Description: AU, Modern. Sakura is happily married to Naruto, a high school teacher, but when the past comes creeping back with some surprises she begins to reevaluate her relationship and wonder if she is truly happy.

Parings: NarutoXSakuraXSasuke, OCs present, cannon characters

Warning/Disclaimer: No...I don't own Naruto. Rated T for cursing and sexual situations (though there will be no lemons). Possible OOC-ness but not much.

Come What May

[Before the Worst]

"We were sitting with our backs against the world
Saying things that we thought would never hurt.
Who would have thought it would end up like this?"

~Before the Worst by The Script

"Mrs. Uzumaki!"
Sakura swiveled in her chair to face the child crying her name. "What is it sweetie?"

The small boy, at least in first grade, held out his hand where blood dripped from his finger. Tears slipped down his pale cheeks and he stepped closer to the pink-haired nurse. "Mrs. Uzumaki, I have an owie!"

Sakura smiled down at the boy, already up and moving to get the necessary items to stop the bleeding. "I see that. Let's get you cleaned up."

Within minutes the bleeding at stopped and the boy was smiling with a piece of candy in his hands. "Thank you!"

Sakura Uzumaki was the Konoha West Elementary school part-time nurse. She loved her job dearly, especially the children. She was a happy, newly married young woman who had aspirations for the future. She couldn't ask for any more.

"Sakura you can head out now if you want," Her co-worker, Hinata Hyuuga said in her usual soft voice. "Don't you need to head to the hospital?"

"Not for a while," Sakura replied, looking at her wrist watch. "I should head out to get some lunch now though. I've got a long shift ahead of me."

After saying a round of goodbyes to her coworkers she hit the busy streets of Konoha and hailed a taxi to take her to the hospital. The city was massive with its various neighborhoods and districts; it was easy to get lost in the hype. It was a beautiful city though and a wonderful place to be despite being a major city- Sakura couldn't think of anywhere else to live.

After eating lunch in the hospital's cafeteria, Sakura changed into her blue scrubs and clocked in- mentally preparing herself for whatever she would face over the next six hours. As much as she loved her job she couldn't wait to go home and see her husband who would probably be half-asleep on the couch waiting for her to come home. The feeling intensified when as soon as she got to her post in the pediatric unit she was almost attacked by her coworker.

"Got a patient for you," The young doctor shot off. Sakura could tell the poor woman had a long day from the dark circles that were starting to form under eyes. "Room 6. I have a surgery to get to. All you need to do is keep watch over her until she gets discharged later today."

Sakura gave her a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I can handle everything Rin."

Rin gave her a thankful look before darting off to head across the hospital. Sakura looked at the file that had been shoved in her hand as she headed the few feet it took to get to room 6. "Let's see we have…Akane Uchiha."

In that moment Sakura felt the world stop- face flushing from anxiety and fear. Uchiha was not a common last name. There's no way it could be Sasuke…no way. Itachi maybe? She thought, as she numbly scooted her feet to the room. She knocked before sliding open the door, trying to keep herself steady. The room only held a girl no older than five, her onyx eyes looking at her curiously- wavy brown hair held in two messy pigtails. It didn't take much scanning to see what was wrong with the child; her right foot was bound tight in a white cast.

"Hi Akane, how are you feeling?" Sakura asked, plastering a smile on her face. She needed to focus on the child- not who could possibly be her parent. "I'm Sakura."

"I'm okay," Akane shrugged, scratching at the skin above the edge of her cast. "Just really itchy."

"I'll get you some ointment." Sakura reached into a drawer and moved to place the cool cream onto the child's skin. "How did you break your foot?"

"I was playing soldier in my backyard with my friend," She replied in her childish voice. "I climbed a tree alll the way up," she held her hand above her head to signify the height of the tree. "But I didn't know how to come down so I jumped."

"Akane," Sakura said with slight sternness. "You can't climb a tree that high then jump!"

"I know," She drawled out. "Daddy got really mad."

"Where is your daddy?"

"He went to try to find me food that didn't suck."

As if on cue, the door slid open and Sakura could feel her stomach tighten. Sasuke Uchiha. Sasuke freaking Uchiha was in her hospital with his child and looking just as good as he did five years ago. Sakura felt like she had been staring at the man in the entrance for hours though it was only a mere few seconds. It was Sasuke who broke the silence first surprisingly.

"Sakura Haruno," He stated simply, moving further in the room to set a plate of food on the table next to the hospital bed. Sakura's head began to swim from his sudden closeness, but she kept her cool.

"Sakura Uzumaki," She replied proudly.

Sasuke paused for a moment, but much to her disappointment, no real reaction played on his face. He simply made a noncommittal sound and motioned for his daughter to eat. "Wasn't he the loud mouth cousin of your roommate? He was the Education major wasn't he?"

Sakura bristled as the way he said her husband's profession as if he was looking down upon his job. So what if he isn't a lawyer like you, she thought defensively. He loves his job and I'm proud of him. "Yes, and he also serves our country."

Naruto was a patriotic man and felt it was his duty to help protect his country. During his college years he joined the Fire Country Reserves- FCR- and began training as a back of soldier of sorts.

Akane suddenly jumped into the conversation, exclaiming: "He's a soldier?"

Sakura brought her attention to the small girl, turning the scowl that was beginning to form on her face to a smile. "Yes, he is."

Her eyes lit up as she looked at her father. "He's like uncle Itachi!"

Sakura saw Sasuke's eyes soften as he looked as his daughter and a rare half smile graced his usually cold features. "Yes Akane, just like uncle Itachi."

Questions began to race through Sakura's mind: who was the mother? When did Sasuke meet this woman? Was it right after her or during the time they were in a relationship? Why did she care so much?

To keep more questions for forming in her head she began to take her leave. Asking the girl if she needed anything else. "I'll be back before you get discharged to make sure you don't need any more cream, okay?"

"Okay Miss. Sakura," Akane beamed. Sakura turned to walk out the door and as she did she could hear the girl say, "Daddy Miss. Sakura is really nice! The other nurse didn't seem to want to spend that much time with me."

She didn't hear Sasuke's response which was okay with her because she didn't want to. After fighting to keep the man out of her head he had the audacity to show his face. Though the rational part of her mind knew it wasn't his intention for this run-in to happen, she couldn't help but wonder how his life was now. She inwardly sighed and pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind to focus on checking up on the other children in the unit.

By the end of her shift Sakura was exhausted and wanted to crawl into bed, however she had one last thing to do. She slid open the door to room 6 and found Akane watching cartoons while Sasuke sat with his laptop in his lap, most likely working on a brief for an upcoming lawsuit.

"Miss. Sakura," The child grinned. "Can I go home now?"

Sakura couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face- the girl's bubby personality was infections. "Yes sweetie you can go home now. Do you need more ointment?"

She shook her head. "Nope!"

"Alright, I'll send some home with you though."

It took both Sakura and Sasuke to dress Akane because slight movements bothered her foot and small cuts on her arms and legs from the fall. She whined and struggled, but Sakura coxed her into a somewhat calm state. Sakura also knew the child was tired and just wanted to go home.

"Akane sit still," Sasuke admonished, sending his daughter a warning look. Sakura couldn't help, but notice how well he handled his daughter. Even when Sasuke was in a good mood he could still be harsh and cold, but with Akane he was a different man.

"Don't go climbing anymore trees okay?" Sakura said as she wheeled the girl to the entrance.

"I won't Miss. Sakura," Akane with a sleepy smile. When Sasuke picked her up carefully she looked over his shoulder and waved. "Bye!"

Sakura waved back, watching the two walk away from the hospital. With a sigh she headed back to where Akane was roomed and began to clean it up. Upon, wiping down a table she found a scrap of paper with a neatly written phone number and a note that said: "call if you want". She shoved the paper in her pocket and for the next hour and a half until she finally made it home to her two bedroom apartment it burned a hole in her pocket. Should she call? She really had no reason to, though she could use it to check up on Akane.

"I'm home!" She called, taking her shoes off.

Her husband looked up from grading papers at the kitchen table to smile at her- the very smile she fell in love with. His blue eyes shined with happiness when he saw her and it made her feel wanted and loved. "I missed you!"

She moved across the small apartment to the where he sat and leaned down to kiss his cheek. "I missed you too." She glanced down at the tests he was grading. Naruto was a history teacher for Konoha High. The teenagers loved him because of his childishness and overall friendly personality. She had the opportunity to watch him teach one day and could see just how much the students admired him. "How are the kids doing?"

"All of them are passing," He shined with pride. "Each person in my classes has a C or better."

For a huge school in the middle of a busy city to have so many students passing classes- even if its one- was amazing. "That's amazing Naruto!"

The blond finished up his last test and leaned back to stretch in his chair. "It's eight o'clock on a Friday and neither of us have had dinner. Want to go out and get something?"

"Sure, just let me change."

"But you look sexy in your scrubs!"

Sakura felt her face heat up and she sent him a playful glare. "You might think that, but everyone else will think I was too lazy to look somewhat decent."

She chuckled at the pout on Naruto's face before she went to their bedroom and changed into jeans and simple red long-sleeved shirt. She picked up her scrubs from the floor and began to fold them when the scrap of paper fell from the pocket she placed it in.

Should she tell Naruto about the appearance of her ex? She knew he wasn't the type to get angry and overly jealous about such an occurrence, but he knew about Sasuke and didn't like him at all. Though the two only met twice on random occurrences while Sakura was dating Sasuke the two instantly did not get along. Naruto especially disliked Sasuke after she had told him about the rocky end to their relationship. She didn't want to worry Naruto over stupid thing and besides, she was pretty sure she wasn't going to call. And though she made a solid decision to not contact the Uchiha she slipped the number into her jewelry box, before meeting her husband in the living room to go out to eat.

[Author's Corner]

~The idea for this story came from the book Love The One You're With by Emily Giffin. It's an awesome book, so go read it!

~I hope all you read enjoyed! This isn't my first fanfiction though this is my first Naruto fanfic so I hope I did the characters justice because I try to keep them as in-character as possibly.