A/N: This was rushed, this was long, this was... totally worth it. I did not see this coming. Ok I lie I am writing this so I saw this coming but I had to edit it a lot! Things will be getting a lot more complicated for our heroes after this chapter, and you will learn why if you read it to the end. I thank you all for your attention, I shall try to not fail your expectations!

Fortune smiled upon Lucy. Drama club went remarkably well considering how it could have ended. Professor Justine was very pleased with work Lucy and Natsu did and with it half point was added to Lucy's already existing one, a valuable one. All she needed to do now is wait for one or two more assignments, be active in the club and she will maintain her status. To her it was a relief, to Natsu, the successful resolution of this titanic task that was assignment was a chance to boast about his immense intelligence that Lucy did not see, but nevertheless it gave her few giggles. The same fortune smiled yet again as the mentioned pink-haired boy was faced with a great conundrum. On one hand there was his mandatory practice, on the other there was unique opportunity to follow Lucy to Sabertooth club for another shift. The thought of her emerging in that tight shirt with light make up that consisted of nothing more than eyeliner and pink lipstick and the smell of her perfume made his heart beat hard from excitement. A great conundrum indeed but his fortune ended where her began and a loud whistle from the hall was heard… coach Elfman spotted him and sent him to the locker-room. There was not much Lucy could do but giggle at this one-sided dominance that made Natsu run with tail between his legs. If only she could use that.

She left the college premises with a slight shiver that someone is watching her but no matter how hard she tried she could see no one whom she knew and yet so many would glance at her, be it as a mere bystander but she couldn't shake off the feeling. She dismissed idea quickly, knowing it is just going to worry her more if she keeps thinking about it and with bag in her hand and backpack over her shoulder, she headed straight to Sabertooth.

Lucy entered the club and went straight to the backrooms, changing into outfit and applying light makeup. She removed the rubber band that held her hair into ponytail and with brush straightened it down. One of few moments in her life when she didn't dread the sight in the mirror, in fact, for the first time she actually thought herself to be pretty. Perhaps it was the work done lately, perhaps it was the good day that started or perhaps, just perhaps, a certain idiot had something to do with her good mood. She couldn't tell, she didn't need to, it was a bit of everything.

Upon entering the main hall she noticed that instead of usual preparation for opening, girls were looking toward counter where Sting was standing with phone pressed against his ear. It was hard not to pay attention to as he was literally shouting at the phone, absolutely pissed at something but she could not know why until hearing what he was yelling.

"What do you mean he didn't do it?!" Sting shouted, starting to walk back and forth in front of counter while Rogue and Rufus stood by it, watching him nervously "Since when? Fucking 6 months?! You have to be shitting me! No no I'm sorry, I know it is not your fault but I am just pissed off right now…"

Lucy walked up to Orga who had his arms crossed, he was frowning heavily "What is going on?" she asked.

"Boss got some bad news…" He responded, nodding down to her slightly in form of greeting as he just noticed her.

"About what?" she asked but instead of hearing answer, Sting continued his argue over the phone.

"When is he coming? Today? Can't he come tomorrow? Because we won't be here! Just one day, come on it can't be that much of a hustle over one day? Fine fine fine we'll find a solution…"

"What's going on?" Rogue asked as Sting pressed finger on screen to end call.

"We got fucked up that's what's going on!" Sting shouted and sat on the stool at the bar.

"By who?" Rogue continued with questions.

"By Jiemma, that's who! Fucking idiot didn't pay taxes for six months! Remember when we barely made a profit and next month it went almost triple? That's when it started, fucker stopped pay taxes."

"Well we'll just pay what we owe and be done with it, what's the issue?" Rogue asked again.

"Problem is he didn't kept books in check… Second problem is that our records are chaos that we didn't solve yet due to books not being in order and not keeping track of profit and now we don't know how much we owe. And collector with police is coming today to make forced collection or… close the club if we don't pay."

"Today? Hold on, we are supposed to go to Crocus to finalize the deal, put our names in land registry, can't they come tomorrow?"

"Apparently not because third and final warning was sent two weeks ago and it was scheduled for forced collection to happen today. We either pay or we have our club closed… and we have no one to check our books."

"Son of a bitch…" Rogue exclaimed rubbing his forehead.

"Now it all makes sense… Why he sold us club for price that was under market value… he got the jewels, we got the bills and he is laughing at us I am going to BASH HIS SKULL OPEN!" he yelled loud, making girls slightly shiver.

"Can't you do it, boss?" Orga joined in the conversation "You are the smart one."

"I can but we are supposed to leave for Crocus in… 5 minutes ago and it's gonna take at least two hours to do it." Sting rubbed his face with both hands, feeling already mentally exhausted.

"I can do it." Voice came to Sting's ears who immediately stopped cursing silently and spread fingers, enough to look at the source of it and everyone else followed… they all stared at Lucy.

"What?" Sting asked, confused.

"I've dealt with such things before, as long as you kept receipts and at least wrote daily profit of the club… it's not difficult." She continued but her voice quickly died out as Sting rushed toward her and stood before her, looking down into her eyes.

"Have you really done that before?" He asked in much calmer tone.

"I had part time job as bookkeeper assistant several months ago when his wife went on maternity leave… He used to give me task of checking books of his clients for possible miscalculations… I can do it if you have all-…" She didn't manage to finish sentence as Sting's hands quickly grabbed Lucy by her shoulder, a bright spark appeared in his eyes.

"You just saved our lives miss!" He said cheerfully

"Sting, a moment…" Rogue quickly interjected and walked around the bar, pulling Sting away from Lucy and spoke in more silent tone "Are you sure about this?"

"Do you have another plan to solve this problem?"

"No… but, relying on waitress?"

"Look, we can either stay here and deal with tax collector and miss to sign the contract for another three months or we can go and finalize contract but have our club close down. The way I see it, we are already in deep shit and if we miss today, Jiemma will gather OUR profit for himself for another three months and we won't be able to deny him that."

"What if you stay to deal with books while I go and deal with legal matter at Crocus?" Rogue asked, skeptical at Sting's plan.

"You forget that both of us are parties in the contract as partners, I need to either be there in person or have my legal representative, whom I cannot find at this moment and you cannot be mine because you are already party in the contract. We can either trust Lucy to deal with this, worst case scenario… she overpays it or underpays it, they return, we pay that with interest as fine, club stays open."

"Alright, you made your point, we trust the college waitress." Rogue grunted, displeased at the situation but he knew there was no other option. Sting walked to Lucy again "Orga will show you way to office and books with receipts and everything else needed."

With small relief they left the club and entered their car. It didn't took long for Rogue to yet again express his concern "I still don't think this was a good idea."

"Wasn't it you who hired her?" Sting chuckled.

"She came with strong recommendation" he quickly replied looking away.

"Mhm, and who recommended her?" Sting asked, having wide grin on his face.

"Gajeel…"

"Man you are such a fangirl!" Sting laughed loud. "You didn't even bother questioning her, the moment he came to you asking for favor you got all giddy. Don't look at me like that I was 2 meters away from you, I saw everything."

"That doesn't change the fact that we are giving her complete insight in our finances."

"Relax will you? We have no other choice so no reason to worry over it. Let's do best we can where we can, alright?"

"Fine."

Back at the Sabertooth club, Lucy was already sitting at the office, waiting for Orga to bring papers. She was anxious, unsure why she even said out loud that she could do it. It wasn't a lie but all she wanted was peaceful shift, as much as club can offer and now… now she is sitting there, hoping that it is not as big of a chaos as Sting made it sound. She became nervous and soon, large teal-haired guard entered office, in one hand carrying more financial books than she ever saw in her life. Could they be so busy?

"Alright, these are all there is for the past six months, I checked dates so…." he placed large stack on the table and nodded at her, as if feeling the pain that she currently experienced from a single glance of the stack.

She blinked few times before taking first book and started going through pages, her eyes quickly caught on a certain pattern that she didn't understood. "What is special service that keeps repeating?" She asked, looking up at giant.

"Ummm... See, before Sting and Rogue took over, this place was still nightclub but previous boss offered his best clients some 'special service' in form of… umm… sexual pleasures."

"Was that even legal?" Lucy asked, shocked at what she heard and Orga waved head.

"Not exactly, it was all done behind the curtains. But don't worry, new bosses made big changes, good changes. Now waitresses are not to be touched. That's why I am here." He grinned down at Lucy who smiled back but felt uncomfortable as she couldn't deduce is Orga looked like gentle giant or predator.

"That's going to be hard to label… We'll call it 'entertainment'."

"We could use pattern like in one of those coffee shops with the uniforms."

"You mean like maid café?" Lucy asked glancing up from the books which she quickly flipped one by one to see density of inputs.

"Yeah yeah, they bring you coffee and do a little dance and stuff."

"I know, I used to work in one. The rest should be okay, it won't be easy but I think I can manage this in couple of hours." Lucy nodded toward Orga who returned the nod

"I'll make sure no one disturbs, yell if you need anything." he said left the office, closing the doors behind him. She sighed, heavily and took first book from the stack. In that moment she realized that despite it being quite the amount of it, it was nothing she didn't already work with before. Lucy closed eyes and took long breath, calming herself before she began filling everything in.

Natsu was not pleased. He could barely focus on his game, missing several catches that were otherwise easy for him and even if he would to catch a ball Gray would appear, again almost out of nowhere, to slam him down into the ground. There was something stuck at the back of his head, something that prevented him from keeping his eye on the ball, little nagging worm that kept drilling deeper into his brain, casting doubt in his plans. His mind wandered to another time, previous time and another girl and it was enough to lose attention to his surrounding. Yet again, Gray was there to punish him for his mistakes. Two seconds later he was back down on the ground, lying on his back with Gray standing beside.

"Now that was lame" Gray chuckled gathering his breath, looking down at Natsu who groaned from pain.

"Fuck you!" Natsu spoke through gritted teeth.

"Dragneel!" voice came from other side of the court, it was angry, very angry "What the hell was that?"

"Sorry coach." Natsu stood up with a little help from Gray.

"Don't you 'sorry coach' me, what the hell is going on with you?" Elfman stood in front of Natsu, towering over him, arms crossed and eyes ready to kill.

"Just tired, coach" he responded.

"Then get your tired ass on the bench and clear your head cause you are embarrassing yourself! You are on cleaning duty!" Elfman yelled down and took whistle, signaling for reset.

"Man he is pissed at you. Are really got that tired?" Gray asked walking with Natsu toward the bench.

"Had a lot of work for the drama club and that assignment with Lucy, didn't sleep and… Erza's interrogation on top, that makes one hell of a day." Natsu took his helmet off and sat on the bench, stretching his legs, Gray sat beside him.

"Well someone might bring your mood up." Gray said after looking behind both of them.

"What do you mean?"

"Natsu!" high pitched female voice reached them both and now the one being called turned.

"Looks like Jenny is in right spirit, wonder who raised it for her" Gray chuckled but quickly straightened his face as she approached. He looked away the very moment she leaned to kiss him and Natsu did not object to it.

"So, what does your schedule sound for the rest of the day? I got some plans for us."

"Yeah, I'm gonna be a bit busy at home, have to help sis with her homework, gonna be long one."

"Didn't you pl-" Gray started but he immediately stopped as he felt Natsu's fist connect on his right sidejust above hip "I mean, yeah I heard you planned that." He corrected his sentence, frowning from the punch… Asshole.

"Oh, well how about tomorrow?" She asked, not noticing Gray's reaction.

"Tomorrow should be fine." Natsu answered and she leaned forward to kiss him again.

"Alright, see you tomorrow then." Jenny responded and gave him a wink, walking away.

"Man you are such a liar." Gray chuckled, quickly covering the same side with hand.

"I completely forgot about her."

"Dude, I know you are not gonna take me seriously bit at least chose, alright?"

"Don't start that, come on Gray we are supposed to watch each other's back!" Natsu looked down at Gray who was still sitting, pinkette was starting to be angry while the other remained cool "Don't switch sides now."

"I am on your side, Natsu." Gray responded, standing up to match him in height "Look, we went through this before, I watched you score every girl you had your eyes on and it was a pretty good deal. They knew what they were getting into, you had fun, they had fun, it ended with that… a fling, couple of booty calls and move on. But this?"

"What about this?" Natsu asked, moving closer to Gray's face.

"Lucy just doesn't look like the girl that is in for one night stand… if you manage to get to her and she doesn't respond well to you running away in the morning… well she is gonna get hurt and in turn, you will be. I just don't want to see you go through that."

"What makes you think I will be hurt?"

"Any man who can make girl cry, and I mean really cry, and not care about it is by definition worst possible human being. You are an asshole, don't get me wrong you can be one, but you are not that kind of guy." Gray raised his hand and gently punched Natsu's chest before running off to the field, leaving Natsu with his own thoughts.

"Next time I see him, I will knock every tooth out of his smug prick mouth!" Sting clenched his teeth and rubbed his face with both hands as they entered Sabertooth. Evening came and club began to gather crowd. Their final encounter with Jiemma was as stressful as it can be as he subtly reminded them of all the issues club had at the time he sold it to them. He didn't even hid the fact that he knew when tax collector would come which made Sting almost snap at him. Still with Rogue's intervention they avoided incident and they signed final transfer documents… Sabertooth was completely theirs now.

"Look, all papers are signed, he got money, we got the club, if he shows up we'll throw him out and be done with it." Rogue tried to reassure Sting who stopped walking as soon as they entered.

"Fucking hell… Where is Orga? Orga!" Sting shouted and then whistled loud and within seconds towering man came to them "How did it go?"

"No problems boss, man came, checked books, saw everything is in order, girl even managed to somehow convince him that payment will be given tomorrow along with interest for being late. Everything is in order." Orga reported.

"You're kidding me…" Rogue joined in conversation, shocked at what he just heard.

"No, boss. Everything went smooth." Orga replied

"Tell Rufus to bring me my usual along with orange juice and then tell Lucy to deliver it, I'll be at our table." Sting ordered and Orga simply nodded, moving toward the bar "I can't believe she pulled it off…"

Lucy was exhausted, struggling to keep smile up and not show that she would much rather just collapse somewhere and sleep for weeks, yet her motivation kept her on feet and going. She was still big hit in the club, other waitresses were solid, some more beautiful but there was something in Lucy that separated her from the rest and customers were more keen to have her deliver drinks and she received hefty amount of tips in return. Just a few more hours she thought. She walked toward the bar as she saw Rufus beckon for her.

"Bring this to boss at table over there." He nodded in the direction where Sting was sitting and she took the tray, bringing it over to Sting.

"Perfect, sit." He smiled wide and closed the book, Lucy recognized it as one where records were rewritten by her.

"Ummm I still have a lot of customers to serve." She responded, trying to hold her entire act together.

"Other girls will take it over, you sit." He patted cushion of couch beside him and this time she sat beside. His hand reached for glass of juice and handed it to her.

"I am not supposed to drink during shift…" Lucy looked at him, reluctantly taking the glass.

"Which is why that orange juice is for you." Sting chuckled and took his glass and sipped long from it. "Orga told me you did remarkable job with our books."

"He said that?"

"Well he said things went smooth but, knowing that Jiemma didn't care much about keeping records, I imagine it was chaos and sorting that out is a remarkable feat. You almost single handedly saved our club."

"I really didn't do that much." She felt a more uncomfortable, taking small sip from the glass.

"Are we gonna argue about this? Because I just had this great turnover from shittiest day of my life to absolutely brilliant one. Which leads me to talk to you about your current job."

"Okay…" she shifted a bit on her seat, fearing of what he may say at the mention of her working here.

"Thing is, you work here as part timer which is really ungrateful kind of job and you are not bound by contract. I looked at what you did and you got it right to single jewel. It will be waste of talent if you work as waitress so… I am offering you full time job in Sabertooth."

"Wow… umm…" she stuttered "That's great offer but I can't take it."

"Why not? Fixed payment, better than what you'll find in most other places, flexible hours, you just need to overlook finances and work with our staff."

"I know but…" she hesitated but continued "I still have to finish college and I need that degree. With time I have now I wouldn't be able to work full time every day."

"Well that puts me in bad place." Sting chuckled "How else am I going to reward you?"

"Can I keep this one? Four times per week works well for me and I really can't afford to lose any of jobs I have now."

"Done! Anything else?"

"That's more than enough." She finally smiled.

"I still think your talent will go to waste if you keep working as waitress… you are way too cute to be doing that. If you need anything let me know, alright?"

She nodded and after another sip from her glass she stood up and returned to serving customers. It was a small victory, having one less worry. Job was a lot more exhausting, walking from table to bar and between tables, it tired her plenty, even more on days when she had to fit in college and work but at very least pay was good enough to keep her less strained over monthly expenses. Customers were mostly nice, having 'nice' being tied to those sober ones. Worst of the worst were those who were into touching way too much than it was allowed and one of such cases decided to occur.

"Well hello there cutie." Young man in suit said as he leaned a bit over the table. He wasn't older than 30, oiled hair, smooth lines on face, on first glance he appeared like genuine gentleman.

"Good evening, what can I get you?" Lucy smiled wide, holding tray with her hands in front, enough to show more of her 'upper charms'.

"How about you give me yourself?" he asked.

"I am sorry I am not on the menu but we got good selection of drinks." Great another Natsu, just what I needed she thought.

"Come on sweetness, I can pay you well for just one night." Man smiled, reaching with hand in inner pocket of his jacket, bringing out quite thick roll of money.

"I'll come later when you decide." She turned to leave but his hand landed on her shoulder, holding tight. Her stomach instantly turned and she swallowed hard, all she wanted now was to try and run.

"It's very rude to refuse a good customer you know." His voice changed, being less flirty and more annoyed, obviously not happy about being rejected.

"And it's shitty to force girl that says no." Another voice came from beside and Lucy's eyes widened, for the second time she was happy to hear it. Natsu was everything but pleased at this guy's action and he grabbed his arm, one that held Lucy's shoulder and pulled it away from her.

"And who the fuck are you?"

"Someone who is reminding you not to touch what is not yours."

"Slut is yours then?"

Natsu smiled wide, his mind snapped and within next second his other hand balled into fist and was sent in man's stomach. He bowed from pain, letting out a groan but Natsu was not done, he took him by the neck and slammed his head hard against the table. Another groan was heard and man fell down on the floor. All the time Lucy was watching in both shock and terror, taking a step back from this chaos. Crowd around them suddenly dispersed in wide circle, watching as man was rolling down on the floor, holding his now broken nose with both hands, cursing Natsu loud but he did not care one bit. Instead he looked at Lucy "You alright?" he asked and she nodded, still trying to compose herself.

"What the hell is going on here?" Sting came quickly, standing in front the man on the ground, he looked at Natsu and then toward Lucy.

"He tried to buy her for night and fuck her that's what" Natsu responded, looking down, trying to find another excuse to hit the sod. Sting looked toward Lucy trying to see if she would confirm it and despite her not being fine with Natsu's choice of words, she nodded. Sting whistled and Orga came over, taking man out.

"Take rest of the night off" Sting said to Lucy "I'll tell rest of the girls to cover for you. And… thanks Natsu, I guess I owe you one."

They left, both of them, Lucy still in her Sabertooth uniform and other bag holding her regular clothes while Natsu had his usual "rebel" clothes. It took her a while to finally calm her thoughts and as she did she noticed that not only was she walking home but Natsu was going with her.

"Why are you following me?" She asked

"Come on I just saved you from a fucking pervert, don't I get a little credit?" He asked.

"Yeah… sorry, just… I guess… *sigh* thanks." She managed to say it, much to his pleasure. They were approaching park and she looked at the bench and she sat on it, still silent, watching down at her own shadow made by the street lamp. It was exhausting day, drained her completely both physically and now mentally and even for Natsu it was not hard to tell but instead of boasting like he initially intended, he decided to be silent and he sat down beside her.

"It's not long from my house I can walk alone." She leaned back on bench, barely managing to keep her eyes open.

"Like hell I am leaving you to walk alone at night!" he responded "No need to thank me for it, I'll do it pro bono."

"It's been a really long day, let's just rest here for a bit" her voice was tired, trembling as she was barely keeping herself awake.

"You know I never did it on the bench but if that turns you on, who am I to judge?" Natsu chuckled, waiting for her to say anything but there was no reply from her. He felt slight pressure on his shoulder and he quickly turned his head to look at Lucy. She leaned her head against it and in that moment he felt his heart beat faster. Things seem to be working well in his favor, she might start trusting him. She might open up to him. She might be... asleep. He moved hand in front of her eyes and waved few times to make sure he saw it right. Lucy indeed fell asleep, right on the bench beside him, having her head leaned against his shoulder.

His cheeks slightly reddened, barely noticeable in this darkness but he felt them burn. Her breathing was silent but rhythmic, gentle… unlike the ones he usually heard that came after sex, hard and loud… this was a different one, new one for him. She was indeed, very different kind of girl and Gray's words repeated itself in his head. Can one girl really make that big impact on him?

Natsu was tempted, there were so many things he could do. He could take picture and blackmail her into giving him a kiss, he could finally take a good feel of her more than exotic breasts or thighs… So why isn't he? Instead, he is just letting her sleep there, on his shoulder and he is doing nothing but playing her pillow. He was nervous, his foot began tapping on the concrete park path but he stopped after no more than five seconds. Why? Because he noticed that from that sound, he could not hear her breathing, and he wanted to listen to it.

Ten minutes passed, fifteen, she is not waking up, sleeping comfortably right there beside him. Perhaps it would be best to take her home but he knew not where she lives. He could take her to his home… there would be no excuse in world good enough to explain why he did that and she would more than likely just stop trusting him, even if it is as little as it is now. Time for drastic measures.

He slowly took bag from her lap and opened it, keeping his eyes on her to notice if she would wake up. From it he took her phone and started looking through contacts, there has to be someone he could call. So few contacts… he thought but he began going through, stopping at one labeled only as Idiot. Well that one is me, I don't even need to check number he grinned wide and moved on but what caught his attention is one before that one, one named Home. Why would someone living alone have home number, who would call her? Maybe she is not living alone. He decided to dial it anyway, better than sleeping on bench, that is for sure. After several rings phone picked up and he was surprised at the elderly voice he heard.

"Hello?" older woman asked.

"Yeah is this Lucy's house?"

"It is, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, ummmm… she had long day at work." he said, not knowing a full extent of what happened before but it sounded logical "Can you tell me where you are located so I can bring her. She fell asleep."

"Oh dear…" her voice sounded worried "house is at Green Terrace street, number 18."

"Got it, I know where that is." Natsu finished and ended the call. Now it was all about method of bring her to house. Call a cab? He didn't bring enough money with him this time and it would be pretty lame to take some from Lucy. Only one option was left to him.

He slowly stood up and leaned down in front of her, managing to put her on his back, arms hang over his shoulders and legs around his waist. Remarkably, she wasn't as heavy as he thought and with slow but steady pace he walked. It didn't take him long to realize how close she was and the blush returned. She was pressed against his back, her head rested on his shoulder, close to his cheek and her scent filled his nose… This is indeed different girl, one that gave him such difficult time to focus.

Ten minutes later and he reached the intersection that led to Green Terrace Street. Now it was just matter of finding the number of the house. As he found number 18 he walked to it and knocked with his hand quickly before returning it under Lucy's leg to hold her. Doors opened and woman looked at Natsu.

"Dear me, poor child…" she placed her hand over mouth.

"Good evening ma'am, just gonna drop her in her room… ummm… where is her room?"

"Upstairs to the right." Woman pointed toward stairs and Natsu entered the house. He couldn't take good look but it seemed a lot smaller than house he lived in. He was however confused over the fact that this elder woman was in Lucy's house. A relative? But she said she doesn't live with relatives. He reached top of the stairs and slowly entered the room. In the dark he recognized bed and he slowly placed Lucy on it, taking moment or two to catch a bit of breath. If only he could stay here a bit more, or for different reason. Even in dark she somehow looked different to him, usually she was on the run from him but now, she was so peaceful, dreaming the dream of righteous.

Natsu moved toward the door and just as he was about to leave he heard a noise and soon after, another one. He was certain it was not one Lucy would make, this one was high pitched. His head turned toward the source of the noise and his eyes recognized the object from which it came from, object he didn't notice right up until now. A wooden cradle… and a gentle cry came from it.