A/N: I noticed that many of you were upset at the lack of Tamotsu in the previous chapter. Rest assured Tamotsu is still a major component in this story and will not be forgotten (no pun intended). I'm working on an upcoming chapter about him.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Barbie or any other brands mentioned- at all.

One year later.

The woman waited until her boss put his phone back into the base before knocking on his door. "Kurosaki-san?"

Ichigo scrawled down a few notes before looking up at his receptionist. "Yadōmaru-san?"

Lisa crossed the room and handed her boss one file after the other. "I have the report on the social media site you wanted. You have a lunch meeting at one with Hamasaki-san and Fujita-san, another meeting at three."

Ichigo opened the second file and lifted his right eyebrow. His eyes scanned down the page. He caught a few words here and there but nothing really stood out. "With who?"

"The investors from Gotei Industries, for their press release."

"Ahh, now I remember." Ichigo closed the folder and handed it back to the receptionist. Lisa began walking out but stopped when her boss called after her. "Yes, Kurosaki-san?"

Ichigo continued writing quick notes down on his pad before looking up again. "Find me a price on the new Barbie doll house?" He smiled at her expression. "One with an elevator."

The phone rang and Ichigo picked it up, switching back to his business voice.

Lisa's right eye twitched. "Yes, Kurosaki-san." Lisa returned to her computer and Google searched Barbie houses. She hated doing personal tasks for him though the requests were rare.

It was the holiday season after all, and she knew he would be too busy to physically go out shopping himself. And besides, that one beach house came with a Barbie, who looked great in her swimsuit.

…

"Maybe instead of- of a monster cake, we should make a princess cake."

Orihime pushed her rolling pin back and forth against the slab of green fondant. "That's not what the client wanted, Hitomi."

Hitomi thought for a moment the way she always did. "If I a client, I wouldn't pick the monster cake." Hitomi pointed at the snarling three-eyed fondant creature. "Look at the monster; he's just all not happy… He's scary and he's- he's not happy." Hitomi stated matter-of-factly. "Why is he upset?"

"Why do you think he's upset?" Michiru asked as she pushed a pan of chocolate cupcakes into an oven.

Hitomi tapped her bottom lip before answering. "…I think he's upset because he's a monster cake. Who wants to be a monster cake?" She shook her wavy hair in disapproval. "No one likes monsters."

Hitomi grinned when she heard Kaito, the intern, chortle at hersilly opinion. His hands were steady as he piped white beards on a batch of Santa Claus cookies. Orihime knew choosing him was a good idea. He added a nice touch to BabyCakes.

Orihime dusted the fondant with a rusted olive-green color. "What kind of birthday cake do you want for your birthday next year?" she asked her

The child's face lit up. "I want a giant pink cake with- with the castle and me and Cinderella on the top."

Hitomi jumped down from her stool and ran out of the kitchen. The girl hopped up the stairs, into her mother's office, and was back on her stool in a flash orange and pink. "See?" Hitomi waved her lunch box in the air for the whole kitchen to see. "Like my lunchbox. Cinderella!"

"Hmm…" Orihime hummed, distantly. Orihime knew she had to keep Hitomi talking to keep her out of mischief. Once, last year, Hitomi dipped her fingers into a cooling pan of marble cake… Let's just say Orihime is glad the girl had grown out of her "terrible twos". Though it only took her until she was six.

"So you want a princess cake, not a monster cake."

Hitomi nodded. "Yes ma'am."

Orihime lifted the birthday cake and stored it in the refrigerator, where it would wait before being picked up tomorrow.

"Alright." The mother said, wiping her hands on her apron. "Ready to go?"

Hitomi jumped down from her stool again. "Yes!"

…

Ichigo rapped his pen against the table impatiently.

"Kurosaki." Ishida rumbled and lowered his voice. "Patience."

Ichigo glanced at his watch. It was 2:58. "Well where the hell are they?"

Most of his days were built around meetings about quotas and clients. But today, the air around the office building felt different. There was something up with, well, everyone.

Ichigo stood up. "It makes no sense to keep us waiting." He watched his watch tick to three. "What time were they supposed to be here anyway?"

"Three o'clock sharp, remember?"

Ichigo glared up at the female.

Rukia put her hands on her pencil skirted hips. "Or didn't you get the memo?" Rukia filed in followed by three others. Only one Ichigo remembered seeing in a picture with Byakuya leaving the Kuchiki Brand Headquarters.

Ichigo returned to his chair. "You've become a little too punctual, don't you think?"

Her sarcastic smirk disappeared as she sat down. "Things change."

She had definitely changed. Rukia's hair was cut shorter then before, hanging along her jaw line. Though always fit, her body was toner, healthier. And it wasn't just her appearance. She seemed older, more mature. She looked capable of handling much more then before.

Ichigo scowled when he realized everyone in the room, excluding Rukia and himself, where holding their breaths. "Has everyone suddenly forgotten what they're here to do?"

Heads bowed down in embarrass silence.

Ichigo glanced at Ishida who nudged Kenta, an employee working on the collaboration.

Kenta stood and straightened his suit. He was another young man on the rise, much like Ichigo when he was younger. Kenta cleared his throat, seizing everyone's attention. "So. We'll start with this month's agenda…"

…

The six year old danced in her chair after taking a bite out of her macaroni and cheese. "M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m."

The child's mother grinned down at her. "Hitomi, dinner is delicious!"

Hitomi paused her dancing to nod. "Mhmm!"

Tonight, Hitomi helped to make the macaroni and cheese. Normally the girl was setting the table or calling everyone downstairs to eat. But since Hitomi was actually involved in making the meal, she was very pleased with herself.

"Hitomi, Tamotsu, we're going to see Santa-san tomorrow. Are you excited?"

Christmas was in three weeks! Just the other day, Orihime took Hitomi and Tamotsu out for a drive when the sun went down to look at all the pretty Christmas lights. The greens and reds and whites were so magical. You could only get it around this time of the year.

"Mhmm!" Hitomi shoved another forkful in her mouth. "Yes ma'am!"

Christmas was Orihime's favorite holiday aside from Halloween. That year, Ichigo, dressed as Frankenstein, took a vampire Tamotsu and a Funshine Care Bear Hitomi out trick-or-treating. Orihime stayed home and handed out candy to all the children on the block as… well… she didn't really know what she was. When she first began stitching the costume, it was supposed to be a pumpkin then it became a ghost. Ichigo complained that it wasn't really a costume and it didn't make any sense, but Orihime wasn't about to admit it to him.

"Did you make your list?"

"Yupper! I put it in the mailbox so the elves will come and give it to Santa-san."

A simple system Ichigo came up with. The kids would put their Christmas list in the mailbox and Ichigo would snatch them out when the kids went in the house.

Orihime split Hitomi's bread roll in half, because if she didn't, the poor girl would try to bite into the whole thing again if she didn't. "What did you put on the list?"

Hitomi shook her wavy haired head. "Nope, nope, nope. Santa-san won't give me my presents if I tell you."

Orihime already knew what Hitomi wanted. Every time the Barbie Dream Mansion commercial would come on, Hitomi would literally drool at the mouth. She almost ran into the television screen if it weren't for Ichigo grabbing her by the collar.

Orihime turned to her son. He was playing on some sort of handheld toy and cheered when he scored a point. "Tamotsu, what about you?"

Tamotsu blinked. "Huh?"

Orihime swallowed some rice. "Your list?"

Tamotsu thought for a moment and nodded.

Orihime had the sneaking suspicion that Tamotsu caught Orihime and Ichigo setting up his gifts. Yes, she guessed that one of his friends told him that Santa Claus wasn't real, but he must've wanted to know the truth for himself for Orihime thought she heard tiny feet running back up the stairs a few years back.

She was just grateful that he still followed along and didn't ruin to jig for his little sister.

"Did you speak to Misoka today?"

Tamotsu put his toy down slowly. "…Yes."

After a long time in the hospital, Misoka's grandfather died. It's no secret that her grandmother would soon follow, so Misoka's Aunt Mai is now her legal guardian. Mai and her husband decided to move in to save Misoka the hassle of finding a new life in a new environment.

"She could really use a friend... It all must be very hard for her." Orihime always liked Misoka. She was a little lady, never too rowdy like Tamotsu's other friends and always polite.

Tamotsu nodded, probing at his food and avoiding his mother's gaze. "Mm."

Orihime instead stirred the conversation away from Misoka. Tamotsu went on about how, at Hiroyuki's house, his friend Isamu got hit with a baseball.

"Hiro hit the ball, but when Isamu tired to catch it, the ball rolled up his arm and hit his nose. There was blood everywhere!"

Orihime gasped. "Did he go to the hospital?"

Tamotsu shook his head unworriedly. "No. He had to hold his head back like this the whole time. I thought it was pretty cool."

The mother shook her head in disapproval. "Tamotsu, you should send him a 'get well soon' card. There's nothing 'cool' about bleeding."

The boy lifted an "are you serious?" brow at his mother- a gesture he undoubtedly picked up from Ichigo. Hitomi giggled at her older brother's expression.

Orihime sighed, defeated. "Well… I'm glad you didn't get hurt."

Hitomi looked down at her empty plate and then around the table. "Where's daddy?"

"Um." Orihime had gotten a quick text from Ichigo saying he would be late tonight. "He's at work." The mother picked up her empty plate and her daughter followed.

On her toes, Hitomi placed her plate in the kitchen sink. "Will he eat my macaroni and- and cheese?" Hitomi really wanted her daddy to taste the food she made.

The mother took Tamotsu's plate off the table. Hitomi trailed her every step waiting for an answer. "…He'll probably not make dinner in time, no."

Orihime watched her daughter's face fall in disappointment.

"But we can make him a plate so he can eat when he gets home."

Hitomi's amber eyes brighten to their usual amber sparkle. "Daddy's gonna like my mac and cheese!"

…

Ichigo closed his bedroom door behind him and slumped into his closet. He switched on the lamp on the nightstand and glared at the alarm clock. 11:27.

Orihime felt the bed shake and creaked from the added pressure. Heat emanated from the muscular body, and Orihime wrapped herself around his arm happily. "…Ichigo…" She whispered drowsily. "How was your day?"

Though her eyes were closed, she still felt the lights go off from the bedside lamp.

The woman smiled when his fingers stroked down her jaw. It tickled.

"Better," his voice murmured. "Now that I'm here."

Orihime felt something soft, yet firm- his lips, maybe- caress her earlobe.

"With you."

This time she did giggle. His arms wound around her waist, pulling her closer. Orihime's own arms came around his neck until they couldn't move any nearer.

A few moments later, Orihime tried to get her words out between their kisses. "Did something… happen… today… at work?"

The man paused.

Orihime's eyes fluttered open. His expression didn't strike her as odd. He didn't look sad, or happy, or mad. Just... content.

"Yes." Ichigo smothered her lips with his again, bringing her back to the task at hand. He groped his way downward.

"Yes, but it's only made me love you more."

Three weeks later.

"Mommy!" Hitomi hoped by the window, pushing her face against the cold glass. Her words were muffled against the pane and Orihime told her to speak up. "Look mommy! It snowed last night!"

The whole morning was buzzing with anticipation. It was Christmas Eve- the most loathed day in any child's life, the speed bump in the road to the day that revolved around any adolescence's world.

Ichigo crouched to Hitomi's level and looked out the window too. "Hmm. Looks fun out there, doesn't it?" Hitomi nodded enthusiastically. "Hitomi… Tamotsu? Want to go make snowmen?"

Hitomi squealed and grabbed her brother's arm. "Snowman, Tammy! Snowman!"

Orihime made sure her children were bundled up tight before leaving the house. Snow was still falling lightly and she didn't want her babies getting sick.

Hitomi patted more snow onto the giant frozen ball. "Look daddy! I- I make my snowman like Tammy's."

The ten year old took his green scarf off and twisted it around the creation's neck. Tamotsu snowman was near perfection. Every stacked circle flawlessly round and white. And Hitomi's was, well… she'd get there one day.

"Very nice," Ichigo said and nodded in approval.

Hitomi shook her head just to see the furry pink pompoms on her hat bounce around.

Ichigo trudged through the snow to see what his wife was creating. Orihime was patting down snow on top of snow until it… it looked like a giant blob of snow. Ichigo gave a cheeky smile, unable to hold back his tiny chuckles. "Orihime… Orihime what is that?"

Orihime stood up and huffed. It was supposed to be a reindeer, like the ice sculpture she saw in the city. But seeing the look on her husband's suppressed face, she wasn't about to tell him that. "It's a giant… um… it's a…"

"It looks like…" Ichigo tilted his head to the side, and so did his smile. "Like a rock?"

"Ichigo!" Orihime pouted, crossing her arms. "It's a reindeer!"

With that, Ichigo balled out laughing, walking away, clutching his stomach from the pain, shaking hard with mirth.

Orihime didn't know how, or why, she wasn't even that angry. It felt like the time she threw those plates at Ichigo's head, but this time it was a ball of snow.

"Daddy, watch out!"

The snowball hit victim, but not the right one. Ichigo ducked at the sound of the warning as Tamotsu stumbled backwards and fell right into Hitomi's snowman.

"Tamotsu!"

"Oh, honey!"

"Tammy!" Hitomi shouted; stomping her tiny booted foot. "Tammy! That was mine snowmen! Mines!"

Before Tamotsu could even comprehend getting slammed in the face with a snowball, Hitomi jumped on top of him and hit him with her tiny fists.

Ichigo yanked the wriggling girl off of the boy. He arms still swung around in a blind rage. Ichigo's assertive father voice clicked on- a voice that's been very affective when Hitomi had her random, impulsive outburst. Much like her father. "Hitomi," Ichigo put her back down. "No hitting."

Hitomi stomped her foot again. "But-but-"

Ichigo helped Tamotsu up. "It's just a snowman, we can make one again tomorrow."

Hitomi stomped her foot again but the anger soon dissipated. Ichigo grabbed Hitomi by the collar before she could run off after something that caught the six year old's eye. "Come on. Let's go in, I don't want any of you getting sick."

...

Orihime held her hand on her head, letting the nauseating feeling run it's coarse. "Ichigo…"

Ten minutes later, the family was crowded around the kitchen beginning breakfast. Tamotsu was handing dishes to Hitomi who was setting them on the table. Ichigo was taking the ingredients out of the refrigerator and Orihime was hovering over the counter.

"Huh?"

Orihime lifted a plastic pack. "This bacon smells rotten. Smell it."

Ichigo gave her a dubious look and sniffed the bag. "Smells like raw bacon to me." Tamotsu sniffed it too- the boy didn't see anything wrong with it.

Orihime shook her head, making a sour face. "It's bad." She walked over the trashcan and opened the lid. Ichigo tried to stop her but it was in the bottom of the can before he knew it. "Don't throw it out. It's nowhere near the expiration date- Orihime!"

"Ichigo, it is just bacon." She returned to the counter. "If you still want some, I'll go to the market for you."

Hitomi's ears perked upward. "Shopping?" She smiled. She loved going to the store with her mommy. It was always fun to pick and choose what dinner would be. "Groceries?"

Ichigo examined Orihime's face. She looked at tad pit on the paler side. Maybe a chill had gotten to her. He shook his head. "No it's fine." Ichigo walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a long wrapped package and smiled. "We have sausage."

Later that night.

Orihime taped the wrapping paper down at the sides. She twisted the box over in her arms before pushing it to the side with the rest of finished gifts under the decorated tree.

The woman looked at the pile of wrapped gifts compared to those unwrapped. "God," Orihime huffed. "Parents really do this every year?"

Ichigo nodded, twisting a perfect ribbon on top of confetti colored wrapping. "We wanted kids, remember." He picked up a frosted cookie the kids made, set out for Santa Claus.

Orihime smiled. "How can I forget?"

The duo continued wrapping, tapping, and tying. The woman saw all of the gifts for their children so it made her think. She just had to ask. "Did you get a present for me?"

Ichigo was silent for a moment. He concentrated on folding the top of red wrapping paper against a Barbie box. "Hmm …maybe." He said, his head low. Orihime could just make out his right eyebrow lifting up. "Did you get a present for me?"

The woman blushed. "Maybe…"

"So…" Ichigo put his box to the side. "…Since we aren't sure if one of us got the other a present… why don't we just settle the score right now?"

Orihime met his eye. "What do you mean?"

Ichigo pushed crumbled paper and pieces of rubbish out of his way, a familiar glimmer in his amber eyes. "How about we give each other the best gift of all?"

Orihime put her hands on Ichigo chest before he leaned in for a kiss. "We should finish wrapping the gifts first…"

They both looked over Ichigo's shoulder to see the piles of unwrapped presents. There were still toys to stack, wrap, and assemble. Hitomi's plastic pink vanity needed to be put together and so did Tamotsu's new bike. It was tiring just to look at it.

"Huh." Ichigo considered for a moment and Orihime really though he was going to retreat. "We should, shouldn't we?" Then his hands crept down her backside, over her wide hips and down her rear.

Orihime giggled as his lips pressed against her neck. "…I think it can wait…"

…

Orihime traced her finger over the damaged tissue in its disfigured circle.

"Does it still hurt?" she whispered.

The two were lazily sprawled out against the living room floor. A simple knitted afghan covered their flushed, exposed bodies.

"Only when I make you upset." Ichigo mumbled.

Orihime sat up, bringing the blanket with her. "I'm serious."

"I'm serious." He sat up too, crossing his arms together behind his head. "Every time you cry I will know because they start to burn again."

Orihime let her hand travel down to the scar between his ribs.

Her face fell a little at the memory of it all- the hospital, the fire, the worry, the pain… the battles.

"Ouch!" Ichigo cringed and fell back on the carpet, clutching his scars in agony.

Orihime's eyes widened in alarm. "What?!" She watched in horror as her husband wriggled on the ground in pain. "What's wrong?!"

His body stopped moving and Orihime realized he was smirking. Orihime shook her head at his silliness.

A hand grasped a few strands of her burnt-orange hair. "You were upset just then... Don't be." He tugged on the strands, enticing a smile from her. "I hurts me too."

Orihime's smile broadened and so did his'. "I'm not. Not anymore."

Orihime's cheeks turned pink over her flushed skin. "Do you know how I'm feeling now?" It was the face she always made when she wanted him again.

Ichigo licked his lips and stared up at his wife. "Oh, I think I know how you're feeling."

Orihime squealed when he yanked her down to the carpet again.

The next morning.

"Aahhhh!"

Orihime sat up at the sound of the scream, groaned and laid back down.

The air felt different that morning. It was Christmas morning! This morning only came around once a year.

When Orihime was little, her Christmas wasn't much. A toy with missing parts or hand-me-down clothes from anywhere. Her mother would try some years, sometimes she was never home, drinking and celebrating somewhere else.

It wasn't until Sora took her away when she had a real Christmas. She still remembered her first wrapped present, a fairy tale princess doll. It wasn't a fancy-smanshy shining Barbie, but it was the most beautiful thing she had even seen.

The mother just wanted to give her children everything she never had.

She heard her husband yawn next to her. "They're awake…" Ichigo mumbled.

"Yeah…" Orihime pushed her hair out of her face. "Should we go down there now?"

A drowsy, drawn out groan escaped from him. "No, they'll come up soon enough."

Ichigo was right. Just like every year, and the year before that, in a matter of moments you heard their small feet running up the steps. The couple prayed that the sound would go in the other direction, but their small feet came stomping into their bedroom.

"Daddy, daddy, daddy! Wake up, daddy!" Hitomi crawled onto the bed and bounced on top of his sleeping form.

Tamotsu walked around to Orihime's side of the bed. "Mom," he pushed at her. "Mom, our presents are here."

Orihime looked over at him and smiled. "Really? Did Santa-san come?"

"Santa-san! Santa-san!" Hitomi chanted. "Daddy, Santa-san came! Get up, get up!"

The children were still in their pajamas. Hitomi in her Hello Kitty night dress and Tamotsu in his plain T-shirt and boxers. They just couldn't wait to see what was in store for them.

"Daddy, daddy!"

"Alright, alright! I'm up!" Ichigo turned over in the bed and grabbed Hitomi by the ankles. She squealed as she hit the bed backwards.

"Come on, daddy! We have to go see the presents!" She scrambled off of the bed and ran to the door. "You have to hurry!"

Tamotsu continued to push at her even when she made to get out of the bed. "Come on, mom."

Ichigo sat on the side of the bed and yawned again. Hitomi stomped her foot in irritation from waiting. "Daddy! The pres-ents!" She ran back over and tugged at his arm. It was always a child's constant fear that it he or she left the presents unattended for too long, they would suddenly disappear.

Ichigo finally stood and was pulled out of the room by the small girl. "Hurry, daddy! Hurry!"

Tamotsu waited for his mother to put on her slippers and robe. He smiled at her when she saw him still waiting for her. "Tamotsu, I'll be done in a minute. You can go get your presents now." He walked over and wrapped his arms around her before she could object. "Thank you." He whispered and kissed her cheek. His shaggy dark hair ticked her face. "Tell daddy that I said thanks too."

With that, he ran out of the room to catch up with his father and sister.

…

"Look at this! And- and look at what Santa-san got me! Look-look at all of this! Wow!"

Hitomi bounced in place, not knowing where to start. She clutched the roots of her butterscotch hair, overwhelmed with the shiny, glittery wrapping paper. The wonderful smell of magic everywhere, the twinkling lights all bright and amazing on the tree they decorated. Her brain literally blinked on and off with a red sign saying "overload", "overload, "overload".

Ichigo grasped her collar before she tore through every object in the room. "Slow down," Ichigo handed her a box. "Open this one."

Hitomi greedily tore it open and screamed. "Daddy! Daddy! Look at the Barbie! It is Princess Barbie!"

Ichigo glanced over at Tamotsu. He sat on the floor, shaking a box up and down, and smile slowing creeping on his face. "Champ, what about you?"

Tamotsu peeled back the wrapping paper slowly and found a box of paint pellets. The ten year old sat confused.

"Here," Ichigo found another, bigger box with the same wrapping. "Open this box too."

"Hey! Tamotsu gets to open two!" Hitomi complained but found another gift with her name on it and her whining quickly ceased.

Tamotsu's smile soon turned into a giant grin. "It's a paintball gun!"

"Ichigo," Orihime walked down the stairs, concern dripping from her voice. "You know I don't like guns…"

"Well, next year tell Santa-san ahead of time." Ichigo smiled back at Tamotsu "You wanna play against your old man?"

Tamotsu nodded.

After breakfast, Tamotsu checked out his new brain exercise game and Hitomi rode Swimsuit Barbie and Businessman Ken around in their new corvette who lived in their giant Barbie Dream Mansion.

The one with the elevator.

Orihime nudged her husband on the shoulder. Ichigo tore his eyes away from Ralphie sitting on Santa-san's lap in A Christmas Story.

"Ichigo," Orihime whispered. "I have something to show you."

Ichigo smiled. "I have something to show you too." He grabbed her hand. "Come on."

Upstairs, Ichigo sat Orihime on the bed and took a deep breath. His present wasn't something big, but something he wanted to give to her a while ago but life kept getting in the way.

Orihime watched Ichigo walk into his closet and come back out with an envelope in his hands. "Here," Orihime smiled as he handed it to him. "It isn't much, but… it isn't much."

Orihime tore at the envelope and pulled out two thin papers. "Ichigo…" Orihime slowly smiled as she read the papers. "Are these planes tickets? To… to Hawaii?"

Ichigo rubbed the back of his orange head, a little uneasy. "We never went. And I promised you that we'd go." He stood her up. "We'll go in four weeks. Is this alright with you?"

Orihime nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's wonderful." She said kissing his cheek. "Now, it's my turn!"

Orihime stood in ushered him into the bathroom. She walked in front of him a smiled, waiting.

Ichigo's eyes moved slowly around the bathroom. There were the beige curtains, same tiled floor and forest colored rugs…. It was a great… it was… what was he looking at exactly? "Er…." Ichigo scratched the back of his head, his eyes darting around the room. "Did you… change the towels?" He mustered up his most grateful smile. "They look nice!"

Orihime shook her head, her gray eyes beginning to water and her face was getting red. "It's not the towels, Ichigo." The woman held her face in her hands as she began sobbing.

Ichigo grabbed her trembling shoulder. "Wha- I didn't mean to offend you. Is it the… the shower curtain? I thought they looked new…"

"No," Orihime wiped her face with the sleeve of her robe. "No. Ichigo, look!" Orihime pointed at the sink.

At first, Ichigo's eyes ran right over the white cylinders. He scrambled for anything that look different, anything that looked out of the ordinary in their otherwise average bathroom.

Then two pink dash lines caught his eye… Six lines to be exact.

Orihime held her breath as she watched his eyes slowly trail back.

On the counter sat three pregnancy tests.

Ichigo grip on her shoulders became tighter. Orihime watched his throat contract as he swallowed the damned thick lump. "…Orihime…. Are you…?"

The mother nodded, biting her bottom lip to keep the shouts of joy from spilling out.

His grip became even tighter. "…How?"

"I don't know."

Orihime thought he might squeeze all the blood from her arms but he let go before he could bruise. He swallowed once more though it didn't make his throat any less dry. "…When?"

Orihime waited until he looked back at her but he was still staring at the test. "I think I'm about three weeks or around that… I smelled bacon the other day and I wanted to die."

Orihime didn't know what to think. She didn't know if Ichigo knew what to think. He was just staring at those three tests, like if he looked at them long enough they'll just disappear. Orihime's smile dropped. He wasn't happy… was he?

He finally took a breath. "This present really makes mine look like crap."

Orihime's frown was soon replaced. "Oh, I can't wait to go." She sunk into his arms, happy that his smile and warmth were returning. "It's a lovely gift."

Orihime squeezed his torso, hoping his tense posture would slacken. But it didn't so she decided to ignore it.

"I think we better get back downstairs before Hitomi thinks the monsters are taking you again."

The mother leaned back and could see the father's lips pull up to a smirk.

The mother crinkled her nose. "Please. Don't remind me."

…

Hitomi pretended to apply lipstick with the fake, plastic tube. The six year old sat on her the pink stool and grinned into the heart shape mirror of her mini vanity.

The child somehow managed to grab Orihime's purse from off the table in the front room. "Look Tammy!" Hitomi strut across the living room, avoiding the wrapping paper scattered around the floor. She stopped in front of her brother. "I'm mommy!"

"Mm." The boy nodded and his sister bounced away. Tamotsu concentrated on the puzzle he had in front of him. He turned the Perplexus Twist this way and that until the ball made it through the maze, landing on level one hundred. Tamotsu smirked. The maze was way too easy.

Orihime finished cleaning the breakfast dishes from early that morning. Hitomi walked in once in awhile to show one of her parents a gift or two but besides that, the kitchen was relatively quiet.

Ichigo started. "Orihime…"

She didn't turn from the sink. "Yes?"

Ichigo leaned back in his chair. She was going to make this hard for him, was she? The thirty-five year old man groaned silently. She just loved placing him in tight places.

The man stood and wrapped his arms around his wife from behind. He knew she liked it when he did that.

"I'm excited. I'm… elated." Ichigo squeezed. "Orihime, I really am." The man placed a few kisses on her shoulder, hoping to ease her up a little.

"Orihime… It was just- it's just so unexpected. But I'm not any less happy."

Orihime wanted this to be special. It seemed as though they were finally overcoming those obstacles that hindered them of a family those thirteen years ago. Everything was falling into plan. And Orihime just wanted Ichigo to be ready too.

She finally turned around. "I-"

"Really! Oh my- I can't believe it!"

Ichigo and Orihime ran into the living room to find an excited Tamotsu, his eyes bulging with excitement as he loomed over an unwrapped box.

The ten year old smiled up at his parents. "It's exactly what I wanted!"

"What did Santa-san get you?" Orihime walked over to him, craning her neck to read the title.

Tamotsu lifted the wide box. "A telescope! And it wasn't even on my list!" The boy busied himself with opening the cardboard box, lifting the head of a refracting telescope. "So cool."

Orihime and Ichigo stood back and watch Tamotsu gaze at the contraption in fascination. "Nice buy." Orihime whispered.

"What?"

Hitomi stared at the telescope. She didn't know what it was, but it was shiny and white and all pretty like. She wanted to touch it.

Orihime looked up at Ichigo. "It was a nice call, the telescope."

Ichigo blinked, confused. He shook his head. "No… I though you brought it. I just wrapped it and put it under the tree…"

Ichigo found that box outside the door the other day. He figured it was just another present Orihime forgot that she ordered.

"Mom!" Tamotsu lifted a cream envelope. "Look, Santa-san wrote me a letter!"

Hitomi poked out her lip. "Aw! A letter! Let me see!"

Tamotsu read it out loud, but Orihime needed to see the handwriting herself to believe it.

Look before you leap. You need to see the stars before you can reach them

-A

"Who's 'A'?" Hitomi wrinkled her nose the way her mother did in a confusing situation.

Orihime read the letter over and over again. It didn't take Ichigo long to catch on too.

Hitomi's father patted her fiery hair. "Santa-san of course!"

The six year old's amber eyes widened, even more confused. "But-"

Orihime pressed the letter gently between her hands and smiled down at her daughter. "Maybe Santa-san will send you a letter when you're ten, Hitomi. If you're good!"

It was funny how Orihime found herself ushered back into the kitchen. There she sat down at the kitchen table and closed her tired eyes.

"It's him." She groaned. "It's him all over again…."

Ichigo crossed his arms. He and his wife had been decided, since the day Aizen renounced his visitation rights, they wouldn't tell Tamotsu anything, at least not until he was ready- if and when.

"Why does he do this? Why does he just disappear and sneak by and snatch everything from us again?" Orihime lifted the letter and groaned again. "What does he want?"

"Contact," Ichigo finally said.

Orihime opened her mouth and then closed it. She did this thrice, a sound or two coming out but nothing actually coherent.

Ichigo sat across from her. "Well, wouldn't you want contact too?"

"He had his chance. He stole my choice- Tamotsu's choice and took us to court. But it was all for nothing." Now he comes back, giving him advice? Christmas presents? What was he getting at?

Orihime looked down. He hands were fisted, balled around the letter. She took a deep breath. Being pregnant had always made her more aggressive.

A large, warm hand came over Orihime's. "We all make mistakes, Orihime. Even when we may think they are right at the time."

Orihime didn't know what to make of Ichigo's response. Aizen's inconsistent patterns were confusing and heartbreaking. It was evil to force her to believe all of it was over and done with and then come strutting back with his cream colored messages.

He kept Orihime on her toes. So instead of running, she was approaching, yet Orihime didn't actually believe she was doing it until the woman stood in front of a mailbox one week later.

Again, she found herself crammed between a rock and a hard place.

Inside the envelope that she held in her hands was Tamotsu's most recent school pictures and a few more of Christmas day. Next to it all was a letter was a short letter about Tamotsu and what he's been up to and how much he loved the telescope.

If he wanted contact, why not give it to him?

Pulling the tab down, Orihime slipped the envelope through and let it go.

Real life is a… well, you all know the saying. I got home Monday morning, last week, around three o'clock after a long car ride to and from a babyshower I helped to host in another state. I wanted to but I couldn't update in my car due to no internet connection. Thank whoever made my stupid laptop for that one!

Speaking of babyshowers, Orihime preggers again! I guess she is like a rabbit… But this is what she always wanted in life. A family.

Anyway, now that Aizen is trying to reconnect what do you think will happen? Will Orihime confess or will Tamotsu find out?

Feedback, people!

Rocka.