"No," Natsu paused, listening to whomever was on the other end of the line. "No, I've got it covered… Yeah, she's gonna be alright. Cried herself out after everyone left, but she'll be okay… Yeah, you too."

Ending the call, Natsu made his way back to the couch where Lucy was waking up from her short, exhaustion-induced nap. She watched him crouch down in front of her and waited for whatever bad news he may have.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" His tone was gentle and cautious, not wanting to set her off again. Not that he thought she was hydrated enough to produce any more tears just yet.

Lucy shrugged. Her head hurt from earlier, and she gratefully took the glass Natsu handed her. Small sips was all her raw throat could tolerate at first, so she fought the urge to gulp the cool water down. Natsu waited patiently for her to finish before checking on her again.

"Better?"

"No." The word came out slightly hoarse, a perfect sound for the anguish Lucy felt after how the evening had turned out. "How many?"

"How many what?" Natsu asked, more than a little confused.

Her eyes finally met his. "Am I going to be arrested?" He just looked more confused at her follow-up question. "I know it wasn't intentional, but I poisoned most of your family. Did anyone… I mean, is anyone… Am I a murderer now?"

Tears glossed over her eyes again, and in spite of the turmoil Lucy was obviously feeling, Natsu had to fight the urge to laugh.

"It's only considered murder if it's premeditated; worst they could getcha with is manslaughter." Regret filled him as soon as the words left his mouth. This was not the time for their usual playful banter, as evidenced by the fact that Lucy was crying again. Shit.

"Oh gods, my cheesecake killed your family!" Her words were barely distinguishable with the new round of sobbing and hyperventilation. "I'm so sorry, Natsu. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to kill them…"

As she continued to babble out apologies, Natsu tried his best to comfort her. Nothing he did or said changed what she viewed as absolute truth: she had baked a cheesecake that killed his family, and she would spend the rest of her life in prison for committing such a heinous crime. Natsu would never speak to her again, and what life she had been able to make for herself was, effectively, over.

Several minutes of this was more than he could take. For one singular moment, he stopped being Natsu; in that moment, he was not her boyfriend nor her lover, instead, he was Officer Dragneel of Magnolia Police Department. And that moment was all he needed to gain her full and unwavering attention.

"Enough!" He practically roared.

Lucy's breath caught in her throat. She became perfectly still, moving just her eyes, and those only enough to look up into his.

"Are you going to let me speak now, or would you like to keep going until I have to call an ambulance to come pick you up, too?" Her silence was all the permission he needed to keep going. "You're not a murderer. Your baking did not kill my entire family. It did not actually kill anyone. At all. No one in my family is dead because of you, or anything you brought to my parent's house."

She continued to just watch him, not quite believing.

"I need to know you understand what I just told you, Lucy. Everyone that went to the hospital is going to be fine; most of them already are. They have to stay a while for monitoring, but that's it."

"But, your uncle, he…"

"Shoved the entire slice into his mouth like the dumbass he can be and nearly choked on it." Natsu had to hold back his laughter again. "That is not the first time he's done that, it won't be the last, and he doesn't have a peanut allergy, so the only reason he's at the hospital is because he drove a few of the others. And the only reason he would have died eating that cheesecake is because he tried to inhale it."

Every time she brought up a different relative and their reaction, he told her that person was fine. Natsu had spent several minutes on the phone with his mom getting the full rundown on how everyone was doing, but no matter how much he reassured Lucy of the truth of the situation, she continued to spiral into panic until he just couldn't do it anymore.

Taking her face in his hands, Natsu pressed a firm kiss to Lucy's lips, not letting up until she was an active participant. Even then, he lingered, unable to ever truly have his fill of her.

"I love you, but you can be so gods damned stubborn sometimes."

If the kiss hadn't shut her up, those words finally being spoken aloud would have done it.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really," Natsu whispered, leaning in until their lips were nearly touching again. "You are absolutely too fucking stubborn for your own good."

"Damnit, Natsu!" Lucy placed her hands on his chest to push him away, but he wrapped his arms around her before she was able to get away.

"I love you, Lucy."

A smile grew on Lucy's face this time. "You promise me your family is alright?"

"Yeah, they've all been confirmed fine or close enough to fine by my mom just before you woke up." He pulled her closer, encouraging her to cuddle up on his parent's couch with him as he slid his fingers through her hair. "No one is blaming you for what happened, and no one is mad about it. And even if someone had… it's not like you baked yesterday with the intent to kill off my family."

"So… I guess this means I win, since you said it first." Lucy flashed a smug grin. "What's my prize?"

"What, knowing that I love you isn't enough of a prize? What more could you possibly need?"

"I need to know that it's more than just words," Lucy answered timidly.

"Something you already know, else we would not have been playing that fun little game…"

"And I need to be reminded that this is real, that you still mean it as long as you do mean it."

"I can do that."

"And…" She hesitated.

"You're already making some hefty demands of me; what's one more? C'mon, lay it on me."

Lucy looked up at him from her position lounging on his chest. This last one was more difficult to ask of him, because she feared his honesty and dishonesty equally. Both could easily break her, but she needed him to promise this one more thing.

"If ever you find that it is no longer the truth, I need you to promise that you will tell me."

The shimmering in her eyes pained him more than all of her earlier sobbing had. She wanted to know the truth if he ever stopped loving her. He knew it was a thing that could happen; hell, he'd experienced it more than once, but none of the other times had started like this. Natsu had felt himself falling from the first moment she was in his arms. Lucy was it for him, but if this was something she needed from him, it was something he would promise.

"I promise to tell you, if that ever happens. That's a pretty damn out there 'if,' though."

Lucy's smile lit up the room - or maybe that was the headlights of a car pulling into the driveway, but whatever.

"I love you, Natsu."

The kiss that followed was deep and filled with the longing they shared and promises of more to come. And come they would have, if it hadn't been for the sound of a door swinging open, soon followed by Igneel's exclamation of, "Damnit, Natsu, the 'no sex under my roof' rule still applies!"