Blossom

Interruptions

"Did you say 47?" Natsu and Lucy had matching looks of concern as the latter returned her mother's call as quickly as she could tap on her screen.

Anxiously awaiting for an answer, Lucy silently stared off into the distance with her phone up to her ear. The tension in the car was steadily rising as the line rang for longer than usual, and she was about ready to go into full panic mode. Just before the line could prompt for a voicemail, her worries were alleviated.

"Lucy, darling! I've been waiting all day to hear back from you!"

Lucy sighed in relief and took a few seconds to collect herself. The fact that whatever was going on didn't hinder her mother's ability to answer was reassuring, at least. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything is okay. But I was worried, it's not like you to not answer your phone."

"I'm sorry, I must've had it muted while I was doing some work. I'm glad you're okay, though," Hearing her say that made Natsu relax enough to start pulling out of the parking lot.

And although the lack of urgency from Layla was appreciated, it made Lucy scrunch up her brows, "Wait... so, why did you call me so many times?"

"Because I had something important to tell you! I decided to meet up with the Dragneels! Isn't that exciting?"

"You decided to meet with... Natsu's family?"

The car jolted as Natsu instinctively pushed down on the brake.

"Yes! I've been meaning to do this for a while now. I think it's important for all of us to get along. It'd be nice for them to have some involvement with the baby shower preparations, too."

"Oh, yeah, of course..." Lucy turned to Natsu and motioned for him to keep driving. They needed to get going, and fast, "So, where are you guys? I'm assuming you wanted us to join you?" She didn't add how little faith she had in all of them being able to get along with one another without any mediation, that would only make her mother sad.

"We're at your place, dear."

"...What?"

"The condo! That's why I called you so many times, I didn't want to intrude. But you took too long, so I just let us in myself. It is very nice here, I must add, you guys have really done a good job making this into your own space!"

Lucy muted the call for a moment, breathing heavily. She didn't want to freak her boyfriend out any more than he likely already was, but this was urgent, "They're at the condo..."

"...They're where!?"

"Exactly! God, I hope no one's gone into my room..." She unmuted and put on the fakest calm tone she could muster, "Well, mom, we're on our way home right now. We should be there in a few minutes."

"That's great! We're all excited to catch up with you."

"Yes, and... Can you fill me in on who 'we' refers to exactly? Who all is there?"

"Well, there's Natsu's parents of course, as well as his siblings."

"...His siblings? More than just his sister?"

"Yes, his brother joined us. Isn't that just wonderful?"

Lucy tried to remember the last time she'd heard about Natsu's brother, and tilted her head as something didn't add up, "Wait, so he's been in town?"

"Is he usually not?"

"Uh, don't worry about it," She briefly muted once more, "Apparently, your brother is over there, too."