Chapter Eleven

Out in the hall, Lily and Grace were doing their best to comfort Mr. and Mrs. Lupin. Mrs. Lupin, whom Remus favored in both looks and disposition, was practically sitting in her husband's lap, crying on his shoulder. "Our baby's dying...Our son! Oh, Patrick, what are we going to do?"

"Ssh, love, I'm sure they're doing everything they can," murmured Mr. Lupin. He fought back his own tears as he carded his hands through his wife's sandy-colored hair.

"He's right, Mrs. Lupin," Grace said, placing a comforting hand on Mrs. Lupin's arm. "Besides, this is a happy day, right? You're grandparents."

Seconds after Remus stopped breathing, all of the Healers and nurses who'd been working on him came rushing back into the room, followed by James and Peter. The two of them managed to get their grieving friend away from Remus' bedside in order to give the Healers enough room to work. They couldn't see what was being done to their friend, but James was glad that no one asked them to leave – getting Sirius to leave Remus' room when he could be dying would be practically impossible.

Sirius was shaking violently as he watched everyone working to save his mate. If it hadn't been for James' and Peter's grips on his arms, he wouldn't have had the strength to stand. "He can't die," Sirius whispered, tears streaming down his face. "I can't lose him, guys; I don't know what I'll do without him…" Sirius broke off as he began sobbing brokenly. Distantly, Sirius felt himself being pulled into a tight embrace by someone – probably James – and he continued crying on his friend's shoulder.

"Hey, mate, don't worry you haven't lost him yet," James said shakily, as he and Peter fought off their own tears. It was hard enough watching one of their best friends die, but having to deal with a distraught Sirius was pure torture. "These guys are the best, right? They're doing everything they can for him."

"Besides," Peter said, patting Sirius' back reassuringly, "Remus just gave birth. You know how much he wanted to raise those kids. He's not going to – you know – when he's so close to getting what he wants."

"Yeah," James said, as he loosened his hold on his friend. "Hey, why don't we go get a look at those little runts of yours, hm?"

Sirius pulled back and shook his head. "You guys can go," he said. He looked back at Remus' bed, where the Healers were still hard at work. "I'm not leaving him."

James sighed. "Come on, Sirius. There's nothing you can do here. If you stay, you'll just be in the way." Peter and James exchanged a look over Sirius' head, and both nodded before once again taking hold of Sirius' arms.

"And it's not as if we're asking you to leave the building," Peter said. "We'll be just down the hall – if anything happens, they'll know where to find us."

Seeing that they weren't getting through to him, James made one last attempt. "Sirius, do you really think Remus would want you standing here, watching him like this? It's not going to do anything but make you feel even worse, and you know Remus wouldn't want that."

Sirius slumped. "Alright, let's go."

A few minutes later, the new father was standing outside the nursery with his two best friends, looking into the room at its two newest occupants. His daughter and son, each respectively wrapped up in a pink and blue blanket, were both lying in tiny cribs near the window. His daughter – Sirius knew he'd have to think of names for them soon – looked so much like Remus, it almost hurt to look at her. She had the same sandy hair (as far as he could tell – there wasn't much hair to look at), the same amber eyes, the same thin nose and high cheek bones.

His son, on the other hand, looked almost exactly like him. He had Sirius' grey eyes, ebony hair, and slightly darker skin. The three men were drawn out of their respective thoughts by the sound of someone leaving he nursery. Sirius looked up at the sound of someone approaching them. A young nurse, her long brown hair pulled back into a loose ponytail was walking towards them, a friendly smile on her face.

"I'm guessing you're the father of those two little darlings?" She asked Sirius, noting the resemblance between him and the boy.

"Yeah," he said gruffly. "That'd be me. Sirius Black," he said in response to her unasked question.

Her smile widened. "Well then, Mr. Black, would you like to hold them? I'm afraid you're friends can't come in, but as you're the father, you're more than welcome."

"I'd like that," Sirius said with a nod.

At that, she turned back around and headed towards the nursery door saying, "Right this way, then."

Sirius followed the nurse through the maze of cribs – most of which were empty – to reach his children. She pulled a chair from the back wall between the two infants, so that Sirius could hold them sitting down. The woman picked up his daughter and placed her in the crook of his right arm, showing him the correct way to hold her, before doing the same with his son. "I'll just leave you three alone for a while," she said with a smile, stepping back and going to check on one of the other infants.

Sirius didn't even notice as the nurse left. He was too busy gazing in awe at the two tiny beings he and Remus had brought into this world. They're so perfect, he thought to himself. But how am I going to take care of them if I lose Remus? I don't know how to live without him.

He sat there for what felt like only minutes, but could very well have been hours before James pushed the door to the nursery open (over the nurse's objections), saying, "Sirius! Come quick! It's Remus!"

In an instant, Sirius was on his feet. He gently placed the babies back into their cribs before rushing out of the nursery after his friend. When he was out in the hall with James and Peter, he asked, "What is it? He hasn't- they haven't given up, have they? Please tell me he isn't dead, James."

James and Peter shook their heads. "We don't know. Lily just told us to get you. She said something's happened, but she didn't know what."

At that, Sirius took off back down the corridor, with James and Peter once again struggling to keep up. He was almost out of breath when he skidded to a halt at the delivery room door. Turning to Lily and Grace, he said, "Is he- please tell me he's not-"

But then the new father noticed that the two women were smiling, and Mr. and Mrs. Lupin were no longer crying. He was confused at first, but then felt the beginnings of hope well up inside him. Lily shook her head, saying, "Just go in there, Sirius."

In response, Sirius pushed his way back into Remus' room.

He was met with the most welcome sight he'd ever seen. "Remus," he croaked as he hurried to his mate's side. "Oh my God, Remus, I thought I'd lost you…" Sirius cried tear of joy this time, as he feathered kisses all over his beloved werewolf's smiling face.

"Never," Remus whispered weakly. "You'll never lose me, Sirius. Besides, I couldn't leave you alone to corrupt our babies, could I?"

"No, I suppose not," Sirius said, laughing as he wiped away his tears. "You should see them, love, they're absolutely beautiful."

Before Remus could respond, a smiling Fenwick opened the door and walked into the room, holding the twins in his arms. "I thought you might want to see your babies, Mr. Lupin."

Remus nodded and held out his arms for the two babies as Sirius slid onto the bed beside him. Sirius placed an arm around Remus' shoulders while Fenwick situated the infants in Remus' arms. The werewolf looked at his new babies with the same awe that Sirius had felt when he first saw the children. Neither of them could believe that after all the fighting they'd had to go through to reach this moment, they were finally holding their babies.

"I don't believe this," Remus whispered in awe. "They're so perfect."

"Well, what did you expect?" Sirius murmured as he leaned over to press a kiss to his mate's temple. "You gave birth to them – of course they're perfect."

A/N: Did anyone really expect me to make Sirius raise the babies on his own? That would definitely stink – having to celebrate your kids' birthday on the day the love of your life died. Anyway, I hope everyone liked this chapter. I expect to have the epilogue up soon. I just want a few suggestions. Should I have this fic go along the lines of the books and have Peter be a traitor, James and Lily die, and Sirius go to prison? Should I have Peter be a traitor but get discovered before he becomes Secret Keeper and have James and Lily live, and Sirius not go to prison (In this case, I'd find some other way to have them beat Voldie.)? Or should Peter and Grace get married and everyone live happily ever after? Keep in mind that I reserve the right to do whatever the hell I want to. Anyway, please review!