The awkward silence that hung in the air was almost tangible. Ruby was trying to hold back a nervous laugh, Weiss had her hand over her mouth in shock, Blake was wide-eyed and had a face as red as a tomato, and Yang was sheepishly smiling and waving at the three girls standing outside her hospital room. After a few moments passed, Ruby grabbed Weiss' hand and began to swiftly walk away, leaving Blake alone to stare blankly at her blonde partner.

"This. Is. Not. Good." The faunus blinked rapidly a few times, then noticed Ruby dragging Weiss away.

She attempted to follow them, only for Ruby to turn around and stop her. "No you don't. You get back in there and… and deal with this," the brunette whisper-yelled. "You can't just leave her in there like that. Me and Weiss will come back in a little bit. Get in there."

"Weiss and I."

Ruby sighed and hung her head, annoyed at the correction. "Weiss, now's not the time, let's go." The red and white pair then quickly made their way out of the medical wing and began to walk towards the dorm.

Meanwhile, Blake was left standing alone in the hallway, glancing at the door to Yang's room, and the exit, not sure which one she should take. Slowly, she started to inch towards the exit, before shaking her head and internally scolding herself. "You can't just leave her. It isn't right. Not after what she just heard." She took a deep breath and turned around, then walked forward until she was right beside Yang's room. Lightly, she rapped her knuckles on the door frame and poked her head inside. "U-Um… Yang?"

"Hey," Yang replied, a bright shade of red covering her face. "Do you… I mean… Uh..." Words were failing her.

"D-Do you want me to come back later," Blake asked, her voice shaking with every word. "Please say yes."

Yang shook her head vigorously. "No! I mean… no, please stay."

"Damn." The faunus then walked to a corner of the room and gingerly sat down in a small, wooden chair. The chair creaked under her weight, the relatively quiet noises amplified by the silence in the room. "So… you said that we should talk."

"Yeah, I did say that, didn't I..." Yang then took the blanket on her hospital bed between her fingers and slowly rubbed small circles in her hands with it. "Do you want to talk?"

Blake, surprised by the way the question turned the conversation to her, let her eyes fall to the floor. "W-Well… I would assume that you would want to talk about..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

"What I just heard?"

"Yes, that," Blake quietly answered. "If that's alright."

"Of course! I mean," Yang's nervousness was getting worse, causing her to shout her words before quietly cursing herself. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell." Silence grew between the pair, neither of them quite sure how to handle the situation. After taking a deep breath, Yang said, "So, uh, what you said in the hall… is it true? You don't have to answer if you do-"

"Yes."

Yang looked across the room to her partner. Her eyes hadn't left the floor and she was fidgeting with her hands in her lap. "That means..."

"I like you, yes. In a more-than-friendly manner." Blake's words came out clear, but fast, almost as if she was trying to get them out as quickly as possible, before she could change her mind. "What do you think about that?"

"Um… it's good?"

"You don't sound so sure." Blake then stood up abruptly and started to walk towards the door that led out of the room. "I'm sorry about this. I'll just leave you be."

Yang threw her legs over the side of her bed and reached out towards the faunus. "Wait, I like you, too!"

Blake's hand was on the doorknob, but retracted itself as she slowly turned around, face red. "What?"

"What?!"

"You said that you..."

"Did I?!"

"Yes, you did."

"Are you sure?!"

"S-Stop yelling!"

"Sorry!" Yang crossed her legs and patted the bed. "Blake… come sit down. Let's talk."

The faunus closed her eyes and sighed, however, not one out of annoyance, but nervousness. "Okay."

"So, how do you think it's going back there?"

"How do you expect me to know that, exactly?"

"I don't know, just thought I'd ask."

Ruby and Weiss were currently sitting in their dorm. They didn't have a specific plan in mind, but they wanted to give Blake and Yang some time alone to sort things out. The room grew fairly silent after a while, the only sounds being the light scratching of a pen on paper, and small clicks of the touch screen of Ruby's scroll.

The stillness of the room finally getting to her, Ruby – who was laying on the bed that she and Weiss shared – rolled onto her side and stared at her girlfriend, who was sitting at a small desk towards the front of the dorm. "It's so boring in here! Maybe we should go check on those two. What do you think?"

"I'm sure that they will come back to the dorm when they want to talk," Weiss replied without looking up from the desk. "I think it's best not to disturb them right now. Blake just made a shocking confession to Yang. Don't you think it would be wise to distance ourselves from them for the time being?"

"I guess so."

"Oh, speaking of Blake..." Weiss sat her pen down and twisted her torso around, so that her elbow was resting on the back of her chair and she could make eye contact with Ruby. "How do you feel about this whole situation?"

Happy that she was finally able to partake in a conversation instead of stare at her scroll, Ruby sat up in the bed and crossed her legs. "What do you mean?"

"Well, now you know the scope of Blake's feeling for your sister. It will most likely be a while before we can learn how Yang took the news, but what do you think about it?"

Ruby shrugged and grinned. "I think it's awesome! Honestly, I think Yang might feel the same way."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I've seen the way she looks at Blake when she thinks that no one is watching. Sometimes, she looks at her like… well..."

Weiss raised an eyebrow curiously. "Like… What?"

"Well, like the way I look at you," the scythe-wielder said with a loving smile.

A light shade of red crept on to the heiress' face, which she quickly hid by spinning back around in her chair and directing her attention towards the small stack of papers in front of her. "Dolt." She then picked her pen back up and proceeded to write a few notes. "So, what do you see the outcome of this being? Do you think she will reciprocate Blake's feelings for her?"

"Yeah, I think she will." Ruby hopped off the bed and walked over to Weiss, then peered over her shoulder at the various sheets of paper and books she had spread in front of her. "Are you studying?"

"Yes, I am. We had nothing better to do, so I decided to spend my time doing something productive. Is that a problem?"

"Of course not." Ruby then started to fidget next to Weiss, not sure how to spend her time. Her legs shifted beneath her as she swung her right leg back and forth bringing it in front of her left leg several times. After a few moments passed, an idea popped into her head. "Hey, Weiss?"

The heiress faced her girlfriend after scribbling down a few sentences on the pieces of paper in front of her. "Yes?"

"I know you're studying… and stuff, but would you want to go on a walk with me? It's a nice day outside, and I think it would be kinda cool. It would almost be like a date. We haven't really done anything together lately, so I thought it would be a good idea. What do you think?"

Weiss tapped the pen she was holding on the bottom of her chin as she thought about Ruby's question. They were still recovering from the damage the Mistrae had caused – both emotional and physical – and while Ruby was right in saying they hadn't spent much time together, it wasn't really anyone's fault. The only reason Weiss was studying instead of something else, is that it was something that required the least amount of energy, but seeing Ruby's puppy dog eyes was slowly starting to chip away at her resolve. She placed her pen on the table and laid an arm over the back of the chair she was sitting in. "Alright, say that we went on this walk. Where would we go?"

Ruby shrugged. "I don't know. Don't you think it would be nice to just… walk? We don't need to really go anywhere. I just want to spend time with you without having to talk to you while you're studying." The young girl stretched a hand out towards Weiss and smiled, then pointed towards the door with her chin. "Come on, let's get out of this stuffy dorm room."

The older of the two girls glanced at the stack of paper on her desk, then sighed and took Ruby's hand with her own and stood up, taking care to straighten her dress as she did so. "Okay. Lead the way, Ruby."

A smile quickly appeared on Ruby's face as she pulled Weiss close and ran out of the dorm. "You got it, princess. Follow me!" Ruby tore through the halls of Beacon, almost coming close to using her semblance a few times, much to Weiss' distress.

Once they reached the entrance to the school, Weiss ripped her hand from Ruby's grasp, placed her hands on her knees and took a few slow, deep breaths. "Did you have to go that fast? It felt like you were trying to pull my arm out of its socket!"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to." Ruby reached out and gently grabbed Weiss' arm, then caressed it lightly and looked at her girlfriend with big eyes and a pushed-out bottom lip. "It was an accident. Will you forgive me?"

Try as she might, the heiress couldn't be mad at Ruby whenever she used that face. It was one of the few things in the world that made her completely forget about everything else in the world. Even though it was fake at the moment. A fake, sad Ruby was still a sad Ruby, and Weiss hated seeing that. "Alright, I guess you're forgiven this time."

The younger girl smiled and lifted Weiss' hand to her lips, then planted a light kiss on her knuckles. "Thank you, princess."

Weiss' face turned a light shade of crimson after Ruby's gesture. "Wh-What was that for?"

Ruby let Weiss' hand drop without losing her smile. "Well, you just made me happy, so I thought I would try something from all those romance movies. Did it bother you?"

"No, not at all. I just… didn't expect something like that."

"Oh, well I guess I'll warn you next time." Ruby turned her head to face the lush, green landscape that was Beacon's courtyard, then softly tugged at Weiss' sleeve. "Come on, we're burnin' daylight."

The pair walked out of the entrance to the main building of the school and turned left down a walkway that wound itself through several large trees and a small pond at the side of the school. However, once they had taken a few steps, they were stopped by a tall, blonde woman wearing glasses. "Ah, I didn't expect to see you girls here."

Ruby happily waved at the woman. "Oh, hey professor Goodwitch. What're you doing out here?"

Glynda pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose before answering. "Actually, I was just on my way to the infirmary. There is a matter I would like to discuss with you and your team. If it's alright with you, I would like the two of you to accompany me to Yang's room."

Ruby and Weiss shared apologetic glances with each other before turning back to their teacher. "Sure. We didn't have much else going on, anyway."

"Excellent." The blonde walked around the couple and started to briskly walk away from them.

"So, can we at least ask what you want to talk to us about?"

"I don't see any harm in it." Goodwitch stopped in her tracks and spun around on her heel, then looked directly at Ruby. "It's about your sister's aura poisoning. We believe that we may have found a cure."

"Soooo… you like me, huh?"

"Yes."

Yang fidgeted nervously while sitting next to her cat-eared partner. "… Neat."

Blake crossed her arms as her ears laid down slightly underneath her bow. "Neat? You find out how I feel about you and all you can say is neat?"

"Sorry, I just can't think of anything to say." The two girls refused to make eye contact with each other. They had started conversing at a more reasonable pace, but their speech was stiff. "I mean, what do you want me to say to this?"

"Well," Blake began, "you could start by saying how you feel about me." The faunus placed her arms at her side and let her feet dangle off the side of the bed Yang and her were currently sharing. "It would be nice to know. You said something earlier, but I wouldn't mind a little clarification."

Yang's face was burning hot and she couldn't bring herself to make even the slightest movements as she remembered what she had blurted out previously. She could barely open her mouth to talk. "I… ike… yo..."

Blake's ears twitched beneath their bow. "C-Could you say that one more time?"

After a few moments passed and Yang took a few deep breaths, the blonde finally looked at her partner and locked eyes with her for the first time since they had started talking. "I… I like you, Blake. I care about you a lot. I have for a while."

Blake grinned internally. "… Neat."

"Hey now, that's not funny," Yang griped. "I guess it's only fair, though."

"So, what are we supposed to do now?"

Yang shrugged at the question. "I have no idea. I mean, we both like each other, right? Maybe we could, y'know… be together."

"What do you mean? Aren't we together already?"

"I meant date, Blake."

Of course, Blake knew perfectly well what Yang meant, but hearing her say that they should date put a large smile on her face. "Right, that. Would you want to? Date, that is."

Yang could only nod slowly, still in disbelief that she was actually having this conversation with Blake. "D-Do you want to date me?"

There was that word again. Date. Blake really liked hearing it come out of Yang's mouth. "Yes… I would like that very much."

Yang scooted over on the bed until she was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with her partner. She slowly reached a hand over to the faunus' lap and pulled one of her hands between them, then grasped it gently. "So, we're dating, then."

"I guess we are," Blake said as she gripped Yang's hand in return. She could tell how hard Yang's heart was pounding. She could feel her pulse through her fingers. Blake turned towards her partner – no, her girlfriend- and asked, "Are you still nervous?"

Yang swallowed dryly. "Yeah. It's just… I can't believe this is happening." She turned to face Blake, her face still bright red. "What… What happens now?"

Slowly, Blake began to lean closer to Yang, who quickly mimicked the action. "Well, normally, when two people start a relationship, they kiss."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense, I guess," Yang said as her face grew closer to Blake's. "Since we just started a relationship, does that mean we should kiss, or something?"

"I think it does," Blake breathed.

Their faces were now inches apart and they could feel each other's breath. However, just before their lips connected, the door to the room opened and Ruby, Weiss, and Goodwitch walked in. Seeing the two girls so close together, Glynda cleared her throat and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry, girls. Are we… interrupting something?"

Blake and Yang shot apart from each other and shook their heads. "No, nothing at all. We were just... talking."

"I see." Goodwitch stepped further into the room. "Miss Xiao long, I have some good news." The blonde woman sat down in the chair in the corner of the room and placed her clipboard in her lap. "We may have found a cure for your aura poisoning."

Yang's eyes widened at the news. "Whoa, really? That's great!"

"Yes, I agree. However, it is still somewhat… experimental. While this is potentially a cure, it is also an educated guess, for lack of a better term. There would be risks, but if it works, then you should be able to have a full recovery."

"Right. Sign me up, professor."

Glynda was taken aback by the quick decision. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to take some time to think over the situation? It is a-"

"Nope," Yang said while shaking her head. "If I don't get this thing taken care of, then there's nothing I can do about it. I would like to take the chance, if it's all the same to you."

Glynda stood up and nodded. "Very well. I will go inform the medical staff. Girls, if you'll excuse me." She stood up and walked over to the door, before stepping outside and quietly shutting it."

Once the sound of her teacher's footsteps began to fade away, Ruby turned around to face the pair on the bed. She grinned and raised her eyebrows. "So… give us the details."

"W-What do you mean, sis?"

"You know what I mean." Ruby walked over and sat next to Yang. "What happened when we left? Did the two of you talk about anything… interesting?"

Yang looked at Blake, hoping that she would help her answer the question, but the faunus just stared at her feet, her face red. Sighing, Yang said, "Yes, we did. We, um… Blake, you okay with this?"

Blake nodded, still staring at her feet.

"Well, we talked. It looks like we… we're dating now, I guess."

Ruby quickly hugged Yang tightly. "Yes! I'm so happy for you two!" She hugged Yang with strength that made the blonde think twice about all the bear hugs she had given over the years. "Thanks, Ruby, but I need to breathe," She said as she pried her sister's arms off her.

Satisfied, Ruby turned to Blake and stretched out her arms toward the faunus. "Alright, now it's your turn, Blake."

"I don't think that's necessary."

Ruby pouted. "Aw, but I wanted to hug you, too. I'm just really happy for you guys!"

"Well, thank you, but you nearly crushed Yang, somehow. I would like to avoid that."

"Fine." Ruby turned behind her and pointed at Blake. "Weiss, you hug her."

The heiress blinked several times in shock. "Excuse me?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Apparently she's scared I'm gonna crush her, or something, so it looks like it's gonna have to be you."

Weiss placed her hands on her hips. "That doesn't make any sense. Why does she need to get a hug anyway? It's not like something super important happened. Yang and her are just dating now, that's all."

Ruby gasped. "Of course it's important! Now, get over there and hug her."

The heiress threw her hands in the air and started to make her way over to Blake. "You know what, fine. I don't want to argue with you about this." Weiss walked over to Blake and held out her arms. "If we don't do this she won't let it go. We might as well get it over with, even though I don't see much of a point in it."

"… I guess you're right." Blake walked over and wrapped her arms around Weiss' shoulders. After the two had separated, they turned to Ruby. "Are you happy now?"

The cloaked girl nodded happily. "Yup!" She sat down on Yang's bed and dangled her legs off the side. "So, what now?"

Yang sighed and leaned backward onto the bed. "Now… we wait for Professor Goodwitch to get back. Then, we get my aura poisoning all healed up, and THEN..." Yang sat up and grinned at Blake and Weiss. "We have ourselves a double date."

Over a month. A freakin' month! I can't believe I've gone this long without an update. Sorry for making you guys wait so long. I will do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again. I think I just stretched myself too thin these past few weeks. I had a lot going on in my personal life and whenever I sat down to write, the words just didn't come to me. I actually had this chapter almost done at one point, but I felt that it wasn't good enough, so I scrapped the whole thing.

Another reason for the super late upload is that I did exactly what I told myself I wouldn't do. If you read these Author's Notes, then you know that I started another story - Blind. I've had a blast writing it, and I let myself get sidetracked by that one instead of writing for Snowstorm. So, I'm sorry for that too. Y'all have been really patient and I appreciate the hell out of all of you. I'll be sure to get this story back onto a regular upload schedule within the next few weeks.

Anyway, thanks for all of your support, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter.

:D