AN: Gruvia family! I just love seeing our babies with their own babies!

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Home Alone With Daddy

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Gray glanced at the clock on the wall and he sighed when he saw the time, if she didn't leave soon, she'd miss the train and that was the excuse she needed to postpone the mission a little longer. He wouldn't let her, though, otherwise she'd never come back to work.

"Juvia." He crossed his arms over his chest, serious. "You have to go or you'll miss the train."

"He's finishing, Gray-sama. Juvia will go when he finishes." The blunette didn't even looked up from her task of feeding their six-month-old son and Gray ghosted a smile with the scene when Juvia made funny noises so Gris could open up his mouth. "That's Mama's big boy." She cooed when the baby ate the mashed bananas.

"I can finish feeding him." Gray stepped closer to her and took the empty spoon away from her. "You have a train to catch." He helped her up. "Come on."

"Juvia was thinking, Gray-sama." She told him. "Maybe it's too soon for Juvia to go back to work. Gris-chan is only six months."

Gray sighed and started to lead her towards the living room. "We knew you'd do that. Remember that you asked me to remind you why you wanted to go back to work? You are all packed up and everything." Juvia stayed quiet and he put a hand on her waist. "You miss taking jobs, you want to be back but you are afraid of being away from Gris for too long. I know it will be two nights but you don't have to worry, I'll be with him all the time." She glanced to where their son was seated on his high chair and Gray looked that way and saw him happily making a mess since no one was there to stop him.

"Juvia has been with him every day for the past six months." She bit her lower lip for a moment. "I don't- I don't- He might need me."

"He'll always need you, Juvia." Gray told her. "But lucky for him, he has a father who will try his best to be just as good to him as his mother."

"You are always good with him. You are a great father." She sniffled and Gray smiled, until he heard her next words. "Juvia feels like a horrible mother abandoning her baby."

"Juvia, you are not abandoning our son with a hobo in a dark alley, you are leaving him with his father." He was exasperated. "You are going to stay away for a couple of days because you are a Mage and this is what we do."

Juvia hesitated. "Are you sure you and Gris-chan are going to be okay?"

"Of course." Gray rolled his eyes. "Remember when we saved the world a few years back? If we could deal with that, I can deal with a baby."

"Well, we came real close to dying, though…" She pondered.

"And now we are happily married with a kid. Things worked out." Gray said without missing a beat. "I have been taking care of Gris too, you know? I have fed him, changed his diaper, gave him baths, put him to sleep, had pretty much every kind of his bodily fluids on me…"

"But then Juvia was around to share the problems." She told him. "To take care of a baby on your own… can be challenging."

"We'll deal." The Ice Mage shrugged. "Kiss him good-bye and go. When you come back, you can spoil him rotten."

"Alright." Juvia agreed and while she gave their son a kiss, Gray grabbed her bag and waited her by the door.

Gray hesitated when he saw her walk towards him with tears in her eyes. "Juvia, if you don't think you can handle it, you don't have to go. I'm just pushing this because you asked me to-"

"I know, I know." Juvia put a hand on his cheek. "Juvia asked you to do anything to get her to go because she knows that without an incentive, she's not going anytime soon."

"Are you sure?" He asked, concerned. "I don't want you crying."

"Oh, that boat has sailed." Juvia dried a stray tear. "Just… take care of my baby."

"I just need to point out he is also my baby." Gray rolled his eyes and leaned to kiss his wife's lips. "If you are sure you want to go, you need to leave now."

"Okay." She sighed, looking completely miserable.

"Juvia…" He hesitated again.

"I can do this." She nodded. "But I need to leave right now. Bye." She gave him a kiss, grabbed the bag and left before he could say anything else and Gray scratched the back of his head, feeling guilty. He was about to go after her when Gris made a noise and Gray knew he had to attend to him.

"I guess it's just us guys for a couple of days, huh?" Gris looked up at his father, all dirty and Gray sighed. "Alright, I guess you need a bath after I finish feeding you then we go on your morning walk, which your mother made sure to drill into my head."

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For the first time in months Gray was having trouble giving Gris his bath. Maybe he was already missing Juvia or he knew something was different, but he was clearly upset, whimpering in annoyance, and kicking his legs on the water, wetting his father.

Gray sighed. "Yes, yes, yes. You are unhappy it's me giving your bath and I can't make the water move around like Mama does, huh? I would prefer your mother giving me a bath as well, to be honest, but here we are. Of course, I enjoy it for a whole different reason you do." He snickered and Gris' feet moved much faster, soaking Gray's stomach and pants. "Yeah, sorry. I wouldn't like someone saying that about my mother either." Gray reached for the towel and took Gris out of the bath and wrapped him with it. "Okay, let's get you ready for the day."

Dressing Gris was a challenge too, the little boy was in a bad mood and Gray's mood decreased a lot with each tantrum. Thankfully, while they were walking around the park, Gris stayed quiet in his stroller, staring at the people and animals around and Gray sighed in relief that at least the walk was in his son's taste.

By the time they arrived back home, it was time to feed Gris and the little boy did not take kindly to have a bottle instead of his mother's breast.

"Come on, Gris." Gray whispered to his son while swaying him in his arms to calm the crying baby. "I know it looks bad, but inside is exactly the same thing Mama has been giving you since you were born." He told him. "Mama is not here to feed you later, buddy. This is not like we usually do, with your mom coming home later to breastfeed you."

Eventually, Gris drank the bottle but he was glaring Gray the whole time and burping him took much longer than normal. Even putting him down to his nap was a nightmare, with Gris fussing and crying until he got tired and finally slept and Gray had to lie down as well.

He wasn't going to give up, though and once Gris woke up he felt better and he even played with Gray for a while until he looked around and didn't see his mother, as she usually sat on the couch to watch them play.

Feeding and bathing him was, again, a nightmare.

Putting him to sleep took him hours between Gray singing a lullaby, Gris crying, Gray shushing and finally they both became too exhausted and slept, eventually.

By morning, neither were in a good-mood.

Juvia, as usual, was right: taking care of a baby on your own was hard.

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Gris had finally accepted the bottle when both Gajeel and Natsu went to sit next to him. Gajeel watching his children play with the Exceed not to far away and Natsu with his daughter strapped on his chest – little Stella was just two months old.

"Good news is Gris' lungs are in perfect state." Natsu raised an eyebrow and looked at Gray. "That boy knows how to throw a tantrum."

"You tell me." Gray groaned. "Juvia left yesterday for a job and Gris is missing her. Trust me, so am I." He was grumpy.

"Tough, huh?" Gajeel snorted. "I remember when I had to take care of the two little demons by myself. You are lucky you only have one."

"It's just… Gris has been... Urgh." He groaned. "Even the things I usually do right, he's been acting out over."

Natsu shushed his daughter when she began to stir and asked: "What do you mean?"

"Apparently, I give his baths the wrong way now because he can't stop complaining. Juvia does this whole thing about using her magic to clean him and then to entertain him when she's bathing him. I can't do that: if I use my magic while he bathes, I would freeze him and let me tell you something, Juvia would not take very well if I froze our son, her baby. She'd actually murder me."

"Alright, take a breath." Gajeel patted Gray on his back. "I know what you are doing wrong: you are trying to be Juvia."

"What?" The Ice Mage frowned.

"You are doing things like Juvia would do them and that works for her, she has a different dynamic with Gris than you do. But you are not Juvia, you are Gray and you need to show Gris you can handle it on your own way and just because it's different from what Juvia does, it doesn't mean it's a bad thing." The Dragon slayer shrugged. "He's weird out his dad is trying to take over his mom's spot. Just do what you always did and you'll be alright."

Gray blinked, looked at Natsu and then glanced down to Gris before he stared at Gajeel, surprised. "That's… really smart, actually." He raised an eyebrow. "Who would've thought you would be giving parenting advice one day?"

"Hey, I've kept my two little rascals alive for six years so far. I think I know a thing or two about kids." Gajeel looked at Gray and then glanced to his children. "Just do what you do and…. Oh, shit. Anna! Let go of your brother's hair right now. We talked about this. Gale, stop being such an easy target, for god's sake." He got up and went to deal with his children, leaving the other two behind.

"It's not a bad plan." Natsu said, looking down to his daughter to make sure she was still asleep and safely strapped onto his chest. "Lucy told me babies can sense when you are afraid of them or whatever." He leaned in and whispered to his friend. "Just don't compare babies to dogs. I did… big mistake. Lucy talked for about an hour."

"I'm not as stupid as you." Gray snorted and put the bottle away when Gris was done with it and held him upright, putting a rag on his shoulder to burp him. "I'll try it. I mean, it really can't get worse than that."

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Surprisingly, Gajeel's advice worked.

Gray arrived home that afternoon and put a blanket on the floor and started to play with Gris as they had been doing ever since Gris could sit on his own and for the first time in almost two days, Gray felt relaxed with his son and Gris must've picked up because he didn't cry as much aside from normal baby-crying.

Feeding was still difficult but Gray couldn't really blame his son, a bottle would never be as good as the real thing.

Bath time was less stressing too when Gray entertained Gris by creating some small objects which seemed to entertain the child enough so he didn't cry.

Gray found out his son tried to mimic him when he made certain sounds, how he'd laugh when Gray blew raspberries on Gris' stomach and he felt a surge of love every time Gris started to giggle.

Once it was late, Gray started to hum a song he heard Juvia sing almost every night. Gris head was on Gray's shoulder and his little hand was grabbing a chunk of Gray's hair, as he had been doing for a while, and humming to himself.

"I know you miss your mom, I do too, trust me." Gray whispered, caressing the baby's back. "She has the best hugs, she's the best at comforting, she has a better singing voice than me, she cooks better too, she gives better baths and she has the boobs, which both of us are fans of." Gray snorted. "I probably won't be the best on much, but I am doing my best, okay? I will do anything for you, even being completely ridiculous right now, since I know you can't understand me." He kissed the top of Gris' head. "I will try to tell you often, but I might be my usual self and forget to say it, but I love you."

Seeing the baby had fallen asleep, Gray put his son in his crib and took a moment to look at his son. When he was younger, he'd never imagine he would get married, have a child, yet there he was, with his perfect family.

It was amazing how much he loved them, how much Juvia and Gris had changed him for better.

He'd need to tell his wife how much he loved her once she was back.

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"Who's at the door, Gris?" Gray asked once he heard keys juggling outside their door and he knew it was his wife. "Who do you think it is?"

The moment the door opened and Juvia walked in, Gris started to squeal in happiness with seeing his mother and Gray couldn't help it but to smile at how excited the baby was. Juvia wasn't too far behind; she dropped the bag by the door and all but ran towards them.

"Oh, my baby!" Juvia didn't even pay attention to Gray, more concerned with taking the baby from him and into her arms. "Mama missed you so much!" She hugged him and kissed his cheeks over and over, making Gris giggle. "So, so, so much!"

"Nice seeing you too." Gray rolled his eyes good-heartedly, knowing she had missed both of them but being away from Gris for the first time certainly took its toll on her.

"Hi, Gray-sama." Juvia stepped closer to him and, without loosing her hug on their child, tip toed to kiss him. "How did Juvia's boys do without her?"

"We missed you, didn't we, Gris?" Gray put an arm around Juvia's shoulder and Gris, listening to his name, looked at his father, then at his mother and back at his father as if saying 'look who's here!'. "I can see your Mama is back."

"Mama missed you every second." She kissed the top of Gris' head. "Did you behave for your Daddy?"

Gray snorted. "We had a rough start, but we got over it, didn't we, buddy?" Gris gave him a toothless happy smile. "Next time we'll do better." He messed with Gris hair and kissed Juvia's temple. "How were you? I saw you were crying when you left; it worried me."

"Oh, Juvia cried the whole train ride." She cooed to their baby. "Juvia was still crying when she started the job, but once she hit a guy or two, Juvia turned those tears into rage."

Gray laughed and led her towards the couch. "Got them right, didn't you?"

"Yes." Juvia chuckled and sat, bouncing Gris on her knee and the baby threw his head back, laughing in glee. "Mama showed them, didn't she? Yes, she did." She cooed.

"How did it feel to be back?" He asked, leaning back on the couch and Juvia snuggled closer to him, Gris happily chewing his fingers and staring at his parents.

"Good. Juvia missed it." She kissed his cheek. "Juvia is going to take a while to go on another job again, but she is glad she went on this one. She is glad to know you and Gris can take care of themselves if she wants to go."

"We sure can." Gray agreed.

"Mama is so happy with Daddy that tonight she's going to really thank him for it." She cooed to the baby, who laughed. "Yes, I will."

The Ice Mage was quick to nod. "I think it's only fair."

Juvia chuckled. "Maybe Gris would want a little sister."

"Oh hell, no. One baby, Juvia. That was the deal." Gray shook his head. "I cannot take care of two children at the same time when you go out on jobs. Nope." He got up from the couch. "I'll finish with lunch. By the way, I think Gris would prefer to breastfeed." Before he left, he gave her a peck on the lips. "I love you, by the way."

"I love you too." Juvia nodded and pulled Gris closer to her chest and she easily pushed her dress away and Gris was more than happy to latch on. He looked up with his beautiful blue eyes and Juvia whispered: "Don't worry, baby, we will change his mind yet."

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AN: So, a bit of Gruvia family! I just love their little family so much!

Thanks for reading. :3

11/13/2017 ~ BonneyQ