Sasuke had kept his eyes closed most of the drive, he regretted it now. If he had paid more attention to their route, he would have been able to ask where they were going. At the time, his hangover had taken precedence, yet now that they were in the hospital's parking lot, he had a few questions but he went with the more obvious, "why are we here?" Sasuke asked while gesturing weakly at the hospital.

Fugaku didn't even spare him a glance as he reached for the keys in the ignition, "we are getting you tested for STD's." His father's response was calm, no hint of shame or embarrassment.

Gods, Sasuke thought, I must still be drunk. "What?"

"You are going to be checked for STDs, sexually transmitted diseases." Again, a calm tone, how could his father be so calm while he was dying of a hangover on the outside, and of embarrassment on the inside?

"I know what STDs are."

"Then why the confusion? I could not have been clearer on my intentions." Noticing his father was reaching to exit the car, Sasuke reached for him.

"I am not doing that." This morning Sasuke had woken up with the knowledge that his father knew about his pathetic broken heart, the worst hangover of his life, and a cold shower since the hot water had refused to work. This, this was where he drew the line at a bad day, no matter how childish it made him out to be he added, "and you can't make me." Sasuke made to make himself as comfortable as possible in his seat, a few minutes of silence ensued in which both seemed to be at an impasse. Knowing he would never be able to out stubborn his father, "guess I am walking home," he announced as he reached for the door. However, before Sasuke could pull the handle, his father locked the door. Sasuke made to unlock the door, when again his father locked the door."This is childish."

Fugaku laughed without humor, "this is childish? Your behavior for the past year has been what? Of a man of maturity?" Sasuke looked at his father expecting anger in his gaze and finding pity. This only served to heighten Sasuke's anger but before getting the chance to respond, his father continued speaking, "for the past year I have witnessed how you have been destroying yourself. I've watched your mother stay up late with worry, had to keep her from going out and looking for you at three in the morning." Sasuke felt the flames of his anger go out at his words. "Your mother and I have also been lucky enough to see some of the girls you bring home. None have made a double appearance. So, you will be tested, or I will cut you off and we will see how many drunken one night stands you can support by yourself."

Realization struck Sasuke like a bolt of lightning, "wait," part of Sasuke could not believe the words that were about to come out of his mouth, and he almost laughed at the absurdity of his situation. "Do you think I'm some kind of slut?"

For the first time that day his father looked embarrassed and stumped for words. Sasuke felt like an idiot, of course his parents thought he was a slut, or whore, he was not sure there was much of a difference under the circumstances. Sasuke could not even get himself to enjoy his father's father was clearly struggling to find the right words, "no, of course not. I would never slut shame you, or anyone. There is nothing wrong with enjoying sex. Sex is fun, and you are a healthy young man. Of course, you have needs, there is nothing to be ashamed of." Oh gods, thought Sasuke, he is rambling. "In fact, your mother and I have sex multiple times a week, sometimes multiple times a day. I am not as young as I used to be, but just last week-"

"Stop. Just stop." Relief washed over his father at the interruption. Sasuke now understood why his mother had been the one to give him the talk and not his father. Once he had believed it to be evidence of his father's favoritism towards Itachi. Now he was certain that it just meant his talk with Itachi had gone horribly wrong. Sex was clearly not a subject his father felt comfortable talking about. Sasuke desperately needed to have this conversation come to an end, so for the second time in less than twelve hours he confessed to his father. "I've never had sex." He could have slapped his father across the face and shocked him less. "Sakura and I never, we were determined to wait." Until marriage, Sasuke's mind supplied, and by the way his father's eyes softened in his direction his father filled in the blank too.

"What about the girls you have brought home?"

"They are girls who go to bars alone and end up drinking too much. I bring them home to make sure they are safe, they sleep on the bed, I sleep on the floor."

"This is not some ploy to get out of the test?"

Sasuke was quiet for a moment considering his options, his hangover officially the last of his concerns. The first choice was to go in to the doctor's office and get tested for every known STD known to men with his father in the room. Because Sasuke knew his father would be in the room, there was no way around that. His second choice was to simply refuse to take the test, and be financially cut off, and in a matter of weeks probably get kicked out his parents' home. Or the third choice, which was the one he had started on when he confessed to being a virgin.

His father already knew more details about his relationship with Sakura than his best friend, and Sasuke was so tired of being the villain, the one to break her heart in the eyes of everyone. "I do go out and get drunk, and I'm not always sure how I make it home. " Sasuke hated how pitiful he sounded, "I love her, and I can't just," have sex with strangers. Sasuke wasn't sure of many things about life, but he knew one thing for certain, she had marked him, as stupid and foolish as it sounded. He wanted his father to understand because someone had to, Sakura meant the world to him, and he hated how everyone just assumed he ended the relationship.

His father didn't say anything, only turned on the car, and pulled out the parking spot. Sasuke didn't mind though. It was the first time he had allowed himself to say those words out loud. Yes, he still loved Sakura Haruno. He had allowed everyone to believe it was him that ended the relationship because Sakura had always been so patient, and kind with him. Who else but him could have ruined that relationship? It was he that did something wrong. He had always felt unworthy of her affections, and now he knew he was. So maybe he did end the relationship, just not in the way everyone assumed.

So, every night out he replayed all their arguments, all their fights every time he made her cry. Trying figure out which time did it, which was the final straw? And he would drown himself in alcohol trying to figure it out,or trying to forget it all, he was not sure what his goal was.

There was silence for the next ten minutes, until his father spoke, eyes never leaving the road, "your mother once broke up with me."

It seemed like such a ridiculous lie to him that he couldn't help but call him out on it, "I find that hard to believe." The love between his parents was subtle, but strong, it was woven so intricately that he couldn't imagine anything keeping them apart.

Fugaku ignored his words, and continued, "she ended it abruptly, no reason given. I tried to figure what I did wrong. I would stay up late thinking about it, going over every detail in our relationship, looking for the trigger, anything I did wrong." His father laughed then, not a loud laugh, but one full of joy nonetheless, Sasuke could not find the humor in the situation. It was exactly what happened to him, dumped without reason, "then one day I ran into her. Completely by chance so I asked her why, you know what she told me?"

"No," though Sasuke wondered how his father expected him to answer the question.

"She told me how she thought she was pregnant and panicked, explaining how she did not feel ready to be a parent and was scared I wasn't either." Fugaku's hold on the steering wheel as he added, "you see, a lot of of our relationship was very physical at the time"

"How horny are you two?" The words fell out of his mouth before he had a chance to consider them, he apologized immediately.

His father's face was red, still his voice was stern he continued with his story. "Not that it is any of your business, but your mother and I had an extremely passionate romance, we couldn't keep our hands to ourselves." Yes, the gods hate me, thought Sasuke. "Anyway, I told her I was ready to commit when she was, I took her to a jewelry store that same day to pick out a ring. I told her to wear it when she was ready."

"Is that why she says she proposed?" His mother took pride in that, but she had always been vague only ever saying, "I picked out my ring, put it on my finger and your father never said no." He never knew it was technically his father that proposed.

His father shrugged his shoulders, "I did leave it up to her. My point is not that we ended up married. My point is that before she ended things with me I had no idea how deeply my feelings went. I had no interest in marriage beforehand."

"Is this not the opposite of my problem?" For a moment he questioned if his father actually knew what happened.

"Well yes," Fugaku was quick to agree, it was not usually him to have emotional talks with his kids. However, he took comfort in knowing Sasuke was attentive to his words, "but you may find that breaking up is what you needed."

"It's what she needed."

"She is seeking her happiness. Is that not what you want? Regardless of where she is, don't you want a smile on her face?"

Sasuke was quiet for a minute, his father was right, he did wish nothing but happiness for Sakura. However, knowing that did nothing to diminish his truth, "I wanted her happiness to be with me."

"You are still young, and so is she. Your paths will cross once more. Naruto will make sure of it, and when that happens, it's up to you what she will see." Make her regret it, Fugaku wanted to say, show her what she missed out on. "If you are confident in your feelings remaining steadfast, then do not burn the bridge."

"Speaking from experience?" Sasuke half-joked.

"Yes." It surprised Sasuke to discover the seriousness in his father answer, but he was grateful for the honesty.

A/N: this was originally longer, but I decided to shorten it for reasons... anyway Fugaku might seem out of character but there is a reason, he is really doing his best to step up and be there for Sasuke. He knows that if Mikoto doesn't know it's because Sasuke does not want her to know, so he is the one who is going to do the job of putting Sasuke back together. However, he is realizing his son isn't broken, just his heart is. Fugaku wants Sasuke to know he can relate to him, he is opening up to encourage Sasuke too, so this is him opening up to him.

I've been wanting to update recovery for ages since I knew what I wanted to write, I just couldn't figure out the minor detail.

Like I said Recovery is about Fugaku helping Sasuke, and the eventual reunion between Sasuke and Sakura... eventually the reason for the break up will be clear, but it wouldn't be for awhile