Found [found] – (1) a simple past tense and past particle of *find. (2) to set up or establish on a firm basis or for enduring existence. (3) to base or ground – usually followed by on or upon.

*Find [Fahynd] – (1) to come upon by chance; to meet with. (2) to locate, attain, or obtain by search or effort. (3) to locate or recover. (8) to become aware of, or discover – oneself, as being in a condition or location.

Chapter 17

Lucy unlocked her phone to look at the time.

8:50 A.M.

She arrived ten minutes earlier than the designated time. She wasn't planning on it, but she couldn't stand waiting at home. She woke up at around 7 A.M. and couldn't find it in herself to take another five minutes of sleep. Her mind was awake and although her body said she had enough sleep, she still felt tired and restless.

She put her phone back into her purse and walked in. The small, urban coffee shop had lights hanging from the ceiling and soft jazz music playing in the background. She loved coming to this café whenever she felt like writing. There was no rush, no stress, nothing that could disturb the serenity of the place. She walked towards the short line to wait and order some breakfast. She took her phone out and checked the time again.

8:52 A.M.

Time was passing by extremely slow, but then again, all good things come to those who wait, right?

Gray looked at himself again in the mirror to make sure his hair was behaving. Sure, he didn't really care about how it looked, but he at least wanted to make it presentable.

8:54 A.M.

He had six minutes to make it to the café, not that it would take him that long since it was a short drive of around two minutes or so. He looked once more at the mirror before shaking his head and leaving the bathroom. He grabbed his phone from his bed and headed downstairs to grab his keys and leave.

"Well you look handsome," said Ultear as she set down her coffee. "Going to go see Lucy-chan?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" he asked fully aware of his sister's teasing.

"You're no fun to tease this morning," she replied before taking a sip of the bitter drink. "Don't be out too late," she said with a smile as he left out the door.

She looked towards the row of photos lined up against the wall. From her seat, she could see the one with her mother and father smiling. To her, Silver had always been her only father, her biological one had run out on her and her mother.

'They would be proud of you, Gray,' Ultear thought to herself as she finished her breakfast.

He was moving on from his past, and that was good. She remembered sometimes staying up late at night wondering when her brother would come home.

When she found out what the real reason was, she didn't know how to react. Was she angry? Yes! Could she do anything about it? Not really…and seeing how broken he was, she didn't want to break him any further.

She got up and cleared the table while humming to herself a soft melody her mother used to sing while she did housework.

9:12 AM.

He was late.

There was no other way of putting it. Sure it was a measly twelve minutes, but to Gray, they seemed like it had been twenty minutes instead.

For whatever reason, he had decided to get to Café Lumiere using a different route. A route that he had never used before – ever – in his life, but he did it…and he ended up arriving twelve minutes later than the set time.

He opened the door of the small coffee shop and was instantly greeted by the smell of fresh coffee brewing and baked muffins. He was approached a small brunette holding a small notepad in her hands.

"Hello, sir. Would you like a coffee to go or a sit in?" she asked with a smile.

"A sit in, I'll be waiting for someone," he said as his eyes scanned the small area. In an instant he found Lucy, not that she was hard to miss considering her bright, blonde hair stood out in contrast to everything. "Actually, it seems she beat me here."

"All right. Then, what would you like to order?" replied the brunette with the same smile she had greeted him with.

He turned towards the menu board, which was written in colorful chalk colors. "I'll take the Day's Special Brew with a toasted bagel if you wouldn't mind."

"Not at all, sir," she said as she wrote down his order. "I'll take it to your table sir as soon as it's all ready."

"Thank you," he said and waited a couple of minutes until the small brunette left to go approach Lucy.

He could feel his pulse increasing rapidly with each step he took. When he reached her, he found her reading a small book in her hands. He wasn't sure of what the title said and to be honest, he wasn't really paying attention to it. Her appearance like always had caught his eye. She was wearing a blue sleeveless blouse and jean shorts while her hair was tied in a side ponytail.

He cleared his throat lightly. "Mind if I take a seat?"

She looked up from her book and a smile graced her features. "Go ahead," she said as she marked her page with a silver bookmark and put her book away in her brown, leather purse.

A few moments later, the brunette from the front arrived with Gray's order.

"Here you go, sir," she said as she placed his order in front of him.

The two sat quietly after she left, neither knowing how to start off the conversation. He took a sip of his drink while she stirred her tea with a small silver spoon. The two avoided eye contact with one another and it seemed as if time was passing by, but in reality not even a single minute had passed between the two.

She might have been the one that had invited him, but now that he was here, Lucy didn't know what to do or say. She simply kept her hands on her teacup and hoped she would come up with the courage to talk to him.

In front of her, Gray was thinking something similar along those lines. He was here, she was here, so what was stopping him from saying what he wanted to say? Nothing, just the fact that his mind decided to go blank at this very, exact moment, but you know, aside from that nothing else.

He took in a small, deep breath.

"Lucy-"

"Gray-"

The two looked at one another for a brief second before they let out a small chuckle.

"Sorry, go on," said Lucy, glad that he spoke before her.

"You sure?" he asked, his courage fading away slowly.

"Yeah," she said as she put her hands on the table and started playing with the bracelet he bought for her absentmindedly.

'No going back now,' he thought.

"Lucy I…I like you," he said looking straight into her brown eyes. He could feel his heart ready to jump out of his chest.

The blonde looked up at him speechlessly.

Did she hear this right, was she imagining things? Without him noticing, she pinched herself.

'Nope, this is not a dream,' she thought to herself.

She didn't know what to say, should she say she liked him back? Should she reach across the table and kiss him? Her mind was drawing a blank.

He took her silence as a sign of rejection.

"I'm not saying that you have to like me back," he said looking down at his cup of coffee. "Not that I don't blame you," he continued. "We've known each other only for a couple of months and you don't know anything about me."

She reached to him and grabbed his hand with one of hers. "I know your birthday, your favorite color," she said with a small smile.

"Yes, but Lucy-" he said trying to cut her off.

"-I also know that you care for your sisters very much," she continued as if he never interrupted her. "You love your parents and you're willing to help out a stranger standing in the middle of the rain like a crazy person." He chuckled a little before looking back up at her. "And I know you are willing to do anything for a friend in need," she ended giving his hand a light squeeze. "I guess, what I'm trying to say is," she said taking her other hand and taking his free one in hers as well. "Is that I know exactly what I need to know."

She looked down from his strong gaze to calm down her beating heart for a brief second. "And I also know I like you more than friend, Gray. I don't know when, but I do," she said lower than she wanted to, but hoping he would have heard her.

And he did. He felt like standing up and walking towards her and giving her the biggest kiss ever. But he didn't, public display of affection was something he wasn't exactly good at, and he doubted the people around them would appreciate it as well.

He took back his hands from hers; a flash of hurt crossed her features, only for him to take her small hands into his larger ones.

"Then, Lucy Heartfilia, will you do me the honor of becoming my girlfriend?"

A brief second passed until she breathed out one simple word. "Yes."

Not knowing what else to do to not lose self-control, he brought one of her hands to his lips and kissed the top of it before placing it next to his cheek. He didn't care how cliché or how old fashioned it might seem, but right now, this was all he could do with so many people watching them. Perhaps they weren't even watching them; maybe he just thought they were, either way he didn't care.

He still didn't know how he would bring about his past, but that wasn't important right now. What was important was the young woman in front of him. The young woman who brought back the feelings he thought he had buried deep down and hoped would never rise up because it would mean he had another person he had to worry about losing.

But she was different.

Lucy made him see the positive light in everything. Even when he found her with that bastard, she still pushed herself towards him to stop him from becoming a monster. She was his light, and he was glad he found her, because without her, he would have never been able to move on.

2 Months Later

"Come on, Gray," said Lucy with a smile as she tried with all her might to not peak through the blindfold. She was wearing a simple pink cotton shirt, jeans and a pair of white sneakers. "Why can't I see where you're taking me?"

"Because it's a surprise," Gray answered as he parked his car outside the cemetery. He was wearing a light blue shirt, dark pants and a pair of dark shoes.

"Okay, we're here," she stated when she felt the car turn off. "Can I take this off now?" she asked as she lifted her hands to lift the blindfold off her eyes.

"Absolutely not," he said as he stopped her in her tracks. "Only a little more."

She pouted. "Fine," she said. "But for your information, you are ruining my makeup," she huffed.

A small grin spread on his lips as he took off his seatbelt to lean over to her side and kiss her forehead.

"First of all," he said when he pulled away. "You always look amazing. Second," he pulled out his car key from the engine. "You weren't wearing makeup this morning."

He got out of the car and quickly went towards Lucy's side and opened the door for her.

"So you noticed," she said with a small smile as she searched for his offering hand that she knew would be there.

"I always notice," he answered as he guided her out of his car. "I just don't mention it."

A smirk crossed her features before she lightly punched him in the arm.

"Well you should," she said with a teasing tone.

She was about to walk away until she remembered she couldn't exactly see anything.

"So how much longer-?"

"Why so impatient all of a sudden, Heartfilia-san?" he teased as he took her hand and led it to his shoulder for her to hold.

"Because you know I hate surprises, and this is one of them, Fullbuster-san," she replied in the same manner.

"Careful, there are three steps here," he said as he guided her inside.

"Okay," she said looking down. Even though she couldn't really see, she could still picture the steps. "But seriously, give me a hint," she said not giving up on the topic.

"All right, but only one," he said as he thought of something that wouldn't give away were they were. He thought for a moment as they walked deeper and deeper in. "Okay, I have one. You visit this place often."

"I do?"

"You do," he said. "Or at least I think you do."

"How sure are you?"

"Very sure," he replied. "Although, maybe not this exact place, but close enough."

"Hmm," she hummed in thought.

A place she was sure to visit, but perhaps not the one she visits. A restaurant perhaps? No, there was no sound of people walking through nor the smell of food. There was barely a sound and she couldn't smell anything except fresh air and the mix of flowers. Were they at a park? Maybe, but the lack of sound from people told her otherwise. So where were they?

Gray had to stop himself from chuckling as he watched his girlfriend knit her brows together as she thought of places where they might be. He stopped in front of a familiar tombstone and waited until Lucy noticed that they weren't walking anymore.

"Are we there yet?" she asked with the hint of a smile in her voice.

"Yeah," he said as she let of his arm to undo the blindfold. "Let me," he said as he walked behind her.

He took a small deep breath and clenched his hands into fist to prevent them from shaking before turning her to face the graves.

"Lucy," he said as he untied the blindfold. "I'd like for you to meet my parents," he said as he pulled the white material off her eyes. "Moms and Dad, this is Lucy Heartfilia, my girlfriend."

Her breath was taken away from her as she read the names carved beautifully into the marvel headstones adorned with Marigolds and Violas. Lucy turned to him, a bit unsure of what she should do. He simply gave her a small encouraging nod; she gulped a bit of air before turning around to face his family once again and kneeling down to them respectfully. She nervously put her hands together in prayer and greeted them.

"It's nice to meet you," she said, a small smile twitching on her lips. From the corner of her eyes she could see Gray kneeling down next to her, following her example. "You have an amazing son," she said while a small blush tinted her cheeks.

Gray simply reached over and laced their fingers together. "I guess you can see why I asked you wear something comfortable."

She nodded. Her eyes filled with unshed tears of happiness. She knew how close Gray was to his parents, meeting them after only two months, meant that he was letting her know that he was going to make this work, he was going to make them work. And she would gladly help him.

"I guess I should start at the beginning," he said as he turned to his parents, his fingers still intertwined with hers. "I was out buying some ice cream for Wendy when I found her staring at the sky, like an angel wanting to go back to heaven…"

Author's Super Long Note:

It is finally here guys; the final chapter for Found is here. I know, normally my author's notes are not so long, but because I did not want to create an extra chapter and give you guys false hope, I will simply write it here at the end.

A special thanks to all my followers for following this story for almost a year, even the new ones, knowing that you guys enjoy this story meant the world to me. Also a special shout out to Amy Kitty Kaz, ShadowyBlu, Alya Starbright, Shizuku Tsukishima749, Ribster777, Kingdom's Oathkeeper, XxX12KeysXxX, SashaMonroe, Lotus-Archer and kat5552 for the constant reviews. Every time I saw the reviews you guys posted I felt even more inspired to write thank you so much!

Even more to the anonymous guests that left reviews, thank you ^-^.

Also another special shout out to those reviews that just made me super happy to know how you felt about the story. Those including but not limiting to: IloveCelestialIce, AttackonKings, gizmo5225 and YuukiZero603.

For those of you who wanted more information about the lovely sequel:

As Long As I Have You Summary: Gray has finally moved on from his past and he has not regretted it. Lucy makes him so happy, he could just sing. But when an old face from his past comes back to haunt him, will he be able to protect Lucy and keep her safe? Or will she distance herself from him when she learns of his past? It's the sequel to Found.

The only downfall to this sequel is that it won't be posted any time before November, sorry guys. But I start school soon and I won't be able to focus on my stories, let alone be able to write a full chapter when I have no idea how much work my professors will give me this semester. I will be working on the chapters, but I will not be posting them before November, again, sorry :(

Also, I am still not sure I will be joining GrayLu week this year, unless you guys wouldn't mind a random drabble based on the prompts, then I don't know xD

Thank you guys so much for the support, I love you all!

~Karie