A/N: Unbeta'd by anyone but me (a beta), so please forgive me for any mistakes.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Once Upon a Time, as it belongs to ABC Studios. I do not own Somebody to Love, as it belongs to Queen.
Somebody to Love
Description: A werewolf, a snow queen, a renegade princess, and a quite common fairy work struggle to make two women find their happily-ever-afters.
"…I work hard… every day of my life… I work till I ache in my bones…"
Ruby pushed the rag around the counter without much enthusiasm and cranked up the volume on her iPod, ignoring the other customers around her. Even the pretty blonde woman at the end of the counter who was only looking for a smile from the werewolf. While it's true that not many people get enthused from cleaning up after Dopey after he shoots juice out of nose, her sense of ennui had more to do with the fact that she was feeling restless lately. It struck her particularly hard earlier that she was alone and, in fact, the seventh wheel at the table.
"…at the end / at the end of the day / I take home my hard-earned pay all on my own…"
She did her regular waitressing job with her normal sass and jive like she did any other day, serving the people of Storybrooke. Every day this week it was serve Leroy his coffee and breakfast, a hot cocoa for the blonde townie at the counter next to him, and then bring the Charming's their food. But this time she came up on Snow, David, Robin, and Regina at the same time and at the same booth none-the-less. A joke flashed through her mind, a sense of pride, really. She realized that she bedded both the Princess and the Queen before their True Loves could even get a chance. It made her proud.
And then Emma and Killian came in and she added another notch to her metaphorical belt. She got there before the pirate could. And once the sense of pride faded, she realized it got her nowhere. Those three women had their True Loves hanging onto them like they were the only ones in the world and she was left taking their orders. She swallowed that feeling down deep inside where her wolf tore into it angrily. Her wolf hated the fact that she was mate-less even more than she did.
"…I get down… on my knees… and I start to pray… till the tears run down from my eyes…"
None of them noticed the false edges of her smile and how it didn't quite reach her eyes anymore. None of them except Snow. In her mind, of course it was Snow that noticed. Ironic to her name, it was Snow that burned her the worst of the three women. Snow was the only one that truly loved her. It just wasn't True Love. David eclipsed her and it left the two women with a memory of crying in the woods as the renegade Princess made her choice between her best friend and her Prince Charming.
Spoiler alert, but she chose her Prince as she always will. After all, they will always find each other. Every time Ruby hears that line she tastes a bit a bile in her throat. It wasn't that it was so sickeningly sweet to hear, but because she had promised something similar to Snow long before Charming did and the Princess simply doesn't remember that in favor of her fairy-tale.
She's not bitter. She moved past it for the most part years ago, before they even left the Enchanted Forest. It just hit her all at once this time. It left her aggressively trying to scrub out a spot on the counter that years of elbow grease and even the best of Granny's homemade cleaners couldn't handle. She was so absorbed transferring her anxieties and hostilities to the stain that she didn't even notice the once-object of her affections sitting down on the counter stool.
"…Red?" Snow asked softly, her voice laced with concern. She spared a quick and worried glance with the blonde woman on the stool next to her but the waitress didn't
notice.
"What?!" Ruby snapped though she immediately regretted it. Her hand snagged on her headphone cord and pulled out one of the ears. She had half-a-mind to put it right back in but Snow's imploring gaze kept her from doing so.
"What's going on?" Snow asked. Her sympathetic nature, even after getting her head bitten off like that, made Ruby feel even worse. In many ways, Hers and Snow's relationship stayed the same after she chose David over her. She still acted like the girl Ruby was in love with and still treated her with the same tenderness and care. That's what made losing to David bearable until this moment where the glaring pain was coming from the fact that she'd be going home to her bed alone while Snow had a husband and family.
"…I try and I try and I try… but ev'rybody wants to put me down…"
"Bad memories. I don't want to talk about it," Ruby said hurriedly and moved to next place on the counter. Snow agilely hopped over to that stool to keep her from getting away. The winter blonde that was next to her stared down at her lunch so it wouldn't appear like she was intruding but like always, Ruby didn't even notice her.
"Red… it's me. Your best friend…" Snow reminded her, keeping her voice down so she wouldn't just spook the werewolf into leaving. Ruby sighed, knowing that she couldn't justify being cruel or plain rude to her.
"I don't want to talk about it… here…" she conceded, gesturing around the diner.
"Then, come on!" Snow insisted, tugging on Ruby's wrist to get her going.
"…can anybody find me… somebody to love?"
"Snow!?" Ruby gasped since she was nearly tugged over the counter, but she acquiesced none-the-less. The werewolf pulled out her other headphone and left them and her iPod on the counter as she maneuvered around the counter and into the kitchen. Granny harrumphed and immediately shoed the two women away.
"Don't you two have better things to do that gossip back here?" Granny chided them.
"I promise, we won't be in your way," Snow told her. The old woman rolled her eyes and pushed past the pair of them.
"I've heard that before and it didn't believe it then!" she replied.
"We'll go out back, Granny," Ruby appeased her, tugging Snow out the back door to the alley.
"Don't forget I'm paying you to work and not shoot the breeze with the Royals!" Granny called out after her granddaughter.
"I'll be quick!" she replied as the door closed.
It took a minute or so for the blonde at the counter to finally react. The device that Ruby put down was foreign to her, but almost everything in this world was. There was some kind of sound coming from the earpieces that almost sounded like music. Her pale hand reached forward and dragged the device back to her and slipped the buds in just like she saw Ruby do countless times during the week.
"…Find me somebody to love… find me somebody to love… somebody, somebody…"
"Elsa, right?" came an accented female voice to her right. The ice wielder startled and automatically pulled the headphones out of her ears. The former Queen of Arendelle looked mildly scandalized that she could be caught handling someone else's property.
"Yes?" Elsa inquired warily. The honey-haired blonde next to smirked like she knew a secret, just like her sister would after overhearing something in the kitchens.
"I know that look on your face. Disappointment, loneliness, longing…" she told her. The coat on her lap suggested that she was a nun but it was tattered and patched too much to be one of the immaculate coats they used.
"I don't know who you are, let alone why I would engage in this conversation," she said cautiously.
"My name… is Tinker Bell… and despite what you may have heard, I'm actually really good at the whole true love thing," she explained with a twinkle in her eye.
"I have heard nothing about you either way," Elsa admitted.
"I've definitely heard of you. Fairies all over have been buzzing about you and your sacrifice," Tinker Bell gushed.
"My… sacrifice?" Elsa asked.
"Your kingdom. You gave it up to your sister all for your people's happiness!" she whispered excitedly.
"They had been ravaged by magic one too many times and I wasn't going turn a blind eye to their fear of a magical queen for the sake of a throne," Elsa said firmly.
"I know! But what you don't know is that you are the first Sorceress to give up her throne for the sake of her people! The first in the entire history of the Land of Magic!" she continued.
"Every monarch should prioritize her people's happiness over her own. So, I did. They are happy…" Elsa admitted.
"And conversely, you're miserable. You are miserable, right?" she asked. Elsa glowered and looked back at her hands. Small icy crocuses spiraled out around her skin before vanishing when her fists clenched.
"Your powers of observation are impressive, Ms. Bell," Elsa stated in a clipped tone.
"No! That's okay! That's why I'm here. The fairies decided that you deserve a shot a happiness and that's why I'm here," she explained quickly. Elsa gave her a droll look and arched one of those perfect eyebrows at her.
"You're my happiness?" she asked, with all insinuations hanging in the air. If she were to pick a type, she'd prefer the brunette, willowy waitresses that turn into wolves every full moon, but that type isn't paying attention to her, it seemed.
"What? Oh, no. I like pirates and reformed evil queens, sorry. No, I'm here to help you find your happiness, if you'd like," she offered.
"And how would that work? I'm keenly aware that magic has a price," Elsa commented.
"This is fairy magic. Its harmless, trust me," she insisted with a kind of off-hand flair.
"Alright… I'll trust you," Elsa agreed, though still rightfully cautious. Arendelle didn't have any dealings with fairy-kind. It was almost taboo in a way. Misthaven had fairies all over while her families met with rock trolls.
"Meet me in the park in front of Town Hall in an hour. I just got to go get something from the convent, first," she said quickly. Before Elsa could even acknowledge, Tinker Bell had rushed out the door. In case the former queen had any doubts about her being a fairy, and a rather eccentric one, Tinker Bell sprouted a pair of green fairy wings, shrunk down to a tiny size, and took off flying.
Elsa decided that she would head over to the Town Hall now instead of waiting to be ignored by the woman she had abnormally strong feelings for. She absent-mindedly grabbed her light coat and Ruby's iPod off the counter before heading out. She really didn't mean to take the music player, but the song sounded very good and it provided a small balm to her soul as stepped out into the autumn wind again.
"…I just gotta get out… of this prison cell… one day I'm gonna be free, Lord!"
Behind Granny's diner, Snow fidgeted for a few moments, playing with a button on her blouse while she waited for Ruby to turn around and face her. When she did the flat look in her best friend's eyes made her heart hurt once again.
"What's the matter, Red?" she asked worriedly.
"Just some bad thoughts that hit me all at once," Ruby said dismissively, staring at an invisible bit of dirt on her boots.
"Talk to me?" she said, crouching down a little so she could look up and make eye contact with the other brunette.
"What's there to say? I realized something about myself I didn't like. I have to deal with that now. I'm kinda used to finding bad things about myself," Ruby self-deprecated.
"It happened during breakfast, right? You were all smiles and jokes like usual and then your eyes hardened and the smiles weren't real. Did we do something to offend you?" she asked.
"No. I mean, well, Hook offends just about everyone…" Ruby joked half-heartedly.
"Red…" she lamented, causing Ruby to sigh. Snow never got distracted and never let this stuff go without a fight. And fighting with Snow was one of Ruby's least favorite things to do. The werewolf always felt like she ate a nun in church or something and no one wanted fairy wings caught in their teeth.
"I realized something. See… during the curse, Regina used me as her plaything every now and again," Ruby admitted to her. Snow gasped in horror.
"She didn't?!" the princess exclaimed in a shocked whisper.
"Consensual! Consensual plaything. Don't look at me like that. She's hot and she needed a bad girl fix once and awhile. It was a fun way to blow off steam some nights," Ruby started to explain.
"Like… whips and chains and stuff?" she asked. The moment the words left her lips, Snow clasped her over her mouth and her cheeks flushed a deep and embarrassed shade. Ruby couldn't help but chuckle at her best friend's distress.
"No. Nothing that kinky. Just… wild. There were some silk scarves she'd tie me up with occasionally. I think she just needed someone that would make her feel something," Ruby said. She was cut off by Snow wrapping her arms tightly around her and cutting her off.
"Oh, Red… it must have been hard seeing her with Robin," she said sympathetically, drawing a short, harsh laugh out of the waitress.
"I see them all the time. It doesn't bother me at all. You didn't let me finish. And… you might not feel like hugging me after I continue…" Ruby trailed off uneasily.
"I'll always be your best friend. Always," Snow insisted.
"Before the end of the Curse… I, as in just Ruby Lucas and not Red, got pretty close with Emma when we worked together in the Sheriff's office and after. I don't know if she told you, but…" Ruby trailed off again.
"You slept with my daughter?" Snow asked incredulously and not without a dash of righteous fury. Ruby held up her hands between them in surrender.
"Cursed! I was Cursed, Snow, and I had no idea! No idea whatsoever!" Ruby said quickly. A lot of expressions were moving across Snow's cherubic face as she tried to process the new information.
"Okay… that's going to take a while to get used to… but it's been a few years since that happened. What happened this morning?" she asked.
Ruby sighed and let her hands fall to her sides. Part of her was very glad that Snow didn't pick up on it right away but she knew it meant she'd have to explain. She could tell her a partial truth and just admit to being tired of being lonely, she could even admit that her wolf has been restless and desperate as of late, but that wouldn't be fair and she didn't want Snow to try to set her up on dates.
"Who was at that table?" Ruby asked, trying to coax the realization out of her.
"Me, Charming, Emma, Hook, Regina, and Robin," Snow listed off. Her eyes said she half-understood. She picked up that Ruby had slept with every woman there, but she didn't, and wouldn't, see Ruby's pathetic pride in tatters.
"I had a moment… a shameful moment… when I realized that I had been with all three women at your table before your True Loves had. I beat David, Hook, and Robin to all three of you Royals. I was so proud of myself and then I realized I was the seventh wheel, the odd woman out. I may have been with all of you before the guys did, but the guys had you. True-freaking-Love. So, congrats, mutt… you may have been there first but you're all alone and they get their happily ever after…" Ruby ranted, angry at herself for so many reasons.
Snow wrapped her arms around Ruby and held her there out in the cold afternoon air. Ruby inhaled deeply and felt her wolf get excited, tail beating against the metaphorical ground. It made her lovely green eyes turn golden. That scent that she'd been picking up on all week was all over Snow's neck. The scent that had made her wolf restless and desperate and had made her so lonely. It was right there.
"Red, I will always love you, you know that, right?" Snow asked.
"Snow, stop…" Ruby begged. Her wolf growled possessively and made her heart clench.
"I mean it! And I mean it like that! You were my first love!" Snow continued.
"Snow, please, don't…" she continued begging. Another growl and a bark deep inside her soul.
"I know Peter was yours, but you were mine, and I'll never forget that," Snow said.
"Snow!" Ruby cried out in desperation. She forcibly pulled out the hug and took a step back. Snow gasped when she saw the golden eyes. Ruby shook her head almost violently until she could force the wolf back under control and her green eyes returned.
"But! What?! Red?" Snow exclaimed in confusion.
"You can't just say those things to me… especially smelling like that! Something changed with your scent and my wolf craves it! I know you're not my mate and you're not mine. You're Charming's. I get that and I don't want that to change, but please… something about you has changed with my wolf and I can't listen to you talk like that…" Ruby declared. It started out angry and hurt but ended up just pleading with her to understand.
"How I… smell?" Snow asked in confusion.
"Yes! You smell like a mate!" she exclaimed.
Snow looks aghast at the sudden and heartfelt declaration, equally confused at the werewolf until something dawned on her. She unwound the pale blue scarf from her neck and held it out. Ruby looked at it cautiously and refrained from getting any closer.
"Go on, sniff," Snow told her. Ruby, bristling a little bit for being treated like a dog, slowly reached out and took the accessory from her. The moment it was in her hand she took a deep breath and her mind was flooded with all kinds of wolf endorphins. Her eyes turned bright gold once again and she could feel her wolf's tail thumping deep inside her, happy as can be.
"What the hell, Snow?" Ruby asked, breathless like she was stoned out of her mind.
"That's not my scarf, Red. I mean, it is mine, but I just got it this morning… from my house guest…" Snow explained, clearly giddy over the development.
"Your house… guest? But… who? You live with David, that's it!" Ruby stated, even more confused.
"That scarf was hand knitted by the former Queen of Arendelle, Elsa. See the snowflakes in yarn?" Snow pointed out. Ruby did see them and feel the small bits of plastic under her fingers, but it didn't explain anything to her.
"But why have I been smelling it for almost a week?! Every time you're around, I smell it! I can't be picking it up solely off your clothing!" Ruby pointed out.
"She's sitting at the end of the counter right now, Red. She arrives with me and David and usually leaves soon after or before us," Snow replied.
"At the counter…? But… wait… what? That blonde townie?" she asked, completely bewildered.
"Yeah, her. The poor girl's been trying to flirt with you almost every day but she's never flirted with anyone before," Snow explained sympathetically. She really tried to teach her but all of her stories about flirting were her and David and those didn't help.
Flashes went through Ruby's head of the hand graze with the money. The nervous smiles. The near muteness. The blushing. All the signs of flirting that happened this week with that one customer with the white-gold hair and the brilliant wintery eyes. She always sat at the end of the counter where Ruby would spend the most time. All of this made Ruby's heart thump loudly in her chest. Her wolf noticed. Her wolf hadn't been restless or unruly, she had been trying to make Ruby wake up and see what was right in front of her.
For Snow's part, she felt like her heart was going to burst with joy as she watched her friend process all of this. But even that was short-lived as fear creeped into those happy gold eyes. The glow flickered until it died and left behind worried green eyes.
"She'll think I'm a monster… there's no way she could know what I am unless the townies are gossiping and then she'll definitely think I'm a monster, Snow! I won't be able to control the wolf if I talk to her. She'll see the gold eyes and freak!" Ruby exclaimed, starting a full-blown panic. Snow grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to force her to make eye-contact. They locked eyes and it broke Snow's heart all over again to see those tears.
"She knows, Red! She knows because David and I have told her so much about you. She couldn't stop gushing and talking about you and once she found out that you're my best friend across all the worlds, she wouldn't stop asking questions. She knows about the wolf and she isn't afraid," Snow explained empathetically.
"What? Why?! I may be accepting of my wolf, but I know what I am. A monster," Ruby stated gruffly, crossing her arms in front of her in a classic defensive gesture.
"You are not! I don't care how many times I have to tell you! You two really are perfect for each other since Emma and I spent her entire previous trip here trying to convince her that she isn't a monster!" Snow exclaimed in a huff.
"Why… why would she think that?" Ruby asked curiously, dumbfounded how the nervous and shy girl that could barely ask for a refill on her hot chocolate think she's a monster.
"She has very powerful ice magic and her life hasn't been too kind. Any more you'll have to get out of her yourself. Except her chocolate addiction. That I should be warning you about," she explained with a wry smirk.
"So, she knows all my darkest secrets like Peter and I'm going in blind?" Ruby scoffed.
"What kind of friend do you take me for? Of course not! I left those personal stories for you to tell her. She just knows happier things… fluffier things…" Snow said, concluding with an impish grin. Dread filled Ruby's face.
"You didn't…" she gasped.
"I did. Sorry. I told her just how you like to be scratched and rubbed in wolf form," Snow said unapologetically.
"Snow…" she whined.
"And how some of them apply over to your human form as well," Snow added.
"Snow!" she gasped indignantly.
"Sniff that scarf again and go in and talk to that girl! She's been distraught that she can't get your attention. And to think, it was because you were misplacing the scent," Snow teased her.
"I don't know… I'm suddenly worried… My wolf has its hopes up so high about finding a mate…" she said softly.
"Just your wolf…?" Snow asked leadingly. Ruby sighed sadly and shook her head.
"My hopes are even higher and that scares me even more. I've had so many failures, Snow …" she admitted.
"You just need to believe in True Love for yourself, Red. It can work, trust me. Every royal needs their Charming…" Snow said playfully, making the werewolf roll her eyes at the idea of being Elsa's Charming.
Ruby took a deep breath in and the scent warmed her entire body. The moment Snow saw those golden eyes again, she gave a little giddy squeal and hurried in ahead of her. The werewolf took a few steadying breathes and headed back inside. Like always, Granny seemed to know what was going on with her wild granddaughter and just gave her a small, reassuring smile.
But there was no one waiting for her at the counter. Snow was standing in the diner looking lost and crestfallen. It seemed poetically fitting for the werewolf that she missed her chance. So, she simply handed the scarf back to Snow without another word and went back to cleaning the counter. When she reached for her iPod, she found it missing and just grunted at the development.
"I'm going to find her, Red. I promise," Snow insisted, but only got another grunt in response. The fairy-tale princess hurried out the front door and into the midday autumn air. Ruby spared just a moment to watch her stride down the street with her phone pressed to her ear and the fallen leaves kicking around her feet.
"… Find… me… somebody to love… Find… me… somebody to love…"
Elsa took the earbuds out and tucked them away in her jacket collar. She had spent the hour listening to the same song on repeat, mostly because she didn't know how to change it, but also because the song had a tattoo rhythm that matched her heart rate. She had no idea what the fairy meant by happiness but she knew what she wanted it to be.
She remembered the look on Anna's face before her wedding. The jitters as she put on her wedding dress. The uncontrollable bounciness that made her chest pop out of her dress with one too many jumps. That gleam in her eyes as she said her vows to Kristoff. So, as Tinker Bell walked across the park towards her on her bench, she could only pray that the fairy could offer her that.
"Elsa!" Tinker Bell called out, quickening her steps across the carefully manicured lawn. The fairy sat down rather unceremoniously next to the former queen and held out a beautiful red flower. Elsa took it in her hands, immediately feeling the magical power inside it.
"What is this?" Elsa asked curiously, gently examining all the parts of the flower like the botany texts she had read told her.
"That is a pixie flower. Grown under the stars and filled with magical power. Crush it… and it will lead you right to your True Love. Guaranteed," she explained.
"What if my True Love is in another realm? Will it create a portal to take me there?" Elsa asked cynically.
"Well… no… but it will show you! Like a looking glass!" she replied.
"I don't know if I want this…" Elsa said, very uneasily.
"Don't make that mistake. If you turn away, you're not only ruining your chance at True Love, but the other person's too. You can be happy, Elsa… you just have to let yourself…" she implored of her.
"So, I crush this flower… and…" Elsa trailed off. Tinker Bell bounced excitedly, taking over the explanation.
"And a pink mist will rise up from your fist, encircle you and then shoot off like a shot towards your True Love!" she said happily.
"And then what?" Elsa asked, her tone blunt and closed off.
"And this is why Blue sent me out of all the fairies…" Tinker Bell muttered under her breath.
"Am I supposed to just hope that everything works out with the person on the other end of this flower?" Elsa asked.
"Yes! You're getting a free, fairy-approved shot at True Love! Go for it! Be happy!" she exclaimed.
It took Elsa a long couple of seconds to consider it. The chance was amazing and magical, but she wasn't sure she could handle what would happen if it fell flat. What if she took her shot and missed her chance at True Love? She could only blame herself, and that was something she excelled at. Still… it was too good of a chance to pass up.
"Here goes everything…" Elsa whispered.
Elsa slowly curled her elegant fingers around the magic flower. It almost seemed a shame to destroy such a thing of beauty. Tiny wisps of frost wrapped around the individual petals and creating beautiful Arendelle rosemåling. After a deep, but still shaky breath, the former queen crushed all of it in her hand and created an icy, magical wind to blow through the area.
"See! Follow the pink dust on the wind!" Tinker Bell exclaimed. The two women hurried after the magic trail towards Main Street. No one seemed to notice them or what they were chasing after. It was like only fairies and the caster could see the magic. Elsa reached up and ran her fingers through the icy flower dust. A sudden image took over her image, showing her green eyes turning gold.
"What was that?" Elsa asked in shock.
"You saw something? Some…one?" Tinker Bell asked hopefully.
"I saw eyes that were both green and gold," Elsa replied.
"That's how you'll know beyond a shadow of a doubt! That's the defining marker that will separate your soul mate from all the rest!" Tinker Bell exclaimed.
"How did I see that? Fairy magic?" Elsa asked.
"No, your magic, Elsa. You mixed your magic with the flower when you crushed it," she explained.
"And it's leading me to… Granny's… Diner…" Elsa trailed off as they took the last few steps to the store front. A pink aura surrounded Ruby as she went about her chores. Elsa's body was positively humming at the possibility. Ruby was her soul mate? It couldn't be possible, right? Not after all that she went through this week?
"Go on… go talk to her!" Tinker Bell insisted. Elsa swallowed her pride and her anxieties just to push on the door.
The bell above the door rang, drawing Ruby out of her quest to obliterate another impossible to erase spot on the counter. In stepped the platinum blonde in question and Ruby's breath caught in her chest. She didn't dare breathe because she would pick up her scent and then the wolf would just salivate in response.
Elsa's boots clicked across the linoleum tile floor until she was standing opposite Ruby with only a single counter stool in between them. The waitress took a deep breath and her eyes flashed again, making Elsa's small, hesitant smile grow leaps and bounds.
"Eyes both green and gold…" Elsa recited under her breath.
"What was that?" Ruby asked softly. The former queen blushed and ducked her head.
Elsa reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out Ruby's missing iPod and handed it to her. The music was still playing since Elsa hadn't managed how to turn it off, but it resonated with the brunette that it was still on single loop and the song hadn't changed.
"This is yours," Elsa said. Their fingers brushed as Ruby took it from her and both of them shivered lightly at the contact.
"Would you care to… um… sit back down? Wow, that sounded more gallant in my head," Ruby said sheepishly.
"I would like that. But on one condition," she said. The two women sat down in the nearest booth anyway, not really heeding any conditions or requirements.
"What's your condition?" Ruby asked.
"I would like to know where this tremendous good fortune came from, since I couldn't even catch your eye all week," Elsa asked teasingly, leaning across the table. Her white-gold braid fell off her shoulder and skirted across the plastic laminate tabletop. Ruby blushed furiously and her eyes flashed golden as the scent hit her nose.
"Uh…" Ruby stammered. Elsa couldn't believe what she was seeing. She'd been tripping over herself all week to no avail and something this dramatic made Ruby look at her like she hung the full moon.
"Especially if it makes you react like that," Elsa said playfully.
"Um… so… I've been picking up on this scent… for the past week… It makes my wolf go a little crazy… and because of past history, I thought it was coming from Snow… After all, why wouldn't a person's scarf smell like the person wearing it? But… well… it… um…" she trailed off, stammering like crazy and unable to meet Elsa's amused gaze.
"But what? What about my scent?" Elsa asked, her voice light and happy but breathless from anticipation at the same time. Ruby's eyes turned back to gold yet again and held her gaze this time. Elsa shivered at the raw emotion in that look. Her whole body felt warm and she suddenly felt like she was prey but she wasn't scared.
Ruby quickly looked away and got up from the booth. For Elsa, it was everything Snow said it would be and more. She couldn't've been happier about talking to that fairy in the park. She could be brave and not run away no matter how intense meeting her soul mate was. She watched the flustered waitress gather up some dishes left on the counter, leaving both of them to recover from that intense moment. It took a few minutes and Elsa was thankful. She was fairly sure she understood what that gaze meant. It was possessive and dominant. She felt submissive under that gaze but it felt very, very loving at the same time. She was decently educated on wolves thanks to the royal library back in Arendelle and there was one word she could associate with that heated stare. Mate.
An argument with her sister, the now Queen Anna, about marrying someone she just met flashed through her head. And what was mating if not the animal kingdom's version of marriage? But this wasn't the same situation at all. She had verified the beautiful werewolf's character with the woman's best friends and Elsa trusted Snow and David's opinion. A fairy using the incredibly powerful pixie dust led her back to this diner and marked the waitress as her soul mate. Ruby, or Red, wasn't Hans by any stretch of the imagination. This confident and strong woman had reduced the proud former-queen to a giggling shy teenage girl.
Ruby finally found the courage to sit back down across from her, albeit with a cup of hot chocolate for the blonde as a cover for her anxiety. Elsa gratefully took the mug in her hands and sipped the delicious liquid. She let out a small groan of pleasure which affected Ruby far more than she expected.
"I'm not afraid of your wolf," Elsa told her, letting the hot mug settle between her hands and let the warmth spread throughout her fingers. Ruby gave her a sidelong glance like she was nuts. It made her worried that she said the wrong thing. Ruby sighed and leaned on the counter in front of her.
"Are you afraid of wild wolves, your majesty?" Ruby asked patiently. She had a suspicion on where this was going but she needed to lead Elsa to it. Either Elsa simply wasn't afraid of wolves or she really was her mate.
"Well, I guess. The wolves around Arendelle can be particularly ferocious," Elsa replied uneasily.
"Are you unafraid of my wolf because you have magical powers of your own?" Ruby followed up.
"On some level, I guess not. I can defend myself. But I wouldn't say that's why I'm not afraid of your wolf," Elsa replied.
"Then why not?" she asked. Pixie dust. That was the answer on the tip of Elsa's tongue that she didn't want to admit to. She didn't want to admit right away that a fairy led her to her.
"When your eyes turn gold, that's the wolf shining through, right?" Elsa asked. Ruby nodded nervously. The ice-wielder leaned in close to her and watched as the golden glow came back with a single breath through her nose. The intensity in her eyes returned and Elsa refused to look away.
"Despite how we talk about it… there's no difference between me and my wolf. We are one…" Ruby stated. It was the closest she dared get to admitting how attracted she was to the winter blonde. Though, she was fairly sure that Elsa could see right through her.
"Ruby?" Elsa asked softly, getting the waitress' attention.
"Yes?" she asked even quieter.
"Am I your mate?" Elsa whispered.
"Yes, if you'll have me…" she breathed out.
"I once told my sister that you cannot marry someone you just met. I was right. That man tried to murder me, my sister, and steal my kingdom," Elsa admitted as the drifted closer together.
"I would die to protect you and your kingdom if you had one," Ruby whispered, lost in the headiness of that charged moment.
"Then it's good that pixie dust told me that you were my True Love," Elsa whispered back.
Their lips pressed together by instinct and they both seemed to lose themselves in the chaste kiss. Both women pulled away in a hurry once they realized where they were, their faces flushed bright red from embarrassment and excitement. They exchanged shy smiles and Ruby subtly reached across the counter and placed her hand on top of Elsa's.
"I'd like to take you out on a date," Ruby said softly.
"I would like that a lot," Elsa replied, reaching out and brushing a lock of Ruby's hair behind her ear, pausing just long enough to lightly scratch there and make Ruby's eyes flutter shut. One of her weakest spots that Snow must have told her about.
Outside the diner, Tinker Bell pumped her fist in the air and fluttered her green wings, making her twirl in a happy circle. She finally got one right. As the two women spoke in hushed, hallowed tones with small kisses spread throughout, a quite common fairy put her headphones in, pressed play, and skipped down the road in the evening air.
"…Can… anybody… find me… somebody to… love~…"