After that day Jaune began regularly meeting with a psychologist named Doctor Anna. It really helped him, during that time he could vent all the stockpiled feelings he had inside and start to make sence of them. It had taken a few months for him to fully return to normal but Weiss was there all through his journey, and slowly he started to become the Juane she loved again, like any normal person of course he had bad days but he never yelled at her again and most of all he never hit her.
Of course he hated being in a wheelchair but he accepted that this was a part of his life now and he learned to be able to deal with it more.He owed much of his progress to Doctor Anna as she was kind and understanding, she could take all his anger, sorrow, and excitement. He grew to enjoy his time with her and in turn she helped him figure out his life, on one such day he had a conversation with her regarding what he would like to do with his life now that he could no longer hunt.
"So Jaune, have you given any more thought to your future?" Doctor Anna asks, Doctor Anna was a elderly woman with curly white hair and round glasses, she was small and walked with a cane but she was probably the best psychologist in Atlas.
"I haven't thought much about it no." he admits to her. "I suppose I should find a way to be useful again. Now that I can't be a hunter anymore." he says looking rather sad. " I would hate to just live off Weiss for the rest of my life."
"Just because you're in a wheelchair doesn't mean you are useless Jaune. I have known many people in wheelchairs who have achieved greatness." she says
"Well it's just I wasn't particularly good at anything that wasn't physical." Jaune says
"Part of growing is working on the things we find weakness in." Anna remarks.
"Yeah I understand that. But what kind of jobs would there be for me?" he asks
"Well lots of things. You could work in an office, you could teach, you can still work with your hands on smaller, more delicate things. You could become a librarian as I know you have a love for literature. You know there are a lot of things you can do, you just need to look." she says with a kind smile. Jaune sits and thinks about it for a while.
"You said teacher? I don't think any combat school would hire me." he says, Anna gives him a surprised look and starts to laugh prompting Jaune to be confused and a little offended.
"Not all schools are combat schools my boy." she says " What I mean is like a teacher who only teaches things such as english, science, history, and arithmetic." she explains, still smiling.
"Oh I see." Jaune says embarrassed.
"I could see you as a good grade school teacher like 1st or 2nd graders,from what I had heard you are quite good with children and I think you would get along well with that age group." she says
"What would I have to do to become a teacher?"
"Well you will have to go back to school yourself and earn your teaching degree." she says
"Okay, I think I can do that! Yeah!" he says excitedly, and for the rest of the time they have together Jaune eagerly asks questions about being a teacher.
In addition to finding a new purpose Jaune's relationship with Weiss also skyrocketed again. They get along better than ever and spend almost all of their free time together. Jaune still had pain in his body but now it was more manageable for some reason. But it might have been because he was in love again.
One day Weiss had come home after a full day of field work, she had entered the manor she headed to the living room where Jaune usually was and she didn't find him. At that moment Leah walked in carrying some freshly cut flowers for the room.
"Leah?" she says addressing the girl
"Yes, miss Schnee?" she answers looking away from her task.
"I was wondering where Jaune is." she says
"Oh, Mr Arc is currently in the Library." she says with a smile.
"Really? Well thank you very much." Weiss says
"Your welcome ma'am." She says with a smile before going back to her work as Weiss headed out of the room. She headed to the library and she couldn't lie... She was slightly worried he would be obsessing over finding relife again; he hadn't been in the library for a month as he had stated himself he needed some time away from all the books so he normally stayed in the living room talking to the servants and reading comic books. When she entered she was afraid to find him reading though the medical journals again, but instead when she entered the library she saw boxes and boxes of neatly stacked books labeled "medical"
"Hello Jaune." she says walking through the many aisles looking for him she suddenly sees him turn a corner with a pile of books on his leg.
"Hey Weiss." he says in his re-discovered happy voice as he wheels towards her.
"Looks like you've been busy." she says pointing to the mass of medical books.
"Yeah, the maids have been a real big help. I was planning on having these sent elsewhere if that's okay with you. Doctor Anna says I should put away the medical books and try to focus on more productive or fun things. But if you think they should stay here it's your call." he says with a smile on his face something that Weiss has liked seeing more of lately.
"That's fine. We could just donate them." she suggests
"That's an even better idea." he says "how was your day?" he asks
"It was alright, a little stressful. Everything is really hard to keep on schedule"
"Hmm, I can't say I would understand that, but I hope everything you need to do gets done on time."
"It will. It just is a little stressful."
"I'm sorry about that… Hey I have an Idea!" he suddenly says excitedly. "would you like to read with me?" Weiss thinks about it for a moment, she always likes spending time with Jaune so it's not much of a debate.
"Okay, what book?" she responds. he hands her the stack of books that was on his lap. "I see you're looking at a lot of history huh?" she says.
"Yeah…" he says sheepishly as he forgot about the history books in the pile. "I was actually considering going back to school." he states surprising her.
"Really?" she asks
"Yeah, I can't do much in a wheelchair but I don't want to be useless, I have spent a few sessions with Doctor Anna talking about my future now that I can't be a huntsman anymore. So I thought about it and I want to be a school teacher." he says looking a little nervus
"I think that's very noble." she says handing the books back to him but holding onto one."we could read this one." she says holding up a book of short fairy tales to him he nodded and wheeled over to a reading area that has a couch and two chairs next to a fireplace. (which is a stupid place for fire place, sure put fire neer walls of paper ready to brun.) with some maneuvering he manages to get out of his wheelchair onto the couch, Weiss sits next to him an listens as he begins to read to her.
He was a really good reader, he almost never stumbled over words, he made fun voices for each of the characters that made Weiss giggle. The two spend the rest of the day in the library as they take turns telling the stories in the book making it into a game to see who can make them more exciting. While Jaune is telling one of his stories Weiss just stares at him. She looks at his deep blue eyes, his fresh cut blond hair and newly formed stubble. He looks so… attractive, so manly.
Blushing at her own thoughts Weiss looks away for a moment, before finding herself being drawn back to stare at him. She couldn't help herself, she was in love and it was wonderful. Deciding to be a little bold Weiss cuddles up against Jaune and to her surprise without even missing a beat of his book he cuddles her back placing his arm around her smaller shoulders. Eventually he stops reading for a second to look at her and he gets caught looking into her perfect eyes, the two can't help but stare at each other, it was as if a magnet was keeping their eyes together. without even realizing it the two of them start to lean in closer to each other, neither of them even really realizing what was happening. Weiss closes her eyes and so does Jaune, their lips bush together for a second unsure about what this meant. But they soon started to push their fear aside before their lips met again, this time more certainty in their actions. They begin to kiss gently as Weiss slowly wraps her arms around Jaune's neck and his hands land lightly on her waist. The two continue for a while before breaking apart and staring into each other's eyes.
"Jaune?" she whispers questionly
"Weiss..." he responds
"... Is this good?"
"I-I think so." he says timidly, she looks at him and a warm smile spreads over her face
"I think so too." she says pulling herself closer, she then nuzzles her nose against his before pecking him on the lips again.
"Weiss, I… L-l" he starts but then stops, feeling as if he is not allowed to say those words.
"Jaune." she says placing her hand on his cheek and slowly pulling him closer to her.
"It's okay... I love you too." she says understanding what he wanted to say.
'Weiss." he says as a smile spreads across his face, she tightens his grasp around her and places his head in the crook of her neck. "I Love you! I love you so much!" he says kissing her neck and making her giggle at how excited he is. The two cuddle on the couch for a while before they realize it was almost midnight. Not wanting to be separated after finding such happiness Weiss joins Jaune in his room and they two cuddle together for the night sleeping in each other's arms.
From that day their relationship was born. But like most relationships it was a adventure to see how it would form. From it's shaky start their relationship was rough. Jaune constantly walked on eggshells around Weiss, and constantly felt he wasn't good enough for her.
Weiss on the other hand almost smothered Jaune determined not to let him go down a dark path again. To be honest it wasn't really working for either of them, they both knew they loved each other… but realistically they had a lot of healing to do together.
Months started to pass as Weiss and Jaune searched for the shape of their relationship. They did many things together, some of the good others bad. But in the end it was all for the sake of learning what this romance was. Jaune always went along with what Weiss wanted to do, even if he didn't like doing them, but was determined never to hurt her again, so he held in his discomfort and frustration.
Weiss on the other side always wanted to do everything with Jaune, she didn't want him to be alone for fear of where his mind would go. It was getting to the point where it was unhealthy for both of them. The more Jaune felt like he wasn't worthy of Weiss, the more she noticed and therefore the more time she wanted to spend with him to make him feel better not knowing it made him feel worse.
Finally they hit a rock in the road. Weiss was spending every free second she had with Jaune, and Jaune was falling deeper and deeper into his own feeling of worthlessness by her attempts to make him happy. The worse he got, the worse she got feeling she could never make him happy.
"Jaune…" Weiss says gently pushing the book he was reading out of his hand.
"Yes Weiss." he says, barely able to look her in the eye.
"Are you happy?" she asks her heart, feeling like it could stop at any time.
"What? Why are you asking that?" he says putting his book down. He was concerned, was his unhappiness making her unhappy? He hated that idea.
"Jaune. Just answer me. Are you happy?" she asks again.
" Weiss, hon. Of course I'm happy." he says, he forces a smile on his face.
There is silence for a moment as Jaune smiles at Weiss.
Weiss knows what his fake smile looks like.
"You're lying." she says quietly.
"W-what?" Jaune says shakely, his smile disappearing.
"You're lying!" she shouts, shaking angrily
"No! I Promise you I'm happy. I'm just tired." he says trying to calm her
"Jaune! Please don't lie to me." she says, frowning , looking upset.
"Weiss I swear I'm not unhappy." he says
"Jaune I swear to the Gods, if you don't tell me the truth I'll leave and wont come back." she says
"Okay Fine!" he shouts "I'm not happy!" he says looking upset for the first time in a while.
"I'm not happy, okay…" he says quietly.
"Jaune." Weiss says looking at him "Why didn't you just tell me." she says "Is it me?" she asks fearfully.
"Yes." he says quietly. Weiss feels her heart sink and start to break before he speaks again "But not because I don't love you…" he says softly
"Then why?" she asks equally as quite.
"I… You… We... I-I don't Deserve you…" he says no longer able to look her in the eye.
"Jaune?" she says, her eyes widening.
"You do all this stuff for me… I live in your house… I eat your food... You spend all your time with me. But I'm only a cripple… I don't deserve you. But you always seem like you're trying to make me happy, so I always pretended to be." he says looking down at his lap. "I love you too much to see you unhappy." he finishes.
"Jaune…" Weiss starts in almost a whisper. "You're not just a cripple, you're funny, smart, interesting, useful and Brave. And I love you because of that. I didn't mean to smother you... But I saw what you were like when you were alone. I didn't want to see you like that again." she says taking ahold of his hand
"I hated myself for treating you like that." Jaune says a flash of anger coming across his face before being replaced with a look of sadness." I was afraid if I wasn't always happy with you… I would hurt you like that again. " he says, a mess of emotions rushing to his heart.
"I understand." she says, Gently squeezing his hand "I'm sorry I made you feel like you always have to be happy. Jaune it's natural for us to have bad days… to feel unhappy. But you should tell me when you are unhappy so I can give you space, or help you feel better." she says
"I know. But you've already done so much for me… it's not your job to make me feel happy." he says
"You dolt," she says quietly before gently hitting his head. He looks up at her and sees a small smile on her face "I'm your girlfriend. It's part of the job to make you happy. I love you too much to see you sad." she says taking a hold of his cheek.
"Weiss," he says quietly.
"Promise me you'll tell me when you're upset from now on" she asks, placing her forehead against his.
"I Promise." he says cupping her cheek.
"And no more of this feeling like you're not worth anything to me. I don't love you for your ability to walk... I love you for being you. My loveable dolt." she says kissing his nose.
"I love you too. Snow angel." he says kissing her nose.
"It's been awhile since I've heard that nickname." she says with a smile "Huh vomit boy?" she teases
"I thought you said making me happy was part of the job." he says slightly smiling.
"I'm allowed to tease too." she giggles as he pulls her into his arms. Their lips connected and for the first time in a while, they were both very happy.
A year swiftly passes and Jaune and Weiss have refined their relationship making them both equally happy. After a year, they both have reached a level where they are happy, but also are able to be upset without hurting each other. Weiss could give Jaune some space to think, but would also be there when he needed it, in the same respect Jaune was also more open with his emotions making Weiss happier as she finally knew how to help him. And he was still working though the feeling of worthlessness but he was far better and finally felt like Weiss' equal instead of a dependent.
Speaking of her she has the S.D.C almost where she wants it and has made many good choices in the progression of the company, while it is true that they will lose some money due to the new work environments being built and the insurance of safety for miners, the people who work for her are much happier and the production has been up.
While Weiss manages her new position Jaune attends classes as his journey on the way to becoming a teacher continues. Jaune still has pain all the time but being with Weiss makes that pain bearable. But today that could all change as today is the big day. Finally after a year Pietro Polendina has come back to atlas to help make new limbs and such for those who were affected there and he has a special appointment set up with Jaune.
"You okay?" Weiss asks Jaune on the way to Pietro's workshop.
"Yeah just a little nervus." he replies, taking her hand in his and kissing her knuckles.
"You know I won't care if you can walk again or not. I love you Jaune no matter what happens." she says kissing him.
"Thank snow angel." he says with a smile.
They arrive at the workshop and Weiss wheels him inside.
"Hello Pietro." Jaune greets the older man.
"Hello there Jaune." he says as a warm smile covers his face. "Weiss hello also." he says acknowledging her. She smiles and says hello in return.
"I'm sorry about your leg my boy." Pietro says moving to a workbench putting the final touches on something. " I got your medical records and pitied you." he says turning back to them.
"Wait can't you just build me a new leg?" Jaune asks a concerned look on his face.
"I wish it were that simple. You see your spine is also severely damaged, even if you had the leg to stand with you would collapse anyways due to your back not being able to support you. In addition it rubs in a certain way the causes pain throughout your body."
"Then does that mean I won't be able to walk again?" Jaune asks, looking disappointed.
"No it just means I need to rebuild your spine." Pietro says in a nonchalant way.
"You can do that?" Weiss asks, amazed.
"I can. But unfortunately it will take awhile to perfect, in addition to that I also have other duties to attend to. And medical and industrial supplies are short at the moment. "
"But you could help me walk again?"
"Yes, I actually can fix some of the damage now and give you a new leg. With physical therapy you should be able to walk again. You'll still have pain, but far less than it is now."
"Really?"
"Yes, I'm going to put some temporary tools in your back that will help you walk again, but I can't help with your real leg, it has had muscle removed and will be very weak. You will probably have to walk with a cane."
"As long as I get to walk again I don't care!" he says excitedly. After that Weiss is sent out Jaune is left in the workshop.
Jaune wheeled into the back operating room and found a small team of surgeons who helped Pietro with his work. They would act as Pietro's hand in surgery while they put Jaune's spine partially back together. They helped Jaune onto the operating table as Pietro started to explain the procedure a little more.
"So basically what we're going to do is place a lot of tiny rods in your spine strengthening and steadying it. We would remove some more damaged tissue and replace it with artificial material." he says inspecting some of the sterile parts the doctors were gathering. He pulled up a blue print of Jaune's spine and showed him where the small rods would go. "In addition to all that. I'll be fitting you with a new leg I had built for you a while back." he says moving over to a large code locked case opening it taking out the mechanical leg showing it to Jaune. It was impressive. It looked for the most part like normal foot, toes and all, just made out of machinery.
"That looks impressive," Jaune said, trying not to be nervus.
"I had it made to be as durable as possible. So it will be a little heavier than your other leg." he says taking the prosthetic out.
"I'm sure I'll get used to it." Jaune says laying back as they prepare him for the operation.
They give him some kind of gas and he is soon asleep. Now this was the start to something great.
A/N: Now I hope this slakes your hunger till New year's. Merry Christmas my dear readers. and everyone who has been a loyal reader thank you for being patient.