Title: When The Siren Calls You Go (To Run With the Wolf), Epilogue
Pairing: Regina/Ruby
Rating: R
Length: 7, 680
Summary: Red finds herself indebted to a beautiful queen who only asks for her friendship in return.
Notes: Beta'd by thegirl20.

"What do you want?"

She can hear the hushed gasps of the people surrounding her in the town hall as many of them start to rise from their hunched positions, their murmurs audible over the crackling fire that had taken over Storybrooke's town emblem. Granny almost says her name, the 'r' on the tip of her tongue but she stops herself as Ruby steps into Regina's path, earning the former queen's gaze while everyone else holds their breath. No one says or does anything and for a beat the waitress can forget they're there.

Because Regina is looking at her again.

Her expression is a mixture of too many things for Ruby to catch in their brief second away from the world, though a terrifying look of satisfaction is easily high on the list. Second being disdain for the crowd, with the bronze going to a brimming impatience. Whatever it is, it has the waitress taking an annoyingly audible breath and wishing things were different again, wishing she had sought Regina out before she made the spectacle she was undoubtedly going to make.

"Me." Ruby really had nearly forgotten there were people in the room with them, let alone Regina's son, who steps forward and begs for her to take him and leave the citizens be. Someone behind her sucks in a breath and others visibly tense as Henry approaches Regina and vice versa, but Ruby feels her shoulders droop and the tension release from her body as she watches the raven-haired woman's mask melt for a brief moment, love, relief, and pride on her face as she takes her son's chin.

"That's my boy."

She leaves without a glance in Ruby's direction, but she doesn't seem to avoid anyone else's gaze as her hand drapes over Henry's shoulders. The town hall erupts and nothing she can say will calm anyone down so she bolts from the doors without a second to spare with Granny's assurances that she would do what she could, watching as Henry and Regina take off in one direction and sprinting in the opposite to find David. The day proves exhausting, the desperation to save the people of Storybrooke from themselves and the agony of not knowing what was happening with Henry and Regina, hidden away in their manor, weighing on her.

She hates feeling relieved when she watches Henry and David walk into the diner later that day, hates that she's at all worried about the well-being of the boy when he was only going home with his mother. Regina hasn't been the Evil Queen for years, she loves Henry with all her heart, Ruby knows all of this. But that look she had at the town hall, that intoxication she seemed to be under by the rediscovery of her magic. It was that terrifying woman Red had parted with.

Granny doesn't ask her any questions when Ruby tells her she's leaving, having taken David and Henry's drink orders with a smile she has to force. She gives her granddaughter a look similar to one she had received when she was sixteen and promised the world by a queen. Ruby's feet take her on a path she's never walked before yesterday, almost three decades had gone by without her stepping onto Regina's street and now she finds herself standing at the walkway leading up to her house. She hesitates there, biting her lip and wishing the surge of modern-day-Ruby confidence hadn't died out so quickly in the wake of young Red's memories. They twist inside her head, trying to find their place amongst the girl's new life.

Red had spent nearly ten years trying to sort out her feelings for Regina before the curse took place, and had come up with nothing. Had watched the woman be readied for execution with a defiant face, if only to show Snow she could for her, that she could repay the debt between them regarding the woman with compliance. Snow was merciful though, she was too good a person to watch Regina die in such a way and so it was stopped and Red had found her breath again. She can remember the look Regina sent her as she was being dragged off, that sneer of absolute victory over Snow's pure little conscience once again. Red had practically been able to hear the words in her head as the woman stalked by with the guards.

It had been the biggest relief in her life when Snow had halted the arrows flying at the Queen. Ruby stares at the door of the house, her twenty-first century mentality chastising her heart for daring to think about Regina again after all she had put her through. Becoming some sad victim of abuse crawling back to the person who treated her so poorly. But even with all the anger brimming inside her, all the sadness and regret, even when trying to ignore something as debasing as just some pathetic attraction… Ruby had wanted Regina before the curse broke, had spent countless nights in the shower with a hand between her legs thinking about just how nice Madam Mayor's ass was. Red wanted Regina, had spent a decade fighting her and still dreamt about her at night. Ruby wants Regina now, knowing everything she had done. And at one point, even if it was just for a minute of time weighed down by manipulations and deceit, Regina wanted her too.

The door to the great house opens and Regina is standing there, dressed in black and looking stunning as she always does. The mayor hesitates, opening her mouth to say something before looking down at her front porch, words dying on her tongue. She sets her jaw and turns back around to walk into her house, but the door remains open. Ruby doesn't falter as she joins her, closing the door behind her as she steps in.

Regina's in the kitchen, standing at the island with a glass of brown liquid in front of her that she's staring at but hasn't seemed to touch. Ruby glances around the home as she enters, the warmth of the sunny day outside leaving it untouched and cold despite it all. The chill doesn't have to be there, she notes, probably isn't when the woman's son was in the halls.

"He's with Dav–"

"I know."

"Then why are you here?" Regina asks sharply, leaning on both hands as she stares down at the slab of marble that holds her untouched drink. Scotch, Ruby thinks as she picks up on the scent. Red's innate instincts kicking in have been dizzying to get under control again; her sense of smell, her sight, her hearing, it's all heightened by the wolf again and the girl shivers at the thought of the impending full moon. It's Old Ruby though, the one who existed in Storybrooke for twenty-eight years, whose expertise it takes to place the drink as Glenlivet. She had a few of her own talents that Ruby Lucas.

"Don't do that," she hisses back immediately, stalking into the room with the lupine grace and presence, mirroring the raven-haired woman's position as she stands kitty-corner to her. "Don't act as if I haven't earned the right to get answers–"

"Earned the right?" Regina fires incredulously, lifting her gaze to meet Ruby's with furious brown eyes. Ruby recognizes that look from one-too-many days on the battlelines. "And what have you done to earn anything from me?"

"Do you want an itemized list? Because I'm sure I can come up with a few reasons off the top of my head."

Regina glares but doesn't respond before taking a drink. "And what could you possibly need answers for? If you recall, everything you did was on your own free will. No matter what my influence was."

"Oh, please–"

"Don't put your guilty conscience at my feet just because you ended up loving the stupid brat–"

Ruby's hands curl around the edge of the counter, bristling despite herself. She hates how easy it is for Regina to get under her skin, even after all of this time. "I'm not talking about Snow." Ebony eyebrows furrow in confusion. "Kane." She watches Regina search for a moment before the recognition dawns on her. "He was…"

The mayor lets out an irritable sigh, looking down at her glass once more. "Under a spell."

"Just to put me more under your thumb than I already was?"

Regina's jaw works back and forth and Ruby watches with idle interest, head aching. "I needed to make sure I had enough to hold you and enough to keep you wanting me to."

"And what the hell else did that entail?" The details are blurry, twenty-eight years of false memories and another decade of those on the run with Snow would do that. But Kane, she can't forget him. That nice man whose children she had to watch grow up at the castle without a father. Whose life she had taken. Butchered. Vicious. Just like you did with Peter. She feels her heart angrily smash against her ribs at the remembrance of Regina's words. She had been such an easy target for the woman, hadn't she?

"The men who attacked Snow, too. After… after the tourney her father threw." Regina adds, her face a shade more contrite than before. She runs her hand through her dark hair a few times, a nervous habit that seems out of place at this particular point in the conversation. "The night you first… transformed in front of her."

"Regina–"

"I hadn't counted on the two of you splitting up," she responds immediately.

Ruby is just as quick with her reply. "They could have done anything to her."

"They were under strict orders–"

"Anything."

"Strict orders," Regina repeats, her face as defensive as Ruby's ever seen it. Apparently even this had crossed a line for the woman who had every intention of finishing off the girl anyway; she surely wouldn't be so quick to evade the unsaid accusations thrown her way otherwise. "She was still a child. I wasn't a monster."

"You manipulated me into killing multiple people before I had even turned eighteen." The reply isn't something Ruby had ever consciously thought about, but the idea of Regina trying to claim some defense on the preciousness of youth made something inside her snap. Still, she had to drop her own gaze then at her own accusation because it seems more horrifying in retrospect than it had felt in the other world.

"It was another land."

"...It was," Ruby agrees quietly, unable to deny that very solid fact. Their world, their morals, everything had been so vastly different. Children wielding swords, fighting in battles, killing, it was all different in a land where you stopped being a child the moment you were old enough to marry and pass on heirs. Where people were brought up from a young age with weapons in their hands, the need to kill and butcher their own dinner, to protect themselves and their families in brutal ways. They had been desensitized to so many things this modern world found abhorrent, there really was no comparison. "That doesn't make it… what you did–"

"I know."

Ruby feels the air leave her lungs and her lower lip shake for a moment, her own defensiveness leaving her for a moment when Regina uses a tone so understanding, even if it's not a show of defeat. It's as much vulnerability as she'll allow for the moment and it's far more than the young woman had been expecting when she walked through the door.

"Rumple helped you find me. When I was on trial." A curt nod is her reply. "That night with Snow in the woods – he was the one who warned me, you know. That I had to go back to her." She didn't know judging by the look Ruby receives, the way the woman's hand tightens around her drink. "He was the trader who brought me the vipers too. He laid it on pretty thick when it came to... taking part in all of it. Guess it worked."

"Miserable fucking imp," Regina mutters, eyes flashing with a fury that seems to be magic. She doesn't like surprises, even ones that are four decades old. Ruby decides to take a little pity on her.

"You said letting me leave was the last kindness you'd ever show me, but I'm living in this world with Granny with a job I like and my friends all around me." The former queen sighs, glancing away. Ruby allows the moment to stretch before persisting quietly, "I was really happy here, Regina. Why were you so nice to me?" She's still looking away and Ruby voice deceitfully wavers before she can control it when she continues, "I was so… so in love with you."

Regina's eyes close and her mouth purses. "I know."

The brunette wraps her arms around herself as the coldness in the house starts to set in, chilling her to the bone as she stares at the woman who refuses to look back. She looks so tiny in this land, without her opulent dresses and commanding, regal voice. Ruby doesn't know if she prefers it or not, really.

"Did you ever… even for a minute–" She cuts herself off, hating the pleading intonation. Hating even more that she has to ask, but she doesn't know. Red had spent nearly ten years trying to find the answer to the question Ruby cut off, and in all that time she had never been able to come to it on her own. Regina is quiet for a long time, five minutes pass in total silence but Ruby doesn't move, doesn't budge. She needs to know.

"I like to think I did." Her voice is smaller than Ruby's ever heard, no longer defensive, no longer angry. She sounds sad, plaintive. Tired. It makes Ruby's heart beat a little faster at the glimmer of hope as Regina stares down at her countertop, knowing the woman's defenses were down. Knowing that she wanted to love Red, even if she couldn't. "You were the only one who… the only I could..."

She grants herself the right to be sad as well now, to tap into that well of despair Red had felt when the woman she knew turned around and reached into her chest. The hardened Red that watched Regina nearly get executed would be mad at such a move, to give in after so many years of trying to get over. But she was Regina's sweet wolf once.

"Why wasn't it enough?" Why wasn't I enough?

"I don't know." Her voice is forceful again, as if it was a question she had been asked a hundred times. Maybe she asked herself.

"You were happy when you were with me–"

"I was."

"Even if you were using me, I know you–"

"You're right."

"Then why wasn't it enough?" She demands again, voice booming after their quiet confrontation, stepping closer to Regina. She's within reaching distance now, so close Ruby can smell the faint scent of the perfume the woman applied this morning. Old Ruby had always loved that smell but she had never worked up the courage to ask what it was.

"Because I hated her more than I could have loved anyone," Regina retorts dejectedly, looking as if she hates to admit it to even herself and meeting Ruby's eyes for a brief moment before dropping her own again. She takes a breath and turns to look away, her hands curling and uncurling once before she leans on her palms once more, caging herself from Ruby she she drops her head.

"Except Henry."

She looks back up, seeming surprised and unguarded as her face twists into a repentant expression. "Except my son."

"And what if someone had done to Henry what you did to me? To Sn–"

"They're already doing it!" Regina snaps, face a mask that's a mixture of the Evil Queen and Madam Mayor. It was terrifying how easy it was for the woman to revert. "They're pitting him against me–"

"Because you're pitting everyone against yourself." She isn't as bombastic as Regina, only firm while trying to be sympathetic. A mixture of the pragmatic Ruby she was and the young girl who had fallen in love with a Queen so long ago. Red has to give way to Ruby though. She's been Ruby for just as long, it's her world now, and Red is tired of holding onto all the things she never got to say. "You're pathetic."

Regina's nostrils flare and her fingers curl. "Excuse me?"

"A fucking coward." It annoys that she can't control these emotions, that she's as unrestrained as the woman in front of her, but each one demands to be addressed and she's past the point of trying to reign them in. They'd just woken up from a thirty year nap, after all. "I loved you and I made you happy but you wouldn't let that be enough."

"You didn't even know me, you pathetic little girl." You insolent little bitch. She wonders if Regina remembers those words with the startling clarity she does. The raven-haired woman stands straight for the first time since Ruby walked in the door, squaring her shoulders and dropping her tone to the commanding one the people of Storybrooke knew only too well. "I should have let that pitiful little town do away with you, just pushed the brat off a balcony and have been done with it."

"Then why didn't you?" Regina seethes in front of her but Ruby keeps pushing. "Because you're a coward. You hide behind magic, behind mayoral desks, and crowns because you're just a pathetic little girl yourself. One who had to lie and manipulate to get others to try to do what you couldn't bring yourself to."

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to?"

"She told me once that her friends call her Regina but I have no clue what friends she was talking about."

She's more quick this time around, her instincts are there, she has been trained, and most importantly, she's not ready to sit there and take it like she had been the last time, catching Regina's wrist before the slap can land this time. The woman in question glowers at the impertinence and tries to tug her wrist free forcefully, but Ruby doesn't relent until Regina opens her mouth to snap at her once more. She drops the mayor's arm and side-steps around the corner of the island, grabbing Regina's face and kissing her forcefully.

And all at once it's like she's home again, like she's that seventeen year-old girl who surprised a queen with a kiss and carried on an illicit affair until the moment it was bound to break her. She's not quite as fragile in this world though, she's demanding because she can be, because she's not that little girl who was under Regina's thumb for so long. She feels like an equal now, like her stature can finally be put to good use, commanding Regina with her height and strength when years ago it seemed as if the ebony-haired woman would forever be grandiose and so, so above her.

Regina is just as urgent with her response, deft hands tangling in Ruby's streaked hair and curving around the back of her neck, her lips bruising as they push and pull against the werewolf's. And, again, Ruby is infuriated at the response, annoyed and frustrated that the former queen could be so desperate and needy when she was the one who banished Red from her sight, who couldn't let them be happy, who spent twenty-eight years treating Ruby with the same icy demeanor she used for everyone else. How dare she be so audacious as to act as if she had spent years obsessing over this feeling as well. She pulls away, acid on her tongue as she prepares to level Regina with a final parting word of how pathetic she was to give up on something she clearly wanted so much, but Regina beats her to it.

"I'm sorry," she whispers in a tight voice, eyes closed and her hold on Ruby still very much in place. Ruby feels her words die on her lips as Regina lets out something akin to a sob, but one so faint she's not quite sure if it's real. "I'm so sorry, Red."

What was she supposed to do now? Ruby had come into the house with every intention of getting her answers, laying into Regina, and proving she wasn't about to be controlled once more by this woman. Red had other intentions, it would seem, judging by the tingling in her lips from the kiss she had just shared. That young Red who had the name Ruby first. And Regina looks so tragically beautiful, just as stunning as the day Ruby met her, even when her face is contorted into a look of agony.

"How much of it did you plan?"

"Not this. I swear. Not…" Us.

Ruby chooses to believe her, allows her shoulders to slump because Regina's are and if she's willing to let the guard fall, Ruby has to let hers. Her hands soften their hold on Regina but don't let go and she lets her head drop to the shorter woman's and allows them both to breathe for a moment, eyes closed and blocking out the world outside the door like they had done so many times before. Ruby believes her because it must be true, no matter how many manipulations had been planted to subvert her dependence on anyone other than Regina herself, no matter how many years of doubt were yelling at her not to trust this woman. Red had kissed the Queen after all. Had seen her come undone for a brief moment that was too real to be calculated.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"I don't know, Red."

Ruby pushes off from her then turns around to allow herself some distance. There were still a hundred questions in her head, many seeming trite, many desperate for a legitimate answer.

"Why me?" She asks, staring at the painted wall.

Behind her Regina takes a breath, voice even when she responds. "I asked him to find me someone around her age to keep her in check. We were in the midlands already and he said there was a young girl on trial for killing her boyfriend because of a curse." There's a deep exhale of breath. "I didn't expect to… take a liking to you – I had never thought about… any woman like that, no matter how beautiful they were. I didn't think you'd betray me. Which was just fucking ridiculous because that's all I expect from anyone. It's all I get from them."

Setting her jaw, the shifter turns but doesn't look back to her. "You sent Graham to kill us." Regina nods but says nothing. "Did you kill him?" Another terse nod. "What the hell is your problem, Regina?"

"He was another in a long line of people who betrayed me for that pathetic little family," she snaps, though there's little fight in her voice, no matter how much she bares her teeth to seem intimidating.

"You can't brush this off with other world morality–"

"And why the hell can't I? We're still from that other world–"

"You destroyed that excuse when you took away our lives and brought us to this world."

Regina glares once more, pushing off from the counter and stepping past Ruby as she leaves the kitchen. Done fighting, it would seem. Maybe just done owning up to things for the day. Ruby doesn't allow her the easy exit she's craving, grabbing her wrist once more and yanking her to a halt.

"Quit running away from me."

"Then quit asking questions you already know the answers to just to ease your goddamn conscience," she fires back, standing straight and looking intimidating once more. "I'm well aware of the things I've done and I'm not going to sit here and apologize to you for each of them."

Ruby drops her hold and lets out a breath, knowing there's some truth to the woman's words. She doesn't know what validation she was expecting when she walked into the Regina's house, there's a nagging part of her insisting it was to prove she was over Regina, over the hold she once had on her, but she knows that's not true. The woman had reached into her chest with every intention of ripping her heart out, but here she was still thinking how beautiful the former queen was.

"I don't… I don't know what to do, Regina," she whispers.

Regina stares at her, looking as if she had a similar internal debate. "I've given you apologies, I've given you answers. What else do you want?"

"I want that woman who saved me from a town hall full of people who wanted my head." Regina's mouth opens, her eyes angry and dark, causing Ruby to cut her off before she can shoot her down. "Because I know some part of her was real. Even if she had… even if I was just a pawn."

Her mouth twists and she looks away, a heavy sigh leaving her as she crosses her arms. "You weren't ever just a pawn, Ruby."

She has to believe that too. Because that woman who saved her did exist. She had to. Regina wouldn't admit that kind of weakness if she didn't. And she wants, wants so badly it borders on pathetic, she knows, but she can't stop. Red couldn't after ten years of fighting this woman. Ruby couldn't after nearly three decades being cursed by her. So she lets the questions die on her tongue, turns off the voice of that older Red who is begging her to not give into this woman who had tortured her dreams for so long, and steps forward once more, kissing Regina with every bit of longing that had filled her for so many years. Regina returns it sweetly, her Queen once more as she allows herself to be backed against a wall.

The sky is split at the twilight hour, the pink clouds in the west still holding out against the darkness taking over them, but Ruby can't force herself to leave Regina's embrace. They had been granted the time and space to truly savour the moment between them and she felt as if she owed it to that young Red all those years ago to drag it out for as long as she can. So she stretches in the older woman's arms, extending her neck to press a kiss under Regina's jaw.

"Guess I can answer as to why Ruby's outfits consist mainly of short-shorts." She feels the laugh reverberate through Regina's throat from her spot pressed against her shoulder.

"It was a consolation prize."

"Lech." Another laugh as her hand sifts through Ruby's streaked hair. "It would seem she took your advice to take what she wants to heart."

"And she made a town full of people happy for it – ow." She smacks Ruby's shoulder when she pinches Regina's hip, the two of them wrestling for a moment before Ruby laughs herself, relenting and allowing herself to be rolled onto her back so Regina can stare down at her. She slides her hands up her bare back up to her cropped locks. She likes it, the short hair. So modern. "Look at you," Regina murmurs softly as leans down to kiss her jaw reverently, "so beautiful…"

"And yours," Ruby finishes softly, meeting Regina's gaze after a moment who in turn looks conflicted for an instant, guilty and penitent before Ruby steals her lips for a slow kiss. "Don't drag it up again when we're in bed. We can both apologize more when we have clothes on." Another chuckle, but this time there's little mirth in it. "I knew what I was doing. I did. Even if… I was lying to myself about as much as you were lying to me."

"Can you stay?" Regina asks quietly as she settles at Ruby's side, trailing her fingers down Ruby's cheek.

"The fact that Granny hasn't shown up with that crossbow already is shocking." A genuine smile overtakes red lips and Ruby turns so they're facing each other. "I wish I–"

In the distance a wolf howls, clear and loud, and it sends a chill down her spine as she glances behind her to look out the window at the ever darkening sky. Not too long now, she notes as the moon becomes visible in the distance. It's too much to deal with so soon and it makes her stomach twist as she remembers the thing she could become again in just a few weeks time.

"You're worried about turning again."

"It's been almost thirty years," Ruby sighs as she runs her hand up the arm stretched up to her face. Regina's skin feels softer than silk, a faintly crisp aroma of apples coming off it. Gods, had she missed touching her. "You don't know any… any kind of potion or spell?"

Regina shakes her head. "We'll figure something out."

She kisses the scar above Regina's lip, finding something comforting about the familiar and distinct indent that urges her to push the older woman back on the bed once more, sliding overtop of her and moaning contently as she does. Regina is just as immediate with her insistence on tangling limbs until Ruby is absolutely trapped – more than willingly so. As always she keeps a hand tangled in the hair at the back of Ruby's head to keep her in place, as always Regina lets out a breathy moan when Ruby's teeth drag across her lower lip.

Another howl grabs her attention and she looks over to the small alarm clock, groaning when she spots the time. The hand behind her neck pulls her back down for a desperate kiss, the other sliding down her bare back and down to her hip, holding them together and making goosebumps ripple down her arms again. No matter how memorable her return to Regina's bed had been, it doesn't take a moment for her heart to start beating faster once more under her touch. Clever little queen.

"Stay," Regina murmurs urgently, desperately. Ruby gives into her kisses for moments that stretch into minutes but when the former monarch's hands start to wander again, she pulls away and ducks her head to avoid another onslaught.

"I can't. Not tonight." It's her concession, her admittance, really. There had been no doubt in her mind that she would be coming back to Regina the moment the older woman had kissed her a second time, luxuriating in the privacy an entire home offered them. They could have that now, Ruby didn't feel the need to rush her reunion, not when the departure had left her so shattered. Besides, she couldn't think straight with Regina in reach again. "I couldn't sit still for years after I left you. Couldn't let my hands… be idle. Couldn't stop thinking about you."

"How could she even look at that farm boy when she had you all to herself?" Regina asks breathlessly, snark gone from her voice and replaced with genuine curiosity. And jealousy. Ruby hopes she's not imagining that part, so that's her truth for now.

"I think her crush died the moment she found out I had one on her stepmother." She relaxes against Regina once more as the fight dies down in the woman's eyes.

"Did you ever talk about it?"

"I don't think she wanted to hear it, to be honest. When I… found her again she was so relieved to see me. She said we were starting with a clean slate. I think she meant it."

"And you?"

"I couldn't ever make peace with what I let happen. What I did to her. I still… I don't care about what happened to the King or Abel except that it hurt her." She nudges Regina's nose with her own, an attempt to keep their interaction from toeing the line of too depressing to talk about while naked. "I knew you would have regretted it. I didn't think it would be because she would end up being the grandmother of your son..."

"Don't remind me," she mutters obstinately, earning her a small laugh to which Regina responds with the corner of her lip quirking. It would take time on both their parts, for Regina to forgive and Ruby to remember all the damage done to the woman, but they would find their common ground eventually. Regina would have to, Snow would have to let go as well. Red had spent too many years choosing between one or the other and she wasn't going to sit by and go through that again. Henry didn't deserve that kind of fate either.

"You absolutely terrified me in this world you know." She presses a warm kiss to Regina's chin. "You terrified everyone. It wasn't until Emma came that I even gave you a second look. Started thinking about you like… like I used to. Smiling. Looking at your ass."

"Silver linings to her ruining everything."

"Quiet," she warns with a smile, kissing her once quickly before sliding off the woman altogether. A clean break is easier, rushing to redress before she finds herself lost in a haze of warm sheets again. Regina sits back against the headboard and watches her, all disheveled hair and smeared lipstick. She moves to the edge of the mattress as Ruby comes to stand in front of it, reaching up to slide on her tank top, already dressed in her shorts (but missing her poor, mutilated leggings, a victim of Regina's exuberance and Ruby's impatience).

Before the cotton fabric can fall down Ruby's body, Regina's hands are holding her hips, pressing a slow, reverent kiss to the sharp bone straining against pale skin. It makes Ruby's breath catch, that daunting level of adoration conveyed in the press of a lips, so used to being on the other end rather than the receiver. It's an uncomfortable amount of power to have over someone, especially someone like Regina Mills. A guilt trip wrapped up in something sincere and Ruby hates to admit it's working.

"Tomorrow," she concedes as she bends down to pick up the black leather shirt she had tied at the ends over her midriff, remaining kneeling so she can look up at Regina. She slides her hands up the mayor's thighs, resting her chin on the top of her knees and staring up at her, unable to help the content smile on her lips even in her defeat. She had hoped to hold out at least a day or two before returning to Regina, to allow herself space after scratching a near forty-year itch. "Unless you have plans."

The corner of Regina's mouth curves up into a smirk, her hands sifting through Ruby's matted hair and down to her jaw. "You were prettier when you weren't trying to be funny." Ruby laughs against her legs, tilting her head to press her lips against the top of Regina's left knee, below the white sheet marring her view of the woman. She's never hated a linen more. "I missed you, Ruby Comstock."

"I see you were only a little partial to that name."

"As to the last, your grandmother seems the type to be affronted by a family name change. And the first… well, are you shocked by my lack of creativity as well?" Ruby feels her face split into a grin. "I imagine she and her Frederick have found each other by now. I hear it was Charming who saved him in the end, back in the other world."

"They ended up doing a lot of good for people."

"You don't include yourself in that?"

She shakes her head sits back on her shins, hands gliding around Regina's calves. "I didn't fight for any side, just them. And now here I am and David's telling me I need to be a leader for the town, because I was such a good leader back home. They keep telling me I'm good with people, which is funny because I'd never heard that before."

Regina considers her for a moment, empty hands curling around the stark white sheet wrapped around her. "Ruby was. She was exceptionally good with people."

"Ruby was a puppy whose tail never stopped wagging."

"What an apt description." She pinches Regina's thigh for the hell of it, laughing quietly when her hand is smacked away. "You never gave yourself credit. Last I checked, Red had two royals and half a court full of men smitten with her." Her chin is grabbed by the abusive hand, fingers curling sweetly around the sharp angle of her jaw. "Ruby wasn't full of false modesty either."

"She truly was a thing to marvel." Regina rolls her eyes but her knuckles come up to caress Ruby's cheek all the same. It feels like she's spent hours trying to leave. "I can't stay."

"I'm aware." Her knuckles drag down Ruby's face once more. "Sweet girl…"

"I'm not, Regina. I'm not that young girl anymore–"

"Neither am I," Regina counters and it's true enough. Even looking at her, Ruby can see the transformation from the young woman Red had met to the hardened mayor she'd lived with for twenty-eight years.

"Well, I want to meet you tomorrow, Regina Mills."

"No more apologies then?"

"Mmm, maybe one or two. I seem to recall one or two dog jokes made at Ruby's expense over the last few years." The smirk that grows on Regina's lips is too maddening not to stifle with a kiss and it makes Ruby feel like a teenager again. "You were prettier when you weren't trying to be funny."

"Some of us don't have to try." It's accompanied with another kiss, one that's greedy and threatens to consume before Ruby pulls back, the gentle hands holding her face. She doesn't look her queen anymore, she's all Regina Mills now. "You look frightened of me."

"I'm not, I'm afraid… I'm afraid I'm giving into you far too easily and it's because–"

"Of my unbeatable sense of humour."

"Because of that fucking pretty face of yours," Ruby fires back, immediately laughing at her own ridiculousness. "I'm afraid that I'm… falling under your little spell again. That I gave in too easily. That I'm some weak, pathetic girl who came running back to you."

Regina's thumb strokes back and forth a few time before she nods and lets go of Ruby's face, standing from her position at the edge of the mattress, letting the sheet fall from her form as she moved to walk across the room. And, oh, that isn't a fair trick, to have to watch this woman step to her dresser bathed in nothing but the moonlight. An even more unfair trick is covering herself up with a robe she pulls from her belongings.

"And that's why you can't stay."

Ruby blinks and tries to remember their previous exchange as she stares at Regina's back outlined in iridescent silk. "It's also why I said I'll be back tomorrow."

Regina turns to her, leaning back against her dresser and smiling that lovely small smile, the one that's become laced with all the sadness both Red and Ruby had seen her go through, and even more misery she hadn't ever been witness to. "You're free to leave then, you know." Ruby looks up from her spot kneeling in front of the bed, hands twisting together as she feels herself transform back into a seventeen year-old girl waiting for Regina's approval to kiss her once more. It's not an entirely unpleasant feeling. "Come here."

She definitely does feel like that seventeen year-old girl, rising from her spot and walking towards Regina's waiting form across the room. She grabs the hand that's waiting for her, running her thumbs over the lines crossing over the other woman's hand. She recalls with vivid memory that same hand flying across her face. Not the pain or the humiliation, just the hope that Regina hadn't hurt herself. It should feel pathetic, the waitress is well aware of that, there's nothing romantic about the thought. It's as messy as she and Regina have always been. Ruby shouldn't like that but she does.

Her right wrist is grabbed by Regina's other hand while the one Ruby's holding frees itself from the werewolf's grasp and reaches behind to the dresser. Ruby watches her slide the bracelet past her fingers and down to sit on the top of her arm, rubies and diamonds shining even in the lack of light. It had felt like a collar near the end, but it doesn't tonight.

"It's rude to give back birthday presents, you know." She can appreciate the levity because she doesn't want to think back to that night more than she has to; Regina's hand hurting, her grasp on Red's heart, the iciness in her voice when she commanded the girl to leave. It's too much to reconcile after going through so such a jarring shift in her life, after falling in bed with Regina again already, after deciding she can't stay.

"I was so in love with you," Ruby whispers quietly again, meeting Regina's gaze once more. The admission before had been to garner more guilt to lob at the women, however true it was. She felt like she had to say it again without the accusation.

Regina considers her for a moment, eyes falling to bangle on her wrist while her thumb ran over the gems that created flowers amongst the gold. "You were the biggest surprise in my life." Ruby drops her forehead to Regina's, forcing their eyes to meet once more. Regina had needed an in on Snow's life to keep her calm and happy while she thought out her plans to escape her life, she hadn't needed another complication in her life, a reckless young girl who kissed queens after killing stewards. "I hate myself for ruining it."

Ruby finally escapes the room, Regina at her side as they descended the winding staircase and made their way to the door. She opens the door but lingers, standing with Regina at the threshold as they look out at the town she created. Even the nights here are idyllic, clear and full of the sounds of the city settling in.

"You did a lot of good for people," she says quietly, earning her a confused, untrusting gaze. "You brought Ashley to a world where she could be with Sean, you gave people lives and jobs they'd love, even… even Snow. You kept me and Granny together."

"You're giving me a little too much credit."

"That curse was for Snow. You didn't have to help anyone. You didn't even have to keep her alive here. Keep David on life support for twenty-eight years." She turns to face her again, willing herself to step onto the stoop to prove to herself that she can make a vague effort to leave Regina's bubble. She really just can't think impartially when the woman is within reaching distance. "You don't have to believe me, but it's true."

She doesn't, judging by the way her eyes cut away and she nods dismissively. Ruby makes it a full step away before her wrist is grabbed once more, Regina's hold desperate. The mayor, or former mayor, Ruby imagines, lets out a breath and meets the younger woman's gaze with reserved brown eyes. "You have to believe me when I… I really did hate myself for telling you to leave."

"It would have just been more toxic if I stayed."

"That doesn't mean I didn't hate that I told you to leave."

She wants to stay, wrapped up in the misery and fond memories, no matter how interconnected they are. Wants to remember her saviour, not Regina Mills or the Evil Queen, even if they are the same person. She could too. She could stay here in this house and block it all out but it would be a disservice to herself and she knows it. As much as Ruby hates to admit it, she can't give into Regina so easily, forgive too much when she's already done a lot.

"Tomorrow," she says for the final time, but she reaches over to kiss her once more, in full view of anyone who could be crossing the street at the moment. Ruby is tired of hiding, tired of needing to be behind closed doors, even with a town full of people who will undoubtedly hate her for not only her relationship with this woman, but even the tiniest bit of a forgiving attitude. Thankfully Old Ruby never cared much for what people thought of her because it's bled into her new self enough to get by.

My name is Ruby, she begins thinking to herself as she finally wrenches away from Regina and turns down the walkway before she can be sucked in again, an old tactic ingrained from training even after all these years. My twenty-eighth birthday was last month. I live with my grandmother. We live at the inn. We work in her diner. I am a werewolf. I have been for almost forty years. I killed Peter. I killed Kane. I've killed many more. The Queen saved me. Regina saved me. Regina trained me. I owe Regina my life. A wolf howls somewhere in the distance and it sends another chill up Ruby's spine, a reminder of her life outside of this human body. Snow saved me. Snow made me a part of her family after I helped kill hers. I owe Snow my humanity. She will forgive Regina. Regina will forgive her. It will take time. I won't lose both ever again. My name is Ruby. My twenty-eighth birthday was last month…