Hey everyone, I was watching the fourth OVA and was just thinking of how cute these two were at night when Lucy was drunk and Natsu was stuck with her. I don't have a very clear image of drunk people since my parents don't normally get drunk and whenever they did I was too tired to remember anyway or just not in the room at all. So if I make it seem unrealistic I apologize.

I really like NaLu, so I couldn't help but write this.

This is also one of my most intimate writings ever… It was slightly hard… I hope you all enjoy this! Please R&R

If you read this before, I changed some things and made it better so to say. Please reread it and let me know if you like this better!

Natsu stared at the room in shock.

There was Lucy… On the ground in the room drunk. I had heard she was on a date earlier… Just when I thought she was home and asleep… She's really here?

"Err." The blond mage hiccupped and opened up bleary chocolate eyes. Natsu just looked at her in dismay. Jeez, can't she take better care of herself? And drinking all alone in her bedroom? She's gonna destroy the place… or hurt herself. Lucy was still in her slim light pink sleeveless dress that she had worn for the date, smudged makeup around her eyes and striped blush cheeks revealed evidence of a previous wave of tears. Her blond hair was still tied up and messy.

Happy wasn't with Natsu, he was too busy being back at the guild trying to impress Charla since she said she would go on a date with him just this once. But if Happy was here he would have been just as scared.

"Natsus? Is taht you?" Lucy blinked as she tried to get up, but fell back down and started laughing. Its just like when we were at that beach house and you got drunk.

"Lucy! Why are you doing this?" Natsu growled. With this much alcohol Lucy almost seemed like a Cana, it was then he noticed the other ten short bottles lying next to her bed, they were still full. There was about four right next to her which were all empty. She's not even done yet? "You shouldn't drink so much."

"Oi Natsu, its umy liquor and you can't geet hmad just because you are jealous." Lucy waved the dragon slayer off and then smiled at him crazily. "I will let you hahve soame though if you carry me around just like last time," she giggled.

"No." Disgust filled Natsu's words. He watched Lucy's face go from happy to shocked, then to sad and depressed. She turned around and sat hunched in a corner, making small sobbing sounds that mixed with her hiccupping. "Drinking this much alcohol is bad for you. You realize that right?"

"Do you think I calre what people thxink? they cahn all just go leave, including you!" she yelled. Natsu took a step back in astonishment, last time this happened she never got angry at him.

She had only gotten either sad or happy. "Well sorry for caring about you enough to trying to make you stop, drink all you want I don't care!" Natsu shouted back and stomped out the door of the girl's room. He ran down the stairs and sat down on her couch. Now what am I going to do? I don't want to go home and there is no way I am going to hang out with Lucy in this state.

He tried thinking of something to do but gave up after a few minutes. So he just laid on her couch and started to think. Its not as if he could really get mad at Lucy for drinking, people did it all the time. He didn't even get mad at Cana, who drank so much you would think she would have died of a heart attack or something. But for some reason the sight of Lucy being so careless as to get smashed by herself at home angered him. He really cared for the blonde celestial mage.

An hour passed, without any event other than the occasional blaring laughter of Lucy and the thud as she would try to move around. Natsu was about to fall asleep, when a crash and a yelp shook him out of his dozing. He jumped to his feet. Crying started to be heard from the floor above.

Natsu ran up the stairs and knocked down the door. Lucy might get mad at him for it later, but he didn't really care right now. Lucy was on the ground with her face as red as Erza's hair, but it wasn't that kind of red that attracted his attention though, it was the blood running down her arm from her shoulder. Natsu gasped and Lucy just looked at him dully.

He dashed into Lucy's bathroom and grabbed the first aid kit that was under her sink. He took out the supplies and grabbed the disinfectant and the gauze. There was alcohol on the ground around Lucy as well as glass shards, it became pretty apparent what had happened.

"Luce, what's going on?" Natsu asked. Lucy just giggled a bit despite the pain and looked at him. Natsu pushed away the glass shards delicately and began cleaning the cut.

"I wass only on my first bottle and I aiccdently smaished it agasinsst one of the legs of my bed. Ah, whoops?" Lucy flinched as the cleaner touched her cut and stung her. Natsu looked at the empty bottles and counted them, since he had left the room she had downed a whole two bottles more than before. The second one was the one that shattered, leaving only eight bottles next to her bed.

The worry drove him crazy and Natsu began to see why Lucy didn't drink very often, he began to wonder why Lucy had even been driven to drink tonight in the first place. You would think that with all the dates she had been getting she would be happy with all of the attention.

"You were not on your first bottle, more like sixth," Natsu said sternly. Her eyes cleared a little bit as the pain sobered her.

"Really? I am so sorry natnsu. I waas obaut to stosp awhile agso after thabt fofurth bottle… I did have four rmight?" Lucy looked down with an ashamed expression and didn't look up, her eyes full of sadness. Natsu thought about how excited she seemed for the date, how did she become so full of sadness and misery?

Natsu pushed away these thoughts as he focused on tending to Lucy's wound, his protective instinct kicking in. When he finished he quickly put the kit away and collected the empty sake bottles with a snort. The bottles reeked of the foul scent of cheap alcohol, and he made sure to throw them away downstairs. The scent had already perforated the room and his nostrils anyway. Why do I even feel so protective of you?

Of course, he always felt some urge to protect everyone in the guild. But for Lucy, this feeling was just a bit stronger. She was special to him, that's for sure. But how? He remembered Igneel mentioning something about dragons being protective of the people they claimed as their mates. Maybe that had something to do with it. Lucy might be his mate! Natsu pondered it over as he jogged back up the stairs.

When saw her lying on the ground with slow breathing, the yawn she gave and the fact that her eyes were still half open told him that she was still awake. He glanced at the glass shards. Natsu sighed and cleaned those up too using the dustpan and broom. When he finally finished picking everything up she was asleep, her messy blond hair and tear-streaked face looked a bit more calm and serene. Smiling, Natsu picked her up and set her down gently in bed. He pulled the sheets over her thin body and watched her sleep for a few minutes. He realized that by now it was probably night time and bed time anyway, and crawled into bed with her. She still stank from the sake but he didn't care, she was safe now and was sorry. He was going to be angry with her still but she just looked too cute to stay mad at now. He took gently and placed her head on his chest, she stirred slightly and whispered "Natsnu…" but didn't do anything else.

He blushed as he realized that she was still in her dress but felt her heartbeat against his. It was too much for him and he fell asleep. The two slept peacefully until the early morning.

The sun was slightly rising when Natsu woke up, Lucy was cuddling into him with a peaceful smile on her face. It was the nicest smile he had seen on her face for awhile. He just watched her sleep for a few minutes before she stirred as well. Her tired brown eyes opened and gazed at him confusedly.

"Natsu? Why are you here?" Then her eyes widened and she suddenly became wide awake. Natsu thought her memories of last night must have came back. She made a grumpy grunt and moved under the covers.

"Lucy… Luce… What's wrong?" Natsu whispered and felt like his stomach was full of steel wool sitting hard and knotted in his stomach from worry. Lucy just shook her head and ignored him. "Lucy please tell me."

She stuck her head out of the blankets slightly, her beautiful chocolate brown eyes the only thing showing. "You're going to think that I'm a loser… I don't want to say…" Lucy whined. This only increased the concern Natsu felt.

"No I won't Luce, what's wrong?"

She stared and just studied him for a moment, with bags in her eyes and a hand on her forehead.

"Well for one this hangover is killing me. Two, well… there was this date last night." She sighed, avoiding Natsu's gaze. "It had been going well at first. The guy said that I was some special girl, that my beauty and personality was the 'most beautiful in the land' or something like that."

She let out a unlady-like biter snort. "He even compared me to some sort of Helen of Troy. But-" Lucy's voice cracked and she paused to control it before continuing. "He was a mugger… So were his friends. He lured me out to the canals, and they all robbed me and shoved me into the water before I could even react. They started laughing about how dumb I was too… Which I was…" She laid back down and drew her legs up, obviously trying to hide the rest of her from Natsu's sight.

"Lucy-"

"And when I got home I was just frustrated and hurt and I couldn't help but drink, I-I had several bottles saved for a party here with all of team Natsu at some point… I just thought that it would solve the whole thing if I could just forget about it… But when the fourth bottle came and I was about to stop you came in and I remembered the whole thing… Then you got all mad at me and I couldn't take it anymore, I'm tired of always being tossed away by people and them yelling at me..." She whimpered and started shaking slightly. Natsu could only stare in horror at the hurt girl laying next to him. That was a rotten night for someone as innocent as Lucy. "I couldn't take it anymore especially hearing it from you because I… care a little more about you…" Her gaze flashed downward again and her cheeks flushed with red.

It was a good thing that Natsu's ears were sharp, as Lucy's grumbling would be completely inaudible otherwise. But he didn't want to stir up her temper by pointing that out, especially with how sensitive she was at the moment.

Natsu felt something stir in his chest though, what she said matched what he had thought of earlier perfectly! He opened his mouth to tell her, although paused to make sure that he could say it right.

But Lucy appeared to take his silence as a form of subtle rejection. She sighed softly and started to burrow farther under the covers. She started muttering insecurities, and Natsu's heart sank.

"W-wait, Lucy- you don't understand-!"

"What don't I?"

He pulled back the covers and pulled her into his arms, hearing her small little gasp that resembled that of a kitten's and felt her shaken beneath his muscled arms. "I care about you too! That's why I'm going to protect you of course. What's this guy's name?"

For a reason Natsu couldn't identify; Lucy stopped shaking. "I think it was… Tony. He is probably in another town by now though. He'd be too smart to stick around here."

Natsu nodded and rubbed his head against hers gently. He pulled her closer and snuggled with a smile, relishing in the touch of her soft skin and sweet strawberries-and-cream smell. He definitely liked this contact and the idea of keeping her safe from everything outside their embrace.

"Lucy… I will protect you forever! Cause Igneel told me that when I find someone special… He called it a mate; that I should defend them even with my life! That Tony guy better put up a good fight. He only has a day of rest before he has to face me!" Natsu declared.

Lucy's face turned almost completely red with blush at the mention of "mate" but although the word confused him, he didn't care. They just kept snuggling together under the covers.

Also, yes I changed a lot about the ending. I fixed the spots that some reviewers thought were too sudden and sort of cheesy. So I hope I made things more realistic!