Going My Own Way

The wind whipped through Gru's scarf and tore at his black jacket as he struggled to free Lucy from the rocket she was tied to. "Gru, hurry!" Lucy pleaded as Gru worked furiously at her bonds with a knife. She glanced over her shoulder and gasped when she realized how close they were to the active volcano where El Macho had faked his death. "Gru, we're almost there! Are you done yet? Because if you don't finish…then we'll be toast."

"Okay, Lucy, hold your horses! You're almost free-I just need to deactivate zese wires and ve're home free!" Gru snapped. Lucy gave him a raised eyebrow in reply. Gru blushed in embarrassment and stammered, "I-I'm sorry, it's just…vell..I don't vant us to die."

"Awww, that's sweet of you," Lucy smiled. Gru shot her a shy smile back and immediately looked down at his shoes. He hated to lie to Lucy, but there was something that had been bothering him all day that he knew he couldn't tell her. Over the course of his time working with Lucy, he'd come to appreciate her as a partner. But more than that, he'd started to feel little happy butterflies flittering around in the pit of his pudgy belly whenever he looked at her.

He wasn't really sure why, but something about Lucy made him all aflutter with emotion. Maybe it was her pretty red hair that shone in the sunlight like a polished ruby. Maybe it was the way she fired her weapons with irresistible joy. Or maybe it was simply the fact that she was the only woman who didn't reject him in the first five minutes he'd known her.

Despite his love for her, though, something deep down inside told him that he wasn't ready yet. The mere idea of going on a date made him break out in a cold sweat. The thought of holding her close and kissing her made him dizzy with fear. He couldn't even begin to imagine being in a committed relationship. And he knew, without a doubt, if he was ever dragged to the altar by Lucy, he would faint dead away on the spot.

Still, there was one question he was burning to know the answer to. It didn't matter that he wasn't ready yet-he had to see what she would have said if he'd asked her out on a date. If she said yes, then he would know that maybe one day, he would be able to get up the courage to ask her out. And if she said no, then he would know that he'd made the right decision.

As the last bonds slipped from Lucy's wrists and the wires in the rocket fizzled out with a spark, Gru prepared to speak those wildly impossible, heart-rending words to Lucy. He gulped and smoothed down his eyebrows before he spoke. "Lucy…I vas wondering…vhat vould you say if I asked you out on a date?"

Lucy's glittering green eyes lit up with pleasure. "Are you kidding me? Yes!" she exclaimed. Gru looked away and smiled sadly. She would never know how much those words meant to him-when he was ready to date. It almost seemed cruel to tell her the truth, but he just couldn't work up the nerves to begin a relationship with her.

She would never understand how much he loved her and how scared he was at the same time. All of the pressure that had been placed on him to date from his friends and family was just too much for him. Nobody understood how he felt about dating. Although he knew that Lucy was the one for him, he wanted to date when he felt ready to do so and when he chose to-and unfortunately, that time wasn't the present.

Gru cleared his throat several times before he spoke. "Lucy," he whispered in a hoarse voice. "Look, I know zis vill be hard for you to hear, but-"

Before Gru could give her an answer, Lucy screamed and grabbed his arm, pulling him off of the rocket before it blasted into the volcano. Gru let out a shriek like a hysterical woman as he fell towards the icy ocean below. A painful slap greeted him as he hit the water. Coughing out the salty liquid that threatened to burst his lungs, Gru treaded water and looked around for Lucy.

She was nowhere to be found. Gulping back tears, Gru called out Lucy's name. There was no response. He couldn't see the skinny redhead anywhere. Frantically spinning around like a top, he scanned the water with his stinging eyes in desperation. He still could not find a single sign of her. He screamed, "LUCY!" at the top of his lungs, but still no one answered.

Tears fell down Gru's face and mingled with the ocean water surrounding him. If only he'd untied her a little faster and hadn't been so distracted with telling her the truth…

Just as Gru was about to collapse in a fit of sobbing, a head of wet red hair and a familiar freckled face with a large, pointy nose burst out of the water, sputtering and struggling to tread water. "LUCY! Y-you're alive!" Gru spluttered with happiness. He reached out for her and embraced her, holding her close to keep her warm in the chilly sea.

"Yeah, I am. And you know what? We survived the volcano! Yay!" Lucy cheered. Gru laughed in response and gazed dreamily into her eyes. For a moment, he forgot about the horrible truth contained deep inside his heart and reveled in their closeness. She was so near that he could feel her heart beating in terror against his chest. Although the feeling warmed him, it also reminded him that he still wasn't ready to be her boyfriend just yet.

"So…Gru…what were you going to say to me before we jumped off the rocket?" Lucy asked, interrupting Gru's bittersweet thoughts. For a long time, Gru fiddled with his scarf and couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes. After surviving an exploding volcano together and sharing a beautiful embrace in the water, how could he tell her that he didn't want to date her yet? How could she understand his longing for her and his adamancy against dating at the present time? No, he would just break her heart if he told her. And if there was one thing that Gru couldn't bear, it was the fact that he would be the one to put such a heartbreaking look on Lucy's face by telling her the news.

"Lucy…I…I can't tell you," Gru stuttered at last.

"Why?" Lucy asked. "Did El Macho say anything to you back there? I mean, I'm your partner, you can tell me anything…right, Gru?"

Gru sighed wearily and eventually forced himself to look her in the eyes. "Look, Lucy, I love you vith all my heart," he began.

Lucy squealed with joy and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh, Gru, I can't tell you how much I wished you'd say that! If it weren't for you, I'd be in Australia right now!" she gasped breathlessly.

The tears in Gru's eyes were enough to cause Lucy to fall silent. Sniffling, he turned away and wiped the tears off his face before facing Lucy again. "Lucy….even though I love you more zen any other voman I have ever met in my life, I…I have to tell you zat I'm not ready to date just yet."

"But…but…why?!" Lucy wailed. Gru turned his head and tried to block out the sound of his sobbing with his scarf. He knew from the tone of Lucy's voice that she was on the verge of tears as well. He hated to have to be so frank with her, but he just knew he couldn't ever get into a serious relationship, not when there was so much pressure put on him to find a wife. He wanted to be able to date Lucy without any of the stress that came from that, and he wanted to wait until everything settled down before he took the next big step. Not only did he want to date without pressure, but he still had to take care of his ill, previously-purple Minions and work with Nefario a little longer to see if he was truly trustworthy after his betrayal.

"Because I am not ready to date just yet, and because I have some other things I have to take care of vith my family before I can start," Gru replied sadly. "As much as I love you, Lucy, now just isn't ze best time."

"But…I was really looking forward to our first date," Lucy sobbed.

Gru held her close as she wept into his shoulder. He hated to see her so torn up like this, but there was nothing he could do. "I understand," he said quietly. "But, if it makes you feel any better, maybe ve can start dating in a year or so."

Lucy wiped her face and gave Gru a tiny smile. "Yeah, I understand. I mean, you have to take care of the Minions and settle down after all that crazy stuff, huh?" she replied.

A wave of relief hit Gru like a giant slap in the face. He realized how lucky he was to have found a woman who could understand why he couldn't date just yet and accepted his reasons why. "Vell, maybe ve could start a leetle earlier…like in six months," he admitted.

"Okay, partner," Lucy agreed. "Well, at least we can still do cases for the AVL together. Yay!" She clapped her hands eagerly and accidentally slapped Gru in the face. "Oops, I'm so sorry! Are you okay, Gru?"

"Yes, I'm just fine, Lucy," Gru groaned, rubbing the red slap mark on his face. He glanced over at the smoldering volcano just in time to see his Minions rowing right past them. He groaned and slapped his face, realizing that they'd be stuck there for quite some time.

"Don't worry. They'll be back," Lucy reassured him.

"Let's hope so," Gru muttered. If they didn't, it was going to be a very long night for the two of them.

"Gru…are you sure you don't want to go on a date? I mean, we don't have to do anything fancy if you don't want to," Lucy suggested hesitantly.

Gru gave her a steady gaze in return. "No, I don't think so."

"Okay then," Lucy shrugged. She absentmindedly glanced down at the water and began to giggle hysterically.

"Vhat? Vhat is it?" Gru snapped in frustration.

"Gru…errr…your pants….I think your pants fell off in the explosion," Lucy snickered.

Gru looked down at his legs and realized in embarrassment that he was in his smiley-face underwear in front of Lucy. "You got to be pulling on my leg!" Gru complained.

Lucy just laughed even harder. After Gru stared at her for some time, she managed to calm down. "Sorry…I think your pants are over there," Lucy said. She pointed over at a pair of singed black pants floating some distance away from them.

"Thank you," Gru grunted. He swam as fast as he could away from Lucy and jammed his legs into the pants as quickly as possible. Just as he was swimming back to Lucy, he heard a familiar, irritatingly high-pitched sound. "PADDLE! PADDLE! PADDLE!"

"Gru! Your munchkins are back!" Lucy exclaimed. She tugged at his scarf enthusiastically. "Come on; let's get in before they pass us again!"

"Okay," Gru agreed tiredly. He dog-paddled after Lucy and gripped the side of the boat as he prepared to pull himself in. However, the Minions decided to tug him in themselves and accidentally used too much force. As a result, Gru flew over the boat and fell head-first into the water on the opposite side of the dinghy.

"Poparry!" Jerry apologized as Gru furiously heaved himself into the boat.

"You better be," Gru grunted. He started to wring the water out of his scarf when he noticed Lucy giving him a dejected look. "Vhat's wrong? Did….did you get hurt vhen zey pulled you into ze boat?" he asked with concern.

"No…it's just…well…when you asked me what I would have said if you'd asked me out, I thought you meant that you wanted to…you know…be in a relationship together," she explained with a sorrowful sigh. She sniffled and wiped the tears away from her face, which were dripping like rain off a roof. "I know I shouldn't be crying…but…I was just hoping you meant that we were a couple now…."

Gru gently put his hand on her shoulder. "I know, Lucy, I know," he said gently, blinking away tears of his own. He thoughtfully looked out of the dinghy at the smoke staining the sky and blocking out the sunlight. Although he knew he had made the right choice, he knew it was one that wouldn't be easy to live with for a long time.

Still, he couldn't help wishing that he could do something to make things a little bit easier for Lucy. He absentmindedly reached into his pocket and curled his fingers around a familiar item. Pulling it out, he realized that he was clutching Lucy's infamous Zapp Lipstick Taser. All at once, he knew exactly what he needed to do. "Lightbulb!" he exclaimed.

"What is it?" Lucy asked, looking up at him hopefully. She jumped with surprise when she saw that Gru was holding out the lipstick taser to her. "Gru…how come you're returning this? I wanted you to keep it as a gift!"

"And I vant you to have a leetle reminder zat not everything is lost," Gru explained softly. "I know zat you vanted me to remember our time together vhen you gave me zis, and now I vant you to remember zat even though I'm not going to date you now, zat zere might be a time in ze future vhen ve can."

Lucy smiled and put the lipstick taser in her purse. "Aww, Gru, that's so sweet of you to think of me like that." She suddenly pulled him close and smooched him on the cheek, much to his surprise. "Just until next time," she explained with a giggle when she saw Gru's shocked face.

"T-thank you, Lucy," Gru stammered. He quickly rubbed the kiss away as the submarine headquarters of the AVL came into view. Stepping onto the deck with her, he gave her a nervous look. She replied with a flirty wink before adopting a more professional demeanor and letting go of his hand.

Gru nodded and marched into the AVL with her, remembering that from this point on, they were merely partners. Anything other than a professional working relationship would have to be pushed aside for now. They would still see each other, of course, but they wouldn't see each other in the same light as they had before. They would keep their love for each other deep down inside, but for now, it was time to shed their lovebird exterior for a professional partnership.

Although Gru couldn't help feeling just a pang of regret, he knew that there would be other times to get to know her better. For now, he was content to simply remain by her side as a loyal partner to freeze-ray the baddies. And for now, a partner relationship was just fine for both of them.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this one-shot! The reason that I wrote this was because I felt that Gru was pressured into feeling like he had to date someone in the second Despicable Me, and I really didn't like that, since I feel that Gru should have had a chance to say 'no' to dating if he wanted to. So I wrote this one-shot to see what it would be like if Gru decided that he wasn't really ready to date after all and how Lucy would react to the news. I think she'd be a little disappointed, since it was pretty clear that Gru liked her and she liked him at that point in time, but at the same time I think she'd understand that he wasn't ready yet and forgive him. Plus, I didn't want to TOTALLY obliterate any chances for Gru and Lucy to get together, so I had Gru say that he might want to date her when he felt ready to do so. That's all I really have to say, other than that I would love to hear your opinion on this alternate ending one-shot and if you are a Grucy shipper, please forgive me for this tiny derivation from canon material. :)