One Winter's Night

Summary: Marco is a seasoned firefighter and his husband, Thatch, is a popular chef running his own restaurant. Their lives are forever changed one winter's night when an anonymous person leaves an unexpected delivery at the firehouse where Marco works. One Piece modern AU. Marco x Thatch. Rated 'T' to be safe.

Notes: I recently read a news article about a baby that had been left at a firehouse's baby-box, and honestly did not know they were still around. But, they are. The baby's alright, just so you guys know. So, after reading the article, this little idea popped into my head and I started to work with it. As always, I hope you guys enjoy and I look forward to your reviews.

P.S. I don't intend to put "Path Towards Tomorrow" on hold in favor of this story. Besides, I intend for "One Winter's Night" to be a relatively short story—five, maybe seven, chapters at the most.

Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda.

CH. 1: It's Not a False Alarm

In the seven years he's been stationed at the Red Line Fire Department, Marco has only heard the security alarm for the baby box go off only a handful of times. Each of those eight times it ended up being a false alarm triggered by curious kids who had no idea what it was or did. One such group had oh-so-kindly stuffed a raccoon in the box… That had been a nightmare. It was five firefighters against one pissed off racoon with extremely sharp teeth. Not a single one of them ended up bitten or scratched by the damned thing, and the raccoon—while spitting and hissing—ran off without so much as a 'thank-you very much' when they released it back into the wild.

After that, the chief insisted on putting a sign up to ward off any further potential pranksters. It didn't work.

Which is why Marco is grumbling when hears the tell-tale alarm go off while he's taking a quick doze in the bunkhouse. "Damn kids," Marco mutters, pushing the blankets off and dragging his half-asleep ass out of his bunk.

A head pops up from the bunk across from his. "Oh, good, you're already up, Marco. Give a shout if it's another raccoon or some other critter," Vista says before promptly rolling over to get some more shut eye.

"Haha," Marco gives his coworker's back the finger then stomps out, cursing.

As he heads downstairs, Marco wonders where the hell his other coworker—who's supposed to be up in case they're called out to fire—is at. He doesn't spy Jozu in the kitchen, though he does note the closed bathroom door and the light beneath. A midnight bathroom run it looks like. Also, judging from the sounds of it, his coworker was working overtime to get out of the bathroom as soon as possible.

Marco just shook his head. Rubbing the remnants of sleep from his eyes, Marco hurries over to the baby-box and shuts down the security alarm. Although he knows it's going to be another false alarm, he follows procedure by opening it and peeping inside.

Okay… So, this time around it wasn't a false alarm after all.

Marco's eyes bulge three times their normal size at the sight of a squirming bundle that in no way resembled a raccoon.

"Holy shit," Marco breathes. "Th-there's an actual baby in here yoi!"

Hearing his voice, the infant is suddenly awake and turning its little head towards Marco. Probably expecting someone else's face, not this guy's ugly mug, the baby began to cry. Loudly.

"Ah! Don't cry, little guy, it's going to be okay. I've got you yoi," Marco starts at the infant's crying. Gently as possible, he removes the baby from the box while tucking the blankets more snugly around its small body.

His coworkers, having heard the crying, naturally all get up to find out what's happening. They were just as surprised as Marco had been when they saw him holding the squalling baby in his arms.

"Shit. Someone actually left their baby in that thing," Jozu stammers, peering down into the baby's face.

"This is a first," Vista comments. "I've heard stories of it happening in other departments, but this is the first time someone's left a baby here."

"What are we supposed to do with it?" The new guy, Rakuyo, questions. "Do we call the police? Or take it to the hospital?"

"We have some medical training, but it's probably best we take the baby over to the hospital just to be on the safe side. There could be underlying problems we can't check for here."

"Vista's right yoi," Marco says, into the kitchen where he sets the baby down. By now, the baby has since stopped crying and is staring up at all the unfamiliar faces while Marco unwraps the blankets to check for any injuries. As he is doing so, a piece of paper slips onto the table. Curious, Marco picks it up to read it aloud. "It says, 'This is a hard choice, but I don't know what else to do. I can't give my son the care he deserves, so I'm giving him up with a heavy heart. I love him so, so much, but this is the best thing I can do for him. Please, I beg you, take care of him in my place. P.S. his name is Ace.'"

Sighing heavily, Marco sets the note down. "As sad as this is, it's probably for the best," Marco says, checking over the baby. His hand stills at the sight of the still attached umbilical cord. "Fuck, this is a newborn. I'd guess he's a couple of hours or maybe a day old yoi."

"Shouldn't we look for his mother then? She might need medical attention if she's recently given birth."

"We could try, but by this point she's likely long gone. In the meantime, let's get him to the hospital."

Marco agrees, carefully wrapping the baby back into the blankets his mother had left him in. "Someone should call ahead and let the hospital know we're coming with a baby yoi," Marco suggests. As Vista hurries off to do that, Marco lifts the baby into his arms who has started to cry again. Giving him his finger to suck on, Marco coos softly while slowly rocking the baby in his arms. "Hey, you're alright, Ace. Ssssshhhhh, you're safe now yoi."

Rather than leave the hospital, Marco decides to stick around and give Fossa a call to fill in for him at the station in case they were called in for an emergency. Since he's the one who found Ace, Marco felt entirely responsible for the baby and needed reassurance that he'd be alright.

Besides being hungry, the doctor informed Marco that Ace was a very healthy baby despite being born who knows where. It was encouraging to hear.

"What will happen to him?" Marco asks, peering through the glass into the nursery. He spots Ace, wrapped within a hospital blanket now with a blue cap covering his head, easily enough in one of the cribs.

The doctor also glances. "We've already contacted Child Services. Unless his mother has a change of heart and decides to come forward, he'll be placed into foster care to await adoption."

Foster care? Marco frowns. The idea didn't sit well with him at all until a sudden thought strikes him. He thanks the doctor, shaking his hand, and steps away to make a call to his husband.

Thatch picks up after the fifth ring.

"Marco? It's after one am…" he hears Thatch yawn sleepily on the other line.

"I know. Listen, Thatch, I'm at the hospital—" he never got to finish his sentence as Thatch shouts into the phone, causing Marco to cringe away from the sound.

"Did something happen? God, are you hurt?! You're hurt, aren't you? Shit, I'll be there soon!"

"I'm fine yoi. I promise I'm fine, Thatch. Look, someone left a baby at the firehouse tonight," he waits patiently as Thatch 'awwwed' before continuing. "Which is why I'm here at the hospital yoi. His mother gave him up, so he doesn't have anyone else. Um, I want to ask you what you think about being a dad?"

Utter silence. Then, "WHAT?!"

"Thatch, I think I want to adopt this kid. No, I want to. I know this is out of the blue, but I think we're ready to be parents yoi."

He hears Thatch squeak before Thatch's end goes silent again. There's suddenly a 'thud' that sounded very much like a body hitting the floor. Marco panics.

"Thatch yoi! Are you alight? Thatch? Thatch?!"

His husband, the man whom Marco treasures most in the world, had, to put it bluntly, passed the fuck out.