Ruby led Belle away from the crowd in the diner, not wanting her to be the center of attention. Granny backed out of the way, shooing anyone who made an attempt to follow away, including Emma. The trip up the stairs was short, and Belle found herself in Ruby's room for the first time.

"Sit down honey." When she say the state of disarray that the bed was in, sheets and blankets tangled together and strewn haphazardly across the bed, she nearly smiled, but the pain in her cheek reminded her what had just happened. Fresh tears started to fall. Ruby sat her down gently on the edge of the bed and sat with her back against the headboard before pulling Belle backwards and into her embrace.

With being nestled in between Ruby's legs, wrapped up into her chest, Belle felt safe. Her tears slowed, and her breath hitched when Ruby tilted her face upwards, wiping the tear tracks away. She knew that she must look terrible, eyes rimmed with red, face puffy not to mention the hand print on her cheek, but the way that Ruby was looking at her, as though she was the most precious thing in the world made her feel infinitely better.

"Shh, it's okay sweetie. Take your time. I'm right here." In response Belle lowered her head to Ruby's shoulder, curling up to be closer to the other woman, if that was possible. Her tears slowed while her breaths lengthened, and she unconsciously nuzzled her nose into Ruby's neck. As hard as she tried, Ruby couldn't stop her heart from beating faster at Belle's actions, or merely at the fact that Belle was so close to her. She ran her hand up and down the other woman's back, trying to sooth her. She knew that Belle wouldn't talk to her until she was ready.

"I'm not going anywhere, you're safe here." Ruby continued to speak softly to Belle, calming her down from her fright.

"Thank you." The words were barely audible, but Ruby caught them. When Belle sat up a little so that she could look the taller woman in the face, Ruby was sad at the loss of contact.

"Of course. I'm here for you, always." She reached over and brushed the hair out from in front of Belle's face, tucking the brown locks behind her ear so that she had an unobstructed view of her face. "Do you want to tell me what happened? You don't have to, we can just sit here."

"I uh – I don't know." More tears glistened in her eyes and Ruby hastened to wrap her arms around her again, seeking to give her comfort.

"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." There was silence for a few moments, but Ruby was happy that there weren't any more sobs.

"I just don't want you to get hurt." Again the words were barely above a whisper, but with her mouth so close to Ruby's ear it wasn't hard for her to hear them.

"Belle, you're the one that's hurt. It's me that should be worrying about you, not the other way around. I won't get hurt." The tenderness in Ruby's voice as well as her concern almost brought Belle to tears again.

"Promise me you won't get mad?" Ruby sighed, pulling Belle closer into her body before she responded.

"I promise. I could never get mad at you." Fearing that if she didn't speak now she would never say what she needed to, Belle didn't correct Ruby, instead she slowly began to tell her story. She could tell how angry Ruby was getting when she got to the part about Mr. Gold telling her to stay away, but she didn't let it stop her. The woman beneath her was positively shaking in anger when she explained how he'd hit her for disobeying him. For saying that she was her own woman.

"Oh, God Belle. How on earth could he do that?! Nothing about that was ok –" Seeing another display of uncontrolled anger, Belle ducked her head. She knew that Ruby had every right to be angry, but she couldn't handle seeing so much rage again. Ruby noticed her mistake as soon as she started shouting, and stopped instantly. She forced herself to calm down and to take Belle in her arms again. Belle was the important piece right now, she could get her revenge on Mr. Gold later. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I know I promised I wouldn't get mad, but there is now way that what he did was okay. He hurt you, and I can't let that go."

Even though she was speaking much softer this time, even though Ruby was rocking them back and forth slightly on the bed, even though she could hear how much Ruby cared about her, Belle could still hear the anger in her voice.

"I don't want you to get hurt." Her voice was thick with tears, she spoke over a lump in her throat. "Please. I can't lose you."

The pain in Belle's voice made Ruby react without thinking, she drew her in even closer, their bodies melding together in the bed. The silence that overtook the room wasn't an uncomfortable one, both women were reveling in the way it felt to be with the other. A long period of time passed before Ruby realized that she probably needed to get back to work in the diner. Still, she didn't move, Belle was comfortable and that's what was important right now, Granny would understand. It was Belle who made the first move to sit up.

"I should go. I need to get some more work done, and so do you." With that she disentangled herself from Ruby and stood up. The lack of warmth from Ruby made the air around her feel colder than normal and she shivered. Ruby nodded slowly, not really wanting Belle to leave. She didn't have a good excuse to make her stay, and so she escorted her out the backdoor, letting her escape without having to deal with anyone in the diner. She watched from the doorway until she saw Belle go into the library. She almost followed, needing to be sure that Mr. Gold had followed Belle's orders and had left the library when she saw Belle appear in the window. Belle gave a smile and a wave, letting Ruby know that she was okay, and that Gold wasn't around anymore. Never the less, Ruby vowed to keep a close eye on the library that day, and every day after to watch out for Gold.

"What happened?"

"Is Belle all right?"

"Is everything okay?"

"Where is she?" Ruby was assaulted with questions the minute she stepped back out into the diner. Granny, Emma, Mary Margaret and others were standing around the counter, waiting for answers from her.

"Belle is okay now. She just needed someone to talk to and calm down. Please, leave her be." When she assuaged their worries most of the patrons went away, leaving her alone with her grandmother and the two roommates.

"What really happened Ruby?" She was Ruby's best friend, she knew every look on the woman's face, including her lying face. The one that she was wearing right now was most definitely her lying face.

"It was Gold. He went to the library to ask her out to dinner. He did the same thing yesterday but she said she had plans with me, and she said the same thing today. He didn't like that answer." There was no need to elaborate, everyone knew what had happened. Emma had called Mary Margaret, and brought her up to speed when she had arrived at the diner. There was no way that Emma or Granny had missed the bright red handprint on Belle's face.

"What are we going to do?" Emma spoke quietly, not wanting to draw more attention to themselves. Ruby was finding it hard to stand still, she paced back and forth behind the counter, turning when she ran into the wall or Granny.

"Do? What are we going to do? I'm going to go beat the shit out of him, that's what I'm going to do!" Rationally she knew that she wouldn't get away with it. Emma was the Sheriff, and she would have to arrest her for assault. But it didn't matter, she needed to make sure that Gold stayed away from Belle, at whatever the cost.

"No. No, I am not locking up my friend." When Emma's hands slapped on the table it startled Ruby out of her routine. "There's another way."

"What other way? He has got to stay away from her. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that he doesn't get near her again." She felt a hand on hers, and when she looked down she saw that it was Mary Margaret's. The look in her friend's eyes was on of sympathy, but also of understanding.

"We'll figure out a way. But a way that doesn't involve you getting thrown in jail." As much as she saw the reason in her friends' words, she couldn't shake the feeling that she needed to be doing something.

"What about a restraining order?" The idea came from Granny, halting the conversation that the other three women were having.

"That makes sense. I'm sure I have a form for that somewhere, and there are definitely grounds for a restraining order. I can get the paperwork started right away." The thought that she might be able to do something to truly help someone excited Emma. Not only was she going to be helping Belle, but she'd be helping Ruby as well.

"Hang on, doesn't the Mayor need to sign off on it as well?" The smile that had been on Ruby's face vanished as Mary Margaret spoke. There was no way that Regina Mills would do anything for her, let alone Belle, a woman that she didn't even know.

"Don't worry about that. I'll get her to sign it." The table was suddenly very interesting to Emma when Mary Margaret asked how on earth she could possibly know that she could get the mayor to sign the paper. "Just don't worry about it. I've got it covered."

Mary Margaret followed when Emma left, trying to get her to explain how exactly she would get the Mayor to sign the restraining order. Granny stepped forward and put her hands on her granddaughter's shoulders.

"It will be okay. Emma will figure out the paperwork, and you will figure out how to help Belle. Everything will work out."

"How could he do that to her? How could he hurt her?" For the first time since everything had happened, tears struck at Ruby's eyes, threatening to fall. Granny embraced her, doing her best to console her granddaughter.

"It'll be okay." Ruby pulled away, restless.

"I'm going for a walk, Granny. I'll be back later." She was gone before Granny had a chance to answer her. She returned her attention to the customers in the diner who had stayed away to give the women some privacy. She hoped that Ruby wasn't going to act on her impulses, she hoped in vain that Ruby would stay away from Gold.

Just a reminder that this is also posted at redbeautyfic if you prefer to read it there.

Please let me know what you think.

Sya