A/N: I'm scared as hell that I've butchered the plot and written Juvia (and possibly Gray) out of character. But I view the differences as character development that I think should happen. Here's what I'm thinking; Juvia is a very complex person and so is Gray. Juvia wouldn't normally necessarily react the way she does to him, but she is pregnant with someone else's child. That's bound to make a person act a bit differently. Gray on the other hand is making headway in his own emotional life, but is still having struggles expressing his feelings.

Anyways, I am ecstatic about all the reviews I've gotten so far. Critiques and opinions are welcomed greatly, and I will answer questions if asked.

When she had first learned of her and Lyon's unintended creation several days ago, Juvia had been numb with shock. Now, that numbness had changed into something more along the lines of dread and fear.

The night she had read the test result she had nearly lost the will to live. She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes until she saw nothing but sparkles. The emotion was too much for her. She tried to sit down, but it was more like a stumble and fall that left her sitting motionless on the floor. Feeling helpless, the mother-to be remained on the bathroom floor the entire night, staring blankly at the flower patterned wall.

Her life was taking on a new direction without her permission. Unfortunately, it wasn't about her anymore. What ever happened to the distressed water mage, would ultimately happen to her child. The baby's life was her life. Her body belonged to her unborn child.

For the past few days, it was hard to keep her hands away from her belly. It didn't feel like there was anybody in there, all she felt was her flat belly. She knew he or she was too small to feel; but still, how could such a precious life's presence not be noticeable?

She had to remind herself to eat, for the baby's sake. Even in the depressed state she was in, she was still looking out for her. She imagined it was a her because she wanted it to have an identity, and she always did want a girl.

Though Juvia was a natural mother at heart, she couldn't bring herself to feel anything towards the baby, yet. It was a random combination of cells to her. It had no name, gender, or face. It was foreign. So she did the best she could to create the image of a real person inside of her.

But still, no attachment.

Admitting this to herself, she resented herself even more. She felt hatred towards Lyon and mixed feelings for Gray, but she had no feelings towards the child. Nothing.

She wanted to love her unconditionally, but that she couldn't do. Not yet, at least.

The more Juvia thought about it, the more she felt trapped. How could one night with somebody change the course of her life? How was she to know that accepting somebody's offer to buy her a drink would lead to this?

Once the baby was born, there was no going back. Parenthood was about to be thrust upon her like a thousand pound weight, and Juvia was no bench presser.

She'd thought about telling Gray first, but it was Lyon's child. It was only fair. She needed to tell him before anyone, but to do that she would have to pay him a visit in person. It was the only right way to go about dropping the bomb about his father-to be status.

The water mage quickly scurried past Gray, careful not let him notice, and over to the request board. She picked the easiest mission in sight and made sure it was near her true destination. Of course she made sure it wasn't one that would involve much fighting, since she was in a fragile position. The life of her baby was not something she wanted to risk.

The girl took the job to Mira, and left without any further interaction.

Despite the regret that pulsated through her veins, the mage set off without saying a word to the dark haired man. It wasn't his child so why should she?

But to her surprise he stopped her on the way out.

She had expected his usual gruff way of speaking to her, but instead he pleasantly surprised her.

"Hi, Juvia. Listen, I need to talk to you before you leave. There's something that's been on my mind for a while now." The ice mage looked serious.

The water mage wasn't ready for him to say anything like that, not in the slightest. Time for a change of plans; fall back and hear him out.

"Y-yes Gray -sama?" She asked, shyly.

"Not here. We need to go somewhere else. I don't want other people listening or butting in."

Gray lead her to an area not far from the guild, very isolated. It was a tiny beach about a half a mile out along the coast. It was more rocks than sand but the water was calm and placid. There were only a few light waves crashing up against the rocks. The view of the magnificent ocean was breathtaking.

"I go here, sometimes whenever I just want to think. It's not amazing, but it is usually pretty quiet here. Nobody goes here, it's my own private hangout place. Sometimes, I talk to Ul here." He explained.

The water mage could certainly understand why he would treasure this place so much. It calmed her to be here. She moved towards the edge of the stone she stood upon and felt a light spray of sea water come from below.

Juvia didn't know what to say. It meant a lot to her that he had brought her here, by herself. Gray picked a pebble out of the sand and tossed it, making it skip across the water several times.

"That was very good. But Juvia can do better." She bent down, picked up her own pebble and cast it across the deep, flowing, waters. This time it skipped until it was no longer visible to the naked eye. By the time she turned back to Gray, he was shirtless.

"How did you do that?" The ice mage asked, amazed at her odd talent.

She laughed. "Well, Juvia is a water mage. She knows the water better than anyone. She knows nature better than anyone." She bragged.

Gray smiled. He loved seeing her competitive side. Even if it came out while doing something as simple as skipping stones

"You know nature better than anyone huh? Well I beg to differ. I'm an ice mage. that's a part of nature and a form of water." He argued, playfully.

"Yes, but you obviously aren't even in tune with yourself." The words came out, but she didn't realize the double meaning behind it until she heard herself. Gray frowned.

" Yeah….that's kinda what i wanted to talk about." Juvia's eyes widened slightly in anticipation to was he was about to say. She looked him in the eyes, waiting patiently for him to speak. The gentle breeze blew her hair onto her face, so she brushed the strands of hair out of the way.

"…Look, this is really hard for me to say. It took me a long time to realize how things were." He paused to find the right words.

"Juvia, I know you've had feelings for me for a while and for a long time, I didn't know how I felt about it." He took another long pause. This was harder than he thought.

The blunette was busy trying to control her breathing. If she didn't stop her huffing and puffing, he was going to think she was psychotic. But it was so difficult.

Why can't he just spit it out!?

"I don't know how I feel about you. I can't say anything for sure."

Juvia was disappointed, but a part of her was relieved. If he had feelings for her, it would make it harder to tell him about what happened between Lyon and her. However, that part of her was only a fraction of the whole. She had waited forever for him to return her love. She was torn. True, it would be better for his sake though. She didn't want him to see her pregnancy through emotionally clouded lens.

Unfortunately, she was human and her heart ached for him to feel something for her. Even if it would make things harder.

"Juvia understands. If you don't love her, she can move on." She said, disheartened.

"No, you're not listening. I'm willing... to give this a chance."

The rain woman replayed the words in her head. Did she really just hear him right? There was no way. He couldn't have said that. Not in a million years. Not if hell froze over. Not if Cana stopped drinking, if Elfman stopped saying man, if Nab picked a mission, if Erza stopped wearing armor, if…

"Juvia, did you hear me? You're not responding."

She began to feel dizzy, and everything started to go black. But at last second, she snapped herself out of it an looked him in the eyes.

"You okay?"

"You will be Juvia's boyfriend?" She asked, ignoring his last comment. The mother-to be had to be sure that things were clear.

"Well…. I dunno let's take things slow before putting that label on it. It's not like we're gonna be getting married and having kids anytime soon." Her heart sank when he said that.

That's right, the baby

She realized that this would complicate things even further. The same mess as before would resurface, only this time it would be an unstoppable monster. If she didn't tell him now, the monster would grow. It would overcome them with its power. It would become a wedge in their relationship.

"Gray-sama… I…" He looked at her with the same eyes she had seen that first time they met. They were truly captivating, but right now, they were hurting her.

"What?"

" Nothing. It's just,…" Like Gray, it was tricky for her to quite articulate her predicament in the right way. The timing didn't seem right.

The pressure was eating her alive. The pregnant mage's mind was racing with all the possible outcomes of telling her beloved about the baby. Fearing the imminent disaster that was about to happen, she was paralyzed.

Last night she had thought up every excuse in the book to not tell him. All that was keeping her from using them, was knowing that it would only get harder. Eventually, she would show, and there would be no denying it then. The cold, hard truth that she had kept the pregnancy from him would be exposed. Their relationship might never mend. Wherever, their relationship went, she didn't want it to end, despite their struggles. Their connection was far too deep for that.

I need to tell Lyon first and foremost anyways.

The worried girl, without thinking, put her hand over her lower stomach and began to stroke it gently.

"Juvia? What the hell are you doing?"

Her hand slowly fell down from her stomach. She tried to distract him from the question.

" What does that mean? Give it a chance? If we're not dating then what does 'us' entail?" It wasn't until after she asked the question that she realized how good a question it was.

"It means…..I realize that this is not a friendship. It's... different." The words came stumbling out, clumsily. Only then, did he realize how stupid they actually were.

Juvia scrunched her eyebrows together and tilted her head to the side."Isn't that what we already have?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Well, I think we should bring it out in the open, that's all. There's no use pretending it's not there, after everything that's happened."

"Gray-sama?"

"...What?"

"Why is it so hard for you to imagine me being your girlfriend?"

"It's not... I mean... well...I'm not saying it won't happen. But, I don't want you..."

"Yes?"

"... to move on." the ice mage hated himself.

"So you're saying that you want Juvia to 'reserve' herself for you?" she began raising her voice.

"No, well yes, I mean…."

She nodded her head. "Juvia understands, you don't have to explain any further, Gray-sama." She didn't want him to say more. It was too painful.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. She already understands. She understands that we will remain stagnant forever, like this water." The pregnant girl pointed down at the water.

"It may be pretty and nice, but the waves aren't large enough to go anywhere. They make an abrupt halt when they reach the rocks." She paused to let her words sink in. She had thought about this a long time and to finally say it, felt better than she expected.

"No matter how much Juvia tries, she will never be good enough to be a 'girlfriend' of Gray-sama." She said blankly, like it was nothing.

"No." Gray put a hand to his forehead, frustrated. "What's with you? Ever since the Magic Games you haven't been yourself." Gray knew the ship was sinking.

"Juvia didn't know you noticed. After all, you only notice her when it's convenient." She said, more bitterly than she expected.

The water mage didn't know what had come over her. Unable to fight the emotion, her eyes began to glisten, and her lips started to quiver. This wasn't just about dating Gray, it was about the new life growing inside of her. Her stomach twisted into a sick knot, and the tears began to cascade down her cheeks.

"What's wrong? Don't you think you're taking this the wrong way? I thought you'd be happy." He tried.

"Did you ever think that Juvia has feelings too? She cannot wait forever. As long as you keep her waiting, she has to keep dealing alone."

Suddenly, the waves began roaring, crashing against the rocks forcefully. The two standing on the rock moved back a few feet. The ice mage tried to talk over the noise.

"Juvia, you're confusing me. Why are you so upset? This isn't like you. It doesn't have to be like this."

She couldn't quite describe exactly how she was feeling. Normally she would be grateful that he would even consider their relationship as something more, but there was more factors jerking her around than before. She hadn't sleep for days and she was carrying Lyon's baby. That gave her more than a reasonable excuse to react sensitively.

Another large wave rose up and came back far enough on the rock that it soaked Gray.

"Gyahhhhh! You're doing this, aren't you?!" The ice mage said accusingly.

Inside Juvia was giggling, but she didn't want her conversation to become a joke. If she were to admit that this was funny, the conversation might take on a whole new direction. That was the last thing she wanted.

"It was an accident. Juvia swears." She said with a straight face.

"Juvia..."

"Don't. Listen, you're right, I am different since the games" She said, purposefully dropping the third person bit.

"I'm different because I'm worn out. I can't just wait around anymore." Her voice was still unstable, but now, even in her tears, she sounded strong.

She continued."I'm tired Gray-sama. I'm tired of laying awake at night, wondering if even the smallest part of you feels the way she feels." Although she wanted to say more, she restrained so she could take a moment to stabilize her voice.

Gray turned and gazed out over the mighty ocean. "Do you think I like the confusion either? If I could I would tell you exactly how I feel. But I don't want to lie. If I told you I felt one way or another, I would be lying. I can't..."

"If you don't like Juvia then just tell her! Because if you don't... then she has to make certain decisions. She needs to know." She spoke the last part softly. She turned away from him, facing the ocean.

"... Again, I'm sorry." His voice softened as well. "You can do what you want. You're right, it's not my place to hold you back." he admitted. But it hurt to say so.

"But are you saying there's someone else?"

Still turned away, she answered."...No. Of course not. Juvia could never love another the same."

One last surge of desire, mixed with hope, coursed through her veins.

But he didn't respond.

"I have to go, Gray. I took a mission and I plan to complete it." She replied coldly. Apparently the mood swings were already kicking in.

The ice mage opened his mouth to say something, but found no words.

Without looking back, the water mage made her way over to the train station. It would be wrong to keep the real father in the dark any longer. Sweat rolled down her skin from the constant anxiety. She hadn't been able to think straight since she read the test strip that fateful night.

How would Lyon react? That question tortured her.

Juvia once again put a hand on her belly, where the source of her troubles were. It would be so cruel for the baby to be born into the world as an accident. She knew all too well what it was like to be unwanted in the world.

The water mage tried to fathom what it would be like to have a baby.

All she could feel was loneliness.

She had wanted so badly to tell Gray about her child. She wanted someone to share in her burden, but truth be told, he wasn't the father.

It hurt her inside to have to be so blunt with him, but it had to be done, to protect both him and her. The water mage couldn't waste her time with him anymore. It wasn't healthy, and while she felt he should know, it wasn't the right time. She couldn't tell him when the real father didn't even know.

It's going to be alright, Juvia. All you have to do is tell him, and be on your way.

Suddenly the expecting mage, needing to sit down, found a nearby bench.

In an attempt to calm her nerves, the pregnant water mage began humming to herself.

Pregnancy was going to be harder than she ever imagined.

"Ma'm, this train's about to head out. Are you getting on or not?"

Trying to compose herself, she stood up. "Yes, sorry."

She boarded the train. All she had left was the faith that at the very least, Lyon would be understanding. She had no intention of continuing a relationship with him, but if he was going to be her daughter's father, they were going to have to work things out.

Please tell me what you think of this! Right direction? Wrong direction?