"When are you done with your finals?"

"Wednesday morning. Why?"

"Do you think you could play hooky with me for a while after that? Make up some excuse to your father so he thinks you're on campus for a while."

"That won't be a problem. Father will be busy till at least three in the afternoon. He usually is."

"Perfect! We'll have you back at the university by then; no problem."

"What's this all about Natsu?"

"You'll find out."

That enigmatic conversation was almost a week ago and it was bothering Lucy to no end! She had absolutely no idea what was going on or what Natsu wanted to do. It sounded like they were going to go somewhere after her tests were done and she thought that maybe everyone was getting together for some celebratory treat now that the semester was over...except finals went till Friday and she didn't know what everyone else was doing. Natsu also didn't mention anyone else coming with either.

Her brain was almost too occupied to study, let alone take her tests! Thankfully one of them was a project she had to hand in and it wasn't an actual sit down test. She was given it the last day of class and had spent days working on making it perfect. Wednesday was actually just the day she needed to turn it in.

She waited for Natsu at the cafeteria in the business and law college where they had initially played hookey at. She sat with a coffee in her hands to pass the time. She was early; they weren't going to meet until nine-thirty. She had least a thirty minute wait.

She looked around the cafe and smiled at the nostalgia that hit her. She couldn't believe it had been one short month since she had been knocked down by Natsu and sat here at one of these tables so he could tend to her wounds. She smiled and sipped her coffee as she relived some of the details to pass the time.

She saw Natsu even before he entered past the outer doors. She stood and finished off the remaining cold drink before tossing it in a nearby bin.

"Hey Lucy!"

She stopped as he neared her. She gave him a smile, before her eyes narrowed playfully. "Okay, I'm done with my finals and ready to get to the bottom of this mystery you presented me with from that stupid conversation of yours!"

He grinned and jerked a thumb at the doors. "Well if you want to figure it out, you'll just have to come with me." He looked down to her feet and found a pair of sneakers on with her regular business attire. A brow rose. "How did you manage that?"

She looked down before snickering. "I also have a change of clothes in my bag. I figured that if we were playing hookey it was going to be something fun and I wanted to have something comfortable to wear for it!"

He snorted and the pair headed outside. "You can change later. I promise you there will be a place for you to get out of those stupid clothes."

"So, where are we going?"

"Not telling."

She huffed and rolled her eyes as they headed to the other side of campus. "Why? What is so secretive that you can't tell me now?"

His grin was positively evil as he jogged away from her reach. "Because then it wouldn't be any fun, now would it? Let's just say, I'm glad I don't have to carry your ass this time."

"How rude!" She jogged after him with the full intent on giving him a swift kick for that comment, but there was no way she was going to catch up. They got to the edge of campus before she was forced to stop and catch her breath. "Ugh...no more...running...please..." She huffed.

He took her backpack and shouldered it. "You're such a wussy. That was just across campus." He turned and looked over his shoulder. "Come on...we don't want to waste time."

Her intrigue was doubled at that statement and she followed him. They walked for blocks and she tried to keep herself from saying anything. She tried to be patient and wait, but it was hard! She wanted to get him in a choke hold and make him tell her exactly why they were doing so much walking for, but a sign in the distance caught her attention. The name of Natsu's apartment could be seen from two blocks away and she looked around at the area in the daytime. She wouldn't have recognized it because it was dark when she came here the last time and traveling by car gave off a much different feel than walking. It still didn't give her any answers as to what was going on though.

She finally stopped to catch her breath in front of the sign. Her legs hurt! "Okay...so we're at your apartment...why? You didn't bring me all this way just to show me the setup did you?"

"Come on, just a little further, I promise. You'll be able to sit down and relax soon."

She took in the other buildings and followed Natsu to his. She walked past when he held the door open for her and followed him up the stairs. Her curiosity was burning, but she was nervous when they stopped at his floor. Unless everyone was already inside and he wasn't telling her, she was going to be in Natsu's apartment alone with him! She was uncomfortable with the notion and was hesitant to walk past the opened door, but forced herself to do so.

She stopped just far enough in for the door to shut as she looked around. It wasn't anything special or even very clean, but it had the feel of Natsu all around. There wasn't much furniture, but he probably didn't need much if it was just him. Did he even have a roommate? He had never spoken of one before, unless Elfman was it. Those two seemed fairly close from what she saw.

There was a couch, TV on a simple stand, and a nearby small dining table with only two chairs. The kitchen was practically a closet and there didn't seem to be much of a dining room. The entryway was part of the living room and there was only a small spot of tile to put one's shoes on before the carpet started throughout the rest of the space. There was a short hallway to two open doors that she assumed were the bathroom and bedroom.

"It's not a mansion, I know, but it's a roof over my head and it's warm in the winter."

She startled and looked at him dropping his keys on a small table near the door. "It's fine!" She insisted, hoping she hadn't made a negative impression on his home. "It's not like you need much anyway right? So long as it has all the necessities you require, that's what's important."

He smirked. "Right." He turned and went into the little kitchen area and opened the fridge door. "Well...despite how small the place is, they have a pretty awesome outside area. That's where we're headed."

She edged closer into the apartment, curious at what he was insinuating. She stopped at the area no bigger than her bathroom and noted the box on the counter that she had brought the cakes in. She smiled and felt a little self-conscious. "Did you like them?"

He turned and moved a cupboard door out of his eyesight so he could look her way. "What?" He followed her gaze and smiled. "I will."

"Huh?" She blinked. "Will?" Natsu grabbed two glasses and handed them over. She took them and stared at them in confusion. Her mouth opened to ask questions when he turned to the box and picked it up. "I don't understand what's going on...will you please enlighten me?!"

He grinned and grabbed a small container of milk in his free hand. "Let's head outside." He merely stated, heading around her. "You'll find out there."

She sighed, but followed yet again. If she didn't get the feeling of the suspense being almost over, she would be a lot more frustrated than she felt. The pair headed for the ground level and out a back door. Her eyes widened at the view that was suddenly presented to her. "Wow..." She breathed, staring at the small waterfall amidst the center of a fairly good-sized pond. There were ducks swimming around it and a few picnic tables loitered the ample lawn area with some basic charcoal grills nearby.

He smiled at her reaction and let her stare as he went for a table. He set the items on it and took a seat. "Come on...before everything spoils."

She felt like the answer would finally be revealed and thus sat down. She set the cups next to everything and watched him open the box. She was even more confused when he started taking out some of the cakes. "What? Why you didn't eat any of them yet? You didn't like them?"

He took out four cakes from the box and put two in front of each of them. He poured them both a glass of milk and handed one to her. He grabbed two forks from the box and held one out for her to take. "Like I said, I will. I haven't eaten any of them actually. Gotta tell ya though, it's been a hard, long wait. They sure smelled good that night."

She gave him a totally confused look as she slowly took the fork. She stared at it and her cakes and back at the fork. "I...I don't...understand..." He hadn't eaten any of them? But that was at least a week ago that she gave them to him! What was going on here?

Natsu pulled the wrapping off one and tapped his fork to Lucy's that was still hanging in the air. "Birthday cake isn't meant to be eaten alone; it's meant to be shared! You showed up and left so quick that you didn't even let me open my present. When I found out what it was, I decided to wait so we could enjoy your first attempt together." Unable to wait any longer, he dug into the cake and speared a chunk of it. He stuck some of the dripping chocolatey mix into his mouth and his eyes closed appreciatively. "Dis's gud!" He mumbled, going for another. "Mmm, yummy!"

She watched him eat and felt tears come to her eyes at his words. She sat there, her lip trembling and heart swelling at what he had done. Instead of eating even one of the cakes, he had saved them all somehow and was going to share two of the six with her and her alone. He had forced patience upon himself to wait until her finals were done so that they had ample time together to enjoy them in this beautiful scenery.

She sniffled a little despite herself. She just wanted to do something special for him and he had taken her consideration and doubled it to do something special back for her. She blinked and tears fell from her eyes. She quickly wiped them away, seeing he noticed, and hurriedly tore the cover off the cake. She took a chunk and her eyes widened. "This IS good!" She murmured.

"Right? You're a really good cook!" He finished off the first cup and tried to clean it as best he could with his fork. When that didn't work, he started licking the chocolate that had escaped the cake shell and was plastered on the glass walls of the small container.

She wanted to be flattered...really. But his lack of manners at the table were too much for her to ignore. "Stop that!" She swatted at him, but he dodged and kept at it. "You have another cake; eat that!"

"And you shouldn't waste chocolate!" He countered. "I couldn't forgive myself if I left anything this good to go to waste."

Her face burned as she looked to the waterfall, feeling flattered somehow. "You're incorrigible..."

"Yea, yea. I'm a pig." He mumbled, tongue scraping the last remnants off the cup. He cleaned it to his satisfaction and set it aside to go for the second full cup. "So, now that we're both here...why don't you tell me all about how you managed such a stunt at such a late hour that night? I thought something really wrong had happened to you!"

She remembered that night and felt very abashed all over again that she had managed to pull it off. She flushed at how insane and possibly childish it was when she thought about it. "Ah...haha...well...it kinda began when you mentioned that no one had celebrated your birthday."

He listened to the details, brows raising throughout most of the tale. He admired her tenacity and cunning and was amazed at how well she had planned that stunt on the spur of the moment. He gave her a lot of credit for going with the flow and being very spontaneous about the whole thing. He never thought that she would have done something like that, but it seemed like when there was something very important to Lucy that she wanted to do, she would rise to the occasion and make sure everything got taken care of...no matter the possible consequences.

He teased her a little when she hesitantly mentioned the part about getting information from him at the university. He mused about her actually wanting to see his apartment and that's why they didn't do this on campus, but she denied being uninterested in where he lived. She gushed about the outside area, claiming that they didn't have anything so pretty on her land, to which he gave her a very wry, disbelieving look. She insisted it was the case and said that he would have to come over to believe it for himself. He doubted that would ever happen due to her father, but he was still glad that she extended the invite knowing that fact.

She grinned and leaned in a little bit over the remaining second cup she was working on. "You think I'm just kidding? Father is leaving again next month for a three day trip. He's got more bureaucratic red tape to go through for the stores and all those vendors he deals with. It'd be a perfect time to have everyone over!"

He leaned in, a little affected by her sudden excitement. He liked this part of her; she seemed ready for any adventure when the opportunity presented itself to her. He grinned. "I'm all for it. I'd like to see this mansion of yours. Never saw one in anything other than movies. Are they really like the movies show?"

She wondered what exactly he had seen and what movies he had seen. "Well...we don't have any bowling alleys or restaurants in the basement or anything so stupid like that, but we do have a large backyard with gardens. There are a lot of bedrooms and bathrooms that go unused...we have a huge kitchen for cook to use...there is a grand dining room that usually gets used and a lesser one for more informal meals. Father has a study that he uses for business. There are a lot of verandas and foyers. There is a two-story library that has its own fireplace..." She trailed off, trying to remember all the rooms that she never inhabited.

He watched this person describe the mass of living space she resided in as if it were nothing. An eye twitched at part of it at how normal she was being. It was totally like some of those houses in the movies he had seen! He tried to not be so irritated with her and went to his glass of milk. "Okay, okay. You're rich. I got it." He mumbled around the glass.

She suddenly jolted when an idea came to her. It was so perfect and amazing that she lost herself in the beauty of it. Hands slapped on the table, scaring Natsu witless and making him choke on his drink. "That's it!" She almost yelled, eyes widening. She was unfazed by his coughing spasm and didn't even wait for him to finish. "We can have Levy's birthday party at my house! It'll be great! We can do it a little ahead of time while father is away!"

He tried to get the liquid out of his windpipe, glaring as he did so. When he finally controlled himself, he reached out and bonked his friend on the head for her stunt. Her surprised, pained cry gave him a hint of satisfaction and allowed him to focus on what she was presenting. It sounded like a good idea; scratch that, a great idea. He had a feeling that she had never had friends over to her house and he was basing this on how much she was rambling in this second about all the details. He smiled and remained quiet as she started talking, mostly to herself, and was happy she came up with the plan on her own.

It would be perfect! She would make the excuse to the five of them to just come over and not tell Levy exactly why. Everyone could know but her! She could have cook make a few things, knowing he probably wouldn't mind, and she could see if Capricorn or Virgo could locate the violin she knew was loitering somewhere around the house. She and Levy could play together and she could also play for everyone on the piano. They could all check out the house and see her life and she could share something big of herself with them.

They had always made fun of her, playfully so, about her life although they had absolutely no idea about it. Maybe this way she could show them exactly why she was 'living under a rock' and 'so sheltered' as they had put it. If they could see exactly why she was so ignorant to the more 'simpler' ways of the world, they would leave her alone and understand. So much could get accomplished by this one business trip and it would turn into something bigger than she could ever have expected!

Her brain was like a steel trap to keep most of the big details since she had left her backpack in Natsu's apartment. She worked out the major points with him and they planned the day, with a contingent just in case Juvia was busy. They had three whole days to do this while Jude was out of town. She waved off Natsu's questions about her staff and she informed him that they were always on her side whenever she tried to goof off in times like these. She added that she would discuss meals with cook for that day and make sure they were stocked up ahead of time for any change in plans. She intended on them spending as much time together at her residence so a few meals would be warranted. If she was lucky, the entire day could be spent there.

Since most everyone seemed to live near the university, she worked out a meeting point on campus for them to be picked up at. She debated Natsu's denials of a car ride and stated that her mansion was close to the outskirts of Magnolia and she was not about to have him walk or run it back to his place after they were done for the day. She said he could sit up front with the driver if that made him feel better and closed the discussion, although he wasn't finished.

The day was mostly set, the hour assigned, the food would be finalized at the earliest convenience away from her father, the way to and from the university was figured out, and the entertainment would be mostly by ear. She was getting excited and she had a a long way to go yet. This wait would probably kill her! She had pretty much a month to wait for the day. She had a feeling that she was going to enjoy it more than Levy would.

She asked Natsu to keep it between just them until the time came closer. She quickly corrected herself and said that she wanted to be the one to instigate everything and inform everyone of what was going on. She got his easy agreement and when she verified that he wasn't going to let anything slip, he mentioned that she looked really happy to be able to do this and he didn't want to butt in on her fun. He followed it up with saying that he didn't have to do any of the work and could enjoy his mini-vacation before the fall semester started.

The topic of conversation diverged from the plan to what he was going to do next semester. She was secretly worried that if he didn't take any classes in the fall that she wouldn't be able to see him at all on campus. She found out he had one final science class that was a general and two foreign language classes. She mentioned that she couldn't see him learning another language because it didn't suit him, to which he looked rather unhappy at.

They ended the chat with bringing the almost empty carton upstairs to Natsu's apartment. She took that moment to change into the simple shorts and tank top she had stuff into her bag. She took note of the emptiness of stuff on Natsu's sink, although what was loitering around needed to be organized. She had a feeling that he didn't clean much, if at all.

They walked around the pond for a bit, making small talk and enjoying each other's company. She didn't think Natsu could handle the quiet for so long, but she was mostly too occupied in looking around to converse with him much. The place was a little hidden jewel stuck in a very common area. Had she not come back in the daytime, she would never have known such a pretty piece of nature ever existed. She thanked Natsu for the opportunity and he just smiled at her.

The pair headed back around one to have an easy walk back and to give her time to change. Her father was there on time, as he always was, and she was only a little uneasy at him seeing Natsu with her. She waved goodbye to him when the driver opened the door and said she'd get to work on some details when she had moments, which would be a lot now that they were on vacation.

He pointedly suggested that they get together during the day now that she didn't have any classes or studying to do for a few weeks and made sure he was loud enough to be heard by her father. He added that they didn't have to do anything major, but it would be a fun way to spend her vacation.

He gave a quick wave before the door was closed and watched the car leave. He stared at the expensive vehicle until it was out of sight...wondering if Lucy would catch any flack for his last statements and hoping that she would fight to make them come true again.