Chapter 5... also autocorrect changed Neopolitan to Neapolitan. Whoops!
Neo was having a wonderful dream. The best dream of her life... only, she wasn't aware it was a dream. As far as she was concerned, she was a little toddler in a red sweatshirt and a skirt, her fingers sticky with chocolate chip cookie dough. She was helping her mom and sister bake some cookies. While they would wait for each batch to bake, she and her sister would play hide and seek! Well, after mama cleaned them, of course.
"You girls are being such good helpers today." mama praised, her silver eyes shining.
"Do I smell cookies?" Someone called from the door.
She and her sister looked at each other and became excited.
"Daddy!" They both squealed, running to go see him.
He laughed, scooping them up in each arm, and hugging them both tightly. Then she put her sticky hand on his cheek. He noticed, frowned and looked at her hand. Mama laughed at them.
"Sorry, Tai. I meant to clean them up. We just put the last batch in the oven. They've been such great helpers today." Mama said.
"Alright. I'll go give them a bath then." He said, walking towards the stairs.
"I'll do it. You and Qrow just got back from a mission and need to go back to Signal to teach tomorrow. Get some rest." Mama said.
"No, you've been taking care of them the whole weekend. Besides, I missed my baby girls." He said, kissing them both on the cheek.
Both girls giggled.
"Well alright. I'll clean the kitchen then." She said.
Daddy started up the stairs.
"Oh and Qrow will be back later. He smelled the cookies and ran off before he started another house fire." Tai said.
"It was only the cookies that got burnt last time. Did he really have to?" Mama said, disappointed.
"Well..." Daddy trailed off with a frown.
"Don't tell me you told him to go." Mama said.
"I didn't... I just... agreed that he should go." Daddy said.
Mama looked disappointed.
"Tai, you know how he feels about his semblance. You can't keep doing that to him. So having him around burns some cookies every now and then, so what? I can handle having small inconveniences. He's our teammate and he's worth having around regardless of his semblance. Besides, the girls deserve to spend more time with their uncle" She said.
Daddy looked away in shame.
"You're right... I'll make sure he comes in next time." he said.
"You better. Now go clean off our girls before cookie dough gets everywhere." Mama said, pointing at daddy's chest.
"Hey!" He said.
Ruby and Yang had both painted his chest with cookie dough hand prints. Everyone laughed and he took the girls upstairs for a bath. Yang got undressed and she tried to help Ruby undress while daddy ran the water. Ruby was always too squirmy for anyone to change out of her clothes peacefully but Yang was good at wrangling her little sister... although she was getting better at wrangling back. She was mostly undressed except for her shirt and Yang was losing patience. Daddy quickly stopped them before Yang got too rough with Ruby.
"Yang, I love that you like helping us with your sister but you need to be gentle with her. She's still a baby." He told her, as he helped Ruby take off her shirt.
"No! No! Not a baby!" Ruby said, angrily.
"Yes you are! My baby sister!" Yang said, hugging her.
"Stooooooop!" Ruby whined.
If daddy wasn't there, they would have gotten into another fight. Ruby was 2 and Yang was 4. They always wound up fighting the moment Yang started treating her like a baby. Ruby hated being seen as just a little kid. There was this ambition inside her, even at a young age, one where she wanted to be more than what she seemed. She was going to do great things! But first, she needed a bath. Daddy put both girls into the tub while it was still filling up.
"You girls want bubbles?" He asked.
"Yeah!" They both said at the same time excitedly.
"Alright, what kind? Honey, rose, cherry, or chocolate?" He asked.
"Honey!" Yang said.
"Rose!" Ruby said.
"Okay, how about both?" He asked.
"Yeah!" They both cheered.
Daddy put in a drop of each and a sweet floral scent filled the room as the bubbles foamed up. Bath time was the best to little Ruby. She, Yang, and daddy played in that bath for what seemed like an hour. After making sure each girl was clean, he pulled them out of the tub and gave them each a towel before making sure the tub didn't have any cookie dough caked on the bottom. Noticing there was, in fact, a few globs stuck to the bottom, he turned to the girls.
"Alright, dry yourselves off while I clean the tub." He told them.
Ruby nodded and Yang covered Ruby's head with her pale yellow towel and started rubbing her hair. Ruby whined the whole time while Yang laughed. Finally, she stopped and Ruby spitefully tried to do the same to Yang with her dark red towel... but Ruby never did have the same strength her sister did. She took her towel off and Yang smiled, knowing full well her little sister was trying to be rough... but just couldn't.
"Thank you." She said.
Ruby stuck her tongue out at her and Yang stuck her tongue out back. They both giggled, forgetting they were about to fight. Yang shoved a pair of underwear at her little sister before putting her own on. When she turned back around to put a night gown on her, the toddler had disappeared. Yang smiled and peeked her head out the door to see a naked little girl with underwear on her head hiding around a corner. She grinned and sneaked out of the bathroom after her.
Ruby peered around the corner just in time to see Yang attempting to put the nightgown over her head. She squealed and ran off. Tai poked his head out of the bathroom.
"Girls! Get back here and get dressed!" He said, running after them with Yang's pajamas in hand.
The three of them chased each other around the top floor, laughing the whole time. Ruby then noticed a black bird in a window and she paused, looking at it. What was a birdy doing looking in at her like that?
"Gotcha!" Yang said, putting the nightgown over Ruby's underwear clad head.
The girls playfully struggled and Yang managed to force one of Ruby's arm through a sleeve before daddy caught them both.
"And I got you both!" he said triumphantly as he grabbed them both.
Both girls squealed and laughed.
"Now put this on, Yang. And Ruby, undies do not go on your head." He said.
She stuck her tongue out at him and he grinned. She was just too cute.
"Okay, you do look silly." He laughed.
Yang put her nightgown on while daddy was about to help Ruby get dressed. But Ruby still saw that bird but it turned to fly away.
"Birdy!" Ruby said, pointing at the window.
Daddy looked at the window and saw a black bird fly away. He frowned.
"Are you two ladies decent up there?" Another voice said.
Daddy looked downstairs, confused and then his frown deepened, as if he realized something bad. But Ruby was too excited about the voice downstairs to think on it further. She bolted down the stairs, not caring about the underwear on her head and a nightgown she only had one arm through. Yang ran after her, just as excited.
"Uncle Qrow!" they both squealed, Ruby launching herself at him.
"Oof!" He said as he fell backwards from the projectile toddler.
Yang jumped on top of both of them and laughed with Ruby. Uncle Qrow sat up after taking a second to hug both of the girls.
"You're starting to get too big to do that to your poor uncle... and I don't think those go on your head, kiddo." He laughed.
"Sorry, Qrow." Mama said, pulling both girls off of him.
Mama straightened her youngest out, whom was now squirming to get back to her favorite uncle. She only managed to pull her nightgown on completely.
"Ruby, put your underwear on properly and then you can go play with your uncle." Mama said.
She complied and mama released her now dressed daughter to go back to her uncle.
"Girls, where's daddy?" She asked them.
"Upstairs." Yang said.
"Birdy!" Ruby said, pointing at the upstairs window where it was.
"...Oh." mama said, realizing something Ruby did not know.
Mama looked sad while Uncle Qrow looked surprised... and then upset. But he quickly pushed back his frown so the girls wouldn't be upset, too.
"Go check on him. I'll play with the girls." Uncle Qrow said.
Ruby stared after her mom as she went upstairs to go check on Tai. But Uncle Qrow grabbed them both before they could follow.
"Hey, you girls wanna read a book?" He asked.
"Yeah!" Both girls cheered.
After sometime, mama came downstairs, wiping her eyes but then putting on a smile for her girls.
"Who wants cookies?" She asked.
"Me!" both girls and Uncle Qrow said.
"Alright, coming right up." She laughed, going into the kitchen.
"I wanna fall through the world someday, too!" Yang said.
They were reading a little kid version of 'The Girl Who Fell Through The World.' It wasn't Ruby's favorite but Yang loved it.
"Why?" Uncle Qrow asked.
"It looked like so much fun!" Yang said excitedly.
"Even though it might change you forever?" Uncle Qrow asked.
"Why would it do that?" Yang asked, confused.
"Never mind. You'll understand when you're older." He said.
"Here you are! They're still warm." Summer said, setting a plate of cookies down on the coffee table.
They each took two, Ruby doing a little dance, happy to have cookies. The cookies were warm and goeey on the inside, just the way she liked them. Mama always made the best... and Neo woke up feeling sore. She became scared and panicked, momentarily forgetting she was a young woman inside the body of worst enemy and not a toddler who should be at home eating cookies. Ruby looked at her in confusion and Neo slowly realized who and where she was. Ruby texted her.
"Did you dream about something, too?" She asked.
"Yeah. It was weird." She said.
They were both surprised. She could talk now... but it still felt weird... but definitely a lot more familiar than it was the day before.
End of chapter 5.
