FicWad

"You're…aliens." She concluded. Glancing at each of their faces, they looked so human. Cautiously extending her pointer finger towards Penguin's face, she poked it. It felt like real human skin, too. Maybe they'd adapted to blend in with people?

"Hey!" He said, rubbing the spot she'd touched.

"I can assure you, we are in fact human." Law defended. Lexi shook her head.

"Time travel, or dimension traveling…whatever it is, it isn't possible. Science isn't that advanced." Law smirked again, and she found it rather annoying.

"The world we come from is very different from yours. I imagine you don't have Devil Fruits?" She shook her head. "They are fruits of unknown origin, holding the unique ability to grant the one who eats them with power."

"Captain has one!" Shachi said.

"The only weakness to this power is the inability to swim. The user would immediately sink to the bottom of the sea." He explained, and Lexi's brain gave up trying to understand.

"Did you guys come from a mental hospital or something?"

"We're not crazy." Penguin huffed, crossing his arms. Shachi mimicked the movement. Lexi scoffed.

"I beg to differ." She muttered, leaning back against the couch cushion. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just call the cops to take you away?"

Instantly, the bear had tossed the sword to Law, who caught it expertly and unsheathed it in one smooth movement. Her eyes widened, staring down the edge of a very large, very real sword. It looked a lot pointer when the tip was aimed directly at your face, as Lexi found.

"I've been courteous up to this point, Lexi-ya. However, I can resort to more devious methods to ensure my crew's survival. These, 'cops,' as you say, will not be called." He concluded, staring her down with malicious intent evident in his grey eyes.

She swallowed, slowly nodding as he lowered the sword. She raised her hands in surrender. "Ok, no need to get all pissy about it. But how do I know you won't kill me in my sleep tonight, even if I let you stay?"

He smirked again, sheathing his sword. "You don't."

She sighed heavily. "Of course." She replied sarcastically. "That's always how it is."

' /Great job, Lex. Letting strangers into your home, like an idiot. Rescuing them from a storm instead of driving away, like an idiot. Being threatened into submission, like a damn idiot.'/

"Well, then I guess I don't really have a choice but to let you stay. There's only one problem though." She rose from her seat on the couch.

"And what might that be?" He questioned.

Heading over to the kitchen connected to the living room, she opened the fridge and looked for something to eat inside. "We only have one guest bedroom, which is a single, so unless you're partial to sleeping on the floor or the couch, there's nowhere to put you." Finding a loaf of bread, peanut butter, and a jar of jelly, she set them all on the counter. Grabbing a knife from the drawer, she opened the loaf. "You guys must be pretty hungry, right?"

"Yes!" Shachi and Penguin jumped up from the couch, rushing over to the kitchen for food. They took places on the two stools facing the counter. "Thank you, Lexi-chan!"

"Oh…uh, no problem." She awkwardly accepted their thanks, not really sure what to say. The whole situation was still pretty strange. She was still half convinced she were dreaming or hallucinating. Or a weird mix of both. Maybe Brittany had slipped some drug into her coffee that morning…

Law and the polar bear remained in the living room, and Lexi raised a half-jellied piece of bread. "Are you guys hungry?"

"I don't like bread." Law said, shaking his head. Turning to the polar bear, and she couldn't believe that it was there at all still, she gestured to the kitchen.

"Umm…you eat fish, right?" The bear nodded. "I think there's leftover trout from last night's dinner. Help yourself." He brightened up instantly, meandering over to the fridge. Law still didn't move though.

"Well, is there anything you do like? If I have it I can make it." She offered. Honestly she didn't even know /why/ she offered, though being nice to the people who threatened to kill you minutes before was probably a smart investment, at least in her view. He shrugged.

"Onigiri." He stated promptly, and she hesitated.

"I…don't know what that is." She quickly went to the fridge, noticing the polar bear had found the container of fish and just dumped the contents into his mouth without cooking it. She conveniently ignored that fact. Listing off several things available, she rummaged through what was inside. "There's apples…or salad…some frozen pizzas…and…Nana, not again…" She muttered, reaching inside to take out Nana's box of .38 caliber pistol bullets and the corresponding weapon.

"Why are those in the fridge?" Shachi asked in confusion, munching away on his finished sandwich. She shook her head, unloading the weapon and hiding them in a high cupboard so her grandmother wouldn't find them again.

"Nana has a tendency to forget where she puts things, and then they'll be in really strange places because she forgets she has them. But she likes to keep bullets close by in case the 'Nazis ambush the camp' as she says."

"You mentioned a war." Law said, and she nodded. "What exactly caused it? And I assume your grandmother participated in it?"

"Yeah, she was in the medical camps treating wounded. And the cause is kind of a huge mix of politics. Basically, Germany didn't like Poland, so they attacked. The Brits didn't like that and retaliated. Japan decided to bomb the U.S. They got all angry and joined in, and smaller countries got dragged in because all the fighting was being done on their land." She finished, surprisingly enjoying the look of confusion on his face.

"I have never heard of these people. Who are they?" She laughed.

"Not people. Countries." He nodded, a bit more understanding shining through those grey orbs. Lexi found it hard to look away. She frowned, forcing her gaze onto her own sandwich. Putting the stuff away, she tried to hide her reddening cheeks of embarrassment.

' /The hell is wrong with me?'/

After they'd eaten their late-night snack, the question of the sleeping arrangement was once again an issue. "Well, there's one room with one bed, a couch, and I might be able to find an air mattress somewhere."

"We'll figure it out, right Shachi?" Penguin asked.

"Oh yeah, don't worry about us!" He gave a thumbs up. Shaking her head in amusement, she shrugged.

"Alright. The bedroom's upstairs." She led them up, making sure they all followed. "The bathroom's the door at the end of the hall, just so you know."

Opening the guest bedroom door, she held it open. Inside was a single bed, a large vanity with drawers, a closet, and a chest at the foot of the bed. A large window faced the front of the house, and the raging storm outside sent rain pounding against the glass.

"It's kind of small, but it's all we've got."

"It will do." Law said, following his friends inside. Lexi cleared her throat, forgetting one detail. "Oh, and if you hear Nana shouting in the middle of the night, don't worry. She wakes up thinking she's been captured as a prisoner of war. I'll take care of it if she does."

He nodded, and Lexi left them to themselves. Watching her depart, he saw her walk into a room further down the hall. So, she was housed not even thirty feet away. Either she was very trusting or had no other choice. He chose to believe the latter, smirking at the image of her wide eyes and raised hands of helplessness at the end of his sword.

Their experiences in this world were sure to be…adventurous.