Gray's first night sleeping at Juvia's apartment was a big step to him and to their relationship, so Juvia tried her best to make him feel comfortable and just like he had been at the hotel, he only came to bed in his underwear and it quickly escalated to them taking all of their clothes and enjoy each other.

Maybe somewhere inside his mind, they would have to be intimate first so he could have a 'reason' to stay – but Juvia had to change that, there would be days they wouldn't have sex before sleeping and Gray needed to understand that.

After a couple of weeks into the new sleeping arrangements, Juvia noticed Gray had yet another reason to want her before falling asleep: he had nightmares. She noticed a pattern that when Gray arrived too tired from missions, he just passed out and didn't dream, when they had a round or two of sex, he also didn't get them, but other days...

Juvia noticed he had three types of nightmares: the ones he only talked during his sleep and had a small frown on his face; the second type was when he would pull her towards him and put his arms around her tightly and whimpering a little (he usually calmed down when Juvia talked to him in whispers that everyone was fine and he was safe) and the third type was the rarer, but harsher. Whenever she realized he was having the worst nightmares, she just got up from the bed and waited until he calmed down – Gray would thrash around, his whole body would tighten and he kicked some unknown enemy, all the while whimpering in pain. Juvia hated those, knowing she could do nothing to help him but to take everything he could hurt himself with out of reach.

When he was done, Juvia returned to the bed and carefully lied next to him, trying not to do any sudden movements, but all the times he seemed to feel it was her and decided to take advantage of it – his head between her breasts, half of his body on top of hers, a leg over hers and his arms wrapped around her waist. After that, he'd sleep the rest of the night.

The blunette assumed she had her own fair share of nightmares as well and Gray must had his own ways of calming her down, but they never talked about it. Things were good the way they were.

Until it happened.

Natsu and Gray were out for a job and were coming back to Magnolia that night and since it was date night for the pink haired man and Lucy, Juvia asked if the blonde would mind going on a double date. Both men whined about it, but the girls thought it was going to be fun, so they had little choice.

"We're are arriving at the restaurant." Gray said from the other side of the phone call. "Don't take too long, I've been with Natsu for forty-eight hours. We are close to killing each other."

Juvia smiled and started to gather her things to leave, the restaurant was close enough they could be there in five minutes. "Please, don't kill each other. Lucy-san would be devastated and so would Juvia."

"No promises." Gray snorted and Juvia could hear Natsu's voice on the background. "Yeah, I'll ask her. Juvia, Natsu is trying Lucy's phone but she's not picking up."

"It's probably on silent mode, Juvia saw her half an hour ago. She was finishing some paperwork until you guys arrived, everyone else left so it is pretty quiet in here. Juvia will fetch her and we will be at the restaurant in five minutes. Go inside or we will lose the reservations."

"I'll tell him. See you in a bit." Gray finished the call and Juvia put her phone inside her purse and after she turned off the lights of her office, she noticed Lucy's desk was empty. Seeing Natsu's office light on, Juvia just assumed the blonde was there. She knocked on the door and when she got no answer, the blunette frowned and did it again.

She heard a muffled noise and her gut twisted in warning. Something wasn't right.

Juvia opened the door and what she saw, made her whole body freeze: Lucy was sitting on Natsu's chair, her arms taped on the chair's arms, another tape over her mouth. What made Juvia worry, though, was the vest the blonde had on: with wires all over and two grayish large squares Juvia was most certainly were C-4 and a timer .

Her hand went immediately to her purse, where she got her handgun, her training kicking in. She checked the office and turned to check outside for a second, but it was empty.

With her back still to the blonde, Juvia asked: "Lucy-san, is there anyone here that you know of?" She looked over her shoulder, just to see her friend shook her head 'no'. Juvia nodded and walked closer to her, slowly. She looked the vest – she was no expert on bombs, but that one seemed very complicated – and a moment later, she took off the tape above Lucy's lips gently.

"Juvia, you have to leave." Lucy was crying. "They said this would go off by seven thirty if Natsu didn't get here." She sobbed and Juvia's heart stopped for a moment when she saw the small timer blinking red: they only had five minutes.

"Who?"

"I.. I don't know them. One had blonde hair and another black, I don't know!" Lucy cried. "Please, you have to leave before this explodes."

Ignoring Lucy, Juvia grabbed her phone and called Levy, knowing that only one phone call was enough since Gajeel was also in the floor below, waiting for his geeky-almost-sort-of-girlfriend finish her job.

"Hello!" Levy's sweet voice echoed, but Juvia lost no time.

"Levy-san, I need you to lock down the fourth floor right now." Juvia said, while looking inside the desk's drawers. She found scissors and immediately started to cut the tape on Lucy's arms. "No questions, just do it."

"Juvia? What?"

"Levy-san! This is a code red." Juvia almost barked on the phone, meanwhile finishing with the blondes arms and kneeling to free her legs. "And I am telling you to lock the floor until I call you back or Makarov-sama gives you the order, do you understand me?"

"I... Yes. I'm doing that right now."

"Good. Now give the phone to Gajeel." Juvia's tone left no room for argument, especially if she was handling a crisis at a moment – a hundred thoughts going through her mind.

"Juvia?" She heard Gajeel's voice. "What the fuck is hap-"

"Gajeel-kun, there's a bomb here on the fourth floor-"

"There's a what?"

"Listen, Levy-san is locking down the floor" as soon as she spoke the words, she heard the soft alarm and the automatic locks "and now you need to take everyone out of the building, whoever is still here."

"Juvia..."

"Now! Juvia is dealing with it."

"Fuck, Juvia. You better not get blown up!" He snarled and finalized the call.

Juvia looked up and Lucy was still looking at her, her brown eyes wide and scared. Softly, she kneeled in front of her once again. "Okay, Lucy-san, we will find a way to get you out of this."

"Why did you lock the floor?" She asked, trying to hold back her tears. "Now you can't leave."

"Juvia doesn't want to leave." She looked under the chair, got up and looked at its back before pushing Lucy a bit to look at the back of the vest and was relieved there was nothing else there. "Juvia just needs to call Natsu-san and he will know what to do. Now, get up."

"But I..."

"Come on." Juvia pushed her up and slowly Lucy found her footing. "We need to go to my office."

Lucy looked confused. "Why?" Juvia didn't answer as they walked towards the door while Juvia grabbed her phone, took a picture of the vest and called Natsu. "Juvia, why do we need to go to your office?"

The blunette looked at Lucy and decided to tell her the truth. "Natsu-san's office is at the middle of the building. If the bomb explodes, the whole building can fall down and people can get hurt. Mine is at its corner and the damage won't be nearly as bad." Lucy paled, gulped and nodded. They were still walking slowly towards the blunette's office when Natsu answered his phone. "Natsu-san! We have a situation here."

"Situation?" The pink haired man asked, confused and Juvia could hear Gray's voice asking what was happening.

"Juvia will send you a picture of a bomb and she needs you to talk her through how to disarm it."

"What? What bomb? Where are you?" She heard him say, but was too busy sending him the picture she took.

"Juvia just sent you the photograph, look at it." The blunette said and by the way he was quiet, Natsu was probably looking at the picture. They arrived at Juvia's office when Natsu finally talked again.

"That's... Lucy has a sweater just like this one. Oh god, is she the one with that vest?" His voice was full of panic.

"Yes. You need to tell me how to-"

"I'm coming!" The call ended and Juvia cussed, immediately calling Gray.

"Juvia, what the fuck-"

"Stop him! Right now!" Juvia yelled on her phone and Lucy whimpered – she was supposed to keep her cool, but she had to save her friend and everyone else in that building; keeping together was going to be a little difficult.

"Fuck!" Gray cussed and Juvia could hear both man fighting on the background and she just wished they would stop already and focus on the problem. She glanced at the timer. 2:18. Damn it.

"What?"

"Natsu, we have two minutes to disarm that bomb and you will not arrive here in time." Juvia yelled on her phone. "What you need to do is to stop, think and let me help because if you don't, we will most certainly die. Stop running and start thinking on how we are going to do this!" She breathed. "Now, are you gonna help or not?"

She heard him breathing hard for a second, probably fighting his instinct to go running to his girlfriend, but apparently thought it better. "Okay." He cleared his throat and put it on speaker, probably to look at the picture she sent him. "Does it have any wires on the back of the vest?"

Juvia sighed in relief he was helping. "No, Juvia looked. The device is on the front and that's all."

"See the locker on the left? Don't touch it or it will go off."

"But the wires are coming from it!" Juvia kneeled in front of Lucy, who had her eyes closed. "Yellow, red, blue, orange and black."

"I know." Natsu's voice was tight. "You need to cut them as close to the locker as you can, without touching it, in an specific order and you can't take more than 2 seconds to cut the next one."

"Great." Juvia sighed and put her phone on speaker. She gave it to Lucy. "You are on speaker. Juvia is getting the scissors, Just a second."

"Lucy?"

"Natsu!" Lucy tried not to sob. "You know I love you, right?"

"Stop talking like this, Juvia is doing whatever she can to help you out. After that we can go have that date."

"Can I just say that this was not what we had in mind when you two wanted to have a double date?" Gray's voice came from the phone and even if he was trying to joke, Juvia knew him enough to notice that underneath that, he was scared. Juvia felt her heart race, and her resolve to get out of this alive doubled it.

Lucy chuckled and dried her tears, looking a bit stronger. "Don't make me laugh, Juvia just got the scissors."

"Natsu-san, what is the order of the wires?"

"Orange, red, black, yellow and blue." The pink haired man said two more times and Juvia did the same just to make sure she got it right.

There were only 0:47 seconds to go, so Juvia took a deep breath, looked to her friend and when Lucy nodded, Juvia said: "Starting right now." She thought about it and decided to speak again. "Gray-sama..."

"Stop. Just do it, Juvia."

Juvia took a deep breath and started.

Orange.

Red.

Black.

Yellow.

Blue.

The moment she cut the last one, the timer stopped at 0:33 and she let out a breath and so did Lucy. Juvia let the scissors fall to the floor and she noticed her hand was shaking.

"Someone say something!" Natsu yelled from the phone.

Seeing that Lucy was just as shaky as she was, Juvia reached for the phone and, with a breathless voice, she said: "The timer stopped." They could hear both men sigh in relief. "Can- Can Juvia take the vest off Lucy-san now?"

"Yes." Natsu told her, obviously running now that he was allowed to again. "Gently and put it away as carefully as you can. We don't know what could set it off. Leave the room, go as far away as you can from it."

"Alright." Juvia nodded and got up from the floor, putting the phone on the desk. Lucy was just as nervous to get out as Juvia was to see her friend free. Carefully, Juvia unclasped the sides of the vest and rose it so Lucy could slip her arms away and then she was finally free. "The vest is off Lucy." Juvia said, as if informing a superior officer of her progress. "Juvia is putting it on her desk."

"Gently!" Gray's voice came from her phone, and by the way he was breathless, he was running alongside with Natsu.

Very carefully, she put the vest down, grabbed her phone and one of Lucy's hands to pull her away from the office. "It's in my office, we are going to Gray-sama's." The blunette informed on the phone, knowing Lucy would probably feel slightly better if they didn't have to go to where this whole thing started.

"No! Get out of the fucking building!" Natsu said.

"We can't." Lucy's voice was gentle. "Juvia ordered Levy-chan to lock the floor and only her or Master can unlock it."

"What?" He was outraged.

"It's procedure." Juvia explained. "When the bomb squad arrives, Juvia will suspend the order."

"Goddammit!" Natsu said.

"We are fine, Natsu." Lucy took the phone from Juvia. "I am fine"

"Lucy..."

"Just wait a few more minutes. Then we will come down." The blonde said, love clear in her eyes. "I am fine, okay?" She said it again.

He took a breath and seemed to calm down. "We are almost at FT and I am hearing sirens. See you in a bit."

"Juvia, do you want to...?" Lucy asked the blunette, but she just shook her head and sat on Gray's couch. "I'm hanging up." They said their goodbyes and finished the phone call. Lucy, then, sat next to Juvia. "Thank you for not leaving me."

The blunette smiled. "We are friends; Juvia was exactly where she wanted to be."

Lucy nodded and grabbed Juvia's hand, twining their fingers and resting her head on Juvia's shoulder while Juvia rested hers on top of Lucy's. They were fine and it was all that mattered.

#

The moment the floor was unlocked, about five men from the bomb squad came through the emergency stairwell door and Juvia quickly told them where the vest was and what happened. They thanked her and asked both women to leave the building and to tell their story to the policemen downstairs.

Juvia grabbed Lucy's hand and both went down the stairs with one of the men escorting them until they were out the FT building. A lot of their friends were already in there behind a tape the police used to prevent people from coming in, but Juvia just wanted Gray's arms around her and when she spotted him next to Natsu, she sighed in relief.

Lucy let go of her hand and ran to her boyfriend, who just slipped under the tape even when the policemen protested and hugged she was close enough, hiding his face on the crook of her neck. Gray did the same and waited for Juvia, who walked slightly slower than the blonde. Once she was in front of Gray, the blunette put a hand over his chest and felt how much faster his heart was beating.

"Some double date, huh?" He asked with a tired sigh.

"Next time we should grab Caramades Franks and go home." Juvia suggested.

"Amen to that." Gray snorted and put a hand on her cheek. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." She smiled, putting her hand on top of his. "Juvia just feels guilty. Those guys were in the building and she didn't have a clue about what they were doing to Lucy-san."

"Juvia." The couple heard Lucy's voice and turned to the direction of it. "It's fine, we were supposed to be safe in our headquarters, there was no way you would think something was wrong." She seemed shaken up, but otherwise fine. "If you were not there, I'd be dead now. Thank you for staying with me."

Juvia was about to answer, but two policemen asked the women to give their statement, so they stepped away from their significant other and followed.

An hour later, the bomb squad had retrieved the vest and taken away as evidence and even though the place was clear, the police would still be there for a long while to gather any evidence the perps could've left. It was unlikely, since they went in and out without anyone noticing, but Levy – after making sure her friends were fine – was going through all their footage from the security cameras trying to figure out how and who got in there.

Master Makarov, who arrived a bit after the police did, said he would be with the detectives and ordered everyone else to go home, especially Lucy and Juvia, giving express orders that neither woman was to appear at work for a couple of days; they had a scare that day and needed to process it.

It was almost midnight when Juvia and Gray arrived at her apartment, both exhausted physically and emotionally. The moment the door closed they ignored the excited dog barking around them, Gray put his arms around her from behind her, tightened it for a moment, his forehead on her shoulder. Juvia sighed and raised her arm so she could put her hand on his hair.

"Juvia is fine." She whispered putting an arm above the one he had over her stomach. "The bomb didn't go off."

"It was going to." He whispered just like she did. "I heard the squad saying that much C4 could easily blow the whole floor."

"But it didn't." Juvia turned around in his arms so she could look at him. "Lucy-san is fine and so is Juvia. Nothing happen."

"I know." He nodded and they stared at each other for a few seconds before he let her go. "Let's take a shower and go to sleep. Go first, I'll feed Snowball; you go ahead and I'll be with you in a minute."

"Thank you." Juvia tip toed and kissed his lips before she petted her dog for a moment, leaving a second later and going straight to the bathroom, shredding her clothes off and stepping under the hot spray of water.

A few minutes later, she felt Gray's arms around her and when she turned to face him, the look in his eyes made her heart beat faster. She put her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. When the kiss was finished, they looked at each other and Gray leaned in, kissing her once again, much hungrier that time.

The first time they had sex in the shower, it was because they were hot and bothered by each other, but that night, it felt very different by the way they moved, caress and called each other.

Once they were done, they finally finished their shower and went to bed, Juvia grabbed one of Gray's shirts and put it on before joining him on her bed.

#

She felt panic rise inside her, everyone was going to die if she didn't kill Zeref first. Zeref, with those dark eyes, expressionless like a shark and with the instinct to destroy everything. She had just seen Gray die, she couldn't let him live.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and he was fast in retrieving her gun, rolling on top of the assailant.

"Juvia." She knew that voice, but it was so far away. "Juvia, I need you to wake up now." The blunette frowned. "Juvia? Come on."

Juvia blinked, the fog of sleep leaving her and when she realized what she was doing, her whole body froze. She was sitting on top of Gray, pointing her handgun directly at his forehead, the safety off. She was ready to shoot him.

Gray had his eyes wide with shock, hands on her thighs and he was speaking with her with a calming tone. "Juvia? It's me, Gray."

"Gray-sama?" She whispered and she could see him sigh in relief that she was awake. Juvia put the gun on the bed and got up, eyes burning with unshed tears. "Oh my god. I almost shot you."

"Juvia..." Gray got up as well and when he tried to take a step towards her, she took a few back. "Juvia, come on-" He tried once again, but she just walked away from him, shaking her head, eyes wide and shaking. "Juv-"

"Stay away from me!" The blunette yelled and ran to the bathroom, locking the door the moment she was inside, shaking so much she almost couldn't lock it.

She saw the knob turn and Gray knocked. "Juvia, come on. Open up." She stayed in silence, tears falling, memories of her latest nightmare and she pointing the gun at the man she loved. What had she done? "Juvia? Please, open the door." Even though he couldn't see her, she shook her head and cried harder. "It was not your fault." She heard him and sobbed, sliding down to the tile floor. "Please." He sounded so honest it broke Juvia's heart, but she couldn't face him, not now not ever.

They stayed in silence for a while, then she heard him sigh and the sound of steps as he went away. Juvia put per legs close to her chest and hid her face as she cried. She didn't know how long it passed when she heard him knock softly on the door once again.

"Juvia? Can you unlock the door?" She heard him. "I promise you I won't get in, but it would make me feel better if you unlocked the door." Juvia bit her lower lip and looked to the door. "Please? For me?"

The blunette got up and looked at the door. "You won't open it?" She asked, her voice hoarse because of all the crying. "Promise?"

He sighed in relief for hearing her voice. "I promise." She hesitated for a moment, but unlocked the door and put a hand over the knob just in case Gray tried to open it, but he didn't. "Thank you." He said and Juvia gulped, trying to dry her face, but the tears didn't seem to stop. "I'll be here when you want to come out."

Juvia started to cry all over again; he was being so understanding with her; how did she get that lucky? And she almost shot him. She put a hand on the door, wishing she could touch him instead. Crying, she went to sit on the same spot on the floor, her mind was a mess: she needed Gray to leave, but at the same time, he was all she wanted.

The events of the morning replayed inside her mind over and over again, seeing the eyes of the man she loved wide because she was pointing a gun at him. She was thinking so hard, she didn't even notice the time passing; she was startled when she heard a loud knock on the door.

"Juvia? Can I come in?" She heard and couldn't believe her ears.

"Gajeel-kun?"

"Yeah. Can I come in?" He asked again and Juvia said he could. The moment he entered the bathroom, Juvia suddenly felt even worse – now she was worrying her best friend too. Great. "Well, you look like shit." Gajeel said, a pierced eyebrow raised ad Juvia couldn't help but to snort; he was right, after all. There she was, wearing an oversized shirt of Gray's, her hair was a mess and her face was red because of her crying. "I heard you were having a tough morning."

Juvia snorted again and dried her cheeks. "You could say that."

"Gray told me what happened. He is out, taking your dog for a walk so you and I can have a little chat." Gajeel walked towards her and sat next to her, their shoulders touching. He was wearing his usual black jeans pants and sleeveless black shirt, showing the scars on his forearm. "What was the nightmare about?"

Juvia took a deep breath. "Zeref. He had strapped a bomb on Gray-sama. It went off, he died." She whimpered. "I just grabbed my gun and wanted to kill him. It hurt so much." Juvia cried. "Even as Juvia held him down, he kept saying he wouldn't stop until everyone was dead. I was about to kill him when I woke up."

"You had your gun pointed at Fullbuster instead." Gajeel completed the thought and she nodded, hiding her face on her hands.

"Juvia can't face him. I almost killed him." Her whispered came out just as terrified as she felt. "Juvia needs to leave."

"That's is pretty cynical of you." Juvia frowned and looked at him in confusion until she cleared up what he meant. "I almost killed you and you annoyed the shit out of me when I tried to get rid of you."

"That is a completely different situation." Juvia argued. "It wasn't your fault Jose got you addicted to heroin."

"So, who should I blame for what I did? You for flushing it down the toilet? Because I am pretty sure you were trying to help me when you did that." Gajeel raised an eyebrow. "It was Jose's fault I got addicted?"

"He gave it to you." She pointed out.

"And I accepted it." Gajeel shrugged. "I could've said no each time he gave it to me, but I didn't. The result of that was me being a bastard who kidnapped Lucy and Levy, smacked them around all because I knew Jose would give me what I needed. The heroin he gave me was purer, different than the regular stuff you get in any corner, I know, I tried it." Juvia looked at him. "When you told me you wanted to move, start fresh... I liked the idea. All I wanted was to finish the supply I found at Jose's place before the feds arrived and then I thought I would be fine. I thought I could stop any time I wanted.

"But then, you found it and threw it away. To tell you the truth, Juvia, I don't remember much about that night, everything is a blur. Somehow, though, I snapped back to myself and there you were, on my bathroom floor, face all bloodied and barely breathing. I thought I killed you." Gajeel looked away from her. "A part of me that I thought was dead, took over. I took you to the Hospital, told the doctors you had been mugged. And I waited. As far as I knew, you were dead and I was just waiting to get arrested. When the doctor came back and told me you were alive... I almost fainted with relief, but when he told me you wanted to talk to me... I was afraid." Juvia looked at him in surprise. "Do you know why I went to see you? Because I thought you were going to call me names and have me arrested. I deserved it.

"But when I got into your room, half of your face bandaged, the other purple because of my fists, arm in a sling... I was glad you were going to send me to jail. I was a monster, I hit you, I almost killed you. Do you remember what you told me?" Gajeel snorted. "You told me you would forgive me if I got into rehab, because you knew the person who hit you was not me."

"I remember that." At the time, she had been buzzed with painkillers, but she remembered his expression of disbelief. "You looked so surprised..."

"At that time I could count in one hand the people in my whole life who had been kind to me. And you were one of them." Gajeel bumped his shoulders on hers and Juvia offered him a small smile. "I asked why..."

"And Juvia answered 'because that's what friends do'." The blunette finished the sentence.

"Yeah. So, I left there and went to the clinic." Gajeel shrugged. "The withdraw was the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Except being notified every week for three months that you was there to visit me." He looked at her again. "I always said that I didn't want to see you, because I didn't want you to see me. I was ashamed of what I did."

"You shouldn't be, you searched for treatment, you were gradually getting better."

"I know that now. Back then, seeing you would just bring back memories of me beating you. I hated to be that person, out of control like a rabid animal." Gajeel pointed to the bathroom door. "Fullbuster is going to be you in this situation. When he called me, he wasn't scared of you: he was scared for you. Just like you didn't give up when I was in rehab, he is not going to run away because you had a nightmare and pointed a gun at him to protect yourself."

"He should." Juvia muttered. "What if it happens again?"

"Oh, I'm sure it will. But I don't think that this is what is going to scare him away. I have a hunch he prefers to deal with guns on his face rather than feelings." Gajeel shrugged. "You need to talk to him, Juvia. Remember the day I came out of rehab? You were waiting in front of the building, majorly pissed at me for not saying yes for you to visit me? That slap still hurts sometimes."

"It doesn't." Juvia said, softly. "What if he decides he doesn't want to wake up every now and then with a gun on his face?""

Gajeel snorted. "Then I'd said he chose the wrong profession. I can't count how many times that happened to me."

"Did you tell Levy-san about this yet? That because of the program you haven't made a move on her yet?" Juvia asked, gently. It was advisable for recovering addicted not to start relationships until after a year they started. "Otherwise she's probably getting crazy about your mixed signals."

"I did."

"And?" She pressed.

"I still have two months to go before we can... do anything." Gajeel muttered. "By the time the year is done, I'll probably be dead. Now that she knows, she is more understanding, yes, but now she knows for sure what I intend to do to her when the time comes and-"

"Alright, stop it right there. The last thing I want to hear is about your weird sex life. As far as I know, you will play cards with her and I won't believe anything else."

Feeling slightly better, the two friends remained talking for a few more minutes before they heard the front door open. Juvia grabbed her friend's forearm, eyes wide in panic.

"Juvia can't speak with him right now."

"Juv-"

"I will, but not now." She pleaded. "Tell him to go to work, we can talk later. Juvia needs to think and if he stays here, she can't."

Gajeel looked her in the eyes, probably looking for something; he probably found nothing because he just nodded and got up. "I'll talk to him." He hesitated. "Are we good?"

"Always." She forced a smile. "Juvia just needs some time."

"If you disappear, I'll kill you get it?" He narrowed his red eyes.

"Got it." Gajeel sighed and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him while Juvia stayed at the same spot on the floor, waiting.

She could hear muffled conversation and a minute later, a soft knock on the door made her heart jump. "Juvia? Gajeel talked to me and he said you want me to go to work? I think we should talk."

"Later." The blunette said loud enough for him to hear from outside. "Please."

She heard a sigh and then a couple of seconds of silence. "Okay. I'll go, but we are talking about this when I come back, do you understand me?" When she didn't reply, he pushed for an answer. "Juvia?"

"Okay."

"Call me if you need anything." Without waiting for an answer, she heard his footsteps get further and further away and then the front door closing. Juvia sighed in relief and finally started to put her thoughts in order.

#

It was a little after six when Juvia heard the sound of keys and then the front door opening. She walked from the bedroom to the living room just in time to see Gray coming in. He stopped when he noticed her and she bit her lower lip when she saw him. She had thought a lot about what to say to him, but actually seeing him made her feel even more nervous.

"Hi." She whispered.

"Hey." Gray put his keys on the counter and took a few steps towards her, but she put her hand up to make him stop and he did, with a sigh. "Juvia..."

"Let me speak first." She pleaded and he nodded. "I'm sorry about this morning. Juvia was having a nightmare and... I have no idea why I pointed that gun at you, the nightmare was about you so it makes no sense to pull that gun at you and-" Her eyes started to water.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down." Gray finally stepped closer to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Juvia, of course I know you were having a nightmare. You didn't pull your gun at me just for the kicks and giggles."

Her lower lip trembled. "You have nightmares too and you never did that to me."

He sighed. "Tell me what do you do when I have a nightmare?" She looked at him in question, but he just repeated the question.

"Y-you calm down when Juvia speaks to you, most of the time. But when you move too much, Juvia gets up from the bed."

Gray nodded in agreement. "I do the same thing with talking to you when you have your nightmares and until yesterday it was effective. Do you know what I did wrong? I grabbed your shoulder, I startled you and your instinct was to protect yourself. I should've known better and now I do." Gray lowered one of his hands to her hip and put the other one on her cheek. "We've been through a lot in the army and at FT and it gets to us. Of course we have nightmares, of course we can't control them."

"I'm sorry either way." Juvia leaned into his touch. "Juvia will speak to Mira-san about it."

"Good." Gray nodded and she put her arms around him. "And maybe we should consider putting the guns a little farther away from where we sleep. Just a thought." Juvia couldn't help it but to laugh and he did the same. "I guess that this morning makes us even: I shot you when we first met, you almost shot me this morning. I say we call it even."

"Me too." Juvia looked up to him

"You are going to be fine, okay?" Gray gave her a peck on the lips.

Juvia just held him tighter. They would be fine.

#

A few weeks after the incident, at Juvia's birthday, Gray surprised her by telling her they would be celebrating it at the fancy restaurant she's been hinting she wanted to go.

She got so excited about it she closed the door of his office and he would never see his desk the same way ever again after seeing her throw all of his stuff on the floor, hop on and pull him closer by the loops on his belt.

Gray was watching the news on her apartment the day of her birthday, waiting for her to finish to dress up when he heard her clear her throat to get his attention and when he looked over his shoulder from the couch, she was very satisfied to see his eyes widen at the sight.

For the night, she chose a black dress with a deep v neck, accentuating her cleavage and it was short enough anyone could see she had an amazing pair of legs, especially with the pair of silver high heels she chose. Her hair was in a loose bun, her bangs framing her face and her eyeshadow was dark, bringing out her azure eyes, while her lips were glossed with a light shade of pink.

By the way Gray looked at her, she achieved what she wanted to: make him feel pretty lucky to have her.

"How does Juvia look?" She asked when he got up from her couch.

Gray licked his lips. "On a scale of 0 to 10, how much do you want to go to that restaurant?"

Juvia chuckled. "11. Come on, it's Juvia's birthday! You know you are going to enjoy it when we get home and Juvia thank you for all your hard work today."

"Can I get an amen?" Gray said. "Plus, is there any chance of you wearing only the shoes later on?" Juvia giggled.

"Come on or we'll lose the reservation." Juvia grabbed her silver hand purse and went towards the door.

"Wait, I didn't give you your gift." Gray told her and Juvia turned to look at him in question.

"Gray-sama, you don't need to give Juvia a gift. You already are doing more than Juvia hoped by taking her out."

He shrugged and took a rectangular box from the inside pocket of his suit and offered it to her. Confused, Juvia put down her purse and walked in his direction to grab the box. Juvia unwrapped it and the moment she opened the box, she was surprised to see a white gold necklace.

The best surprise, though, was the charm: a golden buttercup with five petals.

"What...?" She looked up to him, eyes wide.

He scratched the back of his neck, a gesture he usually did when nervous. "You said that you don't see buttercups too much and sometimes you forget to think about the good stuff in your life... Well, now whenever you have the necklace on, you can do that." She still hadn't said a word, making him even more nervous. "Look, I know it's tacky, but..."

"It's not tacky. Not at all." Juvia whispered. "This is the nicest thing someone ever gave it to me." Her eyes watered and she looked down to the necklace once again. "Could help Juvia put it on?" She gave him the box and he nodded. Juvia turned around and waited until he had clasped the necklace before she turned around, looking down to it, seeing it resting just above her breastbone. She smiled to him and threw her arms around him, kissing his lips. "Thank you."

"I'm glad you liked it." He sighed in relief and smiled. "Maybe I can convince you to have just the shoes and the necklace on later?"

"Gray-sama, you just got yourself the best night I can give you." Her eyes sparkled with happiness and Gray's darkened slightly and for a moment, she thought about ditching the restaurant, but she thought better. "Come on. Juvia got all dress up and she wants to show herself off. And her beautiful necklace."

Gray followed her. "Juvia, just so you know, no one will be looking at the necklace, not when you have that dress on."

#

Later that night, Gray had his head on her chest, half of his body on top of hers while she caressed his back and his hair. She just couldn't stop smiling. As it turned out, her birthday surprise wasn't nearly finished: when she got to the restaurant, every one of her friends were there, waiting for her and when Cana and Lucy brought a big cake for her and the girls enveloped her in a hug and she needed to retouch her make-up. No one ever thrown her a birthday party for more than twenty-years and it meant a lot to her they had done it.

They had laughed, talked and she never had such a great birthday before. She thanked their friends so hard Gray had to physically pull her away from them.

Once they were back at her apartment, Juvia fulfilled her promise and just like Gray asked, she just worn her shoes and the beautiful new necklace he got her and thanked her somewhat-boyfriend for the greatest night ever.

"Gray-sama?"

"Huh?" He asked, almost falling asleep, but she just needed to tell him something first; she felt it was the right time.

"You know that Juvia's life had been rainy for so long that seeing the buttercups were the only times she remembered about the good things is life." He finally looked up to her, her blue eyes met his and she smiled. "Now, she doesn't need them anymore. All she needs to do is look around and see her friends and you." She touched his cheek and kept talking, softly. "You are my buttercup, Gray-sama. I love you." She saw his eyes widen, move himself up a bit off of her. After a moment, he tried to speak, but she didn't let him. "Don't. Juvia is not saying this to make you feel uncomfortable or obliged to say it back. Juvia is saying it because that's how she feels and you should know that I do." He blinked a couple of times and nodded.

"Thank you." Gray rested his forehead on hers.

It wasn't as if he didn't know what to answer and thanked her. No, he was really thanking her for loving him, like he couldn't believe someone would.

When he moved away from her, Juvia saw something different in his eyes just before he leaned down and kissed her, slowly getting more and more heated by the second. That night something changed; they made love for the first time and Juvia couldn't think her life could get better.

#

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