AN: Early birthday gift to Darkhope! Happy birthday, sweetie! I wish all the best to you!

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Someone Else's Life

By: BonneyQ

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Gray opened his eyes and wish he hadn't; his head hurt like hell. The back of his head was throbbing so much that he wondered what the hell happened. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep – not even drunk to have the massive headache –, and then waking up at a hospital? Of course it was a hospital: he had been in too many in his twenty years of life to recognize the smell of one in just a moment.

The Ice Mage tried to move, to sit down, but felt so weak. A small groan escaped his lips and soon enough, there was a person above him, watching his moves. And those big brown eyes were very well received to Gray.

"Hey..." He managed to say to the woman.

"Oh, thank god!" Gray saw Lucy's eyes water and felt worse, he hated crying women. "You scared us, Gray."

"Sorry." The Ice Mage said, and then, asked, confused: "What happened?"

"You were in a special mission with Natsu." The blonde told him gently. "You two were attacked when you were almost back; remember the Dark Guild called Black Phoenix? They were the ones. Just a second, I need to call a nurse." While the blonde opened the door and said something he couldn't identify, the Ice Mage continued to lie there, confused. And as soon as she went, Lucy was back again.

"I... I…" Gray frowned, more confused than ever. Why did he only remember going to sleep? And he never heard about a Guild, Dark or not, called Black Phoenix. And there was something off about Lucy, he couldn't pinpoint what. "I really don't remember that."

"It's alright." She squeezed his hand. "The doctor is coming. Everyone is going to be thrilled that you are back; we were so afraid."

"How long was I out?" The dark haired man asked. "You look different."

"You've been asleep for three days." Lucy was the one who frowned that time. "What do you mean different? You saw me two weeks ago, before leaving."

"Your hair…?" Gray tried to gather what was different about the blonde woman. She looked more mature? Her hair was a bit shorter, perhaps? What was it?

"I haven't done anything with my hair, Gray." Lucy told him, gently. "Maybe you hit your head harder than we thought." She opened a big smile, then. "And don't worry; she'll be here soon too, of course. We could barely make her go rest while you slept."

"Who…?" The man was about to ask who was she talking about, when the door opened and a man Gray assumed was the doctor, got inside. He was middle-aged, only the hair right above his ears was dark, his eyes were big and light blue.

"Oh, so I see that you are awake, Mr. Fullbuster." The man said. "I am Doctor Young. Ironic, I know." The Doctor offered Gray a smile. "You gave us all a scare, young man." Stepping closer to Gray's bed, he grabbed a small lantern and started to run a few tests, flashing it on the Ice Mage's dark eyes. "Are you feeling anything? Dizziness? Nausea? Pain?"

"A little pain." Gray said and the doctor wrote down on the chart.

"He also doesn't remember how he ended up here." Lucy offered and the doctor frowned, then stared at the younger man.

"Okay, that can happen with someone who hit their head." Doctor Young did the same thing with the lantern again, but this time, asking questions. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"Going to sleep in my bed."

"I see. Can you tell me the date? The last date you remember."

"I'm not good with dates." Gray rolled his eyes.

"Try, please." Doctor Young smiled kindly and the Ice Mage frowned, trying to remember it.

"April 5th, x793. I remember now, because I pranked Natsu on April's Fool." Gray answered, laughing lightly at the memory. He missed the confused expression Lucy bore, or how the doctor frowned, but when the dark haired man noticed them, stopped the laughter, the throb on his head still there, but he ignored it. "What? What is it?"

"x793, you say?" Dr. Young asked and Gray nodded. The older man, then, looked to Lucy, who was surprised. "Oh, dear."

"What's wrong?" The Ice Mage tried to sit down, and with the Doctor's help, he finally managed it. He felt a little nauseated, but ignored it.

"Gray… It's not x793." Lucy told him, as kindly as she could. The man looked up to her, confused. "It's x801."

The doctor immediately stepped closer to Gray, and started poking him, opening his eyes and looking into them, using the lantern. "Impressive." Dr. Young murmured to himself while Gray still processed what Lucy told him. "I never had a patient who had amnesia, let alone lose the memories of almost a decade!"

"Wow. Wait, what?" Gray frowned. "It can't be."

"Gray, this is not the year x793. It's x801." Lucy said, calmly but the Ice Mage could see in her eyes that she was as surprise as he was.

"Don't kid around, Lucy." Gray tried to smile, hoping that she was pranking him right back for what he did to Natsu a few days back.

"I am not." She put a hand on top of his. "You said it yourself that I look different; and I do: I am eight years older than what you remember, I think that my hair is a little shorter now."

"But..." Gray's eyes went from the Stellar Mage to the Doctor. "I just went to sleep in x793 and woke up in x801? That makes no sense!" Gray yelled and his head hurt, making him groan in pain.

"Calm down, Mr. Fullbuster." The doctor pushed him down to lie on the bed, and when the dark haired man finally settled down, he put a hand over his eyes, and no one said anything for a while.

"Okay: time skip again. Only this time it's just with me." Gray whispered. "Been there, done that. This is getting old real fast." Removing his hands from his face, the man sat once more, this time without help. "Doc, is this temporary?"

"We would need to make a few tests, but we never know. The brain is a mystery." Dr. Young said, looking down to his charts. I'll schedule e few tests to know what we are dealing with, but no matter what, you need to rest, Mr. Fullbuster." The older man nodded and left the room.

After a few moments of silence, Gray turned to look at the blonde woman. "Eight years, really?"

"Yes." Lucy agreed, softly.

"Man, what did I miss?" The dark haired man asked. "What happened with you all this time?"

"Oh, you know." Lucy dismissed him and when saw his look of 'No, I don't', she blushed. "Sorry, that was insensitive of me." She sat on the chair next to the bed. "Well… Natsu and I got married six years ago." The woman raised her left hand to show a golden band on her finger.

"What?" Gray smiled. Back in x793 they were already looking at each other funny, especially Lucy and somehow, those two marrying each other was right.

The blonde giggled. "You were the best man, by the way." She relaxed a bit on the chair. "And we have twin boys: Igor and Julei." Even more surprised now, Gray's eyes went wide. What age were he and his friends in x801? Gray was twenty-eight, so Lucy was twenty-seven and so were some of his closest friends.

"How old are they?" The Ice Mage asked.

"Four." Lucy smiled. "They are copies of Natsu, by the way."

"Oh, god." Gray groaned. "The world does not need three Natsus."

"You said that when we announced that I had twins." The Stellar Spirit Mage said softly and Gray felt his stomach turn again. What other important things did he miss? What else happened during these eight years of his life? Years that he lost? Or maybe he didn't lose them? What happened in his life?

"I wonder what else changed." Gray whispered and then, the door opened and the man turned his head in the direction of it, only to see a person he knew very well. The blue hair and the whiteness of her skin were still the same. But she changed, he could tell; the hair was loose and longer, like Mirajane's, but it was curlier and was had no hat on. She was wearing a light loose blue dress that showed a lot of her cleavage (he noticed that it improved as well). He also noticed that the years had done nothing but good things to her; even though she had bags under them, she was still... Breathtaking.

"Oh, Gray-sama, you're awake. Juvia thought that..." She stayed in place at the door just for a few seconds and Gray was about to tell her that he wasn't going down that easily when she ran towards him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Oh, Juvia was so worried." Gray smiled softly and put his hand on her hair. It was good to know that at least that didn't change. "She thought..."

"Sorry about that." Gray said, and he truly regretted worrying his friends.

"Juvia was going to stay here until you woke up, but Ur needed her." That was an odd name. Why would someone they knew have the same name as his teacher? Well, he guessed that if it was important, he would figure it out soon enough. "And Lucy-san said that Juvia needed to rest."

The Ice Mage nodded, and noticed that she still had her arms around him, and oddly, he didn't seem to find it awkward. "It's alright."

"Juvia, there's something..." Lucy tried to say, but the blue haired woman didn't listen.

"I thought I lost you." Juvia put her hands on his cheeks and before he could fully process what she was doing, the Water Mage had kissed him.

His eyes opened wide, his heart started to beat faster and he didn't even think of pulling her away: he was in shock.

Juvia was kissing him!

'Well, it was about time one of us made a move.' His mind whispered and Gray had to agree. After almost three years of dancing around and pretending she was only his friend, even he was getting tired of it.

She pulled away and smiled to him, eyes watery, but sparkling with happiness; while Gray was sure that he looked like a fish: opening and closing his mouth, without really knowing what to do next.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked, softly, and then turned to the doctor, who had just arrived in the room. Apparently, they met in the hallway and Dr. Young told him he was awake. "Is he alright?"

"Well, Mrs... There's something wrong with his memory." The man said, and Gray frowned. Mrs?

"What?" Juvia got up from the bed – Gray didn't even saw her sit there – and he noticed the golden band on her left hand. Oh, shit. Juvia was married? To whom? And why did she kiss him if she was married? And why was she married in the first place? Who was this guy? Was he good enough to her? Probably not. And there he was thinking that she would never leave him, and there she was: married to some guy!

"Juvia." Lucy stepped closer to the blunette. "Gray seems to have… amnesia. We don't know if it's permanent, though."

All the color of the Water Mage's face was drained in an instant. She turned to look at Gray, the happiness gone, replaced by confusion.

"What's the last thing you remember, Gray-sama?" She asked him, and the man thought it was nice to know that some things didn't change.

"Going to sleep back in the year x793." He said and Lucy had to hold Juvia when the blunette almost fell, her knees got weak; horror written all over her face. Gray got up, concerned with her but in front of his eyes, it looked like a thousand of fireworks were exploding, and he had to hold on to the bed himself, but still managed to get closer to her, the doctor holding Gray. "Juvia, sorry, I…"

"You don't remember anything, then?" Juvia's brown eyes were on him. "Us? Ur?"

"Ur? My teacher?" Gray asked – what did his teacher had to do with anything? –, frowning and if it was possible, more color drained from her face.

"You don't remember." Lucy led Juvia to the chair by Gray's side while the blunette muttered the words over and over again. The doctor helped the Ice Mage to return to the bed, but his dark eyes were focused on Juvia's face.

The blonde woman kneeled in front of the Water Mage. "Juvia, you can't stress yourself. It's going to hurt the baby."

Gray saw Juvia put a hand over her stomach – which, now that she was siting and the fabric of her dress was settled, he could see that it was slightly swollen – and he lost his ground once again: not only she was married, but was also – he couldn't even say it right – pregnant? Plus he lost eight years of his life: that day was getting better and better.

"Lucy-san. He doesn't remember me. Not even Ur." Juvia told the Stellar Spirit Mage, who nodded while the blunette started to shed a few tears.

"Everything will be fine, just try not to stress yourself, okay?" Lucy said and the Water Mage nodded; then, turned her head to talk to Gray. "I think you'll have even more surprises today, Gray."

"What is going on?" The man's head was still throbbing and it seemed to get worse with Juvia's reaction about his memory loss.

"Five years ago, you and Juvia got married." Lucy bit her lower lip and let the dark haired man take it in before continue. "And you have a son, Ur, the same age as my boys." Wide eyed, the Ice Mage looked to Juvia once again, and this time, she was staring back at him. "And there's another one on the way."

"But…" Gray whispered. "I just went to sleep last night…"

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AN: This was supposed to be a One Shot, but… couldn't help myself.

This one's called Someone Else's Life, but when I told the plot to my friend Esthellar, she told me that I should change it to: "How Many Bad Things Can Happen In Only One Chapter", so I decided to write three or four.

(And yes, totally reusing the names from 'About Love' with this new generation.)

And yes, me and my Family!Gruvia. AGAIN. Sorry about repeating myself and using clichés. Still, I hope you like it!

09/16/2013 ~ BonneyQ