"The journey has been long and arduous, but I have finally completed it" She announced joyfully

"I can see for miles from up here, the air is thinner, oh how I wish that I had brought a lunch, then I could have a picnic from this spot" She folded her hands behind her head and enjoyed the light breeze blowing on her face.

"The sunshine feel amazing on my skin, but do I need to put on more sunscreen, do the UV rays get stronger the higher up you are?" A coughing interrupted her thoughts

"Are you done?" Ace pulled her hair free from the braid that trapped it and shook her hair free. She knew that the top of this mountain was not going to be still for very much longer. After all, Mount Cristoff was a constantly moving peak and not just anyone could climb to its summit.

"But Cris, I was having fun being able to see everything" She leaned down so her head was upside down in front of his.

"Get off me, you weirdo. I have to get in the door" Ace looked up at the door frame and frowned.

"But but but...mount Cristoff..." She pouted and he chuckled at her

"how old are you again?" He teased and she stuck her tongue out before flipping backwards off of his shoulders, holding on to his waist for stability.

"Better? Gods you're turning into an old man Cris" the small woman huffed and he pulled her to his side.

"Ahh, but you love me Ace" She pouted and went to find his wife. Lucy was sitting at one of the tables near the bar with a very large glass of ice and a bottle of antacids.

"Can't you just ask your husband to get rid of the heartburn?" she asked as she flopped into the seat next to her best friend.

"I could, but then he would be doing it all the time, these little monsters need to stop kicking my insides and get out." Ace laughed at the poor blonde woman and moved to kneel next to her, her hands sliding onto the protruding belly.

"Hi babies, I'm going to be your godmum and I'm going to spoil you absolutely rotten, and when you're older and your mom isn't looking I'm going to give you knives and teach you how to use them" She teased with a look at the pregnant woman, who did not look happy.

"I could change my mind and not make you their god mom" Ace gave a heartbroken look and dramatically fell backwards with a loud cry.

"You would never love" Cris came up behind Lucy and gave her a sweet kiss, to which Ace fake gagged.

"You need to find someone" Lucy pointed out.

"Never going to happen bestest friend Lucy" She teased and hopped back up into her chair.

"You never know, you would get along with Vander really well and you're both single" The blonde nodded her head towards the man singing on the stage. He was delicious, even Ace would admit that. He had a hard swimmers body with tanned skin and dark streaked hair, and those eyes. She shivered at the thought of those wicked eyes.

"Nah, he's far too much of a play boy for my tastes" Lucy made a face

"You're just as bad as he is, you have someone in your bed every night" She paused, finger raised to dispute such things ...she was right.

"That is neither here nor there" Ace dropped her hand and stood to go get a drink.


She stared deeply into the little glass that was now devoid of the delicious liquid that had filled it minutes ago.

"You look like you could use another drink" a deep voice sounded next to her and she lifted her eyes to meet those wicked wine red ones that haunted her naughtiest dreams. Ace, being the fully functioning woman that she was, choked on her spit and launched into a coughing fit.

"Well that's the first time my presence alone has made a woman choke, that usually comes later" her eyes narrowed and she tried harder to get the coughing under control. She took a deep breath and stood as tall as her 5'2 frame could allow.

"Small things do come with choking hazard warnings" She shot the now grinning man a wink and signaled the bartender to get a refill.

"Oh, there is nothing small about me" He had leaned into her and his husky voice tickled the skin of her neck, and there was another shiver shooting down her spine.

"And how are you going to prove that to me?" She spun to face him, he was a lot closer then she originally thought, so she had to crane her neck back to look up at his smug face.

Just as he was about to answer her, she reached around the back of his neck quickly and pulled him closer to slam his lips against hers, and just as quickly letting go and leaning back. She saw her drink filled, grabbed it and ducked out under his arm. She smirked to herself and sauntered over to a table with some of her girlfriends.


"She just reached up and pulled me down into an absolutely searing kiss. What the fuck" Vander was pacing at the end of Lucy's bed, and Lucy was snickering into her pickles and brownie mush. Cristoff had his head in his hands, but you could hear him holding back his laughter.

"She's been my best friend for nearly four years Van, she likes having freedom and thinks you're kind of a play boy" Lucy shoved more of the mix in her mouth with a moan.

"I'm...active, yes. I didn't think that would phase her... she's just as adventurous as I am" Lucy shrugged and toed Cris's back.

"Your turn" she muttered and the dragon slayer whined.

"Look Van, maybe you need to find a mission or something to get some time just the two of you" Cristoff had not had to worry about that, Lucy fell into his lap.

"Easy for you to say, you didn't even have to try to get Lucy, and that's shit that teenagers do" He made an angry noise and dropped into the shadows and out of the room.

"This just keeps getting funnier" Lucy started laughing again and Cristoff chuckled right along with her.


"When I was joking with Cristoff about climbing to the summit the other day, this was not what I had in mind" She wheezed out and dropped to the ground.

"We're almost there, Lucy said that the celestial root was at the top of this mountain" He wasn't as out of breath as Ace was, but he was feeling the constant upwards slope.

"Is a celestial root even a thing, or are we getting mountain top potatoes" Ace rolled onto her back to look at the shadowquip mage.

"I don't know, she said to get it, so we get it" The short woman huffed and accepted the hand to get up.

"Pregnancy usually suits women, not Lucy. She turned into a bizarre craving, mountain top potato requesting beast." Ace rested her hands on her thighs and rubbed at the burning muscles.

"You know, I'm in shape. I work out at least three times a week and run every other morning. I spar weekly and do acrobatics with Bix, why is this so hard" She groaned out and got a chuckle in return.

"You know, I told them I wanted time alone with you. Didn't think they would send us up a fucking mountain." He had crouched down next to the huffing Ace

"Why did you want time with me" That weird tingle was back in her lower abdomen, and she knew exactly what it was.

"Lots of reasons, but mostly to ask if when we get down this mountain, if you want to fuck like rabbits"

Ace burst out laughing at the phrasing and dropped down onto her butt.

"How about we just fuck? Let's leave the bunnies out this time" She shot him a wink and crawled back up to her feet.

"Now let's get this stupid mountain potato and get the hell down this mountain"