Cana was wiping the surface of her communication lacrima slowly and carefully with a purple, lacrima-cleaning towel, pondering on whether she should call him or not. After all, it was the first gift she received from Laxus.

Suddenly, there were 5 knocks on her door. She concentrated her mind briefly and then drew out a card from her "Characters Deck". She drew Laxus Dreyar. She cursed under her breath and opened the door quite expectantly. Seeing half of Laxus' frame, she regretted it and was about to close the door.

However, Laxus swiftly leaned himself on the door frame and slid his right foot in, to stop the door from closing.

"Hey, don't be so cold, dear. I missed you, alright?" His cape flowing from the motion. Oh my, why does he have to be so cool?

Cana crashed into him, teeth clenched (but it was no surprise to Laxus). Her palms balled into relatively little fists (compared to Laxus') and began pounding on his tunic-covered chest.

He held her waist with both hands, gently shoved her aback, then lifted and placed her 1 step to his left. He walked further into the apartment and closed the door gently behind him, facing her. Then, he immediately unfastened his cape and got rid of the tunic, leaving himself bare-chested, bracing himself for some major impact.

The girl instantly seized the opening and rammed herself into his well-defined, solid chest. She burst into tears. "I hate you..." Cana said in an exhausted voice. Yet, they both knew she didn't mean it. He left her to her crying for a while, then opened, "I promise I won't ever do that again."

She looked up at his face with her teary eyes. He looked down at her with pity. Cana asked, "Why... Why can't you love me the way you love Lucy?"

"You're jealous?" His face communicated genuine concern.

"No, uh... Maybe... A little..." she was totally stumbling over her own words.

"You are who you are," he replied, "Lucy is Lucy. You two are different from each other."

"Am I... inferior then?" she pressed on. She felt that she was only a toy, an afterthought. She believed that she existed only to bear what Laxus judged as too rough for Lucy, and the quality handjobs plus blowjobs Lucy failed to provide for him. She thought that all of his sweet talk must have been lies to keep her in place.

"Well, if you want my honest opinion... Your tough girl act (in other words, tomboyish behaviour) gets on my nerves at times, but I still love you as you are... Without the drinking part, of course." Laxus wrapped his muscular arms around her and locked her in an embrace.

"Does it really bother you this much? My alcoholism, I mean," she asked, still sobbing.

"It's a manly activity," he answered. Oh, how unexpectedly conservative his views must be when it comes to women.

"I... I had my reasons..." she reasoned.

"Are they still in effect today?" he questioned.

"I... Don't... Know..." she slowly mouthed out these words.

"Why did you start drinking in the first place?" he inquired.

"At first, I believed that it would grant me the courage to tell my father the truth..." she began her story, "But eventually, I came to believe that his knowledge of that truth would become a liability, so I held it in. Alcohol then became a portal to another world, so I could escape, at least temporarily from the painful reality around me. And you came along, I believed that you always liked Mira, then the newbie Lucy when you first expressed interest in her, but it was never my turn. Alcohol became such a convenience, I felt I could teleport out of the way whenever I..."

Cana was interrupted by a soft, lingering kiss on her lips. Laxus never kissed her that way before, at least according to her memory. He pulled apart with a sharp suction. "Then, you have no need to escape any more. Am I not right here? And Gildarts already accepted you..."

"But I am still not S-Class," she muttered under her breath.

"We'll go on an S-Class mission together... You, Lucy and myself... After our wedding, that is," he proposed. Cana blushed. Oh, what kind of a "honeymoon" would that be?

This is a counselling session, but I hope it's not too boring. Cana used to be romantically interested in Macao, but she chose not to say anything about it. He wasn't the ONLY reason for her alcoholism anyway. Is Laxus gonna train Cana? Will Cana eventually become an S-Class Mage? Ooo the wedding, let's all look forward to it!