Chapter Eleven:

Calming the Beast

Grace had her eyes locked on her hand that was grasped firmly by the redhead leading her to who knows where. She hopelessly tried to tug it free, only to meet resistance when his grip tightened a little bit. It was useless. He wasn't going to let go unless she put up more of a fight. She sighed. She would have put more effort into it once. But now she was just becoming more and more inclined to give up and let him have his way. Grace let her eyes travel up the length of Shanks' arm to the back of his head. He was quiet as he led her down the street. For a moment she wondered if he had some destination in mind, but then she started thinking about that word he uttered earlier. He couldn't have meant anything serious by it, could he? Of course not; it was just another pet name like any of the others he used. Still, that one in particular carried a certain weight to it that made Grace just a bit uneasy.

She shook her head and looked down at her captured hand. She tried to tug it free again.

"I'm not gonna let go..."

"Is this necessary? I'm not gonna run off or anything..."

Shanks slowed his pace a bit as he looked back at her. "I know." He turned around completely, slowly walking backwards in front of her with a smile. "I just want to hold your hand, doll. Is that so bad?"

Grace frowned. "...You're hand is sweaty." she said.

"Hm..." He narrowed his eyes, and then grinned after a moment. "Are you sure it's my hand?" Grace felt her face heat up. Well, maybe her palms were a bit clammy. The redhead chuckled softly. "Do I make you nervous, sweetheart?"

"No!" She tried to step away only to be pulled back by a an arm snaking around her waist.

"It's okay, Grace...You make me nervous sometimes too."

The marine blinked and shoved him lightly as she squirmed out of his grasp. "Shut up, I'm not nervous!" she muttered. She wondered how he could just stuff like that without getting embarrassed.

"Whatever you say, angel..." The redhead chuckled. Grace crossed her arms and looked away, a scowl set firmly on her face. "Aw, don't go all sour on me. C'mon, lighten up!" He carefully slipped his fingers around the marine's wrists, keeping a watchful eye on her expression as he coaxed her out of her guarded stance. She reluctantly unfolded her arms, eyeing the redhead with ambivalence. She pursed her lips and looked down at his fingers when he tangled them with hers. Shanks tilted his head. "Something wrong?"

"Yes."

The pirate followed her line of sight to their linked fingers. "What's wrong with holding hands?"

"Nothing, on its own. But when you take into account who those hands belong to..."

Shanks clicked his tongue. "Who cares, Gracie?" There was a note of discontent in his voice that made the girl frown. "You're not on duty right now, your marine buddies are too distracted to notice you're gone...And I'm not exactly pirating it up right now, either." He looked at her in earnest. "Can you just put aside the 'we're enemies' shtick just for one night?"

"Pff, 'just for one night' he says..." Grace snorted. "Like you're not gonna try to get me to forget about my responsibilities next time we meet, too..." She scoffed.

The redhead's eyes wandered as he mulled over her words, a chastened smile forming on his face. "Well, let's not worry about next time, yeah?"

"Shanks..."

"Just live in the moment with me, sweetheart." He squeezed her hands, eyes hopeful.

For a moment, Grace struggled with the tightness in her chest that insisted she give in. Then she sighed. "Damn your stupid puppy eyes..." She muttered. She turned her head to look away from his vibrant smile, the first one that night that truly touched his eyes that night. "Don't say I never did anything for you..." When the silence stretched on for a second too long, she looked back at the redhead inquisitively only to see his face leaning closer to hers. She took a step back, alarmed. "What are you doing?" she asked.

Shanks licked his lips, leaning back a bit with a careful expression. "Nothing." he replied. "C'mon, we were on a walk, remember?" he said, changing the subject. For a second, Grace stayed firmly planted where she while her sudden burst of panic receded. Later she would scold herself in private for freezing up line a deer caught in the headlights, but right then she focused on calming her disquieted heart. Shanks gently tugged her forward, and when her feet started moving she felt herself begin to relax.

What the hell is wrong with me? Grace absently allowed herself to be guided along whatever path Shanks chose to stroll down. Her attention was directed inward at the fluttering nerves that made her feel so unsure. She wasn't accustomed to the sense of pressure that came with...with...whatever this was. Her eyes darted to Shanks' hand clasped over her own.

Grace found herself bathed in a fresh wave of uncertainty when it dawned on her that she had far passed the point of no return. She sighed and decided to push her thoughts aside for now. She could evaluate them later.

Shanks glanced back at the marine trudging along behind him, seeing once again that she was too lost in her own thoughts to notice. He was a little worried that he had messed something up. He didn't mean to make her clam up. Maybe he shouldn't have gone in for a kiss... He sighed. This little outing was supposed to take his mind off of his problems, not make new ones.

Suddenly, the redhead felt a tug on his hand when Grace stopped where she was. He looked at her, eyebrows raised. She was glancing about, seemingly returning from her train of thought. "Why are we walking this way?"

"Hm? Uh. I'm just going wherever..." Shanks replied.

"This way leads to the docks." the marine said. He looked at her blankly. "Where my ship is moored?"

"Oh! Right! Marines..." Shanks looked down the path they were going and then back at Grace. "I guess we should go somewhere else, huh?" he said sheepishly.

"You think?" Grace shook her head and sighed. "We shouldn't be wandering around like this if we're both out of it..." she muttered.

"Heh, yeah, no kidding..." Shanks scratched the back of his neck, eyes on the girl next to him. He then looked away as he tried to get his thoughts in order so he could fix whatever he did wrong.

He didn't realize he was just standing there staring at nothing until a hand wave in front of his face. He blinked and looked at Grace, who's eyebrows were furrowed. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothin', I'm just trying to figure out how to make you feel better..." he said. When she quirked an eyebrow at him, he added, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable earlier." He lightly put a hand on her head and ruffled her hair.

She ducked away from his fingers and straitened out the mess he made of her silvery-white locks. "Besides that."

"Huh?"

"Don't act like that's the only thing bugging you. You've been kind of off all night."

"You noticed..." It made Shanks kind of happy to know that she actually paid attention to him.

"It's kinda hard not to when you're usually so annoyingly happy."

The redhead shrugged, looking down. "You're right. I've been feelin' kinda down lately, I guess..." he said. "So," he squeezed the marine's hand and smiled hopefully, "Do you think you could help me feel better, love?"

Shanks felt a twinge of want when he saw her cheeks redden. "What—" She cut herself off, pinching the bridge of her nose, and then shook her head. "How am I supposed to do that?" she asked. "Wouldn't your friends know how to help you better than me?"

"Eh, they're not really feeling any better than I am..." he replied. "And besides, I'm here by myself, remember?" he added quickly. Grace was giving him a certain look, and he knew she figured he was lying. She didn't say anything about it, though.

The marine looked away after a moment. "Alright..." she said with a resigned sigh. She ran her fingers through her hair, avoiding eye contact. "What...do you want, then?" she asked slowly. She looked a little tense, as though bracing herself for the worst.

Shanks bit his lip and thought about it for a moment. "A hug." he decided.

"...That's it?" Grace sounded skeptical, but the redhead didn't miss how her shoulders slumped with relief.

He nodded. "That's it." He raised his arms and tried to look inviting. He watched her look away and then back at him, before looking away again with a shade of pink dusting her cheeks. Shanks could barely contain his glee when she took a tentative step towards him, but for her sake he kept himself grounded. He closed the gap between them and let his arms circle around her waist.

Grace was stiff, and didn't really hug him back with the same enthusiasm that the redhead was showing, but feeling her hands resting on his sides was enough to get his heart pounding. Shanks pressed his cheek against her head, feeling like he had accomplished a great feat. He seemed to have gotten past the violent stage of earning the marine's trust, and now had the chance to navigate closer to whatever laid underneath her prickly demeanor.

"...When was the last time you showered?"

Her voice shook him out of his reverie. "Um...Let's see..." He paused for a moment.

"The fact that you have to think about it speaks volumes..." Grace mumbled. When the pirate leaned back to look at her face he couldn't help but chuckle at her mildly disgusted expression.

"Sorry, doll. I didn't exactly know I'd run into you today..."

"Hm..." She didn't seem to be appeased by his response, but Shanks didn't really care. He was just happy that she was acting relatively normal. "...Are you satisfied yet?" she asked.

The redhead's arms squeezed tighter around her waist. "Nope." Grace huffed impatiently but said nothing. "It's not that bad, is it?"

"You know I can't stay here forever, right?"

Shanks let out a dramatic sigh. "I know, it's a shame." he said. "It's like 'Romeo and Juliet', don't you think? Only I'll make sure our tale doesn't end in tragedy. I won't make the same mistake Romeo did, I promise."

Grace rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna be faking my death for you so there won't be a mistake to make."

"Good to know..." Shanks said with a smile. "Maybe we'll get the 'happily ever after' they never got."

"Don't get your hopes up, idiot." The marine disentangled herself from his arms and stepped away. "It's not like we're...you know..." She crossed her arms, gaze turned towards the ground with a bashful expression.

"Not lovers, you mean?" Shanks reached over and tucked a strand of the marine's hair behind her ear. She didn't flinch away, and he thought it was good sign. "Maybe not, but who knows what the future holds?"

Grace wandered back towards the bar, eyebrows furrowed with thoughts buzzing through her mind at a million miles an hour. Her hands were balled into fists in her pockets if only to keep them from continuously running through her hair. Her heartbeat wasn't irregular but it felt like it was. It felt it was stuttering and skipping beats and some tiny part of her was paranoid that it would just stop all together, but it didn't.

She was done for. She knew it. She had already known it for a while, but now it was set in stone. She had a soft spot for Shanks, and maybe even liked him. There wasn't anything she could do about it except never see him again, but somehow that thought hurt just a little too much to bear. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't just throw caution to the wind and be with him despite the consequences. Well, she could, but becoming wanted by the government would more than a little inconvenient.

Grace took a deep breath when she spotted the bar. She was almost afraid to go in and face Warren and Tully, as if they'd see what she'd been up to written all over her face. They wouldn't, though. They weren't mind readers. They'd only know if she told them. Grace took another breath, consciously schooling her face into a more neutral expression, and then continued through the front entrance of the bar.

A/N: Oh boy, Gracie finally acknowledges her feelings! Where will things go from here?

I hope you guys liked this chapter! See you in the next one!