Lucy stares down at the pot of boiling water in front of her. She has yet to add any of the pasta because she is waiting for a certain moment. She only needs Dan to be closer to her for her plan to work...

"Hey, Dan?" she begins, looking over her shoulder at him to find he is sitting at the island.

"What is it, Lu Lu?" he asks.

"Do you think this water is hot enough?"

"What do you mean?"

She giggles. "Don't you want to help me cook? It's a fun thing for couples to do!"

His face lights up with a smile. "I sure do!" Then he hops off of the stool and walks over to her.

Letting adrenaline take over, Lucy grabs the pot's handle with both hands because she is still cuffed. She does her best to slosh the boiling water onto him.

He screams in pain when he splashes onto his side and makes contact with his skin. His shirt sticks to his skin, making it worse for him.

For extra measure, she takes the pot and whacks him upside the head before bolting for the front door. It is closer than the back door and she has a better shot of reaching it before she is caught.

"G-get back here!" Dan shouts.

After reaching her destination, she unlocks the deadbolt and the lock in the handle before throwing open the door. She manages to get one foot over the threshold before she is yanked back by her long hair. Seeing stars, she shouts in pain and tries tearing away Dan's hand from her hand.

His free hand with the gun wraps around her waist. "Where do you think you're going?" he asks as calmly as he can through gritted teeth.

Police officers are all in stances with their guns aimed at Dan. None of them fire because of Lucy's position.

"Drop the gun!" Loke demands.

"Leave us alone!" Dan shouts.

Lucy struggles to escape Dan's hold on her, but to no avail. He is too strong for her to handle. It does not help that she is still cuffed either. Her eyes dart around, desperately searching for any sign of Natsu.

"Drop the gun and step away from Lucy!" Laxus orders.

A shaking cop car catches her attention and she notices Natsu is inside, struggling to get away from Gray who is keeping him from leaving. Her heart squeezes. He is here!

"I want to be alone with Lu Lu! If that doesn't happen, I'll kill her! I'll kill her and the baby!" With that, Dan drags Lucy inside and shuts the door with a foot. He tosses her to the ground and gets to work on locking the door.

Lucy pushes herself off of the ground with her hands and looks up at Dan.

"I still want pasta," he says with a twisted grin. "And this time, you're going to make it for me."

She merely stares up at him, remaining in her position. She still has her fighting spirit, but it is damped due to what just happened. She failed to escape from Dan.

With a free hand, he reaches up to gingerly touch his head injury. "Oh, and I need some medicine. I have a terrible headache for some reason. I guess I'll need a new shirt, too. I can't be wet!"

x-X-x (POV change and is set in the past by a bit) x-X-x

Natsu loses it when he sees Dan with Lucy. She looks terrified, but she is still trying to escape. He needs to get out and help her.

"Drop the gun!" Loke demands.

"Leave us alone!" Dan shouts.

"I know you want to help, but stay in here," Gray says. Laxus had ordered that Natsu remain in Gray's police car and that Gray accompany him.

"She needs me!" Natsu argues, reaching for the door handle.

Gray grabs a hold of him and yanks him back. "You might put her in danger if you go out there!"

Natsu tries shaking him off. "Lemme go!"

"Drop the gun and step away from Lucy!" Laxus orders.

Natsu tries his best to shake Gray off of him. "Lemme go!"

"I want to be alone with Lu Lu! If that doesn't happen, I'll kill her! I'll kill her and the baby!" With that, Dan drags Lucy inside and shuts the door with a foot.

Natsu becomes still. Baby?

The other officers are slightly thrown off as well. Before he spoke just now, they were under the assumption that Lucy is alone with the intruder.

"Is she babysitting?" Gray asks.

"She should be alone... According to Lucy, it should just be her and that bastard..." The gears turn in Natsu's mind as he thinks. Then he looks at Gajeel the same moment Gajeel looks back at him. Obviously they are thinking the same thing.

"What's going on?" Gray asks.

Natsu is already getting out his phone to call Levy to confirm the situation. "I didn't think she was supposed to babysit Emiko..."

By the second ring, Levy answers. "Hey, Natsu!" she greets warmly.

"Is Lucy babysitting Emiko at our house?" he asks quickly, getting right to the point.

"I'm at my house with her right now," she replies with confusion. "Why do you ask?"

Natsu gulps, his mouth feeling rather dry. Can he tell her what is happening to her closest friend?

"Natsu?" Levy asks after silence on his end.

"Just wondering," he manages to say. "Thanks for letting me know. Bye, Levy." After that, he hangs up.

"Well?" Gray prompts.

"Lucy isn't babysitting Emiko." Then Natsu looks at Gajeel, finding he is still staring. He is worried his baby might be in there, being a second hostage. When Natsu shakes his head, Gajeel visibly relaxes.

"So what's Dan talking about then?" Gray asks.

"I dunno–"

Natsu receives a text and he checks it, hoping it is his wife. Unfortunately, it is not.

Levy: You called Lucy by her name and not Luce. What's going on?

He tipped her off by accident. "Shit."

"What's wrong?"

"Levy. She's asking what's wrong."

"Well, you were a little off with what you said."

"It's because I called her Lucy."

Gray is silent for a moment. "Yeah, I've noticed that, too. You haven't called her Luce even once since Lucy spoke to you over the phone."

Natsu clamps his eyes closed, trying to regain his composure. He rubs his face with one hand. Being off his game will not help anything. "I'm worried."

It is an odd sight for Gray to see his partner and best friend cracking like this. "Well get her back, Natsu," he assures him. "She'll be fine. She's tough. She's Lucy."

x-X-x (POV change) x-X-x

With more water in the pot to boil on the stove, Lucy is using a towel to clean up the water from the floor.

Now wearing one of Natsu's plain white shirts, Dan is keeping his distance from her. "I'm not mad at you, Lu Lu. I hope you know that. I know that what happened was just an accident."

"Accidents can happen while cooking," she mutters dryly.

"So what do you want to do after eating?"

Lucy shrugs. "I have no clue." Without another word, she stands up with the towel and starts making her way towards the laundry room. It is not far and just connected to the kitchen. The second door in the laundry room leads out to the garage, but Lucy doubts that will do her any good. The garage door is shut and it will take time to open it.

"Where are you going?" Dan asks.

Lucy stops to look back at him, noticing the gun is still on the counter. "I'm going to put this in the washer."

"But you just used it on the floor to get water."

"It's dirty. It needs cleaned."

"Oh. Okay, I guess you can do that."

Rather than starting a low load, Lucy just tosses the towel into the washer and leaves it. Stepping out of the laundry room, she looks at the windows that are covered by curtains and trash bags. The downstairs is completely blocked from sight. No one can see in or out of the first floor.

"Hey, after eating do you want to cuddle and watch some TV?" Dan asks.

"Not really," she replies honesty.

"Well, what will you want to do?"

"I'm not sure."

"At least you have time to think about it." Then he gasps with delight. "We could play a board game or something!"

"I think I'd rather read."

He frowns. "I mean, if that'll make you happy... But we can't do that together..."

"I just want things to be quiet."

"Oh, so do you want to nap then? Are you tired?"

She merely shrugs in response. When the pot starts boiling over, Lucy snaps back into reality. She walks over to the stove and turns down the heat slightly. She struggles with opening the pasta box and pouring in the dry curly noodles.

"You should rest if you're tired," Dan suggests. "It'll be good for the baby."

The baby... Lucy can only hope she is not putting any stress on the baby. She hopes that they both will make it out of this situation all right.

"So do you think our baby will be a boy or girl?" Dan asks.

She gulps at his choice of words, acting as though he is the father. "I don't know."

"I'm hoping for a girl," he says cheerfully. "I want her to be just like you! So amazing and beautiful."

"I think a boy just like his father would be amazing," she voices, thinking of Natsu.

"Nah, I'm not as amazing as you, Lu Lu," Dan chuckles, and then gasps loudly. "What about twins? What about a girl and a boy? Or maybe two boys? Oh, or many two girls? Two girls would be amazing!"

Lucy knows she will be happy no matter the outcome. She just has to survive this living nightmare first.

Her phone rings from inside of one of Dan's pockets. It is an unknown caller.

Hoping it is Laxus again, she immediately looks over at Dan. "Are you going to answer it?"

"I just don't want it to be one of those cop people," he mutters, digging around for the phone. "They're really annoying."

"I think it's the same number from before."

"So it's all right to answer since you know who it is," she assures him.

"But I don't want to talk to him again," he whines.

"Laxus might call again if you don't answer..."

With a heavy sigh, Dan answers the call and holds the phone up to his ear. He does not put it on speaker this time. "What do you want now?" He pauses and glances over at Lucy. "Yeah, she's fine. Of course, she is. Why wouldn't she be?" Another pause. "Nah, I wouldn't hurt my wife."

Lucy wishes she could overhear their entire conversation. She wants to know what Laxus is saying. Although, she at least thinks it is Laxus. It might be someone else using his phone. "Who is it?" she asks.

"That Locksissy guy," Dan replies, rolling his eyes dramatically.

"Do you mean Laxus?" she asks.

"Yeah, that guy." Then he becomes distracted with whatever Laxus is saying on the other end of the line. "What? Why? I'm just trying to spend time with the love of my life. After all, we have a lot to catch up on since we've been apart for so long."

Lucy thinks of the love of her life. He seemed so desperate to get out of the car earlier, but Gray stopped him from doing so. She still has no idea why kept Natsu from trying to reach her. She does suppose things are personal for him, but–

"Lu Lu is fine," Dan assures. "Trust me. We're just trying to relax. She's cooking me dinner right now actually. It's pasta since it's my favorite!"

Lucy hopes that Laxus catches on that they are in the kitchen. Well, at least that she is. The officers need to know their locations.

"Bye now!" Dan says abruptly, ending the phone call. He slips her phone into a back pocket one again. "Wow. He's super annoying."

"I bet," she mumbles, thinking that Dan is even more annoying than Laxus. "But there are plenty of annoying people in the world."

"Natsu was pretty annoying back in high school," he reminiscences. "And loud."

A small smile tugs at her lips. "He's still loud."

"Ugh, that's horrible."

"It keeps me on my toes. He's especially loud when he's excited..." She recalls how excited he had been when she accepted her proposal. He knew she was going to say yes, but he was still so nervous about officially asking her to be his wife.

"But at least he's out of the picture now," Dan says.

Lucy wants to correct how wrong he is, but she keeps her mouth shut.

"Because now you have me!" he continues.

"Now I have you..." she agrees in dismay.

x-X-x (POV change and is set in the past by a bit) x-X-x

Some officers are back inside the van while Laxus made another phone call.

"Bye now!" Dan says abruptly, ending the call.

"Pasta?" Gajeel questions.

"They're probably in the kitchen if she's cooking," Laxus points out, hoping they have a lead. The Dragneels do not own the largest house, but it helps knowing where the two are located.

"Or at least Lucy is," Natsu adds. "But I doubt he'd leave her alone..."

"She's cuffed though," Gray mentions. "She can't cause too much trouble for him at that rate."

Loke looks at Natsu. "Do you think Dan brought his own cuffs or are they yours?"

He rubs the back of his head while he thinks. "I know I left a pair on the dresser–" Natsu cuts himself off when he pictures Dan and Lucy in their bedroom. "What was that bastard doing in my bedroom with her?!" he roars.

Gray places a hand on one of Natsu's shoulders to ground him. "Calm down. You can't get worked up."

"Lucy needs you to be level headed," Loke reminds him.

Natsu takes a deep calming breath before letting it out. He runs both hands through his pink locks, mussing it up. "Calm. Be calm. I can do that. I can do that for Lucy." He inhales deeply and exhales out loudly. "For Lucy."

"By the way, has anyone figured out the baby part?" Loke brings up.

"Lucy isn't babysitting Emiko," Gajeel says. "So it's not her."

"Dan thinks, well, he at least says he's married to Lucy," Gray begins. "Maybe he thinks she's pregnant and they're going to have a family. It's a distorted way of thinking really."

Natsu's stomach churns at the very thought of that being a possibility. On the day of their wedding, he vowed to Lucy that she would be stuck with him for life. He still plans on keeping that promise to her.

There is a knock on the open the door to the van. "I have some background info on Dan Straight," Erza Scarlet says.

All eyes turn to look at her. "What do you have?" Laxus asks.

She steps inside and hands the papers she has to him. "Dan Straight has some psychological and delusional issues. He is obviously still obsessed with Lucy."

"Tell us something we don't know," Gajeel grumbles.

"Straight has murdered once before," she continues without missing a beat. "If you look at the third sheet, you will see a similarity between the person he murdered and Lucy..."

Setting the papers down on the table, Laxus flips the pages.

Everyone stares in silence as they look at the square photo.

Natsu's blood runs cold. The young woman pictured shares an uncanny resemblance to Lucy. The major difference between them is that she is a brunette while Lucy is a blonde.

Erza goes into a brief history about her. "Her name was Ashley. Twenty-four. She and Straight dated close to six months prior to him murdering her. He shot her to death."

"He probably dated her because she looks like Lucy..." Loke comments grimly. "He wanted something he couldn't have so he went with the next best thing..."

"And he shot the poor girl," Gajeel adds.

"Straight did time for his crime," Erza says. "He was released a week ago yesterday."

Natsu finally tears his gaze away from the photo. "A week?"

"That was probably enough time for him to track down Lucy," Gray comments.

"So what's his next move with her," Laxus muses.

Natsu's mind is spinning. What if Dan decides to take Lucy's life under the if-he-cannot-have-her-then-no-can bit? He forms tight fits, swearing to himself that he will find a way to save his wife. Even if it is the last thing he does, he will keep his promise to Lucy.

x-X-x  

A/N: I know there's a thing where Levy has twins, but I needed just one baby in this case. I went with Emiko since it means "smiling child" and I liked it for a Gajevy offspring XD When it comes to Ashley, I took the girl Dan had in his flash back (from the anime). And the name comes from Edo!Lucy's last name.

**EXCITING NEWS BELOW**

So pucksabrinadaphne from FFnet informed me that Cute As Fuck has been nominated for The Favorite Fairy Tail Fanfiction 2016! It's already made it to the Primary Round!! It would mean a lot to me for you guys to go and vote for me if you enjoy CAF :D

If y'all go to their page, you can find the information there under The Favorite Fairy Tail Fanfiction 2016 story! On their fourth page, you can see all of the stories you're able to vote for! You're allowed to vote up to 4 stories, and I'd love to have one of those votes if you do decide to do up to 4! Oh, and I suggest PMing pucksabrinadaphne on FFnet to place your vote! (voting will end August 9)

Thanks in advance :D

~RayreeAnne