disclaimer: I own nothing

Author's Note: again, thanks to my guest reviewer. I hope you won't be disappointed with this chapter. Also, I did realize that I didn't catch some of the typos, so sorry about that. The computer this was originally written on has a very sticky 'k' key, so those are going to be missing here and there.


"I'm going to the Ministry today." Tina said over breakfast the next day.

Newt looked up at this.

"Why?" he said blankly.

"I'm applying to the Auror department."

"Now?" Newt said, blinking.

"Did you expect me to wait?" Tina asked with a small smile.

"Yes." Newt admitted, wondering if she was going to get angry. Tina had been prone to mood swings for a few weeks now.

"I think it's better to get the process started now."

Newt nodded. "I could go with you, if you like."

"No." Tina shook her head.

He supposed that she didn't need to show up to Auror department with her husband in tone. When Tina was ready to leave, she straightened her jacket, kissed Newt on the cheek, and Apparated. He spent most of the day with his creature, lavishing some attention on them. Tina came home when he was pouring himself a cup of tea, clearly irritated.

"How did it go?" Newt asked setting the teapot down.

Tina gave him a look.

"They said they would be happy to consider my application, but requested that I reapply once I have given birth, if I still desire to be a member of the department. They are very sorry, but they will ot hiire a witch currently pregnant, as I could bee seen as a liability to the department."

Tina's voice was bitter. Newt stared at her over the rim of his cup.

"Plenty of Aurors have children.

"And they reassign the women to des work when they get pregnant." Tina agreed. "They just don't want to start me off there, apparently. They suggested temporary assignment to the Improper Use of Magic department or Muggle Worthy Excuses, which is not even a part of Magical Law Enforcement."

Tina pulled off her coat.

"I'm sorry, Tina." Newt said.

Tina looked at him.

"You have a whole department for Muggle Worthy Excuses?" she said, as if the question had been with her for a few hours.

Newt smiled faintly.

"Apparently we're not as good at is as the Americans." he said, sipping his tea.

Tina laughed slightly at this.

"Your brother actually spoke on my behalf." she continued.

"He did? Why?"

"He wanted to back up Picqery's recommendation, I guess." Tian said, shrugging.

She started to pace, hands pressed into the small of her back.

"Are you all right?" Newt asked.

Tina nodded. "Just a bit of a backache."

Newt just watched her for a moment, taking in her slightly messy hair, her cheeks flushed from her irritation. Tina caught him at it.

"What?" she asked.

"You're beautiful." Newt said.

Tina smiled slightly, but shook her head a bit. Newt smiled a little himself. Tina seemed much more like herself today and he was glad for that. Perhaps it was a sign that she was moving past what had happened, was getting back to her old self. He hoped it was true. Though, at the same time, she seemed to be acting as if the night before had not happened.

Newt was tempted to write to Queenie and ask her to come here, but he didn't want to go behind Tina's back like that.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Newt asked, to break the silence.

Tina paused, considering. "Sure."

Newt set his teacup down and checked that the basement door was closed. Then he followed Tina to the front door.


XXXXXXX


The next two weeks passed almost lazily. Newt and Tina started to settle into their new life. Tina still woke from nightmares, still distanced herself, but they were making progress.

One day, Newt came up from the basement, looking around for Tina.

"Tina?" he called.

When he got no answer, he headed upstairs.

He found Tina in their bedroom, laying on the bed. She was laying on her side, propped up on one elbow, petting a dappled golden cat. More accurately, it was a kneazle. The kneazle's founded flank was pressed against Tina's own swollen belly.

"Hey." Newt said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Hey." Tina said, glancing up at him.

She continued to pet the kneazle. Newt was silent for a moment. He ran his hand down the kneazle's back. She was beautiful with her golden coat, but there was a scar on one of her shoulders and behind her ear.

"This is Minty." he told Tina. "I found her in Diagon Alley one winter. She'd been absued. She skinny and all scratched up." He traced one of Minty's scars. "Her tail was broken and she was terrified of humans. It took her a long time to open up."

Tina looked saddened at his words and stroked Minty. The kneazle purred.

"She's going to have kittens." he added, though he felt this was obvious from how round Minty was around the middle.

"I haven't seen another kneazle." Tina commented.

Newt sighed lightly.

"I don't have one. I suspect the father is the Muggle cat next door."

"That ugly mean tom?" Tina said.

Newt nodded.

"Oh, Minty." Tina said seriously, turning her attention back to the kneazle and scratching her under the chin. "You could have done a whole lot better."

Newt smiled at the comment and was silent for a moment, shifting on the edge of the bed.

"I need to go to Diagon Alley. Would you like to come with me?" he asked.

Despite how long they had been in London, Tina had yet to see Diagon Alley.

Tina considered this.

"Not today."

"All right." Newt leaned forward and kissed Tina. She kissed him back. "I'll be back soon." he promised.

Tina smiled, as if she thought the promise was amusing. Newt stood, took one last look at the relaxed scene in front of him, then turned and walked out the door.


XXXXXXXX


When Newt had been gone for a while and Minty had curled up and gone to sleep, Tina got up and decided to venture down into the basement.

It was just as chaotic and wonderful as ever and TIna simply stood on the stairs, looking around. As usual, Bunty was taking care of one of the creatures. A mooncalf, this time.

"Hello, Bunty." Tina said, walking a little further down the stairs to watch whatever it was Bunty was doing.

Bunty jumped so hard she almost caught air as she turned.

"Oh! Miss Goldstein -I mean Mrs. Scamander-" Bunty seemed a little flustered by her startlement.

"Tina is fine." Tina said, smiling slightly.

"Tina." Bunty echoed, a little more firmly.

"Newt isn't here right now, if you're looking for him."

"I know. I just thought I'd take a look around."

Tina had been down here before, of course, but after her initial rejection of Newt introducing her to all the beasts, Newt had never gotten around to telling her everyone's names.

The baby kicked. Tina rested her hands there, watching as Bunty squirted something up the mooncalf's nose.

"Is Newt happy, Bunty?" she asked.

Bunty looked surprised by the question as the mooncalf cantered off, shaking its head in displeasure at its treatment.

"I think so, yes." Bunty said, pulling off her rubber gloves.

"The same as he was before?"

Tina pushed the niffler away from her with her foot as it made to climb her, eyes fastened on her rings. Bunty seemed to realize what she was getting at, even though Tina was hesitant to say it outloud.

"Newt is happier, if you want my opinion."

Tina nodded.

"He loves you very much, Tina."

The conversation was almost awkward -she and Bunty had never truly spoken one-on-one- but Tina knew Bunty was being honest. She smiled, nodding a little. She couldn't say why, but some part of her wanted to burst into tears. Again. And she had decided she was done with that.

"I know."

Bunty looked like she wanted to say something, but Tina knew she wouldn't. No one truly knew what to say to her anymore. No one except Newt. The baby kicked hard enough to make her grimace.

"Are you all right?" Bunty asked, seeming concerned.

"Perfectly fine." Tina assured her.

"Would you toss some fish in with the kelpie for me, please? He seems to like you."

"Sure."

Tina went back up the stairs and found the bucket, almost gagging at the fishy smell. As soon as the kelpie saw what she was doing, it swam over to the edge, breaking through the water. Tina smiled at it. As far as she new, Newt hadn't yet named it, but it was a beautiful creature.

"Here you go." she said, placing the bucket in front of it.

It ate the fish as if it hadn't been fed for days. Though she remembered Newt's warning, Tina stroked its neck. Her interaction with the creature had been brief, but it had never attempted to bite her. The keplie froze for a moment at her touch, then leaned in a little as it continued to eat. Tina smiled and sat down beside it.

Once it was done eating, the kelpie swam away, but Tina stayed where she was, thoughts swirling through her mind, ones that had been with her for six months, but a new one came now.

Had it been insane of her to accept Newt's proposal and come to entirely new country in some vain attempt to start over? She loved Newt. Her acceptance of his propsoal had had nothing to do with trying to start over. But everying was becoming twisted up and the more she tried to untangle it, the more confused it became. Tina sighed deeply, still watching the water.

The baby kicked her again and she rested her hands there again. The sensation amazed her, but most days the baby was another one of those twisted, tangled subjects that was easier to leave alone. And it was stupid. She couldn't just not think about it. She hadn't even really talked to Newt about.

Tina stayed there for a while before she finally got up -struggled to get up- and went back upstairs to wait for Newt.


XXXXXXX


When Newt came home, potion ingredients for a cough remedy for Dougal in a paper bag, he found Tina sitting on the stairs.

"I didn't think I was gone that long." he said, locking the door behind himself.

Minty was perched by Tina's feet. He had a feeling that the abused kneazle was going to adopt Tina as her human.

"Long enough." Tina said, chin in her hand. Her attitude was different than what he had seen from her for a long time.

Newt went up the stairs and down next to her. Tina was silent for a moment.

"I know what I've put you through." she said at last. "And I know that sometimes it wasn't fair and it wasn't easy."

"Tina-" Newt started, but she gave him a look.

"Let me finish, Newt." Tina said, squeezing his knee. "But I'm not going to apologize for it anymore. Something . . . . really bad happened and I can't just move on and I can't just forget. But we're in this together. And maybe I didn't realize that before or didn't want to weigh you down with even more bad things. But I'm going to try to stop doing tha tnow. Because I really want us to be happy and right now it's something that comes and goes much too easily."

Tina stopped talking, gave him a look that Newt didn't know to interpret.

"I want that too, Tina." he said quietly.

There was nothing else to say. He could have said that she hadn't put him through anything he hadn't wanted to face. He could have said a lot of things. But none of them would have been right.

He kissed her softly on the lips and then just stayed close to her, their foreheads touching. Almost tentatively, Tina took his hand and rested it on her stomach. It was a few moments before Newt felt a powerful kick beneath his hand. He laughed at this. Tina did too, though she winced at the blow.

They shifted position enough so that Tina's head was resting on his shoulder. It was nice and simple and neither of them needed to say anything. It was a few minutes before Newt did say something.

"I'm enjoying this, but I really need to make up some medicine for Dougal."

Tina laughed slightly and pulled away.

"What wrong with him?" she asked.

"A bit of a cough. I want to clear it up before it gets worse. I can show you how to make the remedy, if you want."

Tina laughed again.

"I don't really, no. But I'll watch."

Newt smiled and stood. He was at the bottom of the stairs when Tina spoke again.

"Newt?"

Newt turned back. Tina was still sitting on the stairs.

"I need some help."

"Oh."

Newt went back up the stairs and helped Tina to her feet.

"Thank you." Tina said.

They went down to the basement where he'd left the case. Tina was apprehensive about climbing in and Newt went down first. Tina followed gingerly and Newt realized that perhaps the entry wasn't entirely friendly to pregnant women.

They talked a bit as he made up the remedy for Dougal. Despite her words, Tina seemed interested and asked some questions about the ingredients. Newt was straining the miture when Tina grunted and he looked up.

Minty was sitting on Tina's shoulder, appearing to have leapt into the case after them. The kneazle flicked her tail and shifted her weight. Tina's hand went to the cat.

"You're heavy, Minty."

"I thin that's to be expected." Newt said, swirling the potion.

Tina gave him a look at this. Minty leapt down and ran out the door into the rest of the case.

"She'll be terrorizing the bowtruckles in a minute."

Tina followed him out into the case to Dougal's nest. The Demiguise was visible, curled up on his side with a blanket tucked around him.

"There you, Dougal. Drink this and you'll feel better in no time." Newt said, holding the glass of remedy out to Dougal.

The Demiguis sniffed it, then turned his head away.

"Dougal." Newt said.

Dougal gave him a look.

"You might not like it, but it'll make you feel better. Now come on."

Dougal still didn't move to take it. Tina came over.

"Hey, Dougal." she said gently. "Newt says you're not feeling well."

The Demiguise coughed a bit. Tina slid the glass out of Newt's hand and held it out to Dougal. Dougal went invisible for a moment.

"Dougal. Don't be difficult." Tina said, though no annoyance entered her tone. She sighed and turned away. "All right. But you'll just have to take something worse if you get any sicker."

Dougal seemed dismayed by this -it was honestly hard to tell most of what the Demiguise was feeling, his face was so unexpressive. Tina smield at this and Newt knew she had convinced Dougal. She made Dougal sit up and helped him drink it. To Newt's surprise, Dougal drank it all. When Dougal finished, he coughed a little and bared his teeth in displeasure at Tina.

"You poor thing. You're going to feel better." Tina said with mock sympathy, though she was smiling.

She turned back to Newt.

"How did you do that?" Newt asked, smiling slightly.

Tina shrugged.

"I think he takes advantage of you."

"Maybe." Newt said, looking at the Demiguise.

Dougal went invisible.

"I think he likes you."

"I don't know about that. It was how I convinced Queenie to take potions when we were kids." Tina said.

Newt drapped his arm over her shoulders as the peeked at the occamy.

"You're going to be a good mum." Newt said, squeezing her shoulders gently.

Tina stiffened slightly at this. Newt wondered if he shouldn't have said anything. The baby was still a subject they didn't really talk about. They would to, though, whether Tina wanted to or not. And soon.

Newt glanced at her swollen belly. She was six months pregnant now. They would have to truly discuss it sooner rather than later. But he was still hoping Tina would bring it up.

They spent some time in the case -Newt was pretty sure that Tina was not eager to go back up- feeding and cleaning out the creatures. Tina looked disgusted by the strips of bloody meat he gave the occamy, which the serpents ate happily, making noises for more as the gulped down their fill.

The niffler was in its den for once, carefully rearranging stacks of various shiny things when Newt went to give it water. He eyed its collection to see if it had swiped anything from upstairs, but as far as he could tell, it hadn't. He heard Tina laugh and turned.

She was with the graphorns and the babies-large, though still smaller than their parents-were nuzzling her playfully. Tina pet them and the larger one went running back off into the habitat, joining the adults for their meal. Tina scratched the ridge above the small one's eyes and it wiggled happily before dashing off. Newt smiled a little to see Tina looking relaxed and happy. She caught him looking, but simply gave him a smile.

When they finally left the case, Newt turned to help Tina out, making the awkward action perhaps a little easier.

"I don't think I'm going back down there for a while." Tina said decisively.

Newt couldn't blame her for that. He left the lid open and a moment later Minty leapt gracefully out before trotting away into the basement.

"Show off." Tina muttered.

Newt smiled and they headed back upstairs.

Later that night, several hours after they'd gone to bed, Newt woke up very suddenly and stared into the darkness for a few moments. Beside him, Tina was breathing hard, twitching in her sleep. Newt recognized a nightmare, even when he couldn't see her.

"Tina."

He touched her shoulder, which turned out to be a mistake. Newt felt Tina jerk and the next moment he saw stars and pain seared through his eye socket. He reeled backward, more shocked than injured, but hitting him seemed to have woken Tina up.

"Newt?"

He heard Tina fumble around in the dark.

"Lumos."

The tip of Tina's wind lit up, illuminating the bedroom. She was pale, eyes huge with sleep and reflecting the wand's light weirdly. Those huge eyse grew larger when she saw Newt with his hand over his eyes, a reflexive instinct to the pain.

"Did I-" Tina broke off and reached out, pulling his hand away from his eye.

"I'm okay, TIna." Newt said, but Tina seemed horrified by what she had done.

Already Newt's eye was swelling slightly and watering.

"Did I hit you?"

Tina slipped her wand into his hand and tilted his head with gentle fingers to get a better look at his eye. Newt gently pushed her hand away.

"It looks worse than it is."

"But I hurt you."

"Not on purpose." Newt said reasonably.

There was guilt in Tina's eyes.

"I shouldn't have touched you."

Tina said nothing to this, but she looked troubled. Newt felt almost guilty, seeing Tina's own guilt. But he hadn't been able to bring himself to leave her in that nightmare.

Tina took her wand back and raised it, the tip pointing at his eye. Newt pushed this down.

"It's not that bad. I'll be fine."

Tina looked like she wanted to argue, but didn't. The silence was almost awkward. Newt wasn't sure what the standard conversation was after you woke your wife from a nightmare and she punched you in the face. Reassuring Tina he was fine didn't seem to be working.

"How bad?" he asked finally, reaching out and cupping her face with one hand.

"They've been worse." Tina murmured. She placed her hand on his, running her thumb over the back. "I'm sorry for hitting you."

"You were trying to protect yourself. There's nothing wrong about that." Newt said, holding her gaze.

Tina spun her wand, making the shadows dance. She seemed to be contemplating it.

"Newt, what if I'd grabbed this instead?" she asked, looking up at him.

She looked genuinely worried about the possibility. Newt wasn't certain how to respond. The truth was, neither of them knew how she would have reacted if she'd grabbed her wand instead of striking him.

"I'll keep it for the night, if you like." he offered at last.

Tina nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

Tina shook her head.

"You know what happened, Newt. Telling you isn't going to help."

Newt wanted to argue with her, but she looked sad and tired and he couldn't make her talk to him. He took the wand and started to lower his hand. Tina held it in place for a moment, then let it go.

"Nox." Newt said, twisting around to place the wand on the bedside table.

The light extinguished, though because it wasn't his wand the tip glowed defiantly for a few seconds longer before going out.

Newt and Tina settled back down, Newt smoothing the blanket and sheet back over them. Tina cuddled against his side, head resting on his chest. Newt wrapped his arms loosely around her. It was the most comfort he could offer Tina and he was worried it might not be enough. He lay awake long after Tina had drifted back off to sleep.


Author's Note: This is the only chapter in the story that features Tina's point of view. And Minty is probably my favorite character. Please review!