KTKG Says: Hey hey people! What's that? ANOTHER CHAPTER? YAASSSSS! Anyways, let's get going to the good stuff! A big thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! As always, I love you guys dearly!

Chapter Twenty-One

Levy frowned as she flipped her wrist over to read the hands on her watch. It was late and she had to get going. Frowning, her brown eyes swung over to the love seat adjacent to the couch she was currently sitting on, her mouth turning downward even further.

God, keeping this promise was going to practically kill her.

"Levy-san? It's almost time for you to go, right?"

She plastered a smile on her face as she watched Wendy tear her eyes away from the television to look at her, the sadness in them giving her heart a painful squeeze. "Yeah Wen, it's almost that time. Any idea where your brother could be?" When the young girl only shrugged her shoulders, Levy had to close her eyes and count backwards from ten in an effort to keep her anger in.

Just one more thing to add to her list of reasons why she was going to kill that pink-haired bastard when she saw him.

Taking a deep breath, she made a show of settling herself further in the couch before replying "I'll hang out with you a little while longer until he comes home." At the comment, Wendy just gave a nod in acknowledgment and turned her gaze back to the screen on the opposite wall. Silence then fell over them like a warm blanket.

Levy wasn't comforted though.

For the past week she had been imagining all the different ways she could bring pain to the elder Dragneel sibling, however she had yet to act them out as she had promised her best friend that she would play nice since she was now acting as Wen's mentor. The one thing she guessed that was working in her favor was that with him practically working himself to death, it was easy for her to not haul off and punch him in the face seeing as she rarely saw him.

Then again, it also made her want to run out and hunt him down considering he was now starting to neglect his sister in favor of work. Not to mention he was also the reason his best friend was currently in a perpetual zombie-like state as well.

"Ne, Levy-san? Will I get to see nee-san soon? I know she says she's busy but…"

"I know honey, I know. She's working on that big project for the program though, remember? It shouldn't be too much longer, two weeks at the most, after that she should be good to go. Until then, you're stuck with me kiddo."

The bluenette felt a small pang at the Wendy's reaction, which consisted of a small nod followed by a larger frown. She didn't take it personally that the small girl wasn't too fond about being stuck with her as a mentor. She knew that Wendy missed Lucy something furious, so no, Levy knew that she herself weren't the problem.

It wasn't like she was actually lying, Lucy really was busy with the presentation, but she was fibbing a bit when it came to the time frame. She knew that Lucy's presentation had actually been bumped up by a full week, so when it came to Wendy, she stuck with the original time frame seeing as she was holding out hope against hope that Wendy's pink-haired idiot of a brother would come to his senses and apologize before she had to choke the life out of him by then.

The sound of keys unlocking the front door stopped Levy's thoughts in their tracks and a sigh of exhaust escaped her. That had better be Natsu's idiotic ass making his way through the doorway.

Imagine her surprise when the man of her dreams (literally, the man haunted her dreams) made his way into the living room.

She watched, frozen in place as the huge man scanned the room, his black eyes finally falling on her as his pierced eyebrows rose in surprise. "Who are you? Where's Bunny Girl?"

Goodness, the sound of his deep velvety voice had Levy practically melting right into the plush couch. Who could blame her? This was, after all, the first time she had actually met this man in person, with no menu as a barrier between them. She ran his voice through her memory once more, practically transforming into a puddle of goo when the actual words he had spoke slammed into her like a ton of bricks.

Wait a minute… Bunny girl?

"Gajeel, this is Levy, my um… mentor. Levy, this is my cousin Gajeel. He's the one that's been coming in to sit with me until Nii-san gets home after you leave."

Wendy's introduction served to break Levy almost completely out of her stupor, making the older woman practically scramble up to her feet. She bowed a couple of times, praying that she hadn't been obvious with her ogling of him earlier. When she offered her hand in greeting as well, she couldn't help the sharp intake of breath at the electricity that ran up her arm as he took in his own.

"You look familiar."

"Eh?"

Her eyes lifted from where they had been on locked on their hands to find that he was giving her a thoughtful look, and once again, it took a minute for his words to register in her brain. "Um… I'm Lucy's best friend?" She wasn't quite sure why she phrased the explanation as a question, however she was too busy praying to whoever was listening that he didn't recognize her from all the times she comes to his restaurant with and without Lucy…

"Oh yeah, you're the one that's always with her when she comes to my restaurant. Actually, you're there quite a bit, aren't you? I thought you looked familiar."

Well shit.

She was busted.

Laughing nervously, she didn't trust her voice so she just nodded while he turned his attention back to his cousin.

"Alright shrimp, bed time!"

Levy managed to tear her head away just in time to see Wendy pull herself off the loveseat and make her way over for a hug, of course, not without much huffing and puffing. Levy let out a small chuckle as she embraced the slightly smaller girl, saying their goodbyes before she turned and stuck her tongue out at the rather tall man and made her way towards her bedroom.

"So you're Wen's new mentor? What happened to Lucy?"

Levy had been so lost in thought watching Wendy disappear around the corner that the sudden boom of Gajeel's voice literally made her jump. Placing a hand over her rapidly beating heart, she turned her eyes back to him and tried her hardest to suppress the blush that was currently making an appearance on her cheeks but failing miserably. Hopefully he'll just interpret it as embarrassment.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you there." She nodded then fell silent before she remembered that he had asked her a question. What had he- "So where's your friend? She's been missing for a couple days now that I think about it."

Oh. That.

The anger that she had been feeling earlier started to take hold of her once more; however she took a calming breath before she flew off the handle. She wasn't sure how much the man knew, and she didn't want to be the one to tell her friend and… whatever the hell he was to her at the moment's business.

Plus, she didn't want him to think she was bat-shit crazy for going off about his cousin when this was the first time he's ever talked to her.

"Um… well… Lucy has been really busy with some projects for the organization, so I'm just filling in until she's done."

He gave her a once over, his eyes coming back up to lock once more with hers and Levy felt a chill run down her spine when his eyes searched hers for something. When he apparently found what he was looking for, he let out a grunt and plopped down in the spot his cousin had recently been occupying. He craned his neck to look around the corner, probably for his cousin, and Levy had a second to admire his profile.

"Did something happen between Lucy and my idiot cousin?"

Wow. A little blunt there, aren't we?

She placed her hands on her hips as she mimicked his earlier actions, searching his face for a sign of… something. After a couple of seconds, she made her way back to the couch and plopped down with a sigh.

It seemed that she wasn't the only one a bit irritated with those two. While she was obviously upset with Natsu, she was also a little upset with Lucy as well. Both of them needed to get their heads out of their asses and talk to each other; however it seemed that both of them were using work as a way of avoiding the issue.

Glancing over at his expectant face, something she saw in his eyes told Levy that she could trust him. She didn't know why, considering this was the first conversation that she had actually had with him in her months (okay, maybe a year) of kinda stalking him, but then again she supposed he could potentially help the situation. After all, he was Natsu's cousin, maybe he could talk some sense into the man.

"There… there's been somewhat of a misunderstanding between the two of them and well… it's bad enough that Natsu asked for Wendy to be reassigned."

The low whistle that came back at her in response had her nodding her head in agreement, seeing as that noise seemed to sum up perfectly how she had felt when she got the whole story from Lucy a week ago.

"I should have known that something was up when he was back to working himself to death." He let out a tired sigh as he brought his arms up to rest on the back of the furniture he was seated on. She realized then that he was still in his chef's uniform and must had come straight over from work. "It's two years ago all over again."

At the sentence, her eyebrows rose in curiosity. Two years ago? What happened two years ago? The question must have been clear as day on her face, because Gajeel suddenly explained further.

"He went through a really bad break up and threw himself into his work to so-called cope, which is the same shit he's doing now." A frown graced his features as his arms came down to cross at his chest. He was thoughtful for a moment, before asking "You said it was all over some misunderstanding?" Levy felt herself nod in response as she bit her lip in an attempt to not divulge any more information. While she desperately wanted to help her best friend and the love of her life, she didn't want to share anything with her consent.

She checked her watch once again and rose from the couch. "You should maybe ask your cousin more about it if you want to know more. I have to get going now, but thanks for showing up to watch Wendy until her brother gets home."

He nodded as he also rose from his spot, following a little ways behind her as she made her way to the front door. Suddenly hit with a huge wave of nervousness, she fumbled around in her purse for her phone to check it as well as use it for a distraction. Sliding her feet into her boots, she pulled on her coat and scarf before turning back to him.

"Thanks again, and it was nice meeting yo—HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!"

Before she knew what was going on, the giant of a man had yanked her phone out of her hand and was currently holding it out of her reach. She halfheartedly jumped a couple of times before she huffed and took a step back, her head craning back slightly to look him in the face.

He wasn't paying attention to her however, seeing as he was busy tapping away at her phone, and it was at that moment that she realized she should have listened to Lucy and created a password to unlock her phone.

Hey, in her defense, people didn't randomly snatch her phone out of her hands to play on it.

After a couple seconds of silence, he gave another small grunt as he finally handed the device back to her. She took it from him gingerly, her questioning eyes going back and forth between him and the phone. In response, he let a wolfish grin spread across his face and Levy knew instantly that the sight would haunt her in her dreams that night.

"I would walk you to your car, but I have to stick around for peanut here. Be careful driving home and let me know when you get there, alright girlie? I can't have anything happening to one of my best customers."

Levy's mouth fell open in shock, but thankfully she had managed to turn around and leave the apartment before that happened. With wide eyes, she looked at the phone cradled in her hands and almost mechanically started making her way to the elevator and eventually out to her car. Once inside, she started the engine and sat there staring at the steering wheel for a moment before she released the epic squeal that had been building up in her throat.

After finally calming down, she pulled out of her parking space and started making her way home. Once she felt some of the giddiness leaving her, Levy thought back to what Gajeel had said about Natsu's previous breakup. Did that had something to do with his reaction to finding out who Lucy's dad was?

Hopefully, Gajeel will talk to Natsu, at least to try to get him to stop working himself to death if nothing else.

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The yawn that Lucy had tried to keep trapped in had managed to escape through her nose, thankfully as what could be considered a hefty exhale, as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

Looking around to see if anyone noticed and finding that no one had, she twisted her wrist around to glance at the time and groaned inwardly at the position in which her watch's hands were displayed. According to her watch, she'd already been there for almost two hours.

Goodness, was this thing ever going to end?

Just as she was feeling herself about to slip into a coma from utter and complete boredom, her eyes, which had been in the process of sliding shut, snapped back open at the calling of her name. Blinking a couple of times she sat up straight and turned her attention to the much older, bald, bespectacled man at the head of the table at which she was currently seated. She gave a quick nod to indicate that she had heard his call and hadn't actually been falling asleep.

"I believe that you had mentioned that you had an announcement to make?"

Hell yeah she did!

"Ah, yes."

Standing from her seat, she straightened the lapels of her blazer and smoothed her hair down as she let her eyes sweep over the men's various faces before landing on one mustached man in particular with blonde hair similar to her own. Clearing her throat, she allowed a small smile to grace her lips before the words she had been dying to speak for over the past twenty-four hours fell from her lips.

"Gentlemen, I quit."

There was a brief moment of silence before the occupants of the room broke out in panicked conversation amongst themselves, the glasses-clad man's voice somehow reaching her over the roar her comment created. "You don't actually mean that, do you Lucille?" In response, Lucy her smile growing by the minute as she nodded in his direction and replied, "Yes, I do. Effective immediately, may I add."

The room, which had quieted down to hear her response to Mr. Bloyde's question, erupted once more in a series of panicked whispers and exchanges of equally panicked looks. "M-Miss Lucille, surely you'll reconsider? At least until…" Lucy closed her eyes and shook her head; there was no way she was going to stick around any longer than she had to. Opening her eyes, she locked them on the only person in the room that hadn't reacted to the news in a panicked manner, but seemed disturbingly calm. Lucy knew better. Even if to others he didn't seem to show any emotion, she knew what emotion it was that was burning bright in his eyes.

Jude Heartfilia was absolutely seething in anger and Lucy couldn't help the bit of joy that slipped into her next statement.

"I'm sorry Mr. Bloyde, but my decision is final."

Silence once again filled the small meeting room as all heads turned towards her father; however he was too busy glaring at her to notice anything. Without breaking eye contact, he ordered everyone out of the room, which after a couple more seconds of confused murmuring the men complied and left. Once everyone had left, Lucy allowed the smirk that had been on her face to drop as her father let out a sigh.

"You're not quitting the board Lucy, and that's final."

"Yes, I am."

"You know what you quitting will mean right?"

"I know exactly what it means and I don't care, I'm quitting."

His eyebrows rose in surprise briefly at her statement before coming back down in anger over brown eyes that were so similar to her own. "You don't care? You don't care if your business goes under when I pull my funding?"

"No, because I've found someone else to fund my organization without stipulations and if I have to be honest, she's a way better investor than you'll ever hope to be. I don't need your money anymore, so therefore our agreement is void. I'm quitting your stupid board and that's final. I said it before and I'll say it again; I don't want to take over your company!"

The comment had her father slamming his hands down on the table in front of him as he rose to his full height. They have had many arguments in the past, but this was the first time that Lucy had outright defied her father, and apparently he wasn't taking it lightly.

"I'm trying to secure your future!"

"My future or your company's future?" The comment shut her dad right up, and taking the moment of silence from him as an opportunity, Lucy pushed on to let out everything that she had been holding in for so long.

"My whole life, all you've ever cared about was this stupid company. You were never home, never at any of my school functions, or any of my games. You were so absorbed with making this thing take off that you failed to remember me! Especially after mom died! Thank goodness for my friends and their parents, otherwise I wouldn't have had anyone to celebrate my accomplishments with while you were out rubbing elbows with the higher ups!

It's because of you that I created my organization, you know, just so other little girls out there going through what I went through when I was younger will be able to have someone there for them. In a way, I'm happy you worried more about making it in the business than me. If nothing else, it made me the strong independent woman I am now; something I hope to teach other little girls out there to be. So with that, I bid you farewell and wish you and your company the best."

With that, she gave her father a nod and swiftly made her way out of the small meeting room before he had a chance to say anything, trying her best to ignore the curious looks and whispers that followed her as she made her way towards the elevator as her father shouting her name reached her ears. If there was one thing she had learned about working in an office setting, it was that news travelled fast. She was sure her abrupt resignation would be the topic of conversation around the water cooler for a while with the higher ups.

With shaky hands, she pressed the button to call for an elevator, her eyes trained on the closed metal doors that she practically ran through once they opened. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand over her wildly beating heart and willed her body's adrenaline levels to return to normal. After a couple of seconds, she could feel the shaking in her hands start to lessen.

Just two days ago, she wouldn't have thought she would have been able to do what she had just done, however thanks to Mavis Vermillion and her generous gift it was a different story now. She really had to thank Evergreen for helping her secure a new and enthusiastic investor, as now she could finally end that stupid agreement with her father she made so many years ago like and idiot.

The ding of the elevator reaching the ground floor broke Lucy out of her thoughts long enough to maneuver out of the car and towards the exit before her thoughts consumed her again.

While she felt a bit lighter now that she had let her father know she could no longer be controlled, she still had another weight on her shoulders in the form of a certain pink-haired individual.

Pulling her phone out of her purse, she noticed that Levy had texted her that they needed to talk once she was done and made a face. She wasn't sure what the blunette wanted to chat about, but she was sure that the conversation would eventually probably turn to her love life.

While she knew the best way to try to fix what happened between her and Natsu would be a long face to face conversation, she just wasn't well… ready. She knew that it was stupid; she and Natsu were adults and should be able to work things out but, well, she was hurt. Plain and simple. The things that he had said and the way he had looked at her that night still caused a stabbing pain in her heart more than a week later, and no matter what she did she still couldn't lessen the pain.

But thinking back on it, he had been hurt too, hadn't he? Even if he had come off harsh, she had hurt him just as bad, hadn't she? Even though she didn't mean to and it was all a misunderstanding, she had still done it. After all, she had told him her last name, but they had also made the rule not to talk about work at home; thus the reason she had been a bit clueless about where he works and her connection to it.

Was he still mad at her?

Looking at her phone once more, she let out another sigh, the last of her adrenaline leaving her body.

It sure seemed that way, seeing as he hadn't responded to any of her text messages. Christmas had came and gone and the last thing she had heard from him was an indirect thanks through a text from Wendy Christmas morning, but that had been it. With one last glance at her phone, she let a frown grace her features as she slipped the device back into her purse, debating if she should just take Levy's advice and call the man until he picked up.

She didn't come to a conclusion though as she suddenly felt her body colliding with something solid and warm. Closing her eyes, she felt herself tipping over and had a flash of déjà vu when strong hands wrapped themselves around her arms to keep her from hitting the floor. When the sound of the other person taking a surprised breath reached her ears, Lucy slowly opened her eyes only to see a sight she had imagined impossible just this morning.

There, staring back at her were the glaring eyes of the one and only Natsu Dragneel

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KTKG Says: Okay, that's it for now. Wow that was a long chapter! Sorry for the delay, I was honestly trying something different when it came to writing and if I were being really honest this chapter was very hard for me to write, even though it turned out pretty long.

I'm not really sure why, but it took a couple of tries for me crank this thing out and I'm not sure about the end result. I've been writing things out of order as they have come to me, so I actually have some of chapter 22, all of chapter 23, and some of chapter 24 done so far lol. Hopefully, it won't take me too long to get them out to you guys. In the mean time… REVIEW!