AN: YAAAAAAY! Juvia and Gray vs Chelia and Lyon. Oh, the epicness! My feeeeeeells! I want to see some Gruvia fighting style combo!

After chapter 316 and Juvia being, well… Juvia, I have to tell you before you all think that this is OOC: people grow up! Juvia and Gray are not 18 anymore, they're older and wiser. I certainly changed a lot since I was 17. I'm trying my best to make them in character even though they matured, okay?

I tried to make it as light as I could, but it is still a little dark. My PMS is getting in the way of my writing. T_T

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What to Expect When You're Expecting

Chapter Four – We Can't Go Back

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"Yes, I'd rather hurt than feel nothing at all. It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now." – Need You Now – Lady Antebellum

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"This is so awesome!" Loki yelled above the loud music while Gray just laughed a little at his friend; he had a few to drink and was kind of 'happy' already. Loki had dragged him along to the dance floor and Gray made a note in his head to ask on of his friends who weren't drinking to take him home. He certainly couldn't take him in the back of his motorcycle while the other guy was drunk. He couldn't drive and pay attention to not letting him fall at the same time.

Besides, Loki was probably going to have a one night stand with some random girl anyways and arrive safely at their place the other day. It happened a lot.

Before he could say that Loki had to sit down for a bit, some red haired girl started to dance with Loki –there she was: the one night stand girl–, Gray was ready to return to the table he shared with his friends, a blond girl tried to start dancing with him.

She was hot, he gave her that. Curly hair, green eyes, full lips, had a very sizeable bosom and by the way she was twisting her body, she was very into him. But Gray declined it as kindly as he could, stepping back.

"Sorry." He yelled to the girl because of the music. "I gotta…"

"Come on!" She giggled and stepped closer to him again. "We only graduate once! Let's have some fun, Fullbuster!" Oh, so she knew him? He had so many classes with so many people, that he didn't know them all. That girl certainly wasn't in his circle of friends. "I had this crush on you since third year, you know? I couldn't make my move on you until now, even though I tried to approach."

"You did?" Gray was surprised. He didn't notice that.

"Every party, I would have a shot of tequila and try to talk to you. But that bodyguard of yours," The blonde said, still yelling to be heard above the music. "Julia, I think; she was always by your side. And since she's not here today, I thought that maybe…"

"Her name is Juvia." Gray said to the girl even though seemed irrelevant for her, it wasn't for Gray. "She's not here yet." He tried to explain. Mira had told him how Lisanna's car broke down when they were in the way and couldn't arrive until later. Gray accepted that; they couldn't catch a cab and leave the car, and Juvia wouldn't leave Lisanna alone in the driveway at night just to get there. It made sense, but still hurt, especially when they weren't on best terms. "She'll arrive in a few."

The girl smiled knowingly. "And you rather dance with her. I guess the rumors about you two not being together weren't true."

"What? We are not…" He tried, but she stopped him. It was already a reflex for him to deny any relationship other than friendship towards both of them.

"Anyone can see that she likes you, Fullbuster. And here you are turning me down and waiting for her." She giggled. "Many of our colleagues tried to make a move on me, your friend here included," She pointed behind her, where Loki and Red Haired Girl were already kissing. "but you are saying 'no' because you already have someone."

"I…" He mumbled. The girl smiled, she couldn't hear him, but by his expression said it all; he wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"Go wait for your girl, Fullbuster." She said loudly. "Fortunately for me, I also had a crush on Kyle Mitt and he seems to be alone and interested."

Gray nodded and turned to go away and went to find his friends. He had to pass through a lot of people to get out of the dance floor and when he finally did, to find his table was another quest. After a few minutes of searching, he finally saw something that lead him the right way: only Natsu had that especial shade of nasty hair color.

"Finally!" He said, sitting down beside Lucy, who laughed.

"You don't seem to be having the greatest time." She said.

"Loki's compensating, trust me." Gray snorted. "When I left, he already had someone's tongue down his throat, or vice-versa. I try not to think on the details."

"Good for him." Lucy shrugged and then slapped Natsu's arm. "At least someone is out there, dancing."

"For goodness sake, Lucy!" Natsu said, trying to put his arms out of her reach. "You said it many times for me not to dance in public because I break stuff! Usually someone's toe. Or leg." Gray nodded. When Natsu Dragoneel danced, bones were bound to be broken.

"I said: don't dance alone around people!" Lucy rolled her eyes. "You can dance with me, though. I know you won't break my toe. Again."

"It was an accident." Natsu mumbled and looked down in shame. Lucy's eyes softened almost immediately.

"I know." She knew he would never hurt her on purpose in his life. The blonde got up and offered his hand to him. "Now let's dance." Natsu immediately got up, smiling widely. It was fun to dance, especially with Lucy. And with that many people squinted together, he could even feel her up a little bit. "And don't you dare think of feeling me up in public!" She warned him. "Again!"

"Aw, come on Lucy!" He whined, but followed her.

Gray sighed and stared at the empty table. There he was again, alone. If Juvia was there, she would've been with him and he wouldn't be so bored.

He cursed himself. When did she become such a strong presence in his life? When he had let her in so much? When did she become so close to him that her absence made him feel uneasy? He had known Lisanna longer than he had known Juvia, yet he wasn't bothered at all that she wasn't there. Sure, he was: they were friends, but not nearly as much as he was bothered by Juvia not being with him.

She was always there; telling him to try his best, and helping him do his best. She was always seeing the best inside him even when he couldn't.

Even with all his finals at school and preparing for graduation he was thinking about how he wanted things to get back to how they were. He remembered of how they studied together, even when they were in different semesters, they would go to his place, order some Chinese food and stay awake all night long studying. Sometimes he studied his stuff, and she studied hers. Other times, she would help him out and vice versa.

Not that last time. She needed space.

And Gray had to give it to her. He knew very well what she felt for him and for her, the way they slept together, was like crushing all her hopes and dreams. All because he was stupid enough to agree to forget what happened. That was his chance. His chance to tell her they could try something. They worked just fine.

'Love' wasn't in his repertoire, but he liked her. And as he grew older, the more he wanted to have someone by his side, like Natsu had Lucy. They started out like it's supposed to be: as friends. A few years later and there they were, waiting a couple of years to get married and be together forever.

He and Juvia, though… She started out as his enemy…

'Scratch that.' Gray sighed every time the thought would come up in his mind. 'Gajeel and Levy are together. I can't use that card.'

Even after being the biggest asshole in the world to her, Gajeel and Levy loved each other even after all the troubles. And Gajeel had bigger issues during his life, and even he opened up enough to have Levy.

Besides, everyone noticed the strange mood between them. Of course, they were assuming that Juvia really confessed her feelings for Gray, opening his eyes to what was in front of him this whole time.

Erza took him to a corner one day and told him:

'I don't know what happened between you two, but fix it. If you don't feel the same way, just tell her and let her go. If you do feel the same way, do something fast, otherwise she can get over you. She's not going to wait forever, Gray. And you know who's gonna be around when she gives up.' Of course he knew.

His 'elder brother' and first enemy; Lyon Vastia.

"Juvia-chan's not here yet?" Speaking of the devil. Gray sighed and looked to his left, where the voice came from.

"No, Lyon. She's not." He replied.

"Damn it. I thought she would be here by now." He sat beside Gray. "Why on earth would I be here tonight if it wasn't to see her?"

"I don't know. It's kind of my graduation night and You-Know-Who would kill you if you didn't come." Gray said sarcastically. "All the 'family sticks together' is getting old. It's not like we're brothers or something."

"I know." Lyon chuckled.

The dark haired man stared a bit his frenemy and Gray knew that if he pushed Juvia away for good, Lyon would be right there to catch her, but, unfortunately for the older man Gray had resolved his mind: that night, he was going to tell Juvia that even if they tried, things were never going to be the same again and they had to work it out. They could start having dinner together and see where it leads. They needed to go forward.

"Hey, isn't she the girl who Juvia was coming with?" The white haired man pointed and Gray turned to see Lisanna, searching for someone.

"Yes, it is." Gray frowned, if they were together, where was Juvia?

"Then Juvia-chan's here!" Lyon was already up. "But I can't see her."

Gray was too on his feet and walking towards Lisanna, who noticed both of them when they were close to her.

"Hey, Lyon! Gray! Congratulations!" She gave him a fast hug. "Now can you tell me where my brother is? I have to…"

"Wait, why are you alone?" Gray frowned. "Weren't you coming with Juvia? Gajeel told me that you two would ride together."

Lisanna visible paled and looked everywhere but into Gray or Lyon's eyes. Both men exchanged a look and immediately got worried. Juvia wouldn't miss her friend's party for no reason.

"What Mira-nee told you?" She eventually asked.

"That there was an accident on the way and traffic was slow." Gray lied. If his gut was telling him the right thing, something was not right. Not right at all.

"Yeah. That. Horrible thing. Blood everywhere." Lisanna was too nervous and he had known her for years. She was covering something. And it involved his... Involved Juvia. "It was a nasty, nasty thing. Juvia… hm… she decided to go back home because… you know, it was taking too long and all the blood and I swear I saw some brain and..."

"Lisanna, Mirajane told us that your car broke down." Lyon said kindly, because Gray was staring at the white haired girl with narrowed eyes. "Gray lied."

"Where's she?" Gray asked.

"Hm..." Lisanna looked up. She was so hiding something!

"Lisanna." Gray practically snarled her name. "What really happened?"

"You know... Car trouble!" Gray stared: he didn't believe her. "Hm... Nuclear waste on the way?" His expression changed to irritation. "Alien invasion?" Lisanna saw him breathe in too much to control his temper. It was bad when the usually cool Gray started to get red with anger.

"She didn't want to come." Gray said giving a few steps towards the party and then returning. He looked like a caged tiger. "Juvia didn't want to come?"

Lisanna knew that she couldn't fool Gray. It was Juvia, for goodness sake! Even with the new 'vibe' around them, she wouldn't miss the party. Not without a good reason. And god knows she had one.

"Gray, something… happened on the way." She couldn't say a thing more without breaking the news. Gray stopped walking, Lyon and Lisanna staring at him with weary eyes.

"No. Something happened weeks ago. I am not having this shit anymore." He reached for his pocket and got his keys. "I'll talk to her. Today."

"What?" Lisanna asked, following Gray. Lyon tried to grab his arm, but Gray easily escaped. "No, you can't."

"Oh, I can. Watch me." He said and went to the valet to get his helmet back and while he did it, Lisanna tried to reason with him.

"Look, not tonight, okay?" The valet gave him the helmet. "She has something important on her mind." The three of them walked outside and Lisanna tried to reason with him as he walked over his motorcycle.

"Yeah? I have something important on my mind for five weeks too. We'll discuss and compare notes." He was going to put his helmet on, but Lyon stopped him.

"Gray, you are not yourself right now." The older man said. He was too worried about what would keep Juvia away from showing up that night. "It's almost two am. Whatever happened, Lisanna just told you that it's not a good night for her to deal with an angry you right now."

"Stay out of this." Gray snarled to Lyon. "This has nothing to do with you."

"It does if you're gonna say hurtful things to Juvia." Lyon stepped closer to Gray, daring him to tell him otherwise. Lisanna was panicking a little. She couldn't stop a fight between those two by herself! "I'm trying to protect her."

"I won't do anything!" Gray said. "I am mad, sure. But I don't want to hurt her feelings; I want to set things straight. It's passed time." He put his helmet on. "I'll say it again: stay out of this. Juvia is my problem. She'll never be yours."

Hurt passed through Lyon's eyes and he stepped back. "You know what? Go. Have it your way. When you fall from the pedestal, I'll be there. Just go and make the process faster."

Gray sat on his motorcycle and Lisanna tried again.

"Please, Gray."

"Move it, Lisanna." He said, starting his bike. "Things will be resolved right now." And then he took off, as fast as he could. At that rate, he would be in her place in ten minutes instead in half an hour."

Both white haired people stared as Gray went away and after a moment, Lyon spoke.

"You should let her know that Gray's going. If her problem is still in her mind, she should be prepared to deal with two, instead of one." He started to walk towards his own car: he had no reason to stay any longer.

Lisanna nodded and picked her phone to call Juvia. It was off.

"Oh, this is not good." Lisanna said to herself.

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Someone was knocking on her door so hard that Juvia feared that it was going to break down. She fastened her robe around herself and went to see who it was. If she had been asleep, she would probably have a heart attack. But she wasn't able to sleep after the doctor's words. She had been thinking and the more she thought, the more she was feeling numb.

She opened the door and saw the last person she expected there that night.

"Gray-sama?" She asked dumbly. He had his helmet on his hand and seemed extremely pissed off. 'Oh, god. He knows.' She thought. "What are you doing here?"

He entered the apartment and when he reached the living room, he turned to stare at her. "You told me it would be fine after some time! You assured me that we would be fine!" He threw his helmed on the couch.

"Gray-sama...?" Juvia was confused, he knew?

"No, don't interrupt me! Weeks, Juvia! You have been avoiding me for weeks. You and I made a mistake that night, but that shouldn't have affected our friendship! We both know that tonight was a moment in my life that I..." He passed his hands through his hair in frustration. That month was so stressful, so shitty and the night that he could make it right she didn't appear. 'Something came up'.

"Gray-sama..." The blunette sighed. At least he didn't know about the pregnancy. Yet.

"You weren't there! When I was handed my diploma, I searched for my family. Everyone was there but you." He yelled and a voice inside Juvia's head told her that probably her neighbors could hear it all. "I searched for you and you weren't there. Then when I ask if someone saw you, Mira says you were with Lisanna and that the car broke down and you were just running a little late. And then, Lisanna arrives and start to give me bullshit of why you weren't there!"

"Gray-sama, I..." She tried again, but he interrupted her again.

"And now, after weeks I have to come by you place at two a.m., after all the silence, to try to understand what the hell is happening? Please, do tell what is that I do! I thought we were going to be fine! You said it!"

Juvia just waited that time when he gasped for air, he had to yell at her and take it whatever was inside his chest out. His face was red and he was breathing hard, but he had to take his frustrations away.

"And I missed you." Gray continued to yell, but at each word he was speaking lower. "For the last three years I've seen you almost every day and now, when we look to each other, we look away. We used to talk. Well, you talked and I listened mostly, but it was our thing! Now, you don't even come to my graduation. Is that what we turned out to be? Strangers?" He stopped the yelling and the color of his face was finally returning to normal. "I don't want you to become a strange." Gray almost whispered. "But we can't go back either…"

Juvia stepped towards Gray and put a hand on his cheek, her thumb caressing it. "Juvia told you the last time we spoke that she would be there for you whenever you needed her. That didn't change. She just needed her time to process what happened. And she did. Her goal was to have what we had back."

"But we can't go back." He whispered.

"No, we can't." Juvia took her hand away and whispered, looking down and Gray frowned.

"We can go forward…" Gray whispered, but Juvia didn't hear, absorbed on her own thoughts, choosing her next words.

"Juvia was ready to go to the party and try, Gray-sama. She even entered Lisanna-san's car. But… something happened today during the ride, Juvia found out something... Big. Life changing." She said.

"How big?" He eyed her with doubt.

"Twice as big as anything you can think of right now that I can guarantee." Juvia sighed.

Gray was concerned, then. He could think of a few very nasty things. "Are you alright? What happened?"

She stared at him for a moment. Oh, if only he knew. She bet that if she told him right there and then, he would faint, like she almost did when she heard about the news two hours before.

"Juvia's not telling tonight." The blunette shook her head, her blue locks falling over her shoulders.

"Anything I can help you with?" Gray asked. His anger was forgotten, concern taking over his being. Besides, she was willing to try too.

Juvia's eyes went from him to the window, where she could see the light coming from the streets. He had been so stressed out lately and had all that bottled up inside, while she also hadn't had the best weeks of her life. It was college pressure, pressure to be normal around their friends. Pressure everywhere.

And now she had the pressure of being pregnant and with no idea of what to do about herself, Gray and the baby.

The girl nodded and grabbed his hand; Juvia started leading him further inside the apartment. Gray was following her without really understanding what was happening but if it was to help her out, it was fine.

"Where are we...?" Gray stopped once they reached a closed door. "What's going on...?"

The blunette opened the door and what he saw took his breath away for a moment; it was her bedroom.

"Juvia..." Gray's throat was suddenly dry. The implication was as clear as it could get. "We already messed our friendship with that one night, we can't..." Juvia let go of his hand and stepped inside, when she turned around, she was unknotting her robe. She let it fall and Gray could see that Juvia was just wearing shorts and a very thin shirt. Gray gulped. It was hard to think. It was getting harder to breathe. Everything was getting harder, by the way.

"At this point, it doesn't matter anymore." The girl tip toed and kissed his lips lightly. Gray took a sharp breath. "If the last few weeks were half as stressful for you as they were for Juvia, you need a breather. And if Gray-sama knew how the last couple of hours have been for Juvia, you would want her to have a breather too."

"But our friendship…" Oh, how gay that sounded? There was a hot half-naked woman offering him sex and he just had to sound like a goddamn queer who cared about their friendship. He wanted to go forward with her, but that? It was insane. It was too soon…

"It's not your friendship that Juvia wants tonight. She wants to forget the world for a moment." The girl kissed his jaw and Gray's heartbeat was so loud that he was sure she could hear it. "And Juvia wants you to make her forget."

"What happened, Juvia?" Gray asked, his hands on her hips, their noses touching each other's. She was acting so strange.

"Maybe Juvia can tell you in the morning." She said as quietly as she could while she was waiting for Gray's decision. "It's up to you now."

Gray stared at her deep blue eyes and tried to find something in them to make him back off but found none. Actually, she was lacking the sparkle she always had in her eyes and maybe that was her sign of the 'few bad weeks'. Besides that, he could see that her eyes were darkening as she looked down. He looked down as well to find himself taking off his tux. Apparently, his body was acting on his own.

Once the coat was off, Gray took the tie; he had already loosened earlier while he was yelling at her, off.

They stared at each other for a moment before Gray grabbed her by the waist, bodies colliding together. He leaned to kiss her, but stopped just before he did it.

"This is not drunken sex. We know exactly what's gonna happen." Juvia nodded, impatient with his speech. "I don't know what yet, but this does mean something." Gray said. "We'll figure things out in the morning." He finally kissed her.

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AN: Oh, bollocks. This story is losing control; not even I know where the hell this came from! I thought of a completely different scenario and this appeared while I was writing. Right now, you guys know just as much as I do. :O Please gods, don't give me a block. Not another one.

Will she tell him in the morning? I don't know! Will she run away again? I don't know! Will he stay after their second night together? I don't know! Will he leave? I don't know! I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

What the hell am I thinking? *bashes her head on the wall over and over* These fingers of mine just do what they want! Blame them for the soap opera thingy going on, alrighty? :)

Oh, well. If anyone read this 'til here, I'd like to give special thanks to: Yukistar, Seyrin, NekoMaji, GruviaForLife, cybercorpsesnake, AliceCullen3, DanielleFullbuster, Theejay-sama, , TAEMiNATOR18, ke23 , xScarletxMoonx0, Essence97, Xeylah, Rainbows-and-Rainclouds, YamixTeaLover, SereneButterfly23, Chibi Waru-Chan, superduperizee, Cupcake-Lover-1374, Tamely, yagami rin, Kagome Juh , Angel the Neko and Jessicutie! Thank you! :D

01/25/13