The next few weeks were filled with things that could alleviate both people's physical and mental stresses.
The physical stress that Ruby's pregnancy bestowed on her was pampered by the quiet comfort of the luxurious hotel room and the rich dining the hotel offered. Mentally, her stress was reduced because of how secure and safe they seemed at the moment. She had no reason to fear for her, Oscar, or her babies.
Oscar, who's physical stress stemmed mostly from his injuries, had completely disappeared after his swift recovery. It was also very helpful that he could rest so much without worrying about Grimm or Salem or any of that stuff.
However, one thing poked and nagged at both their minds quite often was the issue of the rest of the team. They still hadn't heard anything from the remainder of RWBY, JNR, or even Qrow. Ruby frequently brought it up with hope for resolve, but Oscar just nodded along with a sigh.
Personally, he had very little hope at all that they'd contact them again. But he didn't tell Ruby that.
I can't have her stressing out again, not after all the stress she's already had to go through in the hospital, he said to himself nearly every time he dismissed her concerns, I can't tell her that I straight up have no hopes that they'll contact us. She might even get mad...
For now, he just needed to merely keep his lack of hope to himself.
One afternoon, he came back from exploring the grocery stores in the area. He and Ruby had decided that a lot of the hotel's cuisine was fairly expensive, not to mention that it contained lots of salt, fat, and carbs, but not many fresh greens.
When he stepped into the white-lit hotel room, he saw Ruby standing in front of the mirror. She was wearing a white tank top and a pair of black leggings they'd found on clearance at a thrift store a little while ago.
"Ruby, I'm back," he announced, "And yes, I found a store with plenty of fresh watermelon on sale for less than 7 lien."
"Kewl," she said, turning around, "I think I wanna go back to the thrift store again."
Oscar stopped in his tracks, confused. "Wait, why do you want to do that?"
"Because they have such cute maternity shirts!" Ruby said excitedly, "I was just reading in one of the motherhood magazines in the lobby about how pregnancy is a really neat time in life, and that it should be treated like something exciting!"
"Right, right," Oscar sighed, "And getting cute maternity shirts will help you do that..?"
"Mh hm!" Ruby chirped, nodding her head with a beaming smile on her face. Oscar sighed again, but slowly nodded.
"As you wish."
"Yippe!"
Ruby skipped over to him, a bit awkwardly with her big belly, and practically threw herself against him. "Thank you, Oscar!"
Oscar hugged her back, cheeks flushing slightly. The flush deepened a little when she pecked him on the cheek and then made her way over to the closet to change.
"I should probably put something else on..," she mused, mostly to herself. She began rummaging through the closest, though limited in her options, in the hopes of finding something more publicly presentable.
Oscar was still recovering from her amorous gestures. It was strange, because before all the hospital and group shenanigans, she was always so restrained around him, but in the last week or two, it was like she had unraveled completely.
She had asked for him to sleep in the bed with her, to snuggle her a little even, occasionally pecked him and often hugged him.
Things like pats on the shoulder, resting her head on his shoulder, and holding his hand were so frequent, they were almost becoming normal. It was like a dream come true...
"How's this look?" she asked a few minutes later from behind him. He turned around quickly and saw her with the same outfit on, only she had slipped on a light red sweater.
"Looks fine," he said.
Ruby frowned. "You only took a glance."
"Did I need to look at it more closely?"
"Yeah."
"But...why..?"
Ruby rolled her eyes and planted her hands on her hips.
"A lotta times, a single glance doesn't give enough feedback," she explained, "So then a few minutes later, you see yourself in a mirror and say 'Ewwwwwww!'."
"...Right..," Oscar mumbled. At Ruby's more intense glare, he cleared his throat and focused his gaze on her outfit once more. An awkward moment of silence passed as he stared at her, Ruby fidgeting slightly as she began to comprehend her request. Just when she started to feel uncomfortable under his stare, he stopped.
"The sweater fits you well, but doesn't cling so much as to seem attention-calling," he said in an uncharacteristically smooth tone, "It looks proportionate with your torso and upper-hip area, and does well to add character and color to the simple attire you have underneath it. He took a breath after finishing the sentence. "You also look very pregnant."
"Um...okay," she said after several moments of silence, "Thanks, I guess." She turned around and slipped on a cheap pair of crocks they'd gotten at the thrift store. "Let's get going."
"Wait, you want to leave now?" Oscar asked, turning to face her.
"Yeah, obviously," she said, "Did I ever say that I planned on leaving later?"
"Well, no..."
"Then c'mon!"
She practically dragged him out of the hotel room.
After a full hour and a half of trying on and discarding maternity shirts, pants, and other various things, Ruby ended up hooking herself on the infant clothing section. She googled over the tiny onesies, cute dresses, and precious little socks, shoving different articles of clothing into Oscar's face as she marveled over them.
"Oh my gosh, lookit this!" she squealed, holding up an infant-sized formal vest, "This is adorable!" She hugged it to herself before hanging it back up. Then she reached for a sunny yellow colored shirt-skirt outfit.
She excitedly looked at the graphics displayed on it, and suddenly her eyes darkened. Her face fell and her smile melted away, all in one moment. Confused, Oscar poked his head over her shoulder to read the shirt.
"Ruby, what's the matter..," he began. On the shirt, there was a blazing image of a kiddie-art sun, with sunglasses and a mean smile. On it, in all-caps, it said 'Mommy's lil' Firecracker'.
"I miss Yang," she murmured sadly, "I hope she's okay..."
Just then, right then and there, in the middle of the store, she broke down into tears and began sobbing for her sister. Oscar, quite panicked, tried to calm her down. His face burned under the many stares they got from other customers, and he felt the urge to scoop Ruby up and bail out of the store.
A few people asked if she was okay, and Oscar quickly assured them that she was. But to Oscar's horror, Ruby just kept crying. She started weeping for her uncle, her dad, her mom, and all of her friends, bawling that they were probably stiff corpses on the tundra...
Ruby woke up to see the bright white ceiling of the hotel room. It was blinding, so she squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away.
"Ruby?"
Oscar's voice was so wonderful sounding at that moment. She forced her eyes open and slowly sat up with the help of the bedstead, weighed down by her heavy frame. He was sitting by the bed, holding his scroll.
"Oh, hi Oscar," she murmured, rubbing her eyes, "What just happened?"
"Erm...well..," Oscar began, face flushing ever so slightly with embarrassment, "You kinda...freaked out at the thrift store and wouldn't calm down. I don't really know why it got you so hard, but...um...yeah, I kind of just carried you back here...while you were sobbing and stuff..."
Ruby's face became beet red.
"Ooooooh my gosh," she said, whacking her hand to her forehead, "I did...I did that?!"
Oscar silently nodded in reply.
"Hmmoooo!" she cried, falling backwards onto the pillows, "Why did I do that?! I must've embarrassed you so badly! I'm so, so, so, sorry, Oscar! I won't ever do it again-"
She continued to hiss to herself about what an idiot she was and how embarrassing it must've been. Oscar calmly dismissed it and tried to ease her tension, but she continued to apologize over and over again.
How can she be so emotional and insane with all the sleep that she gets? Oscar wondered to himself, Its like she's always sleep deprived...
"It's cuz I'm forming a tiny human!" Ruby shouted in his face, "My body is literally crafting the most complex lifeform on this planet every second of every day! Of course it's exhausted!"
"D-did I say my thoughts out loud..?" Oscar asked quietly.
"You bet you did!" Ruby yelled, "Man, I'm such an idiot! Why'd my parents even bother giving birth to me?! What's my purpose in life, anyway?! Why is Salem so obnoxious?! It's her fault I have no mother!"
"Ruby, Ruby, Ruby..," Oscar said, putting his hands on her shoulders and trying so hard to calm her down once again, "I think you're a little high on whatever's making you so crazy right now. You need to calm down..."
The next thing he knew, he was laying in the bed with a bruise on his cheek and Ruby curled up peacefully on his chest. Her soft breathing was like a lullaby, but he couldn't fall asleep. Probably because it was only two in the afternoon and he wasn't tired. But he didn't dare get up, not when Ruby was so sensitive...
He ended up one-handing his scroll and trying to call each of the members of RWBY and JNR, other than Ruby of course. No one picked up. He sighed, and then called Qrow, ready to throw his scroll onto the pullout couch once his voicemail played for the thousandth time.
"You've reached Qrow Branwen," a recording raspily said, "Don't leave a message, 'cause if you do, I'll have your head. Don't even bother-" Oscar hung up and tossed his scroll onto the couch.
What must've been two hours passed by. It was so calm and quiet in the room, and Oscar had no idea if he had fallen asleep at all or had been awake the whole time. Whatever the matter, he finally eased himself out of the bed with Ruby off of him and stood up.
He stretched some, yawned, and then plopped down on the couch. He felt something slightly hard under him on the cushion, but felt to lazy to move it.
His heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he heard the muffled sound and feeling of a vibration below him. Although it was a very quiet sound, it was sudden enough to startle him to the point of needing to catch his breath.
"Gosh," he panted as he pulled his scroll out from where he sat. When he lifted the vibrating scroll into view, his heart almost leaped through his chest again. But this time, it was out of delightful surprise. Surprise of the identity of who was calling him.
It was Qrow.
In the blink of an eye, he swiped the call button and pressed the device up to his ear.
"Qrow, is that you?!" he asked eagerly.
"Hey, kid," Qrow's voice replied, "I-"
"Qrow!" Oscar rejoiced, jumping up from the couch, "Oh man, you have no idea how long I've waited to get back from you! Are the others alright?! Where are you guys?! Me and Ruby-"
"Woah, woah, calm down, kiddo," Qrow interrupted in his usual calm manner, "First I'm gonna need you to chill out and tell me how Ruby is."
Oscar nodded, despite the fact that Qrow wouldn't be able to see him do so, and shakily exhaled.
"Is she alright?" Qrow asked. The smooth calmness in his voice was incredible. It was also so Qrow-like.
"Y-yeah," Oscar stammered, "She's fine. I am, too...in case you were wondering..."
"That's good to hear," Qrow sighed with relief, "Where are you guys?"
"We're in...um...Okay, I actually have no idea where we are exactly, but we're in a really big city north of the village we were originally headed for. It's a 3 hour drive from there."
"What the..," Qrow mumbled, "Never mind, did you say just north of the village?"
"Yeah."
"3 hours, huh?"
"Yeah. Where are you guys? What happened?"
A long sigh came from Qrow. "Long story short, we didn't make it out. We were, however, spotted by a patrol helicopter after the blizzard subsided. We aren't sure how long we were laying out in the cold, but it wasn't long enough to kill us. We're all alive."
"Oh, I'm so glad," Oscar breathed, "You have no idea how worried we were!"
"I'm sure I do," Qrow replied, "Now, we're back in Atlas at the moment, but we're going to get back out. We have Ironwoods clearance and help this time. We're able to exit on a plane this time."
"Well that's good to hear. When do you think you'll be able to get here?"
"Can't say. Soon enough, I suppose."
"That's great! I can't wait to tell Ruby!"
Their conversation stretched on a while after that. Ruby woke up to hear Oscar on the phone, and confused, she asked who he was talking to so giddily. She couldn't believe her ears when she heard who it was.
"Uncle Qrow?!" she half-gasped, half-shrieked. She practically lunged herself across the bed in an attempt to snag the scroll from Oscar's hands. He instinctively held it away from her, but quickly allowed her to have it a moment later.
Oscar watched in amusement as she chattered on with her uncle. A rosy hue colored her cheeks and accompanied a lively smile. Her joyful expression was hot chocolate for his soul.
Finally, after what must've been a full hour, she hung up the scroll and flopped back onto the bed. Half of her was slumped over Oscar's lap. Her big belly stuck out and touched his chest.
"I'm so happy," she murmured.
"Me too," Oscar sighed.
Then the two of them, after exchanging glances, gave each other a big hug, laughing and cheering out loud. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted from their tired shoulders. Now their minds could be at rest, knowing that their friends were safe and well.
It would appear that their friends are okay. Awesome! Good for them!
So, since I'm really not very active on here, I'm unable to offer up any story advertisements. I don't know people to promote content for and haven't been reading stuff either. So if you want me to promote your story, PM me.
ALSO, this story is nearing its finale. I would like to write a big thank you list on the last chapter. This list will be comprised of all the names of the people who are still reading this story and will finish it. I appreciate you guys, since I'm still an inexperienced young writer. Your support has been wonderful! If you want your name mentioned on that list, PM me or include it in a review. Thanks!
Thanks for reading and tune in for more chapters!