"You're trembling…"

"I'm fine," Ruby protested, before loudly blowing her nose into her umpteenth wad of tissue paper. "Really, don't worry about me, Weiss," she added, before degenerating into a fierce coughing fit. Weiss sighed and pressed the back of her hand to Ruby's forehead.

"You're burning up, Ruby. You're sick. Stay home." she ordered. Ruby stood up quickly to argue, but wobbled a bit in dizziness and sat back down. She blew her nose one more time, throwing the snot-crusted tissue into the wastebasket that was close to the couch she had been laying on all day.

"Ugh, but I can't be sick today! It's the last day of Remna-Con and Spruce Willis is having an autograph signing!" Ruby whined, punctuating each word with thick coughs. "I was going to get him to sign my copy of the Try Hard comic book adaptation, mint condition, first printing! It would probably grade at an 8 or even higher!"

"None of what you said made any sense to me," Weiss admitted, but Ruby just pouted.

"It means that I'm going to miss a once in a lifetime moment because I'm stuck in this mansion with a stupid mutant cold-fever-something-or-other," she cried, coughing between sobs. Seeing Ruby so down and out just broke Weiss' heart. She had planned on taking a rare day off to go to the spa and get a desperately needed manicure and facial, but there was no way she was going to let her Dolt sulk in her own misery.

"Your pass can be used by anyone, right? I have the day off from the SDC and, theoretically, I could go and get that autograph for you…" Weiss said. She barely had enough time to throw up a glyph to block a lunging Ruby from tackling her to the ground. Normally she'd welcome these random love-tackles, but considering her wife was a walking germ factory, she felt it best to keep some distance. "I appreciate the emotion, but you can thank me by eating the chicken soup I prepared for you and getting as much sleep as possible."

"Thank you, Snowflake!" Ruby said as she gingerly made her way back to her feet. "I don't wanna get you sick, so…" she added, blowing Weiss a kiss. Weiss "caught" the kiss in mid-air and placed it against her cheek. She felt silly doing this, but it's something Ruby came up with and so she did it to humor her.

"And while you're at it, please take a shower. I understand you don't feel well, but laying down and sweating all day has not been kind to you." Weiss said, grabbing her car keys.

"Huh? No way, I don't smell." Ruby complained, before taking a quick sniff of her armpit but wrinkling her nose in disgust. "Okay, so maybe I could freshen up a bit…"

"See that you do." Weiss chuckled.

"I love you, Weiss. Thank you for doing this for me." Ruby smiled as she headed up the stairs to the master bathroom.

"I love you too, you Dolt. Now take a shower and get some rest. I'll be home shortly, as this should be easy."

Several hours later and it was not easy, not easy at all. The Atlas Convention Center was a massive building smack dab in the middle of the Atlesian business district. During the days when Jacques ran the company, it was a factory for the SDC to manufacturer GPS tracking chips to be inserted into the skin of Faunus slave workers. When Weiss took control of the company after her father's passing, she had the factory shut down and the equipment sold for scrap. After selling the building to the newly formed Atlesian government at a hefty price tag, it was quickly converted into an all-purpose convention center for corporate meetings, trade shows and this - whatever this was.

Weiss tapped her foot impatiently as she waited in line to get into the convention center, pulling her jacket closer to her chest to block out the biting cold wind of an Atlesian winter. The demand for the Spruce Willis signing was so large that the fire chief was only letting people in small increments. The wind howled and spun swirls of snowflakes into the air, hitting Weiss in the face and getting stuck in her hair.

"The things I do for her…" she muttered to herself.

"Did you say something?" said the guy in front of her, a tall gentleman dressed as some kind of robot that Weiss couldn't identify. His outfit basically consisted of silver glitter spandex, his face painted white, with what looked like dishwashing tubes hot glued to his face.

"Oh no, sorry, I was just talking to myself," Weiss said with embarrassment.

"Are you here for the Spruce Willis signing?" the glittery robot asked.

"Yes and no, I'm not really a fan, but I'm in line for my wife," Weiss admitted. "I honestly have no idea what most of these costumes are." The cosplayer's eyes lit up as he had been looking for an excuse to brag about his costume.

"I'm '6 of 9', one of the deadly Gorg from Star Track!" he beamed. Weiss blinked in confusion.

"That's…good," she said, wishing the line would move faster.

"I went to great detail to design my costume!" 6 of 9 said proudly. "I even watched every single episode he was in and used computer programs to perfectly match the exact shade of white for his pallid skin. It's Alabaster Bone, in case you were curious."

"Terrific…" Weiss muttered, peeking her head around the line to see if it was moving.

"Actually, if you have the time, I'd love to discuss some of my fan theories about how I think 6 of 9 will actually be free of his programming and will team with Captain Ricard to save the Confederation of Planets. Let me just pull up my slide presentation on my Scroll…"

"No, no, that's okay…" Weiss interjected. "I'm sure your argument is very compelling but it looks like the line is finally moving and I'd hate for you to get interrupted." 6 of 9 nodded politely, reluctantly putting his Scroll back in his HeX-Men leather duffel bag. Weiss wasn't bluffing, however, as the line did move and soon the SDC CEO was inside the warm confines of the convention center. The warmth from the industrial heating system pushed the chill in her bones away and she sighed with relief as she unbuttoned her thick winter coat. But that relief was short-lived as the line inside the building was just as long as the one outside. "Well, at least I'm inside now…" she thought to herself. "…can't be any worse than being outside in the cold."

"Dude, I'm telling you, the upcoming Nuclear Swan movie is going to be the bomb!" yelled a loud individual getting in line behind Weiss. He was wearing a tee-shirt of someone called Iron Lantern and smelled faintly of old cheese. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail, a greasy nub hanging limply off the back of his head.

"No, because no one cares about Nuclear Swan! She hasn't been relevant since the Clone Crisis story arc. It completely ruined her character!" his friend argued. A red costumed ninja-like character was on his tee-shirt holding up a taco and a sword. Weiss had no clue who it was and she had no desire to find out. She just wanted to get this autograph done and over, but the arguments between the two were getting more and more heated and obnoxious.

"Nuclear Swan hasn't been a mainstream comic book heroine since the Clone Crisis and you know it!"

"Okay, so the Clone Crisis was lame but we got Scarlet Swan out of it and she's pretty cool!"

"Till they retconned her origin and she turned out to be a mind-wiped servant of the Emerald Elf!"

"But that was such a classic plot twist!"

"It was a cheap tactic to save a lackluster character!"

"Your face is a lackluster character!"

Weiss grit her teeth and tried to block out the noise. Step by step, inch by inch, she got closer and close to Spruce Willis. She tried playing Cookie Crush on her Scroll, she tried texting anyone who would reply, but there was no service inside the confines of the convention center. And of course, she forgot her headphones so there was no listening to her playlist. Weiss was starting to envy Ruby in all of her mucus soaked sorrow because as sick as she was, she was at least away from these two idiots.

Finally, Weiss' turn was here and she breathed a sigh of relief. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her platinum Schnee-sa card to make a payment, only for Spruce to sit up from the card table he was sitting at and wave her away.

"Sorry lady, closed for the day. My time is up," he said, sipping from his expensive bottled water. "I was contractually obligated for three hours and my time is up." Weiss stared at him blankly, her jaw opening and closing several times out of shock before she could process what just happened.

"I…I understand but it's been three hours and one minute, Mr. Willis. I just need you to sign something for my wife."

"She can come back next year if she wants. If you want something special done, you can call my agent," he smirked, picking up his glossy 8x10s and magic markers. Weiss recoiled and thought back on her poor Dolt burning up with a fever and how she went in her place and dealt with a never-ending cavalcade of loud, smelly idiots. Something inside of her snapped and she lunged across the table and grabbed Spruce by his expensive tie and yanked his face down towards her.

"The only thing I'm calling is an ambulance for you after I break every bone in your body!" she snarled. "I stood outside in the freezing cold and remained trapped inside in this prison of BO and nightmares so I could be a good wife and get an autograph! So unless you want to be eating from a straw, you'll sign this comic book and a few of those fancy photos too."

"Uh, security? Help….?" Spruce cried and soon muscular goons in cheap suits were rushing to surround Weiss. But she was ready and cast a glyph using her free hand, putting the crowd into silence. In truth, without any kind of interaction, the glyph was harmless but for a group of people arguing about the merits of Nuclear Swan, this might as well have been a loaded gun.

"Take one step closer and I'll…I'll summon a demon from the….from the Nightmare Realm to uh….eat his soul," Weiss said, coming up with this on the fly. "Now sign the comic and you know what? Give me your tie too. And sign it as well." she ordered, letting go of his tie but still keeping the glyph active. Spruce gulped hard and frantically signed three different 8x10s, the actual comic book, took off and signed his tie and even gave Weiss his expensive Coco Adel designer sunglasses, even though she didn't even ask for it.

"Please don't hurt me…" he wheeked. Weiss stuffed everything into her purse and grinned as she stepped back towards the door.

"No one follows me!" she yelled. "The Demon can smell fear!"

Later, after a frantic drive home in which Weiss checked her rearview mirror several times to see if any police cars were following her, she made it back to Schnee Manor. Twilight was breaking, the sun hanging low in the sky, as the final snowflakes finished falling. Ruby had showered and switched to her black PJs, playing Mortal Wombat on her GameStation.

"Oh hey!" she said cheerfully, her voice less hoarse, but still thick. "How did it go?"

Weiss huffed in exhaustion and unceremoniously dropped her purse on the couch next to Ruby. Fumbling around, she pulled out several autographed 8x10s, the autographed comic, the autographed tie and even an original Try Hard theatrical poster, all neatly rolled up and in a tube. She was going to keep the sunglasses for herself. Ruby's eyes lit up at the bounty and went to lunge for Weiss, but stopped as she remembered the quarantine glyph from last time.

"Weiss! This is incredible!" she squealed, clapping her hands with glee. "I hope this wasn't too much trouble. I heard on the news some crazy lady threatened to summon a demon or something at the Con."

"For you, Ruby, it was no trouble at all."