Lucy was practically jumping up and down in her spot as she waited at the train station for her best friend who she hasn't seen in about 7 years!

Soon enough a train stopped right on time and people started pooling out.

Where is he?? Did he miss the train? Or am I too early?

She looked to the clock.

1:25. No, He said that this was the time his train would arrive...

Lucy looked left and right again and again. Then, the one she was looking for so desperately was exiting the first train door.

She recognized that pink hair anywhere.

"Natsu!!!" She yelled as she ran to him; tackling him in a tight hug, making him fall along with his suite case and traveling backpack.

"L-Lucy??" He looked at her with wide eye's. "You really have.." He scanned her up and down, his eyes lingering around her chest area a second longer. "Grown up."

"Of course I have! And so have you!" She said with the biggest smile ever. He chuckled at her attitude only making her puff out her cheeks in annoyance. "What's so funny?"

"Same funny and energetic girl from seven years ago." She blushed slightly as he gave her his signature toothy grin. She then got up and helped him up to.

"Come on, I'll help you put your suitcases in my car." Lucy took his suite case rolled it out with Natsu trailing behind her.

~

"You guys moved?" Natsu asked as she got out of the car.

"Um, yeah, it's more convenient living near the train station since, dad's always on business trips." Lucy said while struggling to get his suitcase out of the car.

Natsu covered his mouth, trying to sniffle his laughter.

Still as stubborn as ever to ask for help.

He nodded his head in disapproval as he walked over to her.

"Here, let me help you."

"N-No, I got t-this." She said as she took it out the car and accidentally dropped it on...Natsu's foot.

"Ow Craaaa...b!" He shouted while restraining himself from cursing in front of Lucy.

"Sorry!!! Sorry, sorry sorry!!" Lucy panicked as she tried to find a way to help her friend who was hopping on one foot. "H-Here! Let me help you inside the house!"

Lucy then rushed over to him but ended up tripping on the wheel of the suitcase. How? I don't know.

Lucy ended up falling on top of him for the second time today.

"I can see you're still as clumsy as ever." Natsu said with a chuckle. Lucy ended up getting frustrated.

"Sorry, it hasn't even been an hour and I already made you fall twice and hurt you with your own luggage."

"Na it's okay Luce, it keeps things interesting ya know?" Natsu said looking at the bright side of things.

"Yeah I guess so!" Lucy got back up and dusted herself off. "Come on inside! I'll show you to your room!" She said happily skipping away to the two story apartment.

(Aaaand she forgot to help Natsu with his bags.)

"Hurry up Natsu!"

~

"Whoa, nice place you got here." He commented as he walk through the front door.

"Really? You think so?" Lucy was happy to hear his compliment.

"Yeah. But, don't you guys feel a bit cramped here?" Natsu looked around finding only 2 bedrooms.

"Huh?" Lucy was a bit confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, don't your parents like having a big house like the one you had before?"

"O-Oh! Right! They um, thought it was nice to have a change so we decided to have this cozy house." She smiled at Natsu only making him confused about her stuttering to a smile question.

"Let me show you to your room!" Lucy quickly took his hand and towed him up the stairs.

"This is your room and that's mine at the end of the hall." She explained.

"So I'm sleeping in your parents room?" He lifted an eyebrow in question.

"Y-Yeah! They said their fine with it since Dads on a business trip with mom." They both stood in the hallway for a while in an awkward silence until Lucy spoke up again.

"Why don't you go start unpacking some of your things while I prepare cookies and milk for old times sake?" Natsu smiled kindly to her and just nodded in agreement after heading to the guest room.

He started opening his suitcase and started by taking out his clothes.

Is something wrong with Lucy? I mean yeah she's usually cheery and upbeat but, she's been acting a little weird...

Could it be because of-

"Natsu! Its ready!" Lucy called out from downstairs.

"Coming!" He quickly went downstairs, hearing a light thump with each step.

"Sit down before your milk gets cold." She said while placing the big plate of freshly baked cookies at the table.

"What about you? Aren't you going to eat cookies?" Natsu asked.

"What? This is for both-" She cut herself off once she understood what he implied. "Still a big eater I see." Natsu just chuckled and scratched the back of his head as if saying 'yeah!'

"I'll go get myself a plate." She stuck her tongue out at him playfully and then went to the kitchen.

Natsu had nothing better to do so he followed her. But that's when a question popped up in his mind.

"Hey Luce. Are you still mad at me?" He asked out loud unconsciously.

"Mad at you for what?" Lucy didn't make eye contact as she opened the oven.

"For leaving you.."

"Ah! Crap!" She cursed under her breath from slightly burning herself on the edge of the stove. And here Natsu was trying nor to curse in front of her.

"H-Hey you okay? Let me get you some-"

"I'm fine." Lucy just shook her arm, trying to get the burning feeling to go away. After she ran the burned area under some cold water, she picked up her plate and walked over to the table with Natsu following close behind.

Once they both sat down, Lucy gave out a sigh.

"Look Natsu, I know the last day we saw each other I said a lot of hurtful things about how I hated you for not telling me earlier that you were leaving.And I was stubborn for not letting you explain." She paused for a moment "And yet you kept smiling the whole time.." Lucy looked at her cup of milk as she spoke, not wanting to make eye contact.

"Well, after you left, my mom finally got me to calm down and told me that your dad had a job relocation and that you had to leave with him.

I felt bad, no, I felt horrible for parting ways like that, so when you finally got a hold of my number and called me saying that you were visiting, I was really ecstatic." Lucy got up from her chair walked over to Natsu, giving him a hug. He was a bit surprised by her gesture but then returned the hug.

"I'm not mad at you anymore, in fact, I'm really glad you came. So please, let's not to bring this topic up again." She murmured into Natsu's shoulder.

"Sure Luce." He responded hugging her a bit tighter. Anything for you.

~

It was the next day early in the morning. Natsu groggily got out of bed and went down stairs.

He notice a certain blond wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Oi Luce!" He called out. But there was no answer. He walked over to the kitchen to find a plate with pancakes and a note.

I know you don't like waking up early so I went out to buy some groceries. I left some pancakes out ready for you, there's honey in the pantry, hope it's not cold by the time you wake up.
~Lucy.

Natsu chucked under his breath and took a bite from his breakfast.

Still warm.

He thought with a smile.

Once he finished, Natsu decided too take a look around the house. It was a pretty average place. A big bathroom, nice living room. But then came Lucy's bed room.

Natsu smirked to himself. He always loved snooping around her room. Mostly because she always has her stash of candies hiding somewhere.

He walked in and saw that everything was clean and well, in its place. The first thing he did was flop on her bed face first. He snuggled his face in the soft fabric.

Smells like strawberries and vanilla.

A smile crept up on his face as he flipped over and thought about how glad he was at the fact that he was finally back with his childhood friend.

Sitting up, Natsu looked around noticed a red box that was laying on Lucy's desk. He walked over to it and saw that it had a bunch of letters in it.

What's this?

There was one letter that had just been finished, so Natsu picked it up and read it.

Guess what mom? Natsu's back! Isn't that great? It's been so long since we've last seen each other, and I'm really happy I have him here to keep me company. Well it's getting late now, I'd better go to sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow to buy the groceries, cause a certain pink haired boy doesn't like going shopping or waking up early.
Love, Lucy.

Natsu had a stupid looking grin on his face as he read the letter. But that's when he got a good idea..

~

"Natsu!~" Lucy called out as she entered the house with a bunch of bags in her hands.

"Yo!" Natsu greeted as he quickly went down the stairs to help her out. "You did leave some food for other people at the store right?" Natsu joked seeing all the grocery bags.

"Ha ha very funny. I had to buy all of this because someone." Lucy rolled her eyes and then looked at Natsu. "Likes to eat. A lot."

"Hey, it's not my fault your cooking tastes so good." Lucy blushed slightly at his compliment.

"I'll get started on lunch in a minute, I just have to get something from my room." Lucy jogged up the stairs to her room but then noticed something missing. She started to panic and looked everywhere for it.

"Um, Natsu." She called from her room as she continued her search.

"Yeah?" He asked with a mouth full of Oreos.

"Have you seen a note I left here on my desk?" Natsu smirked.

"Yeah! I thought that since you had finished the letter for your mom, I'd send it to her with the address you told me before. You know, the place where they're at for their business trip." Natsu said nonchalantly.

"WHAT?!?" Lucy ran down the stairs quickly and took a hold of her phone.

"Why? What's wrong Luce?" Natsu asked confused. Lucy just ignored him as she was waiting for an answer on the phone.

"Hello?? Yes, this is the Heartfilia residence, I'd like to make a request to retrieve a letter sent to Layla Heartfilia
....yes....okay, great! Thank you very much!" Lucy hung up the phone with a sigh.

"What happened Luce?" Natsu asked as he walked towards her.

"That letter wasn't meant to be sent Natsu." She took a seat on the couch; Natsu doing the same.

"Why?"

"Because...my moms not there." She looked at her hands not being able to even face Natsu.

"Oh, well you should have told me the right direction Luce, sorry I didn't ask you before." Natsu apologized only making Lucy feel worse.

"It's not that it was the wrong direction N-Natsu." Now she could feel her lips trembling and it was harder to talk with a lump in her throat.

"Then what's wrong?" He scooted closer to his shaking friend, waiting for an answer. "Luce?" Just saying her name was enough to make the tears that were accumulating fall rapidly to her hands that were holding each other on her lap.

Lucy wanted to explain, she wanted to tell him everything but it was hard to even think straight. Sniffing was herd from the blond, making Natsu panic.

"L-Lucy? What's wrong? Come on, your starting to freak me out." Natsu's hands wavered over her, trying to find out how to help her.

"T-There not even h-here Natsu." Lucy started wiping away her never ending tears. "There g-gone. They have been for a l-long time now." Now Natsu was shocked, was he hearing her correctly?

"Wait, did they...abandon you?" Natsu dared to ask. Lucy just shook her head as her hands covered her face.

"No, I-I mean they passed away Natsu." He was silent for a moment. "They died in a car crash a few days after you left.." Lucy managed to say before she continued sobbing in her hands. All the while, Natsu was shocked and the only thing he could think about doing to try and help was take Lucy in his arms and hold her close to him.

Lucy wrapped her arms around his waist and sobbed uncontrollably into his chest. She was a mess but at least she finally had someone by her side in her time of need.

"You...you were alone all this time, wren't you Luce?" Natsu said with his voice breaking at the end. He knew Lucy didn't have any other relatives, so the thought of little Lucy going through all that heart break and pain alone, was sad enough to make a few tears fall.

"Luce, you're....you're not alone anymore, trust me. I'm going to be here for you-"

"You're leaving in a week Natsu." She said in a muffled tone as her head was buried in his chest.

Now Natsu was at a loss for words.

"But it's okay Natsu, I understand, you have your own life and-"

"Let's...Lets just make the most that we can of this week." He decided. Lucy then let go of Natsu and looked at him while wiping away her tears. "We have time now, so let's do everything we can to have fun now. What do you say?" Lucy sniffed and then nodded.

"Alright."

~

The week had passed by quickly and they were back at the train station.

"Well this is it." Natsu said. Lucy looked to the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with him.

"Yeah...time really flew by." Suddenly the train whistle blew, indicating that it was going to leave soon.

"Well, goodbye Luce." He walked over to her and gave her a tight hug.

"Bye" Was all she managed to say. He let go of her too soon.

She smiled at him and waved as he got on the train. But once the door closed, her smile faded away and her tears appeared once again.

The train started moving and she walked along side it until it got to the point where she broke into a small run. But Natsu started making his way to the back door of the train.

"Luce!" He shouted as he threw a paper airplane and thankfully she caught it. Lucy stopped running once she got to the end of the station. All the while, Natsu smiled brightly to her and waved as he left.

Once he was out of sight, Lucy opened the note.

I'm going to stay with you. I'm traveling back to Magnolia to tell my parents and get my things. So don't worry Luce, we'll be seeing each other soon. Just be patient for a little while longer. Until then Luce.
Love, Natsu

~Little-Red~