Author's Note: Hey guys. Thank you all for the continued reviews and the encouragement. I decided to write this one early because I had free time today and I'm not sure when the next chapter is going to be written. I'm going to try to write a chapter twice a week on my days off from work, so please be patient with me.

As always I own nothing. All credit goes to Hiro Mashima. If I did own Fairy Tail, I wouldn't be a broke college student. Please feel free to review and give suggestions. Thank you again for the encouragement. Enjoy the story!

While Levy and Lucy were making plans, Gajeel was being coerced into making plans of his own.

When Gajeel came home he found a very smug Pantherlily waiting for him. Oh great, here we go…

"So Gajeel, where were you last night?" Pantherlily asked slowly.

"It's none of your business cat." Gajeel growled, while walking past his cat towards his room to get cleaned up.

"Oh, but as your cat, I was worried that something happened to you." Lily was doing his best to hide his smile. "Was everything ok? You didn't get into a fight again, did you?

"Nothing happened. The storm picked up so I stayed at the guild last night, that's all." Gajeel mumbled while searching through his dresser for a change of clothes. He could feel Lily watching him from the doorway.

"Really?" Lily, who could no longer contain his excitement, pulled out the pictures from the previous night's spying. "Care to explain these pictures then?"

Gajeel stopped dead in his tracks and looked back to Lily in horror.

"Where did you get those?"

"Outside of Levy's window. I knew that you planned on walking her home because of the weather and when you didn't come back I decided to go check on you. Definitely worth flying in the snow." The cat was positively beaming with amusement at Gajeel's obvious discomfort. "What do you think I should do with these?"

"Don't you even think it cat. I'll skin you."

"Now Gajeel. How much are these pictures worth to you?"

Gajeel growled in response.

"How much are these pictures worth to you?" Lily asked smugly. When Gajeel didn't respond, Lily continued. "Nothing? Well, I know a few people who would absolutely love a copy of these pictures. I like to make people happy and after all it is Christmas. They would make a great Christmas present. Especially to someone like Mira."

"Fine. What do you want cat?" Gajeel fumed.

"I want you to be a man."

"What? You're starting to sound like Elfman's cat!"

"I want you to man up and tell Levy how you feel."

"You know I can't do that." Gajeel turned away and went back to looking for clothes.

"Oh yes you can! She obviously has feelings for you. Any idiot can see that. And I know how you feel about her." Lily knew he had Gajeel trapped. "It's time for you to tell her."

"You know I can't do that. I hurt her before. I don't want to do that again."

"She's moved past that. She trusts you. She wouldn't have fallen asleep on you, let alone allow you into her room if she didn't. You need to tell her. Look, here's an easy solution. Ask her to the Christmas dinner and dance at the guild."

"You know I don't dance. What if she says no?"

"Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for those we care about." Lily glared. "And she won't say no. Trust me on that. If you don't act soon someone might take her away from you and if you don't act in the next couple days I will personally tape these pictures up in the guild for everyone to see."

Gajeel gave him a hard stare.

"You wouldn't."

"Try me." Lily stared right back.

"Fine. I'll ask her, but not because of your threat. I ain't scared of nothin'. Now leave me be cat, I need to get changed and then we are going to go take a job where I can kick the crap out of someone." With that, Gajeel turned and left for the bathroom.

"Whatever." Lily grinned. He'd won the argument. For such a "tough guy", Gajeel really did have a soft spot for his shrimp.

Meanwhile at the guild, Natsu and Happy were looking at the job board when Erza approached them.

"Happy, Natsu. Is Lucy with you this morning?" Erza asked, while looking around for her blonde teammate.

"No. She's still sick, so she stayed home for the day. We were going to head out for a job and check up on her later tonight." Natsu explained. Guilt was still pricking at him for leaving her alone, but he knew Lucy wouldn't want to be fussed over. "Wanna come with?"

"Uh, no, no thank you. I, uh will catch up with you later. I want to go check up on Lucy."

"We were just with her. She's fine, why don't you come along with on the job, and when we get back we can go see her together?"

"No!" Erza yelled, accidentally attracting the attention of several other guild members. Erza took a breath to calm herself. "I need to speak to her as soon as possible. I'll just go to her apartment now. Good luck on your job." Erza turned and left the guild quickly.

"That was weird."

"Aye."

"How about this job Happy? They need someone to get rid of the snow that has a town buried. Sounds like a job for a fire dragon." Natsu grabbed the paper and took it to Mira to be approved.

"Hey guys." Mira looked up from the tap.

"No Lucy today?" she asked while stamping their job with the guild's seal.

"Nah, she's sick, but she'll be ok in a day or two."

"Well, you guys are all set. Good luck and try not to destroy anything."

"We'll do our best. Later." Natsu called over his shoulder while he and Happy ran out of the guild.

Levy and Lucy were just finishing lunch when there was a knock on the door.

"That can't be Natsu. He never uses the door." Lucy stood up and opened the door.

"Ah, Lucy. Sorry to bother you especially while you aren't feeling well, but I need to talk to you. Do you have a minute?" Erza asked while stepping into Lucy's apartment.

"Uh, sure? Is everything ok?" asked an extremely confused Lucy. She looked at Levy, and saw that she was just as confused. Lucy closed the door.

"Yes. Yes." Erza looked around Lucy apartment and saw Levy was there. "What are you doing here?"

"Just checking in on Lu-chan." Levy replied. "Are you ok? You seem shaken up."

Erza glared at Levy, but then her face softened.

"I'm fine. I just…."Erza started to blush. "I need advice. Normally I'd go to Mira for this sort of thing, but I'd rather speak to you two about it for this situation."

Lucy and Levy exchanged a nervous glance. This couldn't be good.

"Why don't you sit down and start from the beginning, Erza?" Lucy asked soothingly. Erza didn't know her own strength on a good day, let alone when she was distracted or upset and Lucy was worried that Erza would lose control.

"Let's say that there is a certain man that has caught my interest and that I would like to spend some time with him, but I can't seem to convince him to take some time off to relax over for a while." Erza continued to pace the room and didn't look at either of her friends.

"What do you mean Jel…." Lucy's statement was cut off when a sword flew by her head and stuck into the wall behind her. "Hey, don't destroy anything! I'll have to pay for…." Lucy started coughing.

"I'm sorry. Let's not use names, we don't want to get anyone in trouble. But yes, that person." Erza sighed. "He is still convinced he need to redeem himself, but at least he gave up on trying to tell me he has a fiancée. Do you guys have any advice?"

"Wasn't he disguised as Mystogan yesterday?" Levy asked. "If he's been around, then why don't you see if he can stay for the guild's Christmas celebration?"

"That's not a bad idea." Erza seemed to be weighing the idea in her head. "If we could ensure his safety by spreading the word that he was visiting from Edolas, then maybe he'll go for it." Erza started to smile. "Perfect. I'll need you two to help me pick out what to wear and such. I imagine you will be at the dance too."

"That's what we're hoping." Lucy blushed slightly.

"Ok. Thank you for your help ladies. I assume you guys already know that you are sworn to secrecy about this. If anything gets out, harm could come to "Mystogan", which is completely unforgivable. Are we clear?" Erza gave both girls a hard look.

"Yes ma'am!" squeaked both Lucy and Levy.

"Very good. Thank you ladies. I'll see you both tomorrow. I hope you feel better Lucy." Erza smiled at both of them and left the apartment.

"Scary!" Lucy shivered.

"No kidding! Well, I better get going Lu-chan. Tomorrow, we'll start working on Operation Dancing Dragon." Levy stood up to leave.

"Operation Dancing Dragon?" Lucy asked incredulously while standing up to walk her out.

"I thought it was a good name for our plan." Levy replied huffily, trying to hide a smile while Lucy started giggling.

"It works." Lucy laughed and hugged her best friend. "I'll see you tomorrow Levy."

"See you tomorrow. I hope you feel better, try to get some rest."

"Thanks and don't worry I will." Lucy called to her friend as she closed the door. What a weird morning.

By the time Natsu and Happy returned from their job it was already dark outside. The job went pretty well, they managed to avoid burning any buildings down. Unfortunately, Happy and Natsu learned that melted snow water could be just as destructive when it flooded buildings. Most of the money went to paying for damages, but there was still money for them to get by for a couple days, at least until their next job. They stopped at the guild to check in and pick up some dinner and soup for Lucy. As dense as those two could be, they still were smart enough to know how to take care of their friends, especially when it was someone as important to them as Lucy. Soon they were walking to Lucy's apartment.

"Hey Natsu. What do you want to do for Christmas this year?" Happy asked while sitting on his best friend's head.

"I don't know. We normally just stay at our place or go to the guild for dinner. We could do that, but it for some reason it doesn't feel right." Natsu replied. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason. I was just think that this year seems different, that maybe we should do something different." Happy shrugged.

"Well, we could celebrate Christmas with Lucy and maybe go to the Christmas party at the guild." Natsu said, thoughtful for a change.

"Yeah! That's a great idea. Let's ask Lucy when we get to her place."

"Nah, how about we surprise her. We could show up at her place on Christmas, exchange presents, and go to the guild for dinner." Natsu began to smile at the thought of how surprised Lucy would be if they showed up at her door to celebrate with her. It would be up there with the rainbow cherry blossom incident. "We can't say anything though, ok?"

"Aye."

After a few more mintues of walking, they arrived at Lucy's place. Per usual Happy flew the both of them through Lucy's window and found Lucy curled up on the couch watching Christmas specials on her television lacrima. She turned when she heard them land.

"Oh hey guys. How did the job go?" Lucy asked with a smile.

"Not bad, we just had to thaw out a town." Natsu shrugged. "It was pretty easy."

"Yeah, Natsu managed to flood the whole thing." Happy chimed in.

"Did not! It was only about half the town that ended up flooding. I can't help it that the snow melted too quickly for it to drain properly." Natsu shot back, slightly offended at how quickly he was ratted out by his friend.

"Natsu….I can't leave you alone for a day without you destroying something, can I?" Lucy sighed, pretending to be annoyed.

"Hey, I destroy stuff when you're around too!" Natsu replied hotly as he held up the bag of food he was carrying. "Keep it up and I'll eat the soup that I brought back for you."

"This is true. Thank you Natsu. That was really sweet of you." Lucy took the soup from him as he sat down next to her.

"It's no prob. I gotta look out for my teammate." He grinned while looking at her. To his sadness, her face fell a little. "Are you ok? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Lucy replied quickly, looking down, suddenly interested with the bowl. She was hiding something, he just couldn't figure out what. Did I say something wrong?

"You sure? You looked sad for a second."

"I'm ok." Lucy smiled, but it didn't seem completely genuine. "Hey, I'm feeling better, so do you want to go on a mission tomorrow. I'd like to get some money for Christmas presents. What do you think?"

"That's a great idea! Sounds like a plan." Natsu smiled at the idea. He couldn't wait to get her a Christmas present, even if he wasn't sure what to get her yet.

"Cool."

They continued to eat their dinner in comfortable silence. After the meal Natsu leaned back and patted his stomach.

"Well, I better get heading back. Do you want me to come here tomorrow or do you want to meet at the guild?"

"Let's meet at the guild tomorrow around 9 to get a head start. Thank you for checking in on me." Lucy smiled. Was she blushing? Nah, I must be imagining it.

"No prob, Luce. I'll always look out for you. That's what teammates do."

"Yeah…teammates." Lucy's smile fell a little. Why is she sad again?

"Are you sure you're ok Luce? That look is back. Is something wrong?"

"No, no, everything's fine. I'm just tired." She avoided his eye.

"If you're sure….I'll see you tomorrow ok?" Natsu tried to grin, hoping it would make her smile. Thankfully, it did. He hated to see her hurt, especially when he didn't know the cause. "Night, Lucy." He walked over to the window and jumped.

Behind him he heard her sigh and chuckle, which made him smile for real. He had to figure out what was making her sad and fix it. He couldn't allow his girl to be sad, but that was a mission for tomorrow. For tonight, he had to get some sleep and start planning their Christmas day together.