Sitting at his desk in the front office of the Kurosaki Clinic, Ichigo's left hand was cradling his temple while his right hand gripped a pen, which he was tapping rapidly against the paperwork spread out before him. While he'd always known that Isshin wasn't a complete deadbeat and actually had done enough work over the years to keep his family clothed, fed and sheltered, it wasn't until Ichigo had taken over the practice that he realized just how much his father had done over the years. Isshin had actually kept meticulous notes and files on every single person who had ever come to him for treatment of any kind, had several volumes full of all his payment records and tax forms as well as binders full of incoming and outgoing medication, which was good in its own way...unless you were new to the family business and trying to sort through everything.

Dropping the pen and heaving a great, silent sigh, Ichigo then rubbed his eyes and mumbled under his breath, "Like tossing a baby into the ocean and expecting them to learn how to swim on their own."

"What's wrong?"

Without turning around, Ichigo replied in a flat tone, "Nothing."

Ichigo's wife of a little over two years came through the doorway, her house slippers almost completely noiseless on the tiled floor as she asked, "Are you sure? Would you like help with something?"

"I just..." Ichigo began before running a frustrated hand through his hair, making it almost stand straight up as he huffed, "...I've been staring at these same papers for the past ten minutes, yet as soon as I finish reading them and get ready to move onto the next set, I completely forget everything I just read. It's enough to drive anyone crazy."

Coming up behind her husband, Orihime carefully ran her fingertips along the base of Ichigo's neck to see if he would shy away from her touch in his poor mood, but when he leaned back slightly and almost unconsciously, she began to expertly knead and soothe away the knots in his muscles as she asked, "Would you like some help? Maybe I could read aloud to you or I could take a stack and look through them."

Closing his eyes and massaging the bridge of his nose again, Ichigo replied, "No, that's all right."

"What about taking a break for a bit, then?" returned Orihime quietly as she withdrew her hands and took a step back, "Sometimes the more you try to force yourself to keep going, the more your concentration deteriorates."

Hanging his head in defeat, Ichigo sat in his chair another five seconds before following Orihime's advice. He stood up and raised his arms above his head with a groan. Hearing several of his joints crack back into place was both wonderful and maddening at the same time as it went to prove that he really had been pouring over all the paperwork for quite some time...but he still had not been able to make heads or tails of anything as of yet.

Turning around and bending from side to side to stretch out his leg and arm muscles a bit better, Ichigo looked up at Orihime as he asked, "So, did you have any particular activities in mind for me to do or what?"

"Not especially," said Orihime with a slight smile, "I just came in here to see how you were getting along."

Raising a skeptical brow at her, Ichigo inquired knowingly, "Is that so? You really only came in here to see what I was up to?"

Laughing softly, Orihime replied, "All right, you caught me. I was getting tired of going through all those boxes up in the attic and figured it would be nice to go outside for a walk or something."

Returning Orihime's smile with a grin of his own, Ichigo said, "A short walk sounds pretty good right about now."

A few minutes later, the couple were strolling down the street. Initially, both were content to merely walk alongside the other and enjoy taking a break from their necessary but not especially urgent matters. As they continued along, while Ichigo kept his hands tucked inside the pockets of his jacket, Orihime felt an urge to hold Ichigo's hand and so casually slipped her hand into his pocket. Half a block later, Ichigo had shortened his strides and gradually slowed their pace so as to accommodate Orihime's head leaning against his bicep. They continued along in silence for a while longer before Orihime decided to reopen the communication channels with her husband.

"So, have you heard from your father recently?"

Even though he was fairly certain the topic would come up eventually, Ichigo couldn't help but laugh at Orihime's complete lack of subtlety on broaching the subject and it took him a few moments before he was able to compose himself enough to respond, "Actually, no. Haven't received another Hell Butterfly from him after the one that came last week."

"I see," replied Orihime in a tone that revealed the fact that she was trying to act in a casual manner, "Well, do you think it's possible that he'll be home in a couple of months. Say the second week in January or so?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Ichigo answered honestly, saying, "Can't say for sure, but I'd be pretty surprised if he didn't show up for the holidays and unless he and Ryuuken are desperately needed elsewhere, I'm sure Dad would be overjoyed to stay a couple extra weeks."

Giving Orihime a side-long glance, Ichigo asked pointedly, "Why do you ask?"

Completely disregarding her former act of nonchalance, Orihime gripped Ichigo's hand a little tighter as she looked up at her husband, expression positively radiant, and said in breathless excitement, "Because it would be a good time to have a...a..."

Grinding to a halt, Ichigo whipped around so he could look his wife full in the face as he gripped both her hands in an excited yet tender way as he asked, "Wait, are you..."

Her smile becoming even more resplendent, Orihime's eyes also began to shimmer as she nodded and said, "Yes. Yes, I am."

While Ichigo had become more demonstrative of his emotions in recent years, he always kept himself in check when it came to Orihime. So, even though his first instinct was to wrap Orihime up in a tight hug and twirl around in circles like characters did in the movies, the bigger part of Ichigo's instinct prompted him to be more gentle with the woman who was carrying their child inside her. However, he wouldn't go too far to the other side and fuss over Orihime like she was a porcelain doll that needed to be wrapped in wool and not allowed to do anything for herself.

Thus, Ichigo settled on bending slightly to place one arm around her thighs and the other around the middle of her back so he could lift her high enough that she could look down on him as if she were the sun shining down on him. Orihime laughed delightedly as her hands automatically rested on his shoulders for a bit of extra support as he spun around two or three times.

"I love you," said Ichigo with a warm smile to match his tone, "so very much."

It was fortunate that Orihime's long hair obscured the view of passersby since the sight of a man being kissed by the sun could very well have blinded them.