DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter

A/N: This is Part Deux of 'It's For Your Own Good'.

WARNING: There is a mature scene in the second half, so proceed at your own risk.

Apologies and Acceptances

"Dora? It's me. I - I'm back."

Tonks abruptly stopped crying and lifted her head in wonder. She automatically grabbed her wand, which was resting on the bed beside her, and pointed it at him in case it was a trick. "Remus? What are you doing here? Who are you really?"

"I am Remus John Lupin, married to you, Nymphadora Lupin, nee Tonks. I am a werewolf and you are pregnant with our child. A child I will try my best to love." When Tonks still didn't look convinced he added, "You have a scar about two inches long on the back of your thigh due to your eagerness on our wedding night."

Remus smiled slightly at the memory: their bodies entwined as one, exploring each other with their fingers, their mouths, their tongues…

The smile was immediately wiped from his face as Tonks started shouting at him. "Why the hell did you leave? I'm pregnant with your baby and you think it's alright if you just leave, without saying a proper goodbye, hoping your letter will just explain everything? I've been worried sick, at my wits end, which is doing no good for our baby, and you think everything will be just fine again if you come back and say you're sorry? Do you expect me to pretend that the last few months didn't even happen?"

He flinched at the volume of her voice, looking thoroughly ashamed of himself. "I don't expect you to forgive me. I can't even forgive myself. I just want to start again, to make it right. I love -"

"Don't you dare tell me you love me!" she screeched. "You could have been dead! I could have been dead! If you loved me so much, then why did you even leave?"

"Because you would have been better off without me!" he shouted back, repeating what he'd told her when she'd revealed that she was pregnant. Repeating what he had told Harry, Ron and Hermione. "What if the baby is like me? Do we lock it away each month with me? We would end up killing each other if either of us forgot to take the Wolfsbane potion! Do you want that for our child?"

Tonks paled at the thought, but didn't shout back. "I don't think that you could ever do that to our baby. Remus, unless you bite him or scratch him it's absolutely impossible for him to be like you in that way. You weren't born with it, so he shouldn't be either." She laid her hand over her stomach and rubbed small, comforting circles.

"Then it will be ashamed of me! Embarrassed because of what I must become each month!"

"Don't say that. He will never be ashamed of you," she told him, deciding to bring up what she'd already said once before. "You forget that we will raise him. He'll grow up knowing what it's like to be loved by us, who we are! He'll know it was never your fault. We are fighting in this war to make the world a better place to raise our children. Harry will not rest until that happens, we both know that. You will have a real job, we can move out of here. We can buy him his first wand, his first broom. See him off at the station when he goes to Hogwarts for the first time. See," she said softly as she saw his eyes light up at the prospect, "It won't be how it is now. Things will change."

"Dora, I am so sorry for leaving you both," he stepped forward tentatively, arms stretched towards his wife in the hope that she will accept him. "I love you. And in time, I'm sure I will love the baby just as much."

Tonks walked into Remus' open arms and put her own around his neck, "That's all I'm asking for." Standing on her toes, she pulled his head down until their lips met, wiping away all anxiety, every fear, every trace of doubt Remus had ever had as he lived for this moment…

"What made you come back?" Tonks asked as they lay in bed on their sides in each others arms, their bodies coated in a sheen of sweat, their breathing still ragged.

"Harry made me come back," Remus replied. "He made me feel guilty. Made me see sense. That was weeks ago, before the Ministry break-in. It took me a little while to work up the courage to come back to you. I was prepared for a couple of hexes, at the very least, but if this is what I get instead…" He trailed off as he brought his lips to Tonks' throat, his warm breath tickling her skin. He kissed feather-light kisses along her collar bone and across her shoulder, his fingers tracing patterns over her spine, causing her to shiver. In turn, her fingers ran up his thigh, over his hip, all the way to his shoulder. She rolled onto her back, pulling him with her so that he rested above her, still kissing her back and forth from her shoulder to her throat, tracing patterns with his tongue.

He shifted his weight so that he was not putting pressure on the slight bump of her stomach as she hooked her right leg over his hip, toes snaking their way up his calf, fingers caressing his back. Remus worked back up her throat once more before claiming her willing lips, kissing her tenderly, their passion increasing until Tonks had to break away for air. He moved his hand down her body until he reached the back of her left knee, which he brought up so that both legs were now laced about his hips.

His lips trailed down the middle of her chest where he stopped to kiss the plump swell of her breasts. He heard her sigh with pleasure, running her hands through his hair, gently pushing his head down her body. He smiled to himself as he consented, knowing what she wanted and he was all-too-willing to give her it. He continued down her abdomen, pausing over the bump to whisper, "I love you."

And he realised that as he spoke he was talking to not just his wife, but also to his baby and happiness surged through him, filling him from the soles of his feet to the tip of his head.

Pushing himself further down the bed, he kissed her hips, getting closer still to what she wanted, before he turned his head to the side and breathed on the inside of one of her raised thighs. He heard her gasp as he went back up her thigh until he could smell the sweet scent of her. He kissed her tenderly, then used his warm tongue to give her what she wanted. Her breath hitched in her throat as he brought her closer to the edge, her hands tightening their grip in his hair, her back arching.

But before she could feel the full force of her thrill, Remus pulled away, hearing her whimper as he did so. Only after he had her begging him in whispers did he go back, this time letting her reach her climax. He revelled in her taste and the sound of her obvious enjoyment as he became aroused again. She pulled him back up so that they were face to face. She kissed him hard before nibbling his earlobe, whispering words in his ear as he slipped inside her and lost himself once more in the sheer bliss that he only knew at times like this.

A/N: A review would make this even more worth-while :)