Chapter 21
October 2004
Remus sat up drowsily and leant back on one elbow, looking at her with bleary eyes.
Dora was leaning up against the bed frame, deep in thought before deciding, "Waffle with peanut butter-"
Remus feigned an exaggerated sigh of relief, "That sounds normal enough," He grinned and she chuckled, knowing he was implying to the time she was pregnant with Tory and Hope and craved rice with barbeque sauce and butter for breakfast. Despite Remus' disgust, he scoured the nearby markets and those further away just to get some rice and barbeque sauce in the morning. Even after being rewarded with a kiss for his find, Remus still found it hard to watch her devour her craving.
"I'm not finished…"
Remus paled slightly, swallowing, "I knew it wouldn't be that easy, go on,"
"With spaghetti sauce and ice cream please?" Dora asked, having the sense to look sheepish this time and not as if it was the best food in the world.
Remus didn't have to feign an expression of disgust, it was disgusting, "Dora, sweetheart, you'll get sick eating that," He tried to explain it to her gently, like he did with all her previous cravings.
And like how she was with her previous craving, she was firm in her decision, "No I wouldn't," She insisted, looking at him with almond shaped grey eyes, pouting. He sighed, getting out of bed and grabbing some pants and shirt to change into.
"Alright," He muttered, "I'll just go out to get the ice cream, we ran out of strawberry ice cream," Remus looked at her pointedly and she blushed, knowing she devoured them last week, topping her crackers with it.
"Thank you sweetheart," she whispered as he headed out.
It was the middle of the night at 1am and Dora couldn't sleep. Her mind unwittingly thought of food and Dora found herself salivating with the thought of devouring waffles with peanut butter, spaghetti sauce with ice cream. She didn't want to wake Remus but ended up tossing and turning in bed and waking him anyway.
As Remus left the house. Dora got out of bed clumsily with her heavily swollen belly. Being as careful as she could, she took the stairs slowly.
The kitchen lights were already switched on, no doubt another one of Remus' thoughtfulness.
Trying to knead the painful knot in the small of her back, Dora took out the waffle iron they had and heated it up.
She was well into mixing the batter when Remus returned. He entered the kitchen, raising the bag in his hand in triumph. He laughed as he took in Dora's appearance.
"What?" She frowned, "Don't laugh at me…I'm doing the best I can…" Her hair turned brown as she looked down into the mess of the mixing bowl.
"There's flour everywhere sweetheart!" Remus laughed, gesturing at the floor and the counter. He cupped her flour stained cheek, using the pads of his thumb to get rid of them as best as she could, "let me," He kissed her nose before taking the bowl from her, "go take a seat before you get cramps in your leg, please,"
Sighing at the mess she made, Dora relented and sat down at the table, watching Remus go about the kitchen with a grace she will never master.
A sudden thought occurred to her, "Remus," She spoke and he glanced at her over his shoulder while beating the egg white, "I'm a horrible wife, aren't I?" She choked over her words and Remus frowned, waving his wand for the whisk to beat the egg whites themselves before walking over to her.
"Why do you say that?" He tilted her face up to look at him.
She sniffed, "I can't cook, I can't clean. Merlin I can't even wash your clothes with magic without putting holes in them or causing a mess,"
Remus cupped her face in his hands, "well, you keep me well fed, our house hasn't turned into a beaver's den and I'm wearing clean clothes which aren't riddled with holes, aren't I?"
Her knitted brows remained so, "that's because you're an excellent husband who does everything without complaint…"
"You know that is not true, Dora. I do not do everything," Remus objected, "you did your share and we made this work together. You know how much a slob I can be too," He smoothed her hair, "and you're forgetting what's important. A good wife doesn't entail being a good housewife; cooking, cleaning and washing. A good wife loves her husband and kids, no matter what, and you do that perfectly. You have so much love in your heart for all of us, Dora,"
"I-" She opened her mouth to counter but he silenced her with a look.
"And most importantly, you made me love myself almost as much as I love you,"
Without missing a beat, she threw her arms around his neck, "I'll love you so much one day, you'll love yourself as much as I love you," she pressed a firm kiss to his cheek and pulled away.
He smiled, pressing a kiss to her lips with finality, "look at you. If you're not a good wife, I know don't what a good wife should be,"
"I don't know why I doubted it," She muttered, blushing.
He laughed as he went back to baking, throwing all the contents together and mixing them by hand, "With Teddy, it was fear for the war. With Lyall, it was fear over your work. With the twins, it was fear for the kids. And now," Remus' fond gaze dropped to her swollen belly, "it's fear for our relationship? That about sums up your life, Dora," He teased, "I truly think this will be our last one,"
Dora poked out tongue out at him, looking down at her belly, "Aren't we hungry, little one? Daddy's being a slow-poke," She felt a kick on her hand and laughed, nodding, "Yeah, Daddy's lazy, isn't he?"
Remus laughed lightly, shaking his head at her antics.
"But he's a good daddy y'know," He heard her whisper to her swollen bump, "he teaches your 3 brothers and Hope perfectly. He takes care of all of us and he makes mummy feel better every time I feel sad. Did you know you came into this world because Daddy loves mummy very much? So you see, he's a great daddy and he's your daddy. Aren't you excited to meet him?"
Remus laughed, turning to pull her into a warm hug before she tickled him, forcing him to continue making the waffle. He placed the batter in the waffles iron and worked on the spaghetti sauce. Dora peered over his shoulder, humming in satisfaction as she took in the smell.
"You're sure about this?" Remus looked skeptically at her as he hovered the pan of tomato spaghetti sauce over her waffles, already caked with peanut butter and a scoop of strawberry ice cream at the top. It looked great but Dora insisted the spaghetti sauce was the main ingredient in her craving and it was crucial that it went last, over everything.
"Yes," she nodded firmly. Remus puckered his face as inconspicuously as he could as he tipped the pan of sauce over it. Dora's face lit up and she licked her lips as she pierced her fork into the tomato spaghetti sauce coated waffle. Remus sat down gingerly beside her, watching her eat. She hummed appreciatively, thanking him in between bites while he watched on dubiously.
"Dora, you'll get sick…" He practically pleaded with her as she took a huge scoop off her strawberry ice cream that had traces of sauce on it.
"No, I won't," She smiled, wolfing it down, pausing only for a moment for offer him some to which he rejected as politely as he could. Dora looked at him in disbelief as if she couldn't believe he would say no to it before taking the bite for herself.
He gazed at her eat for a long moment, his heart warming at the sight of her smile as she tasted the food briefly before devouring it. Finally, not able to take seeing the mutilated waffle, Remus swallowed his disgust, opening a chocolate bar to eat to quell his turning stomach. Dora glanced at him, spotting the chocolate and stared at it. He looked down at her plate to see it already empty and when he turned back to her, she was watching him with wide moist grey eyes, pleading with him.
Sighing, he took a first and last bite before handing it over reluctantly.
"Remus John Lupin, I love you," Her beam made up for it a little as the chocolate left his hand. She grinned, getting up clumsily from her chair with his help and tottered over to the refrigerator; a muggle thing that was essential since Dora never got the hang of long term cooling charm for food.
He watched in absolutely horror as she opened up their bottle of pickle and dipped his chocolate bar into it.
"Dora!" He choked, unable to stop her in time, "That's not how we eat chocolate!" Remus' voice reached an impossible pitch in his horror.
She frowned at him, "Daddy!" She pouted, "we wanna eat it like this!" She stomped her feet.
Remus sighed, nodding, "Okay…if it makes you happy," and she grinned, proceeding to finish up the chocolate bar that way.
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews previous chapter! It was amazing and it inspired this chapter! Hope you enjoyed it!
Lupinfamily4ever: Thank you so much for your kind review! Yeah, I feel kind of sad about the kids growing up but oh wells, they'll only grow up from here. I'm glad you find Tonks relatable! Yes, I'm so happy I managed to bring out the family bond of the Lupins! Hope you enjoy this chapter too! Thank you for your long reviews all these chapters, they really inspire and keep me going!