Author's Notes:

So, here is the first chapter of the continuation of Dragon Senses. This is a direct continuation, so if you haven't read that story, you might be a little lost in this one. Also, like Dragon Senses, this story will include massive spoilers for everything up to and including the Grand Magic Games. I'm going to put more author's notes at the bottom of this, since most people are going to be too impatient to read much at the beginning. They will be in two parts, one talking about the story and the second a more personal note about some things going on in my life. Feel free to skip both, of course, but you might want to read the story bit, at least, since I'll be talking about the direction this story is going to take. The story as a whole will be rated M but this chapter is just a K+, maybe borderline T.

Of course, the characters and all belong to Hiro Mashima, not me.

Chapter 1

Lucy moved silently around her apartment, absentmindedly cleaning and straightening things up as she went. She was currently alone, something that had become rather rare since she and Natsu had started dating. They'd worked out an agreement, though, where at least twice a month, she'd spend the day at her home, working on her writing, while he and Happy went off to spend some time together, just the two of them. She was a little too restless to concentrate on her writing at the moment, so she'd decided to do some cleaning, instead. In a couple of days, she and Natsu would be celebrating their four-month anniversary as a couple and she was slightly preoccupied.

Normally, Lucy wouldn't think too much about an anniversary like this. She was not like Juvia, to literally count each day as an anniversary, and Natsu had never been the type to pay very much attention to things like birthdays or anniversaries. Their relationship was still new enough for it to be important to Lucy but not something that she would expect someone like Natsu to keep track of, much less want to celebrate. He had surprised her, however, by acknowledging both their second and third-month anniversaries, giving her a new set of cotton towels, supposedly to replace some he'd accidentally destroyed, and a leather wristband, to match the one he wore.

Thinking about it, Lucy giggled, amused and slightly exasperated. Natsu was trying very hard to keep track of how long they'd been together and giving her a monthly gift was his way of marking the time. Since he was so new to even the idea of being in a relationship, he'd had a little difficulty trying to figure out what to give her. Mirajane was the one who had realized that Lucy's presents had not only been given on the exact day of their monthly anniversary, but they also represented the types of gifts traditionally given on yearly anniversaries. Their female guildmates thought it was incredibly sweet and romantic and, honestly, so did Lucy. All of the girls in the guild were eagerly waiting to see what fruit or flower gift he'd come up with for the fourth month and what excuse he'd use to explain his reason for giving something to Lucy this time.

Lucy smiled wistfully as she moved around the living room, thinking back on everything that had happened over the last several months. After they'd acknowledged their feelings for one another, Lucy's relationship with Natsu had settled back down into something closely resembling the relationship that they'd had before she'd been confronted with the realities of Natsu's dragon senses. They kissed a lot and cuddled a lot more but, for the most part, nothing else had changed very much. After some consideration, she'd come to the conclusion that the two of them had already loved each other so much and been so close that there really hadn't been that much that needed to change for them to transition into being together as a couple, rather than just exceedingly close friends. There were a few minor things, like Lucy no longer wanting to go on dates with other men and Natsu openly expressing an interest in girls and romance, but only when it came to Lucy. He was also very reluctant to leave her side, a side effect of the incomplete claim, which was why negotiating for a time for them to separated had been necessary. Their friends had teased them mercilessly, but no one had really been surprised when they'd announced that they were together. In fact, the only major difference was the new physical intimacy between them. At least, that would be the only major difference if there actually WAS any physical intimacy between them. So far, they hadn't really done much of anything together other than kiss.

Lucy frowned as she thought about it. At first, she had been content with nothing but kisses and a few tentative caresses and Natsu had been very careful not to pressure her into anything she might be uncomfortable with. Of course, for both of them, sex was a really big deal. With the two of them both being virgins, their first time would have been important to them anyway, but with the whole claiming/bonding/mating thing added to it, Lucy had been more than a little nervous about taking that step.

Lucy snorted in disgust, annoyed with herself for being less than honest, especially in her own thoughts. Taking a break from her cleaning for a moment, she went and got a glass of water from the kitchen. After taking a long drink, downing half of the glass at once, she leaned back against the counter and stared down at the glass in her hands, gently swirling the water.

"Nervous?" Sighing heavily, she muttered, "No, I wasn't nervous. I was scared to death. Being with him like that would essentially be my wedding night." A wry grin crossed her lips. "Actually, having sex with him would BE the wedding." Sighing again, she drained the glass and set it on the counter before going back into the living room to continue with her household chores.

After four months in a relationship with Natsu, Lucy was a lot less shy about talking about such things, although they hadn't told anyone that sex, for them, would be similar to getting married, only without the divorce option. Between Natsu's borderline obsession with always touching her and the comments and "advice" they'd heard from the guild ever since they'd gotten together, she'd had no choice but to develop a slightly thicker skin when it came to physical intimacy. She'd been so easily flustered and embarrassed at first and Natsu's total lack of modesty hadn't helped at all. The first time they had started to make out, he had immediately stripped completely naked. She'd promptly freaked out and demanded that he put his clothes back on but, Natsu being Natsu, he'd just stood there arguing with her about it, still naked. Eventually, she'd gotten him to agree to at least keep his boxers on, until she was more comfortable with the changes in their relationship.

Since then, with one notable exception, they hadn't really made any progress towards becoming lovers. That fact actually seemed to bother Lucy a lot more than Natsu, especially lately. Natsu, on the other hand, had been much more bothered by the fact that ordinary human males, not having Natsu's heightened senses, hadn't seemed to be aware that Lucy now had a boyfriend and continued to ask her out on occasion. Since he hadn't actually claimed her yet, Natsu's instincts saw the men as rivals, trying to steal her away, and his possessiveness had caused some problems at first. He hadn't wanted to let her out of his sight, for any reason. Natsu had wanted a way to make it obvious that Lucy was already taken and the easiest solution, to him, was to put a ring on her finger. Lucy had woken up one morning, about a month after they'd gotten together, to find Natsu sitting beside her on the bed, holding her left hand and admiring the matching rings that he'd placed on both of their fingers.

Lucy had immediately yanked off the ring and started yelling, angry at him for breaking in yet again and but more so for putting the ring on her finger without any kind of proposal. It hadn't helped that it had been a wedding ring, not an engagement ring. She had taken that to mean that Natsu didn't see the need for an actual wedding and this had lead to their first major fight as a couple. Between Natsu's instinct-driven fear of losing her to another man and Lucy's fear that he wouldn't want to have a real wedding ceremony, it had been a big one.

After a month of seeing Natsu wrapped around Lucy as often as physically possible, it was immediately apparent to the entire guild that something was wrong when they'd refused to even speak to one another and it didn't take long for their friends to start meddling, trying to get them back together. Lucy and Natsu had both refused to give any details to anyone about the reason for their fight, no matter what they were threatened with, and the attempts to "help" had quickly focused more on trying to discover what had happened between them, rather than resolving the issue. To everyone's surprise, it was Lucy that eventually exploded at them, demanding that their guildmates stay out of it. She snickered slightly as she went into the bathroom to continue her cleaning, remembering the shocked looks on her friends' faces when she'd yelled at them. They were even more startled by Natsu supporting her, in spite of the disagreement, telling everyone that if he and Lucy were going to be successful as a couple, then they needed to figure out how to work things out on their own when they argued.

Eventually, of course, the two of them had made up. When they finally talked it out, she'd been taken aback to discover that Natsu had already considered them engaged. Slightly sheepish, she remembered the way he'd rolled his eyes at her, asking what she'd thought he'd meant when he'd said that they'd be together for the rest of their lives. He'd been very unhappy, unable to disagree, when she'd pointed out that deciding to be together, even if it was going to be forever, and having a wedding ceremony were two entirely different things and there was no reason for her to wear a ring yet. He'd been crestfallen when she told him that even if he offered her an engagement ring, they'd only been officially together for a month and she wasn't willing to become publicly engaged so soon.

After a great deal of discussion, consisting mostly of Lucy talking and a pouting Natsu refusing to go along with anything she suggested, they finally reached a compromise. Ever since the Grand Magic Games, the popularity of the Fairy Tail mages had gone through the roof and Sorcerer Magazine was always willing to interview the guild members, especially someone as well-known and popular as Natsu. Many of the men who had approached her had known who she was and that she and Natsu had only been partners, so they had ignored his presence beside her. The two of them would take advantage of their popularity to make the status of their relationship known to the general public and, after "a suitable time", they'd announce their engagement and Lucy could openly start planning their wedding.

It had taken Lucy over an hour to get Natsu to agree to wait a full six months before making the announcement. Natsu, with typical impatience, hadn't wanted to wait at all, much less another five months. It had taken everything Lucy could think of to convince him to wait so long but, in the end, the convincing argument had been surprisingly simple. She'd finally stopped trying to persuade him by talking about things like how it might affect their reputations and just told him how she really felt, that she needed the time. She'd never had a boyfriend before, much less been in such a serious relationship, and she needed some time to come to terms with everything. She needed time to be absolutely sure that a life-time with Natsu was what she truly wanted. His immediate, though still reluctant, capitulation had been a bit of a revelation for Lucy.

Having finally finished the chores around her apartment, Lucy sat down at her desk, idly rearranging some papers in front of her, thinking about that discussion and how it had made her feel. She knew that Natsu loved her, even though he'd never actually said the words. He made his feelings for her obvious with his actions on a regular basis, but this had been the first time that she'd realized just how important her happiness was to him. While she loved him, she'd initially had her doubts about the two of them being able to succeed as a couple. Natsu could be incredibly stubborn and childish and behavior that she had been able to shrug off or ignore when they were just close friends and partners wouldn't necessarily be okay after they started dating. They both needed to learn how to accommodate one another and compromise and that had been the first time that Natsu had proven that he would back off when they disagreed over something if it was truly important to her, even if he was completely against it.

She had been absolutely stunned when she had found out that, rather than being reluctant to have a wedding, he was incredibly eager to go through with the ceremony. That was the reason why he was currently keeping such close track of their monthly anniversaries, not wanting to wait a moment longer than he'd agreed to before at least putting an engagement ring on her finger. It had made sense, though, when he pointed out that, as a celestial mage, the wedding vows would bind her as permanently to him as his own instincts would bind him to her, once they'd made love for the first time. Natsu genuinely wanted them to be together for the rest of their lives and a wedding would mean that divorce wouldn't be an option for either of them any more.

She had been so very relieved to realize that they could actually work things out and reach an acceptable compromise when they argued and it assuaged the worst of her doubts. That, along with discovering that he was actually planning for them to be married, had made her fall in love with him all over again. Her heart had been filled with so much love for him in that moment that she'd pounced on him, kissing him with such passion that they'd both gotten carried away and almost made love that night. They'd both been completely naked and Natsu had been kissing his way down her body when Happy had barged in, wanting to see if they'd made up yet. Lucy knew, without a doubt, that if Happy had been just a few minutes later, Natsu would have joined his body to hers and there would have been no going back.

Lucy shivered and bit her lip, thinking of that night. His hands and mouth had felt so good on her body and, if Erza's books had any truth at all to them, then having Natsu inside her would have felt so much better. She wrapped her arms around herself, hugging herself tightly, and leaned back in the chair. She couldn't seem to stop thinking about the way it had felt when he touched her intimately and how much she had enjoyed the heat and weight of his body above hers. He was frequently going on about how HE belonged to HER just as much as she belonged to him and, recently, such comments made her itch to explore the body that he was so blatantly offering to her. Despite her desire for him, though, something was holding her back.

Initially, after the shock of being interrupted, she had been mortified by the way she had acted with him. She had made such embarrassing sounds and acted so wanton, completely different from her usual self. Natsu had realized almost immediately that they'd gone way too far and much too soon for her comfort and had almost been afraid to touch her, even platonically, until she'd lost her temper and snapped at him. After that, they'd both relaxed and gone back to just kissing and holding each other. The publication of the article announcing the change in their relationship and the subsequent reduction in the number of men approaching Lucy had also helped things to go back to normal. Still, that incident had happened almost three months ago now and they hadn't gotten anywhere near that far since.

There were actually several reasons for their lack of progress, most of them because of Lucy. In the beginning, when they'd first gotten together, she'd been afraid of the permanence that the act of having sex would mean for them. After being with Natsu for the last few months, she had become much more confident in their relationship and that had slowly stopped being an issue for her. Her eagerness to explore the formerly forbidden world of sex had grown along with that confidence and her current difficulty in focusing on other things reflected her increased interest. Her embarrassment over her own behavior and loss of control the night they'd almost made love, on the other hand, had almost immediately become another concern for her.

Natsu had figured out what was bothering her and eventually confronted her about it. He'd told her that she was being stupid for getting upset over something that was completely normal. The boasting over his "obvious" sexual prowess aside, he'd had a point when he'd stated that her reactions had been a way for him to tell when she enjoyed what he was doing and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. Erza's books were really the only thing Lucy had to go by when it came to what could be considered "normal" for sex but they talked about getting "caught up in the moment" and "carried away". When he'd initially told her that, she'd thought at first that he might have been lying, just trying to reassure her, but she'd realized that he was probably telling the truth. Natsu had also told her during that conversation that knowing she wanted him as badly as he wanted her was a really good thing, too. Lucy's whole body heated up and she shifted restlessly in her chair, remembering the expression on his face when he'd told her that. He'd made it quite clear that he would be more than willing to pick up where they'd left off the night they'd been interrupted, as long as that's what she wanted, too.

That issue having been addressed, she hadn't completely gotten over her embarrassment, but she'd realized that she wouldn't care so much about such things in the heat of the moment and had tried not to dwell on it too much. In spite of having come to terms with all of that, there was something about what had happened between them that continued to bother her. When she focused her thoughts on Natsu and the idea of being with him, it was something she wanted, very very much. On the other hand, when she thought about the actual experience they'd had, the way he had made her feel, she was uneasy. She wanted to be with him but any time he tried to make a move beyond just kissing, even when she encouraged him to, she tensed up and couldn't relax. If she was honest, she was actually a bit fearful and Natsu wasn't about to continue anything when she was feeling like that.

The problem was that Lucy, herself, didn't really understand why she was acting the way she was. She couldn't find the words to describe what was wrong, even in her own head, and neither one of them had been able to come up with a solution. Natsu had been surprisingly patient, saying that they had plenty of time to figure it out, years if necessary, and it was more important that Lucy be truly ready for such a step before they went any further. Lucy, though, was getting frustrated and more than a little annoyed with herself. They'd already been friends and partners for so long and, by this time, she was certain that they'd be very happy together, so she no longer saw any reason for them to delay becoming lovers.

She groaned and relaxed even further in the chair, letting her head fall back as far as it could and closing her eyes. "It's my fault," she whispered. "I'm the one that keeps stopping anything from happening and I'm more unhappy about it than he is. I just don't know what to do..."

"Maybe you should talk to someone about it, instead of keeping it all bottled up inside," came the unexpected response.

tbc...

Alright, about the story. This WILL have sex in it. The focus, though, is not on them getting it on, but a realistic exploration of the development of a relationship. Lucy lives in a place and time that is very much like the way I grew up. We didn't have the internet back then, so the only way you could find out anything was to look it up in a book or ask someone in person. Explicit romance books were great when it came to describing the physical actions of sex, but not so great on the realistic details. Part of the problem with learning about sex from such things is that you don't know enough to know what questions to ask when you do find someone that you're comfortable enough to talk to about it. Until you actually start experiencing physical intimacy, you don't realize just how much you don't know. That's what I want to explore with Lucy and her relationship with Natsu. That being the case, this story isn't going to be for everyone's taste. Just keep that in mind if you continue reading, okay?

On a personal note, I've spoken on Tumblr about how I have an internet stalker. I'm not going to go into any details about it, but he isn't doing anything illegal or truly harrassing. He just makes me very self-conscious and uncomfortable. That makes writing this story, much less posting it, very difficult for me. I identify very strongly with Lucy and writing a story like this, it's obviously going to be based on my own experiences. Things that actually happened, things that I wish would have happened, and things that I still wish to experience at some point in the future, although I'm not going to explain which is which, of course. Posting something that has so much of myself in it, knowing that he is going to read and react to it, is very difficult for me. My cousin pointed out that I was allowing him to control me, dictate what I did or didn't do, and, in the process, was giving up something that meant a lot to me. Posting your work for others to see requires courage but posting this kind of thing under these circumstances requires a type of courage that I'm not sure I have enough of. That being the case, updates are probably going to be VERY sporadic. My goal is to post a chapter a week, but I'll be honest and say that's unlikely to actually happen. Still, even if the updates are infrequent, I plan on continuing this story. I refuse to let fear control me and I'm not going to start now.

Now, thank you for reading my story and please please please review. It motivates me to continue and sometimes I really need the motivation. Oh, and feel free to guess who's broken into Lucy's apartment this time. I'm curious to see if anyone can figure it out.