Heart to Heart

Chapter 54: Party Time

It had been a few days since they had heard about the party by Weiss' father. Everyone had spent the time getting ready. For those going it meant going out to get dresses or suits. Weiss helped out so that they would have the proper style of dress as she didn't want her friends to get picked on because of their fashion sense. Yang was all taken care of as she wanted to use her yellow dress the last time she wore it on her date with Jaune.

She looked at Jaune's suit, it was mostly white given that seemed to be a major colour for Atlas but it had golden trim on it much like his armor. She walked up to him running a hand over the front of his jacket. "Well don't you look nice."

"I could say the same," he smiled down at her.

"This actually looks pretty good on you."

"Thanks most were white and blues but I found this and wanted to get it."

"White and yellow does seem to suit you very well."

"Well given who I'm dating I kind of started to really like yellow…" He shrugged awkwardly.

Yang blinked before she got it and grinned at him, she knew that she did like a lot of yellow, it just went with her hair but she did have a love for the colour.

Ruby adjusts her own dress she had ended up with a red and black outfit of that had a skirt it was kind of similar to the one she wore at the dance at Beacon only in a slightly different style It was a bit harder to find dresses she liked in this country and it took her a couple of days to track her down. Weiss was in a blue and white dress with a long hem that went to her feet. It was a classy and simple style with a high neck but left her arms bare. Blake was in a purple long dress but had black patten on the sides. All of them were in their RWBY dorm putting on finishing touches.

Yang was adjusting her hair, while she liked it long, she had gotten it slightly styled. Weiss had recommended a place and she had given it a shot, she was very picky about the places that she allowed to work on her hair after all.

"I really don't see why I have to wear these." Ruby muttered with the high heeled shoes.

"Ruby if you didn't have them, you would stand out and people would talk behind your back." Weiss explained.

"This feels kind of tight," Oscar tugged at his collar at a nice suit he got for the night. It was a nice black one but he went with an orange tie for himself.

"If it doesn't cut off circulation, you'll be fine," Weiss told him.

"So where is everyone else?" Jaune asked looking for the General, Qrow and Winter.

"Am I late?" a rushing Marrow came up in a hurry in a dress uniform.

"Marrow?" Ruby asked. "I thought you were with the other Ace Ops?"

"I uh…kind of had the plans changed." Marrow scratched the back of his head. The sound of high heels was heard as Winter's voice was heard in the courtyard coming up from behind.

"I see you went with the dress uniform."

"Yeah getting a suit tailored for my tail can take time and…uh…" He turned around and his words died at the sight of Winter.

She was dressed up in a long white dress with one shoulder bare, with white patterns along it. Her hair was actually down and styled slightly with light blue eye shadow and lipstick. Marrow knew that Winter was a beautiful woman but this, this was something else. He never really saw her as a sexual woman before but now, now he was seeing a side of her he didn't know existed.

Yang leaned over to Weiss and whispered. "Damn your sister really knows how to dress up."

"Of course, she would," Weiss said proudly. When Winter had still been going out to balls and events before she joined the military, she always had a presence in them. She had a way of drawing attention to herself. She focused back to the matter at hand. "So, you are going to together with Marrow?"

"Yes, the General wanted me to pick a date and Marrow was who I picked." She walked up to the still speechless faunus male. She adjusted the tie slightly, "I approve of how well you keep the uniform."

"T-thanks," He felt so very warm with her so close looking like this and the smell, he could smell her perfume something she rarely wore but with his enhanced senses he could easily pick it up this close to her.

"Oh my god Uncle Qrow shaved!" Ruby's yell got everyone's attention as the last two peopled walked out to meet them. It was as she said, Qrow was clean shaven and his hair combed for once. While he was slouched and looking even more grumpy than normal, they were surprised by how well he cleaned up.

Speaking of clean, the General had cut his beard to be more professional looking.

"Yeah yeah, get it out of your systems," Qrow cast a dark look to Ironwood. "He's the only reason I did this."

"Yes, well you didn't make it easy," Ironwood replied. He had called Qrow back from the meeting to talk about his appearance. It had taken time to impress to Qrow that he would have to look his best in order to not stand out like a sore thumb. Qrow counted that the only way he would go cleaning himself up would be if Ironwood did the same. So, the General relented and trimmed his beard to more professional standard.

Everyone was surprised by the pair of them, Ruby and Yang had never seen their uncle looking like this. He always had this rugged handsomeness to him but now he was going to turn some heads. Yang quickly got out her scroll from her purse as she took a picture.

"Yang!" Qrow shouted out seeing it.

"No way Uncle Qrow," she quickly put it back. "Dad would die knowing he missed this."

Qrow stared at her for a long moment. "This is why Ruby is my favorite."

Yang gasped but grinned. "Well now I'm going to post that online."

Qrow grumbled as he moved on ahead. "Where the hell is our ride? I want to get this out of the way as soon as possible."

The ride to the Schnee mansion was uneventful as they took several vehicles to get there. Upon arriving it was a media circus outside. There were media capturing everyone getting out and walking up to the mansion behind guidelines with security there to make sure no one got out of hand.

"Wow," Yang stated looking around.

"I feel like I'm at a movie premiere or something," Jaune nodded his head surprised by it all.

Weiss only sighed, "More like we're the show."

She straightened herself from her years of experience and linked her arm with Blake's as she slipped back into her practiced demeanor like it was only yesterday she had attended one of these events. She could see her sister following the same. Years of etiquette training was hard to just get rid off.

"Just keep moving forward and don't look at them or acknowledge them and you'll be fine," Weiss coached them as they walked up to the main stairs. Already people immediately recognized the Schnee women and General Ironwood. There were many flashes of cameras and questions shouting out at them.

There were various people but when the press saw the sight of the two Schnee daughters coming in there was an immediate storm of questions. Then when they noticed that both women were walking to the party with Faunus partners that really started to set them off. The others were pretty much ignored with the exception of General Ironwood as in the eyes of Atlas, no one really knew who they were.

"Miss Schnee, is it true that you had a mental breakdown and that's why you haven't been seen in public?"

"Winter, is this a return to high society?"

"General, when will the lock down be lifted?"

Weiss pushed the noise to the back of her mind as she strode forward, head held high as she just kept striding forward. She breathed a sigh of relief when they all reached the main entrance. "I have not missed that at all."

"Neither have I," Winter said in a very unamused tone.

"Wow, you had to have done that all the time?" Ruby asked looking back. While she had gotten better with her social awkwardness having to do that growing up would have given her a nervous breakdown.

"All too often," Weiss felt a weight off her as she shrugged off her 'public face' and got a bit more relaxed. Well, a bit more relaxed just being in this mansion only brought back memories to her, not all of them good memories. She still remembered the night she escaped and got out of Atlas, it felt almost alien being back here.

A few of the servants showed up to take their coats or anything else they wanted to be checked in as they entered the main room. Everyone looked around, it was the typical Atlas architecture only with lot more stylized. There were paintings, works of art around the place, soft playing music by an actual live band in a corner played as everyone gathered there.

There was a long table with food set out and servants with trays with small items of finger food or drinks.

"Anyone else feeling a little out of place?" Jaune asked.

"Oh yeah," Oscar and Ruby said at the same time.

"Never in my entire life did I think I would ever be standing in this place," Blake looked around. It was surreal for her. In her White Fang days, she knew members that wanted (and even planned) to attack this mansion in some way. She heard rumors that a couple tried but didn't get past the gate. If her old self could see her now, well that would be one hell of a shocked expression her younger self would have and on the arm of Weiss no less.

Blake figured that the world was full of irony and this was proof.

"Well I suppose I should mingle," Ironwood adjusted his uniform. "I see the other council members so I better say a few words to them."

"Have fun kids," Qrow waved off as he walked into the crowd. He really waned to hit the free booze but he was still trying to stay dry. Sometimes sobriety really sucked he thought. If he wasn't, he would try and drink Jacques dry just out of principle.

"I suppose we should do the same," Winter linked her arm around Marrow's as she led him away.

The rest were kind of looking at each other not sure what to really do as they went off. Some of them wanted to look around at the very least.

Jaune looked around with Yang on his arm, "Can you imagine having to live in a place like this?"

"The upkeep has to be insane," Yang saw what she thought was an ice sculpture but on closer inspection it was all crystal. "As much as it would be really cool living in a mansion this seems a bit excessive."

"Yeah and while my home was big it could fit into this room alone." Jaune commented since the large family he was from his parents had ended up with an above average home.

"Same," Yang looked at him. "I guess with all those kids you did have to have a large house."

"Yes and we still had to share rooms," Jaune sighed at all the sibling fights that happened at times. He was lucky, as the only boy he got his own room, sure it was a small one but at least he had some privacy.

"Just so you know if you're thinking of having a family I wouldn't mind a few kids but no way in hell am I keeping up with your mom," Yang told him. "I don't know how she did it."

"That's fine I honestly don't know how my parents did it," There was a pause as he looked at her. "Have…you been thinking of family?"

Yang mentally cursed at her slip blushing a little she just kind of got caught up in the conversation. "Maybe a little, but first I want to get out of Atlas. As much as this is cool seeing this kingdom, I don't want to spend the rest of my life here."

"I can see that, I miss seeing some green around," He replied.

"That's for sure, I wouldn't mind a place in a major city but way more south than here. I can't even get to a beach here unless I want to freeze to death."

"I can see that, although I thought you might like a place like back home on Patch?"

Yang thought about it, "Yeah that would be nice too, honestly I'm not sure which I would like. Maybe when I retire from full time Huntress or something I can go back to Patch to teach and have like dad did?"

"What would you teach?"

"Combat class of course, what else?" she grinned at him.

Across the hall Ruby felt very awkward with her high heel shoes feeling unbalanced. "Stupid lady stilts." She grumbled.

"Are you okay?" Oscar asked her seeing how she was a bit unstable and looking a bit well grumpy.

"I…I just hate wearing high heels," she admitted.

"Oh well…I could, help?" He offered.

"You know how to take off the hells?" She asked him.

"Uh no, I meant like this," he linked his arm with hers. "You know, for balance?"

Ruby felt her face flush a bit as she leaned against him, it did help with her balance but now she felt nervous as she pressed up against him. It wasn't all bad at least as it did feel nice, also she noticed the heels gave her a little height advantage. Oscar was growing and in flat shoes they were about the same height. It felt nice being a bit taller, was a reason women put themselves through these hellish contraptions?

At any rate she took the moment to enjoy it as they walked around.

Weiss noticed it and had to smile a little at the sight of them.

"Those two are cute together," Blake smiled as she nursed a glass of wine. She wasn't much of a drinker so she was pacing herself.

"Took them long enough," Weiss smirked. She noticed her mother wasn't around and it brought a sense of dread with her. Would she be happy or not to see her mother? It might depend on how drunk she was at the moment.

"I'm surprised to see you here," A familiar voice brought her attention to the speaker.

Weiss looked to her left to see the form of her little brother walking over.

"Whitley," Weiss nodded her head. "Honestly I wasn't sure I wanted to come."

"Oh? Trying to get on father's good side?"

Weiss' eyes hardened. "Hardly, I could care less what he thinks of me or does. I mainly wanted to see how mother was holding up."

Whitley paused a moment, "She's…her usual self."

Weiss had a sinking feeling about that, despite any differences she had with her brother, the state of their mother was something they both could agree on it would seem. She scanned the room seeing some familiar faces, mainly the kind of people she's seen at these kinds of events all the time. She could see some of the same people that worked here, some she knew others she didn't.

However, she didn't see Klein anywhere, which was curious as she would have expected him to greet her when word got around that she was here.

"Looking for someone?" Whitely smirked.

"Yes," Weiss simply said not liking that smirk on his face.

"Well, we did recently have a staff turnover," he waved his hand at the affair. "Apparently a few ex-employees weren't as loyal as they should have been."

Weiss felt horrified, she hadn't even thought what would happen to Klein by helping her. How did they even find out? She wasn't sure how but apparently, they had. She felt horrible that Klein lost his job because of her, where was he? Was he doing, okay? He was one of the few people here that had made living here somewhat bearable.

Blake saw what was going on and she didn't like this one bit. Her ears flattened as she stepped up.

"If you have nothing to say, then I think you should go mingle with the rest of the party." Blake stated.

Whitley had forgotten the woman with his sister, he had been so focused on her she had slipped his mind. "And you are?"

"I'm-" Blake was cut off from Weiss.

"My date and my friend," Weiss said linking her arm with Blake.

Whitley was surprised as she looked between the two. While he had nothing against Faunus his father always said that besides being a great workforce to use he didn't see much else use for them. He just knew that if father saw this, he wouldn't like it. He felt one of them being with the Faunus was akin to being with a commoner, something beneath them.

"Father would definitely not approve," He blurted out.

"I have long since stop caring what he thinks, especially when it comes to my life." Weiss said coldly.

"Do you expect me to believe that," Whitley crossed his arms. "Until recently you were next in line to take over everything, you did everything to please him and you just want to throw it all away all of a sudden?"

Weiss paused, was this where he was coming from? Did he think it was all some manipulative plan to get back into being the heiress of the company and threatening his position? That made her feel a few emotions, anger that he would think such a thing but that soon went into a kind of pity. He was so under the thumb of their father that he was starting to think in his warped way of thinking.

Maybe she couldn't fully blame him, after all it wasn't like he had anyone else to guide him.

"I grew up Whitley and I learned that sacrificing who I am and what I want to please someone that will never be pleased with me is just wasting my life." He told him honestly. "All my life I tried to please him but I learned that he's never pleased. He wants to control everything and everyone in his life and there's nothing he won't do to continue to have that control."

"Father has done a great many things, you expect me to believe this slander?" He challenged. While both sisters left and his mother fled into the bottle only his father was left in his life. He was the only one that hadn't left him alone and he was finally noticing him. He was finally showing he was worth something and that one day he would be worth of being in charge of SDC.

"If you mean abuse of the SDC's work force, using any and all means to run everyone out of business, making entire families lose their livelihoods, discrimination against faunus workers who are overworked, under paid and if they speak up are either physically punished or just fired." Blake said darkly to the young boy.

"If you believe those White Fang rhetoric-"

"I've seen the scars and injuries of the Schnee workers," Blake told him getting up into his face. She might have left the White Fang but the original principles they had when her parents were in charge were still alive in her.

"Maybe you should go down and see for yourself Whitley," Weiss told him. "See for yourself who is telling the truth. You can always ask Klein to take you, he's trustworthy enough to take you to the real workers and not the PR areas."

"Klein no longer works here sister," the boy told her as Weiss' face took on a shocked expression. "Father said that employees that don't do their duty are not trustworthy enough to work for us."

Weiss felt sick to her stomach, this was her fault. Klein had helped her to escape, he lost his job because of her. Where was he now? Did he have family that he could have gone to? She just suddenly realized she had no idea, outside of being her butler she had no real knowledge of him outside of work. She felt even more horrible about that, she had never really gotten to know him.

"I need some air," Weiss commented going to the terrace. Blake gave the boy a dark look before going off to see how Weiss was doing.

Qrow was off doing his usual thing, the General wanted him to do his thing and look for any way he could sneak off and perhaps find himself in Jacques' study or somewhere else he might find whatever the man was up to. He was fine with that, this wouldn't be the first time he's done something like this.

Then when Jacques made his entrance, he had to pause at the show. The man really did like to show off and seemed to love the sound of his own voice. Although he quickly tuned him out as his eyes caught the woman at arm's length. She was a beautiful woman with the usually Schnee snow white hair and trying not to look miserable.

He had never seen Willow Schnee until this moment, she stayed out of the public eye for years now and he wasn't one to read celebrity papers or watch those celebrity talk shows. So, seeing her for the first time he took notice. He could see where the Schnee girls got their looks as she walked down with a very fitting dark blue dress with the usual jewels, you'd expect someone of her rich background would wear.

As he looked, he noticed a few things, other than the womanly figure she was slightly off balance. Looking closer he could see the forced smile but the eyes were slightly distant and a little sway to her movements. This was obviously the look of someone trying very hard not to look like someone who didn't want to be here and also maybe had drink or two before coming down.

He couldn't hear anything as he was too far away but he continued to watch. For a husband he didn't seem to even notice the presence of his wife as both while next to each other were also not looking or interacting with each other. Looks like this marriage wasn't a happy one that's for sure and most likely for some time too he would guess. Maybe Qrow could use this to gain access to other parts of the mansion, he'd just have to wait for her to be alone.

His eyes looked her over when she turned around and he had to admit she had great hips and a nice ass in that dress. Seriously how the hell did he not pay attention to a wife like that?

Qrow had few vices in his life, but they sometimes did go hand in hand. Normally he would go out to a bar in a town to feed his first vice, drinking. Sometimes this would lead to his second vice, women. He wasn't ashamed of it, he liked the company of a good woman and he was human and had urges after all. Although with his new sobriety one of those things he hadn't done in a while. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't had a chance to pick up a woman since he started following Ruby and her little team when they left Patch.

Looking at the lovely woman there looking lonely and he figured very needy, well maybe they could help each other out.

Willow Schnee hated this, she hated all the fake smiles and conversations. None of them were people she could consider a friend, her husband forced her into this but thankfully she knew that she just had to put on an appearance and then she could slip away. Her husband was currently talking up a few people for his election and she silently left.

She found one of the whine glasses and took it from the servers as she started to drink. She hated all this, she hated her life, she hated having to stay in this loveless marriage. Drinking was her only escape, the only way she could do to numb the pain. The pain of loneliness, the pain of knowing the man she once loved never loved her and used her only for her family fortune. She had thought of divorcing him for years but she also knew he could get…violent.

Plus, he had the board in his hands, he had slowly over the years replaced all her father's people with his own. If there was a divorce, she knew he would make sure she was left on the street with nothing even though it was HER family's company and fortune.

Suddenly she noticed the empty glass and need for a new one.

Looking around she placed it one of the empty trays passing by and looking for one of the servers with a filled one. She caught some couples dancing in the main hall and she paused as she saw them. Some of them looked so happy and part of her felt a sense of envy and even anger at what some of them seemed to have. Not for the first time she wondered what she had done to deserve her life.

"You look like a woman that wants to dance." A man's voice with a gravely tone came up behind her.

She turned to see a roguishly handsome man coming up to her. She hadn't seen his face before, she would have remembered someone like this. He was literally a tall, dark stranger she often read about in her romance novels that she kept in her room.

"I don't remember seeing you at once of these parties." Willow stated.

"Yeah, these kinds of parties aren't my scene," He shrugged with a crooked grin on his face. "Not really into the high-class thing, I only came with a buddy and he's off mingling or something."

"And you're not mingling?"

Qrow just shrugged. "I just saw a pretty lady and wanted to ask her to dance," Qrow told her walking up closer to her.

Willow's eyes widened a bit as she tried not to show anything but this was the first time in decades a man called her pretty. She cast a glance as Jacques but like usual he took no notice of her as her eyes went back to this stranger.

"You're a bit forward, you do know who I am?" she asked.

"Willow Schnee."

"So you know me, who are you then?"

"Qrow Branwen."

"So Mr. Branwen, you don't seem to be bother asking a married women to dance."

He leaned in even closer as she felt a bit uncomfortable but also a touch of excitement as he looked at her intently. "Not a very happy marriage from what I can see, honestly? No, it doesn't bother me, if he can't appreciate having a woman like you, then he has no right to get mad if someone else does."

Truth was given all the women Qrow had slept with or tried to seduce not all of them had been single. He still remembered that one time he had to jump out of a window when the woman's husband got home. He normally wouldn't' have cared but apparently the guy had been the mayor of the city he had been in. In his defense he hadn't asked if she had been married and she hadn't said she had been. So this wasn't exactly territory he hadn't been in before.

He saw an attractive woman who was obviously very unhappy and so why not try and see if they could make each other feel better? Looking at her light blue eyes he could see the small flame or intrigue in them but it was a guarded look.

Willow felt her cheeks heat up, she couldn't believe this was happening and then this man gently took her hand in his bring it up. She could feel how rough and strong his hands were.

"So, care to dance?" He asked.

Willow felt a thrill run through her, there wasn't anything wrong with a dance, right? She let him lead her to the dance floor as they started to dance.

While her husband didn't care to notice her there was another that did notice. Winter paused as she saw her mother dancing with Qrow of all people and it gave her a mixture of emotions. The two were dancing and she could tell he was saying something to her but whatever it was it seemed her mother didn't mind.

Then she saw it, her mother smiled at something that he said. She can't remember the last time she saw her mother smile, it was a small one but still it was a smile.

"Are you okay?" Marrow asked.

"I think, I think I need a drink," She told him.

"I didn't know you drank," Marrow was surprised as he never seen her once drink anything other than water.

"I normally don't but I feel the need to," Winter sighed feeling a slight headache she was trying to fight off.

"I see one of the servers," Marrow went and took a couple of the glasses since he thought that she shouldn't drink alone and besides, this was most likely the most expensive drink he would ever get.

"What is that doing in here?" A female voice with a haughty tone said in a loud enough voice to get a few people's attention. Winter looked over to see someone she really didn't like, Lady August one of her father's sycophants. Her family made it rich off supplying building supplies when Atlas was made and not a very pleasant woman to be around.

"Thing?" Winter asked looking around.

"That animal," she pointed a finger at Marrow.

Marrow for his part should have expected this, it wouldn't be the first time but still it stung every time someone said something like that to him. Winter while normally a cold exterior felt a slow burning anger rise inside of her.

Ever since she had joined Atlas academy and rose up in the ranks of the military, she had gotten to know many Faunus and saw them as equals. She had a lot of respect for many of her fellow Faunus members in the Atlesian military. So what this woman said not only offended her on a personal level but on a professional level.

Winter walked right up to the woman, who if she remembered from previous parties was married into a rich shipping family. Most likely her husband got rich off selling the dust to the other kingdoms among other items.

"I suggest you take back your words." Winter said in the coldest voice she could mutter.

The woman hadn't recognized the Schnee woman as her back had been turned when she had made the comment, plus this was the first time in years Winter Schnee was at one of these events. But soon the lady gathered herself up.

"Really? You're here with one of them?" she asked with a cruel smile.

"Them? If you mean a man that has proven himself to the Kingdom by honorably serving it, by being part of the great Atlas military which protects you I might add as well as everyone else in this kingdom. Someone who risks their life for the sake of our kingdom then yes I am."

Now that a few people were watching the interaction Winter decided to push just a bit more. "So now that we've established what he's done for Atlas…what have you done in your life that matches those achievements other than marry into a rich family?"

The woman had a furious expression on her face but she hadn't lost her senses although it was being pushed to the brink. She knew that while Winter was on the out with the Schnee family she was still a part of that family and she was a guest of her father. It also didn't help that she wasn't sure what she could say to counter her and the longer the waited the weaker her position was.

So she opted for the only option she had at the moment.

"Well then I hope you enjoy your time with that lot," The women quickly turned trying to save some face as Winter took a breath.

Winter wouldn't admit but that felt good to finally let out some steam, she hated these events and how fake everyone here was. Her saying those disgusting things hadn't helped her mood in being here. She knew she could have handled that better in a more diplomatic way but damn it, she just couldn't let a comment like that slide to someone in her company and someone she respected as a fellow soldier.

"Wow, that was…really something," Marrow stood stunned by Winter's displayed.

Winter suddenly remembered him there and felt a bit embarrassed he had seen an inappropriate side of herself. "Yes well…I couldn't let her get away with saying those things."

"Well, I'm used to hearing those kinds of things," He offered.

"You shouldn't have to be."

"I know but it's the world we live in," He told her and she could see a bit of a sad look in his eyes the slightly dropping tail also told her that how he wore his heart of his sleeve.

"I'm curious, why did you join the military?" Winter asked him as people were giving them a bit of a wide berth now.

Marrow took a breath. "I mean, nothing really major or anything. I just wanted to help people and this was the best way for me."

"I couldn't have been easy." Winter knew that while Faunus discrimination was a lot less in the Atlas Academy and military since General Ironwood took over, it had to have been bad for him when he was younger in his training years.

Marrow nodded his head, "You're right it wasn't but nothing worthwhile is ever easy right?"

He gave her a lopsided grin as he continued on. "It was rough at first, there weren't many Faunus back then and it was hard for us, I remember how so many dropped out because of their treatment by others. But then I passed and I choose to serve my country, plus I needed to earn some money to help my family."

"You're family?" Winter hadn't heard about his family it might be in his file but she hadn't read that far into it only his more professional side of it.

"Yes, my family all lives in Mantel and I sent some of what I earn to help them out," Marrow explained.

"Oh…I wasn't aware your family is having financial difficulty," Winter knew many in the miliary joined to get out of poverty in Mantel or to help their families.

"Yeah, my dad years ago got hurt in the mines and wasn't able to find much work with his leg busted up. So, we called helped out as much as we could, I decided to join the academy and thanks to me being in the Specialists and in the Ace Ops my family can live a bit more comfortably."

Winter felt her guts twist inside at the sound of his father being in a mining accident. It wasn't the first time she heard of such things it was the way the SDC treated its employees that helped her decide that she didn't want anything to do with the company in the future.

Marrow could see how uncomfortable she was and even a slight look of guilt on her face. "Just so you know I don't blame the Schnee family like most, it was an accident and my dad literally went back in to grab a few miners. He saved three lives but near the end the tunnel fell and his leg was crushed."

"He sounds like a good man," she told him.

"Yeah, he was always my hero as a kid and maybe that's another reason I picked this line of work. I wanted to help others like he did that day."

Winter couldn't help but smile a little at the way he spoke, he was so honest with his words. She was finding out a lot of surprising things about Marrow tonight. That's when the music kicked up as she noticed a new song being played. Maybe now was not the time for some doom and gloom conversations.

"Tell me Marrow do you dance?"

"Uh…a little," he said embarrassed.

She linked her arm with him leading him to the dance floor. "Well, I haven't danced in a very long time and I think we both could use something else to do at the moment, shall we?"

Marrow wasn't sure what to say but he certain wasn't against it.

TBC…

This chapter was proving to be getting a lot larger than I originally thought so I'm putting it into a two parter.