Qrow felt his scroll buzz in his pocket.
"Huh," he said. Oz had said he wouldn't call again until the spring. Who-?
Ah. He thought as he checked his scroll. Old Tai is giving me a call.
Qrow walked towards the door. The bartender gave him a suspicious, expectant glare, as Qrow had yet to pay his tab.
"Gimme a second, I'll be right back." he said lazily. Still, he felt the bartender's beady eyes tracking him all the way to the door.
Qrow sighed and picked up the call.
"Took you long enough," said a slightly grumpy-sounding Taiyang.
"Hold on, I thought you said I couldn't call you from a bar."
"That's where you were, huh? I thought you were on mission."
"You know perfectly well that these missions don't take that long."
"Yes they do, sometimes. Besides, how would I know? You're the birdy, I'm the cool dad."
"Ruby would give you the "birdy" before any of that was true."
"Don't you talk that way about my girls!"
"Alright, alright. Anyway, get to the point. I know you didn't just call me to say hi, especially if you thought- *incorrectly*- that I was on mission."
"First, promise you won't hang up the minute I say it."
Qrow frowned. That couldn't be good. "Alright," he said suspiciously, "I'll hear you out."
"You should come home for the Winter Solstice Celebration."
Qrow took a second to process this. Tai filled the gap.
"I think the girls would love to see you again, and you could celebrate with us! With your… shady upbringing,"
Qrow winced; shady was one of the more generous descriptions of the Branwen tribe.
"you can't have celebrated the Solstice since- school." (Tai knew mentioning Beacon was a horrible thing when trying to convince Qrow he wasn't poison.)
Tai's voice then changed. Qrow nearly face-palmed; he knew this voice.
"Plus, aren't birds supposed to migrate for the winter?"
Qrow groaned. "AWAY from the cold, not toward it, you moron!"
"Oh yeah, I forgot you were in Vacuo. It doesn't really get cold there, does it?" He said in a voice that said, quite clearly, that he had not forgotten in the least and still considered this a victory.
"Anyway, why don't you come? Ozpin would have to be really messed up not to give you the Winter Solstice off."
Tai stopped for a minute, and then rephrased this. "Okay, well, no one in their right mind makes someone work on the Solstice."
Qrow sighed. "Look, Tai. Me plus breakable ornaments in high places doesn't work. I don't want Misfortune to mess up the girls' Solstice , I'm not a holiday person, you know?"
"Come off it, Qrow. The girls would love it if you came for the Solstice, Misfortune or none. Besides," Tai chuckled, "We don't buy breakable ornaments."
"What?"
"Have you ever had a pet?"
"Of course not, why-oh…" Qrow had a sudden vision of a black-and-white corgi with a red ceramic ball in his mouth.
Qrow sighed again. "When is the Solstice?"
"Huh?"
"When is the Solstice? I don't have holidays marked on my scroll calendar."
"So you are coming?"
"I can't believe you've talked me into it, but yes."
"I think it's in three weeks."
"WHAT! Dammit, Tai, I'm in Vacuo and you want me to make it to Patch in under three weeks?"
"I… "
"This is gonna be a lot of flying. Thanks a lot."
"So you can make it?"
"Just do me a favor."
"Hmm?"
"DON'T tell the girls I'm coming. I don't want to be mobbed the moment I step in the door."
"You might have some bad luck on that one."
"I hate you."
"I love you too, Qrow."
CALL ENDED
Qrow growled as he hung up. Time to get flying, then.
Luckily, balancing home life on top of flying super-spy missions had made Qrow very good at figuring out how long things would take. So he knew how many times he could stop at an inn for the night and how many times a tree branch or the open sky would have to do.
In five minutes he was in the air.
It was not until he was over the middle of the ocean did Qrow remember he hadn't paid his tab.
Dammit. I liked that bar.
Snow covered Patch. The days were growing shorter, and people all over were getting ready for the Winter Solstice Celebrations. The houses in town were covered in small lights that shone in the night. Evergreens from the pine forest were in most houses.
In the woods near the town border, a small black bird swooped down towards a house.
Qrow transformed in the woods and walked out of them. He stepped up to the porch. Here goes nothing. He opened the door.
"UNCLE QROW!" There was a blur of red and gold, and Qrow had to brace against the wall to withstand it. Qrow put an arm behind the hugs and gave a watching Taiyang a certain hand gesture. Tai winked and went back to the living room.
"Isn't it past you girls' bedtime?" Qrow asked.
"Pfft, no." Yang said. "Do you know what time it actually is?"
No. Qrow thought. He glanced at the nearby clock. His eyes widened.
"Gee, the days really are getting shorter. Well, I'll see you girls in the morning."
"But it's barely evening!" Ruby protested.
"Yeah, and I've been traveling for a while and don't feel like dealing with you two. GOOD NIGHT."
Qrow tromps to the couch and flops down on it.
"*Sigh* I knew you would be too much for him, Yang!"
"Says the one who had not one, but THREE cookies tonight!"
"...Point taken."
On the night before the Solstice, Ruby and Yang made an extra mug of hot chocolate.
"Do you want some hot chocolate, Uncle Qrow?"
"I would prefer some other drinks, but…"
Tai shot him a glare.
"Yeah, I'll have some cocoa."
It actually wasn't that bad, for something that was allowed in Tai's house. It was warm, and wouldn't give him a headache in the morning.
Qrow still wished he'd filled his flask before coming.
"...to ride on a one horse open sleigh!"
"No one had fun on a one-horse sleigh. Ever."
"Shut up, Qrow!" Tai said.
"Your turn to sing a Solstice carol, Uncle Qrow!" Ruby said excitedly.
(Qrow is suddenly gone from the room)
"What's up with Uncle Qrow?" Said Yang.
"Erm… how about I sing one, girls?
Later…
"Thanks for bailing me out then, Mister Mom."
"You can thank me by not calling me Mister Mom."
"Okay, Mister Mom."
"You little…"
"Look, Uncle Qrow, there's a present with your name on it!"
"There is?"
"What'd you expect, you'd just sit there watching us?" said Tai.
(There is nothing in the box except a few chunks of charcoal.)
"Tai, I will go into the kitchen."
"Since when is that a threat?" said a very confused Ruby.
"Uh…"