AN: Hello! I am back! I've been sick the past couple of weeks, I've actually been hospitalized for 6 days now and I've written a bit every day. I hope you like it!

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The Birds And The Bees

11 Weeks – Part 3

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Gray was waiting impatiently at the front of the classroom, waiting for his girlfriend to appear and he was getting worried. She was never late – in fact she was mostly one of the first to arrive since she lived close-by – and she didn't reply to his text the night before. Hadn't even seen it, according to the app on his phone.

Something was wrong.

Was she mad at him for walking out on her the night before? He did leave quite abruptly and Lucy didn't mention if she sounded sad or angry when she called her before talking to Gray.

He saw said blonde at the hallway, Natsu by her side and he walked to meet them halfway when the bell rang.

"Hey, Lucy, I need to talk to you." He looked to her pointedly and Natsu raised an eyebrow at that.

"And good morning to you too, Gray." Natsu said to his friend.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, morning." He rolled his eyes and his attention returned to Lucy. "Juvia hasn't arrived yet, hasn't read my text, I tried to call her and it seems her phone's off."

Lucy frowned. "She hasn't arrived? That is strange."

"Have you talked to her since yesterday?" Gray wondered – she might be angry with him but perhaps she'd still talk to her friend.

"No." Lucy frowned and reached inside her bag for her phone. "I texted her, after you left, but she didn't text me back." She was using her phone when Natsu interrupted.

"When Gray left?" He was frowning. Natsu didn't feel jealous at all – they were all friends – he was just curious to why he wasn't told. "Left where? Your house?"

"Yes." Lucy said, off-handily, typing on her phone. "The message was sent, but not delivered." She started to get concerned, then. "I don't like this."

"I'm going over there." Gray told them but met with his teacher, Gildarts.

"Good morning. No more chit-chat, everyone inside." The older man said, pointing to the classroom's door. Most of the students went inside, muttering 'good mornings' and when the three teenagers didn't move, Gildarts patted on the back of Natsu and Gray. "Come on, you three, you can gossip later."

"Uh, sir, we are actually worried because Juvia didn't arrive yet." Lucy informed him. "Not answering her phone..."

"I wanted to go over there-" Gray tried, but Gildarts shook his head.

"I am sure Miss Lockser has a terrific explanation for it and she'll call the school to justify herself later." The teacher said. "Sorry, Gray, I know you must be worried, but I can't let you leave." Gray's shoulders dropped. "Come on, you can try to call her between classes."

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He couldn't wait until class was over.

What if something had happened to her? She was pregnant, after all, and anything could've happened. Gray didn't know much about pregnancies, but knew enough to understand she could be hurt.

The moment the bell rang indicating lunch time, Gray all but ran out of the classroom, running towards the little piece broken fence behind the school – he and his friends had used that a few times to skip class – and since Juvia's place wasn't too far, he could make it and come back to class, if necessary. He just needed to see if she were alright.

Gray arrived at her house and knocked, fear overwhelming him even more when he heard nothing from inside. He found her spare key, hidden between her plants, and used it.

"Juvia?" He looked around and didn't see her on the first floor and ran upstairs and to her bedroom and he found her on the bed. Relaxing a little with seeing her, apparently just asleep, Gray put a hand on her cheek and sit down next to her. "Juvia?" He said, his voice low to not startle her too much. "Juvia, are you okay?"

"Hm?" Juvia frowned as she woke up and smiled when she saw him. "Hi, Gray-sama." The frown returned when she realized he wasn't supposed to be there. "What...?"

"You weren't answering your phone, or texting back and you weren't in school today. I got worried." He explained. Any other day, he would've waited to see her after school, but not with her pregnant.

"School?" Her eyes widened as she sat down so fast she almost hit his head with hers. "What time is it? Oh, god."

"Wait, wait." Gray prevented her from getting up when she started to get frantic about it. "It's noon, I slipped out to come here."

"Noon?" She was surprised. "Juvia never sleeps this much." The blunette put a hand over her forehead.

"Are you feeling okay? You didn't hear your phone?"

She shook her head. "Perhaps the battery is dead? Juvia went to take a nap after talking with Lucy-san, yesterday and I guess she just... kept sleeping." She looked up to her boyfriend. "Juvia hasn't been sleeping well, holding the secret and all."

Gray breathed in relief. "Alright, that's not so bad, then, I think. And you should take the rest of the day to sleep more. No use going to school now. At least you'll be refreshed; we're gonna need it."

"You... Are you still mad at Juvia?" She bit her lower lip in apprehension.

He sighed. "I understand more to why you kept it from me. I can't say I'm happy to be kept in the dark while you dealt with it on your own for weeks, but at least now I know and I would appreciate if you didn't hide anything this big from me ever again."

"Okay." Juvia whispered. "What about...?" She glanced down to her stomach and then back to him.

"Well." He cleared his throat. "You clearly didn't read your texts. I'm not going anywhere. We need to talk, you need to tell me this plan of yours and we have to coordinate, but I'm here. It's what you decided and we're rolling with it."

Her eyes watered. "Yes?"

"Yeah." Gray nodded. "Don't cry."

"Okay." She sniffled and laughed. "Okay. That's a relief."

Gray groaned. "Talking to my dad, though, that's gonna be a party." Juvia opened her mouth but Gray stopped her. "He knows something's up and after you and I talk, I will talk to him."

"Shouldn't Juvia...?"

"Hell no." He snorted. "We will talk to him after I do. Let's... see what he says first, okay? I'll take the heat and when things are calmer, you and I can talk to him together."

"Alright." Juvia gave him a peck on the lips and then froze. "Gray-sama, school."

"Shit." Gray gave her a quick kiss again. "Alright, I'll stop by after school so we can talk. Rest, okay?" Juvia nodded. After another kiss, he ran from the bedroom, leaving his girlfriend feeling much better.

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After a quiet dinner, Gray put the dishes in the dishwasher while Silver went to take a business call. Nervous, Gray sat, after he was done, and waited his father finish. He still had one day left on his father's deadline, but he decided to tell and deal with it already.

"Sorry, kid." Silver reappeared in the kitchen and sat next to his son, resting his elbows on the dinner table. "A problem with a shipment I had to work through." He was still typing something on his phone.

"No problem." Gray told the older Fullbuster and gathered the strength to say the next words. "Dad, about that problem I had four days to tell you about."

Silver tensed and put the phone away, but not before putting it on 'mute'. At Gray's raised eyebrows in question, he shrugged and said: "I don't think we will want to get interrupted. I don't know exactly what it is, but it's probably something that will need my full attention."

Gray snorted with the understatement. "I'll say."

"So. Take your time and tell me." Silver said, calm.

Gray nodded and tried his best to come up with the right words. "A couple of months ago, by the end of summer, there was an afternoon my friends and I went to the pool."

"You went a lot of times."

"This particular time was special." He sighed. "Do you remember when you sat me down and pretty much drilled into my head how important condoms are. All the time."

"Yes?" It was quite a moment in their relationship as father and son. Silver hadn't been ashamed at all to share his knowledge with his son but Gray had been mortified. It had been two years since that day and, of course, there was another quick lecture when he found out his son and Juvia were having sex. "Gray, what did you do?" His tone was serious.

The younger Fullbuster was pale. "I... I forgot, one time. That time after the pool."

Silver shook his head lightly. "Gray..." He sighed when Gray looked down. "Son, do you know how reckless that was? I know Juvia-chan would never cheat on you but condoms are for more than just diseases."

"I know." Gray looked up, right into his father's dark eyes. "That's why we need to talk."

It seemed as if Silver's brain couldn't process the words right away. He kept looking at Gray until he understood the meaning of what his son said. "Fuck."

"Juvia told me three days ago."

"Shit, Gray." Silver groaned and passed his hand through his hair. "You got her pregnant?"

"It was more like a team effort, but, yes." He mumbled. "Juvia... is pregnant." Saying the words still seemed foreign to him – he only had three days to get used to, though. It would come easier with time. "Eleven weeks."

"Eleven weeks?" Silver repeated, trying to wrap his mind around what Gray was telling. "Almost three months." He whispered to himself and then looked to Gray. "She's almost one third through it."

"Yes."

"Fuck, you two are seventeen, Gray." Silver said. "Seventeen! Do you know how much work it takes to raise a child? It doesn't matter if you love her so much your heart will explode, at this age, things will be hard at every step of the way. Hell, adults have troubles most of the time and we are the ones supposed to have our shit together!"

"I know." Gray mumbled.

"I thought I had taught you better than that." Silver told his son. "We talked about it, Gray. You are not some kid who has no information. I told you all about sex and protection."

"It was one time."

"Well, it's all it takes and in your case, it did." He sighed. "Okay. Alright." Silver took a few breaths. "It's a fucking surprise, but not the end of the world. I didn't think it would be this but you said it was a life changer so at least I am not as shocked as I would've been. Though I am not happy at this moment. Couldn't you have got into a fight, like always?"

Gray snorted. "I wish."

Silver shook his head and they stayed in silence for a while, his fingers tapping on the table as he thought. Gray stayed in silence, letting his old man figure a way to take the news. The gods knew Gray had his own moments of deep thoughts.

"What have you two decided?" Silver asked after a while and seeing Gray's confusion, he clarified the question. "Are you keeping it?"

"Oh. Yes." Gray nodded. "Juvia took some time to think about it and decided she wants to keep it. It's her choice and I'm going to respect it and do whatever I can to provide for them. I am not walking away." He looked at his father a little bit in defiance.

"Good." Silver agreed with his son. "I taught you to be a man of your word, Gray, so don't promise her you'll stay and then leave. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Does she have a doctor? She needs to be checked so both of them are healthy."

"She told me she has an appointment in a couple of days. I'm going with her."

"Yes, you will and if she'd have me, I would want to go with you two." Silver informed his son. "I think at least one adult should be there. Talk to her first, though. If she rather I'm not there, then I won't be." Gray nodded. "Okay, now let's go with the new rules around here. No one is getting out of school: not you nor Juvia-chan. I know I am not her guardian, but I will do everything in my power to keep her in school during and after the pregnancy."

"She's not leaving school. We talked."

"Good. Rule number two: you will come and work for me after school. I'm not talking about the couple of hours a few days a week. I'm talking about going from school straight to the shop unless Juvia-chan has an appointment, needs your help, there's something school related happening or it's the weekend." Silver said. "You will receive a paycheck, which you will use to buy the things you'll need for the baby. It's your responsibility." Gray nodded. "Rule number three: Anything happens, any development with the baby or Juvia-chan that could be harmful to them, you tell me. You might be turning into a father sooner than we all would've wanted, but you are still a teenager and you will need help. Are we understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"These are the rules for now, since I've only learned about this five minutes ago, but I'll come up with more later." Gray nodded again. "This is a clusterfuck, son, and won't be an easy road."

"I know."

"Get some sleep. I need tome to have my own thinking."

Gray agreed and got up, stopping before leaving the room. "I'm sorry, dad."

"You've made a mistake, son." Silver sighed. "People, older than you, have made the same mistake with much more experience than you. It isn't fair for me to blame you too much. Don't worry, I'll probably be a sucker when the baby's here." He snorted. "I've always liked kids and your mother and I never had the chance to give you a sibling. Meanwhile, we will plan as we fo." Gray made an agreeable sound. "And son? I would like to speak to Juvia-chan too."

"Alright, I'll tell her. Thanks, dad."

"For not killing you?"

"Pretty much."

"It's the shock. It might still happen."

"Got it."

"Goodnight, son."

"G'night, dad."

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AN: Well, at least Silver knows now!