James woke up, alone in his own bed and all but entirely surrounded by quiet.
it had been the first time in a while that he'd been able to sleep even remotely soundly, and as a result he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to make of things. James knew that he was going to get up, go downstairs, and start a pot of coffee for himself to enjoy, but that wasn't going to be a big deal.
He'd mostly be sitting around down there until he had everything that he needed and was medicated and comfortable. Eventually Qrow was going to get up, and James was going to begin going about his day normally and trying to get what he needed to do done.
For some reason, despite the fact that he'd slept fairly well the night before, James was exhausted. It was a thing that clung to his bones and refused to release him. It was tied to a lot of feelings that he didn't want to go ahead and deal with quite yet.
The last day had only served to further a lot of James' confusion, and it left him in a weird limbo that he couldn't quite figure his way out of. It wasn't anyone's fault, it was just a side effect of finally dealing with things. The emotional drain had to be expected, at least on some level, James supposed.
But it wouldn't do to just lie there in bed all day. He wouldn't get anything done if he did, James knew that perfectly well.
Slowly, James climbed out of bed and went about the chore of getting dressed for the day that was ahead of him. While he dressed himself, James found himself staring at a singular spot on the ceiling. He didn't like that it was a part of his routine most days, but he knew why he did it- it was mostly an effort to avoid getting upset when he'd only just gotten up for the day no less than an hour before.
Once James was ready, he took the first step out of his bedroom to see that Qrow had left the door to the guest room open. He wanted to pause there for a second and peer in to see that Qrow was doing alright, but James couldn't quite bring himself to do so.
It felt a little bit too creepy, maybe even skeevy to go ahead and do. No matter how much it reminded him of checking in on his daughter, it felt wrong to go ahead and do such a thing in relation to Qrow. Qrow was a grown man who could take care of himself. James knew that.
So James ignored his instincts and slipped off and out of the hallway and went down the stairs to make sure that he could be comfortable for a bit longer.
Every step was torture in its own way. He could feel his hip trying to lock up with every step down, and James mostly just grit his teeth and tried not to think about it. It wasn't worth it to think about it.
He was just going to end up throwing himself off if he did, after all. He didn't want that to happen. Especially not now.
That wasn't even to mention the fact that his arm was aching, and there was a soreness that began to stretch towards his center. It wasn't going to go away that easily. He just needed to focus on getting his medication into him. If he was lucky, then Qrow was going to make it down after everything had kicked in, and then it would be smooth sailing from there.
At least, that was what James was hoping for. If that wasn't what he got, he was sure that he would be able to deal with it and live with it.
Mostly, he was just frustrated that he was having this bad of a flare of pain so early in the morning.
James took his medications and sat on the couch while he listened for the coffee maker to stop percolating so that he could have something to enjoy while he waited for Qrow to get up. He knew that it was going to be a little bit before that happened, but James could deal with that.
One thing at a time. That was what this morning was going to be.
As the haze of medication began to overtake him, James became less and less aware of the room that was around him, and eventually he was able to hear the sound of Qrow coming down the stairs so that the two of them could spend their morning together.
For a second, James was aware of the fact that Qrow was probably going to want something to eat that morning, but that wasn't such a big deal. That was something that he could deal with.
He let out a long sigh and finally Qrow was in the room with him.
"Hey Jimmy." Qrow greeted him casually before flopping down onto the couch next to him. James couldn't respond in any way other than a pained hiss over the jostling. "I think your coffee's done."
James blinked and stared into space for a moment as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say to Qrow at that. there had to be something, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't quite latch onto a singular thought that he wanted to use or say.
"Right." He finally managed with a grimace. James was about to move when he felt that flare of pain racing towards his center again, and relaxed back into the couch. "Could you-"
Qrow blinked and there was a look on his face that read as nothing more than deep concern. He raised a hand like he wanted to say something, but clearly decided against it as he just decided to stand up and wordlessly fetch James a mug of coffee.
James closed his eyes and relaxed back into his seat a bit further, and had to be broken out of the haze of his mind when he heard the sound of Qrow's voice again. "Have you taken your medication?" Qrow called to him as he poured two mugs of coffee and began to pollute the first with far too much sugar and milk. Far more than he would have liked.
"Yeah." James called back with closed eyes. "Just waiting for it to kick in properly."
Qrow didn't respond. Just took the walk out of the kitchen with the two mugs of coffee and sat down next to James silently, passing off the first mug wordlessly. James took it in his left hand. "You gonna be okay?"
Slowly, James nodded his response and brought his coffee to his lips so that he could relish in its warm, if only for just a moment. "Yeah." He finally said.
"You sure?" Qrow asked, sounding more than just a little bit worried by the entire situation. James couldn't blame him for it. Nobody with even a shred of empathy would go by this without feeling some concern over the whole thing.
As for James, he mostly just needed to be able to get his head clear enough so that he'd be able to go through the day later on. It wasn't going to be easy, and it was going to take some time, but he had to make it happen. He had to wrack his brain for anything that he could say to Qrow, and when words didn't come, all that he could manage to do was nod.
Qrow shifted on the couch beside him- something that James supposed that he probably should have suspected would happen. He watched the way that the much thinner man had to change how he was sitting and re-angle himself so that he could look directly in James' eyes. It was weird, but James didn't want to read into it too much.
After all, this was probably just a case of Qrow trying to get a read on him. Nothing weird or malicious, just a friend doing his best to look out for another friend. That was how Qrow was- he was an asshole, he was a pain, and he spent a lot of time antagonizing people, but James had learned that at the end of the day, Qrow did care about the people that were around him quite a big.
He could always respect that about someone.
"It's just pain." James mumbled finally with a low sigh as he tried to stretch out. Maybe if he could get his arms stretched out at his sides enough, it would help to distract him from the pain that ran down his chest and threatened to seep into his spine and make him feel like he wasn't going to be able to even get up and move. "Really, I'll be okay."
Qrow didn't say anything- all he really did was frown slightly before sighing and relaxing back into the couch himself. He rested in a way so that his back was supported by the right armrest of the couch that the two of them were occupying, and Qrow just folded his legs under him so that he wasn't going to end up taking up too much space.
"So." Qrow began, seemingly unsure about whether or not he even wanted to go ahead and ask James a question. "What even is in the plans for today?" The guy reached up and ran a hand through his hair, forcing it back out of his eyes so that he could feel a little bit more comfortable. "Because it would be really helpful to me if I knew what to be ready for…"
That was a good question. Initially James hadn't really had anything planned for the two of them to do that day- his main concern had been making sure that his home was safe and getting a sense of security back when he'd called Qrow and asked him to come over.
James blinked hard, trying to figure out what he wanted to tell Qrow for a second before speaking up. He didn't know whether or not there was anything to expect aside from the fact that there was going to be a meeting with anyone to look forward to. In theory, he should have gone ahead and tried to get into contact with someone else about the job that Ozpin was planning.
Back before the accident, he'd always talked to Glynda to try and plan things. The two of them had been able to make plans cleanly, but things were different now. Things had changed. Now Glynda wasn't directly involved with planning.
He sucked in a deep breath and then he finally spoke up again. "We might have to expect a meeting with Ozpin." James hesitated as he spoke each word, knowing that he was probably taking a little too long to get things done. "I don't know if we can count on it for sure, but..."
"Do they know that I'm here?" Asked Qrow as he leaned back into his seat. "Because..."
"No." James said after a moment. He knew that he wasn't doing well at playing as though he was feeling confident about things. "They don't know anything about you being here." He blinked and looked away from Qrow for a second. "It might be a good idea for us to try and get into contact with the others while we work on the plans for this job."
"You think they'll be able to help?"
"I think that at the very least, Roman can. And Junior probably." James shifted his position on the couch and closed his eyes, finally feeling like he was starting to get himself back enough that he could actually think things over properly without getting too caught up in his own head. "If we can get her to agree to it, I want Glynda as well?"
"And Winter?"
James paused, sounding a bit like he didn't quite know what he wanted to do. He believed in everyone else that he worked with, but he couldn't make himself quite feel comfortable with everything that was going on. He closed his eyes again. "I'm not sure that Winter should be involved."
Qrow nodded, and James was absolutely certain that Qrow was probably thinking that there was something that he had to worry about. For James, there absolutely was something that he had to worry about. He loved Winter like a daughter, and if they were going to go on this job he wasn't so sure that he wanted to get Winter involved in.
James had a lot of regrets about Winter's involvement in the group. She was just a kid, and she didn't deserve anything that she had to go through. James knew for a fact that she wouldn't have gone through a lot of not for his want to get her away from things, but...
Well, in a lot of ways he'd ruined Winter's life.
He wasn't going to just stop regretting that overnight, regardless of what good had managed to come out of it.
There was a part of James that was completely sure that he was going to die regretting Winter's involvement.
James sighed heavily and drank his coffee, trying to get himself feeling better about the situation. He needed to be able to rest, he needed to get comfortable, he needed to find the best way for them to work with what they had been given.
"Qrow," James asked quietly. "Do you know anything about the banks around Atlas?"
That was going to be a big deal. He was going to have to think of ways to figure out things, but he couldn't do this alone. The last time that he'd gone through with making plans for this sort of thing, the job had gone horribly wrong.
James didn't want a repeat of the banquet where there were multiple people that were in the exact wrong positions for their jobs. He needed to get them all placed and ready, but he had to do it according to what made the most sense for each of them.
At the end of the day, James wanted to just get everyone in and out of this safely, and then he was going to be off on his own to live his own life.
On the couch next to him, Qrow shifted in some discomfort as he tried to figure out what he wanted to do. James lifted a hand and carefully set it down on Qrow's knee. He knew that it was probably a bit too forward, but James mostly wanted that little shred of comfort to get him through the day.
"So, Jim." Qrow spoke up. "You and I have Ozpin showing up to look forward to, but you're asking me about banks now, and-"
"It's a bank." James said. "Ozpin wants us to rob a bank."
Qrow blinked and his red eyes went a little too wide, his mouth dropping open in surprise. "A bank?" He blinked again. "Have you done anything to try and do that sort of thing before? I thought that the banquet was as big as you guys got with work, and now you're talking about banks-"
"Qrow." James said, stopping the other man. He knew that he perhaps should have expected some sort of negative reaction to what he'd said. .He knew that he had a lot to worry about. "Look, we've..." He paused. "We've done this sort of thing before. More or less successfully too." He couldn't have felt those words any more bitterly than he did. He couldn't think of anything that made him feel more upset.
"You've..." Qrow paused. "You guys have done this before?"
"I mean." James hesitated, not sure that he knew what he wanted to say to Qrow. "Yeah, we did. Just that things didn't go so well, is all." He shook his head. "We got the money, and we did pretty well." James closed his eyes. He could almost feel that throb running through his right side again, trying to rip him back away from what was going on make it get worse. He didn't want to tell Qrow what the outcome of things were.
He was sure that Qrow was going to be able to figure it out.
"James…" Qrow opened his mouth to ask a question, unsure of what was going to happen. The man lifted a hand up and set it down on James'. All that James could think was that Qrow's touch was comforting. He didn't want to admit as to what was coming up once Qrow figured out what he was saying. "If you guys have done this before, then…" He looked around the house. "Where did the money go?"
James sighed heavily and leaned back into the couch. "Depends who you ask. Everyone has their own bills to pay. Roman and Junior moved in together, probably put their money into making sure that their three daughters will be able to go off to university and making sure that things are set up in case things go wrong. Not to mention helping keep Junior's bar afloat." He paused. "Winter moved out so she could be on her own, and is paying for her own classes." He thought on Glynda, and couldn't quite say what she'd done with her money.
"Welll." Qrow looked James in the eyes. "What about you?"
There it was. James was going to have to address the elephant in the room once and for all, and he was going to have to hope that Qrow didn't get too upset or read into things too much. "I didn't see a cent of my cut."
"What do you mean?"
James stared down at his hand, where it rested on top of Qrow's knee. "I think you know what I mean, Qrow."
Qrow's mouth dropped open and their eyes met. There it was, on the table. It was likely that Qrow didn't want to say anything else about this, mostly because there was a lot to ask about. A lot of questions that James still wasn't quite ready to answer.
"Oh." He finally said, quietly. "And they want you to go ahead and do this sort of job again?"
"Yeah." James answered, bitterly. "They do."
"And you're going to do it?"
"It's my way out." James said finally, trying his best to hide a grimace. "That's all there is to it."
"So that's it then?" Qrow asked quietly. "Do you even actually trust Ozpin to keep their word about whatever little arrangement the two of you made about this whole thing?" He stared up at James with something in his eyes that was akin to hurt. Something that James didn't want to think about.
He didn't want to hurt anyone with what he was doing
Nobody deserved it.
But the thing was that he didn't actually know how he wanted to answer Qrow's question. He didn't even know whether or not he did actually trust Ozpin about anything. Their absence over the time that James had been working with the group had made it incredibly hard for him to trust Ozpin at all.
But at the last job, Ozpin had come through to help when things had finally gone wrong. It had been tense, but they'd been there to help. They'd come through at the end to make sure that all of them had a way to get back home once the limo was gone.
To some degree, James figured that he trusted Ozpin about what was going on. There was an agreement that had been made, and as long as James followed through with his part of it, he didn't have any reason to think that Ozpin was going to break theirs.
"Yeah." James finally said with a heavy sigh. "I guess that I do."
"You don't sound confident about that, Jim."
"I'm not." James said quietly. "But this is my way out, Qrow. I don't want to let myself get steamrolled because I don't trust Ozpin. My family... Penny and I need this, and right now I have no reason to think that I've been lied to." Another pause. "All I have to do is follow through with my part of the deal."
Qrow swallowed, and it seemed like there was a lot of questions that Qrow still wanted ask. A lot of things that he didn't want to say. "So..." He swallowed nervously. "I guess that means that you think that we should start getting ready for a day of meeting with Ozpin, huh?"
That was kind of it, wasn't it?
James shifted where he was sitting on the couch and began to shift so that he could get up and go ahead and start doing his job. He stood up, though the motion was entirely too stiff. Most of the pain was gone, but he was going to need to be able to take some time to go ahead and loosen up to get through the day.
"Yeah." He finally said, knowing that he didn't sound as confident as he would have liked. "We should."
Qrow sighed and nodded, standing up himself and stretching. "I'm going to use the shower first, okay?"
"Okay." James answered, his voice tight. It meant that he had time to get things done and start making sure that his office was ready for whenever Ozpin showed up for their next meeting.
One thing at a time.
That was how this was going to have to go- one thing at a time.
James was pretty sure he could handle that.
