"What about this one?" She asked, pulling it off of the board. It didn't seem to be too hard and the pay was definitely worth it! A little over 700,000 jewels! A little dabble of drool appeared on the corner of her mouth. Passing him the sheet, she smiled.

Taking a quick look at it, a pained look crossed his face as he read it. "It's too easy."

"Still! That's five month's rent!" Taking the paper back, she grinned at him. "And besides, it's my turn to pick."

Doing a little dance, she ignored his groan and headed over to the bar where Mirajane was located. She was so excited! All they had to do was find a flower. A simple flower that would give her five months' worth rent. It was her lucky day.

"Mira, we're going to take this one!" Lucy informed the white haired take-over mage.

"Alright." Upon setting eyes on the mission, Mira's eyes seemed to go brighter. Pulling out the mission log book, she called over the blue exceed. "Hey, Happy."

"Yes?"

"Do you mind staying behind this time?" She asked him, ignoring the look Lucy was giving her.

"Why?" The moment he asked, a plate of fish appeared in front of him. "Aye Sir!"

Eyeballing the take-over mage, Lucy bit back a sigh. Not again. Why was Mirajane always trying to interfere? This was the third time this month she tried to push Natsu and Lucy together… not that she was complaining.

To be honest, she liked him. A lot. But that didn't mean she wanted outside interference. And besides, she really needed to give up on Natsu getting over his denseness and realizing that she had feelings for him. She'd actually tried to hint at it, here and there, but he never took the bait. So either he was denser than a tree, or he just wasn't feeling it. After all, he probably was more into Lisanna anyway. He had been more around the youngest Strauss sibling here a lot lately…

Shaking her head, she refused to get herself caught up in those thoughts. It kind of made her depressed, thinking she'd lost her chance already… not that she could change it if she did. She really did need to ask Lisanna what they were… She didn't want to encroach in a friend's territory. Or throw herself at someone who was unavailable.

Without another word, she walked back to the board, tapping Natsu on the shoulder.

"I'll meet you at the train station in an hour," she informed him. Thankfully she'd already packed her stuff before heading into the guild this morning, knowing she and Natsu would probably be taking a job of some sorts. She just needed to go home and pick up her pack.

Groaning, he asked, "Why can't we walk?"

"Because it's three days on foot!" She shrieked. He was seriously messed up in the head if he thought she was going to be walking that far on foot! Not when transportation was available. He'd just have to suck it up. Shaking her head, she turned and continued, "You better not be late!"

Without another word towards him, she called goodbye to the guild as she walked out of the building and headed to her apartment.

Pacing, she checked the clock once more. He had five minutes! What was with him and taking his sweet time? With a sigh of frustration, she almost missed his head of pink hair through the crowd. "Hurry up, Natsu!"

He skidded to a stop beside her, breathing hard. "Sorry!"

"You will be if we had missed this train!" She shook her head, and tugged him onto the train, ignoring the way his face was paling and turning slightly green as they walked aboard. "You're lucky I went ahead and bought yours and mine both!"

After getting their tickets back from the conductor, she led the way to the special "Fairy" compartment that had been reserved for them specifically. After all these years, they rail lines had learned the hard way to just section off space for the members of the Fairy Tail guild.

Placing her pack on the ground beside her, she grabbed a seat next to the window and took a moment to observe her companion.

Even after all this time, he still had a lot of issues with transportation, but all dragon slayers had that issue. Not so much Wendy because of her healing spells, but Natsu and Gajeel weren't so lucky. The mere thought was enough to turn them green! Stiffling a giggle, she patted the seat next to her, motioning that he sit beside her. For some reason, he was only ever able to ride the train without vomiting all over the compartment when he had his head in her lap. He was able to doze off for most of it, and for that she was grateful. She hated seeing him suffer so much.

Sitting his pack next to hers, he hopped onto the seat and got himself in position. It was sort of left unspoken between them, why it was alright for him to rest his head in her lap without a single complaint from Lucy. They just… didn't bring attention it.

With a lurch, the train began moving, and Natsu buried his face in her lap, dozing off to the feeling of her fingers running through his tufts of hair.

"Are you the one who posted for this?" Lucy asked, holding out the mission flyer to the young woman in front of her. It hadn't taken them long at all to find her, thankfully, and soon they would be on their way to the reward!

Natsu was currently pigging out in the only restaurant in town, leaving Lucy to find out all of the details.

Blinking, the girl nodded, "Yes! I'm Jade. I'm so glad you were able to come!"

"It's no problem." With a smile, she asked, "Is there any information we need to know?"

"They're found about a day's walk north of here. Just be careful. Oh, and don't let the pollen touch you!"

Nodding, she turned back towards the door and said, "Sounds simple enough. We'll be back in a couple of days."

With a smile, Jade replied, "Thank you so much!"

Heading back out, Lucy headed back for Natsu. They'd split up, with him complaining of starving to death, and her wanting to get the details for their job. She hoped he'd ordered her something, because she was getting a little hungry. With a pep in her step, she walked into the diner, and stopped cold.

Natsu had a mountain of plates piled up beside him at his booth!

Shaking her head, walked towards him, asking, "Did you at least leave me anything?"

He pushed a plate of food towards her. "Here."

She eyed it, before picking up a French fry and nibbling on it. "…Thanks."

"So, what'd she say?" He asked between bites. At least, that's what she thought he said.

"It's a day's walk to the north," she replied, taking a bite of the burger he'd ordered her.

He lifted a brow, "That's it?"

"Yep."

Grinning, he replied, "Maybe we'll run into some monsters or something."

She shrugged, hoping that wasn't the case… but it did have her thinking about it. "You know…. It is kind of suspicious."

"What is?" He asked around a mouthful of ribs.

"This is kind of too easy."

Frowning, he placed the now cleaned bones back on the plate, licking his fingers. "What do you mean?"

"We're getting payed 700,000 jewels for a flower, Natsu. It's one of the easiest jobs we've probably ever taken…. There has to be a catch." She sighed, and shook her head. "Maybe I'm just overthinking this."

"When do you think we'll find them?"

Blinking, Lucy turned to her partner. "We shouldn't have too much longer to walk. Like maybe a couple of hours or so?"

Scrunching up his nose, he asked, "What do they even look like?"

"They're purple and pink. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it." They looked so strange. She'd never heard of them before, but it's not like her family had exotic flowers like that in their ancestral homes garden like that. They actually reminded her of Hibiscus flowers, but the blossoms were too… large and it didn't grow off of a bush. They had their own individual stalks.

"Alright." After a moment, he stopped walking, placing his hand on her shoulder, asking, "Think we should break for camp?"

With a nod, she surmised, "It is starting to get dark…"

Dropping his backpack beside her, he muttered, "I'll go get some firewood."

"Alright. Be careful."

While he busied himself, gathering wood for a fire, she pulled out their shared tent and began setting it up. It was a tedious process, but it was better than sleeping outside, exposed to the elements. She'd forced him to pay his half for it, of course, because they were not cheap by any means. Especially magicked ones, like the one they had. She figured if she was going to buy something it might as well stand the various elements… it was also fire proof for obvious reasons.

By the time everything was set up, Natsu had returned with a sizable amount of wood in his arms, and set to starting the fire.

"Hungry?" She asked.

He shook his head, not looking up from the flames. "Nah. I'm still full from this afternoon."

"Okay, well, I'll be back."

At her revelation, he finally looked at her. "Where are you going?"

"There's a body of water nearby. I'm going to go bathe."

After a moment of silence, he nodded. "Holler if you need me."

"Will do." Turning, she gathered her things in her arms, and proceeded towards her destination. One thing that never changed with her was the need to feel clean. Sure, she got dirty a lot on some job, but that didn't mean that she was going to let herself go. It wasn't easy for her to run around in filth. After all, she was raised to be a lady.

Once she arrived, she found a spot to place her stuff that was close enough to the water that she could reach it within moments, but still stay dry. Stepping out of her shoes, she dipped a toe inside of the water, testing the temperature. Thankfully it wasn't as chilly as she had thought it would be. Stepping back, she checked to make sure there were no peeping eyes before she stripped off her clothing and waded into the water, soap in hand. Once she was waist deep, she dived in, breaking the smooth surface easily.

"Wahhh," she moaned, floating on the surface, oblivious to the world around her, including the peeping dragon slayer watching her from afar.

"… So, I think you should just stay here," she informed him as they neared the flowers. The sight was one to behold as the came across the meadow, chalk full of them. They weren't the only flowers taking residence, but right now, she had 700,000 jewels to earn.

He stopped walking, eyeing her. "Why?"

"Because I don't trust you not to touch the pollen," she informed him without hesitation.

His nose scrunched up as he protested, "Oi!"

Shrugging, she replied, "Well, it's the truth." Taking her backpack off, she rummaged through the pack until she pulled out some gloves. "I can handle this."

Crossing his arms, he grunted, "Tch."

"Give me just a minute, and then we can be out of here, and 700,000 jewels richer!" She wiped the drool off with the sleeve of her shirt and headed towards the nearest flower. With ease, she broke the stalk and jogged back to her partner, pleased with herself.

Eyeballing the flower, Natsu remarked, "All the fuss over this… flower?"

"Yes." With a nod, she moved to place it in a bag.

"Ah-choo!" Rubbing his nose, Natsu grimaced, "Ops! Sorry, Luce."

Lucy blinked. She'd been completely covered by the pollen because he couldn't bother to turn away from her! The one thing they weren't supposed to do! "I'm going to kill you!"

At the thunderous look on her face, he blanched and took off. "Wah!"

"Get back here!"

"We're going to have to make a pit stop," Lucy informed him with a glare.

Blinking, he asked, "Why?"

"So I can wash off the pollen!" She shrieked.

"Why?" Seriously? He was asking why? What did she even see in him? He was the biggest idiot around!

Growling, she reminded him, "Because I wasn't supposed to touch it in the first place! Sheesh!" Taking a glance at Natsu, she muttered, "You need one too." And he did. In all honesty, he probably needed one more than she did. Once she had gotten ahold of him, she'd accidentally (not really) Lucy Kicked him in the direction of the field of flowers. Revenge was sweet. She figured if she was going to be poisoned or whatever, she wasn't going to suffer alone!

After reaching the river and shrugging off their packs, Lucy send him downstream. "Just… go over there. And don't look over here!"

Grinning, he headed off and once she was unable to seep him anymore due to the shrubbery and trees, she slipped off her clothing and into the water she went.

She took her time, making sure that not a hint of pollen remained before heading back out of the chilled waters.

Shivering, she hurriedly dressed, eager to get out of the cool wind, and into some clothing. It was as she was dressing that out of nowhere, a wave of desire hit her. A spear of flaming hot need pooled in her lower belly, causing her to gasp.

"W-what's wrong with me?" She murmured. She normally didn't have this kind of issue! Especially not around Natsu…. Well, nothing that she couldn't disguise. She knew he had a stronger sense of smell, and how mortified would she be if he could smell her wanton desire for him right now?

"Luce?" At the voice, she shuddered. Turning, she was grateful that she was downwind of him right now.

"I…" Shaking her head, she replied, "I'm fine."

It would go away on its own. Rummaging, she pulled out a bottle of perfume and practically bathed in it to cover the scent of her desire. He hated when she wore perfume, saying it hurt his nose, but he'd have to get over it this time. She kept a bottle on hand for a reason. Storing it away again, she pulled the backpack on over her shoulders and put some distance between her and Natsu.

He didn't say a word, but pulled his own pack on and led the way.

She kept a good distance between them, determination coursing through her. It wasn't easy. The pull was there, the need to be filled and stretched… it was strong. As they walked, she couldn't help but sweat at the delicious feeling of the fabric of her shorts rubbing against her core. Her underwear was ruined.

By the time they stopped for camp, her legs were quivering with effort.

He didn't say a word as he dropped his bag and headed into the forest for wood. Lucy made quick work of putting the tent up because she needed the privacy. What she was about to do, she didn't need Natsu walking in on her. Stepping inside, she practically ripped the shorts off to get to work. She had to do this so she'd be sated and Natsu wouldn't be assaulted by her scent. Laying on her back, she found her lower button with ease and began caressing the sensitive bundle of nerve endings.

It didn't take but a few strokes before she was cresting the peak of an orgasm. The intensity of her need lessoned, but it was enough that she could handle it for a little while longer.

Breathing deeply after a few moments of peace, she let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully she still had some time before Natsu returned. Wiggling back into her shorts, she stepped out of the tent and into a wall of solid muscle.

"Ow!" Blinking, she looked up to see the person she wanted to see the least right now. She stammered, "N-Natsu?"

"…" He didn't say a word, rather he just stood there, staring at her with darkened eyes. The way he was staring at her sent a stab of desire to her lower belly, the need coming back to life once more as if she hadn't just rubbed one out mere minutes ago.

Feeling her breath catch in her throat, she took a step back, she asked, "When did you get back?"

"Did you honestly think that I wouldn't be able to smell it? Smell you?" The tone of his voice sent a shiver of excitement down her spine.

Breathing heavily, she asked, "W-what are you talking about?"

"I can smell it, Lucy." He took a step towards her, reaching out with his fingers, barely brushing against the skin of her shoulder before he pulled her roughly towards him. She could feel his rock hard length pressing against her, and her mouth went dry.

"I…"

"I'm going… to fuck you," he growled, and she almost fainted at his revelation.

He lowered her onto the nearest sleeping bag, tugging at her shorts in frustration. Without prompting, she helped him pull them off, tossing them without care.

With a growl, he pulled his own pants down, past his hips, before pressing against her wet nether entrance with his hard cock.

"Wait… not so fa-" before she could finish, he was rolling his hips and surging into her core. At the sudden intrusion, she cried out, relishing the feeling of being stretched and filled by his length, she barely even registered the pain of him thrusting through her hymen.

With tears in her eyes and her heart near bursting, she grabbed at his pink locks, pulling him into a wet, open mouth kiss. With every thrust, she found herself falling into a deeper and deeper hole. There was no going back after this. Not that she wanted to.

His fingers dug into her hips, pulling her closer so he could penetrate deeper and deeper, almost loosing himself in the process. He didn't know where one began and the other ended. They were one. She was finally his.

Finally.

Two days later, Lucy found herself handing Jade the flora that had caused them to copulate not once or twice, but fifteen times over the last forty-eight hours. It was a wonder they even made it back to civilization at all. Once his desires had been awakened, Natsu was almost insatiable.

The effects of the flowers pollen had only lasted a few hours, but it was more than enough to jumpstart their sexual relationship and make up for lost time. She actually had to wear her most conservative outfit because of all the love bites Natsu had left in his wake.

The pollen was basically the main ingredient of most sexual aphrodisiacs available to the public. Lucy had figured it out on the way back to the town and Jade, feeling like a fool for not figuring it out sooner. Not that she was complaining. The past two days had been two of the best in her life. She wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Especially now that she and Natsu were mated.

Clearing her throat, Lucy murmured, "Here's your flower."

"Thank you so much!" Jade placed the flower in a vase and then handed the pair a bag of jewels.

"Here you are. Oh! And can you do me a favor?" Jade asked as they headed to the door.

Lucy looked back over her shoulder, murmuring, "Hm?"

"Tell Mira I said hi." At the smile on her face, Lucy felt her blood run cold.

"What?" Oh, my….! They had been a set up by Mirajane! Natsu had tugged her out of the store before she could confront the girl, pulling her in the direction of the train station.

Jade waved the newly found couple bye, a smile on her face, calling after them, "Bye-bye now!" Once they were out of sight, she smirked, and murmured, "One down, four more to go."