It wasn't until Tuesday that Lucy felt like she could catch her breath. After Gray had brought Leo home, she had been completely preoccupied with her little guy until she had to drag herself back to work and him to daycare. Thankfully, the daycare facility was only two blocks away from Magnolia High where she taught. The semester was quickly winding down and she found herself inundated with piles of essays on topics ranging from Hamlet to Harry Potter and double-checking the questions and answers for the final exams that were under her control. She both hated and loved the end of the school year. It always brought excitement due to the upcoming summer, but dread due to the oppressive amount of work that was about to crush her. She knew that for the next three weeks she would be completely exhausted, emotionally and physically worn out, as she pushed towards the final day of the year. While she usually spent her summers volunteering at education centers, this year she would simply spend time with Leo.

He was getting older. As much as she hated to admit it, her little man was growing up. In a few months he would be four years old. He would be going to kindergarten in only a year and a half. Time went by frighteningly fast. It terrified her, sometimes, when she thought about just how fast he had grown. She could still remember when he was barely even a few days old, just a wee little thing with a mop of black hair and wide brown eyes staring up at her from within her safe embrace.

Back then, everything had seemed perfect. Her and Gray had plastered over their relationship issues, the joy of new life temporarily gluing them together and filing in the cracks. For two years, they had been able to live within that fantasy world. For two years, they had been able to delude themselves into thinking that they could force their relationship to work. But, as it turned out, they had just been lying to themselves and each other, both trying to push off the inevitable.

Time with Leo was precious to her. It gave her life, fueling her for the days that she would have to spend without him. Thankfully, Gray had found a little house to rent that was only two miles away. Even though those two miles could sometimes turn into a twenty-minute drive in the heat of rush hour, he still lived relatively close by. Since Leo was still so little, they decided to share time with him as evenly as they possibly could.

He'd spend Monday through Wednesday with Lucy and Thursday through Saturday with Gray while alternating Sundays between the two.

It was torture each and every time that she had to drop him off at the two-story craftsmen rental. She would carry in his little suitcase as he bounded up the concrete steps, rushing into his father's arms. Gray would smile at her, just a small uptick of his lips, as he welcomed her into his temporary abode. After a multitude of hugs and kisses she would tear herself away, forcing herself out of the door and back into her car.

Each time was like a punch in the gut. Her stomach would twist and squeeze and she would dry heave. She wasn't sure why she always felt so anxious whenever she had to drop him off for his time with his father, but she did. Anxiety would tear through her, slowly killing her from the inside out.

Maybe the truth of the matter was that she just didn't like change.

Years ago, back when she was dressed in white with a lacy veil hanging over her flushed face, she had been filled with hope and dreams. She had envisioned her and Gray's future. She had imagined them clinging to each other forever, never letting go, while raising three little children. Back then, she had no clue that it was all about to come falling down… That the future she had envisioned would blow up, bursting into electrified dust. Every time she left Leo at Gray's it was a stark reminder of the unforeseen change and her body would spark, re-enacting the moment that they had decided to end it.

She remembered heaving over the porcelain toilet bowl, her rancid puke quickly filling it as he reached for her hair. His gentle fingers pulled back her golden strands, holding them back as tears silently fell down his face.

"Mommy!" Leo's voice shook Lucy from her memories. She jolted awake, only just realizing that she had started to doze off, and sat up straight on the couch. Leo was in front of her on his hands and knees, pushing a toy truck as he made 'vroom, vroom' noises. "Mommy, look!" He spun in a circle, his little butt sticking up in the air as he tried to spin as fast as he could while pushing the truck in front of him. Inevitably, he fell, plopping down onto his belly with a soft thud. Still, even that didn't take the wide smile off of his innocent face.

Lucy slid off of the couch and laid on her stomach, crawling towards the giggling toddler as she reached for a stuffed toy dinosaur that had hidden itself beneath the coffee table. "Rawr!" She cried as she pushed the toy towards Leo's truck, his laugh cascading over her the entire time.

Yea… Leo was her world, her purpose, her reason for existing.

It was in moments like this that she could forget, just for a moment, that her world had fallen apart. She could pretend that Gray was just in the other room instead of a couple miles away.

Her phone buzzed and she reached for it, snagging it off of the coffee table and placing it against her ear all while chasing the crawling Leo around the living room with the dinosaur toy.

"Hello?"

"Lucy, it's me." Gray's voice made her freeze just long enough for Leo to seize his chance and jump on top of her back. His sharp, little heels jutted into her ribs and she winced slightly as she began to slowly crawl around the living room playing 'horsey'. Leo's happy cries echoed back to the man on the phone and she could almost hear the smile on his face when he spoke. "What's Leo up to?"

Lucy sighed and stopped crawling. Slowly, she leaned back until Leo crawled off of her back. She spun around to face him and pointed towards the phone. "It's Daddy." She muttered. His eyes went wide and he darted towards his room, going to fetch whatever he wanted to show Gray. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the phone call. "I think he's going to fetch you something. You up for video chatting with him when we're done?"

He huffed. "Of course I am"

Her heart constricted slightly, hearing the small bit of pain in his voice. He was usually so good at hiding it, but she knew him. She could read his every small action, or lack there of, and see the emotions that he tried so desperately to keep locked away from prying eyes. "I didn't mean anything by it, Gray. Really."

He sighed, like air being released from a too-full balloon. "I know…" He paused and she suddenly felt like a little child desperately needing to be held. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to push aside the odd feeling.

"What's wrong?" Her voice quivered slightly and she hated how weak she suddenly felt. Leo burst from his room, a drawing preciously clutched in his hands.

"I just needed to hear his voice."

In that moment, Lucy understood. Gray was having just as hard of a time with the divorce as she was, he just didn't show it as often or as blatantly. He missed Leo. He missed her. He missed being a family, just like she did. She smiled softly, clutching the phone to her head. "Let's video chat, okay? Leo is waiting to show you something." She barely even waited for him to grunt a soft 'yes' before she had taken the phone away from her face and clicked the 'video' button. Gray's face burst into life on the screen, his face looking far more tired and worn out than she had seen it in months. Quickly, she flipped the phone around so that he was staring at Leo instead of her.

Leo bounced on his heels, his enthusiasm contagious. A smile slowly spread across her face as he held out his picture. He beamed, proud of his drawing. It was of the three of them, holding hands, and she felt her heart crack.

"Daddy, 'ook we're a fam'y again."

Lucy heard Gray gasp before he quickly covered up his shock with appraising words. They talked like that for nearly twenty minutes as Leo ran around, grabbing different toys and drawings to show his Dad. By the time that they hung up the phone, Lucy could see the stress that hung beneath Gray's eyes. Silently, she promised to call him after Leo was tucked in bed.

But, getting Leo in bed was not an easy matter.

It was with a kind of happy exhaustion that she fell into bed later on that night. It had taken two bedtime stories and three songs before his eyes had drooped closed. She had flicked on his constellation night light and quietly backed out of the room, leaving the door cracked. Needless to say, after a long day of work and wrangling a toddler she was wiped. She wanted nothing more than to fall asleep immediately, her make-up still on and her teeth un-brushed. Her fingers fumbled for the edges of her phone. She lifted its harsh light to stare at the screen as she quickly pressed on Gray's number.

She held the phone to her ear, closed her eyes, and waited.

"Lucy."

"Are you okay?" She dove right in, not caring about useless formalities as she listened to his familiar noises. She heard the distant sound of a TV as he turned it off before a hollow sigh hit her ears.

"That picture…" He began, fumbling over his words. She could picture him slightly gripping the armrests of his chair. "We need to make him understand that we are still a family, just a different kind of family."

"He will, with time."

"Time." He said the word like a curse. "He's still not used to coming over here and its been months. He's not adjusting."

Lucy didn't know what to say as Gray voiced the fears that laid within her heart. Her fingers dug into the comforter beneath her, wrinkling its once smooth surface. "I'm not sure what else we can do to make it easier for him. He seems pretty happy."

"Yea, but… He misses you, when you're not here."

Lucy felt hot tears sting the corners of her eyes. "He misses you too, when you're not here." Silence hung between them, heavy with their fear for their child's happiness. They both loved him, so damn much that it hurt. Lucy didn't know how to do this. She didn't know how to be divorced. She didn't know how to make everything perfect for Leo. She didn't know how to make all of the bad things okay.
She hated not knowing the answers.

"What are we going to do?" The deep desperation in his voice hit her full-on, slamming into her and making her dizzy. If she wasn't already laying down she was sure that she would have fallen onto her knees from the impact. It was in moments like this, when he would speak so softly and full of the emotion that he usually kept hidden, that she would be assaulted by the memories of their early days together. She would remember the first time that he had ever held her hand, or the way that it had felt when they had picked out this apartment to be their home.

"I really don't know, Gray. I want to pretend that we can make it all okay again. He is so young… One day he won't even remember that we ever lived in the same home."

"I know you're right." He sighed, the sound heavy and sorrowful. "Its just being away from you two is harder than I had imagined it would be." He sucked in a sharp breath and she knew that he had just caught himself. He hadn't wanted to admit that, especially not aloud to her.

"It's okay…" She whispered the words, feeling a weight leave her chest as she allowed herself to open up to him. "I miss you too."

"Lucy, we…"

"I know, but that doesn't meant that I don't miss you, that I don't miss our family. As bad as things got, I liked having you here. Seeing you with Leo…" Tears silently poured down her cheeks and she found her words cutoff, sealed within her mind.

"Fuck…" He groaned. She could picture him, leaning back in his chair with his eyes pinched shut and his lips pressed into a taut line. She could imagine the furrow in his forehead as worry and unspeakable emotions flared within him. She could sense it when he gulped, shoving his feelings aside as they both tried to deal with the reality of their situation.

They sat there in silence, with only the sound of their gentle breathing echoing back to the other over the line. It was comforting in an odd way, just to listen to his silence again. It was something that she had grown used to when they had lived together. The silence of one was very different than the silence of two. With him, at night she could hear him breathing, hear his soft snores when he was completely passed out with his arm lazily draped across her thin waist. Laying in bed alone, with just the noise from her ceiling fan, felt a hundred times more lonely.

"It's getting late." Her words shattered the silence, rendering them both temporarily immobile before she worked up the nerve to continue. "We better go to bed, we both have work in the morning."

"You're right." He sighed, the soft noise long and drawn out. "Night Lucy, love…" He cut himself off, his breath sucking in sharply, like nails against a chalkboard.

She pinched her eyes shut, shuddering as his almost said words flooded over her. She felt like she was drowning, choking on the memories of him saying 'I love you' and holding her tight. "Night, Gray."

Her hand shook as she ended the call and crawled under her blankets. Tonight, she would not remove her make-up. Tonight, she would not go brush her teeth or do some extra grading. Tonight she was going to just let herself fall asleep. She was too worn out, too embattled by her own warring emotions to deal with anything else. She curled into the fetal position, her hands rubbing at her swollen eyes.

Fuck it, she hated how weak she was.


Five days into what should have only been a four day work week made Natsu feel weary. His bones were heavy and he had to force himself to make it all the way to his bed. He flopped down onto the mattress, his face smashing into his soft pillow. He groaned as pure exhaustion overcame his system. Working twelve hours a day, five days in a row, was exhausting. At least Jet owed him now, meaning he had a four-day weekend. He rolled over, laying spread-eagle on the bed. Happy jumped onto his belly and quickly laid down, his deep purrs vibrating through Natsu's body. With a short laugh, Natsu reached up to scratch behind Happy's ear.

"Did you have a good day, buddy?"

Happy merely purred in response.

"That's what I thought." Natsu's arm fell back down to his side and a sudden wave of loneliness flooded him. Briefly, he thought about Lucy's naked body and holding her throughout the night. He had liked that closeness. He had liked not sleeping alone. He simply missed the company.

An image of a very pregnant Lisanna infiltrated his mind. With a groan, he lifted his pillow and slammed it over his face as he tried to banish the unwanted picture. He didn't want to think about her. He didn't want to think about the growing baby inside her tummy. He didn't want to think about the mistakes that they had both made that had torn them apart. He didn't want to think about how stupid he had been.

Idly, he pushed the pillow off of his face and lifted his phone to stare at the screen. Lucy's contact info stared back at him, taunting him. He had been too chicken-shit to message her yet. He didn't want to message her too soon. He had known when he had taken her back to his place that they were only supposed to be a one night thing. But, that wasn't what he wanted anymore. He wanted to get to know her. The little bit of her personality that he had managed to gleam from their rather minimal amount of conversation and pulled him in, enchanting him into a daze where she still, somehow, managed to invade his brain.

He didn't understand how she had so much power over him from just one night. He didn't understand why her silky, blonde hair would pop into his mind when he was doing something mundane, like pouring his hundredth cup of coffee. He didn't understand why his heart pounded erratically within his chest when he clicked on her name, bringing up a blank text message box.

He had finally gotten used to being alone. He had gotten used to not having a warm body laying beside him at night. He had gotten used to going out on pointless dates and having pointless encounters that did nothing to heal his broken soul. He had gotten used to living with the pain of Lisanna's deceit and his own, gut-wrenching, guilt. He didn't know how to live with who he was and the things that he had done. Lucy… She made him want to be innocent. She made him want to wipe his past clean. He couldn't even imagine telling her about how he had acted. He carried too much baggage.

Still, regardless of the weight he carried, his fingers twitched as he slowly typed her a message. He tried not to think about the future. After all, they barely knew each other. There was nothing saying that him sending her a message would lead to anything real and substantial between them. With a shaky breath, he pressed 'send'.

Natsu: [Hey, Luce! This is Natsu. Remember the pink-haired doofus who made you spill your drink?]

Natsu: [Wait! Not pink, salmon! Fuck.]

Natsu groaned, dragging a hand across his face. That…. Had not gone well. With a frustrated huff, he tossed his phone to the side and forced himself to sit up. He absolutely did not expect a reply. So, when his phone dinged a few seconds later, he looked back at it in frozen disbelief before he threw himself across the bed, desperately reaching for his phone.

Lucy: [Of course I remember you.]

He stared blankly at the screen, his palms growing sweaty the longer he took in the sight of her five words. Seriously, what the fuck was wrong with him?

Lucy: [I'm kind of surprised to hear from you actually.]

Natsu: [Of course I messaged you! We had fun.]

Lucy: [lol yea, it was fun]

Natsu: [How are you?]

Natsu rolled off of the bed, barely managing to not trip over his coffee table as he made his way into the kitchen to make some instant ramen. It took her a while to reply and he found himself incessantly checking his phone. It wasn't until he had plopped down onto the couch, his instant noodles in his hand, with the TV flipped to some crime drama that she replied again.

Lucy: [Sorry about that. I'm good. Busy, but good. Almost the end of the semester.]

Natsu: [Oh, yea. I forgot you were a teacher.]

Lucy: [High school English is currently the bane of my life. Kind of hating how long I required their essays to be.]

Natsu: [You would have been my least favorite teacher. Not gonna lie. I hated English.]

Lucy: [Hey! English is awesome.]

Natsu: [Course you would think that, you get to inflict the torture.]

They fell into conversation easily. Their texts bounced back and forth for nearly an hour as they talked about nothing in particular. He found that he took particular joy in teasing her, poking at the things she loved until she'd burst into a mini-fit, scolding him about the awesomeness of her hobbies. The TV show in the background went on, unwatched, as he laughed at his screen, thoroughly enjoying riling her up. They kept the conversation light, nothing about their families, politics, or anything that could ruin the lighthearted mood. As the intro music for the next episode of whatever-the-hell was on TV played, he finally bucked up the nerve to ask her the question that had been humming in the back of his mind since she had first replied to his text.

Natsu: [I know it's short notice, but wanna hang tomorrow?]

Lucy: [I'd love to, but…]

Natsu: [That doesn't sound good.]

Lucy: [I feel like there's something that I need to tell you first.]

Natsu: [What is it?]

Lucy: [What happened last time, can't happen again. I don't regret it, don't get me wrong! It just can't happen again. I have too much going on in my life right now. If I'm going to be 100% honest with you (and I think I should be if we want to embark on some kind of friendship) I just got divorced and I have an amazing three year old son.]

Natsu's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. She had a son? He re-read her words, his mind having a hard time taking in all that he was seeing.

Now, that was some baggage.

Still, despite the probably wise warning that his mind was sending him, his fingers typed a reply before he could even properly think it through; his fluttering heart easily overriding his head.

Natsu: [Friends. No expectations. Promise.]

Lucy: [Great. See you tomorrow, same place, about nine okay?]

Natsu quickly agreed, his mind swirling at the prospect of meeting her again. Slowly, as the haze of excitement fell away, reality kicked back in.

Friends. He could do friends.

Friends required no real commitment and dating a woman with a kid was serious business. He wouldn't fuck up a kid's life, he was too much of a mess himself to play as someones Dad. But, friends he could do. He could be himself with no worries or added pressure. His mind, once again, flashed back to Lisanna's swollen stomach and he grunted, trying to erase the image.

Lucy wasn't Lisanna and he wasn't the same person that he was before.

As he waddled over to his bed in a sleep-filled daze, his mind went completely blank. He was too exhausted, too worn out from too many days of work in a row. He flopped onto his mattress and fell asleep within less than a minute, Happy curling into a ball on his back.

Well, no matter what happened, at least he had his cat.


Friday night rolled around all too fast. Lucy found herself nervous to see her salmon-haired friend, even though she knew that was ridiculous. Leo was with Gray, as usual, and she found a thread of guilt pulling at her heart as she neared the bar. She didn't completely understand why she felt so torn about going to see Natsu. They weren't dating or anything so there was nothing to feel guilty about.

She slapped the back of her head, cursing herself as she realized that even if she was dating someone she shouldn't feel guilty about it. After all, she was divorced now and surely Gray didn't expect her to spend the rest of her life alone.

An image of Leo clinging to her skirt as she dropped him off at Gray's the day before popped into her head, tormenting her as she pushed into the bar and darted for a free barstool. There wasn't much of a crowd yet, just a few small gatherings of people, but she knew that the horde would be due anytime within the next hour. She waved down the bartender and ordered her usual — whiskey on the rocks. Just as she took the first, small, fiery sip Natsu slid onto the seat beside her, a wide grin spread across his annoyingly handsome face.

Her stomach clamped up, twisting into knots as he took in her outfit. She was in a simple, black skirt and light blue blouse, nothing fancy, nothing very sexy. When she was younger she used to wear extremely tight fitting clothes that clung to her every curve. Now, that felt somehow wrong. She was always worried that one of her students would see her out and about so she hardly ever allowed herself to indulge in what she called her pre-Leo clothes.

"Luce! You beat me."

Fuck, his voice was enchanting.

Lucy blushed and immediately turned her head to take another sip of the alcohol. "Looks like it." She smiled, allowing his presence and the whiskey to relax her.

He waved to the bartender and quickly ordered himself a beer before he turned back to look at her. He elbowed her softly, leaning in conspiratorially as his eyes darted side to side. "I feel like we're having a secret rendezvous."

Her eyes widened and she couldn't help but laugh as she gently pushed him away, her fingers skimming over the hot skin of his bicep. She snagged her hand away as if she had been burned. If he noticed, he didn't show it. Instead, he simply laughed along with her, the sound thrilling to her ears.

"Oh?" She rolled her eyes at him as she reached for her drink. Condensation dripped onto her fingers. Suddenly, out of the blue, her mood shifted. Leo's adorable smile flashed in her mind and she suddenly found the topic impossible to avoid. "So… Are you really okay with just being friends?"

His laugh fell from his face as he took her question with all the seriousness that it deserved. He took a slow chug of his beer, seemingly relishing its taste before he answered her. "You're not the only one with baggage, ya know. Albeit, mine's a different kind. Being friends sounds good to me." He eyed her, carefully analyzing her body language as she listened to his unexpected words. "Really." Finally, the corners of his lips lifted back up into a smile and her heart stuttered, stoping momentarily before it quickly sped into hyperdrive.

"What kind of baggage do you have?"

His expression soured slightly, but his smile never fell. "A heavy, but different kind from yours. Gotta say, I never expected you to have a kid. You're so young."

"People have them a lot younger than me."

He laughed. "I guess you're right about that.

She leaned into him, their shoulders bumping slightly and she cursed the electricity she felt from that simple and innocent touch. "But, I know what you mean. It isn't like I gave you any hint last time that I had a son. I kind of didn't think I'd ever see you again."

"Me either." He leveled her with a look that she couldn't read and she hated how a lump formed in the back of her throat. "But, I'm glad we did. See each other again, I mean."

She forced her gaze away from him and swallowed half of her drink in one, large gulp. It burned on the way down and gave her an excuse for the blush that painted her cheeks. "Have you ever seen the movie, Sleeping With Other People?"

He shook his head. "No, why? Do you wanna watch it sometime?" He quirked his head at her, his curiosity genuine and adorable.

"No, but we can sometime. It's about this girl and guy and they try to be friends. So, to avoid any situations that could lead to inappropriate situations they came up with a code word so that the other person would know when to drop a subject or stop doing something."

"And this has to do anything with us because?"

She smirked and chewed on the inside of her cheek, nervous at her own proposition. "I think we need a code word if this friend thing is gonna work." He eyed her oddly and she laughed. "What? I'm not dumb. How many times have you been friends with a girl and it actually stayed within friend territory?"

He put a finger on his chin, clearly thinking through his past. "You know, now that I think about it, I don't think I've managed that since high school. Not with any close, single friends at least."

"Exactly!" She raised her glass, saluting him with it mid-air before she took another big sip. "So, codeword, brainstorm time."

"Well, what word did they use in the movie?"

"Dick in a mousetrap."

He deadpanned. "What?"

She laughed, keeling over on her barstool as her giggles tore through her. Tears pricked her eyes and she had to wipe them away before she could form words again. "They shortened it to just mousetrap though. It's quicker."

"I'd say." He guffawed. "That visual though…" He reached down and adjusted himself, flushing slightly as he did so, his face pained. "It was almost physically painful when you said that."

"Should we just borrow their term then?"

He nodded firmly. "Oh, yea. I can't think of anything better than that."

"So, if I do anything that makes your mind go too much into the gutter, use the codeword, and I'll do the same."

He leaned in closer to her, his breath fanning her cheek. "I think you're going to be using it a lot more than me."

She leaned back from him, eyebrows raised. "Is that so?" She simultaneously unbuttoned the top two buttons of her blouse while lifting her breasts slightly with her other arm. His gaze instantly dropped to her swelling breasts and she felt a rare surge of pride at the way he nearly drooled at the sight.

"Mousetrap." He nearly whispered the words.

She laughed and moved her arm allowing her breasts to fall back down. "I win."

"I didn't realize that we had started a challenge." He leaned back, appraising her as he took a drink of his beer. He slammed it down onto the bar, the golden liquid nearly sloshing out from his harsh treatment. "I'm all fired up now." The words rolled off his tongue like something greedy, clearly lapping up the challenge that she had so unwittingly presented.

"Well, this doesn't sound like a good idea."

"Nope, but it's happening anyway. Luce - one, Natsu - zero." His eyebrows furrowed, his eyes darkening. "Challenge accepted. Friend…" He stuck out his hand and she shook it.

"Friend…" She replied in kind.

Maybe, just maybe, this would actually work. Hope flooded her chest as he leaned back and laughed, scratching the back of his head.

She had never been happier to have somebody bump into her.

~ Author's Note ~

Since you were all so amazing I managed to get a second chapter out this week! This won't be the norm (usually there will only be a new chapter every Tuesday). But, since I got a nice burst of reviews, I felt inspired and kicked out this chapter faster than usual. I'll still post another new one next week, it just might be a day late.

If you haven't seen the movie mentioned in this chapter, I recommend it. For some reason, I've been really loving it lately and was intrigued with the use of 'mousetrap'. I hope you don't mind it being included!

So, what do you think? Things are very slowly starting to pick up. I still don't know how long this is going to be, but the story is coming together in my head. Please, review! Your reviews give me energy to write faster.

~ FeudalAi