-Chapter 4-

"Bicksy?" Dom quietly addressed his friend after he noticed Vander had left.

"Hmm?" was all the answer he got in return from the distracted seith mage.

"Can you do what you did for me for her?"

"What?" That got Bickslow's attention and he finally met his friend's eyes.

Dom glanced back toward the celestial mage still asleep on the bed. Bickslow put her to sleep immediately after he pulled the residual memories from her soul when they got on the ship. It had been a week of constant nightmares and very little sleep as Lucy delved deeper into Travis' mind to pull out more and more information on the people who helped him escape for the small group of investigators specifically cleared for the task. Each day the nightmares got worse and worse to the point where Kaleb had been called in to help her toward the end using his magic to change and manipulate her dreams actively while she slept. It had been hard on Kaleb to go without sleep the last three days but she'd needed sleep desperately by then and he couldn't not help. "Can you search her soul and see if one of those parasite things is in there? You asked me if you could do that for me when I told you I had tried to kill myself. Said it damaged the protection around my soul and things can get in making it harder to recover."

Bickslow jumped to his feet grabbing his bag and ran to the bed. "Dom, come here and hold her again like you did for the memory wipe. Getting in should be easier since she's asleep but she might thrash and I need to maintain eye contact." Dom was across the room and on the bed holding Lucy in the next minute with his eye's closed so he wasn't blinded by Bickslow's magic. His friend's control was so good he didn't worry about accidentally getting caught up in it. It was more like looking into the sun, blinding and something to be avoided when you could.

Bickslow sat an open jar filled with an orange liquid on the side table then opened Lucy's eyelids so he could create the link that allowed him to search her soul. He could see anyone's soul and read their intent and emotions without eye contact, but to manipulate and search through it he had to look at it through their eyes. The phrase, "The eyes are the window to the soul," was very literal. He flared his magic and started sifting through her soul. To this day it was one of the most beautiful souls he's seen. It was usually a brilliant white, which was very rare, but now that he was seeing it this close he could tell it wasn't white at all. It looked more like a kaleidoscope of colors. When the guild was reformed her soul looked dull compared to what it had been before and he figured she was still coping with the grief and loss over the past year like everyone else but now that he thought about it – it had been about 1 ½ years since then and her soul was still dim.

'There,' he thought as he found a single tendril of darkness woven around a line of emerald green. It had so many little mouths latched onto her soul. 'Damn thing is doing one hell of a job hiding in here.' He untangled the strand and contained it as he moved along following it to the source right there in the heart of her soul. The black mass writhed with dozens of tentacles leading out in all directions like some weird soul sucking jellyfish. 'This is going to take a while,' he thought before going right back in with his delicate work trying not to over-stress or hurt her soul any more than it already was.

It took the better part of 3 hours before Bickslow pulled back doing a final scan making sure there was nothing else lurking around. He healed the small crack in her soul's barrier and checked for any other imperfections before withdrawing completely. This was exactly what his magic was supposed to do – repair traumatized souls – which he didn't get the opportunity to do much because of the fear associated with his magic. It would take a little time for her soul to recover fully, but it was strong and the luster was already returning. Bickslow grabbed the jar of orange liquid he'd set on the nearby table and stuffed the parasite inside then screwed on the lid before cutting-off his magic. Lightheadedness overcame him and he fell to the floor. Dom stifled his yell as he watched Bickslow collapse not wanting to wake Lucy but worried all the same for his friend. 'It's better she never know any of this needed to happen,' he decided as he extricated himself and made his way to attend his other friend.

Rolling the large man to his back he met dazed eyes and a pale face. "You ok there? That took a lot longer than mind did," Dom idly commented as he tried to get his friend sitting up.

"Yeah, just dizzy," Bicks answered looking at the jar he still clutched in his hands. What had been a very thin bright orange liquid was almost like tar it was so thick and black.

"Where'd you catch the little beasty," Vander asked casually as he walked out of the shadows and pulled the jar from his brother's hands.

Bickslow only groaned and laid back out on the floor as Dom gave Vander a withering glare. "While you were enjoying the skills of a few attendants," the post-coital glow and lack of stress a dead giveaway to any Boscan, "Bickslow spent the whole time pulling that thing out of Lucy. Now put that disgusting parasite down and help me get him to the couch." Vander glared at the jar, glanced back to Lucy then tucked the jar into a pocket void where he occasionally stored things. He'd show that beast what it felt like to be feasted on later. Now, he ducked under one of Bickslow's arms while Dom had the other and they made their way to the couch.

"That thing," Bickslow finally got out, "had so many tentacles woven through her soul. Just on one tentacle," he paused to take a deep breathe, "I counted 86 tiny mouths latched on. I had to use my magic to burn each one off individually then contain that portion of it so it wouldn't latch back on." Bickslow closed his eyes and leaned his head back to rest against the top of the backrest.

"Damn," was all anyone could say as Vander got up and called an attendant to bring them food and wine to the room.

-DTRE-

Lucy entered the guild with a brilliant smile on her face as she made her way over to the bar. "Good morning Mira!" she chirped as she sat on her usual stool.

"Good morning Lucy! What's got you in such a good mood," the oldest Strauss sibling replied as she set a thick green drink right in front of the blond. Lucy frowned at the drink and looked back up to one of her idols.

"What's this Mira?" Lucy side stepped the question.

"Oh, well Capricorn popped in last night after you left with the recipe. He says it will help your body recover quicker from all the training you've been doing," Mira continued cleaning the bar as she explained. Lucy groaned and took a tentative sip of what was probably the grossest looking smoothie known to man - the things she did for her spirits. She paused with the liquid? still in her mouth, analyzing whether or not she needed to spit or swallow. It wasn't bad, the flavor was light and reminded her of apples just a bit more bitter, but the texture was beyond weird.

"It's always better to swallow," a husky voice whispered right in the celestial mage's ear causing her to reflexively swallow and scream at the same time. That obviously didn't go over well and left the blond sputtering after a small coughing fit. Lucy had been around Cana and the guild long enough to have gotten that reference.

"Erik!" Lucy chided the laughing man as he sat down right next to her.

"Ask anyone in here Tink and they'll all tell you the same thing," he shrugged smirk still firmly in place. He loved riling her up when he could. Made her soul sing louder and helped drown out a lot of the other thoughts rampant at the guide.

"I wasn't even asking you!" she replied, 'and definitely not about that,' she finished in her head knowing he'd hear her anyway.

"Anyway," Cobra ignored her response, "a job came in last night that I'm taking but I need 3 more people to help cover some ground since it's a bit time sensitive. I spoke with the client already. He needs the people out at one of his mines looked into. You in? I'm asking Bicks and Vander too," Cobra finished as he grabbed Lucy's mostly untouched drink and took a sip. He loved apples and Lucy was one of the four people Cobra actually liked in the guild instead of tolerated and she wouldn't mind his curiosity.

Her soul had always reminded him of the beach, several lines of thoughts crashing like waves against the rocks that were her goals constantly trying to find the best solution to achieve them, the occasional breakthrough idea for her novel like a seagull flying by with its high pitched call breaking up the sound. She was downright soothing to just be near but when he ate his Christmas gift from her a little over 4 weeks ago she went from soothing to genuine like. She'd salvaged the snakeroot plants her landlady was having ripped out from her backyard and spent the next few days with her spirit Virgo and Mira experimenting with the mildly toxic plant just for him since he was now part of her "family." She'd honestly meant the part about being her family too constantly thinking of ways to include him and make him feel more comfortable.

The side-effects may have been unintentional but those treats actually relaxed the slayer and dulled his senses enough that coming to the guild was actually pleasant. It also helped his motion sickness but made Natsu vomit when he'd stolen some to try himself - a bonus. From that day on he'd called her Tink and told her to call him Erik. She'd earned his trust and respect without even trying and that was kind of the point.

"Ok I get the texture thing now, just don't ever ask what's in it," he said pushing it back to the woman and ordering his own breakfast from Mira. The barmaid had been watching them both closely as he tried the drink and was listing off the ingredients in her head more than surprised by the results. She didn't try it herself, hadn't the incentive to but now she was curious. There were a few ingredients in there that she and most likely Cobra now knew would send the blond to the toilet if she was made aware. Lucy just nodded and took another drink. It really did taste good and she'd learned long ago never to ask what was in the things Capricorn invented for her. The texture she could get used to with time.

"You know what I'm going to ask so just tell me," Lucy said twirling the straw with her fingers since the smoothie was too thick for her to actually use it.

"1.5 million jewel plus a key, don't know which one. It's about 3 days away and should take the 4 of us no longer than a week to learn what we need, probably less. Then we report back to the client in Dawn City so 2 and a half weeks to be safe."

Nodding and doing some quick calculations, "My portion is 350 K if the key is silver, 245 K if gold." Ever since returning at the beginning of December and using the new system Laxus had set up, all of Lucy's jobs had gone so smoothly. Not to say they were easy because they weren't but whether she was with any of her old teammates, Freed, Levy, Bickslow or even Juvia, they were never left scrambling for a skill no one on the job had. Cana had spent a large amount of time working her magic into the system so the success was probably due to her but it was nice to come home with the full reward and all her clothes intact. She'd even commissioned an entire new wardrobe from Dom and had a healthy savings so she wasn't going to take an equal share in the money plus the key on top. 'It might be Aquarius,' her thought was cut off by Cobra's firm grip on her shoulder.

Cobra shook his head slightly. The memories and the pain that had surged forward with the slight twinge of hope needed to stop. "It'll only hurt more if it's not so try not to think about it," he said softly. He'd spent 6 years of his life after breaking out of prison, the first time, searching for his lost friend Cubellios and no one needed to dwell in that kind of pain. They'd spent hours talking about Aquarius and Cubellios Christmas night after he'd had five of her specially made treats and she'd downed a small bottle of sake after everyone one had left for the night. There is nothing like impaired judgement and a long emotional discussion to solidify a newly minted friendship.

"You're also taking a full portion of the jewel…"

"Bu…"

"I know what you're thinking but there are only 4 celestial mages left in Fiore, two who would actually use it, and those keys are useless to anyone else." Her brow furrowed getting ready for her retort when he cut her off again, "We're nakama right? We help each other to get stronger and that is what the key is to you."

Lucy smiled brightly and rested her head on Cobra's shoulder conceding the argument. She found it a little unfair debating with Erik but he was always rational.

"So Lucy," Mira inserted herself into Lucy and Cobra's half spoken conversation with a gleam in her eye, "is Cobra why you were so happy this morning?" Lucy had never been so happy she was next to Cobra instead of in front of him as his nightshade sweetened coffee sprayed from his mouth all over Mira. It wasn't often Erik got surprised enough to physically react. Giggling Lucy watched Mira grab a towel while licking her lips.

"Mmmm, a little cinnamon would be really good in that," the take-over mage turned and walked away.

"She does realize she just drank poison, right?" Cobra blinked his eye confusedly. He knew the woman could be air-headed, but that was a little much.

"Erik, she absorbs demons to take over their powers and eats as much poison as you do. Who do you think taste-tested those brownies I made for you?"

"I'm already working on adding some of my favorite poisoned dishes to the menu now that you, Kinana and I can all eat them!" Mira cheered as she sprinkled the cinnamon in Cobra's coffee. "Lucy," Mira's smile turned dark and her voice overly-sweet, "you keep avoiding answering my question."

A shiver ran up Lucy's spine. "I started a new novel and have the first chapter done," she hurriedly explained before anything worse could happen.

"Oh that's wonderful!" she cheered back to her normal self then left to fill another order from someone else in the guild.

"And people call me crazy," Cobra said as he finished and put a few jewel on the bar. "Let's go tell the man sluts we got a job."

"Erik!" she half-heartedly scolded as she scrambled after him. "They're not sluts their Boscan!" Her brief time spent in Bosco had been eye opening on so many levels. She'd been solicited for sex by so many different people promising anything from simple stress relief to body wracking pleasure. She usually stared at them gapping like a fish until Bickslow or Dom kindly explained things to them for her. They were all nice, very sweet about it and a tiny part of her really wished she could move past her issues to do something so many people seemed to enjoy. The larger part of her almost had anxiety attacks if she seriously considered their offer. One poor attendant during her first night in Pelerno had seen how tense she was and tried innocently rubbing her shoulders and she had kicked the man across the room on reflex. She'd felt so bad and ran after him immediately to help him up off the floor.

"Tomato tomato," Cobra replied not changing the pronunciation as was usual with the common phrase.

-DTRE-

"Bicks, what are you doing?" Lucy whisper screamed as Bickslow laughed openly not even trying to be quite and ignored her. Two of the people Cobra had tagged as fishy were currently dancing with each other in the middle of one of the recently closed branches of the mine.

Bickslow had been assigned to search both their souls discretely for any clues when both came into this section while not on duty. Their job was to figure out why so many branches in their client's balidium ore mine were being closed before yielding even close to the estimated amounts. The rare mineral was used in Bosco's airships and other more modern technology and the owner was struggling now to fill all his contracts. They'd been at the mine for 3 days now and Lucy had just come back from copying her 2 targets while Gemini was teamed with Vander in the local pub. They were doing quick partial copies of as many people as they could, signaling to Vander which ones were suspicious for him to look into. Cobra was right next to her laughing quietly as Bickslow made the short trollish man dip the tall lanky oldly camel looking man into an impressive back bend in a very suggestive tango. Bickslow ignored her as he had the pair dance toward where Lucy and Cobra were standing. The camel pulled away getting close to Lucy before the troll pulled back on his arms like he was restraining the camel from getting too close then pulling him all the way back in to finish the dance.

"Bicks!" Lucy repeated before she suddenly had a glazed look across her face. Cobra led her farther into the tunnel where Bickslow now had the two men making out and openly groping each other. Cobra hated when Lucy's spirits communicated telepathically with her now that her keys were magically stored instead of on her hip. It was like her soul disappeared and she just stood there completely vacant. When they first started the job both Bickslow and he had freaked out on the train when Lucy suddenly wasn't there anymore. The conversation after-words had been uncomfortable but they setup rules about when she was allowed to do that shit while on the job and when not.

He listened for her soul to sound again as he watched the two men now spank each other. "Bicks you're fucking twisted you know that right?" Cobra sneered out knowing he was being extra lewd since Lucy couldn't witness it at the moment. Bickslow responded with sticking his tongue out grinning and having both men turn doing the same. Hearing her returning he signaled Bickslow to cut it out.

"Gemini says they didn't turn up anything promising and Vander's headed our way," Lucy said while still trying to focus her eyes back in the dim cave. It was getting less disorientating communicating with her spirits that way and Crux said eventually she'd be able to split her consciousness and continue to function normally. Until then unless she was on a team job she couldn't practice when not at home.

"Oh he's here Al nair," Vander stepped out right behind her leaning forward so their cheeks almost pressed together. Lucy leaned away giving herself some space. She swore it was a competition between these guys on this job to see who could startle her the most. 'Vander's shady ass is winning.' Cobra snorted at her off-handed thought.

"How many more nick-names are you going to try out before you pick one?" Lucy questioned as her eyes were drawn forward again as the men did The Macarena. It hadn't taken long before she gave up trying to convince the man to just use her name.

"Until I find one that fits, Tsih," he tried out the second star name he looked up that he thought might fit Lucy. Everyone seemed to give her a nickname and it was fun trying to be original.

Lucy stuck her tongue out in disgust. "I know Al nair is a star in the Indian constellation but what's Tsih?" She liked the meaning of Al nair, bright, but it make her sound like she was an old man.

"It means whip and is from Cassiopeia…" he started before Lucy cut him off.

"I'd rather not have a nick-name based on a story of a woman so vain she offended Poseidon who then chained her daughter to a rock to be eaten by monsters while he hung her in the sky where she clung to the North Pole so she didn't fall to her death."

"What I'm hearing is a beautiful woman was punished by some psychotic ass hat to be a pole dancer to survive," Bickslow added his two cents.

"So that's a yes?" Vander teased earning a sharp elbow to the kidney.

"Hey, Bicks can teach you how to pole dance if you don't know how," Cobra supplied.

'All of them are incorrigible!' she internally steamed.

"Guys, name that show," Bickslow said drawing their attention back to the pair he was still controlling.

They were holding hands when suddenly the troll sucker-punched the camel while screaming, "Die! Mine is an evil laugh," before he started laughing hysterically.

"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal," the tall one whimpered as he held his gut then slumped to his knees before both men dropped to the floor unconscious.

"Firefly," both men supplied without hesitation.

"What's Firefly?" Lucy asked innocently looking into three faces that were at varied by levels of shock, horror, disgust and offense. "What?"

"Tink, I was in prison or on the run for the better part of this decade and even I've seen Firefly," he looked more confused than anything while Bickslow and Vander looked equal parts of the remaining emotions.

Bickslow's intense gaze locked with Lucy's. "Cosplayer, my house, the day after we get back, movie night. I cannot continue being friends with someone who doesn't know and appreciate the brilliance that is Joss Whedon's Firefly."

Lucy wasn't sure if he was serious or not but the thought of losing a friend because of something so simple had tears brimming her eyes. "I…ok," she said quietly turning away trying to keep her emotions at bay.

Vander sighed and wrapped an arm around the overly sensitive woman as he said, "You know Bickslow's just joking." Vander glared at his brother reminding him just who he was teasing and what about. Lucy was relaxing around them and even teasing back with most things but she had moments when she just missed the joke, like right then.

"Ah Cosplayer!" the seith mage pulled her into his arms for a real hug. "You know 90% of what I say is non-sense."

Taking a deep breath, Lucy exhaled a deep sigh. She knew better than to take Bickslow seriously most of the time but their friendship was still so new. Her old team had acted like over protective mama bears never leaving her alone so it was a lot easier to get used to their antics. She'd technically been a part of Fairy Tail for 9 ½ years but 7 of those were in stasis and another it was disbanded. One and a half years wasn't enough time to erase 17 years of being friendless and lonely. "Can Dom join?"

"Of course Cosplayer! It'll be just us guys?"

"I'm obviously not a man," Lucy dead-panned.

"Sure you are," Vander concurred.

"In every way that counts," Cobra clarified.

"Ask Elfman," Bicks finished.

"What does that even mean?" Lucy looked around still the only one confused. Dropping it she gestured to the men limp on the floor. "I'm guessing those are our men?"

Bickslow blinked and smiled again at the change in topic. "Hell's yes they are. They've been doing all sorts of naughty things in these tunnels from making drugs to human trafficking. The foreman is in on it with a few others but most everyone else is clean."

"Well let's wrap up this job up so I can take a proper bath and make snacks for our movie night!" Lucy cheered. She'd had to either stay out of sight or walk around as some random man she'd copied for the last 3 days so they could keep a low profile and that was magically exhausting. There were only a handful of women in the area so Lucy would have drawn way too much attention otherwise. That meant no baths because some genius made them all public and she was not going to bath herself in a strange man's body around a bunch of other strange naked men.

"You heard malá myš," Vander started herding Bickslow to the cave entrance. "Go collect everyone involved and send them here and we'll take it from there."

"Why am I the only one going," Bickslow pouted.

"Because you are the only one who knows who they are idiot," Lucy answered.

"And you almost made Tink cry," Cobra shooed the biggest guy in their group away. Bicks sighed and started walking for the small village.

"Malá myš?" she asked when she lost sight of Bickslow.

"Boscan for little mouse," Vander glanced down and saw her nose crinkle a little in disgust obviously not liking the meaning. "Yeah, I think it fits," he said as he ruffled her hair before walking toward the men to tie them up.

-DTRE-

"Luuuucy!" a blue blur screamed as it shot right at the celestial mage's chest the moment the guild doors were open.

"Happy, what's wrong?" she questioned noticing the tears streaming down the little exceed's cheeks.

"Natsu's being mean! He ate my fish!" his scream was muffled by her breasts. Lucy looked up and saw the fire dragon slayer in the middle of a guild fight - a huge grin on his face.

"When was this?" she questioned. She loved Happy but he was a jerk sometimes and wasn't afraid to lie to anyone if it got him something.

"Our last job," he sniffled.

"Please tell me you are not talking about 2 weeks ago," Lucy dead-panned and lifted him up by the scruff of his neck.

"That's the problem!" he shot back flailing his little arms.

"I though you said he ate your fish." Now she was just confused.

Happy looked at her like she was stupid. "That was the fish I save for dire situations and since we haven't been on a job in 2 weeks the situation is dire!" he wailed going limp in her hand.

"You were going to eat a 2 week-old fish?" she asked disgustedly.

Happy's glare was absolutely vicious. "That's not the point." he folded his arms. Lucy set Happy on the floor and made her way over to the bar.

"Then what is the point?"

"I'm hungry."

"Buy a fish," she replied waving towards Mira.

"I don't have any jewels," he said sounding more frustrated.

"Go on a job," she shrugged.

"I'm hungry now."

"Buy it on account then go on a job," Lucy sat on a stool and flagged Mira down so she could order some lunch.

Happy growled, honest to goodness growled. "This is all your fault!" he screamed gaining everyone's attention.

"How is your being broke my fault?" she whisper shouted trying not to draw any more looks.

"You're hardly ever home which means you never have any fish which means I have to buy them myself now!" he took a deep breathe ignoring the slowly building dark aura surrounding the blond. "And because you're not always whining at Natsu to take a job so you can pay your rent and buy more food because we always ate it all before, Natsu's being lazy and not working and he won't even go fishing, so I'm starving and it's your fault!"

Lucy took a deep breathe trying to control her anger so she didn't hit her little friend. "Now buy me a fish!" he added and it was the last straw. Lucy punched Happy right in the face and sent him flying into a wall. Turning back toward the bar she ignored everyone as she asked, "Mira, I'd like the pork ramen please." Mira nodded and walked back into the kitchen still a little stunned by the entire scene.

"Geez Luce, you didn't have to hit him," the pink-haired mage sat next to her at the bar as everyone slowly started to function as normal.

She turned a dark look at Natsu. So many things had built up since they became friends because Natsu typically ignored her and she'd always a little too afraid to actually press the issue. Well, she finally hit her breaking point. "It is not my fault you guys aren't working or for not buying obscene amounts of food I'm never going to eat just in case you guys break in for whatever reason," she said in a darkly calm voice. "I guess it is my fault that I am now able to take the full reward home because I don't have to pay for the destruction of others. It's also my fault that I am more independent and that I take jobs with my other nakama because I enjoy getting to know everyone better." Her volume slowly increased, "It is also my fault that I'm happy and financially secure for the first time in years so I don't whine all the time but none of those are bad things. To have a friend blame me for their problems and act like my getting my life together is a horrible thing that needs to be apologized for and that I should make amends for it is the most selfish, arrogant and uncaring behavior I can think of." Her voice was almost shrill before she took a deep breath and spoke clearly. "Then again, what can I expect from the people who abandoned me with nothing but a short note when we were supposed to be partners." The guild was silent again and everyone was staring at Lucy. No one had expected to hear something like that from her. Most hadn't even known about the incident since the guild had broken up the next day and they all scattered. She looked at her soup and pushed it away as she put some jewels on the counter. "I've lost my appetite, you can have it," she said as she turned to leave. "Oh," she turned back and placed two wrapped boxes on the counter she just pulled out of her bag, "I made yours extra spicy, Happy Valentine's day." With that she walked out of the guild.

"Ass," someone said as they slipped out the door to follow a few minutes later when the shock had worn off.

"You are so lucky Erza's out on a job Ash for brains," Gray said as he headed for the door too.

-DTRE-

"You know it's winter, right?"

"Cana?" Lucy questioned looking up from where she was curled up on the ground.

Cana sighed and sat next to her in the snow. "I figured you would have gone home but when I got there…"

Lucy nodded and set her head on her knees again pressing her back against the rainbow cherry blossom tree behind her. "You know when I first joined Fairy Tail I missed the blossom viewing festival because I was sick?" Cana looked surprised. At the time she'd been more than a little drunk given the celebration and hadn't known Lucy for very long. "Natsu felt bad because I'd been so excited to see the blossom's in full bloom for the first time. He dug this one up and sent it down the canal in front of my apartment so I didn't miss seeing it," she continued while wrapping her arms tighter around her legs. "It's so stupid because right then I thought, 'I've finally found my family, my home.' Everything we'd been through before then and it was a tree that meant the most because I knew that someone that caring and thoughtful…"

"And stupid, violent and completely clueless," Cana added as she wrapped the blond in her arms. Lucy's chuckle was strained by her emotions.

"That too." she smiled. "I knew that no matter what, I was safe with him. He'd never leave me, you know? He's just not that kind of person." Her shoulders slumped but she leaned into her friend's arms. "Then he left and I was all alone. I know he was dealing with so much, everyone was. He'd just found his father and lost him for good that same day and I know he'd felt weak and wanted to get stronger to protect his family better next time, but, he just left me. Everyone left and I was alone again. I'm always alone," she cried and Cana just tightened her arms around her.

"You know Gildarts dragged me on a trip right after Gramps made the announcement, right?" She felt the younger woman nod. All the women in Fairy Tail had a girls' night shortly after the guild was reorganized to catch up with what they'd been doing over the last year. "He said it was time for some father daughter bonding," she snorted. "We were all the way in Enca when it finally didn't hurt too much for me to do some card readings to check up on everyone." She felt the younger mage stiffen in her arms. "I told the old man I had to get back to Magnolia right away - you were in trouble. I was worried I'd be too late. By the time we made the continent again things had changed." The card mage turned Lucy's face to make her look up. Eyes locked, Cana said firmly, "You were never really alone, never forgotten. You know what Gramps says. Though life may pull us apart, the symbol we carry connects us all no matter the distance." The brunette pulled Lucy's hand up so the sun lit up the pink fairy mark on the back. Lucy sobbed, finally letting the last of that pain go. It was time she moved forward from this and only remember the past as it brought her joy. If there was one thing everyone learned after the war with Alvarez it was life was too short to waste on things that didn't make you happy. The two mages sat under the tree until Lucy's tears dried.

"Now that my ass is frozen," Cana said as she stood up and pulled Lucy with her, "thanks for that, by the way." Lucy gave an apologetic smile and brushed the snow off her clothes. "I need a drink and a bath cuz this sexy lady has got a date tonight!" she crowed making her friend laugh.

Making their way out of the park the younger girl figured now was as good a time as any. "Cana?" The taller brunette glanced her way before looking forward again letting her know she was listening. "I know you genuinely like alcohol, but why drink so much?" She looked over at her friend who was studiously not looking back at her. She stopped and grabbed her friend's hand. "I'm not judging. I will gladly go out with you and even pass you another barrel if it's only something you enjoy, but I worry sometimes, you know? You're so beautiful and gifted! I mean, since you added your magic to the training system at the guild I haven't lost one outfit!" she smiled to try and lighten the mood by adding something, while true, was ridiculous. Cana snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Of course you would count your growth as a mage by your clothes survival rate."

"Hey! I was being serious," she pouted.

Sighing to gather her thoughts and courage Cana finally spoke starting to walk again. "At first it was to get Gildarts' attention. Whenever he was back at the guild he spent most of his time either drinking with Macao and Wakaba or sleeping around. I thought if I drank I could spend time with him too." Lucy smiled encouragingly. "Then it sort of became a habit and guys started noticing me so I drank more. You know how women are; they were mean and judged me, so do the men I date for that matter. You know I don't just jump into bed with anyone, I'm not my father!" Lucy wrapped an arm around Cana's waist and started leading her back to Fairy Hills. It was a thing that mattered a lot to Cana. Her father would sleep with anyone in a skirt at the drop of a hat and while Cana wasn't shy and seriously enjoyed having sex, it was always with someone she was dating even if only casually. She just really enjoyed teasing people explicitly.

"I know."

"I've gotten over it mostly but now my tolerance is so high I need to drink that much for even a slight buzz," the card mage finished.

"Well, if you want help cutting back, I'd be happy to help. I know you don't drink on jobs since your magic relies just as much on strategy as mine does. You'd only really need help here in Magnolia." They walked silently together watching couples holding hands on this day for lovers and Cana got a brilliant idea.

"I'll make a deal with you Lucy. If you ever start dating I will limit my alcohol to two barrels a day; if you get a boyfriend, one barrel." Cana looked over to see if Lucy took the bait. If drinking less helped her friend get out there more it was more than worth it.

"Ok," Lucy nodded but added more, "but if I get engaged, half a barrel; married, you get 6 normal drinks. Oh and the minute I'm ever pregnant you get 2 a day because my kids are going to need a sober god-mother to help them wreak all sorts of havoc." They stopped at the entrance of the women's dormitory.

"Unless it's a celebration, then no limit," Cana shot back.

"Engagements, weddings, festivals and when a guild member has an actual baby," Lucy negotiated. Levy was already heavily pregnant with her little iron dragon and Mira was already planning the welcome party when after she gave birth. It would be just plain cruel to limit her friend at all future parties.

Cana's amethyst eyes narrowed as she thought seriously and figured that was doable, "Deal. I've got to go make myself irresistible for my man!" Cana waved at she walked into the building. Lucy smiled. Now she just needed to start dating. Walking back to her apartment her smile faded a bit. She would turn 20, 27 technically, this year and she'd still never been on date let alone kissed anyone. She got lost in her swirling thoughts for a while. Coming up her street she thought, 'I guess I just need to attack this like any other problem I've faced. Make a list of what I'm looking for in a man then start flirting. Hmmm, this isn't going to be so easy.' She dragged her hand down her face as she walked up the stairs to her apartment.

'Like with everything else in life, bath first, then research how to get a date!' she smiled to herself and opened the door not even close to prepared for what she saw. Happy was flying around with a feather duster actually cleaning! Gray was hanging her now clean laundry out to dry, and Natsu had an apron on and was cooking something in her kitchen. She stood there stunned. Gray and Natsu were in a room together not fighting. Her apartment was still in one piece and tidy - everything organized and put away. Happy was being helpful. Natsu was not burning anything but cooking something that actually smelled good!

"Hey Natsu, I got her clothes hung up ready for you to dry!" Gray called over his shoulder then noticed Lucy in the doorway. "Lucy!"

All activity froze as three of her closest friends now stood in the middle of her apartment looking sheepish.

"I'm sorry!" Happy wailed first breaking the tension as he dropped the feather duster and flew right into Lucy's chest for the second time that day. Tears started forming in her eyes and Natsu and Gray went into panic mode.

"I was worried and so I came here to wait for you…" Gray started.

"I felt bad and Lisanna explained things to me…" Natsu rambled.

"Then he showed up…"

"And we fought…"

"Cleaned so you wouldn't have to…"

"Made dinner to apologize…"

"I'm sorry," they finished in unison. Lucy launched herself at them and was immediately wrapped in their arms.

"Thank you!" she sobbed clinging to them. "And I'm sorry too!" she choked out.

Natsu patted her hair. "I didn't think…I was so hurt…I'm stupid," he explained sighing in defeat.

"You could say that again," Gray shot out without missing a beat.

"What'd you say Streaker?" The heart-warming hug turned just plain hot and a bit dangerous as the fire mage's ire ignited real flames.

"Hey!" she called out before things got out of control. "Not in my apartment!" Both boys calmed instantly remembering where they were.

Gray untangled himself and headed for the door. "I promised to meet Juvia later so I got to go. You ok?" he called back before he left when she simply smiled.

"Natsu and I made fish!" Happy cheered as he flew to the counter where there was still one raw fish set aside that he promptly shoved in his mouth.

"I can see that," she giggled. "But where did you get the fish? I thought you were broke?" she questioned as she sat at her table as Natsu grabbed 2 plates that were on the counter.

"Put it on our tab until there's another job we can take," the pinkette explained sheepishly.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked as she started eating a very late lunch since she hadn't touched her ramen at the guild.

"Well the training system has limited me to jobs where I'm not around any buildings. There's not many of those and they don't have the bigger rewards," he rubbed the back of his neck while the other shoveled food into his mouth.

"Natsu," Lucy sighed as she put her fork down. "Those buildings are people's homes or businesses. I know you have greater control of your magic than most people think. I've seen you use devastating spells that were so focused and accurate it was like watching Bisca sharpshooting." He nodded his head listening intently.

"I just don't see why people care more about stuff then catching bad people," and he honestly didn't. Stuff could be replaced, people couldn't. Lucy ate her next bite of food trying to think of a way best to describe it.

"How would you feel if someone ruined your scarf?"

Natsu's eyes got large as he clutched the only thing left he had of his father. "That's how most people feel about their homes. It makes them feel safe, one of the only places they can really relax."

"I just get so amped up when I start to fight," he replied looking down at his clean plate.

"I know you love fighting," she smiled, "and nothing is wrong with that, it's part of who you are, you just need to keep in mind what's around you. Tell you what," she said tapping a finger to her chin, "I have plans for later today but tomorrow we can go back to the guild and run a training simulation together. We can start with me there to help remind you and eventually when you take the ranking test again you'll do so much better. Then you can take on some really fun jobs. We may not be official partners anymore, but we can still have some adventures together, yeah?"

Natsu's bright smile lit up the room. They were going to be ok. Different, like Lisanna told him earlier, but different isn't always bad.

"Aye sir!" Happy yelled flying above their heads having finished his fish.

-DTRE-

"Now what's this?" Dom asked as Lucy held out a small wrapped package. She'd spent extra time wrapping her Valentine's Day present for the man now looking at her questioningly. She couldn't help it. Each article of clothing Dom had made her was so beautiful, and so was he, it would seem unnatural to give him something that wasn't as prettily packaged.

"I made everyone a treat for Valentine's Day this year and these are yours," she lowered her eyes not quite sure why she felt shy all of a sudden. The petit man led Lucy further into his home eyeing the package now in his hands. He'd not been a fan of Fiore's sweets, or sweets in general. He'd always preferred savory or bitter things but Lucy had made these for him and taken obvious pains judging by the wrapping alone. Opening the box he noticed the candies were most likely dark chocolate truffles and inwardly sighed with relief. "Relax Dom, I know you don't like sweets and I made these especially with you in mind." Lucy giggled as she sat in what was dubbed "her seat" since her induction in everything Firefly which led to regular weekly movie nights every Thursday with her new group of friends. They usually met at Bickslow's or Dom's places since Vander was staying with his brother and Cobra and Lucy didn't own a lacrima screen or player.

She watched as her meticulous friend lifted the almost perfectly round treat to his nose as he smelled it first. It was one of the little quirks he did when eating or drinking anything. It wasn't obvious and Dom swore it made everything taste better. Finally popping it into his mouth Lucy held her breathe waiting for his reaction. Dom's face glowed as he savored the familiar taste.

"How?" his mind stalled looking for the right words. Too many questions wanted to get out all at once.

"Did I get my hands on Boscan Kissing Chocolate?" He nodded.

"And…"

"The spices and coffee?"

"Yes," he breathed and looked back down into the small box. There were only 5 more pieces; he'd have to ration them.

"During one of my calls with Arman I asked him if you Boscan boys had anything you especially liked and told him about my idea for Valentine's this year. We talked about my newly discovered passion for treat making since my foray for Cobra. Next thing I know I'm opening an express package from Pelerno filled to the brim with recipes and the special ingredients they called for. Mr. Elan's instructions were heaven sent. Between him and Virgo's guidance I think all of the treats turned out well."

"Ok more questions. One of your calls? How often are you speaking with Arman? How did you get Mr. Elan to share his recipes? Which recipes did he give you? What did you make Vander and Bicksy?" It all came out without a pause to inhale but this was big. Bosco didn't trade a lot of their luxury goods with Fiore for who knows what reason so the spices, chocolate and coffee could not be bought here. Plus, Mr. Elan was as jealously protective of his recipes as the Boscan government was of its airships and Lucy hadn't even gotten a chance to meet Arman during their time in Bosco so how did she get his contact information. The man worked for the consulate; you couldn't just look that information up.

Lucy giggled. She'd anticipated the questions but the shock and surprise now on Dom's face was priceless. With everyone else she had recruited Jet to deliver the treats but deciding to hand deliver her V-day treats to, how she now fondly referred to them in her head, her boys was the best decision she could have made if Dom's reaction was anything to go by. "Arman called me the day after we got back to check up on me and to see how I was dealing with everything. From there we just clicked and now we speak almost daily when I'm not on a job about all sorts of things like you guys and my novel. He's been really supportive and I can't wait to meet him in person. As for the recipes, I made some chocolate cinnamon cookies for Bickslow and what looked like mini eclairs for Vander but the filling was spicy."

"You made Melange?"

"That's what it was called! He gave me 3 other recipes but I haven't looked at them yet. Mr. Elan made me promise never to share the recipes with anyone or he gets my first born child… I'm not sure if he was serious about that part though."

"Oh he was serious. He and his wife love children but after giving birth once Mrs. Elan said no more. Light hair, especially blond, is really rare in Bosco so they'd take a beautiful blond baby any day."

"Noted," she responded a little pale. She'd never break a promise but her potential offspring was actually on the line this time.

"Hey," Dom called quietly gently shaking her shoulder.

"Hmm," she looked up.

"Which movie?" Dom held up 2 choices. It was why Lucy was over in the first place and it would get her mind off of potentially giving up a child.

"Roman Holiday," Lucy chose. It was one her mother loved and she hadn't seen it in a while. As Dom got up to put the movie in Lucy went to make popcorn. From his kitchen she asked, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he called back loud enough to be heard over the popping corn.

"Why didn't you go out with the rest of the guys tonight? I know they went to some club to pick up company for the evening."

"It's Valentine's Day," he shrugged as Lucy walked in and sat on the couch next to him. At her questioning look he continued, "It seems like the only single people out in Fiore today looking to hook up are either sad or angry they aren't in a relationship and are looking for someone to make them forget. It leads to nothing but selfish sex. When I take someone to my bed I prefer they want to be there for me as much as them no matter the reason."

"Hmm," she said right before shoveling a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

-Chapter End-

So for the dance scene at the beginning I was imagining the tango Antonio Banderas does in Take the Lead. It's a fun movie with great dancing.