A/N: This one came from a finish this sentence: "That's what happens when you follow your heart…" It definitely screamed Ruby/ Red to me.

"Heart Break"

Ruby sat at the side of her bed and held her head in her hands. She knew that this would happen again. It always did. She would meet a guy, flirt with him and then bed him without much thought. No feelings attached, unless you counted the warm feeling of the whiskey she had had in her system. She knew better than to place feelings into the mix of it all. Although, even though she had no attachment, she still felt the regret. Loud and blaringly clear each and every morning after. She knew that she could be something better than this… something more than a one night stand.

With a rough hand, she would push the guy out of her bed and then tell him to be on his way. He would leave his number, as they usually did, and it would find its way into her trash bin after he left. She got dressed and made her way down to the diner, with a disapproving look from Granny along the way.

The day would be spent taking orders, filling them, flirting with the more available and handsome men of Storybrooke and then daydreaming of far off places on her breaks. She took out her hundredth cup of coffee to the table with Leroy and a few of his mismatched friends and asked if they needed anything else. Leroy made another comment about her well known 'popularity', but she shrugged it off and walked to another table.

"You don't have to take that kind of talk from him or anyone else, you know," a voice drifted up from her newest table.

Ruby looked down at the small table to see Archie smiling softly up at her. She smiled back, putting on her strong face, "I know, but it's better and easier to just not fight it."

"Better in what way?" he frowned and sat up straighter, "Ruby, you are a strong woman, I know this. But being strong does not mean that you have to stay quiet when they say such lies about you- especially to your face."

"What if they aren't lies, Archie?" she asked and put her hands on her hips, her order book crushed in one hand. She knew her temper was immediately in full flare, but she wouldn't stop herself. She needed the vent, and poor Archie was the victim of it, "Would I still be the strong woman you think you know?"

"You are not the town whore," Archie whispered up to her trying his hardest not to draw too much attention.

"Maybe I am," she leaned in closer to him and told him in a whispering hiss, "I have slept with a lot of men; some of which I don't remember meeting the next morning. Sure, I don't do it for money, but Hell knows I don't feel anything for them. Doesn't that make me a whore?"

"No, it doesn't," Archie furrowed his brows deeper and shook his head with a sad sigh, "…it makes you lonely."

"It doesn't feel like loneliness when I have another body next to mine."

"Sometimes we are the most alone when we are surrounded by people," he got out of his chair and put a couple of dollars on the table.

"You didn't order anything," she said as she stood straight with him.

"I've lost my appetite," he said in a straightforward tone she had never heard come from him before.

"Are you… angry with me?" she asked and crossed her arms over her chest, "I think that it should be the other way around. All due respect and all, you don't know me."

Archie took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes, "I am frustrated, yes. I just can't understand why a strong and beautiful woman refuses to find what makes her happy- or who makes her happy. Why she doesn't follow her heart, because it looks to me she's always finding new ways of breaking it."

Ruby stood shocked in front of the town psychologist and closed her eyes as she shook her head, "That's easy enough. That's what happens when you follow your heart; it breaks."

Ruby didn't wait for a response and turned on her heel and retreated back to the kitchen. Archie stood in the middle of the busy diner and noticed that many of the patrons still ate their food or sipped on their coffee, too wrapped up in their own worlds to see the interaction between the two of them. He left the diner with a hurried step. Ruby watched him leave and finally let her breath out as she felt something drop into the pit of her stomach.

Sure she was mad at him for trying to pry into her personal life. She wasn't one of his patients and she wasn't a child. She knew what she was doing and she also knew what that was doing for her reputation. She didn't need someone as clean as Archibald Hopper try to help her. She stopped in her thoughts and looked up at the ceiling. He was just trying to help her. Try to make her see herself in a light that he may see her in.

It was strange to think about it. He was the only man that she had met that didn't try to get into her pants. He talked with her when she brought him his coffee, was interested in what she thought about specific things and music, not so much what club she was heading to that night. He was interested in her. Not in what she could give him. He was a friend, and she pushed him away.

"I'm sorry, Archie," she whispered into the vacant room behind the kitchen.

Ruby locked up the diner and took a deep breath as she wrapped her red scarf around her neck and head. She didn't want to pick anyone up tonight; though she had her options open throughout the day. Since her talk with Archie earlier, she didn't feel up to it. She wasn't sure if she would be up for it ever again.

She ran a hand through her hair and walked down the sidewalk to the bed a breakfast, which was next door. She turned to the steps and noticed a small box with a note on the outside of it. Curiosity instantly peeked, Ruby picked up the box and opened the card.

Hearts break, that's a cruel fact of life. The miracle of that is that when you choose to follow your heart again, no matter how broken, it makes that love stronger and that much more real.

Ruby's brows furrowed though she smiled sadly down at the little note, not needing it to be signed to know who it was from. Leave it to the kindest man in Storybrooke to give you a gift when he is the one that's mad. She shook her head and then looked up and down the street in hopes of catching him. She also snuck a peek across the street toward his office, but no luck in finding the man. She sighed and turned to the box.

The top flap opened and she pulled out a glass wolf, red paint woven into the blown glass. She gasped at the small trinket and let it spin under the light of the porch lamp. She smiled brightly and took one more look across the street toward his office. No lights, he had gone home.

"Well," she said lightly and looked at the spinning wolf, "Looks like someone is getting a coffee and meal on the house tomorrow."

She hugged the glass wolf to her chest and then paused before she moved inside, "I know the perfect place for you."

Archie sat at his table, a file unfolded over his lap. Suddenly there was a large cup of coffee and a stack of pancakes set in front of him. He looked surprised and then looked up at Ruby who smiled back at him.

"What is this for?" he asked and nodded toward the pancakes, "I didn't order anything."

"It's on the house," she nodded and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. As she leaned back she giggled as she saw his cheeks flare red, "It's for helping me get out of my rut and kicking me into trying to find what and who makes me happy. Thank you for believing in me when no one else would."

"Anytime," Archie nodded with his hand against his face.

Ruby only nodded and walked back toward the counter to grab another order. Archie looked out the front diner window and caught sight of her mustang. There, hanging from her rearview mirror hung the red wolf.

END