Chapter Two:
In Which Summer Learns There is a Limit to Even Her Patience
He, Tai, and Summer watched as Raven began to dread her impending birth and motherhood more and more. They wanted to meet the brat already, start spoiling it. Summer constantly reminded Tai and he that this had progressed fast for Raven, perhaps too fast, and that understanding was the best thing they could do for their little "family". Needless to say, 6 months after the birth of Yang, it was Summer who Raven confided in a few short hours before she abandoned the baby at home with Tai and disappeared. It was Summer who she asked to help Tai. Summer, who had already taught Raven how to change a diaper, burp a baby, and all the other things Raven was too embarrassed and proud to ask Tai about. Though, honestly, Qrow wondered how Summer knew those things, either.
He also firmly maintained to himself that he did not feel jealous of the fact that Raven had come to rely on Summer for help rather than him.
Tai was distraught. He kept himself positive, working hard to care for Yang, but he lost weight and stopped taking jobs on. Summer helped to take care of Yang in this time, passing on missions, and pushing back against the pressure Ozpin was putting on her to get moving. It was Summer who reminded Taiyang to sleep, eat, shower, get in some training before he got flabby.
Ozpin was not happy.
"My team needs me," Qrow overheard her yelling at Ozpin on a day he came back early from an assignment.
"Your team is no longer a team. You all are adults. We need you here. The world needs you," Ozpin's voice was not loud, but it was firm. Qrow could imagine the frown and drawn brow in his head.
"I cannot help them until I help myself, Ozpin. What use will I be if the entire time I'm fighting, I'm thinking of the fact that I left a seven month old baby, the daughter of two of the people who matter most to me, in the care of a man who can't even take care of himself right now?"
He heard the sound of something slamming on to the table, and moved aside just as Summer swept through the door, tears and literal fire in her eyes.
He pushed through the door regardless to deliver his latest intel report to Ozpin. This particular mission had been short. Only a week of travelling each way, not too much Grimm activity. The subjects of the expedition had been loose-lipped to boot. All Qrow had to do was send them a bottle of decent whiskey from an "anonymous admirer" and pay the barkeep to tell them it was a pretty bird down the bar without specifying which pretty bird down the bar.
After the debriefing, Qrow was debating taking on a mission for Vale, going out into the area near Mountain Glenn and clearing out the still present but walled off subway tunnels with Glynda. She needed to check and make sure her repairs were still holding.
He went to stop by and check on Tai and Yang before deciding. What he found broke his heart. There was Summer, making Taiyang eat, while feeding Yang a bottle and rocking her, nearly asleep with exhaustion. Qrow walked in and took Yang from Summer. "Hey, kiddo," he told the baby. He put the bottle in her mouth and she looked at him like he was crazy, violet eyes slightly narrowed, lips pursed but not yet suckling the bottle.
"Come on, kid, you're making me look bad. This is my first time, ya know," Qrow told her. Yang's face scrunched up, but she took the bottle. Qrow began to rock, but had no idea what he was doing. He was fairly certain he looked like he was doing some form of the potty dance.
Summer sighed, slumped over a bit with a smile on her face. "Thank you," she whispered. "Tai has really lost it this week…" She brightened up again almost immediately. "You look good with a kid," she told him, laughing.
Qrow grimaced. "Yeah, for short periods of time. I'd be a real piece of work as a father."
Summer laughed.
"Well, I mean, at this point, you guys aren't even together or her parents, and you're doing better than me," Tai groused.
Summer turned so quickly Qrow swore he could hear the pleats of her skirt slap each other.
"Get. Up." She said.
Tai looked genuinely confused.
"Get up!" she repeated. "That's enough. You're trying, but you aren't trying hard enough, Taiyang! You are her dad. You can't just give up because Raven wasn't ready. We're here. We're going to help you. But you have to get yourself together. You have to eat, you have to take jobs, you have to raise her to know that there was nothing wrong with either of you. Raven was scared. She ran. That's it."
Tai glared at her.
"You're one of the strongest people I know, and that's saying a lot, considering our profession. Not to mention, you are a great dad, but you can't be a great dad if you let yourself go."
Qrow left the room at that point, uncomfortable with the shouting match that was bound to start. Besides, he thought, isn't it bad for kids to see that kind of stuff? Yeah, that's why we're leaving.
Eventually, Summer won. Tai got up, took showers, got back to his old training routine, ate, and stopped wallowing in abandonment self-pity after that. Qrow watched as Summer and Tai all but moved in together, taking turns on missions so Yang was never alone. Qrow helped out as much as he could, but after he was alone with Yang for too long, she toddled by the bookshelf where Summer insisted they put their weapons, out of "kid-reach", and his scythe had fallen on her even though it was in a closed shelf. They put a time limit of 3 days of Uncle Qrow after that.
Tai and Summer worked out a flexible but sturdy schedule about 2 weeks in. She finally got to start sleeping back in her own home, and Qrow was able to get her tactical advice without having Tai listening or Yang in his lap. It was also nice to be able to sleep over again and eat something not from a bar.
