Author's note:

It's been a while! First off, I'm really sorry it's been nearly two months since the last update. I've had to go back to work full time, and then got hit with some really bad writers block, which is not a good combo for a weekly release schedule...

The next morning everyone came to consciousness at different times. Tai was up first, getting a coffee and then working on removing a large area of snow from the back garden, setting up the sparring ring. Ruby was the next up, rolling out of bed and getting a cappuccino for Weiss, knowing from experience that it helped soothe her morning crankiness. Weiss, having been woken up by Ruby leaving and returning to the room, was mollified by the coffee. Blake and Yang woke up within a few minutes of each other, mostly because Yang rolled too far and fell out of bed with a loud thump.

By the time Tai had finished clearing the area the four girls were up and had eaten some form of breakfast, whether it was fruit for Weiss, cereal for Ruby and Yang, or toast for Blake.

Tai took his gloves and shoes off next to the door and shook his shoes free of the lingering snow. Weiss was trying to hide the look of amazement that he'd been outside in the snow, still wearing cargo shorts, but Ruby recognised the look on her face and giggled. "Yeah, I don't think I've seen him wear trousers in aaaaages." Weiss raised an eyebrow and Yang yawned and nodded in agreement.

Coming over to the table he made himself a fresh coffee before talking, "Oh yeah, Qrow messaged me late last night." The four girls looked at him, "He said he was sorry to miss Solstice this year, said he hopes all four of you enjoyed it. He also said not to worry about him being on his own, or about drinking, he's sticking to water." Tai said the last bit with a hint of disbelief. "I remember you saying he'd gone sober but didn't realise he was serious…" Ruby smiled softly, glad that Qrow was doing alright.

The rest of the morning was spent very leisurely, Blake curled up in an armchair with a book, occasionally shooting glares at Yang, who was sat on the sofa with Zwei giving him scratches. Weiss was sat next to her, both of them watching an old movie, barely paying any attention to it. Ruby was lying on her back in front of the sofa, legs and feet up on the space next to Weiss, and it showed how comfortable they all were that Weiss hadn't slapped Ruby's feet aside.

"I hope you guys are actually planning on doing something with that sparring area I spent half the morning clearing for you." Tai was stood with a glass of water in his hand.

"Oooooh yay!" Ruby shot to her feet in seconds, "Now we can practice some of those moves we came up with!" Blake looked to Yang who shrugged, and they got up. Weiss was already straightening her clothes out and heading for the stairs, the moment Tai had mentioned he'd cleared the area she'd stood up, guessing where her leader's mind was going to be headed.

Twenty minutes later and they were all standing in the clearing, Zwei sat by Tai's feet holding a towel. "So, what first?" Yang looked at Ruby.

"Well, me and Weiss have a couple of strategies we want to try for all four of us, and then..." Ruby shrugged, before Weiss spoke up.

"You could always practice some hand to hand? You haven't really practiced it much since Atlas."

Tai grinned, "Oh you actually started practicing it? I can help out with that."

Ruby's face lit up, "Yeah! Can't wait to show you my kick ass moves!" She threw a couple of punches and grinned. Weiss just rolled her eyes and shook her head, a soft smile on her face.

"Come on Rubes, focus! New strategies! How we gonna kick butt next?" Yang grinned and punched her fists together. Whilst Yang might have enjoyed goofing off a bit, she took sparring pretty seriously.

"Ok! First off, this is for all four of us, and Blake, you're the focus point..." Ruby started explaining it, and they spent the next two hours running drills and practicing the various strategies she'd come up with. Occasionally Tai gave some input, a little improvement here, do it this way instead of that and it'll work better, had she thought of what would happen if someone did this, every time he spoke he helped improve it, all without making Ruby doubt herself or the original strategy she came up with. Each time she grinned even wider and immediately changed the strategy up to fit and made it work. He mostly stayed quiet though and just watched.

My little girl has all grown up he thought to himself, watching Ruby gather Weiss up in petals and shoot around one of Blake's clones, before looking to the sky, Can you see our baby Sum? She's more like you every day, and she's mastered your eyes. Our little Dragon is doing well too, getting more like me every day, the poor girl, still making awful puns. He chuckled. You'd be so proud of them both.

Just then, he noticed something off with Ruby's petals as she swung around, dropping Weiss off to lay down a large freeze glyph. The petals were pink...His brain clicked through memories, Ruby's petals had always been red for as long as he could remember, and from the strategies he'd just seen, when picking up Yang or Blake her petals stayed red. But with Weiss they were pink...red plus white equals pink...his face split into a large grin. So little Ruby has a crush eh? Both of my girls having crushes on their partners, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree that's for sure! Wonder how long that's been going on...I'll need to do some digging.

By this point the girls had finished the last strategy and were talking, Ruby giving one last bit of info before ending the session with a cry of "Great job team!" Zwei took this as his cue to trot over with towels strapped to a small carrier on his back. Yang and Ruby took theirs, Blake was very hesitant but after looking at Yang, she grimaced and grabbed it off Zwei quickly before retreating back to Yang, and Weiss knelt down and took her towel whilst giving Zwei scratches and baby talking about how much of a good boy he was.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle at Weiss and think about how she used to be so stuck up. Even now she was still a little bit uptight (Though she's loosened up quite a lot since then she thought) and to see her baby talking a small dog was such a strange sight, but it fitted her somehow. This side of Weiss was something only their team got to see - she'd even whined to Ruby one evening about not being able to pet a cute puppy that had run up to her near one of Vale's parks one time, determined to keep her image up outside of the school and their dorm rooms.

The girls headed inside, and all agreed on the usual order of showering: Yang first, then Weiss, then Blake, and finally Ruby. They'd agreed it back in first year as Yang hated her hair being sweaty and unclean, Weiss was just as picky but without the temper and grumpiness of Yang, and Ruby wasn't fussed at all, so Blake went before her. The system had worked for over two years without argument, so it made sense to keep it up.

When they'd all showered they sat down to eat a simple lunch that Tai had made with Yang's help, Weiss and Ruby had sat on the porch as Weiss couldn't stand being in a room with the two blondes when they were having a 'Pun Off' as they called it, and Blake read whilst waiting for lunch.

A little while after lunch they all headed back outside, minus weapons, to watch Ruby and Yang spar with their Dad. Yang rolled her shoulders and danced on her feet a little, and Ruby stretched, throwing a few shadow punches. Tai walked over into the centre of the clearing and stretched a little. "Two on one alright?"

The two sisters looked at each other, shrugged and then back to their Dad. "Yeah, that works fine for us."

Tai nodded, "Good, I won't go as easy on you as I used to either. I won't try and break your auras, but I won't hold back either."

Yang smirked, "Best not hold back old man, if you do it'll be over quickly."

Tai laughed, "Let your fists do the talking firecracker." And with that they started.

Yang and Ruby moved slowly forwards, not wanting to be the first to attack. Ruby looked between Yang and her Dad, and as she looked to Yang, Tai struck. He shot forwards throwing a jab to her face, but Ruby saw it in the corner of her eye and ducked it. Unfortunately, she ducked right into his knee that had come up, the jab a feint. Ruby staggered back, and Tai would have followed up except Yang took advantage of his distraction to throw an attack.

He blocked with his elbow, spinning around to strike with the other. Yang caught it and tried to sweep his legs, only for him to jump over and push his elbow further towards her. This threw her off balance, but she recovered and threw a few quick jabs, Tai ducking and dodging. Ruby had recovered by this point and dashed in, throwing a few quick punches of her own, aiming for Tai's side. He took the first couple then caught her wrist and threw her towards Yang, but Yang rolled under her flying sister and launched a hook kick followed by several more that Tai batted away.

Ruby had recovered in mid-air and used her semblance to dash around the pair of them in a circle. Tai shoved Yang back and swung a roundhouse kick into Ruby's path, only for her to split herself in two, reform, and land a kick to the back of his standing leg, dropping him to his knee off balance. Yang stopped her fist an inch from his face.

The dust settled from their movement and he grinned. "You've both improved, I'm pretty proud. But it's not over yet!" He grabbed Yang's fist and used it to pull himself up and behind her, driving a knee into her back as he stepped backwards. They continued to spar, Tai getting quite a few hits in on both of them.

Weiss and Blake stood next to each other watching the three of them.

"He's a lot stronger than he lets on, isn't he?" Blake muttered to Weiss.

She nodded in agreement watching her teammates and their dad fight hand to hand. Ruby still relied on her fists quite a lot, but Weiss knew that was down to her arms being stronger than her legs, a consequence of carrying and using Crescent Rose so much. Yang was using her fists and elbows more than her legs, but not by much. Tai meanwhile used anything he could in the fight, elbow, fist, knee, feet, legs, and swapped between them constantly, never keeping a single style up for long.

A little while later, Ruby was thrown again, and she landed in front of Weiss and Blake panting. She looked up at Weiss from the ground and grinned, "See? Told you Dad is strong!" She rolled to her feet and was about to join in again but stumbled as she walked forwards. Weiss grabbed her arm and they looked at each other for a moment before Ruby nodded and went next to her.

Yang continued fighting, but didn't last much longer than Ruby, finally getting her feet swept and landing on her backside. She grinned and accepted the hand up from Tai, pulling herself to her feet.

"You did good firecracker, you too kiddo." He patted Yang on her back, and they all headed back inside. Yang headed for a second shower of the day, Ruby taking hers afterwards. Weiss sat down at the table and started looking at their still to be written essays, Blake with her.

When Ruby came down and saw the essays, she groaned and flopped onto the sofa. "Don't worry, you can nap." Ruby shot up and looked over the back of the sofa at the table where Weiss was sitting. "You've done group training, and then hand to hand sparring with your Dad. I'm not so cruel as to make you sit down and work on essays after all that. I know you're tired, so get some sleep. There's still a few days left of the break to get the essays done."

Ruby smiled warmly at Weiss, "You're the absolute best ever Weiss." Then she lay down on the sofa and within a few minutes she was asleep.

Blake looked at Weiss who blushed ever so slightly and muttered "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to." Blake smirked at Weiss's words and they focused on getting to work on their essays.

The rest of the week was spent working on essays, Ruby and Yang unafraid to pick Tai's brains and ask for help, with Blake asking the odd question as well, despite Weiss initially insisting that it was cheating. She came around to it once Tai explained it was pretty much the same as using a large book: he may be a teacher for Huntsmen, but as he wasn't setting the essays or marking them, there was no conflict of interest with grades and he was just a repository for knowledge. Ruby had grinned as Weiss managed to justify it and started asking him for help with one or two points on her essays too.

Each night Tai cooked them a meal and they sat together around the table talking and laughing, Tai mostly telling stories from his days at Beacon, or stories of Yang and Ruby at Signal. At the mention of Yang's mother Raven in one, Tai had noticed Weiss wrinkle her nose slightly and he laughed. "I take it you've met her then?"

"I had the exquisite pleasure of staying with her for a day or two. In a cage. After she kidnapped me." Yang gripped Weiss' hand and opened her mouth but Weiss cut her off, "Not your fault at all, nor your place to apologise. You're not responsible for the actions of your mother."

Yang smiled and squeezed her hand gently before releasing it. "She didn't used to be quite that bad." Tai sighed, "But people don't always stay how you want them to." A look of melancholy crossed his face before he started another story from Signal involving Yang and Ruby, much to the protests of the sisters.

Before long, the final afternoon of the break arrived and Ruby spoke with her Dad, who nodded. "Umm guys?" Everyone turned to look at her. "Is it alright if we all go for a bit of a walk? Together?" They looked at each other and nodded, grabbing boots and shoes, and then followed Ruby and Tai out the door, Zwei trotting along slightly behind Tai.

Weiss noticed that Ruby was uncharacteristically quiet during the walk through the forest, following a well-trodden path. She quickened her pace to catch her partner and touched her forearm gently, "Ruby?"

Ruby turned slightly to look at her, and Weiss could have sworn that for a second her face wasn't the happy and carefree look she normally wore. It was the stressed, terrified, and devastatingly unhappy face from Atlas, the face Weiss would never be able to forget. It was the face Ruby had had when she'd been curled up in that little room, barely able to stand or face what was coming. The look of a broken woman. It had killed Weiss to see it.

But then it was the normal, happy look of Ruby Rose, team leader and sugar addict. "Hey Weiss! Glad we managed to get all the essays done?"

"What's wrong Ruby?"

"Wha-what? What makes you think something's wrong? Ha ha..." Tai saw and heard the interaction, slowing to let the two walk further ahead and have a little space.

"Because you've been overly quiet since this morning, you barely touched breakfast, and you've had this air of unhappiness around you all day. And just now you weren't quick enough to hide your face. I know that look." Weiss' voice was soft despite the words being a little blunt, and Ruby gave a soft, small smile.

"It's not what you think Weiss, you'll see in a minute or two anyway. We're almost there." Weiss narrowed her eyes slightly but let the matter drop for now, determined to bring it up later when Ruby might be more inclined to talk.

A minute or two later the trees thinned and gave way to a large clearing with a light dusting of snow, reaching to a cliff edge with a block of sloping grey stone sticking up from the ground. Weiss felt a bit shocked, "Is this...?"

"Yeah. Yeah it is." Ruby gave that soft smile again and Weiss felt an overwhelming urge to hug and comfort her. "Is it alright if I...?"

Weiss nodded, "Of course it is, you don't even need to ask." Ruby smiled and walked over to the stone and crouched in front of it. Blake and Yang joined Weiss, with Tai and Zwei stood just off to the side. Weiss looked to Yang and said quietly, "Did you know?"

"Where we were headed?" Weiss nodded, "Soon as we reached the path. This cliff is the only reason the path exists. Mum loved to come up here." Yang had a sad smile as she looked at Ruby and Blake placed her hand on Yang's arm to comfort her.

Ruby was crouched in front of her mother's grave, trying to think of what to say. But she shook her head and decided to just let it out. "Hi Mum, it's been a while huh? Sorry it's been so long, there's kinda been a lot that happened since we last spoke!" She laughed quietly and without any humour. "My team got back together, that's a good thing. Blake came back and we managed to find Weiss, well, she found us more accurately, she broke out of her home and snuck out of Atlas to find us! She's a great partner, like seriously the best."

"Umm...we beat Salem. I mean as much as we could have done, she's trapped and sealed away, so we won! Dad says he's happy because I avenged you, but...but I wish I hadn't had to. I wish you hadn't been dragged into Ozpin's war, and that you were still here. I mean I know you probably volunteered for it, sort of like I did, but still. I've got so many questions to ask you, so much advice I need, that I can't get from anyone else. There are times when I just need a hug from you, to feel you stroke my hair, and hear you tell me everything will be okay. I just need my Mum sometimes. And I know it's not your fault, that you were just being the hero you always were, but it still hurts."

She sniffed, "I brought my team though! So, they can meet you and say hi. And Dad's here too, so you've got plenty of company this afternoon, and you won't be alone. I'm...I don't really feel alone anymore. Since Weiss came back, she's not really left me alone, which is what I want. She's been so good to me, and she's my BFF - she even admits it sometimes now!"

Ruby sighed a little, "I'm rambling, aren't I? Jumping from one thing to the next. I should probably introduce Weiss." Ruby turned and called Weiss over, nodding her head when Weiss seemed a little surprised. Weiss crouched next to Ruby and looked at the headstone. "So, this is Weiss! Weiss, Mum, Mum, Weiss."

"Hello Mrs Rose." Weiss smiled softly. "I'm Ruby's partner, and the one who has to put up with all her shenanigans and convince her to keep studying."

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Ruby laughed, and Weiss let a chuckle out too.

"No, she's not. You'd be so proud of her. She's doing really well at Beacon, I...might not have thought she'd be a good team leader when we first met, but she is. She's amazing at it. She's so strong, but she's also really caring. She always tries her best to look out for me and others too. Ruby really is an amazing person, and you should be so incredibly proud of the woman she's become."

"Awwww Weiss! Like I said, she's my BFF!" Ruby grabbed Weiss in a one-armed hug and Weiss smiled.

"Yes, you dolt, I'm your BFF." Ruby gasped at Weiss agreeing. "But if you tell anyone else other than your mother, I will absolutely deny it." Ruby laughed and then waved Blake and Yang over.

Blake looked at Yang, "Are you sure?"

Yang smiled and replied to the unspoken words, "Of course, I'd much rather you meet my proper Mum than the one who gave birth to me. You're important to me, and it would mean a lot for you two to meet."

Blake and Yang went over, and Ruby introduced them, "So this is Blake, she's part of the team too, and I think you know her partner." Blake smiled and said hi, whilst Yang laughed and punched Ruby gently on the arm.

"Hi Mum." Yang smiled sadly as she looked at the grave. Ruby stood and motioned for Weiss to follow.

"It was nice to meet you Mrs Rose, hopefully I'll speak to you again. Don't worry, I'll make sure Ruby keeps up at school."

"Hey!" Weiss looked at her pointedly, "Okay fine you've got a point. Bye Mum, I'll talk you again soon. I love you." Ruby gave a small wave and then headed back to Tai, giving him a massive hug and squeezing tight. He stroked her hair and bent slightly to kiss the top of her head. Ruby let go and stood next to Weiss. Weiss smiled, took one of Ruby's hands in hers and squeezed it gently.

"This is Blake, my partner. She came back. The first person who left me to actually come back." Blake's ears flattened in guilt, and her facial expression mirrored them, but Yang continued, "And I'm glad she did. Because I can introduce you two to each other, and not just sit here and talk about her." She threw an arm around Blake's shoulders, "This is my partner Blake Belladonna, and I couldn't wish for a better partner to have by my side."

Blake's ears perked up at that and she smiled, "And I couldn't hope for a better partner than your daughter. Yang is strong and brave, kind and thoughtful. She's willing to go the extra mile for people to help them out. From what Ruby's told me of you, it seems Yang gets that from you. So, I hope you'd be happy with what she's done." She stood up and squeezed Yang's shoulder and left, letting Yang have some time alone.

Yang looked at the grave sadly, "Well I found Ruby." She laughed slightly, "Managed to pick Weiss up on the way, and then Blake met up with us when we least expected it, but we're all together again. I saw my other Mum as well. She was...well she was what I expected. Which is worse than what I hoped for. It just reinforced that you're my real Mum, even if we're not related by blood. You're still my Mum, and you always will be." Yang turned slightly to look at her team on the edge of the forest, Blake's amber eyes catching hers briefly.

"I don't really need to look after Rubes anymore, she's capable of it herself, and she's actually got a good partner. I give her stick quite a bit, but Weiss is a good person at heart, and she cares for Ruby. I'll still keep an eye on her though, what else are big sisters for?" She chuckled, "Keep an eye on Dad for me though please. I worry he gets lonely out here. Love you Mum."

Yang stood and walked over to Tai, who wrapped her in a bear hug and kissed her forehead. She stepped over to the others who pulled her into a group hug. "You girls head back without me, I'm gonna be a while alright?" They nodded and started the walk back to the house. Tai wandered over to the grave and sat down next to it, ignoring the snow and cold that seeped through his cargo shorts. Zwei trotted up and sat on his other side, leaning his head against Tai's leg.

He stared out over the edge of the cliff as the sun started to set, purples and oranges crossing the sky, and lighting the clouds up like fire. "We did a good job Sum; we did a good job."

Author's Note 2:

This chapter was really hard to write. I've never written a fight scene before and writing the conversations with Summer was pretty difficult too. Still not sure on how it's come out either tbh.

I'm gonna try and update more often than recently, but it won't go back to the weekly updates it was before. I'm back at work full time now, so that'll slow it down.

Thank you to everyone who reads this, whether you review, favourite, follow, or just read it. It all means a lot that people read this. See you next time!