Sasuke laid eyes on her, sitting at the dining room table with a legal folder in front of her. Hinata was dressed up for court, but her makeup was smudged, and it was clear she had been crying. She was sitting at the table, picking at the edge of the folder with a vacant look at it.

"Didn't it go well?" He asked. He checked his phone, she hadn't messaged him, and he had told the lawyer he got her to message him if anything bad happened.

Hinata didn't look up. She spoke monotone at the folder. "He didn't show up."

Sasuke set down his bag and coat. "What?"

"He was served papers, but he didn't show up. I got a default ruling." She sniffed, wiping her eyes.

That was good, but she didn't seem happy about it.

Hinata took a deep breath and sighed. Folding her hands over the folder. "I guess after years of hearing how much he wanted a family, even after walking out on me, I thought he would at least fight for partial custody. I don't know what I was expecting or why I thought now would be any different."

He sat down beside her and rubbed the back of his head. He wasn't sure what he meant to say in this situation. "Well… at least you didn't have to make a case." He offered.

She opened the folder to the front page, slid it to him. "My lawyer already did that for me."

Sasuke glanced down and thumbed through the paperwork. It listed everything the lawyer had found on him. Where he had been in the last few months from what she could find. No permanent address. He never went to get his things from the old apartment until the landlord threatened to burn everything that was left in there. From what could be found on social media, he had been in several places and done quite a lot of drinking at them from the number of photos of him drinking or at bars.

Sasuke had seen some of it before he blocked him. He didn't want to look at her struggling and him having a good time. It didn't sit right with him.

He rubbed his face. He was really torn on this. He wanted to be angry. He wanted to be pissed that his best friend was capable of just dumping the woman he said was his everything and the family he had always dreamed of, but on the other hand, there was something that told him that Naruto, like usual, had no idea what he was doing.

Like the way, he had walked right into the apartment like nothing happened. He didn't even register that Hinata was uncomfortable or ask her how she was doing. Did Naruto not understand the damage he had caused? Was he really that big of an idiot?

He could be.

The question was, did they let him live in ignorance, or did Sasuke need to beat it into him?

Which was worse? Him being blissfully unaware and Hinata moving on or them both being miserable and maybe making Hinata miserable for longer now that she had to deal with him as well. There was a third option that didn't sit well with him. He could see that he hurt her and wanted her back. Which raised the question if he did come back tomorrow and apologize, promise it was out of his system and he was ready for this family, would she go back to him?

It bothered him that he wasn't sure.

Hinata was in love with him, conformed to him to the point of making herself terrified to make him unhappy, and that had been ripped from her. Sasuke knew she had a hole where he had been, and it was slow to patch. He was sure there were still things about her that he didn't know were because of him.

It would feel empty in his apartment without her.

She slammed her hand down on the table, and he jumped, but that was the end of her fit of anger. Her face scrunched up, and she buried it in her arms to cry.

Sasuke felt the anger wash over him as well. He got up and kneeled to her side of her chair, putting a gentle hand on her back. He couldn't offer her more than being here.


With another series of doctor's visits, she had gotten her wrist cleared as long as she was gentle with it. Her stitches were removed. She had a new sonogram the girls at work were begging for, and she had learned that the baby might be too big for a natural birth.

"Too big?" Hinata asked. She knew that she was much bigger than she expected but too big for a natural birth?

"I estimate nearly eight pounds now, and you still have a few weeks." The doctor nodded. "I think you should consider scheduling a cesarean section."

"You look surprised," Sasuke added.

Hinata nodded. "I don't think any Hyuga has ever been too big for a natural birth." She explained, still sort of dazed. "We're usually dangerously small."

"It must run on the father's side." The doctor excused.

"He does have a big head." Sasuke jokes.

Hinata gave him a frown.

"Now you do have rather healthy, wide hips, so a natural birth may be possible, but if not, we may have to do an emergency cesarean section, which is more dangerous, but it normally goes well." The doctor added.

Hinata puffed out her cheeks. "I'll um…I think I'll schedule a c-section then."

Sasuke looked surprised.

"Alright, let me go get a nurse to get you an appointment close to your due date. If you go into labor early, don't worry. Just tell the doctors taking care of you that you were scheduled for one, okay?" Hinata nodded, and the doctor left the room.

Sasuke turned to her the moment the door latched. "The Hyuga's don't have c-sections. They think it's taboo." Sasuke looked at her, bewildered that she would consider it.

"And it killed my mother." She told him flatly.

He frowned. "I didn't know that."

She frowned. "I was little and didn't even know what it meant at the time, but I overheard the doctors after she died. 'If they hadn't been so stubborn, a c-section could have saved her life.'" She quoted, looking a little sour. "I've been largely disowned for marrying Naruto. If my father has a problem with it, he can come to me and tell me he wants me to die, and then I will still do what is best for my baby."

Sasuke wasn't going to argue with her. "Right. c-section it is."


Hinata made a face at a text on her phone at lunch. 'Why does half of the internet think you should let a baby cry itself to sleep, and the other half think it's child abuse?'

Sasuke was reading mommy blog articles again.

Hinata jokingly told him that this was him 'nesting' and he might be doing it more than her.

Sasuke had the car seat strapped into his car already, ready to take her home.

Then he made her pack her ready bag even though she still had two weeks left.

Hinata thought it was sweet all in all. She was worried about burdening him, though now she was more worried that he was going to burden himself.

He started getting interested in early care, reading articles on his lunch break, texting her questions when he had three different articles telling him three vastly different things. It didn't help that the birthing teacher had her own take on things.

As usual, she had to reply with: 'It's usually personal preference and balancing. If you coddle a child too much, they become dependent on it, too little, and it can affect them negatively.'

'I'm pretty sure this is how my mother screwed me up.' He texted back.

She laughed.

"Hinata." She turned her chair around to see one of her co-workers.

"Since this is your last day before leaving, we were all just wondering if there is anything else you need?" She asked.

Most of her co-workers had made up their minds on her one way or the other, and the ones that were supporting her made a wall to the ones that still thought she was a cheating harpy that deserved a bastard child.

Hinata thought. "I don't think so. With all the diapers and clothes I was given, they should last me the first quite a few months of growth." She explained. "Thank you again for the clothes."

"I'm sorry, their boy's clothes." The woman frowned.

"I'm not worried about it. I don't think she will notice." Hinata waved her hand before resting it on her massive bump. "Oh, and my sister sent this cute bath kit gift basket that was a teddy bear-themed with the most adorable towels with little ears on them, with matching washcloths and a baby brush all sent in a little baby washtub." She added.

The woman smiled for a moment before she pressed her lips together as she got around to what she really came to ask. "Do you need any help finding a place to stay?"

She hadn't really talked much about her living situation at work, it had gotten out that she was living with Sasuke, her ex-husbands best friend, but she hadn't really offered up any information on how that was going. "Actually, I think I'll be alright, staying where I am now. Sasuke has already bought a baby proofing kit for the cabinets he plans to install this weekend."

"Really?" Her co-worker wondered. "My sister had so much trouble dating because men are so uncomfortable to have a child that wasn't theirs around."

Hinata felt like that might have been a sexist generalization. It was a fear that she still had, of course, that Sasuke was going to change his mind and she was going to have to relocate again, but he seemed sure of himself and more supportive than she could have ever hoped. It was like he really had just wanted a roommate.

"Are you sure he's not trying to step in to be the father? Pregnancy hormones can do crazy things to men." She added.

"I'm sure Sasuke is not really one to do things he doesn't want to. He would have complained to me out of his house at this point." She assured her.

"Maybe he is trying to be the father." The woman was infatuated with a look.

"We're just friends." Hinata waved. She could comfortably say that now.

"Sure, sure." The woman toddled off with a giggle.

She turned back to her phone. 'Can we pick up dinner?'

'What happened?' He asked.

'I just got told you are trying to be the father of my baby because 'men don't like babies that aren't theirs.''' She quotes.

"Yikes, I'll pick up. What do you want?' He asked.