Chapter Twelve: The Hottest Day in Winter

"In the depths of winter I finally learned that there within me lay an invincible summer."
-Albert Camus

It had been about three days since the whole "revenge" incident and me winning the bed. (This venture to Glacier Port was taking longer than I thought it would.) Of course, I enjoyed every moment that I lay in those soft sheets – I swear Ace snuck in at night after I fell asleep because the other side was always really warm whenever I woke up. But of course, I didn't see it with my own eyes so I said nothing. He was just probably trying to get a few hours of peaceful sleep.

That couch didn't look very comfortable to lie on, and it wasn't very comfortable either.

Then again, it was much better than sleeping in the crew's quarters surrounded by a bunch of men that couldn't learn to keep their hands to themselves… A few fingers were close to being cut off.

I stood in the Captain's Quarters, standing with my back to the mirror and looking at the still – aching tattoo. It didn't look very good… maybe it had gotten infected? That would be very bad seeing as we were now it would take, at the least, a week and a half to get to Hastion City.

Just my luck, you know?

The edges of the black were bright red, and a bit of yellow was starting to splash its way around it to. Was that purple, I saw?

"What are you doing?"

I jumped, looking at Ace as he leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his covered chest. Quickly, I covered my bare shoulders and back with the blanker I had been holding.

"What's it matter to ya?"

Ow! The fabric was rubbing against the tattoo… I needed some salt water badly right now, but by the time they got it up here, it would probably be freezing from the transition of warm sea water to the freezing cold air. Unless Ace would happily warm it back up for me…

No, Faye! He's a jerk - he wouldn't do it for you even if his life depended on it.

Alright, fine, that is a bit over the top, but I wasn't very happy right now. My left shoulder was killing me – almost literally – and now I had him on my case.

Ace rolled his eyes and stepped away from the door and toward his desk. My large brown book of wonder sat on the top, a few bookmarks placed here and there inbetween the pages to show the maps of places he was going soon or wanted to go.

He better not think that I would be staying with him long enough to even go to half of them…

I rolled my eyes at him once he sat down and began flipping through an old newspaper. Suddenly, the rush of footsteps sounded in the hall…

"Cap'n!" One of the crew members that I hadn't exactly been on first-name bases with ran up to the door, a piece of rolled-up paper was clutched in his left hand. "You need to see this!"

I stood there, wondering what the hell was going on, and watched as the man handed the piece of paper over to Ace. Ace started to grin like an idiot once he read over the piece of paper. Curiosity got me in its clutches and I walked over to see what it was. Ace didn't stop grinning. He flipped the paper so I could see it.

Damn that's a lot of zeroes!

It had a poorly taken picture of Ace on it, but you could tell it was him – he just had on a black hat instead of my orange one.

"This is what happens when you refuse to join the Shichibukai, Faye."

Holy shit was I surprised. A bit jealous too, but I'd rather be a nobody than be chased around the world because my head was worth a bunch of numbers. Sure I liked travelling, but I wasn't a pirate.

"I'm going up," I mumbled and walked away – more like stomped – as he laughed. Ace only showed me because he wanted to rub it in his face. Tch, men, typical.

of memoirs and maps -

"Oi, Faye."

I looked up from the map in front of me and at Ratch. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Ratch had been working on a little "project" for the two of us. It was mostly research from a bunch of old dusty books he had and a few questions about my family, but that was it.

It looked like he finally got something.

"Yeah?"

Ratch dropped the swords in front of me and brushed back his dirty blonde bangs.

"There's not much I can tell you since the last book on the Emery family went missing ten years ago…" I lifted a brow at this. Were he going to get to the point, or not? "But I can tell you this-"

"Hey, Callaghan! Get up here and steer my ship!"

Oh Ace, one day you are going to pay very dearly for interrupting someone like that. Why couldn't he steer his own ship? He knew how to navigate. He did have a Log Pose.

"Sorry, Ratch, I'll have ta talk to you later. The princess is in need of assistance from me." I gave him a small smug smile and closed the book I had been skimming through.

"But wait, Faye-" I was gone before he could finish.

Of course, a little tug in the back of my brain told me to make Ace wait and find out what he had to say. I just pushed that tug over and let the annoyance of his highness take over.

"Why don't you steer the ship yourself Portgas?" I pushed him away from the wheel and gently began to turn it back and forth.

"'Cause I'm about to-" Thud. Snore.

Typical Ace; always falling asleep in the middle of a conversation. He must have just eaten a lot. It only happens after he eats too much. I rolled my eyes at him and hefted him off the floor and asked one of the crew members that was standing around to take the wheel for a few minutes.

Hank offered to take Ace to his room, but I waved it off and kept going.

"I've gotten this far with 'im, why not go the rest of the way?" Hank didn't say anything after that.

It took longer than a few minutes to get him; he had more muscle than a thought. When I finally got him off of me and onto the couch – yes, even though I felt like being the slightest bit nice, he had not earned the right of me giving him the bed willingly – I huffed and stretched. My back popped. Ahhh.

I took off the orange hat that was being squished between his head and the couch cushion, letting the strong hang in the notch of my elbow, and stared down at him. He continued to store, subconsciously scratch at his cheek, and shift around to find a comfortable spot on the couch.

It was kind of… cute the way he did things in his sleep. I really hadn't noticed it until now.

I shook my head of my thoughts. What the hell, Faye? Cute! Where did that come from? I cursed the man that lay in front of me. Him and his damn charm… it was starting to get to me.

Well, that sort of happens after spending the last week and a half in the same room.

I went almost as far to smack the man for getting these thoughts in my head, but I held it back and sighed. Walking over, I took the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around my shoulders. The sheets and one of the pillows were in my free hand.

Dropping the sheet and pillow on the floor, I lifted his head up and slipped the pillow behind it after picking it back up. I knew he wouldn't need the sheet to keep warm but – the hell with it. I'm acting weird today. Ace must have kicked off his boots somewhere in the transition from the couch to the bed (that sounded wrong…) because I could see his bare feet dangling off the edge of the couch.

I dropped the sheet on top of him and took off out of the room with the blanket wrapped around me. So far, this was my hottest day in the middle of this "winter".

Taking the ship's wheel back from the crew member, the ship went on with its regular duties after I saw the tension from a few of the members ease after they saw me come out without any blood on me. How did they know that I wasn't hiding any under the blanket?

Nah, I didn't feel like being beaten to death by about thirty men, even if I was just a woman in their eyes.

of memoirs and maps -

Everything had led up to this moment. Of over a week in freezing cold weather, and finally getting to this cove just on the outskirts of Glacier Port, the Spade Crew was trudging through snow so thick that I could easily be buried under it. I thanked the seas for Ace's warmth as he stayed closest to me. Sure, I had lived in the North for most of my life, but had actual clothes up there that could easily push away this cold.

"Are you serious, Ace?"

Hank had yelled it over and over again as the Pirate Captain packed a small bag and grabbed a coat from off a hanger. Ace had actually buttoned up his shirt for one. In all actuality, I don't even think every Marine in the Navy could stop this man from seeing whoever he was seeing.

The suspension of who the person was kept getting to me, and I couldn't help but ask, but I got no answer other than a cocky grin.

I ended up being dragged along, much to my displeasure.

"I don't trust you on a ship full of men in the middle of this freezing weather."

"What, ya scared that they'll force themselves on me?" I snorted out a laugh.

"No," he grinned, "I'm scared that half my crew will be dead by the time I get back."

Of course, I wouldn't kill anyone no matter what they did – well, unless I find the bastard that killed Mia. Now that is a completely different story – I couldn't fight worth a shit. I just knew how to throw a dagger and look intimidating. Usually it didn't even get that far once they knew my name. Of course, not many people knew exactly who I was. I kept it to "Faye" at the first introduction.

"A – Ace!" My teeth chattered. It had been awhile since I was anywhere near the cold, my body was so used to the year-round warm days of Loguetown. He turned to look at me, a brow disappearing under the hat. "I – I – I'm going to k – kill you!" Once I'm warm again, that is.

He only grinned at me, and I could hear the faint chuckle over the whistle of the wind and snow that was blowing in my face. My lips were turning blue…

"You want to…"

I stood there like an idiot, gapping at the man that sat ten feet away. You have got to be kidding me! This was the man that Ace came to see? The –

"…greet me?"

"No, no! That's not exactly what I meant."

RED-HAIRED SHANKS?

"Then what did you mean, boy."

I knew that voice! I'd heard a few good times over the past few years as a seamstress. Oh this was going to get interesting… I lifted my hood up more to cover most of my hair of face. Standing behind Ace also helped since he was so much taller than me.

Mmmm, warmth…

"My little brother was always bragging about you after saving his life. He told me if we ever met, to thank you!"

A sudden look of realization passed over Shanks' face. His back straightened from its slouch.

"You're Luffy's… Oh, so Luffy had a brother!" Shanks stood from his sitting position, using his sword to help him keep his balance since the black cloak he wore hid the nub of his once-left arm.

"Thanks for coming here and telling me!" He slipped his katana into the right side of his sash. "Crew, this calls for a celebration!"

And a celebration we had.

I sat back, watching as the men drank ale and laughed at jokes that weren't even the least bit funny. Benji had said he'd stay with me so I wouldn't be lonely, but after a few gorges of the alcohol, he was just like every other man. I had dropped my hood sometime after the first of Shanks' crew started to get drunk. It couldn't hurt, could it?

"Hello Miss Callaghan. It's good to see you again."

I chuckled as Ben sat beside me. Last time I had seen him you could just barely see the peppering of gray hairs, now they were becoming more evident as he aged. The large X shaped scar on his temple was still very prominent, his rifle was pushed into his sash like someone would do with a pistol, and he had a very familiar swirl-patterned cloak.

"What have I told you about calling me Faye, Ben? After all the business I've gotten from you men, I thought we'd be on a first name bases by now." He chuckled and shook his head, taking another swallow of his drink. I was more of a wine-girl, couldn't stand beer. "You're took much a gentleman to be a pirate, y'know."

"Old habits die hard."

And then we just sat there in silence, watching as Shanks and Ace chattered to each other happily. Hopefully the younger of the two wouldn't fall asleep again and cause me to drag him back to the ship since everyone else would probably be dragging themselves after drinking all this alcohol.

Suddenly, Ace turned to me – cutting off Shanks in the middle of saying something – and grinned at me. My heart sped up for a moment before the red-haired captain notice me too and waved me over.

"Well if it isn't my own personal seamstress! Stop trying to hide Miss Callaghan, and come talk with me!"

Who could say no to that handsome redhead with a drunken smile?

A/N: I HATE THIS CHAPTER. I HATE THIS CHAPTER. I HATE THIS CHAPTER. I HATE- you get the point.

Been a while… five months, right? Yes, I'm alive – although I can't say the same for a friend of mine…

Excuse for not writing in so long? : School, laziness, death of a friend, depression, no inspiration, colorguard practice – band brigade practice, summer, spontaneous road trip to SC, getting sick, more laziness. You get the point, ne?

Hope you enjoyed, and review please! :)

Thank you all that reviewed during these long five months.