10. Moving
Ruby sipped her tea as she flipped through the pages of the Mirror. When she came to the diner after her first night with Victor, she expected Granny to launch into a lecture or berate her on poor choices. Instead, the older woman showed her how to make the moon tea. Ruby wasn't sure if this was her grandmother's way of approving the couple or her simply accepting that it was happening. Either way, Ruby was grateful for the gesture.
Of course, she couldn't help but wonder how her grandmother would react if she knew Ruby was looking for a new place to live.
The two women had lived together Ruby's entire life, both in the Enchanted Forest and in their faked memories. There never seemed to be a reason for her to live on her own. Now there didn't seem like a reason to not make that move. Storybrooke was relatively peaceful and Snow and David didn't need her as much as before. She had control of the wolf and though she was training to take over her grandmother's businesses, that didn't mean she wanted to live in one of them.
Having something separate, something that was just hers, was getting more appealing the more she thought of it. Of course it didn't hurt that a place of her own meant she and Victor could trade off sleeping over. Victor had been over to the place she shared with her grandmother, of course, but there was no chance in hell it would ever turn into an overnight visit.
She grinned thinking of Victor's encounter with her grandmother. The older woman was the one who greeted him at the door when he dropped by. With her crossbow. Ruby wanted to groan in embarrassment and catch Victor's eye to send him a silent apology. Victor stared at the weapon for a moment, seemingly unfazed by the intimidation.
"I could bring some wax and lubricant for that next time, if you want," he offered. The suggestion surprised Granny so much she lowered the weapon. Victor took that as permission to come inside. If Ruby hadn't already loved him, the way he handled her grandmother definitely would've done the trick.
And he did deliver on the wax and lubricant, so maybe the moon tea really was Granny's way of showing her approval.
Since Emma was the only one in town to have any actual experience in apartment shopping, Ruby enlisted her to help scope out the available spaces. Most of those spaces were abandoned when the residents remembered their pasts and reunited with family. Others had simply chosen to live elsewhere. When she asked, Victor told her he kept the condo because there wasn't enough space in his garage lab for anything else. Not that this stopped them from using what little space the lab offered.
"This one's not bad," Emma remarked, walking the space of the first potential apartment. "Decent size, full kitchen..." Half listening, Ruby moved to open up all the windows. None of them gave her a very good view of the forest. In her heart that was an automatic rejection of the place, but in her head she knew she couldn't be that picky. "What furniture do you have?" Emma asked her.
"Uh..." Ruby tried to think about it and came up with a blank. "None. It's all Granny's."
"Can you afford this? Buying the furniture and paying rent every month?"
Truthfully, Ruby hadn't factored new furniture into her budget. "Maybe Geppetto and August will give me a discount," she suggested hopefully. "Or not," she amended when she noted the look on Emma's face.
"No, you're right, they probably will. Hell, August might do it for free. He's been going overboard lately with the 'selfless, brave and true' thing."
Ruby wisely stepped away from that conversation and focused them back on assessing apartments. Eventually she found one she liked. She could picture herself at the kitchen in the mornings and there was an alcove where Victor could sit and draw when he came over. It was empty but just signing the rental agreement gave her a good feeling. The place was officially hers.
Now to tell her grandmother. She was doing a closing shift at the diner and decided to bring it up as they were counting down the till. Victor dropped by before his own shift at the hospital. Their working schedules were lining up a lot more lately- the benefit of being the ones in charge of writing up said schedules. Ruby wanted to tell him about her apartment, but Granny deserved to know first. Besides, she wanted him to see it when it was ready.
His visit did give her mood the needed boost to get her through the rest of the night. She was ready to face her grandmother.
"Ella and Thomas had me over to their new place," she began. "It got me thinking that there are probably a lot of open apartments around, with everyone reuniting with their families."
"So did you go get one for yourself?"
"I..." The question caught her off guard. "What?"
"Ruby... Liza." Granny hardly ever used her real name, signaling the seriousness of her words. "You've changed so much since those days before you knew you were the wolf. You've gotten stronger, more confident, you can control the wolf, and you have a strong network of friends. Not to mention a man who has the balls to stand against me and my crossbow. I never-" She paused to take off her glasses. "I know I've been strict with you and overprotective, but I never meant to make you feel like you can't live your own life. It's far past time I've accepted you've grown up. So if you want to get an apartment and live on your own, you should do it."
Ruby swallowed down the lump in her throat. "I, ah, already did."
"Of course you did," Granny snorted. "Did you think I would forbid you if you mentioned it before signing the papers?"
"Kind of," Ruby admitted.
"Oh, my girl..." Granny pulled the younger woman into her arms. "I'm so sorry." Ruby could only squeeze back. The lump in her throat was back and tears pricked her eyes. When they parted, she noted her grandmother's eyes were a bit misty as well. "At least now I can have Geppetto over here when he and I need some private time."
Ruby chuckled, wiping her eyes and getting back to work. But a moment later she turned back to her grandmother. "Wait. That was a joke, right?"