I just wanna say that I apologize in advance. You'll understand why at the end of this chapter.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ONE PIECE

I also have a freaking paper cut on my middle finger and it hurts so bad .

Chapter Thirty-Eight

It was well past three in the morning, and I had to pee. Everyone on the sub was asleep, and I was cursing Shachi for convincing me to try all sorts of new drinks alongside him that Dougal had been making. The young chef apprentice had wanted to start trying to make drinks that his uncle made, but didn't have anyone to make sure they were even drinkable. And since I had nothing better to do, and Shachi 'didn't want to get drunk alone', I fucking agreed and drank at least thirty different things before bed.

Now, I had a slight hangover and had to pee really badly. I had a feeling that since I was now awake and my feet had already hit the cold metal of the floor, I would be going back to bed tonight.

After my business was done in the bathroom, I headed to the galley. Nobody was in there, which wasn't a surprise. Victor was still sick, but recovering great—he just had a little cold, which kept him away from the food to insure that no one else got sick. If he had been feeling better, then he would have been in here at any moment to start preparing the food, unlike his nephew, who waited until the last minute to prepare everything, which put everyone behind schedule. Dougal wasn't a bad cook, and no one was mad about this, but it was just a fact and something that showed the difference in motivation between him and his uncle.

With the human anatomy book in hand and some coffee brewing in the kitchen, I set myself up at one of the table and began to read. I would have done so in the room, but Nate was asleep soundly, and I didn't want to disturb him. The book hardly interested me anymore, but I read to it distract me from thoughts about Law and my little problem with my feelings.

After my realization yesterday that I really did like him, I engrossed myself in the book and tried to keep my mind on other things. In the galley at dinner, which he thankfully didn't show up to, Nate tried to tease me about our earlier conversation, but after getting a sausage link shoved up his nose, he kept it all to himself.

"No, stop it—bad Mara!" I slapped myself on the forehead and shook my head, clearing my thoughts of anything related to the handsome Captain and doctor. "Wait, no, stop." I scolded myself again for the thought of him being attractive, pressing my finger to a page in the book and reading aloud in a voice louder than it should have been. "Sickle cell anemia is a hereditary condition characterized by abnormal sickle shape of erythrocytes and by hemolysis." I sighed and slammed my head downon the book.

It was a lost cause—I had no idea what I was reading. This was honestly just a random page that I opened up in the book, about halfway into it, and I didn't even know what hemolysis or erythrocytes were! I could have looked them up in the glossary, but I honestly didn't care. I couldn't keep reading this book. I needed something else to distract me from all of this. Maybe someone I could talk to? Maybe we could dock soon so I could get off this sub and explore? Maybe I—

"Miss Mara?"

Why does God hate me?

I lifted my head up slowly and found Law standing in the doorway of the galley. His trademark hat was absent from his head, showcasing his messy black hair. His hoodie was also missing from his person, revealing a black shirt with the small Heart Pirates Jolly Roger on the left breast. He was wearing sleep pants for once, instead of his spotted jeans, and this whole 'just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-look-incredibly-adorable' look wasn't doing my situation any good.

I sat up completely when he started to walk over to where I sat. "Good morning, Law."

"Why are you awake so early?" He asked, sitting down across from me and resting an elbow on the table, in turn resting his chin in the palm of his hand. "Are you having trouble sleeping?"

He kind of went doctor-mode on me. That was the Law that I could handle. I smiled and shook my head. "No, I was sleeping just fine." He raised a brow, but I didn't want to have to tell him that I had to pee. "How about you? Are you okay?"

"It's nothing to concern yourself with, Miss Mara." I would have asked more, but the coffee maker beeped loudly in the empty room, and I jumped slightly at the noise. As I stood and headed to the kitchen, I didn't miss the growing smirk on his face, and I'm sure he didn't miss the growing blush on mine.

I prepared my coffee in silence in the kitchen, watching Law from the corner of my eye as he glanced casually at the page I had been reading. With the way my luck was going, he would probably think that I thought I had some blood problem and he would want to run tests. If my hands were full with sugars and creams and mugs, then I would have face palmed.

As I approached the table, two mugs in hand, Law spoke up again. "I'm glad that you're awake Mara, because I want to talk to you about something." He dropped the 'Miss' part of my name…this is bad! "Sit."

Immediately, I set his mug in front of him and sat in my seat again, gingerly sipping my coffee and hoping that I wasn't about to get yelled at or something worse.

"How is your relationship with Mister Nathaniel?"

This question threw me for such a loop that I nearly voiced these thoughts aloud. "I don't think I understand what you're asking me, Law. What about our relationship?"

"I mean," He met my eyes with his and I realized then that he was angry about something. "How close are you to my subordinate?" I froze and almost dropped my mug to the table. My mouth hung open slightly from when I was about to take another sip, and I felt my entire body tense. Please tell me he doesn't know… "Have you entered a romantic relationship with my engineer?"

My face heated up and I felt like dying. "Uh, no, we haven't entered a relationship. Nate and I are just friends. I promise—there's nothing going on between us." I decided to play dumb, just in case my assumption was wrong and I gave him information he didn't have already. "Can I ask why you would think that we were…together?"

"Mister Dougal came to me the other day and reported that he found the two of you in a rather compromising position here in the galley." I felt absolutely mortified and covered my face, silently begging the floor to swallow me up so this whole thing could end. "Would you care to explain to me now Mara, before I lose my fucking temper?"

I flinched at his foul language, shocked that he actually used words like that. He had clearly already lost some of his temper, but I didn't say that. Instead, explained what happened that night. "He walked in and didn't see everything that happened." I cursed Dougal for spreading a rumor like this. Hopefully, Law would be the only one that knew. "I fell and we accidentally, well, me and Nate kissed, but it wasn't on purpose and it's not like we enjoyed it." I stared into my coffee now, watching my eyes as I spoke, surprised that tears were welling up. When did I become such a damn baby? "It didn't turn into anything more, and we haven't done anything on purpose or on accident again. We're strictly friends and nothing more, as I said before."

The silence that followed was short as I willed my tears not to spill.

"Why are you crying?" As soon as he said it, I saw a tear drip onto the table beside me wrist. I lifted my hand and wiped the tears and shook my head, not really knowing why I was crying, but embarrassed by it anyway. "I already knew what had happened. I talked to Mister Nathaniel as soon as I found out and he clarified everything."

I shook my head and frowned.

Law sighed and started to shuffle around. I was still looking down, so I couldn't see what he was doing, but I heard him breathe out as he lifted himself from his seated position. He grabbed ahold of my wrists and pulled me forward quickly. When I lifted my head to give him a confused and angry look, he leaned his head forward just as quickly and caught me off guard.

He pressed his lips against mine lightly, holding my wrists with one hand against the table while his other hand pressed to the back of my neck. My heart tried desperately to leap out of my chest, and I couldn't bring myself to move away from the gentleness that he was presenting. It made my stomach do somersaults. I could only look at his completely relaxed face and closed eyes with my own wide eyes.

When he pulled back, he stayed close to my face, breathing across my lips and cheeks and pressing his forehead to mine. My eyes went frantically to each of his and he had that smirk on his face that I had grown to like. "Stop sniveling, Mara." Before I could speak, he pressed another kiss to my lips, successfully cutting off my response, whatever it would have been. I felt like this wasn't really happening, like maybe this was some dream that I was having. Did I fall asleep at the table while reading? I hope that the coffee maker doesn't explode or something while I sleep—

His tongue cut off my thoughts as it brushed against my lips lightly, prodding gently as if asking for entrance. I breathed in quickly through my nose and pulled back in shock.

"Is this a dream?"

Law's hand moved to caress my hair, a chuckle rumbling in his chest. "Are you saying that you often dream of this happening, Miss Mara?" His voice was low and husky, something I had never heard before. He leaned in once more and kissed my lips, trailing small kisses across my cheeks and jawline. My breath became shallow and I felt a stirring in my belly. My nails clawed at the table and I had my eyes scrunched closed, my mouth hanging slightly open, but no noise was coming out.

When his hand started to wrap itself in my hair and pull me closer, bringing his lips to the shell of my ear, I bit back a gasp before speaking. "W-Wait a se-second. Law, please s-stop." His teeth grazed my earlobe before pulling away, loosening his grip on my hair and looking at my face intently. "I, uh, I-I just can't, uh, you know—"

In the middle of my sentence, he leaned forward again and kissed me harder than before, sneaking his tongue in to explore my mouth. I kept my muscle to myself, scared to engage his tongue in any kind of combat for dominance. If this kept going, I had a feeling it was going to end with something that I had no intention of doing right now.

He pulled back after a moment with my bottom lip between his teeth gently before releasing my hair and stroking my cheek. My eyes were glued to the string of saliva that was connecting out lips, but his eyes were on my face.

"Thanks for the coffee."

Law let go of me completely, although he kept his hand on my shoulder until I sat back down so I wouldn't fall from the sudden loss of support. He grabbed his mug and strolled to the door without another word.

My face was burning and my lips were slightly swollen from the kisses we shared. I now had a feeling that the first kiss we shared in his room meant a lot more than I thought it did. But, what exactly did it mean? Did he have certain feelings towards me? Or was he just planning on using me?

"Oh, well good morning, lass!" I jumped at the voice and looked towards Victor walking into the galley. His color had returned finally and he seemed to be able to walk without swaying back and forth. "What are ye doing up so early in the mornin'? Are ye runnin' a fever? Yer're face is a wee bit red. Maybe you should get a checkup from Capt'n, eh?"

It took me a moment to figure out how to speak. "I'm fine Vic, honestly. I just couldn't go back to sleep after I woke up." My voice broke slightly, and I was hoping that he wouldn't push the issue of me getting a checkup. I wanted to be anywhere but near Law right now. I smiled and snuck a glance at the clock, which showed that it was a little before five in the morning. How long had Law been kissing me? And how long had I been lost in thought beforehand? "I take it you're feeling better?"

Wow Mara, way to smoothly change the subject, you idiot! I actually sweat dropped at my own idiocy.

"Aye, of course I am!" He flexed his muscles after he tied his apron on and put on his hat, moving to the back of the kitchen to prepare the food. "Whatever the Cap gave me worked its magic." I blushed at the mention of Law, but the Chef didn't notice as he was busy laying out numerous eggs and pulling out skillets from seemingly out of nowhere. "Would ye like me to make ye're food quickly now?"

I shook my head and smiled, turning my attention to the book that I still had open to sickle cell anemia. "I'm fine Victor. I actually don't have much of an appetite."

"I hope ye're not getting sick, lass. Maybe a checkup wouldn't be a bad idea, just in case."

Stop bringing up getting a checkup!

My lips pulled into a frown as I closed the book and leaned against the table, nursing my now cold coffee in my hands and sighing. "Yeah, I hope not."

[A/N:] Is that mean of me to do? To just stop their romantical interactions like that? I would say sorry but... #SorryNotSorry!

I'm keeping this short because my finger hurts so bad and I can't not type with my middle finger. Please review. You guys really don't understand how much your reviews mean to me and how much they motivate me to keep writing this. I am beyond happy that there are people out there who actually like my story, and it kind of makes me tear up.

Don't tell anyone though... _ _

I'll do another chapter this weekend for sure since I have it all typed up and ready to go. Love you guys, and tell me what you think~!

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