The rest of the week passed by in a bit of a blur for Lucy. While her sprain hadn't been all that serious, she still lost balance when she would overestimate her recovery time. Natsu had made Gray bring in his team of doctors to agree with the nurses diagnoses that it was indeed, merely a sprain. They said she should be feeling as good as new within a week, but encouraged her to keep off of it as much as possible in the mean time.

It was around dinner time on Thursday night that Lucy finally felt well enough to walk without crutches. She slowly walked towards the dining table and opened her eyes in surprise at seeing Natsu already sitting there.

The past couple of nights when she had come to the dining room, Virgo had informed her that the 'young master' as she called him; was busy. It was because of this that her mouth hung slightly open at having him actually show up.

"You know it's rather rude to stare Miss Heartfillia." Natsu's voice rang her from her thoughts.

Glaring at him momentarily, Lucy sighed as she ignored his taunts. If there was one thing that she had learned over the past week, it was that Natsu thoroughly enjoyed making her angry.

Not tonight. She thought as she eased herself in to the chair opposite.

A moment of silence filled the room as Lucy picked at the food placed in front of her.

"So…how's the leg." Natsu asked casually as he reached for his glass of water. His young bride-to-be's unnatural silence was maddening.

"Still not one hundred percent." she admitted as she tucked her napkin over her lap. "But I'm for sure on the mend."

"At least you're off crutches. Those would have been annoying to drag around Paris this weekend." Natsu took a bite of his steak.

Lucy's eyes flashed towards Natsu in a confused manner. "What do you mean Paris this weekend?"

Cocking his head to the side, Natsu gave her a quisling stare before continuing. "The annual school cultural trip where they send our classes around the world to," he paused as he thought of the right word, "absorb?"

Lucy's face paled visibly before rising from her seat a little too fast.

"Ouch! Damn it!" she cursed at the throbbing pain sent up her leg.

Standing in worry, Natsu asked her if she was ok.

"You know you could always skip. I'm sure I can get a doctor to write you-"

"No, I'm going." Lucy interrupted.

Ever since her mother died Lucy's grandmother had placed strict requirements on her ability to travel. While the rest of her classmates were able to go to places all over the world for their school trips, Lucy had been forced to stay behind like a bird in a cage.

She reasoned that her grandmother was just being overprotective, however Lucy couldn't shake the feeling of wanting to explore the world with friends. She had read once, that outings with students often spurred friendships and that was something Lucy was actually interested in.

At her old school people had only known her as Sting's friend or as an outsider. She had never gotten along well with the jealous fan girls who thought she was dating him. Now that she was at a new school with zero reputation and no strings attached to Sting, Lucy saw this as an opportunity to make some new friends.

"Are you sure? I don't think you should go. I can call Gray to get a note written.." Natsu began to reach for his phone.

"Natsu, wait." she breathed as she crossed to his side of the table and placed a hand on his arm to stop him.

Slightly shocked at her initiated contact, and even more shocked that she had called him by his actual name instead of her usual curt "Mr. Dragneel," Natsu felt a spark course through his veins at her touch.

Dropping her hand quickly as though she had been burned, Lucy plastered a smile that Natsu had never seen before on her face. "Thanks for worrying about me, but I'm fine, really. Just a bit shocked because I didn't hear anything about a school trip this weekend. I guess that's what happens when you don't know anyone yet." She rambled.

Natsu's fingers twitched at his side as he began to reach forward.

Turning on her heel, Lucy discarded her partially eaten meal as she headed towards her room to pack. "I'll see you in the morning!" she called over her shoulder.

Natsu released his stilled breath as he snapped out of whatever trance she had put him in. He really had to get over this whole starstruck idiot character he became whenever his future wife was near.

So uncool. Natsu thought as he returned to his plate.

The flight to Paris was relatively short considering the students took off in one of the school's planes. While Lucy's old school had a helicopter pad out back she was surprised to find her new school came equipped with its very own landing strip. She reasoned that Fairy Tail must have some pretty deep pockets stemming from some pretty old money.

Looking around the baggage claim Lucy saw Mavis attempting to pull off a bag bigger than her from the carousal. Reaching forward, Lucy helped the blonde with her luggage.

"Thanks for that." Mavis smiled.

"Any time." Lucy huffed as she grabbed her own luggage that came around.

The two girls made their way to the tour busses outside, cramming in regardless of grade status. The bus ride was a mere half hour and by the time the group arrived to the hotel their teachers were already handing out room keys; urging them to freshen up quickly so they could keep up with the itinerary for the day.

"Shall we?" Mavis flashed a golden key card towards Lucy.

Raising her eyebrow at the girl's forwardness, Lucy thought it best not to question why they would be sharing a room when they were in completely different classes. She was under the impression that when Mavis made a decision, there was nothing that could get in her way.

The two excitedly grabbed their luggage and made their way towards a quickly filling up elevator. Mavis and Lucy shoved themselves and their oversized bags in, pressing the 7th floor as they did.

"You do realize that this is only a three day trip." A familiar drawl whispered into Lucy's ear.

Lucy jumped slightly as she finally realized who was standing behind her.

She sighed.

Raising his eyebrow at her rather lacklustre of a response, Natsu pressed her further.

"What could you have possibly packed in order to need a bag of that size?"

Lucy bit her tongue as she thought of how to retort.

"I'm not fond of being unprepared" she quoted his words earlier that week.

Smirking, Natsu gave her a slight push on her back as the elevator doors opened.

"Ladies first."