Pink hair resting atop Lucy's pillow, usually this isn't too strange of a sight for the celestial spirit mage, but this time is different. Lucy could have never in her wildest dreams thought that she would be in this situation. After Lucy carried Nasha all the way back to her apartment she laid the little girl down on the bed and got straight to work to try and find answers for returning the girl to where she belongs. An hour had already gone by, and Lucy has no leads or clues, every book she reads just leaves her empty handed. Sitting at her desk in the corner of the room, she puts down the last book she looked through and let out a long sigh, putting her hands over her face. The blonde looked over at Nasha, sleeping soundly in her bed.

"What are we going to do about you?" Lucy wasn't asking anyone in particular, she was the only other person in the apartment after all, or at least she was supposed to be.

"We can't keep her?" Natsu spoke from right behind Lucy, startling her. The Spirit Maiden didn't even notice him before, she had no idea how long he had been standing there.

"Of course not, are you crazy!" The idea was insane. She was a human girl, not some dog they found on the street, of course they couldn't just 'keep her'. "Her parents are probably worried and missing her like crazy. Not to mention Nasha likely feels the same way. Imagine how scary it must be to just magically appear in a new place all by herself." Lucy couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl, although she can't say she's never been through the same thing. The whole guild experienced the same thing when they were transported to Edolas.

"Well she isn't really on her own." Natsu did feel sympathy for the girl but he assumed there was some comfort from being around the Earth Land versions of all the people she knows. Plus she wasn't the only kid who came through the 'portal'. "Gray's kid was with her, and we're pretty much the same thing as her parents back home right?" Having actually met their counterparts from their time in Edolas, he knew they weren't the same thing, but they were close enough to provide some reassurance to the girl.

"Yeah. I guess you're right." Lucy donned a small smile, the fire mage has always been good at cheering her up, his words encouraging.

"We'll get her home, don't worry. You don't have to try doing it all on your own." Natsu knew she was a little stressed, she had the tendency to forget everything wasn't all up to her. As an extra act of reassurance the dragon slayer put his hand on Lucy's head to bring her forehead to rest against his own. His natural warmth bringing her comfort. Without moving her head the blonde woman spoke up.

"Promise?" Mostly relieved at this point, she still had some unease left about finding a solution. She reached her hand up to hold the back of his head, keeping him close, she didn't want him to pull away just yet.

"I promise, Lucy." He wanted to make sure his partner was feeling confident about the situation, so he reciprocated her action. Putting both his hands on each side of her face, he opened his eyes to look into hers, confidence unwavering. Lucy couldn't help but sport a small blush at the gestures. Has Natsu always had such big hands? And his lips looked kind of soft. Lucy let her mind wander too much, and she realised that, entire face going red with embarrassment. She wanted to pull away at this, but couldn't bring herself to do it just yet, it seemed like he didn't mind either. The whole scenario seemed to hold a bit of tension, but it wasn't uncomfortable to either of them. Lucy decided to take the opportunity, it just seemed so right. The blonde mage began to lean in closer, inching at an unbearably slow pace, if felt like time had stopped for the pair. Lucy couldn't hear anything over the sound of her heart beating so hard and fast, it felt like it was ready to jump out of her chest at any moment. They were so close now, she could almost feel his lips on hers, she could feel his breath hitting her lips. You almost couldn't see the space between them, they were so close. Heart beating faster, harder, the sound of it deafening. Lucy was a little scared, having second thoughts now, she thought to pull away before it was too late, but she just couldn't. The blonde closed her eyes, trusting the man to meet her in the middle, she couldn't take it anymore. The space between their lips so small, almost touching, just barely apart, almost there. Just a little bit more, his lips brushed against hers, so lightly that Lucy was unsure it even happened yet, just a little more. They had never been this close before, just a little more. His breath brushing against her bottom lip, this was it, just a little mo-

*POOF*

A cloud of smoke appearing beside them in Lucy's bedroom. They pulled away from each other so fast, neither expected anybody to be here at this time. Lucy had forgotten all about Crux searching for an answer to bring Nasha and Greige back home, to be honest she had forgotten about almost everything in that moment she was having with Natsu just a second ago. Face burning up and beet red, the spirit mage tried to act normal.

"Crux! Did you find anything?" She was hoping the spirit hadn't seen anything when he appeared.

"I'm terribly sorry to have interrupted, Miss Lucy." He knew. "I have not been able to find anything regarding this situation, perhaps we can continue a search for the answer in the morning when you are not as busy." Lucy felt like he was just rubbing it in at this point, he didn't need to bring it up twice, or even once. "We should try some experiments tomorrow to find out if that second key is genuine like yours. If it came from Edolas it should not have had any magic in it." The plan sounded like a good idea to Lucy, she was sure they would find out more tomorrow. Crux took it upon himself to leave after telling Lucy all he had to tell her. The Spirit Maiden knew it was going to be a big day tomorrow so she figured a good night's rest would be in order, and she was about to get ready to sleep until she remembered Natsu was still here.

"Well... You know, it's probably going to be a long day tomorrow... So we should go to sleep soon..." Lucy was trying to give Natsu hints to leave, she needed a moment to herself after what just happened. Not entirely sure if she would be able to sleep after what just happened anyway. Before she could try getting out another sentence he interrupted her.

"I can crash on the couch, it doesn't look like there's enough room for all 3 of us on the bed anyway." Did he completely forget what just happened between the 2 of them, or was he just having the best time of his life mentally torturing Lucy? She couldn't quite say for sure. The blonde couldn't tell if it was better that he didn't bring up their 'moment' or not, but she was a little thankful they weren't going to mention it, hopefully ever.

"Why would you sleep here when you have your own place? Go home!" Lucy just wanted him out, she hasn't recovered yet, and frankly she might never. "And why would we sleep in bed together even if there was enough room!" He said it so casually that she almost missed it.

"We've slept together before, I didn't think it was a big deal, jeez." Natsu had to be messing with her, there's no way he wasn't.

"That's because you sneak in to my place and I have no choice!" Lucy won't make it through another minute of this, he has to go. "Get out!" Lucy raised her hand to hit him in the head, maybe thinking that would finally knock some sense into him, but her hand didn't connect with his head. He caught it, now holding he wrist. The dragon slayer brought both of their hands down between them, not letting go for some reason that Lucy wish she knew. He looked her right in the eyes with a serious look. Lucy hated when he did this, it always made her extra nervous. What was he going to say this time? The blonde could never tell.

"Lucy." Oh god, the way he says her name never fails to make her heart skip a beat. Are they about to finish what they started earlier, because Lucy couldn't handle doing it all over again. "Do you...?" Does Lucy what? He's speaking so slow, and it's driving her insane. "Have...?" Have what? Oh god, she can't take this anymore. Does she have feelings for him, is that what he's going to say? Lucy isn't sure if she could answer that question out loud without dying from embarrassment. Why can't he just hurry up and ask already? "Any snacks? I'm kinda hungry." Huh? What?

"WHAT?" So shocked about him asking the last thing she could ever think of in the moment, Lucy couldn't help but yell a little.

"Yeah I came by to see if you had anything to eat. What's the big deal?" Was it that shocking to ask for a snack, Natsu never go this reaction from her before when he's asked. She was making it sound like a crazy thing to say.

"Just get out already!" That was the last straw. Lucy physically kicked him out after yelling at him for the last time tonight. How could he possibly be so calm after almost kissing, was Lucy the only one freaking out about it? She had to go to bed, or maybe she was already asleep and this was just a bad dream. Maybe when she wakes up tomorrow everything will be normal, yeah that's it, today was just one big dream that she can forget about in the morning.

Lucy changed into more comfortable clothes for sleeping and brushed her teeth, almost ready to get right into bed and fall asleep. She had forgot about the little girl who was already occupying her bed. The blonde mage stood beside the bed looking at the sleeping Nasha, it would be weird to sleep beside her Lucy thought, but as she was about to turn away and head for the couch she felt a tug on her hand.

"Mama, can we sleep together?" Nasha was probably just talking in her sleep, but Lucy couldn't help but feel bad.

"Of course, baby." And with that Lucy was left with no choice but to share her bed for the night, how could she have said no to such a cute little girl's request? As Lucy got to her side of the bed and under the covers, Nasha started to scoot closer so they could cuddle, even though this Lucy isn't technically her mother, she did feel just as comforting. And even though this little girl isn't Lucy's daughter, she also felt a strong feeling of comfort being near the child. So the pair of them quickly drifted off to sleep in the comfort of each other, not even having the energy to think about the day they were going to have ahead of them tomorrow.