AN: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima!

Well, it's time for the next chapter! We're getting close to the end now – just another couple of chapters to go after this one :) I've really enjoyed everyone's reviews and the conversations! :D This is not quite the end but the end of the middle and the start of the end! Hope everyone continues to enjoy my 'little' story – it's come a long way from a 'drinking' one-shot! So, here's the next chapter! (Yosei-41 see additional note at the bottom! ;) and anyone with the same questions :D )


Chapter Twelve - Curiosity Killed the Cat

"I'm guessing I'm the only one that didn't manage to have a good weekend then?" Laxus queried as Gajeel walked good naturedly into his office on the following Monday.

"Well, at least you finally got Lucy to hear you out," he responded, "...have you heard from her? Shrimp said that Lucy had something that she really needed to tell you..."

"No, I haven't." Laxus' face darkened slightly with annoyance at the idea of his Lucy hiding something important from him, "Any idea what it was about? And who's Shrimp?"

"Nope, girl-code or whatever," Gajeel shook his head, sighing, he wasn't gonna be the one to tell Laxus, "and Shrimp is my neighbour. She lives in the flat across the hall, she moved in about three and a half months ago. She's the waitress with the blue hair?"

"Huh, the tiny cute one? Keeps getting lost in the crowd?" Laxus smirked, an idea starting to form in his head, "I guess her being your neighbour is the only reason you walk her home?"

"Yeah, she's not exactly very big, it wouldn't exactly surprise me if she got mugged walking home on her own that late at night." Gajeel stated, trying to show complete disinterest in his cute neighbour.

"I see what you mean! I don't think I've ever seen such a small woman – she's fucking cute though!" Laxus challenged. Gajeel hadn't liked it when Laxus had used 'woman', it wasn't a word he ever used. Then he had called her 'cute' which pissed Gajeel off even more.

"Hence why I call her 'Shrimp'. I didn't know you liked them 'cute', Sparky? I thought you liked them with larger 'personalities'," Gajeel trod carefully, knowing one wrong word could cause a lot of trouble for everyone involved.

"Cute nickname for a cute woman, I like it," he smirked, brushing off Gajeel's annoying nickname for him, "and her ass isn't too bad! It certainly makes up for the lack of upper bodyweight. Although, you probably already noticed since you're more of an ass man anyway. We both know you think they get in the way too much!"

"Of course! God knows how Bixslow managed to have any fun with the Pixie girl on Friday night! Granted her's ain't as big as Juvia's or Ever's! And from what you've told me, Cana's are as big as Lucy's! What the hell do you guys get out of having them in the way all the time?!" He ranted, hoping to distract Laxus.

"You really wanna know? Their fun, soft, comfy and you get to feel superior when other guys glare at you, completely jealous that you're shagging the chick with the huge pair!" He grinned, "So, what's so great about a nice ass? You and Bixslow seem to have that in common."

"Huh, really? Wow, slight increase in respect for Bixslow. Anyway, it's pretty handy for someone as tall as us – we can grab their ass and lift them up to our height. I figured it was obvious, and I admit it does look pretty good too." Gajeel explained handing Laxus the papers he'd initially came in to give him.

"I see you're point, maybe I should keep that in mind. Oh, is my aunt still coming over this weekend?" Laxus asked, playing innocent while thinking that Gajeel couldn't come out if his mother was there.

"Yeah, she's coming over on Saturday but she's leaving just before dinner 'cause I'm heading out," he responded, not realising his cousin's dark thoughts concerning his little Shrimp.

"You're heading out on Saturday? Where are you going?" Laxus asked, taken completely by surprise.

"Well, eh, there's a pretty good band playing in pub downtown so I was gonna go – I didn't ask 'cause I figured you wouldn't be interested since it's not really your type of scene," Gajeel didn't really want to explain that he'd asked Shrimp last week if she wanted to go with him. Laxus would grass on him for a laugh and the whole family would know that he was going out for dinner, then heading to a pub to see a live band and have a few drinks with a seriously cute girl 'just as friends' – he'd never live it down.

"Oh, fine, I just thought it was unlike you to go anywhere, that's all. Thought for a moment there was something interesting happening." Laxus looked back at his computer screen, disappointed at the lack of good blackmail material he'd gotten from Gajeel.

Gajeel walked back into the main office space and made his way to his desk, very aware of the stares of the group while being completely ignored by the rest of the indifferent office staff getting on with their work. He looked across at Juvia before sitting down. Her entire face was scarlet. She refused to look at him while she furiously typed at her keyboard. An email flashed up on his screen. An email from Juvia? Gajeel's face grew red and he glared at Evergreen. The evil bitch had stuck the god damn speaker on – the whole office had heard their conversation.

Ever's face was as scarlet as Juvia's. They'd heard the comment he'd made about their chests. Gajeel wanted to reassure Juvia but was completely lost for words. He'd shout at Ever but she was clearly regretting listening in anyway. He looked across as Bixslow and Bacchus. Bacchus had a massive grin on his face, clearly loving every moment – he hadn't cared in the slightest when his hook-up's chest had been mentioned, in fact he almost seemed proud! Bixslow on the other hand seemed to trying to decide whether to defend Pixie or boast about her. After a minute he'd finished his decision and his huge signature grin spread across his face.

"Well I had a damn good weekend – thanks for asking!" He suddenly burst out, "Lis and I didn't leave my flat all weekend long! And damn it felt good making love in the shower all three mornings!"

"Three?!" Gajeel even managed to surprise himself with his own question.

"Yeah, three! She was still at mine when I left this morning! It's been that good that it felt like I was in a god damn dream all weekend!" He exclaimed, "And I thought my tongue was damn talented but she can tie a knot in a cherry stem with hers – and that's not the only trick she's got! Her tongue's like a god damn weapon, and I'll tell you one thing – she's gonna be the death of me! Hell, I'm pretty sure she had the whole weekend planned 'cause when I got to the back door at half two on Saturday morning there was a friggen bag waiting there before she appeared! Should have seen the stuff that was in it! Damn she was fun!"

"Was?! Was?! What do you mean 'was'?! I have to face Elfman again after what you just did to his little sister! You sick bastard! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Evergreen yelled, throwing her fan across the room at him, completely furious, "he got a worried phone call from Mirajane at half three in the morning asking if he knew where she was! I'm gonna kill you!"

"Calm, Ever-baby! Lis text them on Saturday morning! I hadn't exactly planned to stop you getting laid! And I'm kinda hoping she's still there when I get back – that's what I mean by 'was', if she's not there then that's her choice!" Bixslow defended.

"WHAT?!" Evergreen's face turned from scarlet into an almost maroon colour in sheer embarrassment at the suggestion that Bixslow had stopped her from having sex with Elfman. Since when did she get embarrassed about sex?! She had great 'sex-appeal', why would she?! Maybe it was because they almost had done it, it had only been the second time they'd met – was she crazy?! Did that big oaf even know how to have sex?! What was she thinking?! She was at work! She shouldn't be thinking about that oaf, never mind whether he knows how to have sex or not!?

"Well, I said it was up to her to decide if she wanted to hang around until I got back or not. I figured I wouldn't push her – she was really fun and cute, they never seem to come together! I was gonna take her out for something to eat if she was still there when I got back!" He defended himself again, feeling slightly offended by Ever's surprise, not having a clue that that hadn't been what her reaction had been to.

"Good for you, Bixslow!" Laxus cheered as he came out of his office to find out what the commotion had been about. He'd seen Ever's fan flying through the air and heard all the raised voices. Being in charge of the floor, it was his job to sort it out. Turns out he'd gotten to congratulate his oldest friend instead.


And so, we finished meeting all the characters in chapter seven, and now as of the end of this chapter twelve we have finished tying up the pieces of string that lead to this point, still want to find out where this now-entwined rope is taking us? Can you tell its 2am here while I prepare this for you? Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! :D Next chapter is 'Worth the Price' – no, really, that is the title of the next chapter! ;D Thank you again for reading!


Yosei-41,

I'm putting this on here in case anyone else is in the same boat :) First, never be afraid to ask me questions! I'm perfectly happy to answer them! :D You're not bothering me at all! :D and thank you by the way! ^_^

I have to answer your second question in order to answer your first, so:

2. Why is Natsu tagged, but has only made one appearance in the first 11 chapters?

'Redeeming Lucy' is basically told from the point of view of Laxus and his friends - hence why at least one of them is always present. The short appearances of Levy on this list will become apparent in the next couple of chapters, she's not only there for Lucy's point of view. Basically this is a story about Laxus trying to win Lucy back, however she's obviously confused considering the fact they spent two years together but it did end badly, so now she's with Natsu. Laxus can technically only win her back off of Natsu if he can 'redeem' himself - I'm not saying he'll manage that, the Jury is still deciding, i.e. I'm considering choosing which ending based on readers reviews! I have my last chapter written out, I just need to decide which one to use O:) which does mean it could still end as a NaLu hence Natsu being tagged.

1. Where's Erza?

This is based more around Laxus and the Raijinshuu (Thunder God Tribe), not Team Natsu hence the lack of Gray and Wendy as well. Wendy has been mentioned twice due to being a cousin of Gajeel in this. Gray has only been referred to if you're a GrayxJuvia fan and not a LyonxJuvia fan. However, Erza is mentioned later, its not a spoiler since she doesn't appear but she is mentioned, so yes she does 'exist' in this :)

Oh, and with the bruises bit, the idea is that there has been a recent change in him since he's started going drinking with Bacchus (not necessarily defending him here!) and that he's been getting 'worse', she wouldn't have challenged him when he came home at five in the morning if he'd been a 'regular' physical abuser, but he has gotten drunk and angry at her before. In 'Family Matters', Gajeel lets us know that Laxus gave up drinking after he lost Lucy which potentially means that he'd no longer get drunk and beat her if she went back. However, there's no guarantee that he won't get like that again. So, Lucy needs to decide between Laxus who wants her back that she'd been with for two years, and the man that's been there for her during Laxus' mental and physical abuse while she was with him and continued to be there after she's left Laxus - Natsu. We know Natsu was around because Laxus refers to him in the first chapter, and Lucy points out to Laxus, in chapter nine, that she hasn't talked to anyone about what had happened between them the night she left but Natsu knew, in chapter five, about what Laxus had been like to her, so Lucy had obviously talked to Natsu about Laxus while Lucy and Laxus were still together.

Hope this helped! If you still have questions, just ask! If there's something I've missed or you don't understand in this explanation then seriously - just ask, you're probably not the only one thinking about these questions! ^_^

Sketcher1994 x