A/N: Hiya folks, sorry for the wait :D! Word of warning, good portion of this is descriptions and events. Kinda had to, a lot changes over a simple year and a half (nearly two due to a certain girl's birthday coming up...) , so I had to explain some things that happened here and there. Also, originally this was going to be one big chapter cause I surprisingly wrote twice as much as this (what can i say? I had fun ^^) but I ended up with a rather long chapter, so I wasn't sure if people wanted his 6-7k fic or a 12k+ chapter to read :/ so I went down the middle and chose the first half now. if it means anything, it does mean the next update is already ready for posting tomorrow ^^!

So with that said: Enjoy!

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*Snoooooore*

The young woman lied upon the bed with her body sprawled out all over the place. She had tossed and turned in the middle of the night, but thankfully she appeared to find a position her body was content with. Snoring into the pillow, she was oblivious to the creaking door that opened slightly, or the small figure that made it's way to the bottom of her bed side.

To be honest, she was unaware of a lot of things, but how could she be blamed? The bed was so comfortable and relaxing, it took away all the stress of her daily life that she wished she could just fuse with the bed for the rest of her life. Otherwise she would've paid attention to the small figure pulling her at her feet excitedly, the little girl giggling as she tried to shake her mother awake.

"Mommy!" Ruby spoke quietly as she shook Cinder's bare feet. "Mama, wake up!"

"Mmh...wake me in the morning'sh..." Cinder mumbled as she buried her head further into the pillow.

"Mmh it is morning!" Ruby stated as she tried pulling her mother out of bed. "Wah-!" Sadly all she resulted in was accidentally slipping and sliding herself onto the floor, thanks to her little bunny slippers. "Mmmmh..." The five-year-old grumbled as she got back to her feet. With a good spit in her hands like she's seen in the movies, she gave one more grand tug as she tried to lift the beast from her slumber. "C'mon sleepyhead, time to get up!" The 5-year-old grumbled.

"Snnnkkkk... take it up with my lawyer..." Cinder snored. "Why don't you go play with your sister or something, sweetie? Mommy's trying to sleep."

"Mmmh fine..." Ruby moaned as she exited the bedroom.

Cinder didn't like doing anything that disappointed her young one, but she just needed some sleep. Yesterday's heist took it's toll on her. Several of their goons ended up getting caught, another several of them ended up triggering the alarms followed by getting caught, and don't even get her started on the morons who pulled over their vehicles when the police sirens called them to pull over. Seriously, it was beginning to get hard to find good help these days. What was even harder was finding help that remained good help.

Because of this, Cinder didn't get home last night until two in the morning, obviously leaving a worried Ruby up all night as she waited for her dear mother. If there was any comfort to this detail, there was a beyond-adorable sight Cinder came home to late that night: a simple scene of Ruby sleeping in Neo's arms, both girls in their pajamas, and both girls sleeping on the couch while a simple kid's cartoon show was playing on the TV.

Cinder would've gladly given up her right hand for a camera right at that moment to forever capture that scene. Sadly, even if she did, she probably wouldn't have bothered taking a picture, being too exhausted with the night's events. All she could do at that time was wake Neo up quietly without disturbing Ruby, helping the young pre-teen to her bed before tucking the two of them in. She gave the two a small kiss to the forehead as she exited the room, quietly closing the door behind them just enough so the hallway light was dimly filling the room in case they woke up in the middle of the night.

To be honest, it's been a hectic near-two years for the trio. Suffice to say, to all surprise, Cinder began to develop similar feelings for the preteen Neo as she did Ruby. She couldn't fairly say she loved Neo as much as she did with Ruby, but after the many days the two spent together raising Ruby, with Neo under the guise of being Ruby's older sister, it was easy to see Cinder slowly growing attached to the small twin-colored girl.

It wasn't like Neo wasn't returning the same feelings or the same amount either. She was like a mother to her too, and she grew a bit attached as well. Like Cinder with Ruby, she obviously didn't care for Cinder as much as she did for Roman, but still enough to tell the two were starting to grow close.

All in all, the two became equally close to one another. Not as much as their personal choices, but closer all the same.

*creeeeeak*

"Hm..." Cinder mumbled silently to herself as she heard the door open again. No doubt Ruby returned to pester her some more and get her mother out of bed. It was surprising seeing a five-year-old up this early in the morning. Or maybe that was just Cinder's personal view, seeing how it was about 8:30 in the morning. She was still exhausted from yesterday's events but if her little angel wanted her up so badly, she might as well raise herself out soon.

"One..." Ruby quietly whispered to her nearby partner in crime. "Two..." Only then did Cinder's ear twitch at the sound of that soft voice, but by the time she registered what was going on, it was already too late. "THREE!" With a sudden yell, Cinder jerked from surprise as she felt a pair of hands suddenly grip the heels of her feet, being yanked with enough force to pull the slumbering mother off the bed to the floor in front of it.

"Wah-!" Cinder yelped as she fell from the bed, landing with a solid thud. "Oww..." She mumbled looking over again.

Sure enough, there they were. Ruby in her red Pajamas with orange hearts on them, and Neo with her pure sky blue pajamas with white fluffy clouds patterned across them.

With the amount of time Ruby and Neo had been spending bonding with one another, they started to take on one another's mannerisms. There wasn't much for Neo to take from Ruby, save for some childish antics here and there when playing with her, but Ruby was taking quite a bit from Neo. Like drawing out pictures more often of things when she wanted to talk about something, making a small game out of it with her mother who struggled due to Ruby's... "interesting" drawing quality.

At the same time, the two siblings started getting matching outfits here and there. While there weren't many things they had in similar taste when it came to fashion, they could get similar-looking outfits, like these plain and simple colored pajamas with patterns across them. Simple things, but things that meant enough to the siblings in question.

"Haha, we got ya mommy!" Ruby giggled with delight. Her delight was short lived though as she noticed the sinister glare Cinder returned to her. "M...Mommy?"

"Ruby Fall..." Cinder grumbled in disgust. "Do you remember...everything I said... about what would happen if you bothered me like this one more time..." She growled raising her fist slowly. Ruby was frozen with fear, only capable of trembling in horror as she saw her mother's rage build.

"I-I'm sorry mama, it won't happen again-!" Ruby pleaded for forgiveness.

"It's too late, little Miss Fall." Cinder retorted, the fire in her eyes blazing out of control. "You need to be punished... It's the only way you'll learn..."

"N-No, I promise," Ruby begged, "I-I learned my lesson! It won't happen-"

"Too late!" Cinder snapped. "Now face your punishment..."

This was awful! This was horrifying! Her mother warned her time and time again, but she never listened! Oh why oh why did she not listen?! She was a good girl, honest! She did everything in her power to make her mother happy! But now it was all going to come to an untimely end. She was about to experience horror on a whole new level of cruelty and despair! All she could do now was wait, wait for her life to flash before her eyes before it was all over!

"COME HERE YOU!" Cinder growled playfully as she pulled Ruby over by her feet.

"Ah! no! St-aha! Ahahahaha! Stop please! I beg you!" Ruby was suffering from bouts of extreme laughter. There was no hope or escape from the evil dreaded Claw, her mother's ultimate weapons! Each hand with those five terrifying fingers of torment, all wiggling across the sides of her belly and stomach in a never ending spiral of miserable laughter. She was absolutely powerless against the dreaded tickling demon before her!

"Suffer infidel, suffer my horrible wrath!" Cinder squealed with delight as she punished Ruby without end.

"Ahahah! Ech-! S-Sis, save- ahahaha- save me!" Ruby pleaded, tears of laughter pouring from her eyes.

"Neo, go for the feet!" Cinder commanded. With a mischievous grin, the older sibling wrangled with Ruby's legs until she got a good grip on the right leg. With a quirky grin on her face, she quickly slipped one of her bunny slippers off, leaving her sock-worn foot completely exposed and unprotected from her own wriggling fingers.

"Ahaha-! N-No! Sis! You traitor! You're both traitors!" Ruby screamed in bouts of laughter. "Ahahahahahaha~!"

This was inhumane! What kind of sick evil god would allow horrible torment like this to befall a sweet and innocent girl like herself?! Her mother was the only one who could normally protect her against terrors like this, but she was the one causing the terror! And Neo, her sweet, beloved, older sister, who she trusted with her life, her once glorious righthand girl, turned traitor in under a mere second! What kind of horrible, unruly, unjust, and all around evil god would allow this sorta thing to happen to someone as innocent as her?!

She would see them court martialed! They would be hanged! Burned at the stake! Forced to eat vegetables! There would be no end to the horrifying ordeals Ruby would see them punished for! If only some miracle could save her!

"Hahaha..." This was Cinder's own personal enjoyment. There would always be Ruby, the one single pride of her life that would bring absolute joy and happiness to her life. And due to the hassle of yesterday's busted heist, she needed to lay low for the next few days which meant refraining from pulling any heists for awhile. All of this equaled excitement as it meant a few days off of work, and more time for her darling.

There were days where she would be exhausted, days where she would be depressed, days where work became so overbearing that sometimes she would just like to drop dead from exhaustion. But this, these single glorious moments where she had time to herself Ruby were the only things that made it all worthwhile. These moments where she could just enjoy life with her daughter, and respectfully Neo who enjoyed playing around just as much with them. It was nothing more than one big happy family, one she could gladly call hers.

The last year and a half had been filled with surprises, good and bad times, pretty much anything like a normal family went through. Starting from Ruby, she was officially a self-titled "Big Kid" like her mommy always wanted her to be, being out of pull-ups and into typical big girl underwear, much like her big sister, Neo. However, night time was still a bit of a different story. She still wore pull-ups for that. Thankfully, they no longer had issues passed simple "wetting" ordeals, but she still wet the bed from time to time like most young children.

On the bright side, it was getting progressively better. From four years old, she only wet the bed once or twice a week. Now she was proudly only having that slight issue a couple times a month. But even with that, she had more dry nights than not, much like this morning. It was something she herself was proud of and something Cinder was glad she was growing out of. She figured within the next few months she would finally grow out of it for good.

With said issues aside, most of the days followed the same routine for the young Ruby. From the morning till about 9 or 10, she got to play with her whole family, her sister and mother specifically, as they bathed, got dressed, had breakfast together, and sometimes even watched cartoons with each other for a few minutes before Cinder went to her job.

After that, it would be just Ruby and Neo hanging out around the penthouse as they played with one another, Neo being in charge of keeping the little girl occupied until her loving and sweet endearing mother returned from her job. On the luckiest of days, she returned sometime in the afternoon after finishing work early, which was really just a matter of having a short day of planning for the next heist and taking inventory of what they had. On the unluckiest of days, sometimes Ruby would wait all night like last night for her mother to return.

There was one point where Cinder hadn't come home for over two days, despite the phone call from Roman Neo got assuring her that Cinder was fine and to assure Ruby. It wasn't until after he hung up he realized how that might be seen as difficult. Either way, for nearly second half of the second day without Cinder, Ruby was in a complete sobbing breakdown, crying for several hours missing her mommy until she cried herself to sleep. It wasn't till the third day around noon when Cinder finally returned home, the delay due to needing to evade the security that tracked her for nearly a full day following a busted heist.

She was surprised to return home to a sobbing three-and-a-half-year-old until Neo managed to write and explain why Ruby was so broken up and sad, embracing her in a warm hug for nearly an hour to a Ruby who wouldn't stop crying until shortly after her mother showed up. It took almost several more days before Cinder to part with her little one once again, the young child incapable of letting her mother leave again out of fear of her never coming home.

In all honesty, it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway. Cinder missed her little Rose too much too.

From her age of three and a half to four, the penthouse was a place of wonder for the young toddler. She had fun exploring the rooms no matter how repetitive it got for the first few weeks, admiring how pretty they all looked to the young toddler, especially after she got to see how her bedroom looked.

Her bedroom housed a large wall-sized window, stretching from the left corner all the way to the right, with a large sliding glass door accessible to go upon the patio. Of course, Ruby would still be too small to even climb over the patio's ledge, but that wasn't anywhere near an issue since the young toddler was already afraid of the height they were set upon to even go near it.

As for her bedroom, it was classic and vibrant in detail with a large two person bed right in the middle with the softest bedsheets and mattress she ever lied upon. And to complete it like any kid's room, on the opposite end of the bed, was a wide drawer with numerous openings and cupboards for her clothes. Upon that little piece of furniture was the largest flat-screen TV Ruby's ever seen, at least this close in person.

It was actually a bit smaller than the one in the living room, but only by a few inches. Mix that with how it was closer when Ruby could watch from it, and it was really hard to tell.

Actually, a lot of the bedrooms were like this setting. Ruby's was the only one that had any outside patio to it, but there weren't any complaints to be had from the other sharers of the apartment. It wasn't just due to the fact they've yet to ever experience luxury like this, one they could only afford thanks to the support of the current White Fang Leaders, the Belladonnas, they could live like Kings, Queens, and Princessies as Ruby put it.

Speaking of the Belladonnas, Ruby enjoyed their company, or to be more accurate, the company of her other "big sister", Blake. The playdates they had were numerous and fun, having seen them probably at least once or twice a month. When Blake first saw the awesome new home Ruby had, she was completely awestruck. Her first and only decree was begging her parents to let her live with Ruby at their awesome house, yet sadly her parents reminded her if she lived here her friends back home would miss her too much, to her regret.

Still, the times they got to visit were chalked full of fun for the Four-year-old, the seven-year-old, and the then eleven-year-old Neo who watched over them. She was only in charge of watching over them if the parents were already in the penthouse too, otherwise it usually resulted in either Blake's mother watching over them, or Ruby's mother watching over them while the Belladonnas discussed business with Roman somewhere else in the city, usually the warehouses.

For the things the children did, they usually varied depending on the month and season. Two of the seasonal holidays Ruby got to enjoy with Blake was her first ever Halloween, as well as her first ever Christmas, at least that she could remember.

Both cases were a story for a different time.

All the same, for the non-holiday days they got to spend together, they always had a lot of fun activities to choose from. Sometimes they would watch marathon specials of cartoon shows, sometimes they would draw or play at a park Neo would take them to a few blocks away, or, the one thing all three of them equally loved, baking!

There were numerous goodies and treats the trio would often try to make, from simple pancakes to delicious cakes! There were two notable times they tried baking that really left an impact on the parents- the first time when they came home to discover the ENTIRE penthouse, at least everything surrounding the Kitchen, was covered in flour, including the three seemingly innocent looking girls. The looks on their flour-covered faces were too precious for them to punish, especially since room service could handle that while the mothers gave their kids a bath.

Which was the one day Ruby learned a valuable lesson from her half-kitty-sister: Cats hate water.

The other noteable cooking day was when the trio made a batch of... "interesting-looking" cookies for their mommies! The faces they made when they saw the cookies were filled with excitement every time the two of them saw their mothers, the faces made when taking a bite of the cookies filled them with so much joy and wonder it brought tears to their eyes, and the green-colored skin growing on their smiling faces assured them their mothers loved each and every nibble of the cookies with all their heart!

...Yet for some reason they ended up with food poisoning the next morning. If there was any up side to that, it's that Blake got to spend another day with Ruby as her mother recovered.

So overall, the siblings had plenty of fun with each other during their numerous play dates with one another.

Ruby was happy. Neo was happy. Cinder was happy. This was their happiness. And this was a routine everyday.

By now, the three girls were situated in the spacious bathroom as they washed up for the day. The rest of the penthouse was donned with only the most decorative features and high quality appliances, and the bathroom was no exception.

Aside from it's beautifully decorated sink with several cabinets, it's golden faucets and drains, and the natural cupboards that housed various washing furnitures compared to the average bathroom. For starters, this bathroom didn't house just one, not two, but three washing appliances consisting of a regular tub in the middle, a massage tub on the left side, and a crystal clear shower space on the right side of it. Each of these pieces of furniture came with their own soap trays and gold-plated rails for the showers.

That didn't matter to the youngest of the three though. She was just happy being able to play with the relaxing bubbles in the soothing massage tub with her sister. On most days her mother would usually bathe at the same time as the rest of them, but she would usually wash herself within the personal shower these days. Not that she didn't want to bathe with her angel, far from it, but she had to be fair and at least share her with her older sister who had grown more attached to the young girl as the months went by. Besides, she could still admire the sight of the young girl playing with Neo as they bathed.

Between waking up and getting bathed, dressed, and ready for the day, the trio usually found themselves having breakfast after the next half-hour. Like everything else that changed as Ruby grew up, her outfits did too. As opposed to the typical overalls she once wore as a toddler, she was now dressed with a typical pink shirt and light brown pants. Much like her pajamas, the shirt had a simple large white heart right in the belly of it, something Ruby always loved because it was her way of showing mommy how much she loved her.

For the other two, their outfits changed only slightly in comparison to the young girl's. Neo began sporting a white shirt with a thin light blue overcoat that stretched down to just above her knees while wearing a simple white long-sleeve shirt underneath. Her pants were another simple thin piece of clothing, being black in color and stretching down just to her ankles where her white shoes were located. As for Cinder, her outfit was pretty basic in comparison to the rest. She wore a simple red short-sleeve shirt that stretched just above her thigh by a mere inch, as well as casual blue jeans like any simple outfit. It might not have been much in terms of appearance, but it was nothing more than a disguise.

Or perhaps her "work clothes" could be seen as the disguise. Whenever she went off to work, heading off to whatever hideout the rest of the team was located in, she always changed back into her long red mini-dress which left her shoulders exposed. It was a bit redundant having to change between these clothes to her daily clothes, but it gave off the best her disguise had to offer. She couldn't really do much with changing her hair save for dying it or cutting it, and that would just change it so any culprits at a heist would recognize her by her new hairstyle. The dress she wore when working at least provided some semblance of mystery.

"So," Cinder began talking as she continued making breakfast, stirring some batter for Ruby's favorite pancakes, "I believe a certain girl has a birthday coming up in a few weeks..."

"Ooh! Me! it's mine! My birthday!" Ruby squealed with excitement, waving her hand as she sat on the stool next to Neo at the island's countertop.

"Hmm... now who's was it again?" Cinder spoke aloud as she tapped her chin.

"Meee!" Ruby giggled. "It was me!"

"Oh, now I remember! It was Neo's, right?" Cinder asked teasingly. The knowing nod Neo returned her only helped in the fun teasing.

"What?!" Ruby blinked in disbelief. She knew when Neo's birthday was, or at least the month of it since she was still trying to figure out the exact day, and she knew Neo's birthday was at least several months away.

"How could I have forgotten? Of course it's Neo's birthday! We'll have games, go out to eat, have lots of presents..." She paused curiously as she poked her chin. "Oh, but if we did that, we wouldn't have any money left to celebrate little Ruby's then." With a simple shrug, she casually smiled as she flipped the pancakes. "Oh well, I guess we'll just have to skip her's this year."

"N-No!" Ruby cried as she began to tear up, hopping from the stool as she ran to her mother's legs. "Mommy, it's my birthdaaaay...eh heh..." She sniffled.

'Oh, I know sweetie, I know." Cinder apologized lifting her daughter with one arm as she continued to heat the pancakes. "I was just teasing, ok? We'll have a big party and everything. We'll even invite Blake over for a sleepover! How does that sound sweetheart?"

"Sniff... kay... " Ruby replied, seeming to agree with her decision. In truth it was actually more of a matter of convenience for Cinder that the next meeting she had with the White Fang Leaders was near Ruby's birthday, so this way would be killing two birds with one stone.

So to speak.

"That's good," she said giving her girl a small peck on the forehead, "now, why don't we add some of your favorite chocolate chips and make some task chocolate chip pan-" Cinder was cut off as she saw the missing ingredient. She had a large handful of chips in the bowl next to the pan, and now they were suddenly missing. "Hey, where'd the chip's go?" Within the few seconds she spent looking around, she couldn't help but notice as Neo was covering her mouth with her eyes clothed, chuckling at the sight. "What?" It took no longer than before until she realized what she was laughing at. For some strange and mysterious reason, Ruby happened to be chewing on something quietly as she turned her head away. She didn't even need to spend a second to realize where the chocolate chips suddenly disappeared to, the small chocolate stain on the right corner of Ruby's lip confirming her suspicion. "Gee Ruby, any idea where the chocolate went?" She asked in a knowing tone.

Ruby took a moment to swallow the rest of the contents in her mouth before replying, "I don't knoooow..." She said innocently.

"Hehehe, you little thief!" Cinder chuckled as she began tickling Ruby's side.

"Tchahahahaha!" Ruby was powerless as the claw once again tortured her.

It was rather fitting that the five-year-old Ruby got revenge against her mother. For the inhumane threat against her own birthday, Ruby found only one suitable punishment for this transgression, and that was to steal a handful of the chips that she could as her mother looked away! It was quite a fitting bit of revenge all things considered, and Cinder also had to give her credit for her sneakiness. Every day she managed to pull a trick like this or some prank along with Neo, her mother would both find it rather humorous and be a little more proud of her for how cunning and resourceful her little flower was.

It was during these moments Cinder became more and more convinced that Ruby could help run their future plans together. But that was still a ways off.

The rest of the morning played out the same as it usually did, regardless of days off. The three chatted a bit, or as close to chatting as Neo could commit with her pictures, they enjoyed mother's delicious breakfast pancakes, and the two children even watched cartoons for a bit as Cinder washed the dishes while humming to herself. With a few days off, and a bright cheery morning to wake up to, there was only one way to spend it that came to Cinder's mind.

"So sweetie, how would you like to go out to the Park today?" Cinder asked as she continued washing the dishes. From the front of the couch, Ruby stood on top of the cushions as she looked back with excitement.

"Really?" Her excitement was all she needed to confirm it.

These days, Cinder wasn't as worried about anyone coming across Ruby anymore. If anyone was still looking for her, there haven't been any search warrants or missing posters around town. Come to think of it, ever since Cinder took Ruby that night, she hadn't seen or heard mention of anyone looking for the little girl. Now in all fairness, part of that was probably due to the lack of remains or possibility that Ruby was still alive. When people disappeared after exploring the surrounding woods of town, there was usually only one cause behind that.

The Grimm.

And because of that, the idea of going around and asking to find a missing person outside the city was rather pointless. It was like asking to find a simple button in a garbage dump; if the garbage wasn't collected and burned away already, it soon would be and make the entire search pointless. Of course that didn't mean no one ever tried to find a missing person in the woods. This was usually left up to the Hunters and Huntresses of Remnant, specialized warriors trained to fight the Grimm and protect everyone from any and all evil forces of the world. But even then there was no news of Ruby's disappearance or even her mother's.

It almost sickened Cinder. Either the people gave up any chance of finding her, or they just didn't care enough. If it was Cinder herself, she would've searched to the ends of the earth for her little girl.

That didn't mean she let Ruby out of the house that often. Even with this, she still didn't want to take the small chance someone would recognize her. They only ever went out once in awhile for the park, unless Blake was with them. Then at least they could pass her off as Ruby's sister too.

"Yup, it's a bright and sunny day out," Cinder continued, "so I was thinking we could all play at the park for a bit, and maybe go out for ice-cream after." Cinder chuckled mentally as that comment caught Neo's attention this time. Ruby was definitely growing on her, including her personality. "Or maybe even go to the bakery and pick up a big batch of cookies."

"Huh!" Ruby gasped with shock, looking to her sister briefly before back to her mother. "Yes! Yes yes yes!" She cheered jumping up and down on the cushions.

"Heh heh, alright alright, calm down. Remember not to jump on the couch, sweetie." Cinder instructed. Ruby almost ended up falling the last time she jumped on the couch with excitement, nearly landing her head straight on the coffee table in front of her. Thankfully her older sister was there to save her.

*Ring-Ring*

*Ring-Ring*

"We'll go in a little bit sweetie, just let me get this first." Cinder said as she walked over to the phone by the fridge. "Hello?"

"It's me." The voice stated firmly. Cinder's face lost all emotion but shock at the sound of the familiar voice. The look on her face didn't sneak passed the two girls who looked at her expression with curiosity. From a vibrant smile, the mother suddenly turned to shock and disbelief. They could only look at each other in wonder of the mysterious phone call. Noticing the looks on their face, Cinder quickly turned away as the conversation continued.

"How did you get this number?" She whispered.

"Details aren't important." They replied. "Meet under the bridge, Southern edge of town. In one hour, come alone."

"W-Wait-!"

*click*

Cinder could only stare at the phone as static played over the earpiece.

She couldn't believe it. She just could not believe it. Sure, she hasn't reported in for several years in person, and her usual progress reports had started to slow with each passing month, but this was insane. The only thing that scared her more than how they got the number of this room was how they even knew she was there. Roman couldn't have told them, he wasn't entirely in the loop of things like Cinder was. Even if he would have, he wouldn't have told some random stranger he never met about Cinder's whereabouts.

If there was any other thing that terrified the mother more than that, it was knowing how vulnerable this made her and her little girl. This phone call alone proved they had a method of reaching her, had a method of finding out where she was after all this time. So no matter what she did, or where she would go, they could track her again, find out where she went.

Ignoring the phone call was out of the question. The only problem that did present was what to do with the plans today.

"Umm... Sweetie? About the park today..." Cinder rubbed her left shoulder soothingly.

"Yeah...?" Ruby replied with a small frown. Any time her mother began talking to her in that sort of tone with the expression on her face, it always meant something bad. In this case, chances were the trip to the park was suddenly cancelled.

"W-Well..." She nibble on her thumbnail trying to think. It was only too perfect one of the few days Cinder could begin taking off to spend with Ruby that she would get a phone call like this. She also didn't want to make a habit of disappointing Ruby since this would've been around the fourth time something like this would happen. "You see um...Ah! I just realized I forgot something at work yesterday, so I need to head to work for a bit to pick it up."

Ruby knew what that meant.

"Aww. So I guess that means-"

"Ah tut tut," Cinder quickly interrupted, "you can still go to the park with your big sis, ok?" Neo easily understood the mental signal she was sending her. While she didn't know exactly why she was leaving all of a sudden, she knew something about the phone call was too important to ignore. "I'll stop by after work and meet you there around Noon, ok?" She promised as he picked up a red purse she had on the counter.

"You promise?"

"I promise." She nodded. Ruby watched as Cinder dug through her purse for a moment before handing Neo a handful of lien.

"Here's some money in case you two want to get some snacks. Again, I'll stop by the park around Noon unless you guys decide to come home early, ok?"

"M'kay!" Ruby nodded with a smile.

"That's my girl." Cinder smiled as she gave her another warm hug. "Neo, you're in charge. Be sure to listen to anything she says- er... writes, Ruby."

"I will! Love you mommy!" Ruby cheered as she and Neo waved goodbye. Thankfully Ruby's reading comprehension improved a little over the last year and a half. Granted, there was still plenty of work to be done, but even if she couldn't understand really complicated words, Neo's pictures in her sketch book simplified them.

"Love you girls too." Cinder replied back as she closed the door. Once it was closed, Cinder sighed to herself as she leaned against the door in thought.

She didn't know what to feel at this moment. Every fiber of her being was telling her this had to involve Ruby somehow, but she couldn't figure out what. Did she find out about Ruby? Was she angered about Cinder trying to keep her a secret? Did she want Cinder to... get "rid" of Ruby so she wasn't a threat? It sickened her to think it, but she wouldn't put it passed her. Besides, up to this point Cinder kept her existence a secret from her, so she could see it as some form of betrayal on her part. For all Cinder knew herself, maybe this was some form of betrayal Cinder didn't think of, just proving how much of a distraction Ruby had become due to her emotions towards her.

So would she be willing to part with Ruby if she was forced to? If she thought Ruby was a threat, was she going to make Cinder silence Ruby forever? More importantly, she was worried if she would even be able to bring herself to if she found it necessary...

...

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A/N: Hope you all enjoyed today's episode ^^. Like I said, second half is already done but will be posted tomorrow or so- which I know people will enjoy because it cameos a certain blonde girl people have been dying to see...*hint* *hint*

Also we'll be having another Q'n'A panel soon guys :D! Staring everyone's favorite little kitten, Blake ^^! So be sure to send those questions with your review :P!