Hiya!

So here comes new chapter for this story :)

Disclaimer: nope.

Beta'ed by awesome lunarshores who tried to teach me what 'misplaced modifier' means.

Song of the chapter: To Have And To Hold by tAKIDA

Important A/N at the end.

Marco was bored. Very bored. He was supposed to have a day off, but chief called him in, saying that they'll be checking out their new station, together with the East Blue department. That was supposed to happen like an hour ago. They were already at the station, but the East Blue was nowhere to be seen. Rather, someone up top (Marco pointedly looked up in the sky, as he was standing in the back yard of the new station) decided that East Blue shouldn't have an easy day. At first they were called off to a car crash, now it was a fire in an apartment building...

Marco heard voices rise in the garage, so he went back inside. It must have been a joke of some kind, for sure. There was a cadet from East Blue, looking extremely intimidated by annoyed faces from the North Blue. Marco made his way to ask the cadet some questions about his department.

"Oi, cadet, what's your name?" Marco asked, looking down at the terrified kid.

"Coby Jones, sir," the kid answered, straightening.

"What are you doing here, Jones? Aren't you supposed to be with your department?"

"Lieutenant Portgas told me to come here after I was done with my MRI," the kid answered, scared stiff.

"You'll have to elaborate, I'm not following you." Marco frowned. "Did you get hurt or what?"

"Nothing serious, sir," the cadet answered. "And, I guess, Lieutenant was fine as well, if the doctor let him go to the scene. I didn't actually see him, because MRI took much longer than a CT."

"Wait, did Firefist get hurt?" asked Doma, confused.

"All I know is that he had a dislocated shoulder, but he had to get a CT, because the car exploded."

"Was he in that car, or what?" Sarkies snapped. "You're not making any sense!"

"Sarkies! Shut it." Marco said, turning his head slightly in the direction of the troublemaker. "You can continue," he said to the scared cadet.

"A car exploded behind us," said Coby stiffly. "Lieutenant was in the car, which flipped over because of the explosion."

"And where were you? In the car?" Marco frowned, he wasn't sure if he should be impressed or if he should hit Firefist really hard on the head. He hasn't decided what for, though.

"No, I was standing right behind Lieutenant." Coby answered. "I was just thrown over that car."

"You sure you're okay?" Doma asked, worried.

"The scan didn't show anything, so it's just some bruises." the cadet blinked at Doma, surprised by the concern the older firefighter was showing. "Don't worry, I'm totally fine."

Marco chuckled. Just some bruises. He knew a couple of firefighters, who would have used it as an excuse to get a few days off of work,; however, this kid just shrugged it off. It was either the kid, who was so dedicated, or it was the mentality of the East Blue department shining through. For some reason, Marco chose to believe it was the latter.

"Fine? Who told you that? You should take some rest," said one of the older firefighters.

"I'm fine as long as I long as I am able to pull my weight," the kid said with great conviction., "That's what Lieutenant told me on my first day."

"And when you can't?" Bellamy asked with a sneer.

"The others will pull it for me until I recover and can pull it again."

Marco just shook his head slightly, smiling. This philosophy reminded him of his family and the support they granted to each and every member, no matter what. North Blue department wasn't like that, unfortunately. They were sharks - either you swim or you sink and become a prey. Marco was fine with such mentality, but it wasn't very welcoming to the new recruits. It wasn't surprising that there weren't any new faces in the last couple of years. He was brought back by the sound of Bellamy's laughter.

"What a load of crap!" Bellamy said. "You really believe that?"

"Yes," the cadet answered at the same time as Marco growled:

"Zip it, Bellamy."

As Bellamy raised his hands in defeat and backed away, Marco smirked - he still was the biggest fish in a pond full of tadpoles. Cocky, overconfident and somewhat strong, but still tadpoles.

"Come, cadet, I'll give you a tour," Marco said, as he 'claimed' the easy prey. Poor kid was going to be eaten alive, if he was left alone with the hungry sharks. He couldn't let that happen, because if the East Blue department was like a family, like his family, they'd get an all-out war between the two.

The new station consisted of two wings, which were mirrors of each other. On the first floor there was a drive-through garage, connected to the administration on both sides. Further in the back there was a laundry room. Mechanical supplies and a closet were in the back of the garage. The administration was shielded from the garage by two walls, creating a corridor in between, which led to the stairs to the second floor.

On the second floor, above the garage, there was a common canteen with a kitchen, connected, on each side, to a lounge with a TV and sofas. Next to the lounge were the sleeping quarters, and behind them were the showers. The sleeping quarters and the showers were divided by a corridor, much like the garage and the administration. There was another staircase, which led to the laundry room. Next to the showers was a locker room, where they'd get changed from their regular clothes to their uniform.

They went down the stairs to the laundry room and out to the back yard through the back door. Outside there was large space for the trucks to drive into garage, but also an outside gym and a basketball court. All in all, Marco liked the premises, mostly because of the outside gym - they hadn't had one in their old department. The cadet, however, liked the basketball court and the lounge more, and Marco couldn't blame him - everything was clean, new, and looked really welcoming.

They went back to the garage just in time to see the East Blue department trucks drive in. They parked in the back, and Coby immediately left Marco's side to join his co-workers. Those co-workers jumped out of the trucks and out of the ambulance, not paying any attention whatsoever to the building or curious faces of the North Blue department. Marco walked closer, wondering what was going on, when he heard someone of the East Blue shout:

"Who's got the ball?!"

Right in front of Marco they divided themselves into two teams and took the basketball court. They fished a ball out of nowhere and the battalion chief, was appointed the judge, which surprised Marco. Marco rubbed his eyes, in case there was something wrong with them, but no - the East Blue firefighters (and one paramedic, the other one was a second judge), dirty, tattered and smelling like smoke, threw their jackets on the ground and were playing basketball as if they only come for that.

The teams were even and the way they played against each other, Marco figured that they played basketball pretty often. However, the fight was mainly between the smiling lieutenant, who seemed totally fine, and the green haired paramedic, who, despite being half blind, gave the lieutenant a run for his money. Another thing that Marco noticed, was that the cadet, who came to the station first, was playing on one of the teams. One would expect that cadets weren't allowed to play with their sempais, but they seemed to be a part of the team.

Slowly, the North Blue department gathered around, staring at the game, gaping. This was definitely not something they would have expected. And, most certainly, they didn't expect that the battalion chief, Shanks Red, would be egging his guys on. Marco found it very amusing, the way the red haired chief yelled something like 'Whitey, where the hell are you looking?' or 'What's wrong, Morgan, my grandma can run faster than that and she's ancient!' Marco laughed as the woman, Whitey, told her chief to stick it. The fun continued until Marco's battalion chief, Vergo Smith, came over. Vergo Smith was a stern-looking man with short hair, weird sideburns and a short beard. He was never seen without his sunglasses, even during night-time.

"Shanks! What is this?!" Vergo asked, angry.

"Smithy! Hiya there!" Shanks waved his hand carelessly, smiling so wide that Marco was sure he saw the guy's molars. "Guys just got excited, when they saw the court. I mean, what they didn't do, to make something even remotely looking like one... Why don't we play against each other?"

There was some excited murmur among the North Blue firefighters, but Marco knew their chief all too well. Meanwhile, the East Blue guys stopped playing and looked at their audience. The blond couldn't help but notice that the Firefist, who was in possession of the ball and held it in the crook of his right arm, close to the torso, was looking right at him, looking mildly surprised. Then he flashed one of his blinding smiles, completely disarming Marco, who caught himself staring at the younger man's well-toned body.

He noticed movement behind the smiling firefighter and saw the green-haired paramedic come over and lean on Firefist, saying something to him in low voice, his only eye looking at Marco. Firefist nodded with a smile, and turned his attention back at Marco, as he raised his left arm in greeting manner. Marco nodded back, but couldn't help himself but hate the casual way the paramedic was leaning on the firefighter. To everybody it looked like a friendly gesture - his left elbow on Firefist's shoulder, legs crossed, but Marco still hated how close they were.

"You know we don't have time for that," Vergo said sternly.

"Aw, come on! Don't be such a party-pooper," the red haired chief laughed; his department chuckled behind him. Marco himself couldn't help but smile at Shanks' behaviour. However, after one look on Vergo's face, Shanks rolled his eyes. "Fine. Alrighty, boys and girls, we can play later, when the party-pooper isn't around. For now, be nice kids and introduce yourselves, like we agreed."

Marco really started to like Shanks, at least more than his own battalion chief. The way Shanks talked to his subordinates reminded him of his Pops. While Marco thought, Firefist stepped forward, finally ridding himself of the paramedic.

"'Sup, everybody! My name's Ace D. Portgas, I work part-time at 'Sabaody', so feel free to come by. I do some martial arts in my spare time," he stopped, as if thinking if he should mention it, but then deciding on what- the- heck. "Nickname's Firefist." Immediately, someone from his department shouted 'Fireass!' and they roared with laughter; Ace laughing as well. "And, as you see, a lot of people will be calling me Fireass for the next month at the very least, so, really, whichever you like more." Ace took the ball in both hands and threw it to a weird guy with make up on, who was doing some ballerina twirls slightly away from the group. He caught the ball, glaring at Ace, but stepped forward.

"My name is Bentham Clay, you can call me Bon Clay. Un, deux, trois," the man started twirling again. "I teach ballet at the Kambakka Dancing Academy. Un, deux, trois," he threw the ball away, not looking where it went, as he went on with his twirling. The one, who caught the ball was the woman, who told Shanks to stick it during the game.

"Bay Whitey. Part-timing as pâtissière at Amazon Lily restaurant, specialising in frozen desserts. Some call me the Ice Witch," she threw the ball at the paramedic with long nose.

"Um, hi," the paramedic said, somewhat insecure. "I'm Usopp Sogeking, and I'm assistant manager at Franky House," he threw the ball away as fast as he could, clearly uncomfortable at the attention he was getting from the grim-looking firefighters from North Blue. The ball went to the second paramedic, who stared at the ball, as if it was his arch-enemy.

"Zoro Roronoa," he didn't say anything else, as he threw the ball behind him. That earned him a hit on the head from his battalion chief, who wasn't satisfied with his introduction, but didn't force him to say anything else.

The ball went around the East Blue department, as each of them introduced him- or herself and said a line about what they did with their time, when they weren't wearing uniform. Shanks got to say a few lines too, and then Coby, who got to be the last one, threw the ball to Marco. Both departments stared at him with curiosity, as Marco stared at the ball in his hands. He was slightly at loss; he had no idea what to say. What could he say, anyway? He didn't do anything interesting with his spare time, and he sure as hell wasn't going to bring his Pops up as a conversation starter.

"Um..." Marco could see, why the Sogeking guy didn't like this and why Roronoa skipped the whole thing. "My name is Marco Jenkins and, I guess, I teach martial arts at Moby Dick orphanage in my spare time?" he said, somewhat unsure if it was good enough. He passed the ball to the closest guy to his right, happy to be done with it. Suddenly, there were claps coming from East Blue guys. He looked up to see both Firefist and Pirate Hunter clapping; Firefist smiling at him encouragingly. Why the hell Roronoa would clap for him, he had no idea, but other members of East Blue department started clapping as well; their battalion chief looking like a super-proud soccer-mom.

They clapped after each guy from North Blue introduced himself - there weren't any female firefighters among them. When the last guy threw the ball back to Ace, Shanks shouted:

"Okay, kids, let's go check our new place out. Coby, lead the way!"

Coby moved forward to Shanks and waved his hand, showing the way. The way the East Blue firefighters went after their battalion chief, strongly reminded Marco of kindergarteners trailing after their teacher. It would have been more visible, if everyone held hands, but it was still obvious. Some of the North Blue firefighters snickered, as they watched the group go in the garage, chatting among themselves. Once the East Blue department disappeared from sight, everybody turned to Vergo, who was silent the whole time.

"You've got to be kidding, are we supposed to work together with that kindergarten on a field trip?" Bellamy said loudly, there was some agreeing murmur and nods among the firefighters.

"Apparently," Vergo nodded curtly.

"They seemed nice, though," Doma disagreed.

"The one who seemed half-good was Roronoa," said Sarkies and, again, there was some agreeing murmur.

"Is that because he was the only one who refused to introduce himself?" Doma asked.

"He was the only one who knew how stupid it was," Bellamy said.

"Didn't you introduce yourself as well, eh, Bellamy?" Marco looked at Bellamy from the corner of his eye.

"Don't tell me that you actually like them?" Bellamy sneered.

"So what?" Marco turned to face Bellamy head on.

Suddenly there was a loud crash coming from the canteen above the garage. Right after that came loud laughter, and they vaguely heard somebody shout 'Put it back before someone sees it!'

"What are they, five-year-olds?" Sarkies pointed at the canteen with an exasperated look on his face. Marco just laughed at that.

They didn't get into a full-blown argument only because, in a minute, the East Blue department toppled out of the laundry room, laughing. They did seem like a bunch over-excited kids, who got to go on a fun field trip. Of course, there were exceptions who weren't shouting and laughing loudly, but even they looked like they were having a great time. Oddly enough, their chief was one of the loudest ones, and, even through the ruckus, they could still hear 'Un, deux, trois!'

"This is crazy!" Bellamy complained.

Marco didn't mention that to him, as someone who'd grown up with fourteen siblings, that kind of behaviour was totally normal and acceptable, but perhaps to the others, who had smaller families, it seemed childish and unnecessary.

The loud group came closer, and Shanks shouted over the noise:

"Come on, party-pooper, why don't our boys play together?"

"Um, Shanks?" Ace came to his chief and tapped him on the shoulder. Shanks turned to Ace with an expression of doom on his face.

"Is it Luffy again?" Shanks asked, whatever hope was left in him shattered, as Firefist nodded. "What did he do this time? Does Zoro need to go too?"

"He bit the lunch-lady. Again. And no, Zoro can stay, unless he wants to come with me and try to convince the principal to not to throw Luffy out of the school," Firefist rolled his eyes. "So, you coming?" Ace turned to Zoro.

"Nah, Rayleigh loves Luffy," the paramedic answered, yawning. "And, despite what she says, Dadan likes the kid too. I don't get it, why the hell are we summoned there every single time Luffy does something?"

"Because of Akainu," Ace growled, hate deepening his voice; Marco was surprised by the stark contrast between the usual smiling firefighter and the dangerous animal he was now seeing.

"Oh, right. Maybe I should come with you, after all," Roronoa bared his teeth in a feral grin; a very different side from the bored-looking guy, who was annoyed that his presence was required at this stupid unceremonious ceremony, Marco noticed.

"I'll give you a ride," Usopp sighed, as he went to the ambulance.

"Say 'Hi' to Luffy!" Shanks said, as he waved good bye.

So, this important A/N. I'm putting the story on hold. Don't throw rocks at me, I'm putting it on hold until I figure out something that I found missing, namely plot. Otherwise it'd just be another story of how Marco and Ace got together and while that's important, I feel like there should be more to it than that. I'm not abandoning it completely, just putting it on hold.

With that out of the way, I'd like to thank everyone for reviews, favs and follows.

Hope to see you soon,

~Rhe