It had been a few weeks since Winter's disappearance and the following talk that the two of them had. Once Winter had gained enough energy to once function, she had gone straight to the General and reported her findings while she had been captured. That is, not before Ironwood himself broke his rank and pulled the young woman into swift, relieved embrace - sending Winter into a confused but understanding frenzy.

After recovering, Winter dove straight into the details and revealed of the possibility of a mole within their ranks. Ironwood processed this information and shook himself from his surprised stupor, ordering Winter to look into it as covertly as possible, stating that he would do the same. They needed to find who leaked confidential information to those within the White Fang, and quickly, not knowing what other vital information they held. They could be planning an all out attack for all they knew.

Weiss too had broken her usual affection restrained self and launched herself at Winter once she had woken up following Winter and Qrow's conversation. Winter had gently hugged her sister in return, the warmth in her heart blossoming at how she was able to better express how she felt than those months ago. Winter wasn't sure if the universe had looked out for her or if the moons had aligned to have allowed her to go on that mission with Qrow, but she was grateful.

The man had given her a small nudge of advice, only to have it cascade into Winter's entire lifestyle.

Winter had felt more alive and connected to those around her in these past few months than most of her life.

And so Winter being Winter, she knew she had to do something about this feeling of gratuity. Or else it would begin to eat her alive. The Schnee sighed to herself and pulled out her scroll, dialing Qrow's number. There was no doubt that the huntsman was busy (as was she), since the White Fang have begun creating more bumps in the road and the fact that there was still the matter of the mole within her ranks to sort out. Yet on the third ring, Winter was surprised to hear Qrow's drawl of a "Why hello" in her ear. His way of greeting almost put a smile on her lips.

"And to think that you aren't yet dead in a ditch somewhere astonishes me." Winter said as she leaned against one of the pillars of Atlas Academy. A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"Wow. How hurtful, Ice Queen. I did not answer this seemingly important phone call from you, only to get insulted." Qrow quipped back, the shit-eating grin on his face already visible in Winter's mind.

"One jab from me and you're already down, Qrow? How disappointing."

His usual hearty chuckle replied, for a moment sounding strangely musical in her otherwise silent world in Atlas, before it died down.

"Alright, Winter. What's really on your mind, huh?"

Winter blinked in silence, realizing she had for once in her life not come up with a proper plan for this gratuitous situation. Her mind was scrambling for words like how the hell was she supposed to show her thanks when she began to note that there was this insistent noise in her ear.

"-ooooo?" Qrow's voice suddenly came in, an exaggerated extension of the word "hello" being spoken into her receiver. "Geez, you must really be piled up to your brain with work if you can't even hold a conversation." His words were meant for teasing but Winter could make out the hint of slight concern underneath. It was moments like these that she was reminded of their companionship.

Gathering her senses and shaking herself awake, Winter cleared her throat and glanced up at the setting sky streaked with clouds. Her lips quirked into a small smile as a thought struck her.

"I have to give you something."

Qrow stared point blank towards Winter, his lips pursed in thought. She had found him in his natural habitat when he resided in Beacon - the downtown bar. It was a couple days out from her call to him, with Qrow peacefully having a drink with Winter's words from the phone call out of his mind. Until she came waltzing in to his drinking establishment with a hard look on her face. As he turned to greet her she proceeded to slam a bottle of who knows what on to the table.

"And...this is?" Qrow slowly inquired as his gaze slid from Winter's stare to the opaque, white bottle of what seemed to be a type of alcohol. Winter cleared her throat as she pulled herself into the seat next to Qrow, crossing her legs in front of her.

"This is a gift. The finest wine I currently have. Or rather, had, the moment I placed it upon this table." Winter explained as she used a hand to push the bottle over to the Branwen, taking in his stupefied expression.

Qrow focused his gaze on the bottle and gently took in into his hands, reading its contents with scrutiny. Why was she giving him something like this? He was sure his furrowed brow of confusion gave his thoughts all away, but to make it worse, he could feel the Schnee's laser stare on him.

"This isn't a parting gift, is it?" He asked as his eyes narrowed to slits in suspicion, catching Winter's eye roll.

"Of course not. This is simply...a gift of gratitude. For what you did those weeks ago, and..." Winter trailed off suddenly, Qrow tilting his head in curiosity at the woman's hesitation. "...and as much as I hate to admit: for revealing to me what kind of sister I had been to Weiss."

He was silent as Winter finished, her words striking a chord with him for the nth time these past few months. When had someone other than his nieces been so thankful towards him? All he had ever brought to those around him was hurt, pain, and suffering. Now Winter was here genuinely thanking him for the thousandth time? Call this cliche, but to him this already felt like a bad omen. One way or another, his form of semblance would do something truly evil to Winter the longer she hovered around him. And yet, he was the one to initiate their newly kindled friendship. What had he been thinking?

What was he doing, wallowing in his thoughts like this? He knew that Winter was perfectly capable of watching out for herself, so what could a few harmless tricks of his semblance do?

No. He was not questioning his semblance right now. Even the thought of questioning it was giving him a horrible feeling of nausea inside him.

A gloved hand carefully touched his shoulder, breaking him from his reverie to see Winter's brow raised in interest.

"Right, of course. Anytime, Winter. Thanks for the gift, really." Qrow clipped out, no doubt his expression masked as he tried to shove down his emotions.

"What are you doing?" Winter asked, her voice cutting through his muddied state of mind for a second. "Is something wrong, Qrow?"

His darkened red gaze flicked up to meet Winter's and his mind's eye flickered through all possibilities of what his semblance could do to the specialist. Qrow let out a low growl to himself, for his thoughts to quit messing with his mind as they had been more frequently. He brought a hand up to his eyes as he let out a sigh and slowly shook his head.

"It's nothing. I'll tell you about it another time. C'mon." Qrow finally said as he rummaged in his pocket and plopped some lien onto the counter for the bartender. He made his way for the door, Winter's gift held by the neck in one hand with the woman herself trailing behind. Before Winter could open her mouth to ask anything, Qrow turned around and gave her a wry smile.

"I've got news for you."

Winter stepped into the elevator from Ozpin's office with a grim frown on her face. Qrow waltzed in after her, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed staring pointedly at her with a wide grin. When she saw his expression in the reflective surface of the metal, she had the urge to shove her fist into it.

"Can you believe it? A cute little school dance here at Beacon and we get to be chaperones!"

"You seem to be forgetting the fact that the White Fang seem to have made their move again?! Is that not more concerning to you, Qrow?" Winter stated as she saw the man roll his eyes, pushing his fringe back.

"Why, of course! But we've gotta make sure the kids are safe, right?" Qrow drawled on, the sarcasm dripping off his tongue.

Winter's eye twitched as his tone, her fists clenching by her sides. She knew that somewhere deep down in that man's exterior that he too was worried about his nieces safety. Especially since Cinder was oh so interested in who the huntsman and specialist were. There is a chance that the White Fang could move on Beacon for the sake of petty revenge attached to a larger motive and the moment that thought surfaced in Winter's mind, her stomach twisted into a knot.

The elevator dinged as they reached the bottom floor. Both of them exited in silence, heading in the same direction without any words spoken. They kept pace with each other, faces set before they found themselves at the door of Team RWBY. And right as Winter was about to knock, the door was yanked open.

There stood Ruby, frozen with smile that was already growing as she laid her eyes on the both of them.

"Uncle Qrow!"

"Winter!"

Ruby and Weiss launched themselves towards their respective relative, Winter giving her sweet sister a smile as she hugged her. Qrow was barreled into with Ruby's body weight, ultimately being slammed into the floor.

"You're here for the event at Beacon, right?" Yang greeted as she fist bumped her uncle that was still being crushed by his niece.

"That's correct. We're here to supervise you all." Winter said as Weiss blinked up at her, a small smile on her lips.

"Supervise us? What you think we kids are gonna do something crazy?" Blake chimed in with a grin, her ears flicking.

"Oh, no nothing of the sort." Winter replied with a scoff, hoping that her joking demeanor was able to be seen. Judging by Blake's quiet chuckle, it worked.

"Oh shoot, guys! We have to go! Training is in a minute!" Weiss exclaimed, the other girls shrieking in surprise. After a quick "see you later!" Team RWBY zipped their way out of the room.

Winter took a step into the girls' room and marveled in its atmosphere. Surely, that bed cannot be stable. Is that dog hair on the floor? All of these books scattered about...

"I'm surprised you didn't mention the possible threat." Qrow started as he took a few steps forward and sat against the windowsill of the room. He placed his hands on the stone to support himself. Winter met his stare and turned away, sifting through Weiss' papers.

"They're young girls...it's only right to let them all not have to worry." Winter replied as a bitter feeling nestled its way into her heart. What she would give to not have to worry about every little thing. "Besides, we'll make sure everything runs smoothly."

Winter turned to see Qrow staring out of the window, a distant glint in his eyes.

"Right."

She frowned at his tone, feeling put off by it.

It didn't sound sure in the slightest.

Oho! Things are starting to move again! Hope you all are doing well! The end of my semester is approaching so I most likely won't have as much time to update, but we'll play it by ear!

hope you enjoyed the read! let me know your thoughts!