Sorry! The awkward interactions between Toshi and Ichigo are slowing me down.

It barely took him two minutes to cave and tell her who he was. And what the hell he was doing there once she turned her confused eyes to him. Which was just plain pathetic for him.

And worried him greatly because if this somehow got back to Gran Tornino- he'd put him through the fifth circle of hell in an effort to retrain him on how to hold his tongue under stressful situations.

"So your my-" She started to ask him if he was really her husband when he cut her off.

"Yes." He said, feeling as if his heart was going to leap right out of his chest at any moment now.

She gave a small, harsh sounding laugh and reached up to rub at her forehead as if it was hurting before then saying, "Wow. Y-You must be really disappointed right now."

"Disappointed?" In truth he wasn't at all disappointed. The situation wasn't ideal for either of them. But that didn't mean that it was disappointing. It was more overwhelmingly complicated and just a tad bit shocking.

But hardly disappointing.

"About this. Me. Everything." She said bluntly. He grappled for words for a moment. Trying to think of something at least somewhat comforting to say to her and instead blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"You don't think much of yourself do you, dearest."

He didn't really mean anything by it. Not really. It was merely something that he had observed in her. Her actions and words just now spoke volumes of having very little self esteem.

She flinched so violently that one would think that he'd actually hit her.

As it was, her reaction to his words left him nearly speechless. And maybe just a tad bit alarmed as well. He'd just...never had anyone- especially a woman react to him in such a way before.

It hurt.

It almost literally physical, hurt him to see her react like that.

"Sorry. I-I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's fine." She said quickly. Trying to pull herself together enough to hold a decent conversation with him. "Recently just about everything upsets me. So..."

He nodded his head in understanding and tried a different approach. Thinking that maybe she would like to talk about the baby instead for now. Expectant mother's were generally very chatty when it came to their babies. And maybe he could figure out who the father was and what she felt for him if she talked about it some.

"So...you're pregnant."

She flinched again. Though this time it was barely noticeable to him. But only just so as she licked her lips and slowly said, "Yeah." Her tone was filled with dread. As if she half expected him to start verbally tearing into her or something.

He didn't like that she must be thinking that of him. But he wasn't sure how to react without snapping at her. So he just pasted on his warmest most friendly smile, and tried again. "How far along are you?"

"Nearly two months."

"D-Do you know what you want to do?" He asked curiously.

So far, she seemed less than thrilled by the prospect of being a mother. And he was beginning to wonder if perhaps she'd been a victim of sexual assault. If so then her reaction to his words before as well as her hesitancy to answer his questions about the baby would make much more sense.

Though he found himself desperately hoping that that wasn't the case. But even if it was, he'd still take care of her and support her.

"I guess that's entirely up to the father." She said, tiredly.

"I see." He said, unsure of what to feel right then as he asked. "Have you not told him of the child?"

"I have to have a paternity test done before I can even prove that the baby is one hundred percent his. I don't really like the idea of saying, 'Hey this is yours'. And being called a slut or something. So everything is...rather complicated at the moment."

"I see." He said again, as he watched her slender shoulders slump in defeat.

Sighing, because he didn't know what to do, much less say to make her feel better- especially since she seemed to have gotten the most terrible end of things. He simply reached out and gently took one of her small hands in his own and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

He might have tried to tell her that everything would be okay, but her sister finally returned with his tea and some food for them. "Here you go! Sorry for the wait Mister."

"Toshinori. My name is Toshinori." He corrected her. He wasn't that damned old and anyways she was his...sister-in-law. She should call him by his name.

She gave him another dazzling smile as she set the plates of food down in front of them both before scampering off again. Pausing only for a moment by the stairs across the room to ask him to make sure that Ichigo ate something before she disappeared.

Once she was gone, he turned his attention back to his wife and noted that she'd already pushed her plate away.

"Is your stomach still upset?" He asked as he slowly retracted his hand.

She sighed as she replied. "A little bit."

"Do you think that you can manage to eat?"

She looked at the plate of food that her sister had left for her and then looked back at him before reluctantly nodding her head. "Maybe... I'll give it a try."

He gave her an encouraging smile and gently nudged her plate back into place with his fingertips and sat there and watched her worriedly as she took a small bite of one of the sandwiches on her plate. After which she simply sat there for several moments to see whether or not she'd be able to hold it down.

Once she was sure that she was going to be able to eat it, she made quick work of polishing it off and then just sat there. Looking at anything but him as he ate.

"Are you still hungry, dearest?" He asked after a few moments of unbearably awkward silence.

"No. I'm fine."

"Do you have any questions you want to ask me?" He finally asked her once he'd finished off his own meal and gently pushed his plate aside.

"You said that your name is Toshinori?"

"Yes."

"Okay, um… What do you do for a living? Does it have something to do with the...outfit that you're wearing now?"

"As a matter of fact, it does. I'm a pro-hero." He said proudly, wondering if she would freak out and start acting like a fan girl on him. But she didn't do anything more than blink at him and frown a little bit before asking,

"So you're job is to run around in PJ's and a cape?"

He sputtered for a moment and then gave her an oddly insulted look that made her lips twitch a little bit as if she were trying to hold back a giggle.

"Oh you are just the worst sort of person." He muttered without any heat, eliciting a small laugh from her that made him grin a little bit before asking gently. "Is there anything else that you want to ask me?"

"I can't think of anything, no." Ichigo admitted after a heartbeat or so.

"Nothing at all?" He asked in a slightly surprised tone as she shook her head no. He had expected her to bombard him with questions about everything. Things like where did he live, what was his favorite color, how much did running around in his PJ's pay...ect.

Lord knew that he certainly had some questions of his own. But he supposed that for now, he would leave things as they were.