Ch 21: Roses Wilt

When they got back the first thing Yang did was call Winter. The woman picked up of course, not usually getting calls from Yang so it had her a bit concerned. When Winter answered, Yang was quick to speak her mind, almost growling out her words, "Winter! I don't care what the hell you have to do but if Dove causes my daughter to get attacked by any more Grimm I swear to god I'll teach her a god damn lesson myself!"

Winter was stunned but her face hardened, eyes glancing across the room at what Yang could only assume was Dove, "I will take care of that right away Yang. I apologize for her behavior. Have a good day."

Yang nodded and hung up. Blake was watching her from the archway that led to the living room with a bit of a smile, eyes racking over Yang's tensed flexed form that usually displayed she meant business. When the blonde turned to her she gave a big grin, "There. That should at least get things rolling."

Blake walked over, the feeling radiating off her wife giving her renewed confidence in Yang as she laced her arms around the woman's waist, "Hmmm I agree. Thank you Yang."

Yang chuckled and kissed Blake, "Of course Kitten."

—-

As time went by, Blake and Yang had told their loved ones about the baby, eventually getting the surprise that it was not one but two babies, twins, one boy and one girl. Blake was a mix between excited and nervous but Yang was simply over the moon and so was Jin, the little dragon excited to be getting both a baby brother and sister.

But while their home was full of joy and excitement and Jin getting to help set up a room for the babies, the Rose household had grown cold. Ruby had stumbled across Weiss teaching Sterling about Myrtenaster, the boy being curious about what weapon he might like and Weiss wanting to share the special item with her son.

But that did not go over well with Ruby who was still very insistent against him being any sort of fighter. The entire situation had blown into such a fight that Sterling had hid in his room crying while the two yelled at one another. He had never really been in the middle of such an explosive heated shouting match of his parents before and it scared him.

When it simmered out and the two were unable to stand it any more, Weiss was the first to notice he had disappeared. Still incredibly upset with Ruby she went looking for him without saying anything to her, finding him hiding in his room beneath his sheets. It softened her face and heart quickly and she sat next to the shaking bundle. She wiped her own face first before pulling herself together and gently pulling the blanket back, "Sterling, it's ok. I'm so sorry we scared you."

He was quick to cling to her. He was seven now but he was still a fairly gentle little boy. Weiss pulled him close and rubbed through his hair, "I'm so sorry Sterling."

He whimpered in her grasp nuzzling into her. It broke her heart that she and Ruby had made him like this but it angered her that Ruby hadn't even noticed. She seemed to not notice a lot lately. He didn't get as sick as he used to anymore either but Ruby still seemed to treat him like he would. Most of their fight had been Ruby resisting but also Weiss trying her damnedest to get Ruby to just talk to her about her pain on the subject but her wife dodging it.

The amount of frustration it gave Weiss was so intense she almost stopped caring about it all together, the only thing stopping her from doing so was that she loved Ruby. Holding her son she became even more determined to make sure his life was happy and fulfilled with whatever he wanted to learn or explore. She swore to herself he would have a better, more free childhood than she had, hers full of suppression, forced lessons in only what her father wanted of her, denied anything she actually wanted.

She eventually got him to calm down and to sleep and came out seeing Ruby on her scroll, sprawled out on the couch from where she stood on the top of the stairs. It lit the fury within herself again. Weiss stormed off to their room, grabbing Ruby's pillow and a spare blanket before coming down the stairs, tossing the pillow and blanket at Ruby with force that caused the younger woman to let out a sound, "Oof!"

"Since you seem so comfortable here with yourself, you can sleep here too!" Weiss's voice was serious and the woman didn't give Ruby a chance to say anything before taking herself angrily back upstairs and slamming their bedroom door closed.

Ruby just looked at the pillow and blanket and frowned, "Dammit Weiss. Well fine! I didn't want to sleep next to you right now anyway!"

She tossed the pillow onto the couch and threw herself down onto it with a huff, pulling the blanket over herself. She set her alarm on her scroll ridiculously early, waking long before anyone in the house. She was about to fold the blanket before she scowled and tossed it in a messy heap, mumbling, "She can get mad. I don't even care."

Once she had a chance to straighten herself up, she made coffee, caving a bit and leaving enough for Weiss, knowing she would come down soon once the smell made its way to her. While she was still mad at the woman, she couldn't bring herself to this part of the morning routine. With the cup in the sink and Crescent Rose tucked onto her hip, she raised her hood and slipped out the house for town.

Ruby stared at the screen of missions, signing herself up for anything she could find that looked like it might eat up a ton of time. When she finally found something that was estimated to be a good two weeks or so over in Mistral, she was quick to take it, not even bothering to go back home before heading out for the next airship out of town. It would be a while, nothing left quite that early from the small town, but she got comfortable in the station.

As the woman waited, her scroll buzzed with a message from Weiss wondering where she was. She sent a simple response back, the airship finally arriving as she hit send, 'Took on a mission in Mistral. Expected to be gone a few weeks. Kiss Sterling bye for me.'

Tucking into a seat for the journey, Ruby put her scroll away and closed her eyes, fully ready to escape the discomfort of talking about anything uncomfortable anymore at home.

—-

Weiss just stared at the message with her coffee, stunned at how fast Ruby had just up and went off to grab work. Several times she typed out her thoughts on the matter but then deleted it until she chose to say nothing and set the scroll down, rubbing her face with a groan, "Seriously Ruby? Running away won't make it go away…"

"Mama ran away?" came a small voice from the kitchen archway that pulled Weiss's face to glance over.

There was her sleepy son staring at her sadly. shook her head and forced a smile, "No Sterling, she just went to work. She said to kiss you bye though."

He seemed confused but didn't question it as he walked over and climbed into a stool, Weiss getting out cereal for this morning as she was not in the right mindset to cook anything. Sterling didn't mind. In their home sugary meals were often more of a treat than a regular occurrence.

But this was the beginning of many mornings like this. Ruby would come back from the long missions and Weiss and Sterling were just so happy she was back that it would be peaceful and content for a few days, sometimes even as long as a week before the arguments would start again the moment Ruby would discover Weiss was still encouraging Sterling's wishes to learn to be a Huntsman one day and Ruby would disappear off to another job in the wee hours of the morning.

The pattern was a rinse and repeat for so long that Weiss was beginning to be more worn down than angry. Weiss was beginning to miss Ruby's touch or having the woman next to her at night, growing sad at seeing Sterling miss her while she was gone but have a complicated relationship with her when she was here.

This most recent stunt of Ruby leaving after managing to be home for nearly two weeks was what led to the reason Weiss was now sitting in Yang and Blake's kitchen in the middle of the night. For the most part she was giving Weiss information on when she might be back and where she was going but any attempts Weiss made at trying to get her to just stay instead of leaving when things were uncomfortable were met with Ruby kissing her to shut her up and telling her "gotta go bye."

Sterling was asleep on the couch with Jin as a very pregnant Blake handed Weiss some tea. Currently Yang wasn't home, out on her own mission but the blonde had been on a call with Blake to check in and talk to her family as she did when she could at night on missions when Weiss had shown up. Weiss had just finished explaining everything to Blake and was now slumped onto the counter as she took the tea.

Blake sat across from her with her own cup and watched Weiss for a moment, her friend's saddened expression felt heavy, "Weiss I'm sorry. Have you tried using that tone you use that can command a room to get her to give you a moment?"

The faunus received a glare before Weiss rubbed her face, "No but I don't want to fight with her anymore, Blake. I want to talk to her. But we just end up fighting and she won't listen or talk to me about her feelings other than making it sound like I'm doing something terrible supporting his dreams. Blake of course I'm terrified he will get hurt or worse but… it would be terrible to force him to do something I want for him before he even has a chance to try. There's several levels of schooling with safety in place before it's a profession where we can find out if he can or can't do it and that's if he even wants to when he gets older. He's little and just wants to be like his mother right now. What's so wrong with humoring a little kid wanting to mimic his mother? She was his hero, you know? I know she doesn't want him to because she's scared of losing him but… ugh!"

Blake gave Weiss her full attention. She didn't really know how to help though. Ruby was clearly running from facing the painful and uncomfortable discussion about the losses she has had that were keeping her from supporting her son but it's not like they could tie her down and force her. That sort of thing never really worked like it did in shows and books and really was not the right way to handle someone's feelings, "You know Yang is going to try to get involved when she finds out right?"

Weiss glared at her friend, pointing her finger, "Don't you dare say anything Blake."

The faunus took in a breath, "She's going to wonder why you are here."

"Just tell her I didn't want to be home right now without Ruby or something?" Weiss suggested, receiving a questioning look from Blake.

"You want me to lie… to my wife… for your comfort?" the faunus's voice was flat but it was clearly rhetorical.

The smaller woman let out a frustrated groan and gripped her head, "I guess not… I just… if Yang gets involved Ruby will take off and possibly stay gone and I can't handle that. I… Blake I love her… I miss her so much it hurts…"

A gentle touch landed on one of Weiss's hands and the woman glanced up at Blake, "I'll make sure she behaves while you get this figured out Weiss. In the meantime, you and your son are always welcome here. Let me get you set up with a place to sleep so you don't have to go home right now alright? Honestly it'd be nice to have you around right now anyway. With Yang gone it's difficult to get things done with this belly of mine."

Weiss gave a soft appreciative smile before grinning at the large pregnant form of the faunus. Blake was due in a month or so but twins were no easy feat for sure. For a slight moment, Weiss felt a pang in her chest, thinking about Sterling's lost twin. She hadn't thought about that much in a long time now, doing her best to move forward with her life and treasure what she had.

But looking at Blake it was hard not to remember. Time has made it easier of course. It was a baby she didn't even know was there and it was gone before she could be attached to it but that didn't mean it wasn't sad. However, that had made it easier to heal her heart. She got up to take their cups and wash them so Blake didn't have to and as the water ran over the dishes and her hands she couldn't help thinking about the conversation she and Ruby had about more children.

That was probably never going to happen now at the rate things were going. It was a bit disappointing but it wasn't exactly like she dared have another baby right now with things so messed up in their home and Ruby constantly running off to danger. She did wonder though if it was even worth bringing back up at any point. Did Ruby even still want to anymore? If she did, would it settle her down enough to actually let things heal at home? No, that was a bad idea and Weiss knew that right? Part of her might be desperate enough but she had to be rational about things.

The faunus was just watching Weiss lost in her mind and took the moment to get a spare room ready for the woman to rest in, bringing a blanket and pillow out to set on the back of the couch before smiling at the sleeping kids and brushing Jin's blonde hair out of her drooling face and returning to the kitchen, "I can show you where a futon is but I can't lift it right now. I did pull some bedding out for you though and there are two spare rooms upstairs so I got one ready for you."

Weiss turned off the water and dried her hands, turning to thank Blake. When the women went back into the dark living room, they watched the kids for a moment, the bedding tucked in Weiss's arms as Blake whispered, "They'll be fine here for the night. We set all the locks in the house up too high for Jin to reach because the little rascal was sneaky and curious so they can't get into any trouble if they wake up before one of us does. Jin might nip you if you try to move her but I know she doesn't like waking up alone in here."

Weiss grimaced at the thought of those teeth biting her and nodded, "Right… Sterling can stay down here with her, that's fine."

They went up the stairs to the loft and into the hallway, Blake showing Weiss to the room and where the futon was stored before going off to bed, her feet and back aching. After setting up the futon and tucking into the blanket, Weiss stared up at the ceiling in the moonlight and sighed. It took longer than she liked to quiet her mind enough to sleep, so many thoughts running wild. Turning to her side, she stared at her scroll, opening her messages with Ruby and rubbing her watery eyes, tears falling silently in the dark room, whispering to herself, "Ruby… what is happening to us? Please just come home…"

She typed a simple message, hoping to appeal to her wife's heart, 'I miss you. I hope you are someplace safe.'

—-

She had not gotten a reply when she checked it the next day, sunlight waking her late into the day along with the sounds of commotion downstairs. Yang must have gotten back because Weiss could hear the blonde's voice and the two children in a fit of laughter, though the words were indistinguishable from this distance.

Receiving nothing back from Ruby stung so much she could hardly bring herself to get out of bed, curling up in the blanket with a quiet sob until the door flew open startling her as the kids came running in and tackled onto her, begging for her to wake up and play with them.

Weiss quickly wiped her face before they could see she had been crying and forced herself to smile, sitting up with the two and agreeing to entertain them as Yang stood there in the doorway, "Alright you two! Let's give her some room to breathe yea!? MArch your little butts down stairs for lunch on the double! I'll get her up and moving!"

The two giggled and pretended to be soldiers marching off. When they were gone Weiss sighed and flopped back on her back, arm over her eyes as Yang stepped in sitting on the floor next to her, "Hey… Blake told me what's up. You gonna be ok?"

A million lien question was all Weiss could think as she laid there, "I… don't know."

Yang leaned back on her hands staring at the wall thinking, "Don't worry, Blake made me promise to stay out of it. But I do think Ruby is being a bit much right now if that counts for anything. I know Blake said it already but, come over anytime you need. Lay here all day if you need to, cry, scream, whatever. I'll keep the kids busy for you. Sometimes, you just need a break to feel yea? We got you."

She got to her feet and headed for the door, Weiss's voice stopping her, "Thank you Yang."

The blonde just nodded and closed the door to head back down the stairs.

—-

As the time came and the twins were born, Yang and Blake were both quite relieved to have a complication-free time around. Ruby was on another mission and not there for it but Weiss sat in the waiting room with Sterling and Jin, struggling to keep the little dragon calm.

When Yang came out to get her the little faunus practically screamed with joy, jumped around. The two disappeared into the room and Weiss sighed. Being here in this hospital didn't make her heartache any easier. She wished dearly that Ruby was here, getting to see that joy the woman got like when any of their peers had children. Her heart's longing for Ruby was only getting more painful the longer Ruby behaved like this, but it was hard for her to be here in this place where she lost one baby and where they lost their son before he was given back to them without Ruby with her.

She pulled out her scroll, looking at the screen, her messages with Ruby had become quite one sided aside from Ruby giving details of her next job. It only hurt her more to see it. Attempts to just try to let Ruby know she still loved her whenever Ruby was gone had always gone without response. She sent the update about the babies, healthy faunus cats with ears and promised pictures once she could see them before putting the scroll away.

The more time this all went out the more Weiss felt less like trying, not wanting to bring any more pain to herself, but she hadn't quite given up yet.

—-

In the room, Yang held Jin's hand, holding a finger to her lips as she walked her over. Blake was barely awake, extremely worn out from birthing two children, a baby tucked to her in each arm. Her eyes turned to Jin who was struggling to really see them and gave Yang a nod, the blonde lifting Jin to sit on the bed next to Blake's legs.

Jin could see the twitching tiny ears of one blonde head and one black one, their hair soft and thick for babies. Blake gently sat up and smiled at Jin, "Do you want to see?"

Jin nodded, in awe. She had actually never seen babies this close before in her rather sheltered childhood so far, being the youngest among her cousins. Yang helped Jin sit next to Blake as the woman gently maneuvered the two bundles so Jin could see them. Yang kept a hold of Jin noticing she was trying to lean a bit too close as the child stared, "Wow… "

Blake leaned and softly kissed her head, "The one with the black hair is your little brother Bao and the blonde is your little sister Mao."

Jin slowly began to grin, "She's blonde like me."

Blake nodded, nuzzling her sweetly, "Yes. You and your Mama."

She yawned and Yang gently pulled Jin up and back to the floor, "Come on kiddo. Mommy needs to sleep for a bit. Let's get you back out to Aunt Weiss. You can see them some more later, ok?"

Jin whined a bit but obeyed, going with Yang back to the waiting room with her aunt. As Yang brought her over, she noticed Weiss's face and sighed, "Ruby still not saying anything huh?"

It startled Weiss but then she shook her head. Yang sat next to her for a moment, "I'm sorry Weiss. Shit, I don't even know if I'm ok with it right now that my own sister isn't even around or answering when my kids were born. Why don't you take the kids and head home? You can come back tomorrow and see the babies. Blake's gonna be sleeping for a while anyways and they are just gonna get bored and restless here."

The white haired woman sighed but stood up, "you're probably right. I told Ruby I'd send a picture though…"

Yang gave a goofy grin and pulled her scroll out, then suddenly a message from Yang popped up with a very cute picture of the twins in their swaddles on Weiss's scroll, "Way ahead of you Weiss."

Weiss rounded up the two older children as Yang went back into the room with Blake after telling Jin bye. Jin was in no way happy about any of it but she did as she was told regardless, wanting to be good for her parents even if she wanted to stay.

When she got them home, Weiss sent the photo with the names of the babies to Ruby and sighed, setting it down knowing she was getting her hopes up waiting for any response. She got the kids fed and set them down with a movie as she tried to get some work done. She had a message from Winter she had gotten a few days ago to come work at Beacon with her but right now she wasn't really sure if she should take it and had declined though Winter had said she would leave the opening for her should that change in the future. Right now, Weiss worried that taking it would just drive Ruby even further away and currently she was still holding onto whatever sliver of hope remained to try to make things work out.

Sitting down with the kids she stared at the picture of the twins and found herself wondering what Sterling's sister might have looked like. What she might have been like. Would she be cautious and sweet like him or energetic like Ruby often was? Would she also like her hair long or want to cut it short? She knew thinking like this would only depress her but she couldn't help it. She typed a message to Ruby sadly, 'I wish you were here right now. This picture just makes me think about our other baby and I wish you were here to hold me. I'm hurting so much more than I thought I would be.'

But Weiss got nothing back, not that she was really surprised, and as the kids passed out on the couch with the movie she pulled her legs up and hugged them, burying her face in her knees as her pain flooded from her eyes in silent, defeated sobs.