AN: I can't believe I am finishing this after 2 years and 3 months. Thank you for everyone who has been following this from the start, or got here in the middle or even after this was finished. I couldn't have done it without you.

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Guns 'N Buttercups

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Chapter 19

"What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger"

#

Once told how close she had been to really dying, Juvia couldn't believe how on earth had she survived. Gray had told her how Invel had taken him away and how Gray had killed him the second the gas lost its effect on him.

"I was in so much pain, Juvia. I thought you had died." Gray told her and she noticed his purpled knuckles. "I killed him. He was going to use me to kill our friends after I had just seen you…" Gray couldn't finish the sentence. "After he was dead, I went looking for you and for a moment I had hope you were alright when I saw you, but your wounds… And then you closed your eyes and I knew you were dead. I went insane, I wanted to go and kill Zeref myself. I even got into a fight with Natsu because of it." Gray's hand tightened on hers – he was rarely not touching her the past few days. "If Wendy hadn't given you assistance when she did…" Gray didn't finish the sentence and Juvia gave him a squeeze on his hand to assure him she was alright. "For more than six hours I thought you were dead."

"I'm sorry." Juvia whispered and she couldn't fathom how must've been horrible to know for certainty she was dead. Juvia would've die from the heartache alone.

"The moment they told me you were alive but in surgery… I thought Wendy was playing a cruel joke on me. But she wasn't." She could see the pain in his eyes. "I didn't dare to hope but the doctors came out and told me you had a chance and fuck, Juvia. Please, don't ever make me go through that again. It was the worse day of my life and then the best because even if you were breathing through machines, you were alive. And then you woke up and I just… Fuck."

Juvia's eyes were tearing up and she tried to lighten the mood, knowing Gray had been battling with some very dark and awful thoughts for days while she was unconscious.

"Of course Juvia woke up. You promised to marry her and you are not getting out of that so easily. Juvia's dress is already picked, there's no turn back after that."

Gray looked at her as if he couldn't believe in what he was hearing and then started to laugh and to Juvia, it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

"Oh, fuck, Juvia. Only you would come back from the dead just to marry me." He told her, joking and chuckling.

"Juvia has been waiting for this for more than three years. Death can wait until we are married, old and surrounded by greatgrandchildren."

"That it can." Gray kissed her hand and told her to get some rest.

Even though Juvia was lucky to be alive, some others hadn't been so lucky. Makarov being one of them. Juvia had cried when she had learned about FTs casualties and even though she hadn't been close to any of them, they were still family.

Being bedridden, Juvia wasn't able to attend to their funerals but insisted Gray went in her stead, telling him she would be alright for a few hours and one of them should be there. He was very reluctant to go and was back in less than two hours, but once he returned, Juvia was glad he had brought Lyon with him – his own agency had lost people during that day but he took the day off to pay his respects to Makarov, see his brother and check on Juvia. Gray excused himself for a moment to speak with Juvia's doctor so Lyon stayed with her on his own for a few minutes.

"How come you look beautiful and sparkling even lying on a hospital bed, Juvia-chan?" Lyon said to her with a big smile and stepped closer to her bed, sitting on it, facing her after giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Juvia knew he was lying – she looked exactly as if she had died and come back, as really happened.

"I do not, but thank you for lying, Lyon-sama." Juvia chuckled. "How are you?"

"I should be the one asking you that." He took her hand on his. "We all thought you had died, Juvia. Gray believed you died and it was..."

"Juvia believed she died." She sighed. "But by some miracle, here she is."

"Good." Lyon said. "You didn't see him when he thought you were gone." He whispered. "I have seen him sad, broken, angry. But that… Anyone who looked at him could see whatever feeling we thought he was having was nothing compared to what was inside him. He was in true despair."

"I'm so sorry to have caused him so much pain." Juvia's eyes watered.

"It wasn't your fault." Lyon reassured her. "And you are alive. I was there when they said you had good chances after your surgery, you know?" Lyon told her. "I couldn't leave even after I was called back, I needed to make sure you were alright and my brother too. He almost fainted – due his wounds, exhaustion, shock, I don't know. But the relief I saw in his eyes… I hope you know how much he loves you, Juvia-chan."

"I do." She told him. "Just as much as Juvia loves him, she reckons."

Lyon snorted. "You two are so perfectly suited it's ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous?" Gray asked when he entered the hospital room.

Lyon didn't miss a beat to answer. "That Juvia-chan had to almost die to try to get away from the prospect of marrying you."

"Oh, fuck off." Gray snarled, but with no true bite into it – by then he knew Lyon only spoke things like that to make him riled up and that was their thing.

"Juvia-chan." Lyon whispered and stared at Juvia, completely serious. "If you are being kept here against your will, blink two times and I'll get you out."

"Alright, get out. You overstayed your welcome." Gray said while Juvia chuckled, holding her side where she had been hurt a few days before. "Visiting hours is almost over anyways. Do you have the key to the house?"

"Yeah, don't worry." Lyon nodded and got up from the bed, bending over to kiss Juvia's cheek once more. "I will come back tomorrow morning to say good-bye before I come back home."

"Thank you for coming, Lyon-sama." She said and watched as her fiancée walked his brother out the bedroom talk to him for a few seconds before they gave each other a very quick man-hug with pats on the back that warmed her heart. Yes, her Gray-sama had grown up a lot.

#

A week into staying at the hospital, Gray was lying on his side on the bed next to her and on the other side of where she had been hurt while they watched some movie or another and truly just enjoying each other when there was a knock on the door before it opened to reveal Laxus.

Juvia was surprised to see the blonde there and saw Gray was just as surprised.

"Laxus?" Gray got up from the bed, confused. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, don't worry." Laxus waved his worry off. "I have been visiting the members of the firm who are still at the hospital for the past days, to check on everyone's conditions. It was what my grandfather would want me to do." He muttered the last sentence. He was Makarov's heir, of course.

"Oh." Juvia smiled in understanding. "Juvia is doing fine, Laxus-san. They are keeping me here for another week, but mostly for observation."

"She's out of danger." Gray informed him. "But there was a beginning of an infection so they want to be extra careful even if it's under control."

"That's good." Laxus sighed in relief. "I should-" He looked so uncomfortable, but Juvia couldn't let him leave yet.

"Laxus-san. Juvia is so very sorry for your grandfather." She told him softly. "I wish I could have gone to the funeral, but…" She waved around.

"It's alright, I understand." His lips curled up a bit. "We'll have a memorial for the ones who lost their lives when everyone is discharged from the hospital and can attend."

"That is good." Juvia said. "He touched a lot of lives and we all would like to pay our respects."

"He did, didn't he?" Laxus' expression softened a little.

"Your grandfather's kindness changed our lives." Juvia said, getting emotional. "If it weren't for him seeing something in Juvia, he wouldn't have accepted me into FT and Juvia and Gray-sama would probably not meet again." She took her fiancée's hand and looked up at him adoringly before looking back to Laxus. "If it weren't for him, my life would have been so different and sad. But he took a chance and now we will forever remember and be grateful for him to have done just that."

"When I was out of the army and had nowhere to go, he gave me a home when I thought I could never have one again, he treated us like family and that's what we became. And then," he looked down to Juvia, squeezing her hand and she smiled "because of him, I met the woman I love and going to marry as soon as I can. Without him, my life wouldn't be like this."

Laxus took a deep breath, eyes clearly shining and he tried to contain his emotions. "My grandfather's legacy is this. All the people he helped, all the people he met and the people he joined even if by accident. Fuck there's even a new generation of brats who are alive because their parents met at a firm he created." He said, referring to Asuka, Gale and Anna. "And there will be some from you two, then Natsu and Lucy. God knows how many more.

"He was a good man and everyone who met him changed because of that meeting and that's what we will always cherish. I will never be like him, but I will try to be. I will try to live by what he believed in, which is that everyone deserves a second chance and anyone can have goodness in them. I might be wrong sometimes, but most time I'll get it right, I know. Like he did."

"You will do it well, Laxus-san. You know how it is like to be saved that way, so you will know when to be kind." Juvia nodded, drying a tear from her cheek. "We will always remember him as the man who changed our lives. He would be proud of the man you are becoming."

"Thank you." Laxus cleared his throat, trying to keep his emotions at bay. "Well, I have to go."

"Of course." Juvia knew he needed time to sort his feelings – Laxus was a very private man. Juvia would text Cana so she could check on him later. "Thank you for coming."

"I hope you get better soon." He told her and took Gray's hand to shake it when he offered it before he practically ran out the room.

"That was… odd." Gray told her.

Juvia smiled. "No. That was progress and a sign of good things to come."

Gray snorted. "Oh god, please. Let good things come for once." Juvia giggled with his words.

#

Two weeks of being at the hospital and Juvia was sick of it. She felt much better, she was even allowed to walk around at the hospital and the wound seemed to be healing perfectly fine inside and outside.

She was always receiving visits from her friends and that afternoon it was Cana who slowly walked with her in the corridors of the hospital, pushing her IV so she could walk more freely.

"The doctor said Juvia will be discharged tomorrow." The blunette told her friend.

"Oh, that's great!" Cana was truly happy for her. "So that's why Gray hired a cleaning service to clean up the house and took Snowball to be groomed."

"He's afraid Juvia will get an infection when she gets home. It has been two weeks since we actually went home." Juvia chuckled – Gray had been there quickly to take a shower and change his clothes before returning to her bedside. Snowball had been staying with Lisanna and Juvia was dying to hold her baby after so long.

"He's just worried, he got real close to losing you." Cana said kindly.

"I know. Juvia was much the same when he was shot." Juvia shrugged – she couldn't really condemn Gray for his actions when she had freaked out just as much when she had been in his shoes a few years before. The two women walked in silence for a few seconds before Juvia spoke. "It's funny, you know?"

"What is it?"

"It's a weird coincidence: we were supposed to get married tomorrow and it's the day Juvia will be released from the hospital." She chuckled sadly. "Maybe we can do it in a couple of months when things get normal again."

Cana was silent for a second before she nodded. "Yes, maybe."

#

The next day, after the doctor had discharged her in the morning, Gray went to settle whatever debts they might've had while Juvia finished putting her things in the bag Gray had brought when she heard the door open and when she turned around, she saw her friends there.

Lucy held a large necessaire, Levy had another one in her hands while Cana held on her pink wedding dress cover up.

"What the hell…?" Juvia asked, absolutely confused. "Is that my wedding dress?"

"Yes!" Cana nodded and carefully put the covered dress on the couch Gray had spent his nights on for two weeks.

Juvia frowned. "And why is my dress here instead of at home?"

"Because you are getting married today!" Lucy said, excited. "If you want, that is."

"What?" Juvia shook her head. "No, Lucy-san. We cancelled the venue when we realized Juvia would be in the hospital for a while. We canceled the arrangements too and-"

"I know." Lucy stepped closer to her friend after putting the necessaire down to the floor. "But we came up with an alternative: you two still have your marriage license and you can go to the city hall and get married today."

"I told them you could want to have a grand wedding, Juvia-san." Levy said, kindly. "And it's all up to you, but I think you are absolutely dying to call Gray your husband." She smiled when Juvia nodded. "If you want us gone, we will and we will help you plan the wedding you want and deserve but we are offering you a way to marry him today."

"You chose this date for a reason." Cana said.

"And you were released from the hospital on the same day." Lucy emended. "Sometimes there are signs from the universe we can't deny." She was quick to add, though. "But say the word and we'll go away and you'll go home, like Levy-chan said, and we'll plan your wedding again."

Oh, that was so tempting. "Gray-sama…"

"Natsu and Gajeel are outside with him just waiting for a text to tell him if it's on or not." Cana said. "I probed yesterday and he told me he'd marry you any day. Now it's up to you."

Juvia felt a little pressured to make that decision at the spot like that, but at the same time, she knew the answer, she knew what was in her heart and she knew it was never about having a big wedding, or a party: it was to marry the love of her life.

"It appears Juvia is getting married today." She said and the girls all but buzzed in excitement.

"I'll call the boys." Levy said.

Lucy and Cana made Juvia seat on the bed, they knew she still needed rest so for as long as they could, they would try to keep as relaxed as they could.

"I'll do your make-up." Lucy said. "I'm great at that."

"I'm not too great with hair, but we'll make do." Cana confessed.

Levy finished the call and turned to the others: "I could hear Gray's answer at the background and it was: Fucking finally." Levy chuckled and Juvia's eyes watered as she laughed.

"Thang god I brought some waterproof mascara." Lucy said and the girls laughed.

Fucking finally indeed.

#

As Juvia sat at the backseat of Lucy's car outside the City Hall, she was trying to wrap her mind around the what was happening. There she was, about to go get married inside that building, in her beautiful wedding dress. She would most likely be the most dress up bride in there but she didn't care, she felt beautiful.

With her dress, she felt like a princess even with some changes to accommodate her injuries. Her corset was much looser than it would've been had she not be hurt, but it fit her perfectly. Her hair was loose and fell into waves on her back, hiding the loose corset and her make-up was light, but perfect just like that. Hell, she was wearing flats and she didn't mind.

The car door opened and Gajeel appeared, offering a hand, and wearing a tux to her surprise. "Come on. It's almost your turn and Fullbuster is getting antsy."

"Wha-?" Juvia took his hand to come off the car and he gently helped out, not letting go off her hand so she could support herself in case she felt any pain.

"I was supposed to give you away, right? Just doing my job." He shrugged and Juvia's eyes watered.

"Thank you."

"No crying." He scolded her. "You chose to marry Fullbuster, no time for crying about it now." Juvia laughed at his words and so did Gajeel.

Cana and Levy, who were filming everything with their phones, chuckled as well while Lucy stepped closer to her friend and gave her a bouquet and she was surprised when she saw it was made entirely of buttercups, the bouquet she had chosen.

"How…?"

Lucy smiled. "You never called to cancel the bouquet."

"Oh my god, this is really happening." Juvia whispered.

"Here." Lucy removed a necklace she was wearing with a beautiful sapphire charm in form of a heart. "This has been in my family for generations so it's old, borrowed and blue!"

"The dress is new." Cana supplied. "We are all covered with the tradition, then, now let's move it, people!" She said, still recording on her phone.

#

The moment they saw each other, Juvia knew they were one hundred percent right to be getting married that afternoon at the city hall.

Gray was wearing the tux he had chosen weeks before, his hair was as wild as ever even though he clearly tried to comb it, but he was a vision. The most handsome man in the world and by the way he was looking at her, she was having similar thoughts about her.

Juvia walked in his direction, having support by Gajeel's arm twined to hers and she didn't care the weird looks she was receiving, she didn't care some people were sneering at the crazy couple who came to the City Hall all dressed up just to sign some papers.

She didn't care because she was marrying the love of her life.

Next to Gray, stood Natsu and surprisingly enough, Lyon (for some weird reason, they were also recording the whole thing).

"You better take care of her, Fullbuster." Gajeel told Gray when he put Juvia's hand on Gray's arm.

"She takes better care of me, actually, but I'll do my best." Gray couldn't look away from her as he answered Gajeel's threat. "You look beautiful." He told her in a whisper.

"You too." She smiled. "Are we really doing this? This isn't a dream, is it?"

"Better not be." He told her and before he could say anything else, a clerk called their names and they walked to the judge's chambers slowly. Gray got the papers from Lyon and went inside.

#

Juvia looked down to the ring in her finger as they came out of the judge chambers and she couldn't be happier. She had just married Gray, the love of her life, the man she wanted to be with forever and now she would.

Gray couldn't stop smiling as well and just when they were stepping out of the City Hall and their friends were about to throw rice as a celebration, Gray stopped them.

"Wait, wait, wait." Everyone was confused, especially when Gray took off his ring. "Give me your ring."

Juvia blinked in surprised but did what was told, completely confused. "Want the divorce already?" She asked just half-joking. "Juvia thought we'd have more time than that."

Gray snorted. "Not even close. Look, what we said before the judge was too formal and I don't feel married yet, and neither do you, not really. It was too formal and standard and we are all but standard, I mean, look at how we are getting married." Everyone agreed. "So… let's do what we always do. Make it our own. I want this to be special to you, even if it's not what you thought it was going to be."

He turned her his way and held both of her hands. "Juvia, you know how I hate to speak in public about my feelings but just two weeks ago I almost lost you and I say 'screw it' to that. When we met, I shot you and at that moment if someone had told me that three years later I would be marrying you, I would've laughed at that person's face. I never wanted to get married, I never wanted to be involved with someone for too long. I thought I was good with it, I thought being alone was good. But then you came and crashed down all I thought I knew.

"I didn't even see you snuck inside my mind, my heart until it was too late and I couldn't be without you anymore. You saved me from myself when I didn't even know I needed saving. We went through some awful times, but three years later, here we are, getting married. I know some people say that they wouldn't do anything different, but I would. I would do and say so many different things if I had the chance but only if we still ended up here, in this moment." He put the ring on her shaking finger. "I swear to love you and care for you no matter what comes our way because I know we will be able to face it together."

Juvia was openly crying with his action of saying his own vows, surprisingly, and the words themselves. She hadn't been expecting that at all.

"One of these days you will give me a heart attack, Gray-sama." Juvia said, laughing between her tears. She took a deep breath. "Just like you, if someone had told me I would be marrying the man who shot me when we met, I would have thought that person was crazy. But you know what?, even then I knew you were different. You actually went to help me after you shot me and I knew I had to find you. And I did. As anyone knows, Juvia did all the chasing and you were very hard to get, mind you" everyone chuckled "but Juvia knew she would want to stay by your side even if we never got involved romantically. To my luck we did and we still are.

"You took me away from a lonely life full of rain and brought me to the sunshine. Hearing you love me, that you want to be with me makes me so happy I wonder why I haven't exploded from so much happiness yet. We hurt each other at times, but not for lack of love but for misunderstandings and wishes to protect the other, but we did it anyway. Us, we are not perfect and I would do some things differently, say some things differently too but just like you said, only if it still brought us here to this moment. Marrying you today, right here, right now is where all that heartache and pain between our good moment led us and for that I will be forever grateful." She grabbed his hand and for the second time, she slipped the ring on his finger. "I also promise you to love you forever and care for you no matter what. We can face anything together, as we have been doing since we met."

Gray smiled and pulled her for a kiss, a much deeper kiss than the one in front of the judge. Their friends cheered and they felt the rice being thrown at them in celebration.

"I love you." Juvia whispered.

#

Gray carried her upstairs in bridal style. Her corset was loose, Gray's coat had stayed in the car and Snowball was barking in excitement because her humans were back, she had been especially missing Juvia.

Entering their bedroom, Gray placed her on the bed gently, seated. He kneeled in front of her and started to pull her flats.

"Juvia wishes she could give you the wedding night we deserve." Juvia whispered, deadly tired, and even though she knew she was forbidden to, Snowball jumped on the bed to lick Juvia's face and the blunette chuckled and petted her dog, whispering how much she missed her.

Gray snorted and he unbuttoned the first few buttons on his white shirt. "Yes, Juvia. This is what I'm concerning myself with right now: that I won't be having sex tonight with my wife." He was clearly being sarcastic but Juvia grinned and when he looked up, he frowned, confused. "What?"

"You called me your wife." She told him. "We are married." Juvia looked down to her ring finger and watched the beautiful golden band that rested in front of her engagement ring for a moment. "We are married. Us." She all but shrieked. "You are Juvia's husband."

"I am." Gray couldn't help but to smile as well. "After a long time and many setbacks, we are finally married." He said. "Man, you promised the war would end before the day we were supposed to get married and you were right. I married a witch." Juvia chuckled.

Gray took Snowball from her arms and put her on the floor and helped Juvia up. He turned her around, pushed her long hair away and started to loosen up the corset of her dress even more to get her out off of it. He pushed away her wedding dress and it pooled by her feet.

Juvia was glad Cana had forethought the whole thing and made her wear some lace underwear even though she was aware Gray and Juvia couldn't do anything for quite a while because of her injuries.

She sighed with the thought.

"What's wrong?" He asked, worried.

"This night wasn't supposed to go like this."

Gray's expression softened. "I know getting married at the City Hall and then going to Mira's wasn't what you planned, but-"

"Oh, no. Not that." She smiled. "That was perfect. The way we got married was perfect, seeing our friends after was perfect. Your vows were perfect." It was amusing to see his cheeks get pink. "No, it wasn't like Juvia planned, it was better because like you said, we made it our own. We have quite a story to tell now from how we met, to how you propose to how we got married."

Gray chuckled. "If my father were here, he'd say we beat him and my mom on the stories."

"Perhaps that was a Fullbuster tradition we didn't know about and completely fulfilled." Juvia giggled but then her smile got sadder. "I know you said it's not on your mind, but tonight we were supposed to be making love, to seal our marriage. But not with this." She pointed to the bandage on her side.

Gray examined her face for a moment, his expression turned to disbelief. "Dear god, I always knew you wanted to have sex with me all the time, but get a grip, woman." Juvia's eyes widened and her cheeks got redder.

"Gray-sama!" She said, slapping his shoulder lightly and blushing as he laughed, pulling her closer to him and kissing her lips.

"As much fun as spending tonight making love to you would be, you are hurt and that wound almost took you away from me." He told her in a whisper. "Tonight is not about making love, having sex, screwing or whatever else people might call it." Gray put a hand on her cheek. "Tonight I will hold you and that is going to be the best wedding night I can think of just because I can hold you. Anything else doesn't matter to me other than the fact you are here."

Juvia let two tears fall from her eyes and dried them quickly. "Stop making Juvia cry on her wedding day, Gray-sama!" She laughed between her tears and he kissed her. Once their lips unlocked, he rested his forehead on hers and the blunette spoke. "Since Juvia can hold you too, she guesses this is the best wedding night she can think of too." Both of them smiled, just happy to be there together, alive, well and married at last. "But the moment Juvia's well enough we are having our honeymoon and doing it on every surface we can to see if married sex is just as good as engaged sex."

"Oh, god, fuck yes." Gray didn't even hesitate. "Two weeks away from everything and no clothes allowed."

"Great rule." Juvia nodded and they both laughed.

"Now come on, let's get you cleaned up and ready for bed." He kissed her forehead. "You must be exhausted."

"Yes." She agreed and let him lead her towards their bathroom, Snowball was curled up atop of Juvia's wedding dress.

"I know the doctor said you could walk around a bit – that's the only reason I agreed to get married today – but tomorrow you'll stay off your feet all day long." Gray started to tell her all the things she wasn't allowed to do and Juvia humored him, just overjoyed to be with him, her husband and the love of her life.

#

During the first few days of her return home, Gray made as much of a big fuss about everything she did as she made when he got shot a few years before. Thankfully, her friends often went to visit and sometimes Gray was dragged away by Natsu or Loke, or Gajeel to go out to give Juvia some peace.

In one of those visits, the girls brought her the edited video of the wedding and the pictures and Juvia couldn't believe how great they turned out.

"I know some people." Cana told Juvia while they watched the video on the big screen of the TV. "I got the videos from every phone that was recording it and the guy just got the best audios and best angles, synchronized the whole thing." Juvia couldn't believe her eyes. She could hear clearly each word and there were many angles of both hers and Gray's expression, manyangles of the kiss on the stairs of the City Hall and she started to tear up; it had been as beautiful as she remembered. "That's my gift to you two, by the way." The brunette said and Juvia pulled her friend to a hug, thanking her profoundly. "There's footage of when we went to Mira's too."

"Well, Levy-chan and I – she says sorry she's not here but the twins are teething at the same time – took the best pictures we could find and took to get retouched." Lucy took a tablet from her purse and after a moment offered it to Juvia and the first picture she saw, was of their kiss, both smiling into it, the bouquet of buttercups between them and it was clear the couple was incredibly happy.

The next picture was of everyone that was at the wedding – they had asked a couple of young girls to take some pictures of them all and Juvia could see the subtle retouches Lucy mentioned, like taking away other people from the background, adding the cut part of the build into the picture.

She passed to a picture of Gray with his groomsman posing for a picture, then another with all of them laughing at something and another with Juvia also posing with her bridesmaids and then another with all of them hugging each other. The retouches Lucy spoke of made it seemed as if there had really been a professional photographer who had taken the pictures. Even the ones of the "reception" at Mira's had been beautiful. The few ones of just Gray and Juvia looked amazing (Gray was always fretting she should stay seated but she managed to bring him out to the back of the bar where Mira had a garden and they managed to take some beautiful pictures).

"Oh, you guys." Juvia started to cry. "Thank you so much for this. That day was perfect because of you." Juvia pulled Lucy to a hug.

"Stop crying or I'll cry too." The blonde said.

"Crybabies." Cana snorted but her eyes had also watered a bit.

Later that evening when Gray had returned home and the couple was lying on the couch, watching the wedding video again, Snowball on Juvia's lap, Gray's arm around her shoulder and Juvia's head resting on his; he was surprised.

"Holy shit, that looks really good. Cana needs to introduce us to the people who did this." He commented, clearly impressed. "It almost looks professional."

"You need to see the pictures." Juvia told him. "They looked beautiful."

Gray snorted. "I am sure you'll print them all and spread them around the house soon enough."

Juvia laughed. "You know me so well."

"I do." He kissed her lips. "Now come on up, it's late and tomorrow you have the doctor's appointment."

"Alright, alright." Juvia pushed Snowball gently away from her lap and put her arms around her husband's neck when he carried her bridal style. "Juvia will miss having you carrying her around like that even though she hasn't needed this in weeks." She chuckled. "You'll miss it too, admit it."

"Shut up." His cheeks got redder and Juvia laughed.

#

Two weeks after getting discharged, Juvia was allowed more movement, she could leave the house and run some errands for a couple of hours, but nothing too strenuous and if she could rest in between activities, even better.

Gray didn't like it, but he couldn't deny her freedom and was constantly calling when he knew she was out. Since she wasn't allowed back to work yet, she took her time to renew some of her documents.

Most of them would be mailed to her after a few weeks, but she reserved one afternoon to change her ID and went to FT to surprise her husband.

"Hey, Cana-san!" Juvia said when she got inside FT and Cana got up to hug her friend.

"What are you doing here? You are supposed to have at least another week before coming back for desk duty."

Juvia chuckled. "She just came to see Gray-sama."

Cana rolled her brown eyes. "I don't get this, you see him every day and yet…"

"Newlyweds, remember?" Juvia raised her left hand to show her ring.

"Oh, yeah. That." Cana snorted and Juvia chuckled while walking towards her husband's office. She had almost the same conversation with Lucy before the blonde let her inside.

Gray was finishing a call when she got in and he smiled when he saw her. Juvia walked to stand in front of him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"…yes, sir. I'll go over there tomorrow at 9a.m. to see the damage and figure out what can be done." A pause. "Yes, thank you. See you tomorrow." He hung up the phone and turned to his wife, pulling her for a kiss.

"Hi."

"Hey." He smiled. "What are you doing here?" He sat on his chair and Juvia sat on his lap, arms around his neck.

"Juvia wanted to show you something." She kissed his cheek before she reached for her purse to find her wallet. "Since she has a lot of free time, Juvia has been changing her documents. She still has some to change, but today…" She took the ID from inside her wallet and showed to him. "Today she changed her ID."

Gray frowned and looked to the picture and then turned it around and Juvia saw the moment he read her new name.

"Juvia Lockser Fullbuster." He said softly. "You said you would do it and did." Gray chuckled. "It suits you, you know, both names?"

"Yes." She smiled. "She can still be Juvia Lockser in here when she's allowed to come back. Juvia hopes you are not offended when she says she'd rather have her clients acknowledge her for herself and not for whom she married. She loves to be Gray-sama's wife, but not to be just that in here. Juvia doesn't want to get hired because she's Gray-sama's wife, she wants to get hired because she's good in her job, like she had always been before we married."

"Of course." Gray told her. "You are right to want to be acknowledged by your own work, you spent fifteen years earning your reputation. I told you if you wanted to keep your name, it wouldn't have bothered me. I like to show you off how badass you are, actually."

"Thank you." She laughed and gave him a peck on the lips. "Do you want to leave early and go to eat at Frank's? If we don't stop by soon, she'll be angry with us."

Gray nodded. "Yeah. Just give me twenty minutes and we can leave?"

"Of course." Juvia got up from his lap. "Juvia will go talk to Lucy-san and Cana-san while you finish up. No hurry."

"Okay." He kissed her before she left his office.

#

Juvia had been back to work within a month after she returned home, Juvia was allowed to go back to desk duty and it took her from inside the house. Thankfully she didn't mind like many others and she found the time helpful so she could finally finish some old reports for a couple of weeks.

The real thing she and Gray had been waiting for very eagerly was the doctor's permission to go to their honeymoon. They even scheduled their trip to the afternoon of the appointment and the moment the doctor told them Juvia could resume to her normal activities, they had flown from Magnolia to a secluded island. The hotel was known for renting entire houses by the beach that were very far away from each other to grant privacy to their guests and with just one phone call, the guest could ask for a ride to the main building, where they had restaurants, a small supermarket, pharmacy, whatever they needed.

Gray and Juvia didn't need much during the first few days on the island.

As promised, every surface was used and the conclusion was that indeed, married sex was better than engaged sex.

The two weeks they spent there relaxed both of them in a way they hadn't since they knew about Zeref's threats. Years of stress finally melted away.

The day they were set to leave, though, Juvia was awoke slowly by lips on her breasts and a hand between her legs for a few moments, she thought she was dreaming, after all she and Gray had been quite enthusiastic; but when those lips started to trail down to her stomach and she felt like her blood was boiling and then hands were pushing her legs open, she opened her eyes. It was quite a vivid dream.

Instead, it wasn't a dream.

Her whole body was hot already, her blood was boiling and the moment she pushed the covers away from her, she saw her husband kissing her navel and was clearly about to go down on her.

"Good morning." He whispered with a smile, kissing the inside of one thigh and Juvia's still sleepy brain was trying to get caught up on what was happening.

"Good mo- oh god." Juvia moaned loudly when Gray licked her, her hands went straight to his messy black hair as he worked her, licking and sucking her just the way he knew she loved it. "Gray-sama." She moaned loudly when Gray took a moment to suck on her clit at the same time he inserted two fingers inside her, making her body bend up. "Oh, fuck." She whispered.

Gray's fingers inside her and his lips on her made Juvia feel closer and closer to the edge with every touch and in mere minutes her lower stomach was boiling and the need to come, to get the release he promised her.

"Hm. Gray-sama." She moaned. "Close."

With her words, Gray gave one last sucking on her clit – almost sending her over – and before Juvia knew, his lips were on hers, she was tasting herself while Gray took himself in hand and entered her in one swift motion on just the right angle and she came, his mouth of her muffling her sounds, but she clawed her nails on Gray's back.

He didn't even give her time to recover, while she was still feeling her high, Gray started to move inside her, fast and hard. Juvia wasn't even over her first orgasm when she felt the second one building up.

Juvia kissed his neck, biting it which made him growl and her hands traveled to his ass, squeezing it. Gray cussed, one hand went to her breast and Juvia knew he was close and so was she. One of her hands traveled from his backside to between them to rub herself.

Gray thrusted a few more times, his fingers playing with her nipple and Juvia was so close, so, so close she just needed…

"I love you." Gray grunted in her ear and it was all it took for her body to explode from within a second time, this time she wasn't quiet at all, calling his name at the same time Gray grunted her name and thrusted into her one more time, spilling himself inside her.

Breathing heavily, Juvia started to kiss her husband's cheek, jaw and brought her hand from between them and the one on his ass to his back. She felt his kiss her shoulder and up her jaw until he kissed her lips.

Gray exited her and lied next to her, bringing her closer to him and Juvia rested her head on his shoulder.

"What was that about?" The blunette asked, a hand on his chest, her fingers tracing random symbols on his skin.

"I dreamt I was going down on you." He snorted. "So I decided to go down on you. I improvised the rest, though." Juvia laughed because it was such a simple crazy answer it couldn't be anything other than the truth.

"Well, I guess we proved ourselves married sex is the best kind." Juvia told him.

"Definitely." Gray agreed and they stayed in silence for a few moments, enjoying the afterglow until Gray broke it. "I can't believe we have to return to civilization today."

The blunette sighed. "Me neither. This island has been such a good haven.

Gray snorted. "Especially knowing there wasn't a psychopath trying to take over the world."

"Yet." Juvia chuckled. "There will probably have another soon otherwise we will run out of jobs."

"Cheery." Gray rolled his eyes and then his hand caressed the scar on her side and Juvia felt his hand linger there. She looked up and saw his somber expression. He always looked like that every time he saw the scar and even though she didn't mind it, she knew he felt guilty.

"Do you remember Fantasia Parade a few years ago?" Juvia asked in a light tone and Gray frowned in confusion to why she brought the subject up. "Juvia dressed as a princess and you dressed as a prince?"

"Yes?"

"Remember that we met a few girls before the parade and Juvia had some burns on her shoulders because of the tasers she used on herself?" It took him a moment but it seemed to finally had come to him as he nodded. "Do you remember what Juvia told them?" He shook his head. "Well, Juvia said that 'Princesses have their own battles and sometimes it leaves scars.' This one" she put her hand over Gray's which was atop of her scar "is a princess battle scar so stop sulking about my royal status." She teased him.

"Right." Gray chuckled and pulled her closer. "I remember saying something how princes take a while to arrive, so princesses need to help themselves out of trouble." He said and Juvia laughed, remembering his words to the little girls. "And sometimes the princess saves the prince." He said, suddenly serious. "You certainly saved me." By his tone and the way he looked at her, she knew he didn't mean the battle with Invel.

She put a hand on his cheek. "We saved each other." She kissed his lips.

Gray groaned in annoyance when their lips unlocked. "Oh, god. Cana is right, we are sickening to be around now that we are newlyweds." The brunette had been very vocal about how sweet Gray and Juvia were and all lovey dovey (Gray in his own way) and it made her stomach turn. "I would've vomited if I had heard another couple say that, yet here I am."

"Aaaaand the mood is gone." Juvia sighed, getting up from the bed. "Let's take a shower and finish packing. The plane back to reality is in three hours."

"Argh, I hate reality." Gray complained but got up, following his wife into the shower for a last hooray before going home.

#

Since they had lived together for almost a year before getting married, the actually signing of the papers did little to change their routine so returning home felt almost the same. Every once in a while, though, Juvia would look down to her left hand and see her engagement and weddings rings or catch a glimpse of a picture of them at the day of the wedding and her heart would just melt.

She was so happy she thought she could explode.

That afternoon what caught her attention was the screensaver on her work computer, a picture of Juvia and Gray at the beach during their honeymoon. She had set the timer and ran to his side so he had his arm around her, and for once they were both smiling and the background of the blue sea behind them was beautiful.

"Do I need to get Gray for you or are you flying solo? Because if you are, you really should lock the door." Juvia heard and saw Cana on the threshold, with eyebrows raised and Juvia was confused for a second until the brunette looked pointedly at Juvia's chest where Juvia was rubbing her breasts.

She stopped, feeling her cheeks get warmer. "Sorry. My breasts have been feeling very sensitive for days now and only rubbing them makes me feel better, as weird as it sounds."

Cana nodded in understanding. "Your period is probably just around the corner, we get it the same week. Remember yesterday when you felt nauseous because of my coffee? I get like that too with certain foods when my period is coming."

Juvia started to nod and looked at her calendar, trying to remember the last time she had had her period while Cana kept talking. "There was one time I actually got nauseous because of bacon. Bacon, Juvia. Bacon." The month before she sure didn't have it because the week she was supposed to, she was on a high-profile job and it didn't happen, she would've remembered, then. "That's when I told my body: listen up, a life with me getting sick over bacon is not worth living. We are either getting over it or life is over." Cana said while Juvia recalled that she was due her period two weeks after she returned from her honeymoon, but also nada. "I think my body listened because never again we had that problem."

Then it dawned on her; her last period had been three months before.

"If you forgot, I have tampons with me all the time, okay?" Cana said before leaving the office, closing the door behind her.

Trying not to panic too much, Juvia took a deep breath and started to document her symptoms. She had missed two periods, her breasts were sore, she hadn't been sick but strong smells were making her nauseous, she had been more tired than usual. And the most defining factor: Gray and she hadn't been using condoms since their honeymoon. There wasn't a talk to stop, they just… stopped. No protection and all those symptoms?

Juvia grabbed her purse, threw her phone inside, turned off her computer, grabbed her keys and left her office. "Cana-san, Juvia just remembered there's something she needs to do and it can't wait and since there are no appointments today, it's going to be fine." Cana nodded. "See you tomorrow. If Gray-sama asks, tell him Juvia will see him at home."

Of course, the moment the elevator's door opened, Gajeel appeared, the twins on their stroller looking absolutely cute with their matching dungarees.

"Hey." He grinned at her friend. Juvia put a hand on the door so it wouldn't close while Gajeel exited.

"Can't really talk right now." Juvia put her foot in place of her hand so she could lean and give each baby a kiss on their chubby cheeks – recognizing their aunt, both Anna and Gale reached for her, smiling and Juvia's heart broke; she wanted to stay and hug them forever, but she had to take the doubt off her mind. "Love you two." She muttered to the babies and then looked at Gajeel. "Love you too, talk to you later, bye."

She got inside the elevator and waved good-bye to the babies and Gajeel frowned at her, but waved good-bye as well.

#

Juvia noticed Gray's car already parked at their garage and took a deep breath before she left her own car and entered the house. As usual, Snowball jumped around and Juvia took a minute to pet her.

She found her husband at the living room, watching something on TV. He noticed her and smiled her way, his beautiful amazing smile and before he could say anything, she spoke.

"My nipples felt really sensitive the past few days."

Gray blinked two times before speaking. "Hello to you too." He muted the television. "What's that about your nipples again? I got caught off guard."

"They were sensitive. And coffee made me nauseous and I've been feeling tired." She told him. "And Juvia's last period was three months ago."

"Alright?" Gray frowned and the moment he finally did the math in his head because he went to his feet, looking at her with wide eyes. "Three months ago, you said?" She nodded. "Do you think…?"

Juvia opened her purse and found a neatly folded paper there, taking it and giving it to him. "That's why it took me so long to come home; Juvia went to have a blood test just to be positive. Pun really not intended."

Eyes even wider, Gray read the paper and opened his mouth in shock. Juvia knew he was focusing on the words 'Pregnancy: Positive' in bold letters, it was really hard to miss. Gray looked up and she finally said the words to him for the first time: "I'm pregnant."

"Oh." Gray said, the information still processing inside his mind. "Oh!" Gray smiled and pulled to a hug. "Oh!" He kissed her lips and Juvia smiled. "We are having a baby?"

"We are having a baby." Juvia nodded, eyes watering in happiness. "I know we didn't really talked about it after Juvia had her IUD removed, but-"

Gray shook his head. "We are two adults who knew they had to wear condoms and yet we didn't, neither of us, ever since we got married. I think we decided the nature take its course."

"And it did." Juvia said.

"And it did, yes." Gray grinned and kissed her. "I can't believe this. I wasn't expecting for it to happen so soon."

"Me neither." Juvia admitted. "But since it did…"

"We are happy about it." He affirmed and then asked, with caution. "Right?"

"Yes. Very happy about it." Juvia smiled. "Juvia needs to make an appointment with a doctor, see if everything is alright."

"Right." Gray nodded.

"If it is, we can tell people after Natsu-san and Lucy-san's wedding. Let's not steal their thunder." Juvia told him and Gray nodded. He was the best man and Juvia was one of the bridesmaids and it wouldn't bode well to announce a pregnancy when the wedding was just two weeks away – Lucy had been planning it from the moment Natsu had asked, when he was discharged from the Hospital three months before. And for such an 'express wedding' it was going to be quite a party.

"Of course." Gray nodded and kissed her. "Just so you know, I will freak out a lot later, but right now, I'm really happy."

"Me too." Juvia told him. "Me too."

#

Juvia was six months pregnant when the fight happened. It had become so ugly Gray said he was going to sleep on the bedroom downstairs but Juvia couldn't sleep without him next to her or with him being mad at her, but he was being highly unreasonable.

Slowly she made downstairs and noticed the TV on the living room was on and Gray was 'watching' whatever, arms crossed over his chest and Snowball curled around him.

"Come on up, Gray-sama." Juvia said and his body tensed. "It's one a.m. and we go to work tomorrow."

"I'll sleep down here tonight." He was stubborn, but so was she.

Juvia sat next to him, Snowball between them and the dog looked up to her and laid its head on her lap, knowing she had more probability of getting petted that way.

"Gray-sama, Juvia understands what you want, but we can't leave Magnolia." She said, calm. "This is our home and we can't deprive her" she put both her hands on the bulge of her stomach "of her home."

Gray finally look her way. "You know how dangerous this town is. You know how many times FT got blown up and how many times we've escaped death. I want her to have both her parents, I want her to have a childhood without worries. I want to raise her in a safe place."

"Zeref is dead, Juvia doubts there will be many people trying to blow up FT again." She tried to release some tension. "No place is safe, Gray-sama. Not really but here she'll have her family. In Magnolia she has so many Uncles and Aunts to turn to that she'll never be alone and everyone will protect her if needed."

Gray sighed and put a hand over her stomach. "I am so fucking terrified all the time, Juvia. She's going to be so small and this world… we see so many bad things in our line of work, how can we bring her into this when even we got screwed up because of it?"

"When we talked about children for the first time, remember what you told Juvia? 'There will always be lunatics, there will always be bad people and if we get that into account, no one would procreate ever again'. The world will always be screwed up, we just need to make it less screwed up for her and help her do the same."

"I hate it when you use my own words against me." He muttered but his lips curled up when the baby moved and he felt it with his hand. "Look who's still up."

"Her parents' argument is keeping her awake." Juvia chuckled and so did Gray. "Do you think you are the only one worried, Gray-sama?" The blunette asked softly. "Juvia stays awake for hours during the night, terrified something will happen because I already love her so much I couldn't bear it if it did. And right now I am able to protect her, she's inside me, but how about when she's born? How can I protect her?"

"Well, this sucks." Gray stated.

"It sucks very much, yes." Juvia agreed. "But now we are responsible for her." She looked down to her stomach. "Both her parents know now not to take any unnecessary risks, we won't be reckless and we both know she comes first. If it comes down to it, you'll choose her over me and Juvia will do the same." They looked up and locked eyes. "She comes first, forever."

Gray nodded. "She comes first."

"And we stay in Magnolia." Juvia smiled.

With a heavy sigh, Gray nodded. "And we stay in Magnolia. But if all that exploding crap starts again…"

"Juvia will be the first to start packing." She agreed. "Now let's go up to sleep, please? Juvia is exhausted. She hates fighting with you."

He helped her up and gave her a hug and a kiss. "I hate fighting with you too. Let's not do it again for a while."

"Deal." Juvia agreed and watched as her husband turned off the TV. "You know I love you."

"I love you too." He put a hand over her stomach. "Both of you."

#

"Oh fuck, I hate this." Juvia groaned as the doctor examined her, the pain hitting once again and she pushed, as instructed. Gray was behind her, holding her hands, supporting her but other than that, being fucking useless in Juvia's opinion.

Gosh, she hated him at that moment. She loved him, always would love him, but fuck, she hated him so much. She hated everyone at the moment.

"Just a few more pushes, Mrs. Fullbuster." The doctor said, he was doing his job but Juvia wanted to claw that stupid mask off his face and just tell him to change places with her if it was 'just' a few more pushes.

"You can do it, Juvia." Gray whispered in her ear and she was about to tell him to fuck off when another contraction hit her and she pushed with all her being.

"The head is out, Mrs. Fullbuster. With the next contraction, you need to push the hardest and we'll get this little troublemaker out." The doctor told her and Juvia nodded, breathing hard, waiting for the pain and when it came, she groaned loudly as she pushed and pushed and pushed until she felt the so awaited relief.

Everything hurt and she fell limp in Gray's arms but then every single instinct in her body lit up when she heard the most beautiful sound in the world.

A loud wail of a newborn echoed through the room and Juvia looked between her legs where the doctor was showing a baby covered in white goo and screaming bloody murder. It was her baby.

Her baby had been born.

"A perfect little girl with a hell of a couple of lungs." The doctor announced, smiling under the mask.

Juvia didn't even think of it, but her arms outstretched towards it, she needs her baby in her arms. Her eyes watered when the nurse put a towel around the baby and gave it to her. Juvia started to sob and she barely heard the doctor asking if Gray wanted to cut the cord, which, with a bit of maneuver, he did.

She was finally there, on the last week of winter, of course, being Gray's daughter there was no other season she could be born into – their honeymoon baby.

"She's perfect." Juvia heard Gray whisper in her ear, his arms around both of his girls but all Juvia could to was cry and nod. She was perfect, she was amazing, she was their world now. "Thank you." He kissed her temple. "Thank you so much." Juvia just couldn't take her eyes from her daughter otherwise she would see a couple of tears rolling down his cheeks. "I love you."

Juvia nodded and cried harder. She loved him too, especially since he had given her the baby in her arms, the perfect mix between them.

"I need to clean and examine her, Mrs. Fullbuster." The nurse said and Juvia pulled the baby even closer to her chest – she didn't want her out of her sight. The woman didn't seem to take offence at that, instead, suggested: "How about Mr. Fullbuster follows me while you and the doctor finish up here? He will be with her all the time"

Finally looking away from their daughter, Juvia looked over her shoulder to her husband, who nodded. "I'll be with her every second, I promise, okay?" Juvia nodded and gave the baby to the nurse, already feeling her arms too empty and Gray came from behind her, fluffing pillows so she could feel more comfortable. "I will see you in a few minutes, okay?" Gray asked before he kissed her lips and followed the nurse with the baby.

"Well, Mrs. Fullbuster. Let's see if this placenta comes soon so you can have that beautiful daughter in your arms for as long as you want."

Juvia smiled to the doctor for the first time in hours and even though her bottom half seemed to have been ripped into half, she had never felt so happy before.

#

"If she snarls at her, I'll take Snowball away from both of you." Gray told his wife as they arrived home, Juvia with their daughter in her arms and Gray with the baby carrier in hands. He had been worried about Snowball's reaction to the baby – they had spoiled the dog quite a lot.

"It's going to be fine." Juvia carefully opened the door and was greeted with an excited Snowball as usual, but times 10 since she could smell there was someone else there as well. "Hello, baby. Have you been waiting to meet your new sister?"

"God, we spoiled the dog so much. Sister." He snorted and followed Juvia as she walked slowly to the living room – she was still a little sore from the birth the day before.

Juvia settled on the couch and Snowball jumped next to her and started to smell the baby's feet, her tail started wagging. "Snowball, meet Coral, your new baby sister." Juvia said and Snowball walked around Juvia on the couch to have a sniff of Coral's dark hair, starting to lick it a moment later. Juvia chuckled and looked at her husband. "I guess someone else loved the new baby like we did."

Even Gray was smiling at the interaction. "I guess the three of us are already enchanted." They let Snowball get used to Coral's smell for a little while longer before Gray insisted they went upstairs to settle the baby on her crib.

Gray was on alert at every second behind Juvia as she carried Coral upstairs and Juvia thought it was really cute of to be so concerned. Coral's room was themed as a field with buttercups, Juvia insisted, so the yellow walls were quite cheerful.

Gently Juvia put the sleeping baby on her crib and both her and Gray (and Snowball who was standing on her back paws and was trying to take a peek of the baby) stared at her.

"I can't believe she's finally here." Juvia whispered and touched the black hair atop of the baby's head – it appeared Coral got the Fullbuster genes on that, but Gray insisted she got Juvia's nose.

"She is." He kissed her cheek. "Come on, you should go lie down too. I'll get the baby monitor and we'll keep an eye on her. We are going to need as much rest as we can, or so I'm told.

Juvia kissed the baby's forehead and left the room with her husband, noticing how Snowball just curled on the floor next to the crib.

#

Juvia arrived at FT with Coral on her carrier, the little girl was happily sucking on her pacifier and the first person she met was Cana, who squealed and came from her desk in Juvia's direction.

"Hello, precious!"

"Hello, Cana-san." Juvia said, knowing the brunette hadn't meant her.

"Urgh, not you, boring old lady." She made a disgusted face towards Juvia. "I meant my precious girl. Hello! Hello, Coral!" She cooed and took the carrier from Juvia and placed it on her desk. Cana carefully took Coral from the carrier and held her close to her chest, smelling her head. "Oh god, babies smells so good." She looked down to Coral. "Did you know that your smell is like a drug, Coral? You are addictive."

"There is something about baby's smell, isn't there?" Juvia chuckled and looked at her daughter lovingly. Coral, aside from the dark hair, looked like Juvia but with brighter blue eyes and with Gray's chin. She was five months old by then and the smartest baby Juvia had ever seen, bias aside. She saw Coral rubbing her eyes and told Cana. "She's teething so she hasn't been sleeping well so we are not sleeping either."

"Poor baby." Cana kissed Coral's chubby cheek. "But good job on sharing your pain, honey." Cana smirked at Juvia's incredulous face. "Mirajane says all the time to not bear pain on your own."

"Screw you." Juvia rolled her eyes and asked. "You and Coral are pretty tight. Are you and Laxus planning anything or…?"

"Oh, no." Cana shook her head. "I have zero intention of having a baby of my own, thank you very much. I get all the fun playing with my friends' offspring. I can even choose an age range I want to be around that day. The twins are almost two, Coral's five months, Evergreen is gonna pop at any minute, Lucy and Natsu are planning on starting their own baby factory next year. I'll be surrounded by babies, don't worry." She snorted. "But… We were thinking." Cana said, voice low which meant she was serious. "There are many kids who need families. I was at the system for a while and it sucks. We… could be that family to them. You know, to older kids with less chance of getting adopted? We were talking about it and I think it might become true soon."

"That is great, Cana-san." Juvia said, truly. "You will be a wonderful mother to those children." Cana wasn't easy to make blush, but when she did, all her face turned red. "I mean it. Everyone here knows it's not blood that makes us a family. You are my sister in all but blood."

Cana's eyes watered. "Jeez, you are the one hormonal here, stop trying to make me cry."

"Hey." Gray stepped closer to them and gave Juvia a peck on the lips and then took his daughter from Cana's arms. "Hello, princess." The baby smiled and Gray's smile was even wider. "Ready to go out?" The baby rested her head on his shoulder and he sighed. "Teething sucks."

"It does." Juvia agreed and took the carrier. "Shall we have lunch tomorrow, Cana-san? Just us girls? Juvia needs some girl time with no baby. You have no idea how much Juvia craves to come back to work next month. Gray-sama can stay with Coral and we can go to that restaurant down the street."

"I'll call the rest of the squad." Cana said and said her good-byes to the couple.

"Hey, what if I had something planned for lunch?" Gray asked.

Juvia raised an eyebrow as she pressed the elevator button. "Do you?"

It took him a second to answer a mumbled "No."

"There we go." She chuckled.

#

Juvia sat at one of the plastic tables while Gray ordered for them and Coral sat on her stroller, looking to the park's movement and Juvia's heart filled with love, how could have them ended up with such a perfect baby?

Sure, Coral had her tantrums, she had trouble sleeping, they worried constantly about her safety, whenever she got sick neither her nor Gray could sleep, she got moody from time to time.

Juvia had locked herself into the bathroom a couple of times to have a complete meltdown, cried her heart out, she had cried of exhaustion. Juvia had gone to the supermarket with mismatched shoes and she had fallen asleep a few times with a bit of vomit on her shirt or while she pumped milk from her breast.

Motherhood wasn't perfect. Juvia wasn't perfect.

Coral wasn't perfect, but she was perfect.

Juvia didn't think anyone who wasn't a parent could understand her. Or perhaps they could, she didn't know, all she knew was that she was happy Coral was their baby, their amazing perfect baby.

"I got us Caramades Franks, as usual." Gray put a plate in front of her and the smell made Juvia's stomach growl in hunger. "Frankie's coming to take our drink order in a moment. I told her I could bring it, but she wants to see Coral." Gray chuckled. Frankie, like everyone else, was enchanted with Coral and always wanted a bit of time with the baby.

Juvia started to eat, but Gray criticized her. "It's been almost five years, woman, can't you eat it any better by now? You're all sticky"

"You know this thing is huge and it seems Frankie has been making them bigger every time we come here!"

He shook his head. "You know this isn't something that's meant to be eaten politely."

"That's why we usually take it to go, so Juvia can be as messy at home as she wants." She pointed out and ate a piece of it, trying to eat the whole thing and be polite as she could.

"Nice of you to show up with the little girl. I was beginning to think I scared you off." Frankie said, approaching the table and she seemed the same as she had when Juvia had first went there with Gray all those years ago, her hair was even greyer in a pixie cut and her chocolate brown eyes we still tough but kind.

"We were here last week." Gray pointed out.

"Without the baby!" Frankie complained. "I want to see the baby, Gray, not your ugly face. Thank god little Coral takes after Juvia." She cooed to Coral, who smiled, showing her one tooth on the front. "God, she's adorable. Those bright blue eyes of hers will get you in trouble in about fifteen years, kid."

"Don't remind me." Gray groaned. "She's going to be just as beautiful as her mother and I'll have to beat boys with sticks to get them off of her."

"Yes you will." Frankie chuckled and looked at Juvia, narrowing her eyes. "And you, young lady. You are too skinny." Frankie said even though Juvia hadn't lost all the baby weight yet – she hoped returning to work would help. "You need more food, girl. I'll make you two more to go. Put more meat in those bones so you can feed my beautiful baby Coral."

Knowing better than to argue, by then, Juvia smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Frankie."

She nodded at her job well done. "I'll be back soon."

Juvia chuckled. "She's still as bossy as ever."

"I'm not the one who's gonna cross her." Gray snorted. "So, excited about going back to work next month?"

"Oh god, yes." Juvia didn't hesitate. "Don't get me wrong, I love Coral and love spending time with her, but Juvia also loves her job and misses it. So much."

"I understand." Gray chuckled. "I got a three months license and I was going mad, I can only imagine being six months away from work. Besides, she'll be at the daycare just around the corner. We can visit all the time."

"Thank god for that. Juvia will cry everyday dropping her off, I know I will." She looked at Coral and back to her husband. "And when Juvia's ready for longer jobs…"

"We'll take turns, we talked about this." Gray shrugged. "Calm down, Juvia, Coral has two full time parents, she won't be in need of anything."

Juvia sighed in relief. "Thank you for understanding Juvia's wish to go back to work. There are many people who think that coming back to work so soon means someone's a bad mother."

Gray snorted. "Then those people are idiots. Just because you are a mother, doesn't mean you can't still do your job. If I can, why wouldn't you?" He took a bite of his food. "That's ridiculous."

"This is one of the many reasons why I love you so much." She smiled at her husband.

"Well, good thing I think that way, then." He chuckled and watched her take another bite at the Caramade's Frank. "Really, what is the mystery of eating the thing the right way?" Gray, then, proceeded to teach Juvia one more time on how to eat the sandwich and Juvia couldn't help but to smile.

Five years before he was doing that for the first time as just friends and now he was her husband, the father of her daughter, her partner. A lot had happened during that time, but they stayed together and inside her heart Juvia knew that was how they would be for the rest of their days.

Together.

-The End-

#

AN: I tear up as I write this. I can't believe it's over. My baby. I know we shouldn't have favorites, but this one is my favorite fanfiction. With this story I think I managed to develop Gray and Juvia as characters and as a couple in a level I never could before. I think making them fight from time to time added to their relationship because just because you fight with someone, doesn't mean you don't love them.

I think I made Juvia look more human with her struggling to forgive Gray – it doesn't mean she stopped loving him or she cares less, just that she is human and you can still love someone unconditionally and still call on their crap. I tried my best to develop Gray's emotions and by the end I think it was a job well done (let's remind ourselves the timeframe pro chapter 1 to 20 is roughly 5 years). If it's just me, it's okay, but I feel a sense of accomplishment with this story that warms up my heart.

The part where Laxus discuss Makarov was really important to me because what he said, is pretty much what I said when my own grandmother passed away two months ago so it hit really close to home and I hope it was worthy of you, Vó, if you are watching me from where you thought you would go after this. This one was for you.

Well, a couple of interesting facts about this story: It was about to last just like, five chapters and here we are at chapter 20 (counting the prologue); This chapter has a lot of references from old chapters, Each chapter has a title with a "bad thing" on it, even if the whole sentence isn't actually bad; This is my longest Fanfiction yet; and yes I am actually crying because this is over haha.

Thanks to: Fin-Fish Jun-Tenshi, AriaLuvsInu, Elizabeth Backell, Guest, fyriagita, TheUniqueFangirl, moodymoot14, Guest, Karen Ross, Guest, Snoweene, BlueOwl14, dalala, CoeurDePluie, figmentofimagen, Nahirya, ioanna-chanandSnavejwho reviewed! You rocked my world!

09/17/2017 ~ BonneyQ – It has been an honor to write this to you!