Chapter 44: (Not) The Happiest Of Heiresses

Okay, okay, I'm back! I've written this chapter, okay? So please, you can stop picketing my house already! The mailman needs to get through, and I need food! For the love of all things good, you people have destroyed my lawn and scared off my cats! Just take this chapter and go, I'm begging you! Oh, just remember to read the attached note saying that I don't own RWBY. I don't need lawyers joining your ranks too!

xxx

Weiss wasn't handling Thursday well at all.

Since Ms. Han hadn't called neither Tuesday nor yesterday, Weiss was hoping that she would call today. However, her demands just didn't match up to reality. For Weiss, she expected to have Ms. Han call early in the day every day, no matter how unlikely that was. But, it was midday by now, and Weiss' edges were getting more and more frayed.

Sitting in Professor Oobleck's class was never an interesting affair. Sure, history was important and all, but there wasn't that much that could possibly be interesting to a bunch of hormonal, tired teens.

So, nobody outside of Team RWBY saw Weiss staring at the scroll in her lap. Or, if they did notice, they simply didn't care. History class and Thursdays combined were about as tedious as taking a bunch of high strength cough syrup, except without the benefit of a psychedelic high.

Ruby, being the ever attentive partner/girlfriend, looked on at Weiss with concern. The past few days hadn't been kind to the Schnee girl.

"Psst, Weiss? Think you can, uh, please look up?" she whispered to the heiress.

Surprisingly, Weiss complied.. Unfortunately, it was to give Ruby a cold glare. But, it wasn't just the steely look that scared Ruby a little. Weiss looked absolutely horrible. She didn't look like she got enough sleep, as dark bags had formed under her eyes. And, to top that, she had fallen off the wagon and chugged at least three gallons of coffee so far. That couldn't have been a good sign, mostly because she had been acting like this for two days in a row.

"Ruby, be quiet!" Weiss hissed. Then, she lowered her head to stare at the scroll some more. She didn't even wait for a response.

The cloaked girl let out a frustrated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. Ruby hated it when Weiss was like this. What ever happened to the tender, caring Weiss that she had opened up to and loved with her heart? It was becoming increasingly common to see the Weiss that she knew before they became a couple. That always splintered her heart a little. But, she had to hang in there, darn it! It wasn't just her responsibility as team leader, it was her duty as a loving girlfriend!

Unfortunately, Ruby couldn't talk to Weiss right now. If she tried something in the middle of class, Weiss might blow up and make a scene. She most certainly didn't need a repeat of the last time that happened in this class. The embarrassment of having to drag Weiss out of there while she screamed that everyone was robots nearly killed her the last time.

"Maybe I can surprise her later with something! Maybe that'll take her mind off of all of this stuff! But what? Meh, I'll think of something…" Ruby plotted in her mind.

xxx

"…Poopie! I can't think of anything!" Ruby complained in her mind a half hour later.

Now that the history class had let out, Team RWBY was walking down the hallway towards their dorm room. Fortunately for them, they could skip their next class, as the teacher had come down with a nasty case of food poisoning. As it turned out, the thorough cleaning of the cafeteria the other day wasn't all that thorough.

Ruby scanned over the rest of her team. Blake and Yang were chatting about so show she didn't watch, and Weiss was still looking at her scroll as she walked.

"Wait! Yang! She might think of something!" Ruby realized. She hastened her pace to catch up to the other girls in front of her.

"Look, I really shouldn't have to go online to read up on an important part of a show," Blake said dryly.

"I'm telling you, they just don't have the time to put it all in there!" Yang argued back.

"There's such a thing as 'show, not tell', Yang. It's not good writing if you have to resort telling the fans major plot points on a website. It's just lazy and disappointing," Blake calmly laid out.

"Coming from the girl who makes bad fan fiction…" Yang grumbled.

"Hey, I would stop if I were you—Yes Ruby?" Blake stopped her train of thought as soon as their team leader walked beside them.

"Mind if I talk to my sister for a minute?" Ruby asked Blake.

"Knock yourself out," Blake dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"This isn't over!" Yang cried after at Blake as she stayed by Ruby's side. Before long, there was some distance between Weiss and Blake and them to allow for a private talk.

Ruby pulled Yang closer to her and said in a low voice, "I need your help with something,".

Yang flashed a cheeky grin. "Oh? Planning on doing something freaky with Weiss?" she teased with a conspiratorial whisper.

Ruby blushed at the implication. "You're not far off, actually…" she admitted.

Now that took Yang aback a little. Was she really going to talk about her sex life with her sister? "…Uhhhh… Are you sure I'm the best person to talk to about this?" she asked, confused.

"I think so. So, anyway, I need some help with Weiss. She's really scaring me with the way she's acting," Ruby admitted.

Yang let out a sigh of relief. "Whew! I thought you were going to ask me on how to bang Weiss better,". Ruby's blush returned even harder than before.

"Can we not talk about… private time? I just want to make her feel better, is all," explained Ruby.

"Huh… well, I can't help out much. I don't know what she likes," Yang said with all honesty.

"Well, she likes me, dogs, blueberry stuff, romantic movies, snow, white roses—" Ruby began to rattle off before being interrupted by Yang.

"Whoa, I didn't ask for her life story! I guess if you really wanted to make her feel better, just take her on a date or something, I guess," the older sister suggested.

The little metaphorical hamster began to spin its wheel in Ruby's mind, generating an epiphany. "A date… white roses… wait! Of course! She admitted she loved me by the white rose bushes in the gardens! Ruby, you're such a smarty pants!".

She gave a quick sisterly kiss on Yang's cheek. "Yang! I've got it! Don't wait up for us!" Ruby called to her before dashing over to Weiss and taking her by the hand. She then dragged the heiress down the hall, out of sight. Yang had barely any time to process what happened.

"Well… that was a thing," she mumbled to herself.

Blake paused so she could go back to Yang's side. Soon, she resumed her pace with her girlfriend.

"What was all that about?" Blake asked with some confusion.

"Hell if I know," Yang replied, just as befuddled.

xxx

"Ruby! Ruby Rose, what do you think you're doing?!" Weiss scolded as Ruby dragged her into the botanical gardens. She had been moving so fast, that she guessed that Ruby used her speed semblance. Weiss was thankful she was still clutching her closed scroll. If she dropped it on the way over, she just wouldn't know what to do.

Right as the heiress was about to protest more, Ruby abruptly stopped. Weiss looked around at her surroundings. Why did Ruby drag her by the gardens? The snack bar wasn't that far away at all, so why did she stop here, near the flower bushes? Well, they looked much better now than before. Granted, it had been a few months ever since Ruby accidentally blew half of the gardens up in a horrible dust accident, so that gave it plenty of time to get repaired.

Ruby turned on her heel, presenting Weiss with her warm smile and heart-warming eyes. That got rid of some of Weiss' anger, but she still demanded to know why she was here, of all places.

"Ruby, let me ask again: why are you doing?" Weiss asked in a slightly less harsh tone.

"Oh, something romantic and spontaneous," Ruby replied with a flippant gesture of her hand.

Weiss pouted and put her hands on her hips. "I'm trying to secure our future here, Ruby! I don't have the time for these games right now!" she complained.

"Ms. Han hasn't called all day, I think we have time to blow," Ruby said before she visibly cringed. That certainly wasn't the best way to explain that she wanted to spend time with her.

"Wow, way to rub salt in the wound," Weiss growled.

"Wait, wait! I didn't mean it like that" Ruby clarified. "I just want to have a good time with you!".

Weiss took her arms off of her hips and crossed them. "We can do that anytime, you know. All I have to do is wait for this call, and then we can do all the things you want," she said with a huff. She was about to walk away, but she was frozen in place by the sight of Ruby shoving a hand in the white rose bush and plucking a flower.

Ruby hissed in pain as she took hold of a nice, big rose with her bare hand and showed it to Weiss. She really should have thought that part out. Well, she could just have her aura heal those small cuts, anyway. "F-for you," she offered. Her voice shook with obvious pain.

Weiss sighed as she daintily took the rose out of Ruby's hand, careful not to touch a thorn. "You really didn't have to do that, Ruby. Now you're all cut up!" she observed.

"It's okay, it's okay. You're worth it," Ruby said with a small smile. It was still clear that she was holding back her pain.

"Aww…" Weiss couldn't help but coo.

Weiss lowered her head to take a deep sniff of the flower. It smelled nice, like it always did. It reminded her of the thing she loved the most: Ruby. Speaking of her, she took that distraction to get out her agony. Ruby clutched her bleeding hand and her eyes opened in pain. "OWW!" she silently mouthed out.

When Weiss looked back up, she saw that Ruby was still smiling and standing in place. It looked like she was waiting for a reply.

"I… umm… thanks," Weiss said, her previous cold tone almost completely gone.

"It's no problem," Ruby said with a grin. But then her face dropped and became a little dour, a little sad. "I'm, um, really worried about you today, Weiss," she admitted as she rubbed her heel into the ground.

Weiss' lips pursed together into a thin line. "You really don't need to worry. I'm handling everything right now," she said, trying to deflect Ruby's concerns.

"It's my job to worry, Weiss," Ruby declared.

"Is this Ruby the team leader talking, or Ruby the girlfriend?" Weiss couldn't help but question.

"Both, I guess," Ruby admitted. "I mean, you're not doing all that good, you know? You don't look like you got any sleep, and you haven't had that much coffee in a while!".

"Okay, maybe I'm overdoing it today, but you don't have to worry about it! For all we know, things could change just like that! We just need that call!" Weiss debated at Ruby.

"But we don't know that! I don't want this Weiss to stay, I want MY Weiss back! It's… it's…" Ruby's passionate voice grew to a whisper. "It's like you're ignoring everything else but your plan,".

Clicking her tongue in frustration, Weiss put a hand on the side of Ruby's head and looked directly into her eyes. "Do you think that I would just ignore you like that? I'm NOT my father, Ruby! I just…". She drifted of as she realized that ignoring her loved ones for the sake of a plan was exactly something her father would do.

With shocked realization, Weiss whispered, "I'm so, so sorry, Ruby! I… I… I didn't mean to be like him! Oh, no…". She placed her scroll in her pocket and began to rub her forehead.

Sensing Weiss' distress, Ruby wrapped Weiss into a hug. "I just can't escape him at all…" Weiss groaned to herself.

Pulling herself away from Weiss, Ruby said, "You're not you dad, you're Weiss!". Then, she quickly added under her breath, "It would be weird if I dated an old guy…".

"I know, I know. I just… I just hate how much his ghost haunts us," Weiss admitted.

"We don't have to worry about him right now, right? We can just be ourselves, he isn't here to tell us how to act," Ruby told her girlfriend.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Weiss admitted, "You have a point,".

"Exactly! We can go on a date right now, if we wanted to!" cheered Ruby.

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Are we not on one right now? I mean, you said you were doing something romantic," she pointed out.

Ruby couldn't help but grin. "You're right. So, if I may," she said in a formal voice. She got down on one knee and asked, "Weiss Schnee? Will you go on this date with me?".

That made Weiss smile. There was just something about Ruby's dorkiness that always got to her heart. Curtseying, she replied, "Of course, Lady Rose. You may pamper me,". She offered a hand to pick Ruby up. Taking it, Ruby stood up and pointed dramatically ahead of her.

"Come, my lady! Nourishment awaits us!" Ruby cried as she led Weiss to the snack bar.

xxx

Rickert the Music Club President was standing boredly behind the counter of the snack bar. He never liked taking over his brother's, Cedric's, work shifts, but hey, he had classes to attend too. Still, being paid a pittance for standing in for him didn't make up for the fact that it was a crappy job. So, he wasn't in the best of moods right now.

He didn't even greet that Schnee girl and her partner as they walked up to the counter.

"Hey, Cedric!" Ruby said with a small wave.

"Rickert. I'm Rickert," the temporary cashier said as he rolled his eyes.

"Huh? But you look just like Cedric!" Ruby pointed out. It was true. Rickert had the same poufy dark green hair as his brother, and the same pale skin as well. In fact, the only real difference between the two was an inch of height and different shades of brown for their eyes.

"I get that a lot. He's my brother," Rickert said with a sigh. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been confused for his brother.

"Ohh…" Ruby realized. Now she noticed the subtle differences.

"Are you going to order, or are you just going to stare more?" Rickert snapped Ruby out of her gawking.

"Oh, right! Your finest food, please!" she said, placing fifteen lien on the counter.

Rickert cast a judgmental glance at the cash first, before moving it to Ruby. "Okay, that isn't a real order. And you can't get anything good here. This is Snack. Bar. Can't you read the sign?" he said with emphasis.

Weiss was growing frustrated. This rude man was ruining their date! "Just get something, cashier," she spat out.

Rickert glared at Weiss before moving to grab anything that totaled fifteen lien. Dumping a bunch of candy on the counter, he sneered, "Does this meet your standards, lady?".

"We'll take it!" Ruby declared as she scooped up the candy and walked away.

However, Weiss lingered behind and hissed at Rickert, "You're literally the worst cashier. Of all time," before walking off.

"Yeah, yeah, don't the fuck off hit you on the way out," Rickert growled back.

Weiss heard that and stomped off, thoroughly annoyed. What a jerk!

Well, at least Ruby and her surprise date could only make things better. How could it not? After all, this was probably what Weiss needed today.

xxx

Tension! Why is it taking so long for that call to arrive? Well, trust me, it's going to be revealed soon! In the meantime, leave a message or review for me in the Galactic Standard Language for me to read! I love your guy's input! This is The Draigg, signing off for now!