AN: Hello my lovelies! I'm back! Okay, I have some very good news. I finished chapter 39, which I'm posting today, and chapter 40 will hopefully be up tomorrow! :DDDDD (The suspense is growing!) If you want, guess what chapter 40 is about- the winner (or person closest to it) will get a treat!
Thanks TechNomaNcer28 and BlakeLovesPeace103- you two are my life!
Enjoy, review, an Happy late St. Patrick's Day! :D
Love, (I'm not Irish one bit)
-Alex

Breaking Point

I hold Remus's thin hand securely in mine as my boyfriend sleeps fitfully, a sheen on sweat covering his face, eyebrows furrowed in pain. The full moon is in a day, and it seems to be having an intense pull on Remus this time. He's been lifeless and sick for almost a week, weak and feverish. I'm sitting beside him tonight, wanting to be awake if he wakes up in the middle of the night crying out for a glass of water or woken by some terrible nightmare from his fevered brain.

I coast my fingertips lightly over his hand, shuddering slightly as I can feel every bone, every knuckle, and every tendon, straight through his almost-translucent skin. A ring from his mother jangles loosely on his ring finger underneath a ring I gave him when we first started dating. They both can slide right over his knuckle and off his finger because his fingers are so twig thin, the skin covering them as soft as a baby's.

Skin that looks too thin and pale for the sun, let alone a transformation into a werewolf every month.

His thin hands lead up to bony, tiny wrists, slender arms, and elbows where I can see all of his joints. Much too tiny to be a werewolf's arms...

His eyes wearily open, breath coming out of his chest in a single short huff.

I'm immediately by his face, one hand tenderly slipping under his face to cup his cheek, the other stroking his sweaty hair while I but my lip with anxiety. What is happening to Rem?

He tries to manage a small smile, which turns into a grimace.

"Sirius..." his voice is barely above a whisper

"I need to go to the bathroom."

I smile slightly, then wrap my arm around his shoulders, helping him sit up. Carefully, I get him out of the bed, supporting nearly all of his weight as we walk to the bathroom. He shivers violently, even under the two nightshirts, one tee-shirt, and two sweaters that he's wearing. Poor Rem...

We stop at the toilet, and I gently hold onto him to keep him standing as I look away to let him do his business.

When he's finished, he turns around and rests his head on my shoulder with a shaky sigh, face pressed against my neck. When I put my arms around his back, I can feel his shoulder-blades, sticking out of his back, and all his ribs, even through all the layers he's wearing.

"Remus..." my soft whisper is pained as I lift up his face to stare into his tired golden eyes.

"Remus, you're skin and bones. What's going on?" I hadn't noticed he lost so much weight until now, but now I can see it clearly. His face is gaunt but still more beautiful than anyone in the world to me, cheekbones hollow, dark circles underneath both eyes, collarbones sticking out of his neck. The sweaters seem to just hang on his bony frame.

His eyes fill up with tears, and I kneel down, holding onto him so I can look in his eyes.

"Remmy?" my voice is filled with the agony of making Remus cry. How could I do something like that? Remus should never cry. He should never, ever be upset, and now I just upset him. He doesn't deserve to ever be upset. He should be trated like a sodding prince- he deserves no less. I'm so bloody stupid!

"Sirius, I can't take it anymore. I just can't do this any longer." his voice is choked, frail shoulders hunched over into himself like he's trying to make himself smaller.

He can't take being a werewolf any more. It's not uncommon for werewolves to do that- sometimes they just become so incapacitated by their disease that they just waste away, unable to keep up with it any longer. That's looks like what's happening with Remus, and it's only been a week! I promised myself that I wouldn't let that happen to him, and dammit, I won't!

My eyes are probably steely grey when I look at him again, but all my anger crumbles as I truly look at my Remus.

He looks much, much too delicate to be turning into a werewolf every month. Everything about him just screams "BREAKABLE!". His whole body looks like just a puff of wind would blow him over, and his figure is so slim and frail, like parchment over glass. He's the person me and James always protect, always shield from everything, simply because he's Remus. Causing someone as gentle as him misery or worry is just inexcusable. We both, me especially, would gladly walk through fire for Remus, so that he wouldn't have to himself. Even Lily tries to protect him; she worries about him constantly because of his condition and because of his sickliness and thinness. He's so fragile, so delicate... How could someone like him ever be forced into being a lycanthrope? How could you hurt someone as breakable and sweet and just plain good as Remus? It's not right.

I'd do anything, anything in this world and beyond to take the curse of lycanthropy off of Rem. I'd take it myself, take it willingly, just if it'd mean he wouldn't have to suffer through it anymore. If Remus would allow it, I'd stay by his side in human form every full moon, trying to comfort him and keep him from hurting himself. I'd let him bite me, just so that the next morning, he wouldn't be hurting anymore. Even though I can stay by his side as Padfoot, I know that it doesn't bring the wolf as much relief as if I was there in human form, because the human part of Remus during full moons remembers me, remembers that he trusts me and loves me and needs me.

It rips me apart every time I see Remus in so much pain, knowing there's nothing I can do to keep the pain from happening or take it away in any way.

"Rem, don't say that." my voice is choked now.

"You'll always have me here. Don't say things like that. You're strong, you can do it."

But as I stare at him, he seems the furthest thing from strong I've ever seen. His head is hanging over, and he looks utterly defeated. This can't happen to Remus!

"Baby..." I murmur, standing up and opening my arms, allowing him to bury himself in them. I rub his back soothingly, ignoring the feel of every vertebra on his spine and his chicken-wing like shoulder blades.

Everybody has a breaking point, and I'm glad I'm here to protect Remus from his.