A short fanfiction about Regina and Ruby….slight Red Queen mentioned…. Its Regina's birthday.

Disclaimer: Obviously I do not own Once Upon A Time. If I did Red Queen would really exist on the show.

Birthday Girl

"Regina," the former Evil Queen stopped on the sidewalk and turned around in the direction her name was called. Ruby, her long legs clad in short shorts and a blood red form hugging t-shirt strode up and reached her in a few quick strides. Regina took all this in in the less than ten seconds it took Ruby to walk over to her.

"Can I help you with something little Red?" Ruby/Red was caught slightly off guard at the use of her Fairytale Land name and showed it with a slight furrowing of her brows.

"Um…you haven't come in today for your morning coffee, actually you haven't been in this whole week." Ruby stated, a bit unsure of how to continue, she slid her hands into the pockets of her shorts and looked at Regina expectantly when all Regina wanted to do was go home and spend her birthday alone with a bottle or two of wine. Henry wasn't around to celebrate with her, he hasn't even been by to wish her a happy birthday or even send her a card. This irked the former mayor to no end, and her response showed it.

Regina folded her arms across her chest and lifted her chin up. "You know, for a dog, you seem to forget your place a lot." Regina had the pleasure of seeing Ruby's hand clench up inside her pockets. It's surprising that there is even any space left in those shorts considering how well her thi-…. Regina cut the thought off before it could run down the dangerous path it was sure to take, not that it would even have the chance to as she realized she was staring at the miles of leg before her and promptly lifted her eyes to find Ruby staring at her with an odd expression.

Regina lifted her head even higher (if that was even possible), daring the shape-shifter to make a comment. A strong gust of wind blew down the street, causing Ruby to turn her head away slightly to the side to avoid getting any dust in her eyes, and Regina to blink rapidly while using a hand to shield her eyes. After the wind had settled down again once more, Regina used her fingers to flick her own hair back out of her face.

Intoxicating, that was the only word Ruby's mind could form as she got her lungs full of Regina's scent. Apples and cinnamon… She thought to herself and closed her eyes to revile in the delicious scent that was distinctly the former mayor and resident badass.

"Excuse me?" Those words coupled together with the voice of the delicious scent she was soaking up had Ruby opening her eyes slowly.

The expression on Ruby's face….Regina wasn't sure but it seemed like the wolf was having a bit of fun sniffing at the air. Ruby gave her a lopsided grin. "You smell like apples and cinnamon, apple pie to be exact." And somehow the grin on the wolf's face grew even bigger. All Regina could do was arch a perfect eyebrow in response. "Anyways, why don't you come on into Granny's right now and have a cup?"

"A cup?" Ruby tried her hardest to not crack up at the question. "Yes a cup, a cup of coffee?" She accentuated this with a dip and tilt her head causing some of her hair to fall over to her side in which she leaned. Regina pretended to take a moment to ponder the question when what she was really doing was watching the way Ruby's hair fell over, watching it seemed like the hair was moving in slow motion instead of the speed it was really moving.

Snapping out of her reverie, Regina shrugged her shoulders. "Thank you for your offer Miss Lucas but I must decline. Good day." She had to get out of there before she ended up doing or saying something totally stupid. Wait a sec, when have I even been concerned with doing some like that?

She had turned around to leave when a small but strong tug on her black coat made her pause. "Please Regina… I insist. It's on the house." Regina turned her head around to face the taller woman with another raising of her brow.

"Really, Red, what would be the point in buying coffee when I could simply make it at home?" Regina asked with a smirk that Ruby instantly knew was a fake.

Ruby narrowed her eyes with a sly smile before answering. "Well, Regina, it seems you can't make up your mind of what to call me." When all Regina did was continue to look at her, she elaborated. "Just call me Ruby." She said with an eye roll.

"Well then, Ruby, again, thank you but no thank you." Regina said with a fake smile. Seriously this woman is not as good as faking facial expressions as she used to be, Ruby thought to herself with a shake of her head.

"Please Regina?" Was Ruby actually begging her to have coffee? The hell? "It's like two feet away and we've been standing out here for like, ten minutes." Ruby jerked her head to point at the diner. "Come on. We've-well I've missed having you come in for your coffee and snide little comments." Okay, now Ruby was full out pouting.

Regina turned around to face Ruby. "You….missed…me?" Regina said the words slowly making obvious her disbelieve.

"Yes, I've missed you. Enough with the questions and the rejections, just come in and have a quick coffee." Regina barely noticed that the wolf had grabbed her by her hand and was practically dragging her back to the diner. She missed me? She looked up and noticed the windows of the diner had been covered up heavily. Oh god, what if, what if Snow and Charming are in there with a whole mob ready to kill me? What if Henry is- "SURPRISE!" Regina physically jerked back and almost tripped, would've if Ruby hadn't caught her in time as her ears were assaulted by a screams and shouts and noise makers going off. Her eyes were wide as she took in the scene before her: a banner had been hung up with 'Happy B-Day Regina' scrawled across it in big letters and fancy decorations, streamers where everywhere, the tables were covered with white cloth, the bar set up with different foods, and people standing amongst all this.

Emma, Snow, Charming, Granny, Belle, and several others all filled the space that was the diner. And…they were actually smiling….at her. Ruby let go of Regina once she was steady on her feet and walked around to stand in front of her. "Happy birthday Regina," Ruby said with a lopsided smile and ran her hands up and down Regina's arms in a soothing motion before going to stand with everyone else.

Regina stood rooted in place, which just happened to be the entrance to the diner. Soon Emma made her way over to the birthday girl with a small smile. She had seen the fear that had flashed in Regina's eyes and could understand why she had that fear. "Hey, are you alright?"

It took a few moments for the former mayor's lips to work in a different fashion from the gaping fish it was just performing. "Ah, yes." Shaking her head as if to clear out some cobwebs, Regina's eyes finally focused on the blonde before her. "What exactly is the meaning of all this?" Her voice was void of any rudeness and was full confusion and wonder.

Emma decided to play along. "Oh, this?" The sheriff of Storybrooke looked around and waited to time her next response, not that Regina would notice.

A large chocolate cake with strawberries was brought out from the back and looked like no one pushing the cart when Henry's faced popped up from behind the cake. The second Regina met Henry's eyes, the stoic Regina's eyes began to mist as Henry left the cart to run up to her and envelope her in a tight hug.

"This….is your birthday party." Emma stepped over to the side. "Happy birthday Regina," she said with a nervous smile and a dip of her head. Regina looked up from hugging her son to mouth the words 'thank you' to Emma before burying her head back down to her son's.

The after party cleanup had just been mostly finished and Ruby was taking a well-deserved break sitting at the bar and rested her head on her hands. She sat like that for a while, but it didn't go unnoticed. Granny strode over slowly to the bar to stand in front of Ruby.

"Well you certainly seem happy," she observed with pursed lips. This seemed to snap Ruby out of her daze. Looking up, she simply shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, it turned out really well don't you think?" The older woman had to agree with her. When Ruby and Henry came up to her with the prospects and planning of this event she had neither agreed nor disagreed. She left it completely up to them.

"It would have been such a shame if you weren't able to convince her to come in." She smiled down at her granddaughter who returned the smile back to her. "Well, I knew that if it was my birthday that I wouldn't want to be all alone on it. I'd want someone to celebrate with me and party." She said playfully before her tone grew a bit serious. "She looked so happy. Seeing Henry roll out the cake and helping her cut it…." Ruby stopped, lost in replaying over the events from an hour before.

Granny patted her hand lovingly. "Okay, the party is over. Time to get back to work and finish up so we can close up," Granny stated before turning and going into the kitchen. Ruby let out a single huff as she stood up and rounded the bar. She leaned against the bar and started clicking her nails against the countertop as she wondered what the best way to end the former mayor's birthday would be. With a final smile she turned and got back to work.

The End

So what did you think? Pleas R&R. Im open to suggestions. I also thought about making a slight part 2 (it'll be another single story, not chapter) of Ruby actually….well…..let's just say she pays Regina a visit….. ;) Let me know what you think.

Reimiel Angel