Gray watched his family as they ate breakfast and he was very glad they accepted Juvia as fast as they did. Juvia, who, at that moment, was gently listening to his niece as she babbled about breakfast - she was still learning and they only managed to understand a few words. He noticed Ultear, his adoptive sister, also looked at the interaction, carefully measuring Juvia and her reactions to the two-year-old.

"You seem very good with kids." Ultear said and Juvia looked up from where Meredy sat on her high chair to glance Ultear's way.

Smiling, Juvia nodded. "Juvia likes kids and they seem to like her back." As if to confirm her words, Meredy shoved a cookie on Juvia's mouth and the blunette gave it a small bite to the girl's delight. "Why, thank you." Her attention returned to Ultear. "While growing up, a lot of babies stayed in my foster homes. Juvia helped taking care of them and the younger children."

"Impressive." Ultear raised an eyebrow. "Meredy isn't friendly to many people other than us and some careful selected children her age."

"She does seem like a serious little lady." Juvia said and returned her attention back to her breakfast. "Perhaps she'll open up more as she grows up."

"That's the hope." Ultear put a hand on her daughter's head and the little girl smiled at her. "But if she doesn't, well... That's alright too."

"What are you two doing today?" Silver asked, getting Gray's attention.

"I'm going to show Juvia the town." Gray answered.

"It's Juvia's first time here." She explained.

"Good." Ur nodded. "It's a beautiful little town."

"Make sure you mention every place where you broke havoc while growing up, son." Silver chuckled.

"Oh, are there many?" Juvia glanced his way, offering him a smile and Gray rolled his eyes.

"Some." He told her.

"Plenty." Ur snorted. "I can't tell you how many times I was asked to come to his school because of some prank or altercation. And I only met him when he was nine, imagine before."

Silver laughed. "Then you ganged up with Lyon and then hell would break loose wherever they went."

"Juvia will need to hear those stories." She said, happily.

"Over my dead body." Gray muttered and then looked at his parents. "What are you doing today?"

"Ultear and I are showing houses to a very difficult couple. I didn't manage to sell anything to them, so now I'm taking enforcements." Ur took a sip of her coffee.

"They won't even know what hit them." Ultear said, smugly.

"I build the houses and they sell it." Silver told Juvia with a smile. "That's how I met Ur, you know? She stormed into my office even after informed the vacancy to be an agent had been filled up. I told her exactly that and she looked me right in the eye and told me to give her a chance and if in two weeks she didn't sell more than any other agent, I'd never see her again."

"I had two kids to feed, I was a bit desperate." Ur said and Juvia nodded.

"And did you?" The blunette asked.

Ur was clearly smug. "Oh yes."

"She sold four houses, the most expensive ones." Silver looked at his wife adoringly. "I was already a bit smitten when she burst into my office, but seeing her looking so proud of her accomplishment..."

"Stop being so cheesy, Silver. God." Ur rolled her eyes, but Gray saw her cheeks pinked up. They had been married for more than a decade and she still looked like they had returned from their honeymoon.

"The rest, is history." Silver said. "Now, we expanded our business and our children are following our steps. Gray and Lyon are going to be architects like me and Ultear is one of the best sellers in the company." He was clearly proud.

"Give me another six months, Silver, and I'll be the best." Ultear stated, determinate.

Silver nodded at her and then looked to his wife. "That's our girl."

"Yes." Ur glanced at her daughter, lovingly, and then looked at Juvia. "So, you see, we are a family of business men and women. I think a marine biologist around will at least give our granddaughter a chance to see there are other careers."

They all looked at the little girl, who was much more interested in eating her cookies instead of the boring adult conversation.

"Speaking of her, I'm going up to clean her up. I'll take her with me to the house, so afterwards we can spend the rest of the day in the park." Ultear got up from her chair and picked her daughter up. "Say bye-bye, Meredy."

"Bye-bye." The little girl waved and everyone else waved back, to her delight.

"She's so cute." Juvia told her boyfriend and he nodded.

#

The park was as beautiful as Gray remembered and he was quite happy to have Juvia by his side, showing her the sights and telling about shenanigans that happened when he was younger.

"I stopped coming here for years after my mother die." Gray told his girlfriend and Juvia looked up to him as they kept walking close to the pond.

"Why is that?"

"We used to walk through here when she picked me up from school." He said and then smiled sadly when they stopped walking. "She used to have bread crumbs for me to feed the ducks." Gray pointed to the opposite side of the pond. "I was a kid, you know, I thought it was fun."

Juvia took his hand into hers and rested her head on his upper arm. "Of course you did."

"Well." He cleared his throat. "After she died, I was angry with the world and terrified of losing my dad too." Gray's look was distant in thought. "He was a wreck, I barely recognized him for a while."

"Oh, Gray-sama." Juvia whispered, squeezing his hand.

"He got better, after a while of course, but he wasn't fully himself until he met Ur." Gray looked down to Juvia. "I could see in him the father I knew. The problem was that in my mind, Ur and her children had come to steal him from me and I'd be left alone."

Juvia stepped in front of him, letting go of his hand so she could put her arms around him. "You were a child and your life changed very drastically, misunderstandings were bound to happen."

"Yeah." He nodded, his own arms around her. "I think Ur knew my fears because not once she let me feel left aside. It took her a while to even accept going out with my father - and trust me, it took a long time for my father to finally ask her out. I was a bit of a brat at the beginning." He snorted. "It took me a while to see she wasn't taking my mother's place in our lives, but creating a place of her own."

"That's beautiful." Juvia gave him a small smile which he returned.

"After a while I started to call her 'mom'. We never really spoke about it, I just started it and that was that."

"Juvia thinks she probably already felt you were one of her children." She offered.

"Most likely, yes." Gray nodded. "It all seems a little dramatic, doesn't it?"

"Your family is as dramatic as any, as far as Juvia knows, of course. We all have to work out our fears and insecurities." She gave him a peck on the lips. "Sometimes it takes us months, other times it takes us years."

"That's true." He granted her the point. "What are your fears and insecurities."

"Oh, let's see." The blunette seemed to think. "Juvia hates to share. I know sometimes I can be a little possessive." Gray nodded, having noticed she really liked to claim him when they were in public. "It's mostly because growing up she rarely had anything of her own and when she does..."

"You want to make sure it stays yours." Gray finished, understanding her much better.

"Yes." She nodded. "And Juvia is quite a jealous woman."

"I bet you are." He said and she gave him a shy smile. Gray let her grab his hand again so they could resume their walk.

"What about Ultear-san?" Juvia asked. "You don't speak much of her or Meredy-chan. That little girl surely has a bright hair color, she probably gets from her father, isn't it right? Seeing Ultear-san and Ur-sama have black hair." Gray felt his body tense and Juvia probably felt it too because she looked up, frowning and confused. "What's wrong?"

He sighed. "It's just... Ultear didn't have an easy life."

Understanding dawned on her. "You don't have to tell me, Gray-sama." She told him, gently.

Gray thought it over for a moment, deciding if he should tell her or not. And then he remembered that just a few days before, she had trusted him with a big trauma; it would be only fair for you to do the same.

"Ur's divorce with Ultear's father wasn't amicable at all. I think she was five or six, so she remembered a bit of him, but only the good things and growing up she missed him, like I missed my mother, but she went down a different path." Juvia's frown deepened. "About five years ago she started to hang with a bad crowd. She became very rebellious, dropped out of college started using drugs."

"Oh."

"My parents tried everything, but she vanished one day. Ur was so upset and understandably so."

Juvia squeezed his hand. "How did she return home? Does it have to do with Meredy-chan?"

"Yes, but not in the way you think it does." They stopped walking and he turned to face her. "Not that it matters to us and almost no one outside the family knows, but Meredy is not Ultear's biological daughter." Juvia was surprised with the revelation, he could tell. "Ultear crashed in a house while she was away from home and she always saw a couple with a baby, buying drugs and they usually crashed there." Juvia's eyes widened. "Yeah, not really parents of the year. One of those nights, Ultear saw them get the drugs but the next morning she woke up with a baby crying.

"She went in to check and, sadly, both had passed away. Overdose." He sighed. "She told me she got Meredy and she was going to leave her at a fire station not too far away, but she was crying so hard, Ultear stopped along the way to buy her some milk, just to get her to shut up." Gray stopped for a second. "Ultear told me that, when she was being fed, Meredy looked at her and smiled. Her whole self shook with it and for some reason, she knew she couldn't give her up."

"Ultear tried to stay away from home because she thought mom and dad wouldn't have her back, but she couldn't raise a baby on the street and if she was to do it, she needed to be clean. That's when she came home, around eighteen months ago." Gray smiled, sadly. "I can still remember how mom held her close when she got home, how she cried and I rarely see her cry."

"She made the right decision." Juvia said.

"Yes." Gray nodded. "After she explained what happened, mom and dad got Ultear a lawyer and a private investigator to see if Meredy had any family left, she doesn't. The lawyer said that if Ultear was to get Meredy legally, she'd need to get clean and to have a steady job and even then it could go both ways. While she was in rehab, mom and dad took care of Meredy meanwhile paying the best lawyer to represent them for the adoption. Soon after she was released, Ultear began to work with dad; not as an agent just yet, but as a secretary - she climbed up from there - and she will stay with them until she is back on her feet completely. I expect she'll move out someday, but for now, she needs to be with her family and she's doing very well. Both are."

Juvia smiled widely. "Oh, that is quite a tale, Gray-sama. Juvia is happy things are working for your family. I know it's only been a day but Juvia really likes them."

"They like you too, even Meredy, who usually likes no one." Gray informed her.

"Good." Juvia said. "Now, shall we come back? We've seen quite a bit of the town."

"Of course." Gray kissed her.

#

While Gray put their luggage in the car, Juvia said her goodbyes; Ur gave her a quick hug and right after, Silver pulled her to a hug.

"It was lovely meeting you, Juvia-chan." Silver said. "I know now my son is in good hands, but keep an eye on him for me, please."

Juvia chuckled. "Will do. Don't worry." Her attention, then, went to the pink haired girl in Ultear's arms. "And it was nice meeting you, Meredy-chan. And you, Ultear-san."

"Likewise." Ultear nodded.

"Juvia, we are ready to go." Gray stated and went to hug his father, receiving some pats on the back. Ur was next, hugging her son and kissing his cheek. "See you in a few weeks."

"Alright. Be careful while driving, please." Ur released him and took a step back while Gray said goodbye to his niece and Ultear.

"Let's go." Gray said and Juvia nodded, taking his hand and she let him lead her to the car.

A minute later, they were waving goodbye to Ur and Silver as Gray drove off.

"Your family is lovely." Juvia told her boyfriend and Gray smiled.

"Glad you like them. They liked you too."

Juvia sighed in relief. "Juvia was so nervous! She was almost asking your mother if she could bake some cupcakes in her kitchen."

Gray laughed. "You should've. I know they will like them as much as everyone does."

"Thank you, Gray-sama." She said and Gray glanced her before his eyes returned to the road ahead. "I guess we are even, then."

"Even?" He frowned, confused.

"You met Juvia's family: Gajeel-kun, and Juvia met yours."

"That's right." He nodded in agreement. "At least we are past this now, knowing our families approve of us."

"It's a relief, really." Juvia said. "I hope we get to come back in a couple of months, Juvia would rather enjoy that."

"Alright." They stayed in a comfortable silence for a minute when Gray remembered something his father mentioned. "Oh, almost forgot: my father says he will friend you on Facebook."

"Aw, that's nice."

Gray snorted. "It won't be as much when he sends you fifteen different videos of baby animals in just one day."

#

AN: I thought it was only fair to hear about Gray's background now that we know Juvia's. Also, I had to make Ultear have some problems so it could kind of reminds the time she was apart from her mother. I hope it was alright. :) Next chapter I promise you fluff!