When Erza returned to the house that evening she found Bickslow sitting in the livingroom watching a cooking show, stretched out on the couch in a pair of black sweats and a dark blue tank top that was tightly hugging his well defined torso enough she actually blushed slightly looking at him.

He'd been working out again, sometimes he had extra workouts in the evening or went running, he was a devoted fan of Parkour and not surprisingly, very good at it. So he was clearly freshly showered with a towel still around his neck and his dark blue and black hair hanging down and over his brow instead of styled up like it usually was.

He glanced up when she came in, dark red eyes smiling as swiftly as his full lips did. "Hey Amazon, Mira gave me your mail it's on the kitchen island." He called and she smiled. "Thank You Bickslow."

"Bix woman, call me Bix, people only call me Bickslow when I'm in trouble some how, makes my ass clench." He grinned and she rolled her eyes. She was a formal person, Bickslow was his formal name, but he had asked her to call him Bix a couple of times now.

"All right then…Bix, I shall try to remember so long as you remember my name is Erza, not "Amazon"." She smirked and he grinned again "Touche…Erza."

She walked past him to the kitchen and picked through her mail, frowning when she came to the unmarked envelope with just her name on it.

Breaking the seal she pulled out the letter inside, unfolded it and started reading. It was a few seconds before the tears started, then finally she sank to the floor with a strangled sob.

Dearest Erza,

I was both surprised and greatly pleased to hear news of your marriage to Bickslow. I have had the pleasure of speaking with his father on a few occasions and know he comes from a large and fine Boscan family.

I confess, I had worried you would never give up on me and finally move on. Hurting you so frightened me I had struggled telling you I was even engaged but now I am happy I can just tell you. I am married now to Meredy, I fell in love with her so quickly and so wanted to tell you but I was afraid to hurt or upset you with all you have been through in life, so much of that because of my own deeds.

I wish you and your new husband all the happiness in the world and feel I can now relax back into our friendship, I hope you feel the same way.

Warmest Regards, Jellal

Bickslow was up and vaulting over the back of the couch into the kitchen with the sound of her first sob and rushed around the island unsure of what he would find. Seeing Erza on the floor in a heap clutching a letter left him wide eyed and unsure for a moment but with the heart rending wail that came out of her next he slid down beside her and drew her up off the floor, letting her crawl into his lap wrap her arm around his neck and sob on his shoulder for a long while, his own arms going around her he looked down when she dropped the letter to put her other arm around him.

He was able to read the letter since it fell open on the floor and drew a slow breath, closing his eyes and hugging her to him.

Why the man hadn't told her he couldn't get his head around, he couldn't imagine letting something drag out like this, letting her hold on to hope when ending that sooner could have saved her some pain.

Jellal was a powerful wizard, and had become a great man, but he sure was good at sticking his fucking foot in it.

He knew he was going to need to get word to Lucy at least. Erza was going to need friends to cry this out with not just him, he just wasn't close enough to her to be that for her, yet anyway. He kind of hoped he'd get there one day.

"I thought he…loved me…just…couldn't admit it…that one day…he would…" She said between sobs. Bickslow hugged her tighter, Evergreen said he gave the best hugs in the guild, Mira and Lissana had said the same, but even he couldn't hug this out with her and he knew it.

His heart just broke for her, he knew the feeling in a much smaller way, he'd never loved someone else for years only to be dumped. Hell, poor woman hadn't even gotten a damn kiss or anything out of it all, it had probably been one sided the whole time, or if Jellal had felt anything his guilt and shame and the way she reminded him of it constantly had driven those feeling from the man.

Clearly it wasn't because Jellal wasn't able to fall in love, he'd done so and even married the woman.

"Aww honey, we guys can be damn fools ya know? Don't let it break you. Come on, hey, I got groceries today, picked up a couple tubs of birthday cake icecream, sounded like something you'd like. How bout you curl up on the couch with a tub and a spoon while I make a pot of tea huh?" He pulled her back, smiling at her, catching her weepy swollen eyes and she nodded. Without another word he stood, sweeping her up and depositing her on the couch. She wouldn't let go then when he was ready to turn to get the tea made. Turning her face up and looking at him with eyes just shattered in sadness.

"Eh'ne kei'tah...you're going to be all right, I promise." He leaned in and kissed her, it wasn't meant as anything, he was born in Bosco, grew up there, kissing meant many things other than just passion to him and it settled her so he could pull away.

Once Erza was settled with a box of tissues, blanket, tub of icecream and a spoon he went to the kitchen, putting together the tea kettle and pulling out his com lacrima before stealing into the study where he knew silencing runes placed there by Freed would keep his talking from the still hiccupping re-quip mage.

Lucy answered quickly and Bickslow could have kissed her for it. Laxus peering over her shoulder in the back ground. "What's up Bix?" She asked.

As soon as he told her Erza had gotten a letter from Jellal telling her he'd gotten married Lucy cut him off. "I'll be there in a few minutes, Laxus! Can you get me there fast?"

"Yep, be there in a few Bix! Keep an eye on her!" Laxus called.

Once he'd shut off the com he checked the kettle and caught it as it was starting to boil. He brought it, tea cups and bags to the coffee table before sitting beside Erza, shocked when she immediately threw her arms around him and pushed her face into his chest again, sobs resuming with vigor.

Bickslow had never been happier to hear the crack of thunder outside he knew heralded Lucys arrival. He was even more surprised when Levy walked through the door right behind her with Laxus following the pair.

Erzas eyes widened for a moment then Bickslow slid out of the way so Lucy and Levy could sweep in and enfold the wailing woman in their arms. Laxus followed him and the two men retreated to the kitchen where Bix picked the letter up off the floor and put it on the counter, open, so Laxus could see it and shake his head with a dark frown.

"Levy was at our place going over wedding plans with Lucy." Laxus said quietly. Bickslow nodded and a few minutes later Levy came out, her own eyes red, nobody could cry in pain alone around Levy. She looked at the letter and sighed "We'll stay here with her tonight if that's ok Bix? I need to call Gajeel and let him know so he doesn't wait at your house for us." She said looking up at Laxus.

"Yeah sure, no problem, should I leave? I can probably bunk at Laxus' place or something." He offered. Levy shook her head.

"No, I'll stay here too since Lucy is, I'll just crash across the hall from Erzas room in case Lucy needs me for anything." Laxus added.

Levy nodded "Maybe I'll have Gajeel bring Lily too, sort of huddle around her ya know? And Lily is amazing to cuddle with."

"Sounds good, I've got the space, whatever you think would help." He offered.

"Call Cana, tell her to bring booze." Levy said, lifting her com and stepping aside to call Gajeel.

Within an hour even Natsu and Lissana had appeared, Erza was surrounded by her team and her friends and Bickslow stepped out with Laxus and Gajeel to go fetch more alcohol, Cana had made short work of what she'd brought and Bickslow only had a few bottles of Scotch, wine and a case of beer in the house, that wouldn't last long with the number of people planning to get very drunk tonight.

"I can't say I'm completely surprised." Laxus admitted as they walked to the liquor store a block from Bickslows house with Canas rather long list.

"Yeah, good thing she was with you though when she found out." Gajeel said "Women can really fly apart getting news like that."

By, 1am some of those assembled had passed out. Natsu and Lissana headed home and Bickslow crawled off to bed. He'd opted not to drink much, be the designated host for the evening, making sure everyone had what they needed for the night. Erza was upstairs in her room with Lucy, Cana and Levy, Laxus, Gray and Gajeel taking the spare rooms and he was free to finally go to bed, deciding after one final sweep through the house that there was no tipped over bottles etc.

The women had wrecked the ice cream and everything else in the house that was sweet but all in all he felt like the worst was over. Erza would have to figure out what she wanted to do next, she had everyone there to support her, Bickslow had made sure of it.

He'd fallen asleep soon after his head hit the pillow.

The sensation of something against his lips, something warm that smelled strongly of alcohol brought Bickslow out of his peaceful sleep and his eyes flew wide when a soft feminine moan drifted up to him and cool fingers slid down his body into his sleep pants.

"Mmph….Erza!" He turned his head to shed her kiss, grabbing her wrist and pulling her hand out of his pants. "Erza honey…you're drunk…"He said softly, bad as he knew she was hurting right now, a nasty rejection, even one she'd thank him for later, wasn't something that would help the situation.

"I'm not…well…not so much I would get married for a cake anyway…but drunk enough I can admit I want to be in a mans arms tonight." She said, only a couple of words slurred. She slid her hands into his hair, had him neatly caught between her legs and was laying on top of him in only a thin night shirt and panties.

God she felt amazing, but as she was right now, the last damn thing he wanted was to give in to the part of himself telling him a night of really good sex could ease some of her pain. He'd been used for that before, willingly done it. Unlike when she'd been with him before, when he'd been too damn drunk to remember his own fucking name, sober he knew he could probably rock her damn world.

Still, that sort of thing, it never ended well for him and with Erza, he just wasn't willing to go down that tempting but treacherous path. She was Nakama, the only way he'd take her again was if they were both sober and wanting it, then it was something he wouldn't be against, and he make her damn happy she'd made that choice.

Right now he needed to get her off of him and into her own bed and she was strong, determined, and her soft breasts rubbing against his bare chest were making that darker idea look better and better.

"Fuck Erza….come on baby, you need some sleep." He felt like he was wrestling an octopus, a really strong one, holy shit her legs were clamping on his hips like a vice and she kept landing some really disturbingly nice kisses on his mouth, chin, neck, anything she could reach while trying to get his pants off of him.

"I don't need sleep, I need sex." She said firmly "You're my husband Bickslow, it is your duty."

"Not a lawful order if you're drunk sir." He quipped, his cheeky smirk getting wiped off by another hard kiss on his mouth.

"I am sober enough to retain my wifely rights, I demand you remove your clothes and fuck me senseless." She commanded.

"You are unfit for command of your own senses at the moment." He returned.

They continued, Bickslow starting to breathe pretty hard and he cursed under his breath as she ground herself against him and bit his neck. It was creeping over his resolve, letting her win, giving in, but she was still beating herself up over the marriage mess, even though he'd told her the last time she apologized she didn't have a sword at his throat when he'd said "I do."

Granted, he didn't even remember it, any of it, waking up in a wedding dress with Erza dragging him down a hallway by his ankle had been a little jarring, he was loathe to admit, he'd woken up in worse situations with women doing much worse with him.

He'd probably really enjoy it too, having sex with Erza while actually sober enough to think about it. No…no he had to end this and as much as he hated it after nearly 30 minutes of struggling with a very determined woman when she hooked a foot into the waistband of his sleep pants and finally shoved them down his legs he was out of options, he wasn't rock hard but even resolve only went so far when a beautiful woman was rubbing her near naked body all over you, he had enough going on she could get him now that she'd gotten his clothes out of the way.

The room flooded green, the amount of effort it took him to take her over was monumental because of her false eye, required focus he wouldn't have had if he'd been drinking so he chalked up another score for making that decision.

Yanking his pants back up he guided her off of him, he had to physically move her limbs for her, even with his amount of effort his control only went so far and he knew it wouldn't last so he hurried to his feet and swept her up into his arms, carrying her swiftly from his room.

For as powerful and as great a presence as she had how light she actually was surprised him. He'd noticed it earlier when he'd picked her up and carried her to the couch.

When he reached the stairs he found Lucy at the top looking at him bleary eyed. "There she is…" She breathed out in relief. "Is she ok?"

Bix carried her up and passed Lucy, giving the little celestial mage a reassuring smile.

"I'm not sure how ok she is, but she's safe where you want her?" He asked as he stepped into Erzas room.

Cana was passed out on the bed, he didn't see Levy, who he imagined was probably in with Gajeel. Lucy had him put the now passed out (thank the Gods) redhead onto the bed next to Cana and the blonde climbed up alongside her, closing Erza in between herself and Cana on the bed.

It was a scene he really didn't need to think about, married to one of them or not.

He wasn't surprised to see Laxus standing in the hallway, the mans ears never missed much.

He followed Bix downstairs quietly after going in and pressing a kiss to his mates forehead.

"What happened?" He asked as Bickslow pulled a bottle of iced green tea from the fridge, pouring two glasses and handing one to Laxus he shrugged.

"She came into my room, damn good thing I only had a couple of beers tonight or things would have gotten messier than they already are." He said a little bitterly.

Sitting heavily on one of the islands bar stools he looked up at his friend. "I'm starting to think the only thing that gets a woman interested in me is fucking booze."

Laxus snorted "No, it's fucking you, you've gone home with plenty of sober women Bix. She's just hurting, the woman's practically a walking barrel of it."

Bix sighed "I'd like to help her with that, without the whole sticking my dick in her part. Didn't think I could handle this shit though, had to call in the troops."

"Good thing you did, Lucy said about 15 times before I got her here that she was glad you were with her when she read that letter. Gave Erza something other than self-destruction to turn to. From what I saw when we got here, looked like you were helping just fine." Laxus said.

Bickslow smiled "Yeah well, I have sisters, two of them, I know what the drill is for "heartbreak" when they lose a guy. Tough shit though without my brothers helping, damn good thing I had icecream, gotta keep that shit stocked."

Laxus smirked "I think they cleaned you out of every sweet thing you had, I half expected them to attack the sugar jar with spoons."

Bickslow grinned "I'll hit the bakery after my workout so they have all they need when they get up."

Laxus yawned "Good idea, get me some of their apple bagels if you're hitting Wessmans." He said starting toward the stairs.

"You got it boss."

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxox

When his alarm went off Bickslow groaned, as it usually was after one of his later nights, even without alcohol involved, he was tempted to roll over and blow off his morning routine but his body's endurance mattered too much. Laxus was planning to take the Raijinshuu out after the Festival ended for a job and he wanted to be sharp.

Opting for a run over hitting the equipment he pulled on his compression shorts, running shorts over them, a compression shirt and trainers before stretching everything out to get his muscles ready for some abuse and leaving the house.

Acrobatics, gymnastics, it all kept him able to perform like he needed to. His magic worked best at range, he was decent at hand to hand but had trained himself perfectly to be able to get and maintain distance from an opponent.

Parkour was pure adrenaline pumping fun for him, and he was well beyond good at it. Picking up speed he maneuvered his babies and used them as a springboard, launching himself halfway up the side of one of the buildings, catching a windowsill and with a simple heave from an arm propelled himself upward enough he caught the ledge of the roof and heaved himself up. He lived in the perfect part of town to run across rooftops, the buildings were varying heights, spaced right so with strong jumped he could get from one to the next, land in a roll, regain his feet or tumble it out to the next.

Well secured fire escapes were part of it and he relied on them, so when he stretched out to grab a bar on the side of the next building he could only curse quietly when it gave instead of held his pull.

The fall didn't feel too good, he managed to twist in the air, push off Pipi who was fortunately close, and roll on impact instead of landing on his back but he sat for a few minutes when he came to a stop.

"Fuck…people need to maintain their shit." He grumbled, snickering as his babies soared around singing "shit shit shit!"

Brushing himself off, he'd seen that bar wasn't connected well, the stucco was crumbling, but not until he was in the air and had to just pray it held. "Welp, guess we'll walk it off huh babies?" He grinned, wincing, he'd scraped his chin among other things, was kinda pissed he'd torn his damn compression shorts and shirt too, that crap was expensive.

"Walk it off walk it off!" The babies sang and he laughed, sending them back up above the buildings so he could walk to the bakery.

"Looks like your run ran over you." Dan, the owner of the bakery smiled when he walked in. Bix sighed "It did today." He admitted.

Placing boxes on the babies he took up a somewhat painful jog but ran through it, he wasn't far from home and it was better the scrapes bled out a bit anyway to flush away any dirt that might be on them.

He didn't expect anyone to be up yet so when the smell of coffee and sound of a kettle starting to boil hit him when he walked in letting the babies carry the boxes to the island he was surprised.

"Good morning Bickslow." Erza smiled shyly, watching the totems deposit bakery boxes on the counter. He drew a breath, God the woman looked gorgeous when she blushed.

"Bix." He corrected with a smile. He came into the kitchen to spread the boxes out and she gasped.

"Bix…you're injured, what happened?!" Her eyes widened taking in the blood running down his leg from a decent scrape and cut in his thigh and the blood on his forearm from another one on his bicep.

"Ah, no worries, just took a tumble that wasn't planned. I'll rinse it all off in the shower and patch myself up, far from life threatening." He chuckled, turning from her and heading to his room.

She watched him go frowning. She remembered clearly what she had done last night. It had seemed reasonable at the time, she ached, hurt so much worse than she'd thought she could, which was saying something.

She'd wanted to be close to someone, to feel wanted as a woman, like she wasn't the terrifying tom boy that drove men away. Bickslow had always been warm, accepting, unafraid of her advances, he was the only man she'd ever met who she had come down on, threatened, outright attacked and yet still seemed comfortable around her.

He was an enigma, and being around him so much had made her want things she never had before. When she'd been able to crawl into his arms, bury herself in them and cry into a warm firm chest she'd felt protected, understood, and it had eased the pain so much just having that simple comfort.

Then the icecream, gathering her friends around her, turning his whole home upside down to make sure she had all of the love and support she hadn't realized she'd needed to get through the night, how had he even thought to do all he had?

The memory of being in those arms, held and comforted had made her hungry for more, for all she knew he had to offer, and Cana hadn't helped those more carnal thoughts.

"Hey, you know Jellals not bad but fuck woman, you're married to some serious hotness and you're not alone right now, you've got a man built in right now, I say go for it, go down and get you some, nothing better for the cold of heartbreak like the heat of some really good sex!" She'd snickered.

"No! Cana! Erza can't use Bix like that… Erza, unless you plan to stick around and actually try to make a real relationship with him please, don't do that to Bix, you deserve better than Jellal and Bix could be that but not if you just use him, he deserves better." Lucy had protested firmly.

"And he'd be getting it, Oh come on Lu, Bix is a party guy, he'd let our girl have a ride with no strings attached, he's let her before!" Cana cackled wickedly, waggling her eyebrows at Erza who had laughed with her.

Lucy had frowned, she'd had a few talks with Laxus about Bickslow. She'd been surprised how protective the lightning slayer was at first but then realized it fit in with how Laxus was, and also, that Bickslow seemed to need it.

He was perceived as a carefree, easygoing party boy and to an extent he was, but after some of the things Laxus had told her about Bickslow she felt bad for thinking those things herself about him.

He really didn't want to be just used, the man wanted what everyone else did, it was just his wildness and happy go lucky personality made it seem like nothing got to him.

Erza had already used him, he'd been willing and was equally responsible for the first time, but the second, no, Lucy had been the one to help him get out of the ridiculous wedding dress he'd had on over his clothes (thank God). She'd seen his expression and the look in his eyes.

He wasn't laughing.

Laxus said Bickslow had expressed concern over Erza a few times over the last couple of months, and since the man could look at souls and probably knew about the emotional wellbeing of anyone in the guild better than anyone else could hope to, his concern worried Lucy.

Now, this letter, confession, from Jellal had laid a devastating blow on her friend and she worried, if Bickslow hadn't been there, right there, when Erza had read that and done all he'd done…

Well, all of that meant Canas suggestion Erza go down and take advantage of the man, use him to make herself feel a little better left a bad taste in Lucys mouth and she let her opinion be known.

While Lucy knew all of that, Erza did not, but she also wasn't one to use others to cope with problems.

Somehow though, she had just needed comfort, when she'd awakened her friends had been right there, Lucy on one side of her Cana on the other in the large bed she was growing far too fond of (Her own back at Fairy Hills was a comfortable but small twin, this one was a plush queen.)

Yet even her friends she'd known couldn't give her the kind of comfort she wanted. She wanted to feel protected, safe, understood, wanted to feel firm muscle and be surrounded by the exotic spicy scent that was unique to Bickslow.

She wanted to hear that deep voice comforting her, reassuring her it was allright. She wanted to feel like a woman instead of a warrior for once.

In her life she'd only felt that way laying in the kitchen, and on the couch, wrapped in Bickslows arms. Mira had said once a long while ago of all the men in the guild, nobody gave better hugs than Bickslow did. Erza had laughed at the absurdity of the idea, but now she understood what Mira had meant.

He felt good, all that hard toned muscle, smelled good, was tall and made her feel…feminine. He wasn't awkward about it either, wrapped her into himself and his long fingers had felt perfect circling her back, drifting through her hair.

So she had crawled onto his bed, straddled the sleeping man and kissed him, delighted in finding him topless, groaning unhappily discovering sleep pants kept her from access to all of his tall body.

Their wrestling had been thrilling to her, several times she'd felt his lips linger on hers, felt him start to kiss back and thought she was going to have what she wanted, be able to drown herself in the arms of a good man who made her feel good about herself.

It staggered her, standing in the kitchen, stirring honey into her tea and sorting through all of the delicious warm treats he'd brought from the bakery she stilled, wide eyed.

That was why she'd gone to his room last night…he made her feel good about herself, accepted, and she needed that, not just from her friends, but from a man, because she'd been pushed away, rejected, had watched men ask all of her friends out around her over and over and none ever asked her.

He'd pushed her away too though, refused her even after she'd outright clearly told him she wanted him.

"You're gonna grind your way through the mug at that rate Amazon." A deep voice brimming with amusement noted and she looked up to meet dark red eyes and a warm smile as Bickslow moved behind her to pour himself a cup of coffee.

Glancing over him she noticed his clothes neatly hid where he'd sustained injuries that morning. Jeans and a black thermal long sleeve with the sleeves pushed up. "How ya feeling this morning Amazon?" He asked, taking a sip from his mug and moving close to her so he could pluck a bagel from one of the boxes.

His proximity made her blush. "I…don't know…numb…I'll be allright though…Thank You."

Setting his mug down when she looked at the floor she was pulled back into one of the embraces she'd been craving the night before and just let herself melt right into it, closing her eyes and letting him hold her.

"We're Nakama right? And right now we're even a little more than that, so no worries, I'm here for you, just like everyone else is." He picked up her mug and herded her to the table to sit down then with her tea and the muffin she'd picked out while he went back for his own.

Lucy appeared as Bickslow was taking a seat across from Erza.

"Ok, so I think I love your bathtub up there better than the one Laxus and I have." She said with a light smile, peering into the boxes and grinning when she found something she liked.

"Oh? what's wrong cosplayer, Laxus' tub size not enough for ya?" He grinned until a towel flew across the room and hit him in the face.

"Fuck off Bix, I helped you install that damn thing, Evergreen was the one that picked it out." Laxus growled, but his frown fell away when he spotted the apple bagels he'd asked for, deciding not to add a nasty shock to remind the Seith why he shouldn't insult him.

"It's a common issue Laxus, inadequate tub size, I can help you install something better to keep cosplayer from looking elsewhere for her soaking needs." Bickslow smiled, Laxus gave him a pained look "Ass…I'd shock you unconscious but you bought the bagels I asked for."

"Wessman apple bagels Cosplayer, the key to keeping Laxus grounded." He smiled at Lucy who grinned, watching Laxus heave another patient sigh.

"I'll remember that." She watched Laxus, who was eyeing her warily. Day two of the five days of their bet. He lost yesterday and she hadn't even meant to do it, had come back from the bakery, walked into their office and in the process of putting all of the various information she had gathered, her cake order (She'd ordered two, one was going to be given to Erza) plus all of the things for the haunted house onto her desk she'd knocked the cup containing her pens to the floor and had to get down on her hands and knees and dig around under the desk and the chair to recover all of the pens.

When she'd finally gotten them all together Laxus had unceremoniously carried her into the sitting/meeting room off their shared office, locked the door, laid her on the meeting table and sweet Gods in the heavens had he ever reminded her he was a Dragon Slayer, her Dragon Slayer, he'd also…lost for the day.

So day two, score 1 for Lucy, 0 for Laxus. With what was happening with Erza though she wasn't sure if they'd get much time together, and she'd even worn a cute little red mini skirt, white thigh high stockings, a white sweater and red boots, with a lacy black thong under the skirt and had wicked plans.

Of course, he was just sitting there, in a snug black mock turtle neck that let every single delicious bit of his toned arms, shoulders, chest, abs, holy shit even that delicious 'please follow here with your tongue Lucy' "v" that showed just above the waist line of his black jeans and her fucking mouth was watering.

He didn't even have to try. God help her if he put any effort into it.

When he rose her eyes just followed that "V", Holy hell could the man fill a pair of jeans…

"Yeah, Cosplayer, try not to drool on the table, need a bib?" Bickslow asked and she cursed at herself in her head. Way to go Luce, just let him know he's got an advantage today because you're already lusting after his damn body.

Flustered she met Laxus' knowing smirk with a defiant glare. "I gotta get to the guild, try to be in before lunch Blondie, if you can't make it let me know."

He was still very determined to win their bet, but he got Erza might need attention today beyond just Bickslows. Besides, he was a little leery about the pair being totally alone after what Erza had tried last night. He knew he couldn't do more than he was already doing, Bickslow was a grown man and Laxus couldn't make choices for his friend, he could just hope it all worked out allright.

Gajeel and Levy, followed by Cana and Gray departed shortly after breakfast, there were plans made for a girls day at the Hosenka spas. Then Lucy too departed, since Erza seemed in decent shape with things to look forward to and Bickslow planned to keep an eye on her, already had her on the couch peacefully drinking tea and watching a movie with him.

Walking into the guild Lucy nibbled her lip for a moment contemplating her plan for the day. No sexual touches, as those would be counted against her, closed mouth kisses to the face only and the wicked man was looking so damn hot that morning just thinking about it had her body too warm.

She opted to chat with Mira and Levy about wedding plans before finally gathering up a tray of sandwiches and following Mira who bore a pitcher of iced tea and a couple of cold bottles of beer.

The "Lunch" would work fine for the large Dragon Slayer, his mate, and Levy who was help Lucy finalize a few things before leaving to meet Gajeel, Jet and Droy and head out on a job.

Once the signatures were taken care of Levy popped the last of a sandwich into her mouth, gathered everything up and hurried off to get everything sent out.

Lucy went to work in the sitting/meeting room then. She wanted some pictures hung and wasn't above doing it herself, balancing herself well on a chair with a knee up on the back of it, adjusting the hanging pins to make sure it was straight.

She was making an effort to avoid looking at her mate, he was driving her crazy today.

She was stretching a bit far and the chair reached its limit and tipped. She let out a soft squeak waiting to hit the floor but she didn't. Strong arms caught her and she was pulled into a firm chest and drew in a deep breath of storms and sandalwood as the chair was righted and she was slid down a firm side to her feet.

"I'll get it, you're going to break your neck." He chuckled, turning from her and then setting the pins easily, not even needing to stand on anything.

As he hefted the large painting up onto the pins Lucy almost moaned, watching that snug black shirt stretch over his broad shoulders, his storm colored eyes intent on making sure he caught the pins at the right angle.

The bet was forgotten and she was pressing herself against his back, one hand sliding up to finally feel over the contours of his hardened chest while her other slid right between his legs to start rubbing over the instantly responding part of him that made those jeans look so perfectly filled.

He hissed through his teeth "Fuck…I win…on so many fucking levels." He groaned and turned, kicking the rooms door shut and pulling her to him.

"Just today, you win today. God you win….get this damn zipper." She demanded, fumbling with desperate hands. He got his jeans pushed down just enough to free what she'd already gotten hard and hooked his arms down under her knees, hiking her up against the wall, her knees pressed up to either side of her and she gasped at the sudden movement that left her suddenly wide open for him.

"Now, you want me…put me in and I'll give you all I've got Blondie." He growled and she bit her lip, feeling his lusty words shoot right through her. She pushed her own panties aside and grasped his erection ,smiling at him when he drew in a sharp breath at her touch, she teased him then running him against her slick core until he growled in warning "I'll put you back down and walk away, I swear woman, you started this…"

Reaching forward she kissed him then, he couldn't do anything but drink it in, his arms supporting her, hands firm against the wall and she guided him to her entrance, as soon as he felt it he snapped his hips forward and she screamed at the rough intrusion, hard, fast and powerful but so intensely filling she couldn't breathe through his first couple of strokes.

She'd not felt him get this deep before, the position caused an angle that just lined her up perfectly and he had her held at the right height. Her hands had the freedom his didn't and she scraped her nails down his chest, sealing her lips over his as he drove hard into her.

The ride up into total loss of awareness of anything but each other was swift, watching someone else go through a heartbreak had made Lucy acutely aware of how lucky she was, Laxus loved her, was her mate, forever, his devotion and private tenderness with her, all things she cherished so much and his body…what he felt like, so deep inside her, pounding her against the wall relentlessly until finally she screamed her release and her pleasure had so overwhelmed him he went with her, sinking to the floor where she could finally lower her legs and let them drape around him as his arms came around her.

"You get the point, I take the win." She breathed and he chuckled "I think I won on every fucking level today."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

A/N "Eh'ne kei'tah" in a persian dialect translates "Perfect Kitten" I have Bosco set up as a sort of persian/eastern sort of country in my head for whatever reason. Big thank yous to all of you who review, I answer PMs as quickly as I can and reviews, as many writers here will tell you, fuel these stories. Chocolate was meant to be a 4 shot, but you guys wanted more, asked for it, so I'm following your brilliant often wicked suggestions, as long as you want Chocolate growing, I'll keep giving it my attention...DESNA