Author's notes: Well, I kind of had a frightfully unproductive couple of months, but I'm finally back! With more unexpected fic extensions, because that's what I do. Yay? I must thank you reviewers, favouriters, subscribers (ah, you're onto me!) and lurkers for putting up with my extended absences followed by unreasonable productivity. You're the best. :)

In much the same way as chapter 2, I intended for this chapter to be a separate one-shot, but again I decided that it followed on nicely from chapters one and two. So, yes. Uryu and his father talk girls, because the idea amused me and I love to write these two dorks. Enjoy. :D

Uryu felt exhausted. Despite the fact that his time was currently entirely occupied by sleeping, with the occasional piece of homework and his current knitting project, a sky-blue scarf he was contemplating gifting to Orihime, to alleviate the boredom on being confined to an hospital bed, he should have, by all rights, been as well-rested as ever.

However, snatching sleep was no mean feat when half of the hospital's nurses took every half-opportunity they possibly could to check up on you. It felt as though Uryu had spent half the day insisting that yes, he was fine for food and water, of course he had taken his painkillers, and no, he didn't need to be accompanied to the toilet, thank you very much, so when the door opened late in the afternoon, he was just about ready to scream in exasperation.

"No, I don't need help changing my clothes," he exclaimed, as politely as he could force himself to, but when the General Director of the hospital walked in, holding a bowl of rice and some fish which looked suspiciously like mackerel, he quickly looked away. "Oh, it's you."

Ryuken Ishida gave the shadow of a smile, in a way which seemed to taunt Uryu as he made his way over to the bed and carefully placed the tray on his son's lap, before taking the empty glass from the bedside-table and filling it with cool water from the tap along the wall. "I'm glad to see you, too. I would ask about the pain, except you had major surgery yesterday, so of course it's bad."

"Was there something you wanted, or are you just here to make me feel worse?" demanded Uryu, pointedly ignoring the sound of his now-full glass being set back down on the table and attempting to resist the tempting smell of his fish.

Ryuken folded his arms and sighed wearily. "I'm your doctor. I've come to check up on you."

Uryu scowled. "You and every other member of staff in this building. Did you put all of those nurses up to checking on me every five minutes?"

The smirk which spread across Ryuken's mouth made Uryu wish he was physically capable of sitting up and smacking his father's smug face. "They are acting of their own accord, if that is the case. And against my wishes, I might add."

"Oh, so this is their way of sucking up to the boss, paying meticulous attention to the son he doesn't even give a dam about," Uryu spat, finally giving in and digging his chopsticks into the rice, stabbing the mound with as much venom as he could muster.

Ryuken's nostrils flared and his eyes widened for a split-second, and Uryu felt a grim satisfaction knowing that he had hit a nerve somewhere, even if he wasn't exactly sure how. "What do you know, Uryu? Perhaps they just wished to spend some time in the company of an intelligent and attractive young man."

Uryu nearly choked on his rice. "Either way, they surely have more important things they should be doing!"

"That is true," said Ryuken, thoughtfully. "Still, are you not at all happy about the fact that a large number of women are potentially risking their jobs to visit you?"

Uryu shook his head forcibly. "Not one bit!"

"Oh?" Ryuken raised an eyebrow. "Not even one manage to catch your eye?"

"Certainly not!" spluttered Uryu, becoming more and more alarmed by his father's smug expression. "And because I know you're thinking it, I'm not gay, either."

Ryuken was silent for a moment, before he gave a small laugh and finally sat down by Uryu's bed, plucking a lingering strand of long, honey-brown hair from the back of the chair and letting it fall to the floor. "I know," he said. "Shall we change the subject?"

Nodding reluctantly, Uryu stared down at his mackerel and realised for the first time that his face was burning. Had Ryuken noticed? Surely he'd have pointed out his son's redness if he had; he wasn't the type to let Uryu go un-humiliated for long.

"Those DVDs by the foot of the bed. Did Orihime Inoue bring them earlier? That's two days in a row she's visited you, now. She seems sweet."

Of course, Ryuken knew better ways to humiliate his son than to point out a small blush. Uryu could have kicked himself for not seeing this coming.

"I thought you said we were going to change the subject," he stated evenly.

Ryuken gave him a knowing look. "She's the one you, Kurosaki and Sado went to Hueco Mundo for, correct?"

Uryu nodded stiffly, fully expecting snide remarks about knights-in-shining-armour or even lectures on stealing Quincy artefacts.

"Did your mother ever tell you how popular I was in school?"

If there was one thing Uryu had not been expecting, it was this. What was Ryuken saying? Could this be a dig at Uryu's infamously standoffish demeanour and notorious unpopularity at school? "Knowing you, I find that hard to picture," retorted Uryu, his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he attempted to anticipate Ryuken's next move.

Ryuken simply sighed. "You're Kanae's boy all over, Uryu."

What the heck did that mean?

"I'm glad," Uryu spat. "I wouldn't want to be like you."

Wincing, Ryuken got to his feet and pulled a cigarette from his pocket as he headed for the door. "If there's one thing your mother taught me, it's that everything works itself out eventually. Some people change their minds," he said, staring thoughtfully out of the window over Karakura. "And some people never do," he finished, cryptically, giving his son a meaningful look. "The nurses won't be bothering you anymore."

And with that, he strode from the room, leaving Uryu staring at the stray brown hair on the floor in bewilderment.