"I don't think this will fit."

Rogue peers over at Sting with amusement and returns to his own task at hand.

"You are impatient, Sting."

"How the hell am I supposed to put this together?! It's not working, dammit!" Sting grew frustrated, clapping the joints of the poles together, loud clangs almost echoing throughout Yukino's apartment.

"Follow the instructions!" Yukino bounced into the living room, a small package within her arms. She gleams happily, grinning proudly.

"I'm trying! Nothing makes sense!" Sting drops the legs to the floor in defeat.

Giggling, the white-haired woman sinks into the couch. "It's okay, Sting. You guys can take a break now."

"Finally!" Lector pops up from the piles of instruction papers and bubble wrap.

"Frosch thinks so too!" The pink frog suited cat bumbles after his fellow exceed.

"Why'd you get so much stuff anyway? Lucy's not due for another few months." Rogue situated himself around to face Yukino.

"Because!" Yukino grinned brightly, so much so she nearly blinded her teammates. "She's been through so much, still is, and she hasn't gotten the time to prepare for the baby. I want to do something nice for her, so she doesn't have to worry about a thing!" The woman softens with her words, her grin becoming a genuine smile.

The room falls into a comfortable silence.

Yukino truly felt Lucy deserved this. The crap she's been put through, merit should be her reward and nothing else. So, Yukino pulled her money and ordered and bought a baby crib, even buying a book on how to sew and knit. Despite not knowing the baby's sex, Yukino would have to mix colors. The excitement built up quickly, like lava it bubbled and was ready to burst.

"I wish we knew what it was..." Sting pouted, dropping his shoulders.

"Yeah, well, we've gotta respect her decision, Sting." Rogue eyes his friend with a slight frown.

"I do! It's just...it's weird to keep calling the baby 'it' or 'baby', I just wanna get that gender and pick a name already!" Sting crinkled wrapping paper furiously in his hands.

"Aren't you eager?" Yukino rolled her eyes, picking at the boxing tape gloomily.

"It's not like that, Yuki! It's easier to get it over with than to wait until it's born!" Sting failed to make sense.

Yukino hummed sharply, tearing the boxing tape of the package, refusing to meet her crush's eye. She couldn't help but feel a pang of jealously toward Lucy, immediate regret bubbling afterward. Sting hadn't been so...hyped about one woman before. Not like this.

Oof. Yukino shakes her head and takes out the containments.

"What the heck is that?" Sting eyed the object in the woman's hand as if it was a foreign object or something; he didn't know what to make of it.

"Well, " Yukino looked at the breast pump, unsure of how to explain it to the men. "I...it...well, it's a breast pump."

"A what?"

Stared down with scrunched up, weird-out expressions, Yukino sighed heavily and nodded. She positioned the pump over her left breast, covering the suction-like funnel over her clothed bust.

"It goes on like this, " She said, only getting creeped-out stares. "It's for women who choose not to breastfeed."

"Breastfeed?"

"Okay, " Yukino sucked in a sharp breath, feeling a strong urge to smack her friend over the head. "Think of it like puppies, Sting. Sometime in the middle and final trimester, women develop milk. After the baby is born, the mother has a certain...anitbody in her milk, I suppose. It helps develop the baby's immune system. Some women bottle-feed their milk to their newborn, some choose to feed by the nipple."

"Okay, wow, " Sting averted his gaze to the trashy floor. "That's...not weird at all..."

"Och!" The white-haired woman rolled her eyes, returning the pump to the box. "Don't be so dramatic. It's natural. Every new mother goes through this development."

"What else have you got that Lucy doesn't know about?" Rogue asks, eyeing the few boxes untouched.

"Oh! Um, well, I got her a birthing ball."

"I'm not even gonna ask about that one."

Yukino laughs out, amused; she covers her mouth with her palm. "It's not like that at all! It helps the birth to be easier."

"Ah! Ah! I don't wanna hear that!" Sting plugs his ears with his fingers, his face burning this healthy red.

Where is Rogue in this? Well, he is trying to keep a steady, calm, and mature expression. In honesty, he's ghosting a smile, amused.

"Wait till Lucy sees all the presents you got her! I bet she'll flip with excitement!" Lector enthuses, punching the air with his paws, tail swishing in an 's' motion.

"Oh!" The sharp gasp leaves Yukino. She replaces the box on the couch next to her and jumps to her feet. "What time is it?" The woman dances around Sting and through the bubble wrap, nearly tripping over herself on the way. "We should head to the train station, Lucy and the others should be getting back soon!"

"Yuki..." Sting says, dropping his hands and looking at his friend. "They should've been back yesterday."

"Yeah? Lucy contacted me and said there was a hold-up, and they'd be back today."

"When did you have time to talk to her?"

"That's not important right now; time is ticking!" Yukino slips her shoes on eagerly.

"It's barely three!"

~

*law and order ding donging sound*

Back at it again! I'm changing this around, let's focus on certain Fairy girls and how they react to Carla's vision. I'm sure most of you have forgotten it, but let's go this

~

"I don't think we should've let her leave."

"We can't force her to stay, Erza." Mira frowned at the redhead, folding her arms across her chest.

"She didn't seem to want to leave at all, though, " Levy spoke up. "She keeps insisting she has to go, but why does she have to go at all?" She peers around the kitchen.

"We've discussed this, " Carla spoke up lightly, lifting a steaming teacup to her mouth. "Lucy doesn't want to speak of her problems, even if it seems she continuously dodging and running away."

"Carla." Wendy timidly murmured.

"Not now, child, " the white feline chastised her dragon slayer. "If it's any consolation, I say we leave the girl to her thoughts and life until she sees otherwise."

"You know, don't you?" The heat simmered down as Erza fixates on Carla, causing her to freeze up especially as more eyes settled on her.

Tension hit the ceiling once again.

"Carla?" Mira was the first to speak, facing the cat fully and when she didn't respond, Mira spoke up again. "Carla, what does that mean?"

Carla clamps her jaw shut, reluctant to say anything about her latest vision of the Heartfilia woman. She had told Erza and Wendy and Lisanna she had a vision of Lucy, but not what it was about.

"Carla." Levy urged pleadingly. "If you know something, tell us."

"I...I...it doesn't...I couldn't make anything of it." The feline found herself unsure how to tell these strong-willed ladies.

"Please, Carla." Wendy took Carla's paws into her palms. "If you know something, you've gotta tell us."

"Please, Wendy, " Carla pensively pleaded, eyes glazing somberly. "Don't...it's...I...well...no. I-I can't."

The cat couldn't do this. Even thinking back to her vision, sent chills throughout her diaphragm. Perhaps she could remember a time where her vision sent warning signals that truly screamed a death wish. Perhaps she could recall a vision that terrified her to her very core, petrifying, even.

Lucy and her baby seemed to be wrapped in the middle of this.

They were in serious peril.

These young women, love Lucy like a sister, and she is going to suffer. They watch Carla in her silence, intensely and pleading.

"I...saw Lucy—I saw Lucy. She was...she is in labor."

"What?" A string of panic arose among the women.

"She's gone into labor already? She's barely five months!" Erza peered around frantically, tone hitching with concern.

"I'm telling you what I saw!" Carla snapped her head toward the redhead, eyes narrowing almost dangerously.

"Anyway, " Levy grabs the exceed's attention, eyebrows crinkling together. "What else?"

"She was shackled down and these...people in dark robes, " Pausing, Carla looks toward Lisanna and then toward Wendy. "They took the baby as soon as it was born. I can still hear Lucy screaming for her baby. And then I see a great war between a malicious deity and its worshippers against us: Fairy Tail. I...didn't—can't see a welcoming outcome. I can't say much, but..." Carla slowly hangs her head, almost as if in shame, but instead of shame, it was fear.

"But what, Carla?" Erza's voice is strained, hard, dominating, desperately keen on headbutting for the rest.

Carla hesitated, pausing a long moment, unintentionally increasing the panic within the room.

"Carla," Mira speaks. Like a strict mother scolding her child into confessing that they had broken a valuable item. She plants her fists on her hips. "Please."

"The baby...doesn't..." Carla sucks in a dry and hitched breath, hating to present her vision. "The baby doesn't make it."