Chapter 50: Patch - Like Mothers Like Daughters
Cover Art: Mi Chumi
"Gods, do you remember the time you convinced dumbass Tai that honey-wasps wouldn't sting him if he covered himself in briarberry juice first?"
Summer grinned. "And then he tried to raid their hive?!" Summer and Raven raised their glasses to each other in a toast, and then angled them toward Tai in acknowledgement.
Tai wasn't nearly as amused as they were by the memory, and nearly spit out his drink. "Oh come on! That was not funny, Summer," Tai protested, slamming his glass down on the coffee table. "I must have had twenty stings! I was sick for two days!" He looked to Qrow for support, and found their fourth staring off into space with a slight smile on his face.
"Oh, the part where you swelled up was kinda funny," Raven snorted. "But the really funny part was that your fucking skin was purple for three weeks afterward!" She took another sip of her whiskey.
Summer's silver eye crinkled at the memory. That was one of the few times they'd gone hard after Tai as the target of her and Raven's twisted humor… usually it was Qrow that was the target of their more… aggressive pranks, just because he made it so darned easy.
Of course, more than once, the pranks backfired on them, because of his Semblance. That was half the fun!
Ahhhh good times.
"Look Tai," Raven reasoned, red-eyes dancing in mirth. "You got us back two weeks later, remember? You laced the strawberry syrup with ghost pepper and left a big bowl of ice cream covered in it where you knew Summer and me'd find it?" She shook her head. "Still thinking about kicking your ass for that."
Summer scowled at the memory. "The worst part was, the cold made it so we didn't notice until we'd eaten a bunch of it. And then the heat kicked in."
Tai's grin was feral. "Hard to forget. I learned a lot of new words that day thanks to Raven. I also had to find a third bathroom for the day."
"Asshole," Raven growled. "It burned worse coming out than it did going down."
"Payback, Rae. That was payback."
"Hmph. Fine."
Qrow was still not engaging in the conversation, though he was clearly enjoying something about the situation. Tai could hear him humming something to himself. Of the three, he'd been drinking the most heavily, but also handling it the best. Not surprising since he'd been the one completely unprepared, emotionally or otherwise, for his teammate to suddenly appear out of thin air and start bitching at him about putting his feet on the furniture.
And then to see Raven, of all people, standing in the room, giving them both shit over him losing his cool.
He kept bouncing back and forth between giddy and bewildered, and alcohol seemed the safest way to take some of the peaks and valleys off that crazy oscillation. So, he just sat at the table, taking sips of whiskey from his flask, grinning from time to time at the other three as they laughed and bickered, and humming that stupid ballad that had become popular on the Valean/Vacuan frontier, "You Were Always In My Thoughts" by that folk singer, Whitey Nielson.
In his inebriated state, he decided it fit.
Not that the other three were much better. He could tell they were heading rapidly toward sloppy drunk as well, even Summer, and he remembered a time when she not only didn't drink, but would have given the rest of them nine kinds of hell for getting as plastered as they were heading.
Apparently, some things did change. Or maybe this was an exception. Only time would tell.
And that brought a frown to his face. Summer's captivity. Her eye. He'd gotten damned little out of her so far. She kept saying she wanted to celebrate them all being together for the first time in… hells it had to have been about seven years since Raven ditched Tai and fled back to Mistral, wrote him off when wouldn't join her, and ignored every one of Summer's attempts to drag her back.
And here we are.
Which reminded him. Qrow started to pull out his Scroll, fumbled it and cursed before picking it up off the floor.
And when he straightened up, he found five eyes and one eye-patch watching him intently.
"Qrow, fucking don't," Raven warned, setting her drink carefully on the table.
"Don't what?! You don't even know—hell. Fine. You know exactly what I was about to do," Qrow rasped, suddenly feeling defensive. He let the scroll fall onto the table and threw up his hands. "I was just gonna tell him the good news!"
"And then that asshole is gonna demand to talk to Summer," Raven complained. "Or worse, he'd hop on the next flight out here. Or at least start pumping you for information, and ruin the whole damn evening."
"Information which you don't have." Summer reinforced, silver eye steely.
Qrow stared between Raven and Summer and was shocked to realize they were presenting a united front. He looked to Tai, hopeful to find some support there.
And found nothing. Tai's arms were crossed, blue eyes flat. And then he shook his head back and forth once.
Well shit. Outnumbered and outgunned.
"Fine. I'll hold off," he rasped, and rubbed his jaw. "You win."
"Yeah!" Raven crowed, giving Summer a high-five. "We're having a reunion, Qrow. Don't fucking ruin it by inviting the ugly kid nobody likes."
"The fuck, Rae..."
Summer just laughed. "Pour me another glass of that wine, Tai."
"Hell yeah!" Raven said, topping off her tumbler with whiskey. "Team STRQ rides again!"
Hours later, they were good and sloshed. The four of them were flopped or draped across the furniture of the living room, the low coffee table a wasteland of scattered bottles and cans, since the men had run out of whiskey and fallen back on Tai's beer supply.
Qrow and Tai were leaning against each other on the sofa, arms around each other's shoulders, and belting out that horrific Western Vale ballad at the top of their lungs, while Raven and Summer laughed and cheered them on.
"Alll the things weee shhoullldd have shhaiddd and donnnneee! Allll those second chances losssstttt! You were always in our thoughhttttttssshhh. You were always in our thoughtsh…"
If the women had been more sober, they might have either decided the lyrics were too on the nose, or they'd have kicked the men's asses for thinking it was good music. But at this point, everyone was having a great time.
. . .
Until…
Tai had his eyes closed, so he didn't notice the expressions on Summer and Raven's faces change from drunken enjoyment to slowly dawning horror.
But Qrow caught the change, and the sound of his off-key singing winding down from full-throated bellow to wheeze was something to behold all by itself.
"Are you guys… drunk?!" Yang's pre-teen tone of disbelief and disapproval cut through about the same time that Tai realized Qrow wasn't keeping up, and went to take another drink of his beer.
And instead he choked on it, coughing and sputtering. Oh gods… we lost track of time.
The girls are home from school.
"Uncle Qrow!" a higher-pitch voice squeaked from behind him. "You promised not to be drunk around us anymore!" Ruby scolded. "Mommmm, tell him he's not allowed to—" Silver eyes appraised the table and the number of glasses and empty bottles, and her voice dropped to a horrified whisper. "Mom… no… not you too…" She turned to her sister. "Yang, tell mom she's not allowed to turn into Drunkle Mom!"
But Yang wasn't looking at the debris on the table any more. And she was no longer looking at her mom either. Her violet eyes had locked onto the woman beside Summer. A woman who she didn't know but who felt… like someone she should know. Her head tilted as she took in the mass of dark hair. The red irises like Uncle Qrow's. The strong facial features that looked oddly familiar. "Do I… know you?"
Summer gave Raven a glance, and could see the panic rising up through the alcoholic buzz.
"No. No, no, no," Raven muttered, setting her drink down so hard it sloshed onto the table, and making to stand up. "Party's over," she whispered.
Oh heck no. We are not doing this. Not this way. Summer reached out and gripped Raven's arm tightly, and felt her friend stiffen. "Rae, sit the heck down." There was no room for negotiation in her voice.
Summer turned back to Yang. "Yang, this is Qrow's sister, Raven. That's one reason she looks familiar to you." She took a deep breath. "There's a longer story there, but we can talk about that later, after mommy and daddy have sobered up and finished yelling at each other for not keeping track of time."
Yang's violet eyes narrowed as she processed that, but it was Ruby who saved the day.
"You guys better clean this up!" The younger sister scolded. "Cause Yang and me ain't gonna. And mom, you aren't gonna start drinking like Uncle Qrow does are you? Pleeasseee you gotta promise!"
The way Qrow winced and hunched his shoulders was almost worth her own feeling of discomfort. And she was also relieved to feel Raven loosen slightly under her grip at the distraction. "Nope, this was a special adult reunion party. We're obligated by tradition to drink too much and sing stupid songs. Sorry we lost track of time." She gave Tai a look. "How about you girls," she hiccupped and cursed herself, "go to your rooms and get changed, and… and… we'll order out and watch a movie or something." Inspiration struck, in pure supermom form, "I'll even let you pick."
Ruby began to vibrate in place, clapping her hands together. "Kids movie night?! And I want pizza! Pizza pizza pizza!" She started babbling happily.
Summer let her gaze drift over to Yang, who was splitting her attention between her mom and Raven. "Yang." That got her to focus on her. "Trust me."
Her oldest daughter, by choice if not genetics, considered her for several seconds, then huffed. "Okay. C'mon Rubes, let's go get changed." And then she smirked. "And I get to pick the movie."
"Awww no fair! You always get to pick!"
"Cause I'm the oldest and the meanest!"
Raven tried hard to ignore the feeling of warmth and regret that hearing Yang's words dug out of her. It reminded her so much of her and Summer.
Squabbling good-naturedly, the two kids left the living room.
Qrow blew out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and then felt himself get dizzy from lack of oxygen. "Shit."
"I should go," Raven said flatly.
"Nope."
"Are you fucking crazy? You saw her. She's not gonna accept that bullshit 'Qrow's Sister' explanation. I can smell it. Did you see the way she looked at me?!" Some of the panic was starting return, and there was anger bubbling up underneath it. Anger at who, and for what, she wasn't ready to decipher.
And infuriatingly, Summer didn't even deny it. "Yep. She recognized you, at least a little." Summer tightened her grip on Raven's arm. "Rae, it's gonna be okay. We're gonna make it be okay."
Raven stared at the other three adults. She felt like screaming at them, at Summer, that they were all fucking morons. But she knew that would just draw the kids back to them demanding answers. Answers she wasn't ready to give, so she choked it down. "How the fuck," she hissed, "can it ever be okay."
To her shock, it was Tai who responded first. "Do you see me beating you with the living room furniture, Rae?" he asked evenly. He leaned forward, all traces of inebriation gone. "It'd be different if you hadn't found Summer for me," he spared Qrow a glance, "and brought her back here. But the girls have their mom back, and I have my wife back." He gave Raven a slight smile. "I said we were square, Rae, and I meant it."
Raven felt something trying to force its way out of her chest, and she hated the feeling. She loathed it.
Weak. Fucking weak.
"Rae. I'm not telling you to come back and be Yang's mom and pretend everything's okay," Summer continued evenly, letting go of her arm and giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Yang has a mom. But you can be her family too. And you can tell her the truth. We'll make sure she understands."
The truth. The truth. What the hell was the truth any more? "Godsdammit, Summer. You can't strong-arm me into this."
"Wanna bet?"
Raven scrambled for something, anything to derail the 'fuck-me express'. "She's gonna hate me."
"Nope. Oh she'll probably be mad at you for a while. And she'll want you to explain why. But you gave her me, and she won't hate you. She'll forgive you."
Raven stared at Summer like she'd lost her mind. "Why the fuck would she do that?"
"Because I have," Summer said softly.
Raven sat very still, only the flexing of her fingers around her glass betraying the war that was going on in her head. After a minute her expression calmed a little. "I was screwed as soon as I brought you home, huh?"
"Yep. Totally hosed. You never could stand up to my raw charisma. Also, I can kick your butt in a fight."
Maybe not right now, but she could have once. Raven decided not to point that out.
Might show her later, though. Be good to toughen her up again.
Summer's silver eye roved until it met Tai's blue ones, and she let a predatory smile spread across her face. "Oh Taiiiii…."
Oh crap.
"You forgive Raven for leaving you and Yang, righttttt?"
Tai's eyes widened, and his eyes started flicking between Raven and Summer in panic.
"Minefield, Tai. Minefield," Qrow muttered quietly, taking another drink from his beer.
I'm not sober enough for this. "Uhh…. I…. uhhh…" Finally a few neurons shook off their alcoholic haze. "Of course… I…. do…. because…."
"Because that sent you into my waiting arms, Tai." Gods, men were such simple creatures. "See Rae. All is forgiven."
"Like hell! What about me?!" Qrow growled, lowering his beer.
"You're my brother. You're stuck with me, dumbass."
"Fuck."
"Potty mouth," Summer scolded.
Qrow threw up his hands. "Why the ffff— hel—heck does Raven get to curse and I don't?"
"Did you haul my behind out of a Grimmlands prison cell? No? Then deal with it." She gave Raven a long look. "But tone it down in front of the girls, Rae. Last thing I want is a letter from school about the interesting new words they've learned."
"They're learning to fight to the death against Grimm, and that stupid school cares about language?!" Raven objected in disbelief.
"They're not in Combat School yet, Rae. They're still learning how to read and write." Raven scoffed. "And It's called 'socialization'. You might try it some time." She gave a leer. "Speaking of Combat School, why don't you send Vernal over to Sanctum for a year, see what effect it has on her crappy attitude.
"No nonononono!" Tai and Qrow were both panicking, hands raised and flailing in denial.
The conversation's moving on, Raven was glad to see. On to safer topics. She jumped on that. Cause, fuck Tai and Qrow, right? Let them suffer a while. "I might take you up on that. Might do her some good." Raven grinned, starting to take a drink, and then deciding against it. "Ugh. Guess it's time to start sobering up." She set the glass back down.
"You're trying to kill us." Qrow mock-wept. "Summer's been replaced by a demon sprit that, amazingly, is on the exact same wavelength as my bitch of a sister, and the two of you are trying to destroy all male-dom!"
"Sooo melodramatic." Summer rolled her eyes and shifted in her chair. "Gah, I gotta hit the bathroom." Summer made to stand and wobbled a little. "Whoops! Looks like the adrenaline is wearing off. Whaddaya know… still drunk."
"I'll give you a hand," Tai said, pushing his chair back.
"How are you not falling down," Summer groused.
"Tai's had some practice learning to hide his drinking." Qrow smirked, then paled. "Oh shit, sorry man."
Summer's expression softened. "Sorry Tai."
"Not… let's talk about it later. When we're all more sober." Tai finished making his way over to Summer and offered an arm. "My lady."
As Summer let him lever her up, she gave Raven a look. "You better be here when I get back." Raven just rolled her eyes.
"C'mon Rae," Qrow supplied helpfully, dragging himself up from the couch. "I'll make us some coffee."
Back in their shared bedroom, Yang and Ruby had lapsed from bickering over the movie choice to thoughtful pre-teen contemplation as they finished changing into pyjamas, typical fare for an in-home movie night.
"So… mom said we had to keep her a secret for a while, right?" Ruby mused.
"Mhm…"
"But now… Uncle Qrow's here, right?" Her silver eyes contemplated the ceiling. "So… does that mean we can tell people?" The idea made her feel all nervous and giddy.
That seemed to break Yang out of her reverie. "Huh. I guess so..."
"Yang? I thought you'd be happier! What's wrong?"
The older sister frowned for a second, and then wandered over to Ruby's bed, plopping down next to her. "That woman… Raven… she's… awfully familiar, doncha think? Do you remember ever meeting her?"
Ruby scrunched up her face. "No… I don't think so. But she does look kinda like Uncle Qrow. Soooo, I guess she really is his sister?"
Yang chewed on that, unconsciously fiddling with her unruly blonde curls. "Yeah, but… it's not just that." Her violet eyes stared off into the distance.
"Maybe… maybe she baby sat you before I was born?" Ruby supplied helpfully. "Like a nanny or something when mom was doing missions?"
Yang tried to imagine that. She tried to imagine that woman taking care of her.
There was something there. Some vague memory. But taking care of her? No, Summer was the only person who'd done that. She was the only mom Yang had ever known. The one who'd done all the mom things. Brushed her hair. Kissed her boo-boos. Even if she hadn't been the one who—
Wait.
Wait just a dang minute.
"Yang?"
"Ruby… do you think… me and that Raven look… like we're related?"
Ruby blinked and tried to call up the woman's face. Red eyes. Wild black hair. Round face. She compared it to Yang's. "I dunno. Maybe?" Ruby's eyes widened. "You don't think…"
Before Summer had disappeared, she and Yang'd had the talk about "where babies come from" in general terms. And she'd not made it a secret that, while she was Yang's real mom, someone else had done the heavy lifting for the first nine months. Yang had, in her own way, just filed that away. She had a mom. It didn't matter to her that some other woman had carried her around for almost a year.
Did that… did that fit?
"Dunno what to think, Rubes. But… they're being awful weird about her, right. And… and…" She flung her hands out. "Heck I dunno…"
Ruby leaned over and threw her thin arms around her sister. "Yang… You're my sister. And mom's our mom. Whoever she is, she can't change that. And… and no way is anyone taking my sister away from me!" Her small face was set hard. She'd have fought off a beowolf to keep her sister. No strange woman was gonna get in between them.
Yang hadn't even considered that… the idea that this might be her mom, her first mom, was just starting to filter into her brain. The concept that this Raven might want Yang back… that hadn't even occurred to her.
Yang's eyes narrowed, and she squeezed her little sister back, tightly.
No way. No freaking way. Nobody was taking her away from her mom. From Summer. If that woman thought that, she was gonna have another think comin'. The entire idea made her feel hot inside. "Don't worry Rubes. I ain't going nowhere." She squeezed her sister back, hard enough to make Ruby squeak.
Besides, she knew, she just knew, my mom, my real mom, would never let anyone take me away like that. No way. Nuh-uh.
From the hallway, they heard a thump and the sound of their mom giggling.
Yang's eyes narrowed dangerously. "C'mon, Rubes. We're gonna get some answers."
As soon as the girls exited their room, Tai knew they were in trouble. Yang had that look she got when she'd got ahold of some idea firmly in her teeth, and was already prepared to fight over it. And Ruby looked apologetic and was probably getting her "soulful" face prepared.
Totally screwed.
"Summer," he warned, far too late, as Yang rounded on her.
"Mom. You're not sending me away with that other woman, right?"
"What?!" the two adults blurted out simultaneously, completely unprepared for the question.
"That other woman. She's… she's… she was my first mom, wasn't she? The one that you said had to leave so you got to be my mom instead." Yang was looking up at her mom defiantly, daring her to deny it.
Holy crap.
Summer eased herself down on the floor of the hallway and leaned back against the wall, as much to put her on Yang's level as because her legs suddenly felt weak.
Looks like we aren't going to get the time we'd hoped for.
"That's my smart girl." Summer patted the floor beside her, stalling for time. "Tai, why don't you take Ruby and get dinner ordered."
"But mommm… I wanna hear too!" Ruby whined.
"Yang can tell you after, baby." Summer replied, giving Tai a look. He took Ruby by the hand and started leading her down the hallway.
"Grr… nobody tells me anything!"
Yang watched them leave, then slowly eased herself back against the wall, grabbing her mom's arm as she reached her level. "So, it's true?" Yang said suspiciously. "She's the one who… had me?"
Summer sighed. "Yes, Yang. That was Raven."
Yang considered that as she thought of the million next questions, and which one was the most important. "She's not… gonna try to take me away with her now, is she?"
Summer's breathing hitched, and then she wrapped her arms around her oldest daughter. Her daughter. "No, Yang. Nobody wants that, I promise. You're my little girl, and Raven accepts that."
The relief that washed over Yang was palpable. "Good. Cause… cause I wouldn't have gone. I'd have run away and come back."
Summer laughed, but there was a strained quality to it. Well… this was turning into a very different conversation than I imagined. She'd expected anger and hurt at why Raven had abandoned her only child, not fear that they'd just give Yang back to a woman she'd never known.
Kids are freaking nuts.
Or maybe they're just more straightforward than we are.
"Good!" She squeezed Yang hard. "Cause there's no way you're going anywhere. You're ours, and you belong here with your sister."
Yang blew out a long exhale, and her eyes drifted down the hall toward the living room. "So… do you know why she left? Why she didn't take me with her? I mean…" she swallowed, "I'm glad she didn't take me away. I'm just… wondering."
That was a conversation Summer had avoided those years ago, and Yang hadn't been old enough to ask the question, really. And of course, this was the territory she'd feared this conversation would wander into.
But she'd spent some time thinking about how she would answer that question, if it ever came up.
"You'd have to ask her that, Yang. Later. Not tonight, okay? But… I think she wasn't happy here in Patch. She's… a hard person. She doesn't like people telling her what she can and can't do. And she thought living in Patch was making her soft. She and Tai were fighting a lot, too. So, I think she decided it was best if she went somewhere with less rules."
Yang was quiet for a few long moments. "And she didn't take me with her..."
Summer understood the question Yang wasn't asking. Why didn't she want me? And she knew Yang wouldn't come right out and say it.
"It wasn't that she didn't want you, didn't love you." Summer sighed. "She couldn't stay, and Tai wouldn't have let her take you. She knew that. And really, I think she also knew that she wasn't the kind of mommy you needed." That was true. Raven had said to Summer more than once, sometimes bitterly and sometime with derision, that she just didn't have it in her to be all "soft and shit". And Tai would have fought her. And Summer would have taken Tai's side, maybe Qrow too.
In the end, Raven had taken the path of least resistance.
"Huh." Fidgeted. "I guess… I guess that was best then?"
"I sure think so. I got to have two incredible daughters instead of just one." She kissed Yang's hair, and ran her fingers through the golden curls, which made Yang want to snuggle up against her. "I was mad at her at first. I couldn't understand how she could leave us, all of us. But I've made my peace with it. Raven is Raven. She's got lots of hard edges, but she cares too."
Yang frowned. "I don't have to… call her mom, though. Right? Cause… you're my mom."
"I think she'll be okay with that. Just… try to forgive her, okay? She's not perfect, gods know. But she's my best friend and…" Summer considered for a moment, "she's one of the people who rescued me, and she's the one that helped get me home. She didn't do that just for me, either. She did that for you, too. She knew you needed me."
Raven had never actually said that. But it felt right. Might be the booze talking, though. Gods I wish I'd been able to hold off on this conversation.
"Oh…" Yang snuggled up against her mom a little more. "That's good, then. I'll… be nice to her, I guess."
"And no, you don't have to call her 'mom'. She'd probably freak out if you did." Summer giggled, then had an evil thought. "Though I do know something you can do that would be really really funny."
Fifteen minutes later Qrow, Tai, and Summer were plopped on the couch. Raven was sitting off to the side in a cushioned armchair, looking wary. Pizza was on the way.
Ruby was laying crossways on the sofa, with her head in Summer's lap and sprawled across Tai and Qrow.
Yang… was nowhere to be seen.
Raven thought that was worrisome.
Cause there were no more seats left.
Except her lap.
No way. Fuck that.
"Yang! Movie's starting!" Summer called back toward the bedrooms.
"You picked it!" Ruby yelled, only a little miffed. "You gotta be here for the start!"
When Yang entered the room, it was with purpose.
And her violet eyes on Raven immediately as she drifted into the room. Raven could only watch tensely, like a small animal seeing a predator approach, as Yang Xiao Long strolled right up to her, and with a hop plopped her young body right in Raven's lap.
Fuck fuck fuck.
"Heyyyy, Auntie Raven," Yang drawled with all the innocence of an Atlesian warship.
"Uhh… hey… uhh… Yang."
Yang put one hand on each of Raven's shoulders, and stared deep into her eyes. "So… mom and I had a longggg talk. She explained everything to me."
Oh gods oh gods. I gotta get out of here. She wanted desperately to look over at Summer, but those lilac orbs held hers locked in.
"And I just have one thing to ask you."
Fuck fuck fuck
Yang took in a deep breath, and then said the dreaded words.
"Where's my freaking allowance!"
"Wha…. Wha…" Her brain struggled to process the words, to the point where her mouth didn't know what the hell to do. And besides, the volume of laughter coming from the couch was just adding to the bullshit she was attempting to process at the moment.
But Yang soldiered on. "So yeah, you owe me like… EIGHT FREAKING YEARS of allowance." Her face screwed up for a second. "Plus internets!"
"Interest, Yang," Summer corrected from the sofa, the bitch.
"Yeah those."
"You… I… You… SUMMER ROSE I WILL FUC—
"Language!"
"Fuck you! I'm gonna kill you! You put her up to this!" Raven managed to tear her eyes off Yang… her daughter… who apparently damn well knew it too, to find Summer looking like she'd eaten an entire cage full of canaries. Tai had a completely blank expression. Qrow was hiding his face.
"Cry about it," Summer sniped. "I'll bring the tissues."
Yang decided to pile on. "Language, Auntie Raven. Mom says you have to be a good influence on us."
Raven could feel herself hyperventilating. There was a very real possibility she might pass out.
"So… it's true?" Ruby asked her mom. p Summer nodded down at her with a grin. "Wow…. two moms. That's sooo cool." She frowned. "Does she really get double allowance?" Summer saw the beginnings of a pout forming. "No fair. She already gets to the oldest. That's not fair. I want double allowance, too. More comic books!"
Tai laughed. "We can talk about it."
Raven was still spluttering, but the reality of it was starting to sink in. This was "the talk." The one she'd been avoiding and dreading for years. And it was… it was… her kid was basically just demanding payment.
"You're telling me… You just want… back allowance," she finally managed.
Yang grinned at her. "Yeah. And then we're square." Yang considered. "And you gotta help teach me how to fight." That hadn't been part of Summer's plan, but she'd said Raven was tough. And Yang was tough too. It felt right.
Raven glared at Summer. This all smelled like Summer Rose's doing. But then again… "Fine. I'll help train you. But I'm warning you, I don't deal with weaklings. Or whining. And no crying. I'll kick your ass if you start crying, and then I'll send you home to mommy."
"Deal."
Raven blinked.
Was it.. over? Was that the talk?
"You okay Rae?" Qrow's gravelly voice said from the sofa. "You look like you need a moment."
Raven sat there, trying to process it all, and Yang just… flopped around and got comfortable sideways in her lap, as if the whole thing was a done deal. "Start the movie, dad. Time's a wastin'."
Well… fuck.
[A/N] Thanks to my recent reviewers Shadowstorm-Vash, AtomicR4y, and AgentDraakis!
And yep. That was "the talk". I considered a long-drawn out, angst filled multi-chapter arc. But hell, with Summer's bull-headed optimism and everyone else on a high with her returned, I decided that just wasn't how things would play out.
It would be different if this was canon, and Yang had lost BOTH moms (one for 16 years and the other for almost a decade), but really, Summer IS Yang's mom in every way that matters, so why would she get totally torn up about why her 'real mom' left her all those years ago.
Sure, there will probably be a longer conversation later, but the heavy lifting's done.
And poor Qrow, still getting crapped on for being Ozpin's little squealer. But fear not, Oz is gonna get an earful later. Next week's Chapter will focus on Lionheart and Menagerie.