A/N: I own nothing. Sarah Dessen owns Lock and Key.
Ruby and Nate at the apartment. Not really an alternate ending, but an insight into what the might have said during Ruby's brief narration.
Ruby tried the door handle. It opened with well-ordered ease, no key required. She stepped into the empty apartment. The comforter was in its place; as was the bottle cap. The bottle cap which had been left there for someone to find; to notice.
Nate stood on the balcony, and didn't turn around as she opened the door behind him. "Nate?"
"Yeah." he said flatly.
"Come inside. It's cold." Ruby said, remembering the times Cora had said that to her.
"No." Nate shook his head.
"Nate."
"What do you want, Ruby?"
"I want you to be okay." she whispered, stepping onto the balcony and wrapping her arms around him from behind. She curled her hands upwards so they rested on Nate's shoulders. Nate flinched and pulled away, and Ruby remembered the red marks on his collarbone and neck on Valentine's Day.
"Nate, please." she said. "Turn around."
"I can't."
"Please." she pleaded. He turned around after a moment and she gasped. There was a clear handprint, broad, across Nate's face and chin. Angry, red streaks traveled around his neck and purple bruises stretched across his shoulders as Ruby moved the collar of his shirt around. He allowed her to do so, pressing himself against her, seeking comfort in her movements. "Nate." she whispered, tears flowing from her eyes onto Nate's shirt.
"I can't do this anymore." he admitted.
They curled up on the couch, with Nate's head propped gently on a pillow in Ruby's lap. "Why couldn't you tell me, Nate?"
"I didn't want to lose you."
"You wouldn't have lost me." Ruby shook her head.
"I would have had to go back with my mom."
"Cora can let you stay with us."
"I didn't want to let you down. You already lost your mom."
"I didn't lose her. She lost me. Though her drinking, and dating, and me sleeping on the couch and praying not to get slapped around. She lost me, years ago." Ruby said, not bitterly, but stating a fact.
"I love you, Ruby." Nate said suddenly.
"I love you, too, Nate." she smiled, cradling his head and lacing her fingers through his.
"I'll never lose you." he promised.
"Thank you." she smiled.