Sanji smiled as he waved at Zoro. Zoro waved to him then turned to Megumi who was smiling at him in the back seat waving her hand sporadically. "Bye mommy! Have fun at work! Love you!" Megumi says so happy to be the one to be sending Zoro off. Zoro always gets to see her off so this is nice to do. It's fun to be the one to say goodbye and have fun.
Zoro's smile stayed the same. He felt loved, really loved and that feeling always made him smile weather it be from Megumi or Sanji. He loved both of them and they loved him. He's never felt like this and he hopes it never stops. "Do you have your lunch?" He asks her with a smile. She nods showing him her bento box with her practice chopsticks. "See you after work." Zoro says with another wave and the same big grin on his face.
"I'll pick you up." Sanji says. Zoro nods and they watch as he disappears in the building. "Ready?" He asks looking back at Megumi who nods.
"Where are we going?" Megumi asks.
"We're going to visit grandpa." Sanji says.
"Really? I want to practice using the knife. Grandpa stopped the lesson when I cut my finger. He made me promise not to tell anyone." Megumi says looking down at her the finger she cut. Sanji stared at the road, sweating a little. Even Zeff is a little afraid of Zoro, he must be if he made Megumi promise not to tell anyone. If Zeff is thinking the same as him then he might have been afraid that Zoro would have stopped letting Megumi over. Sanji could already see Zoro giving his death glare, it made a cold shiver go down his spine. Zoro's so scary when it comes to Megumi.
Sanji closed the driver's seat and walks around the car to the passenger for Megumi. He opened the door for her and watched, waiting for her to finish gathering her things. Megumi put the bento box in her backpack, not her school one but an extra she had that she packed last night herself. Zoro and Sanji watched silently from the door as she happily got things together, even got out her outfit for the day. She put her backpack on and jumped out the car ready for the day with her dad.
Sanji closes the door for her then turns to her patiently waiting, she holds her hand out for him to take it and he does as they walk inside to the restaurant. They walk into the kitchen hand in hand and with smiles. Sanji looks around trying to find the grumpy old man. He knew he'd be in the kitchen, he's rarely in his office. Only goes in there to take a nap.
Sanji spots the man ordering around a chef, from the looks of it she's a newcomer. The Baratie isn't the best for newcomers but at the same time it is. For people straight out of culinary school it's a little hard for them to get use to the atmosphere of a restaurant and though Baratie is small it's busy and it's hard for someone new to keep up, but once they do they leave to go to other restaurants for some more experience but some come back to say their thanks and how their experience from here helped them in the new place. Sanji always like hearing that because he too had to thank Zeff for the experience that he got from living here, above the Baratie and working here as a young teen. He was able to quickly adapt to having his own restaurant because of the times he's had to work as the head chef.
"Grandpa!" Megumi shouts with a jump and a wave of her free hand.
"Old man." Sanji calls out walking up to him with Megumi. He looks at them shocked because he should be, he wasn't expecting to see them, see Megumi especially with Sanji. It's usually Zoro and Megumi who show up out of the blew. He turns to the woman with a stern look.
"Start cleaning the dishes." He orders her. She nods and goes away but watching as the grumpy man gets a smile on his face as he gives his grandaughter a hug.
"I wasn't expecting to see you both here today." He says as he pats her on the head.
"Mommy's working today." Megumi says.
"Megumi's on winter break." Sanji says. Zeff looks at Sanji. "He couldn't get the chance to talk to his boss about taking a break for it." Zeff nods getting the picture.
"So why come here?"
"I had some questions, do you know anything other than European cuisine?" Sanji asks.
"Like what?"
"Maybe Japanese?" Sanji asks. Zeff looks at him curiously, wondering about the sudden curiosity but it's mostly do to Zoro, if he were to guess.
"Check my office I might have some books. If you can't find any then just go upstairs into my room I'm sure I have some lying around." Zeff says picking Megumi up and walking away. Sanji wasn't worried, she'll be fine.
With that Sanji checks Zeffs office first.
Sani walked down to the restaurant kitchen with two more books on Japanese. Zeff had them scattered around the place but he was able to find some. While Megumi continued to help the kitchen and the old man he was planning on going into the office and read some. It was still early for lunch.
He looked down at the book seeing the title in both Japanese and english underneath it. He looks up to see Megumi chopping and he froze. The knife in her hand was rather large. "Oww!" Megumi shouted as she raised her hand to her mouth. He ran to Megumi with his heart pounding. What does he do? What if she needs stitches? Zoro is going to kill him, as much as they love each other but he let Megumi get hurt. His mind was reeling as he walked up to Megumi worried.
"Let me see." Sanji says taking her arm to see her tiny hand. He saw the blood and it didn't stop. "She's bleeding!" Sanji shouts making Zeff run over to see.
"I'll get the band aids." Zeff says. She's pretty sure she just needs one.
"What do I do? She's bleeding." Sanji says out loud. Oh man this is bad, horrible. Zoro is going to skin him alive. He's a horrible father, he should have been watching her more.
Megumi just stared at her father having a mental breakdown.
This was new. A little more worse than when she cut her finger with Zeff.
Sanji sat on the the couch of Zeff's office as Megumi sat at Zeffs desk coloring in her coloring book she got for her birthday along with the crayons she got for her birthday, he sat there with the books he found. After Megumi cut herself he banned Megumi from helping anymore, and Zeff agreed. They both didn't want Megumi hurting herself more than she has already. So as Megumi colored Sanji read the books.
They both look up from what they're doing to see Zeff standing there. "I'm making some lunch, want some?" Zeff asks.
"Sure. I'll have some." Sanji says. Zeff grunts.
"I wasn't asking you." He mutters looking at Megumi smiling at him. Sanji frowns at the old man. Seriously?
"Mommy made me lunch." Megumi beams as she takes out her bento box, a blue pouch decorated with mermaids and fishes holds her purple bento box inside. "Is it time to eat?" Megumi asks. Sanji shakes his head.
"Not yet. Almost." Sanji says. Zeff turns to Sanji.
"Guess you'll do." Zeff says as he walks back outside leaving the door to his office open. Sanji rolls his eyes. He may have asked Megumi but he knew that Zeff would have made lunch for him too.
After a few minutes of somewhat silence, Megumi hummed very softly, there was a knock on the door. Sanji looks up to see the new girl standing there nervously.
"Sorry to disturb but Zeff told me to get a certain recipe." She says.
"Oh, the perfect steak recipe or the appetizer?" Sanji asks.
"The appetizer." She says.
"It's behind the desk. There should be an old box, look in there, the recipe is written in there." Sanji pints out. She nods and goes behind the desk looking around for the box.
"Excuse me." She mutters to Megumi moving the chair Megumi sat on to get to the other side. "Nice picture." She compliments. Megumi smiles at her.
"Thank you, it's me and my friends. Do you want a picture? I'll make you a picture of your pretty face. Though mommy is more pretty." Megumi says turning the page over. The new cook smiles. Of course she'd says that.
"She must be very pretty." She says turning back to look for the box.
"He." She turns to see Zeff standing there with a plate in hand. "Though I have to admit the lettuce is not bad looking." Zeff says going to Sanji to give him his lunch. "Here eggplant. Take a break from "studying" and eat. I've got some workers to deal with." He says leaving.
"It's lunch time?" Megumi asks excitedly. She's been waiting to practice her chopsticks.
Sanji looks at his watch, "yes, but clear the table first." He watches as she closes her book and sets it to the side then puts her pencils and crayons away on top of the book neatly. Then she pulls out her bento box again. Sanji sets the book aside.
"Um..." the new cook makes her presence known. Sanji sets his plate across from Megumi and pulls up a stool. "Is chef Zeff always grumpy and mean?"
"Yeah. He works more than he sleeps. All he thinks about is his restaurant. I was raised with him so I got use to it." Sanji shrugs. "He also doesn't like slackers." Sanji says looking behind her then back. She stares for a second before turning to see the box she was looking for. "Memorize it."
"What?"
"The first appetizer you find. If you took the box he was going to make you cook it after you get a look at it once." Sanji says helping her. She nods setting the box down and looking through it till she found one.
"This one." She says.
"Memorize it and give the recipe to the old man." Sanji says. She nods.
"Thank you." She says leaving them to eat their lunch in piece.
Sanji stood in the kitchen at home, thinking about the books he read. Sanji looked over to see Zoro putting a bandaid on Megumi's finger making him freeze in place. Before they left Zeff told him to take off the bandaid so Zoro wouldn't notice. But here he is putting a new one on her finger. He started to sweat, worried about what happens after he finishes.
"I wonder how that happened?" Sanji says playing koi. Zoro gave him a look, the blonde not making eye contact with his lover.
"So you're telling me she didn't get this from helping in the kitchen like her last one." Zoro says.
"You knew?" Sanji asks. "I didn't about the one she got with Zeff." Sanji asks.
"Of course I did. It was so obvious, one day she didn't have a nick on her fingers then the next she has a cut on her finger. I'm not an idiot. Plus as I gave her the band aid she told me she got it because she cut herself with a knife." Sanji grinned at that. She couldn't keep a secret from Zoro even though she promised.
"H-how'd you know this time?"
"I smelt the blood and saw her finger." She
"So you're not mad?" Sanji asks.
"Why would I be? She's a kid. If she's not scraping her knee in the park then she's going to be hurting herself another way. It's not like she'll die. Besides," Zoro stands up going to the cook. He takes his hand into his and slide the pads of his fingers on the pads of the blondes, "you had to cut yourself too in order to get better." As Zoro said that Sanji felt the small cuts on Zoro's hand too. It was calloused but now softer than what he knew back in highschool.
"So you're not mad. That's good. We were worried you would be." Sanji says.
"Geez, I know I'm a mama bear but not for everything. Just be careful." Zoro says.
Sanji nods with a smile. That's good to know.
