Twelve weeks, and Blake took a sigh of relief.
The chances of miscarriage dropped significantly around this time, or so Oobleck told them at her most recent appointment. They could make the news of Blake's pregnancy public knowledge, and would have to soon. She had been gaining a little weight, but she was starting to show. Her three cubs were developing at normal rates, but, that still didn't make her feel any better about the tiny lines starting to form around her belly, and around her hips.
She wouldn't start calling herself fat, but, she was getting stretch marks, and they were bugging her.
Weiss had always been very careful around Blake's midsection. Very few could touch that area without Blake tensing up. Weiss had learned long ago that it came from instinct rather than true discontent. Still, she proceeded with caution as her fingers ran over the lines, and the little bump that had formed.
"It's not so bad…" Weiss said, more to herself than to her wife.
"No, but it will be if this keeps up." Blake said, eyeing the marks critically. "Look at these…"
"I see them." Weiss laughed softly. "You're no less beautiful to me, you know that, right?"
"Yes, I know…" Her larger hand fell over Weiss's own.
"Though, it's about time we bought you some maternity clothes." Weiss said then. They'd been putting it off, but Blake couldn't wiggle into most of her slacks anymore. She had started to borrow Yang's. Pretty soon, those wouldn't fit either.
"The press will be all over our spending habits…" Blake said. "I'd rather put it off a little longer."
"If it makes you feel any better, we'll take Velvet and Coco along." Weiss suggested, simply. "You know how Coco is about Velvet's wardrobe."
"Coco's insanity is one of the reasons we don't have to go shopping." Blake said, in hopes of diverting the shopping trip entirely. "I have a whole bag of hand-me-downs that Velvet brought by the last time they visited. I just haven't tried them on yet."
"Any reason why not?"
"Most of them are dresses, and you know how I feel about showing my legs bare in public." Blake told her. "My leggings don't fit well anymore."
"And you didn't think to tell me this, why?"
"Because you can be just as bad as Coco when it comes to buying things." Blake sighed, knowing the price tag on a new wardrobe wouldn't be a few hundred lien at the downtown outlet mall. Not by a longshot. "I don't need top of the line apparel. I really don't want to be paraded around all of the shops right now."
"Yes, well, your obsessive grooming habits aside, Yang and Ruby have no inclination to stare at your bare legs." Weiss slipped her hand up Blake's pant leg, smirking at the smoothness she found there. "You have nothing to be self-conscious about, smooth as silk."
"Except when I can't reach." Blake murmured darkly. "I'm already dreading the day…and my legs won't be the worst of it."
"At that point, sweetheart, I highly doubt you'll care." Weiss said softly. "If for some reason you do, we'll worry about it then."
That wasn't the only thing that bothered Blake, it was her loss in muscle mass too. She used to maintain a very complicated workout regime. One that was actually equal to Yang's. It kept her strong. Strong enough at least, that she could carry Weiss around as if the woman were a feather. Such was not the case anymore, and Blake was sorely starting to miss the core strength she used to have.
Weiss didn't fit as comfortably on her lap anymore, either, and that was another minor rant Blake had. Yang laughed at them whenever their positions reversed, because Blake truly was much taller than Weiss. Although Weiss was no pushover herself, the height difference was always enough to send their friends into a fit of snickers.
"You're tired…" Weiss said, though it was merely a statement of fact.
"I've just had a lot on my mind…"
"Oh?"
Blake nodded, but she promised Wilson she wouldn't say anything. The best she could do was answer vary vaguely. "I've always had this image of what it was like to grow up as a Schnee. You've talked about it a little bit, but there was never a time that I truly envied any of your stories. Hearing what your father had to say, I guess I'm just a little nervous about the future."
"The good kind, or the bad kind?"
"Neither. Weiss, please don't fight with him." Blake sighed, her voice soft. "I believe I understand why he thinks the way he does. We won't ever see eye to eye, but, talking with him affirmed something to me that I'd forgotten about."
"Can you at least tell me what that is?"
Golden eyes slipped closed. Would it really be so bad to admit that much? Probably not. "He and I sit on dangerous ends of ideology. We're both extreme enough that we'd do some pretty unforgiveable things. We'd both be willing to go so far as to bend our own sense of morality. I know to most people, that might not mean anything...but for a man like your father, it means everything…"
"Now you're making me curious." Weiss said.
Opening her eyes, Blake looked into those stunning blue eyes. "Being with you makes it easy to forget just how far I've gone. How many things I've done that were inherently wrong. It blurs the lines, and I realize, I'm probably just as questionable as he is, even if it is in different ways."
"Well, they do say that women seek spouses that remind them of their father." Weiss said, recalling one of the old texts she was forced to read for cultural studies.
"Then we should pray for sons…" Blake quipped. Slender fingers pinched her ass for that remark, causing Blake to purr and squirm around, trying to elicit another reaction. "Is that a no?"
"I'm not sure." Weiss said. "Men are seen more favorably in positions of power. Women are known to hold more longevity in their respective fields than their male counterparts. In all honesty though, do you have such a preference?" Weiss asked offhandedly.
Blake cocked her head to the side, thinking about that with a mild frown of contemplation. "Hmm, well girls would be easier, considering." It was an interesting thing to ponder, even if chances were good that not all would be the same. "I'm more concerned with their personalities. It'd be a comfort to me, I think, if they were slightly more willing to be submissive…a beta or…on the extreme end of submission, an omega."
"Really?" It surprised Weiss, but Blake nodded anyway.
"Yes, mostly because they'd fit in well with almost anyone. They wouldn't be inclined to start fights. Then again, dominance is an alpha's desire." Blake said, still lost in her careful musings. "They would have the desire to run the company. Where non-confrontational Faunus wouldn't want anything to do with leadership at all, that's an alpha's place."
Human crying finally pierced through the corridor. Zhu's last stand of the night by the sounds of it. He'd taken to screaming fits right before bedtime. Blake flattened her ears back in an attempt to preserve her hearing. The sounds of scampering coming towards the living room made them look towards the door. Zhu came pummeling in, Yang hot on his heels as he made for the bookcase, and then the chandler. He hooted low at Yang, dropping his night shirt on her head, and puffing out his chest.
"Having some trouble?" Blake said with an upraised eyebrow.
"Just get him down." Yang huffed breathlessly as Ruby came stumbling in, her pajamas askew. She was trailing crumpled rose petals behind her, as she looked to the troublesome little boy.
"Well, Sun will be glad at least." Ruby observed. "Zhu's finally got the hang of his tail."
"Did you hit your head when you fell off the second story balcony?" Yang asked with mild aggravation.
"Yes, actually." Ruby said, though it hadn't hurt, it had slowed her down. It was rather disorienting when her face met marble. There was also a convincing argument to be made about why small children shouldn't have their aura activated so young. It made Zhu fearless, and caused Ruby to panic. "Come on Zhu, it's time for bed."
He hooted at them low in his belly, shaking his pajamas off of his legs. The garment fell onto the floor, leaving only the band on his arm, and his training pants. He then curled into the warm light. His shadow swinging side to side as he rattled the long chain. It barely held the fixture in place. Ruby was already getting ready to launch herself at him for another attempt at catching the boy, when Yang stopped her.
"Come on, Blake." Yang begged. "A little help?"
Blake patted the side of her leg. "Zhu, enough now. Come down here." He flicked his tail at her, thinking about puffing his chest out at her too, before another firm smack to her thigh summoned him. "Zhu!" Slowly, he let himself slip down, landing on the sofa before crawling into Blake's lap. The sisters both gave Blake a rather murderous look, but the Faunus shrugged. "He knows who's in charge around here…Zhu, go on, it's bedtime."
"No."
"Zhu."
"No."
"Zhu, bed!"
Playing with his tail, he seemed to consider Blake's ire. Every inch of his being told him not to test her, and demurely he made his way over to Ruby. She scooped him up along with his discarded clothing. The young woman breathed a sigh of relief as she bid everyone a goodnight. Yang flopped herself across the floor in front of the fireplace.
"You two can get a little forceful with him." Blake said as she comforted herself with the fingers idly scratching at the back of her neck.
"Forceful…yeah…try catching him." Yang groused. "And I thought Ruby was a terror…you make it look so damn easy."
"He's below me in station, and knows it's dangerous not to listen to me." Blake said, recalling a few times her own father had let her have it for dangerous or disruptive displays. Aggression was part of the Faunus way, and all Faunus intuitively knew this. "Honestly though, a spank on the butt every now and then won't hurt him."
"I don't believe in spankings, never have…never will."
"Then Zhu's just going to keep giving the two of you trouble."
"Yatsuhashi told me the same thing."
Weiss paused her ministrations, peering over Blake's form, and over to the blonde on the floor. "You've been texting him a lot recently. Is everything okay?"
"It's fine."
The couple doubted this, but it was Blake who voiced concern. "You've been acting out of sorts, lately."
"My life's kind of ass-backwards right now."
"Or maybe, it's just starting to fall into place." Weiss suggested.
"Well, if that's the case, I really don't like where it's falling." Yang told them as she sat up. "I'm going to bed…"
Coco Adel was many things, but a saint she was not.
She peered up from her desk with a glare, rubbing her eyes as if to dissuade her brain from shutting down on her. She could have sworn she saw two small ears perking up from the other end of the desk, and if that was the case, someone was outright avoiding bedtime. She sighed when they popped up again, the dark little tipped ears could only belong to one girl in particular.
"Sienna…" Coco sighed with exasperation as the diminutive Faunus peeked around the corner. "It's late, what are you doing up?"
Blanket in one hand, one of her soft toys in the other, she made her way towards her mother. A tiny little yawn slipping out as she finally found her parent. Coco was her favorite to lay on, and she wasted no time snuggling into the warmth of her mother's firm hold. Coco dimmed the light and pulled off her shades before going back to work. She was an old hand at this now, wrapping the security blanket more firmly around the snoozing little girl with little rabbit ears.
"Mom, Sienna snuck out of…never mind…"
"The whole damn house is up, isn't it?" Coco asked her eldest, rubbing her eyes in a fit in aggravation.
"Dad's passed out on the floor with Buttercup."
"That idiot…" Coco rolled her eyes. Fox had a bad habit of falling asleep to movies, and if Buttercup was the only one with him… "Where are the others?"
"With Velvey…" The little girl said, referring to the nickname she'd given to her other female parent to avoid confusion.
Coco could already feel the headache coming on. There was no way she'd have her bed to herself with the family scattered around the house like dominoes. "And why are you awake at…two in the morning?"
She didn't answer and instead looked at the floor. Her modesty getting the better of her. She'd sooner say nothing at all and get yelled at, rather than admit to anything that might make her seem weak. That false bravado was inherited from Coco directly. The little girl would never admit it, but she was so used to being with her brothers and sisters that being alone at night scared her.
Coco rolled her eyes. It was always something, wasn't it? "Go lay in my bed with everyone else, I'll be there in a little bit."
The small girl nodded, doing as she was told, but she was more perceptive than her younger siblings. She knew how her mother felt about her bedroom being overrun in the middle of the night. It didn't matter if she was asleep or not. It was a bribe, nothing more, nothing less. A tactless attempt to buy more time at hunching over that desk, and whatever she was looking at.
Coco knew that her alibi was paper thin as well, and the moment Fox or Velvet woke up, they'd be charging into the small study with concern plastered all over their faces…but now was not the time to be worried about that.
The Grimm attacks were getting worse on all fronts, something expected, but never prepared for enough. It wasn't for a lack of trying. Rather, it was that one could never be prepared enough for oncoming invasions. Coco glanced over to her purse. It sat on the wall in a glass mounted case. She half considered outfitting herself and going north to stick a few bullets into the beasts herself, but she knew better.
Instead, she called Weiss.
"Schnee here…" The tired bark came from the transmission.
"Two of my ships have been taken down by large, aquatic Grimm. Supplies are going to be running late."
"How late?"
"Several days…"
"And the deficit?"
It was a good question, but one Coco knew Weiss didn't want the answer for. "A couple hundred thousand, on the two ships alone. The orders were to abandon the ships, all of the cargo was abandoned along with it."
"And the casualties?"
"Thirty injured, of those, only five of them remain in critical condition. There have been no deaths as of yet, but…" Coco trailed off. "It's the best case we could hope for, truly, but even so."
"Even so…" Weiss agreed, now sounding wide awake as her video feed turned on. "Sun went up as soon as he heard about the problem/ I was under the assumption that Grimm were only growing in numbers in the north."
"Down in Vale too." Coco corrected. "I booked a flight out to Vale's southern end just the other day, and then booked the fastest boat out east. The boat tickets were canceled due to rough waters. I'm starting to suspect it's not the weather conditions they're afraid of."
"I'll agree with you there."
"Vale seems to be under control." Coco said. "The north doesn't seem to have the same stabilizing power."
"It never does." Weiss sighed. "We train the bulk of students for the military, very few become hunters."
"I blame Ironwood for that." Coco chided offhandedly. Her daughter fussed around when Coco turned the light on a little more brightly. Rummaging through her desk, she pulled out the reports she had gotten. "Our stocks will plummet if this keeps up."
"I was thinking that." Weiss said thoughtfully, tenting her fingers. "I've deployed all available SDC hunters to fortify what property we still own. However, there's plenty we do not, and I'm starting to think it's about time we send some real firepower northward."
Weiss was ever the mastermind. Her hair was down, and covered in her bathrobe, now sitting in the confines of her home office. She didn't look it, but there was a reason she sat as the head of the SDC. Yang was with her, but only barely as she propped herself on one of the armchairs in the back corner. Blake was bustling about the room, her nocturnal abilities serving her well at the late hour. She set a cup of warm liquid in front of Weiss, before doing the same for Yang…though the latter needed a bit more coaxing to drink it.
Coco observed these actions with some small hint of comfort. It meant she wasn't the only one willing to put down money where her mouth was. In these situations, money and hunters held all of the power. "You know, if you ask Pyrrha to go, that pulls both of our sponsorships from the battle rosters."
"I don't think we have a choice." Weiss said darkly. "Ren and Nora won't even hesitate to follow her. We need her strength now more than ever. Pyrrha's one of the few suited to combat in tight areas. I'm thinking about going as well."
This, however, was the wrong thing to say, as Blake fumed. "YOU'RE WHAT!?"