Natsu felt as though he was floating, he was weightless. His eyes were sealed shut and wouldn't open, not that Natsu had been trying too hard to open them. He felt content, almost peaceful, as his subconscious remained asleep but eventually floating around got boring.

It took him awhile to will himself awake, his body felt heavy and he felt disconnected from it. Eventually he was able to peel his eyes open, just barely.

All he could see was bright light that flooded his vision and blinded him for a few seconds. He almost thought that he had died and was entering the afterlife when he heard the sound of beeping.

As he regained his sight he took in his surroundings, he was in a hospital which made sense since he had been shot. The first thing he noticed was an uncomfortable dull pain that was coming from his abdomen and the second was that the beeping was coming from the heart monitor that was hooked up to him. The IV needle they had stuck in the crook of his arm was itchy and as Natsu was about to mess with it when he noticed he wasn't the only person in the room.

Sitting in a chair that was pulled up next to his bed was Lucy. She was fast asleep with her head resting on the side of his bed and was using her arms as a sort of pillow.

Something inside of his itched to reach out and brush off the hair that had fallen in front of her face, but his common sense was much stronger for once.

He watched as with each breath Lucy's back rose and fell before ripping his eyes away and looked at anything else cause god he felt like such a creep watching her sleep. He kept his eyes firmly on the bare white wall in front of him as a million questions went through his head, the main one he wanted an answer to was what had happened to Jackal.

He wished he wasn't stuck in this hospital bed, he needed to move around when he got like this with all the questions scratching at his brain; it helped him think.

Drumming his fingers against the bedsheets he tried to collect his thoughts and calm down. He snuck a look over at Lucy and instantly felt the rushing feeling of calmness just wash over him, and it scared him that just one look at Lucy was able to calm his nerves. He had grown too attached to her during this case, and now that the case was either closed or he had been taken off of it, he would probably never see her again.

For some reason that thought pained him, he felt his heart clench as he tried to reason with himself that this would be good. Now that they weren't on the same case together this quick friendship that had formed could be cut off easily. He didn't want to just forget about her and just throw her away like he had done to so many people. She was….different somehow.

She made him want to be better; she made him want to finally sever all those links he had to his past. But even if he wanted to do that he couldn't, he could never cut off that part of him.

All kinds of whispering thoughts filled his head, he wasn't like her, he didn't belong anywhere near her and all her bright and shining glory that had blinded as he had gotten to know her. Despite all the walls and precautions he had built up, she seemed to break through everyone, she was breaking all the rules he had made for himself.

God, he was beginning to fall in love with her.

Letting his head fall back to the pillow he let out one word at this realization. "Shit."

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit" Natsu mumbled as he pressed his hands against his eyes. He couldn't do this, this couldn't be happening. He was going to fuck this up now. He wasn't in love with Lucy, not fully, not yet. He was stuck in the gray area of like and love. Not quite in love but he didn't just like her.

He was going to screw this up. Everything Zeref had told him just days before came bubbling back into his mind. He and Lucy were too different; he was too messed up to be loved. Hell, he had been part of a gang for a good portion of his life, and even now he was still technically a part of said gang. He still had… shit, what if someone had seen the mark.

His hand instantly went to his right shoulder, clutching at the thin material of the hospital gown his hand began to shake. He was screwed if they had seen his tattoo, though he supposed if they had seen it he would have been handcuffed to the bed by now.

Letting his hand drop down into his lap he let out a long sigh. One of his worries was crossed off and the biggest one was currently asleep right next to him.

He supposed he should've questioned by now why Lucy was even asleep by his bedside, but he was occupied with other things that took a little priority over why Lucy was at his side. Sure he wanted to know, but he also didn't want any extra reasons to become attached to her even more.

No, now was not the time to be thinking about how he had fallen for someone completely unobtainable, pushing all of those thoughts out of his mind Natsu went back to worrying about what had happened to Jackal.

He was beginning to go through all the possible scenarios when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head he found Lucy had woken up.

Their eyes met and Lucy blinked twice before her eyes went wide.

"NATSU DRAGNEEL DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE PUT EVERYONE THROUGH BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPIDITY?!" Lucy bellowed as her face went red. So she was definitely angry at him, though she had a good reason to be.

"Um-" Natsu said timidly before Lucy cut him off.

"You just had to go after Jackal without telling anyone, and now look at you! You're in the hospital and for a few seconds we weren't sure if you were going to make it!" Lucy yelled as her hands gripped tight around the blanket. Her eyes were rimmed with red, god had she been crying?

"I know sorry doesn't exactly cover everything, but I'm really sorry" Natsu said as he watched for her reaction.

"You're sorry?!" Lucy said as he hand reached out and wrapped around the color of Natsu's hospital gown. "When I got to Jackal's hideout I found you in a puddle of your own blood! Damn it Natsu, I thought you could've died! Do you know how worried I was? I wasn't able to sit down until you came out of surgery!"

"I was in surgery?" Natsu asked, even though he regretted it two seconds later when he saw Lucy's face.

"Of course you were you idiot! You got shot!" Lucy said as her grip around the gown's collar tightened. "Everybody has been so worried; you've been out for two days!"

"Oh" Natsu said, at a lost for how to comfort Lucy.

"God, do you even realize that your actions have consequences?! Do you realize how dangerous your plan was? What would've happened if I hadn't called you? What if you hadn't told me where you were going?!" Tears were beginning to well up in Lucy's eyes as her hand slipped away from the gown's collar.

"God Heartfilia, I really am sorry. I didn't mean to worry you, or anyone I just-" Natsu said pausing for a second as he tried to find the words, "I didn't think it all through. I'm so sorry."

"You idot" Lucy said, her voice shaking slightly. "Do you realize how worried I was?" Then arms were wrapping themselves around his neck and Natsu was pulled into some sort of hug with Lucy.

He felt his heart speed up but he willed it to calm down since there's no reason to make a big deal out of a hug. Natsu's arms had just been figuring out what they should be doing when a nurse walked in.

"I heard yelling so I figured you must've woken up" the nurse said with fake cheeriness as she walked over towards Natsu.

Lucy broke away from the half hug and sat back down in her chair. "Are you here to check on him?"

"Well that is my job, now that he's awake I have to check to see how well his responses are" the nurse said as she looked over at Natsu's vitals before writing something down on her clipboard.

Once the nurse had finished her exam and left, Natsu turned his attention back to Lucy.

"So what happened to me exactly? You know, besides the fact that I got shot."

"Well-" Lucy said as she sat back in her chair, "The bullet hit one of your kidneys, so they had to take you into surgery to remove it and fix up any other damage the bullet left. Before you ask, you'll be fine without that kidney, you still have one left."

"Ah, okay, cool" Natsu said with a small nod. "At least I don't have to worry that I lost a vital organ or something."

"You would be hooked up to a lot more machines if it had been an organ without a backup" Lucy said as she crossed her legs. "I'm sure you have more to ask then what happened to you."

"Yeah" Natsu said with a small smile, was he that easy to read? "I need to know what happened to Jackal."

"Jackal is-" Lucy paused midsentence as she tried to find the best way to tell Natsu what had happened. "Jackal is dead." Lucy let out a small sigh after telling Natsu the one sentence she had been dreading to say, this went unbeknownst to Natsu who was currently looking at her with wide eyes.

"Wha-what happened?" Natsu asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He had a rough idea what must've happened. Jackal must've been shot by whoever showed up to the scene after he had passed out, which was another thing he wanted to know, who showed up second at the scene.

"Uh, well, the second person who showed up at Jackal's place ended up shooting Jackal after he aimed a gun at them as he was trying to escape. They ended up shooting Jackal in the heart" Lucy said, she avoided his eyes as she said all of this. She was trying to act passive about it but her face showed another story, she looked like she was reliving something that had scared her.

"Who was the second person?" Natsu asked, it seemed to be a bit of a grab asking Lucy who had showed up second since she only knew only three other people in the FBI, but something made him think she might now more than she's letting on.

Lucy glanced at him from the corner of her eye before looking back down into her lap, she stayed quiet.

"It's fine if you don't know who it was, it's not like I need to know who shot-"

"I know the person who shot Jackal" Lucy said, cutting him off. She was looking at him now.

"Oh, uh, really?" That's, well, I don't know what word I should use but could you tell me who it was?" Natsu asked. "Was it Fullbuster or-"

"It was me."

Those three words hung in the air as Natsu let the implications of the words sink in. Lucy had been the second person at the scene which meant that she had…

"You shot Jackal?" Natsu asked with hesitation in his voice as he did so. He knew the answer to his question and as he watched Lucy's face twist he regretted even asking it. There was no way she wasn't a little shaken up about killing someone; she was probably trying her best to forget it. Before he could open his mouth again and tell her that she didn't need to answer the question she spoke.

"Yes."

She was so quiet he almost didn't hear her, but he did and he honestly wished he had just kept quiet.

"Are you alright?" He had been hesitant to ask since he was horrible at comforting people but it was obvious that Lucy had not come to terms with what had happened.

"Am I-Yes I'm fine" Lucy said. Natsu was about to push a little harder for an honest answer when Lucy continued talking. "I mean, I'm not being charged with murder or anything. Technically it was in self-defense since he was aiming a gun at me but-"

"Woah, woah, calm down" Natsu said, his hands reaching out to her shoulders. Even if the movement sent a bolt of pain through his side he kept his hands on her shoulders. "I didn't ask about that, I asked how you're feeling right now. I know this must be weighing on your mind."

"I-I don't want to talk about it" Lucy said, she was back at looking at her hands. Well he supposed he had his answer though, Lucy was most definitely not okay but he knew better than to push while the memory was still fresh. He would wait to bring it up once the memory wasn't so prominent in her mind.

"Is there any news on Marde?" Natsu asked, desperate to change the topic and clear the suffocating air that had filled the room.

"He had his two trials. The verdict for both were guilty so it looks like he's going to be in jail for a long time" Lucy said as fiddled with her thumbs, she was also desperate to move the topic off Jackal.

"So I guess we'll be closing up the case soon" Natsu said, scared of silence entering the room.

"Yeah I guess, all you have to do is figure out where Tartaros' hideout is" Lucy said as her eyes left her lap. "I guess I'll be back to mummies soon."

"Yeah" Natsu said with a small chuckle before silence fell between them. Natsu wanted to find something to talk about to fill the silence, but he didn't want to bring up anything that would remind Lucy of Jackal.

"The flowers you got look nice" Lucy said with a small smile, effectively breaking the silence. She was pointing at something behind Natsu's head and when he turned around he faced a large basket of flowers.

They did look rather nice. "Oh, I didn't even notice them."

"Yeah I almost didn't either. They were dropped off yesterday while I wasn't in your room. The nurse hadn't even realized that someone had even been by" Lucy said with shrug.

"Huh, that's kinda weird" Natsu said as he noticed a note nestled around the brim of the basket. Plucking it out he read the card and felt his stomach drop. He knew he should've expected something like this, but he hadn't exactly expected it to be so flashy.

"You owe me something now dear baby brother. I do hope you get well soon!"

Natsu's mouth went dry as he read those two sentences for a fourth time. This was not good, Zeref was going to pull something and Natsu knew it. What did he expect though; he had used Zeref to get intel on where Jackal was. Now Zeref wanted something in return, and he always asked for the same things every time.

Folding the note up, Natsu threw it into the flowers. He didn't want to think about that right now.

"Hey" Lucy said, drawing Natsu's attention back to her. She was looking at with badly hidden worry. "Are you okay? You, um, you seemed a bit off after you read the note with the flowers. Who were the flowers from?"

Natsu stared at Lucy blankly for a few seconds as he tried to think of something to tell her. He could just tell her he was fine and that the flowers hadn't come with a name, which was actually true. He was just opening his mouth to answer her when someone came running into the room.

"Shit, I gotta hide" muttered the intruder, who just so happened to be Gray.

"Hello Gray" Lucy said, Gray's presence distracting her from Natsu's weird reaction to the card. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay" Gray said as he poked his head nervously out the door before pulling it back in. "I need a place to hide." Turning towards the two, he paused for a few seconds when he noticed Natsu was up.

"What are you hiding from?" Natsu asked.

"None of your business" Gray spit at him before softening slightly. "Good to see that you're finally awake you reckless idiot, do you know what-"

"Don't you have to be hiding?" Natsu asked, he had already got that whole spiel from Lucy and he didn't exactly want to hear it again from Gray.

"Shit you're right" Gray said before ducking down beside the hospital bed. A few seconds later a blue haired nurse stuck her head into the room.

"Have either of you seen handsome black haired man walk by?" she asked as she looked over their room.

"Um, nope" Lucy said with a shrug. "Haven't seen anyone fitting that description."

"Me neither" Natsu said with an apologetic smile. "I saw an average looking black haired guy walk by the room a few seconds ago though."

"No, that wouldn't have been him" the women said with a sigh. "I wanted to talk to him before I had to suit up for surgery."

"Well maybe he'll still be here after the surgery" Lucy offered, she honestly couldn't believe that this woman was what Gray was hiding from. She seemed nice.

"I suppose I could hope that" the woman said. "Well, thanks for helping me out."

After the nurse had left the two turned their attention to the man who was currently poking his head up over the side of the bed.

"Is the coast clear?" Gray asked as he looked over at the door.

"Yeah she left, but I gotta ask why the hell you're hiding from her?" Natsu asked as he rolled his eyes at Gray.

"Well you see-" Gray began before shaking his head and starting over. "Do you remember how about a month ago I helped out a hostage situation at this hospital?"

"Yes?" Natsu said with a shrug. "I remember that you didn't shut up about it for a week."

"Well that nurse was the hostage. I think she might have a hero complex or something but after I got the guy to let her go I could feel her eyes staring at me until I got the guy to the police. Since then she's asked me out four times. Four times Dragneel!" Gray said as he waved his hands around.

"Listen Fullbuster" Natsu said as he shook his head. "I know you have some weird commitment issues that entail for you to never go on more than four dates with someone, but it's not going to kill you to go on one date with the nurse. I bet you she'll never ask again after she learns about your terrible personality."

"Shut up" Gray spit before disappearing back down behind the bed.

"The first step to fixing your problems is accepting you have a problem" Natsu said, sticking his head over the side of the bed.

"Fuck off Dragneel!"

"Sorry I can't go anywhere, I'm kind of stuck here."

"I swear if Dr. Heartfilia wasn't here I would've killed you by now."

"Boys, boys, you're both pretty! But can we get back to the topic of that nice nurse you're ignoring for no reason."

"You know what, fuck both of you."

One Week Later

"Are you ready to go?" Lucy asked as she walked into Natsu's hospital room.

"God yes" Natsu said as he slipped on a black suit jacket. Whoever had brought him in a suit was unknown to her but he had managed to convince one of his friends to bring one in for his apparently.

"Aren't you supposed to take it easy for the next week?" Lucy asked as she leaned against the doorframe.

"I've been stuck in this place for over a week" Natsu said as he draped a tie on his shoulder. "I'm going back to work, I just have to promise to not do anything too exerting."

"And are you really going to follow through with that promise?" Lucy asked with a raised brow.

"Sure I will" Natsu said as he tied his tie. "I mean, I'm going to have you breathing down my neck."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucy asked as she crossed her arms.

"Nothing, I'm happy were still going to be working together since our first case went so well" Natsu said as he straightened up his tie before turning towards her.

"Makarov is just happy that he has a babysitter for you now" Lucy said as she shook her head before meeting Natsu's eyes.

"Oh I'm sure our partnership was extended for a better reason then that" Natsu said as he walked over until he was standing in front of Lucy. "I mean, we did manage to help take down Tartaros. The raid was yesterday by the way, apparently it went rather well."

"I heard since I was the one who told you about the raid in the first place" Lucy said. "Well Makarov has a case for us if you're up for it."

"Of course I am" Natsu said, a wide smile crossing his face. Lucy felt her heart skip slightly when she saw that smile, it was different from what she was used to, and for once it was full of real warmth.

"Okay" Lucy said as she did her best to ignore her hearts accelerated beating. "Let's get going. I have the file in the car; you can read it while I drive us to meet the witness."

"Let's get going then partner" Natsu said as he gestured at the door with his head.

Patting him on the shoulder she replied back "After you partner."

The two of them left the room and walked out of the hospital. A slightly wilted flower arrangement was left behind on the table with a crumpled note that was hidden by the leaves.

A/N: I have a few things I want to say before wrapping this up all up, but first I want to thank everyone again for all the comments. First, I never had planned for this to be a Nalu fic, but the last chapter got away from me. I'm afraid the sequel was canceled, I'm sorry to everyone who was excited or waiting for it.