Welcome to hell

Lucia's POV

As soon as we get home, I go to bed. I need all my strength for tomorrow. My cousin will demand everything from me in terms of nerves and whatever is left then will be swallowed up by the pregnancy. So I am a ticking time bomb. I snuggle into the blanket and snuggle into the pillow that smells like Ace. The owner of the scent is sitting downstairs in the living room, with my brothers, getting fed by my mother. Even though he's already eaten at the mall. If the kid turns out the same way, I'll have to apologise to the Moby cooks and probably pull them out of a depression. Although I try to keep my eyes open a little longer, they fall closed in exhaustion. I just manage to pull the blanket over me before I drift off into the dream realm.

Narrator's POV

Ace sits with Lucia's brothers in the living room and fights with the three of them over the chocolate cake Lucia's mother has baked. Because of their frantic devouring of the cake, the four of them look like three-year-old children. There is chocolate cake all over their faces and the question inevitably arises: how much cake has ended up in the stomachs of the four of them if it serves as a face mask? This woman is unbelievable, she barely rises above the floor, but when she enters the room in a huff, even Garp would flinch. The four of them look up with wide eyes, looking like abandoned puppies. Lucia's mother rolls her eyes and just points her finger towards the stairs. Quickly the four jump up and rush up the stairs to wash their faces and yes, Ace admits it: it's an escape from Lucia's mother! He's just glad Garp never had those qualities or he and Luffy would have ended up in the Navy. He washes his face and goes to Lucia's room.

He sees her lying in bed, smiling blissfully as she hugs a pillow. She is almost buried under the blanket, so that only her head is peeping out. But you can see that she is curled up. Ace quickly takes off his shoes and walks quietly towards Lucia. He sits down on the edge of the bed and looks lovingly at Lucia. She moves slightly and a strand of hair falls into her face. She frowns as it falls on her nose. Ace leans over her carefully and strokes the strand away so it doesn't wake her. Lucia wrinkles her nose and buries herself deeper into the pillow. Ace looks at her, smiles and pulls the blanket a little higher. Sighing, Ace now brushes a strand out of his own face. Yawning, he stretches and sinks into thought. Then he begins to grin broadly. He's going to be a father! Before Whitebeard this term pained him, then it became synonymous with a place where he is simply accepted. With Lucia, he has left his hatred and his past behind him. And now he is going to be a father himself!

Ace puts his hand on her belly and already feels hers, as if she wants to protect her child even in her sleep. Ace runs his hand lovingly over her belly and can already feel a slight bulge. Ace grins like a little child. He can hardly wait until he can feel the child's movements. Ace will do everything to ensure that his child has a beautiful childhood. But for this undertaking he has a lot of help. Ace does not believe that his child will ever know loneliness. Suddenly Lucia's hand comes down on his and clings to it. Ace looks into her face and sees that she is still fast asleep. Ace yawns heartily and decides to lay down to sleep before he just falls asleep somewhere. He tries to loosen the blanket, but Lucia has really pooped herself. There is no chance he can get the blanket off her without waking her. Ace shrugs his shoulders and lies down next to her without the blanket, he's not cold anyway. He takes Lucia in his arms and buries his face in her hair. He intertwines his hand with hers.

Lucia's POV

I wake up and try to stretch, but I can't. The reason: I am wrapped in a blanket and Ace has clung to me. Now it's get up or stay down? Ace presses himself harder against me. Well, that gives me an answer. I turn around and snuggle deeper into Ace's arms. Somehow I have the feeling that the nausea isn't as bad when I'm in Ace's arms. "Morning!" grumbles Ace. "Are you awake?" I mumble dozily. "No!" grumbles Ace, yawning. "Good neither am I!" I say, rubbing my face against Ace's chest. I remember what's coming up today. "Can't we skip the day?" I ask, annoyed. But Ace just laughs and nuzzles my neck. I purr contentedly. "We'll get through the day all right!" says Ace, amused. "I have no doubt about that, only whether Anna will get through it I can't say!" I say grumpily. I notice Ace smirk. "That's not funny!" I say, hitting him in the chest. "Am I laughing?" asks Ace with a laugh in his voice. "Remember? I can feel your feelings!" I say with feigned seriousness. "Yeah?" he asks me now laughing. "Yes!" I confirm and nod. Ace rolls around so that I come to lie on top of him. He looks at me and then just kisses me. I return it longingly and my hormones go crazy. I run my hands over his chest, but before we can do anything, the door is pushed open by Loki.

He tilts his head and then grins dirtily. "Am I interrupting?" he asks me and I stick my middle finger out at him. He just laughs and says: "You shouldn't fuck, you should eat breakfast. You won't get anywhere with that anyway, Lucia's already pregnant!" Before I can throw a pillow at him, he trails off with a cackle. "I'm all for locking my brothers in a room with Marco. At least then they'll learn some manners," I say with a grin. "I vote we get Marco and your mother together!" says Ace laughing. I straighten up, startled. "Are you crazy? Then we really need to behave," I say. Ace pulls us both out of bed and pushes me out of the room. I roll my eyes. Ace keeps pushing me even though I have my feet planted in the floor. "Come on let's have breakfast and the world will look very different," Ace says. "Just for you! I want to go back to bed!" I say grumpily. I try to twist my way out but Ace throws me over his shoulder and walks down the partition with me. Downstairs I can already hear my brothers and my mother. I can already hear her scolding them. Does she always have to make such a fuss when visitors come?

"Good morning!" my mother suddenly says happily as Ace and I enter the room. I just grumble. Actually, I just want the day to be over. "You know, Ace, it's such nice weather, I can show you the city!" I say as I sit down at the table. Ace had graciously put me down. My mother looks at me sharply and I wince. "You will behave!" she says with her finger raised. I nod but mumble at the same time, "Only if she does!" Ace snorts into the coffee, but luckily my mother didn't hear. "I'm looking forward to this lovely afternoon!" my mother says happily. "Yeah totally!" I say sarcastically. My mother beams at me and completely ignores my tone. My father smirks at the newspaper and drinks his tea. I look longingly at Mark's coffee. "Coffee!" I whine pitifully. And suddenly both Ace and my family are very much in agreement, yelling in unison, "NO!" I cross my arms petulantly.

I grab the bowl of fruit and oatmeal. Ace, on the other hand, sticks with some bread, ham and tomatoes. My father gets up and goes to the counter and gets a cup of steaming fruit tea. He sets it down for me and sits back down. I puff grumpily on the tea and sip loudly. After breakfast I sit down on the couch and watch my mother scurrying around the flat cleaning everything. Unfortunately, time goes by too quickly and my cousin is due to arrive at any moment. I sit next to Ace and ignore my brothers who are making fun of me. Of course they are having a good laugh, Anna leaves them alone. I, on the other hand, am her declared rival. The doorbell rings and I feel the need to throw up. I have to say that I would prefer that to being in the same room as Anna. But nobody cares. My mother beams and goes to the door. I look behind the couch and think about hiding behind it. But Ace seems to read my thoughts, which is not so far-fetched, and puts his arm around my shoulder.

I make a face and look towards the entrance, where Anna is already standing. Without noticing, I move closer to Ace. Anna, beaming like an atomic reactor, in my humble opinion she is also so health-giving, comes up to my brothers and hugs them in turn. My father also stands up and greets them. I rather reluctantly stand up and greet my cousin. I don't want to! "Lucia, you look good so rosy. Have you put on weight?" she says cheerfully, but I notice how she looks at Ace closely. Hello I'm standing here next to him? She smiles brightly at Ace and straightens up, highlighting her cleavage. I roll my eyes. "Hi, I'm Anna!" she says sweetly. But Ace pretty much doesn't react at all, just says, "Yo!" and looks my way again. I grin and reach for his hand. I know it's only because of me that he's so dismissive. It's not usually his style. He immediately puts his arm around me and puts the other one protectively over my stomach. A warm feeling arises in me, which I know is not mine. Ace looks rather moronic, as if he had drunk one too many bottles of his father's sake.

But Anna wouldn't be Anna if she gave up so easily. She leans forward and asks, "So you're Lucia's new boyfriend. What's your name? It doesn't feel to me like you're her type," she says in a playfully friendly manner. I translate, here for all of Anne's laymen: "You look too good to be Lucia's boyfriend, don't you want to play with me? Ace just looks a little in her direction and says: "Ace!" before he turns back to me and puts his other hand protectively on my stomach. Anne squints her eyes before smiling. She's almost like Luffy there: she's always smiling, only there's a difference: Luffy's smile is sympathetic, with Anne it looks like a threat. Or is it just me? My mother comes in and claps her hands before saying, "Let's sit down. I'll get the cake quickly. Then we can talk!" I think I need to puke.

Anna sits down and right next to Ace. And really right next to Ace. Any closer and she's sitting on his lap! But before that happens, I get up and sit on his lap. He wraps his arms around my hips and puts his hands back on my stomach. Somehow I have a feeling that if I get any rounder, I'll become the Moby's pawing object. Or at least of Ace. I'm sure of it. I lean against his chest and look at Anna, grinning. She grabs Ace's arm and I have to stifle a growl. "You must be training Ace!" says Anna purring. I hear my brothers sniggering, those stupid idiots! Ace doesn't look at her but pulls his arm away and kisses me on the cheek. Anna snorts and lets go of Ace's arm. 'Are you all right?' Ace asks me mentally. 'Yes,' I say and lean against him. I feel a little sick. I can feel Anna's eyes on me. "Tell me, what's new with you? I heard you dropped out of university!" she says gloatingly. "Yes, I'm pregnant, so I had to drop out!" I explain shamelessly. Well, that's the reason, it's a lie. Anna looks at me like a fish and opens and closes her mouth.

I put my hand over Ace's hand. "Y-y-you're pre-pregnant?" she asks me, horrified. I nod happily. I'm really happy about the little worm and so is Ace. She slides away from Ace. "And Ace is the father?" she asks, stuttering. "Nah it's the postman or was it the milkman?" I say sarcastically. I get a slap on the back of the head because my mother heard me as she was walking by. "Don't always be so cheeky!" she admonishes me. I raise my eyebrows in feigned surprise and point a finger at myself, "Me?" I feel Ace's face against my shoulder and his chest vibrates as if trying to suppress a laugh. My mother puts the cake on the table and Ace is about to reach for it, but my mother smacks his fingers with the cake lifter. He puts them in his mouth and blows. I snort. "Well Ace you lost your puppy status, now you are part of the family and under my mother's yoke!" I say and I hear my brothers say in a grave voice, "Welcome to hell!" and already I have a pillow on my face, my brothers the same. "Mom I'm pregnant!" I say, pointing my finger at her. "That's why I didn't aim at your belly!" she says calmly, cutting the cake. "I could have suffered some damage!" I reply. She just looks at me and grins, you notice the resemblance to Loki, then says, "There's already damage done, so it's not that bad!" Loki snorts and I cross my arms before saying, "And whose fault is that, anyway?" my mother says icily, "Your father!" "Of course!" he says calmly.

Anna speaks up again: "How did you actually meet?" she asks and I notice my family flinch. How are we supposed to explain this? "She saved me!" says Ace calmly and kisses me. "How?" asks Anna, confused, looking at me. Before Ace can say too much I say, "Ace was attacked and I called the police." Ace says nothing, but smirks in amusement. 'Little liar!' he says with amusement. 'We can't very well tell the truth,' but I notice something, Anna is no longer making a pass at Ace. She sits next to him at a measured distance. My mother hands out the cake and unfortunately I have to admit that I gobble it down just as much as Ace. My mother and Anna make small talk and it is surprisingly civilised. No teasing, no hitting on, no bitching. To be honest, it's quite relaxed. After we've finished the cake and coffee, my parents take the dishes away. I take the opportunity to ask Anna, "Ok what's going on? Are you possessed? Where is the teasing? Why don't you hit on Ace anymore?" She gives me an offended look, "I may not be the best person but I don't come between expectant parents." I look down at the floor. She sighs. "OK, I've been a bit of a bitch the last few years, but we're family." she says conciliatory. "A little?" I ask, getting a slap from Ace. "I'm being sweet already!" I say and turn to my cousin. I hold out my hand to her, "Peace?" she grabs it and nods.

"Oh great, and that'll make family gatherings really boring again!" says Loki abysmally. Anna jerks around to him and smiles slyly. "Well, we can put you in a pink dress again. I remember a birthday party!" says Anna. Can you tell which family she comes from? Loki blushes and I high-five Anna. I am pleased. She has changed towards me in the last few years and I am glad that we can perhaps become friends again. I feel really satisfied. "And you're really pregnant?" she asks me curiously now. "Yes, and it's Ace's fault!" I say. Ace pinches my side. "But Ace isn't from around here?" she asks me. "Nope I'm not!" replies Ace simply. Anna looks at me. "I have to ask you, why have you been like this for the last few years?" I ask. Anna sighs and looks uncomfortably at the floor. I reach for her hand. "Well, you were always the favourite, you studied and so on. It was always, 'Do you know what Lucia did?'" she admits. To be honest, I've never noticed it like that. Well, I also walk through the world with blinkers on. Anna then claps her hands: "How about we all go to the water paradise tomorrow?" she asks enthusiastically. I look thrilled. "YES!" I shout. "We can do a girls day too!" says Anna. "Rejected!" say the four men in the group. Well then, I guess we'll all go to the water paradise together. I look at Ace thoughtfully. "What?" he asks. 'I think I'll put swimming wings on you!' I say laughing. Ace grins. He will love the water paradise.

Next chapter

The Water Paradise

... "You don't want to go like that!" says Ace, horrified. "Of course not, the top is too tight, I'm going topless!" I hiss. Ace blushes. ...