Best-Laid Mistakes
Chapter 1
by Contrail
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, and is being used without permission. No profit is being made from this story.
Notes: This particular story was inspired by a plot idea someone sent to randomteenager's writing tumblr anonymously, though I changed some of the details of the request.
After Juvia woke up that Sunday morning, it didn't take long for her to decide that doing so had been a very bad idea. Her eyelids felt like sandpaper every time she blinked, her head was pounding like some one was playing an enthusiastic game of whack-a-mole with it, the sunlight coming in through the room's curtains was stabbing her retinas, her mouth tasted like something had died in it, her stomach felt like it might decide to evacuate its contents at any minute, and probably the only reason she wasn't wincing at every loud sound was that there weren't any.
As she looked around herself blearily, she noticed a tall glass of water and some painkillers on the nightstand next to her. Gratefully, she swallowed the pills and washed them down with a long gulp of water. She laid there, drinking the rest of the glass more slowly, until she only felt half-dead instead of fully dead. Once she started feeling a bit better, she became more aware of her situation. She wasn't in her own bedroom - instead, this seemed to be a room in some sort of motel. And she was completely naked beneath the sheets, when the only times she slept nude were, well…
Juvia wracked her still barely functional brain, trying to remember how she'd ended up like this. One of her friends, Cana, had coaxed her to go out drinking last night, saying that she'd been moping for long enough over breaking up with her last boyfriend. She couldn't keep a frown from her lips at the thought of him. Her relationship with Bora had lasted for nearly a year, until she'd walked in on him two months ago, screwing another girl in their bed. Juvia had demanded to know how many other girls he'd slept with while dating her, when any time she'd been jealous of other girls hanging around him he'd told her that she was the only one for him. He'd coolly retorted that it was her fault that he'd had to look elsewhere, that she'd been too clingy and too gloomy, not willing enough to go out and have fun with him.
She'd started to protest that she had to work, she couldn't go out every night, but he'd cut her off, telling her that he just couldn't take this anymore, that they were through. Stunned, she'd just stood there, tears starting to leak out of her eyes, as he told her that he was taking the other girl home, and that she and her things should be gone from his apartment by the time he got back. She'd managed to call her friend Gajeel to come and get her with his truck before breaking down into heartbroken sobbing. Once Gajeel had shown up, he'd helped her pack her stuff up, muttering all the while about how he wished Bora was there so he could give him a piece of his mind. She'd been glad that they finished up and left before Bora got back, not wanting Gajeel to get into trouble for assaulting him.
After that, she had avoided going out at all, feeling too discouraged to even think of dating again. She'd thought that maybe she'd found someone who would love and accept all of her with Bora, only to find out that he saw her the same way everyone else did in the end. But Cana had told her that she 'shouldn't let a bastard like that get her down' and that even if she didn't find anyone who'd love her like that, that didn't mean that she couldn't still have some fun. So she'd ended up going out with Cana, Lisanna, and Meredy, her closest female friends - they'd all become friends while they were in college, and had ended up moving to Magnolia together (well, moving back in Lisanna's case).
To make sure they didn't run into Juvia's ex, they avoided their usual haunts and went to a club named Fairy Tail. Lisanna's older brother and sister worked there as a bouncer and bartender respectively, and they tended to be overprotective of her, which is why they hadn't gone there before. But Lisanna was willing to put up with their fussing for Juvia's sake - Bora had done something to get himself banned from the club, so they knew that he wouldn't be there. Over the course of the night, Cana had kept ordering refills of her drinks for her, 'to make sure that she would have fun', and after a while all she could remember of the previous night was a blur of light and noise.
Sighing with the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to remember anything more right then, if ever, she began to get up off the bed, unable to keep from wincing as she started to move. Her leg muscles were sore from overexertion and there was a sticky residue on the insides of her thighs, clues enough to give her some idea of what had happened during the time she couldn't remember. Waking up in a motel room with no memory of a night of drunken sex wasn't something she was used to (that was more Cana's thing) but she supposed there was a first time for everything.
Staggering her way to the bathroom, she started to comb out her hair before getting into the shower. A fleeting glance in the mirror made her pause and take a closer look at herself. Several hickeys stood out against the pale skin of her neck and breasts, and looking down she could see a few more dotting her inner thighs. She couldn't help blushing a bit at the visible evidence of a wild night. It was kind of a pity she couldn't remember anything about what had happened, because it seemed like she'd had the best - or at least most enthusiastic - sex of her life.
Once she ensured that the water was hot enough, she stepped under the spray. The warmth that beat against her skin soothed her aching muscles and rejuvenated her to the point she almost felt human again. She wished she had the time to take a lengthy bath, but she didn't know what time the room was rented until, so she needed to get out as soon she could. After she finished her shower, she dried her hair enough that she wouldn't drip too much and wrapped a towel around herself.
It took some searching, but she eventually found her clothes from last night, which had obviously been taken off in a hurry. One of the side seams of her underwear had ripped, though, and the hooks of her bra had been bent out of shape, rendering both of them useless. Sighing, she shoved the ruined articles of clothing into her purse before pulling on the dress she'd been wearing last night, a knit tube dress of alternating blue and black stripes. It showed off quite a bit of cleavage and only came down to mid-thigh, which made the idea of going commando under it less than thrilling, but she didn't exactly have a lot of choice in the matter. She didn't usually wear that kind of style, really, but Cana had insisted that she wear something 'sexy' when they went out.
As she looked around the room to make sure she wasn't leaving anything important, she realized that whoever she'd slept with hadn't left any trace of their presence behind, with the possible exception of the water and painkillers. Juvia wasn't sure how she felt about that - it saved her the awkwardness of waking up in the arms of a total stranger, but at same time it meant she knew nothing about about the guy she'd slept with - not his name, not what he looked like, not anything. She guessed it was a clear sign that he didn't want it to be anything other than it had been - a one-night stand between two strangers.
At the checkout counter, she asked if she needed to pay for the room, only to be assured that it had already been paid for and she just needed to turn in the keycards. That was a relief. Other than leaving her without a word, her mysterious lover seemed to be a decent person, if his making sure the room was paid and (probably) leaving her something to help deal with her hangover was any indication.
Checking her location on her phone, she wasn't too far away from where she and her friends lived, but it was farther than she wanted to walk, particularly when she wasn't wearing any underwear. Figuring that Cana had probably already recovered from their night out (she had much more practice at it, after all), Juvia called her. Cana picked up after a couple of rings. "Hey. How was your night, hmm?" she asked in a suggestive tone.
Pouting even though Cana couldn't see her, she whined, "Cana, how could you let Juvia go off with some stranger like that?!"
"Now, now, you can't tell me you didn't enjoy yourself. What better way to get over a break up than to drown your sorrows with alcohol and meaningless sex?" She could practically hear the smirk on Cana's face.
"Juvia doesn't know if she enjoyed herself because she doesn't remember most of last night! What if she'd been taken by a rapist or a murderer or something?!"
"Eh, really? I didn't think you'd drunk enough to be that far gone… Guess I forgot how much of a lightweight you are. Still, you seemed pretty happy the last time I saw you, dragging some guy to the dance floor. I'll try to keep a better eye on you next time, though."
She sighed. She loved Cana dearly, but being responsible was not her strong suit. Cana thought everyone was as willing to do anything that seemed fun - and as able to take of themselves even while drunk - as she was. "There won't be a next time because Juvia is never drinking that much ever again."
"Awwww, you're no fun." She was sure that Cana was the one pouting this time.
"Anyway, Juvia woke up in a motel room this morning, and she would rather not walk home, so she was hoping that you would come get her."
"Sure thing. What's the address?" Juvia rattled off the address, and Cana assured her that she'd be there as soon as she could before hanging up. Cana might not be the most responsible person, but she was always willing to help out if her friends needed her.
Settling in to wait, Juvia hoped that she'd be on her way home soon, so she could just forget about the whole - somewhat embarrassing in her opinion - incident.
It never occurred to her to wonder if they'd used protection that night or not.
Over the next few weeks, Juvia slowly started to feel, well, just plain off. At first she just felt more tired than usual even though she was getting the same amount of sleep she usually did. Then certain foods, like coffee, that had never bothered her before started to make her feel nauseous. She didn't have to eat them - even just the sight or smell of them would make her feel ill. She initially thought it might just be food poisoning or some sort of flu, but as these symptoms lingered without any other signs of illness she began to get worried.
The nail in the coffin appeared when she missed her period - she was pretty regular, so for it to be late by more than a couple of days was weird. And while she thought she'd gotten her period the time before, it had been unusually light and short… But she couldn't be pregnant, could she? It had been months since she'd broken up with Bora… And then it hit her. Since she couldn't remember anything about what happened during her drunken one-night stand, she had no idea if they'd used any sort of protection, and she wasn't on the pill because her last boyfriend had always insisted on using condoms anyway.
With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Juvia drove to the nearest grocery store to purchase a pregnancy test. After a few minutes of looking over her options (who knew that there were so many different brands of pregnancy tests?!) she picked out two that sounded good, figuring that one might end up being wrong so having a back up would be a good idea. Once she returned to her apartment, she headed straight to the bathroom. She read over the instructions a couple of times to make sure she understood them, then took the tests.
The minutes she had to wait for the results were nerve-wracking. She found herself wandering around the apartment, straightening things that didn't really need to be straightened, just to have something to keep herself busy. It felt like she'd checked the clock a million times before the necessary three minutes had elapsed. With shaking hands, she picked up the first test and looked at the result.
Positive.
But maybe it was wrong? So she set that one down and reached for the second one.
Also positive.
Meaning she was almost certainly pregnant. What was she going to do now?
That question haunted her for the next few days, even through getting an appointment with a gynecologist and verifying that she was indeed pregnant. After the appointment was over, she made her way to work while in a daze. She only came back to herself when her boss rested a hand on her shoulder and leaned in to get a good look at her face. "Is something wrong, Juvia?" he ask, voice laced with concern. "You've been out of it lately."
Juvia worked as a secretary for Fullbuster Heating & Cooling, since jobs that actually used her degree in Marine Biology were unfortunately hard to come by in Magnolia. The owner - her boss - Silver Fullbuster was a kind and often genial man. He had seemed to take a liking to her in particular, often teasing her about what a great daughter-in-law she'd make and offering to set her up with his son, which always made her blush and shake her head.
Maybe that was the reason she trusted him enough to confide her worries, or maybe she had just kept them to herself for too long, but she slowly nodded as she said, "There is…" He waited patiently as she took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing. "Juvia… Juvia's pregnant."
Silver's eyebrows rose. "Pregnant?" he asked, puzzled. "Didn't you break up with your boyfriend months ago? Unless…" His expression was rapidly darkening, and she could guess what path his thoughts had wandered down.
She quickly shook her head no. "Nothing like that happened. Juvia just did something foolish, that's all." She looked down, embarrassed, and started fiddling with her fingers in her lap. "Some friends talked Juvia into going out, to try to forget about what happened with her ex, and she ended up getting really drunk and sleeping with someone. Since she can't even remember much of what happened, she obviously didn't have the presence of mind to make sure protection was used, so…"
When she looked back up at Silver, wondering what his reaction was going to be, he simply gave her a sympathetic nod and asked, "What are you going to do now?"
Wiping at the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, she met his gaze with her own and told him honestly, "Juvia… Juvia doesn't know yet. She doesn't want to get rid of the child growing within her, even if it only exists because she made a mistake, but she doesn't know if she can manage to raise a child all on her own. She knows her friends will help as much as they can, but they have their own lives to worry about, and Juvia doesn't have any family to rely on either…"
He looked at her solemnly for a few moments, then an idea seemed to come to him, prompting to place another hand on her shoulders. "This isn't the way I wanted this to happen, but I've always said I wanted you to become a Fullbuster someday, right?" She nodded, prompting him to continue. "How would you feel about me adopting you as my daughter?"
She blinked at him, eyes widening. "You… You want to adopt Juvia?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Silver gave her a small grin. "Yeah. Well, I would've preferred you becoming a part of the family by marrying my idiot son, but that doesn't seem likely to happen now, so… If I adopt you, there'll be someone to take care of the kid if anything happens to you, and it'll be easier for me to visit you in the hospital and such. So, what d'ya say?"
Juvia could feel tears starting to trickle down her face. She'd spent so many years in an orphanage, hoping that someone would want to take her with them, to become part of their family, to be loved and love in return… But no one had ever wanted her. Yet, now, finally, someone was telling her that they wanted to take care of her, for her to be part of their family. Overcome with emotion, she wrapped her arms around her boss' waist and buried her head against his chest. "Juvia would love to," she managed to choke out.
Though momentarily startled, it wasn't long until Silver wrapped his own arms around her, one hand stroking her hair while the other stroked her back. "Then welcome to the family, kid."
She couldn't help smiling through her tears. "Thank you, sir."
He chuckled, shaking his head at her. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Silver? Though I guess it should be Dad now, instead."
"Then, thank you, Father."
"I guess that's close enough."
Please review and let me know what you thought of this. Oh, and in case anyone's wondering about when I'll be updating my other in progress stories, I'm currently working on the first installment of another (hopefully fairly short) project (because I really need more works in progress, not), and then I'll see about updating A Change in Timing and How to Continue Living, in that order. I've been on a bit of a writing spree lately, so hopefully that will continue and I'll be able to get those new chapters out in the next couple of weeks.
