"Wendy sure has grown… Last time I saw her she was about six." She smiled softly but that was washed over with worry and concern when Natsu stood beside the bed, expressionless. "What's the matter Natsu?" she sat up in her bed reaching for his hand. At her touch Natsu was released from his thoughts. "You knew didn't you…? You knew that we were betrothed to each other… You knew that we were engaged didn't you…" His voice was low, he didn't know what answers he wanted from her. "Yes… I remembered when I was putting Plu in the wash… I tried really hard to remember where I had heard your name before... and when I saw a flash of pink hair and a toothy smile of a small boy… I instantly knew it was you…" she smiled softly but it faded as she continued.

"My mother had told me that I would be married into Fairy Tail... she just had to convince my father… and Makarov read me the Will the day before we had to fake my death… he said that on my 18th birthday that I was to meet him outside of where my parent's used to live… He said that he was going to tell you when you were older, but it looks like that didn't happen till tonight..." Lucy's head hung low, there was sadness in her voice, which made Natsu feel bad for upsetting her. "Natsu…" She looked up at him smiling, this was the first time that he had seen her smile like that. Although her smile was warm, there was no happiness or compassion in her eyes, it made his heart hurt. 'Don't smile if you aren't going to mean it…' as if reading his thoughts Lucy stopped and let go on his hand, trying to stop her tears that were pooling in her eyes from falling.

"Lucy don't cry…" He sat on the bed beside her and pulled her into a hug "H – how ca – n I not c – cry wh – en –" she was cut short of her stuttering words when Natsu had tilted her chin up towards his face without her noticing, before leaning in and softly crashing his lips against hers. Lucy's brown eyes widened, her tears stopped all of a sudden. His eyes were closed as he licked and softly bit her top lip. Lucy felt like jelly in his embrace. Closing her eyes Lucy tried her best to kiss Natsu back without making a fool out of herself, it was after all her first kiss. She slowly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled them down to the bed. She could feel Natsu's hand rub along the side of her body making her shudder at his touch. Wanting to deepen the kiss Natsu bit her lip hard enough, making her mouth open in a small gasp, his tongue dove right in as he took advantage of the situation and start twirling his tongue around hers as they fought for supremacy.

Pulling away from the kiss for air, Natsu rested his forehead against Lucy's, his eyes smiling at hers, the tears had stop falling, her face was red from dried tears, but to a newly formed blush as well. "Lucy…" he spoke softly "Do you still love me like we said when we were little?" supporting his weight on his elbow, his body leaned over hers, as his feet stayed on the floor. His free hand caressed her face softly as he awaited her response. "That was why I was crying Natsu… I was going to tell you that if you didn't want to get married I was ok with it…" but was interrupted "But that's a lie." She nodded slowly.

"I cried because I thought you didn't love me anymore Natsu… I thought that maybe after all these years, you had turned into some sort of perverted play boy gangster… Which I'm partly correct on!" she laughed softly but gasped when she felt Natsu wrap his arms around her, burying his head into the nape of her neck. Wrapping her arms around him she sighed softly as a gentle smile slowly appeared on her lips "I thought that the little boy that I fell in love with all those years ago was gone… but yet here he is all grown up right in my arms." She smiled as she squeezed him tighter placing a kiss on his head.

Natsu shifted and pulled away from Lucy making her pout slightly from the lack of touch, he grabbed her hand entwining his fingers with hers "I'll be right back just stay here…" pulling her hand to his mouth he kiss it before letting go and opening the door. The moment that the door had opened, Natsu was pushed out of the way, as basically all of the people in Fairy Tail swarmed into the room. "Lucy!" Lisanna called out as she jumped onto the bed hugging her dead to long friend. Natsu stood at the back of everyone and smiled, watching everyone greet her once again, some bursted into tears and others smiled. Natsu pulled out his phone and sent Makarov a text before he walked out of the room, heading towards the bar where his closest friends sat. "How come you guys aren't trying to suffocate her?" standing near them but not close enough that they could hit him.

"It's because we have been alongside her for 6 almost 7 years… and yet we noticed the similarities we didn't think it was her… How can we re unite with someone that we thought had been dead, someone that's been alongside us all this time?" Gray looked down into his drink. "She is still our Lucy, no matter the last name. As children we grew up with Lucy Heartfilia, and after her supposed death we continued to know her as Lucy Ashely. Last name or not she still the kind hearted Lucy that we knew and know." Levy spoke trying to make everything seem alright. It was still silent "I agree with Levy." Erza spoke causing them all to look at her "We were never truly apart from her, so why treat her any differently now? We know the truth and why she had to hide it" "I expect you all to treat her the same, nothing different, just treat her how you would any other day." Makarov said as he walked down the office with a small box in his hand, grabbing everyone's attention at his words.

"What's in the box?" Gajeel, watching how Levy and Juvia's eyes sparkled at it "None of your damn business metal head." Natsu held his hand out to the previous leader and received the small box that had a dragon like lock on it. Stuffing the box in his pocket Natsu tried to walk back to the infirmary but his arm was grabbed by Erza. "I'm guessing that I speak for all of us when I say this, but I'm guessing you had your reasons for keeping her identity a secret from us this past month and a half?" Natsu nodded "She made me promise, she said that she would tell you all when she was ready… which I'm presuming was when she turned 18 next year." Wendy walked out of the infirmary and a lot of the other members followed, their smiles wide as they laughed and talked with one another, going back with to what they were doing earlier.

"I heard Lucy is currently staying with you all, I am going to assign all of you to watch over her until such time that threat has passed." Makarov said as he walked back up to his office, burying himself in paperwork. As Natsu walked back towards the infirmary he found that his group of friends were following close behind him. Opening the door he found Lucy there with a wide smile as they all walked in, but this smile, yes it was her normal smile but it was as if she were asking them all for forgiveness. Her smile had worked, they had all seemed to have forgiven her the moment that they set eyes on her smiling face. All the girls ran up to Lucy as she got out the bed, giving her a hug and bursted into tears, bursting into tears herself.

"I'm sorry I had to lie to you all." Lucy spoke as she wiped away her tears "I was hoping I could protect you all but I'm guessing something has happened that won't allow me to continue living under my alias anymore." Her smile faded, but when she felt Natsu grab her hand and entangle his fingers with hers, he started running towards the underground garden that they played at as children, leaving everyone in the room speechless. "Should we go after them? Levy asked as she started heading after them, but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around Levy saw that the hand belonged to Gajeel "Let's leave them be." He spoke "I'm sure that idiot is more than capable of getting them both home in one piece." Gajeel grabbed his keys out of his pocket, and everyone nodded following close behind.