AN: So this chapter won't have a lot of NaLu in it since I want to introduce other characters into this story. Cana is one of my all time favorite characters in Fairy Tail and I just love her and Lucy as friends. This will be a short chapter and I apologize for the late updating, my sister is leaving for college and we've been helping her for the past couple of days.

Anyways, again thank you to my reviewers and people who favorite this story.

New Characters. New Ages.

Cana: 23

Gildarts: 45

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Fairy Tail or Hapi Mari...

The Perfect Plan

Chapter 4: Cards

Natsu watched the heavy snow fall outside his window down to the city below. "Fuck." he muttered, running a hand through his salmon colored hair. He felt bad for leaving Lucy alone at home during this storm and he knew for a fact that he wasn't going to make it home, not in this weather. Taking comfort in the leather chair by his desk, he swiveled his way over to his glass desk.

Natsu looked over the shipping orders of Sabertooth's latest firearm demands. The famous weapons company always knew how to make themselves known throughout Fiore. Thanks to the work of the Dragons, they single handily toke out ever other firearm company such as Raven Tail International and Grimore Heart Tec.

The pink haired man sighed, signing off the paperwork for his cousin's company. All this work made Natsu want to claw his eyes out, especially when it came to the Dragons. No one really knew what his twisted family was like, and it was something he wanted to keep a secret, especially from Lucy.

Since Fairy Tail was responsible for all the over sea affairs for the Dragons, Natsu was forced to deal with his family more than he wanted to. Makarov offered Natsu a new company, one that was independently owned so he could live a normal life away from his family, but this company was his father's legacy and he couldn't just sit by and watched the Dragons swallow it whole.

"Hey squirt, what are you doing here?" Natsu's mood suddenly lightened, his eyes leaving the piles of paper work to see the familiar silhouette in the door frame. "Gildarts!" The very tall, very muscular man laughed, his dark eyed sparkling.

Gildarts Clive was one of Natsu's most trusted advisers for Fairy Tail Enterprises. He was one of Igneel's closest friends and has worked a long side Natsu ever since he inherited Fairy Tail. Natsu was also close to his daughter, Cana Alberano who was currently living a floor above him in the hotel.

Natsu stood from his desk, rolling up his white button up sleeves to his elbows before walking to his friend. "What brings you to Fairy Tail? I take it the talk with Acnologia went well." he said with his voice dripping with sarcasm. The reddish haired man smirked, crossing his arms. "That man doesn't not like listening to an outsider. Even when I was a kid, he hated hearing what Igneel and I had to say."

Natsu smirked, nodding his head slowly thinking of his dark haired uncle who had become corrupt after losing his son, Zeref to an accident. "How is he?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed slightly. Gildarts shrugged, walking to Natsu's open bar and pouring some scotch. "He's better when King isn't there. You know how those two are around each other."

Natsu nodded, taking the glass that Gildarts offered him. "To a not so successful merger." The older man sighed, a small smile on his face. "To marriage." Natsu said taking a sip of his drink, smirking at the face his adviser made. "Okay, son. I've got to hear this."

~o~o~o~

"And if you take a look at this storm, you will see that it won't be letting up until tomorrow night. It is clear to say that Magnolia will be having a day off." Lucy watched the heavy snow fall from the window while Happy wove through her feet. Natsu had gone to work before the storm hit and it was clear that he wasn't going to be making it home tonight.

The blonde let out a sigh of relief, looking down at Happy with a smile. Since that almost kiss with him in Fairy Tail's basement, Lucy had been purposely staying away from her newly wed husband. Just thinking about his hot breath on his face made her shiver, and not because the heating in the house stopped working due to the storm.

Lucy walked into her room and dressed herself in a pair of sweatpants and her favorite Fiore University sweatshirt. With a pair of bright neon blue fuzzy socks to make her small feet warm, she gathered a few blankets and walked back into the living area.

She sat down on the couch, the small blue cat following her and curling up on her toes as she channel surfed. She cocooned herself in a thick fleece blanket and curled up into ball for warmth. The blonde felt her eyes get heavy and muscles start to relax and stop shaking. She didn't even notice when sleep toke over her.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Lucy opened her eyes, sitting up to look at the clock. 12:35 pm. Lucy rolled herself from the blanket and wiped the sleep from her eyes. Knock. Knock. Knock. "Natsu! Open your damn door! I'm freezing my ass off out here!" Lucy froze in her place, staring at the door. Is it one of Natsu's old girlfriend's? She thought as she slid herself off of the couch and walked to the door.

Is Natsu still sleeping with other girls? I thought he talked about trust? Lucy thought tracing the golden door knob with her delicate fingers. Since the whole fiasco with Erza, Natsu has been even more distant. He had taken extra shifts at work and even neglected dinner with Makarov and her

She looked out the peep hole, seeing a beautiful brunette standing on the other side. She wore a scowl on her face and Lucy could visibly see her shaking form lack of heat. "Natsu! If you don't open this door I swear I'll-" Lucy unlocked the door and opened it, catching the brunette off guard. "Oh, usually that pink haired fool doesn't let you guys sleep over." she said, checking Lucy out up and down.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Lucy asked, pulling the fleece tighter around her body. The girl in front of her was stunning. She had olive skin, dark hair and dark, alluring eyes. Her outfit screamed sex; a tight, low cut blue top, showing off a lot of cleavage and skin tight black jeans with holes in them. Her Doc Martins were scuffed up and wore down.

"Do you need me to call you a cab?" she asked, smiling softly. Lucy's mouth dropped, "Excuse me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. The young woman, who looked around Lucy's age laughed. "Look, I've known Natsu for a long time, when he says "We can make this work", he's bullshitting you. You might as well leave while you can."

Lucy shook her head, obviously understanding what this girl thought she was. "No, no I'm not some slut he picked up on the street, I'm actually-" The girl cut her off, her dark brown eyes narrowed slightly. "Look, this guy is a playboy who will break your heart. I'm trying to be friendly even though you probably fucked his all night long with your weird moves that he probably enjoyed a little to much, but you seriously need to go if you have any bit of your sanity left."

Lucy was lost between the nagging of this woman and the constant meowing of Happy. She toke in a shaky breath, closing her coffee colored eyes for a moment before answering the woman. "I'm his wife." This caused the room to go silent. That was the first time Lucy had said it out loud. It didn't sound so bad actually. Maybe being called Lucy Dragneel now wasn't so bad. "Ha! That's rich!" the brunette laughed, clenching her stomach as she brushed past Lucy and walked into the apartment.

The blond watched as the woman threw her purse on the kitchen counter and open the refrigerator and pull out a can of beer. "So seriously, who are you?" she asked, cracking open the beer and taking a sip. Lucy watched in awe as the woman down the whole beer, setting the empty can on the counter. "I am Lucy Dragneel, Natsu's wife. We've been married for almost two weeks now, but Natsu needs it kept a secret." The brunette's eyebrows never fell as she looked Lucy up and down again. "Well, you don't look like all the other sorry, pathetic girls that have cried on my shoulders." she reminisced, opening another can of beer with a smile.

The room was silent, only the sound of cans opening and getting slammed on the counter could be heard through the tense air. "I do recall Erza mentioning to my father and I about the pink haired dumb ass tying the knot. Just didn't think it's be to someone so-" Lucy rolled her eyes, not this again. "Plain?" she guessed, crossing her arms over her large chest and glaring at the woman in front of her.

"I was going to say smart. I can tell you've worked hard in your life to get what you want. I'm really good at reading people." The blonde blinked, taking her eyes off the designer bag the woman was holding to see maybe she wasn't like everyone else. "I'm Cana by the way, Cana Alberano." she said raising a beer and gesturing to herself before taking a sip. Lucy smiled softly, "Lucy Heart-" she cleared her throat, "Lucy Dragneel."

Cana smiled, her brown eyes traveling around the apartment, "I take it you're the one cleaning this apartment?" The blonde nodded as she began picking up the empty beer cans. "Look," she began, "I'm sorry for just barging in like this. I usually feed Happy when Natsu is stuck in work like this." Lucy looked out the window, frowning at the thick snow still falling.

"So did your heating really quit on you?" Lucy asked, walking to the coffee brewer and starting it up. "Yeah. While my father was out trying to negotiate with the wrong type of people, I was in the Bahamas and being the lazy ass that he is, he didn't pay my heating bill." The blonde watched as Cana toke her half empty can of beer and moved to the living area.

Cana stopped, looking in the direction of the wall of pictures, taking a sip of her drink. Lucy takes her hot cup of coffee and walks to the woman's side. "Have you met them yet?" she asked, her eyes on a portrait of Natsu surrounded by four man and a small girl. "Who?" Lucy asked, taking in every image of the people.

Natsu was in between a tall, broad shouldered man with long, black hair with dozens of piercings on his face and a smaller, but still well built man with light blonde hair. Beside the blonde man was another with dark hair and a calm look on his face. Beside him was another dark haired man with bangs that covered his face. The only one smiling in the picture was the young girl. She sat on the ground, her long midnight blue hair and her face in a bright smile. She looked familiar.

"The Dragons, or should I say their offspring." Cana said in a disgusted voice, a sneer present on her face. "The Dragons?" Lucy asked, turning her head to look at the girl, her eyebrows furrows in curiosity. "They own every major corporation in Fiore. Fairy Tail Enterprises, Sabertooth CO., Cait Shelter Inc., and Phantom Lord Railways just to name a few." Lucy swallowed, Phantom Lord was the company that bought out her father's when she was younger.

"So I'm guessing you haven't met them, huh?" Cana asked, smirking slightly. Lucy nodded, taking a sip of her coffee with her eyes still on the group of Dragon offspring. "Natsu's never even mentioned." The blonde felt her shoulders drop and mood suddenly falter.

Natsu has never mentioned his family before, let alone who really ran Fairy Tail. Do the Dragons really run everything? What kind of power do the Dragons really have? Is this why Natsu was afraid his cousin would take over Fairy Tail?

"You're upset." Cana said, gesturing to her with the empty beer can in her hand. "Huh?" The brunette smiled and toke Lucy by the arm and dragged her to the couch. "Trust me, I am amazing at reading people. You know tarot cards, right?" Lucy watched as Cana rummaged through her bag, pulling out a scarlet box with gold trim. A large C was hand painted in calligraphy on the roof of the box.

"These little sweethearts are exactly what you need." Cana sighed, tracing the C before opening the box. She held out the thick deck of cards to Lucy. The cards were a beautiful silver shade with delicate royal blue and scarlet red designs on them. "Split them." Lucy looked hesitant.

"I don't know..." The blonde said, pulling Happy off of the ground and into her lap. "Oh, come on. I'm a natural at this. Split them twice. Do it!" She persisted, running to the fridge and pulling out a few more cans of beer and rushing back to the couch. Lucy slipt the deck, shuffling them slowly. She didn't really know what was going on. She truly didn't know who Cana was or what she was capable of, but right now she couldn't find the energy to care.

"Did you shuffle them?" she edged, taking the coffee away from Lucy and handing her a beer. The blonde nodded opening the beer hesitantly and taking a sip, which turned into a chug. Cana toke the cards back from Lucy and set them on her knee. "Take a card." Lucy reached out and grabbed a card.

Lucy had only had her future told once, at the Magnolia Harvest Festival when she was six years old. Her mother had just gotten sent to the hospital and the woman looked similar to Cana, even had the same cards, but she predicted a terrible loss for Lucy, but later in her future, she would game something even better.

The blonde held out the card, watching Cana furrow her brows and get a thought filled look on her beautiful face. "The Five of Disks..." she murmured, looking up towards the victim of her reading. "You were worried about something, you were worried about losing something...money...employment...lovers..."

Lucy bit her lip, she understood how worry was the card that represented her past. She had always had walls up since her mother's death, worrying about the tiniest thing. It wasn't until he came along, she let down her guard and found herself with a broken heart. Since Phantom Lord Railways bought his company, she had always worried about her father's financial position. Even now, she worries. Who were the Dragons? Are they capable of hurting people? What if they hurt Natsu? When will it stop?

"Pull another card." Cana ordered, setting the card down on the table. Lucy pulled another card from the deck, holding it to her new found friend. "The Seven of Cups." Her small hands take the card from Lucy's, holding it only inches from her face. "You have a dilemma, a choice. This card symbolizes the powerful choices us humans have to make. It may make a difference, it may not."

A choice? She already made a choice, didn't she? She is in a loveless married with her boss who controls her father's financial future. This was a selfless choice she made for the well being of not only her father, but her too.

"And now for the future card. Pick." Lucy swallowed thickly, her eyes staring at the deck of cards laying only inches from her crossed legs. Lucy felt suddenly opposed to the cards. They're just pieces of papers and Cana was just a normal woman."I really don't need to know my future. It's alright, really. I've heard enough..." she mumbled, diverting her eyes away from Cana's strict face.

"Lucy." the brunette said in a stern voice. "I can't stop a reading at the best part. Pick a damn card." Happy meowed in agreement, his eyes as stern as Cana's. Biting her lip, Lucy picked up a card and held it out to her reader. "The Hanged Man."

Cana toke the card and stared at it for a moment. "Sacrifice. Surrender. This card shows a man with no struggle as he hangs from a tree by a rope tied around his foot. He is calm, surrendering to the acts of the universe. There is no act of rebelling, they are living life in submission."

Life in submission? Would this constant worrying stop? Was her choice the right thing? Lucy grabbed the card, looking it over with her own eyes, tracing each calm feature of the man's calm face with her coffee colored eyes. "See? Not so bad?" Cana smirked against the can of beer she had been drinking from.

Lucy felt her lips turn into a smile for a second before her cell phone began to ring. Not recognizing the number, she asked. "Hello?"

"Lucy? So this is your number. I got it from your records but I wasn't sure if you changed it or not." It was Natsu. Cana must have recognized his phone voice because she let out a loud laugh before taking the phone out of Lucy's grasp. "Hiya Natsu! You bastard, you didn't tell me you were married!" The blonde felt the room's air lighten, hearing Natsu laugh and stutter on the other line as she explained the situation to Cana. Lucy loved his laugh...

"Oh, so you're doing this whole thing to say fuck you to The Dragons, huh?" Cana mused, taking a small sip of beer, smiling at his response. "Yeah, she's still next to me. I can't believe you haven't told her about your family, I mean even I know about the psychos. I felt like the wife coming home to find the mistress of my husband, I mean jeez."

Lucy felt her smile falter slightly. Cana spoke so easily to Natsu while she could barely even get more than a dozen words to him. Was it going to be like this forever? "Okay, well I'm gonna let you talk all lovey dovey to your wife now. Alright, see ya around dumb ass. Okay, bye." Lucy toke the phone and pressed it to her ear. "H-hey again." she said with red cheeks. "Hey, how are you doing? Is the house really cold? Cana said her heating was off, is ours?"

"Yeah. I have a few blankets though, and the power still works so I've been making coffee all morning." she answered back, opening up a can of beer and taking a sip. "That's good, I don't want you getting a cold. We're eating with my family this weekend. They all want to meet you."

Lucy swallowed thickly, she was going to be meeting the Dragons in less than three days? How was she suppose to act? What was she suppose to wear? "Are you serious?" she asked, twirling a blonde strand of hair around her index finger.

"Yes, Makarov and my grandfather have a meeting and he wants all of the offspring there too. It's mandatory." Lucy noticed the lack of emotion on her husband's voice once he spoke of his family. "Make sure you stay healthy. Take a hot bath and stay warm until this storm passes. I'll be home tomorrow morning."

"Okay." The blonde frowned, hearing the other line go dead. She blinked, looking at the phone and sighing softly. "He doesn't mean to be harsh." Cana insisted, smiling softly, "He really doesn't want your to get involved in those bastards. They're heartless and cruel. He cares for you to much to let you get hurt. Trust me, that's just who the dumb ass is."

Lucy stayed silent the rest of the time Cana was over, a blush present on her cheeks. She spoke of how her and Natsu met and where they went to school. The blonde's mood lightened, hearing all of the fights and near expulsions he faced throughout his four years of high school. Lucy asked about the woman in the picture with the salmon colored hair, she didn't have the guts to ask her husband.

"That's Gaea Dragneel, she was Natsu's mother. Unfortunately she died a few days after he was born. The dumb ass was raised by his father, which explains his fiery attitude and fucking pride. But when he was twelve, his father, Igneel suddenly disappeared. He was raised by Makarov after that, of course under careful watch from the Dragons."

The brunette smiled sadly, her eyes losing their normal cheery sparkle. "That's how he and I bonded, through the loss of our mothers and lack of fatherly guidance. I wouldn't expect you to understand..." Lucy's pink glossed lips turned up into a small smile as she put a hand on Cana's shoulder.

"I lost my mom when I was seven. My dad wasn't much of a father anyways, I practically was raisied by the workers in our house." The two girl's brown eyes met, a small sputter leaving Cana's lips, a few droplets of beer flying out of her mouth too. The sudden sound made Lucy giggle, putting her can of beer to her lips as well.

The tense air was gone once the girls started talking about things other than Natsu. They both shared an interest in shopping, traveling and going to salons. Lucy found herself grateful that Cana's heating went out, if it didn't, there would be no one to talk to about her recent troubles. Wit Cana's help, Lucy found this journey much more bearable.

AN: I apologize a hundred times for my lack of updating but as I explained in the top author note, I've been helping out with my sister with moving into her dorm and other shit like that.

I truly rushed this and I know it. I tried making Lucy grateful and yet jealous of Cana because of her history with Natsu. No, not sexual, just a friendship.

Next chapter I swear will be more interesting. I will finally bring in the Dragons and yes, that means Sting and Rouge. God, they're gorgeous! Until then, please review and favorite.