Fairy Tail and it's characters do not (unfortunately) belong to me, that great honor is reserved for Hiro Mashima.

Chapter 4 – Secrets Exposed

Lucy POV

Lucy grabbed a copy of Sorcerer's Weekly off a nearby news stand, paid 20 jewel to the cashier and quickly rushed over to a bench in a park not far from her. She fumbled through her bag for her Gale-Force Reading Glasses. Once in her hands, she put them on and quickly read thru the periodical, searching for any mention of Fairy Tail, herself, Freed or a salacious notebook. After checking through it twice for good measure, she breathed her first real sigh of relief since realizing her notebook was gone.

It'd been two weeks since she left Magnolia with Team Natsu, two long agonizing weeks where she didn't know what news was flying around back home. Surely if someone had found her notebook by now, it would have either been turned into Sorcerer's Weekly or reported on in the Magnolia Post and then picked up by Sorcerer's Weekly.

Their mission was suffering partly due to her lack of attention and well… because their job was ridiculously tedious. They'd destroyed the dark guild and captured its members but not before the dark guild had turned most of the townspeople into serpent-like creatures. Now they were tasked with finding and restoring all the town's members back into humans - which proved difficult in their serpent-like state, they were fairly spread out around the town and surrounding forest.

Her calm was short lived, the realization hitting her like a ton of bricks - if her notebook didn't fall out in the streets of Magnolia then it could only mean her it was in one other place, Fairy Tail.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Lucy said aloud. She was going to have a stress ulcer by the time she got back.

Freed POV

Freed sheathed his sword after he finished erasing the rune to keep any person, creature or object from entering his home in his absence. He'd taken two physically and mentally taxing missions alone over the last two weeks. Anything to keep his focus off the celestial mage constantly plaguing his mind. Sleep had been scarce, he could keep busy during his waking hours but when it came time to rest, his dreams were solely of her - which proved to be equally as scandalous as her dirty imaginings. Freed was beginning to feel like a bit like a caged tiger and constantly taking missions was barely taking the edge off.

After Freed washed up and changed out of his traveling clothes, he put away his belongs and headed out. He was anxious to head over to the guild, after almost a week away, he was hopeful Team Natsu may have returned early from their mission. Having heard the news in passing that Team Natsu had successfully taken out the dark guild they were commissioned to destroy (along with a good portion of the town in the process,) the inevitability of their return almost made Freed feel giddy.

Entering the guild, Freed quickly scanned the area in hopes of seeing the beautiful blonde mage. Neither she or anyone from Team Natsu were present. Freed's hopefulness quickly turning into frustration bordering on rage as he stalked toward the bar taking a seat at one of the empty barstools.

"Freed welcome back!" MiraJane said jovially as she approached him from the other side of the bar.

Freed's frustration prevented him from returning the greeting but years of good breeding drilled into him prevented Freed from being rude, so he nodded with acquiesce acknowledging the takeover mage.

"Can I get you anything?" MiraJane asked him, her tone changing enough Freed could detect the worry lacing her question.

"Tea, if it's not too much trouble." Freed responded, really he craved a stiff drink but after MiraJane ran to Laxus a few weeks ago resulting in a conversation the two teammates had yet to acknowledge even took place; Freed didn't need or want Laxus to continue to worry about him, it's not as if Laxus didn't have his own problems to deal with.

"It's no trouble at all." MiraJane responded and then went back in the kitchen to prepare Freed's tea.

While Freed waited for his tea, he heard the empty barstool being pulled out next to him. When he looked over, Freed observed Laxus taking a seat and rubbing his face in his hands. Laxus looked rather more mused then he ordinarily was, dark circles marring his face, his clothes and hair wrinkled and unruly. If Freed hazarded to guess, it looked as if Laxus had little to no sleep in the last 24 hours nor had appeared to have left the guild.

"Hey man, you just get back? How did the mission go?" Laxus asked.

"Yes, all went smoothly. The bandits robbing innocent travelers along the railroad have been apprehended and turned into the proper authorities."

"Thank god one person in this infernal guild is competent, I was up all night working on paperwork for Team Natsu and their unending destruction." He said to Freed. "Hey Mira, can I get a coffee." Laxus then said to Mira as she approached with Freed's tea.

Freed took a sip, the tea tasted divine. He smiled to MiraJane before she moved away to go start a fresh pot of coffee. After she was out of earshot, Freed knowing Laxus had very sensitive hearing whispered so quietly no one save a dragon slayer could hear him. "How are things progressing with MiraJane?"

Laxus winced. "They're not. Everytime I work up the courage to talk to her she's busy or not alone."

"Laxus, you are the most straightforward person I know. This isn't like you."

"Mira is different… special." Laxus said quietly looking Freed in the eyes.

"You mean-" Was all Freed could say before Laxus cut him off with a sharp nod and look that said do not dare to continue that sentence, especially since MiraJane was now returning with Laxus's coffee.

Freed had extensively studied Dragon Slayers, one of the aspects of their nature he found most interesting is their mating habits. Watching his friend only date women who were not even remotely interesting and weak was confounding until Freed realized Laxus was being mindful of the mating bond. Laxus feared the finality that came with a mate and MiraJane was the kind of woman you kept forever. 'As was Lucy,' Freed thought to himself with a secret smile and feeling the frustration starting to boil up again.

Laxus waited until MiraJane moved away from the bar and tended to the guild members in the dining area before he spoke. "Lucy still might not be back for another week or so, or I'd ask how that was going." He finally said with a devious smile.

Freed looked up so sharply he almost upended his tea, he placed the cup in his hands down with a clatter, wincing as he observed more than a few pairs of eyes settle on him due to the disturbance.

"How did you know?" Freed finally asked quietly.

"Since Levy returned from a mission with team shadow gear a week ago and you didn't even spare her a glance, it wasn't hard to figure out Lucy was the author. Besides, I doubt Erza would ever bother with writing lustful thoughts down, no – she'd be demanding if anyone caught her attention. And since just about every other female guild member has been in and out of the guild at least once in your presence over the last two weeks and none has even remotely sparked your interest, it made it that much more obvious."

Freed sat there in silence not wanting to acknowledge the truth. He also knew if Laxus was anything it was observant, though in training to become the next Guild Master, he'd have to be – it still rankled Freed he'd been so obvious.

"You reek of frustration and pent-up lust, man. It's upsetting my stomach. If you need to take another mission, then do it but don't run yourself into the ground, you'll slip up and get hurt. Especially if one of the Raijinshu isn't there to have your back."

"I find it odd you saying I reek of frustration and pent-up lust, is it possible that scent is also coming from you, Laxus." Freed volleyed back. A verbal sparring match may be just what he needed to burn off some of the frustration boiling inside him.

Laxus looked outraged for a millisecond before laughing. "You got me!" He clapped Freed on the back with a little more force then necessary. "I'm starting to really like what blondie is doing to you, you're not as prissy as you usually are."

"Having good manners and being polite does not make one prissy." Freed said wrinkling his nose at the word prissy.

"Whatever you say man." Laxus said downing the last of his coffee and getting up from his barstool. "I got to get back to work, it'll take a month to get out from under the mountain of paperwork Team Natsu is responsible for." He stretched as he finished speaking.

"Are you sure you're just not using the paperwork, that you rarely concern yourself with, as a way to avoid a certain someone." Freed looked in MiraJane's direction.

Laxus growled, as he walked away heading to the stairs. Once at the top of the landing he stopped to speak to his grandfather who was making his way down.

Master Makarov made a short announcement that a reporter from Sorcerer Weekly would be joining them in a day or two to write another piece on the guild. Freed had an idea to finally force Laxus's hand, and from the look of it without a little push - Laxus might never admit his feelings for the takeover mage. He quickly rushed from the guild to his home and headed for his study. Once at his desk, with a piece of stationary in hand, he began writing.

To whom it may concern,

I have information on a secret romance brewing in fairy tail. If you're interested meet me at the Magnolia Recreational Park, near the water fountain. Tell no one.

Now all he had to do was slip it into the reporters pocket without being noticed, then perhaps Laxus and MiraJane would finally admit their feelings for each other. Speaking of feelings, Freed realized he was in a very serious predicament. He had found and read Lucy's notebook, then spent the last two weeks trying not to think of her and wishing she'd return – but what exactly was he going to do once she'd returned. Freed didn't want invent some fabricated story, lying only complicates matters and went against the moral code he lived by. She would probably be extremely upset that he violated her privacy in such a way, especially with the sort of things she was writing about. If Freed wanted to have any kind of chance with the Celestial Mage after such a severe transgression, he would have to do something special to woo her. Suddenly his frustration turned to anxiety. Laxus mentioned Team Natsu wouldn't return for another week or so, that meant he didn't have very much time to plan a course of action to win over the woman of his dreams. His stomach clenched as a wave of nausea rolled through him, Freed out of habit did the only thing he ever did in times of serious distress. He walked over to his bookshelves and started to research anything and everything having to do with mating rituals. Not finding anything pertaining to humanoids, he hypothesized the book store in town may sell some volumes on courting females.

A/N: So hey, sorry it took so long to update. I was sick shortly after publishing last time and when I finally got better I had a ton of other stuff to catch up on. I hit a writing groove this week - I will update as soon as I get it all written down and edited, for now I just have to close my eyes to see the story play out for 3/4 more chapters. It's going to get good - really good, I can't wait until you guys get to read what happens when Lucy gets back. I love Freed *sighs* Well, my sincere apologies it took so long & happy reading! More coming soon!