Chapter two!

Okay, Rosie's had a rough week, and so, she said a Roy making an emo!Rose feel better would make her feel betterer. So, here it is!

I used an example from Rose's life to do this, so hush.

And I know Roy's OOC. But, you know what? As long as Rosie likes it!

And thanks Daddy for the review!

Momma's here for you Lovechild and here is you update. Now… to finish up KnK which I have absolutely /no/ more motivation to finish.

Pairings: None!

School was trouble. He remembered the years he went, there was /always/ some kind of issue with the people around, that, or, of course, the place was run by buffoons, and the scheduling of events was always off due to some communication error.

So, when he came home, finding the young woman so frustrated that she was crying, he certainly wasn't in the mood to play around. Work had been long, the papers limitless, and Archer was not wasting anytime to point out a typo in Roy's latest signature. Of course, saying he wasn't happy was… and understatement, to be sure.

His coat dropped on the floor, inwardly scowling at the thought of the rosy headed girl weeping over something stupid. When she muttered something about the school's morons and their poor scheduling, he knew then that something had happened with that damn talent show thing.

"T… Taisa…" She said, wiping her eyes quickly, glancing at him with a weak smile. "How was your day?"

"How'd the tryouts go?"

She blinked, looking away. "I didn't get to do them…"

"Why not?"

"I had to go to practice for the school's play, and by the time I got away… it was over."

Roy sighed, setting the cup of coffee down and glancing at Rose. He wasn't one to comfort people, and here she was, trying not to cry in front of him, as if he'd never seen it before. "They're bastards who don't know what they're missing." He muttered, turning his attention back to his coffee, deciding some tea and brandy would have been excellent at that point.

"I worked so hard…"

"Yeah, I know."

"It's not fair…"

"Life isn't."

"You're so supportive."

"Aren't I?"

She sighed, leaving the room to go into her bedroom, a choked sob meeting his ears. Dammit, why did he have to deal with it? He wasn't a comforting man, he set people on /fire/; how was that the least bit comforting? Grabbing the bottle of brandy, he drank it straight from the bottle. What to do… to cheer Rose up?

"Rose, getting the door might help!" He called, carrying boxes and bag, nudging some with his foot over the threshold. Damn things were heavy, and Rose was no where in sight.

The red-rim eyed girl came out, sniffling to herself. He was gone for a damn hour, was it really that upsetting? This had better work, or the only other thing he could think of was torching the morons that made her upset.

"Taisa… where did you go?"

"A few places, little bunny. Now be quiet. It took me forever to find something to cheer you up. You are not easy to shop for, young lady, and it cleaned out my wallet. Do you know what Hawkeye is going to do when I ask her if I can leave early for lunch to get money that I just got yesterday?" He looked up, setting the bags down gently.

She brought a hand to her mouth, shaking her head, finding it rather amusing he looked like he brought the entire market home. "Taisa…"

"Here." First to come out was a box of fudge, eyes firm. He extended it to her, and she sighed.

"I don't really like all that much chocolate, Taisa…"

He snorted, going into another bag and relinquishing cookies.

She chuckled, shaking her head with a sniff. "Taisa, look – "

He mumbled something, going into another and pulling out a small box, opening it to find a simple but very nice necklace within, rather like vines with little red stones on the ends.

She gave a gentle grin, his efforts were actually nice, but things like that weren't what she wanted. He didn't understand that all of the chocolate or jewelry in the world would not make her happy for long, at least.

He tapped his foot, setting that back in the bag from which he got it, muttering a bit louder about difficult women. When it came to dates, he was the master, but when Rose or Hawkeye was involved, he couldn't win for anything. "Fine, this /has/ to work. You cleaned me out for this week, Rose, so you better like it."

She grinned as he delved into a box, whispering to whatever was inside before pulling out a rather adorable little bunny rabbit, big blue eyes on his face, fur as white as the snow. Honestly, she had never seen anything like it before, and it probably was a rare breed, meaning that they had very few. It must have cost quite a bit… She took it from the man, snuggling it close before her head shook again. "That's… not what I want."

"What?"

She set the bunny down, watching it sniff at the bags before it started to chew on them, her gaze falling to the ground. "You can read women… but when it comes to me, you know nothing. I'm just like any other woman. What do you do when you see a woman crying?"

He blinked for a moment… "Hold… them?"

Rose laughed to herself before the tears flowed again. "God, you're so stupid…"

He gave a small grin, stepping around the bags and nudging the bunny away, slipping his arms around her ad pulling her head to him chest, running his fingers through it. "Sometimes I forget that, I guess."

"I just want you…"

"Tell me all about it, little bunny. And… you're going to like this stuff because I can't take it back, dammit."

She reached up, brushing away her tears with a small giggle. "You're an idiot sometimes."

"But you love me anyway."