Sasuke rubbed his hand on the infant's belly. It could entertain her for hours.

Hinata curled herself on the couch next to him, flipping through the choices of movies. She tilted her head to the side and scrunched her nose as she thought. Something Sasuke found endearing. It was an ugly face, but it was awfully cute that she was making it.

Miki kicked at him to remind him he had stopped rubbing her belly and turned back to her. "I'm sorry I slipped up and didn't give you 100% of my attention, missy."

"Hmm?" Hinata wondered, looking over at him, losing his thinking face.

"Oh, our little princess is just reminding me that she demands full concentration." Sasuke deflected.

Hinata smiled and leaned over toward his lap, and her baby gave her nose a boop. "She does deserve it all."

"Yeah." Sasuke chuckled.

Hinata wasn't sure what had changed. It felt like something had, at first, Hinata dismissed as just Miki arriving but now that they were mostly back to their routine, she was sure it was something else.

It felt like with Miki there, maybe she and Sasuke finally washed away any discomfort of living together. Maybe with the pregnancy hormones leaving, but she was feeling different.

Maybe Miki just made them both happier.

Hinata frowned at her phone. "My office is asking me when I am coming back."

"You're not supposed to go back for a few weeks. They know that." Sasuke scrunched his nose, flicking the suds off his hand from the dishes, leaning back to look at her phone.

Hinata frowned. "I haven't even fully healed from surgery."

Sasuke's face soured. "If they're pressuring you to give up your maternity leave, you should start looking for another job."

Hinata thought about it, she didn't hate her job, but she didn't love it either. Maybe it was time to find a job that was more flexible now.

"You know you can work from home now. We can set you up a desk and everything in the living room." Sasuke went back to the dishes and shrugged. "Or we could move to a bigger place where you can have a home office and a nursery."

Hinata stared at him for a moment. He wanted to keep living together.

Hinata wanted to comment, but she wasn't sure if she should agree or disagree. It was nice not to be alone.

Hinata and Sasuke looked at each, confused. No one ever came to knock on the door, packages were received in the lobby, and the last time someone knocked, well, that had not ended well. They both debated if they should just turn their movie up and ignore it, but Hinata got a text message.

"It's Sakura-can." Hinata held up her phone and a message that read: 'Are you home? I need to talk to you.'

Sasuke paused the movie and picked up Miki on the way to the door. Hinata checked the peephole before she opened it. Sure enough, it was Sakura.

Sakura smiled as the door opened, but it was clear she had been distraught just moments before.

"Oh, is this the baby!?" Sakura asked, lowering her head, making the scrunched-up face most people did when meeting an infant.

Sasuke held Miki's hand up to give a little wave.

Hinata didn't seem as interested in introductions. "Is everything ok, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura's face drooped. "Uh, yeah, can I steal you a way to talk for like half an hour?" Her eyes shifted from Hinata to Sasuke, who told him he was not invited.

Hinata opened her mouth and looked at Miki. "Sasuke, do you think you could handle her for that long?"

Sasuke nodded, giving her a look. "I'm pretty sure you've had baths longer than that." Sasuke had a few fits of panic that he would do something stupid, so he read up on the basics of how not to kill a baby. He made a point to change a few diapers for this exact situation. The last thing he wanted was to be was the dumb bachelor, frantically knocking on the neighbor's door at the first sign of struggle. "We will be fine."

"Let me grab a sweater," Hinata told Sakura.

For the minute she was gone, he would have expected Sakura to say something, but she was avoiding his eyes and fidgeting. What exactly was something that Sakura would need to talk about to all people, Hinata alone?

"Alright." Hinata agreed and leaned over him and tucked her hair behind her ears to give her baby a kiss. "Mummy will be back."

Sakura waved at him only slightly as she left down the hall.

Sasuke grabbed Hinata before she left. "If anything happens, you're not comfortable. If you can't message me, just call me and keep your phone out of sight. I will come to you."

Hinata stared at him, bewildered for a moment before she made the same connection he did. Hinata nodded, and with that was gone, and he was alone with an infant.

Hinata pressed her lips together as Sakura failed to act like she wasn't being eaten alive by whatever she wanted to talk about. Sakura linked her arm around hers at the elbow, like she used to do with Ino in high school. Hinata couldn't say it made her feel more comfortable. If anything, the forced friendliness made her want to go straight home to the safe warmth of Sasuke's apartment and hold her baby.

Sakura pointed out the place, and Hinata looked up and took a picture, and sent it to Sasuke.

When Sakura gave her a look of question, Hinata smiled and lied. "Sasuke-san has me do this in case I like something. We know what the place is called."

Sakura bought it. They ordered coffee and sat in a booth, where Sakura stayed uncharacteristically quiet until they received their order.

Hinata wrapped her hands around her warm cup and wondered if it was a mistake to come out, but despite Sasuke's suspicions, Hinata felt like this was more about Sakura and less about her.

"Naruto was back in town last week." Sakura started.

Hinata let out a breath with the past tense. So he wasn't going to show up.

Sakura rubbed her thumb on her cup. "And I just thought you should know."

Hinata couldn't say she was surprised that he went to see Sakura, but she was certainly surprised that Sakura came to tell her. Naruto always had a thing for Sakura. It wasn't a secret that Hinata was his second choice. Even after they were married, it came up more than once.

"He's been doing this thing." Sakura waved her hand anxiously. "Moving around, seeing sights, and having fun."

Hinata swallowed. Should she be happy that he was happy? Did she have that forgiveness in her? She didn't have it while she was pregnant, but now Miki was here, and he couldn't come to take her away, so could she let it go?

"And he's, uhm." Sakura waved her hand again and deflated. "You know, when you two got married, I was really happy for you, but I also got this feeling of what if."

Hinata felt a hollow clench in her gut, was Sakura asking permission to start a relationship with her ex-husband?

"When he showed up out of the blue. I just sort of thought of you." Sakura admitted looking up at her in the eye for the first time. "And everything you two were and how I wanted that."

What could she say? No, don't? Hinata wasn't sure if it was even fair to warn her. Sakura knew what Naruto was like. She knew what he wanted, maybe better than what his own wife did.

"But you did all that, didn't you? You made him that cute picture book when you guys started dating, and you invited everyone over for Christmas dinner. You're the one who made the house warm." Sakura sounded like she was petering out of steam. "Really, I wanted what you had, but what you had was you. I want a guy who does for me what you did for Naruto."

Hinata unclenched her fists under the table, only to realize she was doing so hard she could feel the indents her nails had made. "In that case, Lee-san seems like a great option."

Sakura looked into her coffee. "Yeah, I was thinking about that. Do you remember when he used to pick me flowers every day before school?"

Hinata nodded. "And at graduation, the biggest bouquet you got was from him."

Sakura's face twitches to a smile. "I wonder if I missed my chance with a guy that really treats me how I wanted the guys I like to treat me."

"You could always call," Hinata suggested.

"Sorry, I am making this about me." Sakura waved her hand. "Naruto didn't want me to tell you he was in town. I just want you to know he… he didn't leave because he didn't love you."

Hinata's stomach plummeted again. What had Naruto told her? "It's alright," Hinata assured her, shaking her head and ignoring the comment. "Miki-chan and I are doing fine. She's healthy and happy, and I'm happy about that."

Sakura bit her lip, taking the hint that she didn't want to talk about it. "Sasuke was there the whole time, wasn't he?" Hinata was surprised she didn't hear malice in her comment.

"He held Miki-chan first." Hinata smiled a little at the thought. "I think it made an impression because I may be her mother, but he is by far her favorite person."

"Never would have thought someone could get Sasuke to hold a baby, let alone love one." Sakura hummed with a small smile on her face. "I am glad it's working out." Sakura finished her drink and paid.

Hinata set her empty cup down and wondered why Sakura had said it like that. Hinata didn't really understand a lot of what Sakura had said.

But she didn't want to know what her ex-husband told her.