Chapter 62

The moment Natsu pays for his taxi ride from the airport to the hospital, he's gone. He isn't being slow and calm about things. He's rushing, his mind going a mile a minute. He already knows the room number because of Gray. He just has to make it to the right floor and get to the right room.

"Hey, no running!" a voice scolds.

He doesn't listen. He is basically a blur as he darts through the hallways. In fact, he accidentally passes the room in his rush. So he skids to a stop and turns around. Then he stands awestruck out in the hallway, peering into the room. Natsu makes eye contact with Lucy. His heart skips a beat. "Luce!"

He practically launches himself at his girlfriend. He stops short so he doesn't collide into her, knocking her around. She has been knocked around enough already. "Luce, you're-you're-you're–" Natsu's emotions are bubbling to the surface now. Especially when he narrows in on her stitches.

"Hey, there's a bush around here that I want to show you," Gray says suddenly, nudging Jude.

He gives him an incredulous look. "A bush?"

"Yes, a bush. Did I stutter?"

"No, it's just that–" Things click into place. Jude now understands to leave Lucy and Natsu alone for the time being. "By all means, lead the way."

Natsu starts cracking before the two make it out of the room. "Y-you got hurt…"

"It was an accident," she says in hopes to calm him down. "I tripped. No one pushed me or anything like that."

"Two guys broke into the house to rob it. While you were there."

"So it was a right place, wrong time for me."

He blinks back tears that are threatening to fall. "Dad said that Droy said there was a"-his voice begins to crack-"lotta blood. I haven't been to the house yet to see. But I"-he sniffles-"don't wanna see that."

"I hit my head on the table. It's normal for head injuries to bleed a lot."

"Yeah, but-but–"

"But nothing." Then Lucy holds out her arms for a hug. "Now come here. I haven't seen you in days.

He doesn't hesitate. Not in the slightest. Natsu comes undone the moment his arms wrap around her.

She just holds him tightly, not interrupting the moment. He needs to get all of his emotions out. Bottling them up won't do him any good. That's not his style anyway. "It's all right," Lucy coos. "I'm all right. Really."

His grip tightens a little. "I l-love you."

She softly smiles. "I love you, too."

x-X-x

It's nighttime. The others have gone home. Lucy and Natsu are sharing her hospital bed to the best of their abilities. The only light in the room is coming from underneath the bed. It acts like a nightlight.

"So then I caught a ride straight here from the airport," Natsu says, finishing up his story.

Lucy can only wonder what his family came home to. Even now, is the family room still unsightly? Or does it still need to be cleaned up? "At least everyone is back in Magnolia."

"Good ol' Magnolia."

"It must have been nice to get away though. And to Paris of all places."

"You're just saying that 'cause you've never been before."

"Yet," Lucy adds. "I'll visit one of these days. With you as my tour guide."

That gets him to chuckle. "I'll take you to the best places."

"And not just restaurants, right?"

"Right." Then he pauses for a moment. "Hey, Luce?"

"Yes?"

He is quiet for a moment. "Okay, I didn't say anything before. Well, I didn't say what I wanted to say at the moment. I went with the mini vacation instead, which I planned on saying anyways."

She has no idea what he possibly means. "What are you talking about?"

He doesn't beat around the bush. He gets right to the point, even if he is a little nervous about the topic. "Why aren't we living together?"

Her mind goes blank for a moment. "Uh, well…" She puts some thought into it. "We haven't even been dating for two months."

"We both know it feels way longer than that."

He does have a point, but Lucy is trying to be reasonable about the matter. "But is that long enough for a couple to start living together."

"Every couple has their own pace."

Which is true. She can't argue that.

"If it makes you feel about living together, I'll pop the question now and–"

"You have to wait until first anniversary before doing that," she reminds him. "No officially asking me to marry you until then."

"So I can do it the day of?"

"If you want to wake me up with breakfast in bed and a ring, then sure."

He snuggles a tad bit closer to his girlfriend. "Oh, you can count on that. Maybe not that exactly, but something similar." He is already planning…

"As long as you're the one asking me, I'll be fine with it."

"Whatever you say, Mrs. Dragneel."

"And that's if you propose to me first. There's still a chance of you being Mr. Heartfilia, remember?"

"Yeah, but I like the sound of Mrs. Dragneel for you. And I'm stubborn about things. So I'm sure that I'll beat you to the punch."

"So you think," she teases.

"I know."

x-X-x

Nearly one month later, Natsu and Happy are fully moved into Lucy's apartment. Now it's their apartment, their home.

Lucy and Happy are currently on the couch.

The door opens, and Natsu strolls inside. He is getting back from his shift at Makarov's Pizzeria. "Luce!" he greets.

She looks away from her book to look at him. "Oh, hey, Natsu."

After shutting the door with his foot, he walks over to the couch to sit down next to his girlfriend. "Sooo…" he drawls out, nudging her with an elbow repeatedly.

"Sooo… ?"

Natsu whips out his phone and shows Lucy a picture of a newborn baby dressed in pink.

"Aww, she's cute," Lucy coos. "Who's baby?"

"Mira and Lightning Face's little girl. Born today."

Lucy can assume that Lightning Face is Laxus. She knows that Natsu knows them because of his work. Only now does she realize that she never told Natsu about the car accident that Mirajane had been in.

"Wanna know her name?"

She isn't sure where to even start guessing. "What is it?"

"Mini back story first." Then he flips to another photo of the baby. "Lightning Face and Mira wanted to be surprised when the baby was born. Not even Makarov knew. Anyways, they had a boy named all picked out, but only the first name for a girl. They were hoping for a boy, but when she was born, both of 'em knew a perfect middle name.

"So what's her name?"

Natsu softly smiles. "Annabelle Lucy Dreyar."

Lucy is stunned. "Did they name her… ?" But her voice trails off.

"Makarov told me a lil' story today. Annabelle's middle name comes from the young woman who went out of her way to help Mira. She was in a car accident. It wasn't anything life threatening, but it was still big for everybody involved. Especially for a pregnant lady.

"But it's all fine now. Annabella is healthy. Mira is doing great. Lightning Face is proud of 'em both."

"Sounds like a great fairy tale ending for everyone."

Putting away his phone, Natsu playfully boops her nose. "Just wait until you meet her."

"Wait, I get to meet Annabella?"

He nods. "They'll be having a lil' shindig at their place. Of course, you're invited since you're my plus one."

"Is that so?" Lucy chuckles.

"Quite so." Then he snuggles up to his girlfriend, shutting his eyes. He inhales deeply, exhaling through his mouth. "This is nice."

"What is?"

"Being with you." Then his hand makes his way to pet Happy who is curled up on her lap. "And him. All of us being together."

"Like a little family."

"Just wait until we add members." It is clear what he is implying. He definitely doesn't mean adding another pet so Happy has a sibling.

"That won't happen until after marriage," she firmly reminds me. The most they've done in bed together is make out. Natsu has and hasn't been shirtless. Nothing more though.

"I know, no worries," Natsu assures her. He won't dare cross her line until their wedding night.

Even now she still appreciates him not pushing for something that she doesn't want to do. Well, she does want to do it. Eventually. After marriage eventually. She won't repeat what her parents did.

"We've got time ahead of us," he adds.

"Nothing but time."

"Heh, at least we'll have time to plan the wedding."

"And before that, we'll have to be engaged."

"Hey, that won't happen right away all because a certain somebody said I hafta wait. A certain somebody who is cute as fuck."

"Will you ever let that go?" Lucy giggles, referring to the review that she left.

"No. Never. You wanna know why?" He doesn't give her time to respond. "Because that review is why we started talking. It's special to me. And I like saying those three words. Cute as fuck."

"I like saying "I love you" to you."

He smiles. "I like hearing that you from you. I also like telling you that, too."

"And to think I was the one who said it first. In my sleep." She doesn't remember it at all, but she recalls the time Natsu told her about it.

"It's okay. You made up for it."

"Oh, that's good to know," she teases.

"It's great to know," he corrects her.

She playfully rolls her eyes. "So you say."

"I love you, Luce."

That gets her to smile. "I love you, too, Natsu."


A/N Part 1: Been planning for NaLu to live together for forever now. I've just been playing it off XD PS. The lil' scene about the bush totally came from my NaLu work, More Than a Princess. Because I love that scene so much. I made sure to keep it in Elvina!

A/N Part 2: Let's see if we make it to Chapter 65 before I'm done :P I have the last chapter planned out, but idk when that'll happen. Not sure if anything else will happen in the CAF universe or nah… When I do post the last chapter, I'll be sure to make a clear a/n about it!