Warning, NSFW portions that I have marked.

Natsu parked the truck and turned to Lucy with a groan of relief. "I am so happy that nightmare is over."

Lucy laughed and ruffled his hair. "We still have the wedding tomorrow, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, but Erza can't make us do the actual wedding over and over again. Once it's done, it's done." He popped out of the truck and slammed his door, then walked round to meet her as she closed her own. He grinned and kissed her lightly on the lips. "At least tomorrow we'll get fed after."

Lucy laughed and took a few steps towards the vineyard. "We get to eat now," she said cheerfully, "that is why they call this a rehearsal dinner." Then she gestured out to the mountains, "And in all this beautiful . . ." her hand dropped and she finished with a slow "scenery."

Natsu draped an arm across her shoulders, "You alright there?"

Lucy stared off into the distance, then breathed out, "Oh my god Natsu, we're idiots."

"Speak for yourself weirdo."

"Natsu, are most of the trees here deciduous?" Lucy asked.

"Delicious? You need more fiber in your diet Lucy?" Natsu laughed when Lucy turned to him with an irritated expression. "Yeah, most of the trees here are. Lots of maples and oaks, maybe some poplar and walnut. There is a few pines in the mix though. Why?"

"Is it pretty here in the fall? Is there a lot of color?"

"Yeah, it's real nice. I meant to bring you out this way last fall but we've just been so busy."

Lucy turned to him, her eyes bright with excitement. "Natsu what if we moved the wedding up to like mid-October?"

Natsu raised a brow. "Moved it up? We don't even have a location yet Luce."

Lucy pulled her arms and shoulders in tight and grinned ear to ear. "We could after we spoke with Bisca and Alzack!"

Natsu looked out at the blooming mountains and the hills packed tight with wooden stakes and the green starts of leaves on grape vines. He smiled slowly, "Yeah, that sounds perfect. Let's do it!"

Lucy bounced with excited squeal then dragged him down the hill to find Bisca. Natsu couldn't think of a better solution. Now every time they had to do annoying wedding things they could do them here, while he gorged himself on Bisca's cooking.

"Oh Lisanna, I can't believe we're late!" Mira exclaimed as she hurried up the walkway to Erza's house.

"I know! Cana is going to be so upset that we left her alone," Lisanna commiserated with a grimace.

"Cana? Forget Cana! Erza is going to have a heart attack!"

Lisanna groaned, "I was trying to forget about that."

Mira burst into the house, stepping out of her shoes and hanging her purse on one of the hooks by the door. At least Erza wouldn't be mad about her tracking dirt around the house. She wondered where Erza was. Mira had expected the bride to be there the moment they opened the front door. She wandered into the house and to her confusion, Mira found Erza in the dining room, looking oddly serene as Bisca pinned her hair in place.

Bisca grinned, "Hey sugars! If you girls need it, there's a pot of coffee and a nice breakfast spread in the kitchen."

Erza took a sip of her coffee and turned Mira with a relaxed smile. "Ah Mira! Lisanna! I'm so happy you guys are finally here. Wonderful! Isn't it just the most beautiful day." She sighed and took another sip of her coffee. In the seat next to her Meredy looked up from her phone and shrugged with a shake of her head and a grin. Mira frowned, this was the last kind of scene she expected.

In the background MacBeth snapped a picture, then looked down at his camera. He smiled when he said, "This morning is way less annoying than I thought it would be."

"This is weird but I'll take it," Lisanna whispered in Mira's ear.

"Hey sluts," Cana said with a grin, poking her head out from the door to the kitchen.

"But. . .but what . . ." Mira stuttered in confusion. She looked to Cana for answers and Cana gave her an impish smile. Mira narrowed her eyes, she knew that smile all too well.

Mira was not satisfied, she grasped onto Cana's arm as she passed by her and roughly dragged her deeper into the kitchen. "Cana what did you do?" she hissed.

Cana clasped her heart. "How could you suggest such a thing!"

Lisanna entered the kitchen and helped herself to a mug of coffee. "It's cause Erza looks like she had breakfast with Willy Nelson, that's why," she chuckled.

Cana shrugged, "I didn't do anything bad, I just convinced her to take one of her happy pills this morning."

"What?! Cana it's her wedding day!" Mira exclaimed. "She probably has a million things to needs to keep track of today! You know how slovenly she gets when she takes those!"

"Mira, you weren't there! You don't know how it's been. She called me at four AM this morning. Four AM! Do you want to know why? Please, guess the reason," Cana snapped.

"Cana," Mira sighed with a shake of her head.

"It was because she was worried that the color she picked for the ribbons on the favors wasn't the right color and she wondered if I could run to the store and buy a few more options!" Cana said with a violent wave of her hands.

Mira covered her eyes and sighed again. Erza started the crazy early this morning. "Oh dear."

"You remember the favors don't you? You remember tying the ribbons and retying the ribbons because she didn't like any of the bows." Cana mimed tying tiny bows with a scowl on her face then stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry.

Lisanna giggled, "It was like working in a little sweatshop."

Cana made an exaggerated nod. "Yeah, so you better believe that I was not doing that today. No way in hell!"

"But the happy pills?" Mira sighed.

Cana frowned. "What's wrong with them? I thought Polyursica gave her those pills just to take the edge off when she was having a rough day. They were her pills and I gave her the regular dose, nothing crazy."

Mira shook her head mournfully. "Oh Cana, don't you remember? They were supposed to just take off the edge but with Erza they were too much! She basically spent the entire day on the couch singing showtunes to the ceiling last time she tried taking them. I thought she threw them away!"

Cana put a hand on Mira's shoulder and looked her in the eye. "Mira, when I got here she was steaming her dress in her underwear, sobbing. She told me that even after ten times it still didn't look right."

Mira lifted a hand to cover her open mouth. "Oh dear. Then I guess it can't be helped. We'll just have to all be Erza for the day."

Lisanna chuckled, "We might need some drugs ourselves if we're going to try and replace Erza. At the least a few mugs of caffeine."

Mira tapped her chin. "The effects should wear off within six hours, so she should be back to herself plenty of time before the wedding."

Erza came up behind them and wrapped an arm around both of the sister's necks. "I'm just so happy you guys are here. Everything is so perfect. Look at my hair, it's beautiful! And Bisca's helping Meredy now. We're going to be done with plenty of time!"

"Erza, what do you need us to do? Do you have a list or something?" Lisanna tried.

Erza stared at her for a moment as if she was trying to figure out a complex mathematical equation in her head, then she grinned. "You know what? We should have some mimosas!"

"See I like this Erza," Cana said. Macbeth popped in and snapped another picture.

Mira threw her head back and groaned, then grabbed her sister's hand and pulled her towards the living room. "Come on Lisanna, let's go. I'm sure she has some kind of color coded binder somewhere."

"I'm sure it made it a lot easier to be here with this wedding happening at the end of your spring break, but were you able to have any fun during your time off?" Lucy asked as she pulled to a stoplight.

Wendy smiled weakly. "Oh it was fine, I would have come home anyway. I got to spend a lot of time with Romeo, and Chelia is here now, so I've had a good time. Erza planned it this way, she doesn't want me to fall behind in my studies." Wendy reached up to start playing with her hair and then remembered it was in an updo and returned her hands to her lap. She began pushing back her cuticles instead. This break hadn't been exactly the relaxing holiday she wanted but Lucy seemed stressed, Wendy didn't want to add to that.

"Well that's good," Lucy said. She frowned down at the clock. "We're a little bit late but it will have to do. At least we know the cake is on the way to the reception and we have all the flowers."

"I hope Erza isn't too stressed, she deserved to have a happy day."

Lucy laughed, "Well then let's hope for some kind of miracle. I'm sure she'll be able to be relaxed by the time she's saying I do. As for before that? There's just so much that goes into this day."

"How are the plans for your wedding coming along?" Wendy asked.

"Great! We're going to have it at Bisca and Alzack's! I can finally move on to the details, I'm so excited!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Oh that place is so pretty! That will be perfect for you guys!" Wendy cheered. Then she let the car fall to silence and went back to playing with her nails.

"Wendy? Is everything okay?" Lucy asked. "You seem nervous, is it the wedding?"

"Oh, no! I'm really excited for the wedding. It's just . . ." Wendy hesitated. Then she looked up at Lucy and saw her rapt expression. "Lucy, did you have a boyfriend in highschool?" Wendy asked.

Lucy looked back to the road as she pulled onto Erza's street. She furrowed her brow, "Yeah, why?"

"Were you guys together for a while?"

"Yeah, about three years," Lucy answered.

"What made you decide to break up?"

Lucy snorted, "I caught him with his pants down and I'm not talking about using the restroom."

"Oh," Wendy said softly.

"Why do you ask? Are you having issues with Romeo?" Lucy asked. She parallel parked on the street in front of Erza's house. When the car stopped she turned back to Wendy and relaxed in her seat.

"Well no," Wendy replied. She looked up at Erza's front door then back to where Lucy patiently waited. "I love Romeo, it's just I'm worried that I'm naive. You know I've never been with anyone else. How do I know that he's the one? Also, Romeo keeps asking me what I'm going to do when I graduate. He wants me to come back here and honestly I don't know if I want to. There's better job opportunities in the city, better learning opportunities, but he wants to be here, he wants to work with his dad."

"You don't think he'd move to be with you?" Lucy asked.

"I don't know, I'm so afraid to ask," Wendy sighed. "The restaurant is what broke up his parents, I'm so worried doing that would make it be the end of us too. I love him so much, it's just that lately I've been feeling so confused."

Lucy reached across and gave Wendy's hand a little squeeze. "Well sweetie, I wish I had a surefire formula to know if the person you were dating was the one but I'm afraid I don't. Some people are like Bisca and Alzack, they meet the person they want to be with when they are young and that's all they need. Other people bounce from relationship to relationship before they find someone who's the right fit. Neither way is the right way, they're just different ways."

"Yeah, I guess so," Wendy said.

"Only you are going to know how you feel, but if you love Romeo and you like being with Romeo, I wouldn't let something like lack of experience convince you that you shouldn't be with him. Just cause there's other fish out there, doesn't mean they taste better. Now if you think he's not the one for you and you're just staying in the relationship because it's easy or you don't want to hurt his feelings, that is when you should probably break up and meet other people. Because that wouldn't be fair to him, he deserves to be with someone who isn't just settling for him ya know? Just like you deserve to be with someone who isn't just settling for you." Lucy smiled. "Sorry, I'm rambling, I don't even know if this is helpful."

Wendy smiled back, "It is a little bit helpful, thanks Lucy."

"Wendy if you want to go downtown and work, I say go downtown and work. You should look into all your options and apply. Before you stress about it, make sure the opportunity is even there. Who knows, when you tour the different places and see how they operate, you might even find you like an office over this way better anyway." Lucy went to open her car door, "And I would talk to Romeo about that. He might even be willing to try something different, you never know. He's nuts about you! He at least deserves a heads up."

"Yeah, I'll do that Lucy," Wendy said with a nod.

They quickly popped out of the car and unloaded the box of bouquets from the trunk of Lucy's car. "Thank goodness we left all the dresses here, I don't know how I would have carried a dress and all these flowers!"

"Why are we bringing the bouquets here in the first place?" Wendy asked as they started in the direction of Erza's front door.

"I think Erza wanted us to get some bridesmaid photos done ahead of time at her house." Lucy laughed, "Or maybe she wanted to make sure they looked right, this way she can nitpick and adjust them all the way up until the time of the wedding."

Wendy giggled, "She likes things the way she likes them."

The door swung open and Erza appeared, hands clasped at her heart. "If it isn't my favorite people! I'm so glad you guys are here, we are just about to get me into my dress."

"Erza, Droy is setting up the flowers at the wedding location as we speak and Sting is helping Yukino set up the cake," Lucy reported.

"Wonderful, simply wonderful! Isn't everything going perfectly? I couldn't have asked for a better day," Erza sighed as she stood aside for the girls to enter.

Lucy walked into the house and set the box of flowers down on the dining room table. Mira came breezing in, hair up, makeup done, and her bridesmaid's dress on and perfect. In her hands she had a clipboard and a pen. "Lucy, have the other flowers been delivered? Do you know if they guys are ready yet?"

Lucy nodded. "Yes, they are being set up now. Last I talked to Natsu he still was trying to figure out his tie but it sounded like everyone else had their act together."

"Good, good, at least that's on schedule." Mira chewed on the end of her pen.

Lisanna showed up with a smile and two dresses in hand, "Come on girls, let's get these on. We have to start getting Erza dressed in fifteen."

Lucy pulled down her jeans and stepped out, just as Macbeth popped in and took a picture. He quickly popped back out when he saw Lucy's expression. "A little warning girls," Lucy huffed. She looked around to make sure the photographer was completely gone.

Cana took a sip of her mimosa and set it back on the table. "Oh get over it, we've all seen you in way less than that."

"Seriously pop to it girls, we're running low on time." Mira frowned down at her phone. "At this rate we're going to be ten minutes behind."

Wendy disappeared to the bathroom. Lucy sighed and started taking of her shirt. "Why the role reversal? I expected Erza to be the one hustling us along."

"Well somebody convinced Erza to take a tranquilizer . . ." Mira grumbled.

"You're welcome," Cana said with a grin.

"And it's due to wear off in about half an hour so we're trying to make sure that everything is done, otherwise . . ." Mira trailed off.

Lucy pulled up her dress and turned so that Lisanna could zip up the back. "Nuclear meltdown?" she offered.

Lisanna giggled, "Exactly, but I think we're doing pretty well."

"I hope so, I'll never forgive myself if this wedding doesn't go just right," Mira frowned down at her list. "Worse comes to worse we could always move up the cake cutting right?"

Cana laughed, "Yeah with Erza you can always fix things with cake."

Jellal felt jittery as he waited for the ceremony to begin. They were supposed to start five minutes ago but Erza still wasn't there. He never thought he could feel so nervous. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted this, that he wanted her, but he was suddenly worried that Erza might have woken up that morning and realized that she had given in too easily. For the longest time getting Erza back had felt like an impossible dream. Was he just about to wake up?

"You need to relax man you look like you're awaiting your death sentence," Erik teased from where he sat perched on the back of one of the chairs.

Jellal adjusted the sleeves of his jacket. "I'm not nervous. I just didn't sleep all that well last night, that's all."

Sawyer lounged back in his chair and chuckled. "He's not worried about a death sentence, he's worried the executioner isn't going to show to give him one."

"Will you two stop comparing marriage to a death sentence! It's going to be fine, she'll be here. She's just running a little behind that's all." Then Jellal added weakly, "It's a busy day."

Both of his friends shared a look and Jellal frowned, "Alright. I'll admit, Erza never runs late but I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. I'm not worried!"

Natsu landed a firm hand on Jellal's shoulder. "Hey man, good news! The girls are finally here. Erza didn't change her mind after all!"

The three men stared at him and Natsu raised a brow, "What?"

Erik and Sawyer burst out in laughter. Between breaths Erik choked out "so she was. . .she was having second thoughts?

Natsu looked at Jellal, brows raising when realization dawned. "Oooohhh, you were actually worried about that?"

"Of course not!" Jellal answered quickly before shooting Erik a dirty look.

Natsu laughed and slapped him on the back. "As if Erza would make it all this way and then turn back on it. You know she's never been one to easily change her mind. Besides, she's been planning this wedding with you since the sixth grade."

Jellal furrowed his brow, "But we only started dating at the end of high school."

Natsu tilted his head, "oh?" He frowned, "Who was it that she was planning for then?"

Freed motioned for everyone to get up. "Gentlemen, it's time to get in place."

Jellal nodded and all the groomsmen lined up behind him. They strolled out to the front of the gazebo and Jellal found his mark. He looked out over the small crowd of people and swallowed. He hoped Natsu was right because if Erza really wanted to punish him for his past, here would be the place to do it most acutely.

Then Sorano began singing with the string quartet and the bridesmaids began their walk down the aisle in lovely pink dresses. Jellal's worry turned to anticipation, he had to fight to keep himself from shifting in his spot to try and catch a glimpse of her before she appeared from behind the white tent. If he could just see her he knew he would feel better.

The music changed and she appeared, the picture of elegance with her long white dress and bright red hair. Jellal felt complete joy in the sight of her. The act of her walking down that aisle towards him was a promise of a life together, was a sign that he was truly forgiven. This wasn't a dream, he had her again and he knew he would never let her go. He blushed slightly at the realization that he was tearing up. Jellal broke eye contact with Erza just long enough to wipe his eyes. When he looked back, her smile was like sunshine warming his tired soul. The guys might joke that marriage was a death sentence, but to Jellal it was bringing him back to life.

"Attention," Cana yelled at the crowd. When no one seemed to hear her, she climbed up on a table and shouted "Oi!" and clanged her glass obnoxiously. The party went silent and everyone turned, half smiling, half horrified. Then Mira sidled next to her and with a cough handed Cana the microphone. Cana frowned down at it, then lifted it slowly and tapped it to make sure it worked. She smiled at all the guests and said into it, "My bad."

"I wanna talk to you guys about that lady over there!" Cana pointed her champagne glass in Erza's direction. "There are very few things that the fates did right in my life, but the biggest blessing they ever gave me was the day they made that pretty lady my sister. From when she was beating my ass to make me get on the bus on time, to these days when she's making sure I get back safe from a crazy night out, Erza always watches my back. She is smart, she is loyal, she can kick anyone's ass, she is an absolute gem, and she deserves the best."

Cana turned to Jellal with a sly grin. "Unfortunately she got Jellal. . . just kidding hot stuff I love you too," she teased with a wink. "I have so many stories about these two that I know they wouldn't like me to share today. But I won't tell you about the times Jellal snuck in through the upstairs window . . ."

"What!" exclaimed Makarov.

Cana grinned, "Or when they said they were studying but really went to park over Garamund's bluff and fool around . . ."

"WHAT!" Makarov stood and a bright red Erza smiled apologetically.

Cana grinned wider, "I mean really, once these two got it together they couldn't keep their hands off each other . . ."

"Can you get to the point Cana?" Jellal interrupted.

Cana threw out her hands. "What point? I'm just trying to embarrass you guys, isn't the point of these things to embarrass you guys?"

Jellal shrugged and sighed. Then he gestured with his hand for her to continue and sank back in his chair placing an arm around the back of Erza's. "Yes, of course. Excuse me."

"Really at the end of the day, even when these two aren't humping, they are perfect for each other. Nobody finds Erza's crazy as adorable and entertaining as Jellal does, and no one else could handle sharing a home with both Jellal and his ego as well as Erza does. I couldn't be happier for you guys." She lifted her champagne glass, "So here's a toast; May your wallet always be heavy, and your hunger always fed. May there always be laughter under your roof, and sweet nothings in your bed. To Jellal and Erza!"

The entire room cheered and a reluctant Erik was pushed to the front. When Cana handed him the microphone he scowled at it. Then he looked around the room with a sigh and said, "I've never been a big speaker so . . ." He pointed at Jellal, "Don't fuck this up!" Then he raised a glass and the entire room cheered.

Jellal rolled his eyes but took a sip from his glass. "Remind me why we picked them again," he muttered to Erza.

Erza laughed, "I don't know, but I'd say they both performed exactly as I expected they would."

There was something about the way a knife went into the side of a cake that made Erza feel all gooey inside. She hummed happily and leaned into Jellal as they finished the second cut to free the first piece of the masterpiece that Yukino had created for their day. Jellal chuckled, "I wish you looked at me that way."

Erza turned to him with an appraising smile, "We need to get some frosting on the way home tonight, I have an idea."

He laughed and a light spattering of pink spread across his cheeks. "Sometimes you are too much." Jellal served the cake onto one of the plates, then picked up a fork. "Are you ready?"

"Don't tease me, you know I've been waiting all day for this part," Erza replied opening her mouth for the first bite of heaven.

Everyone clapped and cheered as they fed each other and followed up with a sweet peck on the lips. Except for Natsu who shouted, "That's not how you do it! You're supposed to smash it in her face!"

Jellal rolled his eyes but Erza turned to Natsu and shouted, "There will be no wasting this cake Natsu! Do you hear me?"

Natsu stood, "Oh yeah, you know what? I'm gonna come up there and show you how it's done!" Before he could get anywhere, Lucy grabbed ahold of his arm and shook her head. "Okay, I'll show you how it's done in October!" Lucy raised a brow and Natsu corrected added, "gently."

Erza laughed and said, "Well then, I look forward to it," but truthfully she was already planning how to save Natsu's cake.

Mira took a sip of her wine and made an ugly frown as she held in a tear. "It really was a beautiful wedding wasn't it?"

Cana wrinkled her nose. "Aww, are ya gonna start crying on me? 'Cause if so, I've got things to do over by the bar."

"Things to do?" Mira asked, wiping her eyes and turning her head to where Bacchus was currently doling out alcohol to people as quickly as he could. "Is that what you're calling him now?"

Cana snorted, "No, but I guess it's appropriate."

Mira giggled. "He'd probably like that."

A large hand rested on her shoulder. Mira turned to look up at Laxus and he commanded, "Dance with me," with a very serious look on his face.

"You want to dance?" Mira asked.

Cana grinned "Do you even know how to dance? You do realize it requires moving. . .to music."

"Thanks Cana I forgot," Laxus grumbled. "Ya coming or not Mira?"

"Ever the gentleman," Cana teased.

Mira stood. She held out her hand and made a little curtsy. "I'd love to dance with you sir."

Laxus rolled his eyes but grinned as he took her hand and pulled her out of the floor. His dancing was little more than holding her and swaying to the music but Mira reveled in it, happy to have a reason to hold him close.

"You still okay with the way we did this?" his voice rumbled.

Mira smiled and rested her cheek in his chest. "Of course I'm okay with it. I got you didn't I?"

Laxus chuckled, "Sounds like you got the shit end of the deal."

"Hmmm, you need to stop thinking like that," Mira sighed into him. "I think I'm the luckiest girl in the world."

He kissed her head and teased, "I'm lucky you're crazy."

"You're lucky I'm drunk too," Mira looked up at him with a wink. "We're going to have a really good time tonight."

He looked down at her with a lopsided grin, his eyes scanning her face. "With you Mira, it's always a good time."

"Is it just me or are you also missing the days when you put these guys down and they stayed in one place?" Gajeel asked as he retrieved Yajeh from underneath one if the tables.

Yajeh squealed in delight taking a large fistful of Gajeel's hair. Gajeel winced and frowned down at his little boy. "Might be time for me to cut all this off."

"No way! You couldn't! The kids wouldn't recognize you anymore," Levy chuckled. She took the baby from Gajeel's hands and set him down on the blanket she had laid down next to the table, where Shutora was currently bouncing and gurgling happily away to the music. "It was a little bit easier before they crawled everywhere I suppose, but aren't they amazing? How quickly they change in just a week?"

Gajeel sat and took a sip of beer, sighing happily when the cold beverage hit his stomach. He grinned up at Levy, "Ya make em sound like some kind of science experiment."

Levy fell into his lap with a giggle. "I promise not to dissect them." She smiled fondly at her babies as they happily gurgled and gnawed on teething rings. "How could I? They are just so beautiful."

"Eh, they're alright," Gajeel teased with a grin.

"I know you agree with me, I saw you dancing with your tiny little girl like a big ol' softy," Levy teased and bopped his nose.

"It's just easier to dance with her than it is to dance with you shrimp. At least Shutora lets me pick her up. Dancing with you gives me back problems."

"Well dancing with you gives me foot problems since you step on them so much," Levy countered and stuck out her tongue.

"I am an excellent dancer, don't know what you are talking about," Gajeel lifted his nose haughtily.

"I guess you do dance as well as you sing," Levy chuckled.

Gajeel took a sip of his beer, "I'm gonna chose to take that as a compliment."

Cana's eyes nearly popped out of her head when Gildarts took a seat next to her at the makeshift bar and said, "I'm hungry as hell!"

"Well maybe if you actually came on time and didn't miss dinner you wouldn't be," Cana snapped, smacking her father on the back of the head. "You missed the entire ceremony, hell you've missed like an entire year. Where the hell have you been?"

"You're so friggin' adorable, you know that!" Then Gildarts hugged Cana so tight, she thought she was going to choke to death.

She smacked frantically at his arms, "Let go of me you nutcase! I'm trying to have a drink here."

Gildarts sat back in his seat and squinted at her. "So how have you been Cana? I haven't heard from you in a while. Too good to send an email to your old man huh?"

Cana sighed, "Dad, I've been busy."

"Here you go," Bacchus said, setting a beer in front of Gildarts with a grin. "I don't have any food over here but we've got lots of liquid bread."

Gildarts smiled, "Thanks!" As he took a sip from the bottle he narrowed his eyes up at Bacchus, "You were the one trying to get in my baby's pants, weren't you?"

"Gross Gildarts," Cana grumbled.

"Were you successful?" Gildarts asked.

Bacchus crossed his arms and grinned, "Yes sir." Cana choked on her beer.

Gildarts pointed his drink in Bacchus's direction."What are your intentions, are you going to marry this girl?" he growled.

"Oh my god, Gildarts quit it," Cana whined.

Bacchus just shook his head, "No sir."

Gildarts stood and threw his fists on the bar. "What! Is my daughter not good enough for ya?"

Bacchus simply shrugged. "Nah, she's just not the marrying type. She wouldn't marry me if I begged her."

Gildarts frowned at Bacchus and took a sip of his beer. Then in the next second he had wrapped Cana in another bone crushing hug while sobbing, "So like her mother, I can't stand it!"

"Get off of me!" Cana gasped.

He grabbed her cheeks and pulled her face to his. "What about grandchildren? How am I gonna get grandchildren?"

"Grandchildren?" Cana exclaimed. "Why do you want grandchildren? You didn't even know you had a kid two years ago!"

Gildarts let go of her and sat back in his seat. "Yeah, but wouldn't it be nice? They might look like me," he sighed with a far off look.

Cana shoved him lightly. "You are so weird. Go pester Erza for those kinda things, or hell, Natsu's engaged I'm sure he'll be popping them out like rabbits as soon as he's married. Probably switch poor Lucy's birth control for sugar pills." She motioned out to the crowd where Laxus was dancing with Mira, "Hell, even Laxus is closer to having kids than me, he's all shacked up with Mira now."

Gildarts tilted his head, "That little idiot finally convinced her to waste time on him?" He stood, "Oh man, I gotta go give him hell." Then he headed off onto the dance floor.

Cana watched him tap Laxus on the shoulder. "And there he goes." Gildarts whispered something in Laxus' ear causing Laxus to turn bright red and give him a look of disgust. "He's such a mess," Cana laughed.

"I'm just glad he didn't want to beat my ass," Bacchus said, leaning towards her over the bar.

"As if that old lech would have any room to talk," Cana snorted.

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Lucy took a sip of her wine as she watched Natsu joke with Gray at the edge of the dance floor. Predictably he had removed his jacket and tie, his sleeves were rolled up, and from his enthusiastic dancing, his shirt was coming untucked in the back. For some reason his disheveled appearance only made him seem more appealing, especially when he doubled over in laughter and the muscles in his shoulders pulled at the thin material of his dress shirt.

Lucy bit her lip and glanced around the reception. Would anyone notice if they slipped away? She wasn't sure if it was the alcohol, the dancing, or just seeing Natsu all dressed up in a suit, but she suddenly wanted him urgently. She blew out a deep breath and set her glass down on a random table. Who cared if anyone noticed, she needed him and she needed him now. Lucy was going to make her move.

She slunk through the tables, feeling like Aphrodite with her heels, flowy pink dress, and perfect hair. Her eyes remained on Natsu as she walked. The closer she got the more it felt like there wasn't anyone else. She didn't even notice when Gray glanced her way, then with a grin and a punch to Natsu's chest, excused himself. Natsu turned to look at what had sent Gray away and regarded her with a lazy grin.

He met her halfway, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her tightly up against himself. "What are you doing Lucy?"

Lucy looked up at him and smiled coyly, "Do you want to go for a walk with me?"

He raised his brows and whispered, "okay."

Lucy laced her fingers in his and walked, away from the dance floor and the tables, out from under the tent and into the dark of the surrounding woods. Soft moonlight lit their path as the reception drifted farther and farther away, until it was merely a light in the distance and echos across the pond.

"Where are we going Luce?" Natsu asked.

"It's a secret," Lucy whispered. She looked back at the wedding, were they far enough away that they wouldn't be caught? For a second she hesitated, this was a little bit more adventurous than she would normally be, but then she looked back at Natsu and the desire was back, even more overpowering than before.

He watched her with an amused expression, then licked his lips and asked, "What are we doing Lucy?"

Lucy stepped in close and ran a hand up his chest. She looked at the buttons on his shirt and murmured, "I just wanted a little bit of alone time with you." Then she looked up at him slowly and blushed.

Natsu chuckled, then lifted her chin with a gentle finger and kissed her sweetly, but Lucy wasn't feeling sweet. She surprised him by returning the kiss fiercely and lowering her hands to fumble with his belt. "I need you," she whispered.

"Oh yeah?" Natsu purred. The purr quickly changed to a gasp when Lucy shoved a hand down into the warmth in his pants and took hold of his now semi-erect length. "Oh fuck Luce," he hissed as she began to move her hand up and down. His kisses became passionate and sloppy, mouth open and tongue exploring her mouth. He grabbed her ass and squeezed hard. Lucy struggled to stay upright as he began pushing her back, mouth attacking her mouth and hands pulling her lower half tightly up against him.

She drifted backwards until she hit a tree and there was nowhere else to go. He kissed, sucked, and nipped her ears, neck and chest as she frantically pulled down his suit pants. Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck and Natsu lifted her thighs to wrap her legs around him. His lips were back on hers and she whimpered into his mouth, "Natsu . . .please."

He grinned and chuckled softly, "You got it." Then he moved her panties aside and guided himself inside her as Lucy sighed in relief. Natsu blew out sharply, and whispered, "We need to go to more weddings."

Lucy giggled, but her laughter quickly turned to pants as Natsu began moving in and out slowly. It was all so much, the grip of his fingers on her thighs, his hot breath on her throat, the noises of the reception across the pond, Lucy bit her lip to keep herself from crying out. Natsu chuckled and started moving faster. "You should just cry out Lucy."

Lucy shook her head frantically but had to open her mouth to breathe. "I wanna hear you Lucy, I love hearing you," he murmured into her ear.

"No, Natsu. No, no, no, everyone is going to hear," she whispered.

"Nah Lucy, nobody's gonna hear you but me." Natsu ran a tongue down her throat and sucked on the skin of her shoulder. It felt like he was sinking deeper and deeper into her with each thrust.

Lucy buried her face in his throat, pressing her mouth up to him, letting soft whimpers escape into his skin. Heat built up in her body, spreading from her center to her toes and finger tips, sweat prickling out along her face and her chest.

Lucy's whimpers turned to moans as the heat began to feel like almost too much, then finally the orgasm took her, she bit into his shoulder to keep the scream between them. Natsu pulled out quickly, pressing her tightly to the tree as he groaned with his own release.

When the moment passed, they looked at each other, faces flushed and smiling. Then they burst into laughter.

"I can't believe we just did that," Lucy whispered. She looked over his shoulder, "Oh my god Natsu, what if someone heard us!"

"Nah, nobody heard," he assured her, kissing her sweetly on the cheek. He turned and set her down gently and taking her hand when she stumbled, "Watch it there."

Lucy fixed her underwear and adjusted her dress. "Am I a complete mess?"

Natsu looked up from fixing his pants and smiled. "Yeah."

"Natsu!" Lucy cried.

Natsu laughed and finished buckling his belt. He closed the distance and pulled a leaf out of her hair. "A very sexy mess."

"That's not helping," Lucy whined.

"Here, let's just take out your hair. We can say it was bothering you." Natsu removed one bobby pin, and then another, and then another. "How many of these damn things are in here?"

"Like thirty at least, it takes a lot to make hair look this good!" Lucy helped in pull pin after pin out until finally it was all free. Lucy shook it out and grimaced up at him, "Any better?"

Natsu grinned, "Yeah, now you look a little bit less like you just had sex in the park."

"Only a little bit?"

"Well I can't exactly make that glowing smile go away," Natsu teased.

Lucy shook her head with a grin and kissed him lightly on the lips, "No, I guess you can't."

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After they sent Erza and Jellal home through a tunnel of sparklers the party began winding down. Feeling slightly tired from dancing, Lisanna found Freed and Bixlow sitting at one of the tables near the dance floor. She took the seat next to Bixlow and said, "Wasn't it a wonderful wedding?"

Freed nodded, "Lovely, Erza certainly has good taste."

"I was a little bit worried that none of us were going to get cake though," Bixlow joked. He leaned back in his chair and put an arm around the back of Lisanna's. She was surprised by how nice his deodorant smelled.

Freed sighed, "Why am I not surprised? Are you happy now that you have your third piece?"

Bixlow grinned and shoved a very large bite into his mouth. "Very," he said with a wink.

Freed wrinkled his nose, "You eat like an animal."

"What? I'm using a fork!" Bixlow said. "Though I suppose using my hands would be faster."

Lisanna stopped his hand before he picked up the entire piece. "Noooo. . .don't!" she giggled.

"Sure baby," he said with another wink, picking back up his fork.

"At least he listens to somebody," Freed grumbled taking another sip of his wine.

Elfman wandered over with Evergreen on his back, arms around his neck so tight she was practically choking him. "Sister, I gotta get Evergreen home. She's had a little too . . ." Evergreen whispered something in his ear and giggled, making Elfman lose his train of thought. "Oh man," he breathed out.

"Wait what?" Lisanna asked.

"See ya sis! Have fun!" Elfman turned quickly and bolted for his car.

"Wait! What the hell Elfman?" Lisanna shouted after him. She could see the lights of his car come on with the sound of an engine. Lisanna watched the car pull away, then fell back in her seat and whispered, "Well dammit."

"What's wrong?" Freed asked.

"I was supposed to stay at his house tonight," Lisanna explained with a frown.

"I don't get why those guys can't just come out and say they're banging each other. It's so obvious it's almost insulting." Bixlow took another large bite of cake. "Do you need a place to stay?"

Lisanna was slightly shocked by the offer. She was pretty sure at most Bixlow had a couch for her to stay on. She supposed that wouldn't be so bad. Her other option was the extra room at Mira's. She looked over where Mira and Laxus stood talking to Gildarts. Laxus' hand was pretty comfortable on Mira's rear, they would probably be obnoxiously loud tonight.

Before she could respond, Freed snorted and said, "As if she'd want to stay at your dirty place, you're scaring the poor girl. Obviously she still has a place at Mira's. Mira has two bedrooms."

Bixlow grinned, "Yeah, you're right, of course."

His eyes caught hers and Lisanna suddenly really wanted to take his offer. She looked away quickly, it was a bad idea, she had obviously had too much to drink. Bixlow wasn't just some guy at a bar, he was someone she had known most of her life. He probably wasn't offering anything like that. She blushed when she looked back up at him and said, "Yeah, I'll just ask Mira, but thank you Bixlow."

He shrugged, "You're welcome anytime pretty lady."

Minerva sighed unhappily as she stepped out of the elevator. The last month was supposed to clear her mind and give her closure. All it did was make her miss a certain man even more, making stepping onto this floor all the more painful. Still, every step felt like a success, she could do this, her heart was strong. By the time she reached her office she had a steady pace and a confident expression. No one in the building was going to catch her being down.

It was a relief to find Mattan at her desk, clicking away. Her replacement had been terrible, Minerva might as well have just used a voicemail box to screen her calls. She ended up doing everything else herself anyway.

"You won't believe what a nightmare the warehouse over in Hargeon is," she said as she flew past. Minerva stopped just short of going through the doorway when she noticed out of the corner of her eye what an absolute mess Mattan was. Her typically elaborately coiffed hair was up in a sloppy bun and instead of a one of her usual trendy ensembles she had on an oversized sweater and a wrinkled pair of faded black pants.

Minerva frowned, "Are you sick Mattan?"

Mattan noticeably paled, "N. . .no Minerva. I'm fine."

"Why are you dressed like a housewife?"

Mattan pouted down at her outfit, "I suppose this isn't as nice as what I usually wear . . ."

Minerva wrinkled her nose. "What is going on with you? I don't like this."

"I just. . ." Mattan frowned. "Nothing Minerva, I'm perfectly fine."

Minerva narrowed her eyes, then shook her head and continued into her office. She started unpacking her bag, but she could hear sniffling coming from outside her office. She made a sound of annoyance than stormed back out of her office. "Are you sick Mattan? Cause if so I would really have preferred if you . . ." she stopped when she saw Mattan's face, red and swollen, tears trickling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry Minerva, I don't think I can do this. I don't think I can work here anymore," Mattan sniffled.

Minerva furrowed her brow. The old her would have screamed and ranted, and then sent Mattan packing. She would have said good riddance and would have been happy that since Mattan chose to quit, the company wouldn't have to worry about paying severance. But today she found herself changed. She found herself thinking of what Rogue would think of this situation. He was always telling her she was too hard on Mattan. Could Mattan really be leaving because of that?

"Can I ask why?" Minerva said through clenched teeth, her brain warring between empathy and anger. "You didn't want me to return then? Do you want to continue with my father?"

"No!" Mattan said a little too loudly. She covered her mouth and seemed completely embarrassed by her outburst.

Minerva scowled. Her father had ruined all of his administrative assistants and now he had to ruin hers. "What did he do?" she growled.

Mattan bit her lip, "I can't . . .I don't want to say."

Minerva felt a chill wash over her. Why had all those assistants left? How come her father had never discussed that with her? How come no one seemed to be discussing that? What exactly had he done to Mattan? She stormed back into her office and grabbed her things. "Mattan, get yourself together. We're taking an early lunch."

Mattan was momentarily confused but then she began stuffing things in her bag. When Minerva passed back through, Mattan was right behind her.

Minerva felt torn. She had an inkling of what had happened between her father and poor Mattan. Part of her was determined to get to the bottom of it while the other screamed that her father could do no wrong. She kept thinking back to her last conversation with him the day before she left. That had been the start of the crack in her perfect picture of him and she worried this conversation with Mattan would cause it to completely break. Yet when she looked back at Mattan, and her usually put together and tough assistant looked lost and afraid, she knew, now there was no going back.

Thanks so much for the reviews! (ffnet was being weird this time around so some were only going to email and some were only showing up on the phone app while others were only on the computer. So I hope I'm catching you all!)

katiekat2001, FairyTailLover04, JayScriptMage345, CelestialMageLucy, Lodemai04(hope you liked the Gildarts!), CrimsonLink310, Snowfairymage, kurovox2, animemama328, Cookie-monsta, sabrene03(I'm not sure if I'm going to be doing any more detailed Stingyu love stuff in this story, but I might find a place for it in another one), Calbrinna (but I'm not done with them yet XD), and guest(congratulations! hope your own nuptials went smoothly!)