It was barely eleven in the morning as Talise ran around the guild hall taking orders and serving drinks. She didn't mind closing the kitchen and filling in for Mirajane for the day. It gave her a bit of break after spending so much time and magic on Gajeel's menu, which was still a work in progress. But when she asked where Mira was going, the head waitress got coy and said, "I can't say. It's a surprise"; which made Talise very pale. The cook didn't think she could handle any more surprises, no matter how "generous" Mirajane was.

Talise sighed and began separating dirty mugs behind the bar. Her heart fluttered when Gray came out of nowhere and sat right in front of her. She smiled. It has been about a week since she's seen her favorite Ice Mage. If it wasn't for her busy schedule, she would've been in another blue slump from the lack of quality time with him.

She stopped what she was doing, grabbed a clean mug and said, "The usual, I presume."

Gray shook his head, which made Talise raise a brow. "How are you doing Tails?" he asked.

Talise grew nervous. She didn't know why he was so serious asking such a simple question. "I've… been busy," she said with another smile.

"So I heard." Gray eyed her again before he said, "You shouldn't waste your time cooking for that Phantom bastard." Talise lowered her smile. "He doesn't deserve anything from you. If anything, it's HIM that owes you."

She turned her gaze to the empty cup in her hands. Talise was afraid of looking at the Ice Mage dead in the eye for what she was about to say. "I–I… I know how you feel Gray… but that's all in the past–"

"You're far too kind Tails," he said aggressively. "He's gonna end up being like Laxus."

"No," she said shaking her head, "he and Laxus are different, besides–I've been thinking a lot about this–"

"Not enough if you're cooking for him." he hissed.

Talise flinched. She knew he meant well, but his words hurt. If she had more energy she would've been fighting him back more on this. Sadly, she only had so little to argue with. Gray backed off when he saw Talise's expression. He didn't mean to be so aggressive with her but he needed to make his point clear with her.

"I'm sorry Tails," he muttered, "but I don't trust him." He then eyed the dragon slayer sitting alone on the second floor. "For all we know, he's here to cause trouble. We don't know when he'll turn his back on us–so it's best if you stay away, FAR away from him." Gray turned back to Talise and gave her a solemn look. "Next time, he could do more than leave a nasty bruise on your shoulder. I don't wanna see you end up in the hospital because of him."

She froze. In the back of her mind, Talise cringed. Gray still didn't know that Gajeel had already done that. But she didn't have the guts to tell Gray; especially since it would make things a lot worse between him and Gajeel. If he was this aggressive with the Iron Dragon Slayer, who knows how the Ice Mage would be if he knew what he did to her. She shuddered. No, she didn't want to know.

The young woman calmed down when she felt a hand on her head.

"I don't want that to happen," Gray said sincerely. "You're too important to me Tails."

Talise blushed as he patted her head. She was enjoying his affection when a cold shiver went down her spine.

The stupid ghost was back.

She thought it was completely gone since it's been weeks since she last felt it. Talise tried ignoring it but it kept getting stronger with each pet Gray gave her. Her eyes shifted away and caught something… something that took her by surprise.

Across the room was Juvia, who was livid and giving her the most hateful glare anyone has ever received.

She held her breath.

No! Was Juvia her ghost?!

The Water Mage looked utterly ferocious–that was until Erza came up to her. Once she started talking to Juvia did she turn back to her sweet-self; like she wasn't trying to kill Talise with her eyes.

Talise blinked several times. She knew Juvia didn't like her. It was clear with the glares she's received as well as the cold attitude she's gotten from her. She didn't think Juvia was the evil spirit that was on her for days while she had any interaction with Gray.

Why?

Why does she hate her so much?

"You okay Tails?" Gray got concern with Talise making a lost face.

Her thoughts went away as she smiled back at him. "Yeah, I'm okay." He gave her another look before he left the matter alone.

Talise went rigid as Erza came by and started talking to Gray. She tried ignoring her fears as well as Juvia's glares. But it was all for naught. Her mind kept going back to Juvia and her immense hatred towards her.

"Will you be able to do it Talise?"

The cook was brought back by Erza, who was waiting patiently for her answer. Talise started to sweat. She didn't know what she asked for and was too scared to ask Erza to repeat herself. Gray sensed her trouble and came to her rescue.

"I'm not sure she can, Erza." He turned to Talise. "She's filling in for Mirajane for the day, right Tails?"

Erza looked at him then at Talise, oblivious to the cook's tensed nature. "Is that true?" Talise dumbly nodded, which made Erza sighed. "Then forget what I said. I'll order from one of the local bakeries then. I hope they can bake my usual amount like you do." she muttered.

Talise eased up a bit. So that's what she was asking about. Regardless if she paid attention, Gray was right. She would have no time to bake for the Armored Mage. With the new guild, she had even more responsibilities as wells as Mirajane's to see to at the end of the day. At best she'll get two hours of sleep before coming back in the morning to open the guild and get things ready for the day.

"I'll leave this to you, then," Erza said and placed a job request on the counter. "Let's go Gray."

The cook nodded vigorously again and took the piece of paper; filing it on her list of job request being taken. Talise went about her work again as Team Natsu came together at the guild entrance. What she didn't expect was Juvia running to them crying, "Please wait for Juvia, Gray-sama!"

The mug Talise had in her hands exploded into tiny pieces. She watched as Team Natsu left the guild, all except Juvia. The Water Mage stayed back to give Talise a taunting smirk before following the rest of the group.

Her brain finally got it.

She was in love with Gray too.

The cook's mind was in a whirl. How? When? So many questions were popping in her head at an alarming rate. She had no doubts Juvia was also after Gray's heart. Her hatred now made sense. A wave of hostility then washed over Talise. She gripped whatever pieces were left in her hand from the mug, tighter.

There was no way in hell she was going to give up the love of her life to her.

The next morning, Talise was in a crappy mood. She couldn't sleep at all last night. Her mind kept replaying Juvia and the way she ended Gray's name with sama. It pissed her off. So much that she almost didn't notice Mirajane's absence; making her in charge again.

It wasn't until ten in the morning when Mirajane finally came in and told everyone what the surprise she had was. A journalist from Sorceress Weekly was going to visit the guild to do a special article on Fairy Tail.

Talise cringed.

Her experiences with the magazine's journalists weren't great. Most of them were pushy and too overly energetic. She got that they were enthusiastic about their job and with the mages, they get to work with. But they sometimes crossed the line; especially if they were Alexander, Dax, or Jason. As long as it wasn't any of the three, she should be fine. She'd actually preferred if it was a new reporter, but the odds of that happening were very, very, very low.

She wasn't the only one anxious about the journalist coming.

Almost everyone was fretfully getting ready. Even Erza was nervous! She ran around in a beautiful purple dress with her hair up looking for makeup. That surprised Talise. She's never seen Erza looked so gorgeous before. She wasn't the only one. A large number of people had left then came back to the guild dressed up fancier than usual for the interview.

She would've found it funny that everyone was making a big deal. But her worry about who would be interviewing them caused her to be in the same boat as them. The only reaction she didn't get was Lucy's. The blonde freaked out when she found out about it and ran out of the guild at top speed.

Time ticked away as Talise man the bar. Mirajane wouldn't let her go hide in the kitchen. Instead, Mira asked (more like demanded) she kept the kitchen closed and waited tables with her.

She was putting away cleaned mugs when she heard someone cry out, "COOL! COOL! COOL!"

Talise dropped the cup she had and turned to the front. She covered her eyes and pretending that she didn't see who she saw. At the entrance was Jason, a scrawny blonde armed with a camera and a satchel. His whole being was filled to the brim with excitement as he spoke to Erza, who changed back to her usual outfit.

The cook ducked behind the counter as he turned her direction. She let out a small whine. Why couldn't they send someone else? Nooooo, it had to be Jason!

Mirajane came around and wasn't surprised to find the cook on the ground, muttering to herself. "There's no point in hiding Tali," she said with mirth. "He already knows you're here."

"I wonder how," Talise said with a glaring pout. "I can pretend to be sick and go home."

Mirajane chuckled, amused by her poor plan. "You know that won't work. He'll end up following you and interview you along the way. And knowing him, he'll want to visit Maple Lodge and do an exclusive article of your home." Talise's face went pale. "Do you really want that to happen?"

She shook her head furiously. The cook didn't want that. But she also didn't want to speak with Jason.

"Just answer his questions," Mira said. "I told him not to bring up any photo shoots or modeling jobs while talking to you." Talise pressed her lips together. It sounded like it should be fine, but when it came to Jason nothing was ever fine.

She stayed down for a few more minutes before she decided to come out of hiding. Talise jumped when the first thing she saw was Jason staring intently at her over the counter.

"CHEF FAIRY!" he cried at the top of his lungs.

Talise cringed and nervously smiled at him. "Jason," she said with a strained voice. "How are yo–?"

"Will you PLEASE re-consider doing gravure for our magazine!?"

Talise narrowed her eyes and turned to look at Mirajane, but she was gone. The waitress had left her alone with the overzealous reporter.

She was then startled by Jason, who took her hands and got closer to her. "You'll be perfect! More than ever with that new outfit you have on!" Talise groaned. She had yet another reason to hate Mira and her devious schemes. "We can do a photo shoot like that if ya want!" he said excitingly. "Or better yet–a swimsuit spread! Or better yet, why not both!?"

The cook did her best to keep herself calm, despite Jason's giddiness and punchable face. She was about to decline him when Gray came out of nowhere and separated him from her.

"What the hell did I tell you about grabbing Tails!?" he cried. Talise was relieved Gray came in to intervene. She didn't know how long she could keep it together. And if things couldn't get any "better", Talise could feel one of Juvia's death glares from far away.

Jason didn't take offense to Gray ruffling him up. Instead, his eyes grew bigger and yelled out, "GRAY!" He took out his pen and notepad and said, "Now that I have you–can you answer me this: why do you always take off your clothes?"

Gray got flustered and grabbed the front of Jason's shirt. "BASTARD! DON'T GO ASKING WEIRD QUESTIONS LIKE THAT!"

Talise's face went red when she saw Gray in only his boxers. She turned around and said, "GRAY! PANTS!"

The Ice Mage freaked out and let go of Jason. Natsu soon joined in, throwing a table and several benches in the air angrily. Jason turned his attention to the Fire Dragon Slayer, leaving Talise. She was super thankful for the pink idiot and his random outbursts.

Before she could take a breather, out of nowhere, Lucy was on stage wearing a hot pink bunny-girl outfit. Talise gapped as the blonde gathered everyone's attention. What she didn't expect was for her to be pushed off stage by Gajeel, who was dressed in a fancy white suit and sunglasses.

Talise's jaw went lower as he started singing and playing the guitar. Words escaped most of the guild. They didn't expect the former Phantom Lord mage to act in such a way.

The only ones even remotely supportive were Elfman, Juvia, Max, and Macao; all cheering him on. Everyone else started throwing things at Gajeel for his horrible performance. But that didn't matter to the dragon slayer. He continued to sing his Best Friend song.

She cringed. His singing wasn't the greatest, unlike his guitar playing. Talise was a bit impressed he had some skill with an instrument; given his appearance.

The song was cut short when Gajeel threw his guitar at Natsu, who insulting his singing. In less than three seconds, the two were at each other's throats; fists flying left and right. Talise's heart dropped as other people started yelling back and forth.

It then started.

Fists, kicks, plates, benches, and magic were thrown at everyone and anyone in every direction. Talise ducked behind the bar counter as a lamp-post headed her direction. The cook sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She didn't think Natsu would start a guild fight in the new building so soon. They barely had the new guild for a month. He could at least give them another few weeks before he started knocking down walls.

The cook stopped stressing as Lucy and Happy came crawling behind the bar as well. She couldn't blame them. Leaving the building wasn't an option in a guild fight. Getting to the front door was more of a struggle than trying to avoid strayed projectiles in the room. The safest thing to do was to find cover and wait it out.

She would've liked to stay with them, but she couldn't. She had a kitchen to protect.

Talise stuck her head out and waited until there was any sort of clearing for her. As soon as she saw one, she rushed out from the bar.

She only took three steps when something hard and cold pushed her across the room. Talise winced as one of the beams stopped her from going any further. She tsked when she saw herself. Her bun was in disarray, with half of her hair coming out, and her entire right side was aching and wet. It didn't take a genius to figure out who hit her. But she didn't have time to get angry at her perpetrator as she ducked a large barrel coming at her head.

She got further away from the kitchen, which was the opposite of what she wanted.

The young woman yelped when one of Natsu's fire fists came at her too close for comfort. She tried running away but got tripped up by Elfman, who was lying on his side on the ground. Talise made use of his large body as a shield from several broken chairs coming at them. She didn't feel terrible that most of the damage went to Mirajane's little brother. He was a big guy and he was already out cold.

Talise had no choice but to stay with the large mage as several fights were too close for comfort.

She growled and pulled the rest of her hair out of the bun; slowly frustrated that she was nowhere near her kitchen. She eyed the doorless entrance and fear went right through her.

Near her kitchen was Droy, who was in a headlock by another mage. She watched as he tried to pull away but couldn't. At that moment his hand went to the containers on his chest and opened one of them. Talise screamed "NO!", and jumped over Elfman's body.

She ducked, jumped, and rolled over several projectiles and mages–trying to get to her kitchen as quickly as she could. As Droy was about to drop his plant seeds Talise kicked his attacker's side as hard as she could.

The mage went tumbling with Droy to the back of the bar. Talise panted as a loud BOOM was made and several vines entrapped the bar, along with a few mages. Adrenaline was rushing through her body. Without thought, she picked up a stray tray and swung at a glass cup coming at her.

She kept swinging away at cups, half a chair, plates, and medium-sized fireball before someone else pushed her. Talise growled and used her tray to hit Jet upside the head, knocking him out. She wasn't letting ANYONE destroy her precious kitchen!

No matter whom it was!

It took several hours for the guild fight to stop. Talise was surprised that Master Makarov or Erza wasn't able to stop it like usual. Mira told her the master was too depressed and ended up crying in a corner. Erza, on the other hand, was fighting in the fray. Over what the cook didn't know but it was more important than stopping the mess Natsu and Gajeel had started.

But at least justice was brought down by the master. Both dragon slayers were banned from taking any jobs until they fixed the damages. All under Talise's watch.

Talise thought it was fair. But in the following days, she'd realized how much of a punishment it was for her than for them. They were more of a nuisance than an actual help. If she wasn't in the same room as the two they would end up right back at each other's throats. This was taking time away from repairing the guild and giving Talise more trouble.

It took a week, and another guild fight between the two, for the master to see this. He ended up extending their ban for the rest of the month. Natsu, who was beyond angry, took it out on Gajeel, who in turn retaliated.

They got a few punches in until Erza stopped it. By punching Natsu in the gut, further stopping any more damage that had to be fixed. In the end, Natsu was banned from requests for a full month and wasn't allowed to come to the guild for a week.

Master Makarov was surprisingly lenient with Gajeel. He was still banned from jobs, but he still had to help Talise as a busboy along with finishing the repairs on the guild.

Everyone, except Gray, got a laugh at the ex-Phantom member cleaning up after them. Of course, he opposed. He didn't like that Gajeel was in such close proximity to Talise. At least with Natsu, he knew nothing would happen to her. But now only he was there from start to the end of her shifts–alone for the majority of the time.

And because of this Gray stopped doing job requests; at least that was his plan.

Regardless of Natsu's absence, Team Natsu still went on missions by Erza's order. She thought it would teach the pink haired idiot even more if he saw them doing missions without him. But that didn't stop him from hovering over the two whenever he had time off between jobs.

Talise didn't mind too much.

What she did mind was the unwelcomed fourth person, glaring at her from afar.

She knew Gray didn't like Gajeel helping her; it was evident with his babysitting. But she didn't think she had to deal with Juvia's death glares as well as.

Talise was very surprised by Gajeel's attitude with Gray. Not once did he ever argue back with the Ice Mage. He concentrated on the jobs she gave him and did them well. In all her life she'd never felt so horrible for her ice prince's actions.

By the end of the week, she had enough.

"That's it!" she cried. Gajeel looked up from the sink as well as Gray who was sitting on the counter nearby.

Gray thought she was going to go to Mira or the master; move Gajeel's punishment to someone else instead of her. He smirked and thought it was about time Talise got irritated by the asshole. His smugness shrank when she stood in front of him.

Talise frowned at Gray and pointed to the doorless door. He and Gajeel made a face; they didn't know what she meant.

She pushed her arm and pointed further to the door. "Out!"

Gray was speechless. "Wha–?"

"I'm getting tired of this nonsense. You have no reason–" Gray rebutted but Talise shut him down. "No, Gray. You don't." Her face softened up and she went closer to him and whispered. "I appreciate the thought but you have to believe in me when I say he isn't going to do anything to me."

Gray looked at her and then glared at the dragon slayer holding a soapy mug.

"Please." she pleaded. "Do this for me."

He looked back at her and held her stare for a while. He pushed back a growl before he grabbed and hugged her tightly to him. In a light whisper, he told her, "For you. But you yell my name or Mira's as loud as you can the moment he does something wrong–no matter where you are, okay."

Gray let her go and with one more glare sent to the dragon slayer, he stepped out of the kitchen.

Talise stood rooted in her place for a moment before she turned to Gajeel, who was in a bit of shock. Her face still red from Gray's impromptu hug, she looked down and muttered, "S–Sorry. Gray isn't really a bad person, b–but I apologize for the way he's been treating you."

Gajeel was quiet as she cleared her throat and went back to prepping for the lunch hour. A strong feeling stirred in him. It was big and unknown. He ignored it and went back to the dishes but not before whispering, "Thank you."

She picked it up. Talise was hesitant to look back at him. So instead, she nodded.

The rest of Gajeel's punishment was smooth sailing.

With Gray gone, the two were able to talk civilly. Gajeel was less threatening to Talise; the more she was around him. She was even able to find out that the dragon slayer had a love for music. And that it was Juvia's idea to showcase his skills and give a token of friendship to the guild by writing a song for them. Talise was a bit surprised and touched that that was what he wanted from his performance a few weeks ago.

It was a pity that it all went awry, but at least there was a silver lining to it. He actually got one person to see that he was actually a good guy.

As for Gajeel, he was slightly happier.

He'd never felt so refreshed. It was like someone had taken off a giant load off of his shoulders, it was liberating. Of course, he was still cautious of the situation. But the time they had together was the first time he's ever felt like he belonged in the guild.

But all that fell apart on Gajeel's last day.

A bitter cloud hovered over the dragon slayer when he came into the guild that morning. It didn't take Talise long to notice that something was wrong. He was moodier with the guild members and a lot colder to her. She could only guess that someone had pissed him off, more than usual with how he was acting.

Talise sighed. She didn't want his last day with her to end in such a bad mood. She just hoped the little surprise she planned for Gajeel would put him in a better mood… or it could all go up in flames. The cook could only wait for the outcome as things got busy in the kitchen and in the guild.

For the most part, Gajeel had spent most of the day outside the kitchen. Every time he came back Talise somehow had something else for him to do outside. He wouldn't have minded it if he wasn't in a pissed off mood, blinding him with unnecessary irritation.

It started to look like she didn't want him near her.

That started to gnaw at Gajeel. Sure he was biting everyone's head off who was looking at him for even a second. And was sort of giving Talise the cold shoulder. But deep in the pit of his stomach, he didn't want this. Nor did he want his punishment to end.

He started looking forward to going to the guild, knowing that he wasn't going to be alone.

Part of him knew he had to suck it up and stop being an asshole. But he didn't know how to undo what he started. He was sad, pissed, and confused. And all that boiled down to the only thing he knew best to act upon, anger.

After the dinner rush, Mira had to head out early with her brother. That left Talise in charge of locking up with Gajeel. They did the usual, with Gajeel taking the large task of sweeping and mopping all three floors.

Gajeel decided to take his time on the first and second floor before getting to the basement. During his cleaning, he reflected his time with Talise and tried to figure out how to apologize to the cook. She didn't deserve his attitude today; especially since she was nothing but kind to him. The bitter cloud was slowly dissipating.

When he finished he turned off the lights to the basement and trudged back upstairs. After putting the cleaning equipment away he made his way to the bar.

There he was staggered with what he saw.

Talise was out of uniform and in her regular outfit. On the bar's counter there several pink boxes and two long crates. Gajeel blinked. He didn't know if he was hallucinating from the fumes of the cleaning products. He approached her and gave her a puzzling look.

She smiled sheepishly, "I–I know today wasn't the best for you. But I wanted to make it up to you–as well as thanking you for your hard work for the past month." She grabbed one of the boxes and held it out to him.

Gajeel gave her a look but nonetheless took the mystery box. He opened it and saw various pieces of metal, but to Gajeel's sensitive nose he knew they weren't real. There were small lingering smells of oats, sugar, and icing.

"I made you some food and sweets. I also gathered all the remaining scraps of metal we don't need," she said, patting one of the crates. "You can take it all home." Gajeel was silent. The cloud completed disappeared. He felt unprepared as a wave of emotion wash over him. His mind was blanking out. He's never felt like this.

Talise waited patiently, whether he was going to blow up on her or not. So far he hasn't as he staring at the box of cookies in his hands.

After a few minutes, his red eyes locked on to hers. His face loosened the hardness that was always there. It was then replaced with exhaustion. It wasn't out of irritation but an odd soft tone of endearment. He then gave her something she'd never think to see: a sincere smile.

"Th–Thank you Talise… not just for the food, you know," he said softly. "Your kindness has really helped me this past month… but the way I was today. I–I'm sorry about that."

Talise gave him a smile of her own. Without thinking she placed her hand on his and said, "Don't worry about that, I forgive you."

A dust of pink colored Gajeel's face as his chest constricted again with a strong feeling. He couldn't think again.

He could only nod dumbly as she gave him another smile.