Coincidence or Fate?

Chapter 1

That Day in the Rain

Natsu P.O.V.

I'm walking down the street in the rain heading home after work when a car speeds by, but it stops and someone falls out the passenger side then the car speeds off. I run up to the person.

A girl with blond hair, she's alive but beat, battered, and unconscious.

I don't know what makes me do it but I pick her up and run home. When I get there my sister, Wendy, opens the door but before she says anything I say "Get mom, she needs help." and she takes off.

I set the mystery girl down on the sofa but something tells me to stay by her side so I do. Then Mom comes running in with Wendy and when she sees the girl she says "Wendy get my medical bag and the first aid kit."

Then she turns to me and says "Get some warm water so your sister and I can clean her up, but then I want to know what happened." I nod and take off for the kitchen.

When I return with the water Wendy is just coming down the steps with the first aid kit. Mom then says "Go upstairs and get changed I'll call you down soon." I nod and head up to my room.

After what seems like forever but is actually 15 minutes Mom says "Natsu can you come here?" I walk down the stairs to find the mystery girl cleaned up and bandaged but she is still out cold.

I look at Mom and she says "She's fine for right now. Nothing serious, but I want to know what happened."

I look at the girl and say "I was walking home when a car sped by and she fell out. It started raining pretty hard so I followed my gut and brought her here."

Mom nods and says "Well I'm glad I taught you well. The poor thing in malnourished, dehydrated and bruised from head to toe."

I look at Mom and say "Mom I don't know what it is but my heart feels like it's being pulled towards her, like I want to be around her all the time even though I just met her."

Mom looks from me to the girl and back to me before saying "I have a hunch but I won't say anything about it until I see what happens. For now though stay by her side. I'm gonna make dinner and your father will be home soon."

I pale at the that and say "What will Dad think?"

"I think he'll let her stay but we have to wait and see. In the meantime take her up to the spare room. When your father gets home we'll be up to figure this out."

I go over and pick the blonde up carrying her to the spare room, I gently lay her down and pull the blankets up around her. Then I grab the chair from the writing desk and sit next to the bed wondering how the hell this happened.

15 minutes later there's a soft knock on the door so I get up and step out leaving the door ajar to keep an ear on her. Outside the door Mom and Dad are standing there and Dad looks like he's trying to say something.

Finally he speaks up "Natsu why did you bring the girl here and not to the hospital?"

I frown saying "I don't know, my gut told me to bring her here and I did."

He frowns then says "Alright she can stay here, but when she wakes up we get her to tell us what happened." Before he says anything else we hear a cry and a thud behind me.

Lucy P.O.V.

The last thing I remember is being pushed out of the car onto the wet street but when I wake up I'm in a warm bed, covered in bandages, and comfortable.

'Weird Sting and Rogue never let me have anything like this.' Then I heard voices and I looked over at the door. I can't make out what they're saying so I decide to get up. Big mistake.

As soon as I stand I cry out from the pain and hit the floor hard. I look to see a set of barefeet walking towards me, but when he holds out a hand I flinch remembering how Sting would kick me if I fell.

Then I hear a woman's voice say in a soft low tone "It's alright we won't hurt you just let my son and I help you back onto the bed."

I look at the person who spoke. She has pink hair tied in a ponytail with bangs framing her face. She gives me a soft smile and moves forward to help me when I give a small nod.

I feel two sets of hands wrap around my arms lifting me back onto the bed. Then I get a better look at the people who helped me.

One, a guy, is about my age and has pink hair. He also has a caring smile and he's dressed in pajamas that are covered in flames. The woman who spoke to me is dressed in nurse's scrubs and also has a kind smile.

In her and her son's eyes I can see truth, honesty and trust. Then I notice the older man in the door. He has bright red hair that stands in all directions like the boys.

He's wearing a ruffled business suit as if he's had a long day. I look down at the floor waiting for someone to speak up.

Finally the lady speaks up. "My name is Grandeeney, My son's name is Natsu and the idiot standing in the doorway is my husband. What's your name?"

I giggle softly when she calls her husband an idiot then I say "My name is Lucy." Then I ask "Where am I? How did I end up here?" The boy's eyes grow as large as dinner plates.

"You don't remember what happened?" He says in a low tone. I shake my head and stare at the floor. "All I remember is being pushed and hitting the ground." I whisper.

Grandeeney steps in and says "Natsu leave it for the moment, you and Igneel go downstairs and eat and send your sister up with the food I made for the poor girl." Both men disappear out the door and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Grandeeney then sits on the bed next to me but with enough distance that I feel safe. "You poor thing what happened to you?" She ask quietly, but when I go to answer all that escapes are tears.

Grandeeney sees this but instead of snapping at me like I expect she just says "You don't need to say anything, for right now lets just worry about getting you healthy."

After she says that there's a soft knock on the door and a young girl of about 13 or 14 walks in carrying a tray with soup and bread. "Lucy this is my daughter Wendy." Grandeeney states quietly.

Again I just look at the floor, I learned that if I look at the floor I won't get hit. Grandeeney takes the tray from Wendy and says "Here eat up it's my special recipe." I take the bowl and try the soup.

It doesn't hurt my stomach so I eat until I've had my fill, which isn't much seeing as the bowl is half empty. Grandeeney sees this and frowns "When was the last time you had a decent meal?" I just shake my head not knowing myself.

"Alright well you just get some sleep for right now and I'll be back later to check on you." I give her a small smile, the first one in a while, before laying back down to sleep.

Grandeeney P.O.V.

'I can see why Natsu has already fallen for her. I wonder what happened to make her look and act this way.' I think as I make my way downstairs knowing I'll have to clean up the mess Igneel and Natsu typically make but when I get downstairs I find Natsu pacing a hole in the carpet and Igneel's eating his dinner quietly.

"Natsu why aren't you eating?" I ask the boy. He stops long enough to say "Not hungry" before going back to pacing. I look at Igneel who just shrugs before going back to eating.

"Natsu if you really want to help this girl you need to eat." He goes to his seat and makes a small plate. After he finishes his dinner he goes upstairs.

"What wash that abrout?" Igneel says with his mouth full. "Igneel how many times do I have to tell you not to talk with your mouth full?" I snap at him and settle into the seat across from him with a sigh.

"I think he's already fallen for the girl even though he just met her." Igneel grins and says "Well the heir to the Dragneel Corporation does need a wife. I say we let it play out, we let her stay here and send her to school with Natsu. He can use the rest of the summer to earn her trust and get her to open up some. She looks like she needs a friend so why not have Natsu fill that role?"

Normal P.O.V.

Meanwhile Natsu is leaning against Lucy's door listening to their conversation. "A friend huh? Yea I think I can do that." He whispers before walking into Lucy's room and leaning against the writing desk, falling asleep.

A few hours later he wakes up to Lucy whimpering in her sleep so he takes the chair and places it next to the bed. He sits and takes her hand in his and she immediately calms down. Then he lays his head on his arm and falls asleep still holding her hand.

The next morning when Grandeeney walks into the room to check on Lucy she sees this and smiles slightly before walking over and waking Natsu up.

"Natsu your father is eating all the food again." she whispers in his ear knowing it will get him up. He lifts his head bleary eyed and says "Let him eat I don't want to move."

This shocks Grandeeney but she recovers and says "Go take a shower and wake up, you don't have to worry about working for the rest of the summer. From now on you'll be helping me take care of Lucy. Even though she needs to heal physically she needs a friend to help her heal mentally and emotionally. Think you can do that?"

Now he's awake and listening. He gets up and goes to his room to shower and get changed. Grandeeney then softly shakes Lucy awake saying "Lucy it's time to get up and get some breakfast."

Lucy's eyes flutter open alarm, then confusion, then recognition flashing through them. She slowly sits up wincing a little at the pain before saying "Thank you Grandeeney."

Grandeeney smiles before saying "No problem dear, would you like to take a shower and go downstairs for breakfast?"

Lucy nods and Grandeeney helps her to the bathroom before saying "While you were asleep I went to the store down the street and got some clothes for you to relax in instead of those rags."

Lucy just nods before shutting and locking the door, while Grandeeney goes downstairs to cook breakfast. Once Natsu is done with his shower and he changes he walks back to Lucy's room. As he walks up he sees Grandeeney leaving and says "Hey Mom, how's Luce?"

Grandeeney looks at him with an eyebrow raised "Luce eh?"

"What? It's a good nickname." She chuckles and says "She's coming down for breakfast after she gets out of the shower. Why don't you wait outside her door so you two can walk down together?"

Natsu P.O.V.

"Yea, sure mom." I say leaning against the door frame. I only have to wait 10 minutes before Luce opens her door. I say "Hey Luce" and give her my biggest, goofiest, grin.

She squeaks and steps back. "Sorry didn't mean to scare you but I thought maybe I would walk with you down to breakfast." She says "Sure" and we walk quietly down to the kitchen.

"Hey Natsu, Hi Lucy" This coming from Wendy who's already chowing on some watermelon.

"Help yourselves I have to go wake your father again, and Natsu? Don't eat everything spare some for Lucy." Mom says as she heads for the steps.

Lucy looks at me in confusion and Wendy says "Natsu can eat enough to make an all you can eat buffet go out of business."

I glare at Wendy and say "That was one time and besides Dad bought the place and turned it into a youth center that you are supposed to take over when you turn 16."

Wendy is about to retort when Luce says "What do you mean when she turns 16? And how old are you?"

Wendy chews a piece of watermelon before saying "Dad's really good at buying places that are going out of business and turning them into businesses that that part of town needs. The youth center is in the middle of of Hurt Village and has turned around many young lives that were going down the dark path. As for your questions I'm 14 now and I start training to run the youth center when I turn 15 so Mom can go back to helping at the hospital."

"Oh" Is all she says. "Luce go ahead and eat so we can go play this new game I just got." I say starting to eat before Dad comes down. I watch her while she eats and when she thinks no one's looking I can see a small smile appears.

Then I realize I always want to see her smile so I take two sausages and stick them under my top lip so they're pointing out then I say "Hey Luce do I have something on my lip?"

Luce looks up and at first I see a smirk, then a grin, and finally what I was waiting for, a smile. Wendy takes my cue and puts a piece of watermelon behind her bottom lip saying "Is there anything on my face?"

Then we freeze when we hear a giggle but break into grins, food forgotten, when we realize we got Luce to not only smile but giggle. When we go back to eating Mom and Dad come downstairs. Dad, of course, starts attacking the food while Mom ask Luce "How's the food?"

Luce gives another small smile and says "The food's great" Then Mom looks at Dad and says "Didn't I tell you not to eat all the food?"

He looks at her confused and says "Wait you did?" Mom facepalms and says "Yes before we even left the bedroom."

He sets his fork down and says "So that's what you were saying." Mom growls, walks over and slaps him in the back of the head. I look over at Luce and see fear leap across her eyes so I say "Hey Luce lets go play that game now."

She looks at me and frowns before recognition is seen in her eyes. "Go ahead to the living room and I'll grab a couple of sodas." I say putting our plates in the sink and walking over to the fridge.

Once she's out of earshot I growl "No hitting anyone else in front of her. It took me and Wendy the whole time you two were upstairs just to get her to smile. Now she's back to square one. Come on Wendy lets go."

When we're in the hall walking to the living room we hear a growl and a yelp. We walk into the living room to see Luce frozen in her spot admiring the room. "Hey Luce you ok?" she gulps and nods finally moving to sit on the couch.

I walk over to the tv and turn it and the xbox on sliding in the game disc. I grab three controllers and walk back to the couch to sit between Luce and Wendy. I hand them each a controller and say "Ready?"

They both nod and we get lost in Mario Kart for hours until Mom announces lunch. We eat up and head to the study when we find out Luce loves reading. After she picks out a couple books we go back to the living room where she settles in the corner to read while I try to beat her lap record.

"Damn it how the hell do you get a 45 second lap record on the hardest course of the game?" I growl out after coming in 3rd with a 55 second lap time after Yoshi and Mario.

"Ever thought of using your boosters?" Luce says quietly from where she's standing behind the couch. Then realization hits me "So that's what the boxes are for across the road."

She just tsk and shakes her head walking back to her book. That's how we pass the afternoon then after dinner she heads to bed. Once I'm sure she's asleep I slip into the room and take up the same position as last night, but tonight she has no nightmares.

Did anyone pick up the reference to 'The Blindside'? If you did. Congratulations. But anyway this is an Au I've been writing for the past like 3 weeks in some notebooks I keep around so I decided to drop it. Let me know what you think. Follow, Fav and Review for more.

Grizzly out for the night.

P.S. This will drop every Tuesday. Thursday, and Saturday.