"So men," Tia began, sitting a large cake on the table in front of her present company the next day after Grimmjow finally calmed down and realized that Ulquirorra wasn't going to kill him. And reluctantly agreed to let him stay until he found a better place of residence.

("Far, far frickin away from me!" Grimmjow stated.)

"I have come up with a plan that will get us all what we desire. And promotion. A large one. If we can pull this off." Tia said as she sat down at the table, a smile on her false face. "If at all."

"What do you mean by, at all?" Szayel asked, sliding his glasses back up at his face. Since they were his hollow mask, he thought they might stay put. But no, they had to move all the frickin' time!

"Promotion!" Aaroniero cried, his two voices yelling at once. "Can I have his job?!" He pointed at Szayel who looked way up at the ceiling.

"Even better." Tia laughed, "you can have Grimmjow's."

"What?!" Grimmjow yelled in her ear. "What do you mean-"

"Calm down!" Tia snapped, before everyone began yelling at her. "Shut up and listen to this plan. It's not going to be easy, but the pay off will be amazing. Okay. We have Starrk, Baraggan and Zommari wandering around. If we can kill them, we can have their places. Second. Aizen wants us to join him in Japan and I realized today that we can use Garganta to travel there."

"Geez!" Aaroniero yelled, throwing his hands into the air. "Why didn't you say so before I was forced to sleep in a homeless shelter?!"

"And before I had to fuckin' cook!"

"And dye my stunning hair to black!"

"…At least they have normal cake around here…" Grimmjow observed, trying not to drool over the large frosted cake on the table. "That is not Zorro themed or tasted like dirt from Zorro's homeland, to say the least."

"Gentlemen!" Tia cried, standing up to tower over all of them. "I am sorry I did not remember. And in the long run, I think it was better we didn't remember in the first place. Or we would have never had fun crashing a wedding reception or would have all ended up getting a long. We would not be where we are today or realize that…we have lives and a most of all, a desire to live."

A silence fell around the table.

All of the Espada glanced at one another. (Orhime was out buying food to restock the fridge.)

Grimmjow sighed and put his right elbow in the table. "…I guess you are right."

"Yeah…" Nnoitra hated to admit that Tia of all people were right, but did so anyhow. "And I learned that…That….Szayel, what did I learn?"

"Um…?" Szayel sat back in his chair in thought. "Um… that you want to continue on your life long killing rampage?"

"…Yeah! That's it."

"And I learned I was useful." Aaroniero announced proudly, only to hear half-joking 'boo's' from present company. "And that I am appreciated."

"That's nice." Grimmjow noted, "I learned two things. One that, never be afraid to speak to the one you love. Second, Ulquiorra's still a pain in the ass. Can we get rid of him too, Tia?"

"No. We need him."

"Shit. Anyhow, what did you learn, Mr. Gloomy?"

"You can't sue McDonalds for a Million Dollars and walk away with money in your pocket once Starrk learns where you hid it all." Ulquiorra said with a sigh. All that money went to the local bar and he had no say in the matter as Starrk was higher ranking than he was. "And that…You might be landed on by a trashcan and yet you still find true love. Somehow. I don't know how Orihime found me."

"Long story." Tia said, remembering Orihime's whole explanation when she first arrived at the apartment. "And now, it is Szayel's turn. What did you learn. I am curious."

"Um…" Szayel began. "Um….What did I learn? Nnoitra?"

"I donno…"

"Um…Humans will always be stupid." Szayel tried and only got a glare from Tia.

"Deeper then that!" She ordered, "I know you learned something valuable."

"…What if I didn't?"

"Then, I am afraid I would have to kill you. You had to have learned something while you were in the Human World."

"Okay…" Szayel sighed and said, not sure if he should, but did anyhow. "That Nnoitra here, loves me so much he actually saved…my life. And he managed to say, 'I love you' which was actually something that I have been wanting to hear for a good decade."

"Wow…" Grimmjow muttered, impressed by Nnoitra's bravery. "I'm…"

"Whatever." Nnoitra half-yelled. "I said something mushy. Tia, your turn!"

"Wait!" Szayel held up his hand, "I am not done yet. I… I wanted to say something more. My existence would be…rather boring without you, Nnoitra. Your turn, Tia."

"Then-what?" Tia paused. Had she just heard him say that his life would be boring without Nnoitra? A non-direct 'I love you?'

"Yes, I said, I love you back. Move on!"

"All right….All right…" Tia sat back down and let out a long sigh. "I…guess I learned a few things about love. And friendship. I know it sounds…however, I realized that I don't want to sacrifice both of them for something I don't understand. Now, here is the second step to our plan. We remove Aizen from his throne…and this is how we will do it…."

The Espada listened to her plan, laughing all the way to the end. It was brilliant and would leave everyone speechless.

And if my readers must know, Ulquiorra cracked a smile.


Author's Note: Yep. This is really going down. I am sorry to all of the fans of Baraggan, Zommari and Starrk. (Kinda.) As for Szayel's Glasses... Why DO they slide? It is really such a pain to have to fix them all the time. And thanks to Junie B. Jones for 'Looking way up at the ceiling' Line! and The Vicar of Dibley for 'Then I am afraid I am going to have to kill you' line!