It could be said that Neji was very stressed out. It could also be said that Naruto was slightly fond of ramen. Both would be understatements.
"Neji," Tenten said very calmly from where she was slowly bouncing up and down on an exercise ball, "I know that telling you to relax won't actually help you relax in any way, but could you at least pretend to relax?"
"I could try," he said, somewhat numbly. He'd stopped blinking again. "But I doubt I will be good at it."
"Okay." She bounced in silence for a few moments, then said, "Holy fuck, this is taking a long time. How long since I first woke you up?"
He checked his watch. "Almost seven hours."
"Wow." She slowed to a halt. "And that's after I waited for an hour too."
"You what?"
"I wanted to be sure they were real contractions. Plus I figured if they were real then it'd be best to let you sleep for as long as possible."
"Tenten- how could you- what if you-" Neji sputtered for a moment, then burst out, "Next time, let me know right away when they start."
She grinned at him, and despite the exhaustion in her eyes they still sparkled with humor. "Let's get through this one first, babe."
There was a quiet knock on the door, and they both blinked at each other for a moment before Tenten called, "Come in!"
Sakura poked her head in the room with a barely-contained grin. "Hi!"
"Hey!" Tenten was just as excited to see her. "You must be about to start your shift, huh?"
"Yeah! I just wanted to quick drop in and say hi, I hope that's okay-"
"Of course it is!"
Sakura brightened up even more. "So this is it! Big moment!"
"Can you call it a moment if it takes more than six hours?" Neji questioned dryly.
Sakura's eyes turned thoughtful. "How far apart are your contractions?" There was a pause as she analyzed what she had said, then held up a finger. "That was definitely my doctor voice."
They both smirked at her, and she said hastily, "I'm asking as a friend. I am definitely not your OB-GYN."
"Oh really?" Tenten said. "I hadn't any idea. They're about seven minutes apart, we got to the hospital about an hour ago when they were closer to ten minutes apart."
"That'd put you at the end of your latent stage then. And your water hasn't broken yet?"
"Nope," Tenten said wryly. "It's all such fun."
"Well, I can't say from experience but I've been told that active labor is much more painful."
They both stared at her flatly. Tenten said, with no inflection to her voice whatsoever, "Thanks, Sakura. I feel so good about that."
"Happy to help." Sakura's pager went off, and she muted it with a little sigh. "Well, hopefully I haven't put you off to the point that you don't let me drop by later if it's an okay time?"
"If I'm not in the middle of pushing a baby out of me, sure."
"Great." Sakura walked over and hugged Tenten (who patted her back somewhat awkwardly in response) then burst out, "OH MY GOD TENTEN YOU'RE HAVING YOUR BABYYYYYY."
"Yes?" Tenten's face was smushed into Sakura's abdomen and her face wasn't visible, but the confusion in her voice came through loud and clear. "What did you think was happening?"
"Shut up, I know you're having a baby," Sakura snapped, "But you're MY FRIEND AND YOU'RE HAVING A BABY. TENTEN IS HAVING HER BABY."
Tenten twisted her face around to look at Neji and mouthed, 'Help me.'
He cleared his throat. "Sakura, if you wouldn't mind…"
"Right, right." Sakura stepped away from Tenten somewhat reluctantly. "Ugh, I can't even handle this. See you later if you aren't in horrible pain and you hopefully have a baby!"
Tenten was not in horrible pain when Sakura next saw her, but neither did she have a baby.
She was reading on the bed when Sakura came in during her break, looking slightly sweaty and uncomfortable but otherwise fine. Neji was nowhere in sight.
"Knock, knock." Sakura said.
"Who's there," Tenten muttered to herself, then seemed to realize what was actually happening. "Oh, right. Hey Sakura."
"No baby?"
"Well, there's a baby, but it's really just not feeling the whole 'birth' thing."
Sakura frowned a little as she took a seat. "Wait, do you not know the gender?"
"Nope." Tenten put her book to the side and stretched out her neck. "Hyuga tradition, I guess."
"Huh. Speaking of Hyugas, where's yours?"
Tenten grinned fondly. "He went out to grab us some lunch. Should be back in a few, actually."
"Ah. Well, besides labor, how's your day?"
"Pretty uneventful, honestly. I'm mostly just bored in between contractions. Neji is super unwilling to make out with me to keep me entertained, for some reason."
Sakura stared at her, looking awkward. "Oh, well- um."
Tenten let the silence draw out for a bit, then said, "Anyway. How's your day going?"
Tenten and Neji were actually playing cards when Tenten's water finally broke, resulting in him panicking and her feeling mildly disappointed that the cards got crumpled and, kind of disgustingly, wet in the resulting flurry of action, rendering them unusable in the future.
And Sakura was quite right. Active labor was much more painful then latent labor.
Hui Na Hyuga was born at 2:38 PM on June 13th. She weighed 7 pounds and 8 ounces and had what was apparently the loudest cry the doctors had heard all day.
Tenten held it together all through the delivery, but the second Hui Na was placed on her chest she started bawling her eyes out right along with the baby. Neji, right at her side with purple fingers where she had been clenching her hand around his through her contractions, surreptitiously wiped away a few of his own tears as well.
Delivering the placenta was a piece of cake when she had a baby to hold in her arms and coo over. She was a little slimy still, but Tenten's lower area was slimy too so who was she to judge? (Her upper area was mostly just sweaty.)
Once things had settled down a bit and Tenten was cleaned up, she took a longer moment to look over Hui Na's tiny, delicate features, Neji at her side and staring down at the baby with gentle eyes. They counted up her fingers and toes- twenty of each, of course, but it was so fun to check- and gently stroked her arms and round cheeks.
"She's so soft," Tenten whispered, awestruck. Neji hummed in response, hugging her a little closer and resting his head on her shoulder. She propped her head on top of his as they both watched Hui Na yawn, captivated.
"This is like the shot people always show in TV shows and stuff when they have a baby." Tenten murmured. They certainly were picturesque, curled together on the hospital bed and cradling their child.
Neji hummed in response again. Tenten rolled her eyes. "Are you even listening to me?"
"Hm." He never stopped staring at Hui Na, and she couldn't help but smile. "Fair enough."
Hui Na let out the tiniest of whines as she squirmed around a bit under her blankets. They both watch with bated breath as she settled herself back down.
"That was so intense," Tenten whispered, only 70% joking.
Neji hummed.
Tenten woke up from a nap and instantly felt the soreness in her entire body reminding her that yes, she did in fact have a baby a few hours ago.
It went away a little, though, when she rolled over and saw a shirtless Neji seated in a chair and cradling a diaper-clad Hui Na to his chest.
"Why're… shirt." She slurred.
"She pooped on me," Neji said. Tenten blinked a few times, unsure whether she should be upset that she missed her baby's first poop or not.
"How'd it go?" She asked.
"...Fine, I think. A nurse came in during your nap and did some check ups on Hui Na. She's doing well."
Tenten smiled. "Yaaay!" She pushed herself up to a sitting position and stretched her arms out in front of her, rolling her shoulders a little to shake out some residual tension. "You think we should try breastfeeding again in a little bit?"
"Your breasts, your call."
She grinned and shook her head at the phrasing. "Your baby."
"Your baby too."
Tenten beamed at the little baby girl in Neji's arms. "Yeahhhh."
Neji had wanted children almost the minute he realized he could have his own someday.
His father had been his entire world for a long time, and though his death was devastating- even now, sometimes- he remembered how much they had meant to one another. Sometimes he thought he was one of the few bright spots in Hizashi's short life.
(Neji was already older than Hizashi was when he died, which pained him deeply to think about.)
But he remembered that bond, and longed to have it again someday, and if it meant becoming a father then it would be something he would relish.
At one point, he realized that to have children in a stereotypical way would mean having sex and getting someone pregnant. That put him off it from ages nine to thirteen, and then he decided that maybe having sex would be not that bad probably.
It didn't meant he wanted children right away. In fact, the idea of having children in high school or college- before marriage, really- put him off quite a bit.
And he wouldn't want to ask such a thing from his partner if they didn't want children just as much as he did.
He always just assumed he would have to wait most of his life to find someone that he loved and would want the same thing- and then he walked into the Chinese History and Heritage offices in the Konoha Institute of Art to whip through a publicity-gaining, pro-bono case for the newly formed law firm of Hatake and Maito and saw none other than Tenten Huang, his own best friend from ages thirteen to nineteen, sitting at a desk with her hair just as he fondly remembered it.
(He joked to her later- once they had become close enough friends again- that she herself had been so excited to see him that she threw up. She was not as amused as he was.)
Three and a half years later, he married her. Two years after that, she told him she wanted to have kids.
And now here they were, a family.
He had a daughter now, small and loud and grumpy and perfect. When Tenten fell asleep and he and Hui Na had their first moments alone together, he couldn't stop the few tears from falling.
Hui Na glared at him for a few seconds, then stubbornly clenched her eyes shut and fell back asleep. He grinned down at her and gently stroked his hand over the top of her downy head. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, and he almost couldn't believe she was his own child, finally here.
He raised her slightly in the crook of his elbow to kiss her forehead, then settled back in his chair, content to watch her sleep.
An hour, a big baby poop, a subsequent shirt removal, and one breastfeed later, Neji had moved back to the bed with Tenten, his arm around her waist and legs tucked in next to hers as they lay on their sides and watched Hui Na slumber away, swaddled in her bassinet and wearing the ridiculously adorable turtle hat from Gai.
"You know what I just realized?" Tenten murmured.
Neji dropped a quick kiss to her cheekbone. "Hm?"
"She's ugly."
He had to hastily bury his laugh against her shoulder. He pulled away again a minute or two later, still grinning, and said, "Tennie, you can't call her that-"
"I mean, she is! I'm not going to pretend to people that she's cute. She's a newborn, they're almost never cute and I won't make people say she is."
"Hui Na is perfect."
"I didn't say she wasn't perfect. I just said she was ugly."
"I'm going to ignore you now," Neji informed her.
Tenten settled back against his chest and sighed. "You do that." She was asleep in minutes.
Neji startled awake at the cry of an infant, and had a disorienting moment where he wasn't sure what was happening. Tenten, tucked against his side with her arm thrown over him, woke up in when he sat up, and in the time it took for her to open her eyes he remembered: hospital, baby- and not just a baby, Hui Na, his daughter.
His daughter.
He got up before Tenten could, quickly crossing to Hui Na's bassinet and gently lifting her from her bed. She continued wailing, and Tenten's voice broke in distress. "Neji- she's crying-"
"I know," he dropped his voice to a low, comforting hum. "She's hungry. Take your time, get comfortable and I'll pass her to you."
Tenten sat up and propped up some pillows around herself, then tugged down the front edge of her gown. Neji passed her the wailing infant then sat down next to her on the bed as she settled Hui Na close to her chest. From what Neji could tell from the light falling softly through the cracks in the door, Tenten's expression was… not good.
Hui Na quieted and began nursing, seemingly without an issue. But Tenten's expression didn't ease.
She took a sudden, shuddering breath. Neji reached out to cup her jaw. "What is it?"
"I don't know," she whispered back. He felt her tears fall over his fingers. "I just- she was crying, and I didn't wake up until you moved me."
"That doesn't mean anything."
"I'm her mother."
"And you just gave birth to her a few hours ago. You're exhausted, Tenten. You can let yourself rest."
He slid his hand back to cradle the back of her head. "I'm here for both of you."
"Okay," she whispered.
He leaned in and slowly kissed her temple, aching over the hitch in her breath as she fought to keep her sobs quiet.
When Hui Na finished nursing and had been burped, Tenten gently moved her to rest on her bare chest, sitting back in the bed and closing her eyes. Neji draped his arm over the top of the pillows behind her and gently started stroking her hair.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, breathing together. Tenten let out one last quiet snuffle and said softly, "Can you put her back in her bassinet?"
Silently he sat up and lifted Hui Na from her arms, shifting her in his grip and pausing to stroke the baby's cheek, feather-light, before settling her back down. She wiggled a little under her blankets and turned her head as she slowly drifted off again. He watched her for a few long moments, contemplating how much his life had changed in mere hours.
He turned back around to go to bed and found Tenten smiling softly at him through sleepy eyes. She held out a hand to him in invitation and he slid down under the covers next to her, catching the proffered hand and kissing the fingertips.
She put her arm around his waist again and draped her leg over his, tucking herself against his shoulder as she drifted off. Neji laid on his back and placed one hand over her arm and the other on the back of her head, turning to kiss her forehead before he closed his eyes.
They were headed home early evening the next day, after some more check ups, a few visits from friends and family, and a day spent resting and cooing over Hui Na. Neji, despite Tenten's muttered, petulant protests, decided to use the cot the hospital had provided for them rather than sharing a bed with Tenten while she napped- she wouldn't admit it, but she physically felt better if she had it to herself for recovery.
Plus, it gave him to opportunity to lay Hui Na on his bare chest while they napped together- and Tenten was sure to get plenty of pictures of that.
By 4:30 PM, they had packed up all of their things besides a few essentials- and of course, Hui Na, awake in the carefully vetted baby carrier and watching the outside world move around as much as she could.
Neji pulled the car around while Tenten waited with Hui Na, cooing over her and quietly telling her about what her home would be like. Hui Na was distinctly unimpressed, squinting up at Tenten and making a face that probably meant she was gassy.
Their ride home was uneventful, but it certainly didn't stop the new parents from being quite tense over the possibility of any danger. Tenten was certainly prepared to shield Hui Na with her body at a moment's notice, and Neji was hyper vigilant at the wheel.
They got home and settled Hui Na down in their room for a nap, took hundreds of pictures of her, unloaded the car, and then realized they had no idea what to do next.
They sat on the couch and stared at each other for a while, before Tenten said, "Well… dinner?"
Neji blinked. "We have that tofu stir-fry Lee and Gaara made us."
She yawned. "Sounds good."
They stared at each other again. Finally Neji said, "I guess I'll heat that up, then," and stood and walked into the kitchen. Tenten called after him, "I mean I could do it, but since you're up and everything."
"You just stay there and look pretty." Neji said.
Tenten cast a quick look over herself. She was wearing a pair of loose sweatpants and one of Neji's shirts, because like most people after giving birth her postpartum body looked about five months pregnant. She hadn't actually washed herself in almost thirty hours (she'd had a nice zen experience in the hospital shower, but hadn't felt like doing anything beyond sitting in the chair and zoning out for a bit.) She didn't even want to consider what her hair looked like.
"Okey dokey," she told Neji.
She was asleep by the time he came out with a bowl of stir-fry.
