"Nami marry me!" he shouted through his panting. Was he running? In jeans and a button up shirt? Why was he out of breath? He had great stamina so why was he so tired?

"W-Wait what?" she asked with a look of shock on her face. Why was he asking this so suddenly?

"Marry me!" He shouted again.

"W-Wait a minute. Just breathe and-"

"Sa~nji~kun!" squealed the voice of a young woman.

"Nami, marry me!"

"W-What? No! Why are you-"

"Ah! I fou~nd you~ Sanji!" sang the woman.

Sanji pushed himself into Law's apartment and slammed the door behind him, locking it along the way. He closed the curtains of the door's window and slid to the floor in defeat.

"Sanji! Who is in there! We're not done talking!" cried the woman, as she pounded on the front door.

Nami eyed Sanji in anger. She didn't get a look at the woman at all and was tempted to kick Sanji out of the way to look.

"Who is that?" Nami gritted. She balled her fists that fell to the sides of her hips so tight her knuckles turned white.

"Nami, its not what it looks like."

"Sanji…you go missing for almost five days. No texts. No emails. You make one shitty phone call and worry the hell out of me. And you come back with another woman?"

"It's not what you think Nami." he coughed out, still tired from his run .

It's not what you think? Such a typical, overly used line people said when caught in the act of cheating. Nami felt her blood boiling.

"Tell me Sanji, what am I supposed to think if this is 'not what I think'?" She hissed loudly.

"I have a really good explanation."

"I'm not sure I even want to hear it! Sanji did you sleep with her? You sure screwed up big time sleeping with someone clingy!" she yelled.

"Nami, I didn't sleep with anyone! You're the only one!"

"Oh my god! That's such a clichéd line! You really did sleep with her didn't you?"

"Please let me explain." he piped.

"That's so clichéd too! Hmm should I wait for you to explain before or after I beat the shit out of you?" she shouted.

"Preferably after." he pleaded. Sanji knew mayhem was coming his way one way or another. He'd rather he be conscious first and explain instead of having a concussion and give more misunderstandings.

Nami stormed off into the living room and Sanji followed after her, not noticing Law and Robin sitting on the couch. They had heard the conversation so far and said nothing as Sanji followed after Nami. She made her way to the end table with a decent sized lamp and spoke.

"Sanji, I don't think I can wait that long." Nami gritted, as she unplugged the lamp and picked it up. She turned around with a violent gaze and inched closer to Sanji.

Just before she could throw the lamp or hit Sanji with it, Law took if from her hands.

"Whoa there. This may be a shitty lamp, but its my shitty lamp. Break your own things, not mine."

Law placed his lamp back onto the end table and looked to Nami.

"You, in my room." Law ordered.

"Wh-What? No!" she snapped

"You need to cool down. I don't want you breaking things in my house. In my room. Now."

"I'll just go out and take a walk! Maybe meet that woman out there too!" she hissed as she made her way out of the living room, rolling up the sleeves to her blouse.

Law came up from behind and pulled her over his shoulder like a potato sack and carried her up the stairs. She protested and swung her legs and arms but it had no effect.

Sanji didn't protest but he was pissed at how Law had the audacity to carry Nami like that. And just what did he mean by 'my room'? Was she sleeping in there?

"Ok, spill it." Law said in an irritated fashion. "I don't want drama in my place. Why were you gone for so long?"

Sanji kept his silence as he contemplated on where to begin. Robin had just entered with a tray of drinks and placed them down on the coffee table and eyed Sanji skeptically.

"Why is Nami in your room?" Sanji finally asked.

"It's quiet in there."

"Your point?"

"She needs to let out steam. She can't do that if she can hear the conversation through the air vents in the spare room." Law said flatly, as he crossed his legs and leaned into his couch. "So? What's the deal with the woman? Were you cheating?"

"What? No! I would never do that to her!" Sanji hollered.

"Then why the long absence?"

Law was quite level headed and calm about the conversation. Laid back as usual and had that I-don't-give-a-damn attitude. He could have kicked Sanji out since he entered without being invited but Law was curious how things turned out this way.

"I...was away on business..." Sanji said hesitantly.

"Yeah right. Why the hesitation? You would have called if you were." Law sneered.

"I couldn't call. As soon as I got there my charger was swiped by that aggravating little-"

Sanji stopped himself short of saying the word 'bitch'. He would never insult women, no matter how awful they were, but he was so upset he was more than willing to call this woman in particular, a bitch.

Law could see the anger well up in Sanji's face and cocked an eyebrow. Things looked a little more interesting. He cleared his throat to catch Sanji's attention, which worked. Sanji leaned his elbows onto his knees and eyed the coffee table, thinking about how it all happened and spoke.

"A business friend of my old man's requested my appearance. I declined but there was a plane ticket being shoved into my face with escorts."

"…escorts?" Robin asked with a scrutinizing look.

"Police escorts."

"Why police?" Law asked with interest.

Sanji sighed and looked to Robin and back to Law. "You've heard of it right? My disappearance with Luffy and Zoro? A lot of things happened. Zoro and I got into a lot of fights. Luffy too. Police were involved and luckily I wasn't eighteen yet. So everything was expunged."

"So they thought you were going to put up a fight, thus the police escorts." Law tired to conclude.

"No. It was blackmail. They were ready to dig up the past and shove it in my future if I said no. So I went. It was only for a few days and I figured it wasn't going to cause any damage. Its happened before so there was no harm in going along with it. I had my phone with me but the car I rode wouldn't transmit any cell phone signals in or out. I called again after I made it to the airport but no one picked up at the apartment. I tried Robin's phone but it was busy."

Robin thought about Sanji's words carefully. She and Nami were at the house the whole day until they heard the crashing noises from upstairs. Sanji must have called after the ceiling fell through and during the time Robin was calling anyone that could have been home. This was just bad luck in its finest.

"Bad timing. You probably called after the incident. Continue." Law urged.

"…The plane ticket was a rush deal." Sanji exhaled. "As soon as I checked my bags in, security guided me straight to the gate. I called the apartment about an hour or two later and then my phone died. Everything was obviously planned out because as soon as the plane landed, there was another police escort waiting around. They wouldn't let me stop to use the payphone."

Sanji's visible brow furrowed and it seemed as if all the hate in the world filled his visible eye.

"When I finally reached my destination, I had a chance to charge my phone and shower in my host's home. When I came out, the charger was missing and my phone was still dead. I know that little…lady…took it…" Sanji gritted. He didn't even want to acknowledge that woman as a lady. He held so much distaste towards her.

"What lady?" Law asked.

"The daughter of the old man's friend. There's never any freedom or privacy when I visit those people. If I made an outgoing call there was always someone listening in on the other end. I only called the restaurant to tell them I was away on business."

"You still could have called us." Robin suggested in a polite way, though her tone said a lot of other things.

"No. They know the restaurant number so they can bother the place as much as they like. I would rather sell my soul to the devil himself than have your numbers saved in their registry."

"What about when you were out? You could have went to the bathroom and used a payphone."

Sanji shook his head. "There was always someone following me."

"Then how were you able to call my phone?"

"I paid a guy 50 Beli to use his phone when I noticed the coast was clear. After the call, I went into his call log and deleted your number."

"Are they the mafia or something?" Law deadpanned.

"No but they seem like it don't they? They're just…cautious…"

"More like paranoid" Law scoffed. "You should have just said, 'screw you'."

"It was a "bite your tongue" situation." Sanji said, partially raising his tone in a hurried fashion.

"Well look what we have here. A total pussy. I know you're a rational person but are you kidding me? Someone like you would have said something or raised some hell or-"

"You don't understand. It's a problem that…that needs proper discussion…and time..."

"Ok so its a rich boy's problem. Who is the woman outside?"

"The daughter…she flew here on her own and now she's following me…" Sanji grunted.

Robin was curious but her expression was of pure surprise and shock. Who does that? Who pseudo kidnaps a person and lets someone fly back to follow the victim? Stalker much?

"Any reason for me to believe you're not cheating on Nami with her?"

"I'm not. That's more than enough reason. Law, you of all people should know."

"That may be true, but I do know about your frivolous extravaganzas from before. Its a nice circle of pillow talk and lust don't you think? The perfect chance to compare and contrast between lovers." He smirked.

Sanij didn't like where Law was going with this. Especially in front of Robin. Though it wasn't anything news for her to hear, Sanij didn't know that.

"Look, I'm not, and never will cheat on Nami."

"Says you." Law said nonchalantly. "So, what are you planning on doing about the woman outside?"

"She'll grow bored and go back to her hotel." Sanji huffed.

Robin observed Sanji very carefully. She had never seen Sanji so irritated and earnestly show distaste with a woman before. He would usually bite his tongue and bear with the situation as best as he could. And although Sanji wasn't as clear she would have liked him to be about the situation, she felt it was best not to ask. She felt that things would unfold with time. She didn't pay attention to the continuing conversation he held with Law. She was stuck in her own thoughts. Somehow, as shifty as Sanji's story seemed, she felt like she could trust in his words that he wasn't cheating on Nami. She looked down to her phone and felt a little jealous that Sanji was much more trustworthy than Zoro was at the moment. Her fingers traced the edges of her phone when Sanji broke through her thoughts.

"Robin, you and Nami are more than welcomed to live with me. I have a lot of space and an extra bedroom for you if you would like. Its close to your work too if I'm not mistaken. I think it's a bout a five to ten minute walk away."

That's right. Sanji had only told Robin about his place once but it was close to her work. A little out of the way from school but very close to work. It was very tempting. She had been thinking about working as much as possible to save for the baby and the location was perfect. She looked at Sanji, who held a calm, earnest expression and looked down to her phone. There was no way she could ask Zoro, considering she flat out rejected his offer. His place was close to school but far from work and not only were they in a fight mode about what he's probably doing, but she had yet to tell him of her pregnancy. Zoro was bound to notice within the months, seeing her gain weight. Babies made round bellies so she couldn't lie and say she was getting fat. Luffy could probably believe it but Zoro wasn't that dense.

"That sounds like a very tempting offer but I feel that Nami should be a part of this conversation." She said civilly. "By the way, I'm surprised she hasn't run down here at all."

"Oh that? I locked her in the room." Law said with an upbeat attitude.

"You what?" growled Sanji

"Calm down. I just wedged the hall chair under the doorknob. She's alive…I think." Law joked.

He stood up and motioned for Sanji and Robin to follow. This should have been enough time for her to cool off and there were less items in his room that she could break. If bringing Sanji was going to piss her off then at least he and Robin would be there in the room to mediate the conversation.

Reaching the end of the hall upstairs, Robin and Sanji saw the chair between the doorknob and the floor. Law carefully removed the chair and knocked on the door as he entered his own room. A very weird thing to do, considering this was his place, but he didn't know what Nami was doing in there. Robin and Sanji followed behind him to see Nami dead asleep on his bed and glared at Law. His joke earlier didn't seem so funny but he didn't budge from intimidation. He simply shrugged his shoulders and stepped to the side.

Nami's heels were on the floor and her pencil skirt was lifted a little higher as she was curled into some of the blanket that adorned the bed. Her head was supported with one pillow and her arm was draped over another. The light purring of a snore that filled the room came to a stop when a content sigh escaped from Nami.

"She hasn't slept well since the phone call." Robin chided as she pinched the back of Sanji's arm. She then nudged him with the same hand to go and wake up Nami.

Sanji, unsure if he should or shouldn't, slowly made his way to Nami and sat at the edge of the bed to be in her view. Hesitantly he reached a hand to her arm and nudged her lightly which had little to no effect. He nudged her again with a little extra force and spoke.

"Nami." he called gently.

She hummed in response and squinted her brows.

"Five more minutes." she mumbled.

"Nami, its time to wake up." he said as lovingly as he could. He wasn't sure what was going to happen when Nami woke up and he was a little scared.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open and saw Sanji sitting in front of her. She sat up sluggishly and poked his arm, testing to see if he was an illusion or not. Realizing that he was indeed not an illusion, she felt angry all over again and with a swift motion, slapped his face.

"Well that was unexpected!" Law laughed.

Robin made a motion to pinch Law's nipple but he covered it with his hands quickly with a desperate expression on his face that apologized a million times.

The once peaceful expression on Nami's face was gone and she glared with the intent to kill. Sanji didn't say anything. He didn't even budge when she slapped him. She left a very nice mark on his cheek and he could feel the blood and the burn rush to it. He looked at her through half lidded eyes and waited for her to say or do something more.

"What?" she hissed.

Nami didn't say anything after that and looked at him expectantly. Waiting for an explanation.

"We were talking about your living situation and I suggested my place. You and Robin are more than welcomed." he said in a low, humble tone. He needed to watch his words and tones carefully. Nami was over the border of pissed and that slap she just inflicted could probably turn into a nasty punch.

"Ah geez I get it." She huffed in irritation. "If Robin is ok with it then its fine with me."

Nami untangled herself from the pillow and blanket and shimmied to the edge of the bed. She exhaled and looked to Robin with a gentle expression.

"Its up to you." Nami said with a smile.

Robin looked at Nami with appreciative eyes but felt bad. She knew Nami was more than willing to help her out even if things were bad with her and Sanji at the moment.

"Nami I don't want there to be problems with you and Sanji. But if its alright with you, would it be ok with we took his offer? His place is closer to my work and-"

"Say no more." Nami beamed. If Sanji's place was going to help Robin out then Nami was more than willing to take Sanji's offer. She grabbed her heels and trotted off to her room tugging Robin by her arm.

That was fast. Too fast. For a moment it seemed like Nami was ready to kill and instantly turned back into her usual, upbeat attitude.

As the two girls were out of the room Law looked to Sanji who stood up the bed and straightened his shirt.

"Hey…" Law said.

"Yea?" Sanji replied with a tired expression.

"Want ice?"

Sanji had been cooking dinner as the girls unpacked their things in separate rooms. Robin had a luxurious, maroon colored room to herself as Nami agreed to share Sanji's room. Nami didn't care since Sanji was her boyfriend after all, though she was still upset. She put her boxes into a corner and left her suitcase open next to her boxes. She didn't mind living out of her suitcases until she could discuss with Sanji about the arrangement of the closet and his dresser.

'The arrangement of the closet and his dresser… If that doesn't sound like coming to terms of a negotiation in a divorce case then I don't know what does…' she thought dryly.

Nami sat at the edge of the bed and stared at the other set of suitcases that were sealed and didn't belong to her. She began to feel bad for overreacting the way she did. Surely Sanji must have had a good explanation but she let her anger get the best of her. She glanced at his large, walk in closet and felt even worse. He definitely wasn't home for five days and hadn't even unpacked before coming to get her.

'Ugh. I am the worst girlfriend…' She mentally groaned.

As part of an apology she started taking things out of Sanji's suitcase; separating clothes for hanging and folding. Whatever didn't look or smell clean to her were tossed to the floor for washing and was separated by color and material. She had to hand it to Sanji. It looked like he had less clothes than she did but this suitcase proved otherwise. Nami looked to the other suitcase and frowned at the size. It was obviously bigger but she decided unpack that as well. With a smooth, pulling motion, she unzipped the bag to have clothes and other various things spring to life and spill out of the suitcase. Instead of taking them out carefully she left it on the floor and walked out of the room. She didn't know what to do with it and decided to help Sanji with it later.

She walked to the set of stairs that were within the wall and slowly descended into the kitchen. She got a good look at Sanji's back and sighed silently. If she was going to apologize she should do it now. She slowly, but surely, made her way to Sanji and tapped his right shoulder lightly. He looked over his shoulder with a tired smile and cleared his throat.

"Sorry, it'll be done in about another fifteen minutes…" he said cautiously.

Nami motioned to stand next to him and looked at the cheek she slapped. She wasn't left handed but boy did she leave a nasty mark on his right cheek. She slowly brought her hand to his cheek and caught Sanji off guard. He wasn't sure if she was going to slap him again or not but when he felt her hand softly rub against his cheek, he couldn't help but lean into her touch even more. Five days was too much of not being able to see or hear her. What was worse, was coming back to see her cheek was hidden behind a decently large bandage.

He set the stove on the lowest heat to simmer some sort of sauce and turned to Nami, pressing his hand on hers, desperately wanting to feel her hand on his face even more. He closed his eyes and inhaled and tiredly opened his eyes upon exhaling, hoping this was real. And real it was. She didn't smile, nor did she show any signs of anger. Instead she frowned a little and muttered under her breath.

"…Sorry…"

"For?" he asked curiously.

"For slapping your face…and overreacting…I'm better than that but-" Her words were cut short with a light kiss to her lips and desperate embrace from Sanji. Though muffled, she continued to talk through his embrace. "I was worried sick and upset you called Robin instead of my work today…And then when you came with a woman following behind, everything turned into rage and-"

Sanji held onto her tighter and she felt like she could just melt in his touch. Five days was more that enough to be separated from Sanji and it felt right just being held by him. Sanji released his hold and only leaned into her with his right hand resting on the small of her back. Their proximity was greatly wanted and Nami nestled herself into him more. Sanji looked at her face carefully and brought his left hand to her injured cheek, lightly thumbing over the wrapping that adorned her face.

"Damn Nami, stop getting into fights when I'm not around." he joked quietly.

Nami slapped his chest playfully and tried not to smile but the corners of her lips couldn't hold out for much longer. She was still upset and didn't want everything to be about jokes but this was one of the many reasons she adored him. She rested her head upon his shoulder and exhaled in defeat.

"I'm still mad…" she mumbled.

"…I know… but that just means you love me." he said with enthusiasm.

Still resting her head on his shoulder she slapped his arm softly and let Sanji bring his other hand to the small of her back to hold onto her. She loved this man too much and she knew it very well. She still had yet to openly tell him but she was thankful he knew at least.

"Hey…." Sanji said hesitantly.

"Hmmm?" she hummed with a slight annoyance.

"After dinner, I want to talk to you about what happened."

" …okay…"

"Under one condition though."

"What?"

"Just don't throw or break anything." he pleadingly joked.

"Fine." she said, trying to sound upset, but the hidden playfulness in her voice said that Sanji was in the clear, for now.

A/N

Hello all, thank you for waiting patiently for this chapter. Thank you all for your support and reviews. I'm trying to carefully plan the next chapter haha so I hope this will keep you in suspense until I post it haha.