Emi shifted in her sleep as she heard small feet running down the hallway. Her eyes snapped open when the door slowly creaked, revealing a small maroon exceed. Emi went to question the exceed when she heard a small sniffle. The white haired wizard slowly sat up, trying not to disturb Sting.
"Lector," Emi whispered, "what's the matter? Can't get to sleep?"
Lector continued to sniffle before tiptoeing over to the bed and tugging on Emi's leg. She looked down at the shaking exceed and lifted him up so he was sitting on her lap. Lector opened his arms wide and hugged Emi tightly as he continued to cry.
"What's wrong, Lector?"
"I...had...a bad dream!"
Everyone looked over to Lector and saw that he was trying to hide behind Emi. He started waving his paw before stating that he was strong enough to get bad dreams.
"That makes no sense," Lucy uttered.
"Em, what're you doing up?" Sting groggily asked.
His eyes drifted down to see a crying Lector. He sat up and scooted closer to the two.
"What's up little buddy?"
"He said he had a bad dream."
Sting shifted so he was sitting right next to them on Emi's side of the bed and tapped Lector's head.
"That shouldn't worry you. You're the bravest cat I know!"
Lector seemed to calm down a bit before looking up at the dragon slayer and asked, "You really think so?"
Emi and Sting smiled as they realized that it was working.
"Of course," Sting continued, "I know you're the bravest and strongest cat that I've ever met. A little bad dream would never get you down for too long."
Lector wiped his eyes before puffing out his chest and repeating that he was the bravest cat in Fiore. Sting swung his arm around Emi's shoulders as the white haired woman started to giggle.
"Come on buddy. I'll tuck you in."
Lector began to follow Sting back to his bedroom. Emi leaned back on the bed in a starfish position before looking at the clock and seeing that it was 2:51 in the morning. Emi started to doze off, and a few minutes later she heard Sting come back into the room.
"You know you can't sleep like that."
"Why not? I'm rather comfortable."
She could hear Sting chuckle, "You're taking up the whole bed."
"Is he okay now?"
"Yeah," Sting started as she felt the bed dip, "he just dreamt of a monster coming into the guildhall."
Emi hummed in acknowledgement before returning to her original sleeping position so Sting could lay down. Her back was turned to Sting, so he scooted closer to her and wrapped his arms around her before pulling her to him. Emi could feel his breath slow. They both heard little feet again.
"Uh oh," Sting warned.
The door gently opened again to reveal Lector standing there with his blanket. Sting and Emi both sat up again and asked him what was wrong.
"Nothing's wrong," Lector assured. "I'm here to make sure that you two don't have any dreams."
Sting looked to Emi to see that she was exhausted before saying, "Uh Lector, I think we'll be fine."
"Nonsense! I'll be here to protect you, yes."
Emi smiled in realization before calling the exceed over and lifting him on the bed.
"Sting, Lector just wants to be here in case any of us have bad dreams so that we can be here to protect each other. Isn't that right, Lector?"
"That's right, yes."
Sting seemed to eventually catch on and laid back down, telling Lector to crawl in. Lector smiled and jumped between the two wizards. Sting and Emi made eye contact with each other before they both looked down to see that Lector was fast asleep, cuddling with his blanket.
"You're not getting any more sleep tonight, are you?" Emi joked to Sting.
He softly laughed before asking her the same question.
"That's so cute!" Mira exclaimed.
"I still stand by my claim that you guys look like a family," Lucy remarked.
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"Damn, Em. Are you sure you're okay? You've been throwing up for a couple days now."
"NO WAY."
"Mira," Laxus hissed, "calm down."
Sting held her hair while she leaned over the toilet. She assured him that she was fine before standing up.
"Are you sure you're--"
Emi smiled before gently tapping his arm and turning to go in the shower. Sting stood there for a second before looking back down at the toilet.
"Ew, Em. You forgot to flush."
"Are you coming or not?"
Sting's ears perked up before he grinned and followed her.
"I don't like that implication," Erza stated as the memory began to change, "and I'm grateful that we are not seeing the full memory."
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"Do you ever wish that you could go back in time and change something?"
Sting looked at Emi confused before asking her to elaborate.
"Sometimes I just wish that I didn't decide to kill demons. Then maybe I would be able to have a peaceful life instead of having to live in fear of everything."
"I would probably go back and tell Weisslogia that I would rather be a weak dragon slayer than have to kill him. Maybe he'd listen the second time around."
Emi nodded before her eyes drifted off to the window again. Sting tried to read her face but couldn't pick out the emotions hidden in her eyes.
"Em, is something wrong?"
Emi tore her eyes away from the window before giving a weak and not very convincing smile to the dragon slayer.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm just...thinking I guess."
They both stood beside each other and looked out the window. Once they heard Lector's laughter as he played with the townspeople's children, big smiles broke out on their faces.
"He sure looks happy," Emi observed.
"There's way more kids over in this part of the city compared to where we used to live. He likes to play with them."
Emi nodded and gently moved her hand so she held his. Sting squeezed her hand before stretching and walking to the kitchen.
"So I was thinking we'll make that grilled fish thing tonight. Whaddaya think?"
Emi took one more look out the window before following Sting into the kitchen and replying, "But I already took out the stuff for the noodle stir fry. We can have the fish tomorrow night."
Sting shrugged and closed the fridge. They both heard the door unlock followed by little tapping on the ground. Lector ran into the kitchen and asked for a glass of water.
"Playing hard, buddy?"
"You bet! There was this one kid who said that I was the fastest out of all of them. We had races and then played with the ball."
Emi smiled to herself before handing the exceed a glass. He happily sipped it before placing it on the counter and turning to fly back out.
"You're leaving again? You must like these guys."
Lector turned to Sting and admitted that the kids over at the new apartment were so much nicer than the others that he had played with. He quickly flew out of the apartment and back outside. Emi giggled at his childish enthusiasm.
"You know, I remember when I was little and all I wanted to do was play with kids my age. I can only imagine the fun that he has."
"You're telling me that you never played when you were a kid? That's rough."
"Well, I did when I was really little. I used to play with a friend. But after that, I wasn't really allowed to socialize with anyone. We just kind of traveled all over and trained."
"I can kind of relate to that. Weisslogia and I always stayed far outside of towns to train. Of course, nothing was really, uh, after me."
Emi began to speak but rushed to the bathroom before she could say anything. Sting quickly ran after her.
"Em," Sting urged as he helped her off the floor, "I think you should go see a doctor."
"I'm...fine."
--------------------------------------------
Emi sat at the bar reading her dragon book as she drank her apple juice.
"So," Mich started, "have you told Sting and Lector?"
"I have nothing to tell them."
"Sure you don't."
Emi shrugged him off and continued to read.
"Hey Emi, we have a cool job that we should go on. You up for it?"
Emi began to agree when Master Rue called from the second level, "Emi is not allowed on any jobs for a while."
Everyone looked at the retreating master. He made no sign of elaborating, electing to return to his office in silence.
"This is happening! Oh my god this is happening," Mira squealed.
"Mira," Erza questioned, "what on earth are you talking about?"
Emi looked at the pair curiously before turning back to her memory.
"What did you do to get benched?" Kira joked as she sat down at the bar.
"I did no such thing. I am not benched. I am simply on reserve."
"Hate to say it," Ayame chimed in, "but that's basically the same thing."
Emi chose to ignore them before turning back to her book. Kira peeked over her shoulder and asked her what she was reading, causing Emi to raise her eyebrow at her.
"You're never been interested in--"
Emi couldn't finish her sentence as she rushed to the bathroom.
"What's up with her?" Ayame asked.
Emi couldn't respond, so Mich gave the two a knowing look before motioning behind them where Sting and Lector were opening the hall door.
"He probably has the answer you're looking for."
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Emi had left the guildhall with Lector and decided to return home. She read a book to Lector for an hour before she jumped into the shower. After, Emi went to take a nap while Lector played in his room. The front door was hastily unlocked. Emi heard running before the bedroom door was kicked open. Emi jumped at the sudden noise and quickly jumped out of bed and got into a fighting stance. She settled down once she saw that it was Sting, but crossed her arms.
"What do you think you're doing busting in here like that? I could've had a heart attack."
"Is Lector here?" Sting asked as he completely ignored her.
Emi became concerned before telling him that Lector was in his room. Sting quickly entered Lector's room and told him that he should go play with the kids. The exceed looked at him confused before obeying and heading to the streets where the kids were playing. Emi went to ask him what was wrong when he nervously shouted.
"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?"
Emi blinked a few times.
"Uh, what are you--"
"Kira and Mich told me at the guildhall. Is that why you've been throwing up lately? That's called morning sickness right? And it comes at the early stages? Are you okay? Do you need any help with--"
"Sting?"
"And I mean I told them that I didn't believe them but then they said that it was obvious--"
"Sting."
"They said that you've been acting strange and that you left your book there and it was opened to some sort of dragon magic transfer and Mich said that it had to do with inheriting dragon magic--"
"Sting!"
Sting stopped talking before he appeared in front of her and held her shoulders.
"Are you feeling okay? Do I have to do anything? What do I even do? Moral support? Is that what I--"
Emi sighed and did the only thing that she could think of that would silence him. She swiftly punched Sting in the gut, causing him to double over in pain before he fell to his knees. Emi crouched down to his level before speaking to him.
"There's only one reason why I didn't tell you."
Sting groaned in pain as he spoke, "What...was it?"
"I didn't tell you that I was pregnant because I am, undoubtedly, not pregnant."
"W...what?"
"Aw man," Mira muttered in defeat.
"Mira," Lucy quietly explained, "wouldn't it be a little sad if she was? I mean, Sting wasn't traveling with a kid and Emi didn't live with a kid. So that would mean that something happened to the kid, right? Don't you think it's better that she wasn't pregnant?"
"Oh. I guess you're right."
"Sting, I'm not pregnant. You can relax."
"Then why have you been sick? Why won't Master Rue let you on jobs? Why were you looking at magic transfer? What about--"
Sting was silenced as Emi threatened, "I will strike you again if you keep rambling."
They sat in silence for a moment before Emi stood and pulled Sting up.
"I just have a bug. And the reason why I'm not allowed on any jobs right now is because I'm going on an S-class request in a few days, and I won't be back for a while, so the master is just letting me rest before I have to leave. As for the book, I was just curious. I mean, reading books is kind of my thing, you know?"
Sting looked at her, as if waiting for further reassurance. Emi rolled her eyes before hugging him lightly. Sting immediately returned the hug and rested his head on top of hers. Emi giggled as she heard the sigh of relief that escaped Sting's mouth. She decided to tease him before she would let the whole thing drop, so she broke the hug and crossed her arms.
"Are you saying you're happy I'm not?"
Sting paled before panicking, "I'm not saying that I'm happy about it, but don't you think that--"
"Relax, Sting. I was joking."
"So, uh, the entire guild thinks you're pregnant now because Mich couldn't really talk quietly."
Emi groaned before dragging Sting back to the guildhall so that they could silence the rumors. As they walked, Emi thought of something.
"Why didn't you just trust your magic?"
"What?"
"A dragon can sense when their mate is pregnant almost right away. Shouldn't you have noticed that you didn't sense anything?"
"Instincts are no match for panic."