He wasn't from a fairytale.
Back in his land, there was no such thing as happy endings and true love. There was no colour, no way out of that darkness that seemed to crawl under your skin, spreading within you like poison.
He was different from all of them. His soul didn't have stains. It was all stain.
He closed his eyes, wishing the thoughts to disappear. His soul was soaked in mistakes, sins and regrets like a coat in heavy rain, and there was no drying them away. It was in his blood. Inerasable.
He could hear the low moan of the sea, calling him like the waves knew what he was thinking.
The watch in his hand was broken. Still. Just like him.
He held it in his palm, clung to it as if it was a treasure, when his only intention was to throw it away the same way he would throw away himself: a jump into emptiness, and then a long-longed oblivion.
The sharp metal of the watch dug small wounds in his hand, touches of red that reminded him of life. A life he didn't want anymore.
A small turn of his wrist, his fingers opened slowly. The watch disappeared in the black depths of the water so quickly and smoothly he almost thought dying could be like that: silent and painless.
He hoped so, at least.
He closed his eyes again, hands clenched in tormented fists. There he was, at last. Why he couldn't find the courage to do this before, he didn't know.
He set his foot on the yellow border of the dock. He held his breath.
It was the only sensible thing left to do.
The only thing.
He had no reason to stay.
"Dr. Whale?"
A bolt of light shot through his darkness. His eyes flung open, though he didn't need to see to know who was calling him.
Ruby's voice had tugged at him like material hands, keeping him from moving a single step. Neither forwards nor backwards.
But who was he kidding? She wasn't there for him. She was there just because they needed someone to save that damn guy at hospital.
Just that.
And it wasn't enough.
x
"You're staring."
"I'm not."
"Are too."
"I'm just… checking."
"Checking?" Ruby laughed, planting her hands on her hips. "Checking what, exactly?"
Victor gave her a small, crooked smile from the doorframe he was leaning onto.
"That you are still there. All of you," he added, with a nod at her swollen belly. He had dreamed of the day it would finally start showing, because it would feel truer, but even now, at five months along, he would wake up every day and still could hardly believe she was there. For him.
Ruby took off her waitress apron and threw it on a chair.
"Where do you think I'm going with this heavy load?" she asked him, glancing down at her remarkable baby bump, her hands embracing its sides.
Impossible as it sounded, she looked even more beautiful, now, with that big smile lighting up her face all the time (except for the mood swings) and the features softened by the pregnancy.
"I don't know," he confessed with a light shrug. "I'm just afraid I'll turn around, one day, and find you gone, just like everything else that ever mattered to me."
The mere thought crushed his heart. He'd told himself so many times he should get his mind off her, because he wasn't worth her. It had been a superficial issue, at first, because she was so beautiful and he just felt insignificant, but then, the more he'd got to know her, the more he'd grown sure this amazing, clever girl was out of his league, in any possible way.
And yet, she'd chosen him.
Why, on earth, he still didn't know. He was just glad she was so foolish to believe that an old wreck like him could be worth the love of such a precious, incredible girl.
And it was not only her love she had offered him, but a whole new life. With her.
"Have you ever regretted it?" he asked out of nowhere.
Ruby was turning off the lights of the closing diner. Granny had already gone home, leaving her alone to wait for Victor to pick her up. After switching off the lights above the counter, Ruby cast him a perplexed look.
"Regretted what?"
Victor sighed inwardly. It just didn't cross Ruby's mind that he could have some insecurities, like she believed it was normal for the prettiest girl in town to end up with a hopeless failure like him.
The mere mention of it hurt him, but this doubt had taken his sleep away for too many nights.
"Us. And everything concerning us."
It was cruel of him to ask her and he knew. It was cruel, because she was so genuinely, adorably happy to be with him – but why? What had he done, what did he have? What was so special about him to make her so happy to have him?
Ruby's expression changed. He could see the sorrow in her eyes, even if she was trying to conceal it as best as she could. But thing was, she couldn't. She was no liar. She was true and transparent, and that was why he had no doubt on how she felt about him.
But that wasn't the point, now.
"Are you asking me if I've ever regretted falling in love with you?" she asked, her tone so calm and poised it worried him.
"Have you?" he dared.
Ruby frowned. A dark shadow fell on her beautiful face.
"You're insane if you think I'll even consider replying to that."
Victor wished he hadn't spoken, but it was too late. He had this devastating tendency to ruin all the good things in his life.
Well, the only good thing he had ever had before Ruby, at least.
His brother.
"I'm sorry," he stuttered, his gaze falling onto the floor. "It's just that we didn't… well, we didn't exactly plan this out, did we?"
His eyes rose to meet hers. Ruby let out a small, disbelieving laugh.
"No one plans out falling in love, Doc."
"No, not that. I meant…" He gestured at her belly, but his hand fell back on his side almost at once.
Ruby froze. He could almost see the blue of her irises turn grey.
"You want to know if I regret keeping this baby?" There was a strained vibe in her voice, a hint of accusation that cut into him like the sharpest blade. She took a step towards him and confronted him with a heartbreaking disappointment in her eyes. "You want to know if I ever thought of getting rid of our child because… why, again?"
Because it would have been easier, he thought.
Because you deserved better than me.
Because nothing good can come from me.
"Because I… I don't even know what it's like to have a family. I can barely take care of myself, let alone somebody else."
"You've been taking care of me!"
"No. No, Rubes." He shook his head dejectedly. "You're the one who's been taking care of me."
x
If anyone had told him his life would end up in Ruby Lucas' hands – literally – he would have never believed them. Firstly, because, despite his efforts, the girl had never shown the slightest interest in him, and, secondly, because nobody had ever bothered about his life. Not even his own father.
And yet here he was, his life wrapped around Ruby's little finger, because she was the one who'd grabbed him just when he'd decided to throw himself away.
She was the one who didn't let him.
She was the one – even so unexpectedly – who cared.
The one who gave him a good reason to try again. With everything.
Even with her.
"Regina thought she was punishing us by erasing who we were," she told him, so warmly and frankly one would have believed them to be long-time friends. "But I think she underestimated how much crap we wanted to forget."
She was right. Saints and sinners were one, in Storybrooke. Good and Evil could be so hard to tell from one another, sometimes, and they all had their crap to cleanse.
He just happened to have more than others.
"But," Ruby added with a strong, encouraging emphasis. "We can't let it stop us. She gave us a chance to start over, and I want to take it."
He dreamed of her hand reaching out for his own and squeeze it, or touch it in any way, just because he was yearning for any sort of contact with her. Just because she made a difference, for him, even if she would never know.
But, nice as she was being to him, she would never see anything valuable in him. Nobody did, after all.
"I think you should, too."
He hadn't expected that final line. He'd lost his hope for redemption a very long time ago.
He met her eyes. They were big and bright and breathtaking, her lashes so long they would skim her skin if she'd closed her eyes. He wished she did, just so he could imagine what it would have been like to lean in and kiss her. Just once. Just because in reality he would never get to do it.
"Do you really think that or are you just saying, so that I'll go back in there and save that guy's ass?" he asked, although he already knew the answer.
To his surprise, a corner of Ruby's lips curled up as she tilted her head.
"Honestly? I was quite annoyed to be in charge of finding you, especially because I had to smell your robe in order to do that, and I've got to say it smells terrible."
He wasn't embarrassed. He just felt miserable, and humiliated.
"Sorry."
"No, I am sorry."
He gaped at her like she was crazy. What on earth was she sorry for?
"You shouldn't be drinking off your problems, you know?" she told him, and then it happened, just like he'd imagined moments before: her hand lay upon his own, and squeezed gently. It felt beautiful. It felt warm and electric. It felt magical. "You should have somebody to talk to," Ruby went on, her tone so comforting and friendly it sounded like she actually cared. "Somebody to rely on, who could be beside you when you are in need."
"You mean something like a friend?" he said, unable to help a hint of sarcasm.
Her shoulders rose in a little shrug.
"Yes."
If he'd had a drink, this would have been the moment to pick it up and take a sip to hide his discomfort.
"Tried. Failed. Seems like I'm not very popular in town." He didn't want her to pity him, but he didn't want to lie to her, either.
A long silence followed, during which Victor wondered how long it would take for her to realize he was a lost cause.
"What about me?"
For long seconds, Victor was sure he'd only imagined her saying that. It was so close to his deepest dreams that surely it couldn't be real. And yet she was looking at him, almost expectantly, waiting for a reply.
"You?" He uttered a bitter laugh. "You've had to shake me off your back so many times I'm actually surprised you didn't help me drown, instead of stopping me."
Ruby looked a bit embarrassed, but this didn't erase that small, almost shy smile on her face.
"On my own behalf, I must say you chose a really bad persona to try to approach me in first place." She addressed him a bemused glance, as though she was trying to convey to him she didn't blame him for his past behavior. "That wasn't you, now I can see it. Look, we don't have to be friends, if you don't want to," she added after a short pause.
How could she even think he didn't want to be her friend? He would have happily accepted to be her anything.
"But… " Her eyes sought for a contact with him, her hand squeezed harder. "Whenever you feel like drowning yourself in a whiskey – or… literally – please, give me a ring, instead."
x
"I… I don't even know what made you change my mind about me."
Victor refused to look at her. He felt boyish for talking like that, for needing an explanation about why she'd decided to take a chance on him after countless rejections. Had she really seen something different in him, after the curse was broken?
Why couldn't he see it, too, then?
Ruby's hand grabbed Victor's and interlaced her fingers with his.
"The same thing that made me change my mind about me."
He frowned quizzically.
"What?"
"I wasn't a delight myself, was I?" she began. Her free hand raised to brush his hair back, lingering on the side of his head, her thumb skimming his cheekbone ever so lightly.
"You were always perfect," he argued.
She shook her head.
"I was to you. Because, goodness knows why, you liked me, no matter what. Even if I was dressing like a hooker and acted like a bitch. You still liked me."
"I liked you because you looked gorgeous, and that was all I could see. How honorable of old Dr. Whale, uh?"
"We both had our things to sort out," she cut in, ignoring his last comment. "I wasn't really myself until Emma helped understand, and you weren't yourself until I helped you understand. But we're both us, now, be it Red or Ruby, Dr. Frankenstein or Dr. Whale. It doesn't matter what we are called, what story is behind us. What matters is who we become, who we feel we are." She leant forward to place a soft kiss on his cheek, then rested her forehead against his. "And right now, Doc, all I feel I truly am is… in love with you."
Her smile washed his inner turmoil like a soothing tide.
She loved him... How crazy. He'd never stop marveling at the sound of it.
He couldn't stifle a small chuckle. He felt so smug for having her that the rest of the world wasn't really important any longer.
"You are, aren't you? Beauty and the monster."
"Or the monster and the scientist?"
"Matter of points of view," he sighed, closing his eyes. The tip of his nose skimmed Ruby's as her other hand cupped his face.
"Wrong, Doc," she objected. "It's no matter at all."
He felt like something was pressing against the walls of his heart, hurting him, but not in a bad way. He'd learned, by now, to recognize the feeling. The feeling to be bursting from happiness
He embraced her waist, pulling her closer, until her swollen belly was pressed against him tight enough for him to feel the baby move. He laid his hand on the right spot and one second later, as if responding to an unspoken wish, he felt the kick against his palm.
"This is so amazing…"
He heard his voice crack slightly. He swallowed a lump of emotion, pressed his lips together and sniffled. After losing his brother, he hadn't had anything worth living for, he'd carried on with a meaningless existence for so long that now he didn't know how to handle all of this.
"It is," He sensed a smile in Ruby's voice. She made him look at her and pulled him into a long, delicate kiss. "And we did this. Together. We are amazing."
"I really must be, if you chose to be with me, right?" he muttered, his lips barely rising from hers.
Ruby hugged him tight, her fingers tangling in his hair.
"Quite right, Doc," she whispered in his ear. "Quite right."
He heard her sniffle.
"Hey…" He pulled away, scrutinizing her concernedly. "What's wrong?"
But there was no need to be concerned. Though her eyes were indeed watery, all her face bore was joy and serenity. And love.
"Nothing is wrong. Everything is perfectly right."
He removed a strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear.
"Then I guess we'll be getting our happy ending, after all," he said softly.
Ruby abandoned her head against his chest.
"Oh, no. Not really."
"No?"
"We're just starting out, Victor. We've both been through so much crap and so much grief, and never got anything back. This is no ending." She gazed up at him, smiled so bright it made him simile, too.
"This is our happy beginning."
A/N: alright, here I am. Since many of you asked for it, and since my Frankenwolf inspiration seems to be impossible to satisfy, I wrote a sequel to my previous oenshot, Blame It On The Full Moon. I hope you all fellow Frankenwolfers (and not?) enjoyed this, destipte the shameless amount of fluff it contains. I also hope you'll review as nicely as you did last time! :) Once again, sorry for any typo that might have escaped from my check. See you soon... maybe!