red before going to our bedroom for the first time by herself.

"Sorry," I can almost see a sweat drop on his head. I sigh out loud.

"Gramps the eggs haven't grown since Lucy went into labor," I say.

I see Gramps look at the eggs and looks at me in horror. "But they are already the size of newborns!"

"Exactly, she was in labor for several hours." I look at him. "She is going to be healing for quite a while and your jokes are not helping."

"I'm sorry I'll be more considerate in the future," his words were laced with true regret.

'Tell him I said it's okay,' I hear Lucy's sweet voice in my mind. "I will," I say out loud.

Gramps looks at me confused. "Lucy says to tell you it's alright she was just a little embarrassed," I tell him.

"She is so tired right now, I hope she doesn't hibernate again," I say almost to myself but Gramps heard me.

"Natsu take good care of her, you only find 'the one' once," he tells me. I smile and nod to him.

"Yeah, Luce is my one and only. She is my mate and dragon slayers only mate for life," I tell him.

He nods slowly, "Even if you weren't a dragon slayer the kind of love I see between you two only happens extremely rarely, cherish it." I smile and nod my head again.

"I should be going now, I have to prepare a few things," he hesitates and really quietly asked, "Does the smell of strawberries make her sick or just eating them?"

"All of it actually; the smell, the taste, the thought of them." I tell him before adding, "We even had to get her new shampoo because the strawberry scented stuff she makes herself makes her sick. Why?"

"It's going to be hard not telling them Lucy is coming today and preventing them from making strawberry milkshakes and the like," he frowns. So do I and I think a minute.

"What if you didn't tell them it was Lucy? What if you told them it was a special guest and that to prevent any awkwardness there can't be anything strawberry scented or flavored at all; for medical reasons?" I ask him.

He beams up at me, "That's brilliant my boy. Are you sure your still the Natsu I raised?" he laughed as he asked and I did too.

"What can I say, Luce rubbed off on me," I laugh along with him. We say our goodbyes and he leaves for the guild.

I grab the cushion and lightly blow a stream of fire on it as I carry it up to our bedroom and next door to the nursery, which is covered in fire proof carpet and blankets and curtains. I insisted on checking them all to be sure before purchasing them. Even the little bassinet we currently have in the room is metal and the soft padding is actually timber so that we can light it and allow them to absorb the fire as we rest nearby.

I didn't buy any other baby things yet since it's so early. Just the crib downstairs which I bought second hand to allow it to burn and the metal bassinet that we will actually use otherwise the room had a small empty dresser and a cool/cute little dragon curtains I couldn't stop myself from getting. I had put down another fire proof blanket under the bassinet to be extra safe though.

I gently put my eggs down not setting them on fire because it was only a short nap. I checked on Lucy who was fast asleep before heading downstairs. I then got out the fire retardant carrying bag that I had modified by the shop to be able to safely carry all three eggs. I again blew fire on the bag to be sure it worked, it did. It grew hot but did not burst into flames, yet it was still soft. It was a light bag, much like a large purse. The ladies at the shop thought I was crazy when I went in asking about one. I'm glad I did this while I was alone on a mission in a town further away; or rumors would be everywhere.

I run back upstairs and gently put our eggs into the bag leaving the bag open in the bassinet for now. I go back downstairs and get a light blue backpack and a small jar of pickles and whipped topping and a few of Lucy's odds and ends like lipgloss and whatnots. I shrug at the thought.

Suddenly I hear Lucy call out for me, "Natsu?"

'I'm just downstairs getting ready. You can go ahead and get ready while I finish.' I tell her with my thoughts. I don't want to yell at her.

'Okay I'll be just a minute,' she responds in kind. I smile, it's hard to believe I had been working for a little more than two hours. I guess I took to long examining the bag. I smile to myself before I started looking around for her shoes for her.

Next thing I know I look up and see Lucy standing on the stairs holding the bag with our eggs in them and smiling happily. "I love the bag Natsu it's perfect!" I had gotten the bag in the same pink color that she seemed to love. Salmon pink like my hair, yes I noticed that a long time ago.

I smile at her, "I'm glad I looked everywhere for the perfect one."

"Are you ready to go?" I ask her noticing her hair and make-up already done. She nods excitedly and I grin even bigger. "Then my queen, let's go." I purr to her. I have found myself purring a lot lately. Just anytime I'm with her at all I feel the need to purr to her.

She smiles and nods again taking my hand, we walk out of our home and I offer for us to walk but she shakes her head, "I want to fly," Her words being more than enough to send me into dragon force and we silently glide to the guild.