Faith

Hold on, everything's gonna be all right

The hours and days passed by, but there still wasn't a change in Sasuke's state. His wounds seemed as if they were healing, but if they were they were taking forever. I've been here for a little over two weeks now and the more time I spent by his side, the more I began to doubt that he would ever wake up. I try to keep that spark of hope alive, but it's hard when I'm sitting here watching him struggle to take his next breath.

Orochimaru had been convicted thanks to all of the evidence Kakashi collected, not to mention what has happened recently, and he is sentenced to life in prison. Hideo on the other hand will be sent to prison for five to ten years without a chance of parole. That was the only good thing that has occurred lately and I wish Sasuke was awake to hear about it. I've talked to Sasuke in his unconscious state, telling him about everything, about our baby, but who knows if he even heard me. His parent's had been in and out over the duration of his stay here and each time they came I tried to be strong especially for Mikoto who had broke down when she first saw her son lying in the bed.

"Sasuke." I called out to him, breaking the silence in the room. "Please...you have to wake up, you need to survive this."

I glanced over his body as the heart monitor beeped at a steady pace, but still he didn't open his eyes, his leg was elevated since it had been broken after part of that building fell on him. I felt tears brimming my eyes and I reached out to grab his hand to hold it tightly in mine and my heart clenched knowing he couldn't do the same.

"Sasuke, please, I can't raise our baby alone." I choked out. "I'm lost without you."

Who am I kidding...?

"I am weak," I said out loud. "If only I had been stronger, I could have helped you when you were fighting Orochimaru, I hate myself everyday for it."

"Now why would you say that?"

I jumped and turned to the person who had spoken to me. I saw my mother standing there with a sad smile on her lips, I didn't think anyone would come here, but this is my mom and she is always concerned about me.

"Because, I put him in this state."

"Sakura, why are you still blaming yourself?"

"I don't know."

"You're afraid aren't you?"

I nodded.

"I can feel him slipping away mom," I choked out as I placed a hand against Sasuke's cheek as he lay in the hospital bed unmoving.

"He'll be okay sweetheart."

I know she was trying to assure me but Sasuke's condition was only getting worse.

"How?" I turned to her with tears in my eyes. "He's dying and there isn't any way I can save him."

"It's called having faith, if you keep having these negative thoughts than you're just giving up on him."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are." She told me with a serious tone. "You need to believe he'll make it through this."

"I'm trying, I really am."

I stood up as she walked over to me.

"You need to try harder," She told me, "If there's one thing I've learned about Sasuke, he's not someone that will just give up."

I smiled despite the pain in my chest. "Thanks mom." She wrapped her arms around me as I tried not to cry, but I couldn't help but let a few tears fall.

I sat on the steps on my back porch, Zeus sat by my side as Shelly laid by his feet, despite how sad I was feeling, having them here with me made everything alright. Having Shelly and Zeus by my side was like Sasuke was with me, since Zeus was his dog and since he was the one that gave Shelly to me, it made it a little easier to cope with him not being here.

Giving a small sigh I placed my hand on Zeus's head, I scratched his ear, something he seemed to like since he leaned his head into my hand. I smiled when Shelly whined and I leaned down to pet her as well. After all the time that has passed, Shelly has gotten bigger compared to when I first received her and Sasuke was right about her being protective. Whenever I took her for a walk, she would get defensive around me when someone approached me or tried to bother me.

At the moment she is my little guardian angel.

As Sasuke came back to my thoughts, I glanced over at the rubble of his house, the only thing left was ash and debris. I stood and walked over to the remains of his home, Zeus and Shelly followed closely behind me.

The firemen had manged to find somethings from the fire, they had told me there was nothing left, but after they did some digging they found some things that weren't too badly burned, they're in a box up in my room, I didn't have the heart to go through it, but I think now I might have to. I stopped near the rubble of the charred mess and knelt down. I grabbed a piece of black wood but it turned to ash in my hand.

"Sasuke would be pissed if he saw this."

I stood up and headed back home, I guess I would go through the box now, even if I knew it would only make my heart ache. But I couldn't keep running from it anymore, I know Sasuke wouldn't, so why should I. After Zeus and Shelly came inside I shut and locked the door and decided to take a shower before sitting down to go through the box. I pulled some clothes from my closet which was a pair of black sweats and one of Sasuke's t-shirts. He left here before, it was gray and matched the black pants I had picked, so I decided it would work and headed to the bathroom.

Once I turned the water on, I stripped down and stepped into the warm water. It relaxed me and just for a moment all of my worries just fled, but I knew I wouldn't stop worrying until Sasuke was awake and here with me. I placed a hand on my stomach where the bump had grown slightly over the last few weeks, I smiled, so many questions ran through my head. Was it going to be a girl? A boy? Would I make a good mom? I shook my head and washed up to finish my shower.

After I dressed, I headed into my room and grabbed the box and placed it on my bed before I sat down with my legs crossed. I put my hand out to open it and I reached inside to pull a few things out. The first few items were a couple of books, I set those aside and grabbed a smaller box. I opened it and pulled out a couple of pictures of Sasuke and Naruto that had to have been taken a few years ago since Naruto's hair was shorter than it was now. I smiled and set them on my bed and then grabbed a small black box that looked like something a ring came in, it was a little dirty but I dusted it off and opened it.

When I did my heart skipped a beat. It was a ring! But not just any ring.

It was an engagement ring!

Holy shit! My heart began beating a mile a minute as I thought about what it meant.

Every day seemed to pass slower and slower and the lonelier I felt. I feel like its been forever even though its only been a month. That ring that I found a while back was still swarming my head with unanswered questions. I got into my car preparing to go to the hospital when I heard my phone ring. I pulled out of the drive way and headed down the road as I grabbed my cell and answered it only to be met with Naruto's panicked voice.

"Naruto calm down what's wrong?"

"Sasuke's gone!"

"What?" I yelled. "Do you know where he is?"

"No, the nurses and doctors have looked everywhere."

"Well does this mean he's awake and wondered off somewhere." My heart swelled with hope.

"I don't know, that or..." He trailed off and I know what he was implying.

There was the possibility that someone has taken him, oh God I hope not, he's in no condition to defend himself.

"Keep looking, I'm on my way to the hospital right now."

"No stay home Sakura, I don't want you to exhaust yourself."

"Too late, I'm already on my way." I hung up before he had a chance to retort.

I parked my car in the parking lot of the hospital and got out and ran to the door careful not to exert myself too much, especially with my baby. I didn't wait for anyone to sign me in I just ran towards the direction Sasuke's room was in. On my way there I ran in to Naruto, very literally. I fell to the ground as he jumped up and helped me to stand careful not to jerk me up too fast.

"Any sign of him?"

"I've looked, but no I can't find him."

"Damn it!" I felt tears leak out from my eyes, damn mood swings.

"Sakura I'm sorry, why don't you head home? I don't want you worry to much, I'm sure he's fine."

"But I don't want to."

"Sakura please, I'll call as soon as I find him."

I nodded reluctantly and placed a hand on my stomach where I felt the bump. I couldn't help but think negatively of the situation. What if Sasuke isn't here after our baby is born? What if something happened to him that would take him away forever?

I pulled up to my home and got out of my car. I felt out of breath, there's nothing I can do, I wish I talked to Tsunade before I left, but I'm ashamed to say I didn't. I looked towards the remains of Sasuke's house and I saw something. Not just something...someone! It can't be...could it?

I sprinted over and stopped a few yards away from the person and that's when I noticed the crutches they were using to hold themselves steady. The clothes I recognized, it was the same set of clothes that Naruto brought to the hospital for Sasuke to change into when he woke up. A pair of black jeans and a white shirt.

"Sasuke?" I questioned unsure and placed my hands against my mouth.

The male jumped and turned to me and when I saw his bandaged cheek there was no doubt who it was. The cast on his leg prevented the material of his jeans to reach his ankle. He smiled softly at me and I felt unable to speak. There was so much I wanted to say but my voice was lost to me. I couldn't move for the longest time until Sasuke finally spoke up.

"Guess I have to move again." Always the comedian.

I let out a laugh that was mixed with tears and ran to him as he dropped one of the crutches and wrapped his arm around me. My arms wound around his waist and I held him tightly until I felt him flinch and let out a grunt which I assume said he was still in pain.

"I'm sorry," I muttered.

"It's fine, the stab wounds are healing and Tsunade told me I would need to be careful about what I do for the next few months."

"You saw Tsunade before you left?"

"How do you think I got here?" He smirked and looked over to my house.

I saw Tsunade walking towards us with a smile on her face. "Well there you are. I was looking for you."

"Why?"

"Well I was going to surprise you by bringing Sasuke here, but you weren't home." Tsunade shook her head with amusement. "Anyway, I need to get back to the hospital, call if you need anything."

She went to her car and before she got in, she pulled out a bag and came back over to me. "Here are some bandages and antibiotic cream for his wounds, I know you will use your judgment on when to change them." She smiled as I nodded and took the bag from her before she turned to Sasuke. "Come see me in a month and I'll check out your leg." Sasuke nodded as she turned and walked towards her car again

I looked at Sasuke when she drove off, that's when the reality set in, he was really here, it wasn't lying in that hospital room anymore. He was awake and he was alive, I felt my heart start pounding before I dropped the bag Tsunade and given me and hugged him tightly again as a sob escaped my lips. His hand went to my back and rubbed it in a comforting manner when I began to shake.

"Babe it's okay, I'm okay."

"I know, but I can't help it, my moods are out of whack." I pulled away and wiped my eyes.

"And for a good reason." He smirked as he laid a hand against my stomach.

When he looked up I bit my lip before I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. I knew he was taken by surprise especially when he stumbled slightly, but he regained his balance and let his lips caress mine. I missed his kisses, I missed holding him in my arms, hell I missed just having him around. His tongue traced my lip, asking for permission to let him in, which I granted without hesitation. As his tongue battled with mine I felt my heart swell with relief, happiness and more importantly, love.

Pulling back I looked up to meet his eyes, which held something I hadn't seen in a while, in his eyes, I saw the love he had for me. The question that lingered in my mind was what would happen now? What did the future hold for us? And what about that ring I discovered in the box?

But all of those questions didn't seem to matter when he placed his hand against my cheek and gazed at me with a look I hadn't seen in weeks. "I love you Sakura." He rested his forehead against mine and I could feel my tears coming again.

"I love you too." I said as my voice cracked.

"Sakura I love you so much." He looked me straight in the eyes. "Marry me."

"What?" I felt light-headed all of a sudden.

"Will you marry me?"

My mind finally registered what he said and my heart started racing a thousand times faster than it already was. My face heated up with the blush I couldn't hide. I glanced into his eyes looking for the sincerity and I was overwhelmed when I saw it.

"Oh my god, you're serious?" He laughed as I hid my face against his chest to hide the blush.

"I had a ring for you," He admitted, "But now it looks like it was lost in the fire."

"Wait, I have it in my room." I said.

"What?"

"Its silver with three diamonds isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's it, how did you get it?" He asked confused.

"The firefighters managed to find some things in the rubble that survived."

"Well go get it." He urged me. "I'll propose to you the right way."

I nodded and ran towards my home in careful strides, excitement and nervousness settle in but I grabbed the ring and was back to Sasuke before I could let them consume me. He smiled and took the ring from my hand, with some struggling, he managed to get down on his good knee and raised the ring to me. "Sakura Haruno, we've been through so much these last few months, and I can't see my future without you in it, will you marry this former gang member and put up with the attitude that you know he has?"

Placing my hand against my mouth, I nodded as tears escaped my eyes when he slid the ring onto my finger. I knelt down to him and hugged him tightly as I laughed through my tears and glanced at the ring on my finger. I am getting married! Not just to an ordinary guy either, but to the man of my dreams, as cheesy as that sounds, I don't care, I'm happy and overly excited.

It took about a half an hour to call our friends and my parents as well as Sasuke's family to come over to my place for dinner. I had told them I had a couple of surprises waiting for them when they arrived. And now that they were all gathered in my living room I came down the stairs with Sasuke in tow, who had a bit of trouble coming down them with the crutches. When we stopped in the living room, everyone paused before they rushed over to him to hug him or shake his hand.

I knew he was embarrassed by all of the attention he was getting, his face heated up with a blush especially when his mother kissed him on the cheek. I stood back and watched in silence before Naruto walked over to me.

"So he was with Tsunade when he disappeared huh." He said it more as a statement than a question.

"Yeah he was."

"So what were you two up to before you called together this party?"

"Nothing really." I smiled.

"Yeah, and that ring on your finger is just a fashion statement." He grinned when I slugged him in the shoulder.

"Shut up, that's the other surprise that I haven't told anyone yet," I gritted through my teeth.

"Well, let me be your guest." He grinned.

He ran off before I could stop him. "Naruto!"

"Hey guys! Sasuke and Sakura are getting married!"

At that moment, I could have killed him, when my mother looked at me her eyes were looking for confirmation of his statement. I sighed and nodded shyly before I held up my hand to reveal the ring to them. My mother squealed and ran over to me to embrace me tightly, I didn't feel that embarrassed, not when I saw Itachi ruffle his brother's hair and his mother and father hugged him and congratulated him.

"Sakura," Ino smiled and walked over to me, "I knew he was going to ask you." She giggled and hugged me.

"I can't believe it Ino, everything is finally falling into place."

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally sat down to eat dinner, Naruto had made fun of Sasuke, saying that he better treat me right or there would be hell to pay. I giggled when Sasuke grabbed some of the mashed potatoes and shoved it in Naruto's face for that comment, which ended up with them bickering about anything and everything. After their little argument was over I engaged in a conversation with Ino.

It didn't take long for me to look up and see that Sasuke was gone. Worried I excused myself from the table and headed over to Naruto. "Where did Sasuke run off to?"

"He went outside, said he needed some air." Naruto pointed towards the front door and I immediately headed that way as well.

Once I opened and shut the door, I saw Sasuke sitting on the first step of the porch with Zeus by his side. Smiling at how Zeus was lying with his head tucked against Sasuke's thigh, I stepped over and sat on Sasuke's other side. He knew it was me when I first opened the door, he hadn't looked at me yet which I found strange.

"What are you doing out here by yourself?"

"Just needed a few minutes to breath and take in everything that has happened." He reached down to clutch his leg where the cast ended.

"Does it hurt?"

"A little, mostly it feels numb and uncomfortable," He sighed and leaned back on his hands, "My back is what really hurts, but I still have a while before they are completely healed."

"You'll be okay."

"As long as you're there, I know I will be."

Okay, it was a cheesy thing to say, but coming from him, I just found it so cute. I grinned at him and leaned my head against his shoulder when he sat up before I grabbed his hand and held it in mine. I didn't want this moment to end, it was nice to just let everything go and just sit here.

"I'm going to go see Tsunade tomorrow for an ultrasound."

"Hn." Came his reply. "There's nothing wrong is there?"

"No, its just a check up." I couldn't help but smiled at the concern in his voice.

"Good." He sighed and turned to look at me when I leaned away from him and I saw something in his eyes.

"Sasuke...what's wrong?"

I noticed that he hesitated and looked away to stare down at the ground. "I'm...scared."

That took me by surprise, I've never heard him admit it but the way he was hiding his expression only proved his statement. "What are you scared of?"

"Of...being...a parent."

"But you were so happy when you found out you were going to be a dad."

"I am happy, but that doesn't mean I'm not afraid." He shook his head. "What if I do something wrong? What if I'm not a good father? What if-?"

"Sasuke," I called him, "Its okay to be a little scared-"

"A little?" He stood up. "Sakura I'm scared to death, I just...I can't..." He stumbled over his words before he ran a hand through his hair and leaned on his crutches as he turned away from me.

"Sasuke, I know its scary, but when we have this baby, you'll see it will be okay, we grow with our children, we learn as we go." I walked over to him and placed my hands against his cheeks. "Babe, I'm scared too, but together we can do this, you'll see, you're going to be the best father anyone has ever seen."

He nodded and I wrapped my arms around his torso. "Thank you Sakura." He murmured against my hair.

Once everyone left, Sasuke's parents and brother were the only ones that remained. They stayed in the guest bedroom, while Itachi slept on the couch and after they had settled into to sleep, I headed up stairs to see Sasuke drying his hair since he just got out of the shower. He slipped on a pair of black pants and rolled up the material above the cast before sitting down on the bed, I noticed the exposed wounds on his chest and went to grab the medical gauze and cream Tsunade had left with me.

I walked over to Sasuke and set the bag on the bed and proceeded to wrap his shoulder and then his side. "Can you lay on your stomach so I can get access to the wounds on your back?" He nodded and turned to lay down on his stomach, and I knew he was in pain, I would need to get him some water and his pain killers before we went to bed. I smeared some cream on the stab wounds, he flinched when I pressed my hand down on the cuts. "Sorry." Then I continued before grabbing the gauze and wrapping it up.

After I finished he moved to lay down on the bed and I saw that he was having trouble find a comfortable position and that's when I headed downstairs to grab a glass of water and his pain medication from the counter-top. I checked the doors and shut off the lights once Zeus and Shelly followed me up the stairs. They made themselves comfy on the large dog bed I had gotten when Zeus came to stay with me, they actually like it more than my bed.

I nudged Sasuke when I walked over to the side of the bed he was laying on and he looked up at me as I showed him the water and pills. He gave a weary smile and sat up to take the cup from my hand, I opened the bottle and took two of the small white pills out and handed them to him. He downed them in one gulp of water and set the cup on the nightstand. I quickly changed into a pink nightgown and shut the lights off.

Pulling the blanket back I crawled into the bed and snuggled up against Sasuke when he found a comfortable spot, that's when I knew the medication was taking effect. I closed my eyes and felt as sleep took over.

It wasn't until I felt someone shifting when I opened my eyes. Sasuke was withering restlessly in his sleep and I placed my hand on his cheek as he shot up from the bed as sweat glistened on his forehead and his chest. He lifted his hands to his face as he flinched when he realized he sat up too quickly. The pain from his stab wounds had returned and he moved with stiff movements as I got up and walked over to his side of the bed.

"Sasuke are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

He shook his head as I went to turn the light on before he got up and limped his way to the bathroom. He leaned over the sink and turned it on to splash water on his face. I had a feeling he was struggling with something more that just his wounds.

"Babe what's wrong?"

"I...just a had a nightmare," He stated and dried his face off before glancing at me.

"Its okay, it was just a dream."

"It wasn't just a dream, I relived everything from my initiation to the fight with Orochimaru not to long ago," He groaned as he tried to stretch.

"It's over now Sasuke, you can relax," I reassured him.

"I know, but I've spent most of my life watching my back and waiting for Orochimaru to come after me." He paused before he turned to me. "Now that he's been put away, its hard to adjust to that."

I grabbed his arm and pulled him back to bed, he needed some rest. I made him take another pill before I shut off the light and we settled into bed again. I laid on my side as he gathered me in his arms, I was grateful for him being alive, now we could finally get our life on track. We were getting married and we had our child on the way, even though Sasuke and I were scared, we knew that we could handle it, hell if we could survive bullets, fires and collapsing buildings I think we can handle a baby.

But there was an unsettling feeling that I couldn't shake, like something else was about to come around to disrupt the peace that we fought so hard to achieve. With a sigh, I leaned into Sasuke as his soft breathing lulled me to sleep.

Next Chapter: Surprise

"Uh Sasuke, there's something about the baby that you should see." I handed him the sonogram.

He looked over it and when he realized what I meant he looked up at me with shock written on his face.

"Are you serious?"

I nodded.

"Oh shit."

A/N Yes, yes I know I took forever to update this, but, there has been a mention of Sasuke's ex, the one he dated after Suki, I was wondering who would like me to bring her into the story. It would be to further explain what happened between them and why she cheated on him, but its up to you so let me know.

Anyway please read and review. ^_^