Chapter Text
“Fuck Dreyar, I’m going to fucking kill you!” Lucy screeched, clamping down on Laxus’s hand. Natsu stood on the other side of Lucy and shot Laxus a worried look.
“Stop fucking sympathising with him, Pinky! I’ll kill you too!” Lucy yelled furiously, sweating bullets.
“Was she like this all nine months?” Natsu whispered under his breath, knowing the other dragon slayer would hear.
“No, not this bad,” Laxus mumbled back.
Lucy was in too much pain to notice this exchange.
“I can’t believe you knocked me up, Laxus! What sort of monster are you?!” the blonde woman sobbed as another contraction decimated her.
“Baby, you wanted this. You stopped birth control,” Laxus tried justifying helplessly. When Lucy glared at him viciously, he shrank back. “I’m sorry I knocked you up, my love,” he flailed, not sure of what else to say. Right now, Laxus was more than a little scared of his wife.
“Stop fucking apologising for the birth of our child! What if baby hears?! Do you want baby to think it’s a mistake?” Lucy cried, gritting her teeth.
“Laxus, just… shh,” Natsu advised softly. Laxus nodded his head, holding his wife’s hand and stroking her hair comfortingly.
“Thanks for agreeing to be the godfather. You may need to step in sooner than expected, because I think Lucy might kill me before this child is born,” Laxus whispered and Natsu snorted.
“Stop talking in your quiet dragon slayer voices! I hate both of you!” Lucy wept.
But finally, she stopped shouting. Lucy’s screams were replaced by the shrill cries of a baby, and Natsu burst out of Porlyusica’s home to find the entire guild waiting outside.
“It’s a girl! Layla Dreyar!” Natsu announced excitedly. After the parents, he’d been the first one to hold the little girl, and he wasn't embarrassed to admit that he got a little teary-eyed at the sight of his pretty goddaughter.
Everyone exploded into loud cheers and even Porlyusica’s strict reprimanding didn’t shut them up or send them away. Cana and Macao had brought alcohol all the way to Porlyusica’s home, and everyone celebrated madly into the early hours of the morning. Laxus and Lucy walked around with the baby, introducing her to all her inebriated aunts and uncles before quietly slipping away.
The first few months were tough, considering neither parent slept much, but they were also filled with such incredible amounts of joy. Lucy cried when Layla rolled over for the first time, and Laxus was convinced that the baby knew how to give him a high-five. The first few months were also filled with stress, like the time Layla caught a cold and Lucy stayed up for three nights to make sure she was fine, or the time Laxus nearly passed out from fright when Layla tumbled forward and bumped her head against the floor.
But soon, little Layla settled. She began sleeping through the night, and, while she’d still tumble occasionally, Lucy and Laxus both learned to not have a heart attack.
“She’s perfect,” Lucy whispered one night, standing at the door of Layla’s nursery. Her parents were watching her sleep, and they both had contented smiles on their faces.
“She’s our baby. Of course she’s perfect,” Laxus said, pulling Lucy into a hug.
“Laxus, I have to say, I love you, but I think I love her more.” Lucy’s heart was close to bursting with joy as she looked upon her sleeping angel.
“No, my love, I understand. She’s… She’s incredible, Lucy. I didn’t think I could love one tiny person this much, but I would happily walk through a volcano for that little girl,” Laxus swallowed thickly, brimming with emotion for his daughter.
“My two perfect girls,” he whispered, squeezing Lucy.
Laxus and Lucy went to place soft kisses on their baby’s forehead before retiring to their room.
A few mornings later, Natsu came by to play with his goddaughter and drop off mail that had come to the guild. When Layla started to yawn, Natsu handed her off to Laxus to be tucked in for her nap. After giving the infant a kiss goodbye and hugging her mother, Natsu left.
With a sigh, Lucy sat down on the couch and began flipping through the mail he’d brought over. Laxus came down to sit next to her, rocking Layla in his arms. One letter in particular caught Lucy’s eye. It had
To Lucy
scrawled on the front in familiar handwriting.
Lucy wondered briefly if she should open this when Laxus wasn’t around, but she wasn’t going to hide yet another Gildarts related thing from him. And so she opened it.
“Who’s it from?” Laxus asked, as she unfolded the piece of paper.
“Gildarts, I think,” Lucy whispered.
Laxus exhaled sharply. “Do you want to read it in private?” he offered.
“I’m not going to keep anything from you, Laxus,” Lucy said with a shake of her head. “If you’d rather not be here, I understand, but I don’t mind you reading this,” she assured her husband.
Laxus nodded, leaning over her shoulder to look at the page.
Hi darling,
Congratulations to you and Laxus on your wedding. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there, but Cana told me it was beautiful. I’m sure you made a stunning bride. And I’m glad you found each other. He’s good for you. I know he’ll take care of you and love you and treat you wonderfully.
I apologise for my extremely belated wedding wishes, but I felt the need to congratulate you on your marriage first before I could congratulate you on your baby. Cana wrote to me the day little Layla was born. I hear she has quite the head of blonde curls? I’m certain that Layla will grow up to be incredibly smart, kind, thoughtful, and beautiful. I mean, she has Lucy Heartfilia as her mother, so how could she not?
I’m sorry I haven’t seen you in a few years now. I have been back to Magnolia a couple times since we last saw one another, but both visits were very brief. It was just to talk to Makarov and take new jobs. Work’s been keeping me very busy, but I’ve been good. No real change on my end. I suppose I no longer have a good enough reason to settle down, you know?
But anyway, I’m glad you’re doing good, Lucy. And I promise to visit you the next time I’m in town. I’d love to meet Layla and Laxus as well, if you’d be okay with that. There’s a lot of history with my friend that I want to put to rest.
Again, congratulations, sweetheart. I’m so glad that you found your happiness. That’s all I ever wanted for you. Give my love to Layla and Laxus.
And darling, I hope you haven’t forgotten.
Love,
Gildarts
Laxus and Lucy both finished reading at the same time and they exhaled softly.
“He sounds sad,” Lucy noted.
Laxus nodded in agreement. “Write to him, Lu. Tell him he has a standing invitation to our house for a meal whenever he’s next in town,” Laxus said. It had hit home when Gildarts had referred to him as a friend, and suddenly, years old guilt for fighting him resurfaced.
“Really? You don’t mind?” she asked, looking at her husband in surprise.
“No, I don't. He’s right. He’s my friend. And I treated him badly the last time I saw him. I want to fix that,” Laxus said determinedly.
Lucy smiled, before realising something. “I don’t have his address… He didn’t leave anything on the letter,” she sighed.
“Ask Cana? Clearly she’s been writing to him… I really think we should fix things with him, baby,” Laxus insisted. “He has nothing but good wishes for us. We need to try to and fix things,” the blond man said resolutely.
Lucy nodded, glad that Laxus was also open to mending everything.
Laxus stood up to put the sleeping Layla in her crib.
“By the way,” he asked, turning, “what did Gildarts mean when he said he hoped you hadn’t forgotten? What were you not supposed to forget?”
Lucy looked Laxus in the eye, and for the first time since they’d moved in together all those years ago, Lucy lied.
“I don’t know, honestly… I haven’t seen him in so long. Guess I did actually forget. Maybe I’ll ask him when I write to him,” she said with a straight face and even tone. Her heartbeat remained steady.
Laxus nodded, and began cooing to Layla, who’d started waking up.
But Lucy hadn’t forgotten. Gildarts still loved her, and he wanted to remind her that he always would. Laxus couldn’t know that; it would quite possibly ruin their chance at fixing things. She had hoped Gildarts would have found someone by now, but he hadn’t. He was still in love with her. But Lucy knew he wouldn’t do anything to disrupt her life with her husband and her daughter. She looked at Laxus, bouncing Layla gently in his arms and whispering to her. Layla had a sleepy smile as she gazed up at her father and Laxus was positively gushing over his little girl.
The sight of her perfect husband gently shushing their perfect baby back to sleep filled Lucy’s heart with so much love. It didn't matter that Gildarts still loved her, because he could never love her as much as she loved Laxus and Layla. Lucy firmly believed that no one could ever love another person as deeply as she loved her family, and watching Laxus soothe Layla confirmed that for her.
She had promised Gildarts that a small part of her would always love him, but now, gazing at her two favourite people, that part had shrunk so significantly that it was hardly the size of an atom.
Lucy got up off the couch and walked to Laxus. She wrapped one arm around his waist and gently brushed back Layla’s hair with her free hand.
“I love you both so much,” she whispered. She looked up at Laxus and felt her heart explode. “I fucking love you so much, my love. You’re my happiness,” she said, kissing her husband.
“Don’t swear in front of Layla,” he chastised softly. “But I fucking love you so much too, baby. You and this little princess are my entire universe.” His voice was full of love.
Being careful to not crush Layla, Lucy wrapped both arms around Laxus’s neck and kissed him passionately. They intertwined their tongues and fused their lips, kissing each other wholly and deeply.
Laxus suddenly broke away. “Okay, I think she’s asleep. It’s adult time now. Go, get undressed, and wait in bed. I’m putting her in her room and I’ll be there in a minute. We don’t have long, she’ll be up in less than an hour for her lunch,” Laxus hissed, hurrying Lucy towards their bedroom.
Lucy laughed softly, watching Laxus and Layla disappear into the nursery.
A moment later, Laxus reappeared.
“You’re still here? And fully clothed?” he groaned. He picked his wife up, slinging her over his shoulder as she laughed, and carted her to their bedroom.
“I love you, you insane dragon,” Lucy giggled.
“I love you too, Blondie,” Laxus replied, throwing her onto the bed.
He lay down next to her and Lucy hugged him, pressing herself to his chest. Laxus tipped her face up to meet his and sealed her lips with a searing kiss.