CHAPTER NINETY
The following morning, Tonks slowly fluttered her eyes open, wondering if last night had simply been a dream, the time they had shared in each other's arms, she blinked and shielded her gaze, not even needing to look to know she was sleeping on an unnaturally wide sleeping bag Lupin had conjured haphazardly last night big enough for the both of them to share.
The Forbidden Forest's clearing was flooded with soft morning light, illuminating the dust particles floating overheard.
Was last night all just a dream? What little she did remember of last night came to her in hazes, the sweet words Rem had whispered into her ear, feeling all of his movements, his lips meeting hers in the darkness.
A truly beautiful experience the two shared together as husband and wife that neither of them had wanted to end, though eventually when they had finished, tiredness had won over. Tonks would never admit to anyone except her husband, but this pregnancy was exhausting her, and she was barely a month or two into her first trimester!
She sat up, a tiny, muted groan escaping her lips and shot a quick glance around, seeing no husband, no Norah or Ollie to greet her and make some quip about the night she had spent last night with Remus, and dressed in a pair of black leggings and a red collared casual shirt, scrunching her nose and concentrating as she felt her maroon-colored hair shift to a vibrant red in color, and she supposed she could have passed for a Weasley relative if someone didn't know her better.
She let out a sigh as she pulled on her socks and boots, though she was perfectly content to just sit here for a moment with the sun on her face and a huge grin on her face as she lifted her left hand to study the plain yellow gold wedding band on her hand. She was Remus John Lupin's wife now. His wife.
Eventually, she decided she could no longer delay the inevitable and got up, rolling up the sleeping bag and securing them, wishing sincerely that she had her wand. A simple Vanishing Charm would take care of these until they needed them again.
She let out a sigh as she wandered, now fully dressed, until her flaring nostrils caught the scent of what smelled like eggs and bacon and sausage, and her stomach let out a low growling rumble.
Despite her stomach, as it flipped and gave a nauseating little lurch at the smell of cooking meat, Tonks found her legs were no longer taking direction from her mind as she followed the smells of what she knew to be good eats for breakfast the morning after her wedding.
She found Remus huddled near the campfire with Norah and Ollie, both of whom shot Tonks a lopsided crooked little grin as the bride approached her husband.
Lupin seemed so lost in contemplative thought as he concentrated on monitoring the cooking of bacon and sausage to go with the eggs that he'd just finished making that he did not hear Tonks sneak up from behind. As she neared her husband, Tonks crossed her arms and pretended to pout, sticking out her bottom lip in a pretend little pout of rancor.
"You didn't wake me up this morning, love," Tonks murmured, stooping down to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, her cheeks flushing pink with embarrassment as she swore she heard Norah snort, to which she felt her head whiplash sharply up and glowered at the two of them, Ollie was regarding her with an odd little half-grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, turning it upwards into a truly evil little smirk. She felt her cheeks flush red. "Oh, don't you start making fun, Ollie! Don't. You two are getting just a little cozy, aren't you?" Tonks teased Ollie, who she was pleased to see the pink developing in his cheeks. "Standing a little close, hmm?"
She turned towards Norah, whose lips were pursed in a thin line though she didn't deny it, but nor did she confirm it. By this point, deep blushes now crossed both the She-Wolf and her best friend's faces and they were both looking rather flustered, which caused Tonks to quirk a brow Ollie's way, though she offered up no attempt to communicate with the man in his typical impossible telepathy. If something did happen last night with those two, it was their business.
"Dora, that was cruel, and as for me not waking you up this morning…well, you—you looked so peaceful, and I know you've not gotten much sleep last night, so I figured I should let you rest, love," Remus spoke up, though his tone did not sound admonishing and condescending, but rather, teasing and lively, finally glancing up from the iron-wrought skillet, waving his wand and conjuring a few plates and utensils for everyone, passing plates of hot, piping breakfast, taking a seat next to his wife on the log.
Ollie just scoffed and rolled his eyes, shoveling a bite of egg into his mouth. "Maybe we are, maybe we aren't," he murmured, though it did not escape her attention that his gaze continuously kept flitting towards Norah, unable to tear his gaze away from the blonde-haired, blue-eyed young werewolf, who made a noncommittal grunting noise.
Tonks rolled her eyes by way of response to her best friend's vague answer and turned her attention towards Norah, who shot Tonks a pleading look and seemed all too delighted to jump at the chance for a turn in their conversation and to change the subject. "So, what's the plan?" she murmured through a bite of bacon and sausage, trying her hardest not to smell the scents of the cooked meat, hoping she didn't throw it up.
So far so good as she ate, slowly and carefully, trying to fight against the rolling queasiness of her stomach. Molly had told her last night during the sort-of reception here in the Forest that her morning sickness would soon pass as her pregnancy progressed.
Tonks squeezed her eyes shut as she swallowed back the bile that threatened to come up. But Merlin's Beard, she sincerely hoped so. This was almost as bad as having the stupid stomach flu. She forced her attention to focus on Norah, and even now that the two witches had sort of made amends and she would even go as far as to consider Norah Jameson a friend now, she still could not quell the crushing sense of dread welling deep within her chest.
She knew that she still didn't feel quite at ease about Norah's disappointment towards her behavior from a few nights ago when Norah and Remus saved her and Ollie. Sooner or later, she was going to have to set things straight with Norah, to tell the woman that no matter what, she was standing steadfast by her decisions.
And Tonks secretly hoped to inform the She-Wolf that she was not as ignorant as to the behavior of the centaurs and other creatures that lurked within the shadows of the Forbidden Forest, that Norah seemed to think Tonks was incapable of handling herself.
Tonks bloody knew what those centaurs would have done to her if they'd been allowed to keep her alive as a prisoner and take her and Ollie back to their encampment.
She knew so damn well that it sent a chill down her back just thinking of it. Remus noticed Tonks's discomfort and furrowed his brows in a light frown, pulling her close and rubbing small circles near her spine, which sent a tremor of delight through her.
"Thanks, Rem," she murmured lowly under her breath, just enough so that only her husband could hear her thanks, as Norah launched into a plan of where they were headed in the Forbidden Forest next, in the northwest, towards Astelos's turf, to always stay close to one another and for Merlin's left saggy buttock, to stay together as a group.
Tonks furrowed her brows in a frown as she could not help but ponder over her encounter with the centaurs from a few nights ago, and how she really wasn't feeling all that well this morning, if she was being honest with herself, though at least her bloody fever from those damned Bleeding Mulberries she'd accidentally consumed was gone now.
Perhaps she didn't know all of the details when it came to centaurs and how they lived and operated in these cursed dark woods, but Tonks thought she knew well enough.
She had not bothered to distract the centaurs from discovering the location of their campsite simply out of her own sense of ignorance as to what they were capable of.
Tonks had done what she did the other night to save her now-husband and Norah, whom she liked to think also considered her a friend, from the same fate she had seemed doomed to by daring to wander off the beaten path in search of edible food. She could not help it, but she wanted for Norah to know that Tonks wasn't an idiot, Merlin's Beard, she could not afford to be as an Auror, and that she was not as naïve as Norah had implied.
She had sensed that, even when Norah had been helping her prepare for the wedding yesterday, she could feel the unspoken words and tensions lingering in the air between the two of them, that there was still a conversation yet to be exchanged, and she sincerely hoped that even with Remus and Ollie here, they'd be able to move past this.
To come to an understanding, so that Norah could help them get Umbridge back. And given that it was the day after her and Lupin's marriage, she did not fancy spoiling the good mood for Remus, but nor did she want to let the tensions continue to build between herself and Norah, and she did not want to argue with the young blonde She-Wolf, nor did she want Jameson to yell at her again and fly off the handle for what she was about to say because she knew she wouldn't feel right about taking one more step in these dark woods without saying something to Norah by at least trying to clear this up.
"Norah," Tonks managed to squeak out in a voice that sounded smaller, more subdued than before as she slid slowly off the log and wrapped her knees close into her chest and hugged them. She watched silently as the young blonde werewolf quickly stood and made her way towards where Tonks and Remus sat, a concerned look on her face.
"What is it?" Norah asked by means of response, her brows furrowed in a frown. "Are you feeling all right? Are you warm enough? Do you need a jacket or something?"
Tonks shook her head, a curl of her hair tumbling in front of her face as she did so, and she swallowed down hard past the lump in her throat. "N—no, I'm okay," she whispered, her voice still sounding almost meek and incredibly unsure of herself now.
Norah's brows came together even closer as her frown deepened. "You are feeling better, aren't you?" she wondered, as she reached out a hand and felt Tonks's forehead. "Your fever from the other day is gone, at least, so that's good," she noted, shooting Tonks and Lupin a soft smile. "Do you think you'll be okay to move after breakfast?"
Tonks shrugged her shoulders. As much as she wanted to leave this cursed forest behind her and never return, she and Remus had made Norah a promise that they would talk to the Minister of Magic for Norah in exchange for Norah saving their baby's life.
And something deep within the churning pit of her rolling stomach as she bit the wall of her cheek and pondered this, told her that Minister Scrimgeour would not exactly listen to the pair of them if one of his own Ministry employees, especially the Senior Undersecretary, were to be left behind in the Forbidden Forest to suffer at the hands of the centaurs. No. Tonks frowned. Their only shot at this was getting Umbridge back.
"Yes," she finally agreed after what felt like an awkward and rather long pause, and she only answered upon Remus giving her a nimble little nudge to her ribcage, and she blinked, startled back to reality as her mind briefly took her down a dark place that she'd really rather not dwell on as visions of Umbridge suffering for what she had done to Norah's family and what she had tried to do to her flitted through her troubled mind.
Tonks bit the inside wall of her cheek and sighed, resting her fist in her cheek as she steadily and slowly lifted her chin and met Norah Jameson's bright, sky-blue orbs.
"I—I just…you've said it multiple times, there are more centaurs in this bloody forest, a—and not all of them belong to an entire herd as a collective whole," she began cautiously, struggling to find the right words while still wanting to sound as though she knew what she was talking about. "They could be anywhere in these woods for all we know. Merlin's Beard, but they might even be tracking us right now somehow and we'd probably never even know it. I—I just…never took the threat seriously until now. I'd heard stories of their brutality, knew about them from Greek mythology and thought I could handle it," she murmured, ducking her head and allowing a lock of her hair to tumble in front of her face, effectively shielding Norah's expression from her line of sight for now.
Tonks wasn't sure she could handle seeing the anger and disappointment in the young blonde werewolf's eyes. "I never imagined they'd seek out young witches just to hurt them! I—I mean, I'd read the stories, heard the rumors, a—and to me… they weren't ever really real, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. Just monsters in stories, villains in books, you know, that kind of thing. The—the monster that parents—parents tell their children about at night in order to get them to behave. I never thought I'd actually meet a centaur, and I wasn't prepared for being cornered by just one of them, let alone three adult males."
Norah nodded in understanding; a look of concern etched on her pale features intermingled with that of concern.
"You're going to be safe as long as we stick together as a group. No more wandering off on your own. I've dealt with Astelos's stupid herd many times before, and am more than capable of defending you all if it comes to that, though the extra wand power here won't hurt," Norah insisted, trying to put Tonks's mind at ease, and Tonks noticed with some affection how Ollie put a hand on her shoulder. She wriggled a brow Ollie's direction, fully hellbent on getting the scoop from him later on, just what exactly did happen between those two last night, something juicy.
Though for now, she let the seemingly-budding attraction between their guide in this Forest and her best friend go, though it simmered at the back of her mind for later.
Tonks frowned. "B—but you aren't invincible, Norah. I'm not, Ollie isn't, Rem isn't," she protested, wildly speaking with her hands and struggling to articulate her point. "Even with our wands, we're severely outnumbered. It's just the four of us against Merlin only knows how many are in their territory," she added, patting the back pocket of her pants and cherishing the feel of her wand, thinking she ought to be grateful old Broody Moody wasn't here to yell at her for not following elementary wand safety, feeling thoroughly grateful that Albus Dumbledore had managed to procure her wand for her, though when Remus had prompted him as to whereabouts in Crouch's mansion he had found it, or who had taken the liberty of delivering, the Hogwarts Professor did not answer.
Norah offered her a sympathetic little smile and shook her head and let out a light little chuckle, reaching up a hand to scratch at an itch behind her left ear. "I think you're forgetting I've lived in this bloody forest almost my entire life, Tonks," she murmured, casting a wary glance around the canopy of trees above their heads, letting out a sigh. "I know you're scared of what's in there," here, she pointed a hand towards the thicket of the Forest. "And that's perfectly okay for you to feel that way. Bloody hell, I'd consider you a fool if you weren't scared since you have no idea what lives in these woods, but you don't need to trouble yourself and stress yourself out like this. I'm more than capable of keeping you lot safe, and I'm certainly going to try my best. I mean, I can't guarantee it or make any promises, but I promise all of you that I'll do whatever the hell I can to get that pink-wearing toad back and you said you'd talk to the Minister for me about seeing if people like us," she looked to Remus for a split second, "can have better accommodations. I'd love to bloody be able to live in a house, and get a decent job…make a fresh start somewhere new, maybe..."
Ollie shot her a pained little look. No doubt he too, just as Remus and Tonks had, had heard the note of wistful sadness and remorse in Norah Jameson's tone just now.
If Norah noticed the look her new acquaintance was shooting her, she ignored it and kept her pointed gaze fixated on Tonks. "You're in a much different mindset than I am, Mrs. Lupin," she murmured, allowing the faintest ghost of a smile to flit across her face as she used Tonks's new maiden name. "You grew up in the real world outside of this forest, where the centaurs you heard of were only the monsters in books and stories. I don't blame you at all for not being able to fully comprehend the danger you were in. You had no idea what the ones that had captured you were capable of doing to you, Tonks, what they would have done not to just you, but Ollie too, if I hadn't come when I had. You and the cub growing inside you were lucky that those centaurs didn't kill you, and even luckier still that they did not have a chance to take you, hostage, back to their camp. It's okay that you didn't understand just how much danger you were really in, Tonks. I know that I was…angry with you before," she confessed, a pink blush speckling along her cheeks as she recollected the volatile, unpredictable way she had lost her temper with Tonks a few nights ago. "I—I know that I shouldn't have been so frustrated with you, and I was too harsh on you, and it was my fault. You could not have known, Tonks. How could you possibly understand something that you'd never experienced before till now? Just as long as going forward that you understand, that's what's most important. We can't change what happened to you, not unless one of us has a Time-Turner or something, but we can at least take more precautions to ensure it won't happen again."
Lupin nodded his agreement and finally broke his silence, pulling Tonks close and allowing his wife to rest her head on the crook of his shoulder. "Miss Jameson is right, Dora. We're not going to let anything else happen to you," he murmured tenderly, slowly bringing one of his hands to rest against the flat of her abdomen. "Either one of you."
Tonks, much to Remus's surprise, shook her head as she made to tie her hair up into a loose, messy bun to keep it out of the way with an elastic hairband she conjured with her wand. "You're wrong, Norah. I understand more than you think about those centaurs. I don't need any kind of further explanation other than what happened to me. You're right that I didn't know much about centaurs other than what I read in books. I didn't fear them as a little girl whenever I played outside, or even during my Hogwarts days. I could be outside and never fear what lurks in the shadows," she murmured, casting uneasy glances and a shudder went down her back, and she waved her wand again and conjured a heavy red leather jacket that she immediately put on and shrugged into for as much warmth as she could possibly manage.
Tonks had forgotten it was now November. She let out a content sigh at the immediate relief her new jacket provided, and continued to rest her head against Lupin's shoulder, enjoying his fingers drifting through a few strands of her hair, the tender act of which sent a pleasant tremor down her spine.
In many ways, it helped to comfort her and provide reassurance during this unpleasant but otherwise necessary conversation she had engaged the werewolf in. "You weren't there, Norah," Tonks continued, breathing out a shaking breath through her nose, and instinctively, her left hand reached for Remus's, and gave it a gentle squeeze.
Norah simply continued to stare at the pair of them as Tonks continued to say her piece. She supposed she ought to be grateful at least that the young blonde werewolf was allowing her to contradict her without any kind of argument on Norah Jameson's part.
"So," Tonks continued nervously, feeling the beads of sweat begin to form on her browbone despite the cold morning air of the first day of November as she coughed once to clear her throat and actively averted Norah's gaze as a pink blush crept along her cheeks, "I—if it seemed to you like I…like I wasn't taking what happened to me seriously, it was because I didn't understand. I think I can honestly say I don't think I've ever been more scared in my entire life than I was a few nights ago and I've been through quite a lot."
Lupin stiffened beside her, and Tonks did not even have to turn her head to the left to know that her husband was undoubtedly thinking of both Crouch and Umbridge.
Norah, much to her surprise, let out a tired sounding sigh as she waved her wand and cleared away the now wiped-clean breakfast plates and the iron-wrought skillet, at first not looking at any of them, though at last, she lifted her head in Tonks's direction.
The young blonde sighed heavily as she zipped up her black leather jacket and raked her fingers through her thick blonde pixie cut. "I—I apologize, Mrs. Lupin. I can see it now that it was your lack of concern that was likely a side effect of your fear in this damned forest," she growled, baring her canines as she briefly looked up above their heads at the Forest's canopy which sent almost no sunlight streaming in through the treetops.
Tonks barely stifled her grin as Ollie set a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she watched with internal delight as Norah hesitated for a fraction of a second and stiffened, not at all sure what to do about it, though something relented, a shift within her hardened personality and at last, she reached up and took her best friend's hand, and squeezed it.
Tonks bit the inside wall of her cheek and shot Ollie a playful grin that caused a light pink blush to cause his still hollowed and emaciated cheeks to flush high with color.
She furrowed her brows into a light frown, not liking how thin and haggard poor Ollie was looking, though now that he had made his presence known at their wedding last night, she knew that, as Charlie Weasley's second-best friend, Ollie would be coming by the Burrow more frequently, and Molly Weasley's cooking would see that he gained a healthy amount of weight back onto his slender frame in no time. At least, she hoped…
Tonks blinked owlishly at the blonde She-Wolf as Norah's soft German accent broke her out of her musings of her best friend and this seemingly budding 'thing' between Ollie and Norah and forced her attention to return to whatever Norah said.
"…I had no right to assume that the centaurs didn't make you aware of where they were bloody going to do to you. It's bad enough that those beasts treated you the way that they did," she growled lowly, spitting the centaurs' title as though the word itself were poison that had settled upon it. Norah sighed, her blue eyes finally meeting Tonks's, and the uncertainty brimming with those brilliant-sky blue orbs of hers as unshed moisture was almost too much for Tonks to bear, though she did not look away. "You deserve more from me. As your…as your friend," she choked out in a hushed little whisper. "You're a brave young woman and an incredibly talented witch, and I can't wait to see what kind of seven shades of holy hell you rain down on that pink-wearing bitch now that you've got your wand back," Norah grinned, a sly, mischievous smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth as she did not bother to fight back her smile at that thought. "I need to learn to start treating you with the respect that we all know you deserve, Mrs. Lupin. That you've earned. Don't think I haven't forgotten you broke Astelos's nose just by punching him with your bare hand," she snorted admirably, ignoring Tonks's blush as she ducked her head, with Remus murmuring something inaudibly in her ear. "I thought the other night that you didn't understand the precariousness of the situation that you found yourself in, but I can see now that you do. You knew what you were bloody up against, that you might not survive, but you did it."
Tonks blinked, exchanging a quizzical glance with Remus, and she was pleased to see that he too was just as surprised by Norah's apology to her as she was, that it seemed. She felt her lips part open slightly in shock as she stared at the female werewolf with wide, blinking eyes. Hearing Norah offer up an apology was kind of foreign to her at this point in their friendship, and in truth, she wasn't entirely sure how to respond.
Norah moved off her perch on the log and shrugged her shoulder out of Ollie's grasp and chose to sit down to Tonks's immediate right so that their shoulders were effectively touching as they looked towards the thick heart of the Forbidden Forest.
"I did not mean to be so harsh to you earlier. For a moment, the—the other night, I thought you'd left us. It was my own fear coming out as anger that made me yell at you, Tonks," Norah sighed, sounding immensely ashamed of her behavior towards Tonks the other night. "From now on, the four of us will stick together. No more wandering off," Norah chastised her light, slinging her arm around Tonks's shoulder and pulling the jacket Tonks wore tighter around the young witch to better keep her warm. "I guess I can respect and understand why you didn't want to get me, and Lupin involved. It was stupid of you and kind of self-destructive if I'm being honest with myself here for a second, but I really hope that you'll let me help you if something like this happens to you again, Tonks. I don't think I need to tell you that we're heading into the heart of the Forest, and not everything in these woods, as you've learned the hard way, is as nice as I am," she added, a note of smug pride in her voice, though her joking tone was quickly set aside and her more somber expression returned as she continued to address Tonks alone. "It's not like you asked to come into these woods. If any of us here should be protecting you guys from the dangers in this place, it's me, considering I've lived here most of my life. I can respect and understand that you were afraid for my well-being the other night by not wanting to tell those centaurs that me and Remus were here in the forest with you, but if something had happened to you, Tonks, because you were trying to keep the same dangers from pursuing us that had caught you and Ollie, I don't think I'd ever be able to forgive myself, and I don't think I need to speak for Remus here, but I think if you were to ask your husband over here, he would tell you the same thing, am I right?"
"Yes," Lupin answered softly, his gaze flitting between Norah and Ollie and back to his wife.
Norah nodded, grateful for Tonks's husband's answer before turning her attention back to Tonks. "The point that I'm trying to make here is, I would rather you put me at risk if it means that I can help you find that old hag and get out of this forest alive than to have you try to play the part of the hero and sacrifice yourself for my sake. If you were killed trying to save me, the guilt that I would suffer over that would be unbearable to live with. Do not do that to me," Norah growled in an animalist, wolfish little snarl.
Tonks let out a tired sigh as she rested against Remus as she closed her heavily-lidded eyes, suddenly feeling drowsy. She wondered if this was her pregnancy catching up to her, and briefly wondered if this was how she felt a little less than a month in, what was it going to be like for her nine months later when she was about to give birth?!
"I'm sorry if it seems like I'm dead clumsy, I know that I am, or reckless sometimes," Tonks sighed, suddenly sounding remorseful as she rested her head against the crook of Remus's shoulder, enjoying the warmth the immense heat of his skin gave off. "This whole ordeal with trying to get Umbridge back so we can talk to the Minister of Magic for you is something I never thought I would be doing in my entire life, and I suppose I don't always do so great at following orders, but I tried to do what was right."
Norah sighed and leaned over, looking into the young witch's grey eyes, narrowing her blue eyes as she considered the Auror and her new friend in stoic silence.
"Having someone around like you who thinks differently than me, bloody hell, who thinks differently than those of us here right now, isn't necessarily a bad thing. I knew from the first second you punched Astelos in the nose without using magic there was something different and special about you, even if you can't see it for yourself."
Tonks shrugged and resumed resting her head on Remus's shoulder. She still wasn't entirely certain of her reasons for wanting to rescue Umbridge herself. Maybe it was because she wanted to see the short, stout Ministry employee carted off to Azkaban Prison in chains with her own two eyes, to have some sort of closure that after everything Dolores Jane Umbridge had tried to do to her, that Tonks was emerging the better witch hereby saving someone who by all accounts, deserved to rot in here with the centaurs.
She hoped she would end up more useful than she presently felt. At any rate, she was feeling much better than before, and especially more so than she was a married woman, and certainly felt safer in the Forest with Remus, Ollie, and Norah here by her side. Norah noticed that Tonks could barely keep her eyes open and smiled softly at her.
"Take a nap, Tonks," Norah spoke up quietly. "We'll head out in an hour or so."
Tonks nodded. She'd get some sleep for an hour or so, and then they'd move out of this clearing and be on their way. The sooner they got out of this Forest, the better. Before she knew it, they'd be back at Hogwarts or the Burrow, and Mrs. Weasley could finally throw her and Remus the 'proper' wedding reception she had gushed over.
Maybe they would rescue Umbridge sooner rather than later, and maybe even by dinnertime, they would be out of this bloody Forbidden Forest and heading back home.
She could only hope so. Tonks barely managed to repress a yawn with the back of her hand. "I have a good feeling about today, guys," she murmured sleepily in a low voice, as she snuggled against Lupin's side, nestling into the warmth her husband gave off.
As long as Remus was by her side, and her new friends, she knew that in the end, everything was going to work out, and it was this thought that allowed her to drift to sleep.
A/N: Only 10 chapters left of this story, guys! This story sits pretty at a whopping 100 chapters even, and I'm not quite ready for it to end just yet. :-(
I've had a lot of fun writing it though, and hope I told this alternate tale well enough, and I have a few other Remadora stories in the works even as I finish this one, so there's light at the end of the tunnel! :)
Glad Norah and Tonks could (bloody finally) come to a mutual understanding with one another and apologize (again lol). :D
