Lucy Heartfilia sat there in the guild of Fairy Tail. Her light blonde hair glistened in the light through the window. Her round face looking down into a root beer. Lucy's brown eyes looked up to see Mira cleaning up the bar. It was a slow afternoon since most of the other teams were on missions or out training. It had been a while since herself, and her team went on a mission. It seemed like their team had scattered to the far parts of Magnolia.

"You seem down Lucy. What's wrong?" A soft voice that belonged to Mira appeared from the brightness of the young woman. Lucy looked up only to smile and shrug, "Nothing, it's just I really want to go on a mission but no one in my team is to be found. Not even Natsu and Happy who are almost always here."

Mira nodded, "You should go find them at their little cottage. They would probably be there if I had to bet."

Lucy grinned and nodded. " That's a great idea! They have to go home to sleep!" The enthusiastic young girl ran off leaving to the fiery wizard's home that belonged to him and his little blue friend. Even though she hated to admit it, she missed the fire fuelled idiot.

Natsu was sitting in the hammock that he had in his little cottage. He had a picture that Reedus drew for him. It was a beautiful picture of his team. It had Gray looking so cool and collective, Erza with her terrifying stare but beautiful stance, Wendy and Carla looking so serious but playful, and Happy being his happy self on Natsu's shoulder, who did nothing but smile. Then there was Lucy. She was breathtaking to him. Reedus had really captivated Lucy's large brown eyes that sparkled to Natsu. He blushed at the thought of having her eyes look at him with the way his dark eyes looked at her.

He traced his finger across her face in the portrait. It was magnificent. The dragonslayer had to take a breath in quickly, almost forgetting that he had to breathe. The scent of the celestial wizard filled his nostrils. It smelled like blooming cherry blossoms and jasmine. He always savored her smell. Nothing could ever compare to her smell. He put his portrait away and got up only to see Happy asleep in his little bed. Natsu passed to the door.

Lucy knocked on the door gently, hoping to find the pink haired teammate of hers. "Natsu! I know you're in there. now open up!" She shouted in an almost demanding tone. Behind the door Natsu laughed a little, "Why should I?" He wanted to play with his prey before allowing them to come in. Lucy was his prey at the moment. He was going to have some fun before obeying.

Lucy's face turned red, "Because! I said so!" Her voice now had a touch of anger. Natsu just smirked, "Uh no. Give me a good reason and I might." He couldn't help but trap the poor girl. He was more clever than what most people gave him credit for. Lucy sighed and thought about it. The way to Natsu was food. "I'll take you out for dinner!" The thought of that made Lucy blush a little but she shook her head knowing that Natsu was only in it for the food.

Natsu smiled and pondered the offer. He liked the sound of that. "I'm thinking about it." The dragonslayer realized that tonight would be a nice night to eat, and have a little fun with his best guildmate besides Happy. "Alright, you can come in." Natsu unlocked the door and stepped back.

The voluptuous blonde girl opened the door to see Natsu sitting on a stool with his feet propped up. "Thank you Luce, I'm really looking forward to tonight!" She blushed gently, turning her face away from the dragonslayer hoping that he wouldn't see the flushed cheeks that she carried across her face. "Yeah, sure, it's whatever. I just came to ask when we were going to go on another mission."

"Whenever. I was just waiting on things to relax for a little, but if you're sure you want to go on one, I guess we could go on one tomorrow!" He smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Natsu looked so relaxed and content with just sitting here. The young wizard got up and wrote a note to Happy, and put it near the blue Exceed telling him where to meet the young duo. Natsu went back to Lucy who was standing there, but was now looking at him directly. He smiled, "Let's go already! I'm starving here!"

They walked to the restaurant in Magnolia. It was the place where they first introduced themselves to each other. They sat in a corner booth in the edge of the place. It was a nice little place that had always served them well. They ordered their food and some for Happy, and sat in silence for a little bit while eating. Natsu was at lost for words. Lucy had so many things that crossed her mind to say, but never said them.

"You look good today Luce.."

Lucy looked up from fiddling with her fingers in awe. "T-thank you Natsu. I'm just wearing what I normally wear." He smirked, "I gave you a compliment, the least you could do is take it and say thank you." The blonde glared her eyes at him and gritted her teeth, "Thank you fire breath."

A hearty laugh appeared from the dragonslayer's mouth. "Don't be so angry, I was only kidding. Man, you're so touchy!" He kept laughing. Lucy just looked away, "At least I know how to flirt, that was a pathetic attempt."

Natsu gulped and almost choked on his tongue. He coughed and in between coughs managed to spit out his words. "Flirting? You thought I was flirting?" He looked away and gritted his teeth. His face became fireball red. "What makes you think I was flirting?"

The brown eyed beauty looked down, "Nothing. I was just kidding." She thought about it. 'Why would he flirt with me anyways. There isn't a reason for him to. He's such an idiot.'

Natsu looked at his teammate. It almost looked as if she was going to cry. He felt a deep feeling of regret and guilt wash over him almost like car sickness. He looked over at the door to see Happy flying in at a fast pace.

"I'm here Natsu!" The blue cat landed on his partners head gently. "I'm ready to eat! I hope Lucy didn't eat everything!"

Lucy didn't say anything. She just got out some money, tossed it on the table and got up. "If you'll excuse me. I have to go to the restroom." Her voice was slow and had a hint of sadness. Happy looked at his food and went at it while Natsu looked at her and tilted his head slightly, "Are you alright?"

"Yes. I'm fine. I'll be back." Lucy walked off to the restroom, and looked at herself in the mirror. She knew at this point she just wanted to go back to her apartment and sleep until morning only to hope that this was an awful dream. She didn't even know why she was so upset.

"Why am I so worried with what that idiot thinks?" She trailed off in her thoughts. Lucy took a deep breath in and decided she was just going home. The blonde girl straightened up her posture and walked back over to the table. Natsu and Happy were already gone. She leaned over and frowned. "Fine."

Lucy turned around and walked out until she hit the door. After walked out of the restaurant she started to break into a sprint all the way home. One tear after another rolled down her face. This was one of the worst dates she had ever been on. The fact it was with Natsu made it even worse.

When she got into her apartment, she decided to get in the shower and then lay in bed. She looked out her window from her bed and saw the moon. 'Why am I so distressed with what he thinks? I really thought..I really..' Her mind trailed off gently. 'Do I really have feelings for Natsu?..." Her mind continued to wander until she came to the conclusion. "I have feelings for Natsu...I..always have.." She turned over and fell asleep with one tear rolling down her face.

Outside Natsu listen gently to the celestial beauty. His heart stopped. He knew he had hurt her. He knew she liked him. "I'm such an idiot Happy." The blue Exceed carried his buddy and looked into Lucy's window. "I know. She'll get over it though. You just have to give her some time. She'll probably have forgotten about it in the morning." Natsu agreed and Happy carried them back to their cottage for rest.

The next day at the guild hall, Lucy and Natsu were silent as they checked the job board. A new one had been pulled off already. "Lucy, Natsu. You're both needed by Macao." Mira said gently. They nodded and went to talk to the guildmaster.

Macao had a drink in his hand and had the flier on the table in front of him. "Good, you two are finally here. I have a serious mission for you." Natsu had a huge smile on his face. "Sure! What is it?"

The guildmaster took a drink out of the large mug. "We have word that there are some children from a village that are being used to for their magic. They've just started using their powers and already small thief guilds and mercenary guilds are trying to contact them. We need you two along with other members of the guild to watch them. It's a difficult position but since the children are so young, they need a sort of parental figures."

Natsu busted out laughing, "Ah you're joking right?" Fire spewed from his mouth while he rolled in the floor and laughed. Happy laughed just as hard beside him. Lucy narrowed her glare at him, "Shut it you jerk! It's not very funny, it's an important mission!"

Macao cleared his throat, "You, Natsu, Gray, Juvia, Evergreen, Elfman, Levy and Gajeel will be taking this mission. Our other wizards will be dropping by when needed for help. Mira will be there, but undercover along with Erza. You all will be relocated to the village where the orphanage was located until the dark guilds blew the place up. You two are going to act like a married couple and find out about these children and see if we can't protect them and maybe locate them into our guild, Blue Pegasus, or Lamia Scale. The others have already left to set up their things. We're sorry that it has to be this way but the council picked our guild for this. I told them most of you would give a little lip but Makarov insisted that it was our duty and that it was for the best if we did."

Lucy sighed, "I understand." Natsu had quit laughing and nodded, "How bad could a couple of kids be?"

The blue haired old man laughed, "Until you've had one of your own, you shouldn't ask that question."

Natsu shrugged, "Alright, I guess we're on our way."

"You do realize you're going to pose as Lucy's husband?"

Natsu's head seemed to turn blood red and deflate. "What..?" He managed to spit out quietly. Lucy rolled her eyes, "It won't be that bad. I'm not a total monster." Natsu got up and nodded, "Fine."

With that they were off to the village of Aeredale. All during the journey, Natsu and Lucy said nothing to each other, even while on the train when Natsu had his motion sickness. All was quiet between the two.

'This is going to be a long mission..', Lucy thought to herself.