I've experienced a lot of heartache and disappointments in my life. My dad disappeared on me at a young age, in the guild I joined, I was surrounded by family yet still felt alone, I lost my closest friend in the guild, and the cheesesteak sandwiches down the street are not, as the sign says, "The Best in Town!". But there's one thing that has never brought me disappointment, sadness, or heartache.

And her name is Lucy.

I don't know where I'd be right now if it weren't for Lucy. I may not have connected with my friends in the guild, or known that the best cheesesteak sandwiches in town are made in her very own kitchen. I certainly wouldn't have a little baby on the way without her, though that is partly my fault. But I knew I'd have to tell her someday, what started our whole relationship in the first place.

Why I kissed her that night.

"Why do you need to know that, I mean does it really matter?" I chuckled dryly as I sat at the other end of our dining room table, she in the seat adjacent to me, absent-mindedly rubbing her belly. She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Of course it matters, Natsu," she told me, "it's why everything started. This," she pointed to her stomach, "literally resulted from you kissing me that night."

"I dunno, Luce, it's just that..." I trailed off, lowering my head.

"Just... what?" she inquired, lowering her head as well to look at my face.

"It's just... embarrassing is all."

"Oh," she said quietly. "I-I get it then. It's okay, you don't have to tell me." She leaned back in her chair, looking down and running a strand of hair through her fingers. She had the cutest little face on, her chocolately brown eyes were big, her eyebrows scrunched up a little, and her pink lips jutted forward just a little bit. That pretty little sneak.

"Alright," I sighed, "I'll tell you."

"Really?" she smiled. "Thank you, Natsu!"

"But only because I love you," I said, standing up and helping her to her feet, heading toward the living room. "And please don't tell anyone, okay?"

Eight Months ago...

I was sitting on a bench at one of the tables silently sipping fire whiskey from a big mug, Happy curled up sleeping next to me. It was kind of a dreary day, it had been raining since the early morning, so there hadn't been all that much to do. Cana was at the bar, happily conversing with Mirajane as she wiped down the counter and Elfman was busy talking about being a man to Lisanna with his hand sitting dangerously close to Evergreen's hand on the bench they were sitting at. I could see Juvia standing behind the pillar not far from me staring at Gray, who was sitting across from me flipping through a magazine about giant ice sculptures.

"I can't believe there are people who can carve the ice with their own hands like that," he said incredulously, quickly flipping to the next page. I squinted my eyes at him.

"You mean you can't carve ice without magic?" I asked. "What kind of ice mage are you?"

"Shut the fuck up, artard," he barked, slamming the magazine shut. "I don't need your commentary, you can't even be near ice."

"Don't talk to me then if you don't want a response, you waterlogged piece of bullshi-"

"Shh, shut up, Lucy just walked in," Gray said in a quieter tone. I turned around to see Lucy striding through the doors just in time to see her stripping off her raincoat and setting her green umbrella down. She had a few stray droplets of rainwater rolling down her face as she hung up her coat on the coat rack near the door. She was wearing a pair of blue shorts and a white tank top today.

"Damn," I suddenly heard Gray whisper. "Lucy's so fuckin' hot." The hair on the back of my neck stood up at his words. What the hell?

"Too bad that white tank top isn't wet," he snickered. "Why couldn't it have started raining as she was coming here?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Does Gray always talk like this? Or does it only affect me when he's talking about my girl friends? I don't think I've ever heard him talk this way about Erza, or Mirajane, or Cana, or any of the other girls before. Why is he suddenly talking this way about Lucy?

"She sure is rocking those booty shorts," he said, shaking a bit with a chuckle. "How much you wanna bet she's amazing in the sack-"

"Dude, what is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with you, man, I mean, look at her."

I know. Trust me, I've looked at her before. And if "before" means all the time, then yeah, I've definitely looked at her before. I constantly am finding myself staring at Lucy, especially when she's telling me one of her long, lengthy stories. Most of the time, I'm not even listening. I mean, I'm not listening to the words, more like I'm listening to her voice. Her voice just... entrances me. And not only do I get lost in her voice, I get lost in her face. Her plump pink lips, her silky blonde hair, her beautiful brown eyes. Everything about her just pulls me in me.

It probably also doesn't help that I'm madly in love with the girl, too.

So obviously it's gonna bother me real fuckin' bad when he talks about her this way. She's so much more than hot, so much more. Gray just doesn't respect her the way I (or anyone else in the guild, seriously though) respect her. I know he's my friend and all, but I really can't see what Juvia sees in the guy.

"I'm gonna ask her out," I heard him say. And with that, I spat out my drink and started wheezing.

"Oh my god, Natsu, are you alright?!" Lucy was suddenly right there next to me, patting my back as I coughed the whiskey out of my lungs.

"Damn that hurts," I gasped. I half smiled at Lucy as tears started forming in my eyes, trying to show her I was okay. "I'll be fine."

"I'll go get you some water, Natsu," Lucy told me, petting my hair. I absent-mindedly closed my eyes and leaned into her hand just to feel it disappear from my head two seconds later. I hope I wasn't blushing.

"You can't even drink whiskey right, what are you a child?" Gray scoffed. I turned and glared at him.

"Shut the fuck up," I rasped. Gray rolled his eyes and opened up his magazine again, quickly turning to the same page he left off from.

"But yeah, definitely gonna ask her out, probably tonight."

I paled. Tonight? So soon? "Well, uh, why *cough* *cough* *hack* do you want to ask her out?"

"Heh, I think that's pretty obvious, flame brain."

He doesn't have one good reason? Just get a boner for a girl and ask her out, that's it?

Fucking moron.

"Well, what makes you wanna go steady with her then?" I asked.

Gray closed his magazine with a laugh. "Who said anything about going steady?"

My stomach dropped. My hands balled into fists. My teeth clenched down hard. He's lucky Lucy had just come back with my water or else I would have knocked him straight to Acalypha.

"Here you go, Natsu," she said with a small smile. "I hope this makes your throat feel better."

I looked up at her. Her gentle gaze calmed me down. I smiled and took the water in my hand, standing up as I took a sip. "Thanks, Luce," I said, throwing my arm around her waist. "I'm so glad we're best friends." I glanced at Gray, smirking at him as Lucy wrapped her arm around my waist and grinned.

"Me too, Natsu!" I started leading her over to the bar where Mira and Levy were and sat down with Lucy, my arm still sitting on the small of her back. I glimpsed back to see Gray silently stewing in agitation, his knuckles turning white from gripping the bench seat so hard. I smirked, sticking my tongue out at him as I slid my hand to her hip.

If stares could kill, I'd be dead by now.

I decided right then and there that day, I was not going to leave Lucy's side. Everywhere she went, I went too. And she didn't mind at all, we do that practically every day anyways, but I was like glue that day. Lucy got up to use the restroom, suddenly I felt like using the restroom. Gray corners her once she finishes up, suddenly I finish up too.

"Hey, what's going on, bro," I say, gripping his shoulder hard. He turns, his eyes piercing right through me.

"Nothing, dude," he grips my shoulder hard as well. "Just... saying hi to Lucy."

This ended up going on for a couple of days, actually. I would even stay over at her house. And the thing is, it never even phased Lucy about how much time we were spending together. But us spending so much time together was nothing out of the ordinary. It's how we always were with each other. Aside from Happy, Lucy is my best friend. She and I are just so in sync that it's baffling we weren't already dating. Her smile made me smile, her laugh made me laugh. And don't even get me started on her cooking skills.

Maybe that's why I'm so in love with her.

Lucy and I were walking from the guild one night after a particularly annoying day. Gray was relentlessly trying to get into Lucy's pants, and it was wearing me reeeeeal fucking thin. Why would any guy go through this much trouble for one night of meaningless sex?

And that was the thing that was making me so fucking crazy, it was the fact that Gray just wanted sex. Just sex, that's it, just the sex. Nothing about wanting to be with Lucy. And I know for sure that it would break Lucy's heart if a guy she really liked had sex with her and then wanted nothing more to do with her afterwards.

I couldn't even bear the thought of her in such distress. My hands turned white from balling my fists up just from thinking about it.

"Hey, Natsu, has Gray talked to you at all lately?" Lucy suddenly said. What? I just heard his name, why are you talking about him?!

I cleared my throat and tried to calm down. "I.. I don't really know. Why do you ask?"

Lucy shrugged. "I'm not sure. I guess he's just been acting really weird around me. He was staring at me the other day when it was raining, and he's been starting his sentences in such odd ways to me."

Please don't talk about him.

"I hope he's not sick," she wondered, touching her finger to her chin.

Stop talking about him.

"Gray's just so special to me, I wouldn't want something to happen to him."

Don't say his name, don't talk about him like that!

"Maybe I should head back to the guild to see him," she said just as we arrived at her front door, turning her head back the other way.

Shut up, shut up, shut up!

I slammed my hands on either side of her head on the door behind her, leaning in close to her, heat clouding my head. I stared down at her as her big, chocolate brown eyes gazed up at me.

"N... Natsu...?" she breathed.

And that was it.

I pressed my lips to hers, cradling her face in my hands as I moved my lips against her own. I could hear soft little mewls escape her throat every few seconds. My left hand searched feverishly for the doorknob, finally finding its mark after two minutes of hazy kissing. I opened the door, not once releasing her lips, and kicked the door shut behind me.

Lucy sat next to me, cuddled into my side with her hand up to her mouth as I finished telling her my story.

"So you were..." she said quietly, "... jealous?"

My lips pressed together firmly as I thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah," I admitted after a while. "I was super duper jealous." I wasn't ashamed to admit it. Because I was, I was extremely jealous. I didn't want Lucy taken away from me. So if I had to stick to her side like glue, then so be it.

"Well," she started, laying her head on my shoulder, "I'm glad you were jealous." I looked down at her and smiled.

"Really?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "I wouldn't have gotten the best husband in the world if you hadn't been jealous of Gray! We wouldn't be expecting parents if you had just let him have his way."

"That's very true," I chuckled, leaning down and pecking her on the lips. "Would you have said yes if he had actually ask you, though?"

She didn't even need to think about it, she replied almost before I finished the sentence. "No. I just don't see Gray that way."

"Yeah?" I asked quietly. She nodded twice.

"But I see you that way..."

I grinned. "I sure hope so," I laughed. "I love you so much, Lucy Dragneel."

Lucy sighed contently. "I love it when you call me that."

"Oh really?" I asked quietly, shifting in my seat and biting my bottom lip. "You like that, Mrs. Dragneel?" I whispered in her ear.

"Stop, Natsu," she wimpered, rubbing her hand on the back of my neck. I smiled, placing my hands on her cheeks and kissing her deeply. As we drifted into a content atmosphere of kissing and sighing, I silently thanked Gray for being such a skank.

A/N: Yup. I updated. I finally got an idea of what to write. Sorry it's another flashback.

I'm really sorry, guys, for not updating for a long time. There's been a lot of stuff going on, I started school again and had a lot of work to do, and there's just been a lot of things going on in my life lately. But I finally updated! I hope you guys enjoy it!

P.S. There probably won't be another chapter posted until next Monday. I'm leaving for Ohayocon on Thursday, so I really just want to be thinking about that for right now, I am SUPER excited! I'll be Hinata Hyuga from The Last Naruto Movie, in case anyone else is going to be there! Hope to see you there, and thanks for putting up with the hiatus!