''Lucy..Lucy wake up!''

Lucy awoke from her slumber dazed and tired she had spent the entire night plotting against her Father, Natsu looked at Lucy with a knowing look of equal tiredness. ''Lucy he is arriving today, we gotta get to work.'' Natsu said. He really didn't need to remind her with her Eidetic memory and all, he was just afraid of meeting her Father after all these years. Lucy hopped off of her black couch and looked at the time it was 1:29 AM, instead of freaking out and saying.

''NATSU WHAT THE HECK IT'S ONLY BEEN LIKE THREE HOURS SINCE I WENT TO SLEEP.'' she maintained her composure though wanting to scream those exact words and patted his shoulder before making a crazy mad dash to the shower and leaving Natsu to set up the house like he wanted to, Lucy scrubbed her skin angrily with her favorite peach scent. 'Crusty old man when he arrives I shouldn't even let him inside, I should let him taste all four seasons first.'' she bounced out of the shower and yelled. ''Natsu don't come upstairs, I need to change!''

Natsu dashed halfway up the stairs just to scare her then he walked away giggling. ''Ugh Salamander I'm not playing your games!'' she was bent on saying everything in an angry voice, ''Lucy try saying you're angry at bubbles.'' he suggested from in the living room. ''I'm angry at those darned bubbles.'' he laughed at her attempt to make bubbles sound mean, she smiled at her friends amusement and went back to dressing. ''Hey Natsu.'' ''HM?'' ''should I wear a pink or purple underwear set?'' ''I don't know, don't ask me!'' Natsu said blushing wildly whilst opening boxes. Lucy smirked and settled for the teal underwear set, she dressed in a powdery black dress she called her 'Work dress'

and ran down the stairs screaming. ''What am I doing? he is arriving today!'' worry in her voice then she said in a nasty tone. ''Nah I should wear this dress when he arrives.'' ''Then again what if he tries to take me away because, he was right I am poor.''

Natsu replied with another laugh. ''I doubt he would show up this early it is literally 2:00 AM.'' ''You're right Natsu only crazy people would show up at this time.'' ''Not really we must be crazy unpacking and setting things up tonight.'' this time Lucy laughed showing her beautiful white teeth, ''I gotta go into the kitchen for a bit.'' he watched her leave thinking. 'how can she be so beautiful in a worn dress?'' ''Ahh it's time to go further beyond a simple Lucy!'' Lucy yelled powering up in the kitchen,

Natsu felt weak he was laughing so hard. He stood up and opened a window letting the lonely cold air rush into the house and fill the room, he sighed and let the air dance with him, it was quite cold on his skin since he was just wearing a sweater, he sniffed the air and thought of his younger brother Gray who was probably studying for entrance exams,

Gray would be 18 in December but he was a smart child always ahead though Natsu didn't want to admit that to him, he could just imagine the smug look on his brothers face. He sniffed the wind a second time, ''Hey Luce Autumn is here.'' ''They said Autumn begins next month.'' she replied whisking around the kitchen. ''Nope it is here, I can smell it.'' Natsu said blankly he always longed for love in Autumn he didn't no why the season made him sad just as the rain did sometimes. Lucy walked out of the kitchen wearing plastic cooking gloves, she said in a serious tone ''HM I guess Autumn must need to take a shower, if you can smell it.'' Natsu laughed and fell to his knees, ''Luce please stop with your corny jokes!'' she giggled sticking out her tongue in a playful manner before running back into the kitchen. Natsu stood up and placed a childhood picture of himself on the white fireplace mantle.

He was done with unpacking so he waltzed into the clearly off limits kitchen, ''Lucy what are you doing?'' he unintentionally scared the poor girl, but still laughed at her in place high-jumping skill. ''Natsu what are you doing in the kitchen, you remember that fire you started last time?'' ''that was one time Luce.'' he begged with puppy dog eyes but that clearly wasn't gonna work so he explained his reasons. ''I didn't come to touch anything, I just wanna watch you.'' Lucy blushed a light tint of pink and placed her glass dish into the oven. ''Well there is nothing to see here now.'' she said hinting that she was done. ''Natsu it is to early for Mermaid Heel to be open, so can you trim my ends?''

Natsu looked at her afraid while she washed and dried her hair, he watched her brush her long golden locks and comb it slowly with a wooden wide tooth comb. ''I can't do that what if I mess up?'' he said begging her to do it herself. ''No Natsu you're good at it, you're the one who trimmed my ends back in middle school so why should you be afraid now?'' that was back in the days when Natsu and Gray played with her like she was a boy, but now in his eyes she was a lady as day clear as day shined.

''Okay I don't want to waste your time.'' he decided he would do it so he imagined she was little Luce, she sat in a chair by the window so she could watch the dark sky and Natsu stood over her watching her every movement with his naturally sharp eyes, he sighed tiredly and went away snipping ends on the little girl he imagined's head, when he was done Lucy ran away to add a missing shine to her hair and style it..all for the father that abandoned her.

Natsu washed up and dressed like Lucy instructed him to, Nicely but not over dressing kind of like a nice casual wear. So he dressed in a dark blue dress shirt with black buttons till the collar, black belt running through black slacks, he fiddled with his hair until Lucy spritzed his hair with oil and ran her fingers through his strands and to him it was absolutely perfect. He watched her leave towards the store bashfully and hopped onto the couch.

'Beep' the oven went off and Natsu pulled the homemade brownies out and sliced them into perfect squares placing them onto a ceramic platter in the middle of Lucy's white circular table, Lucy came out of her room laughing out loud, ''Natsu hey Natsu!'' she chuckled falling into his arms for support. ''What is it?'' he could barely say her contagious laughter was getting to him. ''Levy its Levy she-'' ''chill Luce and speak.'' she was frustrating him he wanted to know immediately what she was laughing about. ''Okay, Okay Levy said: Gajeel told me to have a good day..so I went home.'' Natsu giggled but it wasn't as funny as Lucy's laughing fit,

'Knock Knock' the sun had rose over Fairy Hills it was 7:00 AM and Natsu was resting on the couch, when his ears perked and woke him up to a knocking sound. He scurried for the door to let Lucy inside, but instead he let an old man in, this old man looked about 51 years old with short slicked back dull blonde hair and hard black eyes. Natsu recognized him, he always saw him when he came to play with Lucy years ago, he always gave him and Gray treats and a good pat on the head, now he didn't seem to remember Natsu as he ushered him to have a seat.

Natsu averted his gaze from Jude and stood awkwardly by the door like he was gonna run away, he felt like his life was saved when he heard a small knock on the door, He opened the door letting Lucy into her house, she was laughing about something he couldn't understand her LULL, 'Luce's Unintelligible Laughing Language.' something about fighting a crazy lady in the store over a bag of shrimp when there were other bags, Lucy was wearing a dark blue Jitterbug Reiteration skirt and a black silky blouse, her hair was pulled into a curly ponytail that rested on her chest.

Her brown doe eyes looked fantastic to Natsu, like some sort of savior from the awkward torment. She went on laughing and hugging her firend until she heard her whole name 'Lucille', her smile drained away and her eyes darted behind Natsu towards the couch and she saw the reason Natsu opened the door with expression of worry written all over his face. She dropped her shopping bags not out of shock but rather out of anger. Jude looked down at her right hand on her long pale finger there lay a wavelength wedding ring, his black eyes went from her hand to Natsu's they were matching, but that didn't mean Jude was going to give up on exposing her lies.

''It has been seven years!'' she screamed piercingly scaring Natsu. ''You didn't call, visit, or even send anything but money!'' Natsu could hear the hoarseness appearing in her throat, Jude's eyes fell from Lucy's crying face to Natsu who was unconsciously baring his teeth and glaring his way before hugging the girl, he knew this boy didn't care who you were just don't make Lucy cry.

After things had calmed down a little bit, Natsu went into the kitchen and pulled on cooking gloves and starting chopping Kale and other vegetables, sharpened eyes still on Jude who wasn't speaking, he just let Lucy pour out her wrath and angry tears that reflected years of parental neglect.

_Flashback_

''It-It's my mothers gift to me.'' Natsu said to Lucy they were in his house looking through the remaining things when he pulled out a small box containing wavelength rings. That was true it was a gift from his mother, ''Oh my Natsu!'' Lucy said covering her lips, 'Uh Oh.' Natsu thought looking at the shocked girl with widened eyes could she possibly know he meant them for her? ''Natsu is possible that I could borrow your rings for my little stunt?'' she said and he calmed down eager for her to wear them. ''It fits!'' she said surprised. It fit since his mother wanted him to marry Lucy so she bought rings after measuring everything about the girl.

''I asked Erza if I could borrow her wedding dress, so we can take a fraudulent photo, and I went over to Bob's Palace near Blue Pegasus to get a fake wedding certificate.'' Natsu chuckled at her choice of words but the sadness within his heart only grew day by day.

_End_

Natsu gazed at the wedding photo of him and Lucy two inches from awkwardly kissing and their friends screaming in the back, while cleaning shrimp, he couldn't help but smile his toothy smile which Jude noticed.

The argument between Lucy and her Father went on for some time, Natsu just drowned them both out since he didn't want to hate Jude and feel bad for moving away unable to help Lucy, but he couldn't ignore sudden spikes in her voice and the little bit about how many times she sent Natsu to the store for Sanitary napkins. at that Natsu blushed hard under hard gazes from her father.

Lucy took over the cooking station as she called it when Natsu was done chopping and cleaning things, she could trust him cooking outdoors..not indoors. She placed two boxes of spaghetti in a pot of hot water and went away frying Kale, shrimp and other vegetables in light butter, whilst listening to Jude and Natsu talk on the couch.

''So is there something I should know about.'' Jude said staring into Natsu's tense onyx eyes, ''What do you mean?'' he asked absolutely puzzled with Jude. ''I don't know circumstances where you had to get married maybe say..pregnancy-'' he didn't get to finish his demeaning statement because Natsu was yelling at him while Lucy stood shocked her father would consider such a thing.

''How could you say that about your daughter and keep a straight face?! You should be ashamed to even consider the possibility that, that was the case..can't you believe your daughter would marry for love?''

Lucy laid three plates of spicy shrimp spaghetti, garlic bread and salad on the table harshly, it would be breakfast for the two of them unknown by her father, she was doing all she could to hold back salty tears, here he was again after seven years leaving her when she thirteen.

Just thinking about it was enough to make her cry so she didn't try to, she just ate her food in silence sitting spaced far apart from both Jude and Natsu, Natsu didn't sit next to her this time since Jude would shoot him a dirty look like he was taking a invisible place meant form him.

Lucy felt sick in her stomach as she ate thinking that earlier her Father had someone bring over luggage meaning he was going to stay for some time.

How could she stay in this house with him? she sincerely wanted to sit next to Natsu, for comforting someone was his best attribute out of many lovable qualities.

It was a full moon when Lucy gazed out of her bedroom window releasing her worries through her breath, gazing at the stars that all was brought her peace with her silver miniature telescope, it was small enough to put into her pocket and carry it everywhere and it came on a chain so she could wear it as a neat necklace it came as a gift along with shooting star stud earrings from Natsu during her fifteenth birthday he had sent it from oak town when he moved away. Natsu had made it his duty to always be there even he wasn't physically for her, sending gifts and cards he never knew when to stop writing on since he always had so much to say.

She found herself thinking of Natsu while looking out the window often cause his goodbyes always left her lonely, though she had lots of friends.

She whistled with the rushing wind, ''Hey Luce what are you doing?'' Natsu said scaring the daylights out of her. she was about to yell. 'Natsu get out of my room!' but then she realized it wasn't just her room anymore at that thought she blushed hard trying to hide her face from an always curious Dragneel, he breathed softly in her direction with a smirk on his face.

''NATSU YOUR BREATH SMELLS LIKE GARLIC!'' she yelled much to his amusement looking at him now she realized he had spaghetti and brownie from this morning on his still-chewing cheeks. ''Yeah I went and cleaned up-'' he started but she cut him off. ''You went and cleaned up the food!'' ''Yeah!'' he agreed with her truthful accusations.

she knew the only thing he didn't 'clean' up was coffee since they had never tasted it, it was simply for Jude.

''I didn't know you painted your room.'' Natsu said pouting like he missed out on something big. ''I wanted to help.'' she sweat dropped. ''Maybe next time Natsu.'' her room was painted from pink to a dark grey six months ago, she painted her room because all that pink matched with Natsu's hair so it was hard to look at him in her room and also he found away to blend into the wall sometimes somehow.

she painted her baseboards black, and her room was accessorized by medical books from her and Natsu's college days.

''Natsu you wanna help me paint my nails?'' Lucy asked randomly and he replied bluntly. ''No.'' she didn't even flinch at that since she expected his reply to be something of the sort. she walked into the bathroom when Natsu dived down her queen sized mattress inhaling her presence, ''Hey Lucy does your door still not lock.''

he didn't for a reply and locked her bedroom door then easily pulled it open before diving back down on the bed. ''No it doesn't lock, I didn't fix it yet.'' ''If you just admit 'can she fix it..no she can't! I'll do it for you.'' Lucy blushed it was true she couldn't fix the door but he was the one who broke it in the first place. ''You broke it!'' ''Yeah but that was because I heard you crying in there.'' he was talking about when he came back in there high-school years unannounced. Since himself possessed an Eidetic memory he remembered perfectly.

He had intruded in her house and heard her crying before breaking the door and scaring the lonely girl. ''Natsu you wanna wear this?'' Lucy said coming out of the bathroom with a devilish look on her face, she was holding an adult Totoro onesie. ''NO!'' he screamed embarrassment all over his face. ''Don't worry Natsu, I have one too.'' she said like that was going to make it less embarrassing. ''I don't want to be caught in this.'' he said sitting besides her being the only one wearing it. she was taking pictures of him but he just smiled for the camera since she was saying.''Ooh look at Natsu all cute and stuff.'' ''I'm not.'' he said not knowing he was cuter when he was angry.

Natsu learned another thing about Lucy tonight, her nighttime routines where centuries long, she had to wash her face and skin, twist her hair and finally out on her Totoro onesie. ''Hey Natsu are you still awake.'' he replied in his raspy voice. ''more like am I still alive.'' she giggled and snuggled closely to him speeding up his heart and waking him up. ''I have onesies for every week!'' he groaned much to her amusement before she drifted of to sleep, Natsu hugged her tightly and squinted at one of her two clocks, he gave her two clocks to see that not much time passed when he was gone.

then thinking 'A General surgeon needs shuteye, so with that thought he went to sleep and dreamt of Lucy his queen of the stars.

Indeed it would be a long ride with Jude coming along, how long could Natsu pretend to be her lover?

Sorry for the long wait and I hope you enjoyed the chapter,

I had to repost the first chapter since I messed it up by accident.

-Peace.. out