Heeeeey.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Lucy leaned into Natsu, his warmth comforting. Briefly she worried that maybe she was too heavy, but then she abandoned the thought as Natsu rubbed her shoulders.

"Oi, flame ass."

Lucy could feel Natsu suddenly tense up at the rough voice, and she too was a little stiff in intimidation as Gajeel appeared.

His red eyes were gleaming as he threw something glittering to Natsu. "Here. Gihi, you'd better like it, Bunny Girl, I worked my ass off the past hour making that."

Natsu caught the thing midair, and he looked at it breifly before a wide grin stretched across his face.

Natsu turned to a confused Lucy and said, "Luce."

"Yes?"

"Your hand," Natsu requested.

Brows furrowing slightly, Lucy lifted her left hand and he held it in his own.

Her eyes widdened as something cold slipped onto her middle finger.

"Until we really do get married, we'll save that ring finger." Natsu grinned.

Lucy was too busy staring at the ring to fully hear him. It was a shimmering gold, a medium sized pearl in the middle with glittering diamonds surrounding it like a flower. She could see multiple vines and twists engraved into the band.

"But... W-We only saw him two hours ago!" Lucy sputtered. How could Gajeel have worked so fast?

Natsu shrugged and barked at Gajeel to leave. "He may be an asshole, but there's a reason why he's our blacksmith."

"It's beautiful." Lucy sighed.

"You think so?" Natsu mumbled. "I wasn't really sure 'cause you might not like it."

"I love it, Natsu."

Lucy's brown eyes were wide and shimmering with joy, and a large smile twitched onto her lips. Natsu stared at her, thinking about how much better she looked with a smile.

"Well aren't you two lovebirds getting it on?"

Gray's sneer snapped the two out of it.

Furious, Natsu launched himself at the raven-haired boy, and the two screamed and shouted as they threw insults, kicked, and sometimes even pulled hair.

"STRIPPER!"

"PINKY!"

XxXxXxXxXxX

Lucy sat in the comfortable red chair, staring out of the large window in Natsu's room.

The sun was just setting, and having lived on the farm her whole life, Lucy knew it was around 7:30.

She stood, and bit her lip as her hand reachedd out for the soft, pink blouse that Evergreen had dropped off for her a few hours ago. It was a surprise when the older woman delivered a large tub of expensive looking clothes, some of them old ones while most were newly sewn. Lucy had been desperately trying to think of a way to thank her since that.

She was hesitant to wear such beautiful clothing. Would she dirty it? What if she did and Igneel got mad at her? The last time she had a shower was last night, and a brief one at that. She didn't want to risk any more money down the drain, so she had used cold water from the sink and splashed it over herself in the backyard.

Lucy's eyes wandered over to the digital clock beside Natsu's bed. 7:37.

It was too late to waste anymore time, or else visiting hours would be over. Hastily Lucy swept up the pink, polka dotted blouse and a blue skirt.

Scrambling over to the bathroom, she locked the door behind her and took a moment to be in awe of the large and lavender-scented room. Lucy threw off her faded blue overalls and kicked off her worn shoes, pulling the blouse over her head and squirming into the skirt.

She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. For once she didn't look like a potato sack.

At the last minute she ran her hands through her blond hair to try and straighten the tangles, getting it into a decent state. Just as she was about to leave, her eyes caught something.

Curious, Lucy reached out for what seemed to be some fabric lying on the sink. She brushed her fingers against the soft piece of cloth, and was astonished to see that it was a beautiful red ribbon.

She wondered why Natsu would have something like it in his bathroom.

Maybe she could use it to tie her hair.

Grabbing a handful of golden locks at the right side of her head, she fastened the ribbon around it, and was fully satisfied with how she looked.

Running out of the bathroom and grabbing some socks and sneakers on the way out, Lucy hopped from one foot to another as she scrambled down the hallway while pulling on the purple socks.

Finally, as she reached the main entrance, she tucked on the white sneakers and was just reaching for the doors when a voice rang out, causing her to freeze.

"Luce?"

"N-Natsu," Lucy greeted, slowly turning around and waving awkwardly to her fiancé.

He had a suspicious look on his face, crossing his arms around his chest and eyeing her. "What are you doing?"

Lucy wrung her hands together like she did when she was nervous. "... Visiting Wendy."

Natsu's eyes softened as he took a step forward. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Lucy shrugged. "I... I thought you would have known."

"Luce, I'm not a mind reader." Natsu laughed, and she giggled quietly along with him.

"C'mon, let's go see Wendy." Natsu held out his hand for her, but she only stared at his face.

"You want to come with me?"

"Duh! I have to get approval from her, right?" Natsu snorted, a lopsided grin on his lips.

Lucy blinked in both awe and confusion. "R... Right."

"So let's go!" Natsu cheered, grabbing her hand and running out the door.

"Wait, Natsu! Wah!"

The hour long walk normally would have been half the time it took, but Lucy was too busy laughing and enjoying herself as Natsu pulled her to various places along the way.

By the time they reached the hospital, Lucy's cheeks were flushed red from laughing so much and her belly full from all of the food Natsu had bought.

At first she had been horrified that Natsu would pay for her, but after some convincing from him, she finally caved and let him.

"We're here to see Wendy Heartfilia," Lucy told the lady at the front counter.

As much as she wanted to see Wendy as soon as possible, she also didn't want to stay too long for the nasty hospital smell was very displeasing.

Lucy hated hospitals ever since her mother died, and had spent her life trying to avoid them.

Natsu's hand squeezed her own in a comforting way, and she expressed her appreciation through a squeeze of her own.

The lady smiled and nodded. "Ms. Heartfilia, welcome back. You'd better hurry, though. Visiting hours will be over in twenty minutes."

Lucy smiled a small smile back and pulled Natsu down the pure white hall.

She shivered at the blank walls, missing the color and life back at the palace. From time to time she could hear heavy sobbing and sometimes even screams, which ran shivers up her spine and cause goosebumps to appear on her arms.

"That's fucking messed up." Natsu muttered as they passed a particular door where the people behind it were shouting hysterically about 'I don't want to die!'

Lucy was still having a hard time from not shaking as she knocked on Wendy's door.

Natsu's hand reached out and read the file beside said door, his eyes skimming quickly.

'Patient: Wendy Sky Marvell Heartfilia

Age: 13

Diagnosis: Please consult the patient's doctor or nurse

Condition: Stable but still critical

Doctor: Rogue Cheney

Nurse: Yukino Agura

Visitors: Family members only'

Natsu frowned, tucking the papers back neatly into the small holder.

"Come in," wheezed a raspy voice from inside that made Natsu cringe.

Gulping, Lucy slowly turned the handle and swung it open.

The first thing that Natsu noticed was how dark the room was, aside from a faint light streaming in through the window of the moon.

"Wendy?" Lucy whispered into the dark room.

"Lucy-nee," the same voice whispered.

Using his nose and ears, he followed the smell of cherries and cream to the right side of the room.

"Luce, over here." He muttered, pulling on her hand and guiding her to the side of Wendy's bed after shutting the door.

"Lucy-nee? Who's that?"

"I'll explain later, Wendy." Lucy promised, groping around blindly until her hand made contact with two plastic chairs. She tugged on Natsu's sleeve, and the two sat down in the slightly uncomfortable seats.

"Wendy, why's it so dark?" Lucy said gently, somehow managing to find Wendy's delicate hand in the darkness.

"I asked them to," Wendy whispered in her broken voice. "The light was too bright and hurt my eyes."

"I see," Lucy muttered. "I'm so sorry that I'm late, Wendy."

"Lucy-nee, who's he?" Wendy asked, repeating her question from before.

"This is Natsu, Wendy. He's going to help us so much," Lucy said in a hushed voice.

"H-How?"

Lucy's hand slipped away from Natsu's and gripped Wendy's with both hands gently. "I'm marrying him, Wendy."

"M-Mary? Lucy-nee - no - " Wendy croaked.

"Don't worry, Wendy. I want to do this." Lucy assured her. "Doing this is going to support us so much. I can finally send you to school, and everyday, we'll even be able to go out for ice cream."

"Promise?" Wendy whispered, and Natsu could smell the start of her salty tears.

"I promise." Lucy sighed, the sentence coming out in a shuddering whoosh.

"Okay." Wendy said in a small voice. "Please don't do anything that'll keep you from your happiness, Lucy-nee."

"My happiness is yours, Wendy." Lucy muttered.

"Okay..." Wendy repeated, only this time, her voice was fading. Natsu gently pulled on Lucy's elbow.

"Luce, she's falling asleep. We should go, visiting hours are almost over." He muttered gently.

"Lucy-nee... I love you..." Wendy whispered, before finally slipping into sleep.

"I love you too, Wendy." Lucy whimpered, wiping away the tears in her eyes. "And I promise I'll make this right."

Natsu stared at her, before gently rubbing her shoulders in comfort.

"I promise."

XxXxXxXxXxX

Wwjndbfow

I was gonna add more, but this is late as it is, so I'll add that part to the next chapter!

Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW~~

ALL THAT GOOD STUFF~~~

MWUAH!

MWUAH!

...

MUAHAHAHA

Okay now I'll go for real XD