Time passed steadily on and Storm grew fast, his hair growing messier and his blue eyes brighter. He began to sit up quickly and loved to sit in the Hall and watch all the nonsense that happened in his guild every day.
On another day, just a year after Gray had ran Juvia to an infirmary and left on his "job", Juvia sat in the Hall with Storm sitting in front of her on the table, his little eyes scanning the room as he watched the others.
" What're you looking at, Storm?" She asked with a smile, her hands holding Storm's little hands.
He looked at her for a minute and then back to the table a bit away where Romeo was playing with purple fire.
Juvia smiled at her little boy. "Do you like magic, Storm?"
He giggled, putting his hands on her cheeks.
She scooted him back a little bit on the table and held her hand between them. "Here, look." A little drop of water sprung from her palm and hovered in front of the infant's forehead. He reached for it and it split into two drops, then three. The tiny boy giggled, trying to catch one drop after another.
"Don't teach him that lame magic. See if he wants to learn some Dragon Slayer stuff," said Gajeel's voice behind her. She turned to see him and Levy walking up her to her table. They sat down across from Storm and Juvia shook her head.
"He isn't a Dragon Slayer, Gajeel-kun," she said. Gajeel didn't want kids anytime soon, but he was dying to teach a kid his magic.
"You wanna be?" He asked the little boy, putting his hands out to him.
Storm gave an excited giggle and put his arms out to Gajeel to be picked up.
Gajeel smirked. "See?"
"Juvia thinks Storm is beginning to show some ice magic," she said, pointing at on the drops of water that hovered in front her. It had frozen in the little sphere and didn't move when she dispelled the others.
"That's great, Ju-chan!" Levy said with a smile, fixing the little boy's hair.
They sat watching the baby laugh at Levy making Solid Script things from cups to balls until Juvia grew tense across from them.
"What's wro-?" Gajeel stopped himself when he heard exactly what she'd been hearing.
A couple of tables away, Evergreen sat with Elfman and the Rajinshuu, but their conversation could be heard from where they sat.
"It's just sort of weird that Gray isn't back," Laxus said calmly, arms on the table.
"Gray is a man. He should've been back already," Elfman agreed.
"And with Juvia alone with Storm... It just seems unlike him," Freed added.
Evergreen, ever the bluntest of them, shrugged her shoulders. "The guy was tough. The only reason I could think he'd be gone this long is if he was dead."
Everyone got quiet then, even groups at other tables. Everyone had heard her say it, and many agreed. Gajeel had stood, passing the baby to Levy with his jaw set and eyebrows close together. Juvia was the one to grab his arm and give him a sad smile.
"Juvia can handle herself," she said gently as he moved to sit down again next to Levy.
"Juvia does not believe Gray-sama is dead and she never will," she said to Gajeel in a sure and not whispering tone. "Gray-sama promised he would come back after his job and he is strong and Juvia believes Gray-sama will come back."
Gajeel looked at the table and Levy looked at the baby's little feet, unable to say what most of the guild had come to believe.
Juvia was the one to admit what everyone knew. "Juvia knows that the rest of Fairy Tail thinks he is gone, but Gray-sama is strong and he would not lose to a group like Element 4."
She had tried not to worry. She had tried to concentrate on her little boy, but some nights were harder than others. Most of all, she had tried to ignore the nagging possibility that it would always be just her and little Storm. She didn't believe it and she wouldn't.
Juvia felt hot tears in her eyes and sighed, letting her bangs fall over the eye she could manage to cover.
Little Storm knew her better than that. The little boy looked at his mom curiously and leaned to put his hand on her head.
Juvia looked up curiously and smiled to see her baby putting his arms out for her. She moved him to sit in front of her again on the table and smiled, fixing his little blue shirt. The little boy giggled and played with the blue hair falling at her shoulders.
Juvia looked up at Gajeel and Levy and smiled. "Besides, if not for Juvia, Gray-sama'll come back for Storm. I may not have ever had the chance to tell Gray-sama that he was going to be a daddy, but Juvia has a feeling he wouldn't want to miss this," she said, putting her forehead on Storm's so their blue eyes locked.
Levy gave a sincere smile and leaned on Gajeel's shoulder. "I hope so," she said.
Juvia smiled widely. "Juvia knows so."
See? Just like I promised, the chapters will come pretty fast now ^^ Thank you all for waiting for me a bit.
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Most of all, thanks for reading ^^
-J
