Six Months Later:

Opening her eyes, the first thing Lucy noticed was a neatly folded note resting on her nightstand. Immediately a grin came to her as she sleepily reached out and held the little note before she opened it. In the envelope that had simply written Lucy, a neatly folded little note lay resting. When Lucy opened it, it wasn't the usual good morning note that she had come to love, but something more treasured...more held dear to her heart.

Ever since that day, six months ago when she thought she'd lost Natsu, her home burned down, her father dead...Lucy had been living with the Dragneel / Redfox / Marvel family. The six month's since had been hectic and extremely stressful to say the least! Through the help of counselings, talking to Gajeel, Levy, Carla and Natsu, Lucy had been able to put together the missing pieces.

As she'd left Natsu and walked into the house, the vehicle behind her held Carla who'd made it just in time to save Natsu's life. When he was well enough to move, his first question was about Lucy. Gajeel had told him that she had gone inside, thinking Natsu was dead...they all thought so! Natsu had managed to break down the library doors just as Jude had shot the gun. Using his Fire Dragon's Roar as a distraction, Natsu had managed to save Lucy from it's burning affects, not prepared for her to pass out on him. To worried to even think about Jude, he'd gotten her out of there as quick as he could.

Coroner's report would later state that Jude shot himself – a suicide.

Because of the extensive damage to the home, an investigation into arson and murder was opened, Gajeel, Levy, Lucy, Greyson's construction crew, Carla, Greyson, and Natsu were all brought in to questioning. At first when Lucy first revealed her father's abuse, no one would believe her. Jude Heartfillia was a powerful businessman with an ironclad reputation! For all they know, his daughter was the crazy one making it up for attention! After the coroners report was released however, the investigation into murder was dropped. Once Natsu explained that he was a fire mage and caused the extensive damage in self defence, the arson charges were dropped to. They had no solid evidence to prove otherwise.

Two months later, the same day they were discharged from the hospital, the four made their way back to the ruins of the Heartfillia mansion. On further inspection of the estate, Lucy had found out that her father's company was failing. It wasn't earning nearly enough to stay afloat and he'd already mortgaged the house three times. As it stood, Jude was over two million jewels in debt...and that's the paper work she'd found! Among other things, she'd found letters, unsent, to the employee's of the Heartfillia mansion. The same day as the fire and his death, her father was going to let them go, sending letters stating their services were no longer needed. In debt, unable to pay his bills and about to loose his home, his life, his living...Jude had obviously seen no other way...beating her wasn't enough of a stress release anymore. He had to try and kill her to.

It took a very long time...sometimes, Lucy would still wake up screaming, that image of her or Natsu lying dead on the white carpet in the library haunting her sleep. She would wake up screaming and Natsu would wake up and come to her room. Wordlessly, he would sit down beside her, gently holding her until she stopped screaming, stopped shivering. Eventually it got so bad, Carla and Greyson agreed that Natsu and Lucy would share a room – separate beds of course!

No matter when or where the memories took her over, Natsu was always there, ready to hold her, to whisper away her pain, muffle her screaming against his chest while he smoothed down her hair. If they were in public, he'd stare down anyone who dared look.

As he was for her, so was she for him. It took him quite awhile, but Natsu finally opened up first to Gajeel, then to Lucy about how he'd gone to confront Jude. When a maid answered the door, the old man had screamed at her, cursing and waving her away. Fuelled by anger, Natsu didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until it was to late. By then, Jude had shot him, the bullet going deep into Natsu's hip. Knocked out cold by the pain and his magic energy close to being gone, they had found Natsu in the front yard, assuming he'd died...

It had taken two surgeries to get the bullet removed, months of painful physical therapy until Natsu could walk without the use of a cane, eventually getting well enough where he could walk relatively normal. That didn't force him out of his training either. If anything, it forced him to be a better and stronger mage then he already was! Four months in and he was back to training, not as much nor not as hard, but he still fought like the crazy, wild, fun loving fighter he'd always been. Really the only time something visibly revealed itself as being wrong with him was when Natsu would wake up with night sweats, his hip burning like he'd just been shot over and over. Every time one or the other would wake, they had each other, ready to soothe and protect from the fears only they understood. Some nights, Gajeel and Levy would sleep in Gajeel's old – now Lucy's – bed, Natsu and Lucy sleeping in Natsu's. If Greyson and Carla noticed, nothing was ever said about it.

As Lucy stepped downstairs, once again she walked into the kitchen with Wendy beside Natsu at the stove gently guiding his sister as she flipped pancakes, Gajeel sat with Levy on his lap, his chin resting on her shoulder as he enjoyed her enjoying her novel. As Natsu's hand went down to his bad hip and gently rubbed it, Lucy quietly walked over and wrapped her arms around him, resting her cheek against his warm back.

"Answer me a question..."

Gently Natsu turned in her arms, gathering her close against his chest. Leaning down to kiss her softly on the lips, he instead kissed her forehead, waiting for her answer he knew would come.

"...and I'll tell you a secret."

It was a game the two played, a distraction when their memories became to dark to handle alone. Grinning mischievously, Lucy looked her boyfriend in the eye and asked her question.

"Natsu, how much do you love me?"

In answer, Natsu held her close, capturing her lips with his own in a kiss. Gently as they could be with the other, sometimes there was still that desperation...that need to know that the other was there, safe in their arms. Alive and well, firmly rooted in the here and now.

A grin lit Natsu's eyes as he nuzzled her neck, whispering his secret.

"Lucy Heartfillia...I love you more then life itself...I promise..."

/

Author's Note: Well, dear readers...this journey ends with a kiss and a promise – at least in the written word. If you so desire, you can choose that they go on and happily graduate, merry and have kids...or you can choose to allow their experience to tear them apart for good...the choice is yours to make. For me, I personally like to think of them as happy...

There are to many names to list on here personally, but I would like to personally thank each and every person who has read / followed / reviewed I Promise. It was you amazing people that really kept me going with this! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. From the bottom of my heart, Thank You.

~The Most Beautiful Of Lies