A/N: Wow this story has reached 100k views. Never expected it to get this big so thank you all for that. Also two update in the span of a month? Yea probably won't be keeping that pace but we'll see.

For the job count though, I was thinking more of just the jobs at the actual HQ rather than factories of other stuff as those will come later so you are right in that aspect. And yes a good bartender, I have myself done this for some too tipsy customers, would have pushed snacks but that wouldn't have helped the story have a chapter 2 now would it haha. Some bars also don't have food I've found from working there so it can be a hit or miss with that strategy. Yes Blake is a walking stereotype and it's something I loved that they did in the show.

Anyways this chapter will be on the shorter side, around only five thousand words, due to heavy dialogue focus and wanting to focus on two primary dialogues to set up future chapters. Also little warning here this chapter will contain a few curse words and lots of emotions/tears coming from the characters as mother and daughter try to reconcile with one another. On that note enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 11

Beacon Academy

"Alright Weiss, here we are. Let's begin shall we? How about you speak first and then I'll respond and vice versa." Willow said as she took a seat at one of the tables in the classroom showing more calm and confidence than she felt.

"Well then I shall be blunt. Mother you were never there for us, you were always drowning in your own sorrows too busy to help with ours."

"Well it's not like I could reasonably do much Weiss. Jacques had an iron grip and was very controlling as you well know. Not to mention the dictatorial control the man had over the staff. Well, most of the staff. Klein was one of the few exceptions."

"But you could have done something!" Weiss almost shouted as her voice was already on the rise as her frustration grew.

Letting out a sigh Willow just looked at Weiss. "Do you really not think I tried? I did try Weiss and every time the issue only got worse."

"So what, you just stopped trying? Makes sense." Weiss said with a scowl.

"Weiss, you have no idea the burdens I went through to save them from being pushed on you and your siblings."

"Oh sure, like you could ever get your head out of the bottle."

"Dammit Weiss I'm trying to be civil. Must you be so incorrigible? You're reminding me more of your father everyday."

"Well at least he did something." Weiss mumbled under her breath but it was still loud enough to be heard by Willow.

Hearing her daughter say that, the last hope of a calm conversation went away in Willow's mind.

"Oh he did something alright. He beat me every time something went wrong with the company. Whether that be shareholder meetings got too bad poor for his taste or profit margins too low. He would always take it out on me. I was the only thing holding that monster back from taking out on you three kids."

"And you became a drunken buffoon in the process!" Weiss now shouted frustrated at her mother's attempts to act like she did something.

"You would have too if you had to deal with constant physical and mental abuse from your husband and worse the emotional detachment from the three people you tried so hard to protect. Yes I did become a drunk but I tied and DID fix myself. Something you never noticed because you had already written me off as a failure and someone not even worthy of your time. So you know what? Why don't you tell me Weiss, why exactly are you a Huntress in training right now?"

"I am here at Beacon because I proved myself to father." Weiss said a matter of fact tone that reflected her pride in her accomplishment.

"Wrong." Willow said bluntly, causing Weiss some confusion.

"What do you mean? I took his test and I passed. I earned this scar because of it." Weiss said angrily as she pointed to her eye.

"The only reason you were able to even attempt that test is because I told Jacques that 15 is too young for a political marriage, to be someone's pregnant trophy bitch to parade around like they conquered the world. I helped convince him to even give you the chance for a test to attend Beacon. Without that you'd probably be in your second trimester now with some stuck up, arrogant, elitist prick's kid in your stomach while you're stuck in an awful loveless marriage hating every second of it."

"But I convinced him. I told him logical and factual points about how allowing me to attend Beacon would help the company's image." Weiss said, her voice level going quieter as the sentence approached its end.

"Oh I'm sure you convinced him dear. You convinced him to do the thing he already set his mind to." Willow said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"If you were already trying to help from behind the scenes, why couldn't you just be a normal mother and spend time with us?" Weiss said even more angered now that her mother wasn't totally useless, which only made the neglect that much worse.

"You think I didn't try dear? You remember what I said just a minute or two ago. When I tried you, Winter, and Whitley didn't even try to talk back to me. And you were the worst offender. What was it you'd usually say? Was it something along the lines of "Go bother someone else with your drunk antics mother."? Or "I'm busy mother, what could you possibly want?" Or the most used one "Just go back to the bottle and leave me alone mother." Well Weiss, which was it?" Willow shouted the last part, causing Weiss to flinch as she watched tears welled up in her mother's eyes and began to slowly trickle down her face.

"You don't know how many times I tried because you constantly dismissed all of them so don't act like you are the ONLY victim here!"

At least Winter at least tried to contact me if only to refer me to a counselor when she enlisted. Whitley tried to but he was too far under Jacques' grasp to do anything at that point. You though, you have always been the perfect little embodiment of Jacques Gele. The "Oh I'm better than you attitude." And the whole snobby elitist attitude that you grew into oh so well. Your sperm donor would be so proud of you." Willow said scoffing at the last part of the sentence.

"What in Oum's name are you talking about?!" Weiss shouted in response, "I have never done things like that!"

"Oh really?" Willow questioned as she recalled the events of the first day here at Beacon as told to her by Jaune. "And then what do you call your behavior during the first few weeks here?" Willow asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why, I acted in a dignified manner."

"Oh really because Jaune told me all about how rude you were to several of your classmates and how you got upset when people didn't know who you were. Not to mention how utterly upset that a mere child got the recognition of team leader you thought YOU deserved."

"Why do you have to bring up that blond idiot? What he says has no weight in this conversation."

"Like it or not Weiss, he is your stepfather now. And fine. Let's take everything Jaune has told me about Beacon out. Let's instead go to how you treated me when I came to inform you of Jacques' death and how YOU contributed to YOUR classmate becoming YOUR stepfather." Willow said making sure to clearly put emphasis on the you and yours.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked as she struggled to recall what Jaune had told them about his fateful encounter that night with Willow.

"I came in person to Beacon because I think it would be pretty insensitive to my own daughter to tell her over a scroll that her father has died. Although knowing you, you wouldn't have even answered and I would've had to send a scroll message. Now imagine my shock when the first thing my daughter does upon seeing me is insult me and belittle me."

Weiss shrank back a little as she recalled the memory but then righted herself as she stared at her mother who by now had found her groove and made it clear she was going to say her side of the story and the brother gods, Oum himself, or even Jaune wasn't going to stop her.

"So you know what I did afterwards Weiss? I'll tell you I went to the bar and for the first time in almost two and a half years I got plastered. I got drunk as a skunk and when I was there at one of the weakest moments I've had during the last several years there was a handsome young man next to me." Willow said as she recalled the memories from that night she could remember.

Weiss clenched her teeth knowing part of the story.

"And he hugged me. He hugged me gently as I cried my eyes out at my youngest daughter rejecting every aspect of me. And then we drank and we drank as I tried to drown the sorrows of every interaction that had built up over the last four plus years. Every insult, every belittlement by you, Winter, Whitley, Jacques, and even some of the staff." Willow said as tears flowed unhindered from her eyes.

"And so you married the doofus. Congratulations, SUCH a smart move." Weiss said with a roll of her eyes.

"I bet you really wished I didn't because if I didn't I wouldn't be alive right now. You would have your shares in SDC and finally be rid of me. You probably wouldn't have even shown up to my funeral would you? Too busy to stop by, 'just have someone place some flowers on her grave.' That's what you'd say right? Because you've always had so much time for me. Let me tell you Weiss when I was injured and on the brink of death before Jaune brought me back I thought back to all the nights I got too drunk to take care of you three."

Which was all too often." Weiss muttered under her breath not wanting to interrupt.

"And you know the one thing I thought of when my life flashed before my eyes? All the beatings, the broken bones, the makeup covered bruises and cuts that I took trying to make things better for my children? I thought, 'I only wish I popped some Schneelenol and got to spend time with them, rather than getting drunk to deal with the pain. But then as I thought this, the little devil on my shoulder told me, they wouldn't have spent time with you anyway." Willow finished softly as she stood from her seat and began walking to the door.

"Where are you going?" Weiss questioned, "We aren't done here. You responded to me and now I will respond and we won't leave here till we are resolved." Weiss said as she grew louder.

"What are you going to do then? You going to beat me like Jacques did? Hold me in place and scream at me?" Willow said as her hand gripped the door.

"I will make you stay!" Weiss said as a glyph appeared on the door but was then promptly dissipated.

"I control glyphs too, Weiss, or did you forget or did you think the bottle was all I was ever good at?" Willow responded with a smirk as she turned and tried to go through the door only to bump into someone taller and younger than her, and as she looked up she saw a familiar blond face.

A few minutes before that…

"Ah there you are Jaune." Klein said as he finally found the blond knights room with help from a few other students and poked his head in through the ajar door across the hall. "Oh and Whitley is here too."

"Oh hey Klein. Everyone, this is Klein, he's a butler for the Schnee family." Jaune explained to R(W)BY and his teammates.

"Are you one of those super trained secret agent butlers?" Ruby questioned with gasp as she dropped the dog toy she had in her hand much to the corgi's annoyance.

"Shhhh." Klein said with a wink as he glanced at the young girl.

"Anyway Young Master Jaune," Klein said as he turned back to face Jaune. "I fear your presence may be required. The Mrs. and Weiss went to discuss their issues with each other but I feel they might devolve into a shouting match with ultimately someone saying something they don't mean before storming off." Klein said with a sad look.

"Yeah I kind of knew it would if they ever did that. I just didn't think Weiss would take the initiative to start the conversation. From what Willow told me Weiss has been pretty closed off to her." Jaune said as he rubbed his chin.

"I might've had something to do with that." Ruby said as she scratched the back of her head sheepishly much like Jaune sometimes did.

"Oh? Do tell Ms. Rose." Klein said as he looked towards the young reaper.

"Well, after Weiss and Jaune talked I talked with her a little and convinced her to at the very least talk to her mother as you never know what tomorrow might bring.

"Wise words young one. You're going to go far I can tell. Your team is in good hands." Klein said with a smile before turning back to Jaune, "Now I do believe you have somewhere to be boy. Best get to it." Klein said, motioning Jaune to the door.

"Alright I'll be back in a bit guys." Jaune said with a wave to his friends as he exited the dorm room and headed towards the classrooms to find Weiss and Willow.

As he left Nora looked towards Pyrrha with a big grin on her face, before grabbing her and pulling her across the room and out into the hallway. Shortly after another door opening and closing was heard as the duo went into their room.

"Alright you two back to your seats." Jaune said as he placed two hands on Willow's shoulders and turned her around.

"And why are you here?" Weiss asked in her usual cold tone she took towards the blond knight.

"I am here because I heard from Klein what was going to happen and I figured an outcome like this may occur so I am here to mediate this discussion as this a matter between family and like it or not I am family now." Jaune said as he leaned against one of the desks between the duo.

"Now where were you two before Willow tried walking out? Something about Jacques beating Willow if I heard correctly right?" Jaune asked as he looked in between the duo.

"Yes, that is about where I stormed out at." Willow said as she took her seat again.

"Alright let's get facts and feelings out here first. Willow is upset that you, Weiss, won't make any reconciliations with her and Weiss is upset because Willow didn't do much to help her out in her childhood. Did I get that right?" Jaune asked, looking at both of them once again.

"Yes." Weiss answered as she crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

"That is correct Jaune." Willow said from her chair as she looked towards Jaune.

"Ok good. Now that those grounds have been established. How about we address the concerns as I might see them coming into conflict?" Jaune asked, causing Weiss and Willow to look at him with curious looks already.

"Weiss is upset because Willow hasn't done much to help her out in her childhood, equating it to what she sees as neglect. During the early parts of Weiss' childhood, Willow was drowning her sorrows and the pain of mental and physical abuse by Jacques in alcohol. Right?" Jaune asked again.

"Indeed that sounds like what I grew up with." Weiss said as Willow responded to Jaune with "That is unfortunately what happened." as a sad frown graced her face.

"Willow did ultimately pull herself out of that horrible phase though and she kept trying to make reconciliation and become more involved with you and Winter and Whitley even though Jacques was still abusing her physically and mentally." Jaune pointed out.

"That bastard abused me up to the day he died." Willow said as she glanced down at the floor.

Weiss flinched a little hearing her mother say that even though she had seen a few indicators of that over the years.

"Now let's address an issue I think might help everyone understand better. Willow, have you been sobered up from that whole alcoholic phase?" Jaune asked the older woman.

"Almost six years now, why?" Willow answered with a confused expression.

"And how long were you in that alcoholic phase?" Jaune asked again, not looking away from Willow.

"Also about six years." Willow said as she looked down in shame remembering all the wasted time.

"So assuming Weiss is of a similar age of myself that would put her around seventeen or eighteen. Right Weiss?" Jaune said as he now turned his head towards Weiss.

"Yes, I'm seventeen. Where are you going with this?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That means from the time of five years old to around eleven Willow was drinking. Which probably means by the time she did ultimately sober up would be around age twelve give or take right?" Jaune asked as he looked around and saw their heads nod.

"SO that means you had probably already written her off and either rejected or didn't acknowledge her attempts to reconcile because you just thought of her as a drunk and blamed her for allowing what you father had done." Jaune said, causing Weiss to think about this issue some more in her head.

"This also means Willow spent almost a third of Weiss' whole life not living up to the responsibilities as a mother but also she spent another third being what I assume is a good mother up until you were around five right?" Jaune asked the pair as Willow smiled thinking back on the memories of Weiss' early childhood.

One particular Dustmas holiday stood out from the rest as Willow thought back.

Flashback

It was the busy season for most people as the holiday rolled around again. Weiss had managed to get a hold of several copies of a toy magazine and had circled a doll castle in all of them. That was apparently the hot item of the year and despite the efforts of her and several of the staff they still couldn't find one.

Willow decided it would be time to use the 'nuclear' option and instead of going to the stores she would just call the manufacturer herself.

An hour or so of phone calls later Willow leaned back in her seat and smiled happily knowing that her daughter would have the gift she so desperately wanted.

After a few minutes Willow called the other staffers she had trying to find the doll house to let them know one had been found and to thank them for their efforts.

Fast forward a few weeks and it was Dustmas morning as a trio of eager children raced into her room.

After waking her up she went outside into the hallway to see the kids moving to do the same for Jacques before she heard a "It's too early for this, get out." From inside the room as the three kids raced out of the room laughing all the way and being followed by a pillow being thrown at them.

Said pillow was also kept after the throw had missed and Winter said back to Jacques, "If you want your pillow back you'll have to come downstairs." Before the trio of children raced off downstairs followed quickly behind by Willow who was pulling out her scroll to catch everyone's reaction.

As they rounded the corner she did just that, managing to capture the reactions of her three children as they raced towards the present she and Jacques had set out the night before.

As she captured the smiles of her kids as Weiss turned around and led the three kids as they gave hugs to Willow which she returned in kind, with Jacques receiving the same treatment later.

End of Flashback

"See Willow obviously just thought of a fond memory," Jaune said as he gestured to his wife as she was clearly happily recalling a memory. " and I'm sure you can think of others as well Weiss. You both need to own up to the fact that both of you failed in some aspect over the course of this situation."

"I'm not saying you need to have unlimited love for each other but you both need to reconcile with the fact that if you don't take any steps to repair your relationship at all then one day you'll look back and regret not doing it. Now hug it out and at least try to start walking down a new path. Not for the other person and certainly not for me but for you yourself. Now that I finished that long winded rant that makes me sound like Professor Port, I'm going to go wait outside. I trust you two will act courteously." Jaune finished as he began walking to and ducked out the door into the hallway.

"Weiss, I know I failed in my motherly duties for several years in my descent into alcoholism, but I want you to know that I have been trying to make things better and would appreciate it immensely if you were to offer me the chance to repair our relationship." Willow said as she looked towards her daughter.

With a sigh Weiss looked down before she looked back up at Willow. "I'll admit my attitude towards you wasn't very good when you were attempting to reconcile with me, and that it appears my own premonitions of what you were attempting to do all these years were unfounded, so for that I apologize."

"Weiss, you don't know how much I appreciate that." Willow said with a small smile before Weiss spoke again.

"However this will be a long road to forgiveness so don't think everything will be sunshine and daisies in the next day or so." Weiss said as she regained the stern posture she had earlier once again.

"I never expected it to be, I only ask that you reciprocate my attempts at helping make our relationship a more friendly one." Willow said with a smile as she responded to her daughter.

Weiss looked down, before looking back up at Willow once more before repeating the action a few times. Seeing this Willow smiled and walked towards her daughter before wrapping her up in a hug and whispering, "You know we're supposed to be trying to mend our relationship dear daughter. You can ask for a hug."

Weiss simply responded by tightening her grip on her mother.

Jaune smiled as he heard what Willow said to Weiss from outside the door.

On the other side of Beacon however…

Beacon Academy

Team JNPR dorm room

"Alright alright we're here. Nora, what was so important you had to drag me away from everyone as soon as Jaune left?" Pyrrha asked as she questioned her fellow redhead.

"You! You big dummy." Nora answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?" Pyrrha asked, genuinely confused.

"You need to grow a pair of balls and go march down there and claim your man."

"Nora," Pyrrha began with a sigh, "he's hardly my man. Much less anymore after that damn night."

"But he CAN be. You're The Pyrrha Nikos. The Invincible girl. The Pumpkin Pete's Cereal box girl. You are HOT. Go and get him!"

"Nora I appreciate the hype really I do but he's married and he can't break that vow. It's an Arc's promise after all." Pyrrha managed to get out as she was fighting back tears she thought she had held in but in reality were welling up in her eyes.

"Pyrrha, what if he doesn't break his vow?" Nora asked with a smirk, seemingly having some sort of knowledge on marital issues.

"I uh, I don't follow." Pyrrha said with a confused look.

"What if he doesn't have to break his promise but you still get your man?"

"Nora this isn't some stupid Mistralian TV show where one guy gets like a whole harem of ten girls. This is real life." Pyrrha choked out.

"No it's not some crappy tv show, BUT you just mentioned a very key part here." The ginger girl said with excitement.

"I did?" Pyrrha asked, wondering just what she had said that got her so excited.

"You said Mistralian. As you know you, me and Ren are all from Mistral."

"And?" Pyrrha asked, now very confused as to where Nora was going with this.

"WELL," Nora said in her typical manner of it's story time, "Back a few years ago, I was reading some books on laws, specifically marriage laws because I wanted to figure out what was to be done about marriage for two orphans." Nora said before Pyrrha interrupted.

"Wouldn't they just be wed like normal?" Pyrrha asked as she tilted her head to the side in a thinking manner.

"Yes but that's not the point, I wanted to double check anyways. ANYWAY like I was saying before I was interrupted, and I thought Ren wasn't even here… Anyway you know how those always those dumb old laws that are still TECHNICALLY the law but they haven't been used in like forever bc it solved the problem so everyone just forgot about them? Well I found a law saying that under a Mistralian law, you have the right to challenge someone for a spot in a marriage."

"Like challenge as in you take their spot or you become a third wheel?" Pyrrha asked as she began to see where Nora was going with this.

"Winners pick should you win." Nora said before trying to get back to her story, only for Pyrrha to speak again.

"But Nora wouldn't Mistralian laws like that really only apply to Mistralians and marriages formed in Mistral?"

"Technically yes, but I found another law similar to that one, which was seemingly made after a few too many deaths by duel if I had to guess that said if all parties consent then the person can be added onto the marriage." Nora said with a grin.

"That's good news however, the fact is it's still a Valean marriage, not Mistralian." Pyrrha said with a small sigh before a scroll got shoved into her face.

" 'Under International Remnant accords to ease restrictions on flow of information and citizenry the kingdoms of Atlas, Vale, Vacuo, and Mistral hereby decree that all family related documentations to be shared between kingdoms, so that they might speed up documenting people in times of crisis. As such because of holding personal documents it has been agreed upon that these documents can be freely used in matters related to court proceedings civil or criminal in other kingdoms besides the one the citizen resides in.' Signed by the delegates of all kingdoms and officially made law, after the great war?" Pyrrha read before finishing with the slight question as she was unaware of the actual end of the great war as skirmishes still were fought even after the official treaty but this seemed to be around that time frame.

"SEE ISN'T IT GREAT?!" Nora asked as she jumped up and down.

"Nora this law is quite a few decades old, if not more, there's no way this will hold up." Pyrrha said.

"Ah but you see Pyrrha it was never repealed or addressed again. In fact it seems lots of people have forgotten about it as it never got much use after a few decades. Which means it is still applicable." Nora said before yanking Pyrrha off her bed she had sat down on and pushed her towards the door excitedly.

"Now, go shake that booty and win over that Milf that took our glorious leader." Nora said, giving Pyrrha one last push for emphasis.

"Please don't call her that Nora." Pyrrha said as she turned to face the ginger haired girl once more. "Also have you considered Jaune's feelings in this? For all we know he might not even like me." Pyrrha said as the self doubt began creeping in again.

Nora smiled and just walked up to Pyrrha putting an arm around her shoulder, "Pyrrha, honey, baby. Lemme let you in on a little secret. I know Jaune thinks you're drop dead gorgeous, which puts you out of his league. Which is why he never made any moves on you after he got past his deal with Weiss."

"Wait, how do you know this?" Pyrrha asked with a raised eyebrow as she intently stared at Nora's face before Nora moved in closer to where she was whispering in Pyrrha's ear.

"Let's just say I accidentally walked in on Jaune showering one time because he didn't lock the door. I can tell you one thing about it, it wasn't my name he was saying." Nora whispered as she pulled back with a wink before going to the bathroom and shutting the door.

After a few brief seconds, clarity struck Pyrrha in the face like Magnhild. "NORA!" Pyrrha exclaimed only for cackling and a shout of "Go get em girl!" To be heard through JNPR's bathroom door.

It was enough motivation for Pyrrha though as she turned and walked out of the dorm room and headed towards the classrooms as that's where she remembered Klein telling Jaune the other two Schnees were.

"It was time to put my 'Invincible Girl' title to the test." Pyrrha thought to herself as she walked towards the classrooms with purpose.

Back in JNPR's bathroom however Nora had finished getting ready for her shower when she looked in the mirror.

"What?" She asked her mirrored self. "It wasn't MY name Jaune was saying so it's not a lie right?" Nora said before letting out a small laugh and hoping in the shower.

Oh Pyrrha why do I do this to you? Why do I give you hope? Anyway that's another chapter done. Anyway Weiss and Willow mend things a little and get on the path towards normalcy again so that's good for them and Jaune. Maybe it'll make Weiss not as upset about him becoming her new dad. Probably not but he can always hope!

For those of you who read this and celebrate Easter, Happy Easter. To those of you who don't, I hope you have an enjoyable Sunday.

Like always if you have thoughts on the story feel free to leave a review, or even pm me. Any other ideas for this story (or stories in general), comments, or suggestions are also welcome in my PMs. Till next time!