Lucy looks beautiful, as usual. She's got her little black dress with the thin brown belt and her big yellow sweater and some of her favorite pair of brown boots that go all the way to her knees. She has a pair of crystal earrings in that I gave her on our fourth date. Any other time I would think that's too soon for a gift but I just saw them and I had to get them for her.

"What are you staring at?" She asks, she's got the brown almost red looking lipstick on. Her lips turn upward exposing her teeth.

"You." I admit just now noticing that I had been staring at her this whole time.

"You think this is appropriate… considering." She slips her small brown messenger bag over her head and grips the strap.

"It's perfect." I walk over to her pull her into my arms, "tonight is going to be fine." I kiss the top of her head and she presses her head into my chest.

"Promise you'll be there." Her voice shakes, her hands crumple my shirt.

"I will always be there." I promise her, I just hold her. She doesn't want me to make a million promises or declare some grand gesture. Lucy is simple, she just wants this one promise. We stand there for a few more minutes, I let her pull away first.

"Okay." She nods and smiles a smile that's not quite her smile. "Let's go."

"Let's go." I take Lucy's hand and lead her out the door.

Lucy tugs on her dress and her jacket and adjusts her purse strap as we walk towards the three steps that lead to Lucy's mom's house. There's nothing on the door, Lucy puts up a new wreath type thing for every season on our door. There are no plants, the blinds in the windows are just blinds. It doesn't look like a place Lucy would live in. I suppose if Lucy and her mom were alike Lucy wouldn't have left her.

"This is going to be good." Lucy smiles up at me, the streetlights catch her eyes making it look like she's got stars in them.

"Yeah." I squeeze her hand reassuringly. Lucy climbs the stairs steadily, her dress swaying around her knees.

"Yeah." She whispers nodding as she stands there staring at the door. "it's gonna be good." She whispers it like a wish or a prayer. Something you say to reassure yourself or a hope you're too afraid to say to anyone so you say it to yourself. I squeeze Lucy's hand again.

"This is going to be good." I say to her, pressing a kiss to her temple. She nods but she's chewing on her lip, I don't think I've ever seen her so nervous. She raises her hand to knock but she hesitates, her fist hovering over the door, her breath a little faster, a little deeper.

"It's okay." I whisper to her. She nods and her knuckles strike the door. she's not a loud knocker, she's never been but there was so much tension behind it I guess I was expecting a bigger sound.

"Here," I rest my hand over hers' "let me."

She nods, her eyes glued to the door but she lets her hand drop. I knock a little louder but still quitter than I would usually knock, I don't want to start the night off bad because I knocked too loud.

Lucy squeezes her purse strap with both her hands, shifting from foot to foot. She bounces a little, chewing her lip. I raise my hand to knock again, the door falls open just before I knock.

The woman standing in the door is dressed differently than Lucy, she's got a big necklace on and big hoops, her lips are this really in-your-face-red and her hair is pulled up into a tight ponytail. She's got this form fitting elegant kind of dress and tiny heels. Lucy loves her heels but they're all thicker. Lucy dresses much more casually but despite all the differences, they still have the same lips, the same eyes, even the slam of her shoulder and shape of her face. It's easy to see the relation between them.

"Lucy!" The woman, Lucy's mom exclaims wrapping her arms around her daughter. Lucy freezes, her eyes are wide and she looks like she can't believe what's happening.

"Lucy, I missed you so much." The woman squeezed Lucy and finally Lucy's arms wrapped around her mother and she squeezed her arms the first tear rolled down her cheek.

"I missed you too." Lucy whispered.

Maybe this won't be so bad

"Come in, come in." The woman ushers us in. I feel way under dressed next to her.

"Hi, hello." The woman grabs my hand. "I'm Lucy's mom, Charlotte Culpepper."

"It's great to finally meet you Mrs. Culpepper." I smile and stand up straight "I'm Natsu, Lucy's boyfriend."

"What an unusual name." Mrs. Culpepper notes without batting an eye, I give a slight shrug "My grandma picked it out, its my great grandfather's name." I offer her a smile and let go of her hand.

"Natsu." She repeats, "that's a nice name." Mrs. Culpepper turns back to her daughter with a big smile and Lucy beams up at her mom.

"Let's go get some food and drinks, yes?" her mom turns, Lucy seems to freeze again, her eyes tighten as if she just remembered she forgot the stove on. She didn't, I checked before we left.

"You okay?" I whisper to her as I pass by her. she nods but she's not, she's probably just nervous. When she gets too anxious she can gets tired faster. Although, I don't think I've ever seen her like this.

"Hurry, the food will get cold." Mrs. Culpepper calls to us. I guide Lucy into the kitchen where there's three plates already set out. There's a bottle of red wine sitting in the center of the table with wine glasses already around the table, the one at the head of the table is already filled.

"It's dark chocolate red wine." Mrs. Culpepper smiles almost hopefully at Lucy.

"Oh, Lucy doesn't drink." I say without thinking. Lucy offers a forced smile to me but something just changed.

"She'll drink this." Mrs. Culpepper says dismissively. Lucy doesn't agree or disagree. Lucy is great at talker, she likes conversation. I thought a mother she hadn't seen in two years would warrant a conversation. She barely goes a week or two without seeing Juvia and those two talk as if they hadn't said a word to each other in years. But, with Mrs. Culpepper it's like she can't find a word to say.

"This looks great." I take Lucy's hand and lead her to the table, we sit side by side although I let her sit beside her mom.

"Got yourself one with manners." Mrs. Culpepper winks at me. "Thank you, Natsu." Mrs. Culpepper takes a seat at the head of the table to Lucy's right, I keep hold of her hand under the table to her left. Lucy wraps her fingers around my hand and squeezes.

"It looks great." Lucy mimics me trying to hold a smile but I can see the tension in her eyes, they're tight.

"Yes, Lucy." Mrs. Culpepper takes a drink from her glass. "Natsu already said that." She laughs it off but something about it isn't funny.

"Have a glass." Mrs. Culpepper fills Lucy's glass to the brim, Lucy doesn't object but I've never seen her drink more than a sip or two and usually from Juvia's cup, rarely ever from her own.

"You too." Mrs. Culpepper fills my glass and tops off her own. Lucy shifts and squeezes my hand, I don't think I'm going to get my hand back before this whole thing is finished.

"Tell me about yourself." Mrs. Culpepper looks at me.

"Oh, me, huh…" great start, Natsu

"He's a writer." Lucy says for me "he's working on getting a book published right now actually." Lucy smiles at that, like she's really proud of me even though I haven't actually published it yet.

"Oh really." Mrs. Culpepper exclaims taking another sip of her wine.

"Yeah, I'm sending the query and sample pages out to agents now." I take a sip of my own glass "Hopefully I'll get a reply soon." I don't know what to say to her, she's not easy to talk to like Lucy, Lucy doesn't even seem like she wants to be here anymore.

"Hopefully." Mrs. Culpepper agreed nodding her head and taking another drink.

"This looks so good, mom, thank you." Lucy's voice is tight but Mrs. Culpepper doesn't even seem to notice as she smiles at Lucy.

"I always could cook a good dinner, couldn't I." Mrs. Culpepper slaps Lucy's elbow a little harder than I expect, Lucy winces but doesn't complain.
"Yeah." Lucy agrees in a half whisper.

"Eat up, then." Mrs. Culpepper waves her arms out. Lucy grabs her fork and knife and cuts into her meet. She's not a vegetarian but she also doesn't eat a lot of meat. She cuts into the chicken awkwardly. I want to offer to do it for her, I do at home but I feel like she doesn't want me to this time.

"Since when did you start using utensils?" Mrs. Culpepper sips her wine and watches her daughter with hawk eyes. It seems like a stupid question. Lucy shrugs and slides her eyes toward the wine glass in her mother's hand. I can't help but think of the my first conversation with Mrs. Hayes.

"Not gonna talk to me?" Mrs. Culpepper asks.

"I just…" Lucy struggles to get the words out. "Just don't know, it just happened." Lucy continues cutting her chicken into strips.

"Any other big changes I should know about?" Mrs. Culpepper asks. Lucy shrugs again.

"We've been dating for two years." I throw in to get some attention off of Lucy.

"Have you proposed yet? She asks.

"Well I…" I don't know how to answer that.

"We've talked about it." Lucy says finally meeting her mom's eyes but her smile is all but gone.

"You've talked about it?" Mrs. Culpepper shakes her head "he didn't just ask you?"

"We have friends that are getting married and we want to let them have their moment and then when their thing calms down we'll revisit the topic." Lucy says sounding way too heavy for her.

"You've just talked about getting married?" Mrs. Culpepper laughs at it "how stupid." She takes another swig.

"It's not stupid." Lucy says, "he cares about my feelings."

"Then he should already know the answer," Mrs. Culpepper shoots back "after two years, either get married or move on."

"Marriage isn't that simple." Lucy says, her voice is too rough, her body too rigid.

"Yes, it is." Mrs. Culpepper says, "if he can't figure out whether you want to marry him or not after two years then maybe he's just not the one for you."

My heart drops into my stomach, the very thing I was worried about. She's trying to convince Lucy not to marry me, I knew it.

"Mrs. Culpepper —"

"I am talking to my daughter." Mrs. Culpepper barks at me.

"Mom." Lucy snaps at her. "you can't just talk to someone I love like that."

"Love!" Mrs. Culpepper laughs "what do two twenty some year olds know about love?" she asks.

"Love isn't something you know." Lucy says, her voice softening "it's something you feel."

"Oh shut the F— up with that." Mrs. Culpepper is so harsh compared to Lucy, well, everyone is harsh compared to Lucy but I'm having trouble believing this is Lucy's mother. If it weren't for how much they looked alike I'd never believe it.

"You always have been a stuck up little B—" It seems like some kind of switch had been flipped inside of Mrs. Hayes. One second she was thrilled to see her daughter the next she this. How can someone talk to their own child like that?

Lucy sat in silence I just couldn't find the words. Lucy chewed on her bottom lip and pushed the food around on her plate.

"How, so now you're just not gonna speak, huh." Mrs. Culpepper scoffed at Lucy. Lucy isn't not speaking because she doesn't want to, she isn't speaking because she doesn't want to cry.

"Lucy…" I rest my hand on her shoulder.

"Don't baby her." Mrs. Culpepper barks at me.

"I'm not, she's upset." I snap back, probably not something I should do to my girlfriend's mom but I think this is an exception.

"Well, Lucy," Mrs. Culpepper takes another swig "are you going to talk to me or not?" Lucy'a mouth twitches, she's trying to speak, she can never seem to form words when she's upset.

"Well fine," Mrs. Culpepper yells "be that way." She takes the last drink and refills her glass.

"You already left your family behind, clearly you didn't care about me then, why should you care now."

"I did care." Lucy forced the words out, a tear slipping down her cheek. "I cared so much it hurt." Lucy's lips quivered. "I care so much I let you walk all over me and hurt me and treat me like I didn't Matter." Lucy hiccups on a sob.

"You lying little B— you never cared about me" Mrs. Culpepper yells at her "you left the second you go the chance."

"You think that was my first chance?" Lucy demands not nearly as forceful as Mrs. Hayes but very much out of character for Lucy.

"That was my last chance." Lucy sniffles, tears spilling in a steady stream down her face, her eyes are already puffy.

"You were being hurtful to me, I couldn't do it anymore." Lucy was about to burst into a full on episode.

"It hurt so much to leave you but no one here was looking out for me, so, finally I had to." Lucy's guilt is evident in her face. I don't know what to say or do or if I should even do anything. Maybe this is something they need to do? Still, I'd never heard anyone curse at Lucy before. Lucy is nice and sweet and gentle and…Lucy, who would want to yell at her?

"No!" Mrs. Culpepper yells, "you left because you're selfish." Lucy visibly flinched at the word, as if she could ever be called selfish. The nerve this woman has. Lucy's mom or not, I found myself pushing away from the table.

"Now wait just a second." My voice came out harsher than I intended. "Lucy is not selfish."

"Oh yeah." Mrs. Culpepper scoffs at me "what else do you call someone who abandons their family."

"If she abandoned you she had a reason to." I shot back, why is it so hot in here?

"You think there's ever a reason to abandon your family?" Mrs. Culpepper barks at me. This is not the same woman that just greeted us at the door.

"If this is the way you were treating her, then yes."

"Natsu," Lucy's voice is small, It hurts to hear it like that. This isn't Lucy and this can't be her mom. This has got to be some kind of test. Lucy wanted to see if I would protect her.

"Then you're as stupid and selfish as she is." Mrs. Culpepper pushes away from the table and throws her win in Lucy's face. Lucy doesn't even flinch. She just sits there with her head down, her fingers fidgeting with her purse strap.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" I yell at Mrs. Culpepper. "she's your daughter."

"Well at least someone remembers that!" Mrs. Culpepper throws her hands up. Lucy's chest expands and, slowly, she stands.

"It was nice to see you, mom." Lucy nods toward her mom and grabs my hand, she squeezes it so tight its already starting to lose feeling.

"Oh no, you're not leaving again." Mrs. Culpepper rounds the table as Lucynudges me forward.

"You can't just leave." Mrs. Culpepper grabs my shirt and pushes me back.

"Mom!" Lucy exclaimed trying to catch me, she must trip over something because she yanks me to the floor with her. Lucy scrambled back to her feet.

"I'm leaving, I'm not doing this again." I can hear the tears in her voice. I never wanted to know what Lucy's voice sounded like when her heart shattered.

"No, you're not." Mrs. Culpepper stands there in her skinny heels, one hand on the table the other on her hip. Lucy could push her over without an issue but Lucy hates confrontation, she hates fighting. I hate that I don't know how to stop this. I don't know how to protect her form this. I climb to my feet, at least to put myself between them but Lucy shoulder's me behind her.

"Lucy, let's go." I try to pull her back but she just stands there, wine dripping of her face, staining her favorite yellow sweater, her hands gripping the strap of her purse. Her knees trembled and her bottom lip quivers but she stands there, protecting me.

"Move." She says firmly, her voice not betraying the same fear and anxiety the rest of her body is screaming "or I'm going to call the police." Lucy's phone is in her hand, her thumb hovering over the emergency call button.

"Trying to put me in jail again?" Mrs. Culpepper looked so much like Lucy when I first saw her. I can't see it now. Her features are too sharp, her eyes too dark, her lips shaped into a snarl like scowl. Even angry, Lucy is soft. Like something that would bend to the shape of a breeze.

"Fine." Mrs. Culpepper goes back to her seat at the table and takes Lucy's cup. She holds it out to Lucy"since you made me waste mine."

"You threw it at her?" I can't even process this woman's logic but she doesn't even look at me. Lucy turns to her mother, her hand still on her phone.

"I hope you can get the help you need, mom." Lucy tucks her phone back into her bag an takes my hand.

"F— you, Lucy." Mrs. Culpepper words feel like a knife thrust into my chest, I can't imagine what it feels like to Lucy. Lucy's eyes are closed and she nods.

"I love you… mom." Lucy pulls me out, something shatters just as we round the corner to the door.

"Lucy…" I give her hand a squeeze but she doesn't even acknowledge it. She just pushes the door open, she hesitates at the door. She brushes her fingers over the frame, her eyes fill with fresh tears and she walks out.

Lucy drops my hand once we've made it down the steps and wraps her arms around herself. Her shoulders shake with her silent tears. She's trying so hard to be strong.

"Lucy." I have to jog to keep up with her. I know what she wants, she wants a hot bath and a cup of tea and her happiness playlist.

"I'm okay." Lucy's voice is a broken whimper.

"Lucy." I step in front of her and take her in my arms. "No, you're not." I squeeze her, he hugs her arms to her chest and nods her head into my chest.

"Yes I am." Her voice hitches and she keeps nodding but I can feel her shaking. I tuck her head under my chin.

"No you're not." I keep my arms locked around her but she's not trying to pull away.

"Yes—" she hiccups on a sob "I am." She's not even saying it for me. She's trying to convince herself.

"It's okay." I tell her "you don't have to be okay." I smooth her hair back and press a kiss to the top of her head.

"No." she says "I'm—I'm—I'm…" she hiccups and I feel it in her body and I hear it in her voice.

"I'm not okay, Natsu." She wails, she really wails. She lets go of herself and wraps her arms around me. She squeezes me harder than she's ever squeezed me before.

"I'm sorry, Natsu." She cries "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She presses her face into my chest until it hurt.

"What are you sorry for?" I ask stroking her hair and trying to hold her together.

"I didn't want you to meet her." She chokes out a sob "I didn't want you to see me like that, I'm not like that anymore." She cries harder and her nails dig into my back.

"Like what?" I shake my head "I didn't want to threaten my own mom." Another fit of tears swallows her.

"I didn't—I didn't want to leave her." She cries harder "I didn't mean to, I just couldn't do it anymore, I—I—they—she…" She couldn't finish her sentence. I can't fix this, or her, or change anything. So, I do the one thing I can do, I just hold onto her.

"I want to help her." Lucy cries "but she wouldn't let me "they wouldn't let me help them and now—and now…" Lucy trails off into another fit of tears.

"You are the sweetest, nicest, most loving and sincere person I have ever met." I tell her as she cries into my shirt. "Even the way you handled your mom was amazing."

"I yelled at her." Lucy cries "I threaten to call the police on her."

"You yelled, so what." I shake my head "and she didn't give you much choice, she wanted you to stay but all she was doing was yelling at you, she threw her wine on you, Lucy." Cradled her head in my hand "you can't think that you did anything wrong." I pull back the slightest bit, but she just hides her face in my chest.

"I left her." she whimpers "I abandoned her."

"She left you first." I tell her.

"How can you even say that?" Lucy finally pulls back but she looks upset at me now. "you weren't even there."

"I know you Lucy." I tell her firmly "I know a person doesn't have to physically leave you to not be there." I take her arms in my hands "I know she hadn't seen you in two years and she called drunk and when you agreed to come back she was drunk again." I hold her gaze.

"I don't need to know anything about her or what happened, I know you." It tell her "I know the kind of person you are and I know you would abandon anyone who was willing to accept your help."

"She's my mom." Lucy's eyes have never looked so pained before.

"And you are her daughter." I say, "and she treated you like garbage."

Lucy broke all over again, she sank to the ground right there in the middle of the street. I sat on the ground with her and I held her right there.

"I will never leave you, Lucy." I squeeze her together, keeping all of the little pieces of her together. Lucy is so strong, I love her strength.


Dear,

He said it, he said it FIRST. He said I love you. I didn't want to scare him off and say it too soon but he said it first. I love him so much, I never thought one person could feel this much joy at one time but I do. I am so happy right now. I feel like I could fly
Lucy


Author's Note:

One more chapter guys