Sorry for the wait. It has been 3 weeks since the last update, but here it is. As always I adore all the story follows, favourites and most especially the reviews.

Snuggling deeper into her blanket Lucy let out a contented sigh feeling her hair tickling her nose. She raised her hand to brush it away only for it to fall right back where it previously was. Again, she brushed it away. Harumphing she opened her eyes to deal with the pesky lock of hair only to come face to face with a sleeping Natsu. It was no wonder her bed was so comfy despite the cold morning, Lucy mused sleepily. It also explained why she felt a cold breeze run through her bedroom. He must have forgotten to close the window.

Wait. Window open, Natsu in bed...

"Natsu!" she yelled poking him in the side. "Get out." She poked him again.

"Luceee," he whined in response, "stop poking."

"Not until you've departed my bedroom," she huffed. To emphasize her words she kept poking him.

"Don't wannaaaa." Having a very bright idea, according to himself at least, Natsu turned around. 'Hah, now she can't poke me anymore,' he thought triumphant. However, before he knew it he was lying on the ground. His change of position had allowed Lucy to kick him out of her bed. Since she'd accidentally kicked him in the groin, she'd withheld herself from kicking when he was facing towards her. Lucy crawled to the edge of her bed and peered to the ground beneath her seeing Natsu all crumpled up on the floor. Smiling sweetly at him she thanked him for abiding by her wishes.

"Why didn't you go to Lisanne?" she asked genuinely wondering. It was obvious to her that something was brewing between the two. It had been obvious that there was something even before Lisanne had returned from Edolas. She'd thought that now the third Strauss had returned Natsu would crawl in her bed.

Natsu paled at her question. "Do you know what Elfman would do if he found me there."

"He'd kill you, tell Mirajane and than she would dig you up to kill you all over again," Lucy answered brightly. Natsu got even paler. He had forgotten about Mirajane, she'd be there too. Sending a silent thank you to Lisanne for warning him before he'd got in deep shit, he sat upright. "When is breakfast ready?" he asked willing the visions of a furious she-devil away.

"You've got a lot of nerve," Lucy huffed flicking her pink-haired companion between the eyes.

"Pleeaaassee Luce," Natsu whined giving her his best puppy-dog eyes. His stomach chose that exact moment to rumble loudly. Seeing that she wasn't about to give in he added: "And you're chilli-cheese omelettes are to die for. Please please please."

"Alright then," Lucy conceded. She loved to cook. Loved it even more when she saw other people enjoying the dish she'd made especially if it contained ingredients they claimed to dislike. Take Natsu for example, when he'd first gotten an egg with his breakfast at her place he refused to eat it. Not being downhearted by it Lucy had given herself the mission to make a meal with eggs he'd like. A spicy omelette had been the answer. In her experience, you could always make something which tastes bad twist in such a way it'll taste good or at the least decent. With Natsu, it had been easy to twist it, make it spicy that's the ticket. Grey hadn't been that difficult either. She had smoked the chicken filet using it in a salad with cooled farfalle. Only Erza stumped her, she hated all vegetables.

Without further ado, she stood up from her cosy bed and went to her kitchen. There she took out all of the ingredients she needed for the dish Natsu had asked for. Whilst she was fixing the meal she made sure to prepare something for Happy as well. Though she hadn't yet seen the blue cat, she knew that where Natsu was, Happy was not far behind. Not long after preparing the fish, Lucy brought the dishes out to the table. Just as she had thought Happy and Natsu both sat at her table with a knife and fork in hand. Where they had gotten them was an enigma. She'd been in the kitchen the whole time and hadn't seen nor heard either of them. "Anything to drink?" she asked chipper loving how they couldn't wait to eat.

"I'd like milk," Happy shouted, well happily grabbing a serving of roasted salmon, "thanks, Lucy!"

"Yeah, I'd like that purple thing we had before fighting those bad guys." Lucy stared at Natsu, who was just as his cat helping himself to the food. Where in the name of Mavis was he talking about, Lucy wondered.

"You know," Natsu said slowly as if she was a bit dimwitted, "the bad guys with the snake-guy. Before the first time, not when they wanted to make a clock out of you."

"Thanks for the reminder," Lucy grumbled. Leave it to Natsu to bring up such things as if he'd were talking about the weather. Shaking it off she went to the kitchen. "Now where did I have that stuff again," she mumbled under her breath. Ignoring the disgusting eating sounds she heard even there, she went through the cabinets. At long last, she found the Shiso juice. Filling two cups with it and pouring milk in a mug she went back to the breakfast table.

"What the hell," she muttered, her eyes wide. In shock, she set down the drinks. Where there had been a mountain of food before, there was only one little slice of toast left. "You pigs," she shouted to the other two. "I leave only for a moment..." Her stomach rumbled loudly. She had looked forward to eating and now there was nothing left. Natsu groaned in response patting his bloated belly in satisfaction.

"But Lucy," Happy said innocently, "we were only thinking of you. Now you won't have to worry about getting even fatter."

"Get OUT," she growled through clenched teeth. When the duo didn't leave fast enough, according to the blond, she threw a shoe after them for good measure.

Natsu and Happy went straight away to the guildhall. Once there they saw Wendy and Carla happily chatting away. They had been wondering what had gotten into Lucy all of a sudden. She could always make more, couldn't she?

"Carla?" Happy asked sadly, "can I have a hug?"

"No, you most certainly can not," the white cat sniped. She was having a great morning with her best friend until the tomcat came ruining it again. She was sure that the stupid cat would offer her a fish again before the third sentence was said.

"But Lucy was mean to me," he whined tears springing in his eyes. First Lucy was mean to him and now Carla was aloof as ever. He had hoped that her heart was big enough to see his sorrows.

"I am positive you have brought it upon yourself tomcat," she answered turning her head away in an attempt to discontinue the conversation. "If you don't mind I was conversing with Wendy here."

"Don't be mean Carla," Wendy said, "can't you see he's hurting?" She went to give happy a hug who gratefully accepted it. "What happened?" she asked softly.

"We- we were at Lucy's house and she'd made yummy breakfast. And then she went.." Happy trailed off, he didn't understand what they had done wrong. Sure breakfast had been a bit bigger than normal but Lucy loved to cook. They had only helped her.

"Lucy went to get all of us drinks and when she got back she went crazy on us," Natsu continued.

"Was there anything different when she got back?" Wendy probed. By now she had learned what Natsu was like and knew he could be thoughtless at times. It wasn't anything malicious, she was certain of it. However, sometimes he went too far.

"No, not really," Natsu answered, "We only ate the food. That's whats it for."

"I can assume you have left enough for Lucy?" Carla asked.

"We left her toast."

"A whole slice," Happy shouted out triumphantly, temporarily forgetting his sadness.

"Natsu?" Wendy began carefully, "One piece of toast isn't enough for breakfast."

"It isn't?" Natsu responded genuinely surprised. "But Lucy is a girl. They don't eat much."

"They eat less than you, yes. Though one piece of toast is hardly enough."

"Oh." Natsu pondered for a while before getting up. "Come on Happy," he shouted whilst running out of the hall, "we're going to catch much fish to make it up to Lucy."

"Yes, sir," Happy answered flying after him.

"Those two can be such a bother at times," Carla sighed resigned.

"They mean well."

In the meantime, Lucy had been cleaning her kitchen and dining table. She hadn't calculated for the appetite of her two friends to increase even further. She could make more but that would mean she wouldn't have any dinner. Luckily she still had some rice left. Even though it was bland, it was better than nothing and now her hunger had abated.

She fished her newly acquired key out of her bag, the cause for her, again, low funds and hugged it tightly. She didn't regret getting the silver key one bit. A key meant a new member of her family. She was excited to get a contract with the spirit. Ever since she was a young girl she had wanted the Swan-key. Taking a deep breath to collect herself, Lucy held the silver key high in the air. " Open gate of the Cygnus constellation, Deneb," she spoke clearly. A black-haired, pale-skinned man appeared before her. He had large bags under his eyes and dark clothing. He was almost the opposite of how Lucy had envisioned the swan spirit to look like. First, she had thought he would be a she and second she'd thought he would be a lot more bright in appearance.

"Figures," the spirit said morosely, "I finally get chosen and it is a ditz." Shaking off her stupor Lucy grabbed her notepad and pencil from the table.

"Hi my name is Lucy and I'd love to make a contract with you, "she said chipper, deciding to ignore his comment. He had every right to be upset with her, she had behaved rather rudely to him. She wouldn't show how much his words hurt her. Her celestial spirits had been her family ever since her mom died. Even before that, they had been there for her ever since she could remember. There was nothing in heaven or earth she wouldn't do for her keys. They were more to her than objects to own. That some people thought of them as that precise thing cut through her deeply. Why couldn't people just see how wonderfully amazing spirits were? As full of life and temperament as the people you met on the street? And in some cases spirits had even more personality. "And I'd like to apologize for staring. It's just, I expected you to be a bit different than you are, not that there is anything wrong with how you appear..." Trailing off she mentally berated herself. 'Great going Lucy. Way to make him feel welcome.'

"Why?" Deneb sighed.

"Because I see al my keys as friends. You're all like my family and I'd love it if you'd like to join us." The swan spirit looked away, hunching his shoulders. Sighing deeply he told her how he wouldn't be a great addition. She should leave him to rot, it wasn't like he had anything to add. Taken aback by his words Lucy slowly approached him.

"I won't force you into a contract if you're opposed to it. Just know that I won't think of you as a bother. Every spirit is different, some are happy go lucky, others are a bit morose. But if there's one thing I know for sure is that every single one of you is a great addition. Be it as a companion like Plue, my dog-spirit, or Lyra. Each and every one of you has so many qualities and you are no different. I may not know you yet but if you let me, I'd love to."

"The only days I'm not available are Sundays. Though I still don't think I'll be of any use."

Laying her hand on his shoulder in comfort she squeezed it softly. "I'm sure you are more than that even if you can't see it yourself."

"I'll be going now," he answered simply and vanished. Lucy didn't know how to feel. For one she had a new friend but he seemed so depressed. Was he always like this? Determined to make him feel included she decided to summon grandpa Crux. He certainly could help her with her new spirit. She was sure that when she knew more about his abilities that she could train alongside Deneb and make him feel included. With this thought in her mind, Lucy made way to the guildhall.

"Bix come on, I want to go to the guildhall already," Papa whined. He had waited all morning for his daddy to go though he seemed to drag his feet today. And why? Hell if Pappa knew.

"Shut your whining," Bickslow bit out. He knew why Pappa was so eager to go. The last couple of days he spent a lot of time with Lucy. Ever since she saved him, he'd hardly seen his totem. What was it about her that his totem found so interesting? Sure, she was writing a novel but it couldn't be any good. Since the whole debacle with Phantom Lord, everyone in the guild was aware that she had come from money. Not a very likely person to write a novel with depth, something he knew his little totem loved the most. Furthermore, she was just a ditzy blonde. So why was his oldest totem so taken with her? Getting an idea he quirked his eyebrow at Pappa. "Do you really want to go that badly?" he asked giving nothing away.

"Thought that was obvious," the little totem replied.

"Alright, let's go," Bickslow shouted eagerly letting his tongue roll out. Pappa was taken aback by the sudden shift in demeanour. Quietly thinking to himself about the reason why he followed his daddy to the guildhall. Not even noticing how the other totems trailed after them. They had been strangely quiet as of late. Something Bickslow had noticed but hadn't commented on. The goofy magician knew it had something to do with the bond between Pappa and Lucy, knew it was an omen for changes. Although for the betterment or not for his totems he couldn't decide. If it turned out that his totems would draw the short end of the stick, he vowed to himself, he wouldn't rest until the danger to them had passed. No matter the cost.

Originally I wasn't even remotely done with this chapter, but I decided to post it anyway. It seemed like a good stopping point and I have made you all wait long enough. I can hardly understand how well this has taken off. Even now when I haven't written in a while the follows and favourites-alerts keep coming to my mailbox. I just want to say I appreciate each and every one of you and you all make writing even more pleasurable. Thank you.

As always stay safe, stay healthy and review =P

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