A/N – Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! You are all so kind and so many of you to thank individually x

Chapter 3

Tonks' eyes flickered open, she was surprised to find that she managed to open them at all, indeed she was surprised at the fact that she was still alive. She remembered Lupin jumping at her, she had cowered and ducked trying to protect herself from the uncontrollable professor, but he hadn't been jumping at her, he was leaping for the werewolf behind her. Lupin then went on to try and fight off the werewolves that were gathering behind her, leaving her to deal with the ones right in front of her. After she had got over the initial shock that the werewolf Lupin could still remember her enough to not hurt her, she had managed to blast a couple of the werewolves away as she tried to fight her way out of the underground.

She had managed to fight past some of the werewolves when she saw another one appear from the entrance. This one was larger from the others and when it sniffed the air and fixed it's yellow eye on Tonks, she realised he was familiar with her and was none to happy about being plied with vodka and dumped in an alley.

The very last thing she remembered was Sabre running toward her as Lupin had earlier, except this time he was going right for her. She remembered him jumping, but something had hit her from behind before he could reach her. Even though that blow might have saved her life, it had also knocked her unconscious and she had no memory of anything else.

The back of her head was aching, she reached back and was relieved to find that there was no blood. The rest of her body was racked with injury, but she wasn't bleeding heavily. She managed to push herself up into a sitting position and found that she was lying in a street but she wasn't alone. Lupin was lying beside her, it was still night time but the moon had faded as the sun began to rise. He wasn't a werewolf anymore, he was human but he had looked much better.

The early risers were beginning to go into the street, Tonks knew that if they stayed where they were it would cause a lot of problems with the muggle police force. Here, two people were lying injured with, amongst other things, claw and bite marks across their skin and one was naked and unconscious.

Tonks dragged herself over to Lupin and wrapped an arm around him, attempting to apparate them to somewhere far more private and comfortable. It took a couple of attempts but eventually she managed to get them to her house before they could be discovered.

It was only when she had got them to safety did she start to notice Lupin's wounds. He had been bitten repeatedly as well as slashed, but he wasn't bleeding profusely…he was however completely naked, though as he was lying on his stomach, she didn't feel the full effect of this…which was probably a good thing.

She got to her feet, ignoring the cries of protest from her body as she did so. She staggered up to her room and as well as a blanket brought down a number of healing potions she kept around the house as if she usually brought back savaged werewolves to her home. Tonks pulled the blanket over Lupin and took one of the healing potions for herself. It stopped most of the pain but the wounds themselves would need to be treated with other potions, whether that or a trip to St Mungo's was in order.

Rolling Lupin onto his back, Tonks held his head in her lap and slowly tipped the potion into his throat, at least when he woke he wouldn't be in as much pain as she had been in. He swallowed the potion but it clearly went down the wrong way and he ended up choking himself back to consciousness.

"Tonks?" he spluttered, spraying her face with the potion. She scowled and wiped it away onto her sleeve, but didn't hold it against him.

"Hey there," she smiled. It would have been easy to lose herself in this moment with Lupin's head resting in her lap, but she knew she had to get him to drink the potion in it's entirety if he was going to heal efficiently. "Drink this," she whispered, tipping the potion back down his throat until he had drained the bottle.

He wiped his mouth and sat up, without her help. He looked over at her and she had been expecting him to be happy…or at least grateful that she had saved his life. Instead she found him looking irritated and for a brief moment he looked angry.

"Why did you do that?" he snapped, "Why did you come after me? You could have been killed!"

Tonks' mouth opened slightly from surprise as she tried to understand him, "What?" she eventually stuttered.

"Didn't you think about what could have happened? The werewolf underground is a dangerous place, some werewolves think twice about going there…"

"And if I hadn't turned up," Tonks interrupted, her voice becoming very stern, "how long would it have been before they would have killed you? If I hadn't turned up you would have died!"

Lupin hesitated but still replied, "I just didn't want you to get hurt," he muttered, looking away. Tonks couldn't help but smile as her heart swelled up and she threw her arms around Lupin. As soon as she did though he pulled back and pushed her away.

"No Tonks," he said, quietly but firmly. Tonks glared at him,

"It was just one hug," she spat, then seemed to explode at the rejection, "Why do you do this!" she shrieked, making Lupin jump, "Why do you keep pushing me away like this!"

Lupin rolled his eyes, "Tonks, we've been through this again and again I'm…"

"Say not good enough for me and I swear I'll take you back to the werewolves," Tonks cried, but it was enough to make them both laugh. They both leaned back on the sofa and chuckled. "I don't care what you think," she said when their laughter had died down, "I don't care what or who you think I deserve…don't I deserve to be happy?" Lupin snapped his head to look at her,

"Of course you do. Of course I want you to be happy…that's why I want you to find someone who can make you happy."

Tonks sighed, exasperated "You really don't get this, do you?" she murmured, cradling her head in her hands.

Lupin looked over at her, feeling immensely guilty that he was forced to do this to her, repeatedly.

"Do you love me?" she asked, suddenly and completely out of the blue. Lupin opened his mouth then closed it, only for it to continue to open and close again as he seemed unable to think of an answer. "It's not a difficult question," Tonks snapped, impatiently but somewhat aggressively, "Do you love me?" Lupin hung his head and murmured a reply which she didn't hear. She nudged him and forced him to repeat his words.

"Yes," he replied, almost frustrated. She fell silent, a move which surprised Lupin and he looked up. Her heart had melted when she heard his reply and she was smiling at him. She looked almost thoughtful as she looked at him,

"Then why don't you want to be with me?" she asked, her voice betraying a hint of curiosity.

"I do," Lupin cried, almost as if he had been waiting to get something off his chest, "more than anything, but look at me! Look at the state of me! You deserve so much better."

"Will you stop thinking about what I deserve and start thinking about what I want?" Tonks said, but she said it with a smile. Lupin couldn't help but smile back sheepishly.

For a while they just sat smiling at each other before Tonks finally sighed, "So…will you finally start giving me the time of day?"

Lupin gave a sigh of his own as she reached out to him, "and more," he smiled.

The following morning Lupin woke up, still in Tonk's house. His body was still racked with the injuries he had sustained from the werewolf underground, but the rest of his body was still buzzing from the night before and he could barely feel the wounds. He sat up in bed and felt the sheet slide down as he looked around for Tonks.

"Tonks?" he called, when he saw that she wasn't in the room. He heard a shuffle from the en suite bathroom and Tonks appeared in the doorway with a beaming smile and bright pink hair.

End