A/N Happy late Canada day to all the Canadians out there!

SO, I'm finally back. Took me 10,000 years but I'm back and with a new update. The one I promised so long ago... Cinder and Taiyang finally meet.

I know we don't actually know what Taiyang is like yet, but this is just my own interpretation –which is probably wrong. Still, I hope you guys enjoy it, and sorry for taking 10,000 years to get back here.

FALL-acy

In a dimly lit bedroom, two tireless, panting bodies flunked backwards onto the silken soft sheets of a decent sized bed. Their skin flustered, and chests heaving. It should be apparent that they were both female, and both of contrasting personalities. Inside and outside the bedroom.

The smaller of the two entangled her bare legs within the sheets and used what little energy she had left to face her latter. Voice a still ragged, she spoke up.

"Oh... my... God, Cinder that was..."

"Zenith?" The ember-eyed woman crooned. She too shuffled over to face her lover. Pushing her back and subvertedly spooning her in the process.

"Y-Yeah..."

"You... don't have to congratulate me every... time Ruby." Cinder spoke, a smile gracing her features at how Ruby would always thank her after said 'actions' were made. The ebony-haired woman held the girl closer. Planting her hand on the girls hot stomach, and using the other to gently stroke her crimson tresses.

"I... know, but-"

A finger to her lips silenced her, "Shh," Cinder hushed, "There's no need to thank me."

"O-Okay." Ruby stammered out. She melded into Cinder's familiar embrace, already feeling all snug and warm.

Now, you're probably thinking it's nighttime, right? You'd be wrong. Ruby had come home from work early, roughly three o'clock in the afternoon. The crimsonette had been let off early due to the excessive amount of hours she had put in this week, what with Spring coming up and all. Work had increased in pace and in load. Cinder was easy to pick up on her girlfriend's heightened stress, and when dinner and back-rubs failed to quell her; Fall turned to option number three... which really should've been option one all along.

Ruby had come home to a surprise to find almost all the blinds and curtains drawn. The entire apartment eerily quiet. Her only motive that Cinder had been up to something was the soft smell of cinnamon on the air.

And the second Ruby had entered the bedroom; her day was suddenly brightened.

So, there they now lay, middle of the afternoon, feeling a lot more relieved than to begin with. Both of them settling into a nice silent moment of calm, serenity..

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Three loud bangs sounded. Their origin emanating from the front door, loud enough to be heard all the way in the bedroom -with the door closed.

"Who the hell is that?" Ruby growled at the unprecedented interruption, it thwarted her time with Cinder for crying out loud!

'If this is Yang, I swear I'll...'

Thrice there was bangs on the door –again, "Ruby, sis, I know you're home!"

Haphazardly, she slipped on her clothes that had been voraciously taken off just a few moments ago. She attempted to brush the wrinkles out of her shirt before giving up and taking off to the apartment door.

Ruby's walk turned into a furious stomp as she reached the door. Grasping the knob and almost yanking the poor thing off its hinges. Her outlook didn't change as she eyed a casually-clad Yang. The blonde would've been intimidated by Ruby's out of character glare -if she hadn't been seething too.

"What?" Ruby spoke first, trying to keep things on the level.

"Oh good afternoon to you too, sis."

Ruby crossed her arms. She felt a little awkward. Where was all this anger coming from?

Yang cut in before the crimsonette could reply, "It's Thursday."

"Aaaand?" Ruby made a gesture for the blonde to continue.

Yang shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose, "You seriously forgot about Saturday..."

"Saturday?"

"Dad! You were supposed to go visit Dad, remember? He's really upset that this is the fourth time you've missed it." Yang called incredulously.

"Oh..." A saddening realization dawned on the redhead.

"Yeah, 'Oh'. Rubes, look I'm not mad, but you know how much it'll mean to him if you just go for once. You can't be 'busy' forever. Eventually, he's gonna find out about Cinder." The blonde's tone dropped from its previous frustration. She had been another person who was given the zipped lip on Cinder.

"I will, just... I'll talk it over with Cinder, okay?" Ruby backed away from the door as if she was going to close it.

"You in a hurry or something- wait... were you two..."

Ruby's face went sheepish, "Kinda..."

"Well don't let me interrupt, but if you don't make plans, I'll tell him to come down and visit us instead!" Yang had already turned away and jogged back down the hall. Ruby made a whimpering sigh and lazily closed the door. To be honest, she felt terrible. Knowing how much her father, Taiyang, values her stopping by. The man is only in his early fifties, but that doesn't change the fact that avoidance shouldn't be an option.

But there was one, tall, slim, onyx-haired, problem in the way...

Ruby has yet to introduce Cinder to Taiyang.

In the decent time they've been dating; Ruby's gone out of her way to avoid that situation. Sure, the crimsonette has brought home the odd date or two, but Cinder definitely wasn't in the criteria of what Taiyang would deem likely for his daughter. He wasn't a brick wall against it, but rather he just wanted what was best for her. He accepted his daughter's sexuality with open arms after all. Since she's left for college; phone calls about what's been going on have been explicitly "Cinder-free".

She imagined it now. The look of shock on his face as soon as Cinder would come through the door.

But, there was one loophole.

Uncle Qrow.

Qrow was a pretty decent guy. He could lighten any mood, and really bring out the good in people. His help would be a Godsend on convincing Taiyang that Cinder was in truth, the best girlfriend ever.

"Oh boy..."

Ruby sauntered back to the adjacent living room, slumping down onto the couch and groaning for the umpteenth time today.

Not before long, soft footfalls came from behind her, followed by warm hands sliding down her front and intertwining with her own.

"Your sister sure is bothersome, kinda gets me all worked up."

Ruby twitched a little. A usual response to one of Cinder's open ended comments. As much as she wanted to oblige, (And she really did) the girl knew there was something else to be said.

"Uh, C-Cinder?"

"Yes?"

"What if... I uh, were to say... that next weekend, w-we're going to... visitmyDad?" Ruby sputtered. Blurting out that last part as fast as possible.

"What an odd question..." Cinder stalled for a moment. She paced around the couch and sat next to Ruby, the crimsonette sighing at the fact that Cinder had chosen to get dressed. Otherwise, this conversation would've been much more of an uphill battle. The woman gave it some thought. Realizing that she hasn't had the opportunity to meet him. She knew all about the passing of Ruby's mother: Summer, but her father was something else. Heck, she can't even remember the man's name. It shamed her a bit. Dating this pretty girl for so long without even meeting the rest of her family. To her, it sounded like something out of a teen-drama.

"Well... have you told him about me?" Cinder asked. She too knew how unconventional their relationship seemed to people who only gave them a glance.

Ruby began to fidget, "N-Not really... I-I mean he knows I'm with someone, but I've only been dating... 'her' for two months now." It was the saddening truth.

"Who is this 'her'? You cheating on me Ruby?" Cinder joked. She let out a slight chuckle at how serious Ruby seemed to have taken it.

The crimsonette stood up, "V-Very funny. But seriously, I'm making plans to visit next Saturday. He only lives a few hours away so it shouldn't be a big deal."

"That sounds fine. It'll be good to finally meet him." The ebony-haired one said. Really, that was a lie. Sure she wanted to meet him, but from the look she saw in Ruby's eye, and her own intuition; this wasn't going to be a cakewalk. Cinder placed some of the blame on herself, for her own lack of interest, and for her temperament. Parents of her childhood friends wouldn't want her coming by because she was "A bad influence.". There had even been a relationship that was ruined because she clashed so much with the parents.

She was sure things wouldn't end up like that with Ruby, but Cinder wanted to be cautious before getting a door slammed in her face.

"At least I'll have a reason to miss work..."

######

Saturday had come sooner than Cinder wanted it to. Ruby's father, Taiyang as she now knows him by, resided in a smaller town a few hours out of Vale. The small town of Patch wasn't the place Cinder would've thought Ruby grew up in, but it was. A place with a population less than ten-thousand.

Currently, they were driving along in Ruby's sedan, through a suburb relative to where Taiyang lived. The woman glanced to her right, to where Ruby sat in the passenger seat. The crimsonette was clad in casual everyday clothes like she was living out her teens again. Cinder herself had gone for something a little more... proper. Deciding that a dress was out of the equation, she wore a maroon button-up shirt –to which she made sure all buttons were done up for once, and casual tight black pants. A pair of reflective aviators sat atop her head.

Ruby's face was lighted with the glee of actually coming home for once. It made Cinder feel good about what she was doing, and honestly excited her for meeting Taiyang, as well as Qrow. Ruby had told her everything about how Qrow might ease the situation, so she was down to meet him too. Turns out Ruby had indeed told Qrow about her relationship, but because he's the 'cool trustworthy' Uncle; word never got to Tai.

"We're almost there, just the next left." Ruby pointed out. Anxiously so.

Without a word, Cinder made the final turn. Now heading down a tree-laden street with midsized, two-floored homes, "Which one is yours?"

"Number 223."

Cinder's eyes narrowed to make out numbers on the houses, eventually she came upon a beige and dark-grey home with 223 mounted just by the door.

Not wanting to intervene, she parked the car on the street in front of the house rather than in the driveway. In case things went south; she could at least make a quick getaway.

"Good thing we're just here for dinner."

Ruby exited the car first. Practicality running up the driveway and standing before the front porch. She felt giddy and nervous at the same time. Good to finally see home, but nervous for Cinder meeting Taiyang.

Cinder paced up behind her. She brushed some stray bangs away and looked around the neighbourhood, "So, where's your Uncle? There's only one car in the driveway."

The crimsonette paled for a moment, "He should be here already..." Noticing only her father's car, she hastily pulled out her phone and prepared to call Qrow. By the looks of the new message she just got from him; it wasn't looking good.

/Sorry kiddo but I won't be able to make it, having car trouble. Have a good one!/

"Urgh, he's not coming," Ruby groaned, "Looks like we're doing this solo."

"I'm sure it'll be fine Red, now let's go, hm?"

The redhead gave a meek nod, "I'll go ahead, you wait here. After I'm done giving him a hug, walk up, okay?"

"If you say so."

Ruby sheepishly grinned. She walked away from Cinder and right up to the mostly-glass front door. Her hand came up, and she rang the doorbell twice. Almost immediately she could see a figure come up to the door. Even though the glass was blurred, Ruby could already see her father's face.

The door unlocked with a click, swinging open and revealing a man in his very early fifties, clad in casual dress clothes. His hair was short, and dirty-blonde in colour, with points of grey creeping up the edges. His eyes were a deep silver, framed in a sharp face with a five-o'clock shadow.

"Ruby!" Taiyang beckoned, face brightening. He immediately hugged the girl, "How's my girl doing?"

Ruby gasped at how hard he hugged her, "Fine Dad, it's good to see you!" Her face brightened just as much as his did. As she pulled out of the hug, she could already see Cinder standing idly by. Once Taiyang did the same; it only took two seconds for him to notice the woman.

He was shocked for a second. Eyeing Cinder up and down before realizing she was barely an inch shorter than he was.

Cinder outstretched her hand, "I'm Cinder." She spoke softly, "Ruby has told me a lot about you, glad we could finally have the chance to meet."

'Cinder... hm, the name suits her.' Taiyang thought, "I'm Taiyang, but just call me Tai." He shook her hand, but didn't take his eyes away, "So you're the one dating Ruby..." He trailed off. Still not quite sure what to say about how... much, Ruby's... preference has changed?

Ruby could already feel the skepticism.

"Well c'mon in." He ushered both of them in. As Cinder passed by, they locked glances. Her's was cunning, his was indecipherable.

To the untrained eye.

Cinder knew that look. She's seen it before. He was hesitant.

He looked away, and over to Ruby who was eyeing the house like she'd never seen it before.

"You painted the walls?" She pointed out. Remembering them being a deep red and not mocha.

"Yeah, just the main floor. Looks good doesn't it?"

Ruby nodded, "Yep, I wish I could've helped though. We're not even allowed to paint our place." The redhead immediately covered her mouth, immediately regretful of saying that. Cinder went wide-eyed for a second, not wanting to look at Tai.

The man turned slightly, "You two are living together?"

"Y-Yeah?" Ruby answered, "Cinder pays for most of the expenses, I just help."

Taiyang nodded while looking at Cinder, he shrugged. Almost as if it was passive-aggressive.

Cinder payed the man no mind in that moment. Her attention was on what Ruby just said, and how it was a lie. The truth being that they split the expenses evenly. Sure she brought in more money than Ruby does, but the extras were spent on the girl herself.

The ebony-haired woman decided to pay it no mind. The three of them passed through the small foyer and into the adjacent living room. Ruby and Cinder took to the dark leather love seat, while Tai sat in a chair opposite to them.

"So," Tai asked openly, "How'd you two meet?"

Cinder went to speak, but was cut off by Ruby, "We met at a nice coffee shop downtown, in Vale. I uh, accidentally spilled coffee on Cinder's laptop."

Amber eyes went awry, she glanced over to Ruby, the crimsonette giving her the 'Just go with it look.' Her want for acceptance told her to oblige.

"Uh, yes. It was an expensive work laptop." Cinder as well.

Taiyang nodded, Ruby continued, "She works as an consultant to Schnee Architectural, I expected her to get mad at me but... she, uh, didn't."

"I just couldn't." Cinder made a small laugh with a fake smile. She started to feel unseated, like something was subconsciously bothering her.

"Schnee architectural? I used to work there, years ago. Nice people. What division do you consult for?" His gaze went to Cinder. A certain redhead next to her almost facepalmed, forgetting the fact that her Dad was an employee at Schnee Architectural.

"The... financial sector." The ebony-haired woman spoke with uncertainty.

"Ah, never met those guys. But sounds like a good job." Taiyang nodded his head like he was approving. Ruby relaxed in her seat, but Cinder remained to look uneasy. Her girlfriend lied three times now. First about money, then how they met, and now work?

"Is Ruby-"

"So, you need help with dinner or anything, Dad?" Ruby broke the silence with a question.

"No need sweetheart, we're just going to order in." He said sullenly.

The crimsonette giggled, "Still haven't perfected those cooking skills?"

"I tried. I'll leave the cooking skills to your mother's side of the family, they always took the prize at family gatherings. It shall be Chinese for us." He proclaimed, reaching for the cordless phone.

"What a treat." Ruby joked.

"What? I'm ordering from your favourite place." He began dialling in a number, having ordered from there so many times; Taiyang knew the number off by heart. As the phone beeped, he looked to Cinder, "What would you like?"

"I'll just have whatever Ruby is having." Cinder whispered quickly. She would've given an actual order, but she was still caught up on the lies Ruby had just told. Despite her nature, Cinder wasn't the type to lie (minus white-lies) and believed sometimes the truth does set you free (within certain limitations) so why did Ruby do it?

Was she embarrassed? Nervous?

Ashamed?

Cinder turned away from Ruby, not really sure what to make of the situation.

Taiyang watched intently as he waited for the other end of the line to pick up. Almost like he knew something...

######

Dinner had come in the dorm of Styrofoam containers and chopsticks. Ruby and Cinder both had beef chop suey, and Tai had opted for something both girls couldn't even pronounce.

They sat at the modest dinner table offsetting the kitchen. With Cinder on one end, Ruby along one side, and Taiyang opposite of Ruby.

The man set his fork down and seemingly prepared another question, "So what do you two do for fun? Vale's got a lot to offer."

Ruby nearly choked at hearing: 'do for fun', she composed herself and eyed her father. Once again beating Cinder to the punch, "We like to go out a lot. To the park and stuff."

Cinder almost lost her appetite, "Is she really that embarrassed?" The feeling started to crush her. Like it had with previous relationships, only this time it was harder. All because it was Ruby. When she was close to being finished; the woman set her sticks down and glanced at Ruby, her expression a mix of anger and dejection.

"Hey, Ruby while we're here, why don't you show me your room?"

The redhead looked at Cinder with a puzzled face, "Right now?"

"Yes." Cinder tried real hard not to grit her teeth.

Ruby looked to Tai, the man simply nodded them off and went back to his meal.

Ruby got up and took the lead over Cinder. Leading the woman up the single staircase and to the upper floor.

"My room is just-" She opened the first door on her right, "-here."

TThe stepped into the mainly red themed room. Ruby's bed sat in the far corner with not much furniture surrounding it. There was a bay-like window to their right, a wide dresser with a TV on it, and a large bookshelf containing Ruby's entire collection of various books, figurines, and anything Otaku related.

"It's kinda plain, but-" She twirled around –only to find no tall beautiful woman there. She did a full 180 and locked her gaze on Cinder standing by the window, her expression as plain as day.

"Cin?" She tentatively asked, slowly tip-toeing over.

"Ruby," the ebony-haired woman turned, "Are you... embarrassed to be dating me? Ashamed?"

"What? I... don't know what ya mean."

Cinder cracked a smile at Ruby's cute tone, but ended it faster than it came, "You lied downstairs. None of that is true, especially how we met."

"Oh..." Relaxation dawned on the redhead. Obviously it bothered Cinder more than she thought it might, "I'm sorry... Cin. I didn't know it'd bother you so much."

"Ruby, most parents or friends of the people I dated in the past never liked me. Then the person I was with would agree with them and drop me. It just... worries me is all."

Ruby shrank, dipping g her head and coming next to Cinder, "I'm really sorry... but, I'm not gonna be like those meanies. If everyone in the world doesn't like you; I don't care because I like you."

A smile crept onto Cinder's face, making her feel stupid for harbouring those thoughts from earlier, "You're so sweet it's going to give me cavities, Rose. Just no more lying."

"I promise," Ruby leaned up and kissed Cinder's cheek, "If we ever need to run, Yang said she met a guy in Vegas that could hook us up."

Cinder laughed a little louder, "Oh Vegas... that's one thing your father doesn't need to know about. Speaking of which, why don't we go back down?"

"After you m'lady," Ruby bowed.

Cinder paced passed Ruby, stopping mere inches from her ear and whispering something that no doubt caused her to heat up and go flush red.

They came back down the stairs to see Tai cleaning up the table. The crimsonette still felt bad for lying. Glancing at Cinder, the back to her father; she breathed a sigh and decided to spill, "Dad, I wanna tell you something."

"That Cinder is actually a bartender and that's where you two met?"

"No what I wanted to say was- wait WHAT?! How did you know that?" the crimsonette shouted incredulously.

"Yeah..." Cinder droned, also puzzled by how the man knew the truth.

"I'm your father Ruby, I know these things. Like how you two have been dating for quite some time, and how your pastimes are far from what you said earlier?" He finished his sentence with a small laugh.

Ruby's face reverted to flushed again, "H-How?" Deep down, she kind of didn't want the answer. Was it Yang? Or had Qrow spilt the beans?

"Yang's girlfriend." He stated simply. "They were over about a few months ago, While Yang was busy upstairs; Neo spilled the whole thing, said she was 'sworn to secrecy' but wanted revenge for some prank. She also told me to pass on the words: 'Don't mess with me' too."

Ruby wanted to be like the bird she saw out the window and fly away, "I uhh..."

"Ruby it's okay. I saw the look in Cinder's eye when she came in, how she stood by you –her body language, all of it. I even saw the glimmer each time you lied about your relationship." Taiyang set his half cleaned plate down, his glance going to Cinder, "You seem to care about her a lot. From what Neo told me, you both share a healthy relationship, and... you make my daughter really happy. That's all I need."

The woman's face lifted, as well as the weight on her shoulders, "Thank you." Deep down however, she was already brooding over what to do about a certain pink and auburn-haired girl...

Ruby did much the same.

"I just have one question, Cinder."

"What is it?"

"You're an expert with alcohol, tell me what's the best drink to mix at a party?"

Cinder almost laughed, "Well..." She approached him.

Ruby blocked out their conversation with hate fueled thoughts towards Neo, and Yang too. Her glance would occasionally shift to Cinder chatting up her Dad, bringing a warm feeling to her heart. It almost caused her to laugh too. How her own father is nearly as cunning as her girlfriend...

"Well there's one thing they have in common..."

A/N I hope it wasn't weird.Thanks for reading!