Chapter 2: The Makeshift Family (Don't Mess With the Floors)

The afternoon sun had began to wan into an evening haze when Ulquiorra led her up to her new room. It was plain, furnished with a queen sized bed, an ancient and heavy chest of drawers, a small bedside table, and a tall armoire standing guard in the corner by a door in the wall opposite the dresser. That proved to lead to the bathroom, which Orihime was minutely relieved to see was clean. Hopefully, her and Grimmjow could cohabitate well when it came to the other's bathroom schedules. It was a corner room, and had three windows, two facing the street and the other the side yard. Orihime was already picturing curtains and a nice rug and a matching bedspread, maybe fresh paint...Oh!

"Ulquiorra? Do you allow your roommates to paint?"

"Hm. As long as it's not an obnoxious color that would be hard to cover up, yes. I only ask that you leave the floor alone." He gestured to the wide planked floor, which was just as polished and gleaming as the downstairs' floor was. "I had the original hardwood in the entire house restored last year, and would rather nothing happen to it, so do be careful if you decide to move furniture around."

Orihime's eyes widened.

"Are you a millionaire in secret? Because wow, I bet that was expensive!"

"My...family, is fairly well off. This house belonged to my aunt. Having the floors restored to their proper glory was on her list of things she wanted done before she passed a few years ago. She left the house to me, along with more than enough money to help cover the costs of the bigger projects, so I've been slowly completing them until it's back to its prime."

Orihime, feeling a bit lost with so much space and so little stuff to fill it, set her dufflebag and backpack on the bed. "So did you live with your aunt then?"

"Most summers, since I was very young. I mostly had the misfortune of being raised by my parents."

She gave the bed a test sit, and found it creaky. The mattress was also fairly hard. It was better than the lumpy one that she had been sleeping on at the motel, though.

"I didn't really get much of a chance to know my parents. They died when I was really little. My brother Sora raised me." Orihime's eyes went up the wall to the crown molding, and she let her gaze trace the detail of the swirled design. "I bet that would look beautiful with a fresh coat of white paint!"

Ulquiorra, who had until then been watching her face with a growing sense of fascination at the color of her eyes, tore his own gaze away to follow hers. He hadn't given it much thought -the crown molding wasn't very high on his aunt's list- but he did agree with her.

"If you wish, you can leave your bags here so I can show you the rest of the house before dinner."

Orihime gave him a huge smile. She was starting to feel a little excited about this whole thing.

The house was well over a hundred years old, and had been built by Ulquiorra's great-great grandparents when they were newly married. It had contained only two bathrooms originally, but because of various remodels and renovations throughout its long life, there was now seven bedrooms, and five bathrooms. There were two bedrooms on the ground floor (one had been turned into what they called 'Study Hall', a room meant for quiet cramming before exams and such), four on the second floor, and then Ulquiorra's in the attic. The other two rooms, and their bathroom, across the hall from Grimmjow and Orihime were still in the middle of having new drywall put in, and the bathroom still needed its fixtures.

The Cifers had always been a prominent family in most places they occupied, and Ulquiorra's particular branch of the family was no different. His aunt had been a very wealthy art collector, as well as a well known philanthropist who championed a good many projects helping the homeless and former cons gain a footing in life. Where she had been a stronghold of good will, however, Ulquiorra's father, her younger brother, was a bit more of a miser, and it had made for a bitter line of bad blood between them. He had demanded that she sell the house and give her estate over to him when the cancer had gotten out of hand. He got shut down instead; his sister left every ounce of everything she had to her only nephew, the last remaining Cifer who cared to keep the old place going. There was very little he could do about it, of course. The old gal's will was as ironclad as her belief in the human race was, and she had been shrewd about her choice in attorneys and accountants.

This, of course, caused a rift the size of a tectonic plate between Ulquiorra and his parents. As soon as he was old enough to claim his inheritance, he decided to jump ship from his miserable existence under his parents' too-close eyes and take on his aunt's dream of having the old Victorian restored to the glory built by her great grandparents.

"It had fallen into disrepair as she got too frail to keep it up," he explained as he pointed out the evidence of new electrical outlets and updated lighting in each of the common rooms. "The electric was the first thing I had updated, along with the plumbing and heating. Insulation, drywall, windows. The insulation in particular was a nightmare. Victorians were not built with insulation in mind -that cost almost as much as the damn lot is worth."

Orihime didn't know the first thing about how Victorian style houses were built, but judging from the bit of bitterness with that last comment, the entire thing had indeed been quite the nightmare.

As they moved through the downstairs, he pointed out a few more smaller updates that had been done in the few years that he had owned it. The living room and adjacent rec room had both been updated with much brighter colors, although he had to regrettably have the fireplace taken out. There was simply no saving it, though all options had been explored. She heard a distinct note of pride in his explanations as he talked, and not a lick of boastful showman-ism. He was well and truly proud of the work he had managed to have done to his aunt's beloved home, and despite not knowing him in the least, Orihime couldn't help but feel a bit proud of him for doing it.

"And lastly, the kitchen." He paused in front of the stairs, gesturing to the dining room beyond the archway. Instead of a traditional huge dining set that Orihime had been expecting, there was just a simple Ikea table with a set of mismatched chairs situated around it. She laughed a little at the irony -the walls and wanes coating had been recently updated, as well as the window treatments. The cheap, mismatched dining set was definitely out of place. Ulquiorra sighed a little at her laugh. "Furniture is not a priority right now, so we make do with pieces that Tier and Grimmjow drag home as we need them. Anyway, dinner is between five and six most nights. You may eat with us if you choose, but it is not a necessity. If Tier is home, it is usually vegetarian, if you don't mind that."

"Wow, you guys actually eat together?"

He nodded.

"We make an effort to, yes. Dinner detail is rotated every night; tonight was Grimmjow's turn." He lead her to a pair of bat wing doors on the other end of the long room, and the delicious smell of cumin and chilies wafting from them smacked her dead in the stomach. It growled angrily, and Orihime abruptly realized she hadn't really eaten yet that day. She had been too nervous the whole day to eat much. There were two voices laughing over something beyond them, as well as the general clatter of noises that Orihime associated with a busy kitchen. She was not prepared for what she saw upon entering, however.

It was rather comical.

Grimmjow stood in front of a huge, professional sized range, stirring something bubbling away in a large stock pock, singing along with the song playing over hidden surround sound speakers. Badly. But he was grinning, serenading a tall woman with dark skin and long blond hair who was trying very hard not to laugh so hard she dropped the dishes she was washing. When she saw Ulquiorra walk in, she raised a soapy hand out of the wash water in the huge sink to give him and Orihime a wave.

"Hi Ulki," she said cheerfully, grabbing a towel so she could dry her hands off. "Is this our new roommate? Grimmjow told me you found a good one."

Orihime immediately blushed hard at the wink the blue haired rapscallion gave her.

"See? What did I tell ya? I knew he'd pick her."

"Indeed," Ulquiorra replied, giving Grimmjow a glare that promised some sort of malice later. "This is Orihime Inoue, a new nursing student at the university. She has decided to try and brave Grimmjow's presence for a while." This earned the shorter man a scowl, but Ulquiorra brushed it off. "Ms. Inoue, this is Tier Hallibel, our resident art and western philosophy student."

"Glad to meet you!" Her eyes were almost as green as Ulquiorra's, and her grip was strong as Orihime shook hands with her. "Nursing, huh? That's a tough field."

"Oh, I love it though! I want to go into obstetrics and gynecology when I get that far. I just can't wait to snuggle all those babies! I want to help the parents too! I have all sorts of ideas...but that's a long ways off yet," she let herself trail off with an embarrassed squeak. "Sorry, I was blabbering, wasn't I?"

"It's all right. I could talk your ear off about philosophic theory all day long if you would let me. I have some ideas about how to update the outside of the house that could use some ironing out, too."

"Yeah, and I'm going to be the one stuck building it," Grimmjow grumbled, returning to whatever was in the pot. "Chili's ready. Newbie gets the first bowl, got it?" He leveled a firm look on Tier, who nodded, and Ulquiorra, who frowned at the dripping ladle being wagged at him, but agreed. Grimmjow then pulled a bowl out of the cabinet next to the range, ladled up some very thick chili into it, and then handed it to Orihime. "Here ya go, princess. I hope you don't mind vegetarian." He gave her a smile, and Orihime stammered out a thank you. "Now you two, eat or shut the fuck up."

Dinner around the table was a lively affair. The closest thing to the feeling of such familiar closeness were when she had gone out with her friends after school sometimes, or when they were all invited to a meal at one of their places. Listening to her new roommates' stories about how their days had gone made her heart pang in sadness over the loss of that feeling. She missed her friends, her now ex-boyfriend, their cute little apartment on campus, her best friend Tatsuki, some of her classmates...before she knew it, she was sniffling, and the conversation had quieted.

"Orihime? You okay?"

She wiped her tears away with the back of a hand, and gave Tier a weak, watery smile.

"I'm okay. It's just...I was thinking about my friends, and how much I miss them, even though they all sided with Ichigo."

"I sense a story there," the blond said, carefully neutral. "May I ask, or is it just too touchy?"

"I don't want to bore you, really. The whole thing was kinda stupid."

"Look, anything that makes someone cry like that, wasn't stupid. If you ever need to talk, then come talk my ear off, okay?"

Orihime nodded, swallowing down the lump that had formed in her throat.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Tier."

"Anytime!"

-
Since Grimmjow had made dinner, and Tier did the prep dishes, Ulquiorra and Orihime did the rest of them. Orihime loved being in a kitchen, and she could tell this one was going to a fun one to work in. It was tiled in shiny black and white with dark blue accents, with butcher block countertops and a professional six burner gas range under a huge hood. It was equipped with two separate ovens, each with a lower warming drawer/broiler combo. There was a large window that opened to the same side yard that Orihime's new room's did, and it sat above a white enameled two compartment sink that was probably heavier than an ox. The refrigerator was also huge, and stocked with a mix of foods spanning over three different eating styles. The freezer was stocked with a similar mix, as was the big walk-in pantry tucked underneath the back stairs. Ulquiorra watched as she moved through the room, familiarizing herself with where all the spices were, what drawers and cabinets contained which utensils and flatware. A tall cabinet next to the fridge contained all the kitchen linens, including a short stack of nice tablecloths and cloth napkins.

"Room in the fridge and whatnot will be made for your groceries, of course," Ulquiorra said, rinsing a bowl before setting it in the drainer. "Grimmjow has a mini-fridge in his room where he keeps his raid snacks. You are welcome to do the same, if you wish."

"Raid snacks?"

"He has a group of online gamer friends he plays with most Saturday nights."

"That sounds like fun. What sort of games does he play?"

"If it's multiplayer game, or MMO, chances are he's played it. Right now, I believe he's in the middle of a CoD campaign with the Granz brothers."

Orihime wasn't much of a gamer outside of the occasional round of MarioKart, but the idea of a gaming night sounded like fun. She made a note to ask Grimmjow more about it later.

"You mentioned that you work at a restaurant. Are you a waitress?"

"I'm actually a prep cook, but I do a little bit of everything. I help our baker when he needs help, and help put our deliveries away. Stuff like that. It doesn't pay very well, but I just needed something flexible until I figured out housing and my school schedule. Do you work too?"

"Hm. I'm an afternoon bartender at a supper club not too far from campus every other weekend, and I work in the campus library a couple days a week when I'm not in class."

"What's your major, anyway?"

"Biology. At least, that's what I tell my parents. My mother's a Wall Street shark, and my father is a private accountant for the rich. Neither know the first thing about how a cell divides and why, so I thought it was perfect. I'm actually on the path to earning my doctorate in neurology. I'm going to be a neurosurgeon. If they found that out, I'd be smothered again."

"You're working on a doctorate?" Orihime gasped. Ulquiorra nodded, turning his head in such a way that the light got caught up in the green of his eyes and made it gleam. "That's so cool! Maybe we'll get to work together someday!"

"Perhaps. Have you ever thought about going further and becoming a doctor?"

Orihime's eyes widened, and she gave the towel she was drying dishes with a thoughtful look.

"No, not really. I brought the idea up to my boy...ex...a while ago and he sort of laughed it off. He was already working on his doctorate in general practice and he made it sound like there wouldn't really be a need for me to work on mine at the same time. We were sort of thinking about maybe getting married, and it just made sense to do it one at a time, you know? Then we never talked about it again."

"It doesn't sound like this ex of yours was very supportive."

"No...I guess he wasn't..." Orihime frowned. "Maybe I should go for it. Dr. Orihime Inoue, PhD. That has a good ring to it, doesn't it?"

"I think it's a good idea. It makes your eyes light up."

She very suddenly blushed, and she turned her face away from him, chewing her lip.

"Oh, uh, does it? Um..."

"I meant it in a good way, Ms. Inoue," Ulquiorra added, his voice soft. He was starting to get the impression that this girl hadn't been paid a whole lot of compliments, or been given a lot of chances either. The lack of self confidence was apparent, and the way she sometimes abruptly ended her sentences told him she was used to being spoken over or ignored. Still, there was a spark of something in her. She wouldn't have shown up on his doorstep if there wasn't. He had meant it when he told her she had been brave for leaving. He had seen the doubt forming in her eyes, the same sort of doubt his father always seemed able to put in him. The self doubt, the kind that had a habit of making one think twice or double back. It was a poisonous sort of doubt. He didn't want her to fall victim to it. Something told him that she would fall to pieces if she did.

And it was so much worse when it was instilled so deeply by those who had seemed to actually care.

Orihime managed to push the blush away and they finished their chore with Ulquiorra telling her where fresh sheets, extra pillows, and blankets were stored. She was starting to feel very tired, with the day's events weighing on her like a weighted blanket. She stopped in the living room where Grimmjow was lounging on the couch, watching TV, while Tier sat in a large armchair off to the side, a textbook in her lap.

"Thank you for dinner," Orihime said, stamping down a yawn. Grimmjow looked up at her and gave her a grin, and then held a balled up fist to her. Orihime gave him a fist bump with a giggle.

"Welcome to the house family, princess," he said. "If you don't wanna take the bus over to the motel in the morning, I gotta go that way for an errand if you want a ride."

"That would be nice, thank you. I think I have just enough change for one bus ride, so I would probably have to walk back. Um, I meant to ask you, uh...what time do you usually shower and stuff?"

Grimmjow chuckled, putting his arm back behind his head.

"Don't worry 'bout me. If our schedules clash too much, we can always work up a spreadsheet or some shit. Or I could use the one across the hall; there's water to it, I just need to put the facets in. So there's always that."

"Ha ha, right. I forgot about that."

"Do you think you're going to like it here, Orihime?" Tier asked, looking up from her text. Orihime nodded.

"I think so. You all seem so kind."

"We've all seen some shit, so we watch each other's backs. Been doin' it since we were kids."

"And we watch more over one if we need to," Tier added. "If you need anything, just ask."

"Thank you. Both of you." Orihime finally lost to the yawn and, even though it was a bit early yet, she decided that it was time to go to bed. She still had to call Tatsuki and give her the update. "Goodnight guys."

"Goodnight, Orihime."

"G'night, princess."

Orihime made her way to the stairs, but paused before heading up, noticing that the light in Ulquiorra's office was on and the door was open, letting it spill across the hallway. She turned and went to the doorway, knocking on the doorjamb before she stuck her head in. Ulquiorra was sitting at his desk, typing something on his laptop, and he looked up from the screen when he saw her hovering in the doorway. Poor girl looked exhausted.

"Off to bed, Ms. Inoue?"

"Yes. I have a lot to do tomorrow, and I have to call Tatsuki yet. I just wanted to say goodnight, and thank you again."

"You're welcome. We don't usually eat breakfast together, I'm afraid. Our morning schedules don't allow for it."

Orihime smiled, wondering how she got so lucky in one day. "Good night, Ulquiorra."

"Good night, Ms. Inoue."

"You can call me Orihime, you know."

"Hm. It's a habit, one that I broke only once, and that was just because her name is a mouthful to say often."

"Who is that?"

Ulquiorra chuckled.

"Nelliel Odelschwanck. I'm sure you'll meet her at some point. She's the fourth member of our family, though she doesn't live here anymore."

"Wow, that IS a mouthful."

"Indeed. I hope you don't take offense to me calling you by your last name for now."

"No, none at all. It sounds sort of like a nickname." She yawned, and rubbed her eyes. "Will I see you in the morning?"

"You might. I have an eight o'clock class, though."

"Maybe not then. I'll see you at some point tomorrow." She waved off, eager to call Tatsuki and then go to bed.

Ulquiorra waited until he heard the stairs stop creaking before he got up and left his office. He went to the living room and leaned down on the back of the couch. Tier and Grimmjow exchanged a look, and then both looked at Ulquiorra expectantly. His thoughtful frown faded when he realized he was being stared at.

"What?"

"So...when's the wedding?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Grimmjow."

"I saw the way you looked at her, Ulki. You're going to be in trouble if you look any harder."

"I assure you that there is no 'look'," the black haired man insisted, leveling a hard scowl on his friend. Grimmjow snorted.

"Sure. Whatever you say, Romeo." He turned his attention back to the TV, and Tier chuckled.

"He's just poking, Ulquiorra."

"Shall I remind you of the 'poking' we could do to you about Nelliel?"

Grimmjow frowned, giving Ulquiorra a glare through the corner of his eye.

"Touche, doc."

Ulquiorra gave the blue haired cretin a satisfied look and then straightened himself out. "Ms. Inoue's classes start day after tomorrow. She needs to pick her books up and do some shopping for herself before then."

"Already on it," Grimmjow grumbled, sore from Ulquiorra's comment. "I need to pick up that part for the lawnmower in the morning, remember?"

"You don't mind taking her shopping as well, then?"

"Nah. Won't be a problem."

"All right." Ulquiorra yawned. "I am headed to bed. I'll see you both tomorrow."

After a pair of murmured replies, Ulquiorra headed upstairs. The stairs to the attic were in the back hallway past the second floor bedrooms; an extension of the back stairs off the kitchen. They led up to the third floor landing, which led to his bedroom in the attic. As he passed Orihime's room, he heard her voice talking excitedly to someone over the phone. He couldn't make out any words, but he hoped that whatever she was saying, it was good.

The girl was a portrait of determination. She seemed to be earnest in her desire to excel in school, her job, and in getting past her break-up. From what he gathered, Orihime sort of just threw a bunch of potential schools in a hat and drew a name out, making sure that no matter which one it was, she was going to be as far away as possible from the situation that brought her here.

She had been angry, she said. Angry enough to finally see with clarity that not one of the people whom she was closest to had any faith in her. So she set out to prove them wrong, and to prove to herself that she could get through life on her own without their coddling and punch-pulling. It was a ballsy move, and he admired her bravado for following through with it. It seemed that Ulquiorra had the fortune of meeting Ms. Inoue during a sort of metamorphosis, one that gave her beautiful smoky hazel eyes a delightful sparkle.

He paused in pulling a sleep shirt on at that thought, frowning. Where had that come from?

She was certainly attractive, but had he really put that much work into noticing her eyes?

Somewhat unnerved, Ulquiorra focused on finishing dressing for bed, and then went to brush his teeth. He was in the middle of taking his contacts out when Grimmjow's comment came to mind.

When's the wedding?

Hell, he had apparently put enough work into noticing her that his house mates had noticed. Damn it. Well, it was definitely something he was going to have to keep an eye on. Ulquiorra made it a point to be honest with himself, so if this was going to develop into something to worry about, he was going to have to stay ahead of it as much as he could. He scowled to himself and got into bed, grabbing the book from his nightstand and opening it with a sigh. Of all the things to have to worry about...