Irreplaceable

Part 15: I miss spending Christmas with you

- "How do you think we should spend our Christmas now that were married?"
- "Does it need to change somehow?"

He looked slight bit thoughtful as he laid on the sofa his hands behind his head and one leg over the other waving in the air. Until now both of them had spend their Christmases separate. Now it felt odd to do so. Or for him at least. He wanted to start making his own family traditions without forgetting the old ones.

- "I know it's always a bit of a rush at Morias." He paused. "Ah never mind."
- "What?"
- "You know I want to spend Christmas with father so he wouldn't be lonely even if this one guy comes to visit now and then. But maybe there's enough space for two," he chuckled and corrected himself, "Three more people."
- "You, your father and...?" She didn't quite get it.
- "Ah well, you know." He blushed slightly and turned to his side facing the back of the sofa.

And it hit her. She snorted. How blissful those moments were when he kept pause from reminding her.

- "I don't want a kid yet."
- "I know, but one day."
- "Might take long."
- "I'll be patient."

And she snorted again.

----

- "Yeah, we really wished you could come. You know with Zoro and all that's... Oh you can't? Do you- It's important. I understand. Maybe next year? Yeah. I love you too."
- "So he won't come?" Perona asked from the sofa as she was hushing their baby, who was having a tummy-ache.
- "Yeah, but there's always next year." He smiled and she sighed.
- "You said that last year."
- "But next year for sure."
- "Have you considered that he might not want to?"

He looked at her betrayed. Of course his father wanted to. He just wasn't able to.

- "Sorry. Next year for sure. Whole family." She looked down at the baby still whining his sickness.
- "Next year." He nodded determined.

----

When Perona had made Mihawk stop by the super-market and they had stuffed his car with toys, necessities and food, he couldn't understand why. She had told him there would be others, but surely not that many. But when they were there, he understood. There was a huge hustle. People went and came. Some stayed long and some only an hour. Some brought groceries with them and some were given. There were young people, old people, rich people, poor people. All sorts of people with different backgrounds, but they all shared one thing in common:

A huge gratitude towards Gekko Moria.

Perona told Mihawk that in the town they lived in there had been a factory and Morias family had been part of the owners. Nearly all of the townsfolk worked in the factory or they depended on it indirectly. But when the economy went down, the factory was closed. Moria had been well off and he could have lived with relative ease for the rest of his days, but he couldn't forget the townsfolk who had lost their main source of livelihood. So he started to work for the good of the people. He felt it was so rewarding, that he studied as a social worker. Many of the people would have gone under if not for his help. When asked if her parents had worked in the factory Perona had changed the subject quickly. She didn't like to speak of her biological family.

In the end Morias savings had been used leaving him and Perona scraping by. But he still kept helping others and those who now had it well for them helped him with donations so he wouldn't have to use his meager salary on that.

Perhaps because of his background Moria had disliked Mihawk, a person with all that money that comes from exploitation or so he said of every lawyer. And Moria had secretly been jealous to Mihawk for having the luxury of witnessing the first years of his sons life, something he did not get to do with Perona. But now-a-days with Zoro around he had got to enjoy being a grandfather and gotten to know Mihawk. He even liked him now.