Natsu looked at her lovingly before leaning over and planting a kiss to her forehead, lingering there as if to draw strength from it. He leaned out and gave her one of the brightest smiles she has ever seen, it caused her to mirror one on her own face.

"I do Luce. I do."

Lucy gazed at Natsu, hand still covering his. "You know you're not at fault right? Truly."

Natsu nods and gazes down at their hands, "I know, and I tell myself that but, that boy. He was so young. He didn't deserve to die, and his mother. The guilt stayed with me for a long time, even now I still struggle with it some days. I just wish I could have done some things differently."

"Natsu... you can't change what happened, you saved a lot of lives that day. And I can't imagine how you've dealt with it so far and how you're feeling now. But I want you to know that it isn't your fault in the slightest, you weren't part of Tartaros' games, you chose to walk away that night, and you went into a burning building-might I add how dangerous that was- and helped save a child who otherwise would have been alone and scared in his last hours. You did that Natsu. You helped as much as anyone could have. There are just some things that you can't change no matter how bad you want it to. I would know."

Natsu slowly looked up, his eyes cutting into hers with an intensity that left you breathless. Their eyes locked and for a moment all was quiet. Natsu seemed to be pondering about what to say next, until he decided to break the silence. "You know if I didn't like you before, it'd be pretty hard not to like you now. Thanks Luce. It means a lot."

She smiled, planting a kiss to his cheek, before nuzzling into the crook of his neck. "I know. I just wish you knew how others view you sometimes." she signed.

Natsu looked down at her, "I think I'm starting to."

Natsu and Lucy sat at the bench for quite some time before it started to get dark out, "I guess I need to go and pick up Kade, poor guy hasn't seen a lot of me today."

"I'll come with, if you don't mind?"

"Not at all. He would love to see you I'm sure. He's been begging me non-stop to have you over again, or to at least have you around. You've made quite the impression on him. I felt horrible when he would ask to see you and I had to tell him no. Poor guy would start to have a meltdown, and if there is anything you should know about four year olds is that they're never reasonable when they're like that."

Natsu chuckled, playfully bumping her shoulder, "Well then let's go make him happy again. I hate to admit it, but that kid has me wrapped around his finger."

"At least I'm not alone in it anymore." she bumped him back.

"Hate to say it but you're stuck with me."

But what the two of them knew was that they both thought the exact thing at the exact same time, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"I wouldn't want it any other way."

The happy couple make their way inside Igneel and Grendeeny's house, both parked outside. They step into the house with their hands clasped together and soft smiles adorning their faces. They wander into the house to end up in the kitchen where Grendeeny is teaching Kade how to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch right next to Igneel who is secretly swiping batches of raw dough from the bowl behind his wifes back. Earning a smack on the hand and a frustrated sigh from said woman, "Igneel Dragneel, if you so much as take another pass at the cookie dough I'll remove you from this kitchen myself." she puffed her cheeks.

Igneel smirked, "I'd like to see you try."

Crossing her arms, a confident smile graced her lips with a predatory glint in those bright blue eyes Grendeeny began to saunter over to her husband, while Igneel was caught up staring at her he didn't suspect Kade to sneak behind him and practically launch himself to Igneels leg.

"Gah!" was Igneels only reply as Kade worked as human glue, Grendeeny went for Igneel's ticklish spots around his ribs.

Natsu and Lucy looked at the scene and couldn't admire the chaos in front of them. Giggling, Natsu led Lucy into the kitchen, "What's the big deal here old man?" he quirked a brow, "Been stealing too much from the bowl?"

Kade came to turn his head to the sound of Natsu's voice, giggling as he said, "Igneel's the cookie monster!"

"Is he now?"

"Mmhm! He was eating it when he thought we wasn't looking! But I caught him!" He said with a carefree smile stretching all the way to his eyes.

"Innocent 'til proven guilty!" Came Igneel's weak reply.

"Oh hush you! You're more dough than you are anything else at this moment." Came Greendeeny's snide reply.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm as fit as ever." Igneel began to flex his muscles the same way a body builder would, it earned everyone in the kitchen a laugh or two. The atmosphere, light and warm.

"When did you two get here?" Grendeeny asked.

"Not too long ago, Luce and I finished talkin' so we wanted to pick up Kade before I saw 'em off." Natsu shrugged as if the past week hadn't happened.

Lucy nodded her head in agreement.

"I take it everything is okay now?" Igneel peered up at them before his eyes found their joined hands. "More than okay if I may add."

Natsu looked bashfully at his father, his face dusted a pink color, before peering at the floor then back at him, "I guess you could say that."

Lucy squeezed their conjoined hands, giving a knowing smile. "Everything is great now."

Kade detached himself from Igneels leg only to grab onto Natsu's waist and gave him the best puppy eyes he could muster. "Does this mean you'll start coming over again?"

"As long as your mother says so then I would be more than happy to see ya again son."

"Yay! Mommy! Mommy! Can we please have Natsu over for another movie night!" he turned to her.

"As long as it's a weekend then that'll be okay with me."

"Yush!" Kade celebrated by prancing around the two of them. Igneel and Greendeeny gave the couple their space and watched from a distance.

"You think they'll be engaged by the end of this year?" Igneel prosed.

Greendeeny tapped her chin in thought, "Our boy is a too dense for that just yet, as much as I love him he's not quick to act on those feelings. Everything is new to the both of them. I give them at least another two years before we see him connect those dots."

"You really think so."

"Darling you may claim to know him, but I raised that boy ever since we adopted him. Plus a woman's intuition is never wrong."

"We'll just have to see how it pans out."

"Whenever they're both ready their journey will be an interesting one at that."

"I couldn't agree more."

Hello everyone! I'm back again with another late chapter but fret not! Here's my apology chapter.

I do have a little announcement to make, this updating schedule will be changing due to my school and work schedule, I just can't juggle everything at the moment. Soooooooo

I will be updating every other week, hopefully the chapters will be a tad longer to make up for the time away, my classes this year are just very demanding. (T . T)

Once again I thank you all for following/favoriting/commenting on this story it means a lot to me and you all are so sweet! I loved all the comments I got on the boy passing away. I'm sorry I had to hurt you like that, but I just wanted to be realistic with how smoke inhalation works, it's a silent killer and it only takes minutes for it to become serious, plus drama.

Okay big round of applause to those who reviewed! MaraDragneel3113, Copperreign12, Ushindi, Alba, FairyTailxFanGirl, rao hyuga 18, and Amanny! You guys all rock!

Stay awesome and I'll see you in 2 weeks!