A/N -
Wooooo, I'm determined to get this done before my birthday so with the amount of chapters I want to do it probably won't happen but hey, who knows, I already started writing the next chapter cuz this chapter was just me adding stuff until I was satisfied enough to post it but since the ending was done I could continue
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They'd gotten home that evening.
It was odd, when Tai opened the front door they were greeted by Zwei, who was… Surprisingly okay. They found out the next day after accidentally leaving him one of their neighbors noticed the disappearance and came over to feed Zwei, doing so by legally illegally breaking into their house.
By the next week, the others had gotten there. Raven had it explained that Salem's faction merely infiltrated Shade Academy, got the Sword of Destruction and left.
But, without the knowledge of where the Crown of Choice was, as Ozpin explained through Oscar, both factions were unable to do more. He was knowledgeable of course, but to none of Raven's surprise, he was doing nothing to prevent the discovery of it.
With nothing to do though? Raven gathered the most attention, a baby of course was another spark of hope, maybe a distraction.
And unfortunately that'd started today.
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"SURPRISE!"
Raven didn't like surprises. Waking up and going downstairs to the entirety of Ruby's faction in the living room was peculiar on its own. The baby decorations they carried though? Raven dreaded the awkwardness of the next bit.
"What's this about?" She asked, rubbing her tired eyes.
"We uh, sort of wanted to spend the day maybe starting to convert a bedroom to a nursery," Tai was in the front of the bunch, "So… If that's alright with you?"
Surprisingly, Raven smiled and let out a laugh, not a cold one, but…
It was warm.
"I mean, who am I to stop you guys?" Raven said.
"Wait, really?" Yang said, almost surprised.
"Stopping you would be counterproductive, it'd be better to get this done while we have downtime," She pointed out.
With a mummer of agreement the bundle didn't move.
"So uh… What are you guys waiting for?" Raven asked. Tai was the one to walk up beside her this time.
"Well, we don't know what room we're going to use, since every room is uh… Occupied," He said. Raven raised an eyebrow as the same realization hit her. The duo made an approach up the stairs, taking note of each room.
Their room, Yang's room, Ruby's room, and…
"Well, there's always Summer's old room," Raven said. Tai bit his lip.
"I mean… I don't know… It seems… Wron-"
"You know that brat would tell us to use it if she were here," Raven said. Tai's eyes were down a moment before admitting defeat.
"I hate that you're right about that…" He said. They headed back downstairs and explained where they could do it.
Once that was addressed Raven finally took the time to make her own breakfast. Fruit and tea. The tea was incredibly hot, so the fruit was eaten first. Sitting alone in the kitchen was… Odd. She could hear the footsteps just above her. The only other breathing thing in the room with her was Zwei. He'd been recently fed, and the corgi was wasting no time in scarfing down his own meal.
"Are you going to avoid all the fun today?" Raven was startled by the sudden entrance of her brother.
"For right now at least," She relaxed, leaning back in her seat, finally taking a sip of her tea.
"You should be careful with how much tea you drink," Qrow said.
"It's fine, I'm watching what teas I drink," Raven removed the other hand holding the cup to place it on her stomach.
"Gods it's so weird when you do that," He admitted, pulling out a chair to sit down. Raven rolled her eyes playfully before placing the hand back on her cup and taking another sip of the tea.
. . .
"Do you think you'll be a good mom?" The question was out of the blue. Raven thought on that for a moment before sighing.
"Hell if I know," She said, "I mean, I still remember how Mom and Dad were."
"You do?" Qrow sounded almost surprised.
"I remember what they were like, and the day they left," She said, Raven took a long sip before continuing, "Dad was an Atlesian business man that wooed Mom, and whisked her away from the tribe where they had us. Don't you remember when we were little kids? Living in Mistral?" Qrow shook his head, "Well, one day, when Dad finally convinced Mom to go back to Atlas with him, she wanted us to go to the Branwen tribe, a peace offering if I had to guess."
"I vaguely remember… Did she even want to go?" He asked.
"I don't remember that much, I don't even think she was in anyway against just dumping us out there," She explained, "I know you know that they didn't even like us."
"I wonder if they're even alive anymore," He sighed, "But, that's the past now."
"If you want any sort of reassurance I want to be better than our parents," Raven noted, "And better than I was to Yang."
"You're fully capable of it," Qrow said, "But you'll have to put in a lot of work. I wish Summer was here though, she would've been great helping you."
"Yeah…" She said, her eyes narrowing solemnly, "I miss her. I wish I could've… That I could've apologized for the way I treated her."
"She probably understood that you were coming from a place of untrustworthiness," He reassured, "I don't know how she would've reacted to this though."
"I don't know how she would have either," Raven turned away, tapping her finger on the table. She waited impatiently, thinking of a different subject.
"I'm going upstairs then," Qrow said, Raven stood up as soon as he said upstairs.
"So will I," She said. The twins made their way upstairs, entering the room that was being organized.
"You guys are insane, you know that?" Raven said as she entered. Tai walked over when he spotted Raven, smiling.
"I think they know, you should hang in here, we're just picking up some of the old books and other items that were left in here, we're going to put them in the attic, or Ruby's made her own box of items she specifically wants to keep," He said.
"Alright then," She figured contributing would be nice. She followed Tai to the pile he'd been going through. She took half of it and began sorting through it. A majority of it were books, mostly history books, story books surprisingly, and even a handful of novels.
Summer had been a huge reader. Raven remembered that. As much as Raven didn't like a lot of Summer's morals, one of her favorite things about her was when she'd tell her about the things she read. The raven haired woman never dwelled that much in the fictional words, but hearing it from Summer was nice.
"Do you have any name ideas?" Raven was surprised when Penny came and sat beside her.
Even now she wondered what it was about her that fascinated the former Android so much.
"Uh… No?" Raven raised an eyebrow as Penny placed a book in her lap.
"I figured, I found out Ms. Rose had some interesting name ideas for Ruby," The redhead exclaimed, flipping open to a bookmarked page. It was dusty, but when she wiped away the dust she read some of the names.
"Rosin, Autumn, Poppy…" Raven read the names highlighted on the page, "Fascinating, did you show Ruby?"
"Yes I did, she was particularly fond of the name Dakota," Penny chuckled at the comment, "Anyways, how are you this morning?"
"Good, it's… Interesting going through Summer's old stuff," Raven admitted, "I also didn't it weird we're making this room into a room for a baby that… That I'm carrying. It throws me back to the old days."
"Before all this with Salem happened?" She asked. Raven hesitated to respond, her mouth open to speak words but nothing escaping. She ended up only nodding.
"That said, your ultrasound was yesterday right?" She said, "I think the others would be curious about the photos if you have them."
"Oh yeah," Raven said, "I'll grab them in a minute, but you saw me go I thought you knew?"
"I'd figured I just wasn't sure," Penny exclaimed.
"Alright then, can you take these for a second?" Taking the stack she handed it to Penny before standing up, exiting the room and walking down the hall to her own bedroom.
Opening her bedside drawer she immediately saw the paperwork. Picking it up she reread it all.
'28 week check up'
'Raven Branwen, Age 43, Sex F'
'Patient Notes - Don't use normal mom language with her per her request, be straightforward as possible.'
'Notes from Visit - Baby is developing at a healthy and normal rate, will arrive in around 10 weeks. Estimated due date June 13th - June 20th. Raven is doing well, taking her vitamins, and has been less reckless since arriving here. Take it very easy from now on, things are looking a bit sketchy with you and possibly the baby. No heavy lifting, no excessive caffeine drinking, if feeling sick stay in bed.'
'Status - Light bed rest'
Raven sighed. She grabbed the long string of photos from the ultrasound and stared at them. A little over 2 more months and that baby she was looking at would be in her arms. Originally she was terrified but she'd grown to feel more welcoming to the idea. Just a bit more. She imagined getting to hold them, get to feel the hands she was staring at, their little feet, their eyes…
Raven gasped as the baby kicked inside her. She stood silent before chuckling a little.
"Oh? You know I'm thinking about you don't you?"
"Look at you being maternal again," Tai had appeared in their room. Raven whipped around to shake her head.
"What, I can't laugh at my own baby? They kicked me," She said, "Penny was curious about the photos from yesterday."
"Ah, I'm a bit surprised she's curious," He said.
"I doubt she's held a baby," She shrugged as Tai approached her.
"Well, I can't wait to hold our baby," He squatted down to put his hands on her stomach.
"You're such a damn sap," Raven laughed.
"And? What, I can't be excited about this baby?" He smirked, staring up at her.
"Dear Gods, you being a parent makes me want to barf," Raven snarked.
"I know you like this," He placed a kiss on her belly before standing back up.
"Dumbass," She rolled her eyes walking out of the room.
"You love me," Raven flipped him off at that comment, turning her head around and blowing a raspberry at him.
"I know," He said, Raven entered the room once again and handed the photo reel to Penny.
"Here, 28 weeks," She said. Penny stared wide eyed at the photos for a second.
"Fascinating," Penny handed them back to Raven.
"Ohh, what are you guys looking at?" The other redhead in the room, Nora, had turned around.
"You want to look too?" Raven held out the ultrasound photos, to which Nora snatched from her hands to stare at.
"Alright, it's official, we're making a group bet," Raven gulped at this comment, "LISTEN UP! YOU ALL ARE GOING TO MAKE YOUR BETS ON IF THIS BABY IS A BOY OR GIRL!"
"W-Why would we-?" The blonde boy, Jaune had begun to speak. Only to be cut off by Nora.
"NO QUESTIONS JUST GO TO THIS SIDE IF YOU THINK IT'S A GIRL AND THIS SIDE IF IT'S A BOY!" Nora pointed towards the door side of the room then the opposite end.
A few shoulder shrugs later and the room divided to the sides. 10 people…
And the split was even.
"So you decide to trade me for the idea of them being a boy," The little comments stirred between the two groups. Some more joking, then the threats that almost sounded serious.
Simplicity struck her. It was such a simple bet, on yet such a complex thing. She found herself estranged in that complexity. Raven had sat back down where she had been by this point and was sorting through boxes again.
By mid afternoon they'd finished packing things up, then it was the next step. Decorating.
The essentials were purchased, a few things were arranged to be more useful for a baby, and eventually they crawled back in the attic and grabbed the old crib from 18 years ago. They placed it, and sure enough it was in almost perfect condition.
It was… Almost done by that evening. Raven stared at the room from the door frame that night before heading to bed. Happiness. That's how she felt staring at the little decorations.
Of course she wouldn't admit it.
, , ,
2 weeks.
And a headache.
The two things that could run through her head without it being intercepted by this massive headache she had was her headache itself, and the fact she was due in 2 weeks.
Raven considered it misery now. She didn't mind before, but eventually she'd been put on bed rest due to risks of a potential complication with the baby.
She'd been going insane the past few weeks. The nursery was totally done, so now with no one having anything to do she was often talked to by Yang, who she'd found was an interesting person to speak about philosophy with.
And of course, the questions about the baby were a common topic with everyone else, that of course being left out from Ruby.
"What do you think the baby will be?"
"Are you scared of childbirth?"
"What even is it like to have a kid?"
"What's their name going to be?
It was insane how… How obsessed everyone was about this baby. Except Ruby. She got it, there was literally nothing going on right now, Salem had seemingly disappeared off the radar after the Shade attack.
"How are you feeling this morning?" Raven was sitting on the sofa sipping a cup of tea when the question had been asked by Ruby, who made her mind think of her when she'd walked into the living room.
"Headache…" She mumbled.
"Oh… I hope you feel better, I'll leave you alone," Ruby had begun walking away when Raven stopped her.
"Wait." She said, "I wanted to ask about something."
"What is it?" Ruby turned back around.
"Uh… I was curious about why you've been on edge about grimm, I overheard you and Penny talking about it," She said. She wanted to ask… Something else, but that'd been what came out.
"Oh, it's uh… It's nothing to worry about, just paranoid about my eyes is all!" She lightly chuckled, in an obvious way to indicate she was probably lying.
She didn't have the energy to argue, though. She didn't have the energy to even ask the real question, 'What did she think about the baby?' Her headache was killing her. When Ruby left the room Raven ended up laying down on her side.
A nice light nap would be nice.
And when she woke up she felt the pain of her headache return instantly. Sitting up she stared out the window, likely it was the middle of the day. Despite the dark stormy sky outside. The baby kicked an indication to Raven.
"I haven't eaten today have it…" She mumbled, standing up from the sofa to enter the kitchen. Raven opened the pantry door and stared. Nothing seemed appetizing.
Honestly the thought of eating made her want to gag.
Worry arose in her as she grabbed a pack of saltine crackers. That would be light enough so the baby would at least stop kicking her. She sat down at the table and opened the crackers, taking one and eating it.
At least she liked saltines.
Minutes passed, and Tai had entered the kitchen. He glared down at Raven's saltines and frowned.
"Hey, you haven't eaten really today haven't you?" He said.
"I didn't want to… Sorry, my headache is just putting me out of it," Raven replied, taking another bite.
"That's… Probably not good, hold on let me look up what that could possibly mean," He pulled a chair from the table and sat down, pulling his scroll out to begin typing away.
What was bothering Raven was the oddly uncomfortable feeling her stomach was experiencing. It was light, only a bit of pressure. She'd read that it likely meant the baby was starting to settle into her hips. Fantastic.
Just a few more weeks, and then this whole ordeal could be done with. She would have a baby, maybe a boy, or a girl. Who knows.
"Well, it seems like it could be a lot of things, you could be sick, you could be experiencing some late pregnancy morning sickness if that exists, or you cou-" He paused, staring down at the ground, "God you must be sick if you didn't have the strength to get up and use the bathroom."
"What?" She looked down, noticing the wet splotch on her pants, "That's uh… I don't think that's…"
"Well, then what…" Raven and Tai both looked up into each other's eyes as realization struck them both. Raven felt the synchronization of their faces paling as she muttered.
"My water just broke didn't it."
"I uh… Yeah, I think so."
"That's nice."
"Yup."
"Fantastic."
"Mhm."
Raven bit her lip as she looked back down again. The pain of her head had caused her not to even notice. Standing up she placed her hands on her stomach, not clutching, just laid them on top to settle the thought in her mind. She looked back at Tai who looked internally mortified.
"You know, we probably should call your doctor, because you're not due for a few weeks," He said.
"Uh, yeah…" She said, "You can try-"
She heard a thunderbolt crack as a snapping sound from outside boomed.
And the power flickered out.
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As a wise woman once said "Oops I broke a water balloon"