I don't own Bleach or it's characters. There's no words to describe how RL has put my writing on hiatus! As I'm nearing the end of a 20 week long student teaching semester, I'm sure my loyal readers can be forgiving. I've finally admitted to myself that the darker parts of me needed to be taken care of, and am slowly regaining my love of hobbies that have been shelved and caked in layers of dust. I can't tell you how much I appreciate everyone who reads, follows, reviews, and favorites. Knowing that something I do for fun brings happiness or enjoyment to others really makes my day. I hope you enjoy this last installment of this story (eeeep! Spoiler!). I'm going to be turning my focus now to What Love Is, and some other plot bunnies that have been hopping around my mind. Thank you again to everyone who sticks with me through it all!

Chapter 17: Let's go!

A few months later:

"Ich," Grimmjow muttered, reaching beneath the covers and tapping his lover's back. Ichigo mumbled in his sleep and rolled away. Ichigo's phone was vibrating on nightstand and Ichigo, exhausted from a 12-hour shift at the hospital, was sleeping through it. Unfortunately, Grimmjow was not. Whoever was calling was not giving up and Ichigo's phone was vibrating incessantly. Grimmjow grabbed Ichigo's shoulder and gave him a firm shake.

"Ichi, your phone," Grimmjow said as Ichigo opened his eyes groggily. Ichigo sat up with a huff and grabbed his phone, throwing the covers off and heading out to the hallway. Satisfied, Grimmjow dropped back into the pillows and the warmth of the covers began lulling him back to sleep. His eyes shot open when Ichigo ran back into the room and straight into the closet, the light illuminating the room because he didn't shut the door. Grimmjow could hear hangers swinging on the racks as Ichigo snatched clothing down.

"Where's the fire? Ya have ta go inta the hospital?"

"Ruika's having the baby! That was Byakuya. Apparently, she refuses to have the baby at the hospital and she's deep into labor. And not handling it very well from the shrieks I could hear in the background. She won't let any other doctors in, she wants me."

Grimmjow stared at Ichigo in disbelief.

"Yer gonna go deliver this baby?"
"Yes!" said Ichigo, shoving his long, tanned legs into a pair of scrubs.

"Ok, well I'll be rootin' fer ya," Grimmjow said, falling back into the pillows only to be smacked with one from Ichigo's side moments later.

Grimmjow glared incredulously at Ichigo who was shouting at him to get his ass out of bed and get dressed.

"Yer shittin' me Ich! I don't know tha' first thing about birthing a child, much less can say I'm even remotely comfortable with this!"

"Grimm, please, babe, I need you to be there to help me. I can't do it with just myself and Byakuya," Ichigo explained in desperation, pulling the matching top to his scrubs over his spikey orange bed head.

How could Grimmjow deny him anything?

Grimmjow wished he had told Ichigo no. Fuck no, to be more precise. Grimmjow was a tough dude, if he had anything to say about it. But he had to admit, frankly, women in labor scared the ever-loving shit out of him. Somehow he ended up as Ichigo's second pair of hands while Byakuya tried to coach the hysterical Rukia to breathe and calm down. The things he was seeing and hearing right now would probably scar him for the rest of his days.

Ichigo was adjusting the fetal heart-rate monitor on Rukia's massively swollen belly. Being one of the wealthiest families had its perks as Byakuya had Seireitei Hospital rush in equipment. Grimmjow was waiting for instructions, head capped, hands sterilized and sheathed in non-latex gloves. Ichigo found what he was looking for and watched the monitor intently for a minute that seemed like forever to Grimmjow.

"Ok Rukia, the baby's heart is looking great. I'm going to check how far you dilated. I'm going to have Grimmjow assist me, but if you aren't comfortable with that he can switch places with Byakuya."

Rukia's eyes were streaming tears and her face was ashen and sweaty; she nodded her consent. She needed Byakuya's calm, soft voice to help her get through the worst of her contractions, which were coming every minute and were utterly excruciating. Ichigo motioned for Grimmjow to move next to him, and he did so apprehensively.

Ichigo pulled aside the thin sheet to look and Grimmjow was suddenly incredibly captivated in the ceiling of the bedroom. He had to admit that the ornate carvings in the ceiling were an exceptional design choice that enhanced the extravagance of the room. Somewhere over the anguished groans Rukia was making through clenched teeth and his own musings he heard Ichigo saying something about ten and moving the baby into position.

"We are going to get you on your hands and knees, Rukia, so the baby can slip down into position. You're almost there mama, you are doing great. Soon you are going to meet your baby!"

Ichigo's eyes snapped over to Grimmjow's.

"We need to help her flip. I'm going to hold the monitor so it doesn't slip off. You and Byakuya are going to help guide her to roll to her left side and then flip so she's on all fours, ok?"

Grimmjow swallowed hard but nodded, his eyes darting to Rukia's petrified face and back to Ichigo's. His eyes were warm and reassuring and Grimmjow moved to do what he was asked.

Ichigo stood on the left and held the monitor while Rukia slowly rolled toward him and Byakuya. She braced herself on the headboard and began turning, just to be hit by a contraction that made her start screaming. Byakuya started talking to her lowly, coaching her to breathe, which she did but looked at Byakuya as if she was going to cut off his head and eat his eyes with a fork. Grimmjow helped by reaching beneath her body to help guide her knees to where they needed to be as the contraction passed and she continued to rotate into the position Ichigo wanted her to.

Ichigo watched the monitor, Grimmjow reading the worry in his eyes as he watched the number reading the heart rate plummet. Slowly though, it climbed back to a normal number and held steady. Grimmjow busied himself with wiping Rukia's face and neck with a cool, damp cloth while Ichigo did some feeling around under Ruika's hospital gown. Satisfied with whatever he was feeling, Ichigo instructed Rukia to go back to position so that she could push.

Once they got her back sitting on her bottom, Ichigo instructed that they put every pillow they could find behind her back and neck to support her as she pushed. 20 pillows and 3 contractions later, it was all systems go, and Grimmjow found himself holding Rukia's thigh in one hand and her hand in the other. Byakuya was doing the same on the other side. Grimmjow met the full force of a woman in pure agony as she was stricken with a contraction and she squeezed his hand with power he didn't know such a tiny woman could possess, trying to pulverize his bones in a vice-like grip.

Byakuya was breathing with her and Ichigo was shouting "Push!"

Rukia launched forward as if she were going to jump right off the bed, pushing with all her might as Ichigo counted to ten. When he instructed her to rest, she collapsed panting into the mountains of pillows.

Thirty seconds later they were at it again, this time Grimmjow doing the counting to help Rukia and to try to distract himself from the pain of the She-Hulk trying to permanently damage his hand. This went on for what seemed like forever until Ichigo spoke the magic words.

"I see the head! The baby is right there mama! I know you are tired but you are almost there!"

"Is there hair?" Rukia sobbed.

"A mess of it!" exclaimed Ichigo, his excited eyes meeting Rukia's.

Somehow this spurred her to a renewed strength, and two pushes later the baby's shoulders were out and Ichigo was suctioning out the nostrils. On the next contraction, Ichigo was holding a tiny, blood covered infant in his gloved hands.

"Grimmjow, over here now!" Ichigo demanded and Grimmjow quickly set Rukia's leg down, tearing his hand from hers making a beeline for Ichigo.

"Take the baby, I have to suck the nose and mouth out," Ichigo instructed, placing the miniature human in Grimmjow's gloved hold before he had time to understand what was going on. Ichigo moved in lightning fast and cleaned out the baby's nostrils and mouth. He took a receiving blanket and gently wiped the baby off a bit, who let out a fierce cry, and wrapped the little one so the limbs were covered, and looked to Byakuya.

"Will you be cutting the cord?"

He silently set down Rukia's leg and did the honors as she looked on, the baby wailing angrily. Grimmjow watched as Ichigo efficiently tied off the cord and wrapped the baby, bringing the baby to Rukia's chest, who cradled the baby and sobbed.

"Congratulations, it's a girl!"

Rukia's eyes flashed from the baby to Ichigo, pain contorting her features.

"Should I still be having contractions?" she cried, going back to her breathing techniques as Ichigo whisked the baby into Byakuya's arms.

"She's not done, give that baby to the doctor in the hall," he instructed the shell-shocked uncle.

"What?!" wailed Rukia, clutching the sheets as Grimmjow moved back to her side.

"Rukia, there's another baby in there, getting ready to come out," Ichigo informed her as Byakuya returned, taking his shocked sister's hand.

"How is this possible? We had ultrasounds and everything!"

"It's not totally uncommon that this happens sometimes," Ichigo commented from between her legs. Discussion was over as another contraction washed over Rukia and she struggled through the intense pain.

"We are going to push on the next contraction," Ichigo instructed and Grimmjow again took up Rukia's leg and offered her his battered hand. She felt the next one coming and leaned forward.

"Give it all you got!" Ichigo exclaimed.

That's exactly what she did, and two pushes later it was over.

Grimmjow felt like he was riding an emotional roller coaster. He just witnessed two children come into the world. More than witnessed, he literally was a part of the birth. He caught glimpses of a woman's parts he barely knew doing things he never in a million years thought he'd witness them do. Yet here he was, holding one tiny little baby while Ichigo and the lactitician consultant helped Rukia with getting the other to latch to her breast.

Grimmjow hadn't held a baby before. This one was tiny, 5 pounds and 9 ounces. He was so scared of dropping him and was sure to not move his arms from the position Ichigo instructed him to do so that he was supporting the tiny little head covered in a blue knitted cap. He was holding the baby boy, who had a head of bright red hair like his older sister. The baby was sleeping away, all bundled up in a blue blanket and all you could see was his little pink face.

Grimmjow watched Ichigo, marveling in how amazing it was to experience him in his element. It was no wonder the man became a doctor, and a versatile one at that. He had this incredible gift for caring for people that came so naturally to him. He just brought life into the world like it was something he did every day without so much as breaking a sweat. Grimmjow gently rocked the sleeping infant and smiled down at him, thinking about how lucky these little tykes were to have Ichigo for an uncle.

Once the baby was successfully suckling at Rukia's breast, Ichigo's weary eyes looked to his boyfriend, ready to go home and collapse into bed. His heart wrenched hard in his chest, catching Grimmjow's soft smile down at the baby as he rocked him gently in his massive arms. It was one of the most touching things he'd ever seen. Grimmjow could be a gentle giant, but Ichigo had never imagined him holding someone so tiny in such a tender way.

He knew in this moment he wanted to be with this man forever. He wanted to watch Grimmjow cradle their future children like that. It was amazing that he was having these feelings for this man who only months ago was supposed to be a casual fuck. The feelings were so intense in his chest that it brought tears to his eyes and a hard lump was constricting his throat.

He leaned down and kissed Rukia's sweat soaked hair.

"You let these doctors care for you and the babies. I'll be back to check on you after work tomorrow."

"Thank you for everything, Ichigo," she said, beaming up at him.

Ichigo smiled back and gave the suckling baby's cheek a gentle stroke. Byakuya took the other baby from Grimmjow and he too expressed his gratitude to the couple. Grimmjow gave Rukia a kiss on the cheek and received one from her, and with that they were off for the entrance of the mansion. As soon as they were in the hall, Grimmjow captured Ichigo's hand in his.

They headed toward where Pantera was parked in the driveway. They took it instead of the other vehicles because Grimmjow insisted it was the fastest way to get to Rukia. Ichigo suspected he just looked for any excuse to drive his bike at top speeds but was in too much of a hurry to argue at the time. Both men walked in heavy silence, their minds and hearts racing despite their physical fatigue.

Grimmjow stopped short just before they reached the bike that was gleaming as the first rays of dawn caught its metallic body.

He took a deep breath and willed himself to spit it out.

Ichigo looked Grimmjow right in the face.

"Marry me," they both said at the same time.

It took a minute before the realization of what they both said sank into their overstimulated minds. Grimmjow's brain seemed to be working just milliseconds faster than Ichigo's, and he pulled Ichigo flush to him and kissed him like Ichigo's mouth contained the cure to cancer. Ichigo fisted Grimmjow's t-shirt and kissed back with equal intensity. They kept it up until the need for air was too great, Grimmjow releasing his lover's mouth to rest his forehead against Ichigo's.

Ichigo considered the blue depths of the eyes of the man he was going to walk into forever with.

"Courthouse?" Ichigo asked.

"Ya read my mind kid. Let's go!"

End Story. Thank you for reading! Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated! 3