Lucy sat in the lounge chair by the pool, relaxing in the summer breeze wearing a white tank top and frayed blue jean shorts. In her lap lay a book. While taking her occasional glance between the pages, she would observe the people around her. The last time she looked up, a boy with spiky pink hair walked in front of her towards the stand on the edge of the pool.

'The new lifeguard.' she thought.

Lucy looked over at the chair beside her that Sting was sitting in to see if he noticed her change in interest. She eased back into the plastic of the chair with satisfaction when she saw that he was too busy texting and then glance around for anything interesting. Nothing at all on his face telling her he had seen that.

Ever since the awful fallout with Liam three months ago, her brothers had been keeping an extra close eye on her, scaring away any male who looked her way. Part of her appreciated their efforts but the other part wished they would chill a little. This overprotective urges they had did get a little annoying. They couldn't protect her forever, or she would turn out crazy with ninety cats. Lucy shivered. She didn't want to be a crazy cat lady but at the rate Sting and Laxus were going, she would be.

Lucy brought her book up to her nose and peeked over the pages to look at the boy now sitting on top of the wooden stand. He looked good up there with the sun peeking through his pink hair softly, his toned shirtless abs flexing as if ready to pounce and his eyes that scanned everywhere until they landed on her. She fought the urge to shriek and pulled her book up to completely cover her blushing face.

"Lucy, what's wrong?" Sting asked, catching her odd behavior.

"Nothing!" She squealed, maybe a little too quickly.

Sting gave her a look that said all the curiosity and disbelief he felt about her reaction. Lucy tried her best to ignore the stare but it was intense.

"What?" she asked, booking her book down to look at him.

"You seem nervous." He observed.

"Why would I be nervous?" She choked and looked away. Noticing once again the lifeguard staring at her. Her belly flopped and butterflies overflowed. She had never felt that from just a glance.

"I think I'm getting too much sun." Lucy stated and stood up.

She was collecting her things and when she stepped around the chair, she lost her footing and fell into the pool. The water stunned her momentarily but she quickly recovered and swam to the surface. Her throat sputtered up water and she felt hands pull her out. At first, she thought it was Sting but when she wiped all the water out of her eyes, she saw it wasn't Sting. It was the lifeguard.

He leaned above her, checking everywhere to see if she was okay. A pair of striking black eyes searched hers and over her head in cause the fall gave her any bumps or bruises.

Embarrassed by her clumsiness, she scrambled out of his hold. She stood up with a blush on her face.

"I'm fine really." Lucy mumbled, looking at the ground away from him.

The boy looked up at her with a small smile on his features and stood up.

"Of course you are." He said, Lucy's knees shaking from his voice.

He began to leave when Sting was suddenly there and punched the pink haired boy in the face. A small crunching noise sounded from the connection. Not expecting the sudden action, the lifeguard fell on his butt, a look of bewilderment stamped on his face, his hand holding his jaw.

"Sting!" Lucy screamed as her brother now stood over the other male, glaring madly. She rushed to his side and gathered his face in her small hands. Already his jaw was forming a limp and changing colors. Sting's eyes boared into Lucy's back, letting her feel his displeasure of what she was doing.

"Why did you do that?" Lucy asked, looking back at her brother who only grunted in response.

….

(Natsu P.o.V)

"Really, I'm okay, just caught off guard." Natsu uttered when he was alone with the girl.

Honestly, he like the way she fawned over him. Plus she was the cutest girl he had ever seen. Dazzling brown eyes with water droplets hanging in long eyelashes over them, long golden blonde hair brushing over her shoulders that clung to her skin in its wet state, and her new blue shirt getting wet from the soaking shirt under it. The guy who punched him made her put it on before going back to his chair.

"Are you sure? Let me get you some ice." Her mouth racing as she got back to her feet, running to get ice.

While she was gone, he stood up gaining his composure. Once up, he glared at the blond boy called Sting. Negative energy rolled off Sting and himself, which didn't make sense. He hadn't done anything to this guy and he got punched in the face. One thing he noticed was the bond that was definitely there between the two blondes.

"Alright, let's see your jaw." A sweet voice demanded, dragging him out of his thoughts.

He was set down by the girl but he didn't take his eyes off Sting until the bag of ice was pressed on his face. A loud hiss broke through his teeth and he saw Sting smirk with pride.

"Sorry!" The girl apologized, thinking it was her fault. Natsu noticed how Sting didn't like that and smiled about it.

"It's fine, just a little too cold for comfort." He explained further pissing off Sting.

Natsu looked down at the girl, trying to figure her out. But once again he was distracted by her looks. She was at least half a foot shorter than him coming up to his chest. Her face looked up at the bruise forming on his face, concern showing on her delicate features. A soft smile graced his lips.

"what's your name?" he found himself asking.

"Uh, Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia." She answered timidly. "What's yours?"

"Natsu Dragneel."

"Lucy we have to go." Sting growled.

The two watched as Sting marched forward, pulling a device out of his pocket, then disappeared around the wooden fence.

"Who's the guard dog?" Natsu joked.

"My brother." She replied and he noticed the sour tone. "Sorry again for... that."

"Lucy stepped away from him, dropping the bag of ice into his hand. She gathered her bag then smiled a stupendous smile, making all others he seen seem like frowns.

"Thanks for earlier."

And with that, the girl disappeared with her brother.

….

(Sting P.O.V)

"It's happening." He spoke gravely.

The 'Natsu' guy inside pissed him off. First, jumping after Lucy when she could get out by himself. Secondly when he punched the guy, it was a hint to stay away from her, not let her care to his injury. It seemed Natsu wanted to test him.

"We'll talk about it tonight." Laxus promised through the phone.

"Okay." Sting pressed the end button just in time before Lucy marched up beside him, steam practically coming out of her ears.

"What the hell Sting? Why did you do that? He didn't do anything wrong. Just his job."

Sting grimaced then walked around to the driver's seat, ready to go home.

….

(Natsu P.O.V)

He spent the rest of the day pulling foolish girls out of the pool. They had seen his encounter with Lucy and wanted the same treatment. At first, it had been amusing but the more it happened and the clingier the girls got, the more annoyed he got.

After Lucy left, he hoped the day would end so he could possibly see her again. He couldn't control his want to just be near her shine again. The minutes drug out, nearly killing him with impatience.

Finally, the sun began its decent from the sky, turning the world different shades of pinks and oranges, signaling the end of his work day. It took everything he had not to whoop in excitement like a child. Instead choose to slide down his post and jogging to the locker room to change back into his jeans and t-shirt.

Now how was he going to find her?

Natsu thought hard about it while tugging on his boots and then walking along the fence. Nothing was coming to him. Then after spending all day sitting high above a pool, he was getting kind of hungry. His empty stomach was interfering when his head. Maybe he should get some food first. But he didn't want to give up that easily on finding Lucy again. Giving in to his stomach, he walked over to the closest person there.

"Oh, hi. I'm kind of new here and was wondering if you can point me in the direction of somewhere to eat?" He asked

The girl he asked thought about it, putting a finger to her mouth. " Uh, there's Hal's Diner a couple blocks over. Not too hard to find."

"Thanks."

Maybe with a full stomach, he could find her somewhere. And maybe this time, without her guard dog.

With positive thoughts, he collected his duffel bag and started his walk down the road, toward the diner the girl inside told him about. Hopefully, he didn't get lost.

…

(Lucy P.O.V)

To get some time away from her brothers for a little while, Lucy had taken a summer job at the local diner. It kept her busy and she didn't mind the crappy pay.

The only thing she really didn't like was when unwanted people visited her there and she couldn't run away.

That's what happened that evening. She was serving a family of four their meal when Summer walked in, turning her head looking all over for something. When Lucy figured out Summer was looking for her, she tried to hide. She sat in the back booth with a menu hiding her face. But of course the girl had looked right through that and sat on the bench opposite of Lucy.

"I wanted to apologize personally for what happened. I never wanted to hurt you and I most certainly didn't plan for it to happen, it just did." Summer sighed.

"Really, I don't care anymore. I'm over it. Just have fun okay?" Lucy puffed, wanting to get away.

"If you truly didn't care, you wouldn't have sent your brothers after him." Summer remarked dryly.

The bell above the door jingled, telling Lucy she had another customer to serve. Lucy, taking her opportunity, shot up out of the booth. "I have to get back to work." Lucy said and hurried away.

She approached the now occupied table in her section then looked up with a friendly smile like she was supposed to. She opened her mouth to ask how she could help him but stopped when she saw who it was.

Natsu was sitting there with an arm thrown over the back of the red booth seat. When he saw her, his face lit up in a giant smile. Once again her stomach filled with butterflies.

"Um, Can I, How may I be of service to you today?" Lucy blushed. She was actually nervous.

"Actually, I'm fine. I don't need anything." He smiled wider.

"Then why are you here?" Lucy asked, baffled. People don't just come in here to sit.

"Well, I was told this was the place to go to find extraordinary people. I guess my source was right" Natsu joked.

Lucy placed her notepad down on the table and laughed. "Good one. Now order something or you'll have to leave."

"Can I order a fun filled evening with you?"

"I'm not on the menu." Lucy sighed but smiled despite his corniness.

"Okay, how about when you clock out?"

"Persistent, are we?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe a little." Natsu shrugged while holding two fingers an inch apart.

Lucy stood silently as she thought about his offer. She did want to go with him but what if her brothers found out? No she couldn't let that happen.

"I don't know." She finally answered, biting her lower lip.

"What? Is it the guard dog?"

"Dogs." She corrected. When he gave her a confused, questioning look, she explained.

"I have another brother just like Sting. Possibly a little less friendly."

Natsu stood from the booth and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "See you outside." Then he walked out of the restaurant.

Lucy huffed. Did he not understand? Did he not get that Sting had punched him for doing his job and that she said the other brother was worse? Was he completely clueless? She couldn't believe him. But no matter how hard she tried to make him sound like a maniac, she couldn't ignore him or the swooning feeling she got every time she saw him.

'I'm going to go insane with all this thinking!'

….

(Natsu P.O.V)

He waited outside in the warm summer night for Lucy so he could spend some time with her. This feeling he had was completely new for him. It didn't make any sense to him but all he wanted to do was to see her truly smile.

After about an hour, she finally walked out.

"About time. I was getting bored," he said as he joined her.

"I never said I would go anywhere with you."

"But you know you want to, it'll be fun." Natsu persuaded.

"You're not going to drop it, are you?"

Natsu thought about it for a second. "Nope."

"Maybe I shouldn't have helped you back at the pool, now you won't leave." Lucy teased, or he hoped it was a tease.

Natsu gave her his best pleaded look, hating that he had to stoop to this level.

"Fine, but only one night."She sighed, rather sternly.

But Natsu smiled to himself. She may say only one night but when given that, the one night rule was out. He just had that gut feeling.