If In The Future

July 7

"Reme, time to wake up."

"Mmmm."

"Come on, you have to go to work."

I opened my eyes. Sirius was leaning over me, smiling (and still naked). "Come on, darling, you have to get out of bed."

"I don't want to get out of bed ever again," I said. "I want to stay here with you for the rest of my life."

He kissed my forehead. "Yes, but unfortunately you can't. Come on, I'll make breakfast."

I sat up. "Did last night really happen?"

"Yes."

"It seems like an incredibly good but surreal dream."

"Well, it wasn't."

"You," I said, "are a fantastic lover." He blushed. "No, I mean it. That was the best it's ever been for me."

He took my hand and I glanced at the clock. "Padfoot! You woke me up two hours early!"

"I did not! Don't you have to be at work by eight o'clock?"

"On Fridays we don't open until ten."

"Oh. Sorry about that."

"Hmm, I wonder what we could do with an extra two hours," I said, trying to suppress a grin.

"I haven't the slightest idea," he said, getting back into bed. I climbed on top of him and he spread his legs, wrapping them around mine. I lightly bit at his chest as he ran his hands up and down my neck and back. He raised my head to his and kissed me passionately, his legs rubbing against mine.

I could continue in this vein for quite a while, but then I'll just become aroused, which will be useless because Sirius is asleep. So I'll just skip to what happened afterward.

I showered while he made scrambled eggs, and he used the shower after me. When he came out his hair was glistening with water, and he was wearing one of my bathrobes. I couldn't stop staring. "You are so incredibly sexy."

"So are you."

"No I'm not."

"Damn it, Remus, will you stop thinking that?" he said, and I was surprised at the anger and passion in his voice. "You are so completely beautiful. I've always thought so, even when I first met you. And I'm so frustrated that you can't see it.

"Here," he said, handing me some pieces of parchment tied together with string. "I want you to read these at work if you have a chance."

"What are they?"

"You'll see."

The second I got a break, I read the papers. And I started to cry.

They were letters, letters Sirius had written to me when he was in Azkaban. The oldest one was from the first day of his imprisonment and the last was written moments before he escaped. In them was it all - his pain, his anguish, his love, his soul. He had never stopped thinking of me. At the bottom was a note. "Remus," it read, "last night I saw your scars and your beauty. Here is mine. Sirius."

I Apparated home instead of walking the second the library closed. Sirius was in the parlor at his desk. "Sirius -" I gasped, and started to cry again.

He slowly stood up, walked over, and held me as we both cried together.