"What do you mean she disappeared?"

"I don't know! She was literally here in bed a second ago! I got up to get her some water and when I come back, she's gone. " Taiyang collapsed onto a chair, putting his head faced down into both his hands.

Summer began to pace the living room, her mind occupied with thoughts of her missing partner.

She always knew Raven was a hard headed individual. She was the kind of person who followed her beliefs unwaveringly, and it made her merciless and sometimes frightening. For Raven, the world was simple. If something got in her way, she'd eliminate the problem without hesitation.

Summer never thought Raven would abandon her own child and team, but she should have expected it.

"How could she just leave? I thought there was something special going on between us. We had a kid together for god's sake!" Taiyang's yelling startled the month old baby from its sleep, its cries filling the room. Summer immediately ran to the crib to sooth the blonde infant while Taiyang just shook his head, mumbling to himself, "What did I do wrong?" A sigh came from the other side of the room.

"Get off your ass, Tai. Sitting there moping and drowning in your own tears isn't gonna bring my sister back." Qrow was leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed. He looked at the man sitting in the chair, his eyes filled with sympathy but also annoyance.

The defeated man simply sat there in silence, his eyes tired and his hair a ruffled mess. Seconds turned into minutes as Qrow grew more frustrated with Taiyang, but before he could march up to the moping blonde to give him a piece of his mind, a white cape fluttered into his path. Summer grabbed Taiyang by the shoulders and shook him roughly.

"You look at me right this instant," the woman demanded. When he gave no response, Summer sandwiched his face, hands on both cheeks, and turned his face to look at hers. "Now you listen to me." Summer twisted her body so that she could point behind her while maintaining eye contact with the blonde man. "There's only one person who should be allowed to cry in this room and she's less than a month old and doesn't even have a name yet. She just lost her mom and we don't know if she'll ever see her again, but I will not let her lose another parent because you want to wallow in self-pity."

Summer paused, giving Taiyang the chance to say anything. Predictably, he remained quiet and she turned back to face Tai again. "You have a responsibility to your child, and just because Raven decided to skip town, it doesn't mean you can too." Summer reached to cup both of Taiyang's hands in her own. "You're not alone, Tai. You have Qrow, and you have me. We're here to help you all the way. You still have your team right beside you, and if I ever run into Raven again, I'm putting her on house arrest. I'll chain her down if I have to."

She gave the blonde fighter a smile, squeezing her hands together with his. "And besides all of us, you have her." Summer pulled Tai up from his chair and guided him to the crib. She picked the infant up and held her towards Tai. "She's going to be the best thing to have come into your life."

Tai glanced at the baby, before looking at Summer. He searched her silver eyes, trying to find any lies, any deception, but all he found was warmth and support.

He then looked to Qrow, his partner still standing in the doorway and watching the two from afar, but his eyes had the same feeling as Summer's. Qrow gave him a nod, confirming his support for the man.

Looking away from Qrow, Tai turned his gaze to the baby that Summer still held out to him. He looked at her blonde messy curls and her cow lick that stuck out. Her soft round face was scrunched and her arms slightly curled in as she was subject to the cold outside of the crib.

She was defenseless and weak, unable to protect herself. Tai began to feel sorry for the child, already being forced to face challenges before she could even speak. He nearly told Summer to put the infant back in the safety of its crib, but he stopped when lilac eyes revealed themselves, locking onto his.

There was strength and firmness in her eyes, as though the infant was ready to take on anything and determined to get through any problems that came her way. Her stare held onto him, some mysterious force making him unable to tear his eyes away and they were stuck in a standstill.

The baby scanned the face of the man standing before her, her mind filled with confusion with why this man looked so broken and sad. By instinct, the child gave a bright smile, wanting to take on this man's troubles. She babbled for her father as her arms stretched out to grab him, her eyes showing that she wanted him and only him right now.

Tai reached out, taking the baby from Summer's arms. He held her close to his chest, the infant listening to her father's heartbeat. The rhythmic beating and the strong, warm arms that wrapped around her made her feel safe, comforting her to a lull.

Tai watched as the baby in his arms fell asleep, a smile still on her peaceful face.

He could feel it in his heart, a desire to protect this child forever. He had seen it, right before the child closed her eyes to sleep again. He saw the same firmness from before, but he also saw trust.

They had both lost something today, but this child could smile and sleep peacefully because she knew she wasn't alone. She trusted the people around her to keep her safe and to give her love, and in return, she would love them back.

Tai saw brightness and strength in this young girl, and that gave Tai the resolve to keep moving forward, living side by side with his little girl. He wanted to watch her grow up, see the strong, independent women that child would become.

They weren't alone anymore.

They were never alone.

Taiyang looked up from the infant at Summer, a smile now on his face. "I think I know what I want to name her." He brushed a lock of golden hair out of the child's face. "My Sunny Little Dragon. My Yang Xiao Long."

Author's Note:

I hope you enjoyed this little piece. For now it's a one shot, but I have plans to possibly continue it into a full story. And this has no connection to my other story on fanfiction, Just Trust Me. They're two separate AUs.

I also had a dilemma regarding whether I should've used Taiyang or just his nickname Tai. I like Tai better because it's "short, sweet, rolls of the tongue", but his actual name is Taiyang so I went with that for now. It probably doesn't affect the reading too much as long as I keep it consistent though.

Thanks for reading!