Gray knocked softly on the door before coming in, him and the others having arrived just moments ago. He entered the small hut to see his two friends asleep, Porlyuscia mixing potions at the nearby table. Lucy lay peacefully in bed, Natsu was passed out in the chair next to her, his head tossed back and his hand intertwined with hers. Gray smiled softly at the scene.

Lovesick idiots, both of them.

Gray tried to shut the door quietly, but the small click as it closed was enough to wake the snoring dragon slayer.

"Gray?" Natsu mumbled as he shifted in his seat. He winced from the crick in his neck and the phantom pain in his shoulder.

"How's Lucy?" Gray asked quietly.

Natsu's gaze fell to the bedridden celestial mage, unreadable emotion in his eyes. "I…don't know. She hasn't woken up yet." He whispered, gently squeezing her hand.

"She was badly bruised, had various deep cuts, had even punctured a lung, that reckless girl." Porlyuscia interrupted. "I gave her stitches for the gash on her stomach, I was able to heal most of her other wounds with magic. That ankle however…"

The boys gazed at Lucy's ankle, which poked out from under the sheet. It was wrapped in layers of bandaged, but even still the horrifying swelling was apparent. Gray cringed and looked away. Natsu's gaze fell to the floor, his grip on Lucy's hand tightening ever so slightly.

"It was practically shattered." Porlyuscia furrowed her brows, "I don't know how she walked on it, with that damage, simply standing should have been impossible. Putting any amount of weight on her ankle in that condition would've surely caused her excruciating pain-"

"We get it." Natsu growled, glaring at Porlyuscia. The woman calmly crossed her arms, shooting Natsu a stern look of her own, her eyebrows raised every so slightly. Then she turned to Gray, seemingly deciding he was the more rational of the two boys.

"I've done what I can for her for now. I used all my healing magic to reconnect and reconstruct the bone, and any damaged tendons, muscles, or ligaments surrounding it, however it will still be unfit to walk on for at least a week, until the swelling goes down." She handed Gray a small bottle, containing a light blue paste. "Apply this to both her ankle and the cut along her abdomen daily. Every time you remove her bandages be sure to put on fresh new ones so as to avoid infection. If you run into any problems, do not delay in summoning me. Got all that?"

Gray looked at the bottle in his hands, and gave a firm nod.

"Normally, I would advise you to keep an eye on Natsu's stab wound too, but considering he didn't even flinch when I healed it, I would say he's okay." Porlyuscia said with a shake of her head.

Natsu sat up straighter. "What!?" He looked at the wound on his shoulder, which had been reduced to a nasty scab, already beginning to scar. "You healed it?" He let go of Lucy's hand to poke at the wound, smiling brightly when he felt no pain. "Awesome! Thanks old grandma!"

Porlyuscia simply rolled her eyes. "'Bout time I got a thanks from you, boy." She muttered.

Then, the door to the small hut swung open. Erza marched in, followed by a timid looking Juvia, who cradled a sleeping Happy in her arms.

Natsu felt a bit guilty for running ahead of the group, thus leaving Happy behind for the second time, but he shook it off. The concern for Lucy had misted his mind, and he had been unable to think straight, surely his friends didn't blame him.

Erza looked fierce as ever, standing in the doorway, but her facade crumbled when she looked at Lucy. She walked over to stand beside the bed, gently laying her armour covered hand on top of Lucy's. Erza's eye's were filled with sadness at seeing her comrade and close friend in such a defeated state. For a second, Natsu even thought he saw tears welling up in her eyes. Erza blinked and removed her hand, her gaze quickly becoming serious again, as she turned to face Porlyuscia.

"The Master would like for Lucy to come home, and he was wondering how long it will be until we are able to move her back to the guild."

"Well, you said yourself there was nothing more you could do right?" Gray said, grabbing everyone's attention. At some point Juvia had made her way over to him, and she now held the bottle of healing salve, while Gray cradled Happy in his arms. Juvia's pale hand had a tight grip on Gray's forearm, and the water mages gaze never left Lucy, clearly upset by the image. "Thats why you gave us that potion thing." He continued, nodding to the bottle in Juvia's hand. "So, doesn't that mean she's good to go whenever?"

Porlyuscia looked over at Lucy, quickly assessing her injuries. "If it were just her ankle troubling her I'd let her go, as long as she wasn't walking back…however, the abdomen wound is what's concerning. Moving her as of right now could irritate or rip the stitches, and I wont be able to replenish enough magic to completely heal it until tomorrow morning. So, I believe it'd be best if she stayed here for at least one more night."

Erza nodded, raising a hand to press two fingers to her temple. "You got that Warren? Tell Master that Lucy will be back tomorrow evening." She paused, listening to the telepathic response, then nodded to herself. "Sounds like a plan, I'll inform the others."

"There is not enough beds for you to all stay overnight." Porlyuscia stated.

"Of course, we don't wish to invade your home." Erza said quickly. "Jet's out preparing the magical vehicle as we speak, we will go back to the guild for the night, and return for Lucy tomorrow afternoon."

Porlyuscia nodded in approval.

Natsu quickly grew nervous. "We're all going back?"

Erza gave Natsu a soft look of pity, she gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know you don't want to leave her again Natsu, but Lucy will be-"

Natsu's eye's went wide as he realized what Erza was saying. He had to abandon Lucy, again.

"No! No, Erza please," He begged, jumping out of his chair and grabbing her shoulders, "please don't make me leave her again." His hands trembled. "I promised her, I promised myself that-"

"Enough!" Porlyusica boomed, shocking everyone.

Erza opened her mouth to excuse Natsu's behaviour, but the wise healer spoke first.

"Do not be absurd, as long as the boy doesn't mind sleeping on the floor, he can stay with Lucy."

Natsu let out a deep sigh of relief, his arms falling to his side.

"It's best if he's here anyway," Porlyuscia explained, grabbing her cloak off the back of the door, "as i'll be in town all night gathering supplies and helping other patients. I wouldn't wan't the girl to be alone."

"Very well, we'll be on our way." Erza said. "Natsu, behave yourself." She commanded, a smile quickly replacing her stern look. "And take good care of Lucy."

"Psh, as if I wouldn't do that already." Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Of course, I never doubted you." Erza said, opening the door, and giving a quick wave before exiting. Juvia turned to follow her, pausing in the doorway when she realised Gray wasn't behind her.

"Gray dear, are you coming?"

"Yeah, you go ahead, I'll meet you at the car."

Juvia nodded and jogged away, to catch up to Erza. Porlyuscia pulled on her cloak, shooting one last suspicious look at the two boys, before stepping out as well, closing the door behind her.

Gray sighed, stepping up to stand next to the bed, beside Natsu.

"Can I have my cat back, stripper?" Natsu muttered.

Gray simply rolled his eyes, handing the still sleeping Happy to Natsu. Natsu hugged Happy tightly, rubbing his face in the cats soft fur and petting him. Natsu had forgotten how much holding Happy helped calm him down.

"Are you gonna keep him here, or do you want me to bring him back to the guild with us?" Gray asked.

"He'll stay with me." Natsu responded immediately. "I've left the little guy behind too much already." Natsu's voice cracked as he looked down at Lucy. "I left them both behind…"

"Stop that." Gray commanded, placing a cold hand on Natsu's shoulder. "None of this is your fault. Lucy went to that house herself, and you got her out. You got her back, Natsu, and that's all that matters. So stop beating yourself up over it."

Natsu gave a soft smile, still looking at Happy. Then it changed into a sly grin as he looked over at Gray.

"Yup, you're still shit at making me feel better." He teased.

"What! No way! I thought I did good this time!" Gray said dramatically, feigning offence.

"Whatever, popsicle face, would you just go already, the others are waiting for you."

Gray threw his hands up as he made his way to the door. "I'm going, I'm going." He pulled the door open, glancing over his shoulder. He caught Natsu looking at Lucy, that same admiration in his eyes Gray had seen so many times before.

"I'm glad you found her Natsu. It's nice to see you look at someone like that again."

"What do you mean? Look at someone like what?"

Gray smiled. "The way you look at Lucy...it's same way you looked at Lisanna."

Natsu's eye's widened.

"On second thought, I'm not sure, it's a similar look yeah, but there's something different when you look at Lucy…a different…light in your eye's, something stronger, I guess." Gray thought aloud.

"I…don't know what you're rambling about. You're not makin any sense to me."

"You know, for someone who has flames where his brain should be, I'm surprised that thick skull of yours hasn't melted yet." Gray chuckled.

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing, nothing at all. See you tomorrow, you hopeless romantic!" Gray yelled, as he pulled the door shut behind him.

"Hopeless romantic my ass… I don't even know what he's talking about, stupid guy got ice freezing his brain up…" Natsu muttered grumpily. He figured he should get his bed ready, as the sun would set soon, and he needed a good nights sleep. He carefully set Happy down on the bed with Lucy, the cat instinctively curling closer to Lucy for warmth. As Natsu stood straight again, he couldn't help but stare at Lucy, Gray's words still echoing in his mind.

Hopeless romantic? Am I really hopeless when it comes to romance? Does Lucy think so too?

Natsu shook his head to clear his thoughts. Why should he care what Lucy thought about his romantic side?

God, I need sleep, my brain's not thinking right.

Natsu walked over to the closet, pulling out a pillow and a spare blanket, he quickly made a bed on the floor as the sun went down. As soon as his head hit the pillow, the weight of mental and physical exhaustion pulled at him, making his eyelids heavy.

Natsu smiled to himself as he drifted to sleep, glad that him and Lucy were finally getting some well needed rest. Or, so he had hoped. However, the night didn't go quite as smoothly as Natsu had imagined. And come morning neither of the mages had gotten very much sleep.

Because Lucy kept having nightmares.


Oooh, cliffhanger! (sort of) Hey look! It didn't take me decades to update again! Yay! I hope everyone's still as engaged in the story as ever, and I hope the change in pace hasn't ruined it for anyone! If you are missing the angst, fear not, your needs will surely be fulfilled next chapter.

To the Guest reviewer who asked how many chapters were left: Assuming everything goes according to plan, there will be about 4 or 5 more chapters till IWGH is finished! Meaning it should be completed with about 16-17 chapters. (Wow i can't believe its almost over!)

Totally unrelated side note: Who else is loving all the jealous Natsu we're seeing in the fairy tail sequel? i know i am ;)

Big thank you as always to all my beautiful and lovely readers and supporters!

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(Any posts will be tagged as #I will go home nalu and #IWGH nalu)