The snow of early December was all around them as James, Yang, Ruby, and Jorge headed for the bullhead. Yang had at first wanted to spend her time this year at home with her father but this year her father was apparently not going to be home. He was going on a vacation to Vacuo. He had said that he was tired of the cold.

That meant that they could either go to the Arc cabin of they could stay at Beacon with Weiss and Blake who themselves were staying at the school. They tried to hide it but everyone knew it was the budding romance between the two girls and the two former shade students.

"Is everyone packed?" Jorge asked.

'I'm good top," James answered. Ruby opted to simply nod with a smile and Yang said

"I have everything that I need." she was still sad about losing Jaune but she was determined not to let that destroy everyone else. After all, James had lost his whole family and he was back to his semi-chipper self in about a week.

What Yang didn't know was that Jorge had pulled him aside and convinced him that he needed to try and help Ruby and Yang get over Jaune's passing. That was how James had always handled stuff like this with his family and now he found a new one.

That was why James had taken to trying to get a laugh out of Yang at least once a day. It was hard at first. She and Ruby were still really hurt from Jaune but he eventually managed to get her smiling and eventually got them laughing.

The most recent way he had done this was this morning. When they went to James' room in order to get him going and to make sure that he was awake they found him practicing some of his throws with what looked to be a student that he had pulled in from the hallway.

He turned around when he heard them and the room was filled with an uproar of laughter. He had dyed his beard white last night. This was the first time that either of them had seen it and they found it priceless.

That lead them to the Bullhead where James was doing his best to be taken seriously when nobody could see him and not start laughing. With all of their bags on the bullhead, Jorge and James went go take the pilot and copilot seats.

It was a long but pleasant flight that Yang and Ruby spent talking about the new kinds of weapon dust that was being made in Atlas.

When they arrived James and Jorge were carrying the bags into the house when James heard something from inside the house. "Mama Arc a Bullhead just landed," it was a woman's voice but Yang had never heard it before.

James, on the other hand, seemed to perk up instantly. He dropped his bags which only kept from falling by Jorge using the force.

He ran into through the door and almost ran over one of Jaune's sisters. Yang saw him running into the Kitchen and turn to look around the corner. He didn't say anything he just held his arms open with a huge grin on his face.

The same voice they had heard earlier could be heard now screaming. "JOEEEYYYYY" as a woman literally herself into his arms. They spun twice before he set her down his hands smoothly resting on her hips and hers locking around the back of his neck.

"I never thought I'd see you again," James said. His eyes were wide and everyone could see that the only thing he saw was her.

"Neither did I," the woman answered. She was just as lost as he was, it honestly felt awkward for everyone to watch. It was like they were intruding on a personal moment.

Jorge cleared his throat to break the moment. When the two of them turned to see his team he said. "Everyone, this is Alita, my old friend."

"Haa," Ruby laughed. "You two look more than friendly"

James and Alita started to turn red when they realized that they still had their arms wrapped around one another. Even when they separated they were still holding hands. "I met Alita during some traveling I did a few years ago," James said.

Turning back to her he finally seemed to realize that she was a grown woman and as such now had a much more alluring set of curves. "Uhm," he said trying to find the words he was looking for. "You've grownupquiteabithaven'tchu," he stopped himself and managed to reel in his excitement enough to correct his rushed words.

"Sorry," he added rubbing the back of his head. He took his time and made sure to pronounce each syllable properly. "I said, You've grown up quite a bit haven't you," he said with clear difficulty.

Alita reached one of her hands and ran it gently over his beard. "So have you but I didn't think I was gone for that long?" she had a smile on her face as she spoke that showed everyone she knew what had happened.

James laughed lightly while trying to hide his embarrassment. He was about to speak when Yang who was holding in her own laughter managed to ask. "Did she just call you Joey?" it was obvious she was amused at the fact that Alita didn't even know his name.

"Well that is his name," Alita said with the same happy grin on her face.

"His name is James," Ruby added hoping to get Alita up to speed.

"That's right," Alita said with a nod. "His name is Joseph James Nylf,"

At this, both Yang and Ruby raised an eyebrow and looked at James. "She's right," she said

Now Yang does not like to be lied to so she took a step forward and with a fair bit of growl in her voice said. "When did you plan to tell us this JOEY!" she made sure to emphasize his real name now that she knew it.

Before she could get an answer Alita stepped forward placing herself between James and Yang. "Maybe he didn't trust someone who lashes out at the slightest inconvenience," Alita said

Yang was about to answer back when she realized that Alita might be right. In all the time she had known James she hadn't exactly been the pinnacle of self-control.

"That's not exactly true," James said interrupting the two of them once again putting himself in between them. "My grandfather and I share a first name so shortly before I came here I started going by my middle name in order to make it easier to tell us apart. My full name is Joseph James Nylf, but you should all just call me by the name that you know me by."

There was an awkward silence until Alita who had been silent said. "I've missed you," much to everyone's shock she proceeded to pull James into a kiss that resulted in the younger Arc girls and Ruby all pretending to vomit.

That pretending got worse when James left hand slid down Alita's back and got a firm grip on her ass. Not that Alita seemed to mind she actually started to hum happily. Fortunately said hand was then cracked with a wooden spoon resulting in James retracting it and breaking off the kiss.

Taking a step away from James Alita winked before she sauntered off making sure that she added a little more sway to her hips than normal.

James, once he was freed from his trance-like stated looked for who had hit him. He expected to see Isabao but instead, he saw one of the older Arc sisters. The look she was giving him told him everything he needed to know.

She was not amused by him and Alita getting it on in the kitchen. She pointed towards the door. It wasn't clear what she wanted but he knew that she wanted him to go outside. Once outside he found Ren cutting wood.

Ren saw him and motioned to the second ax. And the wood that needed splitting. James set about doing so and almost missed that Yang was walking up behind him.

"So lady killer, do you know what just happened?" She asked in a teasing voice

"That was an experience I hope I never forget," James answered still trying to think straight.

"That was her marking her territory," Yang explained trying not to smile too much at her adorably ignorant friend. She wants everyone to know that you are hers and she just made sure of it.

James wasn't listening and Yang could tell. He was still trying to get his heart rate under control. Shaking her head at this Yang went back inside. After checking on everyone she headed for the training room to work out.

She found Alita down there using the heavy bag. Yang was about to say something when Alita let out a loud yell and preformed a tornado ax kick that destroyed the bag altogether.

Yang was impressed, to say the least. It was clear that she had turned off the aura blockers but Yang had still never seen anyone hit that hard except for the few times she saw her father cut loose on the training bag.

Satisfied with her work Alita tossed the destroyed bag over her shoulder and started for the door. When she was nearly there Yang asked her. "Can you toss me a new one." she meant a new heavy bag from the pile.

With the Remnants of the bag over her left shoulder Alita grabbed a second bag with her left hand before throwing it at Yang.

She tried to catch it but the bag weighed at least 70 pounds. Yang should have been able to catch that with the strength her aura gave her but instead the bag slammed into her and sent her toppling to the ground.

When she managed to get out from under the bag she went to the wall panel and found where the aura dampeners were marked as on. That explained why Yang had a hard time catching the bag. It also meant that Alita had just destroyed, carried away and then threw a second 70-80 pound punching bag ( 100-120 pounds in Earth weight) punching bag without any kind of aura.

It was clear why she had done it. Alita seemed to think that Yang was a threat. She was wrong of course Yang was still having nightmares about Jaune she wasn't going to be looking for anyone.

And if she was it wouldn't be James. He was a good friend but he never seemed to show any interest in her besides the one time that they were both a wreck and trying to distract each other. That being said Yang was going to be careful not to get on Alita's bad side until she could get a better read on her.