A/N I will warn you now. This is really just character's bonding and caring for each other and having fun. If you want the action/adventure bit you won't find it in this chapter, but if you need emotional support for the hiatus you will love this. This was initially supposed to be a one shot but Lady British said something along the lines of "something something epilogue something something Yang's arm" and then a bunch of other stuff happened.

As sweet as it was that everyone was pushing to see Ruby, Winter decided that the girl probably did not need such a huge crowd after such a beating. She ordered them away and allowed them in one by one. She allowed Yang to go first since she was blood, and considerably less covered in the likes. She also ordered the others to go clean up and had Weiss put on some coffee. They all dispersed, except for Qrow who remained in the room beside Yang.

"If it's all the same to you, Ice Queen, I haven't seen both of my nieces in months. I'm staying here."

Qrow put an arm around Yang and Winter nodded curtly before shutting the living room door. He looked down at his oldest niece and smiled. She wrapped her arms tightly around him in a big, bone-crushing bear hug.

"I've missed you too you dusty old bird." Yang said, "But don't think I've forgiven you for convincing my baby sister to run off on a crazy reckless adventure. Crazy and reckless is my thing, and we can all see where that got me." she finished, detaching her prosthetic limp and waving it around to make a point.

"Ewwww, Yang, put your arm back on!" Ruby cried out as she saw the blurry image unfold.

"Nah, it makes a really good backscratcher, see?" she teased and began to demonstrate.

"Well it seems to be a lot more than just that," Qrow smirked, "Considering how easily you broke the silver kid's face, and legs." Yang re-attached her arm and shrugged.

"What can I say, I'm armed and ready." she grinned at her terrible joke.

"I'm sure the motorcycle helped a lot too. You know it's really not polite to run people over." Ruby gasped.

"Yang ran someone over with her motorcycle and beat him up?!" Qrow nodded.

"Oh, it wasn't someone, it was Mercury. I owed it to him after that singles match." Yang countered.

"Oh, yeah he was kind of a jerk. I would've run him over too." Ruby agreed. Qrow laughed and sat down between his nieces, arms behind his head.

"How's your arm doing, Rubes?" Yang asked, suddenly serious and concerned.

"It's okay, it hurts a lot though, even with the bandages and the painkillers. I appreciate Winter's help and all, but I still kinda wish I could go to a hospital or something so that it sets right." Ruby sighed.

"Alright, alright fine. I'll talk to Winter about taking you to a hospital now that you're more stable. I'm still not trusting them 100% though. That little nurse who helped me made me more that a little uneasy." Qrow stood to leave, "I'll let you two catch up without me for a bit."

He hugged each of his nieces and walked to the door. He heard Yang begin telling Ruby everything that happened at home. "Did you know that Port is afraid of mice?" He heard Yang laugh. He shook his head as he walked through to the kitchen and moved to take a drink from his flask before he was interrupted by Winter clearing her throat. She looked at him pointedly.

"What, you want some?" he offered with a smirk. "Might help you clear that sore throat."

"No, thank you. I doubt highly that that would clear anything." She sipped her coffee.

"Well I know another way to soothe a sore throat." He winked.

Winter choked slightly on her coffee and turned red, scowling at Qrow. She was just about to tell him off when Weiss walked in with a freshly cleaned Jaune Arc, now wearing just a t-shirt and his singed and bloody jeans. The boy sat quietly, obviously still trying to wrap his head around all that had happened that day. Weiss stood beside his seat with an anxious smile.

"Coffee Jaune?" Weiss asked him cautiously.

"No thank you Weiss." he said calmly, not changing expression. Qrow looked at the boy.

"Hey kid, come with me. I bet Ruby will want to see you." Qrow gestured for Jaune to follow.

"-and then I tripped him and grabbed his hand so he wouldn't get hurt too bad. He really did help a lot through my recovery. He pushed me, hard. At first I was angry because he was being so tough on me, it was like I was a little kid again. I thought he was punishing me for being so reckless, and he kinda was, but really he was helping me more than I ever expected. He made me fight to be strong, he made me push myself and made me want to push myself harder. It helped me to grow and get back on my feet. I also felt a lot closer to him than before. I started to understand why he was how he was after mom died." Yang held her sister's hand gently.

"He was so worried about you. We never got any letters or any kind of sign that you were okay. In the end, that was what really pushed me to get off my ass. I know dad wanted to know you were okay but between being needed at Sanctum and having to babysit me, he was never going to be able to go after you himself. I knew I had to come find you, and know you were okay. Not just for him, but for me too. I missed you Ruby. I was mad at you for leaving, and you're still in big trouble for being so stupid, but I am so glad that you're alive." Yang wiped her eyes.

"I'm really okay, Yang. We did good. It was hard, a lot harder than I had expected, but we did it. We made it to Mistral and everyone is together. Well, almost everyone… And I did write, all the time..." Ruby trailed off. "I guess the letters never made it."

"Don't worry about that. How are your eyes doing?" Yang changed the subject.

"Well, they hurt and are really hard to open, but I can still kinda see a little. It hurts my head though." Ruby sighed. There was a knock at the door and Qrow walked in.

"Hey Firecracker, visiting time's over. Give someone else a turn." he teased. Yang frowned but complied. She was a little more understanding when she saw Jaune waiting stoically behind Qrow. She gave him a hug before.

"Thank you for taking care of her." she whispered, patting him on the back. He sighed.

"Don't thank me, I didn't do a very good job of it."

Jaune walked quietly into the room, ignoring the look shared between the blonde girl and her uncle. He sat down in the seat by his friend. Ruby Rose, the silver eyed warrior. She was the best fighter and best friend had ever met, aside from Pyrrha. Even though they weren't on the same team, she still helped him get through so much trouble even when they weren't in a battle. He sighed sadly.

"This is all my fault." He said, voice cracking. He put his head in his hands.

"Nope." a small voice peeped up.

He looked up and saw Ruby, struggling to sit up. He hurried over and helped her adjust. She patted the spot beside her and he sat, just as they had so many times before. She held out her better arm and placed her hand on his shoulder and turned her burned face towards him.

"This isn't your fault Jaune. You didn't do this, Cinder did. You saved me. I'm sitting here because of you. That's a good thing!" She squeezed his shoulder gently.

"But you're broken, and bruised, and burnt, and blind and I-"

"I'm not blind. Stop worrying, it could have been worse. I can still see, if I squint. My eyelids feel like they're made of stone, but I can still see a little bit. I guess they must look pretty bad though, huh." Ruby pondered. Jaune grinned a little bit.

"They look like built-in eye patches. Or permanent black eyes made of concrete." he joked.

Ruby chuckled, glad to have Jaune get a little bit back to his old self. He began to relax a bit after that. She asked him to tell her all about what happened after she got away and he obliged, even acting out some parts for her. She smiled and told him all about how she ended up at Winter's quarters. Then they started talking about food and Ruby's stomach groaned.

"Hmm, maybe I should see if Winter will let Ren cook some dinner." Jaune suggested before heading off to find Ren. On his way out he waved to Weiss to go in and see Ruby.

Ren leaned against the bathroom wall, looking at his partner silently as she washed her arms and hands. She had insisted that he clean himself up first, but he wished she hadn't. He slid down the wall and sat on his folded dirty clothes, remembering all of the damage she had taken in the fights. He caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. Her face was smudged with dirt and blood, mostly her own. His mind was full and buzzing with worries for the future. He knew there would be more cuts and bruises and bloody noses, but he couldn't stand seeing her like this. He stood abruptly and grabbed one of the white washcloths from the pile and ran it under warm water before wringing it out.

He pulled her to sit on the floor with him, sitting her on his lap. He looked at her sadly and gently rubbed at her face with the cloth. The cloth was quickly tainted, turning from pristine white to a nasty dark brown but her beautiful face began to shine through. Once her face was clean he felt better and placed one of his fingers on her nose and smiled slightly.

"Boop."

Nora smiled wider and wider, until tears began to flow from her eyes and she threw her arms around her love. Her body shook with sobs and his shoulder grew damp. He held her close and allowed himself a few silent tears as well. He stroked her hair gently to comfort her and whispered calmly to her. She cried harder.

"We c-could have l-lost everyone today-ay. R-Ruby and Jaune and-and-and..." she whimpered and then gave in to the sobs. His heart sank, knowing she had been thinking the same thoughts he had been earlier.

"I know, but we didn't." He rubbed her back gently. She whimpered and tried to cease crying.

"We've lost so much, Ren. I can't loose any more." She began to cry again.

He leaned in and kissed her gently on the mouth. He felt her tears against his face, dripping off her nose and chin and onto his chest. He embraced her again before taking her chin and pointing her head up to look at him. His soft pink eyes gazed at her lovingly.

"I love you, Nora. I could never be able to handle losing you. But you're here and so am I, so are Jaune and Ruby and Weiss and Yang. We came out of that fight with more people then we went in with. Isn't that lucky? Now dry your eyes and let's go down to the others."

Nora sniffed and nodded, wiping her eyes as she stood. She held her hand out to Ren and helped him up. She hugged him again and thanked him. He held her hands in front of him and gazed into her turquoise eyes. There was a knock and the door opened. Jaune jumped slightly and chuckled awkwardly.

"Oh, there you are Ren, heheh. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." He scratched the back of his head nervously. Ren smiled and turned to Nora.

"Do you remember that time Jaune pulled me out of the bathroom while I was wearing just a towel so that he could get advice on how to woo Weiss Schnee?" he asked her. She smiled.

"Yep, I remember. That was so embarrassing" She winked at Jaune. He rolled his eyes.

"Okay, very funny. I'm just not used to you two being so…" Jaune trailed off with a blush.

"Together-together?" Nora prompted teasingly.

"Just get out of the bathroom." he sighed. "Ren, we were kinda hoping you could help us out with some food. Oh, and Winter wanted me to give this to Nora." he said, holding out a light blue night dress similar to the one Ruby was wearing. Nora squealed happily and began undressing immediately, to Jaune's horror.

"Jaune, she has been doing this for years." Ren chuckled.

"Well I'm still not used to it." Jaune humphed.

"Don't you have, like, 12 sisters or something." Nora called out, muffled her shirt which was stuck over her face. Ren pulled it off for her with a grin.

"7 sisters. And they didn't undressed in front of me or throw their clothes at me whenever they had to change." Jaune crossed his arms.

"In fairness, she always threw her clothes at me." Ren countered before walking downstairs to make food.

Nora winked at him and skipped down the steps behind him. Jaune smiled and followed them. It was nice to see his friends so happy together. He couldn't help but wonder if he and Pyrrha would be so happy all the time. He shook the thought from his mind, not wanting to make himself sad again. She would be so proud of how far his skills had come. He picked up all of the dirty clothes and put them with his and then headed downstairs to join his friends.

"So… How long do you think he'll be out scouting?" Yang asked Winter over a cup of coffee.

"If I'm lucky, a very long time. Of course, I am rarely lucky so probably only an hour or two."

Winter smiled slightly and drank from her coffee. Yang looked at her strangely but didn't say anything yet. The pair had gotten along well so far. Yang expressed her gratitude for Winter helping her sister and Winter made her some coffee to thank Yang for suggesting that Qrow go out and scout ahead to make sure their residence would be safe that night. Yang felt slightly intimidated by the older woman. It was like a snapshot of what Weiss would have been like if instead of meeting team RWBY she joined the military and worked for a man who was half metal. Still, she was pleasant enough.

"So why are you here? Shouldn't you been in Atlas with the other soldiers?" Yang asked.

"That's classified." Winter raised and eyebrow, avoiding the question.

"That sounds like a fancy excuse for not wanting to talk about it. C'mon, tell your auntie Yang all about it."

"Yang, you are ten years younger than I am. You are not my 'auntie' anything." Winter quipped.

"Some families have weird younger aunts" Yang said with a shrug. "But c'mon, why here?"

"If you must know, I'm not very wanted in Atlas. When father took Weiss away from Beacon I asked James- General Ironwood, to send me as far away as he could, fearful that he may come for me too. It just so happened that he needed an agent he could trust to watch over Mistral discretely. I would call it lucky, but I feel so much guilt for my cowardice."

"So here you are in a quaint little apartment in Mistral, hiding from your dad under the guise of work." Yang summarized. Winter made a face of disdain but Yang cut off her argument.

"Good thing you did or Weiss wouldn't have had anywhere to run to to get away from your asshole father. And Ruby wouldn't have gotten such good medical treatment because let's face it, Qrow cares but he's also a little paranoid."

"Well, he is many things, but his paranoia is justified. As much as I am loathed to admit it, I don't doubt his instincts. He is a very experienced hunter." Winter nodded. Yang grinned wickedly.

"Yuck, he's my uncle, I don't want to hear about your experiences with him." She fake gagged. Winter frowned and then chuckled.

"You know Yang, I was enjoying our conversation up until this point. Now I'm afraid I must ask you to leave." She smiled coyly and summoned a Beowulf to her side. Yang laughed.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that to make me leave. Once I vow to stay somewhere, I do it. Especially if my sister needs me there." she said proudly. Winter smiled.

"I wish I could've been as good of an older sister as you. Strong and loving no matter what, completely unmovable…" Winter sighed. "Maybe Weiss and Whitley wouldn't have suffered so much as children if I had just shown them the love that they weren't getting…" Winter teared up.

"Hey, don't feel bad. I only got this way because I've been abandoned and lonely for most of my life. It's kinda depressing actually. But hey, you can make up for it now that you have Weiss here!" Yang tried to cheer her up.

"I suppose. I've never been the warmest person though." Winter sighed.

"Oh believe me, I've noticed. But really, Weiss won't mind. I mean, hey, she was starry eyed when she saw your ship appear and was even excited to see you after you gave her a goose egg. You just have to try a bit. Honestly, she really loves you and definitely looks up to you. I can tell, it's a big sister thing. But honestly, you seem more relaxed now than you did when you came to expect our dorm at Beacon." Yang assured her. Winter laughed lazily.

"I assure you that's all your daft uncle's fault." Yang covered her ears

"Whoah, hey, like I said. That's my uncle. I don't want to hear about your 'experiences' 'kay?"

"No not that, you silly child. He's been pouring his flask into my coffee every time my back is turned. I'm sure he knows that I know he's doing it, but it keeps him from drinking it" she giggled.

"Although there is a sick kind of peace I have now. It's so stressful, waiting to see if war will break out or not. Now that it has and we've successfully down three powerful enemies I do feel a little less on edge. And it really is nice to speak to someone as laid back as yourself. I understand why Weiss enjoyed being with your team so much. Thank you so much for taking care of her, all of you, for helping her to break out of the shell our father molded around her." Winter smiled and patted Yang's hand.

"Hey, that's my niece Ice Queen." Qrow said teasingly as he walked through the door, wind beaten but otherwise unharmed. "No putting the moves on her. I'm watching you, Schnee."

"Hey you dirty bird, don't be jealous just because she likes me more that she likes you." Yang shot back, interlacing her fingers with a shocked Winter. Winter looked between the two and they laughed. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You're whole family is mad Branwen." She shook her head. Qrow grinned.

"We're mad, but at least we all love each other." he shrugged.

"Yeah!" Yang echoed happily.

"YEAH!" Nora shouted as she jumped into the kitchen. "What are we happy about?"

"Pancakes, Nora." Ren reminded her.

"Pancakes!" Nora cheered.

"Pancakes?" Ruby asked hazily as Weiss helped her into the kitchen.

"Can we have cocoa too?" Weiss asked Winter sweetly. The Atlesian Specialist put her head in her hands. My home has become a mad house. She sighed but smiled.

"Yes, I think you all have earned some cocoa." Winter nodded and stood to make a pot.

"Now could anyone who isn't cooking please go to a different room? This is a kitchen, not a circus. Kitchens are meant for cooking."

"Thank you!" Ren agreed.