"Cinder, this is ridiculous! You can't do this!"

The three members of Summer Storm stood in a small circle inside their private studio at Vale City Dance Academy. Each of the women was very different. Standing closest to the front of the room was a very dismayed young woman with dark red hair. On her left was a blonde who did not so much look older, but simply seemed to be more mature. Across from her, a pale and confident girl with wavy black hair smiled, looking as though she enjoyed the redhead's reaction. Slowly, her smile became a smirk. "I can, and I will, if you don't meet my demands. We never had any agreement about terms. No contract said I'm bound to stay. Besides," the woman said with a raise of her perfectly-sculpted eyebrows, "I would have thought that you'd want to get rid of the third wheel. Of course the fans won't like it, but wouldn't you?"

Summer frowned and shook her head vigorously. "We'd miss you. Ruby would miss you, too... do you want her to grow up without her Aunt Cinder?"

"It's not like I'm dying," Cinder spat. "I'm only quitting Summer Storm. Unless, of course, you give me reason to stay."

"Reasons like what?"

"Like being promoted to frontwoman effective immediately, and changing the name of the group to Cinder Storm. Also, we need new blood in the group. If I'm in, Glynda's out. We'll find someone new."

Glynda had been trying to stay neutral. After all, there were only three women in Summer Storm. One was her, the other was her longtime girlfriend, and the third was her best friend. Or so she had thought. "You're trying to kick me out," she stated with narrowed eyes and a flip of her curly blonde ponytail.

Cinder gave an apologetic smile that was as genuine as palm trees in New York state. "It's nothing personal, dear. I simply have a specific vision for this group, and you're in the way of it. We all know you can't keep up, Glyn. You said it yourself, you've got no real angle..."

Glynda took a step forward, threateningly. The worst part of everything that Cinder said was that she was half right. Glynda could keep up, alright. She was the best dancer of the three, and even if the others had better voices and very specific angles, hers weren't bad. Since when was it her fault that she wasn't pretty and kind like Summer, or an edgy bombshell like Cin? Glynda was the forgotten brains of the group, and she was fine with that. She only needed one person's love, and that, she definitely had.

Summer put her arm around Glynda and pulled her girlfriend closer. "Don't, Glyn," she whispered, directly into the blonde's ear. "You know Cin; she wants resistance, or a fight."

Cinder laughed. "I struck a nerve. You know I'm right about this, Glynda. You check the fanpages, you know."

"I'm not going to do this!" Summer announced. She took her arm off Glynda and walked straight up to Cinder, jabbing a long, pale finger in her friend's face. "You are not driving Glynda out, and I am not giving control of Summer Storm to someone who even tries to. I was considering it up to that point, but... how could you even think about this, Cinder? We're all supposed to be friends!"

"And friends support each others' dreams," said Cinder.

Summer frowned deeper. "Exactly! Look, apologize to Glynda and we can forget about this and go on, okay?"

Glynda didn't want to hear her apology. She could feel her own heart breaking. How could Cinder have even considered this... they were supposed to be best friends to the end, Cin and Glyn. And now she was pretty much saying that she thought Glynda brought the girl group down.

"I apologize for any hurt feelings I caused, but I'm not taking it back," Cinder said with a smile. "So you won't give in?"

"No," said Summer.

"Pity," Cinder said with a false little pout, and she walked out of the studio.

The two remaining members of Summer Storm went home.

They'd lived together for six years, spanning their first relationship, their breakup, and getting back together. They'd dealt with being in a pop trio and all those trials, with figuring out their sexual orientation, with Summer deciding she was wrong and breaking up with Glynda, getting pregnant, and realizing a year later that she had been wrong about being wrong. Glynda gripped Summer's hand. They wouldn't let losing Cinder stop them, even if it did feel like a kick in the stomach.

Summer opened the door to the almost-stereotypical two story abode. "We're home!" she called.

Immediately, what seemed to be a smaller version of her ran in from the living room. "Mama, Mommy!" she cried happily.

Glynda and Summer smiled at the daughter they were raising. Ruby hadn't been planned for, no, but she was no less welcome for it. She took almost nothing from the father that she'd never met. Everything from her shining silver eyes to her dark red hair was pure Summer.

Ruby jumped into Summer's arms, and the small woman swung her daughter around. "How was your day, pretty girl?" she asked.

"We played tea party and read a bazillion books!"

Summer smiled. "That sounds like a lot of fun! Did you eat dinner?" Ruby shook her head. "Okay, how about we all get some pizza?"

The preschooler's eyes lit up. "Yay!" she exclaimed.

Ruby's babysitter came into the foyer from the living room. "Welcome home, ladies," he greeted. "How was your day?"

"It could have been better," Summer said. "I think we'd both rather forget about it, Tukson, but thanks for asking. How was Ruby?"

"Better than she sometimes is," the man chuckled. "We read together. Her vocabulary is really getting good, even if her pronunciation leaves much to be desired." He shook his head. "I guess that's to be expected from a preschooler."

Summer got a wicked gleam in her eye. "And I heard something about tea parties as well?" she teased.

Tukson went scarlet. "I plead the fifth."

Summer laughed and turned to Glynda. "Can you pay him? My hands are full," she said, adjusting Ruby for emphasis.

Glynda nodded and smiled, taking a moment to just appreciate the situation. No matter what had happened that day, she still had the two people she loved most in the world, and they still loved her too. With that thought, she reached into her pocket and pulled out Tukson's pay. He thanked her and left, with promises to be back tomorrow so the women could go to their rehearsal, and for a moment, Summer and Glynda exchanged a worried glance. Still, they did not correct him.

Summer set Ruby down, and the young girl immediately went to Glynda. "Mommy, will you read to me?"

Glynda tried to put on a smile. "I promised Mama that I would help her order pizza. How about we read together before bedtime?"

Ruby considered, then nodded.

The group walked into the living room together, and Summer flipped on PBS for Ruby, who was more than happy to sit and watch. Convinced that their daughter was content, the girlfriends continued to the kitchen. It only took a moment to order a pizza, and then, for another long moment, they were silent.

Glynda spoke first. "I don't think we can be Summer Storm without Cinder."

"Neither do I," Summer agreed.

Another long silence, then the blonde said, "We're finished as pop idols, aren't we?"

"I think so."

"We're still going to be together though, right?"

"Of course, always."

"Okay then. I can deal with anything else."

Ruby laughed in the next room over, and despite the day, Glynda smiled. Summer followed her lead. "We're a family, and we don't need to be stars when we have each other. We'll get real jobs and Tukson can keep babysitting. Next year, Ruby'll start kindergarten, and she'll have two working moms who are almost always home and never off touring and who love each other very much. We'll live a happy life, and we'll probably even get visits from Cinder when she comes to her senses. How does that sound?"

Glynda pressed her hand on top of Summer's. "Perfect," she said.

And it was.

Almost. It did have a few hitches, such as the many people stopping them on the streets to ask, "Is it true? Is Summer Storm gone forever?" Tukson quit babysitting Ruby to open up a bookshop, but that turned out to be okay because Glynda decided to go to college online and get a teaching degree, and Summer ended up working for Tukson anyway. Cinder came to visit, and though it was only to sign the papers that would officially end their stardom days, she brought Ruby a new teddy bear and played with the little girl as if nothing had ever happened.

Every night, Summer would come home to her daughter's hugs and her girlfriend's kisses. Glynda would have put dinner on the table, and they would eat, clean up, watch a movie, put Ruby to bed, and go to bed themselves, though rarely ever did they go straight to sleep.

Life was good, for that beautiful month after the most popular girl group in the world dissolved.

"Where's Mama?"

Glynda looked away from her laptop, to little Ruby. "She'll be home soon," the blonde woman said absently.

Ruby shook her head and pointed to the digital clock hanging on the wall. "That number says six. Mama gets back at five. Remember?"

"She's probably stopped somewhere." Glynda pulled her cell phone from her pocket and checked for a new text to confirm her suspicion. Nothing. The woman frowned, concerned. Where are you, Summer? she texted. Text me.

Hours later, as she put Ruby to bed, she still had no response. She'd called Summer, texted her, emailed her, even left a message on her facebook wall.

Rather than going to bed, she sat on the couch and waited and worried.

Around nine thirty, someone knocked on the door. Oh god, she thought as she raced from the living room to the foyer, almost knocking over a lamp in the process. Please, Summer, let this be you.

She pulled open the door, only to see Summer's childhood friend James, decked out in his full police uniform and looking as pristine as possible. "James," Glynda exclaimed. "Or... Officer Ironwood right now?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"Of course," Glynda said. "Summer's not here right now, but... wait, are you looking for her? I would but I can't leave Ruby and she's missing, and oh god..."

James took a deep breath. "Mind getting me something to drink? Grab yourself something too, we can talk in the living room."

"But don't you hear what I'm saying?"

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Trust me here, Glynda."

A thought set in immediately as she started to put the pieces together, but she refused to entertain it. Numbly, she grabbed two colas from the kitchen and walked back to the living room. James had already made himself at home. He gestured to her favorite chair. "Sit down."

She obliged.

"Summer was found dead in a ditch in some backroads an hour ago. Nobody seems to have been around, and the roads were not frequented. We think it likely that she was killed this afternoon returning from work..."

Glynda stared at him. Nothing could keep the pieces from clicking now. "She was killed."

"Well, she did die, and it's a possibility... you have fans, lots of them, perhaps this was a Misery situation gone wrong?"

"Have you talked to Cinder?"

"She isn't family." He frowned. "Technically, you aren't either, but I know how you two were and thought you had the right to be the first to know. I'm supposed to be telling Qrow right now."

Glynda shook her head, blinking back tears. It was easier than she would have thought... maybe she was in shock, just a little bit. "Not to inform her. To question her."

"That's ridiculous. Summer told me what happened, and it seems like the two had no problem. It seems like Cinder's issue was with you."

"You don't understand how Cinder was," Glynda argued.

James stood and patted Glynda on the head, but she shoved his arm away. "Don't touch me. Don't pat me. Listen to what I'm saying because nobody knew either of those women better than I did."

"Fine, fine, I'll look into it." He gave her an infuriatingly condescending smile. She could see pity laced into it as well. "For now, you should rest. You have a lot to do tomorrow. You'll probably want to set up Ruby at her uncle Qrow's house, and start working out arrangements with Summer's family in general. Speaking of that, I have to go. I need to inform them. Don't worry about them calling you late tonight; I'll tell them you already went to bed."

The whole situation seemed to slam into Glynda all at once. She'd have to give Ruby to blood relatives, and all of Summer's stuff would be divided among that family. She had no real claim to it, did she? She had no real claim to Summer at all, not when it mattered. It was such a big thing, and yet James seemed so casual about it. "Don't you care?" she asked him angrily.

"Of course I do," he said, "but you might not be able to see it right now. You're upset and I'm on duty. Now, I'll see myself out. Good night, Glynda."

"Good night, Officer Ironwood," she spat, and as soon as she heard the front door shut, she collapsed onto the couch and began to weep.

She didn't know how to tell Ruby, so she didn't. Instead, that next morning, she dressed Ruby up in her favorite frilly black dress and little red cape, and got into the car to go to Qrow's house. They stopped at their local grocery store on the way there, and Glynda bought two packages of cookies. One, she kept sealed up. The other, she split with Ruby, who happily munched them, only asking a couple times where her Mama was.

They got to Qrow's place, and Glynda had barely started knocking when the door opened. Summer's brother himself had opened the door, looking definitely devastated, but much more composed than Glynda had expected. The woman nudged Ruby inside. "Go find cousin Yang," she told the girl, who obliged with a smile.

Qrow watched her go. "Does she know?" he asked.

Glynda shook her head. "How do I tell her?"

Without another word, she handed him the box of cookies she had saved, and he accepted them just as silently. For a moment, the two adults stood there. Then, Qrow seemed to come to his senses. "Why don't you come in?"

Almost automatically, Glynda followed him through his house. She heard her little girl playing with her bossy older cousin ("No, Ruby, I'm the fire princess, you're the rose princess. Duh."). Then, she was in the living room, and the two adults sat across from each other. Glynda took a deep breath. "I'm sure you realize why I'm here."

"Not really, no. I would think to comfort us, but you need it as much as we do."

Glynda couldn't help but silently curse Qrow for making her say it. "You're Ruby's blood relatives. Law dictates that you have your chance to take her in and raise her." She said it flatly, trying to cut off all emotions, but she could feel a tremble in her lip and tears in her eyes.

Qrow looked towards the playroom longingly, and Glynda knew, just knew, that she was going to be all alone, that he would take her and believe wholeheartedly that it was for the best. She only wished that she could believe the same.

Then, he spoke. "She's your daughter, isn't she?"

"She was Summer's baby..."

"Yes, biologically, the same way she's my niece. But... she's your daughter, isn't she? In your heart."

Glynda swallowed hard and nodded. "She is."

Qrow took a deep breath. "I would love to have her, that little piece of Summer, and I know she and Yang would be happy to live together. I'd have no issue providing for her, but still, I couldn't do it. I won't take her away from you, on the condition that we see her often."

"Of course," Glynda said, choking up. She tried to breath, but ironically almost, the relief was too strong. The tears that had welled up in her eyes began to flow, and she couldn't help but sob. She still had her family, if only part. She still had Ruby.

She would have to tell Ruby that Mama was never coming back. She would have to find a way to support them once the stardom money came out, and she would have to deal with paperwork and probably police. She would get through it though. She had her home, and she had friends, and above all, she had her beautiful, beautiful daughter.

They would get through anything.