Juvia slowly opened her eyes to find an unfamiliar ceiling. She blinked and went to sit up, wincing as a fresh shot of pain coursed through her arm and stomach.

"Don't even think about getting up."

The harsh tone made Juvia lay right back down on the bed, making herself wince again. Looking over, she blinked at the sight of Porlyusica. The said woman walked over to her side and replaced her wet cloth right back on her forehead. "It's about time you woke up."

Juvia gave her a curious look before glancing around the room and then back at her. "Where...Where is Juvia?"

The pink haired woman rolled her eyes as she mixed some herbs together. "Where do you think? You're in my house. Unfortunately. Now, drink this."

Juvia sat up enough to take the medicine, moving the cloth off of her forehead, and wincing as the bitter liquid went down her throat. She wasn't going to complain however, and set the now empty cup down on the side table. She looked down at herself and noticed that her arm and stomach were bandaged and her feet felt sore. She blinked at the realization that the pains from the story had stayed with her when she came back.

She kept herself from gasping.

They had come back.

They were home.

She blinked away the happy tears as Porlyusica eyed her. "Is there still that much pain?"

Juvia shook her head. "No, Thank you Porlyusica-dono. Juvia hasn't felt this refreshed in days." Considering everything that had happened…The soreness she felt now was nothing compared to the fresh pain from within the spell.

The tall woman raised a brow. "I doubt that. You look terrible even after sleeping for a week. Plus, you were only gone for a couple of hours, I heard. Hm. I suppose time must have flowed differently inside of the spell."

She blinked up at her in surprise. "A-A week..?" And what did she mean by, 'A few hours'..?

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

Juvia went quiet a moment and decided to ask what's really been on her mind since she woke up, ignoring all of the questions she knew would be pointless to ask the unconcerned Doctor. "Where is Gray-sama?"

She turned her attention from the window and glanced from Juvia to the door, grumbling. "Standing in front of my house, of all places…"

Juvia watched curiously as she went over and opened the door before Gray could touch it, her tone as harsh as ever. "What?"

Gray blinked at her rough voice, and glanced behind her to see Juvia, who blinked back at him. He put his gaze back on the scariest Doctor alive. "I, um, came to see Juvia…if that's cool."

She stared him down a moment before sighing in frustration. "Don't touch anything, including the patient. She still needs a lot of rest." She led him inside and he walked past her and over to the bed, sitting down on the small stool next to it. He offered her a smile. "Hey. How ya feelin'?"

She returned the smile, so very happy to see him alright and in good health. "Juvia is alright."

"Ha! 'Alright' my bum."

Juvia winced at Porlyusica's tone of unbelief and Gray gave a worried look. "Is she alright?"

"She will be after a lot of rest. However, she just went through Magical Surgery a week ago, finally waking up earlier today. She probably feels like she got hit by a coach."

Juvia winced. So that was why her stomach felt so terrible and her magic felt so weak. Her heart swelled at knowing it was just there though. That was all she needed to know.

Gray also winced. "That sounds awful… Her magical energy was that low?"

The tall woman nodded, leaning on the wall with her arms crossed. "That's right. When you came out of the book, you both suffered from a great loss of magic, however, Juvia's case was different, a part of the spell was still inside her body and was eating away what little magical power she had had left. What a terrible day that was... The guild ran to my door with her bleeding all over my floor because whatever genius tied her wound had done a terrible job."

Juvia glanced at Gray as he gulped before looking back up at Porlyusica, who had sighed. "As you can see, the surgery was a success, but because of it, her magic will take much longer than yours to recuperate." Her voice turned into a grumble. "Which means I'm stuck babysitting until she recovers…"

Juvia glanced at Gray and noticed the book in his hands, recognizing it as the one Levy had read from in the beginning of all of this. Remembering what Porlyusica had said before, how they 'came out of the book', she pointed to it, her eyes full of curiosity. "Gray-sama? Why did you bring that with you?"

He blinked down where she had pointed and his cheeks turned slightly pink at the thought. "I, ah, came to read it to you..."

She raised a brow, not understanding why he would want to reread the spell that caused all of this mess. At seeing her expression, he waved his hand. "No, not that!" He opened the book and skipped the first few pages, finding the title 'chapter one' and pointing to it, turning the book to show her. "Turns out that everything was being recorded in this book when we were inside…"

She blinked down at it and as she scanned through the first couple of sentences, she gave a similar reaction that Gray had. Her face turned from pale to red as her eyes widened in disbelief. "E-E-Everything..?!"

He nodded, rubbing the back of his head and no longer looking at her. "Apparently Levy read it to everyone as it was happening, which is why for them, we were only gone for a couple hours."

Now her face turned from red to blue. "E-Everyone…?"

He sighed in defeat. "Yup."

Juvia suddenly felt lightheaded and put her normal hand on her forehead. Porlyusica used this chance to hit Gray on the head. "Ouch!"

She glared down at him. "You're upsetting the patient."

He grit his teeth. "I'm sorry! Jeez…"

She turned away from them. "You couldn't have come at a more convenient time though. I need to go into the forest and gather more herbs. Watch her while I'm gone." She walked over to the door and gave them both one last hard look. "Touch. Nothing." And then she was gone.

They both sighed in relief, blinked at the other, and then laughed at each other.

"Anyways." He took her hand. "I'm...sorry about all of this."

She blinked up at him. "Why is Gray-sama sorry?"

He glanced down, his bangs covering his face. "For everything, really. That this happened, that you're hurt, and that I couldn't find a way to keep you safe and prevent it."

She looked down at him, her heart hurting for him as she could clearly see how guilty he felt. She smiled. This was the man she had fallen in love with.

"Gray-sama. Please look at Juvia."

He hesitated a moment before doing what she said, finding her eyes staring into his own. They held so much warmth.

"Does Gray-sama know why Juvia loves him?"

He blinked at her. "Uh, actually, I don't. I don't really understand why you would be so attached to a guy like me...I've only caused you pain."

Juvia shook her head, her smile never faltering. "Gray-sama is wrong." He looked her in the eyes, surprised at how much honesty they held. "Juvia has loved Gray-sama since he took the rain away, and showed her the sun. He gave her a home to return to, and changed her into a person that can honestly cherish the people around her."

She looked at his shocked expression and moved her other hand to put over the one she was already holding before closing her eyes, thinking over her next words. "I owe you everything, Gray. That's why I couldn't stay away. Why even though you rejected me, I kept trying, and simply stayed by your side. That's when I started to truly love you as a person, and not as just a savior. You're strong and have a hidden kindness for others. You're easily embarrassed but tend to cover it up with anger. You're proud, but show restraint when it matters. You always fight for others, especially your family, and not for yourself. There are many sides of you, and over time, as I come to know each one, I fall in love all over again with each of them."

There was a moment of silence, and she didn't expect anything less. This was her real confession, her reason why. She even stopped talking in third person, stopped using honorifics, just to show him that she really meant every word.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw him forward his brows as he laughed weakly, a defeated smile twitching onto his face. "Seriously…" He whispered, leaning his head down to place his forehead on top of their joined hands. "How am I supposed to respond to that..?"

Juvia giggled before he sat back up straight, looking at her with a serious expression. "I've decided."

She blinked. "Yes..?"

He smirked, moving to sit next to her on the bed and pecking her on the cheek, which of course made her blush deeply. "That I'm the luckiest man in the world."

She continued to blush, but smiled nonetheless, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Juvia thinks she is the luckiest."

She could almost feel him roll his eyes at her. "Gray-sama completely disagrees."

She glanced up at him. "And why is that?"

"Because I clearly don't deserve you, that's why."

Her eyes started to water and she placed her now free hand over her mouth to keep from hiccuping. Never before did she think she would hear those words come from his mouth to her. "G-Gray-sama is s-sly."

He blinked down at her, only to find that she was starting to sob with a crimson face, making him flinch. "H-Hey! Don't cry! I'm sorry!"

She merely laughed at him, smiling brightly while tears still ran down her face, though they were clearly happy tears. Gray glanced away from her, pink rising in his own cheeks as he squeezed her hand.

She was starting to feel the warmth of the sun all over again.

"A-Anyway, why don't we read that book..?" He picked it up and placed it in between them, using his free hand to hold it up so they could see it better.

She glanced down at it and then back up at him, curiosity again filling her eyes. "Gray-sama hasn't read it yet?"

He shook his head, suddenly finding the wall very interesting, mumbling. "I...wanted to read it with you…" He laughed, looking back at her. "You know, so I don't spoil the ending."

She giggled at his joke before lightly running her hand down the page. "Juvia thinks that she and Gray-sama should take turns reading chapters."

He nodded. "That's fine with me. You want me to start?"

She shook her head. "Juvia would like to start." He nodded as she noticed something written in the corner and laughed.

He blinked down at her. "What?"

She pointed to the small note. "Levy-chan gave a name to our story."

He raised a brow before reading it out loud. "The Little Water Mage?"

She giggled. "The original version is a fairy tale called, The Little Mermaid, which is what story the spell chose to throw us into."

He blinked but nodded. "Oh, gottcha. So what we went through actually happens in another story?"

She nodded. "Basically, yes. Juvia is surprised that Gray-sama hasn't heard of it."

He shrugged. "I don't read much."

The two continued to talk over the book and the story as they started reading through it, both getting the others point of view as they read through everything that had just happened to them, learning exactly what the other thought or felt in situations and times that they weren't even there. They asked each other questions, and talked everything out if either one got upset or hurt. However, overall they both enjoied the read and teased one another throughout it, laughing at each other and then together.

By the time Porlyusica had come back, the two had fallen asleep while leaning on the bed board and each other, their hands still intertwined, and the book still opened to the last page in front of them.

The Doctor snorted while placing her bags lightly on the table before walking over the the closet, sighing in what sounded like aggravation.

She then grabbed what she was looking for, walked over to the couple, and placed the blanket she had found over both of them.

Finally, she picked up the book, closed it, and set it on the side table, a rare, but small smile gracing her face before she walked back towards the kitchen to start unpacking the herbs.

"Kids these days…"