A week after she destroyed everything, Weiss Schnee awoke in a cold sweat. It wasn't a gradual slip into consciousness, but a sharp jab in the center of her being. It came like a lightning bolt.

Fear.

She stared at the ceiling, heart thundering in her ears. Everything she had done, everything she planned to do. All of it racing through her mind. How much she had cried, recently. How weak she must seem to those who knew her, or thought they knew her. She hadn't cried this much since her mother left.

Rolling over, she reached out instinctively for Blake and finding nothing but air. It was an unwelcome development, thrusting her back into the dark ages of their relationship, the cold war that wedged them apart. She thought they were past this, thought she made it clear that Blake couldn't do this anymore, couldn't fuck her and then leave her naked and alone in the morning.

It made her doubt everything. Literally everything.

"…Oh, Blake," she said out loud, curling inwards. Not surprised anymore, just exhausted and resigned.

"Yes?" Blake said, gently touching her shoulder and making her shriek.

She sat up straight, pulling the covers up over her chest as Blake took a step back from the bed, hands up in a gesture of peace. The open window framed her naked form, lithe, scarred, stolid. Like a painting of some ancient war god. It was still spring, but cold winter air breathed in, pushing aside the curtains and displaying the small sliver of the waxing moon. Angry now, Weiss crumpled up a fist and pounding it against the mattress, huffing, "God! Don't do that! I'm buying you a bell and a collar, I swear to god." Quiet for a minute as Blake grinned at her, she tried not to let it irk her. "…I thought you were gone."

Blake's smile dropped a few molars as she sat down on the edge of the bed. Curling one arm around her, she grasped the back of her skull and pulled her to her chest, rumbling faintly. "I was," she said, "I was sitting outside. Couldn't sleep."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Naked? In this weather?"

"I doubt anyone else is awake," she said, focusing on the first part.

Another breeze blew in, an angry puff as if to remind them winter was still here, and would be for a while. "Don't you ever get cold?" Weiss grumbled, pulling more blankets around her.

"You know I do." Letting her go after another squeeze, Blake got up and closed the window. Still, she leaned against the sill, staring out at the crescent moon.

"Well, since we're both awake, get over here," Weiss said, scooting over to make room. Blake didn't turn, but her ears did, twitching and betraying her interest. "Excuse you. Don't try to play aloof kitty with me, missy. I said get your butt over here, right now."

Blake let go of the windowsill with a huge sigh, pushing herself back and dragging her feet as she returned to Weiss. "Bossy, bossy, bossy," she moaned, trying not to smile until Weiss grabbed her by the wrist, yoinking her down and pulling the covers over their heads. She went down in a fit of giggles, playfully slapping Weiss' hands away until Weiss had her pinned, mouth locked onto hers.

Blake flinched, once, when Weiss grabbed at her hips too roughly and for a moment the fear returned, that things hadn't changed and she was still a Schnee and she always would be, and she could run and run and run and run but— "Jesus, your hands are freezing," Blake said under her breath, taking both of them in hers and rubbing them, trying to stimulate the blood flow, to share her body heat.

Did Blake feel like this, still? She'd been running from her past for a lot longer than Weiss.

She'd have to ask her one night, when the darkness wasn't too close to heart. When all her anxiety didn't feel so dangerously close to tipping over, spilling out.

"Sorry," Weiss whispered back, still shaken enough to sound timid. And she was, for a lot of things she didn't feel comfortable sharing with Blake yet. She was waiting for the right time to use her father's information against him, to blackmail him into submission, but it was of course easier said than done.

After all her talk, she felt she owed it to Blake to get it done soon, even as Blake let her know that there was no pressure to do it at all. To let sleeping dogs lie.

But Weiss wanted to. She needed to. She resented that there was still so much to do before she could get to the killing blow, to latch onto her father's throat and choke the life out of him. She needed to make her alibi airtight for the night of her escape. Needed to make sure that her credit card history showed her checking into a hotel during the time of the robbery. Needed to make sure no one saw that it was Ruby and Yang who had done the transaction. Needed to find a way to get her father alone so she could talk to him face to face.

Any threats made over a scroll or on print could be traced to her. To her friends. To Blake. The punishment for blackmail and extortion were a lot more severe than running away from home. If her actions exposed Blake to even more trouble, after she had worked so hard to leave her past behind…

That would be worse than any punishment she could receive.

Blake purred again, to get her attention, regarding her with half-lidded eyes. Narrow with content. A happy cat. She must have spaced out. She'd been doing that a lot lately. Pressing her head against the hollow of Blake's neck, she stayed there until she felt warm again, even in the darkest parts of her soul.

~fin