A/N: Play song when I say to.

Grace looked stunning. The dress she wore made her pale skin, decorated with freckles, look more delicate and soft. The colors contrasted perfectly with her bright green eyes and firey red hair. She was perfect.

Rogue forgot how to speak when she greeted him, "Hey Rogue."

He opened his mouth but nothing came out. He tried again, "I...You uhhhh...you look..."

The red head leaned up with her head turned to the side with a small smile, "Yeeeees?"

The shadow dragon gulped and said with a small blush, "You look beautiful."

She smiled widely and exclaimed, "Thanks. You clean up nice too."

Rogue suddenly remembered, "Oh! I got you this to put in your hair."

Grace looked at the beautiful cobalt blue flower. She smiled and let him put it just above her right ear. Rogue gave her a half smile and said, "Perfect. Shall we go?"

She said with her eyes closed and her head held high as she put out her arm for him to take, "We shall."

He took it and they exited the guild, ignoring the squeals from the girls and surprisingly Sting, who offered to take care of the exceeds instead of letting them come on the date. Rogue took the girl to a secluded hill just behind the guild hall. There were no trees so they could see the whole night sky plus the town of Magnolia.

There was a small dinner prepared on a blanket on the ground. Grace smiled at it, she was glad he took her comment about not doing anything fancy and followed through with it. They sat down on the blanket across from each other. There was a three pronged candelabra in the center of the blanket to light up the area. Rogue showed her the different foods stating, "I didn't know what you liked to eat so I just brought a little of everything."

The red head looked at the food and saw watermelon, pizza, chicken, and many other things. She took the cubes of watermelon and put some on her plate before grabbing a couple pieces of pizza. Rogue grabbed a steak and some sliced pineapple.

Grace asked while looking around the blanket, "What is there to drink?"

Rogue grabbed a wine bottle from behind him and asked, "Wine or something else?"

Grace stated sheepishly, "Uh can I have something else? I don't really drink. Where I'm from I'm not even old enough to drink."

Rogue tilted his head, "How old do you have to be?"

She just said simply, "21."

His eyes widened, "That seems kind of late."

She smiles a bit, "Yeah, but some places you only have to be 16. Others 18. And then some you can drink at any age."

He stared at the girl for a moment before shrugging, "That's fine. I won't pressure you if you don't want to. There's also water and lemonade."

Grace clapped happily, "Lemonade!"

He chuckled at her child like behavior. Usually he didn't like when people that were close to his age acted like they were little kids, but on the red head it was actually cute. He blurted out without thinking, "You're so adorable and carefree."

She stopped pouring the lemonade and looked at him with wide eyes. She put the pitcher of lemonade down and said, "Well, I don't waste my time on looking back on the past or thinking about the future. I just live in the now. You know that saying yesterday's history tomorrow's a mystery, but today is a gift, that's why it's called the present."

The shadow dragon stared at the girl, dumbfounded at her outlook on life. He had never thought of it that way. He was always living in the past, when he had to kill Skiadrum. And worrying about the future, whether he was ever going to be able to protect his comrades the way he wanted to.

The red head saw his eyes cloud over, like he was zoned out in his brain. She became worried at his downcast expression and leaned up a bit on her hand. She placed her other hand against his cheek and lifted his head up a bit. This startled him out of his trance as he looked at her in her green eyes. She searched his eyes and asked, "Is everything okay?"

He gave her a small smile and said, "Yeah. I was just thinking about what you said. I have been so focused on the past and future that I was never really living in the present."

She smiled fondly at the black haired male, "Well I'm glad I could get you to realize that. Let's eat."

She sat back down and they ate as they talked about themselves and a sensitive event that happened in their life. Rogue talked about why he killed Skiadrum. He had to fight a few tears that were forming in his eyes.

Grace talked about how she held her basically dying cat in her arms five years ago. It was the first time she had cried in a long time, because it had hit her that it may have been the last time she would see her alive. She died a week later, but she didn't cry then. She talked about how she had never felt more useless in her life than when she was holding her and every slight movement of her arms made the feline groan in pain. Rogue wiped away the stray tears that the red head would accidentally let roll down her face.

The dragon slayer had his head rested in her lap as she sat with her legs crossed and ran her fingers through his hair. She suddenly started singing, (play song)

"We all got nightmares in our dreams
We look for someone to believe in us and show us the way
And make it okay
The world can be dangerous
There's something so rare in your veins
Not a single thing I would change
And oh, if you only knew how I see you
Would you come alive again, alive again?
I, I need you to understand
I don't mind your shadows
Cause they disappear in the light
I don't mind your shadows
Cause they look a lot like mine
And listen to me, it's okay to be afraid
Just walk like you're never alone
I don't mind your shadows, your shadows
Baby, I don't
Pictures in our head of what we're supposed to be
Measuring ourselves, but where is the love?
Where is the love?
The world got us wonderin, wonderin
I, I need you to understand
That I don't mind your shadows
Cause they disappear in the light
And I don't mind your shadows
Cause they look a lot like mine
And listen to me, it's okay to be afraid
Just walk like you're never alone
And I don't mind your shadows, your shadows
Baby, I don't
And all these voices in our head
Well they keep screamin louder and louder
But they won't pull us under
Baby, I don't mind your shadows
Cause they disappear in the light
And I don't mind your shadows
Cause they look a lot like mine
And listen to me, it's okay to be afraid
Just walk like you're never alone
And I don't mind your shadows, your shadows
Baby, I don't."

She finished and looked down at the dragon slayer to see him smiling up at her. She smiled back and brushed his black wisps from his eye to look in both of them. She blurted out, "I love your eyes."

He blushed a bit with wide eyes, "Most people avoid me because of them."

Grace tilted her head and stated with a pointed look, "Those people obviously don't know beauty when they see it then."

The shadow dragon blushed again and looked to the side to hide it. Grace smirked and started poking his cheek with her pointer finger, "Is someone blushing?"

He glared playfully, "No, of course not."

She smirked even more and said, "I think the great shadow dragon Rogue Cheney is blushing. That might be a sign of the world ending!"

He rolled his eyes and sat up from her lap as she chuckled with a small smile. He studied her smiling face for a moment before starting to lean in. Grace looked at the dragon slayer as he started getting closer. Their eyes locked in a trance. As their faces got an inch away from each other they both slowly closed their eyes.

Their lips met and both of them immediately felt sparks between them. Grace slowly brought her hand to his cheek. Rogue grasped her hips and slowly brought her into his lap, her wrapping her legs around his waist. She brought her other hand to his other cheek and deepened the kiss.

Their lips slowly moved against each other. It felt like the world around them was going in slow motion, so they could make the moment last longer. They pressed their foreheads together as their lips separated, being stuck to each other for a second, with a light smack. They both opened their eyes and looked at each other, giving soft smiles.

Grace lightly caressed his cheek with her thumb. He nuzzled into it, causing her to smile fondly. She suddenly said in a soft whisper, "I hate to admit it, but I'm glad Mira kidnapped us and locked us in a room together."

He just nodded and kept staring into her bright green eyes. Warmth swelled in both of their chests. Grace suggested, "We should probably get back. I'm sure Gajeel and Peach are worried about me, and Frosch about you."

Rogue didn't want to end the moment but she was right, "Can I stay with you for tonight? I want to hold you in my arms longer and sleep next to you."

She giggled at his right-to-the-point statement and nodded, "Mmhmm. I'm sure Peach wouldn't mind."

Small Time Skip

They arrived at Gajeel's house with two sleeping exceeds in their arms. They made it to Grace's room and gently set the exceeds down on one side of the bed. Grace changed into a long t-shirt as Rogue just took off his pants and dress shirt. The red head threw a long t-shirt at him, which he quickly put on. Grace crawled into the bed and pulled the exceeds into her chest, curling around them a bit. Rogue doing the same to her and placing his face in her neck with his arm around her waist.

Sleep soon took them to the land of dreams as they felt like they were a small family.