A/N: well this has been a long time coming and holy smokes I can NOT believe the amount of followers and reviews I have been getting for this fic and it makes me so incredibly, unbelievably happy you guys have NO idea... Really I can't thank all of you enough. I am also SO sorry for the delay, I do promise to be more timely with my updates but I do forget so ya'll remind me k?! BIG HUGS COOKIES AND KISSES TO REVIEWERS, FOLLOWERS, FAVORTIE-ERS, AND READERS THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR STAYING WITH ME!

Time passed slowly. It hankered on as if on a single leg, and it was making Zoro a very irritable man. Months had gone by already, the cook still slept on with the tubes and wires hanging everywhere.

Zoro rubbed a hand over his face. His eyes were sunk in and the dark circles were pronounced. He gently brushed a strand of hair away from his lover's face.

Sanji wasn't supposed to be still. He was supposed to be chatty and annoying, but sunny and remarkable all at the same time. He was supposed to humming and dancing to his own tune while he cooked. Instead...

Instead the blond idiot was surrounded by white as he obliviously slept on while the rest of them worried.

"Sanji," he mumbled, "come back."

He didn't want to admit it, but no one was around and he felt slightly vulnerable. "I need you," he whispered.

It was true, and if the cook had heard him he'd never be able to live it down. Though... He'd take the constant jibes at his masculinity and how much he cared if Sanji would just open his eyes.

He'd rather face that humiliation for the rest of his life than see the man responsible for many of his headaches be as still as he was. He'd gladly swallow his pride if Sanji opened his sapphire blue eyes right now.

Zoro closed his eyes and rubbed the backs of the cook's hands with his thumbs while he lost himself in the memories.

.

.

He lifted his head up from the slightly scratchy sheets he knew to be of low quality, thanks to the cook's preening and ridiculous decorative habits. Zoro wiped the drool from his mouth and stood up to stretch. A nurse rapped quietly on the door before entering just as silently.

Zoro sat back down as she closed the door behind her. She looked startled to see him awake. "Did I wake you?" She whispered, sounding guilty.

"No," he rumbled, "why am I still here? It must be past visiting hours."

The nurse looked sad. "We know how hard it is... We couldn't bear to wake you, so we thought letting you sleep by him would do you both some good."

"'We'?"

"The rest of the nurses and I," she explained, "it's so sweet how you come by everyday and hold his hand... Just to be with him. Sometimes we see the other half give up and just stop coming, or just tell us to pull the plug. It's inspiring how you won't give up on him. I think it just takes a little of believing in a person to get them back, but when they've given up... It's like the one in the coma knows it—can feel it—and if the ones they love give up on them... Well, what do they have to live for then? Most die after that."

Zoro clenches his jaw and curls his hands into shaking fists. "Those people must not have loved the person very much," he hissed.

The nurse smiled kindly. "They're just not strong enough. It's a hard thing losing someone while they're still alive and to be told their loved one probably won't make it."

Zoro bit his lip and trembled; fighting to keep the emotions back. He needed to be in control of himself. He refused to grieve or cry, because it would mean he'd resigned himself to never seeing Sanji again, and he just couldn't have that. He refused.

"For all your sakes, I hope he wakes up soon," she murmured as she flitted around checking various things about the patient.

"Why?" His voice cracked and he hated it.

The nurse has an expression that conveys sympathy and sadness and something akin to affection. It was a complex face that confused Zoro.

"He obviously means the world to all of you. It's like you're all family. I wonder if what they say about true love's kiss has any merit?" With that she walks out of the room with a nod.

The door clicks shut and Zoro is left to ponder her meaning.

The swordsman looks warmly down at his lover and thinks about all the times they've kissed in the past. Zoro ogles the cook's lips.

He remembers their warmth and fullness. He especially recalls the taste. Ever since Sanji had quit cigarettes in exchange for vapes, e-cigs, and nicotine patches, he tasted oddly of dark chocolate.

Zoro had nothing to lose and he wanted chocolate all of a sudden, so he bent down and captured the still lips with his own.

The chocolate taste was a distant flavor when the plastic waxiness was at the forefront, but it was there. Relief pooled in his gut and Zoro felt better for some reason. More sure, and more confident.

He'd talk to the others about it in the morning, but for now he nodded off in the chair by his lover's bedside.

.

.

Zoro was jostled awake by some noisy commotion and was about to get angry when he noticed the panic on the nurses and doctors faces around him.

"What just—"

"Get him out of here," the doctor demanded.

"What? Wait! What the hell is going on?!"

"Sir," a nurse pushed at his chest and attempted to coax him into leaving the room.

He stood his ground and argued while the incessant beeping noise trilled annoyingly in his ear. He saw the doctor yell clear and apply paddles to his husband's chest.

Oh no.

No, please.

He went numb and boneless, all fight leaving his body as he went wide-eyed with shock. The nurses pushed him out with relative ease after that. They apologized before rushing back in to the fray to help.

Zoro slumped into a plastic chair in the hallway.

No.

He put his head in his hands, processing everything. His phone buzzed in his pocket. He answered.

"Hey, man, so traffic is pretty bad today, we'll be there a little after lunch, alright? What's goin' on, buddy? Anything change?"

Zoro's voice sounded far away to his ears, "Ace," he said tonelessly.

"Zoro? You okay? You sound funny, man—"

"Ace," the swordsman repeated, voice dead and hollow, "he coded."

"Ah, shit... Smokey! It's an emergency! Turn the light on!"

"Ace... I... He... Just get here..." The phone slipped out of the man's hands and on to the floor where it broke apart.

The swordsman just stared at it.

.

.

Someone was handing his broken phone to him. Ace, he realized. Everyone was there now, looking grim as they waited for the news.

"They took him to surgery, Zoro, to relieve the pressure on his brain. They came to tell us they're almost done just a little bit ago." Nami tried to reassure him.

Zoro didn't reply. He just looked haunted.

"Zoro," Luffy called out steadily, "don't give up."

This surprised the man enough for him to get angry and offended. "Never! He'll pull through! He has to! It's just... I... I heard the monitor flat line while they tried to revive him... It just..."

"It was scary," Luffy finished and nodded with understanding.

.

.

Another week passed. Zoro woke again to his face plastered to cheap sheets. He tried to discern what woke him, when he felt something twitch.

Twitch?

Zoro looked down at their entwined hands. The paler one twitched again.

The swordsman felt his heart soar and relief flood through his whole body. He ran out and grabbed the kind nurse, pointing his finger with excitement at his husband.

"He moved!" Zoro cried, ecstatic.

A quick phone call later brought the whole crew down and they all made it on time to watch Sanji wake from his long slumber.