A/N: This is the last chapter, I'm afraid! But at least it's happy. It's been a lot of fun for me so I hope you feel the same way. Thank you very much to all readers and reviewers, especially my beta, ladyofthelight101.
Healers and Nurses
Remus had had worse full moons than this, but he still felt a little ill. Some part of his head was throbbing and the cushion against it had buttons on both sides, which didn't help. The family sofa was quite small and his legs were dangling over the edge of it, but he had chosen to lie there in the hope that he could watch the children playing. Unfortunately, it being Sunday, Dora was off work as Teddy was off school, and he had only had to whisper the word 'headache' to his wife for the children to be whisked away to play in the garden.
"Dora, I really don't..."
"You know how noisy they get. I want you to feel better A.S.A.P." she told him, and placed a kiss on his forehead before returning to the dining room to finish some paperwork before dinner. He had pleaded with her with his best pathetic look, but she shook her head and told him she needed to get it done and he needed to get better. It was true that the silence was nursing his brain quite gently, but he wouldn't have minded some company. The book he had was really quite boring and the small print was a strain to read. Feeling like there was nothing better to do, he closed his eyes.
He had been in a half-dreaming, half-awake state when he thought he heard the shuffling of little footsteps into the room.
"Oh, no, he's asleep. Come on, we'll play later."
"Daddy's ASLEEP? But it's day time!" Olivia's loud, perplexed voice rang through the room and forced his eyes to open. She was only four, and didn't yet understand anything about her daddy's occasional bouts of ill health. Teddy, who was seven and so by far her superior, turned around and glared at her, his turquoise hair turning red at the roots. He wasn't always on his best behaviour either, but he liked to set a good example.
"Look what you did. Naughty baby!" She wasn't a baby as such, but the nickname had stuck. Remus feared she would start to cry, as she sometimes did when Teddy was stern with her, but she ignored her brother and moved closer to her father, taking his hand.
"My name is Healer Olivia, and I'm going to make you get better." she told him, lovingly.
It was then that Remus noticed what they had bought. They had their toy wands, a wad of toilet paper and a collection of toothpaste, liquid soap and shampoo.
"I'M the Healer, because I'm biggest. You're the nurse." Teddy told her, rolling up his sleeves. He picked up his toy wand and held it to his father's wrist.
"How's my pulse, Healer?" Remus asked weakly, still smiling.
"What's a pulse?" Olivia asked.
"It's a wrist." Teddy said. "That's the bit between your hand and your arm. Your pulse has a lump on it, Mr Lupin."
"That's my bone, Teddy. You have..."
"Oh dear. Bones are not supposed to be lumpy. You might have to have an operation." Teddy said, seriously. He beckoned Olivia over, and she moved her hands over the wrist.
"Operate, operate, operate." she chanted.
"That's better." Teddy concluded decisively.
"I think so." Remus agreed.
"Operate, operate, operate..."
"No, Livvy, we're finished operating. We have to take his temperature."
Teddy placed his wand to Remus's forehead. "Hmm...it is just right."
"I'm glad about that..."
"Time for medicine, Daddy!" Olivia shouted excitedly, approaching with a teaspoon and a bottle of shampoo.
"Oh, no, I can't drink that, Olivia."
"It will help you get BETTER, Daddy."
"No." Remus told her firmly, putting out an arm and holding her back. Her little face looked gloomy. "Maybe I could taste some tooth...some of the white medicine instead."
Teddy was armed with the toilet roll. "And then we will bandage up your wrist."
"Oh, no, no one's wrist is going to be bandaged." Dora said from the doorway. She had a stern look on her face but Remus could see she was holding back a smile. The children turned, and though Teddy looked guilty, Olivia smiled.
"We're Healing Daddy."
"I think you're probably doing the very opposite, honourable though your intentions may be. Go back and play in the garden, Daddy will play with you when he's better."
She began to shoo them out, though they were both loudly crying "Ohhhh, but Mummy..."
"Ohhhh, but Mummy..." Remus said when Dora had shut the door behind them. "Apart from the bit where Olivia wanted me to drink shampoo, I was enjoying that."
She sat down next to him. "You like playing Healers and Nurses?"
"Especially when I'm not the patient." Remus said. "After all, I'm the biggest really, not Teddy, so I..."
The look on her face made him realise she wasn't talking about the childrens' game. It had been the anniversary of their first date (trust her to remember these things) this weekend and the romantic tension had faltered a little with the full moon. But it didn't have to stay that way.
"I finished my paperwork." she said. "I now have more time to dedicate to other things."
"Oh, really?" he replied with equal huskiness, then coughed.
She brushed her hand against his face with sympathy. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine, really. Just tired, and stuff." Perhaps that was just his being a man about it all.
"Oh? I was hoping to spend some time with you. After all, they're in the garden and happy by themselves, so I thought we could be...happy by ourselves for a moment."
He smiled at her, and then sighed emphatically. "Oh, yes, actually, I think I do need a nurse. A very pretty, grown-up sort of nurse that doesn't try to feed me shampoo."
"If that's what you feel is best." she answered. He sat up, and they hugged intimately. Looking into each others' faces, they laughed a little with their mouths almost touching, then kissed.
"This is the best headache treatment I have ever experienced." he told her. "I think I might enjoy overdosing."
"Well," she said; her breath on his lips. "I would carry on, but I don't want to get germs."
"Really? I thought you'd prefer me dirty," he said, and kissed her passionately.
It's always great to have lots of hits, but these are the people who went extra further and reviewed, and so who deserve an extra thank you:
silent-voices - Kerichi - steph - Don'tCallMeNymphadora4 - Luckybug76 - LivelyLenore - LittleMissTrumpetPlayer - ladyofthelight101 - WuHaoNi - EleanoraGrace - Eriks angel 15 - theheartyearns
Anyone who wants to read more AU (from me, that is) can find it in A Weekend to Remember, but if you should want to see Teddy and his OC sister again, they feature at two and five years old in the second chapter of This Was Their Life or as teenagers in All I Want For Christmas, which focuses mainly on Teddy and Victoire. Thank you again!