Blake was sitting at the kitchen table watching Yang prep their meal. It was just the two of them in the apartment at the moment, Taiyang had driven Ruby to the hobby store so she could pick up some supplies for her latest project.

"Hey Blake, can you check how long I'm supposed to soak the noodles for?" Yang was separating dry rice noodles with her fingers in a bowl of warm water.

"Sure."

Blake went to the computer but the page that had pad thai recipe had been accidentally closed. She went back into the search history to find the website when she noticed a name that came up over and over. Raven Branwen. She clicked on one of the Facebook links and got to a profile page with some haunting black and white photography. It appeared to belong to a mysterious woman with sharp features and dark flowing hair. She was beautiful.

"Who's… Raven Branwen?"

Yang stared at her wide-eyed for a moment before looking away. "No one..." she said quietly.

Blake knew she was hiding something from the way she avoided her eyes. Was there someone else? She felt a stinging sensation in her chest from the thought.

"It's fine. We don't have to talk about this now if you don't want to," Blake said quickly, trying to change the subject.

Yang heard the strange tone in Blake's voice and it hit her all at once on how it must have looked. A search history filled with a woman's name that Blake had never heard of. She must have seemed obsessed.

"Blake, it's not what you think. Raven Branwen is…" The name still sounded so strange coming from her mouth. "She's my biological mother."

Yang wiped her hands on the dish cloth and sat dejectedly on the couch.

Blake, got over her initial surprise and joined her. She wasn't sure what to say.

"I didn't know…"

Yang smiled sadly. "How could you have? I never told you. Even my dad… He never wanted to talk about her."

"What… What happened?" Blake asked hesitantly.

"She left us. A month after I was born… Real mom-of-the-year material huh?"

Yang tried to joke but Blake could hear the bitterness in her voice.

"Why did she leave you?"

Yang sighed. "That question. Why? It's always haunted me ever since I found out about her. Why the hell did she leave and ditch me and my dad. My Uncle Qrow always said that she wasn't cut out to be a mom… Seems like a pretty lame excuse to me."

"Have you tried contacting her?"

"I messaged her once, but she didn't reply. I'm guess just a glutton for punishment, huh?" Yang sniffed.

"Yang…" Blake wrapped her arms around her and Yang leaned in, resting her head on her shoulder.

Blake couldn't imagine what it would be like to have a biological mother who left their child as a conscious decision. Her own parents never had a choice when they left her.

"It's stupid… I should hate her, I should forget about her. I shouldn't care so much about it but I can't seem to let it go. No matter how hard I try."

Blake held her tighter. Yang appreciated that she didn't try to make her feel better with comforting words and assurances.

"I'm sorry this happened to you."

"Mm. I'm okay. Summer was my real mom. I just wanted some answers, you know? Find out why she left. I think of Ruby and I couldn't imagine leaving her. We're family. Families are supposed to be there to support each other."

"I agree." Blake pressed her cheek into the crook of Yang's neck. "I hope you find the answers you're looking for someday..."

Yang nodded and clasped her hand over the one Blake's had on her shoulder. They were quiet for a moment before Yang stood up and got back to making dinner.

"Whelp, enough of that depressing stuff. Get ready to have the best pad thai recipe ever!"

Blake rolled her eyes but smiled. "Sure."

It had been a few weeks since Taiyang promised Yang he would quit drinking. He seemed to be doing okay, going out less and staying home more. Yang noticed that some days he got out of bed looking a little green, sick to his stomach. She would also notice that his hands trembled once in a while when he reached for things. Other than that, he seemed to be doing fine or at least better than Yang expected until one day...

"Hey dad, I was thinking we could all go to the new Avengers movie tonight. There are a few middle seats left," Yang said looking at her phone as her father walked through the door after work.

"Huh? Oh… Sure, Yang," he said after a pause.

There was something off in his tone. Yang looked up at him from the screen on her phone and noticed he had a glassy expression in his eyes.

"Are you feeling okay, Dad?"

"Yeah. It's just been a long day at the office."

Taiyang turned to reach for a glass water but inadvertently knocked over his lunch bag off the counter. A mickey of amber liquid clattered out on the linoleum.

"What is this?" Yang asked, picking up the bottle and turning it over in her hands.

He tried to take it back but Yang pulled away, keeping it out of reach. She looked at the label, it was Jack Daniels whiskey.

Taiyang looked down at the floor in shame.

"You're still drinking." It was a statement not a question said in a small broken voice.

Taiyang took the flask from her hands. "It's not what you think."

"Then tell me what to think, dad?"

He tossed the flask to the floor. "It's not easy, okay!?"

Ruby came through the door at that moment, looking wide-eyed and scared. She looked between the two of them. "What's going on?"

Taiyang bent down to pick up the flask off the floor like it was a precious object. "Nothing

"Look at what you're doing to yourself! You don't even care, you don't even care!" Yang said storming off to her room.

Yang tried desperately to blink back the tears but she couldn't stop them from continuously falling down her face. There was a soft knock at the door.

"Come in," she said sniffling.

Ruby came in with a worried expression on her face. "Are you okay?"

"Heh, fine. Just having an argument with dad. You know how emotional I can get."

"Yang… How bad is it?" Ruby asked earnestly, her eyes silver pools deep with worry.

Yang hated seeing that look in her eyes, like her sister was way older than she had any right to be.

"It's bad," she said, after a long silence. "He's sick. If he doesn't stop drinking he'll…" She wiped away some stray tears, unable to say anymore.

"Oh," Ruby said in a small voice.

They were silent again for a moment, Yang wondering why she even told Ruby to burden her with this.

"I know you've been trying to protect me, but I'm not a baby anymore. You don't have to do this all by yourself."

Yang let out a shaky breath. She felt like she wanted to cry again.

"Yang, you've been taking care of me ever since… Since like forever. Let me help. Please?"

"I just don't know what to do anymore. He keeps saying he wants to stop but he refuses to get help." Yang said honestly.

The two sisters brooded in silence for a few minutes as they thought about what to do.

"What about an intervention?" Ruby suggested.

"Like the ones on TV?"

"Yeah. We'll sit dad down with us and Uncle Qrow, and maybe he'll finally listen?"

Yang was willing to try anything thing at this point. "Okay. Let's do it."

Ruby and Yang read online on how to stage an intervention and they got some pamphlets from the local medical clinic. They realized how close-knit their family was when they called their Uncle Qrow to participate. Taiyang's parents had passed away years ago and he didn't have any siblings. It would only be the three of them but it would have to do.

Ruby and Yang had prepared letters to read out about how their father's drinking affected them and they clutched the folded pieces of paper tightly in their hands. They felt sick with nerves for the entire day that it was planned for. When Taiyang came home from work, they were all seated in the living room waiting for him.

"What's going on?" Taiyang asked, eyeing the three of them sitting solemnly around the coffee table.

"Hi Dad," Ruby greeted in a nervous voice.

"What is this, an intervention?" Taiyang asked, half-jokingly. When he was met with silence, his eyes widened. "It is, isn't it?" He made a move to leave.

"Dad, please," Yang said imploringly.

He sat down heavily on the arm chair, sinking into the cushions.

Uncle Qrow started first. "Tai, I just want you to know that the point of this isn't to hurt or blame you, we just want to see you get the help you need."

He retrieved a piece of paper from his pocket and cleared his throat.

"Your drinking is affecting your job. You have been coming in late, and your investigations have started to get sloppy."

Taiyang scoffed loudly but Qrow continued on.

"The other guys on the force are starting to notice too, even the commissioner. I won't be able to cover for you anymore if you don't get help to stop drinking."

He nodded to Ruby. The younger sister clutched a piece of paper in her hands and began shakily.

"Dad, we used to make jokes together and you'd help me with my homework… But lately, it's like you haven't been around. You weren't there at the science fair. I wanted to show you what I built, what I worked so hard on… I miss hanging out with my dad…"

Yang squeezed her shoulder and offered her a kind smile. She was so proud of her.

Finally it was her turn. "Dad, your drinking affects me in many different ways. I worry about your health. I worry about how your drinking affects Ruby. I worry a lot, about everything… I'm so stressed out that I can't focus on things happening in my own life."

Yang saw her father shift uncomfortably in the chair out of the corner of her eye.

"Dad I love you, but you can't keep going like this. You need help."

Tai seemed to brood over the words she said before taking a deep breath and letting it out through his nose. "I appreciate all of your concern. I really do…"

Yang sensed a 'but' was coming.

"But I can handle this on my own. If I went to rehab… What would people say? My coworkers… The neighbors… They'd all think I was weak. I just need more time to-"

"You're afraid of what people will think? What about what 'we' think?" Yang asked incredulously.

"Yang it's not so simple… I'm a police officer, I have a reputation to uphold. If the guys find out I have an addiction issue, I'll lose their trust."

"Other members of the force have struggled with addiction before," Qrow said. "The precinct is supportive in getting them the help they need-"

"No. I have to do this on my own."

Yang couldn't take anymore. "I can't stand-by and watch you slowly kill yourself!" she interjected. "I won't let Ruby be around that... If you don't stop, I'll move out and take Ruby with me."

"What?" Taiyang asked angrily. "You can't do that, I'm her father!"

"Then start acting like it!" Yang yelled back.

Tai stood up abruptly and stormed out, slamming the door.

Yang hung her head down with her fists shaking. Well that didn't work.

Later that night, after quietly shedding a few tears in the shower, Yang sat at the computer in the kitchen scrolling through websites about addiction counseling. Ruby was in bed already and her father was still out. He hadn't returned since that afternoon. Yang started to wonder how things got so bad, where did it all start? It was when Summer died, Yang thought. No it started even earlier than that when Raven left him. That's when he started breaking down.

Yang bit her lip, feeling impossibly angry. She signed into Facebook and her fingers started rapidly typing a message before she could stop.

To: Raven Branwen

I just wanted you to know that dad (Taiyang if you have forgotten) is a raging alcoholic because of you. Our lives are far from perfect. Every day is a struggle. The least you could do is take some responsibility for what you've done and talk to the man whose life you've destroyed.

Yang pressed enter on the keyboard with her eyes watering with hot angry tears. She immediately regretted it, feeling ashamed of herself. How childish of her to blame a woman who she never met for ruining her lives, but it was true! That's when her dad started breaking down and that's why he completely broke down when Summer died. His heart was fractured from the first loss and then totally shattered from the second.

Yang wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and let out a long shaky breath. Whatever. Raven probably would ignore her message anyways. But when Yang looked up at the screen, she saw the blinking dots signaling that a reply was being typed.

To: Yang Xiao Long

Where do you want to meet?