It feels like hours, but in reality, it might only be minutes; there's no telling how long it takes him to crack.

The house is dark, aside from the subtle glow of moonlight coming in through the window.

The sheets are clean and warm, the mattress just soft enough to be comfortable rather than distracting.

The entire house had gone silent at some point in the night, all of its other occupants having wandered off and settled down in their own rooms at some point a long time ago, with only the occasional creak of the house settling or a strong breeze outside setting the trees surrounding the house to whispering to make any noise; it should, in theory, be a very good night.

And it very well might've been, except he still can't fucking sleep.

His eyes lazily retrace the shadows dancing across the floor of the quest bedroom for what feels like the millionth time, marking a winding path all the way from the window to the edge of the bed, but no matter what patterns he follows or how much his eyes burn with exhaustion, every time he dares to close them the same image just keeps coming back:

Dark hair spread like a halo across the ground.

A face that should be smiling joyfully instead of trapped forever in a silent scream of pain.

A sword locked in one hand, grip unwavering even when the strength of those fingers is long gone.

A cloak that should be white like snow, instead stained red red red as her lifeblood continues to sluggishly pour out of the hideous gashes in her chest-

Qrow's eyes snap open in the darkness once again, and he lets loose a string of curses in the silence.

Fuck. Fuck.

How the hell is grieving supposed to help if his own damn head is refusing to give him any sort of reprieve, if even for a few hours?

What he wants, more than anything, is a stiff drink or two. Or three. Just enough to let him forget, for a while.

Anything to help him sleep for a few hours.

But he can't, not here, not in her house, with her girls so close at hand, with Tai already a complete wreck, with her pictures on the walls and her favorite perfume suffusing the furniture and all of her knick-knacks still on the mantle-

Fuck.

Maybe he shouldn't have come back after all.

With a quiet snarl, Qrow sat up suddenly, ignoring the dizzying rush that went to his head as he stumbled blindly to his feet.

He can't take it anymore; if he can't drink here, he'll go out and find a nice pub to spend the night in instead. Tai is in no shape to take care of anyone right now, and the girls are both still too small to even take care of themselves; there's no way in hell he's foisting himself onto them right now.

But he just can't wait around until tomorrow.

He's so fucking tired.

Somehow, he manages to figure out how to get dressed in the near-darkness without causing too much noise; he could thank his unfortunate sobriety for that, at least.

Heart hammering in his chest, Qrow throws Harbinger across his back carelessly, feeling just frustrated enough to question why he's even bothering to bring it; with or without it, it's not like he's any good to anyone he's trying to protect-

Another wordless snarl escapes him as he yanks the door of his room open, in just enough of a rage to slam it closed behind him without a care as to who he wakes up-

"Qrow?"

A sleepy little voice freezes him in place in the middle of the doorway, right in the middle of his dramatic exit.

The fists his hands had unconsciously curled into during his anger quickly loosened as his eyes tracked the voice. The guest bedroom opened straight into the living room rather than be stuck at the end of a hallway; from here, he had a perfect line of sight to the main couch, where a tiny figure bundled under a fuzzy red blanket was just visible in the low light still fading in from another window.

"Unca Qrow?" the voice called again, and this time Ruby Rose was looking right at him, face drawn into a drowsy frown as she studied his haggard appearance. "You awake?"

His chest is heaving like he's just run from here to Haven and back again. He doesn't know why.

Qrow has to take a moment to breathe deeply, slowly, before he can muster something imitating a smile. "Uh, yeah kiddo, I'm up." He's not sure how calm he sounds, but he hopes it enough to keep Ruby from noticing how badly he's shaking. "And it looks like you are, too. Didn't your dad tell you to go to bed a while ago?"

Ruby's expression scrunches up in that stubborn little way of hers, and she slouches a bit as Qrow heads closer to her little bundle. "He forgot. He forgets a lot now," she mumbles, and it might have been funny if it didn't make Qrow's chest tight.

"Your dad's going through a lot right now," he admits as he slowly lowers himself onto her couch, trying not to feel terribly like an intruder with his own niece. She doesn't seem bothered by his presence, though, so perhaps he's not doing so bad.

Still, he pauses for a long time, watching her worry the edge of her blanket for a while, until he can awkwardly muster, "You shouldn't be awake right now, kid."

"You shouldn't be, either," she says with a sleepy smile, and it's so much like a teasing Summer smile that it makes the air hard to breathe.

Qrow looks away from Ruby's face, but he can't look anywhere else – her knick-knacks are still on the mantle, her pictures are still on the walls – so eventually he gives up and looks back at her daughter with an incredibly forced smile.

"Yeah, neither of us should be up this late," he says, hoping against hope that he won't have to cajole her into sleeping. "What are you doing out here, anyway?"

Ruby's face looked oddly pensive in the dim light. "What are you doing out here?" she repeated, and okay. So that's the way they were going to do this.

Qrow raised both his eyebrows in what he hoped was a stern manner, but probably came off looking way too amused. "I asked you first."

"I asked you second!" Ruby retaliated, one tiny little finger pointing accusingly at his face.

She had him there. If he didn't admit defeat, they'd likely circle around the subject for a while, and while it might be funny, it would kind of defeat the purpose of him getting her to bed with as little bloodshed as possible.

Sighing in mock irritation, Qrow crossed his arms and admitted, "I was… planning on going out for a drink, until a certain niece decided to spend the night out on the couch and bust me."

Ruby giggled, and the tightness in Qrow's chest loosens, just a bit. He's stopped shaking by the time he plopped a hand on her head. "Your turn, kid."

The cherubic smile on her face abruptly sours, and Qrow's stomach churns as she dropped her attention back onto her blanket, worrying to edges even faster between her fingers.

She mumbles something under her breath, and he softly reminds her, "I'm up here, sweetie."

With a grimace, she meets his gaze, and he has to fight against the memories her face evokes. When she grows up, she'll be the spitting image of her mother. He's starting to see, just a bit, why Tai is having such a hard time lately.

"I'm- I'm waiting for mom to come home."

Some small remnant of Qrow's heart shatters in his chest, and he tries very, very hard not to let his voice shake as he says, "Kiddo, you know we told you-"

"I know," Ruby interrupts, voice very, very small, and one tiny hand reaches up to swipe a little at Summer's silver eyes. "I just- I thought-"

Aw, hell.

No tears, please.

Helplessly, he opens his arms in an invitation.

Ruby doesn't need to be told twice; she lunges forward into him, wrapping two little arms around his middle as she buries her face into his chest.

His chest quickly grows damp with tears, but Qrow just hugs Ruby a bit tighter as her muffled sobs filled the room.

It looks like neither of them are getting much sleep tonight.

A/N: Of course my first foray into the RWBY fandom is full of angst. That's just typical.
Let me know what you think!
~Persephone