The Heart Never Lies - A Gruvia Story

Christmas

AN: I hope you enjoy it and Merry Christmas! :)

#

While she sat on her chair on the porch of her house, the children played with the snow and ran around too fast for her to identify which was which and the old woman couldn't help but to chuckle; she would never have thought her life would end up that way. Hoped? Sure. But actually happen was a surprise.

"Do you need anything, Grammy?" Neve, her oldest granddaughter, asked Juvia and the old woman couldn't help it but to notice how she resembled her younger self: blue hair falling in waves and blue eyes but her personality was an inheritance from her grandfather – she had been just as reluctant to fall in love with the man who was now her husband as her grandfather were.

"I'm fine, honey." Juvia smiled and raised her hands a bit. "I could use to have my great-grandson on my lap, though."

Neve chuckled and kissed the baby in her arms on the cheek before carefully putting him on her grandmother's lap and Juvia cooed in happiness. She loved her house during Christmas time, filled with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

"I'll go check on the other kids, Grammy. Are you okay to hold him for a while?" Neve asked and Juvia had to roll her eyes.

"Juvia had three children by the time I was your age, Neve-chan." Juvia remind her granddaughter kindly. "I helped all of them with their children. Trust me, the little one will be quite alright."

The blue haired woman nodded and left the porch, trying to put some order between her cousins and second-cousins.

Juvia looked down to the baby in her arms and smiled. "How about a story?" She asked. "You look just like him, did you know that, Gray-chan?" The baby stared at her with a frown that was just too similar to her husband's, his eyes and hair were also the same, black. "Juvia bets you will turn into an Ice Mage to live up to his name." As the infant continued to look at her, she kept talking. "Did you know that your great-grandfather was one of the most powerful Mages of our time? I was too, just so you know." The baby made a sound and Juvia pretended to be offended. "Yes, I was, mister, and I was quite beautiful; Juvia has her fair share of wrinkles now, but I used to be very pretty. You come from a great line of Mages and when the time comes, if you look like him, you'll have many girls after you. Gray-sama was so handsome, just like you." She touched the baby's nose.

"Between us, I was lucky he wasn't interested in having girlfriends when we met, otherwise the competition would've been awful." She chuckled. "Well, the first time we met we were enemies, so it wasn't the best first impression, but sure it was memorable. By the time he admitted he was in love with me, we knew each other for almost three years. Before that he almost died and I almost died but we managed to live for each other.

"Juvia was so happy she thought it was all a dream." She sighed in nostalgia. "We were at our prime, fighting the most powerful enemies of our time and having tremendous fun. It came as a surprise when he proposed; it was snowing just like it is now. Of course he would propose when it was so cold Juvia could barely feel her hands." She looked to where the children were. "I remember tackling on the ground and saying 'yes' over and over again. We got married two months later and it was a dream come true.

"A year later I had your grandfather, and a few years later your grandaunt and uncle. We were so happy, sweetheart." Juvia told her grandchild. "We had some bad moments, we fought a few times but even then we loved each other." She smiled. "We were together for fifty-three years. You don't understand time yet, but it means a lot of it, which is funny because to me it seemed it all went by too fast, in the blink of an eye. When you are happy time seems to run, but ever since Juvia lost her Gray-sama, it seems as if time takes much longer to pass.

"Don't get me wrong, darling, Juvia is happy to be here with all of you because I know when we meet again, Gray-sama will want to know all about our family. Especially the little one with his name he didn't get to meet." Juvia's eyes burned a bit with unshed tears. "And I'll tell him you'll make us proud. All of our family will." She tried to blink the tears away. "But time is sure longer now."

"Are you alright, ma?" A male voice startled her a bit and she saw her oldest son approach the chair she was.

"Of course, Ur-chan." She smiled to him and couldn't help but to remember the first time she held him, a mop of black hair and red with all the crying. "I was just telling Gray-chan here about his great-grandfather."

Ur smiled to his grandson, touching his cheek gently. "He does look like dad, doesn't he?"

"He does." Juvia said. "You have my eyes, but this little one managed to get Gray-sama's." Juvia looked sad for a moment, feeling the loss of the man she loved with all of her soul.

Noticing the change of the mood, Ur put a hand on his mother's shoulder. "I miss him too, ma. And so does Silver and Mika."

"I know you do, baby." Ur could be almost fifty-years-old but he would always be her baby, along with his siblings.

"Let me take him, Mika says dinner is almost ready and I'd rather help you inside before there are ten children running and risking you lose your balance." Ur took Gray from his mother's arms. "Come on, ma." He offered his arm to Juvia and, with a bit of difficulty she stood up and grabbed her cane.

"This used to be much easier."

Ur snorted. "Tell me about it. Last week Iggy asked me to get something up in a shelf and I almost broke my back. Of course she almost died with laughter." Juvia chuckled, she liked Ingrid since she was a newborn, as she was the eldest child of Lucy and Natsu Dragneel. The ruckus they caused when they started dating would never be forgotten in Fairy Tail.

Juvia looked once more to where the children were playing and for a moment, she felt the presence of her husband right next to her. She knew wherever he was, he would be watching them. Soon, she would be with him again and she needed stories to tell him. "Let's get inside, baby." She told her son. "We have a Christmas dinner to make memorable."