Shifting Senses

Note: Pre-SQ. Written on low-grade flu medication. Unbeta-ed.

Ruby doesn't quite understand the mechanics of it, but she knows that her senses were more acute than most everyone else's, and sometimes she swore they melded together. When she was younger she told her grandmother about how she could smell fear and anger and sometimes, she thinks she could smell happiness. Granny merely waved away her ideas and told her to forget them. As she grew older, she began to learn to trust the instincts that kept her safe, and laid. A would-be conquest starts to smell differently as the flirting deepens. The scent that suffuses the room when a woman starts to get aroused – something she would describe as musky, sweet, warm, and dangerous all at the same time – well, once you've known it, you cannot mistake it for something else.

She tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible while making her way back to the diner via the service entrance. Next to the back door are two familiar figures who were barely succeeding in keeping their argument civil. No doubt the argument is about their son. They acted like divorced lesbian moms and everyone thought it would take some form of magic or witchcraft for to get those two to stop hating each other.

As Ruby walked with her head ducked, she sensed something she has learned to associate with the Sheriff and the Mayor – jagged, harsh danger, and so much heat. As the Mayor turned on her heel to leave, Emma grabbed her forearm and hissed her argument.

From both women, jagged, lethal, heat was joined by musk, and spicy sweet and the anticipation of velvety softness, albeit obscured by anger.

"Oh." Ruby found herself the target of two glares. "Sorry, I need to...", she murmured as she went in. She should have stayed away, but she couldn't and thank the gods for her acute hearing.

"You are a child, Sheriff Swan."

"Well, so are you!"

"What?"

"You know what I mean."

"I think YOU barely know what you mean."

Ruby can't remember when she ever heard the mayor's voice sound that high.

"I think, you, need to relax a little, lady. Camping in the woods with other kids for a weekend won't kill him, Regina."

"You don't know what's in those woods, Emma."

"Stop smothering him!"

"This is not smothering, this is mothering!"

By now Ruby has moved to the window, obscured (she hoped) by ancient lace curtains. She smirked as she saw that Emma's hand remained on the Mayor's arm the whole time.

"Well, he kinda managed to get us both to say yes, so we kinda have to let him go." Emma smirked at how Henry got her to agree as a way for her to rile Regina by encroaching on her jurisdiction; she could only imagine that he got the Mayor to agree by mentioning how Emma might have indicated that Regina was opposed to all sorts of fun.

"Yes, but we could volunteer to chaperone."

"Yeah,imagine how popular he would be to be followed by his mothers during a camp out with the boys."

"I don't want him popular, I want him safe."

A brief silence was broken by Emma's voice, softer this time, "And happy."

"Why can't he be happy indoors? Away from predators and insect bites, and oh, God, what if one of those other boys have head lice? And if he comes home with their limited vocabulary, you are going to pay, Swan."

"Wow. From bears to cooties. And on to linguistics."

If Emma's teasing tone wasn't enough to show the switch in the mood, the smell of sweet musk overtaking metallic anger would tell Ruby that the two women have started to move away from having an argument and moved towards having a conversation.

"Mockery, Sheriff?"

"No, 'course not. I mean knowingly carrying head lice is like, a public safety issue. As Mayor and Sheriff, we could require them to get screened. Results could take a while, a whole weekend even..."

"Stop." Regina sighed, "Tell James that Henry better have all ten toes and ten fingers when he comes back."

"I don't think I have to. He's not so clueless as to not realize that you would turn him into a eunuch if anything happens to Henry. And after that I would turn him into a comatose eunuch." Having released the other woman's arm earlier, Emma shifted closer to Regina, as the older woman looked down at her feet.

"So, you'll be alone in your big, big house this weekend. You could throw a sorority party, complete with body shots."

"Nonsense. I'd rather spend my time productively."

"Doing what?"

"Catch up on reading, chores, budget allocations, the like."

"Please don't tell me you are spending a child-free weekend on those." Emma said with a challenge in her voice. "How about we meet here for drinks? Instead of you sitting in your study worrying, you could be here getting drunk while worrying."

"Thank you for the invitation but I'd rather stay at home." Regina said quietly, without the expected sarcasm. Right then she sounded and smelled like dark chocolate and whisky. And sadness – old, heavy and too familiar, Ruby felt. Most people were too scared of the Mayor to look beyond the facade and few would engage her in friendly conversation without Henry's presence as an excuse.

Emma was vanilla and tangy confusion and the ever-present sweet musk as she struggled not to offer comfort in a way that she felt would make the other woman uncomfortable. She stuck her hands inside her pockets instead and said, "Well, I hope you get some relaxation in along with your, uh, productive stuff."

Interesting, Ruby thought. The scent of arousal and attraction that permeated the air around them told her so much more than the two would dare acknowledge to themselves or to anyone else. She scampered out of the kitchen when they started for the door and found Henry alone in a booth, sipping hot chocolate. Henry was cinnamon and candies and baby powder and the faint smell of old books.

"Hey, Rubes." Emma smiled as she placed her order, black coffee for Regina and the usual hot chocolate with a twist for herself.

"Hey, Ems." Ruby replied, consciously putting in a bit more of dark honey into her voice. That plus leaning in a bit closer than necessary told her that her newly developed plan was working: the slight tinge of metal and heat coming off Regina confirmed it. "Got any plans tonight?"

Ruby has always walked around with a feeling of loss that was not explained by being orphaned. This loss felt like a future that could never be and it was a loss that she think no one deserves to bear. If she had to bait a barracuda to get the two women to see what is growing between them, then that is what she would have to do. She delivered their drinks, adding a milkshake for Henry (which Regina refused, unsuccessfully as she was then faced by two sets of puppy eyes). She made sure to give Emma a wolfish grin while Regina watched. Before she left she stage whispered to Henry, "nice to see them getting along, right?". The toothy smile she received was ice cream with warm caramel topping.

Storybrooke is due for a shake-up, Ruby smiled to herself as she went back into the kitchen. What a strange coincidence if both Mayor and Sheriff kept getting food deliveries from each other without either of them ordering anything. They would think it carelessness on her part and it would be more fodder to the idea of her as a flake, but the possible rewards definitely outweigh the risks. Theirs is a pack that needs to be protected, after it has been properly formed, that is. She's on a mission now and it tastes, smells, feels, and sounds good.