The next day, Edward was out early again. Natalie wasn’t sure why, he wasn’t supposed to have patrols today, neither of them were. Maybe he’d gone to see the Headmaster. She wished he was here though, they needed to talk. They hadn’t really had a chance to last night. Never in a million years would she have expected him to tell her that he loved her, especially now. She had just been thankful that they had been outside of the World Tree’s radius of power or Asuna’s little prediction may very well have come true and Edward would have been on the business end of a rubber bullet.
Natalie got in the shower; she needed to clear her head a bit. She was still trying to play back the entire night in her mind. After he’d kissed her, the rest of it felt like a blur in a dream. After his confession he’d made her feel like Cinderella dancing with the Prince. The whole room just seemed to vanish around them. She was left to wonder what happened next though. They had been so tired when they had gotten home that both of them had pretty much passed out not leaving any time to talk.
Wrapping a towel around her and grabbing another for her hair, she went out into the bedroom. Edward was sitting there. “Holy shit!” she exclaimed and ran back into the bathroom and closed the door. She hadn’t even heard him come in.
Seeing her in a towel was not what he’d expected and he couldn’t help but get flustered and blush. “Ack! I’m sorry! I didn’t think…”
“You could have said you were there you know!”
“Sorry, sorry, I’ll go in the other room until you’re, well, decent,” he said as he quickly got up and went out in the other room. He couldn’t help but to chuckle at the irony though, it was usually her catching him less than dressed.
She came out of the bathroom and quickly got dressed. When she came out he was sitting at the table. She wrapped up her hair and sat opposite him.
“We need to talk,” they said pretty much in unison.
“You go first,” Edward said laughing.
“OK. I just, well after last night I wanted to know what now?”
“What do you mean? Nothing’s changed; at least I didn’t think so.”
“How can nothing have changed?”
Edward sighed a bit. “Don’t make it more complicated than it is Natalie. You told me that first night how you felt and I couldn’t give you an answer then because I didn’t have one to give you. Last night I realized I finally had an answer to give you so I did. I didn’t think it would be that big of a surprise considering everything that’s already happened. Now it’s just what was inside is on the outside. That’s the best way I think I can explain it.” He got up and went around the table so he was standing behind her. He wrapped his arms loosely around her neck and put his chin on the top of her head. “I guess I was just making sure you knew for certain that I wanted you to be my girl and no one else’s.”
Natalie got up from her seat, forcing him to let her go. He stepped back wondering what she was going to do. He hoped he hadn’t said something wrong. When she turned around to look at him she was smiling. She grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him closer, “Good answer,” she said with a smirk and kissed him.
When she let him go he sighed a bit sigh of relief. “You were testing me,” he said laughing.
“Sort of, I really did want to make sure this meant what I thought it did. You just did better than I thought you were going to,” she said as she let her hair out of the towel so it would fall loosely around her face and on her shoulders.
Edward smirked at her and pretended he was being stabbed in the heart. “No faith Natalie, no faith. That hurt.”
She stuck her tongue out at him and laughed. “You’re such idiot you know that?”
“But I’m your idiot,” he said trying to look sweet and innocent, and failing.
Natalie almost lost it laughing. “Don’t try to play sweet and innocent Edward Elric, that’s my job. I’d stick to the bad ass look, it suits you better.”
He couldn’t help but to laugh himself. She was right, he never really did have an easy time with the innocent look, that had always been Alphonse’s specialty.
With that settled now she went into the kitchen to make some coffee. “So what did you want to talk about?”
“Oh that’s right,” he said going in to help her though there wasn’t really much he could do to help. It was only coffee after all. “I almost forgot, I went to see the Headmaster this morning to ask him about something I’d seen in one of the books he loaned me. It seems in their magic world they have partners, one usually being a magic user and the other a protector.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of it. It’s called a pactio. What about it?”
He was going to question her about how she already knew about it but then thought better of it. He had a feeling he already knew the answer to that question anyway. “Well I was thinking it might be useful for us to have one since it gives the partner a boost and it allows for telepathic communication. Considering what we do, it might come in handy.”
She turned to look at him. “And who would be who in this scenario?”
He rubbed the back of his neck a little nervously. He knew his answer was going to make him sound like an ego driven pig. He hated this for two reasons the first being he knew that would make her mad at him and second it was so Mustang and that made him mad and on a smaller level ill. He hated that ego maniacal asshole and the very thought of him, even now, made him angry. He had to give this a try though. “I was thinking you’d be the magic user and I’d be the protector. Your power is more truly magic based than mine and though your martial arts skills are excellent, mine are better. I just think it would be best if I were the one out front protecting you.”
She looked at him. “And that assessment has nothing to do with the fact that you have a single minded determination to be a protector to begin with?”
He shook his head. “No, I already know you can kick enough ass to take care of yourself, I saw that when we were in London and you cracked that guy in the nuts. No this is strictly from a strategic stand point, nothing else, I promise.”
Natalie thought about it as she poured two cups of coffee from the now finished pot. “So are you thinking of this as a permanent or probationary contract?” she asked as she handed him a cup.
“I was thinking maybe start it as a probationary then if it works, we can make it permanent. I’m just struggling with finding someone to put it together for us. The circles we need are in the book I just don’t know if we can create them right. I’d need more time to research it but I don’t think we have the luxury of that kind of time.”
Natalie chuckled. She knew someone though she had flat out told him she wasn’t interested two days ago. She’d have to suck it up though. “I know someone but he’s not exactly what you’d expect.”
“How so?”
“Well he’s a talking ermine fairy thing that lives with Negi…”
Edward sighed. “So we have to ask Negi and this ermine to help us do this?”
“That’s what it looks like.”
“Perfect…”
“We’re going to have to go over to the tournament grounds though to find them. Negi made it into the quarter finals yesterday and should be there now along with Chamo. The only other option would be to wait until later.”
“Nah, let’s go over there and see if we can find them. If nothing else maybe I can pick up a few tricks watching the fighters.”
Natalie chuckled. “Alright then let’s get going,” she said as she finished her coffee and got her jacket. Edward grabbed his jacket as well and they were on their way.
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