Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima

"Erza," Mira made no attempt to mask her frustration as she put her coffee cup down on the table, "You know I love Gray like a brother, and I understand that you're worried about him but it's been months!"

"When are you coming home?" Mirajane asked with a bluntness that Erza knew meant she was getting to the end of her patience.

"I--I don't know," Erza admitted, wishing she had a better answer, "He's not doing well, physically or emotionally. I can't just leave him there all alone."

"He's not all alone, he's got Loke and the rest of the staff to take care of him," Mira pointed out, "You can still visit him and live with us, it might even do him some good not to depend on you for everything."

"It's not like that!" Erza protested, "He wants to do more, I'm just scared --"

"You're scared you might lose him like you did your parents," Mira finished her sentence for her, "I know you are, sweetheart, but I miss my wife and we both know we can't move in there with you."

"You could, maybe," Erza said shyly, she'd been thinking of broaching the subject during one of their breakfast dates, "I miss you too."

"We can't," Mira said firmly, "Lisanna and Elfman wouldn't be able to handle all the restrictions and it would only cause us to fight. You know how we both are about our siblings."

Erza tried to mask her disappointment but knew she'd failed when Mira sighed and wrapped her up in an embrace, kissing the top of her head.

"This is not an ultimatum," Mira assured her, "I just need there to be a timeline. How is the nurse working out?"

"Which one?" Erza asked with an exasperation that made Mira giggle.

"What's he done now?"

"I don't know, it never happens when I'm there," Erza admitted, "We've had over thirty of them quit. A week has been the longest any of them has lasted and I think she really needed the money. The one I left him with this morning has been working out so far, today is her third day." Erza held up crossed fingers and Mira rolled her eyes in amusement.

"How are you holding up?" Mira asked as she began to eat her breakfast, it was nearing the time when she would have to leave to get to work on time.

"I'm fine, I just wish I could get through to him, you know?" Erza looked down at her mug not wanting her wife to see the tears she was fighting, "He's just so angry all the time, but when I look at him all I can see is the sweet little boy he used to be."

"He's gone through a lot," Mira reminded her, "We just have to have faith that he'll find his way back."

"So have you, you know," Mira placed her index finger under Erza's chin and gently pushed until Erza was at eye-level with her.

"You're an amazing woman, the way you've held yourself together and taken care of everyone else. Let me spoil you," Mira moved her face closer and kissed Erza, smiling as she tasted the combination of both their coffees on her tongue, Erza's sweetness to the bitterness of the brew she preferred. She grinned at the flustered expression on Erza's face. Even after all these years, she was not used to being affectionate in public.

"I love you, Erza," Mira said sweetly, kissing her wife on her forehead, "How about next time we plan for a weekend away?"

"I'd like that."

Too soon it was time to leave and Erza hugged her wife tightly. She wasn't ready to let her go but she knew Mira had to get to work so she sneaked a kiss before waving goodbye. She watched Mira get into her car and leave before finding her own car and heading back to the house.

She drove, only half listening to the music playing on the radio and trying to think of a solution to her problem. She opened the gates to their large house from the remote in her car and drove up the long driveway. She had to slam on the brakes as the nurse she had left with her brother came running out of the house.

Erza left her car where it was and hurried out, concerned that something had happened to her brother. She rushed towards the nurse trying her best not to panic.

"What's wrong, what's happened?" Erza asked the woman whom she now realized had not been heading towards her at all but towards her own vehicle.

The woman stopped briefly and Erza could see that something was most definitely wrong. The woman looked angry and Erza already knew the words she would hear next.

'I'm sorry Mrs. Strauss, but I quit!" The nurse, whose name Erza couldn't for the life of her remember, informed her, "I can't stay another minute, that man is impossible!"

She got into her car and slammed the door not giving Erza any time to respond, driving away at a speed that was probably not safe for someone her age. Erza sighed as she got back into her car and parked it in their garage.

o-o

Gray heard his sister return from her breakfast date with Mira and was surprised when she didn't come talk to him about the nurse quitting. It hadn't been his fault really, how was he supposed to know she was so sensitive?

He felt a bit guilty knowing he'd probably ruined whatever enjoyment Erza might have gotten from seeing Mira. He really couldn't understand why she stuck around instead of going back home. He didn't need nurses or any of the other personnel she kept bringing in. How was he supposed to show her he was fine on his own if she refused to trust him with his own care?

Part of him did want her there, well aware that if she left he would really be all alone. His friends had tried to come to visit him in the beginning, but after one of them had come in with a cold and gotten him sick, Erza had flipped out on them and now he was lucky if he got a text asking how he was. If he was honest with himself though, most of them had already stopped coming well before that. Not that he'd had many friends to begin with. If Lyon hadn't forced him to go out on occasion Gray would've gladly stayed in his room studying or watching old hockey reels.

He hobbled towards the study, wanting to get the yelling over with but instead the words he heard through the door made him smile.

"Well can't you send a male nurse then?" Erza asked whoever she was talking to on the other line. "What do you mean they all refuse to come out? I know he can be a bit difficult but don't you think they're overreacting?"

"I see," Gray heard her say curtly before hanging up the phone. The door of the study had been left ajar and he peeked in to see Erza sitting behind the desk, her head resting in her hands. He hurried away as quickly as he was able and moved to the Conservatory, sitting down behind the large piano that sat in a corner of the large room and beginning to play with the notes, trying to imitate the song he'd been listening to on the radio.

O-o

Dammit! What was she supposed to do now? That had been the last home care agency that had been willing to work with them and she'd had to throw plenty of money at them to keep them sending personnel out. She was about to call Gray's transplant team to see how much care he still needed when she noticed a magazine that hadn't been on her desk the previous day. She picked it up trying to figure out why it was there.

On the cover, there was a picture of a very humanoid looking android pushing an older woman in a wheelchair. The headline read Caretakers of the Future Intrigued, Erza opened the magazine to the article and began to read.

The more she read the more excited she became, it sounded exactly like what they needed. Someone who could ignore Gray's abrasive personality and attempts at isolating himself and still manage all the healthcare tasks that Gray needed taking care of. The only problem was that it was still in the experimental stages and she would need a recommendation to even get Gray's case considered.

She thought about who could help her get in with the company.

"I see you found the magazine I left you," Loke, their butler, came in with a smile on his face.

Erza nodded absently, still going through a mental checklist of everyone she knew.

"What's the matter?" Loke asked confused by her muted reaction, "I thought you'd be all over this. Especially after what happened today."

"What did happen today?"

"Well you know Gray, he'd stripped naked as he walked around the house and the nurse kept yelling at him to put his clothes back on so he--"

"On second thought, I'm better off not knowing," Erza stopped him, imagining several inappropriate scenarios Gray could have concocted to get rid of the elderly nurse, all of them bad. "The program sounds fantastic but it's still experimental, we need an in with the company to even be considered for it."

"Didn't you see the note I left you?" Loke frowned at her.

Erza looked around for a note and found a small piece of paper on the floor that must have fallen out when she picked up the magazine. It read Macao Conbolt and had a phone number written underneath.

"Who's this?"

"He runs the program and he's expecting your call," Loke informed her, "Turns out his kid, Romeo, went to school with us. I took the liberty of giving him a call and explaining the situation. Romeo and Gray weren't close but he still wanted to help."

"Gray needs to snap out of this, even if we have to force him kicking and screaming," Loke's hazel eyes held a fierceness to them that warmed Erza's heart.

"I agree, thanks for taking this job, I know it's not what you'd planned."

"It pays better than most entry-level jobs so honestly, you're doing me a favor, plus I get to boss people around," Loke gave her a wicked grin.

"How are you doing?" Erza asked suddenly, not trusting the smiles Loke had been showering her with. Not after everything that had happened. As expected, the moment Erza questioned him the facade crumbled and all that was left was raw grief.

"I'm alright, really I am, " Loke tried to assure her, "We both know Lyon wouldn't have wanted this for Gray, I want to help get him back to the way he was. It's the least I can do."

Erza stood up and gave her friend a tight hug, she couldn't imagine what it would feel like to lose Mira, especially without any warning. She could hear Loke's breathing change as he tried to keep his emotions under control. It broke her heart.

Even though Erza was glad that Loke had taken it upon himself to help Gray, she was growing increasingly concerned about what it might be doing to Loke. She let it go for now, knowing better than to push.

¨Thank you for this, I'm going to call now." She really hoped they could help her out, she had no idea what else to do if they turned her down. She'd have to go back to doing everything herself and she knew Mira wouldn't like that.

Loke excused himself from the room and went off to check on the rest of the staff. He was feeling hopeful, Romeo had said that he'd put in a good word and his dad was sympathetic. He wondered how Gray was going to react to the news that his new caretaker was going to be a robot. How do you piss off a robot? Loke had a feeling Gray would make it his personal mission to find out.

O-o

The following day found Erza at the hospital attending a meeting with Gray's transplant team and the man Loke had put her in contact with the previous day.

"Thank you for meeting with us so quickly, Mr. Conbolt," Erza shook the older man's hand and ushered him into the hospital's conference room. Inside the room, the members of Gray's transplant team were seated at a large round table.

"Not at all, Mrs. Strauss, from what you told me on the phone your brother's case might fit our criteria. If he can benefit from our technology, we would like to help," Macao assured her, "I just need more details to make sure we can help each other out."

The transplant team spent an hour going over Gray's case, discussing daily procedures, and medications. They talked about the possibility of organ rejection based on the results of the latest batch of tests they'd performed.

The team psychologist went on at great length about Gray's depression, survivor's guilt and anxiety levels. She gave her approval of them moving forward with their plan, claiming it was the type of neutral interactions she felt he needed to move forward.

Erza watched Macao take notes and ask questions of various members of the transplant team. She was impressed with his thoroughness but there was something about his expression that was making her uneasy. Sure enough, after saying goodbye to the doctors he asked her if she had time for a coffee.

They walked over to the hospital's cafeteria and Macao bought them each a steaming cup. He walked them over to a table in the back of the room. Once they were both seated, he began to speak.

"I'm going to be honest with you, this is a little more than what our current generation of robots can handle." Noticing her crestfallen expression he quickly added, "Hold on, I'm not done yet."

"I want to help, not just because your brother was a friend of my son's but because I think Gray would benefit from our help. A lot of our clients are older patients whose kids don't want to take care of them, so from that perspective it wouldn't be a problem. The robot would be able to stay on top of his medications and any mobility issues but as far as monitoring and the psychological stuff, they're just not that advanced yet.

Erza looked at the man in confusion. If they couldn't help then what was he suggesting?

"However, there is one robot in particular, " Macao looked around furtively before continuing, "You could call him the original one from which we based the technology. He is advanced enough."

"I don't understand."

"He's a prototype, a very advanced one created by a student as his thesis project," Macao explained, "Unfortunately, the company saw the benefits to his technology and decided to use some shady verbiage in the agreement the kid had signed to claim that it belonged to them."

Erza was not impressed with what she was hearing, as a lawyer she had half a mind to look into it herself so she was surprised to see the man burst into fits of genuine mirth.

Noticing her expression Macao hurriedly explained, "Let's just say the student in question was not okay with that and since he couldn't destroy his work without getting arrested, he made some modifications to his code that made the robot unreliable. And he made sure to protect the more advanced aspects of his technologies at the end of his internship. No efforts by any of our researchers have managed to unlock its secrets yet."

"You know this student?"

"Oh yes, very well," Macao smiled, "He's been friends with my son for years, Gray might know him too if they hung out in the same groups. More importantly, your brother is the type of patient I know he had in mind when he designed his robot. He's a good kid."

"You said the robot was unreliable." Erza pointed out, "Why would you recommend him for my brother?"

"The robot can be a bit colorful in its choice of words," Macao explained, "Not so good for a sixty year old lady but perhaps something Gray will appreciate. As I said, this robot is much more advanced, it has diagnostic capabilities on top of everything else and it is adaptable. I'll make sure to load him up with a psychological database before delivering him as well as uploading all the medication information I received from the transplant team. That is assuming you still want to give this a try."

"Is the robot dangerous in any way?" Erza asked cautiously.

"No, all of the robots have numerous safeguards to protect their charges and also themselves."

"Will I need to make any adjustments to the house?" Erza asked, her mind already made up to give this a try.

"Our engineer will install a special plug the robot can use to charge at night, but that should be it. That will be included in the fee we've already discussed, you'll also have to sign a non-disclosure agreement."

"Alright, Mr. Conbolt, those terms sound reasonable. How quickly can you have this robot delivered?"

"I can have him there in three days, we'll need to sign the paperwork now or I won't be able to claim it was an honest mistake that you got this robot and not another," Macao grinned mischievously.

Erza nodded and they spent the next hour going through paperwork. She agreed to wire the fee as soon as the bank opened in the morning. They shook hands again before saying their goodbyes.

Erza remained in the cafeteria for a few minutes, absorbing the enormity of what she'd just done and praying that it worked. She hoped Gray adjusted quickly.

O-o

Gray woke up to the loud beeping of a truck backing up their driveway. He looked at his watch and when he saw it was only seven o'clock in the morning he promptly went back to sleep ignoring the noises of the staff moving stuff around the house.

He was rudely awoken some time later by a strange metallic noise in his room he didn't recognize, the room instantly flooding with bright sunlight as someone opened the blackout curtains. Gray's eyes teared up at the unexpected brightness, making it hard to make out who was in his room, he was able to make out a blob of pink?

Gray was startled by a male voice he did not recognize introducing himself. "Hello, I am Dragion, your personal healthcare companion."

A/N I'm going to be super honest, there is a lot plotted for this story but I hadn't planned on publishing it for a while. I'm only doing so now in a bid to help the Erzajane Project. It will get updated but I would like to update some of my older stories first as they are way overdue!