Jacques Schnee's office at SchneeCorp company headquarters was many things in Weiss' eyes. It was too large for any one person to use, its size mostly a sign of obvious opulence. It was kept too clean so that it almost always looked like nobody ever used the room. It always seemed to manage to be full of work that needed to be done, while also managing to be devoid of it at the same time once everything had been pushed off to subordinates.

It was cold and lacking in anything which could have made it feel like a place where people would gather. For that reason, it was the ideal meeting place for anything which involved the family. For Weiss, when she'd been young it had been a place to go to and when she got there, her entire life became about standing up straight and appearing like the perfect daughter. Her role became to sit still, look pretty, and most importantly be seen but never heard.

Weiss knocked on the door, hopeful for any sign that she would be allowed inside. The first sign that she was came as a mumble from Whitley on the other side of the door. Weiss pushed the door open and closed it behind her before giving a little curtsey to ensure that she hadn't forgotten her manners.

"Hello, sister." Whitley greeted her. "Thank you for coming."

"It was no problem." Weiss said. She stood up tall and walked across the room to take a seat at the tiny coffee table beside her brother. The space on the couch had been left open for her, while the various members of the board were discussing something which sounded a lot more like gossip than like work. It was almost typical of them.

Whitley nodded and reached for his phone, checking his messages on it. "As of now," he began, keeping his voice low. "You are going to be the main female representative of the Schnee family at the benefit."

Weiss' heart sank, because she knew that her night had just gotten much more difficult. "I understand." She murmured. "I wasn't exactly expecting for mother to come."

"Neither was I, admittedly." Whitley said, frowning. "But I suppose that it's for the best that she doesn't attend with all things considered."

Weiss truly wished that she could have disagreed on that point. She wished that she could believe that her mother would come out, and that she wouldn't come out simply to embarrass their father. That had been a problem several times over when they'd been young. Too many times, Winter, Whitley, and herself had been placed at the center of a power struggle they'd wanted nothing to do with.

"Right." Weiss said, her mind already racing because she knew that there were some things that she were going to need to do. If her family was truly under the impression that she and Neptune were dating, then she was probably going to be expected to bring him along. It would be a form of social posturing of course, but very much nothing that Weiss wanted to deal with. Not when she had Blake in the picture, whether that was a known factor or not. "I'll be sure to prepare for a long night."

There was a quiet murmuring, and Weiss picked her head up to watch as the door opened. Her spine straightened immediately, and she and Whitley both got up in unison to prepare for what was going to happen. Similarly, the members of the board had rearranged how they were standing, all of them prepared for the final person involved in their meeting to come in.

The door finished opening all the way, and her father stepped into the room, leaning on a cane as he did so.

Weiss dropped into a curtsey, and her brother bowed at her side.

As usual, their father said nothing and made his way across the room so that he could settle at his desk. Once he was comfortable- which was signified by the way that he leaned forward and rested his fingertips together in a peak in front of him, only then, would anyone speak.

"Good morning, gentlemen." He said, his voice stronger than it had been the last time that Weiss had seen him. He looked healthier in general, but that still wasn't much more than he had been in the hospital. "I see that you have all made the choice to make yourselves at home."

One of the board members spoke up and said something, but was brushed off just as quickly with a wave of Jacques' hand. "Whitley." He said, and Weiss saw her brother's back straighten a little bit more, and his expression getting schooled into something that was almost eerily calm.

Whitley briefly straightened his tie before taking a step forward towards their father. "Yes, father?" He asked, keeping his voice calm and cool, in a certain sort of practiced way which intentionally pushed down whatever it was that he was feeling.

"I see that you took the liberty of inviting an audience here." Jacques said, but there was a venom to his voice that Weiss couldn't ignore. "So I expect that you haven't come here to waste my time."

Weiss watched her brother as carefully as she could, looking for any sign that she could use in the future. All that she got was the rather clear tensing in his shoulders, which only lasted for a moment. "I have invited everyone here in preparation for the fundraiser."

"And this fundraiser will be funding?" Jacques asked, his voice low and almost snarling. "I don't want to be wasting my time on some nonsense."

"The proceeds will go to Atlas General Hospital." Whitley explained. "It could be expected that they will be naming a wing in your honor." He didn't so much as twitch a muscle or allow himself to move away from where he was standing. Weiss was actually surprised by it, because it seemed like her brother was going to be making a rather genuine effort towards standing his ground. Which wasn't what she'd been expecting necessarily. As a final statement and attempt at convincing, he added: "It would also be considered a charitable donation which could be written off on company taxes."

But the answer seemed to be good enough for Jacques, who calmed down a little bit and shifted in his seat as though he were crossing one leg over the other. "Then I suspect that everything is already in order?"

"Yes, father." Whitley said, reaching into his pocket for his phone. He took a second to unlock it before flipping over to a list of the preparations that he'd made. "Mother will not be attending, but I figure that is for the best. Members of your board will be there and many will be prepared to speak, and the guest list is extensive."

"Extensive, you say?" Jacques asked. "Am I to believe that these guests of yours are getting in for free?"

"On the contrary." Whitley replied. "There was a cover fee arranged before anyone could attend. I have used some of your contacts to ensure that there will be an auction for some pieces of art which will also help with the fundraising. The guest list is full of your business partners and other members of Atlas' social elite."

"I see." Jacques said, and he reached for a small notepad and scribbled something down onto it for himself. Whatever it was, Weiss was certainly curious, but she didn't think that it was a good idea for her to go and attempt to pry into the matter at all. "I will allow you to do this, boy-" He started, but just as quickly his voice sank into something that only read as threatening. "But should you disappoint me, I will not hesitate to remove you from a position where you can do it again."

"Of course, father." Whitley said, but Weiss caught the way that his eyes flicked down to the floor to a moment. "I will do my best."

"Good." Jacques growled before looking around the room. For Weiss, it felt like he didn't even care that she was there. She had been expecting to be left in a position where she would get cold shouldered, but the amount of silence towards her was... unnerving. "Now get out of my office, all of you."

"Of course, sir." One of the board members said before bowing and leaving the room. That left Weiss and Whitley alone with their father for just a moment.

He looked between the two of them and frowned before waving them out. On the way out, Weiss and Whitley both bowed before leaving the office, Whitley closing the door silently behind the two of them.

"Weiss-" Whitley started, his voice barely above a whisper. "Thank you for coming."

"It was really no problem." She whispered back to her brother.

Whitley nodded and reached out for Weiss, offering his arm to her in a way that was meant to be considered gentlemanly. Weiss took it, because it was the proper thing to do, and then the two of them began on the way down to the area where the benefit was actually planned to happen.

"Is he always like that to you?" Weiss asked, sure to keep her voice down because she really didn't want to bring too much attention onto herself and Whitley. Not if they were going to be talking about their brother at all.

"Not always." Whitley answered, his expression still carefully blank like their father was still there. "I suspect he's never been like this with you?"

"He has been." Weiss replied, her voice quiet. "And to Winter too. I always assumed that you didn't get him like… that."

"Then it's good to know that there is something which has always been the same." Whitley said, frowning a little bit. "For the fundraiser, I don't expect that you and I will have much to do other than greeting the many guests."

"That's good to know." Weiss said, already filing information away in to the back of her mind. She was going to have to make sure to connect to Blake at whatever chance she got to make sure that they were on clear ground together. "I figure that it'll be enough of a success that nothing goes too wrong."

"That would be the hope." Whitley sighed, shaking his head. "Somehow I doubt that father will be happy with it."

Weiss blinked and she took a breath. She gave Whitley's arm a slight squeeze, just enough to be sure to reassure him. After all, to some degree the two of them were stuck in this together and Weiss didn't want him feeling left out in the cold. Even if he was to some degree, Weiss couldn't have Whitley feeling that way.

At the end of the day, no matter how she felt towards her brother and about his actions, Weiss did want to look out for Whitley. In the same way that her sister had looked out for her when they'd been young.

"It'll go well." Weiss sighed as the two of them walked down into the room.

When the building had been constructed years before, the choice to have a space created that could be used for large gatherings had seemed like a bit much. It had felt presumptuous on their father's part, but he had wanted to be able to host large groups of guests even then. If they were able to do that in a setting such as a large hall which served as a centerpiece for visitors of the company to congregate in on normal days, then that was just as good.

After all, it placed him closer to his work, and Weiss knew that there was nothing that her father cared for more than his work.

"If you say so." Whitley said. He pulled his arm away from Weiss', and she responded in kind by bringing her hands together behind her back and following Whitley closer in. Klein was there in the conference hall, looking bored but also rather busy.

He caught sight of her, while Whitley went off to speak to someone that was working on moving a few tables.

Klein placed himself at Weiss' side, keeping his voice down the entire time.

"Your companion will be able to get in." He said, voice barely above a whisper. "Of course, her partner that we are concerned with will be as well."

"Thank you." Weiss whispered back to Klein, keeping a careful eye on Whitley. "That's all that we can really do if we are hoping to make this all work out."

"Of course." Klein sighed. "I will be sure to keep a close eye on Taurus and Blake both."

"You aren't going to need to watch her." Weiss said, and she knew that she was probably getting a bit defensive. "Blake isn't coming here to cause trouble, you know that. She's trying to watch him."

"I am well aware of that," Klein said, but his face said much more than his voice did. "I will be doing what I can to watch the situation regardless."

Weiss wished that would have been enough to make her feel a little bit more at ease with the situation, but that wasn't the case. That wasn't going to be how things worked out.

She looked down at the ground, thinking on what she was supposed to do if it was going to be here with everyone else there in the room anyways. If there was a gathering, then Weiss had her doubts that it would be a chance for her to slip away and find some of the things that Blake had asked her about.

The most important had been clear paths in and out of the building. That was something which Weiss was willing to provide, but she was afraid that she didn't know her way around the SchneeCorp headquarters quite as well as she used to.

And it was different these days anyhow- when she'd been young and coming there on a more regular basis Weiss had never been allowed to slip away from her father's sight long enough to explore. That meant that if she was going to get anything for Blake, she needed to be sneaky about it.

"Klein-" Weiss said, locking her eyes with the butler's. "I think that I might require your assistance with something."

Klein raised an eyebrow in obvious interest. "Care to explain, Miss Schnee?"

Weiss glanced away from him, just long enough to double check that they didn't have anyone listening in on them. Once she was ready, Weiss began her explanation.

"I think that I need to get coffee, but I don't know the way around the building." Weiss said the words almost slowly, and Klein nodded, clearly understanding that she was asking to be able to get him alone.

"Very well." Klein replied. "Right this way."

Klein led her away from the hall, and once there was what Weiss could consider to be a sufficient enough amount of space from the others, and it was very clear that the two of them wouldn't be overheard, she began to talk to Klein. She was going to need him on her side if they were going to get so much as anything done.

"Klein." She said, now that the two of them were alone. "Blake and I were talking earlier. And she had some things that she wanted me to get for her before the benefit could happen."

Klein blinked, and he looked genuinely surprised. He let out a quiet sigh and nodded. "Very well," he started, voice as calm as ever. "What does she need for you to get?"

Weiss reached into her bag and had to fish around in it for a little bit so that she could find her phone. She removed it a moment later and brought up the small list of things that Blake had asked about. It was nothing that she'd thought would be a serious problem, and Weiss could trust Klein with it.

He took it and reached into his breast pocket to retrieve a pair of reading glasses which he put on wordlessly. He read over the list, raising an eyebrow at one or two of the items before passing it back to Weiss. "If you could try to make sure to get me a copy for myself, it would be wonderful."

"Of course." Weiss replied, already preparing to copy and paste the list into a message to Klein. "Do you think that what she's asking for will be possible?"

"I don't exactly know why she is so worried about escape plans." Klein said, and Weiss figured that was something that she probably should have been able to expand on herself, but it didn't seem that it would be that simple. "She really is expecting for Adam to try something?"

Weiss nodded. "The concern was that he would try and do something to derail the event." She said calmly. "And while I'm not exactly the... fondest of it, or how it's been run, I don't think that we need for someone to go poking around in SchneeCorp bookkeeping in the hopes that he can ruin us."

"What specifically was he planning to look after?" Klein asked, his voice kept low in volume.

"Blake said that he thought that the company was cooking books with regards to the charity, but-" She took a deep breath, because this was a complicated issue. The truth was that Weiss didn't know whether or not her father would actually do something like that. She couldn't see Whitley trying it, but Whitley wasn't the one that she needed to worry about with this matter. Of course, if things went poorly, then life would be made hell for her brother. And then for her, with all likelihood. "But I don't think that the concern will be what the truth is."

"Miss Schnee?"

"Klein-" Weiss took a breath, and for the first time since their conversation had started she allowed herself to wrap her arms around herself. It wasn't a hug, and it did very little to comfort her on any level, but it was also all that Weiss was going to matter. "I need for you to help me, because I can't-"

Klein slipped into the space at Weiss' space and reached out, tugging her in towards him as gently as he could manage. She closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath before resting her head on Klein's shoulder. There he was, real and solid as ever, still a better father than the real thing ever would have been.

"I need to know that me, and my brother, and my sister will be okay." She whispered to him, feeling like she was choking the words out for Klein to hear. "And I need to know that I can do whatever I can to maintain that. Father is... You know how he is. And I don't want to know what will happen if something happens again."

"Weiss," Klein said, pulling back and brushing her hair away from her face. "You know that I won't blame you if you decide you need to go back to Vale."

"I know." Weiss mumbled. "But I still need to know that my family won't be broken more because of this."

The frown that tugged at Klein's expression was hard for Weiss to miss, and while she really didn't want for things to go badly for her, or for Blake, or for anyone really, Weiss knew that she was asking for a lot. If things went poorly, and Klein was found to have some sort of involvement-

Well, Weiss didn't have to imagine that she or her family would be the only ones getting hurt.

"I understand, Miss Schnee." Klein said, keeping his voice even. "We'll do what we can to get you the things that you and miss Belladonna need."

He nodded down the hallway, and Weiss followed after him, realizing that he was taking her through some back passage. It was a pathway which only the general maintenance employees would use, but Weiss supposed that Klein probably used those paths to avoid being seen while serving her father.

"Thank you." Weiss said as she stepped into the elevator with Klein. "I think that once this is over with, we might be out of your hair though."

Klein nodded. "You know that I will miss you regardless, Weiss." He said, looking straight ahead instead of at Weiss. He was sure to have his own reasons for what they were doing. "And that if you choose to go back to Vale, then I won't be upset over it."

"People keep on saying that." Weiss sighed. "But I don't know that I want to leave, really. Not with-"

"Weiss." Klein cut her off, and Weiss struggled to remember so much as a single time where he had done so. Always, when she'd been young, and even now, he never had done that. Klein had been the one person that she could always rely on to allow her to talk and say the things that she needed to say.

It caught her by surprise. Weiss clamped her mouth shut because if Klein had done that, she couldn't have imagined that he didn't have a good reason.

Once he was sure that he had her attention, he kept on talking. "I simply want to see you happy. Being here in Atlas doesn't do that for you, and I understand that." He turned his head now, locking his eyes with Weiss'. "Don't you ever think that I would resent you for needing to go back to Vale."

Weiss closed her eyes and nodded. "Thank you."

Klein kept an eye on her and smiled softly. "I merely wish for you to be able to be happy, Weiss. That's all."

She nodded, and felt impossibly heavy because of it. The offer was there- Klein would be likely to bring her to the airport, and if she ever needed to come home again, then Klein would be there. That was something that Weiss knew she could always believe and trust in.

He was the best family she had, even if they didn't share so much as a drop of blood.

He'd always been there, since she'd been little. He'd never left.

"I don't know where I will go after this." Weiss sighed. "Father is up and awake, so I don't really have a reason to stay anymore. Whitley is getting the company so I suppose that I am not going to be needed here for that either. The only thing really making me want to stay here is-" She shook her head, not wanting to think back to the few nights before, where she and Blake had talked about this same issue.

Blake had been supportive.

Somehow saying it out loud to Klein that she wanted to stay for Blake felt like a bit much.

"I can't be myself here, Klein."

"I know." Klein replied, the door letting out a quiet ring to let them know that they had reached the right floor of the building. The two of them stepped out of the elevator, and Weiss watched as Klein checked the watch on his wrist, looking for something. "And that's why you should consider leaving if you feel it's appropriate."

"Right." Weiss sighed as Klein led her down the hallways towards their destination. He walked her until they were standing by what was obviously a security room. Klein stood up tall and fixed his tie before signaling for Weiss to stay there at the door.

He slipped into the room wordlessly. From where she was, Weiss was able to overhear Klein laying on a lie that would be able to get him what Weiss had asked of him. He was clever, much more than she had ever given him credit for.

She would miss him, Weiss thought. That much was obvious. She would definitely miss him.

Minutes later, Klein stepped back out of the room and looked at Weiss before nodding. The two of them started on their way back to the elevator, but Klein stopped her in a specific spot before handing off a folder that he'd gotten.

Weiss looked up at him in surprise and opened it, seeing that Klein had gotten her blueprints of the building. It wasn't exactly what Blake had asked for, but it was definitely going to be able to do the trick.

She stashed the folder away in her bag and then once that was done, Klein and Weiss continued on their way. When they did, and Weiss looked back, she realized exactly why Klein had stopped the two of them where they had.

It was a blind spot in the cameras.

The cameras were probably going to be a problem for Blake, Weiss thought. Or they would be a problem for Adam, depending on how things ended up going. She and Klein were going to need to come up with some sort of strategy for dealing with that. Preferably before they had to pull Blake out of trouble themselves.

The elevator door closed behind them.

"Klein." Weiss started, looking over at him. "What is the security supposed to look like for the benefit?"

"I would expect for there to be amped up security." Klein smiled, saying it like it was a good matter of facts for them. "Mostly in the form of guards, but there will also likely be more people watching cameras than there would be normally."

"So how are we going to deal with Blake and Adam getting around?" Weiss asked, turning to face Klein directly. "I don't know that we have the influence to be able to stop Blake from getting into trouble, when-"

"When your plan is to get Adam removed as a threat?" Klein asked. He locked his attention to Weiss now, but also clearly checking the door over her shoulder to ensure that they won't be overheard. "I will do what I can to pull strings from the background, but-"

"But you can't do it alone." Weiss sighed. "Perhaps if I-"

The idea was a bad one. She didn't want to risk putting herself in a situation like that, where she would potentially make things worse.

"What if I managed to find a way to act as a sort of escort for Blake?" Weiss asked, blinking and looking up to Klein. "Or I can find a way to keep the attention off of her while everything else happens?"

Klein's eyes widened in surprise. He swallowed, clearly unsure of what he was meant to do or say to Weiss at that point. She didn't allow herself to shrink back, and she didn't allow herself to waver.

For the first time, she thought that she might have figured out what her actual role in all of this was.

Her job was to be there and watch Blake's back. If she needed to be there to also work to implicate Adam or make things worse for him, then Weiss was willing to do that. She knew more than enough to ensure that she would feel no guilt for it.

That she was certain of.

"Are you sure that this is what you want to do?" Klein asked, sadness tinting his voice.

"I am." Weiss confirmed, still holding her head high and not moving away. "I think this is the best thing that I can do, Klein."

"Very well, miss Schnee. I will do what I can to help you."

"Thank you, Klein."