POV Blake

I watched as two little figures darted behind the couch then four black ears and silver eyes popped up on the side staring at me intensely as I mixed the contents of the bowl in front of me together. Another flash of movement caught my eye as the figures moved closer again this time peeking out from the kitchen island. I stopped mixing the bowl and carried it over towards the oven and began to divide then place the contents on the baking tray before sliding it into the oven.

Once it was closed the two figure darted out from their hiding spot and lunged for the bowl they thought I had abandoned. Summoning a shadow clone I caught the two figures mid-air while the clone picked up the bowl and held it out of reach. The figures let out a yell as I pulled them away from the kitchen and collapsed on the couch in the nearby living room.

"What do you two think you're doing? I said you were not allowed to eat the raw cookie dough." I held the two girls underneath me and pulled up their shirts exposing the little belly's and went to work tickling them as much as I could. Kita and Aria squealed underneath me and began to wriggle their way out trying to escape from the torture they were experiencing. Laughing myself I scooped the girls back up in my arms and gave them a nice big bear hug that Yang would have been proud of.

I loosened my grip on the girls and looked them both in the eye smiling at their cuteness. "Now I know I said no eating the cookie dough but I used two spatulae so how about I let you lick them clean, you just have to keep it a secret from Mommy. Got it?" The twins quickly shook their heads and I put them down on the ground and turned to the kitchen to retrieve the bowl from where my shadow clone was still holding. I froze when I saw that my shadow clone was gone and in its place stood the person we had just been talking about.

"I see you promised the girls they could like the spatulae even though I explicitly said they couldn't!" Ruby reached into the bowl with one finger and ran it along the edge gathering some of the leftover dough before popping it in her mouth.

The twins ran past me and slammed into Ruby's leg both shouting out "Mommy!" Ruby placed the bowl down and picked up the two girls, one in each of her arms. The two girls snuggled into the embrace and each let out a purr displaying their affection towards their mother. Ari leaned back and pointed towards me before saying. "Mommy Blake said we could lick the spatula. She promised."

Ruby kissed the small girl on the head then placed them both back onto the ground before grabbing the bowl. "Now I know Blake promised you could lick the spatula but she also promised that you wouldn't get any deserts before dinner. So how are we going to do this and not break any promises?"

The two girls looked sad thinking that they would not be allowed to eat the cookie dough, the only thing that came close to their love for cookies. Kita ran over to me and grabbed my leg and pushed her lip out and made her eyes grow wide. This was the ultimate tactic that Kita and Ari had come up with to gain their way. Ruby was usually immune to such an attack thanks to her own use of it when she was younger but I wasn't. It had taken months for me to be able to say no to Ruby during our time at Beacon. The twins being younger were therefore also cuter and almost impossible to say no to.

I looked at Ruby who had a wide smile on her face as she watched me struggle to even form words against the bundle of adorableness before me. I let out a sigh and turned back to Kita who had even been able to add a twinkle in her eyes to add to her sad kitten look. "I did promise you guys you could lick the spatula but I also can't break the promise I made to Mommy. So how about this we order some pizza and once we finish eating it I will let you lick the spatula."

Kita automatically turned to her sister who gave her a nod in approval of the deal before jumping through the air wrapping her arms around me. "Oh thank you thank you thank you!" Ari scrambled down from Ruby's arms and ran behind me and jumped up onto me squishing me between the two girls.

Ari continued to climb up my back until she was resting on my shoulders before leaning in close to my to cat ears atop my head. I knew what she was trying to do and made sure to reminder what would happen. "Ari don't you dare, you know if you do it becomes all-out war!"

I caught Ari in the corner of my eye as she leaned in closer I let out a low growl but it only seemed to push her closer. Then Ari took in a quick breath and blew right into my left ear canal making my ears twitch from the strange sensation. I let out a fake angry yell and grabbed both Kita and Ari with one swoop of my arms and dragged them down with me to the ground.

The twins squirmed in my grasp but couldn't do anything as I placed a hand on each of their chests and held them in place. I let out a maniacal laughter and leaned in close to them. "Oh, you two deserve this!" Mimicking the same action Ari did I leaned up to Ari's ear and took in as big as a breath I could muster and blew a cool stream of air into her cat ear.

Ari let out a squeal of laughter and began to wiggle under me trying to free herself from the torture she was receiving. Finally, once all the air in my lungs were gone I released my grip on Ari and let her off the ground while her chest heaved up and down from all the laughter. I turned over to Kita who faces light up in fear. "Wait why me I didn't do anything!"

"That's just the thing you didn't do anything." I leaned in again up to Kita's ear but before I could do anything Ari slammed into my back pushing me off of Kita who scrambled off the ground and joined her attack against me. Ari latched onto my arm while Kita clung to my leg trying to keep me on the ground. Even with the extra weight I quickly got off the ground and stood up causing the girls to let out a squeal. Kita let go of my leg and mimicked Ari by moving over and grabbing hold of my free arm. Both girls tried to use their weight to their advantage and hung off my arm trying to pull down.

With a loud playful yell, I lifted the girls into the air with ease from the years as a Huntress while the girls clung on for dear life. Once they were eye level with me I let my arms fall then stop just before the girl hit the ground causing them to fall quickly then jolt to a stop. The girls started laughing as I continued to bring them up and down again and again. Slowly their arms began to grow tired and their grip began to slip, Ari was the first one to fall off as she tried to latch on again until her sister fell right on top of her.

If either of the girls had been like most kids they would have hit the ground and started crying but Ruby had already unlocked their aura's seeing that it would be safer with everything that had and was still going on. When the twins' heads bumped together they started laughing while the soft grey color swam around their body. Once they both learned what their aura's were capable of they went and got into more trouble than I could imagine. Who thought that giving kids superpowers wouldn't lead to them jumping off the two-story roof of our house.

Somehow for their age, they also had a ridiculous amount of aura one that would continue to grow with them. The other interesting part was being twins somehow their aura seemed to feed off each other and were more powerful together. Ruby had talked to Ozpin and even Qrow about this and it turns out that it is a very common occurrence in twins. During their time spent together in the womb during development, twins form a bond between their auras that can affect one another. Qrow and his twin Raven were a prime example of this, Qrow semblance was bad luck causing harm to people around him. However with Raven around his semblance would only affect the things he wished it to. For Ari and Kita we could not tell what their bond would bring them in the future but seeing its power now who knew how strong it could be.

I watched as rose petals flew through the room and Ruby popped into view with two pizza boxes in hand. In the entire time, I'd been playing with the kids I hadn't even noticed that Ruby had left but it came as no surprise. With Ruby and the twins living in the apartment with the rest of Team RWBY, we learned very quickly that it was too small. Ozpin was kind enough to let us be the first to move into one of the houses built during Beacon's expansion.

Beacon had changed drastically over the years going from only a combat school, then to the hunter headquarters in addition. It came naturally that with the number of Hunters that spend a large amount of time at Beacon that living quarters would be added. This was only the start as people soon required needs that Beacon could not supply and stores came to fill those needs. In little more than five years after the fall, Beacon had transformed itself from a combat school into a small town that was still expanding.

Though Ozpin had allowed us to live in a house and the rent was cheap it was not much bigger than the apartment we had been in. The main floor consisted solely of the kitchen, living room, dining room and half bathroom. Upstairs were three bedrooms including the master with its own full bathroom. Since moving in Ruby and I chose to share the master after the resurrection of our relationship. Kita and Ari were inseparable and chose to share a room together but most night the girls would crawl into the large king size bed in the master. The final room was left as a guest room for whoever chose to visit.

Yang and Weiss visited regularly but both chose to stay in the apartment we had been living in. Weiss constantly came back and forth between Beacon and Atlas trying her best to run the SDC and be with us. Luckily for her, the SDC had become self-running thanks to the new management system she had set into place. Now that Faunus were allowed to take management rolls problems with riots became nonexistent and all of the SDC's competition seemed to disappear causing Faunus rights began to boom all over Remnant. It seemed that seeing what was regarded as the most racist company turn into the most progressive changed a lot of viewpoints. Sure racists were everywhere but the Faunus didn't have to be scared when they went out in public as much as before.

When Weiss was away from the SDC she looked more alive than ever. Working the corporate life was never something she wanted to do but it was not her choice to make. Weiss took the job from her father and decided to end the SDC's legacy he had created and start a new one. The public began to catch onto Weiss and the time she spent away trying to question her dedication to the SDC. Weiss being the genius she was told the press she became a Hunter before she became the president of the SDC and that she would not stop doing the thing she loved. After that was when Weiss official became both a part-time Huntress and part-time President of the SDC. No one had the power or authority to stop her and that was the way she liked it.

Surprisingly with Weiss back Yang also became more alive, the two were about as inseparable as Kita and Ari and it wouldn't be a surprise if something came out of their relationship. Yang even returned to arena fighting quickly running to the top of the leaderboards. During the Vytal festival if not for the trick played on Yang she would have been the one to go to the championships. Now that she returned it was no surprise she quickly became the top pick for the remnant wide tournament.

As for Ruby and I, since she had been cleared by Ozpin to travel without a guard as long as she notified Ozpin with regular check-ins she was allowed to become a Huntress like she always wanted. It didn't take long for the public to learn about a new Huntress who could kill Grimm like they were nothing and even gave her the nickname Grimm Reaper. The press tried to pry into her life and some even learned about her disappearance but she never said a word and if they pried too much, all Ruby did was call Ozpin and have him step in.

Not only had Ruby become a huntress but she also became a proper mother, not that she wasn't before but now she could give Kita and Ari a true childhood. Unlike when she was with Salem they could go outside and play with other kids and explore the world rather than being locked inside a room. Ruby would never be the same girl she was but seeing her running around the park chasing the twins in a game of tag always reminded me why I'd fallen in love with her.

"So are we gonna eat or are you just gonna stare at me with that dumb expression on your face." Ruby placed the pizza down on the table then walked over stopping just in front of me, thanks to her growth during her time away Ruby stood just an inch taller than me just slightly higher than eye level. Ruby leaned in for a kiss and I closed my eyes leaning in myself just as our lips were about to reach Ruby flicked me in the nose.

I slowly opened my eyes and watched as Ruby walked away with a smirk on her face while the twins laughed at what had just happened. I stared directly at the girls with a playful angry look in my eye. The girls let out an 'eep' and tried to run away from me but I ran after them scooping them up into my arms with a roar. "What you think that was funny? I'll show you something funny!"

With the girls in my arms, I swung them back and forth as laughter filled my ears. As I got closer to the dining room I slowed down holding them both above a chair and dropped them down onto it. With both girls sitting down I grabbed the pizza box and paper plates and put one in front of each girl before opening the pizza box. When I saw the pizza I was slightly perplexed at what the hell Ruby had bought. "Ruby what did you buy?"

Ruby walked around the table and placed two cups of juice in front of the girls before looking down to the pizza I'd opened. "Oh that's a pizza that Jaune recommended, he said it was the house special. It's called a chicken waffle pizza."

I looked at the pizza and realized that it did indeed have pieces of waffle, chicken and even some bacon on it. Having spent so much time with Ruby it was no surprise she would buy something so...different. I grabbed the other pizza box and opened it up and was happy to see that it was a plain old cheese pizza. I grabbed one of the slices and placed it on my own plate and turned to the girls asking them what they wanted. "So which do you want? The weird pizza your mom bought or the normal pizza?"

The girls looked at each other with a grin and both turned back pointed at the chicken waffle pizza. I let out a sigh and grabbed both of them a slice putting it on their plate once my hand was clear the girls grabbed the pizza and took a surprisingly large chunk out of the pizza. I waited half expecting for at least one of them to spit out the food but instead once they finished the first bite they took an even bigger second bite with their faces filled with pure bliss.

"Really!" I threw my hands up in the air and fell down into the chair in disbelief, it still threw me off how much Ruby and the kids were alike even though they didn't share a single drop of blood. The twins just seemed to be her destined children and none of them cared, hell I don't think anyone who met them saw them as anything other than her kids. Sometimes I would forget that they weren't mine sometimes. In only six months of living with them it all came to feel so normal and I enjoyed every minute of it.

"Oh come on Blake stop sulking just because they like weird things. If I remember you have some strange obsessions yourself ones only I know about." Instantly my eyes flashed up to Ruby as my face blushed from her comment. "Ruby you wouldn't dare!"

Ruby laughed and flipped the pizza box so that it was facing me. "Oh, you don't have to worry about me telling the twins however I know Yang loves to gossip and even Weiss too. Now that I'm thinking about it Coco is supposed to be coming back into town from their mission. She invited me out for coffee and I know she loves to hear about others and their...habits. So if you want to keep it to yourself just try a bite."

I looked at Ruby and sighed in defeat even if her threat was empty it was not something I was gonna take a chance on. I grabbed one of the smaller pieces and brought it over to my mouth and took a bite. My mind took a second to catch up with my tastebuds but when they did I was surprised at how good it tasted. There wasn't really any way to describe the tastes because there were so many but the easiest way to describe it was a breakfast pizza. The pizza and waffle blended together while the bacon and chicken gave it a meaty flavor.

Before I knew it the pizza in my hand was gone and I reached out picking up another piece. When I looked while taking another bite Ruby flashed me a smile and I slowly finished chewing before locking my eyes with hers. "I hate you."

Ruby kept her cocky grin and responded with a quick "I know." before Ari started tugging on her arm. "Mommy why are we going to aunt Yang's tomorrow, I thought we were gonna go to the park!"

"I know sweetie and you still are but Mommy and Blake need to go see a doctor. Yang is going to take you and later we are all going to meet up and go out for dinner, and if you're good you can get dessert." Ari instantly perked up and started to ramble on about what type of ice cream or cookie she was gonna get and even tried to ask Kita but she didn't respond until she asked ruby a question. "Mommy why do you keep going to the doctors, every time you do, you come home sad!"

Ruby had her arms around Kita within a second giving her a hug. "I know you guys don't like it when I leave but because mommy has all her robotic parts she needs to see a doctor so they can work right. Now I don't want you guys to worry about me being sad tomorrow because I'm going for a good reason. The doctors finally finished making mommy a new eye and tomorrow I'm getting it put in. When you see me at dinner I won't have to wear this stupid eyepatch anymore."

For dramatic effect, Ruby grabbed onto the eye patch and pulled it away from her face then let it go launching it into her face. Kita and Ari both started laughing at the funny display lightening the mood almost instantly. I watched Ruby and I couldn't stop looking at her eyepatch, Ruby would often let her bangs fall over the eyepatch blocking it from view but her emblem on the front always had a way of pushing through the hair. I never liked seeing Ruby try and hide it from people but I could tell how much she hated it, it was the one scar she could hide with clothes.

I, on the other hand, thought that it added to the beauty she already had. Every cut, burn, gunshot wound and scar were apart of her and I could go as far as to say it made her hella sexy. I loved Ruby for who she had been and also who she had become and her hiding was always painful to watch. For a while, she had been trying to get the doctor to try and fix any part of her. Weiss had been dumb enough to tell her about the SDC's advancement into synthetic body parts that could be used to replace lost limbs.

Ruby fought every doctor she saw but every result was the same, it seemed that due to the damage her nerves had been replaced and would no longer be compatible with a synthetic arm. The only headway she had been able to make was that she could have her eye replaced with a cloned one. The doctors had spent hours running test and it seemed that the optic nerve was still intact and could be used.

When Ruby had heard this she instantly signed every paper she needed to and scheduled for the surgery. That was two weeks ago and tomorrow was the day she was waiting for. It was going to be a three-hour noninvasive surgery in which doctors would disconnect her optic nerve and reconnect it to her new eye. I tried to learn more about how it worked but seeing as how new the procedure was and how little medical knowledge I had I couldn't understand all of it.

"Well seeing as it's late and you two made a mess how about we go upstairs and give you two a bath!" I pulled myself out of my thoughts and watched as the twins let out a little "eep" and jumped out of their seats trying to hide from bath time. It came as no surprise that with their Faunus heritage that they would have a distaste for water at a young age even if they had a fondness for going to the beach.

Ruby didn't give either girl a chance and activated her semblance scooping up each girl into her arms. Kita and Ari tried to wiggle their way free but Ruby held them with practiced ease. I quickly grabbed the remains of the pizza and put them in the fridge before cleaning up the rest of the plates on the table.

By the time I made it upstairs the bath was fully drawn with a foot of bubbles on top of the water. Kita and Aria were already in the tub playing with the bubbles while Ruby tried to wash the girl's hairs trying to keep them still. "Hey, Blake you want to give me a hand."

I smiled at Ruby and took the open spot next to her and grabbed the shampoo bottle. "Ari come here I need to wash your hair." In the span of half a second Ari disappeared into the mass of bubble filling up the large tub trying to hide from me. "Really Ari we've been over this if I don't wash your hair you get matts that I have to cut out."

I heard a small giggle from the middle of the bath and I pretended to look away before throwing my arm all the way up to the shoulders into the mass of bubbles. My hands wrapped around Ari and I pulled her up to the surface while giving her a quick tickle. "What do you think you're doing? Did you think you could hide from me I'm the bath time queen and nobody escapes my cleanliness."

I grabbed the bottle of shampoo and poured a dollop into my hand then started to rub it into Ari's hair. "You will fear the wrath of the bathtub queen!" A let out a maniacal laugh while Aria squirmed in a fit of laughter while a washed her hair. Once I shampooed her enough I grabbed the little bucket and filled it up with water and dumped it onto her head while covering her eyes. Once I was done I declared my victory with one final laugh.

"The queen is victorious and all shall kneel before her!" I scooped Ari out of the tub and grabbed one of the big fluffy towels wrapping it around her body. I held the sides and quickly started drying her body off then moved onto her hair trying to get rid of as much wetness as I could. When I pulled the towel off her I laughed as all of her shoulder-length black hair stood up in all directions. I grabbed a cone and quickly started running it through her hair being careful not to pull too hard on the knots instead slowly easing them out.

Once I was done I scooped Ari backup and carried her to the bedroom and threw her onto the small bed she called her own. I ran over to the dresser and pulled out some underwear and her pajamas and placed them on the end of the bed. "Ok, I'm gonna go check on mommy and Kita so while I do that get changed and get ready for bedtime."

Ari gave a quick "Ok" and jumped off the bed and started to pull on her pajamas while I stepped into the hallway then over into the master bathroom. I watched as Ruby finished drying off Kita and combed her hair. Once she was done she gave her a quick smack on the but and told her to go get changed. Ruby crouched down over the tub and reached in pulling the stopper out letting the water drain. I started picking up the towels and hung them back on their respective hooks.

I noticed Ruby wasn't paying attention and slowly moved over to the bath scooping up some of the remaining bubbles. I silently crept up behind her holding up my hand in front of my mouth. "Hey Ruby!" upon hearing her name Ruby spun around I blew on the bubbles pushing them right into her face. Ruby jumped in surprise and wiped the bubbles off her face while I laughed at the expression she made. Ruby let out a growl and tried to grab me but I left behind a shadow clone that she passed right through before hitting the floor.

"Sorry Ruby but I promised the girls they could lick the spatula, can you go wait with the girls. I'll be back soon, love ya!" Without another word I sprinted down the stairs into the kitchen and grabbed the bowl that had the cookie dough in it. I pulled the two spatulas out of the almost empty bowl and made sure there was enough on the spatula that they got a treat but not too much that it would upset their stomachs.

With the spatula in hand, I walked up the stairs and over towards their girl's room. I'd known Ruby long enough that I could tell she was waiting to get revenge for my little prank. I slowly poked my head in the door but the second I did stuffed animals came soaring across the room. I managed to dodge the first and second but the third smacked right into my face, it wasn't enough to do anything to me but it caused the three little nuisances in the room to burst into laughter. "Oh ha ha ha, you know I'm the one holding the treats in my hand. I hold all the power. Now, what are you gonna do to get back on my good side."

The twins both let out an "eep" looking at each other in fear of missing their favorite thing in all the world. I gave a quick motion to Ruby and the two girls grabbed one of the many stuffed animals on their beds and this time hurled them at their mother. Ruby didn't expect this and took the first to the gut and the second to the face. I walked right up to her and smiled right in her face. "Never underestimate the power I hold." To finish it off I gave her a quick peck on the lips and walked to the twins handing them each a spatula.

Once the spatula was gone from my hand both girls went to town licking off every speck of cookie dough on the utensil and in less than thirty seconds it was as clean as if it had just come out of the dishwasher minus the fact that it had just been in their mouths. Noticing they were done Ruby collected the utensil and set them aside to be taken downstairs when we were done. "Ok know what bedtime story do you guys want today?"

Ruby picked up a book and showed it to the girls but both of them shook their heads not happy with the choice. Ruby continued to show one book after another each getting the same result finally once she had shown them the last book she sighed in defeat. "Ok obviously you guys don't want a story, so what do you want?"

Kita looked at Ari who gave her a nod before asking. "We want Mommy to sing us the song that you like!"

Ruby put all the books back then sat at the end of Ari's bed. "If that's what you wanted then sure I'll sing to you."

Before Ruby could start Ari jumped up and grabbed ruby arm stopping her while shouting. "No not you, we want Blake to sing!"

I was taken back by this not because they had asked me to sing but because that had requested that Mommy sing. To the girls, Ruby was their mother and I was something they didn't quite understand. Ruby had explained to the girls that we were dating but to a child, it was a foreign concept. Ruby and I hadn't even told them about our plans to get married. For them to even mention I was even close to being on the same level of affection as Ruby caused my heart to skip a beat. "Are you guys sure I'm not that good!"

Kita bounced across her bed over to me and grabbed my hand pulling me over to her. "Please you have such a pretty voice and we never get to hear you sing, you only do it for mommy!"

"Ok fine but you two need to lay down, also I don't know that many songs and they're kinda sad but if you really want me to." Both girls quickly shook their heads and crawled underneath the covers ready for the song. "Ok, here it goes!"

I'm so tired of being here

Suppressed by all my childish fears

And if you have to leave

I wish that you would just leave

'Cause your presence still lingers here

And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real

There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears

When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears

And I held your hand through all of these years

But you still have all of me

You used to captivate me by your resonating light

Now, I'm bound by the life you left behind

Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams

Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me

These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real

There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears

When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears

And I held your hand through all of these years

But you still have all of me

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone

But though you're still with me, I've been alone all along

When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears

When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears

And I held your hand through all of these years

You still have all of me, me, me

I let out a deep breath when I was done and looked at the girls who were both wide-eyed. I didn't know what they were thinking but I didn't have to wait long before they gave me a response. "That was so pretty...but why is the song so sad."

"Well that's a pretty tough question, the song is sad because it's about someone who's been hurt and is all alone. The singer is trying to help them even though they aren't getting better. But it's also about how someone can be a hero by just being there for someone. I like this song because it reminds me why I became a Huntress, I wanted to change the world and make it a better place for everyone but it also reminds me that the smallest things can change the world for a single person."

Ruby gave each girl a kiss as they both yawned and tried to rub the tiredness from their eyes. "I want you both to remember that you don't have to fight monster to be a hero, all you have to do is help others when they need it. Even if it's just helping someone when they fall down or are sad. I love you both and I want you to always remember that!"

Ruby turned off the lamp between the two beds and stood up to leave the room but stopped when Ari said something in her half-conscious state. "What about...'yawn'...Blake?"

Ruby looked to me but I was already across the room giving each girl a kiss on the cheek. "I love both of you just as much as your mother loves you and I love her."

Ari softly mewed and turned in her bed clutching a small stuffed animal corgi in her arms before casing my heart to lurch once again. "I love both my mommy's."

I brought my hand up and slowly ran it through her hair pushing her bangs back so that I could kiss her one last time on the forehead. When I was done I followed Ruby out and into our own room. I headed straight for the closet and changed into my own pajamas when I stepped back into the room Ruby was already laying in bed. I pulled myself under the covers and clicked off the light next to me, Ruby instantly pulled herself closer and I wrapped an arm around her feeling the cold metal of her arm on my skin. "Can you sing that song for me again, I love hearing how beautiful your voice is."

Using my night vision I could clearly make out clearly see Ruby laying next to me. I pulled her closer resting my lips close to her ear then softly whispered. "Only if you promise to never leave me!"

Ruby moved her head into my shoulder her warm breath feeling like fire on my bare skin. Then just as lightly as I had whispered she responded. "I promise."

Keeping Ruby close to me I took in a slow deep breath and softly sang to her.