Disclaimer: Do not own One Piece.

Life Support

The three pirates made quick progress around the rocky island coast, and they were half way around the small island by nightfall. From one of the packs he was carrying, Sanji set up a tent for Nami while Zoro set up another tent that the men would share. Not that any of them would get much sleep on a strange island, but they would try to have as normal a night as possible. They'd had bento for lunch and now for dinner, Sanji cooked up a meal that Zoro had caught on the walk earlier. That evening, Nami started her map by the firelight while Zoro polished his swords and Sanji enjoyed a smoke. It was a quiet, pleasant sort of night. Even the animal inhabitants of the island seemed serene that night.

But the evening ended eventually, so Nami went into her tent to get some sleep while Sanji lay down in the men's tent and Zoro perched ever vigilant against a tree to take the first watch. Hours past by before Zoro heard some strange whimpering sounds coming from Nami's tent. The noises were so quiet that they didn't wake Sanji who was sleeping in the other tent, but Zoro assumed they meant that Nami was having her nightmare again. He was then faced with an odd predicament: should he wait until she woke up sick, or should he go and try to help her now?

Once again, it seemed his body made the decision for him and Zoro found himself slipping inside her tent to see her tangled up in her blankets twisting from side to side. His heart constricted at the pained expression on her face. Carefully, Zoro stretched one arm out to brush her arm causing the still unconscious Nami to startle. This time though, Zoro knew better than to take offense at her flinching. He softly reached out to her again and began to gently rub her upper arm. As her thrashing slowed, he moved his hand to her back to rub slow reassuring circles there.

Nami's breathing evened out as her body calmed down, and though she was completely asleep, her lips parted and she sighed, "Zoro." A strange sort of pride filled him and Zoro leaned down to her ear and whispered, "I'm here." Even in sleep, Nami's mouth twitched up at the corners and she smiled while settling down into the pillow. Zoro continued to rub her back while she fell back into a peaceful sleep. Then, when he pulled his hand away from her back, he brushed her hair back from her face before turning to leave the tent.

As Zoro reemerged from the tent, a foot crashed into his face almost instantly. "What the hell are you doing in Nami-san's tent?"

Using his unarmed hands as if they held swords, Zoro shoved the other man off of him. "Shut up, unless you want to wake her up! And it's not any of your business what I was doing or where I was doing it!"

"Keeping Nami-san safe is my business," Sanji spat angrily, "And I don't exactly think... wake her up? She's sleeping? At this time?" Even in his anger he realized it was strange for her to be sleeping this long.

Zoro kept his brows lowered and his jaw clenched, but he nodded and said, "See for yourself."

Rushing over to Nami's tent Sanji stuck his head in to see the woman sleeping soundly with a faint smile resting on her lips. A quick glance at his wristwatch told him it was almost four in the morning. He knew from the many sleepless mornings spent in her company that Nami was usually up by this time, and yet there she was laying peacefully no sign of a nightmare at all. What was going on?

Backing out of the tent, Sanji tightened his lips and regarded Zoro warily, "I still don't like it," he said but more quietly.

Zoro shrugged, "What the hell do I care what you like?" And without so much as a by-your-leave, he went into the now empty men's tent and was asleep in seconds.

Sitting now by the tree, Sanji blew his smoke into the cool night air while he sat and listened to the sounds of Zoro's heavy snores and Nami's light breathing. There was something he was missing and it turned his insides cold to think what it might be.

In the morning Nami woke feeling better than she had in ages. She stretched and sat up slowly in the pale morning light. Morning light? Quickly Nami stuck her head out of the tent and gasped. It was morning! She hadn't woken to darkness, but had managed to sleep until the sun had already rose a fair bit in the sky. Blinking against the light, she noticed Sanji already cooking breakfast over the fire.

"Ah, good morning Nami-san!" the cook called politely. "You slept well?"

There was something in his tone that made Nami wonder if his question was more than just a casual nicety. She wandered over to him and he handed her a plate of rice cakes ordering her to eat.

"Much better than usual actually," she replied nibbling at the rice cakes.

The blond man gave a heavy sigh and grew serious, "Did something strange happen last night? When I got up for my watch duty, I found Zoro coming out of your tent. He didn't... are you alright Nami-san?"

Nami was a little miffed by his question since it meant that the cook still didn't trust the other man around her, but the question did give Nami some new light on her first full night's rest in two months. Zoro had been in her tent last night. Did she remember that? What did she remember from last night?

Well, sleep had started off innocently enough, but then before too long her nightmare had assaulted her again. But no wait, it was different this time. What had happened? She put everything she had into remembering the dream that she usually tried to forget. The dream had taken on a strange dark quality, the way it always did before Doflamingo appeared, and he had started to toy with her like usual. The toying always made her uncomfortable and she knew what would come next, but that part never came last night.

In her dream she could vividly remember Doflamingo's sharp fingers tearing at her clothing and ripping her top. She could remember feeling bound and exposed, remembered the feeling of his hands crawling across her flesh. Then, she looked away when she knew he was going to start being really rough, but something else happened instead. There were different hands- warm reassuring hands that covered her back up and touched her softly to let her know that she wasn't alone. His voice had been clear in her dream as he whispered, "I'm here," and Nami had smiled knowing that she was safe now- she trusted Zoro whole heartedly. In her dream she had lain against him and closed her eyes as the calm darkness of deep sleep descended upon her. Maybe her vision wasn't so far from the truth. She made a mental note to talk to Zoro later and ask him what had happened.

After a moment, Nami realized that Sanji was still looking at her waiting or an answer, so she gave the best one she could. "My nightmare last night, I think I cried out and Zoro just came to see what was wrong. But I was so tired that I just laid back down and fell asleep. The walk yesterday must have taken more out of me than I thought."

The half-truth satisfied Sanji and he smiled, "I'm not surprised, with the meager amounts you've been eating. I made a delicious breakfast for you Nami-san. You have to eat it all, I won't have it said that a crewmember starved under my watch."

Nami smiled and accepted another plate of food with a dip of her orange head in thanks just as Zoro emerged from his tent calling, "What is that gawd-awful smell?"

The change in Sanji's demeanor was instant and soon he was shouting, "It's breakfast you shitty marimo and if you don't like it you can find your own god-damned food to eat!"

As Nami took a mouthful of food, she tried not to let her amusement show.

The day passed much like the one before with Nami notating and measuring the jagged coastline so she could create her map later. It was after they broke for lunch and started walking again, that the trouble rose.

The tide had come in and the spray from the sea had made the rocks they were walking on rather slick. While busy collecting data, one of Nami's heels slipped on the smooth surface so that she lost her balance and tumbled over. As she fell her left foot got caught in the space between two rocks keeping it still while her body continued its quick descent.

No doubt there would be a bruise on her hip tomorrow from where Nami's body collided with the rock, but that wasn't the worst of her injuries. Her ankle had twisted painfully when it had got caught and it hurt for her to put any weight on it. This was a problem because they were only half way between the campsite and the ship.

How was Nami supposed to make it back to the ship with a wrenched ankle? Maybe they could set up a camp and rest- her ankle would probably feel a lot better if she just gave it a day. But even as she thought it, she knew they should get back quickly. They had been on the island more than a day already- who knows what sort of trouble Luffy had gotten into? They couldn't take up more time than was necessary. Even as she considered this, she could see her companions working out the same problem. Of course, only one of her companions would think of the easiest solution- having Zoro carry her back. Silently, Nami's eyes pleaded with Zoro not to show off their newfound connection by making the suggestion. It wasn't that she was ashamed or embarrassed, but she knew that certainly the knowledge would hurt Sanji. After all, the blond cook had been unwavering in his attempts to help her; she could just imagine the sort of pain it would cause him to know that Nami could stand Zoro's touch and not his.

Pushing herself up off the rocks, Nami said, "It's alright guys. I'm fine really. I can walk." But even as she took a tentatively wobbly step, she could feel her ankle giving out. Her stubbornness caused her to lose her balance and fall agai- or it would have if Zoro hadn't moved so quickly.

Instead of finding herself landing hard on the rocks once more, Nami found herself scooped into Zoro's arms. Before she had time to think about what she was doing she had laid her head against his chest.

Beside them, Sanji stormed up and would have kicked Zoro had he not been holding Nami at the moment. "Don't you dare touch Nami-san! You know what she has been through! Even if you have muscles for brains, you still shouldn't be so heartless! Nami-san is..." but the cook trailed off as he actually looked at the woman in question. She was resting easily against Zoro's chest, evidently glad to have the weight off her already swollen ankle. There was nothing about her eyes or her breathing that betrayed any anxiety. Sanji finished his sentence with an astounded, "perfectly fine."

It was then that Nami remembered that she as supposed to be appalled by even Zoro's touch and she tried to think of something to say, but Zoro beat her to it. "She's obviously in too much pain to react normally. Would you rather I make her walk?"

Sanji pursed his lips trying to think of something to say. "Well then, if she can't walk and she doesn't mind being carried today, I'll carry her myself."

From his position, Sanji couldn't see Nami's eyes, but Zoro could and he noticed the alarmed expression there. It was hard not to betray the smugness that he felt when he said, "You can't."

Sanji's blond head snapped up to fix Zoro with a cold glare. The cook was seething, "Why the hell not?"

But Zoro shrugged simply and said, "Because you are the one who was watching how Nami took her measurements. You can't take the records and carry her at the same time. And I'm sure Nami still wants to know what this part of the coast looks like."

It was a plausible solution, and Nami knew the way to make Sanji accept it. In a weak voice, due to the throbbing in her ankle she said sweetly, "Yes. Please would you take the measurements for me Sanji-kun?"

In another second, Sanji had all of Nami's measuring equipment in hand and he was already sketching the next bit of coast as he called, "I would do anything you asked, Nami-swaaaan!"

And now that they had the minor crisis all sorted out, the three of them moved on. Now that Nami didn't have any job to occupy her mind, she allowed the soft thumping of Zoro's heartbeat under her ear to lull her to sleep. She woke up much later when they arrived at the ship and Zoro set her down on a lawn chair. He left her silently as Sanji came back with ice and bandages for her ankle.

"Here Nami-swan," the cook said affectionately, "let me tend to your injury." He sat himself on the lawn next to her chair and deftly removed her shoe. His fingertips brushed against her leg and though she tried not to, she jumped. Damn! The cook's eyebrows lowered and he gave her a strange look at her wrapped up her ankle.

Nami was just able to keep from kicking her foot out, but when he looked up into her face she knew her cover was blown. As he placed the towel of ice over her ankle he looked at her seriously and said, "It's just him isn't it?"

Sighing she tried to find an explanation that he would accept, "It's not that... Sanji I just..."

But Sanji simply lit up another cigarette and quietly blew the smoke from his lungs. "When he was holding you, you were relaxed enough to sleep. But if I so much as bandage your injury, you have to concentrate on not pulling away. It's different with him; I don't know why I didn't expect that." Sanji took another drag as he watched Nami, she was looking down and avoiding his eyes. Then he groaned blowing out his smoke as he said, "But I can't begrudge you of anything you find comforting."

At this Nami looked up into his blue eyes and smiled. Sanji was smart and often understood things without a need for words to spell them out. The cook was nodding his blond head, "I suppose I get it really, why you would chose him. But I can't say I like it. I'm torn between wanting to hurt him for touching you and being thankful that you actually got some sleep."

"I'm sorry, Sanji," Nami started but the other man held up his hand.

"Don't apologize for the way you feel, Nami-san. Any improvement you make is amazing. I know that even if it isn't me you've let in, you've taken a huge step forward. Maybe someday soon you will be back to hugging and dancing with all of your nakama." He gave her another long look from under his sand colored lashes, "Don't be afraid to talk to me even about this." The cook clarified, "Even if it's about letting him hold you." At this Nami smiled and Sanji straightened up, "Remember, anything you need to talk about- I'm here for you, kid."

Nodding Nami decided it was best if she did open up a little- even if Sanji was patient with her, he would be much more forceful with Zoro. "Thank you, Sanji. It's nothing to worry about really. He has only ever patted my back in comfort when I am shaken from my nightmare. I don't want you to get the wrong idea. Zoro and I aren't... I'm not ready for... we won't..." Nami wasn't quite sure how to express what she needed to say and settled for, "Zoro and I are just friends. He has only ever been there to comfort me when I asked him. I know it's harder for you, but I trust him."

After a long drag Sanji said, "You tell me if he ever makes you uncomfortable."

"Of course," Nami agreed. Sanji then headed for the kitchen and left Nami alone. He may have seemed cool and collected when talking to Nami, but inside his heart was breaking. How long had they been on this path? Life could be cruel sometimes. Sanji had been in love with Nami since the first moment he saw her. Of course he always fell in love instantly and was in love with plenty other women, but it felt different with Nami. Maybe it felt different because he was one of the few women he also counted as a friend. But he had always hoped that Nami would one day begin to love him too. These past months, it seemed as if she were taking more of a shine to him. After all, she had been talking to him and sought him out constantly. But no matter how much she told him, it was Sanji she was getting close to.

Damn that swordsman! Damn him to hell and back! It was one more reason to hate the man. But the cook was even denied the pure hatred he wanted to feel for the other man. You could never truly hate your nakama. The next time they faced an enemy, it would be together as crewmates. This meant that no matter what they resented about each other, there was no satisfying outlet for them. Even if they yelled at each other and got physical, they never could truly, deeply hate each other. And that was the knowledge that plagued Sanji as he reflected on the day and saw the green-haired man cradling Nami in his arms.

There was no specific reason why he wanted to further his torment by encouraging her to talk to him about this new development. Sanji knew it could only get worse. But even if she chose that swordsman over him, the cook wanted to help her still in any way he could.

In the kitchen, Sanji put all his frustrations into cooking dinner coming up with the most elaborate meal the crew had eaten in weeks.

Out on the deck, it wasn't long before Usopp, Chopper and Luffy came strolling back to the ship each carrying a sack full of treasure. The three bags of treasure were dumped unceremoniously on the deck by the foot of Nami's chair. Twisted ankle be damned! Nami jumped up and fell lovingly onto the sacks of treasure. "Ah! All this for me!"

The three men laughed knowing any treasure they found was automatically Nami's. She was the one who could see it distributed fairly among the crew. At that point Nami looked at her wrist and checked her pose. "Oh! But we haven't been here long enough to register this island! And Franky and Robin aren't even back yet!"

"No worries, Nami!" their Captain laughed, "We don't have to make a run for it!"

"Yeah," agreed Chopper, "You should have seen it, Nami!"

While Nami appraised the treasure, Usopp recounted the tale of their adventure in his grand story-teller mode. "We were traveling in those wood when we ran across a little girl. She was a very sweet-looking girl with long gold curls all over her small head- not at all the sort you'd expect to find in the woods. Also, even though her clothes were torn and dirty it was obvious that she had been very expensively dressed. But we didn't notice those things about her first! What we noticed was that she had a long stick in her hand and was trying to defend herself from a tribe of massive wolves!

"She was surrounded by hundreds of wolves and we knew that if we did nothing, the poor girl would be torn to shreds and gobbled up! So being courageous warriors of the sea, we couldn't let the poor child suffer! No! We acted all at once! There was no need for us to even say our plan. Immediately, I started firing pop-greens at the wolf-lackeys while Chopper transformed into his Horn-Point and began impaling and tossing wolves left to right. Luffy was on the Wolf-Boss immediately and was punching his lights out while Chopper and I took care of the other hundreds."

"Were there really hundreds of them?" Chopper asked Usopp in an awed voice, but the older man paid no mind as he continued his story.

"Once the boss had submitted and the lackeys were unable to aid him, Chopper scolded the wolves for eating young girls. But soon we found out the reason why! The town people and the wolves used to get along well, but there had been changes recently. In the past the townspeople fed the wolf tribe in exchange for protection from invaders.

"In fact once we began this conversation, it was evident that these were not simply beasts but highly intelligent creatures! The Wolves had every intention of killing the little girl because the humans on the island had killed on of the Wolf-Boss's children. Such an act would never be tolerated by the Wolves! The next time pirates invaded, the Wolves sat and watched as the pirates wrecked all the ships in the harbor and pillaged the town.

"But the Wolves were still not satisfied! An Eye for and Eye is the rule in the Wolf tribe, so they would kill the mayor's daughter to repay for the cruelty of the humans. Thankfully, Chopper was there and was able to examine the body of the deceased Wolf-child. As it turns out, he had caught the Frenzy as the Wolves call it. The young wolf must have rabidly attacked the villagers the night he was shot. The Wolf-Boss was immediately sorry as he had not known. The Frenzy was a Wolf's greatest shame.

"So once we straightened things up with the Wolves we escorted the Wolf-Boss and the human-child, I mean the mayor's daughter, back to the town. Chopper acted as translator and before long the relations between the Wolves and the Villagers had been restored! Both tribes were so happy they offered us a reward of all we could carry! Of course, that was after the feasting!"

Nami laughed as she hugged the precious gold in front of her. You never knew how much of Usopp's stories were true and how much was fabricated, but she was able to discern the gist of what had happened. As long as it ended in treasure, Nami didn't truly care about the details. But Luffy and Chopper were as excited as Usopp, and as soon as his story was over they began the reenactment.

Sometime during the second act, which was the great ceremony of peace among the wolf tribe, Franky and Robin came back. Naturally, the large cyborg was excited by this SUPER play, but it lacked super choreography. The entire review had to be preformed again this time with moves provided by Franky and dramatic drumming provided by Brook, who had been shouted for. While the men preformed The Great Story of the Ferocious Wolf-Tribe, the Mayor's Young Daughter and the Three Brave Heroes as told by Usopp, Robin and Nami watched from the lawn chair. Just as they were about to perform the encore, Sanji thankfully called them all to dinner.

Nami still hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Zoro by nighttime, so instead of going to bed she headed straight for the Crow's Nest. Her ankle was feeling better after the restful day. She had every intention of asking the swordsman what had happened the night before, but when she actually got up to the crow's nest, the words fled her mind. Her thoughts of were replaced with the image of Zoro's muscled rippling as he pulled up his large weights.

The swordsman was surprised at her arrival, and he turned around and set his weights down and greeted her inquisitively. "Nami?" he asked.

Without answering him, she rushed forward and threw her arms around his waist. Suddenly it didn't matter why she had managed to sleep the night before, what mattered was being held by Zoro. Right now, he was the only one who understood what she was going through, and she clung to him like a lifeline. Unexplained tears streamed from her eyes as she buried her fact in his broad bare chest. For some reason, she was glad that Zoro didn't wear a shirt when he worked out.

It only took a brief moment for Zoro to wrap his arms around her, one hand held her firmly around the waist while the other came up and tangled in her hair. The hand in her hair starting massaging reassuring circles on her neck as she felt the pressure of his cheek leaning down on the top of her head. In a few short days, the position had become second nature for him. "Shh," he whisper against her hair, "It's okay, now."

As she listened to his reassuring whispers, Nami thought that everything really was fine now. Eventually, her sobs died down, and she merely stood there in Zoro's embrace. When her breathing slowed, Nami pulled back slightly to look up into his pointed face. She shook her heads without words and tried to think of a way to explain to him the confusion she felt.

The arm around her waist held her tightly, but the one resting on her neck loosened and came in front of her and hesitated by her face. When she didn't flinch or pull away Zoro brought his hand to her cheek and gently wiped away her tears. The gesture was so tender, that Nami felt new tears stinging the back her of eyelids again, but she didn't cry this time. She merely looked up at Zoro as his hand came back to rest on her shoulder.

Try as she might, she couldn't voice the many feelings inside of her head, but looking up into Zoro's eye she realized she didn't have to. She didn't need to know why looking at him kept the darkness at bay or why encircled in his arms she didn't feel dirty or unworthy. All she had to do was accept it the way he accepted her.

Zoro held out a hand to her and she took it. He led her over to the bench and sat down. Without letting go of his hand, Nami sat beside him.

Rubbing the back of her hand reassuringly with his thumb, Zoro spoke. "Last night... you... I didn't mean anything by it but I... "

Nami shook her head. Now that she was here, she didn't need to hear it. "I know. I think... I figured it out. In my dream you were there. You were there last night weren't you?"

"Yes," Zoro said shortly as if he couldn't think of a way to properly explain his presence.

But Nami didn't want him to account for his actions. "Thank you," she said trying to sort the confusion she felt. The fact that Zoro could comfort and reassure her was easy to accept; the fact that being in his arms kept the darkness from plaguing her was too wild to accept. More than anything, she wanted to test the theory. "I don't know if I understand, but somehow you chased it away. The nightmare. I thought it would never end. I thought he'd have me night after night and that it would never stop. I hate that dream, I hate seeing him. It makes me..."

"Shh," Zoro called as he moved his arm around her shoulders and pulled Nami in closer to her. "I know." The swordsman nodded and gently squeezed Nami's thin shoulders, "I know."

Then they felt into a silence as they both thought about the strange way this had affected them. They had both been wounded deeply seemingly beyond repair and in the depths of their despair they had come together to fight the pain. It was the opposite of the effects that the sadistic Shichibukai had been working for, but the bonds of the Straw Hat pirates were not so easy to break. Feeling safe in Zoro's arms, Nami let her eyes close as she thought over the emotional trials she'd been through these past two months.

She must have fallen asleep, because in the morning she found herself cradled against Zoro's chest. Though she had been sitting up next to him last night, when she woke, she was laying across him with her feet on the bench. He was asleep sitting up, and his arms were holding her tightly even in his sleep. With her face pressed into his chest, she snaked her other hand up behind his neck to experimentally touch his hair silky green hair. It was soft under her fingers and Nami felt herself smiling and feeling secure.

At some point she realized that she had never intended to leave last night. She wanted to know. She needed to test this bond. Whether being with Zoro would stop the visions that tormented her.

After a minute or two, Zoro's head began to move side to side and his eye opened. He blinked a few times trying to remember where he was and then looked down at the girl in his arms. His neck was stiff and his back was sore and at least one of his legs had gone numb. But looking down at the faint smile on her face, Zoro didn't care about any of those other things. And then he registered the fact that she was smiling and realized that the light streaming in the window meant it was morning. "No nightmare?" he asked incredulously.

Nami shook her head no and Zoro smiled down at her. His left hand came up to grab her hand from his neck and he held it firmly in his. They both stared at each other for a few moments before Zoro really needed to stand up and stretch his cramped limbs.

Noticing his discomfort, Nami pushed herself off of him and stood up. "I better go," Nami said. But Zoro didn't let go of her hand right away. He stood and walked her to the hatch door before pulling her into another hug. Whatever this was, the need it created between them affected them both. Nami whispered to him, "Can I come back tonight?"

Zoro, who had long ago given up the hope of knowing what to think or feel, nodded helplessly as he reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. If being with him stopped her nightmares and let her sleep, he'd rather have her here anyhow.

Reciprocating his gesture, Nami reached her own thin hand up and let it brush over the surprisingly smooth skin of Zoro's cheek before reaching the stubble on his chin. As if she only realized what she was doing after the face her eyes grew wide and a blush rose on her pale cheeks. The navigator turned and fled the crow's nest quickly. She had almost made it back to her room before the queasy feeling hit her again, forcing her to run to the bathroom. What the hell? She didn't even have that damned dream last night!

It happened rather quickly. After discovering she could actually sleep with him there. she spent the next few nights up in the crow's nest with Zoro. He had brought up a small stash of pillows and blankets saying not to take it the wrong way- he just couldn't sleep on the bench every night. And Nami trusted him, so she laid down on the blankets and rested her head against Zoro's shoulder. He never tried to touch her more than she was comfortable with, and he had never tried anything more than simply holding her. And night after night, he kept her nightmare at bay with his closeness.

Robin had found out that the log pose would take more than a week to set, so the days were not too busy for the navigator. She was able to visit the island a few times. Once they had determined the island was safe, Nami's two bodyguards relented and left her alone to go on a girl's only shopping expedition with Robin. And every night, Nami returned to the Crow's Nest and the strength of Zoro's arms.

Nami must have missed an absurd amount of sleep because even after a few peaceful days and restful nights, she was still feeling exhausted. But Nami understood her body had been through hell or worse and she needed to give it time. Even now, Nami found herself slipping into bouts of melancholy when she wasn't expressly busy. Her struggle was far from over, but it had become somewhat easier to bear. At least she was sleeping!

The biggest problem with the new arrangement was that Nami still woke feeling queasy. It only ever happened when her stomach was empty as it was in the morning when she woke up. After she managed to swallow a few mouthfuls of food, her stomach seemed to settle.

One morning, about six days after she started going to the crow's nest, Nami didn't leave quickly enough and ended up retching into a waste bin in the gym.

She felt Zoro's hands kindly lifting her hair and holding it back as she embarrassingly heaved up anything left in her stomach. When she turned to face Zoro, she noticed the crestfallen look on his face. The variation between his expressions was subtle, but Nami knew how to read them. "You had the nightmare again," he said quietly.

"No!" Nami assured him quickly causing him to look up at her. In a calmer voice she said, "I haven't had a nightmare all week. It's just that the vomiting never stopped. I've been doing it every morning on my way back to my room."

"Really?" Zoro eyed her curiously. "Is that why you are still barely eating anything?"

"I'm eating better!" Nami protested crossing her arms over her chest. "It actually makes me feel less nauseous to eat a little."

Zoro was quiet a moment before he spoke, knowing how private Nami had been about the whole ordeal. But she had even thrust herself even further into his life this week, and he couldn't help feeling responsible for her. "Nami, do you think you should go see Chopper? If you keep barely eating and throwing it all up, there won't be much left of you."

Had he not sounded so worried, Nami would have insisted she was fine. But the look on his face and the concern he had for her touched Nami and made her agree. She'd go to see Chopper and ask if he had anything that could help her keep down her food.

"Good," Zoro smiled and took her hand. Nami found herself smiling back. This new closeness with Zoro didn't solve all her problems or make her forget what had happened, but it did help. She felt stronger when he held her hand and she decided that she could ask Chopper for medicine without revealing that night's secret.

Later that day, Nami sat in Chopper's sickbay waiting for the young reindeer to get his exam materials ready. Anxiously, she looked around the room and hoped that his exam wouldn't reveal the damage she'd suffered. It'd been two months so she was less worried about her physical appearance than her response to him during the exam- that could easily give her away to someone who knew the signs. As she waited Nami hoped Chopper's naïveté was stronger than his observational skills.

"Okay, Nami," the doctor called cheerfully as he entered the room on his small hoofed feet. "Let's get started." Chopper had all sorts of questions for her first: how long ago this started, how had she been feeling otherwise, how had she been eating and sleeping, did she have any headaches, were there any other symptoms. All her answers were diligently jotted down on his exam paper.

Nami was having a hard time separating her physical symptoms from her mental ones. She'd been feeling exhausted lately, but she hadn't been sleeping well. She'd had some weight loss, but she was barely eating and throwing up what she did manage to eat. And she had been on edge lately not quite sure how she'd react to certain situations. After giving it a good thought she said, "I think it's stress related. I've been under a lot of stress lately."

Chopper nodded as he made note of all those symptoms and then he used his stethoscope to listen to her heartbeat. "That could be," he said, "stress causes all sorts of problems in the body." He nodded when the beat of her heart was good and strong. "Okay one more question before we start the other testing. When was your last monthly cycle?" The reindeer's cheeks turned pink beneath his fur and he had asked the question so quickly it was barely intelligible. He hated that question, but he had learned the hard way from Doctorine to ask this question of all women of a fertile age.

The young doctor had once started treating a sixteen-year-old girl for a stomach bug when Doctorine had stopped him immediately. She made Chopper do a test and sure enough the girl was pregnant. The medicine he was going to give her would have caused many complications so it was good Doctorine stopped him in time. Since then, he knew it was a question he had to ask every girl he treated, even if she came to him with simply a cough or a sneeze. But he was sure Nami wouldn't have any problems there; it was just a formality. In fact he'd asked her this question a few time in the past when he needed to treat her. That still never made him feel less awkward asking it.

Except Nami was sitting panic stricken on the exam table mentally counting backwards. 1. 2. 3. Could she really not have noticed? 4. 5. 6. Had she been that preoccupied? 7. 8. Stress could cause that too right? 9. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Nami. Nami?" Chopper was calling her. She could hear it, but she could barely put her thoughts together to answer.

Finally, after Chopper had begun to wonder if Nami was entering a catatonic fit, Nami looked down at the floor shaking her head. "I can't remember correctly, but it was at lease ten weeks ago maybe as many as twelve."

Chopper's jaw dropped open and his eyes were large as saucers. For a moment, he just stared at her speechless not believing his ears. Of all the probably answers to her symptoms this was not what he had been expecting. "Nami?"

She closed her eyes and turned her head to the side. "Just do the test, Chopper," she snapped holding her arm out.

Transforming into his human-like form, Chopper grabbed a syringe and prepped Nami's arm to do a blood draw. It took every bit of control in Nami not to jerk away. She could handle this. He was barely touching her. Finally it was over and Chopper took his vial of blood and went to run some tests after bandaging some gauze over the puncture hole in Nami's arm.

As he walked away, Chopper said, "It's going to be okay, Nami."

The door shut behind him and Nami told herself she wasn't going to cry.

In his small lab, Chopper tested the blood for hormones to see what was going on with Nami. His mind traveled back to that sixteen year old whose pregnancy he'd almost treated like a flu. Her name was Selene and she had been a pretty blond girl, slight in frame with an easy smile. But she didn't smile much when she first came to them. It had been before they moved to Drum castle, when they were still easy to find. Doctorine pointed out to him most sick girls didn't come to them with a suitcase, but Selene had. Only then did Chopper realize she was a runaway. She had stayed with them for her entire pregnancy and then for a few months after having the baby, so Chopper got a lot of hands on experience caring for a pregnant woman. But he never thought he'd have to go through that again. In the end, Selene had gone off to open a tailor shop with the few connections Doctorine had set up for her. When Chopper had left the Drum Island, the baby would have been well into his toddler years. That would make him a young child at the moment.

Finally, Nami's test was done and the results were undeniable. The reindeer padded back into the room trying to find the best way to say it. Nami hadn't move since he'd left. "Nami," he said startling the orange haired woman in wonder, "You're pregnant."

She felt the words like a slap to her face. Of course she was! It was the perfect complication to make everything harder. She had only just started to cope with what had happened to her and now this! How would she even deal with a pregnancy? What would Zoro say? They had only just begun to trust each other on a deeper level and now she was going to have to ruin it by telling him what had happened. At the same time, she didn't think she could actually process this information until she told him.

Chopper was in front of her urging her to lie back on the table. "I need to examine you and see how you're growing."

In a daze, Nami lay back and fought the tears that sprang to her eyes as Chopper's humanized hands pushed on her lower abdomen feeling around. There was no denying the swollen uterus that put Nami toward the end of her first trimester. After grabbing a measuring tape and laying it our on her stomach he said, "You're measuring about eleven to twelve weeks." After a brief moment of hesitation, he said "I am going to leave the room so you can remove your bottoms. Then you can put this blanket over yourself and sit on the table. I'm going to need to do an internal pelvic exam and a couple more tests."

Bolting upright, Nami shouted, "No!" Her head shook vehemently and she clutched her arms around herself protectively.

Chopper blinked at the sudden outburst. "Nami?" Her behavior was frightening the poor creature. He knew better than to expect rational behavior from a pregnant woman, but this was a little out there. "What's wrong?"

Her orange hair was flying as she shook her head. "No internal exams!" She had put up with enough of his hands on her so far already and she wouldn't tolerate anything more. Not today and probably not ever. Already she was feeling sick. "No." And then Nami looked at him hard with a stern glare. "And don't you dare say anything about this!"

Chopper nodded his little head. "I won't say anything! I promise." Then in a softer and less anxious voice he said, "You should start to feel better in a few more weeks. You'll be less tired and probably be able to eat again. Right now, if you keep some crackers and water by your bedside and eat them when you first wake up, it should help the nausea. The trick is not letting your stomach get so empty. Nami, I won't say anything and I'll put off the internal exam, but you should come see me again in four weeks. Even if you only let me measure you with the tape it's better than nothing."

Nami pushed herself off the table with shaky limbs stumbling slightly as he feet hit the floor. "I'll think about it."

"There are some books on pregnancy in my section of the library. I will get them and deliver them to you this week," the little reindeer offered.

It was then that Nami reminded herself that the doctor was only trying to help and didn't mean her any harm. She felt badly about taking her shock out on him. "Thanks, Chopper. Please, don't say anything?"

The little doctor covered his mouth with his hooves and shook his head. "Not a word."

Reaching out a tentative hand Nami patted the top of Chopper's hat; it wasn't exactly personal contact, but it was close. The gesture made Chopper happy since he called out, "Stupid! I won't like it just because you pat me affectionately on the head! Asshole!"

Nami left the room in a daze not certain whether she should laugh at the absurdity of her situation or cry. Instead she headed to her room and didn't leave for the rest of the day or night. She didn't emerge the next day either. While she was there, the log pose set, but she couldn't even force herself to get up and tell her friends that. The only thing Nami could do was lay on her bed looking at the dark wall behind her wondering what was going to become of her. How had her life gotten this off-track? Nami had only just recently begun looking back toward the future and now it seemed that she was once more walled in by her own experience. As she laid there those few days, not sleeping, all she could think about was this moment.

Author's note: Sorry. I know it's harsh for her. But it's happening. Did you see it coming? Nami didn't. I know it's kind of a tense place to leave it, so I will try to get the next chapter up quickly!

As always thanks for reading and please review!