A/N: I know that this seems I'm updating and rushing through it and maybe I am but honestly you guys, I'm ready for it to end and I'm excited for the story to end. It's been almost a year and I'm proud of this story and it's my favorite one that I have written. So I will probably have the last chapter, the epilogue, up in a day or so and then...yeah. :(

So please enjoy this chapter! :)

P.S. This would've been up sooner had FFN was not acting up with their chapter/story uploading...thing. But thanks to one of the guys in the technical forums, I was able to bypass the damn thing and upload this chapter! Let's hope that FFN fixes this crap cause it's a bit ridiculous.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Bleach

Grimmjow could hear beeping and muffled voices. If this was supposed to be heaven, he would rather be in hell. Come to think of it, he was surprised he wasn't in hell to begin with. He was not that great of a person, or well he thought he was but others…maybe not so much.

"Stupid…noises…" he grunted in frustration.

"Grimmjow?"

"Shut up."

"Grimmjow, are you awake?"

He felt a hand on his forehead and he shivered at the touch.

"You're kind of burning up, I should get a nurse."

'Nurse? Since when does heaven…hell…have nurses?' he thought.

He felt something pressed against his ear and then heard another loud beep.

"He's running a slight temp; we'll bring in some aspirin to lower it."

Aspirin? Now this was becoming the weirdest place he had ever been in. With that everything went black again.

The next time Grimmjow came slightly to, he was burning up and felt constricted. He slowly opened his eyes and everything around him was blurry and slightly dizzy. He closed his eyes again trying to keep the spinning room away.

"Here, let me help you."

He felt the constriction loosen and he sighed and dozed back off to sleep.

Eventually Grimmjow was finally able to wake up without feeling hot or cold and without the room spinning. His head was not throbbing and he felt okay compared to the rough night he head. Sometime during the night he had realized that he was not dead or in heaven or hell, but he would call the hospital hell considering it was noisy outside of his door.

"Grimmjow?"

He grunted in response.

"Your fever is down and it appears to be gone, that is great!"

Grimmjow realized it was Nel and he turned his head and saw her sitting next to his bed. Her eyes were lit up with happiness and he smiled a bit at that.

"Hey," he hoarsely spoke.

Nel jumped up, "you need some water."

Grimmjow couldn't deny that, his throat was extremely dry.

He watched as she poured him a glass of water and brought it over with a straw. He scooted up a little in the bed and realized that his whole body was weak and could only move a little. He felt like a moron having to have Nel help him drink from a straw but he was thankful.

"Do you feel better now?"

He gave a slight nod.

Nel sighed in relief.

"How long have I been out?"

Nel put the glass down and she sat down in the chair, "just a day."

"And the bullet?"

"Went right though you and did not hit or damage anything internally," Nel told him. "The doctors said you were lucky."

"Feh, I'm just amazing."

Nel rolled her eyes and stood up when she realized that Grimmjow did not look all that comfortable.

"Let me help you," she said, pulling his blankets out of the way.

She tossed the blankets onto the bed and then the pillows behind his head. She was careful of the I.V. that was in his right hand. With a heave, she was able to scoot him up in the bed and then she fluffed out his pillows and put them behind his head. She then put one of the blankets on, after he told her that one would do.

"Better?"

"Much."

Nel sat on the edge of the bed and played with the hem of her shirt, "I just want you to know that…well…I'm sorry you got shot and if it wasn't for me then-"

"Shut up."

Nel sputtered and looked shocked.

"E-excuse m-me?"

"Just shut up," he told her again.

"But I-"

Grimmjow frowned at her, "if you're going to say you're sorry and that it was your fault that you drug me into all of this mess-"

He saw her slightly flinch.

"-then I don't want to hear it. It's not like you could have stopped me anyway," he finished.

Nel visibly relaxed.

"I understand that but-"

"But if it was up to me you would have stayed home and I would have taken care of everything."

Nel turned her body to face him more, a scowl on her face, "that wouldn't be fair because it wasn't your problem, it was mine."

"Don't care."

"Grimmjow," her voice rose in slight anger, "you're injured because of-"

"Damnit Nel, I said to shut up!" he snapped at her.

They were both glaring at each other now.

"If you want to cry about it then go ahead and get it out of your system but I'm not going to lay here in this fucking hospital and listen to you say it was your fault. You think I haven't been shot before?"

Grimmjow's mouth curled upwards at her small gasp.

"I'm sorry…I just feel bad, can you at least give me that much?"

Grimmjow reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it, "yeah but you shouldn't feel guilty, especially when someone took a bullet because they love you."

Nel's eyes widened and her lips parted in a small 'o.'

"Did you-"

He rolled his eyes, "yeah."

"You mean it?"

"Hn."

"Oh…Grimmjow!" she cried.

"Don't expect to hear it from me again," he warned her.

Nel didn't listen as she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him almost sloppily on the lips.

He gave a muffled grunt of pain but the kiss was overriding any discomfort he had.

Grimmjow had eventually dozed back off to sleep shortly after and did not awake again until later that evening. The room was empty and Nel was nowhere to be found. He sleepily reached over for the cup that had a straw in it and snatched it up. He drank the room temperature water and grimaced. He couldn't wait to get out and have a beer or some hard liquor. He needed it after everything that had happened.

He tried locating the t.v. remote after finishing the water but could not find it and was going to buzz the nurse but the door came flying open and in walked Nel with a bag in hand.

"Hey, you're awake," she smiled sweetly at him.

"Yeah."

"I have a surprise for you," she sang.

He could only wonder what it was.

"I wasn't supposed to bring this here…I don't think but…I figured you might want something other than what they have been feeding you."

Grimmjow's mouth began to water when Nel pulled out a bento box.

"I hope you're hungry."

He nodded and waited patiently as Nel set up the bento on the pull out table. She handed him a pair of chopsticks and he dug in immediately, shoveling the food into his mouth.

"Oh…this is awesome…so much better than that other crap…" he spoke through the food and swallowed.

Nel was setting up her own bento box and was slowly eating, compared to him.

They remained quiet as they ate and when they were finished, Nel cleaned everything up and sat down in the empty chair.

"I wanted to tell you, about Nnoitra," she said.

"What about him?"

"They arrested him, Szayel and took Tesla into questioning."

Grimmjow nodded for her to continue.

"Nnoitra is in another hospital but under police arrest," she explained, her eyes latched on to his. "Szayel is refusing to speak and is maintaining that he is innocent and did nothing. They are going to probably try him for attempted kidnap…"

"Go on."

"As for Nnoitra goes, I had to speak with the police and spoke to them for about two hours or so," she sighed and brushed her hair over to one side. "It was very long and exhausting. I told them everything and even had to write a statement."

"And?"

"I think there's a good chance he'll be locked away for a very long time," she finally smiled. "Which is good because I don't ever want to see him again. But-"

But's were never a good thing.

"I'll have to testify against him in court."

Grimmjow did not like this because if Nnoitra had a good defense lawyer than they could make Nel out to be the bad person when it was the exact opposite. The case could blow out of proportions and if the media got involved, it would be nothing but harassment from the press and…he did not want to think about it.

"I know what you're thing," she wrung her hands and then stilled them in her lap. "But I don't have a choice but to testify against him."

"If it means him being sent away-"

"Yeah, that's exactly how I see it. I don't think there is any way he can get out of this," she sounded pretty confident. "I mean I'll have a lawyer because it would be stupid of me to not press charges against him for everything he has done."

Grimmjow nodded.

"Tia and Starrk are pressing charges against Szayel and even though they both beat him up pretty bad," Nel giggled, "I think it will come out as being self-defense than anything else…or so I hope. We will just have to see. I just wanted you to know though."

Grimmjow was glad she informed him of everything that was going on. It would be a complete shocker if the legal system worked against them and Nnoitra would somehow manage to slip away again. If that was to happen, he would probably consider moving out of the country. Then again, no country had a perfect legal system; it would be all too easy if that was the case.

"I hope he is being charged with attempted murder," Grimmjow snapped. "That bastard nearly killed me."

Nel's face paled and she shook her head, "I don't want to think of that. It's bad enough you're laid up in the hospital for a few days."

He shrugged, "shit happens."

She couldn't help but stare in disbelief at him. He laid there as calm as could be, his face pretty much expressionless except the little frown that he always seemed to have.

"How can you be so calm about something like that?" she tried not to get herself worked up.

"I don't know…I just am?"

She sighed, "I don't know what I would have done if you were-"

He laughed loudly, "you can't even bring yourself to say it."

"Of course I can't!" she snapped at him. "I'm not trying to jinx you or me or anyone else!"

He held up his hands, "alright, calm down."

"Not until you take it back!" she stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest.

His eyebrows knitted together, "are you kidding me?"

She shook her head, her hair tousling about.

Grimmjow crossed his own arms over his chest and both of them sat there scowling like two little children.

"I'm waiting," she tapped her foot.

He muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" she leaned closer to the bed. "I couldn't hear you."

He looked to the side; not meeting her eyes, "I take it back."

Nel uncrossed her arms and clapped her hands together, "thank you."

"Whatever."

The nurse chose that time to walk in with a happy smile plastered to her face, "it's time for your medicine."

"Ugh…just shoot me."

"GRIMMJOW!"