Naruto clutched his belly and cried out in pain. It was too early, the baby had only been in his belly thirty-seven weeks.

"Neji," he said, eyes wide with fear. "Something's wrong."

"Byakugan!" Neji focused on the child inside Naruto and feared he was right. He could see that the flow of chakra from Naruto to the baby was compromised, which meant that blood flow and therefore oxygen would be compromised too. He'd read about placental abruption in one of the books he'd borrowed from Sakura, and it was a serious, potentially fatal condition for the baby. They needed to get to the hospital right now or they could lose him.

Neji laid a hand on Naruto's chest and sent a wave of chakra into him, enough to sustain the jutsu without too much effort on Naruto's part until this was done.

"Come on, darling," he said, scooping Naruto up.

"What is it?" Naruto worried.

"There's a slight problem, so I'll take you to Sakura. She'll know what to do."

"Tell me what's wrong."

"Listen, you need to stay calm and focus on maintaining the jutsu. Right now, that and trusting me are the best things you can do for our son."

"Okay," Naruto agreed, wide-eyed but willing.

Neji raced to the hospital as fast as he could. He demanded a room and Sakura, and within a minute had both.

"Neji, what's wrong?" Sakura asked. He leaned in and whispered to her what he'd seen.

"Right," she nodded, taking it in stride. "Okay, Naruto, I think it's probably time for your son to be born."

"What? No way. It's too early."

"He'll be fine," Sakura assured, hooking up some monitors and quickly preparing for an ultrasound. "He's fully developed. He'll just be a little smaller than we first thought."

Sakura stopped talking as she focused on the scan.

"You're right, Neji. Are you ready, Naruto? This is it. You're about to meet your son."

She summoned Lady Katsuyu and requested that she ask Lady Tsunade to attend.

"Neji?" Naruto said, voice trembling. It was rare to see him so nervous, but it was very understandable. Neji was nervous too, every step they were taking was on untrodden ground, but he pushed it aside, knowing he had to be strong for Naruto and their son now. He took Naruto's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"It's alright, you can do this. We're all here to help you."

Tsunade arrived quickly and Sakura explained the situation.

"Should we induce him or perform a C-section?" Sakura asked.

"Naruto has to make sure he holds the jutsu until after the delivery, I think an epidural is risky with that in mind."

"A natural birth then?"

"Yes," Tsunade decided after a moment's thought. Sakura started preparing immediately. "The placenta isn't fully detached, but we need to be ready to switch to a caesarean immediately if necessary."

"Got it," Sakura nodded.

"Okay," Tsunade said, giving Naruto a rare smile. "Time to deliver your child. You can do this, Naruto. Ever since the day I met you I knew you'd do extraordinary things, and you haven't proved me wrong yet. We're going to induce labour, that means you'll feel contractions. We'll monitor you and I'll tell you exactly what you need to do and when. Think you can follow orders for once in your life?"

Naruto nodded.

Sakura drew up the shot.

"What can I do?" Neji checked.

"You talk to Naruto, help him with chakra if he needs it. Don't worry you two, we've got this."

Sakura gave Naruto the injection, and then they waited. It was tense, and Naruto squeezed Neji's hand tight.

"You can do this," Neji assured. "You're the strongest person in the world." That wasn't just a figure of speech.

Neji felt completely helpless throughout the delivery. He just had to trust in Tsunade and Sakura, and support Naruto however he could, but ultimately he was a bystander. He'd known the birth wouldn't be easy, but he'd thought it would be exciting, being on the cusp of meeting their child. As it was, it was difficult and nerve-wracking, a test of endurance, both physically and mentally.

Naruto was tough though, and he handled it like everything else, with courage and determination.

With one final push, Tsunade told them their son was here. They couldn't celebrate though, too much was happening. Naruto was bleeding heavily, while Sakura and Tsunade needed to focus on the baby. There was no need for Naruto to endanger himself any further so Neji pressed his hands together.

"Release," he said, and Naruto became himself again. With the transformation his body healed completely and the danger passed. Naruto tried to get up, but he was absolutely exhausted.

"You need to rest," Neji told him.

"No," Naruto argued. "I need to see my baby."

Sakura had her back to them, working on the baby with Tsunade, but there was no crying.

"Is he alright?" Naruto asked worriedly, trying to get up again. Knowing he wouldn't take no for an answer, Neji helped him.

"Here," he said, slipping an arm around his partner, helping him stand. They both reached the girls in time to hear the baby begin to cry, it was a tiny sound that filled them both with joy. And when Sakura offered them a look at the boy, both Neji and Naruto had no words. He was so small, but so beautiful, and he was theirs. Naruto had done it. Neji was so full of gratitude and admiration. He turned his head and pressed his lips into Naruto's short, spiky hair.

"You're amazing," he offered, tightening his grip on the man he loved.

"Oh," Naruto said with delighted gasp. "Neji, look. He has your eyes."

And when Neji looked down there they were, two little lilac eyes looking up at him.

"He's perfect," Neji appreciated.

"He's also very small and hungry," Sakura added. She was right.

"The jutsu," Naruto realised. "I should have held it. I didn't feed him."

"Naruto," Sakura smiled. "You've done more than anyone ever thought possible. I've been working on a formula just in case, he'll be fine. Your milk wouldn't have come in yet anyway."

Tears of gratitude filled Naruto's eyes.

"Sakura..."

"Thank you," Neji told her.

"Back to bed, Naruto," Tsunade ordered. "Once we get the baby cleaned and fed, we'll bring you something too. Your body has been pushed to it's limits."

"That's true," Naruto admitted, which proved just how tired he really was. Neji supported Naruto's weight and helped him back to bed.

"Well done, darling," Neji said, pressing his lips to Naruto's hand. Naruto gave him a mischievous smile.

"You know that was the easy part, right? Now we've got to raise him."

Now that the reality had hit, it did make Neji a little nervous, he'd lost his father when he was four and Naruto had never had parents, but he knew that together they could do anything.

"We might get the little things wrong, but we'll get the big ones right."

"Yeah..." Naruto agreed with a smile. It had been nearly a year since Neji had seen Naruto's true form. It was nice to have him back.

"I've missed this face," he said, touching Naruto's cheek.

"And I've missed other body parts."

"Yes," Neji agreed, allowing himself a smile. "Me too." He leaned in and caught Naruto's mouth in a deep kiss, finally feeling physical desire for him once again.

They were interrupted when Tsunade cleared her throat.

"Get a room you two," Sakura said.

"Oh, we have several we plan to make use of very soon."

"Neji!" Naruto laughed. "You can't say things like that around our kid."

"Who wants to hold him first?" Sakura offered.

Neji thought it should be Naruto, but Sakura decided for them.

"Here," she said, laying the tiny bundle in his arms. "Hold him while I check on Naruto. Make sure you support his head, there you go…"

He looked down at that tiny face, this tiny, helpless person who was going to rely on them for everything. And in that moment it was real, completely, irreversibly and amazingly real. This is my son. I'm a father now.