Hinata chewed on her lip as she signed a clipboard, giving Itachi a glance that told her how pissed she was. She handed it back to the lawyer, who disappeared. Hinata readjusted her bag on her shoulder. Maybe she should just go home now.

"When you didn't come to visit yesterday. I thought you were going to avoid me until I got out." Itachi looked better, but no one looked good in a hospital bed.

"I was working." Hinata excused. "Just about every department is behind schedule except for Marketing."

Itachi grinned. "Sasuke's the only one doing his job?"

Hinata couldn't bring herself to smile at his joke. "I don't think you should bring him up right now."

Itachi's face flattened. "You're going to act like this while I'm in the hospital?"

Hinata tightened her jaw for a moment. "Please don't try to manipulate me. I am not in any mood right now. You got what you wanted. I signed the papers. Don't push it."

Itachi rested his head back. "Are you going to tell on me?"

"Fortunately for you, I am not trying to stir anything else up at the moment. It's your choice. If you don't want to tell your family, that's up to you." Hinata sighed, sitting down. She was tired. She didn't want to argue about this. Itachi knew how she felt about it.

A new smile spread across Itachi's face. "You've come a long way."

Hinata didn't want to see pride on his face right now. "I'm not feeling very accomplished at the moment."

"I'm just thinking about how spooked you were your first week with us." Itachi reminisced.

"Your father was trying to kill me." Not all that different from what Fugaku was unintentionally doing now. At least he wasn't intentionally overworking her anymore.

"He almost did." Itachi chuckles. "You're lucky you didn't fall down a bigger set of stairs." Back to Sasuke. Hinata's eyebrows knit together. "What?"

Hinata huffed, changing the subject. "Your mother's moving into the manor temporarily. Do you think you can keep her away from your father while he's home? She's been bugging him to take his pills."

"Have you talked to him?" Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't had time." One more full work day, and she should have Sunday off. Then she could talk to Fugaku on Monday. By then, they should both know what they wanted to say, but that also meant that Fugaku would stubbornly think that ever he had to say was right.

"Sasuke took this better than you have." Sasuke was over the whole situation, ready to let it go, but it was digging a hole in her. This family was chipping her away. If she kept forgiving it all, would she get as used to it as they all had? She didn't want that.

"You're lucky he knew." Hinata snapped back. "You're lucky this all worked out for you." Hinata waved her hand at the door. "How long do you plan to do this to him? Until you finally push him away?"

Itachi silently folded his hand together. Hinata hoped she finally hit a cord with him, but she doubted it. He wasn't going to change.

"I'm going home," Hinata announced. "Feel better."

Fugaku peered into Sasuke's room as he packed up his things. He was only home for a few months before he was on his way back out. To be completely fair, he could blame himself for this. "Hinata didn't come to help you?"

Sasuke peered over his shoulder to acknowledge him. "She's at the office."

"It's Saturday." At least, Fugaku thought it was. It had been such a long time since he took more than one day off.

Sasuke shrugged. "She wanted to finish something before you got back Monday. Apparently, everyone is behind except Marketing, so I think she's cracking the whip."

Fugaku sighed. "How is she?"

Sasuke sighed. "Bad." He stopped packing to sit on the bed. "I think she's working herself to death because she doesn't want to think about it."

Fugaku could understand that. That's how he got through his divorce. That's how he got through most of his marriage. Did he really want Hinata to turn into him? Ugh. That brought up something else he didn't want to think about right now. "But you're taking care of her?"

"What she will let me." Sasuke nodded. "I can't monitor her at work, but when mom isn't interfering, I at least make sure she's eating. I think Hanabi wants to have a family dinner tomorrow, but that's going to be a mess because she doesn't know about Neji and Lee yet."

The chauffeur and the loud assistant? ... Whatever "And you?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "If I had a meltdown every time you guys did something like this, I probably would have run away when I was eight." Smart ass.

"I think you were more upset about the engagement." Fugaku countered.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Worked out in my favor."

Hinata pressed her hands to her forehead. "No. That's…. I'm going to scream."

Lee was not nearly as frustrated. He frowned thoughtfully at the schedule. "What if… no…"

Kisame grumbled at his notes. "If we make this release smaller?"

"That one's already been ordered," Hinata whined, lowering her face to the table and scrunching her eyes closed.

"Sounds like I brought coffee at the right time." Sasuke held up cups leaning against the conference door.

Hinata sighed, sitting up. "Thank you." She accepted a cup and sipped it. It didn't make the numbers work, but at least it would soothe her nerves.

"Lee, Hinata said you don't drink coffee." Sasuke put a brightly colored something in front of Lee that he gladly took. "And whatever the hell this is." Kisame took his drink with a look. "How bad is it?"

"Itachi can't stay the head of his department missing as much as he has." Hinata whimpered.

"Hey, I'm trying." Kisame countered.

"It's not your fault." Hinata sighed. "I just think we need a more permanent solution, but having him step down after such a public announcement of his condition is not going to make the media any quieter."

Sasuke leaned over their mess of papers and notes. "Over my head. I'm a Marketing major."

Hinata was worried about that too. With Itachi's health not getting better and Sasuke being unqualified… if something happened to Fugaku, who was going to take over? Eventually, Sasuke could learn through the fire, but that had not guaranteed to go well. "We cut this one." Hinata pushed a stack away. "Make the next release small, so we have the resources to make the holiday release bigger."

Kisame made a face. "I would clear that with the director."

"I will, but we need at least one workable plan before I bring him anything. At the moment, we have nothing that works. If we scrap the dead weight, we have more resources to deal with the more profitable releases." Hinata reasoned. "It will still be tight, but I think having one less project is better than having a handful of rushed projects."

Sasuke leaned on her chair and shrugged. "That's between you and dad."

"Let's make it work with the assumption we can drop it." Hinata sat up straight, sipping her drink.

Hinata dropped her keys with Sasuke short behind. As much as she appreciated him staying, she felt bad now as she realized he had put anything away. The living room had a stack of boxes. He must have only meant to come in to bring the coffee before returning to finish unpacking.

Sasuke head to the kitchen and opened the fridge for a drink. "You want anything."

Hinata sighed. "A break."

Sasuke brought her a bottle. "Fresh out."

Hinata huffed. Sasuke made her heart hurt. Since the engagement, since that night, he fell into a role as a diligent fiancé, and she took advantage of it, but their relationship was just as much window dressing as it was originally meant to be.

Hinata followed him to bed most nights just so she could feel like she could actually rest. If she answered her phone in the middle of the night or stayed up all night planning, she would keep him up, forcing her to stop for the day. He started ordering food, shifting her to not cook. He filled in the gaps, so she didn't fail.

Sasuke acted like they were a couple, even in front of his family, stealing the passing kiss and teasing her, but when they were alone, he was just there. Supportive, understanding.

And she was too tired right now to even think about talking about it.

Hinata really wanted this to work. She felt loved by him. She wanted him to feel the same, but right now, she was spending so much of her time trying to make sure the company wheels kept turning, and his family didn't implode.

Hinata passed the drink and circled her arms around his ribs. His hand full, he could only hold on to her with his arms, but it was what she needed. She was being selfish, asking for more after she was just scolding herself for how much she took from him, but she was too tired.

"Hey?" Sasuke asked. "How about we cancel dinner tomorrow and stay."

Hinata shifted her and put her chin on his chest to look up at him. "I can't."

"Sure you can." Sasuke offered. "What's one more week?" Hinata whimpered. "We can spend the whole day on the couch. We can start tonight."

Hinata smiled at his effort. "Tempting."

"You worked six days this week, visited the hospital, and coordinated meals. Just take the day off." Sasuke lowered his face to hers. "You can help me unpack."

"Maybe you should move into my room." Hinata's eyes slide to the box. "So I stop having to go back to my room to change."

A smile spread across Sasuke's face. "You're going to use me as a pillow every night?"

"Does it bother you?" Hinata wondered.

Sasuke shook his head. "You droll, it's cute."

Hinata giggled. "Do I?"

"Just a little," Sasuke admitted. "I'll move diner?"

Hinata was tempted by the idea. "We shouldn't."

"I don't run my life on shoulds." Sasuke counted. "I'm canceling it either way. You might as well agree."

Hinata let out a small snort. "What kind of choice is that?"

"One you don't have." Sasuke pulled one of his arms from around her to hand her the drink. "Go shower."

Hinata took the drink and sighed obediently.