As the street once again fell into darkness, it didn't tale Remus much effort to find the last remaining embers of his cigarette. Suddenly feeling every single ounce of pain in his being, he stomped on the bud, unnecessarily hard for a light that would have gone out by itself in the winter chill.<br/>No longer having that distraction to keep him occupied, Remus reluctantly moved his eyes off the ground and up to Sirius. The sight made Remus' stomach turn, but he couldn't decide whether or not it was caused by regret or by the heartbreak in Sirius' eyes. If Remus allowed himself to look close enough, he felt like he could almost see regret mirrored in Sirius' eyes.<br/>Wanting to touch the other but finding himself unable to, Remus just nodded and glanced away. "Yeah, merry Christmas, Pads."<br/>Remus paused, though he didn't know what he was waiting for. Something in his throat balled up, only feeling reassured by what he thought he saw in Sirius' eyes, when Sirius didn't reach out for him, either.<br/>"I'll see you," he just said before apparating with a crack.<br/><br/>______________<br/><br/>On the evening od the moon, Remus was in pain. Most of the discomfort came from the hammering head ache, amplified by each beat of his heart; the physical pain, however, came from his burning joints. Despite wanting nothing else than to allow himself to collapse on the cool concrete floors of the underground bunker, Remus was still on his feet packing.<br/>The ache having turned into a roaring fever, Remus had stripped himself of his pajama shirt, packing only in bottoms and his cotton undershirt. Unable to think straight, he blindly threw clothes from his drawers onto the bed, easily missing the bag on it.<br/>When he heard the knock on the front door, Remus' didn't even consider that it could be anybody but Sirius. Reaching for his wand, he moved to the landing of his stairs, casting a poor excuse for an<span style="font-style: italic">alohomora</span>while balancing himself with a tight grip of the bannister.<br/>When he heard the front door unlock, he offered a "I'm upstairs," before returning to his bedroom.