Day 27. Dreams She had.

"It has been said that we need just three things in life: Something to do, Something to look forward to And someone to love. –Unknown.

"Wherever you are - know I really love you. Wherever you've been -know I've been there too. Whatever you're doing when you need a friend call me, I'll be there just to listen to you." – Unknown.

So it was 6 am that I was woken up. Dad trying to be a responsible parent wanted me to start right away. So after being up alright listening to Rukia and Yuzu talk about plans. Rukia had also sent butterflies to tell people in Soul Society. She made sure they wouldn't arrive too early. She made sure to not tell her brother, yet. She insisted that we would wait I knew as well as she did that he would know and show up. I expected it sometime today.

I went into the office and took out all the files of patients for today. On top of the stack of ones dad had set aside for me was the woman from yesterday. The one who had been so insistent on the results. Yuzu had had them extremely rushed if they were already here this morning. Knowing Yuzu she had waited for the results after that. Yuzu was the best nurse anyone could ask for. She was caring, gentle and talented. She was dedicated to her patients and very friendly. She acted like a receptionist too. Dad and I didn't treat her like a nurse at a hospital. We usually walked through everything ourselves and called her in when we needed assistance on something we couldn't do alone.

That was the good thing about my dad's clinic. The people who were our patients knew us and were usually friends after a few visits. Dad watched a lot of kids grow up because they knew he was kind and good. Dad didn't pick fights with kids like he did us. He babied them like he had done with Yuzu and Karin, all my life. He even babied Rukia like that!

A man came it who had cut his arm up at work. I sat down and got to work on the stitches. This is the kind of thing someone would expect a nurse to do unless it was a surgery. I was content to do it myself. It was a home-run clinic so Dad knew almost all the patients from people from our community. Only emergencies were usually people he didn't know. They were people brought in when the area was flooded or something was destroyed. Hospital overflow patients. HOPs we called them.

Dad and I were usually busy, there were rarely a time where one of us didn't have someone. Around 11 Yuzu left to make lunch for us. Rukia would hang around the house or spend the day with someone. Tatsuki had come to talk to her also. Tatsuki wanted to find out herself what ended up happening. She didn't know Rukia and I were close or that she was staying with us. Rukia had answered the door while we were in the clinic.

All of us went into the kitchen, I sat beside Rukia. "How was your morning?" She asked me. She most likely had slept in until 10, enjoying the peace and quiet. Yuzu made breakfast but Rukia had slept through it. No one bothered to wake her up. She had been up late with us talking but we all had jobs to do.

"Good, a few patients. Nothing major." She nodded. The hollow count was lowering to a normal level. It had dropped when that major hollow Rukia defeated died. They had flown out like it was a feast. Rukia and I were running around. I knew she was doing that still, even if I couldn't tell she was.

We finished eat and Dad, Yuzu and I went back to work. I said bye to Rukia and returned. When I got there the woman and her husband were already waiting in the waiting room. "Mrs. Taniyu, I'll take you know." She got up very slowly and carefully. "You can come too Mr. Taniyu." He got up in a way that suggested their nervousness.

I took them into a room. I pulled out the file and the paper was in the front where Yuzu had filed it. "Please tell me." She yelled about to jump me for the answer. A bunch of years ago I would have purposely held off telling her because she wanted to know. I was a jerk like that but she wanted it so bad. I couldn't hold off telling her.

"You are," I told her. I had known from the time I had looked at the file the first time.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"The test says you are, I made sure Yuzu filed everything correct as well." She looked relieved and so happy. I was glad she was. She wanted the kid so bad.

"Thank you so much," she started crying again. She stood up and hugged me. "Thank you so much."

I didn't know what to do. I didn't do anything. "Congrats Mrs. Taniyu, now would you like to set up appointments for every few months or I can suggest the hospital."

"I can do it here?" She asked me.

"Dad and I are not licensed OBGYNs or anything but we're doctors. We can do your normal checkups but I recommend you go to a specialists as time gets closer."

"I would like to do as much as we can here. I feel more comfortable here." That's the benefit of the clinic. It has a personal touch to it. A homey relaxed enviroment. We were caring people.

"We have all the machinery here for everything you would need but I would suggest checking with a specialist still." I told her.

"That's fine but can I have the baby here?" I had never delivered a baby, I was no specialist at all.

"I don't know." I rubbed the back of my head.

"If you don't feel comfortable that's fine but I would like to here. I don't want my kid to be born in a hospital. It's so weird." I don't like hospitals either, they don't have good memories.

"As long as we or the specialist don't see anything that would suggest a danger to either your life or that of the child I'm sure that will be fine."

"I want you to deliver that."

"Uh…" I rubbed the back of my head. This was getting more uncomfortable by the second. "I don't think that's the best idea. I'm not exactly experienced so much in that field. I would trust my dad more with that kind of thing."

"If you say so but will you be there," that seemed reasonable. I could be in the room. Dad wouldn't care and it would be better in case anything happened.

"If you want at that point in time." I told her. Things change, you never know.

"So how soon is my next appointment?" She asked. "I think in a few weeks. A month sounds good?"

"We don't usually do them that often." I told her.

"I've lost so many kids…" she looked at my name stitched on my shirt. "Dr. Kurosaki. I need this kid to survive. It just has to. You can't be too careful when it comes to them."

"If you've had problems in the past I really should recommend that you see a specialist during all the times. They can do a lot more and know more. I would recommend the hospital for that also. There's nothing in your file."

"There wouldn't be, I didn't bother with doctors or hospitals before. A friend recommended this one. I haven't made it past 10 weeks either." I sighed, she was so insistent and worried. I had never had a patient like this.

"We'll take it week by week. Any unusual pain or bleeding and you come in. Call if you have any questions. I am here from seven until four. You can call that number anytime if you need to reach me." It was the house number. Most patients called that one because someone was almost always home, it was the same as the office number.

Dad had decided that he would work the evening shift. 4 until about 9 as well as the morning where most people came in 9-12 so someone would be here from 7 am until 9 at night. It would be easier for the patients to come in at their leisure and because we weren't so busy in the afternoon or night it wouldn't be that bad. I could always come in if they needed me.

I told dad about her and he seemed to think that I had make the right decision. He also decided that I would be her full-time care provider. She was nice and all but I wasn't comfortable with her. She cried a lot and I didn't want to risk loosing the child she so desperately wanted. I would have to read up on caring for women. Dad had enough books on doctoring procedures for every hospital in Japan stuffed in a closet.

Yuzu worked 10-8 because she took off time for lunch and dinner. I figured that would change now that Rukia wanted to cook for us instead of having Yuzu stop for meals. I didn't think it was a bad idea but if Rukia had to do something it wouldn't be good but it wasn't like Yuzu was needed all the time, she could take breaks when she wanted. The clinic had nice flexible hours.

Dad let Yuzu off early to go with Rukia to look at dresses though. Rukia was semi-excited. She liked shopping. I know Rukia wouldn't buy anything yet because I had a feeling that she had plans for a dress in Soul Society. Rukia had a lot of nice things there, and she knew the right people through her brother. Human world clothes, Uryuu had once told me, just can't compare.

Rukia liked to shop here though. I think it was because of the styles. The short light skirts and shorts, the tank tops and such. That was what she wore almost all the time unless she was in Shinigami attire and never had I seen a shinigami besides her and others in the human world wear those sorts of things.

Rukia came home and we sat in my room. "So what's the plan?" She asked.

"When's the wedding?" I asked her. I figured she had something in mind.

"3 months sound good?" She asked.

"I guess," I didn't like the idea of waiting any longer than I had to. I know no one would say anything if I moved in Rukia before that, maybe Rukia but I liked the idea of moving in with her when we were married. Kind of traditional but something I wanted for us.

"You don't like that idea."

"How soon can you do it?" I asked.

"Tomorrow if I had to," she said crossing her arms.

I smiled. "That sounds great." I stood up and walked out. She grabbed the back of my shirt pulling me back on the floor where we had been sitting.

"I was joking Ichigo. Yuzu wants to do this right…"

"What do you want?"

"I kind of want something nice to. Not too grand or blazing and extreme. Something simple but yet so wonderful no one will ever forget it." I had grown up around girls. Some of my closest friends were girls. Tatsuki for one, Orihime, another and of course Rukia. I'm sure Orihime had dreams of that kind of wedding… but Rukia? It was hard to imagine.

"I want this." Rukia told me. She was serious and she was not going to take no as an answer.

"Alright," I knew that she wanted that typical human life. I could see Rukia, she would like my mom. The nice house, the good life cleaning and cooking, her husband a good man, a doctor who was hard working but happy and nice, the children, smart and talented as can be. Rukia wanted those things and I wanted her to be happy. "Whatever you want Rukia, take all the time you need." She hugged me. She was so happy and smiling.

"Thank you Ichigo, it means so much that you're in for this." Did I have a choice? I loved her and I wanted her happy. A nice wedding couldn't be that bad… could it? No, it couldn't. It didn't matter if she was crazy and demanding like she got sometimes. She would be happy at the end; that would be good. In the end, I got married to her and we were both happy.

"So what were you thinking Rukia?" She pulled out drawings. They looked like they had been drawn with extreme amounts of time to do this, and so much detail. It was like she had done this before. I looked at Rukia and sometimes I wondered where this came from.

I worried a lot that I didn't know Rukia. She could be so happy and spirited some times but she could also be angry and bossy. I didn't mind either side because they weren't ever unreasonable. She always had a reason, even if I didn't agree with it. Rukia had grown up with little to nothing until she was at the academy then she had everything. When had she thought about this?

"So I was thinking aqua and white." I nodded, I didn't care what colors it was. Whatever, she wanted. I wasn't going to wear pink.

"You're going to wear white?" She kicked me.

"Of course I am. Who do you think I am?" She sat down regaining her composure. I didn't understand her point but I got my answer, she is.

She picked out this hall that could be rented out for occasions such as weddings. It matched the drawing's location. I couldn't think she had been there before. I think she must have drawn a generic hall that could be decorated to match her ideas. "Who are your groomsmen, Ichigo?" She asked me.

"I hadn't really thought of it." I hadn't made many friends and like I said, my closest friends are girls now. "I suppose I should talk to Chad again, I haven't talked to him in over a few months. I'm sure he will. Maybe Uryuu, I think we're okay. Keigo, if I can talk to him… maybe."

She laughed. "You haven't kept in contact with them Ichigo? How sad."

"And you have?" I asked her.

"Yes I have." She pulled out a binder that was zipper closed. "This is my address book. I have their addresses and everything. I send them cards and things at holidays too."

I wanted to be angry at her again but then she kissed me. "Sorry I didn't keep in contact with you. You're in here, I just usually skipped over your name. I had your college address in here before you moved back. People kept me informed."

"You knew I was a doctor?" I asked. She didn't seem to know very much about me when I met up with her again.

"I knew you had moved there for college. No one seemed to know more. Yuzu told me you were off to college. She might have mentioned it. She told me that she missed you." I nodded, I had missed my sisters while I was gone too.

She flipped through her book. "I should think about people from Soul Society too. Hanataro, he's cool." She nodded in agreement.

"How about Renji?"

"Renji… are you serious Rukia? That guy?"

"Come on Ichigo, you can't really say you see him as an enemy can you?"

"Maybe…" I didn't know. We weren't really friends were like acquaintances.

"I think you should. I mean what would you do without him?" He had been there for me a lot of times. He also was close to Rukia and had never done anything to harm her. He always protected her. He'd die for her too, I had to give him that.

"Fine," I sighed.

"So Chad, Uryuu, Keigo, Renji, Hanataro too."

"Oh yeah and Hitsuguya too, he's alright sometimes." She added. "Good, then we have an equal number. Tatsuki, Yuzu, Karin, Momo, and Rangiku."

"If, you can find them all."

"Finding them is the easy part, getting them to agree to this is another thing." She said.

Rukia sat with another drawing pad as I flipped through this one. "Rukia, when did you draw these?"

"I don't know. I suppose a while ago. Why?"

"Why were you drawing your wedding?"

"I wanted one. I had it all planned out in my mind from the time I was young, Ichigo. Something changed but I knew I wanted to married. I wanted a beautiful ceremony surrounded by friends and family. I wanted it, it makes me happy to think about it. I had dreams about it so much." She laughed. "Sometimes I think it's silly as I sit all alone some where without a boyfriend. Now it all looks less silly. What did you always think your marriage would be like?"

"I've never really thought of it. I just thought of after that. I think about having a family and being happy." She smiled.

"Tell me about it." She asked me. I didn't want to but I figured she would want to know.

"I don't know. I wanted a kid, I wanted a son. I promised to myself if I had a son I'd be a better father than my dad."

She pushed me over. "Your dad is a great father."

"He can be, sometimes. Not when he's waking you up to a kick in the face." She laughed; of course she'd find that funny. "He is. He always made sure we had food, even if Yuzu was the one cooking since she was 10. He made sure we had whatever we needed and most everything we wanted if he thought it was acceptable. Sure he said no but what parent doesn't?"

She and I talked for a while about what we saw in the future. I didn't see the wedding like she did. Now, more than I had ever pictured it in my life was Rukia in a beautiful white flowing dress walking down the aisle. She would have the largest smile I have ever seen her have and that would make anything that happened before that okay. It didn't matter that she ignored me for 10 years. I probably deserved that. All that mattered is we were happy, we would be together, safe and in love.