Once the kraken had been chased back into the open ocean by the professional huntsmen, they and the harbor authorities came to their boat to talk to them. The harbormaster boarded their small boat, expressing his deepest appreciation for keeping his harbor safe.

"However," he continued, "I will have to check your permits. Liability and all that, I'm sure you understand." Ruby handed hers to him, Weiss a moment later after she located her scroll. He looked at Ruby's first. "Miss…" he said, a frown crossing his face, "This one requires the presence of a teacher. I'm-"

Ruby didn't even have to say anything as her dad already had his own, scroll out displaying his ID, showing him as an instructor at Signal.

"Ah. Yes, that'll do nicely." he said nodding. He then pulled up Weiss' and nearly choked when he saw who she was. "I'm-I'm so sorry for all of this Miss Schnee." he managed to stammer out. Ruby didn't miss Weiss' face dropping a bit as he started to grovel, clearly intimidated by her family's status around these parts. "If-if you like we can arrange for you to be taken back to your family's boat." the harbormaster said, starting to sweat now.

At his words Weiss visibly recoiled; Ruby could actually see the panic in her new friend's eyes and instantaneously jumped in to save her. "Uh, we're still not done with our day yet!" she said excitedly, "We still have to go get dinner!"

The tension visibly melted off of Weiss, she nodded, "I appreciate the offer," she said to the harbormaster, "but I believe I'll be staying with these kind people for a while longer. As long as it's alright with you of course." she said, turning to Tai.

"Of course!" Tai replied with a warm smile, "We can't have a celebratory dinner without both of the guests of honor!"

"Well, everything seems to be in order then. Good day to all of you, and thank you again." he swiftly got back on his own boat, still seemingly intimidated by Weiss.

She sighed and sat back down, her face a little saddened, but she perked up a little bit when Ruby sat down next to her.

Tai got back behind the helm and started the boat up. "Alright girls, I'm not super familiar with what there is to eat around here but I know at least one place that would be glad to see us!" He began piloting the boat straight towards the diner they'd just rescued from the Grimm some thirty minutes past.

They docked the boat and no sooner had they stepped through the door of the restaurant when the owner was boisterously greeting all of them with hugs and thanks for saving his restaurant.

"From now on," the big man boomed, "all of you eat here for free! I wouldn't have a restaurant if it wasn't for you two! Now please, sit and order whatever you want! It's on the house!" He showed them to a corner booth and immediately placed a bunch of appetizers on their table.

After they had ordered and they had a second to breathe, Tai and Yang peppered the two of them with questions about their battle as they hadn't been able to see everything from where the boat was.

Ruby was more than happy to recount the exciting details with great enthusiasm as her and Weiss shared a basket of onion rings. Once, during a particularly dramatic part where she was using a lot of sound effects and hand gestures, she caught Weiss staring at her with a fond look on her face and a tiny smile on her lips. Ruby told the rest of the story with a blush on her cheeks that she desperately hoped Yang and her dad didn't notice.

She sat back down and stuck her hand into the basket only to grab onto Weiss' hand instead of an onion ring. Startled by the sudden physical contact, they both quickly snapped their heads around to look at each other; Ruby saw Weiss' cheeks rapidly redden, no doubt getting as hot as her own face was. To her horror, a slight twitch under her fingers made her realize that she was still holding Weiss' hand; she rapidly let go and whirled away, trying to hide how red her face had gotten.

"Oh, dear gods." Yang muttered, putting a hand over her face, "Hopeless."

Thankfully the arrival of their food prevented any more comments from Yang. Moments later all four of them had the greasiest burgers imaginable in front of them and they all dug right in.

After a moment Yang took a swig of her soda and nearly did a spit take as she looked over at Weiss. "Schnee, for Grimm's sake, please tell me you're not insulting this delicious-ass burger by eating it with a knife and fork." Yang said, a scandalized look on her face, "It's like you've never eaten a burger before."

Ruby looked over, and sure enough, Weiss had frozen with a bite of burger speared on her fork halfway to her mouth. Ruby couldn't help but let out a small snicker. Weiss noticed and gave her a little glare, but Ruby could tell that there was little malice behind it.

"Well at least I'm not slobbering it all over myself like you are Xiao Long." Weiss retorted good-naturedly, "And for your information, this is the first time I've eaten a burger. Well, one like this anyway."

Something in Weiss' voice brought all the eating at the table to a stop, some of the levity evaporating. The way she sadly looked at her food made Ruby's heart hurt for her.

"Sorry…" Yang apologized after a moment, "I didn't mean-"

Weiss held up a hand, cutting her off. "You couldn't have known." The white-haired girl smiled at her food. "I've always wanted to eat here you know, you can smell the food from the yacht every summer…My father always said that this kind of cuisine was beneath us but it never stopped my curiosity…" she was silent for a moment, before looking up and regarding them all with a grateful smile. "So thank you for finally bringing me here." She dramatically dropped her knife and fork to the table. "And as they say, 'When in Menagerie'…"

Weiss took a big bite of the burger and chewed, her eyes widened in mild shock. "Why does it taste so much better when you eat it that way?" She asked, once she'd managed to swallow the giant bite.

"I know, right?" Yang agreed, "Totally worth it, even if you did get a little something on your bikini top there…"

Weiss' eyes went wide and she glanced down, mild panic in her eyes only to find nothing there.

Yang burst out laughing, "Oh man, you should have seen the look on your face!" Her laughter was cut short as a fry coated in ketchup smacked into her forehead, sticking there, only to slide down her face after a moment. The whole table stared open mouthed at Weiss.

Weiss glared at Yang, a smug look on her face, "That's what you get for being a jerk!"

Yang gently picked up her napkin, "Ruby," she said, wiping ketchup off her face.

"Yeah?" Ruby asked nervously.

"I like this girl." Yang said with a smirk before lobbing a fry right back at Weiss' face, kicking off a mini fry-war between the two of them, sending Ruby into a fit of giggles.

Across the table, Ruby saw her dad sigh dramatically and stand up. But as he put a stop to the fry fight, Ruby definitely saw the corners of his mouth turn up in poorly suppressed amusement.

Sometime later, boxed leftovers in hand, they made their back to their rented boat. It was almost dusk now and the sunset was gorgeous.

"It's probably about time to take you back to your family, Weiss." Tai said, "I'm sure your father is missing you."

A bitter, humorless laugh escaped Weiss' mouth and she sighed. "He will be wondering where I am, I suppose." she said.

Tai nodded, his face a little sad and began to pilot the boat back towards where the giant yacht was moored.

Weiss sighed and plopped down on the couch seat right next to Ruby. 'So close!' Ruby thought as Weiss' thigh pressed against her own.

Weiss smiled and looked at all of them. "I'd like to thank the three of you for letting me crash your outing, it was incredibly kind of you."

Ruby grinned at her new friend, "It was no problem! You looked like you needed to get away for a bit!"

Weiss smiled right back, "I really did. You have no idea."

Soon, they approached the giant yacht. Weiss stood up from the bench, a frown on her face.

"Is everything ok?" Ruby asked.

"Where is everyone?" Weiss asked as Tai hopped onto the dock and began to tie off the boat, "The party usually lasts long into the night…"

"Miss Weiss? Is that you?" a fancy sounding voice called out. A few moments later, a bald man with a mustache appeared at the back of the yacht.

"Klein!" Weiss called out, her face lighting up, "Where is everyone?"

"The party vacated the boat the second the Grimm alert went off." the man rolled his eyes, as he climbed down onto the dock, "They all went to one of your father's more inland properties. Your father left me behind to collect you once you were finished 'cavorting with the commoners', as he put it." he said, doing a quite passable impression of Weiss' dad. "Ah." the man said as Ruby, Yang, and Tai stepped onto the dock behind Weiss, "You all must be the 'Commoners'." he said with a good-natured grin.

"Oh, where are my manners?" Weiss said, "This is my family butler, Klein. Klein, this is Ruby, Yang, and their father Tai. They were gracious enough to allow me to join them on their outing today."

"Well, I have to thank all of you." Klein said, shaking her dad's proffered hand, "This is the happiest I've seen Weiss in a very long time." He got to Ruby and warmly shook her hand as well, giving her a friendly grin. Ruby couldn't help but think how much of a contrast there was between this utterly pleasant man and Weiss' dad.

Weiss turned back to the three of them, "You've all been so kind to me today, the least I can do is return the favor and invite you aboard the family yacht. I'm sure there's plenty of leftover food from the party." She looked at Klein for confirmation and he nodded.

"We'd love to!" Ruby exclaimed, jumping at the chance to spend more time with this girl.

"Well, as long as it's alright with you…" Tai said, "I'd love to see how the one percent lives. As long as we're not imposing of course."

"Not at all." Klein said, "This food will just go to waste if someone doesn't eat it."

Tai started to walk down the dock, but Yang's hand came down on his shoulder, "Oh, Dad," Yang said, a sly grin on her face, "I almost forgot, you promised to do that thing with me."

"What thing?" he asked, a look of confusion on his face that Ruby shared, she had no idea what Yang was talking about.

Yang gestured with her eyes to Ruby and Weiss and gave her dad a significant look. Realization quickly dawned on his face after a moment.

"Oh right that thing!" he said quickly, "I'd love to come aboard but Yang and I have to go…" he thought for a moment. "Water trampolining! But I'm sure Ruby would be happy to stay for a while! You text me when you're ready to be picked up sweetie!"

"No need for that sir." Klein said, "I will personally make sure your daughter gets home safely."

Tai nodded, satisfied, "Have fun girls!" he gave Ruby a knowing smile before turning and walking down the dock.

"Come on dad," Yang said, throwing her arm over his shoulders, "Time for some father-daughter bonding time!" she turned back towards Ruby and mouthed, 'You owe me'.

Ruby gave her a grateful smile, still trying to process what the hell had just happened. She glanced over at Weiss who looked equally stunned.

Klein cleared his throat after several moments of them just staring at each other. "Miss Weiss, why don't you give Miss Ruby a tour of the boat, I'll whip you two up a little something once you make your way up to the bar on the main deck."

"I'm sure she doesn't want to see our boring boat." Weiss said with a slight eye roll.

"I do too!" Ruby retorted indignantly, "Your boat is literally bigger than my entire house. I'd love a tour, especially if it's f-from you." she finished with a nervous grin.

Weiss' cheeks turned slightly red, "Well, in that case," she said quickly, turning away to hide her blush, "Right this way Miss Rose." she gestured at the ramp leading up into the massive Yacht. "After you."

Ruby went up into the lobby of the boat and was greeted by a majestic staircase leading to the upper deck. "This is the main deck but we'll finish the tour back here." She led Ruby to a door just behind the grand staircase and pushed a button on the wall.

"You-you have an elevator in your boat?" Ruby asked in disbelief, as the doors parted, revealing a lift.

"Money." Weiss explained with one word.

They progressed through the rest of the massive boat, with Weiss showing her the cinema and game room on the top deck, the jacuzzi above that on the sun deck, the ten fully decked out cabins on the lowest deck, and all the other over the top accommodations. But if Ruby was honest, she wasn't paying all that much attention to the tour, she was too busy staring at Weiss. At her long white hair. Her flawless skin. Her eyes…gods her eyes were so pretty, bright blue like the sky on a winter's day. Every time Weiss looked at her, it felt like her gaze pierced straight into her soul. Though, her attention was briefly torn away from Weiss as she laid eyes on the ship's massive dust engines and nerded out for almost five straight minutes on their design.

Eventually, they ended back up on the main floor and Weiss led them over to the bar. Ruby once again tore her eyes away from her host to take in the bar. It was gorgeous and elaborately decorated with a floor to ceiling glass feature. Even the ceiling was inlaid with gold leaf. Behind the rounded counter she could see bottles of spirits that she was very certain cost more than all four years of her tuition to Signal put together.

Weiss offered her a seat and they both sat down at the curved bar. Klein smiled and set two colorful, red and yellow drinks in front of them.

Ruby eyed the drink, her eyebrows shooting up.

"Non-alcoholic." Klein said, as if reading her mind, "It's a modified tequila cocktail, minus the tequila of course. I call it a strawberry sunrise."

Ruby took a sip and her eyes widened. She was utterly blown away by the rush of flavor that blasted her taste buds. "Wow! " She exclaimed, turning to Weiss, "Rich people drinks are insanely good!"

Weiss smiled at her enthusiasm, "Well, despite my father, there are some…well, many perks to having money."

Ruby shivered slightly as a breeze blew through one of the open windows.

"Oh, Miss Rose," Klein said, having noticed, "While Miss Weiss was giving you the grand tour, your father dropped your bag off before departing." he gestured over to one of the tables behind them.

Ruby instantly spotted Crescent Rose and her bag and jumped excitedly out of her seat. She pulled a red hoodie on over her halter top. She briefly considered putting some sweatpants on over her swim-shorts, but it wasn't quite cold enough for that yet.

She sat back down next to Weiss, placing Crescent Rose in the seat on her other side. Weiss looked at her quizzically. Ruby shrugged, "I like to have it with me, just in case!" she said, "Plus I just built it a bit ago and I don't really want to let it out of my sight."

Weiss nodded, seeming to understand. "Sooo…you said that you were at Signal?" she asked.

"Yep!" Ruby said, nodding, "Going into my junior year!"

Weiss looked down and fiddled with her napkin, "Have you given any thought to what Huntsmen Academy you'll be attending when you graduate? I know General Ironwood is always looking for students of your caliber to attend Atlas Academy. My sister works with him, I-I'm sure I can ask her to put in a good word for you."

Ruby shook her head, "I appreciate the offer, and I'm sure Atlas is an amazing school…but I've decided that I'll be attending Beacon." she caught a look of disappointment on Weiss' face. "I've dreamed of going there since I was a little kid." she continued, "My dad went there, my uncle and now Yang too…and…" she choked up for several moments, "and my mom…" she finally managed to say, "My mom graduated from Beacon too." she wiped some tears from her eyes.

Ruby saw a realization dawn on Weiss as the heiress connected the dots, a sad look coming across her face, "Oh…I'm so sorry for your loss."

Ruby waved a hand, dismissing her concerns, "Thank you. It's ok…I don't really remember her all that well, I was just a little kid when she…left. It just sneaks up on me sometimes, you know?" She dried the last of her tears. "What about you?" she asked quickly, desperate to change the subject, "What school are you going to?"

"I…" Weiss hesitated, her face adopting a sad expression, "I'm going to Atlas Academy."

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked with a smile, trying to lighten the mood, "You don't seem so certain."

"I-I" Weiss hesitated again, "I was accepted to every Huntsmen school on Remnant," she said slowly, "but my family…rather my father, insisted I go to Atlas so he could have me closer to home."'

Klein snorted derisively from where he was cleaning a glass behind the bar, his eyes now an angry red. "More like so 'e could keep you under 'is thumb, the controlling prick…" he sneezed and his eyes snapped back to blue. Ruby was fairly shocked at the mild mannered man's outburst. "Apologies." he said quietly, returning to cleaning the glass.

"Crude, but correct…" Weiss conceded sadly, apparently unperturbed by Klein's abrupt change. "I-I don't want to go to Atlas. To be honest, I want to get as far away from that man as I possibly can. But it's too late now. The decision deadline has already passed." Weiss' face fell, looking sad and defeated

"Then don't go!" Ruby exclaimed, once again realizing how much she hated it when Weiss was sad. "Talk to Professor Ozpin, I'm sure he'd be able to help you out!"

"It's not that simple." Weiss said morosely, "My father will take a lot of convincing…"

"If it means anything Miss Weiss," Klein said kindly, "I'll do whatever I can to help you. You desperately need to get away from…all of this quite frankly."

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered, slapping Klein a high five, "Plus if you do go to Beacon, we can hang out all the time when I get there in a couple years!" Weiss smiled at her warmly and Ruby's heart soared.

Weiss sighed and dramatically threw her hands up, "Fine! You convinced me, I'll send Ozpin a message inquiring about late admission in the morning."

"Yes!" Ruby cheered, lunging forward and wrapping Weiss in a hug before the rational part of her brain could catch up with what she was doing and stop her. When it eventually did catch up as she realized she was tightly hugging someone she'd only just met that same day and quickly let go as they both blushed bright red. They finished their mocktails in an awkward silence.

"Miss Weiss," Klein said after a few minutes, "If I might be so bold, why don't you take Miss Rose up to the sundeck for some stargazing? I'll bring you two some desserts in a little while."

"Excellent idea!" Weiss exclaimed, quickly getting up from her chair, apparently eager to disperse the awkward atmosphere.

Weiss led her through the boat and back up to the sundeck, where they shoved two deck chairs close together and laid down, Weiss sitting to Ruby's right. The heiress pulled out her scroll, first casting a music playlist to the speakers built into the boat, then turning off all the deck lights with a push of a button.

Ruby clasped her hands on her chest and stared up at the sky, contentedly listening to the down-tempo electronic music Weiss had put on while she waited for her eyes to adjust.

Thinking back, Ruby realized that this whole thing was mildly nuts. She was stargazing, a fairly romantic activity, with someone she'd only just met that day. She definitely had a crush on this girl and Weiss seemed to reciprocate the feeling but Ruby was terrible at reading that kind of thing. She supposed she should make some kind of move to find out one way or the other, but she couldn't muster up the courage. Just the thought of making a move on this girl who was so clearly out of her league made her heart race nervously and she had to struggle to control her breathing so as to not give away her inner turmoil to Weiss.

Her hands, apparently, had other ideas as her right hand, seemingly slippery with nervous sweat, slid down her stomach and off the side of the chair, where she immediately bumped into Weiss' hand.

Both girls inhaled sharply, slightly startled by the sudden touch, but neither of them pulled away from the contact. Ruby gritted her teeth and threw caution to the wind, this was a once in a lifetime chance and she wasn't going to waste it.

She gently hooked her index finger around Weiss', desperately hoping the older girl wouldn't pull away. Weiss didn't pull away, and in fact tightened her grip on Ruby's finger, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Ruby cheered silently, having a very difficult time keeping her cool. She continued to look up, now with a big grin on her face, relishing the feeling of Weiss' hand on hers.

After a while Ruby realized, despite several minutes passing, she still wasn't able to see that many stars, at least no more than she could see back home. "Not that this isn't nice," Ruby said tentatively, "but for a place called Starfield Bay I kinda expected to see more stars."

Weiss scoffed, "Well, I've been told that the stargazing around here used to be incredible back in the day, but then the obscenely rich moved in, created a bunch of light pollution and ruined it for everyone." Weiss' tone was bitter, and Ruby thought she detected some guilt.

"Aww, that's too bad." Ruby said.

"Well, I've heard that the stargazing out on the reef is spectacular this time of year." Klein said from somewhere behind them, making his presence known, "And I also heard that someone has fueled up your father's new speedboat."

Weiss turned and looked back at the kindly man with a confused frown on her face. "Klein?"

"It also appears that someone has put some desserts and drinks in the boat. And would you look at that." He walked to the ship's railing, a mischievous glint in his eye, "My back seems to be turned."

Ruby saw a grin break out on Weiss' face "Thank you Klein." she said, pulling Ruby up by the hand and leading her back inside.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." Ruby heard the butler say as the door closed behind them.

A few minutes later, the speedboat left the dock at the back of the massive boat with Weiss behind the helm. A few minutes after that, they exited out of the harbor. Weiss poured on the throttle and the engine roared.

They were in the boat for quite a while. Unfortunately the engine was too loud for them to hold a proper conversation, but Weiss made up for it by reaching over, lacing their fingers together and giving her a warm smile, sending Ruby's heart soaring once again. She figured they were about twenty-five miles out from the harbor by the time Weiss cut the engine and the boat drifted to a stop.

Weiss deployed the gravity-dust anchors and killed the lights, then the two of them climbed out on the long, flat bow of the boat. Weiss stretched out next to Ruby and once again stared up at the sky. Her eyes had barely begun to adjust when she realized that she was already able to make out the cloudy band of the galaxy against the pitch-black sky. She smiled to herself, her mind going back to simpler times.

"Wow…" Ruby breathed next to her, "I've-I've never seen this many stars before! This is amazing!"

"Didn't you say you were from Patch?" Weiss asked, "I thought that was pretty rural."

"Sorta." Ruby replied, "We live fairly close to the city, so we've got some light pollution too, plus there's a ton of trees around the cabin so that doesn't help either. But this…" she said, the awe in her voice almost palpable, "There's stars from horizon to horizon!" She was quiet for a moment, "I bet you don't get to see this in Atlas either." There was a tinge of melancholy in her voice.

"No…" Weiss said sadly, shaking her head, "I'm lucky if I can see one star from the manor. You have absolutely no idea how much light pollution Atlas puts off. It's obnoxious." She was quiet for a few moments. "The only time I've seen this many stars was when Klein would take my siblings and I out here late at night when we were younger." A small smile ghosted across her lips. Those memories were precious to her. She missed those days.

"Not your parents?" Ruby asked innocently.

Weiss scoffed, some of the nostalgic feeling evaporating. "My father is…a cold bastard. And my mother…well she hasn't been particularly available for parenting for years now. As far as I'm concerned Klein was the one who raised me."

Weiss felt some bitter tears roll down her cheeks. She wiped them away, sniffling slightly, a bit ashamed of herself. Silently, Ruby reached over and laced their fingers together, giving her hand a comforting squeeze, letting her know that she was there for her without bringing attention to her tears. Weiss was so incredibly grateful.

"Well…" Ruby said softly, "From what I've seen of your dad and Klein, I know which one I'd rather be raised by."

Weiss smiled, her mind flicking back to all the times he'd spent with them while her parents screamed at each other loudly. All the times he tried to protect them from their father's anger. "He's a good man." She said after a moment, her voice hitching briefly in her throat. "But honestly I'd rather not talk about my father at all. This night is much too nice to ruin it by invoking his name." Ruby nodded agreeably and they went back to staring up at the heavens.

"I just can't get over how clear it is out here!" Ruby said after a while.

"If you think that's cool," Weiss said, grinning to herself, "Then you should look over the side of the boat." She'd been saving the best part as a surprise, hoping Ruby wouldn't notice it on her own.

The younger girl rolled onto her stomach and peeked over the side of the boat, letting out a soft gasp of awe.

Weiss smiled and laid down and joined Ruby in admiring the amazing sights. Below the surface of the water, the coral reef was literally glowing, teeming with bioluminescent aquatic life of all kinds. Jellyfish, glowing bright blue, floated close to the surface of the water, dragging long, iridescent tentacles behind them. Down below, the coral themselves glowed every color of the rainbow, each species with their own unique shade. Brightly colored schools of fish darted between the branches of the coral, a moving mass of color that was stunning to look at.

Weiss never got tired of looking at the reef. Thinking back, it had been nearly five years since she was out here last. She'd missed it more than she realized. She was glad she could share this experience with Ruby, there weren't many people who got to see this.

She glanced over at the younger girl and her breath was almost taken away. Ruby had a look of pure wonder on her face, like this was the most amazing thing she'd seen in her entire life. Gods, she looked incredible with the way the light from below danced across her features, glinting off her silver eyes. Weiss hadn't realized just how pretty Ruby was.

"This is amazing!" Ruby said, her voice filled with awe.

"It is…" Weiss breathed softly, not looking at the water at all.

Ruby must have heard the odd tone in her voice because her head snapped up. Ruby's breath hitched as she looked at Weiss, her eyes lingering for just a little too long before snapping back to the water, an embarrassed look on her face.

They'd been dancing around this for far too long at this point. Weiss was almost completely certain why Ruby kept averting her gaze, but she wanted to hear it out loud, to hear that Ruby felt the same connection that she did. She was also fairly certain that Ruby would need a little push.

"Ruby…" she said softly, her new friend jumped slightly, "Why did you invite me on your boat tour?"

Ruby sat up, swallowing hard, but looked her right in the eye. "We were passing by and I thought you looked sad and wanted to cheer you up…" she said earnestly.

Weiss smiled and cocked an eyebrow at her, "You're telling me that you invite every sad stranger to join your vacation?" she deliberately moved closer to the red-clad girl, whose face immediately began to redden noticeably. "Come on," she breathed at Ruby, "Tell me the real reason."

"That is the real reason!" Ruby insisted, "One of them at least…The other reason is that you're really pretty." Ruby was blushing nearly as red as her hoodie now but she refused to look away. "I would never normally talk to girls as pretty as you, but it just leapt out of my mouth before I could stop it."

"Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you did." Weiss said, her soft smile making Ruby feel at ease. "I had a lot of fun today."

"Me too." Ruby replied. She scooted closer to Weiss, entwining their fingers once again. She gazed into Weiss' icy-blue eyes. There were just mere inches separating them now, so close she could feel Weiss' breath on her lips. Her heart pounded in her chest, so loud in her ears she was certain that Weiss could hear it. Weiss' eyes roamed around her face. She looked like she was thinking, trying to come to a decision on something.

"Ruby?" The older girl asked, "Do you think we'll ever see each other again?"

The question took her by surprise, but it was unfortunately easy to answer. "Probably not." Ruby replied sadly, "Not for a couple years yet, if at all."

Weiss' frowned, still seemingly weighing something in her mind.

"Oh, fuck it." Weiss suddenly leaned forward, closing the last few inches between them and pressing her lips to Ruby's.

Ruby tensed up, startled by Weiss' sudden movement but quickly relaxed into the kiss, enjoying the sensation of Weiss' cool lips against hers. She wrapped her arms around Weiss and drew them closer together. This was her first kiss so she had no idea what she was doing, but Weiss seemed to be equally new at this so it didn't really matter.

Eventually they parted, both of them breathless, still entwined in each other's arms.

"Wow..." Ruby whispered, "that was incredible…"

Weiss nodded in agreement, a contented smile on her face.

This girl was amazing and Ruby had no idea what Weiss saw in her but she was too happy to question it. All she knew for sure is that today just wouldn't be enough for her, she had to see Weiss again. She wrestled with a thought for a moment before deciding that boldness seemed to be today's theme and blurting the thought right out. "Can I give you my scroll number?" Ruby asked. She regretted it almost instantly as Weiss' smile dropped and she flinched slightly, and leaned away from her, forcing Ruby to let go of her.

"I'm…I'm not sure that's a good idea." The white-haired girl said after a moment, looking away from Ruby.

"Oh." Ruby said sadly, cursing herself for ruining the moment, for assuming that Weiss felt the same way she did. "I get it. This is just a summer fling for a day-"

"No." Weiss said forcefully, startling Ruby a little. "It's not like that. Not at all. It's just…" Weiss exhaled forcefully, "It's like you said, the odds of us seeing each other again are slim to none and we live on opposite sides of the world. I don't want…I don't want to give either of us some kind of false hope for something that'll never pan out." She looked into Ruby's eyes, a sad look on her face. "I think that would just hurt the both of us in the long run…"

Ruby sighed. She hated to admit it but Weiss was right. "And somehow I doubt your family would approve of me anyway."

"No, they wouldn't." Weiss agreed sadly. "But…here's what I propose." Ruby perked up. "We enjoy…whatever this is between us for tonight, then we go our separate ways with fond memories. If we ever meet again in the future, then maybe we can see where this goes."

Ruby gave a small sigh, but looking over at the heiress, she realized that any amount of time with this girl was more than worth it, even if it was just for tonight. "I think I can live with that." She said softly, giving Weiss a grin.

Weiss smiled back at her, the tension that had been obvious in her body easing slightly.

"So Weiss Schnee," Ruby said, scooching closer again. "What exactly did you have in mind for 'enjoying this'?"

Weiss thought for a moment, "Well, we could cuddle and eat that dessert that Klein packed us. Then maybe we could make out some more?" She suggested, regarding Ruby with a sly smile.

Ruby grinned. She leaned forward and placed a kiss on Weiss' lips, just because she could. "I like this plan. And-and I like you." she had a massive boost in confidence right now and dammit, she was going to use it for all it was worth.

Ruby quickly stood up, and it was all she could do to keep herself from dancing all the way back to the seats where the food basket sat. If they only had a short time together, she was going to use it for all it was worth. And judging by the happy smile on Weiss' face she wasn't the only one with that same thought.

It was well past midnight by the time Weiss returned the speedboat to the dock inside the mega-yacht. Ruby said her goodbyes to Klein and thanked him profusely for the giant freezerbag stuffed with party food that he all but demanded she take with her to Tai and Yang.

She now stood in the house's driveway, awaiting the chauffeur Klein had called to pick her up. "Klein is pretty great." she said, hefting the massive bag of food, "You're lucky to have him."

"Believe me, I know." Weiss replied with a fond smile.

Ruby saw the car coming down the road towards them. "Hey," she said, turning to Weiss, "How bout one more for the road?" she pointed at her lips.

Weiss smiled, shaking her head slightly at Ruby's ridiculousness, "Of course." she said fondly.

Their lips met and they kissed deeply. They parted as the car pulled up beside them and Ruby began to load her things into the car with a soft sigh.

"Well…I guess this is goodbye…" Ruby said sadly, "Hopefully I'll see you around!"

Weiss just sort of stared at her, she'd always been terrible at goodbyes. All she could do was wave at her as her new friend began to step into the car.

She shook her head, she couldn't leave it like this.

"Wait…"

Instantly Ruby practically leapt out of the car and back to her. Weiss smiled at her. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"For what?"

"For a really fun day." she said softly, "For a day where I could just be myself and not who my family desperately wants me to be. For a normal day with a normal family…well…" she paused, grinning, "as normal as a day can be when you fight a kraken."

Ruby giggled, "Well I'm not sure I can take all the credit, but it was my pleasure." she said, bowing dramatically and kissing Weiss' hand. Weiss smiled at her, her cheeks getting hot once again.

"Goodbye, Ruby Rose." she said fondly.

"See you later Weiss!" the red-clad girl said brightly, waving as she climbed into the waiting car.

Weiss stood in the driveway until the car was out of sight. She really hoped that she would cross paths with Ruby again someday. She turned and headed back into the house with a spring in her step that hadn't been there in years, already composing a message to Professor Ozpin in her head.

SMOOCHES! I really like this chapter, super cute and adorable with just as little bit of angst! I also really like Klein being a wingman for Weiss and Yang being a wingwoman for Ruby. They just want their family to be happy dammit!

There's one more chapter left in this story and I'll be posting it next week! It will be posted a day or two late as I'm going to be visiting my wife's family in salt lake city until next Saturday.

If you enjoyed the chapter, comments and kudos are always appreciated! As always, thanks to my wonderful wife for being my beta, and thanks to YOU for reading!