Hey lovely humans! Here have another chapter and I hope you all enjoy it!

Please R/R ! It helps me stay motivated to write more! Remember I love all of you !

Enjoy

The last few weeks had been rather uneventful for Lucy, except the fact that Natsu had now deemed it appropriate to try and boss her around.

'Seriously who does that baka think he is? My father?'

He had tried to tell her not to leave the apartment without him, not to accept any missions unless he deems them appropriate and tags along and if that were not enough he actually growled at Loki last time she summoned him.

To make matters worse there were no missions available that Natsu thought would be "safe enough" and she had rent to pay. He had offered to go on a mission by himself to pay rent but only if she agreed to stay in the apartment unless Erza or Lisanna were with her!

"Ahhhhh the audacity of that prick" she spoke aloud to herself.

She tried to be understanding, she really tried to compromise and meet him in the middle ground but he would not budge on any of it. He had even tried to follow her into the bathroom when she had to pee incase she should encounter any danger! Seriously what did he think would happen? Some awful creature coming up through the drain pipes to bite her privates before he go the chance to? How much danger could someone be in while peeing anyway?

She wasn't even "allowed" to go see Levy by herself.

"She is pregnant, she can't protect you and Gajeel would protect his mate over you. It's not safe enough". He had said.

She was perfectly capable of protecting her damn self. She wasn't weak and helpless... but he must really think she is to be doing this.

That's what upset her most. Natsu didn't think of her as an equal he thought of her like property. Like "his treasure". She wasn't just some inanimate object for him to own damn it ! She was a person who needed freedom.

And she would demand to be treated as such whether he liked it or not.

"Natsu, I'm going out!".

"Okay, I'll come with you". He stood made to stand up from the couch he had been sitting on.

"I want to go alone". There. Assertive and straight to the point with no room to argue.

"No"

"No?"

"No.

"You can't tell me no!"

"I just did".

Lucy had to take a deep breath to calm herself down before she said something she may regret later. How dare he think he can tell her what she can and can't do!

"While I respect your opinion in believing you can tell me what to do, I will in no way listen to it and you are behaving like a child!"

"You almost died Luce!"

"What?"

"You almost fucking died... and i couldn't do anything about it. I just had to sit there and wait, just hoping with all my heart that you would be alright". Lucy could tell that Natsu was trying to fight the tears threatening to escape his eyes.

"Natsu, I know that must have been hard for you but that does nit give you the right to keep me in a box. You can't just hide me away from the world... You can't protect me from everything".

"Exactly and that's the problem! I couldn't protect you, I wasn't strong enough because of this fucked up season draining all my energy and you nearly died because of it".

"But that wasn't your fault. I made my choice and it was my turn to protect you for once".

"You protecting me is fucking useless Luce don't you get that? If you die so do I so why the hell would you ever think of trying to sacrifice yourself for me!"

"Dying is not the same as having your soul torn out! You don't think I knew when I jumped in front of you that you would die anyway if I died? But at least you would have still had a soul and I was willing to pay with my own to make sure of that!".

"Well maybe if you would just make up your mind of if you're going to accept me or not it wouldn't be a problem!"

"You are not seriously throwing that in my face right now!"

"I'm serious Luce! I would have been stronger if you had accepted me, a mated dragon is a stronger one because they have something precious to be strong for. I've given you time and it feels like you are just waiting until that time runs out to reject me so I don't suffer and accommodating me until then".

"You seriously think that low of me?"

"What else am I supposed to think?"

"That maybe I have been waiting until I fell in love with you so it could be special moron! And if I didn't I would accept you anyway and wait for the love to come later! But I wanted to try first... so then when we bonded it would be because I wanted to and not because I had to or you'd die!".

Lucy could feel the her eyes prickle with the tears she was holding back and adrenaline of anger coursing through her veins. She was angry but more then that she was hurt. How could he throw it back at her like that? How could he think so low of her?

"Well then why not tell me that is what you were doing! Why keep me in the dark!"

"Because if I accept you that starts the whole process! We didn't have much time to begin with I didn't want to give us even less by telling you!".

"Is the thought of sleeping with me really that horrible that you would want to put it off as long as possible? Is that it!".

"Are you even fucking listening to what I have been telling you!"

"Why should I when you don't listen to me!"

"I do listen to you!"

"Then why are you arguing with me about going out without me! You know how I feel!"

"Because I am not an object! I am a person with thoughts and feelings and I can listen to what you say and not obey you! In fact watch me!"

"What do you mean watch you?"

Lucy didn't respond, she ran out and slammed the door. When was out of the building she didn't stop running, she ran until her lungs burned and her legs ached. She ran until her head pounded and she couldn't hold the tears back any longer.

She didn't want strangers seeing her like this so she hid in a dark alleyway, collapsed against the wall, hugged her legs and cried.

As the tears poured from her eyes and down her face she felt the sadness pouring out of her. Leaving nothing but anger and determination in its wake.

Natsu thought she couldn't take care of herself, he thought she was weak and he thought she was cruel enough to lead her best friend on then let him die.

Lucy stood up and started marching toward the guild hall determined to find a hard and dangerous mission and complete it without Natsu. She would show him.

Back at the apartment sitting on the floor in a defeated position was a young dragon slayer. He looked out the ground feeling ashamed of himself as tears leaked from his eyes and fell to the carpet.

"You're such a fucking idiot Natsu, you have really done it now". His voice cracked as he spoke aloud to himself.

He knew that Lucy was probably planning on doing something stupid to prove him wrong. He knew that short of locking her up in a cage and throwing away the key there was nothing he could do to stop her and he knew that there was no way in hell she would let him come to watch over her.

He would follow her anyway of course, keep his distance and make sure she was safe but that didn't stop the bad feeling eating away at his gut or the aching in his heart as he realized he may have just pushed his mate away for good. She may never actually want to accept him after this and who could blame her?. He sure wouldn't.

He stood from his place on the floor and made to follow her scent. He had to keep his distance and not get caught following her. She would not be happy if she found out, but he needed to make sure she was safe.

She was his to love, his to protect... Even if he had been doing a shitty job at it lately.