A Tough Life

Final Chapter

The (unexpected) surprises of Life

4 years later

This chapter also has a pm lemon if you chose to read it. It is by far better than the first mostly because I made the first one awkward and short on purpose. You guys know the score, you want a lemon PM me or even easier pm me your emails so I can send you the whole chapter, it's easier for me that way, especially since that chapter is about twice as long as this one.

"You're kidding me." Nia asked in shock, she never expected this, not in a million years, not so soon.

"No Nia-san I'm not, you're definitely-

"But I can't be! I've been taking these every day at nine in the morning! I've never missed one! Or been late, never! You have to be wrong, there's no chance." The nurse gave her a weird look as Nia held the pack of pills out to her.

"A blood test is almost always accurate, very rarely are they ever wrong."

"Well its wrong now! I can't be…there's no way I could ever be-

"It says here…" The nurse said cutting Nia off. "That you were given antibiotics after a wound you received on a mission. Antibiotics can cancel out the effects of birth control pills." Nia looked at her wide eyed, how had she ever forgotten that?

"Oh Kami…So I'm…" She swallowed thickly, her throat suddenly very dry. "I'm really…"

"Pregnant, yes you are. If you'd like we can do an ultrasound to be completely positive."

"Please." She said quickly, her hands against her stomach. The nurse brought her to a different room with the ultrasound machine and Nia hopped on the table and lifted her shirt waiting for the nurse to continue. After getting everything set up and the machine up and running blue gel was squirted on her stomach just below her bellybutton and immediately the loud whooshing sound could be heard from the machine making Nia jump.

"That would be your heartbeat." The nurse said simply as she maneuvered the wand across her womb until another sound could be heard, one much faster but with the same rhythm.

"And that would be your baby's heartbeat." The nurse said. "Congratulations, its official Nia-san, you're pregnant that indeed is a baby in there. I'll write you a prescription for prenatal vitamins and you can go on your way." After handing her the prescription and a list of do's and don'ts, both of which Nia quickly stowed in her pocket, the brunette hurried home a nervous mess. What was she going to do? How was she going to handle having a baby? What would Gaara say? GAARA!

'Oh Kami I've got to tell Gaara….' Nia stood in front of the long mirror hanging on the back of their bedroom door looking at her reflection.

"I have something important to tell you…ok that's a good start…ummm…You're gonna be a dad surprise." Nia said weakly to the reflection. 'He'd have a damn heart attack that wouldn't work!' "Ummm…We're having a baby…maybe…uhh…I'm pregnant." The brunette said flatly finally letting it sink in rubbing her hand where their child was growing inside her. "I'm pregnant…We're having a baby because I'm pregnant." She couldn't help the tears that fell from her eyes. Nia was scared to death, a life, a mixture of she and Gaara was growing inside of her, it was her no…their child…it was their child and the poor thing was a complete accident. What if he didn't want it? Did she want it? It was unexpected sure, but Nia knew she could never ever get rid of her child even if he didn't want it, it was going to be her baby…their baby, she was having their baby.

The brunette practiced for hours in front of the mirror and finally after having built up her courage made her way to the Kazekage's tower, Gaara wasn't due home for another seven hours or so and she couldn't wait that long. Nia made her way to the office and knocked on the door entering.

"Gaara I have to tell you something." The red head looked up hearing the tone in his wife's voice she seemed worried, more so than usual with the particularly heavy workload from the hospital she had been dealing with recently.

"What's wrong?" he asked standing to greet the brunette who kissed him.

"I think you'll want to sit down for this…" Gaara looked at her weirdly before complying with her request sitting in the chair in front of the desk and facing Nia. She took several slow breaths feeling like she was on the verge of throwing up.

"Are you ok Nia? Maybe you should sit." He said standing to offer her the seat immediately Nia shook her head.

"Gaara, please sit back down before I freak out and then end up not telling you. This is really important." The nineteen year old said to her husband nervously.

"Then tell me love." He said giving her his undivided attention.

"I'm…I…" Nia fumbled for her words. 'Why was it so easy to practice saying it at home?' she thought nervously.

"You're…?" Now he was getting nervous, was she ok? Was she sick? Did she have to go somewhere?

"I'm pregnant." She blurted out. Nia watched as his green eyes widened in shock as he simply stared at her, the brunette could feel her heart beating through her chest as she waited nervously for a response.

"P-pregnant?" Did he just say that word out loud? Did she just say that word out loud! ? She couldn't have said that word out loud.

"Pregnant." She confirmed in a weak whisper watching his reaction nervously he looked to be in utter shock as he looked up at her helplessly from his seated position.

"You're on the pill."

"It didn't work." Nia said in a quiet whisper shaking her head.

"But-but that's it's job, it's job is to work! It's supposed to work!" Gaara said in a panicked voice, and watching as his wife flinched and took a step back. Gaara went silent holding his head in his hands as he took a deep breath, finally he looked up once again after calming down. "So….so you're…you're having a baby?" He sounded more frightened than she felt and immediately hearing this Nia took a step forward and knelt in front of him cupping his face in her hands.

"No Gaara, we're having a baby, half of this is yours you know." Nia said softly still nervous.

"A baby…?" he asked wanting to be completely sure of what he was hearing.

"Yes."

"Ours?" Now she kind of wanted to flick his forehead…she resisted. 'What kind of question is that?'

"Whose else would it be Gaara? It's yours, mine, and it's ours, we're having a baby. Now tell me your thoughts on this because I'm scared to death."

"I'm terrified, you're positive?" he asked running his hand through his unruly hair.

"I went to the doctors today, I'm three and a half months along, and after two urine samples, a blood test, and an ultrasound, they've determined that I'm definitely pregnant and that it's definitely a baby." Nia said softly watching as Gaara stood.

"Ok….we can do this…hell I alone am running an entire ninja village, how tough can a baby be?"

'Is Gaara trying to reassure himself? Or me?' Nia thought curiously.

"You'd be surprised, running a village and raising a family at twenty one? Good luck." Shukaku said simply.

'You are NOT helping this situation!'

"Who said I was trying to help? It's about time you two got down to making me grandchildren anyways."

"Ok, we can do this, we're two smart practical adults…Naruto hasn't killed his son yet so that's proof enough that we can manage this if he's a competent father."

"Gaara! You can't say things like that!" Nia said weakly watching the red head pace around slapping his pockets as his mind worked at crazy speeds.

"We have to get fake married. A huge public wedding or everyone will think our kids born out of wedlock, people are real sticklers about that here." He said quickly. "What is it?"

"Huh?"

"The baby what is it? Male? Female? what?" Nia simply stared at her husband.

"It's neither right now…how much do you know about fetal development?"

"What? How can it be neither?" Nia shook her head.

"That happens later on, by like the 6th or 7th month we'll definitely know what the baby is. But right now it could be either a boy or a girl it doesn't start off as one or another, the more important organs come first, like the heart and nervous system. It already has a heart beat you know." Hearing this Gaara blinked.

"What?"

"The baby, it has a heartbeat. I heard it." Gaara swallowed this piece of information as he went quiet for a moment.

"We'll need to buy things, baby things, books, diapers, clothes, that thing they sleep in? What's it called?"

"A crib?" Nia offered.

"No the other thing."

"A cradle, bassinet?"

"I'm sure it's the first one…When do we tell people about this?"

"Maybe after I start showing? So we know that were going to have a baby." Nia said simply, hearing this Gaara looked at her in confusion.

"You just said you were having a baby now you aren't sure? Do you…not want it?" He sounded so disappointed and it made Nia's heart break.

"I absolutely want our baby Gaara, but sometimes things happen and people can lose the baby before it's born, it's called a miscarriage. Sometimes it happens from accidents-

"I'll keep you safe then."

"Gaara sometimes if there's something developmentally wrong with the baby it can just happen, sometimes there's nothing wrong with the baby and it just happens. Pregnancy as easy as it sounds is a very tricky thing. There're miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, still births, premature births. All these things either affect the baby, the mother or both in sometimes very negative ways."

"Could you explain them to me?" Nia sat down.

"Well I told you about miscarriages, Ectopic pregnancies are when the fertilized egg develops not in the uterus which is to hold the developing baby but in the fallopian tube which leads to the uterus. If the baby grows there and the pregnant woman doesn't know it could kill her."

"Our baby's not there right?"

"No the doctor would have told me, we would have seen it on the ultra sound. Still births are when the baby makes it to the gestational mark but it passes away before it's born. That can happen due to trauma from the pregnancy, a rough birth or something like the umbilical cord wrapping around its neck cutting off the oxygen."

"That won't happen…will it?"

"I don't know, it could or we could have a perfect baby that's healthy. Or we could have a premature baby, that's when the baby is delivered early, sometimes by weeks, sometimes by months, if it's born a week or two early it's usually no big deal, but if it's born months early the baby can be very sick."

"I was born premature because they implanted Shukaku into me." Gaara said softly.

"But you're alive and well and I love you." Nia said softly laying her head on his shoulder.

"I love you too…and I love our baby too." Gaara said softly, hearing this Nia smiled.

"I too love our baby."

O0o0o0

A week passed and an announcement was made declaring the marriage of the Kazekage, and his soon to be wife from Konoha. Invitations were sent and another week later the wedding was held and after a boringly long and traditional desert ceremonial wedding the pair said their vows and sealed the promise with a kiss. They were more relieved to move on to the reception, which was in a much cooler location, the poor brunette was melting in her over the top dress. They mingled, talked with their 'important' guests like the higher lords and relatives of the wind Dyamo and finally found the time to actually appreciate their friends and family after getting the formalities out of the way. Nia and Gaara had found Naruto, Hinata and their four month old son Minato. Nia smiled and after asking the Hyuga mother held the child smiling sweetly at him, his resemblance to Hinata was astounding, the blue black hair color, the lavender color of his eyes, and even the pale tone of his skin. All of it was from Hinata. The one thing it seemed he inherited from his father was his wild hair.

Gaara smiled watching his wife hold Naruto's son the sight warmed him, he knew she'd be a great mother when their baby was born. He couldn't help but wonder about his skills in dealing with children, he was never around something so small and defenseless. Gaara blinked out of his thoughts when he realized that Nia, Hinata and Naruto were staring at him.

"I apologize, what did you say?" Nia looked down before glancing up at him through her long dark lashes.

"I asked if you wanted to hold him before I gave little Minato-kun back to his mother." Gaara blinked once, twice, three times before slowly nodding. Seeing this Nia beamed but looked at him curiously as he held his arms out as if he were expecting a package. Hinata laughed.

"Naruto did the same thing, don't worry, I'll help you." The bluenette said positioning his arms so he'd hold the baby properly. "Your elbow will support his head, and your arm will support the rest of his body." Once the Kazekage had his arms held right, Nia gently placed the infant in his arms watching as he held the baby carefully.

"He's a beautiful child, congratulations both of you, though I am sorry to hear about your father Hinata." Gaara said softly.

"Thank you very much both for your compliment and your condolences, but it's quite alright. My father got to see his first grandchild before he passed so I could not ask for more than that, he passed peacefully and with a smile on his face." Hinata said softly before quickly changing the subject. The couples talked about quite a bit and the whole time Nia kept sneaking glances at Gaara as he held the baby, Finally Hinata forced Gaara to relinquish his hold of the infant, he'd refused not wanting to wake him, and after sharing smiles hugs and handshakes the pairs went their separate ways.

"Will our baby be that small?" Gaara asked quietly into the brunette's ear.

"It'll be smaller than that. Their baby had four months of growing outside of Hinata's womb, he's not a newborn, our baby will be half that size, maybe around seven or eight pounds or so." Nia replied back just as softly.

"No human is that small."

"When their born they are." Nia said simply. The wedding lasted well into the night and finally the 'newly' married couple made it home, the red head carrying the brunette through the door and into their home. Nia had trouble undressing, for this dress unlike her first more simple gown was large and corseted tied tightly in the back.

Gaara came to the rescue releasing her from the confines of her silken prison, kissing her neck as he did so. The brunette leaned into the kisses pressing her back into his chest as she tilted her head to catch his eye while smiling at him. Nia slowly removed the dress watching with a smirk the red head's response to her body, every time he'd gaze at her as if she were the most beautiful thing on earth, and she loved it. The dress was laid on the back of a chair, and her hair which had been pinned in a loose but elegant knot was released from the hair sticks and it flowed down her back in silken chocolate waves. The brunette turned to face him.

"Gimmie a minute and I'll be right back." She said walking to the bathroom as Gaara removed his formal clothing and dressed himself in pajama pants and a t shirt. When she returned Nia was wearing a light green silk night gown and paused at the door watching her husband dress.

"That one's new." Gaara said softly walking from where he had been and paused, standing in front of the brunette.

"Yeah, I got it the other day, it reminded me of you, it's almost the same color as your eyes, plus I like green." She said with a soft smile wrapping her arms around his neck as Gaara pulled her closer.

"Today was tiring." Gaara mused watching as Nia smirked.

"You think? I know I'm tired."

"Well if you're tired…" The red head said quickly scooping Nia into his arms as she giggled holding tightly to him as he carried her to the bed and climbed in. "I'll carry you." He said softly kissing her and placing her gently down onto the bed making her smile.

"Just because I'm tired doesn't mean I can't walk Gaara."

"I know, but it's not like that would ever stop me from lifting you up when you need it." Gaara said, his hand which was resting on her waist moved to just below her belly. "And you…I'll give you the world Little One, I'll do everything I can to keep you safe because believe it or not I already love you…What do you think he'll look like?"

"He?" Nia asked in confusion.

"We have to call the baby something, we can't just keep calling him it." He said in a matter of fact voice.

"Well it could be a she you know." Nia said softly with a smile as he rubbed her belly.

"A girl…" he said quietly as if testing out the sound of it before smiling. "She'll be beautiful like you."

"I'd love it if she had either your eyes or hair…or both, mine are so ordinary."

"She can have my hair, but she'll need your eyes, I love your eyes."

"And if it's a boy?"

"I'd imagine he'd have your hair, like Naruto and Hinata's son, though I do like the idea of little me's running around so I'd like it if he had my hair, if he didn't Kankuro would corrupt him…"

"How should we tell them? Your family and mine…I mean, the baby's just so unexpected as it is, and we're young, how are we going to deal with this? With the council, with everything?" Gaara pulled the worrying brunette close.

"We'll do everything to the best of our ability…we may not be perfect parents and we may make mistakes…but this child will be loved, and that's all every child needs isn't it?"

"You're right, you're so right." The brunette said with a smile wrapping her arms around Gaara's neck and holding him tightly to her. After a while Gaara made to move but Nia stopped him. "Just let me hold you." Nia cradled his head kissing him. That was all she wanted, just to hold him against her to never let go. She brushed her fingers through his soft red hair until she finally noticed how his breathing had evened out, he'd fallen asleep or was very close to it. Nia was fine with this, she loved him, she loved the child they had created together even though it was no larger than a plum right now, she loved their life, her life, his life. It was a tough life and it was hard to live but it was worth it. They'd found each other, they'd found friendship, and companionship, they'd found love. They were soul mates, two parts of the same coin and destined to be together, he'd saved her life as many times as she'd saved his, they'd die for each other. They had a tough life, now it was time to look towards the future, it would be trying filled with trials and hard times, difficulties and dangers, and even death, but together they could and would get through everything. With a smile Nia kissed Gaara's forehead right on the Kanji as she closed her eyes.

"I love you Gaara."

"I love you too." He murmured softly.

Together, their hearts beating in unison they fell asleep in each other's arms.

~~~The End~~~

Well tadaa, that's the end of the story, at least till the epilogue next week, like the other chapter, the lemony version is available via pm, the last one was short and awkward on purpose because they were first starting out learning about each other, this one I think is a much better lemon because they now have a good 4 years of experience under their belts to learn likes dislikes and etc. hope you enjoyed my story and don't forget about the joint sequel which will be published the same day as the epilogue. It's based on the future, Gaara and Nia's kid, Naruto and Hinata's children and a few others it'll be called Dangerous Lives, it's M rated and such. Laters guys! (3