Everything Is Eclipsed by the Shape of Destiny

“Mrs. Figueroa, I would never, ever, let that happen to Marie.” Bill reassured. “They’d have to get through me before they could lay a finger on her.”

“You have enough to worry about without adding Emerson to the list.”

Bill stared Eleanor directly in the eyes. “There’s nothing I worry more about than her safety. She’s my best friend and you may not believe this, but I was against her going to England. I told her that she should stay in Mexico since she’d finally landed the job that she’d always dreamt of, but Emerson’s stubborn. When she wants something, she gets it, it’s not one of her best traits, but it’s how she is. You know that that’s how she is and she’s going to be in England whether we want her to or not.”

Eleanor remained quiet, her face perfectly stoic.

“That she is,” spoke her father, Louis, in an attempt to break the tension. “She inherited the stubbornness from me, as well as the horrible singing voice that I'm sure she’s tortured you with.”

The tension decreased significantly after that. Conversation flowed more freely. It became the welcoming environment which Emerson had grown in, but although the tension lessened, Eleanor had yet to direct kind words towards Bill. She had simply ceased speaking altogether because she couldn’t bring herself to be kind or even polite to him. To her, he was nothing than vicious bacteria that had infected her daughter and would ultimately lead to her demise.

As a mother, she felt it her duty to find a cure for it. She refused to watch her daughter waste her life on a man that didn’t deserve her. Eleanor didn’t give a damn about the legends or the power of imprinting. All she cared about was seeing her daughter smile again, like she did before she set eyes on Bill. That’s all Eleanor wanted.

Once dinner ended, Emerson announced that it was time for her and Bill to get going. Her grandparents bestowed the usual blessings, as did her parents. Bill had never seen such a thing. Her elderly grandmother spoke of the Virgin of Guadalupe, her father as well. It was odd to see wizards invoking religious muggle icons, very odd.

“Do they normally do that?” Bill followed her out the door.

“Do what?” Emerson stopped mid step.

“That thing with the blessings,” he spoke. “Isn’t that a religious thing to do?”

“Catholic thing, actually.” She replied.

“Then why do they do it? They’re wizards. They obviously know that none of that’s real.”

“How do you know that it’s not real?”

“Because it’s ridiculous,” his words were uttered with such conviction that they sounded more like fact than a statement of opinion.

“And wizards aren’t?” she countered. “Our existence is ridiculous, as is this life but that’s what they believe in and they don’t harm anyone with the way they practice their religion. They just use it as a vehicle for fulfillment. So,” added Emerson. “I'm fine with them believing in something that may or not exist.”

“Do you believe in it?”

“Not as much as they do. I'm just a cultural Catholic.”

“Meaning?” he pressed.

“It means that I grew up with it, it’s a part of my culture and my family life but I'm not an active participant in it. I don’t go to church every Sunday, I don’t confess as often as I should and I don’t follow lent very well, but I believe in the Virgin. I believe that she’s always watching over me and I try to be a good person, that’s more than enough for me. Not enough for mainstream Catholics, but enough for me and that’s what matters.

“I don’t get how I didn’t know any of this. I’ve known you forever.”

“That’s because I don’t talk about religion. It’s something personal, that’s between me and whomever I chose to believe in, doesn’t involve anyone else.” Emerson rubbed her hands together. “Think we should head back now. Don’t want to worry Remus and Tonks.”

“So do you really like life them or were you just saying that to make me feel better?”

“I like living with them. They’re great people. Tonks is definitely someone that I can just kick back with and Remus is a really nice guy, he’s just a little guarded, but that’s expected.”

Bill stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I knew you’d get along with Tonks.”

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Yeah,” his upper right lip hitched upwards. “You’re both bloody insane.”

“Hah. You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Insanity tends to be frowned upon.”

“Not by me,” Emerson rubbed her tired eyes. “I'm exhausted, so I'm going to head back, nice seeing you.”

“Get back safe.” He hugged her tightly.

“You to,” Emerson stepped back and with a turn, apparated back to The Lupin home.

The house was brightly lit when Emerson apparated on its doorsteps. Her brow furrowed as the fluorescent lighting shone through the window. She had thought that they would fall asleep at ten as they had a habit of doing, but it was well after midnight and the lights shone brightly so something had to have happened.

The question was what.

Emerson cautiously made her way into the house, careful not to create too much noise in case they were having an argument or working on getting specifics down for a mission, but as Emerson walked down the narrow hallway, a sound caught her attention. Someone was weeping. Her heart sped up as the weeping gave way to sobs and before she knew it, Emerson had begun to walk towards the noise that was emanating from the kitchen and dining area.

Sitting at the table, all alone, was Tonks.

Her head rested on the wooden table as her body convulsed violently. All around her were broken items, glass plates, food containers. It seemed that anything she could break had indeed been broken and as Emerson stood in the doorway, surveying the condition the kitchen was in, she couldn’t help but wonder where Remus was and what he had done to cause such misery.

“Tonks . . .” Emerson stepped towards Tonks, careful to keep her distance.

“Who’s there?” Tonks lifted her head, revealing her puffy red eyes. “Oh, Emery, how are you? I'm s-sorry about the mess. It’s just –“

“There’s no need to apologize.”

“Yes there is. This place is filthy, just look at what I’ve done. It’s going to take hours to clean and I have w-work in the morning,” Tonks rambled, her eyes scanning the damage that she’d done.

Emerson pulled out a chair. “I’ll clean it up.”

“But you don’t have to.”

“I want to help. It’s the least I can do for letting me live here.”

Tonks attempted to smile, but the tears that she had been fighting back struck again with a ferocity that she had not expected. Emerson immediately took Tonks’ hand in hers; she hoped that the feel of her skin would be enough to remind the wailing woman that she was not alone, that someone was there for her. It wasn’t. Tonks wailed on.

Not being able to see another person cry, Emerson left her seat and wrapped her arms around Tonks’ shoulders, resting her chin on her flesh as she sang softly in Spanish. Her low quality voice was overshadowed by the tenderness with which she sand and after a few minutes, Tonks had calmed down enough so that her body no longer trembled.

“He left.” Tonks whispered, the words tasting like poison.

Before Emerson could process what she was saying, a simple word left her mouth. “Why?”

“I told him I was pregnant,” Tonks shut her eyes tightly, fighting off the memory. “And he left.”

“Oh, Tonks –“

“Don’t you dare tell me that it’s going to be alright, if you do, I’ll curse you into oblivion,” Tonks threatened.

Emerson removed her arms from around Tonks and returned to her seat. “I wasn’t going to tell you that it was going to be alright. I don’t know whether or not it is, but what I was going to tell you was that he’s a fool for leaving and that if he has any shred of decency, he’ll come back.”

“He’s not doing it because he’s a bad person. He’s doing it because he’s scared that the baby will be like him and he doesn’t want that life for a child so he asked me to . . .” Tonks grew silent. Her eyes relaying what remained of the news.

“And are you?”

“I can’t,” Tonks stared at her hands. “I know that werewolves are dangerous and that if my child inherits the lycanthropy that they’ll have a hard time but I won’t give them up. I'm too selfish to give up a child with Remus, even if he doesn’t approve.” She lifted her gaze. “Do you think it’s wrong of me?”

“No. I think it’s only natural for you to want to have a child with the man you love.”

“I think so to, but Remus is convinced that it’s wrong.” Tonks gritted her teeth as tears cascaded down her cheeks. “He’s so afraid of what he is that he doesn’t want to be happy. I understand that life hasn’t been easy for him, that being a werewolf has been really hard on him but there’s only a slight chance that our baby will inherit that curse and even if he does, I won’t care because that’ll be my child and Remus should love that baby as well.”

“I'm sure he would.”

“Then why doesn’t he want to have it?” cried Tonks in desperation. “Why did he leave now that I need him most?”

“Because what he’s really afraid of is losing everything he loves and I think that he might believe that by leaving, he’s sparing himself the pain of losing you or the child, when in reality he’s just making things worse.”

“That might be it.” Tonks sniffled. “He’s never been good at accepting happiness or love. It took a bloody long time for him to agree to be with me. He kept fighting his love for me.”

“And that’s what he’s doing right now.”

“You think so?” Tonks eyes widened.

“I do. I think he’s just fighting his heart right now, but his heart won last time and it’ll win again.” She took Tonks’ hand in hers. “And until he comes back, I’ll be here to help in whatever way I can.”

“I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking me.” Emerson smiled reassuringly.

Tonks wanted to smile brightly to show her gratitude but all she managed was a faint smile that was hardly a smile. “Why are you being so nice?”

“You’ve shown me nothing but kindness from the first day we met. It’s only right that I do the same.” Emerson stood. “I think we should get you to bed. I mean, if you’re going to show up to work tomorrow, you need to be well rested and that baby needs their mama to be calm even in the midst of chaos.”

“That’s true,” agreed Tonks. “But I should really clean this up first.”

“Oh no, you don’t. I'm going to clean this place up so go before I take off my shoe.”

“How’s that supposed to scare me? Do you have disgusting feet?”

“No, but my mom always threatens us with taking off her shoe because she’ll fling it at us.”

“That’s so strange.”

“It’s actually pretty normal in my family. I think it’s probably normal in most Mexican families because when people make a joke about chanclas, which are flip flops, all my Mexican friends understand.”

“You’ll have to teach me more about chanclas. It sounds fun.”

“It is and I will, but tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow it is.” Tonks hugged Emerson tightly. “Thanks again.”

“No need for thanks, now go get some sleep.”

Emerson stood there, watching as Tonks disappeared from sight. She sighed softly as she ran a hand through her hair and turned to look at the mess. After staring at it for a few minutes, she made her way to the closet where the cleaning supplies were stored. She could’ve cleaned up the magic way, but she hadn’t been raised to rely on magic so heavily. Her mother thought it lazy for people to utter spells when they could easily sweep and mop on their own. That notion was one that Emerson strongly agreed with and that’s why it was going to be a long night.