A/N: Here you go people - more fic! Thankyou to all who read/reviewed and to the lovely Ms Fi for reading over this to make sure it made sense.

She was pale, almost impossibly so yet there were little to no freckles covering her skin like he'd expect of a red head. She was tall by the looks of it, probably around his height or a little shorter and her vibrant red hair was held back from her face by two transparent blue chopsticks with diamantes on the ends, her fringe long enough to hang in her eyes. Sparkling chandelier earrings hung from her earlobes, twinkling in the sun as they swung back and forth. Her slim wrists were adorned with numerous bracelets that tinkled every time she moved her hands and she wore three rings on her right hand. All plain silver but filigreed and eye catching. Her skirt pooled around her on the concrete slab, a gauzy mass of blacks, paisleys and dusty pinks. Her top was a simple white tank and Leon couldn't help noticing just how well she filled it out. He mentally berated himself for looking. His eyes were drawn to a pendant around her neck. It looked to be a butterfly carved out of jade suspended on a leather thong and it rested just against the swell of her cleavage. She was an artists wet dream. There were so many things to look at on her, so many tiny details to take in all at once that his mind raced. As he got closer he could see her feet, bare and peeking out from beneath her skirt, her toe nails painted an iridescent shade of pink.

She had a note pad on her thighs and her ringed fingers loosely held a pen, writing something on the paper as she spoke to herself.

Leon looked around to see who she was talking to and frowned. There was nobody else around. He sighed. Not only was she sitting on top of Jesse's grave, his destination, she was nuts.

"What are you doing?"

The girl jumped, then pen flying out of her hand. It bounced a few times across the concrete and skidded off the edge into the grass. She ignored it, her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun as she looked up at him.

"I was doodling." She turned to look for her pen but held up the note pad. "See?"

Leon quirked his eyebrow but took the pad from her. There were flowers, hearts and stars all over the paper in purple ink. Occasionally there was a word scrawled out in amongst all the scribble, but aside from that it was exactly what she'd said it was. Doodling.

He held the note pad out to her and shook his head. "Lovely. Really." He mocked, "But I meant what the fuck are you doing sitting here?"

She glared up at him. "I have every right to sit here!"

Leon took a threatening step forward. "Not when you're sitting on my brother's grave, you don't! Now what the fuck are you doing?"

She blinked up at him, stunned. "Brother? Jesse didn't have any-" she paused, squinting at him. "Leon? Leon Orello?"

He flinched. He didn't know who the hell she was yet she knew him somehow.

"Who are you?" He knew he sounded defensive but he was uncomfortable with her knowing his name when he had no inkling as to her identity.

Brilliant green eyes smiled up at him brightly. She climbed to her feet, excited.

"It's me, Ruby. Ruby Garrison. We were in the home together for a while."

Leon looked at her, studying her features. The beauty in front of him did indeed resemble the small girl he'd known once. He was shocked that she remembered him. He was only in that group home for two weeks before he took off to LA.

"Oh," he mumbled lamely, "Uh – how are you?"

She bounced on her toes, hopping down onto the grass to stand in front of him. Long slender arms reached out and gathered him into a hug.

"I'm good! Let me look at you." She took a step back and looked him up and down, then her glossy pink lips broke into a wide smile. "You're looking wonderful, Le. How are you, precious?"

He let her pull him down to sit beside her on top of Jesse's grave. Leon ran his hand across the smooth surface and looked at the headstone. 'Jesse Stephen Ashcroft' it read, then had his date of birth and death beneath it. Leon was almost expecting there to be a reference to him being the mad scientist on there too, but obviously the person who had buried him was unaware of the title.

He blinked away tears, flinching when he felt Ruby's hand on his back.

"I didn't see you at the funeral." She said softly, her persona more subdued now. She seemed to realise this was incredibly difficult for him.

Leon stayed rigid beneath her touch. It felt odd to have someone so openly affectionate that wasn't his son touching him. He'd pushed both Vince and Tala away from him over the past couple of years so much that they didn't even try to touch him any more.

"I didn't know he'd died until a week after," he murmured, long fingers tracing the gold lettering on the grey marble headstone. Whoever had lain him to rest had wanted the best for him. Leon turned to look at Ruby. "You were there? At the funeral?"

She nodded. "I cried." She admitted, "A lot."

Leon smiled. Before he had been placed in the group home after social services got hold of him, both Jesse and Ruby had been there for some months together. They had known each other before he had even come onto the scene. A sadness settled over him.

"There weren't many people here, were there.."

She shook her head. "Only a few. Some family, Mrs Johns, me.."

He nodded. "At least he had one friend here for him." He let his fingers drop away from the writing. He stared at his lap for a while, grateful for Ruby's silence. Her hand crept into view and her ringed fingers looped around his, her thumb brushing his knuckles.

Leon touched the bracelets curiously. "Why all the scrap metal?" he asked.

Ruby snorted with laughter, making him look at her oddly. She was the first woman he met to snort like that and not look overly embarrassed.

"Well that was ladylike."

She grinned, looking at their still entwined fingers. She was pleased he hadn't pulled away. He was projecting a lot of sadness and the urge to just hug him until it all felt better was almost too strong to ignore.

"I try." She quipped. She shook her wrist, making the bracelets jingle. "I thought they were pretty." She explained easily. "I like pretty things."

His expression softened and he brought his hand up to touch her earring. "I can tell."

Ruby smiled. "Not half obvious, huh?"

Leon shrugged. "It's alright to like pretty things. I can appreciate that." He looked back at the headstone behind him and fought a wave of pain. It had taken him so long to track down Jesse's whereabouts and here he was. He wasn't about to break down and cry like a baby while Ruby was there though, so he shoved it down, just like he did with everything else.

Ruby gave him a long, studious look then stood up.

Leon watched her push her feet into a pair of rhinestone studded flip flops and cocked his head. She really did like her sparkles.

"Where are you going?"

"I have work in about an hour, precious." She lied smoothly, bending to shove her note pad and pen into a messenger bag that had been laying hidden by the edge of the grave.

Leon sat up in interest. "Where do you work?"

She slung the bag over her shoulder and motioned for him to stand, wriggling her fingers at him. "I'm an apprentice massage therapist at the day spa in town. Very exciting."

He hesitantly enfolded her in a hug. The scent of lilac tickled his nose and he drew back from the hug, rubbing his nose.

Ruby laughed, patting his cheek. "So sorry about that."

He waved her apology off. "It's nice – just different."

She still had hold of one of his hands. "We have to get together one time – catch up. When it's more convenient for you."

Leon frowned, then realised she was leaving to give him some time with Jesse. He was grateful for her discretion.

"I – Well here's the thing.."

Ruby nodded. "Go ahead.."

"I've got a son. An almost two year old."

Ruby's face lit up. "That's wonderful, Leon! Congratulations!" She pecked him on the cheek and dug into her bag for her pen. Whipping it out she pushed the sleeve of his shirt up to his elbow.

"Whenever you feel like meeting up, just to chat or hang out or something, you give me a bell. Your little boy can come along too if you like."

Leon gaped, flabbergasted. He was expecting her to run away screaming at the mention of a child. That's what he thought people did. He didn't have many friends that cared much for Cade. Hell, he didn't have many friends full stop.

"He'll like that I think." He said after a moment. Absently, he added "His name is Cade."

Ruby grinned as she scrawled her number on his arm in metallic purple ink. "That means 'pure' you know." She stated matter of factly. "Or barrel. It depends on what origin you decided on."

"You're a little nuts," he smirked, unable to help himself, "- you know that right?"

Ruby shrugged, not bothering to recap the pen before she threw it back in her bag. "Them's the breaks." She leaned forward to peck him on the cheek, her hand on his shoulder as she did so. "You take care, precious."

He nodded. "Yeah – you too, Ruby."

She shivered, grinning. "Oh now that's sexy. Can you say 'be gone you sexy little gem baby' now?"

A bark of shocked laughter escaped him before he realised it. "Be gone you sexy little gem baby on crack."

Her jaw dropped in shock. "Hey! That was adlibbed!" She shoved him slightly, pushing past him. "Call me a gem baby on crack.." she muttered.

"Bye Ruby." He called after her.

She spun on her heel, her skirt fanning out in the air with the movement. "Bye Leon!" She called back, smiling.

He watched her go, shaking his head. "That girl's nuts, Jess." He mumbled, sitting back down. He touched the smooth surface of the headstone again. "Sorry it took me so long to get here."