**I don't own Fairy Tail or the Character. They all belong to Mashima**

Alright. Tomorrow is Christmas, so in that spirit... Here's my Fairy Tail Christmas special. Hope you enjoy!

"Was this really the biggest tree we could find?" Lucy asked as she looked at the 12 foot fir tree in the middle of the guild hall. The guild members had just finished stringing the lights up and down the tree, and now the ornaments were beginning to go up.

Still, in the middle of the Fairy Tail guild hall, the tree looked rather small. It barely reached the second floor of the guild. It just felt like a guild their size should be able to do better.

"What's wrong with it?" Erza asked as she pulled out some rather sharp looking ornaments to place on the tree. "It's the same size we get every year!"

"Oh, nothing I guess." Lucy said with a sigh. She remembered the enormous Christmas trees they used to have in Heartfilia mansion when she was growing up. Fairy Tail may not have been her father's business empire, but surely they could at least afford a better tree!

"Well, that's done!" She turned to see Natsu, a big grin on his face. He'd been placed in charge of hanging the decorations around the guild. There were streamers, lights of various shapes and colors, tinsel, some mistletoe, and a few wreaths hung throughout the guild.

"Nice job Natsu, are you going to help decorate the tree now?" Lucy asked, smiling at the pink-haired teen.

"Nope. Me and Happy are gonna' go on a job request," Natsu replied with a grin. Then he yelled, "Hey Gramps, we're out!"

"Aye sir!" Happy called out behind him. And before anything more could be said the two were out the door.

"A job request, with Christmas only two days away?" Lucy asked gaping. "Didn't he just get back from a job request too?"

Erza frowned. "Natsu always goes on a ton of requests right before Christmas. He loads up on jewels, and nobody knows what he does with them."

"Probably goes and eats some local restaurant out of business," Lucy said with a light laugh.

"Yeah, flame brain and his cat probably just gorge themselves on Christmas. That's why they always miss the party," Gray said, smirking as he joined them. He then admired the Christmas tree. "Say, that's a weird ornament at the top."

Lucy looked up to see Gajeel hanging something that looked like a pair of jeans near the top of the tree. She then looked at Gray, and instantly looked away again.

"I'm pretty sure those are your pants," she said.

"WHAT? When did this happen?!" Gray rushed off to retrieve his pants, leaving Lucy and Erza alone again.

"Seriously though," Lucy said, turning back to Erza. "What does Natsu do that makes him so eager to earn money around Christmas."

"Very well," Erza said, slamming her hands down on the table. "If you are so eager to find out what Natsu does with his Christmas, we will interrogate every person in Magnolia till we can discover what it is."

"Should we really pry into his personal life like that?" Lucy jumped at the soft voice behind her, then turned to see Wendy standing there with Carla nearby.

"Why not?" Lucy replied to the young dragon slayer. "He's always coming into my house without permission, so I don't see anything wrong with it. Besides, I really want to know what he's doing with all these jewels."

"I'm telling you, you got it right the first time." Gray said from the brawl he started with Gajeel over his pants.

Lucy felt pretty certain that Natsu would only think about food at Christmas, but she just wanted to confirm her suspicions, if for no other reason to tease him about it. Maybe even crash the feast in repayment for all the times he'd come to her apartment without asking.

"I will still assist you," Erza informed her.

"I'd like to come too, if you don't mind…" Wendy said quietly from beside her.

"Great," Lucy said. "So where do we start?"

~~~~~~Erza~~~~~~

Erza sighed as she knocked on the door to the most expensive, high class restaurant in town. Normally she wouldn't even bother checking here, but she'd promised lucy to help her identify where Natsu spent all his Christmas money and this was the final place in the district she'd chosen.

Of course, it also happened to be the district that held her favorite bakery. Funny how coincidences worked. But she couldn't help it if she had to stop in and get her favorite strawberry cake.

"Excuse me miss, you'll need a reservation if you want to come in." She was accosted by a tall waiter with a lean face and a neatly trimmed mustache. The man wore a white collared shirt, a red bowtie, and dark red dress pants that dipped down to fall neatly on his black dress shoes. She noticed the name pin he wore said 'manager' on the bottom.

"Oh good, a manager." She quickly assumed her 'business' tone. "I need to know if you've ever seen this man right here." She held out a picture of Natsu.

"The Salamander? Sure we know him. We have to stock up for his Christmas order every year."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. He comes in every year on Christmas, right before we're about to close, and orders more food than I've ever seen anyone eat. When he gets it, he just puts it all in a cart and hauls it off."

"Thank you. You've been most helpful," Erza said with a smirk. A small part of her was disappointed that Lucy's postulation proved correct, but she honestly couldn't say that she was surprised. She quickly went back and reported her findings to the others.

"Huh…" Wendy said, looking at her toes. "That seems odd."

Erza blinked, turning to the younger girl as she wondered what could be causing her perplexity. "I know it may be less than you were hoping for, but it is within Natsu's character," she said.

Wendy didn't say anything, continuing to look at her toes. Erza just shrugged and turned to Lucy. "So what will you do now?" She asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lucy asked with a grin. "I'm gonna' crash the party as payback for all the times he's broken into my apartment!"

"Oh." Erza looked up at the restaurant. Well, in all fairness, it was Christmas. He could at least share the delicious food from this restaurant with his friends.

Then another thought crossed her mind. "But none of us know where he lives."

"We can just follow him home from the restaurant," Lucy said with a smirk.

Erza rubbed her chin thoughtfully. It really wasn't a bad plan when it came down to it. There was only one problem, and she voiced it quickly.

"Won't he smell us?"

Lucy smiled. "I have a way to take care of that. There's a special perfume that's supposed to mask your scent completely."

Erza's face paled at the word perfume. "You're sure that's not 'Parfum,' right?" She asked as a hideous face with rather squarish features came to her mind.

"Yes, I'm sure. One of the shops in town sells it. Let's go."

Erza reluctantly agreed, and soon they had purchased the fabled perfume. Wendy even came along despite her misgivings.

~~~~~~Christmas Evening~~~~~~

Few people seemed to notice when she slipped from the party, and soon Erza met Lucy, Wendy, Carla, and Gray at a post opposite the restaurant they'd visited only a couple days before.

"I thought you were never going to get here," Lucy whispered as Erza joined them in their well hidden spot.

Erza shrugged. "It's not my fault that Cana chose today to engage me in a lengthy conversation about how lucky I am to be S class."

Lucy couldn't help giggling a little as she recalled her conversations with the lush. She had her reasons, of course, but her antics were always rather humorous when she indulged even more than her normal amount.

"Good to see you came around Gray," Erza said to the ice mage. "But at least put some pants on."

"What?" Gray looked around wildly for his pants before seeing them in the street. He hurriedly darted out to retrieve them and rejoined the group moments later. "To set the record straight, I was forced into this."

"By Lucy?" Erza raised an eyebrow as she looked at the blonde.

"She threatened to involve you," Gray replied.

"Shh, guys, I hear something!" Wendy whispered urgently. Immediately they all fell silent, and Erza crouched in the lengthening shadows of the building they were using as cover.

Moments later, Natsu came into their field of vision. He was pulling two wagons. One was already stuffed to the brim with boxes. The other was empty, except for Happy. Leaving the wagons on the street, the pair went into the restaurant to get the annual Christmas order.

"What's in the other wagon?" Lucy asked in a hushed whisper. "He goes to two places every Christmas? The food from the restaurant's not enough?"

"Maybe it's strawberry cake," Erza said, feeling herself start to drool at the thought of so much strawberry cake there for the taking.

"I doubt it," Gray said. "Flame brain never really liked sweets."

Then they were forced to be silent again as Natsu came out carrying an armful of boxed food. Every box smelled amazing. Erza could detect the scent of some of the finest cuts of meat in Fiore, as well as some other amazing dishes.

After he finished loading up, he started off down the road with Happy. After giving him a small lead, Erza left the shelter of the building and trailed after him, keeping close to the buildings on the opposite side of the streets. Everything was quiet. Other than a few high class restaurants, there was nothing open today, and most people would be inside enjoying their Christmas parties by now. Of course, normally they would be too, but instead they were following the pinkette to crash his Christmas party. If he ever got there, that is.

Just then Erza's eye caught something. In front of a lonely building off in the distance there was a person standing. Someone who looked very familiar. The lighting was bad, and the person was bundled in a heavy coat, a hat, and mittens, but she could swear she knew the person.

Then Natsu got closer, and the woman removed her cap, letting long locks of silver-white hair fall free. A collective gasp from behind Erza told her that the others were just as surprised to see Fairy Tail's white-haired barmaid here as she was. But what happened next was even more of a surprise. Mirajane leaned up and pressed her lips gently against Natsu's before both of them turned toward the lonely building.

Then Erza noticed lights coming on in all the windows. She cautiously crept closer, keeping to the cover of the houses till she got close enough to hear. Then suddenly a flood of children came running out of the building, and just as suddenly Erza realized where they were.

"Natsu-san! Natsu-san!" The children cried, and the pink-haired dragon slayer went down amidst a sea of small orphans. For they were standing in front of the Magnolia orphanage. A shelter for all children left without anyone to take them in. Mirajane had just stepped to the side casually to avoid the flood, giggling as the dragon slayer was buried in a pile of children.

When he finally emerged, Natsu grinned widely at the kids, giving them a wink as the orphanage headmistress came out. She smiled warmly at him, giving him a soft nod.

"Thank you for doing this every year Natsu," she said. "It makes the children so happy."

"I do it because I love it," Natsu said with a grin. "No need to thank me."

"Now come on!" He said to the children as he started taking boxes off the food wagon. "There's enough food for everyone!"

For the next hour, Erza, Lucy, Gray, and Wendy watched as the children ate and chatted with the dragon slayer, who listened attentively to all their stories. He also introduced Mirajane to all of them, and they all greeted her excitedly.

When the meal was over, Natsu distributed the other boxes to the children. They tore into them quickly, and Erza watched with her eyes shining as they opened them. There were various Fairy Tail figures, various magic toys and playsets, lots of clothes, scarfs, hats, and gloves. When they were finished, Natsu turned to the headmistress.

"Can you bring Kai out?" He asked, quietly enough that Erza had to strain to hear him.

The headmistress nodded and disappeared into the orphanage. A few minutes later she re-emerged carrying a boy who looked like he was about 5 years old in her arms. The boy looked a little on the pale side, and the little bit they could see of his body looked as though the skin were stretched over bone. He smiled big when he saw Natsu, though, and the headmistress set him in a chair in front of Natsu.

"Why didn't they give him any food?" Erza whispered to Wendy, unable to hear for the moment what they were saying but hoping the younger dragon slayer knew what was going on.

"I don't know. They haven't said anything about it." Wendy spoke quietly as well. Then Erza watched as Natsu produced several puddings, some ice cream, and a few other drinks. The boy took his spoon and ate slowly, each motion seeming like it was a struggle. Erza couldn't help feeling for the young child, wondering what could be wrong with him.

"Kai, I have a special present for you this year," Natsu said, kneeling in the snow in front of the boy. He presented him with a piece of paper. "This is an acceptance letter from the top healing guild in Fiore. They said they can cure you."

"How could he possibly afford that?" Erza whispered, her eyes wide. "From what I know they cost a fortune!"

The others just shushed her, much to her chagrin, but she didn't have time to retort as the scene in front of her demanded her attention.

"We have one other surprise for you," Natsu said with a small smile. He motioned for Mirajane, who came forward and stood next to him, handing him a piece of paper. Natsu then showed the paper to the boy before handing it to the headmistress. "Mirajane and I are officially adopting you. Once you're done with your treatment you'll come live with us."

"Really?!" The voice was weak and frail, but clearly happy as the boy reached up from his chair. Natsu hugged him, picking him up off the chair as the headmistress read the paper she'd been given.

Erza frowned. As touching as the scene was, it set off a few alarms in her head. The first had to do with Mira's display of affection before they approached the orphanage. Now she wasn't an expert on orphans, but she thought she hear somewhere that there was a requirement for two parents to adopt… He said Mirajane and I…

"Well, this is certainly in order," the headmistress's voice snapped her back to the scene. "But in all seriousness Natsu, how long do you two plan to keep your marriage from the guild?"

"WHAT?!" Erza couldn't keep the cry from escaping her lips. She was thankful to hear the same exclamation from everyone else there, except Wendy, who seemed to blush slightly but didn't say anything. It would've been extremely embarrassing if she'd been the only one to give their position away. However, she didn't really have much time to dwell on it as everyone turned in their direction.

"Guess the secret's out now." Mirajane said wryly as she and Natsu faced the group.

"Natsu! How could you get married without telling us?" Erza asked, getting straight to the point.

"Well, it wasn't that hard really. First of all, none of you really believed I was interested in girls. And you all believed Mirajane was waiting for the perfect guy to come along."

"That's not what I meant!" Erza glared at him. "We're your best friends and team members! Why didn't you tell us? How long have you been married?"

"Hmm..." Mirajane put a finger to her chin. "It's been since Natsu was old enough to marry… so somewhere around x783?"

"WHAT?!" The collective roar sounded again. The kids were just watching, waiting to see what would happen.

"Yeah," Natsu said with a shrug. "At first we kept it a secret because we were so young. After a while, we just decided to see how long we could go without anyone finding out…"

"But-but… You – my apartment…" Lucy started, then started again after collecting her thoughts. "You're always breaking into my apartment and sleeping there! Doesn't that bother Mirajane if you're married!"

"Yes." Mirajane glared at him. "But then, he says it's his revenge for my photo shoots, so I can't really complain too much."

"Is that why you stopped doing photo shoots?" Erza said. "I always thought it was because you became an active mage again."

"Both are kind of true. But now that the truth is out, Natsu can stop breaking into Lucy's apartment," Mira said, turning to the dragon slayer.

"Sure thing," Natsu grinned. "We're going to move into our own house anyway."

"Well, I think we should get back to the party," Erza said quickly before the others could jump in. When Gray started to object, she raised a threatening fist that immediately silenced him. "We'll give you till tomorrow to figure out a way to tell the rest of the guild. Otherwise, consider your secret out." It wasn't so much that she wanted to leave, but she knew it was appropriate. This Christmas party was supposed to be for the orphans, but if they stuck around everything would become focused on Natsu and Mirajane. She didn't want that anymore than anyone else would. She had a lot of questions, not the least of which why the silver-white haired demon deserved his affections more than her, but those could wait till later. For now, she would try to enjoy the rest of her Christmas at the guild.

"Sure, sure." Natsu shrugged as they headed off. "We'll see you all tomorrow then."

As they departed, Lucy sighed softly. "I guess we misjudged Natsu."

"No kidding," Gray said, still looking a little shell-shocked. "I can't believe the guy thinks of anything other than food and fighting."

"Well, I'm not that surprised." Wendy said. "It was obvious he and Mira were together because they always smelled like each other, and by now all of you should know Natsu has the biggest heart in Fairy Tail."

Erza looked at the bluenette. "Wait. You knew, and you didn't tell anyone?!"

Wendy shrugged. "It was obvious they didn't want anyone to know. Why would I tell people. Besides, it wasn't just me. Gajeel must know too. He's got a stronger nose than I do."

"I'll have to have a talk with Gajeel then." Erza said, frowning. She couldn't bring herself to have a 'talk' with the innocent young dragon slayer in front of her, but Gajeel was another story. She would enjoy a good 'talk' with him.

A short time later, they were all back at the guild party. Cana was even more drunk than before. Makarov was also sounding pretty incoherent. Macao and Wakaba were both wasted and loudly wondering where Mirajane got to.

And the four who slipped quietly back in were left to reflect on their eye-opening Christmas adventure. As they often had before, they swore they would never make these assumptions about the pink-haired dragon slayer again.

And that's a wrap. Merry Christmas everybody!