Oh hey, look, I finally finished what should've beena short story... Sorry for the wait folks. I hope you enjoy :)

Part 6 - Family & Hope 2

The sun was finally about to set on what seemed like the longest day in his life. Qrow watched it from a comfy chair on the front porch of Taiyang's homestead as he rested an icepack on his bruised shoulder, were a Beowulf had treated him like a chew toy.

Zwei kept him company as he rested his furry little body by his legs. At least someone other than Ruby wasn't mad at him.

Soon later, Taiyang walked out onto the porch, arms crossed.

They met each other with a glance, before Qrow went back to his sunset watching.

"So, how is she?" Qrow wondered.

Taiyang sighed and took on the chair next to Qrow. "She nearly passed out after giving me the whole story. Yang's looking after her now."

Qrow nodded slowly with ease as he leaned back in his chair.

He groaned as he rested the back of his head on the chair. It felt like someone had jammed a screwdriver between his bones, which wasn't that far off from having a Beowulf try to bite through his aura.

Taiyang sighed and took up a seat next to the other. The two of them sat there for a while, neither knowing what to say next. A lot has happened in recent days, and a lot has seemed to change. Qrow had almost forgotten what it all felt like too. Being with family, training the young, fighting on a team, these were all things he never had the chance to be a part of in his travels.

"This shouldn't have happened," Taiyang finally said, as if to break the silence with a brick.

Qrow turned his head to stare sharply at the other, and popped his sore neck in the process. "Don't even start." He warned.

Taiyang raised a disarming hand. "I didn't mean it like that. The Grimm, there shouldn't have been so many. Had I've known there were… I wouldn't have asked you to go in my place."

It was Qrow's turn to correct the other. "Don't act all tough. By yourself, you would've been cooked too. That sort of work needs a full team of huntsman to handle, regardless of how you look at it."

Taiyang nodded in agreement. "I guess that is sort what happened though, a team of huntsman fighting together."

Qrow grunted a laugh. "Yeah, two over the hill men and a pair of little girls. One's a walking talking fighting ball of fire, and the other a caped crusader with a weapon twice her size."

"They're not so little anymore it seems." Taiyang said. "Ruby though… I had no idea she'd learn so much from you already. The way she handled the Grimm on her first hunt… Qrow, thank you."

The other had to do a double take before he raised an eyebrow. "What? I thought you'd want to burn my hide off, not thank me out of the blue like that."

Taiyang shrugged. "Alright, I might've wanted to when I got to the forest. But the way Ruby had put it, you risked everything for her sake. And in the end, she said she was always thinking about you."

"Well, considered my heart touched." Qrow remarked with a small grin and a roll of the eye. "You know how stubborn that kid is? There I was trying to get her out of harm's way and she just kept going on about 'saving me from myself' or some nonsense like that."

"It's not nonsense. You do remember our talk at the cliff when you first got back, right?"

Qrow rubbed his chin. "I remember the dragon fist you firmly planted in my jaw, but also yes, I do remember what you've been saying to me all this time. And you know what, fine. It might've been how you've put it back then. I can't exactly let go of my failures, the people I've…" He paused and sighed. "We've lost. But that doesn't mean I'm just fighting to forget or to just let it all end." He gave Taiyang a reassuring look. "Ruby wants me to train her as a huntress, so there was no way I'd go down easy back there, or ever again for that matter."

Taiyang's eye lit up with surprise. "So what you're staying… is you'll be sticking around?" He asked, excited like, fingers dug into his chair's armrest.

Qrow nodded. "For a bit longer sure. I mean, you and I will be busy investigating the Ash Woods for a while anyhow, as we can't overlook all of those Grimm that gathered, also-"

Taiyang reached over and put Qrow into a friendly, one armed vice grip around the neck. "I'd knew you'd eventually come to your sense."

"Guh," Qrow groaned. "Don't… push it buddy…" He managed to squirm free. "It's just for a while, I mean what with Ozpin's orders..." He paused abruptly as he spotted something moving down the dirt road leading up to the house. "Oh wow, I'll be damned…"

Qrow and Taiyang stood up to get a better view of what appeared to be a person approaching.

"Qrow, is that…?"

"Yeah, the wizard actually left his tower for a change." Qrow remarked.

Indeed, it was Professor Ozpin himself approaching the pair. As the headmaster of Beacon, he rarely ever left his academy, only ever doing so for rare occurrences.

Ozpin smiled as he come within distance of the house. "Taiyang, it's been too long since we've last spoke." He nodded at the other. "And Qrow. You seem a bit… worse for wear."

"That's putting it lightly," Qrow snorted. "But I doubt you came all this way just to check on me."

"Ah, well, yes and no." Ozpin started. "Glynda pasted along Taiyang's report about your recent encounter with the Grimm. I will say, it has me a bit disturbed."

"Yeah? Is it the sheer number of Grimm or the fact that we had to rely on a pair of little girls to take on a share of the fighting?" Qrow asked.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow in Qrow's direction.

Taiyang coughed nervously. "I left that part out for a reason, Qrow." He hissed, starring a dagger at the other.

Qrow could only grin nervously. "Oh, uh, never mind that last part then."

Ozpin smiled and nodded. "Very well, but you'll have to regale me with the details later. I do understand one of the said little girls has silver eyes, correct?"

The two other men looked at each other for a brief moment before Qrow nodded back to Ozpin.

"Yeah, I think she's going to be a whole lot like her mom." Qrow added. "I'm taking her on as an apprentice, which, on that note, means I'll need to take some more time off from your assignments."

"Oh?" Ozpin remarked with genuine surprise. "That comes as relief to me, that you've found a reason to stay close to the kingdom for now. As it happens, I been trying to find a way to keep you closer to Vale for some time now."

It was Qrow's turn to respond with surprise. "You've been what? So when you encouraged me to take some time away from those missions to come back here…"

Ozpin nodded. "Yes, I had hopes you would find a reason to stay here. And it seems you've found it." He nodded at Taiyang. "Through some family encouragement I'm sure."

Taiyang rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "It took that and then some."

"Good," Ozpin said. "I trust, then, that you have informed Qrow of his new post?"

"Huh?" Qrow grunted, starring back and forth between a sheepishly grinning Taiyang and a passive Ozpin. "What new post?"

"Yeah, about that," Taiyang began. "Oz had this idea that, if you were going to stay for some time, you'd be well suited to… well… teach at Signal for a while."

Qrow starred at the two for a while before giving a nervous laugh. "Oh ha, ha, right, yeah that would be a good idea. Letting this old drunk teach a bunch of kids how to play with weapons and Grimm. Yeah, that would have been a disaster." The two others weren't budging though, and Qrow realized to his horror that this wasn't a joke. "Okay now, hold on a second-"

"Qrow," Taiyang started.

"Oh no," Qrow threw his arms up in a protesting gesture. "That is such a bad idea. I mean seriously, me, a teacher? C'mon Tai, be serious about this."

Taiyang searched for a rebuttal but could only look at Ozpin for support.

"There's no better huntsman out there, who has seen more and experienced more, than you Qrow."

"Exactly," Taiyang added. "You might as well while you train Ruby, who is going to be attending Signal soon too."

Qrow could look at the two others, dazed by disbelief. "It's not too late to get eaten by the Grimm, is it?" He asked, with a serious tone.

…

"I said I'm fine!" Ruby squirmed as Yang pushed her back into bed.

"And I'm a Giant Nevermore." Yang retorted as she held her sister by the shoulders and pushed her onto the soft pillows and sheets. "You were about to pass out just a moment ago. Geez sis, give me a break."

"But Uncle Qrow-"

"-isn't going anywhere." Yang interjected. "At least, not without saying goodbye."

Ruby pouted some more before crossing her arms with a corgi shaped pillow being crushed underneath them.

Yang stood up from her little sister's bedside. "That's better. You're need your rest and then some. What you did to those Grimm was just amazing. Imagine what you'll be doing to them when you when you're an actual trained huntress."

Ruby kept her eyes down, still pouting.

Yang sighed. "Ruby," She began. "Sometimes, you need take things a little more–"

A few quick barks from Zwei from down the hallway cut her off. The stubby legged little fur ball came sliding to a stop at the bed and bark a few more notes.

"Dad's needs me?" Yang asked back. The dog's keen words made it sound serious. "Alright, watch Ruby for me, boy."

Zwei barked an affirmative.

"Good dog."

Yang jogged out of the room to find her father, leaving the teenage girl and little dog by themselves.

After having waited a few moments, Zwei turned around made is was to the window in the room. He nudged it open with his little snout and gave Ruby a low bark.

Ruby's eyes widened when she realized Zwei was helping her out.

"Good boy, Zwei." Ruby whispered as she patted him on the head. She opened the window fully and slipped through the opening.

She steadied herself on the slightly sloped roof on the other side, which over hanged the patio below. And very quietly, she squeezed the window shut as she notices Zwei take her place underneath the sheets on her bed. Such an awesome dog.

"Hey kid,"

Ruby, cat-like and all, fell to her fours from the surprise to find her dear uncle slouched on the roof, his back against the side of the house and legs stretched out, flask in hand.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby leaped at him before he could tell her to keep it down.

He caught the small thing easily with his better, uninjured arm. "Easy kid, we're a little banged up right now." He said as he tussled her hair.

Ruby settled down next to him and smiled, snuggling up next to the grizzled huntsman. "You sent Zwei my way, right?"

"Ha, yeah," He chuckled, which kind of hurts to do at the moment. "I owe him now. I figured you'd were going to come looking me eventually so I made it easy for you."

"Got me there," She said with a sheepish green, before taking on a more somber tone. "You were leaving soon so I wanted too…" Her voice shrank into nothingness and she buried her face in his chest.

"Hey, c'mon," The other started, feeling a tight knot form. "It's not like I was going to take off without a word."

"Yeah, I know," She muffled, not wanting to let go.

Qrow smiled and tussled her hair some more. "Geez kid, stop mopping on me here. I'm not going anywhere for a while now."

Did lightning strike or was that just Ruby's heart getting a jolt? Qrow wondered this as the little girl suddenly jumped up to stare at him, mouth hanging with an unspoken question.

"W-w-w-what?" Ruby stammered in surprise, holding on tight to his shirt to keep herself from flying off the roof.

"Uh, yeah," He shrugged. "Your dad somehow got me hooked into teaching at Signal, which means–"

His words were chocked off as a sudden force began to press down upon his chest like a massive vice grip. Ruby Rose wanted to let him know, without having to say it, that she was experiencing one of the happiest moments of her life.

"Ooooohhhh Uncle Qrow!" She squealed, positively bursting at the seams with radiant joy. "Does this mean we can go on more hunts now? Oh, maybe so more training! But first I gotta show some more design I have for Crescent Rose and other cool stuff, and, and…" Finally, she took a breath. "And… I'm just so happy." She finally said.

"Wow, wow, kid, don't start flying off the handle." Qrow tried to calm her, all the while conscious of the fact that they're still on the roof and Ruby is crushing him along his chest and back which really-really-really hurts. Oh geez kid ouch, ouch, ouch!

Ruby took a moment to calm down. "Sorry, it's just that now I don't have to wait for that adventure you promised me."

Qrow recalled, having made a light promise to take Ruby with him on a mission. It felt to him though, she just wanted to be at his side wherever he ended up, be it a mission or a hunt or just training out on the fields of Patch.

"Well guess what," Qrow tussled her on the head again. "Wait's over kid. Starting tomorrow, the fun stuff begins. If you thought my training was easy so far, then you're going to be in trouble."

Ruby giggled. "I think we both will be if I don't get back to my room before Yang gets back."

Qrow nodded. "Yeah, good point, let's get you tucked back into bed and–"

"Zwei? Where did Ruby go?" The voice of Yang Xiao Long could be heard from around the corner, inside the girl's bedroom.

Ruby froze on the spot. "Uh oh." She whimpered.

"Yang, what happened to Ruby?" The voice of Taiyang Xiao Long could also be heard. "QROOOOOOW!" He suddenly roared, his tone shifting from concerned to murderous.

"Double uh oh." Qrow froze in place with a ghastly look on his face as he suddenly began receiving terrible flashbacks to the last time his best friend was this pissed off. "Got any good hiding places?" He whispered. "I really don't want to get punched again."

"I've got a secret bunker beneath the barn. They don't know about it." She whispered back and pointed towards the back of the house.

Qrow didn't ask how or why she had one of those, all he was concerned about was their safety and wellbeing.

He waved for her to follow him as they slowly made their way across the roof towards the barn, together, both already beginning another adventure fraught with excitement and danger.

Thanks again for reading the whole story! I had fun writing for this and I have another fic in the works that I think you all might like. Here's a quick preview for you since you're all so awesome:

Image Vale in the shape and image of a 1940's New York City or Chicago, where crime is laden within its core. Enter one Detective Ruby Rose, a young junior detective fighting for the side of justice and good. She does her best to solve some of the most daunting cases in Vale, with some help of her many friends. Such as the the heiress Weiss Schnee, who often employs Ruby on behalf of her family and ends up getting envolved in the case. There is also her sister, Yang, the renowned boxing champion of Vale's burgeoning boxing scene. And of course, there's Blake, a faunus maid in the Schnee family's employ who has... ulterior motive. Let's also not forget about Zwei, Detective Ruby's faithful sidekick and also officemate as she can't afford a very large office...

I'd like to hear what you all thought of the Qrows & Roses and the short preview of a Detective!AU style RWBY FanFic.

Thank you all again for reading!