Thanks to:

Lilia Black, siriuslylovely, i'm a misfit, Chibi-Alania (a lot of Lily's evil-ness will be revealed later on, a little at a time), HyenaWolf (Just wait. You'll end up wishing she had gotten a lot more than what she did.), Cantarique Nerella (I love having baby Harry in a story. It forces me to make the other characters more mature in order to take care of him, something I needed in this piece...that and he's so darned cute! lol), MyFictionalAnnihilation (I love you too! snuggles back lol), Tyleet27 (I believe you may have mentioned your love of Regulus a few times lol I thought babysitter!Albus would be fun to write sometime, possibly while James and Sirius have a night to themselves, so I decided to stick that bit in there. I know what you mean, babysitters who give candy instead of health food would have been a huge hit at the daycare I attended when I was little lol)

Sirius nervously ran his fingers through his hair. He had heard the chime indicating an incoming floo nearly ten minutes ago. A child's delighted laughter echoed throughout the house, James and Regulus's conversation a dull background murmuring in comparison to the innocent giggles.

"Goo-lush play?" carried up the stairs and into the study. A faint reply and then footsteps followed, coming closer and closer. An unmistakable head of brunet hair poked through the door, scanning the room until James caught sight of him.

"James."

"Sirius."

"You…you look good."

"Thanks. S-so do you."

An awkward silence descended, wrapping around the two men like a blanket. Sirius turned to mix a drink at the mini-bar. A little bit of this, a dash of that, and voila! He turned back around and froze, barely managing to keep from snatching the book from James's hands. Hazel eyes scanned the rough summary scribbled on the outside of the muggle notebook. James swallowed thickly, eyes misting.

"You wrote about it?"

"I tried to."

James tried to smile, halfway succeeding. "Can you even remember everything we did after four years?"

Sirius gently loosened James's grip, placing the notebook back on the desk. "I remember the important parts."

"When…when we broke things off, did Lily tell you she and I were together?"

"Yes. Your plan worked just like you said it would."

"She lied. I had turned her down."

Sirius's breath caught and his heart skipped a beat. "What? Why? She was the reason we started the whole us thing."

"I wanted someone else by then."

"Well, I'm sure you could've just explained that you had another girl in mind-"

"I wanted you, Siri."

For once in his life, Sirius Black could not think of anything to say. Whether that was because of the shock or the lump in his throat, though, is anyone's guess. He watched James seemingly wilt as the silence stretched on.

"Say something, Sirius," he begged.

He couldn't, not yet. Instead, Sirius walked until he stood in front of the shorter man again. One look at James's quivering chin and tear-streaked face was all it took. Sirius wrapped his arms around James's shivering form.

"Merlin, James. I wanted you too."

He felt shaking fingers clutch his shirt. Sirius knew it was James's desperate attempt to assure himself that this was really happening, that this was real.

Sirius understood. He felt the same way.