A/N: Sorry for the very late update, guys. My family and I spent a few days at a ski resort and, while I was absolutely sure there would be any sort of wireless internet there and had planned to proof-read and post while I was there… there wasn't Internet at all! *Panic, terror, horror-film-music in the background* So, finally back home with my blessed internet back, I give you the newest chapter. It's mostly just a follow-up to the last. Hope you all had a nice Pancake Day!
"So, this is a bit… awkward," Sirius mumbling, sitting at the centre of his kitchen's table, exactly halfway between Remus and Tonks as all three of them remained all alone in the room.
He had to admit it had been his idea to serve as… well, a mediator for Remus and Tonks's first meeting in the morning after his best friend had made the very asinine decision of leaving his pregnant wife… and, well, the more thoughtful one of coming back. Mia had been quick to point out that she'd rather change a hundred diapers in twenty minutes than joining him down there for said mediation and, honestly, at the moment he couldn't blame her for it in the slightness.
He'd expected yelling. He'd expected crying. He'd even expected cutlery being projected through the air. What he hadn't expected, though, was silence. Painfully awkward silence.
"What's awkward, Sirius?" Tonks asked him calmly, her face hidden behind that morning's edition of the Daily Prophet, which she seemed to be using as a barrier between herself and her husband, sitting at the opposite end of the long table.
"Oh, I don't know, the fact that we can practically cut the air in this room with a knife because it's so bloody thick with tension," Sirius let her know.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied in the same tone as before. "Why would there be any tension in the room when it's just you and me in it?"
He huffed and back against the back of his chair, closing his eyes for a second, exasperated. There was also the fact that, ever since she'd walked into that kitchen and seen Remus sitting at the table with him (not so subtly waiting for her to show up), she'd stubbornly refused to acknowledge her husband's presence at all. "Silent treatment," Sirius mumbled under his breath. "And they say I'm the one who frequently acts like a kid…"
Tonks finally lowered the newspaper but clearly averted looking at her husband at all, concentrating her glaring on Sirius. "What was that?"
He gulped. "I said you should eat a bit more to feed the kid," he quickly said, pushing a plate of food that had been resting on the centre of the table towards her. "Toast?"
She gave him a dubious look for a moment before just shrugging and turning her attention back to the newspaper – yet not before fetching a piece of toast from the plate and taking a theatrical bite out of it. That time, right before she hid her face back behind the newspaper, her eyes met her husband's just for a short, ice-cold moment.
Seconds later, certain that Tonks wasn't watching them, Sirius gave his best friend a look of disbelief. What are you doing? He mouthed.
Remus simply sighed and poked his eggs with a fork.
Rolling his eyes, Sirius pushed back his chair and got up, making his way to another chair right by Remus's side, preceding to lecture him once more. "Merlin, Moony, can you be any more pitiful? What are you doing, just sitting there not saying anything?" he whispered.
"I'm giving her space – you told me she'd need space," the werewolf replied in the same low tone.
"Not a blood Quidditch field's worth of it!"
"Then what do you suggest I do, Sirius?"
"Show her you care!"
"I have!" he told him, almost cluelessly. "I've come back, haven't I?"
"Yeah. And that's a bloody great start if you bother to tell her why. Right now, as far as she knows, you may have just come back because I threatened to beat you into a bloody pulp if you didn't. So show her that's not the case. And, for Merlin's sake, show her you care for your kid because, as far as I know, you didn't do a very good job with it last night."
Remus took a deep breath and glanced his wife's newspaper-covered face – he wondered what she was thinking. She was usually rather easy to read in what came to emotions, so he suspected the newspaper's purpose was exactly to keep him from doing so. "I wish I could turn back time, Padfoot."
"Yeah and I wish I had You-Know-Who standing here in front of me and a weapon that would kill him in a blink of a eye just so I could end his miserable life and keep my family safe," Sirius countered. "Doesn't work like that, Moony. If you want something to become true, get it done yourself. You know Tonks, you love her and you're damn well smart enough to figure out how to make this right, so get it done once and for all." And, as he finished that, Sirius got up again and returned to his previous seat.
He sat there, waiting. Remus gave him a look that clearly showed how unsure he was and Sirius responded with an urging nod towards his cousin. On his seat, his friend took another deep breath and finally spoke.
"Dora," he started.
Sirius saw Tonks visibly flinch at the mention of the nickname only her husband and her parents used on her, yet she didn't seem to be interested in offering any sign of him having her attention.
"Dora…"
"Sirius, can you please tell that other person sitting opposite me that I'm not interested in what he has to say now?" Tonks said from behind the newspaper wall, still refusing to acknowledge her husband directly.
Frustrated, Sirius huffed and turned to his friend. "She says she's not interested."
Remus raised his eyebrows. "Merlin, Dora, are you honestly planning to give me silent treatment forever?"
Tonks lowered her newspaper just a little and turned to her cousin. "If you could just point out that at least my silent treatment doesn't involve me storming out to Merlin knew where…"
Sirius couldn't help letting out another huff at. "Moony…"
"I heard it," Remus interrupted him. "You have a right to be angry Dora. Merlin, I am angry at myself…"
"Sirius, please tell him…"
"Merlin, this is basically hell on earth," Sirius mumbled to himself in annoyance as Tonks kept dictating the message for him to pass. Deciding that it was up to him to end that pitiful show, he cleared his throat loudly in order to get his attention. "Okay, will you two do yourselves and my sanity a favour and just get on the same page here? First one wants to talk and the other's gone. Then the other one wants to talk after all and the first is giving him a cold shoulder… am I the only one getting the stupidity in all this?"
A long moment of silence from either side followed his words, as none seemed to want to be the first to say… well, anything. In all honesty, Sirius got why Tonks didn't want to talk. She'd been terrified in the previous night: too terrified to be angry. But then Remus had come back and she hadn't been so terrified anymore – just angry that he'd left in the first place. And, blimey, no one in their right mind could blame her for it – still, silence wouldn't lead anywhere, as easy as it might be.
Just when it seemed like Remus was going to say something, taking the first step into an actual conversation, voices and steps came from the stairway right outside the kitchen, interrupting him. "…yes, I'll give you one of the chocolate ones. Just don't tell Mom, okay?" Izzy's voice was saying.
"'Kay. Don't tell Mama. An' Daddy?" another voice, clearly Alex's, asked her just as he walked into the kitchen, the little boy's hand firmly connected to his older sister's.
Izzy stopped when she saw all three down there, looking a bit embarrassed. "Oh, sorry. Mom said you were downstairs but I thought she meant the living room or something. We'll just…"
Alex beat her, though, as he suddenly let go of her hand and ran happily towards Tonks. "Antie Tonksh! Wanna see funny faces," he announced, climbing onto a chair near hers.
Despite the tension still floating all over the room, Tonks couldn't help smiling at her husband's godson. "My morphing has been a bit under the weather lately, little bugger."
He frowned, not at her words because he only understood half of them, but at her now brown-coloured hair. He pointed at it in a clearly disapproving fashion. "Bah. Whew colouws?"
She sighed, missing her favourite tone of pink, and ruffled his own hair lightly. "Demanding, aren't you, little guy?"
"Puple!" he requested.
She chuckled lightly and reached for the boy, pulling him into her lap. "Alright. I suppose I can give 'puple' a try."
"Er… Dora, are you sure that's safe?" she heard her husband's familiar voice asking before she had a chance to try and morph. She looked at him with narrowed eyes and shot him a full blown glare. "Alex being on your lap with… you know, the baby and everything…"
"Oh, look at that. Now he cares," she bitterly responded.
"I'm just saying," Remus replied, immediately retreating.
"Well, maybe you should have said it last night when I really needed to hear it!" she replied angrily, causing Alex to grow uncomfortable and quickly making an escape from her lap straight to his father's legs, who'd approached as she remained at the door, looking at both halves of the couple, confused.
"Tonks is pregnant?" she whispered to her father in surprise.
He nodded as he picked up his son from the floor and bribed him with one of the chocolate cookies from the jar on the nearby counter. "Your Mom didn't tell you?" he whispered back, receiving a headshake in return. "Must have thought Harry already had… And in case you're wondering what the fight is about, I think I'll just refer you to Harry because I really, really don't feel like telling the story all over again," he excused himself quickly as he felt the tempers rising between Remus and Tonks the room. "You know what? It might be a good idea for you to take your brother upstairs for now before the cursing starts and your mum blames the swearing he picks up on me."
"Because we all know it never is your fault," Izzy commented sarcastically, already feeling the tension as she picked up little Alex from her father's lap. "You might want to step outside too – I'd say very soon you'll be one too many in this room."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, confused.
"This isn't your fight, Daddy – and when it comes to, well, couple fights, whatever it is about, if it's not related to you it's best to walk away and watch from afar unless you want to get hit by the shockwaves. Trust me – Harry, Ginny and I have learned this after many bad experiences concerning Ron and Hermione's tiffs. And note that they're not even dating or anything." And with her piece of wisdom shared, Izzy reached for her little brother and removed him from her father's hold before walking out of the kitchen with him.
With his son and daughter out of sight, Sirius turned to face the table in order to check on the now-arguing couple – in a mostly one-sided sort of way – and was rather taken aback by the scene. When had Tonks's hair gotten so red? Could it be somehow channelling her fury? If that was the case, an explosion was coming. A big one. Bigger even if she'd inherited the Black temper, which, if he recalled it well, was a trait Andromeda surely hadn't skipped, although she was far more controlled at it than any or her sisters. He wasn't sure just how scared he should be at that fact. One thing was for sure: suddenly watching from afar didn't seem like such a bad idea.
So, following his daughter's advice, he silently backed away from the room, unnoticed to either Remus or Tonks, and took a seat halfway up the stairs to the ground floor, from where he could still hear their voices well enough.
"Dora, I can't even begin to apologize…" he clearly heard Remus saying at some point.
"Then don't! Do you have any idea what it felt like being home all alone waiting for you to come back? Or even wondering if you would in the first place? I thought I'd go mad!"
"I know I'm so…" he clearly stopped himself there and used another angle. Explaining. "It got me petrified, Dora. Knowing I was having a child… what it meant, what it might turn into…"
"What it might turn into?" she asked in disbelief. "You mean a werewolf? Is that what it's all about?"
"You can't deny there's a possibility, Dora," he stated. "I thought… for a moment I thought that I not being around would spare you of another problem."
There was a pause of several seconds before she spoke. "What in the world possessed you to think I'd be better off raising a werewolf child on my own instead of with someone who actually knows a handful of things about it? What sort of… twisted logic led you to such a stupid idea, you bloody idiot? Because, from where I stand, that logic you used to justify walking out on me and this baby – werewolf, human, blast-ended skrewt for all I care because I already love it anyway! – is exactly the same one that's been causing people to look sideways at you because of what you are. That's been screwing you over for decades. And I'll be damned if I let you be the one to first discriminate my baby for what he may or may not be. Remus."
"It's not like that, Dora. Merlin, it's not like that at all – I wasn't punishing you or this baby," he assured her. "But the thought that I might have cursed another child to live the life I'd lived…" He paused and sighed. "It terrified me. I couldn't deal with that. It was too much at that time, Dora. I just couldn't deal with it and with you there… it just made it harder to deal with."
"So you left," she concluded.
"So I left," he agreed.
No sound reached Sirius's ears again for another ten or twenty seconds. "Haven't you even considered that I'm scared too? Maybe not for the exact same reasons but still terrified to the bone? I'm having a kid, Remus! And I haven't the palest idea of how to be a parent! A mum. I don't even know where to start and I ask myself all these questions: How will this baby turn out? What if I'll mess it up for life? So, look at that, you're not the only one scared out of his mind! The only difference between you and I, though, is that if I get freaked out, I can't possibly walk out because – guess what? – I'm the one who's carrying this baby so it will follow me wherever I go. And this is not me saying I want to walk out – because I don't. My point is that, out of the two of us, you're the one with the easy way out. And it just kills me that you used it last night," Sirius heard her telling Remus, her tone more towards the heartbroken side than to the angry one.
As the conversation went on in the kitchen, Sirius heard the sound of steps upstairs and wondered if someone was coming. Just in case, he used his wand to cast a one-sided imperturbable charm on the kitchen door so his presence or anyone's outside of the kitchen wouldn't be felt in it – he honestly didn't want to interrupt the conversation taking place at the kitchen which seemed to be on the rightest of paths. The one that would hopefully lead the couple to an understanding.
Things down there got worse before they got better. More accusations and even a bit of yelling from Tonks's part and many half-apologies from Remus's. His wife seemed to be quite keen in what came to not letting him finish his apologies – somehow, Sirius had a feeling that it was because she knew she wouldn't be able to remain pissed off at her husband much longer after a heartfelt apology from his part…
The sound of steps upstairs reached his ears again louder and louder and, even before he had a chance to glance up to see who was approaching, he heard his wife's voice behind him. "You know, Sirius, eavesdropping is quite a rude thing to do. I'm sure you're fairly aware of that."
He looked up and offered Mia an innocent grin as he saw her standing a few steps above him holding their youngest daughter on her hip. "Me? Of course not – I'm afraid parenting in this house before you came around mostly consisted of trying to make your children evil, blood-prejudiced, muggle-hating individuals. Good manners aside from that were fairly neglected in my early upbringing."
Mia sighed. She couldn't deny that maybe he wasn't all that distant from the truth – the pure thought made her cringe. How close had Sirius been to turning into one of those awful people like the rest of his family? "Well, early upbringing or not, you're smart enough to know when you're being a bad bay, Mr Black," she scolded.
His grin widened. "Why, I love it when you call me that, Mrs. Black. It does make me want to be one indeed," he teased playfully, making her roll her eyes. "Still, I can assure you that the only reason I'm sitting here…" he made quoting signals with his hands before continuing "…'eavesdropping' is strictly to make sure I'm ready in case Tonks decides to go on a rampage and curses Moony with some permanent damaging spell or something," Sirius assured her as she walked further down the stairs and sat down by his side, holding little Mary firmly in her arms. The little girl's cheeks were still a bit red from slumber, although she was already dressed for the day.
"Oh, so because this evestropping is for a good cause, it makes it all better," Mia said, unconvinced.
"Of course," he replied, picking up his daughter from her mother's arms, sitting her on his lap and kissing the top of her head over all that soft, baby-smelling, light brown hair. "Daddy's just looking out for your godparents," he informed Mary on his best-sounding baby tone. "Did Mommy tell you that you're getting a god-sibling?" he asked the baby before frowning slightly at his own words and turning to Mia. "Is that a real word? God-sibling?"
Mia shrugged. "I doubt it. Izzy and Harry used it a lot when they were kids, though, to describe each other – they thought it was funny. But, anyway, I suppose that, because this is such a complicated family, we can make up our own relative categories to simplify the whole thing."
"Yes, telling Mary here that Moony's kid will be her god-sibling or whatever sounds much easier than telling her it will be her…" he paused for a second, doing the math in his head "… second cousin once removed. Yeah, I think that's it," Sirius concluded, turning to his little daughter. "Can you say 'uncle Moony and auntie Tonks's baby will be my second cousin once removed'?"
The little girl let out a loud giggle and tried to reach for his nose in response.
Sirius gave her his index finger to grasp instead – long gone was the time when she could barely close her tiny little hand around it. Merlin, his little girl she getting big and Moony was getting a baby of his own… When had that happened? "Alright, I'll take that as a 'maybe later', shall I, young lady?" He turned to Mia only to see her smiling at his interaction with their youngest child. "Try not to think less of her for passing up this speaking opportunity – it's quite a mouthful."
"Oh, I don't know, Sirius. A not yet seven-month-old baby being unable to say a thirteen-word sentence? Maybe we should start worrying," Mia said in a mock-serious tone.
"Aw, look at that, little girl," he told his daughter. "Mommy's mocking you." He gave Mia a fake look of disapproval.
Mia rolled her eyes and reached to tickle her daughter's belly, making her squeal in delight. "Mommy's not. She's just mocking your barmy Daddy who thinks you're an impossibly large prodigy."
"Oh, how dare you? Of course my little girl is a prodigy with all the good genes she got from us," Sirius replied, trying to sound offended.
"From my side, maybe," she joked. "I mean, your family history speaks for itself – consanguine marriages usually don't lead to anything good and, if I recall it well, your parents were cousins, weren't they?"
"Hey! Is it complaining I hear? Because I like to believe I've turned out just fine despite the slightly odd fact that I happen to be my own second cousin," Sirius stated. "Interesting, hum?"
"In a very disturbing sort of way," Mia replied, fighting hard not to show him a completely creeped out facial expression. "Anyway, I'm not complaining per se. Sometimes I just wonder what it would have been like to have married a version of yourself without consanguinity involved," she lied just to push his buttons. "I'm pretty sure Alex's vocabulary wouldn't be so full of profanity if that was the case."
"Oh, is that right? Well, odds are that version of myself would have been smart enough not to end up with such a minx of a wife," he countered, beating her at her own game.
Mia narrowed her eyes. "That was low."
"You set the rules, love. I'm just following them," Sirius informed her victoriously before reaching to place a soft kiss on her lips. "Now, what about a truce?"
"I suppose I could live with one of those. We wouldn't want Mary to think we get a kick out of teasing each other," his wife pointed out.
"Phew, of course not. Teasing Mommy's a bummer," he said, shifting his daughter's position so he was holding her under her arms and trying to get her to stand up on his lap. Mary seemed to approve of that, bouncing happily on her father's lap. "That's my girl," he told her with a grin as his daughter tried to reach for his face with her little arms, her hands only a quarter of inch away from it.
"How long have they been this quiet?" Mia asked suddenly.
"Who?" Sirius inquired, all his attention concentrated on making silly faces to Mary.
"Remus and Tonks," she replied. "I can barely hear them now. Do you figure they heard us here and went away to talk somewhere else?"
He didn't say a thing for a second, just then realizing how much Mia's presence had distracted him from the conversation between Remus and Tonks. "No. I distinctively recall placing a one-way imperturbable charm on the kitchen door. We could hear them but they couldn't hear us," Sirius assured her, sitting the baby back down on his lap. "You don't think…"
"Don't think what?"
"You don't think Tonks just stunned him, used the floo to go away and just left him down there to rot, do you?"
Mia didn't respond immediately, considering the scenario. "Of course not. She wouldn't."
Sirius remained silent for a few seconds as well before speaking again. "Maybe we could check just in case."
Despite her earlier words expressing her faith on Tonks, his wife was already ahead of him there, picking their daughter up from his lap to allow him to stand up. They descended the stairs in a hurry, not bothering to be quiet since Sirius's spell kept them from being heard in the kitchen, and reached the bottom in no time. Sirius was the first to peak into the kitchen only to see neither Remus nor Tonks seemed to be at the table anymore.
Not good, he thought, instinctively scanning the floor for any sign of his friend being there, passed out. Yet, he quickly realized how wrong he was – as he took a careful step further into the room, the couple came into his view, standing near the unlit fireplace. Not just standing, he noted – they were rather wrapped around each other, in fact, kissing as if nothing else in the world mattered.
He couldn't help raising his eyebrows at that and biting his lower lip to keep himself from laughing out loud. Well that was fast, he mumbled in his mind, rather impressed. To think he'd expected his best mate to come out of that confrontation with his arse kicked by his wife – maybe he should give the bloke a little more credit. For a moment, just a moment, he wished he hadn't been so entranced with Mia and Mary before only to have heard how on earth Moony had talked his way out of the mess he'd gotten himself into and, well, into what seemed to be quite a snog… That ought to be an interesting thing to hear.
He turned his head slightly and saw Mia right behind him, peaking over his shoulder on tiptoes and smiling widely – he could practically hear her 'aw'-ing the couple in her head –, as little Mary sucked on her thumb in her mother's arms.
"Maybe we should leave them alone a little longer," Mia whispered into his ear.
"Yeah, maybe," he absently replied just as Remus and Tonks broke apart by the fireplace, completely oblivious to their presence.
Both Sirius and Mia took a step back but couldn't resist remaining still inside the room just to get a visual, as small as it might be, of Remus and Tonks, curious about the current state of affairs between the couple.
Oh her spot, Tonks – her hair now back to a hue somewhere between brown and red – let out a loud sigh and let her face rest against her husband's shoulder in rather tender way. "You're still a jerk," her muffled voice said, contrasting with her more tender gesture. "And you're not off the hook."
"Never assumed I would be," he assured her.
"Glad to see you're keeping it real," she said. "You walking out on me and the baby last night… it felt like a nightmare. And I get to be pissed off at you for it a little bit longer. There will be a lot of back rubs, foot rubs and romantic meals before I let this one slide for good."
The relieved, yet remorseful breath that Remus took after her words was loud enough to be heard at the door. "I know. And I'm sorry, Dora. I'm so sorry," he replied – his face was turned away from Sirius and Mia but both could imagine perfectly the almost helpless expression that came along with that tone.
"Don't," she mumbled in return, pulling away. "Don't be sorry – be sure you're never pulling something like this on us again. Because if you do…" She stopped herself by biting her lower lip, not even able to voice how badly that would break her. Sighing, Tonks looked up at him and gave him a determined look before poking his chest with her index finger in a warning fashion. "Don't you ever leave me hanging like you did last night again. You have no idea how it felt like to wonder if you'd come back or not, Remus."
"I won't… Merlin, Dora, I won't," they heard him assure her in return.
There was moment of silence, then, during which Tonks just observed her husband thoughtfully, as if she was trying to figure out what the hell she should do with him. Mia could imagine the internal struggle – she'd been like that, she recalled, little more than one year prior: torn between just forgetting everything and simply forgiving the man she loved for a not-so-considerate action that had deeply hurt her or holding on to the pain that it caused her because it was so hard to ignore…
On the spot where she stood, the metamorphagus simply sighed and reached forward to wrap her arms around Remus, though she did so in a slightly guarded way, which confirmed she wasn't quite ready to forgive and forget, yet happy enough to have him back…"You're an idiot," she let him know.
Remus's only response at that was a resigned breath, almost like he was saying 'yes, honey', as he hugged her back.
It was right around that moment that, annoyed from not having her parents' attention, little Mary squirmed and let out an annoyed sound, just loud enough for Remus and Tonks to hear her and jump away from each other like they'd just been committing the most horrifying of sins.
"What are you…?" Tonks begun to ask as soon as she saw them.
"Apple mash!" Sirius said suddenly.
Remus looked at him like he was mad. "Have you hit your head, Padfoot? "
He huffed, taking the baby from his wife's arms. "I meant that Mary here needs to eat her apple mash. She gets all cranky without it, isn't that right, little love?" he asked the little girl. Her response mostly consisted of an unintelligible baby sound followed by her smacking both of her little hands softly on his face, a smile the size of the sun on her face. "That means 'yes', in case you're wondering. Maybe you should note it down for when that kid comes around. Learning baby language is quite a feat."
The mention of the baby brought a small smile to Tonks's face and she subtly crossed her arms over her middle. "We'll keep that in mind," she mentioned, her lips curling just a little.
"I'm sorry, we really just needed the room," Mia lied, sounding slightly more believably than her husband. "So, I take it things are on their way to resolution between you too."
Tonks gave Remus a glance, who seemed like a little boy embarrassed by having been caught with his hands inside the cookie jar. "Let's just say we're heading into a probationary period, shall we?" she said, silently asking for his agreement.
"Sounds fine to me," he mumbled in return – it was way more than he'd been expecting in the previous night. He honestly couldn't complain.
Mia smiled. "Well, I'm happy you managed to reach an understanding, then," she declared, taking little Mary from her father's hold. "And now let's go make you your breakfast, shall we, honey?" she told her daughter in a sweet tone as they walked away towards the kitchen counter.
"Well, probation or not, mate, don't forget you're always welcome on our living room sofa," Sirius replied, grinning in a mocking fashion, which won him a glare from Remus. "No, but seriously, you," he said, pointing at Remus, "don't forget what I told you last night: second opinions, mate, just ask for second opinions. And also," he continued, flexing his right hand, still rather red from the previous night's events, and glaring at his friend's completely non-bruised face with just a little bit of resentment over the lack of effectiveness of his punch, "keep my other points in mind."
"Provided they come in less physical ways, for your own sake," Remus mumbled under his breath, causing his wife to give him an inquisitive look which he dismissed with a shake of his head, letting her know she wouldn't want to know what that was about.
Sirius chose to ignore that part, turning his attention to his cousin instead and taking a more responsible approach. "And you, don't even think of leaving to work without finishing your breakfast."
Tonks raised her eyebrows at him "And just who do you think you are? My Mom?"
"No, but I certainly will be your kid's favourite uncle and I'd rather it was born healthy enough to join the many, many Quidditch games I have planned for a not-so-distant future," Sirius pointed out. "Just be a good girl, Tonks. For your baby's sake."
She'd been quite ready to bark back some sort of acid response mostly for the sake of being defiant but the mention of the baby seemed to be enough to keep her from doing so. She was supposed to not only be looking after herself now but also after a human being completely dependent on her… "Fine," she replied moodily, making her way to the kitchen table and fetching the last bit of toast left on her plate, giving it a bite. "There. I'll take this with me. Now," she said, checking her watch, "I have to go because I still need to drop by home already before heading to work since some of us don't have practically a whole summer's worth of vacation."
Sirius snorted and sat down by the table. "Phew, jealousy is such a petty display, isn't it, Moony? Educate your wife a little."
"I think, for my own sake, that I'll stick with taking her side for quite some time, Sirius, so… she's perfectly educated, as far as I can tell," Remus replied cautiously, gaining a look of approval from his wife.
"Alright, then. Alright… So, I'll just… go," Tonks said, just a little awkwardly.
She glanced at her husband and wondered where exactly they stood – she knew she wasn't half as angry at him as she'd been before… she also knew she wasn't completely over the fact that he'd left and put her through hell. So, where did they stand, exactly? She'd called it probation before – maybe that was really the right term… So, how exactly did one handle farewells in what came to their probationary husband? Should she give him a kiss? A hug? A respectful handshake? Was there some sort of code for that? Merlin, just how confusing did it have to be? Plus, there was the fact that both Sirius and Mia were in the room…
Remus saved her from further thinking, though, as he just stood up. "I'll go with you," he announced. "I need to be at the shop soon too. The twins saw me tonight so they're bound to ask their share of questions before the shop opens…"
"Great, so we'll just… go," Tonks said before turning to Sirius. "Is it alright if we use the…?" she gestured towards the fireplace.
"Floo away," Sirius said from the table with a grin.
"Good, then…" she turned to her husband "… can you go first and give me a moment with them?"
He raised his eyebrows at her for a moment, wondering what she had to tell Sirius or Mia that he couldn't hear. Still, he ended up just nodding and making his way to the floo's fireplace – it would be a while before he was able to say 'no' to her…
Tonks waited until he was gone before she turned to Sirius. "Thank you," she said, quickly making his way to him and nearly choking him with likely the tightest hug he'd ever gotten. Blimey, was she strong for her size… "Thank you so much, Sirius."
"Hum, a bit tight here," he managed to say.
"Oh, right," she said, laughing nervously as she pulled away. "Just… thank you."
"What for?" Mia asked as she approached them both with Mary in her arms.
"For… everything. Everything you guys did to help me last night. Thank you," she repeated once more, turning specifically to Sirius again. "You brought him back."
He chuckled. "I believe that was part of the deal we made last night. Plus, I don't think it's me you have to thank – it's mostly Harry and his howler."
"Ah, Remus told me about it," she said, sighing. "I'd go thank him but…" she pointed at her watch "… duty calls. I think I'll owl him a truckload of chocolate frogs later or something." She had to laugh at that – Harry did deserve them. "Still," she said. "You had your part too, Sirius. And Mia as well. You two helped me without asking for anything in return when I needed it the most. I have to think of a way to pay you back."
"Oh, I can help you with that. How do you like the name 'Sirius' for a boy?"
"Sirius!" Mia scolded him, laughing.
"See? It's even easy to yell when you're trying to scold the kid," he told his cousin, who seemed slightly amused.
"We'll take it under advisement," she assured him. "Don't keep your hopes up, though."
Sirius huffed. "Well, I had to try or you'd lose all respect for me."
"Anyway," Mia told her, as Mary stretched a little arm towards her godmother's now reddish brown hair. "No, honey, no hair pulling."
Tonks shook her head, though. "It's alright. Can I…?" she asked, reaching for the baby.
"Of course," Mia said immediately passing the baby to her easily. "You're her godmother – you don't even need to ask, you know?"
"I know, it's just…" she said, holding the little girl, who was, as always, quite fascinated with her hair.
"You're still getting used to knowing that, in a few months, you'll have one of your own," Mia guessed, feeling slightly nostalgic.
Tonks had to chuckle. "It's just hard to believe – I've never seen myself as the mothering type, really."
"Hum, that one seems to disagree," Sirius pointed out, nodding at little Mary, perfectly content in her godmother's hold.
"It's a bit different, you know? Babysitting and raising a kid?"
"Hey, don't complain – with those powers of yours, you'll beat any parent at the funny-face making," Sirius joked in reply. "Your kid will have to be in a constant good mood and that's halfway done because, trust me, you don't want to be around a cranky infant. They just sound like little banshees sometimes." He jokingly glared at the baby, recalling the many, many sleepless nights she'd give him and Mia mostly in her earlier weeks. "You do have a good excuse to hand the kid out to Remus whenever it's cranky, though, with this dumb move he pulled yesterday…"
That had Tonks sighing. "He thinks the baby will be a werewolf too," she said, assuming her cousin hadn't heard that part of their conversation.
"He told me so – the guy just worries way too much. And if he's right… well, we'll figure it out."
"Just don't worry about until you really have to," Mia advised her. "It's not good for you. You're having a baby. Remus is around again… Just be happy about it."
As Mary giggled in her arms, Tonks let out a deep breath. "I still feel like I should thank you again and again, you know?"
The other woman shook her head. "Nonsense. In fact, I do think we should be the ones offering to thank you, Tonks."
She raised her eyebrows. "Now I'm confused. Thank me for what?"
"Oh, I don't know…" Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Maybe over turning a pitifully lonely idiot into a pitifully happy one. It may take a while for him to get used to this baby being a real thing but take my word when I tell you that he's happy. Worried, sure – he's Remus, after all – but happier than I've seen him all my life."
The metamorphagus smiled and sighed. "For a moment there I thought he was never coming back," she confessed.
"He would have," Mia assured her confidently. "He loves you too much to stay away for very long. Trust us – we know Remus: he'd have come to his senses sooner or later, either Harry had sent that howler to him or not. Either Sirius had gone after him or not. Bailing's just not him."
"So, do try not to go too hard on him – not too soft either because he does need a lesson. But in the end of the day, the guy's sorry enough to let you have him eating from your palm if you want him to," Sirius stated.
She let out a breath, then, more frustrated than sad. "Even if I wanted to give him grief over this for all eternity, Remus is one of those people you simply can't stay angry at for very long. When he looks at you with those sad eyes… it's hard to leave him stewing with guilt much longer."
Her cousin grinned and turned to his wife. "Sounds to me like Moony's not the only one pitifully in love in this pair."
"Shut up," Tonks mumbled. "I should go. There," she said, passing Mary back to him, not before kissing her little forehead, "take your kid back."
Sirius chuckled. "Hey, you wouldn't want to babysit her next weekend, would you? And maybe Alex too? Strictly for training purposes, of course – you do need the practice for when that one's born," he told her, gesturing at her still very flat stomach.
Tonks gave him a look of disbelief as she made her way to the fireplace. "Merlin, you're going to milk this all the way for free babysitting services, aren't you?"
"What? I'm just doing you and Moony a favour," he countered, innocently.
She gave him a dubiously before grabbing a handful of floo powder. "I'll think about it. Bye, Mia. Bye, Mary." And then, she was gone in an explosion of green flames.
Taking a long breath, Sirius passed the baby to Mia and sunk back into a chair.
"Tired?" Mia asked him, sitting on his lap after she settled little Mary on her feeding chair and placing a soft kiss on his lips.
"Hum, hum," he replied with his eyes closed, nodding.
"Well, I'm sure it's worth it. Not yet ten in the morning and you've already made your good deed of the day by helping Remus and Tonks reaching an understanding. How does it feel like?" she asked him.
He groaned. "Not sure…" Sirius mumbled, opening his eyes and pulling her closer, just so her head was resting on his shoulder. "Promise me one thing, thought."
"What is it?"
"Promise me that you'll remind me in the future to never, ever consider making a career out of couple's therapy."
Her reply came in the form of laughter.
A/N2: Hope you liked the chapter - it ended up really long... again. I'm working on another outtake, though it won't fit into the story for another few chapters... Feedback is welcome! Review!