Pulling Regina into her arms Ruby giggled as she held the woman against her, the warm night air making her flush slightly. Their flirting had gone up a level after the Mayor decided to visit the diner before closing knowing she would be the only person there, hoping to tease the leggy brunette, while Henry was off on an overnight summer school excursion.
Regina had told Ruby that she had a great arse and delightful legs, especially when she wore her red mini shorts and Ruby being Ruby, she decided to flip the coin and straddle the mayor. Ruby teased Regina mercilessly, running her nails over smooth skin, digging in slightly and calming the red marks with her tongue before getting up and acting as if nothing happened, leaving the woman sitting there, flushed from her actions. Once it hit closing and the cleaning was done Ruby offered to walk Regina home.
She held Regina's hand the entire way, gently making circles with her thumb against the shorter woman's skin, feeling as if she belonged for the first time in what felt like forever. All Ruby wanted to do was kiss the woman next to her but she restrained herself, for now. They made it to the front door on Mifflin and Regina raised an eyebrow seductively and asked her to come in for a glass of iced tea and things went from there, how could she possibly have said no.
They were in the kitchen with all the windows open, letting out the heat of the day. Regina was wrapped in Ruby's arms and they were both laughing, Ruby making corny jokes about being the mayor and having to order in useless stock from outside for some of the businesses in town. Regina giggled at the accuracy of them and felt herself being drawn into the woman in front of her who was slowly walking toward her, hips swaying hypnotically.
Regina's back bumped up against the wall and Ruby smiled at her mischievously. Hands going to Ruby's hips, Regina pulled the taller woman to her taking charge for the brief moment. Soft, warm lips touched hers and she felt a spark igniting inside of her, pulling back she looked into bright green eyes, automatically knowing what the spark meant from years upon years of reading everything magic and it scared the ever-loving shit out of her.
"What's wrong Regina?" Ruby asked as her eyebrows furrowed as she looked into wide, scared, brown eyes.
"Nothing is wrong it's just that I don't want to hurt you and I fear that I will be by starting this with you. I'll hurt you somehow and that's the last thing I want," Regina honestly said, hoping that Ruby would understand without her having to go into detail and reveal their past lives in the Enchanted Forest.
"I don't think you'll hurt me, you're a wonderful person Regina and just now as I kissed you I felt something stirring deep down inside of me and all I want to do is kiss you again and hold you in my arms," Ruby replied, softly cupping Regina's face with her hand, hoping to sooth the shorter woman.
"I felt it too, I'm not a good person Ruby and I don't want to bring you down with me," Regina tried, feeling that telling Ruby how she views herself would help. Also fearing that once they kissed Ruby may somehow remember who she really is. The wolf everyone feared and the best friend of Snow White, the person who ruined her life.
"Regina, you're wonderful, you're a good person, you're a good mum, you're a good mayor, don't put yourself down. I think you're absolutely amazing and you've got this air of authority about you which is captivating," Ruby said, reassuring the shorter woman in front of her, brushing a loose piece of hair to behind Regina's ear.
"You're too good for me," Regina replied quietly before raising an eyebrow when she noticed the smirk on Ruby's face.
"I'm just right for you," Ruby responded, leaning into Regina and softly placing a row of small kisses on Regina's neck.
Moaning softly, Regina closed her eyes and tightened her grip around Ruby. Feeling the kisses trailing up the side of her neck she parted her lips in anticipation of what was to come and she didn't have to wait long, forgetting all of her insecurities. Soft lips found hers, gently kissing her until she deepened it, fireworks exploded behind her eyelids, sparks ignited deep from within her and she couldn't resist them. She felt fulfilled and like nothing else mattered, she felt wrapped in a kind of fuzzy warmth like no other and she instinctively knew Ruby felt the same way.
Having all her memories from the Enchanted Forest return to her in one hit, mixing with the ones she had made over the last twenty six years in Storybrooke, she broke the kiss and looked at Regina, her head spinning, feeling a mix of lust, betrayal, and contentment. The anger quickly grew inside of her once her memories settled down and took over, she shoved Regina into the wall and started to pace in front of the shorter woman, flexing out her hands.
"How could you?! I remember, I remember everything your Majesty. How dare you? Do you even feel any remorse for your actions?" Ruby started to yell, feeling her senses returning to somewhat how they used to be.
"I did it because I wanted to," Regina spat out, gingerly moving away from the wall, her back objecting as pain shot down her from her shoulders along her spine, Ruby definitely had more strength that she did twenty minutes ago.
Feeling her anger boil over at that statement and the tone in which it was said, Ruby bitch slapped Regina hard and glared at her, "I did that because I wanted to, too."
"Ruby, please, calm down," Regina began, holding her cheek, taking a deep breath in and trying to be as calm as possible even though she now had a stinging face to add to her list of sore spots.
"I'm not going to calm down, I want answers!" Ruby screamed, making Regina recoil.
"Okay, I feel plenty of remorse for my actions but at the end of the day I don't regret the curse. I've had twenty six years to replay the same scenario over and over again and if it wasn't for the curse I would never have found you or adopted Henry and for that I don't regret it," Regina answered, keeping her voice as calm as possible.
"You don't regret finding me? You were more than capable of finding me in the Enchanted Forest, you were literally hunting my best friend, it wouldn't have been hard," Ruby spat out, squaring Regina up. "You have absolutely none of your magic here, if you did you would have used it by now and I have my strength and hearing, I could crush you if I wanted to."
"You are right, I have nothing, crushing me would be the kind thing to do. I hurt you all and I deserve to be tortured," Regina honestly said, coming to the realisation suddenly, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked into Ruby's green eyes.
Watching the anguish and defeat cross Regina's face, Ruby felt her heart break for the woman in front of her. She took a step forward and enveloped the shorter woman into a warm embrace, all her negative feelings forgotten. "Regina, don't say that, no matter what no one deserves to be tortured. You have Henry and now you have me too, even if I am angry with you currently."
"Why would you be here for me, it doesn't make sense?" Regina queried, not understanding how she could be yelled at and threatened one second and being hugged the next.
"Because of what just happened, you told me whilst without my memories of my true self than you didn't want to do anything to hurt me and it's the last thing you wanted to do. To me that shows me that you care, and I was the one to kiss you after you said that because I wanted to, I still want to. I know what true love's kiss can do and it's the only explanation for why I got my memories back. You're my true love and you can try to deny it all you want but I doubt it will work," Ruby smiled, hugging Regina tighter, feeling the woman relax into her.
"I still don't want to hurt you in any way and I fear I have. And I'm not going to deny it, true love is the only reason why you have your memories back, I'm just shocked. Storybrooke is without magic so I'm surprised it even worked at all. There must have been just enough magic left in the air or in us for it to work in a very small area," Regina tried to reason, not liking that she didn't have the answers she wanted.
Releasing Regina, Ruby sat at the kitchen table and motioned for Regina to join her. "Is there anyone else here in Storybrooke that kept all of their memories from the Enchanted Forest?"
"Me, Jefferson, and at times I think Sidney may remember but I'm not sure," Regina truthfully responded, feeling guilt wash over her because of her actions.
"Okay, okay, now that I have my memories back, what am I supposed to do? I'm still angry at you but I'd like to know."
"Just continue how you usually would, go to work, interact with Granny, and be your wonderful self," Regina answered, her heart suddenly racing, experiencing way too many feelings for one night.
"I may change a few things with how I dress and actually cover up, can't have everything on display now that I've found my one true love, can I?" Ruby responded, smiling at Regina, hoping to calm the woman in front of her down.
"I rather liked what you wore," Regina admitted, blushing up to her ears.
"I know you did, I saw you checking me out every day, and you only did admit to me not even an hour ago that I have delightful legs and a great arse," Ruby winked, trying to see how red Regina could go.
"I'm sorry for what I did to you," Regina blurted out, guilt still washing over her. "I was selfish and didn't think of others, I was so stupid."
"Regina, you have plenty of time to think about your actions, but I'm grateful for your apology, thank you. I'm also sorry I slapped you, that must have hurt," Ruby responded, reaching out and holding the dark eyed woman's hand.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Regina finally asked, expecting her head to have been torn off by now.
"Because you're my true love and I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. I had feelings for you before the curse was cast but couldn't do or say anything about them. While under the curse I wanted nothing more than to push you against a wall and kiss you, I fell for you hard. Now that I have all of my memories back all I want to do is yell at you, kiss you, and hold you in my arms and tell you it's going to be okay," Ruby said, running her thumb over the back of Regina's hand.
"I would really like it if it was going to be okay, once the curse breaks I fear that the entire town will turn on me and they'll literally try to burn me at the steak, this town is literally frozen in time so to speak," Regina replied, letting out some of her insecurities, feeling that she could trust Ruby.
"Regina, I would never let them do that to you," Ruby reassured her, squeezing her hand.
"I don't know what I did to deserve you Ruby... or is it Red?" Regina asked, not sure.
"It's Ruby, Red was always a nickname, I'm lucky that the curse let me keep my name," Ruby replied, releasing Regina's hand and standing up.
Standing up as well, Regina wondered what the taller woman was doing. She watched as Ruby stretched and yawned at the same time. "Maybe we should get some sleep, you're tired," Regina said, worried Ruby wasn't getting the right amount of rest.
"That sounds good, I should probably go," Ruby replied, looking into brown eyes as she jittered on the spot.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to, I have a king sized bed that I'm happy to share," Regina offered without thinking, anxious for a reply.
"Already trying to get me into your bed, you're lucky you're cute," Ruby winked, pulling Regina to her and holding her tight, not wanting to let go.
"I'll take that as a yes then," Reina replied, pulling back slightly so she could cup the back of Ruby's neck with her hand and bring her in for a soft kiss.
Kissing Regina back, Ruby felt the spark ignite again tying her soul to the shorter woman's, not wanting their intimate embrace to end.