Chapter three, more of 2.5 since 2 was so short.
"May I ask where Juvia is," Bixlow prodded the sleeping girl in the shoulder to wake her up, "the mom-to-be would like to see you please." Juvia practically popped up from her position leaning against Laxus and bounded off behind the nurse who seemed slightly unnerved by the amount of energy radiating off the freshly woken mage. When Juvia reached the room she peeked around the door slowly and cleared her throat to announce her arrival. "You wanted to see me?"
Mira smiled but looked extremely tired, her face was flushed and she was clearly in a great amount of pain. Freed gestured Juvia over and placed Mira's hand in hers. "The baby is almost here and we wanted you to be here for the arrival since you played such a big part in making sure we made it to this day." Freed then walked to the other side of the bed and grasped Mira's other hand as she gripped down and began to experience another contraction.
"I'd say it's time to push!" the doctor exclaimed as she came in to check the progress. "I can see a little green tuft of hair already, so baby is right there." Mira looked nervous, and it was not something that Juvia had only seen from the strong woman one other day, and she understood why she was there to support her friend once again.
"You can do this Mira, let's meet your baby." Juvia whispered into her ear. After another ten minutes of pushing and coaching a small cry was heard, the three mages saw the doctor raise a little bundle and turn it slightly to face them. A beautiful squishy pink face was there, graced with green wisps of hair and eyes that blinked a few times and settled closed again sweetly. Juvia gasped quietly and felt a warmth in her heart upon seeing the baby.
Freed and Mira were leaning their foreheads together as the nurse placed the bundle in Mira's arms. They whispered and cooed sentiments to their new arrival and the nurse announced, "It's a girl." Freed proudly looked at his daughter and Mira snuggled the baby in her bundle. The family was so happy and perfect, Juvia thought to herself that it was worth every moment of recovery from her injuries to have ensured that all three of them made it.
Mira then whispered to Freed and he brought the bundle over to Juvia, "Aunt Juvia, Would you like to take your goddaughter out to meet his other Aunts and Uncles?" Juvia practically squealed when she took the tiny baby girl in her arms. "We aren't done picking the name yet, but they should at least get to meet him while we get Mira cleaned up." Freed explained.
The doors to the waiting room opened slowly and the nurse stepped aside to reveal Juvia beaming with the baby in her arms protectively. She kept stealing glances down at the little sleeping person in her grasp, so perfect and sweet. Laxus stood staring at the sight before him, his coffee slipped from his hand and the cup tipped it's contents onto the floor as he walked forward. Something about the sight of Juvia so happy with a baby turned the large man's brain to complete mush, he just had to get closer. "it's a girl, you all have a niece" Juvia said in a quiet voice above the sleeping baby's head, her lips pressed to her temple and she brushed her hand over his silky hair once more before she handed her over to a hyperventilating Lisanna.
"I am an aunt, officially an aunt. I have a niece." She rambled as she rocked the sweet baby. "does she have a name yet?" she asked and Juvia shook her head no.
Laxus drew Juvia in close, his brain running on the high of having the sight of her and the baby, he placed his lips on her neck and then asked "Could we do that?" She turned to meet his eyes wondering what he meant, "Do you want to do the whole thing? Move in, get married, have kids? Because I can see that, and I think I want that." Her face was changing as she processed his words, and fearing her rejecting the idea he followed up with, "Not right this second, but you know…take the steps."
Juvias brain had finally finished the processing and she was starting to radiate a glow and smile like he had never seen before. "We should do all of those things. Take steps, all of it" She practically danced on the spot. The others were so caught up with the new baby that they had missed the entire conversation and only noticed that something had happened when they saw Juvia throw herself on Laxus and start covering his face in kisses.
"what'd I miss?" Freed said from the doorway pushing an exhausted but elated looking Mira. The proud father looked at Laxus with a raised eyebrow and smirk.
"I don't know quite what to call it myself," Juvia smiled and tilted her head to peer at Laxus, hoping he might chime in with the words she couldn't seem to find at the moment.
Laxus squeezed Juvia in close under his protective arm and an unusually wide grin spread across his face as he announced, "She's making an honest man out of me. We're gonna do the whole deal, so I guess you could say we're engaged but that means I owe this woman a ring."
Cheers broke out across the group and there were hugs and back pats as Lisanna darted out of the throng of excited people to protect her new niece from the chaos. "it's okay little one, you'll get used to us." She whispered to the baby as she smiled at her quirky friends.
"What are you going to call her?" Evergreen asked peering at the baby girl. "She needs a name or Elfman is going to end up calling her man and I am going to have to smack him." She elbowed the large man in his ribs and laughed.
"We had a boy name decided, but we never could pick a girl name." Mira explained. "I just can't seem to find one we can both agree on."
Juvia pondered for a few moments while the rest of the group threw out suggestions. Rowan, Caliope, Tiara, Misty. All the names were thought about and then passed on. "Lyric" Juvia said finally. I looked up some names a while back and that stood out because it reminded me of her parents." When everyone looked at her without speaking she decided to explain further. "Well a lyric is part of a song, and a song is of course made of words which reminded me of Freed's runes, and songs flow and change as they play which made me think of Mira's takeover changes." She punctuated her thought with a meek smile and glanced around.
Freed nodded thoughtfully and Mira looked pleased. "I think that would be lovely Juvia, it's so soft and sweet sounding but has a great reason behind it, and you are her Godmother so I think it would be wonderful to be able to tell her you helped name her." Mira took her daughter from Lisanna and spoke down to her "Our Lyric."
"Why didn't you bring that up sooner, like months ago?" Freed jested. "You could have saved us many arguments about names." Seeing his wife's face at that comment he quickly added, "Not that it wasn't an enjoyable experience to spend those hours and hours with my wife." Mira rolled her eyes.
"I just didn't want to overstep, I am sure you got name suggestions from everyone," she giggled, "Like Bixlow suggesting Bixletta."
Bixlow gave a smug look, "It would have been a beautiful name."
"Are you ready for your first day as being replacement-Mira?" Lisanna asked Juvia. "Did she train you up well enough to run that joint while she is home with Lyric?"
"Let's just say I expect it will be an adventure." She answered. "and probably a whole lot more dangerous that most missions." She paled a bit at the image of a table smashing into her while she tended bar, "Maybe I should encourage Natsu to take a job as soon as I see him."
The nurse joined the group and spoke to the new parents, "It's getting late, would the two of you like to get some rest?" she motioned to the group, "your friends can come back tomorrow during visiting hours, I am sure you would all like to get some sleep."
Goodbyes were said and the friends headed out, as Juvia kissed Laxus goodnight she turned to head toward Fairy Hills and he grabbed her wrist and spun her back to look at him. "Would you like to give this moving in together thing a nice trial run tonight? We're closer to my-oh OUR place anyway." Juvia nodded as Laxus kissed her deeply and threw her over his shoulder, "let's go, you have no idea what you have gotten yourself into, should we start calling you Mrs. Dreyar to get you used to it?" he teased and headed toward home.
**possible bonus chapter of Juvia as replacement for Mira in the guild in the works**
