You woke up the next day, buried in the comfortably warm and fluffy folds of Doflamingo's bed and you already had a deadly hatred for the very idea of leaving it. It was excruciatingly comfortable in this bed, and you had slept so soundly you were sore.

"Something has to be illegal with this bed." You mutter sleepily into a pillow that was promising a very efficient five more minutes.

"The only thing that bed's done that's criminal was lulling you off to sleep last night before I could so much as get a kiss goodnight." Doflamingo grumbles from nearby. Warm strong arms wrap around you from under the covers and pull you to his chest. "Since you seem to have slept well, I suppose I can pardon its crime."

"Mmhm." You nuzzle into him, wiggling your back into his chest as though you needed to be just a little closer. "Thank you, even if I realize thanks aren't required."

"Hm? For what, my love?"

"For keeping me company on such short notice," you clarify. "I realize it wasn't like I asked you to move mountains, but I know the last few weeks were hard for you. Maybe even more so than-Eep!" You squeak in surprise as teeth nip at your neck.

The nip turns into a deep, hard kiss of your skin, teeth sinking into you. The bite feels like it might be drawing blood and you hiss at the mix of pleasure and pain, a sound that turns into a moan as hot fingers slip over your clit and between your thighs. His other hand slips along your jaw, one finger pushing into your mouth and pinning your tongue in place. Something about the action made the heat rush through your body.

He nips at your ear, "If you're going to spout nonsense, my dear, then I shall simply have to seal your lips." His finger leaves your mouth as his hand turns your head toward him. With an easy motion he kisses you, stopping the question on your lips and devouring you.

His arms hold you in place as the feel of his fingers between your thighs and the rising heat in your chest from his deep kiss make your head swim. There was no escape and you wanted none. It was the sweetest way to greet the new day. He slips his leg between yours, hooking one of yours over his thigh and spreading your legs apart, plunging fingers deep inside you while rubbing his wrist against your clit at the same time.

Your body tenses, and you moan and wiggle under him. He breaks the kiss and you have enough time to breathe in a few gulps of air before the climax hits you, and you cry all your pleasure back out into the air.

Pleasure weakens all your limbs and you're breathing heavy. The whole thing had been completely unexpected, and you'd only just been healed enough to be working for a week, after weeks of bed rest and recovery. It was going to take time to return to being able to survive nights in bed with Doflamingo.

"Buh-wah... were we talking about?" The start of your sentence was messy, but he gets the gist of it.

"Nothing of grand importance." He assures you. "Let me help you get cleaned up and we can go downstairs for breakfast."

"Mmhmmm," your voice has an airy pleasure to it, as you let yourself be led out of bed and into the bathroom. You were halfway through a shower with Doflamingo before your senses really came back to you, between the haze of waking up and the bliss of your earlier orgasm. Suddenly you're very aware of the both of you being in the shower, with him knelt down and scrubbing your legs for you.

"Fully awake now, my dear?" He muses, having felt the tension slip through you momentarily.

"Yes, I... um... feel that was a little one-sided." You manage meekly, your face going red as the washcloth was deliberately brought up your leg, over the curve of your ass and up your spine. The warmth of his proximity and the rumble in his chest are comforting, despite the delightful danger of the situation.

"I promise I enjoyed it more than you expect." There was a click of cap being undone and big warm hands begin massaging shampoo into your scalp. The sensation was enough to start mushing your thoughts again, but your moans were appreciative more than orgasmic.

"Mm, I haven't had someone who wasn't a hairdresser wash my hair before. This is nice."

Doflamingo's tone is pleased, but also matter of fact. "Well, if I know you as well as I believe I do, we'll be having an unpleasant conversation later, and I thought this was the least I could do."

You smile sadly. "You're not wrong."

Doflamingo insists on rinsing your hair as well, and it is a surprisingly gentle and comforting experience. With your eyes closed, it takes some of the edge off the fact that a very well-sculpted giant of a man was completely naked in front of you, rivulets of water running down perfectly tanned abs.

Ahem.

After he finishes rinsing you off, he gives you a warm kiss on your forehead and ushers you out of the shower so he can take care of himself. In more ways than one, you're quite sure.

You weren't surprised to find clothes for yourself, the fine details of some of your memories were hazy still, but you wouldn't have been surprised to learn you either brought clothes over on your own, or clothes had been bought for you. It was weird thinking that you were dating someone who could buy your wardrobe five times over and not even need to think about it impacting his budget.

Breakfast was quiet enough. Sugar gave you a hug, but her and Monet were already headed out of the kitchen. Sugar had been very good about giving you space lately, but today she hugged for a little longer than usual. You assured her you were feeling better and looked forward with playing with her soon.

"Promise?" She prompted, knowing full well what it meant.

You smiled, but shook your head, patting her hair. "I can't promise yet, but I'll do my best, okay?"

She was a little sad about that, but accepted it.

After you ate, Doflamingo took you to the meeting room that had started it all. You ran your hands over the wood-grain of the table, and stepped around the room quietly. You could picture people in their seats, and the tempo of the conversation.

"I was still healing from Deckard," you mutter. "I was tired of being cooped up, and then that damnable paper with its frustrating headline was in front of me. The picture from the date, an invasion of my quiet life." You breathe in deeply and sigh softly. "I feel bad I got mad at you for that, even for a second."

"I understood everything then," he assures you quietly.

"Our assumption was that they were going to try and liberate me from Pops, and whisk me away somewhere to... well, break me, so that I would at least seem to love my father. It would make my father more of a hero, and make Pops look like enough of a threat to justify essentially waging war on his family and estate." It wasn't easy to talk about, but it all still feels a little removed from you. "Vergo suggested turning that on its head, and that's all I really remember."

You take the card and set it on the table, sitting where you had sat before. "Walk me through it."

Doflamingo is silent for a moment, and then sits down beside you.

"It was decided you would stay at Newgate's estate. You would've been safer here, but we weren't part of the narrative, and having you stay at your place was out of the question. It was two days later that the military rolled up to the gates, and we were ready.

"There were cameras, and a live feed. You faced the military with words you'd spent the last two days practicing. It was your story, and you bellowed it out with all the force and confidence of a god. Your... father... was furious. I think he expected a battered and scared girl, and what he found instead was an unharmed warrior, quoting lines from the official release and then denying them one after another.

"The plan," he says the word with some disappointment. "Was to anger him and cause an altercation with the live feeds going. One of my own people was on the marine side of things and was ready to shoot you."

"I can't believe you were okay with that."

"I wasn't." He admits shortly. "But you had a modified protective vest on, the round was non-lethal, and the shooter was well-trained. Even if the shot got through the vest, it would only look gruesome, and Law was already tucked away inside Newgate's estate to tend to you if anything went wrong. As much as I wasn't okay with the plan, it was solid enough."

"Headlines read: Military Murders Innocent Civilian Over Words," you mutter. "I remember something about that."

"Monet's words," he explains. "A true storm of news, throwing the military into a worse position after the exposé, and eventually a story about Edward Newgate having you rushed to a top hospital and sparing no expense or resource to save you. Suddenly, the egg on your father's face would turn rotten on top of it all, and you'd become effectively untouchable.

"Anything happens to the Newgate estate, and people would talk. Anything causes you to disappear, and people would talk." He grumbles, "it was a good plan."

"You sound like you're still trying to convince yourself."

"No. I'm trying not to be angry about it," he admits. "If I fault the person who came up with plan it would make it difficult to continue dating her."

"... oh."

"Vergo helped you refine it, and I can't be angry with him either." Doflamingo sighs. "But things went sideways. You father stayed quiet. It was unsettling. He simply turned on his heel and left. The only one who was unfazed by his reaction was you. You took it as a sign of acquiescence on his part and basically said he couldn't speak against the truth you both knew."

A smile crosses his features. "That intuition of yours... You'd be dangerous in the business world, my love." You can feel the heat rising up your neck despite yourself. "The next day the world was buzzing with your story. We all thought that you'd managed to make the original plan work without any risk or bloodshed."

You could see the veins in Doflamingo's forehead, and the anger rising on his skin as his fingers clench against themselves. "It was my fault for thinking we had won. It was Newgate's fault for thinking you were safe in his estate. The next night you vanished from your room."

"That's... that's not possible." You're genuinely confused. "I practically made that place impenetrable growing up. Every time I'd find a blind spot, or pick a lock, Pops would correct the oversight. Sabo and Ace are impossible to sneak up on, or by, even when they're asleep. Marco and Thatch go from asleep to fully alert in a second, maybe two. It's ingrained in those boys. Even Luffy's been known to fight in his sleep. Never mind someone sneaking in to grab me – and I would've put up a fight – I don't think I could've snuck out even if I'd tried my best."

"Marco and Thatch asserted much the same." Doflamingo continues. "We're not entirely sure how, but no one was drugged, there was no residue of smoke or anything else. Monet's best theory is that a low frequency sound device was used to disorient everyone in the estate and force them unconscious. After which they removed you and did nothing else."

"How in the hells did you guys find me?"

"Agent Smoker."

Your eyes widen. You knew deep down that Smoker wasn't a bad guy, or at least not a corrupted Marine, but the idea that he would essentially rat out his superiors was surprising.

"Between Newgate and myself we had mobilized the entire city. Your friends even networked out to everyone they knew. Your friends, Nami and Koala, went crying in front of news cameras saying that the Military had abducted you against your will." He explains. "It wasn't surprising that Agent Smoker had gotten wind of what was going on. According to what he had told," he pauses trying to recall a name, "the mechanic friend, Eustass?"

You nod.

"According to him Smoker and his assistant wanted you to be free to choose your own path. Apparently, he's very aware of your past and your personality?" Doflamingo raises an eyebrow.

"Augh, yes." You put your head in your hands. "Mr. Agent and Miss Agent have been aware of who I was since I was like 16. Well, him before her since she's closer to me in age. We got into a few heated arguments, and I spilled the whole dirty tale to him once. He never turned me into my dad or the military, and I think he was trying to shield me from it all. I saw him and Tashigi at the carnival, but they were doing some civil service for some group of kids.

"I don't like Smoker, but I don't dislike him, so please try to refrain from any hostility toward him. He's a marine, but he means well."

"Hmph." Doflamingo grunts, but he doesn't say anything either way. You decide to leave it be, no offense to Smoker, but if he sticks his nose in the Family's business, that's his problem.

"So, Smoker helped, and you found me?"

"It took two days." His voice is caught between anger and pain. "No one knows what happened during that time, except you, but -." He continues. "We raided the safe house you were in. They were forced to lay low with the city bustling, and Monet found them. The families of Newgate and Donquixote descended upon them. Your father managed to drag you with him, and it took a while for us to realize you weren't in the building.

"When I found you..." Doflamingo licks his lips as though his throat had gone dry. "You were covered in blood. You didn't say anything. You..." Your stomach's twisting, he isn't one to struggle with words. "You collapsed into me, and the last thing you said to me, or anyone, was that it hurt."

He seems to struggle with his anger for a moment, or maybe it was some other emotion he was suppressing to continue speaking. You reach out and hold his hand in support, and at the feel of your fingers he grips your hand almost desperately.

"Vergo found your father's body shortly after. Given the condition you were in, it was hard to say if you had killed him or not. Whatever happened, you sustained enough injuries that by the time the young doctor was done patching you up he'd used ten bags of blood. I've never seen someone require so much blood and survive it." His hand clenches and his face pales.

Fear. He'd been afraid.

Pieces of his story had triggered snippets of memory in your mind. Your eyes roam while you let your mind focus on them and try to hold onto what you could. You do your best to share the things coming into your head.

"I said I trusted you, 'cause I trusted that you'd assign the right people to keep me safe. I was putting my life in your hands, in a way, and... I promised..." You put a hand to your mouth and gasp a little at the memory. "I promised to tell you how I felt... about you... because I-." You stop, tucking away the vocalization before it could slip out.

You're mortified. You knew you loved him, but you didn't want to tell him before the plan resolved. If it had failed, you had planned to lie. You'd practiced saying that you didn't love him over and over until you could say it evenly and naturally. If the plan went wrong, you wanted him to be able to move on. Whether it failed because you died or failed because you were taken away. You didn't want to have told him that you loved him only to have things go wrong.

And then you FORGOT EVERYTHING.

"Gods-be-damned," You groan and put your head down. How utterly childish. In your defense you'd never felt this way about someone before, it was admittedly overwhelming. "I should've said it. I should've said it the minute it was brought up so you would know. So, you wouldn't have had to worry, or treat me carefully when I couldn't remember anything."

Doflamingo rubs your back comfortingly.

You look up at him. It wasn't romantic, it wasn't exactly how you wanted it to be, but after all this you needed to say it.

"Take your glasses off." You demand.

A smile spreads across his face as he removes his glasses and lets you look into his eyes.

Your face is heating up before you can even speak. "I love you," you say, almost pouting. "I'm pretty sure I was doomed the moment you gave me the bracelet. I think I knew I was caught when Sugar put those clips in my hair. When... when you handed me the gun," your laugh is almost a scoff. "It sounds weird to say it out loud, but knowing you understood afterward, it was like something clicked."

You hide your face back in your hands. "It's not a romantic confession, but I already made you wait too long, and a truth is a truth no matter how it's presented. I love you, Doffy." Your face is so red you can feel the heat in your ears and on your neck. You're probably lighting up the meeting room like an embarrassed Rudolph.

You hear him get up and aren't surprised to see him beside you before he grabs the entire chair and turns you toward him. He tilts you and the chair back as he leans down, your eyes caught in his gaze.

"I was interested in you when you saved my life, and I knew I cared for you when I saw you with my family." He leans in closer, kissing your forehead. "I knew I was in trouble when you told me to be a gentleman in the limo, and I realized the terrible truth when you called me for help.

"I, admittedly, regretted that for a brief moment, when you had me planning how to best shoot you," he smiles, despite the words, and leans down to whisper in your ear. "I love you, (Y/N), however dangerous that may prove to be for you."

"I've survived worse than you, Trouble." Your voice was barely a whisper, but considering the last couple months, you weren't wrong.

Tilting your head back slightly with a gentle hand, he kisses you. It wasn't a hungry kiss, or particularly forceful, but there was barely contained desire, need, and devotion within the persistent action. A sincerity all its own, and a sense of relief that causes quiet tears to slide down your cheeks.

It didn't matter what it would take to resolve the botched plan. It didn't matter what would need to be done for you to stay with Doflamingo – and by association, the public eye. You would find a way to make it work. Your quiet life might be slipping through your fingers, but as long as you weren't facing the spotlight alone, it didn't seem so bad.