Chapter 21

Then, Monday came around. Weiss arose from her sleep at seven in the morning, like every day. She turned off her alarm clock and stretched, her joints popping from the sudden movement. Next to her, Ruby grumbled as she herself got pulled out of her deep sleep.

"Good morning, darling," Weiss said. Her voice was raspy from the underutilization the last few hours.

Ruby shut her eyes tighter in demonstration of her unwillingness to wake up. She pulled the blanket over her head, leaving a little hole for her face.

Weiss' smile grew even warmer as she leaned back down towards her wife. With her finger, she began trailing over her wife's nose, tickling it in the process. Ruby's face scrunched up, as she tried to remove the itch by rubbing her nose on her pillow.

"You are so cute, my little flower."

Ruby just let out another weak grumble.

"Tomorrow is the day," Weiss whispered as she bent down further towards her wife's face. She puckered up her lips, ready to give Ruby a kiss on her nose, when Ruby, all of a sudden, threw her blanket over her wife and pulled her into her arms.

"Ruby!" Weiss giggled and screamed. "Ruby, stop!"

But she didn't. In fact, she increased her efforts and started trailing her hands over her wife and started tickling her. The blanket covered both, and for any observer it must have looked like a blob of tangled arms and legs struggling and kicking.

Weiss' laughter rose in pitch, with the sporadic scream in it. "Ruby, stop," she forced out between her laughs. "Ruby, I need…" Another giggle. "I need to pee!"

Ruby immediately stopped her attack and raised the covers so Weiss could visit the toilet, before she accidentally wet herself. Or the bed. Or Ruby.

Weiss straddled her wife for a few seconds, trying to catch her breath. Her face was red, her chest rose and fell in quick succession as she desperately took in the cool, fresh air in the room. She carefully rose from the strong abs of her partner to make her way to relief herself, but not before she gave her a deep kiss.

"When will you be home today?"

Weiss looked up from her newspaper. "I don't know. Why?"

Ruby took another bite from her sandwich. "Just wanted to know."

The clinking of the cup sounded sharp as Weiss set it down on the saucer. "Your worry is unnecessary. Appreciated and adorable, but unnecessary."

Ruby swallowed her bite. "Well, I still don't like it. It feels like you are stirring up something too big even for you."

Weiss felt the urge to roll her eyes, but she didn't. She didn't want to insult Ruby. So, instead, she threw her a warm, reassuring smile. "If it makes you feel better, I can give you a call later today, and when I am on my way home, okay?"

"Okay. But I will still worry until you are back here with me."

Weiss giggled. "Alright, can't fault you for that."

"Morning, Aki," she greeted.

"Morning, Mrs. Rose," came the polite and happy reply of her secretary.

Weiss pulled her company ID out of her pocket and swiped it over the pad next to the big doors to her office. A little beep indicated the room was now unlocked. She already had her hand on the handle when Aki spoke up from her desk: "By the way, you forgot to close your office doors when you left last week."

Weiss froze on the spot. She felt a shiver running down her back, and her heart stopping for a solid second, it seemed. They were open? Her office doors were open the entire weekend? How? She remembered working late into the night on the highly sensitive files of her chairmen. Aki left in the evening, at around five o'clock, like always. And Weiss stayed in her office until Ruby came and…

Ruby!

She took Weiss home last week! And she must have been the one who didn't close the door! Of course, she did not, how could she with her passed-out wife in her arms? God fucking damnit! How could Weiss be so negligent?

She tried to collect herself, and willed her body to turn towards Aki. "I did?" she asked. She tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.

Aki nodded. "The doors were wide open when I came in today. I closed them quickly."

"Thank you, Aki," Weiss spoke, and opened the door. Well, tried to, at least. She stood there long enough for the lock to reengage, so all she managed was to walk face-first into the wooden wings of the door. She stumbled back a few tiny steps, her cheek hurting a bit, but not nearly as much as her pride. She fumbled in her pocket to get the ID out again. Much of her attention was occupied with turning her back to Aki and fighting down this heavy blush spreading over her face, and as such, it took her a felt eternity to get out the card and open the door again.

As fast as she could, and her vision purely fixated on the office, she entered and slammed the door shut behind her.

She rested against the door for a second or two, desperately collecting her composure. "Shit," she whispered, "that was embarrassing." She needed a few more long and deep breaths to regain her composure, before making her way to her desk. A quick scan over her desk showed that everything seemed like she left it. Good.

She threw a quick look over to the digital clock on her table. Blake wasn't supposed to arrive for a few hours, enough time to go over every information she had again.

It wasn't much. At least, from what Weiss could gather. She assumed Blake had some more knowledge on the people on the papers, considering she was investigating this entire mess for a while now.

After a few minutes she piled the papers up and put them aside. It didn't lead to anything, but she didn't expect any big reveals jumping out to her, anyway. Seems she was reading and replying to pointless e-mails again, until Blake got here.

Blake arrived at the building. She made her way up the receptionist. With a casual swing, she took off her sunglasses and said: "Good day. I wanted to see if maybe Weiss Rose is present and free for a few minutes."

The receptionist, a grumpy looking old man, whose spectacled eyes looked massive behind the thick glasses, seemed to judge her already. "Your name, please?" The tone in his voice made it clear how much he hated sitting there.

Blake had to fight the urge to show her distain for him upon hearing his monotone and grating voice. "Blake Belladonna."

The uncomfortable silence was only interrupted every now and then by the clicking of the computer mouse, as the receptionist scanned the screen for her name. With her faunus hearing, she noticed the security guard approaching her, to "escort" her out of the building, if needed.

"I see no appointment for a Miss Belladonna today," he drew out.

Blake heard the steps getting closer. "Oh, I know. I don't have an appointment. I was just in Atlas for my job and thought I might see if she is available. We haven't seen each other in a long time."

"I'm sorry, but Weiss Schnee is a very busy woman. I doubt she has time for some random nonentity," the receptionist replied.

The security guard, a muscular guy, but with strangely gentle facial features, stepped up to her and said, with a heavy Atlesian accent: "Ma'am, I am sorry, but I have to ask you to leave."

Blake threw the man a gentle, apologizing smile, before shifting her attention back to the receptionist. "Her name is Weiss Rose, as I said. I know this, because I am the partner of Yang Xiao Long, the sister of Ruby Rose, who happens to be Weiss Rose's wife. So, I am not some nonentity. Why not give her a little ring with your phone and ask her yourself? Otherwise, I'll do it." She pulled out her scroll demonstratively, and shook it slightly.

The receptionist and guard shared a quick look, and while the guard did not really know what to think, the old man seemed sure of himself. He carried a crooked smile as he said: "Please, go right ahead."

And Blake went ahead. With pleasure and satisfaction, she dialed Weiss' scroll number, and waited for her to pick up. While she waited for the dialing tone to stop, she noticed the old man leaning back in his chair, a self-indulgent grin on his lips. It stopped when Weiss picked up.

"Oh, hi, Weiss, it's me, Blake. Listen, I was around and thought I'd pay you a visit, but the guy at the reception does not want to let me past." A short pause. "Yes, I told him." A smaller pause. Blake's eyes darted towards the no longer smiling old man, as she said. "Alright, I'll wait at the reception."

Blake stored her scroll back in her pocket, and casually leaned on the counter. It was her time to wear a crooked smile, as the elevator to the left of the desk started moving.

The more the elevator approached its destination, the ground floor, the wider Blake's grin grew.

And then, with a ping, the doors opened, and Weiss stepped out, the epitome of class and elegance. Her lips spread into a slight smile as she saw her friend.

"Hello, Weiss," Blake greeted her as she approached her with arms spread out.

"Blake! Welcome! This is a pleasant surprise!" She spread her arms as well, and they embraced each other.

"How have you been? We haven't seen each other for a while."

Weiss released herself from the hug, and motioned her to the elevator. "Oh, yes, it's been at least a few months. How is Yang and Türkis?"

"Fine, thank you for asking." Blake entered the elevator.

Weiss was about to follow, but a timid voice behind her called her attention: "Um, excuse me…"

The two women turned to see the receptionist, now raised from his seat, looking at the ground in embarrassment. "I wanted to apologize," the man breathed out. "I didn't realize you were speaking the truth, Miss Belladonna."

Blake and Weiss shared a look, and the faunus decided the poor man had enough. "Don't worry about it. How could you know? I've never been here before."

Weiss joined in: "You were just doing your job."

The man bowed down. "Thank you so much for your understanding."

With a slight rumble, the elevator started to move. Weiss leaned against the mirror on the backside of the cabin. Now, that she was alone with Blake and slowly approached her office, she could feel the nervousness spreading threw her body.

"Calm down, Weiss. I'll be in and out in no time." Blake seemed to notice how tense she was.

Weiss let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Yeah, I know. I even told Ruby that it would be simple, but now…"

A slight smile spread over Blake's lips. She could sympathize with Weiss. It's not every day that one goes against the chairmen of the very company that's named after oneself.

The elevator stopped with a ding. The duo stepped out and made their way towards Weiss' office.

"Welcome," came a friendly voice from besides them. Blake turned around to see Aki, sending her a bright smile. Blake was a bit uncomfortable with her weirdly cheerful behavior. She wondered how much of that smile was real. Not much, probably.

Blake gave her a little smile back and wiggled her fingers in a light wave, as Weiss fumbled around with the doors.

The situation began to run the risk of getting awkward, when the doors unlocked with a click. Weiss beckoned her inside.

Blake waited for Weiss to close the door behind them, before pointing towards the desk. "Is that the files?"

"That's right. Go knock yourself out. I went over them already, but I couldn't find anything. But maybe you have more luck."

Blake scanned over the laid-out papers. Swiftly, she took out her scroll and took picture after picture of the pages as a whole, every little detail, even the backsides, just to be sure. Weiss observed her with a mix of intrigue and confusion.

Blake was silent for a solid ten minutes, her eyes taking in every detail of every page. Every now and then, she hummed when she seemed to find something intriguing or interesting.

"Did… did you find something?" Weiss asked carefully, her voice almost a whisper, fearing to pull her friend out of her concentration.

"Nothing essential yet. I will look over the pages some more when I'm home. Don't wanna stay too long and raise any suspicion."

"Want me to give you a ride to the air ship? It's not like I am exactly needed here." Her last sentence was spoken with a mix of distain and disappointment.

"I'm sorry about that", Blake said. "I'll gladly take you up on the offer."

Weiss opened the door for her friend, and Blake stepped out into Aki's office. The young secretary just seemed to finished a call, as she lowered the receiver of her phone onto the hook. She threw Blake another one of those weird smiles.

"Aki, I am going home early today. You can go, too, if you want."

"Of course. Thank you. And a pleasant rest of the day for you," Aki replied.

Blake stole another quick look over to the woman, before following Weiss to the elevator to make her way down to the parking lot.

In the car, Blake checked the pictures on her scroll again. A bunch of words and numbers, nothing really making sense yet or standing out to her. Just like a minute ago in Weiss' office. She sighed.

"What's wrong?"

Blake shook her head. "Nothing. I was just hoping something already stuck out to me."

Weiss giggled slightly as she steered the car out of the driveway onto the road. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find something."

The faunus pondered her words a bit, before deciding to change the subject. "Tomorrow is your appointment, isn't it?"

Weiss nodded, almost a bit too enthusiastically. "Yes. I am very excited about it."

"Do you have a preference?"

Weiss pondered a bit over her question. Honestly, no, she didn't have a preference. Or rather, she did not really think about if she would prefer a boy or a girl. But, considering the track records of the men in her family…

"A girl, I guess," was her reply.

"Oh, that would be lovely. Türkis would have someone with shared interests who she can play with. She'd love that."

Weiss giggled. "A little cousin, huh?"

"Just think about it! Wouldn't it be amazing? They can play together, draw together, share stories about kindergarten and school, talk about boys or girls…"

"Okay, hold up," Weiss forced out under surprised laughs. "You are moving a bit too fast here. I am not even halfway through the pregnancy. Let my child be born at least before you let your imagination run wild."

"Sorry," Blake giggled. "I guess I got a bit excited. You must admit, it is a nice thought."

Weiss stole a quick glance into the rear-view mirror before making a turn.

"Well, yeah, it is," she admitted. "But I can't help but getting a bit nervous, too. Will I be a good mother? Hell, will Ruby be? I mean, not that I don't trust her, but the doubt is there. Or even, will the pregnancy work out fine? After all, we used a rather unorthodox method for conception."

"Relax, Weiss. We talked about this before, didn't we? Everything will be okay. I am sure about that. You have the best doctors money can buy, and Ruby would move the entire planet out of orbit if it meant making sure you and your child are save and healthy. You know that," Blake reassured, resting a careful hand on the other woman's shoulder. It was tense.

Weiss giggled, but the laugh did not seem to reach her eyes. "You're right," she answered. "She really would try and do that. What do you think she would do if she knew I was harmed?"

Blake removed her hand in surprise. "What are you talking about? Is everything okay?"

Weiss made another turn, this time more abrupt, throwing Blake almost off her seat.

"Woah, what was that about?"

But Weiss did not answer. Her hands were white around the steering wheel, her eyes focused on the road as she accelerated the car.

"Weiss," Blakes voice sounded fearful. "You're scaring me."

Weiss' eyes darted back up to the rear-view mirror. "Don't turn around, but I got the slight feeling we are being followed."

A bolt of lightning seemed to run though Blake's body, so quickly did she straighten herself out. "Are you sure?"

Weiss nodded slightly towards the rear-view mirror. "That car behind us has been following us since we left the office. I noticed them immediately."

"They are at least not very stealthy," Blake tried to joke desperately. It fell flat.

"They don't have to be. And I don't think they want to, either. They want us to notice them, to scare us."

"What should we do?"

"I don't know. Let's try and lose them, for now."

And with that, she accelerated the car even more. She dashed through little alleyways, around blocks, took left and right turns without any pattern.

She dared to take another look in the rear-view mirror. No car. She allowed herself to smile in triumph and relax a bit. "Seems like we…"

She was interrupted by Blake's scream to look out and a car – the same car that followed them – ramming into the left side of her car.