Zoro groaned, it was too early to deal with morons. It was always too early to deal with morons because he started his shift at three AM. He was monitoring his area of the highway, being a State Highway Patrol officer, when some car had crashed into another one. He was the first to arrive on scene to the collision and it was apparent that the driver who had initiated the crash was intoxicated. He could smell the booze from there. Fucking idiot, must have thought himself a cunning bastard. What the fuck was wrong with drunk drivers? It's not just saying fuck you to your own safety but to the safety of others as well. The man was bleeding profusely from his head and Zoro called in the crash while he checked the other car to see who was in a more critical condition.

In this car there was a woman and a little girl in the backseat. When he opened the door he found that the woman was unconscious and trapped in the dented metal, shouldn't touch her until the medics got there. The girl looked alright but was panicking over her unconscious mom.

Zoro got the girl out of the car carefully, "Are you hurt?" Zoro asked her gently, checking her over to make sure she was uninjured.

"I'm okay," the girl whimpered, staring back at her unconscious mother.

"What's your name?"

"Rika. Are you going to help my mommy?" She asked pleadingly.

"Okay, Rika, we have to wait for the paramedics to get your mom out, but they'll be here soon," he could already hear the sirens in the distance, "I need you to stay here right now while I help the other driver, can you do that?"

Rika nodded, wiping the tears from her face and putting on a brave expression.

Zoro went to the other car and looked through the window at the bleeding man, who was now stirring. He opened the door quickly, unbuckled the guy and pulled him out of the car as the first emergencyvehicle pulled up. He was ushered out of the way by the paramedics after he had the guys identification. That would be useful.

Once the other officers were involved things started to get rolling, they worked as quickly as possible in the hopes of not blocking traffic for any longer than necessary. As the paramedics worked Rika's mother out of the car Zoro sat and talked with the little girl. Poor thing shouldn't have to go through something like this, especially not with Christmas coming up. She shouldn't have to deal with this ever, really. She was supposed to be happy, not a care in the world. Unfortunately, the universe had other plans for her.

Zoro was never as into Christmas as most people, probably because he never celebrated it as a kid so there wasn't any magic in it. He did celibate o shogatsu, Japanese new year, when he was very young so it was still a holiday season.

When Rika's mother was finally pulled out half an hour later she was rushed to the hospital. Zoro drove Rika there in his patrol car so she wouldn't have to take a stressful ambulance ride. The hospital was not far form the station anyway.

In the hospital Zoro had to watch over her while her mom was in surgery. They were stuck there for three hours. Zoro let her play with his phone but other than that there wasn't much to do but wait. Rika was really a nice girl, she had quite possibly the greatest smile in the world. It was a shame she wasn't smiling now. It was at times like these where Zoro wished he had the power to move time, or bend it, or whatever. He imagined it was like bending a metal bar to make a little jump in time. Maybe he was thinking of A Wrinkle in Time, but that was like traveling through space or something.

When the doctors finally showed up they had good news. Her mom was going to be okay. She had lost a lot of blood, had severely broken her left leg (which was why she needed the surgery, so they could properly realign it), and needed a lot of stitches but she was okay. Although she would require time to heal.

After a short visit with her groggy mother Rika was sent off to spend her day with some family friends so her mother could rest. When Zoro dropped her off she was very grateful. She hugged him and wished him a marry Christmas before going inside.

Zoro hoped the rest of the Christmas season would go better for her. She seemed like a good kid. He returned to the station and started filling out his paper work. After that he left the office and drove home, exhausted. It was ten when he got off work, a lot of people were just getting up. The first thing he did when he go home was drag himself into the bedroom and sleep. He didn't wake up until Sanji was home at six.

"Time for dinner, marimo," came the cook's velvety voice.

Zoro groaned and sat up before the blond could kick him awake.

"Have you been asleep all day?" He had a disapproving tone.

"There was a crash this morning, I had to look after a little girl."

Sanji grimaced, "What happened?"

"A drunk driver hit a mom and her kid. No one was killed, but the mom was hurt pretty badly."

"Why are there so many fucking morons out there? It's infuriating. I'd like to go out and gut the idiot myself."

"I ask myself the same question everyday," Zoro said as he heaved himself up and followed Sanji to the dining room.

It was really a sad thing that everyone could not be happy, or in a good way, all the time. Sad things did not stop happening just because it was the holiday season, they just kept happening to people with no regard as to whether they are good or not. Random, at least seemingly random, things like this happened all the time. Zoro was just unfortunate enough to have a job where he had to see them.

Xxx

A/N: I know someone who's dad became a state highway parol officer, the police academy sounds awful and he had to work late at night like this. I'm fairly certain that they have to buzz their hair but I'm going to pretend that isn't a thing :P

Thanks.