When Rangiku and Nanao arrived back in Soul Society they set their packages onto the coffee table in the division office. The busty female then separated the cake and birthday present from the Christmas goodies and placed them in a bag. Her friend carefully packed everything else up in a nice neat fashion. "Do you need me to come with you?"

"No, I think I need to do this myself." The female stood up and headed to the division's kitchens to grab a few plates as well as utensils. She could feel her throat tightening and she knew this wouldn't be easy for her. She arrived at the forth division and walked through the hall, the feeling she had in her chest increasing as she went.

She found herself stopping outside of the door. She looked in as she clutched the plates to her chest and took in the occupants of the room. Gin was sitting up with his arms cross behind his back and his eyes closed. Toshiro on the other hand was lying next to the man, one hand being used as a pillow for his head.

Letting out a deep sigh she headed into the room and watched as Gin opened one eye. "You seem to have calmed down."

"I thought about some stuff and Ukitake showed me the photo album that you put together." Rangiku found herself swallowing.

"Do you want to talk about our situation?" The silver haired man closed his eyes.

"No... I don't want to get into another argument in front of him."

"I'm not going to argue with you."

Rangiku found herself taking a deep breath. "But I may raise my voice, and it seems as if he is asleep."

The man turned his head to look at the child next to him. "I don't think Shiro-chan has recovered completely from his illness."

"Ahh... well..." The woman found herself swallowing. "He tends to... well... I guess I should be doing better and making sure his health is better taken care of."

Gin's pale teal eyes suddenly opened and he frowned. "Don't go guilt tripping on him just because ya think you haven't been as good of a mother as you could be Ran-chan. You are believe it or not a wonderful mother to him and you did that without even knowing you were his mother."

"Yes, but..." The woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I've been letting my anger with you get in the way of me thinking rationally."

"Yes... you have hurt his feelings."

"Gin!" Rangiku snapped his name only to watch as her son moved slightly. "Umm..."

"I get that you had to cool your head, but he's confused as to why you haven't talked to me." The silver haired man removed his arms from behind his head and sat up. "But honestly, you can't do anything about that and there will always be things that are out of your control."

"Like you hiding him from me." The woman could feel her throat tighten in a different manner.

"Just like me hiding him from you. You are a great mother."

"Yes, but..." Rangiku took another deep breath only to see a bright teal eye open to look at her.

"I can hear the two of you very well."

The woman found her mouth twitching. "Did you, umm... enjoy your nap."

"Please don't patronize me." Toshiro suddenly sat up only to have the back of his head flicked by Gin. He turned to look at the man in irritation. "What was that for?"

"She's your mother, don't talk to her like that."

"Yeah, but..." The boy took a deep breath. "What I mean is that you don't have to change your tone with me and become over bearing. Ichimaru is right in saying that you're a good mother Matsumoto. You've always taken care of me."

The woman walked over and set her items down on the night stand. One of her hands reached out to touch his forehead. "You have a slight fever."

"I told her I didn't think he fully recovered from being sick," Gin said.

Rangiku reached out and brushed a lock of hair away from Toshiro's forehead. "Perhaps..."

Toshiro pushed her hand away. "I got sick because I was too stressed out. I'll stress out again if you hover over me and baby me. If the two of you don't argue in front of me I should be fine."

"Unless of course you have to deal with Momo-chan." The silver haired man frowned. "I'm not in a situation where I can do something and even if I was able to do something I don't think I'm the best person to come up with a solution."

The boy let out a deep sigh and reached his small hands up to grip his hair. "I don't want to even think about what you would do."

"I'll see what I can do. I'll get Nanao to help as well. It's time this stops."

"Can we please change the subject. I really don't want to talk about Hinamori." The boy closed his eyes. "How about how we're going to handle things from here."

"Gin and I need to discuss some things first."

Toshiro's eyes snapped open and he found himself glaring at her. "I don't have a say."

"Some of the decisions we have to make are going to have to be based on how well the two of us get along as well as work with each other." Rangiku crossed her arms before looking over at the cake she had brought. She loosened hear arms up and reached down for the bag. "More important, today is a special day."

The boy let out a sound of exasperation. "I know. It's my birthday."

"I went and got you a birthday cake." The woman frowned as she pulled out the box.

"Why?" The tone Toshiro was using changed from one of irritation to one of surprise and confusion.

Rangiku looked up, her own surprise spreading across her face. "Because I'm your mother." She watched as the boy suddenly frowned, the confusion obviously growing. "It's what a parent is supposed to do when their child has a birthday if they are able to. So, consider it the first step to things being normal for us, at least as normal as things will ever be."

"There is more to it I think." The boy folded his arms across his chest. "Where exactly did the tradition of having a birthday cake come in? Or getting presents. Or any tradition for that matter."

Instead of getting an answer he was given a piece of cake to eat.