sudoku - Why, Neal, why?! D: But...they now have Elsa in the show.

So, I didn't double update like I planned to. Tehe. Oh, well. xp

I'm not really sure how the last chapter came out. I kept on rewording and retyping things over and over, but...idk. The last chapter isn't really my favorite. :/ *sighh*

Disclaimer: OUAT will never be mine...sadly.

Ruby Lucas

"Emma, what do you mean Belle? I know she's awake and everything, but she still doesn't have her memory back."

"I know, I know," Emma sighed. "It's just..."

"Just what, Emma?"

"We found Baelfire, Gold's son."

"You found Gold's son?" the voice on the other line seemed shocked. "Wait. Gold has a son?!"

"Yeah, it's a long story, but I'm pretty sure Baelfire here still hates his daddy."

The feminine voice on the other line let out a husky chuckle. "So what does Belle have to play into this?"

"I know it sounds crazy," Emma whispered slowly, "but I don't want Gold to be hurt."

The line stayed silent for a long time. Emma felt awkward, and she pulled the phone away from her here to check the call time. 00:06:39. The call was still ongoing. She slowly put the phone back to her ear. "Um, are you still there?"

"WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO EMMA. WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?! WHAT DID YO-" Emma's eyes widened and she slammed the phone screen forward onto the brown couch. The voice, still audibly screaming, was somewhat muffled. Emma winced as Neal's face poked out from the doorway.

"Everything okay in there?"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, trying her best to look away. "Everything's fine. Just...my mom." Emma let out a chuckle and waved her hands towards Neal. "Get back to talking to Gold." He nodded, and Emma returned the phone to her ear once the screaming subsided.

Panting was the only thing Emma heard now. "Um, you okay?"

"Emma, no!" more panting. "What the fuck!"

Emma bit her lip nervously. "Just go with me on this one!"

A heavy sigh, "Fine. What do you need?"

"Bring Belle to Gold's shop, and get her settled there."

"Won't she be suspicious? I mean, it's Gold's shop." The female sounded highly unconvinced. "Oh, and she broke the teacup."

"Maybe, just tell her something!"

"Tell her what, Emma? This is your master plan here, not mine!"

"Just tell her..." Emma wracked her brain, trying to think of a reasonable plan. Where was Neal when you needed him? "Just tell her you're supposed to be her companion for the day, but you have to run the shop!"

The female scoffed. "You think that will work?"

"Well, it's the best I can come up with!" Emma frowned.

"Fine..."

"Thanks. Seriously."

"But you owe me!"

"Whatever you want," Emma smiled. The female on the other line hung up first, and Emma followed a few seconds later. She released the breath she had been holding. Emma could only hope this plan worked.

Ruby Lucas, also known as Red Riding Hood, was not a patient person. She had to try, though, or else she'd risk her wolf traits appearing. With this being said, it took a lot of patience and a lot of mental "Fuck you, Emma Swan!"'s for Ruby to convince Belle to just get out of her hospital bed.

"Ru-ruby," Belle called.

Ruby shut her eyes in agitation. She quickly turned around and put on a mask of happiness. "Yes, Belle?" she smiled. Belle smiled as well.

"Are you sure that I'm allowed to go with you?"

Ruby mentally slapped her brain's image of Emma. "Yes," she stressed. "It is perfectly fine."

"Bu-"

This was the last straw for Ruby. Enough with patience! her mind roared. She wanted to cry and nod along with it. "Look," Ruby nearly growled. "I'm going to get Dr. Whale for you, okay? If he says you're fine to go with me, you're fine to go with me." With that, Ruby stormed out of Belle's room and into the waiting room nearly ready to scream for Whale.

Of course, Ruby knew better. She felt the tingling feeling of her wolf features preparing to show themselves on her body. If she allowed that to happen, there was no way in hell Belle would willingly come with her without a struggle.

"Whale, where the fuck are you?!" she mumbled. Stalking to the nearest nurse, she prepared herself and took three deep breaths.

"Hi," she smiled painfully. The nurse didn't bother looking at her. Ruby growled under her breath.

"Hi," she stressed, a snarl edging her voice. The nurse now looked up at her, annoyance crossing her face.

"Yes?" she monotonously replied. "What do you need?"

"Dr. Whale. Where is he?"

"Dr. Whale is busy with another patient. When he's finished, I'll see if I can get him for you."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "I need Dr. Whale now."

"Miss, Dr. Whale is busy," the nurse sighed, pinching her nose bridge. Ruby took five deep breaths in order to stop the irritation from rising in her body. She opened her eyes to glare at the nurse, but quickly shut them. Her vision was getting clearer. Shit, Ruby groaned. Her wolf features were taking over her body. If she continued to be upset, she'd be a two-legged walking wolf. Then Belle would never even bother getting close to her. Hell, not even Henry would bother and he knew she was a werewolf! Ruby covered her eyes with her hand and dashed towards the restroom. She was prepared to open the door when it hit her square on the forehead.

"Ow, fuck!" Ruby howled. She took two steps back. She touched her forehead gingerly and winced.

"I'm so sorry," came a familiar voice. Ruby couldn't place the voice's owner, though. She looked up and saw Dr. Whale. The feeling of pain was now forgotten.

"You," she hissed, "are coming with me!" She grabbed his arm furiously and prepared to drag him towards Belle's room.

"Woah, woah, why?! And what's wrong with your eyes?!"

Ruby turned around to look at him, her furious once-brown eyes now a shade of gold. Whale leaned his head back.

"You're not...transforming here are you?"

Ruby closed her eyes. "No," she whispered. "There's no full moon out there."

"Then why are your eyes like that?"

"Because I'm pissed. If I allow myself to become too angry, all my wolf features start to appear and replace my human ones. I'm lucky it's just my eyes this time."

"This time?" Whale sounded slightly amused. Ruby flashed her golden wolf-eyes at him. He shut his mouth.

"Yes, this time. You're lucky I'm not a two-legged, walking, talking wolf." Ruby's angry eyes softened. "Just...help me."

"With what?"

"I signed some papers to allow Belle to go with me for the time being, but she doesn't want to go without a doctor's formal consent." Ruby groaned, "It's so annoying!"

Whale laughed softly. "All right, all right."

It took Belle some time to get used to Ruby's golden wolf-eyes, but her tight facial expression immediately relaxed when Whale gave her the okay to go.

This time, Belle willingly went with the brunette to Gold's shop without any questions. Ruby smacked herself mentally. If she had known Belle would have gone this easily, she would've saved herself the trouble and gotten Whale in the first place.

The two stood in front of the door to Gold's shop. "Well," Ruby grinned. "Here we are!"

Belle finally asked her first question. "So, you're sure it's all right for me to be in there?"

"Yep, it's perfectly fine! I'm just going to run my shift," Ruby added mental air quotes, "and you'll be reading some books that I collected in there. During my break, we can chat...you know, do girl stuff." Ruby forced a little wink at the end. It was worth it, though, because Belle began to nod vigorously and reached for the doorknob.

"Wait a second!" Ruby laughed. "It's still locked."

"Locked?" Belle asked. "Why is it still locked?"

Ruby bit her lip, "Well, I spent most of the day trying to get you out of bed. This is supposed to be my third shift?"

Looking abashed, Belle bowed her head, "Sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. The shop doesn't get many customers on a Tuesday." I think.

Belle nodded and Ruby unlocked and opened the door. The two walked into the room and Belle immediately began exploring.

"Ooh, what does this do!" she pointed at a necklace. It was an small sized emerald, surrounded by small opals, hanging from black string. It looked gorgeous, but Ruby remembered that most - or some - of the things in Gold's shop weren't all that good. She also couldn't afford to have Belle hurt again by the dark objects in Gold's shop.

"I don't know," Ruby said. "I wouldn't touch any of the stuff here. Just read the books I laid out for you." Lies. Those books were laid out by Gold. "They're over there, in that room."

"Which room?"

"Here, I'll show you."

Soooo...we meet Ruby.

Ruby actually wasn't transforming/shape-shifting into a werewolf in this chapter. Basically, if she gets too upset then her wolf features begin to dominate her human ones. Her human face will have wolf features, her limbs become hairy, etc. She's basically just a two-legged wolf who can think rationally and can speak the English language. She's not a werewolf, but she's not close to becoming one. Hope this cleared it up!

Read and review! :D