She opened the door to the bedroom, narrowing her eyes until they adjusted to the darkness.

"Jellal?" Meredy tilted her head. Then she spotted him. Them. A grin stretched across her face. "My, my," she fiddled for her portable communication lacrima, annoyed when it only captured dark silhouettes. How he had not woken up was a mystery to her, but at least he stirred, giving a sleepy moan.

Jellal was laying on his side, Erza resting her face in the crook of his neck, her legs snug in between his. She was clutching what little of the blanket was not covering her in front of her. He slept with his head on one arm, his other one holding Titania close around her waist.

Meredy snapped the lights on, using her chance and hammering the camera function of her lacrima. He frowned, blinking his eyes open.

"What…?" Jellal croaked, looking around. He jumped when noticing her, his face flaming up and his eyes lighting on fire with fury. "Meredy!" He exclaimed, his voice stumbling upon seeing the lacrima in her hand.

"Not yet…" Erza muttered in her fading sleep, her arms snaking around him to get him to cuddle her back and be still. He pressed his lips together, avoiding the mockingly sparking eyes of his guildmate at all costs.

"Adorable," Meredy squealed, hopping on the spot. Erza's eyes shot open at that, then slowly rolled to the side, finally noticing the intruder as well. They beamed apart within a millisecond, to either side of the bed and facing the wall. Meredy laughed. "If only Ultear was here…" she smirked, though a shadow of sadness clouded her eyes.

"How did you get in?" Jellal ignored her sorrow for her lost friend only this once, shoving her out of the bedroom with both arms outstretched. She giggled, waiting until he stopped in the hall.

"You genius left the key in the door," she shrugged, amusement ruling her tone. He furrowed his brows, probably going through his day and how he had forgotten to take it out of the keyhole – and on the outside. "Anyway, you're late, so I thought I'd see if you hadn't forgotten about our mission again – or drunken yourself into stupor…" she mumbled, turning away innocently.

"That was your fault, you know!" He growled and she giggled, giving him a sweet smile.

"And it was worth it, wasn't it?" She winked and he glanced down, his blush deepening, proving her right. She laughed again. "I'll go wait outside then; don't make me wait, okay?" She skipped out the door, stretching her arms above her head as if the good deed of the day was done.

Wandering a few steps down the street and back up, Meredy could not help but admire her new collection of photos, taking out the lacrima. She leaned her back on the wall next to the now ajar front door, one foot propped up against it. Steps crept out of the bedroom.

"You're going out?"

"I'm sorry, I almost forgot,"

"When will you be back, you think?" Erza asked, her voice calming down, almost back to normal.

"It's across the border, so perhaps a day, not too long, though," he rushed, trying to play it down.

"The border?" She sounded disappointed. "To the east?"

"Yeah," he affirmed. It was the closest one to Magnolia. Meredy melted a little when as she listened to Jellal's attempts of assurance and how he asked her to be careful on her own mission in return. He sounded different than usual. Gentle and sensitive and vivid. As if his each of his words were weighed on a precision balance while at the same time allowing him to freely and honestly express himself. He was still awkward, no question, but he was passionate about what he said, valuing it more than she had ever known him to. He took himself more seriously.

Meredy peeked around the corner, her hand with the lacrima immediately snapping back up. He was holding Erza with his arms around her back, her hands resting on his chest. She gazed up into his eyes and he – the Jellal who wore hoods even with not a soul except his closest allies around – returned her gaze lovingly.

"Awwww," Meredy squealed from her 'hiding spot', snapping their embarrassed, hectic expressions as well. She giggled to herself when he stalked into the bedroom, returning only seconds later in a different set of trousers, pulling a shirt over his shoulders as he walked out the door. Hustling her along with him, he did not respond to a single thing she said for the first hour of their journey, strictly refraining to only discuss their mission. His face stayed red for a long while, still.

She let the topic rest until he was tired enough to make mistakes, getting more answers out of him than she had hoped. Ultear had taught her well.

"I need to pick something up; I'll see you at the guild tomorrow," Erza said, lifting her hand in farewell. Gray and Natsu mumbled something in return and Lucy waved as the S-Class Mage turned into a different alley.

"I didn't know the shops were still open," Gray said and Natsu shrugged. Both stopped in their tracks, grinning devilishly at one another.

"Oh, no…" Lucy cringed already.

"Come on," Natsu pulled on her and she squirmed, to no avail. He trailed her along, down the street, remaining in the shadows. "Isn't it weird how Erza hasn't been at the guild lately?" He whispered too loudly to be fulfilling the purpose of whispering. Gray hissed at him and they threw each other threatening glares.

"She was ill, I told you," Lucy whispered back.

"Then why not ask Wendy to heal her?" Gray supplied. He slid with his back along the wall, peering around a corner onto another dark street. Erza was incredibly hard to miss with her giant wagon of suitcases, making it all the more suspicious that she had already disappeared from sight.

"She was sick, not injured," Lucy argued.

"Wendy can free a body of poison – I don't think that would have been a problem,"

"And she was not in her rooms at Fairy Hills, either," Wendy piped up, following them perhaps even more insecurely than Lucy.

"Not only that," Natsu narrowed his eyes, pulling Lucy along, silently breezing through the streets, "but she still smelled like Jellal today." He growled under his breath. His nostrils were flaring, even now. Lucy felt sweat drops stream down her neck.

"Y-you already knew he had been here," she tried to cool the topic down, seeing in Wendy's thoughtful frown that she agreed with her Dragon Slayer guildmate.

"Things are getting interesting," Gray grinned and Happy yelled his usual 'Aye', both having a mischievous gleam in their eyes.

"B-but what if she sees you?" Lucy refused to make them a 'we', knowing still that if they got caught, they were dead meat. "And-" she raked her wrist free when Natsu stopped to peep around the corner, "and what if you do find Jellal, then what?"

"I'm gonna fight him!" Natsu's face lit up into a boyish grin, his fists balling in happily excited anticipation. Lucy's face fell.

"Idiot…" Gray muttered, shaking his head. He held his arm up and everyone stiffened. She was right there. At least her cart was. Parked in a side street. They all watched while holding their breaths when Erza came back around it, walking up to the door of a small house. Their eyes widened when she got out a key, unlocking the front door and disappearing behind it.

"Natsu!" Lucy called as quietly as she could, but he was already across the street. He snuck up to the window with a bleak flower box in front of it, staring in. Gray facepalmed and Lucy bit her nails, already seeing the Fire Wizard getting skewered by a sword.

"I, uhm," Wendy quietly broke the tension, "I think we'll head home now," she said. Charle nodded, her eyes having spoken of spite the entire time through, though her mouth remained sealed.

"Me, too," Lucy said, grimacing when Natsu walked around the entire house, returning pretty quickly.

"So?" Gray asked, but Natsu shrugged, hands crossed behind his head.

"Nothing interesting; Erza's just showering…"

"How's that not interesting?" Gray muttered, being slapped hard on the head by Lucy.

"Pervert!"

"In any case, the place reeks of Jellal but he's not there," Natsu lazily said with a small pout on his lips, already heading down the street. "Let's go eat, Happy,"

"Aye!" The blue Exceed flew after his best friend.

Jellal felt his feet growing blisters on top of blisters. He had hurried back to Magnolia like a maniac, knowing he was not even expected that evening. Or rather night.

He changed nearly noiselessly and climbed into bed where she was already fast asleep, undisturbed by him. He couldn't sleep. He tried for hours and even though his body was exhausted, his mind was restless. Every involuntary answer he had given Meredy had backfired at his confidence, questioning his worthiness of the one he loved, getting him so worked up, he had run across half the countryside to get back as soon as possible.

He stared into the darkness, unable to close his eyes. It was always nice to look at her. It calmed him down. He was not someone to have a deep sleep, or a long one or even a continuous one. It seemed that even the basics of living hated him – mocked him.

He knew he had to learn a lot but he also knew what he was doing it for. Or whom.

No. She would slap him across the face for that. He would live for himself, too. He would do it for both of them, their happiness, together.

It was almost impossible to see through the veil of the night, but Jellal could make out her silhouette against the window. Her side rising and falling peacefully. He could hear her breath, smell the mesmerising scent of her hair. Feel her leg rest between his, one of her hands protectively enclosed in both of his palms. He loved it when she unconsciously nestled up to him.

Jellal sighed, trying to close his eyes. She really did calm him down, though at the same time, she kept him up, kept him wondering and fretting. He always had one aim: to get to her. To be where she was and to make sure that she was safe and to be with her. As soon as he was, however, the tides of his churning emotions came crashing back at him. Knocking him over with all of this… insecurity.

What was he allowed to do? To think? How far could and would he go, even with consent. He had no clue how to act, what to say that would be right, that would neither upset her nor be amiss if he did not. Which of his feelings could he admit to himself? Or even act upon? Which questions could he ask, which answers give?

He loved being free. Being permitted to be free, to feel free. More than anything, he loved the way his freedom felt, the way she made him feel – good and wanted and at home. As if all of his past sins had led up to him being unable to commit a new one, not a real one. Nothing that would be recognised as one.

Most of all, he loved her beyond belief.

"Jellal…?" Erza croaked. He felt her gaze in the darkness. "Is everything alright?" She asked. He did not know how she did it, reading him like a book. He wondered whether all of his troubles were this obvious to her.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Her hand moved between his and he realised how he must have been squeezing it while lost in thoughts.

"You can't sleep; what's wrong?" She persisted in a hushed voice. He smiled despite himself. Scooting forward, Jellal let go of her hand to embrace her. He even snaked arm beneath her waist, holding her close to him with both of them. Words could not describe how good it felt to be able to do that.

"Jellal…" Erza breathed into his ear. He felt her lashes against his cheek, fluttering close. "I… have to go to the bathroom…" she confessed. He released her. He had to chuckle at the speed she used, returning in under a minute and sneaking herself back against him into the same position as before.

They stayed in their hug for a while. Jellal watched what little light filtered through the curtain beaming onto the floor, telling him that his night's rest was gone. He closed his eyes, cherishing the lovely smell of her hair and neck, inhaling deeply.

"You really can't sleep," Erza noted after some time. He opened his mouth, words getting stuck when she moved away.

"Erza-" he stopped again when she put her arms around him. She pulled, tugging his head beneath hers for a change, his body flush against her. He blushed deeply, being able to rest his chin on her chest. He tried holding it up high, having to press his nose into her collarbone.

"I've never had anyone help me fall asleep in my life," she said, her voice still hoarse from sleep, "but I will try the way I always imagined people to do it…" she declared. Her hand found his hair, gently stroking it while the other brushed down his back, then back up. Jellal could hear her accelerated heartbeat, though nothing in comparison to his own. "Maybe a story would help…"

"Never?"

"Huh?" She tilted her head above his. He cursed at his voice for sounding strange for a moment, before he remembered that she did not mind. Then neither would he, he decided.

"No one has helped you fall asleep, even after you left the Tower of Heaven and joined Fairy Tail?" He could not help but ask. He feared her reaction to the mention of such a ghastly time in their lives. Erza did not show any sign of resentment, not even horror.

"No, though that's my own fault, I suppose…" she continued to tenderly massage his scalp. "I never told anyone about not being able to sleep or about having nightmares. I pretended to be fine, I played tough at all times and didn't let anyone in. Not the guild or our landlady at Fairy Hills whom I held dear. Not even Porlyusica as I spent quite some time there when she fixed my eye…" Erza sighed under her breath. Jellal finally closed his eyes again, his shoulders dropping.

"I never let anyone near me – I always wore my armour, feeling saver if I just shut myself away in it, hoping to become what I feigned to be.

"But things really have changed… I think… I think that if I had been who I am today back then, I might have let them see. I'd let them help me." Her strokes became even gentler, alongside her voice. "We all grew up a lot over the past years in the guild; we grew together.

"I think Lucy's arrival really changed us all for the better. I was feared more than I was respected before she came – not that they don't fear me, still, and that's not a bad thing," he snickered at that, feeling her chest supress a chuckle as well, "generally speaking,"

"Of course." He smiled broadly. His eyes were still closed, his muscles relaxed. Mellowly, her hand roamed his back with soothing caresses.

"Natsu and Gray really are a team now, and I know much of it goes to the account of Lucy, just like with other members of the guild. New members joined – previous enemies like Juvia and Gajeel, becoming strong allies and reliable friends." She sighed contently.

"It just goes to show how you can never know how much one new member can change everything…"

"Is that bribery you're attempting…?" He smirked against the supple, warm skin of her cleavage. Erza chuckled softly.

"You may take it as such if you like," she teased. He really loved her more than he could express. He loved the way she was subtly lecturing him – how she gave him lessons to learn, feelings to accept and invitations to take. She had such a profoundly caring way about it, her words had an effect on him unlike anyone else's he had ever met.

"I… have actually been tucked into bed once…" he finally said. She gave a questioning hum, never ceasing to stoke down the back of his head. "Involuntarily," he added, feeling himself blush. He wanted to tell her though – he wanted to share stories, too. Express his feelings and entrust them to her.

"I had caught a fever from an infected wound after we had gotten rid of a Dark Guild. Ultear was out to make sure we hadn't missed anyone. It was a light fever, really, but Meredy had been tasked to watch me, anyway."

"I can see where this is going," Erza laughed quietly, the vibration of her throat against his forehead almost like a purr.

"She tucked me into my cape like a blanket until the only part outside of it was my head."

"You must be very important to her," Erza noted. She was speaking calmly, her voice just as soft and understanding as before. "It's good you had such caring friends by your side through everything."

"Yeah," he mumbled into her, not even hesitating, "she is important to me, too." He said. He heard her give a confirmative hum, telling him that she smiled. So did he.

He felt light all of a sudden, untouchable. He was unafraid to tell Erza these things, even concerning the past and his feelings for others. She was not jealous. She was happy for him. She supported him in every way possible, reassuring him when he needed it.

Thank you… he thought, eventually able to fall asleep in her arms.

Thank you for reading; I'd love to hear what you think ^^

I also have a question: where do you think Meredy would have her Guild Mark? It is never shown or mentioned in the Manga or Anime and should she join Fairy Tail, I'd like to include the location and colour of it. Ideas?