So, for this I requested a prompt from inkcrane (check out her Tumblr fandom blog: thecranefeels. Or her main blog: cranesflying) because I am hopeless at thinking up ideas and I really felt like writing some Red Swan (because they're just too cute). So, a thanks out to her. Oh, and if you have time, check out my tumblr too. Link is on my profile.

Characters: Emma/Ruby (Red Swan), Mary-Margaret, Henry.

Pairing: Red Swan.

Rating: PG

Prompt: Storybrooke, established relationship. Ruby has been pulling extra shifts at the diner and won't tell Emma why. Emma investigates.

Word Count: 3,000+

Disclaimer: I own nothing... Yada yada... All right are reserved solely for the creators of OUaT... Though I do own a plush lemur called Ruby who is just waiting for her Emma to come and sweep her off into an adventure...

A/N: Possible spoilers for up to or around episode 1x15. Of course, this is just a warning. There might not be any at all.

Anyway, enjoy!

There had once been a time where Emma would never have noticed the small differences occurring around Storybrooke, like the fact that Archie's dog Pongo seemed to have taken a liking to Ashley and Sean's young girl, that Mr Gold had given his shop a new coat of paint, or even that Regina's apple tree seemed to be slowly and steadily diminishing. Whether this was from her newness to the town or just utter obliviousness, she didn't know. What she did know, however, was that that had been then, and she was living in the now.

Now, as sheriff and a key member of the community, she noticed things she previously wouldn't have. Like the fact that Henry's grades seemed to be improving since her arrival in town, that Leroy's affections for Astrid seemed to be growing, and that the time Ruby spent working at the diner had suddenly increased dramatically. Emma would never have minded – she respected Ruby's decision to earn her own money as an independent being far too much – but the fact was that she seemed to be spending every waking moment of every day working at the diner or avoiding Emma. Even Granny, who Emma had come to think of as a motherly figure and a friend, hadn't any idea why Ruby had suddenly become obsessed with work.

The way Emma saw it was that it just wasn't Ruby; she wasn't the type of person who stayed back at work, and for an unknown reason at that, when she could be out at the local bar with the girls laughing and having a good time, or lying in bed cuddled next to Emma as they talked or kissed or what have you.

"You're not trying to make that mug explode, are you?"

Emma jolted up, the half-filled coffee mug slipping from between her clenched fingers and spilling into her lap. Briefly, she remembered how the same thing had happened a few months ago and that Ruby had been the one to come running to her with a cloth, unlike now where another diner waitress was the one to hand her a handful of paper towels.

With a frustrated sigh, she set the now empty coffee mug firmly back onto the table and began to mop up the mess now covering her jeans, finally registering the presence in front of her when she heard a small, 'oops' being muttered. "Hey, Henry." From the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of red, before focusing her eyes on her son and collapsing back into her seat. "Don't you have school?"

His head tilted in that typical Henry way. "No, it's nearly four o'clock. We finished almost an hour ago."

"Hn." Emma frowned. Just how long had she been sitting there?

"So, what are you doing here? Were you thinking up some ideas for Operation Cobra? Or trying to figure out something new? Is that why you looked so focused? I saw someone the other day, I think she might be Sleeping Beauty. Have you seen her?" Then he stopped and looked at her, curious. "You seem a little distracted."

Emma smiled softly, fondly. "No, Henry. Just tired… with work." She finished dabbing at her now coffee stained jeans and sat back a little, forcing herself to relax. "Had a lot to do lately." It wasn't a total lie.

"Oh. The Mayor hasn't been giving you too much work has she?"

"Henry," Emma admonished, "We may not worship her, but she's still your mother. And no, she hasn't."

Henry shook his head strongly. "No, she's evil. Remember?" The rest of his words were drowned out as she glanced up and watched as Ruby set a plate down in front of August, smiling and laughing at whatever the writer was saying. Emma frowned; still confused. What had changed?

"I haven't seen you with Ruby much recently. Did something happen?"

"Oh," Emma murmured, "You noticed, huh?"

"It's not that hard to, really. Plus you two are usually always together." His eyes turned eager. "Do you want me to talk to her? I can, I mean-"

Emma cut him off with a firm shake of her head. "Listen, kid. I need to get back to the office and you need to get home before your mother calls me in for kidnaping. No talking to or questioning Ruby at all, got it?" She stood, glancing at her lap once more in annoyance then set a ten dollar note on the table. "I mean it Henry." She gave him one last stern look, the hint of a smile playing on her lips at his crestfallen expression, then turned and headed for the door. "I'll see you later, alright? Be good."

And god, she really needed to get out of those jeans.

"Emma, have you seen David at all? Kathryn really needs to…why are your jeans on the desk?"

"Hm?"

"Your jeans. You are wearing pants, aren't you?"

"What?" Finally the words clicked in her brain and her head shot up, taking in the image of Mary-Margaret, one hand pointing unsurely at the stained jeans while her head was tilted away in confusion. "Of course! Who do you think I am?"

"And so these are here because…?"

"I want them to be?" Mary-Margaret raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Fine, I spilt coffee on them at the diner and had to change." At that, the short haired woman cracked a smile and laughed.

"Again? Really?" Her smile grew even more and she walked closer to Emma and slid herself onto the edge of the desk, adjusting her cream woollen sweater at the same time. "Do you like having coffee on you or do you just like having Ruby run up to you in killer heels and those extra tight shorts." It was just a joke, but Emma still felt a slight twinge and shifted uncomfortably in her seat under Mary-Margaret's watchful eyes.

She cleared her throat. "Actually, I need to ask you something. About Ruby, that is." She paused for a second, eyes flickering up to watch the other woman's expression change before she continued. "Do you know what's been going on with her?" Her nails began to pick at the wood grain in the desk. "She's been avoiding me and taking a lot more shifts at the diner. Whenever I try and confront her she always says she's too busy to talk or 'sometime later'. But then I get home and she's either not there or asleep."

Emma avoided Mary-Margaret's sympathetic eyes, knowing that would be what she saw if she looked up. She had never felt so vulnerable or weak since arriving in Storybrooke and there was no way she wanted any pity, especially since it was regarding her first serious relationship since Henry. Hell her first relationship with another woman full stop.

"To be honest, I never really noticed that she had been avoiding you in the first place. I mean, I've seen her coming back to the apartment really late sometimes and I have noticed her in the diner a lot more… but…" Emma's eyes lowered at Mary-Margaret's response, somehow unsurprised.

"So you have no clue at all? None?"

For a second, Mary-Margaret didn't respond, but then her lips formed a sad smile and she shook her head.

Emma sighed.

It wasn't until evening two days later that Emma finally decided to investigate. If Ruby wasn't going to answer any of her questions directly and continue avoiding her, then she would have to take the initiative to find out what was happening herself, and damn if she'd let herself stoop to moping and self-pity, She was better than that, stronger than that, and she wasn't the type of person to let things pass by without putting up a fight. Now Emma just wondered why it had taken her this long to begin with.

In the past, she'd had no reason to go through any of Ruby's belongings, nor did she necessarily believe that she had any right to - despite their relationship, but now she realised that if she wanted answers, this was where she'd find them. Just like the time she'd broken into Regina's office in search of evidence against her, ignoring the illegal part of that method, not to mention the falsehood of everything she found there and the trouble she got into because of it.

So that was why she was currently standing in hers and Ruby's shared room and, with no hesitation marring her features or determination, she began the process of a thorough investigation. Her first target was the dresser drawers. She knew Ruby had a habit of hiding valuable items within the layers of folded clothes and so she began her search through the top draw, finding only an expensive looking wolf pendant and a photo of herself and Ruby, taken just three weeks prior on one of the rare sunny Stoybrooke days. Without realising, she had formed a wistful smile, letting her mind sink back into the moment where she had kissed Ruby's cheek, thinking nobody had been watching, and Henry had captured them on camera with a victorious 'Yes!', before sprinting away to have it developed. She wondered when Henry had given it to Ruby, and then why it was hidden away in a draw. Her soft smile faded and she hurriedly placed everything back as neatly as she could, continuing further into her search.

She had about the same amount of luck in the next draw, and the ones that followed after that. She did, however, find the red singlet she used to sleep in that had mysteriously gone missing one week after Ruby had moved in with her and Mary-Margaret, but there were no inclinations that led towards the reason for Ruby's strange behaviour.

Her search was thorough; through the drawers and bedside table and Ruby's clothes bag, to even Emma's own desk and closet, she searched and uncovered nothing. Nothing but the fact that Ruby loved the colour red, absolutely adored wolves and that beneath her sassy and sexy appearance, she was actually a very sentimental and sweet person, all of which Emma already knew anyway.

She sighed in disappointment, leaning her head against the door frame and starting to feel the faint beginnings of guilt and regret creep up on her for going through her girlfriends, someone who she was supposed to trust, belongings. Perhaps it would have been better to just confront her directly, take no excuses and just demand the answer from her, just like her usual approach. And yet Emma felt that was too harsh, especially seeing as this was Ruby, her partner, her love.

And just as she was beginning to think that maybe she'd give it one more day – allow one more chance for Ruby to tell her directly what the problem was – she noticed a clean trail standing out among the dust littered floorboards and leading beneath the bed. Curious, she lifted her head and walked steadily towards it, dropping to her knees and reaching under the bed, searching for something, anything that might have made the trail.

So when her fingers came into contact with a cardboard box, she grinned and pulled it out to reveal a dusty square shoebox. For a second she faltered, wondering if had been hidden for a reason, but then shook her head and re-enforced her determination, swiftly pulling off the lid.

Emma didn't know whether to be relieved or confused when she saw the papers lying at the bottom of the box, so instead she pulled them out and began to read the one lying on top.

Cosy two bedroom Boston apartment for rent.

Boston? It didn't take Emma long to figure out what she was reading.

A two bedroom, one bathroom spacious apartment just a ten minute walk from the harbour, including a balcony…

She stopped reading, lifting the page to reveal a brochure lying behind it, listing several different locations just a few hours away from Maine, along with several other sheets of paper describing various available apartments, houses and hotels. Ruby… she thought. What are you doing?

She flicked through the rest of the papers quickly, finding it all to be much the same, then sat back on her heels and stared blankly at the top page once more. She really didn't know what was going through her mind then, or even what to think. All she knew was that she really needed to talk to Ruby.

In one fluid motion she separated the first page and the brochure from the others while she slipped the rest back into the box and returned it to its place under the bed, before she stood and strode straight for the door. The two papers clutched tightly between her fingers.

At least now she knew why Ruby was acting strange.

Emma's eyes immediately located Ruby's presence in the diner, standing behind the counter and leaning against it with a pen resting between her lips as she stared with furrowed brows down at a pad in front of her. Unsurprised that Ruby hadn't looked up at her entrance, Emma walked quietly to the counter and slapped the papers in her hand onto the counter and then slid them forward so they were in front of the brunette, who froze at the sight of them.

"Some clarification would be nice."

Ruby stayed frozen to the spot for a few more moments and then looked up, meeting Emma's eyes for the first time in what felt like months. Slowly, she pushed away from the bench and picked up the sheets, moving around the counter to meet Emma face to face. Silence passed between them for a few seconds as the brunette stared at the papers clutched in her hands.

"How did you find them?"

"Ruby, I thought I'd done something wrong. You start taking extra shifts and then suddenly you start avoiding me for two weeks now? What am I supposed to think?" Her voice was soft but strong, determined.

Her eyes shot to Emma's. "I wasn't avoiding you." Emma crossed her arms and leaned her hip against the counter, raising an eyebrow. "I… can we talk outside?" She glanced at the people who had been trying to watch their conversation without being noticed. Emma sighed, then agreed and followed Ruby out the doors and into the chilly weather.

She rounded on the waitress. "We're outside. Talk."

Ruby folded the papers in half nervously. "Do you remember a few weeks ago when we were walking around the town and Henry took a photo of us? It was sunny and you'd just finished a case so we decided to go out for a little while." She did remember, after all, she'd seen the photo not an hour before. She nodded for Ruby to continue, not missing the barely there contented smile that had appeared on the brunettes lips, but it quickly disappeared. "I thought it might be nice to leave… To go and - we could, I mean-"

Emma's hard eyes softened and she stepped forward, taking one of Ruby's hands into her own and meeting her gaze with reassurance. "Hey, calm down." Then she smiled readily. "If you were asking me to move in with you then it's a little late, don't you think? We sort of already live together."

Ruby gave a quiet laugh then licked her lips anxiously. "I thought that maybe we could move away and find a place together in Boston or somewhere close, then we could go out on dates to real places and restaurants and do all these other things together that we can't do here. So then I thought that if I did some research and increased my shifts we could have enough money to buy a place in a few months…" She laughed then and her voiced cracked. "God, I sound like an idiot."

Emma smiled fondly and pulled on Ruby's hands to envelop her in a warm hug. "Yes, but you're my idiot." She remembered Henry's theory about leaving Storybrooke; that nobody could leave without the intent on coming back, but she shook it from her mind.

"Just like you're my lemur, right?"

Lemur? Emma thought in confusion, but then she brushed it off as one of Ruby's quirks. "Right, but that doesn't explain why you never told me about this, or why you were coming home so late some nights. The diner closes at twelve."

"Oh," They separated but Ruby didn't let go of Emma's hand. "I might have asked around town for some work to do so I could earn some more money. Sometimes I helped David at the animal shelter, or Marco collect some wood for his sculptures a few times …" She shrugged, and Emma could sense her playful side beginning to surface. "I wasn't really sure whether to ask you again or not. You seem to like finding trouble. And the last time I worked for you was crazy."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Yes, I think I remember you telling me once or twice… Or was it 12 times?" That earned a shoulder bump from Ruby, but Emma brushed it off and brought herself closer to the brunette. "What you were saying before, about moving…" She hesitated. "It's not really the best idea." She continued quickly before Ruby could let her disappointment show. "You know that you need to be close to Granny because of her heart condition, and I need to be close to Henry. He's my son and I've missed out on ten years of his life." She gave Ruby's hand a small squeeze. "But we could always go on a holiday."

"Hm… that would be nice. Though, you'd need to find a substitute sheriff."

Emma grinned. "Oh, that's easy. Henry can do that."

Ruby laughed and Emma smiled to herself. She let herself be pulled closer before she felt warm lips touch hers in a tender kiss, which she gladly returned.

Their lips parted but their bodies stayed close. Emma closed her eyes, her forehead resting against Ruby's. "This doesn't put you off the hook for not telling me what you were doing for two weeks and then letting me think that I'd done something wrong."

And although she couldn't see her, Emma knew Ruby was grinning wolfishly.

"Mm... I think I can live with that."

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