The Mexican hafling giant proved himself to be more than a gentleman. In the time that they had had their soggy doorstep conversation, he had laid out the sofa bed, found dry clothes for Byakuya to borrow and made them both hot chocolate. His presence now was missing as he'd slipped past them almost immediately allowing them privacy; the tall man was a pure gold hearted angel, Ichigo was very lucky in his friends Byakuya thought as he took in the small cosy room full of rows of books and a distinct lack of modern technology.

Ichigo feeling the long day catching up with him slid into the covers and watched his lovers body with fresh anguish in his eyes. The bruising and scrapes were all coming out now, in bright tones of blue and purple making Ichigo feel that more guilty for his over reaction. At home they had kept the lights out as they'd had sex, Ichigo suspected that was because Byakuya knew how he'd react to the sight of his body. Thinking back to the time that Grimmjow beat him, he knew how angry he'd been. Byakuya had a right to be just as angry, more so considering the fact he knew his attackers motives.

Byakuya slid on the jog pants and t-shirt grateful for something dry and turned to get into the make shift bed with his husband when he caught the look of regret on Ichigo's face.

"Don't." He whispered.

"They really tried to hurt you."

"More that I tried to fight back when I should have known it was futile." Byakuya reached for the drinks and settled himself next to Ichigo Ichigo cupped his warm drink and blew on the frothy top.

"You didn't want to tell me earlier."

"If I don't understand it, nor believe it, how can I not give you the wrong impression." He sipped his drink and waited whilst Ichigo took a gulp of his. looking at his hands he could see evidence of the cold weather still lingering on his skin and markings showing how they held him down by his wrists. markings that Ichigo now had to match. "You know I never would mean to hurt you."

"I know." Ichigo nodded gently taking another sip. "I know that now. Before... I shouldn't have run out on you."

"Taking the blame for this won't make it better. I still hurt you; allowed my mind to distort something that should have been wonderful into something ugly."

"My mind can't help distorting facts. you know...on the way here...Byakuya. I've got my own confessions. Something I should have told you but didn't." Byakuya waited patiently letting the warmth of the covers and drink take away the last of his chill in all this body minus his toes where it lingered with bitterness. "My medication." Ichigo said with a sigh, putting the empty cup down onto the side table. "I stopped taking it."

"Why?"

"What why didn't I tell you or why did I stop taking it?"

"Both."

Ichigo sat more upright in the bed so that his could draw his knees up and hug them. he laid his head down on the bony tops and looked into the dark shadows of the room waiting for a shadow to move towards him and take on the shape of a murder or soul sapping monster. several calming breaths later and nothing appeared so he assumed he was save to continue. "I want to be normal." He gave a sort of shrug then wiped his tired eyes as sleep knocked at his brain. "But, I won't ever be." He looked with scared eyes to Byakuya. "I don't like what I am. I thought if I stopped I would prove to everyone that it wasn't anything. I wasn't abnormal. Just me."

"You are just you." Byakuya stroked a hand through the gold locks of hair and gave a half smile. "Medication or not, worried or not, nightmares and goblins aside, all of that is the you I love." He leaned over towards the table to set his cup next to Ichigo's and took opportunity of the closeness to wrap his arms around his lover on their way back. "What happened to make you think you are not normal?"

"The monsters came again. The Hollows found me. They've been getting worse, crowding the shadows around me, filling my mind with paranoid suggestions...scaring me." Ichigo buried his head into the welcome chest of protection. "I want them to go away."

"And if we get you more tablets?"

"They go."

"Accepting that you need them is no different to accepting that you are gay. its who you are, what moulds you. I know that everything that has happened to me, even today, makes me who I am. That isn't a bad thing you know." They sat for a while lulling themselves into a slumbering peace. sleep wouldn't be far away if they let it happen, but there was still something unsaid. "Ichigo, for my peace of mind, I want Stark to accompany you from now on."

Ichigo lifted his head. "What happened?"

"The palace proved how easily they can twist reality to get what they want. To get hold of you to have some power over me. They instructed customs to hold us, separate us and make me think you were in a great deal of trouble. Trouble they could easily had fabricated too...I would be happier knowing someone on our side was with you where ever you are."

"If I say no, you'll trail me anyway?"

"I cannot help but worry about you." Ichigo stroked a finger over the bruise on Byakuya's biceps knowing its inky stain was prove enough of his worry. He nodded in agreement and felt the rush of relief that Byakuya breathed out rustle his hair. "Thank you."

"Was that it? That was enough to make you that angry?" Byakuya shook his head, his dark locks grazed against Ichigo's shoulders with a soft kiss. Ichigo felt a sense that he needed to be silent and listen out what ever his partner had to say and so he sat comfortable in the hold around him and listened to the raised heartbeat beneath his ear that shouted out Byakuya's concern.

"Duty to the family was something ingrained into me from birth. So much so, that Hisana and I tried to have children. We failed. Retsu, the doctor you met, tried to assist by using eggs fertilized out of the womb. Hisana suffered so much when harvesting the eggs and again during their implanting. She was incredibly brave and went through the procedure several times during the years before she fell ill. I wonder at times if it somehow contributed to her death, she so wanted to be a mother...I couldn't even give her that gift." Byakuya took in a large breath and breathed it out slowly calming himself as the words he had to say were filling his mind and making him more anxious. "It seems that not all the eggs were used. Some unknown to either of us were kept until recently." The flare of anger rushed through his belly and Ichigo felt him tense. His heart raced and his fists curled up. "That woman...I despised her from the moment I met her, was suggested as a future bride for me. I turned down the proposition immediately must against the wishes of the palace. however with me out of the picture now, the family in need of a new heir...she tells me, whether it is true or not, that she is now carrying my child."

"NO!" Ichigo's head shot up with the look of shock in his eyes which quickly turned to anger on behalf of his lover.

"I have never wished to harm a woman, even one carrying a child, my child. But I wanted to rip her to shreds. No child deserves what it will go through, it is not a life... They think it will be a bargaining chip to get me home, to make me marry that bitch...No doubt and lose all rights and liberties I had before. I would be no more than a prisoner in my own home, kept like a puppet and forced into service with my child's life as a threat to my compliance." Ichigo cupped the face that had narrowed into a bitter angry glare.

"We'll go abroad again, snatch the baby and go. Take Rukia and Renji and just leave. We can do it, we can."

"I don't know Ichigo, I just don't know what to think or do...I've got you, that's all I wanted. I never dreamed they'd be this low."

"You won't leave me!" Ichigo's voice raised to show his concern.

"Never." Byakuya pulled Ichigo back into his hold. "Nothing would ever make me leave you behind. Nothing in the world will part us."

...

Come morning, it was as well that they were not at home, somehow, images had been leaked to the press from inside the interrogation rooms and they all focused clearly on Ichigo and his brief moment of panic before they left. Ichigo was jumping fearfully away from nothing, his eyes fixed as if a presence was next to him. They were doing a good job of assassinating his character in the eyes of the public.

Ichigo's phone rang several times during that morning before he'd woken, a restless Byakuya flicked to to vibrate and let his partner sleep. Chad hadn't come into the room, he'd gone about his morning business and slipped out to college as usual. No one other than him, knew where they were and that was just fine and dandy. The last name displayed on the screen was Ichigo's father, his flight must have landed early. Byakuya had visual images of him seeing his son's face splashed across the papers as he walked through the terminal.

"Isshin." He whispered into the phone as he slid from the lounge.

"Byakuya. Have you seen the papers?"

"I was shown to me earlier." By Sado, but he wasn't going to say his name over the open line.

"Your not home?"

"I do not wish to say where we are over this line."

"I'd hoped this would have died down whilst he was away."

"I was led to believe that it will not die down any time soon I am afraid."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I had crazy thoughts of letting them get their way, going home just so he can be left alone. But he wouldn't allow that."

"No, nor would he cope with it." Neither could Byakuya but there was little to gain from admitting it out loud.

"We are damned if we do and damned if we don't. It so unfair. Why cannot we be allowed to be happy?"

"I wish I knew." Isshin shook his head at the other end. "If there is anything..."

"There is."

"Oh?"

"Medication."

"Ah." Isshin looked at the photo of his son again, he knew that look, knew the reason why without being told. It wouldn't be the first time he'd run out and gone without. "How do I get it to you?"

"I'll send someone I can trust...Isshin?"

"Yup?"

"Artificial insemination...is it legal without both parties consent?"

"Absolutely not." The pause sounded tense. "This isn't getting that complicated is it?"

"Sadly." He agreed reluctantly and it showed in his tone. "My hand is being forced."

"The chances of success are lower than low you know. Get that friend of yours on it. Even the palace can't break laws like that, nor pass news ones in the blink of an eye."

…

OMG I hate writing myself into a corner and sadly that's just what I've done. Damn and botherations. I did want to finish this story by the end of Jan! Ooops.