Chapter Thirteen: First Attack

Archie ran his fingers down Ruby's back as she laid over him comfortably out on his couch. She kept one arm sandwiched between the two of them while her other hung lazily over the side to brush over Pongo's ears as he lay at the side of the couch. Ruby kept her ear to Archie's chest and smiled as his heart beat rhythmically under her. The one hand that drew his fingers over her back and shoulders stilled for a moment as he reached for the remote and turned the television off. He splayed his fingers on her back and kissed the top of her head which lay just below his chin.

"Time to go to bed," he announced.

"Goodnight," she said back and snuggled against his chest.

"I am not spending the night out on the sofa," he said and sat up with a struggled groan coming from her.

"I was so comfy," she muttered and sat on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a long, slow kiss to his lips. As she ran her hands through his hair she moved her lips from his and toward his jaw.

"You are going to keep me up," he warned her and reluctantly drew back, "I have a round of patients tomorrow. The last thing they need is a sleepy doctor tending to their mental problems."

Ruby sighed and sat back, "Sometimes Jiminy, I don't even think you want me."

"Oh, believe me, that is not it," he chuckled and pulled her toward him so she could feel a part that definitely wanted her. He leaned up to kiss her with his hands sliding from her waist to her hips, "But the last appointment is with Regina and I definitely want my head clear for that one. We haven't seen much of here since Cora and Hook came into town. That bothers me since Henry hasn't seen her either."

"She touches you, she's dead meat," Ruby said simply, "Wolf's time is coming up in the next couple of days. I have no problem unleashing it on her should she cross some lines."

"We will see where the appointment goes," he nodded and stood up with a little difficulty, shifting Ruby to the side.

"In a good direction, I hope," she walks after him and looked back at Pongo, "You coming, boy?"

Pongo huffed and just turned on his back.

"He's staying out here for now by the looks of it," Archie smiled at his dog and held on to Ruby's hand as they made their way into the bed room.

They both got ready for bed as if they had been doing it side by side for years. He changed into comfortable sleep pants and an under shirt while she slipped into one of his older shirts and a pair of shorts she brought from her room. She snuggled into her side of the bed and he slipped in next to her. It was routine already and they hadn't been together more than a week. Archie chuckled a bit as he felt her leg and arm stretch over him.

"What?" she asked sleepily.

"I was just thinking," he said as he took off his glasses and set them on the side table.

"What?" she asked again.

"We already have a routine," he smirked and covered her hand over his chest with his own as he wrapped his other arm around her, "You know how many of my clients don't have a routine with their significant others after years of being together? It's something that they complain about. Worry about. And here we are, barely in our honeymoon phase and we don't even seem to think about it."

"We never had to," Ruby said simply and she kissed his shoulder where his shirt rode up his arm, "It's just been a natural thing with us."

"You're right," he nodded and kissed the top of her head, "I have never felt more comfortable with anyone other than you."

"The same for me," she smiled and buried her face into his neck, "Go to sleep. You have clients tomorrow."

Silence settled over the room until Archie took a deep breath and wondered out loud, "Would you still be with me if I were still a cricket?"

She stirred next to him and then picked her head up to lean over him, "What brought that question on?"

"We met when I was a cricket and I know that a cricket wouldn't make a good candidate for anything more than a friend," he looked up at her, knowing that she could see his eyes and facial expression in the dark, "What if… what if I turn back when we go home?"

"Oh Jiminy…" she gave him a sad, but understanding smile. She leaned over and kissed him softly before she put her head back down on his shoulder and hugged him tighter, "I don't care what form you're in. You're still my love bug. I would be proud to be with you in either."

"An insect is not going to be a good lover or father, Red."

"Will I have you?" she asked and shifted her head to look at his profile above her.

He looked down with a serious look. He kissed her on her forehead and whispered, "You will always have me."

"Than I will be fine," she nodded against his shoulder, "Now, go to sleep."

Once he heard her breathing even out he pushed his face into her hair.

"I love you," he whispered and closed his eyes to try to find some sleep.

Archie looked over his framed diplomas and contemplated on taking them down. Now that he knew the truth, was it really worth it to keep them up? They weren't real, they never were. They were just pieces in a very clever and detailed ruse to fool him and the rest of the town. The people that came to see him knew this, but still came just the same. Everyone needed someone to talk to even if it was someone who was just a listening ear.

It was a long day for him. After closing for a couple of weeks from the attack from King George, his patients became back logged. He had sessions back to back throughout the day and he even had to skip lunch and sent Marco with his apologies to Ruby at the diner. Maybe she would pack up his usual and he could eat it on another day. Now, he had five minutes between his previous session and the last session of the day. Regina.

A knock tapped on his door and he pulled at his tie over the simple green button up that he put on this morning. He opened the door and was somewhat relieved that it was Regina alone. He didn't want to expect the worse when she had been making such great progress, but he didn't want to be caught off guard either. He looked down in her hands and noticed the apple pie wrapped up in plastic.

"Hello Regina," Archie greeted her and waved her into his office.

"New furnishings I see," she noted and put the pie on the table in front of the couch. She moved her eyes to the pie and then back to him, "I made the pie myself, if you would like some."

"What's the occasion?" he asked and closed the door to start the session. He felt his stomach ache for the fresh piece of baked goods offered, but was still wary. It was apple, after all.

"A thank you," Regina said with a small smile, "I don't think that I could have gotten as far as I have if it wasn't for your help."

"And Henry," Archie sat in his usual chair and leaned toward her.

"Yes, Henry's been a great motivator," she nodded and pointed again to the pie, "Why don't you have some? I insist."

"I shouldn't," he shook his head and for the first time in a while, he fibbed, "I will have dinner waiting for me when I get home tonight."

"Someone's cooking for you?" Regina asked with a start.

"Ruby," he nodded and squinted on the inside. Probably wasn't a good thing to talk about his personal life.

"Miss Lucas," Regina nodded and leaned back in her seat, "That's a new development."

"It's fairly new, yes," Archie said slowly and brought out his notepad, "But time to tell me about your new developments. How have you been fairing?"

"Aren't you going to ask me about my mother?" Regina asked back and looked him in the eyes, "I know you want to know."

"This is the time to talk about what you want to talk about, not what I do," Archie explained, "Do you want to talk about her?"

"Just maybe," she nodded and then pointed to the pie again, "If you have a slice."

Archie narrowed his eyes and held up his notepad as if a miniature shield. It wasn't much, but it was all he had, "What is so important about that pie, Regina?"

"I just thought that it would be a good way to bury the hatchet."

"No, there is more to it then that," Archie shook his head, "… have you been practicing in potions again?"

She looked down into her lap and closed her eyes in a silent positive. As she heard him take in a breath and shot a look up at him, "Don't you dare judge me."

"I am not here to judge you," he said immediately with a frown, "But this is a lapse that we must talk about."

"She was right," Regina thought to herself and shook her head, "No matter what I do, you will all still judge me, won't you?"

"What are you talking about, Regina?"

She stood up and in her right hand he could see a dark glow of purple mist surround her hand. He backed up into his chair and watched the hand carefully.

"Regina…" he said in a warning manner.

"Don't even speak," she ground out and flung her hand to the side sending him back, over his chair and into the wall behind him.

"Arg," he hit the wall hard and slid down to the floor. He rolled to the side as she threw some kind of spell at him. He carefully walked along the perimeter of the room toward the door, "Regina, what are you doing?"

"My mother was right," she said again and shook her head while she raised her hand to throw another spell, "I wasn't made for anything more."

"Jiminy?" was accompanied by a knock to the door as it opened and Ruby walked in calmly with a bag of food in her hand. She looked up to see Regina with her hand raised toward her boyfriend and felt the wolf in her growl and try to pry to the surface. She dropped the food and stepped toward Regina, "What are you doing?"

"What you expect me to do," Regina sneered and waved a hand at her which sent Ruby to the other side of the room.

"Red!" Archie pushed himself up and tried to run to her, but was pushed back down by an invisible force.

"I was just going to start with you, but I guess two main players will do just as well," Regina smirked and built up a nice, dark glow in her hand.

"Regina!" Ruby barked from behind the woman and Regina turned to see a wolf charging at her. Regina jumped out of the way as wolf Ruby turned and protected Archie behind her.

"It's not wolf's time yet!" Regina yelled.

"Some things just bring the wolf out in me," Ruby growled out. Archie smiled a little at her comeback, but it seemed like all Regina heard was the growling of a wolf.

"Regina?"

Regina and Archie turned toward the doorway where Emma and Mary Margaret had come in. They had followed Ruby from the diner and wanted to spend some time with Archie as well.

"A little too many for my taste," Regina muttered and turned with a flourish as she disappeared.

"Where did she go?" Emma asked and eyed the room.

"Back to her home, I am guessing."

"Where's Henry?" Archie suddenly asked from the floor.

"With David," Mary Margaret said and put a hand on Emma's shoulder, "I think we need to tell him."

"I think so too," Emma frowned with a sigh, "He is not going to like this."

Ruby, still in wolf form, walked over to Archie and licked him on one side of his face, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he smiled and looked around his office, "I was worried more about my office, to tell you the truth. Just remodeled and everything."

The wolf shook her head and then laid over his lap. The form shrank down until Ruby was back to her usual self and wrapped her arms around Archie, "I guess it was my turn to save you."

He wrapped her in a hug and looked at the two royal women, "We have to do something about this."

"We have to prepare," Mary Margaret agreed and took out her phone.

The war table was put back together and all attended the last were there again. The talk was brief and included what had happened on the inside of Archie's office with Regina- the only time that he broke his patient's privilege. The royals were upset and could only think that it was because of Cora's influence that Regina would slip back into old habits. Hook agreed and knew that it was so, it was past speculation. Gold told them that he would be working on some counter measures that should help and aide in the fight with Cora if that it what it came down to. He had hoped that Regina would be on their side should a fight erupt between them and her mother, but it looked like the little girl fell under her mother' thumb once again. Gold had put a purple mist around the pie that Regina had brought Archie and it instantly turned black. Poison, just as they thought.

Afterwards, the table stayed for a small dinner made by Granny. Ruby stuck to Archie's side like glue, with her head on his shoulder. He would lean over and kiss the top of her head every so often to let her know he was still there. Marco sat on Archie's other side and eyed the pirate warily; unsure of the man from what Archie had told him. Granny passed out cups of coffee or hot chocolate to everyone to warm them up from the chill that had crept up that night before she brought out dinner. Gold and Belle sat close to Archie and Red and Belle kept casting glances their way. Emma sat with Hook standing behind her, more of a source of information than an actual member of the table. At the far side Mary Margaret and David sat with one another talking low to try to find a way to make Storybrooke and the denizens safe.

"Ruby, can I barrow you for a minute?" Granny asked as she passed Ruby and Archie to head into the kitchen.

Ruby looked at Archie as if he was going to disappear. He nodded his head with an encouraging smile, "Go ahead. I will be here when you get back."

She kissed him on the cheek and headed to the back with Granny. That left her spot open and a very tempting opportunity for a certain pirate to commandeer. Hook rounded the table and sat down in the now vacant chair. He smiled knowingly at the doctor once Archie turned to him.

"I believe that the chair is taken," Archie said and took a sip out of his cup.

"I get your hatred of me," Hook rolled his eyes, "I really do, but just hear me out."

"Why should I?" Archie turned to him with Marco curiously looking on, "You were hurting Ruby because, why? For attention? To forcibly make her date you? You don't deserve anyone's attention, much less hers."

"I did that for you, mate," Hook said and heard Archie scoff as the therapist turned away, "Did you think you were ever going to act on your own concerning her?"

"We were wondering that ourselves," Marco pointed out with a small smile.

"Marco," Archie frowned and shook his head at his oldest friend, "Don't encourage him. I can already tell that he has an ego problem."

"I just wanted to touch base," Hook continued as he ignored the last comment and Archie took a deep breath. Archie was always known for his patience and laid back attitude when it came to other people's eccentrics, but when it came to the pirate captain his patience ran thin.

"About what?"

"How is it going with your woman?" he asked.

"Like Heaven on Earth," Archie said honestly, "Why?"

"I was wondering because of the attack," Hook shrugged and gained Archie's full attention, "I just want to make sure that you can protect her. The way that it was described, she did most of the protecting."

"I protected her against you, didn't I?" Archie narrowed his eyes at the part of his face still marred by discoloration.

"You have to get at least one good hit in, don't you?" Hook smirked and knew that he got under Archie's skin just a bit, "Every bug has its day… speaking of which, did you even have a back bone while in that other form?"

"I don't know what your aim is, Hook," Archie started and stared at him with a smile of his own to try to get the pirate to back down, "But I will never let you hurt her again. I will do whatever I need to for her. I always have, I always will."

"What about fight?" Hook asked with a tilt of his head, "Despite the one good shot at me, you stay pretty non-violent, don't you?"

"Whenever I can, I do," Archie nodded.

"In this fight coming up, because believe me there will be a fight with Cora at the helm, you will need to fight. Words will do nothing and agreements will not be made."

"What is your point?"

"You can't protect her," Hook said simply, "You don't have the claws that she does."

"Not everyone needs claws or teeth to fight in their own ways," Marco said from the other side of Archie.

"But they do need some kind of bite," Hook said and nodded to Archie who had stayed quiet, "I will leave you to your dinner. Goodnight, gentleman."

As Hook left, Archie's eyes seemed to settle on the blacken pie that was still left out on the table. He frowned and thought back to when Ruby was thrown to the other wall. He tried to get up to help and was immediately thrown back down by nothing but the flick of Regina's wrist. How did he expect to protect her when he couldn't protect himself?

"Archie, you know that man is just trying to test you," Marco said and saw the thought process that was taking place in his friend's mind, "Pay him no heed."

"How can't I when he has a point?" Archie said with his eyes still on the pie, "She could have been hurt, or worse, because I didn't do anything."

Marco stayed quiet and tried to think of a way to communicate important issues to his friend. The only problem is that Archie was usually the one talking him up, not the other way around. It wasn't his place, but he hated to see his friend is such a rough place.

"Are you guys ready to eat?" Ruby asked from behind them and sat down Marco, Archie's and her own plates as Granny began to hand out the others.

"I don't feel so well," Archie said suddenly and looked up to Ruby with a forced smile, "I think I am going to head home."

"Everything okay, love bug?" she asked and felt his forehead for a temperature.

"I'll be okay," he took her hand from his forehead and kissed the back of it, "I think I just need to lie down."

"Then I will come with you," she said calmly and stepped to get her coat.

"No, stay here and have some time with our friends," he shook his head, "I'll be okay."

She frowned at him, taken as a partial surrender. He kissed her on the cheek and nodded to Marco as he left the table.

Belle noticed his retreat and the curve of his back. She looked at Marco who gave her a sad look with a small shake of his head. Ruby stood still and looked worried. Belle patted Gold on the shoulder to let him know that she was going to talk with Ruby. He nodded to her and started a conversation with David about what magic could be used in defense. Belle stood next to her friend and bumped shoulders with her.

"What is wrong?" Belle asked and looked from the door that Archie had used and back to her best friend. Ruby seemed to jerk to attention and shook her head.

"He said he didn't feel well," Ruby said quietly.

"You don't believe it," Belle answered immediately.

"It isn't like him to lie," Ruby tilted her head and subconsciously reached for her jacket, "Especially about something so little."

"You are going to follow him?" Belle asked with her hands behind her back, the picture perfect innocent lady.

"You're damn right, I am," Ruby said in the back of her throat and followed Archie's retreat.

Belle smiled at her friend's determined steps and looked back at Marco and then to Mary Margaret who had a confident grin on her face. She knew Red's stances and that stride out the door meant that she was on a mission. She winked to Belle to let her know it was going to be okay and Belle came back to sit down with Gold.