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Taiyang felt like he was going to freeze to death in the winter snow, but Amber Polendina-Rose was determined to stay outside, so he continued to push her on the swing set he and Summer had built for their daughters all those years ago. He tried to hold back some nostalgic tears as his granddaughter laughed and cheered while he gently pushed her higher and higher. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, Tai reminded himself. The last thing he needed was for his tears to instantly freeze to his face and Ruby and Yang to tease him over it. But Amber was just so happy, and between his granddaughter’s joy, her letting him push her, and the fact that he hadn’t seen this swing set used since Summer was lost, and he felt his eyes well up. And just as expected, the tears slid down his face and immediately froze to his cheeks. Well, crap.
He supposed this sort of thing should be expected when your daughter-in-law is the Winter Maiden. Vale had beautifully snowy winters, but blizzards never got quite *this* intense, or just generally cold. He may as well have been vacationing in Atlas at this rate. Taiyang didn’t know how Amber dealt with it so easily, but he supposed she was probably used to a little cold by now.
I, on the other hand, will probably end up dead from hypothermia, he thought sarcastically, but Amber kept smiling and laughing in the icy cold air. Worth it.
Taiyang kept pushing, and he loved every second of it.
They’re so cute, Ruby thought as she looked out the kitchen window. Amber wasn’t normally the most physically affectionate girl, and she rarely liked being touched. Yet not for a second did she seem bothered by Tai’s hands on her back pushing her onwards and upwards. Ruby was so proud of her.
“Is she enjoying the snow?” Penny asked from behind. Ruby turned and saw her wife’s eyes faintly glowing green, complimenting the warm colors of their home’s interior. Between her partner, her daughter and the nostalgic Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree playing quietly on their old record player in the living room, Ruby felt a relaxed bliss unlike any other.
“See for yourself,” Ruby gestured towards the window. Penny walked up, looked outside, and gasped. Ruby knew exactly why.
“She’s letting him push her,” Penny smiled.
While they did of course get confirmation from a professional, it didn’t take long for Penny to see the same quirks in her daughter that she saw in herself. After she’d received her own diagnosis in Atlas, Penny had done plenty of research on autism. Almost immediately after she and Ruby had adopted her, Penny saw all the same signs in Amber. In a way, this made Penny’s role as a mother a little bit easier. It was something she had personal experience with, and that slightly lessened the difficulty in helping Amber acclimate to a more social life.
“She won’t grow up as isolated as I did,” Penny had told her wife. She refused to do to her daughter what James Ironwood had done to her. So step by step, a little bit of progress each day, and they helped Amber get used to dealing with people. It was a slow journey, and one that Penny knew Amber would have to walk every day of her life, but she and Ruby would do their absolute best to help their daughter along without pressuring her.
Still, up until this point Amber had been uncomfortable with even the slightest touch from someone other than her moms or Weiss, and even with them the girl still had her limits. That made the sight in front of Penny even more amazing.
She felt her heart melt with pride when she saw her daughter so... so “happy,” Penny said out loud.
“Yeah,” Ruby smiled as she wrapped her arm around Penny’s waist, “she is.” They nuzzled closer together in the warm kitchen, watching their little Lightning Bug as carefree as can be. It was only Christmas Eve and already one of the best holidays either of them had ever experienced.
The sound of the front door abruptly opening and Weiss barging in pulled Penny from her thoughts. “I want to see the baby,” Weiss demanded. Penny smiled, rolled her eyes and pointed out the window. Weiss barely contained herself as she ran to look outside. “Baby!”
“She’s six years old, you know,” Ruby laughed. Weiss just shushed her and watched Tai and Amber play.
“She’s letting him push her,” she gleamed.
It took every bit of Weiss’s self-control to not run outside and hold her arms out for Amber. No, Weiss thought as she saw the girl and her grandfather play outside, she deserves to enjoy this. I’ll be here for her when she gets back inside.
“She’s so cute,” Weiss stated the obvious.
“You know, I’m surprised you haven’t tried to adopt at all considering how much time you spend with Amber and the Bees’ kids,” Ruby said. Even decades after Penny noted Blake and Yang’s complimentary color schemes resembled a bumblebee, everyone still called Blake and Yang ‘The Bees.’
“Why do that when I can just keep spoiling the cutest nieces and nephew in the world?” Weiss grinned. And I think the kids are gonna love their gifts.
“Speaking of which, when’s the hot tub getting here?” Penny asked. Weiss of course had to clear it with the parents first, but she was excited to see Amber’s reaction to her own hot tub. The girl had always loved the one at Weiss’s home.
“Klein’ll be dropping it off around noon tomorrow,” Weiss responded. Among the many things Weiss had done in the years since Salem’s defeat, rehiring Klein had been among the very first, along with moving to a much smaller home in Vale. She needed to get away from Schnee Manor, Atlas, Mantle, and more than that, the nightmares. Though more than anything, she needed to be closer to her true family. The name “Schnee” meant nothing to her anymore, but Ruby, Penny, Blake and Yang, not to mention her nieces and nephew? They were everything.
Weiss’s scroll rang. “Crap, I forgot to turn the ringer off for Amber,” Weiss kicked herself. Among the many sensory issues the young girl faced, sounds from phones and the like were among the most intense. Weiss answered the phone.
“Hel-“
“Yo Weiss, move the damn limo. Some of us have to park,” Yang laughed on the other end.
“Be right there,” Weiss deadpanned. “Gotta go take care of that really quick,” she informed Ruby and Penny.
“Can we please get out now?” Cole begged his moms. His tiger ears were flat against his dark hair.
“Soon, kiddo,” Yang reassured him. Impatience runs in the family, she thought for the millionth time. Yang looked at her kids through the car’s rear-view mirror. Cole’s legs bounced up and down while Aurora just kept on drawing in her notebook. They’d both grown so much it still baffled Yang. It was like watching Ruby grow up all over again, though Blake had a calming effect on their own kids that made things much easier than it was raising Ruby.
“Weiss is coming out now,” Blake said. The not-so-icy Ice Queen ran outside, but not towards her limo, towards them. Yang rolled down the window and shouted.
“Weiss, car!” Yang chuckled.
“Oh, right. Sorry! Just wanted to see the kids!” Weiss awkwardly waved and got in her car.
“She seriously needs to adopt,” Blake laughed. If someone told me at Beacon that Weiss would end up being the most mom-ish out of all of us, I’d ask for whatever they were smoking, Yang half-joked to herself.
“Can we get out now?” The question came from Aurora this time. No doubt both wanted to go see Aunt Weiss. Yang had wanted to wait until they were parked so she could make sure her kids were gentle with Amber, but then she remembered she still needed to get used to the fact that both her kids were teenagers now. Even if they hadn’t been, they’d always been extremely patient with their niece.
“Alright, go on,” Yang smiled. Both the teens immediately unbuckled their seat belts and hopped out. Almost immediately after they’d closed the car doors again, Aurora suddenly opened it back up and grabbed her coat and notebook.
“Almost forgot about these,” Aurora facepalmed. Snow already started blanketing her somehow naturally pink hair. She closed the door again and ran with Cole to go talk to Aunt Weiss. Wait.
“Aw, grapes,” Yang facepalmed as she realized Weiss had already moved her car. “You know, you could’ve told me she already moved,” Yang chuckled to Blake.
“I thought it’d be more fun to see how long it took you to notice,” she giggled in response.
“Ha ha,” Yang replied as dryly as she could. This only intensified her wife’s giggling fit. Yang moved her car forward in the Polendina-Rose driveway. Finally setting the vehicle to rest, she and Blake stepped outside and popped their car’s trunk open. Inside sat plenty of gifts for everyone in the family, and the Xiao Long wives picked up and carried each one towards her sister’s house. A glowing knight appeared and opened the house’s front door for both of them before vanishing.
“Thanks, Weiss,” Blake said. The aforementioned woman gave them a thumbs up from beside her limo while she still held a death grip on Cole and Aurora. Yang laughed as both looked like they could barely breathe under the onslaught of Aunt Weiss’s hugs. Clearly both had gotten more than they bargained for when they went to say hello. Nice Weiss strikes again, Yang laughed, and all of them stepped inside the home.
When your wife’s a Human space heater, you rarely notice the cold, but Blake Xiao Long still sighed in relief at the warm temperature inside. Much better, she thought.
“Hey guys,” Ruby waved and walked towards them. “I’ve got it,” she told Blake and grabbed some of the excess presents she was carrying.
“Thanks,” Blake replied. “Where’s the tree at?”
“Over there,” Penny walked in and jerked a thumb. Blake noted her eyes glowing. Explains the cold, but why? She wondered even as she moved to lay the presents down under the tree.
“Dad get here yet?” Yang asked when she finished setting down her own set of gifts.
“He’s just outside with-“ Ruby’s sentence didn’t even finish before Taiyang and Amber stepped inside.
“I heard Aunt Yang shouting,” Amber said abruptly. Smooth as ever, hon, Blake internally laughed at her wife’s complete lack of subtlety. Amber waved at the Xiao Longs and smiled when they both waved back.
Blake looked at Taiyang and saw the faint icy streaks melting under his eyes. “Have fun with Amber?” Blake asked. Tai walked to both of them and pulled them into a hug.
“It’s good to see you, girls,” he smiled.
“Love you too, Dad, but are you crying?” Yang asked.
“Amber let me push her on the swings,” he whispered. In her younger days, Yang might’ve lightheartedly teased him over it, but now that she was a mother herself, she understood completely. “Now,” he said, “where’s my other grandkids?”
Cole and Aurora—both already sitting in the living room—immediately braced themselves for one of their grandfather’s famous hugs. Not for the last time that night, both struggled to breathe under the onslaught of never-ending Christmas hugs.
“Aunt Weiss!” Amber suddenly shouted, having noticed Weiss’s presence inside. Weiss held her arms out and waited to see if Amber was feeling huggy or not. She didn’t have to wait long.
Amber immediately ran to Weiss and practically tackled her. Penny’s taught her well in the art of the tackle-hug, Blake noted. Far more gently than she’d hugged the others, Weiss wrapped her arms around her niece and kissed her forehead.
“I missed you so much,” Weiss whispered to the young girl.
“I missed you, too,” she cooed in response.
“Can I pick you up?” Weiss asked. Amber thought for a moment before nodding. Weiss gently lifted and held her niece in her arms, then nuzzled her head into Amber’s hair. Cole and Aurora had already grown too tall for her to hold them like this anymore, so Weiss was going to take every opportunity she had left to do this with Amber.
“There’s my fifth daughter!” Tai walked towards Weiss. “Mind another hug, kiddo?” He asked Amber.
“Sure!” The girl replied, and he pulled her and Weiss both into a soft hug.
“Hey, Dad,” Weiss smiled to him. Taiyang was the closest thing she’d ever had to an actually caring father, and he’d been more than willing to welcome her into the family. Blake was pretty sure he had just as many family photos with Weiss as he did of Ruby and Yang.
This is already a great night, Blake thought. It wasn’t often they got the whole family together like this. Ever since she was a child she had always loved Christmas. Her father always dressed as Santa Claus each year for her and all the other children in Menagerie, and to this day he kept up the tradition. Lots of good memories with this holiday, Blake reflected. She knew tonight would provide even more.
“By the way,” Yang looked at Ruby and whispered in her ear, “got any idea when Santa Qrow’s showing up?”
“Maybe another hour or two,” Ruby whispered back. “Should be pretty interesting.”
Qrow had lied. He’d be arriving a few hours early to surprise everyone. As he flew closer to Ruby’s house, his excitement continued to grow. He couldn’t wait to see his family again.
There we go! he thought and flew to the house’s roof. He landed before transforming, taking great care to be as quiet as possible. He was fully decked out in the best Santa Claus costume he could find, complete with a fake white beard and mustache.
As silently as he could, he crawled across the roof to the home’s chimney, dragging a bag of gifts behind him. He’d already measured the chimney a few weeks ago to make sure he could fit, now he just had to hop down.
Growing up as the Winter Maiden’s daughter, Amber had an extremely high tolerance for cold. It was why she’d decided to go back inside when she heard Aunt Yang’s shouting. Sure, she was excited to see the rest of her family again, but she also knew her granddad was freezing to death pushing her on the swing set.
Now that she was inside however, she could stand to be a little warmer. Having sat down in the living room by the record player, she scooted over to the fireplace and turned it on, taking comfort in the atmosphere and extra warmth.
The first sign that something was wrong was when Qrow felt excess heat on his shoe halfway down the chimney. He sniffed and looked down at the fire beneath him.
God. Damn it. With both legs pressing behind him and one arm in front, he kept himself locked in place halfway down the chimney. Carefully, making sure his bag of gifts stayed on top of him, he willed his free arm to reach into his pocket and grab his scroll—which he promptly dropped.
Well, this sucks.
Ruby heard the item drop in the chimney before she looked over. There—in the middle of the fire—was her uncle’s scroll. Oh gods! Ruby ran over and turned the fireplace off.
“Penny!” Her wife looked over and saw the burnt scroll in the fireplace. Putting two and two together, she used her Maiden powers to cool the wooden logs at the chimney’s base.
They all heard a series of expletives coming from inside the chimney. Ruby instinctually covered her daughter’s ears. Suddenly, Qrow ungracefully fell down the chimney, regained his composure, and tried to stand before Penny blasted his foot with ice.
Qrow was about to ask what the hell that was for when Cole laughed.
“Hey Santa, your shoe was on fire,” he smirked. Oh, Qrow thought. He stood and cleared his throat.
“Uh, ho ho ho,” Qrow started in the best—yet still terrible—Santa voice he could muster, “Merry Christmas, kiddos! Have you all been good little guys, gals and non-binary pals this year?” He stood and pulled his bag of gifts out of the chimney. Everyone’s eyes widened, except for Amber.
“Grunkle Qrow, what are you doing?” she asked. Damn. He’d put on this ridiculous outfit and persona solely for her benefit, and she immediately saw right through him. Maybe I can still salvage this, he thought.
“Um, I’m not your devilishly handsome great uncle, I’m Santa!” He boomed.
“Then why do you sound like Grunkle Qrow and have his beard?” She asked. That was when he realized a part of his fake white beard had melted off in the fireplace heat. Qrow could see Tai looking smug on the couch.
“Ah, screw it,” Qrow deadpanned and ripped off the Santa beard. “Hey, everyone.” Everyone waved and gave their usual greetings. Qrow walked to a small table by a chair.
“Even if the façade failed, I’m still taking these,” he said and grabbed the plate of cookies he assumed were left for “Santa.”
“Didn’t think you’d be getting here for a little while,” Ruby said.
“Thought I’d surprise everyone. But if you didn’t think I was getting here until later, what was up with the milk and cookies?” Qrow asked.
“The milk was because I was thirsty. That batch of cookies was for the kids, Qrow,” Ruby said dryly. Son of a...
“Um, sorry kids?” Qrow turned and looked at them apologetically. Amber shrugged and Cole and Aurora just laughed.
“I’ll go bake more,” Ruby resigned and made her way back towards the kitchen.
“Uh, I’ll go help,” Qrow turned and followed her.
“And I’ll get ready to order a new oven when this one inevitably catches fire,” Weiss said.
“I’ll be on standby to put it out,” Penny murmured.
“Hey, my cooking’s not that bad,” Qrow objected.
“You’re right,” Tai cut in, “it’s worse.” Qrow opened his mouth to object, but promptly closed it when he realized he couldn’t really object. This time, though, Qrow thought, I will get it right, if only to rub it in Tai’s stupid face.
“Well, while they’re busy with that,” Yang started, “how about a movie?” The kids all cheered. “That settles it, then.”
“Hey, Ruby,” Blake called out.
“Yeah?” Ruby yelled from the kitchen.
“Can Amber watch Christmas Vacation?” Blake asked. Right, Yang thought, I probably should’ve asked that first...
“Eh, sure,” Ruby replied. Yang promptly unzipped her purse and pulled out the film. It was her family’s favorite holiday movie. She stood up and turned on Ruby’s TV and video player, put in the disc, and laughed alongside her family.
An hour and a half and a successful batch of fresh cookies for the family later, and the movie reached its end. They’d all huddled around on the living room couches and chairs, basking in the warmth from the newly-lit fireplace. Qrow sat as far away from it as possible.
The kids were tired after a long but amazing night, and even the adults were a bit tuckered out. Christmas Eve would be over soon, but there was still one family tradition left to carry out.
“Hey Yang, you got the book?” Ruby asked.
“Yeah,” and Yang pulled a book out of one of her bags. The Night Before Christmas shone in her golden hand. “But my kids are getting older, so as our father once did, I think the time’s come for me to pass on the torch,” she smiled. Tai’s heart melted as Yang held out the book for Ruby.
“Almost everyone thought you’d be a storyteller when you were younger. I’ve been carrying on the Night Before Christmas tradition for years now,” Yang said, referring to their family’s tradition of reading the story before bed on Christmas Eve. “I think it’s your turn to take over.”
Ruby was speechless, but Taiyang looked like he was going to cry dadly tears of happiness. Ruby slowly picked up the book from Yang’s hand, and began to read.
“‘‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house...’”
It didn’t take long for the kids to fall asleep, and the adults gently picked them up and carried them to their beds, tucking them in so they could dream of sugar plums in quiet comfort. Things like this made Ruby grateful for the extra bedrooms they had for the rest of the family. Good thing the Bees set the standard there with their home, she thought.
After the kids were nestled snug in their beds, they’d gathered the remainder of the family’s presents and laid them comfortably under the tree.
“You know,” Blake said after they’d returned to the living room, “If you told me all those years ago that we’d live long enough to have days like this, I’m not sure I’d believe you. But this, us... together and without anything else to worry about? This made it worth it.”
“You all saved the entire world,” Taiyang smiled. “You’ve earned this. I couldn’t be prouder of all of you.”
“To our family, our friends and the many more years of life ahead of us,” Qrow said, raising his glass of water in the air. Everyone clicked their glasses together, drank, and then sat back and talked the night away, eventually falling asleep on the couches and chairs until Christmas morning.
We did it.