Title: "Anger suffers as grief withdraws"

Author: Buzzlikebee19

Pairing: Remus/Tonks

Warning: Diabetes. Cuz of all the fluff. And a little bit of language.

Disclaimer: I sooo don't own them, or a chapter of book 7 would just be about these two

Summary: In the first few days of him being home, Remus tries to reconcile with Nymphadora, whom is trying to deny him.

A/N: I really like writing pregnant!Tonks for some reason. She's too much fun. (Also, if you like it review?)

Awaking from her slumber, she could hear him in the bathroom getting ready for the day that lay ahead.

"It's too damn early," Tonks muttered to herself, rolling over and pulling the covers over her head to block out the light from the bathroom.

"Dora? Are you awake?" He called out to her. She ignored him. She didn't want to talk to him right now. Three days ago, if someone had told her that Remus would be back she would have sadly shaken her head and politely tried to inform them that they were mistaken.

Now that he was here, in the flesh, performing his daily routine as if nothing had gone amiss she couldn't help but be irritated by it. How could he leave her and their unborn child and just come back expecting to be forgiven?

"But he didn't," she thinks to herself, as the events of two days prior swam back into her consciousness.

It was just like any other day at her mother's house. Nymphadora woke up late and laid there for a while before going to the bathroom and pulling her pitiful brown hair into a ponytail, not bothering to comb it or make herself look more presentable. She joined her mother in the kitchen, and sat in morose silence, not worried to look up when her mother placed a cup of tea in front of her.

"Have you heard anything from dad?" She asked at long last, hoping for, yet not really expecting the answer she wanted.

"Not yet," her mother replied, feigning an optimistic tone that neither of the women really felt. "But I'm sure he'll owl soon."

Tonks nodded and sipped her tea. She thought about Remus, and what he could be doing now. The full moon had passed a couple of weeks ago, and it tore her up inside not knowing how badly he was hurt, or if he had been attacked or mortally wounded while he was still weak. Her mind had been taking her to surprisingly dark places lately, and she hated him for it. Hated him for thinking he was doing what was best for her, when in reality; she was suffering more than she ever thought she could.

She never wanted to see him again. If Remus John Lupin walked up to her door right now she would give him something he would never forget, and she wouldn't even-

A knock at the door halted her musings as her mother rushed back into the room. They gave each other a look, and her mother gestured for her to stay in the kitchen while she drew her wand to check the door.

"Who goes there?" She shouted, wand at the ready for any possible attack. Tonks stood ready at the threshold to the kitchen with her wand. Neither expected the voice that announced back:

"It is I, Remus John Lupin, werewolf, married to Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin whom is expecting a child and should be about 27 weeks along by now."

With that, Andromeda cast a wary glance toward her daughter before undoing the protective charms locking the door and admitting him entrance.

He stood there looking at her sheepishly, as Andromeda quietly recast the protective charms on the house before excusing herself to the kitchen, so she could still hear what was going on.

"Hello Dora," he ventured to say, looking at her from under his eyelashes.

Her face was unreadable. After all of this time, and all of the worry, he was back. She did the only thing that came to mind. She hexed him.

When he awoke, he became insufferable, as he started apologizing and would not stop no matter how many 'I knows' or 'alrights' she gave him in response. Finally, when he'd popped in on her in the bathroom before bed she had had enough. "You great git! If you don't leave me alone I'm going to hex you so that you never make another baby again!"

She'd never seen him disappear so fast.

Back in the present, Tonks chuckled to herself at the face he had made, wishing she had a pensieve so she could remember it forever. This was the wrong move however, as his voice floated into her consciousness from somewhere around the edge of the bed.

"See, I knew you were awake," he said with a smile in his voice, attempting to prize the covers off of her but finding it quite difficult, as she had the duvet tight in her grasp.

"Let me back in, I'm cold!" He said in a mock petulant tone, still pulling.

"Well you might as well freeze then," she shot back at him, refusing to let herself be swayed. He stopped pulling, but she held her ground, knowing he was just thinking of a clever plan for himself.

She was right of course, as she felt the weight of him on the end of the bed near her feet. He started to crawl up over her, pressing his body into her with every move he made. These were the moments that she missed the most. When their minds weren't weighed down by the sadness and grief of the war, and Remus wasn't caught up with how much he was ruining her life just by being with her.

Finally he made it up to where he face should be, and said "Excuse me ma'am but do you know if my wife is in there? I'd like to give her a kiss."

"Well, I've spoken with her, and she's told me she's still angry with you." For an extra dig she added, "And she thinks maybe you should sleep on the couch."

Though she tried to make the venom of the words evident in her tone, she didn't really mean it. Inside, she was happier than ever that she was able to sleep next to him again. It was the nights alone that had affected her the most. The first few weeks she stayed up, thinking that he'd probably not want to face her, and come back while she was asleep. Once that idea fell away, around the time of the full moon, she cried.

Every night she didn't know what was happening, or whether he might be cold, or if he had had enough food she shed tears for her husband. Every night that he was back, wrapping his arm protectively over her in his sleep, nuzzling into her hair and whispering "I love you" before he fell asleep, she felt a little more of the grief slip away.

He moved to straddle her covered form and said "Well thank Merlin she didn't ask me to sleep on newspapers in the kitchen. It would have been awful for her to forget that I was house-trained."

That did it. She tried to hide her giggles at first, but the more she thought about it, the more she laughed, until he had to move from her for fear of being toppled off of the bed. Her laughter seemed to have awoken the baby inside of her, for she received a powerful kick that sent her hands flying to that spot to soothe the pain she was now experiencing.

"Shh, I'm sorry, mummy got too excited. Go back to sleep," she whispered.

"A-HA!" Remus cried, snatching the duvet from the bed, at last revealing her scantily clad form. Tonks wasn't paying him any mind, however, for she was now rubbing her belly and whispering sweet nothings to their child. He sat quietly and watched the scene before him, feeling as though his heart might explode from the love he was feeling towards the two of them.

He took the blanket and brought it back over the two of them, while still keeping his distance in case she didn't want him too close. Her response to this was to take his hand and place it on an exposed part of her belly.

"Dora, what are you-"

She hushed him, and a moment later he felt a light tap in the palm of his hand, that if her hand hadn't been holding his in place, he would have missed.

"Was that…" He looked into her eyes; afraid to ask for fear that he had imagined it.

She simply smiled and nodded her head, moving his hand to another place on her stomach where the baby was rolling over.

His eyes widened in surprise. "Active little tyke aren't we?" he said as he put both hands on her spread his fingers in wonderment. He had missed the stage of watching her get bigger as the days went by. And he knew he had missed the moment where she first felt the baby move. But he was determined not to miss anything else. He leaned over to kiss her softly.

"Thank you," he whispered to her.

"For what?"

"Carrying my child. Reminding me of who I am…taking me back." He said, casting his eyes downward in shame.

She grabbed him into an awkward sideways hug and kissed him. "Oh Remus, I can't stay angry at you very long at all," she confessed, shifting into a more comfortable position with her back to him. He obliged, wrapping his arm around her and placing his hand on her belly. They laid in silence for a while, enjoying each other and the quiet pleasure of lying in bed together. Right when he thought he might fall asleep again, her voice drifted though the silence.

"But if you ever leave us again, I really will hex your balls off."