AN: Hey All, Chapter 2 is up. Read and review. Once again I don't own Fairy Tail.

Natsu was pretty happy. His family was back together, his nakama were all safe, he'd been going on missions and beating up bad guys, Lisanna cooked him delicious food whenever he wanted, this was the life. There was however, one cloud in the sky. Lucy. It wasn't a problem as such, she was acting perfectly normal. Too normal, Lucy wasn't being her weirdo self. He didn't know what to make of it, its not like he could call her out for not being weird.

She didn't shout at him when he fought Gray or when he destroyed things. He'd even managed to singe her skirt once and she'd just shrugged it off and said, 'accidents happen'. He'd see her talking to other guildmembers, chatting away happily. She went on missions with Levy and sometimes Gray which pissed him off though he wasn't sure why. One time she'd gone on a mission with Gajeel which had been really weird. But they got the job done and neither of them had spoken about it afterwards though Gajeel nodded to her occasionally and she casually saluted back in greeting.

When he thought about it, he hadn't been on a mission with her in quite a while. Normally, Happy would call him out on something like that. But they'd been having so much fun playing house with Lisanna that he must have forgotten. He felt a little bit guilty about that, though Lucy should have said something. He hoped she'd been able to pay her rent this month. Though without him along on her missions she probably wouldn't have to pay any damages.

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Lucy today. He was certain he had smelt her – her scent of almonds and cocoa butter was unmistakable, but he hadn't been paying attention. That morning, Lisanna had upped the ante on their game of 'house'. She said that couples like them held hands and kissed so people would know they were a family. This made sense to Natsu so he had happily obliged. What he hadn't expected was the guild's reaction.

"Natsu, what the hell?!" shouted Gray from across the room as Lisanna blushed.

"Woooo, go Natsu!" slurred Cana from the bar.

"That's manly!" said Elfman, slapping him on the back, "but if you hurt my little sister then you're a dead man." He continued.

Natsu was confused. For a game of house these were very serious reactions. The one person who didn't say anything was Mira. She was talking with Levy at the bar while eying him holding Lisanna's hands.

"You don't think Lucy saw, do you?" Levy whispered.

"No, I think she left before they came in thank God."

"Why?" Natsu demanded loudly, marching up to them. "Why are you glad Lucy left? You shouldn't be glad your friend isn't here! What's wrong with you?"

"I think the question you should be asking is what's wrong with you flame brain." Said Gray snidely.

"What did you say ice prick? You wanna go!"

"Now is not the time Natsu," Mira interjected, "I think what Gray was trying to say is that Lucy might have seen something that would upset her."

"Why?"

"What were you doing when you came into the guild Natsu?"

"I was playing house with Lisanna and she said that to make it more real looking, mums and dads hold hands and dads kiss mums so everyone knew they were a family." Natsu stated it like it was obvious. Mira gave her sister a long look, Lisanna blushed uncomfortably under her sister's gaze. "Why? I don't understand. Why would Lucy be upset?" The whole guild sweat dropped. Natsu was so dense it was unreal.

"It doesn't matter," said Mira, "the fact is Lucy isn't here so she won't be upset." Natsu began to protest but Mira cut him off, "and Lisanna?" She turned to her sister radiating displeasure, "don't play tricks like that on Natsu again." Lisanna looked defiant but the death glare the She-Devil was giving her made her quail.

"Yes Mira." She said feebly. As the other guildmembers dissipated, muttering about the denseness of Natsu and 'poor Lucy', Natsu remained deep in thought. Everyone seemed to know something about Lucy that he didn't. She was his nakama, he should know everything about her. Maybe it was something to do with why she'd seemed off for so long. He growled in frustration, why wouldn't anybody tell him anything!

"You ok Natsu?" Lisanna asked softly, "do you want some food? I can make you anything you want." She tentatively tucked her hand under his arm.

"No, that's ok." He was frowning. Then he turned to face her, releasing himself from her in the process. "Lisanna, what did Mira mean when she said you'd tricked me?" She kept her eyes to the floor.

"It wasn't a trick really," she mumbled, "it does mean what I said."

"Mira said it was a trick." He repeated stubbornly as he looked down at her. She flinched at the accusatory note in his voice.

"I guess what she meant was that if people didn't know we were playing house then people would think we were in l-love." She stuttered but quickly carried on. "But I don't mind, I'd quite like it if we stopped pretending and started playing for real…" she trailed off as she saw the look on his face.

"Why would you do that Lisanna? You lied to everybody, you lied to me! Is that why Lucy would be upset? She hates liars!"

"Stop talking about Lucy, Natsu! It drives me insane! She's all you talk about when we go on missions! I'm here and she's not, I just told you how I felt about you and you blanked me!" Her voice had risen, making it difficult for the rest of the guild to pretend they couldn't hear the conversation. She started to cry. "Why won't you see me Natsu? I love you!" She lunged at him, determined to kiss him as though it would change his mind but he caught her by the shoulders.

"I love you too Lisanna but not like that. I love you the way I love all my nakama. Maybe when we were kids but not anymore." He turned away from her, "C'mon Happy."

The blue exceed had been watching everything in uncharacteristic silence. He started to follow Natsu nervously. He knew what Lisanna had been up to, he wasn't as dense as Natsu but he didn't think that Natsu would have taken it so badly or so seriously.

"Wait Natsu," Lisanna grabbed his jacket desperately. "Are you going to find Lucy? Don't go!"

He shrugged her off. His instinct was to say yes but to be honest he wasn't in the right frame of mind to be around anyone. It was like a conspiracy against him! Therefore, Natsu would do what Natsu did best in times of uncertainty.

"Nah, I'm going on a job." He grabbed one off the board without looking and handed it to Mira. She logged it without a word and handed it back. Natsu strode angrily out of the guild with Happy in tow. It wasn't until they got home that Natsu bothered to check the job.

"Pirates in Hargeon huh?"

"That's where we met Lucy," said Happy looking over his shoulder, "you remember Natsu?"

"Course I remember Happy!" he lit up but after a thought his face clouded, "back when she was a weirdo."

"Yeah I know what you mean. She didn't even yell at me for stealing her fish the other day, she just went and bought some more,' he said sadly, "she didn't even grumble about money. I mean it was great but I think I like weird Lucy more." Natsu was still glaring at the paper but Happy could tell he wasn't really reading it. "Natsu?"

"Mmm?"

"When we get back, can we spend some time with Lucy? I'm glad Lisanna's back but we haven't spent time with Lucy in ages."

Natsu looked up at Happy, he was right. Her apartment probably didn't even smell like him anymore, when was the last time he had been there? Or held her in his arms while they slept? Too long. Did she still get those nightmares? He felt a pang of guilt.

"Sure buddy, after this job ok? I need to clear my head." They set off.

"You know we're going to have to take the train, right?"

"Whhhhhyyyyy? It's just you and me, we can walk."

"Yeah but don't you want to get back to Lucy?"

"…fine, we'll take the train." Natsu conceded, changing directions and marching grumpily towards Magnolia Train Station.

Hope you enjoyed. Like I said in Chapter 1, I'm sure the timeline references are all over the place but again, I'm just writing what's in my head.