AN: Bwahaha! Bet y'all thought it was over, but it ain't! I couldn't leave it without some more fluff to cap off my submission to RQW. Enjoy this bonus! P.S. I just finished writing this, so forgive any errors please. ;)
Standard Disclaimer: The characters don't belong to me, which is a good thing else I might never get anything done. They are Adam and Eddie's. Please, guys, don't sue me!
Epilogue
"Hey, babe," Ruby greets as Regina rounds the corner and steps into the living room. A soft smile is gracing her lovely lips that hadn't been there earlier. "You're back early. How'd it go?"
It is not Ruby's smile that halts Regina in her place but the presence of another person perched neatly beside Ruby. Hands folded in her lap, Mary Margaret beams at Regina in a way she hasn't since Heroes & Villains came to its abrupt end. Ruby had said nothing about having company over before Regina had left for the Cemetery, and considering how emotionally drained Regina is from dealing with her own ghosts (both literally and figuratively), she is immediately apprehensive. The last thing she needs today is another confrontation, especially in her own house.
This place is her Sanctum Sanctorum, the one safe space she has away from all of her responsibilities that come along with being Mayor of a town full of fairy tale characters. It is a place she can forget about her woes for a while, somewhere she can escape for a few hours from her past.
But while Regina cherishes the perfectly arranged confines of her house, Ruby is the real reason she feels so comfortable at home these days. Seeing as they are just now getting back to some semblance of a normal life together, she prays that nothing has been said or done to upset that return to balance.
"Fine," she drawls after a moment of staring between Ruby and Mary Margaret. She then motions toward the couch where Ruby is nestled next to the best friend she's been avoiding like the plague. "How is this going?"
Ruby's smile does not waver. "It's going great!"
"It really is," Mary Margaret says. "We talked, screamed at each other a bit, then cried for a while."
"Yeah, then we hugged it out," adds Ruby as she nudges her friend's shoulder, eyes twinkling.
Seeing Ruby so relaxed and playful with her best friend sends relief flooding through Regina's system. After
"I'm glad. For both your sakes," Regina replies, greatly relieved.
She knows how hard it has been for Ruby to feel so spiteful toward her best friend for something that was beyond Mary Margaret's control. Their friendship is the strongest Regina has ever seen, having endured trials that would have rent lesser ones asunder. Ruby's experiences almost did just that, though.
While Mary Margaret initially regressed to the pitiful state she'd inhabited after killing Regina's mother, Ruby continued to struggle in her endeavor to separate fiction from reality. Even more than a month removed from the event, it is still virtually impossible for her sometimes, particularly on those nights she wakes up screaming from a nightmare in which she'd relived her personal hell in that fictional world. On those nights, Regina has to force herself to tend to Ruby, who is often left distraught and trembling after enduring those night terrors, instead of magicking herself to the Charming loft to tear Snow's heart out and finally grant the wish she'd made not so many years ago.
But then she remembers that Ruby is not the only victim of Heroes & Villains. Aside from Mary Margaret, David has been suffering as well, having been working himself to the bone to avoid thinking about what he'd been forced to do to a woman he loves as if she were his flesh and blood sister. More than once, Regina has mentioned Ruby in his presence only to watch his focus blur as tears well up in his eyes and his jaw flexes with barely repressed hatred. That he is a good man Regina has learned to respect only makes his anguish worse. Still, the former shepherd had dealt with the pain much more productively than his wife.
Time, however, heals all wounds, and this latest example is no exception. Mary Margaret has started teaching again after a short leave of absence, and David isn't pulling double shift anymore and can actually be seen smiling and laughing. Some of that is due to Emma being Emma again, but a healthy portion of their return to normality is because they are finally starting to forgive themselves. And while up until now Regina has not resented their newly blossoming happiness, she's had a more difficult time letting go of what happened.
Her tendency to hold grudges is something she has been working on since stepping on the path to redemption, and like the sins she has committed, presented obstacles along the way. But there is hope now that this latest breakthrough for her will finally be the impetus for her to, as Emma put it, truly become a hero. In truth, only time will tell, but she is more at peace with herself than she has ever been, which is a good start.
After a brief silence, Mary Margaret clears her throat and stands. "As much as I'd love to stay and chat, I need to get back home. I left David with Neal after he got home from a hard shift, so I'm sure he's ready to get some rest."
"Don't run off on my account," Regina says, not wanting to be the cause of an abrupt end to a long-needed reconciliation between best friends.
"Oh, honey, I've not run from you in years," Mary Margaret replies, smirking at Regina, who scoffs.
"Because you've had no reason to," Regina retorts, eyes cut playfully at her former nemesis. "I bet I can give you a one, though, if you stick around long enough."
"While I am a huge fan of watching you two banter, we've all had trying days," Ruby interjects before Mary Margaret can respond. "So let's leave things be while they are on a high note, huh?"
"A splendid idea," Regina agrees, then waltzes over to the couch where she offers her hand to Ruby, who takes it and gives it a squeeze before standing. "It was good to see you, Snow," she says once Ruby is standing at her side. "And I am glad that you two worked things out."
"Me, too," is the diminutive woman's softly uttered reply. "I've missed you both so much."
Regina flushes with unbidden pleasure at being included in the statement. She hadn't realized how much she had missed the inherent optimism and effortless compassion unique to a former step-daughter she has never really stopped thinking of as family. These past months Snow has been withdrawn and sullen, but now that she is acting like herself again and not so much Mary Margaret the timid teacher or her especially perverse counterpart in fiction, Regina can let herself indulge that fondness.
"We have, too," says Ruby, who then nibbles at her lip and glances up at Regina questioningly.
When Regina's brow raises in response, Ruby nods toward Mary Margaret. Knowing what her girlfriend is silently requesting, she rolls her eyes, but still she sighs out her acquiescence. "Oh, fine."
With Regina's permission granted, Ruby extends her free arm toward her best friend. "Group hug?" She does not need to ask twice.
After uttering a squeal of delight, Mary Margaret throws herself into both Regina and Ruby with reckless abandon, then wraps her arms around both of them. Ruby returns the gesture immediately, then lays her cheek upon Mary Margaret's crown.
Regina, on the other hand, loiters momentarily as that old inclination to spurn such outward shows of affection rears its ugly head. To overcome it, she reminds herself of all she has gone through, of the progress she's made, the setbacks she's had, and of how hard she has fought to build relationships with these people who against all odds have opened up their hearts and lives to her when they had every right to shun her.
When Regina feels Ruby's hand slip out of hers to link around her waist and draw her in close, she at last gives in to the swell of affection building up within her chest. Wrapping an arm around Mary Margaret, she ducks her head down to kiss Ruby's cheek and then rests her forehead gently against Ruby's temple. She both hears and feels Mary Margaret's reaction, which comes in a form of an audible and heaving sigh of utter bliss.
Regina chuckles, unable to restrain the smile that forms on her lips. Happiness courses through her veins in a way she'd thought impossible that morning. And later on that night after Mary Margaret has left and she and Ruby are alone, she ruminates upon it as she sits on the couch with Ruby's feet in her lap. Propped up against the opposite end of the couch, her girlfriend has her nose buried in the final pages of the same book she'd been reading – at Belle's suggestion – the day Regina returned from Neverland, The Count of Monte Cristo.
Upon finishing the book, Ruby snaps it shut and then lays it down on the ground in front of the couch.
"I get it now," she says, and when Regina looks at her questioningly, adds, "why Belle suggested I read this."
"Ah." Regina slips a hand beneath the hem of Ruby's jeans to brush over a smooth shin. Letting it slide around beneath Ruby's leg, she begins to gently massage a shapely calf, inordinately delighted to see her girlfriend react by giving a little breathy sigh of pleasure as her eyes slide shut. She then says, "Let me guess, it was the bookworm's subtle way of warning you that revenge has a price?"
"Well yeah," Ruby answers, eyes opening after a moment of enjoying the sensation Regina's attention is producing. "But also that's it's easy. Forgiving yourself afterward is the hard part. What it's really about, though, is love. Love is the only thing can overcome the emptiness that's left when the desire for vengeance has faded."
Regina hums her agreement, then adds, "I assume that in this instance I am the Count and you are my Haydée?"
"To borrow from Ashley's story, if the shoe fits," Ruby says, then quickly shifts to sit on her knees and shuffle close to Regina. She leans in, eyes wide, hands folded up as in prayer, and begins to quotes from the book having assumed the role of Haydée. "I am young. I love the life you made so sweet to me, and should regret to die."
Regina, who knows the book well, slides into her part as the Count with ease. "You mean, then, that if I leave you, Ruby -"
"I should die," Ruby answers fervently. "Yes, my lady."
"Do you love me then?"
"Oh, yes, I do love you! I love you as one loves a mother, sister, wife! I love you as my life, for you are the best, the noblest of created beings!"
"Let it be then as you wish, sweet angel," Regina then amends the speech to her own thoughts. "Who knows? Perhaps your love will make me forget all I wish not to remember."
"And yours mine," Ruby whispers, breaking the citation as she leans in for a kiss.
Later that night after climbing into bed, Regina lays on her side facing the wall, covers tucked up tightly beneath her arms. A very human part of is struggling with disappointment that she cannot yet make love to Ruby when it's all she wants to do. It's selfish of her to want that knowing Ruby isn't ready yet, but her entire being is thrumming with an intense need to show Ruby just how loved and appreciated she is. Without sex as method for expressing these emotions, Regina is left feeling incredibly frustrated. And though she is able to quash those desires out of respect for Ruby, she can't help but wonder how long that frustration will last.
But then Ruby slides into bed behind her, and as if sensing Regina's turmoil proceeds to press a series of lingering kisses to her shoulder, neck, and cheek before tilting her head up for a reverent kiss upon the lips that lasts just long enough to sate the beast in Regina demanding more, more, more. After that, Ruby settles back down to spoon the length of Regina's body. Once nestled as close as humanly possible, she winds her arm around Regina's waist and then tucks her hand just beneath the hem of the silk pajama pants Regina chose to sleep in. Fingers splayed wide, she rests her palm low on Regina's tummy and hums in contentment.
"'Night, my Plucky Bandit," she murmurs, and Regina can feel Ruby's entire body relaxing as she fades rapidly from a long and emotionally draining day. "Love you. So much. S'much..."
Ruby having trailed off that way means she has fallen asleep, and Regina can't contain the tender smile that breaks out over her features. "Goodnight, my Fairy Wolfmother," she replies, knowing Ruby can't hear, but wanting to complete the ritual just the same.
All earlier frustration flees Regina in the aftermath of Ruby's gesture. The arrangement of her palm in such an intimate place is not coincidental, but rather is an unspoken promise that she is cognizant of Regina's desires and is working toward resolving them as quickly as she can. And while Regina could feel guilty for making Ruby feel that way, she doesn't because Ruby – as a highly sensual woman in her own right – has voiced frustration on multiple occasions at the residual hangups remaining from what she'd gone through in Heroes & Villains. But mostly Regina simply cherishes the value to her of knowing the woman she loves, her partner in life, is so readily willing to put her needs before their own.
As she lays there in bed listening to the sound of Ruby's adorable snoring, Regina clings to the hope she's found – both in Emma's understanding and Ruby's unconditional support – regarding a future where love will have at last conquered the blights of the past. She knows there is no erasing the things she has done, but at the same time because the people that love her most can live with them, she knows she can, too. Like the Count of Monte Cristo, she has discovered all human wisdom lay in these two words, "wait and hope."
Regina does exactly that for nearly three months. Making love to Ruby again after all they've endured is not easy. After letting Ruby take care of her first, Regina returns the favor with careful attention, and although there are missteps and apologies and a few stops and starts the end result is perfect.
With a Ruby spent and radiant Ruby securely resting in her arms, Regina can only close her eyes and breath in the heady scent of their love, and marvel at how in the end she has been given so much more than was ever taken away. Her life, once so devoid of meaning aside from the pursuit of an empty revenge, is overflowing with love and laughter and more joy than she'd ever imagined she could feel.
For so long she had believed the universe owed her, but now she is stricken by the astounding revelation that she is the one who is in debt, and it is one that can never be repair even with a thousand lifetimes of servitude. For Ruby's love, she has come to believe, is more priceless than anything under the Heavens.
Surrounded as she is by the physical and spiritual warmth of, aside from Henry, the most precious person to ever grace the earth, Regina swiftly drifts off to sleep. Just before entering that subliminal world of infinite possibility, she pulls Ruby even more closely against her body and then thinks to herself, "This makes everything worthwhile." It is a sentiment that a lifetime of memories to come will prove true.
THE END