A few weeks after the conversation he had with Sirius, Remus started to wake up feeling sick every single day; every smell, and every sight of food he didn’t want at that specific moment made him ill. At first, he thought it was just a stomach bug or some kind of food poisoning, but he discarded the idea after trying a handful of potions (pregnancy friendly just in case, of course) and then not showing any kind of progress.
Obviously, he had the slightest suspicion of being pregnant, they had been trying in the last few weeks, a lot, but Remus knew better than to start feeling hopeful and wanted to properly scrap off the possibility of just being sick before anything else. So he decided that the smart thing to do was to visit Pomfrey and after a lot of diagnosing spells she confirmed that he was in fact not sick at all and offered to use a spell to know if he was pregnant or not.
“So this is how it works,” she started and Remus could see a small smile making its way out her professional façade, “I lean the wand on your pelvis and say the spell. Then a tiny light will appear beside us and if you are pregnant it will turn white, if you’re not it will be gray, okay?”
It took him a beat or two to actually grasp the meanings of the words. In just a few seconds there was a possibility his world would get turned upside down, his heart was hitting hard against his ribs as he nodded. “Y-yeah, um, of course–“
“Remus this is something you wanted, right? Being pregnant?”
His eyes opened in alarm. “Of course! You know I do. Both me and Sirius. I'm just…nervous, for some reason, that's all.”
“Well, I’d say it’s a good thing to be nervous about. I’d be surprised if you weren’t.” She gave Remus a reassuring smile. “ Just remember that if you don’t want to, or you changed your mind there’s time to stop this and it’ll be your decision entirely.”
“Yes ma’am," he chuckled, "I know and I’ve wanted this for a long time so no worries about that.”
“Okay, just making sure dear. Now I’ll do the spell, I need you to pay attention to the light, yes?”
“Yes,” Remus said, taking a deep breath. This was happening.
Everything happened in slow motion, since Pomfrey extended her arm to take the wand until she was muttering words Remus couldn’t hear past the rushing in his ears. Once the room went silent, a bright white light appeared right in front of him. His mouth went dry, eyes opening widely.
“Oh,” he exhaled harshly, “is that— does that mean–“ his vision kept going between Pomfrey and the tiny light, desperately seeking for answers.
Pomfrey nodded, “ the white light. Congratulations dear.” She let out a breathy laugh and went to hug Remus tightly.
He felt his eyes pricking, unable to contain his emotion, “Oh Merlin, I am pregnant.” Remus muttered over and over again as tears started to fall when he felt arms wrapping around him, giving him a maternal warmth he hadn't felt in a while.
He was pregnant. It was real. In a few weeks, he would have a proper human growing inside of him. His hands went unconsciously to his still flat stomach, stroking lightly as the tears kept falling. Along with the happy emotions lingering, Remus was also petrified, so many risks, so many precautions to take but all of it seemed secondary. All he cared about was that his dream of building a family with the love of his life was getting more real with each passing day and it will continue to do so.
After a while, he said, “what now?” He let out a wet laugh after managing to stop his tears.
“Well now,” Pomfrey laughed, “now I’ll give you something for your morning sickness and an appointment for before and after the full moon. For the next nine months I will be checking regularly especially after the moon to make sure everything is going well, yes? And then you’ll go and tell Sirius, I can see how impatient you are to tell him the news." She chuckled. "We'll discuss all the risks there are and the precautions you'll have to take on our next appointment that should be within the week and with Sirius present.”
“Yeah, perfect Pomfrey thank you so much, I don’t know why I’d do without you,” Remus hugged her all over again.
"Oh, my boy you're going to make me start crying all over again," she smiled, "you've grown so fast. Not a long time ago you were just a scared little boy in the hospital wing for the first time. I'm so proud of you, Remus Lupin never forget that."
Remus blushed, in his twenty-three years of life he never quite learned how to accept a compliment and he doesn't think he ever will. He started to stutter, trying to find the words to tell Pomfrey how grateful he was for her, to make her understand that he wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her and her endless help during his years at Hogwarts and the ones after that. "I won't, Poppy, thank you for always being here, you are one of the best people in my life and if I can't really put it into words I'll be sure to show you through actions." He smiled.
"It's okay, dear, you don't have to explain anything, I love you. Now I'll give you this and off you pop to tell Sirius."
As soon as Pomfrey gave him his prescription and the date for the appointments he apparated right outside of their home where he could already smell the dinner Sirius was making. Truth was, Sirius didn’t come with him because Remus himself thought it wasn’t a big deal so there was no need to waste both of their time. Sirius had been skeptical about the whole thing, he did have higher hopes than Remus after all but he had managed to convince Sirius that his sickness had another explanation. Of course, he was wrong; thankfully so.
He was shaking with anticipation and he had to wait outside the door for a few minutes to recompose himself and figure out how he was going to tell Sirius. Should he just say it? Wait for him to ask? Organise something nice tomorrow and tell him? It's not that he was scared to tell the news, he knew Sirius would be over the moon by it, he wanted this as much as he did but it was such a huge step he wanted to do something special. He figured he would tell him after dinner when they always cuddled on the couch and put on some muggle program that neither of them paid attention to because they were too busy obsessing with each other and snogging.
He knocked twice and opened the door “Sweetheart, I’m back!” He shouted so Sirius could hear him over the deafening music he had on.
“Moony, love you’re here!” Sirius said, peeking his head out of the kitchen door frame and immediately running to him down the hallways when he saw him.
Sirius wrapped his arms around his neck and stood on his tiptoes to kiss him while Remus wrapped his arm around his husband’s waist. “Hi,” a kiss. “Hi,” another one. “I missed you.” He said, leaving peppermint kisses all over his face. “How did it go with Pomfrey? Did she give you something for the sickness?”
“I’m not sick,” Remus said carefully, trying to divert the conversation from where it was going and keep on with his very meticulous plan.
“Oh!” A wide smile built across his face. “What was it then?” Sirius asked as he slowly unwrapped himself from Remus to look at him properly.
Remus took a deep breath before speaking, the truth blurred out of him without a second thought because of the way Sirius was looking at him, hopeful that what they were waiting for finally happened, “I’m pregnant, love,” he said softly, holding the smaller man's face in his hands with a smile. He could already feel the tears forming again from the way Sirius was looking at him.
“What?” Sirius whispered, exhaling heavily as if the breath had been punched out of his lungs. When Remus nodded, he sucked a heavy breath in again, covering his mouth with one hand while the other one was gripping Remus's shoulder tightly as if this was all a dream and he would vanish at any moment, “Moony are you kidding what–“ he laughed incredulously, tears filling his eyes too.
“Yes, pads yes,” he said all over again kissing his husband, "I can show you, she used a spell. Do you want me to show you?" Remus asked,drying Sirius's tears.
“Oh my God! Of course, yes please show me yes!” Sirius was smiling, laughing, shaking and practically vibrating with excitement. Remus had never been more in love with a person or as happy in his entire lifetime.
He pulled out his wand, repeating Pomfrey’s actions and there it was again the white light shining in front of them.
“Right there, that white light means I’m pregnant.” Remus showed him, crying again and admiring Sirius who had a look on his face he'd never seen before, it was hard to describe. The smaller one was looking incredulously at the source of light, shaking his head lightly as the tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Oh, shit. Merlin. We’re going to be dads?!” He repeated all over again as if he couldn't believe it, "this is happening," his voice broke, "is this actually happening, tell me it is not a dream please." He was crying and hugging Remus like he never did before.
“Yes, Pads. It’s happening, you’re going to be the most amazing dad, we both will.” Remus replied, hugging him back.
They hugged for what felt like a lifetime, thankfully dinner was ready and there was no chance of anything burning. Once they were at the table Sirius demanded the proper story of how it went his visit with Pomfrey and what were the next steps. They laughed, they cried, they were the happiest they've ever been, and that feeling could only intensify from now on.
It was the beginning of something beautiful.
☆
Morning sickness was a bitch. That’s one of the first things Remus learned while being pregnant with his first child. The term ‘morning’ was there only to make it sound less tragic. There was no ‘morning sickness’ in throwing up several times throughout the whole day.
Even with Pomfrey’s potions, he couldn’t seem to escape the absolute nightmare of it, especially near the full moon which made everything worse. The general pain was already even more of a nightmare because of his pregnancy–he knew this was expected–but now he had to rush to the bathroom every moment of the day and throw his guts up.
The full moon was what worried Remus the most, he knew that he wasn’t going to pass his lycanthropy to his child (all the cases of pregnant werewolves gave birth to a healthy child, turns out it wasn’t hereditary after all), so that wasn’t his biggest worry. The biggest worry was the risk of having a miscarriage during one of his transformations which was fairly common amongst pregnant werewolves. The transformation was extremely traumatising for the growing fetus so Remus had that constant worry invading his thoughts. Fortunately, he had Sirius by his side, with cuddles and reassuring words every time he started to overthink things.
“It’ll be alright, love. Remember I’m always there as Padfoot making sure everything’s under control and the wolf doesn’t hurt himself, yeah? We knew this was a risk, but we are taking every single precaution on this earth and we will continue to do so.” Sirius said every single time when he needed those words the most and Remus couldn’t be more grateful.
He started to take the wolfsbane potion too, he couldn't risk letting the wolf take over completely and hurt his child unconsciously. But the amount of awareness that the potion gives you, the awareness of being in a body that is yours but not really, it was a nightmare. He felt everything more strongly when the wolf took over, always aware of his surroundings, every little smell, little sound, the need of having to eat any poor creature that just happened to be in the woods that night of the month. It drove Remus insane, but if that meant to keep his child safe then he would do it a million times.
There were also cases of werewolves who went into labour right after they transformed back after a full moon, which was another probability that scared the shit out of Remus. Just as it was he could barely move after a transformation and the thought of having to go through labour right after that was sickening. He started to overthink that too which made it worse.
But now, he was fourteen weeks pregnant, lying on the couch with his head on Sirius's lap the day before the full moon.
“You know what we haven’t really discussed?” Remus said with his eyes closed, trying to delay the imminent migraine.
“What?” Sirius said with his hand on Remus’ basically nonexistent bump rubbing circles with his thumb.
“Where the birth is going to be.”
“Oh, well…I thought you wanted to go to St Mungo’s?” Sirius asked with uncertainty.
Remus hummed, “I thought so too, but I think I want to discuss with Poppy the possibility of having a home birth. Not having to go to a hospital, where I’ve never had any good experiences to begin with and I like the thought of being able to lay directly on our bed and not in one that hundreds of people have used, you know?”
“Mhm, I understand. I think the home birth is a great idea, I guess at the end of the day I don’t mind where the birth will be, as soon as you’re both comfortable and safe but I don’t dislike the idea of our kid being born in this home, yeah,” Sirius said and Remus could hear the soft smile lingering on his lips.
“Yeah I know, I’ll try to talk with Poppy tomorrow,” he replied, feeling the sleep invade him, “I’m going to take a nap, can you stay please?” Remus asked, grabbing Sirius gently by his wrist.
“Of course love, always,” Sirius said, kissing Remus on the forehead.
☾
"Would you like to know the gender?" Sirius asked while they were getting ready to go to their appointment with Pompfrey.
Remus was twenty weeks pregnant and Pomfrey told them that in this next appointment they could know the gender of the baby already, this discussion kept going back and forth between them; one day settling on not knowing it, keeping it a surprise, and then the other they wanted to know at all costs. "I already know it's going to be a boy, but a confirmation wouldn't hurt." Remus shrugged, looking at his husband from the other side of the room.
"How are you so sure of that?" He asked in a playful tone as he made his way towards Remus, wrapping his arms around his neck when he reached him.
"I don't know, I have this feeling. I never believed when pregnant people said like 'I can sense that my baby is going to be a boy or is going to be a girl' and all of that but turns out it was true after all." Remus replied, wrapping his arms around his husband's waist.
"Well I, on the other hand, think she's going to be a girl," he chuckled, "and I'm not saying it simply to contradict you. We should bet, but of course I don't really care about that, we will love them nonetheless."
"Now first of all, I'm not betting on my baby's gender," he smiled, "and of course we will love them nonetheless, but I still think it's a boy and I think it's better to let Pomfrey just tell us, I'm far too impatient to wait another four months to know that I'm right." He laughed.
"Yes, and even if Pomfrey gave us one of those envelopes with the gender on it I would open it as soon as you turned your back, I wouldn't resist."
Remus let out a faked gasp, "Merlin, you're shameless." He said putting a strand of hair behind Sirius' ear.
“Oh Moony, since forever." He replied winking, and Remus was pretty sure he felt himself melting, even after all these years Sirius Black didn't fail to make him blush, "and I reckon we should be going or we'll be late." He said before Remus could recompose himself and kissed him leaving the room seemingly unaware of the effect he still had on him.
In the end Remus was right, they were going to have a little boy. Sirius sobbed for hours even after they got home, so did Remus. They couldn't wait to meet him and hold him safe from everything.
☆
In the end Poppy had told him that a home birth could be arranged only if she was present too and of course he agreed. So as soon as they were assured that the birth could be at home they started to plan everything. He couldn’t really plan the date but they already had planned in which room they were going to do it, the only room that didn’t have any furniture. They'd also started to prepare the nursery, which was going to be the room right across from them so the baby was as close as possible (not like they were going to use it for the first ten months or so, both of them were very much aware that they baby would sleep in their room).
“We’re not calling him James or Peter, Pads,” Remus said, sitting on the couch while Sirius lay on the floor, his head resting on Remus’ knee. They'd been discussing the name for a few weeks now and Sirius was constantly insisting on naming him after their best friends; he even insisted once on Sirius Jr.
“But Moonyyy,” Sirius whined.
“No, pads, I will not name my son James Peter Lupin. It’s very unoriginal and you know it.” Remus said firmly but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t amused by the whole thing.
“You’re boring, you know that? And I’m telling Wormtail and Prongs.”
“Of course you are,” Remus laughed, moving a hand to rest on Sirius’ head and started running his fingers through his hair.
After a while, Sirius spoke, “What do you think about Inigo? It means fiery.” He looked up.
“Mhm,” Remus started thinking, “I feel like it sounds too serious.” As soon as Remus finished saying the word, Sirius had a smirk on his face and started to open his mouth, “don’t you dare say what you’re about to say.” Remus added quickly.
“Oh am I really that predictable, Moony?” Sirius laughed, turning around so they could be face-to-face.
“Oh yes I’m afraid you are, pads,” Remus said laughing alongside Sirius. They were quiet for a few seconds when Remus spoke again, “What about Izar?”
“Uh, Izar” Sirius whispered, repeating it all over again just like Remus had when he found the name a few nights ago before the full moon, during his middle of the night research, unable to sleep. “What does it mean?” He asked.
“It means star, and I’d understand if you wouldn’t want to follow the astronomy related name traditions but I just like it because it reminds me of you and it’s a gender-neutral name, I would’ve liked one of those,” Remus chuckled.
Sirius chuckled too before replying, “mhm, I really like Izar, I like the meaning and the gender-neutral thing, yeah I like it. Izar," he said with a grin. “What about Izar Leo?” He asked after a while.
“Why Leo?” Remus asked, already liking his husband’s idea.
“It means lion in Latin, which reminds me of Gryffindor,” he giggled.
Remus was about to tell Sirius that they couldn’t possibly name their firstborn after their Hogwarts house. Yes, they were proud Gryffindors and all you wanted but it seemed too much.
“But” Sirius emphasised, rolling his eyes jokingly at Remus’ reaction. “The reason why I like it is because Leo is a constellation that depicts a lion and the heart of the lion is Regulus, the star.”
Remus felt an unconscious smile building across his face. Despite their misunderstandings and problems throughout time, Sirius and Regulus had built a healthy relationship in the last three years or so. It took them a lot of therapy and pretty ugly discussions but they were closer than ever now.
He nodded at Sirius’ idea. “Izar Leo. I like it, feels right. What do you think?”
"I love it. I can't believe we'll get to meet him so soon, I've never been so happy and scared at the same time in my entire life," he replied with glimmering eyes staring down at his lap. "Sorry, I don't know why I keep crying all the time." He whispered with a weak voice, trying to wipe the tears as soon as they fell.
He felt his heart squeezing. "There's nothing to be sorry for, love. Why are you crying? C'mere." Remus tapped the free spot on the couch so Sirius could come and sit beside.
Sirius got up slowly, sitting beside him as he laid his head on Remus' shoulder with one arm wrapped around his bump stroking with his thumb. He didn't start speaking instantly, instead, he kept sniffing and crying softly. Remus didn't insist, he needed time and he would give him all the time in this world if that meant that he would feel better. "I just—" he spoke after a while, taking a deep breath before continuing, "what if I turn out like my parents, Rem? They never taught me any kind of love growing up and what if I end up just like them? Maybe it's living inside me, like a curse waiting to get out and I don't want that to happen but what if I don't realise it? What if he resents me for something or he'll grow to hate me just like I do with them?" He confessed, his chest heaving as he kept looking at Remus’ bump.
"Oh, baby, shh, it's okay, come here, you're safe, you're okay." Remus wrapped his arms around him, rocking him lightly, wanting to keep him safe from all the sadness and pain in this world. After a while, he calmed down and Remus spoke again, "listen to me, you are not like them, they are awful people that never ever deserved you and just the fact that you realise it and that you are feeling this is enough to know that you will not turn out like them. I know you, Sirius, you are not cursed, there's nothing wrong in you and there never will be, you are the best person I've ever known and there's no changing that. They are merely blood and their actions towards you don’t define you." At this Sirius sobbed even harder but eventually calmed down. Remus knew he would feel like this and maybe he will feel all of this again but he was going to be here for him every single time. Never leaving his side.
☾
When he was halfway through thirty-six weeks he’d woken up in the middle of the night because of the sudden dampness he felt in between his legs. "Fuck," he whispered realising that he hadn't pissed all over his side of the bed but that his water had broken. Remus felt a sharp pain going from his lower stomach all the way down his legs. It was so sudden that it punched all the air inside his lungs, he was unable to move or do anything at all, completely blocked from the pain and shock. It was only a few seconds after that he was able to breathe again and it was exactly 00.17 when he woke Sirius up.
“Sirius?! Sirius, wake up!” Remus said, alarmed as he shook his husband’s sleeping body awake.
“Mhm, what, Moony, what is it?” Sirius said, barely opening his eyes.
“Sirius, I think my water broke,” Remus said, feeling his nervousness rising. "I need you to wake up. Now."
“WHAT?!” Sirius was wide awake now, “fuck, are you sure? Really?” Sirius asked, looking around with eyes wide open as he was getting up and kneeling in front of Remus.
“Yes. I don't think I would joke about that, Padfoot” Remus said, staring at the big stain of water past his bump and in between his legs, trying to have one coherent thought.
“Right, right, sorry. It’s okay. We're ready for this. I’m going to call Poppy and she’ll tell us what to do next, yeah?” Sirius said.
“Yes, yeah, thanks.” He replied, trying to control his breathing and prepare for the next contraction, which he expected was going to be sooner than later.
“Okay, I'll be right back, I love you,” Sirius said before giving Remus a forehead kiss and leaving.
Right after Sirius left, Remus felt his son giving little kicks “Oh, hello there baby, eager to get out are we?” he chuckled feeling a little bit calmer. He was going to meet his son in a matter of hours, he was going to hold him. Remus felt his heart beating faster just by the thought of it.
A few minutes later Sirius was back. He ran up the stairs and had a mad look on his face. Remus wanted to laugh at how anxious he looked but he felt another wave or pain before he could register anything else. Just like the first one, catching Remus out of guard who made a strangled noise, "Fuck, Rem are you okay? What is it? A contraction?" He asked, kneeling worriedly in front him holding his hand through it while he nodded.
Just like the first one it only lasted a few seconds before he was able to think clearly again, "yes, it's over now. We should track how far apart they are from each other. What time is it?" he asked.
"Thirty-two past midnight. We'll keep track of it. Poppy told me she'll be here in about twenty minutes. She said that she just needs you to breathe and stay relaxed, comfortable. Are you okay here or do you want to go downstairs? Tell me you need and I'll do it,” Sirius asked.
"I'm okay here, and I just need you to stay here with me, yeah?" Remus pleaded.
“Of course love, I'm just going to send a patronus to Regulus, to let him know that your water broke and I'll keep him updated. He'll tell the others.” Sirius replied sitting beside Remus kissing him on the forehead.
After that, everything was a blur for Remus. He remembers having a couple more contractions while they were waiting for Poppy, and as soon as she arrived, she and Sirius started setting up the bathtub while Remus was downstairs on the couch controlling his breathing and preparing psychologically. Hours later, when the sun had barely risen, he was dilated and ready to push. He remembers getting into the bathtub and breathing heavily through each contraction, which were only two minutes apart. Even when he was cursing Sirius and repeating “fuck you, Black, fuck you” all over again he still had him by his side reassuring him that he was doing good, that everything was under control, and that it’d be all over soon. He remembers screaming and crying with each push, (he was almost certain that at one point Sirius started screaming with him while he was holding Remus’ head) sweating and thinking he couldn't possibly make it but Poppy was there getting him through each push. He was always closer to meeting his son, but it felt like an entire painful lifetime before Poppy said he could see his head and it was music to his ears. Just a little more, just a few more pushes. With one last push, he felt as if all the weight in this world was lifted from his shoulders and he could finally breathe again.
Then there was the crying. He heard it loud and clear, strumming in his ears. Sirius was also crying and repeating “Oh Remus, oh Moony, he's beautiful, he's perfect." All over and over again.
He lifted up his collapsed head and opened his eyes just in time to see Poppy giving him his child, his Izar, and oh my, he was perfect, he looked so much like Sirius who somehow was now inside the bathtub crying alongside Remus. “Oh hello Izar, you're beautiful baby. Hi.” Sirius said though sobs and Remus was too much of a crying mess that all he could was mutter senseless words as he stared at his son.
☆
That late morning, after Poppy had checked both Izar and Remus, she left and said she'd be back that same evening to check everything was still under control and bring Remus the potions he needed. So now he was sitting on their bed with Izar on his chest and his husband’s head on his shoulder, neither of them could tear their eyes apart from their son. They had cried and cried and cried, they were so happy, so in awe, so in love with their little one.
“Moony?” Sirius whispered, still not looking at anything else besides Izar.
“Mhm?” He muttered, tracing Izar’s little nose with his index finger.
“Thank you. Thank you so much for this, and thank you for giving me the family I always wanted, I love you forever, Rem.” he said finally looking up at his last word and kissing him.
“Thank you for being there with me, Pads, I couldn't have done it without you there, I love you too.”
They were still kissing sweetly when Izar started to cry again, “someone's hungry I see,” Sirius chuckled alongside him.
While Remus was feeding him, Sirius sent a patronus letting everyone know that Izar was here and both him and Remus were okay, and that they could come this evening to meet him.
☾
That evening, Sirius was sitting on the couch with Regulus, he was the first to get here, merely five minutes later after Sirius had sent the patrons. Remus had left him and Regulus alone in the living room with Izar while he went to the bathroom.
Regulus was smiling like a little kid and also sobbed like one. "Oh, Izar hi little one." He whispered, holding little Izar and stroking his cheek.
"Wanna know his full name, Reggie?" Sirius whispered, unable to look away from the scene in front of him. He wanted to stay in this moment forever, his little brother meeting his son, it was priceless. They hadn't told Regulus about Izar's second name because they wanted to keep it as a surprise and right now, it was perfect. A personal moment reserved to just them both and his son.
"Izar Lupin, no?" He turned to look at Sirius, "He's going to have Black too?" He asked, startled. A couple years ago during one of their conversations, Sirius confessed that he didn't want anything to do with the Blacks and he eventually changed his surname to Lupin.
"Oh no," he chuckled, "none of that, it's about his second name. It's Leo, from the constellation." He smiled seeing Regulus' surprised expression, "we never told you because we wanted to keep it as a surprise but yes, Izar Leo. Reminds me of you."
"Oh, Sirius, you're going to make me cry again." He turned around, facing Izar again and letting out a laugh that felt more like a sob. "Thank you, it's an honor, really. Thank you." He managed to say after swallowing the lump in his throat. "Can you—could you give me a second please? Sorry I'm such a mess."
"Of course, Reggie. I'll be down the hallway if you need anything. Love you." He said getting up and going down the hallways where Remus was returning from the bathroom.
"You told him?" He whispered.
"Yeah, it went perfectly, he asked for a few minutes alone, so." Sirius replied, hugging Remus for the hundredth time that day. "I love you."
"Love you too, Pads." Remus hugged him back.
☆
The Potters arrived a few hours later. Little ten-month-old Harry was in awe of the new addition to the family and couldn't take his eyes away from him. The round of crying repeated itself all over again. More friends came by, everyone was congratulating them left and right. The day was so full of joy and love that Remus and Sirius had never felt more at ease than they were in this moment of their lives. Their son was finally here, he was healthy and they would keep him safe from all the pain in this world for as long as they could.
By the end of the day, they were once again cuddling together with their son and being grateful for everything and everyone.