Again, I did my own mini timeskip and this is right when Wendy and Romeo start to like each other. :D This was an idea given to me by AquaTitaniaMiyuki (I get that right?) Thanks for the idea! I made this one REALLY long (well, for me anyway) and I hope ya like it! :D


Romeo sat at a table in the guild, quietly (which was a bit out of character for him, but with the rowdiness already increasing, no one noticed) sipping his drink, watching Natsu-nii punch Gray through yet another wall, Erza threaten them with a sword to stop destroying the guild, Mira fondly muttering, "Oh, my…" It was a normal day at the guild. But, for some reason, everything seemed…blurry around the edges of his vision. And everything seemed to be getting hotter…

"I'm home!" a sweet voice called from the front of the guild.

Romeo's voice snapped towards the voice, already smiling as his voice joined the chorus that sang out, "Welcome back, Wendy!"

The bluenette smiled wide at the warm welcome, her cat, Carla, held snuggly in her arms. She greeted everyone as she passed them. "Good morning, Lucy-san! Hello, Levy-san! Gajeel-san, Natsu-san, have you been fighting again? You, too, Gray-san?" Then she paused at Romeo's table. "Hello, Romeo!" she greeted, smiling a little wider.

Romeo smiled at the fact he was the only one she dared greet without "-san" added to the end. It made his heart beat a little faster. He started to get to his feet. "Hey, Wen—" His voice stopped abruptly. The blurriness increased, suddenly, to the whole of his vision, making him blink rapidly. Sweat beaded on his brow, his face flushing visibly. Vaguely he heard Wendy worriedly saying his name, asking what was wrong, but she sounded distant, like she was a whole room away. The whole roar of the guild sounded like that. "What…?" he mumbled. Then the room swayed dangerously, black spots entering his vision, and everything went black.


"Romeo!" shouted Wendy, dropping Carla and reaching her arms out to grab the fire mage before he hit his head on the table. She wasn't able to hold his weight (no, he was much heavier than her muscle-wise) but she did manage to pull him towards her instead of the table before he dragged them both down to the floor, her landing on her knees and him lying on his stomach on the floor, his head in Wendy's lap. Instantly the guild members swarmed around them, anxiously asking what was wrong, what had happened, was Wendy-chan just that beautiful…at the last remark, she blushed crimson, but tried to ignore them.

Instead she placed her hand against his forehead, brushing his dark hair from his face. He was burning up. She frowned before looking up at Mirajane, who crouched over him as worried as a mother. "Is there a bed in the back?" she inquired. "A couch? Anything we can lie him on?"

Mirajane thought for a moment, then snapped. "There's a couch in the Master's office!" she said.

Wendy nodded. "Okay. Let's take him there."

Instantly Macao and Wakaba swooped down, one grabbing his feet, the other grabbing him under his arms, and lifted Romeo out of Wendy's arms. They carried him back towards the Master's office, and Wendy quickly got to her feet and hurried after them, Mira and the rest of the guild close on her heels. When she got to the door, the two men had already laid him down on the plush green couch. Macao was kneeling beside the boy. "What's wrong with him, Wendy?" he asked worriedly as the girl approached.

"I think it's just a fever," Wendy replied. "Perhaps staying out in the cold too long or just allergies. I can treat him, and he'll be better before the week's up."

"A week?" Macao exclaimed. "But…I've seen you treat worse in an hour!"

Wendy flushed embarrassedly and looked down. "I…I've really trained for worse injuries…," she murmured. "For a simple cold…well, my old guild never got sick like that because of…"

Macao quickly shut his mouth, understanding. "Sorry," he apologized. "It's just he's my son…"

Wendy nodded. "I'll do my best!" she promised, smiling at the aging man.

Macao smiled back. "Thank you."

"But until then…" Wendy turned to look at the others who'd crammed themselves into the room behind her. "Everybody out!" she commanded in the strongest voice she could muster. "He needs to rest and he can't if you're all in here yelling and fighting!"

"Aw, Wendy!" whined Natsu.

"Shut it, flame-brain," snapped Gray.

"What'd you say?" And the two rolled out the door swinging at each other. Sighing, Lucy followed, Erza right behind her with another sword. One-by-one the guild members filed out, Wakaba and Macao being last. Then Wendy shut the door behind them and looked back to the couch.

Romeo had shifted from his back to his side, one hand tucked under the pillow, his legs curling up towards him. Wendy smiled a bit. He looked a lot like a little kid going to bed. Then she laughed a little, imagining his reaction if she told him this later. At her laugh, Romeo moved again, this time rolling over to face the back of the couch. He muttered something, but she couldn't make out what it was. So she quieted, afraid of waking him.

She walked back to the couch, getting on her knees beside it like Macao had done. She placed her hands above his body (it probably would have worked better if she'd touched him, but the thought of that made her blush so she kept it the way it was) and closed her eyes, focusing. When she opened her eyes again, the blue light indicating her healing magic had flickered to life on her palms, bathing Romeo in its glow. Instantly she saw a difference. His shoulders relaxed, the sweat ceased to build on his forehead. So she kept at it, focusing harder. Maybe she could heal him in a day…

But, an hour later, the magic had sapped her strength almost entirely. The light faded and she slumped over, feeling tired. She looked up at Romeo. He looked better. Was he healed? She reached out and tentatively pressed her hand to his forehead. He was cooler, that was for sure. But he still felt warm. Too warm for comfort. No, this would take a while.

Wendy sighed, then got to her feet and perched herself on the arm of the couch by Romeo's feet. She had made up her mind halfway through that hour. She would stay with Romeo overnight. She should probably go tell Macao that he was a little better…yeah, that would be good.

It was with that thought, leaning into the cushions of the couch, listening to Romeo's breathing, that Wendy drifted off, exhausted by using her healing magic. She never knew that she fell off the arm of the couch in her sleep, landing in the little space Romeo had left beside him, her arm unconsciously draping over the boy's side like she usually did to Carla.

That was how Macao found them about an hour later, when he came to see why he hadn't heard anything in so long. Carla had walked in behind him, seething when she saw the scene in front of her, eager to go and wake Wendy up and take her home, but Macao stopped her.

"But…!" the Exceed sputtered, having not even taken a step into the room yet.

"They're sleeping," Macao said, a strange smile on his face. "Leave them be, Carla. You can trust your Wendy, right?"

Carla snorted, crossing her arms and muttering something about trusting Wendy but not the boy, but Macao ignored her. He ushered her out of the room, looking back at the sleeping kids with that same smile. He had the fleeting image of him around that age with a pretty brunette…one with the wide, innocent eyes his son possessed. Then he stepped out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him.


When Romeo woke up the next morning, he had quite the miniature heart attack when he woke up to find himself nose-to-nose with Wendy Marvell. With a startled yelp, he tried to back up only to find himself falling over the side of a couch with a loud thump!

Instantly the blue-haired girl's eyes opened and she sat up, looking around her wildly. "What…what…?" she stammered with a look of mild panic.

"Ow…," Romeo moaned from the floor.

Wendy's eyes widened as she peeked over the side of the couch and saw him lying there. "Romeo? What are you doing on the floor?" she asked. Then she looked at where she was sitting. "Why…Why am I on the couch?"

"I don't know!" the boy responded, sitting up on his elbows. "I just woke up and there you were!" He tried to ignore the fact his face was a bright red color that nearly matched Erza's hair.

But the color Wendy turned rivaled his. "I…I…what?" she exclaimed. She looked towards the arm of the couch then back to where she sat. "I-I must've fallen off," she mused. Then she looked back down and squeaked, jumping off the couch and kneeling down beside him. "Sorry!" she said. "I'm sorry!"

"I-It's fine," he muttered. "There's worse things to wake up to, you know." Then he quickly closed his mouth before he said anything else embarrassing. But Wendy hardly seemed to notice as she checked him over.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Did you hit your head?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm fine."

Wendy exhaled slowly in relief. Then she suddenly slapped her hand to his forehead. He pulled back, sputtering, "H-Hey!" but she followed him, keeping her hand firmly to his forehead. Her eyebrows came together in…worry? Why was she worrying?

"You're fever's gone back up," she muttered.

"My fever?" Romeo asked. Then he looked around him. "Am I in the Master's office?"

Wendy pulled her hand back and nodded. "Yes. You fainted in the guild hall, and your father brought you back here to the couch. I was treating you and I must've fallen asleep…"

Romeo frowned. "And I still have a fever? You weren't able to fix it?"

Wendy ducked her head. "Uh…I'm not really that practiced in simple sicknesses…"

"Oh."

"I can still help, though!" Wendy added quickly. "It'll just take a bit longer."

Romeo smiled. "Thanks, Wendy!"

Wendy's cheeks reddened a bit at the thanks, and she murmured, "Y-You're welcome…" Then she looked up with a new determination in her eyes. "Get back on the couch."

Romeo blinked at her sudden commanding tone. "Huh?"

"Go lie back down," she ordered. "You need to rest. I shouldn't have startled you like that…you have to relax to help your fever go down faster." She pointed to the couch. "So go."

Romeo sat, stunned for a moment. She was serious about healing people. She took on a whole new persona from the shy, skittish girl he was used to. Then he grinned, getting to his feet. "Whatever you say, Doctor."

Wendy smiled at him, a thing that brightened up her whole face and somehow made him want to say it again if it made her smile more. But he kept his mouth shut, a little embarrassed by the thought. He'd just recently started having these random snippets of thoughts about her, stuff that made him feel embarrassed or shy, both pretty unnatural qualities for him.

Wendy moved a little closer, placing her hands, palms down, over his chest, closing her eyes and concentrating hard. Romeo got the feeling he wasn't supposed to talk (especially since this magic was aimed at him—what if something went wrong?), so he just watched her, her brows furrowing as she focused. A minute or two later, blue light emanated from her hands, the light spreading over him. It soothed him, making him feel relaxed. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

Wendy only realized he was asleep when she was exhausted of magic for the day. She started to say, "So how do you feel—" when she looked up and finally noticed the soft sound of him snoring, fast asleep. She just smiled. He looked so innocent when he slept…it was incredibly adorable.

Then she flushed scarlet. Adorable? Did she just think Romeo Conbolt looked adorable? She shook her head as if shaking the thoughts from her mind before getting to her feet and placing her hand against his forehead. It had gone down again, a little more than yesterday, but it was still there a little. Almost gone, but not quite. She frowned and straightened up. If it rose again overnight it would take much longer to get rid of the temperature completely. She should go get a cool rag or something to put on his forehead…maybe Mira had some spare cleaning rags? She glanced down at him, then decided he would be fine for ten minutes. So she stepped into the roar of the guild, dealing with the questions her friends fired at her (mostly from Macao) as she got them, weaving through them to the back to ask Mira her question.

So she wasn't there when Romeo rolled in his sleep, murmuring in his sleep audibly for the first time. "Wendy…"


Wendy smoothed the cold, damp rag across Romeo's forehead before purposely striding away from him and settling down in the cushioned chair behind the Master's desk. She wasn't letting last night's incident have a sequel. She'd rather stay right here, safe and sound (from her own unconscious actions) in the Master's chair.

Romeo tucked his arm under the pillow like the day before, mumbling something again. This time, a smile flickering onto her lips, she strained to hear what he said with her ears. But it was hopelessly muffled by the pillow. She sighed, then ventured, "What, Romeo?"

"Mhamaha…" he mumbled.

Wendy smiled a little wider. "I can't hear you," she said.

"Mmmhh…" he replied, shoving his face deeper into the pillow.

Wendy slipped from her seat, taking a few steps closer. "Hmm?"

"Mhahamm…"

A little closer. "Nope, can't hear you." She laughed a little when he got an almost-irritated expression on his face, like he was really mad she couldn't understand what he was saying, and he repeated the gibberish into the pillow again. By this point she was on her knees beside him again, asking, "So what were you saying?" The rag had fallen off his head, so as she waited for him to hopefully say something she could understand, she picked it up, gently brushed his bangs back, and placed the rag back onto his head.

Suddenly she noticed his expression had gone from angry to a mixture of sadness and longing. She frowned a little, then realized she could understand what he muttered now.

"Mom…"

Wendy froze where she sat. Mom? She'd always known Romeo's mom wasn't around, but she'd never dared to ask why. She was afraid of making him sad or angry at her. Now she realized that, with his mom not being around and his dad being a bit helpless (him being a dad and all), Romeo didn't really have that motherly presence to calm him when he was sad or soothe him when he was sick. That wasn't something you could get from a dad, no matter how much they loved you or you loved them. And, in his sleep, what with her being so gentle and all…

Wendy's eyes set with that same determination she had when she was healing somebody. But this time it was for a different purpose. She leaned forward a bit and whispered, "Don't worry, Romeo. I'll take care of you."

And she watched with a smile as the sadness faded from his face, replaced by a serene peacefulness.