Time for some more.

Chapter 13:

Smiling as she could feel herself being lifted up, Ruby couldn't help but just laugh as she got another chance to view the world from a new height. She was actually feeling some joy just from that one action no matter how brief.

But as she was lowered down, she could feel the mirth being stripped from her until she was back in her chair once again. She could actually feel her bitterness rise like it was the tide coming in to just destroy what remained of her being.

"Now, Ruby do you remember what the doctor said?" Tai asked as he bent down to look at his daughter who just rolled her eyes at him.

"I'll be fine Dad. So one kidney was enlarged and very close to exploding... I think I've proven I can live when a lesser person would have died." Ruby said with a slight chuckle as she could see her father's face drop as she just rolled her eyes once more. "Dad relax. If the worst does happen and a kidney does fail and the other can't pick up the slack, Yang and I are a match blood type wise and after some teasing she would relent and give me one. Plus Weiss would donate a few wings and get me any place on the donor list I would want." Ruby continued as she began to resituate herself on the chair as her father continued to look at her with deep concern.

"Can you not joke about this Ruby it is serious. What would happen if one of us weren't there? You could have seriously died." Tai spoke as Ruby just began to mumble. Something that was enough to get Tai to just take a small breath from how he knew that at least Ruby didn't have something snarky that she could say. "See Ruby. Even you don't have something to say." Tai said as Ruby just began to cross her arms.

"I would have noticed eventually. Plus my neighbours know if they don't hear me when Blake is out of town to come and check on me, and I know for a fact one of them is an EMT. Not sure which... Blake is the one that talked to them about that thinking I wouldn't be told... or haven't had my door kicked in wrongly once or twice." Ruby clarified as she enjoyed the sight of her dad relaxing from what she just knew was the fact that she did have some safety nets created for the worst possible circumstances.

Walking around, Tai just smiled softly as he began to push his daughter gently out of the room. As they began to walk towards the exit he just couldn't help but relax knowing at least all his children were going to be alright for the foreseeable future. Something that was just a load off his mind which did make this feel a lot easier.

"Where is Yang? I figured she would be leading a welcome home committee."

"She got called into work to act as relief. And you know how desperate she is to help out however she can. Much to Weiss' chagrin." Tai spoke as he patted Ruby's shoulder gently before he bent down and quickly grabbed the small blanket before walking around and placing it on Ruby's lap laughing softly at how the woman had begun to try and fight it. "You know I don't need to go home tonight. I can stay with you. So just humour me for a while." Tai spoke just enjoying the sight of Ruby seemingly giving up her feud with him. "You know most fathers don't need to use their company as extortion to make sure their daughter isn't going to get hypothermia." Tai chided as Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Most daughters don't have an overbearing Father who thinks a couple of minutes outside will cause her to get hypothermia if her legs aren't covered. You sound paranoid as all hell. But if it gets me a night by myself with a certified bill of health after making people worry over nothing." Ruby countered as Tai just shook his head as he chuckled before walking behind Ruby and giving her a gentle push forward. "Don't get me wrong, I do love time with you dad. You just typically have bad timing. Or you hear something at the wrong time and then you just over correct which isn't fun for I'm guessing the both of us."

"I don't mind looking after you Ruby. I would rather if you told me about all your times you end up in the hospital." As Tai spoke, Ruby just chuckled as she brushed the blanket smooth before wrapping it easier around her legs a bit better than what he had mentioned. "Have you talked to Blake yet?" Tai asked just wanting to distract his daughter from the near ancient nervous habit she had.

Sucking in lightly through her teeth, Ruby just laid her head back on the chair letting out a groan. "Way to remind me of that. I was trying to forget about it." Ruby began as she looked up at her father who just smiled, despite Ruby recognising the sleep deprived look in his face. One that did speak to Ruby a bit but all it really did was pain her slightly. "According to Kali last night she went out drinking. Speaking of last night, how much sleep did you get because it looks like none?" Ruby knew that it was nothing but her barking up a tree, but knew that it was at least the right one.

"Don't worry about that. I'll survive."

"That answers that. I wish you would just stop worrying about me and Yang when it costs you something like this Dad." Ruby complained as Tai just smirked coming to a stop beside the truck. "And yes I know what you're going to say. You can't just not worry about us yadda yadda yadda. But that is the kind of thing that stresses us out."

"I'd rather you being stressed out than in a hospital bed."

Placing her feet up, Yang began to close her eyes as she could hear another one of the many competitions that had started up over a simple joke, one that Yang wasn't close to wanting to interrupt at this point. Just because of how she wanted to fight the winner like had been talked about when they thought she wasn't listening.

But if Yang was being honest, the thought of beating the several men in a cookie baking competition was something that was a pleasing thought to Yang. If just because it would mean that she could put them in their place on another topic. The joy that would befall her would be nearly indescribable.

Even if it was going to be something short lived before the next competition would start and provided it didn't end like the great tiki torch juggling incident she didn't really care how this ended.

Feeling the couch she was sitting next to her dip, Yang barely caught her head as it was falling causing her eyes to snap open at the sight of the blue haired man with a smile on his face. "Nep, you best have a good reason. I'm a bit edgy right now." Yang began as she took a deep breath before she continued. "AND I WILL BEAT WHOEVER THINKS THEY CAN STEP UP TO MY COOKIE GAME" Yang snapped as she began to resituate herself once more closing her eyes as she could hear snickering beside her.

"I'm just bored. I don't have my blond with me. And they actually seem more determined to knock you down now." Neptune spoke as he began to rest his head on Yang's shoulder.

"I am not a replacement Nep. I'm still happily married and not into nor ever was a dude. Sun will be back in like five hours." Yang said before giving her shoulder a sharp jolt to nudge the man's head off her shoulder. "Wait until then. I'm sure whatever crap they turn out and call cookies will fill that hole. I'm just thinking and I can't believe I'm agreeing with Nora on this, we need an arsonist or something to spice things up here. The occasional shit house wiring job, or grease fire is just so boring." Yang griped as she could hear the same snickering next to her.

"I'll take boring over the tiki torch incident. Plus we don't have Nora who is like a lightning rod for blame and happily accepts it because it scares newbies." Neptune said before he frowned slightly at sound of a bell ringing followed by the crackle of the other side of the intercom being picked up.

"Trucks three through five. Fire in the factory district." The voice spoke causing Yang to just sigh vocally as she stood up and the rest of the crowd started to run towards the door causing Yang to just smile a little as she looked towards the blue haired man who started to yawn before he started to lay down.

"Well, my day got interesting. Catch you later Nep." Yang stated as she began to jog down the hallway. She just knew that this was probably going to be interesting given how she most factory fires did take a while to snuff out which would just make the day go by so much smoother. Even if it was going to be a short amount of time. It was just something that was going to be worth it.

Running towards her own equipment, Yang ripped her shoes off before jumping into her boots and quickly pulled her pants up by the suspenders. Smiling as she felt the snap of them against her back Yang spun around and grabbed the jacket and in one fluid motion pulled it on as she grabbed the zipper and gave it a tug upwards before grabbing the helmet that remained above it and placing it on her head as she jumped onto the side of the truck grabbing hold of the metal bar like her life depended on it. Within at most two seconds of Yang grabbing onto the bar, the truck sprung to life causing her to just smile.

Only one thought was going through Yang's mind as she braced herself against one of the walls of the large truck was a rather simple one. 'I really hope this isn't something big enough to where the news is there because Weiss will flip if that is the case.'

Waking up on the cold hard floor of the bar Blake sat up far too quickly as she clamped her hands over her ears that had a ringing sound coming from them. Feeling a slight chill run over her, Blake just cracked an eye open slowly and noticed her state of improper dress causing her to groan as she sat up fully again with a panicked look on her face as she tried to scan for any part of her mind that she could remember last night from when she glanced over and felt her blood run cold.

Laying down next to her in a state of complete undress laid one of the reasons Blake went out drinking last night. Shoving the woman away Blake began to scurry towards a wall placing a hand over her chest as she could see the chameleon Faunus smile as she began to stretch and spun around to look at Blake in the eye.

"What's the matter Blakey?" Ilia asked softly as Blake stood up like lightning ignoring the bile that started to raise up in her throat as her head started to spin. The fear just seemed to override that feeling.

"The fuck happened? And don't call me that." Blake hissed at woman who just smiled as she sat up and stared at Blake.

"You don't remember? Well you were really drunk so I'll forgive you forgetting about our wondrous time together." Ilia spoke with a smile as she could see Blake violently shaking her head as though she was trying to dispel the thoughts that had filtered in.

"What. The fuck. Happened?" Blake hissed as Ilia smiled before popping up with ease and walked up to Blake gently cupping the feline's face with one hand as the other grabbed hold of the woman's hip.

Before Blake even knew what was happening, Ilia leaned into a gentle kiss before pulling back and smiled at her. "Has being with that whore made you seriously this dumb Blake?" Ilia said before she slide her hands towards each other to start fixing Blake's attire. "Either way, I'm happy you are still so dominant in bed. Even if you still haven't learned to not get dressed after a tryst and being still so very drunk." Ilia started before she leaned in and captured another kiss before she separated from Blake fully smiling, "And call me this time Blake. I still have the same phone number from when we were crazy teens."

Seeing the woman walking out, Blake placed a hand over her chest to just calm her rapid heart beats. But she knew that it was just another ploy from the woman to try and illicit something that Blake wasn't going to fall for. She couldn't. She was happily with Ruby.

'Oh god... Ruby. What have I done to you?' Blake thought as she shook her head and bolted for the door. Shoving them open Blake took a few steps past the still suited men and began to violently get sick.

She knew that they would assume it was from the drink, but Blake knew better. Because if what Ilia said was true, then there really was no forgiving what she did which was just causing her pain. Pain that she knew was going to hit Ruby a lot harder than what Blake would ever want.

As the spew began to die down, Blake started to spit on the ground just to get the taste from her mouth when she felt a hand rest on her back. As the hand began to move in a soothing manner, Blake started to fight back against it and the memories that were coming in patchy amounts. She would be damned if she was going to let them wriggle their way into her mind.

Standing up, Blake spun around to see the large man that had a worried look on her face. "I'm sorry Perry. I just want some coffee, some breakfast, lots of aspirin... and to sleep this off. Have you heard anything about Ruby?"

"Nothing Ma'am."

"Figures..." Blake spat softly as she gestured for the group to follow her. 'You guys had one job which was to prevent her from getting to me... but I suppose you all did stay guarding all night.'

Moving the paper down, Ghira took a deep breath as he looked around the room to see his wife almost having the same question strewn on her face. "You go check her room. If she is hungover just let her sleep it off. I'll go check with the security. I don't think Perry is in just yet but you never know." Ghira said standing up as he could see his wife's ears flick as the worry seemed to drop as Ghira fell back down onto his chair. "I know I hear her too." The large feline Faunus added as he just chuckled at the sight of his dishevelled daughter walking into the room.

Without saying anything, Blake carefully, ever so began to move the closest chair gently out before taking a seat on it and propping her head up on the table with a firm grip to her forehead. "Can we not? I don't feel well. And woke up in the worst possible place. Give Perry and the guards with me last night a raise by the way."

"I wouldn't say a dive bar is the worst place. I've woken up in worse places." Ghira said softly as Blake covered her ears and began to twist her head to just put as much distance between him and her ears.

"That was like yelling." Blake said as she sniffed the air and smiled at the fact that she could still smell the hot coffee. Gently lowering one of her hands, Blake grabbed press and the spare mug next to it before dragging them carefully towards her.

Snapping her fingers, Kali smiled at the memory of the good news last night. "By the way Blake, Ruby is fine. It was just a kidney stone that caused one of her kidneys to expand she was just kept overnight for monitoring." Kali said as Blake winced again as she raised a hand to cover her mouth.

Watching the woman take a painful swallow, Kali pressed her lips into a thin line as Blake started to collect a breakfast from what was on the table. It was a thing that she knew well enough causing her to sigh mentally.

Turning towards her husband, Kali just smiled at him. "You should really go start the day's paperwork. And Perry does deserve some time off. Or at the very least an extension on his break." Kali said as she watched her husband smile and stand up once more.

"Already planned on all of that." Ghira began as he leaned down to plant a kiss on his wife's cheek before he turned to his daughter. "And you should really get some rest Blake." As he spoke to her, he could just barely hold back the chuckle at the sight of her contorting her head once more. It was something that he just knew was going to be funny for the day if not a little longer depending on how drunk she got the previous night.

Walking towards a pair of double doors, Ghira just smiled as he spun around and began to close them gently as to at least not hurt his daughter any further even though he knew it would probably teach her a lesson on drinking that much when there was even the faintest of bad news.

Turning towards Blake, Kali just glared at her trying to get any hint that she could as to what had happened to the woman the previous night because something just wasn't sitting right with her. No matter what Blake would say.

"Now that your father is gone, why don't you tell me what really happened last night?" Kali said ignoring the anguished demeanour that befell Blake. This was something far more important than just some minor pain she would be in.

"I don't remember." Blake whispered out as she tried to ignore the guilt that was befalling her under her mother's gaze. The gaze that just began to pick apart just about everything that was Blake at that moment as well as making Blake feel all kinds of guilt over something that she couldn't exactly remember.

"Something happened, and you know what it is. When I was young I did the same thing you are doing when I did something stupid that I knew I shouldn't have and knew my mother would skin me alive if she found out." Kali began as she stood up from her chair and walked a few steps closer to Blake to stare far more intently at her. "Now what aren't you telling me." Kali whispered directly into the cat ears atop Blake's head causing her to instantly wince and recoil away from the woman.

"I don't remember." Blake hissed at her mother who continued to stare at her. As the staring continued, Blake could feel her resolve start to crumble slightly as she could feel the resolve to continue that half true start to die. But she also didn't want to see what would happen if Kali got word that Blake might have cheated on Ruby.

Smiling as she walked to the chair next to Blake as she began to move it closer, Kali just smiled coyly as she continued to stare at Blake. "You know Blake, you shouldn't play poker with a woman who had the exact same tells and is also your mother. It is a very unwise idea. So if you tell me that lie again, I'm going to be cross, and I will break the chair I'm sitting on over the table and demand that the loudest most obnoxious sounds are played in every room for the day." Kali said crossing one leg over the other letting it just swing a little as she stared at her daughter. "So I'll ask again. What. Happened?" Kali said as Blake just winced once more just from the thought of how serious her mother was.

"I don't remember what happened. All I know is, and promise me you won't get mad at me." Blake pleaded with her mother who just continued to stare at her gently moving her hand in circles as if she was demanding Blake to continue her story while silently promising her the simple thing of just trying to not get mad at her.

"I might have... accidentally... possibly... while blackout drunk... slept with another woman that isn't Ruby."

"How the hell are you meant to get blood cleaned up from hardwood floors?" Tai asked as Ruby just rolled her eyes and tried to move around the man. It was something that was starting to grate on her nerves from how he had continued to talk about this as if it had been a huge thing that needed to be done first and foremost.

Slumping in her chair, Ruby began to groan loudly to the point she could almost feel her throat go raw. "A wet cloth dad. Add some bleach into the water to sterilise it. Now let me get to my work. I want to get an actual full day's work in. I can only lie so many times to them before they start to think something funny is up and they stop believing me." Ruby snapped as she could hear a knock coming from the front door. "I'll get it." Ruby added as she spun her chair around and began to gently glide down the hallway.

She was starting to get ready to kill her Father and it wasn't even noon yet. A feeling that Ruby just knew was one that was going to grow as the day went on. Clipping her fingers against side table Ruby let a wince out. Shaking her hand, Ruby bent forward and with her good hand grabbed the door handle giving it a light tug towards her as she used her injured hand to lightly spin the wheel back.

Smiling at the sight of the red head standing there with a relaxed look on her face that Ruby just began to take a deep breath at the fact that she just knew that there was something that could distract her about the nightmare that this was.

"Ruby, where do you keep the bleach?" Tai asked as Ruby just groaned vocally as she glanced towards Pyrrha.

"Long story." Ruby began as she rested her sore hand into her lap. "Under the sink Dad. And I told you stop moving my furniture around. Clipped my hand on the end table." Ruby yelled back as she looked towards Pyrrha who smiled but blanched slightly at the sight of the large man walking out of the room. Holding a large yellow bottle. And an equally large plastic basin whistling softly.

"Relax. It is just from me bleeding yesterday. Had a large kidney... which is why I was at the hospital last night. Heard from Neo you were wondering where I was. Did you know she has an identical twin?" Ruby laughed as Pyrrha nodded her head. "So to what do I owe this visit from you?" Ruby said leaning back in her seat as she couldn't help but laugh at Pyrrha still looking in the direction Tai had walked off in.

"I was... um... wondering if..." Pyrrha muttered as Ruby rolled her eyes as the amazoness woman cleared her throat. "Want to get some coffee? Neo suggested this one cafe."

Looking back towards her dad causing her to just sigh. "Might as well. Can't work while he is cleaning." Ruby said with a chuckle as she began to roll towards the basket and plucked her keys from it. "Dad! Heading to a cafe! Want anything?" Ruby yelled back towards him who smiled.

"White mocha and if they have any a red bean pineapple bun. If they have none of that peanut butter bun. If not, no pastries." Tai yelled back as Ruby just shook her head and begun to roll gently out of the apartment smiling at the sight of Pyrrha closing the door for her without needing to ask.

"Way to be predictable Dad." Ruby muttered as she smiled at the sight of Pyrrha just breathing out a sigh of relief. "And you need to relax around him. He is a big softie."

Author's Note:

And there is another chapter. I'm out now.