Lucy rummaged around in a box and finally managed to dig out one of her aprons. As she tied it around her bare waist, she let out a little sigh at the labyrinth of cardboard in their home. She wouldn't be surprised if it took them months to fully get everything from her old apartment settled into this house. Like she had pointed out to Natsu previously, the size of the little cottage wasn't exactly on their side in that matter. But he did seem very determined to expand on it as quickly as possible to please her. Why was it that joining their physical lives was seeming to take so much more work than joining the two of them emotionally had? That had been so slow and natural that she had barely noticed it until her bookstore revelation of love.

She directed a glance back at Natsu, and saw he had rolled over onto his back. She gathered from the even rise and fall of his chest that he had fallen asleep again. Despite herself, Lucy smiled fondly, chased quickly by a furrowed frown. Clearly, he was more tired than he wanted her to see. At the very least, though, he had seemed a lot more recovered than yesterday when he had passed out. She did think it was worth letting him try a mission the next day, but she was definitely going to make good use of her stipulation of being the one to choose a job. Something that would simply require a warm wizard body more than a fight would suit their needs perfectly. As she shuffled around the kitchenette, humming and assembling ingredients, she started to make a mental list of jobs types that would fit her requirements.

She was so absorbed in her mental checklist that she didn't hear Happy enter the house until he pushed the door shut behind him with a sharp crack that made her head whip around. When she identified the blue Exceed as the source of the noise, she scowled and raised a finger to her lips in a shushing motion, pointing at their dragon slayer's sleeping form before waving the cat over to her.

Happy glided over to the kitchen, stopping within whispering range of Lucy. "Sorry, Lucy. I didn't know he was sleeping."

Lucy smiled and shook her head. "I'm not mad, you just startled me more than anything," she replied in a low voice. "It wasn't really all that loud." As she went back to chopping ingredients, she asked, "So any luck today?"

Happy sighed dejectedly and landed on the back of a nearby chair. "Not really. She wouldn't even come out of her human form when I was talking to her."

Lucy rumpled the fur on his head affectionately. "Sorry, Happy. Rough day, huh?"

He nodded, then looked up and asked, "So how was Natsu today?"

Lucy darted another glance over at the man to make sure his breathing still indicated sleep. Satisfied, she turned back to her friend and whispered, "He definitely seems better, but I can tell he's still pretty fatigued. He wants to go on a mission tomorrow to prove to me that he's doing ok. I told him we could if I got to pick it out. I'm going to go to the guild later to see if I can find a good one, like the restaurant work or simple escort service, or something like that."

Happy jumped up. "Oh, I think I saw the perfect job at the guild! It was fairly low-paying security job, so they're probably not expecting a lot of danger. Should I go grab it for you?"

"That would be perfect, thank you! Just read it again before you take it and make sure we won't be going anywhere too dangerous."

"Aye aye, sir!" the cat saluted. As he took off into the air, he smiled mischievously and asked, "By the way, Lucy, why are you naked?"

Very belatedly, Lucy remembered that she hadn't actually put on clothes under her apron before starting dinner. She felt her face burn, and stuttered, "SH-SHUT UP, YOU DUMB CAT!"

At her yell, Natsu jumped up into the air off of the bed, then scrambled for his footing, yelling groggily, "What's wrong, Luce? You ok?"

In the following chaos, Happy left to go back to the guild, looking very pleased with himself.

The next day, the three of them set out from their house to pick up the cargo from the client. Lucy and Natsu walked close together, their fingers intertwined and their shoulders brushing together, with Happy next to Natsu. During their light conversation, Lucy kept a wary eye on her mate, looking for any signs of weariness, stumbling, or anything else worrying. She tried her best to be discrete, but she couldn't hide anything from Natsu. As they turned down the street of their client's house, Natsu pulled their little group off to the side of the walkway, took Lucy by the shoulders, and stated firmly, "I promise that I'm not going to fall over, ok, Starshine? You don't have to be so worried about me."

Dammit, why does he have to know me so well? Lucy cursed internally. Looking Natsu in the eyes, she searched his gaze openly for hints of exhaustion, since the charade was obviously useless now. Finally, she said, "I know you're strong, Natsu, but you have to let me know if you get tired, ok? We can take breaks if we need to. It's not a big deal."

He rolled his eyes at her, and turned to the Exceed. "Geez, Happy, do you hear her? She's a mom already."

His feline friend didn't share his amusement. "Lucy's right, Natsu. We're both just worried about you. I can carry you if you need it."

Natsu grunted shortly. "Tch. Fine, you two. I promise I'll be careful, ok? Even though there's nothing wrong. Now let's just go pick up the stupid boxes." Not waiting for the rest of his team, he turned around and stalked off.

Lucy and Happy passed a look back and forth. "Maybe we should just keep our worries to ourselves?" Happy asked.

Lucy shook her head. "No, he needed to hear us say that we're concerned. We both know that he'll never look after himself, so that leaves us to do it. Anyway, let's go catch up with him. He moved fast. Looks like he needs help loading that cart." The two of them trotted off to help Natsu finish loading up the small wagon parked outside their client's shop.

Despite their fears, the loading went quickly and easily, and they were on their way within half an hour. The trip was completely uneventful, and it was the work of a couple hours to deliver and unload the magical supplies to the little shop's sister branch in an adjacent town. Nevertheless, Lucy didn't let herself relax until all the materials had been unloaded, the empty crates returned to the wagon, and the trio were well on their way back to Magnolia. When the first buildings on the outskirts of the town came into view, Lucy finally breathed a sigh of relief. Natsu had held up well through all the strenuous physical work, and hadn't showed any signs of tiring. Internally, she gave herself permission to feel reassured.

At the same moment, as if they could hear her thoughts, a sudden chaos erupted as several men burst out of the trees at once. Natsu reacted first, leaping up with a flaming fist, yelling, "Get down, Luce. They must have followed us from the magic shop. I'll deal with them." Before she had time to point out how ridiculous his demands were, he had jumped headlong into the fray. Lucy scrambled up from her seat to join him, standing on the wagon's tongue to open the gate for Sagittarius.

Lucy had quickly dealt with a few of the robbers when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of movement. Given the situation, it wasn't unusual at all, but something about it made her snap her head around in search of the source.

Just in time to see Natsu fall.

Her heart plummeted down to the ground as he did, and she screamed as his feet folded under him. Happy spun around, and seeing his motion clicked Lucy's brain back into operational mode. She shrieked, "Happy, go get Natsu! Fly him up somewhere until I deal with them!" He nodded, and Lucy watched until her love was out of the way before she turned her full attention back to the fight, flaring with anger and fear.

With her hyper-charged emotions, she and Sagittarius made quick work of the thieves. Dismissing Sagittarius and calling up Virgo, she barked out quick instructions for the maid spirit to bind up the criminals, then ran over to where Happy had set Natsu down on the ground. "Happy, how's he doing?" she called as she got within hearing range, not noticing the shrill set of her voice.

Happy raised his face to look at her, and his expression froze her lungs. "He's not waking up," the little cat responded desperately.

Having reached them, Lucy fell to her knees beside her mate, taking quick stock of his vitals. She located his pulse and breath, both worryingly shallow to her. She made a swift decision, and looked back up at Happy. "Go to the guild and get Wendy. We'll follow behind you and meet her halfway." He opened his mouth like he was going to try to say something, but then shut his quivering jaw, nodded, and took off towards the guild at a speed Lucy had never seen before.

But she didn't have time to think about that right now. Bracing herself on one knee, she managed to lever Natsu up onto her back and stagger up to her feet. Slowly, agonizingly, she began to make her way towards Fairy Tail, clinging onto Natsu's limp arms and cursing her weakness. After what seemed like a lifetime in the space of a few minutes, Lucy saw a pair of figures speeding towards her in the sky, and identified them as Carla carrying Wendy, and Happy. By the time the little mage had landed, Lucy had set Natsu down and arranged him on his back so Wendy could look at him properly.

As she dropped down beside her patient, Wendy said, "Happy told us what happened. I'll look at him and see what I can do." Lucy offered nothing in the way of a reply, instead electing to sit by Natsu's other side and squeeze his hand tightly with her own.

It didn't take Wendy long to examine the fallen dragon slayer. She hovered her hands over his torso, glowing with her healing magic, as she looked up at Lucy and Happy, grim-faced. "I'm afraid it's not good," she intoned. "I don't know what's wrong with him, but something is draining his strength at an alarming speed. I'm trying to replenish some of his energy now, but it's not going to last long. We have to get him looked at by Porlyusica-san."

Numbly, Lucy nodded. She rose up, trying to haul Natsu onto her back again. Happy stopped her. "Lucy, let me take him. I'll be faster," the cat said, his voice trembling as he spoke. Mutely, Lucy nodded, and gave in to the hurt in the Exceed's eyes that echoed her own. As they flew off towards Porlyusica's cabin, Lucy darted after them, finally finding the speed she had been craving earlier as she had carried her mate.

She still arrived after her boys, noting that the door inside had been left cracked open in acquiescence of her arrival. Not stopping for pleasantries like asking permission to enter, Lucy shoved the door open so violently that it clattered against the wall behind it, earning a sharp glare from the woman who was bent over her mate's prone form on the patient bed. "Quiet it down," the elderly woman snapped as Lucy rushed over to them. "Banging the door won't fix anything here."

Breathless, Lucy demanded, "So do you know what's wrong, then?"

Porlyusica glowered at her. "Give me a minute, impatient child. What do you think I was doing when you barged in here so rudely?" Without further comment, she went back to examining her patient.

A minute later, she looked up with a grim expression just as Wendy and Carla came trotting into the cabin. Lucy felt her breath hitch in her throat as Wendy asked the question she couldn't.

"Porlyusica-san, how is he?"

The healer shook her head concisely. "It's not good. There isn't really an easy way to tell you, so I'm just going to say it. He's suffering from magic drain."

All the air left Lucy's body in the space of a breath. "What does that mean?" she demanded, although she already knew the answer.

"I can't find any cause for it, so there's nothing I can do about it. I'm sorry, but a wizard's magic is tied in with his life force, and since he's losing magic quickly, he is going to die."

Lucy's limbs went numb. From a distance, she heard someone shriek in her voice, "How long?"

Porlyusica looked her directly in the eye, but Lucy felt like she was watching someone else's horror unfold instead of participating in it.

"A week at most."