Chapter XXII: I Need Disclosure

Grimmjow rubbed his hands against his thighs as he looked around at the bland eggshell white walls of the examination room. He could feel Tier's eyes on him, and it only added to his anxiety. He hated doctor's offices to start, and to finish, he was nervous about finding out the sex of his child. Once he saw the baby on that monitor, it would be real. It already was, but he'd actually have tangible evidence that his life was about to change forever.

"Grimmjow, can you do us both a favor and relax? You're making me itch," Tier finally said, her tone only moderately irritated. Grimmjow looked at her with a frown, but she just stuck her tongue out at him, returning her attention to her phone. Grimmjow decided to take his own phone out, responding to his nosey sister's incessant messages that gratefully hadn't bothered him since he set his conversation with her to do not disturb. They passed the time in silence and Grimmjow's anxiety ebbed. He was just starting to relax when there was a knock on the door. The doctor walked in, smiling at the both of them.

"Hello, Ms. Harribel, I'm Dr. Washington. I'm going to examine you before the ultrasound tech comes in, alright?" Tier nodded and the doctor crossed the room to sanitize and retrieve a pair of gloves. "Would you like for him to leave."

"No," Tier answered, smirking. "He's seen it all already." Grimmjow rolled his eyes and shifted in his seat.

"And I presume this is the father of the baby?"

"Yes."

"I bet you're excited about finding out the sex," Dr. Washington said, turning her attention to Grimmjow. The blue-haired male felt himself becoming anxious all over again, so he kept quiet and just nodded his response. "Well, I'll try to be quick."

Grimmjow distracted himself with his phone while the doctor examined Tier. She was right about him being excited; he couldn't seem to calm down in fact. He focused on answering texts from Nel and Ichigo, zoning out and not listening to the idle chit chat between Tier and the doctor. Eventually, the examination was over and the doctor left the two of them alone in the room again. It wasn't long before there was another knock on the door and the ultrasound technician walked in. She smiled pleasantly at Grimmjow and Tier.

"Hello my name is Nanao Ise and I'll be your ultrasound tech today. How are you doing Ms. Harribel?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Tier responded. Nanao turned her attention to Grimmjow then.

"And you, Mr. . .?"

"Jaegerjaquez. And I'm good."

"Well that's good to hear. I know you're both very excited to be finding out the sex of your child today so I'll make this quick." With that, she got to work. Grimmjow wasn't entirely sure what exactly he was watching happen, but he resigned to just be patient and wait for the picture to show up on the screen.

Nanao's hands moved expertly as she worked, spreading the cool gel onto Tier's protruding belly. The green-eyed woman grimaced slightly at the strange sensation. Her face relaxed as Nanao began to rub the device against her skin. Grimmjow watched the screen anxiously, waiting for something to happen. After a few minutes, he saw something. He saw his baby.

"There we go," Nanao said, her voice somewhat soothing to Grimmjow. "Now let's see what we have here." She continued to move the device around on Tier's belly, a look of concentration on her face. Grimmjow bit his lip, watching the screen with intent. After a few more minutes, Nanao let out a sigh. Grimmjow couldn't tell if it was a good or bad sign.

"What is it?" Tier asked, taking the words right out of Grimmjow's mouth.

"You're having a girl."

Grimmjow let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He felt himself smile before he stood up and made his way to the available side of Tier's bed. He looked at the monitor, the picture of his baby - his little girl - making his heart ache with happiness. She was alive and well and she was real.

"Do you have a name for her?" Nanao asked.

Grimmjow nodded and responded with a smile, "Felicity Charisse."


Ichigo sat quietly in the waiting area, messing around on his phone. He was a bit anxious, though he couldn't say why. It wasn't like he was waiting to find out the sex of his own baby. Although, in a way, he felt like he was. Grimmjow was his boyfriend, the man he had very strong feelings for. Was it the right time to say "the man he loved"? He still wasn't sure. In his heart he knew his feelings for the older man ran very deep, but it was a big step to say those three words, and he wasn't certain if the time was appropriate. He didn't want to run the risk of scaring the man off with a premature confession. He sighed. This was giving him a headache.

Luckily he received a distraction from his thoughts in the form of a text message. He looked at his phone's screen in confusion. The number on the screen was unsaved; he took care to save numbers to avoid situations like this, that's why he was so confused. He didn't recall giving out his number to anyone as of recent. He tapped the message thread, reading the message to himself:

I've got something for you

His frown deepened as he tried to figure out what that was supposed to mean. When he came up without an answer, he decided it was best to just ask.

I'm sorry, but who is this? And what do you mean?

A friend. And I mean this...

Ichigo waited for clarification as to what that was supposed to mean. His clarification came soon enough in the form of photographs. His eyes widened as he looked at them. The first was a photo of him in the park with Nelliel and Véronique. It was from about a week before his trip to France. The next photo was one of him getting into the Navigator. Another photo came then of him with Grimmjow at a restaurant on one of their date nights. The last photo was the one that unsettled him the most. It was a photo of him and Tier in Grimmjow's living room earlier that day. It looked like it'd been zoomed in, so he could only presume it'd been taken across from the penthouse. He covered his gaping mouth; he couldn't believe what was happening right then. Someone was stalking him.

He took a moment to collect his thoughts and gripped his phone in both hands, his thumbs working furiously over the on-screen keyboard.

Who are you and how did you get these photos of me? I refuse to accept any riddles or beating around the bush. You tell me who you are and what you want right now.

The response came promptly, and Ichigo glared at the screen,

Like I said before, I'm a friend. I'm only showing you this because I want you to know a little bit of what I know. I know everything though. And when I say that, I mean EVERYTHING. So watch your back, Ichigo. Because I'm coming for you.

Bullshit! You didn't tell me anything. I want to know exactly who you are right now!

He waited and waited, but no response came. He could feel his heart about to beat out of his chest. He couldn't believe this was happening. How could he have been so careless and unobservant? He didn't have time to think about it anymore as Grimmjow and Tier returned to the waiting area, making their way towards him. He took a few deep breaths, grateful that neither of the two had noticed how shaken he was. Grimmjow smiled at Ichigo as he approached and the oranget returned it as best as he could.

"It's a girl!" the blue-haired male said, excitement dripping from every syllable of his statement.

"That's great!" Ichigo said, glad that his voice came out normal. He wasn't fooling Tier though, as he saw her looking at him strangely. He smiled at her. "What's up?"

"You look a little pale. Are you okay?" she asked. Ichigo nodded, but she still gave him an 'I don't believe that' look. She dropped the subject nonetheless, and Ichigo almost let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, let's go home," Grimmjow said, too excited to even notice the change in Ichigo's demeanor.

Ichigo stood from his seat and began to follow Grimmjow and Tier out of the doctor's office. Just as they were heading out the door, his phone vibrated. He looked at the screen, another message from the unsaved number there. He opened it, feeling the color drain from his face. It was another photo, a photo of him, Grimmjow, and Tier walking through the door of the doctor's office. He looked around almost frantically, but he couldn't see anything or anyone suspicious. His phone vibrated once again, and he wasn't sure how much more of this he could handle.

Have a nice day, Ichigo. I'll be watching you.


Ichigo's anxiety only increased; he periodically received photos of him with Grimmjow throughout the rest of the day. He thought about blocking the number, but honestly what would that solve? There would still be someone stalking him, he just wouldn't know what the stalker saw. This was a lot to deal with, but he didn't want to bother Grimmjow. The man had enough on his plate as it stood. He sighed; he was too young to be dealing with shit like this.

"What's with all the sighing today?" Renji asked. Ichigo looked at his best friend, hoping against hope that the redhead would figure out that he didn't want to talk about it. No such luck though, as Renji just returned his look with an expectant one.

"Fine," Ichigo sighed once again. "But if I tell you this you have to promise to keep your big mouth shut."

"My lips are sealed."

Ichigo found that hard to believe, but nevertheless he pulled out his phone and showed the messages to Renji. The redhead's tattooed eyebrows were furrowed, a very serious expression etched into his features. It was one of few times that Ichigo even remembered seeing him so serious.

"What the fuck," Renji said after he was done reading. Ichigo took his phone back, shaking his head.

"Exactly."

"Who do you think it is?"

"No clue," Ichigo replied with a shrug. Renji looked at him deadpan, and he returned the look with a confused one of his own. "What?"

"It's obviously Ichinose."

"You think it's Maki? Ren, he graduated and is going God knows where for college. He's not thinking about what happened anymore just like I'm not. It's over."

"Okay, but you're the one who told me he showed up at your job."

"Granted, but he hasn't done that since. I haven't heard from him, not that that'd be possible since I blocked him. But still, I don't think he'd do something like this over something as petty as what happened between us."

"Damn, I guess you're right. I don't know then."

"Me either, and it's giving me a fucking fit."

"Have you talked to Grimmjow about it?" Renji asked, and Ichigo shook his head. "Why not?"

"He's got enough going on. He doesn't need to be bothered with this too."

"Are you dumb?"

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused, dumbass," Renji replied, nonchalantly chewing on a bite of the sandwich he'd been eating.

"You best elaborate before you get that ass beat," Ichigo said, and Renji rolled his russet eyes.

"Dude, you and Grimmjow are together. He cares about you; a blind dude could see that shit. I'm a hundred percent sure he'd want to know about this. You need to talk to him."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right. Now get outta my house and go talk to your man."

Ichigo chuckled at that, waving to his friend before he got up and left the room. He said goodbye to Renji's mother and headed out the front door, making his way to his car. As he drove in the direction of Grimmjow's estate, he pondered how he would approach the subject of his stalker. It wasn't the easiest topic to get into, but he thought he'd be able to figure something out. He decided to just go about it the same way he'd done it with Renji, except he wouldn't wait for the man to prod him about it. He'd just tell him.

Soon he was pulling up at the gates. He drove through them, following the winding driveway up to the front entrance. When he got there, he was confused. Two town cars were already in front of the house. He parked anyway and got out of the car, locking the doors behind him. When he made it to the front door, he rang the bell and waited. The door opened, revealing his lover who's face was marred with discomfort, seemingly at the sight of Ichigo.

"What are you doing here, babe?" Grimmjow asked, and Ichigo found himself stuttering his response, surprised that Grimmjow didn't seem too thrilled to see him.

"I, umm, I need to talk to you."

"You couldn't have called?"

"I'm sorry," the teen said, feeling himself blushing. I would've made sense for him to call before he just flew over there. He hadn't thought about it beforehand though.

"It's okay, don't stress it," Grimmjow said, leaning down to place a kiss on Ichigo's forehead. "Now's just not the best time."

"Why's that?" Ichigo asked, his curiosity getting the best of him. Grimmjow sighed, rubbing his temple.

"Because my parents are here."


I know y'all are so sick of me, and it's totally understandable. Basically, my computer exploded so there's that. Thankfully my cousin was cool enough to let me borrow hers. I've also been experiencing the writer's block from hell. Like I haven't been able to write anything, and I think I know why. It's being resolved, so don't worry. I just really want to apologize for making y'all wait seven months. I feel like such an ass. Hopefully I'll be able to do better now that I'm working on getting my shit together. If you're still reading this, get ready. There's gonna be a lot happening from here on out.

Also, I cannot believe this, but this fic has 100,000 views. That may not be a lot to someone like Racey or TPP, but to my lame ass, that's amazing. I cannot thank you guys enough for taking interest in my bullshit. When I saw that I almost cried. You all make me so happy and I love you v much. Thanks so much for reading :)

Until next time,

Patd06