A/N: OMG. Thank you for the reviews, follows and favourites! I love you guys, you're awesome! Tell me what you guys think! (: Again, sorry for OOCness.

Chapter 3: Home Sweet Home

That afternoon saw Gajeel and Juvia standing in the masters office, feeling very out of place. They weren't used to this yet. They had just gotten used to the fact that they had nakama and now they had to leave? Unthinkable. And yet, it had happened. When they had walked into the guild, Gajeel was hyper aware that it could very well be the last he saw his guild mates for a while. Even Pantherlily. He was honestly surprised at how the thought made him feel...sad. An emotion he had forgotten even existed. He found that he didn't like it.

Go figure.

So here they stood. He waited for Juvia to say something. He saw the master staring between him and Juvia, confused that neither was saying anything.

"Well? You two came up here for a reason. What is it?" He smoked his pipe, and glanced at Juvia who was looking at the ground, pale as a sheet.

"Juvia, what happened. Why do you look so scared?" Gajeel groaned and realized that she had no idea how to say this to a stranger. Not that he was one, but he wasn't their best friend either.

"Look old man, Juvia well Juvia and me both need to leave the guild for a while. " Makarov's eyes widened fractionally.

"Leave? Why would you need to leave? If you're leaving on a long mission, you don't need to come up here and tell me. Just make sure you tell Mira-Jane." He hopped off his chair. "If that all then -"

"No, I mean, we're leaving Master." Master stopped and sighed. With out turning to them, he asked.

"Why?"

"Juvia's pregnant." Gajeel said bluntly, ignoring Juvia's cry of "Gajeeel-kunnn!"

The master whirled around, visibly surprised, clearly not expecting that to be the topic of the conversation.

"Isn't that good news?! Who's the lucky father? Is it you Gajeel?" He said noticing the instant rigidness

of their bodies. Both were red in the face and sputtering.

"No!"

"God no! What's wrong with you! We're nakama!"

"Hmm. Gray then?" Master mused then. He was startled to see the despair settle over Juvia's face at the name instead of the fangirling that usually took place.

"Juvia?" Gajeel took over again, seeing as Juvia didn't seem to able to say it again.

"Look Master. There's no easy way to say this. Someone took advantage of Juvia a month ago on her way home. They used anti-magic lacrima." Gajeel grabbed Juvia's hand and showed him the bruises, seeing the master's eyes narrow dangerously at the sight. "Juvia thinks she's pregnant with the bastard's kid. She wants to raise the kid though, says its not his fault that he was made the way he was." Makarov's eyes softened as he looked at the water mage.

"Juvia," he went up to her and peered into her face. "There's no reason to be ashamed. What happened to you was not your fault. It could have happened to anyone. You don't need to leave. We can all help you raise the child. We're family, remember?" Juvia looked up at him a pained expression on her face.

"Juvia knows Master. But, but Juvia just can't. She can't stand him knowing that he left Juvia with another mark of his attack."

"Another mark?" Juvia pulled her shirt neck down again, displaying the still healing brand mark on her chest. The Master almost seemed to rumble with rage at first glimpse of it.

"Who dared to do this to my child?!" Juvia, startled, put her hands on his face to calm him down.

"Master, Juvia must leave. She can't handle people staring at her with pity. It would break Juvia." Master sighed. He knew he had to let her go, but he promised himself inwardly that he would find the attacker and beat him senseless. He brightened suddenly.

"I have just thing!" He went back to his desk and began rummaging in his desk. Finally finding what he was looking for, he raced back over to Gajeel.

"Over in the next town you two, is a cottage that I own outside the city limits. It's only 1 hours train ride away and Gajeel can still come to the guild to earn money for the two of you as well as look for the bastard that did this to you." He looked at the two of them. "How does that sound?" Juvia and Gajeel looked at each other. It seemed good. They were still close enough to come get help if they needed it and it saved Gajeel the effort of finding them a place to live and a new job.

"We'll take it."

… ... ...

They descended the guild stairs with Juvia keeping her gaze to the ground, to avoid looking at Gray. It still hurt to see him flirting with Cana; even hearing his voice as he yelled insults to Natsu sent sharp pains to her heart. Gajeel allowed himself a moment to think about what had just happened. He still had to figure out what he was going to tell Levy and Pantherlily about why he was leaving and why he wasn't coming. He supposed he had to tell Wendy, seeing as she was the best healer in Magnolia, or so he thought any ways. He didn't trust the medicine lady. They were stopped by Mira as they passed the bar.

"Did you get what you needed Gajeel-kun? Juvia?" Juvia forced herself to return the barmaid's friendly smile.

"Yes, Juvia got it. Thank you Mira-chan."

"Oi! Juvia!" Juvia froze as Gray called her name out. "Fight me! I want to finish that fight we started in Phantom! I'm stronger now and so are you! itll be interesting!" Oh my god. He's talking to Juvia. What to do?! Pretend nothing is wrong. Smile! Smile Juvia, Juvia must smile and say no! Okay here -

Juvia was still figuring out what to say when Gajeel suddenly punched the ice mage.

"What the-?!" Gray stumbled back up from the pile of splintered tables. "You bastard! Wanna fight?!" Gajeel snorted.

"No." With that he and Juvia left the guild, leaving their audience confused with Juvia hissing at him.

"Gajeel-kun, what did you just do?!"

"Taking revenge. Or getting started in taking revenge actually." Gajeel simply. "Listen, you better go to your dorm and pack your stuff. If you wanna leave, we might as well do it now. It'll take some time to set up." Juvia fell silent, realizing she was really leaving her family behind. "I'm going to my place to get my stuff and talk to Lily about this." Juvia suddenly became aware that she had forced him to leave with her and was suddenly filled with regret.

"Juvia is sorry Gajeel-kun. You don't have to do this. Juvia never even asked you if you want to do this with her. She just ordered you to." Gajeel grabbed the top of her head, giving her a sort of feral smile.

"Let's get something straight woman. You haven't forced me to do anything. Trust me, if I didn't want to do this, I never would have said yes. Who told you it was so easy to control a dragon? You're going to have to try a lot harder if you want to make me do anything. Now let's go." He turned away and began walking to his house.

"Gajeel-kun?" Gajeel turned around to find a blushing Juvia clutching her hands to her chest and shyly looking at him.

"Juvia is thankful that she has Gajeel-kun as Nakama."

"Uhhh. Yeah well...whatever." Gajeel speed walked away, feeling unusually hot under the collar.

.. … …

2 hours later, the two met at the train station.

"Ready?" Gajeel asked, hoisting Juvia's bag on to his shoulders despite her protests. She took one last look at the town she'd called home for the last year. Squaring her shoulders, she looked at Gajeel and smiled.

"Juvia is ready."

The two stepped onto the train and ten minutes later, the train sped away, carrying with it a passenger who was about to go through the most difficult trial of her life.

… …. …

"Was that Gajeel and Juvia?" Natsu asked as they passed the train station. Erza turned and strained her neck to look at the station in time to catch a glimpse of the people in question as the boarded the train. What was odd was that Gajeel was carrying all of Juvia's things and was helping her onto the train.

"Yeah. It was. Wonder where they're going?"

"Maybe a mission?" Gray suggested rubbing his jaw. "Either way, when the bastard comes back, there'll be hell to pay for that punch earlier." Natsu laughed.

"Sore loser Ice Popsicle?"

"I didn't lose flame brain!"

"What'd you call me?!"

"You heard me!"

"Are you boys fighting?"

"NO MA'AM!" They were suddenly best friends, engaging in some sort of friendly chokehold.

Lucy rolled her eyes as she listened to Erza scold Natsu and Gray. Or beat them rather. Her concept of scolding was rather violent. She thought back to Gajeel and Juvia this morning. There was something going on. Something big. Her gut told her that something had happened and it wasn't good either.

"You guys. Something is up with those two. This morning Juvia came to talk to Gajeel and he just hauled ass out of the guild like his feet were on fire." Erza turned her attention to Lucy.

"Are you sure? They haven't been here very long. Maybe they just don't like speaking to each other in public." Lucy shook her head.

"No, no. I can't explain it. But something about Juvia was different." Erza thought for a moment, then shrugged.

"We'll find out when we get to the guild won't we? It's not like we can ask them now can we?" Sighing, Lucy nodded and followed her friends to the guild. She just had this nagging feeling that something was wrong. And that scared her more than anything.

Knowing something was wrong and not being able to do anything about it.

… … …

Gajeel groaned as he practically collapsed outside of the train.

"Neveragain. You hear me woman?! I am never riding the train again." His world was spinning and it felt like his lunch would come spurting out of him any moment.

"Gajeel-kun! Are you alright?!" Juvia clamored out of the train behind him, kneeling over his collapsed figure, worriedly.

"Fine. Just fine. Now get up. Wendy said no squatting remember?" He was getting tired. He hadn't talked this much in his entire life than he had started to since Juvia had dropped the mega-bomb on him this morning.

"Juvia is not squatting ! Juvia is kneeling! There is a difference, squatting is very unladylike!" Juvia huffed indignantly, pouting. It seemed to Gajeel that leaving Magnolia had taken a weight off her heart. She seemed calmer now that she had done what she had said she would.

"Tch, whatever. Just don't do whatever it is that you're doing." He said as she helped him haul himself to his feet. He had been briefly told by Juvia what the rules were for the pregnancy according to a midwife she had visited. She had written it down and given it to Gajeel since she had memorized it already. Gajeel's head had spun with all the information at first. He hadn't thought he would have to deal with this until he himself took a mate...but clearly life had other plans for him. He shook his head as he hoisted the bags onto his shoulder again and looked at Juvia.

"Okay, so which way to the house?" Juvia fumbled in her pockets for the map that the Master had given her, giving her directions to the cottage.

"This way." She said after a minute of studying it, pointing east. Gajeel re-set the bags and blew out a breath.

"Let's move."

30 minutes later, they found themselves in front of a quaint little cottage. It had a straw roof, a little brick chimney, and was surrounded by a white picket fence that encompassed the house and small garden in the rear of the house. They opened the gate and walked to the gate looking at the forest surrounding the house.

"Geez, when did the geezer make this place? It's ancient, and in the middle of nowhere." Gajeel said, looking around him. All he could see were trees despite the fact that he knew they were just a five minute walk into the forest. Juvia giggled slightly.

"Juvia likes it. It's ….different. And Juvia likes different." She opened the door and walked in. Gajeel walked in after her, dropping the bags on the floor and turning to close the door. He took one last look outside the house, it was near sunset at this point.

"Well," he said, somewhat sarcastically, surveying the front yard and the forest ahead. "Here we are, home sweet home."