When Hinata did finally wake up, Sasuke had never felt so relieved in his life. He hit the little pager button on her bedside remote that the nurse had instructed him to do, squeezing her hand quickly.

"Hinata?" His hand and his voice tugging, needy. "Baby, are you okay?"

Her eyes opened and then squinted under the hospital light. "What?" She closed her eyes again, her brows furrowed. "What's going on?" She tried to open her eyes again, blinking purposefully.

"I ran through the road without a stop sign and I got t-boned by a truck." He sighed, feeling the guilt wash over him. "And you got knocked out. Are you okay? You remember me right?"

Hinata frowned, "Yeah?"

Good. That was good. He had sat through that sad, cheesey, based on a real story, movie of that chick getting in a car wreck and not remembering her husband and going back to live at her parent's house and he really didn't want to deal with any of that shit.

"Do you remember the drive? And what we were talking about?"

She frowned again. "Yes."

"Oh." Well, her forgetting that kind of would've been nice.

"Are you really disappointed that I didn't get enough brain damage to remember you calling me fat?" She glared.

"No." He tried to defend. "I never called you fat."

"Ms. Hyuuga, I see you're awake. I'm Dr. Senju. You got quite a bump on the head." The blonde woman waltz right into the little hospital room. "How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts." Hinata admitted.

The doctor nodded. "To be expected. Do you feel anything else. Dizziness? Nausea? Are you disoriented? Confused?"

"Um, I feel a little sick." Hinata blinked again, her eyebrows still pull together.

"I think the lights hurt her eyes." Sasuke nodded over to them.

The doctor nodded over to a dark haired nurse that followed her in, who quickly flicked off a few switches. Not all of them, just dimming the room a little for her.

"You probably have a concussion. It can take a little while for some of the side effects to set in, so in the next coming days I want you to be very careful. No bright lights or sounds. No exercise. No. Driving. Your night vision will probably be seriously impared as well. Don't worry, we'll give you a whole pamphlet on some after care. But I just want to really stress this; injury after a concussion is much more severe. So you'll need to be careful. You'll probably need someone to look after you for a little bit."

Hinata nodded.

"Okay, let me see a few things. Make sure all your reflects are working correctly." The doctor held up some lights to her eyes, had her follow her finger, had Hinata say the days of the week and the months.

"Alright. Nothing too scary yet." The doctor nodded. "But, like I said, with a brain injury, some symptoms won't manifest for a couple of days."

"A brain injury?" Hinata balked.

"What do you think a concussion is?" The doctor almost laughed at her. "You lost consciousness. Think of your brain a big bowl of jello. It has two hemispheres. And a stem. You need rattle both hemispheres to lose consciousness. Like jello, hitting one side hard enough will shake the other one. If they both get rattled too hard, you lose consciousness. This is not Rocky Balboa or whatever you kids watch nowadays. Getting your head knocked that hard is very serious."

Hinata nodded again, looking a little scared.

"Do you have any previous head injuries?"

"No."

"Wait, weren't you in a coma when you were a little kid?" Sasuke frowned, clearly remembering her telling him that the first time he went to her dad's house.

"Oh, yeah." Hinata blinked.

How could she have forgotten that? Sasuke looked up at the ceiling tiles incredulously. Well, she was pretty young at the time. And she did just hit her head.

"That's not a good sign." The doctor frowned, nodding at the nurse who started making some notes on the chart she was carrying.

What kind of fucking beside manner was that?

"We're going to have you stay the night, just to make sure that nothing too serious happens. Brain bleed, seizure. It's best if you're here. After the first night, you can go home, but you aren't out of the water yet. You need to follow up with a family doctor, every single week until you're symptom free. Brain injuries are not like other injuries, you need to make sure you are completely healed before returning to any activity. Minimum seven to ten days, but even longer if you still have symptoms."

Hinata nodded again.

"Your family should be here soon."

"What?" Hinata gasped, looking more scared of that than any of the horrifying symptoms that the doctor had listed. She turned to him, wide, praying eyes that she had heard her wrong.

Sasuke frowned apologetically. "It was out of my hands." Trust, he didn't want them there anymore than she did.

But just being someone's boyfriend did not make him a relative.

"Oh my god." Hinata leaned back in the bed, closing her eyes.

Yep. That's exactly how he felt.

Her father, step-mother and sister were on a plane there as they spoke and Sasuke had insulted her body, her job and gave her a concussion.

The whole weekend was cursed.

"Alright, we're going to let you get some rest. Mr. Boyfriend over here filled out a dinner card for you, so that'll be coming around later too."

"I circled hot chocolate three times." Sasuke mumbled after the doctor and nurse had left.

"Thanks." Hinata sighed, leaning back into her bed.

"Hinata, you know I didn't mean to do any of this right?" She was so mad at him that he wouldn't put it past her to think that he had done this on purpose, just so he could stop talking about the Sakura thing and how he insulted her.

She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a little breath through her nose. Upon exhaling, she opened her eyes and turned them onto his. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

"But-"

"My head hurts." She looked away from him to the front of the room.

Sasuke sighed, running his fingers through his hair with his free hand. His other still clenching hers. He had latched onto her as soon as they let him into her room and hadn't let go since. She hadn't shaken him off yet, which was his only solace.

"Alright." He nodded. She was right. She just went through a traumatic experience, her brain was concussed. She shouldn't have to argue about anything right then. No matter how much Sasuke wanted to explain himself, to have her forgive him. "Do you want me to go get you anything?"

She shook her head, closing her eyes.

At least she hadn't asked him to leave. She was still holding his hand. He'd stay here, right by her side, until she didn't want him to anymore. She fell asleep. Her dinner was delivered but she didn't seem ready to wake up, so Sasuke left it off to the side. If it got cold and gross he'd go get her something better. Whatever she needed.

"What fucking room is it?"

The hair on Sasuke's neck stood up. Oh fuck, they were already here.

"I think it's this one." Hanabi had just become visible through the open door, pointing at in before taking a tentative step into the room. "Sasuke," She perked up, noticing him there, then bolting the rest of the way to her sisters bed. "I'm so glad you guys are okay!"

"Hana?" Hinata blinked, drowsily, looking up at her sister.

"Okay? Look at this place? It's a fucking dump." Her dad spat, striding into the room.

Natsu, who always looked like a flawless super model with her platinum blonde bob and a furry coat draped over some sleek black pants, flanked to Hinata's bed immediately as well. "Sweetheart, how are you feeling?" She reached over, pressing Hinata's bangs back, feeling her forehead like she was sick or something.

The act causing Hinata's little ears to stick out, which was a sight that Sasuke favored very much.

"I'm okay."

"This is not fucking okay." Hiashi snarled, snatching the chart that the nurse left.

Sasuke didn't even hide his eye roll. Sure Hiashi ran a company, but really, what did he think he was going to decipher through bad handwriting and medical jargon. Dramatic prick.

"What do they have you on?" He asked, still leafing through all of the papers.

"Nothing."

"They gave her some acetaminophen." Sasuke corrected. They had put it in her IV drip when she first came in.

Hiashi turned his glared and fury onto Sasuke. "Fucking tylenol? That's all this shit hole has?"

"They said that anything else could heighten chance of a brain bleed." Or something like that. It had been hard to pay attention to anything that they were doing while Hinata was still unconscious.

"What a fucking joke. Did they do any scans or is this shit hole too cheap for that."

It was the only hospital for miles outside of the city. So yeah, the shit hole was too cheap for that.

Nobody answered him.

"Get up, let's go."

"What?" Hinata blinked, almost bewildered. "Dad?"

"We're getting you out of this shitty, hick town, back alley, bullshit hospital. It's time to go home."

"She can't just leave." Sasuke huffed, finally standing up, his hand still in Hinata's. "She needs to stay overnight. And even then, she needs someone to take care of her. She needs to go to doctor appointments, she can't drive."

Something shifted in Hiashi's face. Instead of loud, wild biligerance, it desfused down, condensed and tunneled straight at Sasuke.

"Oh?" Hiashi's voice was frighteningly even. "And you think that's you, do you?"

"Hiashi," Natsu turned her attention back to her husband. "This is really not the time and place-"

"Yeah. I do." Sasuke snapped back instead, stepping towards him.

Hinata was his girlfriend. She spent way more time with him at his place then she did at her dads. And he had plans for awhile now to make that a lot more permanent of a situation.

"This, this right here. This is the shit I'm so fucking tired of." Hiashi turned his attention away from Sasuke and rounded on Hinata.

"I tried to be nice. I tried to be the good guy. The dad that listened and didn't push you too hard. You dropped out of business school, you became a teacher. You moved into the fucking hovel. I understand that you needed some time, I know that you and Neji were really close and you took it hard. But it's been years. You need to move on and face reality."

"Dad!" Hanabi looked horrified at her father. "What the hell?"

"Look at her!" Hiashi screamed back. "Is this what you want in life, Hinata?"

What? Like getting into a car accident was completely her fault because she didn't get an MBA?

"I thought when you started dating Otsutsuki that you were finally coming around. That you understood where your place was."

Sasuke knew for damn sure that he didn't mean just as some rich guys girlfriend. But back in the world of the ultra rich. Multi-billion dollar company CEO.

"But you came back, graduated, got a job teaching kindergarten. What the fucking average salary on that Hinata? Forty thousand, starting out? Are you kidding me?" Hiashi spit.

Sasuke was experiencing second hand whiplash from the change in conversation topic. Why was he freaking out about all this now? Sure, Sasuke could imagine that the poor guy might have some PTSD about his family members being in car accidents. He'd lost more than half his family to them.

But what the fuck was going?

"Who the fuck you think is going to pay for these hospital bills, Hinata?"

"Me!" Sasuke yelled.

Not only was it his fault, and his insurance would cover someof it, but he was planning on covering this for her personally.

"And then this fuck?" Hiashi held his hand out, gesturing vaguely at Sasuke. "What are you doing Hinata?"

Okay, usually Sasuke wouldn't give a fuck about this, but he had recently fucked up real bad so he wasn't so keen on having Hinata reevaluate their relationship right now.

"It's time to grow up and come home. Now!"

He remembered all the things Hiashi had said to him the last time they were at a hospital. That he wasn't right for Hinata. That's she didn't really want someone like him. Maybe he had been wrong about that.

But he was right about Hinata, about her knowing what she wanted.

She didn't want to be the next Hyuuga Co. CEO. She didn't want to marry some needlessly rich mogul.

She loved her job. She loved being her own person. And she was nice and kind and she didn't like to argue with people when she felt her best. She's cried when people yelled at her.

Her dad was out of line and Hinata was not in the right frame of mind to handle this.

Yes, Sasuke was a fucking asshole. But you know what? Maybe he could use that to his advantage.

"Hinata's not going anywhere." Sasuke layed down the law, taking another step to Hiashi, putting them in hitting distance, if it really came to that..

"Stay out of this, fucking doofus." Hiashi's eyes blazed, his nostrils flaring, and if Sasuke was a lesser man, with less motivation, he might've waverd. But not now. Not about Hinata.

"No. Hinata's not leaving tonight. And when she does, it's going to be with me. And as soon as she's cleared by the doctor, she's going back to her work."

Hiashi's face was turning red, like Hinata's embarrassed blush, but with just sheer rage. "You don't get to talk to me about my fucking daughter."

"Hinata likes her job. She likes taking care of herself. And she likes being with me." Hopefully that last part was still true. "You might be her dad, but you don't get to come in here and boss her around." Not on his watch.

"You think you're some tough guy, huh?" Hiashi took a step closer to him. "Bold words for some fuck that can't even drive a car right."

"Dad!" Hanabi frowned, glaring at her dad. "Stop!"

Sasuke didn't have a come back for that one, because it was kind of fair, he did fucking cause this whole mess, but he wasn't backing down either.

"You think your right for Hinata? You've known her what? A couple months? You aren't shit, pretty boy."

"That's enough." Natsu tried to intervene again.

"You think you know, then?" Sasuke scoffed "You don't understand anything about her. You don't respect her job. You don't respect her choices. You think she's going through some phase when this is who she is!"

"Don't pretend to know more about my daughter then me, you prick!"

"I'm not fucking pretending!" Sasuke shot back.

"Get! Out!" Natsu screamed so loud, Sasuke took a step back, startled. "NOW!"

She was standing at the foot of the bed, squared up to both of them like she was ready to throw hands. Sasuke had kind of always thought that Natsu was like some trophy wife, that wouldn't dare say anything that really contradicted her husband. This was different though. She looked livid, and protective, almost like a real mother. Which was probably pretty dickish to assume that she wasn't.

Sasuke's heart sank though once he looked passed her.

Hinata's knees were pulled up close to her chest, her hand covering her face, tears streaming down her eyes. Hanabi had her arms around her, pulling her older sister close to her chest.

Fuck. Maybe he had gone too far. Again.

"Excuse me," A nurse came into the door. "We're going to have to ask you to leave."

"They are." Natsu affirmed, still staring them both down.

Sasuke looked to Hinata, for any evidence that she wanted him to stay but she was still crying. Fucking fantastic.

"Hinata, call me if you need me okay?"

"Out, now please." The nurse issited. "We don't want to have to call the police."

Yeah, he'd just fucking love getting arressted by his dad. What a way to end the day. The little cherry on the top for the fucking weekend.

Hinata didn't reply and didn't look like she was about to, so Sasuke shoulderd his way past Hiashi and out of the fucking door. She stalked down the hallway, through the waiting room and out of the door.

He was going to walk home.

He needed the time to figure himself out before joining his family. If he had come away from this whole cluster fuck with anything helpful, it was to know when to keep his mouth shut. He was angry and upset and he didn't want to do something or say something that would hurt someone else or cause him anymore problems.

He also needed time to try and relax, because he was about to have a full on mental breakdown like he was some child.

He hurt his girlfriend's feelings. He got her in a car wreck. He screamed at her dad in her hospital room and made her cry.

'She's going to break up with me.'

He shook his head. No, he couldn't deal with those feelings right now. Couldn't process that horror.

'She's going to break up with me.'

He was almost thirty years old and he felt like he was about to cry. He shoved his hands into his pocket, trying to get his breathing calmed down. It was late, and cold, and there was dirt and gravel on the side of the road impeding his progress. He got to the intersection, where he had royally fucked up. A brand new shiny stop sign, with pieces of what had to be parts of his car that had splintered off upon impact.

Is that how real life really worked? That in one small moment, something so terrible could happen.

Is that why Hiashi Hyuuga was such a fucking dick. Because he had lost his wife and his brother and sister-in-law in one single moment. That years later his nephew was gone in an instant as well.

That Hanabi and Hinata had both also been in car accidents this year. That had probably had to terrify him.

Knowing that your life could change in a single, tiny moment…

Was that why it was so hard for him to see Hinata "wasting" her precious time, in his eyes?

Was that why he was such a dick?

But was that even a good reason? Was there ever a good reason? No matter how upset he was, could there really be any way in hell that he was justified in saying something mean to her?

No. There wasn't.

Life could change in a fraction of a second, she could've died. At any moment their lives could be over, done. He couldn't even waste a single moment of it, not treating her in the way she deserved.

If she could ever give him a second chance, he would show her.

She had to, right?

'She's going to break up with me.'

He shook his head, walking up the driveway to his house. He couldn't do that right now. Couldn't walk through the nightmare scenario. He was about to enter his house and he had just made a pact to himself to not be a dick, and his whole family was going to be in there. He didn't want to break it two seconds after making it.

Except, upon walking back into his parent's house, there were way too many people. His entire family, Kakashi, Obito, Rin, Sakura and her parents, and even fucking Naruto's parent's

Jesus fuck he could not deal with that right now.

"Sasuke, oh my god!" His mom jumped up, coming to the door. "We've been calling you for hours! Are you okay? Is Hinata?" She grabbed his jacket, trying to get his attention. "Are you okay? We tried to call you."

'Yeah, you said that already.'

While his girlfriend had been unconscious, he hadn't really been in chatty mood.

No, he couldn't do that right now. He couldn't sit down with all these people and talk about what happened. He knew he was being rude, but at least it wasn't the rudest thing he could do. He made a b-line straight for the staircase, heading straight into his room, slamming the door.

He kicked his bed frame hard, before collapsing down onto his bed.

His eyes fixed on her suitcase, her clothes. What if that was the last time that he got to sleep next to her. Wake up next to her.

He rested his head in his hands trying to take a shaky breath. "What the fuck am I going to do?" It was ragged, and his whole chest shook.

"Sasuke?" His door creaked open.

Sakura. She had been in this very bedroom more times than Sasuke could even count. But she couldn't be here now. Not when his girlfriend was in a hospital bed. Not when Sasuke had done very single thing wrong with Hinata considering her.

"Please don't right now. I can't deal with you." Again, kind of infringing on the 'not being an asshole' promise that he had made, but he was a little uncaring of his words or their effect on her.

"I'm not here to start anything or to cause any problems." Sakura promised, still standing in the doorway. "That's actually why I came this weekend. I wanted to apologize to you. Well, to both of you. With like a neutral party. I-"

Sasuke finally looked over at her, trying to gauge if she was full of shit or not.

"I know that I've been shitty lately. I was going through a really hard time. For awhile, I never once thought that things between you and me would ever really be over. It was really hard for me to accept that, and I'm sorry for the way I acted."

That sounded a lot more like the Sakura he knew in high school, or in college. Not the deranged, basket case he had been avoiding the last couple months.

He nodded. "Thanks." He sniffed.

"I was kind of hoping to offer an olive branch, you know. Friends?"

Sasuke looked away from her. "I'll talk to my girlfriend about it."

Sakura laughed a little. "That's fair. But, do you need to talk?"

Yes. He needed to talk. Just not to her.

"I fucked up." He admitted, feeling the weight of his words in the way it tightened his throat.

"It was just a car accident. I'm sure she doesn't hold it against you."

"No. Not that." Sasuke shook his head. "No, I said some really messed up shit to her." Well, as far as speaking to Hinata went. He had said far, far more heinous things to other people, but other people weren't her. "She's a legitimate angel. She doesn't get mad at anyone ever. Until she does. And once she does, it's really hard to get her unmad. To forgive you."

"Sasuke," Sakura finally took a step inside the room. "I'm sure if you just apologize,"

He shook his head, trying to keep his face as stoic as he usually did. "I don't know if I can get out of it this time."

"You don't know that." Sakura's voice was false cheery as the bed dipped next to him. "You don't know how it's going to go. And whatever happens, I know you'll get through it. Nothing has ever held you back."

"No." Sasuke cut her off, firm. "This isn't like that. This isn't a 'whatever happens' thing. I can't live without her. She's the one. I can't be with anyone else. It's her. It's only her. There is not another option for me. She's it."

Saying out loud filled the weight laying already heavy on his chest.

"And I messed up. I think she's done. For real this time. I don't know what I'm going to do." He had never felt so lost before.

His whole life, Sasuke had a goal. A direction. One that he moved towards, striking down everything in his path until he got what he intended. It had come easy to him. Grades. His job. Girls.

Hinata was different. And he needed her more than anything else he had ever thought he did. His prize possession car was totaled and he couldn't even care. He didn't care about getting back to his apartment. His job could eat fucking shit.

There was a little knock on the door frame of the already opened door. His mom, peeking her head in. "Are you guys okay?"

"No." Sasuke sighed. Nothing was okay.

"Come here," Mikoto sighed, though she was the one coming to him. She grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a little squeeze hug.

"Everything's going to be fine." She promised.

He shook his head. No. It is definitely not going to be fine.

"Hinata's a great girl. She's kind and nice and understanding. At least what I've got to see. I know you'll make it up to her." His mom promised.

He had to. There was no second option. He had to make it up to her.