"When forced to choose between your career and your spouse, your friends and your spouse, or even your family and your spouse, you must always choose to put your spouse ahead of the rest. If your first loyalty isn't to your spouse, then you don't really understand the meaning of marriage." -Dave Willis

Luffy wanted to invite Nami to work again the following day mainly because a fishing trip had been scheduled for right after the morning session. Though it sounded like a lot of fun, Nami declined but promised that she would make it to the next one; sealing the deal with a kiss before sending him on his way. The pressure of his lips still lingered on hers.

She wanted the day for herself. A little 'me' time.

It was a fantastic day. The sun shining outside and she loved it best when the sun was out. Leaving the water to catch in the tub she smoothed out the creases of Luffy's unmade bed and hummed to herself.

She returned to her room to prepare for her bath. A lavender scented bath bomb was tossed in the water and she swished her hand around to spread the purple colour and encourage effervescence.

She then sunk into the bath with a contented sigh with her hair tied up, leaning on the edge of the tub. It was a nice way to start the day.

She planned on maybe starting a good book, binge watch some movies, surf the web, heck, she even felt like she could do some cleaning. The flat was not untidy but there was ought to be some chore to be done somehow, somewhere. Or maybe go for a jog in the park she went to for evening walks with Luffy. She had not exercised in a while and wanted to get back to her old routine- maybe sign up for a gym or some class.

Ever since she got married to Luffy, she was exposed to a lot more food than usual every meal and she tended to eat more. She was turning into her husband and Nami hung her head in defeat.

She blew on a clump of accumulated bubbles and watched them sail to the other end of the little sea in her tub. Where she was getting all the energy and motivation from, she had no clue. But firmly believed that a good mood should be taken advantaged of.

She left her room dabbing a towel at the ends of her hair and hunched down at the open fridge trying to figure out what she should make for breakfast. She did not have much of an appetite so ultimately decided on strawberries and a banana and a tall glass of water.

She sat down and prodded her feet up on a footstool, found a decent movie and ate her fruit. 15 minutes into the film, she sank in her seat and frowned feeling groggy. It was not the movie but rather it was like something took her good mood, crumpled it up and threw it out the window. She clicked off the television and stared at the blank screen. Nami was so upset for no apparent reason and fell back on the couch, biting her thumb nail. Then her eye twitched when she suddenly had an urge to pee- just when she was getting comfortable.

Nami practically kicked open the bathroom door and slammed it shut. She pulled down her panties (Yohohoho) and face palmed. That explained everything; 3 spots of blood stained the fabric and she gritted her teeth when a wave of cramps rocked her abdomen.

She finished up and pulled her draw to retrieve a bag of sanitary napkins and dumped it on her bed. Only one fell out- she didn't remember to restock. Nevertheless, it was better than nothing. She used it, took some advil and crashed into bed. She was going to need more pads. There was a corner store about an hour way. Her scooter was downstairs in the garage but she could not bring herself to make the trip.

Luffy flashed in Nami's mind. Surely he could make a short detour before the fishing trip, she thought.

She made way into the living room and used the house phone to call him. She knew the number by heart.

He picked up on the second ring and she could hear Sanji and Zoro arguing in the background. If she was there, she would have pounded those two idiots to knock it off. Luffy had to find another room to hear properly.

"Luffy? Can you hear me?"

"Oh Nami! I was just thinking about you."

She smiled.

"We have just finished up and soon we will be going fishing. I'm so excited! How are you?"

"Hi Luffy... uh- I'm on my period. I'm not at my best right now but I'll live. I'm sorry that I'm calling at such a bad time but I need your help with something."

"Anything," he said.

Luffy had an idea about what she was talking about. Robin had told him about it some time ago. He did not understand why Nami had to apologise for needing something. He was also worried about her.

The minute he opened the door, Nami glomped him, grinning from ear to ear. Luffy smiled down at her. She smelled nice.

"That was fast," she said.

He left work right away.

"Did you get through? Did Robin help you out?"

He nodded, answering both questions.

"Thanks, Luffy. You're a lifesaver."

"You're welcome," he said handing the bags to her.

"What's all this?" Nami said opening one of the bags to find it nearly half-filled with chocolate. She only asked for two bars.

"Robin said that you'll need the extra. Just in case."

Nami's mouth watered at the assortment. She would be out of her mind to refuse. After all, chocolate was a girl's best friend. She'll have to remind herself to thank the archeologist later.

She noticed Luffy kicking off his sandals and loosening his tie but did not think anything of it. She opened a huge bar and gave him half.

"You know, they had some chocolate candied mikans (Orangette) but I wasn't sure you would like them so I thought that I'd ask you first," Luffy said munching on his chocolate, following Nami into the kitchen where she dumped the ice-cream in the fridge and left the other bags on the counter.

"Chocolate mikan? That's new. I don't think that I'd like those. It's a good thing you didn't pick them up."

"I see."

Luffy walked back out to the living room and laid down on the couch with his hands behind his head. Nami appeared in his vision and their eyes locked.

"Dress over," she said.

She crawled over him and settled in the crook of the chair then turned on her side and eyed him.

"Ne, Luffy?"

"Mm?"

"Don't you have somewhere to go? The guys must be throwing fits just waiting on you."

He faced her with a monkey grin.

"Nope. I'm not going."

"Why not? You were really looking forward to it."

"I cancelled it till another time." Nami was deeply confused.

"Is it because of me?"

He nodded.

"You really didn't have to do that, Luffy. I'm fine." The cramps were subsiding and all she had to do was take a nap or two. It was not the end of the world.

"Because I wanted to put you first."

Her eyes widened.

"It wouldn't be fair to either of us if I'd gone and had fun while you're not feeling well, having a not-so-good kind of day. So I came home to be with you."

Nami smiled and laid back down, putting an arm around him and gazed into his bright eyes.

"You're too much. You know that?"

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Luffy asked. She had her eyes closed and was rubbing her nose against his. It tickled.

"That's a good thing," she said then pressed her silky, soft lips against his and he melted.

"When they were through, she rested her head on his chest with a smile tattooed on her face.

"I really like kissing you, Nami."

"I like kissing you too."

"Maybe we should glue our lips together."

Nami snorted and laughed and laughed till her belly hurt. "Then how will you eat?" she said wiping off the tears off her cheeks.

"That's true," Luffy laughed,"I forgot about that."

He sort for Nami's hand and kissed it. She made a face and asked: "What was that?"

"Saw Sanji doing that to girls before. Weird, huh?"

"It's very 'un-Luffy" like..."

"How about this?" he asked before planting an affectionate kiss on her temple.

She blushed and grinned.

"Much better."

They ended up all snuggled up on the couch, soaking in each other's presence and Nami played with Luffy's hair.

"Wanna watch a movie? We can see if we could find any good ones," she suggested.

"Sounds good," Luffy said but he still held onto her for another 7 minutes. Nami did not mind one bit.

When he finally released her he rose to his feet and thought about a snack he could grab from the kitchen."

"I'll go get the ice-cream."

"Good idea."

That evening, they went to a small shopping district to browse around- just a random excursion to get out the house.

Nami had been looking at small faux potted plants for the apartment and the store had a nice variety. Luffy was away looking for the bathroom in order to take a leak.

Meanwhile, a huge muscle guy named Bellamy, was leaning against the store's glass doored fridge, garbed in a biker outfit, drinking a beer that he cracked open. He was driving that night but he did not give a damn. He was waiting for his partner, Starkies who went to the stalls to take a mighty dump. He was taking his sweet time. They had road to cover.

But to hell with that- he had a show; A sexy, hot, glorious show: Some chick, he spotted earlier with fiery orange hair, a nice rack, the perfect rump and she moved with the grace of a real woman. She was his type and he liked what he saw. He and his friend were on their way to a bar to pick up chicks but he would have never thought that he would have found such a gorgeous babe in a mere convenience store. 'Jackpot.'

If his eyes were not playing tricks on him, he saw her come in with some straw hat guy but that could easily be taken care of. Bellamy was a man on a mission.

He flattened and crushed the empty beer can against his forehead- a party trick the ladies loved. It did not hurt nor did it leave a mark. He could crush the most 30 cans against his skull. Today he was planning on beating his own record but he had bigger fish to fry.

He found her by herself looking at fake flowers in one of the far away secluded sections of the store. Hardly any shoppers were around to begin with. Just perfect.

She turned around startled when he slammed a hand above the wall she was next to and dropped the flowers she was examining on the floor in surprise.

He smirked but his eyes widened and he sucked in his breath. She was even more goddamn beautiful up close.

Nami on the other hand wondered how she went from minding her own business to having her personal space invaded by some muscle headed creep.

Bellamy saw the scowl on her face but gave her a hyena-like smile thinking that there was still a chance in hell.

"The name's Bellamy. Surely a foxy thing like you has a name. Let's hear it."

"Move," she said.

"Don't be that way." He looked around,"Were you with someone? Your little brother?"

"My husband. Move."

Nami flared her nose in disgust. His breath smelled like alcohol and cheap breath mints.

Bellamy did not take her statement as a surprise since he had his share of married women in the past. He used his hand and tilted up her chin with calloused, dry fingers.

"Let's say you and I go get a drink and ditch that little, lame, pipsqueak nobody. What do you s-?

"Argh!" He grabbed his pulsing groin, screaming out in pain. Then Nami punched him hard in the nose and it bled uncontrollably.

He cringed in pain and stared at the rage-filled eyes of the now Bitch. He shivered in fear.

"You've got some nerve!" Nami said, glaring down at the pitiful fallen scum before her. "The next time I hear you bad mouthing my husband, I'll. kill. you."

Bellamy's balls weeped. After experiencing the brute force of her knee, he was positive that they shriveled up to half their size. He shied away from her when she pushed her basket away and he listened for the far away clicking heels before he could start breathing again.

Nami cashed her single bag of goods and stood by the exit clenching and unclenching her fists around the handles. She was no stranger to jerks and douchebags who wanted to 'get to know her.' She did not regret taking those self defence classes her parents geared her to attend. She may have been too hard on the guy earlier, but what he said about Luffy pissed her off; so she was sorry not sorry. He deserved it.

She perked up when Luffy came hurrying and waving at her a couple of feet away.

"Finish looking around?" He asked as they went through the automatic exit.

"Yup. I found some neat stuff." Nami wanted to look some more but we all know what happened.

"You know, while I was looking for you, I saw this funny guy laying on the floor," he laughed,"Maybe he's an idiot."

"That guy harassed me earlier but I took care of it. You're right. He is an idiot."

She stopped walking when she was just about to cross the road and noticed that Luffy was not by her side. She turned to see him returning to the shopping centre.

"Luffy? Did you forget something?" She asked moving to follow him back inside.

"Yeah... I'll be back quick so wait here," he answered back; his straw hat shadowing his eyes.

Starkies came out the bathroom, zipping up his pants and ran a hand through his blue, shoulder length hair. He scanned through the aisles looking for his friend so they could hit the bar. He had him waiting long enough -he rubbed his belly- but it was worth it.

He came upon a small crowd of people circling around something. Coming to think of it, he heard a loud crash earlier. When he approached, he stopped dead in his tracks and his mouth fell open.

There laid his friend sprawled out on top a broken thrown down shelf of stuffed animals; out cold with a nasty knuckle shaped bruise on the side of his face. Blood oozed from his nose and mouth. He was the strongest guy he knew and seeing him like this must have been some sort of joke.

He stepped forward trembling calling out to his friend: "...Bellamy."

"Oi."

Starkies' blood went cold. There was a dangerous aura coming from where he heard the deep voice. He literally wet himself and collapsed on his rear. He had never seen a man so angry.

"He your friend?" The straw hatted man continued.

Starkies' teeth jittered. He could not even utter a word.

Luffy turned to leave. He did not care for an answer.

"You might want to call an ambulance."

Luffy and Nami walked together to the car. It was parked a few streets down from the district. Luffy did not say what he forgot but Nami dismissed it as a trivial matter. She looked down at their hands noticing that he was holding hers tighter than usual ever since he got back. She then looked over her shoulder when she heard the sound of a siren ringing out in the distance.

"Hey Nami?"

"Hmm?"

"Good job today." She thought that he meant her home decal purchases. She was quite proud of them but boy, was she wrong. She however, grinned a triumphant grin and said: "Thanks."

It was dark out and they halted under a street light since it started to drizzle, light, cool specs of rain. It was warm against their skin.

Luffy faced heavenwards, hat dangling from its string around his neck, eyes closed with his mouth curved upwards. Nami beamed. She liked how he found joy in the simplest things.

She mimicked him and her mind wandered back to the douche earlier. She thought about his harsh words directed at her husband. Her incredibly sweet husband. And that upset her. She had always hated how quick people were to judge others who they knew nothing about. But she was sure of one thing and that was that Luffy was more man enough than that loser would ever be.

She tapped Luffy's shoulder and motioned him to come closer. He did and she put a hand on his neck and traced her thumb along his jawline.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" He asked.

"No. I'm going to kiss you." And she did.

Luffy eagerly kissed her back. She leaned more against him and Luffy tensed up. She was doing something weird with her tongue and before he could pull away, she grasped the back of his neck and deepened the kiss. The sound of a groan erupted in Luffy's throat and it was almost as if every strand of hair found on his body stood straight.

The rain commenced beating down harder making Nami let go of him eventually and frantically looked around for the nearest shelter. She gasped when Luffy fell flat on his back into a huge puddle behind him. Now, nothing felt real to him. His racing heart and his stagnant breath did not feel real nor the water seeping into his clothes. What just happened was all so mind-boggling, he needed time to make sense of everything. So he listened closely and heard Nami calling his name in a sing-song voice with those swollen, rosy lips of hers and he focused his eyes on her grinning face and saw that she had her fingers outstretched towards him.

Next he felt the cold rain all around him. He was practically soaked and he laughed that special laugh of his at how silly he may have looked. Then he reached for her hand.

Nami sat on a chair in front a mirror in the shared bathroom that her and Luffy's rooms were connected to. She had a towel draped over her shoulders and blow dried her hair to get out the excess water. She listened to the cascading rain outside. If her calculations were right, it would be raining like this till the first rooster crowed.

Luffy came up behind her in dry, change of clothes. He was drenched from head to toe after his quick dive into that puddle. It was hilarious just thinking about it. He smiled at her in the mirror, a big, toothy smile and Nami had to hide her smirk behind the confines of her hand.

"Hey. Let me try," he said reaching for the hair dryer and had already started surveying the chunks of hair that were still damp. She held it back from him and said:

"Let's make a deal. If you help me blow dry my hair, you'll have to make me give you a haircut."

"A haircut?" Luffy said, pulling at a lock of raven hair that flopped on his face. Usopp usually cut it but he did not mind. It was just hair. It was a reasonable bargain.

"Okay."

As he set to work with eyebrows knitted in concentration, Nami hummed quietly with her hands in her lap. She had to remind Luffy earlier not to put the dryer too close to her ears in fear that they would burn but he seemed to know what he was doing much to her relief.

"You have surprisingly good hygiene for a guy, Luffy."

"That hurts, Nami!" She laughed but did not take back her statement because it was true.

Sanji was the main reason behind of this. He would have been greatly grieved if his friend and captain moved into a home with his wife much less with his past bad habits when it came to something as simple as showering everyday. Luffy used to opt for once a week baths and cleansed himself when he 'felt like it.'

The fact disgusted the cook and he drilled the captain by will and by force with the principles of proper hygiene. Be it bathing the most twice a day, flossing his teeth or keeping his finger nails cut and clean at all times. At the end of it all, Sanji was elated with the finishing product, however promised hell if he caught Luffy slipping up the routine he engraved in that thick, stubborn skull of his.

Luffy was now seated with a large, cut out plastic bag around his neck that Nami DIY'd to prevent the pesky hairs from falling all over him. She held an approximate inch and a half of hair between her fingers and a pair of sharp shears in the other, snipping carefully away. Nami had to constantly tell him to keep still. He finally listened when she told him about the possibility of her hands slipping and cutting his ear off. She was not dumb to make that happen but it worked.

Luffy had braided off her hair in two large braids, a skill that he acquired from his long-nosed friend. He was so focused with every loop and cross-over and even celebrated when he was done. Braids were not a part of the deal but Nami thought that they looked cute, even though the part in between was uneven and some hair strands stuck out from the loose plaits.

"Oh. I almost forgot," she said and rested the sheers on the basin in front of Luffy and left the room. Comical streams of sweat ran down his face as he stared long and hard at them. Then a newspaper was presented before him. He took it and scanned its contents- he never cared for newspapers but he was curious to know what Nami wanted to show him.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Here." she pointed to an ad circled in purple ink. "I need your opinion."

She picked up the scissors and ran a hand through his hair admiring her work. She was halfway done.

Luffy blinked at the picture she pointed too. It was colourful and decorated with kid drawings.

"They're looking for a substitute volunteer child care worker at this centre to fill in for a maximum of 2 weeks soon this month. I did some research and its a great place, not too far from here. I was wondering if-"

"You should try it," Luffy said.

"You really think so?" she asked, amazed at his quick answer without giving it any thought.

"Yeah. You'll be perfect for the job and I know that you'll like it." He also trusted her judgement.

She placed both hands on his shoulders, bent down and brushed her lips against his cheek while Luffy searched the paper for the cartoon comic section and continued the haircut.

"Thanks. I'll call tomorrow."

Author's Note:

Thanks for taking time to read this chapter. Chapter 15's coming before the end of this month. Be on the lookout.

-Awsme Grl