Dreamless nights always felt weird to Winter. She was used to having dreams dealing with her stress, her family, her past, future, and a thousand other things. But that night, it was like her mind had suffered a harsh glitch that transported her from crying lightly in the dark and trying her best to be quiet to her eyes opening to the glare of the sun and her head hurting so much it made her nauseous. It was like some kind of magic, a curse to be specific. A curse that made her hate life and made her want to stay in bed all day.
Winter moved her pillow over her eyes, trying her best to block out the suns painful rays, leaving enough room for her mouth to get some oxygen down her throat. Not that she wouldn't mind death right now with her pounding head, uneasy stomach, and… Did she mention her stomach?
Winters belly gurgled in an unnatural way that forced her to shoot out of bed and run down the hall to the bathroom. She tried to open the door, wanting to simply get it over with, only to find that it was locked. Winters eyes got wide as she tugged at the door, hoping that hre grip was only a little slippery from sweat or something. She banged on the door like her life depended on it, but still the door didn't open. Another gurgle from her stomach told her how little time she had, so she had to abandon the idea of using the bathroom, running into the kitchen instead.
She lunged for the garbage can on the other side of the kitchen, but halfway there it was too late. Winter was forced to change course like a ship captain meeting a hurricane and made it to the sink just in time for her to toss her cookies like a pro baker.
Winter heard a door open from somewhere followed by hurried footsteps before she felt someone grab her hair, pulling it out of her face before anything could get caught in it. The same person also started to rub her back lightly, which was a small comfort in her waking hell. Her body shook and she gripped the side of the counter for support as her body purged the toxins from her system.
Her body convulsed time and time again, forcing everything out. Winter hadn't even eaten that much the day before, but there was still enough gunk that it made her worried that her sink would clog.
After the onslaught felt like it was over, then to more rounds of convulsions, Winter felt her legs start to give out. She didn't even try to fight it, she simply lowered herself down to the floor slowly, trying to collapse. She laid down on the ground, resting her head on the cool wood floor and sighing in relief as she closed her eyes. Screw bed, I can fall asleep here, Winter thought to herself before the throbbing in her head started again. She flinched every few seconds as a gong was struck inside her head somehow.
"This might help" Qrow told her as he set something on the ground next to her head. Winter opened her eyes and saw the most beautiful glass of crystal clear water that she'd ever seen. Her arms attacked the glass when she realized how gross her mouth felt and how dry her throat was. Still lying down, winter started to chug the water, spilling some on her shirt and her mouth like a kid, but what did she care?
"Sip, don't gulp. You don't want it to come back up again, do you?" Qrow explained with a light chuckle as he took the glass and tilted it away from her enough so she wasn't drowning herself anymore. Winter listened to him, not wanting anything else to come up. She'd been through that way too much lately.
Qrow ended up getting her another two glasses of water before her thirst was finally extinguished. Her head still hurt, but at least she didn't feel on the brink of death anymore. Qrow was sitting in front of her with his legs crossed, looking at her with a relaxed smile. That is, until their eyes met. Then he looked away and his face had a tint of red. But his red face ended up making her blush too for some reason, creating a weird cycle of embarrassment.
"So, uh, what are you doing here?" Winter wondered as she tried and failed to lift her sore body off the ground.
"Well your car's still at your work, so I figured I'd drive you over there to pick it up. I didn't wanna drive home then back here, so I ended up crashing in the chair. Big mistake, my back hurts like hell" Qrow explained while he scratched his chin, which already had more stubble on it than the night before.
"Oh, sorry to hear that. You could've stayed in the other bedroom though, it wouldn't have been an issue or anything" The bedroom was empty, but at least there was a bed in it he could've stretched out in. The guilt somehow made her headache worse as she remembered how he gave up his bed for her last time.
"Yeah, but I figured that someone would probably pop in and get pissed a stranger was in their bed"
"Well you'd be wrong. Nobody lives there right now" Winter sighed, knowing Weiss would've been upset if Qrow had slept in her bed. If only she did live there.
"Guessing this is your first hangover?" Qrow asked out of the blue, clearly not wanting to pry, which Winter appreciated.
Winter nodded ever so softly, trying not to make her head hurt any worse than normal, "What gave it away?"
"You got drunk off of probably two shots of vodka last night, so let's call it a healthy guess" Winter groaned in agony as he chuckled evilly.
"Is that a lot? I've only ever had a few sips of wine here or there, but that sounds like a lot" Winter looked at him with pleading eyes, which he couldn't meet for long.
"Uh, yeah. Definitely. I thought you could handle your liquor is all" Qrow relented, making Winter smile.
"Good, I thought it was strong stuff" Winter grinned in victory. Qrow looked like he wanted to say something else, but stopped himself at the last minute. He probably thought he was being sneaky, but Winter caught him.
"If your head's hurting, I know a cure for that. But we gotta go somewhere to get it"
Winter bit the inside of her cheek as she thought, her arms spread out at her sides. Winter sort of wanted to stay in bed until she found her way to the great beyond, but at the same time she didn't want to die from pain, that would just plain suck. She also doubted she'd be able to sleep or anything… "Sure, why not? Can I shower first?" Winter had asked a question, but it was actually a demand. She would rather die than leave the house as she was now. She was still in the same clothes from last night, her hair felt stiff, and she knew that she didn't exactly smell like a basket of roses, or any other flower for that matter.
"This is your house, you don't need to ask me" Qrow answered as he stood up and held out his hand for her to take. Winter looked at the hand with loathing, not wanting to move yet.
"Do I have to? Can't I shower here or something? The sink's right here" Winter begged as she lifted up a finger and pointed to the still filthy sink.
"You're the one who said you wanted to go"
"Ugh, I hate when you're right" Winter protested as she grabbed his hand. Gingerly, he pulled her up to her feet. Somehow he kept her from moving too much and making her head yell at her.
Winter stumbled to find her footing for a second and fell into Qrows open arms, who caught her without issue. Both of them looked at each other for a second, like they were both waiting for the other to do something, but nothing happened. Winter awkwardly stepped away as the two of them avoided eye contact and blushed like tomatoes.
The next twenty minutes were spent in a hot steamy shower trying to wash away the grime and horribleness from the night before. Her muscles were sore, she'd slept weird and her neck hurt, and overall she felt like she hadn't slept at all, but at least she was clean now.
Her hair was giving her a lot of trouble this morning, but what's new about that? She was combing it, trying to get it to settle down, getting angry at it. Then, she stopped fighting it. Instead she let a big lock of her hair fall over the right side of her face while the rest of it went into a loose bun. She could still see perfectly, and it made her look a bit mysterious.
She walked out of the shower and found Qrow in the living room doing push ups and whistling to himself quietly. She didn't wanna interrupt him, so she let him go, figuring he'd stop when he got to twenty or something. But he didn't. Instead he kept going, not slowing down at all, for another five minutes. Winter stood there, utterly transfixed, and questioning if Qrow was some government robot or something. When he did stop, it wasn't because he got tired either, he stopped because he looked up and saw Winter staring at him.
"Hey, didn't see you there. Are you ready?" Qrow wondered as he stood up, not even out of breath or with a drop of sweat on him.
"How- How did you do that?" Winter stuttered, pointing at him like a nonbeliever at an alien. Actually, maybe he was an alien? She had no idea anymore.
"How did I do a push up?" Qrow looked at her with a mix of pity and confusion.
"No, I know how to do a push up! I mean how did you do like a thousand of them without stopping!" Winter urged him, desperate to know how he got such superhuman strength.
"It was actually two hundred. Which, for the record, isn't even close to my best. And I don't know, practice?" Qrow shrugged as he walked over to the door, leaving Winter behind.
"You can't do that many push ups through practice!" Winter insisted as she followed him.
"Yeah you can. All you have to do is do as many push ups as you can. Then, do that again and again and again. Eventually, you can do more push ups. Then, sooner or later, you can do two hundred. That's how working out works, Snowflake" replied Qrow in a slow voice, like he was explaining working out to a child for the first time. The two of them slipped on their shoes and headed out the door.
"I think you're a cyborg or something, nobody can do that many and not have limbs made out of metal" Qrow held out his arm and flexed while they walked.
"Tell me what you think, are my arms made out of metal?"
Winter gulped at how well defined his muscles were, and knew she shouldn't… But she also couldn't think of an excuse not to touch him. So quietly, she reached out and grabbed his arm.
"So, is it metal?" He teased after she let go.
Winter looked down at the ground, her face redder than earlier and whispered, "It feels like metal"
"Or maybe you're just a pip squeak like ruby" Qrow joked as he reached out and felt her stick like arms.
"I'm not weak! My muscles are just… Dormant!" Winter spluttered out as Qrow grinned like a devil, but didn't say a word in victory.
After rushing Qrow out of the front door as quickly as possible, trying to avoid any questions or comments from Earl, the two of them were seated in Harbinger and were on their way to, somewhere he wouldn't tell her about. Again.
"You know, I'm not sure if I like not knowing where we're driving to. I feel like you're gonna take me someplace weird soon" Winter told him as they drove down the road, early morning traffic slowing Qrow down.
"Have I steered you wrong yet?"
"Well you've only taken me to one concert and wherever we're going" Winter recognized that this was the way to Qrows house, but wasn't sure if they were going all the way to his home.
"Trust me, this place never failed me back in the day" Qrow reassured her. Winter honestly trusted him, so she nodded and didn't question him anymore. A minute later, Qrow pulled into the parking lot of a small diner.
The diner was small, only one story, and was painting a very plain beige and blue. There were lots of neon signs all over the place, all of them saying how great the food was and how it was the best place in the city. If it wasn't for the fact that the signs were blinking and the parking lot was half way to empty, she might've believed them.
The inside of the diner was pretty simple, a line of booths and a bar that overlooked the small kitchen area. There was only one older couple in the far back booth and a construction worker that Winter really wished would pull up his pants sitting at the bar. The stove was crackling with the sound of bacon and eggs, and their smell filled the diner up to capacity and made her stomach growl.
Qrow walked over to a side booth and slid into it like he'd done it a thousand times. He rested his back against the wall and had his legs over the blue fake leather of the booth. Winter sat down a bit more normally opposite him.
"Two waters, one glass of root beer, one country omelet loaded with gravy and fries, and another one plain" Qrow called out to the waitress as she was walking up. She turned on a dime and went back behind the kitchen without a word.
"Shouldn't we have looked at a menu beforehand? What's even in the country omelet?" Winter wondered as she watched the waitress leave.
"If you want that pounding in your head to go away, trust me, this will do it" When he brought it up, Winter remembered the pounding in her head and instantly winced. There was an awkward silence for a minute, with neither of them really sure what to say while they waited on their food.
"So, what did you think of the concert? I mean… If you remember any of it that is" Qrow faltered with unease.
"The concert? It was awesome. I've never felt like that before, with how much I wanted to dance and move. It felt like I could do anything I wanted and nobody cared! It felt really freeing, ya know?"
"Trust me, I basically lived at that place for a few years, I know what you mean" Qrow grinned at her, clearly thinking about all of the crazy and fun stories he wanted to tell her. Instead he asked the hard question, "Do you remember everything? Like, are you missing any time?"
Winter felt her heart stop for a second, like someone had thrown a wrench into the machine. Everything stopped, but it wanted to keep going until it all broke down. Winter looked at Qrow, his face was full of curiosity, wonder, and most of all, hope. Winters throat was dry, and she had to look away from him. She wanted to tell him the truth, that she remembered it all, but… face came into her mind, and she imagined him throwing her out because of this. It was unethical for her to date the guardian of her patients. She could probably lose her license if anyone found out the two of them had even kissed, people didn't mess around with stuff like this.
If she lost this job, then what was the point of leaving? Why had she thrown away the chance to run a multi-billion dollar company, and why had she forsaken her sister to do it for her? Why had her mom helped lie to father and help her dreams to come true? All of that, everything, would be lost if the two of them tried to date… Was that worth it?
"Now that you mention it, I was dancing and then all of a sudden I was in your car. I remember dancing, then I remember that you told me… You know I'm from money" Winter would give up as much as she had to, but that she could keep. She could keep that small connection they'd made in the car.
Winter watched as Qrows eyes dulled. It was sad, like watching the tail end of a firework in the night sky. You want to see that explosion again, but sometimes it doesn't come back. His face fell for a moment as he looked over at the waitress who was bringing their drinks. When he turned back, there was a forced smile on his face that made Winter want to cry. But she knew she couldn't.
"Course I knew. I'm not as dumb as you think, Snowflake" Qrow chuckled lightly, but Winter didn't feel like laughing.
"I don't think you're dumb, I just thought I had hidden it well" Winter explained, trying her best to sound earnest.
"It really wasn't that hard to figure out. I mean- Wait, are you kidding me?" Qrow sat up and dropped his legs to the ground, his eyes wide as he looked at the door. Winter turned around and saw Qrows nieces and the woman he'd known since high school stroll into the diner with big smiles all around.
The three of them were talking with Ruby bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet like she usually did. Ruby found them first, and her eyes lit up and she ran over to them at the speed of light, scaring the old couple in the back.
"Uncle Qrow, Winter! What are you guys doing here? How was the concert! Did you have fun? Have you eaten yet?" Ruby blabbered out faster than she ran, giving Winter a case of whiplash.
"Breakfast, it was amazing, a ton, and we were about to. Would you care to join us?" Winter answered after her brain had processed what the hyper girl had said.
"Of course! Scooch over Uncle Qrow!" Ruby waved him away, and he moved over with a huff as his niece sat down beside him. Yang and Maria came over, at a more reasonable pace, and sat next to Winter after she'd scooted in as far as she could.
"What're you guys doing here? I figured yang would be making food for you guys or something" Qrow wondered, causing the blonde to cross her arms and glare at her younger sister.
"I would've, but someone decided to use all the eggs in an art project last night. And the flower. Plus the bacon. Basically everything I needed"
"I said I was sorry! But I wanted to see if I could make breakfast man into a real thing!" Ruby whined under Yang's gaze.
"You had a dream Ruby, breakfast man isn't gonna be real!" Yang chuckled as she reached across the table to give Ruby a nuggie.
"Yaaang, stop! Oh wait, Winter! I have something to give you! Lucky I brought them with me to finish up!" Ruby smiled as she pulled out a small red and black backpack that Winter hadn't noticed before. She pulled out a small piece of paper and handed it to Winter with the cutest smile. "Open it!"
Winter took it with a smile, and opened it up, revealing a beautifully drawn rose sticking out of a jack o'lantern with the words, You're invited to Ruby Rose's birthday party! This Halloween only, but also every Halloween! In beautiful cursive. Winter smiled at Ruby, who had a convincing set of puppy dog eyes. How could she say no?
-Authors note-
Like every chapter, I have to thank you guys for reading up to this point! I didn't mean for this story to become this long when I posted those first two chapters, but now I feel like I have to do this story justice no matter how long it takes. I love writing this story and hope you guys like reading it. So enjoy, see you next week!