Good day to you, lovely readers. I apologise for the long delay, studying for exams eats up a lot of time. But here it is, as usual, any comments or ideas are welcomed, and I'd love to hear from you. Virtual cookies and hugs to all , and all the mistakes are mine, do forgive :) Many thanks to everyone who left a comment before, they really do make my day 3
Belle helped Ruby through the door of her room at Granny's, Belle struggling under the weight of the wolf-girl. Since there were usually three nights of wolfstime, they had decided it would be best to get Ruby out of the hospital. She would heal faster as a wolf, but she didn't want to cause any trouble. Granny and Belle would keep an eye on her throughout the night, to make sure she was okay. Ruby was still doped up on painkillers from the hospital, and Belle had driven her home. Ruby's slightly slurred ramblings amused Belle throughout the journey. But Ruby was still weak, her ribs making it hard to walk, so she had to use Belle to support her.
"Thank you, by the way. I really don't deserve a friend like you," said Ruby as Belle awkwardly closed the door and guided Ruby over to the couch.
"Oh please, it's fine," replied Belle. She glanced at the clock on the wall and saw it was nearly five in the afternoon. "Uhm, should I leave you to it for a while?"
"Oh, if you have somewhere to be, don't let me stop you, don't worry about me."
"I don't have anywhere to be, I just don't want to intrude…"
"No, you're not intruding."
"Alright then," said Belle. There was a slightly awkward silence, before Ruby flicked on the TV and sat as comfortably as she could on the couch. Belle smiled as she got up and went to the bedroom.
"What're you doing?" asked Ruby, eyeing her retreating figure. Belle returned with a pillow, that she placed behind Ruby's back carefully.
"See?" Ruby smiled. "I don't deserve you."
"I'm sure that's not true," replied Belle.
The pair settled down to watch the program, Belle sitting on one end of the sofa, Ruby on the other. Shortly after the drama had finished, after Belle and Ruby had argued playfully about the characters, Ruby shifted, lying on her back and stretching her long legs out. Belle, who sat with her legs curled underneath her, automatically moved to accommodate the waitress and settled down comfortably with her arms resting on Ruby's legs. It seemed completely natural to them. Time rolled by, and the pair either sat in comfortable silence, watching random programs, or discussed and debated the plots. Ruby, still woozy from the painkillers, felt herself drift off to sleep after a while.
Belle noticed Ruby slipping in and out of consciousness.
"Tired?" she asked fondly, stroking Ruby's leg gently. Ruby nodded in reply, nuzzling closer into the cushion on the arm of the chair, curling her legs up over Belle's.
"Come here, that doesn't look comfy," said Belle, the smile reserved exclusively for Ruby plastered across her face. Ruby tiredly dragged herself up and switched her position, so the upper half of her body was resting against Belle while her legs were curled up on the sofa cushions.
"You're right, this is comfier," she sighed, her head on Belle's stomach as the librarian shifted down so she was basically lying half underneath Ruby.
"Here we are again," she said quietly, remembering the first night they had fallen asleep with each other on the couch.
"Sorry about that," replied Ruby sleepily, her eyes shut. "I'm such a puppy sometimes."
"Hmmm," thought Belle. "Most of the time, I'd say," she grinned. Ruby responded by laughing and playfully hitting Belle on the leg.
"Its fine, you can sleep on me whenever you like," said the librarian, before she had time to think it through. She bit her lip as she was convinced she felt Ruby freeze for a moment.
"I may take you up on that," the wolf-girl replied, after a moment's pause.
Belle smiled, glad the tremendously awkward moment had been diffused, and snuggled further into the cushion, wrapping her arms around Ruby. It was a natural thing and Ruby didn't seem to mind, snuggling even closer into Belle, their body's fitting perfectly together. Belle eventually lost interest in the program, and just closed her eyes, holding the tender girl in her arms.
Belle opened her eyes when she felt something change. She had been dozing a little but was still relatively aware, and she sensed it immediately when Ruby started to move. Looking down at the girl in her arms, she saw her changing quickly from a woman into a wolf. It only took a few seconds, but Ruby lay unmoving in Belle's arms. Slightly concerned, Belle nudged the wolf gently. Still no response.
"Ruby," she said softly into Ruby's ear. Still nothing.
"Ruby." Nothing. "Ruby!" she said loudly. Ruby jumped up in fright, forgetting where she was, and also forgetting that she was still injured. So when she attempted to jump over the side of the sofa, she forgot about her damaged ribs and consequently tumbled to the floor, landing in the most awkward position possible. Belle, for her part, was also on the floor, but she was rolling around laughing, before crawling around the sofa to see Ruby gingerly trying to move. Belle knew she wasn't in too much pain, and wasn't seriously injured, from the way her ears drooped slightly from embarrassment rather than pain.
"Nice one, Moon Moon," she sniggered, earning an evil glare from Ruby, made even more intimidating in her wolf form, but after the events of the past minute, Belle could never be scared of Ruby. It was just too funny. She was severely tempted to take a picture and add it to the Moon Moon tag she had happened upon on one of her bored internet trawls. At Belle's continued laughter, Ruby stalked over to her and playfully shoved her with a paw as she passed. Belle rebutted with a gentle smack over the head. This play fighting continued for a minute, steadily escalating…
A knock at the door made both woman and wolf freeze, as Granny opened the door, accompanied by Mary Margaret. Both newcomers took a moment to absorb the scene that met them. Cushions were strewn across the room, the rug was curled up at the corner, and in the centre of the room lay the two inhabitants, Belle pinned beneath Ruby, one arm wrapped around Ruby's neck, attempting to throw her to the ground, the other gripping Ruby's right paw, her body twisted a little as she attempted to throw Ruby off. Ruby was above Belle, one paw pinning her shoulder, the other on her hair, her back paws balancing on Belle's stomach and thighs. Both play-fighters were now transfixed on the door, their eyes wide with shock. There was an awkward, prolonged silence when no-one spoke, the only movement was Belle biting her bottom lip. Finally, Granny broke it, a wide grin spreading across her face.
"Glad to see you've recovered enough to wrestle Belle," she smirked. Ruby then snapped back to her senses and stepped off of Belle, who promptly let go of her neck and paw. Mary Margaret wore a similar, knowing smirk that matched the one plastered on Granny's face, Belle noted. But they couldn't know, she was just being paranoid…
"Hey, Mary Margaret, what brings you here?" asked Belle as she hastily got to her feet, a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks as Ruby sat beside her, the wolf's head the same height as Belle's elbow, shifting from paw to paw somewhat uncomfortably.
"I just thought I'd pop by to see how Ruby was doing. I thought you might have been here alone, since you probably weren't going to go out…"
Ruby's ears perked up and she raised her head as Mary Margaret addressed her, and pawed over to her old friend, allowing Snow to stroke her head. Belle smiled and began to tidy up the room, giving the two some space. Granny left, the amused smirk never leaving her face for a moment.
Belle worked her way around the room, zoning out Mary Margaret's talking and Ruby's canine responses. It's not that she didn't like Mary Margaret, Belle thought she was the loveliest person she had ever met, but after what she had discussed with her, and now she suspected more than a little that she was on to her, Belle was uneasy around her. She knew the teacher probably wouldn't say anything though.
Belle finished up her tidying, feeling terribly guilty at the twinge of irritation, the sliver of annoyance that Mary Margaret invoked with her abrupt arrival. But she understood Snow's need to spend time with her friend. Belle, on her hands and knees behind the couch, reached out to pick up the book that had fallen during their wrestle. However, she discovered that Ruby had beaten her to it, taking it gently in her teeth. Belle looked up into Ruby's eyes, brushing a lock of long, curly hair from her face. The pools of yellow conveyed the feeling from Ruby's pleading look, almost as if the wolf knew that the next words from Belle's mouth would be "I think I'm going to head home." Belle looked back apologetically at the wolf for a moment, before getting to her feet and walking over to Mary Margaret.
"I think I might head home," she said to the teacher, pulling on her boots and shrugging on her coat. When she looked back up at Mary Margaret, she found the woman looking troubled. Belle hastened to explain. "I'm exhausted after the hospital and everything, I'm just going for some rest." After this, she looked to Ruby one last time as she opened the door. Ruby padded over to her and whined a little, rubbing her head against Belle's stomach. Belle chuckled at the wolf.
"Ruby, I'll see you tomorrow, I promise," she said, stroking Ruby's soft, warm fur and looking into the pained yellow eyes. There was a brief moment while they got lost in each other's eyes, the shining yellow meeting purest aquamarine, neither wanting to pull away from the other's gaze. Mary Margaret stood a short distance away, momentarily forgotten by the other two, her knowing smile spreading across her lips. In that instant, she knew the two were destined to be together. Now just to work out how to make them both admit it to each other, she thought, her eyes narrowed slyly, a plan forming in her head.
Belle trudged home through the still thick snow. The destruction from the incident with the ogres has all but been cleared up, as the majority of the inhabitants who hadn't been injured had aided in the recovery; be it cleaning up, fixing and repairing damage to property, and some even helped out in the hospital, helping the fallen in battle. Belle was slightly ashamed to admit that she hadn't been a part of any of the work to return the town to normal, she had been practically glued to Ruby's side the whole time she had been unconscious, ever since she had been allowed into the room. She had only left her for a few hours at most. Then, when Ruby had been released from the hospital, Belle had stayed with her for most of the day. Belle realised with a jolt that she had spent the majority of the last three days in the girl's company. And she had never once been bored or wanted to leave. Even now, as she finally broke Ruby's gaze and leant forwards, planting a gentle kiss on Ruby's head, and then straightened up, giving Mary Margaret a small wave and a smile, before leaving, closing the door quietly behind her. She closed her eyes, resting her hand on the doorknob, fighting the urge to go back in for a few seconds, before sighing heavily and walking away.