The next morning started with Luffy sat upon your chest, staring at you from a distance most cats would find disrespectful.

The dark wide eyes were a bit bug-like, from this angle, and the stillness was a little unsettling, but to your credit, you didn't jerk or startle. The two of you stared at one another for a full minute, Luffy nearly unblinking, and you barely with your eyes open before you woke up enough to find any useful words.

"Is breakfast ready?" You mumble, and Luffy nods.

"Are you okay?" He asks. The words are young, but the tone feels older. Heavier. Concerned in a way that makes your heart ache.

"I am. I... I'm a little sad, but I'm okay." You admit, giving him a sleepy smile. "Were you worried?"

He shakes his head, finally closing his eyes for more than a split second, and leaning back. "I was going to beat up whatever was making you sad."

A vivid image of Luffy beating his tiny fists against the halvard came into your mind and you couldn't help but laugh. Lifting his hat, you ruffle his hair until he squirms away, taking his hat back before hopping off the bed.

"I appreciate your willingness to do that for me." You clarify. When you smile this time it's easier and admittedly you don't feel nearly as sad. When you'd gotten home yesterday you'd hidden away in the bathroom, soaking in the tub and quietly letting the last few tears come out.

You hadn't expected the whole thing to hit you so hard, but you heard Dadan telling the boys to leave you be for a bit. You managed enough energy for dinner, and fell asleep on the couch with three boys crowded around you and just as deeply asleep.

Dadan must've put you all to bed at some point.

"I'll be down in a minute." You say and Luffy's face brightens in response before he runs out of your room, heading downstairs and yelling that you're awake and you're only a little sad. You can hear Sabo and Ace trying to get him to quiet down, but once you get downstairs you nearly cry again.

The boys have made you a Be Happy plate, according to the careful writing on the napkin draped over your plate. It had half the town's breakfast on it, as far as you could tell. Piles of bacon, toast, eggs, flapjacks, blueberries, a cup of coffee, a glass of milk, another of water, a bowl of oatmeal and even a few slices of thick ham.

Quietly sipping a cup of coffee, Dadan is pointedly minding her own modest plate.

The boys look concerned, but you manage to keep the tears in and get your face into a proper smile. "It's almost perfect." You declare, coming over and sitting down. "But the only way a Be Happy meal can make someone happy is if they share it, so you'll all have to help me eat this to make sure I'm happy."

It was, admittedly, the first time you'd seen a full blown smile on Ace's face as all three of them sat around you, ready to help. Sabo buttered you some toast, and Ace said you should put an egg on it, and Luffy set two pieces in bacon in front of you first, before eating some for himself. A show of affection if there ever was one.

The four of you worked on the plate, and you kept sneaking extra food toward the boys. There was way more than enough for you, and even in the couple days you'd been here you'd become painfully aware of how much these three could eat. Especially Luffy. You were pretty sure his stomach doubled like a kitten's when he had a belly full enough to finally sate him.

Once breakfast was done the boys handled the clean up, as well as they could, and Dadan made some coffee for you after they had taken off to go play outside.

"Smooth." She says, lifting her cup toward you.

"They're sweet boys. Fortunately they are very food motivated sweet boys, because there was no way I could eat all that myself." You admit with a laugh.

"Seems their plan worked too."

Smiling you take a sip. "Yeah. It's hard to be sad when you're sharing a meal with your family."

Dadan hums in agreement, and the two of you clean up the kitchen a little more thoroughly than the boys managed to do. Shortly after that your phone rings.

"Ah, it's the boss, I gotta take this." You say and Dadan waves you out of the kitchen.

"Hey." You answer simply.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Katakuri begins.

"Nah, we just finished cleaning up after breakfast, I have time to talk. What's the word?"

"Mom wants to get your silence in writing," he explains. "It's a decent payout, with a severance package on top of it. No strings on future prospects, but you'd have to voluntarily resign, and sign an NDA regarding the reasons behind your resignation."

You make a face, but you're sure Katakuri can envision it. "It's not that I want to put what he was doing out on the airwaves for the world to see, but I don't want to exactly lose that leverage either. As a first offer though, that certainly removes any hope of continuing to work there."

"Her anger is more toward him than you, but she took the return of the ring personally."

"The fuck?" You quip. "Gods Kata, did she pick it out?"

"Probably." He sighs.

You take in a deep breath and sigh. The act is followed by a sound of pure aggravation. "Can you at least tell me who they were to him?"

"Tori, according to my brother, was simply there. He and Nokotti had been in a relationship for some time, but I guess when he brought up the prospect of choosing his own wife a few years back, mom shot him down." Kata explains. "I guess he decided not to push it, in case Mama decided to remove her from the equation entirely."

"A function of your family and its business I've never liked."

"I know."

"Is there an option number two?"

"Not one you're going to accept."

You pause for a moment until realization dawns on you. "Yeah, I'm not going to just forget what happened and decide to be engaged again."

"Even Mama didn't figure you would." He admits. There's a moment's silence before he speaks again. "The package is good. I even padded it as much as I could. I don't like this as a resolution, but this was the best I could get her to go with. I tried to go in for a compromise."

"I know. I know you did everything you could, boss. You're a good man."

"I appreciate that you think so, considering what my family's done to you."

"You might be related, but you're not them." You retort. "The only thing is that I want to work. I'm good at what I do, and I busted my ass at that job for years to get to where I got! That something wholly unrelated to the quality of my abilities gets me effectively fired is fucked up."

"I agree."

Pinching the bridge of your nose, you flop down on the chair in the den. "Sorry, I shouldn't be yelling at you. You're not to blame."

"I have no issue providing you a way to vent, Miss Curly."

You snort. "One day you're going to call me by something more friendly, Kata-can."

You can picture his brow twitching at the nickname, but he doesn't correct you. It was born out of deciding that Katakuri could do anything he wanted to, if he put his mind to it. You made the terrible mistake of saying "Of course Kata can!" during a conversation and then went on a tear with it.

You blame the abundance of coffee you had that day, but honestly you were trying to get a reaction out of Katakuri, who was almost impossible to crack. When you threatened to call him Kata-candy-land instead he was suddenly more amenable to the first nickname.

Still, you used it sparingly.

"Unlikely." He grumbles and you can't help but laugh a little.

"Any chance I can get a letter of recommendation from you?"

"I'm going to make a few calls and see if I can line up some options for you." He answers. "It won't be until after the autumn feast, but I should have better news a couple days after that."

"Even better." You agree. "Do I have to accept or decline that severance package right now?"

"Legally, you don't have to decide until your vacation is over. We can't technically fire you until then." He explains. "No matter if anyone wants to, or not. If we did you'd have a field day in court."

"Goddamn right I would." You agree. "You'd be working for me by the end of it."

"Tempting." He says it so flatly you don't know if he's making a joke or not.

"In that case I'll take my time and chew on it. Is the severance packet already put together?"

"Almost. I'll have a copy in your email by the end of the day. Just... maybe print it out before you read it."

"Bwha— why?"

"Better to throw a few sheets of paper across the room, than your phone."

"Ah." You can't help but sigh again. "Thanks, Kata. I mean it."

"Of course. Enjoy your holiday, Miss Curly."

"You too, Mr. Charlotte."

Hanging up your phone you sigh again, looking up at the ceiling and just, sighing. Again. It felt a bit like yet another loss. In what was becoming a long line of losses. It didn't help they were all different kinds of losses, the weight of it all was starting to wear on you.

A light knock on the door frame pulls you out of your lament and you're surprised to see Marco standing there. Your confusion was clear as day and he smiles softly.

"Haruta and I are here to grab some spare tables for tomorrow's feast." He explains. "Your conversation sounded tense, I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm... er... I'll be okay." You admit, sighing in defeat and just letting the facade drop. Marco wasn't the boys, or Dadan, you didn't have to keep up pretenses. "It sucks right now, but it'll work out."

"You really enjoy that work, huh?"

You nod. "I do. In a very, I don't really want to stop doing it sort of way." You sigh again and Marco holds out a box of tissues. Huffing a half-hearted laugh, you grab a couple of them. "Thanks. It's just... I got to make a difference you know? Corporate bullshit aside, I was able to improve people's wages in the main company, and the umbrella branches. I did it without having to fire a whole department too. No one does my job the way I do my job." You assert.

Looking up at Marco you catch him grinning at you. "What?"

"It's nice to hear you brag like that."

"B-brag!" You snort. "It's not bragging when it's true."

"It's bragging when it's bragging, there's nothing wrong with it, yoi." He insists. "What company was it?"

"Candy Land Inc." You reply.

"Oh, the Charlotte family business, huh?" He clarifies and you nod. "And if I can be nosy, who was your boss?"

"Katakuri - do you know the Charlottes?"

Marco nods. "I know Kata more than the rest of them because of Maren," he explains. "But Pops and Linlin go way, way back. In a both worked for Rocks kind of way."

Your eyes go wide. "Pops worked for the mob?" You do your best to keep your voice down, and Marco nods, it takes a tick and then realization dawns on you. "Linlin worked for the mob..." You whisper the words in a sort of half-belief.

"Yup." He grins. "But that was what, almost thirty years ago at this point. Before our time, yoi."

"Not by much, but it's plenty of time for things to change. Man, Candy Land goes back almost fifty years, that certainly explains a lot about how it had such a strong start." You shake your head, deciding not to dwell on it. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Eh?"

"With the tables?" You clarify, standing up as Haruta pokes his head into the room.

"Tables are loaded, but we could use a few spare hands for the chairs and getting it all tied down." He says, giving you a wave, before looking up at Marco. "Can you talk some sense into Dadan? She's talking about going hunting to make sure there's enough to eat tomorrow."

"I'll handle that." You declare, getting up and squeezing between the two of them to get through the door. You push Marco into the door a little to avoid colliding with Haruta. "I don't want to spend the afternoon plucking and burning feathers, thank you. Hi Haruta, nice to see ya'."

"Same, same." He says, waving as you head off before looking up at Marco. "Are you-."

"Just," Marco interrupts. "Get the chairs."