"Look Remus," John said as he walked out the door. "You're better off without me, I'm not what you need." Those were the words his mum had used to describe him.

"Oh, ok," Remus stuttered as John drove away. Remus felt a tear split down his cheek as he rocked their baby girl, Blakely whom they'd adopted from Africa. "Shh," he tried to comfort weakly. "It's ok Blake, it's ok, Daddy's here,
I'm not going anywhere."

Remus turned slowly and numbly walked back into his house and began making Blake's formula. He sat down and began to feed it to her when he realized Blake's blanket was missing. Sighing, Remus put his daughter in her high chair and began to feed her.
After she refused to open her mouth unless her food flew in on a "magic broomstick" Remus began to play with her, to engage her and forget about John.

You'll be fine, he told himself as he finished feeding Blake and put her in her play pen. Just put her to bed and you can begin crying and wallowing in self pity. Or you can find a job.

"Come on Princess," he said after he found Blake's blanket and wrapped her up in it. "It's nap time, so the pretty, pretty princess can get her beauty sleep," he said as he put her down and went over to his computer.

"Jobs in London," he muttered as he typed. A second later a list of jobs came up and he began scrolling through them. "I can't do this myself," he said as he reached over to grab his phone and ran his best friend Lily.

"Hey Remus, this isn't a great time," Lily said, breathing heavily.

"You were right, John left," Remus blurted. The other line went dead and Remus sat back with his head in hands. Ten minutes later Remus' best friend and sister in everything but blood walked in with her long time boyfriend, James and wrapped
her arms around his shoulder.

"He was a piece of trash anyway," she whispered into his ear as he broke down in tears in her arms.

"She needs two parents," Remus sobbed. "How am I supposed to be there all the time and pay the bills?"

"Hey, Remmy, you have us, James and I won't let anything happen to you or Blake, ok," Lily said as she pulled away.

"Ok," Remus said as he wiped his eyes and turned back to his computer. "Now I need a job."

Lily, James, and Remus spent an hour looking for a job that Remus could do that he'd enjoy and would play his bills. After Blake woke up Lily fed and played with her while James and Remus continued their search. It took another twenty minutes before they
found the perfect job, a part time manager at the department store down the road.

"We hit gold Lils," James called as Remus printed off the application.

"Oh yay! What is it?" Lily asked as she ran in with Blake in her arms.

"It doesn't pay much, but it'll get us by until she's old enough for me to get a full time job," Remus said quickly.

"Bullocks, it's perfect," James interjected.

"It's over at Tesco as a part time manager," Remus explained and he passed over the paperwork.

"This is great Rem," Lily said excitedly as she scanned the application.

"Here, I'll take Blake," he said as he took his daughter from her arms.

"I can nanny for you while you're at work," Lily offered as she passed over the little girl.

"I can't pay you much," Remus said quickly with wide eyes. "And I don't want to take advant-"

"It's settled then," Lily interrupted with a glare. "I'm your new nanny until you find a guy who'll treat you like the fucking gold you are."

"Nice language around my one year old daughter," Remus replied with a smile that broke his face.

"Come on, let's go get a drink," James said with a smile at two of the most important people in his life.

"I'm not taking Blake to a bar," Remus said slowly.

"Not a bar then, how about that pub by Lily's old flat," he suggested with a shrug.

"I'm down," Lily said with a smile.

"Ok, let me get her buggy set up," Remus said as he placed Blake in the pen.

"Hey there beautiful," James said with a smile as he picked Blake up and spun her around, causing her to laugh so hard she spit up her pre nap snack onto his chest. "That wasn't too beautiful," James said as Lily handed him a towel
and began to clean up around her mouth while James wiped down his chest. "Here," he said as he passed the baby over to Lily before he took off his stained shirt and walked over to the sink to rinse it off.

"Here's the- shoot, did she spit up," Remus asked in a rush as he came forward and placed Blake in her seat and went looking for a shirt James could borrow. "I'm so sorry mate, she rarely does this anymore, I thought she'd outgrown it,"
he said. "Here, use this," he said when he found a plain blue shirt and handed it to James who turned and took it from him.

"You're drooling darling," Lily said to Remus with a smirk as she took the shirt from his hands and walked it over to her shirtless boyfriend. "Not that I can blame you," she added while she pressed he hands on his toned abs.

"I am still an actual human man, not a fu- freaking piece of meat," James said, correcting his language when he remembered the baby in the room.

"But you're so sexy," Lily said with a pout as James pulled the slightly too tight shirt over his head.

"Come on," Remus said when he found his voice just then. "I'm hungry and nursing a broken heart."

"Yeah, James, you can't be being a sexy beast right now, Remus is hurting," Lily chastised sarcastically before she pushed the buggy out the door and on her way to the pub.

Remus and James shook their heads at her antics before they followed her out the door and toward the pub.