"I'm gonna get you, Lynn!" Ruby said with a playful smile as she reached forward. As she expected, the girl slipped away from her at the last second, dashing off in a fit of laughter. "Get back here!"

"You'll never catch me, mama!" Lynn's short, white hair whipped around her as she turned to face Ruby. The ends of her hair were dyed pink, something she insisted on so she could look like her mama, which Ruby was more than willing to help her with.

"We'll see about that!"

Of course, Ruby had let Lynn get away. She could catch the little girl almost effortlessly if she wanted to, especially with her semblance. But what kind of mother would she be if she didn't let her daughter win from time to time?

Ruby jogged after Lynn, who had escaped into the living room. It was large with plenty of open space. Perfect for continuing their little game; they just had to be careful not to break anything.

Lynn waited in the center of the room, bouncing on her feet with the boundless energy Ruby was all too familiar with. As soon as their matching silver eyes met again, however, Lynn got ready to move.

Ruby wasn't about to make it easy on her, though. She was standing between Lynn and the only exit to the room, so she just needed to make sure the girl didn't get around her. As Lynn tried to run around her, Ruby matched her to block her movement. It wasn't all that fair with the difference in size, but they were both having fun. Every time Lynn realized she couldn't get out, she giggled as she looked for another opportunity.

Eventually Ruby backed Lynn into a corner. The little girl curled up in a bout of uncontrollable laughter as Ruby approached, threatening to tickle her daughter with her outstretched hands.

Instead, Ruby simply poked Lynn on her little nose, receiving a gasp of surprise. "Tag, you're it!"

With that, Ruby spun around and dashed for the exit. She turned her head to stick her tongue out, but her breath was knocked out of her as she ran into the wall instead. Ruby tumbled backward and landed on her back. While Lynn howled with laughter, Ruby wondered how she could have possibly ran into a wall in the house she'd lived in for years.

Wait, there shouldn't have been a wall there…

Ruby looked up just in time to see a white glyph disappear from the living room entryway.

"Linnea!" Ruby scolded. She sat up to look at her daughter, the girl's smile instantly vanishing. "No glyphs in the house. You know that."

"Sorry, mama," Lynn whimpered, looking down to the floor.

"Hey, come here," Ruby said, opening her arms for the girl. Lynn walked over and let her mother hug her.

"I didn't mean to," Lynn whispered. "It just happened."

"It's okay. You're not in trouble." Ruby pulled back to look into her daughter's eyes and wiped away a tear that was ready to fall. "We just need to work on your self-control some more."

"Oh."

"That's a good thing, Lynn. You're already doing so well with your semblance. But you need to control yourself, or you might end up accidentally hurting someone."

"Did I hurt you?" Lynn asked immediately.

"Not at all. Your mama's a big girl, after all. You just surprised me is all. But others might not take it so well if you did the same thing to them."

"Like mom?"

Ruby couldn't hold back her laugh, and Lynn giggled along, too. "No. No, mom is really strong too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She was one of the best huntresses I've ever known, and I would never want anyone else by my side on a hunt."

"But… she doesn't do that anymore…"

Now it was Ruby's turn to be sad. "No, she doesn't. But it's because of her hard work that the world is a safer place now. I think she's earned that choice, don't you?"

Lynn nodded. "You helped too, right?"

"Yeah, I guess I did. And a lot of other people did, too."

Their conversation came to a halt as the sound of the front door opening reached her ears, and Ruby watched Lynn perk up in anticipation. Ruby gave an exaggerated gasp of surprise. But it wasn't very exaggerated, because she was just as excited as Lynn was. "Who is that?" she asked rhetorically.

"Mom's home!" Lynn leapt from Ruby's lap and sprinted for the front door. Ruby pushed herself to her feet and followed her, leaving several rose petals in her wake.

In the doorway stood Weiss, looking as professional as ever in her business suit. She still wore her hair in a ponytail on the side of her head but had recently added a pair of reading glasses to her usual attire. Weiss claimed she didn't really need them, and probably wore them mostly because of how much Ruby liked how she looked with them on.

Weiss had hardly made it two steps into their home before Lynn crashed into her. Her briefcase clattered to the floor as she knelt to wrap her arms around her daughter.

"Lynn! Don't run in the –"

Weiss didn't get to finish her sentence before Ruby crashed into her as well. Ruby wrapped her arms tight around her family, careful not to let them fall over but also not let them escape her embrace.

"Gah! Ruby!"

Weiss glared at her, but a quick kiss from Ruby put an end to that. "Welcome home, Weiss."

"We missed you!" Lynn cried from between them. Ruby nodded in agreement.

"I missed you too," Weiss said. She ran her hand through Lynn's hair and kissed her forehead.

"Come on, mom!" Lynn hopped to her feet and pulled at Weiss's hands. "Let's play!"

"Lynn," Ruby interrupted, "I think we should let mom rest. She had a long day at work, after all."

Weiss gave Ruby a thankful smile, but she shook her head. "No, it's okay. I want to spend time with you. Both of you."

Weiss tried so hard to be a good parent for Lynn. Work had been keeping her late often recently, but she always wanted to stay up late to be with her family, even if it was hard.

"How about a movie, then?" Ruby suggested, hoping that it would satisfy Weiss while allowing her to rest.

"Oh! Yeah! Let's do that!" Lynn hopped in place and then dashed off to the living room without waiting for her parents.

"I still can't believe she only got your energy," Weiss mused.

"Hey, she has my eyes!" Ruby picked up Weiss's briefcase from the floor and set it on the dining table nearby. She then took Weiss's hand and slowly led her to the living room. "I just don't know how you are able to put up with two of me."

Weiss smiled through her exhaustion. "There's just something revitalizing about Ruby Rose Energy. And it works even better with more of you."

Ruby gasped. "Don't tell me you only married me for my body!"

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," Weiss said, smirking.

Ruby laughed. She leaned in close, lowering her voice so Lynn wouldn't hear. "You are so sexy when you tell jokes, you know that?" She kissed Weiss once on the cheek, then again on her lips.

"You've mentioned it once or twice." It had been a lot more than that. Weiss released Ruby's hand to wrap her arm around her. Ruby followed suit, pulling Weiss close as they made it to the living room.

"You guys are so slow!" Lynn wailed while she bounced in her seat on the couch.

"We're old! We can be as slow as we want!"

"Lynn, I think you know better than to call your mama slow. And we are not old, Ruby."

"Come on, Weiss! Back me up here!"

Weiss simply responded with a noncommittal hum before separating from Ruby to cuddle with Lynn on the couch. Lynn quickly nuzzled into Weiss's side but let a yawn escape in the process. It seemed to effect Weiss as well, as her own yawn came soon after.

Ruby grabbed a blanket from the corner of the room and draped it over Weiss's shoulders, covering Lynn as well. After turning on one of their favorite late-night movies, Ruby joined them by sitting on the other side of Lynn.

It had been a while since they had all been able to spend time together like this. With Weiss's job taking up so much of her time, it was rare for her to be free to do anything. So instead of focusing on the movie, all her attention went toward the two most important people in her life.

Ruby took one of Weiss's hands in her own and started gently massaging it. Weiss often complained about her hand aching from all the paperwork she needed to do. Weiss worked so hard all the time, so Ruby wanted to do anything she could to make it even a little bit easier on her. She gave Ruby a grateful look before leaning her head over to rest on Ruby's.

Lynn yawned again as she wrapped her arms tighter around Weiss, who held Lynn with her free arm. Tired as she was, Weiss looked happy to be spending time together, and Ruby was grateful for that. With how chaotic their lives had been to get there, Ruby never wanted to miss moments like this.

It wasn't long before Lynn was asleep and Weiss didn't look too far behind, either. Ruby stopped the movie, deciding that it was a good time for all of them to finally get to bed.

"I'll take her to her room," Ruby offered, standing from the couch.

"I can do it," Weiss said, letting out a yawn. She stood as well, but she was a little off balance.

"I've got her, Weiss," Ruby said, gently picking her daughter up before Weiss could protest. "We can go together."

Weiss nodded and followed Ruby upstairs to Lynn's room. Ruby laid Lynn down in her bed and covered her with her favorite blanket.

"Goodnight, Lynn. I love you," she whispered and kissed her on her forehead. Ruby couldn't be certain if Lynn heard her, but she liked to believe it helped her sleep better anyway.

After Weiss said goodnight to Lynn as well, they both made their way across the hall into their own bedroom. Weiss collapsed onto the bed without her usual grace, but that had become commonplace recently. Ruby hated seeing Weiss so exhausted.

Before Ruby could crawl into bed with Weiss, her gaze settled on the weapons locker, which was just within reach in case of emergency. There would never be an emergency here in the city, but Ruby always felt safest when she knew she could defend her family.

Ruby quietly opened the locker. Inside sat Crescent Rose, the sniper-scythe that had been with her for so much of her life. Aside from her family, it was possibly her proudest accomplishment, with countless hours spent tinkering with it and even more spent practicing or fighting. She still cleaned it and trained as often as she could, but Crescent Rose simply didn't get as much use now as it did before.

Beside it rested Myrtenaster, Weiss's rapier. Ruby could hardly remember the last time Weiss held the thing. It would probably have a thick layer of dust over it if Ruby didn't take the time to clean it herself. Ruby often wished Weiss still went on hunts with her, but she respected Weiss's choice of a quieter life.

Aside from spending time with Lynn or Weiss, maintaining their weapons was one of the few things she could find joy in these days. Not much compared to the rush of adrenaline that came from slicing a few dozen Grimm in half, but it certainly helped.

"Have you found any more hunts to go on?"

The question pulled Ruby out of the locker, closing it again as she turned her focus to Weiss. "No, not a whole lot going on out here these days."

"I should be getting some time off soon… maybe I can watch Lynn and we find you something outside the kingdom for a change. When was the last time you fought a Nevermore, again?"

Ruby smiled sadly as she sat on the edge of the bed. "It's… been a while."

"Are you," Weiss paused to yawn, "are you doing okay?"

Ruby did her best to not wince at the question, as it was the one she was hoping Weiss wouldn't ask. "I'm fine."

"Ruby, you know that you're not a very good liar."

Ruby sighed. "I know."

"Please talk to me, Ruby. We've always talked about everything."

She was right. It had been after a particularly nasty argument a few months into dating that they had resolved to never keep secrets from each other. It had taken some time for Weiss to get used to it, but now she was an open book for Ruby. If Ruby asked, she would get an answer, every single time.

Ruby on the other hand, never had much of a problem telling Weiss what was on her mind. In fact, it was usually difficult not to spill every thought in her head to her.

But ever since Lynn was born, Ruby had a lot of time to spend with her thoughts. She thought about how fortunate she was to have such an amazing family. She thought about her accomplishments, and all the people she helped.

But she also thought about her future, and her goals in life. With Lynn to look after, things suddenly weren't so clear anymore. She was conflicted, and for perhaps the first time in her life she didn't know how to talk about it. So she didn't.

Weiss wasn't dense, though. She had probably noticed something was wrong some time ago, Ruby guessed, but hoped Ruby would bring it up on her own. Weiss would only bring it up if she knew Ruby wouldn't, which made her feel even worse for the situation.

"I'm sorry, Weiss," Ruby started. "I didn't want to worry you."

She felt a delicate hand placed on her shoulder, drawing Ruby's eyes to meet Weiss's. Her eyelids were drooping, and clearly on the brink of passing out, but when Weiss had her mind set on a task, something as simple as sleep deprivation was no obstacle. "I know. But I am worried."

"I just… I didn't know how to talk about it."

"It's okay. We'll figure it out together."

She was right. Weiss was always right. Even when they had no idea where they were or where they were going, they always had each other. Ruby trusted Weiss completely and knew Weiss felt the same.

So Ruby said the one thing she thought she would never have to say.

"Weiss, I'm… not sure if I can be a huntress anymore."

Ruby searched Weiss's eyes for a reaction. Shock, surprise, anything, but all she found was a soft smile.

"I know."

"You… know?"

"You were never one for those low-profile hunts back in school, Ruby. They're all you take these days: low-threat and nearby, and only when they can't get anyone else first."

"It's… hard to take more dangerous ones now. I want to be able to be here for Lynn."

"And that's okay." Weiss pulled Ruby in for a hug. "But that doesn't mean you have to stop being a huntress. There are other options. What if you became a teacher?"

Ruby nearly scoffed at the thought. "Really? Me, a teacher?"

Weiss pulled away to glare at Ruby. "Do you even realize how much anyone would want Ruby Rose to be their teacher?"

"Come on, Weiss. I'm not that special…"

"You are. And besides, Lynn is going to want to start training in a few years, are you saying you won't teach her?"

Ruby grimaced. "I don't know. I don't like the idea of our daughter putting herself in danger like that."

"Like us?" Weiss asked accusingly. "Ruby, do you really think Summer was keen on letting you become a huntress?" Ruby shook her head. "And would you have done it anyway?"

"Probably."

"Lynn is going to be a huntress whether you like it or not. And you should, because Lynn is the daughter of two of the best huntresses to ever attend Beacon." Weiss planted a hasty kiss on Ruby's lips. "She'll be fine, especially if you teach her."

"We. We'll teach her," Ruby corrected.

Weiss smiled. "Right."

Ruby kissed Weiss back this time. "Thanks, Weiss. I'll think about it. The teaching thing, I mean."

"And you'll talk to me about it this time?"

"Yes, I promise." One more kiss, more affectionate this time. "Now, you need to rest."

Weiss smiled tiredly as Ruby helped her under the covers, joining her after. Ruby held Weiss close, happy to have a weight off her shoulders, at least for a little while.

"I love you, Weiss."

"I love you, too, Ruby."

Finally found the courage to post something longer that I've been working on for a while. Please let me know what you think! I want to write more for this, but it will probably take some time.