***
No one's POV

      The large doors to the Celestial closed as the Celestial Spirit King left, sealing the gate. Leaving Lucy, Yukino, Luke, Natsu and Happy alone—to revel in their newfound victory and to address the elephant in the room.

    The white-haired mage was quick to gather Luke and leads him away, to the corner of the room. "I think they need their privacy to talk things out..."

   The blond looked at her confused. Yukino also grabbed the blue exceed by the tail. "You too, Happy."

   Natsu and Lucy now stood alone, battered and bruised but still aware of the rising tension. The celestial mage was the first one to speak up.

"So..."

"So..." the pink dragon slayer mimicked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

  The stakes of the final battle had dissipated and the crushing realization that they hadn't seen each other in years had hit them.

"I'm really sorry," Lucy confessed, refusing to make eye contact with the dragon slayer, twisting the ends of her skirt.

"About what?"

"Not coming back." She sighs.

"I'm sorry about leaving." Natsu replied, she couldn't deny that he had no right apologizing for that.

  A cold silence formed between them once again, the other lost in thought thinking about what to say next—what could be said?

"You has a son..." Natsu finally broke the silence. He figured he had at least had to address that detail. Maybe a part of him was hoping she'd deny it.

"Yep..." Lucy looked down at her boots, embarrassed, it was the confrontation she was silently seeking for eight years.

"Who's is he?"

"Eh?" The blonde finally looked up to make eye contact with his onyx eyes. You mean you don't know? She thought to herself. Surely your not that dense...

   Lucy paused before continuing, a tremble evident in her soft voice. "He-he's yours Natsu..."

   The dragon slayer stared back in shock, his eyes widened in surprise. He took a staggering step back for a moment. "EH? Wh-When?"  Natsu knew for a fact he never ever remembered knocking up Lucy.

Another silent pause. "We were both drunk out of our minds..." she trails off.

"You never told me...! I-" His voice cracked, the statement almost sounded accusatory which made the blonde's heart break.

"I-I was going to..." Lucy began to cry, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to explain herself. Natsu was tempted to pull her into a warm hug, but all of his thoughts were conflicted.

     Tartorus...the celebration...of course... the dense dragon slayer seemed to have finally put the pieces together, gears clicking in his head. But I left right after that. Was it my fault?

Lucy looked at his face, in deep concentration and mistook it for frustration and anger. "I knew you'd hate me..."

"You're right,"

She looked at him in shock. "Wh—" but he continued.

"I hate your beautiful smile,"

"I hate your chocolate eyes,"

"I hate your perfect golden hair,"

His voice cracked and he swore under his breath. "...and I hate how much I've missed you."

     Lucy's tears continued to flow, she was breathless and couldn't think of any words to say. Instead Natsu pulled her into a chaste kiss, the blonde could feel the love, sadness and passion in the gesture. She gladly returned it.

"They loooooove each other~" 

The two look over to see Happy teasing them, Luke next him making fake belching noises.

"SHUT IT YOU STUPID CAT!"

      Natsu smiles brightly at Lucy, happy they could share a kiss that had sealed their feelings towards each other after all those years. And he was over the moon about finding out he was a father, albeit pissed at himself for being absent.

  Lucy turned toward him, her voice below a whisper. "I-I thought you liked Lisanna...that's why I didn't bother coming back..."

Natsu looked at her in bewilderment and then chucked.

"What?" She stared back.

"Lisanna is my past, Luce," He placed a gentle hand on her arm, making sure to avoid any injured area. "You're my future."

  The blonde begins crying again, but this time of pure bliss and joy. She laughs in his chest as they come together for a quick hug. "Well that was unexpected.."

  Natsu eventually pulled away, nothing that the other three were still in the room. "Does Luke know?" 

She nods.

"Well then let's break the news to him—I'm not going anywhere!" The dragon slayer slung his arm around her as they made their way to the others, a warm feeling in their hearts after the touching make up.

***

"Do you guys hear that?" The five of them turned towards the blocked off entrance, which began to shake and tumble with grandeur.

Suddenly the debris that kept them trapped there broke down, revealing a scarlet-haired mage adorned in armour.

"Are you guys okay?" Erza said upon noticing everyone's injuries, as well as the state of the place. Then the Fairytail wizard caught sight of the blonde. "L-Lucy..!"

"Love rival?" A blue haired woman peeped from behind Erza, and saw her as well. Gray was beside her.

"Everyone...!" The celestial mage exclaimed in surprise, Luke really brought everyone!

    The three girls ran to each other, embracing themselves in a tight hug. "We're so glad your safe Lucy." Erza comments, putting a soothing hand over her back.

"Thank you for coming." Lucy sniffled, she couldn't have wished for a better outcome.

"Juvia is so happy to see you, Love rival!" The bluenette exclaimed, sobbing into the blonde's shoulder.

"...you don't have to call me love rival, Juvia..." Lucy sweat-dropped. From Levy's letters that were sent before she lost contact, it was clear her and Gray were an official item. Besides, Lucy now had Natsu.

"Is the fight over already?" The ice-make wizard breaks up the girls reunion, notching the surrounding damage and the fact that Aizen was lying in a heap of rubble.

  Erza pouts, she was looking forward to facing off against a new and challenging opponent.

  Natsu laughs in her face. "Ha! That's what you get for stealing my last fight!"

"As long as Luke, Yukino and Lucy are safe it's fine." She calmly retorts, smiling as the young boy approached to thank her and the rest of team Natsu for coming to their aid.

"I still can't believe you guys managed to find us here.." Lucy said, she wasn't even sure where here was.

"Well we owe a lot of our journey to Loke, too." Natsu explained, rubbing the back of his neck. "He's the one who brought Luke to Fairytail and all."

"I'll have to thank him later." Lucy smiles.

  Luke's smile shone brightly. "He even let me come along! He's awesome!"

"Speaking of which..." Yukino trailed off, glancing over to the circle of celestial keys which were style lying on the ground, unscathed.

  The two celestial wizards walked over to them, overjoyed that their friends were safe as well.

Wait a minute. Lucy thought to herself when going over her keys. That can't be right... She picked up a glistening golden key with the water bearer symbol on it. Aquarius' key...

  The blonde held the zodiac key close to her heart and smiled, happy tears spilling out. I've been given a second chance.

Take good care of her, my friend.

  Lucy could hear the gentle voice of the Spirit King in her head. Thank you. I will.

"Time to report this to the Council, and hope this Dark Guild and the gate get shut down for good." The requip mage stated, grabbing the battered and unconscious Aizen by the collar.

"And it's time to go home," The dragonslayer scooped tbe two blonde's along with Happy in his arms. "As a family."

  Gray looked at the four of them in bewilderment before quickly connecting the dots. "You hit that?"

Natsu proudly nodded and fist bumped Gray. "Noice."

Lucy blushed and hit them on the back of the head.

"I guess I owe Mira fifty jewel." Erza signed, witnessing the two.

***

     The sun slowly peaked from the horizon as the group left the mountains, the sky splashed with the colours of orange and pink.

Natsu was happily giving Luke a piggyback ride with Lucy by their side as the rest of the wizards walked ahead of them. The blond boy was joyfully recounting moments of his childhood the pinkette missed on, and the family couldn't be happier.

"Together?" Natsu held out his hand to Lucy, who gladly took it.

"Together."

***
The End
:)
Omg I'm finally done. Thank you so much for reading and finishing this book!! It was my favourite to write so far and it's been an incredible journey. I'm proud of myself for finishing this and in under a year. I really hoped you enjoyed, Unexpected originally started out as a silly meaningless story but as time went on I grew to love it. Thanks again for those who read my book, voted, commented, I cherish it all. Hopefully you can find the same enjoyment in my other or future works
Stay safe!
~NaLu4Lyfe03