Pairings: Natsu x Lucy and other wonderful surprises. Shall be revealed as we go.

Timeline: After the GMG's arc. Give or take seven years.

Warnings: None other than mild cursing, violence, sexual themes and some gore. Perhaps a wee bit of confusion.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

Authors Note: Sorry for the late update guys! No excuses, but I do know where this story is going, don't worry about that. Enjoy!

.X.

Natsu woke up with his arm wrapped around Lucy's waist. He smiled down at her briefly before closing his eyes for a few more minutes of sleep. He spent most of his night consoling Lucy and wiping tears off her face. She's curled up in a ball against his side, clutching at his shirt like it's a life line. Another ten minutes passed before he had enough of sleeping and sat up, carefully moving his arm from around her.

He couldn't help the small amount of guilt welling up within in. After all, Lucy's crying seemed to somewhat be directed towards him, which offended him. How could he really help her if she didn't tell him what he did? He had the memory span of a bug. Mavis! This is all so frustrating.

Lucy whimpered. Natsu let out a hushed sigh and brushed his fingers across her cheek. Her brown eyes fluttered open. She took a moment to adjust to her surroundings and smiled at him brilliantly. Natsu ran his thumb over her lips. She really was beautiful. He was lucky to have her.

"Morning, Luce. Glad to see you're awake. No more crying, okay?" he said.

Instead of arguing with him like he intended for her too, she simply nodded. "Okay." She twisted the ring around her finger.

Natsu grinned at her, "I'm going to find a job today so we don't have to freeload off Mariana and Richard." Lucy rolled her eyes. He noticed how swollen her eyes still were. "Get up, Luigi, you shouldn't spend all day in bed."

Lucy crossed her arms, huffing, "I thought you weren't going to call me that anymore."

Natsu's grin shifted to a smirk, "I made no such promises." For the first time since waking up in a blank state, he's genuinely happy. He's not arguing with Lucy, feeling down about his pathetic memory or helping Lucy through her inner turmoil the night before. Things between them had definitely settled down.

He hopped out of the bed and stretched. His stomach growled, although… he didn't really feel like food. Odd. Had his insides ever felt this cold?

She crawled out of their bed, cradling her face for a moment, before she straightened and twisted around. "I should go to work."

"Turning into a workaholic already?" he jested, throwing a shirt over his head.

"Someone has to pay the rent," Lucy retorted.

Natsu rolled his eyes, "Of course you worry about rent and stuff." An expression he couldn't place flickered across her face. His words triggered something vaguely familiar. This couldn't be the first time they've spoken about rent money.

"I wish Lucy could have been here…"

"Aye."

"I am here… Don't look so surprised! I just need to pay my rent."

His brow furrowed. He was happy about a memory, but the memory stirred up more questions than it answered. Who was the tiny blue cat speaking next to him? Hell, how did a cat know how to talk?

Natsu tossed Lucy her jeans. "Oi."

Lucy ignored him, shimming into her tight jeans. She evidently wasn't prepared to speak to him about anything. She glared up at him once he hit her with a pillow, square in her face. "What?"

"Do you remember a blue cat?" Natsu asked. He chewed on his thumb nail, waiting for Lucy's response.

She gasped, "Happy!"

Natsu grinned relieved he wasn't the only one to remember his – or theirs? – cat. Lucy chewed on her lower lip, almost guiltily. The pinkette swallowed his own inner turmoil at her expression, praying he kept his happy-go-lucky smile. From that brief, albeit angering, memory he couldn't believe he would chose to forget someone as amazing as his best friend. Choose?

"Don't worry about it. We didn't intentionally forget about him, remember?" even that statement was pathetic compared to the emotions welling in Lucy's eyes. This entire situation was fucked up and Natsu would be dammed to believe they weren't cursed. Why would they chose to forget about their lives when all that it's caused is confusion and anguish.

Lucy took a moment to scrub her flushed cheeks and nod, "I know, it's just hard to think that our lives up until the other day is nothing but a blank. It's like a huge shadow is clinging to our pasts and we're just running around blindly with flashlights, only a vague hope of sparking some remembrance."

His body spoke for him as he drew her into the circle of his arms, tilting her face up so he could capture her lips. She said everything he was thinking and more. There never was a woman more suited for Natsu than Lucy. Regardless of the fact he had the memory span of an infant, each little thing she did only re-enforced that she's perfect for him. His best friend and lover all wrapped up in one.

…but if that's the case, why couldn't he shake the lead like weight in his stomach?

Lucy kissed him back, clutching at his chest. He would have had to been deaf to miss her whisper once they broke apart. "I'm sorry."

.X.

Her words remained heavy in his head for the next few hours while he stalked the streets searching for a job. What was she sorry for? He didn't even have the chance to ask. After her broken mumble, she kissed him again and fled for work. He'd blown all his interviews so far that morning because he'd been far too busy worrying about her to actually focus.

"Dammit!" he cursed, kicking the side of a pole. He froze, expecting to be hurt due to how hard he kicked – never mind that we was wearing sandals. The opposite happened. His swift punt caused the pole to moan and crack. It swayed and plummeted to the middle of the street.

Many cars swerved to the side, followed by numerous honks and swear words. Natsu's dark eyes widen and his jaw fell slack. Did he just…?

"What the fuck?" he exclaimed, leaping way from the accident he just caused. Luckily, from what he could see, no one was hurt. People streamed into the streets to assist those in cars, the commotion drawing the attention of the police.

A man clasped his hand over Natsu's shoulder. Natsu peered down at him. He was an officer, no doubt about that, but what amused him was the fact he was a whole head shorter. "You're coming with me, son, for endangering the peace."

Natsu shook his head furiously, "Sir, you don't understand. It was an accident."

"An accident? You mean when you destroyed public property, a concrete pillar, that you didn't mean it?" Scepticism rolled off his tongue. Natsu scratched his chin. Admittedly, it did seem pretty ridiculous that he just happened to kick over a pillar.

Another man approached the officer carefully, "I believe him." He pointed to the shop behind him. "I'm the owner of this shop here, see, and I was looking out when this young lad just kicked the pole. Trust me when I say that he appeared absolutely stunned to have knocked it over."

His grip didn't lessen as he arched his eyebrow. "You expect me to believe he simply kicked the pole and it fell over? He's wearing sandals for cripes sake!"

The butcher twisted his apron, "I don't lie, sir."

People never ceased to amaze Natsu. This man he's at no time met before stood up for him and defended his innocence. If he's let off the hook, he'll have to repay this man's kindness. Hell even if he's not let go he'll still find something to do in return.

"Or so you claim. Unfortunately, I will still have to take him in for questioning. Policy," he said, sliding his hand down Natsu's arm and slapped a metal cuff around his wrist. Natsu wanted to snort with laughter. If he could kick down a pole what makes this cop think cuffs would retain him? Despite this, Natsu allowed him to shackle both of his wrists.

"Wait," the butcher called, halting Natsu's arrest, "the names' Thomas. Come by tomorrow son." Thomas clearly had faith in Natsu getting off clean.

Natsu nodded, grinning at the elder man. "Will do, ji-chan."

Thomas gave a curt wave and ducked back into his shop. The officer led Natsu down the crowded streets as more personal hurried to the scene to clean up his 'accident'.

"I didn't mean it," Natsu said again, not trying to change his mind. He just wanted to reinforce the idea and hoped it would get through to someone.

.X.

After being blinded by a bright light in a dark room, interrogated like he murdered someone and held in a detention cell for three hours, he was finally let go with a warning and a massive fine. He steeled himself before walking into Mariana and Richard's house. Once Lucy saw the fine, he was toast.

The main foyer was empty. He took a moment to once again mull over how the hell he didn't break his foot. His stomach still felt chilled like it did earlier that morning, but he shook it off, considering it to be nothing more than memory deprived.

"Natsu! Where have you been?" She rounded the corner, fixing her hair. She sounded neither mad nor concerned. Just curious. He's thankful that she's understanding rather than a worry wart and knows he can take care of himself. Although her doting on him more often wouldn't be so bad…

Instead of answering her, he handed her the paper. She read it over with a creased brow. Natsu scrubbed his face with his hands, exhausted and starving from his brush with the authorities.

Much to his astonishment, Lucy burst out laughing, clutching her sides as she tried to catch her breath. He chortled, going along with her laugh, despite his befuddlement.

"That's so much like you," she said, and just like that, everything was alright. He didn't even question how she would know anything was just like him. Natsu accepted it gratefully, some sort of normality falling into their situation was like a breath of fresh air. "Mariana and Richard went out for dinner so I made something. Try not to destroy the house." Lucy winked at him and folded his fine. She shoved it in her pocket, as if it didn't exist.

Natsu stepped up to her, caressing her cheek before he sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Luce…" He glanced up at her, resting his chin on her pelvic bone.

Lucy blushed, an embarrassed smile on her face. She knots her fingers in his hair. She doesn't say anything, doesn't bring up her apology from earlier and it's enough. Natsu grinned, his typical shit-eating smirk and pressed his check against her stomach. Being with her like this gave him the hope that they wouldn't need to confront their past. Maybe they could move beyond it and rebuild their lives. That was selfish thinking… Hey, wait.

Natsu's eyebrows drew together as he forced his cheek harder against Lucy's stomach. She shifted uncomfortably. He jerked back.

"I—Luce there's…" he stuttered, unable to spit out what he heard.

"What? What's wrong?" Natsu's thinking, that's what. It seemed entirely too important now to address their past. He gazed up at her with wide eyes.

There was a heartbeat from inside Lucy's stomach.

.X.

Aha for predictability! I gathered most of you got what was going on when Natsu did. Nyahaha. Anyways, sorry for the delayed update, but I have plans of updating more often, so just you wait! The dramas just beginning. *sneaky smirk*

~Emerald~