A/N Hey there everyone. I've been wanting to pull together a Red Beauty, but haven't been able to come up with an idea. After tonight's episode though, one arose. SPOILERS: although it's only a small one, this takes off at the ending of the Outsider.

Yes, I'm still working on Under the Veil.

Story Note: We're going to pretend that the one intruder didn't come flying through Storybrooke, taking out Hook (poor guy...not really). In the case of this story, Rumpel ends up throwing a fireball at Hook and therefore killing him. Sorry to all the pirate fans, but it gets him out of the way.

"Everything is going to be okay, Belle," Rumpelstiltskin murmurs to her as he lays her gently into the passenger seat. A dark pool of blood has taken over the front of her torso as she clutches onto her chest, confused and in pain.

"Who is Belle?" she manages to say between jagged breaths.

Gold looks over at the burnt body of Hook's lying in the dirt and hopes to dear God, if there is such a thing, that he stays dead. What he has done was unforgiveable, irreversible, and by far the worst thing that has ever happened to him, even when it comes to losing Balefire. Slamming the door, he whips the car around and presses the pedal all the way down, heading to the hospital as fast as he can. He's lost Belle for good now, whether it is through her dying or having no memory of him whatsoever.

"W-what's going on?" she whimpers, tears now cascading dreadfully down her beautiful pale face. She can barely hold on the world through the agonizing ache.

"There's no time for questions, my love," he whispers to her trying his best to keep composure, but failing with his last words.

His picks the brunette up, bridal style, holding her close and attempts to walks without his cane, an effort that is causes even more discomfort to the situation. Couldn't he just use magic to heal her? It could be that simple if his mind was in a better state, but that has slipped his mind as he stumbles into the emergency room.

"I need medical attention!" he calls out when several heads turn.

Multiple nurses along with Doctor Whale come running from all ends to meet him. One nurse takes her from him and secures her in a bed.

"What happened?"

"S-she's been shot?"

"Shot? By who?" Doctor Whale asks as his face pales in fear.

"Does it matter?" Rumpel yells, "Just help her!"

His arms flies from his sides and he barely catches himself with help from the counter as unfamiliar tears stinging his eyes, his breath in quick pants.

First you take away my wife and now her?

The door to the room opened and in came a pair of wary feet. He looked up to meet the eyes of the young brunette girl, eyes filled with worry looking over at the sleeping girl.

"Ruby…"

"I came as soon as I heard. What happened?"

That's when he told her all that had happened. Doctor Whale was able to get everything under control. Gold had taken ahold of himself the best he could when he heard the good news. The bullet hit only her shoulder, which was taken out with precision. She had lost a lot of blood, but in time she would be okay with rest and care. Of course though, there was always bad news. On impact of the bullet, Belle was pushed across the town line, therefore wiping every memory of who she was.

The only thing she could remember was being locked up in a cell for twenty-eight years. Unlike Sneezy, who had crossed the line first and was made to believe he was a pharmacist, she didn't have a clue at all about this world; being locked up for all of her life had provided her with no knowledge of a life outside of cement walls. Rumpel's heart leaped when she recalled who he was, but only by the name "Gold". This was because when she was let out of her solitary confinement, she was told to find the man. Gold stayed with her the entire time she was in the hospital, never leaving her side. At least she remembered him partially, which gave him a hint of hope.

"Wait," Ruby put up a hand, "You're telling me she has basically no identity even in Storybrooke?"He nodded morbidly, "but where who was she before the curse broke?"

"Locked away for the world to forget by that evil woman."

Ruby didn't have to ask who he was referring to. The only woman that deserved that title was the queen herself. It astonished her though to find out where Belle had been all of the time during the curse and why she had never seen her before until that moment in the diner. It broke her heart to know that she could remember none of that.

"Why are you here?"

The question took the wolf-girl by surprise and she stared at him in astonishment.

"I'm her closest friend, Gold."

"Was, dearie"

She sighed and looked over to her friend sleeping peacefully with her left shoulder bandaged up.

"Gold, why don't you go home and rest? I'll stay with her."

"I am not leaving her especially with—"

"I'm the last person you have to worry about. Just go home—" she watched him rise with his cane with a heated look, "Please? I know I'm not a friend to you, but I am to Belle and you know she wouldn't want you moping around over her."

"If anything happens to her, dearie, I can assure you—"

"—she'll be fine, I promise."

Ruby took Rumpel's old seat beside the bed when he finally left. She bit her lip as she took hold of Belle's hand, holding back the sea of tears that begged to spill. It was one thing to hear that Belle was shot; this by itself was enough to have Red racing out of the diner to the hospital.

As long as she is okay, Ruby thought as she ran at full force, God please let her be okay. She hadn't even had the chance to share her true feelings with Belle. Feelings that sprouted the first day she saw that beautiful woman slurping down three glasses of iced tea.

"I haven't seen you here before."

"Well, I, uh…I've been a kept woman until recently."

Those words were all she needed for her to spring into action and not to mention the woman's amazingly unique accent. She had never seen such a beautiful smile; so innocent and so much unlike herself. She could see the hurt in her eyes, as well as she hid it, and felt that needed to protect her. Not only that, but introduce her to the fine things this world had to offer; however, she didn't get a chance to show her the one thing that ate away at Ruby's heart.

She had been unaware of the other half of the story, Belle's memory loss, until she was face to face with Gold. She stroked the pale hand with her thumb repeatedly, thinking of something to say, but everything sounded pathetically stupid.

"I'm sorry I never got the chance to tell you," she whispered, her head bowed as the flood gates finally opened. She felt the hand underneath hers twitch and she looked up, face filled with tears, into Belle's beautiful blue eyes. "Belle…" she breathed and felt her heart shatter as the hand pulled away.

"Everyone keeps calling me that," her face contorted with confusion. Ruby was glad to see that her accent was still intact.

"You don't remember me do you?"

She shook her head, not taking her eyes off her. The only chance they had was starting over and Ruby reached out her hand.

"My name is Ruby or Red, whichever you prefer." Belle blankly stared at the extended hand, "Oh, uh…it's called a handshake. Here, give me your hand." The wolf girl reached out towards the frightened girl and gave her a reassuring smile; that amazing full teeth smile that Ruby knew how to do so well. Finally, Belle placed her hand on the other woman's. "There ya' go and you just go like this," she shook her hand and then sadly let it go. "It's how people introduce themselves."

Belle took in a breath of air as pain erupted in her shoulder while she sat up to get a better look at her new acquaintance. All Ruby wanted to do was lean over and put a reassuring hand to her cheek, but she refrained.

"It's nice to meet you then, Ruby"