Qrow hopped out of his truck to find Glynda Goodwitch waiting for him by the docks, her hair was in its usual neat bun, but she looked more at ease than she usually did when he saw her at the academy. At her feet were several suitcases, and at her side were two small children, partially hiding behind her knee-length skirt.

"Glynda," he said, trying to sound enthusiastic. He knew that the headmistress didn't really like him. She had always trusted him, sure, but she had never pretended to appreciate his methods or his antics. She had mostly trusted him for Ozpin's sake, Qrow had always known that. Now, she would be staying at his house… it seemed strange. At least she got along well with Winter.

"Qrow!" Glynda actually graced him with a genuine smile, "It's good to see you!" Then her voice took on a serious tone, "I can't thank you and Winter enough for this generosity."

"Anytime!" Qrow shrugged, "Our door's always open." He crouched down so he was eye level with the two kids. They were cowering further behind Glynda, clutching her hands tightly. They looked so young, the oldest—a girl—couldn't be more than six or seven. "Hey," Qrow smiled, speaking softly, "My name's Qrow. What are your names?" The children both remained hidden, and Glynda sighed and shook her head,

"It's alright, dears, Qrow is a friend. Can you tell him what your names are?" The girl was the first to slip a little bit out of Glynda's shadow. Qrow immediately recognized her as a faunus. She was rather thin, with big brown eyes and short fawn colored curls. She had little doe ears poking out of her hair, and white freckles dotted her dark cheeks.

"My name is Autumn," she whispered. Her voice was so soft that Qrow could barely hear it.

"Hey, that's a nice name," he said, holding out his hand, "It's nice to meet you Autumn." Autumn hesitated for a moment before she stepped away from Glynda all together, (though still held tightly to her hand), and she carefully took Qrow's hand in hers. When her brother saw her get away from the hand shake unscathed he stepped a little ways out from behind Glynda and Qrow got a good look at him as well. He must have been four or five. He had unkempt, sandy-blond hair, and wide, aquamarine eyes. He mumbled something, but Qrow managed to just barely catch his name.

"Marin? That's a great name! Do you like the ocean?" Marin shrugged his shoulders.

"This was the first time Marin's seen the ocean," Glynda said.

"Well, we'll have to go to the beach sometime." Qrow offered Marin his hand and the young boy took it and shook it loosely. "Nice to meet you, kiddo." He stood, and grabbed a couple of the family's suitcases. "I'll get all this into the truck, and we'll see if we can't get you all settled back at home."

The drive home was relatively peaceful. Qrow glanced back every so often at the two kids sitting in his back seat. Their eyes watched the trees and the road signs pass in awe. He wondered how long they had been alone before James and Glynda found them.

"So, uh… when did you and James decide to adopt?"

"We haven't," Glynda said, and Qrow noticed a tinge of sadness in her voice, "We're still waiting for official news about Marin and Autumn's parents. It is likely, though, that… well… we really don't think the children's parents are alive."

"And the kids?"

"They're doing better. They're talking more. As you can tell, they're still very hesitant about strangers."

"I mean, what do they think of you and James?" Qrow said.

"Oh… Well, I can't speak for myself, but I know they both adore James," a smile formed on Glynda's lips as she reminisced. "He loves them both so much. Whenever he's home he's always making time to do things with them. He reads them stories, plays with them, builds forts with them… really he just makes them feel so at home. Marin… Marin's already started calling him daddy." Qrow could see tears glistening at her eyelashes. "I think he really needed that. When he first said it James was getting ready to leave again, and… Marin…" she paused and took a breath, "Marin was begging him not to leave. It nearly broke James' heart in half."

Qrow wasn't sure what to say. He couldn't feel how James had felt in that moment, not even close. But with Winter expecting a baby, he could imagine it. Being a father was going to be the hardest, most rewarding thing he could ever be. It was already breaking his heart, and his son hadn't even arrived yet. "Well, I can tell they both look up to you," he said, "They both love you."

Glynda smiled, "Thank you, Qrow. That means a lot."

When they arrived at the house Winter was sitting on the front porch with a kettle of tea. When she saw them pull up she slowly managed to get to her feet, pushing herself up from her chair. She was so much closer to her due date now, she had entered a phase that was driving Qrow insane. Everything had to be perfectly clean at all times, and the nursery… dear gods, the nursery. It was her eternally-unfinished project. Nothing was ever perfect. Nothing was ever just right. He hoped for the sake of his own sanity that Glynda being here would distract her, even if it was just for a little bit.

While Glynda carefully helped Autumn and Marin out of the truck, Qrow grabbed several suitcases and carried them towards the house. Winter quickly opened the front door for him. Before he stepped inside he managed to ask,

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, I promise. You should take those to the guest room."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Once all the luggage was delivered to the guest bedroom, Qrow found Winter meeting the little ones. They were just barely warming up to her when Marin mumbled something that wasn't a part of the introductions.

"What's that, dear?" Glynda frowned, trying to hear him. Luckily Autumn caught what he said and happily announced:

"He wants to know why your belly is so big."

"Oh!" Winter beamed.

"I'm sorry," Glynda sighed, "Children, it's not very nice to say things like that."

"No, Glynda, it's fine. I'll tell you both, do you want to know?" Winter asked. Both Marin and Autumn nodded, enraptured. Qrow grinned and leaned against the doorframe to watch. Winter was surprisingly good with kids. Something like a small bit of pride mixed with an immense amount of love filled his heart. He couldn't wait to raise their son with her.

"Well, it's because I'm going to have a baby."

"A baby?" Autumn frowned, cocking her head a little. "That doesn't make sense!"

"It's true," Winter said, placing her hands on her belly, "When a mommy has a baby the baby has to stay protected and grow here for a little bit, before its strong enough to be born."

"Are you kidding?" Autumn said, still looking rather skeptical. Qrow tried to suppress a laugh.

"No, I'm perfectly serious," Winter said. "The baby's here, right now. He's almost strong enough to come out. Then we'll all get to meet him."

Marin reached out in wonderment, and touched a hand to Winter's swollen belly, "A baby is dere?" He asked, and for the first time his voice was perfectly clear.

"Yes," Winter nodded.

"Wow…"

"It's a boy?" Autumn asked, "How do you know?"

"Well, I went to the doctors one day and they were able to tell me when they used a special machine to see the baby."

"If it's a boy what are you going to call him?" Qrow's eyes locked with his wife's. They hadn't really thought about names yet… not really, which was kind of ridiculous because… wasn't naming the baby one of the most important parts of having a baby?

"We haven't picked out one name yet. But we'll be sure to let you know when he's born, okay?"

"Okay!" Autumn said with a bright smile.

"Alright, children," Glynda said, "Lets go see our room and make sure we have all our things organized, okay? We don't want to bother Mrs. Branwen too much, she has to rest so that she can be ready when it's time for the baby to come." Qrow directed Glynda and the kids to the guest room, and then slipped back outside onto the front porch where his wife was waiting. She slid into his embrace easily, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"So, uh… baby names, huh?" Qrow chuckled.

Winter sighed, "Yeah… baby names."

Replies to Reviews:

FeugoFox42: Thanks so much! I'm hoping to explore these new characters later in another... secret... thing that I will begin working on soon. ;) Thanks, I'm working my way through it... D:

SemblanceOfInvisibility: Yes, I can imagine James blames himself for the kids being orphans, of course, with the war being so prominent in their history. Qrow, I think, is always gonna be worried.

Dorngok Sekker: Yesssss! :DDD Ironwitch for liffeeee!

Nina Vale: Aww... I hate it when people say Qrow hates kids because come on! Haven't you seen him interact with his nieces?! It's darling and he's going to actually absolutely fall in love with his son, and then each of his children after that. :)))))) And YES winter is going to mellttt! THAT is going to be a fun scene to write!

Megan T of Sea Doves Sudeo: yas! Jamessss! 3 :D

Akira-Hayama: Yeah! I've always imagined James becoming a dad, but I meant it to be a slower transformation. It's hard to do that in a story that's about someone completely different though. If this were from James and Glynda's POV you'd all see that transformation take place slowly. I'm glad you like the interactions, I hope you liked meeting Autumn and Marin as well?

Galven: lmao, perfect! "suffering from the disease of common sense" ... yup! That's James.

Guest: Augh! Cruel! Usually our quarters don't start on mondays, they start on wednesdays. So this quarter is being rude. :(

Thank you all for the amazing reviews! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! See you next time!

-annawrites