Wow Thanks to everyone for all the kind reviews! They really help with the inspiration!

Someone was wondering if we will be seeing more characters and the answer is YES. I will be introducing more characters as we go (Levy, Gajeel, Juvia, and more.) Dont worry, they will show up as the story progresses.

Note: Sorry for any writing mistakes. I know it needs to be cleaned up:P.

So warm… Lucy thought as she slowly stretched and waited for her eyes to adjust to the light.

Squirming closer to the heat source, it took her a moment to realize that the sweltering hot object in question was actually a tightly muscled arm attached to a very smug Natsu.

"Looks like someones finally awake." His cocky smile practically dripped confidence.

Lucy let out a loud "Eep!" as she backed up as far as she could before the wall stopped her.

"Wwhat the h-hell are you doing sleeping beside me you pervert!" She stammered as her skin turned a deep red.

Staring at Lucy in her semi-woken state, Natsu looked her up and down for a second as he started to let his imagination get away with him. Taking in her appearance, he agreed with himself that she didn't look bad at all with messy haired and a freshly flushed face.

He daydreamed momentarily what it would be like to be the cause of not only her blush but also her less than perfect hair.

Realizing he was taking too long to answer her and that she was slowly reaching for the nearest heavy object - in this case a lamp - to impale him with, Natsu finally found the words to perfectly infuriate his bride-to-be.

"I tried to leave last night." He yawned. "But a certain spawn of satan prevented me from doing so by wrapping herself around me with an iron-tight grip." He lied. "It was rather inescapable."

While indeed during the night Lucy had wound herself around Natsu's arm, that was not the true reason that he had stayed. In fact, the short nap that he had decided to take the night prior had simply turned into a full blown REM sleep cycle. Dreams and all. He smiled back at the particular memory of one of the steamier dreams that plagued him concerning the blonde.

Lucy's blush turned a full fifty shades of red in embarrassment.

After her mother had passed away, Lucy grew a habit of clenching tight to anything or anyone near her when she slept. Countless times she would wake up with her father passed out in the chair beside her, holding his arm so tightly he couldn't have escaped if he tried.

"Arggghhh" She hid her head in frustration.

Taking this as a chance to stop the moment from turning awkward, Natsu sat up and walked towards the dining room.

"I told Virgo earlier to inform the chef to prepare us breakfast, it should be finished." he yawned as he exited the room.

Mortified that Virgo must have walked in on her practically groping Natsu, Lucy buried her head further into her pillow in a weak attempt to become invisible.

The weekend flew by rather quickly with Lucy spending most of her time exploring the residence as well as catching up on assignments her teachers had given her Friday. By some great chance of luck she was able to avoid her future husband the entire rest of the weekend as he was away for "business" as Virgo informed her.

"The young master really seems to have taken a liking to you Miss. Heartfillia" Virgo chatted wistfully while laying out Lucy's school clothes.

Lucy's eye twitched slightly at the girl's comment. "I think you've mixed up 'taking a liking to' with the much more appropriate version of 'taken a liking to the prospect of teasing and torturing me'".

Virgo blushed at Lucy's comment of teasing and torturing from the young master. Her imagination began to flow as she completely took those words out of context.

The young maid smiled at the fact that the young master had finally found someone to share his life with. Over the years that she had served the Dragneel family, she had often watched him sit alone at the dinner table. While the odd time Mr. Fullbuster would come over, the rest of Natsu's family were rarely ever home; let alone in the country. Years passed as did the many holidays where he would simply sit; alone.

"It's so nice to see you get along so well with the young master Miss Heartfillia." Virgo smiled, oblivious as she walked towards the door to take her leave for the evening.

"I told you to call me Lucy!" Lucy yelled behind her as the maid closed the door.

Shaking her head, Lucy sighed as she sprawled out across her lush King sized bed. Her mind drifted momentarily and she caught herself thinking of Natsu. She remembered the feel of his warm arms and the way his words caught her off guard time and time again. In her opinion was strange alright.

Getting lost in her thoughts, she completely didn't hear the sound of running water coming from her bathroom.

All of a sudden, the Leonardo unit beside Lucy's bed starting to ring, signalling an incoming video call. The loud ringing noise had jolted the girl's thoughts completely away from the pink haired enigma that was her husband to be.

I'm going to have to change the volume on this thing later she thought as she cleared her throat.

"Answer" Lucy confirmed as the monitor's video chat opened.

"Hey Lu" a young man with ice blonde hair smiled at her through the monitor.

Lucy's eyes started to tear up upon seeing her childhood friend Sting on the other end. It had felt like months since she sat with him in the hospital when in reality it had not even been a full week.

"Hey Sting" she smiled to her ears.

"Long time no see stranger." he chastised. "I've been trying to call you for the past couple of days with no response." his rant began, "Then, imagine my surprise when out of no where, I come back from the bathroom to my hospital bed to find a nice little note with a new Leo code to contact you. You know you could have waited for me to get back before scurrying off wherever you did." he gave her a very disapproving; very Sting look.

Lucy chuckled to herself at her friends very predictable anger at the fact that she had up and disappeared out of no where.

Sighing, Sting continued to speak. "And here I was all excited to tell you some big news!"

Lucy could see a twinkle in his eye that he hadn't had the last time she saw him. One that reminded her of him in his youth.

Over the years Lucy and Sting had always been close to one another. Lucy's grandmother had introduced the two shortly after her mother had died in hopes to bring Lucy out of her grief. It came as a surprise to Grandeeney that her plan had worked out so well.

The moment she saw that her granddaughter was smiling again, Grandeeney decided to immediately transfer Sting's mother from their Paris tech development department to the Seattle branch.

However when Sting was diagnosed with Stargardt's, although he stayed strong throughout most of it, Lucy could see how much it dampened his spirit. He refused to let her see him in his weakest state, yet Lucy would sometimes find herself listening to him cry outside of his hospital room door. It was because he was there for her throughout the hardest part of her life that made Lucy realize she would do anything to help him. Even marry a complete stranger.

That twinkle in his eyes gave Lucy hope.

"News? What news could you possibly have for me? I swear if its a spoiler on one of our netflix addictions I'll hang up on you and you wont hear from me for more than just a week" she teased playfully.

Sting smiled at Lucy's empty threat. "Don't worry its not a spoiler, its something even better." he tempted her without revealing details.

"Oh come out with it!" she demanded as she pretended to pout.

Deciding he had held onto his news long enough, Sting finally spilled what had gotten him so excited.

"I've been chosen Lucy!"

The colour drained from Lucy's face. How could she have forgotten about the cure? She momentarily chastised herself for not spending more time thinking of how to lie to her best friend about the whole wonder drug for fake bride deal. Shaking away thoughts of her lousy acting abilities, Lucy pressed him further with a smile.

"Chosen for what?"

"I've been chosen out of thousands of people for a trial drug which has an extremely high success rate for curing my disease. Can you believe it Lu? I didn't even know that Fullbuster pharmaceuticals was even working on a vaccine. Then, out of nowhere, my doctors are telling me that I've been chosen out of countless patients as one of the few who can take part in the trial." His mouth ran a mile a minute, a trait he had picked up from Lucy over the years.

Lucy's face went blank at his confession. While she knew she had made the necessary arrangements to have Sting be a part of the Cryo-36 drug trials, the assertion that Natsu and Gray were keeping up their end of the deal made all of her efforts up to now worth it.

The sudden burst of happiness she felt at seeing Sting's happy face quickly dwindled as she remembered she had to keep this whole facade a secret from her best friend. She had never been good at lying to Sting, however she needed to in order to not break the secrecy clause of her and Natsu's contract.

Her resolution rebooted from hearing that Sting's treatment was indeed going forward, Lucy plastered the biggest smile she could muster as she quickly congratulated her best friend. They were both tearing up as they exchanged a knowing glance in a comfortable silence.

"Where are you anyway?" Sting questioned. "I start preliminary treatment tonight in order to prepare for the drug trial, however I have to be transported to England in December for closer observation under Fullbuster doctors. We have a lot of episodes to binge watch before I go." he laughed.

Lucy's smile faltered for a moment, an action that did not go unnoticed by Sting.

"Is everything ok Lu? You look like your hiding something from me…" he got straight to the point.

Shaking her head quickly as if to convince herself, Lucy decided she had to tell Sting that she wouldn't be able to see him for awhile.

"Actually… I've got some news for you as well." She smiled, hoping he couldn't see through her. "You know that wonderful grandmother of mine? Crazy and demanding with a impeccable ability to mess with my life?"

Sting smiled as he nodded through the video chat.

"The one who convinced my mother to move to America in less than a two minute conversation via phone? If I'm not mistaken I do believe I recall her." he mused thoughtfully.

"That's the one." Lucy rolled her eyes.

"It turns out that Grandeeney decided she wanted me to spend some time abroad in order to 'develop some cultural experience.' as she puts it. She kind of enrolled me in a school exchange program and I've started classes at a sister school in England of all places" Lucy blurted out a little too fast.

Soaking in Lucy's sudden admission, Sting took a moment before he spoke.

"Well? How is it?" he questioned simply.

Lucy almost fell off her bed.

"Really!? 'How is it?' That's all the reaction I get from you? I was expecting at least a hint of shock to pass across your face. Your lack of outrage is creeping me out" she reasoned aloud to herself.

Sting simply shrugged his shoulders. "Well it kind of works out doesn't it? I have to be in England for over a year with my treatment, and now I find out my best friend wont be separated by an ocean? Seems legit to me. If I am going to be outraged at something it would be the lack of strawberry jello coming from the hospital cafeteria. I mean, I've been asking for it for days now."

Lucy laughed, their conversations always taking turns in unexpected directions.

"So? How is it on the other side of the pond?" Sting inquired.

Thinking for a moment on how to describe her recent experience in a new country, Lucy decided she might as well paint a pretty picture so he wouldn't worry too much. She needed him to focus on his health and having him stress about her current situation would not be good for anyone.

"It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be." She mused as she tapped her hand on her cheek lightly. "The school places students in classes based on their intelligence level so I don't have to deal with people like Sorano Agira on a daily basis anymore."

Sting chuckled at this. "You really never got over that incident in grade school have you?"

Lucy grumbled at the memory of Sorano rallying the other girls in the class to gang up on her for hanging out too much with Sting. He had been quite the popular kid in school with his foreign silvery hair and many of the girls in class were too shy to approach him.

"Do you have any idea how many pairs of shoes I had to buy because she, or one of her cronies would hide mine?" Lucy seethed.

Sting laughed at this and decided to bring the conversation back to the topic at hand. While he was surprised that Lucy had left so suddenly she didn't even have the time to say goodbye, he reasoned Grandeeney was the mysterious cause behind that aspect of her departure. He wasn't a fan of the idea of her being so far away, but reasoned that if she was happy then he could deal with it, especially since he would be flying out there for the new year.

"How are the people? Are they treating you nice?" he questioned.

Pondering about her interactions with her classmates Lucy came to the conclusion that while they were rather forward, they all seemed relatively friendly. At her old school she was used to being invisible and even preferred it that way. However being invisible in a school where new enrolment is seldom seemed like an impossible task.

"Hmm… Everyone has been really nice. I've even made three new friends." she tried to assure him.

Although Natsu was her fiancé, she had to put him firmly in a friendship bubble in her head in order to be convincing enough for Sting. When it came to thinking of Mavis as a friend, her thoughts softened a bit as she truly believed she could become close with the girl. Thirdly, while Gray was more of a evil debt collector rather than a friend, he was someone she could recognize and go to in a pinch so that had to be good enough for now."

Feeling slightly assured that Lucy was doing okay, Sting smiled that good things were happening in both their lives.

"Mr. Eucliffe, I am here to pick you up for your scheduled MRI" a nurses voice rang from Sting's end.

"I gotta go Lu, duty calls." Sting waved at her.

"An MRI? Is everything okay?" Lucy's voice hitched slightly.

"Yes yes there is nothing to worry about. Its all part of the preliminary stuff I have to take care of for the trial. One step closer." He waved off her concerns.

"I'll call you later. Have a good day at school tomorrow."

Lucy sighed as their call ended. While she hadn't exactly lied to Sting, she hadn't told him the full truth and that in itself was exhausting all in its own. She stretched tiredly as she decided a nice warm bath would ease her tired muscles. She had finished all the homework that was assigned and her mind needed a good soak just as much as her body.

Springing up from her bed, Lucy stripped down to a towel and headed towards her bathroom door. When she went to open it however, she was greeted with a billowing cloud of steam exiting the room.

Thats strange. She thought as she had been in her room all day and certainly had not turned on the bath. Perhaps Virgo turned on the faucet before she left…

Turning towards the bathtub, Lucy's eyes met with another pair that was attached to a very wet, very naked, Natsu Dragneel.

Bang.

"Ouch"

Crash.

"Will you-"

Whack

"Stop throwing-"

Lucy ran out of objects to throw as she clenched her towel tightly to her body.

"Things at me." Natsu finished.

"What the hell are you doing in my tub? How the hell did you even get in here anyway? I've been in my room for hours." Lucy seethed.

"Well if you must know, I used this mythical portal called a door. Its really revolutionary you must try it some time." Natsu grumbled painfully as he rubbed his bruised forehead. "Have you ever considered joining baseball? Shot put? Or Javelin perhaps?"

Lucy whipped her toothbrush at him.

"Javelin it is then." he teased.

"I will ask you one more time Mr. Dragneel, what in god's name gave you the idea that it was ok to simply walk through a ladies room and use her bathtub?"

Chuckling to himself that he was able to get her fired up so easily, Natsu gave her towel-clad figure an appraising glance before answering.

"Well, first things first. Technically I didn't walk though your room to get here. Secondly, I do not believe you were told that this bathtub was exclusively yours, it is attached to my room after all."

The walls closed in around Lucy as she slowly registered what he had just said. Slowly, she turned to inspect the bathroom in full. It was then that she saw it.

Normally Lucy would leave her bathroom door open incase Virgo was in the other room housekeeping and she wanted to chat. She was never one for closed doors as they made her feel claustrophobic.

But now she saw that with the door fully closed, something important had eluded her. Lucy shuddered when she saw that when the door was open, it had blocked her view of another entrance.

Striding quickly to the door, Lucy wrenched it open to discover a mirror version of her own quarters. However while Lucy's room was filled with light feminine hues of purple, this room was unmistakably masculine. The walls, a soft grey paired with a dark duvet king bed screamed what she assumed Natsu's taste to be.

Circling back to the bathroom, Lucy headed back towards the bathroom beelining for her room.

"You know your welcome to join me love." he teased. "I'm not one to waste water."

Lucy slammed the bathroom door, the loud click of the lock signalling she had just about enough of Natsu Dragneel for one evening.

There you go guys! Sorry it was late. I went camping on the weekend and wouldn't you know it? No internet connection. In the woods. Ludacris I know :P