This is not normally the kind of idea I'd write but it was suggested by a very extensive reviewer of mine and she's reviewed everything I've ever written and every chapter of everything I've ever written :) So while it isn't my usual kind of fic I wanted to write it for her because she's so awesome!

Merry Christmas Lizzie!

XxXxX

This was bizarre... beyond bizarre.

He was running flat out towards the research centre after the hell butterfly carried a message to him. He was about to become a father, but there had been no pregnancy, which just made him feel scared and unprepared as he used shunpo to try and carry him there quickly over the rooftops.

His white hair flared in the wind as he dashed, panic setting into his chest and his stomach clenching in knots at the idea… at the thought… but it all seemed so unreal.

It had only been 10 months ago that they'd made the decision…

xXxXx
Flashback…

xXxXx

Ichigo was acting weirder than usual, his lanky husband couldn't seem to sit still on the couch inside his office and he seemed restless. Toshiro was even sure at one point Ichigo had opened his mouth to say something then quickly closed it again, then opened it… then closed it before looking away. Toshiro was used to his husbands unusual behaviour as the two had been dating now for well over four years, but even this was exceptionally strange for him. The prodigy figured that his idiot would eventually tell him what was on his mind once he'd worked out the best way to word it, Ichigo was only ever this hesitant when he had a burning question but he wasn't sure how to ask it in a way that Toshiro would understand his point of view. The last time Ichigo had been this way was over a year ago when he'd wanted to ask the prodigy to marry him. There was another time before it when he'd wanted to ask Toshiro if they could switch roles in the bedroom, that conversation had been even more awkward. Ichigo did it once more, opening and closing his mouth and the Captain sighed his frustration, shooting his tall husband a glare.

'What is it Ichigo?'

'Nothing.'

He said it far too quickly and looked away down to his toes too fast. It had taken Ichigo about two years to finally break Toshiro into calling him by his first name outside of just the bedroom.

'Either say what's on your mind or leave and come back when you're ready to, your nervous reiatsu is disturbing my peace and I have a lot of work to get done today.'

'I-' Ichigo stood up quickly and walked towards the door, Toshiro frowned at him. Normally his bossy little outbursts worked and drew the information out of the taller male about what it was he actually wanted but this time he seemed like he actually wanted to leave. 'It was stupid,' he muttered and Toshiro narrowed his eyes.

'Ichigo wait,' the prodigy stood up from his desk as the strawberry paused half way out the door. Toshiro was worried now, he could feel affection flood inside him for his husband as he made his way over to the handsome man. 'Talk to me,' Toshiros voice had lowered to an octave of care he reserved only for Ichigo, his teal eyes softening as he gazed curiously up at the man who was refusing to meet his eyes.

'It's nothing, we can talk after your work I don't want to distract you,' he mumbled but he still wasn't looking at Toshiro. The ice prince frowned and tried to meet his gaze but the taller male just looked away again, it was very much out of character for him.

'Alright where will I meet you? I will finish early tonight.' Toshiro had a few documents that needed to get done today but the rest were not compulsory, he could ditch them to finish early so he could find out whatever was bothering his husband.

'I'll be at Yoruichi's place,' he mumbled before quickly leaving the office. Toshiro let him go, his face contorting in confusion as the strawberry quickly scampered from his sight.

Trying to finish paperwork after that was next to impossible, he knew he'd made crap work of it as he put it to the side ready for his first seat to collect but he didn't care. He had something else on his mind and that was the concern for his husbands unusual behaviour. He glanced at the clock, it was 3pm so he swiftly left the office and used shunpo to take him in the direction of squad two. Yoruichi and Soi Fon had been married for a couple of years longer than he and Ichigo, they had a large house in the centre of squad two where Soi Fon could work and where servants could help them raise their daughter when Yoruichi had to leave to carry out work with Kisuke.

They must have sensed his approach because when he rounded the corner to their house the gates were open and a servant bowed him in.

'Lady Yoruichi is waiting for you in the gardens Captain Hitsugaya,' he said and Toshiro nodded making his way swiftly towards the house.

Toshiro, Ichigo and Yoruichi had become rather close friends given they were the only people in a gay relationship in the whole gotei 13. They all had their suspicions of a certain red haired lieutenant and his Captain but they kept that discussion purely between themselves… that is that Yoruichi and Ichigo gossiped about it while Toshiro scowled from the corner.

He rounded the corner to the lavish back garden, which boasted a koi pond and a small waterfall that gurgled into the pond, the grass was always short and immaculate and a vivid green. Blossom trees hung around the garden, it was under one of them that Soi Fon had proposed to Yoruichi and so when their daughter was born they'd named her Hana which was the Japanese name for blossom.

'Captain Hitsugaya,' Yoruichi called waving him over, he smiled kindly to her and bowed low his respect after making his way over.

'Lady Yoruichi, how are you today?' she smiled pleasantly at him and patted the ground beside her where Toshiro lowered himself onto the grass.

'I am much better, it's good to get back into training after having a child,' she sat back on the grass and smiled at him.

'Where is Hana?' Toshiro glanced around the garden and Yoruichi smiled at him, he could see the smile from the corner of his eye it was almost a knowing smile… like she was hiding something or knew something he didn't.

'She's with your husband,' as if on cue Ichigo came around the corner with little Hana in his arms, she had them wrapped around his neck and was nuzzling into him. 'She absolutely loves Ichigo and it's nice to have some men around her, Ichigo and Kisuke she just adores.'

'Ichigo is easy enough to adore,' Toshiro mumbled softly as he watched his tall husband make his way over.

'She's asleep,' he whispered to Yoruichi with a grin, 'I think our game of tag tired her out she fell asleep on the grass when we took a five minute rest.'

'Thank goodness, she'll nap for the next couple of hours so I can get some housework done,' Yoruichi smiled and reached up to take her daughter but Ichigo seemed almost reluctant to let her go.

'I can put her to bed don't worry,' he hugged the small body tighter and Yoruichi just chuckled and nodded.

'Fine on you go then,' she waved him off and he carried her inside. 'Ichigo will make a fine father one day,' she said to Toshiro who blinked at the comment. He hadn't thought about it at all, but as he watched Ichigo going back inside with the one year old in his arms he realised that she was right. Ichigo loved children, he had looked after his sisters, he had looked after Nel and now he was always playing and helping with Hana, offering to look after her when Yoruichi and Soi Fon needed to work.

'Yes, I suppose he would.'

'What about you Captain? Ready for children?'

'I-' Toshiro shuffled on the grass, 'I do not think I have the time for a child.'

'What if Ichigo was the stay at home father and you worked?'

'I suppose…' Toshiro was looking at the reflection of the sun coruscating on the water of the koi pond as he contemplated. The thought of coming home to Ichigo and a child after a long day of work was kind of nice but there was something that was concerning him and Yoruichi seemed to sense it.

'What's wrong?'

'What if… what if the child ends up with my hair and eyes?' he frowned staring at the ground, 'what if they end up bullied?'

'They'd be the child of two of the most powerful soul reapers to ever exist, young soul reapers too, I think they'd do just fine.' She chuckled at him, it was true he was mostly alienated before he joined the soul society but even when he had went to the academy he was far from popular.

'I think Ichigo is-'

'Hey Toshiro, sorry about that,' Ichigo smiled down at the prodigy as he came back outside, Yoruichi stopped what she had been about to say to smile up at him.

'Did she go down okay?'

'Didn't even stir,' he smiled at her as he walked around to sit down beside Toshiro. Ichigo was usually very affectionate when they were alone and there would be lots of cuddles and kisses but he knew how Toshiro felt about public displays of affection in front of anyone even a friend as close to them as Yoruichi. As if sensing that the two had something to talk about she excused herself to go and check on some work, leaving the two of them to talk alone in the yard.

'You actually did finish work early then,' Ichigo smiled as he pulled Toshiro close now that they were alone.

'Yes well you had me worried, so are you finally going to tell me what's going on with you?'

'I-' he glanced towards the house and back again and Toshiro figured he now knew what the strawberry wanted to ask, it did not take a genius to work it out from all that they'd seen today.

'If you want a child Ichigo please just say so.' Toshiro had said it very calmly but he watched his beautiful husband stutter and his eyes go wide in fright.

'I-you! How did you know?'

'It doesn't take someone with my level of intelligence to see how smitten you were with Hana,' Toshiro rolled his eyes but he was smiling all the same.

'You're not mad?'

'Why would I be mad? I love you, you stupid idiot, I know how good you are with children, you always have been.' Toshiro shuffled on the grass and sighed, 'I am nervous and I do not think I am exactly father material but I would be willing to at least discuss this.'

'Really?' there was no mistaking the euphoria that emitted from his voice. 'I think you'd be an excellent father, it's not something you really know until you have your own. I can see you being stern though, it will be a case of "wait until your father gets home!"' Ichigos eyes had glazed over and he looked happy, Toshiro hadn't seen him look that happy since their honeymoon in the world of the living.

'You've thought about this a lot haven't you?'

'Of course, yeah, I mean… holding a little baby version of you, I don't think I could cope,' he was shaking his head but that same smile was plastered on his face.

'Wouldn't it be better if we used your genes? Mine are clearly defective.'

'What? What makes you say that?' Ichigo was staring at him with a ludicrous expression.

'White hair, teal eyes? I don't want our child to be made fun of.'

'Well I'd only want a child if it was yours,' Ichigo huffed, 'I adore your white hair and teal eyes.'

'What if it was half and half? Half of you and me?'

'You mean like what Yoruichi and Soi Fon did?' Ichigo was thoughtful and grinned at him, 'yeah that'd be even better, but the only issue is there usually has to be a woman involved Toshiro.'

'I know that,' Toshiro scowled at him, 'I know they have to carry the baby but…' he was thoughtful, 'it's a lot to ask of someone, to carry a child that isn't theirs. Women get attached.'

'Sorry I didn't mean to eavesdrop,' Yoruichi smiled as she stepped back outside, 'you should go and see Captain Kurotsuchi, last I had heard he had direct orders from Head Captain about the possibility of creating a tank that could grow a human child.'

'In a laboratory?' Toshiro frowned, he didn't like the sound of that at all, 'why on earth would he be given such orders? That seems absurd!'

'Well,' she smiled knowingly, 'apparently there is a lack of very strong Shinigami children and when you and Ichigo got married Head Captain sent the orders out. I think he hopes you two will have children because… you're two of the strongest here in the Seireitei so your children would dominate at the academy and probably go on to become Captains themselves in the future.'

'I-' Toshiro couldn't believe he was having such an intimate discussion about him and Ichigo starting a family with someone else, 'and they'd just fuse the sperm together the same way they did with you and…'

'Yes,' she smiled, 'though it's a bit trickier because of the presence of two Y chromosomes lining up, you see Soi Fon and I could only have a girl, Captain Kurotsuchi will explain it all to you if you head over to the lab and ask.'

'Shall we go and find out? Even just to ask some questions Toshiro?' Ichigo asked hopefully, the prodigy sighed. He disliked the creepy squad 12 Captain but he had proven his loyalty to the gotei 13 over and over again through many wars and though his methods were questionable there was no denying that what he did he did for the sake of the whole soul society.

'Alright.'

XxXxX

The meeting had been uncomfortable to begin with and Toshiro was under the impression that Head Captain had given orders to Captain Kurotsuchi to not put him and Ichigo off doing this if it was something they wanted. He was quickly called away and instead Torue was left to talk them through everything.

'So this is it?' Ichigo asked looking at an unusual glass container inside which a dark purple looking sac was suspended in liquid.

'Yes, they've made a machine that will replicate everything from a mothers comforting beating heart to how food and nutrients are given to the baby, the only thing that will be missing will be the parents voice so if you go through with this we'd highly recommend you come here every day if you can to talk to the foetus as it grows.'

'This is so strange,' Toshiro shuddered, it felt too strange to him but there was no one they could really ask to carry their child that they trusted, all the women they were close with were in relationships of their own or liked to drink alcohol too much.

'So we'd just… donate sperm and then what?' Ichigo asked and Toshiro had to duck behind a glass container to hide his blush.

'Well, unlike with Soi Fon and Yoruichi there would need to be a bit more involvement in that process, we cannot risk two pairs of Y chromosomes pairing up as a human must have an X, so we'd have to stress either your own or Toshiros sperm since it's the only known factor that kills off sperm carrying a Y chromosome.' She was really kind and understanding as she patiently answered all their questions, 'other than that we wouldn't involve ourselves any more than that, we wouldn't genetically engineer your child or decide any other factors other than just that presence of that one needed chromosome.' When she left for them to speak in private Toshiro was hesitant.

'I'd love a mini us running around but this… growing a child in a laboratory it just seems wrong.'

'We're both males Toshiro there isn't anything else we can do, if we come down here and spend time with the baby every day it will be like we were the ones carrying it as close to that as we can get anyway.' Ichigo gazed thoughtfully at the device and Toshiro sighed.

'Alright, fine… yes… let's… let's do this.' He was scared for so many reasons but he wanted his lump to be happy and having a family would make him happy.

'Are you serious?' Ichigo grinned, grabbing him up into his arms and hugging him tightly.

'Yes you baka now get off me,' Toshiro mumbled shoving him away.

xXxXx

End of Flashback…

xXxXx

The sperm donating process had been uncomfortable, Ichigo seemed to have no problem donating his sperm but Toshiro took a long time, eventually Ichigo had to come into his room and help him make the donation. The result was actually beneficial, Torue said that because Toshiro was so stressed about it, he'd stressed his own sperm and they didn't even manually have to do that by machine. After they begun to combine the nuclei the only nuclei coming from Toshiro were ones containing the X chromosome which Ichigo had indeed teased him about. When a successful zygote was created it had been placed into the artificial womb and the rest had been history.

Toshiros insides were squirming, he was close to the 12th division now and he could feel the presence of a number of other Captains and Lieutenants gathered in preparation for the event.

Ichigo and Toshiro had only had one argument through the 9 months and it was Toshiros workload stopping him from getting to the laboratory to speak to the growing foetus. The Captain hadn't really felt comfortable with it but they'd been given a private room where the growing child was so they could get privacy during their visits. After his husband had shouted at him Toshiro realised he found it better to read out loud while he was there, since he didn't know what else to do. He watched the little dials on the machine indicating brain function spike when he'd speak, especially closer to the end of the 9 months, he realised that his… child… had a preference for fiction novels, always gaining higher spikes in brain activity and heart rate when Toshiro read Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or another fiction novel as opposed to anything else.

He realised he'd been falling in love with the child he couldn't yet see purely based on these small spikes of brain activity, it was like the child was communicating with them. Ichigo always got the best spikes though when Toshiro was there, apparently the way Ichigo exclaimed happily when Toshiro would show up would cause the largest brain spikes of all.

Ichigo was smitten of course and he hadn't even met the child yet, they'd had many conversations about what it would be. Ichigo was adamant it was going to be a little boy with brilliant white hair like Toshiro… in fact the child he often described was just a baby version of Toshiro himself. The Captain wasn't convinced, he was sure it would be female, given the fact he couldn't picture Ichigo with anything other than a little girl, he'd been around for his two sisters, Nel and now Hana. In Toshiros mind it was going to be a girl with long red hair… but more of a tomboy than Rangiku.

He wouldn't have to wonder for much longer it seemed as he now stood outside the Squad 12 research centre where Rangiku squealed and made her way over.

'Ichigo is already inside, apparently the baby is already here, he won't let anyone else see it though until you do.'

'I-' she must have seen the fear on his face as she shoved him through the crowed of congratulating bodies and into the centre. 'Once you see the baby Captain, everything else will be forgotten, hurry up! Ichigo is waiting and we all want a chance to hold the baby.'

Toshiros feet felt heavy as he quickly made his way down the corridors then he stood taking a deep breath outside the room. A hand on the door, a gentle push and he saw Ichigo sitting in a chair with a massive grin on his face, his eyes wet with happy tears as Toshiro walked in. In his arms was a small body wrapped in delicate covers.

'Are you ready to meet him?'

'A boy?' Toshiro gasped as he made his way over, his eyes bright and he could feel excitement pool in his stomach.

'Yeah, he's perfect, not exactly how I pictured him to be but I'm totally in love,' Ichigo stood up and let Toshiro sit in the chair as he held his arms out. This was beyond surreal, the small body was placed into his arms and Toshiro quickly drunk in his tiny little face. One little hand hadn't quite been tucked into the covers properly and was resting gently against his own head, Toshiro could see the tiny pink lips which were parted slightly and a tiny little nose, his cheeks were flushed a healthy pink and his eye lids were a pale delicate purple in sleep. On his head sat a mop of very fine light ginger hair, nowhere near as dark as Ichigos but having seen his husbands baby pictures he knew that one day the mop of hair would grow to be just as dark. For now it was pale almost a blond looking ginger as it sat atop his head, Toshiro grinned at the sight.

'He looks just like you,' he muttered, his own voice coming through thick with emotion. 'Exactly like you.'

'Not quite,' Ichigo cooed as he leaned over to kiss the top of Toshiros head, as if responding to the movement two tiny little teal eyes opened to blink up at them and Toshiro felt his breath catch in his throat. 'He has your eyes,' Ichigo commented.

'He's perfect,' Toshiro sighed, all fear seemed to be forgotten and replaced with only love for the two other males in the room.

'He is…'

'We have to name him,' Toshiro made a face. Over the last few months everyone had been trying to help them come up with names and they'd had to veto many, especially Rangikus options of Rangoto for a boy and Rangiku for a girl.

'I've already named him,' Ichigo mumbled and Toshiro frowned up at him.

'I thought we'd do this together?'

'Well… I couldn't help it, the name was perfect.'

'What did you name him?'

'Tokeru,' Ichigo mumbled shyly grinning at him.

'The Japanese word to melt down snow… why would you-' Toshiro stopped and chuckled lightly, 'because of me?'

'Because it took a lot for me to melt you down yes, I thought the name was sweet and it reminded me of you.'

'I like it, little Tokeru Hitsugaya,' Toshiro mumbled as he gazed down at the perfect baby. They'd picked Toshiros name when they had married after a lengthy discussion so it was only to be expected that the child would be named the same. 'Welcome to the world Tokeru.'

XxXxX

There you are Lizzie, not my usual kind of fic but I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for all your reviews, they mean so much to me and I hope you have a Merry Christmas! (Or Happy holidays if you don't celebrate Christmas!)