As the cold days of March evolved slowly into the warmer days of April, Remus felt as if his wife's stomach was growing even larger with every passing hour of the changing weather. He felt as if the baby were never going to come, because its due date had been scheduled for sometime in March. It was now April, and both Remus and Tonks were showing impatience for the baby's birth.

All Tonks did was lie around and listen to the radio all day while indulging herself in several different kinds of food - she was especially fond of Chocolate Frogs, Remus discovered. She complained about the size of her stomach and sometimes whined that she was ugly-looking, and Remus always tried to assure her that she would still be as beautiful to him as the day they met, but she'd swat him away.

The worst part of Tonks's unusually long pregnancy was the fact that Remus was starting to swing with her moods. When she was unhappy, he was unhappy. He was even hungry some of the time she was, and in between serving her snacks and catering to her every whim, he'd scarf down an extra helping of her mother's potato salad. And lately, Tonks had been complaining for more room when they slept, which forced him to sleep on the couch most nights. Her stomach was too big for the two of them.

One particular night, he was lying on his back on the living room couch, staring up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head as he lay in complete darkness. The radio was sitting on the end table somewhere above his head, its volume down low enough so he could just barely hear it. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't have forced his eyes shut even if an enemy had been there to inflict some sort of pain on his tired, worked-to-the-bone body. This was the umpteenth sleepless night he'd been through - he'd lost track at four - and he was growing sick of it.

As a Weird Sisters song came on the radio, he groaned and twisted his way up into a sitting position only to slam his hand on the player, turning it off. Tonks's favorite band reminded him, of course, of Tonks, which brought back the memory of her screaming at him earlier that day because she was frustrated about not being able to reach the top shelf to get the chocolate-chip cookies. He was tired of her yells and complaints and wished she'd learn to deal with it, but then again, he wouldn't have known the things she was going through as a pregnant woman. Remus sighed, running a hand through his thick hair as he now stared at the flowery wallpaper in the living room.

Would the baby ever come? What if it never arrived and it was trapped inside of her? He shook his head violently upon the realization he was thinking childish thoughts. It'll come soon, he tried to reassure himself, but in frustration, he threw himself off of the couch cushions to pace the dark room, praying for a miracle to happen soon.

The one good thing that came out of this was the fact that he and Andromeda, Tonks's mother, were bonding incredulously through their shared dreaded opinions. Both of them worked like slaves to get Tonks what she wanted to satisfy her wants and needs, and to get her to be quiet. Both of them were tired of hearing her yell from somewhere in the house for another Chocolate Frog. Most of all, both of them were more anxious than anything for the baby's birth. They shared the same exasperated sighs and groans when they avoided her hulking stomach when it made its way into the kitchen or other room, because they knew what was coming: A heated complaint session on why the two of them weren't caring for her like she thought they should be.

Creak.

Startled, Remus's thoughts were ripped in two as he heard a noise from somewhere beyond the living room. It sounded like someone was slowly coming down the old, wooden staircase, gradually making their way to the downstairs level.

Creak…creak…creak…

There mere sound sent chills down his spine. As quietly as possible, he lightly walked to the end table where the radio was and snatched up his wand, preparing himself for anything that might be sneaking into the room. He raised it as the footsteps reached the final steps, and a dark figure made its way into the living room. He blinked several times and coughed as he saw Tonks standing there in her nightgown, and he turned on the dim light.

Her face showed a mixture of emotions, a particular mix that made him feel sick, for he felt as if he knew what was coming. She looked worried, excited, pain-stricken, and tired all at the same time as she looked up at him. He knew his face showed nervousness: What could she have wanted? Never before had she risen at this time at night.

"W-what is it, Dora?" he finally asked, the words coming out in short, worried breaths that he wished he could take back as he realized how pathetic the question sounded.

She took his hand in her slender one and looked up into his eyes. "Remus…" she began, and he could tell it was taking her a lot to say this, "It's time."

The breath in Remus's lungs disappeared instantly, and he found himself leaning over the couch, looking for breath support. He felt his entire body shake as he tried to gasp for air, and he felt her trying to pull him up.

"Come on, we've got to get to the hospital…" she was saying, and right as she did, he looked up to see Andromeda rushing down her stairs. By the way she appeared, he could tell she had hurried to get dressed.

"Andromeda!" he yelped, unable to say anything else; he was in too much shock.

Andromeda looked at him and sighed as she snatched something off the table that he couldn't see. "Remus, get dressed!" she said disapprovingly. "You can't go to the hospital wearing pajama pants and an undershirt, honestly…"

Remus cringed; he was slightly uncomfortable with the fact that his mother-in-law was staring at his thin figure in the way she had been. He ran up the stairs, skipping steps, and ducked into he and Tonks's bedroom to quickly change into robes and run a couple hands through his hair, and after shoving the shoes onto his feet, he ran back down the stairs, his breath coming out in short, panicky gasps.

"Okay, I'm ready," he said shortly as Tonks let out an ear-piercing scream that made his skin crawl. He felt afraid all of a sudden, but he had no time to worry about his emotions. In an instant, Andromeda seized his wrist and dragged him to the fireplace, where they all shouted "St. Mungo's!" as Floo Powder was flung into the hearth. Tonks squeezed Remus's hand tightly as the stepped into the emerald-green flames and began spinning rapidly until they found themselves in the quiet emergency room at St. Mungo's.

Looking around, there were very few people there, since it was something like three o'clock in the morning, but before he knew it Tonks was sitting in a wheelchair, on her way to the hospital room where she would have the baby, and Remus was following absentmindedly, letting his feet do the thinking instead of his brain, which was too busy panicking about the situation.

The doctor wheeling Tonks around burst into a hospital room suddenly and he followed abstractly, suddenly feeling as though he might collapse. He felt sick to his stomach. He glanced around the room to find a nurse, who helped Tonks onto the bed, and a strange rush of colors from the floor tiles to the posters on the walls mixed in his eyes and he leaned over, grasping the door handle. He felt dizzy. This couldn't be happening.

"Sir…sir!"

Remus looked up to see the nurse rushing over to him with a concerned look on her face. The room was spinning, and her voice echoed in his head.

"Sir, are you all right?"

The sounds of Tonks's painful cries and the doctor's encouraging comments faded away slowly as he swayed on the spot. "The baby…the baby…" he was subconsciously repeating, and the last thing he saw before total blackness was the nurse's worried facial expression…

"Remus? Remus, wake up, it's a boy!"

Bright lights forced their way on his eyes as he opened them, blinking several times before realizing what was going on. He was lying on the hospital bed next to Tonks, and as he looked over at her exhausted, happy face, he looked into her arms, where a black-haired baby boy was, no bigger than seven or eight pounds. He stared, his mouth curving into an elated smile as his worries were put to rest. Everything in the world seemed to shut down except for the hospital room, and as he cradled the tiny baby in his arms, he felt his eyes well up with tears.

The fact that he was holding something he'd helped to create, something he'd helped to bring into this world overwhelmed him. He looked down at the infant boy's tiny face and smiled a great, satisfactory smile. He was born. At long last, the son he thought he never would have had, the son he was once going to abandon, was finally here, breathing in the air of the world for the first time.

"What should we name him?" asked Tonks from next to him, and he looked at her and kissed her lips gently, feeling the need to.

"I don't know," he said quietly, changing his glance from his wife to his son, still barely able to believe that this was his child. There was a pause, and then he thought of it. He looked at Tonks again and whispered, "Ted."

The very name brought tears to her eyes as she stared at him with her mouth hanging open, but she smiled a little and sniffled. "Yes," she whispered back. "Ted. Teddy Remus Lupin." She kissed him back and he smiled, looking back down at the baby in his arms.

"Little Teddy," he said softly.

"Remus," came Tonks's voice again, and he looked at her. She now had a look of pure seriousness on her face, one that startled him slightly. She continued, "We should name someone his godfather. You know…just in case anything happens."

"Who?" asked Remus, not liking the thought of anything happening to either of them.

They locked eyes passionately for a moment, during which time he could tell they were thinking the same thing. In unison, they said, "Harry."

There was nobody better, Remus thought as he looked from the crescent moon back to Teddy Remus Lupin.

(I think some of it got cut off - apologies if anything happened.) So there you have it - review it and let me know. The next chapter will have PLENTY of sex - you know, that stuff Remus has been craving for so long. Take that as a warning. It should appear within the next couple of days or so (if not by Monday night, then sometime this weekend). Don't forget that I'm currently in school and writing these fics is hard to do when I've got so much schoolwork to concentrate on. Thanks for sticking with me, kids...and don't forget...REVIEW IT!