En Garde! A RWBY White Rose Fanfiction

Chapter 35: Taied Together

"Hey kids, good news!" Qrow called from the garage.

Yang shouted back after swallowing the last bite of her protein bar, "I'm not a kid anymore, Qrow! I'm 20!"

"That's Uncle Qrow to you," he reminded her, entering the kitchen. "For the millionth time..."

Ruby came sliding into the room, her trusty socks carrying her smoothly across the kitchen tile.

"What's-aaaah-ack!" She couldn't stop and slammed into the counter. The two adults in the room burst into laughter.

Dusting herself off and trying to suppress her embarrassment, Ruby looked up at her uncle. "What's the news, Uncle Qrow?"

"We're having a visitor tonight," he answered.

"It better not be Winter again," Yang complained. "I hate having to share oxygen with stuck-up brats like her."

"Good thing she isn't here to hear that," Qrow chuckled.

"But who is it?" Ruby asked anxiously.

"It's a surprise." Qrow winked mischievously and left the room.

"Oh, come on," Ruby whined. "He never tells us who comes to visit."

"We should start making guests pay rent," Yang jested.

Ruby nodded in agreement. "Yeah. At this rate, we might as well make the house a motel or something."

The two sisters smirked at each other and moved into the garage to play table tennis.

•••

That evening, Yang and Ruby were getting ready for bed when the doorbell rang. And again. And again... And again.

"Oh my gosh!" Ruby knew that pattern. She leaped for her bedroom door, but tripped over herself due to not fully having her pajama pants on yet. "Oof!"

Pounding footsteps signaled Yang jumping into action. She was going to get to the door first! Ruby got up and pulled up her pants, not wanting to make the same mistake again, and dashed to the door. She wanted to be there to see him the second the door opened.

Ruby came running just as Yang was turning the front doorknob. It was impossible for the human brain to process exactly what happened next, but Ruby Rose shortly ended up in the arms of Taiyang Xiao Long.

"Dad!" she wailed, hanging onto her father like a koala on caffeine.

"Ruby!" He gave her a tight squeeze, which she gladly accepted, and shuffled over to give his older daughter a hug. Having Yang and her father sandwiched between her was a feeling Ruby missed for the past five years. It felt awesome.

"Let me guess," he said in the husky voice his daughters knew so well. "Qrow didn't tell you I was coming."

"He said it was a surprise again," Ruby replied, muffled by her father's shirt.

"Of course he did," Taiyang laughed, shaking his head.

Qrow wobbled into the entryway at that moment. "Speak of the devil," Taiyang whispered discreetly to his giggling daughters.

"Qrow! It's been too long." Taiyang held out his hand. Qrow gazed at it blankly for a couple seconds before grasping it with his own, a little too firmly. He shook hands as if he were trying to rid himself of a rather pesky bug.

"Right, right!" the grey-haired man replied heartily. "Nice to see ya, pal."

"You really need to stop drinking when the kids are home," the doting father scolded him. "You make a bad influence. I've had half a mind to send my daughters to my mother!" At this, Ruby clamped tighter to her father's (now wrinkled) shirt.