A/N: sorry for the delay enjoy!

Chapter 42

Suspicions

Keiko was having a nice morning, it wasn't great, but it was nice. She had dropped her son off at school and had done some house cleaning and it wasn't even eleven o'clock yet. It was sunny outside and Keiko thought she might go for a walk- even see if Stark wanted to go to, the man needed to get out more! All he did was sleep.

She took a sip of her tea and looked down at the newspaper, yes she might just go dor a walk tody. As she began to read an article she heard the sound of someone walking through the living room, she smiled and through it was probably Stark wanting his mid-morning coffee and biscuit. She smiled as she was correct in her assumption as Stark staggered into the room and proceeded to make himself a pot of coffee.

"Good morning Stark." She said with a smile looking up from her newspaper.

Stark gave her something that looked like a smile with his nod while he searched the cupboards for his stash of cookies… only to find that there were none, his eyes narrowed, when he found out who stole his cookies….

The kettle beeped and he went about making coffee though he knew he wasn't going to enjoy it as much anymore especially with no cookie. He finished making his coffee and sat down beside Keiko and looked at her smile, she was such a nice person.

"What are you going to do today?" he asked with a drowsy tone before sipping his coffee. His eyes closed in ecstasy as the smooth liquid slid down his throat- by the world he loved this stuff, it was one of the only things that made him happy. So he naturally relished in the stuff, it wasn't very often something made him so happy- it must have been the caffeine or something, then again living with Tiana coffee would become anyone's best friend.

Keiko sighed and looked down at the newspaper. "I'm not sure what I want to do." She shrugged helplessly. "I'm thinking about looking for a job- something to do you know." She then pointed to an article in the paper. "Or I was thinking that maybe I should go back to school, get a university degree…?"

Stark took another sip of his coffee and again took relish in the feeling of the hot drink going down his throat. "School might be a good idea?" he suggested, he didn't care either way but he had taken notice of how her eyes had lit up when she had mentioned going to university- now it couldn't be said that Stark didn't pay attention to people.

Keiko gave him a smile in response to his words. "That sounds nice, but I don't know how I'd do." She let out a nervous laugh. "I mean its not like I'm as smart as Tiana or anything."

"I think you'd do better in university that I would." Came the melodious sound of Tiana's sleepy drawl as she came staggering into the kitchen. She instantly walked over to the cupboard and growled when she saw that there were no cookies- which partly solved Stark's issue with where all of his cookies went- she instead went to make herself some coffee.

"What do you mean?" Keiko asked tilting her head in confusion. "You are so smart, you must have done so well in university."

Tiana snorted. "I might have, if I went, but alas I never passed high school, I couldn't handle the standardised exams." She shrugged and poured herself a drink. Trying her hardest to ignore her niece who was currently gaping at her.

Keiko's eyes were wide as saucers as she stared at her Aunt. How was it possible that Tiana had not gone to university? Tiana was the smartest person she knew, this didn't make any sense, what's next? Pigs flying? Politician's caring about the people?

"B-But you are so smart!" she voiced her thoughts with a voice that spoke of pure confusion. "You can speak like five other languages!" she was very close to standing and shouting, she could not believe this- how in the world could Tiana fail something as trivial as exams!?

"Thirteen Languages, thank you." Tiana replied smoothly as she set her coffee down and sat beside Stark. She nodded at stark and took a sip of her coffee, Stark returned the nod and in turn took a sip of his coffee.

Keiko was having trouble processing this. It just didn't seem possible and the more she thought about the fact that Tiana, Tiana of all people had not even passed high school… all hopes for her to even be remotely smart enough to go to university flew out of the window.

"Tiana, what's nine thousand five hundred and forty three minus three thousand six hundred and fifty four?" Keiko asked staring at her aunt expectantly.

"Five thousand eight hundred and eighty nine." Came the swift reply of Tiana after she took a sip of her coffee. She was able to answer that without the aid of a calculator and yet she couldn't do her exams? Keiko shook her head and left the room.

Stark, who did not really care about trivial things such as schools chose to change the subject as Keiko left the room. "You've been eating my cookies." He said bluntly, now usually this was something he would let slide, he wasn't a very petty person and little things like cookies didn't bother him. However these weren't just any cookies, these cookies triple chocolate dipped cookies that tasted as though they were made from all the happiness in the world.

Tiana looked at him with a frown. "I can't help it! I'm just craving so many different foods lately and your cookies looked particularly tasty and-" before she could continue with her ranting Stark raised a hand to silence her.

"Alright… fine whatever… just buy me some more." He really didn't need to hear her crying over some cookies. So long as she replaced them he could deal with it. He took a glance at Tiana while she took a sip of her drink- there was something off about her, she had been behaving differently lately and he wasn't sure what was doing on with her. At times she would be insanely happy then instantly after be melancholy- she had been like this for weeks and it was starting to really grate his nerves.

Tiana smiled weakly. "Alright. I'll get some more next time I'm out." Again silence took the room for a few moments before she stood. "Might as well go now- I've got to see Kisuke anyway."

Stark eyed her as she left, there was definitely something off about her. While he wasn't an expert he knew that women just didn't behave like her unless there was some sort of reason for it. He watched her retreating back for a few moments before shrugging and going back to his coffee- he liked coffee, it was simple and lacked the bullshit of life.

XXX

Szayel was by nature a night person, he usually would spend hours of the night researching. It was natural, it was unavoidable and he liked it. It was by these reasons that he was not in fact a morning person. So naturally when he awakens at nine in the morning he finds something wrong- he should be asleep for at least another hour.

He groaned and sluggishly got out of his bed, he supposed it was better for him to get up early rather than late so that he could get some work done. So he got dressed and headed downstairs towards the kitchen where he could get some pepper up coffee.

When he got to the kitchen he noticed that Stark was sitting at the table quietly sipping some coffee. Szayel grunted at Stark and went straight for the kettle, when he touched it and found that it was warm he let out a grateful sigh- at least something about the morning was going nicely.

As Szayel poured himself his hot drink he leaned his head back and spoke to Stark. "Dare I ask where my darling wife is?" he spoke with sarcasm.

Stark inwardly sighed. If Szayel was talking about his wife in that way, it meant that they had had another argument. Probably the night before- either way he didn't care and didn't want to get involved.

"I think she's at Urahara's." he said bluntly.

Szayel let out a snort. "Of course she is. When isn't the wench there?" he resisted the urge to rub his temples. The woman had told him that they would do some tests on her blood today, but no, apparently Urahara was more important. He grumbled and rose from the chair.

"I'll go collect her then." His voice was cool, but held an annoyed undertone. It was his voice that led Stark into deciding to leave the house for the day- he did not want to be there when they got home.

XXX

Tiana sighed as she slouched into the cushions on Urahara's floor. She loved this place, she really did. It was just so comfortable and relaxing. She almost wished that she could spend all of her time in the place. Snuggling into the cushions she laid on her side and looked up with a smile as Urahara came walking in with to mugs of what smelled like hot chocolate.

"Mmm… Kisuke you sure do know how to make me feel better." She pushed herself up from the cushions and smiled gratefully as he passed her one of the mugs. She clutched it with both hands and held it up to her nose. Inhaling she sighed- how she loved the smell of hot chocolate.

"You say that every time I bring you food." He smiled and took a spot beside her. He copied her action of smelling the hot drink before he took a sip of it.

Tiana watched him with warm eyes Kisuke was such a nice person- well as far as nice people went who she could call friend. She looked down at her mug sadly, when she thought about it, it was actually quite sad that Kisuke was the only person that she could trust with the secret she had been harbouring of late.

"Kisuke I'm pregnant."

The sounds of Kisuke choking on his drink would have been quite amusing at any other time, but at the current moment however she could not see the humour. Nor could she see much else with the feeling of dread that had settled in her stomach and was obscuring her view of much else.

"You're… You're…" Kisuke looked at her with eyes wider than saucers. He looked more shocked at the idea of Tiana being pregnant, than he did when he had found out about Ichigo being pregnant.

Tiana nodded solemnly, if one were to look at her at that moment they would have assumed that her mother had died, not that she was an expectant mother.

"I know… I bloody know…" she buried her face in her hands.

"Wow Tiana if I'd known you were going to throw this at me first thing in the morning I'd have had something stronger than coffee." He glanced at her and frowned, how on earth had he not noticed? Her usual thin waist was a little more round than usual and if he was honest he was a little more crazy than usual.

Tiana laughed. "I know, you'd think that after all the times we had sex I'd have gotten pregnant, but no, instead my body picks when I'm married to get fertile."

Kisuke laughed and put an arm around the woman. If one were to look at them after hearing their conversation they would have thought that they were a happy couple basking in the creation of their child. Unfortunately for them someone was watching them talk and this man, a man with pink hair was the last person who should be listening to them. At least until he had talked to Tiana.

"So…" Tiana mumbled scooting closer to Kisuke. "What the hell do I do about this?"

Kisuke raised his brow and patted her shoulder. "I'm damned if I know, you might want to tell people, especially the father."

XXX

Tiana frowned as she entered her house. It was clean, no it was more then clean it was sparkling, it looked like one of this display homes where you couldn't touch anything out of the fear of breaking it. This wasn't her house, there were no scorch marks on the walls, no knives in the ceiling… nothing… it was creepy… no not creepy, this was creepy's crazy rapist cousin…

She walked into the kitchen and let out a sigh at the sight of Stark at the table, at least some things were the same in the house.

"Stark what in the world happened to my house?" she asked slowly.

Stark lifted his hand to his mouth as though he was going to take a sip of the drink, it was only when his hand reached his mouth did he look down and notice that his cup was missing. His eyes went wide and he looked around the room in shock.

"Your husband has gone mad." He breathed.

Tiana looked at him with a raised brow, she leaned against the doorway and wondered just what could have happened. "I know that already, what I don't know is what happened in here."

Stark rose to make himself another cup of coffee. "He came here angry and just started cleaning…" Stark shuddered and poured some of the coffee into the mug. "It was fucking scary."

Tiana's brow furrowed and she glared at the sparkling kitchen sink. This was not her house, Stark was right it was scary. Her brows furrowed as she tried to think about what would cause Szayel to go completely crazy like he was. She sad down at the table and rested her head in her hand. Looking down she let out a cry- she could see herself in the bloody wood!

"What happened next Stark?" she asked. "Where did he go after this?"

Stark walked back to the table and took a sip of the coffee, he smiled at the rich taste as it rolled down his throat- gods he loved this human drink, why the hell did Aizen want to be rid of them? They had some of the most amazing food and drinks! "He went back to Soul Society." He finally said answering Tiana's question.

Tiana tilted her head. "He seeing Kurotsuchi?"

Stark shrugged and paid his attention back to the coffee.

Tiana rose from the chair and headed towards her basement- she was going to visit soul society.

XXX

"Why should I care if you're wife is sleeping with another man?" Mayuri gave Szayel an incredulous look.

"I don't care if you care!" Szayel growled as he cut off the finger of the person currently sitting on Mayuri's 'operation table'. The person howled in pain, which caused a smile to take the Arrancar's face. He lifted a syringe and took a sample of the blood that was pouring out of the finger.

"Then why did you tell me?" he asked while jotting down some notes.

Szayel shrugged and continued to look over the body that was on the table. Occasionally he would poke and prod at varying parts of the body, smiling whenever the body would flinch or let out cries of pain. Mayuri glanced and watched as Szayel did this, and he noticed that while the man seemed to enjoy it as he usually would but the arrancar was off, he seemed distracted. Perhaps he was genuinely upset about his wife's affair? Mayuri shook his head and continued to jot down notes, its not like he cared.

X

Tiana walked out of the portal and into a place that was decidedly not Mayuri's office. In fact if she were to hazard a guess, she would assume that she was in the office of Byakuya Kuchki, and from the expression on the Captain he was not impressed with her being there. His lieutenant didn't seem that impressed with her being there either.

"Err… hi." Tiana waved and laughed awkwardly. "I like your office, if I was a Captain I think I'd strive to have something like this."

Byakuya looked as though he was going to say something rather unkind to her, but before he got the chance Szayel appeared before her- he looked more annoyed that Byakuya if that were possible.

He crossed his arms and sneered at her. "What are you doing here dearest wife?" he ground out, this was supposed to be his sanctuary, she had no place being here!

She opened her mouth to reply before her brow furrowed and she tilted her head to the side. "Is that Sosuke?" she stepped closer to the hallway leading to his cell. "I can feel Sosuke…" with that said she took a sprint in the direction of Aizen's cell.

Renji jumped to charge after her only to have Szayel raise his hand. "I'll go collect the witch." He calmly headed after her.

"Renji." The read head looked over at his Captain who had gone back to signing paper work. "I want you to go and continue persuading those in your list." His voice was sharp and anyone else would have flinched away at it, but Renji found himself smiling at it, it was so obvious that Byakuya really cared about the plan.

XXX

Tiana slowly walked into the dark cell, at first she couldn't see Aizen so she thought that she was maybe mistaken in her sensing him but then she saw him, hunched over in the corner of his cell, looking ragged and unkempt.

"Sosuke?" she blinked and walked closer to the cell- surely this wasn't right? Sure the man was a bastard and had done some wrong things but he didn't deserve this did he?

Aizen's head shot up and he looked at Tiana with wide eyes. "What are you doing here Tiana?" he asked rising to stand. He slowly walked over to her, his brow furrowing as though he were trying to decide whether or not she was real.

"You look like shit." She laughed, her words seemed to make him settle on her being real and he smiled at her. Through the corner of his eyes he noticed that Szayel was in the doorway watching him. He nodded at his former subordinate and received a slight nod in return.

"I feel actually very well given the circumstances." He shrugged and sat on the floor, he gestured for her to do the same and she sat next to him, the only thing separating them was the bars.

"I thought they would have executed you by now," Tiana said nonchalantly with a wave of her hand. "I mean instead of keeping you locked away in this cell for how many years now?"

He shrugged. "I think their waiting for the right time, when people and places are rebuilt- its not so bad, especially when I find myself in a position of power with certain people." There was a dark smile on his face that reminded Szayel of when he had been in full power.

"Certain people?" Tiana enquired resting on the bar.

Aizen chuckled. "Byakuya and his company wish for me to use my final wish, to aid Keiko and Jushiro in seeing each other again."

Tiana's eyes went wide. "You should do it!" she said with an expression that neither Szayel or Aizen had seen on her before, it was almost dreamy but forceful at the same time.

"And pray tell why should I do it?" Aizen asked with a raised brow.

"Because she's your daughter!" Tiana slapped her hand against the cold ground. "Because you son of a bitch it's the right thing to do, the right thing for both Keiko and your grandson!"

Silence took the room for a few moments before Aizen let out a chuckle. "You were always so forceful and self righteous, I suppose that's what I've always liked about you."

Tiana looked at him, her eyes filled with something that Szayel had never seen in his wife, her eyes were happy, tender… loving… something clenched in his gut- now he knew that he didn't love his wife, he would probably be the last person to say that he loved her, but that didn't mean that he enjoyed seeing the person who he was bonded too looking at another person with an expression that she had never even given him… especially after he had found out that she was apparently pregnant with that blonde bastards child! His fists clenched and he held back a growl.

"You should help your child." She reached into the cell and touched his cheek. "Please."

Aizen let out a chuckle. "For you my crazy friend. I'll consider it."

A/N: O_O