Previously on Shot Through the Heart:

She saw a muted red through the sea of white, which she would have ignored if it wasn't the exact shade of red as his hair. It only took her about a few seconds to realize that it was his hair, and the rest of him with it. Archie was lying in the snow, missing his winter coat, his tweed jacket, and his sweater vest. His dress shirt was all he was wearing to protect his torso from the cold, and it was soaked with melted snow, and … blood.

He told her that the Blue Fairy, the purest magician anyone had ever met, had shot him with a gun and left him to freeze to death or bleed out on the street.


Archie woke up to an agonizing throb in his chest. The pain was so intense that it was all he could focus on for a little while. Eventually, he became aware of his surroundings, which were difficult to make out because of his missing glasses. He was still in Ruby's house, bundled under several layers of blankets. In fact, that was part of what had woken him up; he was starting to sweat. Well, he supposed being buried under ten or more blankets would do that to you. However, he didn't know how to get them off without aggravating his injury. He could call for Ruby, but he could see her sitting in a recliner not far away, sleeping. Archie didn't want to wake her up, not if he could help it. He could take care of himself.

It only took him slightly moving his arm to realize that was a terrible idea. Even the smallest of movements caused the pain to flair and become much more intense. Well, he really didn't have a choice. "Ruby," he called out softly, wincing as even calling out her name moved the muscles in his chest and caused him more pain.

She was awake in an instant, and she walked over to him. "What is it? Are you alright?"

Feeling a little like a five-year-old, he muttered, "I'm hot." Almost instantly, she took about half the blankets off him.

"Are you really hot, or only a little? Should I put a few more blankets back on you, or take more off."

"Good for now. Thank you." She nodded, but still hovered over him, as if she was unsure what to say, or if he needed more help.

"Are you hungry, or thirsty? I have more Tylenol if you need it." A smile slowly spread over his face. It was nice to have someone caring about him. Usually, it was the other way around, with patients or friends needing his help. Now, though, his friend was looking after him, and it felt good to know there were people who would help him when he needed it.

"Tylenol and water sounds great. Do you have soup?" He was starving, but he worried that he'd aggravate his injury by chewing more so than by simply swallowing. Of course, literally everything he did made the pain worse.

"Yeah, I can make some tomato soup," Ruby reassured him, before leaving for the kitchen. She came back quickly, with the water and Tylenol, helping him take the pills before going to make the soup he'd requested.

He lay still, trying to think of anything other than being shot in the chest and left to die, but that seemed to be the only think his brain wanted to dwell on. Without Ruby or sleep as a distraction, the terror he'd felt was the only thing he could focus on.

"Darn it!" he heard from the kitchen. He tried to figure out what was wrong, but he didn't have to wonder for long. Soon, Ruby was back in the room. "So, the power's out. Do you like room temperature soup?" He chuckled slightly. He really couldn't get a break, could he? "We also have yogurt, fruit, and a lot of things I need the oven to make, so …"

"Yogurt sounds good."

"What flavor? I've got strawberry, blackberry, or raspberry."

"Um, strawberry." She went to go get the yogurt. So, now the storm had knocked out the power. It almost seemed like even the blizzard wanted him to suffer. Without heating, it would be much harder to stay warm …

"Pongo!" he exclaimed, right as Ruby walked back in with the food. "He's all alone."

"You sure Marco didn't get him?" Ruby questioned, trying to stay optimistic. She was right, of course. He lived right next door to his friend, and Marco had been known to take care of Pongo during bad storms before. It was best to assume his dog was safe. So now, instead of being worried about his dog, he was worried about how long it had taken his brain to think about Pongo. His critical thinking skills were slipping dramatically. Then again, maybe he should give himself a break. He'd almost died, from more than one cause. Honestly, was it a surprise that he hadn't thought about Pongo until now?

"You're right. He's probably fine." Ruby propped him up, and fed him, making him feel like a complete baby. At least the yogurt was tasty.

"So, um, I dried off your pants. We can probably put them back on soon," Ruby offered. Oh, right. He'd almost forgotten that he wasn't wearing anything, if you didn't count the mound of blankets piled on top of him. "And, you're not wearing that bloodstained shirt, but luckily, I still have your Christmas sweater."

Ah yes, the sweater. The one he'd lent her for the crazy sweater party. He'd almost forgotten that she hadn't returned it yet, but now he was glad she hadn't. Not only did it mean he'd actually be wearing a shirt, but his red sweater with the giant reindeer head on it, while ridiculous looking, was one of the most comfortable articles of clothing he owned.

"Thank you." She looked at him strangely when he said that, but he supposed he was just seeing things. After all, Ruby looked totally different when he wasn't wearing glasses. She got up to get his clothes, but as she did, her hand brushed slowly against his forehead. Very slowly.

"You think I have a fever," he accused, causing her to shift slightly. She'd probably hoped he wouldn't notice.

"You do have a fever. I felt it last night, and it's gone down a little, but it's still there." She hadn't trusted him about Blue, she'd just waited until he drifted off to see if he was having fever-induced hallucinations. Of course, the fact that she was right about his temperature only made it worse.

He attempted to move his hand, to feel the heat for himself, only to be painfully reminded of his current limitations. He groaned, grateful he'd managed not to scream, and let his hand fall back to his side, where it wasn't bothering the muscles in his chest. "You'll just have to take my word for it," Ruby informed him, trying to keep the worry out of her voice, but failing to.

"Alright." He still knew what he'd seen. Even if Ruby was going to use his fever as an excuse for him having imagined Blue's evolvement, it wouldn't change the facts. He knew Blue was planning on casting a curse, and that she had been hiding her true nature for years. Having a hot forehead didn't change that.

Luckily, Ruby didn't comment on why his theory was incorrect; she simply helped him back into clothes. He decided right then and there that he should have thanked Marco more heartily for the reindeer sweater; it was warm, comfortable, and all around amazing. Who cared about the ridiculous reindeer on the front, or any of the other overly cheesy objects the sweater displayed? He sure didn't, at least, not anymore.

"Alright, are you comfortable?" Ruby questioned after covering her charge back up with blankets.

"Yes. Thank you."

"Do you need anything else?" He'd had no idea that Ruby took such good care of injured people. He'd never seen this side of her before, and he wondered where she got it from.

"No. Thank you, though." She nodded, before walking back over to the recliner. She sat down, and instead of grabbing a book or something, like he'd thought she would, she leaned back, reminding him that he'd woken her up. She was trying to go back to sleep, and she was sleeping on the recliner instead of on her bed because she wanted to be close by in case he needed her.

"I'm sorry." She sat up, and he could feel her eyes studying him curiously.

"What for?"

"For waking you up. For making you sleep on the recliner instead of your bed. For …"

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there," Ruby interrupted, surprising Archie. "You don't have to feel sorry for waking me up, or whatever else you're blaming yourself for. I'm happy to help you, especially since you've been shot in the chest. If you ask me, that's a pretty good reason to 'inconvenience someone,' which was basically what you're apologizing for, and you're not even doing that, because you're not an inconvenience. Anyway, the only person who should be apologizing is the one who shot you in the chest. You have absolutely nothing to apologize for, got it?"

He nodded weakly, but he felt a small smile spread across his lips. She didn't mind taking care of him; it wasn't a burden in her mind. He supposed he got that mentality from his parents; they'd always made a big deal about 'having to' take care of him when he got sick. But Ruby didn't view it as a chore, she didn't mind it, and that took a huge amount of guilt off his shoulders.

Ruby paced restlessly, but quietly. She really didn't want to wake Archie up, figuring that sleep was a really good thing for him to get right now. But, after his apology, she couldn't help but feel uncontrollably angry. Angry at the people who'd shot him, angry at whoever had made him feel that being taken care of was something he needed to apologize for, and angry at the stupid blizzard that was literally making every part of this so much harder. If it wasn't for the blizzard, Archie would be in the hospital, with warm food and proper medicine, being taken care of by a professional who knew what they were doing. Instead, he was stuck on her couch, with a makeshift bandage covering up the wound, which still contained a bullet. He was surviving off of yogurt, with only minimal pain killers, and she had no idea how to take care of him. Archie was practically treating his injury himself, since all she did was what he told her too. It was a terribly frustrating situation, and one that she had absolutely no control over.

Suddenly, out of the blue, the kitchen light turned on. She barely suppressed a cheer of joy. Finally, things were looking up a little. The oven was yet again at her disposal, and while he'd requested soup earlier, she decided she should make him something special, so he'd feel better. Good food always helped her when she was having a bad day, and this certainly qualified.

Ruby decided to make spaghetti, one of her favorite comfort foods, as well as chocolate cake. She didn't typically make cake for anything other than special occasions, but it kind of was a special occasion. It wasn't every day that someone survived getting shot in the chest and being left out in a blizzard. That counted as a special occasion, right? Either way, Ruby was counting it, because she could really use the chocolate, and she had a feeling he could, too.

Just as she was about to put the cake in the oven and the noodles on to boil, her phone rang. Cell service was back up! That meant it could only be a matter of time before the blizzard let up enough for Archie to get to the hospital, where he could get proper care. Trying to ignore the small, irrational part of her that said she'd miss him when he was safely in the hospital, she picked up her phone. It was Whale, and she couldn't wait to get some practical advice on how to heal Archie.

"Victor, thank God!"

"Ruby, how is he? Is he stable?"

"Yes, I think he'll be fine, but the sooner we get him to the hospital …"

"Well, he's not coming to the hospital," Whale interjected. "It's too dangerous for him here. That's why I'm calling; we need to fake his death."

Pure shock kept Ruby from answering him for a little while. "Who wants him dead that badly that even the hospital isn't safe for him?"

The silence on Victor's end lasted so long that Ruby started to wonder if he remembered how to talk. "You won't believe me."

A sense of dread started to fill her. Could Archie be right? "Try me."

"I think Blue might want him dead. I don't have anything confirmed, but …" Victor quickly rambled, words almost slurring together as he rushed to explain himself before she could tell him that he was wrong. Not that she was going to, of course. What Victor was saying just confirmed Archie's own observations; Blue was evil and up to something.

"It's alright, Victor. I believe you. Archie told me Blue had him killed, because he overheard her planning to cast a curse." Again, the silence lasted a long time.

"Why would she want to cast a curse?"

"He doesn't know that."

"Alright, okay, we can worry about that later," Whale said, sounding pretty shaken by the turn of events. "Anyway, I've made a fake body, and we can bury it in the snow where …"

"Wait, fake body? You made a fake body for Archie?"

"Yes, keep up Ruby," he said, as if making fake bodies was an everyday occurrence. "Anyway, if you show me where you found him, we can put it there, bury it under the snow. If we do it soon, the continuing snowfall will hide any evidence of us tampering with it."

"Well, you've thought this through," Ruby commented. "Okay, yeah, meet me at Granny's as soon as you can. It was near there."

"Will do. See you soon." With that, Victor hung up. Ruby walked back into her living room, and threw her coat on. She was about to head out the door, when his voice stopped her.

"Not again." She turned around to look at Archie, and she saw the worry on his face. "I don't want to put everyone through that again." He didn't want everyone to think he was dead again. Archie didn't want anyone, especially Marco and Henry, to experience the grief and heartache anymore.

"It's either fake your death, or let Blue know you're alive, which will make her hunt you down, until she finds you, and kills you. Either way, they're going to be grieving for you. At least this way, you don't actually have to die." He nodded, showing that he understood, even if he still hated the idea. "Okay, do you need anything before I go?"

He shook his head, but just then, her phone rang again. "Don't make a sound," she warned as she answered.

"Hey, this is Ruby."

"Hey, Ruby, it's Belle. I just wanted to see how you're doing, what with the blizzard and all. I told Rumple we should check on you, since you'd be all alone, but he said we wouldn't want to startle you."

"Well, yeah, he was probably right about that. Anyway Belle, I'm fine. I am trying to sleep in though." She felt absolutely terrible for lying to her friend, but honestly, it was the quickest way she could think of to get off the phone.

"Really? It's almost noon, Ruby."

"I'm taking full advantage of my day off. So, I'll call you later, Belle."

"Okay, Ruby. Sleep well." She hung up, and shoved the phone in her pocket, already deciding not to answer it for anyone but Victor once she got outside. She didn't want someone to hear the wind shrieking louder than it should.

"See you later, Archie."

"Okay Ruby. Stay warm." Stay warm. Somehow, he managed to infuse those two simple words with worry and compassion. It warmed her up, more so than the layers of jackets she was wearing, and it made her wonder if he had a crush on her, just like she had a crush on him.

"I will, don't worry." Then, she opened the door to face the freezing wind and snow, hoping that they weren't faking his death for no reason. Because, if they were, there were going to be a lot of Storybrooke citizens wanting revenge on them, for yet again faking their psychiatrist's death.