"What's this one?"

Ruby frowned down at the white mar on her bare leg, where Emma's finger traced ever so lightly. They had been doing this for about twenty minutes now; finding scars on each other, and telling each other the stories behind each of them. Emma's were mainly klutz moments, but there had been a couple so far that had made the blonde's bright green eyes cloud over with something close to resentment, and she would tell Ruby of that asshole of a foster father she'd had for all of one week tossing her down the stairs, or her next foster brother coming after her with a shard of glass because he had never wanted a sister. The most memorable so far was the story about Henry's birth; how they'd had to slice her stomach open while she was fully conscious, because the epidural hadn't put her out and they had to get Henry out of her right then.

"Enemy pack," Ruby said absently. "When I found my mother, she introduced me to an entirely different side of being a wolf. She also introduced me to the dangers of opposing wolves." Rolling her eyes, almost bored, Ruby shrugged her shoulders against the pillow she laid against. "Two of them jumped me. One bit into my leg. The other one -" she rolled onto her stomach, exposing her bare back, and a jagged scar down her spine to go with it. "- got me in the spinal cord."

"Holy crap," Emma muttered, her fingers lifting to touch the scar on Ruby's spine. "That could have killed you."

"It nearly did," Ruby replied, flipping onto her back again and pulling Emma up from where she hovered near the wolf's legs. "Was a bitch to recover from." Pressing her lips gently against Emma's, she moved both arms around her, trying to get her to settle. It didn't take long; Emma seemed to be getting a lot more comfortable around Ruby these days, especially now that the curse was broken, and Emma knew everyone's true identity. The brunette could understand why Emma would be wary of everyone; Ruby herself would have been a little freaked out by the sudden realization that no one was who they said they were, who they thought they were. Emma, however, seemed to adapt better when she had the whole truth. It made Ruby happy to see, especially given how much she liked the blonde.

After a few minutes, Emma finally broke away, looking down at her lover with a curious expression. Ruby's brow perked slightly. "What?"

"How are my scars more interesting than yours?"

Ruby barked out a laugh, brow flying higher. "What makes you think yours are more interesting? My spine/thigh combination is pretty badass."

"I'll give you points for those," Emma said with a smirk. The distant look came back to her eyes, and the brunette knew what she was thinking.

"Scars are important, Emma," Ruby said softly. "They're marks of your history. Good or bad, they're part of you, and you should be proud of them." The look that got her would have been funny, had it been in any other context.

"Why should I be proud of abuse marks?"

"Because you survived. You were a survivor then, and you're one now. Whatever this new life is bringing you…you're prepared for it."

Emma's nose scrunched a little. "You know, you sound a lot like Mary Margaret when you say stuff like that. It's just a reminder that you're her best friend."

But the look on her face was confirmation that Ruby had, indeed, said the right thing.