This is a story I couldn't help doing after I read Deathly Hallows. It was originally conceived as part of a larger story that will, if I ever find the time to write it, chronicle the love story of Remus and Tonks. In the event it happens, this is a chapter from that story. Uneasy the Course of Love

Oh yeah and I don't own Harry Potter, if I did, Remus and Tonks would still be alive.

Uneasy the Course of Love: The Return

The Tonks' household was quiet, silently tucked away in their beds, while Remus Lupin stood on the door step and waited. For what he was anticipating, he did not know. Some sign letting him know that he had not completely buggered his relationship with his wife and that somehow, after everything he'd already put her through, Nymphadora could forgive him.

After Harry's reception of him yesterday, he doubted that Dora's would be any more welcoming. Regardless, he'd resigned himself to try...and to do more then try. If she would not take him back, then he would have to find some way to wriggle his way into his place in her heart, even if he had to beg on hands and knees. For too long he'd been too proud.

But there was no blinding flash or directional map in front of him, no friends to urge him to fix a row that should never had been.

He mustered his Gryffindor courage, threw off the usual bite of pride that came any time he entered the house that was not his own, and shut the door quietly behind him. The front room was empty, mercifully. He did not wish to see Andromeda glaring at him as he came running back with his tail between his legs. His hubris could only take so much.

Mounting the stairs that lead down to the small apartment that Dora's mother and father had cobbled together for them upon, he passed a line of baby pictures of his wife. He smiled at each individual one as it displayed a different color of hair or eyes. It was a sad sort of smile. Remus still wasn't one hundred percent sure that any baby would be safe in his presence. But Dora and their unborn child deserved his willingness to try.

He would not leave them again until they kicked him out.

Lightly, he knocked on the door that lead to their bedroom.

"Mum, I told you its just a touch of morning sickness," Tonks' voice came through muffled by the door. "I just need to lay down."

"Dora, its me," he called, loud enough so she might hear him but careful not to wake the others.

Silence followed after that. Not even the sound of Dora's tripping feet.

After long inexorable moments. He palmed the door open and crossed the threshold. Dora was sitting up in bed, her hair shifting colors as though caught in an unseen breeze. Her face was paler then it had ever been before, but despite that, she seemed to glow vibrantly. Guardedly, she regarded him.

They eyed one another for a long time, Remus unable to think of how to broach the subject that stood between them.

"What are you doing here, Remus?" Dora asked, her voice tired and broken.

He cringed, knowing that he was at fault for her lackluster. "I...I've come to apologize."

"Apologize?" she said a bit dubiously. Then she nodded her colorful head. "Well, if you're done. I'd like to get some sleep. Please shut the door when you leave."

"Dora?" he said, thrown slightly by her attitude.

"Don't," she snapped, her voice made watery by tears. "Just don't."

At the tone of defeat and the way her shoulders slumped, he cursed himself for ever being so cruel. He took a step forward, having every intention of loving that pain away from her.

"By Merlin, Remus, if you take another step, I'll curse you." As if her words weren't enough, she brandished her wand in front of her.

That stilled his feet, his hand curling around the wand in his pocket in case he had to relieve Dora of her own. It was never wise to duel with ones wife. "What do you want me to do?"

"So now you ask me what I want?"

"I've always tried to do what was best for you," he tried to explain lamely.

She shot out of the bed, walked the gap between them, and shoved him hard. "Well, I'm sick and tired of what you think is best." She huffed, turning away from him as he stumbled to gain his footing. "I've been patient. I've been the bloody soul of patience. But I can't take this anymore."

"So what are you saying?" he asked, the words sticking in his mouth. He had never seen her so angry, save for when she was battling Death Eaters.

She hugged herself, her back still towards him. "I'm saying, maybe you were right."

Heart freezing in his chest, Remus felt his worst fear rise to the surface. He was too late. He'd realized his folly only after destroying what was nearest and dearest to him. "Do you want me to leave?" he asked, his voice coming out harsher and angrier then he intended.

"Don't you dare get mad at me," she hissed, swinging back to face him and looking for all the world that she wanted to push him again. Her hair settled on a very violent crimson and it was as though fire blazed behind her dark eyes. "You're the one who walked out."

"I know! I was a fool!" It was becoming increasingly more difficult to keep his tone under control. Few people could effectively get him riled, by Nymphadora Lupin certainly had a special talent for it.

Her dark eyes narrowed in vindictive pride. "And how long before your foolishness causes you to leave me again. This time with a baby."

"I...," he drew off. What could he properly say to her? "I...somehow, I'll gain back your trust."

She shook her head, her hair and eyes losing their color as she was robbed of control of her morphing. "If you stay long enough."

Remus closed his eyes, sucking in a stuttering breath. "You aren't the first person I've pushed away, Nymphadora. You've just been the hardest."

That startled her to silence for a moment before she gave an indelicate snort. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

After another pregnant pause, Remus continued. "I'm sorry. You're probably beginning to wonder if that word has lost meaning to me, but truly I am. I wasn't prepared to deal with this so shortly after we were married. And I reacted badly."

"Two weeks, Remus. Two weeks, without knowing if you were alive or dead and wondering if I would ever know. Were in the middle of a war, you prat."

"I'm sor..."

"Don't tell me you're sorry," she snapped, her voice razor sharp. "Your words really don't mean anything to me right now."

Her hands balled into fists at her sides and her face was starting to turn red with the blood rushing in her anger. Remus hadn't been thick enough to think he could fix everything in this single night, but he knew now that his presence wasn't helping Dora any. He was suddenly struck with the fact that it wasn't just his Dora any more, but the child she carried inside of her.

"I'm going to go upstairs," he said evenly. Her anger and doubt towards him was well deserved, he wouldn't argue this with her further. "I'll be on the couch if you need me."

"What?"

"You aren't well and in your present condition I have no wish to expedite it further," he said. Courageously, he stepped up to her and cupped her face with his hand. She tried to resist him but he used gentle pressure to bring her eyes to his. He leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly against hers. "Good night."

He turned to walk away, but was stopped as she grabbed his arm. Entertaining the thought that she might not want him to leave her and that they lay side by side in their bed, vanished when she asked, "Will you be there when I wake up?"

"I will."