Her eyes shot open and she bolted up in bed. The night came back to her in a rush and she looked around the room. She immediately spotted Natsu sitting on the chair and his eyes locking with hers. "Natsu?!" A hand raised between them as if it would separate them. "What...what are you doing here still?" She looked around at the light in her apartment. "What time is it?"

"Nine." He evenly reported, still staring at her.

Her eyes widened. "In the morning? I slept that long?" A hand went to her head. How did she explain this? "Um...listen...about last night...I – I just had a few bad dreams..."

"I know." He tossed the book on her bed. "Care to explain this?"

She cringed and slowly picked it up. It was the spell book she had found at the bookstore. "This...you found it? Where was it?"

"On the floor oddly enough. I assume you tossed it there?"

She dumbly nodded, staring at the pages. She couldn't meet his eyes. "I used this...to remember what happened...because you wouldn't tell me..." She harshly swallowed, finally looking up. He didn't look very happy with her and she understood that. She wasn't happy with what had transpired since she drank the first potion. "I actually drank two of these and some of the memories returned, but they weren't enough for me to figure everything out...they were more like fragments that I couldn't understand. So...I went to your house...to see if you could help me..." She dropped the book on the bed an a finger nervously scratched at her nose. "Levy-chan...said that...the book...that the spell...was kind of...d – dangerous... She didn't advise me to use it..."

His eyes narrowed. "Then why did you? Do you know know what has happened to you over the last few days?"

She meekly nodded, feeling rightly chastised. "I didn't want to use it any more! I wanted to get this information from you, but you threw me out of your house! I tried to not take any more!" She sighed, feeling horrible all over again. "Had I known...I would probably not have asked you...I – I didn't know it was this..." Teeth bit her lip as she flushed and looked away. "Intense. I understand your reaction and why you threw me out and I'm sorry for everything."

"Why?"

She blinked, whipping wide eyes to him, but he wasn't looking at her. "Huh?"

He blushed, fists clenching. "I didn't want you to remember. I said you were better off not knowing...I had no right to force you to leave when all you wanted was to know. I should have just told you so you wouldn't have hurt yourself." His mouth opened as if to say more and quickly clamped shut. He stared at her for what seemed the longest time. "And I...I didn't want you to never come near me ever again because of this. I thought I could protect you from this. I was fine if it was just me who knew..."

Her eyes teared. She knew it had to be something along those lines. "I understand Natsu. I'm touched you tried to do that for me. But if I...had -" She clenched her trembling fists. "Had done...that...to you, then I'd want to know. I guess I don't regret knowing...but, I just...I just don't know...what to do now..."

"You're still my friend...even if that did happen between us." He got up and made his way to the bed, sitting on the edge next to her. He met her eyes, wanting to look away, but unable. "And...I..."

She leaned back, feeling the intensity in the air. They were the only two in the room, they were both flushed, they were both talking about heavy stuff, and he was sitting really close to her. She couldn't look away from his eyes and that night flared in her mind. The same passion shot through her like lightening and she shook against it. Her heart sped up in an instant. "N – Natsu?" Her arm went up between them as if it would keep him from being so close.

"I said that I could never hate you... I don't hate you for what happened between us because...I...didn't mind it... I...DON'T mind it..."

Her eyes widened as what he said instantly sunk in. Her mouth opened as if to rebuke him or deny it, but nothing came out. This couldn't be real! She was shaking from everything that was going in between them. She was intently aware of how close he was, how his hand rested on the bed near her leg, and that there was no one else in the room. She noted his ears were red, but his eyes were honest. He was trembling too.

'Oh my god...' She almost couldn't believe this! She wanted to pinch herself, but she didn't want to move and break this moment. She was torn between pushing him away and pulling him closer. One would keep him at a safe distance until they regained their senses, but the more delicious option would make them lose any sense they possessed. 'Natsu...'

He inched a little closer. "What about you? You haven't said anything other than apologies... Do you mean them? Are you sorry for...that?"

She blinked. Was she leaning in or was that just her imagination? "I..." Her head barely shook. "No...I'm...not..." Her trembling fingers slowly inched in the air and landed on his cheek. "This...is because of you...Natsu." Her eyes lowered when some of his breath met her face. "D – do...you...feel the same?"

Why was she asking? Wasn't he already making it glaringly obvious?! Apparently not enough... His eyes lowered as his lips brushed against hers. "What do you think?" He whispered, letting his shaking jaw touch her mouth in the silence.

She had jolted against him at the touch and she almost passed out from the sheer ecstasy of it all. Her jaw trembled, matching his. Her breathing was choppy and mingled with his. How had they reached here?! Why did she not care in the slightest? The world had faded away to leave them as the only occupants left alive. No noise could get past the rushing blood of her ears. "N – Na -"

He finished the gap, surprising them both. He could hear her gasp of shock. His open eyes took in her wide shocked ones before they slid closed and her hands clutched at his neck. He gave a surprised cry around her lips as she yanked him to her with more force than he had ever known her to have. He steadied himself as he fell on top of her, arms grabbing at the blankets on either side of her head.

She was shaking still and her heart touched him to find his matching her pace. She clutched him like she was drowning and he was all she had to survive with. She pressed her lips against his, feeling how hot his mouth was. It matched the rest of him. She resettled after pulling him toward her, feeling the comfortable weight of his torso press against her. Yes...this was heaven...she could die happy now.

He finally pulled away for air, breathing heavy into her ear. He was seriously attuned to every breath, twitch, pump of her heart that was under him. It was sending him reeling and he couldn't keep up...but he really didn't want to. He wanted to drown in her lips and the sweat that was on his brow at how much he was aching for her right now. "L – Lucy..." He panted.

Hearing her name in such a manner sent a tingle down her that made her bite her swollen lips. "Natsu..." She breathed, brushing through the hair at the nap of his neck. "Yes..." Her free arm pressed his chest to her, wanting to feel him as tightly as possible. "You're...burning up..."

He smiled at the irony that she would use his words before he did. "Ah." He reached out and licked her earring, hearing her gasp. "That's why..." He grabbed onto it with his enlarged canines and nibbled, getting a near shout from her. "You make me burn."

She smiled despite the mood. She was happy to hear those words and they touched her heart. "Natsu...I...love you..."

"Lucy."

"Natsu..."

"LUCY!"

Her eyes popped open with a gasp and she startled. She scrambled up in bed when she realized that there was no weight on her chest, no Natsu kissing her, and that he wasn't even IN her bed! He was actually sitting in her armchair a short distance away from her bed, staring at her with wide, dumbfounded eyes and a VERY flushed face.

It was just a dream?! But it felt so real! She realized she was already red in the face and that she was shaking horribly. She had most delicious combination of adrenaline and hormones that coursed through her body and didn't go away even as she tried to breathe.

Nothing had happened for real? Oh god...was he sitting in that chair listening to her the whole time?! What did he hear? Her eyes widened to match his. If they could pop out of her head and keep her from seeing ever again, she would actually be quite grateful!

She wanted to bury her head under the comforter! No scratch that; she wanted to summon Virgo up and have the spirit dig a hole to the other side of the planet for her to hide on! Oh the mortification of it all! Did he hear all of that? Oh no...

Her head was still reeling from what she had been doing, or not doing, to Natsu...with Natsu. How was that not real?! She had no memory of it ever happening that was for sure! A hand went to her very confused and red face. "A...dream...?" She shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs. "Natsu...what happened...?"

He couldn't find his voice if his life depended on it. What in the world was she dreaming about?! Whatever it was, it involved him and it was pretty hot given the emotion in her voice. The smell she was emitting right now was about ready to knock him out! She was acting like that night in their hotel room at Crocus. It was kind of unnerving. He tried to bypass how much he knew. "Uh...you...were unconscious in the bathroom when I showed up last night. You had a nightmare apparently."

"Because of the potion..."

"You mean that stuff you had on the table?"

She was getting more confused as they kept talking. She had already explained this! "I told you already, didn't I? Wait..that was the dream... I didn't tell YOU anything, right?"

A brow rose. "No..." He stood and grabbed the book. He held it up for a second before tossing it on her bed. "I found this on the floor oddly enough. Did you use this to make those potions?"

He was repeating himself. He had already said this! "You found it again? Why?" Her eyes squeezed shut as the lust running through her was making thinking difficult. With him in the room, she just couldn't calm down. "I don't understand...I told you about it already...didn't I?"

He decided it would be a good idea to keep his distance. He didn't trust himself around her right now. Not after how her smell and those breathy words were affecting him. He had quite clearly heard that confession and he didn't know what he was going to do about that. He wanted to attribute it to the potions she had drank, but he didn't know what to think! He wisely kept quiet on that for now and hoped she never thought about just how long he had been sitting in her room.

"No you didn't. You were dreaming Lucy. I found you in the bathroom last night passed out. You thought you were going to die from some nightmares. I helped you get into bed and then I stayed to make sure you would be okay. You barely talked about this book or the potions... Just about using it to help remember a dream for a story...that...actually happened."

She felt a distinct thread of disappointment at his words. It had all been a dream... She hadn't told him that they were dangerous and that the side effects could be bad. It sounded like she had just given the tip of the iceberg for information.

"It seems like the side effects mix up reality and the dream world."

Reality and the dream world...was this what it meant? She would be dreaming and experience things that were only dreams despite how realistic they seemed? Her fists clenched and pressed into her eyes. She started to despair. No one that she knew of or had met that was a mage outside of Mystogan knew anything about sleep spells. She would have to talk to master or browse their library as soon as she could...but how would she know whether she had actually done anything or not! Her eyes teared. "What have I done?!"

He could smell the tears forming behind her hands. He felt bad for her and what had befallen her. He didn't have the whole story here and he didn't want to press her for information with as tossed around as she was. He picked up the book and headed for the door. "I'll fix this Lucy, don't worry. I'll talk to master and anyone in the guild who may know about this book or its magic! Just promise me that you won't do anything else with this until we can figure out a counter spell."

She looked to him in desperation. "I can't promise you Natsu...I don't know if I'm actually telling you or if I'm just dreaming it..." Hands clutched at her face. "I don't if I'm sleeping or if I'm awake! What's real right now?"

He couldn't leave with her thinking like this. He strode up to her and pulled her hands away. He leaned down to put his forehead against hers and smiled reassuringly. "You can feel this can't you? It proves that I'm right here."

Her brows scrunched together in sadness as she met his eyes. "I could feel you much better in my dreams..." She whispered, getting confused now that he was so close. Even if this was more Natsu-like behavior, she had totally believed the dream Natsu as well. It was more serious than she had seen him toward her and he had never spoken such words, but they never had such an experience between them either before. The actions in her dream were nothing odd within the situation they were in so she had no reason to doubt things.

His eyes widened and his face flushed. He stepped back awkwardly and looked at her. He didn't know how to answer her and so he settled for giving a hand a slight squeeze to try and reassure her. He clutched the book and headed to the door. "Anyway...don't leave this room until I get back! If you think you're dreaming OR awake, you stay here! Got it? I'm going to go to the guild right now and get answers for you. Don't. Leave!"

The door clicked shut and then silence descended. She stared at the entryway for a long time before finally blinking. Don't leave whether she was dreaming or awake huh? What if she was dreaming of a past memory in which she left her apartment? There might not be a way around this... She groaned and put a very exhausted head in her hands.