I am so sorry this took so long to update. Things get in the way and I must have rewritten this six or seven times before I was happy with it. I hope you like it.

As always I don't own Fairy Tail or any of it's characters.

Enjoy

"Hey Mira," Gray called over, "Have you seen Lucy or Natsu around lately? I thought they would be back from that mission by now, it's been what, a week all ready."

"Oh I know, but the job Lucy chose was a little ways away and the train doesn't quite reach that far. So you see, they had a lot of time to walk." Mira smiled to herself. Her plan for them had been simple. She had shown Lucy how easy it can be to fix something that's been broken, by clearing up the misunderstanding with Levy and Gajeel. Then didn't offer Lucy any help at all. She knew the predictable little mage would think that she was supporting her sister, which she should be, and then her stubborn side would kick in and she would be determined to prove she was better for Natsu. And off they went just as she had hoped they would. She really was brilliant, if she did say so herself.

"Mira did you set that up?" Gray asked arching an eyebrow at her.

"I simply can't imagine what you mean Gray." She said sweetly as she walked away, smiling.

"That didn't take long." Lucy said as she walked out of the local magistrates office counting the reward money he had just given her before stuffing it into her purse.

"Yeah," Natsu replied, swinging his pack up onto his back. "Who would have thought it was a bunch of kids."

Lucy was about to smile and agree with him, when she remembered she was still mad at him. She was forgetting to be mad at him more and more as the week went on. She knew she should just get over it already, but she just couldn't. Every time she looked at him it broke her heart. She looked away and started walking back down the main street in the little town, the job was done, it was time to go home.

Natsu watched her walk away from him. This was the way it had been all week and he was really getting tired of it.

"Those kids sure looked shocked when you used the Dragon's roar on them." Happy laughed as he flew just over his right shoulder, breaking into his somber thoughts.

"Yeah they sure did Happy. The look on their faces was so funny." He said plastering on a smile for his little friend.

Happy was glad to finally be heading home. He didn't like to be away from Charle lately. He knew she usually acted like she couldn't stand him, and he wasn't as good looking or strong as Lilly, but he figured that if he was with her enough she would eventually realize that she can't live without him. He continued to chat with his friend as they entered the forest outside of town, this was the longest part of the trip, they had to walk for two days through the forest to get to the next town with a train station. With Lucy barely speaking to Natsu, Happy knew it was going to be a very long two days, heck this whole job had felt long.

A damp chill had settled in as they walked down the forest road and Lucy could feel it all the way to her bones. She stretched out her hands to the fire, it was a nice way to chase away the chill, but didn't come close to getting rid of it. They had just set up camp and finished a nice fish dinner, with rice and some fresh fruit they had picked up on their way out of the village. Natsu and Lucy were relaxing quietly by the fire, while Happy slept near by.

This sucks. Lucy thought to herself. Sitting here with him, freezing. Usually when she was cold she would sit next to him and warm up right away. His temperature always seemed to run high, something to do with his element being fire. When she was cold, there was nothing quite like Natsu's warmth to chase it away.

Natsu could tell she was cold, he just didn't know why she would rather sit there by herself and suffer. Was he really the repulsive to her now? Was she still so angry that she would rather suffer then sit with him and warm up.

"Screw that!" He mumbled under his breath as he stood and circled the fire to plunk himself down beside her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

"What are you doing?!" She demanded, outraged, trying to push him away.

"Your cold and I'm warming you up." Even though he was here next to her, he didn't let himself look at her. He knew she wasn't ready to forgive him yet, but he wanted to hug her and if he looked at her he knew he'd want more too.

"Don't touch me!" She continued to push at him.

He felt her try to push him away, and although he resisted at first he decided to give her a little space, only a little mind you. He took his arm away, but stayed where he was.

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? I'm still mad at you idiot!" She could feel her temper raising, but she didn't care.

"How long Luce? How long are you going to stay mad at me?" He finally looked at her and she could see anger there. Gone was the wary expression he had worn all week. He's mad at me? How dare he! Lucy ranted inside her head. He has no right to be mad at me!

"How long?" She parroted back at him. "As long as I damn well please!" she crossed her arms and turned away from him to face the fire. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her back around to face him.

"I have been patient all week. I know you've been angry with me about what happened, but you wouldn't once hear me out, you wouldn't talk to me about anything. I don't deserve this Lucy." His eyes stared straight into hers so he didn't miss the flash of shock quickly followed with rage.

"You don't deserve what Natsu?" She threw his hands off her shoulders and stood, looking down on him, hands on her hips. "Did I deserve it?"

"What did I do that was really so bad Lucy? Please explain it to me because honestly I haven't been able to figure it out!" He was standing now too, with his hands crossed in front of his broad chest.

"What you did?" She snapped at him. "The minute you heard that Lisanna might be with someone else you went running right over there to chase him off. Running off to defend your territory! Your woman! That doesn't sound like something you would do if you really wanted to be with me and not her!" Tears of rage and hurt streamed down her flushed face, but she didn't care, she couldn't stop them anyways.

"That's not what happened at all and you know it!" He snapped back, doing his best not let the sight of her tears sway him. He hated to see her cry. He hated it even more to know he caused the tears, but he couldn't back down. He needed to make her listen. He loved her and if he didn't fix this he was going to lose the best thing in his life.

"That's sure what it looked like to me." She snapped at him turning away, angrily wiping at the tears.

"Give me a break Lucy." He huffed, letting go of a little bit of his anger as he turned choosing to look into the fire instead of her rigid back. She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye. He was so handsome with the firelight on his somber face, it took her breath away. "Gajeel is a jerk, I was worried about a friend." He said somberly into the fire. "I know you think I still have feelings for her, and you know what I do." Lucy's heart sank, and the tears start again.

"If you still had feelings for her you should never have even looked at me. How dare you kiss me. How dare you kiss me while you sill love her." She was sobbing harder now. She couldn't help it. She felt like her chest was being ripped in two.

"Lucy Stop!" He tried to turn her around but she resisted him, so he walked around to face her. Looking into her tear stained face, he cupped her face in his big hands and brushed away her tears with his thumbs. He waited for her to catch her breath a little bit, and look at him before he continued. "I loved her!" he gently told her. "As in past tense, love-d, and I think a part of me will always love her. I'm sorry if that hurts, but it's true." Lucy snorted, and tried looked away from him, but he turned her back to face him. "I wish you could understand, but neither then or now compare to how I feel about you." Her heart stopped and she couldn't breathe. "I love you Lucy. When your mad at me and lock me out of your life, it's like the sun stops shining." She let out her breath she didn't know she had been holding. "The night I left, I was afraid for a friend who I knew was vulnerable. I had told her that day that I couldn't love her like I use to and that I was with you now. She was really upset. So when Levy burst in and said she had left with Gajeel, I thought he was going to take advantage of her because she was hurt. She's still my friend, my family, I can't just turn my back on her. You know me better than that." She did know him better than that. That's exactly what she would have expected him to do if she had known the whole story. If she had of actually sad down and thought about it calmly and rationally she might have thought of that possibility too, but she had been so blinded by pain she didn't even try to think of why else he might have gone. "I am so sorry that you got hurt." He told her as he bowed his head. "I never want to hurt you Lucy."

"I'm sorry Natsu." He couldn't believe his ears. She was going to forgive him, and now she was apologising to him. "I should have let you explain sooner. I'm such a stubborn fool." She looked up into his hopeful face and smiled. "I love you too, and…" She never got to finish what she was going to say because he wrapped her up in a tight hug and kissed her soundly on the lips. As soon as his lips touched hers, she felt like they were on fire. She felt hot all over and as he deepened the kiss the feeling intensified, but not painfully so.

"Wow," Came from the other side of the camp. "You guys are on fire." Her eyes sprang open and all she could see was orange and yellow all around them. She broke the kiss, panicked.

"Natsu!" He seemed to realize it then too and smiled his big goofy grin.

"Oops, sorry Luce." And just like that the flames were out.

"I'm glad you aren't mad anymore Lucy, it was really boring." Happy said with a big yawn as he curled up in his little blanket. "Night."

Lucy fell asleep that night warm and comfortable, despite the cold dreary weather. She was wrapped up in her boyfriends warm, strong arms. Exactly were she wanted to be.