Disclaimer: All rights of Fairy Tail go to Hiro Mashima. I do not own this.

Chapter 4: A New Catalytic Converter

Lucy blinked slowly, not really understanding how she'd ended up in the arms of a stranger. Her brief moment of shock at running into a man with pink hair only lasted a few seconds before she was suddenly back to her panicked-mother state. "You've seen my son, right?" she asked, sounding very close to desperate.

She honestly had no clue why she thought this man would have seen Haru when he was behind the building, but she hoped that maybe he'd seen the child run by outside. Maybe the loud noise had drawn this man just like her and he'd seen her son while he stood over some broken item giving his famous, much too angelic smile he'd learned from his father whenever he was about to get into trouble.

The man paused and seemed to need a few extra seconds to process what she'd said. His eyes flicked back to her hand and his mouth twisted before he shook his head. "No…I've been out back…"

It was then, while looking into this stranger's eyes, that Lucy's panic seemed to double and the first shot of fear pulled at her heart. Her stomach twisted painfully and Lucy felt like she was sinking into herself, like she had when she'd turned around and couldn't spot the tall man with reddish-brown hair over the crowd.

Lucy closed her eyes and shook those thoughts from her head. No. She wouldn't think about that now, not when she needed to focus on Haru. She frantically looked around the back lot for her son but she couldn't spot that familiar head of hair. "My son was with me in the office. I turned around for one second and then he was gone! Where is he?"

He jumped slightly and shifted on his feet. "Uh…I don't know-"

She cut him off to turn and look around the back lot. "Haru! Answer me!" Her eyes scanned the tree line then darted back to the garage, as though he might have magically reappeared. Turning back to the man, who she assumed to be the mechanic Yukino was talking about, Lucy jabbed a finger at his chest.

"Have you seen my son? He's a little boy about this tall, with short, reddish-brown hair. H-he was wearing a yellow shirt with a lion on it! And his shoes light up on the side with-"

She stopped suddenly, her arms, which had been waving around her head frantically as she gestured about her son, fell limp at her sides when the mechanic grabbed her shoulders for the second time in a few short minutes and gave her a slight shake. She looked up into his face, all his cheerful joy was replaced by a serious expression, though his confusion was still there.

"Hey, slow down there. Can't understand ya when you talk so fast."

He cautiously let go of her, as though he was worried she'd start freaking out again if he wasn't holding her. "Okay. Now take a few deep breaths…"

She did, following his motions as he raised one hand when she inhaled and lowered it when she exhaled. It helped calm her down a little and she tried to listen to the part of her mind that reminded her they were in Magnolia. Where strangers treated each other like family and next to no crime ever happened. As much as she wanted to freak out she knew her panicking wouldn't help the situation at all.

The man nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. "Alright?" he asked. She nodded and took one last deep breath.

"You said yer son's missin'? Where'd you last see him?"

For some odd reason, Lucy took particular notice of his drawl. It wasn't as thick as some of the others she'd heard, but the way he clipped off certain words while lengthening out others caught her attention. While Magnolia was technically a southern town it wasn't often people spoke with the typical thick accents the south was known for. Her brother didn't have a drawl, nor had her father who grew up even further south than Magnolia.

Lucy had never admitted it before, but she rather liked a southern drawl. Something about it made her feel almost…safe. Like she'd never have to worry if her car broke down on the side of the road because he'd be able to find her and fix it. What was it her mother had called men with southern accents? Good-old-boys. Lucy shook her head to clear her thoughts. What was wrong with her? She needed to focus.

"Right. We were in the front office," she explained in a voice sounding much calmer than she felt. "He was right behind me, and then I heard something fall and when I turned around he was gone!"

"Okay, okay," he said and held up his hands. He paused and rubbed his chin, absently spreading some grease and dirt over his jawline. "Well…I threw some old rims in the scrap pile. You think he got scared from that and ran off?"

Lucy blinked. Had this man just asked if her son had run off at some loud noise like a frightened puppy? She conveniently forgot to mention how the same sound made her nearly jump out of her skin, but that wasn't going to help find her son now was it.

Forcing herself to remain calm she looked up at him and practically growled, "No. Haru's a seven year old boy. Not a timid puppy."

He gave a nervous grin and rubbed the back of his neck, no doubt smearing more grease over himself. "Well, maybe he went-"

"Mom!"

Lucy all but shoved the mechanic aside when she heard Haru's voice. She bolted past him to where her son was walking out from behind…a camper?

"Mom, mom! Look what I found!" he shouted as he started to raise his hands to show her something but Lucy didn't even glance at it as she grabbed Haru's shoulders and frantically pulled him into a hug. Haru's eyes widened. "M-mom?"

"Haru! You scared me…" Lucy pulled back slightly to give him a quick look over, checking that he wasn't hurt. She cupped his face and gently wiped some dirt from his cheek. "Don't ever run off like that again, Haru. Understand. What if something happened to you? How could I find you if I didn't know where you were?"

Haru nodded, his chin quivering slightly at Lucy's scared tone. His mother was rarely scared and Haru knew if his mom was worried it was never a good thing. "S-sorry mom," he mumbled. Haru lowered his eyes and shifted his feet in the dirt.

Lucy sighed, both in relief and to help calm herself down, and pulled Haru back into a crushing hug, kissing the top of his head and rubbing soothing circles on his back. He hadn't meant to scare her, she knew, and Lucy didn't want this little hiccup to ruin their good day so she decided to not dwell on it. Her moment of panic over, Lucy knew she'd overreacted and she didn't want to think too much about why that was. Though she had a good idea.

Thoughts about the last time she'd lost sight of someone she loved came back to mind, and Lucy forcefully pushed them away before they became too much.

"I forgive you," she said and pulled back slightly to look down at him, her expression serious and a little stern. "But we are going to have a talk about this later tonight, young man."

Haru nodded, knowing better than to argue when his mom used that tone. Pulling Haru closer against her, Lucy let out a surprised squeak when she felt something wriggle against her chest and heard a muffled mewl. Only then did she realize that what Haru had been carrying was moving. Leaning back slightly, Lucy looked down and saw a small kitten clutched tightly to Haru's chest. And it was blue.

A blue cat? Never seen one like that before, she mused.

"Who's this?" Lucy asked, reaching out to scratch under the little creature's chin and making it purr.

Haru grinned. "Isn't he cool mom? He's blue!" Haru said it like it was the most exciting discovery one had ever made. As though Lucy couldn't very well see that the kitten was indeed blue.

"You're old teacher had blue hair," Lucy pointed out.

Haru cringed, his small nose wrinkling at the thought of his stern, and often rude, teacher back in Crocus. "Yeah, but she wasn't a cat."

Haru said it like it was supposed to mean something and Lucy smiled and rolled her eyes while Haru carefully stroked the kitten's fur.

So that's where he rushed off to in such a hurry, she thought. Lucy smirked to herself thinking how that mechanic thought Haru had run off from a loud noise when it was probably why the kitten had run away instead. Her eyes widened and she gasped when she remembered the mechanic. Spinning on her heal, Lucy winced when she saw him trying to get out of a pile of buckets filled with sawdust.

"Oh my gosh!" Hurrying over to his side, Lucy helped the man to his feet. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to push you that hard. I just saw Haru and didn't think about anything else." She glanced away, a slight blush tinging her cheeks from her embarrassment. "I may have overreacted…" she mumbled under her breath.

He waved off her concern, shaking sawdust from his hair and he tugged off his hat and ran a hand through the pink locks. "Don't worry 'bout it. When my sister got lost at the fair my mom chipped the mayor's tooth getting to the megaphone."

He snickered at some past memory, showing off his sharp canines again and Lucy found herself smiling back, though she wasn't sure why. "Must be a mom thing," he said.

"Yes. I suppose it is."

"Moooom." Haru tugged on Lucy's shirt with one hand still firmly holding the kitten. She turned and looked down at him, reaching out to run her fingers through his hair at his slightly whining tone.

"Yes, Haru."

He raised the kitten up so Lucy found herself staring at pair of large, black eyes and a little pink nose. The little thing yawned and rubbed one white paw over his short nose before licking it and rubbing his eyes. Lucy had to admit, the thing was pretty damn cute.

"If he's blue, do you think he's magic?"

Before Lucy could correct his grammatical error, the mechanic knelt down and gave Haru the brightest, most genuine grin Lucy had seen on him yet. "'Course Happy's magical!" He leaned in slightly and his grin turned a little mischievous. "You wanna hear a secret, kiddo?"

Haru nodded looking just as excited as the man in front of him until his eyes widened and he seemed to remember something. Glancing up at Lucy, Haru reached out and grabbed her shirt again while holding the kitten to his chest.

"Mom says I can't talk to strangers," he stated seriously.

The mechanic blinked and looked genuinely confused for a second before his smile was back. "Ah, that's right." He held out his tanned hand to the small boy in front of him, "Name's Natsu Dragneel. Pleasure to meet ya."

Haru glanced back at Lucy again, unsure of what to do. She smiled and nudged his back. "Introduce yourself," she said.

Haru nodded and turned back to Natsu. Taking the man's hand in his, Lucy couldn't help but smile at how Haru's hand all but disappeared in Natsu's much, much larger one. She did not smile at the grease stains now marring her son's skin, however.

"Hello, Mr. Dragneel. My name is Haru Heartfilia."

Lucy practically beamed with pride at how well-mannered her son was. His father was always going on and on about being a proper gentleman and it was nice to see some of it had rubbed off on Haru. Natsu smirked, and for a brief moment his dark eyes flicked up to Lucy filled with amusement.

"Mr. Dragneel, huh?" He grinned while she only shrugged. He turned back to Haru, "Well, Haru. Now that I ain't a stranger you wanna hear that secret?"

Haru nodded, leaning forward when Natsu motioned for him to come closer to whisper in his ear. "Happy here hatched from an egg."

Haru's eyes widened. "Really?"

Natsu nodded. "Yep. Jumped right out and nearly scratched my nose."

Haru snickered as he looked down at the kitten. Lucy could just make out him whisper something along the lines of 'knew he was magic,' before Happy managed to wiggle his way out of Haru's arms and darted over to the shade of a nearby tree. Haru wasted no time in following the blue kitten, nodding when Lucy told him not to go too far.

This time she kept a close eye on him as she talked to Natsu. "Hatched from an egg, huh." she said, raising an eyebrow.

He only shrugged as he stood back up. She hadn't realized it before, with all the panicking and accidental shoving, but he was rather tall, his chin level with her forehead. And muscular, from what she could see under his white t-shirt and the plaid shirt he'd left unbuttoned over it. Lucy honestly felt a little proud she'd managed to shove him to the ground.

"Egg. Egg crate. Same thing."

Lucy laughed. "Well, thank you for…humoring him." She looked back at her son happily twirling a blade of grass in front of Happy's nose and laughing when the kitten tried to swipe at it. "Magic and all things with it are Haru's special interest. A little thing he picked up from his mother, I suppose."

Natsu nodded. "And does his mother have a name?"

Lucy felt her neck and ears burn with embarrassment, again. Here she'd been so proud of Haru for introducing himself and she had failed to do the same. So much for being a good role model. Shaking her head, Lucy thrust her hand towards Natsu, making him stumble back a step in shock.

"Lucy Heartfilia. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Dragneel."

He grumbled something under his breath that sounded an awful lot like 'not some old man,' before he took her hand in his. The first thing Lucy noticed was how warm his hand was. Honestly, it was like he'd just taken off some gloves. She would have thought he'd be at least a little sweaty from being so warm, Lucy was already fighting a sweat and she was just standing outside (in shorts, no less), but he wasn't at all. It was rather nice, she decided. Like closing your eyes and feeling the sunshine on your face when it was just right.

The second thing she noticed was how ruff his hands were. Not that she was too surprised by that. Being a mechanic, Natsu would obviously have calloused hands and more than a few scars on his palms and fingers. It was a deep contrast to her own soft and delicate hands, something she also found to be nice. Lucy found she didn't even mind the bits of grease that rubbed off on her skin.

Natsu grinned and shoved both hands in his pockets as he rocked back on his heels slightly. "So Luigi. What're ya here for?"

Lucy felt her eyebrow twitch. What the hell? Was this guy trying to annoy her? How could he have honestly forgotten her name right after she told him?!

It took Lucy a moment of taking deep breaths before she was confident enough in her ability to speak rather than yell. She still needed him to look at her truck after all, and she doubted he'd be very willing to if she called him a moron. Even if he was one.

"It's Lucy, actually. And I came here because my check engine light came on yesterday." She tapped a finger to her chin as she thought about all the possible issues with her beloved truck. In the many times she'd had to take it to the mechanic, Lucy found it was always best for both parties if she told them what she knew wasn't part of the problem.

"I know the oil's fine, since I had it changed before we drove down, and I don't think it's a bad belt since there's no strange noise coming from it. It might be a loose spark plug. Those things have a bad habit of popping loose from time to time."

Natsu smirked and scratched the back of his head. "You sure seem to know yer stuff." His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked her over closely. "You sure ya even need my help."

His tone was teasing and Lucy found herself smirking right back. "Well, I just figured that since you're already dirty you wouldn't mind a few more grease stains."

He laughed at that, a loud, booming laugh that made Lucy naturally want to laugh with him. "Well, I can't fault you there." He turned to walk back into the garage, waving a hand over his shoulder for her to follow before placing his hat back on his head, this time backwards.

Lucy called to Haru and took his hand before following Natsu back inside. After Natsu had pulled her truck into the garage, he popped the hood and began making the usual checks. Lucy was pleased to note that the first thing he looked at was the spark plugs. As helpful she tried to be, there was the occasional mechanic that thought they knew best and didn't need to listen to her "opinions". It was annoying, but in the end it was their time that was wasted more so than hers.

Instead of waiting inside the office, like they probably should have, Lucy and Haru stayed in the garage. She didn't know if Natsu may need to ask her any more questions but she wanted to make sure she was there if need be.

As she stood there, Lucy's mind drifted back to her overreaction earlier. Now that she thought about it, it was rather troubling, her reaction. She had thought she was moving past her husband's death, or at the very least was over the fear and immense sadness that came with it. It had been months since her last nightmare occurred and Lucy no longer felt the need to constantly check in on Haru just to make sure he was okay. At least that's what she'd thought, but maybe she wasn't as okay as she'd believed.

She felt Haru tug on her shirt again and jumped a little at being pulled from her thoughts. Looking down at her son Lucy saw the boy blinking up at her with wide eyes. Happy was, once again, tucked into the boy's arms, the kitten looking in much need of a nap after an intense bout of playing.

"Mom. Ask him about the dragon," he whispered.

Lucy frowned. Dragon? What dragon? When Haru motioned wildly to the front of the building she remembered the metal dragon they'd first seen when walking up to the garage.

"Oh. Right." Turning back to the mechanic Lucy called, "Say, Natsu?"

He hummed from where he was under the truck, letting her know he was listening even if he couldn't see her.

"I was just wondering, why the dragon out front?" Haru nodded, his expression the most serious Lucy had ever seen.

"Dragon? Oh, you mean Metalicana? My cousin who owns this shop made him. We named him after my uncle cause he looks just like him when he's pissed." He shifted around on the scooter he was laying on until his head poked out from behind the front tire. He grinned as he looked first at Lucy and then at Haru. "Pretty cool ain't he?"

Haru nodded excitedly. "Mom says there's a real dragon in Magnolia, and I'm gonna find him," he said proudly. Lucy smiled and placed a hand on her son's head.

Natsu adjusted the hat on his head before disappearing back under the truck, only to slide out from under the front and nimbly get to his feet. "Yeah? Well when ya see him, make sure ya tell him Natsu says hi."

Haru gasped and he blinked up at Natsu with wide eyes as the man walked over to them. "You've seen a dragon before?" he asked in awe.

Natsu grinned, pulling his hat off and folding the bill to tuck it into his back pocket. "Seen one? I was saved by one!"

He tilted his head to the side and pulled the collar of his shirt down to expose the thick scar on his neck. It was jagged and looked like it might have been pretty deep. Lucy winced as she thought about how painful it must have been to get.

"What happened?" Haru asked excitedly, and Lucy flicked his ear at his rude question.

Haru whined and Natsu only laughed, seemingly unbothered by the boy's question. "My house caught on fire when I was a kid. I was trapped on the top floor and couldn't get out, but then there was this huge roar and the door burst open with a bunch of fire!"

"Woah…" Haru mumbled.

Natsu grinned and caught Lucy's bemused smile. He winked at her before turning back to Haru. "Yep. And through all those flames came this big yellow dragon! He scooped me up in his claws and jumped out the window just before the house collapsed."

"Cool!"

Lucy rolled her eyes at the man's over dramatic story. No doubt the "yellow dragon" was a fireman, and he probably climbed down a ladder rather than simply jumping. Still, Haru was excited and Lucy was happy he seemed to be enjoying himself in Magnolia so far. But Haru's next statement made her stomach drop slightly.

"I'm gonna find this dragon and then I'm gonna wish for him to bring our family together," he stated with the same conviction he'd shown that morning by Tenrou Lake.

Natsu seemed taken aback by Haru's statement and flicked his dark eyes to Lucy. She quickly glanced away, not wanting to meet the curious and sympathy filled look she knew would be in his eyes. Like it was every time she talked about her late husband. After the slight emotional roller coaster she'd been on that day, Lucy wasn't really feeling like politely explaining what Haru meant.

Clearing her throat, Lucy gestured to the truck. "So, um. Did you find out what was wrong?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. Your catalytic converter is out of date. I can replace it but it'll be a day. I've got some other customers coming at two and I have to leave by five."

Lucy felt her shoulders drop as she realized she couldn't take Haru to the woods as she'd promised. Haru seemed to realize this too and groaned. "So we can't go dragon hunting today?"

Lucy sighed and patted the boy's back. "I'm sorry Haru, but we can go to-" Lucy cut herself off when she suddenly remembered that she was supposed to start working for her brother tomorrow. She had no doubt that Sting wouldn't mind if she canceled to spend the day with Haru, but she'd promised and Lucy didn't want to break two promises in a row. One was bad enough.

"We'll go later this week, when the truck's fixed and I'm off work. Okay?"

Haru nodded, but Lucy didn't miss his small frown. And just when they'd been having a good day too. Neither one was aware of Natsu watching them, a soft look in his eyes. Determined not to let her son's good mood fall, Lucy snapped her fingers and gave him a bright smile.

"You know, we still haven't explored the town yet. And I know of this place that sells the best ice cream. Wanna try it out?"

Haru perked up at that. "Okay. Can we go fishing?" he asked as he finally sat Happy on the ground. The kitten walked over to weave his way around Natsu's feet, purring happily until the man picked him up and sat him on his head. Lucy had to fight the urge to roll her eyes at the, admittedly, charming gesture.

"How about we just look for the best spots," Lucy suggested. "I'll leave the worms to your uncle."

Haru nodded, his smile back in place as Lucy took his hand and looked back at Natsu. "Is it alright if I leave the truck here? I can have my brother pick us up in town later so you can work on it if you'd like?"

Natsu shrugged. "That's fine. If you want, you can leave your number in the office and I'll call you when I get the new catalytic converter put in."

Lucy nodded and after leaving her cell number, along with Sting's house number, left the shop and walked down the sidewalk into town hand-in-hand with her son. In no time, Haru was asking question after question in his usual carefree manner and Lucy was happy he seemed to be in a good mood again. But, despite her son's obvious joy, Lucy couldn't stop the uneasy feelings she'd felt after her little…revelation, if you could call it that, about her own feelings.

She'd come home to Magnolia searching for a new beginning and thought it was Haru who needed it most. But, she thought as she looked at her son beaming up at her as he rambled on about catching the biggest fish ever to give to a dragon, maybe it was the other way around.

Maybe she needed a new beginning more than Haru.