Life was starting to look up for Ichigo and was going to go higher. Just when things were looking bad for him and Emma, they were able to fix things between before Emma left for a long time. However, she was able to get him promoted before leaving. That's why he left work feeling good about his life now. When he left, he accidentally bumped into a woman named Teresa, the third woman that could actually be Kazui's mother.

"Sorry about all of this." Ichigo said as he helped her gather all the papers she dropped. He took a look at one of the papers and saw some things that caught his attention. "Museum owner forges fake paintings? Camp owner takes money and runs off? Snakes could come in through toilets?! What is all this?"

"My research on some theories and facts." Teresa said.

"Are you a conspiracy theorist or something?" Ichigo asked.

"No. I'm a reporter." Teresa said.

"Oh, good. I thought you were one of those crazy people." Ichigo said, but some of the stuff he read still had him think she was.

"You really want to talk back to a black belt? A woman who knows what she wants and is determined to get it? Someone who actually has a license to kill and is actually armed?" Teresa threatened with Ichigo getting a little anxious. It was serious until she started laughing. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just couldn't help myself. I have a friend who always told me to seem like someone you don't want to mess with. Although, I do know some karate."

"I think you really are crazy." Ichigo said, but he did find her a little amusing. Already taking a small interest in this lady, he decides to take a step further. "I'm Ichigo by the way." He said as he held out his hand.

"Teresa." She said as the two shook hands and began to get acquainted with each other.

"Again, I'm sorry about this." Ichigo said as he handed her some paperwork.

"It's fine. I was going to sort through all of this at a café." Teresa said.

"The one down the street?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah." Teresa said.

"Mind if I join you?" Ichigo said.

"Really? Why?" Teresa asked, but Ichigo couldn't come up with anything good.

"I don't know. I just think there's something interesting about you." Ichigo said.

"If you're trying to flirt with me, you might want to do better than that." Teresa said. She still allowed him to come along with her. The two of them went down the street until they hit the café that Teresa was heading to. Once they got themselves a table, Teresa was sorting through all her paperwork. Ichigo got to look through some of her work and was rather intrigued with what she had. He was right when he thought there was something interesting about her.

"Some of this is just...wow." Ichigo said. "Is any of this stuff even true?"

"Some of it; really the ones the ones that seem more believable. Others is just theories with no real evidence." Teresa said. "People always thought I had quite the imagination when I was younger."

"But some of these look like actual crimes. How would you uncover all of it?" Ichigo said.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you all my secrets, but I do have ways." Teresa said. "People use to think I was pretty but crazy. I always believed I was an optimistic person who always tried to see more than just what my eyes saw."

"Sounds like you do have quite the active imagination." Ichigo said. "How many crimes did you actually bust?"

"A grand total...of none." Teresa said. "Some of these things I have reported on were already uncovered by someone else. All I did was just report it and try to get the story. Other times it turns out I was completely wrong. Good thing I check the facts first before I hand anything over to my boss."

"Sounds like you hit one disappointment after another." Ichigo said. "I will say that these do make great reads. It probably make life a lot more interesting if this stuff happened. Too bad it sounds like you have to work with facts instead of fiction."

"I know. Back in school, I had quite the imagination. My friends thought it was adorable." Teresa said. "Maybe it all seems silly, but I like this sort of stuff." The two of them seemed to be having a great time together. It looked like Ichigo was right about his hunch. Teresa certainly did seem like an interesting girl. "You know, I actually do have some more stuff like this back at my place. You want to come over and see?"

"Sure." Ichigo said as he wanted to see more of this woman and what she's got.

...

Present Day

"That's how Teresa and I met." Ichigo said. "She had some whacky ideas, but they were fun to read." Kazui and Ichika listened well with the story. Now that they know the three women, they just need to figure out which one is really Kazui's mother.

"Well, Teresa can't be Mom. You said she's a reporter; Mom's a nurse." Kazui said.

"True, but people do change their careers around." Ichigo said. "Look at me. I once worked for a cooperate building, but I'm now a translator. She could have been working to be a nurse after you were born. Maybe you don't remember her working to become nurse." That certainly had Kazui rethinking his claim.

"Your Mom does have a creative imagination. Remember that cake she made for your birthday?" Ichika said.

"Best cake ever!" Kazui said, but the others weren't so sure about that.

"Anyway, a lot happened between the time your mother and I met to now, Kazui." Ichigo said. "I haven't given anything definite yet." Kazui and Ichika still don't have a clear answer. Ichigo still keeps having them rethink their assumptions until they have something that really helps. "Back to the story. Teresa brought me back to her place to show me more of her stories..."

...

The Story

The two of them went back to Teresa's Apartment. Ichigo was quite impressed with what he saw when he walked in. The whole place looked like it had five rooms with a bunch of fancy pieces around. It made the apartment he shares with Renji look like a dump.

"Wow! You live here?!" Ichigo said. "Where do you work again? Are you sure you never cracked any cases before the police?!"

"It's not that big." Teresa said as she tried being modest.

"Are you kidding? Maybe you are a little messed up in the head if you can't see how great this all is." Ichigo said.

"Make yourself comfortable. I'm going to see if I can find some of that other paperwork." Teresa said as she went to a different part of her apartment. Ichigo had look around and was rather curious as to how Teresa could afford a nice place like where he's standing. He did see one door was slightly opened and he thought he could see someone inside. Rather curious as to what he was seeing, he walked closer to the door and opened it up. It turned out to be a bedroom, but there was an elderly man inside. He was hooked up to a bunch of machines and oxygen tanks. His pulse and heartrate were being monitored and everything else that patient would have. It was like a homemade hospital room.

"Hello?" Ichigo said as he tried to get the guy's attention, but the old man didn't move or really do anything.

"I told you to make yourself comfortable, not snoop around." Teresa said as she came in. She put the paperwork down and checked on all the machines.

"Sorry. I saw the door was slightly opened and I saw this guy through it." Ichigo explained. "I was just curious, and I still am. What is all this?"

"What do you think?" Teresa said as she made sure everything in that room was working right. "All this stuff is to help keep him alive."

"Right... Who is this? Your grandfather." Ichigo asked.

"Nope. He's my husband." Teresa said.

"Husband?!" Ichigo said with complete shock.

...

Present Day

"Husband?!" Kazui and Ichika shouted as they were just as shocked as Ichigo was on that day.

"She was married to her grandfather?! Gross!" Ichika said.

"It wasn't really her grandfather. That guy was just old enough to be her grandfather." Ichigo said. "She took care of him just like a nurse did." He said to imply that Teresa could still be Orihime.

"Mrs. Kurosaki, if it turns out you really are Teresa, I am never going to look at you the same." Ichika claimed.

"Way to put those thoughts in their head, Ichigo." Rukia said with disapproval.

"They wanted to hear the real story of how I met my wife and how we started dating. They think they can handle the truth. That's what I'm giving them." Ichigo said.

"Well, I hate to interrupt this "thriving" story, but I'm afraid that's where we'll have to stop for now. It's getting late and we should get Ichika home." Renji said with the kids moaning with disappointment.

"But the story isn't over. It was getting really good." Ichika said. "Can't we just spend the night here? It is the weekend."

"Honey, we don't have any of our stuff. We don't have a change of clothes, there's no where for us to even sleep here, and you know how you get when you're tired." Rukia said. The kids don't want to stop the story there, but it seems like there wasn't much they could really do about it.

"We'll continue with part two tomorrow." Ichigo said. "Kazui, you should really be getting ready for bed yourself." The kids reluctantly did what they were told as they got out of their seats.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ichika." Kazui said.

"You better not continue on with the story without me." Ichika said. With Ichika leaving with her parents and Kazui going to get ready for bed, Ichigo and Orihime took a moment to share their own little amusement with the story.

"I think they're pretty interested in the story." Orihime said.

"You think?" Ichigo sarcastically asked. They had to admit that they were having some fun with this story.

"Do you think they'll be able to figure out which one I was before the story ends?" Orihime asked.

"I don't know." Ichigo said. "I think I've been doing a pretty good job by keeping them guessing."

"Well, either way, it is our story and I'm glad it happened." Orihime said as she gave him a peck and walked off. Ichigo really was having fun with this story, but thinking about the past has him thinking about something. Could his life had turned our differently if he did something different? Would it have been for the better or for the worse?