Chapter 3
He'd barely set foot inside of 'Oasis' before something barrelled into his legs and wrapped itself tightly around his let leg. Qrow raised one brow and tilted his head to look down with a smirk as a pair of red eyes peered up at him from beneath messy bangs. The rest of Robin's hair had been tied up into some kind of loose braid that touched her chin. "Hi," she grinned up at him.
"Hey, kiddo." He crouched down when she held her arms up and picked her up, settling her on his waist with a small grunt. "Well aren't you getting big."
She hummed and latched herself to his neck, doing her best to squeeze the life out of him, "Mass said he show me ampin' and…." The rest was lost to him in a world of child speak and he nodded his head with short 'Uh huh's' and 'Yeah?'s'
He heard the swish of the door behind him, letting him know that Summer had stepped inside and Robin's words suddenly died. Qrow raised one brow as he felt her tense against his side. "Robin?" he coaxed, giving her a small nudge with his shoulder. He turned slightly to glance over at Summer who was staring at the child with wide eyes. Robin's fingers scratched roughly at the base of Qrow's neck and Summer gave a small smile and wave. The quiet lull of the Inn was shattered by the sudden cries that came from Robin. He froze, feeling the wet tears against his neck and shoulder and her fingers cling to him. He glanced towards the room, looking for Leona, for some kind of help, only to find all eyes on him and he felt the panic increase. "Robin?" he whispered, trying to tug her gently from his neck.
She clung to him harder, burying her face as much as she could against him, shaking her head ever so slightly. "No," she wailed loudly for everybody to hear, voice muffled slightly. "Make it-" she choked out, "-go away," and she cried harder. "Stop it."
"Hey, hey, hey," Leona whispered, appearing from Qrow's other side. "Hey," she mumbled, trying to press her hands underneath Robin's arms. Eventually the child yielded and Leona turned Robin towards herself, allowing the girl to bury her face in her Mother's neck. "Hey," she whispered again, stroking a hand over the top of her head, "what's wrong? It's just your Dad and his friend. Remember? Summer? Come on sweetie, what's going on."
Robin shook her head, "Stop it."
"Stop what?"
"Just stop it."
Leona sighed and cradled Robin's head to her shoulder. "Okay, shhhh," she turned to the room, "if you're all done staring, Ash, get behind the bar. Eva, turn the music up. Rest of you get on."
"Erm," Qrow mumbled, scratching a hand to the back of his neck.
Leona shook her head, "I don't know. She's not done this before," she juggled the girl in her arms whose cries had quietened down to small sobs, a hiccup interrupting her every now and again. "Let me settle her down in bed and I'll be right back."
Before Qrow could say anything else Leona was up the stairs and gone, whispering to Robin as she went, trying to calm her down. Summer tugging at his wrist drew his attention and he nodded towards a free table on one side of the room. "Was it something I did?" Summer muttered once they were seated.
Qrow waved her off, "You didn't do anything. Maybe it's some kid thing."
"But you didn't see," Summer started and she looked away, silver eyes giving away the heartache instantly. She tugged her cloak further around her, a movement Qrow had come to recognise as comfort, trying to hide herself away from the world and any prying eyes. Usually out of shyness, but this time, Qrow could see the unease in her fingers as they played with a loose thread. "The way she just stared at me, like she was," she sighed and looked back up at Qrow's curious gaze with something akin to loss, "like she was staring into me. Then her look changed and I was some, some monster, or something from a nightmare. You didn't see the way she looked so terrified of me from the moment I stepped through the door."
Qrow opened his mouth but he didn't know what to say. Summer wasn't easily startled by looks or glares, she'd dealt with Raven for the past 8 years, growing a tolerance for that kind of stuff. The fact that Summer looked almost ready to burst into tears, made him pause. He let out a slow breath and shrugged his shoulders. "Kids are weird? I'm sure Robin's just having a moment. You hear all these stories about kids showing their parents up, throwing tantrums. Maybe it's, maybe it's some kind of phase?" He shrugged as he finished, not sure what else to say.
Summer sighed and ducked her gaze. Qrow threaded his fingers through his hair and stood up, "I'll get us a drink. Anything in particular?" In response she shook her head, hands still fiddling with her cloak and he let out a breath once he was out of ear shot. He really hoped that it was some sort of phase or acting out and that it would pass. He would hate for Summer to have come all the way out for nothing. Her heart had been so set on meeting Robin that it actually hurt him to see her so down.
An hour, three drinks and 4 rounds of vicious poker later, Qrow and everyone else losing to Summer's unreadable face, Leona returned, pulling them both to one side with a sag in her shoulders. "She okay?" Qrow started.
Ash came over, a new round of drinks for everyone, including Leona, and disappeared with the empty glasses. Leona sat down and ran a hand over her face, "She's finally asleep." She glanced at Summer and reached a hand out to hers, gently placing it on top with a soft squeeze, "She doesn't hate you, I promise. Robin was so excited to meet you this morning she wouldn't stop saying 'Summer, Summer, Summer'." She let out a small laugh, "She was actually worried you wouldn't like her."
A rose blush tinted Summer's cheeks and she looked away with a shy smile, "Well she could have fooled me."
Leona took a large gulp of her drink and shrugged her shoulders, "Being honest, I have no idea what that was. Something upset her and when I tried to get a straight answer out of her, all she would say was that she 'didn't like it' and 'it's not fair'."
"Whatever that's supposed to mean," Qrow muttered behind his glass.
"Kids," Leona mumbled. "How long were you two planning to stay anyway?"
Qrow shrugged, "Few days? Summer's not really been to Vacuo before so we were going to do a little sight seeing."
Summer nodded, perking up a little. "It's so different to Vale, in terms of culture, way of life, even the Grimm are different here. You guys get extra Death Stalkers and Goliaths. It's been a long time since I've seen one of them up close."
Leona raised a brow with a smirk, "Well we'd all appreciate it if you didn't antagonise the Grimm here, please. There's like an, understanding, between us and them. Kind of. They stay far enough away from us and we stay far enough away from them. We get a few every now and again so of course we need patrols, but other than that, it's fairly quiet."
"I wasn't going to attack anything! Just look!"
Leona laughed, holding a hand over her mouth. "I'm kidding. Don't worry. Look, you two enjoy your time. There's only room I'm afraid but, I'll give you keys when you're ready. Just enjoy yourselves, Robin will be fine in the morning." With that, she gave them one last wave and left them, taking her drink with her. Summer and Qrow spent the rest of their night chatting and drinking, enjoying the warm, hum of the inn.
Qrow woke up on the couch, a blanket draped over him and the curtains wide open, letting in too much daylight in his opinion. He yawned, slowly sitting up as he pushed the blanket away, scratching the back of his neck as he did so. Once he finally focused on the room he frowned at the lack of Summer and her stuff. Did she leave without him?
There were no messages or missed calls on his scroll which meant he still didn't know where she was. "Sum?" he sent, hoping the one word question was enough. He grabbed his pants and shoes, pulling them on before he visited the bathroom. When he came back there was a message from Summer, "Bar," was all it said. He put his scroll away and made his way down stairs.
It was when he was at the top of the stairs that he heard the giggling and the squealing laughter of a child. With a smile he made the last step and turned the corner, stopping short at the sight of Robin wriggling around in Summer's lap as Summer tickled her sides on the couches that surrounded the fire place. Leona was at one of the tables, a spread of books and paper in front of her whilst a few people ate and others cleaned up the room.
"S-s-st-st-to-p," Robin squealed out as she tried to drag herself out of Summer's lap.
"Tickle monsters don't stop for anyone!"
"N-n-no!"
"Magic word! Magic word!"
"P-Pw-wea-ease!"
Summer chuckled as she stopped, letting Robin slide to the floor with heavy pants. Qrow raised a brow as he walked over and crossed his arms over the back of the couch. "Are you torturing my daughter?" he teased.
Summer looked up at him with a mock, horror expression, "It wasn't me. The tickle monster came out and took her by surprise."
Robin popped up, throwing her arms onto the spare seat on the couch and jumped up and down on the spot. "Cookies? Pwease? Pwease? Pwease?"
Qrow glared down at Summer, "Really?"
She shrugged her shoulders, "What?"
"You're not allowed here again."
"No!" Robin cried as she put her arms into Summer's lap. "No, she is. She can, can come whenev- when- ever she wants. Don't hurt her!"
That took him by surprise and he held his hands up, "I'm not going to hurt her."
"Robin," Summer said, tugging Robin onto her lap so that she had the child's full attention, "your father would never hurt me. He's far too nice." Qrow snorted and finally took a seat on the arm of the couch on Robin's other side. "Besides," she mocked whispered, "everybody knows I'd kick his butt."
Robin's eyes widened and she turned to look at Qrow. He matched her gaze, glanced at Summer and slowly looked back to Robin before he nodded his head. He held a hand to his mouth and mock whispered, "She's really mean when nobody's around."
This time Robin looked back at Summer with her wide gaze and Summer chuckled to herself. "This is what I mean by bad influence."
"Robin?" Leona called out, "Have you finished your breakfast?"
Qrow glanced back to the woman before he clocked the plate of half eaten fruit and bacon on the small coffee table in front of them. He gave Robin a small look and raised one brow before she bit her bottom lip and nodded her head, "Yeah. Not hungry."
"So you're not hungry enough for cookies?"
She thought about it for a moment before she said, "No?"
"Finish your breakfast."
Qrow's scroll went and he jerked at the sudden noise. Nobody would call him at, eight on a Sunday morning, but the caller ID told him it was Tai and he raised a brow curiously. What could he possibly want? "Ta-"
"She's gone. Qrow, your sister's fucking gone. Grabbed her stuff and left. She left her scroll, left me, left Yang, just left and I-"
He jumped up, hands up in front of him and he took a few paces, "Tai, calm down."
"Calm down? Calm-" there was the sound of screaming in the background and he winced, his chest tight. There was no way Raven had just left right? Not after Yang? "-christ. Why would- why didn't she-" more screaming and he heard a small cry leave Tai's mouth.
"Okay, grab Yang," Tai started to protest, his mind clearly in panic mode at being left alone with a two month old child whilst his wife had up and left during the night. "Just grab her, get her settled, feed her, we'll come back. Okay? We'll come back and try to, try to find her, figure out what's happened."
"But it's Raven. You and I both-"
"Just take care of Yang. We'll be there."
There was another cry and heavy breathing on the other line and Qrow tried to quell his own panic. He and Raven had promised years ago to stick by each others side. That no matter what they wouldn't leave without a good reason or death. If Tai was right and Raven really had left, then she owed him, and everyone else a dammed good reason. If there was a good enough reason. "Okay," Tai whispered and the line cut out.
Qrow sighed, wrapping his hand tightly around his scroll. What were they going to do?
"Qrow?" Summer tried, her whisper too loud in the silent inn.
He glanced round to see everyone staring and he scowled at them before they looked away. He trudged back to Summer and smiled sadly down at Robin. She stared up quizzically and he reached down for her, settling her on his hip. "Hey little one, me and Sum have got to go. Something's-"
Robin reached forward and wrapped her hands around his neck. "Is okay." She leaned back and smiled up at him, "Is okay."
He grinned and kissed her forehead, "I'll come back when it's sorted."
"Okay," she said with an innocent grin.
"Finish your breakfast."
Summer was now stood up and she grabbed her bag with a worried frown. "Fine," Robin said, "but we have ta make cookies 'ext 'ime."
Summer ruffled her hair with a tight smile, "Of course."
Qrow eventually put her back down, watching as she went back to her plate of food and picked up a blueberry. He sighed and shuffled over to Leona, "There's an emergency back home. I'm sorry, I'll, I'll be back as soon as I can."
She waved him off with a warm smile and shrugged, "Things happen. Go, get out of here."
It was only once they were outside and several yards away from the Inn that Summer looked over towards Qrow, tugged on his arm and dared to ask, "What's wrong?"
He frowned as he said, "Raven grabbed her stuff and just left in the middle of the night."
"What?" Summer stopped in her tracks, hands to her mouth as she stared at him wide eyed. "Why? Wait, how's Tai? What about Yang?"
He shook his head, "Tai's panicking."
"No," she murmured. "Oh my God, I'll kill her."
Qrow snorted, "You and me both. Come on."
A/N: There's chapter three! You guys have no idea how much you're making me grin with all of your comments.
stryker3443, hzchb11, RightHandOfPalpatine: I have no idea what you guys are worried about... I would never-... enjoy...
1228248: Just you wait until you meet her team. I love them already and I haven't even gotten close to writing them in.
Guest: There's a load more cuteness to come.
Guest 2: Well, you're not entirely isn't safe outside the walls of the kingdoms... yeah.
Bomberguy789: It may have been a small spoiler, so apologies, buuuutt I'm happy to hear you're looking forward to it all.
Conna McCanna: You know what, you win. Best comment so far.
Sothalothgothmothphothinthoth: Firstly, what a name. How do you even pronounce that? Secondly, thank you!
