AN: Late update but here it is!
This chapter was betaed by the amazing Ratiqu! Thank you!
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What to Expect When You're Expecting
Chapter Twelve – Bean
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"Well can you feel it; oh everybody sees it how your sweet smile has a way of lighting up a room. Yeah you shine like diamonds in everything you do. Oh love, love, love's lookin' good, good, good on you." – Love's Looking Good On You – Lady Antebellum
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Three weeks passed without much excitement for Gray and Juvia, besides the double dates they had with their other friends; they went out with Gajeel and Levy to see a movie, the following week they went to have dinner with Natsu and Lucy. It was just silly that now that they were dating, they had to have dates with other couples, but it seemed the social thing to do, so they did it.
Gray was nervous, Juvia could see the way he clenched his hands by the side of his body. There was nothing to be nervous about, really; they were just having a follow-up appointment. And of course, it was their first scan; it meant that they could see their baby.
So maybe there was reason for Gray to be nervous, because suddenly she was also nervous.
What if there was something wrong with their baby? She put a hand over her now slightly swollen stomach. Week after week Juvia and Gray had been seen her stomach become bigger as their child grew. Juvia was wearing looser clothes so their friends couldn't see that she had now a noticeable stomach, which she'd never had in her life before.
Juvia had been through the sickness without alarming everyone and she was feeling anxious to let the others know about the pregnancy because at this point, the only ones she could talk to about it were Gray, Gajeel and Lisanna. But she wanted to be able to stop in front of a baby store without raising suspicion, she wanted to openly discuss how tired she was and she really wanted to gather the girls and buy some stylish maternity clothes (she was not going to be dressed with some ugly clothes just because she was pregnant).
"Miss Lockser?" A nurse called and Juvia got up, followed by Gray. They stared at each other for a moment and then went in after the nurse. This was it.
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"'911. Come to my place by 3pm. – Gray.'?" Erza asked, stepping inside the apartment of the young man when he opened the door and showing her cellphone where it showed Gray's text. "What's the emergency?"
"More like an announcement." Gray said, waving towards the living room, where the rest of their friends were waiting for whatever he was going to say. "You were the last one to arrive."
"Thank god." Cana said. "We've been standing here for the past fifteen minutes waiting for you, Erza."
"I apologize." The red haired woman said with a solemn voice. "I was finishing work."
"It's okay." Cana shrugged and turned to Gray. "Now can you tell us what this is all about?"
"Yes." Gray shifted his body uncomfortably as he stood in front of every one of his friends. Juvia was soon by his side, also not entirely comfortable with being the center of attention but this way was better than telling each of their friends individually. "Juvia and I…"
"WAIT!" Gajeel yelled while he went to stand next to the couple. He had a video camera on his hands. "It's still turning on."
Most of the people inside the room stared at Levy while her boyfriend was still trying to turn the camera on. The petite blunette girl shrugged. "Don't look at me; I don't know what's going on. He just asked to borrow my camera today."
"Okay, it's recording!" Gajeel grinned. "This is going to be so funny!"
"As I was saying…" Gray rolled his eyes, making their friends turn their attention towards him and Juvia once again. "Juvia and I have something to tell all of you and it is just more practical to tell in one go."
He looked to Juvia, who took a deep breath and said as clearly as she could: "I am pregnant."
Just as Gajeel predicted, it was amusing. Most of them just frowned, confused. Others were more obvious with their reactions: Loki was in the middle of taking a sip of his beer and when Juvia's soft voice sunk into his mind, the beer went down the wrong pipe and a handful of it came out from his nose. Natsu was eating a sandwich and it also went down the wrong pipe and the pink haired man started to cough hard. Cana had stopped her hand mid-air as she was about to drink from a wine bottle, making the liquid fall into her blouse. And so went on.
There was a moment of dead silence (aside from the noises Natsu and Loki were making).
"WHAT?" All of them asked at the same time and Gray and Juvia made a face because of the volume.
"We are going to have a baby." Gray said as calmly as he could. He was aware that it was a shock; in their minds, he and Juvia had only been dating for a little while and out of the blue… a baby? He'd felt lost when he found out too, obviously.
"But… but…" Lucy, who seemed to be the only one who wasn't too shell-shocked, tried to say.
"We've known for some time now. Sorry that we didn't tell you." Juvia said, blushing a little. "We were waiting for the first trimester to be over."
"Fi… fi… first trimester?" Levy asked with her mouth open in disbelief. "Are you already three months pregnant?" Gajeel let out a laugh when his girlfriend started to stutter, but continued to record.
"Yes." Juvia nodded. Since Gray's apartment was always acclimatized to have a much lower temperature than outside (he was really bothered by the heat), Juvia was wearing a baggy sweater she'd borrowed from him and no one thought much of it, and underneath it she was wearing a simple top that clung to her body. The blue haired girl started to pull the sweater off. All their friends' eyes went to her covered stomach, to the small, but noticeable protuberance on her lower abdomen. "Juvia had to wear much looser clothes to hide it, but there's no reason to anymore."
"Oh my god!" Mira exclaimed putting a hand over her mouth. "You are really pregnant!"
"Yes." Juvia nodded and offered the woman a small smile. "Juvia really is."
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Mirajane stepped towards the pregnant girl and embraced her in a hug. "We would've been there for you. You know we would never say anything to…"
"We know, Mira." Gray said nicely and then he looked to his other friends. "We know. But many things could've happen during the first trimester and we wanted to make sure everything was alright before telling you." Most of them were still trying to wrap their minds around the fact that there was indeed a child inside Juvia's stomach, so, to speed up the process, Gray went towards his TV. He and Loki had worked very hard to buy that gigantic thing. He started to push a few buttons on the remote control. "I know that it is hard to believe, but if you just look to the TV…"
The doctor had put the gel over Juvia's stomach and she grabbed Gray's hand harder as the doctor started to perform the ultrasound; she did warn her that it was cold, but even so, the younger girl was surprised at how chilly it was all the same.
"Now, let's find your baby…" Doctor Erika said, smiling and looking at the equipment.
Gray was looking at the monitor, trying to identify something, but it was all gray and rainy; he really couldn't see a baby in there even to save his life. Juvia was biting her lower lip, waiting for the doctor to do her job.
"Here we go." Erika said with a smile. She pointed to the monitor, where there was a black and white image on it. Gray went to stand beside the TV and she pointed to a small white-gray spot in the middle of a black background. "This is your baby."
"That small thing over there?" Gray asked, squinting his eyes.
"Yes."
"It looks like a bean." He frowned, but couldn't stop staring at it.
"It does. Well… from what I can see, everything looks fine for your twelfth week. But there's something else you two would like to hear today…" The doctor chuckled and after pushing a few buttons, a sound came from the equipment, and a steady thumping sound started to echo through the walls. "This is your baby's heartbeat."
Gray grabbed Juvia's hand as hard as he could and looked down at her; she was openly crying, but wearing a smile. He couldn't help but smile as well.
"I'll give you two a moment." Doctor Erika said kindly and she stepped out of the room.
"Oh my god…" Juvia breathed. "Did you hear that?"
"Yes." Gray kissed the top of her head. "It was…" He tried to find a word, but it failed him. He couldn't describe what he felt when he heard it. He could only smile like a fool.
"It was." She laughed between tears. "It really was."
"And the doctor said that everything is fine with it." Gray said.
"Juvia doesn't like to call the baby 'it'." The girl looked to the monitor, where the image of their child was. "Not anymore."
"Let's call him Bean." Gray suggested. "I mean, it looks like a bean to me."
The girl smiled at her boyfriend and then looked to the monitor. "Our little Bean."
All of the people inside the room looked at it and frowned when a black and white image appeared. Gray went to stand beside the TV and pointed to a spot in the middle of a black background. "This is the baby." He looked around to see all of them staring at it in awe, like he had back at the doctor's. He pushed another button on the remote control and a steady thumping sound started. "And this… this is the baby's heartbeat."
Everyone looked like they were seeing and hearing the most amazing thing in the world and to Gray and Juvia, it was. A baby that was half him and half her. They were waiting for the rest of their friends to say anything at all.
"Okay, this was awesome." Surprisingly, the first one to say it was Natsu, who was staring at the TV with wide eyes.
Right after, the others joined him laughing and smiling with the young couple. The girls went closer to Juvia so they could hug her and put a hand over her stomach in glee, while the men started slapping Gray on the back, wishing him the best. Gray could swear that he saw a tear in Elman's eyes, but didn't mention it; he had shed a few tears himself when he heard the heartbeat for the first time.
"You two never cease to amaze us, do you?" Erza said to Gray after she had congratulated Juvia. She had a small smile on her face.
"Well, we'll try to stop amazing you for some time. I don't believe that I can take many more surprises either." Gray laughed and so did the rest of the people around him.
"Did you tell your mom yet?" Erza asked.
"Yeah, right when I found out. It was a shock, and I needed someone to talk to." Gray laughed. "I e-mailed the sonogram to her yesterday while we were on the phone… She says that dust got in her eyes, but I am pretty sure that she cried hopelessly when she saw it."
"I am hurt that you didn't tell me, Gray." Loki said, by his roommate's side. "We live in the same house!"
"We were waiting for the first trimester to be…" Gray couldn't finish.
"But Gajeel knew and he is sharing an apartment like we do." The orange haired man scowled.
"Well, I was not the one throwing up all the time." Gray rolled his eyes. "Or napping in the oddest places. He had to know, Loki, so he could keep an eye on her when I couldn't."
The orange haired man nodded, understanding a bit why his friend's reasons were good enough.
While Gray chatted with the boys, Juvia was talking to the girls, happy that the secret was out. "Juvia is so happy that you know."
"And we are happy to know." Levy said excitedly. "I can't believe that you are having a baby!"
"Me neither." Lucy said, looking up to Juvia and asking for permission to touch her stomach. Once she received a small nod, she did it. "Can you feel it yet?"
"No, it's too soon." Juvia giggled. "And Gray-sama and I decided not to call the baby 'it' anymore, not after seeing and hearing him. We call him 'Bean' now."
"This is so cute." Mirajane said, hugging her friend again, like an older sister would. "I think everyone will call him Bean eventually."
"And why are you referring to Bean as a 'he'?" Lisanna asked. "Can you tell the sex already?"
"No." The blunette giggled. "It's more like a generalization. We won't know the gender until much later. From the books Juvia bought, it says that the baby is the size of a lime right now and he's just started to develop genitalia, so we'll have to wait a few more weeks to know." She put a hand over her stomach lovingly.
"Well, you are glowing." Cana shrugged. The girls looked at the brunette in question. "What? She is. Look at her skin!"
"That's because increased blood volume and hormones work together and increase oil secretion, which leads to the 'pregnancy glow.'" Levy said and the girls started at her. She blushed. "I read at the bookstore when no one else is around, okay? I happened to read about pregnancies once."
The girls laughed and Juvia remembered something. "Oh, by the way… Juvia's in desperate need to buy a few maternity clothes and since the only ones who knew about it were Gray-sama, Gajeel-kun and Lisanna... I mean, Juvia just cannot picture Gray-sama and Gajeel-kun helping her choose clothes." The girls laughed. "And even though Lisanna-san could've helped, Juvia wanted to have all her friends with her."
The girls 'awed' and had a group hug.
Gray and the boys looked puzzled before staring at each other.
"Not gonna happen, man." Natsu shook his head and the others agreed.
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After lending one of the shirts Juvia kept in Gray's apartment to Cana (her previous blouse was stained with wine) and after two hours of celebration of the new life Juvia and Gray were about to have, everyone went home, leaving only Gray, Loki (who excused himself to go and take a shower) and Juvia behind.
Juvia was sitting on the couch, looking at the image of their child on the TV. They had forgotten to take it off and now that the apartment was relatively empty, it was nice to see the sonogram again.
"Glad the secret's out?" Gray asked, sitting by her side and putting an arm over the girl's shoulder, letting her snuggle into him.
"Yes." She nodded. "Juvia was worried that they would be a little judgmental about Bean, but thankfully they weren't."
"Good." He kissed the top of her head and also stared at the TV. "You know… they pretty much melted with just seeing that kind of image of Bean. Wanna bet that they will drool all over him when he's born?"
She chuckled. "Juvia knows they will." She looked up to her boyfriend then. "And so will we, for that matter."
"What?" Gray fake-snorted. "I will not let this child transform me into a drooling fool."
The blunette couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, right." She teased him. "You'll be the worst of us all!"
"I will not." He said firmly. "It's just a baby, Juvia. It's not like it's the batmobile." He rolled his eyes and she giggled. "Have I ever told you that one of my dreams is to have a batmobile?"
"Would you trade it for Bean?" She teased.
Gray looked to the TV screen and then to Juvia. He smiled and leant over her to give her a small peck on the lips. "No. I wouldn't trade Bean for the world."
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AN: Fluff because I am in the mood. LOL BTW: Gajeel is awesome.
Thanks to: Gohanroxme, WednesdaySnow, TheShortySwag, Guest, DarkTsuraHime72, Knight of Athos, Brigitte3, TheWhiteOwl,La p'tite Lili, Esthelar, VitalBlueStatic, otaku03, Yuki Brunestud, intheopen, Avatardd, superduperizee Yukistar, YamixTeaLover, AliceCullen3, Seyrin, Jessicutie, XxPlueXx, underwaterlights, beatress, ahuna67, Guest, cybercorpsesnake, Ratiqu, Essence97, monkeyrawr, Darkhope, Ushiio, 4EverETRNL, AngelBaby5643, CaprisiousKrego, Chibi Waru-chan, FairyTailxoLove and Uchiha Evangeline! Wow! So many! You make my heart beat faster, guys!
Again, I apologize not replying to you: I have no internet at home. I update through my phone and it sucks. But I do appreciate everything you say to me! Now I'm gonna work on 'Far Longer Than Forever' and 'The Duchess' (Yes, it's back. My block is goooone!) and I'll try to update this weekend. :)
04/12/13 ~ BonneyQ