Once they were all set, they travelled to Era to attend the masters' meeting. Emi looked around and studied each master and their company. She quickly left Sting's side when she spotted Makarov.
"Master Grampa, I missed you!"
Before he could process it, he was pulled into a tight hug. He recovered shortly after and gave a hearty laugh.
"It seems you haven't lost your spark."
"I really miss you all. I wish Sabertooth was closer to Magnolia so I could visit more often."
"Yeah, brat. Now we have to listen to Natsu complain all the time because he doesn't have your cooking."
Emi turned behind her at the familiar voice and quickly hugged him. Laxus staggered back a little from the impact, but hugged back.
"How's the tigers treating you?"
"Well it's certainly different than Fairy Tail that's for sure. It's not as rowdy, and we do things more by the books."
"Yeah, except when you go to destroy everything," Sting muttered before turning to Makarov and Laxus. "It's nice to see you again."
"I don't destroy everything! It's not my fault that things break."
Makarov chuckled and patted her shoulder.
"You'll always be a Fairy Tail wizard deep down, child. Those habits aren't going away."
Sting rolled his eyes with a small 'of course' before making his way to the table. Makarov joined him soon after, followed by the other masters. Laxus and Emi leaned against the far wall and watched the discussion.
"Brings back memories, eh?" Emi joked.
Laxus wore a small smile and responded, "You could say that. So did you tell him yet?"
"Tell him what?"
Laxus gave her a blank look before casually pointing to her stomach. She giggled and gave a 'not yet' before leaning back more.
"You would think he would already know," she laughed, "but it seems that he's a little oblivious to his senses."
Laxus snorted and looked over towards the meeting table again.
"I'm sure he'll figure it out."
"I doubt it, which is why I'm just gonna tell him."
-------
"That was super fun!" Emi shouted as they left the meeting. "We should get Fairy Tail and Sabertooth together more often."
"You know that wasn't the point of this meeting, right?"
"Lady Emiko knows that, Sting. She's the smartest wizard ever!"
"I thought I was!"
"You're the strongest wizard ever, Sting. Lady Emiko is the smartest."
Emi tittered and teased, "All brawn no brain, Eucliffe."
He huffed and dragged her back to the apartment once they reached Sabertooth's town. Emi lazily walked to her room and threw herself on the bed. Sting poked his head in her room and inched closer to her.
"Hey so I was just curious, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but are you--"
"Pregnant?" She laughed. "It's about damn time, Sting."
"...Huh?"
Emi blinked a couple times and tested, "Is that...not what you were asking?"
"Uh, no. I was gonna ask if you were okay with going on a request near Hargeon, but, uh...so you're pregnant?"
"Wow," she breathed, "you're like totally oblivious. Do you purposely just ignore your instincts?"
"You're actually pregnant?"
She gave a lopsided smile and nodded, which seemed to be the trigger for his shouting that followed. He smiled wide, almost child-like, and he bounced his weight on one foot and then another.
"How far along?"
"It's still early. Like two months maybe."
"This is great! Everyone probably can't wait to hear this. Lector!"
Sting had run out of the room and loudly knocked on the exceed's door. Lector came running quickly to open it and was met with a very energetic looking dragon slayer.
"Em has something to say."
Lector followed Sting back into Emi's room and waited patiently for her to address him.
"How do you feel about expanding this little group?"
The exceed looked confused and asked Emi what she was talking about. Sting butted in and revealed his mate's pregnancy before Emi could explain, which caused her to start laughing. Lector flew up to Emi's face and squished her cheeks before smiling and doing loops in the air.
"Lady Emiko, you have to let me teach the baby about all the flowers!"
"Deal."
-------
"You did this," Emi hissed as she screwed her eyes shut.
They were visiting Fairy Tail when Emi's water broke, and they had quickly brought her to Porlyusica. Her hand tightly crushed Sting's as he held it for comfort. There was a scream from the white haired woman as she tried to push.
"Come on Emi," Natsu cheered. "You can definitely do this no problem!"
"What the fuck are you doing in here?" Sting shouted.
"I came to check on Emi. Duh."
"Aye, sir!"
"Natsu if you're gonna be in here," Emi harshly stated, "you better give me your hand."
The fire dragon slayer slowly walked over to the bed and outstretched his hand. It was immediately grabbed, and he winced with the pain shooting through his arm.
"Easy, Em. You're gonna be okay. I'm right here."
She screamed again and threw her head back against the headrest.
"You have a couple more pushes to go," Porlyusica stated matter-of-factly.
She started crying and gasped for breath.
"I can't...do it anymore."
"You can do it. You're almost there."
She let go of Natsu's hand, which the dragon slayer was very grateful for, and screamed again. There was a knock on the medical room door before it opened. Laxus stood in the doorway and crossed his arms, looking at the scene with boredom.
"Why was I called here? I don't wanna see this. It's gross."
"Get your fucking ass over here right now."
Laxus looked taken back by Emi's sudden hostility, but obeyed nonetheless when he saw that Sting's hand was turning blue.
"Does it hurt that bad?"
"No of course not," Emi sarcastically spoke. "I'm just being dramatic."
Laxus rolled his eyes and stood on the side where Natsu had left and held out his hand. She immediately grabbed it, squeezing it tight when she was instructed to push again. The white haired woman started to feel lightheaded, and she was running out of strength to push.
"One more," Porlyusica revealed. "The head is out."
Sting could sense Emi's exhaustion. He leaned down to her ear and started whispering encouragements, multiple counts of 'I love you' peppered in between. She pushed once more and looked down.
"Where's the baby?"
"You need one more push."
"I just did the last push!" She snapped.
"You didn't push hard enough, so now you need to do another."
Emi glared at the woman before putting all her strength into pushing. She could barely see anymore, as stars filled her eyes. Her head felt fuzzy, but it quickly subsided when she heard the small cries. She tried to catch her breath so she could look at her baby, and she leaned back on the bed so she could rest. Both Laxus and Sting were given their hands back, and Sting started to shake it to get rid of the cramps that she had given him. He smiled warmly when he was handed his child.
"Why do you get to hold them first?" Emi sassed. "I did all the work."
Sting let out a loud laugh before leaning down to hand off their child to his mate. All of her anger and irritation disappeared when she saw the tiny nose and saliva coated mouth.
Porlyusica addressed the parents, saying, "You have a baby boy. Don't drop him."
"Hello my sweet baby boy," Em cooed. "I don't really know what to say to you because I'm very tired. I can already tell you're gonna be as stubborn as your father with the way you refused to come out."
Sting rolled his eyes and leaned back down to see his son again.
"Well? What are you two naming the child?" Porlyusica pressed.
The blond dragon slayer looked at Emi and tested, "Are you sure you don't wanna go with Cain?"
She shook her head, leaning up to kiss him quickly.
"I think Abel fits him better."
"Well then hello there, Abel. I can promise you that you're in good hands. Your mother will kick the shit out of anyone that tries to hurt you. I will too, but she really packs a punch."
Emi smacked him on the arm and chided, "Don't swear around him."
Another knock was heard on the door, and Porlyusica scoffed before whipping the door open and yelling at everyone being too close to her house without permission. Lector flew over the crowd and landed on Emi's stomach to see the baby.
"Lector, this is Abel."
"Hello Abel. My name is Lector and we're gonna have lots of fun, yes."
Emi turned to the side and smiled up at the lightning dragon slayer, joking, "Hey thanks for the hand. Really appreciate it. And I think Natsu does too."
She handed Abel to Sting so she could shift into a more comfortable position. Sting suggested that she get some rest, so everyone left the small family alone for the time being. Before Laxus could leave, Emi caught his hand.
"What?" He grunted. "You're supposed to be resting, you brat."
He was met with a crooked smile.
"Would you like to be his godfather?"
Laxus blinked a couple times and tested, "Me? Why?"
"What do you mean why?" Sting quipped. "You protected her for years and made sure she was safe. Not to mention the fact that you guys are close and she trusts you."
"Yeah but--"
Laxus took another look at the pair before his eyes wandered over to the baby.
"Do I have to like, babysit all the time or something?"
"Well that shouldn't be a problem for you," Emi teased. "From what I witnessed you're great with kids."
Laxus rolled his eyes and made his way back over to the bed to ruffle her hair, earning a small whine from her.
"Well?"
Laxus nodded, silently agreeing. The three wizards smiled at each other, and Laxus left to give the family their space. The two parents just stared at their son with shit-eating smiles.
"I love you," Emi stated.
"I love you too."
"Not you, you idiot," Emi corrected. "I was talking to Abel."
Sting looked at her shocked before rolling his eyes and adjusting his hold on his baby.
"But I do love you as well, for the record."
They shared a quick kiss before Emi started to drift off, and soon she was asleep. Sting gently took a seat next to her and wiggled his finger in Abel's face, gasping when the baby gripped his finger.
"Damn kid, you're not even an hour old yet and you still have your mother's strength. You're gonna be a handful."
His eyes ran over Emi's sleeping figure before drifting back to Abel.
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
*******
A/N: Thank you all so so much for reading! This has been a long journey, but it's coming to an end here. It's been fun writing this, so I hope y'all liked it.