James was so excited to be back in town. All of his friends had gone radio silence on him. James made sure that work wrapped up early for him out of town so that he could get back for Thursday dinner. He wanted to make it to this dinner before Lily brought her date next week.

Sirius had been helping James out and with Lily he had made a lot of progress. She would look him in the eyes and respond to his questions with her opinions instead of what he might want to hear. Last dinner they had even sat together alone at the table while Sirius went to grab food and Remus had grabbed something in his room.

James felt like he was ten sometimes, being excited about such little steps, but Sirius assured James that they were bigger than he thought. Sirius had also urged James to let Lily date. She would be able to better separate him and her devil ex. She would see a range of people and come to James being able to see that difference better.

James had done his own research after their talk at the hospital. He even went to a support group for partners who had been in bad situations before. James didn't speak but went to learn from the therapist who lead the group.

Walking into the penthouse was a breath of relief. James went to go shower off the trip, but the door was closed. After a moment he knocked. No response. James tried to open the door. It was unlocked but there was weight on the opposite side keeping it closed. James pushed with all his strength to squeeze through a portion of the opened door.

Sirius laid propped against the wall now. Completely devoid of color. James called the emergency number. While they stated they were on their way, he attempted to wake Sirius. His eyes opened but didn't react to anything that was said.

In desperation, James lifted Sirius up. Making sure he wasn't going to fall, James moved him to the couch.

"Sirius please tell me what happened. What got you so sick?"

Still no answer. The elevator did open with paramedics. James cracked as they asked him to back up while they tried to hydrate him and get his heart rate back to normal. "Please you have to make sure he's ok. I don't have much else if I don't have him."

Paramedics were able to stabilize Sirius. They told James that rest would be key to recovery.

Looking at the clock, he saw that it was nearly nine at night. He pulled out his phone to call Lily, no call Remus, so he did. Lily still picked up the phone.

"You have some nerve calling this late."

"Sirius got sick. He's at home but the health professionals said he needed rest."

Lily covered the phone and yelled something to someone off the phone. "Did he said what he thought of the book?"

"Sirius reading a book? I didn't hear anything about it."

"Ok. Remus and I will be over soon. We will take the next train over."

The ding of the elevator woke Sirius. His head was pounding. Taking in his environment, he was no longer in the bathroom. James was sitting on his phone, probably playing a game. After a moment Lily cautiously knocked on the open door, making her presence known to James.

"James said you were sick."

"Yeah I must have fallen asleep in the bathroom this morning. I got sick and just laid down on the floor."

Remus was skirting on the walls of the room. Sirius wanted to cry. The book put this him in a totally different light to Sirius. Before Remus was a man who had been through hard things like everyone in life and came through the other side fine. Remus really was a man who had been through harder things than most, and still came out kind and soft. Remus was too far for his liking. Sirius went to sit up but realized he did not have enough strength to do so.

"Please…"

Remus was hesitant but came to kneel at the bed and hold his hand. They looked at each other for a long moment. "I don't think I want you to read the book anymore. I'm going to take your copy back if that's ok."

Sirius was extremely confused. "I read the whole thing last night. You can take it back, but I don't think I can forget it."

Remus was now drained of color too. "It's what made you sick didn't it?"

Sirius contemplated lying. "It was the very end."

"I understand that you can't handle this. I can leave now if it would make you more comfortable."

"Please don't leave me" Even Sirius was surprised at how beggy his voice sounded. "I wanted to hold you all night. I wanted to comfort you and help you. I hurt so bad that I couldn't."

Remus had tears in his eyes. Sirius looked around and saw that at some point Lily and James had slipped out of the room, leaving them alone. "Come lay with me Remus. I'd like to trace your scars if that's ok. Lily has said that calms you down sometimes." Remus nodded.

The two lay in bed for what felt like an eternity before Sirius couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. For the briefest moment before he fell asleep, he heard Remus hum quietly and a bit off key his favorite song.