Love Sees More 3: Greyback's Pack
Epilogue - At Last

Six years later…

"Remus…I had no idea."

"No, not a lot of people do," Remus said quietly. "I still haven't even told Sirius a lot of it." He paused and added, "I've never told anyone as much as I've just told you. Not even Dumbledore. Oh, he knows the facts, but nothing about how deeply it affected me."

Remus's wife of five years, Tala leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder. Remus wrapped an arm around her, taking extra care not to squish the slightly squirming bundle of blankets in Tala's arms.

They were in the bedroom they shared, sitting atop their bed. The bed and the room in number twelve, Grimmauld Place that had once only belonged to Remus. He almost dreaded thinking back to those days now, when he fell asleep in an empty bed by himself. Tala and his now two children had grown to be such a big part of his life, he couldn't imagine ever not having them. Had it only been six years ago that he'd been living without them?

"We met just a few weeks later, didn't we?" Tala asked, her voiced muffled by his robes. She pulled away and looked up at him, her deep brown eyes meeting his blue ones. "You were still having such a hard time with everything that had happened, and-" She broke off, burying her head in one hand. "Dear Merlin. I was making advances on you. I have awful timing, don't I?"

"You had no way of knowing," Remus reassured her. "I wasn't about to tell you, either. What did you want me to say? 'I just spent two months living with the most savage werewolf that's ever lived. This isn't exactly a good time'?" he teased.

"Yes!" Tala exclaimed. "You should have…said something."

Remus gave her a pointed look. "I reckon I did. Not about Greyback, but I used just about every other excuse I could come up with for why we shouldn't get involved. It didn't stop you."

"So I'm determined." Tala wiggled around in their bed, trying to find a more comfortable position. She finally leaned back against the stack of pillows behind her, readjusting the tiny baby in her arms. When she was settled, she asked, "Why are you telling me all this? Why now?"

Remus leaned in a little closer and reached out for the blankets in Tala's arms, moving them out of the way so he could clearly see the newest addition to their family. Their first daughter was already five years old, and they couldn't have been more thrilled to find out a few hours ago that they had another.

"Her," Remus replied. "Because you asked me what we should name her."

Tala giggled. "That was a rather roundabout way of answering me…and you still haven't answered me anyway."

"I'm getting there." Remus took a deep breath, using one of his hands to prop himself up on the mattress and stretching one leg out in front of him. "Well, first of all, we got Shandurai's middle name from my mum, Caitlin. And I think it's only fair if we name our second daughter after your mum."

Tala simply furrowed her brow. Her entire family - her parents and her older brother - had been killed in the war when Tala had been younger. It was a bit of an uncomfortable subjects, because she still had a hard time talking about them.

"I just don't know her name," Remus spurred gently. "You've never told me. So as long as it's not ugly or anything…"

Tala smiled somberly. "Her name was Rianna. Rianna Roarke."

Remus considered this. "I actually really like that. A lot."

"Me, too."

"Even more than the other name I had in mind."

"Which is?"

"Which is why I told you about Greyback and the rest of the werewolves to begin with," Remus explained. He looked down at the blankets beneath them, using his hand to smooth out some of the wrinkles that had settled into the fabric. "I've been thinking about Althea quite a bit lately. Especially since we found out we were having her for some reason." Remus reached out a finger, allowing the baby to wrap her own tiny fingers around it. "About how neither her or her sister would be here if not for Althea, because I truly think Greyback would have killed me if she hadn't been there stop him."

Tala didn't reply right away, but then she asked, "You're not in touch with her anymore, are you?"

Remus couldn't quite tell if her tone was accusing or curious, but he shook his head. "No. We never stayed in contact like we said we would. I haven't seen or spoken to her in almost as long as I've known you." Tala opened her mouth to respond, but Remus talked over her, knowing exactly what she had been about to ask. "And it had nothing to do with you. She actually moved to the states fairly quickly after we left the pack. I think she was having a difficult time remaining here, in the place where she'd been bitten and had spent so much time with Greyback. There were just too many horrible memories for her here. She needed a fresh start, and she got that. And our letters back and forth kind of stopped after that."

"You could still write to her," Tala suggested.

Remus closed his eyes for a moment. He looked pained. "No. I can't.

Tala frowned. "She's not…dead?"

"No. Dumbledore's still in touch with her," Remus explained, "so I know she's still alive. In fact, he said she seems to be doing quite well. She's really gotten into her art, and she's making enough to support herself. She's living a normal life, which was all she really wanted. I'm glad I was able to get her out of the pack and to get her on the road to finding happiness again. A part of me does miss her, and I wish we could still be contact, but another part of me is glad for the way things have turned out. To be honest, I think the fact that we stopped talking was rather mutual. Don't get me wrong. We'd gotten rather close in the time we were together, and I don't think we'll ever stop being grateful to each other for everything, but…that was during one of the most difficult periods of my life. Continuing to be in contact with her was just too much of a reminder of my time with Greyback. My friendship with her was necessary at the time, a part of the reason why I had gone to Greyback to being with. I don't know if I could have survived it at all if not for her, for the way she kept me sane while I was there, but she wasn't something that fit into my actual life. It was simply time to put all of that behind us. We never talked about it either, but I got the sense that she felt the same way, so our letters just stopped. And neither one of us tried to rectify that. Not that there was anything to rectify. Our friendship had run its course. If that makes sense."

"Yeah, it does," Tala said. "I read somewhere once that some friends come into our lives for a season. Just to help us for a little while before we part ways again. That's what Althea was for you, I think. And then there are friends like Sirius who end up being your friend for a lifetime. They just can't all be like that."

Remus smiled at the thought. "And I am glad Sirius turned out to be a lifetime friend. I couldn't have asked for anyone better."

"You thought I'd be jealous of her," Tala pointed out. "That's why you never mentioned her before."

Remus grimaced and tilted his head back and forth several times in indecision. "Partially," he reluctantly admitted. "But that wasn't the full reason I never told you about her. If I ever did talk about Althea, I knew I'd need to go into detail about where and how we met. I wasn't ready for that yet."

Tala smiled, raising a hand to cup Remus's cheek. "How could I possibly be jealous of someone that saved your life? That's partly responsible for everything we have now?"

The frown still hadn't faded from Remus's features. "Because we kissed?"

Tala hummed in thought. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way you described it, it didn't sound romantic to me. It sounded more like a gesture that was done out of comfort. Because you didn't know how else to offer her your support. Nothing more. Certainly nothing for me to be jealous of. After all, I am the one you married. Not her."

Remus leaned forward, lightly pressing his forehead against Tala's. "And that's exactly why I married you. Because you understand me so well."

Grinning, Tala kissed him briefly before asking, "So that's what we're going to name her? Rianna Althea?"

"As long as neither of those names bothers you," Remus said cautiously.

"Not at all." Tala took a moment to look down at their new daughter, tucking in the blankets around her once again. "I miss my family. Of course I do. How can I not? I don't think I'll ever stop missing them. When you lose family that you love so much, that isn't something that really ever goes away."

"No," Remus agreed, "it isn't. It's been decades, and I still miss my own mum and dad terribly."

Tala took a shaky breath, trying to stay in control of her emotions. "But…I think you're right. I never thought I'd name my daughter after her, but it only seems right to take her name from my mum. I think it might be nice to have her name in my life again. As for Althea…well, we already talked about her. She saved your life. I could never not be grateful to her for that. If you're ready to have her name in your life again."

Remus took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I think I am. It's been a long time, and to be honest, I'm not haunted by what happened anymore. I don't think I could have even come close to telling you everything if I was. Yes, it changed me, and it's a part of me, but it doesn't define me. I won't let it. Not anymore. I've moved forward, and perhaps it's time to acknowledge it in some way, acknowledge it more than I have been. And what better way than by giving her such an important name?" Remus rested a gentle hand on Rianna's head.

Tala didn't say anything, but she leaned into Remus again, tucking her head underneath his chin. "Thank you for trusting me so much. I'm glad you told me."

"I am, too."

Remus placed a kiss on top of Tala's head, feeling almost consumed with emotion. For a very long time, he'd wondered why in the hell things had to be so difficult for him. Why he'd had to put up with a condition that brought him so much pain and intolerance. But everything he had now more than made up for it. In fact, he'd willingly go through a million more transformations just to have everything he had now. As crazy as it sounded, he thought he'd even repeat his time with Greyback if necessary, because everything he had now was worth all of that and more. He couldn't say that enough.

The end