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I was in the kitchen smoking some concentrate and blowing it out the window so the smell didn't linger in my dorm and bother Weiss. I let the burning pleasant amplification of my senses roast across my skull. Weiss came out to join me and saw me smoking. She stared at me long and hard.

"I don't want a smoker around my children. I want you to quit and try antipsychotics again," she informed me.

I was quiet. I set the nail and rig down. I wasn't sure I'd ever pick it up again.

"Nothing? You've got nothing to say to that?" She asked me in a double tap when I remained silent.

"I told you I would give it up if you asked me to," I murmured. "I guess I'm giving it up."

"Just like that? Even with how bad you make finding a good antipsychotic sound?"

"It's pretty bad. I'm not looking forward to it. And there's all kinds of sexual disfunction that can come with these sorts of meds. Premature ejaculation. Inability to ejaculate. Inability to get or maintain an erection. These can all happen and are pretty common on mood stabilizers."

"But you'll still do it?"

"I'd put Diana back together if you asked me to. Make no mistake, this is going to suck, though. Maybe we'll get lucky. I remember the meds they tried me on. Olanzapine, Saphris, Abilify, and Vraylar were their names. We're not starting from scratch again."

"Thank you, Cloud."

"I won't say 'no problem' but I will say 'you're welcome.'"

"I want to start planning our wedding but it's difficult without Ruby. She's going to want to pick out some of the more fun things. Or at least be a part of that planning. I was going to pick several dates and venues and see what she likes. I assume you don't mind?"

"Whatever you think is best is best, darling."

Weiss sighed. "I should have figured most of the planning would fall on me."

"Yeah? Like you don't love it?"

"Maybe I do. That's not the point. I also want to get a budget together."

"I'll give you access to my accounts. Make them our accounts."

"Thank you, again."

"Of course. Have you… have you picked out any names?"

"Names for…?" she trailed off.

"Your children."

"Our children, you mean."

"I meant opposed to Ruby's babies."

"It depends on who they look like and their gender. Citron if they had your hair. Maybe name them after my sister… maybe. If that's alright with you. Or name them after you. Cloud is a pretty name. Maybe Nebel. It's palettable to both of our schemes, so is Mica or Pearle or Opal."

"I'm fine with naming one of them after your sister. I'm a little flattered you'd name them after me. Pearl and Opal sound so sweet as well. In the spirit of naming them after Ruby a little."

"Like I said, Cloud is a pretty name. So is Ruby."

"Would you take my last name?"

"Yes. I'll leave the Schnee's name behind. Let it be dirt for all that I care. My family can have that."

"I take it your family isn't on the guest list."

"Is yours?" Weiss fired back.

"Yeah I'll call my Mother. See if she's interested."

"You dumb blonde," she rolled her eyes at me but she was smiling softly with her pink smooth lips. My gaze flickered from her lips to her eyes. They were so crystal blue.

"I like Pearle and Citron the most."

"It depends on who they take after. They'll definitely have pretty blue eyes from the two of us?"

"You think my eyes are pretty?" I asked.

"Don't be thick. You always had good looking eyes."

"Wasn't good looking enough to get your attention freshman year."

"You were using that fake personality. Very unattractive. I had seen plenty of boys with fake personalities like that in Atlas growing up. It's a hardcore turn off for me. When you let that go that was when you became attractive."

"So you like that I'm honest with myself?"

"Correct."

"Yet you dislike that I hate myself?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"You need to pick one of those two."

"No I don't. I just need to help you see yourself. Allow me to reveal to you those parts of you that you don't know about."

"I'm a criminal."

"Have you broken the law?"

"I've never been caught except in Atlas."

"And that was pardoned."

"I abandoned my post."

"There were extenuating circumstances. You don't give yourself enough credit and you're fast to undermine yourself. We'll work on that. You especially will in therapy."

"Fuck therapy. All they do is ask about your family."

"Tough. You need it."

"Would you like to talk about your family?" I asked. "With a total stranger?"

"This isn't about me." She folded her arms.

"Oh now I see. I was blind but now it's clear. The fog has been lifted from my gaze."

"Shut up," she waved me off.

"No. This is a serious point," I said. "I'm supposed to talk about Salem with somebody I don't know? I'll sound like a lunatic. I'll be locked up in a psychiatric ward and you'll never see me again. How am I going to raise my children from prison?"

"Hospitals aren't like prison."

"You have no idea how bad psychiatric hospitals are. I'm going to have to lie to my psychiatrist and my therapist at which junction what's the point? They can't help me if I'm not honest and they're going to lock me up."

"You said you would do it, has that changed?"

"You're not understanding what you're asking me to do. How am I going to be a father if I'm locked up? How are we going to get married from there? I need you to know what you're really telling me to do."

"You're trying to change my mind."

"A little. Or to reach some compromise. I don't want to spend the rest of my life behind those double locked doors."

"Well I don't want you to either. I want you to get professional help. By well trained doctors and nurses. How can we do that?"

"I'm thinking…"

"I just don't want what you have been going through for you. I want you to have more from life than that. How can I get you real help?"

"I don't think there's anyone who can help me…"

"You need to see doctors. You need a full team working on your mind. You need that, Cloud. I need you to have that."

"Weiss…"

"You can't be around children without serious help. You probably shouldn't be teaching without it and while self medicating on propsychotics. I say this as someone who loves you. You need a team of communicating professionals to be working on you or you're dangerous."

"I am dangerous…"

"You agree, then?"

"I was and am a proponent of the idea that I'm an accident waiting to happen ever since Atlas. I just thought you couldn't see it."

"I can see it. In Atlas you were getting help… or so I thought. I heard Blake's points. She thought you were a ticking time bomb and you were only getting stronger. It scared her, I think. It scared me too. I saw it. When you fought my sister and Blake you destroyed them. I saw why she was afraid but I had hope that you were getting better thanks to those professionals. Maybe things will be different here in Vale. They might not decide to lock you in. Can you see what I want for you?"

"Weiss…"

"I want you to have a whole staff assisting you instead of trying to manage your mind alone. Especially as your condition gets worse. I want you to have as good of a life as you can. And walking around high to numb the pain isn't it. It doesn't work for me. And it won't fly when you're a father. I won't have someone high and experiencing psychosis alone with my babies. And Ruby shouldn't either."

"There's just so much guess work in finding the right meds. And it truly is suffering like you won't believe when you're on the wrong batch. And I'm not crazy. There's nothing to fix. It's not like I'm schizophrenic where I have some bad balance in my brain or because I don't process serotonin or dopamine properly. I have an alien force in my thoughts for real. I don't have delusions and my hallucinations are my Mother pressing my buttons."

"But you can't be taking things that induce psychosis around our children. You're too powerful to be unstable around kids. It's a recipe for disaster. I won't allow it."

I grimaced.

"Let's see what we can find. Maybe you're right. Maybe things will be different here in Vale."

"We can find and afford a private doctor. And a private therapist, someone who is really excellent. I want you to have the best help there is."

"Okay Weiss."

"You're not happy about this, are you."

"No. I'm really not."

"But you must agree I make good points."

"I do. I'm just… I'm just not looking forward to this. It's taken me a while to reach a point with the weed that it doesn't drive me crazy to be on it. Getting to this point wasn't easy and trying to balance the chemicals in my brain like this was hard."

"You fight on this stuff. It impairs you. You're on it all the time. You're high all the time. I'm scared for you."

"This isn't going to go well…"

"I need you to have a good attitude."

"I really don't want to do this…"

"But you'll do it?"

"Of course…" I muttered.

"Thank you."

"Whatever you want, darling."

"Then you'll give up crime as well?"

"I need eyes to see my sisters coming. Especially if I'm going to have a family. They'll be targets for the Arc sisters. I need to know if they're coming to the very best of my ability. That means using criminal contacts."

"Let's see what Ruby thinks."

"No. I need my extra eyes and ears on the ground. I'll give the drugs and alcohol but not this. I have to know if my sisters are making moves. I have to. Think of how disastrous it could be if Saphron caught us by surprise and targeted our children. Seriously consider it. And please reconsider. My sisters aren't a joke. They will kill our children if we give them half an opportunity. I have to have early warning. If more than one of them show up I don't know how to handle it. I can match a couple of them if I come in with an edge but if they ambushed us as a group we would be in serious trouble."

"You won't back down on this?"

"Please don't make me. My sisters scare me and they ought to scare you too. This is just like me giving up drugs to make our family safe. It's exactly like that. I need to be able to see my sisters coming. That means using every single criminal contact I can grab."

"Okay. I still want to talk about it with Ruby. You feel pretty strongly about it despite how deep you are because of it."

"Accidents happen. But I'm handling it."

"I don't like it."

"It keeps us safe. Please. Keeping a network looking out for them is healthy. They would have brought down the satellite if I didn't have early warning against them. It's a problem. They are a serious problem. You have to do better than 'I don't like it.' My sisters will kill you and Ruby. What will I do then? Seriously what will I do then?"

"I'm listening. We'll talk it over with Ruby."

"Thank you."

"On a different note the Beacon dance is coming up…"

"I always wanted to ask you to that. I didn't because I figured you'd say 'no.' Plus there was Neptune."

"And now?" She wondered.

"Now I'm sleeping with you. How nuts is that?" I asked.

She hit me with the back of her hand and giggled a little.

"I think you have to attend," she went on. "As a chaperone."

"What about you?"

"Oh? Are you asking me to the dance?"

"Um…" I felt like the answer to that should be… "yes?"

"I'd love to go with you. Thank you for asking."

I felt dumb.

"You really have to spell things out for me, don't you," I realized stupidly.

"Sometimes. Other times you're incredibly perceptive. It's really very queer. You can pick up my feelings easily enough at times. Then at others you manage to miss the point and I have to drive it home to you."

"Yeah… Ruby had to confess to me first. And you. And Pyrrha," I agreed.

"Any other girls you feel like you should mention?" Weiss asked.

"No, that's it," I responded.

"That's all you know of, sure. As well as Neapolitan. What about the princess?" Weiss pressed.

"You know it's so weird. We had the strangest conversation the other day. The day after you showed up. She was pissed off and asking about you. I couldn't get to the bottom of it and meant to ask you."

"What happened?" Weiss wondered.

"She was angry that I never mentioned you or Ruby to her. Because of our little trio whenever I'd get asked about my love life I would just say that it was complicated and not explain."

"Oh lord. 'It's complicated doesn't' mean what you think it does, Cloud. It means that you're available but not looking for a relationship at the moment. It doesn't mean, 'I'm involved with two girls,'" Weiss said it slowly so I could understand.

"Seems pretty complicated to me…" I trailed off. I still didn't understand. I felt big and slow and just incapable of knowledge.

"You silly fool. The crown princess has the hots for you."

"Unlikely," I disagreed.

"As unlikely as you marrying Ruby and I?" She parsed.

"I'm not engaged to Ruby yet," I pointed out.

She hit my chest again. "You know she's going to say 'yes.' This is what I'm talking about. If I hadn't confessed to you then you would have no idea I liked you. If Pyrrha and Ruby hadn't done the same you would be clueless," she argued.

"That doesn't mean Rosé has it for me," I pointed out.

"Oh? You're on a first name basis with her?"

"We're friends in a queer sort of way."

"She's probably not the only student either," Weiss informed me.

"What?" I wondered.

"Come on. You're smart, talented, powerful, and kind. Plus you're a teacher. A young teacher. A young handsome teacher."

"You think I'm smart and handsome?"

She hit me again. "Stars and stones! Of course I do." That was pretty slick.

"Then what does being a teacher have to do with it?" I wondered.

"What's not to like about authority and knowledge?" She asked rhetorically.

"I'm asking the questions here." And I was. I had so many questions. Just because I was with two girls didn't mean I understood them and I would seriously take all the help I could get. I felt clueless.

"You're dense and you always have been. And I'm starting to think you always will be." Her tone was affectionate and she was giving me this wonderful half smile that made my heart flutter a little. She really was drop dead gorgeous as she looked up at me. That scar just accented her face and gave her this sharpness that was hard to place. She reached up and brushed a hand through my spiky hair and against my scalp.

"In my defense-" I started. I didn't get very far.

"You have no defense. You silly, silly man. You're lucky you're honest."

"Why is that lucky?" I asked. "Pretty sure that's just me. That's not lucky."

"You just go around collecting hearts don't you. You can't help it."

"I don't notice it," I replied.

"Good. Let's keep it that way. Shall we?"

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-WG