Bickslow stared after her for a moment, sure that she was part of his imagination until he heard her heels clicking on the tile. Shaking himself, he ran after her, catching up to her just as she reached the door. He quickly grabbed her arm, pulling her close to him.

"Lucy," He breathed, happy just be able to touch her again. "Why are you here?"

She stiffened under him and replied sharply, "Laxus and the rest of the Thunder Legion are worried about you. I thought maybe you would be here so I came here to look for you."

Bickslow let out one of his famous grins, "And you found me."

She nodded, "So I did."

The two fell silent as they stared at each other. A million thoughts ran through Bickslow's mind as he held the blonde beauty. He knew that she was with Gray, but why would she care where he was unless she still had feelings for him? He quickly did the calculations and decided that no matter the outcome what he was about to do next would be worth it. He bent forward and kissed her gently on the lips.

Lucy blinked in surprise. When she had decided to check the amusement park she really hadn't expected to find Bickslow and she definitely hadn't expected him to kiss her like he was now. Nor had she thought for a moment that she would be kissing him back. His hand let go of her arm only so that both arms could wrap around her, pulling her close to him as her fingers instinctively caught in his hair.

For a moment she lost herself in the kiss. Remembering how wonderful it had been to be with him, how easy their relationship had been. Kissing him was as natural as breathing, where as with Gray -

Her eyes slammed opened as she pulled away at the thought of Gray. How could she forget about him, the only one who'd been able to save her from herself when Bickslow had left her heartbroken only months ago. She jerked away from the Seith Mage in anger.

"You almost fooled me," She whispered. "But I have Gray now."

Bickslow blinked in surprise, he hadn't been trying to fool anyone, he'd just wanted to kiss her one last time.

"Does he make you happy?" He demanded.

Lucy stared for a moment, but in that moment Bickslow saw how unhappy she was. How much she missed him. He smiled softly, knowing that he at least had a chance then. Lucy wasn't one to stay where she was unhappy.

"Of course he makes me happy," She finally snapped. "Why wouldn't he?"

Bickslow grinned wickedly, "Well, does he kiss you, like this?"

He bent his head and kissed her deeply once more.

"Does he keep you safe? Does he hold you like this?" He asked, wrapping his arms around her.

"Does he make your heart race like this?"

He took her hand and put it to his chest so she could feel the rapid pulse underneath.

"Because I do all of that to you, and in return you do it to me," He whispered softly, allowing her to pull away.

She looked at him in confusion before turning toward the door, "It doesn't matter what you feel, Bickslow. I'm with Gray and I'm not going to leave him for a flake like you."

He watched as she disappeared out the door and out of his life once more.

Lucy walked back to the guild on shaking legs.

Damn! Why does he do this to me? What kind of game is Bickslow playing at? Just when I started to feel happy again, too.

She stormed into the guild and over to where Laxus was sitting, his eyes closed as he listened to whatever was on his sound pod. She stood in front of him, glaring as he opened one eye and looked up at her.

"What's up, Blondie?" He asked, removing his headphones.

"Bickslow's at the abandoned Amusement Park on Jupiter Street. Don't ever ask me to find him again," She snapped before marching away to sit with her friends.

"You okay, Lucy?" Gray asked, wrapping an arm around her.

"Fine," She snapped, then slumped. "Sorry, Gray. I don't mean to take it out on you, I'm just cranky because I had to do something I really didn't want to do."

He looked at her in concern, but didn't ask, just pulled her closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder.

Bickslow sank to the floor after Lucy left, running a hand through his hair. He'd pushed too hard and he knew it, but he couldn't help himself, he wanted her back desperately. Sighing he shifted into a more comfortable position, wondering what he could possibly do to win back the only girl who'd made him feel good about himself.

So captivated by his planning was he that he didn't even hear the footfalls or notice when a heavy man sat down next to him until he spoke.

"So, you gonna tell me what all this is about or what?" Laxus grunted. "You're not one to mope after all."

Bickslow looked up in surprise, "I wasn't moping."

"Sure, whatever," Laxus rolled his eyes. "I don't get it Bix. You and Lucy were together a long time and she truly made you happy. So what the hell happened? You just wake up one day and decide that you didn't want to be happy anymore or what? Because it's obvious to everyone that you're miserable without her."

Bickslow shrugged, "I was stupid. I thought it would be better if we were apart."

Laxus looked at him incredulously, "You're kidding right? What on earthland would make you think that?"

Bickslow sighed, "It's a long story."

"We got time."

So Bickslow explained everything to the only person other than Lucy that he'd ever opened up to. He told Laxus how Lucy had been pregnant and how happy the two of them had been about it as they planned for the baby's future, how they had agreed to keep it secret until they were past the danger area and how, on the day they were finally going to announce the news, Lucy had lost the baby.

"After that everything was different. I'm sure she blames me just as much as I blame myself for not being there," Bickslow said sadly, trying to keep his tears from falling. "I couldn't even look her in the eye and everything she did made me so angry. How could she pretend to want to be with me? To want to try again? I knew that she was upset, but she kept putting on this fake smile like everything was going to be okay. So I lashed out at her constantly until I knew I had to end it or else one of us was going to really hurt the other one. That was the worst day of my life."

Laxus rolled his eyes, slapping Bickslow on the back of the head.

"You idiot, did you ever stop to think for a moment that maybe Lucy blames herself for the loss? Maybe she's just as guilt ridden as you are and thinks you left her because you blamed her for losing the baby."

Bickslow's eyes widened, he hadn't even considered that possibility, being too wrapped up in his own guilt.

"I've got to talk to her right away and explain," He said, standing up quickly. "She needs to know the truth about how I feel - about everything."

Laxus shook his head as he watched his friend run out into the street.

Sometimes, that boy is an idiot.