"... should have caught her. She was right there in front of you."
Starrk's voice wove into Orihime's conscious as she slowly awoke, realizing she was sitting on the floor, slumped back against something.
Someone, actually.
"All that sonido and you let her fall," Grimmjow's voice joined in. "You'd probably drop a baby, too."
Orihime's eyes snapped open. She looked up at the two Espada squatting in front of her, mind racing to make sense of it. Starrk was crouched, narrow eyes peering at her closely, chuckling as she awoke. Beside him Grimmjow was squatting, a child sitting on one knee.
Orihime stared back at the small girl, who gave her a gummy smile, clapping her hands awkwardly until she nearly unseated herself on Grimmjow's thigh. He carefully grabbed her waist with both hands to keep her balance.
"Are you injured?" Ulquiorra's voice came from behind her.
She looked to either of her arms that were draped over what she knew to be his knees, his hands under her arms as she leaned heavily against him. She sat up quickly, pulling her skirt lower over her knees when she saw that the Espada in front of her were glimpsing her legs.
"No, no," she said with a forced giggle, eyes going back to the toddler looking at her with a smile. She slowly got to her feet and stood, as did everyone else.
Starrk gave Ulquiorra a frown. "You didn't tell her why she's here?"
"Surely a mother knows her child," Ulquiorra said, half out of self-defense. "I still think Szayel-sama has been less than truthful about some of the details."
"We want to know whose kid it is," Grimmjow said as the child's hand closed around a fistful of his shirt at the shoulder.
Orihime shook her head, then nodded, meaning neither. "I thought it was yours, Jaegerjaquez-san."
Grimmjow beamed a rabid smile, eyes glinting as he looked to Starrk. "See? Right there. Admitting it's mine. Told you."
"That's not admitting anything," Starrk said slowly. "You thought?" he asked Orihime pointedly. "You don't know?"
She looked between the Espada in front of her, not liking either's expression. "I thought that it was Jaegerjaquez-san's because he was holding her." Her voice squeaked. "Is it yours, Starrk-san?"
"You had relations with both of them?" Ulquiorra asked, his face unusually pale, even for him. He turned her by one shoulder to see her better. "Both of them?"
Orihime felt a wave of feebleness catch her knees as she realized what he was asking. "Oh ... no ... I thought..." She looked down as Ulquiorra's hand caught her elbow as she felt dizzy again. She straightened, frowning at Starrk. "Wait. You think this," she looked to the child, smiling back at it when it reached for her, "is mine? How?"
"Szayel said so," Grimmjow and Starrk said in unison, scowling at each other.
"But I didn't ..." she cleared her throat, blushing at the improprieties, "I've never had ... a child."
Ulquiorra nodded. "I didn't think so."
"But she looks just like you," Starrk said, looking from the child to Orihime. "Don't you think?"
Orihime let herself look back to the child, this time with more intent. It was all there - the large brown eyes, the soft auburn hair, the giggle that would turn into full sentences. She smiled more, the child mirroring the expression.
Grimmjow gave the girl a frown, his arm moving under her bottom. "Dammit, she's making bubbles in her -"
"Language," Ulquiorra said.
Grimmjow muttered beneath his breath as he shifted the child in his arm as she giggled at him.
Starrk sighed. "Let's sit down. I've been up for five minutes."
Orihime and the three Espada sat on the floor in the middle of the furniture of the room, mostly due to everyone's short argument over who got the couch and the child, and ultimately, the spot beside the alleged mother.
Orihime recoiled every time someone used the word, and nearly swooned anew when anyone mentioned father. She kept looking to Ulquiorra for an explanation, but he was wearing a guilty look that made his green eyes seem inordinately large.
"But I've never had a baby," she finally said as the rumbles of protest as to the seating arrangement lulled. She looked to the child still with the blue-haired Espada. The girl was now slouched against his chest as she sat on one leg across from Orihime, her eyes dancing with fresh glee.
"Is that why you brought me here?" she asked Ulquiorra at her side.
He nodded slightly. He began to speak, but Starrk interrupted.
"Szayel never said Orihime-chan had a baby," he recalled from her other side. His back was propped against the chair and the child now looked to him, considering her next nap. "He just said it was your child."
Orihime blinked a few times. "Well, that sounds a little better. I think," she mumbled. She gave the girl a timid look.
It was enough. The girl took a few seconds to wiggle off Grimmjow's lap and headed at a crawl to Orihime. It was only a few paces of hand-to-knee coordination, enough to work up a big smile by the time she got there.
Orihime let the smile fully form at her lips as the first small palm reached to her knee. "She's adorable." She helped the girl into her lap, carefully, setting her on her leg near her hip. The child looked up at her, taking a long moment to study her face.
It was the first female face she'd seen, and she liked it.
Orihime's smile grew larger, the child's smile matching. "What's her name?"
There was a brief round of confused looks among the males present, all of which went back to Orihime.
Starrk cleared his throat. "Pardon the indelicate nature, Orihime-chan, but if you never ... had a child," he said, deciding on the best phrasing, "then one of us is the father by other means."
She gave them each of them a wide-eyed look. "One of you is still the father? By other means?" She looked down at the girl, who was now leaning her head against her ample chest. Orihime looked slowly to Starrk. "Are you sure?"
"Szayel's been feeding us all a line of shit," Grimmjow grumbled. "He said -"
"Language, Sexta," Starrk said. He grinned, but not in a pleasant manner. "We'll get more information out of that prissy scientist later. Right now," he said, smiling broadly at Orihime, "we should make the new mother feel more welcome."
Orihime's arm settled around the child more snuggly. "New mother? Oh, I ..." she faltered, looking down at the child that was staring up at her with huge eyes. "I don't think she's mine," she said in a whisper, looking reluctantly back to Starrk. "I don't think it's possible."
"You don't know Szayel-sama very well," Ulquiorra said somberly. "He put us back together. Extracting material from physical and spiritual particles is one of his specialties."
"Oh, yes, Ulquiorra-san," she said slowly, nodding at the child in her arm. "I suppose you're right."
He reached into his pocket and took out a small book. "I got this for the child, when I got your book," he explained, feeling the weight of the other two Espadas' stares on him. "It has pictures."
Orihime put one hand to her skirt where the paperback he'd already given her was tucked. "A children's book?" She smiled, surprised. "That's so thoughtful." She took the small book, a little puzzled by the cover which had a smiling boy and girl on it. "Thank you."
Grimmjow shot Starrk a troubled look. "I didn't know we were supposed to get presents."
"Any moron knows you're supposed to welcome new additions to the family," Starrk told him. He leaned forward, and before Orihime could move, he cupped the child up in both hands under her arms and lifted her away. "Just for a minute, honey," he told the girl who looked longingly back to Orihime.
He set the child back on Grimmjow's unsuspecting leg, bringing a grunt from both the Sexta and the girl. He turned back to Orihime, who was looking at him cautiously. He smiled, pulling a small stuffed animal from his pocket.
She glanced to it, smiling immediately. "Oh, a puppy. How sweet!"
"For the child," he said, sitting back to the chair again. "She likes dogs."
"You don't know that," Grimmjow said sharply, giving him a glare across the child's head. He looked down at her, grinning when she gave him a puckering pout. She smiled back, drooling.
"I'm sure she'll love it. Thank you, Starrk-san," Orihime said, turning the soft toy animal to see the terrier's brown and black markings. "And thank you, Ulquiorra-san, for the books. But I'm -"
"What about you?" Starrk asked Grimmjow, snickering as he predicted the answer. "Anything to lavish on the offspring?"
Grimmjow stuffed down most of the growl, aware that the girl on his lap was already humming. "If the dog-thing is for the kid, why'd you give it to Orihime-chan?"
Orihime's fingers were tightening on the dog as she slipped the second book into her pocket with the first. Her eye went from one Espada to the other as the spiritual pressure in the room fluctuated.
"Uh, I think maybe I should take her," she said, raising to her knees and scooting the short space to Grimmjow across from her. She hesitated at his glower, hands halfway to the child before she thought about trying to take anything away from an angry cat. "Please, Jaegerjaquez-san?"
His livid look dropped a little as he let her take the child. The girl glanced back to him, sniffling a bit, but then smiled and gurgled happily when she found herself in Orihime's arms.
"I thought the mother should give the kid the toy," Starrk said, shrugging. "That whole bonding thing. Well, Grimmjow," he continued, enjoying the obvious annoyance crossing the Sexta's face, "where's your gift?"
Ulquiorra waited for the answer, rewarded with only Grimmjow's increasing frustration. Orihime had edged away from him, sensing the tension, the child wrapped in her arms reaching for the toy dog with both hands.
"I'll show you your room," Ulquiorra said, standing as the other two Espada exchanged amused and irritated looks.
"Oh, thank you," Orihime said, uncertain as to the idea of another room in Las Noches. She felt his hand under her arm, lifting her to her feet as she managed the child in her hold.
The girl was smiling glibly at the dog, pinching at its furry exterior, eyes brightening more at the floppy ears.
Starrk was ignoring Grimmjow's contained fury. "Aw, she likes it," he said to Orihime.
She nodded, smiling at the child as the girl grabbed the toy, until she opened her mouth and bit the dog's black nose. "Oh, my," Orihime said, looking worried until the child released the toy and giggled at it. "Oh, I guess that's okay."
"Come along," Ulquiorra said, pulling gently at her arm.
"That was sneaky," Grimmjow told Starrk.
Starrk shrugged.
Grimmjow looked back to Orihime, first at her retreating form and the shape her skirt made below her slender waist, and then to the child in her arms as it glanced his way and waved.
Starrk waved back.
"That was for me," Grimmjow grumbled, waving at the girl as Orihime carried her to the door.
They left the room under Ulquiorra's escort.
Grimmjow sent Starrk a biting glare. "No one is the father. What the hell kind of joke is Szayel running here?"
Starrk was equally miffed. "He said the mother left the child here," he said, rethinking what little the scientist had told them. "If Orihime-chan isn't going to admit to having sex with one of us -"
"You think she's lying?" Grimmjow didn't think she was capable.
Starrk sighed. "I know I would. Anyway, we'll just have to make Szayel run some tests."
This time Grimmjow's growl was louder. "I'm not pissing in any cup."
Starrk sat back against the chair behind him, legs sprawling out as he got comfortable. "Well, Szayel's got some answering to do," he said, eyes closing. "Whether you piss in a cup is up to you. Personally I'd like to break his fingers until he tells us whose essence he robbed, but maybe there's a more diplomatic way."
"Keep your diplomacy." Grimmjow was on his feet, hands balling into fists as he stood and headed for the door. "I'm up for a little injury."
"Suit yourself, but it doesn't make for good fathering nature to injure the baby doctor."
Grimmjow ignored him and left.
Halfway down the first hall Grimmjow's ill humor turned in another direction. It took him a while to find out where Ulquiorra had taken the Living girl. It was around several corners, tucked far away from Aizen's usual trots, near the nursery. By the time he got there, Orihime was alone with the child.
Orihime sat on the bed inside the modest room, the child on her lap in her arms as they seemed to be studying each other in detail. Grimmjow hung back at the partly open door, watching the two.
There was no doubt the child was Orihime's in some manner or another.
Or a clone.
He didn't like that idea. Too ... Szayel-like.
The child had her fingers on Orihime's bottom lip, curling, pulling curiously, eyes one what sort of teeth were inside.
"Ooh, I see you're getting one right there," Orihime cooed despite her lip dipping at the child's hand, smiling as she leaned closer to inspect the white bump on the girl's gum line. "That's why you're drooling."
The child sputtered slobber in response.
Orihime pushed a hand through the small curls at the top of the girl's head, pink hinting her cheeks as the girl's hands moved to her face. " ... You have to admit," she said almost wistfully, voice barely audible to the bystander at the doorway, "we do look a lot alike."
The child's head turned abruptly in Grimmjow's direction, and for a fleeting second his feline instincts to take flight were in force. He remained, instead fighting off the oddly guilty feeling that Starrk had given him.
"Oh, hi, Jaegerjaquez-san," Orihime said, sitting straighter, pulling the child closer. "I didn't know you were there."
He wasn't sure what an apology entailed, wasn't sure he needed to give one, but felt some sort of explanation was in order. "I should have got a present for her. For you." He shrugged, hovering in the doorway. "Either of you."
She smiled, looking back down at the child. The girl turned back to her, a mischievous giggle coming from her, small hands still Orihime's face. "I think she's okay with the stuffed doggie."
It wasn't what Grimmjow wanted to hear. He glanced down the hall to where he heard a familiar twitter of a laugh. "Well, if you're certain you didn't ..." He decided not to finish the sentence as he'd intended when Orihime's sent a wide-eyed look in his direction. He grasped for less invasive words. "You're sure she's not your naturally conceived child?"
Orihime's gasp was enough of an answer, but her bright red blush took out any doubt. "I'm very sure, Jaegerjaquez-san," she said meekly.
"Grimmjow," he said, stepping away from the door into the hall. "Just Grimmjow. If I'm in the running for fathership, it's just Grimmjow."
Orihime nodded slowly. "Okay. Grimmjow-san."
"Mama," the child said, smiling, bouncing on Orihime's lap, hands moving to the ribbon lacing her blouse collar. "Mama, mama, mama."
Orihime's smile weakened at the name.
Grimmjow grinned as he turned away from the door. "I'll get her something. See you later, mama."
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