Blake knew how cold it was in Atlas. But she didn't exactly comprehend how cold that actually was until she stepped out into the Atlas wind.
"Why? Why is it this cold? My bones are cold. On the inside."
"I told you it was cold." Weiss nods to the driver as he takes their bags and loads them into the car.
"I feel deceived."
"The only one that deceived you was yourself. I told you it was extremely cold. And you have been religiously checking the weather since before we got on the plane. Just close your eyes and pretend you're in Menagerie or something."
Blake settles into her place in the car just before the driver hops into his seat and begins to taxi them to their destination. She closes her eyes, if only to appease Weiss.
"Hmm this may be working. If I listen hard enough, I can hear the sound of my mother's voice ringing lightly in the back of my mind."
"Oh stop it. Your mother is a wonderful woman. I don't see why you give her such a hard time, and so much grief."
"Of course you think she's wonderful. She loves you and spoils you to death every time we visit."
"As it should be." Weiss crosses her hands over one another and places them in her lap.
"Has your mom said anything about why we are here?"
"Not really. I am quite surprised still. She has been a true force to reckon with since taking back the company. Not sure there is anything I would be able to do that she can't."
"Don't sell yourself short. You run the entire Vale branch, which is incredibly substantial and not to mention profitable. You built it from the ground up. And in only a few years."
"Okay, okay. I get it." Weiss huffs out a sigh and turns towards the window so Blake can't see the hint of blush that is dusting her cheeks.
They eventually arrive at the Schnee estate and settle into their room. The same room Weiss called her own when she lived here, many years ago.
"I need to go meet my mother at the office. You should take a walk in the garden or something while I'm gone." Weiss suggests as she quickly pack a work bag and makes her way towards the door.
"Walk around, outside? Here? I think I'll pass." She can hear Weiss laughing as she digs through her own bag. "I Brough a few books so I was going to go sit in the library and read. Much warmer in there." She gets a shiver just thinking about how cold it is outside.
Weiss pauses, looking back into the room at Blake while she continues to rummage through her luggage looking for her books. She looks completely content, even through there is nothing here in Atlas of interest to her. But Weiss is still grateful to have her here.
Blake hears the clicking of heels on the floor just before looking up to find Weiss standing in front of her. Closer than anticipated.
"Oh hey." Blake whispers as Weiss wraps her arms around her waist, leaning up to give her a soft kiss.
"I love you and I'm glad that you decided to come here with me."
"No place I'd rather be." There is a buzzing sound followed by the sound of Weiss' phone ringing from within her jacket pocket. "Sounds like duty calls, Miss Schnee."
"Ugh. I don't want to go. You are so warm."
"Better hurry back them."
As she pulls away, Blake places a second kiss to her forehead.
"See you later."
Weiss walks down the hall towards the stairs, and she hears Blake yell out to her.
"Go kick some ass. I love you. Have a good day!"
"So domestic." She smiles and shakes her heard as she walks out the front door, and gets into the car to head off to her mother's office.
—
"Hello, Miss Schnee. It's been some time since your last visit."
"Hi Fox. I would be lying if I said I missed being here."
"Good thing I can't see the look on your face then I suppose. But I can hear the honesty in your voice." He lets out a light chuckle. "Your mother is waiting for you. Good luck."
"Do I need it?"
"Only one way to find out." He nudges his head towards the door of her mother's office.
"I'll be on my way then."
"Good to see you again, Weiss. Figuratively speaking."
"Likewise, Fox."
After a swift few knocks to the door, Weiss makes her way into the office.
"Oh good, you made it." Mrs. Schnee immediately stands and makes her way around the desk to hug her daughter.
"Well you said it was urgent, so Blake and I got here as quickly as possible."
"Blake came with you?"
"Yes, she has some time off after completing her residency so she asked to come with me. She is at the manor."
"Lovely. Glad she could make it as well. Always great to see her and a joy to have her here. We will have to go out to dinner to celebrate her finishing her residency. That is a big accomplishment."
"I agree." Weiss slowly makes her way to a chair and seats herself in front of the desk, which separates the two of then now. "Forgive me for being forward, but what matter was so urgent that I had to travel all the way here?"
"Oh, of course. Silly me. I guess we should just get down to the heart of the matter."
"Please." Weiss is hoping her directness doesn't come off as rude.
"I think it may be nearing the time for a shift in the leadership for the Schnee Company. And I wanted you to be the first to know anything and everything about these decisions before they are made. Or become official."
"Technically, if you are telling me about these decisions, they've already been made. Have they not?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes. But no official paperwork or effort have been completely so it's all currently still hypothetical."
"What are these changes and why have you suddenly decided to make them?"
"I would like for us to change roles. So to speak."
"Please don't tell me you want me to come back to Atlas permanently. You know it was part of our agreement when I signed on to help, opening the Vale office-" Her mother raises her hand for her to stop.
"Let me explain, before you jump to a few hundred conclusions. Which I can see the wheel spinning in your head already, so slow down."
Weiss takes a deeper breath and sits back in her seat, and lessens her grip on the arms of her chair, not realizing how tightly she had grasped them.
"I would like to shift main operations for the Schnee Company to the Vale office. And keep the Atlas office open here for support operations."
"But the company has always been headquartered in Atlas." Weiss' mind begins to run again.
"Yes, because our family was always here to run it. If you are in Vale, the company should shift."
"But what about you, and everything here?"
"Myself and the office will remain here, and continue operations as necessary. But executive operations will move to Vale, where our CEO is based. It makes the most sense. Don't you think?"
"But you're the CEO, you will here."
"And the next CEO of the Schnee Company lives in Vale."
It takes a moment, but once she connects the dots, Weiss looks up into crystal blue eyes that nearly mirror her own.
"I don't think, I don't know if I'm ready to take the company."
"You've been ready since you were sixteen years old, Weiss."
"I highly doubt that."
"You were born and raised into this company. You know more about it than any other member of this family. And you have always fought the hardest to bring it back to the same level of corporate dignity, if there is such a thing, from when your grandfather was here. You are ready."
"And moving the executive operations completely to Vale. You think that is feasible?"
"I think that it is what is best for you. And I think you will run this company the best you can if you are surrounded by what is best for you."
"Why now? You've only had the company back for a few years. There is still so much time, so much you can do."
"There are a lot of things I've wanted to do with my life that I've missed ou on because of what I allowed your father to get away with."
Weiss can't help but look away as a sadness and slight shame ripple through her. Her father had taken a lot from all of them. But they had all played a part, even if it were through doing nothing at all.
"I didn't take back the company so that I could run it. I took the company back because it belongs to you. It always has. Your grandfather left it to you. And when he died, you weren't old enough, so your father weaseled his way in, and his selfishness never would've allowed him to step down. So when I finally found the courage to , I only took this position to bide the time until you were in a place to take it from me."
"I'll do it."
—
"The next time we go to Atlas, it will be in the summer, I promise."
"Is it above freezing then?" Blake asks causally as she begins to unpack her bag. Their stay had been more brief than expected. More of a long weekend than anything.
"You're funny. You know that?"
"And you didn't answer my question."
"It depends on the winds from Mantle, but no, most likely not."
"Alright then." The shortness of her answers is enough to raise suspicion.
"You're mad. Aren't you?"
The huff that Blake lets out after one too many seconds of awkward silence is an answer all its own.
"No." She reaches over to grab Weiss' dirty clothes and adds them to her own, turning on her heels towards the laundry room.
"You're a terrible liar, Blake Belladonna." Weiss says as she leans against the door frame as she watches Blake sort the clothes and start the washing machine.
"Be that as it may, I am not angry. So please, don't press it." She shakes the wrinkles out of some scrubs that Weiss had left folded on top of the dryer, before hanging them on the rack behind her.
"Blake, something is bothering you. You are upset and being curt with me."
"Please not tonight, Weiss. I have to work in like seven hours and I really need to get some sleep."
"I thought you didn't have toward for a few more days."
"Remember, they asked if I could cover a half shift tomorrow and I said yes. You have to work anyways, so I figured it wouldn't matter. And we discussed it on the flight home."
"No. I guess it doesn't." Weiss mumbles as Blake walks past her, back towards their bedroom.
Sensing that Blake could use a few moments of space, Weiss heads to the kitchen for a glass of water before returning to their room.
By the time she gets there, Blake is already snuggled down into her place in bed, facing the opposite wall.
Weiss gets ready for bed and slides beneath the covers, turning off the lamp on the table beside the bed. She turns on her side and gets comfortable, careful not to accidentally put her cold feet on Blake.
After a few minutes, she hears rustling beside her, and the familiar feel of Blake's arm reaching over her hip to pull her closer.
"I'm not mad."
"So you've told me." Blake sighs and Weiss can feel her breath hit the shirt covering her shoulder blade.
"You always just do, but you never ask."
"What do you mean?" She turns over to face Blake, not that she can see very much in the dark besides a rough outline of her face.
"You want me to share things about work with you, right? My wins, my losses, my opportunities and failures. You are always my first to know. You are my confidant. Every decision I've made, you are a part of it."
"Yes, because I want to be there with you and for you. You should have someone there with you to share those losses so they aren't so heavy, and so I can be even more proud of you when you do amazing things."
"You never let me have that."
"Wha-"
"I just want- I want the life we are living together to be shared equally. I want you to be able to trust me to love and care for you in the same way that you do for me."
"I do trust you"
"When I got offered the interview for an attending position in Atlas-"
"We talked about it and you decided you would rather stay in Vale. The cons outweighed the benefits."
"We talked about it, and I decided."
"Yes. I know. That's what I just said."
"You accepted the CEO position. And I found out about it, two days later, when you mom mentioned it during dinner."
"It's not official yet, so I didn't want to say any-"
"i'm not a news outlet, Weiss. I shouldn't have to wait for a press release to come out to find out important things about the person I share my whole life with. The person I want to spend all of my life with."
"I can rescind my acceptance. If it's not something you are okay with. I will call my mother and tell her no first thing in the morning."
Weiss feels Blake squeeze her hand tightly before releasing it completely.
"That's not what I'm saying."
"Well then tell me what it is you're saying because I don't understand and I don't want us to go to bed like this."
"I'm not upset that you took the CEO position. I'm upset because you took it and didn't think you could tell me. I want to be the person you cry to when you are sad, and I want to be the person that celebrates even the smallest of victories with you. I am so proud of you and all that you do. But you hide things away where no one can see. And that hurts me because I love you so much and nothing I ever seem to do will make you want to stop hiding pieces of you from me."
"I do trust you and I know that you love me. I have no doubt."
She sees Blake reach her hand up to wipe a tear from her cheek before pulling the sheets back up around her.
"Goodnight, Weiss." Blake turns over again to face away from her. And even though she didn't think it were possible, this felt worse than going to bed angry.