Many thanks to Querisole for reviewing! I'm glad you thought I had a nice, intimate moment. And thank you LadyLupinLover! I'm glad you like these stories. I hope you both enjoy these next couple of chapters, which will be centered around Remus/Tonks!


Part V:
Chapter 2: Lonely Togetherness (Crazy)


For the first time

"Psst!"

He was awaken by a loud hissing in his ear and a poke (in actuality it was more like a jab) in his rib.

"Remus! Wake up!"

He opened his eyes, feeling as if he hadn't slept in years. Tonks was leaning into his body. Her eyes, wide and gray now, were watching him anxiously. "You fell asleep. I didn't know if, or when, I should wake you…" she explained, punctuating her words with a nervous shrug. "I didn't know if you liked to sleep or not."

He stared at her, still not totally sure of what was real or what was fake. "What time is it?" he finally asked, and rather groggily at that.

She looked down at her wristwatch. It was tattered, frayed at the edges and it appeared to be broken. "Umm…I believe it's two-thirty."

"Two-thirty?"

Tonks looked up at him and nodded, biting her lip. "In the A.M." She looked back down at the watch and nodded again, this time more firmly. "Yes, that's right. It's two-thirty A.M. Is it OK that I woke you up?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

Remus sat up straighter before rotating his shoulders and rubbing at the crick in his neck. It wasn't a moment before he felt Tonks's hands, small and nimble and soft, removing his own, replacing them on his neck. "Let me," she said in a rather breathy voice.

He wasn't one to argue.

Her hands were quite literally doing wonders on him. And, if he wasn't to deny it, tiny sparks were shooting up and down his skin, leaving a blazing trail one want as well as partnership in their wake.

A bat dipped low, swooping down upon invisible prey right before them.

Tonks leaned close to Remus to whisper in his ear. "Are you sure it's OK that I woke you? You can sleep some more…?" she offered, in case that's what he wanted.

Her breath tickled against his skin and for a moment, he thought he heard a hitch in her breath. "It's OK, Nymph," he reassured her. He was glad to be awake. Even if he hadn't been, there wasn't anyone he would rather spend his time with.

She was quiet again. They both were.

"Do you ever think about animals, Remus?" she asked, breaking the comfortable silence once again.

"Of course I do. I'm a werewolf." He said it without thinking.

She chuckled softly. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant it like…like, well, do you ever think about butterflies or fish?"

He twisted around in order to look at her. Her eyes were wide and innocent.

A butterfly flies and a bird doesn't swim
You've told me again and again
But if I don't do all the things that you do

He shrugged, not sure how to answer. He wasn't even really sure he understood her question.

She put her chin in her hands. "I think it's amazing how different all of us are. Creature to creature. Even human to human. We all have our own traits to bring to this world. Do you think it's for no good reason that birds don't swim?" she asked. From the far off look in her eyes, Remus kind of got that it was a rhetorical question.

He answered anyway.

"I never thought on it, I guess," he admitted. He truly felt foolish, never having thought on these things.

The silence that followed was heavy, thoughtful.

This time, he was the one to interrupt it. "When do you have time to think on these things, Nymph?"

"When you're sleeping," she answered nonchalantly.

He felt silly that as he slept, she pondered the creatures and workings of the universe.

"Aren't we supposed to be watching that spot over there?" he asked, using his thumb to point behind him at the still vacant spot.

She shook her head. "No, while you were sleeping Mad-Eye rang again. The watch isn't off, per say, but we're to lay low here for awhile. Or at least until we know for sure that they aren't meeting here as planned."

"I didn't know you were so thoughtful," he commented slowly.

She glanced at him and then shrugged. She looked a lot like a little girl at that moment. And a guilty one at that.

But the guilty girl was replaced by the caring and grown-up version of Nymphadora Tonks when she turned her full attention toward him. Their eyes locked for an unmercifully long time and yet, it still wasn't quite long enough.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Remus Lupin," she told him. She challenged him.

He brought his chin up, accepting the challenge. "Like?"

She tapped her forefinger to her chin. "I was engaged to be married once," she offered freely, making his eyebrows shoot up into his shaggy bangs.

"Yes I was," she said firmly upon seeing his reaction. "But then I found out the guy didn't like veelas…not that I particularly like them, you see, but since I turn into them quite often I felt it was a relationship probably already doomed."

"Oh!-and this is pretty trivial but McGonagall used to give me detention all the time, quite literally too, for talking too much. Or if not talking, for tripping or being late," she told him.

"Imagine that," he replied dryly.

She rolled her eyes. "Think what you want but I was quite attentive in school." Her face screwed up in thought. "Or at least, I really tried to be."

Remus laughed.

"Well, Nymph, I was the attentive one."

She looked at him as if she was cross-examining him. "Imagine that," she threw back as wryly as possible. It was quite hard though, as she was trying not to sigh in exasperation.

"I'm sorry. I had a fairly boring childhood," he explained briefly.

She nodded and he could tell she didn't believe him.

It doesn't mean there's no where to begin

"Except for that whole werewolf thing," she added with an arched eyebrow.

He shrugged but didn't say anything.

"So then," she continued, "what's the craziest thing you've done?"

It took him awhile to answer. Her eyes were distracting, her fingernails (a shimmering yellow) were distracting, her smile was distracting. She was distracting. The way her eyes shimmered when she grinned. The way she threw her entire being into her actions. Even the way she plowed right ahead, without thinking, and spoke without thinking was distracting.

"I'm a very cautious person," he answered.

She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. "Even the most cautious person has done something crazy," she replied.

He tried thinking up a smart-ass remark but couldn't. She was right. Even the dullest of persons had done at least one thing totally out of character.

"Befriended your cousin and James and Peter?" he offered lamely.

She wrinkled her nose. "That's not that crazy." She thought about his response for a moment and then her eyes lit up. "Well, maybe befriending Peter was…but not Sirius and James. They are…or rather, were good people. Or so I've heard," she added under her breath.

She looked back at him and shook her head. "No, that won't do. There's got to be something else…?" she prompted.

He ran a hand through his long blondish colored hair and looked at her wearily. "Told you I thought you were cute," he told her quickly and quietly.

Tonks stared hard at him for a moment. "You never said I was cute," she replied finally, breathlessly.

Remus leaned in to get a closer look at her face. "Fine. You're rather cute, Nymph," he said in earnest.

"Cute is something you call your best friend's little sister, not a grown woman," she retorted softly, pulling her gaze away from his eyes and to her hands, which were clenching and unclenching rather jaggedly.

Remus didn't try to make her look at him. "Then how about beautiful, Nymph?" he asked. When she didn't make a sound, he continued. "Somewhere along the way, you've become more than just Sirius's kid cousin."

He waited a long moment before she brought her chin up. Tears were in her eyes.

I'll light the sun
And the darkness will turn into light

"Remus, I-

She gaped at him for a second longer and before she chickened out, she grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him hard, sending all the feelings for him she had straight to his heart.

Now I see the world for the first time

Well, I hope all you Tonks/Remus fans enjoyed this little chapter! There is one more to come and then it's on to a new person/couple/perspective (any ideas???). For all those who aren't Tonks/Remus fans, I hope you enjoyed it anyway! Thanks so much for reading! Please review!