Bedside Manner

By

Orion Matrix

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to RWBY or any characters therein; this is a work of non-cannon fiction for the purposes of entertainment only. RWBY and all related characters belong to Monty Oum and the team at Roosterteeth. Only original characters are mine, and there aren't many of them here.

This fic was inspired by the work of LunarisFuryAileron on Deviant Art; more specifically, his picture 'RWBY - Watashi no Shirona Tenshi'. It's a really sweet little comic that is a must for fans of the Ruby and Weiss partnership. Also there's a little nod to VnixxiR on Deviant art as well with her RWBY comics.

This fic has strong hints of White Rose, Pink, Ruby x Weiss, if you don't like then you don't have to read.

I'd love a review for my first RWBY fic. Beta read by AnimeGirl 144.

Due to popular demand, updated to MULTI-CHAPTER!

'Text' Thoughts.

"Text" Words from memory.

="Text"= Telephone conversation.

I've made some minor modifications to the chapters, nothing major, just some minor cleaning up.

(:R:)(:W:)(:B:)(:Y:)

Weiss Schnee yawned as she made her way back to Team RWBY's dorm room, covering her mouth with her hand almost shyly as she did so. Normally she wouldn't have been up quite this early, but one of the professors wanted to talk to her about a dust demonstration he was planning and had asked for her to participate.

The heiress was more than happy to offer her expertise on the subject, a subject her father made sure she was an expert in. However, after the discussion she had had with Professor Port a few weeks ago, she had made a concerted effort to reign in her attitude, both towards her teachers as well as her team mates.

Weiss soon found that this had several benefits, especially when she remembered the change in her team's leader, the rather childish but undeniably skilled Ruby Rose.

She smiled softly as she remembered seeing Ruby, quietly dozing on her bed, books, notepads, papers, and an empty coffee cup scattered around her as she studied until late at night; late enough for their team mates to have fallen deep asleep.

Of course, this led her to remember what had most likely spawned the intense burst of studying, and her smile fell into an unhappy frown. She was woman enough to admit when she had been wrong, but the almost savage berating she had given the younger girl was far from her proudest moment.

'Or maybe pride was exactly the problem...' She thought glumly to herself, remembering the hurt look plastered on Ruby's face. Weiss had not held back when she verbally tore into Ruby, citing all the effort she had put into getting to that point in her life, and even going so far as to tell Ruby to her face that she didn't deserve to be the leader of their team.

After that she had spoken to Professor Port, who had rather quickly given the heiress a reality check, and although she was reluctant to admit it, he had opened her eyes to a new perspective that could work better.

Seeing Ruby study until she fell asleep later that evening showed her that maybe there was more to the 'dolt' than she had initially seen.

Regardless, Weiss knew that even though things were better between her and Ruby, she still felt bad about the whole thing. No matter the situation, there was no need to hurt someone like that. Even with how they met, she realized that the punishment she had doled out to Ruby didn't fit the crime. A simple 'Be more careful next time ok?' would have worked far better.

'But not me, oh no. I had to treat her like dirt for days afterwards.' She thought bitterly to herself.

Even after all this time, Weiss had never truly apologized to Ruby. The closest she had managed was giving her some encouragement with her studying. That thought brought the smile back to her face, as she remembered what had happened.

After getting over her surprise at the scene before her, Weiss had softly cleared her throat and shaken Ruby's shoulder. The young girl had slowly opened her eyes, looking a little unfocused until she saw Weiss looking at her, and then she had jolted awake and started a rambling explanation that Weiss could only now admit was rather adorable.

After getting Ruby a fresh cup of coffee, and rolling her eyes once she heard how Ruby liked it, she had spoken honestly, maybe a bit hesitantly, but she was sure Ruby could see Weiss was being truthful with her words.

But it still didn't help Weiss feel better, because a cup of coffee and some nice words didn't really equal an 'I'm sorry for being so horrible to you' gesture.

Weiss resolved to herself to make it up to Ruby somehow. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but she was determined to find something that she could do.

After all, even if Ruby was a little absent minded and childish at times, she still had a bright and infectious personality that made people smile easily, even the normally distant Blake. She just wasn't the kind of person that could be hated.

As she came closer to the door to their room, Weiss shook her head. While she wasn't as satisfied as she was before, she was more content and focused on her new decision. Maybe she'd go with Ruby to the library later, she was surprised to learn that her leader loved books almost as much as the team's resident bibliophile, and she thought that maybe sharing some of the stories she liked was a good way of making things up to Ruby.

Nodding her head decisively, Weiss opened the door and glanced around, noticing that Yang and Blake had already left. She looked towards the shelves next to the door and saw that Gambol Shroud and Ember Celica were gone, and she thought that maybe her team mates had gone to the showers before going to class directly.

They did this sometimes, usually after a late night study session, so it wasn't something that Weiss needed to worry about. She noticed Crescent Rose and Myrtenaster sitting together and smiled slightly; the way they rested against one another made her think they were protecting each other, or almost embracing...

Weiss scoffed quietly and shook her head, not noticing the warmth in her cheeks at the notion.

The heiress turned around and noticed that Ruby was getting up. She smiled as she saw her sleepy partner slowly step down to the floor and waved in greeting.

"Good morning Ruby, did you sleep well?"

Ruby looked up slowly and when their eyes met, the smile faded from Weiss' lips. Ruby was the quintessential early riser of the group, almost as if she needed to be up the second the sun rose so she could have as much fun as possible.

The only exception to this was when she had studied till late evening with the rest of the team. On those occasions Ruby would take a bit of time to wake up in the morning, but usually once she got her feet on the ground she was back to being a bundle of semi-controlled enthusiasm and energy.

However this was not the Ruby whom Weiss saw then, because her silver eyes were unfocused, cloudy and red, and she was panting, slowly it had to be admitted, but her breathing was certainly off. The Heiress' concern rose even more when she saw that Ruby was gripping the side of her bed almost desperately, and she noticed the brunette's legs were shaking a bit.

Weiss took a step towards Ruby, who tried to smile a bit, but it failed miserably considering her pale, sweat covered complexion.

"Not...n-not really...Weiss...I-"

Ruby's words were interrupted as she hiccupped slightly, her skin growing suddenly even paler. Her eyes suddenly went wide and she clapped her hand over her mouth and launched herself toward the small bathroom to the side of their room.

"Ruby!"

Weiss called out in surprise and followed the smaller girl, arriving in time to see her vomit violently into the toilet. Weiss could only stare in shock, not remembering a time when Ruby was even slightly unwell. She didn't recall Ruby even having a runny nose, so seeing her partner so significantly sick was rather jarring.

The sound of more agonised retching snapped Weiss out of her shock and she dropped to her knees next to Ruby, brushing the hair from her partners face, suppressing a shiver at the feel of the cold and clammy locks under her fingers. Her free hand went to Ruby's back, rubbing it gently and, she hoped, soothingly.

Ruby, for her part, could only just acknowledge that someone was there, her focus being the violent expulsion of last night's dinner. Every time it happened, it felt as if her insides were turning inside out. Every part of her hurt, and the bile in her throat and mouth only helped to make her throw up even more.

She felt tears trickle down her face but she couldn't do anything about it, it was all she could do to keep a hold of the rim of the toilet, and Ruby miserably resigned herself to the situation as she quietly cried.

Weiss shook a small tear away herself; she was extremely frightened; she had never seen anyone as sick as this. She just didn't know what to do, and it made her feel useless. The analytical part of her mind told her that at this moment there wasn't much she could do, but she still wanted nothing more than to help her partner feel better.

The pair remained that way for over half an hour, every time Ruby tried to lift her head she would feel sick again, and after a while she stopped trying, even after she had nothing left to expel and had resorted to dry heaves, which by the sound alone made Weiss feel even more wretched. It sounded awful, and Weiss knew it was even worse for Ruby.

All the while Weiss kept her hand on her partners back, trying to help her relax if even slightly. After some time it seemed as if Ruby had calmed down, the only sounds in the bathroom were her laboured breathing and the occasional sniffle.

"Ruby...?"

At Weiss' hesitant call, Ruby very slowly raised her head, afraid the movement would start the whole mess all over again, but thankfully she was able to look up enough to meet Weiss' worried gaze. Weiss didn't know why but she felt slightly calmer at seeing Ruby's eyes, they were still watery and red, but she couldn't deny she relaxed a bit.

"There you are..." She offered with a small smile, one that Ruby herself returned, even if it was rather weak. She took a moment to brush some of Ruby's hair from her eyes, telling herself it was to make sure she could check for any symptoms. It certainly wasn't so she could see Ruby's eyes clearly, surely not.

"I don't...feel so good..."

Weiss laughed rather brokenly and wiped another tear from her eye, it wasn't that great a joke, but damn her if it didn't make her feel a little better.

"Really, I hardly noticed."

Ruby, bless her heart, grinned a little bit before shivering. All humour vanished from Weiss and she wrapped her arm around Ruby. The fact was the bathroom floor wasn't anywhere near warm enough, and Ruby's back was alarmingly cold to the touch. Looking around Weiss got up for a moment and filled a cup with some water and offered it to the young girl.

"Here, just rinse your mouth out; it'll make you feel a bit better."

Ruby nodded miserably and took the cup in her shaking hand, relaxing onto her partners embrace. After a few rinses, Ruby's head drooped a bit and Weiss took the cup from her partner's almost limp fingers.

"Come on, let's get you into bed ok?" Weiss suggested, gently helping Ruby to her feet. The poor girl could hardly stand, let alone walk, and this was proven as Ruby stumbled a bit even with her partners support.

Worry fuelling her, Weiss leaned down and put her arm behind Ruby's knees and slowly stood, lifting Ruby into her arms. Ruby herself gave a surprised little 'eep' and wrapped her arms around Weiss' neck, but didn't struggle, and in fact after a moment she pressed herself closer to the heiress for warmth with a small whimper.

The action was so miserable that Weiss almost felt her heart break.

Weiss carefully carried her passenger back into the main room and looked at the beds. She knew Ruby would be more comfortable in her own bed but it would be harder to take care of her there, and aside from anything else, she realised with minor embarrassment she was too short to get Ruby up onto her own bed.

If Ruby were healthy then Weiss may have been able to toss the girl up there without worry, but there was no way she could bring herself to do that now. Sighing slightly, Weiss smiled a little and moved towards her own bed and laid Ruby down gently.

But upon realising where she was being rested, Ruby started fussing a bit, not strong enough to do anything really, but that didn't stop her from trying with the occasional groan of protest.

"What's wrong Ruby?" The surprise in Weiss' voice was palpable, and Ruby turned her head away, as if in shame.

"This is your bed...I...I don't want to mess it up..."

"My bed is NOT a step ladder Ruby! DON'T mess it up!"

Almost as if she was listening to it on the radio, Weiss could hear her own words, words she had spoken to Ruby in anger a few days after they had set up their bunk beds. Yang had said something to Ruby when she was about to get into bed, and as she turned to pay attention to her sisters words, one of Ruby's feet came to rest on Weiss' bed.

When she had noticed this, Weiss had made no attempt to curb her temper.

Ruby's words just now, hesitant and worried, felt like a dagger in Weiss' heart. Even when she was sick, Ruby was more concerned about upsetting Weiss.

Once Ruby was asleep, or at least resting, Weiss resolved to find a quiet corner and cry.

Fighting back tears, Weiss smiled and gently cupped Ruby's face in her hand, calming the girl's fidgeting and catching her complete attention.

"You dummy...It's alright. I can't look after you properly if you're up there, can I?"

Ruby still looked uncertain and for a moment Weiss thought she was going to try and argue the point. But after a moment, she nodded, closing her eyes and enjoying the warm hand against her cheek.

Weiss reached up with her free hand and grabbed the bedding from Ruby's bunk, covering the girl without removing her hand. She had known for some time that Ruby was a rather 'touchy-feely' girl, how could she not, remembering how she had jumped into her sisters arms the second time they met. Even so, she was realising that Ruby seemed to need this kind of physical contact.

Suddenly Ruby groaned and curled herself into a ball as if to protect herself, startling Weiss as she could only watch and worry. Not knowing what else to do she put her hand on Ruby's back again and tried to comfort her partner, her pained moans echoing throughout the otherwise quiet room.

"Ruby what is it? I'm here. What do you need?" Weiss asked almost desperately. She was starting to panic and beyond everything else it hurt to see Ruby in pain. It was an observation that would have given her pause if she didn't have more important things to worry about.

"Miss Schnee, is there somethi-..."

The heiress turned towards the door with a startled look on her face, seeing the school's headmaster, Professor Ozpin, standing in the doorway with a surprised expression on his face.

The professor was not expecting this situation when he came to Team RWBY's dorm room. Professor Kim had asked him to see if he could find the Heiress because she was supposed to help him with some kind of presentation but hadn't turned up. He needed to speak with the grounds keepers anyway, and since the first year student dorms were on the way, he decided to take care of the matter.

As he came close to the door, he thought he could hear something, and as he came closer, Weiss' question could just be heard through the door, and he decided to check things out, even though he hadn't received any answer to his knock a second before.

Weiss turned from the headmaster back to her partner as the girl in question whimpered again, her face scrunched up in pain, a contrast to the worry sported by her partner. Setting his customary cup of coffee on the side table, Ozpin walked purposefully into the room and kneeled down next to Weiss, taking stock of the situation.

"Miss Rose? What's wrong?" He asked gently, realising a moment later that Ruby was probably in too much pain to answer.

Looking towards Weiss, he noticed the girl was still fretting, trying to sooth her teammate. Putting a gentle hand on her shoulder, he repeated his question, and waited a moment before Weiss looked at him.

He was rather surprised to see traces of tears in the young woman's eyes.

"I don't know sir, she got up and didn't look well, then she was sick, and after she got into bed she just started moaning and I...I don't..." Weiss tried to explain everything, but between her worry over Ruby and her own confusion over the cause of Ruby's illness, she started rambling faster and faster until she trailed off helplessly.

"Calm down Weiss. Ruby, can you hear me? I need to know what's wrong." Turning his attention to the young leader, he called out gently but firmly, hoping that she might just hear him.

A few moments passed, filled with Ruby still rocking herself and moaning, before she weakly lifted her eyes to look at Ozpin. The corner of his mouth twitched downwards, not remembering the last time he saw someone looking so miserable.

"M...my stomach...h-hurts..." She whimpered quietly, closing her eyes tight as she groaned again.

Ozpin's eyes narrowed slightly in consideration. Something in his head said that this was very familiar, but he just couldn't place the feeling. He had a slight suspicion and leaned closer to Ruby.

"Ruby...did you eat anything odd recently? Maybe something different?"

Ruby opened her eyes, trying to remember and focus on the question, rather than the pain, but she couldn't think of anything out of the ordinary. Except...

"The...chicken last night, it was...a bit pink..." That was about as much as Ruby could manage before crying out in pain again and curling up even tighter than before.

As for Ozpin, he turned his head away so the girls couldn't see the dangerous glint in his eyes. He knew there was something familiar about what was happening to Ruby. Last night there had been a party to celebrate a student's birthday. While the academy was perfectly suited to providing food for the students, the number of people who attended the party necessitated Ozpin calling in additional staff from a local Catering company.

The problem was, almost the exact same thing had happened two years ago. There had been a party, additional staff had been called in, from the same company oddly enough, and the next day a few students had been taken ill, and the cause had been under-prepared food cooked by the non-Beacon cooks.

'Once is an accident, twice is a pattern.' The professor thought angrily. He got up and moved away from the girls and pulled out his phone, calling Glynda Goodwitch and tapping his foot impatiently.

="Yes professor?"= Glynda's response came a moment later, the woman's voice sounding professional, if slightly bored.

"I need you to check the class registers, see if any students haven't come to class this morning, and check with the infirmary. Let me know if anyone has come in with symptoms of food poisoning."

The professor's voice was quiet as he spoke to Glynda, hoping to let Weiss concentrate on her partner, but the second he finished his sentence, he frowned as he saw Weiss look up in shock out of the corner of his eye.

="Food poisoning? What do you mean?"= While Ozpin didn't show it, he was silently amused at how surprised Goodwitch sounded. She certainly didn't seem bored anymore.

"I'm in team RWBY's dorm now and Miss Rose is extremely ill, at the moment she seems to be dealing with severe stomach cramps and she told me the chicken she had last night was a bit pink. Miss Schnee is with her now, but there's a chance that other students may have eaten something that didn't agree with them. Please check into it for me."

="O-of course, I'll get it done immediately,"= came the flustered reply just before the line disconnected.

Ozpin put his phone back in his pocket and turned back to the girls, noticing with some relief that Ruby had quieted down a bit. He also noticed with some amusement that Ruby had moved her hands out from under the covers and had taken Weiss' hand in both of hers, holding it tightly. The Heiress' free hand was stroking the brunette's hair while she looked towards Ozpin himself.

His amusement faded as he noticed the simmering anger in Weiss' sky blue eyes. Were he a lesser man he would have flinched.

"Food poisoning?"

On some level he realised that Weiss was trying to keep her temper in check, but what she really wanted to do was find the person responsible for this mess and give them a long lesson in pain. He admitted to himself that he was rather surprised with how upset Weiss was over Ruby's illness. Given their initial interactions he would not have foreseen this kind of response.

He thought briefly that maybe Ruby's honest personality had helped things along more than he had anticipated. But he shook the thought off and explained what he knew to the Heiress.

"We sometimes get an outside catering company to help whenever special events are held at the academy. Two years ago there was another party and some students were ill the next day. One of them said he didn't eat anything aside from a couple of chicken drumsticks. It turns out that some of them weren't properly cooked. I checked their records and they have an excellent health and safety record, but after seeing Ruby like this I'm not so sure anymore." He explained, noticing that Weiss kept the motion of her hand on Ruby's head constant and gentle, but her expression became more and more incensed every passing second.

"Tell me the company name, professor. They won't get away with this."

If he wasn't so angry at them himself, Ozpin would have been concerned for the company's staff, given the venom in the heiress' voice. It was calm, quiet and deliberate, yet carried the promise of retribution.

Ozpin shook his head gently and started speaking as he saw the affronted look on Weiss' face.

"You should concentrate on your partner Miss Schnee; she needs you with her now. I'm going to get some medicine that should help her feel better, and after that I'm going to look into this matter."

He saw that this didn't satisfy the young woman, and he walked over and put a hand on her shoulder once more. When their eyes reconnected, Weiss could see the cold steel in the professor's gaze.

"Don't worry; I'm going to bring the full power of Beacon to bear on this situation. Once I have everything I need, I'll make sure to send for you. Like you said, they won't get away with this."

Neither looked away for a few moments, until Weiss closed her eyes and nodded reluctantly. Ruby let out a small noise and Weiss immediately shifted her attention back to her partner, checking her over. Now that she knew what was wrong she had calmed down significantly, but it still didn't resolve the fact that she was worried sick. No pun intended.

The professor was about to stand up when his phone rang, and he answered it quickly, noticing that it was Glynda calling him. "What have you found?"

="It's like you thought sir, not including Miss Rose and Miss Schnee, twelve students haven't reported to class, and four are in the infirmary. Only two of the students in the infirmary are sick, the others are their respective partners, so I'm guessing it's the same for the other students. With Miss Rose as well, I believe we have nine students who are sick today. I'm going to check on the students who haven't attended right now."=

Ozpin's jaw tightened and his free hand clenched into a fist. The last time this happened, only four students were taken ill. If the professor was angry before, he was ready to declare war at this point.

"Very well. Call me once you've finished checking, and send a message to the professors to inform us if any other students seem unwell. Some of them may be trying to tough it out during class."

="Of course. Sir...is Ruby alright?"= Came the slightly worried question from his friend and colleague.

The professor looked towards Ruby, who was by this point crying quietly onto Weiss' pillow, her partner still keeping sentinel over her and whispering softly, trying to calm her.

"She's doing better than when I called you, but not by much." He muttered into the receiver, and he could almost picture Glynda's vexed expression on the other side of the line.

Last month, the two had talked while taking a break from paperwork about some of the more unique teams that were attending the academy this year. Of course the subject soon turned to team RWBY. Glynda had even admitted that she may have been a little too hard on the poor girl when they had first met.

After that, Ozpin was sure he saw Glynda conceal a smile occasionally whenever she dealt with Ruby directly in classes.

="I see. Tell them...I hope she gets better soon."=

"You're not...worried about her, are you Glynda?" There was no way the professor could let this opportunity go, just as there was nothing he could do to hide the grin on his face, a grin that got even wider as he could feel the woman's blush through the phone in his hand.

="Of course not! S-she has course work to hand in soon! That's all!"= Came the indignant reply, but her stutter killed any trace of belief in her words.

"Naturally. I'll talk to you later." He smiled and disconnected before the irate woman could respond and turned his attention back to the girls. Once again Ruby had calmed even more, but still seemed upset, and Weiss's expression had relaxed. It was incredible to think one tiny act of carelessness could cause such distress and upset.

"Goodwitch hopes you get better soon, Ruby. I'm going to visit the infirmary, and then I'll be back soon, alright?" He spoke softly, noting that while Ruby didn't open her eyes, she did nod her head a bit. The sight saddened him a little, knowing she must still be feeling awful.

"Thank you professor. Really, I...I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't-" Weiss started, still stroking Ruby's hair, but the man gently stopped her, touching his finger over her lips.

"You don't need to thank me Miss Schnee. I'm just glad I could help." He smiled kindly and gripped Ruby's bed to pull himself to his feet, his eyes widening as he felt the bed shift towards him. It was at that point he took a closer look at how the bed was elevated and to say he was surprised was a bit of an understatement.

"Ropes?"

Weiss looked up in confusion before following his gaze, and blushed in embarrassment when she saw what he meant. She squirmed a little as the headmaster stared at her with a raised eyebrow.

"We...the room was a bit too small for us and the beds...and...Well Ruby thought it was a good idea...so did Blake and Yang..." She couldn't bring herself to continue, the headmaster never looking away from her. After an uncomfortable moment, the man chuckled.

"I'll arrange for some proper bunk beds to be delivered. It really is a good idea, opens up the room, don't you think? Let me know when Ruby's better and I'll call Requisitions."

Weiss blinked and looked at the beds, closing her eyes with a groan as she remembered that the academy had a requisitions department that could get just about anything the students or staff could possibly need.

"I should have thought of that..." She muttered, and blushed as she heard Ozpin chuckle.

"It's alright Weiss, the first few weeks are hectic enough, and things take time to settle. I've heard that there are some students who haven't unpacked yet, and the term started almost two months ago."

The heiress giggled quietly and then calmed, smiling as she saw the smile on Ruby's face. She looked towards the older man and smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you."

Ozpin simply nodded and headed for the door, making sure to grab his cup and take a well-deserved sip. After that he quietly closed the door and headed to the infirmary.

End of Chapter 1