So glad to hear you are all enjoying this story! I love writing it so much, I can't stop writing it! I even took my laptop to work in hopes I could work on it even just a little.

As always please review, I love reading each comment! I try to reply to each one as well.

Enjoy the newest installment! I don't own the characters but I love them in this story.


"I told my dad to take it easy with the celebration," Natsu commented as they continued to walk back to the house.

"Why is that? Isn't the celebration for the festival?" she inquired.

"Kinda… This barbecue is really just an excuse for our parents to brag about our engagement."

"Seriously?!" Natsu shook his head and Lucy audibly sighed. "So, I pleaded for him to keep it relatively calm and casual." The two reached the top of the hill where a large crowd had already gathered off the bottom of the deck where Igneel and Grandine stood. All the people were intently listening to Igneel's speech, which seemed to be already halfway through.

"Not only do we as a town have our history to celebrate, but we also have the blessing of celebrating a beginning…"

"Oh no," Natsu muttered.

"Where is Natsu? Where is my son?" Igneel searched through the crowd. Natsu gave a slight yank on Lucy's hand signaling they walk away. Luckily she understood and the two tried to walk along the edge of the crowd towards the side of the house.

Igneel caught sight of the pink haired boy amongst the crowd and pointed at him, "Natsu!" The boy stopped and slowly turned his head towards the deck where his father stood. "Raise your hand, son." Natsu slowly raised his free hand and gave a nervous wave.

With his hand extended, Igneel continued his announcement, "Our son has asked this lovely woman, Lucy Heartfilia, to be his wife… and she accepted!" The crowd ooed and ahed around them, most clapping but those closest to them giving encouraging pats on their back. Grandine took the opportunity to speak up, "We are so proud and honored to welcome Lucy to our family. Today, we celebrate their commitment to one another! Cheers!" she raised her glass and the crowd followed.

So much for taking it easy, thought Natsu. They tried to walk forward but were bombarded by many people congratulating them and asking all the usual casual wedding questions. Just as they saw the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel and they thought they were free, Lucy was swarmed by Levy, Juvia and Erza.

"Lucy, we saw the whole thing!" Erza cried.

"It was so beautiful!" Juvia added.

Levy lightly hit the girls' arms, "I thought we weren't going to tell her!" The girls paused and looked at Levy. Her serious face slowly faded and was replaced with a joyous grin, "Oh, who cares… let me see it!" she screamed as she clutched onto Lucy's left hand.

Once Lucy lifted her hand near their face, she was met with a collective gasp. "Is that you mother's ring?" Levy asked but all Lucy could do to answer was nod.

"That's so beautiful!" Erza cried.

Natsu took the opportunity to slip away and grab a beer. He walked directly to the small blue cooler located on the side of the deck and grabbed a cool bottle from within it. He popped the cap with ease before taking a big swig of the alcoholic liquid. After he swallowed it all, he sighed and leaned back against the house.

"Trying to hide?" Natsu jerked his head to the side and saw Gray peeking around the corner of the house at him.

"What do you want, Stripper?" he tested before taking another swig.

"Is that any way to treat an old friend?" the man asked as he hoped the railing and walked towards him. "So you and Lucy, huh? How'd you manage to score her?"

"Excuse me?" he asked almost insulted.

Gray raised his beer to his mouth to take a sip, "She waaaay out of your league."

"I get it, Gray."

"If you were to score each of you on a scale, you'd be a 4 at best and she is most definitely a 10."

"Alright! I said I got it."

"She lose a bet?"

"Why can't Lucy just actually love me? You ever think of that?" Natsu asked defensively. Gray was silent for a moment before busting up laughing. Why do I hang out with this asshole? Natsu crossed his arms and glared daggers at the black-haired man as Gajeel strode over with Jellal.

"Hey, Natsu!" Jellal called. Natsu turned his attention away from the laughing buffoon and to the two newcomers. "Will you please tell Icehead here its not absurd for Lucy and I to be engaged."

"Love is blind," Gajeel shrugged.

"Well obviously, Levy is dating you after all." Natsu smirked back. Gajeel immediately responded by getting into Natsu's face to yell at him. "What did you say?!"

"He suggested Levy settled for you," Gray answered. Jellal sighed as the three of his friends began to yell and fight one another. He sighed, some things never change… it's both comforting and old. "Guys, can't we just sit and talk for once? We haven't seen each other in quite some time so let's focus on catching up." No response. "Or I can get Erza?" The three immediately broke up the fight and agreed to talk peacefully.

"I mean it's a little early to be engaged I guess, but with Lucy's dad not doing so well, we wanted him to be able to be part of it while he is still here." Natsu told his friends as they sat around a fire pit sharing new information to catch up on one another's lives. "Plus, we've known each other our whole lives so it's like we've been dating for ten plus years." The guys nodded along.

"That's considerate, Natsu," Jellal commented.

"So… Jude is really failing, huh?" Gray thought aloud.

"Lucy said he doesn't have much time," Natsu added softly.

"But at least you guys came to have a fun weekend," Jellal uplifted.

"Yeah, we were both excited to see you guys again," Natsu commented.

"We are all going to have to spend some time together since we are all here," Gray suggested.

"I think we both would need that," Natsu smiled.

"Natsu! Natsu!" He turned in his chair to see his younger sister, Wendy, running up to him. "What's up, Wen?"

"Lucy needs your help." Alarmed, he sat up stiffly. "Why? What's wrong?"

Wendy simply pointed across the lawn to where Lucy currently was. She was sat between two older women who seemed to be in a discussion and Lucy looked miserable. "They cornered her and have been talking to her for the past hour."

With a sigh, Natsu set his bottle down and stood up. "I will see you guys later." He strode off from his friends and walked across the lawn, ignoring people trying to get his attention and strode over to Lucy.

Lucy sat with both her elbows on the table with her hands resting on top of her head. She had already had a couple glasses of champagne hoping it would help her deal with the situation. She tried to leave a while ago but her chair legs are trapped behind the legs of each of the chairs the women were sitting in; she was literally trapped but she was too timid to ask to leave.

"Men are all the same, they need to be shown love and affection, they need to remain satisfied," one woman continued.

"Absolutely, he is a man with needs and your job as the wife is to satisfy those needs, so he doesn't leave you," the other woman added.

"True, the foundation of a strong marriage is how much time you spend in the bedroom."

"Yes! He needs to be validated as a man so you…"

"Excuse me." All three women looked up to see Natsu standing over the blonde. "Do you mind if I steal my fiancé away for a moment?" Lucy stared at Natsu with tears in her eyes.

"Oh of course!" the two women scooted their chairs away from Lucy's so she could move away from the table. "Thank you ladies," Natsu commented as he took Lucy's hand and walked away.

"Thank Mavis! That was excruciating." She whispered to him as they walked away. "I was about ready to lose my mind." Natsu chuckled as he walked them towards the dance floor. "Why are we dancing?"

Natsu turned around to face her as they stepped onto the floor. "Because no one will bother us here." He pulled her towards him and the two gently swayed to the light music in the air. "People will be too busy fangirling over the fact we are dancing that they will leave us alone."

"That's actually very smart of you."

"I have some good ideas." He shrugged in pride. The two were quiet for a moment before he asked, "So what else were people saying to you?"

Lucy sighed, where to begin? "Erza and Evergreen were giving me tons of advice for planning the wedding, your mom seems to have it all planned out anyway and people are already asking me where we are registered."

Natsu chuckled, "It's weird, it seems like all these older women won't leave me alone either."

"Yeah, women have a thing for men in relationships, something about them seeing responsible and committed."

"That seems almost counter intuitive."

"Agreed." Lucy glanced around at all the people at the party; she could see people stealing glances at the two of them and others pointing and cooing at the sight of them together. Anxiety creeped up within her and she grabbed onto Natsu's sleeve for dear life. He looked down at the blonde and saw her eyes darting around the crowd and he could feel the slight shake in her arms. His eyes scanned the scene until his eyes landed on the food table.

Natsu smirked wildly, "I've got an idea." He grabbed ahold of her hand and walked the two of them towards the table. "Take this," he handed a large unopened bottle of wine to Lucy, who stood just behind him.

"What is this for?" she questioned.

"You'll see," he stated as he threw some food on a plate. Once satisfied with the amount of food, Natsu took Lucy's hand once more and directed her off towards the back of the property.

"Natsu, where are we going?" she whisper yelled.

"Here." She looked up and saw the familiar tree in front of her. The large oak tree that was almost centered on the property line between their properties when she used to live next door. It's strong branches still held the treehouse Igneel once built for them. It looked as she remembered it… for the most part. It looked run down but the sight of it welled her up with joy. She smiled wildly and ran towards the base of the tree.

Natsu chuckled as she began to climb the makeshift ladder while holding the bottle of wine. He followed close behind her just in case she lost her footing and fell. The two climbed into the treehouse and struggled to move around. "I remember this being a lot bigger," Lucy spoke aloud as she attempted to turn herself around.

"Well," he grunted as he lifted himself into the room, "We used to be a lot smaller." He sighed in relief when he finally got situated in the fort. The two young adults were too tall to be able to fully stretch out their legs, but they made do.

They sat facing one another as they shared the food and wine. They passed the bottle back and forth as they laughed about their situation.

"I can't believe she actually said that to you," Natsu laughed as he held the half empty wine bottle in his hand.

"She went on about how it was good how I was marrying now because I wouldn't be a get this 'an acceptable age' for much longer." Natsu laughed at the absurdity of what she experienced.

"I got at least 3 death threats if I mistreated you, not counting the one I received from your brother." He took another swig.

"Despite all that, I've had so many people congratulate me on our engagement." Lucy added. "I've always wondered what it would feel like to be congratulated for being in love… it feels wonderful." She smiled at Natsu but the smile faded for a moment. "Does that make me a bad person?"

Natsu chuckled and shook his head, "No, Luce, not at all."

"Well at least I know now what it's like, so I have this knowledge for future reference when I get engaged for real." Lucy reached out and took the wine bottle from Natsu before taking a swig.

"Do you remember when you and Sting tried to turn this into a guy's only treehouse?" she giggled as she took a swig from the bottle.

He chuckled, "Yeah you went up here anyway and threw us out."

"We had fun as kids huh?"

"Not just as kids, all the way up through high school was fun."

"High school was okay, I guess." Lucy shrugged.

"If you could change one thing about high school, what would it be?" Natsu asked as he took the bottle back.

Without hesitation, she answered, "Prom."

"Prom?" he was shocked.

"Prom sucked." She took the bottle back and took a big sip.

"What happened?" he asked with genuine concern.

"Well… I got asked by Bora and I said yes."

"That was that guy that had that weird tattoo above his eyebrow, right?" Natsu asked and Lucy nodded. "That guy was a womanizer."

She shrugged, "He was hot." Cuz that makes it better, he thought.

"Anyway, so he showed up late to pick me up then once we got there he disappeared. I found him making out with another girl in homeroom and I confronted him about it. He tried to play it off like it was no big deal then he tried to 'make up' with me." She finger quoted.

"How did I not hear about this?!" He asked as she took a sip from the bottle.

"Because I never told you."

"Why not?"

"You were having so much fun at prom and I knew if I told you after I handled it you would blow up and do something stupid."

"So what happened?"

"I kicked his ass and left."

"You left?" He regrettably stated. How did he never notice?

"Apparently he told his friends he slept with me that night…"

"WHAT?!"

"But Sting beat him enough to send him to the hospital. He ended up getting suspended the rest of the school year."

He was stunned; how did he never hear about this from anyone? And how did he not notice she had left? She noticed how sullen he looked as he looked down into his lap. She reached out and placed a hand on his leg, "Don't feel bad, Natsu. I didn't want to take away from your night."

"You're more important to me than some stupid dance," he grumbled.

"I did go to find you but you and Lisanna had just won Prom King and Queen and I didn't want to interrupt your dance."

"It's just a stupid crown, I don't even have the dumb thing anymore."

"I would have ruined your entire night," she stated sadly. It pained him even more to remember how good of a night that was. He and his girlfriend of five years won Prom royalty and later that night they spent the night together for the first time. Overall it was a great night, that was until Lisanna broke up with him the night they graduated; then the memory became a little bittersweet.

"It might have saved me from some heartbreak in the long run." Silence drifted between the two of them as they each were overwhelmed by the brooding memories of their high school lives.

"If I could do it all again, I would have just gone by myself. Maybe then I would have gotten to dance with someone."

His head shot up, "You never got to dance with anyone?" She shook her head. "Everyone had a date and I was too busy looking for Bora."

"Remind me to kick his ass if we see him here this week." He pointed at her as he tried to maneuver in the tiny space.

"I doubt we will see him here; he would be an idiot to show up." Lucy watched confused as Natsu moved to climb down the ladder. "Where are you going?"

"We are going someplace else," he stated before he jumped down to the ground.

"We?" she asked as she poked her head down the entrance to look at Natsu.

"Get down here," he motioned with his hands. With a sigh, Lucy moved her legs over to the hole and placed her feet on the first rung. "Will you catch me?" she asked as she clung to the top of the entrance.

"Always," she heard in almost a whisper. She let go of the ladder and let herself fall towards the ground. Instead of the hard impact from the ground, she was cradled by Natsu's soft arms when she landed. The two shared a smile before he let her down. He took her hand and the two ran off into the night together.

"Where are we?" Lucy asked as she stumbled around blindfolded.

"I told you it's a surprise," Natsu stated as he guided her through town. "Here we are," he stated but wouldn't let Lucy take off the blindfold. Lucy could hear as Natsu jingled a lock followed by the creaking of a door. He took her hand once more and lead her down a dark hallway. After what seemed like an endless maze of twists and turns, Natsu stopped her and took off her blindfold.

Lucy blinked a few times before her eyes were able to focus. She confusedly stared at the set of doors in front of her. "The old gym?" she questioned. Natsu answered with only a smile and held open the door for her. She reluctantly walked into the dark room and stood just inside the doorway. Natsu walked away from her, presumably to the breaker switch because next thing she knew, the gym was lit up by a series of strung lights across the ceiling.

She gasped at the sight; it was just as beautiful as she remembered the gym looked the last time she set foot in it for her prom. Her eyes danced over the lights and the glittery decorations which dangled from the ceiling.

Her attention shifted when she heard the faint sound of one of her favorite songs beginning to play. She turned her head towards the noise and saw a single spotlight shown in the center of the gym where Natsu stood. "May I have this dance?" he bent slightly at his waist and extended his hand towards her. She chuckled but gladly took his hand.

Natsu twirled her in a circle before bringing her back to his chest. She placed her hands on his shoulders in response to him gently placing his his hands on her waist. The two swayed softly to the music which played on his phone.

"Why is all this in here? Did you do all this?" Lucy asked.

Natsu chuckled, "I'm not this productive. I overheard my dad talking to Principal Makarov about having a get together for the alumni during the festival. I wanted to make it up to you since you said you had such a bad time at prom."

"That's not your fault, Natsu."

"I know but I can't help but think I could have done something to make it better." Lucy moved her arms from Natsu's chest to around his neck. "This makes up for it plenty; well, this and you agreeing to pretend to be my fiancé for the weekend."

Natsu smiled, "I'm happy to help."

"I honestly don't think I could do this without you. Just having you here calms me down." She tucked her head under his chin once more as she placed her head against his chest. Natsu simply held her in silence as they swayed to the music. Honestly, this was way better than his actual prom; why didn't he think of this before?

He curled his arms around her a bit tighter and rest his cheek on top of her head. Neither had felt such peace and comfort before; Natsu wished this moment could go on forever…

That was until he heard a light snore coming from Lucy. He moved his head to peer down at the blonde. Lucy's eyes were closed, and it appeared she did in fact fall asleep. He chuckled and taped her nose to rouse her from her slumber. "Luce, Luce you can't fall asleep here."

She groggily raised her head and peered at him through half-lidded eyes. She looked at him then looked at her surroundings. "Come on, let's go home." He placed an arm around her shoulders to help support them as they walked out of the gym.

Sometime during their trek home, Lucy could no longer hold herself up, so she jumped on Natsu's back. They used to do this all the time in high school but that was the last time he had given anyone a piggyback ride. Lucy constantly shifted between half asleep conversations and light snoring, which Natsu thought was extremely funny.

The most difficult part was trying to retrieve the keys for the apartment from his pants pocket without dropping the blonde followed by opening and shutting the door then climbing the stairs to the upstairs apartment. Natsu was able to crack the door before kicking it open with his foot. He strode over to the bed and fell backwards onto the bed, taking a moment to rest.

"Natsu~" she whined as she pushed him off of her. He chuckled before standing up and walking to the bathroom. Lucy stirred when she heard the bathroom door shut. Dazedly, she sat up and glanced around the room. Her eyes trailed over the walls, bed and onto her appearance. Why was she lying in bed still wearing her dirty sundress?

Lucy stood up and tried to pull the dress over her head but it got stuck around her rib cage. She tried pulling on the straps harder, but the dress would not budge. She began jumping around in an effort to lodge the dress free but to no avail.

Natsu walked out of the bathroom, after stripping down to just his boxers, and saw Lucy jumping around with a dress stuck to her upper torso. He chuckled, "What are you doing?"

"I'm stuck," she explained as she turned towards the sound of his voice.

"You are such a weirdo, Luce."

"Come help me!" she pleaded. With another chuckle, he set his clothes down near the bathroom door and walked over to her. "How did you do this?" Her hands motioned at the straps above her head. "I tried to pull it up but it got caught."

"Well how did you get the dress on in the first place? I don't see a zipper."

"I stepped into it and pulled it up."

He chuckled once more, "Then why would you try to pull it over your head?" He grabbed the dress and pulled it down over her head to where she had it before. Lucy tried to pull one of her arms out of the strap but couldn't move.

"It looks like your necklace got caught in the fabric," Natsu answered. "Turn around." Lucy grabbed her hair in one hand while she spun around to face away from Natsu. He carefully removed the clasp from the fabric. "There you go, you're free." He stated as she began to remove her arms from her dress.

She fully turned to face Natsu just as the dress fell to her feet. The two stared deeply into one another's eyes, shifting their gaze from one to the other. The heat between them grew and the places where his palms touched her bear sides grew hotter with each passing moment. His body seemed to lean into her's all on its own. Lucy's breath hitched in her throat as she closed her eyes and went to take a step towards the man in front of her.

Just as Lucy raised her foot, it got caught on the dress still around her feet and she stumbled forward, her face falling into Natsu's defined chest. His deep laugh rumbled from his chest tickling the side of her face. "I think you should go to sleep." He reasoned as he lifted her back onto her feet.

She noticed as she stood, the room seemed to spin. "I'm fine," she lied but she obviously was not. She went to take another step towards her bed and stumbled again. Luckily, Natsu was able to catch her so she didn't face plant into the ground. "Somehow I don't believe you," he chuckled as he picked her up in a princess carry.

He was able to hold her up with one hand as he removed the offending garment from around her ankles. He tossed the garment away from them and it landed on the floor near his own pile of clothes. Gently, he set the blonde down on top of the bed expecting to release her once she hit the mattress, but that wasn't the case. The blonde continued to hold on when Natsu tried to raise his head away.

"Lucy… Lucy, let go." Natsu tried to pull on the blonde's arms to release her grasp from his neck but she wouldn't move. Natsu knelt down on the bed in an attempt to gain some kind of leverage but the blonde still would not let go. He tried to pull away, but Lucy only drew his face in closer.

Natsu blushed when he realized the position he was in; they were both practically naked, he was straddling her, and his face was currently inches from her chest. He lifted his left leg to move off the bed but lost his balance and fell onto his back. His head hit the pillow, causing him to release a sigh.

He took a moment to lay in silence while he stared at the ceiling. He could feel his body sinking into the mattress, coaxing him into a deep sleep. His shoulders relaxed, he could feel his heart beat slow, and his eyes grow heavy. In his last conscious moments, he watched the sleeping blonde beside him. I guess this is ok… I will pay the price in the morning but for now… I'm comfortable.

Natsu let sleep take him as he pulled the blonde tighter against him. He would let tomorrow worry about itself, but for now, he was going to enjoy this peaceful moment with his fiancé.