Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Anna and Sirius strolled toward their rooms. They were both exhausted after the emotional walk down memory lane, but Anna felt her anxiety building as the moment of separation grew closer. Sirius bent to kiss her goodnight quickly and gently before pulling away and whispering good night.

Sirius turned to go to his bedroom and panic seized her.

"Wait!"

Startled, Sirius turned to look at her.

"What is it?"

Anna colored. She felt like a child.

"I…I just panicked for a moment when you turned away."

She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat as Sirius looked at her. His face fell the moment he understood.

"Ah, love," he came back to her and held her face in his hands. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I know. I'm sorry, I'll just…"

Anna cleared her throat and tried to get control. This was ridiculous. She turned to open the door and was surprised when Sirius followed her inside. When she turned, he was watching her intently.

"Bird, talk to me."

"Can I ask you a blunt question?"

His eyes cleared as he looked at her, waiting for her to ask. She tried to keep her tone light and attempted not to blush, but she knew it wouldn't work, so she averted her gaze.

"Why am I staying in here and not with you?"

"I…um…"

She stood there, waiting several beats for him to answer and feeling insecure. Fourteen years could change a lot of things. He loved her, but what if he didn't want her anymore? His gaze was burning her as he walked closer, and she backed up against the closed door.

"So…first off, we hadn't talked about any of it yet, and I didn't want to be presumptuous. Secondly, there are an awful lot of people in this house, Molly Weasley included, and I don't really want to give her another reason to think I'm unfit to take care of Harry."

Anna snorted as she stared down at the floor, although Sirius was standing directly in front of her, blocking her view.

"We both know you don't care what Molly says."

"Well, not really. But I do care what Harry thinks and I want to be a good example to him."

He was leaning over her now, one arm against the wall, leaning in to look at her face. He bent down to look at her face and cupped her chin to tip it upward. It had always frustrated him not to see her eyes. Anna flushed, knowing he would read her insecurity as if it were written all over her face. She could see realization flickering in his eyes, before an expression flitted across his face that she couldn't read. It looked like an odd combination of annoyance and pride. Shaking his head in exasperation, he sighed as he leaned in closer, driving Anna crazy with his nearness. His right hand holding her face, he slipped his left hand around her waist, yanking her against him as he stared her down.

"You daft girl, of course I want you."

The last words were mumbled, his lips dragging against hers as he finished. Then, he was kissing her as he hadn't for fourteen years. It was unrestrained passion, the two of them a jumble of lips, mouths and tongues as his rough hands caressed the skin of her lower back and waist and she melted into him. Finally, he pulled back, gasping for breath as he rested his forehead on her collarbone and she leaned heavily against the door.

"Got that?" he whispered, kissing the hollow of her throat.

"Got it," she whispered back, and he pulled back to look at her, his pupils still dilated.

He leaned in to kiss her cheek gently and smirked as he pulled back to take in her own beaming face.

"For such an intelligent woman, you can be incredibly stupid sometimes, Bird."

"Yeah, yeah. You talk a lot of trash for someone who panty-raided McGonagall. More than once, might I add."

Anna closed her eyes, relishing the sound of his barking laughter, before plopping down on the sofa. He collapsed next to her. When he didn't speak, she turned to look at him expectantly.

"So…you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah, we got to talk some last night, but there's a lot to cover. I want to know how you are. I want to know…well I guess you can't literally tell me everything you've been through, but I want to know what's happened since…since I walked out that night."

Anna took a deep breath as she felt the chill of the house surround her again. It wasn't something she liked discussing, difficult as it was for both of them. But she realized she needed to tell him, as much as he needed to know.

"Well, I waited for a while for you to come back. Once I gave up on that, I went over to Wormtail's and he was there."

Sirius sat up quickly with a startled yelp.

"He didn't do anything to me—well, nothing physical that is. He just kind of sneered at me and said you were at James and Lily's house. I didn't know what had happened, but the way he said it, I knew it was nothing good."

She swallowed, not really wanting to say the next words, when she heard him whisper, "Don't spare me."

Anna nodded and plunged ahead. It was probably best to get it over with quickly.

"I saw their house. I could hear your motorbike in the distance. I must have just barely missed you."

She stared down at her hands as she heard his intake of breath.

"I went to find you, I ran around all night and into the next day, everywhere I could think of. Back to Wormtail's, but he had left, your apartment, Remus's. Finally, I went to the Hog's Head and Grandfather told me about Harry. I didn't know he was alive until then, and I was so relieved… then he told me about you. I went straight to Uncle Albus, but they'd already sent Harry to the Dursleys and taken you…away."

Anna looked up at him, but his face was in his hands, so she looked down at the carpet.

"I tried to get you out, at least to get you a trial or questioning under veritaserum, but I…I failed you."

"Bullshit."

When she turned to look at him in surprise, Sirius was sitting straight up, glaring at her, gray eyes blazing.

"I don't…"

"That's bullshit, Anna. You didn't fail me. Remus already told me about how you ran yourself ragged trying to convince them all and they just tried to have you committed or thrown in jail. You're the only one who believed in me-the only one who didn't fail me."

Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at him, seeing the sincerity in his gaze.

"Harry…"

"You didn't fail Harry, either. You tried to get him, and when you couldn't, you went after him. It's the same as with me. Neither of us blames you for things that were out of your control."

He reached up and wiped a tear off her cheek.

"What happened next?"

Anna sniffed before continuing.

"The next two months are kind of a blur. The next thing I remember clearly is going to your flat on Christmas to clean out your stuff—oh! I have some of your things!"

She moved as if to get up to get her suitcase, but Sirius grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back down.

"It can wait, Bird. I want to know about you right now."

His intense expression showed that he was not going to let her out of finishing the story, so she settled in, squeezing his hand for strength.

"It was…" she paused, trying to think of a word hard enough to fit, and gave up, realizing none would, "painful. That was the first time I cried since Halloween. It was…worse than with my parents."

Sirius squeezed her shoulder in understanding. She hadn't cried after her parents' murder. She hadn't moved for three days, not until the Potters went to the Hogwarts' hospital wing to get her. The tears had finally come when James wrapped his arms around her. He had been her rock, and this time, she hadn't had that.

"It was kind of a turning point. I realized that you would want me to help Harry, so that's when I came up with the plan for Remus and me to take him out of the country. Of course, you know how that turned out."

Sirius sighed, nodding his head against her shoulder, his arm going around her.

"I remembered where Lily said Petunia lived and I snooped around. Finally, I figured out where they were sending Harry during the day, so I got a job there. I managed to stay with him, as much as I could. Then McGonagall found me and decided to help me, so we thought up the scheme of me becoming a teacher at his primary school."

She shrugged, "So, that's pretty much it. Once Harry left for Hogwarts, I took off, trying to find Wormtail, under the guise of doing research, which I did actually do, as well, and that's pretty much it. Once you broke out, I just added looking for you to the list."

Anna turned to Sirius, trying to read his expression.

"I'm sorry, Bird. I would have found you if I had any idea. I didn't even know if you were alive until the beginning of this summer. And to think you only missed me by about a minute…"

He trailed off, his eyes glazing over with pain.

"I know," she whispered back, "but we can't change it. Please don't beat yourself up over it. I meant what I said last night—it didn't change you in my eyes."

He nodded, still staring off. She waited for him to say something, but he just sat there.

"What about you? You personally. "

"Um…I don't know what you mean?"

Anna scrunched up her face as she looked at him.

"You've told me where you lived, your job…what you did with Harry, but…I mean, what about you?"

Anna continued to stare at him until he met her eyes and she saw that he looked a little afraid of an answer, though, what answer she didn't know. After a moment, he looked away and realization hit her. Her look turned incredulous. It never occurred to her that he didn't realize she had waited, and now she saw how stupid that was as she watched him stare stonily at the floor.

"Sirius, I waited. For you."

He looked up at her eyes now in surprise.

"You waited."

She nodded solemnly, blushing a little.

"You waited for fourteen years. Why?"

She nodded again. The hopeful spark inside him grew into a flame and he gaped at her, not sure he could believe it. It had been too much to expect, and it wouldn't have caused him to turn her away if she hadn't. It filled his heart to bursting, though, to know that she had loved him that deeply. It meant that there was no way he could convince her to leave now, and at that realization he felt both relief and fear. He rubbed his thumb idly across the back of her hand as she continued.

"I waited because nothing, no one, could ever satisfy compared to what we had. And I thought of you, alone in a cell, and my heart would break all over again. I could never do that, even if you would have forgiven me—I couldn't. Moving on, at least in that way…it was never even a thought."

Sirius stared at her in wonder and then took a huge breath and let it out slowly. Anna broke in again,

"I know that your feelings may have changed after all this time and I would understand—"

"It's not that at all. I want you with me more than I ever have. That's what I'm afraid of."

"Sirius, I'm not going anywhere—if all that waiting doesn't prove it to you then I don't know what will."

Gripping his hand tightly, she implored him with her dark blue eyes, and he spilled.

"It's that I'm not sure you shouldn't be going elsewhere. I may not be fully mad from Azkaban, but I'm—" his voice cracked, "not completely sane either. You and Harry, Remus… you're the only lights in my life now, and I'm not sure I want to saddle you with that burden. I love you too much. I would hate if the darkness inside of me were to swallow you up."

He closed his eyes in defeat and started as her hands firmly grabbed either side of his face. He peeked up at her tentatively. Her eyes were flashing lightning at him with an anger that made him blink.

"Sirius Orion Black, you prat, if you think you can send any of us away for some stupid, noble reason, then you can just get over it. I've not waited this long to just let you go. Now, if you want to go off because of the thrill of being on the run, and YOU don't want to be saddled with US or something, you're an ass, but that's a separate issue…"

"No. That's it. You and Harry are the sole reason I've survived this long. If it's up to me, neither of you would ever leave my side."

Anna smirked in triumph and sank down against him.

"I don't see what the problem is, then. I'm not leaving."

He gave up, knowing that it was a losing battle, and not one he really wanted to fight anyway.

"I love you too."

He pulled her tighter against him without saying anything as his heart welled up.

"Oh, right," she sat up straight, "I have some of your stuff. Do you want it?"

Sirius was taken aback. That hadn't even crossed his mind. He'd lived in his prison robes for months and years on end and now was living in old robes he'd found that were probably his father's. The thought made him shudder. He had wished for his own clothes hundreds of times, but he thought surely that everything was gone.

"Yeah, I do. What have you got?"

"Well, grandfather SHOULD have most of your pictures and things like that. I asked, but I was leaving and I'm not sure they listened. But I have some jeans and shirts you left at my flat, and I have your jacket."

Sirius froze. He had been sure the jacket and its contents had been lost years ago. She smiled at him knowingly, clearly thinking of how much he had loved that jacket. And he did love it, it was a treasure in and of itself, a gift from the Marauders to go with his pride and joy, his motorbike. His heart quickened as he realized what was hidden inside might not be missing after all.

"Do you want it now?"

He nodded, but grabbed her by the waist and held tight when she made to get up.

"Use your wand, Bird."

"I don't want to be lazy. I can go get it."

"Yes, yes, we wizards are idle sloths, using our wands for everything. Even so, I am not letting you off this couch. You've been running around all day—no need to feel overwhelmed by a late night bought of laziness."

"Your laziness—I'm perfectly willing to go over there and grab it."

He grinned at her and flicked his own wand to bring her case closer, then gestured at her to do the honors. She sighed in resignation and flicked her own wand to open the zipper and then summoned the jacket and handed it to him.

It felt even better than he'd remembered, more broken in and soft. Lifting it to his nose, he inhaled deeply and was greeted by Anna's spicy scent, along with leather. He looked up at her in question.

"I wear it sometimes."

Searching her eyes for more information, he didn't find any. It must've fallen out; surely she would have found it otherwise. He put it on and reached into the lining behind the right pocket out of habit.

"Oh, the picture. It's here," she said, leaning forward to unzip the side pocket of her suitcase.

While she was doing that, he reached into a miniscule slit in the lining behind the left front flap and wiggled his finger, trying not to cry out in triumph as he felt the edge of her mother's band. Did she know? He looked over, but she was still digging. Relief washed over him that it hadn't been lost.

"You didn't find anything else in there, did you?"

She squinted up at him, holding out the picture. He took it, not looking, because he had memorized it long ago.

"Nothing, was there supposed to be?"

Searching her eyes, he had to conclude that she didn't know it was there. Of course, it was attached to the lining with magic, but it had been years.

"Just a pack of cigarettes," he responded, knowing it would set her off, and he wasn't disappointed as she scoffed and sat up with a glare.

"Don't tell me you're smoking again! That's incredibly stupid—no matter what you think about muggle science, in this case, it is completely correct and there's tons of evidence—"

"Yes, yes I know. I haven't smoked since you made me quit years ago. I just like seeing you all riled up."

He did at that, even in the dimly lit room, her cheeks had flushed prettily and her eyes sparkled at him, crackling with annoyance. He smirked and plunged his hands into his pockets.

"What do you think?"

She bit her lip as she looked at him. Leaning in, she grabbed him by the edges of the jacket.

"You're still pretty damn sexy."

He laughed as she looked at him, knowing he looked ridiculous with the jacket over the ancient robes he was wearing.

"I wasn't lying," she pouted at him.

"Well, if I didn't believe you before about waiting, which I did," he said in answer to her threatening look, "I would now. If this qualifies as sexy, you must have been pretty lonely."

She rolled her eyes at him as he shrugged off the jacket and sank back down against the cushions, draping the jacket across the arm of the sofa. He studied her for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to tell her when she cut in.

"What you said before, about wanting to be a good example to Harry. What exactly did you mean?"

"Oh, right," he said, "Uh…I just meant that I would rather Harry be like James than me in that respect. You know," he elaborated at her confused look, "he only ever dated Lily…"

"That was years ago, Sirius. I mean, as far as I know, it was." She looked at him threateningly.

"It was!" he assured her. "It definitely was—it's only been you since sixth year. I just…um…" Sirius trailed off. How could he explain himself without just full out asking her? He changed tacks.

"Do you remember that conversation we had? After we watched Harry that weekend, about the war, kids?"

Anna blanched in response and he winced at the look on her face. That had been one of their biggest arguments ever. They rarely fought, but when they had, it was not pretty. She had brought up the subject of marriage, unaware that he had just spent an hour trying to calm James' agonizing fears for his wife and son. He had responded vehemently that he didn't intend to get married or have children while Voldemort was still around and his abrupt response had hurt her deeply.

"I remember," she responded, with a closed expression.

"I said that because I was scared of what might happen to you. I thought if I…married you, that you would be a target-"

"That again?" Anna's look had turned deadly. He sighed.

"I know. It gets better, I promise."

She nodded shortly and he winced. This wasn't exactly how he'd wanted to do this.

"Then you got hurt, the night that Gideon and Fabian died."

A shadow passed across her eyes as they both remembered. They had been too late to save their friends, and it still smarted. Dolohov had hit her with a pretty severe curse and she had been laid up at St. Mungo's for days as he had haunted the halls, terrified that she wouldn't make it out alive.

"I never got the chance to tell you. I realized then, when I saw you unconscious on that ground, that it didn't matter that we weren't married—if you died, it would kill me, either way."

He saw blue eyes widen as she began to realize what he was saying.

"Do you mean…you were…?"

Sirius stared back at her, trying to gauge her reaction. He picked up the jacket and handed it to her. She looked at him, bewildered.

"I went to talk to Prongs. He reamed me out for being a coward and told me I was missing out by holding back; that despite everything, he wouldn't have traded those years with Lily and Harry. He helped me get something."

He reached across to pull open the left flap of the jacket and pointed to the hidden pocket with his wand, muttering a spell. Gesturing to her to reach in, Sirius held his breath and let it out slowly. Anna watched him closely for a moment before complying. He could tell the moment she found it because she froze and turned to stare at him, her eyes bright with tears. Realizing she wasn't even going to look, he spoke up.

"It was your mother's. I was going to ask you that night that we found out about the prophecy. Then, everything went to hell and I never got the chance. I'm sorry I didn't ask a long time ago."

He reached up and wiped away a tear that had slipped from her eye.

"Love you," she finally managed though her voice was strained from trying not to cry. She opened her mouth to speak again, but couldn't, so she pulled him down to kiss her. He closed his eyes and pulled her legs across his lap. Anna pulled back and looked at him, smiling with her eyes.

"Sirius, I-"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off as a yell sounded from downstairs. Their eyes caught, sharing their panic as they each grabbed their wands tightly and spun in the air, apparating down to their yelling godson.

Author's Note: So, that's it for this time. I know it's early, but Sirius insisted on this conversation happening now. (I'll tell you, he's pretty hard-headed. Just ask Remus.) Thank you for all the reads, follow, faves, and reviews!