Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT and never will blah blah blah you know the drill.

A/N: I had this lying around somewhere and then "re-imaged" it slightly after seeing "In the Name of the Brother" and someone's tumblr post.

Enjoy!

Ruby stared at the moon.

It shone brightly in the sky, its light trickling through the trees, and its semicircular shape indicated she had a couple more weeks before wolfstime.

She had a love-hate relationship with the moon. It calmed the wolf in her, but to her human side, it was a reminder of everyone she'd ever lost: her mother, Quinn, Billy, and Peter.

Her own words echoed in her ears.

"I ate my boyfriend."

She hadn't said those words aloud in a very long time. Sure, she'd mentioned Peter here and there, but she hadn't voiced what she'd done so explicitly.

"I ate my boyfriend."

It was enough to make her stomach churn.

Ruby's ears twitched as she heard someone approach. She didn't turn to look but merely waited until the person was closer before asking, "What are you doing out here?"

"I was about to ask you the same question," Snow responded, not at all surprised by her best friend's cognizance of her approach. She stopped several feet behind Ruby, wanting to give her best friend some space. "David finally told me what happened. I'm sorry about Billy. I'm sorry I wasn't here."

"It's okay," Ruby said quietly. To say more would probably end in tears, and she wasn't sure she was ready for that.

They stood in silence for a while.

"So... you never answered my question." Snow reiterated, though she suspected she knew the answer. "What're you doing out here?"

"Just reminiscing."

"Reminiscing," Snow echoed with a hint of sadness before asking another question she was sure she knew the answer to. "About what?"

"You should go home, Snow," Ruby deflected.

Snow walked forward until she was standing shoulder to shoulder with Red. "I don't think I will."

Ruby sighed. "What if I said I wanted to be alone?"

Snow felt conflicted. On the one hand, she wanted to respect her friend's wishes. On the other, leaving Ruby alone with her thoughts didn't seem like the right thing to do. "Do you really?"

A noncommittal shrug answered her question.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," Snow repeated.

"Wasn't your fault."

"You could've told me."

"Wouldn't have done any good," Ruby said with a shake of the head. "What's done is done. You're happy to be back, and I'm happy you're back, and we didn't need that hanging over our heads."

Turning to the taller woman, Snow placed a hand on her chin, pulling gently so their eyes would meet. "I was going to find out sometime. I would have preferred to hear it from you."

Ruby nodded her understanding.

Snow gently led the other woman to a fallen tree, so they could sit. "Talk to me."

Taking a deep breath, Ruby gathered her wits and said, "I told Whale about Peter."

"Oh, Red," Snow murmured sadly, the fairytale nickname slipping through her lips. Her surprise that Ruby had told that particular man about Peter was overridden by her knowledge that the guilt her friend felt over the incident ran deep and never faded.

"You know, I was doing okay..." Ruby trailed off. "Back in our land, I was doing okay. I couldn't escape the memories, but I'd learned to live with them, learned to control the wolf so I wouldn't be so afraid of something like that happening again. "

When Ruby had told Whale about taking this second chance, she'd been honest. Storybrooke Ruby had never eaten her boyfriend or killed her mother. Sometimes, she could submerge herself in Ruby's memories - albeit false ones - and pretend that she'd grown up a miserably contained small town girl desperate to see the outside world who'd matured into a reliable, normal woman.

But nothing was ever perfect.

Snow rubbed her best friend's back and waited for her to continue.

"And then the curse broke, Billy was killed, and I... I couldn't remember anything..." Ruby could feel the helplessness returning, and she leaned into Snow for comfort. "I don't blame everyone for suspecting me. I couldn't trust myself. Why should they?"

"Don't say that," Snow rebuked her gently.

"It's true. Peter trusted me, and I -"

Before Ruby could continue, Snow said vehemently, "It's not true. I trust you. David trusts you. Granny trusts you. I know it's hard, but you are definitely worthy of your own trust."

And because that was easier said than done, Ruby said instead, "Not knowing is always the worst."

"I know." Maybe Snow didn't understand how it felt to be so scared of oneself, but she'd spent enough time around Red to know how hard it had been for her friend. "But you have to promise me that if something like that ever happens again, you don't run off to face the mob. You don't do anything stupid like that. Promise me."

"I promise," Ruby responded dutifully, her eyes meeting Snow's so the other woman would know her promise was an honest one.

"You wanna keep talking?" Snow asked after a pause, aware that unfortunately Red's tragedies weren't limited to Peter and Billy.

Ruby shook her head.

Snow stood. "Let's go back. David and Henry are at my place, but maybe we can go back to yours? We can sit on your bed, talk, giggle, and be wary that Granny would barge in on us just like old times."

"Sounds good." Hugging the smaller woman tightly, Ruby muttered a genuine, "Thanks."

"Anytime," Snow replied with an easy smile as they started their walk back to town, arms still around each other.

And because she couldn't resist, she added, "But if you break your promise, I will hit you on the snout with a newspaper."

fin

Thanks for reading!