hi! so in case some of you haven't guessed yet, yes, Aizen is Grimmjow's dad. i didn't know how to bring his name about in the last chapter so just thought i'd clear things up here. anyways, carry on reading^^

When I first met you got a feeling that I'll never forget
An animal attraction I know
We'd be bad together but the make-up sex as good as it gets
And I just want to say to you

Every time that I hate you
I love you
You're more than I can take can't get enough of you
It doesn't matter what you're saying
I can't let you go
And I just want to get enough
Every time that I hate you
I love you
You're the part of the pain that I love too
It doesn't matter what you're saying
I can see right through
You love to hate me too (You love to hate me too)

God he loves this song. It helps him get the stress off. Adelita's Way must have thought of people like him when they sang songs like these.

It's getting pretty dark now. The lamps have started blinking on and illuminated the streets in their soft yellow light. Grimmjow has even turned on the headlights of the car to help him find his way on the road. The sun has completely dipped out of view on the horizon and the moon is starting to peep through the clouds. How long has he been driving now? One hour, maybe two? He's not exactly bothered. He loves long drives at night on completely barren streets. No one but him and the open road with his loud music. He switches the song to the next track.

Save your sympathy
Who do you think you're fooling?
Everything is dead!
Now you welcome me,
To a town called hypocrisy

He keeps this CD for special occasions when he's angry at something. He's had this since he moved out of his house, listening to it at night while he had cruised around trying to find a job all those years ago.

He exhales long and slow, as if letting it all out. He should after what he just did before he left. He wonders what Ichigo would say if he heard what he did. He's probably too busy dealing with Shiro. Grimmjow snorts. He just wishes he had stuck around for that. But he had had his own problems to deal with at that time. He sighs as he remembers the look on his dad's face. For a split second, it actually showed some emotion of caring. And it had been directed towards him of all people. Grimmjow never knew his father was capable of feeling anything for him. Probably trying to play the concerned parent in front of all those people. He doesn't want his image as a father to falter now, did he?

He should probably head back. Ichigo must be worried as to where he had run off to and left him to deal with everything by himself. As Grimmjow adjusts the rearview mirror, Nel suddenly pops up from the back seat.

'Peekaboo!' she cries out gleefully.

Grimmjow's eyes widen. His hand accidently slips on the steering wheel and the car veers away from its straight path. He quickly grapples with it to regain control and steers it to the side to avoid bumping into something unexpected. As he settles his speeding heart at almost having another car accident with Nel in the car, he turns around to glare at the said culprit.

'Nel!' he snaps angrily. 'What are you doing here? Ichigo had been looking all over for you!'

'Too much noise for Nel in there,' Nel complains as she clambers to the front and plops down in the front seat. 'Nel doesn't like so much noise. It's noisy and gives Nel a headache. So when Nel saw Mr. Blue-haired man leaving, Nel decided to follow him because he looked like he was going somewhere quieter and right now, this is a lot quieter than over there!'

'Jeez, Nel,' Grimmjow mutters under his breath as he pinches the bridge of his nose. This is turning up to be one fucked up night. Here he is trying to cool off and Nel jumps out, invading his alone time. Now both he and Nel are missing from the penthouse. Ichigo is going to have a hissy fit!

'Mr. Blue-haired man, are you mad at me for coming with you?' Nel asks questioningly. Grimmjow looks up and sees the little girl is looking at him with genuine concern.

'No, Nel,' he says in a tired voice, too exhausted to be angry at her. She didn't do anything to make him mad at her. At least, not today. 'I'm not mad at you.'

'Then who are you mad at?'

'I'm not mad at anyone.' Damn, she's too perceptive for her age.

'Then why were you yelling at that guy in the kitchen?'

'Well…'

'And then why did you punch that other guy when you came out?'

'Um…'

'Did they do something bad?'

'Uh…'

'I thought hitting is a bad thing.'

'It is! Cut it out with the questions already!'

'But you still haven't answered them!'

'Will you give me a minute already! Can't you see I'm having a bad day as it is?'

Nel quiets down as Grimmjow breathes heavily in anger. This close to losing it again. He must be getting good at controlling his temper. Maybe those anger management classes are good for him after all. No, no. He is not going to admit that that Urahara guy gave him good advice! It would be the source of his complete and utter humiliation for the day.

Nel's waits patiently, her tiny arms crossed across her equally tiny chest. Grimmjow sighs.

'You're not going to let me rest until I tell, will you?' he says exasperatedly.

The music is still playing in the background but now it has switched to the next track. It's a good one by Rise Against called Audience of One. It always relaxes him at times when he is at the height of his stress. Maybe it's what he needs right now to deal with an over-bearing person like Nel. He never thought she had it in her to be this persistent.

Nel shakes her head and smiles. She starts nodding her head in time with the music. She frowns as she looks as the stereo, biting her lower lip.

'Who is that?' she queries and points at the stereo. Grimmjow blinks, lost for a moment as to who she is talking about.

'Huh? Oh, the band?' he says, coming back to earth. He taps the stereo. 'That's one of the best indie bands you'll ever come across. No mindless gunk about death and destruction. They live the straight edge life and support animal rights. Plus one of their best albums yet, Appeal to Reason, came out with some of the best songs they've compiled yet-!'

He blinks again. What the hell is he doing narrating the history of some band to a kid? She probably doesn't even care let alone understand what the hell he's talking about! Nel looks at him all confused.

'Why'd you stop?' she asks. She's asking a lot of questions today. Quite the curious George.

'Nothing,' he mutters and looks back at the road, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. 'I shouldn't be spouting bullshi- I mean nonsense to a kid.'

'It's not nonsense!' Nel huffs. 'It's interesting! Nel kinda likes their music!'

Grimmjow can't help a smile creeping across his face. He turns to her with that same smile.

'Then you'll love this one,' he laughs and turns the knob. 'This one is from one of their older albums but it's one of their better ones.'

Low tone guitaring starts strumming through the speakers.

Warm yourself by the fire son and the morning will come soon,

I'll tell you stories of a better time in a place that we once knew

Before we packed our bags and left all this behind us in the dust

We had a place that we could call home and a life no one could touch

Don't hold me up now I can stand my own ground I don't need your help now

You will let me down, down, down

Nel bobs her head to the beat.

'Nel likes it,' she remarks.

Grimmjow watches her carefully, wondering what she might think of it. He laughs at himself on the inside. Since when did he care what people, let alone what Nel, thought of his music? He usually doesn't give a damn about other people's opinion. But something about Nel strikes him as odd. It's not every day that one comes across a little girl that likes rock music, especially the kind of genre he's into. Maybe deep down, he's beginning to like the little brat.

'You're kinda weird for a 7 year old,' Grimmjow blurts out before he can stops himself. Nel looks up at him with her murky orbs. They don't look offended but they seem to be smiling, like they know a secret he doesn't.

'You're kinda weird for a daddy,' she retorts. He opens his mouth and then closes it, defeated.

'You have a point,' he mutters. He casts a guilty look and then looks away when she turns her head in his direction. This is going to be hard for him to say. 'Sorry I haven't been the greatest dad or anything like Ichigo.'

'It's ok, Nel forgives you,' she says simply and fiddles with the dial on the stereo. Grimmjow knows that he should get angry at her playing around with his stereo but he isn't. He's actually surprised; both at his reaction and at her answer to his statement.

'You forgive me?' he repeats, slightly confused. 'No offense but I think you might be too young to know what that probably means.'

'Nel is not that dumb!' Nel cries out, slightly annoyed at being thought dumb. 'Nel knows what 'forgive' means!'

'Well, you probably don't understand how much power that word holds,' Grimmjow insists. 'It's a big thing to forgive someone. They can have hurt you so much you can be beyond forgiving them. Trust me. I've been there and it's going to take more than one 'sorry' to make me forgive my fa- I mean that certain person.'

'But they must feel real bad about hurting you,' Nel presses.

Grimmjow laughs.

'Yeah, right. You don't know this person so best let's just leave it be,' Grimmjow says curtly.

'You'll never know unless you ask them,' she says in a singsong voice.

'Please.'

'Well, Nel thinks everyone feels bad when they do something horrible. Don't you feel horrible about not being a good daddy to Nel?'

'Yeah, well, but that's different! I'm more-!'

'We all make mistakes, don't we?'

'Yes, but-!'

'And don't we all feel bad about it afterwards and want to fix it?'

'Yeah, but-!'

'So shouldn't we do the right thing and forgive them to help them fix it?'

'Well-'

'So isn't forgiving someone better than being mad at them for the rest of your life, Mr. Gwimmjow?'

'I guess-hey! You just called me Grimmjow!'

'Mr. Gwimmjow.'

'Whatever. You called me by my first name! Wait. How come?'

Nel shrugs. The song has ended now and 'Survive' by Rise Against has begun to play.

'You're my daddy; just like Itsygo. You're family and at school, they teach us that family is the most important thing in the whole wide world!'

Maybe he should smack his head against the steering wheel before he does anything else. He's taking advice from a kid, for God's sake! And it's good advice!

He taps a finger on the steering wheel to the beat of the song as he recalls the entire incident in the kitchen minus Shiro. He had just exploded on his dad and didn't even give him a chance to react! What had been the point of talking to his father? Oh yeah, patch things up. But they didn't patch things up. They had, he had, left things just as messed up as they had been all those years ago. And worse, he hadn't gone in with the agenda to forgive his father. He had burst out with the idea that he was going to make his father feel bad about hurting him for practically his entire life. He guesses it was bad on his part for walking out before he had given his father a chance to explain himself. So it might be best if he tried to fix things up between them first. His dad sure can't do it since he doesn't know where Grimmjow went off too! Typical Grimmjow. Running away from his problems. Well it's time this kitty turned around and faced the music, so to speak.

He sighs and whirrs up the engine. Nel is startled by the noise and glances at Grimmjow as he reverses the car. He swerves around and heads down the other side of the road.

'Come on, Nel,' he murmurs. 'The party can't start without us gone!'