Chapter 10: Left Feet

A/N: *hidesbehindshield* Hi guys. Its been a while. Haha. I really am sorry. My account got hacked and I couldn't get in to update. I don't know what I did, but some how I managed to get in! Anyways. Here's the next chapter. For those reading my Skip Beat Fanfic Hands Off, the update for that is coming soon! Do read and review!

Gajeel barreled through the door swinging a giant mace he'd lifted off one of the Broken Shield members from the earlier fight, clocking Amon squarely in the face.

His shoulders heaved from the effort of pushing his limits to get there before any harm could come to Juvia. He knew that on a normal day, the guy would have been easily disposed of by Juvia. Probably without even breaking a sweat. But this was different, she wouldn't be able to move fast enough, nor would she want to at the cost of harming the child.

Natsu and Erza made their way inside just seconds after Gajeel and saw Amon get up from the hit, seething from the blow, bleeding heavily from his nose and large gash on his cheek.

"Son of a bitch," he growled at the Dragon Slayer. "Scram, I don't have time for you bastards." He turned and spun rapidly, to kick the air, sending a jagged blue blot of energy flying at him. Gajeel ducked and threw himself at the mage, Natsu in tow. He'd had enough of this average mage causing more trouble than he was worth. Ordinarily, this problem wouldn't have existed if Juvia hadn't been so out of it. He growled, growing angrier as he thought about how Juvia must have felt as he had done those unspeakable things to her. Remembering how she had cried when she'd first told him what had happened.

Gajeel wound his fist back and punched the man in the stomach, knocking him flat on his back. Behind him, the hit he'd let off earlier had crashed into the ceiling above Juvia, dislodging more debris, sending it flying down towards her.

"Juvia watch out!" Lucy yelled as she huffed and puffed her way into the house, arriving later than her Fairy Tail counterparts. Erza raised her shield over them, wincing as large wooden beams came crashing down, willing the shield to allow her to protect her friend.

Juvia stirred to consciousness after having fainted from her fear earlier, struggling to sit up under the Ex-quip mage's iron grip.

"Erza." She gasped, doubling over and grabbing her stomach. Her eyes squinted shut as she struggled to compose herself. "Erza something's wrong. Erza." She managed to eke out, hands clenching over the fabric of her dress, feeling a piercing pain that filled her with fear. Juvia made eye contact with Erza and felt her eyes roll up into her head and though she tried hard not to, she fainted again.

It was only when Erza brought her hand up to pat the girl's cheek, did she notice the blood pooled around Juvia. Her eyes widened and she screamed for Gajeel.

"GAJEEL. DROP IT. HE'S NOT WORTH IT. SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH JUVIA."

Natsu and Gajeel froze, despite having cornered Amon upstairs in the bedroom on the second floor. Without a second thought or glance, Gajeel turned and sprinted down the stairs. Amon took advantage of the momentary confusion to leap out the window, breaking it with his elbow. He fled into the forest as Natsu hesitated, half out the window, unsure of whether to pursue the criminal or help Juvia. Then he smelled copious amounts of blood and cursed. He turned and ran down the stairs as well, choosing the wellbeing of his friend over catching the one who did her harm.

…..

When Natsu reached the living room, he saw Gajeel cradling Juvia's head in his lap, panicking as blood dripped steadily off her thigh.

"What the hell do I do? Hospital. That's right, she needs to go to the hospital." He started out the door but then suddenly stopped.

"But there's only a clinic here. They won't be able to help!" Gajeel cried, frustrated. He couldn't decide what to do but the more he hesitated the more dangerous Juvia's situation became.

"For now, let's go to Fiore. If you run at your fastest you could be there in 30 minutes. If we get Wendy to help, Juvia might be alright."

Gajeel's mind raced, he wasn't at leisure to think slowly about this but he had no choice. He scooped Juvia up into his arms and ran out of the house, praying he was doing the right thing.

….

"Guys," Warren motioned to Wakaba, Macao and Cana at the same time broadcasting a wide range telepathic message to the guild members. "Juvia's gone into labor. Gajeel and the others are bringing her to Fiore General Hospital but they need Wendy to meet them halfway, they don't know how dangerous her condition is but they want to prevent anything from happening."

"Got it!" Wendy jumped up, with Charla grabbing onto her, flying in Gajeel's direction, Fiore's northern forest, trying her fastest to reach them as soon as she could. Moments after she had left and Warren had left to deliver the Broken Shield members to the Council Jail, Cana nudged Macao.

"Pst. Look."

Macao turned to look and saw Gray come trudging towards them, hands shoved in his pockets with his head down.

"Gray?" The mage's head shot up to make eye contact with the older man and flushed.

"What happened? Didn't you leave with Gajeel and Natsu to find Juvia?"

A guilty look passed over Gray's face and he flinched at the confused look on Cana's face.

" I couldn't do it." He mumbled, he hung his head, ashamed of himself. Cana sighed and Macao eyes hardened.

"Couldn't do what Fullbuster?" He asked. Gray didn't dare look up. Macao rarely ever took that tone with him, and when he did, it was when Gray had done something inexcusable.

"I couldn't … I couldn't face her. I didn't know what I would say."

He crouched on the ground, punching it, one hand fisting in his blue hair.

"Gray. Is that really important right now? Juvia could have died. What if Gajeel and the others had needed help? Is this going to be your excuse if something goes wrong? You can't run away when something like this happens."

"I…" Gray couldn't find the words to finish his thoughts.

"Well you're lucky. She's fine. She'll be here in 20 minutes tops." Cana said, squinting towards the north forest as if hoping to see them come flying out.

Gray's head snapped up in surprise.

"Here? I thought she was in Galdrom?" Cana cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Did you not hear Warren's message?" He shook his head in the negative.

"No. I didn't get here until 5 minutes ago. I was out of range I guess. What happened?"

Cana and Macao exchanged looks and sighed.

"Juvia's gone into labor they think, they're trying to hurry to bring her to Fiore General. That's where we're going right now."

Gray froze. He knew logically, that he should just drop everything and rush to Juvia's side, but in the back of his mind, Gray admitted to himself that he was scared. The Juvia who planned her day around his, the Juvia who yelled that she loved him almost as often as she breathed…how did she feel about him now? Did she blame him? Hate him?

He was afraid to find out.

Suddenly, in his mind, he could hear Warren's urgent voice, loud and shrill.

"Attention all Fairy Tail members. Juvia is in Fiore. She is being taken to the Maternity ward as I speak. Anyone who can hear this is ordered by the Master to assemble at the Hospital. Amon is still at large and his whereabouts are currently unknown. He could attack her at her weakest. This is an order to protect and deflect any and all offensive measures to Juvia."

Warren's voice faded and Gray turned to look at his friends who smiled at him encouragingly.

"Looks like you've got a second chance to right by her, kid. If that scum shows up within 100 miles of our girl, we'll take him out before he can so much as breathe in her direction."

Gray squared his shoulders and cracked his knuckles. He would deal with his guilt to Juvia later. For now, he would focus on annihilating the man that had his attacked his family.

…..

Gajeel paced tersely in the waiting room, hating the place more than he'd ever hated anything before. All he could hear was Juvia's moans and pants.

He and Natsu winced every time Juvia screamed, with Lucy trembling hand clutching Natsu's arm tighter with every shriek. As far as Gajeel could tell, she wasn't even close to done.

He turned to ask Natsu about the other guild members when he saw the whole crowd of them come parading towards them from the other end of the hallway.

Wakaba reached them first, panting from running Gajeel guessed.

"Gajeel *wheeze* we got here as fast –"

"AUGH!" A shrill shriek sounded from Juvia's room, making everyone jump and glance at her door, frightened.

"Yikes." Cana said. Juvia let out one more unearthly yell, this one seeming to possess all the strength she could muster and then suddenly everything went quiet. All that could be heard was the bustling of the orderlies and nurses within the room. Everyone held their breaths, unsure of what the silence meant.

Then, the shrill cry of an infant filled the air and everyone let out a thunderous roar of celebration, cheering that Juvia's child had been born.

Only Gajeel and Gray remained silent, the former because he couldn't be happy until he knew his partner was safe and the latter for contemplating how much he changed his friend's life and what he could do to make things right.

A nurse suddenly opened the door and smiled at them, hair slicked with sweat, and breathing heavily, the bottom part of her gown splattered with blood.

"Congratulations!" she beamed at them. "It's a girl and an ice mage to boot!" She said clapping her hands in joy. The guild members unceremoniously silent, remembering abruptly the crux of the problem. Suddenly no one knew what to do.

The nurse, who cheerfully identified herself as Nurse Joy, stepped to the side and gestured inside.

"The father may enter to see his child now. After that, the rest of you may see her in pairs for as long as she can weather it."

Unhesitatingly, Gajeel strode through the doors, letting the nurse shut it behind him. As he entered the room, he could smell Juvia's entire struggle. The blood, sweat and tears. He could also a familiar but unknown person. He walked past the nurse's station to see Juvia lying there on her bed, sweaty and exhausted against the pillows, cradling a small bundle in her arms.

He cautiously approached her, not wanting to startle her.

"Juvia?" The girl cracked one violet eye open and smiled at him.

"Gajeel." She breathed and her eyes instantly filled with tears. Gajeel shuffled his feet, suddenly feeling guilty for not arriving sooner.

"Sorry I couldn't get there sooner." He looked up at the sound of her laugh.

"Don't be silly. You got there in time to save Juvia. That's enough." She looked at him, beaming and motioned him closer, reaching out to tug on his hand.

"Enough about that. Come and meet Juvia's most precious person."

She turned the bundle in her arms towards him and Gajeel glimpsed for the first time, Juvia's infant daughter. She was tiny. Pale as snow a shock of silver hair, though still short and the most enchanting violet eyes he had ever seen. Maybe even more mesmerizing than Juvia's. It was astonishing how much she resembled her mother, from the bridge of her nose, to the shape of her eyes. It was her mouth and lips however, that resembled her father. The cupids bow on her lips was identical to Fullbuster's.

"Juvia was thinking, we could call her Neva."

Juvia looked at him, smiling, despite her exhaustion evident from her sweaty hair and tired limbs. Gajeel grinned toothily and bopped her affectionately on the head.

"Neva's perfect. I wonder if this one's going to be as much of a pain as you."

"Hey. Juvia is just spirited."

"Uh-huh. Tell that to my pounding head and aching back."

"Agh. You - Juvia can't ever get a break around you."

"Well – "

A soft knock came at her door and Gajeel looked at Juvia's questioning glance and scratched his neck anxiously.

"Actually, the others are here to see you too."

Juvia hesitated and then nodded, unconsciously hugging Neva to her closer.

"Come in." Gajeel said gruffly. He almost instantly regretted it. Just by the scent he knew it was Gray and he wasn't sure if Juvia could handle him yet. Before he could say anything, Gray opened the door and was standing at the foot of Juvia's bed. Juvia tensed, seeing his face, conflicted over her feelings. Did she resent him? No. It was hard not to. But she didn't. She wouldn't be so petty to mask her own culpability. She had willingly joined and Amon attacking her wasn't his fault.

She realized as she looked at him from the corner of her eye that she no longer felt butterflies around him. She nodded to Gajeel and watched him walk away only to stop to mutter something to Gray under his breath.

"Make her cry and I'll tear you limb from limb."

Then he strode out and suddenly it was just the two of them in the room. Gray remembered the last time he'd seen Juvia. At Natsu's party. She had been dressed to the nines and fawning over him as usual. Her blue hair, fur coat and sparkling eyes remained vividly in his memory. The Juvia in front of him however was someone else entirely. This Juvia was thinner than he remembered, her hair long and voluminous, spread out around her like a halo. What got him the most were her eyes. Her eyes had gained a depth he hadn't seen before. It was almost unsettling.

"Hello Gray." He noted almost absentmindedly that she was no longer calling him Gray-sama.

"Uh hi. Juvia. Hi." He replied awkwardly. He suddenly didn't know what to do with himself. He stared at the child in her arms.

"So that's her. That's – that's –"

"Our daughter." Juvia finished for him. "An ice mage. Just like you."

Gray inched forward almost reluctantly. This was real. He had a daughter. Juvia turned her towards him carefully.

She was divine little thing. With hair that shone like starlight. He reached out to touch her but yanked his hand back, remembering the situation. Juvia looked at him in surprise, blinking at his odd behavior. Did he not like her? Did he resent that Juvia had chosen to give birth to her?

"Gray? What's wrong? Why won't you touch Neva?"

Gray looked at her, bewildered. He pointed to the little girl and then at Juvia.

"You- You named her?" He asked her astonished at how calm she was. He'd though she might have rejected the child knowing he wasn't in love with her. Juvia looked at him like he'd grown two heads.

"Of course Juvia named her. Why would Juvia leave her nameless? What kind of nonsense parenting is that?" Gray looked more incredulous.

"You're going to raise her? As your daughter?"

Juvia narrowed her eyes. Gray wasn't making any sense with his disjointed questions but they were slowly starting to annoy her.

"Of course Juvia's going to raise her. Why would I have her only to give her away?" She sat up straight, holding Neva protectively against her chest. Gray didn't understand her at all. Before, if a woman so much as breathed in his general direction, he'd have had to pry Juvia off the poor woman but now she seemed like she couldn't have cared less about their status, even though she knew that Gray most certainly didn't love her.

"You're going to raise that child, knowing I can't give you what you want?"

…. …. …

Gajeel, Natsu and Wendy sighed . The other guild members looked at them quizzically.

"I knew he was stupid but this is a whole 'nother level of idiot."

"Tell me about it. I dunno what that Popsicle is trying prove." Natsu plugged his ears in embarrassment.

"What are you talking about?" Cana asked, perched on the arm of a chair.

"Yeah, can you hear them?" Levy asked, looking at their almost pained expressions.

"We can," said Wendy, "but I'm really almost wishing I couldn't." The trio groaned again, wincing as they followed the conversation.

"Why, what's he doing?" Wakaba asked, curious about what was going on inside. Wendy hopped around the other Dragon Slayers, trying to distract herself.

"I'll tell ya what he's doing. He's putting both left feet in his mouth."