right now." She said with an airy wave of her hand before leaning forward to whisper. "Besides, I wanted to be here when the baby was born anyway."

She blew out an exasperated breath, knowing that Orihime didn't understand she was trying to apologize for dragging her along in her condition, plus probably making trouble between her and her husband. "But Ichigo, he's sure to be furious."

Orihime smiled gently at her friend and patted her hand. "Yeah, he's probably very angry with me right now." She said, sounding cheerful about that prospect instead of dreading his temper like everyone else. Although, not everyone else had the powerful orange hair man wrapped around their little finger either.

Rukia groaned, but not from her friend's blasé attitude. A clawing pain gripped herbody, one that reached from her back clear around to her stomach. Orihime was thankfully there to hold her up as she doubled over from the sharp intense pain. Her earlier contractions were child's play compared to this one. She leaned heavily on Orihime's arm, biting back a moan, as the constricting band around her middle seemed to tighten more.

With her friend's support and gentle hand rubbing over her lower back, Rukia was able to ride through the pain. About 60 seconds, start to finish. That wasn't so bad. She gave Orihime a small smile, one that was supposed to be reassuring and confident. However, Orihime continued to look at her with her brows puckered as tears welled up in her eyes.

"It's all right, Orihime. I'm not going