Dinner had gone surprisingly well, despite all the worries that had plaged Juvias mind.

Gajeel had managed to stop with the glares and actually held a decent conversation with Gray.

Not that he had much of a choice, Juvia knew that Levy had been secretly kicking him under the table since she accidentally kicked her instead of Gajeel. Four times.

But it was all right. After all she had managed to make Gajeel behave and Juvia was very thankful for that, because Gray had seemed much more comfortable and relaxed. If all she had to do was deal with a few blueish bruises on her legs, then it was really fine by her.

Juvia hummed while cleaning another plate. Gray had excused himself to take a phone call and Juvia decided to use the time to clean the mess in the kitchen. She was just trying to get a particularly hard spot off from the plate when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Can I help in any way?" Gray smiled at her, leaning against the door frame. He had just finished his phone call and to check on the blunette instead of sticking around the couple in the living room.

"No, thank you. I'm almost done here anyways."

"You sure." Juvia nodded before putting her focus back on the plate. Stupid spot just wouldn't get off. To say she was getting frustrated was an understatement. She just wanted to be finished already so she could spend some more time with Gray but it seemed this plate had other plans. Stupid plate..

She didn't realize how hard she must have been rubbing it until she felt the plate break in her hand. Juvia looked at the broken pieces in her hand as well as in the sink.

"Juvia, what happened?" Gray had rushed to her side immediately. She let go of the pieces in her hand before turning to him.

"Oh, it's nothing. The plate just broke." She tried to shrug it off by being nonchalant, giving him a small smile but instead of just accepting her answer, he took her hand in his carefully.

"You're bleeding." Juvia looked down to their hands and saw that she was indeed bleeding. She hasn't even realized..

"Let me wash the blood off so I can see the cut. It might need stitching if it's too deep." He opened the tap and held her hand carefully under the water. After washing the blood off, he lead her to one of the chairs and motioned for her to sit down before inspecting her hand closer.

"Okay, it doesn't seem to be a deep cut, I'm just going to clean it properly and put a bandage around it so it doesn't get worse. Where do you keep your first aid kit?"

He waited a moment for her answer, but didn't receive one. Looking up he saw Juvia staring at him, seemingly deep in thoughts. For some reason, having her stare at him so intensely, made him feel some type of way. But he had to focus on her injury now.

"Juvia?"

"Hm?"

"The first aid kit?"

"Right, sorry." She blushed deeply, realizing she had just been staring at him for a little too long. Great, now she sure managed to seem like a freak. "It's in the cupboard over there." She pointed at it with the hand that wasn't being held by Gray. He got up and went to get the kit and Juvia couldn't help but feel sad at the lose of contact. It might not be much, having him hold her injured hand, but if that's all she was getting than she sure as hell would take it. She watched him get the kit before making his way back to her and getting everything out which he needed.

"This is going to sting a little." He cleaned her cut carefully and it filled Juvia with warmth, seeing how tender he was being. All he was doing was taking care of her cut and yet it was doing something to her.

He finished wrapping her hand, smiling proudly at his work.

"You're quite good at this."

"Wrapping up hands?"

"Taking care of injuries."

"Oh. My best friend and I used to have a lot of fights which ended up in more than one injury. I guess I learned.." He scratched his neck and laughed awkwardly. For a moment it seemed like he was lost in a memory before returning his attention to her.

"Good old teenage years, huh?"

Juvia couldn't help the grin. "You sound like you're some old man on his death bed, thinking back to the old days."

"Well, I am an old man, am I not?"

"You're in your twenties, that's nowhere near old. Look at you, you're just getting started."

"Huh, guess I am.."

Juvia looked down to her hand. "Thank you by the way." It was not more than a whisper, but Gray had heard her nonetheless.

"Anytime."

For a moment they just looked at each other, both smiling. Despite the silence, it was anything but awkward. More like they were in their own little bubble and both of them found themselves enjoying it more than they should. That was until they heard the voice of the black haired idiot standing in the doorway.

"Are you two finished having eye sex?"

"Gajeel!"

"What?" The idiot snickered before making his way past the two, getting a beer out of the fridge and going back to where he came from.

"I'm so sorry." Juvia tried to hide the red colour on her cheeks by covering them with her hands. Gray on the other hand opted for looking away completely, not daring to look at her again. Great. They were back to zero.

"No, um, it's fine. Really."

"I- Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Anyways.. it's getting late. I should probably go." Gray made his way over to the entrance, grabbing his coat and throwing it over his shoulder. Juvia had followed him and was watching him. Why did he want to leave so suddenly?

"You don't have to."

"Thanks, but I really should."

"But-"

"Thank you for dinner tonight."

"Um, yeah. You- you're welcome."

"Alright, I'll see you at work tomorrow."

And just like that he was gone.

Despite what he said, she didn't see him at work the next day. At first she thought it was just coincidence, he had a lot of meetings and appointments that morning so it wasn't his fault. But Juvia knew his schedule, she was responsible for it after all, and he was pretty much free after the lunch break. And yet, she still had to see him around. And when he finally came in, he didn't spare her a glance, instead walking straight to his office.

When he needed something, he opted with calling Cana in instead of her and it didn't take Juvia long to figure out that he was purposely avoiding her. What had her confused was why though?

From what she could tell, dinner had been good. Did she say something wrong?

She glanced at Cana, wondering if she should ask her. But then again, if she did, she wouldn't hear the end of it.

Maybe he just pretended to like it because he didn't want to be rude..

Before she could overthink it all further the ringing of the phone interrupted her.

"Fullbuster Construction, Lockser. Good afternoon. How may I help you?"

"Where the hell is Fullbuster? Can you please tell the idiot to get it together already? Erza is going to kick his ass."

"I'm sorry, who are you again?"

There was a moment of silence on the next line. And who is Erza?

"You're not Cana, are you?"

"Um, no. You're talking to Juvia Lockser."

"Oy, he got himself a new one." The guy was mumbling something she couldn't exactly decipher. It seems he was talking to someone in the background. After a moment of silence on the line, Juvia wasn't sure whoever called was still there.

"Hello?"

"Right, sorry. I'm Natsu, one of the idiots friends. Can you dial me through to him? It's important."

"Alright, just a second."

Juvia took a deep breath before dialing him through. She was hoping he wasn't going to ignore her calls too. After a few rings he managed to pick up tho.

"Yes?"

"Um, there is someone with the name Natsu Dragneel on the line. He wants to speak with you. Apparently it has something to do with someone named Erza too. He said he's a friend of yours?" There was a moment of silence on the other line.

"He said Erza?"

"Yes. Um, something about her kicking your ass."

"No way. Alright, I'll take the call."

A few minutes later Gray came out of his office, smartphone stuck between shoulder and ear, and his coat draped over his arm.

He looked to Cana gesturing for her to come with him while he continued his conversation. Cana gave him a quick nod before making her way over to Juvia.

"Alright Juvia, seems like something came up. We're going which means you're in charge now. Make sure nothing's on fire until we come back. I'll call you when we're on our way back." With that she turned around and followed Gray, not giving the blunette anytime to respond. The last thing she saw were the elevator doors closing before she was left all alone.

Gray had just hung up on the phone and was desperately looking for his keys.

"So, where are we going?"

Gray didn't spare a glance at Cana, focused on his search. When he finally managed to find them, he looked up and mumbled out the response before opening the car door.

"Hospital."

Cana waited for him to elaborate, but realized he didn't plan to so she decided to dig for more.

"Hospital. Right. And my I ask why?"

"Natsu called."

"And?"

"It's Erza."

"Erza? Did she-"

"Yes. "

There was silence until they arrived at the hospital, both in a rush. They hurried to the room Natsu had told him and found everyone else already waiting there.

"About time."

"You could have called sooner."

"Be happy I called you in the first place."

Gray ignored Natsu and made his way over to Erza who was laying on the hospital bed, looking very tired.

"Hey, glad you made it. I was afraid you wouldn't find the time to come."

"Of course I would, family first, remember?"

"I'm glad to see success didn't change you."

"You sound like we haven't seen each other in years. Anyways, where is he?"

Right on cue Jellal appeared, a small bundle in his hands.

"Gray, meet the new member of the Fernandez family."

Gray spent a little more time at the hospital before deciding that it was time to leave. He went out followed by Cana.

"Hey, where are you two going?" Lucy was waving them over to where the rest of the group where still standing.

"Back to work."

"Dude, when did you get so boring?" Natsu threw an arm over his shoulder and dragged him over to them.

"We're going out to eat and celebrate the new family member."

"Right, any excuse to celebrate, you take it."

"Of course!"

"Come on, you two have to join?"

"I don't say no to getting some drinks, ask the boss."

"Thanks Cana." Gray glared at her before looking at his friends and sighing in defeat. He did need to get a few things of his mind and what better way than by hanging out and drinking with his friends.

"Alright, let's go."

He was wrong. Anything would have been better than deciding to spend time with the freaks he called his friends. They didn't help him get his mind off of things at all. Instead they had made it worse.

Cana being herself was nice enough to tell everyone about his newest employee as well as the few times they ate together. Not that it was much, they just ate in a restaurant once when he invited her to lunch on her first day and the one time she invited him to dinner. At her place. But to be fair, that was more Canas doing so there's that.

However his friends had a point. He didn't just invite his employees to lunch because it was their first day. He also wasn't one to feel obligated to go somewhere just because he got invited. He had cancelled on enough occasions for his friends to know that.

When it came to Juvia however, he didn't find the strength to tell her no. If he was honest with himself, he didn't want to. He liked spending time with her. Sometimes a little too much. And that was the problem.

Because the feeling he's been having around her where not like the ones he held towards his friends. Juvia was different, right from the beginning. And it scared him.

His plan was stupid. What was he thinking? That all the mess in his head would stop once he didn't see her. He had been avoiding her all day and yet she was still stuck in his mind. And it wasn't like he was able to avoid her forever. She was one of his assistants after all. So unless he planned on never entering his office again, he would have to see her. Of course he could continue calling Cana in, but that wouldn't get him anywhere.

It was only a matter of time until Cana caught up and would refuse him. She's the one who kept pushing him towards Juvia in the first place.

He sighed in defeat. There was no way for him to stay away from her. The only option would be to fire her and that wouldn't get him anywhere. He would still think about her and hate himself for it on top of that. No, Juvia was a win for his company and he couldn't just let her go because he wasn't capable of sorting his feelings. He would just have to build up his walls again, like he always does. There was no way he would let that pretty blunette change him in such a short amount of time.

It was late already, so Gray dropped Cana off at her place before going back to his office. There were still some papers he needed to get before he could go home himself. When he entered his department however, he was surprised to see the door unlocked and the lights still on. Didn't Cana tell Juvia that she was in charge? Leaving the place like this was a big mistake. Juvia or not, he had to point it out.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw that Juvia was still there. The blunette had her head on her arms and was laying with her upper body on her desk. She appeared to be sleeping. Gray walked up to her silently, wanting to make sure if this was really the case and he was right. Juvia was indeed sleeping. He glanced at his watch. It was 9 pm already. What was she still doing here?

"Juvia." He shook her lightly, an attempt to wake her up. Gray couldn't help but notice that she looked adorable while sleeping. With her blue hair and pale skin, she looked like an angel. Focus Gray! He shook himself out of his trance and woke her up.

Slowly she opened her eyes, unfocused for a minute before she registered her surroundings. When she saw Gray in front of her she jumped up.

"I'm so sorry. I- I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's alright. What are you still doing here anyways? Your shift is long over."

"I was waiting like Cana told me too. She said she would call before you come back and I didn't want to go before she did. I guess I fell asleep."

"You really didn't have to wait until now. We didn't think we'd be out for so long. Next time leave when your shift is over, even when we're not here."

"Alright, I will do that then."

"Good."

He found himself staring at her again before she looked back at him, making him turn his head away awkwardly. Damn it, here he was again, getting lost in her eyes. He really needed to get a grip on himself. Juvia glanced at the watch, her eyes widening.

"It's late. I should really go now so I can catch the train." She hurriedly packed her things.

"You use the train to go home?"

"Yes, I don't own a car so it's the easiest way."

"It's dangerous at such a time."

"I can handle it."

She smiled at him before taking her purse and getting up. She was about to leave when Gray hold her arm, making her stop.

"I'll drive you."

Screw his stupid feelings and thoughts, he wouldn't let her take the train by herself at such a hour. If something happened to her, he wouldn't forgive himself and he heard enough in the news to know that it was a possiblity.

"You don't have to."

"It's not up for discussion. Now come on."

He took her hand in his, ignoring the warmth that spread through his body and walked in front of her, pulling her along with him.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would start building up his walls again. But today, today he would enjoy her company one more time.