Chapter 7:

Packing Cases

Lucy sighed as she packed the last outfit she would need for the next month or more since she, Happy, and Natsu were all going to see her dad and help make his final arrangements. "I can't believe that all this started two weeks ago," Lucy mumbled to herself.

"Lucy!" Happy yelled with a panicked voice and Lucy run to his voice.

"Happy, whats wrong," Lucy asked as she saw tears roll down his face.

"I was trying… I was trying to get the picture so I could… So I could look at mommy and pack so I… So could take it with us," Happy spoke then Lucy looked at a black picture frame that was face down, "But when I started to grab it, it fell… And I heard the glass break… Lucy I broke my picture of mommy!"

"Oh Happy," Lucy said while she scooped up the crying child, "Its ok, it was an accident."

"But… But my picture…," Happy stuttered and Lucy smiled slightly as she picked up the picture.

"Happy, only the glass broke, we can replace that," Lucy replied and Happy looked the picture, "The picture is fine. See?"

"Yeah…," Happy asked while he wiped away his tears and looked up at Lucy, "When can we replace the glass?"

"How about we get you a whole new frame," Lucy responded and Happy's eyes lite up.

"I would LOVE that," Happy answered and he hugged Lucy.

"Alrighty then, we've got eight hours till our flight," Lucy spoke as she looked at Happy's two-thirds full suitcase and partly full book bag, "So since I'm finished packing, how about I help you finish packing and then we'll get it fix. Sound good?"

"Sounds Great! Lets finish packing," Happy cheered, then he ran over to his dresser and began to pull out his clothes in a hurry.

Meanwhile Natsu was back at his place, packing of course, when Wendy walked in with her arms crossed and an unhappy look on her face as she said, "Why did it take you so long to call me about the engagement Natsu?"

"Wendy, I was busy trying to help Lucy and I was planing things," Natsu replied and he sighed, "How many times do I have to say sorry?"

"Oh come on Natsu, I'm only giving you a hard time," Wendy said and Natsu gave her a playful glare while she smiled playfully and relaxed her arms, "But you are lucky that I love you, big brother!"

"Yeah, and thanks for house sitting," Natsu spoke and Wendy smiled at him.

"No problem, crashing here is always awesome," Wendy responded and she flopped into Natsu's waterbed, "You have the best beds, the biggest TV, not to mention the game room you have is filled with all the best arcade machines and video games alike!"

"Geez Wendy, you act like you're still in college," Natsu said and Wendy laughed.

"I'm in my senior year of college, Natsu," Wendy told him, "I'm 23 years old, so of course I act like a college student, I still am a college student."

"Haha, sorry, I forgot," Natsu replied, then he put a picture of him, his big brother Zeref and Gajeel, Wendy, his mother, and his father, "I still can't believe everything that has happen."

"I can," Wendy responded, "Zeref was disowned by Father and since Gajeel declined, and you accepted father's position on the board, a position that Zeref wanted, he wants to take out his revenge on you."

"Yeah, but why go after Lucy," Natsu asked and he closed his suitcase.

"Zeref wants to hit you where it hurts and how he legally can," Wendy answered, "He knows that going after Lucy will have a great effect on you because of your relationship with her."

"So what do I need to do make him lose," Natsu asked and Wendy hummed.

"You'll have to prove that Bickslow is unfit to be Happy's father and therefore has no right to have a connection to Happy or Lisanna's money," Wendy told him and Natsu nodded.

"And that is going to be difficult to say the less," Natsu responded and he zipped up his suitcase and put it on the floor.

"So what now," Wendy asked and Natsu thought for a moment then grinned.

"Well, I have a little less than eight hours till my flight so how about we grab some lunch," Natsu replied.

"That would be awesome," Wendy responded as she rushed to get her things.

There were only two hours before they're flight and Happy and Lucy had just gotten back with Happy's now fixed picture. "Now lets get this picture in your suitcase," Lucy said and she pick up the suitcase when the doorbell rang, "Happy go answer that for me."

"Kk!," Happy said and he raced down the stairs to the front door and swung it open.

"Hey there Happy," Natsu greeted and Happy gave him a huge hug, "You want to tell Lucy that I'm here."

"Sure," Happy replied, then ran up the stairs and went straight to his room, "Lucy! Natsu's here!"

Lucy finished packing the picture as Happy ran into his room and Lucy looked over at Happy. "Prefect timing," Lucy spoke as she zipped up the suitcase and handed the suitcase and book bag to Happy, "Go ahead and take your stuff down, I need to get my first and then I'll be down at the door."

"Okay," Happy replied then put his book bag on one shoulder and rolled his suitcase down the hall and downstairs.

When Happy arrived down stairs, Natsu asked, "Wheres Lucy?"

"She went to her room to get her stuff," Happy replied.

"Oh, ok, I'll go help her," Natsu said as he headed toward Lucy's room only to be stopped by the tiny hand of Happy.

"I think she wants to be alone for a few minutes," Happy explained and Natsu crossed his arms and stared at the kid before he let out a sigh.

"Fine, if she isn't here in three minutes, then I will go get her," Natsu said then Happy smiled at him.

Lucy looked around her room, her bed with pink covers and white sheets made, gray carpet clean and vacuumed, light brown dresser with it's little trinkets nicely set and jewelry box in the center, and her brown computer desk that was clear of her laptop leaving only her desk lamp there and her chair pushed in. "I can't believe I'm leaving this place for a month," Lucy mumbled to herself as she grabbed her suitcase and laptop bag. Lucy looked around and outside the window a hummingbird was looking at the honey bird feeder was it tried to decide if it needed a little honey before it headed south for the winter. "Thats right, its fall… When everything dies," Lucy whispered to herself as sadness took hold, everything now included her father and the thought of that alone caused her eyes to fill with tears and her stomach to turn.

Lucy had been watching for a moment when Natsu came in and said, "Lucy, you ready?"

Lucy quickly wiped her tears, then she faced Natsu as she said, "Yeah, lets go." Then, without another world, they left the apartment after locking it up and headed for the airport.

Dear Readers,

So a kinda filler chapter, so sue me! Not really please, I don't have much money! But I wanted you guys realize that Lucy still has a lot of worries on her mind. Plus I wanted to set up for court senses, which I'm not sure how I will write that out but I am working on that. LOL! If anyone you have been through a court case that I'm about to write about or anything, I could use some help! (I happy to say that my parents have never gotten divorced and have been happily married for almost 25yrs!) So yeah, help with the court cases would be welcomed just PM! Oh yeah, changed the first involving Gajeel, I changed it because at the time I wrote that 1st chapter it was just a one shot and I hadn't really thinking about Natsu's and Gajeel's relationship so I changed it to wear Romeo is the driver. Alright, onto the reviews:
~katiekat2001- Glad you are enjoying the story and I hope you liked Wendy's appearance in this chapter! She was a key character in this chapter by kinda explaining what Natsu and Lucy are going to need to do in court. Anyways, thanks so much for reviewing and reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
~snowfairy65- Yes, the proposal was prefect in my opinion, I'm glad you liked it cuz it was so much fun to write! Anyways, I glad to see you as active reviewing, I mean that you review every chapter I put out and I thank you for that, its so nice to have a reader who reviews every time I post a new chapter, helps me want to write more! So please keep reviewing and thank you for reading!
~Guest chapter 1 . Sep 27- As you can at least I hope you can, that I making this story multi-chapter and I only do one multi-chapter story at a time, so I don't get plots mixed up. Anyways, thanks for the review and I hope you continue to read my story!
~CharryLimeaid- I'm taking an educated guess that based off your review, you are enjoying the story so far! LOL! Anyways, thank you for the review and I hope you're continuing to read this story as more chapters come out!
So theses are all the reviewers who reviewed between 9/21 and now! Thanks for all the reviews and I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far!
From,

Lavawings