Lily had been released from the hospital for three months. She had fully recovered from surgery and the physical bruises. Sirius and she had talked about what James brought up about bills. Lily admitted that her parents had died with a sizable amount of debt. They had requested that Lily and Petunia sell their vacation home, but Petunia had been delaying the sale because she was to absorbed in her new marriage. Sirius offered her a bit of charity. Saying that he would pay off the debt. Lily didn't want that. She felt like she wanted to work and earn her money. Remus was already paying for everything else, it felt like she needed to do it on her own.

Sirius then told her that a business they had pulled out of a year ago was looking for a personal assistant. He guaranteed that he had no power over hiring, only an inside help to get her an interview. He promised that the job would be all on her merit. James and Sirius wouldn't be at the business ever most likely. Lily had hesitantly agreed. She had gotten the job and was surprised to find that it was enjoyable.

Lily's personal life wasn't too bad either. James had gone back to the charming knight she had known him as before the hotel. Lily still didn't want to be left alone with him. Sirius and Remus were always around, making sure she wasn't. The four of them were getting along well.

A new tradition had started, and Lily loved it. Tuesday and Thursday were takeout nights. Sirius liked to invest in the arts, which included cooking. They would all rotate who chose the restaurant, making sure it was a small business, preferably local.

"Dirk Cresswell asked me out on a date this week." The entire table went silent. "I thought it was nice, and I decided to invite him to dinner next Thursday if that's ok."

"You feel ready?" Sirius asked.

Lily nodded her head. "I put a lot of thought into it. I'm going to have him here with you guys for backup, if that's ok." She didn't know why, but she was mainly looking for James approval. She didn't want to leave him as some sort of fifth wheel. Sirius and Remus had been super cutesy the past month and if Lily brought a date, it would just be James on the outs.

James looked to Sirius who made an odd gesture with his hands. "Of course. You can bring who you want to dinner. I want you to feel comfortable."

A few days later Sirius and Remus were watching a movie at Remus' apartment. Lily was at work and James was out of town on business. Sirius hardly spent time at his penthouse anymore. He understood that Remus felt safer at his place after being arrested in Sirius' lobby. Remus had come a way as well. Sirius no longer had to ask to touch Remus as long as he made eye contact before. Remus just needed to know that it was Sirius touching him and not be surprised. This had put Sirius over the moon. He had been touch-starved as a child and from the moment he knew Remus was meant to be his, had craved to always have a hand on him.

Sirius was working on a few ideas for Remus' kids book while Remus made commentary on the movie.

"Do you think Lily really wants to go on this date?"

Sirius didn't know what to say to that. He thought that Lily wanted to be better and wanted to be ready to date. If she was actually ready, would show only when she went on the date. "I think she wants to go."

"Is James going to be ok with his soulmate going on a date with someone else in front of him."

Sirius shot up. He hadn't told Remus that James and Lily had matching tattoos. James had been very careful to hide it. He even bought wrap and made sure to cover it every morning in case someone saw it through his white button downs he wore to work. Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius' dramatics.

"James and Lily are soulmates and you both know it, or James had fallen madly and deeply in love with someone he knows isn't his soulmates. By the way you talk about soulmates, I guess the first one is true."

Sirius gave up the charade. He was secretly excited to be able to talk with Remus about it. "I told him it would be best not to pressure her. Telling her might make her feel trapped. I'm coaching him in going slow."

"You're such a good friend." Remus praised him. Friend. Sirius and Remus had defined their relationship to make sure that they were both on the same page. 'Friend' was the label Remus was comfortable with now. Sirius wanted to kiss him. He wanted to kiss him now. His face was so close. Sirius ran his fingers through Remus' hair. He traced his fingers down his jaw and tilted his chin towards him. Wait for him to come to you. Sirius knew that Remus had gone so outside his comfort zone, just in the last seven seconds. When Remus never made a move to kiss him, Sirius simply traced his fingers across the scars.

"Will you tell me about it?" Remus had still not told Sirius anything more than the fact that he had been kidnapped when he was young. Sirius was curious to know. He thought there were so many landmines in their relationship.

"No."

"One question? One deep question that I want to know. We'll do one question at a time. Is that a good compromise?"

Remus was frozen. His eyes were unfocused. Sirius waited for him to come back.

"I will answer one question. Will it be intense?"

"Most likely."

"We're friends. I can trust you right?"

There was that word again. 'Friends'. "Of course."

Sirius shifted through the many questions he wanted to know. Things that might explain Remus' behavior or the reasons he avoided certain places. He settled on the first question that Sirius had when he saw the man with many scars.

"What made the scars?"

Remus shot off the couch and started gathering his writings. "Some were a dog attack, some were blades, some were me." With that Remus left to his bedroom. The door locked after him and the room was quiet. In a weird way, Sirius thought that this was a huge step forward.

After an hour of waiting, Remus didn't hear anything outside of his room. He had told Sirius the horrible nature of his scars. He was sure that Sirius ran off as soon as Remus had left the room. He was surprised to hear Sirius on the other side of his door.

"I'm going to head home and give you your space. I will be back tomorrow if you're feeling up to it."

Remus ran to the door desperate to throw it open and embrace Sirius. Something stopped him. He didn't know what.

He heard his apartment door close and then a text sent to his phone

Sirius

I couldn't lock the door on the way out.

Thank you for trusting me.

Remus went over to his bookshelf. He had a copy of his book that he had gotten for Sirius. He started writing a personalized message in the front. He wanted Sirius to know. He wanted Sirius and him to be friends like Lily and him were friends. Share everything and support and rely on one another. He sent a text to Sirius when he was finished.

To Sirius

There's a copy for you of my book by the door if you haven't gotten too far.

The book was gone from the doormat in the morning.

Here goes nothing…