A/N Just a heads up, this is a reader-insert story!
Ten seconds. Ten seconds was all it took for your calm day to be thrown through a loop. Holidays were always rowdy, but you never expected the mayhem to devolve into Jaune trying to boost Autumn's aura "just because it sounded cool." You'd have to give him a good smack later for coming up with that bright idea. On second thought, maybe he was beating himself up right now for his dumb decision. All they saw was you and Autumn disappear in a flash of light and, as you could expertly predict, they probably thought you two were dead.
Actually, scratch all of that. You could bet all the lien you had that Qrow was strangling him at this very moment. The imagery made you chuckle softly, but the overbearing worry that your husband was going through didn't pass over your head. You had to get back as soon as possible, for him and for the sake of your futures. Not that you had much experience with it, but you figured that messing with time itself was less than satisfactory.
After the flash, you woke up on the floor of what looked like Atlas Academy. You knew the layout pretty well, having been here many times, but you weren't exactly trying to find the way to the bathroom. You were trying to find your living, breathing, moving daughter who probably found her way into trouble by now. Doing your best to avoid the people of this time, you snuck around the hallways and called out her name as quietly as you could.
"Autumn! Autumn!" you whisper shouted. Silence. You heard various voices down the hall, and without waiting to hear what they had to say, made a turn down toward the General's office. You didn't look too different from your past self, maybe you could pass off some lie to Ironwood make him help you find the little girl.
Rounding the corner with the most impassive face you could muster, you went into the small rotunda outside of General Ironwood's office. The facade immediately crumbled as you saw Ironwood and Qrow standing there. Not your Qrow, the Qrow from a couple years ago. That meant they were all in Atlas, the Salem issue hadn't been resolved yet, and on top of it all you weren't supposed to meet Qrow for awhile.
"Shit…" you impulsively said. The second the words came out of your mouth you knew it was a mistake as both men turned to face you. At least they looked embarrassed, that entertained you. Clearing his throat, Ironwood addressed you. "(Y/N), I didn't expect to see you so soon, but it's a pleasure nonetheless."
"Jimmy, you didn't tell me you had a woman" Qrow's snarky response was met with a glare from Ironwood. They bickered amongst themselves, which was usually annoying but it worked in your favor this time. Maybe you could salvage this. "It's a pleasure to see you too, General. I was just looking for a little girl," you interrupted.
"A little girl? Inside the academy?" he asked. "Ah…yeah. It's kind of complicated, but I was just wondering if you could help me look for her on some of the cameras or-" before you finished, a loud rumble of footsteps and yelling cut you off. Team RWBY, JNPR, and Penny raced down the hall toward you three with Autumn in tow.
"Uncle Qrow, we found this weird kid and she knows my name and Yang's name, and she won't stop wiggling we don't know what to do with her…" Ruby rambled on, but you stopped listening halfway through. Autumn was safely secured in her arms and uninjured, preferable to all of the fearful situations you had tried to repress on your way over here.
Autumn looked around and giggled, before her eyes landed on Qrow. He looked at her in confusion. She squirmed harder and teleported, which you often called blinking, from Ruby's grasp, allowing her to run across the cold metal floor.
"Daddy!" she chirped as she scampered toward Qrow with her little arms outstretched. You were ready though, and before she got to him you scooped her up and held her firmly in your arms. You might not be able to come up with a lie now, but all that really mattered to you was her safety. "Not yet sweetie," you laughed as she pouted at you.
"Did she just say…Qrow you didn't tell me you had a daughter," Ironwood smirked at the man. Qrow looked like he had all of the wind knocked out of him, and quickly threw up his hands in defense. "Listen, I'm not sure who you are but I can guarantee you she's not mine. I'm pretty sure I would know if I had a child in the past couple years." You rolled your eyes.
Ren spoke up first. "Well now that you say it…" he trailed off, allowing Nora to finish his sentence. "They do look a lot alike?" The others looked between Autumn and Qrow for awhile, which the latter didn't find amusing.
Qrow felt like he was swallowing stones as this all went down. She couldn't possibly be his daughter; he had never even met you before! Maybe it was when he was one too many drinks in or, no, he never wanted to start a family like that. Well, he never wanted a family of his own in the first place. This had to be impossible.
You turned your attention back to Autumn. "Now Autumn, don't ever run off again, got it?" Her pout grew due to your response and she crossed her arms stubbornly. "But we're Branwens, we can survive anything!" she boisterously proclaimed. You rubbed the bridge of your nose in annoyance. "Of course you sound so much like your father, what has he been telling you this time?"
The little moment, which was common in your household, only served to confuse the others more. Ruby and Yang looked to each other in shock, before rushing toward you two. "We have an aunt!" Ruby gushed. "And an adorable little cousin," Yang said as she cooed at Autumn. As usual, the little devil was reveling in it.
Before another minute went by, you heard the door to Ironwood's office slam shut. Qrow was gone. You hoped he wouldn't react like this, but you weren't exactly surprised when you remembered how he was during this time in his life.
Ruby and Yang glanced to each other and then at your crestfallen look. "Could you hold Autumn for a minute?" you asked Yang. She graciously accepted. Walking into Ironwood's office, you closed the door lightly behind you so that you would have some semblance of privacy with Qrow.
"Who are you?" he asked coldly. You walked closer and frowned faintly at the look on his face. He sounded cold, but his face betrayed all of his emotions. Qrow was being crushed under his own doubt, as you'd seen plenty of times before. He often got like this when you first started traveling with the group. You knew he was trying to fix it on his own, but it gnawed at your heartstrings to see him so downtrodden. Thankfully, you were finally able to help when began opening up to you. But that wasn't now.
"(Y/N) Branwen. Officially," you answered. His hands clenched at his sides. "You really expect me to believe any of this? You're a complete stranger who just waltzed in here and apparently you're from the future, we're married, and we have a daughter? I don't enjoy having my emotions toyed with, contrary to popular belief."
Of course he would think it was fake, he could never accept that something good fell into his lap without a catch. Although, you probably would have thought the same thing with how ridiculous it sounds.
"Well, it would take some time, but you could sit here and grill me about all the important details on your life. If you'd rather not waste time, I can just show you the proof. I'd rather you pick the easier one though, I have a worrying, and probably very angry, husband to get back to," you grinned. His skeptical look didn't fade, but he took a couple steps toward you. You pulled out a folded up photo, which you always had on you, out of your pocket. Offering the photo to him, he took it.
A small gasp escaped his throat as he unfolded the photograph. His eyes widened, seemingly taking in the entirety of the picture he was currently seeing. It made you smile to see him look so shocked. On the fragile piece of parchment was a picture of you, Qrow, and Autumn right after she was born.
That day was a memorable one. You would never forget the look of absolute joy in Qrow's eyes as he gazed at your daughter. Tears shred down his face as he held the little bundle of joy and whispered softly "Look what we created…she's beautiful."
Autumn Rose Branwen was born. It hadn't taken long for either of you to agree on her name if she was a girl. Qrow was shy about the topic, but eventually he spit it out that he wanted to honor Summer Rose. Choosing the season that came after, autumn was a logical choice, and rose had naturally followed as the child's middle name.
His hand started to shake after taking all of this in. In a fruitless attempt to comfort him you reached out your hand to grab his. Qrow swiftly swatted it away and shoved the picture at you. You frowned and folded it neatly before putting it back in your pocket. Silence swept over the room as you patiently waited for him to talk.
"This isn't real. It can't possibly be real." His stubbornness, or lack of any faith in you, was starting to annoy you at this point.
"As your wife, who personally gave bir-" he didn't even let you finish.
"No, you're no one. I don't know you. Now why don't you stop lying to me because I know myself enough to know I never want a wife, let alone a whole family." Qrow's voice displayed his clear irritation as you could practically hear his teeth grinding together. His words, even if they were true for his past self, dug deep into your heart. Normally, you had a good hold on your own emotions. However, hearing this from one of the people you loved most in the world struck a particular cord.
You held up your hand, showing him the wedding ring he used to propose to you. Your hand shook faintly as your anger threatened to consume you. The ring itself was simple, a gold band that has a forest landscape etched into it. It was pretty, but what you personally loved about the ring was the engraving on the inside of it that Qrow specifically requested.
'Always and Forever' it read. Cliché, yes, but that didn't make it any less touching to you. Throughout your whole relationship, which had many ups and downs, you two always told each other this. One day, seemingly out of the blue as you were both relaxing and having a nice conversation, you said it to him. Qrow teased you about it of course, but it sparked the start of him saying it too on his own volition. For one reason or another, you both found comfort in the phrase, and you tried your best to think of him saying it to you now as you gathered your words.
"You…I wont lie and say I don't care if you believe me or not, because I do. You're my husband and I love you, but I wont let what you say take the value away of all the memories we've made. So, believe me or not, I know what's true. You won't change that." you whispered with a sad sort of determination.
Your hand fell back to your side, and you did your best to not let your emotions overtake you. The stinging feeling of tears crept up behind your eyes, which prompted you to stare hard at the ground and force yourself to stay strong. The ghost of a tear started to trail down your face, but using your sleeve you were able to wipe it away swiftly.
After a couple slow and deep breaths, you felt significantly better. Glancing back at your husband's past self, Qrow looked guiltier than ever. When he noticed that you were looking at him, he diverted his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. Qrow, being an expert at gathering intel, had picked up the useful knack of being able to read people. Based on how open you were, and all of the other signs, he didn't get any inclination that you were lying. That either means you were a terrific liar, or telling the truth the whole time.
"Sorry, then. I uh…I didn't mean to sound so brazen," he apologized. You lifted up your head to meet his eyes and felt a faint smile creep onto your face. "It's alright. It just took a lot to start our little family so I hold it very dear. Then again, any mother does but...yeah, apology accepted," you replied slowly.
The two of you stood in silence once more, this time feeling as if the tension had dissipated. The stress and anger welling up in your body seemed to disappear with the tension too, making you feel more relieved. Although you two were starting off on a better foot now, you could tell the conversation wasn't over yet.
"Am I really as happy as I look?" He asked quietly.
"Well, I'm not inside your head but you do seem much happier compared to when we first met."
"And how did that happen?"
"I was in Atlas a little while from now, but you all were still here. General Ironwood was looking for someone with my abilities and happened to ask me to tag along with you all. You guys needed all the help you could get, and I was happy to "save the world" as he put it. Things just kind of took off from there." The tone in your voice was calm, but it was hard to keep your underlying frustrations from coming through.
His eyebrows furrowed and he began to speak again. "With your abilities? What-" Qrow trailed off when he saw the expression on your face. You looked antsy and rubbed the bridge of your nose. "Sweetie, please. Not to be rude but I told you I don't have all day to tell you everything about us. We've already taken too much time to talk so just give it time, and you'll experience it for yourself. Gods know I don't need to go over those arguments for the billionth time."
Qrow crossed his arms and frowned. "More arguments? Doesn't sound like we're in a very happy relationship." This earned yet another sigh from you. "We're happy, trust me, we just got off to a rocky start. It doesn't help that neither of us know when to give it up sometimes, but we work through it like what we just did. Now if you excuse me I have to get back to our family."
"I'm still not a family man." He muttered. You couldn't tell if he was in denial or knee deep in his own self doubt with that comment. Probably a mixture of both. You outstretched your arms, offering a hug to him. Qrow blinked in surprise, before shaking his head no. With a strike of disappointment in your heart, you lowered your arms.
"I should go get Autumn," you said, pointing your thumb back at the door. Before you two could even step toward the exit, Autumn once again barged in with Ruby hot on her trail. You didn't try to stop her this time as she passed you, and instead let the child wrap her arms around Qrow's leg in an attempt at a hug.
He stared wide-eyed at the child. After a couple moments, and a chuckle from you, he slowly reached down to pat the Autumn's head. Her giggle seemed to brighten up the room immensely. You could practically see the ice around Qrow's heart melt at the sound.
"Maybe not now, but time changes many things." You replied softly, harkening back to his previous comment. Autumn started to glow and you knew what would come next. It was one of the tell tail signs that her semblance would be activated soon. "I'm afraid we have to go now," you said as you picked her up.
They both looked at you and the glowing child in confusion. "Bye Daddy!" Autumn squeaked to Qrow. "And cousin Ruby!" you reminded her. She babbled out a quick goodbye to Ruby, and then you were gone.
The next thing you knew, you were back in your little house in Patch. Chaos had ensued, and Qrow was in fact throttling Jaune on the floor. Nora cheered Jaune on as Yang and Ren desperately tried to pull him off of their friend, and Oscar scolded Ruby for telling Qrow to "Kick his butt." Nearby, Weiss and Blake looked completely unfazed and Taiyang was making sure to get the best picture possible.
Laughter erupted from the kid in your arms, which garnered the attention of everyone else in the room. Qrow, who seemed more like a force of nature than a man right now, barreled over to you two and clutched you in an embrace.
"Are you ok? What happened? You're not hurt right?" he said in quick succession. It took you a moment to compose yourself after the laughing fit, but with a swirl of gestures and laughs you managed to get the message through that everything was fine. Everyone but Tai seemed to be oddly calm about the whole ordeal, even after you told them about your adventure into the past.
"Wasn't that when-" Jaune tried to say, before Ruby shoved her hand over his mouth. "When what? Nothing happened!" she blurted out. You looked at her in confusion, and then to Qrow, who looked strangely contemplative. He waved his hand and dismissed their words. "You know the kids, they're just being weird."
For the sake of trying to salvage this holiday, you let it go for now. The rest of the night was full of laughter and other antics as per usual, whether it is Taiyang recalling embarrassing stories of Qrow or the girls or Nora gushing about her relationship with Ren. Every story told reminded you how lucky you were that everyone was still here and made you thankful that you had all happened to cross each other's paths. Despite all of that, the comment from Jaune and Ruby lingered in your head the rest of the night.
Eventually, after everyone had fully exhausted the food, drinks, and plethora of stories, your company slowly started to trickle out one by one. Jaune, Ren, and Nora were first. Next were Weiss, then Blake and Yang. Soon after that Ruby and Oscar said their goodbyes and departed.
Taiyang was the last one to leave. He has always had a problem around the holidays, ever since Raven and Summer left his life. Qrow, despite denying it at any turn, always gave him a little more attention just so he wouldn't feel left out during these times. You could tell he really appreciated it, even if the only way he verbalized that was through jokes. Once he was gone, all that was left was you, Qrow, and Autumn.
The rest of the night went by in a blur as you cleaned up all of the messes and Qrow went to put Autumn to bed. It was deep into the night when you finally finished and went upstairs to see how Qrow was doing. You poked your head into the master bedroom, but didn't see him in there. Qrow was probably still sitting in Autumn's bedroom, you thought.
Feeling spent from the recent hours, you went straight into the bathroom to get ready to sleep. In the middle of your routine, you felt firm arms wrap around your waist. Soft lips met your cheek as Qrow kissed you. A moment later he rested his chin on your shoulder and peered into the mirror. Instead of looking to the side at him you looked into the mirror too. The sight you saw, along with the kiss, made your heart swell with warmth.
Your hands rested in front of you, keeping you propped up on the bathroom counter. Qrow's hands folded together on top of yours as he leaned against your back. His breath skimmed across the skin on your neck as he breathed slowly, and your hair stood up in response. While you greatly enjoyed the intimate moment between you too, you were worried that Qrow still had a pensive look on his face.
"I'm sorry for making you cry," he rasped in a low volume. Your eyes flickered to meet his in the mirror.
"What do you mean?"
"Back then, I didn't mean to make you cry. I would take back what I said if I could. You're not no one, you're everything to me. You and Autumn." His tone was serious. For a moment you were completely lost.
"You know? But I didn't tell you any of the specifics of what we talked about…" you trailed off in a state of confusion. He pulled you closer to him.
"It was the past, remember? I didn't want to alarm, uh, past you, so I didn't mention anything when we met. That being said, I didn't exactly believe it even after you left. The girls would never let it go though," he chuckled. "But yeah, I knew this would happen but never when it would be, besides that it was after we had Autumn. I thought she would be our first…" it was his turn to cut his own thoughts short.
Neither of you liked bringing up the topic that still made your hearts ache. Qrow pressed his hands against your abdomen, as if he was reliving the memories. You turned to face him and gently touched your palms to his chest.
"Knowing everything that has happened, do you still have your doubts about us? About…you?" the words came out slow, as if they would threaten to bring up past trauma. His gaze flickered to the side for a moment before snapping back to you.
"You know the man I was back then, I never thought I would have this. It truly seemed impossible. Then you show up with our daughter and everything I thought I knew was thrown out the window. We all looked so happy in that picture, I…I really don't think I can describe how I felt about the whole thing. I know now I was wrong, and I treasure every day the fact that I was wrong."
His words erased all of the worries that had burdened you during these past couple hours. You smiled and rested your head just under his chin, breathing in the comforting smell of your husband. "And I don't know about you, but Autumn says I'm the best dad ever so I think I'm doing pretty well."
A small chuckle escaped your lips. "I think you're a wonderful father to our daughter. You're a wonderful husband too, even if you get on my nerves sometimes." The serious look fell away from Qrow's face as he smiled down at you. You moved to give him a chaste kiss, but apparently it wasn't enough. Qrow held you there for several more moments as he kissed you as if you would disappear any moment. You broke the kiss and allowed yourself to get lost in his crimson eyes.
"So this was always meant to happen?" you asked him. Qrow brushed some stray hair out of your face gently, and cracked a smile.
"I don't know about you, but I'd like to think we were made for each other," he teased.
"Was it the marriage, old age, or kids that made you so cheesy?" you quipped back. Qrow exaggerated his gasp and threw his hands up dramatically.
"Old age? I'm not old, I'm in my prime!" You rolled your eyes and laughed at his melodramatic display.
After finishing up in the bathroom, you took his hand and lead him to the bed. As you two settled down into the bed, firmly wrapped in each other's arms, you both went to sleep feeling secure knowing that you'd always have each other.