A/N: Hey you guys! Happy Holidays! New chapter for a Christmas present to you. And if you don't celebrate Christmas, then just think of it as a regular update and nothing out of the ordinary.
Umm.. I forget what I was about to type… Oh yes! I hope your day is wonderful and full of joy, and if you want to make my Christmas, all I want for Christmas is you… To review! I don't care if you hate it, I'd love it if you love it, or if you just want to ramble about your holidays. Anyway you want it, I want to hear it. Your reviews keep me writing like no other. It is honestly the fire that burns down that wall that is known as writer's block. Thank you! I love you! Enjoy!
4 Years Later
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Sanji turned around wiping his hands on a towel as his legs were hugged together by the small blonde girl holding onto him. He tried to not lose his balance and reached out to steady himself on the counter.
He put his hand on her head. "Yes, Sophia-chwan?"
She hugged his legs tighter and looked up at him with shining blue eyes. "Good morning Daddy!"
Sanji lost it. She was just so adorable and sweet. He picked her up, floppy stuffed rabbit, pink pajamas and all, and spun her around. "Good morning Sophia-chwan! I love you so much!" He kissed her cheek and she giggled.
"Daddy! Daddy that tickles! Put me down, Daddy." Sanji spun her around one more time, and put her down in her chair at the bar.
"So, Sweetie, what do you want for breakfast?" Sanji leaned across the counter and smiled at the little girl.
Sophia closed her eyes tight and hugged her rabbit. "Umm… I don't know!" She opened her eyes and smiled. "Something yummy Daddy!"
"Yes ma'am!" Sanji spun around and started pulling food out of the fridge. In just a few minutes he made chocolate chip pancakes, chopped up some fruit and squeezed some orange juice in the juicer. He turned back towards Sophia, "Sophia, darling, Mr. Snuggles isn't allowed on the counter during meal times."
She pulled Mr. Snuggles onto her lap. "Okay, Daddy."
"That's my girl." Sanji smiled and set the plate of food down in front of the little girl, walked around the counter with his own breakfast. "Nee, Sophia, what do we say before breakfast?"
Sophia clapped her hands together, "Eata. Ittadaku…"
"Ittadaki-."
"Ittadakimasu!" Sophia smiled at her father, who smiled back at her.
"Ittadakimasu," said Sanji, and they began to eat.
After breakfast it was time to get ready for preschool. Sanji would usually pick out Sophia's clothes and put her hair up. Sometimes she would refuse to wear what he picked out though and choose something for herself.
Today was one of those days.
"No Daddy! I wanna wear the striped stockings! With my pink skirt! Not the gwrey with blue! Daddy! I don't wanna wear the blue jacket! I wanna wear my Dora jacket! Dora! Dora! Dora!" She started jumping up and down.
Sanji pinched the bridge of his nose. His daughter was honestly the sweetest and cutest thing that had ever graced this planet, but her whining voice was not. "Okay Sophia," said Sanji in defeat. He went to grab the Dora the Explorer jacket from her to help her put it on, and she instantly ran away yelling, "Swiper no swiping! Swiper no swiping!"
Now that, Sanji had to laugh at, she was so ridiculous with only one stocking on and her hair everywhere. Sanji ran after her and swept her up, "Swipe! I got you!" Sophia giggled like crazy and Sanji started to tickle her. Her giggles turned to screams and she squirmed in his arms.
"Okay Sophia, sweetheart, let's finish up getting dressed. You don't want to be late today do you?" Sophia shook her head and Sanji nodded, "That's what I thought." He helped her put on her jacket and put her feathery blonde hair up in a pony tail. "Okay, Sophia-chwan, let's go!" Sanji took Sophia's hand and walked out of the front door, locking up behind them. They would walk across the street and through the park. Then three blocks from there was Sophia's preschool.
Walking in the door, Sanji signed Sophia in. Then he crouched down on the ground before her, "Nee, Sweetheart, Daddy has to go to work early today, okay? So Grandpa Zeff is going to pick you up from school."
"But Daddy, why can't you come pick me up too?" Sophia hugged Mr. Snuggles and started pouting.
"Awe, Darling, I'm so sorry, but Daddy has to work so we can have a place to live, and I promise, next week you can come in with me, okay?" Sanji leaned forward and kissed his daughter on the top of her head.
"Okay…"
"Bye bye Sophia-chwan, give Daddy a kiss?" She kissed his cheek and he smiled. "I love you."
"Love you too Daddy." Then the teacher came out and escorted Sophia into the class and Sanji left.
From there, Sanji walked back home. He cleaned up a bit; picking up Sophia's toys and cleaned up her room. He vacuumed a little and sat down to drink some tea around noon. When he was done, he took a shower, put on his favorite black suit, got in his car, and drove to his restaurant.
It was a little thing. He had saved up for it all throughout college working several jobs, as a waiter, tutoring, and teaching a cooking class. He was able to buy it just a couple months after Sophia was born. At first, it was hard, because he only had one employee, and he had to take care of a baby. But pretty soon it began to thrive and he was able to hire more people, and even save enough to buy their house. Because of how well the restaurant was doing, Sanji was able to only have to work 5 days a week and only for dinner, that way he could ask a friend his friend Vivi to watch Sophia and put her to bed.
Vivi was an elementary school teacher, and she had gone to college with Sanji. Even though he asked her about 4 times a week, she never went out with him, and was one of the few girls that he knew and hadn't dated in college. Sanji was grateful for her friendship because she was willing to babysit for him, not rob him blind like some daycares, and he trusted her. Because of being a teacher, she would get off of work right about when Sanji would have to leave for the dinner hours at the restaurant. Sanji loved his job because he could spend the days with Sophia and leave her in the care of a close friend for a few hours before bed. And then he enrolled her in preschool earlier that year and Sanji felt like things just kept getting better.
When Sanji walked in the restaurant, it was already noon, and the lunch shift was in full swing. Greeting a couple people, Sanji made his way to the back and through the kitchen, towards his little office in the back. The reason he had to go in to work early was because he had so much paperwork to do. Several orders of food and some new dishes came in the other day, so he had to put in the invoices and payday was coming up, so he had to go through all the hours and make sure there weren't any mistakes before the checks were finalized and sent off.
After a couple hours there was a light knock on his door, and Sanji looked up from his computer. "Come in." The door cracked open a bit and a blonde haired girl poked her head in. "Oh, Conis-swan, what can I do for you?"
"Umm… Sanji-san, I don't mean to disturb you, but there are some guys fighting out front…"
Sanji stood up quickly and walked to the door. "What? Are they customers?"
Conis followed Sanji through the kitchen, "No, but they're making it hard for people to get in and out, and I'm afraid they might break the front window. Kidd was going to go out there and break it up, but Bonney said to wait until you came first."
Sanji sighed, leave it to his bartender to want to start a fight. But even though she tended to get in a lot of fights, at least Bonney was level headed enough to not let it get dragged into the work place. Sanji walked up behind the pink haired hostess, who was watching the fight through the window and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to look at him, a smirk on her face.
"Sanji, you gotta see this, these two guys are getting wrecked by the green-head."
"Anything I should know before I go out there Bonney?" Sanji pinched the bridge of his nose, just what he needed on such a busy day, a fight in front of his restaurant.
"Not really, just the two guys seem pretty drunk and it barley 4:30 and those late luncher/ early dinner people can't get through the door. You might wanna do something before they leave."
Sanji sighed and walked out the door, clapping his hands loudly. "Okay shitheads! Break it up! Take your drunk-ass fight somewhere else." One of the men was on the ground, red-faced and cowering, while the other was being held up by the collar by a man with green hair and an angry look on his face. He dropped the man when he heard Sanji come outside.
"You heard Blondie, get your asses out of here before I kick them into next week." The man with the green hair gave the man on the ground a loose kick with his foot while he scrambled to grab his friend and drag him away. The man stood there with his arms crossed.
"Oi, you too moss-head. We don't need people making trouble around here." Sanji lit a cigarette and blew the smoke out of the corner of his mouth.
"Oh, is this the thanks I get for protecting your little work place? As pathetic as they were, I doubt you could have taken them both Blondie."
Sanji's brow creased with anger and he walked up the man, wanting so badly to wipe that smug look off his face. Pushing his finger into the man's chest with one hand and taking his cigarette out of his mouth with the other Sanji said, "Look, BUSTER, first of all, do NOT call me blondie, or I'll have to beat the shit out of you. Secondly, I could've taken those guys, and you, all sober, easily, so get your sorry ass out of here."
The man looked down at Sanji's finger and straight into Sanji's eyes. "Hey now, Curlique, that's assault."
Sanji just broke under the stress and anger. He flicked his cigarette away and brought his leg soaring up, that the other man had to drop on the ground to avoid. Noticing the change in position, Sanji stopped his leg mid-swing and brought it down so hard a small crack appeared in the pavement. Luckily for the other man, he had rolled away and jumped up in the knick of time. Sanji planted his leg that just went down firmly and spun around, performing a perfect roundhouse kick to the other man's chest, only to have his leg caught in the man's arm.
Sanji glared at him and opened his mouth, but right then, he heard (and felt) the other man's stomach rumble. "You're hungry." Sanji stated.
"Duh, shithead. What do you think I was doing outside of a restaurant if I was full?" The man sneered and dropped Sanji's leg. Sanji took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. After staring at the man for a couple seconds, he changed his mind, put it back in the box and started walking to the restaurant.
When he got to the door and noticed the moss-head wasn't following him, he turned around and said, "Well, shit-head? You hungry or not?" And with that, he led the way in.
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