Hi Guys Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out, I wanted to give you something to read this time since my first one was so short, even though I'm not so confident that you'll have much on this one either given it only got three extra pages. I hope you enjoy it anyway! Thank you for waiting so patiently!

Pureloving

p.s.

I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL!

Lucy leaned against the railing of her balcony letting the midnight breeze run its fingers through her hair. Her thoughts running around the email she opened when she stepped out the shower properly and not like a woman possessed by the nearly complete soul of her book. Mr. Yajima wanted her to spend more time to not only scrutinize her book but also to take the time to reach with into herself. She already had delicate thoughts about her book, feeling as if it was missing something but couldn't find anything wrong with it. The Fire of Courage was a sure thing, with seamless timeline, relate able yet likeable characters. Everything was seemingly perfect so far but even she had to admit out of all of pieces she was most confident with this one, so why was it she was having second thoughts? It has yet to be finished so more adventures are sure to come.

The only way to do anything was to nit-pick at everything in the story thus far, she was too afraid to let her friend Levy read it. 'Hopeless what am I gonna do now?' Lucy looked up to deep starry sky to find comfort, only for her thoughts drift to Natsu. "Salmon huh?" A smile playing on her lips at the memory. He was such a goofball with that huge grin of his, he seemed kind hearted due to making her laugh and forgetting about that jerk Dan. Lucy was still upset about the situation surrounding the dead relationship between her and Dan Straight. but not as bad as she was when she answered his call. And not as pissed or hurt as she was when she first broke it off, she was healing slower than what she would've liked but at least she was.

Could she find someone who cared enough to love her genuinely? Again, her thoughts gravitated to Natsu. "What is with that?" She shrieked half out of embarrassment and the other out of irritation. She hardly even knew the guy, so he made her laugh. Big deal; he had slammed into her like a runaway semi-truck on highway in the mountains. Her back was fine now but her head was another story, it was still throbbing. 'I should get that Advil right about now.' Making her way back into her apartment she headed towards the bathroom.

Flicking two Advil tablets in her mouth for good measure, chasing them down with a glass of water Lucy headed to bead. Tomorrow was going to be a long day with a promise, soon as her head hit the pillow she fell asleep.

She straddled a pair of hips on the couch and Lucy felt a warmth on her body like no other. Kisses trailed from her bare shoulder to her earlobe, enticing a sweet moan from her lips. Lucy tweaked her hips making the beautiful man beneath her to let out a throaty groan, leading shivers down her spine. How much she wanted this, how badly she needed him. His rough hands caressing her back under her spring green night lace shirt, as he finally placed his lips on hers. Humming pleasurably, she threaded her fingers into his hair. Pulling back for air his attention finding her chest seasoning it with burning kisses, Lucy calls out a name breathlessly.

Lucy awoke to her alarm screaming bloody murder, rubbing the sleep from her eyes she finished it off with and irritated slam of her hand killing it. 'A wet dream, of course.' Noticing the heat lingering on her cheeks. 'It's too early to be feeling like this! With a cute guy, I don't even know who it was?!' She groaned loudly. It was going to be a long day if she was starting out with a fucking wet dream. Damn her over active imagination! Throwing her legs over the edge of her bed Lucy commenced her morning routine, she showered, brushed her teeth, and dressed for work with her head lulling to a low dull now. After eating a bowl of fruit and a wheat-grain bagel Lucy shoved on a pair of black t-strap heels and stepped in the mirror to inspect herself, she wore a long sleeved blue satin shirt tucked into a pair of black cotton-polyester slacks with a thin black belt; settling for a low side pony she grabbed her papers, keys and purse as she left out of her apartment.

It didn't take long for Lucy to be called into Mr. Yajima's office when she arrived to work, she barely made it from around the corner and into the glass doors of the 26th floor when a co-worker relayed to her to stop by. Taking only a moment at her desk to drop her things, she continued to his office. Lucy paused at the large frosted doors when she heard Mr. Yajima laugh, 'I guess he's already speaking to someone inside.' Pushing through with ease, she entered. But the first thing she noticed was the unbelievably pink head she met yesterday, her early morning blush returned with a vengeance. It had to be him of all people, the guy who ran into her like a mob on black Friday. Natsu smiled wildly at her, "Hey Lucy." Oh, why did her heart have to beat to fast like this? 'It's just Natsu.'

Clearing her throat and steeling her nerves, "Hey Natsu. What are you doing here?"

Mr. Yajima spoke up at this. "He's a representative from Fairy Tail Publishing Co." Taking another look at Natsu with wide eyes she couldn't believe it, 'This guy is from Fairy Tail? The Fairy Tail?!' "Now Lucy dear I want you to help Mr. Dragneel out while he's visiting our establishment treat him as you would a dear friend. Seeming as you've already met I trust you'll have no problems." This could be a problem, but it's not like she could really say that to her boss without a real explanation.

Drawing on a smile Lucy stepped forward extending her hand, "I look forward to working with you, Mr. Dragneel."

Grasping her hand sternly commencing a steady hand shake. "Same here, partner."

Natsu couldn't believe his luck, he felt as if he hit the lottery. Who knew that Lucy was Yajima's assistant, and the whole time he would be visiting 8-Island he would be spending it with her? He was so lost in his own thoughts he almost didn't catch her words.

"-How does this work?" She asked, thumbing through the folders in her arms. They had made their way to the copy room to make some copies of the information Yajima would need for his conference that afternoon, Natsu frowned. "Well you just place the paper here and press this button for it to scan and print the desired copies you need." He explained.

Lucy let out an exasperated sigh and looked at him over her shoulder, "You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" She stared blankly.

"I'm guessing what you were trying to say has nothing to with how to work the copy machine." He stated nervously. She shook her head, shoving a few sheets of paper to him just before she turned back towards the copy machine to continue her task. Taking the identical twin next to her, "Could you relay it to me again? I'm listening this time."

"I don't really care for repeating myself but, I'll let it slide." Lucy grumbled. "I know we have to come up with a proposition for the up-coming event with Fairy Tail and 8-Island so I was thinking how large does this get and how does this work?"

"You haven't been to one of these types of functions have you Lucy?"

"To tell you the truth? No I haven't. But I've heard good things, I just don't want to screw anything up. So, I was thinking maybe we could hold it at a beach resort." Lucy murmured at the end. If Natsu hadn't looked up when he did he wouldn't have noticed the subtle pink feathered across her face as she leaned against the copier, his breath caught in his throat. 'How could a woman like her make him feel as if there was no oxygen in the room, how could she be so-' "Beautiful." He struggled breathlessly.

"What?" She snapped her head up. 'Shit.' He didn't mean to say that out loud, it's not like it wasn't true but it was too early to admit any attraction to her. It would just make things awkward if she didn't feel the same way about him.

"Ah-um I mean- it sounds like a beautiful idea Luce!" He stammered.

Lucy eyed him suspiciously while leaning in closer, 'oh man.' Natsu could see the tops of her breasts he could already see her cleavage before but now, it almost seemed one sweet sinful move and she would be spilling from her shirt and out to him. He quickly shoved a hand in his pocket to subdue the stiffness threatening to form, hunching his shoulders and scratching his neck as he thought about what to say. If Lucy kept this up he would need to sit down, nothing says awkward like an unwanted boner. "Do you have any resorts in mind already?"

Lucy straightened while lightly resting a delicate finger on her lips in thought, "Um not really, I guess we can collaborate on that together then."

"Yep! We can get started." Grabbing Lucy's wrist Natsu proceeded to drag her out of the copy room.

"I thought we were supposed to be looking for locations." Natsu complained. It had been only a few hours since they came back to her small office to search for potential locations, but Lucy had work to do that needed her immediate attention. Emails to open, drafts to read, meetings to book, and phone calls to be made.

"I still have a job as an assistant to uphold if I want to keep it, the deadlines for these drafts are around the corner and I have to make sure they're ready to hit the press. I promise after I'm done with what I need to do we will start looking." She pacified.

"But I'm bored, Lucy!" He whined, slumping dramatically in his chair.

Still staring at her computer screen, she pressed a hand against her temple; Lucy wasn't going to get much done anytime soon if this is what she had to deal with. Natsu was like a little kid she had to entertain, how he ended up working for the top publishing company of all Fiore she'll never know. "Don't you have any paperwork you need to do? Go find something or take a walk for a bit." Lucy offered. She had seen his face turn from looking as if she stole his last piece of bacon, to the smug smile he had plastered to his face now before throwing his head back to hang over the back of the chair.

"I've done all the paperwork that needed to be done today already and sent it into Erza. And I'm not really familiar with the building so I'll get lost." He said, then sat up to give her a serious look. "I could always help you out with reading drafts." Reaching up, he snatched a few booklets from the towering stack off her oak desk. Carrying his newly found work he settled onto a small loveseat snuggled in the corner, dropping the stack with a satisfying flap on the accompanying coffee table; finally, it was quiet.

Scribbling the last of her thoughts onto the draft, Lucy eyed the figure that made his home on her office sofa for the umpteenth time. Natsu was leaned against the arm lounging like a pink-haired Adonis, his legs stretched and resting on the opposite end while one arm sat behind his head and the other hovering a folded draft in his face. She could look at him all day, in reality she did sneaking glances any chance she could get. Lucy was entranced with him tracing his exposed forearm with her gaze, at one point Natsu had roughly folded up his sleeves as he complained silently about how uncomfortable his clothes were.

She thought about how it would feel to wrapped in those arms as she lifted her gaze up from his forearm to his bicep then momentarily resting at his neck. 'No scarf?' but she wasn't complaining especially when he moved to loosen his tie and undo a few buttons giving her a charitable show of his chest. Natsu let the draft slap into his lap as he rubbed his face with a groan that filled the room, enticing a breathy moan from Lucy's lips. He instantly froze before snatching his hand away to look at her. "Are you ok?"

"Oh, yeah I'm fine! I just realizing how late it is that's all." She said a little too loudly. He watched her incredulously before looking at the clock displayed above her bookshelf on the far end of the office, it was indeed late hitting 10:47 pm. The day had ended at 7 but here they were, "I'm all finished with my share. What about you?" Lucy moved to tidy her desk before grabbing her purse off the door knob, then lastly turning to Natsu who had made his way to replace the drafts on her desk as well.

"All done. Let's go."

"You're not coming home with me. We can start that tomorrow." She argued.

"But we spent all day doing your work, and you promised when you were done we would start looking." He reminded.

"What kind of girl do you take me for, Dragneel?" Lucy replied tautly.

"Luce, I'm not going to do anything to you, besides this is for work. The sooner we get our options the better choice we can make."

There was really no argument left to be had, if Lucy was being honest she didn't mind having him over. But that's what worried her, she was sure he wouldn't try anything like he said. Herself on the other hand, not so much. She wanted to throw her hands on his torso and trace the indentions with her fingers, kiss his strong neck and weave her legs around his waist in a sinful bliss. Her physical attraction to him was a distraction already at the office and inviting him to her private home she would find it hard to resist her sudden urges. "Fine. But after that you leave." Giving in reluctantly.

"Great, but first we need to stop by my place." He ran in front of her to toss a thumb in another direction. He watched her face scrunch in confusion, "Why do we need to stop by your place?" Lifting her brow.

"As much as I would love to go to your place and get started on research, I-"

"Ugh, okay, okay forget I asked let's just go." Lucy cut him off, she wasn't eager to have him at her place at the moment and maybe she could just wait outside while he did whatever he needed to do. It sounded like a solid plan, nothing could go wrong. Crossing the avenue, they made their way towards Natsu's place; it wasn't as far as she figured it would be and it was closer to her place than she would've known. Making it in the doors Lucy plopped herself onto a nearby tufted bench proceeding to put her plan into action, "what are you doing?"

"What's it look like?" She sighed, removing one of her shoes.

"I see that, but you can do that upstairs. Come on." Natsu offered his hand to her.

"My feet hurt, I'll just stay here till you get back." Lucy groaned slumping back on the glass window, it looked as if she had succeeded in convincing Natsu to let her stay down stairs as he left to signal for the elevator. 'Good.' She thought, relaxing onto the cool window she could have a little time for herself. However, her bliss was short lived as she felt a pair of strong arms pick her from her perch. Her eyes flashing open as Natsu carried her towards the now open elevator doors, "Natsu!" She screeched, flailing her legs. Her plan was obviously failing, Lucy hadn't expected him to carry her up to his apartment. "Put me down!" She hissed, but his grip on her only tightened.

"I'm not leaving you down here. You said your feet hurt, and it would take too long to wait for you to put your shoe back on." He regarded simply.

"I would've been just fine on the bench." She huffed.

"And you'll be better off sitting on the couch upstairs." Natsu retorted playfully, a wild grin spreading across his face.

Lucy folded her arms, pouting at her knees. He had won. 'This wasn't supposed to happen.' A blush dusted her face when she remembered her thoughts from earlier. His arms were strong and wrapped around her perfectly, 'This couldn't get any better.' Lucy felt her legs being lowered, snapping her thoughts back to reality. "Sorry just getting my keys." He said reading the disappointment on her face, but keeping a firm hand on the small of her back. Not knowing where to place her hands, she settled them on his chest that was still left open from earlier.

Natsu tensed slightly feeling her hands rest on his skin as he reached for his keys, this woman would be his undoing. Her stubborn nature was proof of that, but he loved it. Things were fun when she was serious and adamant, the way her eyes shined in a challenging way. Daring anyone to defy her ways, it may have worked with others but it wouldn't work with him. Anyone who knew Natsu, knew he liked a good challenge.

Natsu swung Lucy onto his couch, chuckling when she shot him a glare. "I'll be right back, don't run off." He teased, laughing again when he heard her growl. Watching him disappear into a bedroom Lucy crossed her arms in an attempt to check her nerves, there was no way she could've foreseen all of this when she woke up this morning.

"Should've stayed in bed." But then that would look bad on her, these types of opportunities don't come around often. 'Like being in a hot guy's apartment.' No. Shaking her head, she couldn't be having thoughts like that; she only just met him yesterday but Lucy was already having impure thoughts about a certain pink haired man. Was that even his natural hair color? 'There's one way to find out.' Her mind sang. Ugh, this was going to be hard to deal with, 'Yes, hard.'

Lucy could've slapped herself for how perverted she was finding herself turning out to be, she just needed to hold on until the day was officially over and everything would be fine. Something blue and furry caught the corner of her eye and it was, moving? Focusing, she found a pair of big brown eyes peering back at her. He almost looks as if he were smiling, the newly found feline made his way into her lap comfortably; nudging her arm in expectation. "Aren't you cute!" Lucy surmised, scratching under his chin; which in turn earned her a satisfied purr. 'He almost looks happy.' She thought, smiling at the odd blue cat.

"I see you found Happy." Natsu was dressed in grey sweat pants that were rolled up over his defined calves, sporting a black t-shirt that outlined his six pack and what seemed to be his signature white scarf. Lucy bit t corner of her bottom lip softly. 'Oh, my god he's built like a ducking brick wall!' She guessed the silence seemed like confusion, when Natsu nodded his head towards the feline resting in her lap.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity to rise from her thoughts she found her voice, "More like he found me." Lucy stated with nervous giggle, casting her eyes back to the safety of her lap. 'Can't have dirty thoughts if you're not looking.'

"I think he likes you." Natsu smiled contently as he brought his hand to pet Happy between the ears, before looking up at the blonde beauty. He never thought something could look so good especially sitting on his couch, it nearly made him think how she would look in his bed. "You ready to head back out?"

"Yeah."

Happy leaped from Lucy's lap and vanished into the abyss of Natsu's bedroom, as she made a move to stand. "If your feet still hurt I could carry you." He offered half-jokingly, Natsu held back his embarrassment as best he could. He should feel ashamed for asking something so direct, "No thanks I can walk, Natsu." Lucy made her way to her feet steadily then proceeded to walk towards the door, with her heels in hand. On second thought, maybe he did feel a little shame, but, that didn't make his want of feeling his hands on her any less prominent.

Natsu was a little surprised in how close they lived to each other, even though the park was, hands-down, a good four blocks long with a lengthy river stretching through it was still a short walk from his to hers. They made it up to the 17th floor and to Lucy's apartment, opening the door Lucy tossed her things on the coffee table after dropping her shoes at the door. "Lock it please, make yourself at home and the bathroom is down the hall first door on the right."

Natsu did as he was told, not missing the moment Lucy pulled her hair tie from her strands before letting them sweep her back like a golden waterfall. "I'm gonna take a quick shower and I'll be right back." Flicking on lights as she went Lucy made her way to her bedroom and shut the door leaving Natsu alone.

Settling himself on her plush indigo couch he eyed the coffee table in search for a remote for her TV, since it seemed he would be there for a while. Finding it he pressed the power button, giving life to the screen, then resting the remote back in its place. Natsu quickly lost interest in what the ecstatic box had to offer when his eyes caught the stack of papers sprawled over the surface in front of him, 'The Fire of Courage'.

After her shower and dressing in an old T-shirt and a pair of shorts, Lucy made her way out to the living room grabbing her laptop as she went. The TV hummed a catchy tune from a car-insurance commercial as she balanced her open computer of her forearm to enter the password; passing up the couch, Lucy continued to the kitchen grabbing a few drinks from the fridge and a large bag of chips, then rounded back to the living room plopping on the couch. Lucy's calm was short lived when she took notice to Natsu who now had a small bundle of her story between his fingers, "What the hell are you doing?!" She yelled, snatching the papers from him.

"Oh, come on I was just getting to the good part! What happens next?" Natsu cried, reaching out but Lucy was quick.

Gathering up the rest in one expert dip of her hand, "When I said make yourself at home this isn't what I had in mind, and It's not finished."

Lucy locked the pages away in the drawer of her desk to ensure that no one would be getting to it without her permission, "So when you finish I can read it?" Natsu pondered, watching her come back and take her seat next to him. It wasn't until she pulled up the Mooglia search engine she finally responded, "We're supposed to be looking for venues right now, if we aren't you can go home." She deflected. Natsu bit his cheek and raised a brow, it wasn't an answer to his question but it wasn't a no either.

"How about GaLuna Island? It looks pretty nice." Natsu called off. Lucy lifted herself from her spot on the floor to peer over his arm at his find. They had been searching for venues for nearly four hours, running on coffee and leftovers from her fridge. At some point, they were going to stop to rest up for the night and continue some other time, but both agreed since it was the weekend and there was no work the next day they would use this time to get things out the way.

"I guess it's ok, I kind of like Akane Beach better but I'm not totally sold on that either. I'll put it down but let's keep looking."

"Alright." Natsu watched Lucy return to the floor placing the notepad back on her knee to write down the new information, when her phone rang. He instantly caught the annoyance that suddenly coated her face when she looked to see who it was calling her so late, reading 'selfish bastard' at the top of her screen, Lucy silenced it hitting the power button and setting back to the table face down. Then returned to her notepad with a grim expression painted on, Natsu frowned. He didn't understand what was going on, but whoever was calling her changed her mood for the worst. Again, her phone rang, snatching it she repeated the process and tossing it back to the table like a brick with a huff.

Lucy put her pen and notepad down to message her temples and run her fingers over her scalp, her eyes closed, it was 4:23 am and Dan was calling. Given the time he must've been out drinking, his sober phone calls alone where enough to drive her up the wall, but his drunken ones where inconceivably worse. Ignoring it was the best way to go, she decided when the phone rang again, and once more she pressed the button on the side of her phone to stop the sing song. Lucy let out a long instable breath as she thought back to the last time he called her like this and he refused to answer, it had turned into Dan showing up at her door smelling like a bar and fighting to keep him from barging in her apartment.

Looking up she caught eyes with Natsu seeing the concern in his Obsidian colored ones, she couldn't have a Dan incident when she had Natsu over, it would already be dangerous but who knows how much worse it could be if Dan saw that she could be moving on. Lucy's phone rang again, letting song play out as her mind struggled to make the choice, neither one was a great option so she would have to deal with one that hopefully had the least consequences. Pulling her phone from the table she rose and strode towards the balcony, once outside she answered.

Even when she left the room Natsu felt the heavy atmosphere weighing on him, and he didn't like it no more than the look on Lucy's face every time the phone rang. She had the look of fear, worry and anger twisted into her features, when she should have a smile playing at her lips. He didn't even know who it was and he already didn't like them, pushing the HP on the table he sat back into the couch wanting to be devoured by the fluff; he was cursed to hearing her conversation instead.

He figured it was the same guy she spoke to in the elevator but her demeanor was all wrong, Natsu heard his rash comments and slurred speech, then Lucy's strained responses until he couldn't take anymore. Natsu couldn't remember getting up from the couch but he found himself at the sliding door staring at Lucy's back, he nearly reached to take the phone away from her and give whoever it was a piece of his mind. but, he had to restrain himself. He didn't know Lucy, he didn't know the guy on the phone either, didn't know if they had any history or anything that would make the fact that he would intervene pliable.

Natsu continued to eye Lucy's back, clenching his fists in an angry heat. He didn't care about what he didn't know, what he did know was that the woman in front of him wasn't smiling anymore and for the life of him he couldn't figure out why it bothered him so much. But no matter what he was intervening that phone call, reaching out he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Lucy."

Obsidian : it's color is shiny black, with clear conchoidal (shell-like) fracture, it's texture is glassy with rare microphenocrysts and abundant opaque fine dust scattered in concentric zones. obsidian may also be red-brown due to the presence of iron, and a greenish-grey due to the presence of tiny gas bubbles.

obsidian s derived from the rapid cooling of s viscous, granitic magma. It's found in volcanic units, as fragments thrown into the air by erupting volcanoes.

Yes, I'm leaving it there folks and i know its unfair of me to leave you hanging. I already feel like I'm rushing the actions of Natsu and Lucy right now since I have a bad habit of not building up to heavy moments but please bare with me.

As far as the timing of my updates go its gonna be a little struggle i just got a new job that starts June 1st that's gonna take majority of my time, but that doesn't mean I won't keep writing I am keeping up with this until the end and I hope you will too.

Also to help the story come along, keep an eye out for these sections because I will be doing a poll regarding the ideas I have for the rest of the story (that could be regarding the next chapter). WARNING they will be odd choices again please bare with me.

ANSWER POLL!

please choose one only!

A) Dan Straight

B) Party

C) Elevator

thx again! ~pureloving