NEXT MORNING

Gray woke up when he felt a soft touch on his lips which he thought would be his fiancee's lips but turned out to be his son's chubby hands.

"Yeah...yeah...I'm awake."

He smiled seeing Gris' adorable smile first thing in the morning.

Gray sat up and yawned, "Good morning, my little man. What are you doing this early in morning?"

Then he lifted the little guy in his arms and kissed his forehead.

"Come let's go greet your mama."

Gray got up and made his way towards the kitchen in hopes of seeing Juvia.

As expected Gray saw her making pancakes for breakfast. As soon as Gris saw his mother, he let out his cute baby voices to let his mama know about his presence.

"Oh Good morning, Gray-sama. Did Gris-chan wake you up? Juvia thought it would be nice if he gets to know you on his own accord."

Juvia went near Gray and tip-toed to give him a quick chaste kiss and took her baby boy in her arms and kissed his chubby cheeks earning a cute giggles from him.

"Nah! It's alright. I'm happy that he's feeling comfortable around me. Isn't it, my boy?"

Gray asked his son in a funny voice which made the baby squeal. Looks like the baby is in a good mood.

After eating breakfast, Wendy left for her part-time job an hour before to give some privacy for the couple.

Gris who was neat and clean after his quick bath was playing with his papa.

Gray felt an intense wave of happiness hit him every time when Gris smiled and squealed happily.

Juvia who sat next to Gray watched her important men bonding which made her heart filled with warm feelings.

When Gris threw his cat toy a bit far for his liking, he instantly looked at his papa and called out,

"Pa"

For a moment, the adults stopped what they were doing and looked startled.

When sensing that his dad was not responding to his orders, Gris called out again but this time, he tried to climb and tap his thighs, "Pa". And pointed at the toy thrown away.

"Juvia, did you hear that? His first word"

Gray looked at his Juvia who smiled and had happy tears piling up in her blue eyes.

"Yes, Gray-sama. You were his first word. Juvia's very happy. Baby, call mama."
Juvia lifted her son and slowly spelled 'mama' so that Gris could understand.

But to Juvia dismay, her baby had his attention towards his dad and kept calling, "Pa....pa" Gris extended his chubby arms towards Gray.

Gray took him in his arms and kissed his chubby cheeks and felt proud,
"Oh my god, you said your first word and it was me. Oh Gris, papa is very happy. Love you, baby."

Gray kept on kissing but the little boy tried to wiggle out of his papa's arms and pointed towards the toy.

Gray placed his son down who crawled toward it knowing that his dad will not get him.

Both Gray and Juvia smiled and felt elated to have witnessed an important phase of their child's life.

But that happiness came to stop when the doors of their cottage opened to reveal his Silver and Mika.

The eyes of the younger couple widened due to shock and instantly stood up seeing the elder couple.

But the older couple's eyes were fixed on the baby who was just at arm's length and silently looked at the new faces instead of taking his toy.

"Mom.....Dad.....How did you get here? Natsu? Where is he?"
Gray asked hurriedly and looked behind his parents to see his friend bearing a sorry look.

Mika who wore a disappointment looked towards his son and Juvia went near her grandson and bent down to lift him in his arms.

"Silver, look he's so cute. Hi Gris, I'm your grandma and this is your grandpa.. here look."
Mika swayed her grandson gently in her arms and surprisingly Gris was quite comfortable around the new person whom he was seeing for the first time.

AFTER AN HOUR

"How long are you both going to wait before telling us the obvious details?"
Silver asked his son who was startled by his dad's voice in an apparently silent living room except for his son's and mom's interaction.

"Silver-sama.....Juvia is....."
Silver stopped her from continuing further by gesturing for her to stop.

"Juvia-chan, let him speak. I want to hear that from his voice. So my son, start your explanation."
Silver glared at Gray.

Gray knew now there was no turning back as he was caught in a dead end. He breathed out the air which he didn't know he held for this long.

"Juvia, get another cup of tea for everyone."

"Ok...okay Gray-sama"

"Dad, yes whatever Natsu said to you was true as you could see the proof in mom's arms.
I had been in love with her for six years and it took me a year to finally convince her to be my girlfriend.
This happened when I was 18, during that time you had arranged my wedding with Lucy and I have already told you about why I postponed the wedding. This was partly a reason for it as well."

Mika looked amused at her grandson who was constantly giggling as his response for her tickling.

"Then our love story continued for three years until I got paranoid as mom began to arrange a wedding for Juvia.
But luckily Juvia convinced mom that she was in love with someone and declined the wedding proposal.
Then too, mom nagged her to introduce that person but somehow we managed to escape."
Gray slowly disclosed everything and kept looking at his dad's face to read his thoughts.

That's when Juvia entered the room with tea cups on a tray and gave one to each.

"Thanks Juvia" Natsu thanked her and looked at his friend.

"Mika-sama, please enjoy your tea while Juvia handles Gris-chan."
Juvia smiled and extended her arms towards her son who on seeing his mother, squealed and extended his chubby arms so that he could be in her arms.

Mika smiled back and gave away her grandson back to Juvia after pressing a soft kiss on his messy navy blue hairs.

"So when did you find out Juvia-chan was pregnant?" Silver asked after sipping the contents from the tea cup.

"Let Juvia say this Gray-sama." Juvia stopped her fiance by squeezing his left shoulder blade.

"Silver-sama, after knowing that Mika-sama has stopped looking for another broom for Juvia, Gray-sama proposed Juvia.
That night, our feelings and raging hormones escalated between us and before we could regain our normalcy things happened.
Believe us, that night was the first time we were ever that intimate. From then, we were together for most of the time.
It was a month after Gray-sama's 21st birthday that Juvia found out she was pregnant with our baby."
Juvia said with a flushed face and fondly remembered the memories of that day.

"So this is the reason behind your excuse of leaving for Bosco?"
Silver asked her for which Juvia nodded her head.

"Silver-sama.....Mika-sama.... Please forgive us for hiding such crucial information from both of you.
Juvia nor Gray-sama never intended to hide this but it was the promise which Gray-sama made to his friends led us to hide this from your knowledge for which we are extremely sorry.
Juvia knows she's an ordinary person without any background since her parents death shouldn't have fallen in love with the prince.
But love's a strong feeling which doesn't know any class, creed and status. It just comes out unexpectedly at unexpected times.
Please if you have to punish, then punish Juvia for this act. Please don't hurt Gray-sama anymore.
It had been a cruel phase for him as well. He was the one who suffered most amongst us.
Please Silver-sama.....Mika-sama, forgive Gray-sama..."

Juvia fell on her knees with Gris in her arms and pleaded with the older couple to forgive her fiance. Seeing his mother in tears, even Gris began to cry.

Gray knelt down to calm down the two important people of his life as it hurt him badly to see them cry in front of him.

"Hey Juvia, stop don't cry. See even Gris is crying."

Gris extended his arms towards Gray with tears running down his flushed chubby cheeks and kept on calling 'pa'.

Gray had his son on his left arm while the right hand was wiping the tears from Juvia's eyes and slowly trying to calm her down.

Seeing the emotional scene before them, Natsu bowed his head and apologized to the older couple as he and Lucy were the main reason behind hiding Gris' existence.

Silver fake coughed, "Now everyone get up. Up I say!"

Soon the three younger people stood up and looked towards the king who had a crazy smile on his face which made them confused.

"Hey Gray, pass me my grandson. I didn't get to hold him even once."
Silver asked and opened his arms. Gray slowly handed his son to his dad and watched as both of them were looking adorable together.

"Juvia-chan, you could have told us about this from the start. We would have understood your reason behind this.
And Natsu, don't go apologizing for what my son did for you and Lucy-chan. It's okay, never mind about that again now that we know everything."
Mika said and went to her son and Juvia to give them a hug.

"Juvia-chan, I'm really happy that Gray chose someone like you as his future wife who loves him and takes care of him dearly.
I'm sure you will take care of him more than he ever does.
It was just a small act played by Silver to intimidate you both and of course Natsu and others back at the castle.
Poor!! those girls are already thinking of other circumstances." Mika chuckled.

Gray looked towards Natsu and he told him that Lucy and others had come to visit him yesterday.

"Mika, he's really cute. Hey Gris, you look cuter than your dad. I must say you both sure know how to make pretty babies."
Silver chuckled and kissed Gris forehead, earning a large squeal from the tiny baby.

After an hour of hugging and chatting, Gris fell asleep as it was his nap time.

By then, Wendy had come back from her morning shifted and looked shocked to see the king and queen in their small cottage.

"You are saying she's the one who helped Juvia-chan during delivery." Silver asked amusingly.

Gray nodded, "She's none other than Natsu's foster sister. She did her schooling in Fairy Tail Academy like us but more specialized towards medicine and treatment which was taught by the family doctor of Heartfilia's, Porlyusica.
Wendy is her apprentice. But to be on the safe side, Lucy with her mother's help sent Porlyusica here just two days before the due date.
Of course, another course of lies was used. Once she came here, she knew the reason, then, with both of their help Gris was born luckily without any complications."

Gray finished praising and patted Wendy's head while the older couple thanked the teenager for her help.

"Silver, why don't we appointment Wendy-chan in our castle infirmary as the head nurse? What do you say? And Wendy-chan are you willing to join?"
Mika asked the young girl who looked towards Natsu and Gray who nodded in response.

"Sure, Mika-sama, I would love too." Wendy smiled genuinely.

"So Gray, now that we know everything, what are you planning to do? Are you coming with us?"
Silver asked his son with a bit of seriousness.

"If you accept us, then, I find no harm in coming back to the castle, dad. Now it's on your say." Gray retorted.

"Of course, we accepted you, Juvia-chan and Gris-chan, you three are our family.
Gray, I have talked to the council members before coming here, they said it's okay and we can't do anything else as the deed was done already.
Some said Juvia-chan shouldn't be your bride but Mika fired them and those posts are empty still.
Other ministers were like we can inform the citizens that your marriage and childbirth was kept secret in order to protect you from the enemy which I felt was a good idea. So are you coming with us?"
Silver asked them again for which the younger couple nodded in agreement.

"Good because as soon as you return to the castle we have a surprise for you both." Mika said gleefully.

TO BE CONTINUED:- LAST PART