Chapter 61

Lucy blearily opens her eyes. The first thing that she notices is she is lying down on a hospital bed. Some machines are hooked up to her. There is even a nasal cannula to help with oxygen intake. She can feel the air flow.

"Oh, good," a familiar voice says. "You're awake."

Moving her head to her left, she spots her father. Jude is sitting on the plush bench that is underneath the only window in the room.

He closes his book, sets it aside, and stands up to walk over to Lucy. "How do you feel?"

"What happened?" she asks, ignoring his question.

He asks her another question rather than answering her. "Do you know where you are?"

"A hospital. But why?"

"What do you remember from last night?"

Her brain starts connecting dots. "I was watching Happy and Carla. Then I fell asleep–"

Without warning, the door to the room opens. Gray strolls inside with a bag of goodies in hand. "They didn't have what you wanted so–" He stops talking when he notices that Lucy is conscious. He sends an ice melting smile her way. "Hey, Lucy."

"Gray?" she asks, feeling slightly confused. Why are Jude and Gray both here for her? What is going on?

Leaving the door open behind him, Gray walks further into the room and stands on Jude's left side. "Do you remember anything from last night?"

"I fell asleep after watching Happy and Carla," she responds. "I don't think I woke up after…" Her voice trails off. "I could have fallen back asleep if I did."

"Two thieves broke in for an attempted robbery," Jude says.

She gasps, knowing that she is definitely missing parts since she doesn't recall anything of the sort. "What happened?"

Jude looks at Gray. "Would you mind fetching the officer?" he asks. "I don't think that Lucy will want to explain things again if she starts remembering."

"Sure thing." Then Gray passes off the bag to Jude and starts walking away. "Be right back."

Lucy watches him go before looking at her father. "Am I all right?" Well, of course, she isn't all right. She's in a hospital.

"You have no hemorrhaging or concussion."

Concussion. That means her head was involved with something. She slowly raises her right hand to gingerly touch her head.

"Easy there," Jude says, stepping forward to stop her. "Let me show you instead."

She lowers her arm down. "All right."

So he takes out his phone and goes under his camera app, having the front-facing camera on. He hands it to Lucy so she can see for herself.

Her eyes grow wide with surprise. She has clearly had better days. Today she looks so worn out. The most noticeable thing on her, apart from the nasal cannula, is the stitches. Her bangs are pulled back to reveal stitches along her hairline on her right side.

She doesn't look away from the phone's screen. "How did that happen?" Lucy asks in a quiet voice.

"You really don't remember, do you?"

She looks at her father, hanging back his phone. "How much don't I remember?"

Gray returns with a police officer, the officer shutting the door behind him.

The man has a fit build and dark skin. His dark hair stands upwards while he has prominent sideburns that join up with his beard on his face. His green eyes are framed in by his high cheekbones and thick eyebrows.

"I'm Officer Arcadios, and I'm here to ask you a few questions," he says, taking out a notepad and pen. "Even though this isn't a question, I want to start things off by saying it's good to see you awake, Miss Heartfilia."

She realizes something. "Wait, what day is it? How long have I been out?"

"It's Friday afternoon," Jude says, assuring her that she hasn't been out for too long. "As in Friday the thirtieth."

She sighs in relief. "That's good to know."

"What were you doing before the thieves broke in?" Arcadios asks.

"I was sleeping with Happy and Carla," she replies. "I don't remember anything after that though."

"When Gray and I were walking back, he had mentioned you have memory loss," Arcadios comments.

Lucy bites her lower lip. "I don't think that I'll be much help…"

"Will talking about what happened jog her memory?" Gray suggests.

Jude nods. "I don't think that it'll hurt."

"My father had mentioned that two thieves broke in," Lucy says. "And something else about attempted robbery."

"You said that you were sleeping with the cats," Arcadios comments. "Where was that?"

"In the family room," she replies. "On a couch. I put down the book I finished to nap."

"And you don't recall waking up?"

She shakes her head a little bit.

Arcadios jots down a note before looking at her. "We have one half of the story because the two men have been apprehended. Reeves and Barrett specifically selected the Dragneel's house. They were going from house to house, scouting out what kind of goods people were getting rid of. They overheard a conversation between homeowners saying that the Dragneel family was away on vacation. Reeves and Barrett decided to rob their house that night.

"According to them, they went through the backdoor that wasn't locked."

Lucy knows why. "That's because Happy wanted to go outside earlier. When I let him back in, I forgot to lock the door. I planned on doing that when I left. After finishing my book, I took a nap…"

Lowering his notepad from taking notes, Arcadios starts speaking again. "Reeves and Barrett entered the house when Barrett came across you and the cats. One of the cats attacked Barrett before the other one did."

Lucy starts smiling. Happy and Carla had her back then. She at least owes them treats. Maybe some toys.

"Both Reeves and Barrett say that, on your own accord, you tripped and hit your head on the coffee table. That knocked you right out. The two then fled since they didn't want to be pinned for murder."

"And then one of them was caught," Gray says smugly.

"What happened?" Lucy asks, wondering how the duo ended up in custody.

Arcadios motions for Gray to tell the story.

"You've met Droy and Jet, right?" Gray asks.

The two live next to the Dragneel's house, on the left side. Droy is a retired police officer, and Jet is his retired police canine.

"I've met them both a few times," Lucy responds.

"Droy just so happened to be letting Jet out when the robbers were trying to run away. Jet took down Barrett since he was slower. Both are in custody since Barrett ratted out Reeves."

"So how… did someone find out about me?" Lucy asks. She wonders if it had been hours before she was discovered. There is no doubt that she was covered in blood from her head injury.

"Droy was already calling the police when he was going up to Jet and Barrett," Arcadios replies. "Barrett mentioned that you were inside and unconscious. Droy took care of you until help arrived."

"And here I am now…" Lucy concludes.

"Safe and sound," Jude adds.

At least everything is working out, despite what did happen. Reeves and Barrett are in custody, not loose where they can try robbing again. Sure, the Dragneel family is away, but–

"What about Natsu and his family?" Lucy asks suddenly.

"They're more than aware of what happened," Jude assures her. "Droy called Igneel the moment an ambulance arrived for you."

"Come to think of it, they should be landing here soon," Gray comments. "Natsu mentioned that a plane was delayed."

Lucy knows that it makes sense that they left Paris early. She can only wonder how the phone call that Droy made to Igneel went. "So what now?" she asks.

"You aren't leaving here until tomorrow," Jude replies. "You're being kept overnight just to ensure that nothing is wrong."

"I'll be leaving now," Arcadios says, putting away his things. "Feel free to contact me if there is a need. I've already given your father my card."

"Thanks for listening," Lucy says. "Even though I don't think I was very helpful."

"I was hoping to get confirmation if either of the two laid a hand on you," Arcadios says. "They both heavily insisted that you tripped all on your own."

"Yet they left her to bleed out," Gray scoffs, before shrugging. "Then again, they would have outed themselves if they called for an ambulance."

"They'll get what they deserve," Lucy reminds him.

"The system will be sure of that," Arcadios says, and then nods goodbye at everyone. "On my way out, I'll tell a nurse that you're awake." When he leaves the room, he leaves the door wide open.

Lucy looks at Jude and Gray. "So how did you two find out?"

"Natsu," they reply in unison.

She blinks in surprise. "Really?"

"After Droy called Igneel, Igneel woke up his family to tell them," Jude explains. "Natsu promptly called me to inform me of the situation. He said that he was going to call Gray when he hung up."

"Cue Natsu calling me and asking me to come here, too," Gray adds.

"Does anyone else know?" Lucy inquires.

"On my way over here, I called Gajeel and told him to tell others," Gray replies. "I've given some text updates to people. I haven't said that you're awake yet, which I should probably do. Natsu will want to know." Then he takes out his phone to start texting the group.

A blur of dark colors and pink darts by the open doorway. The person circles back and stands awestruck out in the hallway. Natsu makes eye contact with Lucy and just about loses it. "Luce!"


A/N Part 1: Sorry not sorry for posting a day after Monday. I've been terribly sick since Saturday after work. Sunday was 90% resting on a couch and having family take care of me. Well, family is still taking care of me now. But I'm doing much better when I was at my low :P

A/N Part 2: Somewhat of a filler chapter. Filled in some blanks, I suppose. AND NATSU IS BACK :D Reeves Barrett is someone from Elvina, and I just like the name. So I split it in half for the robbers XD

Happy Valentine's Day! Nothing wrong with spreading some love :D