Episode 5

Sasuke paid the guy at the door and turned around to her, handing her the boxes. "Now we are going to sit on the couch and eat this pizza like we are college kids again."

Hinata looked at the couch and looked confused, but she took it to the coffee table anyway.

Sasuke grabbed some sodas and headed after her. "What do you like to watch?" He asked, turning on the tv. He didn't use it much unless he felt the need to watch a movie, but she hadn't turned it on once. She only ever looked at her phone or laptop.

"Uhm, I only ever watch what..." Naruto was watching.

He flipped through the screens opening a movie and show app. "Do you like Sci-Fi or Fantasy?" She shrugged. "Do you like Lord of the Rings?" He asked as he flipped past it.

"I read the books in high school." She mumbled.

"You haven't seen the movies?" He asked.

"No, Naruto likes reality tv and sports, and father never allowed fantasy or violent movies in the house." She explained, opening one of the boxes and serving him a piece of pizza.

"So you've never seen the Die Hard or Fight Club or the Star Wars movies." She shook her head.

"Well, that needs to change." He decided.

———

Hinata didn't talk through movies. That was nice, Naruto did, to the point where he had once gotten thrown out of a theater when they were in high school. She ate her pizza and cinnamon bread, and he made her leave the plates while they finished the first Lord of the Rings movie.

"I thought movie adaptations were meant to be bad..." Hinata mumbled when it was over.

"Most are. I would say the Lord of the Rings movies are good because of how much they kept in." Sasuke explained. "More movies should have just done what these movies did and said, screw the time limit."

"Oh..." She looked at the time, realizing how long the movie had been.

"There are two more and a prequel. We can come back to them tomorrow."

———

Hinata seemed to enjoy watching movies. It took some of the stress off both of their shoulders, sharing the night watching classics after work. She had some time away from the real world's issues, and he didn't feel the need to worry about her for a few hours because she looked genuinely calm.

They settled into the routine when they got home from work. Hinata would cook, and they would eat dinner while watching movies. Sasuke felt that not setting the table helped her get over the need for dinner to be such a stressful activity. Though she still made it by the same time every day, he noticed her anxiety go down when she was late. They had plenty of time to watch their movie and nothing else to do.

She got bigger in the following months, and more gifts came, and the rumors died down as people settled on what they thought happened. She stacked clothes for what month they should be used along the wall. She got a car seat from her sister. Her friends had gotten her bottles, diapers, and a breast pump, which he still didn't want to know about. She had received baby blankets and bears. She only ended up needing to purchase a few odds and ends.

She had to buy some new clothes to account for her growing belly, her normal baggy attire had worked for a while, but the kid was getting big fast. Her work clothes had gone from her suits to dresses with a blazer, lucky her dresses all cut under her chest, leaving plenty of room for her swelling middle but eventually they were going to turn into shirts as her belly grew, so she needed leggings underneath.

"...I don't know what to name it." Hinata looked up from her phone after a few minutes.

He paused from deciding which movie to watch tonight. "Did you have a name before?"

"Naruto had always wanted to be the one to name it." She whispered. "So I never thought about it."

Damn, he was so ingrained in her idea of life it was hard for her to even make decisions without him.

"Well..." How did people name their kids? "What do you like? Flowers, right? People name their kids after flowers."

Hinata looked at him with a tilt of her head. "Maybe."

"My brother's name means weasel." He got a laugh out of her for that.

"I don't think I will name it something like that." She giggled.

"Do you even know the gender?" Her face dropped.

"I have been avoiding it since they have been able to tell..." Hinata mumbled. "I don't know if I want to know."

"What do you want?" He wondered since it was the question people asked.

"A girl." She said too quickly.

Sasuke had been expecting the 'as long as it's healthy' answer.

Hinata blushed, noticing her hasty answer. "Naruto always wanted a son first. He didn't even act like a girl was a possibility. He always said 'he'."

He sucked in a breath and rubbed his forehead. "Do… you need me there?"

She blinked at him and looked down to fiddle with her phone even though the screen was blank. "That… would be nice."

"Right. I'll be there." He decided firmly.

———

"Hinata. Welcome back. Let's get you gelled up." The nurse told her as she climbed onto the table and pulled up her shirt.

Sasuke tried not to make a face at the belly, he hadn't seen it exposed, but the weird goo spread on it was not a good start.

"And who's this?" The nurse wondered, looking at him. He felt there must have been an awkward conversation where Hinata had to say that the father was not in the picture for her to not assume it was him.

"A friend." She answered.

"Good, someone's with you." The nurse commented. "So, how have you been feeling?"

"Heartburn is becoming common." She mumbled.

She hadn't mentioned that to him. "Have you cut out acids, as I said?"

Hinata swallowed. "I don't just cook for me." She glanced at him and then down like she was scolded.

"I told you onions, tomatoes, and green peppers would be the worst." Tomatoes. She was letting herself get sick on his account. The nurse rambled on advice pressing a device to her stomach, it looked like she was pushing hard, but Hinata didn't say anything. "There's the baby." She pulled the screen closer to them.

It didn't look like much to him, just a blob in another blob. Hinata looked scared.

"So, no gender this week?" The nurse broke her thoughts.

"Uhm, no, I want to know this time," Hinata answered quickly. He could see her pulse go up.

"You're sure?" The nurse assured, looking at him. He set his hand on her shoulder as the only support she could think to give. Her hand came up to meet his, and her fingers tightened around it. "Alright, let's see. Just to be sure." She moved the device a few times. "Looks like... we got a little girl."

Hinata let out a huffed breath and closed her eyes. He felt himself receive the biggest jab to the dad. It wasn't what he wanted. He was sure she would have ended up being fine with a boy, but it did seem to make her feel better that it was a girl.

"There, you can name it after flowers," Sasuke told her.

Hinata looked up, offering him a slight smile.