A Unique Way of Speaking
Once Upon A Time
Regina/Ruby (Red Queen)
Rated PG
Summary: Ruby uses her words to try and woo the Evil Queen.
Disclaimers….not my characters or my show etc etc.
A/N: Ok these last two scenes got a way from me. It' very likely they may be edited/revised at a later time.
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Ruby turned the open sign to closed and flipped the lights off inside the diner. She stepped outside to bring in the specials sign from the sidewalk but paused to indulge in a slow stretch of her exhausted body, unaware of the intense gaze watching the unintentionally erotic movement off to her right.
She sighed as she accepted that it was the end of another day where she hadn't seen Regina and she was beginning to worry that the far too intuitive woman had figured out it was Ruby who sent the notes and was now avoiding her.
"Was that delicious display of stretching another little gift for me dear?"
At the unexpected whisper in her ear, Ruby jumped a foot, squeaked and turned around only to meet the highly amused gaze of Regina Mills.
"Well God damn, Regina, give me a heart attack why don't you?"
"Sorry," Regina said, smiling wider. "I assumed you would have noticed my approach."
"Well I didn't," Ruby grumbled, her heart racing a mile a second from the surprise as well as the feel of Regina's breath on her neck. Suddenly the words Regina had whispered finally registered and her throat tightened nervously.
"What was that about a gift?" She asked as innocently as she was able given that her knees threatened to collapse.
"Come now Miss Lucas, you really didn't think I'd figure it out?"
"I was hoping you wouldn't," Ruby sighed in resignation, knowing there was absolutely no point in denying it.
"Did you mean it?"
Ruby's eyes flew toward the dark eyes that no longer held any amusement. "Yeah," she answered plainly. "Every word."
"Why?"
Ruby ran her hands through her hair, hating the fact she'd underestimated Regina and now had to brace herself for massive humiliation.
"Because," she answered, hoping it would be enough. She should have known better.
Regina's eyes slid over Ruby's slender frame, taking careful note of the form fitting dark jeans and somewhat odd sweater she was wearing.
"That is an answer a ten year old would provide," she said, trying hard not to think of the ten-year-old son who no longer wanted her. "You are certainly no child."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Ruby returned cheekily, her anxiety easing somewhat by the fact that she was still in one piece.
"Hm," Regina watched the waitress for a moment and let her mind contemplate the various and delightful possibilities stemming from the discovery that this very unique and naturally sensual woman was attracted to her. "I'm still waiting," she finally prodded.
It took a second for Ruby's mind to restart after having just undergone the hottest perusal she'd ever been subjected to.
"Uh, let's take this off the street," she stalled and held the door to the diner for Regina to enter. She quickly locked the door in case Leroy got a case of the drunken munchies and decided to pay a last minute visit.
"Where's your grandmother?" Regina asked, looking around the deserted diner.
"She went home. Can I get you something?" Ruby asked. "I can put on some coffee."
"There's no need. You've already turned everything off."
"I'll put on some water for tea," Ruby said and practically ran to the kitchen, shivering at the throaty chuckle coming from her unexpected visitor.
Regina sat in one of the booths far enough from the big windows so anyone walking by wouldn't see them, but close enough that the moonlight allowed her to witness Ruby's endearingly embarrassed floundering and she found herself inexplicably charmed by it. She was beginning to believe that Ruby hadn't been playing games with her and that just made Regina even more anxious to know why Snow White's best friend of all people was attempting to woo the 'Evil' Queen. Unfortunately, she was going to have to wait as Ruby had apparently developed a sudden case of shyness and would be in the kitchen until she had absolutely no reason to stay.
Regina waited patiently…for a while, but just as she decided to join her reluctant hostess in the kitchen for a little more werewolf baiting, Ruby appeared carrying two cups of steaming tea.
She slid in the booth across from Regina and took her time putting as much powdered cream and sugar as she could manage and then looked up to meet Regina's inscrutable gaze before her attention was drawn to the sinfully full lips lifted in a sincere grin.
"What?" she finally asked, feeling like a sleeping mouse in front of a very dangerous cat.
"Nothing," Regina said innocently. "However, whenever your done procrastinating, I would like an explanation," she added quietly.
"How did you figure out it was me?" Ruby prevaricated.
Regina's lips twitched. "There are only two people in this town who have such…interesting ways of speaking and seeing as one of them is currently off sight seeing in New York with my son…"
"Yeah, I'm sorry she did that," Ruby interrupted sincerely. "She should have asked you or at least told you, though I think that she was probably afraid you'd say no, given what happened between you."
"She would have been right," Regina snarled, before taking a calming breath. "However, that's not the issue at hand. The fact is my dear little Wolf; your outspokenness gave you away. So tell me, why did you do all of this?"
"Why can't you leave it alone?" Ruby asked almost desperately. "I said I wouldn't send anymore."
Regina saw the fear in Ruby's eyes and instead of pouncing on it, she found herself unaccountably moved.
"I'm afraid I can't leave it alone," she said kindly. "My initial reaction was that you were trying to humiliate me. Was I wrong?"
"No!...I mean yes, you were wrong," Ruby said leaning forward. "I never wanted that."
"Then what is it you do want? I want the truth Ruby and please relax. If I were going to turn you into something unpleasant, I would have done so by now."
Ruby snorted, having no doubt the woman meant it. "I don't want anything," she answered honestly. "I just… I like you Regina and I thought maybe it would …I just wanted you to know."
"I don't understand," Regina said, thoroughly confused. "You like me…what does that mean?"
Ruby rolled her eyes. For a worldly, dangerous and imposing former Queen, Regina Mills could be painfully naïve. Somehow, that realization calmed her nerves and made her more a bit more confident.
"It means that you're one of…no, you're THE most fascinating person I've ever met. You're so restrained and controlled all the time but I can see the loneliness in your eyes. I can sense the power and the danger hiding just under the surface and it…" she paused as she realized that she was saying way too much.
"And it what?" Regina pushed, fighting the urge to completely demolish the waitress for her presumption. The near pleading for understanding in Ruby's eyes silenced her anger before it had fully formed.
"It called to me," Ruby explained with an embarrassed shrug as she looked away from Regina's mesmerizing and too probing gaze.
Regina frowned, having no idea what Ruby was saying to her. "It called to you? Normally those are the things that have people running from me."
Ruby looked up and smiled at that. Regina Mills was ridiculously cute when she was confused, though she'd never admit it. She enjoyed life too much. "I like to be different," she said, a full smile crossing her lips for the first time in days.
"Yes you certainly do," Regina acknowledged, leaning back against her seat and once more running her eyes over the long, unstyled dark hair, the make up that was too heavy for every day wear, the clothes that while for once covered her body, still shouted that Ruby 'Little Red' Lucas couldn't be bothered by what others thought of her. All of that was a testament to the girl's craving for individuality and freedom as well as the wildness of the wolf that dwelled inside of her and Regina was growing more intrigued by the second.
Ruby shifted, once again feeling uncomfortably warm at the focused perusal. "Look Regina, I don't really know what made me send you those notes except I knew you'd never let me talk to you in person. Not like this," she gestured between the two of them. "I wasn't expecting anything, even if I was hoping. I just… I don't really understand why, but it started hurting me here," she placed her hand over her heart, "to see the strongest person I've ever known looking so lost. And all I could think about was being the one that you came to. The one that you finally let your walls down for."
"You realize you're saying all of this to your best friend's enemy don't you?" Regina asked with a hint of suspicion still tinting her voice. "I'm the woman who has done everything possible to make her suffer."
Ruby cringed slightly at the reminder and noticing the flare of …something in Regina's eyes when she did. That only served to harden her resolve because she knew what Regina was doing.
"Yeah I know. I also know you did everything but the one thing that would have truly gotten what you wanted. If you really wanted to destroy Snow, all you had to do was kill David or Emma when she was a baby. You didn't so I kind of can't help but think you weren't so much trying to destroy her as much as you were toying with her."
Regina's gaze darkened. "You don't know me Miss Lucas, and your insolent opinions of my motivations are…"
Before Regina could finish her sentence, Ruby leaned across the table and placed her lips over the full lips that had taunted her for years. Dear God, she thought as Regina's grunt of protest quickly faded into a hum of approval. Those blood red lips could spew some of the cruelest barbs designed to cut a person to the heart, but now Ruby knew they could also provide the sweetest softness she'd ever known. Fighting the urge to flick her tongue over Regina's tempting bottom lip, she pulled away and sat back in her seat, trying to still her racing heart and waiting for whatever punishment Regina was about to unleash.
For the first time in her life, Regina Mills was unable to form a coherent thought. Her lips were still tingling wildly and her heart was about to pound out of her chest, which would have been a perversely amusing thought in any other circumstance. She stared at the young brazen waitress who was staring back with a 'so there', expression on her face and against every instinct she had, she found herself charmed by it and she smiled.
"Well, you are a brave woman, I'll give you that," she drawled.
Ruby released the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding; relieved she'd live to try and kiss Regina again someday.
"I do like to push the envelope," she quipped back smugly
"Oh I've noticed dear," Regina said, her voice dropping provocatively.
Ruby swallowed a moan as she imagined what it would be like having that sultry voice purring in her ear in a more intimate setting.
"I'm not sorry for doing that," Ruby announced, once her mind cleared.
"No?"
"Are you sorry that I did?"
Several responses ran through Regina's mind as she studied the somewhat haughty expression, which was belied by the hint of fear in Ruby's eyes. It was, Regina knew, a fear of being rejected. She found herself somewhat disturbed by the fact that she had the power to crush this woman's gentle heart with just a word and equally disturbed by the fact that she didn't want to.
"No I'm not."
The slow broad smile that lifted Ruby's lips was absolutely stunning to watch. It was strange, Regina thought, that the rush of causing that beautiful smile was quite comparable to the rush that filled her whenever she generated an expression of fear.
"Does that mean I can do it again?" Ruby asked hopefully and then her heart fluttered at the first sincere laugh she'd ever heard from Regina Mills. It was the most amazing sound she'd ever heard.
"You know, for a woman who shares her body with a very dangerous wolf, you're awfully…perky," Regina observed drily.
"Yeah I know, but can I?"
Regina laughed again and if she hadn't been blazingly aware that Ruby Lucas was all woman, she would have mocked her for acting like a five year old.
"Perhaps," she teased, before her smile faded. "So, just to be clear on everything, am I to assume that you believe you're attracted to me?"
Ruby snorted and rolled her eyes. "Well geez Regina, if you have to ask, I must be rusty."
"I'm not questioning your skills Ruby," Regina said, her eyes dropping to the lips that had just demonstrated how talented they could be, but she wouldn't allow herself to be distracted. Not yet. "I am, however, questioning your motives."
Ruby sighed. "Of course you are," she muttered. "Is it really that hard for you to believe that I think you're interesting and want to get to know you?" She asked, unknowingly echoing Archie's question.
"Yes," Regina answered bluntly. "Aside from your peculiar attachment to the two women in town who've made it a point to ruin my life, there's the fact that we've rarely spoken two words to each other outside of this diner."
"So?" Ruby grinned. "I've spoken to you enough to know that you're interesting and the fact you're not bad to look at doesn't hurt either."
"Careful my dear, you'll turn my head," Regina replied blithely, enjoying the embarrassed half smile she received.
"I didn't mean it like it sounded," Ruby said quietly. "I'm just not really good at expressing myself," she admitted, ducking her head.
Regina couldn't explain it to save her life, but she found herself reaching across the table and gently pushing the hair back from the beautiful face and then lifting her chin. "Ruby, first of all, I have evidence proving that you are and secondly, never apologize for speaking the way you do or being who you are. " She chuckled as Ruby's gaze flew up to hers.
"Is this the same woman who always criticizes me for being crass and vulgar?" Ruby said skeptically.
Regina saw the sudden wariness in Ruby's expressive eyes and sighed, letting her fingers trail down a soft cheek before pulling back. "Yes it is," she answered simply, "but the truth is that you live how you want and don't give a damn about what I or anyone else has to say about it. I rather admire you for that."
"Really?" Ruby said, flashing the broad smile tinged with a hint of shyness that tended to cause Regina's stomach to flip.
"If you mention I said that to anyone, I'll deny it and then I'll make your life miserable."
Ruby snorted but managed to look properly contrite. "Of course Your Majesty."
"Your notes to me…" Regina paused as she thought about how to proceed. She discovered she really had no desire to mock the surprisingly innocent woman sitting across from her. "To be frank, they weren't the most elegantly worded correspondence I've ever read," she said carefully.
"Gee, thanks," Ruby muttered, a wave of hurt and humiliation washing over her. She should have known. Before Regina could stop her, the slender waitress was out of the booth and headed to the kitchen.
TBC