The moment that she'd realized that she really needed to talk to Blake, Weiss had gone out of her way to book a reservation in a back room at a place by the name of The Platinum Swan because the food would be good and the privacy would be necessary.

That didn't mean that Weiss was going to let her guard down, though.

This wasn't going to be like going out with Neptune and Coco, because there was a lot more at stake in a meeting with Blake. But, it was quiet, and the moment that the name "Schnee" had even been whispered, Weiss had been guaranteed absolute privacy.

Her name was a powerful thing to have, but it was also a terrible curse. A private table couldn't make up for the fact that her family was broken, and that her father was in a hospital and possibly dying.

No, nothing could make up for that.

Weiss was sure that she would have been feeling much different about this planned meeting if she didn't have so much sitting on it. Following her meeting with Klein over breakfast, Weiss had been glad to do her research and learn everything that she could have possibly needed to know about Blake Belladonna.

She'd come with a folder of printed articles (getting them printed without anyone noticing had been a pain, but manageable) and she was ready to confront Blake and let the woman know that she had made Weiss' life very hard, several times over. The only problem was that currently Weiss had no choice but to wait for Blake and hope that the woman would be able to find her.

Weiss had ended up seated at the private table in the back room just long enough to order herself a glass of pinot grigio when the waiter came to the back room, looking frazzled and someone worried.

"Miss Schnee?" He interjected, his voice hurried and worried. "There's someone saying that she's here to see you."

"Is there?" Weiss asked, figuring that it was for the best if she played along. The last thing that she wanted was to play into some sort of frenzy by being too candid.

"Yes." He repeated, standing up straight and holding his serving tray in front of him. "She said her name was Blake Belladonna."

"I see." Weiss let out a quiet sigh as she steeled herself for what was to come. "Could you please let her in?"

"Of course, Miss Schnee." The waiter stuttered out, letting himself bow before hurrying out of the room and off to who knows where. Minutes later, Blake Belladonna stepped in.

This time when she first saw Blake, Blake was entirely different from their first meeting. The cigarettes and motorcycles and leather jackets were gone, replaced with a crisp white button down shirt and dark violet blazer, with black pants.

It seemed that she'd taken the hint that this would be a professional meeting, and to Weiss that was a very good thing. It meant that she would have a little bit less to worry about in the long run.

"Hello, Blake." Weiss greeted the woman, picking her head up so that she could look up at her. "I see you found your way here alright?"

"I did." Blake said, her voice as calm and collected as ever. "I wish it wasn't so upscale, though."

Weiss felt a pang of something that she wasn't able to name, but she didn't let herself acknowledge it. Part of the reason that she'd decided to have Blake meet her here was because she had wanted to have the upper hand for a little bit.

"You'll learn to deal with it." Weiss said, shifting and reaching for her bag where it sat at her side. Waiting there, just at the top was the folder that she'd brought. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Right." Blake deadpanned, and Weiss watched as the woman did the same thing that she had done the night before by removing the notepad and pen from her pocket and laying them out of the table and following them up with her phone. "I figure that this is about the article."

"It is." Weiss said, holding her head high because she felt like she could use anything that she could possibly get in order to have the upper hand here. "Among other things."

Blake paused, and Weiss watched her reach for her notepad and flip it open to write down the date, time, and something else at the top of the page. Weiss was hoping that this would be off the record, and she was sure that once the conversation started that wasn't going to be any more clear.

"I understand." Blake said, not relaxing as she traded her pen for a copy of the menu. "Where would you like to begin?"

"I would like to start with the fact that you have made my life very difficult, Blake Belladonna." Weiss said, her eyes narrowing. "I suppose that I should have recognized your name when I first met you, but when I was looking for your article this morning, imagine my surprise to find out that your claim to fame was infiltrating the SchneeCorp plant in Mantle."

Blake's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open a little bit, showing some rather obvious frustration already. "Is that what we're talking about?" She asked, and Weiss could hear the tinges of annoyance that were playing at the edges of Blake's voice. "Because that happened years ago."

Weiss leaned in and she was careful to place as little space between the two of them that she possibly could have. There was the potential that this could get so much worse, but Weiss needed to know what her current standing was in relation to Blake.

"I'm aware of that." Weiss said, holding her head up high and looking down at Blake over her nose, the way that she had been taught long before by example. She'd learned it from her mother, and then from her father. It was the best way to make someone feel small, and it was truly a tactic that had never led Weiss astray. "But I need to know why I should trust you when you are the one responsible for the shutting down of that plant."

Blake seemed a little bit taken aback by Weiss' comment, but she grimaced and set her menu down. Weiss would take it as a sign that Blake had chosen what she wanted to have that night.

"You want to know about Mantle?" Blake repeated, sounding like she was in some sort of disbelief. "Really?"

"Yes." Weiss snapped. "Because if I am going to be working with you at all, which I should note, I really shouldn't be, I need to know who I am working for." She leaned back in her seat, making herself a little bit more comfortable, because she was sure that she truly had the upper hand at this point. "Which means, you need to tell me about Mantle. Among other things."

Blake sighed heavily and let her head bow forward in a way that let her hair hang into her eyes just slightly before straightening back up. "Fine." She began, taking on an eerie sort of calm. It was like she was doing her absolute best to just divorce herself from the situation entirely. "Should I assume that this meeting is off the record?"

"Yes." Weiss replied, not even giving Blake a chance to get another word in. "If you don't mind."

And she watched in some amazement as Blake picked up her pen, noted that it was off the record at the top of her notebook, and then moved on.

"Very well." Blake said, pausing for a long moment like she was trying to collect herself.

While she waited, Weiss took the chance to drag the memory of the articles that she'd read to the forefront of her mind.

Blake Belladonna, 19, and an Adam Taurus, 23, had infiltrated the SchneeCorp plant in the city of Mantle. According to the articles (Weiss didn't try to think about Blake's own article too much, if only because that felt biased) the two of them had gained employment at the plant through legitimate means and had decided that they wanted to get a story.

It had all started on the manufacturing floor and worked out from there.

Now, Weiss just needed to know whether or not Blake's story was going to match up with the story that she had seen. She needed to know what sort of woman she was going to be, and whether or not Blake was going to be apologetic once she knew what Weiss had gone through herself.

"Well?" Weiss prompted, trying her best not to ball her hands into fists in front of her. "Care to explain?"

"I was involved in the stories that led to the shutdown of the SchneeCorp Plant in Mantle." Blake said, picking her head up and holding it high, but it came with something else in her expression. It was shame, maybe. It was also possible that there was something else, but Weiss didn't know what it was. "My partner and I made friends with someone that worked inside of the plant and we were able to get jobs through the normal means."

"Why?" Weiss asked, her eyes narrowing and her letting herself lean in just slightly. "Because-"

"Let me explain." Blake said, keeping her voice calm. "The current editor-in-chief of The Fang, Sienna Khan heard through reliable sources that there was something wrong with the plant in Mantle. It had started with stories about people not getting worker's comp, and ballooned from there."

"So what does that have to do with you?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms over her chest in displeasure. "I really don't have the patience for games."

Blake sighed and let her eyes close, relaxing just a little bit, but it was only in the most slight way possible. "I'm not lying to you or playing games." She said, calm as ever. "I'm just telling you the truth."

"Then you should get to it!" Weiss replied, leaning in slightly. "Because I don't have all night and I have things to tell you once you've finished."

Blake raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side a little bit, in complete surprise. She seemed to sputter for a moment, searching for words that weren't coming easily but eventually did just clamp her mouth shut and nod. "I see." Blake said calmly, sighing before letting herself continue. "As I was saying-"

"Of course," Weiss said, forcing herself to calm down as much as she could, "Carry on."

Blake seemed to almost pull her lip back slightly so that she could go into a snarl, but dropped it quickly enough to talk. "I was new to the Fang, and I was working with my partner because he had a bit more experience under his wing and was good at this sort of thing."

"What do you mean this kind of thing?" Weiss asked, because Blake had only managed to leave an opening that she needed to hear get closed back up. "You need to be specific."

"Hidden cameras, anonymous leaks, getting into places and things he didn't belong in." Blake said, sighing. "He and I were assigned to it. I was supposed to do the writing, and he was supposed to do the dirty work. We followed the assignment that we were given, and managed to do our job."

Weiss swallowed, unsure of what she was supposed to do or say next at that point, when things were so unclear. Blake had begun to give her a great insight and Weiss wasn't going to be one to turn that down, but she still needed so much more. there had to be so much to this.

"Do you care that you were responsible for the closing of a factory?" Weiss asked, leaning in towards Blake just slightly. "Or that you made the lives of our family very difficult?"

"We were doing our job."

"So were we!" Weiss snapped, raising her voice into a shrill tone that fit better on her mother than it ever had on her. "My family was trying to do business as normal, and when the plant was closed down, we saw serious problems." She held her head higher. "People lost their jobs. The costs of our products had to rise, which includes medical products because SchneeCorp has its hands in everything, and that particular plant was responsible for the creation of medical filtration systems, among other things. But I suppose that you would know that, wouldn't you?"

Blake grimaced, and Weiss watched her every motion, looking for something from her the entire time. She didn't know what she was expecting to get, or what she even thought the outcome of this meeting was going to even be, but Weiss knew one thing: She needed to have it be clear what had happened.

From her peripheral vision, Weiss watched Blake's hand ball into a fist and then relax again shortly after. It was about the best that she was sure she was going to be able to get out of the woman.

"I do." Blake said finally, staring straight ahead and not daring to let her gaze waver away from Weiss. "That wasn't our intention."

"That doesn't change that it's what happened." Weiss snapped back. She sat up tall. "But I suppose that you only care that you got your story out, isn't it?"

"That's not quite it." Blake responded, with a growl. "Things were legitimately wrong there. I'm sorry that the outcome of my work was so bad, but I did the best thing seeing as your father wasn't doing anything to fix things."

And really, that was all that had needed to be said to set Weiss off at least on some level, if only because Blake had managed to touch on the heart of the matter. Weiss' father had turned into an absolute terror when that article had been released. His nights had been filled with screaming, Weiss' mother had taken to drinking more and more, and Winter had taken it as a final straw and she'd left.

Weiss knew that those were things that had very little to do with Blake, but she was also in a position where she wasn't so sure that she actually cared. She had been hurting when it had all happened, and Blake had everything to do with that fact and to Weiss there was absolutely no way that she was going to be able to get past that. Not unless Blake was somehow going to turn around and show some understanding, or make a pledge for loyalty or do something to show that she actually gave a damn.

She stared across the table at Blake, wishing that she had a way to be a little taller or a little bit more intimidating. Maybe if she had the intimidation factor that she needed, then this would have been going much smoother. Maybe that way Weiss wouldn't feel so upset.

"My father isn't in direct control over every little aspect that happens in the company." Weiss finally said, forcing her own calm onto herself in an attempt to bring the conversation back to a respectful place. Blake still had the chance to sabotage Weiss' position in the company if she wanted to, after all. "And that made for a very difficult time. For my entire family."

"Well, I'm sorry.' Blake replied, and it was all too clear that she was still agitated. Weiss had serious doubts that she was truly going to be able to relax, especially when Weiss had brought along a folder of things that she wanted to talk about.

In retrospect, maybe that hadn't been the best idea.

"Are you?" Weiss asked, leaning in just slightly. "You don't even want to know what happened?"

Blake was quiet, her lips worrying and her expression falling as she tried to parse out an answer that Weiss wasn't sure was ever going to come. Finally, Blake let out a full-body sort of sigh and picked her head up so that she could look at Weiss directly. "I'm not sure that I do," Blake began, with something touching the edge of her tone that Weiss couldn't exactly identify. "But I get the feeling you won't let me leave without hearing it."

It was everything that Weiss had wanted, and it was the exact opposite of what she wanted. This way she knew that she was going to end up feeling guilty if she explained things the way she wanted. Because really, Weiss knew fully well that the things that she was talking about were deeply private issues. They were things that had previously only ever been even whispered in the Schnee family themselves. As far as people that knew the specifics of the aftermath, Weiss was sure that Klein was the only one she knew personally and wasn't related to.

"Are we still off the record?" Weiss asked, letting her voice go soft in a way that she couldn't help but think that she shouldn't have. It was too easy to believe that she'd opened herself up to be vulnerable. It had to be a mistake, at least on some level.

Weiss was sure of it.

"Yes." Blake said, her eyes shifting over to her phone and notepad. "I can assure you that we are."

"Good." Weiss replied, tilting her head up a little bit as she forced herself to bring everything forward that she'd spent so long trying not to think about. "I don't want to see this in the news tomorrow. Or ever, for that matter."

Blake blinked, and Weiss was sure that in that moment any less than genuine intentions that Blake had come in with were wiped away. Maybe, just maybe, it was safe. And if Blake played nice, then Weiss would be open to working with her again.

But for now, this was about setting the record straight.

"I promise that it won't be." Blake said, her voice insistent and sincere, if nothing else. "SInce this seems to be personal."

"I is." Weiss replied, sighing and reaching for her glass of wine, thinking back to her mother's state in the aftermath of Blake's article. It had been terrible, and so when Weiss sipped the drink, it left a bitter taste on her tongue. "After your article, and the plant getting shut down, my father turned into an absolute menace, and he drove my family apart. My sister left, my mother started drinking, and it was up to my brother and I to pick up the pieces for ourselves."

Weiss didn't like talking about this. Not when her father was already in the hospital and in exceptionally poor health already. In a way, bringing it up only managed to feel like a betrayal of sorts. This was inappropriate on at least some level, Weiss was sure of it.

But she needed to do this, and that was what was important to her.

But it didn't feel like it was enough. Instead it only managed to leave Weiss feeling like she was getting nowhere. She sighed, feeling that weight on her chest getting worse and worse the longer that she sat there, waiting for Blake to say something.

But it wouldn't last. Blake sighed heavily, leaning forward just slightly so that her hair fell into her face before finally picking her head up and looking at Weiss directly.

"I'm sorry." The woman said, with a sort of sincerity that Weiss hadn't heard from her before. "When we had gone in looking to do that, anything that was going to happen behind the scenes hadn't been high on our list of priorities."

"That's all that you have to say?" Weiss asked, faltering on her anger. Sitting by and continuing to push things along in her anger wasn't bringing her that much, but she'd at the very least gotten an apology. "You don't-"

"I'm sorry." Blake cut her off, and Weiss didn't like the annoyance that built up in her chest. "I don't do stories like that anymore."

"And yet you want to-"

"I'm not looking to destroy factories." Blake said, explaining herself and splaying her hands out on the table in front of her. "I mean it when I say that. I'm just looking to make changes as a legitimate reporter. That means financial statements and occasionally looking into rumors when they pop up. Nothing like I used to."

Weiss frowned. Blake was being sincere, that much was obvious. There wasn't all that much that she could do about it either, but she could run with the way that things were going and see how they ended up.

Progress was progress, regardless of how it was won.

Weiss sucked in her lower lip, worrying it for a moment before letting it back loose with a quiet pop. There had to be something.

"I am willing to continue to help you," Weiss began, wary. "But if I do that, I need your promise that you won't go looking to destroy my family's business."

"I don't-"

"No." Weiss cut Blake off, because she needed to be able to talk and make her terms clear. "I am all for improving it in any way that I can, but I'm not going to help you if you're going to be working towards destroying my family's business. This is my future and I am dedicated to this company. Do you understand that?"

Blake was staring her down, and Weiss watched her closely, looking for some sort of response from her the entire time but unable to find it. Finally, she let out a quiet sigh and relaxed slightly.

"I do." Blake finally mumbled, bringing her eyes up so that they locked with Weiss'. "I want to continue to do my job, and you are perhaps the most important contact that I'll ever have. I'll keep my work dedicated to finances and general reporting for as long as you're willing to work with me."

Weiss hesitated. This was it, this was her possibly going ahead to sign a deal with the devil and there was absolutely no good way of addressing that fact.

But, it seemed that she had a chance to help the devil get to be a little bit better.

So she picked her hand up and reached out, offering it to Blake in a peace offering. Dinner was going to come soon enough, but for now, this would have to do.

"Consider it a deal, Blake Belladonna."

Blake reached out and clasped Weiss' hand in her own, giving it a solid shake before releasing. "I'd be glad to." She said finally, letting herself relax so that she could finally look at her menu.

All in all, dinner ended up being a rather nice, quiet affair once the hard part was finished with.

With everything that was happening, Weiss liked that. There was a lot that could be said for normalcy in a hard time like she was experiencing.

And Blake... well, she wasn't so bad, Weiss thought.

At least, she wasn't so bad once they got past the issue of work. Not that Weiss really thought that it would be a done deal at all.

Blake finished her dinner with Weiss and was left feeling mostly unsure of how to feel about all of it. The issue of how much things cost was an obvious thing that Blake had to deal with, but Weiss had understood when Blake had pointed out that the venue was a little rich for her capabilities.

And the fact that Weiss had been willing to help pay for her dinner by the end of the night was a miracle in itself. It was a favor that Blake didn't expect to ever see repeated, and it was probably for the better that way. There was so much about the situation that was wrong, and Blake was doing her best to be better.

Weiss needed it from her, at the very least. And Blake? Blake needed to know that her job was going to be secure through everything.

How that had brought her to a public waterfront and landed her sitting there side by side with Weiss Schnee was beyond her. There was something about it all that was so far beyond informal that Blake didn't know how to read into. It was like Weiss was making an effort to get used to her, but at the same time, it was a waste of time, at least on some level.

All that Blake could do was promise Weiss that whatever they talked about was on or off the record when it got brought up. Some things, Blake had learned, were very far from allowed to be touched. The main topics that were disallowed were strictly family things that didn't belong in the public eye. Business and work was fair game.

But that wasn't going to make Blake feel any less awkward about the fact that she was there with Weiss. Nothing was, not really.

It was quiet. Blake was sure that it had to be late. It was good that she had a way home, and Weiss was going to be able to call a driver when she decided that she wanted to go home.

As for the night, it was comforting and cool. The summer air was pleasing against Blake's skin, her hair was brushed back out of her face, and she felt like she was able to relax. She'd shucked off her jacket a while ago, and since leaving the restaurant, being able to relax was just nice.

The main thing that had thrown Blake off was the current company that she kept, if only because she didn't know what to make of it. Herself and Weiss weren't on good ground, and Blake had no illusions about that.

However, the fact was that Blake had been able to start bracing herself for what was going to come during their meeting was a relief. Being placed in a situation where she didn't have to tell Weiss more than she needed to also helped. For instance, when Weiss asked Blake about things like Mantle, Blake was sure that she wasn't asking about things like who Blake used to work with.

Or what had made them fall apart, which was a secret that Blake was ready to carry to her grave.

Since the conversation had been dropped, Blake had fallen into a pattern of just asking Weiss whatever questions came to her mind that needed to be answered.

"So," Blake asked, glancing over at Weiss out of the corner of her eye. "Is there a particular reason that you wanted to come here?"

"No." Weiss said, just as quietly as a whisper, but with some hesitation painting her voice. "I just didn't want to go back to the estate so soon."

Blake blinked and paused, still deeply unsure. "Why did you want to have me come along?"

And really, that was the big question that had been echoing in the back of Blake's mind since the second that they'd left the restaurant Weiss had turned to her and asked for a ride to the waterfront. There was a part of Blake that wondered whether or not Weiss had made the request with something particular in mind. The thing that Blake's mind immediately went to was her motorcycle, but that was something that she didn't want to go ahead and prod on.

"I don't know." Weiss said finally, still hesitant. She shifted just slightly, and there was a quiet sound of her heels hitting the ground with a quiet thud. "I figured that it wasn't such a bad idea to get to know you a little better outside of..."

"You know that there isn't any reason to do that, right?" Blake asked, trying her best to not come off as abrasive as she spoke. "Because you and I would likely be working together anyways."

"I know." Weiss said with a gentle smile as she looked over at Blake. In the dark, her white hair stood out as a sort of beacon, and the way that the moonlight glinted against it was attractive, if nothing else. Blake didn't think that it was going to mean anything that she thought of Weiss that way. It wasn't going to be something that would help her at all.

Weiss turned to face Blake and leaned back against the bench just slightly. "How has the reaction to your article been?"

Back to business. That had to be expected, at least on some level. "It's been fine." Blake replied with a slight shrug. "There's not really anything to talk about, especially since it's just a matter of communicating the facts." She shook her head, weighing what else there was to say carefully. She'd made the point to avoid bringing up specifics in her article for a reason. "How's your father?"

It wasn't right for her to be asking that question, but for now, Blake figured that it wasn't such a bad idea to ask the question person-to-person instead of putting the answer that Weiss gave into an article.

But the heiress only managed to look annoyed and the slight wrinkle of her nose spoke for itself in a few ways. She turned her face away from Blake and let out a quiet sigh. "No sign of improvement." Weiss said finally, shaking her head. "Klein has been trying to help, but..."

"Of course." Blake responded. "Have you been to-"

"The hospital?" Weiss cut Blake off before the question even had to be asked. "I did. Nothing happened though."

"I understand." Blake replied. For a moment she thought back to her own family, and her own father. If he'd been in the hospital and in such poor state, Blake didn't have even the slightest idea as to what was going on in Weiss' mind. Especially when the stories that the heiress had told her mostly turned out to be situations that were deeply uncomfortable at best. It raised certain questions in Blake's mind that she didn't dare ask. "If it works out..."

"Thank you." Weiss said, sighing. "Either way. Thank you for asking about it. Aside from my family there hasn't been all that many people that I can talk to about it. I have friends back in Vale, but..."

Blake grimaced and hesitated, picking her head up and peeling her gaze away from Weiss so that she could stare out across the river and see what was going on across it. There were lights on that side of the city of course, but that wasn't a bad idea. There were the lights of buildings, and they were beautiful in their own way. "I'm sorry." She said finally, shaking her head. "This has to be hard on you. I'm sure that you'd rather that this wasn't done with a reporter."

Weiss smiled. "It's been nice." SHe said finally, standing up and brushing her skirt down. She didn't bother to put her shoes back on as she made her way down the bank of the river and into the grass. Blake almost wanted to speak up, to tell her that there was something that she needed to say. the possibility of there being broken glass and cigarette butts on the ground which Weiss walked on occurred to Blake. "Besides, I don't get that much time away from my family here."

"Where do they think you are?"

"Most likely?" Weiss asked. "Probably in bed. Whitley and my mother don't tend to bother me after dinner. Or… ever, really."

"Is that the norm?"

"Sadly." Weiss whispered. "But I think that it's easier for us to stay so separate. I still haven't heard from my sister yet, but..."

"Right." Blake responded, thinking back on everything that she had ever learned about the elusive Winter Schnee. Two years before she had left the Schnee fortune in favor of a military career, something that she never would have needed to take on for any reason. If Winter Schnee wanted to, she probably could have gone ahead and left the military behind and gotten everything back, but...

Well, what she'd learned since her first contact with Weiss Schnee told her otherwise. Jacques Schnee was a vengeful man and had likely been quick to disinherit his eldest daughter at the first chance that he got.

It was late, Blake thought. She pushed herself up to her feet and stretched just slightly before turning slightly to face her motorcycle. If she stayed out too late then it was going to be hard getting things done come morning. The responsible thing to do was to grab the vehicle and let it lead her.

Blake paused, knowing that she needed to say something to Weiss. "I think I need to head back to my apartment for the night." Blake announced, calmly. "Do you want a ride back to your family's home?"

Weiss stared her down, and Blake just nodded in the direction of her motorcycle. "I know where it is. If you want a ride, speak now-"

Weiss shifted and turned slightly so that she could look at the motorcycle more clearly. Blake could practically see the gears turning in her head, and that wasn't a bad thing by any means. If anything, it just meant that she was going to have another in if things worked out the way that she thought it would.

"I think that a ride wouldn't hurt." Weiss said quietly. "Klein will have questions-"

"It'll be fine." Blake replied. "I can drop you off away from the front gates so that they don't see me."

"You think you can do that?" Weiss asked, slipping back into her shoes and standing up straight. Blake watched the woman stretch, arching her back just slightly. "Because-"

"It won't be a problem." Blake answered as she slipped into her jacket and looked over her bike. She only had one helmet, and it wasn't like it was a very long ride before she got to the Schnee manor. Nothing was going to go wrong, Blake was sure of it. Besides, she knew her way through the quieter parts of the city. "Just..."

Finally, Blake climbed on and pat the space on her seat behind her. "Climb on."

Weiss smiled and climbed onto the bike, reaching out and wrapping her arms around Blake's waist. Almost immediately Blake felt herself lock up with worry and stiffen, but it wasn't so easy for her to just ignore Weiss' presence at her back. There were still so many ways that things could go wrong and get worse.

Blake didn't think for a second that she was going to be able to get out of this unscathed on every front.

She shifted and passed the helmet back, hoping that it was going to be enough for Weiss.

"What-" Weiss asked, taking the helmet in hand. "Why are you-"

"Put it on." Blake commanded, keeping her voice and her expression cool. "I know you probably don't want to ruin your hair-"

Weiss' expression contorted into one of anger for just a moment, and Blake couldn't help but smirk. Instead of protesting though, Weiss picked her arms up and pulled her long hair down out of the ponytail that she was wearing so that it fell down her back.

Blake hadn't realized how long it was, and there was something in her that ached to reach out and brush her fingers through Weiss' hair, which looked much softer and silkier than her own was.

It would be, at the very least, grossly inappropriate.

Blake forced the urge back and turned, starting the engine on her bike once she was sure that Weiss was perfectly safe, and then began to speed off towards the Schnee Manor.

The entire time, she wasn't able to ignore the other woman's presence at her back. Even as she sped from road to road, Blake had Weiss there was a distraction that she couldn't just ignore.

When Blake was finally halfway to the Schnee Manor, she came to realize that the drive was a little bit longer than she'd originally thought.

At around midnight, Blake finally pulled up near the Schnee Manor gates. She was sure that she was probably picked up by some sort of security cameras. But she didn't say anything about it, just turned slightly and looked at Weiss, turning off the motorcycle.

"Is this good?" She asked, watching as Weiss climbed off and checked that she had her bearings about her. "Because-"

"It's perfect." Weiss replied, smiling slightly. "Thank you, Blake."

"It's no problem." Blake answered, stretching and taking her helmet from Weiss' hands once it was finally offered. "Get home safe."

Weiss paused, looking back at her and watching Blake with an expression on her face that Blake wasn't able to read. She just sighed and then put on a soft smile before taking the first few steps away from where Blake was waiting.

"You already got me there." Weiss said, pausing by the front gate and adjusting her balance in her shoes. "And I should be saying the same for you."

Blake scoffed, smiling behind her helmet. "Thanks." She laughed. "If you ever want to talk, you can-"

"Call, I know." Weiss replied, smiling. "Thank you, Blake."

"Thank you?"

"It was a nice night." Weiss said finally. "Considering."

"Yeah," Blake smirked. "Considering. Good night Weiss."

"Good night."

With that, Weiss finally disappeared back behind a pillar so that she could use the gate and Blake could only watch as she was left alone. Blake waited just long enough for Weiss to get through the gate before she finally started her bike, turned, and started on her way back across the city so that she could get some rest for herself.