["Be My Escape"-- Reliant K]

The day of the Christmas party arrived, and, appropriately, it snowed.

Thankfully, Weiss and Meridian flew in before then...and they brought Hamish with them.

"The poor fellow just seemed too lonesome," Meridian said to the others. "We took pity on him."

"You're not fooling me." Cinder pointed at him accusingly. "I already know your partner has a crush on Esmeralda. He begged you to let him come as a favor, didn't he?"

"I can't believe you'd accuse me of that," Meridian said in a voice that said she was right.

"For the record," Weiss said, "he didn't beg us. We offered... The other part, I can't really confirm or deny it, not my place."

"I know you're going to get involved," Cinder said. "When will you stop trying to do that?"

"Oh, we helped you along, didn't we?" Weiss shot back. "Anyway, it's harmless. Besides, he really was lonely. I've felt guilty that we leave him alone just because he's not one of the main team. He is Meridian's oldest friend."

"And he's saved my life loads of times," Meridian said. "Just because I have new friends doesn't mean I forget the old ones, Cindy. You of all people should know that."

"Stop calling me Cindy," Cinder said.

"It's better than the things we used to call you," Meridian said.

"Leave Esmeralda alone," Cinder said. "She's barely getting used to people, let alone anything else."

"Listen, protective older sister," Meridian said, "what happens, happens. We're not going to push her or anything, but a little crush isn't anything to worry about. Shouldn't you focus on your own man?"

"How dare you--" Cinder began, incensed.

"What's going on?" Royal stepped over.

"Need to get your woman in line, man, that's what's going on," Meridian said.

"What did you just say?" Cinder bristled even more.

"Did you just call her my 'woman'?" Royal said. "And tell me to get her in line...? Have you lost your mind?"

"He's kidding," Weiss said. "Meridian!" She yanked on his arm. "Come on, don't poke the bear."

"I got a little carried away." Meridian smiled weakly. "Sorry, that was the Semblance talking."

"Excuses," Cinder said. "I should clock you."

"That's not very much in the spirit," Meridian said, not learning from his mistakes.

"Spirit? I'll show you spirit," Cinder said.

"Hey!" Weiss made glyphs to shove them apart. "Don't you dare start fighting. This is a party, and Pyrrha and Emerald worked hard on it. Apologize and let it go."

"All right, I'm sorry. I ran my mouth a little too much," Meridian said. "It was just a joke anyway. No one could keep you in line, Fall. Stop taking it so seriously."

"A very heartfelt apology," Royal said. "But I'll take it in the spirit of the day."

Cinder glared at Meridian. "Just don't let it happen again."

"I'll take that," Meridian said. "And now I'm hungry. Fighting always works up an appetite."

He walked away.

Weiss shrugged and followed him.

"That guy is supposed to be the life of the party," Royal said, "but it seems like he's the life of the bar fight to me."

Cinder didn't want to laugh at that, but she did.

"Accurate...but I don't want Hamish to meddle with Esmeralda."

"O,h is that what that was about...? I think he's pretty harmless," Royal said. "He's a nice guy, really. Polite for a Vacutian, but that's the Atlas bias talking."

"I just don't like it." Cinder frowned.

"Fine, what should we do about it?" Royal asked.

"I don't know..."

"Well, while you're working on it, can we mingle?... And have you noticed that Raven is nowhere to be seen?"

"Raven?" Cinder hadn't noticed. "Maybe she's still sick."

"Sick? Oh, right...but I thought she was over it. She was back at work earlier... I guess they might be late. I don't see Hazel either."

"Oh, Pyrrha what's this?" Nora interrupted their conversation by saying loudly.

"Oh, that." Pyrrha looked up. "It's mostly a joke. It's supposed to be mistletoe... It isn't actually. It's just parsley and some ferns, but it looks pretty convincing, doesn't it?"

"I've heard of that tradition," Oscar said. "Isn't it a little old fashioned?"

"It's a joke really," Pyrrha repeated. "Emerald and I just wanted to see if anyone would notice."

"What do you do with it?" Nora asked.

"You're supposed to kiss," Pyrrha said.

"That would be awkward if it was with someone you don't like," Ren said.

"Oh, I think it's mostly for couples or people with secret crushes," Pyrrha said. "You don't have to take it seriously."

"Hey, I'm game," Nora said, grabbing Ren and kissing him.

Ren turned red.

"Wow," Sun said. "Nora, that was pretty smooth."

"Thanks." Nora flexed her muscles. 

"That's a cool idea," Royal said, with a smirk.

"Don't even think about it," Cinder said in a low voice. "I don't do PDA."

"Bold of you to assume I was thinking it," Royal said.

Cinder shot him a look.

"Gotcha," Royal smirked.

Cinder almost slugged him in the arm, but he caught her hand easily.

"You guys are starting early," Mercury said, noticing.

"Hey, what is with you two?" Weiss suddenly said, pointing at Mercury and Emerald while standing on a chair. [References.] "You've been smirking ever since you got here and giving each other nudges, and, Emerald, why won't you take your hand out of your pocket?"

"My hand was cold," Emerald said, shrugging. She took it out.

"You have gloves on," Weiss said skeptically. 

"It's snowing, Weiss," Emerald said.

"Not good enough, gloves off," Weiss ordered. "You're hiding something, I can tell."

Yang looked up from where she was snacking...on a weird amount of snacks, in odd combinations.

"Ugh, you guys are the worst," Emerald said. "I was trying to wait for the right moment."

She held her hands out and pulled the gloves off. "Well, there you see it."

"Wait, are we doing this now?" Mercury nearly dropped his snack plate. "I wasn't ready!"

"I don't see it," Oscar said.

"Oh my gosh!" Ruby squealed, bursting into petals and then grabbing Emeralds hand. "There it is! There's a ring on your finger! You guys got engaged!"

"No, actually we got married," Mercury said. "You all missed it."

"WHAT?!" Pyrrha sounded the most angry they'd ever heard her (when it wasn't over something that was actually wrong).

"No, no, he's kidding," Emerald said, hastily. "We wouldn't do that to you. I know you'd kill me. We're just engaged."

"Just engaged?" Weiss repeated. "Just engaged?! How did we not know about this?"

"It was only a day or so ago," Emerald said.

"Oh, are you kidding me?" Royal said, slumping. "I knew they'd end up beating us to the punch but not by that much."

Cinder flushed red. "Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?"

"Was I?" Royal said absently. "Maybe I was just thinking out loud."

Cinder wasn't sure what to say to that.

"What is this?" Esmeralda came nearly skipping around the furniture that was all spread around the room so that enough people could sit down. "Is this what they call an engagement ring? I've heard of those... I saw some at the jewelry shop in the square."

"Yeah, well, that's where I got it from, so you might even have seen this," Mercury said.

"It's pretty big," Weiss said. "I'm impressed, Mercury. You're making more money that I thought."

"Hey, money doesn't determine value, Weiss," Mercury said loftily. "But hey, after the land sale I had some extra dough. Figured I might as well use it. Having so much makes me nervous."

"Said no one ever," Qrow said. "But I'm happy for you two. I figured it was only a matter of time. I knew you'd never be able to wait that long."

"When are you going to seal the deal?" Yang asked, between bites.

"Not really sure yet. It's hard to book anything this time of year," Emerald said.

In Argus, of course, lots of people got married or had other celebrations in the winter because it was when everyone had to be in the city the most.

"You shouldn't wait too long," Blake said. "Trust me, waiting can be really tough."

"Blake, you waited like 5 seconds after getting engaged," Yang said.

"The dating part though," Blake said.

"I agree that the waiting part is harder once you're engaged," Winter said.

"Whoa..." Yang couldn't believe she'd just said that.

"Congratulations!" Pyrrha came up and hugged Emerald. "I know you've wanted this for a long time."

Well, she didn't have to do Mercury like that. He almost winced.

"And you will let me be there?" Pyrrha said, taking Emerald by her shoulders hard. "I let you be in mine. If you elope, I'll never forget that insult."

"Of course you can be in it," Emerald said. "All of you can be if you want...though it might not be that big, but..."

"But you always wanted to do it fancy, right?" Weiss said. "I have some ideas."

"One thing at a time, Weiss..." Emerald laughed.

"Can I do something?" Esmeralda asked. "I've never been in a wedding before."

"Of course you can... You'd make a great flower girl," Emerald said, "if we had one...or a bridesmaid. If you want to do that."

Esmeralda didn't know what either of those things were, but she nodded anyway.

"Okay, but who'll be your maid of honor?" Yang asked. "Pyrrha, your bestie, or Cinder, you...sister-friend?"

Cinder gave her a look. "I don't really care about things like that."

"Cinder hasn't gotten to be in anyone's wedding," Pyrrha said. "Raven's was so rushed--where is Raven anyhow? I was told she was still coming."

"She said she'd be here later," Qrow said. "In the afternoon. I don't really know why she's always running late."

"I'm surprised she comes to these things at all," Tai, who was there because Ruby had invited him and because he was family after all, remarked. 

"Work came up, perhaps," Winter shrugged.

She picked Whitney up. "I suppose I should feed the twins and put them down for a nap...preferably in a separate room."

"Yes, a room is set up there for them," Pyrrha said.

Winter carried Whitney upstairs.

"I've got Nicky," Qrow said. "We'll be right back."

"I hope I don't have twins," Yang said, taking another bite of food.

"Yang, what are you eating?" Blake finally noticed it. "I mean, why did you put all that together?"

"I dunno, just felt like it," Yang said.

"Okay..." Blake said. "But it's kinda grossing me out."

"Blake, you've been eating weird stuff too." Sun put a hand on her shoulder. "I mean, I never would have thought of some of the combinations you made."

"I can't explain it--I just wanted it," Blake said.

"Wait..." Sun said, looking at Yang oddly. "Are you in the same boat?"

Yang made a shushing motion at him. "Shut up..."

"I actually can't believe he just figured it out," Neptune said in a low voice. "Not the person I thought would."

Blake covered her mouth. "Oooh..." She sounded like Weiss.

But no one else had noticed, so Yang's bombshell wasn't totally blown yet.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash outside the window.

"They came!" Ruby trilled, like a bird crossed with a chipmunk.

She flung open the door, letting in cold air.

And also Shine, Wally, and Grace.

"I really thought you weren't coming," Jaune said, after everyone had gotten over saying hello.

"I wasn't sure we were, but here we are," Shine said. "Anyway, missing your first time celebrating the real Christmas would have been too cruel. And I brought something to help."

She held out a box.

Jodie rushed to open it, prompting Pyrrha to tell her to be polite.

"Oh, thank you," Jodie said hastily.

"I want to help open it," Franz said.

"Me too," Davi said. 

Finally, they all opened it together.

"What is this?" Jodie asked, picking up what looked like a miniature of some kind of barn and some figurines.

"It's called a 'nativity'," Shine said. "It's a creative method to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Most of them have Mary, Joseph, an angel, a manger, some animals, shepherds, and some also have the three kings, though they actually came way later. But they're more fun to look at. I thought you'd like it. I always had a great time playing with ours when I was a kid."

"I did that too," Wally said. "My mom wasn't really that religious, but she had that stuff from her mother, and she'd still take it out for the nostalgia. I thought it was cool. I mean, we all know the story--there's that Charlie Brown special."

They looked at them blankly.

"Too bad you don't use VHS or DVD players," Shine said. "We could have showed you that."

"Since you're here," Pyrrha said, "you should tell us the Christmas story, in your words. I know you did before, but the kids weren't there."

"Wait..." Weiss was picking Grace up from Wally. "Whoa, she's so much bigger."

Grace giggled and touched Weiss' hair like she thought it was an odd color.

"Grace is about a year old now," Shine said. "It's...been more time for us. She's already walking a little, takes after Wally there. But mostly she likes to crawl... She'll get into all the furniture if we put her down."

"That's fine with me," Pyrrha said. "I don't leave breakables out here. I may never see a glass plate till all of these kids move out."

"Ha," Willow, who was there of course, laughed.

"Pyrrha, are your parents coming?" Nora asked.

"They are later. My mom wanted to cook something first," Pyrrha said. "We did invite the Arcs, but they didn't want to travel so far, except for Saph... Unfortunately she got sick. There's something going around."

"Oh, yeah, I guess that's what Mom had," Yang said.

"Raven?" Shine said. "She's sick?"

"Well, she's supposed to be feeling better," Jaune said. "But yeah, a few days ago."

"I made her go home to rest." Winter came down again. "Oh, Shine, Wally, I thought I heard your voices."

"Happy birthday." Shine hugged her.

"Who told you?" Winter demanded.

"Uh, your name is Winter," Wally said. "Give us a little credit. We could have figured that out on our own, even me...but Weiss did tell us it was this month. And we did bring you a little something, birthday girl."

"Really," Winter said, "it's not necessary."

"It's rude to turn down a gift, Winter," Willow said.

Winter buttoned up her lips, but, as it was true, she took it.

"You know, all our birthdays are in winter," Whitley said. "Just because Weiss and I are next month doesn't change what season it is. And I don't understand why all of us are."

Willow just shook her head.

Weiss put Grace down. She was eager to start exploring the house.

Luckily, the other kids were more than happy to follow her around and make sure she didn't find anything dangerous. They were waiting for when Lux was old enough to start moving around, so this delighted them.

And Esmeralda, who was in awe of babies in general and had not met one who could crawl yet, also followed Grace around just like the kids did.

The adults laughed at little.

"Oh, to have her enthusiasm," Blake said.

"We could start eating now," Jaune said. "I guess no sense letting it get cold while we're waiting for Raven and Hazel."

So they did.

Finally those two did arrive--and almost at the same time, Roman and Neo did.

Pyrrha hadn't thought they were going to come.

But they did, all dressed up as usual.

"Well, this is nice," Roman said. "All the greenery, it's like we're in a nursery. Is that the holiday spirit?"

"Are you mocking us or complimenting us?" Jaune asked. "I never can tell."

"Both probably," Roman said lazily.

Neptune pointed up at the mistletoe questioningly.

"Oh, that's for kissing," Nora said. "If a couple stands under it, they kiss."

"Just like that? Like...no ceremony?" Roman said.

"You can give it as much ceremony as you want," Wally said. "Like this."

He swung Shine downwards and planted a kiss on her mouth.

Shine came up laughing. "That was like a movie."

"I don't really like PDA," Blake said. "It makes people awkward."

"You know, I never really understood why that's so bad, when people fight and insult each other in public also, and that's way worse," Shine mused. "I'd much rather see people kiss in public than fight. I guess if it's excessive, but a little kiss is nothing."

"And why is it suddenly okay on New Year's Eve?" Wally said. "Come on, there's no real standard here."

"Oh, please don't start analyzing kissing of all things," Whitley begged. "I know both of you can make an analogy out of anything, but have some decency."

"Oh! And he just shot down my idea. I was going to go into a full lecture on it," Shine said.

No one could tell if she was kidding or not, she said it so neutrally.

Wally laughed though, but that didn't prove it either way.

"That reminds me though," Shine said, sitting down in one of the guest chairs, "you would not believe how many times we've had to give students the 'talk' in other worlds."

"Are you serious?" Meridian said, smiling.

"It was really weird," Wally said. "I never want to do it ever again."

"No, but it wasn't the full talk," Shine said, seeing the horrified look on Willow's and Winter's faces. "Not all the details...but just some basics... A lot of countries don't talk about it at all, and we have a penchant for attracting students who are neglected, orphans, or otherwise have not been told anything about it. And they're usually teenagers! And of course since we were a couple, they were curious about how we handled it."

"But you didn't," Qrow said.

"No, but unfortunately I live in a time where you have to know about it whether you indulge or not," Shine said. "So that wasn't much of a safeguard to avoid the questions. I thought we handled it well and with delicacy, but it's pretty hilariously awkward to think about being put in that role when you're not the parents or even relatives."

"I would never do that," Winter said. "I wonder that you could stand it."

"Well, the alternative was letting them make the mistakes other people make," Wally winced. "It's kind of a no-win situation there. But it was still really awkward."

"I wouldn't go more into it since you have kids here," Shine said, "but you have to keep a sense of humor, guys, that's all I'm saying. Or you'll get overwhelmed by how many difficult conversations you have to have. And the worst are the ones about death and suffering. What about when you can't always give the answers? That's hard."

Raven was staring at her in a strange way, and then she moved to the kitchen.

"Does she still seem a little off to you?" Weiss asked.

"Oh, yeah," Oscar said. "I wonder what's bothering her."

Hazel offered no explanation, and he seemed off too.

He was always quiet, but somehow this time it was almost oppressive.

"Everything okay?" Qrow asked point blank.

Hazel shrugged.

"Well--" Yang tapped her spoon on her glass, though it was actually plastic. "I guess now that everyone's here, I can make our announcement. Though I'm a little miffed that Emerald and Mercury already had one. But we can share the love."

Neptune nodded.

Blake leaned forward.

"What is it?" Weiss said. "Wait, let me guess--you're also expecting?"

"Oh, come on, Weiss," Neptune said. "You could have let her say it."

"What did you think everyone was going to think?" Blake said.

"Well, now that the cat's out of the bag," Yang said, nonplussed, "yeah, that's it."

Most of the girls cheered. Tai got choked up.

"My little girl is going to be a mom." He hugged Yang. "Wow...I'll be a grandpa. That felt wrong to say. I hope I don't start acting old."

"Wow, so many of you, so close together," Ruby said. "That's got to be so weird, I mean, for birthdays and all."

Weiss looked a little envious still.

"I'm happy for you guys," Emerald said.

"Are you sure you can handle it, though?" Mercury said.

"Mercury!" some people said.

"I'm kidding," Mercury said. "I do think that Blondie here will have to settle down a little though. No more jumping off motorcycles."

"At least for a while," Yang admitted. "But I'll live with it. I hope I don't have to give up Strawberries Sunrises and chocolate though... So far I haven't felt nauseous, really. Just tired and a little off balance. I wonder if I'll get the rage... Do you think my Semblance would get stronger if I did?"

"I think we all should run for cover if you get that," Weiss said flatly.

Yang thought that was funny, luckily.

"Well, congratulations," Qrow said. "I get to be a great uncle... Oh, that sounds so old. Yugh."

"It'll give you dignity," Winter said.

"Winter, we'll be great aunts," Weiss said.

"Oh, bosh, that sounds ridiculous applied to you," Whitley said. "And I don't know if it fits me either."

"No one will ever call you that, trust me," Libby said.

He rolled his eyes.

"Sis, aren't you gonna say anything?" Qrow asked.

Raven was filling up a glass with water, and she looked at him tightly.

"You're going to be a grandmother," Qrow said. "Which...sounds ridiculous, right? But still, it's a big deal."

"Oh, we have to tell my mom too," Neptune said. "I did invite her... She said no."

"She still doesn't like us, huh?" Ruby said sympathetically.

"That and I think...uh...well, Cinder kind of scares her a little," Neptune said in a low voice. "Maybe Mercury and Emerald too, but people are more used to them... I'm sure she'll get over it."

Cinder didn't actually hear what he said, but she saw him looking at her, and she guessed it.

She frowned.

"I'm happy for them," Raven finally said to Qrow. "But I already knew. Yang told me a couple days ago when I was at the clinic."

"Oh, yeah...so what did you have? Just the flu?" Qrow asked.

"No, it wasn't anything contagious," Raven said. "Just...stomach issues." She fingered the cup.

"Not usual for you," Qrow said. "I hope that doesn't mean there was some bad food at the cafeteria."

Raven shrugged.

Winter cast Raven a strange look. "It wasn't a virus? But you said you felt bad for days."

Raven glared at her.

Winter narrowed her eyes. "Raven, what was it?"

"Do I have to describe my medical history with you right now?" Raven said, turning away from her tightly.

"Wait...what's going on?" Qrow said.

The others began to notice that something was happening.

The talk slowed.

Shine and Wally looked up from helping Jodie and Polly set up the nativity correctly--Wally was really just speed-tossing the plastic wrappers into the trash.

Raven felt like everyone was looking at her--which was close to being accurate.

"I really don't know why I need to talk about it with all of you," she bristled.

"If you're sick, we should know, if it could affect work," Winter pressed.

Raven eyed her warily.

"My dear," Willow said, "perhaps there's a more obvious explanation."

Winter nodded.

"I don't get it," Sun said.

"They're implying that Raven could also be preggers," Nora said, leaning over conspiratorially. "But that's crazy. She's too old."

"No, she's not," Shine said, not helping. "It's not that uncommon, actually."

"Yeah, but that's not it," Yang said, turning. "She would have told that to me if it was."

She raised an eyebrow. "Right?"

Raven said nothing and looked as if she wished the ground would swallow her.

Silence.

Cinder slowly covered her mouth, like she was shocked.

Emerald blinked.

Tai was looking pretty weirded out at the idea.

Qrow glanced from Raven to Winter to Yang and then almost choked. "Wait, really?"

Raven still didn't deny it.

They all looked at Hazel, who finally nodded. He saw no point lying about it now.

"Oh my gosh!" Emerald cried.

"Hazel? For real? You dog," Mercury said. "I didn't know you were even interested in that."

Hazel never bothered to acknowledge Mercury's jabs usually, and didn't bother to now.

"Whoa," Royal remarked. "That's so weird, with Miss Xiao Long at the same time."

"That's kind of gross." Cinder found her voice.

"Don't say that about my boss," Royal said. "Besides, she's still very youthful."

A wise thing to say about his boss while she could hear him, but Raven wasn't paying attention to him at all.

"I'm sorry if that wasn't the way you wanted to tell us." Winter regretted her pushing for the answer. "I just was concerned."

"Well, it would have come out sooner or later." Raven sounded bitter. "Can't hide that forever. So now you know. Can we move on?"

"You expect us to just move on?" Weiss said.

"Aren't you going to tell us when you're due?" Ruby asked.

"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" Nora asked.

Qrow was looking more somber. "Sis?" he said. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," Raven said in a tone that meant the opposite. "This food smell is making me feel sick again. I'm going outside."

She brushed past them to the backdoor.

"Wow...I did not see that coming," Wally said to Shine.

Shine shook her head in agreement.

"Wow, that was a bomb to drop." Tai was speaking to Qrow and Winter.

Hazel had moved farther into a corner, and didn't seem inclined to talk to them about it.

"You're telling me." Qrow was amazed. "They told us they couldn't have kids even if they wanted to. Something about dust usage causing issues."

"It is known to do that," Winter said. "However, there are exceptions. My own grandfather blamed dust for the fact that he only had one daughter, but he still had the one."

"I often wished I had siblings," Willow said. "But Father's health wasn't so good anyway. Perhaps it's just as well. However, Mr. Rhinehart is a resilient man, from all I've heard. It makes sense that he'd be an exception."

"Raven thought she was too old to worry about it," Winter said. 

"She's not that old," Willow said. "I'm only about 10 years older than her, you know, and I think I look pretty good."

She did.

"It's not her age that I'm worried about," Qrow said. "It was the look in her eye. She looked just the same when you and her broke the news to us." He meant Tai.

"Ah, we didn't know what we were doing then." Tai rubbed his head. "Both my girls were kind of a surprise, though Ruby a little less of one, but you know how it is. I mean, you didn't plan to have your twins when you did either."

"It's not the surprise part, it's the Raven part," Qrow said.

"Qrow," Winter said warningly, "is that something we should be saying? She has turned over a new leaf."

"But it's reality," Qrow said. "Raven is different than before...but she's not totally different. And she's still not anything near like a full parent to Yang. Granted, it's a little late for Yang, but it's telling that they only got closer once Yang was too old to need a mother."

"I'm not sure you're ever too old to need a mother," Tai said. "Yang is a tough girl, but I always knew she wanted to meet her... I'm...happy that Raven has found a new guy...though I really don't understand her choice this time around. But he seems decent. At least his two younger friends seemed to think highly of him, and Pine tells me he's really a good guy underneath the rough edges. But he's not a very personable sort, is he? I mean...I think we're all thinking it--either of them...as parents."

"We found out they were parents 5 minutes ago," Winter said. "It's too soon for us to make the judgement."

"I just think we were all a little glad they wouldn't be having kids at their age," Tai said. "Going through that again, watching it again, that would break my heart. And who'd be left to pick up the pieces? It's always Qrow and I."

Winter raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" she said indignantly.

"Well, that is what happened before," Qrow said. "But to be fair, that didn't just happen because of Raven alone."

"I know you all have changed your views on it slightly," Tai said. "And hey, none of us handled it perfectly. But still, one of us stuck around, that's all I'm saying."

Winter had heard enough by now of how often he'd left Yang and Ruby home alone to question if he'd always been as responsible as he seemed to think he was, but she didn't see any sense starting a fight over that.

Over his dissing Raven, on the other hand...

"Raven has just found out this news," she said aloud. "Of course she's going to be overwhelmed. I'm sure that's why she's acting this way. But your reactions aren't helpful. Do you think she wants your pity or your doubts? If you're not sure about her, perhaps you'd better focus on how you can help her."

"It's not just about us," Qrow said. "It's Yang too... I mean, look at her."

Yang did look a little shocked.

"What if Raven decides to dip on this kid too?" Qrow said. "Yang's just barely forgiving her for what she did to her, because she believes that Raven was a different person then and has changed. If Raven has not changed as much as we think, Yang is going to be crushed. I'm worried she'd never forgive her again."

"That would be her choice," Winter said. "Raven has certainly never made us any promise to never repeat those mistakes...and all of us have repeated our own many times, may I remind you." She gave Qrow a very harsh look. "Perhaps Raven's difficulty with this is like you and drinking. It's not the work of one effort to conquer it. It's daily."

Qrow couldn't believe she'd just said that; Winter never brought up his former addiction.

He'd stayed sober all this time and had found it easier than expected with the use of their new powers and new beliefs and new outlooks, and that Winter would never have allowed him to get away with it was reassuring in a way.

And she never cast it up to him, which must have taken some massive self control on her part, or some massive amount of wisdom, since her own mother had struggled with it.

Willow was also still sober, though hers had been a less clean break than Qrow's had, post Deliverance Day. She'd had some relapses since but had recovered from them faster than before and had been on the wagon for over a year now without incident.

So Winter was dead serious if she was using that to make a point.

"Winter--" Tai didn't usually address her directly, as Winter scared him, but he did now. "--you only know Raven as the independent, harda-- she is when she's on the job. And she's great, at that. I've never met anyone who's smarter and more determined than she is when she's sure of herself...but this is different. Family is not her strong point. I probably never should have gotten mixed up with her at all, but I was too young to understand that. Now that I'm a dad myself, I don't really think of her as mother material."

"It's good that you're not still with her then." Winter was cutting. "Is this typical of this family? To discourage each other's growth as soon as a crisis arises? I thought we put that behind us."

"Winter--" Qrow said hesitantly.

"No thank you. I have no interest in joining this conversation," Winter said icily. "And, for your benefit, Mr. Xiao Long--" And her tone was cutting on that last part. "--I have known Raven at her worst also. You seem to forget that we both suffered Ozpin's curse at the same time, and I've seen her spiteful side as well as her more noble side, off and on. And I've worked with her for years now and found her to be quite bearable, thank you very much. She's an honest, intelligent woman who has an edge, but I never minded that as long as she got the job done, and though we're not blood related, I consider her my family. She's also been that to me, even if her way is not usual. But none of us are usual. In fact, for all her faults, Raven accepts that we Schnees are not very well versed in showing our emotions nicely, far easier than most of the people I know do. She is a tough judge of potential, but she's not actually so tough on people personally, from what I know of her, something I wish the rest of you would emulate!"

With that parting shot, she stormed out of that area of the house.

[This is turning into one of those nasty holidays that people fight on. But brava, Winter!]