The Bond 3

Chapter 4

      After a couple hours, letting Lucy sleep more, Natsu and Happy went off to find Nashi. The guild was the first stop they made. They barely made it through the door when Natsu was pounced on by Nashi. She jumped at him throwing her arms out making Natsu throw his arms to catch her causing him to loose his balance and fall on the floor. 

 " Daddy!" she cried joyfully. "Hey Iggy" he greeted putting a hand through her hair rubbing it. " I was so worried" she wrapped her arms around his stomach squeezing him tightly. He sat up and hugged her back. "I'm alright baby girl, I promise..and so is mommy" she looked into his compassionate warm eyes and said "she's alright? 'innocently. 

Chuckling slightly, he replied "yeah" then hugged her again with his eyes closed. The whole guild had just watched that moment transpire but didn't say a word.

 They loved watching moments of Natsu being a caring and loving father to Nashi. After another moment, Natsu had Nashi get off him and the three of them walked over to where Erza and Gray were sitting. "How's Lucy doing?" Erza asked " She was sleeping when we left" answered Happy. "Yeah, after the pain she went through getting that shirt off, I don't blame her" said Natsu.

"What do you guys want to do now?' Gray asked. " There's not much we can do, at least not until Lucy wakes up, I'm not going on a job without her" said Natsu bluntly. 

" No one said anything about a job, you idiot" insulted Gray/ "What was that ice breath, you want to start something cause I'm itching to hit something right about now" taunted Natsu. 

Not having it , Erza grabbed their heads and slammed them on the table causing them to let out a yelp of pain. "Knock it off you two, now I'm not dealing with it right now" she glared pissed at them while they crossed their arms but didn't say anything. "Come on Nashi, let's get you home. You need a bath" Natsu scooped Nashi and put her on his shoulders while Happy walked beside them. 

"I'll catch you guys later" he waved to the other two. "I'm surprised he didn't fly off the handle like usual" Gray said. "Even Natsu knows there are certain times to cool it, even if its not much" Erza pointed out.

Meanwhile Natsu had Nashi jump into the tub to give her a bath to scrub off everything from earlier. While doing so, she let out little balls of fire. "hey now" Natsu laughed, "no fireballs right now, not while your in a bath you goof, now close your eyes so you don't get water in them" he told her as he dumped water over her head. 

After a few more minutes, she was scrubbed clean and Natsu scooped her before she made a run for it and tossed her onto her bed. "hahahaha, again daddy" she said playfully. "ha, maybe later Iggy, right now, we gotta get you changed and then go see mommy" 

"Okay" she accepted happily as Natsu got her into comfy pajamas then had them go to the infirmary where Lucy was sitting up awake. "Hey, hey sleepy, how you feeling?" "I'm ready to go home" she answered hopeful. " Did I hear someone say they want to go home?" said Carla optimistic walking into the room. "Yes please, I feel well rested and better would like to sleep in my own bed." Lucy answered positive. "Well seeing how chipper you are and have color back in your cheeks again, sure, get her home Natsu" Carla declared with a smile.

 Lucy threw her legs off the bed when Natsu held up his hands stopping her from going forward. "Luce...your half naked, hold up" Lucy stopped moving and her face grew red from embarrassment "Jeeze Lucy, he's right, smooth move" she thought criticizing herself. "Here" Lucy caught clothes that Natsu threw to her. "figure a nice change of clothes would be good, I'll let you change, come on you two" grabbing Nashi and Happy, he walked out. "Aww, you're so sweet Natsu" she said bubbly.  

She came out a few minutes later ready to go. "To the guild, we go!" She was light on her feet when she turned and saw the others still standing there. " come on guys" she said trying to clear the awkward feeling in the room. "Lucy, hun it's night and about time Nashi got to bed" said Natsu.

 "What!" Lucy exclaimed running outside to see that the sun had gone down and it was indeed late. "ohh maaan" she said feeling bummed out. " come on Luce, we can go to the guild tomorrow"

 "Aye , right! !" 'come on mommy" Lucy got rid of her bummed attitude and went and grabbed Nashi's hand walking with her. 

 When they got to the house, Lucy tucked Nashi in her bed and gave her a goodnight kiss. Before she left, Nashi threw her arms around Lucy tightly surprising her. " Thank you mommy" she said. "For what baby" "For saving me" Lucy's cheeks turned a warm pink as she looked at Nashi and said " Nashi baby, you don't ever need to thank me for that, It's my job to protect you, now go to sleep" Nashi tucked herself back in as Lucy walked away with Natsu putting a hand around her waist. " Ready to go to sleep Lucy? He asked. "You bet"