AN: Hey! I hope this is not too OOC and doesn't suck too much. :) I think that Juvia is a little MarySue-ish, but I can't help it; I freaking love her! :D

Special thanks to Ulcaasi, who pretty much beta-ed this chapter by pointing out my mistakes!

Family

Gray entered the dining room and watched as Juvia set the plates around the dining table. Their apartment wasn't so big, but it did its job. She had invited someone to have dinner with them and honestly, Gray wasn't in the mood to meet with anyone. His mood had been sour for a few days, because the anniversary of the death of his foster mom, Ul Milkovich was close.

It has been seventeen years since that fated day.

He had grown up since then, of course, but he still suffered when that date was close. That was the day he lost his family a second time and it crushed him. Now, he was a twenty-four year old man and even so, when that day came, he felt like a seven year old boy once again: hopeless seeing his family destroyed by the same bandit who killed his mother and father.

Gray sighed and went to his girlfriend, hugging her from behind. She was startled for a second, but she immediately put the plates down and rested her hands above his arms, while he rested his chin in her shoulder.

"Gray-sama, Juvia needs to finish this." She said nicely.

"Yeah." Gray said, but made no movement to let her go. Instead, he kissed her neck. During that week, Gray had been especially sweet with his girlfriend and she noticed, of course. He had been corning her, giving her kisses and leading her to do way more than kiss him back. "Why don't we just ditch this dinner?" He nuzzled against her neck even more.

"No." Juvia turned to him and made a serious face. "This is an important dinner."

"And who this special guest of yours is, anyway?" Gray rolled his eyes and placed his hands on her waist. "You have been very secretive."

"It's a surprise." She smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Not a big fan of surprises." Gray groaned when Juvia broke free of his grip to finish putting the three plates on the table. "Do I even know this person?"

"Yes. You know them." She finished with the dishes.

"Wait, them?" The dark haired man frowned. "More than one person is coming over?"

"Yes." Juvia walked to the small kitchen wearing a small smile.

"And who the hell…?" Gray was interrupted when he heard the door knock. "I guess that I'll find soon enough." He murmured to himself and went to see who Juvia invited to their home. When he finally opened the door, he was surprised. Truly surprised.

Right in his front door stood Lyon Bastia, Ultear Milkovich and Meredy Milkovich, Ultears's 'little sister'.

"What the fuck is going on…?" Gray was frowning and confused. What the hell the three of them were doing there?

"Nice seeing you too, Gray." Lyon rolled his eyes and pushed Gray to enter the small apartment. "Juvia-chan! Where are you? I came for you."

Gray was going to shout to Lyon shut up but Ultear beat him into it.

"Shut up, Lyon. And what are you doing here? Juvia didn't tell me that you were coming as well." The older woman gave Gray a plate with some kind of cake in it and entered his house too.

"Hi, Gray!" Meredy smiled. "This is lemon cake. I told Ul… I mean, Ultear that we couldn't just come to dinner without bringing something." The pink haired girl leaned and spoke in a whisper. "She made it, be careful eating it. Ultear has the heart in the right place, but she just can't cook." She finished saying that and also entered the apartment, while Gray stood there with the cake, with a confused expression.

"What the…?" He closed the door and went after his… guests. "What are you all doing here?"

They were all gathered in the kitchen, where Lyon was currently giving Juvia a hug (infuriating Gray), while Ultear and Meredy waited to talk to the blue haired woman as well.

Still a little overwhelmed, Gray put the cake over the counter and waited, while his girlfriend was being suffocated by Meredy in a bear hug; then, Ultear not liking too much unnecessary touching, was receiving a hug from Juvia.

"Okay, what's going on?" Gray asked a loudly to bring the attention back to him.

"Oh, you're all having dinner together." Juvia said and Gray, Lyon and Ultear stared at her with frowns in their faces.

"You mean we, right?" Lyon asked.

"No: you." Meredy was the one who answered. "Tonight Juvia and I brought you together to remember."

Juvia grabbed Ultear's hand, while Meredy took Gray's and Lyon's, leading them to the dining room, where there were three plates on the table.

"What?" Ultear looked behind her to her little sister, only to find the girl smiling a little.

"You three know exactly what time of the year it is." Meredy spoke. She released the men's hands and went to stand next to Juvia. "In three days is the anniversary, isn't it?"

The three older people looked at each other. Yes, seventeen years before, Ul gave her life to protect Gray and Lyon. Of course they remembered. What struck them was the fact that Meredy and Juvia also knew and remembered.

"I don't understand." Lyon broke the silence. "Why can't we have dinner together?"

"Because, Lyon-san…" Juvia started talking. "You three met Ul. Meredy and Juvia only heard of her." She looked to Ultear. "Your mother was a wonderful woman, Ultear-san. And there are several things that you don't know about her." The blue haired woman then, moved her eyes towards Lyon. "And you, Lyon-san. You stayed with Ul for a long time. You also know many facts that Gray-sama and Ultear-san have no idea." She looked to her boyfriend, then. "And You, Gray-sama… You told Juvia that you had many memories about her. As much as Juvia loves to hear about it, Juvia didn't know her. You should share it with the people who actually met her."

Gray, Ultear and Lyon were surprised, to say the least.

"So, this dinner…?" Gray stared at his girlfriend.

"Juvia and I planned it." Meredy hugged Juvia's arm and smile to Gray, then to Lyon and finally to Ultear. "The three of you were raised by the same woman, you are almost like siblings, but you don't talk much about Ul. Not with each other."

"So, Meredy and Juvia wanted to make you do that." Juvia offered them an apologetically smile to the three startled people. "While you have dinner, we are going to go and watch a movie."

"What?" The three started to talk at the same time. None of them liked to open up, especially with each other. And stay there only with the other two? For them, it was the definition of hell.

"Calm down." Meredy giggled. "You'll be alone for two hours. You can manage."

"Not with them!" The three said at the same time, making the two girls giggle.

"You'll be fine." Juvia said and untangled herself gently from Meredy's embrace, and went to the kitchen with the small girl, coming back a few seconds later with a big stew in her hands while Meredy had a casserole with macaroni. Every person in the room drooled over it. Juvia was a very good cook and they knew it. "Here's the dinner." She placed it on the table. "If you don't want to talk to each other that's fine too. You don't have to." She looked to them. "But give it a try. Maybe you'll feel better."

Meredy hugged Ultear. "Try, Ul." She smiled. "I think that you'll like it."

"We'll see." The older woman rolled her eyes and kissed Meredy's head softly.

Juvia smiled and went to Gray, who was sulking, of course. She, shyly, put her hands on his shoulders. "Don't be mad, Gray-sama."

"I'm not." His expression didn't change. "You should stay. We don't have to be alone here."

"Yes, you do." She kissed his cheek.

"Okay, you two have someone to hug and kiss. What about me?" Lyon crossed his arms above his chest while eyeing the other four people in the room.

"You too, Lyon." Meredy let go of Ultear and hugged the white haired man, who tried not to smile with her actions. "Try it too, right?"

"Maybe." He offered the girl a small smile and then turned to Juvia. His cheeks became pink. "Ju-Juvia-chan. You can kiss me if you want to… I don't min..." Lyon was about to grab Juvia's arm but Gray was faster. He pulled her to him.

"Weren't you just leaving?" He looked down to his girlfriend. "Go already or you'll lose the freaking movie." And then he stared daggers to the older man in front of him. Gray didn't want to be alone with Lyon and Ultear to talk about feelings and shit, but he didn't want his girlfriend harassed by the white haired baboon during the whole evening even less. She was going to be safer at the damned movie theater.

"Yes." Juvia was released by Gray. "Come on, Meredy. They need to talk."

'When the movie finishes, text me. – G'

Juvia stared at her cellphone with a little apprehension. Was he angry with her for plotting the dinner with Lyon and Ultear? With quick fingers, she typed back a response.

'It's over. Meredy wants a smoothie so, we're going to Danny's and then we're going home. - Juvia'

She looked to the pink haired girl and smiled. She was sweet and Juvia knew that she wanted the best for Ultear. They were very united. And whenever she and the older woman came to Magnolia, Juvia loved to hang out with the girl. She was like a little ray of sunlight. Thank God she gave up the stupid idea of giving up her life for Ultear. It was in the past.

"Let's go get the smoothies, Meredy." The girl squealed in happiness and Juvia laughed.

After 10 minutes, Juvia and Meredy were walking out of Danny's, a small diner that had the best smoothies in the world, when they heard someone calling them.

Gray, Lyon and Ultear were coming towards them. Meredy almost immediately jumped and ran to her sister, wearing a big smile as Ultear smiled back.

"Ul!" The pink haired girl exclaimed while wrapping her arms towards the older woman. "The movie was so good! The aliens were so gross when they exploded! I loved it! I wanna see it again with you."

Ultear laughed and looked to Juvia, who finally reached the group.

"She talked during the whole movie, didn't she?" Juvia giggled and nodded. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine. The movie would've been boring without her comments." Juvia went next to her boyfriend, who grabbed her by the waist when he realized that Lyon was leaning too close to her. "So, how was the dinner?"

"The dinner was delicious as always, Juvia-chan." Lyon smiled. He, Ultear and Meredy often went to eat with Gray and Juvia when they were in Magnolia, but all of them together was rare. Juvia always outdid herself when it came to dinner; the dishes she made were all praised by whoever ate them.

"Thanks, Lyon-san." She offered him a small smile "We all need to go out together."

"Yeah." Gray spoke. "We were talking about that when we were walking here." Juvia looked over her shoulder to look at her boyfriend, who managed to put his arm around her shoulders. "They're going tomorrow to Fairy Tail to have lunch, their flight is late in the afternoon. Besides, since you and Meredy ran away from dinner..."

"We did not!" Meredy exclaimed and Gray smirked.

"... We were thinking of get together with, you know... Everyone." He rolled his eyes.

"That's good." Juvia smiled and the five of them started to walk towards the taxi stop near the corner of the street. "Are you going already?"

"Yes." Ultear answered. "The week was tiring."

They all knew what that meant; during that week, she, Gray and Lyon had been haunted by the memory of Ul and her death.

'Of course they are tired', Juvia thought; 'If Gray-sama is any indicator, they're sleeping badly, if sleeping at all.'

"And we have many things to think about today, Juvia-chan." Lyon said softly to Juvia. "Tomorrow I'll be all yours." The white haired man tried to hug Juvia, but Gray put a hand on Lyon's face to stop him from doing so.

Juvia just giggled and untangled herself from her boyfriend's (tight) grip and gave Lyon a fast hug.

"It's alright, Lyon-san." She said softly. "Go rest."

"Thanks for today. Juvia. I had forgotten many things." Lyon whispered to her. "Thanks for doing this and help me remember."

"Anytime." She responded and let him go from her embrace. He was a nice man; Lyon was a big brother to Gray (not that neither would ever admit it) and he had always been nice to Juvia.

Gray frowned and stared at his girlfriend. "'Anytime'?" He asked and Juvia went to say her goodbyes to Ultear and Meredy. "'Anytime' what?"

"She'll leave you anytime now." Lyon said serious and Gray groaned in annoyance. He knew that it wasn't that but the fact that was Lyon telling him that made things worse.

"Shut up!" Gray snapped. "You know what? Don't go to Fairy Tail tomorrow. You annoy me."

"I'll go. I promised my dear Juvia-chan that I would go to this date with her." Lyon put one hand on his hips and waved the other for enfasis.

"It's not a date. I will be there too, dumbass." Gray rolled his eyes.

Lyon thought for a minute.

"Nah... It's a date. You're easy to block out." Lyon put a hand on Gray's shoulder. "Don't worry, buddy. You'll only be a small bother. Nothing I can't handle."

Gray was about to punch the other guy (seriously, how can someone be that annoying? In moments like that, Gray preferred Natsu's company. At least he didn't want to steal his girlfriend away), they heard Ultear.

"Come on, Lyon." They turned around and saw that Ultear and Meredy were already in the cab, while Juvia was outside, talking to the pink haired girl. "We'll take you to your hotel. But be quick, my niceness won't last much."

"Well, it seems that we have to postpone our duel for the maidness of my lovely Juvia-chan." Lyon declared and went to the taxi with the girls, sending kisses to Juvia.

"If you and I are speaking of the same maidness here, that ship sailed a long time ago, pal. I made sure of it." Gray said smugly and Lyon, forgetting the ladies' presence, gave him the finger.

"Lyon-san!" Juvia exclaimed horrified when she saw his actions.

"Baka!" Ultear slapped the back of his head. "Meredy's here. She's a child."

"Sorry." Lyon said sending daggers with his eyes to the smiling Gray while Meredy started to fight the fact about her childhood.

"See you tomorrow." Ultear nodded to them.

"Bye!" Juvia waved happily.

"See ya, Juvia! Bye, Gray!" Meredy exclaimed and returned to her explanation about not being a child anymore.

The car started and Lyon put his head out of the window and yelled.

"Goodbye, my lovely Juvia!" Everyone in the street turned to look at him.

The blue haired girl smiled shyly and waved.

"Thank God they're gone." Gray exclaimed. "I thought that I was going crazy for a minute there." Juvia giggled. "Let's go home." Gray said and offered Juvia his hand and she was surprised. If she wanted to hold hands with him, she needed to take it by surprise, so he wouldn't take it away.

She eagerly took it and went with him.

They lived 3 blocks from Danny's and the Movie Theater, so they could walk home. Many couples were out, enjoying the cold weather. Ul had died in the winter.

"Are you mad at Juvia, Gray-sama?" Juvia asked after a few minutes. "She knows that you don't like surprises, but she thought it would be good for you." He said nothing, just stared at his path to go home. "How mad are you?" She whispered and then he stopped, turning to look at her.

She was ready to hear hin say how angry he was with her for invinting Lyon and Ultear without his knolodwge.

But he didn't look angry. Gray stood there, looking at her with... Curiosity.

"What is it with you?" He whispered, and she heard it.

"Juvia was just trying to make you talk to them." She tried to make him understand her actions. "You talk about Ul with me, but Juvia didn't know her. She thought that you would like to remember her good days." The woman was speaking rather fast, nervous. "And Juvia knew that Lyon-san and Ultear-san would also be sad this week, so..."

"That's not what I meant." Gray looked at her a little amused by her actions. "I want to know what is it with you that make people just... fall for you." He frowned.

"What?" Juvia didn't understand.

"First you met Meredy and she thinks of you almost as highly a she thinks of Ultear, which is not small thing. Then, Ultear herself tries to kill you and now she tells me that if I hurt you, she'll kick my ass." Gray was frowning to her. "Lyon doesn't count; he liked you because you're beautiful." The dark haired man rolled his black eyes. "And when he actually met you, he became even more annoying." Inside her head, Juvia squealed. It was so rare to hear compliements from Gray! "But... You seem to make everyone else around you worship the ground you walk in. So, I ask again: What is it with you?"

Juvia was honored to know that her Gray-sama thought so highly of her, but she honestly had no idea of what he was talking about.

"So... You're not mad at me?" Juvia asked dumbly.

"No." He shook his head slightly. "That was so... You. I'm surprised you didn't do it sooner, actually." Gray chuckled a little. "You like to help everyone."

"Everyone deserves to be helped." She shrugged and Gray stared at her in awe. When Juvia noticed that, she frowned in confusion. "What?"

"I see." Gray laughed, putting her closer to him and kissing her temple. "Let's go home, Juvia."

The woman frowned and went with him. Gray was acting weird and usually, she was the weird one in the relationship.

"So, how was the dinner?" She asked after a few minutes. "Did you.. Talk?"

Gray nodded. "First we ate in silence. No one can turn down your stew." He pointed. "Then, we talked about stuff: how Meredy is going at school, how you and I were handling living together, how much sucks to be Lyon" Juvia giggled. "And, somehow... We ended up talking about Ul." Gray squeezed her hand. "There are so many things I forgot about her. And things that I never knew. It was good, to have peoole to remember her with." Juvia nodded. "It was good. Thanks for that."

"Anything to make you happy, Gray-sama." She smiled and stopped walking and when he turned to look to her in question, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips lightly. "That's what girlfriends are for. And Juvia's lucky to be yours."

"Damn right." He laughed and gave her a proper kiss, but in reality, he was thinking how much he was lucky to be her boyfriend.

Three days later, Gray stood in front of Ul's grave. He had taken an early train with Juvia to go honor his foster mom's memory. When they arrived, Juvia put some flowers on her grave and then went to wait by a tree, while Gray stayed there. She knew that he wanted his privacy to talk to her.

"So, Juvia and I are still together." Gray spoke, staring at the photograph of Ul. "Last year, I told you that we were thinking about moving in together and we did. It's good, you know. She cooks and cleans because she likes to. The only thing I need to do is stay out of the way." He chuckled. "I am certain that if you were here you would hit me in the head and tell me to help her. And I'm also sure that you would treat her way better than you ever treated me because she already has to put up with me and my laziness, as I remember you saying."

Gray laughed, after a few seconds, it died and then he stayed in silence for a minute, before speaking again.

"I hate that you are not here to meet my friends and my girlfriend. I hate the fact that the I have to imagine 'what ifs'. What if you weren't dead, what if I never went after Deliora, what if?" Gray looked to the grayish winter sky. "But I'm trying to not hate too many things anymore. Life have been pretty good and I can't complain forever about one shitty thing that happened to me. When you jumped in front of that gun, you knew what you were doing: you gave me my life back. You really sealed my darkness and for that I'll always be grateful. For that, you will always be in my heart."

Gray looked around until he spotted Juvia, in her dark jeans and blue coat, waiting for him under a tree only a few meters away.

"A few days ago, I was ambushed to meet up with Lyon and Ultear. We talked a lot about you. If it's up to us, you'll never be forgotten. It's nice to have a family like this." Gray put his hands inside his jeans' pocket, and touched the small velvet box and smiled. "Our family will get bigger soon, Ul. I'm going to make sure that this family stays together, for you. And also for me." He stared back at the photograph on Ul's grave. "Your family will always be here, Ul. We'll always be here, because that's what a family does."

AN: The theme was 'Family' because I am going to see mine after 4 months away! I'm dying to hug my mom and my baby brother!

Right now I am uploading this from Sao Paulo International Airport, where I'm staying for 10 more hours before I catch my next flight to a town 'close' to mine, then I hit the road for another 4 hours, only then I arrive home. The things we do for the people we love, right? :D

This chapter was half typed in my new Blackberry (It has Word. I'm soooo gonna lose my bus stop and doze off in my classes because I'll be writing in it! This thing will terminate my social life, which is almost none. If I'm not in college, I'm writing, so no life for Bonney, no sir! So, forgive any mistakes and typos, okay? Very small buttons in this thing!

I read it twice searching for mistakes, but I probably didn't catch them all (Pokemon moment LOL /sillyBonney off/), so, if you find any, please tell me. :)

I know that Ultear is like Meredy's mom, but I thought it would be better if they were like siblings here. And I think it's just fantastic that the people that are from Gray's family, love Juvia.

Anyway, thanks to: angelbaby5643, xRainGirl, PattyPat, Armageddon Angel, Uchiha Evangeline, Inked Silver, Seirin, NekoMaji, Gloss Gurl, MissForgetfulMe, ivory9elektra11fullbuster, Firemocker, superduperizee, GrayFullbusterfangirl, Rainbowcastle, WindNinjaDW, Diclonious57, Lolz, Gray-Mochi and Yukistar, who reviewed! You rock, people! You made me smile with your words. Love y'all! /insert-Bonney-making-a-heart-with-her-hands HERE/

What did you think about this chapter? OOC? Crazy? Aweful? Good? Silly? Tell me! :)