I am so sorry that I have not updated in two months! I feel bad, I've just had so much going on. I hope this chapter is enjoyable, nothing really heavy happens, I'm just trying to move through to when I can get back into the cannon. As always, I am just borrowing the characters for my own purpose.

"How has work been?"

Tonks stared broodingly into her cup of tea, suppressing the urge to allow her leg to vibrate. How, she wondered, had she become so uncomfortable with being in her parents home? They had moved, some time ago, out of the city and the home where she had been raised and now resided in a small house just outside of London. She liked the house well enough, so she knew it wasn't the change in location that caused her anxiety. She supposed that if it had been her dad sitting across from her in the immaculate sitting room, she wouldn't have been feeling so. Instead, it was her mother that sat across from her regarding her over her teacup, legs crossed gracefully in a way she knew that she could never pull off. Not that she had any desire to. She wondered then, when exactly it had come to the point that she and Andromeda were like strangers.

"Nymphadora?"

Tonks looked up from her tea to find her mother fixing her with a look that had never failed to annoy her as a teenager and one she still found to have that effect at the age of 32.

Andromeda sighed, "Please do try and at least pretend you are paying attention. Its not often I get to see you anymore, the least you could do is be polite." Her tone was not harsh, even if her words were meant to lend to a guilt trip, and so Tonks simply smiled although it didn't reach her eyes; though it rarely did these days.

"Of course, sorry mum. Mind wandered off there. Work is fine. Can't really go more into it than that, can I? Worked with the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office the other day. That was interesting to say the least."

"Hmm," Andromeda sipped her tea. "How is that partner of yours?"

Besides being a complete and utter wanker, she thought, but didn't say. Despite her usual lack of filter, this was one thought she knew she could keep to herself.

"Wouldn't really know," she said setting her cup down. "We don't really see each other that much anymore. Different assignments and all that, you know? But Dana and Rhiannon are well." That at least she did know first hand, although perhaps saying they were well, was stretching it…Dana was spitting mad and had made her point of view abundantly clear…

Stop thinking about it, she chided herself, do you want a worse headache then you already have?

Andromeda nodded, eyeing her daughter, scrutinizing. She could see that she was having a bad time of it and really who could blame her? She knew that what she was going to say next would probably rile her up even more so, but felt like it was her duty, no her right as her mother. She really did only want her happiness after all.

"Dora, darling, I- how is Remus?"

Tonks had been lost in her own thoughts again, but roused when she heard her other half's name. How was Remus? Now there was a question…how in Merlin's name did she even begin to answer that? Remus was his usual stoic self, he was moody, he was quick to temper, he was preoccupied-he was closed off. Tonks knew that if the situation were different, the circumstances more acceptable, than she should have no problem discussing this with her mum. She should want to. But the situation was complicated and she knew she could not talk to her mum about any of it. Not how Remus was, not the fact that she had now lost another person she loved because of her unwavering conviction that she had no choice other than the one she'd made years ago, not about how at that very moment her convict cousin was on the run and oh apparently innocent. She wondered when she'd become so good at talking without really talking.

I just want to go curl up in a corner somewhere and cry, she thought to herself. Just hide from the world and let someone else deal with the drama that is my life.

"He's fine. I mean, he's obviously not fine, he did get ousted in more than one way, but he's carrying on."

Andromeda nodded, "It mustn't be easy, for either of you. I can see how strained you are."

"Yeah, well we're both just trying to go on with our lives the best we can. It makes things harder I will admit, but its nothing we can't handle."

Tonks sighed, set her cup down again and stood. "I've got to go, I'm sorry. I've had a lot of late nights, they are keeping us all on our toes, covering shifts for the Aurors looking for Sirius. So I think it would be good if I tried to get an early night in."

She hugged her mother, very conscious of where she had been leading the conversation. Tonks was an expert on the art of conversation, Andromeda Tonks nee Black style. She did not have the energy to have an argument with her mum that night. Not over something that would never change. No matter how much she may have liked Remus, Tonks knew that in her mother's eyes, no matter what, he was never going to measure up. It was one of the reasons why she didn't stop by as much. She had her own life now, separate from that of her Parents and really she needed to worry about negotiating its murky waters, and not about pleasing her parents. She would always love them, of course. But the days where it seemed like their approval was the sun and the moon were long gone.

"Come see us soon Dora. Please. Your Father really does want to see you." Andromeda said as Tonks stepped out the door into muggy summer night. She didn't feel guilty at all for trying to guilt her daughter into coming over more. Nor for the thought that crossed her mind as she watched her disappearate. She would have been better off if she'd never met him.+++

"You know something,"

Remus looked over at his companion who had her eyes fixed on her daughter who was running ahead of them, trying to catch the gulls as the flew away.

"You're my soul mate."

He raised a brow, although to his credit he didn't falter in his step. Perhaps it was because after so many years of knowing her he was used to her comments coming out of far left field. Dana glanced at him, eyes dancing, knowing perfectly well what his reaction would be.

"Hear me out," she said, amusement colouring her tone. "I have this theory, and you might think its complete bullocks and I'm way off, and that's fine, but here it is. I believe you can have both a soul mate and a love of your life. Now your soul mate is that person that just gets you. They are the one person who can look at you and you know that they know you for you. They accept you, no pretenses, and no judgment. You see in love there is always judgment, no matter how hard we try not to do it. But someone who is your soul mate knows that you are you and they don't want to change that. You could tell them that you killed someone and the first thing out of their mouth would be, are you ok?"

She looked at him again to make sure he was taking in what she was saying and then without looking away yelled, "Rhiannon, get away from there love, or we're going back to the house!"

The little black haired girl quickly moved away from the curious looking mass she had found and continued her pursuit of the birds.

"How do you do that?" Remus asked, somewhat amazed.

"It's a mother thing. Where was I? Right, anyway. The love of your life is that person you just cannot live with out. They are the one person that sets your heart on fire. When you look ahead at your life you cannot possibly imagine it without them and if you try to it makes you feel a pain so acute that you'd think you were being stabbed. Now if you get really lucky, and very few people do, I know I didn't, then your soul mate and the love of your life will be the same person."

She looked at him shrewdly, "You Remus, are one of those lucky people. And how I envy you for that. Somehow, you managed to find that person that is everything you need."

Remus sighed, taking in all she had said. She was right, Nymphadora was his perfect other half, there was no denying that. He could not imagine a life without her, nor did he want to. She did not judge him, instead taking him always for who he was, hang-ups and all. She stuck by him through everything.

"Are you telling me this because you know that Dora and I have been-"

"Very uncommunicative?" she supplied. "Yes. Look, she loves you right? But there is only so much a person can take before they realize that its becoming too much. What you have is special."

She let him digest that as she ran towards her daughter and scooped the giggling child up. Remus couldn't help but smile watching them. Rhiannon was everything to Dana, especially now that she wasn't particularly speaking to Mark. It had surprised him when the two of them had showed up at his door two days ago. He'd instantly felt bad, and he didn't even need to guess what had brought them there. Dana had shrugged and simply said, "Mark's a wanker. Take Rhiannon for me, I need to go have a smoke and try to remember why I married him in the first place." So he knew then it was bad, because she hadn't smoked since before she got pregnant. Later she told him that when the whole him loosing his job debacle happened Mark had confronted her and she hadn't denied that she'd known about Remus's condition. He had not been happy and had demanded that she never see him again, and especially never brought their daughter around him. This had resulted in many heated arguments over the past month and a half until finally three days ago Dana had packed up her car, closed her book store for an indeterminate amount of time, picked her daughter up from her grandmother's and took off for the coast without one glance back.

"No man, whether he comes from some pure blood family with high ideals or not, is going to tell me how to live my life," had been her dark reply when Remus asked how she was and said he was sorry for any trouble he'd caused.

Dana came back over to him, after blowing a raspberry on her daughter's cheek.

"So," he asked once they started walking again, "are you saying that you don't have that with Mark?"

Dana snorted, although her eyes showed sadness. "I don't have anything with Mark. No, you Remus are my soul mate and that little whirl wind, dancing in the water over there is the love of my life."

"He'll come around Dana, I bet you he's probably missing you both terribly right now."

She flashed him a brief smile. "Maybe. He is a good father, I do have to concede him that. You're a good friend Remus. This is what I mean, you always say what I need to hear, and you're always there for me. For both me and Rhiannon."

"So are you," was his simple reply.