Okay guys so an update for both this story and my life. Well, been trying to find ammo but its a bitch. I only got one box of 5.56/.223 for my AR the other day, and it was only 20 rds. And I was lucky to get that. I could go on gunbroker, but then shipping costs are a bitch. So pretty much my only option is to wait for stores to stock back up. Which sucks because now that I got my optic, I have to go zero both my iron sights and my optic. So kind of need that ammo.

Other than that, life is good.

Jem woke up to a small ray of sunshine peeking through the small crack in the zipper of his tent. He opened his eyes slowly and got a glimpse of his surroundings. He was in his flektarn tent. And he felt a very warm presence pressing against his chest. He looked down to see Winters head was resting on his left pec with her arm wrapped around his abs. He smiled down at the sight. It was cute.

He didn't want to disturb her, so he managed to get away from her grasp and put a pillow right next to her for her to cuddle. He sat up and opened the tent to see that it was still early and the sun was rising. This was absolutely perfect for him. He got out the pack of Colonel Crockett's mountain morning coffee and got to work making a small cup for himself. He wasn't expecting everyone to wake up right away. Usually Winter would be up, but she looked dead asleep, so he was expecting her to sleep in at least for another 30 minutes.

He pulled his mini stove out of his pack along with a small fuel canister. He got his mini aeropress on the flame and started to look around for his camping mug.

Jem enjoyed this.

He wouldn't admit it to anyone. But moments like this were medicine to him.

It had been months since he had left the army. But it hadn't been everything he dreamed of.

He started to heat the water for coffee as he started to think about all the doubts going into his head.

He looked over at the waterfalls and its crystal clear water and then back to the sunrise peeking out over the landscape. It was stuff like this that reminded him there was a lot of beauty in this world, and it would be a shame to miss out on it all.

The water started to heat up as he poured the coffee grounds into the mini aeropress and pushed down on the plunger to push them down to the bottom. He picked up his camp mug and poured himself a cup of that magic brown water. The warm coffee with the sunrise and the relaxing sounds of the waterfall helped put him into a state of pure bliss. This was what he had dreamed about. Moments like this where there was nothing to worry about. No cars making noises. No pedestrians screaming about anything. Being completely unaware of what was going on in the world. It was harmonious.

He closed his eyes for a second and let all the anxieties of the past few months fade away.

Jem didn't want to admit it, but he missed the army in a lot of ways.

Everyone talks about how you will miss it the day you get out, and most of the time you laugh it off thinking 'Fuck that, I won't miss this.'

But the thing he forgot about was he wasn't just leaving a stressful job. He was leaving behind all the friends he made along the way. And that was the hardest thing for him to deal with. Now when he woke up in the morning, he was all alone, his friends weren't waiting outside their barracks room waiting for the NCOs to do a morning room inspection. They weren't cracking jokes about how fat and ugly everyone in the battalion was. Jem missed that feeling. Why did he keep waking up to see the sunrise? Because it helped him remind himself there was something to look forward to in the morning.

He didn't have any trouble adjusting to a civilian job, but he did have issues adjusting to civilian co workers. It wasn't so much their attitudes, it was just they were into things he couldn't relate to.

All his coworkers talked about was the latest shows on Netflix or Hulu. And it drove him nuts. How could anyone live their lives doing nothing but watching tv? He liked a good movie as much as anyone else but it was ridiculous.

Jem didn't understand it, he was only in for three years and he didn't even deploy. And yet he was having trouble adjusting to the civilian world. In a way, he supposed it was a twist of irony. The guy who looked forward to getting out ended up missing the same shit he bitched about while he was in.

He looked back at the tents. He smiled as he realized that was one thing that had been fortunate about the Remnant crew coming through the portal. It had brought a sense of chaos and zany antics he needed in a time when everything was getting boring as hell. Even though they were just acting like everyday people doing everyday things, not a day went by without something nuts happening. Whether it was Nora breaking random shit or Ruby coming up with crazy weapons designs that belonged in boogaloo memes, somehow the days would be interesting in one way or another.

And then came the whole Winter situation.

Jem was not blind. He could see Winter was a very attractive woman. But when they first met he assumed she was a ice queen like her sister. It didn't help that they got on the wrong foot. But he had seen changes in her recently. Especially this morning, when he found her cuddling him. Now that wasn't that odd considering they shared a tent. But even so, he was surprised she did not object to sleeping in the same tent as him in the first place.

Winter had been acting strange in the last few weeks. She seemed to want to spend more time with him. She didn't complain anymore if he walked around the motorhome with his shirt off. And on top of all that, along with Nala they had been spending a lot of time together. Eh, he was certain she was just finally adjusting to Earth.

Nala however.

He looked over at the tiny tent that Nala had all to herself. And he smiled at it. Nala hadn't been here that long, but Jem had grown fond of her. He had tried to take on more of a mentor role for her because he knew she needed that in her life. He still couldn't believe that Menagerie could just let her fend for herself. But he tried to shake his head of those thoughts. Nala explained the orphanage burned down, and he seriously couldn't expect everyone on the island to take in a child. He wasn't sure how he felt about the whole child labor situation, but he decided not to dwell on it too much. It didn't matter, Nala was here now and that was all that mattered.

He wouldn't lie, it was nice having her around. Especially when he was teaching her to shoot. He also tried to teach her some basic self defense just in case she ever got bullied by someone her own age. But he didn't really have to worry about that here. He remembered she did try to lift weights with him once. However, she stopped after a few tries because Jem said it wasn't good for someone her age to get into deadlifting.

Exercise was important for children, so instead of weightlifting he would usually play some basketball with her. Jem was not a basketball player by any means. But that made two of them. Nala had never played sports. And then you had Jem who didn't have the dexterity for a lot of sports involving a ball. So they were on even levels. It all ended up working out in the end. Jem would see Nala out shooting baskets attempting to get better even if he wasn't outside playing with her.

"Mr. Jem?" Speak of the devil.

He turned to see Nala wiping the sleep out of her eyes as she walked towards Jem.

"Morning sweetie." He said as she sat on the log next to him.

"Can I have some?" She said pointing to his coffee mug.

"This? Oh I don't think you would like this." He said as she tilted her head at him.

"Why do you drink it then?"

"Because I like it."

"Why wouldn't I like it then?"

"Its a bit of an acquired taste." He was being honest. He may have loved coffee, but it took him a bit to get used to it.

"Can I still have a sip?"

"Okay." He figured what the hell, its not like it could do any harm.

Nala took the cup in her hands as she took a small sip. Jem saw a slight cringe as she wasn't used to the bitter taste.

"...Maybe with some milk and sugar?" She said as she didn't understand how Jem could drink it like that.

"You do you Nala." He said as he took his cup back and sipped some more.

"Mr. Jem..." Nala asked as she played with her hair.

"Whats up kid?" He asked as he took another sip.

"Could I stay here with you?" Jem froze for a bit and looked down at her.

"Why would you want that?" He asked as she looked away.

"Well, to be honest, I feel wanted here." She said as Jem couldn't help but feel his heart break a little hearing that.

"Back on Remnant, I was working just to survive, no one on Menagerie could adopt me, whether it was by choice or they couldn't afford another mouth to feed, I was on my own." She said as she looked back up at Jem.

"But, when I came here, you immediately offered me a steak without even thinking twice!" That made him chuckle a little.

"But despite being a stranger, you took me in, gave me a home, and now for once in my life..." Nala went a bit quiet as Jem couldn't understand why she went quiet.

"Once in your life what?" He asked as she seemed nervous.

"Promise not to get mad?" She asked as he nodded.

"Promise." He said as he didn't understand why she was asking that.

"Pinkie promise?" She held out a pinkie as Jem chuckled.

"Aren't you a bit old for that?" He joked with her as she pouted.

"I'm 7!" She said as she was coming up on her 8th birthday.

"Okay, okay, pinkie promise." He said as they interlocked pinkies.

"Okay, now what were you so worried about?" He asked as she steeled herself.

"Well...for one in my life...I wonder if this is how it feels..." She seemed to hesitate at the end.

"How it feels to what?" He could tell she was trying to think of a way to say the next part.

"I was wondering if this was how it feels to have a dad."

Jem froze as he felt his heart skip a beat as he looked at Nala who seemed to be thinking about how he was going to react now.

Jem couldn't believe she had said that. But rather than freak out. He almost felt himself getting a little emotional and choked up.

"Mr. Jem?" Nala almost seemed to be worried he was mad as she saw his eyes change.

"I'm sorry I shoul-" Only to be pulled into a hug.

Jem wasn't one to get choked up. But this was one of those moments where he would make an exception. Because what he just heard was so so sweet and adorable that he honestly could have died a happy man right then and there. Nala relaxed into the hug and she got a smile on her face as she leaned her head into his shoulder, letting some tears soak into his shirt.

"Sorry, its just, thats probably the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me." Jem didn't know what elst to say.

"Would...Would it be okay if I called you dad?" She asked with hope in her eyes.

"Yes! Yes of course!" Jem said as he had never felt this happy before in his life.

Nala went back in for another hug as he just held the little lion faunus close to his chest for as long as she wanted.

*Sniff Sniff*

He heard sniffling as he realized they had an audience.

Everyone had woken up by now. And needless to say everyone had their own reactions.

Team RWBY and Team JNPR had happy tears.

Jaune and Ren were shedding manly tears.

Most of the ace ops kept a neautral expression, but Marrows wagging tail, clovers smile, and Elm's bouncing on her heels gave them away.

Glynda couldn't help but feel happy for those two.

But Winter.

Winter couldn't help but feel her heart soar at seeing that adorable scene and made up her mind right then and there.

"He's mine."