Chapter 15: Chickin Nuggies
"Grimmjow!" a tall, willowy woman with a pretty face called after a commencement speech. She came trotting over to the couple, without any regard for Orihime, and threw her arms around her boyfriend's neck. She kissed his cheek! She whispered something in his ear!
When the woman pulled back, her hands were still on his shoulders and her eyes were searching his almost shyly, cheeks bright pink. Orihime was shocked, again. It was less than twenty minutes ago that Grimmjow was accosted by a client. But it wasn't until the woman murmured, "You never texted me back last week; I was worried that Kuchiki might send someone else this year," that Orihime started to grow suspicious.
Grimmjow took a step back from the woman and then gave her a strained smile. "Hey Margo," he said uncomfortably, giving Orihime a glance. "Yeah, I was busy. Let me introduce you to my partner, Orihime."
He wanted a hole to swallow him up. To think of how many hookups he had while at this conference in years past made him want to bash his head against a wall. How many of those women were here?
Margo didn't stop there. She threw Orihime a fake smile and an uninterested, "Hi," before turning back to Grimmjow. "You weren't going to spend time with Lucy again, were you?" Potential hurt marred this tall woman's features.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. "Oh is she here?" he asked, trying to mask the panic in his voice. "I wasn't planning on it. In fact, we have to go. Strict itinerary to keep. Let's get some coffee, Orihime."
Orihime watched this "Margo" contort her face, then turned to follow Grimmjow. But again they didn't get far.
This time, the woman was young-looking. Long, wavy, honey-colored hair and pale bluish-green eyes looked up from a perfectly bronzed face. She was nearly as short as Orihime. "Grimmjow, I missed you," she said sweetly, as the crowd kind of parted for her and she somehow managed to be right in Grimmjow's face. She turned to Orihime and gave her a genuine smile. "Hi, are you from Rotten, too? I'm Lucy McDaniel. I work at Constance Cosmetics."
Orihime looked at this woman differently. This woman didn't have the same desperate, horny edge that the others had. She seemed kind. Orihime was still suspicious, but held her hand out to this one. "Hi, I'm Orihime Inoue, it's nice to meet you, Lucy," she said tentatively.
Lucy took the offered hand and her smile softened. "Nice to meet you, too." She then turned her face back to Grimmjow. "Oh, I forgot to send you the list this year. Brady gets more and more demanding," she said with a nervous chuckle.
Wonderful. Just wonderful. He blew out a long breath. "If you can get it to me by the end of this, I can have something overnighted to San Fran," Grimmjow said to the other woman. He glanced at Orihime again, knowing he was going to have to explain himself.
"Oh, I didn't know you had any accounts in San Francisco," Orihime said with a relieved grin. It sounded like this nice lady's boss was a hardass.
"Oh, no need for that. I've been transferred to Chicago, so no rush," Lucy said, biting her lip and flaring her nostrils a bit, expecting a bit of a reaction from the blue-haired man.
"Oh." Grimmjow's stomach dropped to his feet. This conference was just starting out stunningly. It was probably going to end in a shitshow. "So uh, any new photos of him?"
There was no way he was going to come out of this unscathed.
"Oh, sure." She pulled out her phone and just showed him her lockscreen to start. There was a picture of her and a little blond boy on her lap, about two or three years old. Orihime didn't know how big kids looked at that age. "You can meet him this week, while you're in town, if you want. His nanny can meet us anywhere."
Orihime still wasn't putting the pieces together. Her eyes went from the phone, to the woman, to Grimmjow, and back to the phone. "He's adorable, is he yours?" She addressed the question to the woman.
"Yeah," Grimmjow said before swallowing. He had thought Orihime asked him that question. "I'll see what my schedule looks like, Luce. Being one of the higher designers for Rotten kind of makes things chaotic."
The blonde smiled and nodded. "Okay. Let me know," she said, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze before turning to Orihime and giving her another sweet smile. "I am glad Rotten is investing in a nice young woman like you. Last time I saw him here, they sent him with that awful Karen," Lucy said, wrinkling her nose and chuckling. "It was good to meet you, Orihime. Enjoy the conference," she said, putting a soft hand on Orihime's shoulder.
Orihime just stared as she watched the woman walk away. She felt that the woman was very familiar. She reminded her of herself, but better in every way possible. Softspoken, but impossible to ignore. Kind, but not a pushover. Drop dead beautiful.
She and Grimmjow had a kid together.
What. The. Fuck.
She just stood there, wishing she could drain into the tile floor and flow away into a crack somewhere. This could not be happening.
Grimmjow cleared his throat and then turned to the redhead. "Um," he said, trying to figure out what to say.
Orihime turned to look at her boyfriend in the eye for the first time since meeting Lucy and felt a strong urge to vomit. "I- I need some water," was all she managed to stammer.
"Sure." He gave a nod and grabbed her hand so that he could navigate through the crowd. Grimmjow knew he was in a world of trouble with Orihime at the moment. "I could use a bottle of water too."
She followed him robotically. There was no way she would be able to process this information properly right here, right now. When they arrived at a refreshment stand, she grabbed a bottle of water and turned to look at the conference center. There were actual industry presentations being held in various corners of the venue, and another area for speeches and lectures. Maybe they could go sit down and pretend to listen to one, and she could pretend she didn't exist for awhile. "What do you want to do?" she finally asked after taking a long drink.
Grimmjow had downed half of the bottle while Orihime took a look around. "I wanted to listen to that lecture on using different art programs for design. There's also-Actually, it doesn't matter. We don't have to meet anyone until one. We have that lunch with… Riruka."
Orihime flinched at the woman's name. "Okay. So…" the questions were starting to swirl around in her brain. She was feeling overwhelmed. "So, um, Lucy seems nice."
"Yeah, she's great; nice." The awkward was growing and Grimmjow shifted. "She's a good person, like you."
Orihime nodded. "Probably better than me," she said without any kind of malice. She really thought so. She was starting to feel a tug toward the part of her brain that told her she was worthless. She set her jaw on edge, her eyes searching more deeply into the crowds of people, trying to escape those thoughts. It wasn't working.
The man cleared his throat. "Orihime, do you want to go to that Starbucks across the street? You look like-I'm not sure but you probably need a breather."
She just nodded and set the water bottle down. She was going to cry if she wasn't very careful. She started toward the exit taking quick but measured steps.
When they exited the conference center, Grimmjow felt his phone buzz, and he pulled it out of his pocket. It was a text from Ulquiorra. He didn't need this right now. He didn't need his friend asking about his girlfriend. His girlfriend had enough to deal with. "I guess I should explain."
Again, all she could do was nod. She could speculate all she wanted, but she needed to hear it from him anyway.
He nodded and waited until they entered the chain coffee shop, then waited for someone to take their order. Grimmjow remained silent until the barista called out, "GRIMMJOE! Wait is that right?"
An irritated sigh left him and he snatched his cup out of the woman's hand. "Grimmjow."
"Sorry, handwriting on the cup makes it look like Grimmjoe."
When they were settled at the table, Grimmjow looked at Orihime. "So, my first year at the conference… I've slept with a lot of women, Orihime. I might as well lay that out there."
She didn't even know what to say to that. At this point, it was unsurprising. "Well, I didn't expect you to be a virgin or anything… Your friends may have mentioned that you've… People at the office talk."
"Okay, so, my first year here, there was a party and Karen was with me. She kept making hints that she wanted to sleep with me, but, ew, no. She's old. I got drunk off my ass and hooked up with some random chick. Luce... The condom broke and I didn't realize it. She's remained my friend for a while. Even when she told me about Brady."
"What happened, are you not friends anymore?"
Grimmjow shook his head. "We're friends. I send her money for Brady but we have our own lives. She's really successful and she's a great mom. I don't interfere in her business. She doesn't get into mine. She didn't even want child support from me. Just wants me to be happy and do as much as I can for him."
Orihime didn't understand, still. "Do you spend time with him?"
Grimmjow shrugged. "She usually brings him here with a nanny -Lucy can afford it- and I see him while she's here. I get pictures once in a while."
Orihime's brows pinched. "So you're a dad, and you never mentioned it. In all the time we've been sleeping together… Do your friends know? Does your mom know?"
"Uh, it's not an important part of my life right now. Brady is doing well with his mom. And no, no one knows." Grimmjow realized how his words sounded and internally cringed. He sounded like the world's biggest shithead.
Orihime looked horrified. What kind of person was she dating? "Well…" she really didn't know what to say. She took a sip of coffee. "Well…" She really was at a loss. "Well he is beautiful," was the only thing she could say that didn't sound like a condemnation.
"Thanks." Another sigh left him. He seemed to be doing that a lot today. "It didn't make sense to go out to California all the time. Maybe since he's closer now… I can incorporate Brady into my life. Lucy is happy with our arrangement; I'm not going to fuck that up."
Orihime nodded and took another sip of her coffee. It sounded like excuses. Sure, now that it was convenient, he might be bothered to think about his own son. "Careful with that. Kids get confused," she said. She sat back after that. This was a lot to take in. She looked at him, and for the first time, she saw someone she wasn't sure she liked. "You should have told me," she said in a low voice.
"I haven't even told my mother. I didn't think it'd be an issue," Grimmjow replied. He took a large gulp of his coffee, mouth twisting at the bitterness of the drink. "Maybe I should have, but you-" He didn't want to point fingers. It wasn't her fault that her mother was the way she was.
She assumed he was going somewhere else with this. "I what? I wouldn't have been able to deal with your past? Maybe not, but c'mon. Everyone's got history," she said, pointing to herself. "You're dealing with Louise. I would have dealt with Brady…" She trailed off. Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn't, but she felt she should have been given the option.
"I didn't want the information to get out to other people. If Lucy knew I hung around people like Nnoitra, or any of my other friends, I wouldn't have the option to be in Brady's life."
Orihime sighed. He was right about that. Shit. If she knew about Louise… Orihime sighed again and nodded her head. "Do you want to be in their lives?"
Grimmjow gave her a level stare. "I want to be in Brady's life. I do not want to be in Lucy's. She's a bit too perfect for me."
"What do you mean by that?" It seemed like a loaded statement.
How deep was the hole that he dug himself? Was it big enough to bury himself? "We tried to make it work, but she's so damn… perfect… everything was too perfect for me. Can you imagine her meeting Ellen? Or Ulquiorra?"
"Ellen, No." She withheld her opinion on Ulquiorra. "I guess I'm screwed up enough, huh?"
Nope. He had to dig deeper. "You're perfect for me, Orihime. No one said you were screwed up."
She frowned. If she was so perfect for him, he would have been honest with her. She didn't seem to know him at all. She breathed quickly as she thought about it. It wouldn't do to make any rash decisions. "Why do you think that, Grimmjow?" she finally asked, then hid her mouth behind her cup.
"Because you know who I am. I can be myself around you. You don't mind my friends or my activities," Grimmjow explained, staring at his coffee cup. "You weren't a random hookup, Orihime. I've gotten to know you."
She took a deep breath and released it slowly. What he said resonated with her. "Still, you've got to understand how I feel right now, right? It's like I just got run over by a truckful of unexpected information."
"What about when your mom showed up? Don't you think I felt the same way?" The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. "And then finding out you bought drugs for her?"
She closed her eyes and counted to five in her head. When she opened them, she said, "I warned you about her. I told you she was an addict and that I never wanted you to meet her. I'm sorry you had to. I have no excuse for myself, but as you've pointed out, I'm not perfect."
"You don't have to be perfect, Orihime. You're fine as you are," Grimmjow retorted. He crossed his arms over his chest. "I didn't ask you to explain or justify anything concerning your mother. I've helped you when you've needed it concerning her."
"Yes, you have. Thank you," she said. She felt defeated. There was nothing she could say. He had the upper hand. "Grimmjow…" her lip twisted. She felt like maybe his interest in his son was really something that was just situational, and as much as it was something she didn't admire, he was still the same guy. Maybe it was none of her business. She wasn't sure.
"What Orihime?"
She looked up at his eyes and studied them for a moment. Her heart stuttered. "I love you."
He gave her a small but strained smile. "Love you too," he said.
Did he?
They went back and watched a presentation about design software updates and another about networking tools, and then had the Dollhouse Designs lunch. They met at a sushi bar, and Orihime rolled her eyes. Riruka had a bit of a weeaboo vibe. Of course she wanted sushi.
When Grimmjow gave his name to the hostess, they were led to a booth in a dark, private spot in the restaurant. A large man with slick dark hair sat there, but Riruka was nowhere to be found. "Grimmjow, ya dumb bastard! It's been awhile! And who do we have here? You can sit next to me, little lady. Name's Ginjo," the man said, standing up and holding a hand out to Orihime.
She wore what felt like the seventy-fifth shocked expression of the day, which slowly morphed into a tense smile, but her eyes went to Grimmjow's, begging for rescue. "I'm Orihime, nice to meet you," she said nervously.
"Hey Ginjo. This is Orihime, my partner. Orihime this is Ginjo Kugo. He's… He's an asshole," Grimmjow stated. He rolled his eyes at Ginjo's attempt at flirting and sat down. "Where's Riruka?"
There was some kind of appetizer on the table that Ginjo tore into unceremoniously before he started speaking with his mouth full, "Um, she got held up. She saw you talk to that Margo slut from 10-4 Couriers and decided to assert her dominance," he said, laughing before he swallowed.
This man was a pig. He was disgusting to Orihime. He was just handsome enough that a lot of other women probably overlooked it, though. But no amount of nice features was enough to mask his lack of manners and lecherous attitude for Orihime. She was glad she ignored the man's invitation to sit next to him, and scooted closer to her boyfriend. He'd called her his partner several times today. She was going to have to ask him about that later. She put a hand on his thigh.
Grimmjow gave Orihime a quick smirk before turning back to Ginjo. "Yeah, I talked to Margo. What am I supposed to do? Ignore her? What if she wants another design or media campaign done? Byakuya would kill me."
"Hey, whatever. I don't care. You know how she is, though. Has to be queen bitch all day everyday. I don't know why she doesn't let Margo join us, though. It could be like the year before last, when we all ended up in the penthouse, right?" he said, smiling widely and then flashing his brows at Orihime. "Your new treat could join us. We could show her how we have fun at these things."
The hand on Grimmjow's leg gripped tightly for a second.
"Not this year, man. Orihime is my girlfriend, and you know I don't share." The reply was light but he glared at the other male.
Ginjo curled his lip and tsked. "Yeah, but you don't mind sharing other people's. Hypocrite." Then he took a drink of whatever was in his glass and added, "Does Riruka know she's your girlfriend?"
Just then the woman in question appeared. "Move it," she said, hip-checking Ginjo's arm and settling in next to him. "She's your girlfriend? Since when?" Riruka laughed and looked at Orihime with an unspoken challenge in her gaze.
"Since this past summer," Grimmjow said, his mouth turning into a thin line. "Don't make an issue of this, Riruka."
Riruka raised an eyebrow at him. "I wouldn't dream of it. It's not an issue to me, anyway. We're just here on professional matters," she said, a tiny smirk tugging at one side of her mouth as she looked down at her menu and trailed a foot against Grimmjow's shin under the table.
The entire lunch continued in the matter, Riruka and Ginjo making thinly veiled propositions to both Orihime and Grimmjow. Grimmjow did his best to indicate his lack of interest while not pissing of his biggest client. Orihime just tried to keep her mouth shut and her eyes from rolling.
When it was over and goodbyes were said, Orihime sighed deeply. "I just want to go lie down. Even if it's only for a little bit. Is there anyone else we need to meet right now?"
Grimmjow shook his head and sighed. "Not until later," he said. "We'll go back to the hotel. I'm sorry about them."
Orihime shrugged. It was just the icing on the cake of a mind fuck of a day. "It is what it is, I guess," she said, leading the way back.
Did Grimmjow feel bad about what had happened already? Slightly, but all that bullshit was in the past. Orihime couldn't hold it against him. He tried not to seem annoyed by her attitude. This conference was about his career, and while his off hours of the talks and demonstrations were spent having fun with other people, Grimmjow was focused on learning his trade. His girlfriend wasn't even interested in graphic design or advertising. "Do you want to go back to Evanston? You don't seem like you want to be here."
She scowled gently. "It's not that. It is just that I was not expecting all this… These people," she said delicately, stopping herself from saying women. "They all know you." She could see that he was not happy. "Don't let me stop you from going back. I just need, like, an hour to decompress and then I'll come back down to the conference center, okay?"
"Fine. There's a panel about handling tough clients I want to attend. Just text me when you come back down," Grimmjow replied.
She nodded and took his hand, holding it the rest of the way to the hotel, which was only about a block and a half. He didn't really respond the way he normally did, and when she relaxed her grip right outside the hotel doors, his dropped quickly.
Oh well.
"I'll see you soon," she murmured, going straight for the elevators.
The blue-haired man just nodded and turned to where there were a group of people standing around.
"Hey," she said to him, taking the empty seat beside him and smiling. "I'm surprised your friend isn't with you."
Blue eyes glanced at the blonde woman beside him. "Eh? Orihime? She's, uh, not happy with me at the moment. She went up to our room to pout or something. I don't know. Why are you surprised?" Grimmjow asked Lucy.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "That's not nice to say. I'm surprised because you were acting really close before. She seems sweet," Lucy answered, crossing her legs toward Grimmjow and relaxing her eyes.
"Well she's all bent out of shape upon finding out about Brady. She's mad because I hooked up with people and I'm popular," Grimmjow replied. "She's a sweet girl, if a bit… naive."
"Well of course she's naive. We all were naive, once upon a time," Lucy said with a small chuckle and bumped her shoulder into the side of his arm once. "Why didn't you tell her about Brady?"
"Brady isn't a big thing. It's no one's business. Unless she is going to be around longer, then I was going to tell her. She probably thinks I'm a terrible guy anyway for not being a father to him."
She shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sure it was a big shock, though. How long have you been together?"
Grimmjow mimicked the gesture. "She was the summer intern this year and it kind of got out of hand because one of my friends has feelings for her. I just wanted to keep her away from him." As Grimmjow spoke he felt an understanding dawning on him. Well fuck. This was just fucking perfect. "I think I've told you about Ulquiorra, yeah?"
Her eyes darted toward the ceiling. "I remember the name, for sure. I don't exactly remember anything else. Refresh me?" she said, glancing back at him.
Grimmjow rolled his eyes in a good natured way. "The multi-millionaire guy who runs the coffee shop and pretends he's normal."
She grinned at him, and for a moment her glance dropped to his mouth before she chuckled darkly, "Don't we all pretend to be normal?"
A smirk crossed his lips. He laughed along with her. "You are the normalest person here, Lucy."
A single brow rose and she shook her head, inhaling sharply. "That is not saying much," she teased, then relaxed. "It's good to see you, Grimmjow. You seem… I don't know. You seem more mature. Anyway, I digress. Tell me about this friend and the intern."
Grimmjow dropped the friendly expression and gave the mother of his child a long look. "So I was screwing her and RBM was just using Hime as the coffee girl. I've known Ulq for a long time. I've seen him get attached to people. Anyway, he told me he wanted her, and I kind of hung onto Orihime since then. I think… I think that's part of my attraction to her, because Ulquiorra can't have her."
"And I just said you were more mature… Spoke too soon, I guess, "she said, chuckling again, but she was kind about it. "That's not a good reason to stay with someone. If she's as naive as you say, you could really hurt her."
A sigh. A scowl. Grimmjow knew the woman sitting beside him was right. But he had been hanging on this long, what was a little longer? "She says she loves me," he said in a quiet voice.
Lucy's bottom lip pressed into her upper one as she tilted her head and studied Grimmjow a bit. Her hair spilled over one shoulder, and a waft of her perfume invaded the space between them. It was the same one she always wore. "You don't, though, do you?"
"I mean I care for her, but it's not that deep. Not yet. I mean, you know why I don't get attached. My mom met her already, and it almost broke us up," Grimmjow said. The scent coming off of Lucy was enough to drag him back into old memories. "It's why I hadn't told her about Brady. I don't know if she's gonna stick around."
Lucy nodded and faced forward for a moment. "It makes sense to me. I don't introduce Brady to anyone. He has me, Courtney -his nanny- and my parents. More my parents, now that I'm back in Chicago; they love him," she said with a smile. "You should come over some time."
Grimmjow mulled this thought over in his head. Yeah, he should go visit Brady. He still didn't know if introducing Orihime was a good idea. "I don't know. I kind of want to, but at the same time… there's Orihime."
"Why's that a problem? I'm not suggesting you chose between them, or that you bring her with. Especially if you're not sure about your relationship with her. You don't know Brady. He doesn't know you. I don't know what kind of relationship you envision yourself having with him in the future, but I think it's good for him to see you and know that you're his father and at least have an interest in who he is. He's getting to an age where he is starting to understand that he doesn't have what most kids have."
She was right. He didn't know his son and his son didn't know him. All he was was the guy who bought big and flashy toys for different occasions. He might have seen Brady once a year since he arrived in the world. "I'll come visit him soon. Maybe you can bring him up to Evanston if you ever get a day off," Grimmjow finally replied. "I know I'm being an ass about this whole thing with Orihime, but I think there's something going on between her and Ulquiorra. I just want him to stay away from her."
Lucy pursed her lips again. "Why do you care so much? If you're not that into her, I mean. Has she given you any reason to doubt you? Has she cheated on you before?"
"Nnoitra, the asshole guy, he sent me pics of Hime and Ulq having a drink and then going to her apartment. On Halloween, he went after her and I just gave him enough rope to hang himself. He sends her flowers every fucking day she works." Grimmjow sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. "There's doubt concerning Ulquiorra. I don't know about Orihime."
The woman's eyes went wide. "Holy crap, I'd say. Wow. She doesn't tell him to stop?"
"She thinks the flowers are from me. I don't know if she's ever told him to stop."
Lucy's shoulders relaxed. "Well, you just said she's naive. Maybe she doesn't realize he's into her. Who knows. I guess you would, but I can't help you there, sorry to say."
"Enough about me, Luce. Who's in your life?" Grimmjow said waving a hand as if that would dismiss the entire subject.
"Brady. He is my one and only," she answered, her cheeks coloring and a soft, loving expression taking over her features as she flipped her phone over, displaying her lockscreen for a moment. She was quiet for a few seconds, and when she looked back up at Grimmjow, her eyes were a bit glassy. "We did a good thing, Grimm."
Seeing the emotion on the woman's face was enough to tug at his heartstrings. Grimmjow wanted to see his son. He wanted to talk to Brady and interact with him. "You busy tomorrow night?" he asked.
She shook her head. "You want to come over and see him? I can let Courtney go early."
"You read me easily don'tcha," he asked with a flirty smile. Grimmjow nodded. "Yeah, I want to see him, if that's okay with you."
She grinned. "If you bring us McDonald's, you'll already be the king of his universe, just a tip."
Grimmjow laughed. "Chicken nuggets or cheeseburger happy meal?"
The next day of the conference started and Grimmjow attended the talks that he wanted. He attended certain demonstrations. Sometimes Orihime was by his side, other times she did he own thing. As the first day, he was just as popular the second day with various people coming up to him and talking to him enthusiastically.
When the last lecture was over, Grimmjow found Orihime. "Hey, I'm going to head up to the room. I've got to get ready for a meeting," he told her.
"Oh, okay. Where are we going?" she asked, walking beside him with a small smile. After she had come back down to the conference later the previous afternoon, he had been a bit standoffish. She realized she had been acting like a baby, and she was trying to make up for it today.
"Uh," he trailed off, losing his train of thought. Shit. He might as well come clean with the information. "Um, it's just gonna be me tonight. I've got a meeting with Lucy that I need to attend. I would bring you, but we both agreed to… Brady is going to be there."
"Oh," she said softly, pausing for a moment as she took in this tidbit. She recovered a moment later and said, "Oh, okay. I guess that makes sense."
Grimmjow gave her a small but strained smile. "Thanks for understanding, Hime."
She took in a breath that only shook a little bit. "Take some pictures?"
"I will," Grimmjow said. Once they got up to their room, he took a shower and got ready to go. Instead of business attire, he was dressed in a casual outfit of jeans and a v-neck t-shirt. "I'll let you know when I'll be back. I want to spend as much time with him as I can before I go back to Evanston, okay?"
Orihime nodded. "Of course. You look nice," she said with a smile. He still seemed standoffish. She was trying to thaw the ice.
Grimmjow smiled at her and nodded. "Thanks," he stated. "You did a good job today with handling things." He had no clue what to say to Orihime. "I'll let you know how it goes. If you want something to eat, you can order room service or I can give you the RBM credit card."
"I might go down to the hotel restaurant and draw or something, I don't know," she said, twisting her lips a bit. She didn't get down to Chicago much and didn't want to waste it sitting in a boring hotel room by herself. At least if she went downstairs she could see some lights or something.
He nodded, but wasn't really listening. Instead, Grimmjow pulled out his wallet and took out the company credit card so that he could hand it to Orihime. When she took it, Grimmjow gave her a kiss on the cheek then left the hotel room.
He was gone. So quickly. Maybe he was nervous? She tried not to get too upset as she looked at the closed door. Her thoughts started swirling. This was no good. Maybe she needed a drink. She decided a shower was a good idea. She could dress in something that let her fade into the background and eat and drink on RBM's dime. It sounded like a solid plan, especially since she only had to lug the iPad Grimmjow had gifted to her.
"Welcome, hope you found the place okay," Lucy said, opening the door for Grimmjow and stepping aside before turning her head. "Oh, Brady! We have a special visitor!"
A child who appeared tall for his three years of age, with chubby cheeks and a dinosaur toy in his hand, came stomping into the room. "Bwoo! It's Bwoo hayo!"
Lucy laughed and turned back to Grimmjow. "Uh, you'll have to excuse me. I let him have a picture of you and that's what he calls you. Blue Hair."
Grimmjow smiled at the woman before he stepped into the apartment. He wiped his feet on the rug and proceeded to take off his coat. A bag in his hand hindered this process. "Oh, this is for you guys. Happy meal and milk are for Brady."
"Excellent. I'll take that, and you can meet us at the table. Guess what Blue Hair brought us?" she said, showing Brady the bag.
"McDonald's!" the boy jumped up and down a few times and ran over to his booster chair. "Did I get a toy?"
"I think you did, Blue Hair wouldn't not get you a toy, right?" Lucy answered, pulling items out of the bag and smiling over to Grimmjow. "Did you want a beer or a water or something?"
Grimmjow grinned and shrugged off his coat. "Do you have somewhere I can put this?" he asked. The Blue Hair thing was cute. "Um, Luce, does he not know… Does he not know I'm his… you know..."
"Um, well," she said, going over to him and taking his coat, opening a closet near the entrance to hang it up. "I haven't exactly had that conversation with him? He's kind of young to really understand. It's up to you if you want to introduce yourself as his dad. I think he won't be super overwhelmed or anything, like I said, I don't really know if he gets it yet," she said to him so that their son wouldn't hear. "I don't see any harm in it if, y'know… If you want to make this a thing, I think he should know the truth sooner than later."
"I would like to make this a thing, if you're going to stick around, you know?" Grimmjow looked at the blonde woman with a hopeful glint in his eye before he looked around for their child. He must have run off to the table. "Brady?"
"What?" the kid called back. "Bwoo Heyo, do you like McDonald's too?"
Grimmjow scoffed lightly in an amused way and then made his smile bigger. "Show me around Luce. I want to see him."
She led the way to the kitchen table. "As you can see, Mr. Brady Scott Jaegerjaquez-McDaniel is very efficient," she said, holding a hand out to the child who already had a nugget stuffed into his mouth. "Have a seat. Drink?"
"Sure, what do you have that will pair well with a Big Mac?" Grimmjow said with a teasing grin.
"Oooh, my sommelier skills are going to be put to the test, here," she teased, sticking her head in the fridge for a minute. "Oh, can't go wrong with Lemon LaCroix or Corona. That's what I have in my fridge, anyway. Unless you're up for some two-day old prosecco or 2% milk. What's your pleasure?"
"I'll take a Corona," Grimmjow replied. He sat down in a chair and watched the little boy gobble chicken nuggets with gusto. "Can I take a photo of you Braids?"
The boy didn't respond with a yes or a no, simply said "Cheese" and gave an face-splitting grin.
"He's had some practice," his mother said, setting the beer in front of Grimmjow. She had already put a slice of lime into it and was doing the same for a bottle of her own. She sat beside him and waited for the photo.
There was a brief smile at Lucy before Grimmjow had his phone out, snapping photos of the boy and his mother. Then he got a photo of all three of them. "You know Lucy, we did do a good thing."
"I do know," she said, a wise grin on her face as she clinked her bottle to his.
A/N: PLOT TWIST! What do you think?
