"Yang! It'll be fine! Go and enjoy yourself!" Ruby insisted, pushing her sister down the hall towards the door.

"Are you sure you'll be ok with her?" Yang asked, catching herself before she fell thanks to Ruby's over exuberant shoving and smoothing the creases out of her suit.

"Yes yes, I said I'll be fine a week ago, and I'll say it again now!" She looked Yang seriously in the eye, continuing, "Look Yang, you and Blake have been stressed for months now. I know Aurelia's your first child and all, but I can tell you're dying for just a small break! So as your leader, I'm ordering both of you to go out tonight and enjoy yourself!"

Yang sighed, then smiled. "Ordering me to follow my own advice eh? Alright Ruby, I'll make sure me and Blake have lots of fun tonight," she said with a wink.

Ruby just rolled her eyes. "Besides, Jaune's on his way over, so we'll both be here if anything happens!"

Yang smirked, "Isn't it a bit crass to spend the night with your boyfriend in your sister's bed?"

Ruby blushed, giving Yang a shove out of the door and shouting, "Shut up! Go have fun!"

Yang just laughed, and walked over to the taxi Blake was already sitting in. "Make sure you enjoy yourself too!" she called as she opened the door and climbed inside.

Ruby waved Blake & Yang off as the car pulled away, before closing the door and turning to head up the stairs to the nursery. Opening the door, she heard Aurelia fuss as the sound awoke her from sleep. Ruby cursed herself silently; her niece was a cat faunus like Blake after all. As she walked over to the crib, the baby's amber eyes opened, looking up at her impassively. Ruby smiled down at her. "Hello. Just you and your Aunt Ruby for now." Aurelia continued to stare blankly at Ruby for a few more moments. Then her face scrunched up as she began to wail loudly, her cat ears pressing down into the blonde hair against her head.

"Oh shi-I mean shoot." Ruby reached down into the cot and pulled Aurelia close to her bosom. Far from settling, she cried louder, her tiny hands fisting the blanket she was wrapped in.

"Hey, shhh," Ruby whispered, "Don't cry." Her niece seemed to completely ignore her. "Stupid stupid Ruby," she hissed to herself, remembering how Yang had said Aurelia reacted badly to being woken up when she was comfortably asleep.

Ruby jumped as she heard knocking from the door. With Aurelia still wailing in her arms, she made her way downstairs, carefully maneuvering her niece into a single arm so she could reach out and open the door, revealing Jaune standing on the threshold.

"Oh hey there Rub-" Jaune began but was cut off as Ruby grabbed his shirt, quickly yanking him inside and kicking the door shut. Recovering himself from the sudden movement, he took in the worry on Ruby's face, completely ignoring him as she kept bouncing the crying child around, constantly shushing her.

"Ruby?" Jaune prompted, and Ruby finally turned to acknowledge Jaune's presence.

"Sorry Jaune, it's just that she started crying before you arrived and I didn't want the neighbours to hear 'cause I told Yang I'd be fine and I don't want her to think I can't look after her daughter and I messed this up already!" It seemed Aurelia could sense the panic emanating from Ruby, as she began to struggle and cry even louder. "No no no I'm sorry!" cried Ruby, turning her attention back to her niece.

"Ruby," Jaune said, putting on his stern 'leader' voice. Ruby glanced back at him again. "Hand her to me."

Ruby hesitated momentarily, then gently transferred Aurelia into Jaune's arms. "Saph's given me tips when I've taken care of Adrian," he said as he adjusted her to be comfortable. "Aurelia's younger, but they might still work."

Bouncing the baby around in his arms, Jaune went over to the window, angling Aurelia's face so she could see outside. The new view engaged her attention after a few seconds, beginning to quiet down.

"Hey there," Jaune whispered. "You probably don't remember me, but I guess you can call me your Uncle Jaune." he handed her a toy he grabbed from the table next to him, which she immediately took interest in, her tears slowing to a mere trickle.

Ruby had always known Jaune had a way with children. Either seeing him play with his nephew in Argus or taking care of the schoolchildren in Mantle, he possessed a natural knack that seemed to simultaneously command respect and incite joy in children. However, seeing him calm her niece down in his arms had Ruby enraptured. With Aurelia's golden blonde hair a shade almost identical to Jaune's, she could almost pass for a child of his own. It hit her, with an equal amount of joy and horror, that she wanted it to be her child he was holding. Unnoticed by her boyfriend, she barely suppressed a shudder at the thought.

"Ruby?" she suddenly realised Jaune was speaking. "You're staring. Are you alright?"

"Ye-Yes! Yes, I'm fine!" she stuttered. Clearing her throat, she continued, "Does she need anything?"

"Well she's clean, so we've dodged a bullet there. Do you know if she's eaten?"

"Yang said she'd fed her about an hour before they left. I think she was just upset at being woken up."

"Alright, we'll keep her up a while longer, and we'll probably need to feed her before we put her back to bed."

"Ok, well, what shall we do now?"

Jaune took a seat on the couch. "Well Aurelia seems fine to lie here for now," he said, seeing how her full attention was on the toy in her hands as she tried to chew on it. "Do you wanna pick The Kestrel and the Summer Huntsman back up?"

Ruby suppressed a flinch at hearing Jaune unintentionally invoke her late mother's name, and pushed her dark thoughts aside, as she smiled and sat herself down on the couch, leaning into Jaune's side. "Of course!"

Much later that night, Jaune had finally gone upstairs to put Aurelia to bed. After half an hour, Ruby heard Jaune walk slowly down the stairs and re-enter the living room.

"Is she asleep?" Ruby asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah, she's settled at last," Jaune replied, glancing at the clock. "1am," he said with a yawn.

Ruby leaned back against the sofa. "Kids are hard."

Jaune chuckled as he took the seat next to her, "Yeah, I'm sure my parents can attest to that." However, Ruby didn't laugh in response. "Ruby?"

Ruby's hands were balled into fists, and her eyes were focused on the floor. "Have you ever thought about...you know…?"

"Hmm?"

"Kids?"

Jaune blinked in surprise. Ruby so rarely talked of her plans for the future, especially on things so domestic and intimate. "When you ask if I've been thinking about kids, do you mean if I've thought about…kids...with you?" All Ruby did was nod, as she let in a shuddering inhale. "Ruby? Are you alright?"

"Yes I'm fine, really," she answered. "I just want to know...do you want kids, like, at all?"

Jaune blinked again. "Yeah…?" Ruby was being oddly cryptic with him. He wondered if… "Ruby, do you not want children?"

"No, it's not that!" she said in panic. Jaune made a downward motion with his hand, Ruby catching herself before she spoke loud enough to wake the baby up again. She let out a long sigh. "It's just...you saw how hopeless I was with Aurelia, and she's my niece. You were a natural with her."

"Ruby, that was just today. You've looked after Adrian with me before, and he loves you. I've had to hand him over to Saph or Terra so many times because I don't know what to do. Heck, I imagine Blake & Yang have had to call their parents for advice more than once since Aurelia was born."

Instead of seeming comforted, Ruby shuddered, wrapping both of her arms around herself. Jaune shifted closer, putting an arm around her shoulder. "Ruby. What's wrong? Really?"

Ruby's breath hitched as she struggled to speak. Eventually, she whispered, "I don't want to do what my Mom did."

"Ruby-" Jaune started, but she pressed on.

"I like being a huntress. I know having children won't stop me from doing that. Blake & Yang are gonna go back out with me and Weiss when Aurelia's a little older. And Salem isn't there to threaten people like me anymore." she gestured to her eyes. "But it's still dangerous work. I don't want to let my child grow up without a parent," she finished, looking pointedly at the man who she hoped was still willing to be her boyfriend.

Jaune was frozen with Ruby's openness. His hesitancy in forming anything to say clearly gave a negative message to Ruby, who shuffled away from him, and rubbed her eyes, trying to hold back the building tears that began to roll down her face regardless. "Look, you say you want kids. I'm... just not sure if I do yet. If that's a deal breaker for you, and you don't wanna be with me anymore, that's fine, you deserve to be happy and have the family you want. I'll be fine, you don't need to worry about me-" Ruby's increasingly panicked babbling was cut off as Jaune reached over, cupped her face and pulled her into a deep, loving kiss.

Ruby quickly responded, reaching one of her hands into Jaune's hair, whilst the other moved to mirror the one on her cheek, gently rubbing his face with her thumb.

After a few seconds, but what may as well have been eternity for them, the two slowly moved apart. Jaune looked Ruby directly in the eye, and said with firmness, "Ruby Rose, I love you. I want to be with you, no matter what."

Ruby smiled, her fears melting away. "I love you too, Jaune." She leaned into his touch, the hand on her face gently thumbing away the remaining tears on her face.

"We should still talk about this properly," Jaune said.

"Mhm," Ruby nodded absently. "I just…"

"Not tonight," he interrupted, lying back along the couch, as fatigue and the late hour of the morning finally began to take its toll. Ruby leaned with him, comfortably snuggling into Jaune's chest.

"We should really go sleep in the bed," he mumbled, lethargically running his fingers through Ruby's hair.

"Probably. In a few minutes."

"Yeah...just a few minutes…"

Early next morning, a taxi stopped outside the Belladonna-Xiao Long household, and out stepped Blake & Yang, looking refreshed and glowing in a way they hadn't for months. Waving off the driver after leaving a tip, the pair entered their home.

"So how do you think Ruby & Jaune managed?" Blake asked, as the both of them slipped off their shoes.

Yang shrugged, "Eh, I know Ruby doesn't have the most experience with kids, but she wouldn't do anything that'd hurt Aurelia. Neither would Jaune."

"I'm gonna go and check the nursery. Go make us some tea?"

"You know I'll make myself coffee and nothing else babe," Yang teased, giving her wife a quick kiss. As Blake disappeared upstairs, Yang walked through to the living room, and came to a sudden stop, quickly covering her mouth to muffle the 'awww' that came from it. Ruby & Jaune were fast asleep on the couch, her sister curled into Jaune's chest with a blissful expression on their face.

Just then Blake came back downstairs, with their daughter stirring awake in her arms. "Aurelia was in her crib, but they weren't in the bed-" she began, but Yang quickly whipped her arm out in front of her.

"Shhh," Yang whispered, pointing at Ruby & Jaune. Blake chuckled quietly as Ruby let out a whine, snuggling closer to Jaune, whose arm wrapped tighter around her in response. Blake glanced over at Yang as she pulled out her scroll.

"I'm gonna make sure they don't forget this any time soon," Yang grinned as she took a snap of the scene before her. As she slipped her scroll back into her pocket, Yang reached over with her other hand and ran it down the side of her daughter's face. "Jaune is basically already your Uncle," she smiled, and looked back at her sister clinging to her boyfriend, "But I don't think we'll have long to wait before it's official."

A/N: I made a Bee kid just because Adrian would be too old for when I wanted to set this story.