Yuletide Lessons
Chapter 12
December 22nd
"For the last time no Natsu, these are for the children in the orphanage. You'll just have to wait." Mira shooed Natsu out the kitchen door. "If you're that starving I'll fix you something in a little while, now get. We have a lot to do before we're ready and you still have things to put up out there."
"Aww Mira, those look so good though." He whined as the door swung closed.
Lucy laughed softly and shook her head. Didn't matter what was happening around them Natsu would always remain the same, goofy, lovable and always hungry. "I'll fix you something ok Natsu?"
"You're the best Luce, thanks!" His muffled reply came from behind the door.
The girls shook their heads and shared a laugh.
"He'll never change," Mira mused, rolling out some dough for the sugar cookies.
"Ya know I don't think I'd ever want him to change, things just wouldn't be the same around here." Kinana murmured.
Laki snorted as she cut shapes in the dough. "Boy that's for sure. That would be like Gray never stripping again."
"Perish the thought Laki!" Lucy gasped in mock outrage.
Sharing another laugh they delved back into their cooking. Every year Fairy Tail makes a huge feast and shops for some gifts for the local orphanage. They all deliver everything the day before Christmas clad in costumes much to the enjoyment of the kids. Master Makarov makes a rather small and grumpy Santa, but still smiles for the children while everyone else is dressed as an elf. Lucy rather liked her elf costume, seeing that she'd fixed the lines to fit more towards her body and helped some of the other girls as well. She always loved dressing up and to get to do so and bring smiles to a child's face was the best gift she could ask for.
She frowned as the thought of gifts inadvertently brought up her immediate situation. Her hands moved automatically as she once again got lost within her thoughts only to jump when someone laid their hand upon her arm. She squeaked in surprise until her eyes meet warm hazel and slumps down in relief.
"Geez Levy, you're bound and determined to scare me into an early grave aren't you?" She laughed nervously.
Levy cocks her head and studied the blond. "You know Lu, it's not like you to space out this much, this has you really worried huh?"
Lucy nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty much always on my mind. It seems I can never go too long without something bringing it back up again."
"Well don't worry Lu. As soon as Rogue shows up I'll do some interrogating and we'll figure out just what he feels for you."
"Oh Levy, you know you don't have to..."
"Think nothing of it. You're a part of our family and I promised to help, so I will."
Lucy sighed and went back to stirring the stew in her pot. "I'm not even sure he's gonna be here today. He's had a few things to do over the past few days so..."
"LUCY!"
Suddenly a green blur flung the door open with a bang, flew into the kitchen at high speeds and connected with Lucy's stomach forcing the air out of her lungs in a whoosh.
"OOF! What the?"
"Fro missed you!" The green blur shouted, her little voice muffled by Lucy's apron until she lifted her head to look up at the blonde with a grin.
The other girls smiled and said their hellos as well. They all loved the cute little cat and always welcomed her.
"Fro!" She squealed happily, tossing the exceed into the air and catching her and hugged her to her chest. "I missed you too! Where's Rogue?"
"Right here." Lucy's eyes snapped to the kitchen door and spotted Rogue leaning against the door jam with a small smile on his face. He nodded to the girls as they said their hellos politely and fixed his stare back on the blonde who was flushing under his scrutiny. All the while Levy looked between the two, noticing every subtle twitch between them with narrowed eyes.
"We had a few things to do in town." He explained with a smile.
Mira watched it all from the corner of her eye and she turned with a secretive smile. "Hey Rogue?" He turned to regard her with a curious look. "We're so swamped in here that I don't have time to go out there and oversee the decorations, would you mind going out there and keeping an eye on things?"
He stood there uncertainly for a moment. "Are you sure? I'm still really new to all this Christmas stuff."
Mira waved her hand. "Oh don't worry. All you'd have to do is make sure things get set up properly and if the guys get out of line like say, Natsu or Gray again, then you could break them up no sweat. Or come get me and I'll break them up."
He looked from Mira to Lucy and back again. "You're sure?"
"Yeah, you'll be a great help to me if you did and I'll even make you something in return. I'll bring it out to you in a bit."
Rogue nodded and with a small smile walked back out the door, Fro on his heels.
Mira caught Lucy's eye and she smirked. "All it takes is the mention of free food and they always say yes."
With a laugh the girls went back to cooking as Levy sidled up closer to Lucy. "I think I'm gonna go see what I can do out there since I can't cook to save my life."
She winked at Lucy, making her way out the door as well.
Lucy knew that was her subtle way of saying she would begin the interrogation, and hurried out with some stew for Natsu and Rogue. Perhaps if she could get out there in time she could catch some of what would be said.
"I'll take Rogue out some stew along with Natsu, Mira." She said balancing a tray with two bowls and a smaller one for Happy, some bread and drinks as she opened the door.
"Thanks Lucy." Mira replied, adding more flour to the mix with a secretive smile.
She spotted Natsu and Happy as they helped hang mistletoe along the ceiling, but her eyes continued scanning the room, finally landing on Rogue who was standing to the side watching Gray do some magic. She immediately saw Levy who had used the excuse of watching Gray perform as well to get close to him as she set the food down for Natsu.
"Natsu, I've got your food here!" She shouted.
Natsu leapt off the ladder with a grin and plopped down to start shoveling in the food mumbling his thanks as Happy dipped some bread in his.
Lucy nodded absently as she sat down across from Natsu, her attention focused on the trio a few feet away. She tilted her head and strained to hear as they spoke.
"So Rogue, how have you been? Everyone been treating you ok?"
"Yes, everyone's been very welcoming."
"I hope you don't think we hold anything against you for what happened at the GMG."
Rogue turned to regard her with a questioning look.
"Yeah, that wasn't your fault ya know." Cana piped up with a hand on her hip as she approached.
"How did you..." He faltered.
"Oh come on. Every time we saw you it always seemed to be there in your eyes when you looked at Lucy. A haunted look that doesn't need to be there." Cana leveled a stern gaze at him.
"But..."
"Look, Lucy doesn't blame you for what Minerva did nor what your future self did, so why would we?" Cana interrupted. "But I do need to know one thing."
He swallowed hard as she stepped closer, her eyes narrowing. "And what would that be?" He asked hesitantly.
"Cana, be nice." Levy warned.
"I wanna know what your intentions are for Lucy."
Lucy abruptly choked, swallowing wrong worrying Natsu and he moved to smack her back, asking if she was alright. She couldn't believe Cana would just come out and word it like that, but then again this is Cana she was talking about. She smiled weakly at Natsu and waved his hands away saying she was ok as she craned her neck, trying to hear his response.
"Cana! You can't just come out and ask something like that!" Levy hissed, but secretly relieved she didn't have to dance around the subject.
"Why not? It's what everyone is wondering and if I don't like what he says I'm getting the boys on his ass."
"I'm sure he's not thinking of anything bad Cana." Levy frowned and noticed Rogue relax somewhat seeing her come to his defense.
"Well that's for him to tell me not you, so how about you tell me what you want with her hmm?"
Lucy could see Rogue tensing up as he shifted his weight and she braced herself, leaning over more and more trying to see and hear. 'Just a bit more and I'll...'
"CANA!"
"EEK!" Lucy shrieked falling off her stool worrying Natsu and Happy again, they leaned over the table to glance down at her with twin frowns.
"You're sure acting funny today Luce." Natsu muttered.
"Aye, weirder than usual!" Happy shouted.
"Oh shut up you damn cat!" She huffed as she scrambled to her feet and glanced to where Rogue had been only to see Gray standing by himself.
"But… where?" She swiveled her head around frantically.
"Luce, you feeling ok? Maybe you'd better go home and lay down." Natsu insisted as he felt her head only for her to swat his hand away and grumble as she stalked back to the kitchen.
Lucy zeroed in on Levy who was stirring the pot of stew and made a beeline for her.
"Levy, what did he say?" She whispered.
Lucy frowned as Levy tensed and gave her a sheepish smile. "Yeah, he never got the chance to answer when Mira butted in to yell at Cana for completely consuming all the alcohol we had specially ordered for the party."
Lucy slumped in defeat. "You've gotta be kidding me."
Levy frowned and nodded sadly. "I'm sorry Lu."
Lucy rubbed her temples and sighed. "It's not your fault Levy. Seems like everything in the universe is against me lately. I Guess I'll have to just find out for myself."
Levy's eyes widened. "Oh Lucy, you shouldn't do that."
"Why?" She asked confused. She'd been on board with that plan before, what changed now?
Levy faltered, her eyes darting around wildly. "W-well because… because..."
"Lucy."
Both girls jumped with a shriek and turned to see Erza with a knowing look to her face.
Lucy smiled faintly at her teammate as her heart still thudded in her ears. "Yes Erza, what can I do for you?"
"Mira asked me to make the gingerbread men, but I've never done those before and since I know you're a great cook I was wondering if you'd help me?"
"Of course I'll help you Erza." Lucy nodded, forgetting all about her earlier dilemma as she followed the redhead to her station. Erza turned back to give Levy a look before listening to Lucy's instructions. Levy bit her lip as Mira gave her the same look and a nod. 'Oh why does everything have to be so complicated?' Levy wailed to herself, her eyes on her best friends back.
Lucy sighed as she slumped back against her door. "What a day." She muttered.
"And I still don't know what's going on!" She shouted. Peeling off her outer layers she made her way into the living room glumly, thinking that she would sit there and admire the tree for a while and maybe she'd feel better.
She plopped onto the sofa and stretched with a yawn, only to freeze seeing something sitting on her coffee table that she knew hadn't been there in the morning. Reaching over she grabbed it and studied the object. "It's a music box, but not one of mine." She turned the key and listened as the gentle sounds of the dance of the sugar plum fairy played for a moment with a smile until she noticed a piece of paper that had been taped to the bottom of the box. Lucy unfolded the paper and scanned the words.
"You're like the sweetest music to my soul." She murmured, the words bringing smile to her face as the music box continued to play for her. She rested her head against the back of the couch, her eyes met the warm glow of the tree and suddenly her worries felt like they'd never been there in the first place. She still wanted to know who it was giving her these wonderful gifts, but it no longer felt like an obsession. Maybe all this fretting was doing nothing more than adding to her stress and the thought of taking Mira's advice sounded more and more like a better idea.
Worrying endlessly over something she can't control would just drive her crazy and she wanted to be having fun during this time with Rogue and Frosch instead of driving herself mad. It's not like she could control what was going to happen anyways.
"It's time to quit focusing on myself and to make sure this is the best Christmas I can give those two." She mumbled as her eyes grew heavy, her eyes never straying from the twinkling lights on the tree.
(¯`¥´¯`·.¸.:¨NIchiki ¨:.¸.·´¯`¥´¯)
