"Tai, Yang, Ruby, I'm home."
Getting back home, Qrow called out to his family, in which nobody answered back. Staring at the darkness since no light was turned on, he found himself calling out for some response again:
"Tai? Yang? Ruby?"
Dead silence reigned, and it didn't help calm his nerve one bit knowing that they always waited for him to come back at this hour.
"That's weird," he whispered quietly to himself, couldn't help but feeling anxious.
Leaving the lights turned off like when he walked in, Qrow slowly crept in the dark with his weapon readied in hand like a dangerous leopard searching for its prey.
Roaming from room to room, he still found no sign of life in the house. Taiyang, Yang and Ruby were no where to be seen, and there wasn't any sign of an intruder as well. As he searched up and down again and again, Qrow found himself end up in the living room once more.
But instead, he was greeted with a blinding light and ear-piercing scream, in which two bodies hurled at him in a dizzy speed too fast to avoid.
"Happy Halloween, uncle Qrow!" Yang and Ruby's voice echoed throughout the house, and Taiyang was standing next to them grinning from ear to ear seeing his two daughters scaring the crap out of his best friend.
"Man, I wish I have a camera." Taiyang said while offering Qrow a hand to pull him up after getting knocked down by Yang and Ruby, then he turned and high-five the two girls who where wearing a wide smile on their faces, "Good job girls."
"Thanks dad, you know you can count on us." Yang replied confidently.
"It wasn't much." Ruby said as she threw Qrow puppy dog eyes and an apologetic smile in which he just brushed off.
"Ha ha ha, very funny you guys." Qrow said sarcastically, didn't know whether to hate or to love these troublesome people he spent fifteen minutes circling the house to look for.
The rest of the night went by without a glitch, and they enjoyed the night together as always. Yang and Ruby played boardgames, watched some movies while Qrow and Taiyang discussed about their latest mission secretively.
But as the hours passed, Taiyang strictly tucked his girls to bed, ignoring their wailing about bedtime curfew.
Lying in her bed for a good five minutes, Ruby slowly tiptoed into the hallway, carefully not to make any noises or bump into something in the dark. Just then, the door of Yang's bedroom flung open, and her heart almost jumped out.
"YANG!" She shushed her angrily, signaling her not to make any noises.
"Going to uncle Qrow?" Yang said, batting her eyelashes together to form weird-looking face as she fixated her gaze on her sister Ruby.
"Be quiet, dad's going to know! And, it's none of your business anyway." Ruby snapped back in a hushed tone.
"None of my business?" Yang clicked her tongue, "Hey, dad…" She started to raise her voice at the last word, causing Ruby to panic even more.
"Okay, okay, fine, I'm going to see him." Ruby finally admitted sheepishly, to which Yang finally let her off the hook looking at her embarrassed face.
Yang was the first one Ruby turned to when her relationship with Qrow started to get more serious, and of course, Yang didn't mind since her sister was happy with it. Though it was weird at first, she learned to accept it little by little seeing how Ruby's eyes lit up whenever Qrow was there. And she was glad that Ruby could find somebody trustworthy, even if it's their uncle.
Going back to her room, Yang shut the door softly after leaving a dummy on Ruby's bed. It's been a habit for Ruby to sneak out at this hour to Qrow's room, and Yang helping her was the norm recently. They all agreed Taiyang should be the last one they inform, especially not before Ruby's graduation day. Yang lied on her bed, couldn't help but being amuse over Ruby's girly side and her uncle's extra tenderness toward her sister before falling into deep sleep.
XXX
"I'm sorry, dad and Yang dragged me into this." Ruby said apologetically while snuggling in his embrace.
"Well you sure look like you're enjoying it." Qrow said with a scowl, even though his hands around Ruby didn't let loose in case she fall down.
"But you have to admit your face was quite funny back then." Sticking out her tongue, she couldn't help but smiled at his surprised face back then.
"Oh really?" He asked dangerously and before Ruby knew it, he was tickling her in full speed, making her squirm with laughter and begging him to stop.
As the carried her to bed and laid down beside her, Qrow warned her again in a low tone, "If you try and play a trick like this on me one more time…"
"I know I know," she cut him off, planting a quick kiss on his cheeks, "Goodnight."
"'Night." Qrow sighed in defeat as he hugged her close as both drifted off to sleep.
Before falling into her own fantasies, Ruby let out a small giggle, happy and grateful to how much Qrow cared about his family and herself. His scared yet relieved face as the light hit him back in the living room showed it all, and Ruby couldn't be more proud having him as her partner for the rest of her life.
"I love you," she said lovingly, her voice muffled by the nearness of his chest, to which he relied, "I love you to, Ruby Rose."