Winter wasn't exactly sure what she was doing. She didn't think, an odd feeling for her, and just moved based on instinct. Qrow was still telling her where they were parked when she hustled out of the office. She gave a rushed explanation to Amy, barely stopping while she talked. She asked Amy to apologize to her last client and for her and rushed into the elevator. All she told Amy was that something serious was going on and she had to go right away.
It wasn't until she was halfway down the overcrowded elevator, her phone still clenched between her fingers, that she had a thought about what she was going to say. Her thought was pretty simple, I have no idea what to say.
When she heard a ding she moved, and in the blink of an eye the gold of the lobby was rushing past her eyes and she was running through the front doors. Winter looked left and right, realizing she hadn't been paying attention when Qrow explained where they had parked. Then, down the road, she spotted the red pickup truck. She moved as fast as her heels would let her down the sidewalk.
Winter wasn't sure what she was expecting, but this wasn't it. Qrow was standing outside of the truck pulling on Yang's ankles while she grabbed onto the frame of the door, trying to drag herself back into the safety of the truck. All the while Ruby was pulling on Yang's arms from inside the truck, trying her best to help her sister. There was a small crowd gathered around the three of them, none of them sure what to do, and she couldn't blame them.
"Just let go, Yang! Just go in and talk to the albino! It'll do you good!" Qrow yelled as he heaved on the poor girls' legs, keeping her in mid-air.
"Never! Don't stop Ruby, I can feel his grip getting weak!" Yang grunted as her grip strength was tested like never before.
"It's her!" Ruby shrieked, letting go of Yang's arms and pointing at Winter. Yangs grip broke right at that moment and she flung out of the truck and right into her uncle. The two of them ended up in a pile in the middle of the street. Winter flinched when she heard the thud hit the ground, both of them groaning in pain. The crowd, realizing the show was ending, thankfully started to disperse after that.
"So who wants to explain what was going on?" Winter questioned with a lot more authority and confidence then she felt she had. The three of them looked at each other, not speaking, while Yang and Qrow slowly stood up and separated. Winters glare traveled over all of them, but when it landed on Ruby she slowly closed and locked the door while maintaining eye contact out of fear. Ruby didn't notice that the window of the door was open.
"I was trying to get them out of the car to see you" Qrow finally answered, hitting the dust off of his dark jeans. Winter noticed how his eyes avoided hers, just like a guilty child.
"An albino Qrow?" Winter gave him a sideways glance filled with annoyance. He just shrugged and gestured to her hair. "Yang? Ruby?" Winter wanted all sides of the story before she spoke. The blonde could have passed for a carbon copy of her uncle at that moment, they both had stubborn pouts on their faces and refused to look anywhere other than the hot dog stand down the road.
"We didn't wanna talk to you" Yang stated, crossing her arms. Winter looked down at her sternly for a second but felt the tension drain out of her quickly when she noticed that the blonde had a small bruise on her cheek that was too old to be from her recent fall. She made a note of it for later as she walked up to Yang and started to dust off her shirt and pants. Yang's back was stiff, but she didn't ask her to stop.
"Well, why not?" Winter simply asked, sounding confused. Winter gave Yang a once over, hitting any particularly dusty spots one last time before she took a step away from Yang. "Did I do something to offend you? If I did, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to"
"What? No, you didn't do anything. Why would you think that?" Yang asked, her eyes quickly darting to Winter's eyes before scurrying away.
"What else am I supposed to think? You two seemed fine with talking to me before, and now you don't want to out of the blue? If you don't explain yourself, of course, that's what I'm gonna think" Winter explained slowly. Yangs eyes dropped to the ground and stayed there while she slowly unfolded her arms.
"So why don't you two want to talk to me anymore?" Winter asked looking at Ruby. The girl had a small frown on her face while her head was sticking out of the open window.
"We don't like therapists. They aren't nice to us." Ruby spoke up, looking right at Winter. She didn't look aggressive like Yang had, she looked sad.
"So you don't want to talk to me anymore?" Winter honestly wasn't sure what the answer would be. Maybe this whole thing would be over before it started.
"Well…" Yang started, but stopped and looked at Ruby. Winter knew the two were having a silent conversation, it was something she and Weiss had perfected over years of practice. The two of them seemed to come to an agreement, both of them looking back to her.
"We like you and you seem nice, but we don't want you as a therapist. Like Ruby said, we don't like them." Yang said pointing her thumb at her sister whos head bobbed up and down like a boat in a storm.
"Guys, you're being ridiculous! She wants to help yo-" Qrow started to plead, sounding frustrated, before Winter interrupted him.
"It's fine Qrow. If they don't want me to be their therapist, that's fine. I don't have to be"
"Winter, they don't mean it! Please!" Qrow was on the verge of begging, Winter could hear it in his quaking voice.
"Does that mean I can be your friend then?" Winter asked with a smile. The two girls had another silent talk. Qrow looked at Winter with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide as a full moon, a small smile on his face.
"No Tricks? No secret therapizing?" Ruby probed, trying to figure out if she was being honest.
Winter shook her head, "No tricks. I just wanna be your friend" Winter smiled warmly at the two of them.
"Well… All right. If you promise you won't therapize us and only want to be our friend, we can do that" Yang smiled, holding out her pinky.
"Sounds fair" Obliged Winter, tieing her pinky to Yangs. While they were shaking, Ruby climbed out of the car and held out her pinky. With that, Winter sealed a deal of friendship with these two girls. While the sisters beamed at each other, talking about all the fun they were going to have, Qrow and her shared a silent smile of understanding. Qrow looked shaken, but also filled to the brim with energy. He reminded her of someone who had won the lottery and wasn't exactly sure what to do next.
"So, what do you guys want to do now?" Winter questioned the excited sisters. Ruby gasped, cupping her face with her hands and almost jumping up and down with excitement.
"Uncle Qrow, can we? Please, can we?" Ruby begged, giving her uncle the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes Winter had ever seen. Yang had a grin on her face and looked up at her uncle, waiting for his response.
"I don't know Ruby, you tried to bite me a few minutes ago. Yang, you kicked me in the ribs pretty hard, too" Qrow grumbled, but he was trying hard to hide his smile.
"The past is the past uncle Qrow, we've moved past it. Haven't we, Winter?" Yang asked in a confident tone.
"I think we have" Winter agreed, not sure what they were getting at.
"Alright then, fine. We can go" Qrow relented with a grin and a chuckle. Ruby started to jump up and down now, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open with her fists clenched tight.
"So, what is it we're doing?" Winter asked, a little scared of what answer she was gonna get.
"We're getting-" Yang started, but then she was physically pushed out of the way by an over-excited Ruby.
"Ice cream!" The girl yelled so loud that bystanders turned to look again, she also made the three people closest to her winch in pain. Winter rubbed her ears but couldn't help letting out a laugh at how pumped Ruby was.
"Lead the way, Ruby" She gushed, making Rubys smile glow like a lightbulb before she shot down the road.
"We're in for a long day" Qrow sighed, scratching the back of his head and following Ruby with Yang in toe. Winter couldn't help but notice the smile that was still plastered on his face. I wonder if he could ever tell them no, Winter thought to herself as she watched him walk. With a smile on her lips, she started to follow after the bizarre family in front of her.