Mary Margaret entered the diner at quarter after six, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Ruby spotted her immediately and hurried to get her coffee ready. There was only one other person in the diner this early, and he seemed to be trying not to fall asleep in his breakfast. Ruby dragged Mary Margaret to the counter, offering her one of the stools and giving her the cup of coffee.

"What's going on, Ruby?" Mary Margaret stifled a yawn as she spoke. She hadn't been able to get much sleep after being woken up in the middle of the night by the phone call. By the looks of the bags under Ruby's eyes, she hadn't been able to sleep much either. Ruby poured herself a cup of coffee as she responded.

"I think – I might sorta… Belle, I mean she's really great and – well we haven't been friends for long but… maybe I –"

"Have a crush on her?" Interrupted the other woman, causing Ruby to choke on her words.

"Yeah." She deflated as she realized all the implications of the statement, leaning against the counter more heavily as she downed her coffee. Mary Margaret noticed for the first time that Ruby wasn't wearing her usual attire. Instead of the amazingly short shorts that she usually wore, she was wearing a pair of read skinny jeans, and her black tee shirt wasn't revealing in the slightest. Her accessories were loud as usual, but she was the most covered that Mary Margaret had ever seen her. Of course, in comparison with the other woman, Mary Margaret felt a bit shoddy. She sported a pair of white slacks and a blue chemise over a black tank top, nothing to be excited over.

"Ruby, you know that she's with Gold, don't you?" Ruby groaned at the thought.

"Yes, I know. But I just can't stop thinking about her. I was with her last night past one in the morning."

"What were you doing?!" Mary Margaret looked aghast, she could imagine plenty of things that would keep the waitress up that late, but not the librarian.

"Just reading, M&M, don't worry. She read a Jules Verne book out loud to me last night, and we read the whole thing." A giant smile spread across Ruby's face as she got lost in her memories, the kind of smile that made her friend smile for her.

"Then we'll just have to do something about Gold, won't we?" The words startled Ruby out of her reverie, and it took a few moments for their meaning to sink in.

"What do you mean?"

"Well we just have to think of some way for Belle to see that Gold isn't the one for her, and that maybe, you are." Ruby felt as though she could dance for joy, if it wasn't for the other patron in the diner.

"How are we going to do that?" This was all so complicated. It should have been just a problem of getting over her nerves and her fear of rejection and going to ask out the gorgeous librarian. But instead, she had to plan with Mary Margaret to show Belle how she was a superior choice to Gold. How was she supposed to do that when we wasn't even sure if Belle felt the same way? "Wait, what if Belle doesn't think about me like that? Then it'll be a big waste of time."

"Okay, do you want to double check that she has feelings for you?" Mary Margaret had a feeling that of the two tasks, this one would be much easier.

"Yes. But how on earth are we going to do that?" The waitress was back to being flustered, nervously refilling each of their cups before bounding over to check on the sleepy man. To her dismay, he had lost his fight with his tiredness, and she had to gently prod him awake and send him on his way.

"Why don't you bring her here for lunch, and I'll watch how the two of you interact?" The idea of seeing the librarian again made Ruby even more nervous, but at the same time she couldn't wait.

"Sure. But I don't think that there will be a whole lot of time for us to talk, lunch around here is always so crazy." The two friends looked instantly dismayed. It was Mary Margaret who caught up first, and began to beam.

"Ruby, you're opening the diner right now that means that you aren't working the lunch shift." The bell jingled, interrupting Ruby's happy face. Instead, she gave an over exaggerated twirl as she went to seat the Mayor and get her usual breakfast order ready.

"And what has you in such a tizzy today, Ruby?" Asked Regina as the bouncy waitress made her way over to her table with her usual coffee and egg wrap.

"Oh, it's just a lovely day out isn't it, Ms. Mills?" The Mayor didn't answer her, her gaze had been caught by something outside the diner.

"Ruby please tell me you have doughnuts here." Huffed Emma Swan as she stepped inside the diner. "I went to the usual place across the street but they're out. How can you be out of doughnuts?" Ruby didn't notice the way the Mayor was still distracted by something, something that was now inside the diner, causing her to miss her plate entirely with her fork.

"Of course we do, Emma. I keep telling you to check here first." Ruby flittered away behind the counter, getting the Sherriff's usual order of sugary confections ready to go.

"Why is she so happy this early?" Emma had meant her voice to be a whisper, but unfortunately for her, this early in the morning her judgment was off, and even the Mayor sitting at her table was able to hear the remark.

"Because, it's just a lovely day outside." The waitress felt as though nothing could bring her down, she was going to have a lunch date with her friend, and Mary Margaret was going to help her get Gold out of the way. In three seconds flat her entire attitude changed, and she was clutching the counter to support herself.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." Mary Margaret spun around on the stool to see what had caused the abrupt change in Ruby's personality. Belle was crossing the street, on her way to the diner. The seated woman stretched out her hand and laid it on Ruby's giving her a few soothing words before the door opened and the bell jangled. Emma gave Mary Margaret a significant glance before sauntering away with her box of doughnuts. Unable to resist the distracted Mayor, Emma whispered a few remarks in the older woman's ear before continuing on her way to the police department. None of the women remaining in the diner noted the red that colored Regina's face following those comments, or the way that she hurriedly finished her breakfast and left the establishment.

"Good morning, Ruby. Good morning, Mary Margaret." Belle's voice brought both of the women back to the present.

"Hey, uhh – good morning Belle." Ruby ducked her head as she stumbled over her words. While Mary Margaret struck up a conversation with the other woman, Ruby went about preparing her usual iced tea and omelet.

"Ruby, I wanted to thank you again for last night, I had a really good time." This time Belle saw how her words affected the other woman, how her hands slipped just slightly as she realized that Belle was talking to her.

"Yeah, me too." Before she could lose her courage, she continued, "Hey, why don't you come over here for lunch today?"

"Sure! I'll try to remember lunch." Her enthusiasm waned a bit when she saw the confusion on Mary Margaret's face. "I tend to get lost in my work, that's why Ruby usually brings me lunch, so that I don't forget to eat."

It was apparent that of the three women, not a single one of them had managed to get a good night's sleep. Each of them was yawning through their tasks, be it eating or in Ruby's case, cleaning. Before long the diner was bustling with customers as the town slowly awoke. Ruby missed Mary Margaret taking her exit, but she caught it when Belle tried to leave without saying anything. She twirled around again to pass through the crowd of people in the diner, ending up beside the quiet woman and giving her a bump with her hip.

"You weren't planning on leaving without saying goodbye, were you?" Belle looked up into Ruby's hazel eyes, getting lost for a moment before remembering to reply.

"No, of course not. You just looked busy."

"I can always find time for you." Ruby couldn't tear her eyes away, even though she knew she should. There was just something about Belle, something that drew her to the other woman, wanting to be closer. Archie bumped into Ruby as he left the diner, causing her to stumble and break eye contact with Belle.

"Oh, my apologies Ruby, I wasn't looking where I was going." The man looked truly upset at having disturbed the two women.

"Its fine, Archie. Have a nice day!" The waitress training in her took over as she spoke. When she looked back to Belle she noticed that her friend look a little lost and confused all of the sudden.

"Hey, are you okay?" Belle looked up again, this time making sure not to look into Ruby's eyes, instead her gaze fell on her lips which were widening into a smile.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I should probably head to work." Ruby sighed as she watched the other woman head out the door.

"Don't forget about lunch!" She shouted to Belle, who was already halfway across the street. She smiled and lifted her hand in a slight wave, ignoring the looks of the people both in the diner and on the street.

"I won't!"

Here you go! I'm working hard on not getting distracted on this one. I'm trying to get as many chapters out as I can before the weekend hits and I'm computer-less.

Let me know what you think!

Sya