"I broke it, Weiss."

"How did you manage that?" I asked with a very tired sigh.

There was a nervously smiling Ruby Rose peeking into our bedroom. "It fell off the kitchen table and its leg popped off," She explained quickly.

I gave her the most annoyed glare I could muster. "You essentially just dropped our child onto a very hard, tiled floor. Do you think that's something to laugh about?" I asked her.

I watched as Ruby walked herself into our bedroom completely to jump onto the end of the bed. It normally would have annoyed me but the bed hadn't been made today. Instead I was forced to watch this supposedly grown woman crawl herself under the covers and sneak herself up to my side. Along the way she took the time to tickle my leg with her hand making me giggle slightly. No doubt I was annoyed with her but she always had her ways to lighten almost any situation.

Ruby managed to finish her journey to end up cuddling up against my side, probably hoping I wouldn't get too annoyed at her. It was fortunately working for her as I made the mistake of looking into her eyes. It was probably my main weakness in life. I could fight a dozen beowolves with a hand tied behind my back and manage a new mine opening with nothing but a pen and a single thermos of coffee for the day but Ruby, the adorable dolt, could weaken my knees with just a pout.

Just like she was doing now. "I'm not mad, Ruby. You don't have to pull the 'cute routine' right now. I just want to know how you managed to break a simple baby doll. All you were supposed to be doing was practicing changing a diaper."

Ruby chuckled to herself. "I don't know. It all happened so fast…" She started to explain.

I obviously didn't buy it. "Ruby," I warned. A fan of lying, I was not.

Her smile started to grow. "Okay, okay… I may have tried to pull the blanket out from under it like a magician."

"You better be kidding," I deadpanned.

Her arms around me tightened to a gentle squeeze. "Oh come on Weiss. It's just a dumb doll. You know I'd never do that with a real baby. Especially the cutie we got right here," she said as her arm moved off me and her hand went to rest on my stomach. The sensation made me instantly relax as she did. "How is she? Bothering you any?" Ruby's voice turned soft, soothing, and serious.

Ruby was always known as a hyperactive child in an adult's body. Always wanting to make jokes and cheer everyone up. A trait she no doubt picked up from her sister as she grew up but I've found that's just how she chooses to let the world see her most of the time. When she needed to take actual full control as our leader of Team RWBY she was more than capable of dropping that carefree attitude and getting the job done. It amazed me before and now that side of her would pop up more and more since I conceived our child.

When she got like this, all I could do was melt into her. Even now my body was relaxing as my head fell onto her shoulder. "She kicked my diaphragm about an hour ago. Literally knocked the wind out of me."

Ruby laughed quietly. "Fighting with you already. Sounds like she learned the routine early."

I wanted to give the trouble maker a glare but I was too comfortable. "Don't encourage it. There's still a chance to have a civilized child that actually behaves, unlike you and your sister," I told her with only half of my usual authority.

"I hope she's a happy little ball of energy. That way someone in this house can keep up with me," Ruby said pulling me closer.

I lightly shook my head. "You know she won't be able to walk for awhile, right? Let alone keep up with you," I tried to explain.

"That's okay," Ruby quickly replied. "I'll just never put her down. That way we can always be together…"

I stayed quiet at that comment. No doubt Ruby was back to thinking about her mother. It was a big topic when we first started discussing having a kid. There was a chance that a child of a huntress would lose that parent and Ruby was a victim of that exact situation. She loved her job and didn't want to give it up but she was always vocal about wanting a big family. At first I thought she just meant our team but kids kept getting mentioned until I put the pieces together. When I finally opened up to the idea she started getting worried about the idea of not being there for them. Obviously, we still agreed to continue with the idea. The closer we got to the due date the more Ruby started to cling to me.

"Weiss?"

"Hm?" I replied idly while I watched Ruby's hand.

"I'm kinda scared. You know?" Ruby admitted.

I rested my hand on top of hers. "She's fine Ruby. The last check up went perfectly. Not one thing out of place. It'll be okay."

Ruby was silent for a few seconds before speaking up again. "What if I'm terrible at this though? I have no clue how to be a mom. I just wanted a family."

"Ruby," I chided. "My parents weren't exactly role models. We'll learn together and that's okay."

"But what if something happens when we're on a mission or if…" I interrupted her wild train of thought by squeezing her hand.

"We're not going to think like that." I lifted my head from her shoulder to look her in the eyes. Her face was legitimately sad. A look that I always hated. She knew I did because the second she noticed what I was doing she switched her face to a childish pout to mask her worries from me. I decided there was only one solution for this mood. "How about you go get that tub of ice cream you were excited to try? We can introduce our little flower bud to something new." Ruby's eyes immediately lit back up at the idea.

She jumped up a little and leaned down to my stomach. "You are going to love it! It's got cookie dough in it and chocolate chips!" She gave the bump a quick peck before blasting off to the kitchen.

I sighed and looked back down at our daughter. "I hope you enjoy it because I'm not that big a fan of ice cream." It didn't take long for Ruby to get back to our room with a tub of ice cream and two spoons at the ready. Our previous conversation was already long gone from her head as her smile did it's best to influence my own. It made me think that maybe sweet stuff wasn't all that bad at all.


Three loud knocks on the door made me jump. My next thought was near anger as I quietly stomped my way to the front door. The knocking started again but I ripped the door open and met a tall blond. They received the largest and angriest scowl I could muster.

"I swear on my grandfather's grave if you woke her up I'm going to donate your hair to charity!" I angrily whispered.

The blond just gave me a confused look as her eyes flashed between my face and the mumbling baby in my arms. "I don't know about you Weiss but Caden seems wide awake to me," She laughed as she made her way inside. She took Caden out of my arms and immediately started to bounce her around. "Wide awake and read for some fun with Aunty Yang! Aren't you?" Caden started reaching out for Yangs hair. "Oh, careful now. No pulling the hair you little troublemaker. Even Aunt Blake has to ask permission for that."

I took a moment to close the door quietly. "I wasn't talking about Caden. I meant Ruby. It took me hours to get her to take even the smallest nap due to how much time she's spent with Caden. Even after she fell asleep I basically had to rip my own child out of her arms," I explained. I'm sure it sounded silly to Yang but it was true. The first thing Ruby did after waking up this morning was grab Caden and refused to put her down for anything. Not even breakfast was enough to separate Ruby from her 'favorite little girl.' When she first started with it, it was pretty adorable and endearing but she was starting to show obvious signs that she was tired.

"WEISS!" I heard a familiar voice shout through the house.

I stared daggers at the voice's sister. "Damnit Yang! So much for all of that effort to get her asleep."

Yang started laughing while poking Caden's stomach. "Who's supposed to be the baby here?"

"You know what I mean Xiao Long!" I spat out.

The argument couldn't go any further as Ruby ran nearly full speed into the living room. "Where's Caden?" She said with a believably worried look on her face. "I woke up and she was gone!" I didn't want to deal with it and just grabbed her shoulders to spin her towards her sister and child. "There you are! Come here you!" Ruby said happily as she jumped to grab Caden. Yang switched Caden into an expertly practices single arm hold while her other arm reached out to keep Ruby at bay. "Yang!" Ruby whined.

"You didn't even say 'hello' to me! Is that a way to treat your sister who took such good care of you when you were a baby and who is taking just as awesome care of your own child?"

I really didn't want to listen to the 'sisterly' bickering today so I walked to Yang's side and scooped up Caden before Yang could argue. Ruby noticed and nearly ran to me to try and take our child as her own.

"Only if you go back and rest in bed, okay?" I told her.

Ruby only pouted. "But Yang is here and I've already had a nap and…"

I cut her off before she could continue rambling. "Please… I love Caden as much as you do but you've been firing on all cylinders all week."

"I'm fine, Weiss. Really! Never felt bet…" She saw the legitimate concern on my face and her look softened into her serious mode. "Okay… I'll calm it down a bit. Can I hang out with you guys on the couch with Caden at least?" She asked. I nodded because I couldn't say no when she got into her sentimental mode. Ruby smiled and gently reached out to Caden and took her out of my arms. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, Caden," Ruby cooed at as she made her way to the couch and proceeded to form only what I could call a ball of the things I care the most about in this world.

I watched for a minute and made my over. It took some small maneuvering but I wedged myself into our little familial ball. "I'm not going anywhere either," I said to them. Ruby gave me her signature smile and leaned in to kiss me.

"You guys are going to make me gag over here," Yang interrupted.

Ruby started laughing at her sister's statement. "Don't worry, Yang. You'll understand it once you and Blake have a kid," Ruby explained.

Yang rolled her eyes. "You have one kid who can't even walk yet and you think you're more 'worldly' than me."

"You know what they say," Ruby began, staring down at our daughter. "Everything kind of changes once you have one."

She was right though. I wouldn't say it out loud just so I wouldn't worry Ruby about it but I don't think I there is a single thing I wouldn't do to make sure our child was safe. Ruby must have sensed what I was thinking though because she was back to looking back at me with a loving look. "I'm here for both of you so don't get any crazy ideas, okay? Like I said, I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

Her eyes didn't leave much room for me to argue. "I know, Ruby. Neither am I."