The day Gray found out that Juvia was pregnant he had done one of the two things he didn't want to do if he ever got news like that from his wife. Thankfully, he didn't do the other thing he didn't want to do, which was leave Juvia because of it. No. He did something far more embarrassing.
Gray Fullbuster, fainted.
His wife of two years had been kind however, and told him alone, in their apartment so no one other than her witnessed his embarrassing moment. When he woke he was on their bed, his wife fussing over him as she patted a cold towel to his forehead.
"You're pregnant." Gray finally said as he sat up, grabbing her shoulders, "When? How?"
Juvia flushed bright red at his questions, "W-well. I am two months along. And-"
"Two months!?" Gray began to feel a little light headed again. They weren't like rabbits but at the same time they weren't the most conservative couple in the world, "You've known for two months?!"
"N-no. Only about a week. I was trying to figure out how to tell you." She said quickly so he wouldn't interrupt her again.
Gray remained silent for a few minutes, letting the news sink in for a second time, this time not passing out, "I'm going to be a Dad!" He finally broke out, wrapping his arms around Juvia and pulling her down onto the bed beside him. They smiled at each other, staring into each other's eyes while Juvia tangled her fingers in Gray's hair.
"I'm going to be a Dad." Gray said, this time much softer, but the smile still present on his face.
As the months went on, only Juvia ever had small breakdowns. She would freak out, saying that she was going to be a terrible mother and the child was going to hate her. Gray was always there to comfort her however. Her mood swings weren't anything to take lightly either. Juvia would come home from work yelling about how she hates children and never wanted any of her own. When Gray simple laughed at her and poked fun at her choice to become a teacher only turned Juvia's anger on him. She yelled at him, and his words were calming, she would hit him and he would wrap his arms around her, she would say she hated him and he would say he loved her.
It wasn't until Juvia went into labour that Gray had his breakdown. Seven months of pent up worry, all let out to poor Gajeel, Levy, Natsu and Lucy after Juvia kicked him out while she went through a gruelling six hour labour. He cried, he yelled, he even rocked in the corner for a while. In short, he was a mess. Gajeel's wife Levy and Natsu's wife Lucy attempted to soothe Gray, while Natsu and Gajeel filmed the entire six hour event. At one point Lucy slapped Gajeel's arm, claiming he wasn't much better when Levy was in labour with their son Ferro.
At one point Natsu was also in the corner crying with Gray, realising that in a few months he will be going through the same thing with Lucy.
When a pink haired nurse came out to get Gray he almost barrelled her over trying to get to Juvia. He entered her room and tears threatened to spill again when he saw how beautiful she was cradling their first child in her arms, humming softly to it.
She stopped when she saw Gray at her bedside, and couldn't help but laugh lightly, "You look like you were the one that just went through childbirth." Juvia balanced the baby in one arm while her other hand brushed her husband's cheek.
"Don't kick me out next time. Please." Gray begged, kissing Juvia's forehead.
"I think I saved you from an even worse experience." Juvia laughed and then raised the bundle so Gray could see it.
Gray noticed it was wrapped in a pink blanket, "Pink, does that mean it's a girl?" He asked, reaching for his daughter who was looking around with wide, dark eyes.
Juvia nodded and held the baby girl out to Gray, "You can hold her."
"What if I drop her?" He said quickly.
"Then you will catch her." Juvia said simply, putting the baby girl in his arms. He held her close, like she was the most precious thing in the world, and right now, to Gray, she was.
He couldn't believe it, he was a father. Biting back his tears, he glanced at her wrist as she flapped it about and saw the small tag around it, "Baby Girl Fullbuster." He read aloud.
"I said we hadn't decided yet, so they-"
"Naida." Gray said shortly.
"Naida?"
"Your Grandmother's name, correct?" He smiled up at Juvia as she brought her hands to her cheeks.
Nodding quickly when Gray sat beside her on the bed, she caught Naida's small hand in her larger one, "Welcome to the family Naida."
Two years later, Gray found himself in the same waiting room, with Lucy, and Levy, waiting once again for his child to be born. This time however, Gajeel, who like Natsu and Gray worked for the police department, was working late, Natsu had to stay home with his sick son Mathias, Ferro was curled up in a seat beside Levy, and Naida slept against Gray. He was also much calmer this time round, he had already experienced fatherhood and how to deal with a newborn thanks to Naida.
But as he thought more about it, he hadn't experienced a newborn and a two year old at the same time before. Panic began to rise but when Naida shifted in his lap it calmed him again.
She had grown so much like her mother, the same blue hair, the same determined and stubborn attitude (even though Juvia said that came from him), even the same adorable smile. The only thing in her that he could see which was his, was her dark eyes. Rubbing her eyes with her small hands as she woke up, she tiredly looked up to Gray.
"Daddy, can we go home?" She mumbled. With her, Juvia's water had broken not long after breakfast, this time however it happened in the middle of the night, and unable to leave Naida home alone, they had to bring the tired child with them.
"Not yet princess." He said softly brushing her hair down, "We have to wait until we can meet your new baby brother or sister." Naida began to whine, crossing her arms stubbornly over her chest.
"No." She said shortly. All up until Juvia and Gray attempted to explain that Naida was getting either a baby brother or sister, Naida had been a golden first child. After they told her however, any mention of the new arrival made the two year old angry and stubborn.
"Don't be silly." Gray scolded, trying to pry apart her crossed arms. When morning came, Gajeel showed up and commented on how calm Gray was being.
"Leave him be." Levy scolded.
"Hey Naida, Ferro. Want to see a funny video of Gray?" Gajeel asked, sitting on the ground where the two children had been playing with supplied toys. Even now, both Gajeel and Natsu, mostly Gajeel, loved to pull out the video of Gray's panic attack from two years earlier.
"Don't." Gray said quickly, "I swear and I don't want them hearing me say what I do."
"Gray Fullbuster." The pink haired nurse called, catching all of their attention, "You may come through now and see Juvia." Gray got up, told Naida he would be back for her soon and then followed the nurse down the corridor, "Now going to shove me out of the way this time?" She asked and then Gray remembered. This was the same nurse that had come to get him with Naida was born.
"Y-yeah. Sorry about that." He apologised awkwardly, "I was a bit of a wreck."
The nurse simply smiled, "You were nervous is was completely fine." She said stopping out front of Juvia's door, "Now she is exhausted, and might be asleep, but your child is on its way up now so you can meet them in a moment."
Gray thanked her before entering the room. Just as the nurse predicted, Juvia was fast asleep on the hospital bed. Not wishing to disturb her Gray took a seat in the corner. Again, as the nurse said, not long after another nurse came in with his second child. Quickly standing up and relieving her of the baby, he once again saw pink. Another girl.
"Hey sweetie." He cooed softly, returning to the chair in the corner. Just like her mother, the baby girl was fast asleep. Softly running his hand over her hand, he saw a similar tag to Naida's, this time instead of "Baby Girl Fullbuster" it read "Mika Fullbuster" His mother's name. Once Juvia had asked him if he would be okay with naming their next child, and Gray was overjoyed that he had said yes. Never would he had thought to name her after his late mother, "Your Grandmother would have loved to have met you."
"Stop hogging her." Juvia's tired voice came from her bed. She scooted over to give Gray just enough space to lay beside her, and that he did.
"I was letting you sleep." He said wrapping one arm around her, as he brought Mika around so she could see her.
"This one might have been a shorter labour, but she was much worse than Naida." Juvia smiled weakly as she rested her head on Gray's chest.
And just as she had been during birth, Mika turned out to be much more of a handful than Naida. At least for Gray. Even at a young age she took a disliking to Gray, spitting up every time he held her, crying whenever he put her to bed, throwing her food in his face when he tried to feed her, and the moment she learned to walk, ran from him.
One day whilst cleaning up spilt food from the table after the three year old Mika tipped her food all over the table, Juvia walked in. When Gray scolded her flicking her food off her spoon onto the table once again, she threw the plastic plate at him, screamed and ran off.
"Tell me please that you're carrying a boy this time." Gray muttered as his once again pregnant wife stopped him in his efforts, and began to wipe his face with a wet wipe like he was the baby.
"I'm sorry Gray but we made a pact before Naida was born to leave them all as surprises." He pouted and she flicked the wet wipe across his lips before kissing him lightly, "Don't be such a child." She chided.
"It's not my fault my own daughter hates me. What did I ever do to her? For the first few months she loved me."
"I think it's something about your smell." The voice of his father, Silver, came as he entered the dining room, carrying Mika who was clinging to him.
"Grandpa!" Naida cheered from the lounge room, jumping from her doll house and running to hug Silver's leg.
"What did I tell you about using that key for anything other than emergencies?" Gray grumbled, returning to cleaning up the spilt slop on the table.
"I let him in. Mika ran past screaming just as he came in so he chased her for me." Juvia explained taking Mika from Silver, and kissing her father-in-law's cheek, "Thank you."
"Anything for my girls." Silver laughed, patting Naida's head as she still clung to his leg, "You know I always wanted a daughter."
"I have no idea why." After getting most of the slop back into the bowl Gray dumped it in the sink before coming back with chunks of paper towels.
"Grandpa, Grandpa!" Naida chanted pulling at the leg of his pants, "Come play babies!"
"Babies!" Mika joined in as Juvia put her on the ground.
"Maybe later." He said ruffling both of their hairs, "I need to talk to your Dad first."
"How about you two go play together and Grandpa will join you if he has time." Juvia bargains with the two girls. They quite happily accept and run off to play in Naida's room.
"You have two beautiful and adorable girls there Juvia." Silver said pulling up a chair at the dining table as Gray and Juvia also did.
"Their adorableness wears thin if you have to live with them." Gray muttered as he finished wiping up the last of the food from the table. Juvia backhanded him across his shoulder making him flinch back, "Sorry." He apologized quickly, "Anyway, what did you want to talk about old man?"
"Look who's talking." Silver laughed, "I just came to tell you that your cousin is moving to Magnolia and Ur thought it would be nice if you helped him."
"Are you trying to kill me Dad?" Gray huffed.
"Lyon is moving to Magnolia?" Juvia piped up happily. Gray wasn't exactly fond of his cousin, especially after years of a rocky relationship which had only been patched up before he began to date Juvia. Although they tolerated each other, Gray couldn't tolerate him when decided to flirt with his wife after meeting her at their engagement party.
"Why on earth would he leave a stable job in Margaret Town to come to Magnolia?" Silver shrugged at Gray's question.
"I just came to see if it'd be okay if he crashed at your place for a while until he finds a place to live."
"Then why didn't he just come and ask us himself?"
"Because he knew you wouldn't give him the light of day."
Reluctantly, and with persuasion from Juvia, Gray accepted. He would never admit this, but he later came to be thankful that Juvia persuaded him to let Lyon stay with them.
When the birth of his third child came around, Gray almost missed it.
He was at work and he and Natsu were called out as back up to a robbery. It took a while to coax the offender, who was armed with a gun, to calmly turn himself over. He didn't accept that however and wildly began to shoot. Quick to act rashly, Gray threw all caution out the window, and tackled him, wrestling the gun away from him and cuff him. Before he managed to cuff him however, the man had managed to pull a knife on Gray, slicing rapidly at him.
Once they were back in the car, Natsu checked his phone and saw a message from Lucy.
"Oh shit man. Where is your phone?" Natsu asked as he got into the driver's seat.
"My pocket, why?"
"Check it."
Gray sighed and pulled out his phone and saw a missed call from Juvia, from three hours ago! How in the world had he missed that? Stupid uniforms, when his phone was on vibrate he couldn't feel it going off in his pocket.
Opening his voice mail he was greeted with Juvia shouting in his ear, "Gray Fullbuster you giant jackass!" Her message shouted at him, "I am nine months pregnant and you think it is smart to go to work! My water has broken and I am home alone with a five year old and a three year old! If you don't get your ass here or at least to the hospital soon Lyon will be the least of your worr - agh!" She cried out in pain and the message was cut off.
"Shit Natsu! Juvia's in labour! I need to get to the hospital stat!" Gray panicked.
"Ooh I love babies, we can make a detour." The criminal in the back seat said leaning up against the metal frame that separated him from the front.
"Shut up." Natsu rapped his knuckles against the frame, "You get out and grab a taxi, I'll be right to get him back to the station."
"You sure? I'm on duty I can't just-"
"I'll cover for you. Go be with your wife." Natsu laughed, almost having to force Gray out of the car.
Doing as Natsu told him, Gray hailed a taxi and quickly made his way to the hospital. There was a shooting pain in the lower right part of his abdomen, but he rushed to the waiting room of the maternity ward where he found Silver, Gajeel, Levy, their two kids, Ferro and Jade, Naida, Mika and Lyon all waiting there.
"Is she okay?" He asked quickly.
"Yeah, not long after she called you I got back and brought her here." Lyon explained casually, "I - Gray you're bleeding."
"Hm?" He looked down to where he remembered feeling pain and put his hand over it before pulling back and seeing his crimson blood on the tips of his fingers, "So I am."
"He's going into panic mode again." Levy said quickly. Before he began to freak out during Naida's birth, he had been monotone, and strangely calm. Much like now.
"Speaking of which, would you like to see an entertaining video of Gray." Gajeel said pulling out his phone and leaning towards Silver and Lyon.
"Gajeel!" Levy hissed as she grabbed Gray's shoulders and pushed him down the hall to find someone who could help him.
"Are we going to see Juvia?" He asked looking around at the small blue haired girl.
"Not yet, first we're going to find someone to fix that so you're conscious enough to see Juvia when she's out." Levy said calmly.
As it turned out, the robber had managed to slash Gray across his lower abdomen, deep enough that he needed stitches. How no one had noticed until now was beyond them all, but luckily it missed anything major. Once he was all stitched up he was sitting on the end of bed, pulling his shirt back on when the last person he expected.
He stopped before he could even button his shirt and stared in amazement when he saw her wife, "What are you doing up?" He couldn't help but ask as he walked up to her, mostly to inspect the newborn in her arms.
"Meredy said you were here so I thought I would come to you this time."
"Meredy?"
"The pink haired nurse you almost flattened when Naida was born." Gray couldn't help but let out a short laugh before planting a kiss on his wife's lips, "When they said you were here I was so worried." Juvia admitted quietly.
"Hey." Gray touched her chin gently and smiled at her warmly, "I'm okay, it just comes with the job."
"I know. And I wish you would get a less risky job."
"Enough about that. Baby girl Fullbuster needs a name." Gray said turning the attention to the baby wrapped in pink.
"I like Ira."
"That's a curious name." Gray said honestly. He couldn't think of any reason why Juvia would possibly choose that name, other than she liked the sound of it.
"A curious name for a curious girl." Juvia said nodding down to the baby whose eyes were wide open as she tried to take in every aspect of the world around her.
"Ira it is." He said kissing Ira's forehead.
'
Just as Juvia had predicted, Ira became the most curious of their three girls. At the age of four she was at her worst during her Uncle Lyon's wedding.
During the reception Juvia had made the mistake of leaving Ira in the care of her two older sisters after Gray tempted her away with the promise of a dance.
When she returned, she found Mika and Naida enjoying a second helping of cake with Grandpa Silver. "Ira wasn't with them when they asked me to get them another piece." Silver admitted.
Both furious and worried, Juvia brushed past Gray and almost crashed into the bride whilst looking for Ira. The bride caught Juvia, laughing sweetly, "You and Gray are all too much alike."
"Meredy." Juvia breathed, smiling when she saw the pink haired woman was carrying Ira.
"I found her under my dress."
"How - Oh never mind." She laughed relieving Meredy of the trouble making girl. Unlike her two sisters, Ira inherited her father's raven hair along with his dark eyes, however they were always wide with curiosity.
"I thought I was the only one allowed under your dress tonight." Lyon whispered, coming up behind Meredy and wrapping his arms around her waist. Gasping, she quickly hit her new husband.
"Lyon! There are innocent ears around." She scolded.
"Oh please, with Gray as her father she can't be all that innocent."
As it turned out, Lyon did have a good reason to move from his stable job in Margret Town to Magnolia. When Mika was born, during his visit when Juvia was still in the hospital, Lyon had met the pink haired nurse Meredy and fallen head over heels for her. After three years of mulling it over, he decided he wasn't going to get anywhere with her on short trips to Magnolia, he had to move. And that he did. So when he saw her again for Ira's birth, he had worked up the courage to ask her out.
Now, four years later, the two were finally married.
"Why were you under Aunty Meredy's dress Ira?" Juvia questioned her daughter, who ignored the question completely and attempted to squirm from her mother's arms, "Ira." She said firmly.
"Interrogation requires certain skills Juvia." Gray said appearing, and suddenly he and Ira entered a staring competition. Unlike Mika, Ira absolutely adored her father. Leaning closer to his daughter, while Meredy, Lyon and Juvia watched amused, Gray's gaze never faltered until she quickly looked away.
"I wanted see if her legs were still there." She admitted. Meredy laughed loudly and hiked up her skirt so Ira could see them.
"They're still here sweetie, you could have simply asked." Meredy giggled, gaining a smile from Ira.
"Oh. Aunty Meredy can you dance with me?" She pipped up.
"Of course. I'm sure you're a better dancer than your Uncle." Juvia put Ira on the ground and she quickly ran off, dragging Meredy with her.
"Hey!" Lyon shouted, pretending to be offended, "Actually she's probably right."
Gray and Juvia laughed, "It's glad to see that you're not flirting with Juvia like you did at our wedding." Gray commented.
"That was eleven years ago." Lyon rolled his eyes, "Can you blame a guy for being in love?"
"If it is with my wife, then yes I can." Gray laughed.
"Well, you don't have to worry about it anymore." Lyon said glancing over at Meredy, his eyes full of love and adoration.
"I recognise that look." Juvia said softly, "It was the same look Gray gave me when we got married, as well as when Naida, Mika and Ira were born." Juvia stepped forward and kissed Lyon on the cheek, "I'm so happy for you two."
"I can only hope my marriage is half as successful as yours."
"Watch your words, you might get the bad half." Gray and Lyon both laughed and Juvia just frowned.
"What bad half?"
"Nothing." Gray quickly kissed his wife's lips, "Come on, one more dance before Dad steals you from me." He said taking Juvia's hand and taking her to the dance floor.
"So I'm partnerless at my own wedding?" Lyon called out after them. Feeling a tap on his side he looked down to see the already surprisingly tall Naida at his side.
"I'll dance with you Uncle Lyon." She said smiling brightly at him.
"Thank you Naida."
Juvia closed her eyes and rested her head against Gray's shoulder, smiling as she listened to the gentle music that Gray and her rocked to.
"I can't believe it's already been eleven years since our wedding." Gray admitted, "I feel like so much has changed, but at the same time, nothing really."
"Well for one, we're not living in a loft anymore, your cousin isn't flirting with me anymore, Natsu and Lucy have Mathias, Gajeel and Levy have Ferro and Jade, and you and I have Naida, Mika and Ira. So much has changed." Juvia listed off for him.
"I know, it's just that it's going by so fast."
Juvia couldn't help but laugh as she looked up at her husband, gently cupping his cheek, "I didn't think you were the reminiscing type."
"I guess I've changed too." He said leaning down to close the gap between the two of them.
"No." Juvia whispered against his lips, "You're still the man I fell in love with in High School."
He cracked his eyes open and saw now that Mika had pulled Naida from Lyon, and Ira from Meredy to let the couple dance whist the three of them danced in a circle much like ring-a-rosy.
"I'm glad. But seriously. Baby number four, could we please have a boy? I don't think I can handle raising three girls."
"We'll see." Once again, her head returned to his place on his shoulder. Although he complained endlessly about having four girls in his life and no boys, at least in his family, but deep down he didn't care. Gray was happy to be the last man standing.
Okay. This was just me being bored. It could be a one-shot, but I do have an idea for it being a multi-chapter story if anyone would like to see how that pans out.
If you liked it and want to voice your opinion on whether or not it should be a one-shot or a multi-chapter please review, it would be appreciated.
And as I do on all my stories. Check out my other stories, Phantom and Juvia in Wonderland mostly! Juvia in Wonderland is almost complete so if you want to get in on that feel free to.
Thank you for wasting your time reading this. I hope it provided some entertainment.