A/N: Normally I do this at the end, but I think it fits better at the beginning this time. I got some questions about my take on the curse and all in this story. My answer is this: The curse is in place, obviously. Henry brought Emma back, but she doesn't believe in the curse yet. Ruby is beginning to feel the wolf (as we've seen in the last chapter) but she doesn't know what it is. The curse will break at some point, but right now everyone is only their cursed self. I haven't figured out the Regina/Queen part quite yet. Please give me some feedback, I live off of it :] Enjoy. This chapter is dedicated to doctorwhomaniac and the anon who asked for the fight.
There was no chance to wake up slowly, to enjoy the way that the sun felt on exposed limbs, or what it was like to be curled up to someone warm and comfortable. Instead they were woken up suddenly, with the bedroom door slamming open and a shout coming from the doorway.
"What the hell?!" In an instant both women were awake, scrambling to untangle themselves and figure out what was going on. Ruby was the one who figured it out first, there was a strange scent in the air. Not a good one. Mr. Gold.
"What the hell are you doing here?" In a flash she was out of the bed, advancing towards the man who had invaded Belle's space. She didn't notice the bouquet of flowers in his hands or the card that he was holding. All she knew was that the man who had hurt Belle was now standing in her bedroom after being warned to stay away.
"Back off, this doesn't concern you." The rough tone to his voice indicated that he was in no mood to play. Neither was Ruby.
"You need to leave. Now!" Belle made her way around the bed, stepping cautiously to get between the two angry adults.
"I came here to apologize for what I did. But you were here… with this harlot. What were you thinking? I told you to stay away from her!" It seemed that Gold hadn't learned his lesson. The animal reared within Ruby as he took a step towards her precious Belle.
"And I told you to stay away from her. What do you think that you're doing here?" Her words were ignored as Gold continued to make his way into the bedroom, closer to Belle.
"I came to tell you that I'm sorry for what I did, but what are you doing with her?" His face contorted in anger as he thought about his Belle being with Ruby.
"You don't have a say in who I spend time with. I told you that." Every step that he took closer to her, she took one backwards. She only stopped when she ran into Ruby's front. She felt her friend's arms wrap around her and a feeling of being safe overwhelmed her for a moment. It was gone as soon as Gold stepped forward again, ripping Ruby's arm away and grabbing Belle's arm. Ruby forced him to let go, and in return he latched on to her wrist.
"Don't you dare touch her!" He proceeded to twist Ruby's wrist causing her to wince. "She is mine."
"She is no one's! She is her own woman and you will not hurt her again." Ruby's voice matched her eyes, burning with passions. The animal reared its head again and she lashed out, knocking Gold's cane out of his hand. She pulled her wrist back before lashing out again, this time grabbing his arm. "You are going to stay away from her, or something bad will happen to you. Don't doubt me."
Belle followed as Ruby dragged Gold down the stairs and out on to the street.
"You have no claim to her. She is mine." He spoke in a loud growl, drawing the attention of everyone who was passing by. Ruby's growl matched his.
"I will tell you one last time. Belle doesn't belong to you. She doesn't belong to anyone. She is her own woman and she makes her own choices." As much as she tried to calm herself down, especially when she saw people leaving the diner to see what the commotion was, whatever was inside her was preventing that from happening. She was shaking with anger at the thought of Gold putting his hand on Belle. "Stay away from her."
He wasn't scared of Ruby, he had control of the town. Ruby matched him step for step as he walked forward. Before any more physical contact could be initiated Belle stepped forward.
"Stop!" Both of them turned to look at her, neither sure if she was speaking to them or the other. "Mr. Gold, I told you before, Ruby is my friend. I am not going to stay away from her because you told me to. I'm not going to do anything that you tell me to do. You hit me yesterday, and that is not acceptable. I want you to stay away from me."
"I'm here to deliver a restraining order to one Mr. Gold." He spun around to face the intruder, Emma. "You are not go within 100 yards of Isabelle French."
Mr. Gold stepped forward and ripped the paper out of Emma's hands without looking at it. "You need the mayor to sign this, dearie." He spoke with a sneer.
"Take a look at the paperwork, she did sign it." Emma's smirk was gleeful, she had him. Belle placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder, gently guiding her away from Emma and Gold.
Belle stopped them when they reached the door to the apartment, which had been left open in their haste. Her hand slipped down from Ruby's shoulder to slide around her waist. Ruby leaned into her, resting her head on Belle's shoulder. She could feel her heartbeat still racing, her breath was uneven and her skin felt tight and hot. The way that Belle felt next to her invaded her senses, her scent, her feel, Ruby could practically taste her. It calmed her down, sent the animal inside her to sleep.
"Thank you." It seemed to be Belle's mantra. Everything that Ruby did for her, listening to her reading stories, making her get out of her shell with the night out, standing up to Gold for her, it all made her feel special.
"Belle, you're strong. To stand up like that to him, and to tell him to leave you alone, twice, that takes some serious guts. You are doing great." Belle couldn't stop the tears that sprung to her eyes, she'd never been told that she was strong before. She'd always tried to be strong, but she felt that she always fell short, and here Ruby was telling her that what she did was brave. She laid her head against Ruby's chest, hiding her face from view.
"Can we leave now?" Emma and Gold were still discussing the restraining order in the middle of the street, so Ruby led Belle around them and into the diner. Mary Margaret was sitting at a table, getting up when she saw them approaching.
"I'll tell Granny to get your food."
"Not mine, I'm not hungry." Both Mary Margaret and Ruby paused, looking at her. "I'm really not. Just a tea please." When she moved to sit down Ruby mouthed to her friend to order Belle's breakfast anyway.
"Belle, I'm so sorry that happened." When Ruby sat down in the booth next to her Belle automatically scooted closer, sneaking her arm underneath Ruby's and laying her head down on her shoulder. Ruby tucked a piece of hair behind Belle's ear so that she could see her face. "You don't deserve that."
"He seems to think that I'm his. That I'll never be anything more than that. A possession." The confession caused the tears that had been pushing at Belle's eyes to finally fall.
"You're not. Not even close. You are a strong and independent woman. There's a restraining order in place now, he can't come near you. And if he does, I'll protect you, I promise."
"How did that happen? The restraining order."
"Emma did it." Belle looked up when she heard Mary Margaret's voice. She'd returned to the table after ordering the meals. She reached out, grabbing Belle's free hand. "We heard about what happened and rather than let Ruby run off after Gold we figured that it would be best."
"Thank you." There was a light smile on her face, the first since they'd been rudely awoken that morning. "But it seems that you failed."
"No, no we didn't fail. Emma got Regina to sign the restraining order somehow. I'm not really sure how… but she did." Confusion was written all over not just Mary Margaret's face, but Ruby's as well.
"Oh yes that succeeded, thank you so much for that. And Emma and Regina too. I'm not so sure that it will work, he has some sort of power here. But about Ruby I mean. Keeping her away from Gold." Ruby had the decency to look sheepish. She dropped her hand from Belle's and fiddled with her fingers in her lap.
"How did you know?"
"You told him earlier that you'd already told him to stay away from me." Ruby wouldn't look up from her lap.
"What did you do?" Somehow Mary Margaret had learned the talent of sounding scarier when you were mad and calm at the same town. Ruby cringed before she answered.
"I'm sorry, I know you didn't want me to go. But I had to. I just couldn't bear the thought of you getting hurt again." A finger reached out and lifted her chin, forcing her to look into Belle's eyes. She froze for a moment, unsure of what she was going to see in her eyes. Instead of the anger that she was expecting, all she saw was caring.
"I should've known you'd go after him. The thing is that I don't want you to get hurt either." With all the staring and sentimental statements being passed back and forth, Mary Margaret was starting to feel a little out of place.
"I'm going to go check on the food." The commotion outside had died down, and Emma came back into the diner huffing.
"How'd it all go?" Asked the shorter woman.
"Not well. He's not happy about the fact that Regina and I worked together to accomplish something, let alone the fact that by law he can't go near his precious Belle." She rubbed a hand across her face, trying to get the fight with Gold out of her head.
"You still haven't explained exactly how you got Regina to sign that." Emma slowly raised her eyes, looking at how serious her roommate was.
"Oh… uh- I, it wasn't that hard. I mean…" She was saved from having to stumble over her words while trying not to blush by Granny coming out of the kitchen with the food for the table.
"Oh, Emma. I'll have your doughnuts right out." Said the other woman as she passed by, dropping the food off.
"Thanks Granny." The older woman nodded and wandered off, knowing that the women needed some time alone.
"He'll leave you alone for now Belle. I can't promise that he won't try to fight it, but you have all of us, and Regina standing with you." The two women sitting at the table finally looked away from each other as they were joined by Emma and Mary Margaret.
"Thank you for everything that you've done Emma. And you too Mary Margaret. And of course you Ruby." She squeezed Ruby's hand under the table, and didn't let go.
"We'll get the locks changed on your apartment and the library, that way he can't get in." Emma was caught up in being the gallant hero, most of the time being Sheriff in Storybrooke meant chasing down dogs and drunk Leroy.
"How exactly did you get Regina to sign the restraining order, I wasn't sure she even knew who I was, let alone cared what happens to me." The blush that spread over Emma's cheeks was a small one and no one but Ruby really noticed it.
"I think that Granny has my doughnut ready, I'm gonna go get that." She tried to slide out of the booth, but was restrained by Mary Margaret's hand on her arm.
"No way, you've been dodging the question for too long. What exactly did you do?"
"I just uh… asked very politely?" The answer didn't really satisfy anyone but Belle, who was more focused on the way that Ruby's thumb was rubbing back and forth over the back of her hand. But luckily for Emma, Granny arrived with her doughnut, which she proceeded to stuff in her face. Ruby kicked Emma under the table, giving her a look that said she'd have to explain herself further when the other woman looked up.
"Thank you all, seriously. And thank Regina too for me, Emma. It feels nice to know that I have friends." The way that she said it reminded everyone at the table that Belle was a lonely person, one who had just cast aside one of her only friends in order to maintain her friendship and independence. It struck them just how strong she was to throw that all away, some people couldn't walk away even if they were hurt by someone. One by one they all vowed to be there for her, no matter what.
