Law stepped out of the shower, and grabbed the towel. He wrapped it around his waist, and tucked it closed at the top near his navel and glanced at himself in the mirror. His hair was matted to his head, as expected. He observed his sideburns and goatee, which he'd grown in the last six years. Before their time apart he'd started growing the sideburns and goatee, but hadn't yet succeeded in growing them adequately.

He never really liked the look of a moustache but he'd tried it out once and immediately shaved it off. The goatee, however would be quite useful for tickling a woman's neck, that was the main reason he had it. A little playfulness during intimacy, but if you asked him he'd deny it. He'd even go as far as to claim he was just copying his father. It held some truth. His father did have a little bit of a goatee, but nowhere near as full as his own.

He then realized he'd entered the washroom with only his towel and his ex was laying in his bed asleep. Placing his hands on the edge of the sink he shook his head in dismay at how he'd forgotten something so damn obvious. For god's sake! Even if he'd just grabbed a pair of boxers it would've been better than nothing.

Well, nothing to do but face the music and do his little walk of shame. Hopefully, she was still asleep. He opened the door and stepped out. He glanced over at the bed and found her still asleep. He almost sighed in relief at the sight. He sprinted over to his dresser and opened the top drawer, pulling out the first pair of boxers he found, then closed it as quickly and quietly as he could. He then opened the drawer below it and grabbed the first pair of pants at the top of the pile. This wasn't the time to be worried about looking his best he just had to make sure his lower half was dressed. Law raced back into the bathroom and closed the door behind himself. He slipped the boxers on while the towel was still around his waist. He didn't even bother to ponder on that for now. He normally didn't dress like that, but maybe it was in case she came into the washroom thinking he wasn't in there?

Well, that was possible. As much as he was teasing her about having a dirty mind, if he was being honest with himself reestablishing his friendship with her was the first priority. Second was figuring out how they'd co-parent Cora. That was something he knew he wanted to at least make an effort on. He may not have planned to become a father, but he wasn't about to deprive her of knowing him if he could help it. As for anything else, cross that bridge when and if it came up.

Only after he was wearing them did he look and realize in his haste he'd grabbed heart print pajama bottoms. Well, that was great. He knew full well she wouldn't tease him about it, but he'd be walking around topless until he found something to throw on his top half. Meanwhile he was walking around shirtless, all of his tattoos exposed while wearing a pair of white pajama bottoms covered in little red hearts. He reasoned with himself that it was better than walking around in his birthday suit.

He hung the towel up to dry then left the washroom and softly chuckled seeing that Rina was still asleep, but had curled up on his bed as if she were a cat. She normally would at some point while sleeping. There were a lot of things about her that were still the same, but there was a new aspect to her. She was a mother, and he had no idea what kind of mother she was.

She'd likely be attentive because he knew her mother had always been aware of things going on with all of her kids, biological or adopted it didn't matter. The day that Rina had gotten that scar there were multiple creatures called Hollows attacking the area they were in. Her mother had done her best to fend them off of all of her children. At some point though, Rina's adopted brother Toru become targeted by one of them. From what she had told him, Rina and her mother both moved to intercept the attack. Rina had arrived in time to push Toru back, but not with enough time to draw her blade. The hollow's spike had pierced her throat fully from front to back. For a moment all present had thought she'd died, but then Rina had used some kind of spell that had damaged the hollow. That retaliation had told her mother she was still alive, and her mother had then dispatched the hollow before doing what she could to sustain Rina's life until someone with more medical training arrived.

He almost shook his head as he was forced to admit to himself he couldn't imagine having as large a family as the one she came from. There were three biological siblings, her twin brother, herself, and a little sister. It was before her sister was born that her mother had adopted four boys, Toru being the oldest of the adopted children.

He then thought to himself in a family like that, what was one more mouth to feed anyway? They would've accepted Cora without hesitation. He sat in his desk chair, and put his feet up on the edge of the desk, leaning back in the chair a little. He picked up a book that was nearby and flipped to the page that had been bookmarked.

He'd normally do some research right around now, but he knew that the constant typing of the keyboard would wake her. In some ways she was remarkably catlike. Well, he figured that was reasonable, considering that the Zanpakuto she normally borrowed the abilities of had belonged to her grandmother, a blade called Yukihyo. That was the blade's Japanese name, but translated it meant snow Leopard, it was a fairly versatile ice based zanpakuto. The original wielder had unlocked the Bankai as well.

In order to travel to him as she did, she used a Zanpakuto he didn't know the name of, but knew of the abilities. It belongs to a childhood friend of hers, whom her mother hadn't adopted but knew the family that had taken him in. If he was recalling correctly the boy's name was Mamoru.

Law turned the page of his book but glanced over as he heard her groaning in her sleep. That was new. He placed the bookmark at the new spot and sat up properly in the chair. He softly placed the book on the desk and rested his elbows on his knees, observing her intently.

She whimpered, her fist clutching at the blanket beneath her and tears fell from her eyes and cross her face. His eyes widened at the sight of her crying in her sleep. He'd witnessed her having a few bad dreams before, but nothing like this. He stood from his seat and went over to the side of the bed, gingerly he placed his hand on hers and squeezed it. She returned the gesture and seemed to calm down. He relaxed seeing that she seemed to have been comforted. He crouched down next to the bed, and realized she wasn't about to let go of his hand. He knew that much by the iron clad grip she had on him. It didn't hurt, but he was concerned about what could've caused her to be so unsettled. She was a Shinigami, a Death God. Not only that, she was a skilled geneticist, a competent surgeon and well trained as a ninja—well the Death God version of a ninja anyways—Onmitsukido, he believed was the term.

His free hand came up and gently pushed some stray strands of hair out of her face while he quietly asked, "what are you dreaming of that has you so upset?"

"Don't do it," she mumbled, her grip tightening on his hand.

That didn't tell him much. He kept his eyes on her as he pressed, "don't do what, Ri?"

"Don't die Mamoru," she pleaded, her voice revealing to him she was nearly sobbing. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He knew a few things about her species, he knew that they were more resilient than humans—where as a human couldn't survive being cut in half with a normal blade, they could—as long as their head didn't come off their neck.

"I'm sorry, Riri," he offered, recalling that had been her childhood nickname. He stayed like that with her until she woke up and asked what he was doing. That conversation was going to be about as fun as being thrown into the sea for him.