Chapter 7: The Long Run

But the child that is born on the Sabbath Day is bonny and blithe and good and gay

Oh, no!

Oh, no, no, no!

How had this happened?

Well, that was a dumb question, of course she knew how this had happened. One corner of her mouth turned up in a quirky little smile, she knew exactly how this happened. And when. And that was the last time she was ever drinking that much sake again.

She waved the pregnancy test strip uselessly in front of her, trying to shake the stupid plus sign off it.

The little '+' twinkled merrily, mocking her.

Plus. As in plus one. As in one additional person occupying the same space she was occupying now.

She stopped shaking the test indicator, but now her hands trembled as she held it in both of them staring mutely at the symbol.

She could NOT be pregnant. She was too old for this nonsense.

Idiot! How could she have been such an idiot! To let him talk her into... without using...to be so irresponsible.. Just once, you would think that you could get a free pass just once but nooooo....What was that old saying - if you weren't trying not to, then you were trying. Clearly that was applicable here.

She could not have a baby. That was all there was too it. She was too old. This was foolishness, nonsense.

Sinking back against the wall of the bathroom, she slid down to rest on the cool floor, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, resting her head. She couldn't have a baby now. She just couldn't.

She started to cry. Then she started to laugh. Honestly, she really could not have a baby now, that was absurd. Quickly she clamped both her hands over her mouth to keep from making any sound. The last thing she wanted to do was to wake him up right now. Stupid idiot, this was all his fault!

She needed just a few more minutes to think this thing through before she said anything to him.

Item 1: She was pregnant.

Item 2: She was going to throw up right here right now, it's a good thing she was sitting in front of the toilet.

Item 3: No, she was not going to throw up, that was just abject fear passing through her body, she was too early on for morning sickness.

Nope, before the morning sickness, there was that brief period of abundant energy alternating with overwhelming urges to take three-hour naps. No wonder she'd been feeling so good lately. Then came the morning sickness, the sick-sweet feeling of queasiness if she let her stomach get completely empty, leading her to go around snacking on crackers throughout the day as if she were leaving a trail of crumbs in order to find her way home.

It was all coming back to her now. All that icky stuff was in the first trimester. But the second trimester...

She smiled, if she could have seen herself in the mirror she would have realized it was an extremely goofy smile. The second trimester was when she would feel the baby kick. Sometime well into her fourth month she'd feel it and it would be so soft and so fluttery like a cat gently tapping her with its paw but on the inside. And she would know in a concrete, undeniable way that somebody was there. For a while, only she could feel it because the baby was so tiny that no one else could. It was a secret that she and the baby would share just between the two of them.

The baby.

Forget about the pregnancy part, she was having a baby.

A baby with the smoothest skin she could imagine and fuzz of hair softer than the softest silk. A baby whose eyes couldn't focus beyond fifteen to eighteen inches in front of it, the perfect distance for seeing her face when she held it to her breast. A baby with a rosebud mouth that could latch on to nurse and when her milk let down she would have such a feeling of peace and contentment it defied explanation. A baby that could open its beautiful large eyes and captivate her with its merest glance.

Yes.

She was having a baby.

No.

She wasn't.

This was an accident, a mistake. She could not be having a baby, she would not be having a baby.

She was having a baby.

She sighed and stood up, splashing cold water on her face. Time to face the music, pay the piper, confront her partner in crime. She tried to think of how to tell him and decided that the direct approach was the best. And so help her God, if he made some wise-ass crack about "who's the father" she was going to beat the crap out of him. Knotting the sash of her robe more firmly about her waist, she snatched up the test indicator and stalked back to her bedroom.

"Here," she snapped, thrusting the indicator at him as she slipped back into her side of the bed.

Lying on his back in his bed, one arm behind his head, he had opened one eye when she came back. He accepted the item she was waving in front of him with his other hand and studied it carefully. His eyebrows shot skyward. Realizing that his life might very well depend on the next few words out of his mouth, Shikaku chose them with extreme caution, knowing full well that a pregnant Yoshino was not to be trifled with. "What's this?"

"Don't be an idiot!" Yoshino snapped furiously at him. "You know what it is."

Sitting up in bed beside her, he said, "Well, yes, I know what it is, er, congratulations... I think?"

And the words spilled out from Yoshino in a torrent, how she-was-too-old-they-were-too-old-this-was-insane-ridiculous-and-wouldn't-it-be-wonderful-to-have-another-baby-and-she'd-already-had-a-baby-so-she-didn't-need-to-have-one-again-but weren't-babies-wonderful-and-she-was-a-grandmother-already-for-heaven's-sake-and-what-was-she-going-to-do-what-were-they-going-to-do?

Shikaku let her talk until she was nearly exhausted. She was slowing now, her head hung down, covering her eyes with one hand. She shook her head forlornly and said, "Shikamaru didn't graduate from the Academy until he was twelve. Do you know how old I'll be in twelve years if I have this baby?"

Early on in his life, Shikaku had come to the startling realization that the universe operated on one very simple principle - women and cats would do as they pleased and men and dogs should just relax and get used to the idea.

"Well," he replied philosophically, rubbing her shoulders gently with both hands, "How old will you be in twelve years if you don't have a baby?"

She laughed then and leaned back against him, realizing that they could call her son a genius all they wanted, she was married to the wisest man in Konoha. "Really?" she asked joyfully.

He shrugged, "Math is math. In twelve years you'll be the same age, whether or not you have a baby."

"Your romanticism knows no bounds, does it Nara?" she asked, laughing as she kissed him.

"Obviously I have my moments or we wouldn't be having this discussion now would we?" he grinned, arching an eyebrow at her comment.

"Hmmmm, flawlessly well-reasoned," she agreed as he eased her back against the pillows.

They lay together in each other's arms a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts. Shikaku spoke first, "So, err, when are you due?"

Yoshino turned and buried her face against his neck and mumbled, "About nine months from the day our granddaughter was born."

He chuckled, "You're kidding."

"No," she whimpered, "I knew I shouldn't have gone out drinking with you and Inoichi and Chouza that night."

They fell silent once again until finally this time Yoshino spoke, "Shikaku, what will people say?"

He turned his face to the side of hers, his beard tickling her cheek, voice warm and rumbling as he whispered in her ear, "People will say 'that Nara Shikaku, he's a lucky bastard, still banging his wife after twenty-odd years, he even managed to knock her up! ' "

Yoshino snorted with laughter and swatted at him. "Shikaku!" She paused then added more somberly, "Babies are a lot of trouble, in case you've forgotten, and ... I'm a lot older now...there could be problems..."

Shikaku sighed, "Didn't I tell you when I met you that I knew you were going to be nothing but trouble?"

"Yes," she answered, fondly recalling their years together.

"Yoshino, in twenty-five years you have never once failed to live up to my expectations."

More laughter from her then she asked, "Okay, who's going to tell Shikamaru?"

It was his turn to roar with mirth. "Oh! Me! I want that mission! I wouldn't miss the look on his face for the world. But let's give him a little bit longer to get used to being a dad first before we tell him he's going to be a big brother."

He skimmed one hand down to her waist, toying lazily with the sash of her robe. "You know, if I recall correctly, pregnancy made you quite libidinous. And since you're already knocked up, we don't have to worry about you getting knocked up, do we?"

She smiled serenely at him. "Libidinous? Hmmmm, yes, I suppose I was. That is, when I wasn't puking my guts up."

Shikaku kissed his wife tenderly and whispered, "I promise I'll hold your hair back out of your face for you when you throw up."

Yoshino giggled then stroked his cheek gently, "You really do love me, no matter what, don't you?"

"Yes. I really do love you. No matter what."

The End!

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day!

The line about women and cats is a quote from the greatest science fiction author of all time, Robert A. Heinlein.

Chapter title is from the Eagle's song "The Long Run"

Who is gonna make it?
We'll find out in the long run
(in the long run)
I know we can take it
If our love is a strong one
(is a strong one)
Well, we're scared, but we ain't shakin'
Kinda bent, but we ain't breakin'
In the long run
Ooh, I want to tell you, it's a long run

Thanks to EVERYBODY who has read along and commented. I really REALLY appreciate it. This has been a great experience, writing so many different pairings and trying to keep them all relatively in character. If I've made you smile or made you laugh or made you sad or best of all made you say "hey - I never thought about it that way..." then please do let me know.