The Marionette and the Doctor (LawxOc)

Chapter 17

Law's POV

Its been almost a week since the war  ended. I've been finished tending to the wounded that I sheltered in my submarine while some of my crew members were watching over them.

Strawhat-ya was left in the sugerical procedure room for obvious reasons while I left Jimbei-ya in a patient room.

I was sitting in my study room while I was watching over my third patient. Although she wasn't hurt physically, her mental state seemed to be very bad, which was unlucky since I focus more on surgeries or actual injuries.

I don't know much about mental illnesses or what's affecting her so I was in the midst of reading while watching over Loralei until I heard some movements from her and closed my book.

Her eyes had trouble opening and adjusting to the small amount of light that came into the room. She looked around, and her face seemed to light up brightly as she recognized me, making the guilt in my heart fester knowing she still cares for me. Although I had already guessed so, seeing Loralei was someone who placed a lot of importance into relationships. She's like a duckling that recognizes an owner and will follow them no matter what.

"You look sleepy Law, are you not taking care of yourself?"

I couldn't help but smile, we haven't talked ever since...

"I'm a doctor, I can take care of myself."

She laughed. The first time I've heard her smile since Corazon.

"Even so, the bags under your eyes says otherwise, oh, were you so worried about me you couldn't sleep? How cute Law!" I could tell by her tone of voice she was teasing me.

"If you have the time to be making jokes, make some time for me," I said, getting up.

"Huh?" Her face seemed to flush at my words, making me a bit confused.

I realized the words I said could have different meanings, "I meant follow me and have lunch, you haven't eaten in a week, stop thinking about weird things," I lightly smacked her head with the book and set it down on the table near the bed that only had a lamp and an almost empty cup of coffee in it.

She still seemed flushed but laughed it, "Yeah, now that you mention it, I am kinda hungry," she tried to get up, but started faltering so I helped her up.

"It has been a week since you slept, so your body is probably trying to get used to you being awake again, start off slowly, alright? Don't take things too quickly," I held her hands as she tried to balance herself up. As I stared at her hands, I could tell her hands were almost as big as mine, and it felt rough unlike when we were children. I could tell she probably has been training and fighting a lot.

She has also grown in terms of heights, seeing she was almost as tall as me, which felt strange. Her hair was long to the point where it almost reached her ankles, and although she had been asleep for a week and it was a mess, she still looked as pretty as a doll.

"Law?" Her eyes shone blue like the ocean, beautiful and- what in the world am I thinking long about?

I let go of her hands quickly, which made her falter, unbalanced and fall towards me, making me catch her in my arms.

"....Law.. if you wanted a hug, you could had just said so, why did you surprise me like that?" She teased me again.

"Who wants to hug you?!" I could feel my cheeks being warm as the blood rushed to my face, "If you keep making jokes, I'll make you walk on your own," although I didn't mean that and would help her either way, I didn't want to let her tease me and get away with that.