Surrogate (Unfinished and Abandoned)

part 12

Freed's POV

I was on a job with the rest of the Thunder Legion. I didn't even remember where we were going, all I knew was that we were on a train. All I could think of was Mira and baby. What if something bad happens? I knew I was just being paranoid, but it seemed like everything bad that could've happened happened in the past few months. I leaned on Laxus' shoulder, almost asleep. I could tell by the way his heart beat fast he was worried too.

I counted on my fingers how many weeks it had been. Sixteen? Sounds about right. I sighed, wishing I could be back at the house to protect them. But someone had to make money, and we had to be there for our team.

But suddenly I got a call on my communication lacrima. It was Mira.

"Hey, Freed? Guess what!" she yelled excitedly. "I felt the baby kick!" I could hear her voice jumping with happiness and wished I was there with her. Laxus smiled at me, but also was hiding disappointment in his voice.

All I could think was that it was all going way too fast and slow at the same time.

As I sat on the train, my head now rested in Laxus' lap while he stroked my head, I thought of (what was it? Two?) years ago when Laxus proposed to me.

We were going on a quest, not unlike this one, with our two quirky best friends. It was a long way away, almost two day journey by train. On the first night away from home the sunset was beautiful and I wanted so badly to get off the train and see it in person instead of through a glass pane. So Laxus stopped the train just for me. I thought this was odd, seeing as he'd never really seemed to notice me, let alone show signs of wanting to meet my ridiculous demands.

But I went with it. We sat on a grassy hill for a long time. I was staring ahead at the slowly descending sun and smiling a half-smile.

It was out of nowhere that it happened. He looked over at me for a long time before I realized he had been staring, and I jumped slightly when I noticed. He blushed (that was the first time I had seen him flustered) but remained stone-faced. Then it happened, he blurted out a quiet, "Freed, I love you, let's get married." It sounds strange, but that's just how Laxus was, hiding any emotion until the last possible moment.

I didn't say anything for many minutes. My mind was racing and blank at the same time. Then I responded, "okay," and lay my head on his shoulder. It seemed like more of a casual agreement than an engagement.

After I while I closed my eyes and whispered, "I love you too, by the way."

Laxus just said, "I know that."

It seemed so unnatural yet natural, going from friends to engaged like that. But me and Laxus had always been so close, even if we didn't realize it. Maybe we hadn't been dating, but the feelings were so obvious and real for a long time that they became unnecessary to acknowledge, or even think about. It was so subtle -- the transition from childhood friends to best friends to more-than-friends -- that maybe neither of us noticed it.

I woke up and the sun was setting. Laxus had moved my head to the seat, and put his coat on top of me. When he saw me stirring, he smirked and kissed my forehead. He gave me a look and I nodded. We knew each other so well that maybe we didn't have to acknowledge anything. Maybe one could just let the other decide what they were thinking.

I jumped up, huge grin on my face and we ran up to the conductor. Before we knew it we were running out into the grass, holding hands. I stopped when I realized it was the same place. And I smiled.

"Did you do this, Laxus?" I punched his arm playfully.

"No, complete coincidence." He looked just as astonished as me and I could tell he was remembering that day too.

I embraced my husband, and he hugged back. "I love you," he said.

"I know that," I laughed.

***
Laxus' POV

We stepped into the house the next day to find Mira in her room sleeping.

I was going to wake her up, but Freed stopped me. He put a finger to his lips to shush me and slowly backed away from the door frame. "Just let her sleep," he whispered. I smirked and, after quietly closing Mira's door, chased him, telling him I was going to catch his butt. "Hey, stop" he yelled maybe a little too loudly, because Mira came out, rubbing her eyes and looking very grumpy.

"I'm blown up like a balloon, my feet hurt all the time, I'm so hungry, and you guys won't even let me take a nap!" she yelled. It was a very frightening moment in my life.

"How long have you been napping?" I asked her, a smirk appearing on my face.

She looked up at the clock. "Oh my Mavis, it's Tuesday?" She shouted. Me and Freed laughed, and then he gave me a look and I knew what to do. I tackled her (very gently) onto the couch and Freed helped me pull off her socks. We began tickling her and we were giggling as much as she was.

"Wait, stop guys, the baby kicked again!" Freed and I hopped up onto the couch, and we both placed a hand over her stomach. She looked up at us, grinning.

And that day was the day I first felt my baby kick.

Hi guys! First of all, I'm so sorry for not updating for so long! Second of all I am exploding because this story has 1K views! Thank you so much you don't know how happy this makes me. But I'm sorry to say this book has to end soon :,( thank you guys so much I couldn't do it without you! <3<3<3<3