Rewind
Raven growls as she stands in the hangar locker room. She’s set to go out and run drills with Qrow in their jets today. The Reapers, the siblings, were both affectionately and unaffectionately referred to, both on and off the battlefield. The twins are fighter pilots, currently stationed in North Carolina. Currently, Raven was seemingly needed to deal with something far worse than a missed drill.
She was late, super late—five months late, to be exact—and she had fessed up to exactly no one what she knew. She was pregnant. It’s not that she couldn’t tell anyone; it’s that being freshly 20 and having the loves of your life who were the only things that kept you grounded and would officially ground you, was the problem.
Raven and Qrow didn’t exactly grow up in sunny Beverly Hills, no they grew up in a tiny ass backwater town where their family was known for having... issues. Drugs, alcohol, Domestic Issues, Theft, you name it, at least one Branwen had that charge on their rap sheet. That’s exactly how Raven and Qrow landed themselves in the Air Force.
Raven and Qrow had grown up with a mother and a father, but their family was more of a nuclear bomb than an idyllic family. Their father is, was, an abusive asshole who came and went with the wind, he died when the twins were 15. Their mother, a chronic drunk. She vividly remembers swearing she wouldn’t repeat those mistakes, a sort of atonement for the sins of the father.
She swore she’d never love anyone beyond Qrow, but that was before Tai and Summer had swept into her life. Shattering her and rebuilding her into something stable, someone who wanted to stay. However, the person that her lovers knew had retreated the moment Raven realized she might be pregnant.
Fuck, she was only 20, barely 20 at that. How could she mother a human being if she never had one? She shook her head. Summer would take to motherhood like a duck to water, and Tai, well, he’d be so excited. The man was constantly volunteering to pick up shifts at the on-base daycare. He’d love a child, both of them would, but would she? Sometimes, when no one was in their small apartment, she’d try talking to the bump steadily growing. She felt foolish, unsure of the whole thing.
She’d never actually taken a pregnancy test. What if all these symptoms were some sort of stomach parasite? Yeah, a parasite, that’s it, she could go to medical and walk out completely fine. That’s what she told herself when she first noticed the bump, but she’d never gotten up the nerve to do it.
Steeling her nerves, she calls out. “Qrow, come here, I need help.” Her twin appears around the corner. She lifts her arms and drops them, her head fallings. Qrow smiles sadly before walking to his sister, placing his hand on the zipper.
“Suck in.” Raven complies, this having become a nearly daily ritual the past month. “Dammit.” Raven releases her breath, and she steps away from her twin, sitting down on a bench. She runs her hands over her face, resting them in her hair.
“I think it’s time.” Raven lets out a low whine, knowing Qrows right but still being terrified. “Do you want both of them?” They have an unspoken way of communicating be it because of them being twins or the trauma bonds that forever linked them, it came in handy.
“I want Summer.”
“I’ll call her.” Qrow moves to go into the hallway before Raven grabs his wrist, shaking her head. He drops his shoulders, sitting next to his siste,r who places her head on his shoulder.
Qrow fishes his phone from his flight suit pocket dialing Summer’s number. “Hey, Summer. Everything’s fine, can you come over to the hangar. Raven said you’d might be able to help us out with something.” Raven doesn’t hear her girlfriend’s response but she knows Summer was probably a little too chipper to come help, knowing that Raven was also at the hanger.
“QROW, RAVEN?” The voice rings out across the hangar as Summer enters. Raven nods at Qrow, it’s time.
“In here, Summer.”
“Qrow, I know you said the skirt thing was a phase, but- Rae, what’s wrong?” Summer questions as Raven looks up at her, tears welling in her eyes. Damn hormones, she thinks as she starts sobbing, Summer comes wrapping Raven in her arms.
Raven shakes her head, suddenly her heart is in her stomach, “You’re gonna be mad.”
“No, I’m not. What’s going on?”
“It’s bad, really bad.”
“Raven Branwen, you are scaring me. What’s going on?” The last part makes Summer sound more like the leader she was rapidly becoming.
“I’m pregnant.” She mutters.
A small and gentle smile crosses Summer’s face. “Really? You’re positive?” Raven nods, shifting, making her bump more visible to the redhead. Summer gasps, “How long?”
“Long enough that Qrow has had to help me zip up my flight suit for the past month.” Raven looks up, searching for her brother, but he retreated into the hallway when Summer sat down.
“Rae, you should’ve said something, you can’t be flying like this. It’s too much of a risk.” Summer gently scolds.
“I didn’t want you or Tai to know.”
Summer lets out a small laugh, shaking her head, silly girl, she thinks.“Raven Branwen, you are loved. This baby will be loved, assuming the plan is to keep it?”
“I was planning on giving birth, leaving you and Tai with the baby.” Raven says it like a fact, almost like it was inevitable. Almost like she never deserved to be a mother.
“Raven, you’d never do that.”
“I don’t know if I can do this. The family thing, I can barely handle you and Tai some days, let alone a child? What if I’m not meant to be a mom? How do we know I’m not my father?” Raven’s voice rose with her emotions. Hormones not making this any easier on her.
“You are not our father,” Qrow stands in the doorway. “Or our mother. You are Raven motherfucking Branwen with an undisclosed kill count. One half of the Reapers, you are a menace on the battlefield. You protect with everything you have. You are a badass, sure you aren’t the nicest, but that’s okay. You will stay and you will be an amazing mother. Pinky promise?” Qrow reaches out with his pinky finger extended to Raven. Raven hesitates, looking at Summer, gently smiling. She reaches out and locks their pinkies together.
“I guess we have to tell Tai now.” Raven groans, not wanting to deal with any more emotions.
After telling Tai, who does not shut up about the fact that he is going to be a father in 4 months, Raven settles a little bit. She lets Tai and Summer take the lead on baby stuff, after all it’s not like she was ever around babies.
The four months breezed past, Raven spending most of the time sleeping. Until the contractions start. Raven, home alone, calmly walked herself to the hospital, told them she was in labor, and then called Tai and Summer. After 17 hours of labor and a promise that she’d never have another child, a small blonde baby is placed in Raven’s arms. Summer and Tai at each of her shoulders. Raven gently smiles at the bundle, “Hi, Yang. I’m gonna keep you safe, pinky promise.”