Author's note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the canon, world, and characters portrayed below and you can tell I'm not J.K. Rowling because #transrights

Content Warnings: NA

Maybe Tomorrow

"Oh, fuck me," she moaned quietly under her breath as she held Teddy's little hands. Remus had patiently been holding the little boy upright as she said her goodbyes, lingering in the doorway—which was a long, drawn-out process that she was only making worse. She was well aware of this. But still, it was hard to walk out the door knowing that she was officially going back to work now—and not just because the world had been both burning and on fire, short on Aurors and full of Death Eaters, chaotic and messy and in some serious need of rebuilding that had cut her maternity leave into half-days, before giving her a (very addicting) few months of peace and quiet.

"We'll be okay, won't we Teddy?" Remus promised, looking down at the little boy as if they were having a very serious discussion. There were a few plasters on his face from the full moon, but she had noticed him heal and bounce back more quickly since Teddy had been born. "Yeah? We'll miss Mama but we'll be a-okay today and so, so happy when we get to see her again. Isn't that right, Teddy?"

Teddy garbled an impressive string of consonants that resulted in about as much spit as sound. She wiped his cheeks with the sleeve of her sweater, aware that it was somewhat gross and that she was going to have to get used to a world where being drenched in bodily fluids wasn't the norm, but not particularly caring at the moment. She kissed his hair, a cheerful shade of pink they had matched with a colour called 'Lusty Gallant' the last time they'd been at the paint store, before straightening up.

"I just… I'm going to miss him so much," she said. "I know I've done half-days at work and he's used to being without me because of how many Weasleys there are in this world, but this is me really going back to work. Where I'll be for at least a gazillion hours every week until Teddy becomes an old man."

"I doubt he could get that much past you," Remus said. Then he looked worried. "But if you're not ready to go back to work full time or if you don't want to, Hestia did say that your maternity leave had been garbled by the war more than enough for you to take another few weeks. And given everything that's happened, everything you've done, I'm sure she would understand if you asked…"

"I know, I know," she said with a sigh. "But I'm going to have to go back eventually and I do want to go back. I like my job. I miss my job—my real job, not this nonsensical mad-dash to catch Death Eaters we've had going on. I just… urgh, this little goblin's absolutely ruined me. I'm smitten, Remus, smitten. I used to be cool and independent and strong and now I'm wondering things like am I a bad mother for leaving my child? If another woman ever asked me that question, I would slap her over the head and yet here I am! Ruined!"

"You are most definitely not ruined, and even more definitely not a bad mother," Remus said, taking a step forward to wrap an arm around her and kiss her nose. "You are, in fact, an incredible mother and a very strong, and dare I say kickass, one for Teddy to look up to. Isn't that right, Teddy? Aren't you just so lucky to have the best mama ever?"

"Mama," Teddy garbled.

If she'd been holding the baby, she might have dropped him.

Remus's eyes widened and he looked down at Teddy, wide-eyed.

"Did you just..? Oh, you did, didn't you," he said—talking to Teddy like he always did, as if their twelve-month old child was a fully functioning and rational adult.

"Oh, you did," she said when she finally regained the ability to speak, which apparently meant that the infant was ahead of her in the rankings. She plucked Teddy from Remus's arms while he was still too shocked to do anything about it, and grew out her hair a few extra inches, so he had something to grab onto since he liked that. She even shed her bubblegum pink to match his current colouring. "You did do that, didn't you baby? You said mama because I'm your mama…"

"Teddy, can you do that again? Can you say mama?" Remus asked. He sounded it out for him. "Mama… Ma-ma. Mama…"

She blew into Teddy's little face and sent his fluffy pink hair fluttering. He giggled at her.

"Mama," he repeated. Remus laughed happily, in that delighted and surprised laugh he had for when Teddy did something new and surprising.

"Oh, I sure am," she said. She lowered him into her arms and squeezed him tight, kissing the top of his head. "I sure am, baby, you got that right."

Remus sandwiched Teddy between the two of them in a hug and kissed her ear.

"Remus?" she said quietly.

"Yes?"

"I'm not going to work today."

"Oh, I know."

"I'm going to eat ice cream and listen to this baby say my name a hundred times. Maybe tomorrow I'll go save the world."

"Maybe," Remus agreed. "I like this ice cream idea. Make it chocolate?"

"Of course," she said with a smile, kissing her little boy's ear again. "And you know what? Sprinkles."

WC: 906