Sasuke's P.O.V.

"Are you guys sure Dr. Iruka is a good idea? Your relationship is so new." Kushina said.

"It's also very old, and we have a lot to work out if we want to be truly be happy together."

"This is a good thing mom, we're not trying to save anything, we want to make it stronger, make it better." She nodded as she tucked Minatachi into the crib she had at her house.

"Well I wish the two of you luck. And I'm glad you're back in Naruto's life Sasuke." She said giving me a hug.

"Thank you Kushina."

"We'll see you later mom." Naruto said hugging her too.

"Take all the time you need, Gram Gram has it under control." She said walking into the kitchen where Miko was making brownies. We said our goodbyes to both of our kids then got in my car and started driving to Dr. Iruka's office. I have to say, I'm a little nervous. Last time I saw Dr. Iruka… I spit in his face. Not figuratively. Actually. Yeah… I didn't exactly have it together back then. So now three years later I'm going back to him for help. Tail between my legs and all. Well here we go I guess.

"Are you okay Sasuke?"

"To be honest no, but I can do this." I said taking his hand confidently and kissing it. With Naruto I feel so much better, I can do this for him.

"You sure?"

"Yes." We got out of the car and walked hand in hand up to the waiting room. After about ten minutes of waiting, Dr. Iruka came out to get us.

"Welcome, come on back guys." We walked into a room with a white leather couch, floor run, fancy curtains. Way classier than his old office in prison. A closet sized room with a desk between us and me sitting in an uncomfortable wobbly chair. Cuffed to it most of the time…Okay, calm down Sasuke. He closed the door as Naruto and I sat on the couch.

"I must say, I was a bit surprised when I saw the two of you on my schedule. Coming in together and all. Naruto I haven't seen you in over a year, Sasuke, it's been what, three years? What brings you in?"

"Well a lot has changed recently." Naruto started.

"I'm all ears." We both looked at each other and silently agreed to just let it all out.

"I just had a baby."

"My baby."

"I cheated on Neji."

"Then he got a divorce."

"He moved away."

"I got sober."

"Then he moved back for a better job."

"I made this really awesome security system."

"He saved my life."

"We reconciled."

"Now we're dating."

"But we're having a lot of trouble moving forward."

"And being okay with the past." We both looked at each other. Well, it's all out there now.

"Wow, umm… that's quite a lot. Especially for the two of you." He said writing things down on his pad. "Well… let's jump right in. What seems to be the biggest problem?" I looked at Naruto, grabbing his hand reassuringly.

"Sasuke's like… too perfect."

"Sasuke… perfect… interesting." Yeah I don't believe it either.

"I think Naruto's having a hard time adjusting to things with everything that's happened."

"What do you think Naruto?"

"I think Sasuke is probably right. I mean I just had a baby two weeks ago, I've only been divorced for three months, I don't even really get paternity leave. And Sasuke's being so kind and understanding, it's almost making me… angry?"

"It is making him angry. Angry, annoyed, focused on the past."

"Okay let's back up, it's obvious Sasuke loves Naruto, I think we can all agree on that fact. So Naruto where is this anger coming from?" He looked in his hands.

"Because it's like, Sasuke suddenly has his life together and I've never been more scattered. You know, he's sober, he's tending to my needs, he gets three months of paternity leave, he's there for both of our kids, he's perfect."

"So all this is a bit overwhelming for you Naruto."

"Absolutely."

"Naruto do you think you're ready to be in a relationship with Sasuke?"

"Yes, of course, he's the love of my life."

"It seems as though Sasuke is ready for you… but you're not quite there yet."

"But…" That kinda hurt… Maybe Naruto isn't ready for me yet.

"Sasuke, what are you thinking?"

"That I want to be with Naruto and I will do anything to make that happen, that's why I'm here."

"Okay… Sasuke are you falling into your old patterns?"

"Old patterns?" Naruto asked. I turned to him, taking both of his hands.

"Naruto, I do bad things for good reasons, or at least that's how I justified it in my head. It's a problem I've really been trying to work on. But no Dr. Iruka, I don't think that I am."

"Well let's examine that. So Naruto was still married to Neji when the baby was conceived. How did that happen?" Naruto jumped me on his neighbor's lawn.

"Umm… we both wanted it to happen. I couldn't hold back my feelings for him any longer." I said reluctantly.

"That's not true, I was aggressive. I wanted him so bad. He asked me to stop, to wait, but I wasn't listening."

"You assaulted him Naruto?"

"No! Oh god no! I wanted him just as bad as he wanted me! I just didn't want it to happen right then and there, I wanted him to wait, think it through. Not because of my feelings, I wanted to do it. I just didn't want him to regret it." I said quickly.

"I don't regret it. I will never regret it. But I do regret how it happened, it wasn't right."

"Sasuke how did you feel about it?"

"I felt dirty… Like I had just let Naruto make the biggest mistake of his life and it was all my fault."

"Sasuke…" Naruto said, his eyes turning so sad.

"Sex with Naruto should never make you feel dirty. I remember you telling me that Naruto was the only person in the world that you never felt dirty sleeping with."

"You told him that?"

"I've told him a lot of things… but yes Naruto." Naruto looked like he was about to cry.

"Sasuke loves you Naruto. I think him feeling bad for something he wanted to do because he was worried about you is pretty obvious of that."

"This is why I want to be with him so bad, he's always kept me in mind, he's always loved me, I want to figure this out so that I can love him back as strong as he loves me." I rubbed his thigh, I'm so glad he feels that way. Dr. Iruka thought for a minute before speaking.

"Sasuke, I believe you have changed. I believe you are not still the troubled inmate that you were the last time I saw you. Getting sober, becoming successful, being able to win over Naruto's heart like you have is all proof of that. I think you are ready to love Naruto in the way he needs and wants to be loved." Wow… that's… incredible news. "However… Naruto… I don't think you're ready to love Sasuke."

"What?" We both gasped.

"You said it yourself, you are overwhelmed. I'm not sure you're over Neji, in the sense that you're not ready to move on just yet. I'm not sure you're ready to forgive Sasuke, to build a life together, to make those changes you need to make to love Sasuke the way he needs and wants to be loved. If you don't make those changes, it may cause Sasuke to be bitter, it may put unwanted stress on your relationship, which it sounds like you are already experiencing. You two are here because you want to make things work in the long term, but Naruto, I think it's extremely hard to expect you to just be ready for Sasuke, ready to jump into something so intense when you haven't even had a chance to breathe."

"So what? You're saying we should break up?" I asked.

"No, we just found each other again. I never want to be without him again!"

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying Naruto needs time. He needs time for himself. He needs time to figure who he is now and with everything that's happened, before you can figure out who the two of you are together."

"How do we do that?"

"I think you two can figure it out. I have faith in whom you can become together. So homework for this week, let's open the door to communication. Talk to each other without getting angry, and give each other some space. Naruto if you feel yourself becoming angry with Sasuke, tell him what's bothering you. And Sasuke, don't bend over backwards for Naruto. You love him, you love your kids together, but you have to continue with your progress, don't sacrifice that for him. Do we think we can do that?"

"Yes." Naruto said immediately. Don't fall into old patterns Sasuke, don't end sessions the way you used to in prison. Don't.

"I will do my best, thank you Dr. Iruka." I said. He was shocked at my response. I smirked a bit, Naruto just gave us both questioning looks. "I used to end sessions by calling him a jackass, flipping a chair or pushing his papers on the floor."

"This is a 180. Completely. I'm proud of your progress Sasuke, we'll see you next week."

Naruto's P.O.V.

I'm not ready to love Sasuke… that's… a wake up call. Definitely. Sasuke and I left Dr. Iruka's office after making our next appointment for next week, and then got in his car. We just sat in silence for a moment, processing, until Sasuke spoke up.

"Do you want to go to dinner or something? Your mom said we could be out for as long as we need to."

"Yeah, I'd really like that teme."

"Great dobe." He said giving me a small but passionate kiss. He drove us to a steakhouse, not an upscale fancy one like Neji would have, but a comfortable one. We walked in, sat down, heard the specials and ordered. He took my hand as we waited for our food.

"What did you think about what Dr. Iruka said?"

"I don't want us to break up."

"Neither do I."

"But maybe I do need to figure out some things."

"I agree with that."

"So what do we do? It's not like we're in high school and we can just take a break with no consequences. We have kids, responsibilities, hell the media is begging for a story on us."

"They still don't know that Mina is mine."

"They only just found out I had the baby. Oh man, Sasuke that's gonna be a whole scandal. I'm not sure my career can handle the headline 'senator has baby with ex con while cheating on prominent clan husband. Uzumaki's shocking divorce scandal inside!"

"Well… I think if you can be a senator after your fiancé got caught up in the Akatsuki scandal, you'll be able to survive this one too. When are you up for re-election anyways?"

"I've been in office for three years, I still have three left."

"So you can afford a scandal before you're re-elected, or better yet, run for governor or something." He joked, taking a sip of his water.

"Oh you're so funny." I joked back. Our food came and we started eating.

"So I have a thought… although it's sort of radical." He said through a bite.

"Bring it on."

"Have you heard of Schrodinger's cat?"

"Of course not." I laughed.

"Dobe."

"Teme."

"Schrodinger was a physicist."

"Hence why I don't know him." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I'm gonna give you the cliff notes. He put a cat in a box with poison. And realized that there is no way to know if the cat is alive or dead until you open the box. So because you can't know, the cat is simultaneously both dead and alive."

"Okay you lost me."

"Oh Naruto."

"That is was too much science for me."

"Okay just listen to my point. What if we put our relationship in that box? We are simultaneously together, and not together."

"Okay I'm still lost."

"Wow Naruto."

"Just explain it better teme."

"I'm trying dobe. Okay, around the kids, we're together, we make it work, we love each other, we're working on our relationship. To the media, we're not, to outside forces we're not. When you need space I give you space. Let's say on Friday night's, that's your night. You are single, I will take the kids, you have the night to yourself, you sleep by yourself, you don't hear a peep from me unless it's an emergency. On Saturdays, it's family day, then date night for us. We are together. We work on our relationship. Schrodinger's cat."

"Okay the cat stuff is still really confusing, but I like it, really, I do."

"Really?"

"Well I have come questions."

"Naturally."

"So I'm if single on Friday nights, what does that mean exactly?"

"What do you want it to mean?"

"I don't want to cheat on you."

"You wouldn't be cheating me, you'd be single."

"While simultaneously being in a relationship with you."

"Look if you want to use your single time to see other people, I don't have a problem with it."

"I don't, I just wanted clarification."

"Even still, that's your time, you don't have to tell me about it, you don't have to ask me if what you're doing is okay, it is your day to do you."

"Well what about you?"

"I will have a night to spend with my kids, there's no place I would rather be."

"Do you think it will work?"

"I think it's worth a shot."

"Why not?"

"Anything else Dr. Iruka said you want to talk about?"

"I'm sorry that I'm not ready for you Sasuke."

"Don't be, you've had it really rough lately."

"But you've always had it rough, I don't know if I've ever acknowledged that before."

"Well I'm used to it I guess, you take all the time you need okay?"

"Is that really fair to you?"

"Hey we found each other again, fair or not, if that's what it takes not to lose you again, I'm all for it."

"I love you."

"I love you too." We finished our meal and actually had a good conversation after that. Caught up, established more rules, just had a good time. We went for a walk, hand in hand, at the park after that. Yeah we were on our guard for the paparazzi, but it was really nice. Really nice to be with Sasuke again. After our blissful evening, we headed to my parents to pick up the kids. Dad was chatting with Mikoshina, eating a brownie while mom was rocking Minatachi, her hand to his forehead softly.

"Hey guys, we're back." I said coming in.

"How was it?"

"Enlightening, we're gonna try some new things, figure out what works." Sasuke said as he sat next to my dad, giving him a handshake.

"Good, I'm glad." Dad said returning the handshake. I sat next to my mom and she handed me Minatachi.

"Kurama says hello."

"I miss him a lot."

"It will pass, it's Mina's turn to bond with him. Plus you know you can talk to him whenever you want. I used to rock you to sleep and talk to him about my day, you could do the same."

"Maybe I will."

"So Naruto, I know that it's been pretty stressful in the senate lately for you, so I made some calls." Dad said.

"You did?"

"Yes, you just had a baby, you shouldn't be working right now. Your party will be just fine without you for a few months while you go on leave."

"Dad I can't just go on leave."

"Shikamaru has everything handled, you will be briefed morning, noon and night, and we'll set up a web cam for you to watch hearings from home so you can be there without being there essentially. Your votes will still count. But Naruto, you need a break." That would be… nice.

"That would really help you out Naruto." Sasuke urged.

"Can the country really afford to let me do that?"

"Right now, your mental health, and your bond with your new child and family is what you can't afford to let slip through your fingers. You have a good team, they'll pick up the slack."

"What do you say Naruto?" Mom asked.

"I say okay."