The city was in chaos in the days that followed. Aizen was arrested at the hospital and taken into custody. Many of Katagiri's men were tied back to the pile of burnt bodies in the remains of the waterfront warehouse. The man himself was nowhere to be found when the police came knocking.

And every lowlife looking to move in crawled out of the wood works. Gang violence spilled out everywhere, even in the good parts of town. It was all the police could do to get from one crime scene to the other, let alone investigate the murder of thirteen employees of Aizen's product warehouse. The men had been rounded up and used as bait to draw Aizen out. The mob boss had met the challenge with the intent to cut Katagiri down in person. It hadn't' gone well for either of them.

And without them, things weren't going well for the city either.

This made it easy for Grimmjow to set himself up in a seedy motel using the money Stark had given back to him that night. He watched carefully for signs that anyone was on to him but it seemed he was in the clear. Based on the news reports that he watched hourly, no one was looking for a young man of his description. It was very likely he was in the clear. His gun was untraceable, but it would have had his prints on it. But if no one ever took him in, they would have no prints to check it against.

The strange thought occurred to him that if Yoshi and Taka had processed him properly, his prints would be in the system and this would all be playing out much differently.

"One man remains in hospital in critical condition." The reported said at the six o'clock news after flashes of Aizen being taken into the police station in a wheel chair repeated on the screen as they had for the last day.

Stark. Grimmjow at least hoped that was him, because otherwise it probably meant he was one of the bodies they kept talking about.

He glanced out his window again and then pulled the curtains and eased himself back on the bed. Bandages stretched around his middle. His hands were nothing but wound fabric. Even his neck and face were a patchwork of stitches and bandages. He sank into his pillow and let out a breath.

He'd done it. He'd saved Aizen and made it out. But now he just had to wait. And patience was not one of his virtues.

Twenty-four hours later he stood in the shadow of the towering building, his hood up high to hide his face. He still couldn't be sure police weren't watching the casino and hotel, or even waiting inside. But he'd had to take the risk when he'd turned on the news to see an image of Aizen's handsome face and the title: released without charge.

He decided to go around back, just to be sure. He pounded on a side door and waited. It was thrown open by a burly man in black but he stopped short seeing who it was.

"The boss is gonna be glad to see you." He held the door open and Grimmjow slipped in. He was led to the back staircase—leading Grimmjow to believe someone was watching the front—and he took the elevator from level two.

He was anxious for the doors to part. He pushed through them before they were even open all the way and hurried down the hall to the penthouse door. His hand slipped over the knob because of the bandages. He growled and pulled his jacket sleeve down to use for grip and let the door fall inward.

Aizen was at his bar. A bottle of clear liquor was half gone next to him. The table and chairs were overturned, one of the barstools was missing a leg, and it looked like he'd thrown a bottle at the floor to ceiling windows. They were bullet proof though, so a wet stain dripped down on broken shards. Grimmjow eased the door shut, not wanting to startle him, but Aizen's head shot up at once.

His glass clanked against the surface of the bar. His chest heaved beneath the half done buttons of his suit. Behind his glasses his eyes were wide.

Grimmjow met him halfway. Aizen strode forward, his steps off kilter from the wound in his leg, but no less purposeful and powerful. His arms closed over Grimmjow with enough force to hurt but Grimmjow said nothing, squeezing back just as hard. He felt hands that were holding him suddenly shift and stark moving over his body—not with desire but looking, testing. He winced when his side was touched. Not only was he cut but the falling glasses had left him severely bruised. Aizen drew back and held him by the shoulders, looking him over.

No one had ever looked at him this way. No one had ever held him tight quite like this: in concern, in fear. No one had ever missed him this much or been this happy to hold him in their arms.

Aizen's hand parted his shirt, checking the extent of his injuries but Grimmjow just grabbed his suit front and pulled into him. Their lips locked together. Aizen's hand slid into his hair. His other pushed up his back, under his shirt, gripping onto bare skin. Grimmjow tried to loosen the tie on Aizen's neck but his fingers failed him.

Aizen pulled back and caught his hand, examining the damage. Grimmjow had soaked and cleaned his hands as best he could on his own but he couldn't be sure there weren't bits of glass left in the countless cuts. It hurt to do everything now, some cuts just on the surface, others deep into the tissue, and all of them stinging and throbbing beneath their protection.

Aizen lowered Grimmjow's hand gently and took the collar of his coat, parting it and sliding it down over Grimmjow's shoulders. He did the same to his shirt, then carefully let his fingers glided down his bruised body. He touched along the edge of the bandages at his middle. His face was a deep frown.

"It was glass," Grimmjow breathed. "It's just cuts."

He reached up and held Aizen's face again. Aizen met the kiss and his hands gripped his bare torso tight. Grimmjow wrapped his arms around Aizen's neck. He pushed up, into the kiss, pressing his chest into Aizen's. The back of his pants were gripped. Aizen bared him, still standing there kissing him deep. His hands brushed up and down over the curves of his ass before he gripped him tighter and pulled him flush against him, grinding their hips together.

"Mmm." Grimmjow broke from the kiss. Aizen took the opportunity to sink his teeth into Grimmjow's neck. He groaned and let himself be spun around. He shook his pants off his legs and stood in Aizen's embrace, feeling teeth in his shoulder now.

"Ahh, Aizen." But Aizen stopped there. He held him tight around the middle, breathing into his shoulder. Grimmjow looked back at him, as much as he could. Aizen was staring at his hands again. Slowly he released him. Grimmjow thought he was going take him right here but now he too was becoming aware of just how painful that might have been for his cut hands and tender body.

Aizen's hands never left his waist but he pushed him forward toward the bedroom. When they got to the bed he spun him again and sat him down so he was on his back, looking up. Aizen stripped, revealing the thick bandage wound all around his calf. His knee looked swollen there were cuts and bruises all over his body.

Aizen drew the drawer open and got the lube. He covered himself, not bothering with fingers and then dropped onto the bed, hands on either side of Grimmjow's head. He bent in and captured his lips again, one hand twisting in blue locks. The other reached low and gave Grimmjow a rub. He moaned into the kiss and then began to pant with rapid strokes. Aizen got him fully aroused before he pushed his knees wide apart and filled the gap between them with his own body. He settled his weight over Grimmjow and took hold of his hip.

They came together in one strong push. Grimmjow didn't scream, but he lost his breath and lay still on the sheets. It had been long enough since last time that it hurt him. He continued to breathe hard, but was never going to ask Aizen to stop and they both knew it. Aizen kissed his forehead chastely, then began to move.

Grimmjow gripped the sheets and saw stars. He heard his heart beat in his ears, felt every thrust through his very core.

"A-Aizen…" He let go of the sheets and held his face. Aizen slowed, seeing that tonight pain was not equalling pleasure. He shifted and found that place, and Grimmjow closed his hands around Aizen's neck and brought him into a kiss.

The brutal desire was lost to something else much more tender. Aizen stroked him in time with his thrusts. Grimmjow felt the coil in his gut and a squeezed Aizen tighter. In blissful unity they arched back and collapsed in one another's arms.

Aizen kissed him deep, then again and again, holding his face, stroking his hair.

"I thought you were dead," he finally breathed into one ear as his movements slowed and he pushed Grimmjow's head against his chest, holding him tight.

"I didn't know if I could make it back here unseen."

Aizen nodded into him but his hold only tightened.

"You should not have followed."

"What?" Grimmjow pulled back but Aizen gripped his arms tight so he couldn't get far. Their faces were close. "I saved your life."

"I know. But now you've painted a bigger target on your back than ever. And when my men ask you to do something, you do it."

He must have meant the security guy and Stark who'd tried to get him to stay in the hotel. But Grimmjow was incredulous. How could Aizen be angry after he'd done everything to save him?

"You would be dead if I'd listened!" He yanked back on the hold. Aizen was unrelenting, not letting him go. He shoved him back against the mattress, holding both wrists.

"Aizen stop!"

"Don't you understand?" Aizen hissed from above him as he struggled to get out from under him. "You could have died! You aren't invincible, Grimmjow!"

"I know that!"

"Then why?"

"Because I love you!"

Grimmjow froze up the moment the words escaped him. He saw Aizen's sharp eyes widen, his expression change. He sat back and Grimmjow was able to get up. He rolled away at once, covering his mouth with one hand. It was shaking—he was shaking. He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

The bed shifted, a weight lifted. He was alone on the bed. The silence overwhelmed him, he didn't seem able to move from where he was.

The hand on his knee startled him. Then gently, his bandaged hand was grasped and drawn down from his face so that he was left looking into those fierce brown eyes. Aizen knelt before him, holding his hand, brushing fingers beneath his eye lashes that had somehow become wet.

"I'm guessing you didn't mean to say that." His voice was even. Grimmjow didn't know what to say. "Have you ever said that to anyone before?"

He thought back. His mother had said it to him, every time she'd held him in the throes of his panic after being released from the closet. And likewise, he'd whispered it into her tangle of hair when he'd found after his father had finished with her. He did love her, but those words didn't mean what they were supposed to between them. They really meant, "I'm sorry." They were just words that expressed that they were in that Hell together.

But that's not how he'd meant them when he'd said them just now. And how could he ever expect this man—this criminal of incredible wealth and power—to respond to those words?

"But I'm glad you did," Aizen continued. "More glad than you'll ever know, Grimmjow Jaggerjaques." He stood and wrapped his arms around Grimmjow, lifting and ushering him back onto the bed so that they lay entwined. "I love you too."

Grimmjow stared up at him, as if he hadn't heard, or the words were slow to register. Then something lifted from him. He blinked back the rush of heat behind his eyes and pressed himself into Aizen, their lips melding, hands caressing his skin. He parted his knees so Aizen could shift him over his body until Grimmjow was the one looking down as he straddled Aizen's hips. They barely broke apart, their kisses hot and fast and full of something Grimmjow was afraid couldn't be real. He groaned into Aizen's mouth when his hips were gripped and guided back. He never stopped kissing him, holding him, as he rocked their bodies together. He never knew contentedness like that, when Aizen's hands squeezed tight around his middle and he drew them over the edge.

He'd never felt so at home and at peace when he lay in the curve of Aizen's body, two hands folded around his middle and the night sky sparkling in on them where they lay.

A happy reunion! My x-mas gift to you, dear readers ;)

~ZQ