hello readers Noruas here I want to wish you all a merry Christmas. this is being Released on Christmas eve so that anyone who wants to wait until Christmas can and anyone who wants to spend Christmas can as well. like I said Merry Christmas

-Noruas and my whole family.

Chapter 8

Christmas morning was interesting to say the least. There was the obligatory rush to the living room once Corviste woke up. She ran in screaming that it was Christmas and that everyone else needed to get up. This led to the semi-constant flow of teenagers and pre-teens into the room. Upon arriving, they all came face to face with Jorge and Isabao who had by some strange grown up magic made it down the stairs before them. When Ruby, Blake, and Weiss had assembled on one couch and team PLNR on another, the Arc sisters-who were situated all throughout the room perched on the arms of couches and in chairs or just standing still-all made a very important realisation.

"Where are Yang and Jaune?" Catherine asked confused as to the whereabouts of her baby brother and his team mate.

"Isabao," Jorge said, "Are they still locked in the Basement?" When he was answered with a semi-guilty look, he took that t mean yes and made his way to the door to the basement. "Isabao," he said when they were safely out of earshot of the children, "if they haven't had sex by now then they aren't going to. Now where is the key?" Reluctantly she reached into her bra and pulled out the key to the basement. Jorge thought it would be there. She often hid things she wanted no one to find in her bra. That way almost no one would dare go in after it, and if they did she would definitely notice.

Taking the key, Jorge unlocked the door and slowly opened it. "Stay here," he said. If Jaune and Yang were in a state of undress, he didn't want to permanently scar Isabao with the sight of her naked son. He cautiously made his way down the stairs of the basement and stopped just shy of the doorway before saying, "I hope you two are decent cause I'm coming in." Upon finishing his statement, he decided to enter the dojo and saw Yang and Jaune who were just waking up. They were cuddled together in the corner of the dojo buried in a pile of gis (martial arts uniform).

When he saw Jaune's leg eventually emerge from the pile and saw that his jeans were still in place he let out a sigh of relief. While Isabao would not mind finding out that her son had had sex in the basement of the house, he would not have shared her feelings. Jaune had more important things to worry about than checking out his teammates. Jorge had trained that into him. "A clear mind is a detached mind; it isn't always nice, but it is effective and the right thing," was the line that Jorge had spoken to Jaune many years ago. He could only hope that the teen had heeded his advice and was living by it now.

"Morning, chitlins," came the call of Isabao as she pushed pass Jorge and looked at the kids. "Damn," she said as she saw that they were still dressed, " I wanted a grandbaby. Well come up stairs we are opening presents."

As they made their way up the stairs to the living room, they saw all of the others around the tree. Nora was happily playing with the switchblade she got for Christmas. No one knew who got it for her but Ren was already planning how he would get it away from her.

Ren was given a electronic photo frame that contained several photos of team PLNR, all of them smiling and laughing. During the short time they were together they had become a very close knit family.

Pyrrha was given a small card that was addressed to mommy from Martin. That earned a course of "awws" from all of the adults in the room. It was a simple card that showed three stick figures. One was tall and in a suit of armour that was clearly Luke. There was a another who was wearing gold and red armour with long red hair. It was clearly Pyrrha. Then between the two was a small figure who had one hand in each of the other two figures. It was clearly Martin. There was a title over the top of the card that read "Daddy, Mommy, and Me." It was worth a grand total of 5 cents, but to Pyrrha it was priceless. "Thank you Martin. It is very beautiful. I love it." Martin beamed when she spoke. He was so happy that she liked his present.

Next was Luke who received several jars of both sword and armour polish from Pyrrha. "Thank you. Now my blade and armour can be almost as beautiful as you." He smiled as he saw her face turn a bright shade of red at him shameless flirting.

Ruby received a four months supply of cookie dough. Everyone knew it would be gone by lunch, but it was still a good sentiment. She was so excited that she temporarily lost the ability to speak.

Weiss was given a set of fancy bath salts and soaps. She was quite pleased with the gift but didn't know who it was from and couldn't give any one person a thank you.

Blake got a set of scented bookmarks. She looked pleased, but also didn't say anything either opting instead to read in the corner.

Yang was given a wide variety of shampoos and a wider variety of conditioners. She wasn't sure who it was from but she did have her suspicions. After all only two people have been in close contact with her long enough to know the kind of shampoo that she used and even then it looked like Jaune just bought all the kinds that had the scent that she liked.

Jaune was gifted five sets of ceramic composite handcuffs addressed to the Sheriff of Durant. They had come from Jorge. "Not what I would have chosen, but not bad," Jaune said nodding to Jorge.

Catherine was given a tomahawk, Jacqueline was given a mass spectrometer, Jean got a variable zoom optic to go along with the 50 caliber rifle she got last year (she already had scope, but this one was better in almost every way. It could even calculate the flight time, bullet drop,spin, the coriolis effect, and it could take into account the deflection offered by any glass that was shot through by blasting it with light rays and determining the index of refraction of the glass.[ sorry about that rant I am a huge gun nut] ) Romee was given a very high power personal vacuum/air purifier combo, Petra was given a baton to mirror Katelyn, Katelyn got combat boots to mirror Petra, and Corviste was given a set of pauldrons made of the same material as her gauntlets.

This left Martin, Jorge, and Isabao. Martin's gift was a toy shield and sword that Jorge got him. This was not what Luke wanted his son to grow up playing with, but it made Martin so happy he couldn't say no. Jorge said that he already got a very nice gift and didn't need anything other than the children being happy in order to make his day worthwhile. Isabao, however, got a set of very new dinnerware as her old one was slowly being whittled down.

Everyone was happy and celebrating when there was a knock at the door. When it was opened the door way was filled with a man Ruby and Yang knew well, as it was their father.

…

Tai had just returned home from his trip to the Arc's home. When he closed the front door of his house he sensed that something was off. Quickly turning he saw Raven calmly lounging on the couch as though it was still her right to do so.

"Raven," Tai said simultaneously curious and concerned by his ex-wife's sudden reappearance. "What'cha doin here?" He finished, choosing to push through the concern. If Raven meant him harm she would have already tried something.

"I am visiting my husband. I never signed the divorce papers you told Qrow about"

Tai cussed in his mind. He should have never told Qrow about those. They weren't even real but they seemed to help Qrow believe Tai had moved on.

"Rae, you and I both know I never filled those out. Hell, I don't even have them. They were never real. But why are you here?" By now he had made his way over and sat beside Raven on the small couch in the living room. Raven looked like she didn't want to answer that question and that was confirmed when she didn't. Instead opting to sit in silence until Tai choose to move on with the conversation. "I just got back from the Arc's cabin. That is a two hour trip either way. How long have you been sitting here?" When she again refused to say anything Tai felt his temper rising up. "If you don't want to talk about anything then you should probably just leave." After a brief pause Raven spoke for second time since this talk began.

"How is Yang doing?" At this Tai got angry, and-in spite of all of his control-his anger still slipped out in his response to her question

"OUR daughter is fine. Well fine besides the serious abandonment issues she has cause her mother left her as soon as she thought she could get away with it." There was a time of silence when they both sat after Tai's outburst. When Raven again failed to respond Tai continued, "She also seems to have fallen in love with Romerean's son." As he spoke he pulled up his scroll and showed her the various photos that Jorge had taken of the two of them. He also showed her the video of Jaune flipping Yang over on bed and then growling at her before falling asleep. That earned a shocked face from Raven. Then he showed the video of Jaune and Yang fighting on Christmas Eve. He heard Raven chuckle when she saw Jaune attempt to get into high mount only to find himself in a very compromising position. She all out laughed when she saw him sheepishly shuffle back into full mount. Her laughter died however when she saw Jaune get into place to through an elbow strike, but stop with his elbow raised. It took her a moment to notice that Jaune was staring into Yang's eyes and she his.

" Who trained him?" Raven asked already suspecting the answer but needing confirmation.

"Jorge Telmarvak," was the simple response that Tai gave to her.

"Well," Raven said, "if OUR daughter ever gets that boy to realise how much she loves him, and if he realises how much he loves her, she will be the safest woman on all of Remnant."

"Second safest" Tai countered with deliberately ignoring the confused look that momentarily adorned Raven's face.

To this Raven gave no verbal response believing the time for small talk to be over. She moved across the couch till she was sitting right next to Tai. She quickly moved to place her lips on the side of Tai neck. She was aiming for the spot that she remembered always set Tai off no matter how angry he was.

Tai felt the anger that had been building in him die all at once. He knew what he had to say. And he knew it was going to hurt. It would hurt him and it may even hurt her.

"Raven, enough." He felt her back off and fix him with mildly confused and annoyed eyes that still showed the promise of continuing if he had a decent reason for saying that. "I can't do this. Not anymore. It's not that I don't love you. I do but I am not in love with you." As soon as he said it he knew that it hurt. He only saw her eyes show pain on a few occasions. Not while she was in labor did she show pain. But there was no mistaking the look in her eyes now. He had wounded her and he was about to twist the knife, but this needed to happen. "I don't think I can ever see you like that after what happened. I was so decimated by your departure. The man who loved you died many years ago. I'm sorry."

Raven had no words to respond with. The one man she had actually loved had just ripped her heart from her chest and burned it in front of her. She wanted to be mad at him. She wanted to kill him for causing her this pain. But that would be giving into her pain. It would make her weaker than him. He had lived through this before. She always told herself she left Tai and Yang so they would be strong. But in her heart she knew that she was afraid, afraid that her daughter would turn out anything like her. So she ran. She ran and ran. Now looking back the pain that tore through her was her fault; she had done this to herself. Wordlessly she rose from the couch and made her way to the door. Tai made to say something but she held up her hand to stop him. She couldn't take anymore. She left and simply walked away. She didn't fly or use her semblance. She walked.

…

Meanwhile at the Arc cabin

Having recovered from the minor heart attack that had seized him when Yang's father walked in and saw them cuddling on the couch Jaune allowed Yang to again wrap her arms around him. Jaune knew that she meant nothing by it, but he was still worried that her father may not understand.

Jaune was considering taking a nap when there was another knock at the door.

This time it was Weiss who opened the door and when they heard her gasp they all made their way to the door. Waiting in the doorway was a short mildly overweight man who was balding. The shocking part was the badly beaten and unconscious young man who was hanging from his shoulders.

"Klein, Whitley," Weiss said. As she ushered them in and sat Klein down by the couch as Isabao took Whitley to one of the spare rooms and laid him down while tending to his injuries.

"Klein, you still need to ask me." Jorge said.

"Right," Klein responded, "I am officially requesting that my dual citizenship be activated. And I am requesting asylum for Mr. Schnee until his citizenship can be activated."

Jorge's response was swift and filled with authority. "Citizenship activated and asylum granted." Looking to everyone he saw that they were confused. He said "I will explain tomorrow, but for now dinner."

Everyone but Whitley, who was asleep in the guest room, was at the table for dinner. Klein paid Isabao a compliment on the dinner and while dessert was being served Corviste could be heard softly singing something Jaune thought he would never hear her sing.

"I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe last night." Everyone thought it was adorable as she continued, "She didn't hear me creep down the staircase to have a peak," while still adorable it was occuring to everyone that she was off key and tune. In fact she didn't seem to be singing at all.

This was brought into more focus when Catherine said, "I heard mommy more than just kiss Santa last night."

Jaune slowly turned to look at Jorge before saying, "Jorge, there are four men in this house. I am one and the other two are my teammates. So tell me did I miss something?" The answer Jorge gave caused the teens to burst out laughing and the kids to laugh because the grown ups were laughing . The only one left out was Jaune who spent the rest of dinner fuming.

As he spoke Jorge reached his arm around Isabao, "You may have son, but I sure didn't."