Chapter 37

Jellal grabbed the doorknob, opening the door of his condominium when he heard his bell rang, with another hand holding his phone. He blinked when he saw Erza standing before him. "Erza. You didn't tell me you're dropping by," he said, stepping aside to let the girl in.

Erza took off her long jacket, eyes glancing at the activated phone in Jellal's hand. "I just decided to drop by. You were on phone? Sorry for disturbing."

"No, it's just Ultear. I'll ask her to call back some other time," Jellal smiled reassuringly, excusing himself for a while to talk a few more seconds on the line before cutting it off.

"If you have something important to discuss with Ultear, I really could wait," Erza told him once he was done.

Jellal shook his head with a smile on his face. "Nah, it was almost done anyway. Ultear was just helping me with securing placement for my subordinates. If I am sued, I want to plea to the court to spare them."

"What about you?"

"I'm taking the medical exam again. I might not be able to practice in Japan anymore but I'll be able to do it in outside the country at least," Jellal shrugged and looked back at her. "It will be a long distance relationship though. I hope you're okay with that."

Erza blinked, staring at her lover for a good one minutes with wide eyes. Did she just hear him right? She almost thought that Jellal would be so depressed to even think for a back up plan. And not just that, he even considered a long distance relationship with her. Did he even have to ask? She could wait a hundred years for him. She wouldn't mind if they could only meet on weekends, or once a month. He was worth the wait.

Jellal shifted uncomfortably when he noticed she didn't answer a word. "Well, I'm not assuming things for you. Of course, you have the right to refuse—"

"You didn't push me away."

"What?"

"I said you didn't push me away," Erza repeated. "You used to do that a lot. When Simon died, when the issue resurfaced—you always did. You're not doing it anymore."

Jellal raised his eyebrows before chuckling softly. "It feels really good after the surgery," he paused, taking a deep breath. "I feel like even if I lost everything, at least I've done the right thing. And since I've lost everything now, it is time for me to leave my past behind and grab my future. There's nothing more for me to lose. I want to be honest to myself now. And I honestly want you in my future, Erza. If you would so give me the honor."

Erza felt herself froze. The time seemed to pause, and she wished she could let it stay that way. "I've always wanted you in my future too."

Jellal's lips curved into a smile. "The feeling's mutual then. I'm putting Mira into ED too. You and Laxus should look after her once I'm gone, okay."

"You can look after her by yourself," Erza shook her head, reaching her hand up to play with the strands of his hair. "The law meant nothing if the plaintiff wouldn't file a claim."

"Of course she would. Especially now that she's discharged."

"She left you a message," her fingers playfully trailed down to the red tattoo on his right face.

"A message?"

"She asked me to tell you that if you are visiting Simon's grave again, do it during daytime. She usually cooked Simon's favorite meal during his death anniversary to eat together," Erza's eyes darted up to meet his.

And Jellal's eyes widened. "W-what?"

Erza smiled softly, trailing her fingers down from his face to rest on his chest. "She knows you never missed visiting his grave on the evening of his death anniversary," she nodded. "Apparently, she visits the grave almost everyday, and she always noticed your bouquet the day after the anniversary."

Jellal frowned. "She always knew it was me?" he raked his fingers across his hair, sighing. "I purposely come a bit late so I won't bump into her."

Erza chuckled, pulling his collar down a bit making him bent down to her height. "Next time, let's go together," she whispered, brushing her lips tentatively against his.

Jellal grinned against her lips. "I've been wondering for a while now, are you trying to seduce me or something?"

Erza pursed her lips mockingly. "You think so? Is it working?"

"It's dangerous because it is working. I do not hold accountable to anything I might do to you if you don't stop," he decided to play along.

Erza bit her lower lip seductively, pulling him closer. "I told you, the law meant nothing if the plaintiff wouldn't file a claim."

And as their lips met in a passionate hungry kiss, the night drifted into a long memorable one neither wouldn't want to forget.

Gray rushed in the hall, clumsily buttoning his coat before taking in a deep breath. He stared at Makarov giving a speech at the very front of the hall and sighed. He was late. But perhaps Makarov didn't even notice. There were way too many doctors around, there was no way in hell his hospital director would notice. He chanted. And then he noticed Makarov glaring at him in between his speech. Gray unconsciously gulped.

"Busted."

Gray spun in surprised. Just to be greeted by the idiotic grin of the self-proclaimed salmon haired doctor—his hair was pink, honestly. Gray groaned, rolling his eyes. "Don't creep up behind me, idiot."

"Who's creeping up? What have you been doing coming in late at this very important hospital meeting?" Natsu scolded with a gushing feeling of superiority.

Gray snorted. "Please, I'm only late this time compared to you who are only early at this day," he sent an apologetic look towards Makarov on stage. "So what's new?"

"We lost Jellal."

"What?"

"As the vice professor."

Gray froze, staring at Natsu for a good five seconds. "W-what—do you mean? He got sued? Fired?"

He watched how Natsu's forlorn expression contorted painfully before his lips twisted in a mixed expression of sadness and... laughter? Gray frowned. "What the hell? What is it?" Gray groaned when he realized Natsu was lying to him.

"We lost him as a vice professor—" Natsu breathed in between his laughter.

"How is that funny?" Gray groaned in protest.

"He got promoted."

Gray froze. Oh.

Oh.

"He—won?" Gray wasn't sure how to describe his own feelings at that news.

"Nope."

"What?" Gray got more confused.

"Erza won," Natsu said, pointing to the huge screen at the front of the hall, and Gray wanted to hit himself for not realizing how huge of Erza's congratulatory slide was put up there.

"Then, how did—"

"Jellal got promoted by a special vote. Since Jiemma got stripped off his professor title, they got one extra spot for a professor this year," Natsu finally decided to quit with his teasing. "They decided to vote for an extra spot, and Jellal got a very good review from Mirajane's live broadcast and was granted the honor."

Gray looked up, catching Jellal's figure a few feet away from him talking to another group of professors. "What about Kagura?"

"Erza said Kagura forgave Jellal, it seems," Natsu shrugged. "There are some details I wasn't very sure of."

Gray chuckled. Well, it didn't matter. They made it. They made it out of the crisis.

"I'm going to Crocus next week," Natsu informed. "Lucy's coming with me."

"That fast?" Gray's attention went back to Natsu.

"Also, I'm bringing Romeo with me too."

"Romeo?" Gray frowned. Now that's new.

Natsu grinned. "He wanted to be my apprentice. I never really thought of having one though. But Igneel said it would be a great experience and learning for me. Besides, Lucy is with me. Everything would be okay."

"It never crossed my mind that he would be interested in vascular surgery," Gray hummed. "But teach him right. He has potential."

"I need to start my research and case reports. It's going to be in six hospitals simultaneously. But of course, call us if you need us. We know you can't live without me," Natsu grinned cheekily.

"Why don't you get lost, like, now?" Gray rolled his eyes.

"Plus, I need to catch up with you and Gajeel," Natsu's voice was low, as if he didn't exactly want to admit it. "It's excruciating but congratulations."

"Catch up with us?"

Gray blinked as he felt the cold key fell into his palm. His eyes darted up to see the scarlet haired surgeon smiling graciously towards him. His eyes glazed across the nameplate. Vice Professor Cardiothoracic Surgery; Dr Gray Fullbuster.

"Congratulations on being promoted. Take good care of the department, Gray," Erza said, picking her briefcase once she handed the keys over.

"I don't even know what to think," Gray muttered.

"When I was your vice professor, I have heard a lot of your suggestion to reconstruct the department. This is the time you should be putting all those into actions," Erza nodded encouragingly.

"I don't want to give up my scalpel though."

"You don't have to," Erza smiled. "Lyon didn't, did he? And he's a vice professor too. How you want to lead your department is your choice. My reign where research and development were prioritized is over. You can start your idea of prioritizing the skills if you want."

Gray stared at the key once more before grabbing it tightly. Erza was right. This time, it would be his. "Thanks, Erza. I'll take this department into a higher destination. I promise," he grinned. "Even though I'm not sure how well I can work with Gajeel as the ED vice professor."

"Oh, come on. Be nice to each other. You know how good Gajeel is," Erza snorted.

Gray chuckled. "Can't blame me. Pretty sure I'd work better if Juvia gets the job."

Erza blinked. "Eh? You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"Juvia became the director of the new Magnolia Flight Team."

Gray blinked. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Jellal's research for the professor election is about the Flight Team. He proposed that if we could create a very competent team where we can fly a helicopter as ambulance, we can reach the patients faster," Erza explained. "Everyone was surprised at his proposal and result."

The idea was bizarre in Gray's mind. Not any hospitals can have a helicopter ambulance. There weren't many that could qualify for it. But if they could, Gray was sure Jellal had prepared a whole lot of hell in it. "But, isn't that idea a bit difficult to realize?" Gray asked. Now he regretted coming late to the meeting.

"Yeah, becoz we can only afford one doctor on flight and one assistant so that we can bring back a stretcher on the helicopter. It's hard to realize. But Jellal had them all covered," Erza chuckled slightly at the thought. "It was the very reason why he paid Juvia and Levy, and why he sent Cana to numerous trainings. This is why Jellal told us that they were his future." Erza never thought that this was how Jellal had chosen to repay his inability to save Simon. He wanted to fly faster to the patients—literally. Because every seconds count.

Gray's eyes widened a bit. "Don't tell me—Cana is going to fly with Juvia in the helicopter?"

"Yup," Erza nodded enthusiastically. "And Levy's going to be the apparatus moderator."

"Wait—the CS. What about the CS? Where can they get someone who can accept emergency calls and get enough information for Levy to moderate any apparatus for Juvia and Cana?"

Erza's lips curved into a soft smile, as if she also had just discovered something new herself. "Well, that's—"

Mirajane took a deep breath, pushing some buttons at the sets of computers lined up on her table. Pushing a button near the microphone, she connected the line. "Magnolia Flight Team CS Mirajane Strauss here. The medical apparatus and helicopter maintenance had been checked. The team is ready for today. The weather is windy over the southeast part of Honshu," Mirajane smiled, her eyes scanned the computer screen that mapped the climate. "I'll find a route that will avoid that area. We'll be operating until 6:00pm for today. Roger."

"Magnolia Flight Team Levy MacGarden here. Thank you for the information. Roger and out."

Mirajane smiled, pushing a few more buttons to check the climate map once again. She was excited with the prospect of her new job. She had always wished she could be in the medical line once again. Not only that, she could still use her experience as the weather reporter into use. Life had been good. Besides, the society had accepted her live broadcast rather positively. People had started to flood Magnolia Hospital again, much more than Crocus now. They had regained the trust of the society it seemed.

"Something good happened?"

Mirajane looked up at the interruption. "Morning, Laxus."

Laxus folded his arms across his chest as he leant against the door. "You look happy."

"Why shouldn't I? We've gone through another hurdle in life," Mirajane shrugged.

Laxus was quiet for a while before entangling his arms and placed a health magazine on her table. "Looks like Macao wanted to repent and wrote good stuff for us this time."

Mirajane blinked, reading the cover title saying the success of Magnolia Hospital in saving rare diseases. She smiled. "Well, he quit the previous magazine to join this one. That should speak volumes about his intentions. Aren't you the same?"

"Me?"

"You knew, didn't you?"

"Knew what?" Laxus blinked.

"That Jellal would join the surgery anyway," Mirajane grinned.

Laxus scratched his head, looking anywhere but her. "Well, I did expect him to join. Jella is the kind of man who has a strong sense of justice. He's just being him. But I never expected Kagura to have a Malignant Hyperthermia. To be completely honest, I was quite—" he paused, searching for the best word. "Scared."

She chuckled. "Jellal was right."

Laxus frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The two of you told me the same thing about each other. Jellal told me that Laxus is just being Laxus. Acting all tough on the outside, but he's just a soft marshmallow on the inside. All bark but no bite—"

"What the hell! Jellal said that?" Laxus could feel himself blushing. "He's talking about himself, trust me. I don't have time for his shit."

"I agree with him though," her chuckled made Laxus groaned. "You could have ignored all these fiasco, it wouldn't effect you in any way, Laxus. But you helped anyway."

"I told you, I only do things I want to do."

"Which is exactly why it defines you," Mirajane teased. "You wanted to save them."

Laxus groaned. "Why are you being so offensive now? I'm so going to kill Jellal."

"And why are you being so grumpy?"

"Because Jellal and Erza are gone with professor job and I don't know where to hang out anymore?" Laxus suggested.

"You can always get along with Gray and Gajeel," she shrugged before grinning mischievously, fingers trailing along his tie. "Besides, how does a lunch with me sound like?"

Laxus raised his brows in amusement. "Girls are supposed to hate me."

"Maybe not this time."

"Did Jellal influenced you or something?"

Mirajane rolled his eyes. "Can we please not talk about another guy when I'm trying to get your attention? I might get jealous, you know."

Laxus laughed, one hand pulling her closer to him as the other rested comfortably on her hips. He could see how she gasped and blushed when she noticed how close they had become and he could practically count her mascara eyelashes. God, she really was beautiful. He grinned triumphantly, satisfied that he was finally getting the upper hand. "Get used to it. Coz Jellal is gay for me."

"Gray-sama!" Juvia greeted cheerfully as her head appeared from behind Gray's new office door.

"Hey, Juvia," Gray flashed her a smile before continued to type something in his computer again.

"Is Gray-sama hungry? Juvia brought a bento for Gray-sama," she placed two boxes of bento on his coffee table at the side of his office. "It had been a very busy month since the live broadcast. The emergency room is constantly full with patients. Everyone requested to be sent to Magnolia Hospital."

"Really?" Gray saved his work before picking himself up to approach his girlfriend. "If you're tired, you really shouldn't be wasting your time to make bento for me."

Juvia shook her head with a smile. "No, Juvia enjoyed making bento for Gray-sama. It gives some tranquilizing effect."

Gray chuckled, sitting on the sofa besides her. "I'm glad then," he took his bento that she passed to him and smiled at the cute panda-like decoration. She always made effort in what she prepared for him since they started officially dating. And he found it cute—just like her.

"Juvia passed by some Internal Medicine doctors before coming here. They were gossiping about us," Juvia pouted, shoving an octopus-shaped sausage into her mouth.

Gray munched his rice indifferently. "Are they bitching about you and me again? I told you to ignore them."

Juvia hummed. "They were the same people but now they said we suit each other. Juvia is pissed. Just because our Fairy Team is established throughout the country, they can just change their say like that."

Gray glanced to his side, chuckling slightly at her reaction. "Ignore them, Juvia. People will only see what they want to see. There's no use arguing with them."

She beamed happily, placing a peck on his cheek. "Juvia loves Gray-sama."

"Gray-sama knows," Gray grinned, patting her head softly. His eyes landed on the butterfly clip he gave her resting on her hat. Gray smiled. "You really are like a butterfly."

Juvia blinked.

"That's cheesy."

Gray and Juvia jumped at the new voice.

"I never knew you would be that cheesy, Gray," the orange haired guy standing at the open door grinned teasingly. "I didn't know I'd live to see this day."

"Keep that up and I swear you won't even see another day," Gray glared at the new guest.

"G-Gray-sama—" Juvia could feel herself blushing, burying her face in Gray's shoulder.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" the new guy stepped in proudly, wiggling his brows at Juvia.

Gray sighed, grabbing Juvia's hand and pulled her away from his shoulder. "Juvia, this is my old friend, Loke. I just hired him as our new Cardiologist."

Juvia raised her face to look at the new guest properly. "Cardiologist?"

"You got that right, pretty," Loke kneeled down in front of her, bowing slightly like a gentleman. "You look so much better in person." And Juvia blushed.

Gray groaned. "Loke, this is Juvia. Our Anesthetist."

"Why would Gray-sama hire a Cardiologist?" Juvia asked out of curiosity.

"Pre and post surgery care," Gray answered easily. "I noticed during Kagura's case that my weakness is the pre surgery care, which lead to the mistakes of staging a disease. This is my project as the new vice professor. So I hired Loke in. He might be a flirt like this but he's a good Cardiologist."

"Well said," Loke grinned, taking some fish ball from Gray's bento into his mouth. "Next time, make a bento for me, Juvia-chan."

"Stop that. It's mine," Gray whacked Loke's head.

"Ow!"

Juvia chuckled. She was worried when Natsu transferred to Crocus, since Gray would have some trouble managing his patients. But with Loke around, Juvia thought perhaps this is just how life would be. People will come and go, but even if they were separated miles away—even countries away—they'll support each other anyway. But before they could banter further, Juvia's walkie-talkie alarmed. And they all paused.

"Magnolia Flight Team CS, Mirajane Strauss here. We got an emergency call. Deploying the helicopter in three minutes."

Juvia gasped. "Juvia has to go—" she rushed up to leave when she felt Gray grabbed her arms. She turned just in time when Gray placed a peck on her lips, and she blushed heavily. "G-Gray-sama—"

"It's for good luck charm," Gray smiled. "Go save your patient."

Juvia smiled giddily, nodding before quickly leaving the office. Gray sighed as he took his chopsticks again to continue his lunch.

"So," Loke drawled. "Good luck charm, huh? Never knew you are such a sap."

"Shut up. You're invading my privacy," Gray rolled his eyes.

Loke chuckled. "And the butterfly? Is it some kind of like a cliché where you thought she was an ugly caterpillar that had grown into a beautiful butterfly?"

"No," Gray glared. "I never once thought she was ugly. She was beautiful even back then."

"Oh?" Loke raised his brows.

"She's beautiful for willing to burden such past alone. She's beautiful even more now too," Gray mumbled under his breath. "But just like a butterfly, everyone knows she's beautiful," he paused. "Everyone but her herself. Just like how a butterfly that flew without knowing how beautiful itself is."

A/N: Next chapter will be the final chapter. Such a ride. This story had been going on for three years and finally it's wrapping up. I feel so nostalgic about it. Perhaps someday I might go through it all over again and correct the grammar I found. But for now, let me dwell on the fact that I completed a multichapter. I feel accomplished. I sincerely thank all those who had supported me throughout the journey. Without you, I would never make it. Also, as usual, thank you for those who had favorited, followed and reviewed this story, esp; Nap Team Captain, A. marchiella, ILoveSxS, leila . bekaddour, lintak26, chanting-to-u, IzzyQuagmire0907, Snavej, TenshiMagi-chan and the unnamed Guests.