"I love you, Ruby."
She blinked her sleep-heavy eyes open, straining to see through the darkness. She could barely make out the shadow of Oscar's face right in front of hers. His hand was on her cheek and the corner of her lip felt warm.
"Mrhg," she mumbled, "I love you too." She instinctively placed her hand over his.
"I've gotta go, but I'll be back by noon," he whispered.
"Where are you going?"
"The front desk called a second ago and told me that we had a payment due for this last week." His voice, despite sounding calm, was a bit frustrated. Her eyes had adjusted some to the dark and she could tell he was frowning.
"What? Hasn't that been covered?" she asked, confused.
"That's what I asked, and they told me that apparently Sammy must've had the date a week earlier as 6 months than he thought."
"How much is it?" she asked, "How much is due for payment?"
"About 400 lien," he sighed, "But don't worry. I'm going to ask my manager if he would give me my paycheck ahead of time and explain the situation to him."
A few weeks ago, Oscar had gotten a temporary job at a food market nearby. They were terribly short-staffed, and although Oscar had explained that he would be leaving in a little over a month, they asked to hire him anyway.
"Well, okay," she murmured, "But why are you gonna be gone for so long?"
"He probably wants me to work my shift before he pays me," he replied. "It makes sense, so I can't argue with it. We're not doing anything today, anyway, so it's fine."
"Yeah, I guess..."
"I'm calling your dad to let him know what's going on," he finished, "He'll probably come over soon. I've gotta go, so I'll see you around noon, okay?" He kissed her forehead and smiled lightly at her.
"Okay," Ruby sighed, "I love you."
"I love you too," he beamed. He patted her belly, kissed it, and waved goodbye as he left. "Take care! And please call me if anything happens!"
"I will," she answered, "Bye! Love you!"
After the closed the door, lonely silence filled the room and she got sad again.
The past few weeks had been more somber than sweet. She longed to have her children because of how difficult functioning was, but wished she wouldn't have to deal with the stress of being a mother.
She loved her babies, but fear of the future had tainted her excitement. She felt like Oscar was terrified of the daunting task ahead of him, and worried that Tai wouldn't treat her children like the lovely grandchildren he seemed to be looking forward to.
This had caused her to slip into a state of gray gloom; she didn't leave the room much and spent hours looking out the window or sleeping. The most she moved was when she adjusted herself for any Hicks that decided to intrude on her comfort.
So alone she sat, in the dark room at some early hour of the morning. The electric heating unit on the wall started up and began to buzz. The sound was nice.
She forced herself onto her feet and waddled to the light switch. After several moments of awkward fumbling, she turned on the light. Then she went to the fridge and ate an entire cold pizza for breakfast.
Eating was something she also frequently partook in. The concept of excess weight gain never occurred to her because of how massively huge her stomach was.
After her meal, she loafed around the room until she got tired and then retreated to the couch. There, she practiced channel surfing for amusement.
"Yesterday, the president of Shade Academy in Vacuo found-" a news station reported.
"-your dirty socks?" a cartoon girl scolded, mid-sentance as Ruby had abruptly switched the channel. "Let me tell you- not pleasant!"
*click*
"You oughta be proud of yourself, Harriet! You've done a wonderful job-"
*click*
"-assasinating your great uncle?! What were you thinking?! You should-"
*click*
"Marry me, Rebecca!"
*click*
She sighed and turned off the television. The events had lined up nicely on the channels, but she found none of it funny. Her emotions were dead at the moment to care.
"Ugh, I'm taking a nap," she grunted. For whatever reason, her mood was particularly fowl this morning.
She flopped down onto the bed without even bothering to cover up and closed her eyes. She almost drifted off, until Tai knocked on the door and slipped silently into the room. The knock hadn't been very silent.
"I'm here, Ruby," he whispered, "Are you sleeping?"
"Not anymore, Dad," Ruby muttered darkly, "I was almost sleeping until you came in."
"Oh, sorry about that," he apologized, "Oscar told me to come over and watch you while he was gone. I intended to come over a bit earlier, but uh, I accidentally slept in a bit."
"Mkay," she grunted. She rolled her head to the side and closed her eyes again.
"I brought you some breakfast," Tai said, holding up a plastic bag.
The rustling of the bag was especially irritating to Ruby, and she wanted to tear the thing up and melt it over the heater. Letting out a frustrated groan, she squeezed her eyes shut tighter.
"It's just some breakfast sandwiches from McBonalds, but it's something." He pulled out the sandwiches, individually wrapped in foil. Their maple-eggy scent wafted by Ruby and she wanted to throw up.
"Blech," she mumbled in disgust. She didn't want to hurt Tai's feelings, so she buried her face in the pillows and pretended to not see them.
"What, you're not hungry?"
"Nope. I already ate."
"What'd you eat?"
"Pizza."
Tai chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Such a teenage thing for you to do."
The hum of the heater filled the room when neither of them spoke. Tai glanced around the room, slightly awkwardly, before unwrapping one of the sandwiches and taking a bite.
"Ack, could you eat those somewhere else?" Ruby asked, muffled from the pillows.
"Uh, sure?" Tai replied, confused, "Where, in the hallway?"
"Or the lobby, or outside, or in the closet," Ruby mumbled, "I hate how they smell, no offense."
"Ah, I understand," Tai said quickly, "I'll just eat them in the lobby, then."
"'kay, thanks."
"Yep."
And with that, Tai left her alone in the room. The semi-sweet smell gradually faded after he had left and she allowed herself to breathe freely again. And then she got sad because no one was with her.
She wasn't sure how much time has passed when her scroll vibrated.
Are you alright if I run a few errands? Tai had texted from the lobby, I won't be long and Oscar should get home in about three hours.
Sure, Ruby responded nonchalantly, 👍
Great, see you soon. Love you! came his reply.
Ruby let her scroll fall of the side of the bed as she resorted to napping again. Her babies shifted in her stomach, as if demanding movement. But Ruby felt tired and lazy, so she rubbed her belly and went to sleep.
In her dream, she was going swimming with her friends. She was younger, they all were, and they were at Beacon. The sunshine and smiling as so wonderful, she thought she would cry. They splashed around in the cool pool, eating ice cream and drinking soda...
Then she woke up.
She glanced around and realized where she was, then frowned. She was by herself in the room, with Oscar at work and Tai running errands somewhere. What a dull time!
What confused her was why, despite how swimming had been a dream, her bed and lower robe were all wet. Still warm, the liquid had made her sleeping area quite uncomfortable.
"Did I seriously just..?" she sighed. Now she was glad that she was alone.
She picked herself up off the bed and landed somewhat wobbly to her feet. Just when she had taken a step forwards, a gentle trickle of liquid began to run down her legs and onto the carpet.
This most certainly wasn't what she had thought it to be.
"Oh my g..!" she stammered, freezing, "Did...is that...am I..?!"
She waddled to the door, dripping stuff on the carpet all the way, and slammed the door open.
"DAD!" she screamed.
Then she remembered that he wasn't in the lobby. She hurried as fast as she could to find her scroll, only to find that it's battery was excessively low. Inwardly cursing, she dialed Oscar's number and held the scroll up to her ears.
Voicemail.
"Gah, dang it!" she cried. She could barely conduct herself properly enough to dial in Tai's number. He picked up quickly.
"Dad, my water broke!" she screeched into the speaker.
"WHAT?!" he exploded, "I'll be there right away!"
"Hurry!" she shouted.
She began rubbing her huge stomach and paced the floor back and forth. She felt disgusting with all the whatever-it-was soaking her robe and still periodically dripping out of her.
"Hmooaah!" she whined, "It's only a matter of time before I go into labor! Or wait...aren't I technically in labor right now? Oh my gosh, I'm so scared!"
She vigorously stroked her belly, staring it down.
"Listen up, you two," she choked, "Y-you need to be nice and fast, but not too fast! I don't wanna be in pain for very long, so make it quick and don't hurt me!"
She shivered at the thought of what was going to come next. She sat down on the couch, bouncing her restless leg up and down. Her knee continuously bumped her enlarged stomach as it moved.
But she was too restless to stay sitting. She got back up and began to pace once more. Then her first true contraction came. Her abdomen clenched painfully, and she gasped, bending over and grabbing it.
"Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!" she breathed, "This is real! This is real!"
About ten minutes later, Tai burst through the door, found her, scooped her up, and dashed out of the hotel. Not a word was exchanged between them as he called for a taxi, shoved her inside, and shrieked directions at the cab driver.
Ruby feared that the cab would crash or cause some kind of fatal commotion on the highway as they sped through. Cars honked around them, probably because they didn't understand the situation.
In due time, they arrived at the hospital. Ruby thought she'd never see the day where the sight of that hospital was relieving. They unloaded themselves and rushed inside.
Once things were settled, Ruby was laying on a bed, wearing a loose gown, with Tai at her side. The doctor had explained to her everything she needed to know- her dilation, what came next, and all that good stuff.
Tai looked quite excited, even as he began filling out all of the medical information paperwork.
"Ah, I remember when you were going to be born," he reminisced with a sigh, "Summer was so chill about it, while I could barely hold her hand with how much I was shaking."
"Dad?"
He looked up from the paperwork and met eyes with her. Fear glittered in her silver eyes, so wide and seemingly innocent. His heart instantly melted and he hugged from the side.
She started crying in his shoulder. "I'm so scared!"
"Oh, Ruby, it's alright," he sighed, patting her back, "Everything's going to be fine. Everything will be alright- you and the babies are going to be great."
He let go of her and wiped away the tears streaming down her face. "I'll make sure Oscar gets over here as soon as possible, alright? Labor isn't too scary, don't worry."
"Cuz you would know," she sniffed.
"Okay, okay," Tai chuckled, "Point is, you're going to do great." He chuckled again and looked at her with a soft, fatherly expression. "I used to dream that I'd see this day, and yet, here we are."
Ruby smiled faintly back at him. "I guess so."
The curtain in front of the door swished aside and Oscar barged in.
"Ruby?!" he panted, screeching to a halt beside her bed and scrambling onto his knees to grab her hand. "Hey, are you alright? How are you feeling? Are the babies okay? Is it almost time for them to be born?!"
Ruby just laughed at his sweat-slick face and fear-filled eyes. She herself look just as scared as he did, but she laughed on anyway. Patting his messy brown hair, she just kept laughing.
"What does that mean?" Oscar demanded, turning to Tai.
"She's glad to see you too," Tai said, "And she's equally scared, if not more. Also, it'll be quite a while yet, so calm down."
Oscar laughed with her, and soon all three were laughing for a reason that none of them knew. It was a nice moment, and when it ended, they didn't know either.
One thing was for sure: Oscar and Ruby were about to become parents.
"Argh, what's happening to me?!" Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs. Her drenched hands gripped the plastic sides of the bed and slid back and forth as she bore down on them. "Why doesn't the pain stop?!"
She gritted her teeth, trying to keep her turmoil in, but couldn't. She threw her head back and began to howl like a mega-sized banshee. The labor ward was dim and cool.
"U-uh...um!" Oscar gasped, unsure of what to do, "J-j-just calm down and breathe!"
"Like you know what it feels like!" Ruby jeered, the contraction settling down.
"I'm just trying to help you!" Oscar defended helplessly. "Calm down!"
"Don't tell me what to do!" she growled. She swiped her hand across her sweaty forehead and marveled at how wet it and her hair were. She was purely exhausted, and labor had turned out to last a lot longer than she had thought it was supposed to.
A moment later, the doctor came in, snapping some gloves on. "Hello again, darlings."
"Am I almost done?" Ruby panted hopefully.
"You've made fantastic progress," she said, "But no, there's still a bit to go."
Another contraction wracked her body with its relentless pain. Ruby threw her head back, whacking it against the bed board. Oscar flinched at this and wiggled his fingers rapidly as he racked his brain for something to do to comfort her.
"Ah, I quit!" she screamed.
"Unfortunately, you can't," the doctor apologized, "You can't just un-go into labor. You could get an epidural, but if you don't like needles, thenf-"
"No needles!" Ruby yelled, "No more! No more, make it stop!"
"The epidural will make it stop," the doctor explained, "It's-"
"Gimme gimme gimme!" she begged. She pushed herself up and down as she tried to flee from the agony of childbirth. Both of Oscar's hands were red from all of the clinging and grasping Ruby had done to them.
A nurse went to fetch the epidural, while the Doctor checked on her dilation. Her eyes widened and she blinked.
"Um, Mr. Pine?" she said, glancing up at him.
"Y-yes?!" Oscar gasped.
"I think now would be a good time to grab your girl's hand and give her the lovey-dovey pep talk she probably doesn't want." The doctor grinned randomly at him and peeked under the sheet.
"W-whatyda mean?" Oscar asked.
"She's about 10 centimeters," the doctor replied, "Are you excited?"
"W-w-what does that mean?!"
"It means it's time for her to start pushing and getting these babies out!"
Search up "Itakiss Drama ost" and have the video on loop. It makes this scene great!
Oscar screamed in panic, right at the same time as Ruby. Their screams almost harmonized with each other as they snatched each other's hands and squeezed them hard.
Tai came running in.
"I know you told me not to watch," Tai said quickly, "But you did say you wanted me here for the birth, right? That's why I'm here, right?" He smiled at her and took her other hand.
"Dad..," Ruby murmured. A tear and down her soaked face and she began to cry again.
"Mr. Pine," the doctor announced grandly, Ms. Rose, Mr. Xiao Long." She seemed to mentally cringe at the fact that all of the last names were different. Maybe she was used to people being married or having the same last name as their parents. "Get ready to welcome your two children into the world!"
"No, no, no!" Ruby cried, "I-I'm not ready yet!" She screamed in pain as a particularly strong contraction relentlessly heaped agony on her.
Oscar gripped her hand tighter than she gripped his and prayed that she would find rest soon. Tai began chanting motivational phrases entwined with dad jokes, holding her hand with both of his and cheering her on.
The room was converted to total chaos as Ruby screamed, Tai chanted, the doctor spoke, and Oscar cried. Somehow, through it all, Tai and the doctor shouted at the same time.
"PUSH, RUBY, PUSH!"
Ruby let out the worst scream of all and practically broke Oscar's fingers. He barely seemed to notice in his state of shock.
"Again, Ruby, push!"
She thrashed back and forth, unable to escape the torment and torture. It was all too much- she thought she might pass out. She had no more strength left in her to keep on fighting.
She could hardly breathe anymore and ignored her audience's directions. Everything went into slow motion as the sounds of her heart beating became echoy and loud.
"Ruby, Ruby, focus, Ruby!" Oscar pleaded, clenching her hand, "Please, Ruby! Please push! You can do it!" Tear streamed down his eyes as he begged her for her efforts.
Ruby forced herself to try, despite how weak she felt. The pain wasn't stopping, so neither would she.
"Good, good!" the doctor praised, "The first one's just about out!"
"Yes, Ruby! There you go, sweetheart!" Tai cheered, "That's my girl!"
The cry of a tiny infant rang out into the room. The surrounding nurses clapped for joy while Tai suddenly choked up.
"My gosh..," he breathed, "You just had a baby! Ruby, you just had a baby!"
"One more left to go!" the doctor yelled above the din, "This one's not too far behind!"
"You're doing fantastic, Ruby!" Oscar cried, "You're almost done!"
"I know, I know!" Ruby sobbed, "I know! I wanna see them! I wanna see my daughter and my son! Oscar, we're parents now!" She weeped as the second baby made its way out.
The howling of infants doubled as Ruby's pain came to an end. She had done it. She had given birth to two babies. She now had a son and a daughter to hold and love and cherish. She and Oscar were parents now.
A massive celebration erupted in the dim labor ward as the doctor pronounced the babies healthy and strong. The two of them were given to her and she clung to them weakly.
"You might as well bathe them in your tears alone," Tai joked, absolutely in tears now.
"Good job, Ruby," Oscar sniffed, leaning in close. His heart melted at the sight of his two children, and instantly he knew that he loved them fully.
The three of them began to sob, hugging each other and the babies. The nightmare was over; Ruby could rest.
End the song if you were playing it ;P
"So, what're you naming these little bundles of joy?" a nurse asked as the birth certificates were being filled out.
"Alas, the moment we dreaded of," Oscar chuckled.
The two babies were each wrapped in a soft blanket, having been carefully bathed a little earlier. The girl had a little pink blanket, while the boy had a blue one. Ruby had refused to let go of them, taking them back right after they had been cleaned.
"What do you think, Oscar?" Ruby asked, holding up the boy, "Should we go with my favorite one, since you have no better ideas?"
"What's that?" Oscar asked. He looked closely at his son, smiling when he could clearly see the difference in complexion with his daughter. Tan was the boy, pale was the girl.
"Can we name him Pinyon?" Ruby asked softly.
Oscar smiled wider. "Pinyon." He poked at the boy's little cheek and chuckled. "Pinyon Pine. How stupid!" He began to laugh and kissed Ruby on the forehead. "I think that fits him."
Ruby giggled and gently kissed her son. "Pinyon Pine it is."
The nurse smiled at them and handed Oscar the certificate. "Just write the names on here- that's all that's left."
Oscar nodded and wrote it down.
"Middle name?" Ruby asked, noticing the empty space on the paper.
"We can do James," Oscar replied, writing it down.
"After Ironwood?!" Ruby gasped, "Why?!"
"No, after my father," Oscar answered, "James Pine."
"Oh...I didn't know you had a dad named James."
"I know. James and Helen Pine were my parents."
"Hm."
After he had filled it out, he swapped it out with the girl's certificate, holding the pen's tip to the first name. "Jubilee it is."
"No!' Ruby scowled, shooting him a death glare. "Something else!"
"What do you wanna do? You never told me anything serious..."
"Oh yeah..."
Silence filled the room as the infants were half asleep. Finally, Oscar spoke up.
"Let's name her Hope," he said.
"Huh?" Ruby murmured, "Why that all of the sudden?"
"I mean...I was kinda thinking about that name before for quite a while, but I wasn't sure if you'd like it. I thought I'd wait until now to ask you, you know?"
"I mean, yeah, but why Hope?"
"Well...I'd kinda had a crush on you to begin with, right at the beginning. But you were older than me and I always thought that Jaune was gonna go after you or something. Plus, Old Oz was in my head and I'd turn into him. I didn't have much hope for our relationship, you know?"
"Mh hm."
"Well, then all of this happened. I felt like not only was my future inevitably doomed, but yours was too, because I'd unintentionally leave you and you'd be alone with the babies. Life was gonna suck."
"Yeah."
"Well, after things got resolved and I became, well, me again, we ended up together all because of the babies. Not just that, but like, we have a future all planned for the two of us-erm, four of us. It's all because of them, Ruby. They're our hope."
"Awww, that's so touching!" Tai spoke up, rubbing his red eyes, "You really do have a heart, Oscar. Welcome to the family!" He fist bumped him and smiled at the couple.
"Hope Summer Pine it is!" Ruby chirped.
The name was written down and the two babies were officially named.
"Aw, my two grandchildren!" Tai cried. He scrubbed his hands in the sink with soap and, after receiving permission, took up the children in his arms.
"Hope," he said, looking at her, "And Pinyon." He turned to the boy. "Congratulations, guys!"
"Congratulations!" came the chorus of nurses and the doctor.
So, two days later, after informing the others in the group about what had happened, Ruby Rose and Oscar Pine, with Taiyang Xiao Long, left with their pair of beautiful twins, Hope Summer Pine and Pinyon James Pine.
Two years later, the promised wedding came.
Ruby, with longer hair and an even prettier face, became Ruby Pine, and her two-year-old children, dressed up in formal getup, clapped along with everyone else. They didn't even know what was happening, but that was fine.
Pinyon was a crazy little guy, with a loud voice and never-ending flow of energy. He had black hair, like Ruby, and the most gorgeous hazel eyes. Tiny freckles had begun to appear on his chubby little face.
Hope, surprisingly enough, had somehow inherited redder-brown hair. Apparently, Oscar's mother had reddish hair, and that with Ruby's natural highlights, had amounted to a light red-brown. They had rejoiced to find out that the silver eye trait had passed down to her.
Most had thought that she'd be the opposite of her twin in personality, but the contrary was true. She was almost as loud and insane as he was- but when she was hungry or tired, she became somber and quiet.
Everything became history after the wedding.
Oscar built a house not near his old home farm, and the Pine family moved in shortly after. It was quite far from the others, but they didn't mind. It gave them room to 'leave and cleave'.
Somewhere down the line, Ruby and Oscar had another kid or two, and yes, peace was restored to Remnant eventually. Salem realized the importance of life and death, and finally was able to be put to rest.
Without Salem, the Grimm population gradually deteriorated, and the huntsmen and huntresses of Remnant became legends. Ozpin's reincarnation was bound to end, so after Jay became old and died, Ozpin would also rest.
Remnant had been resorted and all was well, so the Pine family lived happily ever after.
That was it, guys! A Rosegarden Seedling has finally, finally ended. I apologize if the ending wasn't what you wanted- there will be no sequel concerning Salem, sorry. I don't think I'll be able to write more fanfiction, and it's sad, but it's true. Maybe I'm wrong-stay tuned. But I had to do a lot just to finish this. I'm beyond glad that I finished it, so thank you all for you encouragement!
And now, the list of all who finished this story from start to finish. I appreciate your incredible dedication and encouragement throughout my story! I hope you have a great life and know that your feedback and words meant a lot, especially how hyped y'all got for new chapters. Thank you so, so much. :)
JillianDreemur, thank you for your reviews!
Not Bobo, thank you for your reviews and dedication to this story!
firewyrm2, thank you for being there for my story this whole time and reviewing!
greatzane16, thank you for your reviews!
Luffy L. Deathwalker, thank you for your reviews!
IAML3EG3ND, thank you for your reviews and being here!
MajorBrony95, thank you for your reviews and being here so long!
Zekken182, thank you for your reviews!
lananovakk, thank you for your reviews and tedious dedication in reading this story!
EtherealBiscuits, thank you for your reviews!
juliaTau, thank you for your reviews!
Lgfourman, thank you for your reviews!
DANGDANIEL95, thank you for your reviews and commenting on such a moment as having a chapter posted on your birthday :)
Buradukkudaria, thanks for the detail of my distorted timeline- it may not have changed anything, but it was a cool detail to read. I appreciate your reviews and enjoyment in the story and the attention to detail ;P
Crazyshipergirl, thanks for your reviews and such!
Silence117, thanks for the reviews!
FanficReader2302, thanks for reading this, even if a line that I wrote left a bitter taste in your mouth (I changed it, btw); I appreciate it!
Gabe200, thanks for giving this story a pineapple.
Random65, thanks for all your reviews!
T.J.98, thanks for the reviews and dedication!
Haxorous knight, thanks for the reviews!
Sir Axel, thanks for the reviews and such! Too bad we can't have a cup of tea :)
DavidQrowWashington, thanks for the fact check and reviews!
Anime Lime, thanks for the reviews!
Special thanks time! To 5 individuals who really made this story special for me. A thousand thank yous, a million thank yous, a trillion thanks, a-you get the picture. 3
ArthurSG- you invested so much time sending me long PMs with ideas on this story, detailed feedback, and other encouraging things that made working on this story even more enjoyable than it would have otherwise. You looked forward to reading this and it apparently brought you lots of happiness- you expressed that clearly and tickled that part of my heart that yearns to make people happy. Live long and God bless! Thank you!
Combine117, thanks for all the reviews. From the very beginning to (near) the end, you were always there, reviewing and reading my story. The fun chats we had about my story were also fantastic, and all you've contributed is appreciated. Thank you!
Utruck Doomhammer, similarly to Combine117, you were there from the beginning and lasted until basically the end. Your reviews kept me encouraged to keep writing because I didn't get much feedback at the time. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
cbustroyer, someone who also poured ideas and time into detailed feedback for this story. You were a great encouragement, and even if I didn't completely use your ideas, they gave me a much more realistic view on several aspects of this story. I hope you understand how grateful I am!
And lastly, a special thanks to Arno Wisp. He was the first ever person to review this story-which, I'll mention, was my first story ever put up for public exposure. While I'm sure he didn't read much, he was my first piece of feedback and I appreciate it. Thanks!
Thanks for reading everyone, and have a fantastic rest of your life!
-Miasushi
*peace out*