A/N - This was also written for Round 4 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. My prompt was weakness.

Weakness

August 1997

It was his own fault really, his own weakness that had led them to this point. He had tried to resist her, succeeded for a while, but eventually succumbed as he had always known that he would. No matter how many arguments, how many excuses he put forth, she always had an answer, a reason, a solution. She was addicting, like those muggle drugs that Lily had told them about back in seventh year and he had allowed himself to believe that maybe she might be right, that there might be a future for them somehow.

Now though, now he knew that he never should have listened. That he shouldn't have let her convince him to date her, let alone marry her. He had seen the look of disgust on Andromeda's face before she quickly masked it when they had announced their engagement. Though Ted had seemed happy for them, Remus couldn't help but wonder if he was simply pretending for his daughter's sake. Who would want their only child married to a werewolf after all? The two had come to their small wedding, but had left as soon as the ceremony was over, Andromeda not even stopping to congratulate them. Remus was quite sure that Ted had forced his wife to attend.

When Dora had told him about the baby, just two days before Bill Weasley's wedding, Remus had been petrified. No matter how she tried to convince him otherwise, he was positive that the child would be like him, that he had condemned an innocent baby to a lifetime of pain and prejudice. He had thought of nothing else leading up to the wedding and after the attack at the Burrow, he made his decision.

They had gone home to their flat, Dora's flat, after hours of questioning. Dora had been so exhausted she had fallen into bed without even changing her clothes and was asleep moments later. Remus had sat up the entire night just watching her sleep. His heart had cracked and fissured thinking of the life they might have had, had he not been the monster that he was.

Deep down, he knew it was cowardly, what he planned to do, but he also knew it was for the best. 'Best for who Moony?' a quiet voice said inside his head that sounded remarkably like a combination of Sirius and James and surprisingly, Lily as well. He ignored it of course, his stubbornness shoving the voice to the back of his mind and locking it away in that place where he kept memories too painful to look at or think about. When dawn had come, Dora had yawned and stretched, blinking her eyes open and smiling up at him and he was once again lost for a time, the weakness that was him taking over and allowing him escape in her softness.

He hadn't told her then, how could he after that? He might be a coward, but he wasn't cruel, not like that. And once he'd lost it, it took him a bit to find that strength again, or what passed as strength for him anyway. A few days went by and then finally, finally, he told her.

"What are you talking about Remus?" Tonks demanded her hands on her hips and the tips of her hair red.

"You would be better off, both of you, without me," he replied and she glared at him, more of her hair slowing turning from pink to red, as if Remus needed another tangible sign of her anger.

"Don't be stupid," she snapped.

"Don't you see?" Remus had exclaimed then, for once driven to anger himself by her constant denial of the problem. "I have no money, no job, no prospects. The child will be like me, I know it. I've sentenced the both of you to prejudice, discrimination, intolerance. You'll be shunned, by your family, society. And the baby, an innocent, forced to endure that month after month. How can I sit by and watch that happen? How?"

"And you think that leaving us will make it better?" she asked, her voice dangerously low. "You think abandoning us will prevent that discrimination and prejudice you're talking about? That walking out will somehow miraculously make the baby not like you or not suffer that pain if he is? Have you gone completely daft?"

"It's gone too far," he muttered, shaking his head. "This shouldn't have happened. It's bad enough you married me, but now a child, too far." He continued shaking his head, as if doing it long enough would shake the inevitable truth from his brain and change it. Tonks took a few steps towards him and he remained where he was, an idea forming. She put a tentative hand on his arm and he allowed it, looking down at her.

"Don't do this Remus," she said pleadingly. "I need you, this baby, our baby needs you." She took his hand and placed it on her belly, covering it with her own. "The baby will be fine, I know it. Don't ask me how I know, but I do. And even if he is born with lycanthropy, he'll have his father there to help look after him and help him understand." Remus looked away at this, not wanting her to see the pain in his eyes. She let go his hand and wrapped both arms around his neck. "Please don't do this."

He returned her embrace and she sighed, in relief he thought. He hugged her for a few moments before pulling away from her slightly. He ran a finger down her cheek and then kissed her gently before telling her he would make tea. Retreating to the kitchen, he took a tea cup from the cupboard and glancing quickly down the hall to make sure she wasn't watching, pulled his wand and tapped the cup, muttering 'portus' as he did so.

He strode back into the bedroom, the cup held down at his side. She looked up at him, a bit puzzled as to why he was back so quickly and without the tea and he moved to stand beside her again. And then he took her hand and wrapped it around the handle of the cup, covering it with his so she couldn't let go. She looked at him in confusion, then realization as the portkey activated. When they landed, she ripped her hand from his and glared at him, then looked and saw her parents' house in front of them.

"I'm sorry," he said automatically as he knocked on the door. She snorted and shook her head, crossing her arms and refusing to look at him.

"Who is it?" they heard from inside.

"Remus Lupin," Remus said. "I am a werewolf, recently married to your only child, Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be called Tonks, but grudgingly accepts Dora. You recently healed a raven-haired boy and a half-giant friend of mine before sending them on by hairbrush portkey." Remus heard the click of more than one lock and the door opened to reveal Ted, for which Remus was grateful. Andromeda would have hexed him into the next century, of that Remus had no doubt. Before Ted could say anything, Remus spoke again.

"I need you to look after Dora for me," he said. "Don't let her leave or try to follow me."

"Where are you going?" Ted asked in confusion.

"That doesn't matter," Remus replied and Tonks stiffened. "Just, take care of her please."

"I don't understand," Ted replied, looking back and forth between his daughter and new son-in-law. Remus sucked in a breath.

"She's pregnant," he said and Ted's eyes widened in shock. Remus turned and began to walk away, toward the boundary where he knew the anti-apparition wards ended.

"Remus," Tonks said, finally finding her voice. He ignored her and continued walking. "Stop, please." His heart broke completely in half, but he forced his feet to keep moving. "Remus!" she screamed just as he reached the boundary.

He paused before he turned to apparate, realizing that by leaving now he was only trading one kind of weakness for another, an irony that was not lost on him. A strangled laugh that sounded remarkably like a sob escaped him. He nearly broke then, nearly ran back and begged for her forgiveness, but instead he silently apologized to his unborn child, then turned and disappeared.