Disclaimer: Only the plot and any original characters belong to me.

Ruby was just about ready to lock up the diner when she got a phone call. She saw that it was from Victor, so she answered it happily enough, ready to tell him that she was closing for the night and would be over at his house no matter what Granny said, but was stopped by a voice that wasn't his before she could even get a word out beyond "Hello."

"We need you down here, Ruby," the voice said. "Victor's been in a terrible accident."

"What sort of accident?" Ruby asked. "Is he going to be all right?"

"It's touch and go," the voice replied. "If you want to tell him 'goodbye' just in case, I suggest you get down here."

"All right," Ruby replied. "I'll be down there in a minute."

"What's going on?" Granny asked as she came out of the back rooms after checking inventory. She noticed Ruby's crestfallen look. "Did that Victor break a date? You always told me that he wouldn't, but I knew there would be a first time for everything." She clicked her tongue and began sweeping up.

"Victor's been in an accident," Ruby explained, grabbing her cloak. "The way the hospital is talking, he might be at death's door."

"Well, what a shame," Granny sighed. "But you know there's nothing you can do about it, so you might as well take what time with him that you can before the end."

"You know there's a way to save him," Ruby reminded her. "Remember that story I liked you to tell me when I was a girl about your brother who saved his sick fiancée by turning her? And how romantic I always thought it was? Well, if he can save his fiancée, I can save Victor."

"I know you mean well," Granny told her. "But I don't think it's a good idea to have more than one wolf around here. How do you suggest we stop his transformation during the full moon? Red capes don't just grow on trees, you know!"

"We'll think of something," Ruby replied. "And I'll teach him control. Please, Granny?"

"Oh, all right," Granny sighed. "But if something goes wrong and he never becomes stable, I'm taking the first chance I have to shoot him cause that's the only safe thing to do. Do you understand me?"

"That won't happen," Ruby said confidently. "But if it does…I suppose we'll have no other choice, will we?"

"No," Granny said, pulling out her crossbow and caressing the tip with her eyes. "We won't."

"I have to go now," Ruby told her. "Will you be able to close up by yourself?"

"Of course," Granny nodded. "But be at the diner extra early tomorrow."

Without much more delay, Ruby raced to Storybrooke General Hospital and ran to the front desk. "Doctor Whale!" She cried. "Is he all right? Please don't tell me he's dead!"

"No," the receptionist shook her head. "Not yet, anyway. You still have time. And he's been asking for you. He'll probably be really glad to know you've come to see him." She gave Ruby Victor's room number and Ruby made her way there, opening the door and coming in carefully.

"Victor?" She asked, her voice quiet as she approached her boyfriend who was covered in bandages, had one leg in traction and a cast on the other leg. "Are you…are you awake? It's Ruby. I've come to see you."

Victor's eyes opened and he gave a weak, pained chuckle. "So they did call you," he said. "I honestly didn't think they were going to. That nurse…she's a bit of a barracuda. Not easily charmed."

"Yeah, they called me," Ruby nodded and gently kissed Victor's forehead. "So what happened? What's all this about you being at death's door? Not another suicide attempt?"

"No, no!" Victor assured her. "Nothing like that. I just…I misjudged how much I had to drink when I was driving to the diner and I just…I hit a tree. So many injuries…possible major internal bleeding." He chuckled.

"I don't see what's so funny about all this," Ruby remonstrated as she took his hand. "You're dying and it's not a joke!"

"No, I was just thinking that if I could operate on myself for the resurrection procedure, this would be the perfect time, wouldn't it?" Victor asked.

"No," Ruby shook her head. "I remember what happened with your brother and it would break my heart if you acted the same way toward me that he did toward you. I have an even better idea."

"You do?" Victor asked. "What is it?"

"Well, you know the full moon is coming," Ruby said. "And you know that when the full moon comes I…change."

"Yes," Victor nodded. "Of course I know that."

"Well, if I were to bite you too…you'd be saved," Ruby told him. "You wouldn't die and you could keep doing your work."

"Is that so?" Victor asked.

"It is," Ruby nodded. "You'd just be a werewolf from that point on. That's the only drawback." She paused. "That, and if you're unable to be tamed, Granny said she's going to shoot you dead with her crossbow."

"That's nothing new," Victor shrugged this warning off. "She's thought that ever since the night I took you out on our first date."

"True, but this time, it won't be an idle threat," Ruby said. "I'll be real. Not that I think she'll need to do it, of course. I'll work with you and you'll be just as normal as I am."

"That's not a bad thing to be," Victor smiled and then let out a huge cry of pain because he was unable to hide it like he'd done before.

"That…that's good," he got out afterward, panting as sweat streamed down his brow. "Let's do it, as soon as you can."

"All right," Ruby nodded. "See you then."

"I can't believe I'm letting you do this," Granny told Ruby the day before the full moon. "It's probably one of the stupidest ideas I've ever had. In fact, maybe we shouldn't do it."

"Yes we should," Ruby told her. "That's just your nerves talking. I'm not gonna let Victor die if I can save him."

Granny scoffed when she heard this. "He's made it his whole life's work to bring back the dead. You would think that with his drinking habits, he would have accounted for this eventuality and come up with a solution himself so he wouldn't have to put you and the entire town at risk!"

"That won't happen," Ruby promised. "I swear."

"And how are you going to explain a werewolf running rampant around the hospital?" Granny asked, hands on hips. "It's going to frighten everyone."

"No, it won't," Ruby shook her head. "I've learned how to control it. I'll be in and out of Victor's room and then we can get him back here. Do you have his room set up?"

"Yes, I do," Granny sighed. "I think we're both crazy to do something like this, but since you already got his hopes up, there's no turning back now, is there?"

"No," Ruby shook her head. "There's really not."

Granny tried to maintain her calm as she walked with a newly transformed Ruby at her side. She had the red cloak over her arm for after Ruby had done what she came to do, and her crossbow in hand in case something went horribly wrong.

The nurses and doctors gave Ruby a look but didn't panic because as Ruby had pointed out, they all knew she was a wolf and, thanks to David's intervention, knew that she could transform without being a danger.

When they reached Victor's room, he was asleep. Granny gently roused him and then helped him sit up the best he could. "Are you ready?" She asked him. "You better be. We don't have all the time in the world, you know."

"Yes," Victor got out and held out his arm. Ruby bumped her nose against it and nuzzled a bit and then Victor took a deep breath as she bit down.

This made his heart rate pick up and his monitor began beeping wildly. Granny quickly threw the cloak over Ruby and by the time the hospital staff came to check on Victor, both she and Ruby were human and standing by Victor's bed.

"Where did that bite come from?" Asked the nurse as she stared at the obvious bite on Victor's arm.

"I did it," Ruby confessed since there was no point in hiding it. "It'll save his life."

"And how do you know this?" The nurse wanted to know. "I had no idea you had medical degree."

"She doesn't and neither do I," Granny said firmly. "But I know from past experience that's true. All you can do is basically keep him comfortable until he dies, so really, who's doing him more of a favor here? You or us?"

The nurse narrowed her eyes and then looked at Victor. "What do you think?" She asked. "What would you like us to do?"

"Well, as this whole scheme was an agreement between him and my granddaughter, I think it's obvious where he stands!" Granny cried.

Victor was then able to give a nod. "I want…I want to go," he got out. "Please."

With that, the other doctors and nurses finally allowed Ruby to sign Victor out and then she and Granny managed to get him to his new room at the inn. After he was tucked in bed, Ruby asked, "So it's been some time since you received the bite. How are you feeling?"

"There's not so much pain anymore," Victor told her. "Now I just kind of feel ill."

"That's good," Granny said. "That means the healing properties of the saliva are beginning to work on you."

Victor's eyebrow went up. "Did you just say that werewolf saliva has healing properties?"

"Naturally," Granny nodded. "You have to be in top shape to survive the transformations, so the saliva in the bite does any healing in the body that needs to be done."

"But don't you see, that's marvelous!" Victor exclaimed. "If we found some way to market this, it could save lives!"

Granny and Ruby looked at each other. "It would…" Ruby told him. "But if you tried to give someone the saliva, in any form, it will turn them into a werewolf and I'm sure you wouldn't want that if all you want to do is to heal."

"True," Victor nodded. "But I'm sure that with research and some elbow grease, we could find a way around that…couldn't we?"

"Possibly," Ruby told him, not wanting to dampen his enthusiasm. "If anyone could do that, you could. But does this mean you're giving up on your original line of work?"

"Oh, no!" Victor shook his head. "Of course not. I'll still be attempting to unleash the secrets of restoring life to the dead…but it will be nice to have a line of work with faster results coming too." He paused.

"What?" Ruby asked. "Are you all right?"

"I-I-" he gagged. "Help me to the bathroom, or bring me a bucket or something. Please."

Ruby brought him the bucket just in time and after he finished getting sick, she tucked him in and instructed him to get as much sleep as he could.

"You're gonna need your strength," she informed him. "You're going to have a long night tomorrow."

"Is it really that bad?" Victor asked her.

"Not if you accept it," Ruby told him. "Granny's working on a garment that restrains the change just like my cape does for me, but it will take time. You'll have to undergo the full transformation until then."

"All right," Victor nodded. "I don't have any other choice. And you'll be with me, right?"

"Of course," Ruby assured him and gave him a hug. "I wouldn't make you like this and then leave you all alone. I won't leave your side tomorrow. I promise."

The next morning, Granny asked David to call a town meeting so she could warn everyone about Victor.

"I'm aware that what I'm about to tell you could be considered a dangerous decision," Granny said as she looked at everyone sitting in the town hall. "But Ruby and I have…well, we turned Dr. Whale into a werewolf. It was the only way we could think of to save his life after the accident, and how many other competent doctors do we have here?"

"That is a very good point," David told her. "Have you thought of a plan to keep him under control? He won't be running loose, will he?"

"No," Granny shook her head. "We've talked about it, and Ruby and I are going to keep a very close eye on him. No one should fear for their safety. If you don't have to worry about Ruby (and you don't), you don't have to worry about Victor, either. If it turns out that he's unable to be tamed, or he does put anyone in danger, Ruby has given me permission to shoot to kill."

"All right, we trust you," David said at last and gave her a hug. "Good luck."

"Thank you," Granny told him. "When I say everyone will be safe tonight, I do mean it. I can't say that enough times."

"We know, Granny," David said again and gave her a reassuring smile. "We know."

"It's almost time," Ruby said as she headed into Victor's room and locked the door behind her.

"All right," Victor nodded. He'd healed completely and was now just lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. "How are we going to do this?"

"Well, like I said before," Ruby told him as she sat next to him on the bed, "the most important thing to learn when you're a werewolf is to accept it as a part of you. Then you can control it and you're less likely to become wild and crazy and attack people. So what's gonna happen is that once we've changed, you and I are just gonna go out and walk around. Everyone else has chosen to stay inside until we turn back so you won't have to worry about endangering anyone, or them endangering you. It should be nice. It'll be a make-up for that date we didn't get to have because of your accident."

"Yeah," Victor nodded and kissed her. "I like the sound of that."

Transforming was a painful process, but when it was all over and he saw Ruby beside him and felt her give him a reassuring nuzzle, it became much easier to remember who he was.

Just like Ruby suggested, they walked around town under the moonlight with Granny following behind them, her crossbow in hand in case he felt the urge to kill someone.

But it never came. And when they were in his room and both turned back into humans, Ruby led him to bed, pushed the covers aside, and encouraged him to climb in after her, which he did and put his arms around her neck.

"You made it through your first night," she said. "I'm proud of you."

"Thank you," Victor said with a smile. "It wasn't as bad as I thought since you were there. I mean, I could have done without your grandmother and her crossbow, don't get me wrong, but…but I understand why she had to be there."

"Yeah." Ruby nodded. "She'll probably insist on coming a few more times just to make sure you're safe, but I think you'll be all right."

He pushed her back against the mattress and looked down into her eyes. "And do you think I'll be able to do anything with the werewolf saliva?" He asked and kissed her neck. "Or do you think it's a stupid idea?"

"Of course I don't think it's stupid," Ruby replied. "If you can find a way to use werewolf saliva to cure people of their injuries without turning them into werewolves too, that would be a marvelous accomplishment and if anyone could do it, you could. I think you can do anything you want."

"You know, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," Victor told her as he pulled the blankets over their heads. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Ruby smiled. "It's no problem, really."

The End