A/N: I'd just like to take the time to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter: The pink wearing sugar plum fairy (no you may not lick - you may not even breathe near it), leslienicolespeaks, betty-boo, Jet, Scorching Reality (you're in the A/N again!), Dani, Jada and '...' - biiiig thankyou for your kind reviews. Was very worried how people would take that. Anyway, i've waffled enough - On with the update now!

Ruby rubbed her face against the warmth in front of her, yawning slightly into the soft yet firm smooth surface. She paused, the events of the early hours of the morning coming rushing back. After discovering she was losing Leon's baby she had come out to the couch, drank a little then fallen asleep in said man's lap after he came looking for her. He was none the wiser about what had happened. He was probably just thinking that PMS made her weepy.

His large hands ran down over her back, her face still buried against his shoulder. He had rocked her as she cried, not knowing just how much he was helping. She hadn't felt as alone as she had before he'd come looking for her while he was holding her, quietly making soothing sounds into her hair. It was something she'd seen him do with Cade when the little boy fell and scraped his knee or hand.

She burrowed deeper against him, her knees drawn up to her chest, her arm up around Leon's neck. She felt his hands move from her back and side respectively and then the blanket was tugged up over her gently, tucked around her shoulders. His hands came back to rest in their previous positions and smoothed circles over the soft fabric, his cheek pressed against her forehead.

"I know you're awake, Rubes," she flushed against his shoulder and peered up at him tiredly.

He was watching her with a soft, confused glimmer in his eye. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she answered softly, slipping back onto the cushions and off his lap, "-you should have woken me."

He shrugged almost gracefully and rubbed this hands against his thighs. "Didn't matter." He slipped to the edge of the couch and that's when Ruby noticed he was only wearing the sheet from her bed, tucked around his waist . There were scabbed over scratch marks on his upper arms from where she'd held onto him the night before as she'd writhed beneath him. Her cheeks flushed pink and she hid her face in the blanket.

Leon hooked the edge of the burnished gold fabric in his fingers and slipped it down to reveal her face.

"Does seeing me naked still embarrass you?" he asked lightly, tucking her hair back behind her ear for her. Ruby avoided eye contact, even as he tilted her head to look at him and palmed her fringe back off her face.

"Ruby?" He was turned toward her now. "Sweetie what's wrong? Is it your belly?"

Tears burned at her eyes at his mention of her still aching stomach. She was twisted in knots and she couldn't, nay, wouldn't tell him why. Mutely she nodded and he sighed, nuzzling her cheek.

"I'll go and run you a shower," he stood her up, nudging her ahead of him down the hallway. He pushed her gently toward her bedroom door. "Go get some clothes to get dressed in after."

Ruby nodded. She couldn't get over how sweet he was being about it all – if only the reason for her pain was the reason he thought it was. His gentle nature this morning was slowly tearing her down, piece by piece. Her hands shakily opened her drawers, pulling out some turquoise lounge pants and a black halter top. She didn't feel like anything elaborate or pretty today – all she wanted to do was curl up and die. She wondered if this was how Leon felt all the time and wondered how he handled even breathing if it was.

As she turned to walk from the room she caught sight of the bed. The covers were still rumpled and messy, kicked to the end of the bed and she could hear Leon's gentle urging in her ear from the night before, still felt his hands against her. She almost burst into tears for thinking about it – she had no right to be thinking about things like that – not now. Not while the loss of her baby was still raw.

Leon appeared in the doorway and frowned at her quizzically. "Ruby?"

She jumped, looking at him with wide eyes. "Hmm?"

He nodded toward the bathroom. "Showers running and ready for you," he walked over and bent to snag his jeans from the floor, producing his cigarettes from one of the pockets, "-I'll be out back."

She gave him a meek smile, knowing she had to feign some kind of normalcy. "Could you turn the stereo on as you go through the living room?" she asked him, holding her clothes to her chest.

He ran his hand through his hair and brushed it back from his face. "Sure – anything in particular you want to listen to?"

Again Ruby felt herself being awed by this tender streak he was showing. For him to push aside his emotional ache just because of her physical one, or so he thought, just blew her away.

She shrugged, padding out of the room. "Whatever you want, Le. I'll be out soon."

He hummed. "Take your time." He answered, his tone non committal and mellow. He was always calm and soft spoken the mornings after they had sex. His shoulders didn't seem to hang so heavily for just that little while and for that she was grateful. She was helping him in some way at least.

Only once the bathroom door was securely shut and locked and she was beneath the hot spray of the water did she allow her tears to fall again. She leant against the cool tile and shook as her soundless sobs wracked her delicate frame. He could never find out – there was nothing he could do about it anyway.

Ruby sniffled pushing her face beneath the water and scrubbed at her already pink skin. Her eyes itched from all the crying and her head felt like it was about to explode. She ran her hands back over her head, sloughing the water from her hair.

Leon said his sister was a nurse, she thought to herself. She bit her lip, wondering whether she should wait until he was taking his own shower and steal Tala's number from his phone. She had no idea what to do with herself in this kind of situation and a little advice wouldn't go astray. Although – if Leon ever found out that Tala knew about it and never told him he wouldn't be happy. Not at all.

"Fuck it," she mumbled, squeezing her loofah in her hands, "- I have to talk to somebody that knows what to do."

Angie was out of the question. She saw Leon entirely too often and adored him beyond words – she wouldn't be able to keep it from him. She would cave and tell him and then the shit would hit the fan. Bethany was equally out of the question – she'd be just as clueless about it as she was and there was no way in hell she was asking any of her peers from work. They didn't need to know all the gory details of her private life. They were vultures as it is – no need to give them cannon fodder.

She sighed, scrubbing her legs. It was settled. Tala was her only option. She just hoped the woman wasn't some horrible bitch who would scold her and rip her to shreds once she found out that she'd lost Leon's baby when they weren't even in a relationship. She swallowed the fear and quickly finished her shower, desperate to be in her clothes and curled up on the couch again.

She slowly dressed, still tender both inside and out. There were faint bruises starting to show up on her hips, her thighs where Leon had held onto her last night – before…

Ruby took a deep breath and blinked back her tears, steeling herself to go out and face Leon. She just knew he'd be out on the back patio, leaning back on his elbows with his legs spread out in front of him, cigarette hanging from his mouth as he stared out into the morning's horizon. That was the great thing about her house. It sat on the top of a hill and with the beach being at the bottom just past a thick line of shrubbery, if you looked out from her back patio you could see the glassy surface of the ocean for miles. He loved just sitting there and staring blindly out into thin air.

She wrapped her hair in a towel and worked the neck of the halter over her head, absently tying the single strap across the back and leaving the majority of her pale skin bare. Once that was done she stepped out into the cool hall, the smell of coffee instantly assaulting her nose. She managed a weak smile. He'd turned the coffee maker on for her.

There was music playing, only something quiet and relaxed – almost somber in it's mood. She vaguely recognised it as one of the songs from the Cruel Intentions soundtrack and smirked at his choice of preferred music. He was always muttering about abstract and random bands being the tool of the devil – aka – Vince. Apparently the big man was a big music fan.

Ruby stopped short when she entered the kitchen, fully expecting it to be empty with the fetid smell of Leon's cigarettes floating in the back door. Instead she found him seated at the table bent over a pad of paper with a pencil, sketching something with a mug of untouched white coffee sitting by his hand. He glanced at her but never stopped drawing.

"Coffee's ready." He muttered, brows furrowed as he traced a line out on the pristine white paper. Ruby voiced a small thankyou and went about fixing herself something to eat. Leon's sudden question startled her.

"Are you feeling better?"

She gave him a gentle smile and answered honestly. "A little – yeah. Thanks, Le."

He nodded lightly, throwing the pencil down on the table and standing. "My turn then."

She waited until she heard the bathroom door close and the shower turn on before she dared peek at what he'd been drawing. Her hand came up to her lips.

A little fairy, no bigger than her palm, stood with her finger held up to her lips as if she were shushing someone and she wore a cheeky grin on her face. Her hair was wild and long, almost to her hips and she was draped in a tattered little dress, showing hints of her shaded skin here and there. Her tiny wrists were covered in fine little designs, tattoo like, and bells and jewels hung from her dress and hair here and there. She was beautiful. Beneath her in Leon's scrawly writing were the words 'gemstone baby'.

He was working on a design for the tattoo she'd agreed to get when he got his nipple pierced. Ruby thought he'd forgotten about agreeing to do it for her.

She was so caught up in taking in all the little details of his hastily scrawled picture that she almost forgot about her plan to nab Tala's number while he was showering. She quickly grabbed up her phone and hurried down to the bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed as she scrawled through his phone book. Once she found Tala's name she carefully copied the number into her phone then flipped Leon's closed and slid it back into his jeans. She would call her later after Leon was gone. She had just gotten back into the kitchen when she heard the bathroom door open and the slap of Leon's feet against the floorboards.

He appeared moments later, his jeans hanging low on his narrow hips, scrubbing his hair with a towel.

"Would you cut my hair?"

Ruby blinked at him. "How 'bout no." she answered almost right away. No way in hell was she cutting that hair.

He quirked a brow. "Why not?" he asked, bemused. His eyes followed her as she set her coffee mug down and walked toward him, fluttering shut as her fingers tangled in his hair close to his scalp and tugged. He made a sound of appreciation in the back of his throat and Ruby let go. He opened his eyes and stared down at her, nodding slightly. "Point made. The hair stays."

"Damn right it does," she motioned to the paper on the table as she walked back over to the counter, "Is that for me?"

Leon picked up the paper and looked it over. "Yeah – she's not done yet. You said you liked fairies, right?" He set the paper back down and looked up.

Ruby nodded. "She's beautiful, Le," she flushed slightly, "-thankyou."

He smiled, shrugging listlessly. "Don't thank me yet – I could still fuck it all up."

"Why don't I believe you?"

His expression sobered slightly. "Because you put too much faith in me." He stood there for a moment then visibly shook himself and looked up at the clock. "I have to get home for Cade." He threw the towel in the laundry before he left the kitchen in search of his shirt, shoes and keys, returning moments later biting his car keys in his teeth and tugging his shirt on. He swallowed a mouthful of his cold coffee before dumping the rest in the sink then wrapped Ruby in a gentle hug. His hand brushed over her belly as he drew back from her.

"Feel better."

She trembled slightly as she heard the Skyline roar to life and the gravel crunch beneath the tires, then looked at her phone laying on the counter. She took a deep breath and let it out before she picked it up and looked up Tala's number, then with hesitant fingers, she punched the number into her home phone and waited.

It rang five times, five long rings before a light, feminine voice answered sounding a little curious about the unfamiliar number calling her. "Tala Mackenzie."