you all are going to HATE me when you see how i ended this chapter...
hate me, but PLEASE don't kill me...i'm almost done with this story. i'd like to finish it before i die.
:-P

thanks AGAIN for the awesome, amazing, kick-ass reviews everyone!
i only see one more chapter after this one though...that's so sad! now what am i going to do when i'm bored?!

:-)

The few weeks before the actual due date, I was on edge.

I knew that any day Sakura could go into labor, and Tsunade wasn't due to arrive for another week and a half yet…
If Sakura went into labor, then Tsunade would not be around to help her, and she would surely die.

Every night I refused to sleep, I would not sleep until everything was behind me; and I watched over Sakura's sleeping form making sure that she was alright.
I would whisper to the baby as she slept and begged our child to wait until Tsunade arrived.

I never thought it would happen, but I found myself relating to Yashumaru and the feelings that he harbored towards me; because if this child took the life of Sakura, I don't know if I would ever be able to love or forgive it…
I hated myself for these feelings, and I would pace in our room in order to erase them.
I kept telling myself that Sakura loves this child and that she would gladly lay down her life in order for the child to live, just like I would…but I would also lay down my life so that they could both live.

I begged the gods of the desert to take my life if a sacrifice was needed in order for this child to be born.
I prayed that every night over Sakura as she slept.
I would place my hand on her now very pregnant belly and would feel as our child moved around within her as I begged it to be gentle during its birth.

Each day went on for eternity.

Each passing hour was one hour closer until Tsunade arrived..

All of Suna was buzzing with the prospect of our child.
They had received the news of Sakura's pregnancy shortly after the wedding, and a large celebration was held once again by the villagers.
They were all excited and eagerly awaited the arrival of their next possible Kazekage.

The night before Tsunade was to arrive, the lack of sleep finally caught up with me…or rather, Sakura noticing my lack of sleep had caught up with me.
She ordered me into our room and wouldn't let me come out until I slept.

Knowing full well how badly her hormones were raging, I decided to go quietly and not argue about it…I saw what she had done to Kankuro when he mentioned that she had to wear paternity clothes…and I didn't feel like being in a broken heap on the floor.

As soon as I got into bed, all of the stress and nervousness caught up with me in a sudden wave of exhaustion, and I soon fell asleep.

When I rolled over, I found that it was night already and that Sakura was sleeping soundly next to me.
I wrapped one of my arms around her, which no longer reached all the way around due to her stomach, and went back to sleep.

I woke up cold.

I reached out for the blankets, but found that they had all fallen onto the floor.
Groaning, I reached over Sakura's side to grab them, but she wasn't there…feeling her spot, I found it cold as well, which meant that she had been gone for a while.
One thing her side did have was a cold, wet spot.

Confused, I got out of bed in search of my wife.

I heard small noises coming from the bathroom down the hall and went to investigate. When I opened the door a crack, I found Sakura bracing herself against the sink shaking and covered with sweat.

"Sakura what's wrong?" I asked as I swung the door fully open.

She turned and looked at me with a panicked expression, "My water broke!" she said and I stared at her in panic.

My stomach dropped to the floor and bile rose to the back of my throat.
No… I thought to myself not yet…Tsunade's not here yet!

I ran to our room and grabbed a blanket off of the floor and returned to the bathroom and wrapped Sakura in it.
Picking her up bridal style, I sat her on the couch in the living room, instructing her to stay there, and then I rushed to Temari's room banging on her door loudly.

My sister swung her bedroom door open suddenly, her hair was a knotted mess on top of her head.

"What?!" she whined tiredly, I could tell that she was extremely pissed off that I had woken her up.

"Sakura's in labor." I said, slightly out of breath.

Temari's face went from annoyed to excited as she squealed at me.

I pushed her back into the room and shut the door behind us. "There's a problem…" I said.

I had to tell someone about our child.
I had planned on only telling Tsunade, but since she wasn't here, I trusted Temari to keep the secret instead.

"What's wrong?" Temari said, trying to get passed me to go to Sakura, but I kept pushing her back.

"Gaara! What is your problem!?"

"The baby has a part of Shukaku in it. Sakura's life is in danger…"

Temari stopped all movement and stared at me.

"Does she know about this?"

I shook my head 'no', "I didn't want to tell her, there was no reason to get her upset about it."

"So that's why you wanted Tsunade to come…" she reflected to herself.

"I need your help." I said.

"Anything."

"I need you to rush to Leaf and get Tsunade, you can get there and back the quickest by using your wind techniques. I would go, but I don't want to leave Sakura alone. Tell Tsunade about the problem and get her here as soon as you can."

Temari nodded, understanding my position completely. She grabbed her fan, not even bothering to change out of her pajamas and jumped out of the window.
In seconds, she was a speck on the moon.

Satisfied with my decision, I rushed back out into the hallway only to bump into Kankuro.

"Oi Gaara! Sakura is in labor in the living room!"

"Baka, I know!" I said as I pushed him out of the way. "Go to the hospital and get some medics and bring them here."

Kankuro nodded and then moved to the front door, rushing out down the street.

I returned to Sakura's side and found her pale and in pain.

"Something's wrong!" she said as she grabbed at her stomach and groaned.

I went into the kitchen and got her a glass of water and a damp rag so that she could wipe her forehead with it.

Returning to her I asked, "What do you want me to do?"

She ignored the water and the rag and said, "Help me up, maybe if I move around it won't be so bad."

Supporting both of her arms I gently helped her stand up.
Her legs collapsed under her and I caught her as she fell.

She moaned in pain once again and I witnessed as the color that was left in her skin drained away completely until her skin was lucent in the dark room.

I looked at the couch and saw a large puddle of blood where she had been sitting.

No… I thought and I felt Sakura lose consciousness and fall completely into me.

The medics that I had sent Kankuro to get rushed in and saw me supporting Sakura's now unconscious body.

Rushing towards me they grabbed her and did a few quick tests on her.

"Something wrong." one of them said to everyone in the room.

"We need to get her to the hospital…" another one said and looked at me.

I nodded at them, panic plaguing my body and mind," Do anything that needs to be done! Just make sure that she's okay…"

They all nodded and picked her up, rushing her out of the house and to the hospital.

I wanted to rush after them, but my body was frozen.
I stared at the blood on the couch and floor and I hated myself for every drop that had been spilt.

This is all my fault…I thought. If she dies, I will never forgive myself.

"GAARA!" Kankuro yelled, breaking me away from my thoughts.
He was standing at the door, holding it open and waiting for me.
"Let's go!" he said impatiently.

I nodded and rushed out the door and headed to the hospital.

They wouldn't let me in the room with her.

Her screams echoed down the hallways and I covered my ears as I held my head.
Ever since I can remember, people's screams used to be comforting to me.
They were what I lived…use to live for.
But every scream that Sakura made was pure hell to me and I wanted nothing more to be deaf at that moment.

I squeezed my eyes shut and restrained myself from rocking back and forth in the chair that I was sitting in.

Kankuro just stared wide-eyed at the doors that lead to the room that Sakura was in…suddenly he spoke, breaking the silence between us, "This…this is the nightmare I used to have when I was little…this…this is exactly how it was like when mom was having you…"

I squeezed my eyes tighter together and I dug my nails into my scalp.

Hurry up Temari! I screamed in my head as another piercing, agonizing scream erupted from Sakura.

A doctor emerged from the room, his white robes covered in blood.

"I need a blood donor." He informed us.

I stood up immediately, "I'm the same blood type as she is."

"Quickly, come with me." he said as he motioned down the hall. He lead me to a small room and set things up quickly.

Grabbing my arm roughly, he hurriedly jabbed the needle into my vein and I watched as my blood drained down a short tube and into a large bag.

When the bag was full, the man removed the needle, grabbed the bag and rushed out of the room.

I didn't want to move.
I couldn't move.
Sakura was dying…I could feel it.

Her screams were getting worse, but at the same time, they were becoming weaker…

My eyes became very wet all of a sudden, and I tried to blink the wetness away.
As I did so, small wet droplets spilt out of them and hit the hospital table that I was sitting on.

Bringing my hands up to my face, I caught a droplet and stared at it curiously…I was crying.

I clenched my hand over my heart and collapsed in on myself.
I sobbed quietly and my body shook with grief.

Minutes passed, and I was no longer crying.
I was just sitting there staring at nothing…

I couldn't move.
I couldn't think.
I just sat there, and listened as Sakura screamed.

And screamed…

And screamed…

Running footsteps broke me out of my hell, and I ran out of the room and into the hallway to see who it was.

Temari and Tsunade were running towards me, Tsunade had a worried expression on her face.

"Where is she?!" she asked.

I pointed to the room as another scream came out of it.

Tsunade rushed in there and left Temari and I standing in the hallway.
Temari pulled me into a hug and squeezed tightly.

"I got here as soon as I could…" she said.

I just stood there, retreating inside of myself once again.

Temari pulled away and stared at me for a few seconds.
"Come on Gaara, let's go sit down" she said as she moved me to where Kankuro was still sitting, only now he was hugging his knees on the chair.

I sat down, and Temari sat down next to me.
She rubbed my back and whispered reassuring things into my ear, but I didn't hear or feel any of it.
I just wanted Sakura to stop screaming.
I wanted our baby to be healthy and normal.
And I wanted Sakura to survive this…

Suddenly, Sakura let out the loudest scream that we had heard yet, and then everything was silent.

Too silent.

I stared at the doors, waiting for something…ANYTHING to happen.

The doors slowly opened, and Tsunade stepped into the waiting room.
She was wiping her forehead and she was also covered in blood.

"Gaara, come here." she said, motioning to me.

I stood up and dread overwhelmed every cell in my body…

I didn't hear Sakura anymore.

And I didn't hear a baby crying…

I forced myself to keep moving forward.
I didn't want to enter into the room where Sakura was because I was afraid of what would greet me…but I put one foot in front of the other, and eventually entered the area that she was in.

My eyes widened at the scene before me.

The room had been cleaned up, so the brightness of the white room caused me to squint slightly.
Sakura was sleeping soundly as her heart monitor repeatedly beeped strongly in the quiet room.
Tsunade walked into the room ahead of me and picked something up. Walking over to me once again, she motioned for me to hold out my hands and set a small warm bundle into them.

I looked into the blankets and saw that there was a baby wrapped in them.

"Congratulations Gaara…it's a boy."

I stared astonished at the wriggling baby in my arms. "But he didn't…there wasn't any…"

"Crying?" Tsunade finished for me.

I nodded at her.

"Here, support his head more." she instructed me.
I did as I was told and the baby immediately stopped fussing so much.

"He didn't cry. He just came out and opened his eyes and glared at everyone…it reminded me of your glaring habit. But there's nothing wrong with him…he's absolutely perfect."

I looked over at Sakura, "Is she…"

"She's fine now." Tsunade said, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "We almost lost her there, but she pulled through like a champ. She's just resting now, she shouldn't be sleeping long. I'll leave you two alone."

And with that she walked out of the room and left me in the room with a sleeping Sakura and our child.

I walked over to Sakura and watched her sleep silently thanking the gods that she was alive.

Sitting down in the chair next to the bed, I unwrapped the blankets slightly and stared at my son.

He stared right back at me with calculating eyes that were sea green with a yellow ring around the pupil.
The yellow was no doubt from Shukaku.

The small hairs on his head were red, and I smirked at this.

"Hopefully you don't take after me too much…" I mused quietly to him.

There was a soft knock on the door and Temari and Kankuro poked their heads in.

They opened up the door fully when they saw me and openly stared in shock at the sight in front of them…I can only imagine what they were thinking; and I'm sure if I saw myself in the mirror I wouldn't have believed it either.

"I was expecting to see an emotionally ruined little brother…" Kankuro said, amazement still in his voice as he looked down at me.

"Is that…?" Temari asked as she pointed to the bundle of blankets in my arms.

"Is this your nephew? Yes, it is."

Temari squealed and held out her arms, in which I placed my son.

Kankuro looked over her shoulder and smiled at the baby.

"He just like his dad…" he mused, "he's glaring daggers at me already."

I just smiled at the two of them, this was without a doubt the happiest moments in my life…

A low grumble came from Sakura as she started to wake up.
I stood up and walked over to her, leaving Temari and Kankuro with the baby.

"Gaara…?" she said groggily. I sat down on the bed and smiled at her.

"The baby…! Where is it?! Is everything okay?!" she said getting worried and looking around for the baby.

I pointed behind me at my siblings and said, "He's fine. He's beautiful and healthy, just like you said."

"He?" she asked as her eyes welled up with tears.

I nodded at her and wiped a tear away. "You had us scared there…" I said as I remembered the tears that I had shed earlier.

She smiled and said, "Well, I have to keep you on your toes. Otherwise life is just too boring."

I smiled at her and shook my head.

Temari walked over and handed our son to Sakura.

"Here's your mommy…" she said and I watched as Sakura looked at our son for the first time.

Tears rolled down her face as she smiled down at him, "He looks just like his father."

"And will hopefully take after his mother." I added.

"Come on Kankuro, let's leave them alone." Temari said as she grabbed the back of Kankuro's shirt.

"But…" he started but was already out the door before he got another word out.

Sakura smiled at them and then smiled at me.

I leaned in and gave her a kiss, and then gave our son one as well.

"See? You're already being a good father…" she said.

I turned my head away from her to hide the slight blush that was starting.

"Have you thought of any names?" she asked me, changing the subject.

I nodded at her and said, "How about the name…"

A/N:
here's where we play a fun little game called: "Name Gaara's Baby!".

seriously folks... what should i name the kid?! let me know what you guys come up with!

:-)