Ahaha, omg, chapter 8 did so well I'm honestly on cloud nine. Thanks, everyone!

chapter 9: Operational Period

definition:

The period of time scheduled for execution of a given set of tactical actions as specified in the Incident Action Plan.

"What the hell are you thinking, Lucy?" Gray's irritated snap lashed out at her from her cellphone and she had to pull it away from her ear. "You're meeting up with the Salamander? On your own? Do you have any fucking idea how reckless that is? He's a convicted felon - "

"Yes, Gray, I know," Lucy interrupted.

Her partner remained undeterred. "Then you should know better than to meet a suspect without backup, much less invite one to your fucking house. Goddammit, Lucy, I taught you better than that," he barked.

This wasn't the first time he'd snapped at her, and she'd learned early on that the best way to placate him was to just agree with him. Even if he was wrong. Unfortunately, she insisted on being stubborn today.

And, it wasn't like Natsu was a suspect any longer–MPD had officially cleared him for the time being.

"I know," she repeated, running her finger around the rim of her mug, "but, Gray - "

"But nothing!" Gray growled, interrupting her again.

Huffing out a breath through her nose, Lucy sipped her hot chocolate and waited for him.

She'd called Gray first thing in the morning to let him know what was going on. Yes, she figured he'd be angry–she'd gone and deliberately done what he'd told her not to, after all–but she knew that he was reasonable once she got past the initial anger and frustration.

And she needed his support, otherwise the higher-ups would never allow her to put her plan into motion.

So, she waited until he cooled down, sitting at her kitchen table with her hot chocolate.

If he did give her his support, Lucy thought cordially, she'd owe him–big time. Maybe she'd find him a date as repayment? Lord knew the single life had been treating him kind of rough; Gray Fullbuster just simply wasn't used to being single. It was making him crankier than usual, and everyone at the station was paying for it.

Yes, she decided. She'd find him a date.

Somehow.

Women instantly fell for his good-looks–not that she blamed them, because the man was simply beautiful to look at–but his personality tended to drive them away after a little while.

It would be tricky finding a woman who'd be able to put up with his gruff exterior.

But maybe there was one out there somewhere, she mused to herself.

Maybe.

A sigh met her ears a few moments later, followed by a much calmer voice. "Sorry," Gray apologized, and he was probably rubbing the creases of his eyes like he always did when he was tired. "I just… It drives me crazy when you go off and try to play the hero on your own, Lucy. I know you're just trying to do what you think is right, and I know this is your first big case, but don't let that cloud your judgement." He paused, as if thinking. "I just want you to be safe, that's all."

The thing about Gray Fullbuster was that he was actually a very sweet and caring person; one just had to dig his or her way through the layers of bad-attitude and foul language to find it.

Kind of like a burnt marshmallow.

And not everyone had a taste for burnt marshmallows.

Lucy felt the warm smile on her face and hoped it transferred through her words, in order to sooth her partner. "I know," she said. "But I really think what I'm doing is right. You always told me to follow the rules–but you also said to trust my instincts."

Anyone could follow rules, he'd said to her back in her early days of training, but very few people had the gut instinct of a cop. And more often than not, it was that gut instinct that closed cases.

Nodding to herself, Lucy said in a firm voice, "And my instincts are telling me that Natsu isn't our guy."

"Then who, pray tell, is?"

Lucy could practically hear the rolling of his night eyes. "We think it's an arsonist known as Jackal," she informed him, sipping her hot chocolate and nearly moaning with pleasure.

She'd never been one for coffee. But chocolate on the other hand…

Lucy was nearly sure she could be classified as a chocolate junkie.

"…We?" Gray's voice sharpened, his scowl practically audible. "Lucy, you're letting that bastard lead you around by the nose. How do you know he isn't trying to get you off his own trail by setting you on someone else?"

Actually, she had considered that at first. But, she was very, very good at detecting liars, and so far, Natsu hadn't lied to her about his suspicions or his innocence. Considering that, she really didn't have a reason to not trust him.

That, and Jackal had tripped every internal cop alarm she had in her body.

"No, he's helping me, Gray." At least, Lucy really hoped he was; there was still the chance that Natsu was only looking after his own interests. "He wouldn't hurt me," she added, and that much was true.

"Are you so sure about that?" her partner sneered.

Lucy didn't even have to think about it. "Yes," tumbled past her lips before she knew what she was saying.

And she didn't know what surprised her more. The fact that she'd said yes so quickly, or the fact that she actually meant it.

There was just something about Natsu Dragneel that made her feel…safe.

Gray's sigh was heavy, and Lucy imagined his shoulders drooping as he slumped in his swivel chair. "…Goddammit. Okay, fine," he grunted. "So, you think it's this guy, Jackal? How do you plan on proving that, exactly?" A clicking noise sounded in the background of the phonecall, a rapid click-click-click, that confused her at first.

It took her a moment to realize he was clicking the top of his pen–a bad habit of his.

"We were thinking a trap might work," Lucy told him.

The clicking stopped. "What kind of…trap?"

And this was where things were going to get tricky.

"…The explosive kind?" she said hesitantly, her pitch rising as a sheepish grin that he couldn't see spread across her face.

"Let me get this straight…" he began slowly in a low voice that never boded well. A loud squeak followed, signalling that he'd sat up straight in his chair. "You want me to authorize an undercover op that involves explosives."

"Well, more specifically, burning buildings," she corrected.

"Even better," Gray snorted incredulously. "You want to go out there and just burn shit down in hopes that some guy who you think is your target will magically pop up with a lighter and gasoline in his hands." The sarcasm practically oozed from his words and dripped onto her skin, leaving behind a chilly, ghosting sensation.

Lucy shuddered at the thought, rubbing her arms.

There was a reason Gray Fullbuster had been nicknamed Frostbite by everyone at the precinct. His temper and his sarcasm were so bitterly cold that one could catch a chill by simply standing next to him–well, that was the rumor passed around to scare the rookies, anyway.

Thankfully, Lucy knew that it was a load.

But, strangely, her hot chocolate seemed a little cooler.

"We don't think," she said rationally, pleading for him to understand. "Natsu is almost 100 percent certain, and I trust him so that means I'm nearly certain too."

She could feel it in her gut, a burning conviction. Lucy was a good cop, an even better detective, and she listened to her instincts. But it seemed as though that weren't enough for her partner at the moment.

It was a good thing she wasn't above begging.

"…Please, Gray," Lucy tried in her sweetest voice, "just this once?"

Silence greeted her on the other side of the line. And for a little while, Lucy worried that she'd utterly failed and that she was going to have to trash her whole plan. But then a loud bang startled her, making her jump and spill her lukewarm chocolate on her shirt, quickly followed by dark, muttered curses.

If her ears and memory served her right, Gray had just kicked his desk.

He did that a lot.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit," came her partner's furious mumblings. "Fine, Lucy. But I swear to all that's holy," he seethed, "if he lays a finger on you, I'll - "

"You'll hang him from the station by his entrails, I know," she butted in with a huge grin despite his threat and the fact that she'd have to wash her shirt. "I've heard that one before."

Gray took it upon himself to look out for her since she no longer had anyone to do so. More than once, he had made good on his promises to deal bodily harm to her boyfriends if they ever treated her as anything less than a goddess.

Because of that, he liked to think of himself as her protector.

"Actually, I was going to say gut him like a fish," Gray admitted, "but, I like that one better."

"Yeah, yeah." Lucy rolled her eyes, peeling the soaked fabric of her shirt away from her chest. "Thanks, Gray."

"Uh-huh, watch your back."

With that, Lucy ended the call.

That had gone reasonably well, considering that she only had spilled her drink on her shirt. Now all she needed was to wait for Gray to take her request up the chain of command until it was okayed by the chief. Though, now that she had Gray's backing, she wasn't at all worried about whether her operation would be given the green light.

No, she just hated waiting for the confirmation.

Because, apparently, old people took forever to make simple "yes" or "no" decisions.

Something soft brushed against her ankles and she looked down to spy Happy rubbing up against the legs of her chair and dusting his tail over her legs. The blue cat glanced up at her with a purring meow of sorts and Lucy chuckled.

"Well, Happy," she sighed, scooping him up as she stood, "looks like it's just gonna be you and me for a little while. How about a movie, huh?"

He purred loudly, rumbling in her arms as she made her way to the laundry room.

Thankfully, her condo was so large and lavish that she had her own washing machine and dryer. Most people who lived in condos didn't have such a privilege, so perhaps good things did sometimes come from the gross amount of money in her bank accounts.

In the laundry room, she stripped herself of her soaked shirt and threw on a new one. An old pajama shirt with cats plastered all over it, one of her favorites. Of course, it clashed horribly with the dress pants she'd stuffed herself into, so she changed those too, until she was clad in soft red shorts and the baggy cat shirt.

She wasn't planning on going out anyway.

That done, she carried Happy back to her living room and plopped down on the sofa to watch a movie.

The call came at roughly two-thirty in the afternoon. She and Happy had just started watching The Notebook when her cellphone spat out a cheery jingle, startling both her and the cat. Lucy brought the phone to her ear at the same moment she paused the movie.

"It's a go," Gray said bluntly, not bothering to introduce himself or even wait for her to say hello.

Smiling widely, though she'd had no doubt that her plan would be assured, Lucy breathed out a laugh. "Yes," she mouthed to Happy, who blinked up at her blankly. "Thanks, Gray."

Happy, apparently displeased with the fact that she'd paused the movie, sniffed and pawed at the remote.

"You owe me big for that one, considering I don't even know what the plan is," Gray muttered and he sounded even more tired that he had earlier. But, then Lucy supposed that dealing with the higher-ups had a tendency to drain one's life force.

"Yes, you do," she huffed as she gave in to Happy's relentless pawing and un-paused the movie. Her cat settled immediately, curling against her thigh with a content and endless purr. "Remember? I'm just going to burn down shit and hope my target magically pops up with a lighter and gasoline in his hands," Lucy parroted sarcastically in a terrible impression of his deep voice, stroking her hand along Happy's back.

Gray was hardly amused. "Har-har," he snorted. "Tell me what's going on for real, Lucy."

That was her partner, straight forward and right to the point. And a bit of a spoilsport sometimes.

She couldn't hold back the sigh in her chest as she patted Happy. "Well, basically, we're going to need to send someone undercover as an arsonist to lure out Jackal. The undercover arsonist will have to burn some things down, of course, but there's a couple abandoned buildings we could use for that," she explained.

In the background, she could hear the click-click-click of Gray's pen. "Right. There's also a stripmall that was closed down recently we could use. As for the arsonist, I'll talk to Gajeel, see who he thinks might make a good undercover."

"I have a better idea," said Lucy. "Why don't we use Natsu as our undercover man?"

"Natsu?" Gray's sporadic clicking stopped at once, his voice spluttering. "Lucy, are you out of your mind? He's a convicted arsonist," her partner reminded her with no small amount of scorn. "Don't you think - "

"He already has a reputation and a rivalry with Jackal," she pointed out, rolling her eyes to Happy, who mrowed back at her. "It would take too long for a cop to build trust with the community, and even if they did somehow manage it, Jackal would probably sniff them out in a heartbeat. Natsu has the know-how, the connections, and I'm sure he'd help us if we paid him."

She liked to think that he would help if she just asked, but Lucy didn't want to get too far ahead of herself. Offering him money was the next logical incentive, seeing as how she didn't think he'd be finding a job–thus a source of income–any time soon.

And it helped that, for some reason, she wanted to help him out a little.

"So…I think the smartest thing to do here is un-retire the Salamander," she finished, mentally preparing herself for the backlash.

But what came was not backlash in the slightest.

Gray's heavy sigh met her ears. "…You know," he muttered, "sometimes I hate it when you make sense. All right, fine, he can be our undercover man."

Stunned, Lucy blinked down at Happy. Her cat blinked back and yawned before dropping his head to rest on his paws, staring at the television.

"Wow, that was way too easy," she accused with suspicion. "You were in a mood earlier, what happened?"

Just hours ago in the morning, he'd been more sour than an over-ripe lemon, but now he seemed a little more…relaxed. And that just didn't make sense, especially since he'd basically spent his day going up the chain of command. All work and no play didn't make for a very happy Gray.

Though she was concerned, Lucy decided to play it off with humor. "You finally get a date or something?" she joked.

Her partner grunted noncommittally, but afterwards she swore she heard him mutter a vague, "Or something," under his breath with a chuckle.

"What was that?" Lucy's blonde brows crept up her forehead in disbelief.

"What?" Gray echoed, sounding startled.

Lucy sat up a bit straighter on her couch, disgruntling Happy in the process. "Gray, what was that?" she repeated while her blue cat climbed onto her lap, digging his claws into her thighs as payback. "Did you get a date?"

"I didn't say anything," he hastily denied. "Now, about Natsu - "

But Lucy was undeterred.

There was only one thing that could take a completely irate Gray and calm him down enough to be considered…relaxed. Most people in the precinct couldn't tell the difference, as he hid his change in attitude very well, but Lucy could still pick up on the smug and placid undertones of his mood.

She'd caught a scent and she was going to hunt it down to its source like a bloodhound.

"No…you got laid," she whispered in shock. Then, she burst out laughing, effectively startling poor Happy. "Oh, my god, what's her name? Who is she?"

"I don't trust that pyro," continued Gray, ignoring her completely, "so I want you to stay with him at all times - "

"Gray, tell me who she is."

"And if he bothers you, or touches you," he added darkly, the promise of violence very clear, "just let me know and I'll - "

"Gray!"

"Dammit, Juvia - " Gray finally exploded on a rush of hot air as though preparing to give her a long lecture. He sucked in a breath afterward, knowing that he'd just given it away, and then released it very slowly. "Shit, her name is Juvia. Now can we please focus on the operation?" he all but whined.

Juvia…?

Lucy turned the name over in her mind, her eyes rolling up to the ceiling. She'd never heard of a woman named Juvia…

Looked like she'd have to do some extra sleuthing in her spare time.

"Don't worry, I got it already," Lucy told him. Sticking her cell phone between her ear and shoulder, she held up a hand and counted off with her fingers. "Stay close to Natsu, observe him while he's setting fires to make sure he doesn't go too crazy with it. And yes, I will contact you if he does anything dastardly to me," she chuckled, rolling her eyes.

For a little while, Gray was silent–probably shocked that she'd listened to him while she'd been grilling him. She honestly didn't know why, though. He knew she was quite good at multitasking.

"Good." He coughed eventually, saying, "I'll talk to you later."

"Mmhmm, say hi to Juvia for me," Lucy sang smugly.

And just before he hung up, she caught his whispered, "…fuck."

Lucy could feel the cheeky grin on her face even after she hung up. "Hear that Happy? Apparently, Gray has a lady-friend," she snickered to her cat, who–even though he was incapable of making human expressions–seemed to grin right along with her. "I think he likes her."

Happy arched his back before settling back on Lucy's lap with a drawn out meow.

Okay, Lucy sighed to herself, it was time to get back to the nitty-gritty. Now that her plan had been green-lit, she supposed that she probably should inform the key player of his very important role.

After all, they couldn't very well start burning things down without their arsonist, now could they?

Lucy grabbed her cell phone again and quickly dialed the number she'd memorized most recently. Yes, sending a text was the norm nowadays, but seeing as how Natsu had a prehistoric phone, she didn't want to chance anything–she didn't know if that thing he called a phone could even text in the first place.

For a while, a dull dial tone sounded in Lucy's ears. And then Natsu's voice was there, many years younger and filled with this wild exuberance she didn't see in him, demanding she leave her name and number.

Voicemail.

Of course he wouldn't answer her calls, she thought with a roll of her eyes. He'd just been pulling her whiskers the other night with that "keeping up appearances" stuff.

The message she left him was short but precise, asking him if he was interested in helping her catch Jackal. There was no doubt in her mind that he did want to help catch the sadistic bomber, so she told him to meet her at her place if he wanted to talk about the plan.

Considering that their plan basically hinged on Natsu's participation, Lucy should have been worried; after all, what if he didn't show? He had every right to ignore her message and continue doing…whatever it was that he did. But…she had the strangest feeling that he would come. If for no other reason than to nitpick at her or steal another one of her belongings.

At that thought, she tucked away her favorite pen somewhere safe.

Hours passed by, afternoon turning to evening, and Lucy began to fear that perhaps she'd been wrong.

What an embarrassing phone call to Gray that would be, she thought with a groan. But, just when she began to doubt, there was a short knock at her front door.

Her feet carried her there before she could tell herself to wait; she didn't want to seem too eager. Her body continued to act on its own accord, however, as she pulled open the door.

"Hey…" she began and then felt her throat go dry.

He was…hot.

There was no other way to put it really. He had that "bad boy" vibe that most teenage girls drooled over, and Lucy was not unaffected by it. After all, who could resist such beautiful tan skin stretched over tight, corded muscles that filled out his t-shirts all too well? Or the hint of dark tattoos that peeked out from beneath his sleeve and collar?

Or, and Lucy swallowed as it glinted in the moonlight, the bar that segmented his left ear?

She'd never been turned on by tattoos and piercings, but he somehow made it work for her.

Natsu Dragneel was the ideal package–and he was too hot to even touch.

Standing there with his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his cargo pants, Natsu cocked his pink head at her. A wicked grin curled his upper lip, revealing sharp white teeth. "Hey, yourself, detective," he said.

Detective. Right. She was a detective, had to be professional.

Lucy swallowed again before straightening and plastering a pleasant smile on her face. "Come on in. I assume you got the message I left you?" she asked, moving aside for him and his broad shoulders.

Natsu stepped inside her condo with an amused snort. "You know, my phone ain't so bad that it can't get messages."

She felt herself flushing indignantly, a frown pinching her lips.

"Well, regardless," she huffed, "you know why I called?"

"Sure." He nodded and stalked into her living room as though he owned the place, heading right for her leather couch. Natsu flopped onto it with a pleased sigh and a grin as he kicked his booted feet up onto her coffee table. "You want my help catching that fu… Jackal," he corrected himself.

Lucy, having followed him into her living room, scowled at his feet. "Off," she said, tapping the toes of his boots with her fingers.

He smacked them to the floor, still grinning.

"Yes, I'd like your help in apprehending Jackal," Lucy admitted, watching as his grin slowly spread from ear to ear.

Natsu cocked a pink brow at her then, pursing his lips contemplatively. "And…why should I help you, Miss Detective?" he asked.

Uh oh...Natsu isn't going to make anything easy for Lucy, is he? Stay tuned!

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