Chapter 11

"So, have you spoken to your little saviours since you got to Beacon?" William asked, smirking at Dahlia, who blushed and looked down at the table.

"Not… Exactly yet… I was going to after initiation, but then… Ozpin… And it's been a bit of a week since. A lot to get my head around, and all that…"

Rust leaned forwards, concern creasing his face. "Perhaps it would be a good idea? I imagine they may be worried about you. If not the children, the adults?"

"I doubt the adults would be too worried, they probably weren't expecting anything. But I might have… Promised that I would call the girls… And I'm pretty sure they're the type to shout at me for forgetting…"

Y'sh chuckled, glad that the topic had moved to something lighter, even if that was a source of embarrassment for her partner.

"No better time to call, then, eh?" William pointed out, the insufferable smirk not shrinking in the slightest. Dahlia glared at him, before sighing and pulling out her Scroll. She selected the household's number, and after hesitating for a couple of seconds, hit *call*.

*Ring ring*

"Hello, Yang here."

Dahlia smiled slightly. "Hey Yang, remember me?"

The blonde on the other end of the call stared out of the screen in silence for a brief moment, before…

"DAHL! Oh my God, what did you do to your hair?! I mean, it looks awesome, but what? Why didn't you call before? Are you okay?" She turned to the side to shout into the rest of the house. "RUBES, Dahl's calling!"

The other's in the café could hear a muffled exclamation from the other end of the call as Dahlia moved her Scroll away from herself. The exuberant volume of the children she'd called was… Certainly something.

"Alright, girls, calm down." Came the sound of a more mature, male voice. "If you scream like that, she's going to hang up."

"Yes, Dad." Came the slightly sullen response from the excitable children.

"Hi Tai. Sorry I haven't called before today." Dahlia said, shyly. Y'sh could see a slight blush creeping across her cheeks, which she filed away for later comment.

"Well, I hadn't heard from Oz that you'd not made it, so I figured nothing had gone wrong. But I was hoping to hear from you after initiation."

"Well… Technically, this is after initiation, just… A bit later than either of us really wanted. Besides, there was… A bit of drama at the Team-naming ceremony, and it's been a bit of a time this week. I'm sorry, things just came up and I didn't have a chance to really think about calling until now."

"Don't worry about it. I almost never get a call from Qrow unless he's after some lien, or needs a couch to crash on after a long night."

"Good point. Well, I was wondering… Would it be alright if I came round for a visit? And brought my teammates with me? I wanted to properly thank you all for helping me out the way you did, and I'd love to introduce you all."

"Give me a second." The man, Tai, leaned just out of view of the Scroll camera and called out to his children. "Girls! Dahlia wants to come over and bring her team! That alright by you?"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

Tai smirked back out to Dahlia. "I think that's a yes. You want to come over for dinner tonight?"

Dahlia shook her head, looking at her teammates. "No, I think it'd be best if we left it to tomorrow. We wouldn't want to impose on such short notice. Besides, we've got some shopping we need to get back to our dorm."

"Alright, don't worry about it. We'll see you tomorrow, just let us know when you'll be swinging by."

"Will do. Thanks again, Tai."

"Don't mention it. Seriously, don't. I think Qrow might be around for a bit tomorrow, too. Just… Be prepared to deal with him being… Out of it."

Dahlia grimaced. From the short amount of time she'd spent around Qrow and Tai, she knew exactly what he meant.

"We'll keep that in mind. See you tomorrow."

After hanging up, she looked at her teammates, who were all smiling at her.

"What?"

"Nothing, just… Appreciating how much you lit up talking to them." William's voice was full of warmth, without being laced with amusement.

"Shut up…" She mumbled, and Rust burst out in the most laughter any of them had heard from the veritable mountain. Well, all except Y'sh, at any rate.

After the Faunus had brought his raucous laughter under control, he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and grinned at Dahlia.

"Thank you for that. I don't think you know just how much I needed a laugh." He was still chuckling a little, which made Dahlia's blush grow further. She wasn't sure why, but she liked Rust's grin, even though it felt a little intimidating. She'd last seen it creeping across his face whilst he was wreathed in his Semblance, but this time it was on full display, and she couldn't quite drag her eyes away from it.

"Well… I'm sorry for making the decision about what we do tomorrow. Especially since I dragged you all out for today. Feels a little unfair, like I'm taking over the whole weekend."

Y'sh patted her on the shoulder, smiling.

"You don't need to worry about it, Dahlia. I, for one, had no plans for the weekend anyway, and I would like to meet the people who saved your life. If only to thank them. After all, you are my partner, and my friend."

Dahlia could feel her blush growing, but this time she knew exactly why. She'd never really known what to do with such honest feelings being expressed around her, let alone directed towards her. It felt good, she couldn't help but admit. But she wasn't accustomed to it.

"Well, anyway… Let's finish our drinks and get back to Beacon. We still need to put our shopping away, and we probably should make a start on Port's essay."

Now William's smirk took on a tinge of amusement. It was nice to see that Dahlia could pull such faces when she was embarrassed, and even nicer to realise that she'd become able to open up to them all like this. He'd been hoping that she'd feel so comfortable the entire week, and had been trying to help her get to that point. Turns out, all it took was them all opening up to each other and baring their own pains. Simple, huh?

The Following Day

The four teens walked away from the airship dock on Patch, strolling down the road towards the Xiao-long/Rose house. It may have only been a week and a half since Dahlia had been there, but she felt a warm sense of familiarity as she approached the building. It had been the first place she'd felt even slightly welcome, and had taught her what a family should be, in much the same way that her team had shown her how much like home a group of people could feel.

"Alright, word of warning before we get there: there's a fair chance that Qrow is going to be passed out, or at least, hungover, on the couch when we arrive. Which means that he'll be the most grouchy bastard you've ever met. Also, Yang and Ruby are seven and five, respectively, so we need to keep our language clean. If we go too far, Tai will probably kick someone's ass. He and Qrow are both Huntsmen, and I think they're both teachers at Signal, so they certainly could. And before anyone asks about the rest of the home life… Their mother is not a topic of conversation. You bring it up, Qrow will smash whatever he's holding, Tai will walk away to punch something into splinters, Yang will get depressed and Ruby won't know exactly why any of that's happening, but she'll get upset as a result."

Her teammates took it all in with frowns across their brows. Clearly Dahlia cared about the family they were going to visit, and none of them wanted to spoil it for her in any way. They turned a corner and started down a driveway, towards a comfortable-looking house, with what looked like a grey blur by the front door.

As they got closer, Dahlia recognised the form as a slumped-over person, and she frowned. Hearing her heavy sigh, William looked over, and then back to the figure.

"Let me guess… Qrow?"

"That's who it looks like." They got to the house, and Dahlia looked around the yard. Spotting what she had hoped to find, she gestured to Rust. "Grab the bucket over there. Tai usually keeps some water in it overnight so he can sluice off after training in the morning."

"Won't he mind us using it?" Rust asked, as he picked up the chilled bucket of water.

"Given the circumstances, I doubt it. When I was here before, I got woken up a couple times by the sound of Tai doing just what I'm about to. Besides, Qrow can handle it. Might make him smell a bit less like a dive bar."

With that, she took the bucket from Rust and emptied it over the sleeping man's head.

He snapped awake, sputtering and cursing to such a degree that William could have sworn that the air started to turn blue around him. As he clambered to his feet, he blinked and stared blearily at the four of them. After a few moments, his red eyes cleared and widened.

"Well, damn. You took your time swinging by, Twinkles. At least you look a bit less bedraggled than last time."

"Speak for yourself. You trying to pickle yourself before the girls even get to Signal?"

Qrow looked down at himself, taking in his sodden state. It wasn't the first time he'd been woken up so roughly, but he did feel a little ashamed that he was being lectured at by a kid more than a decade younger than him, and shorter by more than a foot.

"Yeah, yeah. You may have a point, kid. Look, maybe… Don't mention this to Tai, or the girls, okay? I'll get you some ice cream next time."

"Qrow, I'm seventeen. I'm not as easily bribed as your nieces." Dahlia crossed her arms, glaring at the older Huntsman. "Besides, not telling Tai is somewhat impossible now."

"Do I want to know what you mean by that?"

William leaned in towards Dahlia and stage-whispered in her ear.

"He does realise that we used Tai's post-workout bucket to wake him up, right? And, assuming that Tai happens to be the only other adult male who lives here…"

Qrow palmed his face. "He's standing right behind me, isn't he?"

A calloused hand clapped onto Qrow's shoulder, and a man wearing a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes loomed over the hapless drunk.

"Morning, Qrow. Good thing Ruby hadn't found you first, huh? Don't think she would have been able to handle seeing her favourite uncle, and borderline hero, passed out on our front porch."

At his words, Qrow's already pale face started to turn a faint shade of green.

"After all, it's bad enough when they come down for breakfast and see you on the couch. You have a room here, Qrow. I just wish you'd use it a bit more often."

Even the teens who didn't know Tai all that well could hear the sorrow and pain in the man's voice. The two clearly had a lot of shared history, and cared about each other's wellbeing. Rust stepped forwards, with William just behind him.

"I'm Rust, one of Dahlia's teammates. It's an honour to meet you." He extended his hand in greeting. Tai, bemused at the formality of Rust's tone, took his hand from Qrow's shoulder to shake Rust's, as William made his own introduction.

"William Telos, at your service."

He saw Qrow's eyes flash at the sound of his surname, and he raised a hand to forestall the older man's inevitable outburst.

"And yes, I'm aware of all the stuff associated with my family's name. All of it. And no matter how disgusted and horrified you are about it, I am just as much if not more so." His tone brooked no arguments from the two men before them. "I've told them all about it, and how far I'm willing to go to redeem everything about the Telos name."

Stepping forward to dispel the heavy atmosphere around the group, Y'sh volunteered her own hand to the damp Qrow.

"Y'sh Maile. Dahlia's my partner on the team, and I'm proud to consider her my friend."

She could see the recognition in both men's eyes at her name. It would seem that they were both familiar with her family's school, and perhaps the circumstances around it. However, before they could open up a discussion about it, they were interrupted by two blurs, one yellow and one red, that burst through the door and slammed into Dahlia, knocking her to the ground.

"DAHLIA!"

"DAHL!"