A/N: Hi all! Welcome to this story, it's just a bit of fun to keep you going as I work on my more ambitious projects. It should be two or three installments long. It's inspired by both the movie Green Card and The Proposal so appropriate credit to those pictures given.

I'd also like to do some hyping for the Red Cricket Christmas Bash, which I am part of and you should be too! Head over to the Guiding Path on Tumblr and take a look. I am writing for it and so are many other talented writers in our small (but lovely) ship so if there is anything you'd like to see, go ahead and prompt, or write it yourself. Any and all art forms are accepted as long as it's Red Cricket related so go have fun, enjoy and Merry Christmas!

"But I'm Canadian!" Ruby Lucas yelled at the offending piece of mail she had received that morning. It had been ominous just lying on the doormat on top of an Indian take-out menu and a leaflet offering eternal salvation if she only sent her credit card details in before Monday. A manila envelope heavy with importance, even the address window menacing. Gathering her courage she had plucked it up and opened it. Then she wished she hadn't. Apparently her work visa had run out and she'd forgotten all about it. Now she was facing deportation unless she could prove she had in the time since become an American citizen.

With a groan she sunk down on the battered couch stretching her long legs across it.

"You aren't at work yet? I thought you had a morning shift?" Belle French, one of her three roommates ambled out of her room, brown hair in a tangled mess and wrapped in a big bathrobe with bunnies on it on top of white silk shorts and camisole. Her pretty face was still flushed from sleep and Ruby decided this particular emergency demanded all of the Fantastic Four to solve.

"Crisis. No time to talk about it. Tonight. Eight, pizza and wine. Tell the others." With that she hurried out.

o.O.o

She didn't know if any of them had previous plans but knew they hadn't thought twice about cancelling them when Ruby asked for help. Her heart surged at the thought. They were real friends. She couldn't bear possibly having to leave them and the cozy apartment they shared. Sitting in the candlelight around the kitchen table – only used when there was serious business afoot and at other times mainly used to hold mail and various debris – they surrounded her.

Belle, now in her understatedly sexy skirt and blouse, was toeing off her shoes under the table. The pretty librarian had a passion for high heels and working as a librarian often kept her on her feet, resulting in aching ankles and toes more than a few times a week. But she wouldn't give up on the shoes.

Next to her, in tank top and jeans, was Emma Swan who was less likely to wear high heels than a garbage bag, her blonde hair in a messy bun to keep it out of the way. Working for the NYPD she was still in uniform for work but held hopes of a pending promotion and freedom from the itching blue polyester.

The last woman at the table was sweet-natured Mary Margaret who worked as a schoolteacher and leaned more towards sophisticated and quietly chic in her choice of clothes. Her short, jet-black hair framed her pretty features as she smiled at something Emma had said.

"So," Emma, who had as little patience as Ruby herself began, "What's the crisis?"

Ruby drew a deep breath and pulled out the letter from the morning mail.

"My work visa has run out. I will be deported in a month if "my situation" hasn't changed until then."

"But you're Canadian. It's not like you're her illegally." Emma said and Ruby nodded.

"I know, that's what I thought but it turns out that doesn't matter to the state. I called today to ask what my options were and they said I had to prove I am an American citizen, or go back to Canada and reapply for a visa from there."

"No. We can't let you leave." Mary Margaret's usually gentle tones were decisive as she straightened her back, readying to fight even now. Ever the protector she set her pretty features into what the three others had termed her stubborn face. When she wore it there was nothing you could do, the petite woman had made up her mind.

"We can't," Belle agreed. "But the process of becoming a citizen is time-consuming. We get people at the library who need books about how to apply for it all the time. It takes forever."

"So what do we do?" Ruby asked and felt despair claw its way up from her stomach to her throat and she cleared it.

"Well, there is one thing…No, it's silly, forget it." Belle sat back but Emma leaned forward,

"Go on. It's not like we have a lot of options. And I really don't want to move to Canada, I'd have to start from the bottom of the food chain in the police force. And don't you have to wear a silly hat and ride a horse?" Ruby felt tears gather at the corners of her eyes as she realized her friends were all ready to leave their jobs and their home so the four of them could stay together.

"No, that's just the mounties. You don't have to be one, we have regular police as well. But I really don't want to make you all go because of me, I won't let you."

"Of course we will, Ruby, don't you be silly." Mary Margaret took her hand and squeezed it. "We would want to. Belle, what was the idea?"

"It's weird to suggest this at the drop of a hat but…Ruby you could marry an American."

"Marry? I'm not even seeing anyone!"

"Well, it wouldn't be forever, so it could be...anyone, really."

"Marry a stranger? To stay here?"

"Could be worse, Ruby. It takes about fifteen minutes down at the courthouse." Emma said calmly, as if committing fraud was everyday business.

"But who?" As her friends' sensed her tentative agreement they all leaned in and started plotting.

o.O.o

Belle rushed in, her face bright with excitement and her coat still on. She carried a gust of fresh autumn wind with her and Ruby smelled crisp leaves and wood smoke.

"I found someone!"

"Someone who?"

"Someone who needs to get married, who's an American and who's not a creep!"

"Well, why didn't you say so, come sit!" Emma moved on the couch and Belle sunk down next to Ruby.

"Who is it?" Ruby enquired with a heavy sense of dread in the pit of her stomach.

"Rum's therapist, Archie Hopper."

"A shrink?" Ever since she'd been forced to see one after Peter had died she'd hated the whole breed. They always left her with a bad taste in the back of her throat.

"Yes. He wants to move to this amazing apartment next to the park, old and beautiful, I'm told. But the neighborhood association has some archaic rule about only accepting married couples."

"He's willing to commit fraud to get an apartment?" She didn't like the sound of that. It seemed very materialistic to her.

"People do worse than marry a stranger for an apartment next to the park, Ruby." Emma chided.

"Anyhow, he's a few years younger than Rum, with a good reputation and no reason to trick you and –" Belle sucked in an excited breath. "- he'd like to meet you if you want, on Thursday." Seeing the three eager faces around her Ruby knew she couldn't say no and with a heavy heart she forced a smile to her face and agreed.

o.O.o

Glad she'd convinced Belle to come with as an ice-breaker Ruby scanned the room.

"There they are," Belle pulled at Ruby's arm and waved to her boyfriend (if you could call him that, the man was almost twice her age). He was a handsome man with a certain charisma, she had to admit, but a strange match for her innocent, vivacious friend. But there was no one else who could make Belle smile the way she was now so her friends had let her be, strangely enveloped in the bubble of happiness the influential man had created. Next to the rather small Rum Gold was another man who looked distinctly uncomfortable and out of place.

The restaurant was Gold's choice so it was an exclusive, dark affair with an interior in silver and black. The man next to him looked as if he'd stepped in to ask for directions to the Bodleian Library in Oxford in his tweed suit and muted tie. He was a bit taller than Gold, and broader across the shoulders but she couldn't make out much more in the dark. As they got closer she saw he had auburn hair that curled slightly and gave him a boyish look even though he had to be closer to Gold's age than her own. He wore dark-rimmed glasses and though not classically handsome he was all around appealing. His eyes in particular - they looked dark but seemed to shine from within as he spoke earnestly with Gold.

As Gold returned the wave the man looked up and spotted them. His eyes met hers and she felt a little tug in her abdomen. Well, well, well she thought, the man was attractive. She sent him a smile that usually had men zoning in on her. Archie Hopper jerked as if he'd been burned and knocked his glass off the table.

o.O.o

Archie fastened his eyes on the opposite wall and hoped he could keep it there until he calmed down. Gold had said the woman was quite young but he hadn't been prepared for the absolute siren who had stepped in. Just the thought of them posing as a couple was ridiculous. No one would believe that shy, stuttering Archie Hopper could get a woman like that in this universe or the next. He hadn't dared looking her full in the eye again in case he embarrassed himself once more but her face seemed etched to his retinas. Long, silky brown hair around a classically shaped face with strong bones, eyes of bright green that could melt a man from the other side of a three-foot wall and a body as sleek as a panther's, with the same almost feral undertone of restlessness in her graceful movements. In short, she was gorgeous. She probably dated men with bodies like the male models selling underwear. Which is only natural, he reminded himself. It was a biological fact, a strong man could protect any offspring and be more likely to hunt down food. It was an evolutionary trait. Whose evolutionary trait it was to find dull, frumpy, red-haired psychiatrists attractive he had yet to discover, which was why he was in this predicament in the first place.

"-so I'll see you later!" Without him noticing Gold and his girlfriend had introduced them, chatted about inconsequentialities for a few minutes and said goodbye. Panicked, Archie met her eyes again.

"So…is this you kind of place?" She looked around, gesturing to their surroundings, an air of amusement at the luxurious setting making the green of her eyes even brighter.

"No. Not really. Not at all." He felt the tips of his ears go red. He had held lectures in front of two hundred people who listened attentively to every syllable he spoke without tripping up once but one simple word to answer this one woman in front of him and he was losing his most basic grasp of semantics.

"So no, then." She smiled and a dimple flashed in her cheek. It distracted him enough to realize she was still waiting for him to take part in the conversation.

"Hrm, no. I…I don't go out much at all." He registered that there was little to say to that and fumbled for a follow up. "Do you? Got out, I mean." She nodded and took a sip from her drink.
"Yes, I like to watch people. I guess you must have some interest in people since you're a psychiatrist?" Haltingly the conversation continued until he could see her glance at the clock behind the bar and he quickly finished his whisky and stood.

o.O.o

She didn't know if he was really shy or really rude. He'd spent the whole time with Belle and Gold staring at a spot somewhere over her right shoulder, not saying a word and looking almost…stricken. Then they'd held an awkward conversation where he'd mostly seemed interested in talking about the architecture of the place and a discussion he'd recently read on Freud. At the same time as she wondered if he was really socially awkward, there was something compelling about him. Her mind couldn't make sense of a man having such understanding eyes without ever making any effort to get to know her. Couldn't pair the innate compassion she'd seen when he'd helped an elderly lady up the stairs with the man who had almost ignored her at the table. It was strange and made her wonder. Who was he really? The man he'd behaved as today, or the man she sensed?

Then there was the simple fact that no man had shown as little interest in her as he had since she before she'd turned thirteen. There was a challenge in that and Ruby very much enjoyed a challenge.

He held the door open for her and she stepped out on the street. He turned towards her and spoke, possibly the most coherent sentence of the whole evening.

"Well, I suppose nobody would believe we could ever be a couple, so thank you for tonight, Miss Lucas." She bristled.

"Oh yeah? Because I can't discuss early nineteenth century architecture or give a damn about Freud and his ridiculous penis envy I'm suddenly not good enough? Well, screw you, Doctor Hopper!" He looked positively flabbergasted and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"What? No! No, no, you misunderstand me, Miss Lucas. I- ah, I only meant because you're a young,…ah, very…attractive woman there would be no reason for you to be with someone like me." He straightened. "I'm not a very proud man but I know my limitations and try to do my best despite of them. I won't partake in the farce it would be for me to pretend I could ever be in your league, Ms Lucas." Was the man really an idiot? Sure, he wasn't Adonis personified but he was hardly unfortunate in the looks department. In fact, looking at him in the streetlight she felt the telltale hum of attraction vibrating under her skin. So, for a psychiatrist he sure was a touch delusional himself. She narrowed her eyes,

"So you don't think I'm stupid for not knowing anything about Gothic vaults?" He chuckled.

"No. Just please excuse my appalling manners, I usually know better than to introduce topics of little shared interest. I guess you just…make me nervous."

"Well, you kind of make me nervous. And I think you're a very attractive man, just so you know." He gave her a smile that seemed to say "thank you but there's no need to lie for me". "I'm not joking. I think…" Ruby trusted her instincts, which often led her to impulsive decisions. Settling on one rather quickly, she continued, "Why don't we meet again when we're less nervous, maybe somewhere you're a bit more comfortable than…" She waved her hand in the general direction of the sleek, urbanite bar. "And then we can decide whether we'd pass for a couple or not? I doubt either of us was at our best tonight." The smile grew genuine as he relaxed somewhat.

"That sounds like a good idea. I'll give you a call then, Ms. Lucas."

"Ruby, please."

"Ruby." His voice saying her name chased a tingle down her spine and she wondered if it was really a good idea to meet with him again. Her friends were forever cautioning her. But more often than not her instincts were on the mark. So she waved and turned.

"Mi…Ruby?" She turned back.

"Are you walking home this late?"

"Just to the subway." He looked appalled.

"I was going to take a taxi. Would you like to go… I mean, I can drop you off." She angled her head, wondering if just because she'd agreed to a follow-up he thought he could get in her pants. But all she saw in his eyes was concern that she'd go home by herself late at night. Deciding to go with her gut again she agreed. Besides, her feet were killing her.

o.O.o

"So, how was it?" Her three friends practically pounced on her as she entered. Sinking down on the couch and reaching for the popcorn on the table she kicked off her shoes.

"Weird."

"Good weird or bad weird?" Mary Margaret asked and Emma wrinkled her nose.

"What is good weird?"

"Oh, you know if you…never mind, go on, Ruby."

"Right. Well, first I thought he was really rude."

"Archie? Rude?" Belle looked shocked.

"Yes, well, at first. He wouldn't talk to me while Belle and Gold were there. Then we had a really halting conversation when it didn't seem like he wanted to know who I was at all. He just went on about Freud and Gothic arches or whatever. But then I saw him help this little old lady up the stairs, never making her feel like she was over twenty-five. Then we went outside and he said we could never pass for a couple." She searched for some popcorn that weren't burnt as Belle had made them and she'd never been as brilliant at reading microwave instructions as she was at reading books. "So I thought he meant I'd seemed stupid and let him have it. But then the man says he meant because I was out of his league, looks-wise."

"Are you?" Emma, the ever blunt asked.

"I wouldn't say so. He's not classically handsome." Emma breathed uh-oh and Ruby punched her lightly in the arm. "Not like that. No, I was going to say, he's not classically handsome but he's really cute. He's got these broad shoulders and really magnetic eyes. Something of sexy professor going on there too." She didn't see the looks her friends exchanged over her head as she continued to search for edible popcorn.

"So, then I decided I wanted to know for sure if he was shy or rude so I said we should meet again. Then I was going to leave when he insisted we took a taxi and he dropped me off. I heard where he was going after and he just went sixteen blocks in the wrong direction to drop me off. To make sure I got home safe."

"Weird, indeed." Emma said and with a satisfied smile she flicked the channel on the TV to the protests of her three friends.

o.O.o

The "date" which her friends had been greatly amused to refer to as such had surprised her. She'd just gotten home from her morning shift three days after their first meeting when Belle relayed the message from Archie Hopper.

"He wants to meet me where?" Had been her first reaction to hearing he wanted them to go to the Metropolitan Museum. Emma had laughed and asked if they served tequila slammers at the Met while Belle and MM had assured her it was a fun place. In the end they'd had to push her out the door.

But to her great surprise Ruby had fun. In the Metropolitan Museum of all places. Looking at art. Archie had been sweet, never even alluding to the fact he probably knew all the paintings they'd seen and when they were painted and by whom. Instead they'd just talked about any picture that caught their interest, giggled over old men in stuffy eighteenth century portraits, woven long intricate stories about the relationships of the people in the pictures. Stretching in her chair she was happy to note the café he'd taken her to was quiet in the early afternoon and the cake she was having was delicious. Even though she felt a little like she was cheating on the pie from the Diner.

"So, why is this apartment so great?" Archie turned from where he'd been staring out the window.

"Oh, well, it's very practical, it has two entrances, which means I could move my practice to home. And if I don't have to pay rent for an office I can do more pro bono work, have more time for my clients and always be in the same place if they need me." Her heart melted a little. All those reasons were for other people, not himself.

"I see. Is it really wise, to always be at work? I mean if I eat at the Diner I can't help clearing plates or taking orders, even though I'm just there to eat." He nodded thoughtfully.

"It's true, I'll never really be away from work but I don't really mind it. I don't have a very demanding social life anyhow," he smiled and what had to be called a dimple in a younger face deepened. He really was adorable.

"Could I see it?" she asked impulsively. It was only a short walk away from what she'd heard and she wanted to see it in person.

Upon entering she thought it really was worth marrying a stranger for.

"Archie, it's amazing." The apartment was a dream, on the top floor, cozy and elegant with giant windows facing the park and – she could hardly believe it – a greenhouse in the middle. If greenhouse was the right word. The word orangery sprung to mind, or a luxurious palazzo. It was an octagonal room with a glass dome for a ceiling and a black and white checkered stone floor. Big, green plants climbed the walls and from somewhere she could hear running water.

"It's another draw of this apartment."

"I'll say. How on earth can you afford this? Sorry! Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine. I don't earn that much, it's true. I inherited this apartment from my great-aunt and Rum insists on overpaying me something ridiculous. I haven't really used that money at all. So now it can hopefully pay for the upkeep of this place."

"Wow. That's all I can say, wow. I know people who'd kill for an apartment like this. Me included."

"I just have to commit fraud," he joked.

"It seems a fair deal for all this. If you…" Suddenly shy as he'd stopped being a stranger but was not yet a friend, she hesitated. It made the whole mess even more awkward. "If you're game, then I'm in, too."

"Really? I know it's a lot to ask but…"

"No, no, you're helping me, really. You're the one taking the risk. I…I'm…Thank you." And there it was. The deciding moment.

A/N: Hope you liked it!