AN: I owe you guys an apology. :( I'm sorry that it takes me so long to update...to be honest there have been a lot of things happening lately...which is why I've decided to put all my stories on hiatus for a while. I'm sorry! I absolutely will finish them, but I just haven't been writing for ages and I feel bad making you guys wait like this. :( So I'm going to go on a (hopefully) short break for a while, and then I'll come back and make everything wonderful again. Sorry guys! I hate it when stories I'm reading go on hiatus, so I really am truly sorry to do it myself. There's just so much happening that needs my attention. Here's an example of what kind of stuff is happening: I meant to give you this notification last week...and then my husband had an allergic reaction to the stuff we used to bug bomb our house and I've spent all my time between then and now deep cleaning everything to get rid of whatever chemical he's allergic to, and taking care of him...plus on that same day both my cats got fixed and so I've been taking care of them too. D:

So sorry again, and I apologize that this is a short chapter, but I really wanted to let you guys know what was going on and this is all I've got right now. :( But I hope you enjoy and I look forward to all comments, questions, or suggestions. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

None of them had mentioned Chopper's small breakdown from the night before. After crying himself out in the cook's arms Robin had kissed his forehead gently and Sanji had put him to bed where he had slept peacefully all night.

The next morning saw the young doctor eagerly flipping through his textbooks again, this time in search of any kind of mental disorders.

His revelation of the night before, (that Robin was capable of lucid thought,) had renewed his hope, and with firm determination the child began searching through every scrap of medical knowledge he had available to him.

Then he went to breakfast with everyone and would take some time with the dark haired woman after wards to try finding her "limits." This became his daily habit, and even though she still did not make much sense to him, his optimism couldn't be squashed again.

Chopper's sudden obsession though began worrying the other members of their crew. He barely noticed anyone else and every waking minute was devoted to the problem of Robin's sanity. Eventually Nami bullied Luffy into making a captain's order that he wasn't allowed to continue his studies in this way. The mornings were still dedicated to Robin, but the navigator finally convinced him that everyone else could take time to "watch" her…Reluctantly he agreed, and the copper haired woman had almost no trouble convincing the others to help.

The sole exception being Zoro.

The swordsman argued emphatically, which she ignored, that he needed to spend time training and not "baby-sitting." Nami's shouts at his "insensitive, asshole attitude," could be heard all over the ship, and eventually he gave in…probably to spare his ears.

The green haired man sat against the railing unhappily with folded arms. The reason for this, the Strawhat's archeologist, sat next to him, absentmindedly caressing the spine of a book. She hadn't bothered to open it; instead she was watching their captain, sniper, and doctor playing tag on the lower deck.

Zoro briefly wished he had insisted on staying in the crow's next when Brook had come looking for him, but dismissed the thought quickly. He'd rather not be alone with the beautiful woman. Their encounter four nights ago still unnerved him…not that there was a good reason for it…She had just asked for help up and he had helped her…

"Did you say something?" Her smooth voice said from right beside him. Ignoring the reflex to swallow before looking at her the swordsman put an uninterested look on his face. "No."

"Forgive me then…" She murmured softly.

"Whatever…" He muttered back. At least she acted normally around him. He had heard the others accounts of small moments of anger or frustration but hadn't encountered any himself, for which he was grateful. Being around her at all was…uncomfortable…he really didn't want to try dealing with a sudden panic attack.

Unconsciously he shifted against the railing, one hand moving up to hold the hilt of his katana. Robin shifted next to him in response. The only noise was the shouts of those playing on the deck below them. She shifted again and then sighed.

Zoro closed his eyes, prepared to feign sleep if it meant he didn't have to speak to her…It didn't take him long to realize that was a mistake. His other senses, heightened by the lack of sight, began picking up things he hadn't ever noticed before.

He could hear her steady breathing, smell her lilac scented shampoo, as well as feel the subtle vibrations in the air as she shifted beside him. This…was an entirely new brand of torture…If he opened his eyes he might have to speak to her, but if he didn't he would be driven to distraction just by knowing she was there.

The swordsman hesitated, trying to decide which would be worst, but didn't have a chance to choose as the beautiful woman beside him suddenly spoke.

"Zoro?"

Again he resisted the urge to swallow as he turned to look at her. "Hn?"

The archeologist's face was puzzled; her dark lashes brushed her cheeks as she blinked in confusion. "You…" She paused uncertainly. "Are you okay?"

It was his turn to be confused. "Wha…? Yeah, I'm fine." His eyebrows drew down slightly. "Why'd you ask?"

She cupped her chin in one hand, leaning against her knees which were drawn up to her chest in a surprisingly vulnerable position. "You've just seemed…upset lately." She turned her face towards him, lying against her knees completely, and watching him with those bright blue eyes.

Zoro looked away from her quickly, unnerved again. How could she have possibly noticed his mood with everything that was happening to her…?

"I'm fine." He said again. 'I'd be more worried about myself if I were you…'

"And why is that?"

He almost jumped; he must have spoken aloud without realizing it, and then inwardly berated himself. 'Stop acting so nervous!' But she was still waiting for an answer so he shrugged, not looking at her. "You've been sick lately…" He said uncomfortably.

"You mean because I was kidnapped and had my brain tampered with?" She asked in amusement. Without meaning to he looked back at her, startled. "How can you joke about that?"

Robin was smiling slightly. "If I don't, I'll cry…" She murmured softly. "Out of the two I'd rather be laughing…" She shifted again, letting her legs drop and turned to look at him straight on. "I appreciate that you're not trying to distract me from thinking about it by the way…"

The green haired man's discomfort increased. He hadn't realized she was thinking about it…if he had realized he might have tried distracting her…

Her eyes suddenly twinkled mischievously. "Or did you just think I was sitting here staring off into space?" She said teasingly, as if she guessed the direction his mind had been going in.

He felt his cheeks warming slightly and Robin laughed. "Don't worry about it Zoro…usually it's so hard to sit and concentrate, this is…a nice break." Her eyes softened slightly and she shifted to stare out past the opposite railing again. "I've been getting distracted so easily lately…" She said, almost to herself. "It's nice to feel clear headed again…"

Ignoring the warmth in his face he dropped his eyes to the deck. What was there that he could say to that…?

"Thank you…"

Still staring at the deck he asked, "For what?" And heard her soft sigh tinged with sadness before answering, "For caring…"

The hand holding his katana hilt clenched slightly and he closed his eyes but there was no other outward sign of his rolling emotions. "We're nakama." He said roughly. "You know we all care." His throat felt dry and he finally gave in, swallowing hard while keeping his head down.

"Ah…" She agreed quietly. "I knew you guys would come find me…" The pirate next to him fell silent again. Zoro kept his face turned away, pretending to be watching Nami's orange trees, but it didn't stop his thoughts.

~'I knew you guys would come find me…'~

Robin's faith in them was…well, after Enies Lobby how could she ever doubt that they would come rescue her again…? But the fact that she had believed in them, had obviously told her captors that they were coming…sent a warm feeling through his chest.

He knew he should ignore it…from personal experience the swordsman knew that allowing unusual feelings to persist rather than removing them brought him nothing but uncertainty; his feelings for the beautiful woman at his side being the foremost…but it felt good…knowing that Robin depended on them…

Usually the thought would trigger his self anger about letting her down but today it didn't happen. Being so close to her…The swordsman sighed…it was easy to ignore depression or anger…

Maybe being around her wasn't so bad…

Sanji stood watch on the back deck, his blond hair being caught by the chilly winds, which he ignored. He was waiting…It had been one week since getting their archeologist back…eventually he was going to have to figure out what to say to that asshole…

A door opened on the middle deck and the cook smiled with a hint of bitterness. 'Speak of the devil and he shall appear, huh…?' He flicked the tip of his cigarette off past the railing and into the water, not bothering to go down and confront him.

It just…wasn't the right time yet. Though, how he would know when it was the right time was a mystery…he just knew that something inside said if he faced his nakama now he would destroy the very delicate balance in their lives, and he wasn't willing to do that…

So the blond didn't move away from his post as the other teen climbed the ladder to the crow's nest for his nightly watch. He only continued to stare out at the waves.

It might not be the right time, but that didn't mean there weren't a few choice things he would like to say…the first being that his idiocy was causing undue stress on everyone else.

Sanji leaned down against the rail again, thinking back over his conversation with Chopper that had led to the meeting in the hallway. He hadn't realized…

Hanging his head the pirate chuckled bitterly, taking the time to breathe in and out deeply, enjoying the burn of nicotine.

He hadn't realized that Robin's feelings were similar, if not quite the same…And he doubted the Marimo knew it either. He had been avoiding her, (and had been for weeks before she was taken, now that he thought about it,) so the likelihood of him noticing was relatively slim.

Which was good as far as the blond cared.

His resentment for the swordsman on this topic didn't stem so much from whatever relationship he and the archeologist had…it stemmed from Zoro's attitude since this mess had started.

First he had threatened Chopper, (consciously or not he was definitely threatening,) and then had gone practically ballistic when meeting her kidnappers. If the idiot had been thinking clearly he would have realized they were losing precious time dealing with his rage…if he had managed to keep himself in control they might have rescued her before the surgery took place…

Even those discretions could have been forgiven, for a man like him such loss of control only showed how deeply he cared, but then the asshole had done a 180 and acted like he didn't give a shit what happened…as well as totally destroy their precocious doctor's confidence in himself.

He still didn't know what Robin had said to inspire him, but he was grateful for it, and it only emphasized the beautiful woman's caring nature. Chopper pushed himself too hard…sometimes the others seemed to forget that he was only a little kid, and their obvious dependence on him in this matter only wore him down. So her intervention had been perfect. The youngest Strawhat had gone back to being normal…

The cook's mind was brought back to the situation in the hallway that night. He was convinced, more than ever before, that his green haired nakama was an absolute idiot. Again, he didn't know what Robin had done, but when the swordsman fled he had looked…almost afraid…

"Shit head…" Sanji flicked his cigarette again and turned so he could look up at the lit windows of the crow's nest. "That's no was to treat a lady, jackass…" He said quietly to the other man who couldn't hear him.

Sighing heavily he tilted his head back further to stare up at the stars.

The second person his attitude was affecting was their captain. Luffy played around, laughed, ate, and did all his normal things…but that didn't stop the careless teen's depression from surfacing while he slept.

Their dark haired leader had taken the estrangement from his first mate hard.

Zoro had always been the one to back him up before and though he hadn't exactly lost that support, Luffy himself seemed lost somehow…

Everyone was affected by what was happening, that's what had created the delicate balance their crew was dealing with now in the first place, but the second-in-command's calloused attitude was bringing in all kinds of havoc.

~ "It's just his way of coping." The shipwright said to him. "He doesn't know what to do so…" Sanji cut him off angrily. "So he's taking it out on everyone else…? Franky, that asshole is destroying our crew!"

He shook his head, his long blue hair moving like the wave it was shaped to be. "I tried talking to him you know…he got really unresponsive…"

The cook snorted. "Like that's a surprise…" He muttered under his breath. The older man continued, ignoring his companion's comment. "Imagine you were in his place…a person you care about was stabbed, drugged, kidnapped, put through mild torture, and then driven insane…"

The blond dropped his eyes, his fury barely receding.

"He can't do anything to help her and I'll bet it's eating him up inside." Franky sighed when the younger man refused to respond. "Just try and be patient with him Sanji, this is unlike anything he's had to deal with before…"

Resentfully he watched the blue haired mechanic walk away. "It's not like any of us has…" He said quietly to the open air. ~

That conversation had happened two days ago, after one of the swordsman's careless comments had driven Nami-san to tears.

Finishing his cigarette the blond flicked the stub into the water and watched as it floated away. He didn't know what he was supposed to be waiting for…but it had better happen soon, because he wasn't going to stand around and watch this…farce...for much longer.

Someone needed to knock some sense into that shit head, and Sanji had absolutely no problem with being the one to do it…

AN: Sorry again for the shortness of the chapter, but at least there was a bit of ZoRo interaction, yes? :) Please feel free to pm me if you have any questions or suggestions (or even if you want to rail at me, I'm good for all that :P) I might take a bit of time but I promise I will reply. You guys are awesome and wonderful and I am very grateful for your support! :)