Naruto proudly held up his son. "He's two."
Hinata held out her hands to him, expecting the little boy to grab them at most, but the toddler practically leaped across the table at her.
Sakura fixed the toddlers' shirts. "He's excited to meet new people."
Hinata smiled, letting the toddler hug her to his heart's content.
Sasuke sipped his drink, looking out over the restaurant. He wasn't unsupportive, but he was a little sour about this situation. He initially wanted to turn down the invitation.
"I think he's a good fit for you two," Hinata told them.
Sakura sighed with a sad little smile. It was clear she was still coming to terms with this. Hinata didn't think there was something wrong with the adoption, but she did think Sakura had some mending to do. Hinata just hoped that the willing toddler would hug it out of her.
"So when are you two starting," Naruto asked. "If we time them right out, kids can all train together."
Sasuke's face twitched. "We will have kids in our own time."
Sasuke was not interested in keeping close with the two of them. He wasn't happy about this dinner invitation, but Hinata thought it would be rude not to meet their son. Much like her friendship with Kiba, there were some friends you just fell out of contact with. Sometimes it was willingly. This might be the last time they met for dinner with them until Naruto and Sakura brought home their next kid.
"Soon." Hinata smiled, mitigating. "Whenever they come."
As their food came, Hinata passed the toddler back to his new mother. "Since when do you like such spice food?" Sakura wondered.
Sasuke snorted. Hinata turned red.
"It's been a regular thing lately." Sasuke chuckled.
Hinata glared at him.
"I need to get a 'future Hokage shirt.'" Naruto changed the subject without realizing it needed to be changed.
"Don't pressure him so young." Sakura scolded.
"It will be interesting to see what he will be." Hinata mused.
"Whose kid was he," Sasuke asked.
Hinata snapped a glare at him.
"No, no, it's alright, we won't keep it from him." Sakura calmed her. "His mother was a nin. His father wasn't." She brushed his head back. "His mother was a class under us but died in action, and we think that's why he's so clingy." Hinata could see how that could hit close to home for Sakura. "His father died soon after because had a long-term illness that kept him home anyway." She didn't seem to want to reveal why. "And though he does have a living grandmother, she is too ill to take care of him."
"He will certainly get lots of attention." Hinata looked over to Naruto, who was giving the toddler things to eat between bites. He was enthralled with the toddler. It was like they weren't even there. At least there was no question that he was going to be a good father. The kid would never need to wonder if they cared.
"He should be glad he won't grow up to look like you." Sasuke prodded at Naruto.
It took Naruto a moment as he was busy cooing at the child. "Hey."
Sasuke peaked in the nursery, wondering what was new. It was like a game every week. He didn't know if it was torture or not. It did make him want it more but was that a problem? Hinata clearly wanted it too.
This time was a little different. Hinata wasn't leaving. She was washing laundry. She had asked him to pull off the sheets of the small bed so that she could wash the dust off.
He went about the task only to pause as his eyes fell to the bed. The little duckling and his friends had company. A large book with two symbols on the cover, his and her clan symbols.
Sasuke took a breath that hit him hard. He picked up the book, wondering if she was taking this too far. He didn't want her to hurt herself thinking about this, and maybe that was why she wasn't bringing it up. He was about to set it aside, but it seemed too uneven and thick to not have anything in it.
He opened the first page, and it held a picture of them, from their wedding, one her sister insisted on taking. Him looking down at her, the slight playful annoyance on his face as she laughed up at him for his disinterest in it. The picture labeled them a mother and father.
He flipped to the next page that held a laminated card.
'When it's time, your father can read you the story he told me. He doesn't think it's a happy one, but I think a few bumps in the road doesn't take away from the destination. I hold this story close to my heart even if the first half is for me too, just a story. A story I was glad to wake up to. A story I was glad to continue. Thank you for being my new story.'
Sasuke let out a shaky breath as he felt his eye water. He sniffed and wiped his nose quickly.
The next few pages were the story he told her, their story. She had written everything he told her by hand, though she noticed she left out some of the harder times. It was a children's bedtime story after all. He skimmed them feeling his chest burn painfully.
He turned the page, hoping it would be less emotionally driven.
He nearly dropped the book.
"You shouldn't be snooping. It's not done yet." Hinata whispered from behind him.
Sasuke turned to gap at her holding the book with a death grip.
He had no words.
Sasuke held up the page with the ultrasound picture in question.
Hinata smiled and nodded.
The book clattered the bed, and he engulfed her. Sasuke huffed out a few heavy breaths as he put all the signs together, right down to the book being the same size as the one she took to her sisters.
"I thought you'd be surprised, but you seem a little too surprised. I know you have been in here." Hinata giggled.
"I… I thought you were just getting extras from your sister. I didn't think you wanted me to worry." He backed up.
Hinata held her hands up to his face. "Hanabi's son hasn't grown out of infant diapers yet."
Sasuke didn't care now.
Hinata pulled back to lift her sweater with her normal post-nin weight, so it didn't look like she had much of a bump, but as he rested his hands on it, he found it firmer than it should be. "They like spicy food."
Sasuke probably should have put that together. "You have been throwing up."
"Not that you saw." Hinata pointed out. "You're a heavy sleeper now." She reminded him. "The spice has helped you with nausea, but it only lasted a few weeks."
"How long have you known." He asked, trying to search back to other signs.
"A few weeks, I'll be just starting my second trimester next week," Hinata told him. "I wanted you to figure it out, but I guess I had to be more direct."
"You honestly scared me," Sasuke admitted. "I thought you were getting your hopes up. I didn't want you to wait and wait and have your heartbroken."
"I'm sorry." Hinata hugged him.
Sasuke held onto her tightly, hoping this wasn't the moment that he woke up from a dream-like he always feared.
"We have a new story to start," Hinata whispered to him.
That's the last chapter. Sorry it took so long. I hit a wall with the story. It felt like it was coming to an end, but I couldn't finish it. I wrote a few endings, some much longer than this one, and they came out wrong to me. I would open it, re-read it, edit it, and it took a while for the ending to hit right. I like this one.
I have other things I have been writing in the background that I didn't want to post until this story found its ending, so you won't see the end of me.