A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews/alerts/favorites! Much love and cupcakes to you all. =) Honestly, I don't think I've ever gotten so many with one story in such a short amount of time before, so when I saw all that, I got all excited and jumped on and finished chapter 2, and celebrated with an ice cream bar. Ah, and I forgot to mention…For those who haven't made the connection between the song at the beginning of chapter 1 and the Beatles, well, you can make it now. Something: The Beatles, one of my favorite songs.

And now, with no further ado, here's chapter 2! Enjoy it.

Of course. Why wouldn't he just happen to be eating in the same restaurant they were? And why couldn't he be having fun anywhere else than the little fair the town put up to celebrate the upcoming tournament? Why shouldn't he be no more than 15 feet away from them the entire evening?

He suspected her intentions, that was the only explanation. Sighing, Lucy decided it was time to confront him. It was time to tell him everything. She had practiced her little speech so many times, but every time she had the chance to talk to him, something came up, or she chickened out, and she had to excuse herself from his company to keep him from seeing the tears that threatened to break free.

Tonight, though, she wanted to at least enjoy herself before breaking the heartbreaking news. She had talked with Hibiki about joining Blue Pegasus, and he was more than happy to give his master a recommendation for her joining. He told her that everything was in place, and after the tournament, she was free to move in at any time.

This was supposed to be her last chance to enjoy her Fairy Tail comrades before they were all too busy focusing on the tournament for them to all enjoy her going away party - though they wouldn't know it was her going away party. Hibiki had approached her on his own, and, with Cana there, she had no other choice but to accept. It had surprised her, and if she had been alone, she would have declined his offer. Then again, after not seeing him for so many years, who wouldn't accept a date with him? She had spoken with him for awhile, but she hadn't seen him, and what a surprise for her when she finally did!

He had suggested the fair in the first place, and now here they were, riding the huge Farris wheel, and who should be in the car behind them? Three guesses, and the first two don't count. Sighing again, Lucy slouched on the bench, not wanting her head to be showing over the edge for Natsu to see. Hibiki was entirely clueless to their stalker, so if he happened to want to try anything, Natsu would get a front row seat to everything that could happen.

Sure enough, Hibiki placed his arm around her shoulders, gently pulling her into his body. The movement itself wasn't anything romantic, or suggestive, but she could feel two holes burning into her back as she was sure Natsu was glaring at them, not physically, but she was fully aware of him behind them. She shivered as the car started its descent, and Hibiki held her closer.

The wheel went round twice more before it finally paused to let people off. The two of them sat in silence, a contented look on Hibiki's features, and Lucy inwardly furious and nervous. She should be enjoying this ride, but the constant reminder that Natsu was behind them kept biting at her neck. There was a point in time when she imagined the real Natsu nibbling the back of her neck, and the thought of it again made her shiver again.

"Are you cold?" her companion asked. He moved to take of his jacket, but Lucy held up her hands.

"No, no. I'm just nervous. You know, the situation, the heights." She sighed and looked down at the world beneath them. "I guess I'm a little scared of saying my good-byes."

Hibiki placed his arm around her shoulders again, pulling her tightly against him. "It's just a small bump in the road for the long journey ahead. But it'll get better, just wait and see. You'll have me there with you, not to mention everyone else at Blue Pegasus who's ready to welcome you into your new family."

Lucy held on to every nerve, and used all her willpower not to turn around and look at Natsu. She knew he could hear every word. Placing her face in her hands, she said a silent apology to her friend. Tonight wasn't supposed to end up like this. Maybe she would have had fun if a certain someone had just let her be. Dinner had been amazing until she spotted Natsu and Lisanna talking together as she and Hibiki left the restaurant.

Lisanna…It was because of her return that had thrown Lucy into doubt about her position in Fairy Tail. Before Lisanna, Lucy had been certain she and Natsu would end up together, getting married and having children. And then, Lisanna appeared and Natsu seemed to grow apart from Lucy. She hadn't been entirely sure she had completely lost him until returning home from the tournament last year. He was completely out of her reach when he had discussed his and Lisanna's discussion.

It was almost immediately after that discussion that she decided to leave Fairy Tail. How could she go on living peacefully knowing that she didn't have a chance with the one man she loved? Even as a rebound, Gray was claimed by Juvia still, and there was no one else she was remotely attracted to in Fairy Tail. There was no way she'd be able to live her life alone. She was an avid reader, and the thought of a husband and children were so etched in her mind that she knew she couldn't live her life without them.

Then came the decision to call on Hibiki. She remembered they shared a moment so long ago, even though it was brief and lasted barely thirty seconds. She only had a hope that he would agree to meet with her, and then her emotions were torn in half when he agreed to mention her to his master. She was happy that she had found a way out, but she was saddened that this was coming to reality.

Ever since that meeting, she had vowed to spend as many waking moments with her friends, living it up to the fullest as she possibly could. The only person she couldn't bring herself to be around was Natsu, and now she regretted it.

Thinking on the past, she felt her composure weaken, and she felt her eyes start to water. Upon Hibiki's concerns, she shrugged the tears off as the wind getting into her eyes. As the car finally ended up on the bottom, she pleaded a stomach ache, and made her way back to the hotel, declining Hibiki's offer to walk her to her room. She quickly made her way to the hotel, not waiting to see if Natsu was following her. She would have been completely contented if he had just realized she was heading to the hotel - alone - and would have let her be.

But as she approached her room, he had beat her, and now stood in her way, blocking her door so she couldn't escape him. She clenched her fingers around her key, fighting to hold back those tears that she blamed on the wind. She couldn't bring herself to think casually about him, especially with the way he leaned against her door, arms crossed, looking so nonchalantly that, had she not already known he'd been following her, she would have suspected he just wanted to hang out.

He looked at her and smiled, though she could tell it wasn't a "let's hang out" smile, but more of a "I know what you did" smile. He expected them to talk about this in the hallway.

She mentally shook her head, took a deep breath, and pasted a smile on her face, though she could tell he knew it was as forced as his. Neither of them were happy, and she knew this wasn't going to end well.

"Natsu, what a surprise," she said, slowly, carefully speaking each word so she wouldn't reveal just how close to crying she really was. "It's late. Shouldn't you be sleeping by now?"

"I was about ask you the same thing." When he spoke, his words were low, cold, and bit at her insides like a rabid dog, or an angry dragon. "It's late. You should have been back awhile ago."

Nodding, she moved to place her key in the knob, though she couldn't without standing so close to him. She could smell his masculinity, his own, unique smell that didn't smell half as bad as someone would imagine, and it set her insides on fire, like he was using his magic on her, though she knew it was just how he made her react. Magic had nothing to do with how she felt about him, or how her body reacted around him.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her nerves, but breathing so deeply, so close to him, made her nearly faint. She couldn't open the door with him standing there, or else she'd pass out and fall onto him. He didn't seem to have the intention to move at all, so she backed up until her back hit the wall across the hall, though it still wasn't far enough.

"What do you want?" she asked, clutching the key to her chest. "I'm really tired, so if you could please just tell me what you want, and leave so we can all get our rest…"

"Why were you with him?" he asked. Sighing, she reminded herself Natsu wasn't good at discretion, or beating around the bush. Straight to the point was his nature. "You're not really thinking about leaving Fairy Tail, are you?"

She took another deep breath, then shrugged, trying to act like it really wasn't that big of a deal. "It was just a date. And what makes you think I'm planning on leaving? You weren't spying on me, were you?"

He pushed off the wall, but kept his arms crossed over his chest. "Don't turn this around on me, you're the one we're talking about. How could you talk of leaving us after all we've been through? You're family. I can't believe after everything, after trying so hard to keep you with us, you want to leave. I thought you loved Fairy Tail?"

"That has nothing to do with my decision. I do love Fairy Tail, but-"

"Then why are you hanging around a pretty boy like that?" Natsu's tone grew louder as he spoke. "How can you just abandon us like that? What happened?"

"I have my reasons," Lucy answered, speaking louder than him. Her crying urges had been pushed down by her anger at his accusations. "Private reasons that have…nothing…to do with you." She couldn't say that her reasons had everything to do with him. He would demand more explanations that she just couldn't bring herself to explain, especially to him. "I'm tired, now will you please let me into my room?"

"Not until you tell me why."

Lucy dropped her hands to her sides, and clenched her fists tightly. Nothing she could think of would a liable reason why she wanted to quit, without telling him that it's because of him. How would he feel if she told him it was because he didn't love her like she loved him? How could she bring herself to even utter the words? Maybe she could tell him the reason without telling him who she's talking about? That seemed like a reasonable answer. All she had to do was open her mouth and speak…

"Because I can't stand to be around a man I care for." Her voice started cracking, but she closed her eyes tightly and concentrated on keeping her voice level. "I don't want to keep chasing after the man I want, but can't have."

"That's all?"

His quiet question opened her eyes, and she stared at him wide eyed. Didn't he know how hard it was for her to admit what she just said? And all he could say was something as heartless as that? She glared at him, and scoffed.

"Of course I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand. How could you? I mean, you've been ignorant this whole time, why should I expect you to understand now?" She gathered her nerves, and pushed passed him, unlocking her door and walked in. Before closing her door, she gave his bewildered look another thought, considering telling him the truth, but decided against it, and closed the door.

Natsu stood there, staring at the closed door in bewilderment. How could someone act so rashly to such a small thing? Hasn't she ever thought of telling the man she liked how she felt? Well, probably, considering she had to resort to such measures like leaving the guild she loved so dearly.

Who was it that she loved? There were so many possibilities that he couldn't just place his finger on one. Maybe she had feelings for someone who was already in a relationship? Or someone was older? Or maybe someone who just didn't see her like that? What if it was Gray? That was the worst possible person for her to be in love with, but it was still possible.

The thought of Gray hurting her enough for her to resort to leaving made Natsu's blood boil, his fists clench, and his teeth grind. How dare he hurt Lucy like that? He glanced down the hallway and thought for a moment about going to Mr. Cool Guy and putting him in his place. This was the matter of keeping Lucy in the guild! Of course Gray would see reason to let go of whatever pride he had and just accept Lucy for the woman she deserved to be treated as!

Then he let go of his clenched fists, and his features calmed. He couldn't be angry with Gray, well, not for something like this. He was actually relieved Gray turned Lucy down. She didn't deserve all that pressure of being with him. Imagine being in a relationship with a man who habitually stripped naked, and had a creepy stalker like Juvia? Lucy deserved so much better than that. Of course, that didn't mean for her to look outside the guild!

There were plenty of willing men who would love to have Lucy's favor, but, as he really thought about it, none of them were good enough for her, one way or another.

As Natsu stood pondering, a figure walked up behind him and stood there, watching as Natsu thought about what happened.

"Don't hurt yourself," Gray said. "If you haven't figured it out by now, you'll never figure it out."

Natsu turned around, his fists raised. " You want to run that by me again? What are you talking about?"

Gray shrugged. "I just meant that you're about to seriously injure yourself thinking about something that really doesn't require that much thought."

"You were listening?" Natsu glanced at Lucy's door. Of course, he should have at least let her into her room, and then followed her so they could have this conversation in private. No wonder she didn't want to tell him the reason she was leaving. She didn't want everyone to find out like that.

"I heard, yeah." Gray leaned against the wall where Lucy had previously stood. "I'm shocked. I had no idea it was this bad."

"What? She told you why she was leaving, too?"

"She didn't tell me why she was leaving, but after hearing her reason she gave to you I didn't know it was that bad. And I didn't realize you were so thick headed as to not understand what she meant."

"I know exactly what she meant."

"But do you know who she was talking about?"

That made Natsu hesitate. That's what Natsu was trying to figure out before Mr. Popsicle showed up.

"Do you?" he asked.

Gray shrugged again. "She told me a long time ago, but I didn't think that problem escalated to this level." He paused, and they stood in silence for a moment. "You should go in there and apologize."

"You think?"

Gray nodded, and without another word headed off toward his room. Before he entered his room, he turned toward Natsu. "I'll let Lisanna know you won't be meeting her later."

Natsu was taken aback, but before he could ask any further, Gray was in his room with the door closed. That's right, he had left Lisanna and Happy at the restaurant without a goodbye. As he thought about it, he was actually glad that he had to apologize to Lucy first. Anything to postpone what Lisanna wanted to do to him. Not that he didn't appreciate what she wanted to do, but the more he thought about it, the more nervous he became.

Natsu tried the door knob to Lucy's room, and wasn't surprised to find it locked. He could just break in, but then he thought of a better idea. It would feel so much like home if he were to just enter through the window, right? Maybe that little gesture might make her homesick and realize what a big mistake she's making and stay with the guild? He was willing to do anything to make her stay at this point.