"Hey mom."

Pyrrha's heart sank a little as she watched Ruby kneel next to the tomb stone. "Sorry I haven't been around a lot, school's been kinda busy…"

This wasn't the first time that Pyrrha had seen the grave marker; when the two had started dating Ruby had taken her to meet her parents, both of them. At first Pyrrha had wondered where Ruby's mom was after meeting Taiyang… it wasn't until her girlfriend had led her to a small clearing that the tall redhead fully realized why Ruby rarely mentioned her mom.

I don't think Ruby was trying to hide it from me. Pyrrha could never see Ruby doing something like that, yet it'd still come as a shock to find out that her mom was amongst the deceased. It had made Pyrrha infinitely more thankful that her own mother was still alive.

As Ruby went on, talking about daily life at school and what she'd been up to, to the cold tombstone, Pyrrha's urge to close the distance and tightly hug her girlfriend grew. It's not fair, why does it have to be Ruby's mother?

Perhaps it had been even more unfair to either of the blondes standing beside her. Yang had lost the mother who'd actually raised her while Taiyang lost the second love of his life. Yet both were keeping a respectful distance away from Ruby, letting her have her own time to talk with Summer Rose.

When Ruby and Yang had invited Pyrrha to come along with them to Patch for the weekend, it'd only taken a moment to figure out what the occasion was for. While Pyrrha was honoured that she was being included, that Ruby, Yang and even Taiyang thought of her as family, it didn't lessen the fact that she felt really out of place in the small clearing.

Everyone here has a connection to her; Summer was Taiyang's wife and teammate, she was Yang's stepmother and Ruby's mom… yet I never met her.

It was weird to think that this person was someone that Pyrrha was never going to meet yet at the same time was immensely thankful for. Summer Rose had raised Yang and Ruby; without her presence, Pyrrha's life would never have become as happy as it was now. Nor would Pyrrha have found love in her precious rose, Ruby, if Summer's tales of being huntress had never been told to the young red head.

They all had been directly affected by Summer, while Pyrrha was only indirectly affected by her. Sure, she'd heard about Summer from Ruby or Yang, but Pyrrha was never going to meet her. She'd never be able to thank her for what she'd done.

Every time Pyrrha had visited Patch in the years since she'd started to date Ruby, the question of how to handle these moments arose. Do I just respectfully wait over here, or do I talk to the grave? The safe bet was staying where she was, but the problem that arose was Pyrrha did want to say something: say how glad she was for what Summer had done.

"Oh! I never introduced you to Pyrrha did I?" Ruby jogged over to Pyrrha and grabbed the tall red head by the hand, gently leading her to the tomb. "Pyrrha this is mom, mom this is Pyrrha."

While Pyrrha had seen the tomb before, she'd technically never gone closer than the tree line, never been this close when Ruby talked to Summer. "Um, hello!" Pyrrha gave an awkward wave with her unoccupied hand, earning a smile from Ruby and a slight squeeze from her clasped hand.

"She's, um, she's my girlfriend." A blush spread across Ruby's cheeks as if she admitting it for the first time. "She's really cool and beautiful and is tons of fun to be with."

Pyrrha found her eyes start to water as Ruby went on, describing how happy she was with her before her sentences slowly came to a crawl.

"You would have liked her a lot."

With that, Ruby let go of Pyrrha's hand and almost reluctantly turned away from the grave marker and headed back towards where her sister and father was.

Pyrrha glanced at them before her emerald eyes were drawn back to the inscription. "I-I may not have ever had the pleasure of meeting you, but you've made my life so much better." Pyrrha quietly murmured, afraid of being overheard, "Without you I would never have met Ruby or Yang; I wouldn't have the most wonderful girlfriend in the whole world." A pair of tears slowly dripped down Pyrrha's cheeks. "I don't know if you would have even of approved of me… but, thank you."

Glancing once more at the inscription, Pyrrha turned around only to be greeted with the sight of Taiyang, a sad, sad smile pulling at his lips as he walked by, patting her on the shoulder. "Summer would have thought you'd make an amazing girlfriend for Ruby… now go make sure my daughters don't destroy something for a minute or two."

An equally sad smile graced Pyrrha's lips as she walked over to where Yang had Ruby in a giant hug before joining them in making it a group hug.

AU: Happy early mother's day!

Bit of a departure from the usual fluff that I have most days here, but eh, it's always good to change it up every s often… something I'll try and do more and more as time goes on!

OKAY SO, FIRST THING, RWBY chibi is adorable.

SECOND THING; THIS IS THE DAY OF UPDATES! :D

I'm writing Dilation right now and that will post in a few hours followed by Acceptance an hour or so after that. ON TOP OF THAT, for those who read Acceptance, chapter 20 has had a complete rewrite that is already live and you should read it before chapter 21 posts… I changed pretty much everything to the point where Velvet isn't even in it.

Thank you all for reading and hopefully I will see some of you when Dilation updates shortly! :D