Chapter 26 – Extended Contract

With time running out before their mission ends, Team Job must decide on just how long they intend to stay on the farm.

"I…I think we should take him to Vale."

Blake looked at Velvet, then at Jaune. Neither said anything for or against, and she repeated herself, louder this time.

"We'll all go to Vale. To…To Vale."

"Take…" Mr. Alizarin removed himself from Jaune, to whom he'd been clinging like a limpet up until now. "Take me to Vale? No! No! I won't let you!"

For whatever reason, Jaune found that he was better than either of the girls at calming their employer down, so he tried to say something soothing, but the guy wouldn't have it.

"No! You can't make me leave! This is my family's farm…my farm. You have no right to evict me. I own this land, gods-dammit!"

"Sir, your house just burned down," Jaune said, hoping to get through to him with logic. "There's nowhere for you to stay."

Mr. Alizarin looked back at his farm and reacted with shock, as though this were the first time he'd even noticed it.

He's seen it multiple times throughout the night. We even talked about how he started the fire by accident.

And then, to Jaune's great surprise, he scoffed.

"I can built another house, but I can't get another life. This farm is the only place I'm safe. It's my castle, and I'm the king out here. We stay here."

Jaune wasn't so sure about that. Sure another house could be built, but how was he going to pay for a new stove? Would he sew himself new sheets for a bed and clothes to wear? Even thought it was rickety, his house had contained and had been much more than four wooden walls and a dirt floor.

But it's not my choice. I'm a security consultant, not a social worker. Until I know for sure that he's not mentally competent…though I'd be amazed if he somehow did get deemed so…I can't tell a grown adult how to live his life.

"I'll sleep in the barn until you catch or kill the assassins," he went on, absolutely undeterred. "Though I think I might want to roll back the routine a touch. I'll feed the animals, but the fields can go a few days without inspection if the alternative is them never being inspected again."

Jaune wasn't sure how much he believed that. Ears of corn were practically falling off the stalk as they waited to be harvested, and they'd plucked off what could have been fifty beetles just the other day.

"Until…?" Blake made a noise that was somewhere between a sigh of displeasure and a groan. "Sir, we're only here for the week. It's been three days…four, if you count tonight being passed midnight. So far, aside from a fire you admit to having started, no one's done anything."

"They'll come! I know they will."

"We can't stay forever," Velvet breathed out.

Jaune couldn't help but notice how her hand rested on her stomach. He had absolutely no clue if she'd always done that and he'd just never noticed or if it was a new behavior.

"They're out there, and they'll lose their patience soon, I assure you." His eyes scanned across the three of them. "Is it the time? The money? I'll hire you for another week if that's what it takes."

"S-Sir…"

"Double the rate!" he loudly exclaimed. "And triple for a third week if it takes that long, but I know it won't! I just know!"

"Do you even have that much money?" Jaune asked him, not really sure about this whole thing anymore.

He nodded excitedly. "It'll eat into my savings, but there's no point in saving up just to die an early death. Lien chips don't burn, so I can have the cash in your hands as soon as the house stops burning."

It was so strange to hear a man talk about his house burning down so casually, like it was nothing more than an inconvenient disruption to his routine that had to be outlasted.

That kind of money could really make a big difference to Team Job, especially given how their expenses had risen upon the induction of Velvet to the company, but this…this felt wrong to Jaune. He and Blake had done some dirty things before, but it had either been victimless crimes or crimes where the victims were D-bags. This time, it was an innocent, desperate man who felt like his life was in jeopardy. He probably would have offered them anything in exchange for protection, and that was too much power for them to have over him.

"Let's just finish this week," Blake said cautiously. "We can extend our arrangement and discuss further payments then, okay?"

Mr. Alizarin nodded once and stared back towards the burning house he'd once lived in. "As long as you don't go. I need you three here, now more than ever. Tonight, I fear, is only the beginning of what they're planning."

Tonight was you, you crazy –!

"If you're staying in the barn, we can lend you a sleeping bag," Blake said. "We brought three, but only one of us sleeps at a time. On that note: Jaune, if you can, go and get some sleep. You've had the least rest of all of us."

Jaune was fairly sure that Blake needed the shuteye more than he did, given how she was smelling like a used piece of gym equipment after running about the fields, but he was in no conditions to countermand her orders. In front of customers, he held the power, but when the action came, there was no doubt who was really in charge.

"Velvet, stay with me," Blake said. "We can start putting out the fire now that the situation with the assassins and Grimm has been dealt with."

"There were Grimm?" Jaune and Velvet asked at the same time.

Blake just ran a hand through her hair. "It's been a long night."

Things had been tough before – tough to handle, tough to make sense of, tough to watch – but it was pure downhill from there.

Mr. Alizarin basically locked himself in the barn from then on, but it afforded him no privacy with Team Job rotating out to sleep in the loft. His hapless confusion was something that Jaune could only pity. More and more random things were coming out of his mouth, talk of assassins that made no sense to the rational being. Jaune listened in at first, hoping he might figure out just why their employer had lost his mind so, but he gave up after catching phrases about Grimm cowboys riding on horseback, corrupt Atlesian commanders seeking him hanged him for insubordination, and hundreds of wronged ex-wives closing in on the farm in search of vengeance.

They took turns looking after the farm as best they could, but it was practically on the verge of death. The animals probably needed better care than food being dumped their way and bucketfuls of stagnant water in their troughs, but Team Job had no idea what that better care was supposed to be. As for the crops, they didn't even try to salvage those and just let them ripen and fall.

In spite of it all, nothing came. No assassins, no Grimm, no ex-wives…nothing. If Jaune had compared it to the most peaceful week in Ansel he could remember, he would have found this time even more relaxing.

Blake had been right the first time around – no assassins were coming. It was tempting to latch onto Mr. Alizarin's desperation and believe that something was out there, to trust that it was all an elaborate charade to lower their guards for the strike, but Jaune even scouted into the surrounding woods at one point during his shift with Blake, just to see if he could somehow find a clue. There was nothing.

The bigger danger to the man is himself. We leave him food and water, but he barely touches it. I don't think he's slept more than two hours in the past two days combined, and that was after being woken up the night before and outrunning both Blake and the Grimm.

They could tell when he was awake and when he was not. It was the talking, the unceasing talking. There was terror in his voice every time he spoke, and try as Jaune may have, he couldn't not hear it.

It was on the evening of the sixth day that Team Job all got together to discuss what they were going to do tomorrow. Jaune decided to forgo some of his sleeping time and asked them all to gather round to talk it over, since it seemed like no one else on the team wanted to take the initiative. To avoid being overhead, they spoke with one another as they fed the animals in the pasture.

"We're supposed to ship out," Velvet said half-heartedly, in response to the question of tomorrow's agenda.

"Because we would need to take another mission," Blake added. "But if we've got one here…"

Jaune shook his head. "Blake, he's not thinking clearly."

"And would our departure help him out?" Blake asked pointedly. "If we just go, he might kill himself or something. It might not even be intentional – he could just forget to eat."

She might have had a point about him hurting himself, but their presence there wasn't helping either. Short of assassins actually showing up and being captured, there was no end in sight, and Jaune knew that none of the three of them expected that to happen.

"And besides, it's not like he has anything left here. Farms require seed for the next year, and his crops are dying. He doesn't even have a silo. He has no idea how to be a farmer."

That wasn't exactly fair. Jaune had no idea how to be a huntsman, but he was still doing his best.

Except I take help when I need it, and that's all the time. I do it because I could be seriously injured or even killed if I stubbornly cling to pride. Mr. Alizarin doesn't want help, but we might have to force it on him if his life is on the line.

"I'm not saying we stay here forever, you guys," Blake said, hauling another sack of feed over her shoulder. "He's bound to run out of steam eventually. We just outlast him and get a double or even triple payday for doing nothing for two or three weeks. No extra airship costs, no extra work – it's pure profit for us."

It was good that Blake wasn't suggesting they take his offer to raise their rates, because Jaune would have balked at that. They couldn't afford to stay out here without being paid, but Team Job wasn't going to let their moral compass point full south if Jaune had anything to say about it.

It's not fundamentally different from what we did in our first week – payment of 10,000 lien for a week of security. It's just more of that for both of us. Another 10k to Team Job, another week to Mr. A and his farm.

"We should take him to Vale," Velvet said, biting her lips. "We…I know we aren't huntsmen, but normal citizens can call in a welfare check on someone. He's not faring well at all."

Blake nodded. "Normal citizens can call in welfare checks, but they can't drag someone against their will to a city that's miles away."

Velvet began to tap her foot. As Jaune patted a sheep that was chowing down, he couldn't help but notice just how uncomfortable she looked.

I kinda agree with her on this one. I think Blake probably does too, since only a fool would suggest he's going to just 'get better.' She just wants to get a complimentary second and third missions out of the first, and then she'll hand him over to a social worker in Vale.

"Ummm…J-Jaune…"

Jaune stepped away from the sheep to help Velvet with her third bag of feed. It was kinda weird that she would ask for his help to lift it, given that she could and frequently had demonstrated just how much stronger she was (such as with the first two bags), but Jaune was happy to help.

Honestly, it's probably just the baby. She doesn't want to put stress on her back –

Oh.

She didn't want help with the bag. She wanted help with Blake.

"U-Uh…"

It was obvious that Blake had noticed something was up between them as the awkwardly stared into one another's eyes over a bag of ground meal, but Jaune had no idea how he was supposed to approach this.

"I need to go back to Vale," Velvet whispered to Jaune. "Doctor's check-up. It's that thing I need to do for a few hours weekly."

"It's every week?"

Velvet nodded. "Perks of being a huntress – they have extra tests. I put it off this week, but I don't think it's a good idea to do it again."

Jaune eyed Blake, who was glaring at the two as they conspiratorially whispered with their backs turned to her. Her hands were on her hips, and she did not look pleased.

"If you've got something I need to hear, now's the time to say it. No offense, you two, but this isn't a democracy."

Jaune looked at Velvet imploringly. She'd promised to come out to Blake about the baby on her own terms, but now might need to be that time. Blake spoke the truth; she was the closest thing they had to a real team leader within Team Job, and it would be impossible for them to reach a consensus about what tomorrow would hold if their most experienced leader didn't have all the details.

But it's not my standing in the team on the line here.

Jaune patted her on the shoulder. "It's your call either way."

Velvet smiled. "Thanks, Jaune. It means a lot…"

The two of them turned back to Blake, who now had a twice as unhappy frown on her face.

"Alright," Velvet said. "Blake. The truth, the reason I've been so squirrelly about going home to Vale…about everything, actually, is that I'm pregnant."

Jaune had no idea what he expected Blake's reaction to be, but he prepared himself to intervene just in case. Velvet could defend herself better than he could, but if Blake took it really poorly and tried to do something stupid, he would be better equipped to calm her down.

There was always the chance that she would be overjoyed by what should be happy news, but Jaune doubted it. Velvet might have seemed more on the positive side about this than the negative side, but Blake was more pragmatic than she was emotional, and she would probably see this as a burden.

Velvet's chosen to keep this baby so far, even when getting rid of it is legal in Vale and would have been a lot easier for her. She could have kept her team, her school, her career – I assume that means that having this kid means more to her than any of that stuff, or she wouldn't be here with us.

If it got heated, he would step in between them. If it didn't, he wouldn't take a side other than the side that said they should both get along. Both of them were Jaune's friends and teammates, and it was his job to keep thing running smoothly between everyone. That usually meant human clients, but if it were the two Faunus women themselves, so be it.

At first, Blake just reacted with surprise. That was what he'd been expecting; Velvet's stomach wasn't beginning to really bulge or anything yet, and she'd given them no indication of this before, so it was sort of a bombshell to learn it without any softening.

She did jump around a lot and exert herself during missions, but I guess pregnant women are more durable when they have aura. My own mom didn't even survive the birth of her last daughter, but Velvet's a huntress. The rules must be different for them.

When Blake finally finished staring at Velvet and her stomach, she exhaled deeply and turned her back to them both. Jaune waited with bated breath for her to ask a question, exclaim in surprise, or say anything, really, but she was quiet. Her hands rose to her head and brushed over her eyes, running through her hair, but she gave no other response.

"B-Blake?" Velvet asked.

The cat Faunus didn't move, but Velvet flinched back anyways.

According to her, I'm the more approachable one, and she was still torn up with worry about telling me.

In spite of his earlier promise to leave this to the girls, Jaune was beginning to feel like he ought to do something. Velvet probably needed his support, and Blake could certainly use the voice of a familiar teammate to help ground her to reality.

But what do I say? I don't want Blake to think I'm siding with Velvet over her, or vice versa. Heck, there are no sides!

In the end, he decided to try and bring it back to the topic that had started this all. "It's…something we'll need to consider when we decide if we're staying here or returning to Vale."

His voice drew Blake out of her thoughts, and she turned around to face them. She didn't look angry, which immediately lifted a load off of Jaune's chest, but she was clearly was making an effort to keep herself locked down.

"Are you sure?" Blake asked Velvet.

The rabbit Faunus' head went up and down. "Sure."

Blake's hands went back to her forehead, and she leaned her head back with a raspy grunt, like the sound of metal creaking. "That was dumb. Getting pregnant while being a huntress or security consultant or whatever the fuck we are was pretty damn dumb, Velvet."

Velvet's head nodded in shame. "I know."

"Look, I'm not trying to be a dick here, but you spreading your legs like this fucks things up a lot, Velvet, for the full team. This isn't a job where being physically incapacitated just works out." Her hands fell back down, and she let out a lengthy sigh. "You aren't fired, but we're going to have to make suitable arrangements when we're back in Vale."

I guess that's the answer to that. Sorry about the farm, Mr. A, but Velvet's checkups take precedence over your raving conspiracies.

Velvet kicked her feet a little. "I'm not asking for specia–"

"Hmph." Blake didn't wait for Velvet to finish. "I know you aren't, but I'm your boss, and I control your salary and time off. Babies are expensive to handle. If I don't make sure you're taken care of, it's on me, so I have to make sure you get the special treatment you need, asked for or not.

"And you, Jaune." Blake just kept shaking her head at both of them. "I thought that you would have a better idea than anyone of how precarious Team Job is at the moment. Just because things are looking up doesn't mean…you should have known better."

Jaune cringed. "I…I would have told you, but it wasn't for me to tell. I'm sorry."

It was impossible for Blake to not see this as some sort of betrayal of her trust. Velvet had told him the reason she was kicked out of Beacon, and he'd knowingly withheld it from her. Privacy or not, it was going to seriously impact the company, and that meant it would have a bearing on Blake's life too. Heck, it already was impacting the company, since it was going to be cutting this mission short.

"I'm really sorry," Jaune repeated. "I'm really, really sorry."

If he could go back, he would do the same thing, so Jaune was partially lying in saying that, but Jaune was still regretful over all this. It had been the right thing for Jaune to do, giving Velvet her own time to confront Blake without him going and blabbing to her first, but he truly wished he didn't have to hide it from her as he had.

From the way Blake looked at them both with scorn, she probably knew that Jaune's apology didn't have 100% of him behind it. "What's done is done, and we just have to live with our choices."

Her face softened just a little bit. She still looked disappointed, but it was clearly less disappointed relative to before, and the change was visible.

"For what it's worth, I'm happy for you." Blake shrugged. "For both of you. It'll be difficult, but we can make this work."

That's good. If we didn't have Blake on board, this would be a whole lot more…wait…what did I do that's made her happy?

"Congrats on getting together, I guess."

Getting together…wait, Blake thinks I'M THE FATHER?

It was difficult for Jaune not to burst out laughing at that…too difficult, in fact. He knew it was in poor taste and probably alarming to Velvet, given how he completely lost control of his disorderly guffawing, but Blake had gotten it soooooo wrong.

"It's not my baby, Blake. Velvet and I aren't a couple." Jaune shook his head. "Serious, what's with all the people…"

Velvet had assumed he was with Blake, and she'd assumed the inverse of it. Jaune had no idea why everyone was shipping him with everyone else. Of course, not knowing didn't mean he wasn't driven to tears with giggles by the tangled web of misunderstanding.

"I-It's about fourth months along at this point," Velvet said, almost sounding rushed. She was probably eager to clear it up before Blake continued along with the wrong idea. "It wasn't Jaune."

"I thou–"

"It wasn't Jaune."

This has gone on long enough.

"Alright, everyone listen up," Jaune said, clearing his throat. "I'm not dating either of you, nor have I impregnated you. And as I understand it, you two aren't dating, nor have you gotten one another pregnant. As of right now, no one in Team Job is in a personal relationship."

It was a little weird that everyone kept assuming it was Jaune and someone, but it made sense in context each time. To Velvet, who had only just joined the team, Jaune and Blake were a young man and woman of similar age who'd chosen to work and live together. She hadn't known their relationship and had just decided to flat out ask instead of dropping subtle clues or hoping for them to bring it up.

And Blake probably thought this was a recent development. Since I'm the only guy on the farm other than Mr. Tall, Dark, and Crazy, it would be the logical assumption that I'm the father.

Jaune cringed at thinking that. Him, seventeen years old, and already a father…from his perspective, it was young even at nineteen, but at least that was above the age of consent.

"We should tell Mr. Alizarin," Velvet said. "N-Not about me and the baby. About the 'leaving for Vale part.' I-If we're decided, that is."

It seemed like they were. Blake had agreed that they were going to talk it over in Vale, and like she said, it was up to the pair of bosses of the team to ensure that their one underling was safe and looked after.

It wasn't pleasant to think about, but Blake was right about how much trouble this would be. The team was about to terminate a mission solely because of it, and their salary arrangements would probably have to change.

Velvet won't ask for more money that we agreed to give her, but what are Blake and I supposed to do if she needs funds for medical expenses or baby food or whatever it takes to raise a kid? Just ignore her? She shouldn't have let us write up that contract.

He could imagine her thought process when going through with it – she was ashamed of telling them and assumed she could get by with the 30% pay they gave her – but it was just going to be a headache for them to undo and rewrite.

We're lucky it's the three of us. If this were a large business, there would be HR and a legal department we'd have to run it by, but instead of that Blake and I can just choose to make a decision and go for it as long as we're not violating any laws. And I don't think there are any about paying someone more than agreed upon.

"Jaune, call the airship," Blake commanded. "Tell them we've got four to take back to Vale."

"Four?" asked a voice from the barn.

Out stepped Mr. Alizarin, his skin pale from the days without sunlight he'd spent in there. Jaune could see there was a creak in his step, and his eyes looked a bit more sunken in then before. The physical toll on his body that his estrangement from the world had taken was starting to show.

Jaune cleared his throat. Go time.

"Sir, for your own good, w-we think it would be best –"

"No need to convince me." He raised his arms in the air and cracked his back. "I, too, believe it's time I move on and set foot on the journey ahead of me. This barn is of no more use to me."

That was good to hear, but also rather concerning that he would give up so fast on something he'd fought so hard to keep prior to this. Also, why wasn't he ranting about assassins? He'd B-worded and moaned about them nonstop before.

"Um…y-you're sounding…a bit better, Mr. Alizarin," Jaune said, not sure exactly how to phrase the change. The man's body was clearly in its worst shape, but his voices sounded…heartier. Like, after losing himself for so long, he'd finally found himself again.

He smiled (probably the first time Jaune had seen him do that) and chuckled. "Thank you, Jaune. I'm feeling much better, now that the worst is behind us. Behind me, rather. And please, call me by my name."

Jaune blinked, unsure of what he was missing. "I…I did. Didn't I?"

"There's no need for 'mister.'" The change in his demeanor was impossible to not notice now. He was speaking with a surety that most people only dreamed of possessing. Neither he nor Blake had it; few their age did. "We may use our given names, my friends."

"Uh…"

Crap, what was his first name?! Jaune had forgotten it. He vaguely recalled that the guy had asked to not be called by it and insisted on his surname.

Jaune waited for Blake or Velvet to bail him out, but a furtive glance in their directions revealed them to be just as stumped.

"Augustine Alizarin," their client said at last, sparing Team Job of further embarrassment.

"A-Augustine," Jaune said, trying his best not to sound like a tool for parroting the name.

"Thank you." The farmer smiled pensively. "But as I said, all my friends call me Austin. Though, truthfully, I suspect I'll only be keeping the first syllable."

Coming Soon: Oztin

(in case you didn't get it)

Author's Notes

Just a pre-emptive clarification now that we've had time to acclimate to the fact that Velvet is pregnant. For those of you familiar with my works, you know that I tend to deal in two things: tragedy and crack. Every main character suffers in some way in a RatCrimes fanfic, and there is always some nonsense that derails the story and ruins the vibe in the most comedic way.

Job Security contains neither of those. No one dies here (aside from nameless extras in villages and such), and there will be little to no over-the-top comedy that entirely destroys the tone of the story.

I only say this because I want to clarify that Velvet will not be miscarrying, aborting, dying during childbirth, losing the baby due to complications, etc. before one of the Rat's Nest even asks. That would be too dark for this fun, happy story. Waaaaaay too dark. I don't usually spoil the plot ahead of time, but I want to assure the people who fear me because they know me that the scene they dread is not coming. That's not to say that there's any reason up until now that you should've expected that; I just wanted to get ahead of this one. I frequently do play with your emotions and pull the rug out from under you *cough* Origin Story *cough, but I won't make you grow emotionally attached to an unborn child as you watch it grow, only to kill it for Likes and Views or something.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!