E N C H A N T E D

I've got you.

Sirius had been good at listening to Remus' request.

For the most part, anyway.

Remus still saw him every Wednesday when he came to the club with his father and their friends, but other than that his weeks were Sirius free.

Three weeks ago Remus started indulging Sirius' very probing line of questioning.

He always asked first how Remus was, and he could always tell that Remus was lying, though he never pushed the subject too hard. After that he would ask about the kids and Remus always told them that they were fine also. It killed Remus a little bit to lie to Sirius but what was he supposed to do? Tell Sirius that his life was absolutely miserable? That he cried himself to sleep night or that he could hardly look at his little brother anymore? That Max was so sick that Remus dreaded waking up every morning? That was the truth, but he could never tell that to Sirius.

After that, Sirius would ask about money. It made Remus's neck flush with embarrassment that made him want to crawl out of his own skin, but he was honest when he answered this question. Sirius wrote him a $500 check each week and it killed Remus a little to accept it, but it would have been stupid not to. That barely covered what he owed each week as a down payment when he took Max for a check up. He didn't know what he would do when Dr. Karev told him that Max needed to be hospitalized.

On top of that, it was like a slap in the face that Remus' feelings didn't get better after Sirius left him. He thought that having a break from Sirius' onslaught of what felt like love would make it easier to get over him, but he was wrong. He ached for Sirius. The sensation of Sirius' arms around him haunted him every day, and the peace and security that he felt with Sirius polluted his dreams every night.

It was hell.

In fact, the only thing that got him through the week sometimes was knowing that he would Sirius on Wednesdays, which was a sick and twisted thing to look forward to. Sirius' persistence and patience was confusing.

Some nights when Remus needed to hate himself even more than he already did, he convinced himself that Sirius truly cared for him this whole time; that Sirius did love him and all Remus didn't return was burn at all to hell. God, he hated those night because they were a cold reminder of everything he gave away and could never have back.

It had been a long Wednesday so far and Remus was dreading this upcoming shift. He knew he was being distracted as he worked; he'd get an order mixed up or poured with the wrong liquor. And while he felt bad, it was hard for him to really care that much. Max's crying was still ringing in his ears a few hours after he'd left him in Lilly's competent care.

He was just over two hours in to what was shaping up to be a long shift when Lily came through the employee bar entrance with a worried look on her face.

"Sorry, hi Remus," she pressed her lips together nervously, "I can't get him to calm down and now he's worried himself sick and I think that there might be some spots of blood in his throw up."

"Do you think I have to take him in? Cause I don't know if I can get someone to cover for me right now... do you think he'd be okay until morning?"

Lily hesitated and Remus immediately knew that he had to take Max to the doctor. There was no way he could delay the inevitable.

"I can cover the bar, but you're gonna have to take your other kids too. "

Liam had just left that morning for a long weekend with his girlfriend at her parent's cabin so Remus would have to take everyone else who needed supervision with him to the hospital, which wouldn't be conducive to Max's treatment. "I... I can't take them all."