It took a long time for the night to wind down after they got back from the military base.

Yang had paced for hours, ranting about the stupidity of the Atlas military and shooting off questions rapid fire at Qrow, looking for a loophole that could get them into the base. He had explained Ironwood's ridiculous security measures backwards and forwards to her at least seven times, but the continually negative answer had only served to make Yang angrier.

Weiss had paced with her for a while, her own brand of miffed at being turned away by men who very clearly should have known and recognized the power of her name. For someone who didn't want to get back to Atlas very fast, she'd been icily furious for almost the entire afternoon, alternating between pacing with Yang and sitting down with an amusingly serious pout that hadn't made an appearance since she'd first been assigned to Team RWBY.

Blake and the rest of JNR had taken turns in calming the pair down, talking through a few ideas that might lead to new options tomorrow. Qrow and Maria had offered their own input, throwing in a few names of Huntsmen they might be able to bribe into smuggling them all to Atlas if they really needed to, which had earned them a few disbelieving laughs. Even if it wasn't a joke, de-escalating the tension in the room made it a bit easier to breathe.

Ruby had honestly been more than happy to sit back and watch the sparks fly from the sidelines; two days straight of being In Charge of her teammates, Oscar, her uncle, and a stranger, plus the whole nightmare that had happened at Brunswick Farms, had kind of worn her out. Letting someone else take the lead in this scenario was a lovely alternative.

She sat on the couch beside Oscar who honestly seemed as at a loss as she was, eyes darting from person to person as they debated and shot down different strategies on getting to Atlas as soon as possible.

At some point, Jaune's sister-in-law disappeared upstairs with baby Adrian to put him to bed, but Ruby didn't realize that night had fallen a long time ago until Saphron stood up and clapped her hands together loudly, throwing the room into a sudden hush as Yang's mouth clicked closed automatically in the middle of another question.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Saphron began, looking a bit awkward in the middle of so many strangers staring at her, but holding her stern expression as she looked from her brother to his team to the rest of them. "But we should really figure out sleeping arrangements by now, don't you think?"

With a start, Ruby glanced down at her scroll and cringed. It was way past midnight.

"Oops, my bad," she mumbled, feeling her face flush a bit; as the one person keeping out of the drama, she probably should have kept better track of the time.

Jaune immediately shot to his feet, apologizing profusely and fretting because, "Don't you have work tomorrow?! Go to sleep!" But Saphron waved him off, laughing.

"It's no big deal, baby brother! We've all pulled all-nighters before! I just figured I'd get all of my guests situated before I turned in for the night. Now," she cast a Look at the lot of them, reminding them all that this was her house and they weren't actually being the best houseguests at the moment without even saying a word against them, "We only have two guest bedrooms, which these guys-" she playfully yanked on Jaune's cheek and waved a hand at Ren and Nora "-have been sharing."

"We can move our stuff out," Ren volunteered immediately, because he was nice like that.

"No, you don't have to do that!" Blake protested immediately, because she was nice like that.

"I would love a real bed to sleep in, thank you!" Maria threw in helpfully.

The next argument they devolved into at least involved where everyone would be sleeping instead of their plans for the coming future of their mission. It was a nice change of pace.

Still stuck on the couch watching everyone bicker, Ruby looked sideways at the one other person keeping out of everything and gently nudged him with her elbow, drawing him out of an apparent stupor as he blinked heavily at her.

"You don't want a bed?" she asked quietly, smiling as Oscar belatedly tried to cover a yawn.

"I've been sleeping on the floor for the past few weeks, one more night won't kill me," he grumbled tiredly with a shrug, and Ruby hummed in agreement. It wasn't so bad, all things considered. It was nice to know at least one other person could see that.

Saphron managed to gain everyone's attention with another clap of her hands. "We have a few spare futons in the closet, so not all of you have to sleep down here."

"Need help setting them up?" Jaune asked, already halfway to the staircase with Ren right on his tail.

Ruby had to hold back a giggle as Saphron chased after them, whisper-shouting "Guests don't help with heavy-lifting!"

Slowly, everyone migrated upstairs, leaving Qrow downstairs with the couch while everyone else headed up to see where they could squeeze into the guestrooms.

Ruby headed up last, shooting a long look back down at her Uncle as she went. His flask hadn't appeared once since they left the farm, but maybe…

With a stubborn shake of her head, Ruby faced forward and marched up the stairs, hands balling into fists at her sides.

This wasn't the farmhouse, with literal walls of alcohol to tempt Qrow into bingeing all night. Jaune's family only had a small wine cabinet, and it was locked up against wandering little fingers. There was nothing to worry about here.

Nothing, it seemed, but making too much of a ruckus.

As she rounded the top of the staircase, the muffled cry of a baby froze her in place, guilt and dismay churning in her gut. "Uh oh."

Half audible voices from the guestrooms cut out quickly as the door at the end of the hall opened to reveal Terra, dressed in pajamas and glasses askew on her face as she balanced little Adrian on her hip, his face screwed up in a wail as she shuffled quickly down the hall towards the stairs.

Ruby quickly darted to the side, making enough room for mother and son to pass uninterrupted. "I am so sorry about the noise!" she whisper-said. It wasn't the first time she's had to apologize on behalf of her team, and it likely wouldn't be the last, but it still made her feel a bit awful, watching Adrian hiccup and gasp like there wasn't enough air in the world.

But instead of a sour look or a sarcastic comment, Terra just shot her a tired smile. "Oh, don't worry hon, he's just teething; his molars are coming in and it wakes him up right around now anyway. It's no big deal."

The harried mother quickly disappeared down the stairs with her crying son in tow, leaving Ruby to march over to the open guestroom doors and stand right in front of them, hands on her hips in what she affectionately dubbed her 'Stern Dad Pose'.

In the left one, Blake was carefully smoothing the blankets out on one of the beds, face flushed a brilliant red. Yang was guiltily straightening out a futon, Weiss shoving all of their luggage into a corner with a subdued 'hmph!'. Maria, already seated in the other guest bed, tutted disapprovingly at the lot of them.

In the right one, Saphron seemed to have trapped Jaune in a headlock and was noogying him without mercy, expression mock outraged as she scolded him, "-come into my house and cause a scene and now my own son can't get a moment's sleep because of you and your ridiculous friends-!" Ren and Nora stood to the side, watching in horrified fascination (Ren) and awe (Nora) as Jaune submitted to the treatment without much complaint.

And then there was Oscar, stuck in the threshold of Team JNR's room, backing away from the carnage slowly, muttering, "You know, sleeping downstairs might not be so bad after all, there are two couches-"

Ruby's hand snaked out and caught hold of him before he could escape, and she couldn't quite hide her laughter when he 'eep!'ed in surprise.

"You're not going anywhere, mister!" she commanded, darting into the room and yanking him in after her.

Setting up futons and blankets for everyone while glaring at them in disappointment when they made too much noise was a lot more fun than you'd probably expect, what with the sheepish looks everyone kept shooting her and the amused wink she got from Saphron.

With someone to direct the flow, the two small rooms quickly came together into a semi-cohesive chaos, with just enough room for people to get in and out and walk around everyone else's sleeping area if they walked on tiptoe.

Saphron disappeared to go find more pillows despite Jaune's protests against wasting more of her time, and Ruby wandered out into the hallway again so she didn't feel so cramped. The memories of long tunnels pressing down all around her, trapping her and her friends in the darkness were quickly dispelled by the light and laughter around her, but it still felt a lot safer out where she could move around freely.

She found Terra returning down the hall, Adrian now seemingly mollified as he chewed on a teething ring with a content expression on his pudgy little face that made Ruby coo involuntarily.

Terra shot her another tired smile as she passed, only for her expression to freeze as her scroll buzzed noisily in her pocket. Adrian gurgled unhappily as Terra fumbled one-handed for her pajama pocket, face slowly pinching with anger as she glanced at the caller ID. "Saph-" she began, glancing up, only to find herself with no one but Ruby, her wife having taken off to take care of their rowdy guests.

"Everything okay?" Ruby asked, inching closer, wanting to help and not quite sure how. Maybe she could-?

"I'm so sorry, could you take him?" Terra looked entirely too apologetic as she drifted closer, bouncing Adrian a bit to let him know he was about to switch hands. Familiar with the routine, the toddler grumbled around his teething ring and reached out to Ruby, who reached back and took him automatically, clumsily copying the hold she'd seen both of his mother's use throughout the day.

Free of Adrian's weight, Terra swiped the 'accept call' option on her scroll and stalked quickly toward her bedroom, hissing something about "don't care what's wrong with the radar, you can't call this late!" as she went.

Ruby watched her go dumbly, arms tightening instinctively around the foreign weight as she stared down at the toddler she had just been given.

Adrian blinked up at her slowly, apparently recognizing her after the long day they'd spent existing in the same room, and chewed on his teething ring. Judging her silently with his little toddler face.

Ruby was tempted to stick her tongue out at him, but refrained because she was a grown, mature team leader.

Then again, babies liked it when you did that sort of thing, right? Was it the same with toddlers?

Ruby didn't know.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about Grimm, Silver Eyes, or sniper rifles, would ya?"

Adrian gnawed on his teething ring and gurgled a bit.

"I'm gonna take that as a no."

Sighing a bit, Ruby drifted a bit closer to the boy's room, away from the subdued but still exuberant chatter from the guestrooms. She avoided Terra and Saphron's room, from which she could hear Terra's muted voice arguing one-sidedly with her scroll call.

She paused in the doorway of the nursery, not quite sure if she had real permission to enter, glancing down once again at her small passenger for guidance. Adrian just looked up at her like she was dumb and fussed a bit, waving his little arms around in frustration.

Ruby adjusted her hold on him and grumbled to herself a bit. "Why is it always me that can't have normal knees?"

"I think your knees are the most normal things about you."

Yelping in surprise, Ruby spun around, one arm curling protectively around little Adrian at the sharp movement, and didn't even try to stop the glare she now shot at Oscar now joining her in the hall.

"Don't sneak up on people!" she hissed.

"Why are you out here moaning to a toddler?" he asked, completely bypassing her sage advice, and she kind of wanted to tackle him like Nora did earlier if he was going to be cheeky.

Ruby scrambled for a response- "Well, what are you doing out here, sneaking up on people?!" -and found one. Nailed it.

The amused smile on Oscar's face was perhaps the most lighthearted she'd seen him in days, and inwardly Ruby breathed a sigh of relief as he wandered closer. Even if it was in the middle of a ridiculous argument, she was really, really glad to see the last few days hadn't worn the boy down as much as she'd feared.

"I think Nora lost a Dust round or something? Figured it was safer out here if it goes off," he explained, wiggling a finger and grinning at Adrian's lazy stare and, yeah. Ruby could see why the hallway would be preferable to one of Nora's heart bombs going off in your face. "What about you?"

Ruby readjusted her hold on Adrian again self-consciously and shrugged. "Oh, you know, thought I'd get some fresh air while I could. Miss Terra got another call, so she kind of handed Adrian over to me for a bit. He's teething, so I gotta let him chew on his ring so his gums don't hurt," she said, watching her charge do just that, eyes blinking tiredly.

She smiled gently at Adrian, resisting the urge to coo at him by sheer force of will. He was just so tiny and cute. Why had Jaune never mentioned his adorable little nephew before today?!

Dark eyes blinked closed for a long moment, and Ruby glanced over at Oscar to find her delighted smile mirrored on his face, but before she could whisper anything to him about the sweetness of babies something small and wet bounced off her arm and fell downward, hitting the floor with a small thud.

Ruby glanced down in surprise at the teething ring that had dropped out of the toddler's mouth and instinctively bent down to grab it, shifting Adrian just a bit in her arms as she did, but that proved to be the wrong move when he whined in distress.

Ruby immediately straightened back up, mumbling 'sorry, sorry!' as Adrian's little arms spasmed a little, his face slowly contorting again into the red bawling mess it had been when he'd first awoken.

In a panic, Ruby rocked him clumsily and turned to Oscar, not sure how to head off a tantrum.

Somehow, the farm boy was already way ahead of her.

While she quietly shushed Adrian, Oscar had stooped down and snatched up the teething ring from the ground before turning and darting to the bathroom across the hall.

For a second Ruby just stood there a bit stunned, thinking she'd been abandoned to her fate, before the sound of running water reached her.

A moment later Oscar reappeared, still drying the teething ring off with a hand towel as he walked back over and held it up carefully in front of Adrian, just within reach of his rapidly flailing arms.

"Did you lose this?" Oscar asked in a mournful tone, frowning in agreement with Adrian's distress as the toddler hiccupped and looked up at him. "Aw, I'm sorry. Would you like it back? Yeah?" For a second, Adrian's face remained upset, tantrum still on the horizon, but Oscar remained completely undeterred, gloved hands very carefully handing the little treasure over to the toddler's smaller fingers, making sure Adrian actually had a grip on it before letting go of it.

For a second, Ruby was afraid they hadn't been fast enough, or Adrian would drop the ring again and just bawl his eyes out like toddlers occasionally did.

But then Oscar mimed taking a bite of the ring, and Adrian pulled it closer to his own chest and clamped his own mouth around it with a stubborn glare, face still a bit red but evidently not upset enough to let the world know about it.

Oscar straightened back up with the most self-satisfied smile Ruby had ever seen from him, and she cooed at him with absolutely no shame whatsoever. "That was so sweet!" she gushed, grin growing wider when the farm boy blushed and ducked his head. "You're really good at that! Did you have a baby cousin back home?"

He'd never mentioned one before, come to think of it, but that wasn't out of the ordinary; Oscar didn't talk much about his life on the farm when the others were around, the old anxiety about being surrounded by friends that had known each other a lot longer than they knew you making him far more subdued even though he never had any trouble talking when it was him and Ruby alone. Ruby, who remembered very well her first few weeks at Beacon Academy, understood the feeling.

But Oscar shook his head in a negative, derailing Ruby's thoughts on the matter with a shrug. "No, I- uh, it just seemed like that would keep him calmer than just shoving it back in his face, is all. Plus, Mrs. Arc or Jaune would probably kill me if I made the kid cry, so. You know. I would like to prevent that."

Ruby resisted the urge to roll her eyes – Jaune snapping at Oscar? Ridiculous! – and continued to gently sway back and forth, rubbing nonsense circles into Adrian's back as he calmed down from the disaster they'd prevented. "Well, you're not bad with kids, so you're welcome to pick up babysitting duty with me any time!" she declared just to see the sheepish grin light up Oscar's face again.

With the crisis averted, Ruby gently rocked her charge back and forth while Oscar fidgeted silently, looking awkward with nothing to do. He looked ready to head back over to the guestrooms again, but Ruby was tempted to try and stall him.

She wanted to… she didn't know what. Talk about the last few days? Ask if he was doing okay? Reassure him about his place here again? Tell him that, no matter what Yang or Uncle Qrow said, that he mattered?

That was heavy stuff, and she really didn't want to disrupt the light atmosphere of the night. Plus, those conversations would likely go better without a clueless third party in the mix.

She's save it all for later for now.

For now.

Maybe once they'd secured a ride to Atlas, she could corner him on the airship and sit him down for a talk. It would probably go a lot better than when she did that to Uncle Qrow, at least.

Plan set in her mind, she took another glance down at her charge to find he'd nuzzled his cheek on her arm and was chewing very slowly on his teething ring, eyes blinking drowsily, and she slowly adjusted the ring's position so it wouldn't fall again, fighting down the urge to laugh. "Look's like someone's ready for bed," she whispered conspiratorially to Oscar, who nodded in agreement. "Maybe a lullaby might help?"

She couldn't think of any good ones off the top of her head. Most of the music she listened to nowadays was way too loud and fast to be considered 'restful', and Yang hadn't sung her to sleep since she was a lot tinier. A few half-forgotten lyrics floated through her memory, and Ruby grasped at them desperately, trying to recall the chorus of Dad's favorite rhyme or Yang's preferred melody.

She wasn't prepared for the few brief notes Oscar hummed in thought.

She was going to tell him he didn't have to, that if he'd prefer not to sing in front of her there was no problem, but the thought had just crossed her mind when he opened his mouth and

She just.

Stopped.

Because the words-

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high. There's a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby."

-were familiar.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue. And the dreams that you dared to dream really do come true. Some day I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind-

"Are you okay?!" the interruption from the song and the distress in Oscar's voice drew her out of her scattered thoughts faster than his voice would have alone.

She blinked at him, surprised at how upset he looked as his hands fluttered uselessly, not in front of Adrian, but her, Ruby, like he thought she needed a hug or a pat on the head or something.

Ruby smiled reassuringly at him. "I'm fine!" she said brightly, but something dripped off her chin and she looked down and suddenly there were tears flowing out of her eyes, oh dear, when did that happen-?

A bright, multicolored kerchief she vaguely recognized as being at home in Oscar's back pocket suddenly appeared in front of her face a bit too quickly, very nearly hitting her in the eye as one agitated hand waved it at her worriedly.

Ruby smiled wetly, trying to wave it away one-handed. "It's fine, really! I just-!"

The kerchief was wrapped around her hand with little warning, and she stared at it for a second as Oscar babbled nonsense at her nervously. "I'm not quite sure where that song came from, but if it makes you so upset, I can think of a different one! My aunt Gale knew a lot of Atlesian folk songs that I kind of remember, but they don't really work for lullabies- but I can work with it! It shouldn't be too hard to-!"

Ruby hiccupped a laugh, and Oscar's desperate rambling cut off immediately. The poor kid's blush was glowing like a furnace. He looked genuinely upset, and Ruby's gut clenched with guilt along with sorrow.

For a few long seconds, Ruby tried to focus on the cheerful far-off chatter of her friends, Adrian's warm weight in her arms, the bright colors of the kerchief and Oscar's bumbling attempts at consoling her.

This was the present. She had to focus on the now, not the then.

"It's just," Ruby cleared her throat, eyes trained on Adrian's confused little face as he chewed slowly on his teething ring and watched her with dark, sleepy eyes, "I think- I recognize that song you were singing. I- My mom used to sing it to me before bed, a long long time ago. I, uh, forgot most of it after the first line, so um- uh. Hearing it continued. Surprised me, I guess."

That wasn't even the half of it.

Hearing the words again – feeling them again, like Mom was right here humming in her ear and laughing at her clumsy, garbled attempts to sing along – felt like a slap in the face.

She couldn't remember Mom's singing voice, most of the time, but now-

Ruby sniffled hard and dabbed roughly at her eyes with the kerchief. Her face felt like rubber; every time she tried to straighten out her expression it just melted back into tears no matter how hard she tried.

She was so focused on maintaining at least a modicum of her composure and not losing her grip on Adrian that she didn't notice Oscar approaching until she felt a hand rubbing her back gingerly. She glanced over miserably to find his eyes cloudy and sad, oh no, it's not supposed to be like this, she's supposed to be a leader, she's supposed to keep everyone's spirits up, she couldn't fall apart now-

"I can't remember my dad so well either," Oscar admitted quietly.

Ruby just-

She crumpled.

She leaned forward and pressed her face into Oscar's shoulder, wrapping both arms back around Adrian while she just wept very, very quietly beneath the continued lighthearted chatter of their friends down the hall, leaning into Oscar's arms when they wrapped hesitantly around her.

Ruby was still the leader of a team, was still a Huntress set on saving the world even though none of them had on a plan on how to do it.

But they'd get there. They'd reach the other, impossible side of the rainbow.

She just needed five minutes to herself, with a baby she could hug tight and someone who understood, just a little bit, that a leader and a Huntress just wanted to go home to her mother every now and again.

A/N: This Volume is killing me. Hope you liked it.
~Persephone