Intro Notes: Howdy, folks! I'm back again with yet another RedQueen offering, this time with a post-season 4a AU project that has been in the making for over a year. Way back in Nov. 2014, I noticed some fics for RQ week and on a whim started reading them. Didn't take me long to get hooked, and before I knew it I was writing this story.
It's gone through many changes and grown far beyond my initial conception into something much greater than one story and contains scenes that challenged me as a writer more than any other project I've tackled. Weighing in at 22 chapters plus prologue and epilogue, it was the longest story I'd ever written, and all in all, I am proud of it if only that I finished such a mammoth project.
As with all my stories, it is self-edited, so please bear that in mind. As many times as I've edited and re-edited some of these chapters, I have probably lost all perspective. I tried to keep characterization consistent, but there will probably be some of my own quirks and opinions that have slipped through the cracks, so before I post much more, I'll probably try and hunt down someone willing to read through it if only to make sure that the characters are acceptably rendered and that continuity is maintained, as well as checking for stupid errors I've left in. So, if it takes a little while to get chapter 1 up, that's why. In any case, this is a pre-written work, so there is no worry that it won't get posted in its totality unless something unexpected happens.
As for this prologue...yeah, I didn't intend for it to get so long. Sorry! =P Since the rest of the story is RQ-established, I wanted to give some background in the form of where it all began for our favorite ladies, but I got a little lost in Ruby's head. I am chronically over-descriptive I suppose.
Finally, I hope you all enjoy the ride because even though it was arduous and trying at times, I loved writing it.
Standard Disclaimer: The characters ain't mine, I'm just borrowing their strings for a while, so don't sue me please! Please point out any errors in grammar or spelling privately and I will correct them.
Prologue
Ruby Lucas was going stir crazy. It was nearly two o'clock in the afternoon and in the hour since the lunch crowd had petered out only a string of individual customers had come through the diner. Smoothing a hand down her painted on jeans, she sighed in exasperation.
Since there were no customers to serve, she was left with nothing to do but the kind of busy work that never failed to make her feel all fidgety and cross-eyed to the point of distraction. Of all of her responsibilities around the diner, those she hated most were the mind numbing but necessary tasks of folding up silverware in napkins, stacking cups and glasses, and wiping down tables and counters. But since there was none of that to occupy herself with, she was having to do her least favorite job, which was sorting through the daily receipts and invoices in order to match them up for accounting purposes.
Ruby was a people person, so she was most in her element while working in a packed and bustling environment. Just being out there among the crowd, flitting between tables while keeping up casual conversations with up to a dozen people at a time made her feel so alive and focused that whatever might be bothering her at any given time would just fade away into the background. No other waitresses Granny employed had her efficiency level to navigate the process of taking orders, turning them in, keeping track of them, filling and refilling drinks, while at the same time personalizing interactions with customers in ways that made them want to come back to the diner time and time again. Of course, that Granny's was just about the only game in town was beside the point.
It was Ruby's innate skill with people that made her so good at her job, which was kind of ironic considering her past back in the Enchanted Forest. Back then, she had went to great pains to isolate herself from others, but being Ruby for almost three decades had brought out a socially gregarious side of her personality that had previously been smothered under layers of werewolf related stress and anxiety. And even though she had her memories back of being Red, she liked that part of Ruby enough that she chose to embrace it rather than to withdraw back in to herself as she sometimes wanted to do. As it was, with such confidence flowing through her, there wasn't a person she met that she couldn't talk to or make feel like they were welcome and that she was overjoyed to be given the opportunity to serve them.
Of course, Ruby was not so delusional as to recognize there were other reasons besides her sparkling personality that prompted people to frequent the diner. One such reason was due to the fact that there was not much else in the way of choice, but another less palatable reason was to ogle her, and it wasn't vanity that made her believe that. An incredibly good waitress she may be, but it wasn't her people skills that were being stared at whenever she bent over to refill someone's coffee.
Ruby supposed it should be flattering that folks of both genders thought she was attractive, but mostly it just annoyed her. Though she had long since grown used to the leering due to Regina's risqué sartorial preferences for her during the curse (her old work uniform was, she liked to complain, the gift that kept on giving), she was honestly getting tired of being seen only as a sexual object. Lately she had been longing to form a meaningful connection with someone – anyone really – that was willing to look beyond her generally pleasing physical aesthetics to the human being within who just wanted someone to love her. Flattery was nice and all, in fact it once would have been enough to get her into bed, but now that the Curse was over, being told she was beautiful no longer held any meaning.
After decades of people only knowing who she was because her body was practically on display on a daily basis, Ruby wanted more. The status quo was no longer enough. She was hungry for someone to share her life with who was willing to invest in her as a person and not just as an object of fancy, someone who could respect that she had preferences and aversions, flaws and strengths, and that despite all that had gone wrong in her life, she still had hopes and dreams that she longed to see fulfilled.
For most of her adult life she had sat on the sidelines, putting her life on hold for the sake of those who commanded her love and loyalty. Having hovered so long in the shadows of others – of Snow and Charming and Emma and everybody else who called themselves a hero – Ruby was finally ready to reach out and lay claim on something that could belong to no one else but her. Was it selfish? Maybe. Probably. Almost certainly. But frankly it was time for her to be selfish. She had lived her life for others for far too long now. It had to end. And although she felt somewhat guilty for even feeling that way, she needed to live for herself now while she still had motivation left to do so.
Since Peter's death, Ruby had not been in a relationship of substance, and to be honest she was starving for companionship beyond what little Granny and her busy acquaintances could provide. Wolves were not made to be solitary creatures, so it was only natural that werewolves would be the same, and at present, she was feeling very much like a wolf without a pack. Back in the Enchanted Forest, Snow, David, and Granny had served in that capacity in lieu of her kindred, but things had changed much in that regard, and to an alarming degree.
Granny, the only blood family Ruby had ever really known, was working longer hours now and spending more and more of what free time she had with Marco, August Booth aka Pinocchio's father. For all of her life, Granny had been the one person she could count on to put her first, and it seemed lately that was no longer the case. And while Ruby was happy for her grandmother, she missed the old woman's constant hovering and gruff admonitions. At least when Granny was yelling at her, Ruby knew she still cared.
Then there was Snow, her best friend, and Charming, a man Ruby had once considered a brother, both of which had somewhat withdrawn from her since reuniting with their daughter, Emma, and finding out they had a grandson. Not long after that, Snow and Emma got stuck in Fairy Tale Land after being sucked into Jefferson's hat, which left Ruby in a constant state of anxiety for their well-being. Adding to that stress was the fact that she had to deal with her first Wolf's Time in Storybrooke without her two closest friends in the world. Without Snow or Emma around to help her, she had leaned on David, who to his credit tried to be a good friend and was there when she had needed him, but it was not the same.
And then Snow and Emma came back and with them troubles aplenty. First with Cora's emergence and eventual defeat, and then Henry was abducted to Neverland so the whole gang minus Ruby and Belle departed for Neverland to retrieve him. Once again, she was bereft of the only people who helped assuage the stinging bite of loneliness. For a while she had leaned heavily on Belle, but the girl's oppressive and very unhealthy concern for Rumplestiltskin was too much for an already overloaded Ruby to deal with. Pretty soon, she had sequestered herself save for her shifts at the Diner, spending long and lonely nights holed up in her apartment in her pajamas watching endless amounts of TV and eating carton upon carton of ice cream. It was shameful behavior but she had felt it her only valid option to cope without resorting to more drastic measures.
After dealing with the villainous Pan, there hadn't even been time to breathe again before the town was being swept away back to the Enchanted Forest. A year in that hell passed during which Ruby was once again relegated to being a person-shaped prop to help her friends get back home to their daughter. Upon arriving back in Storybrooke through another Curse, both David and Snow became so busy with their own problems that they rarely ever called to check on her anymore, and their increasing vacancy from her life had left her without the anchor she had relied on for stability since the day she left her home with Granny to join Snow on the run.
Compounding the loneliness Ruby dealt with on a daily basis was the unfortunate reality that her only other true friends in town, Victor Whale and Belle, were equally preoccupied. Being the only licensed surgeon in a town prone to being attacked by some villain or another and which found itself in turmoil on an almost constant basis meant that Victor had been working slavishly at the hospital of late. The insane hours he was putting in left little time for a social life outside of their standing monthly appointment for drinks, which did help to stem the tide of Ruby's isolation, but only just enough that she didn't wither away completely.
As for Belle, she was currently working through her own sorrows caused by Rumplestiltskin's latest betrayal, mostly accomplishing this by pulling double duty as town librarian and default proprietor of Gold's Pawnshop. On occasion Ruby would bring her heartbroken friend a meal and they would share lunch together, but just as with Victor, it was not really enough to fill the void in her life that refused to go away. At times, especially when she was home alone at night, the darkness threatened to swallow her whole.
Without her friends to lean on for support, Ruby was left to fend for herself more often then not, and it was a disconcerting feeling that left her aimless as if adrift on the ocean in a leaky vessel without the aid of a compass or paddle. Too often these days she was reduced to hiding her struggles from everyone around her by putting on a brave face and stuffing her pain down into a little box in order to bide her time until the full moon came around.
During Wolf's Time, she was able to occupy herself by living amongst the wolves that roamed the forests fencing in Storybrooke from the outside world. Only when she was with her less sentient kin did she feel a sense of belonging, of community, that at least for a time assuaged the pain of living such a barren existence. And while her nights with the wolves of Storybrooke helped sustain her through the long weeks that followed until the next full moon, for the most part the reality remained ever pressing upon her that she was, in essence, alone.
With everyone else occupied and being essentially trapped in a town not exactly filled to the brim with acceptable prospects with whom to share her life, Ruby was left exposed to a dangerous set of circumstances that could very easily lead to depression. To prevent that, she tried to focus on work and on contenting herself with being happy that her friends were happy. That was, after all, what she had fought so long and sacrificed so much for: to see Snow freed from Regina's vendetta, free to have a family and get on with her life without the pervasive cloud of doom she used to live under. The victory they had achieved by simply surviving it all was something Ruby was genuinely proud of, but since that was accomplished, she found herself lacking purpose outside of her job, and seeing that Granny refused to allow her more than 50 hours a week, it left a lot of free time for her to dwell on her lack of direction and the relative dearth of companionship that seemed to haunt her day and night.
Sometimes when she was feeling particularly low, Ruby almost wished she was back under the Curse, if only so that she could continue on with her fruitless attempts to drink and fornicate her problems away. At least then her pain would be numbed and she would have someone to share her bed with if only for a night. Unfortunately, that was not an option anymore.
Since regaining that part of herself that was Red, she could no longer tolerate some of Ruby's excesses, even though she wished at times she could. Today was one such day, a bleak afternoon in which the sun never seemed to shine for long before being swallowed up by a bitterly dark cloud, and with so little to do to occupy her mind, it was not getting any better. Normally as Ruby she would have entertained herself by calling a friend or a casual acquaintance on the phone to chit-chat the boredom away until her shift was over and she was free to go on the prowl for whatever her overly healthy appetite craved. But being half Ruby and half Red meant she was really neither, for she lacked Red's more confident sense of purpose as well as Ruby's fun-loving nature. Because of that, she just didn't quite know what to do with herself.
Thankfully, a few minutes later while she was matching up receipts for the fifth time, the bell on the door rang, signaling that a new customer had arrived. Looking up with a hopeful expression, Ruby watched as Regina Mills – recently reinstated mayor and resident badass sorceress – walked through the doors, a withdrawn expression on her face.
Ruby's heart sank. She had been made aware through Snow of what transpired between Regina and Robin to end their relationship. When Emma returned from the past a month and a half ago, she did not come back alone, and through a series of events that Ruby was still trying to understand, the Savior had brought back Regina's half-sister Zelena (who was supposed to be dead but somehow wasn't) with her.
As it turned out, Zelena had murdered Marian in that timeline with the purpose of replacing Robin's lost wife to torment Regina. Unfortunately in the process of doing so, the Wicked Witch had discovered that Robin's deceased wife was a prisoner of the Evil Queen and had been scheduled for execution. When Zelena confessed that not-so-insignificant fact to Robin, he quickly realized that Regina had been responsible for Marian's death in the current timeline. Though he professed to still care for Regina a great deal, the transgression was something he could not look beyond, and so mired with grief, he took his son and left town no less than a week later.
Obviously, Regina was devastated by the loss since she had been lead to believe Robin was her soul mate. To a woman whose life was defined by suffering loss after loss, it was a crushing blow. And though it was true the former Queen was a prickly person at the best of times and was contentious, stubborn, condescending, and generally infuriating on any normal day, Ruby would not wish that kind of pain on anyone, not when she could still remember the pain of losing Peter. But while Ruby had only lived through such torment once, Regina had been made to live through it twice.
Long ago, Snow had told Ruby about the day she met Regina, when the brave and beautiful young woman the Queen once was had saved her from being trampled by her runaway horse, and that later on she had met Regina's first love, a stable boy named Daniel with whom the brave young noblewoman planned to run away. Tragically, before they could escape, Snow had inadvertently revealed their plans to Cora, who had responded by murdering Daniel right in front of her horrified daughter. It was a terrible story that triggered all kinds of traumatic memories for Ruby of Peter. In a way, she thought the devastating nature of their losses made her and Regina more alike than either could have ever imagined, and it was the first time she had ever felt sympathy for the woman who had more than earned the moniker: the Evil Queen.
Returning her focus to the present, Ruby observed intently as Regina made her way to the back of the diner, now a far cry from a person who had once lived to terrorize others. As she walked, an aura of deep melancholy seemed to follow her around, expressing itself via her posture. With the way her shoulders slumped forward, her facial features were drawn, and by her sluggish movements, it was obvious that Regina was struggling through her own battle with depression, and the sight of the normally regal and confident woman so cowed by life tugged at Ruby's heart. Someone so strong, so grandiose and larger than life, she thought, should never appear so very frail.
Once Regina chose a booth – the one opposite from the entrance – she slid into the side against the wall and pressed into the corner as if trying to make herself as tiny as possible. Perhaps that was how she felt, small and insignificant, and the very idea that Regina Mills, the daunting woman who had always commanded respect if not outright fear, could be so diminished made Ruby ache with sadness.
On a day in which it was already hard enough to deal with her own issues, witnessing Regina in such a defeated state was simply intolerable. After losing Daniel, sacrificing her father to cast the Curse, losing her mother, and now losing Robin, the woman had gone through enough. And with everyone too busy with their own lives to help Regina pick up the pieces, she was – much like Ruby – left alone to sort through the shattered fragments of her life. It was all just so damn unfair.
Well, that just won't do, Ruby then thought to herself once more, determination settling in as she grabbed her pen and order pad and then made her way over to Regina's table. Time to pay it forward, Lucas.
Once at the table, Ruby put on her biggest smile, and despite feeling of late like her whole life was devoid of meaning, she found that it was not at all forced. She actually wanted this. If only for a few minutes, she wanted to help make Regina feel better, and while it wasn't a grand gesture of world turning significance, showing an interest in the crestfallen mayor was something she could do to help while also giving her a noble if not humble purpose.
"Hey," she greeted, her smile still firmly in place. "What can I get you?"
As Regina stared out the window at the passersby going about their days, the way her face appeared nearly devoid of all emotion and her voice sounded equally dull made Ruby's insides lurch. She replied without even looking at Ruby. "Just a chocolate milkshake if you please, Miss Lucas."
"Of course," Ruby replied, scribbling down the simple order only because if she didn't Granny would complain about not having an order invoice to go along with the store copy of the receipt. In her old age, Granny was getting excessively pedantic with certain things.
After leaving Regina to her thoughts, Ruby went about making the milkshake, and as she did so with fluid and practiced so as to be nearly automatic movements, she tried to figure out how to cheer Regina up. Quite worryingly, by the time she was adding the whip cream and cherry to the top of the milkshade, she had made no progress whatsoever. After all, what could she say to a person who had lost as much as Regina had without sounding condescending or insincere?
Apologies, Ruby knew, would sound meaningless and in her experience sympathy was counterproductive. Regina didn't need to know she felt sorry for her, and the reason Ruby was so sure of that was because she was well acquainted with how it felt to lose someone and then to have everyone around her pawing at her and looking at her with such sad, pitying glances that she felt like she might go mad from angry frustration. Not quite knowing what to do or say, she decided to just take the milkshake to Regina and let fate decide the rest.
As she crossed around the counter to do just that, she noticed that Regina turn to watch her approach, her eyes never leaving Ruby's for a second. The simple action encouraged Ruby quite a bit, for even though the hurting woman's gaze was dull and glassy, it was the most interactive she had been since arriving.
Seeing an opportunity, when Ruby came to a stop at Regina's table, she gently set the shake down along with its complementary napkins and packaged straw. Raising her eyes to Regina's, she then blurted out with a boldness she had forgot she possessed, "Listen, I know we're not friends or anything, but I just wanted to say something."
At the unexpected statement, Regina tensed and her eyes hardened, indicating she clearly expected some offering of pity to follow that statement or even a cruel remark of how fitting her situation was, something perhaps along the lines that she had earned her current misery.
"Must you?" Regina asked, her voice reflecting what her body language had already told Ruby.
"I happen to think so. So yes, I must," Ruby answered, tilting her head, trying her best to look earnest without being pitying. Unwilling to give Regina time to object again, she pressed on. "I just wanted to say that I've missed seeing you in here. You haven't been around in a while."
Sitting back as if stunned, Regina gaped for a moment as she processed what had been said, or rather what had not been said. Ruby couldn't deny how pleased she was that she had surprised Regina by not expressing sympathy for her situation. It was an accomplishment to check off of her bucket list: number 15, check, surprise Regina Mills.
"Yes, well, I've been preoccupied," Regina informed her after recovering her composure, her eyes a little less hard though still wary. The implied reason for her absence from the diner hung heavily in the air, but then she went on to elaborate, "With all that's gone on the past few months, there is much to do at work."
While Ruby knew that was a half-truth at best, she couldn't temper her interest at the mention of Regina's job. Even from the days of the Curse, Regina being mayor was one of those things that always kind of turned her on, what with that irresistible mix of a constant confidence that was only rarely haughty and a hard-ass attitude that took no prisoners. It didn't hurt either that she was also a progressive woman in a position of authority that just so happened to possess matchless beauty and a razor sharp, excessively witty intellect. The combination was so uniquely alluring that Ruby just could not help herself. Whenever Regina made a speech, she hung on every word and whenever there was an article in paper about one of Regina's accomplishments, she would read it over and over and then gaze pathetically at the black and white photograph of the Mayor while fantasizing about what it would be like to the object of so great a woman's interest.
Back then Ruby had been (and still was to be honest) totally besotted. She could still remember how awed she felt whenever Regina would visit the diner, how her eyes were drawn magnetically to the imposing woman who so completely commanded her attention and how her heart never failed to flutter at a glimpse of that mythical beauty which had enthralled men and women of stoutest character, bending them beneath her iron will. Had Regina reached her before Snow, Ruby was fairly certain she would have been counted as preeminent among their number, and although the wolf was exceedingly prideful, Regina was a woman of such power that even she would have rolled over to show the Queen her belly.
As the Mayor, Regina wielded that same power was wielded just as effectively as she ran her town with a brutal efficiency that left no room for opposition or criticism. Not that there was much to criticize. During the Curse Regina had almost single-handedly directed the affairs of Storybrooke and with such expertise that there was little to complain about outside of the general misery of Curse-based human affairs, something even she had no control over. Under Regina's guidance, the town ran like a well-oiled piece of machinery, perfect and elegant and not a part out of place. Despite having been a truly loathsome person beforehand, as the Mayor of Storybrooke, Ruby thought she quite deserved every accolade she received, even if it was manufactured by the Curse.
Looking back now, Ruby was struck by how instinctively favorable her reactions to Regina were and that they were not caused by fear as had been directed by the prison of false personality that the denizens of Storybrooke languished under. Quite to the contrary she realized that she had been so inexplicably smitten with the woman that she could barely breathe while in her presence. Most of the time it was all she could do to restrain herself from pressing her nose into Regina's neck in order to smell her, which in addition to confusing Ruby as to why she felt compelled to do such a thing, surely would have landed her on her ass after a resounding slap from the intensely private Mayor. Perhaps Regina would have even had her tossed into jail. But it probably would have been worth it just to be close to her if only for a moment.
All in all, Regina Mills was the most impressive woman Ruby had ever met, so while she tried very hard to keep any hint of fascination out of her voice, she was pretty sure she failed spectacularly.
"Yeah?" she responded, her voice indicating her level of engagement. "I'd love to hear about it."
Her head still slightly tilted, Ruby shifted her weight from one leg to the other, and when she did her thighs rubbed together causing the denim of her jeans to make a distinctive brushing sound. The movement drew Regina's attention southward, where her eyes lingered for a moment too long on Ruby's legs before rising upward to glimpse the scant bit of cleavage she had allowed to peak through her button up blouse. And though Regina's dark eyes were all too soon snapping back up to her face, it was enough for Ruby's heightened senses to pick up on the slight dilation of her pupils, a nearly imperceptible flaring of her nostrils, and a slight increase in her heart rate that were all telltale marks of attraction.
Shocked by the development, Ruby could not contain the blush that heated her cheeks. It seemed impossible that Regina could actually share her interest, but her senses never lied.
Clearing her throat, Ruby hoped it was not glaringly obvious that she had very much enjoyed Regina's brief but apparent appreciation of her attributes along with her lack of objection to another such treatment of perusal should Regina be so inclined. It was a bit hypocritical considering how she felt when others did the same, but Regina was just different from everyone else. Why? Ruby could not quite ascertain as of yet, but it was what it was and for now there was really no explaining it.
"You would?" Regina then asked, taken a bit aback by Ruby's statement.
Ruby gnawed on the corner of her lip for a moment. "I've always liked that about you. You being mayor, I mean," she then elaborated, sure Regina could see the flush of her skin judging by the pique of interest in her eyes. Wanting to divert the sharply attentive woman, she decided to double down on her effort. "You have a drive and ambition that makes you damn good at it, at least in my opinion, and no matter what people thought of you personally, you've always cared. You put your heart and soul into this town, and that's why I voted for you."
At that, Regina actually smirked, and while it was small and tentative, it was still a minor victory that encouraged Ruby greatly. "Everyone voted for me, dear," she replied, her husky voice dropping an octave. "They were compelled to as part of the Curse."
"Yeah, but how many of those people would vote for you right now?" Ruby then posed, knowing Regina would not expect the admission. "'Cause I would in a heartbeat."
Eyes widening slightly, Regina stared for a few seconds before narrowing her eyes to search Ruby's face for any sign that she was being pandered to. When she evidently found none, she leaned forward to place her arms on the table.
"I have to confess that surprises me," she admitted.
Internally, Ruby cheered. Another one off her list: number 37, check, surprise Regina Mills so much that she is forced to admit it. Aloud, she replied, "I don't see why. Like I said, you're great at what you do, Regina, always have been. I wouldn't want anyone else as my mayor."
"Well, thank you for that, Miss Lucas," Regina replied, looking genuinely touched by the sentiment. Ruby gave herself a mental pat on the back. "I appreciate your kind words, though I doubt many share such an opinion."
Ruby shrugged, the corner of her lips crooking up. "Then to hell with them. It's the truth."
"So you say," Regina countered, though her eyes were twinkling just enough that Ruby could tell she was now invested in their conversation. The fact that she had actually managed to distract Regina from moping for even a second made Ruby feel like a million bucks. "As for why I was surprised," Regina continued, "I should think it was obvious. We were once enemies, after all. Or have you forgotten that inconvenient reality?"
"I've not forgotten the past at all," Ruby answered, turning sideways to lean her hip on the edge of the tabletop so that she could better give Regina her full attention. "But you've got one thing wrong there."
Regina quirked an eyebrow as she reached for her milkshake and straw. "Oh? What, pray tell, might that be?"
When Ruby opened her mouth to respond, Regina stopped her by holding up a primly manicured index finger and then indicated with it to the booth opposite of her. Though her gesture for Ruby to sit was confident, Ruby could see a nearly imperceptible nervousness in her eyes that bespoke her uneasiness with the situation. In that moment it was clear to Ruby that Regina was actually craving company as much as she was and was reluctant to show such a weakness.
"Before you say anything else," Regina then said, audibly repeating her offer with no indication of her internal struggle in her voice, "since no one else is here at the moment, would it be permissible for you to sit for a while?"
Pleased, Ruby grinned. "Sure! I'd love to."
She was not about to mention what she had picked up on because she knew it would scare Regina away. Since they both needed someone to talk to at the moment, Ruby decided to just take the offer and run with it, and as she slid into the booth she noticed that Regina visibly relaxed at not being called out on her uncharacteristic invitation.
Once settled, Ruby flung an arm across the back of the booth and then turned her focus back onto Regina, watching as the endlessly appealing woman unpacked her straw, slid it into her milkshake and then took a deep draw from it. Watching those luscious lips close over the plastic implement did things to Ruby's insides that were not appropriate for her to be feeling at work.
And then Regina closed her eyes and hummed out her approval at the taste of the chocolatey goodness on her tongue. The sound of her prolonged note of pleasure hit Ruby square in her chest, spreading warmth down her abdomen like a licking fire that held the very distinct possibility of turning into an inferno. When it settled low in her belly, it became so intense that she painfully clamped her bottom lip between her teeth and crossed her legs to tamp down on the jolt of arousal that was rapidly causing her to flush yet again.
At the shifting of her position, Regina's eyes snapped open. When they caught how affected Ruby was by her little show, she nipped at her own lip in such a slight way that Ruby almost missed it. But seeing that her senses were on high alert at the moment and that she was hyper aware of everything Regina did, she didn't miss it, and it was so damn adorable that she almost sighed aloud.
Cheeks rosy with heat, Regina brushed a stray lock of hair her behind her ear and then prompted, "So, you were about to point out the inaccuracy in my statement. I'd love to hear it."
Allowing a lazy smile to cross her lips, Ruby took a deep breath. Feeling more composed, she replied, "You said we were enemies."
Both of Regina's ebony brows rose at that. "And that is somehow false? I can't imagine how. Tell me, dear, were you or were you not Snow White's most loyal ally? And were you not also personally responsible for the deaths of scores of my best knights?"
"Sure I was," Ruby replied easily, "but that doesn't mean I was your enemy."
"Doesn't it though?" Regina leaned forward once more, eyes alight with intrigue at Ruby's reasoning. "You stood with Snow, dear, and I don't have to tell you that made you an adversary by association. Argue semantics all you like, but that means we were, in fact, enemies."
"I'm not arguing semantics," Ruby explained, the corner of her lips quirking up. "I'm saying that I never considered you my enemy. Did I fight against you, yes, but only because you considered me your enemy."
"Oh, I see," Regina frowned, her eyes flashing momentarily in annoyance before settling into a cool regard. "As always, the fault is mine."
"Not what I'm saying at all," Ruby protested, subconsciously shifting forward to echo Regina's pose. "Just...you have your way of seeing things and I have mine. For my part, I never hated you. I fought for Snow, not against you. There's a big difference."
Regina smirked more fully at Ruby's slightly nervous clarification. "Sounds like semantics to me, Miss Lucas."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Ruby relaxed once more, finding that she was enjoying herself in spite of her having nearly put her foot in her mouth. "It's Ruby by the way," she smiled, "Miss Lucas makes me sound like a stuffy old school teacher." When Regina's eyebrows rose and she grinned, Ruby understood the implication. Her oldest friend, Snow, just so happened to be a teacher. Ruby's eyes widened. "Not that there's anything wrong with that mind you!"
"Of course not, Miss Lucas," Regina replied, still grinning.
Narrowing her eyes at the needling, Ruby harrumphed. "Are you trying to insinuate that I missed my calling and that I should be a teacher or something?"
After taking another slow draw of her milkshake, Regina licked her lips suggestively, her brown eyes darkening as she gave a glance at Ruby's cleavage. Meeting Ruby's eyes, yet another of her famous smirks settled across her features.
"Heaven forbid," she then declared. "I think your wardrobe would offend the standards of our school system." At that, she sat back, her gaze once again sweeping down the portion Ruby's torso exposed above the table before returning northward.
Mouth hanging open, Ruby made a noise of offense. "Gee, thanks," she then said after a moment. "Nice to know you think I'm too trashy for a respectable job. Guess it's a good thing I'm a waitress then, huh? At least here my boobs and ass can get me tips."
"And for good reason," Regina purred, "since both are fantastic. But I was only jesting, dear, not suggesting anything derrogatory. In fact, I rather think the schoolteacher look would be becoming on you."
Ruby sat up, her momentary affront forgotten. She felt herself flushing for the third time and squeezed her thighs together at the onslaught of images that comment elicited.
"You do, do you?" she asked, unable to help the flaring of her nostrils. "That a thing for you?" As she spoke, she caught and held Regina's eyes, all too aware that the perceptive older woman could see that her pupils were blown and sparking with exhilaration. "Would it get you all hot and bothered if I were to show up one day in a black pencil skirt, stilettos, and a half unbuttoned blouse with my hair loose in tumbling curls and a pair of black rimmed glasses on my nose?"
Gulping, Regina sat back, telegraphing by her reaction that it would very much bother her in that way, which she confirmed by answering, "Yes, Miss Lucas, I do believe it would." But then, as if catching on to the fact that she was actually flirting rather heavily, she shook her head ever-so-slightly and furrowed her brow. Ruby then watched as guilt settled over her features, and with it her shoulders sagged as the weight of her memories of Robin Hood once more descended upon her.
Damn the man, Ruby thought, both for hurting Regina and cutting the flirting short via his looming specter.
Still, Ruby had to admit it was for the best that things got derailed since her aggressive reaction to the teasing might have driven Regina away. As wounded as the woman was by her recent loss she was far from ready for anything even remotely sexual at the moment, so Ruby knew she had gone too far with her forward banter. She really hadn't meant to come on so strong, but she'd totally lost control of herself in the moment, having been carried away by thoughts of fulfilling a fantasy that Regina obviously desired to experience, even if it was one she hadn't even known she wanted until that very moment – and nor had Ruby, for that matter.
Roleplaying in the bedroom was never one of her proclivities, but in those scant few seconds she was speaking of dressing the part of the naughty teacher, pictures kept popping up in her head of Regina seated before her in a plaid miniskirt with her bare legs primly crossed, white button-up blouse tantalizingly tight and left open to her cleavage, and a cute little red tie hanging loose from around her collar. With silver barrettes holding her bangs back, she began batting her long lashes, her brown eyes burning with invitation as Ruby approached, ruler in hand and a scowl on her face, ready to punish her unruly student.
Jesus, Ruby breathed to herself, a secret and very inappropriate thrill running up her spine as she caught Regina peering at her through half-hooded lids. By the way she still appeared caught between guilt and surprising reception to Ruby's suggestive hypothetical, it was clear that she was battling to stave off her own amorous imaginings. Knowing that they might be concocting similar scenes at the same time was enough to strain Ruby's arousal to the point that she was tempted to scurry away someplace private where she could relieve herself of it.
But like the good friend she wanted to be, she restrained those impulsive and sinful thoughts. For many reasons beyond the obvious she felt it wrong to be so turned by the fantasy scenario, not the least of which was the fact that to her knowledge, Regina was not interested in women. As far as Ruby was aware, the former Queen had taken only men as lovers, but that was not to say she wasn't attracted to women at all if the way she had been looking at Ruby was any indication. At least on the surface Regina seemed somewhat pliable with her sexuality.
Of course, Ruby had not really been interested in women either until living under the Curse, during which she had a few brief affairs with fellow members of the fairer sex. After awakening to herself as Red, she had been initially embarrassed by what she had done, but the more she considered things, the more she realized that she was open to the idea of being in a relationship with a woman just the same as she was to any man she was attracted to. For that awakening she supposed she owed Regina at least a healthy measure of gratitude, and then many more for the wonderful world she'd cursed them to.
For the most part Ruby loved this new and very different world, but one thing she found had not changed at all between her two homes was the way people liked to label one another. For such a seemingly natural practice for human beings, Ruby was remarkably uncomfortably with the idea of being categorized. She had not always felt that way, but the way in which she was enlightened to being a werewolf had done a number on her identity, and as a result, she struggled for a long time to figure out who she was.
Having her entire life uprooted along with the combination of not knowing where she fit in among the rest of the humanity or where she belonged in the world made for a very stressful period of transition in her life. Meeting her mother and learning from her and her pack had helped, but Ruby still came away from that experience a girl torn between two worlds, that of a human and that of a wolf.
Anita had appealed very much to the wolf, preaching that werewolves had no place among humans and that as superior beings, they had every right to take for themselves whatever they wanted. It was a system of belief that Ruby vehemently opposed and which lead to the disagreement that cost her mother's life.
After that, she did a lot of soul searching in an attempt to harmonize her dichotomous halves. It was not an easy process to learn how to be comfortable in her own skin when she wasn't even sure which skin was really her. Was she a werewolf or a human being? The struggle to reconcile them was so harrowing that she left Snow's side for a few days, secluding herself in the forest to think things through. As she did, she tried her best make a decision as to how to move forward by weighing the value of each aspect.
Where the wolf was concerned, Anita had introduced her to a brand new world that was full of power and freedom and so much joy that she felt like she was fit to burst at times. The desires of the wolf were enormous and piercing and seductive, and for just a moment, she considered taking a permanent leave from Snow to reunite with her mother's pack wherever they had gone and to live out the rest of her days as a werewolf.
But then she remembered the cost at which the wolf's urges came, that they smothered a part of herself that she did not wish to lose, the part of her that was a young woman with hopes and dreams and connections with people she loved too much to leave behind forever. Granny had raised her to be human, taught her human values, instilled in her an appreciation of human life, and it was as a human that she had learned how to love. The wolf did not love – could not love – for it was pure instinct, raw animal feeling, and could therefore recognize no value in such a pointless emotion. Love muddied the waters of carefree existence. But to Ruby the emotion was not pointless at all. Rather, after everything that had happened to her it was love for Granny, Snow, and the bittersweet memories of her love for Peter that became her reason for carrying on.
In the end, conflicted to the point that she was unable to choose which world she wanted to live in, she returned to Snow, content to figure it out as they went along their way. Months passed after that before she finally gained a sense of perspective about who she was, which allowed her to finally come to the conclusion that she was neither a wolf or a human, and that such distinctions had lost enough meaning for her that she could just be herself and feel okay about that. And the more she adjusted to accepting herself for who she was, the less she cared about trivial things such as social status, race, species, creed, or political affiliation.
Just as with being a werewolf or a human being, those kinds of labels could never truly define her worth as a person, nor could they teach her how to be at peace with herself in a way that made happiness an actual possibility. As such, she decided to cast them away entirely as irrelevant and to rather value both herself and life in general as they were, not as she wanted them to be, an attitude which apparently translated over to her sexuality.
With her present point of view being influenced by her past, Ruby did not really understand the appeal of stamping a definition on her forehead that would declare to all who cared to listen as to exactly who she was, what she believed in, and who she was attracted to. Back in the Enchanted Forest, most saw her only as a werewolf, and in Storybrooke, she was the slutty waitress who wore far too little clothing for such a frigid climate as Maine. But the truth was, she was just Ruby, and for her, all that mattered was what lived in her heart. While she would never disparage those who drew comfort from being classified as belonging to a certain subset of people, as far as she was concerned, such a practice was not for her. She was who she was and loved who she loved and that was that.
But where Regina was concerned, Ruby did not have enough information to warrant pressing further, nor would she even if she knew for a fact Regina was interested. She respected the woman far too much to risk the nascent friendship they were developing by pushing her before she was ready. Whether or not Regina ever got to that point was wholly up to her, yet even so, Ruby had to admit to being investing in that potential decision to a degree that scared the living hell out of her.
"Anyway," she then said after clearing her throat and shaking away her thoughts, "as I was going to say, just because me saying you were never my enemy sounds like semantics to you doesn't mean it's the same for me. 'Cause from where I'm sitting, it's just plain logic."
Nodding in silent appreciation for the change of topic, Regina's conflict evaporated for the most part and she resettled into the easy atmosphere that they had established earlier. "Well, then...Ruby," she drawled out, causing Ruby to shudder at the way her name sounded spilling from Regina's lips and in a tone that was so earthen and comfortable that it felt like home. "If that is what you consider a logical line of thought, I believe that would make you, as Henry would say, a weirdo."
Unable to help herself, Ruby pitched forward in laughter at the unexpectedly delightful quip, and soon after, Regina quite surprisingly joined in. For a good minute, they exchanged peals of laughter until tears were streaming down both of their faces. And after recovering from their mirth, they settled back into a discussion about some of the projects Regina had in the making for the town. Before long, fifteen minutes had passed, then thirty, and in the end nearly an hour passed as they sat in the back corner booth of a blessedly empty diner, talking about everything and anything that came to mind.
And as the minutes ticked by and neither woman lost interest in their conversation, Ruby began to realize that something was happening that she could not explain. It was as if a force beyond her control almost magical in nature was binding her to Regina, forging invisible tendrils between them that would link them together in ways she could not anticipate. Lost in the feeling of camaraderie with the woman across from her, Ruby began to feel the rumblings of the wolf from the deep recesses of her mind, her feral influence flaring up unbidden as if in approval of someone for whom she had respect and considered to be an equal.
Regina, Ruby realized, was the only person who could understand the dark impulses and savage desires she often experienced while at the same time fully sharing her wild, untamable thirst for life and freedom. Being intimately aware of what it felt like to be reduced to pure instinct, to exult in the shed blood of her enemies and surrender herself to the animalistic hunger to rend every possible pleasure from the bared throat of existence, the part of Regina that had been the Evil Queen was uniquely suited to the wolf. And yet as Regina Mills there was a vulnerability that Ruby the human girl identified with. Both had experienced the heights of true love only to be plunged into darkness when they lost it, and there were few others who could say they had walked through the same tragic circumstances. And while loss bonded them, hope did as well, for despite having every reason to, neither had lost their desire to find love again.
To her dismay, Ruby then realized that in Regina she had discovered her perfect counterpart, and because of that, if any kind of friendship formed between them, it was almost a foregone conclusion that she would fall in love. In fact, it was probably already too late to stop it from happening, and although whatever was forming between them would almost certainly lead to heartbreak for one or both, Ruby could not bring herself to care. Whatever Regina was willing to give she was more than willing to take, and any pain that proceeded from that decision was pain she was prepared to bear.
It was only after the clock struck 3:30 in the afternoon that Regina finally took her leave, but before departing, she expressed in a halting and almost bashful way her intent to return the next afternoon if Ruby was amenable to the company. Feeling closer than ever to Regina and hopeful despite the probability of her heart being broken, Ruby agreed. When she went on to promise she would align her break so that it coincided with Regina's visit, the raven haired beauty gave her a demure smile worthy of Mary Margaret (though Ruby didn't mention that) and then made to exit the diner.
As she watched Regina walk out the door more uplifted than when she had come in, Ruby brought her hand up to her chest and took a deep, shuddering breath. Her mind was whirling as she tried to reconcile the intense feelings she was having with the reality that it should not be possible to develop such a strong connection in so short a time.
People always talked about love at first sight, about fate and destiny, but Ruby had always been dubious of such concepts, figuring them to be farcical. In her estimation, the human heart was not capable of forming meaningful connections to another person without prolonged exposure over time, and even if there was such a thing as a universal consciousness, it would not care about so relatively trivial a matter as an affair of the human heart. And yet evidence to the contrary was beating withing her chest, pounding a rhythmic declaration of the emotional bonds she had already formed with Regina.
"Oh, God," Ruby breathed into the empty diner, still clutching at her chest. The gravity of the situation was now becoming clear to her, and she was conflicted by the warring emotions of hope and fear. "What am I going to do?"
While she didn't know the answer to that question and in spite of how anxious it made her feel, she couldn't help but look forward to figuring it out. Little did she know that fate was real and that it would lead her down a road that would reward her in ways that would fulfill her wildest dreams and test her in others that would leave her riddled with dark nightmares which would haunt her for the rest of her days. For you see, destiny like magic comes with a price, and for Ruby, it was one that she would never forget paying.