Blake didn't like that Weiss had a habit of dropping off the map and going dark whenever it suited her. She understood that Weiss had a reason for going silent the way that she did, but that didn't stop her from being irritated by it. The good thing was that she had managed to get what she needed out of Weiss so that she could prepare to go to the fundraiser herself, but she hadn't heard a word from Weiss since.

It left her feeling a little bit put out, since she couldn't be sure what she was supposed to do anymore. She didn't know where she stood when it came to Weiss, and that was something that Blake really didn't like. It felt like she was being pushed away on purpose but-

But Blake could understand why. As much as she wanted to be hurt and she wanted to think that it had something to do with her, she didn't think that was the case. At the very least, she doubted that the manner was so simple.

Jacques Schnee was awake and out of a coma, and apparently had returned home the night before if SchneeCorp's official social media was to be believed. Blake didn't know if it could be, considering that its main purpose was as a place for corporate propaganda.

But Weiss had been silent. Blake had been without stories and without anything that she could put out in the open for publication.

In the end, it felt like a very good thing that she still had Yang and Ruby around, and that she could prepare for the things that were going to be coming out of her job so soon.

She and Adam had both been added to the guest list, courtesy of Klein. That alone had opened doors, and Blake had spent a decent amount of time preparing to make sure that she and Adam would be watched. Her place on the job was going to be making sure that Adam didn't get out of hand.

In exchange, Klein was going to do what he could to keep her from getting into any more trouble than she wanted to be.

Blake had collected a dress, and she had prepared everything that she would need to go to the benefit. It was a thing that she wasn't going to be able to take her bike to, but Adam insisted that the two of them could get there on their own. Getting back after was going to be a problem, but...

But it was something that Blake was prepared for. It something went too wrong, she could call a cab and get home that way. If it went well, she could possibly get a ride back home from Klein.

It was the middle of the night, two nights before the benefit when Weiss called her.

Blake went outside to her motorcycle, climbed on, and began to drive across the city so that she could pick up Weiss by the side of the road.

Weiss was there waiting for her, but she was dressed in dark colors and wearing a hood over her head so that she could blend into the area instead of drawing attention. She was hard to see from first glance, and that alone set off alarms in Blake's mind.

She didn't say anything to Weiss, just let the woman climb onto the back of her bike, and then the two of them were heading back into the city.

Blake brought them to her and Yang's apartment, because that was a safe place for them to sit down and talk without risking catching attention from anyone that was around them. That was all that Blake needed, and she was sure that Weiss didn't want to be put into a position where she had to be worried about appearances either.

Once they were alone and Weiss was sitting on Blake's bed, one of them finally went ahead and spoke up.

"Thank you for coming." Weiss said, looking up at Blake with her pale blue eyes wide and soft. "I couldn't stand being there anymore."

"I figured." Blake said, taking a seat next to Weiss on the bed herself. She wanted to lean back and make herself comfortable, but Weiss just sat there stiffly and with her expression strange and her eyes turned away. "Do you... want to talk about things?"

"Of course I do." Weiss replied, still quiet. "Things are just..." She shook her head. "My father tends to make it impossible to be there by virtue of just being himself."

Blake nodded, wishing that she knew what she was supposed to say to that. She knew that Adam tended to make it feel as though she had all of the life and goodness sucked out of her being. In a way, that he would not be related to her was a luxury she couldn't have been more thankful for.

"You know that you can come here any time that you need." Blake offered. "I know that it might not be easy for you to come but..." She shrugged, locking her eyes with Weiss' once more. "You're always welcome here."

Weiss nodded, and she smiled, but the look was too soft and weak to be genuine. She shook her head, like there was something she needed to physically get out of her head.

Blake didn't like it at all. She slipped her hand over to Weiss' and let it settle on top of the heiress'. Underneath her hand, Weiss shifted herself so that they could wind their fingers together. Blake ran the side of her thumb over Weiss' knuckles, hopeful that it would offer some sort of comfort.

"I don't know what is going to happen." Weiss whispered, tears coming to her eyes. "Now that he's up again and home I don't know that I can-" She swallowed visibly, and Blake wished that she could have done anything to take that pain and that worry away from Weiss.

The two of them sat, Blake not moving in to try and offer anything too much. This felt like something that she needed to let Weiss just go ahead and say. She couldn't let herself smother Weiss, not now.

"I want to go back to Vale." Weiss finally managed to get the words out. "But I don't want to leave the people here in Atlas that I do care about behind."

"Weiss-"

"I mean it." Weiss cut her off, shaking her head again. She blinked several times, leaving droplets of tears on her lashes that caught the light. "I care about you, and Ruby, and Yang, and I don't want to leave any of you behind."

She took in a deep, shuddering breath. "But being here makes me feel so awful."

"You know that nobody wants you to stay here if it's making you feel this bad." Blake said, keeping her voice quiet and soft for Weiss' sake.

"But my family is here." Weiss whispered. "And you. I don't even want to leave behind my brother even though he and I don't get along. Atlas is my home, I just wish that it actually felt like home."

"I understand." Blake said, looking away from Weiss and taking in a deep breath. It was possible that she had things that she could have gone ahead and said herself. "Why don't I tell you about home?"

Weiss picked her head up and looked over at Blake, and she looked surprised and confused. Weiss gently wiped her tears away, while Blake gently pat the bed beside her. Weiss slipped in closer to her, and Blake reached out to wrap an arm around her shoulder to make her more comfortable.

"You've never told me about your family." Weiss mumbled.

"I know." Blake replied, taking in a deep breath before launching into her story. "I left Kuo Kuana because I thought that I would be able to make a better life here in Atlas for myself." She smiled slightly, thinking back to her family. "I've been given offers to do work out in Kuo Kuana. I keep on choosing to stay in Atlas because I feel like I need to stay away from my family."

"Are they like... my family?" Weiss asked. "Or..."

"They aren't." Blake said calmly. "I stay away because I feel like I need the space. Not because they are bad, but because I feel like I can do more when I'm here on my own."

Blake didn't know whether or not she was doing anything to make this conversation easier, but it was also that she could do so she was going to do what she could to play along and keep on going. "You have much better reasons to leave here than I did for leaving home."

"I don't know that I do, though." Weiss sighed. "They're my family. You made the choice to leave because it was what you wanted to do. I left for Vale because I needed to run away from it all and couldn't deal with being around them anymore."

"And you think that I didn't try to run away from home either?" Blake asked, blinking and cocking her head to the side just slightly. "It's a lot more complicated than you think. But the point is just that... you don't have to stay here. You can just go and leave your family to take care of yourself."

Weiss shook her head. "And what if I go and I leave the rest of the people that I do care about behind?" She took in a deep breath. "I came back from Vale and almost immediately realized that I don't know that my family wanted me back. I don't think that they would have wanted Winter back if she tried to come home."

"Weiss..."

"Blake-" Weiss said, holding her head up high like she needed to be able to place herself on a higher level than Blake was. "I don't feel like I can leave Atlas right now. But I want to."

"I understand." Blake sighed, standing up so that she could approach Weiss personally. She reached out for the heiress, gently clutching the woman by the hand. She wanted to go ahead and tug Weiss back in a little bit, but that also didn't feel like it was going to be possible. "But I just want for you to know that if you decide that you want to go back to Vale, I support you."

Weiss nodded, but she didn't look like she was surprised by it at all. She let out a sigh. "I know." She mumbled. "I want to ask about what about us, but-"

"I'm willing to make it work." Blake said calmly, because it was true. It wouldn't have been her first time in a long distance relationship. It wouldn't have been her first time dealing with it all. "If you're willing to try and make our relationship work from long distance, then I am too."

Weiss frowned a little bit, looking like she wanted to pull herself together but also not wanting to go too far with it. Blake got the rather distinct feeling that Weiss was trying to hide some of her emotions, but she couldn't say for whose sake that would have been. It could have been good for Weiss to try and do that, but for Blake she couldn't be sure.

She nodded though, and she took a step back in towards Blake Weiss folded her arms in on herself, and Blake wrapped her arms about Weiss' body. She didn't usually realize just how much taller she was than Weiss, but in that moment it felt painfully obvious. Largely because Weiss wasn't wearing heels at the moment.

Blake let her head rest on top of Weiss', their cheeks brushing together and their hair falling side by side. "I mean it." She said, just loud enough so that she could be sure that Weiss would be able to hear it from her. "If you want to keep on doing what we've been doing, and try for more, then I'm willing to do that with you."

"Thank you." Weiss said, her voice still down. "You're... pretty amazing, Blake. I feel like I haven't told you that enough."

"You're amazing too." Blake mumbled back. "And I'm not going to let you get left behind. I mean it. If you want to make our relationship work, then we will. I'm not afraid to fight for it."

"I am though." Weiss whispered, just loudly enough that it met Blake's ears.

Blake felt her stomach churn at the thought.

It was terrifying to think about. Things were only going...

She didn't know. She wished that she did.

Blake and Weiss stood together there for a little too long, both of them simply looking for the best comfort in the other's touch. Weiss pulled in a shuddering breath, and when Weiss moved to pull away from her, Blake allowed for it.

Weiss took the few steps over towards the bed before seating herself down there. She had a bag which she'd set down next to it when she'd arrived, and Blake hadn't asked about it. She had a feeling that she knew what it was there for, but she didn't want to bring it up just yet.

She seated herself beside Weiss and allowed herself to relax back into her own seat. Weiss wedged herself in close to Blake. After a moment's hesitation, Blake wrapped her arm around Weiss' shoulder to pull her in a little bit closer.

"I think I might be hungry." Weiss said, her voice quiet and her eyes downcast. "I haven't gotten a chance to eat anything today really. There was too much going on."

Blake blinked, a little taken by surprise. She needed a chance to think about what she could do. It would be easy for her to go out and make the two of them something to eat, but Weiss was the type to be able to get by without that. Blake didn't even know if Weiss would want to sit around while one of them cooked. Most likely her instead of Weiss.

"What would you want to eat?" Blake asked, her voice also quiet. She knew that Yang was home and Blake really didn't want to deal with the interruptions for the moment. "Because we could order something, or I could try to make us something."

"I... don't really know." Weiss said, smiling softly. "I mostly know that I'm definitely not in the mood to go out right now."

"What about your friends?" Blake asked.

"Neptune and Coco went back to Vale a day or two ago." Weiss said with a frustrated sort of shrug. "They had things to get back to."

"Right." Blake sighed because she couldn't act as though it was something that didn't make sense. It made perfect sense, really. She didn't want to question it all that much though, not when Weiss was clearly upset. She reached over for her phone and picked it up, going over to her list of contacts so that she can call in an order for them. "I'll order something for us."

"Not feeling like cooking?" Weiss asked, almost joking.

"No." Blake replied, smiling just slightly. "Not tonight."

Weiss just shrugged and made herself comfortable while the two of them talked about what their plans for their dinner were going to look like. Blake found that Weiss was surprisingly easy about it, which was something that she still felt a little less than ready for.

In an hour, their food arrived. An hour later, the two of them were curled up together in Blake's bed and watching a movie, neither of them wanting to sleep.

Blake ended up sitting awake for part of the night with Weiss asleep on her shoulder.

All in all, it wasn't that bad.


The last thing that Weiss wanted to hear on any day was the too loud blaring ring of her phone at her bedside waking her up. She blinked drearily, pushed herself up so that she was half sitting, and gave the powder blue phone what could only be described as a death glare. A death glare that it wouldn't be able to see because it was an inanimate object.

Right.

Blake sat up a little bit too, also seeming just as annoyed by it. The two of them exchanged a word or two before Weiss was reaching across Blake to grab the phone and bring it to her ear. When she saw the name on the caller ID, she couldn't help but roll her eyes in very real annoyance.

"What do you want, Whitley?" Weiss all but snapped to her brother as soon as she was on the phone.

There was a sharp inhale of breath on the other end before Whitley spoke up.

"I needed to speak to you." He said, his voice surprisingly calm. Weiss glanced over towards Blake, who was at least sitting up now and pulling a blanket back over herself because warmth was something to treasure. It was a sentiment that Weiss could agree on as she pulled the blanket over her legs a little bit better.

"What could you possibly need me for at-" Weiss stole a look at the clock next to Blake's bed. Ten in the morning. Apparently the two of them had slept in, and Weiss hadn't even begun to realize it. "What do you need me for?" She asked instead, calming her tone so that she wouldn't risk seeming out of line or too high strung to her brother.

He grumbled something that Weiss wasn't able to make out. "I was going to request that you come along to SchneeCorp headquarters with me this evening." Whitley said plainly. "The hospital benefit is coming rather quickly, and it would be appropriate for you to be there to go over some of the plans around it."

Weiss rolled her eyes and winced because she knew exactly what she was going to be asked to do. It was nothing that she wanted to be involved with, but if her brother wanted her there it was surely for a reason. A part of Weiss couldn't help but wonder whether or not Whitley had been thrown into the deep end with arranging the whole ordeal with minimal amounts of help.

But, Weiss also thought, it was a good chance for her to go in and trying to plan lines of defense against whatever Blake's old partner was planning to do. She took a breath before giving an answer. "I'll be sure to be there." Weiss said quietly. "What time?"

"This evening, roughly six." Whitley responded calmly. "I'll be sure to see you there, sister."

"Thank you, Whitley." Weiss said, hanging up only once she knew that it was safe.

She was glad that her brother hadn't brought up that she hadn't been home the night before.

It was blissfully quiet, for just a moment, but that wasn't enough to distract Weiss away from how hard her heart was beating against her chest, or from the nervous worry that was already that was beginning to course through her veins. She stared at her phone as its screen went dark again, trying to find words to say to the woman at her side.

She was lucky that Whitley hadn't said anything. She was so, so lucky that Whitley hadn't said anything about her not being there. She was lucky that Whitley didn't know about her and Blake. She was lucky that she wasn't going to have to worry about that being a topic of discussion later on.

"Weiss?" Blake asked from her spot on the bed, having now sat up. Her hair was mussed and flying in just about every direction, but it didn't do anything to take away from her looks. She blinked, staring Weiss down with her amber eyes that somehow managed to be both cold and warm at the same time.

"I think that I have to go." Weiss said, her voice coming out more quiet than she would have ever wanted for it to. "I've been asked to head to SchneeCorp's headquarters to... prepare to make an appearance at the benefit."

She already knew that she was going to have to go back to the mansion and prepare. She'd need to get suitable clothing for a public appearance, and she'd definitely need to shower and make herself look like she was actually ready to be there or at the very least actually wanted to be there. And that was something which was much easier said than done.

"Are you going to need a ride?" Blake asked. She climbed out of bed and stretched her arms over her head, her entire body arching into the movement as she made herself more comfortable. Weiss watched her, unable to think of anything other than a stretching cat in that moment.

"I don't know yet." Weiss answered with a sigh. "I will have to check in with Klein-"

"Right." Blake said. She was already padding her way over to her dresser to remove a set of clothing for the day. Weiss took in a deep breath as though she were steeling herself and climbed out of bed. She walked over to the space where she'd left her bag and opened it up, removing the little that she had brought along with her for the overnight stay.

Clothing, good socks, her own toothpaste and toothbrush. She was going to need a chance to shower if she was going to be going to SchneeCorp's headquarters for what she could only guess would be a meeting with a great deal of scrutiny in her direction. She didn't know if her father would be there, and that alone raised alarms in Weiss' head. She needed to do her absolute best to be perfect, and that was going to be impossible for her to actually achieve.

This was going to be an awful day.

"Blake-" Weiss said, taking a breath and looking back at the other woman over her shoulder as she got some sort of idea. "I'm going to be at SchneeCorp, is there anything that you need for me to do for you?"

Blake blinked, and she looked a little bit surprised. She set the t-shirt that she'd picked out on her bed before walking over to her desk and beginning to rifle through some of the notes that were there. She found a sheet of paper and held it out in front of her, clearly reading it over.

Wordlessly, she turned and Weiss watched along as Blake scratched down a set of notes. They were handed off and Weiss gave them a read over or two. It wasn't going to be anything that would be too difficult for her to get, and that was something that Weiss could deal with.

She smiled.

"I'll do my best." She said quietly before walking across the room. She gently grasped Blake's hand and tugged the other woman in. "You have my word."

Blake stepped into her grasp, and Weiss had to stand up on the tips of her toes. She let her hands move up to her girlfriend's face to gently cup her cheeks before pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. It would hopefully be a good luck charm of sorts for at least one of them that day, Weiss hoped. She wasn't sure that she was confident that it would work out as such, but she could hope.

The two of them lingered there, Blake's hands making their way down to settle on Weiss' hips. It was a pleasant feeling, and Weiss was sure that it was going to stick in her head all day. Once she was ready though, Weiss stepped away and finished preparing to go before making a call to Klein to make sure that she could get back to the mansion in a way which wouldn't raise any suspicions.

He gave his affirmative, so Weiss took a shower, knowing that she would have to be out the door in an hour roughly. Blake made breakfast while she cleaned up, and the two of them were able to share a small meal before Weiss was out the door and on her way back to her father's mansion to get ready. Klein didn't ask any questions, but he wasn't the one that Weiss was the most worried about that day.

She dressed herself as quickly as she could so that she could make a formal appearance, and once she was finally prepared she was on her way to meet with Whitley.

It was a drive across Atlas, but it was a long, frustrating one, which only managed to make Weiss more and more nervous about what was to come because she knew her father, and she knew her brother. She wasn't familiar with SchneeCorp's board of directors, but she could be sure that its members wouldn't be too far off from what she already dealt with in her father and brother.

SchneeCorp's World Headquarters, for all of its flaws, was an incredibly beautiful building. It was one of the taller skyscrapers in Atlas, always clean and gleaming in the sun. When it had been conceived, there had been a choice to make it almost look like a lighthouse in its design, as the offices on the highest floor were given a bit of extra space over the ones underneath them. The story was that it had been designed in that way because it made it a more literal beacon of progress.

SchneeCorp had its many flaws, but that was one thing that Weiss did believe, despite those problems. SchneeCorp had been there when the world had needed it, they had been the ones to bring new technologies for anyone that was willing to pay the money. They'd dabbled in just about every industry at some point, and always SchneeCorp was making an attempt for improvement.

If only that was a drive which could follow through to the treatment of their employees, Weiss thought bitterly. If that were the case, then Blake would have never felt the need to infiltrate a factory to get a story. If that were the case, then Blake might have even been out of business. She could have been writing something else, whatever she wanted. If only the opportunities had been there.

Weiss took a deep breath for steel herself for what was ahead of her, bowed her head slightly, and went in through the front door to the headquarters.

The woman at the front saw her and almost immediately snapped to attention. Weiss put on a softer smile than she normally needed to use with these sorts of situations and went up to the desk, placing her hands on the edge of it. "Excuse me."

"Hello, Miss Schnee!" The woman behind the desk chirped in a forced cheerful tone. "Are you here to see your father?"

"I was called here to meet with my brother Whitley." Weiss explained. "Could you please let him know that I am here and on my way?"

"Of course." The woman responded, swivelling in her chair to face her phone. "You can head up. I believe he was in the offices on the-"

"The top floor." Weiss finished for the woman. "Thank you."

Wordlessly, Weiss went to the elevator, and prepared for what was going to come next.