"Oh look, an inn!" Wendy called as she walked alongside the wagon with Natsu, Happy, and Carla, overjoyed at a chance to use her legs again despite the medicine Seck had given them. Lucy sat in the back with Erza, both women pretty much healed except for a few sore muscles and bruises. Gray guided the heavy wagon through the busy streets of a town called Hapana, women ogling at the bare-chested man before staring in amazement at the strangers in their country, especially at the two cats with wings.

Wendy's words roused everyone, and they looked ahead to where an inn indeed stood out on the block. It rose a few stories above the other buildings around it, and the sign protruding from the front proudly declared it as The Blooming Crocus. "It even has Crocus in the name, just like the capital in Fiore!" Wendy beamed back at her team, proud of her accomplishment.

"Well done Wendy," Erza praised as she sat up fully, gathering her drawing supplies together into an overflowing bag. "Just in time too! I just finished designing my latest armor, want to see?"

"Uh, maybe later," Wendy laughed nervously, hoping that would be enough to fend off the overeager warrior. It was. For now.

Lucy sat up as well, stretching her back as she recovered from the many hours spent curled up around her book as the wagon trundled on. Natsu glanced over at her, wishing she had spent some time with him instead of reading so long, but he knew books would always come above most things to her. She groaned as she leaned to the side, feeling her spine crack several times and her recovering ribs twinge. "Thank God. I could use a real bed to sleep on, not some dirt floor." Gray muttered his agreement, pulling the wagon to the side of the building and handing the reins over to a stableboy.

After a few minutes of Erza trying to figure out what she needed for the night out of her huge mountain, the seven of them proceeded into the inn, all of them recalling the first inn they had stayed at in Benos. Well, that had technically been Coracre, but that was beside the point.

This inn was already much better. Within a few moments, a young woman was already approaching them through the busy room with a wide smile, even though Lucy could see the hesitation in her gaze. "Good evening. What can I do for you today?"

Erza smiled, stepping into control of the situation despite the woman's attention being focused on the boys. "Hello. We'd like some rooms for the night, if you don't mind."

"Oh, of course. Er, how many?"

"Just two."

"Excellent. Would you perhaps like the suite style option? Both rooms would be connected by one bathroom for you all to share. It's a lot cheaper than two separate rooms."

"Sounds perfect. Do you mind showing us the way and then I'll come back to pay? I'm afraid my wallet is at the bottom of one of these bags."

"Of course ma'am. Now if you'll follow me." The concierge guided them through the crowded room, up the stairs, and to the right, pausing before a set of rooms that Lucy believed overlooked the forest behind Hapana. "Here you are. I'll ring you up so you're all set for when you're ready." She smiled widely and dipped into a slight curtsy before retreating, leaving the wizards all alone in the hallway.

Erza turned to the group with a small smile. "As much as I know you hate this, our best bet is girls and boys. So Natsu and Gray, that room better be in one piece by the morning." She disappeared into the closest room, lugging her three giant bags behind her. Gray and Natsu exchanged a look before Gray slowly pushed his way into the other room, Happy swooping in after him.

Natsu lingered in the hallway while Wendy and Carla entered their room, leaving just Natsu and Lucy. Lucy placed her hand on the doorknob, hesitating for a second before wondering why. She began to walk through the door before Natsu cleared his throat.

XXX

Twelve minutes later, Natsu held Lucy's right hand and pulled her through the forest behind the inn, grinning like an idiot while Lucy laughed behind him, her boots exchanged for simple sandals that let her cross the terrain easier. He'd gotten her out here by asking her to go fishing with him, but he would be more than fine with just wandering the forest with her hand in his.

Today was going to be the day. He was going to tell her how he felt one way or another. And if she ran away from him screaming, well, he'd find a way to deal with it. But… her feelings toward him had definitely changed over the past few days. If this had happened back in Magnolia, she definitely wouldn't have allowed him to drag her through the woods without any idea of where they were going. Instead she laughed, eyes shining as he guided her around trees and roots. She allowed him to hold her more without getting antsy, and she blushed when he looked at her for too long which always made him grin. Yet her change in attitude only made the rest of their team more annoyed with him. While walking today, Wendy had basically threatened him to talk to Lucy before she intervened by the end of the week. And it was Friday.

This was going to work. Whatever this was.

"Natsu!" Lucy called, pulling on his hand to force him to slow down. "Come on, there's no need to run right now." He did as she asked, and soon they were walking side by side. Her hand still rested in his.

"How's your ankle?" He asked, glancing down at the joint in question.

She shrugged before grinning at the ability to do that simple motion. She kept rolling her shoulders as she answered his question. "So much better. I guess all I needed was a break and some of Wendy's magic. But let's stop running around for a while, alright?" Then she frowned slightly, heart jumping when she realized the position their hands were still in. Yet she made no move to pull away. Her cheeks flushed as she floundered for a new conversation topic. "Uh, why didn't Happy come?"

"Er, he wanted to hang out with Carla, I think. I dunno, I didn't really ask him."

Lucy frowned, trying to meet his green eyes with her brown ones. "Seriously? Happy didn't want to go fishing? Are we talking about the same Happy?"

"Yup!" Natsu said cheerfully, hoping she didn't catch the nerves in his tone. When her eyes narrowed a fraction, that fragile hope burned to ashes. She knew him too well to be fooled by a fake voice and an obvious lie. Damnit, he needed to get better at this. Well, he didn't really, but shouldn't he? Who wouldn't want to be amazing at lying? But maybe he shouldn't think about lying to the girl he was in love with. Shit, this just kept getting more and more complicated. "Oh look! The river!"

Natsu released her hand and charged forward as the pair came into a small clearing. A river that was really more a creek bubbled and gurgled through the center of the land, large stones and several fallen trees creating natural bridges across the body of water. Birds sang somewhere in the distance and a random breeze sprung up, blowing Lucy's hair around her face and stirring the new leaves sprouting from bushes and trees. Flowers swayed on the ground and pink petals waltzed through the air on the wind, spinning around her body and landing in Natsu's hair. Fading beams of light struck the river and Natsu, alighting them with the fire of a dying sun.

Lucy's breath died in her throat. It looked like a scene from a fairytale. Or from a novel she now wanted to write. Natsu was a character she longed to bring to life, describing how his hair stuck out in every direction or how his eyes sparkled in the evening light. She pondered how she could possibly put his laugh into words, how she could effectively sum up the light and joyful sound that always switched her heart and her stomach.

Even now, she leaned against a tree on the outskirts of the clearing and watched as he grew closer to the creek. Then he jumped, splashing into the water and laughing with the glee of the child he acted like. She smiled to herself as he continued to kick up water and basically drench the open vest that did little to cover the abs she'd forced herself to stop looking at many times over the past couple days. His pants were also soaked by the time he looked back at her. Her heart fluttered at the grin he gave her.

"Come on! What're ya doing all the way over there?" He splashed some water at her, not caring that it barely covered half the distance.

"I think I'll stay dry over here," she responded, biting back a smile.

He rolled his eyes, nodding his head toward the other bank of the creek. "If you stay over there, you can't see these cool flowers over here."

Lucy perked up, beginning to move. "Oh, are they rare? Should I bring one back to show Levy when we go home? What color are they?" Questions kept pouring out of her mouth before Natsu finally hit her with river water right in the thigh. She shrieked and jumped backward, glaring at him. "Natsu!"

He chuckled, grinning all the while. "What? You weren't coming over here."

"So no flowers."

"Nope."

"And no fishing."

"Nope."

"Gotcha." Lucy smirked, crossing her arms and leaning back in her heels to look the couple inches up at him. He must have found a rock or something to stand on in the river since their height difference barely changed. She wished it had. Right now she found herself at eye level with a mouth she wished she could stop imagining.

Natsu cocked his head to the side, figuring he had slipped up but not realizing where. "Uh, what?"

She snorted and raised an eyebrow. "You said we aren't fishing. Which I figured out a while ago."

"Oh we're totally fishing. Just not here. Water's not deep enough, ya know?"

"What I do know is that for someone who seems so married to the idea of fishing, it shouldn't have been so easy to forget rods."

His grin slipped a fraction. "Uh, the fishing rods are at the actual river?"

"Give it up Natsu. I caught you."

He groaned, running a hand through his hair in defeat and making it stand up even more. "Fine. We're not fishing."

Lucy wanted to feel relief, yet only worry, curiosity, and something much stronger began to worm their way through her mind. "So… what are we doing?"

Natsu cleared his throat, tugging on his scarf. Lucy found her hand drifting upward to wrap around the necklace she held so dear. Her fingers warmed against the pendant as a thought crossed her mind. Do the charms work? Natsu would probably know since I was in a lot more danger during that last fight than he was. Isn't that always how it goes?

"Er, I wanted to talk to you."

"About?" She whispered, aware of the mere two feet separating them.

He opened his mouth to reply and all that came out was a giant growl. Lucy jumped as thunder rumbled over ahead, then she gasped as rain began to drop from the clouds that had appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

Within seconds, they were both drenched to the bone. Lucy stood agape, hands out at her side as she looked up in shock at the gray sky, hair plastered to the side of her head. Natsu laughed, his own hair beginning to fall in front of his eyes. But that didn't stop him from noticing how Lucy's wet clothes clung to her body, showing off curves she never failed to show. His mouth dried. How was he ever going to tell her the truth without completely blanking? Shit.

"What the fuck," she said, completely deadpanned and still staring at the sky. A bark of laughter burst from Natsu at her simple statement.

"Aw come on, Luce, it's not that bad. Come on, stand in the river with me. It feels cool to be in the water when it's raining."

"Uh, in case you went deaf, that was definitely thunder just a minute ago. Thunder means lightning. Lightning means electricity. And electricity and water do not mix."

"Eh, I'm a Fire Lightning Dragon Slayer remember? It can't hurt me. And if it can't hurt me, I won't let it hurt you." He held his hand out toward her, pulse starting to race beneath his skin. "Come on."

She stared at the outstretched hand, shivering slightly as the rain slipped along her spine before melting into her skirt. Her own hand came to rest on her keys, seeking comfort and strength from her friends. She took a shaky breath before raising her gaze so their eyes met. The intensity of his stare almost made her step backward. "I, er, don't want to get my feet wet?"

Natsu snorted and raised his eyebrows (at least she assumed he did since his deflated hair covered his entire forehead), and suddenly she recognized his expression as one of her own, one she normally reserved for when she told him she didn't believe his bullshit. It was odd to see it reflected back at her. It made her want to… what? What did she want to do? Words deserted her right when she needed them most.

"I won't let you fall." Even with the pouring rain, his words echoed in her heart. It jumped like a rabbit and she needed several deep breaths to slow it slightly. "I won't let you down."

"I'm scared," she blurted out, and suddenly they were no longer talking about something as simple as standing in a river during a rainstorm. Something in his gaze shifted but he didn't move an inch. Her pendant dug into her palm as she waited for his response to that vulnerability she hadn't meant to expose.

"What are you scared of?" He whispered. She half-expected him to start grinning and teasing her and effectively shattering that fragile hope in her stomach. But he continued to stand still in that river, water rushing over his feet and dripping from his hair. She wouldn't forget this sight, she vowed, even if today ended disastrously. This serious, worried, hopeful Natsu who waited for her with his hand out, letting her take her time to come to a realization she finally understood he had come to ages ago.

She took another shaky breath, blinking when she found the space between them had been cut in half. She bit her tongue for a second before squeezing her pendant and her key ring and charging forward. "I'm scared everything is going to change. That things can't be how they were before."

"Luce," he murmured, shaking his hand slightly to rid it of a damp petal sticking to the wet skin, "things changed a long time ago. It's up to you now. Are you gonna accept it? Or find a way around it?"

The rain blinded her for a minute, and without Natsu consuming all of her attention, she had a chance to properly think. And yet her mind turned to the secret she rarely thought about. It was basically two years ago that she and Gray had opened the book of E.N.D. and seen Natsu for who he truly was. Her limbs trembled thinking of the words she had rewritten, the flames she had poured into her veins in order to save her best friend. She had seen his love for her scrawled across every page, his desperate need to keep her safe and keep her by his side. She had tried to convince herself that it had merely been platonic, but she had begun to figure it out over the past few days. Knowing the strength of his emotions… it didn't scare her, but she didn't quite know how to face them. Yet facing his emotions seemed so much easier than finally admitting to herself how much he meant to her. That secret part of her heart had swelled over the past couple days until she could no longer ignore it. And with Natsu right before her looking like a handsome prince from a novel she desperately needed to write… how could she possibly hide her feelings for him?

"I won't let you down," Natsu repeated, hand shaking imperceptibly. Lucy still stared at him just as she had for the past minute and he tried to not let it get to him. She was overthinking things as always. She definitely wasn't trying to figure out how to deny him. Not at all. It wasn't that he minded the extra time she gave him to take her in, but his body couldn't take the stress of hanging onto her every word and breath. Even now, her heart pounded in his ears and commanded him to give her whatever comfort she desired. "I won't let you get hurt. I promise."

Lucy sucked in a breath, vision clearing enough to see Natsu again, biting the inside of his cheek as he waited for her. And then her worries washed away with the next burst of rain. She smiled gently and pulled her hand away from her keys. Natsu watched that hand cross the distance until it met his, sending a shiver through his body at the touch of her soft palm. He pulled her toward him, locking eyes with her. She took that step forward and then she was standing atop the same flat stone in the river as he was. She shuddered at the cold water dancing over her feet but also at the heat radiating from his body, a figure that was now only an inch from hers.

"That wasn't so bad now was it?" Natsu murmured, and finally, finally, his other hand came to rest on her waist. She inhaled sharply at the warmth cutting through the cold rain, and then she bit her lip as he pulled her closer. Their bodies fit together like missing puzzle pieces. Neither wanted to ever pull away again and lose that feeling of completeness. Her eyes fluttered shut as his hand released hers and slid up her arm until he cupped her neck. Her own hands rested against his chest, becoming aware of the pounding heart beneath her fingers. Their mouths met after so long of learning for each other. Her breath was gone in an instant, pressing herself against his torso in a silent demand for more. Which he gladly answered.

And as the rain poured down, they held each other in their arms, kissing with the passion of those who just found love and were determined to never lose it. No matter what.

XXX

Almost two hours into the rainstorm, the back door to the hotel blew open, letting in two absolutely soaked figures. They held hands, the girl's other arm wrapped tightly around the arm she already held. Her cheeks burned and both had swollen lips and sparkling eyes, neither willing to let go of the other. A scaled scarf kept her throat warm while the rest of their clothes dripped continuously on the wooden floor, both smiling too much to care.

"Oi! Stop getting water all over the floor!" Towels hit them both in the face, but he just laughed it off and shook his head like a dog, spraying water everywhere. Other patrons of the hotel's dining room murmured in disdain, but most just smiled along with the couple.

One of the bartenders tossed a dishcloth over his shoulder. "You kids know we're out of rooms, right?"

"Already got one with our friends," she replied, toweling off her hair. One of the waitresses nodded, recognizing the couple from the loud group who arrived earlier.

The man perked up as a bartender slid a bowl of stew to a patron. "Any dinner left?" The woman rolled her eyes, elbowing her partner in the stomach. "What? I'm starving!"

"Let's check in with the others first. We've been gone for a while." She guided him from the room, ignoring the conversations concerning them as they left the room. She waved at the bartender, silently thanking him for the towels they both had draped over their necks.

Together, they squelched through the hallways and up the stairs, finally arriving back at their rooms after so long spent away. She tried to adjust her vest, suddenly grateful for the rain that made her disheveled clothes and hair seem commonplace. His nostrils flared slightly before he pulled her to the other door in the suite and shoved it open.

"You're back!" Wendy cried, smiling widely at the couple with a knowing glint in her eyes as she lay on a bed with Carla. Erza and Gray looked up from their card game at the table near the fireplace, and Happy flew across the room to slam into Natsu's chest. Then he pulled away, his face screwed up at the water now dripping from his paws.

"Sorry we were out for so long," Lucy apologized, becoming extremely aware of the scarf still wrapped around her throat. "The rain made it hard for Natsu to find his way back."

"Uh huh." Gray leaned back with a smirk before he crossed his arms. "I'll bet you a thousand jewels that it only took you like ten minutes to get back."

Lucy blushed a deep red while Natsu only grinned. Erza laid her cards down, eyes shining. "So it finally happened? The game is up? We don't have to pretend to be oblivious anymore?"

Lucy spluttered as Natsu slung an arm around her shoulders. "I finally manned up if that's what you mean. Man, Elfman would've loved to say that."

"Oh he would've given you such a hard time," Happy agreed before snickering. "Guess it's up to us to make fun of you now!"

"Aw come on!" Natsu whined, going to throw himself on the empty bed before Erza's fist slammed into the back of his head and sent him flying to the ground.

"Don't you dare touch one inch of that bed until you are dried and clean, understand?"

"Yes ma'am," he groaned out, struggling back to his feet and rubbing his bruised skull. Wendy giggled, pushing the bathroom door open with a gust of wind.

"There's some clean towels in there. Lucy, I put your pajamas by the fire so they should be warm."

"You're the best Wendy!" The Celestial Spirit mage beamed at the younger girl, picking up the toasty garments before disappearing into the bathroom before she could be teased anymore. Well, teased at the moment. She felt little remorse at leaving Natsu at the mercy of their friends if it meant she got a slight respite.

When she emerged twenty minutes later after a nice hot shower, Natsu lay snoring on the empty bed, Happy gnawing on a fish next to the roaring fireplace. The others had barely moved, but she knew that was likely soon to change.

Gray looked up with a devious grin. "So, Lucy, what exactly where you and Natsu doing that you spent two hours outside in a storm?"

"Er, talking?" She started digging through her bag in search of a hairbrush, trying to avoid looking at any of her friends for as long as possible.

"Just talking?" Wendy asked innocently, and Happy sniggered around a mouthful of fish.

Lucy stood up straight and put her hands on her hips. "It seems to me that you all already know what happened, so can you please stop trying to embarrass me? All I want to do is eat dinner and sleep for a year."

"Must have been real tiring," Gray muttered, still grinning like an idiot. "I mean, you probably couldn't catch your breath the whole time."

Lucy chucked her brush at his head, the Demon Slayer just barely managing to dodge the projectile. Carla rolled her eyes, returning her attention to the vision she'd had last night. It was nothing concerning, yet she was beyond glad that her gift had finally returned.

"I'm sorry Lucy," Erza said, placing a hand on Gray's arm to keep the commentary at a minimum. He winced at the force behind her movement, snapping his jaw shut to avoid any other abuse. "We're just glad to see you two happy. Also, we've all been waiting a long time for Natsu to finally speak up, so we're excited about not having to keep it a secret from you."

"All of you knew?" Lucy blanched slightly, caught in between going pale and blushing fiercely. Then the realization hit her. "That's what all those secret laughs or looks were about! Shit, how long has this been going on?"

Gray snorted. "Erza and I figured it out months ago. When winter hit, right?"

Erza nodded, releasing his arm to Gray's relief. "Yes, it's been quite a long time. It does make me wonder just how long he's felt that way for you though. We only figured it out when he stopped hiding it so much. I've always suspected that he's had a special place for you, however."

"Well," Lucy smiled, sitting on the foot of his bed with a slight sigh, "that's true for all his friends. Especially everyone in this room. We all love each other, don't we?" She glanced around the room with pink cheeks. "I think we have a pretty good family here, seeing as none of us have any one else. I know I wouldn't trade any of you for anything."

"Thanks Lucy," Wendy said, rolling onto her side and smiling back at the blonde. Then Happy snickered even louder.

"Lucy loves Natsu!"

"Shut up cat!"

I've been waiting for this chapter for so long, so I'm ecstatic to finally bring it to you. This is a lot different than the first version I wrote, but I am definitely much happier with it, and I hope you enjoy it just as much! And I hope you enjoy this second super special extra chapter! I'll be thinking of all the words I need to write while in Disney, don't worry!

Only three more chapters in this arc...