"What do you mean, 'bitten'?" Sirius Black's grey eyes were large as he stared at his boyfriend and the wiggling bundle that Remus Lupin carried.

"You know what I mean," Remus added quietly.

"And now we're taking in strays?"

Remus shot Sirius a venomous glare, but his voice was soft and almost soothing when he answered, "We are strays, if you didn't notice."

"We haven't the luxury of raising a child. There's a war on-"

"James and Lily are doing it-"

"But their child hasn't got some horrible disease-"

Remus spun, hissing below his breath. "What would you have me do? Leave her on the streets? Kill her? Is that what you would like?"

Sirius' mouth fell open. "No, I-"

"There's no orphanage for Dark fucking Creatures, Sirius, in case you haven't noticed. If she hasn't got parents, the Ministry would be only too pleased to dispose of her. Handing her over to Fenrir might be the better fate."

"Fenrir's a Death Eater," Sirius snarled.

"And he at least can keep children alive."

The two stared down each other for a moment, before Sirius' eyes grew wide once more. "Did Fenrir bite her? Who bit her?"

But Sirius didn't need to hear the words to know the answer. It was apparent immediately on Remus' face: shame, fear of rejection, a sliver of defiance-

"Remus," Sirius gasped, "Oh God, I should have been there-"

"She's a Muggle baby, Sirius." Remus' lip quivered and he drew himself more upright. "I wish I had lost control. I wish I had killed her."

"No," Sirius shook his head. "No, I'm so sorry. Shit, I should have been there-"

"You had Order business, James had Order business..."

"Pete said he would make it."

"Let's face it, he couldn't have stopped me if he had made it, but God knows where Peter gets to these days."

"What- What do you mean?"

"Haven't you noticed? He's hardly comes to Order meetings."

"He's always there when I am."

"And never there when you're not," Remus added. The baby kicked and made a squealing noise within the nest of blankets.

"Shit," Sirius sighed. "Gods, I'm an arse. Is there any way you'll let me take back all the things I said just now?" Sirius ran a tender hand through the soft brown hair on the side of Remus' face, watching Remus' expressions once again play through shame and defiance, shame and defiance. Then, the lycanthrope's nose wrinkled. He leaned closer to the baby and made a truly disgusted face before turning to Sirius with a nod.

"There is something you could do, actually, Padfoot."

"Anything. Anything."

Remus passed over the squirming bundle. "She needs a nappie change."

"We haven't got any nappies," Sirius balked.

"You said anything."

Sirius sighed and groaned. "Are we going to be keeping her. Like, really? Raising a child, Remus. Think about it for a minute."

"I haven't the time to think about it," Remus said, watching Sirius jostle the baby girl with the practice of a doting godfather. "I made her- what she is. I as good as fathered her. I haven't much choice now. I'm taking her. If you... if it's not... if this is not something you want in your life right now, I do understand-"

Sirius stopped slowly juggling the child to stare at Remus. "Are you saying- What are you saying?"

"I've only made this decision for me. You are free to make your own decisions."

Sirius shook his head, horrified. "No. If it's a package deal, I'm in."

"You ought to think about this, Sirius. You have that luxury."

"I haven't," Sirius shrugged, then repeated, more firmly this time, "I haven't." He stared down into the swaddled white blankets. "So..."

"So," Remus shifted his weight a bit, uncomfortable.

Sirius, though, when he looked up again, was grinning. "We have a baby girl? A baby?" He laughed, giddy.

Remus pursed his lips together, but he couldn't help but smile in the face of Sirius' joy.

"Muggle?" Sirius asked again.

Remus nodded, lips still pursed.

"She's perfect," Sirius beamed down at her again. He laughed throatily. "She won't even be using magic, then? Not at all?"

Remus shook his head. "I suppose we'll have to raise her a bit like a squib?"

Sirius grinned. "We're going to raise her a bit like someone my mum can never get her nasty paws on." Sirius leaned forward and kissed his boyfriend tenderly, and Remus responded in kind, their bodies wrapping instinctively around the small child between them. "Thank you, Moony. She's perfect. She's a perfect little Muggle baby and she's going to be a famous musician, or- or Prime Minister of the Muggles, or an astronaut!"

"Well, she's not quite a Muggle, you understand. She's a werewolf, now."

"Yeah," Sirius nodded, thoughtful. "I guess that could be awkward on a trip to the Moon. So maybe not an astronaut?"

Remus laughed. Sirius' enthusiasm was infectious.

"A drummer!" Sirius exclaimed, pulling back the blanket a bit. The little girl, tufted blonde hair and green eyes screwed up in sleep, was waving her arms about in her dreams. "She needs a drum set," Sirius reaffirmed.

"She needs a clean nappie," Remus poked Sirius on the arm.

"Right. And you know who has a baby and nappies and advice and who needs to know about this?"

"Shall we Floo to James and Lils', then?" Remus asked.

"Yes, to James and Lils!"

*****

The bottle of wine made a second circuit around the living room. "Wow," James breathed again. "Yeah," Lily echoed.

They hadn't said much other than that all evening, other than, of course, getting Remus and Sirius set up with some baby stuff with promises to do better come weekend, when they could all go to Diagon together. Now that both babies were sound asleep in another room with all sorts of alarms and caterwauling charms cast on them, their parents were able to sit and absorb the change in the situation.

"Listen," Remus leaned forward, lines creasing his face. He seemed, to Sirius' eyes, to be growing older by the minute. "I..." He choked up, cleared his throat, and started again. "I know I've done something- unforgivable."

"No, Remus. No," Lily interjected.

"But I appreciate you both helping us. I appreciate you, too, Sirius, taking this as easily as you- I-" His throat clogged again and he gulped wine. "I'm so sorry," he finished, stamping a hand over his eyes. "I'm so... ashamed of myself." He was clearly crying, and the other three friends exchanged concerned glances.

"No," Lily sighed again.

Sirius stood, putting a hand on Remus' shoulder. "I think it's been a long day for us."

"And emotional one, too, I'd bet," James muttered, looking crestfallen.

"We'll just be collecting our things- thanks so much for all this loaner baby stuff- and the little girl-"

"Daughter," Lily breathed, sounding as if the word shocked her as much as anyone.

"Yeah, her," Sirius frowned. "We'll see you soon. This weekend. Diagon will be great."

Lily shook her head and stood, and James followed suit. Remus stayed slumped in his chair, hand covering his face, making uncomfortable sniffling noises into his palm.

"I'll come by tomorrow," Lily offered.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea," Sirius whispered.

"Oh. Alright," she nodded. "You guys... I love you both so much." She threw thin, pale arms around Remus, and his sniffles turned swiftly into barely-veiled sobs. "I love you, Remus. We all love you. So much. She's a lucky little girl. She could have fallen into much worse hands. We'll do this together. All together, okay." She pried his hand from his face, and he swiped once last time at red-rimmed eyes.

"Sorry," Remus whispered.

"You should be sorry," she pouted, "you finished our last bottle of my favourite wine."

Remus laughed half-heartedly, all the friends exchanged hugs, and Remus and Sirius returned home with the- with their daughter. There was a lot left to overcome, many things to do, but the first few were done. They'd get through it all somehow.