!Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece!

A/N: I got so many wonderful reviews for this story! I just want to thank everyone~ THANK YOU SO MUCH~

A/N Yep! Another chapter! Truth be told after I finished the one before this one it was easy to write the next. I hope you all enjoy~

The Sleeping Cook and the Egg

Chapter Twelve

I hold onto my enemy

(Like a blanket)

~X~

Chopper was the first one to return to the hotel. Once he got back he decided to give Sanji a checkup. The first thing he did was help Sanji out of his shirt and to place Taku on a pillow to sit and watch. The little guy didn't seem to mind as he sat there quietly keeping his eyes on the big blond.

Sanji on the other hand didn't like getting prodded at so much, and though he and Chopper were alone he didn't bring up his leg problem. He decided to give it a few days incase it was just stiff from not moving.

"Your lungs seem to be doing a lot better Sanji. They are still a bit too week for my liking though. I'm sorry I still can't give you permission to smoke yet. Perhaps in a few more days." he said with a smile.

"All right, what about my stiff joints? What am I going to do with them?" he asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Well I think some stretching will do the trick. I am sure someone will help you with that. You can start that tomorrow," he said as he put away his doctor tools. "It's still a wonder how you even survived Sanji. You were shot twice in the back and in the head. We nearly lost you a few times," he said with a frown. "I'm more surprised that you are able to move at all!"

Sanji lowered his head. He knew what the doctor said was true but each time it was said or thought about he didn't like it. It scared him, and he didn't want to believe that he could have died. "Yeah, I don't know what it was, but something just told me to fight for my life," he said, his voice low, and that was the truth. He could still remember the silent pleas for him to stay. He just didn't know who it was, or if it was just an angle. Then another part of him wondered if it was Zoro. The swordsman seemed to be the only one who came to visit him after all.

Reaching over, Chopper touched Sanji's knee and patted it gently, giving the cook a bright smile. "We are happy you are okay Sanji!"

Before Sanji could say anything the door swung open and Luffy along with Usopp burst through the room. The two of them were laughing about one thing or the other.

"Hey Sanji, how are you feeling?" Usopp asked, while putting his bag down near the table.

"All right, did you bring back anything to eat?" he asked, hoping one of them had something. He was getting pretty hungry and he couldn't remember the last time he ate.

"Sorry Sanji, I couldn't save it, Luffy ate the soup we were going to bring back for you," Usopp said and bowed.

"It was good and had meat in it," Luffy said, his smile growing.

Sanji groaned and turned to Taku. "Looks like we'll be snaking on more crackers."

"Don't worry Sanji. I am sure someone will bring food back for you. If No one comes back soon I'll go out and get it," Chopper said with a smile.

Sanji looked at the reindeer and sighed. "All right, how is the storm out there?"

"Well it stopped on the island, but it's still raining out in the foggy area. Nami is keeping a good eye on it but she thinks we'll be able to leave by tomorrow," Chopper explained.

"That's good, I can't wait to be back on the sunny. I'm worried about my kitchen," he huffed, allowing Chopper to help him lay back into the pillows. "Ahh feels good to stretch my legs."

"Ehh? Sanji when did you learn how to stretch?" Luffy asked, blinking a few times.

"Shut up idiot, I don't mean like what you can do!" Sanji growled. "Moron."

"Super! Cook-bro is awake!" Franky shouted as he burst into the room. "I was hoping you were going to be awake when I got back. I brought you some cola!" he shouted, making one of his super poses and then tossed Sanji the bottle of coke.

Sanji seen the cola come flying at him, but he couldn't do much about it as his arm didn't move fast enough and it smacked him right in the head. "Ouch!" Sanji yelped right before he blanked out.

"Sanji!" Chopper screeched and hopped on the bed to check the blond over; at the same time he was yelling at Franky.

"Idiot!" Usopp yelled and smacked the cyborg on the shoulder. Luffy did the same but bit Franky on the arm.

"You are hurting my cook!"

"Ouch! Ah Sanji I am sorry!" Franky yelled as he danced around tears in his eyes as he cried.

"Whats going on in here?" Nami shouted as she came bursting into the room, her brown eyes forward in anger.

"Nah, Nami Franky tossed a cola bottle at Sanji's head!" Luffy complained.

"It was an accident! I'm used to him catching it!" Franky wailed.

"Oh shut up both of you!" Nami shouted and punched all three of them in the head.

"Ouch!"

"Nami!"

"Owww!"

Nami sighed and slapped her hands together. "Is he going to be okay Chopper?" Nami asked, her attention on the little doctor.

While this was all going on Taku had hidden under the covers by Sanji's arm in fright of all the commotion.

"He'll be okay Nami, he should wake up any second," the little reindeer said, beads of sweat running down his forehead.

"Gnnn what happened?" Sanji asked, his eyes opening as he looked at Chopper. "My head hurts, fuck!"

"You'll be okay Sanji," Chopper said as he handed the blond two small pills. "Take them; it should help with the pain," he said and looked around. He didn't like using anything but water to take medicine but seeing as there was none, he had no choice but to use the cola.

"Thanks," Sanji said, swallowing the pills. "Damn it, how much damage is my head going to take?" he asked, rubbing the back where his stitches were.

"Your okay Sanji, I checked everything. It was only a miner hit, but my fear came true. Any hit in the head and you will knock out pretty easy..."

"What?" Sanji asked, looking at Chopper worry written all over his face, his deep blue eyes shined with anger.

"W-well I am sorry Sanji. When you got shot in the head it did some bad nerve damage in the brain. I repaired what I could and, well...," he let out a heavy sigh. "As I told you I had to cover a small portion of your brain with a steal plate. Roughly as big as your fist, to protect the nerves in that area. It's so they could heal and grow. The problem is each time you are hit in the head you will loose unconsciousness. At least until it fully heals."

Sanji shut his eyes as he took everything in, slowly nodding his head. What the hell was he going to do in a fight? How was he going to protect his head all the time? Now he was starting to understand everyone's concerns. "How long will it take me to heal?" he asked, reopening his eyes to look back at Chopper.

"W-well it's hard to say yet Sanji. I won't know for sure until I run some more test..."

"Okay, well how long do you think it will take?" It was a demand more than a question.

"W-well Because it's you, It might take up to a year, any one else I would say 2-3 years or more."

"Fuck," Sanji said, not sure what to make of this news. Really, how was he going to fight if he couldn't move, and if he had to worry about his damn head all the time. He just went from being one of the strongest of the crew to one of the weakest. How was he going to find the All Blue like this?

"Chopper, can those nerve that nerve damage thing bother anything else of my body?" he asked, as he gripped the blanket beneath him.

"Well yes it could, but it would be mild, it all depends. It's too soon to tell any of that yet Sanji. You still need to rest and start your stretching. I'll be able to tell more in a week okay? Try not to worry to much about it," he said, patting Sanji's leg once more. "I'll go and see about some food now, Usopp want to come with me?"

"Ah, sure," Usopp said and he and the little doctor left.

Everyone else was quite. Even Luffy was taking this all in, thinking it over carefully. "Sanji, want us to leave you alone for now?" the rubber man asked.

"Yeah," the blond answered staring up at the ceiling. He didn't much feel like looking at anyone else right now.

"Okay, lets go," Luffy said and ushered the other two out of the door. "Get some more sleep. We'll let Zoro and Robin know you aren't feeling well."

Sanji didn't respond. Instead he reached under the blanket and took a gentle hold of Taku, nuzzling him. "It'll be okay Taku," he whispered, his eyes closing.

~X~

A bit later there was a soft knock on the door when Zoro stepped inside. He was holding a large brown bag in one hand and the other a cup tray. When he seen that Sanji was asleep he frowned and set everything down on the table. He noticed Taku was awake and the little tyke was sitting on Sanji's moving chest.

"Hey buddy," he said, making his way over to the bed and sat down on the edge. The moment he sat down Taku scrambled over to him. It was a bit of a workout with all the climbing he had to do, but once he got where he wanted he smiled with satisfaction; Zoro had to laugh and gently scooped the little guy into his hand.

"Looks like you are rearing to go," he said as he gently rubbed the little guys head.

"Taku?" was the little guys response.

"Zoro?" was a mumble from behind the greenhead.

Zoro frowned and glanced behind him. "Hey cook, sleep well?"

"Yeah, is that food I smell?" Sanji asked, rubbing at his eyes. Slowly he began to move to sit up, groaning with irritation from his stiff muscles.

"Yeah, I brought some food for you and this little guy. Some hoagies and a soda. You want it?" he asked, standing to his feet so he could get a better look at the ill blond. He didn't like how small Sanji looked there laying by himself with a sad look to his eyes.

"Yes please, I am afraid the others forgot to bring me food before, that or Luffy got his hands on it," Sanji said, shifting the blankets so they were off his legs. "Chopper said I need to start stretching my joints tomorrow."

"Yeah, I figured some kind of training was going to be needed," Zoro said, putting Taku back down on the bed while he fetched the food for them. "Is he going to be the one helping you?"

"I dunno, Stretching is more Luffy's area," Sanji said, his upper lip twitching.

"Oh," Zoro said as he returned to the bed and handed Sanji an Italian hoagie and fries. "Here, they aren't bad I had one for lunch."

Sanji chuckled. "You..., thank you," he said, chuckling. He knew Zoro was a bit slow but even he had to admit that was funny it was almost cute.

"Yeah no problem, I figured you would be hungry," he said handing Taku small pieces of meat from a half of hoagie he purchased. The little cook seemed to take the food happily as he sat there on the pillow to eat it.

Sanji smiled as he took healthy bites of his food, feeling at piece even though he knew what might be instore for him in the future. Right now he wasn't going to worry about it. He decided before he fell back to sleep that he was going to start all the worrying tomorrow when he had to start his work out and healing process. Today he just wanted to rest, and for some reason he was looking forward to spending the rest of his relaxing time with Zoro and Taku. As for now, he wasn't the happiest person when it came to his other crewmates. Though with Zoro, he was. He was even calm around the greenhead.

It was odd because usually the two of them were usually at each others throats, often enemy's on the the same ship. Though he guessed for now they weren't; now Zoro was his blanket, something to hold onto and help him though this next adventure. 'I guess it's true what they say, keep your friends close but your enemy's closer.'

To Be Continued...