Hello! Me again! I decided to write something else and stick it up in here. My Christmas story! Yayness! It is AU, for a heads up, so don't be surprised!

I hope everyone likes it; I worked hard on it, and personally, I liked it. :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters.

A Second Chance

Ichigo Kurosaki sighed and ran a hand over his face, looking tiredly around the ER he worked in. It was Christmas Eve, and, as always, the ER was packed. There were people who had slipped on the ice in either cars or on their feet in the hurry to get some last minute shopping in and children who had cut themselves on tape-cutting utensils; people who had gotten into fights while doing their last minute shopping, and the people who would do anything not too be alone on the streets for the holidays.

"Ichigo?"

Ichigo turned around to see Rukia Kuchiki standing by him, holding her clip-board tightly to her chest. He smiled an encouraging smile and tried to wipe the tiredness out of his eyes as he stood to his feet.

"What is it, Rukia?" he asked, yawning. He had been on shift for almost fourteen hours now.

"There is a patient in curtain three that I would like to look at. She came in with a cold, but I'm worried about hypothermia."

Ichigo nodded and took the chart from Rukia as she led him to where the young girl sat.

He had known Rukia for almost two months; ever since she had transfered here. When he had first met her, she came barreling up to him and knocked him over. She had been holding a injured girl in her arms; it turned out that that girl was Ichigo's sister, Yuzu, and Rukia had saved her from death.

Ichigo smiled at the memory as he opened the curtain surrounding the bed that the little girl was laying on. She was coughing deeply and her small cheeks were bright pink. Ichigo sat down beside her.

"Hey there, little one. What's your name?"

She looked up at him, her big blue eyes wide.

"Ise," she said.

Ichigo nodded.

"Well, Ise, would it be OK if I put this," Ichigo held up his stethoscope, "up against your back so I can listen to you breathe?"

She nodded and Ichigo stood to his feet, pulling the back of the little girl's shirt and listened intently to her breathing. He then stood to his feet and handed the chart back to Rukia.

"Give her some medication for her cough and send for an x-ray of her lungs, alright?"

Rukia nodded and Ichigo walked off, sighing. He wanted to sleep, but he didn't want to go home. Like most of the doctors and nurses working tonight, he didn't have anyone to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with. He was alone in life. At twenty-six, he had no wife or children and his father and sisters were away for the holiday. He hated being alone.

He was about to retire to the doctors' lounge when he heard his name being softly called. Frowning, he looked around, trying to see who the small, quiet voice belonged to.

"Mr. Ichigo."

There it was again.

Ichigo's eyes widened when he saw the small girl hiding behind the medicine rack. He walked over and bent down beside her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Hey, Keli, what are you doing here?"

"Mr. Ichigo, please, you have to help mommy! Please! She's sick!"

The small child, who could have been no more than four and had been in the ER a week and a half ago, was frantic and her brown eyes were overfowing with tears.

"Calm down, Keli. I'll send an ambulance to your house right away," Ichigo said, trying to calm the child as she shook violently in his arms.

"No! Only you, please, no one else. Mommy said so!"

"I'll come, I'll come. Just calm down. But I have to bring someone with me; I'll need help, OK? Just one person."

Keli nodded, but didn't stop crying as Ichigo hoisted her up into his arms and walked quickly out into the main area of the ER. He would bring Rukia with him. He knew her well, and she was a good nurse and was kind to children.

Ichigo found her quickly; she was taking care of an older man when he asked to speak to her. She let the other nurse take over and walked out, raising an eyebrow at him.

"What's wrong, Ichigo?" she asked, closing the door behind her.

"Come on, we have to hurry. Keli's mom is in trouble," he said, taking her hand and hauling her out of the ER and into the cold snow. He continued, "She's sick and Keli said that her mom doesn't want anyone else helping her but me. C'mon, we have to hurry."

Rukia nodded and climbed into the car that Ichigo reveled to be his own. After putting Keli in the back, Ichigo took directions from the small child and drove a little faster on the ice than he should have. Rukia was gripping the arm rest tightly, and as Keli had Ichigo pull up to a small, brown house, she quickly climbed out of the car.

Ichigo grabbed both Keli and his bag from the back of the car. Keli was still crying, and as they neared the house, Ichigo found the door open. He quickly walked inside, and Keli showed him into the bedroom; on the bed was a middle-aged woman, her black hair spread out around her head, sticking to her face with sweat.

"God, she's in labor," Ichigo said, running over to her side and quickly checking over a few things before trying to get a response out of her. "Nothing. Rukia! Help me!"

Rukia ran over and checked over the woman's vitals.

"The baby's crowning! Ms. Takashi, can you hear me?"

The woman gave a faint nod before her eyes closed again. Ichigo could see she was on the verge of passing out.

Keli, who was standing beside the bed, was still in tears and her pink jumper was stained with the blood that seemed to be everywhere.

"Ms. Takashi, you're about to give birth, but I don't know if we can get the baby out without harming you. You've already lost a lot of blood; it looks like you must have hit hard against something. You're bleeding internally, and I can't stop it until the baby is out; it could be too late for you by then."

"Please . . . save my baby, I d-don't care a-about me . . ." she managed to say, having to push the words past clenched teeth.

Ichigo nodded.

"Right."

"But, Ichigo, she needs - "

Ichigo didn't stop working as he looked up at Rukia. The look on his face was intense and serious.

"Rukia, there is nothing we can do for her until the baby is out. We can't transfuse blood because we're not in the hospital, and the more time we waste, the less chance of life this baby has. It's now or never. Help me, or get Keli out of here and leave. Now."

Rukia bit her lip, then nodded, walking over as she began to help Ichigo.

"Mommy! No, mommy!"

The loud, childish sobs coming from Keli brought tears to Rukia's eyes as she cut the cord of the baby ten minutes later. She quickly wrapped the newborn baby boy up in soft towels and looked over at Keli, who was hugging her mother around the neck tightly.

"I'll call for help," Ichigo said, quickly checking he IV he had set up before running out of the room.

Rukia could feel the tears slipping from her eyes and could see the small, wet spots that they made on the soft, white blanket that baby Tres was wrapped up in. The name was what the mother had wanted to give her son, according to Keli. But she was gone. By the time help had arrived, there was nothing they could do, and it had broken Rukia's heart to see the tiny girl being hauled away from her mother, blood staining her whole body and her eyes screaming out in pain and sadness as she tried to reach back out for the woman who would never come back to life.

"Death happens everyday. We have to accept it and move on."

Rukia looked up from staring at the small child and turned to see Ichigo, leaning up against the wall in the NICU. Baby Tres was healthy, but had been born a month early, so he had been sent up here and Rukia had been sent to watch over him.

"Where will they live?" she asked quietly, smiling through her tears as Tres grabbed her finger tightly in his small hand. His eyes were open, and she could see that they were the biggest, most beautiful amber colored eyes in the world. He was smiling. He was a fighter.

"I don't know. But for tonight, and tomorrow, Keli and Tres are under our care. We can take care of them and love them like they should be loved, even if it just for a short time while they're here."

"He was born on Christmas. He's a Christmas baby, and he doesn't have a mother or father to share it with," she said sadly, reaching in the baby's crib to gently hold him in her arms. Ichigo smiled as he walked over.

"He can have us."

"Christmas is supposed to be the time of giving, not death and sadness," she whispered, letting her fingers dance over Tres's small face and his soft, black hair. The baby began cooing.

"His mother gave him life. She had a choice. If she had waited to give birth, she might have made it. But every second she was giving herself life, she was taking from his. She gave him life, and she made a choice," Ichigo said, the smile dropping from his face as he reached over and wiped tears from Rukia's eyes. "She gave him life, and she gave him the most precious gift of all. She gave him a chance. And we have to make sure he gets the best start on that as we can give him."

"But when he leaves . . . "

Ichigo let his hand cup her face gently, and the pad of his thumb stroke her cheek.

"When he leaves, he's on his own. He's a fighter. He's a Christmas baby, and he'll give the world what his mom gave him. A second chance."

Rukia nodded, her gaze falling, once again, to the baby in her arms.

"A second chance." She smiled. Then, looking outside of the small window, she said softly, "Hey, Ichigo, it's snowing."

"I hate the rain. Always have," Ichigo murmured, letting his hand fall back to his side as he watched Rukia with Tres. "But the snow always makes me turn those feelings around. In a way . . . it's like the snow is giving the rain, which I hate so much, a second chance, too."

Rukia nodded; her tears had stopped. She had no more to cry.

AU? Why yees! Anyway, fluff, drama and angst all wrapped up together and stuffed into a computer screen. Please leave comments; I would LOVE to know what people think of my story. (Hugs reviewers and gives them cookies)

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