Belle looked up from the book she was reading and rubbed her eyes.

Her eyes were tired form the countless hours she had forced them to stay open. Except for few a short naps, when exhaustion had overcome her, she hadn't allowed herself any real rest for the past two days. It weren't just her eyes that burned and hurt from the misuse. Her whole body was begging her for sleep, her muscles protesting with every move she made. She moved her head form one side to the other and back again, trying to ease at least a few of the knots in her shoulders and neck from staying too long in one position.

She barely had left the room, most of the time spent in the same chair. Always close to the bed.

Close to Ruby.

She looked at the now familiar monitor, checking the readings. She only understood the basics, but enough to know that Ruby was progressing and healing and that was everything she needed to know.

She never had experienced her that still. At the times they had had a sleep-over or Ruby fell asleep while they had watched television, she never stayed still. There was always a foot twitching or a hand moving and she found it adoring. To see her unmoving had been unsettling, but Dr. Whale had assured her, that she would be fine. That it was just her body taking its time to heal.

Her gaze went out into the dark night. There were millions of stars sparkling in the sky, but Belle wasn't interested in them, she was searching for the moon.

It wasn't more than a small crescent, new moon had only been two days ago.

"Twelve more days."

Belle turned around surprised to find Snow standing next to her. She hadn't heard her enter, her mind too focused on the moon.

Snow had freshened up since she last saw her. The only reminder of the combat was the colorful bruise on her jaw and the tiredness of her eyes. The bloodied and torn clothes were gone, replaced with a shirt and jeans that both were slightly too big and colorful for the woman who preferred much more muted colors.

Belle recognized them immediately and the realization burned in her chest. Not a week ago Ruby had worn the exact same shirt.

It seemed like a lifetime ago.

Rationally she understood why Snow was wearing Ruby's clothes. She hadn't bothered to go home to change, but had borrowed something from Ruby when they had escorted Granny from the hospital to the Inn.

But it was Ruby's black leather jacket that just didn't fit Snow that proved to her how wrong all of this was.

She shivered slightly.

"Are you cold?" Ruby asked her.

The night was cold, autumn coming faster to town than Belle had thought. The day had been warm and she had forgotten her cardigan when she had made her way to the diner, her head already filled with new exciting things she had learned in her books and she had been eager to share with Ruby.

"A little bit." She rubbed her hands over her bare arms.

"Here." Ruby shrugged out of her leather jacket and placed it around Belle's shoulders.

It was warm and smelled of Ruby and without thinking Belle inhaled the scent deeply and exhaled with a sigh. Involuntarily she closed her eyes.

"Better?"

"Much better." Belle looked up at Ruby. "But what about you?"

Ruby shrugged. "I don't get cold."

Belle watched her closely. Her black t-shirt was thin, the tiger printed on it swaying slightly in the wind. The same wind pushed Ruby's hair out of her face and the light from the street lamps illuminated her features. She looked like one of the heroines in her books, strong, independent and beautiful.

Sometimes, especially at moments like this when she was happy, there was this irrational fear that Storybrooke, her friends and Ruby weren't real, but fragments of her imagination.

And for a moment she feared that she was still locked away in a cell.

Slowly Belle reached out a finger to touch Ruby's biceps.

Ruby jumped slightly in surprise and yelped.

Belle giggled in relief.

Rub shook her head, a grin on her lips. "Your fingers are ice cold."

She grabbed the offending body part and clasped it with her hand, squeezing it softly.

Hand in hand they walked the rest of the way to the library and even though the thin leather jacket didn't much to protect her from the cold wind, warmth spread through Belle.

"Here." Snow held the brown paper bag she had brought with her up. "Granny packed some dinner for you. She thought you might be hungry."

Belle reached for the bag and she had to stop herself from stretching her fingers far enough to touch the sleeve of the leather jacket.

Instead she took the bag and opened it, a small smile playing around her lips as she saw her favorite meal and an iced tea. She grabbed the cup and placed the bag with the food untouched on the bedside table next to her.

"I had to promise her you would eat your lunch." Snow pointed at the bag.

Belle shook her head and took a sip from the iced tea. "I'm not hungry. I'll eat later." She hadn't been hungry since everything started. Her last real meal had been at the dinner, while she waited for Ruby's shift to end, so they could start their girls' night.

"How is Granny?"

"She insisted on making everyone dinner before we could finally persuade her to lie down. It didn't take her long to fall asleep." Snow smirked, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "David is staying with her."

Belle nodded. "That's good. She hasn't left the hospital since you brought Ruby in."

Snow stepped closer to the bed. Her hand reached out, but she hesitated for a moment, like she was afraid to hurt her friend even more, before she finally brushed an imaginary hair from Ruby's forehead.

"She feels so cold." Snow shook her head. "She never felt cold." She remembered the heat from Red's body, close to hers on the small cot they shared in their cabin. More than once it had been the only thing keeping the sharp cold at bay and her from freezing to death.

"I'll stay here forever," Snow announced with a sigh as the warmth seeped into her, chasing off the cold that had tortured her for so long.

Her head was resting on Red's chest and she felt her laugh as it reverberated through her chest. "At one point we'll have to get up, at least to get food or firewood."

"Not until this winter is over," Snow answered with as much authority as a princess on the run could muster and shuddered.

"Still cold?" Red asked, tightening her arms around the shorter girl.

Snow shook her head, suddenly too tired to form a coherent answer. Sleepily she snuggled closer. It wasn't just the bodily warmth that Red contributed, but the knowledge that she wasn't alone that helped her to relax enough to finally find sleep. Someone was with her, protecting her and maybe just maybe she had a slight chance to survive at last.

She hadn't remembered when she had felt so safe before.

It was her fault.

She hadn't been able to keep Red safe.

She swallowed, her throat suddenly too tight.

"You look tired," Snow stated, for the first time since she had entered the room making eye contact with Belle. "Go home, get some sleep." She grabbed Ruby's hand, her thumb brushing over her knuckles. "I'll stay with her."

It was meant as a nice gesture, but still Belle couldn't shake the feeling of being dismissed.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said as she lowered her cell-phone, the regret visibly in her expression.

Belle didn't need to ask who had interrupted their girls' night. It wasn't the first time this had happened and sometimes Belle wondered if Snow did it on purpose. Once she had called just because she had had a flat tire and didn't find her movable car lifter.

Ruby never questioned Snow, but did as asked and Belle never voiced her suspicions.

"I have to go. She needs me." Ruby's brows were furrowed slightly, like she was still processing whatever Snow had told her.

Belle sat up on the couch, where they had lounged while watching a romantic comedy from the eighties. "What happened?" Something was different this time. Ruby seemed tense, her eyes still directed at her cell-phone.

Belle placed her hand on Ruby's knee, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Ruby looked up at her, her eyes dark and full of worry. "King George escaped."

Belle gasped. "How? I thought he was under arrest." Memories of a mob rummaging through the town in search of Ruby flooded her mind and involuntarily her grip on Ruby's knee tightened.

"He obviously had help. They knocked out cold Sleepy on his watch at the sheriff's office."

"Is he hurt?" Belle asked concerned.

Ruby shook her head as she grabbed her boots and started to put them on. "The dwarfs are hard headed. I think the only thing hurt is his pride." She tried to joke to lighten up the situation, her grin more like a grimace than a real smile.

"What happens now?" Belle was afraid that she already knew what Ruby was about to do.

Ruby patted the hand on her knee, before she stood up and put her jacket on. "I'll track him down."

"But that's dangerous." Belle stood up as well, stepping close to Ruby. "What if it's a trap?"

Ruby's features of her face softened and her eyes swirled with emotions Belle couldn't decipher. "Don't worry. I'm the best. I'll find him and then I call the others. No danger in that, I've done it thousands of times before," Ruby tried to reassure her, but nothing could calm down the panic that threatened to take her breath away.

"I know you're the best, but that won't stop me from worrying." A knot was forming in the pit of her stomach.

Once before she had been close to losing Ruby and the fear that the same man who had tried to kill her was now on the loose and that Ruby would go after him overruled any rational thought. When awake at night she had formed many arguments on why, what she would be doing next was wrong, but right now she couldn't remember a single one of them.

Right now she wanted to give Ruby a reason to be careful and to come back to her.

She grabbed the lapel of Ruby's jacket and pulled her closer. Even in her high heels she was shorter than her, but barefoot she had to stand on her toes and still there was the difference in height she conquered by pulling Ruby down to her.

Surprise was in Ruby's eyes when their lips met and Belle's hands clawed into the fabric of the faux fur Ruby liked so much to wear.

Afraid that Ruby might push her back it took her a moment to realize that Ruby's arms were around her waist, pulling her against the taller woman's body and then she was lost in the sensation of Ruby's lips moving against hers.

When they seperated the grin on Ruby's lips was matching her own.

"Are you sure?" Ruby's voice was filled with insecurity and Belle cursed herself, because she had put it there.

"Yes."

"What about…"

Belle interrupted her with a second kiss, this time it was slow and steady. "I'm exactly where I want to be. Okay?"

Ruby nodded. "I wish I didn't have to go."

"Me too." Belle wanted to stay in her arms forever.

"I give you a call as soon as I'm back and everything is over."

"No," Belle shook her head. A call wasn't good enough. "Come back here, to me. I don't care how late or early it'll be. I'll wait for you."

A part of her was still waiting in her small apartment over the library, waiting for Ruby to come over, because the awful call made by Leroy from Ruby's phone, telling her that Ruby was severely injured and in the hospital, wasn't enough.

It was one more thing she hated Snow for.

The woman knew that Ruby and her were friends and still she didn't find it important enough to call her herself.

"Why didn't you call?" she asked, the accusing tone in her voice obvious.

"I'm sorry?" Snow seemed confused.

"Why didn't you call me instead of Leroy?"

Snow starred at her like she had lost her mind. "Because there were more pressing matters, like saving Ruby's life."

Ruby was staring at her, her dark eyes wide and filled with fear and confusion and pain. Sown held her gaze, trying to give her something to hold onto, to anchor her. Her free hand brushed over Red's forehead, feeling the cold sweat.

Under her touch Red closed her eyes, her features relaxing slightly. It was the longest second of her life, her heart stopping to beat till Red opened her eyes again.

This time they didn't focus on her anymore but at a point at the roof of the car, the normally clear eyes missing their spark as they gazed at something only she could see.

Snow looked up in front of her. "Drive faster," she ordered Charming from the backseat, where she was sitting with Red's head in her lap.

"I'm driving as fast as I can." Their eyes met in the rearview mirror, his sympathy too much for her.

Red's breathing had changed too. Every intake of breath now sounded shallow and painful. It was a scary sound and for the first time in her life Snow feared that Red could die, really die, without a possibility to bring her back.

Technically she knew that no one was immortal, not even a werewolf and still not once, not even on the battlefield, while fighting the armies of the Evil Queen or that of King George had she been worried for Red's safety.

Her hand pushed down harder on the wound at Red's shoulder, only a small gasp indicating Red's discomfort and hurt.

Granny was watching them from the passenger seat, in her eyes the same desperation Snow felt.

"She's going to be okay." There was a confidence in her voice that she didn't feel, but as a Queen she had learned to give others strength when needed, no matter how weak she felt herself.

Granny nodded, even though she didn't seem to be convinced. Charming took a sharp turn to the left and she had to turn back around for her own safety.

Snow leaned down, her mouth close to Red's ear. "Stay with me." She'd never been too proud to plead.

"She's my friend too," Belle hissed.

"She isn't just a friend, she's family."

"You have a funny way of showing it."

The waiting area was empty when she rushed in, still out of breath. She had run all the way from the library to the other end of the town where the hospital was located.

Confused Belle looked around. She had expected the waiting room to be filled with Ruby's friends, but instead she only found a single person hunched down in one of the chairs.

"Granny!"

The old woman looked up at her voice, something like relief crossing her features. Then she was engulfed in a hug, so tight, she couldn't breathe and it reminded her painfully that Ruby wasn't the only werewolf in this family.

"How is she?"

Granny shook her head. "I, I don't know." Her eyes went to the doors of the emergency room. "I haven't heard anything since we brought her in."

The handkerchief in her hand was crumbled and torn where nervous fingers had worked with it. But what held Belle's attention was the red spot on the arm of her cardigan.

A bright red spot against the beige fabric.

She couldn't tear her eyes from it, realizing for the first time that everything was real. That Leroy's call hadn't been a joke (an irrational thought she had held onto until now), but that Ruby really was hurt and that she hadn't been able to heal herself.

"How bad is it?"

The hand that had torn the handkerchief grabbed hers and it was tearing her apart.

"It's bad. He poisoned her with wolfsbane."

Belle knew from her books how deadly the plant was for human beings. That even a touch could poison you, condemn you to a painful death. She didn't want to think what it could do to a werewolf.

"I could ask Rumpel."

There was a brief moment where she thought that Granny would accept her offer, just a flicker in her eyes, but then it was gone and the older woman shook her head. "Nothing comes for free with him and the price is always too high."

Belle wanted to tell her, that no price was too high if it meant saving Ruby's life.

"She's strong, she will pull through," the old woman said and Belle wasn't sure which one of them she tried to convince.

Silently she vowed that if necessary she would go to Rumpel and offer him whatever he wanted to save Ruby.

"She gets that from her grandmother."

Granny snorted. "This one's really testing my strength." Their good-hearted quarrels were famous in town and it was like watching a tennis game. Still most of the times Granny won and even though Ruby pretended to let the older woman win, Belle knew the truth.

There was only one thing Granny was even better at than annoying the hell out of her granddaughter and that was loving and protecting her.

The smile vanished from Granny's face and was replaced by the desperation again. Her grip on Belle's hand was tight as if she was the only thing that kept her from drowning in sorrow and fear.

"Where are the others?"

"They went after King George."

"No one stayed with you?"

"You're here now."

Yes she was and she wouldn't leave any of the Lucas' family alone.

"You left Granny alone." Belle didn't even try to mask her accusation.

"There was nothing I could do here," Snow yelled before she realized where she was and lowered her voice. "There was nothing I could do here. I couldn't just sit around and wait for …" she stopped and took a deep breath, trying to calm her breathing down and keep the images at bay that threatened to overwhelm her.