March 5th

City Of Atlas

United Kingdom Of Atlas

Downtown

1:38 PM

"Aww, how old is she?" One of the other mothers of the group asked Emmett, who, as the only father present, looked rather awkward.

"Just over six months," He said, rubbing his neck with his free hand while the other was keeping Samara sitting up right. "She'll turn one on the thirtieth of September."

"She's adorable," Another woman remarked, waving a hand in front of Samara's face. "Hi, baby."

Emmett was silently cursing himself for thinking that any of this had been a good idea. For the last hour, he had been trying to come up with a reasonable excuse to leave and just take his daughter to pick up groceries or anything else he could devise to do on a Saturday afternoon. Samara had been unamused by the attention the moms of the other children had been giving her, and she had shown little interest in the other kids that had shown interest in her. It seemed that other babies and toddlers poking at her and bubbling with their limited vocabulary annoyed her, given that she had swatted at a few of them before she had begun to contentedly suck on her frozen strawberry teething ring. Emmett would have given anything for his wife to have been with him or, better yet, instead of him but it had been his idea and she had to work. There was no way around it.

"The poor girl must be having a hard time with teething," The first mom said, brushing her hair over her shoulder. "No wonder she's not feeling very social."

Emmett said nothing for a moment, personally believing that Samara had inherited some of the Schnee family psychitity. It was tied directly to their semblance, he knew, and tended to manifest itself in different ways for each family member. He, like his mother, had visions whether they interrupted his day or manifested in his dreams. Cristal and Willow, surprisingly, had both always been highly attuned to the energy around them which he knew was draining on the best of days. Ashlynn had always been tight-lipped about what abilities she had, and none of them had ever wanted to press it. After everything she had endured at the hands of their mother – whom Emmett had never really known – it was the least they could do to allow her privacy. It mattered little, at any rate. He was all but certain that Samara was in tap with energy, like his two other sisters, and it explained a lot. Even Emmeline had agreed with him, after he had managed to explain it in a cohesive way.

"I think she might be overwhelmed," Emmett finally said. "This is the first time she's ever been in a group with more than two or three people her age."

The woman reached over and touched his arm sympathetically. "That must be difficult for you. Are you a single parent too? It would be nice not to be the only one."

Emmett quickly shifted his right hand to be supporting his daughter and very bluntly gestured to his wedding ring on his left.

"I'm happily married," He told her. "My wife's in the military and has to work. Come to think of it, I do too but, since I'm a teacher, I can bring Sammie with me."

She looked disappointed. "I see," She said with pursed lips. "Well, that's nice."

"Nep!" Samara yelled at a little boy who tried to grab her teething ring. "Nep!"

"Sorry," Emmett said, swooping her up into his arms. "I think it might be about her nap time."

"See you next Saturday!" A few of them called, waving at him.

Emmett waved back shortly, mostly out of convention, before he set Samara back in her carrier, pulled her blanket over her bare feet, and buckled her in while she smiled at him and began to suck on her teething ring again. He breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he was out of the townhouse of one of the other parents and he felt even better once his daughter was secure in the car. He glanced back to her and let her pull on his finger for a moment before he buckled himself in and started off towards the store. He knew they needed more laundry detergent, anyways, and he still hadn't picked up what he needed to cook dinner. Feeling more content than he had in the last few hours, Emmett turned up the radio a slight notch and began to sing along to the Vanessa Carlton single they had all heard a thousand times, smiling when he saw his daughter bopping along in her car seat.

"Yep?" Emmett snatched up his buzzing scroll from the cupholder while he was stopped at the light. "I thought you believe I'm a flamboyant little bitch, Ronnie? What is it?"

He sighed. "I shouldn't have said that, Emmett, how many times do I have to apologize?"

He chuckled, glancing back to his still reasonably content daughter before moving again as the light turned green.

"Fair enough," He said. "You are my brother-in-law. So, in the spirit of family, what is it?"

"I have no idea what I'm going to do," He said, his voice getting faster with every word he spoke. "Ella and I found out just this morning that we're going to have a daughter and I know next to nothing about raising a girl, let alone any child in –"

"First, calm down, you make it sound like this is the end of your life," Emmett said pointedly. "Second, I think the two of you will figure things out, if only because the two of have more money than I ever expect I'll see in my life."

"I suppose that's fair," He mumbled. "But not particularly helpful."

"You want to take care of a baby?" Emmett shook his head, hardly believing what he was about to suggest. "Tell you what: I'm lacking in all motivation to do anything tomorrow, so why don't you and Ella come over tomorrow evening and look after Samara while I take my wife out?"

Ronnie considered that. "You'll tell us what to do, right?"

Emmett laughed, fidgeting with his glasses. "I'll leave you a set of instructions and tell you where everything is. That fair?"

"Fair," Ronnie agreed, if a bit grudgingly. "And…thank you."

Emmett smiled to himself. "No problem."

March 26th

City Of Atlas

United Kingdom Of Atlas

Downtown

12:34 PM

President Annabella Sassler stepped into the press room of the presidential manor with her heels clicking menacingly. She knew what she was about to say would, likely, not be received well but she believed she had no choice. It had been just under three years since the assassination of Edward Ciel, and, regardless of the fact that she was running for re-election, she did not believe they had done enough in the war they had begun against the separatists who had been responsible for the attacks that fateful, infamous day. The very thought of them – Sienna Kahn amongst her other associates – made her skin crawl and her blood boil. There was an immensely personal anger behind it, she knew, but she pushed it aside. She had more than enough evidence from the intelligence agencies and the security council to do what she was prepared to. The last week had been a difficult one for her, between both preparation and the knowledge of the implications of her actions, but she had made her decision and would not be deterred from it, not now.

It made her sick to acknowledge that what she was doing would squeeze the poorer parts of the kingdom painfully dry – from Mantle to the deep southern farmers that had all been struggling for years and even to the miners in the midwest or the unstable refineries scattered throughout – but it had to be done. The funds directed towards improving those areas would have to be temporarily set back, and they did not affect the majority of the population. It was true that there were many wealthy families in Atlas, and it was true in the opposite but most of the people were settled comfortably in the middle class and they all needed the security the motion she was about to set forth would provide. The defenses in the kingdom had greatly improved in the last few years, but they had made little progress in tracking down Kahn herself and had only managed to kill a handful of her top advisors and thwart the plans of many of her lower-level separatists. The leaders of Menagerie had signed a sworn affidavit declaring that they would not stand for such violence from their people, but Sassler doubted their effectiveness and power. It had always been set for her to be forced to act, and now she would.

The cameras turned to her and the attention of everyone in the room fell solely in her direction. Her hands were shaking as she reached up to adjust the microphone, and her breathing was still difficult to steady. The words she had well-rehearsed were before her on the podium and yet she was still horribly nervous. This would either be what saved them, or it would be the end of her political career. She had already come to terms with either outcome, but she naturally favored the former. She would not be viewed as a coward by the enemies of the state, and she would not let her people be harmed by them either. She had meant every word of her oath when she had been sworn in and she was prepared to do whatever it took to defend them against all enemies and to uphold their republic. Taking in a deep breath and evening her composure, she nodded shortly to one of her security guards who silenced the murmurs in the room with a single wave of the hand and the cameras continued to roll, anticipating her words.

"It is with deep regret I inform the kingdom that we have made little progress in our pursuit of Sienna Kahn beyond capturing a few of her inner circle and defeating, in armed conflict, lower-level separatists of her group," Sassler began slowly, struggling to seem calm and emotionless. "With that in mind, I have been left with no other option but to declare a state of national emergency. As you all are well-aware, we intercepted transmissions that were verified to be of her inner circle's. Those transmissions gave details of plans for another set of attacks, set against both us and our closest ally: Vale. For that reason, I signed the declaration this morning and have directed the assumed funds to the military. As commander-in-chief, I also am directing are undeployed, active troops to the areas most critical to thwarting these plans. The details, of course, are vital to national security and I am sorry I cannot provide you with more information but please know that I am doing this to prevent another calamity. Peace has been fragile since the turn of the century, I'm afraid, and this was the only option I had left for the time being."

She paused, still feeling a tad nauseated while murmurs of both understanding and dissent began to overtake the room. The noise seemed to be rising by the second, and it only heightened her fears.

"President Sassler, is starting another war really a good idea?" One of the reporters finally said. "We are already on the ground in several provinces in Vacuo, not to mention those we've been tracking down at sea around Menagerie."

"These separatists are steadily recuperating themselves and we have to be prepared to strike back before they act," She said shortly. "If there were a way around it, believe me, I would have sought it by now."

They stared at her for a moment, almost in disbelief, but then nodded respectfully and sat down.

"This may be one of the greatest threats the kingdom of Atlas has faced since the last major war," She said, her hands tightening around the podium. "And that is why this has become necessary. I am not seeking conflict, and it becomes harder to continue every day when I have to see the damage reports, but we cannot stop. We will not let ourselves fall to this enemy or any foe that may arise. We will never surrender to anyone."

But, as much as her affirmation may have eased some of the fears of her people, it did little to ease her own.

April 8th

City of Rishara

Vacuo

Downtown

2:14 PM

"I'll handle it," Rosalinde Varna said, sounding almost bored as she spoke with yet another disgruntled council member through her scroll. "Yes, yes, I know. Bye."

She deftly ended the call and sighed, leaning back against the plush sofa she had in her remarkably swanky rowhouse. She knew they were angry with her for moving some of the pieces into her hands, but her assurances seemed to settle the problems almost as quickly as they arose. She couldn't help but be pleased with herself. The council was as malleable as she had predicted and, even better, they seemed willing to do what she requested so long as she provided a semi-plausible explanation. It was absolute heaven. Everything she had ever wanted was at her fingertips, it seemed, and now she knew exactly what her predecessor must have felt. The people revered her, so far as she could tell, and she had played along well in her false mourning. She had never liked him much, and it had been so easy to dispose of him. He had always prided himself on his intelligence but, evidently, he was not smart enough to evade her own wits.

Rose couldn't stop the laugh from escaping her. She was completely alone, and she could hide her public face for the time being. After all, what concerned her more was dealing with the woman behind her predecessor's disease. The people had no idea she existed, nor that she had forced a grimm host to overtake the last prime minister's body but Rosalinde had it figured out from almost the start. Nobody withered away that quickly unless there was something much more powerful behind it and the fact that there had been no certain diagnosis and no cure proved her suspicions. In her mind, that had meant she had to kill him. He was a threat to the peace that everyone had been taking for granted in the last two decades, and she was not going to let Vacuo be responsible for the downfall of them all. It warmed her to know that not only had she gained power, but she had cut a hole into the Queen's plans. With that behind her, she was certain she could do almost anything. There were no longer any boundaries beyond the group, but she was personally tied not to act too suddenly. She knew none of them were sure how or to what extent they should trust her.

Then there was the matter of Ozpin himself. Rose knew she had long harbored an interest him well-beyond the scope of their professional bounds and it stung every time she saw his wife or daughter. The little girl was a reminder that he did not love her, and she, alongside the ring on her mother's left hand, was living proof of his devotion to Cristal. Rose could see the attraction. She, after all, was highly intelligent, reasonably successful even though she had only started practicing law in the last few years, and she was beautiful. It wasn't hard to find things that endeared him to her. Rose often denied her own thoughts, if only because they made her feel like her mother, but it could be difficult, at times, to not act in contrary to the Atlesian prosecutor, even when she and the others were right. It terrified her through what lay between her skin and bones to think that there was even a hint of her mother in her, and then she recalled the reason she had her powers as a sorceress in the first place. The book. That damn book her mother had always tempted her with had gotten the best of her. It wasn't all bad, she tried to reason, but it was a constant reminder.

Rose hated her mother with all of her being, never-mind that she was dead. Her entire life she had been pushed and prodded into doing things that she had not always wanted to do, and it had all been to either please her mother or become more powerful. What she realized far too late was that the two went hand in hand. Her mother had been clever, and she had been too young to realize that she was being taken advantage of. After she died shortly after Rose's twentieth birthday, the young woman had vowed to be stronger than her beyond the grave. Her mother would never reap the benefits of the few valuable lessons she had instilled in her daughter, and Rose alone would become something of a monarch herself. A benevolent one, she always told herself, but, as time went on, she knew it would be less and less likely to happen in that way. She had to suppress the people who sought to unseat her, and she had to take risks to keep the people in line. Only then would they be able to stand against whatever was to come their way and she would be their savior.

Her scroll began to buzz again, and she glanced to the ID for only a moment before deciding to ignore it. If the leaders of the opposition wanted so badly to speak with her, they could come and find her themselves. She would not give them an advantage over her, nor would she show even a hint of weakness. Her whole life she had been underestimated, and now she was putting an end to it. She would be the woman her mother never could have dreamed possible, even in the woman's most perverse fantasies. Perhaps it was true that she knew nothing of loyalties, and perhaps she did betray the ideals of self-sufficiency and a practically non-existent government valued so much by her people, but she did not care. At the end of the day, what mattered was handling the puppet master and destroying her to the best of their abilities. It would be a long time before they that success, but it would come soon enough and, if she could seduce Ozpin, that would give her everything she had ever wanted.

April 13th

Patch

5:34 PM

Summer Rose immediately pushed herself between Qrow and Tai, both of whom seemed about ready to attack the other. The had been going at each other for about an hour now and, in that time, had somehow not managed to wake up Yang from her late nap and, by some miracle, hadn't broken anything or harmed each other. It was getting ridiculous. She had let them go at first, deciding instead to focus on writing up her report from her last mission but she was sick of it and neither of them needed to end up in the ER with a black eye or worse. They both took a step back upon her shoving them away from each other so suddenly, and a heavy silence fell over the room in which there had been yelling just a moment before.

"I have had enough of your nonsense!" She finally exclaimed, scowling at both of them. "You are grown men and one of you has the responsibility of raising a child! I would think that you were both smarter than this!"

Qrow crossed his arms. "Really, you're taking his side?"

"I'm not taking either of your sides," Summer informed him. "Because both of your sides are stupid! Honestly, Qrow, you could leave Tai alone about his personal life and –"

"Thank you," Tai said, sending Qrow a pointed look. "See –"

"You're not much better!" She said, turning on him. "I will say you're more right than he is, but you shouldn't keep undermining your own point by getting up in arms over this! For heaven's sake, you have a daughter to think about too! This can't just be about you and your girlfriend!"

Tai sighed. "If you think that's the case, then you're wrong."

"Then do explain," She said icily. "Go on. Explain to me why you think it's a good idea to get in a fight with your teammate who is helping care for his niece, who sure as hell isn't going to have an easy childhood at the rate we're going!"

Tai fell silent for a time, guilt bubbling up in him. For the most part, he never let Yang out of his sight, and did everything he could to help her, but he hadn't thought much about the part both Qrow and Summer had in his ability to keep her safe.

"I know I've been difficult," He eventually said. "And I'm sorry if I've taken out some of my stress on the two of you but I am doing the best I can. This is hard enough, what with knowing that Yang isn't ever going to know her mother, and it's certainly not easy balancing my relationship with Elizabeth alongside the rest of my life."

Summer pursed her lips in consideration. "I suppose that's fair."

"Look," Tai said, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. "I'm sorry. If you two need me to try and fix things, I will but it can't be at the expense of Eliza. I'm starting to wonder what would have happened to me if we –"

"Spare us the details," Qrow told him.

"I honestly love her," Tai said, a little stunned by the admission. "And I wish you could understand that."

Qrow eyed him critically. "Alright, how about this," He said gruffly. "For my niece's sake, I will set aside whatever hard feelings I have towards Elizabeth and the rest of Atlas."

Tai nodded shortly. "Okay."

"I still don't understand what you have against Atlas," Summer noted, her tone only a bit lighter. "I know you and Emmett Schnee have developed a…deep and personal loathing…but I don't see why that would apply to the rest of them."

"It applies because Schnee and his entire damn family are the pinnacle of Atlesian entitlement and selfishness," Qrow bitterly replied. "I've lost some good friends because of people like them, Sums, and I don't care if they had a hand in it or not."

She shook her head. "That doesn't sound like a good way to live."

"I don't hate all of them," Qrow reminded her. "I might have disagreements with James and Glynda, but I don't resent them. I don't even have anything against Cristal, but she seems to be an anomaly in that family. I trust the rest of them because I trust Oz…but that doesn't mean I like them in the slightest."

April 27th

City of Vale

11:14 AM

Glynda nearly broke her scroll when she dropped it upon hearing the upset scream of her daughter in the tiny courtyard just outside of their apartment, which, much to her relief, was on the first floor. James was outside with the twins, and it sounded like he was trying to calm their eldest down. She ran, never mind her bare feet, out of the door and into the courtyard in about a minute. As it happened, her eldest was sobbing and pointing accusingly at the grass. She had climbed onto James' leg, and he was holding her steady but she pushed off of him and ran to her mother as soon as she saw her. The little girl tripped, though, and skinned her knee, causing her to cry even more.

"Goosie, what is it?" Glynda immediately picked up her daughter and wrapped her scarf around her bleeding knee. "Caity?"

The little girl was still hyperventilating and curled tightly against her mother, but she was evidently comforted by Glynda's heartbeat.

"She stepped into the grass and then started sobbing," James told her, and Glynda sighed, glancing to Ivy who was more than happily rolling around and enjoying the sunshine and green space. "I couldn't tell you what triggered it if I tried. She just started crying. I've never seen her act like that before, except for when…"

She paused and then shook her head. "You know why I'm worried about her."

"I know," James said, heading over to Ivy. "Ives," He started gently. "Do you know what upset your sister?"

The two-year-old looked confused. "Caity hates grass." She said simply.

"It hurts me…" Caitlin mumbled, her eyes still wet from tears.

"It hurts you?" Glynda repeated, looking at her daughter worriedly. "How?"

"It hurts!" She insisted, starting to cry again.

"Okay, okay," Glynda said, gently rubbing her back. "Shh, honey, it's alright. Do you want to come back inside with me?"

The little girl nodded weakly.

"I'll fix you a snack," She told her, sharing a worried look with James before carrying her back inside. "But you have drink your milk too, okay? Do you want it in the bottle or sippy cup?"

"Cup…" She said, sniffing from the tears.

Glynda set her down in the low-window seat she and Ivy loved to have lunch in and then stepped over to the fridge. She briefly considered warming the milk before putting in the cup but, off a brief glance back at her daughter, decided against it. The two-year-old never had shown much of a preference for whether it was warm or not although, unbeknown to her, concerned both of her parents how little she was willing to eat beyond a small scope. Her allergies, too, were worse in the spring and the poor girl had always had trouble with them. Feeling almost resigned, Glynda pulled the weekly allergy prescription from the cabinet and crushed the pill up before stirring it into the little girl's applesauce. She already knew she would know something was different – it was almost eerie how she could tell when things were changed from her routine – but they had a system.

"It tastes funny again," Caitlin told her, sniffing the applesauce.

"Keep eating it," Glynda replied. "After you finish that and your milk, you can have a mini peanut butter cup, remember?"

It was the best way she had found to handle her daughter in this particular situation and, however much it bothered her, she didn't use it for anything else. Everything else she did with both of her girls was based around reason and explaining why or why not they could do or have something. Her daughter stared at her for a moment but then did so rather quickly. She was slower on her milk, but she was calming down and that was a relief for her mother. She smiled when Glynda sat down beside her and gave her the small sweet, but she didn't go for it right away. Instead, she set it down and curled tightly into her mother.

"You make me feel better…" She said quietly. "Love you, mommy."

Glynda pressed an affectionate kiss to her forehead. "I love you too, goosie."

May 3rd

City of Atlas

Atlas

Downtown

7:29 PM

"I still can't believe you trust Ronnie of all people with your daughter," Cristal said, sending her brother a pointed look. "I mean, really, are you crazy?"

"No," Emmett said, glancing to his sleeping daughter who was more than content in her mother's arms. "It was fine, Chrissy. We tell them what to do and everything. Honestly, it seems like he and Ella bond with her and it's sweet."

"Or he lets Samara mess with him and has given up on caring about it," Emmeline added with a faint smile. "Either way, it was fine. I don't see why you're so alarmed. He is my brother."

"To be honest, I would be hesitant to let him take care of Carleigh," Ozpin admitted. "Although that may very well be because I don't trust anyone but myself or Chrissy to."

Cristal sighed. "I'm just relieved that the spring holidays are approaching so you can come home. I'm starting to feel like a bad mother."

"You're not," He assured her, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Your job is in Atlas and mine is in Vale. I'm home on the weekends and during holidays and that's the best we can do right now. You still talk to her every night."

"She's my baby, though!" Cristal exclaimed, burying her face in her hands and starting to cry. "I'm supposed to…I…"

"Cristal…" Emmeline said gently. "You are not a bad mother. It's not as if you get her to fall asleep by dipping her pacifier in whisky or something. You are just fine."

"No, I'm not," She whimpered, only marginally comforted by Ozpin rubbing her back with his free hand. Their daughter was securely in his other arm and looked caught between concern and confusion. "I can't be, not…not…"

The door to the apartment opened and she glanced towards the door.

"Chrissy?" Willow seemed to hover in disbelief and she slowly shut the door behind her. "Are you okay?"

She said nothing, struggling with what seemed to be too many thoughts swirling around her head.

"Separation anxiety," Emmett whispered to her, and Willow bit her lip. "She's had a rough time between...everything and being slammed with about three different, brutal cases."

"I know," Willow said, twisting her hair in her hands.

"How's Weiss?" Emmett asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "She was a little bundle of energy the last time I saw her, and she's still itty bitty."

Willow laughed weakly. "She's fine."

Emmeline raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I've seen you so much as smile in a while."

"There's no reason not to," Willow replied, hesitantly glancing to her sister. "Chrissy, if there's anything you need –"

"It's fine," She told her despite not fully believing her own words. "I'm probably just overworked and exhausted because of it."

The two sisters stared at each other for a moment in silence.

"Let me take you out tomorrow afternoon," Willow finally said. "You and I haven't had coffee together in a long time, have we?"

Cristal hesitated. "Are you sure you want to?"

Willow scowled. "Do you honestly think I would –"

"Alright, alright," Cristal said tiredly. "Sure. That would be nice."

"You can bring Carleigh, too," Willow put in off a subtle look from Ozpin. "I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with my niece either."

Cristal managed a small smile. "Maybe you're right…maybe things will have a chance to going back to what they were."

"I hope that will be the case," Willow said softly, staring at her hands. "For all of our sakes."