Yang woke up when she heard a dull thump from the first floor. Experience mixed with the date told her that Qrow just got back from whatever bar he was killing himself at and must have tripped over some furniture or maybe his own feet.

She stood up and was glad to see that Adrian was still asleep. She gently set the infant into his crib and went to check on her uncle. The stair creaked a little more than she would have wanted but not unbearably so.

When she got to the first floor she noticed that Weiss was also investigating the sound that led to the kitchen where Qrow was sitting at the island with his head on his arms.

Yang was about to try and warn her not to get too close when Weiss walked over to him and gently nudged his arm. "Qrow are you okay?"

Dulled reaction time or not Qrow's hand shot out faster and Yang cringed when the hand that would normally try and crack whoever was closest with a sloppy hook grabbed Weiss' arm in a way that Yang could see was gentle but still strong.

"Please Win, please tell me it wasn't your choice" the drunken man pleaded without looking up from his arms.

Weiss stammered out. "I don't know what…" before she was cut off.

"Lie to me if you have to but please tell me it wasn't your choice." He repeated, sounding like he was almost crying.

Weiss tugged for her arm to be freed and Qrow relented with a soft sigh. "Okay, I understand, you had everything ahead of you, you could let things get in the way but…" Qrow stalled out and just started to weakly sob into his arms still not having looked at Weiss.

Weiss backed out of the room nervously not sure what's going on. When she saw Yang beckoning her to come closer she did so in silence. "What is wrong with him?" Weiss asked, pointing to Qrow.

"He gets like this every december 23rd," Yang explained. "We never knew why but I now think it is somehow linked to your sister."

"You're right" a new voice chimed in from the chair in the corner. Both girls spun surprised to see general James J. Ironwood sitting there looking past them at Qrow. "I would normally not share this with you but you two now have more questions than I am willing to leave you with so take a seat" he said gesturing to the couch.

When they were both seated he continued. " Many years ago your uncle, and your sister were close, very close in fact." Weiss tried to hide her disapproving look but Ironwood caught it. "Yang you are too young to remember this but your uncle wasn't always a drinker, sure he was no stranger to whiskey but he didn't drink as much as he does now. That all started because of how his relationship with Winter ended."

Weiss shook her head and cut in. "General, if Qrow and my sister were involved I would have remembered that."

Ironwood made Weiss stop talking with the mildly annoyed look every teacher has for when a student interrupts them. "Your sister did in fact have a life before you were born Ms. Schnee, that being said she was young when it started so no you wouldn't have remembered it"

"Well, how old was she?" Weiss asked in a leading way that told Ironwood what she was getting at next.

"I think you both undervalue the level of man Qrow Branwen is and if that is true then you definitely undervalue the man he was." Ironwood said with a tone of mild rebuke. " Qrow Branwen is the reason I am the way that I am now" he said holding up his ungloved right prosthetic hand.

"What did he do that cost you a hand?" Yang asked not sure what her uncle did but believing he did something wrong and was to blame for the wound.

"You don't understand, Qrow Branwen is the only reason that half of me is still here, he quite literally snatched me from the jaws of death and then killed the bastard before carrying me five miles at a dead sprint to the nearest triage center. He saved my life, and he has done so several other times too."

Ironwood knew he had established the man Qrow was, so he kept going. "When he started dating Winter, he was 28 and she was 20…"

Weiss all but exploded at that and trying not to shout she rose to her feet and snapped, "and you allowed that? He was nearly a decade older than her!"

This time Ironwood's mildly annoyed face shifted to one of outright anger, "you should sit down before you do or say something Winter has to regret for you" he growled. He wasn't normally this aggressive but Qrow and this matter in particular was dear to him and he handled it with a great passion.

When Weiss paled at realizing she tried to chastise general Ironwood she sat back down and shut up.

"First of all," Ironwood began "just because they started dating when she was 20 did not mean that they had any manner of sexual relations that young,"

"Winter never would have allowed that" Weiss muttered under breath.

"Actually, it was Qrow's actions that prevented that, he made her wait until she was old enough to drink" Ironwood snapped back, enjoying the shocked look on Weiss' face. "He admitted he felt strongly about her, but he refused to go that far until he felt she was old enough to be sure about such things." Ironwood stopped for a breath and leaned in a little closer to Weiss. "And just so we are clear your sister was more of a woman at 17 than you are today" he added, making Weiss slightly hang her head in shame.

"But none of this makes sense there is no way Winter was dating some at the age of 20 and I didn't know about it" Wiess said confused more than angry.

"There are many things you don't know Wiess, your sister being older than is typically recorded is one of them" Ironwood said.

"We were reared and raised in secret, My existence wasn't announced until I was four" Wiess said putting pieces together

"Your sister was born 7 years before her listed date, that has only been concealed by my direct action and your father's"

Wiess' eyes flashed at the new date of birth for her sister. " But my parents weren't married then"

"that's right and I am breaking a few promises saying this, but Jacques isn't her father, her father was someone who your mother actually loved that Jacques had run out of Atlas in order to marry her" Ironwood explained

"so, she isn't my sister?" Wiess asked in a worried tone.

"yes, she is" Yang replied resting a hand of Wiess' shoulder

"Honestly I was certain Winter and Qrow were destined to either live a long happy life together or die in each other's arms on the battlefield, that's all a hunter can ask for in the end" Ironwood added refocusing them on the matter of Qrow and Winter. His words showing more pain than he seemed to like.

"When Jaques learned that Winter was pregnant he, he didn't take it well. We still don't know whose idea it was or how it was done but the baby was killed."

"What do you mean you don't know who did it or how?" Weiss asked.

Ironwood took a deep steadying breath and spoke. "A child, especially one out of wedlock, would have destroyed Winter's career, I do hope she didn't choose to kill the baby and I choose to believe she didn't but has never said and I have seen people do worse for less." Weiss looked at Ironwood like she wanted to hurt him for suggesting that Winter might have destroyed her own child but the look on the man's face told Weiss how much saying that hurt.

"That was what broke them both, Qrow was so ready to be a father, and even if she didn't know it Winter was ready to be a mother. And neither of them got the chance." Ironwood's voice began to crack

"Do you think they still love each other?" Yang asked. "Can love survive that much pain and time?"

Again, Ironwood's eyes said everything his lips refused to. The general's affair with professor Goodwitch was common knowledge to anyone who worked with either one of them. Their past wasn't as clear but then again it wasn't hard to see that they had a complicated one.

Ironwood looked past them again and when he saw that Qrow was asleep he stood up and headed for the door. "Keep an eye on him tomorrow, normally the hard part is tonight but Wiess might change things." he said before pulling on his coat and leaving as silently as he arrived.

Yang looked and also saw that Qrow was asleep. "You should get to bed" she said to Weiss standing and heading to the stairs.

"Where are you going, crawling into bed with Jaune?" Weiss asked with a hint of tease in her tone.

Yang growled before turning around and saying, "I am going to check on Adrian before I head to bed."

"Riiight" Weiss replied not believing Yang and only making her more annoyed with the porcelain heiress.

Yang went up the stairs and saw Jaune in Adrian's room out on the balcony. He was shirtless and it was snowing out but for some reason those facts combined just made Yang's heart feel fuzzy. Almost as if he felt her thinking about him Jaune stepped back from the railing he was resting his hands on and turned back to the door.

Yang suddenly realized that she didn't want him to catch her just staring at him, so she quickly lunged over to look at Adrian who was peacefully sleeping. She kept looking at the baby as she heard the door open and felt the wave of cold air hit her back.

Thankfully she was shielding Adrian from the wind, so he never felt it. She heard the door close and felt the cold wind pass along with Jaune's footsteps getting closer. She felt him hover behind her for a second before lightly chuckling and then walking past her for the door. "I thought you were Saph for a moment." he whispered.

Yang watched him walk for the door when she noticed his old footie pajamas wadded up in the trash can by the changing table. "What happened to your pajamas?" she asked.

The way that Jaune's body froze told her that she was onto something bad. Something he had hoped she wouldn't pick up on. "Nothing" Jaune poorly lied back to her, desperate to leave and knowing she didn't want him to yet.

The lights of the room were still dim but the longer Yang looked at the bunched-up cloth in the trash the more the way that it looked unsettled her. She walked over slowly seeing Jaune's shoulders tense and then finally slouch in defeat when she picked it up and looked at it.

Yang was hoping to find it covered in baby vomit or something similar. But she knew she was hoping in vain. As she looked it over, she saw that the chest had been ripped open and she saw what looked like bloodstains on it.

Suddenly afraid, Yang turned to Jaune and saw that he had moved so his back was still facing her. She walked over to him and grabbed him by his shoulder twisting him around against his will until she saw a few long scars criss crossing his chest.

Yang stepped back and gasped louder than she would have wanted. "What happened?" she asked

Jaune did his best not to let his frustration show as he stepped closer and motioned for her to be quieter "Nora was having a bad nightmare and I woke her up wrong."

Yang's mouth pressed shut in thought, a part of her was mad at Nora for cutting her team leader. "So she tried to kill you?" she asked incredulously.

"No, she tried to fight me off." Jaune said hiding more of his feelings on the matter under a facade of stone.

"Then what happened to your chest?" Yang questioned pointing to the fresh scars. She took a second look at them and had to remind herself that Jaune was known for the strength of his aura since the scars already seemed smaller than they were when she first saw them.

"Ren woke up and saw someone fighting with Nora in the dark" Jaune started to explain before Yang interrupted him.

"And his first thought was to kill you?" she asked, suddenly getting hit with a wave of worry, if the scars were already as healed as they were then how long ago did this happen and more to the point how bad were the wounds. She remembered the way that Stormflower was shaped, and she slowly turned Jaune a bit to his right so she could see his left side. Just where she expected it, she saw a small scar that would have led into his lung near his heart.

"What the fuck?" Yang snarled trying to keep her anger contained. "Jaune, he tried to murder you" she asked shocked at Jaune's nonchalance.

"I was the one who made the mistake here…" Jaune's sentence was cut short by Yang punching him in the face, she thought about slapping him but that might have woken up Adrian.

He was still recovering from the sucker punch when Yang threw the largest bathrobe in the room that she suspected was his at him and dragged him out onto the balcony. She felt the wind but she didn't feel the cold with her hair starting to glow a soft amber.

Once they were outside she waited for Jaune to get the robe on before grabbing him by his collars and almost lifting him off the ground. "What the hell is wrong with you, you didn't nothing wrong why the fuck would you think that?"

Jaune gently pressed down on her hands and after a few seconds she let go and crossed her arms in frustration. "Can I finish now?" Jaune asked with a hint of sass in his tone, when he got no reply he explained further. "One of the first things Ren and Nora told us when we were placed on the same team was that if Nora needed to be woken up from a nightmare that Ren needed to do it. "

Jaune reached out and rested a hand on Yang's shoulder. "I can't be sure but I think someone may have…" he paused for a long time trying to find the words he needed before he chose to say it. "I think someone might have attacked Nora when she and Ren were young. When Ren woke up and saw me pinning Nora to her bed in the dark, I think he must have had a bad reaction to that."

Yang felt the cold now. She never considered that Ren and Nora weren't like her team. Sure Raven had left her, and sure Weiss' parents were worth their weight in horse shit but Yang still had her father and uncle and Weiss still had Winter and Klien.

She had no idea the awful things that Ren and Nora had gone through in their youth without anyone to protect them. "We need to get them professional help," Yang said.

"The nearest we got was professor Goodwitch at Beacon, they trusted her to have their best interest at heart," Jaune could see Yang's next question coming so he answered it first."it used to be worse, one our second night at Beacon Nora had a bad one I tried to wake her up then too." Jaune stopped for a minute and thought about the memory. "She screamed at me to let go of her and to get away from her. The only reason Ren didn't kill me then and there was the fact that Pyrrha stopped him. After that we went to Goodwitch and they started seeing her regularly then the fucking world ended" Jaune looked off for a moment before looking back to Yang. "they'll be fine but I just need to be more careful with them, they've been through a lot"

Jaune turned to go inside when Yang countered "so have you," Jaune stopped for a moment and Yang recognized the posture. He wanted to tell her more but he couldn't find it in him to do so.

Jaune went inside and Yang did the same, feeling the chill start to hit her bones and knowing that their talk was over. She didn't say anything as Jaune turned and headed for his room. Yang watched him close the door behind him and headed downstairs to get some sleep.

…

Maria and Weiss were enjoying their coffee in silence while Jaune munched on an untoasted bagel and Hazel did a crossword puzzle. Ruby walked into the kitchen looking very peppy when Jaune noticed that she had just gotten out of the shower based on her hair. "Where have you been?" Weiss asked, annoyed that Ruby missed their morning study session.

"I was taking care of something," she said, referring to her shower. Ruby all but skipped over and grabbed a pack of pop tarts. While she was getting them into the toaster Oscar was walking. Everyone instantly noticed that his hair was also wet.

"Morning something." Jaune said in an accusatory tone that made Ruby's spine freeze.

Oscar must have been unaware of the implicit threat in Jaune's voice since he half heartedly waved and replied. "Good morning dad"

At this everyone but Ruby and Jaune perked up more than they already were. "Did he just call you dad?" Maria asked.

"He is my dad, why wouldn't I call him that" Oscar replied confused as he walked over to Ruby and wrapped his arms around her.

Weiss, who was processing two major revelations in less than three seconds, just sat there slack jawed as Yang and Blake walked in looking for food and tea respectively. Blake either didn't notice that Ruby and Oscar were wrapped in one another's arms or she didn't care. Not that anybody was sure which it was.

Yang however did notice, she noticed that the way they were holding each other, the way that everyone else was looking at them, and the fact that they both looked like they just got out of the shower.

Everyone was nervous about what Yang was about to do when she shrugged and poured herself a bowl of cereal. She noticed that everyone was still looking at her and asked "what?" with a mouthful of cereal.

"Well aren't you going to well you know" Weiss said nodding her head at Ruby and Oscar who were now sitting together in the living room waiting for their poptarts.

Yang looked around confused and half yelled into the living. "Hey Rubes, did you bang farm boy in the shower this morning?"

Everyone including Oscar gagged on either their breakfast or in Oscar's case on spit. Everyone but Ruby that is. "Yeah" she replied casually snuggling into Oscar's lap even more.

When Yang looked back everyone seemed even more shocked and confused until she elaborated. "Oscar is the most innocent person I have ever met, I am honestly more worried that Ruby might manipulate him."

"I would have thought you would be more protective of your baby sister?" Blake asked.

"Oh I am, just not with Oscar, he's harmless." Yang insisted before getting a troubled look on her face. "Unless Ozpin gets involved."

"He won't," Jaune added just as Oscar was about to. "We can't tell you much but Ozpin is gone" Jaune explained.

"And how much can you tell us?" Weiss asked.

"Well all I can remember is heading there to get something taken care of and the next thing I know I'm waking up and dad is having a hard time standing," Oscar explained.

"There is that word again," Weiss said. "Oscar, how old are you?" she asked.

"16 why?"

"Jaune, how old are you?" she asked.

"18 technically 19 why?"

Weiss shook her head at the bizarre answer before turning back to Oscar. "Oscar is it even possible for a 2 year old to have a child?"

Oscar thought briefly before shaking his head and answering. "No it isn't"

"Then how could he be your father?" Weiss asked

Oscar seemed flabbergasted by this for a few seconds and Jaune was starting to get worried when Oscar seemed to figure it out. "Because there was some scientist who figured out how to take certain body cells and they did some kind of splicing to clone someone"

"He's right, he would be old enough for that" Terra chimed in as she set about making her own breakfast.

"You're not helping" Weiss muttered to Terra who paid her no mind.

Ren was the next person to arrive and his arrival drew a muffled growl from Yang and a nod from Jaune.

"Ren, would you please tell Oscar that Jaune cannot be his father." Weiss asked desperately.

Ren shrugged. "If he says Jaune is his dad and Jaune agrees then I don't see why not." Weiss groaned loudly in frustration as laughter filled the air.

…

Christmas eve was coming to a close with Adrian snug in his crib, and everyone else but Qrow who was sleeping off his hangover, in the living room around the tree.

The beliefs of the Arc family were odd ones, they believed in a singular all powerful god who sacrificed their life for the existence of Remnant. Ozpin would have insisted that it was false but Ozpin also believed in the existence of two gods who failed to met the criteria of godhood so in the end it was decided that Jaune's family views and traditions would be followed (the fact that most of Remnant also followed them anyway certainly helped.)

This was the celebration of the birth of the god who surrendered their divinity in order to live among their people. Jaune was the one who learned many of the songs for this holiday and so he was the one who led them in song tonight.

He began with one that Saphron told him his father liked.

Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the feast of steven,

where the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even

As he sung he watched as Ruby and Oscar cuddled together on the big chair while Ren, Nora, Weiss, and Blake all sat on the couch with Hazel leaning against the wall, Maria sitting in her chair, and Saphron and Terra taking up the love seat, Jaune himself was on the other large chair and unbeknownst to him he was about to have company.

He was in the middle of the second verse.

Brightly shone the moon that night,

Though the frost was cruel

Then a poor man came inside gathering winter fuel

When he was suddenly assailed by Yang all but throwing herself into the sliver of the chair next to him. What she ultimately did was settle for crawling halfway into his lap and then apparently getting comfy and sitting there contently.

Jaune cleared his throat and continued deepening his tone for the next part.

"Hither page and stand by me if thou knowest it telling,

Yonder peasant who is he, where and what is his dwelling?

Saphron was about to start singing the page's lines when Yang started making her stop and for a moment looked confused and then almost instantly smiled.

"Sire he lives a good league hence underneath the mountain,

Right against the forest fence by saint Agnes fountain."

Jaune failed to notice it but at some point his hands had either wrapped around Yang's waist or around her hand gently pulling her closer to him while he leaned slightly into her.

"Bring me flesh and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither,

Thou and I shall see him dine when we bear him thither"

Saphron was subtly crying at the sight of Yang leaning back into Jaune as Terra took over the narration.

Page and Monarch for they went, for they went together

Through the rude winds, wild lament and the bitter weather.

Yang was next up as the page and for a moment she almost forgot before she started back up.

"Sire the night is darker now and the wind blows stronger,

Fails my heart I know not how I can go no longer."

Jaune picked up with no gap between their lines or their bodies.

"Mark my footsteps my good page tred thou in them boldly,

thou shall find the winter's rage, freeze thy blood less coldly."

Next up was Hazel who much no nobodies shock had a great singing voice

Therefore all of yee be sure whealth or rank possessing.

Yee who will now bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing.

Yang and Jaune silently snuggled absentmindedly as Saphron and Terra watched in joy. And everyone sang into the night for a Very Merry Christmas.

hey everyone, due to the instant and negative backlash on this chapter I re-read it and noted that I dropped the ball on the fine points here. that is my bad. so, I redid a few things, I know some people are still going to be unhappy about me messing with the timeline of people's age's to be frank I am the God of this story, and I will change things as such.

I would like to apologize for letting some of my sleep deprived ramblings get out without first being refined, that is something I normally don't do. I hope this reaches enough people before they get a sour taste in their mouth about my writing, I am fully accepting the responsibility for not properly writing the idea I had.

Hello everyone, first and foremost happy New Year. I wish you all well, and I would like to let you know if you were looking to see my work a week early you can do that on my (still not used to saying that, don't know if I ever will be.) anyway, Happy New Year, Good day, and God Bless.