Weiss got up early in the morning, long before anyone could have come to wake her up by knocking on her bedroom door. Normally, Klein would have been the one to do that, but this morning Weiss really needed the separation. She needed to feel like she had her own space, at least for a little while.
It would figure that it would almost immediately get ruined by someone else's presence.
When she got down to the main floor of the mansion, Weiss crossed through the dining room because that was going to be the fastest way for her to get to the family's library, where she was hoping to get some quiet and some reading in.
"Hello sister."
Whitley's voice made her jump, and Weiss found herself actually clutching at her chest in surprise over the sound. She hadn't been expecting to hear from him at all. What was he even doing up?
"Whitley." Weiss greeted him, bringing her hand down slowly and nervously. She brought her arms together behind her back, remembering old reprimands and standing up straight like she was making some sort of public appearance. "It's good to see you."
"I'm glad to see you as well, dear sister." Whitley said, leaning forward and bracing himself against the table just slightly. Weiss watched the steam rise from his coffee, and she had to wonder how long Whitley had been up.
He reminded her too much of their father at the worst of times. Even on the good days, he was too much like their father.
"What are you doing up?" Weiss asked, blinking and staring her brother down as he allowed himself to relax further. She didn't allow herself to do the same. "It's rather early."
"Oh." Whitley said, sitting up tall and smiling. "I was asked to come to the offices today. Something about the Board of Directors." Whitley explained, cocking his head to the side and watching Weiss closely. It left her feeling like she was under a microscope. "Were you not asked the same?"
"I wasn't." Weiss said, wondering whether or not she should take the chance to sit down across from her brother. If this was a conversation that the two of them needed to have, then she needed to act as though she was open to it. "Have they said what they want you there for?"
Whitley hesitated, and he just gestured to one of the many seats at the table. Understanding, Weiss seated herself and looked across at her little brother.
Once she was seated, he decided to begin to explain.
"I figure that it has to do with father," Whitley began, keeping his voice down like he was afraid that the two of them were going to be overheard. He paused, looking away from Weiss and for a moment she knew that she saw the tell-tale sign of sadness on his face. It only made sense, though, Weiss reminded herself.
Whitley was the one that was the closest to their father, out of their entire family.
"Of course it does." Weiss replied, letting her hands rest on the table in front of her. "Have you been in to see him?"
"I went yesterday." Whitley said with a shrug. "I asked mother if she would want to come along, but she said that she was too busy."
Weiss didn't need an explanation to know what her brother meant by that. Their mother wouldn't have been allowed in the hospital because she would have been too drunk. She would have been too drunk because being around their father seemed to suck all of the life out of her. It was just yet another shameful Schnee family secret that was kept as quiet as was possible.
"I'm sorry." Weiss said. She felt the pang of something painful down in her chest, something akin to guilt. She hadn't even bothered to go in the day before, and while Weiss had been doing her best to arrive at the hospital every day to see their father, the day before she'd just been too busy. It made her wonder whether or not her brother had figured out that Winter was in the city.
Whitley nodded and focused his eyes on Weiss. "Have you been in to see him lately?"
"I was busy yesterday." Weiss sighed, "But I was planning to go and check on him today when visiting hours opened."
"He'd be glad to-" Whitley began to speak, but he cut himself off. It was almost like his jaw had turned into diamonds immediately. Weiss knew exactly what he was meaning to say just as well as Whitley did. Her father wouldn't have been glad to see that she was coming to visit him, regardless of whether he was awake or not.
In fact, Weiss was sure that if he was aware of her presence, Weiss would have only found herself getting torn into by her father for her troubles.
"I know." Weiss lied, thinking back to her sister. She was going to have to take the chance to organize her day around a hospital visit and spending her time with Whitley. On top of that, she was going to have to check in on The Fang and make sure that there was nothing incriminating showing up there.
Beyond that, Weiss didn't really know how her day was going to end up looking. It was scary, in its own way.
Whitley hesitated, and Weiss wished that she knew what was going on in her brother's head. Nothing was going to be able to help her figure that out so easily, and she knew it perfectly well.
Even still, this was her family. Weiss didn't know that she would say that she loved all of them, but Whitley...
Well, Weiss wondered how Whitley would be if not for their father's intervention. Her brother had more or less been chosen and shaped from birth to be their father's favorite, and Weiss was sure that sex had everything to do with it.
The fact that Whitley was the only one that had never gone ahead and left only made it more complicated. He could have easily left Atlas, just the same as Weiss and Winter had, but he was content there. He had no ambitions outside of Atlas, just the family company.
The anxiety that grew in Weiss' chest over that was concerning. It was a reminder that she probably wasn't going to be the best person to lead SchneeCorp. Ultimately, Whitley was better suited for it, if only because he'd been groomed for it from day one.
Whitley didn't say anything, just watched her for a little while longer before sighing and bowing his head a little bit. "So," Whitley began, putting on a smile and looking back up at Weiss with careful, watching eyes. "I have a question, and I suspect that you would know the answer to it."
"Possibly?" Weiss asked, prompting her brother to say more if only because she didn't know what he could possibly want. A few things went through her mind, but none of them seemed like they might be close to the truth that she had to be concerned for. "What is it?"
"I heard a rumor." Whitley said, picking up his mug of coffee so that he could take a sip. "About our dear sister."
Weiss was immediately taken aback by that, because it wasn't exactly like Whitley to care that much about Winter. It was no secret that the three Schnee siblings weren't exactly what one could call close. When it came to the oldest and the youngest, the two of them didn't like each other at all.
More accurately, Whitley didn't like Winter and Winter wanted to be close to a brother that wanted nothing to do with her, all while Weiss was there to attempt to close the cap and drag them together.
"Oh." Weiss said, already feeling some suspicions coming up. Somehow Whitley had heard about Winter's presence in Atlas, and if that was true, Weiss would have to watch her back. "What was it?"
"I heard that she came home." Whitley said, his eyes flicking back down so that he could look back into his coffee. "And hasn't come to see us."
"I haven't heard anything about that," Weiss lied, hoping that her brother wouldn't follow along and try to find out more. "I hope that she would come to see-"
"Stop lying to me, sister." Whitley snapped, his voice going ice cold along with his expression. He was gripping his mug a little bit too tightly, and Weiss could feel her chest tightening as she sat there. Everything was falling apart and she had no idea as to what she could possibly do to assuage that. "I know that you've been staying out lately."
Weiss paused, looking away from Whitley. It was an easy conclusion to draw that Weiss had been spending most of her time with Winter when she was in fact spending her time away at night. While it was true that she had spent some time with her sister, she couldn't just tell the truth on that matter. Not if it was going to make things get worse.
But she also couldn't just say that she was going out at night to spend her time with a reporter that had been blacklisted.
With no good options, Weiss made a choice.
"I've been spending time with someone." Weiss sighed, looking away from her brother. "Not Winter. Just someone that I knew back in university."
"Ah." Whitley said, narrowing his eyes. He didn't believe her. "So would you say that this person is... nice?"
"I... Yes. Very much so."
"A boyfriend then?" Whitley prodded, and Weiss felt her heart freeze over in her chest over the question.
She needed to give an answer, and Weiss just went with the first thing that came to mind. She was going to have to make some calls by the looks of it, but as things stood, Weiss only had one option.
"Yes, actually." Weiss said, looking back across at her brother. "Neptune Vasilias."
Whitley blinked and nodded, understanding. "Very well," He said, sighing. "I'll trust you for now, dear sister. Do be sure to let me know if you see our sister."
"Right." Weiss said, standing up and rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm herself up a little bit. "Of course. Enjoy your coffee, Whitley."
"You too, Weiss." Whitley said, drinking from his mug and watching her closely as she retreated from the room and went off to go through the rest of her morning.
Weiss couldn't calm herself down so easily, but as soon as she was back in her room she was making a phone call back to Vale.
Blake was woken up by the sound of knocking on her apartment door, followed closely by the sound of a familiar voice calling to her. "Blake!' The woman on the other side called to her. "It's your editor. You should be getting up so that the two of us can talk-"
Shit.
Blake picked her head up and looked over at the clock. It was nearly 11, and that was bad. She was probably supposed to have something sent to Ilia hours ago, and that...
Well, that explained what her editor was doing at her apartment.
"Coming!" Blake called back, rolling out of bed and taking the moment to check her phone. There was a series of missed calls from Ilia that had gotten filtered out by Blake's quiet mode settings, one missed call from her mother, and a text from Weiss that had just been sent to confirm that she had made it home alright.
Blake was going to have to take care of those things one at a time, but for now, Ilia was the most urgent thing.
She climbed out of bed and pulled her black hair out of her face in the hopes that it would be able to make her look at least a little bit more appropriate for an impromptu business meeting. Blake checked herself in the mirror and then padded over to the door and pulled it open.
What she found was that Ilia was standing there, just outside, her face tomato red and matching her hair. Blake found herself regretting that she'd shown her editor where her spare key was kept.
"It's about time you answered." Ilia said, glaring Blake down. "Where the hell is your article?"
Blake closed her eyes, trying to concentrate as she thought back on the night before. There had been a lot of things that had stopped her from doing what she'd wanted the night before. And there was no easy way to explain that she didn't exactly have a story.
"It's... a long story." Blake said, looking back over her shoulder at the bedroom. "Come in and I'll explain."
"You better." Ilia replied, following Blake in and making a beeline for the bed. She seated herself, and Blake took her position at her desk, reaching over and tapping on her keyboard so that they could start. "What's the story, Blake? Or rather, where's the story?"
Blake bit her lower lip and looked away from Ilia, if only for just for a second as she tried to collect her thoughts and come to a good way to actually explain things. There was a lot that she was sure to keep very far from her job, and information was just one of the categories that occasionally applied to. So whatever she ended up saying had to be both clear and important.
"This doesn't leave the room." Blake started, making sure to lock her eyes with Ilia and make it very clear that what she was saying was strictly confidential. Once Ilia nodded, Blake allowed herself to tell the story.
"I've been in regular contact with Weiss Schnee." Blake explained, looking down at her bed and trying hard not to think about the fact that Weiss had been there on the bed with her the night before. Trying not to think about Weiss' legs, poking out from under her skirt, or the conversation that they had shared in too much detail.
"Yes, I know that." Ilia responded, staring across at Blake with a wholly bored expression written on her face. "So what about it?"
"Last night I was given a chance to interview her sister." Blake began to explain, still sorting through piles of information to try and find the most accessible angles. The ones that wouldn't get her or the Schnee sisters into trouble. "And I took it."
Ilia blinked and she looked like she had something that she desperately wanted to say. Blake watched her mouth drop open just slightly before Ilia clamped it back shut, her square jaw going too hard. "So you were busy then."
"Yes." Blake answered. "I know that it isn't a good excuse."
"To be truthful," Ilia started with a sigh. "It's not a good excuse at all, but it's you so I trust that you got something that would at least be useful." She paused, staring Blake down again. "You got something useful, didn't you?"
"I got what the Schnee Sisters were willing to offer." Blake explained herself, "but a lot of it was off the record, unfortunately."
"I won't ask then." Ilia sighed, leaning back in Blake's bed and bracing herself against it with an outstretched arm. "Will you be able to use some of it, at the very least?"
"Some." Blake replied. "I was given a few leads to follow, but that's all stuff that I can do without having to out either of the sisters as having been talking to anyone at The Fang."
"Good." Ilia said before going all quiet, like there was something that she wanted to say but wasn't quite able to get out. Like she was afraid to ask a question or bring it up.
Blake wasn't really in the mood to deal with that sort of awkwardness though. "What is it?"
Ilia looked up at her and Blake watched as her editor's face flushed red a little bit. It was one of things that she spent a lot of time trying to ignore with Ilia. There was a good reason for it, though, as annoying as her editor's remaining crush could be.
"I was just thinking that we could get so much done if either of them would just allow us to use their name." Ilia said, looking back down at the bed. She reached for her phone, checking something on it in an obvious attempt to try and make some of the awkwardness to go. "You know that the twins would be all over this."
Blake rolled her eyes. "Yeah, they would be." She answered with a sigh. "But I don't want to go ahead and ruin what could be a good business relationship."
"Of course not." Ilia sighed, looking away from her phone now. "I don't blame you for wanting to keep secrets." She went quiet for a long moment before speaking up again. "Are you worried that you'll get another story passed down to you?"
"No," Blake answered, shrugging. "I'm The Fang's main writer on SchneeCorp these days."
"Aside from Adam."
"Aside from Adam." Blake repeated, sighing. It began to feel like her chest was getting all tight with anxiousness while she sat there. It brought her back to the conversation that she had the night before with Weiss.
She wanted to ask about him, see what he was up to these days and make sure that he was far away from her. Blake knew that she couldn't hope for as much, and whether Ilia would even know was a major question. Either way, Blake was glad that the man was out of her life and she didn't have to go on assignments with him anymore.
That was about the best gift that anyone could have given her. As long as Adam was away from her, Blake could be happy.
That was what really mattered.
"Blake?" Ilia asked, and that was enough to snap Blake back into reality and out of her thoughts. "Are you-"
"I'm fine." Blake answered, shifting awkwardly and trying to ignore her worries. Trying not to think about Adam anymore. Trying not to think about Weiss anymore. "Do you think that you'll be able to check my writing and make sure that none of the names make it through in my work?"
Blake didn't think that she would actually be able to fail enough as a writer that she would out one of her sources by accident, but it was up to Ilia to double check. That was one of the things that Blake had placed her trust in her editor for many times over.
it was just another thing that Blake needed to know to be sure that she wasn't going to be placed in a situation that would ruin her job.
Ilia cocked an eyebrow and she looked relatively surprised by the question. She shifted just a little bit, making herself more comfortable before deciding to speak up. "Of course," Blake." Ilia sighed. "Anything for you." She went silent for a long moment before bringing up a question of her own. "What was it like meeting with the Schnee Sisters?"
Blake took in a deep breath, trying to steel herself. How was she really supposed to answer that sort of question? Her meetings with Weiss had ranged anywhere from awkward to deeply personal, and that was something that Blake didn't think she could really explain. Blake was at a point where she was starting to really care about Weiss.
And that was something that she was going to have to fight to keep divorced from her writing and her explanations. She didn't want for Ilia to find out that she had brought the heiress home the night before, or anything after that. She didn't need anyone knowing about how she liked it when Weiss wrapped her arms around her waist while she drove them home.
Especially not when it had the chance of making things get worse and worse.
"It was interesting." Blake answered, holding her head high and giving the little explanation that she could. "Weiss is more willing to talk than Winter was, but they like to talk about different things. Winter likes to talk about the business and the business alone."
"And Weiss?"
Blake swallowed. "Weiss is more likely to talk about how things go with regard to the personal family business." That was one of the things that she didn't want to expand on. "I don't think that i'll be able to get through to Whitley, regardless."
"So you trust what both of them have told you?"
"I do."
"And you have your hands tied because most of what you have discussed is off the record, isn't it?"
"Exactly." Blake mumbled. "I'm going to write what I'm able to while keeping things believable. I'm not going to make things worse for them though."
"What could possibly be bad for them?" Ilia asked, her face screwing up just slightly. "They must have everything-"
"it's not that simple." Blake cut Ilia off. "I won't get into the specifics, but you have to trust me on that."
Ilia cocked her head to the side, and her eyes narrowed significantly as she very obviously tried to figure out what was going with Blake. No matter what, Blake refused to let anymore spill than she had already let out into the open.
"I'll trust you." Ilia finally said, sitting up a little bit straighter and doing her best to relax. "I just need to know that you're going to be delivering for The Fang. You don't want the twins or Khan on your back, and I don't want them on my back either." She hesitated for a long moment. "And besides, you know that if-"
"Yes." Blake snapped. "I know. I'm not going to let this fall apart. The last thing that i want is for him to get assigned to my job."
"I'm not going to let them just do it if I can," Ilia sighed, reaching out and patting Blake's hand in a way that managed to be comforting. Consoling. "I don't like him any more than you do. I know that our reasons are different, but…" Her voice trailed off. "I can't do it alone, Blake."
"I know." Blake replied. "I'm going to do my best to do my part. I just need some more time, and then you'll have a story."
Ilia took a deep breath and finally pulled her hand away. "I know." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. "You've never let me down before."
Blake tried hard not to react too much or let her worry over that statement show. She knew just as well as Ilia did that she had definitely let Ilia down in the past. It was just that the two of them were smart enough to keep work and personal business separate.
"Thank you." Blake whispered back, doing her absolute best to ignore the uncomfortable stirring down in the pit of her stomach.
