Chapter 2
Months passed, and Juvia couldn't have been more excited to be having a baby with the love of her life. She wasn't yet five months along, but she already begged Gray to go shopping for baby things with her every day. And when he couldn't because of a job, or just not wanting to go, Levy, Lisanna or Lucy would be the ones to tag along.
"Juvia, what about this one?" asked Lisanna who was pointing at a pink cradle.
Juvia shook her head fast and replied, "No, no, no. Juvia doesn't know what she's having, so she can't get a cradle for a girl."
"That's no fun Juvia, it's too hard to shop if we don't know what you're having," frowned Lucy.
"Gray-sama wants it to be a surprise, and Juvia agrees with him."
"Hm…" Levy contemplated, "pinks for a girl, and blue is generally for a boy, but who says blue can't be for both? You wear blue all the time, and I'm sure Gray wouldn't mind…"
Juvia shook her head again, "Gray-sama will be mad at Juvia if she gets a cradle that is generally for a boy."
"Where is Gray anyways? Why isn't he helping you with this?" asked Lisanna.
"He and Natsu are on a job," answered Lucy.
"Didn't they learn the last time they went on a job together that it isn't a good idea?"
"You would think, Levy," Lucy shrugged. "Anyways, back to cradle shopping. Green or yellow, Juvia?"
"Juvia doesn't like either of those colors…What about a regular crib? The baby will just outgrow a cradle and if Gray-sama really wants the baby to be close, he or she can just sleep in the bed with us."
"He really said he wanted the baby close!?" Lucy asked in surprise. Juvia nodded in response. "That's so cute!"
"Juvia thought so too."
They continued to browse the isles for a perfect crib until one of the workers approached them and asked, "Are you finding everything alright? Is there anything I can help you find?"
"I think we're okay," Lucy answered, "Juvia is there anything you wanted to ask?"
"Juvia's looking for an inexpensive crib for a baby whose gender is unknown."
"Alright, we'll find you the perfect crib!" The girls followed the worker through the isles until they came upon a section just for cribs. Our more expensive one's are to the left and the more right you go, the less expensive they get."
"Thank you," Juvia said scanning for the best crib.
"Juvia-chan, what about this one?" asked Levy, "It's not too expensive and the woodwork is good, so it'll last."
"It's a little boring, isn't it?" said Lucy, "It's just wood, there isn't anything special that's sets it apart from anything. What do you think Juvia?" But Juvia wasn't listening. She was too busy looking at a white crib that had little waves painted along the guard rails.
"This is perfect," she whispered mostly to herself. "Juvia found one!" Lisanna, Levy and Lucy came up to the crib and took a look for themselves.
"Wow, it's perfect!" said Lisanna.
"Is it safe?" asked Lucy out of concern that Juvia only wanted the crib for its looks.
"Juvia doesn't care. It's perfect!"
"Okay Juvia," Levy sighed, "take a step back and really look at it. Is it a good size, is it in your price range, and is it safe?"
Juvia took a step back as instructed. "It's perfect. Juvia wants this one!"
"Will Gray like it too?" asked Lucy.
"Of course Gray-sama will love it!" Juvia defended. But the other girls knew she was only trying to convince herself.
"What if it isn't safe? Gray will only get mad if you get it home and it's a hazard."
"How does Juvia find out if it's safe, Lucy?" the water mage asked.
"I'll call Gajeel on the lacrima," suggested Levy, "he's good with building stuff so he'd probably know if it's safe or not."
The girls waited in the store for Levy's boyfriend to arrive, and while they did, they looked at clothes and things to keep themselves busy.
"Hey squirt," said Gajeel, "what do you need me for?"
"We need you to look at a crib and see if it's safe."
He glared at his girlfriend for a moment then said, "they're not gonna sell an unsafe crib…"
She frowned at him and said, "Just look at it please. Juvia really wants it."
"Fine…" he looked at the crib for a moment then said, "It's safe…"
"Yay!" Juvia jumped up and hugged her old friend, "Thank you Gajeel-kun, Juvia can't wait to take it home and show Gray-sama!"
He pried the rain woman's hand off him and set her down, "Yeah…I'm sure Stripper's gonna be thrilled…"
"Gajeel, don't be rude!" scolded Levy.
"Stop fighting, Juvia just wants to take it home and surprise Gray-sama!"
"Sorry Juvia," said Levy, "Gajeel and I will go find a worker to pack up the crib for you."
"Thank you," she replied still staring at the crib.
Back at Juvia and Gray's apartment, the girls sat in the living room while Juvia stared at the instructions for building the crib. Its pieces were scattered all over the floor. It was only Juvia, Lucy and Lisanna now. Gajeel and Levy went home.
"Juvia, why don't you wait for Gray to get home?" said Lucy.
"Because, Juvia wants it to be a surprise for Gray-sama when he gets home." She attempted to fit two recently fitted together pieces to another, but it only fell apart. "Ugh! Juvia doesn't understand why this is so difficult!"
"Okay," Lisanna stepped in, taking the pieces from Juvia's hands and setting them to the side. "You need to wait until Gray gets back and he can help you with this. Building it on your own is just stressing you out, and that isn't good for the baby."
Juvia sighed, "Juvia guesses that's a good idea…maybe Gray-sama will want to build it with Juvia." The other girls nodded in agreement.
Lucy stood from the couch and stretched, "Well, Natsu and Gray are due back soon, so I'm gonna go home and take a shower before Natsu gets home."
"Got something planned?" Lisanna wiggled her eye brows.
"I wish," Lucy dropped her arms to her sides, "It's hard to plan anything with Happy there all the time...Natsu and I hardly ever get anytime to just ourselves."
"So you like, never get to…you know..?"
"Only when Happy's doing his own thing outside of the apartment, which is hardly ever…and when he does, he's only ever gone for a little while," Lucy answered. "He sleeps in the bed with us too…"
"It's like he's your own kid," Lisanna observed. "Juvia, that's what it will be like for you and Gray once that beautiful little baby comes!"
"Juvia will not let the baby affect her and Gray-sama's alone time together."
"You say that now…" Lucy mumbled. "It's gonna be hard you know."
Juvia nodded, "Juvia can handle it. Especially with Gray-sama helping out."
"I don't mean to be offensive at all," said Lisanna, "but Lucy has a point. Even with Gray helping out, he's not gonna be able to be here all the time since he has to work. You're going to be home alone with the baby a lot, and you're going to have to deal with the late nights and feeding and bathing and playing all by yourself…"
"Juvia knows. It will be difficult, but Juvia isn't scared. Juvia understands that it will be stressful and there will be times where Juvia will just want to pass out, but the baby will need its mommy. Juvia doesn't have any problem with putting her needs aside for her child."
"Sounds like you've really thought this through," said Lucy.
The water mage nodded. "Juvia needs to be prepared for when she will have to be by herself."
Lucy and Lisanna were proud of Juvia for realizing that she would be doing a lot of this on her own. If it was either of them, they would go insane. Lucy loved Natsu with all her heart, but she knew that neither of them were ready for the commitment of having a baby. Lucy was sure that Juvia and Gray weren't ready either, but it was the position they were in and Juvia was handling it perfectly. She wasn't exactly sure how Gray was doing with the situation, but he seemed to be handling everything well. She knew that he loved Juvia and would do anything for her. Gray would do his best to raise their baby and Lucy knew that he'd sacrifice anything to make his family happy.
It was late when Gray finally arrived home from his job with Natsu. Juvia was having a cup of tea while she began to wind down for bed. The front door opened with a loud creak and Gray stepped into the living room. "Hey Juvia, sorry I'm back to late." He glanced back to the door, "I think I need to fix that squeak."
"Juvia doesn't mind the squeak so much. How was the job?"
"It was fine. Almost killed Natsu a few times, but what are you gonna do?" he shrugged then took a seat next to Juvia on the couch. "How was your day?" he kissed her cheek and gently set his hand on her small baby bump.
"Juvia's day was good. Lucy, Levy and Lisanna came with Juvia to look at cribs."
"I told you it was too early to look at cribs. We don't even have a nursery set up yet…"
"But Juvia found the perfect crib and just had to get it! You'll like it Gray-sama, Juvia promises." She looked down into her half empty cup of tea and sighed, "Juvia really wanted to put it together and surprise you when you got home, but the instructions were just too confusing and it was stressing Juvia out so Lisanna made her stop."
"That's okay. We'll set it up together this weekend, how does that sound?"
"Juvia likes that idea."
"Are you ready for bed? I'm beat!" Gray stood from the couch and pulled Juvia up and onto to her feet. "Whoa, Juvia, you're really warm, are you okay?" he put the back of his hand to her forehead and felt for a fever.
"Juvia is just tired from shopping all day," she pushed passed her boyfriend and entered into their bedroom.
He followed her and responded with, "Well, alright. Just go right to bed then." Gray brushed his teeth and got ready for bed in the bathroom that was connected to the bedroom. Once he was finished he took a seat on the bed and waited for Juvia.
It was quiet. Too quiet for Juvia to be getting ready for bed. Usually she ran the water as high as the pressure went, or hummed to herself, but tonight, nothing. Gray shrugged it off, remembering that she was tired and running a slight fever.
"Gray-sama…" Juvia called from the bathroom.
"Yeah?" he questioned calmly.
Juvia didn't reply right away. Instead there was a thud and then the sound of something dropping from the sink counter and onto the floor. More panicked this time Juvia called for Gray again.
He shot up from the bed and threw open the bathroom door. "Gray-sama…it hurts…" she whimpered with her hands clutched to her stomach. He wrapped his arms tightly around the water mage and pulled her to her feet, but he froze when he glanced at the floor.
"J-Juvia…you're bleeding…"
A/N: I hope you all liked the second chapter! Also, the previous chapter cut out for some reason so if you like my writing style and Kpop, check out my Asianfanfics page maggieshawolexotic. ßHopefully this won't cut out again. Review!