James had spent hours at the police station. They had questioned him about Lily, Severus, and himself. James gave his side of the story. In his official statement, he did disclose that he believed Lily was his soulmate. It explained his behavior a little bit better to the officers than 'some random girl I met three weeks ago'. With that James was granted bail, Severus was not. James couldn't help but smirk as he left the well dressed, but completely bloody Severus in the jail cell behind him.

James called Remus and it went straight to voicemail. Sirius' phone rang, but inevitably went to voicemail as well. He texted Sirius and asked where Lily was. There was no response. James was anxious. He sat at the penthouse for another few hours. Memories of her face, the bruises on her hips, the things Severus had said about her, the horrible things James had said to her. It was like a nightmare come to life. James got a text from Remus.

Remus

Lily's at St Mungo Hospital. Sirius is with her.

That was all James needed to jump into his car and race a fast as he could down the highway.

James enjoyed the smells of hospitals. They weren't overpowering. It's the white walls everywhere that made him feel like the hallway was twice a long as it actually was. Remus had given him the room number and he made his way down the never-ending halls.

The door was open. He saw Lily placing her hand on Sirius' chest. Sirius was talking to her in soft words. Her face looked similar to the night they had met. A bit swollen and bruised. He wanted to walk up and rub her pain away. Absorb it into himself.

Her eyes met his and his stomach dropped with the fear he saw there. She was like a cornered animal. She tried to sit up, but Sirius softly held her down. Something about stiches and a promise was exchanged between the two. James went to move in further, but Sirius quickly strode to him. James went to hug his brother; he was greeted with a punch to his gut. Sirius was pushing him out of the room.

"What the hell? I want to make sure Lily's ok."

Sirius looked as though he didn't know what to say or how to feel. His body language was tense, but his face was soft. Sirius was waffling with what to say and James was getting angry at being kept out of the room by his own brother.

"Do you remember the first family dinner we had?"

Did James remember? Of course, he did.

Flashback

Sirius had dropped a china plate from his parent's china set. His parents had using them to celebrate Sirius coming to live with them. Sirius dropped his plate not knowing how hot it was. Everyone had frozen in the kitchen. The Potters were waiting for Sirius scream or tell them that he was hurt.

Sirius instead dropped to his knees trying to pick up the pieces as fast as he could. His brother's hands started to bleed from the sharp edges. Mr. Potter had carefully knelt next to him. This sent Sirius into a spiral. Crawling through the glass on the floor, Sirius cried in front of James for the first time. Begged Mr. Potter not to beat him, saying he could work off whatever the cost of the plate was. Begged him to understand it was an accident. Told him that his back wouldn't be able to handle another punishment after his last on, because it hadn't healed yet.

Sirius ran off for the first time away from the Potters that night after not receiving a punishment. Sirius had told James that not letting him 'have it' that night would only give Mr. Potter more time to come up with a more painful punishment. James had thought the notion absurd and that Sirius wasn't actually going to make a run for it. He had.

Fleamont and Euphemia had taken him aside as the police looked for Sirius that night. Had told James that victims of abuse often didn't jump into 'normal' life very fast. That Sirius really thought that every parent would have beaten their child with a belt if they dropped a plate.

James didn't understand even after that night. It never made much sense that Sirius would be afraid when the Potters never gave him something to be afraid of. The bad people weren't apart of his life anymore.

End Flashback

"Yeah. What does that have to do with this?" Sirius gave him a look like it should be obvious. "I'm not him. Why would she be scared of me?" Another look from Sirius. "Go on just tell me."

Sirius rubbed his hand down his face. "You just beat the living shit out of her ex-boyfriend. Showing her that you can pack an even stronger punch than he can."

"I wouldn't use that kind of strength on her though."

"Did you show her any signs that you wouldn't?"

James looked at his shoes. He had said in the hotel room something. Told her that he would carry her out of the room if he needed to. "I didn't say I would hurt her. Just carry her out."

Sirius grabbed his hair and the two brothers stood in silence until Sirius tried to calmly explain. "She doesn't want you around her alone. She correlates you and him. Even if you think she shouldn't, she does."

James wanted to protest but Sirius stopped him. "I promised to help her. She doesn't want to be left alone with you. If you really want her, you'll respect that. You'll earn her trust and go at her pace."

James was furious. Who was Sirius to tell him how to handle his soulmate connection? "Sirius, I think I'll choose how to handle this."

James went for the door and Sirius practically body slammed him into the wall. "You should know that I made a promise to her. I don't take my promises lightly, you know that above all else. She doesn't want to be alone with you. I'm telling you as brothers, that you have a chance if you take it slow. I am telling you as her protector, you need to watch your step if you don't."

A/N: Let me know what you'd like to see in the comments. Any perspectives you'd like next?