Hinata couldn't take it anymore. She had to go to the kitchen.

Gaara awoke, rubbing his eyes. "Where are you going."

"I'm having terrible cravings. I'm going to go down to the kitchen to make something." She explained, putting a house robe on. "Go back to sleep." She told him.

He didn't look sure.

"I'll bring it right back here." She promised.

She dug through the cabinets, sighing. If she could just find something. She didn't even know what it was that she was craving, but it was unbearable.

"Ow..." She mumbled, putting a hand on her stomach. Great, now she was having cramps on top of the cravings. This baby was just trying to make her miserable. "I'm getting something." She mumbled at it.

She sighed. She took a step toward the other cabinet, but with a sudden rush of pain, her hand slammed down on the counter.

She let out a muffled screech.

That was not a cramp.

Another sharp pain, and she let out a yelp and kneeled to the floor. She tried activating her eyes, but the next sharp pain kept her from activating it. She fell fully to her knees, holding a hand to her abdomen. "Help!" She yelled. "Help me!" She called. She panted but heard no one coming. Patrols inside the lower building were always sparse at night.

She panted and focused down on her hands, balling them into fists, trying to fight the pain. Her eye caught her ring. She quickly yanked it off and slammed it down on the ground as hard as she could, hoping it would wake Gaara.

She felt tears run down her face as her hand shook as she slammed the ring down again and again until it moved. She sighed, leaning against the cabinet. It worked.

The door to the kitchen slammed open a few moments later, sand burst through.

"Hinata." His voice came out panicked and deep.

"I'm down here." She gasped as another sharp pain hit.

He rounded the counter faster than she could see. Resting a hand on her back. "Don't move me." She barked as she felt him try to lift her.

He quickly removed his hands. "I..."

"I need my medic. I'm having contractions. We need to stop them." She screeched as another came. He looked at her blankly, overwhelmed. "Gaara. NOW!" She yelled at him.

He looked taken back, but he nodded, disappearing only to reappear. "I sent for your medic." He kneeled to her cautiously. "I thought you said contractions were supposed to happen."

"Not like this! Not this early!" She snapped. She winced as he flinched. "I'm sorry, it's not you... I'm in a lot of pain."

He swallowed, reaching out to her. She snagged his hand, shakily squeezed it. He opened his mouth like he was going to ask a question but quickly closed it. Good, he could ask about it after she averted early labor.

The door slammed open again, and her medic rushed through the door in her nightgown to her side. "Alright, tell me everything that's happening, and we are going to lay you down and hold your knees together, to hold your hips high." Hinata followed instructions while explaining what happened. The medic activated her eyes and moved her hand around her stomach, soothing the muscles and stopping the contractions. Hinata laid her head back as the pain resided.

"Is it okay?" She asked.

"It's okay." The medic sighed, leaning against the cabinet as her adrenalin wore off. "The baby is okay."

Gaara's hand in hers was shaking. "Is she okay?" He asked.

"... She'll be fine..." The medic told him, sighing. "It… happens, we caught it in time."

"And if we didn't." He asked more darkly.

"We did." She reiterated.

"Don't make me repeat myself." He growled.

"I would have gone into labor, Gaara." She told him in a stern voice. "I would have gone into labor too early, and we could have lost the baby because it isn't ready to come out. Is that what you want to hear?" She huffed.

His eyes snapped back down to her looking hurt.

"It isn't her fault, it's not your fault, it's not even my fault. We can't control what's happening. Childbearing can be unpredictable, especially with gifted families." She added.

"She's correct." The medic added. "It could have started in her sleep. Sometimes there is no trigger."

"Would I have lost you?" He asked with a poorly veiled, terrified look.

"We can talk about it later." She told him. "I just want to go to bed."

"Is it too late to get rid of it?" He asked her, closing the door behind the medic.

"Yes." She rubbed her temples. "Gaara, this isn't the conversation I want to have right now. I know this scared you, but now is not the time to be debating if..."

"I think it is exactly the time!" He barked back at her. "I can't lose you to that thing!" He pointed a finger at her stomach. "It's trying to kill you!"

She stared at him for a moment with her mouth opened, unsure of what to say. She closed her mouth and pressed her lips together, feeling her eyes water.

"You thought I could raise it if it killed you, but now I know I can't." He shrank into himself. "How could I care for your killer." She felt the sand whipping around the room as he started breaking down.

"You seem so sure I'm going to die." She pointed out.

He swallowed the veins, his face swelling as his anger built. "It's actively hurting you!"

"Gaara, you seem to think this is malicious. It can't even think yet." She told him calmly. "It is not doing it on purpose."

"I don't care! If it kills you, it's still your murderer!" He barked.

Her anger flared. "DON'T YOU DARE CALL IT THAT!" She stood staring him in the eye as the sand stopped, and he stopped breathing. His eyes brimmed with tears. It occurred to her that this may not be the first time he thought of this. "That's what you're afraid of, isn't it? Losing me and turning into your father all at the same time? Not being able to love it as your father did to you?"

He didn't have words. The sands retracted from its swirling retreating back where it came from.

"Gaara. I don't plan on dying." She whispered as she stepped toward him. "But if I do, you will NEVER think of our child as my murderer, is that clear?" She demanded. "If I die, it's because I gave it my life, not because it took it. I am choosing to carry it. Do you understand?"

He looked away.

"Gaara." She snapped.

"How can I?" He asked. "I lose you and have to care for the thing that caused your death. How can I do that? I killed my mother. I was never forgiven. How do you expect me to do what my father couldn't?"

"You are not your father." She whispered, getting up and crossing the room. "Gaara, you were told you were a monster all your life, and you started to believe it because it was all you ever heard. Why would you turn around and do that to your child?" She took a breath and added. "To my child." She paused. "I don't think you have it in you to do that."

He looked down at her as she stood in front of him. His tears fell. "I don't want to lose you."

"Gaara, I'm not planning to die." She pulled him down to rest his head on her shoulder. "But if I do, you promise me, you will never, ever think of your child like that." She demanded. "I want you to promise that."

He stayed silent for longer than she would have liked. His red-rimmed eyes came to meet her solemnly. "I promise."