A/N - this took so much longer and i think all fics will take a lot longer to write because i have stinky school ugh anyways enjoy
TW FOR MISCARRIAGE PLEASE DO NOT READ IN PARTS WITH / IF THIS TRIGGERS YOU
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"Surely she'd be home by now…" Penny had awaited her wife's arrival in their home for the past twenty minutes. Yet there was no opening to the door. Ruby was supposed to be getting home from dinner with Weiss but there was no sign of her.
Penny sighed, standing up to go back to the living room to wait there instead. Yet the door behind her opened the second she turned around and there Ruby was.
"Penny! Sorry it took so long, Weiss and I had a conversation that uh… Went longer than expected," Ruby said, as she walked in and gave Penny a kiss, "Was your dinner good?"
"Mine was fine, simple home cooking just for me!" Penny smiled, "I might as well ask how your dinner was."
"It was pretty good," Ruby said. The two ended up going to the sofa in the living room to sit down and chat.
"What did she want to talk to you about anyways?" Penny asked. Ruby tilted her head.
"I thought I told you it was me who wanted to talk?" She said.
"Oh, well then if you don't mind me asking, what was it about?" Penny rephrased.
"Well… I uh…" Ruby seemed conflicted, "I do want to tell you I just… I'm not sure because I feel like this question is kind of sudden, and I don't want you to feel like we have to make a decision now, because I've been thinking about it a lot more recently and I'm still not even sure myself." Ruby stayed silent. Far too silent for a few minutes as Penny could tell the brunette was trying to form proper words, "I guess to kind of give an idea as to why is… I just… I guess babysitting all our friend's kids kind of has rubbed off but…"
"Did you ever want a kid?" Ruby asked.
"Huh?" Penny was confused by this question. She'd never really thought about it. The idea had crossed her mind once or twice, but when Ruby had already set the boundary that they probably wouldn't have kids the day of their wedding she never took the time to get too deep into the idea.
"I don't know why it's recently started plaguing me, the idea of us having kids, I mean yes I know I already said I didn't want them but I just… Don't know if I want to miss that chance," She rubbed her hair awkwardly.
"I mean, the thought never crossed my mind that much, I guess because it just… Didn't seem like it'd happen so I just didn't want to long for it," Penny said. She hesitated a moment, "I just know that you never wanted kids because you were worried about huntress work interfering."
"I know, I know. I think just… I started thinking about it when Yang and Blake had Skye," Penny did recall seeing an odd expression on her wife's face the day they'd met Skye, but she didn't think that was it.
"You've been thinking about this for three years?" Penny tilted her head.
"I guess… Not really as much until recently I just… We… I'm not gonna get any younger," Ruby admitted, "I'm 34, if we want kids we'll have to have them… Like around now." Penny thought about it for a moment. Ruby was in fact getting to be a bit older, and… Being honest she did like the idea of a little boy or girl running around the house. It'd lighten up the mood for sure.
"Well… We should probably keep talking about it, but I think it may be a good idea," Penny said, taking a moment to lightly kiss her wife's cheek.
, , , , , ,
Months had passed since then. The conversation kept coming up and eventually they decided they'd at least try. Early on when consulting doctor's they found out Penny was almost completely infertile. Likely because she had a very odd set of genes. The fact she had any genes was lucky for them. So in the end… They only had a few shots.
The first time they held on to hope.
The second time they tried to not get their hopes up too high but they got up high anyways.
The third time they figured third time would be the charm.
It was.
When the doctor had informed them that the procedure had worked and that Ruby was officially carrying their child the two had quickly thrown their arms around each other and cried.
It had nearly been a year since the conversation had started and now it was becoming a reality.
They didn't tell their friends or family. They kept it to themselves. Penny was gentle with Ruby, as Ruby had to also be gentle with herself. Another weird thing with Penny's genes is that everything was a whole lot riskier. Ruby kept herself out of missions and it was easy.
Of course, Penny was worried over Ruby's stress. When suddenly some new virus was discovered and spreading in an odd manner, it plagued her wife's mind. Penny sometimes would wake up to Ruby sitting at the desk and scribbling down notes about things happening as to calm herself.
The Vytal Festival finally rolled around at Atlas Academy and Penny had to be more separated from Ruby. If the public had known by now that Ruby was pregnant she would have called off being a speaker, but they still hadn't said anything.
Everything crumpled one day.
It was the double's round. Penny knew exactly who was going against who. From Beacon was two members of team SONI, Nyla Lissie and Ilie Schnee. Penny bit her tongue when the other duo was announced. Two members of team STRM. She knew the team was good, but it was Tawny she in particular was worried about. She knew the student, being a staff member at the academy. But she also knew from the exact relation between her and Ilie.
Penny was scared this wasn't going to end pretty.
And of course, it didn't. The round ended in such a way the feed had to be cut as soon as it was over. There was a cloth on the ground and Penny was more than shocked, she was angry. Part of her was surprised her wife was nowhere to be seen in the crowd. Nowhere to be seen going up to Ilie and yelling at Tawny.
When she and her fellow Headmistress and best friend Winter had to escort Ilie and Nyla to their temporary dorm they'd run into Summer.
Summer seemed… Upset. Likely at what was happening with Ilie but also something else.
"Penny, you really need to go see Ruby, she needs you right now," Summer had said when she pulled Penny aside. Her heart skipped a beat as Summer rushed over to the three still walking.
/Penny's feet had never ran so quickly before in her entire life. She opened the door to the room the two had been staying in for the Vytal Festival. Ruby wasn't hurt. She only laid in their bed, wrapped in blankets. When she saw Penny run in she'd looked straight to her.
She didn't even have to explain anything when she burst into tears. Penny walked over to the bed and sat beside Ruby, reality set in as she also began to cry.
"They're gone, aren't they…" Penny said. The answer was obvious. Ruby nodded before sniffling.
"I-I'm sorry…" She said, tightly hugging Penny, "I'm so so sorry…"
"It's not your fault…" Penny choked out.
Penny felt as if maybe. Maybe it wasn't possible.
And maybe it would never be possible.
, , , , , ,
"But it is still possible, isn't it?" Ruby had said. It'd been almost 2 years since then. Ruby odd enough had brought the idea of a kid back into the light, "The… Miscarriage… it probably was caused by stress. But that stress is gone now!"
"I know I just don't know if… If it happens again if I could forgive myself for you to go through that pain again," Penny said. Ruby sighed before placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I understand, Penny, but I'll be even more careful, we can tell people," Penny had pointed out already that the biggest flaw with Ruby's pregnancy had been that they didn't tell anyone.
"I… I guess you're right…" Penny admitted. /
And eventually, Penny agreed.
This was the fourth time. Of the tries they had in total according to their doctor, they had around 6. Just this time and two more tries.
Nothing.
Try again.
There was an early miscarriage.
The last time. This was their last chance to have a child that would biologically both be theirs.
Penny did something she hadn't in years. She sat in the window in their home the night before they were to have anything confirmed. She sat in the windowsill and put her hands together and stared up at the starry sky.
She made a wish.
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"Oh… Penny, I don't know, if it's false what are we going to do…" Ruby had been a nervous wreck the entire morning, and now sitting in the doctor's office she'd been rambling practically the entire time, "I know we can adopt or use a sperm donor I just… It's the fact we've been trying really hard for this that hurts."
"I'm really hoping that this time we'll be lucky," Penny said, "Just a ray of hope." With that, the doctor had walked into the room and pulled up a seat and sat down. He wore a mask so they had no idea what he was thinking. Penny stared only at his eyes, which were round.
She prepared for the worst.
He cleared his throat before pulling out a clipboard and placing it in front of the couple.
"Congratulations," Was the only word he said as Penny and Ruby read the results.
It was positive.
Going home they celebrated. It all seemed well.
This might be it.
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It'd been around two months since then. Ruby had been a bit different than her usual self but it wasn't anything terrible. Today though, Ruby and Penny were going to be in Vale with team RWBY for a quick get-together.
They usually did them at Blake and Yang's house because of its convenience. Ruby and Penny arrived before Weiss did, so the two sat on Blake and Yang's sofa while the wives made dinner.
Now the interesting part about them being held at Blake and Yang's was the fact they had three kids. Now, because Luna was 16 she could simply take her younger siblings Dawn and Skye to their grandparent's house if they really needed to leave, but since it was casual the three stayed anyways.
It was odd with Luna being around now. Luna may have been Blake and Yang's biological daughter, but she'd been lost for years, kidnapped and sheltered. Luna only reunited formally with her mom's the year before.
Either way, Weiss eventually arrived. She opened the front door and was quickly greeted by Skye and Dawn running down the stairs to tackle her into a hug. Penny always thought it was sweet how the two seemed to always be enthusiastic and ready for a hug.
Once they'd sat down to eat dinner they'd started catching up. Dawn was apparently going to be starting full-on training with Blake soon, and Weiss was happy to announce that she was moving to vale next year.
When that had been brought up Ruby had been sipping on a glass of milk and almost choked on it. Everyone at the table turned to her, confused by the gesture.
"Sorry, I'm happy for you!" Ruby said. She turned to Penny who nodded, "Oh but we did have to make an announcement." The couple stood up, Ruby placing a hand on her stomach, to which Penny put her hand on top of, "We're having a baby!" Silence.
"I thought-" Yang stammered, "How?"
"We got lucky, this is our last shot so we're really hoping that this goober sticks around," Ruby said. Penny lightly chuckled.
"I thought you hated kids?" Weiss asked.
"I don't, I think I just… It was personal stuff holding me back mostly," She said. Questions continued and Ruby and sometimes Penny were swift to answer them.
Within the next few weeks, Ruby and Penny told more and more people, and eventually, the world was aware of the eventual little one to come.
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"Are you sure it's a good idea for me to be going somewhere when you're so close to being due?" Penny asked. She was currently standing in the bathroom putting on makeup while Ruby laid in bed in the other room. With surprisingly few complications, aside from the riskiness of the pregnancy in general, things had been pretty smooth sailing the entire time. Now Ruby was due to pop in about a week. Penny, on the other hand, had to go deal with business in Mistral for an overnight trip. She'd not wanted to go, but Ruby insisted she'd be fine and that Weiss could come over and keep an eye on her.
"After all, it's not like it'd take that long for you to get back here were something to have happened," She'd said.
Penny still didn't like it. She always was beside Ruby through tough times and she didn't want this to be the one time she missed being beside Ruby. Of course, Ruby's stubbornness managed to convince her to go.
Now Penny was extremely relieved it was just one night. She finished her makeup and walked back into the room. Ruby had stood up by the time Penny was beside her. The brunette pulled the redhead down for a moment and kissed her cheek.
"Now, we eating breakfast, or what?" Ruby let out a giggle, "The little one is pretty hungry." She placed a hand on her very swollen stomach as the two left the room. Weiss was going to be there any minute with their breakfast, and when the doorbell rang Penny shot up and went to open it. Weiss stood with some takeout boxes in her arms as she entered the house.
"I bet you're both hungry, luckily for you I got you both superior meals," Weiss proudly announced setting the boxes on the table, allowing Ruby and Penny to sit down and open the boxes. Penny had pancakes, blueberry pancakes. She was happy at the surprise as she quickly ate.
Once she'd finished eating she quickly grabbed her luggage and headed out the door. She gave a goodbye kiss to Ruby and waved to Weiss before leaving. About an hour or so later she was on an airship. Heading to Mistral.
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She was bored. She honestly wished she'd told Ruby how bored she'd be just so they could've used Ruby's pregnancy as an excuse for her to not attend. But of course, she didn't think of that. The meeting was about the Vytal Festival next year, which was being held in Vacuo at Shade Academy.
She felt a buzz.
They were currently discussing what the guidelines for the festival itself would be when Penny's scroll had started ringing. Embarrassed, she declined the call.
"Sorry about that," She said. She'd wait a minute to silence her scroll entirely as to not be even ruder than she already was being. Winter, who was sitting beside her tapped her on the shoulder and whispered to her.
"You know it might not be a good idea to silence your scroll entirely. If something happens with Ru-" Winter had been speaking when Penny's scroll began ringing once again. She quickly muttered apologizes over and over again pulling out her scroll to silence it.
Only to see Weiss' contact pull up on the missed calls screen, several times.
"Mrs. Polendina-Rose?" One of the Mistral council members had said, looking at her in a disapproving manner.
"Uh… If you'd excuse me for a minute, I really need to see what this is about," She stood up, bowed in apology, and rushed outside the meeting room and called Weiss back.
Weiss was incredibly quick to pick up the dial.
"Penny!" She'd shouted as soon as she picked up, "You might want to get back here."
"Please tell me it's not what I think it is," Penny's nervousness was through the roof.
"Well uh… Yeah, she's in labor, we're about to leave for the hospital I just told Ruby she was not about to go to a hospital in a sports bra," Penny heard Weiss groan dramatically on the other end, "Anyways, please do hurry I'm not sure how much time you have to get back."
"What, has it been happening all morning?" Penny asked.
"Pretty much, Ruby said she's been having a weird ache all morning and it'd gotten bad to the point she'd groaned out loud and I asked her what was wrong and I told her, 'Hey, those aren't weird cramps, you're literally having contractions,'" Weiss said, "Anyways, she's probably almost done getting changed I should go, you should hurry back. Safe travels!" Before Penny could say another word, Weiss hung up. Leaving Penny to run back into the meeting room to grab her stuff.
"I'm so so sorry, I have to go!" Penny said before leaving the meeting room in a fluster. Before she left though, Winter stopped her.
"Good luck," She gave her a soft smile, and Penny smiled back at her friend. She was glad for the support.
Penny was lightning fast to rush back to the hotel room she was supposed to be staying in and grabbing her stuff. Back onto an airship soon, that was what she thought.
Until she saw the delay across the board at the port.
Of all the times airships could be delayed.
She was able to get a ticket, but she had to wait in the terminal for gods know how long.
Her mind itched to call but she felt so bad that she was almost paralyzed. She knew she couldn't do anything about it, but to think of Ruby being in so much pain and her not being there sickened her to her stomach.
But.
She looked onto the brighter side of things.
She was going to be a mom.
Thinking about it to herself calmed her nerves a bit, and in all honesty, she longed for it. As much as she never thought about it before, when Ruby introduced the idea she was ecstatic. She'd thought of all the things they'd do, and Penny was through the roof the entire time. It was wholesome.
Time ticked by, Penny was even more scared to call and see where things were and explain what was going on.
Lucky for her though, Weiss decided to do the calling herself. Penny immediately answered.
"Penny! Hi, sorry, you must be on an airship, do you want me to call back?" Weiss asked when she picked up.
"No, uh… I'm not on one yet…" Penny admitted.
"What do you mean?!" Weiss shouted.
"There's a delay! I don't know what's going on, and I can't do anything about it," Penny said, "I don't know when I'll be there though, is Ruby doing alright?"
"Well… As good as she can be I guess," Weiss said a bit more softly, "Do you want to talk to her? I can video call you real quick."
"Sure, that'd be nice!" Penny did not think it'd be nice, but if she wouldn't be back for a while she wanted Ruby to at least hear it from her and not Weiss. Weiss was quick to request to video call and Penny accepted it.
"Hi, Penny!" Ruby sounded oddly well when she could see her face. Her long hair was tied up in a bun and she sat with Weiss on a hospital bed, Weiss was still holding the scroll.
"Ruby! I'm so sorry things are taking a while, there's some weird delay going on but I'll be there as soon as I can, I promise I'll be there in time," Penny knew she was likely to keep that promise, but she was worried how late that in time would be.
"I'll take your word for it, goober is being a bit slow so you might be fine," Ruby chuckled at her own statement, "Can't believe they'll be here soon though, it's wild."
"Yeah, they're going to be entering one interesting life," Penny noted. She heard a ding from across the port and saw the sign change with flights. The flight to Atlas changed from delayed to boarding, "Oh, the delay's gone! I have to go board, I'll see you soon!"
"Alright, bye, I love you!" Ruby said, waving at the screen.
"Love you too, bye Ruby!" Penny said before she waved to Ruby and Weiss and she ended the call. She grabbed her stuff and headed into the boarding area. Soon enough she was on the ship. Things seemed to be going better.
Within hours the ship landed in Atlas and Penny was quick to find a taxi, she still had lots of time probably. She definitely had time.
Entering the hospital was slightly awkward, considering she'd not been in them much. Penny reached the front desk and asked for Ruby's room number and after a few minutes, she was speed walking down the halls.
What she didn't expect were the blood-curdling screams she heard when she reached the hall Ruby was on. Her heart raced as she rushed to the door, realizing that's where the source was. She took a deep breath and opened it.
Her timing was oddly immaculate.
The door opened and she heard crying. A baby's cry.
She blinked her eyes a few times before processing what she just walked in on. Ruby was laying in a hospital bed, with Weiss right beside her holding her hand. And at the end of the bed were nurses and a doctor. There was also a small screaming infant, which was being swaddled in blankets.
"Ruby!" Penny exclaimed rushing over to Ruby's side and checking on her wife.
"You weren't joking, the little goober decided to hurry it up," Ruby chuckled tiredly. After a few seconds though, a nurse handed the infant over to Ruby. Penny peered at the baby. It was slimy.
"It's a girl," One of the nurses said. Ruby smiled at the announcement.
"I did it," She spoke, rubbing the baby's head with her thumb before placing a light kiss on her forehead.
"You did it, I'm proud, I'm so sorry that I… Was this late," Penny, while happy currently, knew that guilt was soon to come.
"Hey, it's fine, it was kind of quick," Ruby admitted, "At least Weiss was here."
"And I'm glad she was," Penny took a moment to look up at Weiss and nod, "Thank you."
"Well, what's her name?" Weiss asked. Penny and Ruby exchanged a glance before looking back down at the baby girl.
"I don't know yet," Ruby admitted, "We'll figure it out soon!"
"She's beautiful though," Weiss said. Ruby took a moment of silence before laughing.
"No need to try and be nice, Weiss! She just came out of me, she's a little gross looking right now," Ruby chuckled before it turned more nervous sounding, "Holy shit I really just pushed an entire child out of my body…"
"Language!" Weiss snapped.
"Oh, Weiss, you know you probably have said the same thing before," Penny chuckled a little.
"If I did I don't remember," Weiss shrugged.
"Exactly, because you were tired," Ruby pointed out.
"Aren't you?" Weiss said.
"Not really, this mama has been through trauma, you gotta remember that," Ruby said. A wave of silence bounced between Weiss and Penny as they slowly looked from Ruby to up at each other. The silence was broken when the doctor spoke.
"Ma'am, would you like to cut the umbilical cord?" The doctor had asked Penny. Penny had completely forgotten, and it appeared the other two had as well. With a soft smile on her face, she nodded.
Within seconds there was a snip and the little girl was snuggling up against Ruby as she softly spoke now and then. After a few minutes, she was taken back to get fully cleaned up. Penny wanted to go with them, but she decided to make up for lost time and stay with Ruby instead.
She pulled up a chair and sat beside the hospital bed as Ruby retold the events that had happened.
"It was weird because it just… You don't expect it, you know, to feel like that? Weiss had described it but that was a weird experience," She shuddered a little, "It was also… Very painful…"
Time went by again, and soon enough their daughter was back. Ruby was holding onto her, not letting anyone else even touch her baby.
It was kind of odd, seeing Ruby being so maternal.
Though the tables turned when Ruby asked Penny if she'd like to hold her. When Ruby slid the little girl into Penny's arms she melted a little. The little bundle was quiet but sometimes would shift making a little noise.
"She's precious…" Penny rocked her daughter in her arms, "She's just laying there though."
"She's tired, like me," Ruby said.
"Oh, so you admit you're tired?" Penny teased.
"Yeah, if you want to hold onto her for a while I think I'm going to nap…" Ruby yawned before turning on her side, just to turn back immediately, "Not doing that…" Then she closed her eyes.
Weiss wasn't in the room at the moment, so Penny sat alone, with the infant sleeping in her arms.
"You're like a little queen, I bet your Aunt Weiss will spoil you," Penny laughed a little, not too loud as to avoid waking her exhausted wife.
Then it came to her.
"I think your name is Reina…" Penny rocked her a little as Penny realized the baby was opening her eyes.
Silver. Just like Ruby's.
"Reina… It's perfect," Ruby had said. Penny was startled by the response and turned to see Ruby had opened her eye just barely, "What color are her eyes?"
"Silver!" Penny said, lifting Reina up a little and letting Ruby see her eyes.
"They're beautiful," Ruby softly spoke, before she drifted back to sleep.
Penny continued to stare down at Reina, her little silver eyes gleaming back up at her.
"Reina… You're going to have the best life," Penny vowed.
After all.
She was just in time.
And she was here now.
Resting.
Ever so innocently in her mother's arms.
,,,,,,
I
am
having
Reina
brainrot
and
it's
just
Dawn
2.0
please
send
help
ANYWAYS I do genuinely want to just write Nuts and Dolts with Reina because Reina is my precious and I haven't done anything with her aside from writing and a few drawings
If anyone has anything in particular they want to see feel free to suggest it :]