Zeref was still eating when Lucy returned, staring lovingly at eight shiny, gold keys that she held close to her. Without asking he knew those were her keys that she had given to the strange girl that had showed up at their door earlier today.

"You okay?" He asked softly as he finished the last of his pancakes.

She nodded, grinning broadly, "After I eat, do you want to see a celestial mage create contracts?"

Zeref nodded eagerly, "I'm more interested in seeing what the rest of your spirits look like. Loke looked human enough."

Lucy giggled at the thought of Zeref's reaction when she finally summoned the other spirits. Some of them, like Virgo, did look pretty human, but others, like Taurus, didn't look remotely human. He was in for a shock on that account. She ate quickly, determined to see her spirits as quickly as possible. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed them until Yukino had given her keys back to her. As soon as she'd finished eating she laid her keys out in front of her, looking at each one in turn, trying to determine which one she should summon first.

Aquarius, she knew, should take priority. She'd been with Lucy the longest and would be furious if Lucy summoned anyone before her, but Lucy also knew that summoning her in the bathtub would also infuriate the mermaid. She sighed before finally picking up the angry woman's key and turning to Zeref.

"She's the worst, just as a forewarning. I promise the rest of them will be much easier to deal with, but if I don't summon her first, then it's going to be even worse on us when I do, okay?"

Zeref nodded with wide eyes as he followed Lucy into the bathroom, watching in confusion as she drew a bath.

"Why are you -"

Lucy shushed him as she dipped the key in the water, calling forth the mermaid spirit. Aquarius appeared in a flash, glaring at the blonde.

"What have I told you about summoning me in the bathtub?" She yelled.

Lucy blushed, "Sorry, but -"

Aquarius cut her off, "If you ever try to terminate our contract again I will drown you, girl. Don't bother with a new one, as far as I'm concerned our old one was never terminated."

She turned her eyes on the dark-haired boy sitting beside Lucy and frowned.

"And who is this?"

Lucy's blush deepened as she took Zeref's hand in her own, "This is my boyfriend. Zeref meet Aquarius."

The blunette turned an angry eye on the boy, "If you ever hurt her I'll force my gate open and drown you, got it? Now, if you two don't mind, I have a date with my boyfriend. Be sure to summon him last, got it, girly."

Lucy swallowed, nodding eagerly. Aquarius was still more than a little scary after all. They watched as the mermaid disappeared and Lucy sat back, sighing.

Zeref watched the interaction with wide eyes, waiting for the woman to disappear before asking Lucy the question that was on his mind.

"Are all your spirits that scary?"

Lucy chuckled softly, "Not generally, no. Aquarius is just temperamental is all.""

He nodded and watched as she summoned the rest of them, one-by-one. All of them seemed to have considered their contracts in place still and he was in amazement at how all of them seemed to adore the blonde girl. All of the spirits had surprised him, their personalities were as varied and colorful as the people of Fairy Tail, though by far the one that surprised him the most was Gemini - who had appeared as a duplicate of Lucy, grinning mischievously at their master.

Lucy had scolded them lovingly but hadn't made them change back into their normal forms, instead making it seem as if she was going over the contract with herself. Zeref found the whole thing to be amusing, if not a little confusing. He found it less amusing when, just before they left, they turned and copied him. Suddenly he was staring at an exact replica of himself.

The twins looked at him sadly with his own eyes before turning into their normal selves.

"Too sad," Mini said before they disappeared, leaving Lucy to look after them wonderingly.

"They seemed to like you," She whispered as she put her keys away, looping them onto her belt.

Zeref raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything as he helped her back to her bed. She looked exhausted and he couldn't help but wonder if she'd overexerted herself summoning all of her spirits in a row like she had.

"Don't worry," She grinned brightly at him when he questioned her about it. "I'll be alright. It is a little tiring to do that but I don't do it very often and it's a special occasion."

Zeref glowered at her, "What's so special about it?"

"I finally got my friends back," She cheered before yawning loudly.

He shook his head as he kissed her forehead, "You need sleep."

She nodded, humming her agreement, "It's still day outside."

He laughed softly, "Sleep for a little while then. I'll wake you if something interesting happens."

She grinned before settling back into the bed she had vacated only a few hours ago.

Lucy watched Zeref through falling eyelids. She wondered if he realized just how much her spirits meant to her, which led her to wonder if he knew how much he meant to. She sighed lightly, feeling her eyelids grow heavier. She wanted desperately to tell him how she felt, but she felt like she was fighting a losing battle trying. Her brain seemed to have disconnected from her body as she struggled to say the three little words that were running rampant in her brain. She drifted off to sleep without knowing if she'd managed to get them out of her mouth or not.

Zeref froze in the middle of brushing Lucy's hair from her face. He couldn't be sure, but he swore she had whispered 'I love you' just before she'd fallen asleep. He stared down at her sleeping form and sighed softly.

"I love you, too, Lucy Heartfilia."