Wonder

From the moment Zoro had walked into her and buried his face in her throat Fox had been bludgeoned by his heavily suppressed emotions: joy, relief, desire, worry, passion and wonder. When Ace had accidentally made skin contact with both of them something had clicked into place and settled, suddenly easing the bonds and sense of connection. It was like having a move work perfectly in a spar after months on end of gruelling practice and corrections and tears of frustration. She could still feel what Zoro was feeling, but she now automatically recognised the feelings as belonging to Zoro, just as she could tell what Ace was feeling distinct from both herself and her swordsman. It was a bit of a shock to be so clearly defined after months of muddlement but also a tremendous relief.

Then Zoro had to go back to his training and Fox commandeered the kitchen to keep herself from moping, drafting Ace to help with the chopping, mixing and watching the things in the oven. She let him snack –expecting otherwise was futile– and made sure there was no shortage of meat: the flame Logia was working very hard on his coordination and fitness in Swift hunter's dojo and, due to the slight elasticity of his metabolism that was a holdover from the intense healing he'd been through, was gaining strength and muscle tone with alarming speed. Fox knew that residual efficiency would fade soon, forcing Ace to work harder to maintain the same rate of improvement, but doubted that would stop him. Keeping busy was the main issue in a ship as small as hers that could steer itself and Ace didn't really have any hobbies, so he trained instead. She'd already started him on a few haki exercises, the ones her mother had taught her when she was seven. Being older and more focussed it probably wouldn't take her lover the eighteen months it had taken her to access and control the Colour of Observation; once he had a basic grasp she would teach him the exercises for the Colour of Armament and get him to at least consider the possibilities of the ways the three main 'Colours' could be adjusted and twisted for other purposes.

By the time dinner came around Fox had stopped feeling miserable and was instead impatiently looking forward to the end of the day so she could have a proper reunion with her asura, no matter how short the time together they would have. She was not therefore concentrating overly much on the meal other than to ensure she was eating in a balanced manner; neither of her lovers were particularly attentive either, seeing food as fuel and good food as an indulgence to be made the most of. Her father's slightly irritated question as the last serving dishes were cleared therefore came as a surprise.

"Do you always eat like that?"

Fox blinked and actually paid attention to how the food was reaching her mouth, realising her own chopsticks were holding noodles for Ace, who was steadying a bowl of Udon so Zoro could finish the broth whilst the swordsman's own chopsticks were supporting the chunk of tofu she was about to chew. She quickly caught it in her mouth as Zoro noticed what was going on and there was an instant of disorientation before her asura decided he didn't care what anybody else thought and finished his broth. Above her Ace accepted the proffered noodles with a mental hum of delight and chewed slowly, sufficiently full to be interested in savouring the last remaining morsels.

"It generally happens unless we're actually paying attention," Fox admitted. "Eating takes forever to straighten out, partly because of the group mindset."

"Group mindset," her father repeated with a faint frown.

"Ensuring everyone in the group is properly fed is just as important to each of us as feeding ourselves," Fox clarified, "unlike personal things like Zoro's swordsmanship and Spadille's Devil Fruit training, so things get a bit blurry. I think being pregnant makes it worse."

"It does," Ace agreed. "I get echoes of your cravings when you go too long between meals, and the things I think I want to eat aren't actually anything I can bring myself to try."

"Is that why you dragged me out of my workroom and gave me that bowl of condensed milk with mango chunks and beni shoga yesterday?" Fox asked curiously; she'd been utterly absorbed by her work and hadn't realised she was hungry until the food was right under her nose. It had tasted delicious. Ace shuddered; so did Zoro and Mihawk.

"Yes, that is why. I put that together and then realised there was no way I'd ever eat it, which meant it had to be your craving," Ace said sulkily. "I couldn't think of eating anything else until you'd finished it."

"Sorry," Fox offered sheepishly.

"Next time you try to work through lunch I'm not going to even let you start," Ace said firmly. "Bad enough that your taste buds have been corrupted by pregnancy without them subliminally trying to convince me that pickles taste good with everything."

"But right now they do," Fox protested.

"We know," Zoro said repressively. "That's why we gave you most of them; they taste much, much better when you eat them. Same as meat tastes better when we have it; I never thought Sea King could taste bad until you accidentally had some that time while you were sailing to Sabaody."

Fox remembered that; she'd almost thrown up. She'd never liked the taste of Sea King but could eat it in a pinch; now the flavour made her gag. The smell was fine though, interestingly.

At the other end of the table Perona squealed, abruptly drawing the attention of the other four diners. "You're all so cute!" she gushed, hands clasped under her chin as she gazed starry-eyed at Fox, Zoro and Ace. Both men shifted uncomfortably and Fox caught a faintly amused huff from her father.

"Kajin and I cooked, so someone else can do the dishes," Fox said quickly, getting to her feet and catching Zoro by the hand. "Perona-chan?"

"Yes, Lisska-san?"

"Thank-you, Perona-chan!" Fox chirped, dragging both her lovers out of the door at speed. As they dashed down the corridor there was an outraged squeak; Zoro sniggered all the way up the stairs to the room her father had set aside for her.

Ace detached himself from Fox at the bedroom door. "You two catch up without me first," he said with a teasing grin, "I'm going to explore a bit."

Zoro's face managed to both light up and darken wickedly; he hustled Fox into the bedroom and shut the door before the pregnant woman could voice a protest. Chuckling, Ace wandered away down the hall, looking for a large, enclosed space that didn't show any recent signs of habitation: he wanted to practice flying indoors, so he could work out how it affected the available air. He had experience of how large fires pulled in air and wanted to find out if he could harness that or at least predict how his powers would make it happen and when. Spending time with Fox had taught him that control was more important than power; it didn't matter how amazing your abilities were if you weren't using them properly.

Ace doubted Blackbeard would bother to harness his abilities properly; the man seemed too hung up his own perceived omnipotence. Fox' outlook however was that by knowing yourself, exploring your abilities to the fullest and keeping an open mind you could defeat anyone regardless of their power levels. Ace liked that philosophy and intended to make it his own, so he was experimenting. He knew Fox was right –having her rattle off a list of ways she could kill or incapacitate a person of his choosing without resorting to her Devil Fruit had been enlightening– so it was just a matter of practicing. Sitting on the floor in the middle of a large hall at one end of the building, Ace left the door to the corridor propped open and started to play.

One of Fox' first lessons had been not to limit himself to battle techniques; she'd given him a list of scenarios and had him think of ways he could use his Devil Fruit to improve them. Ace was interested in finding out if he really could be used as a makeshift forge, or whether he could weld with his hands, but for now he intended to experiment with his floating. Namely, how hot did the flames really have to be for him to float, and was there a difference if he was fully Logia or just partly? He thought there should be, but with Devil Fruit 'should' did not always apply.

He paused to wall Fox and Zoro out more thoroughly before continuing; he didn't want to blow through the roof of the castle by accident because they'd caught him by surprise.

As soon as he'd shut the bedroom door behind them Zoro immediately attacked the buttons of his lover's shirt, backing her towards the bed; he'd been wanting to do this all week. Fox let him to wrestle with her clothing, her own hands running over his face, neck and every other inch of exposed skin on his upper body, paying particular attention to his scars. As her knees hit the bed frame and she sat down Zoro finally managed to remove her shirt and picked her up bodily, laying her flat on her back and kneeling over her thighs as his hands gently and carefully ran over her slightly raised abdomen where his child was growing inside her. He'd never expected to be a father but seeing Fox like this made him determined to be a good one.

"Mine," he breathed, sliding his body backward so he could lie down on top of her legs and get a closer look. It was just a slight change in the curve of her abdomen but it felt much firmer under his hands than before and there were other, more subtle changes in her body that leapt out at him after their ten weeks apart. She smelt slightly different for one, but that might be due to her keeping close company with Ace. She was also softer and curvier, not out of shape but putting on additional weight on top of the muscle. Her breasts were definitely larger too and he could feel her higher heart rate through her skin. Not all of that was natural; Zoro smirked up at Fox over her naked stomach, enjoying the faint flush on her face, her slightly hoarse breathing and how her eyes had darkened until there was only a thin ring of gold around the pupils.

"Beautiful," he said sincerely, loving how the flush darkened and her breath hitched as he caressed her abdomen. Her hands were now fisted in the sheets as she watched him with an apprehensive intensity that he had missed so, so badly. Crawling up over her he settled his knees back beside her hips, lifted her upper body off the bed and kissed her soundly, his hands wandering around her torso to loosen the bindings keeping her chest in place.

"Missed you Asura," she whispered against his lips, her hands running up his arms to grip his biceps. He shared the sentiment, projecting back all the tangled emotions that having her here with him inspired.

"Hmm," she crooned in agreement, shivering as he turned his attention from simple enjoyment of her physical presence to more intimate and pleasurable things. Zoro knew he didn't have much time with his lover and intended to make the very most of what he had; he doubted either of them –or the Kajin for that matter– would get much sleep.

Catching up and a little bit of each of the trio.