A Third Rose

Chapter 4

Therapy and Bottled Up Emotions.

A/N: Well it turns out that Summer's weapon was an axe that seemingly turns into a rifle. Honestly I can't really picture her with an axe. To me, she seems more like the type to use a sword rather than an axe, at least, that's how I see it. Besides the sword itself will be pretty important later on so i'm just going to keep it as is.

-Patch, Rose-Xiao Long Household-

It had been almost a week since Cinder had first arrived at Summer and Taiyang's home. During the first few days she had gone from worried, to confused. For so long she had been the -for lack of better term- slave. She had always been told to work or be severely punished, whether that was by withholding food from her or something more physical. The idea that she didn't have to do that or face punishment was very difficult for her to wrap her head around. For several days she had expected to be put to work in exchange for all of the food she was eating or the new clothes she had been given; but it never happened, not once, much to her confusion.

Not only that but much she found herself enjoying almost every single second that she spent around the four of them, to the point where she found herself rarely separated from their company if she could help it. Ruby and Yang were just how Summer described and they seemed to go out of their way to include her in almost anything they did. It was strange, all things considered that they wanted to make friends with someone who was by all accounts an outsider to them. No one had ever really wanted to do that before given how everyone viewed her back at the orphanage but now it was happening and, she honestly had no idea what to do other than follow along with it. Though she had to say that it was in fact pretty fun.

Though at the end of the day whenever she had fun with the pair she always wondered when the work would start. Sure they had both assured her over and over that they would never do that to her but…she was still worried. Worried that this paradise of a place would be taken from her and she would be sent back into the hell that she had been pulled out of. She didn't want that, she didn't want to go back to that. Cinder had been given a glimpse of something she had never seen or experienced in her life, and she wanted to embrace it forever and make sure it never ended.

It was at the right after breakfast of the 8th day in the Rose/Xiao-Long Household that Summer had taken her aside to speak with her in private. The instant that happened Cinder grew more and more nervous than she had as of late. Would today be the day that they finally put her to work in exchange for everything? She want everything had been some cruel lie and that they were as nice as they seemed but…

"Cinder, are you all right?" asked Summer, her face showing nothing but concern and compassion, just like always. It hadn't been the first time that she had asked her that and Cinder responded with the same "I'm fine."

But like every time, Summer didn't seem to believe her and instead she seemed as though she wanted to say something but wasn't sure how. The only difference here was that she didn't seem to be willing to just let things lie on this one. "Cinder, if you ever have any problems, you can always come to me and Taiyang with them, no matter how small they might seem. We're all here for you."

Cinder wanted to believe that, she really did. But the fear was still there. Summer seemed to notice the look on her face, "There's also someone that we would like you to meet, tomorrow she's a doctor."

The young girl was confused by that "But, I already saw a whole bunch of doctors at Atlas, why do I have to see more?" she asked. Summer looked at the girl while trying to figure out the best way to explain it. "Weeeeell…this doctor is different, she tries to help people who have been hurt in different ways than just physical. Sometimes the pain stays a lot longer than when the cut or bruise heals. And just so you know, we aren't going to force you into it, if you don't want to, you don't have to. We just think that it might help."

Cinder thought she understood what she was talking about but still wasn't entirely sure. Maybe it was like when she put her hands up to her neck and thought she felt the collar on her neck and then it felt as though she would be shocked. Then she realized that it was just some scars. They weren't terrible but she still put a bandage around them because she didn't want anyone to truly take notice of the scars on her neck, Ruby and Yang hadn't noticed them yet (amazingly enough) and she didn't want them to see it. Cinder wasn't entirely sure why she didn't want Ruby or Yang to see the scars, only that she didn't want them to.

In response Cinder just shrugged with a "Okay, I'll talk to her," knowing that it would be best to comply rather than act defiant, especially since she wanted to at least have the illusion of this perfect place to continue for a little while longer. She didn't want to go back to the world she had just left.

As Cinder left the area, Summer sighed. She knew full well that the only reason that Cinder had agreed to visiting the psychiatrist was because she felt like she would either be forced to if she disagreed or that she'd be treated worse. She hoped that the psychiatrist would have some insight on how they could convince the girl otherwise, especially after they found a new home for her.

Cinder meanwhile just told herself that it would probably just be the one time. She just had to deal with another doctor –this one seemingly different than the ones back at Atlas- and then she'd be fine. As she walked out of the room and into the house she wondered what Ruby or Yang were up to, and thought that perhaps she could spend some more time with them.

The next day Cinder found herself in front of another house just a few short miles away from the Rose/Xiao Long Household. Directly in front of her was another house, which was roughly the same size as the home that Cinder had been living in for the last week. It was another cabin-looking house but it still was of decent size and shape. There were at least two stories on the thing, similar in scope to the Xiao-Long/Rose house.

When the family approached the house and knocked on the door Ruby and Yang –who had asked to come along- were all but glued to Cinder's side the entire time. She didn't think she had made such a good impression on the two in such a short amount of time but then again they did like spending as much time as they could with her, so it was probably just more of them trying to do that.

The ones that opened the door wasn't entirely what she had expected. It was a human boy about Yang's age with short messy brown hair and grey eyes. Next to him was a male Faunus about the same age as Taiyang and Summer. He had relatively neatly combed hair that was done into a ponytail. The boy was slightly behind the much older man and seemed, for lack of better word anxious about the new visitors.

"Hey Summer, hey Tai, it's great to see you both again." Stated the older man while the boy just looked at the new arrivals, as though gauging what he should say or do.

"My name is Krim Silvers, it's nice to meet you." The Faunus said as he looked over at the kids before turning to the young boy hiding behind him and said "Well go on, introduce yourself to our guests."

The boy hesitantly brought himself out from behind the older man "H-hi, my name is Lycus, Lycus Silvers." Ruby and Yang of course both energetically introduced themselves in almost the exact same way that they had with Cinder and even helped to introduce her. "I'm Yang, and this is my little sister Ruby and this is Cinder!" She declared jovially while Cinder and Ruby just waved.

When they entered the home, Cinder found that it wasn't all that dissimilar to the Xiao-Long/Rose home. The home had that same kind of welcoming feel to it. She wondered if all homes on Patch were like this. When they were fully inside Krim gestured for the family to have a seat on one of the couches "Son, why don't you spend some time with our new guests, I'm sure Ruby and Yang would like to play."

The boy looked reluctant but when he saw the looks on Ruby and Yang's faces he seemingly caved "All right." He said simply before being pulled away by the two girls who were even know telling him how to play Hunters and Grimm.

"How has Lycus been doing lately?" asked Summer, concern in her voice. Krim sighed and said "He's been doing a little bit better but…well, he's having a hard time with people, not everyone is as kind as you and Taiyang are and for him, it's been especially rough lately."

It sounded like there was a story there but no one thought it right to ask about it.

They were brought up short when they heard the sounds of wheels rolling on the floor, and soon enough a woman with long light brown hair and what appeared to be a dog's tail sticking out of her back from the wheelchair she was on. She had on her face a smile that was almost exactly like the one that Summer had on her face when she was addressing Cinder, Ruby or Yang. "Hello Summer, Tai, it's great to see you all doing so well." She then turned to face her three younger guests "And you must be Ruby, Yang and Cinder, I'm Doctor Lila Silvers. It's great to meet you all."

The three gave their own greetings before Lila turned her gaze completely over at Cinder. "Cinder can you come with me please?" She asked kindly.

Cinder hesitated for a few seconds, eventually looking back at Summer and Taiyang, as though answering her unasked question Summer said "We'll be right outside if you need us for anything."

When she spoke Cinder saw Summer give that same look she had given the young girl whenever she seemed scared or unsure. It was one that made her want to trust Summer, even if she rationalized it by thinking that she would only do this to avoid punishment.

Cinder nervously walked off behind the wheelchair bound therapist, Summer felt an anxiety as she watched Cinder take her first real steps towards recovery.

Cinder entered behind Doctor Silvers and once inside the door slowly started to close behind them with a small creak. Cinder felt herself tense up even as the doctor parked her wheelchair and therefore herself behind a small coffee table with a pot with steam coming out of it and a pair of tea cups that had a comfortable looking seat right across from her. "Do you want to have a seat?" she asked kindly.

Cinder looked at the offered chair for a second or two before taking a seat. Once she was there Lila began to pour what looked like tea into one of the cups and started to have a sip. Her face turned into a smile before she put the tea back down "Rooibos tea, it's perfect for all occasions and it tastes perfect whether it's cold or warm. Would you like some?" She offered, holding up the teapot.

There was a moment's hesitation before the young girl shrugged "Sure, I guess so."

The woman kept her smile as she poured more of the tea before handing her the cup. Cinder took a sip and found that while the tea was warm it wasn't as hot as she had first expected. Instead it was easily in the area between lukewarm and regular warm, if that made any sense. What surprised her more was how sweet the flavor was. She hadn't been expecting that but at the same time it was it wasn't overwhelmingly sweet. It was a near perfectly balanced flavor.

The look of how much she enjoyed it must have shown up on her face because Lila's smile deepened "I take it you enjoyed it?" she asked.

Cinder nodded.

Doctor Silvers looked at her and asked "So Cinder, how have you been doing since you've come to Vale?"

"Fine I guess," Cinder said with a shrug. The woman tilted her head with a strangely questioning, yet comforting gaze "I see, well I'm glad you're doing all right then. Do you, like playing games?" she asked.

At that Cinder gave the woman a strange look "Like 'Hunters and Grimm'?" she asked not really sure what Lila meant by that question.

"No I was thinking more like checkers, or maybe even chess?"

Cinder did look somewhat interested but then again… "I've never played either of those," she stated. Lila smiled and pulled out a small box that had a stylish title on it that read "Chess n' Checkers!"

Well she didn't really need to guess what games were on the table, pun not intended "Do you want to play while we do this? It might help."

Cinder shrugged and said "I'll try chess." The woman kept her smile as she set up the board and started explaining the rules of the game. It was a little more complicated than she thought but she was positive she could figure it out and hopefully win the game.

That statement proved to be completely false very quickly. The older woman quickly proved herself to be the better player. Though maybe that was to be expected, this was the first time that Cinder had ever even played the game, but it was still very frustrating but not as much as she feared. As they continued to play Lila started to ply Cinder questions.

"So how are you liking Vale?" she asked. The young girl shrugged "It's okay I guess, it's a lot warmer than where I was before." Lila didn't fail to notice how Cinder's right hand clenched into a fist before she unclenched it.

"What do you think of Yang and Ruby? They seem to like you." At that Cinder seemed to perk up, happy that the conversation "They're really nice, and I love having fun with them." For a while Cinder talked about the games the three of them would play and how they seemingly went above and beyond to include her in whatever activity they did.

Lila could see just how much of an impression the two girls had made on Cinder over the course of the week since her arrival, and it was clearly a good one if this was how Cinder kept talking about them.

"And what about Taiyang and Summer, how are they?" With that question it seemed as though Cinder was becoming a little less animated and more subdued, nervous and even a little fearful. "T-they're fine, they've been really nice. They don't force me to work or anything like that."

The therapist seemed a little bit concerned by that. "What exactly do you mean 'they don't force you to work?'" she asked sounding genuinely concerned. Immediately Cinder flinched, seemingly realizing what she had just said.

"Uh, w-well I meant that they weren't like other people I've known, they've been nice and they make great food for me to eat and they don't they give me nice clothes and-and…" she trailed off as she felt as though she was saying too much. "Cinder, were you worried that Summer and Taiyang would be like someone else? Someone who may have hurt you?"

Feeling as though she was trapped, Cinder gave a hesitant nod. The woman had on her face an expression that was almost exactly like Summer's when Cinder had first woken up in that hospital.

"I'm sorry to hear that. No one deserves to be treated that way, especially someone so young. I want you to know that if you ever feel that way, you can talk to us about it, that's what we're all here for, to help you."

Cinder still seemed uncomfortable with that declaration and looked down. She wanted to believe that, she really did but she never met anyone who tried to help someone else without forcing them to do something in return. It never happened at the orphanage, it never happened at the Glass Unicorn so why would it happen here? Well, Ruby and Yang probably didn't, and she didn't even want to even think about how that could have been faked. But those two were probably the exception rather than the rule.

The two continued to talk about other things for the remainder of the time but Cinder's mind continued to drift back to how Doctor Silvers talked about regarding Summer and Taiyang. Conflicting thoughts regarding her savior and her husband raged in her mind throughout the entire meeting.

When the appointment was finished, Lila Silvers allowed Cinder to rejoin Yang, Ruby and Lycus, who were all in the backyard of the small home. They were swinging around sticks at imagined monsters as they fought to save the world from the Grimm. Cinder moved to join in on the fun as quickly as she could, her mood seemingly brightening.

As the family watched the four kids play in the yard Summer immediately went over to Lila and asked "How is she?"

The therapist let out a bated breath. She knew that Summer needed to know how to better take care of the girl while she was searching for a new family or at least that was the plan, with every day things were starting to…change. "To put it bluntly, that girl's been through hell. Yes I know that she spent a year in that damn hotel as a…a slave," Lila all but spat out the word like it was poison before continuing "And no I wasn't able to get her to talk about her time there. She's not ready to reopen those old wounds, especially with someone she only just met."

That Summer could understand that and waited for the doctor to continue "As you've probably gathered, Cinder has a lot of trust issues when it comes to people her age or older. It wouldn't surprise me if the 'orphanage' she was at also mistreated her before that Tremaine woman got her hands on her."

That was another thing that Summer had suspected and it was another thing that the authorities needed to look into. But more importantly she needed more information on how to help Cinder "I know what you're thinking Summer but right now the best thing to do is be careful. Cinder seems to push her feelings down but eventually they will come erupting up at the surface, and when that happens…well it won't be pretty."

Summer looked over at the four children playing with one another more closely "Do you think she'd…" she trailed off not wanting to think about that but Lila just shook her head and put her hand on her chin as she watched the family "I don't think she'd willingly hurt them. From what I've seen and what you've told me, she seems very fond of those two. I'd say they have become friends but at the same time she seems very attached to them, almost in a familial sort of way."

It was true, Ruby and Yang had made a great impression on Cinder and every day they tried to include their new friend in whatever it was they did. Cinder seemed surprised, shocked even but at the same time she embraced it. Perhaps it was because Yang and Ruby were younger than her and she felt like they would be more honest. But at the same time it was just as likely that she still had a hard time trusting Summer and Tai was because people older than her had given her the false impression that they were nice but then hurt her.

Suddenly Summer felt the near irresistible urge to go to Atlas so she could repeatedly punch Tremaine's face into the ground a second time.

"So what should we do?" Summer asked referring to herself and her husband. At that Lila looked at her friend and stated "The only thing you can really continue to do is to always show compassion to that poor girl, and I know that you don't have a problem with that but at the same time, just be careful not to overwhelm her. Cinder will open up in time but still, you should be careful and remember what I said about her bottling everything up."

Summer nodded, and continued to watch the kids as they played, and as they did Lila bring up another subject "Lycus seems to be getting along well with your girls, and it's been difficult for him to make any friends with other people, even if he is human, some people still pick on him for having faunus parents. Would it be possible to arrange a playdate with them some time?" she asked.

"Of course!" Summer declared as Lila's husband came out with their youngest child in his arms. A one year old faunus girl with dark hair and a pair of wolf ears sticking out of her head was clutching her father tightly the latter of whom had a dumb smile on his face "Well little Nell here just finished having her lunch and has gone to the bathroom so I figured she would probably like to spend time with us."

The little girl started to squirm in her father's arms and reached for her mother while making noises that sounded almost like desperation, making it obvious that she'd rather be held by her mother rather than her dad. Krim had a hilariously shocked look on his face as his wife took the toddler in her arms. Lila was barely holding back a snicker at the expression "Don't take it personally sweetie, but I did carry Nell inside of me for nine months."

At that Krim's face fell and he let out a long-suffering groan at the situation. The three other parents then laughed at the poor man's near over-the-top reaction.

For a while the four parents just watched their kids continue to play and have fun all while wishing that such moments would never end.

-Patch, Rose/Xiao Long Household, two weeks later-

Despite continuing to see the therapist, Cinder found herself settling into a relatively comforting kind of routine. In the morning she'd get up, have breakfast with the family and then after Summer dropped off the kids at school she'd go over things directly with her like math, science and similar things that one learned in school. Cinder already knew how to read so at least there was that. They'd carry at it for a few hours until Ruby and Yang got back at which point, Cinder just wanted to have fun with them for as long as she could. After that they would all have dinner and Ruby and Yang would talk about what they did in school and what they learned.

It may have been repetitive but Cinder enjoyed every single moment of it. Unfortunately the fear she'd had ever since she had come to this place haunted her every night, the dreams where she would be cast back into the life she had been pulled from were coming faster and they weren't leaving. It was getting to the point where she was almost afraid to go to sleep for fear of the nightmares that would come.

Cinder was still thinking about this on a Saturday, she had just finished breakfast when the thoughts of either being expelled or finding out that everything she was starting to believe about the family that had taken her in was a lie. Once again she pushed those thoughts down as much as she could but every day it was getting more and more difficult to do so.

Every now and then Summer or Taiyang would try to talk to her about things, ask her how she was doing but she didn't understand why they would even bother. They even offered her a journal so that she could write her thoughts and feelings down in it, but she didn't really see much of a point to it.

At the current moment however Cinder just wanted to see if she could spend some more time with Ruby or Yang.

She was about halfway to the part of the house that the two normally hung out at, when she heard a series of knocks at the door. Curious, and not seeing Taiyang or Summer anywhere, she walked towards the door, where the knocking was only starting to get louder and more obnoxious.

Without really thinking she walked over to the front door and opened it.

The instant that she swung the door open Cinder saw a strange looking man with dark hair and pale red eyes. She also noticed the flask on his hip and saw that there was the faint smell of alcohol coming from him. His face was a mess of stubble and hair was even more so. The guy was looking down at Cinder with a perplexed expression. It was as though there were a lot of unexpected things the man had expected when he opened the door but this wasn't one of them.

He blinked.

Cinder blinked back.

For a second neither said anything, they just stood there staring at one another as though both were waiting for the other to make the first move. At least that was the case until Cinder turned her head back to face the inside of the house where everyone else was residing and called out "Missus Summer, Mister Taiyang, there's a weird, drunk homeless guy at the door!"

"Oi!" the weird, drunk homeless guy in question squawked indignantly.

Summer and Taiyang almost immediately came into the entryway to the home and didn't seem all that surprised when they saw the said "Oh that's just Qrow,"

Qrow still looked comically indignant at the fact that they just introduced him and didn't correct the girl, nor did they properly introduce the new kid that they had apparently decided to take under their wing.

To add to the chaos, another nearby door slammed open the instant that the name 'Qrow' was uttered. Ruby and Yang both burst into the hallway and had toothy smiles on their faces as they slammed into Qrow "Uncie Qrow!" both shouted at the top of their tiny lungs as they embraced him.

Cinder blinked, confused at the entire situation "Drunkle Qrow?" she asked.

Summer and Taiyang both burst into hysterical laughter at that point, which only seemed to further annoy 'Drunkle Qrow.'

She had to say though, the look on the man's face was utterly hilarious. Especially in hindsight sometime later, when he realized that the nickname that he had unwittingly been given, stuck.

To be continued.

A/N: So Cinder's started therapy and she's already been bottling things up, her fears, insecurities and all of that and while Taiyang and Summer are trying to help, it's not going to be that easy to get her to open up right now, which means those emotions are going to stay bottled up, even as time goes on.

Silver lining though: at least she finally gets to meet and interact with (read: mess with) Drunkle Qrow.