Title: Delayed Reaction
Series: Bleach
Rating: G
Summary: Orihime is feeling under the weather and Ichigo suggests she visit his father's clinic. Post-marriage, pre-Kazui!
Spoilers: For the ending of the series!

"Are you not going in again today?"

Orihime emerged from the cocoon of blankets just long enough to sniffle at her new husband. She'd been ensconced there for the better part of a week, using the vacation time she'd accrued at the bakery. She had caught some kind of summer cold or flu; it couldn't be allergies, since it was very late summer, but even then there was nothing really going around. But once again today, her flu didn't seem to be getting any better. So no, she would not be going to work again today.

Of course, Ichigo was worried about her. He'd been a prince, taking care of her chores and bringing her food while she'd been futon-bound. At first he'd tried to give her the food she normally ate – honey wasabi ramen, spicy eggs and onion rice, cod roe rice pudding – but she hadn't been able to keep it down. Instead, she'd been relegated to candied ginger and ginger miso soup to settle her stomach. She couldn't complain too much, but by all accounts ginger stopped tasting like anything after a couple days – mostly because all her tastebuds were burned out from it.

Ichigo clucked his tongue and shook his head. She obviously wasn't getting any better, and laying in their futon wouldn't help anymore. She would need anti-virals or antibiotics or maybe just some flu medicine from the pharmacy. Either way, it wasn't something her fairies could take care of. What he said next was completely unsurprising.

"You know I wouldn't suggest this unless it was serious," he started, half-grumbling and looking off to the side. "But you know my Dad is a doctor."

Orihime nodded. She didn't like to trouble her in-laws, and she knew Ichigo tried to keep his father from embarrassing him in front of her whenever he could. But the truth of the matter was that they were always warm and welcoming to her, had practically adopted her, and she quite enjoyed her time with them. But she had been hesitant because she didn't want them to see her sick and miserable. Still, if Ichigo thought it was serious, she would go.

That was how Orihime found herself in Isshin's office in the Kurosaki Clinic. She had to admit, he was a different person when he was engaged in doctor-mode. Instead of the goofy, boisterous father-in-law she was used to, he was serious and business-like; he even had a small pair of spectacles he used to read her paperwork. And nothing quite made a person look very serious like using glasses to read!

Since she'd arrived at his office an hour ago, Orihime had taken cheek swabs, answered all sorts of questions about her health, and had had her temperature and blood pressure taken. She'd even peed in a cup, and nothing good ever came from peeing in a cup. As Isshin perused the results before him and adjusted his glasses, Orihime waited nervously.

"Everything here is completely normal," he said, raising an eyebrow. "You don't even have a cold. And most food poisoning would've passed by now." Orihime felt her heart sink; if that was the case, she'd have to have more tests. She might even have to have her blood taken, and that could take even longer. As Isshin appraised her visually, he flipped some papers back and forth on his clipboard. Then his eyes lit up.

"There is one more test I can try…" he murmured, more to himself than to Orihime. But suddenly she felt the spark of hope; the way he'd said it, he sounded so happy, like he might have a solution for her. Isshin rose and sprung over to one of the cabinets lining the walls of his office. He drew a slender, white box from within and hurriedly unwrapped it, tossing the packaging in the garbage. There was a long, white stick inside, something that Orihime vaguely recognized but couldn't immediately place. As Isshin uncapped it and stuck it in the cup of urine, it clicked into place in her mind.

Oh.

That made sense.

Just as Orihime felt her face heat and lifted a finger to interject – it wasn't like she had done anything bad! Her and Ichigo were married, were both adults, both college graduates as of this spring, after all, and it was perfectly normal – Isshin squealed. He dropped all professionalism then, swiping his glasses off, and crossing the room almost at a flash-step to scoop Orihime up in a bear hug. He didn't quite manage to make any coherent sentence; it was mostly a string of blubbering and happy sobbing noises. Before Orihime could say or do anything else, he let go of her and ran crying from the room. After another couple seconds of silence, Orihime followed behind.

Outside, Ichigo was looking in the direction Orihime assumed his father had just run. He seemed distinctly unimpressed.

"What did you do to him?" Orihime went beet red all the way to the roots of her hair. How was she supposed to tell Ichigo what had just happened? Or what she thought had happened, anyway?

"I-Ichigo-kun, I—we—it's-!" Instead of actually communicating anything, Orihime flailed, hands waving wildly in some kind of strange pantomime. Ichigo looked confused, but being Ichigo, his face betrayed his thought process to her. Orihime could clearly see him interpreting her flailing and finally deciding that his father must have done something that he needed to be angry about.

"Old man, what did you do to my wife?!" Before Orihime could say anything, Ichigo had followed after his father, into the dining room. Orihime trailed along behind, hoping to defuse any further situations. The scene that greeted her, however, was almost inscrutable.

There was Isshin, sobbing into the wall-sized poster of Ichigo's mother, soaking big puddles of tears into the glossy paper. And there was Ichigo, fussing loudly at his father for embarrassing him once again, reminding the old man that he was far too old for these theatrics, and shaking him by the shoulder. And then there was Orihime, who ran over to try and calm Ichigo. Before she could say anything, though, she was snatched up by Isshin, who gave her another bear hug and got her scalp wet with his big, fat tears. As he babbled, he somehow got the point across that they were going to be expecting a baby, and that in turn made Orihime begin crying happily. Then at some point, Orihime hadn't noticed when, Ichigo's sisters had even joined them and were looking on in amazement.

"Ehh, ehhh?!" she heard Karin say, elbowing her brother in the ribs, "Good job, Ichigo! This proves you actually got laid!" Yuzu looked absolutely apoplectic at Karin's comment, but Ichigo simply stared on indifferently, as though he hadn't heard anything at all. But at least he was no longer trying to strangle his father.

Ichigo was quiet the entire ride home. Orihime didn't mind; she was mostly lost in her own thoughts anyway, and his reiatsu was calm. It was as though he hadn't really registered a single thing that had happened during their visit to the clinic. Not even his father hugging him and sobbing on him had generated more than a "stop snotting on me, old man". It was like he was blank. Orihime was a little curious what was going on, but at the same time she trusted that he'd tell her if something was the matter.

Moreover, she was fascinated with the idea that in about nine months, they'd have a little one. Right now, it was no bigger than the punctuation at the end of a sentence; the egg it was formed from had been in her body since she was born. It had always been with her, and in time it would be a fully-grown baby, big enough to fit in her arms, with Ichigo's hair and her nose. Just that thought was almost enough to make her cry again, right in the middle of the train. When it looked like tears might stream down her face at any second, Ichigo threw his arm around her shoulder wordlessly and pulled her tightly against his side.

After the rest of the trip home, they crossed the threshold of their apartment like normal, kicking their shoes off in the genkan and hanging their keys on the key board by the door. Orihime trundled off to the bedroom, pulled her comforter around her, and came back to the living room to flop down and watch tv. It was mid-August and still warm, but the blanket felt secure and snug all the same. Seeing as how her symptoms might not improve for months yet, the only thing she could do would be to rest up and then go back to work tomorrow. But after ten or fifteen minutes of laying in the floor, mindlessly watching tv, she noticed that Ichigo had disappeared. Curiously, she rose and crept in the direction of his reiatsu, in the kitchen.

As she poked her head around the corner, she saw Ichigo staring at his cell phone. His eyes were frantically darting back and forth, and every so often he'd tap in another few words. His hands were shaking. He hadn't noticed his wife's presence yet.

"Green tea? That's good for her?" he muttered to himself, lost in his own thoughts and clearly beginning to panic. "Can we still… Maybe I should check again… What about food? Where will she go for confinement…? Tatsuki?! We have to call her!" Orihime stifled a laugh; it was a delayed reaction, just like when she'd found him training with the Vizards years ago. The gravity of the situation was only just sinking in to him, and he hadn't wanted her to see him panic. She couldn't hold back; she rushed over and wrapped her arms around her husband and buried her smiling face in his back.

"You're so silly, Ichigo-kun," she murmured. She felt his back muscles tense for a second from the surprise. Then he relaxed into her.

"Orihime," he replied, looking back at her with a nervous smile. "You're supposed to be resting. Right?"

"I've been resting for days now," she said, looking up at him. "Besides, I only feel sick. I'm not really sick. I'm just… just pregnant." It still caused her cheeks to heat to say it. By the looks of things, Ichigo was similarly affected.

"Yeah, but… the baby…"

To his credit, Ichigo was mostly keeping himself together. But Orihime knew him better than anyone; he was nervous, probably scared to death of hurting her or the baby. And he certainly didn't want her to see him coming apart like this. That was why he'd gone straight to the kitchen to hide as soon as they got home. That was why he'd been so slow to react at all. He didn't want Orihime to worry. He was her rock, and if she had to be sick he would be strong for her. But she well knew that he was a mess just then, too.

"The baby will be fine," she reassured him, a big smile forming on her lips. "Right now it's still just an embryo – it's probably burrowing into the lining of my womb and exchanging blood with me right now!" Ichigo blinked a couple of times, as though he was returning from an out of body experience. Orihime couldn't guarantee it would work for him, but breaking things down into scientifically quantifiable tidbits made them easier for her to think about. From the look of Ichigo's face, it just made him a bit confused.

"Err, yeah, but…" Ichigo's eyes skittered off to the side, but Orihime hugged him a little tighter in response. His voice then dropped to a whisper; this was his true self, the self Orihime had fallen in love with all those years ago, the self that Ichigo didn't ever show anyone but Orihime. This was the scared but loving little boy that Ichigo hid so well, that Tatsuki told her about.

"If something happens, I can't protect you."

Orihime could feel it – this was Ichigo's heart. His most cherished desire, to protect her and now to protect their baby. But this was out of his control entirely, and he knew it. All the Shinigami, Quincy, and Hollow powers in the world couldn't help him now. And if there was one thing Ichigo hated above all others, it was the feeling of powerlessness.

"It's alright, Ichigo-kun," Orihime whispered into his shirt. "If anything too bad happens, my fairies can fix it. Or your Papa, or Ishida-kun's father. You'll have to rely on us this time again." He seemed to think about it for a second, going still. Then, after a long moment of consideration, he turned in her embrace. He pulled her against his chest, long arms winding around her back. His fears seemed assuaged.

"Alright," he choked out, holding her tight, "I trust you." They stayed that way for a long while, standing in the kitchen in each other's arms, Orihime nuzzling into Ichigo's chest while Ichigo came to terms with the new world in which he lived.

"But if you need anything – anything!" he finally said after several minutes, "Just tell me, alright? I'm your husband now, so….! So I take full responsibility!" Orihime looked at him for a moment before the grin spread across her face again.

"Well, I could really go for some plain white rice!" Ichigo stared for a moment before blinking slowly, as though he wanted to be sure what she had said.

"Plain…? No thousand island dressing? No ketchup? No bean jelly?" Orihime shook her head, enjoying Ichigo's confusing just a little bit.

"Oh no, plain will be just fine for now!"