CHAPTER TWO

Ruby's phone buzzed on the table late in the night just like the night before and she reached for it.

"Belle?"

"He did it again." Belle was sobbing at the other end and Ruby felt her body abruptly starting to tremble with fury and a jab to her heart at the sound of Belle crying. The girl sniffled and tried to speak again. "He just got so mad. He hit me and left, I don't… I don't know where to."

"That's it, I'm coming over", Ruby said, already up from her bed to gather her jacket and shoes. "I'll be there in twenty minutes, okay?"

"Okay."

"Do you want me to stay on the phone with you?"

"No, not when you're drivin' in the dark. You could get hurt." Ruby couldn't help rolling her eyes. It was so typical of Belle to worry about her safety when she was the one being beaten by a maniac with a cane.

"Okay. I'll be right there."

She hung up and flew out of the door, not caring whether she woke up Granny.

Belle took the phone from her ear and put it down. It felt like a bit of a deja vu, having these conversations over and over again. She knew it had gone on for too long. What she had done tonight was to try and have a conversation with Rumple about his behavior. He didn't take it well. At first she thought he would see reason, but then she had mentioned his sons name and he had just lost it. She put a hand to her cheekbone, where his hand had hit last. This was what hurt the most. No, honestly what hurt the most was that she had come to realize that she was powerless in changing this man. She had done it once, but the darkness that had had a hold on him once before, had now completely engulfed him. She thought of the countless times Ruby had told her just this. How right she was and now Belle was finally realizing it. Ruby was right about everything. Belle wondered if it wasn't perhaps time to start making the right decisions.

Gold didn't know, but Ruby had a key to their house. She had insisted on getting one back when Gold just started getting brutal, because she couldn't shake the horrible thought that one day Belle would be passed out in that house alone and she wouldn't be able to get to her. She unlocked the door and stepped inside quickly and quietly, while listening for any signs of Rumpelstiltskin's return. The house sounded empty.

Ruby knew where Belle would be and she went straight up the stairs. Belle didn't use the master bedroom when she and Gold fought; she took the smaller one down the hall instead. Ruby knew that she slept in there most nights these days, even though she wouldn't admit to it. Carefully she opened the door and stepped inside. She almost growled with fury at the sight of Belle's face. By now her tears had dried and her eyes were only a little red, but the bruise on her cheekbone was quite visible.

"Oh God, Belle!" She ran over to her friend and took her in her arms. Belle locked her arms tight around Ruby's neck and they stood like that for a moment or two without speaking. Ruby then held her out in front of her again to examine the bruise.

"Does it hurt?" She asked and brushed Belle's face lightly with her thumb.

"It's not so bad anymore."

"Don't tell me it's not so bad. God, I will kill him."

"No Ruby, don't go near him. He doesn't like you as it is, I don't want you in harm's way."

Ruby snorted. "Gee, I wonder why he doesn't."

Belle smiled a little bit and leaned her head against Ruby's shoulder. "Because he knows you're good to me and he isn't. I'm glad you came." Ruby closed her eyes as reality, brought by the sweet smell of Belle's hair, came knocking again. She probably should let Belle go.

"I know, it's bad Ruby. I know", Belle said while standing in Ruby's embrace. "I tried to talk to him, but I can't get through. I know it's time to stop tryin'. It's just difficult to let go."

"I know it is." God knows, she did.

Belle knew what was written between the lines. She moved to look Ruby in the eyes, searching for answers. Should she tell her? Was is too soon? She just knew that standing here with Ruby for five minutes she felt better than she had in the last four years with Rumple. She had always felt safe with Ruby, protected, but now she was feeling more than that. All that time of watching Ruby cast stolen looks at her, looks full of subtle want and affection, had ignited something in her. The more she had thought of it, the more that spark had grown. Now standing here with Ruby's arms around her and looking into her bright green eyes, she felt that spark crackling inside of her.

"Belle, you can't look at me like that." Ruby's voice sounded tormented. She let go of her friend and took a small step back. Ruby felt like she had to protect herself. Belle might be in a fragile state, but she herself always felt fragile around this girl and she felt like falling apart, whenever Belle has this look in her eyes. She had seen it once or twice before, but never dared cling to the hope that it might mean something.

Belle kept looking at her.

"Ruby, what you said on the phone yesterday... That you'd never treat me like he does. I know you meant it, and... I feel like I'm always makin' the wrong decisions and I think it might be time to make a right one."

The words spoken to her flew around in her brain with dizzying speed and Ruby's throat suddenly felt dry. She didn't move, but watched Belle take a step closer to her. She felt like her oxygen level was running critically low as she stood there watching Belle's face. She was so close and God, the smell of her was intoxication, but Ruby tried with everything she had in her to keep it at a distance. Belle couldn't possibly mean what she was implying.

"Belle, are you saying….?" Her heart started racing, beating violently in her chest.

Belle nodded.

"But you said, you… You didn't think of me that way." It was difficult to talk with such little air and a throat covered with sand paper and the words came out croaked.

Her blue eyes were piercing Ruby's green, making her feel a little like her body had gone limp.

The next words coming from Belle's mouth had Ruby completely petrified: "I do. I have been for a while now, I was just… Scared."

"But… Gold?"

"I can't give him any more chances. I don't want to."

"I don't wanna cause you trouble…"

"Ruby." Ruby shut up and looked into Belle's eyes as she moved closer. She had determination in her eyes. "Kiss me."

Ruby was frozen to the spot by Belle's last two words. For a moment Belle was afraid the girl in front of her had changed her mind, but a second look on her stunned, beautiful face told her differently. She gathered the courage she'd been building up for the past month and stretched up to kiss her.

The kiss thawed Ruby's frozen body in a matter of seconds as the current send from Belle's tender touch vibrated through her. Her lips started moving against Belle's and she drew her hands around Belle's smaller body to pull her close, as she kissed her back with an intensity that left Belle lightheaded at once. As soon as Ruby's body felt the electrical shock of finally kissing Belle, her mind was wiped clean. She moved her hands up the body of the gorgeous brunette and into her hair, cradling her hands at her neck to pull her closer. The desperation of her movements wasn't lost to Belle, who was completely overwhelmed by the desire evident in her best friend's every touch. She found that it felt good. Really good. So good she didn't even notice the pain from all the bruises. She pulled Ruby closer by the waist and put more force into the kiss. Their lips parted and she was met with a burning sensation inside her that she hadn't felt in a long time and never quite this way. The feel of it made her gasp. Ruby registered the sound, but took it as the wrong kind of surprise. She broke the kiss, leaving them both fairly breathless.

"Belle, are you sure of this?" She asked her, looking down into Belle's crystal blue eyes.

"Yes", the girl breathed. At her eager nod Ruby leaned in again, parting Belle's lips at once and felt her tongue against her own. It was a maddening feeling, which left her whole body aching for more. It was so beyond Ruby's wildest imagination, kissing Belle like this. If she had had a moment to think about it, she might have started off in a more gentle way, but there was no way of reining herself in now. She backed Belle into the wall, pinning her to it and letting her feelings be known through the touch of her own hands on Belle's skin. She traced the fabric of nylon on Belle's thighs with her fingers, hearing the girl gasp as she did and feeling her respond by pulling at Ruby's shirt to get her closer. Ruby obeyed and pressed herself tighter against Belle's body, while tracing her fingers up further, pulling lightly at the edge of the dress Belle was wearing. She let go of Belle's lips, taking in the disappointed whimper that followed and started placing sucking kisses down her neck instead.

Belle moaned lightly at the heated feeling of Ruby's lips against the skin of her neck and she moved her hands away to give Ruby more space. As Ruby reached the end of Belle's neck she planted one kiss just below the collarbone before moving back up. When their faces were back at level with each other, Belle noticed that the girl's green eyes had become dark and her gaze intense, almost predatory. Yet her touch was gentle and delicate, just teasing the edge of her dress, which had now moved up to the upper part of her thighs. Ruby kissed her again with the same hunger that was evident in the way her hands moved up her legs, her hips all the way up to her neck, tracing the outline of her bra on the way. This left Belle with an intriguing thought, one she had had a number of times, but never dared fully giving into. This thought left Belle nervous and excited at the same time.

She took confidence in the kiss, confidence that this was the way to go. Ruby didn't go there, but Ruby was holding back. Despite the intensity of her touch, Belle could tell. Slowly she moved her right hand from Ruby's waist up the side her body, across the bare skin of her upper chest and then down, tracing the part of her cleavage that the shirt allowed access to. Ruby had such a stunning body; Belle almost couldn't believe she was touching it like this. She put more force into her finger's exploration, making Ruby sigh into the kiss. Belle moved further down and placed a full hand on Ruby's breast. As she did Ruby moaned loudly and pushed into her hand. Then her breath hitched and she broke the kiss, moving just a few inches away with a wide eyed stare. For a moment their eyes met and Belle couldn't help feeling a little proud that she had been able to produce such a reaction from a girl like Ruby.

Ruby herself was feeling so happy, so turned on and so unbelievably shocked that for a moment she didn't know what to do with herself. She looked down at the girl, that she just yesterday had to remind herself would never want her this way, and saw her looking back with a searching stare. Her hand had let go of her and had fallen back against the wall.

It took Ruby a minute to collect enough air to speak.

"Belle, are you really sure?" She started, still sounding a little out of breath. "We don't have to do this if you're not-"

"Ruby", Belle said in a voice laced with something that was unknown to Ruby. It was a quality of seriousness in a way she had never heard Belle use before. She smiled her crooked smile at Ruby and said: "I'm really sure. I may just start to like you more than I've ever liked anyone before, so please stop askin' and let me be happy. Because I am."

Ruby looked shocked for another moment. Then a wide, playful grin that Belle had come to adore about her spread on the girl's face and lit it up.

"Okay then", she said with a playful voice matching her smile. "Then we're gonna do this right." Ruby took a determined step back and held out a hand for Belle to take. This was her chance to do this the right way and perhaps be a little less of a savage. As Belle smiled with anticipation and took her hand, Ruby pulled her gently through the room towards the bed. Here she spun the shorter girl around in a slow pirouette until they were facing each other and Ruby caught her in her arms. Ruby held on to her for a second to take in the sight of the blue eyed, chocolate-haired beauty in front of her, as she tried to comprehend that this was actually happening.

"God, you're so beautiful, do you know that?" She said and Belle, who had figured she would be beyond insecurities at this point, blushed at the compliment.

"So are you", She said and pulled a strand of raven colored hair out of the other girl's face. Ruby smiled alluringly and leaned down to kiss her again. This time is started off sweet and gentle and they both sunk into the bliss of it. Slowly the longing for more contact started building in them both. Ruby, who felt just slightly in control of her own mind again, traced tender fingers up Belle's thighs, this time holding onto the dress and pulled it up over Belle's head, before she threw it away somewhere in the back of the room. Belle did a mimicking motion with Ruby's shirt. The sight of so much bare skin on Belle made Ruby's mind start to flicker again. Then she saw them. The bruises. Some were blue, some were brown and some were yellow, all telling the tale of months of constant abuse. They were centered at her arms and hips, but most of her pale skin was colored with the wrong kind of rainbow. Ruby's gaze hardened and her teeth clenched together as fury boiled up to battle the other kind of heat inside her.

Belle caught this and took her by the chin, forcing the girl's eyes to meet her own.

"Not now Ruby", she said. Ruby opened her mouth to argue, but one look from Belle shut her up. She was not going to let her bruises ruin this. Ruby nodded and smiled at her. She didn't want to spoil it either. She made a mental note to be careful though. She was determined to stay in control this time, but it was getting harder. Even more so when Belle kneed down and pressed her lips to the soft skin of Ruby's stomach. She kept going down until she reached the edge of Ruby's low waist black jeans and went back up again. Ruby closed her eyes and exhaled the breath she'd been holding. Keeping herself sane was a losing battle.

Belle's lips continued their journey all the way up Ruby's body to her face and back on her lips again. With skilled delicacy Ruby stripped Belle of the nylons and got rid of her own jeans in a quick – and in Belle's opinion, graceful – manner before pushing Belle gently down on the bed. Belle crawled back into the middle of it and pulled Ruby with her as she lay back down on the covers. Ruby kept herself up on her elbow and knees, afraid to put too much weight on Belle's battered body. Her free hand she used to trace down her figure, feeling every curve of the girl's body. Belle was exhaling with the softest moans Ruby had ever heard and her fingers where running up Ruby's naked thigh. Ruby felt certain she might just lose it in a minute.

Belle snickered quietly and broke the kiss to meet her eyes.

"I love that you're so gentle", she whispered. "But it's okay. So stop holdin' back on me."

At these words Ruby's rational mindset was torn to shreds. Her eyes went dark again and when she kissed Belle again it was with newfound intensity. She snapped Belle's bra off and started placing hungry kisses that covered every inch of her skin.

Belle couldn't remember having ever felt like her entire skin was vibrating with electricity like she did now and all sorts of forces was blazing up inside her. This tall, beautiful girl on top of her was drawing out senses she didn't know existed, pushing buttons that had never before been touched. Belle ached herself into her touch and tried frantically to pull her closer. Both of their minds were blinded with desperation.

At one point between kisses Belle caught the sight of Ruby's red lace bra and she played with the idea of taking it off her. She wanted that reaction from Ruby's again. Just then she felt Ruby's fingers reaching the line of her remaining underwear, toying with the fabric and Belle lost all coherent thoughts. Scared or not, she wanted this. She dug her fingers deeper into Ruby's skin, telling her yes. The hand slipped inside and Belle snapped for air, grasping with her hands for something to hold on to. In her ear was the sound of Ruby's elated, musical laughter.

That was when the dull sound of wood knocking on the floor interrupted them.

"What the fuck is this?" A voice, too familiar to Belle's ears, hissed.

Their thoughts held different kinds of guilt, but the expression of utter shock on the two girls' faces were the same as they looked over to see Gold standing in the open doorway.