"Dad!" Ruby yelled out and burst into petals as she sped towards the blonde man standing in the courtyard, swooping past other parents before slamming into him. He laughed out loud and spun her round, hugging her tightly as he did so.

"Hey kiddo! How you doing?" Putting her down he ruffled her hair and grinned, then raised a hand to give Yang a high five as she finally arrived, before pulling her into a hug. She hugged him deeply in return, glad to see him again.

"I'm doing great thanks." Yang smiled up at him slightly, as he stood just a couple of inches taller than her. "Although…" She stepped back to look him up and down, "…pretty embarrassed to be seen with a man wearing cargo shorts."

"Hey! These are the height of cool fashion you know!"

"Yeaaaah…no. Just no."

"So…before you two get talking about fashion, shall we go?" Ruby interjected before they got started. They all walked back to the dorm room, their father questioning them on how their time at Beacon had gone so far, Ruby talking like a machine gun as she tried to tell him anything and everything that she could. By the time they reached the dorm room their father was sufficiently caught up on everything that had happened in the last term.

They opened the door, Yang throwing her arms wide dramatically, "And here we are!" Blake looked up from the book she was reading and rolled her eyes at the dramatics.

Ruby went over to stand next to Weiss who was staring at her scroll as if it had personally insulted her. "Hey," she nudged Weiss' shoulder, and it showed how much more relaxed Weiss had become that she didn't immediately slap at Ruby or moan at her. "What's up?" She could hear her father being introduced to Blake in the background, but her immediate concern was Weiss.

"My father. Apparently, he's decided to grace us with his presence today." Ruby had rarely heard Weiss mention her father, and she knew it was a sore subject.

"I take it that's a bad thing?"

"Yes. Very."

"Oh." Ruby and Weiss were silent for a minute, "Can I ask why?"

"Because he's an awful person who should never have been allowed to procreate."

"Hey now, don't be so harsh, if your dad had never been allowed to have kids then you wouldn't be here, and you wouldn't be my little girl's buff!" Ruby and Yang's father had appeared, and he leaned over to Ruby to whisper in a loud voice, "That's the term, right? Buff?"

"Eh, close enough."

Weiss jumped with surprise and got to her feet quickly, holding her hand out. "Pleased to meet you sir, I'm Weiss Schnee."

He met her hand and shook it firmly, "Nice to meet you too, Taiyang Xiao Long, and please, no sirs or Mr Xiao Longs or anything like that, just stick to Tai. The rest makes me feel like an old man." He shuddered as if the thought repulsed him. "I won't be an old man until this beautiful head of hair turns completely grey."

"That'll be a hair-raising experience won't it?" Yang chuckled from behind Tai and Weiss rolled her eyes. Tai meanwhile smirked and didn't turn to face his older daughter.

"Yeah, it'll be a perm-anent change."

Weiss paled slightly and whispered, "Oh no. There are two of them."

"Don't worry Weiss, all's hair in love and war." Tai grinned widely and Weiss put her face in her hands.

A loud knock on the door distracted Weiss who looked up happily as the interruption. "Oh, shaved by the door there Weiss." Weiss gave Yang a death glare as she headed to answer it.

"Salutations Weiss! I made it without the guards." Penny saluted and Weiss didn't stop her face from smiling at seeing Penny, not that she was sure she could anyway. She'd rarely smiled during the first few weeks at Beacon, but since deciding to accept Ruby as their team leader and getting to know Penny much better, it was starting to happen a lot more. Mostly when she was around either Ruby or Penny.

Weiss leaned into the hall and as Penny had said, didn't see either of Penny's usual guards, or indeed any guards. "Penny, where are your guards? You know General Ironwood is starting to get desperate."

"I lost them in the crowd of parents outside." She smiled widely, clearly pleased with herself.

Weiss was silent until a loud laugh came from behind her, "I like this one, she seems great fun!" He moved to stand beside Weiss, "Taiyang Xiao Long. Please, call me Tai."

"Salutations Tai, I'm Penny Polendina." She shook his hand and Ruby noticed him wince slightly at Penny's grip but other than that made no outward recognition of how strong she was. "Oh! You're Ruby and Yang's father!"

"I am indeed, and I've heard about you as well, you and Weiss are Ruby's closest friends." Weiss and Penny both looked to Ruby quickly who smiled at them.

"So you know embarrassing stories about Ruby as a child? That is something you do when you meet family of your close friends right?" Penny's smile was innocent, but Ruby could see the evil grin on Tai's face so immediately shot over to them.

"Okaytimetogonowlet'sgoimmediately!" She grabbed Weiss and Penny's hands and started to pull them into the corridor.

"We'll see you later for dinner, don't worry, I'll save some stories until then!" Tai waved at their retreating backs smirking.

Reaching the courtyard where they had practiced Weiss' summoning, Ruby finally let go of their hands. Weiss felt a pang of disappointment as the warmth left her hand.

"Why did you not let your father tell us embarrassing stories about you?" Penny seemed disappointed and Ruby squirmed a little.

"Because they're embarrassing…besides, I'd want you to hear them from me not my dad."

Weiss scroll beeped and she looked down at it, seeing the message pop up.

'I will be arriving in approximately fifteen minutes. Meet me at the airship dock. Do not be late.'

"Oh, shit." Penny and Ruby both turned to Weiss, their discussion about Ruby's embarrassing stories forgotten instantly at hearing Weiss swear.

"Weiss? What's wrong?"

"My father is arriving at the dock in fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes? But the dock is on the other side of…oh no."

Weiss took off running, swearing under her breath about her heels. She was fine to fight in them but running for a long time was different matter. Within moments of leaving the two girls behind, she felt strong arms wrap themselves around her waist and felt herself speed up, the scenery of Beacon flashing past in a blur. Weiss closed her eyes as she wasn't used to travelling at this speed, this close to what she was passing by, and only opened them again when she felt the speed slow down and her feet touch the ground gently, the strong arms now resting gently on her hips.

"You ok Weiss?" Weiss opened her eyes and found Ruby very close to her, and they were standing in a hallway just before the main entranceway and airship dock.

Weiss looked at Ruby's silver eyes for a long moment, taking in each part of it, the eyelashes, which were quite short, the gradient and different shades of silver that swirled around, not something she had noticed from a further distance away, but now she was close enough found oddly beautiful.

"Weiss? I'm sorry I didn't ask but you seemed really worried about getting to the dock on time."

"What?" Weiss shook her head and stepped back away from Ruby slightly, her fingers lingering on Weiss' hips for a moment longer that neither of them noticed.

"I used my semblance on you so that you'd get here on time, you've got ten minutes to get to the dock, so if we walk quickly, we should make it. If…if you're okay with me coming with you."

"Oh. Thank you for that." Weiss started walking and Ruby followed right next to her. "You're welcome to come with, but my father can be…difficult to handle."

"Worse than you used to be?" Ruby smirked at Weiss, who didn't smile in return.

"Worse."

"Oh."

They walked in silence until they reached the dock and the landing bays.

They stood in silence for a moment before Weiss asked, "Where's Penny?"

"She's coming, just a lot slower. I can't carry her very far, and you needed to get here quickly. She said she'll catch up, but that getting you here was the most important thing." Ruby shrugged.

Weiss nodded and they went back to waiting, her arms clasped behind her back keeping it straight as she waited. Five minutes passed, and Weiss checked the time on her scroll. He was late. Well he did say approximately…

Five more minutes passed. And then another five minutes. By the time Penny caught up with them he was twenty minutes late and Weiss knew it inside, even if she didn't say it.

"Weiss?" Penny had walked up next to her and reached out, gently touching Weiss' hands, and she loosened them, letting Penny slide her hand into hers and gently grip it, letting the warmth flow into it. Ruby came up on Weiss' other side and held her other hand, cupping it in both of hers.

"He's never late. It's something he insists on, never being late. If he's late, it means he's not coming."

"Weiss…"

"He was never coming."

Ruby heard Weiss' voice shake and could tell she was about to break and collapse, so she stepped even closer and wrapped her arms around Weiss' body, Penny stepped into the hug as well and put her arms around the pair of them, holding them. The two felt her crumple into the hug, silent tears running down her cheeks as she whispered "I hate him. I hate him."