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She looked beautiful standing there.
She always looked beautiful but there was something especially pretty in the way the the sun's dying rays played over her raven hair like fire in the night. Or maybe it was the tender expression on her face, so stark in contrast to her usual battle glare.
The softness in those steel rimmed eyes was not directed twords him, of course, but at the tiny bundle in her arms.
"Qrow."
"Qrow."
"Qrow!" He pulled himself out of his reverie long enough to meet her gaze.
"Dammit Qrow. Can you take her? She just spit up on my cloak."
"I don't- I can't- "
"Oh just hold her head up and you'll be fine. I'll be right back." She said as she -gently- shoved the small red bundle into his arms and swept out of the room in search of a towel.
"That's what you get for wearing white!" He shouted after her.
He turned back to his new charge, who was surprisingly heavy given her size. Pulling back the blanket, he looked into the bundle and the bundle looked back at him.
In that moment, for perhaps the second time in his life, his heart was stolen by the smile of a silver eyed girl.
Pale faced and pink cheeked, she blinked up at him through long dark lashes like tiny feathers. She was so full of innocent curiosity that he felt as if he could never bear to look at another face so long as he lived.
He reached down hesitantly and wiped a lingering smear of spit up from the corner of her mouth.
"Heh. You're lucky kid. You got way more of your mom in you than you did your old man."
She cooed and reached out in the chaotic, uncoordinated way of infants and wrapped her chubby little hand around his finger.
"I'm going to have to beat the boys away from you with a stick, ya little heart breaker. Heh. Maybe I'll just teach you how to use a scythe, that would put the fear of the gods into them. Little ruby rose. Heart breaker and hundreds. Just like her mama."
He rocked her gently and stroked the soft black fuzz that shadowed her head.
"I'll promise you one thing, though if you ever tell another living soul I will deny it to Atlas and back," he leaned in, so his lips just barely grazed her tiny head in a kiss, "No matter who comes into your life, or how many of those hearts you break, I'll always love you the most."
A small sniffle broke the quiet and he started guiltily.
"Qrow branwen, have you gone soft in your old age?" She wiped her eyes with the edge of her cloak, not the same one -he noticed- that the baby had soiled.
His usual cocky grin flashed across his face. "Never"
He gestured awkwardly with the bundle but she shook her head.
"No, keep her. She looks far too content with you to bother moving."
"But what if I-"
"Relax. She'll be fine. Why don't you have a seat while I put the kettle on and you can tell me all about your mission? I haven't had a conversation that covered anything but diapers and mashed food in far too long."
"Not much to tell, really," he grunted, taking more care in sitting than his usual collapse into the nearest thing that resembled a chair. "Oz sent me on a while goose chase."
"Whatever it was that took out that town in minstrel, its not there anymore."
He settled Ruby more comfortably in his lap and let her grab his finger again. She seemed especially facinated with his ring.
"I'll tell you though, this wasn't the work of your average Beowulf pack or a wandering flock of nevermore. This was the work of a single Grimm."
Summer sat down a pair of matching, if slightly used teacups and straddled the other chair. "How many made it out?"
"Not enough. A few farmers were lucky enough to be out of town when it happened and a couple of travelers managed to make it to safety when they saw the smoke, but of the town itself? All I could find was a rumour of a rumour that a couple of kids were found in the wreckage, that they saw the thing that did this up close and somehow were spared. No way that's true. This thing's not sloppy enough to leave survivors."
Scowling, he reached into his ___ for his flask. He had spared her the worst of the details, but they still tugged at his memory.
"Not in the house Qrow."
"Dammit woman, a man's likely to die of thirst before going down to a Grimm round here."
"Well," she smiled "I guess it's a good thing the tea is ready."
"Tea," he scoffed, bouncing Ruby slightly on his knee. "Do you see what I put up with, kid?"
There was a crash behind him and little bits of shattered porcelain came flying past his head. Instinctively, he sheltered ruby from the fragments, though it was clear there was no real danger. He turned to find a wide eyed summer still holding severed handle of the teapot.
"Are you hurt?"
"What?" She asked, dazed. "No. No I'm fine. It just...shattered. just like that. I don't understand how, I didn't hit it on anything."
His brows furrowed. "You know why, Summer."
Collecting herself visibly, she waved him off and forced a small laugh. "It's not your fault. It was an old pot. It probably just couldn't handle the stress of going from cold to hot so suddenly. These things just happen sometimes."
"Not around me they don't. We've known each other far too long to pretend otherwise."
With a weary sigh, she knelt and began picking up the larger pieces. "Not everything that goes wrong is your fault Qrow. Just let it go. Its only a little tea."
He looked down at his hand, still held captive by a tiny fist. "This time it was a teapot. What about the next? Or the time after that?"
"Qrow." She groaned.
"No. I mean it Summer. What if you had been holding Ruby when this happened? We've been avoiding this conversation for far too long."
"That's because we've all ready had this conversation a thousand times. I knew the risks a long time ago."
"To you maybe, but what happens when she starts to walk? It won't be a question of _IF_ she falls and cracks her head on something it will be WHEN. And when she's older, should she be so lucky," he gave the word all of the derision he felt for it, "to get even that far? How many branches will break that should have held her weight, how many falls down the stairs will she have before she lands just badly enough to-"
"Just stop it!" She was furious, but she was crying too. Silent, hiccuping sobs shook her shoulders and she seemed to fold inward on herself.
"Summer, I..."
"Stop. Please, just stop." She scrubbed her face with the back of her hand and leaned back against the cabinets. "You're starting to sound like Ty."
He picked ruby back up and slid down to the floor beside her. "I want to throw up in my mouth a little for saying this, but he's right."
She chuckled dryly. "Now, you two agree on something."
"I'm serious. You've seen the way he gets when I'm around. He's terrified that something is going to Yang and...he...he should be."
He paused to look at the sweet, grey eyed girl in his arms and was surprised to find that he, too, was crying.
"Crows bring misfortune. It was funny, back in Beacon, counting how many dishes would be broken during lunch, taking bets on who would be the next victim to slip in the halls- I don't think I've ever seen Ozpin so flustered as when he fell on
Gylnda- but somewhere down the line it just... stopped being funny."
Summer held out her hand and without a word he passed her the flask.
How long they sat there, on the floor of her kitchen, surrounded by shards of China, was uncertain but the puddle of half brewed tea was crying around the edges and the moonlight was creeping in her windows before she finally spoke.
"You're going to leave again." It wasn't a question.
"...Yes"
"If you go, I won't let you just waltz back into our lives whenever you get lonely. I won't allow her to grow up always waiting by the door for someone who might never come back. I won't."
"I know."
"But you are still going to leave."
"I have to." It was barely more than a whisper.
She nodded, not expecting any other answer. "Then just... wait until tomorrow."
He held ruby a little closer, so he could feel the gentle rhythm of her breathing as she slept, beside his heart.
"Just till the sun rises."