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"Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses."

–Ann Landers

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Ignite

Chapter 20: Coals

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It continued to rain, droplets hitting the roof in a droning of dull, hollow taps. It was a soothing sort of white noise, one that Lucy reveled in as she snuggled closer to Natsu's warmth. She sighed in contentment, fingers absently drawing abstract shapes over his heart. Between them a comfortable silence had settled, a precursor to sleep, but just as Lucy's hand stilled and her eyes began to slip shut, Natsu's voice – soft and breathy – roused her.

"I dreamed of you."

Lucy shifted, hooking her ankle over his and grinning around a yawn. "Must have been a short one," she hummed. They certainly didn't do a lot of sleeping. Most of their hours were spent giggling in each other's embrace – occasionally finding new ticklish spots as their hands roamed.

The callused tips of his fingers trailed along the ridge of her shoulder, lips brushing against her hair. "That's not – I meant when the dream mage cast that spell. That's what I dreamed about." His hand trailed down her spine and cupped her hip. "I dreamed of this."

In her chest her heart fluttered, and she raised her head from his shoulder so that she could look at him. "Yeah?"

He nodded, expression unreadable. "Yeah," he echoed, tucking a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

She eyed him carefully – searching for even the tiniest change in his expression. "You were angry when you woke up," she reminded him.

He shifted, brow furrowing and gaze sliding away. "I thought there was something wrong with me."

His confession was nothing but a murmur, but Lucy felt it like a blow. She thought of the days she spent on his doorstep – of the silence that greeted her with every visit – and her chest ached. "Did thinking of us like this really scare you that much?"

His denial was immediate. "No!" Then he hesitated, rethinking. "Well, yes, but that wasn't –" He let out a long breath, scowling up at the ceiling. "It was just... you and Gray dreamt of people you lost. And I..."

He didn't finish, but Lucy didn't need him to. Understanding struck her, and in her chest she felt her heart twist painfully. "And you didn't dream about Igneel," she breathed.

Natsu nodded, mouth curling into a grimace. "Yeah. I thought I was turning into the pervert of the century or something."

Lowering back to his shoulder, she felt his heart beating against her ear, and she hugged him tighter. "You're not."

"Well I know that now," he grumbled, averting his gaze shyly. "It's just, at first I thought it had just been about, you know, the sex. But that wasn't it. Not really. Loke kinda helped me figure it out."

Lucy blinked, momentarily thrown off balance. She pushed against his chest, one hand bringing the sheets with her as she pulled herself into a sitting position. "Loke? But when –"

"Right before I came to your place to apologize," he muttered, cringing at the memory (or perhaps in fear of her reaction – she couldn't be sure).

She had wondered why the dragon slayer had suddenly gone from stone silent to waiting at her doorstep. "He never said anything," she admitted. She was a bit peeved that he hadn't. Whose side was he on, anyway?

His hand went to the back of his neck, and he winced before giving her a sheepish smile. "I kinda made him promise not to."

"Oh." Well that made a bit more sense. Loke wasn't the greatest at keeping secrets (he loved gossip as much as Mira), but he would never break a promise. She thought about her birthday night, when Cana had insisted that Loke must also see the attraction between them – how the only answer he'd give was "I really can't say." Clever lion. He knew she would assume he was refusing to offer an opinion. She never would have dreamed that he had been sworn to silence on the matter. "Why?"

He shrugged, but the motion was stiff – more awkward than casual. "I didn't think you were ready to know."

Her brows shot up to her hairline. "Um, what? You're the one that never showed any kind of interest!" She shook her head, poking him in the chest. "If anyone wasn't ready, it was you! The one time I got all dolled up for you and tried to get your attention, you tried to rope me into digging a hole instead of asking me on a date!"

Natsu rubbed the spot on his chest, but the motion was mindless. His eyes were wide and bright – burning with curiosity. "Wait, you really tried to get me to ask you out?"

The fact that he even had to ask only validated her point. He probably didn't even remember that she had dressed her best for him – assuming he had even noticed in the first place. She flushed, glaring down at him. "Yes, and you didn't even look at me twice!"

"Oh."

Lucy rolled her eyes, flopping back onto the mattress with a sigh and clutching the sheet to her chest. "You were so oblivious, I just figured you weren't interested in that kind of thing." She didn't admit that another, albeit smaller, part of her had assumed he simply wasn't interested in a relationship with her.

He shrugged, guilty. "Well, I wasn't. Not then, anyway." He turned onto his side, head propped on his hand and facing her. "Sorry you got dressed up for nothing."

She huffed, but there was no irritation behind it. Not really. It was hard to be mad about it when he was playing footsie with her under the covers. "What changed?"

He was quiet for a long time, his brow crinkled in thought. Then he was letting his head sink into the pillow, back against the mattress as eyes staring up at the ceiling. "You remember that sand mage? How you spent all that time picking the glass out of my back?"

How could she not? It had taken forever to dig every shard out – her feelings of guilt increasing with every one she removed. Stupid boy, always trying to take her hits. "I remember," she answered softly, her heart twinging at the memory. She shifted, curling her body around him and placing her ear over his erratic heart.

"That's when it started, I think." He took a deep breath, chest rising beneath her cheek. "Maybe it was – I don't know, it's all just ..."

He tapered off, but Lucy didn't ask him to continue. She got it. "Like it was this one particular moment but not?" She offered, tipping her chin up to look at him. "Like we've been building up to this since the beginning, without even realizing?"

He gave her an almost relieved look, breath leaving him in a sigh. "Yeah."

The smile she gave him was sweet and full of understanding. "There wasn't an exact moment for me either."

A moment of comfortable silence passed, Natsu seeming to be content with combing her hair through his fingers. Lucy traced the scar along his hip, suddenly feeling the urge to share her own secrets. "I lied to you. About my dream." When his hand stilled and he blinked down at her questioningly, she gave an apologetic smile. "In my dream it was just you that met my mother. No one else."

"I don't get it." The frown he gave was without accusation. "Why didn't you want to tell me?"

She gave a small shrug. "I don't know, I think –" She shook her head. "No, that's not really true either." She looked up at him, determined to make him understand. "I didn't want to acknowledge what it meant. Lying to you made it easier to lie to myself."

The dragon slayer only looked more bewildered. "What it meant?"

Lucy's cheeks flushed, and she fought the urge to duck her head. "In the dream, when I introduced you, it wasn't ..." She struggled for the right words. "I didn't feel like I was introducing you as a friend. It felt like you were being introduced as family."

She cringed, hating how bad her explanation was. Of course he was family – all of Fairy Tail was family. No way Natsu was going to understand –

"Family," he echoed softly, and the way he rolled the word off his tongue – with a sort of reverence – made her heart skip a beat. He understood. Then he was brushing the hair away from her face, fingers combing through the strands, and grinning down at her. "Fuck, if we aren't a pair."

Her pulse quickened, sensing an insinuation in his statement. Had he dreamed something similar? He hadn't really said all that much – just offered a vague idea of what it entailed. Suddenly, Lucy wanted to know every minute detail. "What about you?"

He nuzzled her cheek, lips grazing against her jaw in a way that made her shiver. "What about me?" he asked, voice deep and entirely too husky.

Lucy gave a breathy laugh. "Your dream. Tell me about it."

The kisses along her neck paused, and then he was giving her an amused (if a little baffled) look. "Tell you?" he repeated. "Tell you what?"

She rolled her eyes as she pulled away from him, more than pleased with the way his eyes drifted down to her bare chest as she sat up and the sheet slid down."Everything."

Gaze settling back on her face, he evaluated the determined line of her brow. His head tilted and, ever so slowly, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Then he was lacing his fingers behind his head and leaning back into his pillow. "In the dream, I woke up to feeling you climbing onto the bed."

There was a challenge in his voice – one she was happy to meet. "Was I naked?"

Judging by the blush dusting his cheeks, he hadn't expected her to be so bold. He swallowed thickly. "Um, no?"

She raised an eyebrow, smile turning coy as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "What was I wearing?"

"You really want to know?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Yes."

He shook his head, amused. "Pink. You were wearing pink."

"Pink what?" she challenged.

He rolled his eyes. "Bra and panties." He paused before adding, "And my vest."

She blinked, momentarily surprised by that addition. "Your vest?"

His eyes darkened, hand trailing over her ribs as if tracing an invisible seam. "Yeah, my old one. The one that's open in the front."

She made a mental note that, apparently, Natsu very much liked the idea of her in his clothing and filed it for later. Maybe she'd liberate him of a few shirts once they got home. Besides, he'd destroyed plenty of her clothes over the years, it was high time he make it up to her. "And then?" she pressed coyly.

Meeting her gaze, he answered lowly, "You crawled onto my lap."

Lucy swung her leg over his hips, straddling him. The flushed skin of his sides warmed the insides of her knees, and she knew if she leaned down she would feel exactly how turned on she made him. "Like this?"

His eyes traveled down her body, licking his lips. "Yeah," he breathed. "Like that."

"What else?" She had an idea of what came next, but she wanted to hear him say it.

His hands traveled to her hips, but beneath her he remained perfectly still. Eyes lifting to meet her gaze, the corner of his lip quirked. "You begged me to make you mine."

Lucy froze, face blushing ten shades of red. "N–no I didn't!" she sputtered. On either side of him her thighs tightened. That wasn't exactly the next step she had envisioned.

His smirk grew, eyes glinting. "Yup. Right before you started begging me for kids. However many I wanted." His smile faltered and his voice lost its teasing edge. "That's when I knew it couldn't be real."

Lucy swallowed, her throat having gone dry. The thought of children – their children – made her heart warm in ways she hadn't quite expected. She had always kind of assumed she would have kids someday. It was something she had even looked forward to. But now, thinking of children with Natsu ... she wanted. She wanted them to have pink hair and green eyes. She wanted to watch Natsu hold their children for the first time – see his face light up when they say their first word. The desire for a future with children had never been so concrete.

Shaking her head, Lucy forced herself to focus on the last bit of information. "Why?" He shot her a questioning glance, and she licked her lips before clarifying. "Why was that the moment you realized it was a dream?"

He shrugged, hands running up and down her thighs absently. "I don't know. It just... it wasn't right. It wasn't you." His brow creased, and Lucy could tell that he was struggling for the right words. "We're a team. You... you wouldn't have just – offered to pop out twelve kids just because I felt like it."

Cheeks burning, Lucy squeaked, "Twelve?!"

Natsu gave a breathy laugh at her shocked expression, his eyes crinkling in the corners. "Hey, dream you said it."

"Your subconscious," she muttered petulantly. Then it struck her. His subconscious. "Oh god, you don't actually want –"

He cut her off before she could finish, sensing her horror. "No," he said, chuckling. "Think twelve might be a bit overkill."

Right. Yeah. Just a bit.

Heart slowing to a normal pace, she released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding – the flush gradually fading from her cheeks as her thoughts turned. It felt like so long ago that he had asked her how many kids she wanted, but she could still recall the wistful curve of his lips as he watched that group of children cross the street. How it had felt like he had been secretly laughing when she had echoed the question back to him and he had answered 'same'. How, when he had her pinned up against the wall of their hotel room, he had forced himself to stop because he didn't think she'd want to get pregnant right out the gate. There was an insinuation there, one she hadn't bothered to evaluate because, well, she was kinda busy trying to convince him to just take her already.

Natsu was ready for that. If she announced that she was ready to start having babies tomorrow she had no doubt he'd be all for it. The realization made her pulse jump, and she wavered uncertainly – unsure if she was enamored or terrified by the idea. Maybe both?

"I don't know when I'll be ready for kids," she admitted softly. She wanted them – could even paint pictures in her mind of tiny fingers and downy pink hair – but it wasn't the same as being ready. There was still so much she wanted to do, so much she wanted to see.

He shook his head, giving her a crooked grin before rolling them over until he was settled above her. "That's ok, I want to get more practice in anyway," he purred, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

A smile tugged at her lips, but she reined it in before it could spread. "I'm serious, Natsu." She wanted to make sure they were on the same page – that he wasn't waiting for something she was nowhere near ready for.

He kissed the corner of her mouth before dragging his nose along the line of her jaw. "So am I," he grunted. When she didn't respond, he sighed against her neck before regretfully pulling away. His eyes were dark, tender (and maybe just a little exasperated). "You're overthinking this."

She opened her mouth to tell him she sure as hell was not, but he spoke before she could form the first word.

"When you're ready, I'm ready." His hand reached up to cup her cheek, eyes burning into her with the intensity of a promise. "All I need is a future with you in it, Luce."

She felt the breath leave her lungs with a shaky sigh, her fingers tracing the determined set of his jaw. "That's all I need too," she whispered.

There was a lot of things she wanted, things she envisioned, for her future. Children, a little house to call home, a row of published books with her name on the cover... but she could still live without it. Still be happy without it.

As long as she had him beside her to laugh with, to love, to call family, then everything else could be as it may.

AN: Well folks, this is it. The last chapter in Lucy's POV. The final chapter is next, and we're going to come full circle and hear from Natsu. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, but I'm even more excited for you to read the next one. :)

As always, thank you to the wonderful madartiste for catching all of my errors (there were a lot this time around, let me tell you). And to all those that have continued to read, review, and support this fic. It's been a long road, but I'm so glad to have had you all along for the journey!