Blossom

Parents

Lucy sat on the exam table, her shirt rolled up over her belly and her leg bobbing up and down. Natsu sat as close to the table as he could, unable to resist the urge to caress her stomach with his fingers.

"You feelin' okay?" With his head nearly nuzzled against her bump, it was easy to notice the anxiety in her demeanor.

"Just a little nervous," Lucy laughed it off, "There's always a chance they'll find some complications with the baby…"

"Oh… Well, don't get worked up before you even know there's something wrong."

"Yeah…" With a deep breath, Lucy decided to be optimistic. She never liked to worry, but something about being halfway through this pregnancy has made things feel even more real than they had before- something she didn't think was possible. Her mind was susceptible to every what-if and worry that there was.

With a brief knock, the sonographer entered the room with a welcoming smile on her face. "Mrs. Heartfilia?"

"Ah, it's just 'Miss'."

"Oh, yes, sorry. You two are here a little early, I'm assuming you're excited to take a look at your little one?"

The couple locked eyes for a moment before turning to her with big smiles on their faces. "Yes!"

"Well then I guess I shouldn't keep you waiting," Returning their smiles, she sat on a stool to Lucy's right and began fiddling with the tech in front of her.

This wasn't Lucy's first ultrasound, so she had a pretty good idea of what to expect here. There was a cloth tucked into the hem of her sweatpants to protect them from the cool gel that the sonographer spread around the blonde's lower abdomen. Then, a tool was placed over her pelvis, being guided by the sonographer to reveal an x-ray-like image of her uterus projected on several screens in the room.

Lucy's previous ultrasound was far more lackluster than this one, considering she was only able to see a fetus the size of a peanut. But this time, she couldn't hold back her gasp when the silhouette of a baby's head came into view.

"There's your little one," The sonographer used the pointer of her mouse to trace along the baby's silhouette, "They're giving us a pretty good view of their profile, and it looks like that's a hand just below the chin…"

"Oh wow…" Natsu hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud, he was just completely captivated by the image in front of them. He hadn't really expected to be able to recognize the outline of his baby like this- their little nose, tiny lips and a blob of little fingers touching where the chin would be.

The sonographer's voice was mostly tuned out, she mentioned something about the measurements, the number of fingers on each hand, the spine.

All Natsu could think about was that he was looking at his baby right now, it was almost like he could picture himself holding them and how their head would fit in his hand and how their hand would curl around one of his fingers-

"Natsu…"

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Lucy whisper his name, his eyes shooting down to lock on hers. It was clear that she was on the verge of crying, but before his mind could drift into panic, she smiled,

"This is so… cool…" She sniffled, her giddiness present in her voice.

"Y-yeah," Natsu breathed out in response, "I don't know what I expected, but…"

As they were shown more and more of their baby's body, it became less and less distinguishable, but the sentiment was still there. Lucy was relieved to hear that everything seemed normal so far, and at some point she started to notice how Natsu was too dazed to really listen to what the sonographer was telling them.