Weiss climbed into the rental car that was sitting outside of Schnee Manor, prepared for the day to come and still worrying about her conversation with Whitley that had occurred the previous morning. If she was being terribly honest, it had done quite a bit to throw her off.

No matter how much or how hard she tried not to think about it, and the things that Whitley implied, it was impossible. It was always there, creeping up from the back of her consciousness. Always there to distract her with worries or possibilities or what ifs.The fact that she was still being kept in a situation where she had to keep a lot of secrets had a lot to do with that.

Luckily for her, she had her sister, and the two of them had made plans for how to spend their day. To Weiss' knowledge, the two of them only had a day or two left together before Winter was ultimately going to end up being whisked away from Atlas again so that she can do whatever it is that's so secret she does for work. It hurt knowing that Winter would have to go, but Weiss hadn't been expecting for this arrangement to stick at all.

That would have been too simple, or too ideal, or too unrealistic.

Winter looked over at her. For the first time in a long time, when Weiss saw her sister she realized that Winter looked relaxed. She had her hair down, and was dressed in a pair of pants, a good shirt, and a comfortable looking dark blue cardigan. This wasn't a Winter that was expecting to get called up for work at any second, or looking to impress.

This was just Weiss' older sister, and Weiss was glad that she'd decided to bring an extra set of clothes with her. It was all too easy to end up as being overdressed, and Weiss was sure that all she would need to do was change her top and she'd match her sister just fine.

"Hello." Weiss greeted Winter as she settled into the passenger's seat.

"Good morning, Weiss." Winter said, smiling as she pulled away from the Schnee Manor, coming off as all too calm. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to get coffee before…"

"Coffee sounds wonderful." Weiss replied, smiling up at her sister. "We should just try to get that done before we go to the hospital."

"Of course." Winter replied, holding her head high and driving them back towards the city center. "I don't expect to get to stay there for long to see father, but it's the least that we can do." She hesitated for a moment, her voice trailing off. "Regardless of how we feel about him." The words were bitten out, frustrated and angry. Weiss couldn't blame her sister for saying them the way that she had.

Weiss nodded, and she desperately wanted to be able to suffocate the aching feeling that built up in her chest at that. There were so many things that she wanted to be able to tell her sister, and desperately so.

But it wasn't simple. None of this ever had been, and that was something that both of them were more than well aware of at that time in their lives.

"I don't blame you for leaving, you know." Weiss said, keeping her voice down. "You seem happy in the military."

"I… am." Winter smiled slightly, perking up a bit. "Ironwood's a good employer, and he's kind to me. And I know for a fact that he's broken more than a few regs to make sure that I'm comfortable there."

"I know." Weiss blinked. "I'm just glad that you're happy there. Things here haven't been… great."

"Is that why you left for Vale?" Winter asked, holding her head up high.

"It was." Weiss confirmed. "But there was more to it than that. And now it's just more complicated than ever."

Winter raised an eyebrow, but she didn't pull her attention away from the road. "How so?"

And that was a question that was enough to make Weiss pause, at least for a moment. It reminded her of what it had been like talking to Whitley the day before. The lie that she'd had to weave in order to protect herself and Winter.

It was a lie that Weiss really didn't want to have to expand on, but she could try.

"For one, Whitley thinks that I'm seeing Neptune Vasilias now." Weiss sighed, shifting in her seat. Honesty was the best policy with Winter. "And yesterday he told me that he had a meeting with the board. One that I hadn't heard anything about."

Winter nodded. "So you're worried that he's playing to get you out of the company?" And oh, how Weiss was grateful that the detail about her supposed relationship wasn't what Winter had decided to focus or expand on.

"It is." Weiss replied, sitting up tall and craning her neck to check how the traffic was looking. Why she felt the need to do that, she wasn't sure. "The timing and the fact that I didn't even know was just… suspicious."

"And I would assume that you haven't spoken to mother about it." Winter sighed. "Seeing as she doesn't have anything to do with the company these days. Or the family, for that matter." Winter sounded exactly as bitter about it as Weiss knew she felt.

"That's correct." Weiss murmured, blinking. "Right now I'm kind of feeling like..." Her voice trailed off, and Weiss thought hard for the first time to figure out what she was really feeling about the situation that she'd been thrust into. Of course she was feeling like she had been left out in the cold to some degree, but there was so much more to it than that. It wasn't just about a family name and a company.

"I feel like I have been held onto as an heiress as a way to make Father look good." She finally finished, because that was really what it came down to. She didn't know how many times she'd been dangled as a nice thing to look at. When she was young, it had always been in pageantry and performances, and now it was still that way to a degree, just her own successes could be used to add to the performative factor. "I mean..." She paused, her voice trailing off. "I did almost the same thing that you did, just without the part where I went to work for someone else. I left Atlas, and I left the family behind."

"You think that he would have disowned you for those choices?"

"I do."

Winter didn't say anything, but she did reach over for Weiss and gently took Weiss' hand in hers, gentle and loving. "You know that I don't blame you for leaving Atlas." She said, mirroring what Weiss had already said. "You decided to go and find more about yourself, and that is admirable."

Weiss grimaced, because she really wasn't so sure that admirable was necessarily the word to describe what she had done. Selfish felt like it would be a more reasonable examinations of her actions. After all, that had been why she'd chosen Vale ultimately. She'd been selfish and she'd wanted to go off and do her own thing without her parents or brother breathing down her neck the entire time.

"I just don't know that it was the right choice now." Weiss sighed. "I've been talking to Blake a lot, and it's helped me to figure out some of my feelings on the company, but I can't help but feeling like..."

"Like?"

"Like there is something in our family, and its so toxic that nobody would ever want to even speak the name Schnee if they knew it." She paused. "Most people don't know that Father isn't a Schnee by birth, or that you were disowned for daring to go against his wishes. They don't know that our mother drinks, or that the only one that likes the way things are is Whitley." Weiss hesitated. "If normal people knew that, what would our lives be like then?"

Winter looked as though she'd been shocked by Weiss' question. She blinked and then stared straight ahead at the road as she tried to make herself concentrate on what she was doing.

There was a long silence that settled over the two of them, and Weiss didn't like it. To her it just meant that her sister was uncomfortable with the topic that she'd just brought up.

It was going to get worse, Weiss was sure of it.

And then Winter finally allowed herself to speak.

"You have been thinking about this a lot, haven't you?"

"I have." Weiss admitted. "I'm just... worried about our family."

Winter nodded. The two of them pulled into the parking lot for the coffee shop that they'd been planning to go to. Weiss ended up sitting there beside her sister for a while.

Neither of them wanted to get out.

"I understand." Winter sighed, looking over at her now. "I don't like what would happen if things got out either."

Weiss nodded, taking in a deep breath as she thought back to her meeting with Blake. The interview that hadn't gone anywhere. The things that she had told Blake that she wasn't supposed to.

She needed to do something to justify herself, and while Blake wasn't quite sure why she felt the need to do that, it was on her mind.

"I think that it would be bad." Weiss sighed. "I've been talking to a member of the press a lot, I know that, but..." She paused. "Blake has never given me a reason to doubt her."

"Has she?"

That wasn't quite right, Weiss realized. There was more that she could give to explain herself. "The only things that she's ever written that were damaging to the company was years before. And she takes us seriously when we say that something is of the record." She paused. "I think that Blake realizes that there would be serious consequences for us if she didn't keep to that."

"Are you sure?" Winter asked, turning to face her more face-on. "This Blake is..."

"I can trust her." Weiss sighed. "If she didn't... I trust her."

Winter nodded, understanding. "I'm not going to ask you about your relationship to Blake Belladonna, Weiss." She said calmly. "But I just need to know that you're going to be staying safe, regardless of what you're doing."

"I am." Weiss answered, holding her head up high. "Thank you for not prying."

"You're welcome." Winter replied, reaching over and pulling the door handle so that it opened. That was enough of a sign on its own, and so Weiss got out along with her sister before the two of them went in to get their coffee.

Soon they would see their father. It was just going to be a matter of letting things go as they needed to.

After a few minutes, Weiss and Winter had their things and the two of them went back to the car and took their seats. The two of them drank their coffees on the way to the hospital.

Weiss was glad for the fact that their original conversation had been left behind. It meant that the two of them were both able to relax before they finally went in to see their father.

The trip up to the hospital room to see him was slow and uninteresting. The check in took no attention whatsoever, and when they finally saw their father, Weiss didn't quite know what to do.

Her father had always been thin and frail looking, even when he was at his most healthy. Now, with him lying in bed with tubes coming out of his throat and attached to so many machines, it was wrong.

He looked like he was going to fall apart at any second, and Weiss hated it.

This was her father, and he was dying.

Weiss looked to Winter and the two of them waited for a little too long before Weiss lowered herself down into the seat beside his bed. It wasn't going to be an ideal situation by any means, but Weiss was willing to make the best of it.

After all, there probably weren't all that many ways for things to get worse on that front.

Weiss couldn't speak for the other situations she found herself embroiled in.

In a lot of ways, arriving in Kuo Kuana for a visit home was something that Blake had been needing for a very long time. She'd had a ticket booked for a little while, but now it felt like she needed the separation from Atlas more than ever.

Mostly, Blake needed a chance to be able to think.

Blake stood outside of her family's home, feeling wholly unsure of what to do with herself before she reached out and knocked on the front door. Normally, this was the sort of visit that she would skip if she didn't feel there was something wrong in her life. It was better for her to be able to keep her distance and for her parents to keep their distances from her.

But talking to Weiss lately had put a lot of things on her mind, and family was at the top of the list. Stress had been piling up on the side, so a trip home had just been… right.

Nervously, Blake reached out and knocked on the door before waiting, bringing her hands together behind her back while she waited.

The door came open a moment later, and Blake saw her smiling mother.

"Blake?" She asked, smiling softly down at her. "What brings you home?" She stepped in, opening her arms and Blake stepped into the hug and felt such relief when her mother's arms closed around her.

"Nothing." Blake said, squeezing her mother slightly. "Is dad home?"

"He's in his study." Her mother responded just as she pulled away. "He'll be so glad to see you. Go and say hello, and I'll put on some tea." WIth that, Blake was kissed on the cheek and ushered off to her own devices.

It was enough to make her feel bad about the fact that she kept her family at such a distance all the time. There was nothing wrong with them, and they had always welcomed her home with open arms. It was just that Blake liked having her space.

She needed to make a point to come home more often when she got a chance, Blake thought to herself as she walked through the halls of their too-large home.

She reached the door to her father's study, and knocked on the doorframe to let him know that she was there.

He picked his head up, and Blake could practically see his ears perk up. "Kali?" He began, turning in his seat slowly before freezing the second that he saw Blake there. All at once, his expression sank into a gentle smile.

"It's just me." Blake said, smiling back at her father. "I missed you."

"Blake." He replied, getting up and out of his chair so quickly that his chair rolled backwards and away from him. He stepped out from behind the desk and watched her "What brings you home?"

"I was just thinking of you and mom a lot." Blake said as she chose to approach her father, stepping into his hug and squeaking when he hugged her a little too tight. He understood and released her, and Blake was soon to take one of the extra chairs in the study. "How are things here?"

"Well, we were missing you for one!" Kali called from the door, stepping into the office for herself. "Everything is good though. Your father's been doing well with his campaign."

"Oh," Blake started, feeling more than a little bit unsure of what she was supposed to say. She'd known that her father was running for office in Kuo Kuana, but the specifics of the situation was something that she wasn't exactly clear on. It also wasn't as though she went home enough that she would know what it was all about. "That's... good."

"It is." Her father replied, smiling gladly. "But I'm so much more interested to hear about how things have been with you. How is Atlas?"

Blake paused, because it was going to be easy enough to explain herself. She could tell them about what she was working on, about the unique situation she was in now. She could tell them about her roommates and how her friends were doing. Really, she didn't even know where to start.

But she had to start somewhere.

"I'm still covering SchneeCorp." Blake started, sitting up tall and straight in her seat. "Right now their owner and CEO is in poor health so I've been kept busy."

Her mother nodded. "And how's that been going?"

"It's been... different." Blake said after hesitating for a too long moment. "I've been doing regular interviews with their heiress. In secret, but… regular."

Both of her parents stared at her, both looking shocked.

"That's..." Kali started, a little bit surprised and clearly taken off guard. "That's amazing, Blake."

Blake smiled softly. "Thank you." She murmured. "It's not so bad."

"I'm sure that whatever you do will be wonderful." Ghira said, his voice surprisingly gentle as he cleared some of his work away from the desk. Just enough so that he was going to be able to keep his business away from his food. "We're proud of you."

"I know." Blake replied, feeling a tug at her heartstrings that she couldn't exactly ignore. She missed her family, and she hadn't exactly realized how bad it had been. She missed them so much. "I just missed you."

Kali seemed to perk up when she heard the sound of a whistle off in another room, and she hurried herself to leave the room. With her gone, Blake was left unsure of what she was supposed to say.

Her father and her had a good relationship for the most part, but it was awkward. It always had been. That didn't mean that she loved him any less though.

Mostly, she wondered why he would still want her in his life when she'd made so many mistakes over the course of her life. Ones that had been able to ruin things eventually.

"So." Ghira said, leaning back in his seat and setting his folded together hands on his stomach. "How are things in Atlas aside from work?"

Blake hesitated. "Work's been most of what I'm doing lately." She said, finding herself fidgeting with a button on her jacket. It wasn't enough to distract her. "Yang's doing well."

"And Ilia?"

"Also doing well." Blake replied, giving her father a skeptical look with narrowed eyes. "She got promoted to editor and seems happy there."

"I'm glad." Ghira said, picking up a pen and balancing it between her fingers. "You and her were always close."

"We... were." Blake said, toying with the possibility of just telling her father the truth about herself and Ilia. She was sure that he wouldn't have any problem with the fact that the two of them had dated for a while. It was just that it was a topic that had never exactly been breached between the two of them. "I don't see her much anymore."

Ghira nodded slowly. "And so now you're spending time with a Schnee heiress?"

"I am."

"And what's that like?" Ghira asked, looking at her with a softness in his eyes and expression that Blake couldn't get past. He was curious, but he also knew that she had done things in the past to hurt that family. He knew that perfectly well, and Blake didn't quite know how to explain the whole of it.

"It's not like anything I've done before." Blake explained herself. "Weiss is surprisingly nice, all things considered."

"And this Weiss is the heiress?"

"She is." Blake said, blinking. She realized then that to refer to Weiss by first name alone was probably overstepping her bounds. Not just in person, but when it came to others she had to be careful. "I'm not really allowed to write about her as the heiress though."

"Is that the case?" Ghira asked, watching her. "Everything is off the record?"

"For the most part." Blake sighed. "It's frustrating but..." She paused. She could tell the truth if she wanted to, let her father know that Weiss was more of a friend than anything. She could tell him that everything the two of them discussed was strictly meant to be kept in secret. "I don't mind it so much." Blake explained.

"Does this Weiss... know about what you normally write?" Ghira asked, leaning in towards her just slightly. "Because I can imagine that it's not something she wants to think about."

"She does." Blake confirmed. "And I've been doing my best to keep from doing my usual work. If I can stay on good terms with Weiss, then I'll be able to have a better working relationship with SchneeCorp in the future."

"That sounds wonderful." Her mother piped up, stepping into the room with a tray in her hands. Sure enough, setting there on top of it there were three cups of tea. Sitting beside it, was a small bowl of sugar cubes. "I'm so glad that things are working out for you in Atlas."

She set the tray down on the desk between them before taking her own seat. "Although, I hope you'll come home to see us a bit more often." Kali said, smiling. "I doubt you want to stay up there during the winter."

"I'll try coming home more often." Blake said, blinking. "I know that it's been a while, but my work lately has had me... well, dealing with someone that's close to losing one of her parents." She paused. "It made me feel like I needed to come back and see you."

"I'm so sorry, Blake." Kali said, reaching out and resting a gentle hand on her knee. "You know that you're always welcome here. You don't even have to call first. Your bed is always ready for you."

"I know." Blake replied, blinking and picking up her cup of tea. "I always end up missing home, but ATlas isn't that bad to live in."

"Really now?" Ghira asked. "Even with the corruption?"

"Even with the corruption." Blake sighed. "It's not so bad most of the time."

Ghira sighed, and he sounded at the very least like he was unsure of what to make of what Blake had was expecting to hear some sort of further questioning on the topic, and was pleasantly surprised when her father didn't go in that direction.

"Either way," He said, keeping his voice down. "As long as you think that Atlas is making you happy, and you feel you are doing good there…" He smiled across at Blake, as soft and gentle as ever. "Then we're proud of you."

Blake didn't like how she felt like she needed to force on a smile. She didn't know that she was doing any good in Atlas, but dwelling on it didn't necessarily do her any good.

In the end, it was going to depend on what happened with Weiss.

After that, Blake didn't know what she was going to have to pay attention to. Hopefully, she would be able to fall back into the norms of her job and move on with her life.