Ah, God. It's been so long. Nearly two months, and I feel absolutely terrible about it.

I have literally started at least three chapters, but I have not been satisfied with my writing at all recently.

I guess this could be for a guest, Ladybug, who once asked for a ShikaTema family fic without Maria in it. It doesn't have Asuma, but please enjoy this fluff.

A long wail cut through the night, forcing Shikamaru from what he vaguely thought had been a rather pleasant dream. He forced himself to sit up, scrubbing his face roughly as the cries continued, and he glanced to his side just in time to see Temari pulling the covers over her head in protest as she rolled on to her side. She garbled something that sounded like a no, and clearly able to see that his wife wouldn't be moving from her comfort, he groaned and shoved himself out of the bed, yawning and pulling a hand through his hair as he shuffled out of the room and down the hall.

"Hey now," He croaked as he went through the open doorway where the cries were coming from. "Stop this. It's three in the morning, and people want to sleep."

He shuffled across the floor to the crib, Kyoko's screams growing louder as she sensed the presence of someone near to hear her. Looking down at her and her flailing limbs and her scrunched up face, red from her fury, Shikamaru could only shake his head and lift her up, cradling her close to her chest.

He walked to the kitchen with another yawn as her cries lost their volume and force, fading off to just pitiful whimpers, and he winced at the feeling of his bare feet on the frigid tiles. After warming her milk and giving her the bottle he leaned back against the cabinets, his head thumping against the wood, and dozed lightly as he listened to the sounds of the baby's grunts as she fed.

The bottle ran empty and her eyelids drooped to where only a small sliver of black was visible beneath her lashes, and after burping her he went back to her nursery to change her and place her back into her crib, already able to feel the warmth of his bed since his tasks had been successfully done. But all dreams of such kind were shattered when, after placing the already half-asleep baby into the crib, she woke all the way up with a wail once he had stepped away.

He walked her. He rocked her. He talked, and he wasn't proud of it but he might have also begged a little. And each time she fell back to sleep, but awoke crying after he had placed her back into her crib and had stepped away.

"Come on," He groaned as he placed his hand on her back, "You're acting ridiculous."

To his wonder she stopped screaming after a few minutes of weary rubbing, and that's when everything clicked in his head.

"You're lonely." He sighed, sitting down on the floor beside the crib and sticking his arm through the bars to rub her back. "I guess I just have to stay here then, don't I?" He would take her to his and Temari's bed but his wife got upset when he did that, claiming the baby was too small and that one of them might roll over on to her during the night if they weren't careful. He really didn't want to deal with the headache of listening to that whole speech in the morning, so he'd stay on the floor instead.

In his mind it was an acceptable alternative, so he leaned his head back against the wall and allowed his eyes to close.

He was going to have an awfully painful backache in the morning.

Waking up, he found that he had been right about the backache.

Opening his gritty eyes he found himself faced with Temari, who was kneeling beside him in her robe and holding two mugs of what smelled like coffee, eyes filled with warmth.

With a groan that was nearly a whimper he tried to sit up and reach for one of the drinks, but the pain that coursed through him told him that, for the moment, he was stuck where he was. But Temari, seeing his plight, held the mug out for him so that he wouldn't have to move too much.

Sometimes, such as in that moment, he was incredibly pleased that he had married her.

"So," She said quietly, sipping from her mug, "How was your night?"

Shikamaru groaned at the first taste of the bitter drink. Temari always made coffee too strong, but it always woke him up without fail.

"Neck hurts." He grunts, "Back hurts. She wouldn't go to sleep without me with her so I stayed, but I didn't get any good sleep."

She nodded and took another sip from her cup, turning to look between the bars of the crib for a few moments and he watched as her face softened, a small smile playing at her lips.

Grunting at the pain that coursed through his neck, he turned his head to look with her, feeling a smile form entirely against his will as he took in the sight of his baby, gripping his pinkie finger as she slept, his hand apparently having fallen from her back while he had slept.

"We did good." Temari mused as they watched her together, and after a few moments of appreciative silence she sat beside him, leaning slightly into him as they drank their coffee together and waited for their morning to start.

Tada! I've had this in my head for so long.

A hello to my new babies yazaru116, quadman222, and I LoVe TeNtEn. Hello darlings.

Whats up with me, you're not asking yourself? Well, let me tell you:

-I got a dolphin pillow pet, whom I named Pauletta.

-I am now taking Sociology, introduction to business, algebra for college students, Anthropology, and Geology hazards for my classes.

-There was a miscommunication, so I may be losing $5000 from my scholarships. (Please, read your scholarship information thoroughly and talk to your financial aid office, before and even after talking to your advisor. There is often not an exchange of information between offices, which leads to wrong information being given by advisors in many cases. ALWAYS confirm your information. This has been a PSA)

-I got arts and craftsy for Valentines day, which led to glitter everywhere. On my desk, on my floor, no my boots. Everywhere.

-I watched Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyoji), and God, oh dear God, this is a beautiful show. What I look for in anything I watch or read is for it to make me feel emotions, to make me invested, and this is the most emotionally invested I've been in anything in my recent memory. I was in tears the first episode, and I had to force myself away from my laptop so I'd be able to sleep. (But I did finish in three days, which only took so long because of classes, sleep, and the fact that I started at 12:00 at night the first night.

I adore this show.

-I also watched Free!, which is a very easy watch, and made me laugh.

-I want to take up knitting.

-11 regenerated, and it was so sad and beautiful (definitely the best regeneration from the three), and then I forced my friend to watch it and laughed at her pain and tears (actually shed tears)

I am so tired, and it is so cold (we've had to walk to class in negative degree weather), but I just really wanted to update this for you.

Happy Valentines day, my darlings. Kisses and hugs, and lots of love.