Chapter 14:
She wasn't sure how she was meant to actually respond to Ruby's worrying. Even Ruby's book digging into her side didn't annoy her as much. She knew with what Ruby was going through that it would be nothing by comparison. Ruby was using all the strength she had to just not snap at anything and go onto a full blown meltdown.
"You feeling up to talking Ruby?" Emerald asked softly as she took a deep breath as she felt Ruby shaking her head. "I only want you to feel better. I'll take any sort of verbal confirmation you are at least on the mend." Emerald asked in a calm tone as she tried her hardest to ignore how bad she was feeling at needing to force Ruby to talk. But she did really just want to know that Ruby was feeling a lot better.
"Neo... Neo works there." Ruby whispered as Emerald took a deep breath and rubbed her back a bit just to ease the negative feelings Ruby was having. "We need a new hospital." Ruby whispered again as Emerald just took a deep breath.
"We can sort all that out once you are back to your old self." Emerald said softly as she could see Ruby just tilting her head upwards to stare into her eyes. "Everything is going to be fine. You'll bounce back Ruby, and we can stay doing this until then."
"I wish Coco wasn't loopy." Ruby said softly as she just took a deep breath. "Being with just one of you feels like it is going to take longer. You both are my rocks..." Ruby continued to whisper as she just took a deep breath as she felt Emerald just smiling faintly at her.
"We had no idea Neo worked there, and even less idea you were going to have a nightmare last night. Just relax about that. Coco is still asleep anyways."
"Okay..." Ruby began as she just took a deep breath. "I should put the book back... you've got to be really uncomfortable." Ruby continued as she started to separate from Emerald.
"Ruby, I'd be fine with it longer as long as you are going to feel more at ease." Emerald said as Ruby just sighed gently as she stood up and walked towards the encasement.
Resting her head against the roof of it, Ruby just took a deep breath. "Why can't life just leave me alone... at least for the remainder of the month. Between your issues mentally that I took the attention away from... Velvet being here... the shit with Summer... and me hurting Coco... and now Neo... I'm starting to think I'm the worst girlfriend and life just wants me to stay down."
"Ruby. I've actually been feeling a lot better. I told you. Just spending time with you and Coco is enough. As for life... tell it to go fuck itself. You are one of a few people that deserves to be nothing but happy. Just give it time, because there is no way it can get worse for you short of several people getting a pardon. But we don't have our address listed, the building has constant security and the doors are army grade. So even if they do... which is impossible because the world is on your side after a chunk of that info came out."
"I know all that Em... just... and you know I hate saying this but it is true... you don't get it. Neither does Coco. I know all of that... but every fibre of my being is screaming that Neo is going to somehow find me... find us... and is going to be her old evil self. She might even finally destroy my book." Ruby said as she carefully moved the pages to be on her favourite story that her Dad and Yang would always read to her.
Smiling faintly as she could see the all too familiar tear stained images that had started to fade due to all the damage the book and Ruby both had been dealt. Twisting the key to lock it, Ruby just took a deep breath as she walked over towards the sole hiding place dedicated to the key.
"Even when I understand that about Summer... or Salem... or anyone from my past. Just all the logic goes." Ruby said as she spun around and took a deep breath. "I'm sure you and Coco have noticed even though I try and keep my cool... I tend to not be able to be reasoned with." Ruby said as she took her seat again and just smiled as she felt Emerald wrapping her in a hug. "That was a joke Em..."
"I know. I'm just not overly fond of it when you are stuck in your self insulting way. And I know neither is Coco. You are an amazing woman Ruby. And we are all kinds of lucky to have you. Because frankly... with the kind of shit you had to put up with. It is hard to believe that you aren't currently committed." Emerald said as she started to get into a laying position as Ruby just rested her head on Emerald's chest. "And I know you are going to say how you couldn't let yourself Ruby... but no one plans to become crazy. It just happens."
"With my family history it just takes a dependency on illegal designer drugs in the same vein as bath salts." Ruby said softly as she just took a deep breath. "Just... you don't get how much it would have been what Salem would have wanted... by all regards that would have been the smart thing for her to do. Drive me insane before I turned eighteen. Which was probably her end goal... but I knew that you and Coco weren't going to leave me in that basement. No matter what... you both always have been there. Even when I did try suicide a few times. You didn't let me. And stayed with me for the entire night to make sure I wasn't going to try in the hospital."
"Ruby... I know that you aren't fond of hearing this. But the truth is, you are a remarkable woman. And I'm not saying that because you are my girlfriend. I'm saying that because it is true. With what you've seen and experienced in your early years and even up until your eighteenth birthday... it is only fair that you are considered a remarkable woman one who doesn't deserve any more shit to be tossed your way." Emerald said as she just took a deep breath and just stared at Ruby. "Seriously Ruby... you won't find a single person that knows you... that has known you since you were that outgoing and explorative child in kindergarten and then you becoming the incredibly shy woman who didn't want to let go of her friends for a second for fear of them never coming back to you. No one that knew you in that time frame would say you are anything but a remarkable woman who doesn't deserve anything else but permanent happiness."
"And yet... I put one of my girlfriends in hospital today... I've had no less than five breakdowns that I've just barely been able to reign in as to not need to have my psychiatrist called there by upping my meds... I can't even help my other girlfriend because just seeing one of the awful people from my past brought me back to a stuttering mess whose only thought was that I had to get far far away from her. So I feel like the worst girlfriend ever."
Laughing softly, Emerald just took a deep breath as Ruby began to sit up to just stare at her. "If you are the worst girlfriend, punch me in the face right now. I'll even apologise for hurting your hands." As the words left Emerald's mouth she was overjoyed at the sight of Ruby being taken aback. "See? A bad girlfriend would have taken that chance. Stands to reason 'the worst girlfriend ever' would be overjoyed at the chance to do that." Emerald spoke as she gently spun Ruby around so she was laying on the back as the phone started to ring. "Now if you don't mind, that is probably the front desk or Velvet wanting to figure out if she can come up now." Emerald said with a smile as she grabbed the phone and picked it up. "Hello?"
"Em, it is Weiss. Can you open the door? I'm just waiting for the elevator to come down, and Coco isn't answering her phone."
"Probably because she is sedated right now after we had a trip to the hospital this morning. But sure, I'll open the door for you." Emerald said as she pressed the end call button as she started to stand up as Ruby was left just staring at her. "Weiss is coming up. Relax. I promise everything is going to be fine. I might even end up cooking dinner for me and you later... and Coco if she is feeling up to it later." Emerald added as she started to walk towards their front door.
She just smiled as she glanced back at Ruby as she held could hear the elevator running. "It does mean that if she isn't, we get to go spicy. I'm thinking something like enchiladas. Found a delicious recipe for those and I figure it would be a lot better eating it with my girlfriend instead of making just enough for me on a dorm room hot plate. I wouldn't question the meat if I were you... it is for the best. I already cut back on the amount of lamb I cook because you thought they were too cute to eat."
"You took me to abattoir slash restaurant where you pick out a lamb for the table. You turned several model friends of Coco's into vegetarians and even temporarily turned Blake and Weiss into vegans."
"I told literally all of you not to name or get attached to the lamb. Plus this way you knew it was fresh. Besides... I don't care about those models or even Weiss and Blake being weak like that. And I know if I ever found out Raven's rub recipe for burnt ends... or even her sauce recipe you would eat me and Coco if we were cooked in that. Might even let me and Coco try some of that whipped cream stuff in return."
"That stuff is cold. And not in the fun way... and I feel like you should know if I was in a better mindset and Coco wasn't in the hospital this morning... I wouldn't be averse to using my tongue on parts of you and her. Especially with Velvet gone for nearly an hour already." Ruby said as Emerald just smiled at her.
"It is actually closer to four hours. You passed out for a bit there. Which was just something that caused me to relax a little. Just the fact, both of my girlfriends that needed sleep was getting some. One of which has been having nightmares and thankfully didn't need her super heavy blanket to keep her socking me in the ribs." Emerald said as she opened the door to see Weiss standing there looking slightly peeved. "Are you mad at me or Coco?"
"Unless you punched my blind boyfriend in the gut, I'm not mad at you. How bad is she? Because I don't want to have to wait and actually think about how I shouldn't kill her for attacking someone that literally couldn't see her." Weiss barked as Emerald shook her head.
"She is currently drugged and sleeping. And Ruby is just barely recovering from seeing that we need a new hospital."
"Why? What did you do?" Weiss hissed as she held a finger out to poke Emerald's chest and give her a sharp shove as Emerald just shook her head.
"Neo works there... and Ruby ran into her. Even gave me... or at least Ruby her number so they can meet up."
"Shit... is... is Ruby doing better?" Weiss asked in a whisper as Emerald just shook her head gently and gestured for her to come into the apartment.
"She has been on the mend. And is back to full sentences right now, which is good. I don't think that there is anything left for the world to pile up on her... I mean we even had to call Kali last night, Ruby was having that bad of an episode." Emerald said as Weiss stopped and just stared into the red eyes of her friend. "Summer brought up some legitimately awful things and is asking far too much of Ruby. And she just wasn't able to process all that. You know without breaking down, shattering a cup in front of me and Coco... and we knew that Raven wouldn't be able to handle it because she is far from impartial. Especially because Summer was using Raven to get Ruby to break her normal rule." Emerald whispered as Weiss just covered her mouth gently.
Taking a deep breath Emerald simply held a hand up to cut Weiss off. "She is doing a lot better about that right now. She is just pissed at herself that she put Coco in the hospital and Neo just pushed her over the edge. Like violently shoved her over the edge. To the point she opened up the case to her book and was holding that for a while. But again I need to repeat that she is doing a lot better." Emerald said as they came into the large open area where she could see Ruby's head just carefully looking over the edge of the couch as if she feared that Emerald had just let in a random person that would have meant Ruby harm.
"Ruby, relax. I was just filling Weiss in how our last twenty four hours went." Emerald said softly as she walked towards the kettle and quickly turned it on.
"We weren't expecting you..." Ruby whispered softly as she just took a deep breath and began to pull herself into a better viewing position as so she could just watch her friend sighing as she rubbed her eyes.
"Coco punched Fox in the gut. And I just found out not that long ago because I noticed a large bruise and it took awhile for me to get him to finally confess that it was Coco." Weiss said as Ruby simply groaned as she looked towards her bedroom door.
"I told her explicitly not to do that. I feel a lot better that I hurt her..." Ruby mumbled as Weiss just shook her head. "And I don't want to talk about Summer or Neo... because one is going to make me all kinds of angry again and the other is going to make me have a near breakdown again..." Ruby said.
As she spoke, a thought occurred to her as she popped off the couch and walked towards the house phone. "What is going on Ruby?" Emerald asked as Ruby quickly started to dial the voicemail number. At least with what Emerald could recognise that is.
"The doctor was meant to call me today. So that way I can gauge how I'm going to respond to her." Ruby began as she began to look around. "I'm going to go into my study... can you make me some of your special hot cocoa?" Ruby asked as Emerald just smiled faintly at her.
"Fine, I'll leave it out here. Let me know how it goes." Emerald said as Ruby just nodded her head as she quickly ran up to Emerald to plant a chaste kiss on her lips.
"Will do. Can you not tell Weiss though the details about Summer though if you haven't already? She'll want to force me to talk about it and I really really don't want to. Not unless I have no choice but to talk about it." Ruby said as Emerald just smiled down at her.
"Sure. But we do still need to talk about it. Even if Coco can't. It would make me feel a lot better. Like... a whole lot better." Emerald said as she looked into Ruby's eyes, just knowing that she had to let her know that it was serious. "You've got my support and Coco's no matter what you decide. Okay?" Emerald continued as Ruby just smiled faintly.
"I know... but it does make me feel better that I know for a fact that I have it. But I should get going to check this stuff." Ruby said with a soft smile as she started to walk towards the small room as she could hear Weiss quickly starting to press the questions and Emerald clearly not budging.
Just the simple gesture was enough to make Ruby feel all kinds of better because it meant that Emerald really wasn't going to budge on a topic and it showed how much that she really did care for Ruby. It was nothing more than an extra reminder, but it was enough to just lift a weight off of her shoulders.
Closing the door, Ruby started to walk towards her chair as she pressed the call button just causing her to relax as she could hear the robotic voice on the other end. As she spun around in her chair to face one of her computers, Ruby quickly pulled the phone back to hit the password into the phone.
"You have one new message."
'Please let this be the message I want and not just someone else that was just trying to reach us...' Ruby thought as she quickly pulled the phone back and cutting it off before it could start giving a list of buttons she could press and simply clicked the one she knew was going to play the message.
"Miss Rose, this is Doctor Pietro. I work in the asylum and you requested me to call you today. If you receive this message before five please call me back. And we can discuss whatever it is that made you want to request this."
Smiling at the comment, Ruby quickly looked at the clock hanging on her wall. 'Score... at least something is looking up for me finally.' Ruby thought as she slammed her finger on the end call button and quickly dialled the hell hole that the one tormentor from her past she couldn't get away from was in before she went into the one that she felt like Summer truly deserved.
"Haven Mental Hospital for the criminally insane. How may I direct the call?"
"Doctor Pietro Polendina please. Tell him it is Ruby Rose returning his earlier phone call." Ruby said as she could hear a simple but affirmative response as she leaned back in her chair.
Just closing her eyes. Already planning Summer's funeral. Knowing full well that it couldn't be the pauper one that she wanted. It would need to still be a private one. Which to Ruby still felt like it was going to be too much. At least for Summer.
"Miss Rose?" Ruby could hear the voice just snapping her out of day dream which had brought a small smile to her face.
"Yeah sorry. And sorry I missed your call earlier. I was in the hospital with my girlfriends. We had an incident that just really forced me to be there." Ruby recited off as though she was trying her hardest to justify why she missed the call. Especially because of how few people had her personal home number. She didn't want to give anyone a reason to give it out. "But to answer the question, I need to know about Summer's medical condition. She is claiming that her organs or something like that are failing."
"It is fine. I was waiting back later regardless. And your girlfriend does take priority." Ruby could hear the doctor on the other end speak with a relieved tone. One that to Ruby meant that he really wasn't and was just trying to cover himself. "And I hate to be the one to say this. But your mother i-"
"Sorry to cut you off Doctor. But Summer is many things, but she isn't a mother. She simply birthed me."
"Summer then... is in fact dying. Her mitral, tricuspid aortic valve are failing. Specifically from stiffening. I don't give her very long. If you are trying to call to get her on the organ transplant list, I'm sorry. There isn't much you could do."
"Doc... I'm sure you can imagine... Summer and I... to say we have a strained relationship is an understatement. She killed my family and proceeded to torture my sister after forcing her to eat parts of herself. Then while high proceeded to run out leaving me to starve for eight days, where she proceeded to use what little cash there was in the house and she could get being a whore to fuel her binge. So I'm in no big rush to extend her life." Ruby said as she just took a deep breath to just try and calm herself down. "If it was literally any other person... I'd be willing to talk. But not Summer. Something she even knows and understands."
"It is just a weird thing to me. As a parent and son myself..."
"I'll put it to you this way. Did you get to spend your childhood ignorant of death and living with one or both of your parents? Or did one of your parents murder the other, any siblings you had after trying to sell you into sexual slavery when you were in kindergarten and then proceeded to torture whatever sibling you have if any?" Ruby said in a slightly cold tone before she just took a deep breath. "I was four when people murdering others was explained to me. I still had issues writing my letter g's and could hardly count up past six. Could you imagine your child being told that... could you imagine you being told that in similar circumstances?" Ruby could hear a gasp from the other end. "I haven't met anyone who at the age of four knew about death and by the age of six already had a suicide attempt as I was forced to learn how cruel the world is. All because of that... and I'm using this term in only the strictest definition woman caused it all. And you want me to try and extend her life when there are plenty of other people who could use those?"
"But, she..."
"Doc. You aren't going to change my mind on the topic. I'll visit her, I'll pay for her medication that the asylum doesn't cover, I'll even get her a gift for Christmas. But to extend her life... to actually refer to her as anything but Summer... I can't do it."
"Okay... was that all you need to talk about?"
"Yeah. Goodbye Doctor Pietro." Ruby said as she heard the response she was looking for, she gently pressed the end call button. Gently smacking her cheek to just stop the smile from growing, Ruby took a deep breath as she dialled the only person who could understand how joyous she was feeling.
"Hello?"
"Raven. It is Ruby... I've got some great news about Summer. I mean bad for you but great for me. Even had it verified by her doctor."
"Don't tell me she is trying something to get you to visit more often. Ruby... those visits mean a lot to her."
"No. Although if she was you know I wouldn't go back to her." Ruby said just taking a deep breath. "She is dying. Two of the four valves in her heart are stiffening. The doctors don't actually give her very long." Ruby began as she just took a deep breath. "And I know it isn't something you want to hear from me... but she just told me yesterday... and I just got off the phone with her doctor. The transplant board won't even listen to any appeals from her." Ruby said knowing it was a half lie. But she also knew how Raven could convince her to do just about anything. Including talking to Summer more than once ever.
"Is that what she didn't want to tell me?" Raven asked as Ruby just took a deep breath.
"Maybe. That or the fact she told me what she wants me to do with her body. Apparently there was some cliff my Daddy would take her on dates..."
"I know the one she is talking about. And I hate to say it, but it always worked. Tai was pretty predictable." Raven spoke as she took a deep breath.
"Can you actually stop by here after work Raven? I just, kind of need to vent about a few things... and Coco was in hospital this morning and is on powerful painkillers... and Emerald is seeming a bit distant. Like she is distracted by something and I know she won't budge and tell me. If Coco wasn't on the pain killers we might have been able to get to her."
"Yeah sure. I'll be over Ruby. We can talk then. I'll text you when I'm leaving work."
"Thanks Raven."
Author's Note:
And another chapter is done. Enjoy.