Will-o'-the-Wisp

Rrrrring! Rrrrring!

Sirius and Remus froze mid-kiss, their eyes wide. Both were thinking the same thing: The last time someone called this time of night, Adonijah had had a heart attack. Sirius rolled to the side; Remus turned and reached for the telephone.

Rrrr--

Remus caught it mid-ring and answered. "Hello?"

"Remus? It's me. I'm not...interrupting anything, am I?"

"No, you're fine." Remus mouthed It's James to Sirius. "Is something wrong?"

James didn't sound quite as shaky as before, but still upset. "I'm sorry, I probably could have waited, but..."

"You're fine," Remus insisted. "James, what's wrong?"

"It's...it's..." James's voice was raw. "We lost the baby."

Remus gasped. "Oh, no...James, I'm so sorry. What happened?"

"I don't know. I mean...she went into labour this morning--three weeks early, mind you--and I took her to the hospital. She delivered the baby and we thought everything was fine...but he wasn't crying. The doctors did their best, but...but it wasn't enough. He died." James gave a weak kind of chuckle. "Our little boy...Adonijah Mark, we decided. At least now there's a name for the tombstone..."

Remus swallowed hard. "Is there...I mean, do you need us to come over?"

"No...no, we're fine for tonight," James answered. "I just...I wanted to let you guys know what was going on. Sorry I interrupted you."

"It's fine," Remus repeated. "Okay, if you're sure...we'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye, Rem." Click.

Remus slowly replaced the receiver, then rolled over to face Sirius. "That was James. They lost the baby."

Sirius's eyebrows shot up. "What? Oh, no...poor Lily. Poor James, for that matter." He swallowed. "And they were so close to their due date...I thought they were safe."

Remus shook his head. "Lily went into premature labour this morning...the baby was born and they thought he was fine, but he must've had some kind of birth complications. He died."

"That's awful," Sirius murmured. "Did they decide on a name?"

"Adonijah Mark, big surprise."

Sirius curled his fingers into Remus's hair. "Should we go over?"

"No, James said they'd be fine for tonight." Remus touched Sirius's face lightly. "Lily must be devastated, though...first her mother, now the baby. And James lost his father..."

"Less than a year ago," Sirius agreed. "They're going to need some time before they're back on their feet."
"We'll be there for them, though...right?" Remus asked uncertainly.

Sirius smiled and kissed Remus on the shoulder lightly. "Of course we will. That's what friends are for...right?"

"Right." Remus smiled back. "James would be there in a situation like this for either one of us. It's our job to be there for him."

Sirius sighed and put his arm around Remus's shoulders. "Just out of curiosity...what did you keep telling James was 'fine'?"

Remus chuckled. "Oh...that. He kept asking if he was interrupting anything and apologising for it."

Sirius grimaced. "Oh."

"Well, you can hardly blame him...when he called to tell us Adonijah had a heart attack you nearly bit his head off. He seemed a lot calmer this time, but he was still pretty upset."

"Again, who can blame him? He just lost his firstborn son."

"True." Remus leaned his head on Sirius's chest. "I can't imagine how that feels...and it's not like I'm ever likely to know."

Sirius rubbed Remus's back. "Yes, there are some advantages to being gay. Never having to lose your child, for example. Although we still have to deal with the monthly cycles around here."

"Oh, hush," Remus laughed, punching him lightly on the shoulder. Sirius laughed and cuddled him tighter.