AN: Here we go, guys: the time for the truth. What's going to happen to Juvia and the baby? I hope you enjoy the chapter!
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What to Expect When You're Expecting
Chapter Eighteen – Lie to Me
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"So lie to me once again and tell me everything will be alright.
Lie to me once again and ask yourself before we say good bye
Well, good bye. Was it worth it in the end?" ―12 Stones – Lie To Me
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When he received the phone call, Gray actually thought that it was someone messing with him, but Lucy's voice was so shaky that after a few moments, he actually believed, even if he hated doing so.
"Gray? It's Lucy. I… Juvia and I were taking a cab and then… a van hit us." Her voice trembled and Gray felt as if his blood was ice cold. "Juvia's unconscious, I don't… I don't know what's happening to her." Lucy sobbed. "We… we are going to the hospital. The paramedics said that we'll be at Magnolia's General soon." He could hear some background sound, a siren. "You need to go there, Gray."
The man hung up the phone and stayed still at his office for a few moments, sitting and without reaction. Lucy talked about a van which hit them? Juvia's at the hospital? What about the baby?
He remembered telling someone from his office that he had to see his girlfriend, grabbed his helmet and leaving. The road until the hospital seemed to pass like a blur to him. Gray probably infringed many laws during the fifteen minutes ride, but didn't care about it. He just needed to get to the hospital to make sure his girlfriend was alright.
When he finally arrived, Gray parked his motorcycle by the Hospital's side and even left his helmet, he could replace it later. Entering the E.R, he could see that it was a little chaotic and chaotic was what he least needed at the moment, he needed to find his girlfriend alive and well.
"Gray!" The man heard Lucy's voice and turned around, searching for the blonde and after a moment, he did. She was sitting on a bed; she had a few cuts on her face and had a nasty bruise on her right shoulder, but seemed otherwise unaffected.
"Are you alright?"
"Just a few bumps, nothing serious." Lucy dismissed Gray's thoughts. "Juvia's around here somewhere. They separated us when we arrived but I think she was waking up."
"I…" The dark haired man looked around the E.R. "I need to find her."
"Go." The blonde said when she saw Gray hesitate on leaving her side; he was deadly worried about his girlfriend, but Lucy had been in the same accident and even though she looked fine, only god knows what could happen. "Find her, I will be fine: she needs you."
"Call Natsu." Gray told her before leaving. He heard her saying that she already done it, but he didn't reply, as he was worried about finding Juvia in the middle of the craziness that it was a full E.R. When he spotted a nurse, the man stopped her. "Can you tell me where they would take a pregnant woman who has been in a car accident?"
The nurse was a little surprised with the approach, but let it go. "She's probably having a sonogram." The woman looked down on some papers she was carrying. "Lockser, Juvia?"
"Yes! Yes." Gray almost yelled. "Where is she?"
"Come with me." She was fast on her feet and Gray was right after her, following. The nurse took him towards a room and he saw the woman knock on the door before open it and ask if that was where Juvia Lockser was, but Gray didn't need any confirmation, he saw a glimpse of a particular shade of blue and was sure who was in that room.
"Juvia!" He said, relieved and was even more relieved when she answered him.
"Gray-sama. Juvia thought she wouldn't see you again." The blunette said weakly and Gray stepped inside the room, where there was a man doing a sonogram – just like the nurse suggested – as Juvia lied on the mattress. He needed a moment to take in that she seemed to have a nasty cut on her left temple – there was some dried blood on her hair – and just like Lucy, tinier ones around her face. She was wearing a hospital gown and her left arm was covered in what it seemed an armrest.
The man was by her side, the right one, as soon as he could. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Are you okay?" He fought the urge to just hug Juvia until he couldn't anymore; the other man in the room was still doing the sonogram and Gray needed the baby to be fine as well.
"Dislocated shoulder." Juvia said weakly and it worried her boyfriend when he saw her face twist in pain and it was the blunette's time to squeeze his hand. "The baby… My stomach hurts."
It was as if someone threw a bucket of cold water all over him. What happened to the baby? Why was Juvia in such pain? Was she losing the baby? No, no, no. They couldn't lose their child. She felt her stomach hurt once again and held Gray's hand tighter. The man stared at her with wide eyes and then looked up to the E.R. doctor, who was looking at the screen with attention.
Gray felt Juvia's hand relax as the pain subdue, but could see that she still felt a little of it.
The doctor stopped to move the probe over her stomach and then put it away, finally turning to face the couple. "Sir. As I explained to Miss Lockser, I am Dr. Bradley and I will take care of her." Gray nodded in understanding and saw the dark haired doctor turn his attention to his girlfriend. "Ma'am. I believe you are having a placental abruption. It means that the placental lining has separated from the uterus." His dark eyes were staring at Juvia's face. "You are in your 34th week, it means that we can safely take the baby out with a C-section, but we need to hurry, I noted that the baby's starting to get distressed."
Juvia had her eyes wide open as she looked up to Gray. She was so scared, he could see in her eyes; the woman had grabbed his hand tighter. The blunette, then, changed her gaze towards the doctor. "Okay, Juvia read about this, it's very dangerous." The doctor nodded. "Just… If you, in the middle of the surgery, need to choose who to save: save the baby."
"Juvia, what…?" Gray tried, but Juvia interrupted.
"This is very serious, Gray-sama." The blunette told him. "Juvia read about it because there was a brochure at her doctor's office a couple of months ago, telling that every woman should know the symptoms. Both mother and child can die if not detected soon."
"No one is dying." Gray said and looked to the doctor.
"I'll try my best. Miss Lockser, a nurse will come and prepare you for surgery while I prepare myself." The man said kindly to Juvia and then turned to Gray. "Sir, as soon as I finish, I'll find you." With that, the man was out the door and Gray's attention was once again on Juvia.
"You'll be fine."
The woman was silent for a moment, before move her eyes to stare at Gray and he felt uneasy with it. There were so many things going through them that if he didn't already had his mind spinning, it would make it so. After a few seconds of staring at him, she asked, with a tiny voice. "Could you do something for Juvia?"
"Anything." He kissed her hand, his eyes on hers.
"Say 'I Love You'." The blunette whispered.
"What?"
"I just need to hear it one time." Juvia said softly and Gray stared at her in confusion. "Lie to me so I can…" She left the phrase incomplete, but he understood what she meant. "Please."
"No, no." Gray squeezed her hand. "You don't get to ask me this as if you are not coming back. You'll be fine. I'll tell you all the time after our daughter is born: you just need to get through this."
"Daughter?" The blunette smiled through the pain and then took a deep breath. "Juvia knew you would tell her before Bean was born."
Realizing that he told her the secret he was holding for almost three months, Gray smiled back at her, a tightening feeling in his chest, but he couldn't show her fears when she was trying to be strong for both of them. "Sorry. You were right, I wanted to keep it a secret, but couldn't anymore."
At that moment, a nurse entered the room, but neither paid too much attention to her, as the woman quietly let them have their moment.
"It's fine." The woman hissed as another wave of pain washed through her and the nurse started to put her hair under a surgical cap. "What will we name her?"
"We can talk about this after your surgery." Gray said, shaking his head.
"No, let's do this now. Juvia needs to focus on her, and she would love to have a real name to call her baby." He saw in her eyes that she had to know how to call their unborn child before she went inside.
"I was thinking… Aurora. It means 'dawn'." The man suggested it. "It just keeps coming to my mind that morning when we decided to be together for real and we stayed in your couch as the sun went up."
"That's a beautiful name."
"Miss Lockser?" The nurse called her and Gray let her hand go while Juvia looked towards the red haired woman. "We need to go right now."
"Yes." Juvia moved her eyes to Gray, then. Lifting her right hand, she touched his cheek and gave him the best smile she could with all that was going on. "See you and our daughter later." Gray turned a bit so he could kiss the palm of her hand, putting his own over hers. "I love you."
Her boyfriend got up and leaned, kissing her lips, lingering on it for a little while. When they separated from each other, he rested his forehead on hers for a moment, eyes closed and breathing hard. "I love you."
Juvia sighed happily, tears rolling down her cheek. "Thank you for saying it."
"I am not just saying it." Gray whispered. "I do, I love you and it's no lie." The blue haired woman gasped in surprised when saw his determined eyes. "I'll be waiting for you – both of you – to come out of this so I can tell you again."
"Juvia will try her best." She informed him, but another wave of pain hit her and the nurse asked Gray to step aside so she could take Juvia. "See you in a bit."
"You better." Gray said and saw as Juvia was taken away, his chest hurting with the possibility of never seeing her again. He felt his eyes sting and quickly dried them. It was not the time for crying, Juvia was going to be strong inside the room, Gray was going to be strong outside and patiently wait for her to be fine.
Taking his cellphone out of his pocket, he quickly punched a few numbers on it and waited the call to complete.
"Hello?" His mother's voice could be heard from the device as Gray felt his barrier crumble a little. He couldn't play pretend with his mother, never could.
"Mom, it's Gray." His voice cracked a little and the man had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself.
"Hi kid." Ur said happily, but when she only heard her son's deep breathing on the other side, she asked, worried. "Gray? Are you alright?"
"Juvia has been in an accident." Gray told her, a hand over his eyes as he tried to stay focused on telling his mother the news.
"What?"
"They took her to an emergency C-section. Something about placental abruption, the baby's in distress." He took a deep breath. "It's dangerous, but she'll be fine; has to be fine."
"Yes, son. She will be fine." Ur told him with a calm tone. "I will be in the next train to Magnolia." Gray didn't even fight the woman. "Everything will be alright, kid."
"Thanks, mom." He ended the call before she could tear down his poker face. Taking a deep breath, Gray got out of the room and went to find the waiting room, telling himself that his girls were going to be fine.
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He had no idea how many time passed, but before he realized it, Lucy was standing by his side at the waiting room, calling his name. She had a few butterfly bandages over her cuts.
"They will be arriving soon." The blonde told him and at the same moment he realized that she meant their friends. "Where's…?"
"Surgery. Emergency C-section." Gray informed her – her big brown eyes getting bigger with the information – and he felt bad about forgetting that Lucy was still at the hospital. "Sorry I didn't come to find you, I…"
"It's alright. You have a lot in your mind right now." She told him after the shock of knowing that her friend was having surgery. They stayed in silence for a while, not knowing exactly what to do.
"Some people might say that I am being tested, but I don't need this lesson." Gray said to Lucy when the blonde sat beside him at the bench. She put an arm around his shoulders and then intertwined their free hands together. "I don't need a lesson in loss: I've known it since the say I lost my parents. I can't just lose Juvia and the baby; I can't go through that hell again. I lost my mom, my dad, and then almost lost my foster mother. I know loss. So, if this is some kind of test, I don't need it."
"Gray…" Lucy sighed.
"And I can't choose. If they ask me to… I can't choose. How am I supposed to choose who lives?" Gray said in a whisper, scared that somehow he needed to do it. Juvia said to save the baby, but what about her? He couldn't live without her.
"No one is going to ask you to choose." Lucy squeezed his hand. "They will be fine: both of them. Stop thinking the worst."
"I told her that I loved her." If it was possible, he whispered even lower. "I thought she knew, but before she went inside, all she wanted was that I lied to her. Juvia actually used those words: 'Lie to me', as if I didn't feel much for her. How could I forget to tell her?"
"You can tell her later." Lucy said. "You two had a lot going on these past few months, it's understandable."
"Maybe." Gray said after a while. "Thanks for calling and just… you know, being here."
"That's what friends are for." Lucy kissed his cheek. "Don't worry, everything will be alright."
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Two hours later, the waiting room of Magnolia General was filled with Gray and Juvia's friends, waiting for the woman and the baby to be safe and sound in her room, but so far no one had appeared with the good news. Gray was still sitting, his leg going up and down fast with a nervous tick, while waiting. That was the worst part: to wait and be helpless about it.
Lucy was still by his side, once in a while, squeezing his knee, just so he knew that he was not alone and he would be forever grateful to her for that. Gajeel, on the other hand, couldn't stay still. He was walking around the room, restless while his girlfriend stayed sitting, tired of walking after him.
Yet, Gray was grateful that he wasn't alone. In a couple of hours his mother would be there as well, and hopefully, he would have a healthy daughter to show to her.
Aurora, that would be the baby's name and he was glad that Juvia liked his suggestion, even though they didn't have much time to talk about it before the surgery, he had been thinking about that name for a while, because, just like he told Juvia, that day when they decided to try and be together was constantly in his mind, since it was pretty much the day they really started.
He heard steps and looked up, seeing the doctor going in their direction. Gray was on his feet in a moment and met the doctor half way; his friends were paying attention and also rose to their feet, expecting news, but none of them, not even the restless Gajeel approached the two men: Gray needed to do that on his own.
"How are they?" The dark haired man asked, anxious.
"Sir, you have a very important decision to make." The doctor was serious.
"What is it?" Gray felt his heart stop for a moment. He couldn't choose. He couldn't.
"Who do you want to visit first: Miss Lockser or your daughter?" Dr. Bradley offered Gray a smile as soon as the words left his mouth and saw the dark haired man frown in confusion, just to finally understand, a moment later, what those words meant.
"Both of them are alright?" Gray asked in a strangled voice.
"Yes they are." The doctor's smile widened. "Miss Lockser is being transferred to a room, and your daughter is in the NICU just as a precaution since she is a premmie, but she is healthy as far as we can tell, she has a great pair of lungs for such a small little girl. You should see her; Miss Lockser is resting because of the anesthetic and should be asleep now."
"Thank you." Gray blurted it out, feeling his extremities once again.
"My pleasure. I'll be checking on Miss Lockser in a couple of hours." With it, the doctor left.
Gray turned around to face his friends, who were looking at him expecting some kind of reaction from him. Smiling widely and with eyes shining with unshed tears, he told them: "Juvia is fine and I have a daughter to meet."
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AN: After a traumatic event, their baby girl is finally safe and sound. I hope you guys don't mind it's a girl once again, I kind of like Aurora already. We'll see more of her in the next chapters, of course. :) And some GrayLu!Friendship, which I think is very cute and a little bit for my friend Vitoria, who is a GrayLu fan. o/
Thanks to: Tamniin, Chibi Waru-Chan, YamixTeaLover, A Certain Unfortunate Guy, superduperizee, Darkhope, ProjXPsyClone, Mrs Murasaki-sama, LyonAndJuviaForever, SeptemberGurl, Rachy Writes, starflow.22, AliceCullen3, BrigitteoO, Simlop, otaku03, mgaa, Shadow Mystery, DoomedToBeACrazyFanGirlForever, ranmachi, SakuraIchigoDark, Xeylah, Medaka-chan, Theejay-sama, MrsGooglyBear, Rainbows-and-Rainclouds, Lavi-hime 4E -3, Cookie-chan91, Eri-Chan1626, FeatherGuitar, hikarimoon1029384756, Yukistar, Rylee88, Esthellar, animegirl115, Summer Eclair, WhatGoesUpGoesDown, Adelram, NekoMaji, Hayden, Norton, Guest, MashiroLOVE and golden promise! Thanks for the reviews, praises and cussing (Sorry about the Cliffhanger last chapter, haha). You guys are great!
10/03/2013 ~ BonneyQ