Just An Ordinary Week: Thursday
Title: Just An Ordinary Week: Thursday
Author:
bratty_jedi (Rachael)
Format: Fic (~1,400 words)
Rating: Pre-Teen for very mild sexual suggestions.
Prompt: 21 (July 6): "Tempt not a desperate man." - William Shakespeare
Warning: Very mild seduction and fade to black (someday I might write the actual smut but no time now).
Summary: "This time he was certain her smile reached her eyes. 'I'm fine! Absolutely perfect.'"
Disclaimer: I own none of this. J. K. Rowling and assorted companies including but not limited to Bloomsbury, Scholastic, and Warner Brothers own everything. They also make all the money. I am just having fun and in no way seek financial profit from their property.
Author's Note: I am going to try to tell one continuous story over this week (Saturday to Friday). Each prompt will be one day in a week in the lives of Remus and Tonks. Don’t be fooled by the title. This will (hopefully) not be a boring week for our hero and heroine. Still late.
This story follows Just an Ordinary Week: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Remus Lupin was on the twenty-seventh circuit of his living room and uncertain which was more ridiculous: that he had nothing better to do than pace a room that was far to small to contain his nervous energy or that he knew he was on his twenty-seventh circuit. He flopped down in an armchair near the fireplace, the poor old furniture groaning from the effort of supporting the sudden weight. Of their own volition, his fingers picked at the fabric covering the cushions. It had been over an hour since Tonks left for her appointment at St. Mungo's and all he could do was wait for her return. She had remained adamant that he not accompany her. Her small heart-shaped face seemed to float before his eyes and it was all he could do to remain in the chair and not Apparate to her side. His nails dug deeper into the upholstery. If only he wasn't so useless. If only he could help her.
He sprang to his feet and resumed pacing. He had to be able to do something! Anything! He considered the face in his mind's eye. He could see her as she looked a few days previously, smiling at him from her hospital bed when he arrived at her door. For the first time, he realized that even then the smile had not reached to her eyes. Their usual brightness was shadowed by doubt, fear, and longing. He froze, as an idea began to percolate in the back of his mind. A slow grin spread across his face. He could not heal whatever might or might not be wrong with her. He could certainly not fix everything wrong in the world. But he could give her a reason to smile and hopefully restore the sparkle to her eyes, even if only for a while. He ran to the fireplace, grabbed a handful of floo powder, and threw it in the flames to begin the first of what would hopefully be many conversations.
An hour later, his knees were cold and sore from kneeling on the hearth. For the fifth or sixth time that day he was explaining his plan. "Of course, if things go very badly, this might not work. I'll let you know if I have to cancel."
"I understand," Harry Potter said with a smile. "And we'll do our best to make it work on our end."
"I really appreciate it, Harry."
"No problem, Professor. I have to go now. Hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow."
"What's tomorrow?" Remus heard a soft voice ask as he extracted his head from the fire.
"Tonks!" he cried as he stood and turned around.
She was standing next to the couch and her face was positively glowing. He didn't dare hope her expression meant what he thought it did.
"What's tomorrow?" she repeated. "Does Harry need you again?"
"Not right now," he answered the safer question. "What did the Healer say?"
This time he was certain her smile reached her eyes. "I'm fine! Absolutely perfect."
She was suddenly in his arms. Looking around, he realized they had each moved, meeting in the middle of the living room, but he could not remember actually doing it. "Can you tell me what has been going on?" he asked softly.
"Does it matter now?"
"Please." If she refused to tell him, he would never ask again, but he desperately wanted to know.
Tonks took his hand and guided him to the couch. She sat down next to him and looked at their intertwined fingers. "There was something in the fire, she whispered so softly he had to strain to hear her. "They're still not sure what it was but it was burning me inside wherever the fire had burned outside. The potion I've been drinking was an experimental one they concocted and it was able to stop the damage. Before, well, it was attacking my, well, womb."
"Excuse me?"
She smiled slightly through watery eyes. "You do know what a womb is don’t you, Remus?"
He rolled his eyes and secretly blessed her for her ability to lighten the situation. "Of course I do. I meant elaborate."
"Then why didn't you say that?" she laughed. "There isn't much else to tell. At first it seemed they wouldn’t be able to control it and I wouldn't be able to have kids but that new potion worked."
He hugged her. His joy that she was fine almost overwhelmed him but there was one other thing he had to know. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, his voice level and without any hint of the accusations he had leveled at her the day before.
For a moment, she appeared to have lost her voice. Her jaw worked but no sound emerged. "I didn't think I could handle it," she finally said, sounding rather defeated.
He shook his head in confusion. "You've been handling everything, all the worry and fear, on your own for days now. Did you not think I could take it?"
"No!" she exclaimed. "That's not it at all. I knew you could handle it. It's just… Oh, this is so hard to explain."
"Try. Please."
"I thought about telling you so many times but then I would always see your face before me." He nodded encouragingly, knowing exactly what she meant. "I could see you calmly accepting it and doing everything you could to make me feel better. But then I would look at your eyes and they would be so hollow and sad. I couldn't stand to see the fear in your eyes as you accepted that we might not ever have a family. I knew you would be strong enough to handle my pain but I just wasn't strong enough to handle yours. I'm sorry."
She murmured the last in the general direction of her hands, now clasped firmly in her own lap. He wrapped them in his own, both of her hands easily fitting within his. "Don't apologize. I'm the one who should apologize. I'm sorry for pushing you."
"I should have told you."
"No. It's all right." He pulled her into another hug, gently rubbing her back. "Tell you what," he said. "You let your parents know you are fine. While you do that, I'll draw you a hot bath and you can soak and relax for a while."
She pulled back and looked at him with a slight glint in her eyes. "That sounds lovely but I have a better idea. There is something about just knowing that I will still be able to have children that makes me want to get started on that right now."
He wrinkled his brow. He had always assumed he would never have children though a large part of him wanted them. Since he had been with Tonks, he had slowly begun to question many of his old assumptions including that one. But they had never actually discussed it and now did not seem like a good time to begin a family. "What? Having kids?" he asked in shock.
"No," she said laughing. "Someday, sure. But for now I just want to shag." She wiggled her eyebrows and began playing with his belt buckle.
He swallowed around a sudden dryness in his throat but decided to tease her a little. "Your parents are worried about you. Shouldn’t you let them know?"
She let go off his now unhooked belt and pushed him sideways on the couch. "They didn’t even know the time of my appointment. They can wait until later this afternoon." She leaned in and began to kiss him. He summoned every ounce of will power in his being and pushed her away.
"This still doesn't make sense," he said. "If you're not actually interested in having kids right now…"
She stood up and stomped her foot. "Remus Lupin!" she shouted at him. "Your girlfriend is standing in front of you saying she wants to shag. Are you going to do something about that or sit there on your arse debating until she, namely me, gets fed up and leaves to find someone more willing to oblige?"
Her cheeks were flushed with annoyance and there was a fire in her eyes. She looked heavenly. "Well, if you put it that way…" he said. He grabbed her arm, pulled her on top of him, and began to kiss her before she could say another word.