Disclaimer: I own nothing. This story was written for fun.

Chapter 1

It was in the middle of the night. A young woman sat in a very uncomfortable chair in a hall of the Storybrooke General Hospital. She seemed to be anxious about something, worried, but at the same time somehow angry.

"I had plans", she thought, "I wanted to see the world, to move out of this horrible town. Nothing ever happens here. And now I'll have to stay. She will not admit that she needs help, but surely she does need it. Good bye world. I will die as an old maid who has never been out of her hometown".

Somewhere deep insider her, her inner voice started to scold her.

"Look at me. I complain about not to leave home. Without her, I even would not have a home. Please don't die. Just don't die. I need you, Granny!"

Ruby, that was the name of the woman, was close to tears. She lived with her grandmother in a little house, which was at the same time the local Bed and Breakfast. Her Granny also owned a diner with the simple name: "Granny's diner", in which Ruby sometimes helped out.

Sooner this evening her Grandma had been about to lock up the diner, with Ruby waiting for her to walk home, as suddenly the old lady had grasp at her chest, her face full of pain. Then she had collapsed. Ruby did not know how she had managed to call the emergency and help Granny without hitting the panic button. But somehow she had stayed calm and focused. But after the emergency had arrived she had not been able to stifle her fear and desperation any longer.

The door next to her suddenly swung open.

"Miss Lucas?"

Ruby sprang to her feet. "What is it, how is she?! Is she alright?!"

The blonde doctor walked towards her.

"She'll be alright. It was a heart attack and right now she's out of danger. We will keep her here for a little time to see how she recovers. She's asleep right now, but you can visit her tomorrow. It's late; you should probably go home and sleep a bit."

Ruby shook her head. "I don't want to go. I'm sure I'll not be able to sleep. No matter if I try or not."

He nodded. "Well then, I have a break right now. If you want I can take you to the cafeteria and you can get some coffee", he offered to her.

One thing she was proud of was the way that men did react in her presence. How they stared. Their searching for words and sometimes even when they wolf-whistled her. But sometimes she couldn't stand this amount of attention, especially not when she was worried. And right now she was worried sick.

Ruby looked at him. Was he flirting with her or just trying to be nice?

She felt certain that she had seen him sometimes before in the diner. He had always appeared to be a kind of a lone wolf, though he had never left without company. "Obviously a ladies' man", she thought. And hanging out with one, while her grandma was sick and asleep was probably not a good idea.

But on the other hand Ruby felt that she would be glad for a hot coffee and a bit of company to comfort her.

"I would like to get some coffee", she answered and the doctor smiled friendly at her.

Two hours, and a few cups of coffee, later Dr Whale and Ruby were still sitting in the cafeteria, talking about music, work, favourite places to see and cars.

Ruby really enjoyed to talk with him, because he, but not as a main reason, made no attempts to really flirt with her. And she was really grateful for this. But he was also very funny and smart, even though he seemed more to be a listener than a speaker. The most of the time he asked her something and made witty comments about her answer afterwards.

She felt like they had already talked for hours as she looked on the wall clock. She was puzzled to see that they really had talked for hours, already.

"Didn't you say that you have a break? How long let they make you one, in here? Shouldn't you be back at work already? Won't you get into trouble?" she asked puzzled.

Dr Whale looked rather as if he got caught, as he replied to her. "To be honest…I lied. It's actually not a break, but the end of my shift. I just thought you could need a bit of conversation to distract yourself a bit."

Ruby wasn't sure what she should think of this. Somehow it was really nice and otherwise it was a bit odd.

"Maybe he needed someone to talk to him, too" she thought.

"Well thanks for spending your free time with me but I should really go home and get some sleep. I want to see Granny as soon as possible tomorrow". With a look at the clock again, she added: "Today, I mean".

He nodded. "I'll drive you". Ruby wanted to reply that she was a big girl and could walk home alone in the dark, as he added: "I insist".

They didn't talk on the drive to Granny's B&B and Ruby felt a bit uneasy. She didn't know exactly why, but something about the silence and the whole situation was simply odd.

"Thanks for driving me home", she said before getting out of the car. Dr Whale looked at her and it seemed as if he wanted to say something, but then he shook his head a little and just smiled at her. "No problem. You're welcome."

She smiled back and got out of the car. On her doorstep she turned around once more to find that the car was still there and Dr Whale had obviously watched her while she had walked from the car to the front door. As far as she could see him, she thought that he looked somehow concerned.

What did he expect? That someone would abduct or rob her on the last few meters?

To reassure him that she was safe and unharmed, she waved at him and smiled. He waved back at her but didn't make any attempts to start the car.

"Okaaay?" she thought and turned herself around again to open the door. After she got inside she locked the door up and waited a few moments behind it.

Then she heard the sound of a car's engine.

Ruby sneaked into the kitchen and looked out of the window to see that Dr Whale had finally driven away.

"Well that was a bit creepy", she thought just before she felt into her bed and asleep.