A/N: Hey all, guess who's back?! So I got a huge surge of inspiration and wrote out a few more chapters to keep me ahead of the game, so look out for those in the days to come. And since I'm so nice, and this chapter is really almost all character stuff, I'm gonna give you two chapters to move along the plot. Speaking of which, I've just finished fleshing out the plan for this arc (holy crap I have a lot of writing to do) and since I'm not feeling to great and writing is basically all I can do, we might see what all this bank robbing and shenanigans has to do with catching Bowler Hat Guy.

"Alright!" Ruby exclaimed as she plopped down on one of the pillows she had placed in front of the coffee table. "Let's get started."

"So you're finally going to tell me this grand scheme of yours and how it relates to finding the man who stole our money?" Weiss asked as she replaced the now clean dishes from their dinner in the appropriate cupboards before pouring two mugs of coffee.

"All in due time," Ruby said, hoping she wasn't being creepy as she watched the former heiress make her way into the living room, handing the younger of the two her mug before sitting gracefully on the couch and looking at the many screens Ruby had set up on the table. "Thanks." Weiss responded with a small smile that made the con woman's chest tighten.

Get a hold of yourself. It's time to focus on work, not how much you wanna see those lips on yours.

She shook her head and turned back to her computer to plug in the device Weiss had acquired from Velvet. Later she would have to take time to think about why the silver-haired woman leaning over her shoulder was so intoxicating, but right now they needed Red the international criminal, not Ruby the lovesick, hormonal teenager.

"So, like I told you earlier, the firm Velvet works at handles the design and construction of a myriad of important buildings; specifically ones where people want to keep things like money, or information secure and out of reach from those who would misuse it.

"The program I had you get me is a type of backdoor that lets me get blueprints from not just Velvet's firm, but any of the firms they worked with. That way, if I ever need some money, there's less of a trail pointing at my friends."

"Is that why you had me tell Velvet about the guy at the reception desk?"

"Exactly. Project Lapin is a code I devised between Velvet, Coco, a few others and myself. It means that one of us needs a favour, and in the case of Velvet, it means asking her to use my program to nab me some potential locations to make a quick buck."

"But what does that have to do with that pig who was flirting with you?" Ruby allowed herself a small triumphant smirk at what was clearly jealousy coursing through the older woman's voice.

"Trust me, what he was doing could hardly be considered flirting. He had, like, zero game. That aside, while I was talking to him, I decided I didn't like his workplace attitude and slipped this into his computer," Ruby pulled the tiny black thumb drive out of her pocket and held it between her index and middle fingers. "It contains a virus I wrote that will detect when one of my programs is running on another computer on the network, and turn the infected computer into a proxy, ensuring that the paper trail leads back to him, before erasing any trace it existed in the first place."

"So, because you didn't like him you decided to get him sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit? Isn't that a little bit harsh?"

"Not exactly." Ruby explained, "I saw a picture on his desk of him and a woman that I predicted to be his wife. The woman also happens to be the daughter of one of the higher ups in the company, meaning-"

"-He was being groomed to take up a corporate position." Weiss finished.

"Precisely. Once I realized this, I decided that instead of setting him up to be caught in a compromising position with an intern by his wife, it would be more beneficial to have someone Velvet could use during her time at the firm."

"So let me get this straight, you're framing an innocent man, adulterous tendencies aside, so that Velvet can blackmail him and have someone under her thumb in the upper echelons of that firm?"

"That about sums it up."

"Don't you think that's a bit harsh?"

"Not at all," Ruby responded, not taking her eyes off the screen. She tried in vain to ignore the piercing blue orbs staring holes into her back, but after another minute of uncomfortable silence, she sighed in defeat.

"Look, no one knows better than I do what these kinds of things do to a person," she explained as she turned around and stared imploringly at the other girl. "But in this business you can't risk thinking about most people as anything more than pieces on a board. I learned real quick that anyone who is willing to bend the rules to get what they want will see you as less than that and only be thinking of how they can use you to advance their own plans. The only way to stay alive is to play the game and stay two, three, ten steps ahead."

Ruby watched Weiss look down thoughtfully and knew exactly what was going through her head. It was the same thing she had thought when her dad had explained it to her.

Is that what you think of me? Am I just another piece on the board?

"Hey," she reached out and grabbed Weiss hand, delicate pale fingers intertwining with rough calloused ones brought the heiress's focus back on her. "Did you know that off the top of my head, I can write down detailed information on over three hundred different people and the lives they live, and of those, there are about five who I actually can with no uncertainty call my friend?"

Weiss arched a perfect silver eyebrow in confusion, but remained silent. She squeezed Ruby's hand gently to let her know she was listening and to go on.

"The first is Yang, followed by Blake, but Yang is my sister and Blake is like family so they don't really count. Next is Pyrrha, she was the first person I ever did a job with when I decided to strike out on my own. She helped me set up some of the orphanages I fund and acts as the go-between most of the time when someone needs to contact me. After that, it's Jaune. I found him running from the police after he was caught trying to steal some food for the homeless people on his street. He said that they had been through enough and didn't deserve to be weighed down by a guilty conscience too. I bailed him out and brought him to Pyrrha who immediately took a liking to him and started teaching him the tricks of the trade." The entire time she was talking Ruby stared at the hand she was holding, slowly rubbing her thumb over the soft knuckles and steadfastly ignoring the mark that looked suspiciously like a burn just inside the sleeve, where Weiss usually wore a watch or some form of bracelet. "And the last one is this woman I met a few months ago. At first she seemed rude and kinda bossy, but I quickly found out that she was one of the gentlest people I had ever met. I don't know her too well just yet, but I think if I give her time and keep reminding her that she can talk to me, she'll start opening up and I can't wait to learn all about her."

Ruby finished and looked up to find tears threatening to spill from Weiss's eyes and a watery smile on her face. She reached up with her free hand and gently wiped away the tears.

"'The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.' And if Bob Marley said it, then Princess, you just know it's gotta be true."

Weiss leaned into the hand on her cheek, covering it with her own free hand as she let out a shaky laugh before blushing and looking down, putting her hands back in her lap.

"I…don't actually know who Bob Marley is."

Ruby laughed heartily as she fell back on the pillow she was seated on, thankful with how easy the tension was relieved. She was afraid she was going to be called out on the nickname that had slipped out. She had been thinking about how her friend deserved to be treated like a princess and not a bargaining chip and she would do all she could to be the one who did. She was thankful Weiss either didn't notice, or didn't care about her new title and was relishing how natural the nickname felt when the older girl's voice brought her back to reality.

"I guess that's another thing you will have to educate me on when we are finished." Ruby grinned at the promise of a future of watching movies and listening to music with her friend before turning back to her computer.

"I guess so. Now!" Ruby clapped her hands together and started typing frantically, "Back to work!"

*(OoO)*

Weiss lay in bed two hours later staring at the ceiling as she recalled the events of the night.

Red had gone through the plan several times and explained it carefully to Weiss, patiently taking the time to elaborate on any detail the former heiress didn't understand. After the emotional heart-to-heart they shared, Weiss had slipped down to sit next to the brunette and played with her fingers while Red continued to go over the plan and go through details with a fine toothed comb. She thought back to the way she had yelled at the girl when she found out who was in charge of the job in Miami.

Back then she had called the unprofessional and disorganized, among other things. Tonight was more proof of just how wrong she had been. As Red explained the plan Weiss watched as the girl she had come to care for (perhaps more than she'd like to admit) changed into the internationally known criminal savant Red.

The fluid transitions between her friend Red and her partner in crime Red was so seamless that Weiss could hardly keep track of when it changed. The only time it seemed to slip was when Red started talking about the nature of the con game and herself.

She smiled as she remembered how after they were done discussing the heist, Red had grabbed her laptop and pulled herself onto the couch. She connected the television to her Netflix and put on an episode of Suits. Weiss had found that she quite enjoyed the fast paced complexity of the show when she started watching it during her mandatory sit-still-and-recover time after the Miami fiasco.

They sat there in comfortable silence and soon enough Weiss had found her resting in the younger woman's lap while Red absentmindedly ran her fingers through long silver locks while she read something on her computer.

Soon enough, Weiss started yawning and declared that she was going to bed. Red gave her scalp one last scratch before saying "Goodnight princess" distractedly as she frowned at her screen.

Thinking about the nickname she had been given made Weiss' heart flutter. No one had ever called her anything other than 'Ms. Schnee', or 'ma'am' in the case of the staff at her father's house, and certainly no one had ever addressed her with such affection.

As her mind turned toward her father, she found that it was getting easier and easier to push thoughts of his 'teachings' out of her head. She was no longer consumed by guilt and an overwhelming sense of wrongness when she thought about how Red made her heart skip a beat, or how her mouth would go dry when the other woman would stand up and stretch, revealing expanses of toned, taught muscle.

Granted, that didn't make it any less terrifying, and those feelings still came every once in a while, compared to when she had first reunited with Red, they were much more manageable.

For the first couple weeks in Florida, whenever Weiss tried to think about her time in New York, she would only draw a foggy blank and remember the bite and burn of her punishments. The pain and fear made her defensive and aggressive towards everyone. But as she spent time with Red, she found her recollection of their past adventure was returning. By the time they had fled Miami, the foggy curtain on her memory had been lifted and she felt a sense of peace.

Yawning once more, Weiss rolled over and closed her eyes before losing herself in the memory of smiling silver eyes and fingers softly scratching her scalp.