Lucy took one last drag of her cigarette then tamped it out on the railing. The morning sun over Crocus made the whole city glow. Taking another sip of her coffee, Lucy rubbed her hand over her replaced hip. The physical therapy regimen Wendy had her on worked wonders. Lucy's reflexes in that hip would never be the same, but her strength and stamina in her legs had grown exponentially. Her "Lucy Kick" had become more legendary and lethal than before. She giggled to herself thinking about the last time she had kicked Natsu through a guild wall for some idiocy or another. Lucy was still pretty self conscious about the mass of gnarled scar tissue located where the beam had pierced her body. All of her cute high cut and thong panties and swim bottoms had been changed out for boyshort and other hip covering cuts. She was beginning to be okay with this imperfection, knowing it meant she was a survivor and had friends who whould support her, but it had been a bit of a long road to get here. As a small wave of sadness hit her another jolt shot through her bandaged shoulder. The intensity of the pain was waning but the electrified feeling was getting stronger. She heard the dragon in her bed get up and wobble his way into the suite's bathroom. She knew he'd be awhile so she relaxed against the railing. Thinking back on her struggle to gain her back the mobility, Lucy sighed. She knew she had frustrated Laxus while she was working through her physical limitations. She had kept putting off their first date until she could actually walk without waddling or stopping every five minutes for a break. During her time of limited movement her second book had been published and was selling like mad. It was becoming more popular than her first. She now had larger source of income from the proceeds of her two published works that her publishers were pressing her for a third installment.
Even though she kept putting Laxus' date invitations on the back burner they would still laugh, have lunch, and would just hang out together at the guild. She knew it wasn't what he really wanted or fair to him, but she felt she needed to acomplish being able to move normally before she could move on with the rest of her life. Then the letter came.
Her physical therapy session were drawing to a close. Wendy was so happy with Lucy's progress, but Lucy wasn't so sure she was ready. Mira called Lucy over to the bar at the end of one of the celestial mage's more grueling sessions and handed her a beautiful parchment envelope. The two women were all a twitter and Lucy hastily ripped into the letter. It was from her publishers informing her of an awards ceremony that acquired her attendance. Her second book was nominated!
