Sometimes he wished he could be washed away by the rain, like dirt from an empty street.
He rose his face skywards, eyes closed, and basked in the feeling of the light, cold touch of the raindrops on his skin. High above him, the moon shone bright in its full form, guiding him through the darkness of the woods like a silent guardian.
It wasn't unusual of him to take long walks in solitude, away from the town and all its inhabitants. The scent of the trees and the wet earth reminded him of home, his other life, all he had lost and would never get back.
The sound of his steps was muffled by the damp leaves covering the ground. The only sounds for miles were the rain falling and the moan of the wind though the highest branches of the trees. There was a peace, in there, that seemed to attract him like a moth to a flame, lurking him into long hours of aimless wandering that would come to an end only in the earliest beams of sunlight, the dawn calling out for him, reminding him another day was beginning, that he should go, hurry to Granny's to grab some breakfast before it got too late, because he was awaited at the hospital.
His heart cringed at the thought of Granny's and what he would find there.
Every morning, he walked in and asked Ruby for a cappuccino with cinnamon, a thousand, billion times, not because he liked cappuccino or cinnamon, but simply because it would take her longer to make it, leaving him a couple of precious minutes to talk silly platitudes to her, just to hear her voice, watch her lips create words he barely listened to.
He was sure she thought he wouldn't listen to her because he was too busy checking her out.
He wished he could tell her the truth.
That whenever he order a cappuccino, he was only praying for a moment with her.
By "You look cheerful, today," he meant "You look so beautiful it's physically painful."
By "Thank you, it was delicious, as always," he meant "Thank you for bearing with me one more time and pretending I don't bother you."
By "Bye, Ruby. Have a good day!" he meant "I'll drag myself into tomorrow just because you'll be there."
He chuckled bitterly at himself.
He was so pathetic he almost thought he did deserve some sympathy, after all.
Almost.
He kicked a rock out of his way and sighed at the moon. It was so beautiful…
He felt guilty for loving so much something that had put Ruby – Red – through so much pain and so many hard times, but he couldn't help it, and deep inside he knew that Ruby was who she was because of all she'd experienced. Without the grief and the struggles, she wouldn't be as brave and pure-hearted as she was.
She wouldn't be the one he admired so much.
She will never know, he thought to himself, stepping across a fallen tree covered in musk. The thought was so bitter he could feel it in his mouth as a grimace tugged at his dry lips.
There was so much he was keeping from her, afraid to crack that little, delicate contact she had made with him.
We can't let it stop us.
Words she would never hear.
She gave us a chance to start over, and I wanna take it. I think you should, too.
Feelings she would never discover.
Thank you.
Gestures and looks she would never understand.
Monster to monster.
His umbrella got stuck into some branches. He gently pulled it free, causing a cascade of raindrops from the soaked leaves. They fell all over his shoulders, rolling down his raincoat and onto the ground. It was no weather for a stroll, most people would say, but to him, walking in this weather was a bit like walking into himself: the night like his inner darkness, rain like tears, the moon a brittle beam of hope.
He sighed and made to turn on his heels to make his way back home, when something caught his eye: a glimpse of red in the dark green shades of some bushes.
Fate, he thought to himself with a half, sour smirk. Red haunts me even when I seek for oblivion.
But it was more than haunting.
Red was literally there.
Ruby.
She was lying in a small clearing, curled up on herself, a crimson jacket on her shoulders and black clothes underneath, peacefully asleep.
Wolf time, Victor remembered suddenly. He would have never expected to meet her in the woods, especially this way.
His heart jumped in his chest as his gaze caressed her face. She'd always been painfully beautiful, but he'd never seen her like this: there was no makeup concealing her natural beauty, no courtesy smile, no artifice whatsoever. She looked so innocent and pure he almost felt guilty for even looking at her.
He approached slowly, as silently as he could, and couched down next to her, one knee touching the damp earth. He didn't care.
The rain was falling on Ruby's face, water dripping from her hair and crawling down her cheeks. Her clothes were soaked. Light goose bumps covered her naked forearms.
Victor rose a hand to brush a few strands of wet hair from her forehead, but he stopped halfway. He watched her for a time that could have been one minute or long hours, he just couldn't tell, and in the end he made up his mind.
He knew what a prince charming would have done in his place, but he was no prince, let alone charming.
Without giving it a second thought, he laid his umbrella close to her, so that her head and shoulders would be covered, and made sure the wind wouldn't blow it away, then took his raincoat off and carefully covered her whole body.
Somewhere in the wildest depths of his mind, a part of Victor shivered in pleasure at the thought that his scent would mix with hers, now. Her skin would take something of him, and his coat would take something of her.
He blamed that part of himself for that, though. He respected Ruby too much to taint his affection for her with shallow sex thoughts, even if it was truly hard when the object of your interest oozed sensuality from every gorgeous pore.
He glanced down at her face, and all he wished was to touch that soft skin for only one moment, to skim those lips with a thumb, or a kiss…
He stood up all of a sudden, ripping himself away from the temptation, ashamed and aroused at the same time.
Sunrise wasn't far. She wouldn't be sleeping for much longer and there wasn't any danger around. She was safe, even without him.
Maybe safer without him.
He had to go. If he lingered one second more, he would never be able to leave, so he turned his back to her and walked away, never looking back.
He disappeared in the shadows – head down, hands in his pockets, rain pouring over his exposed dress shirt – and wondered what it would feel like to have her sleeping in his bed, to cover her with his blankets and kiss her goodnight.
Kiss her good morning.
No.
Those were painful fantasies, pictures of unborn moments he didn't ever dare to dream of. He had no right to. He felt so unworthy of her – of anything good – that he preferred to keep away from further disappointments. She would never care for a man like him, anyway.
And yet, deep inside the desire for something to cherish and hold on to was so strong and desperate that for one single moment Victor just couldn't lie to himself. He gazed up at the sky and silently, the cold rain freezing his skin, made a wish.
He didn't wish upon a star, though.
He wished upon the moon.
x
The sun on her face was the first thing she acknowledged as her eye lids slowly fluttered open.
Ruby awakened in a bed of leaves and grass. The air was still muggy and a light mist lingered among the trees, painted in gold by the pale sunbeams.
The earth was wet and smelt like rain, but however strong its smell was, it wasn't the first she noticed.
It was all over her, like an embrace. An embrace that smelt like cologne and soap, something she couldn't quite place, and yet she was sure wasn't completely new.
Ruby looked up and found an unexpected roof above herself. Out of nowhere, like magic, a large, dark blue umbrella had appeared over her, sheltering her from the rain that must have been falling all night long. When she made to sit up, she realized where the intense new yet familiar scent came from: just like the umbrella, a gray raincoat seemed to have popped out of thin air to come and protect her from the chilly night breeze.
The cold and the rain were gone, now, and so was whoever had left those things for her.
Ruby stood up, rubbed her face and stretched her sore limbs. She shook the remains of the rain off the umbrella and closed it, placed the coat on her arm. There were mud stains all over it. Her clothes were stained, too, but she didn't care. She was quite used to it. She just wondered who had sacrificed their raincoat for her on a cold, rainy night like last night.
She took the coat to her nose and inhaled deeply. She closed her eyes as the fogs in her mind started clearing out. It was like a déjà vu. Memories of a different smell that didn't match the one on the raincoat, but which still reminded her of it. Slowly, the alcohol smell in her memories dissipated and a light undertone remained. An undertone that merged perfectly into the scent she could now feel on her own body.
Victor.
It was always Victor, in her thoughts. Not Dr. Whale, nor James, nor Frankenstein.
Just Victor, because that was just a name – his name – and it didn't carry monster loads with it.
It had been just Victor, for her, since the day she found him at the docks. Since the day he decided to let her in, into his dark world of fears and regrets. The day Dr. Whale broke down into a million heavy pieces and Victor appeared in front of her eyes, fragile and insecure, lost like only the most haunted souls could be.
She could tell one when she met one. Kindred spirits always recognized each other.
She didn't know what to think – how to feel – at the thought of Victor finding her asleep in the woods on a wolf night. Maybe he'd left the coat and the umbrella out of pity, because he was a kind man and perhaps after all he truly liked her in some way. But if Victor liked her the way she always thought James Whale liked her, then why hadn't he taken her away? it was basic chivalry: the hero should carry he damsel in his arms to somewhere cosy and safe, even one who wasn't from the Enchanted Forest must have known.
But maybe he didn't want to be a knight for her. She was a werewolf, after all, not a damsel in distress. Besides, the story of her eating her boyfriend might have killed any interest he ever had in her.
Her beauty wasn't enough to compensate the beast she had within, and she would have deal with it, sooner or later.
But even so, at least she should give back everything to Victor and thank him for the nice gesture. She certainly would have been sick, by now, hadn't it been for him.
Ruby checked out the ground around her: no prints to follow. The rain must have washed them all away. She didn't care, though. She knew where to go.
x
She'd never been in that zone of the town before. It was quite distant from the center and there was nothing but houses to see. It looked like a quite boring neighbourhood, very quiet and depressively lacking of colour. She wondered if it was an intentional part of Regina's curse, sending a miserable man like Victor to live in such a miserable-looking place.
The rain had erased the scent trail, but she knew where Victor lived. His house was a nice surprise, compared to the others: small but nice, the garden well kept, which she found funny, since he seemed to care so little about himself.
As she approached, she noticed something that made her frown: the front door was open. Not wide, just a little ajar, but definitely not locked as it was supposed to be.
Worried that something bad might have happened, Ruby rushed along the path. She knocked on the open door, just in case, but no reply came, so she went in.
"Dr. Whale?" she called tentatively, popping her head into the living room. Yet again, no reply.
She didn't call him Victor because they hadn't reached that point of intimacy that would justify such a confidentiality. It worked in her head, it sounded nice and right, but common sense said differently.
"Dr. Whale?" Ruby called out louder, venturing further inside. Everything looked normal, too tidy and neat to fear a break-in. The grandfather-clock in the entrance signed a quarter past nine, meaning Victor was supposedly already at work.
Maybe he'd just forgotten to lock the door.
She was about to leave for the hospital, when she noticed a leg dangling loosely from the couch.
"Victor?"
Her instinct had taken over her usually rational choice of words, but she didn't even notice. She dropped the coat and umbrella she had in her hands and ran to the couch, where she found Victor lying unconscious in damp clothes. His face was flushed and covered in sweat.
Ruby knelt down next to him and felt his forehead. He was burning.
"Damn," she cursed under her breath. He had a high fever, and this only because he'd wanted to be a gentleman to her.
She sat down on the border of the couch and tried to wake him up.
"Dr. Whale? Dr. Whale, it's Ruby… can you hear me?"
Maybe she should call 911. The poor thing looked pretty bad.
Ruby cupped his burning face with a hand and shook him as gently as she could.
"Victor? Come on, please?"
A light moan escaped from his pale lips and his eyes opened slowly.
"R – Ruby?" His voice was dreadfully croaky and weak. His breath was heavy and it looked like he could barely keep his eyes open, but he still found the strength to smile at her.
Ruby took a deep sigh of relief as her shoulders relaxed.
"Oh, thank goodness!"
"Or me," he quipped in a fatigued whisper.
She couldn't help a small laugh. She'd been holding it back since the first time he'd said that, a few weeks ago, when he'd saved that guy's life at the hospital.
"I'm here on the edge of a heart attack for finding you like this and you bring up flirty jokes?"
Victor attempted a laugh that ended up in a cough.
"Sorry," he muttered, licking his dry lips. He swallowed, but Ruby could tell he was dehydrated.
"You need water," she said as she stood up. "Plenty of it. Don't you move a muscle, I'll be right back."
She went looking for the kitchen. She found it in the back of the house, a large, white room with little furniture and a serious lack of human touch. In fact, it looked more like a surgery room, rather than a kitchen.
Ruby took a bottle of water from the fridge and a glass from the cupboard, then stole a clean cloth from the counter and finally returned to the living room.
"Here," she said, helping Victor sitting up a bit. She put a couple of cushions behind his back and offered him a glass of water. He tried to take it, but his hand was too shaky.
"Wait, let me do this." She took the glass and neared it to his mouth. He locked his eyes in hers as he sipped carefully, each gulp a slow movement of his Adam's apple along his sweaty throat.
Ruby scolded herself for thinking it was sexy, but didn't break the eye contact.
When Victor drained the glass, she offered him another one, but he politely refused and lay back onto the cushions, exhaling in relief.
"It's much better, now. Thank you."
His expression was so kind and grateful that Ruby felt something melt within herself. It was strange to see him like this, looking so helpless and needy. It reminded her of the time they'd had the talk, their true first moment together. His face was just the same as then.
"What are doing here?" he managed to ask, although rather hoarsely.
Nonchalantly, she retrieved the cloth from the coffee table where she'd left it and poured some fresh water on it.
"Someone found me asleep in the woods under the rain, last night, and gave up their coat and umbrella to cover me," she said softly as she started dabbing the wet cloth over Victor's forehead and cheeks. "And I think now they've caught some bad cold because of that."
"What a fool," he joked, his chest raising and lowering at a slow, frantic pace.
She rose a brow at him with a slight smirk.
"I think it was nice of them," she said, going on with her ministrations. "But they didn't have to."
"Sure they did."
Ruby glanced at him. His eyes were closed, his head resting back. He was shaking a little.
"Your forehead is burning and your hands are frozen," she muttered, taking his hand in hers. "And those damp clothes surely aren't helping."
Victor's new attempt at a laugh sounded a bit closer to the purpose.
"You don't need an excuse to undress me, you now?"
Ruby addressed him a smug half-grin. She appreciated the playful humour, especially given his condition.
"You're entitled to slap me, even if I'm sick," he added, since she didn't retort. "The fever is weakening my filters, so you'd better go before you hear something you don't want to."
He was serious, she could tell by the look in his eyes. But she happened to be fine where she was.
"So far, so good," she reassured him.
"Pathetic jokes aside," he said. "The undressing thing was not such a bad idea. My bones feel like ice."
She leant forward, reaching out for the buttons of his shirt, but he stopped her.
"As much as I would enjoy the whole thing, I don't think it's fair to take advantage of your kindness and candour, Ruby," he told her, in such an earnest, open-hearted tone that all she could do was retract her hands in confusion. She couldn't see anything wrong in helping someone sick get out of damp clothes, but maybe this was exactly what he was talking about.
"My room is upstairs," he continued, and the look he gave her could have melted a block of steel. He seemed sincerely concerned about keeping everything prim and proper. "If you could just fetch some clean clothes and the blanket on by bed…"
"I'll be back in a sec!" she said before he could even finish. Moments later, she got back with a sweat-suit she'd found in his wardrobe and the blanket from his bed.
"Here we are!"
"Thank you. Really. For everything."
Ruby chuckled as she sat back on her spot, placing the stuff on her knees.
"You're the one who got sick for having been a gentleman… shouldn't I be the one thanking you?"
He said nothing.
Ruby helped him take off his shirt and replace it with the clean one, then did the same with the pants. Despite what he might think, she didn't find it embarrassing or anything. Still, he didn't look at her during the whole process., which amused her, because he had nothing to be ashamed of; to the contrary, his body was remarkably fit and Ruby didn't miss the goose bumps her cool fingers caused all over his skin.
In the end , Ruby covered him with the blanket and he fell silent for a long minute, scrutinizing her like she was written in a language he couldn't read. She returned the look, taking a moment to drift into the languid blue of his eyes. There was a broken tenderness in them, something soft and sweet hidden beneath dark shadows. She could only catch a few glimpses of it, but every time it only made her wish to brush the dark away and let it free.
"May I ask you something?" she breathed tentatively, breaking the silence.
"Sure."
Ruby hesitated. It was a childish question, really. She shouldn't even ask, keep it to herself. But it wasn't just a matter of vanity. She really wanted to know. She needed to know.
"Why did you…" She bit her lower lip and swallowed a light lump of insecurity. "Why did you leave me there and didn't… you know…"
"Take you away?" Victor completed for her. She caught a hint of tension in his voice, but nodded.
"You're going to think I'm an idiot," he sighed, sinking down into the cushions. "But you probably already do."
She tilted her head to one side. This man was incredible. And the most incredible thing about him was that he had absolutely no idea he was.
"Test me."
It took him a couple of seconds to speak. She waited patiently, concealing her expectation.
"I know you've never liked me much," he uttered at last, the same way one would announce their imminent death. "So I… well, I figured you wouldn't like… I didn't want…" He squeezed his eyes and rubbed his temples with one hand. "I didn't want to touch you without your willing permission."
Ruby was too taken aback to say anything. A heavy weight left her chest and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she took in the confession. She knew it was untactful of her to react like that, but she just couldn't help it. She'd believed there was no possible answer to that question that wouldn't leave her disappointed, but had just proven her wrong.
In fact, she was even flattered.
"It' not nice to laugh at a sick man," he complained weakly.
Ruby shook her head.
"I'm not laughing at you, I promise. I'm actually quite flattered that your main concern was to decide between what was best for me and what I would have wanted or not wanted." Her smile widened and brightened. "Anyone else wouldn't have even considered the thought."
She meant every word.
"I think it's amazing of you to have thought of that," she added, eyes shyly on her hands, feeling her cheeks burn a little. "I never disliked you, trust me. I just believed you weren't interested in more than my looks. Which was okay, for me, because it's nice to feel beautiful and admired. I just thought that was it, you know? But now… I've started wondering if maybe there's more. I mean, things have been different between us, lately, haven't they? We grew a bit closer. We got to know each other better, to discover we have… well, a lot in common, after all. And when this morning I woke up and found myself covered in your scent – I mean, your stuff – I thought: maybe I haven't just imagined it. Maybe it wasn't just for chivalry that he did this for me… but I didn't want to believe it, because…" She made a nervous pause. "Because I think I grossed you out when I told you about the accident with my boyfriend, and I'm sure nobody would want a girl who ate her boyfriend. This is why I've never told anyone about that. But I chose to tell you, because I… I sort of hoped you would understand. Because I saw my broken self in you."
Ruby took a long breath and pursed her lips. She didn't even know how long she'd been rambling. When she finally looked up, anxious about what he may think of that endless stream of consciousness, she discovered that she would never know.
Victor's eyes were closed, his head bent onward, a hand laying across his chest, which rose and fell lightly at a now steady pace. He looked so peaceful that it would have been a crime to do anything but tuck him in, so this is what she did.
She made sure he had a full glass of water within his reach, if he awoke thirsty, and found a phone to leave next to it, just in case. She made to leave, but didn't get to go far. It was like something was holding her back.
Another look at Victor's face, and she knew what it was. With one last smile, she bent down towards his face and brushed a soft kiss upon his hot forehead.
"Sleep sound, my hero," she whispered in his ear. Then she left.
x
His head felt like it was going to explode and all the rest of him like a tank had run over it.
The dim light in the room suggested it was late afternoon. He must have slept for hours. He didn't even remember entering the house in the morning.
He closed his eyes again, unable to accept the idea of being awake and conscious. As his lids fell, something came back to his memory. Something he wasn't quite sure how to classify.
He must have dreamed it in his fever delirium.
Because there was no chance Ruby Lucas had showed up at his place and nursed him the way his mind was showing him.
Or was there?
It was so clear and neat, so detailed, that doubting was reasonable.
He concentrated, trying to muster up the shards of memories from last night. He could remember his stroll in the woods, finding Ruby asleep, giving her his coat and umbrella, then walking back home under the rain.
By the moment he'd walked across the door, the fever had taken over him completely. He had barely managed to kick off the mudded shoes and drag himself to the couch.
Anything after that, was nothing but a dream.
He rolled to one side and the blanket slipped down his shoulder. He shivered. Then froze.
Blanket?
He looked over at himself: the brown blanket from his bed covered his whole body. And he was positive he would have never been able to get it himself. Not in those conditions. But Ruby getting it for him… did it make any more sense?
He was also wearing a sweatshirt. It was laundry-fresh, and definitely not what he'd been wearing for his night stroll.
So it was true? Ruby had actually come to his house to return his stuff and had ended up taking care of him like that?
Victor's heart swelled and sank at the same time at this realization. Because, if on one hand it meant that Ruby had been there for him, on the other it also meant that she had left, even with him still very sick, which proved that hers had only been plain courtesy.
He felt even worse now. Despite the sore throat and the aching bones and all the rest, what hurt most was his feelings.
In this mood, all he need was a drink. A strong one. But he felt so bad that thinking about it made him even sicker.
There was a glass of water on the coffee table next to him, though. And a telephone. Ruby must have left it there so that he could make a call in case he needed help.
He tried to reach out to grab the glass, but it was too far and he too weak.
"Oh, so you're awake, at last!"
From where it had sunk, his heart jumped up again, straight into his throat. He only hoped that voice wasn't just a hallucination or something.
A light sound of steps approached and a moment later Ruby's stunning figure appeared in sight. Her clothes were different from last night. She carried a tray full of delicious-looking food.
"I went to Granny's to grab something to eat," she explained, nodding at the tray. "I've already had lunch, but you were sleeping so soundly I didn't have the heart to wake you up. It's almost seven, now… feel like having anything for dinner? I've brought some chicken soup. Oh, and I've called in sick for you at work. Hope you don't mind."
Victor was so amazed to see her there that he couldn't even come up with a proper answer.
Completely oblivious to his astonishment, Ruby walked to him, laid down the tray on the coffee table and sat down to check him up. When she put her fresh hand over his forehead, he felt like heaven had just come down on earth.
"You're still hot," she mused with a small pout.
"Who's flirting, now?" he quipped huskily, earning a gentle swat on his arm. She didn't deny, though.
"Here," she said, instead, bringing the glass of water to his mouth. "You need to drink. Your lips are too dry."
He gladly obliged. Every gulp was a pain, but he didn't give it away.
"Thank you," he exhaled. "You didn't – "
"Have to," Ruby cut him off. "I know." She shrugged and put down the empty glass. "I just wanted to. You would have done the same for me."
You bet I would, he thought. But this isn't exactly the same…
"You already have, actually," she continued, as if on a second thought.
"Ruby, I…"
"Would you like that soup? I only need to heat it up."
"Ruby…"
"You need to eat something. You sweated a lot, you need to restore the salts in your body."
"Ruby," he insisted, grabbing her wrist before she had a chance to stand up. "Please."
She sat back and glanced down at his fingers around her wrist. Victor quickly made to remove them, but her other hand went to keep them where they were.
Which made it even harder, for him, to look her in the eye.
"I've never had anyone to take care of me," he blurted, trying his best not to sound too pathetic. "And this – all you are doing for me… I don't think you understand how important it is to me. How good it feels to have somebody caring for you. So many people take it for granted, because they have a family, and friends… having someone who cares should be granted. But it isn't. And I want you to understand that if you keep being so nice to me, I might get the wrong idea. And, frankly, I'm not sure I'd be able to overcome it."
He felt bad for himself, now. He had always been a lonely man, but there were times when not having a family to rely on was the worst curse.
Ruby didn't know what it felt like. Her parents were gone, but she had her grandmother, and the Charmings, too. She had no idea what it was like.
In fact, she didn't say a word.
She only stared into his eyes, transfixed, as if it wasn't his speech she was listening to, but something in his look.
"I don't want you to be here because you feel you owe me something," he told her. Being pitied was his worst nightmare and she was the last person he wanted to be pitied by. "Last night I did what I did because I wanted to help you, to do something for you, but I… I never expected anything back. I just did it. For you."
The grip of Ruby's hand over his tightened imperceptibly.
"If you think I'm here because I think I owe you or anything, then you got me all wrong," she remarked firmly. "I am here because you're not well and you need someone to be with you. So why not me? I like looking after my friends. Looking after you."
It was hard to tell what was the real meaning of her words, whether she had meant to mark him as a friend or all the contrary.
And, in case of the latter, was it good that she didn't consider him a friend or not?
"My whole life started out as a mess, Ruby," he said sternly. "Has always been a mess and always will be. And having you so close to me, not knowing what kind of closeness it is, just makes it even worse. I refuse to believe you're not aware of my… weakness for you."
He didn't even know why he was blurting this out like this. Maybe he was just tired of lingering on the borderline.
"This is the point where you say 'It's okay. We can still be good friends,' and elegantly dribble my awkward confession."
Ruby still wouldn't utter a sound. Her hand was still on his, which was still on her wrist.
The lack of sounds of any sort was surreal. The streets were silent. No cars driving by, no dogs barking in the distance. The streetlights flickered on and their light invaded the large windows, bathing the living room in a milky glow.
"This is getting really embarrassing, you know?"
"It's okay," she said suddenly, giving her hair a light shake as she looked into his eyes. "It's okay," she repeated quietly, her voice barely a whisper. "We can still be good friends."
There, he thought. Why the hell did I even try? What was I thinking?
"Or maybe we could stop trying to tag us and just let us… be."
He opened his mouth to speak, but he wasn't sure of what to say.
"Who are we trying to fool, Victor?" Ruby said. The use of his first name made him shiver, but in a pleasant way. "We both know something has clicked between the two of us. It's just that we're both too afraid of ourselves to admit that."
There was a long pause, during which he did his best to accept the fact that Ruby Lucas had basically just confessed she felt about him the same, contorted way he felt about her. Which was quite amazing, truth to be told.
"Wow," he commented speechlessly. "That was pretty accurate."
Ruby bit her lip, stifling a coy grin.
"I've been thinking about it a lot, for the record."
Tell me about it…
"Just so you know," he said. "I would have made this whole thing much more romantic, if my health state had allowed me."
She clasped his hand between hers and stroked it delicately.
"And what would your concept of romantic be?"
Victor hinted a shrug.
"No big deal… a bowl of soup for dinner and maybe a movie on the couch."
Ruby beamed. He felt like sheer light had just been injected into his veins.
"Sounds very appealing…"
"Does it?" his voice was still a croaky sigh, but he didn't really care.
"We have the soup," she said brightly. "All we're missing is a movie."
"I have to be honest to you: I don't think I'd be able to get through a whole movie as of now."
Ruby's fingers kept stroking the back of his hand in a way that made him wish she'd never stop.
"No movie then. But we still have a couch, I see."
"My almost death bed."
Ruby giggled gracefully. One of her hands flew up to brush some hair away from his sticky forehead. Her fingertips felt nice, cool and light. Caring.
"We'll make sure you pass the night."
"What did Granny say about you waking on an almost dying man?" he asked, basking in the softness of her touch.
"There's a lot to do at the diner, so she wasn't overjoyed," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "But she had to concede that, given what you did for me, maybe you were worth my time, after all."
"So I have Granny's blessing?"
She leaned in closer and placed a chaste – and yet so tender, so loving and heart-melting – kiss on his cheek.
"Let's say she might save her crossbow, for this once."
He cupped her face with his hand, not to drag her back to him and kiss her, but just because he wanted to take in everything of that moment, whatever was going to happen in the future.
It would have been a nice gesture, hadn't his hand been so sweaty and shaky.
"Damn, I'm like a Sauna-man with Parkinson's."
This made Ruby laugh heartily, and her laugh warmed his heart from the inside. She turned her head to kiss his palm, then stood up, tucking him in under the blanket.
"Give me a couple of minutes to prepare the soup," she said. "Please, don't fall asleep while I'm away. I kind of pictured myself feeding you the soup, so I would be disappointed if I came back to find you asleep."
"Not even death itself could knock me off if this is what's expecting me."
Her last reply was a smile. Broad and bright like the moon itself.
Victor smiled to himself as he watched her walk away.
Maybe he was still suffering from the fever delirium. Because, come think of it, it was absolutely crazy that Ruby – his beautiful, wild, beloved Ruby – was in his kitchen singing to herself as she made him chicken soup.
Absolutely crazy.
Dream or not, he considered his wish upon the moon fully fulfilled.
Meanwhile, Ruby kept singing in the other room.
"I fall into your arms with my heart, open as wide as the stars…"
It was just a random song, he was sure of that, but it still gave him a tingle in his chest.
Because Ruby Lucas was in his kitchen making him some sort of dinner, singing love songs to herself. And this was beyond any wish he had ever dared to make.
"I know that your love is mine."
A/N: so, my third Frankenwolf piece… already? I can't believe it! I want to thank everyone who read reviewed my previous oneshots, and of course everyone who read this one and will review it, because reviews are fuel for the writer and it's always nice to hear from our fellow shippers!
As always, I apologize for any typo that may have escaped by revision.
Disclaimer for the song Ruby is singing in the final part: it's They Say Surrender by Aqualash. I fell in love with it watching The Covenant with our baby David Anders and it just fits so well.
Thanks again everyone, and sorry for the shameless fluff. I promise there will be some good angst soon!