Natsu grinned as he sat in a booth with Lucy beside him, both watching Happy and Pantherlily trying to escape the tiny hands of three year old twins. It had been almost three years since they head gone on their quest for Aquarius' key and nearly four months since they returned victorious. It had been nearly three years since the night he sat with Lucy under the stars telling each other their feelings exchangind a book for a heart. Lucy leaned into him with a soft smile as he wrapped his arm around her. It was widely known now that the two had gotten together while on their quest, and the teasing had died down finally, leaving the two to share these little moments without fear of being tormented by the other guild mates. Pantherlily yelled as the little boy nearly grabbed his tail, making Lucy giggle.

"they're so full of energy." Lucy said watching the two. They had been running around for hours now. Natsu chuckled as Lucy shook her head. "I don't think they got it from Levy or Gajeel, they look ready to drop." She said looking over to the side where the two sat lounging in a booth, exhausted.

"at least they can get some reliefe when they come here." Natsu smirked as he looked at one of his old rivals. Gajeel was slouched on the bench with Levy laying her head on his chest dozing off. "they've got the guild to help when they need it." He smirked. "and it's not like they can really get into trouble here."

"yeah, you and Gray destroy this place daily." Laucy laughed as he grinned at her. "not like they can do anything worse."

"never underestimate a dragon slayer kid." He grinned and chuckled as he looked back as Pantherlily cried out after finally being caught. He watched as the twin giggled and ganged up on the poor exeed. Happy rushed in and swipped him from the twins before making them chase after the two cats again.

"they're so cute, running around." Lucy smiled as she watched the twins get destracted by Carla who managed to get them to sit down and color with her. The two male cats stared in disbelief as she ket them calm. It didn't take long before they were curled up sound asleep, crayons still in hand as they slept. "guess they finally ran out of energy for the night." Lucy smiled as she watched Levy and Gajeel walk over to talk witih Wendy and Carla before Levy gently pulled the twins into her arms and the little family left for the night. "poor Levy."

"poor Gajeel." Natsu smirked. "he's got the twins and Levy." Lucy elbowed him making him chuckle more as she shook her head.

"I'm going to head home." Lucy sighed. "it's getting pretty late."

"yeah, I'll go with you." He said as he stood up beside her. Happy watched them stand and flew to their side.

"we're going home for the night, you coming too?" Lucy asked him. He looked back at the guild members still having fun and celebrating Gray and Juvia's engagement. "you can stay, just don't be too late." She smiled at him. "you want to make sure you get plenty of sleep before we pick a new job tomorrow."

"aye!" he smiled and fley back off.

Natsu smiled, wrapping his arm around her waist as they headed for the door, she looked at Happy once before they left. "he'll be fine." Natsu told her. "you're like a worried mother." He laughed.

"well Happy is like a kid sometimes." Lucy sighed. "and I do worry about him." She gave him a small smile. "I worry about you too." Natsu just laughed as they made their way back to the house he had modified once they arrived back perniantly to include bedrooms for Happy and one for him and Lucy. He had it planned out and had asked his friends at the guild to help him add on as a surprise for Lucy, they were able to get it done in a matter of a couple days and he asked Lucy to move into his home and get rid of her apartment. She happily agreed and moved in the next day.

"you worry about everyone too much." he said as they reached the walkway to the little house.

"I worry about all my friends. Our guild makes it very hard not to worry about people." She said as he smirked. She shook her head. "i wonder how crazy Juvia's going to make the wedding." She gave a small smile.

"probably going to try to invite the whole world so they'll all know." Natsu laughed.

Lucy smirked at him. "well getting married is a huge thing and especially when you really love each other. It's supposed to be this huge thing that everyone celebrates. It's supposed to be every girls dream."

Natsu listened to her as they reached the house. "do you dream of that?" he asked making her turn and looked at him.

She shrugged. "not really. when I was a little girl it was always made out to be magical, but as I got older and it just turned into a way for the family to get money and land and all…" she shrugged again. "it kind of lost all that specaillness." She smiled up at him. "whether I get married or not I'm perfectly fine as long as I get to be with you." She watched as he grinned and pulled her into a loving kiss.

"so you don't want to get married?" he asked when she pulled him with her into the house.

"it's not something I dream about happening." She told him. "if you want to get married then we can if not, I am happy being at your side." Natsu nodded. "now come on." She said as she pulled his scarf to make him lean down and kiss her.

**Line***

Lucy sighed as she walked around the house picking up and cleaning the mess the twins had left behind after she had offered to watch them so Levy and Gajeel could have a day to themselves. They were like little terrors running through the house, trying to play with everything and anything. She sighed, she should have waited to watch them until Natsu and Happy got back from their job in the next town. She had stayed to try to help with the twins letting the two go off on their own. Now that she had moved in with Natsu she wasn't focused on needing to take a ton of jobs to be able to pay for her apartment.

She paused as she walked passed her book shelf. She furrorwed her brow as she looked at the spines, reading the titles before she gasped and looked back at the door. There were a couple missing and one was one of the most important book in the world. She quickly pulled her shoes on and started out the door, making her way to Gajeel and Levy's home. She knocked and waited.

"Lu?" Levy answered confused. "is everything okay?"

"yeah, I just have a question for Shutora. I think she might have grabbed a couple of the books from my shelf before she left."

Levy gasped. "I'm so sorry, Lucy."

"it's fine really." Lucy shook her head. "she can read them, there's just one that I really need back before she gets to it." She said. "it's Natsu."

"oh no." Levy turned from the door. "Tora!" Levy called as she led Lucy through the house to the back where Shutora was sitting with a stack of books and Yaje was sparing with Gajeel. "Tora." She put her hands on her hips making the two stop sparring and look over. Shutora looked up and seemed to panic. "did you take books from aunt Lucy?"

"I just want to read." She half whined making the two women sigh and walk over, bending down in front of her as Gajeel and Yaje walked over wondering what was going on.

"I don't mind if you read the books I have." Lucy smiled at her. "just make sure you ask first." She said as she turned and started going through the pile. "you see there's a really important book that you grabbed." Lucy explained as she pulled out the red coverd book with what looked like a bullet hole in it.

"this book is really important." Levy said. "if anything happens to it, it can hurt Uncle Natsu." The girl looked at her mother confused.

"that's that book connected to salamander." Gajeel said as he saw what Lucy held.

Lucy nodded as Levy answered. "yeah, it's the E.N.D. book. Apparently our daughter decided she wanted to read the books Lucy had and she managed to get her hands on it."

"I shouldn't have had it out like that." Lucy said with a small smile. "it's safe, there's no harm done. You enjoy those books okay?" she smiled at the little girl who gave a small smile and nodded. "I've got some more too when you're done."

"thank you Aunt Lucy." She smiled brightly as Lucy nodded with a smile.

"I'm still sorry, Lu." Levy sighed as they stood.

Lucy shook her head. "it's okay. Really."

"I'll make sure she gets them all back to you." Levy said as they walked back to the front door leaving Gajeel to look after the twins again.

"thanks, Levy. I'll see you later." Lucy waved as she made her way back home with E.N.D. book wrapped tightly in her arms. She placed it on the highest shelf when she arrived back, making sure it wouldn't happen again. She turned just as the door opened as Natsu and Happy arrived home. "welcome home." She smiled. "how was the job?" she asked as she hugged Happy as Natsu grinned, dropping his bag on the floor.

"we got the whole reward." Happy smiled before he flew and pulled a fish from his pack. "look what I got."

"that's a big fish." She smiled at him before he flew off to eat. Lucy smiled happily at Natsu as he walked closer.

"how was it staying here?" Natsu asked.

"had a little issue. I watched the twins earlier and Shutora is taking after Levy. She got into my books." Natsu tilted his head. "your book was there."

"is she okay?" he asked worried about the little girl.

"she's fine, I found out that she snuck away with some of my books before she had a chance to get into that one. I have it hidden on the top shelf so she cant get to it but it stays safe." She smiled happily as she pointed to where she had hidden the book away. "So, you got the whole reward. I guess you didn't go breaking the whole town." She teased.

Natsu shook his head. "nope, I wanted to make sure I had enough."

"enough?" she looked confused. "enough for what?"

Natsu grinned as he held something out in his hand. "Happy and me have been saving up for a long time." He said.

"is that…?"

Natsu grinned and gave a nod. "Gray and Mira said I had to get you a proper one so I went looking for one and this was perfect. So we started doing jobs and saving up to get it. Do you like it? What do you say?"

Lucy looked at the ring then at Natsu waiting for her response. She smiled and shook her head with a soft sigh. "of course I'll marry you, Natsu." She smiled at him. "you're such an idiot." Natsu laughed before she pulled him closer and kissed him before she slid the ring on her finger.

"so you like it?" Natsu asked suddenly worried as he stood with her in his arms as she looked at the beautiful ring.

"I love it, Natsu. You're right, it's perfect." She smiled back up at him as he grinned at her. He would continue toprotect her heart as her husband while she held his life safely as his wife.