"Whoever the bloody hell it is, they better be knocking on my door for a damn good reason!" Tonks shouted as she headed toward her front door. She opened it to reveal Remus, and then promptly closed it in his face.

"Nymphadora, please let me in." he begged.

"Back on first name basis, are we? I can't deal with you today. Go away."

Remus sighed. "We have to talk, Dora."

"Actually, I think we've done enough talking, Remus. I'm sure all that you could say has already been said."

"Dora, I've been thinking-

"Really? Did that hurt?" interrupted Tonks.

"Not until I'd been doing so for several hours. Please let me in?"

"Not a chance, Remus. Whatever your thinking has enlightened you with, I'm sure you can say it from where you are."

Remus sighed again. He had to admit that it wasn't exactly the way he'd planned for this to go. "Last night was hard for all of us—

"Which is exactly why I can't deal with you right now. Haven't you done enough damage to me, Remus?"

Her voice came out more plaintive and weak than she liked.

"Look, Dora, I know I've been a terrible bastard. But could you please let me finish?"

She was silent, and Remus took that as assent.

"I know I've been an idiot lately. I know I've hurt you."

Remus heard Dora snort.

"And I'm really, really sorry. I just..." Remus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I've spent my whole life afraid to let anyone get too close, because I was afraid I'd hurt them or they'd hurt me. But... maybe it doesn't need to be that way."

"Congratulations, Remus. It's taken you more than thirty years to realize something most people realize at age ten." Dora's voice was still sharp, but not quite as scathing.

Remus sighed. "I'm not exactly the brightest wolf in the pack when it comes to my emotions."

Dora almost let herself laugh.

"I don't..." Remus paused. "I don't expect you to take me back right away, or to ever take me back, really, or even to not hate me... but I felt I... owed it to you to come and tell you."

"Tell me what?"

Dora could hear Remus shift from foot to foot.

"I love you. Loved you for a while, actually, and that was a bit of why I wanted to push you away so much."

"What did you think would happen after you told me?" Dora pushed her eye against the peep hole in the door. Remus looked as though he hadn't slept the night before. He had his hands stuffed in the pockets of his Muggle pants like an abashed school-boy.

"Ah...well, of course, I'd wished you'd accept me and we could start over again..."

"And what if I rejected you?"

"Then," Remus took a breath. "Then I hoped we could at least be amicable. I'd probably go back to avoiding you, though."

"And if I accepted you?"

Remus visibly puffed up with hope. "I'd try... listening to you, and your version of my monstrosity. I'd try, Dora. I wouldn't be perfect, and I'd probably try to keep you away every once in a while, and no doubt we'd fight quite a bit, but I'd try. Because I want it, truly I do."

Tonks hesitated with her hand over the door handle. Her heart was lodged in her throat. Knowing she held Remus' love was a heady feeling. But... it had hurt her so much, that love. And as much as her heart was telling her to invite him in, her mind was telling her to protect herself. It seemed foolish, somehow, to send the person she was in love with away, but it wasn't exactly like the reasons for Remus rejecting her had disappeared.

She slumped against the door. "Remus... please just go home."

"Dora?"

She raised her head to keep the tears from falling. "I just can't, Remus. I can't! And what the hell possessed you to come down here today of all days?" She punched the door. For a second, it seemed like anger would keep her suitably distracted. Then she noticed the pain in her hand, and the anger evaporated. "Please go."

"I— Dora, why?"

"I have a chance of getting over this eventually, some day. I don't want to be hurt again." She hated how pitiful she sounded.

"Oh." He sounded defeated. "Of course. I... I understand."

Dora heard him turn to leave.

"And, Dora? For what it's worth... I'm sorry, and I love you."

She sobbed as she heard him leaving. Why did protecting herself have to hurt so damn much? She was sending him away. She should feel good about this.

She rose to look once again through the peep-hole. Remus had apparently opted out of Apparating, and she could see him walking away along the road, shoulders slumped. Part of her wanted to feel happy about seeing him defeated, instead of the other way around, but it wasn't a very big part.

She heard his words again. "I've spent my whole life afraid to let anyone get too close, because I was afraid I'd hurt them or they'd hurt me."

"I'm not natural, Tonks. I'm a danger to anyone I get close to."

Of course, vaguely, she'd realized he was trying to protect her, the miss-guided prat, but that had never exactly featured in her thoughts during moments of self-pity.

It was just... he was such an ass! After all this time, after all her suffering, this was when he decided to pull his head out from where the sun doesn't shine?

And, Tonks realized, she loved him anyway.

"Bugger." she said.

Wasn't there some great, hippy, way-too-happy quote about love being the most important thing?

She swore again, just for good measure.

Was it possible to make it work?

Would she be able to pull back if it didn't?

Righting herself from her slumped position, Tonks opened the door.

"Remus!" she yelled down the street, but he didn't seem to hear her.

She started running, following his form with her eyes and yelling his name again and again.

"Dora?" he turned around. She continued to run until she was only a foot away from him.

"I might possibly still love you."

"Dora?"

"I also might possibly have rethought my words from before."

"Which ones?"

"The ones that implied I didn't want to do this." She reached out, grabbed his head, and brought his lips down to hers. She could feel him smile against her lips until she pulled away.

"Any sane girl would probably tell you to piss off, you know that, right?"

The smile disappeared and Remus looked down. He nodded.

"Well," Tonks drawled lazily "I guess you're lucky I'm not sane."

Remus looked at her. "Dora? You mean...?"

"Yeah." Dora smiled and reached out and briefly touched his cheek. "Want to come back with me and see my flat?"

The End

Author's Note: So, that's the end. It took me exactly a year to get here, isn't that sad? It felt right to end it here, even though I have a couple other "later" scenes written. Special thanks to my friend Cecile who put up with me throughout my writing of this, and told me to do the "Tonks sends Remus away, then calls him back" scene. Also, thanks goes to everyone who's read this.