Vale was a strange place, full of old memories, and older scars. From the isle of Patch, to fortuitous walls of Beacon, this place cradled all of Yang's youthful dreams. The ones she willingly chose to leave behind bit by bit, until she stood as a shadow of her former image. Being here reminded her of old times, and she wasn't entirely sure she was okay with that.
There just weren't enough distractions.
"Soo, Blakey is able to finally get some action, huh?" Yang asked, when she noticed Ruby standing outside the door. She had done a fairly good job of pulling herself together. Plastering on that same ole grin of hers that got her through the day. She was almost starting to believe it was real again.
"You might say that…" Ruby blushed, rolling on the balls of her feet. "They've been in there for about five hours. They've either forgotten I'm out here, or they're still at it."
"How bad was it while we were gone?"
Ruby lifted her arm from behind her back. "Like this?"
Yang winced. "Oohhhh, yeah, that's pretty bad…another day, she might have started crying. I knew we should have pushed a few of the meetings back."
"We really need to go shopping for some more stuff. I don't think she wants me smelling like lavender right now." Ruby replied, leaning against the door. She closed her eyes and sighed. "Hmm, it must be nice…"
"Huh?"
"Them." Ruby said. "Always together like that…must be nice."
Yang shivered. She didn't want to know what was going on in Ruby's head. "Uh, Ruby, I don't know if I'd call what they're doing 'nice' right about now. Blake can get kind of upset when Weiss can't be around."
"She says it worse than normal." Ruby shrugged. "When I stop to think about it, it probably is. She's not acting different, but, I've never seen Blake rip clothes before. That was kind of new." Her scroll buzzed, and she pulled it out, reading a texted that turned her face crimson as she led it to her chest. "Oh, well, guess that answers that question…"
"What answers what question…?"
"If the guys go through heat too."
Yang let out a breath between her teeth. She didn't need to know the answer to that, and most certainly not from Sun…but then again… "Does he?"
"He says he doesn't, but that some guys do. He says it's mostly a girl thing." Ruby wasn't about to share the flirtatious little photo he sent along with it, or the quip about not needing to be in heat to be driven wild. Not only did she think it might break Yang's mind, but there were just some things too personal to share.
"Ruby…I don't know about Sun, but Blake gets pretty territorial. Sometimes, she even gets aggressive."
"Exhibit a, sis." Ruby said, pointing to her still mangled uniform sleeve. "Kind of figured that part out. Yesterday, she totally growled at Ozpin on accident."
"Yeah, about that…" Yang chewed on the inside of her cheek. "You said you were being intimate with Sun..."
"Yeah…" Ruby's voice got soft. "Why?"
"Do not take this the wrong way." Yang told her little sister. "But he isn't human, and he's going to get possessive around people he doesn't think he can trust. Just like Blake does when it comes to Weiss. Just like Sun used to be when strangers started looking at Octavia."
"Sooo?" Ruby murmured. "Yang, that's just how Faunus are."
"I'm trying real hard not to have a problem with this, but I do." Yang finally sighed. "A lot of problems with it. His nature is one thing I know he can't entirely control, but, I don't know if I'm okay with the fact that you're having sex with him either. He's not on his own, Ruby, he's got a kid. That changes things too."
"You don't have to be okay with it, Yang." Ruby told her. "Just, remember what we talked about."
"I'm not going to fight with him, but, you can't blame me for having issues." Yang gave her little sister an annoyed glance to the side. "I just mean that he isn't human. He's not going to think entirely like one. Given your history, I think you really do need to consider that…and besides, don't you think you're moving a little too fast, here?"
Ruby watched Yang slide to the floor, and she followed her sister's example. A long silence followed before Ruby found her voice. "Yang, have you ever actually had sex with a guy?"
"A small handful of times, why?"
"Nothing…look, you're probably right. It probably is too fast, and it probably does look like a bad idea. That's why I didn't want to tell you at first." Ruby looked down at the floor. Her scroll buzzed again, and she answered again before setting it aside. "I don't know if it's too fast or not. It felt good the first time, it kept feeling good…now it just feels right...like this the way it should be...and being so far away from him...it kind of hurts. I didn't expect it to."
"Be careful, Ruby." Yang told her. "And that goes double for him."
"Yang, I will." Ruby shot back. "You don't have to lecture me."
"Do you even know what I'm telling you to be careful about?" Yang pressed.
"Yeah, not to get hurt." Ruby muttered.
"Wrong!" Yang said, forcing Ruby to face her. "If you two fuck up your lives, fine...like you said, you're adults. I can't stop you." Her words were a soft, heated whisper. A long ago, tucked away anger bubbling up. "Zhu's just a baby. If you keep up this relationship with Sun, that little boy is going to get attached. He'll be counting on you...just like you counted on dad, and uncle Qrow...and me."
"...I know that."
"No, Ruby, I don't think you do." Yang sighed, hard. "You know what it's like to cry in big sister's arms, asking where mommy went. You don't know what it's like to come up with an answer to that question. I don't think I need to say this, but if you want to be with Sun, that little boy had better be your first priority from now on, Ruby...he better become the center of your world. If you walk into his life as a parent...and then walk out on him for any reason...I will never forgive you."
Another long trip sent Weiss away, but Ruby was the one to go back to Atlas this time. Apparently, her little sister had taken Yang's words to heart, which was the best Yang could hope for. She stayed behind with Blake, and they watched the days roll by, slowly and surely.
"Potato chip?"
No…"
"Tea?"
"No…"
"Tuna sandwich?"
"Yang…"
"You need to eat something." Yang replied, cramming another fist full of food into her mouth. She was starving, and keeping up with Blake's tendency to hide, wasn't doing her any favors. "Will you at least come down from there?"
"No, I will not come down from up here." Blake snipped, ears flattened back as she looked at the animal of her current vexation. Yang's cat…more aptly, Yang's unmistakably male cat. Her adverse reaction to the little creature was prominent on a good day. On a bad one, such as this, she really had no desire to even look at it. The annoying little creature had an odd desire to exist in her general vicinity. "Why did you bring that thing with you?"
"He'd be lonely at home." Yang said, sprawled across the floor. "You're missing a great fight by the way...really, come down here and check this out."
Blake stayed her place, hiding atop the bookshelf. "This is the only place that your monstrosity of a pet can't reach me." Or rather, he could reach it, but wasn't idiotic enough to try after she swiped him off the first few times.
"You know, that really isn't very nice." Yang smirked, but called her little creature to her side.
"He can't understand me when I talk. Contrary to popular belief, though bilingual in the animal kingdom, cats only learn the words and phrases related to their survival. Insults hold no connotation to them." Blake could, however, understand him, and she wanted no part of the pleased purring going on down below. "Just be glad he's your cat, Yang, or else…"
"Or else what?"
Blake raised a malicious eyebrow. Rearing back, she let loose one of the angriest hisses that Yang had ever heard. Startling the blonde, and chasing the cat out of the living area and into the tiny kitchen. "That's what."
"Blake, come on!" Yang said, going back into the kitchen, only to find her pet huddled in the corner. "Look what you did."
"Serves him right." She muttered under her breath. "Oh, now that's just a disgrace…"
"Hmm?" Yang asked, rubbing his belly. "Come on, like you don't enjoy a good scratch behind the ears too."
"That's different in every way, shape, and form." Blake argued, knowing it was a losing battle. "And besides, I would never let anyone rub my stomach like that…not ever."
"It's a sign of trust."
"Or profound stupidity…" Blake sighed. "All of his vital organs are right there."
Yang smirked. "You're just pissy because Weiss isn't around to rub you the way you want to be."
Blake sighed, deflating instantly…she did miss Weiss. She missed her more than logic should allow for, but emotions weren't so easy to control. The cat Faunus sighed, defeated and unbearably lonely. Yang just didn't provide the same comfort that her wife did. She couldn't soothe away Blake's deepest, most primal senses…and this time, Weiss had been gone for three days.
Phone calls and scent marked shirts could only take her so far…she just missed Weiss. "I'm sorry, Yang."
Yang cringed. That was not what she was hoping to accomplish with her teasing. "No…Blake…I am…" She said, pulling her friend into a tight hug.
"I just miss her…I want her here, and she's not…" Blake picked up something though, something that was so…that cat…she growled, instinctively opening her mouth to latch onto the fabric of Yang's shoulder before the blonde pulled away.
"N-no. H-hey, stop that!" Yang snapped her finger sharply. "Blake it's me…you know, your best friend…the one you don't wanna eat."
An annoyed rumble left Blake's lips before eyes slitted. She shook herself out of it. A shaky breath passed her lips. "I'm going to go take a long, hot bath…I swear, I'm losing my mind…"
After almost three weeks of fertility drugs, mind-numbing heat, or 'trial by fire' as Yang had dubbed it...Oobleck finally came back with good news.
Both Weiss and Blake had eggs that were finally ready for retrieval. It was an easy surgical procedure, but they had to be put out for it. He collected a few single celled eggs from each woman, placing the ones from Weiss under a volatile combination of dust and vacuumed pressure. The ones from Blake, he left in a culture medium.
After a few moments, the glowing concoction was ready, and Oobleck carefully placed it in the same try as Blake's own. Two days later, Oobleck transferred the now fertilized eggs into Blake's uterus. Waiting for them to take to the uterine wall was a question of conditions, and a great many of them. As Oobleck had told them, dust was not an exact science.
"You'll have to wait a week before we know for sure…" Oobleck replied, as he slowly but meticulously took down notes. It was a whole new level of obsessed, as he double, triple, and even quadruple checked his findings.
"A whole week?" Blake asked.
"Dust is a finicky science." He replied.
Weiss reached for Blake's hand instinctively, giving it a soft squeeze. This calm, well-mannered man in front of them, was as off-putting as could be. Inwardly, they both wished he'd blitz around the room. Just once, so that they knew everything truly was alright.
"It shouldn't take that long, should it?" Weiss asked, trying to verify. To make sure her fears were unfounded.
"It will take that long, unfortunately." He said then, snapping his journal shut. "There are a list of factors that contribute to this. Dust, I'm sure, was never meant to safely make cells mutate the way that they do. It's merely that scientists have rather perverse senses of humor." He sipped from his coffee cup, or at least he tried to, before realizing it was empty. Standing, he went to retrieve more. "You may get lucky, you may not. Sometimes this process doesn't take on the first try."
"So…we just wait a week, and then come back?" Weiss asked, finding herself struggling with how easy it suddenly sounded.
Bartholomew Oobleck merely nodded, sprucing up the already immaculate metal space that he called a desk. According to Oobleck, very few were actually allowed to step foot into this room. "Indeed. It's time that you let nature take its course from here..."
That, Weiss discovered early on, would be easier said than done.
Weiss did her best to put the matter out of her mind, and thankfully, she was so backlogged with work to do. Distractions were piling up all over the place. The unfortunate reality was that Blake wasn't so lucky. There was no book, no work, not even a sappy movie that could keep her calm.
Her mind twisted and turned with all of the things that could go wrong.
"Blake…Blake, sweetheart…you're doing it again." Weiss said softly, as even the late night hour provided no solace.
"What if this doesn't work?" Blake asked as she rolled over, golden eyes glinting in the dark, able to see Weiss and her exasperated expression clearly. "What if we have to do another round of those drugs?"
"Then we will…" Weiss replied softly, trying to see to the best of her ability, which was impossible.
One of Blake's cat ears kept twitching against her pillow, a sign that something was bothering it. Or that Blake was giving onto one of her nervous ticks. "Weiss, we can't…it drives me crazy…it's not even like a normal heat cycle."
"Drugs do tend to have a negative effect on you." Weiss noted, suppressing a yawn.
"You don't understand. It's so much more intense." She let a small bit of fear enter into her voice. "It's maddening. The very second that you're not there…it hurts…and then it just gets worse and worse…and then I get paranoid that your gone for good. As soon as I see you, I can't even hold back. The few times you were gone for more than I day, I very nearly mauled you…"
"The only casualties were my clothes." Weiss sat upright, clicking on the bedside lamp. "You didn't maul me." Vale was so warm, and Blake's heat cycle had been so pronounced, that Weiss had taken to sleeping naked so that her scent would infuse itself in the bedsheets, the pillow, Blake…anything and everything she touched. It was also less disastrous for her clothing, many garments having seen better days.
"I drew blood biting you, twice!"
"So you did." Weiss still had those bite marks, and just thinking of that sent a giddy little thrill down her back. "Which, I remind you, I hardly minded." The small smile on her lips faded when she met Blake's wet golden eyes. "Blake, it's okay."
"No, it's not…I chased Yang's cat around…and then Yang…" Blake continued, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I pointedly started growling at the bedroom door whenever I heard someone get near it…I mistook Ruby for you, and very nearly ripped her shirt off…I could have really hurt her, or Yang, or you…that's not safe…it's not normal…and it's not alright."
"First of all, if Yang's stupid enough to provoke you during a heat cycle, induced or not, that's her own fault." Weiss began, ticking all of Blake's worries off on her fingers. "Secondly, you always growl at people outside of the bedroom door. Especially when you go into a trance, and when we make love. That's not unusual, you just don't remember. Thirdly, Ruby acts like a scatterbrain all the time. She didn't care, so you shouldn't either."
Blake hid her face in her hands. "Ozpin got too close to Ruby and I pinned my ears back, and I outright snarled at him…" Blake was weaving her hands into her hair now, tugging at the roots, as the past three weeks had tugged at her frazzled nerves. "I don't even know why in the hell I did that. Ruby's not my mate, and Ozpin isn't a threat to us…"
"I was gone for a few days. That's probably my fault more than yours. Besides, I'm sure he found your mortification afterwards absolutely hilarious." Weiss told her, knowing the man to have a very strange sense of humor. "It seems as if absence is the primary factor in this problem. If there is a next time, I will pay out of pocket to fly my clients to Vale for our meetings."
"I can't ask you to do that…"
"That was a statement, not a question." Weiss said, cupping Blake's cheeks and forcing them to meet eye-to-eye. "I'm telling you, as the head of the SDC, I will."
"Weiss…"
When it came to the household, Weiss held majority of the power in their relationship. Blake was more than happy to let her have it. However, that power shifted when it came to them as a couple. Blake held majority of the power when it came to dealings with friends, family, and the bedroom. It was the way their relationship had always been, so it was easy to forget that as strong as Blake could be, she was also very fragile.
Wanting a family had put a fracture in Blake's normally cool and collected armor.
"Blake, listen to me." Weiss murmured softly, that stern edge in her voice caressing her next words with great care. "I will upheave the entirety of the company here to Vale if I absolutely have to. I will do whatever I have to do, to make this work." She brushed away the tears streaming from Blake's now closed eyes. "So next week you are going to pee in that infernal little cup, and if it comes back negative, I will start flinging money around like confetti until you're pregnant…do you understand this?"
Blake opened her eyes, nodding. The last few tears dripping down and plopping onto the sheets as Weiss kissed her.
AYangThang: Why is this posted now, you ask? My car hates me. I've been stuck...in a Tim Horton's...for two hours while I wait for my ride to pick me up.