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twdbegins · 3 years

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Catfight

Simon x Fem. Reader

Warnings: Fight scene, Language, Injuries.

A/N: Please, do not judge me for this fight scene. Listen, I wrote this over a year ago and tbh it’s one of my favorites because I love some soft Simon but I even went back through and edited it...it still doesn’t sound good.

Word count: 3,050

“Did you at least throw the first swing?”

She made you so angry. She knew exactly how to push your buttons and drive you up the wall. Truthfully, she had never really done anything to you personally. In fact, there was a time when the two of you were extremely close. Hell, you were best friends for the longest time. Other than Simon, she was the first friend you made upon arriving at the Sanctuary. Maybe it was only because you both arrived just a day apart and were scared at first, who really knows? Regardless, you were best friends and now you weren’t.

There was no surprise to why your friendship fell apart. Since the moment she arrived, she had caught Negan’s eye, something she noticed very quickly. She knew she could use it to her advantage in the long run, so she buttered him up to the highest extent and did not hesitate in the least when he asked her to be one of his wives. She had been Negan’s wife for about six months, while you had been dating Simon for about nine.

At first, the “marriage” didn’t really phase you. You disagreed with it, because you knew neither of them actually loved each other. She was using him for a higher rank and he was using her to fill whatever dark void he had in his heart. But it didn’t affect your friendship at first, so it didn’t bother you. Until, of course, she realized the advantages and benefits she held from her position. So, over time she slowly began to become the absolute worst person to be around. She was insulting, rude, and overall just a horrible person. Her bubbly, innocent personality that you had once been so connected to suddenly felt foreign to you.

Unfortunately, even though your friendship with dear little Kelly was at an end, you still had to deal with her quite regularly. As the Sanctuary’s in residence doctor, you were constantly passing her in the hall and being caught in the same room as her. And she never missed a chance to get under your skin. You tried to not let her get to you. You knew good and well that she had dug herself into a hole that she couldn’t get out of. She was confused and too scared to ask for help. You tried to remind yourself of that, but it was much easier said than done.

Simon knew all of this. He knew you from the beginning to the end of your friendship with her and he was always so patient with listening to you rant about her. He advised you the best he could, but honestly the girl drama was way over his head. He mostly just tried to listen and support you through it. You figured that Kelly probably told Negan all of the same things, if he was willing to listen. But you were tough and could stand up for yourself. You wouldn’t let her get away with doing or saying something totally out of line. Which is what led up to the big incident.

You had been packing some things for a run you were going on with Arat and a few others, to which you realized you needed a small stack of cups for the trip. The infirmary was fresh out of cups meaning you would have to borrow a stack from the bar in the room where Negan’s wives all concentrated to during the day. You took a moment to decide if it was a good idea to go in there. Kelly was almost always in there anytime you had to go in there for something, so you knew you would be making yourself a target. However, Arat insisted that cups were necessary so you decided to swallow your pride and get what you needed as fast as possible.

You walked into the lounge, not even looking to see who was in there. You rummaged through the shelves, locating the cups quickly and making a mad dash to leave. However, once you were almost to the door, you heard a dreadfully familiar voice;

“Oh, [Y/N]! Hey!”

Your back was turned to her, your eyes shutting slowly in annoyance. You did, however, turn around slowly and give a weak greeting. To which she started getting at you right off the bat;

“So, I hear you’re going on a run tomorrow?” She questioned with a snarky tone.

You nodded slightly, not wanting to speak in fear of what you might actually say. God knows you weren’t afraid to hurt her feelings. It was at this moment you noticed there were no other wives in the room, a very rare occurrence.

“That’s interesting...” She said with a tone leaving plenty of room for follow-up questions.

Her mocking tone was beginning to make your blood boil, but you kept your composure for the moment;

“Oh, yeah? How’s that?” You asked.

She stood up from her place on the couch, tugging the short skirt on her black dress slightly. That was never something she would’ve worn before Negan. He really had changed her completely;

“Well, I just think it’s strange, you know? You’re doing all the dirty work around here when you could so easily give that up,” She said walking in front of you and behind the bar.

You sighed heavily. This was not the first time she had sparked this conversation. The truth was, Negan actually threw a marriage offer your way at one point before he knew that you and Simon were an item. You promptly declined, but Negan told you the offer would always stand. You always wondered if Kelly thought you would’ve accepted and that’s why she agreed to marrying him. Regardless, she knew how you felt about Simon and that you never would accept Negan’s proposal.

“Come on, Kelly. You know I busted it before everything to become a doctor. I can’t just drop that to be one of Negan’s wives. He told me very clearly that I can’t do both,” You stated feeling the rage building inside of you, “Besides, you know how I love Simon. I would never leave him for Negan,”

She opened a bottle of red wine and slowly poured herself a glass, seemingly displeased with your answer. She nodded after taking a sip from her glass, she sighed dramatically;

“I suppose so,” She said swirling her glass, “I guess it’s just not the choice I would’ve made,”

This was what drove you crazy. The way she tried to make you feel guilty for something that was your choice. I mean, of course it’s not the choice she would’ve made. It was never her choice to make to begin with. And then she never reacted to your comebacks. Even the ones that were specifically said to hurt. You were really biting your tongue now. You were one comment away from really saying something you shouldn’t. When you didn’t respond, she continued;

“I mean, I don’t have to do a damn thing being with Negan. I just sort of sit still and look pretty. And, of course, deliver needs at his request. Are you sure you wouldn’t be happier that way?”

Your eyes widened and your jaw dropped. This was a new one. Would you be happier being a woman slave to Negan? What kind of shit was that? This was when you really started to get angry;

“What the hell does that mean?” You said setting the cups down on the chair next to you, “Look if you want to be one of Negan’s whores, that’s fine. But don’t shame me because I chose happiness over power,”

Not surprisingly, she didn’t seem phased by the most hurtful insult you could come up with. However, despite her lack of visible hurt, you could tell she was getting riled up based on the look in her eyes. At this point, both of your voices had risen, and anyone nearby would be able to hear.

“That’s another thing,” She said coming out from behind the bar and standing in front of you, “Are you really sure that Simon makes you happy? I mean, he’s not really a man compared to Negan,”

Oh. That was it. That was the final straw. You knew why she said it. She knew Simon was just as much of a man as Negan, but she wanted to hurt you. You could handle the fireball comments and questions she directed at you. But there was no way in hell you were going to let her insult him like that. You could say that you had never really intentionally hit someone before, but your arm swung before you could process. You punched her hard right in the cheek. She let out a surprised yelp, to which she threw her first swing. Her hit landed more on your jawbone, but it didn’t hurt any less. She grabbed you by the shoulders and gave you a good shove into the edge of the bar, knocking over the wine bottle which shattered all over the floor and making a horrendous noise.

It dawned on you that she was just as tough as you, and honestly, could kill you if she wanted to. But it was a fair playing field, because you were just as able. It was at this moment that you realized that she was a good two or three inches taller than you, but you were stronger. You gripped the edge of the bar and used your legs to kick her in the face. She stumbled backwards, but managed to sneak another punch to your nose before. You jumped behind the bar, grabbing and quickly smashing the now broken, jagged wine bottle. Red wine soaked you, partly her, and the floor. In hindsight, this was a bad move considering you would be the one to stitch her up later if you cut her.

You heard two pairs of running feet approach the doorway just as she lunged at you with lightning speed. Just as you were about to put the wine bottle weapon into action, you felt yourself being restrained backwards by a pair of strong arms. A familiar male voice came from behind you as you squirmed in his hold;

“[Y/N], stop! Jesus, put it down.” He pleaded.

That wasn’t enough. You were still beyond angry.

You then noticed Negan doing the same to Kelly, holding her back so you two wouldn’t kill each other.

“I swear to God, I’ll kill her.” She growled at Negan, still wiggling in his arms.

You let out an evilly tempting laugh;

“God, I’d love to see you try,”

Negan cut in before she could respond again;

“Kelly, enough. Simon, we need to separate them,” He said, practically dragging her out of the room.

He gave Simon a rather concerned look as they exited the room. You felt Simon’s hold loosen on you once they were out of sight. Your nose was bleeding and your jaw hurt from her first punch. He was looking at you in a way you had never seen before;

“What the hell just happened? Are you okay?” He said somewhat dumbfounded.

You looked at the doorway, breathless and adrenaline filled.

“Yeah,” You replied shortly, “I’m fine.”

Despite the rather dramatic fight that just ensued, you had to still finish preparing for the run the next day. You didn’t give Simon a real explanation. You really sort of brushed him off, but he knew, as always, you would tell him that night. He worried about you all day. He knew you were tough, but he had never guessed you would get in a fight with someone. He knew something really nasty must’ve been said to get you that angry. Once the two of you were separated, he and Negan talked;

“Holy shit. What about that little cat fight, huh?” Negan questioned Simon as they were alone in one of the kitchens in the Sanctuary.

Simon shook his head in disbelief;

“I have never seen [Y/N] like that before,” He said leaning back on the countertop, “I knew they didn’t get along, but that was a new level,”

Negan himself was a little shocked. He had seen a girl fight before, but nothing to that caliber.

“Yeah. Kelly deserved it,” He said bluntly.

When Simon gave him a confused look, he explained;

“Kelly is always starting shit with the others. It was only a matter of time before someone put her in her place. I always thought it would be Sherry to finally lose it, but I’m glad it was someone like [Y/N],”

Simon nodded;

“So, what are you going to do?” He asked.

Negan gave a short laugh;

“I don’t know. But Kelly sure as hell knows now to shut her mouth,” He said walking to the door, “Hey, make sure [Y/N] knows we’re all good,”

They talked a little longer, both agreeing to keep you two apart for a few days and let the incident slide.

You on the other hand, went straight to the infirmary, cleaning up your bloodied nose and making sure it wasn’t broken. Thankfully, it would just be bruised for a week or so. Your jaw and knuckles were incredibly bruised and tender, but nothing that required stitches. You went on the rest of your day, preparing for your run the next day, the fight replaying over and over. You hoped this wouldn’t make Simon think less of you. After all, you were defending yourself. You gave yourself as much time alone as possible before turning in for the night. It was around 1:30 AM before you trudged down the dark hall to Simon’s room. He had not seen you since the fight, your nose, knuckles, and jaw were a less than pleasant shade of purplish black. You knew he would stay awake until you got there so you didn’t even take the time to knock.

You opened the door slowly, avoiding eye contact. He was sitting on the bed, his face going white when he saw your beaten face;

“[Y/N]...” He said softly, trailing off slowly. He stood up from the bed and approached you gently, as if you might scurry off like a scared animal; “Honey, please tell me what happened,” He requested.

You nodded slowly, walking to the dresser drawer to change before telling the story. You lifted your shirt over your head, wincing when you noticed the bruise on your back and side from where you were thrown into the counter. You slipped a t-shirt over your head and sat with your legs folded on the bed on your side. Simon was sitting across from you, listening carefully;

You told him the whole thing truthfully, feeling stressed as you retold the story;

“I don’t know. I was just...so angry,” You said shaking your head; “I just couldn’t let her get away with saying that. She knows how I would never want to be one of Negan’s wives. And then she has the nerve to invalidate our relationship?” You asked in disbelief.

Simon’s brows were furrowed as he continued to listen;

“I swear, I didn’t go in there to start a fight. I just had enough, I guess,” You said sighing.

Simon took a moment to process everything he had just heard. To which he had one follow-up question;

“Did you at least throw the first swing?”

Not surprised by his response, you laughed softly moving to slip under the covers;

“I did,” You admitted.

He smiled radiantly, carefully pressing a kiss to your lips;

“That’s my girl,” He praised, “Yeah, Negan was more surprised than I was. Did you actually call her a whore?” He asked, staring at your horrible looking nose.

You shrugged;

“Yeah. I guess that was out of line,” You said fidgeting with the edge of the sheet.

Simon laid down next to you, looking at your beaten face. You groaned;

“Honey, can you not stare at me like I just got my ass kicked?” You asked with a whine.

He couldn’t help but laugh at your joke, but also feel bad;

“I’m sorry. If it’s any consolation,” He said, pulling him to you, “You totally won that fight,” He said with a shrug.

You gave a weak laugh;

“I guess,” You paused for a moment, “Was Negan mad? Like, am I in trouble?”

Simon gave a look of remembrance, recalling the conversation from earlier;

“Not at all,” He stated.

When you gave him a doubtful look, he continued;

“No, seriously. He’s fine. He knows she started it. Apparently she was like that with the other wives too,”

You weren’t surprised at that revelation in the least. Just disappointed that this was how things turned out. You looked down at your hand, examining your bruised hand for the millionth time that day. Noticing your sudden silence, he took your injured hand and kissed it gingerly.

“It’ll be okay, I promise,” He said realizing he needed to change the subject, “Are you still going on the run tomorrow?”

You nodded. He grinned.

“Good, because I’m going instead of Arat,” He said with a cheeky smile, “I figured the two of us could handle it, besides, it’s not often that we get to go out alone together,”

You weren’t sure why, but you felt tears begin to well up in your eyes. Maybe it was the frustration that had been building up in you all day or Simon’s comforting touch or even a mixture of both. Before you even realized you were crying, you saw his expression change;

“Oh, baby...” He said letting your head settle in the crook of his neck as you cried softly, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t even know,” You sobbed, “I just love you,”

He chuckled with a soft “awh” as he slightly tightened his wrap around you. He hushed you until your cries turned into hiccups and eventually into occasional sniffs. He rubbed your back gently until he felt your body relax. Your breathing slowing as you fell asleep.

He didn’t get much sleep that night. He wanted to make sure you were okay and felt safe with him. But he didn’t mind. He was always willing to make you feel better.

After all, you were his girl. Forever and always.

#simon #simon x reader #The Walking Dead #the walking dead simon #simon the walking dead #twd simon #simon twd #simon twd x reader #simon twd fanfic #simon twd imagines

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umbraastaff · 6 years

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I Saw Seven Bounties, chapter 2

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Now on Ao3!

Kravitz throws his scythe on the ground, and it evaporates in a very unsatisfying manner because it doesn’t exist when he’s not holding it. How dare that lich-- sorry, “Barry” “Bluejeans”-- set KRAVITZ, the Raven Queen’s best reaper, on fire? If his sentence in the Eternal Stockade wasn’t already set for a mortally inconceivable period of time, Kravitz might actually propose it be lengthened for resisting arrest.

He writes the stupid, obviously-fabricated name into the “nickname” portion of the bounty sheet for the lich. If nothing else, he has a tiny bit more information, some miniscule notion of progress. Not that this is going to be a gradual progression. He’s taking down that lich the next time they meet.

For someone who claimed to not know the “death police” existed, Barry sure does a good job of avoiding them. If he has any specific home base, he moves around enough that there’s no way to pinpoint it. He’s hard enough to pinpoint, himself-- anytime his energy gets picked up, he’s already gone.

It takes several more weeks of watching and waiting and predicting where the red lich will appear, mixed with a fair amount of luck, but Kravitz finally gets ahold of a location Barry’s still hanging around at. It’s a large, dusty library in a tiny, abandoned town-- probably had more books than people, even in its heyday.

Kravitz creeps around the corners of shelves in perfect silence, only to find the lich entirely off-guard, reading a book. He’s using two Mage Hands to do it, and at least those are blue. But the moment he has that thought, both of them fade to an inky black. The lich raises his head, surprised, and quickly finds Kravitz.

“Oh, uh,” he doesn’t seem particularly concerned, “Hi again, Kraaaaavitz, right?”

Kravitz starts walking forward, drawing his scythe as he goes. “I’m honored you bothered to remember my name when you won’t even give me yours.”

The lich puts a bookmark in the book. Then he uses one of his real hands-- the skeletal ones-- to unzip a line in the dimensional fabric, something not far from a function of Kravitz's scythe. Then he drops the book through the hole and waves it closed. As Kravitz carefully eyes his hand movements for elemental gestures (like the one for that god-forsaken fire), Barry says, “I’m, wait, sorry? I thought I did, uh, give that to you. It’s, I’m Barry Bluejeans, that’s my real name. I’m- I’m not fantasy Rumplestiltskin over here.”

With that, the gap between them is closed, and Kravitz takes a definitive swing. His scythe actually covers a wider area than its visual representation shows, and it can pull a targeted soul from any direction within its radius. So of course it comes as a surprise when Barry actually moves in the opposite direction, and in fact opts to roll backwards and phase through a bookshelf.

“Okay, uh, sorry again. I have, uh, a couple questions about the-- about your allegations, that you mentioned last time-- when we met?” His voice, low and gruff and making no effort to be spooky, doesn’t come from any one cluster of books. It’s being projected in such a way that it’s coming from all directions. Clever. “Because I think, actually, you might be wrong about, pretty much all of it.”

“You’re a lich,” Kravitz says. “You- you’re literally, I can feel it with my goddamn magic reaper senses, a defiance of the balance between life and death.”

“That’s harsh, but sure, okay. Can you say-- can you walk me through the, uh, the charges from before, though?” He pauses for a moment, but Kravitz can still feel his energy hanging like static in the air. He can almost see the red of the electricity. “I can, uh, I’ll come out of the walls, afterwards, if you want? So you can take a, another swing, at me.”

Kravitz narrows his eyes, but he perfectly recites, “Self-applied undeath, creation or takeover of living bodies beyond permissible minion-related necromancy, and twenty-six deaths that were not followed by a trip to the Astral Plane.”

The energy in the air dances lightly across the books on the shelves. Kravitz tenses, because it’s similar to the patterns when liches start breaking down, but… nothing happens. Finally, Barry says, “So, yeah, okay, gonna start with the second thing. What’s-- what do you mean by, uh, creation of bodies? I haven’t- I definitely never possessed anyone.”

“You should know,” Kravitz says. “The only way to have a death count higher than one is to return to a new living body. And the only way to do that is to possess one or grow one.”

“It’s not, but uh, thanks for the tip that you’ve got-- that there’s a really just, absolutely disgusting way of coming back to life. I’ll be sure to, I’ll, uh, look into it.” The magic crackles again, making the shelves creak this time. Kravitz waits. “And, okay, the other two things. What’s your jurisdiction?”

“I… everywhere?”

“Can you just-- can you humor me for a minute here, and uh, tell me what’s the jurisdiction for enforcing those laws, in very-- in formal terms?”

Kravitz thinks for a moment. “The Material, Ethereal, and Astral Planes.”

“Just in this planar system?”

“Yes?” Kravitz’s voice is a little off pitch, caught completely off-guard by the question. “Yes. The only planar system, Mr. Bluejeans.”

“Oh,” say the walls. The energy in the room gets a little sharper, pricking at Kravitz’s skin. He holds up his weapon, ready for Barry’s complete nonsense to dissolve into the insanity liches are known for. The magic still doesn’t feel angry, exactly, but it doesn’t need to be-- just tense. Ready to crack like an eggshell around its wielder.

But it doesn’t. The power touching Kravitz pulls back into the walls, and he feels an odd lightheadedness, as if he’s been upside-down this entire time and only just now has started standing upright. The voice sounds again, now from a specific direction: right in front of him. “I said I’d stand here for a-- for at least a second, and you did answer all my dumb, uh, my dumb shit questions, so--”

Kravitz doesn’t need any more invitation than that. He swings his scythe, hard. The red robe before him dissolves. There’s no soul because of course there isn’t.

“--too slow,” the projection says, and Kravitz can swear he sees it wink an eye socket as it vanishes. And then, before he can focus on finding the lich’s actual location, a book falls on his head. Several more are already on the floor around him, having fallen from the highest shelf on the rapidly descending bookshelf.

Mere moments later, Kravitz finds himself questioning his decision to take this job from underneath a sizeable pile of books and a massive bookshelf resting atop it.

Barry Bluejeans is gone.

Again.

#the adventure zone #i saw seven bounties #taz balance #barry bluejeans #kravitz #writes #my writing #mine #barry #balance

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hollie47 · 6 years

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Red Queen: Frozen In Time, Chapter 4

Chapter: 4/18

Word Count: 2,417

This chapter involves Ruby being harassed, if that upsets you, please don’t read.

ff.net | Ao3

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The smell of freshly cooked burgers, shoestring fries and grilled chicken tenders lingered in the air at the diner. It was dark outside, looking as if it was about to snow at any minute. Ruby was cleaning up after a long day of work, covering the night shift for Granny. She wiped down the benches and tables, cleaned the seats, mopped the floor, and started to unpack the dishwasher.

“Hello beautiful lady.” Ruby turned around to see who had entered, not in the mood to deal with anyone. She felt a lot of negative emotions rise within her when she saw Whale standing there, the man had been coming onto her since day one of being in Storybrooke and she had always felt like something was off with him.

“You’re not supposed to be back here Doctor Whale, we’re closed if you didn’t see the sign,” Ruby said, annoyed that he was in the kitchen and ignored the sign on the door. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, a shudder ran through her body like someone had just walked over her grave. She didn’t like how he made her feel.

“I think we can bend the rules a little, don’t you?” he asked, winking at the tall brunette as he made his way over to her.

“No, we can’t, I’m not interested at all, please leave,” Ruby replied, telling him to his face as her anger simmered within her. She was absolutely sick of the man and the way he made her feel. She knew that she could defend herself if needed but she had no idea what he was capable of.

“Come on baby, you don’t mean that, how about we have a little fun, no one will know, not even your precious Mayor Mills,” Whale said, walking up to Ruby and grabbing her by the hips.

“Whale, I said no and I mean it, leave the mayor out of this,” Ruby responded, feeling panicked as she felt fingers digging into her flesh. Whale had never gone this far with her before and if frightened her that he was getting more possessive. She was scared and felt like she couldn’t move, her body frozen almost.

“Get your disgusting hands off her before I remove them from your body!” Regina angrily yelled, gripping Whale by the shoulder as tightly as she could and pulling him off Ruby, watching as his head hit one of the cupboards. “Get out! Now!” she added, watching the doctor run out of the diner, not looking back.

“Thank you,” Ruby said, her voice hoarse as she allowed Regina to pull her into a hug. She was shaking like a leaf, her heart was still pounding, her hands gripped onto the black fabric of Regina’s coat as she buried her face into the crook of the brown eyed woman’s neck.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Regina softly asked, gently rubbing slow circles around Ruby’s back, hoping to calm her partner.

“I’m okay now that you’re here, when he grabbed me I was scared and I couldn’t move, I never thought he would act on anything.” Exhaling, Ruby held Regina a little tighter as she tried to control her breathing.

“How long has he been harassing you?” Regina asked, already plotting out a hundred and one ways to make the man pay, adamant that he wouldn’t forget anytime before his death, naturally or by her hand.

“Since the very first day of the curse but it’s only been the last two months he’s really insisted on it, tonight was the first time he’s physically done anything; I don’t even know who he was from our land,” Ruby replied, changing topic half way through, wanting to forget about Whale as she took a deep breath in.

“I’m going to kill him,” Regina said, adding another thirty ways to her list on how to kill him, all involving torture beforehand. She felt the anger rising inside of her, Ruby was the love of her life and if anyone tried to hurt her they would feel the wrath of the Evil Queen upon them.

“Regina, we’re not killing anyone, especially not anyone from our land. Murder or violence isn’t the answer,” Ruby responded, pulling back to look into Regina’s chocolate brown eyes.

“He’s not from our land, he’s Frankenstein, and he harassed you, God knows what he would have done if I hadn’t stopped by.” Releasing Ruby, Regina leant against the sink and quickly examined the green eyed woman to make sure she was physically okay.

“Frankenstein? I feel dirty now, I heard about him experimenting on people back in our land, taking his victims from whatever land he pleased. I’m so glad cursed Ruby didn’t sleep around.” Going back to unpacking the dishwasher, Ruby needed something to do as she tried again to forget about what had happened but she couldn’t shake it from her mind.

“Really?” Regina responded, wondering how Ruby had heard about the man and his antics.

“Really, I only flirted and wore revealing clothing for the tips. Maybe I was just waiting for my true love to come along and sweep me off my feet so I could give myself to her,” Ruby smiled, putting a stack of plates away, taking Regina’s comment to mean something else.

Feeling herself blush slightly, Regina looked away. “Are you almost done? We can go home and you can have a nice, long, hot shower.”

“Kind of, I still need to organise the cold room for Granny, it’s her repayment for babysitting Henry,” Ruby said, looking apologetically at Regina.

“I’ll help you with it so we can go home earlier. Henry is having a sleepover so we have the house to ourselves tonight, we can watch whatever movie you want without being interrupted,” Regina smiled, pushing herself off of the sink and over to Ruby. “Where do we begin?”

“Well, we begin in the cold room, are you sure you’re going to be okay to help out? You only got out of the hospital yesterday morning and they doctors did say you may get shortness of breath for the next few days,” Ruby replied, reaching out for Regina’s hand and holding it.

“I’m fine Ruby, I may just need you to stay with me one more night after tonight.” Squeezing Ruby’s hand she was led into the cold room. “How did you manage in here wearing barely anything before I kissed you?” Regina asked, feeling the cold against her skin, looking Ruby over and liking that she was dressed in a long sleeve red plaid shirt and tight jeans, with small heeled black boots.

“I had a nice thick jacket hidden in the backroom, and a pair of track pants in my bag to change into.” Moving a box of frozen chicken down a shelf, Ruby looked to Regina.

“What can I do?” Regina asked, eyeing the frozen boxes and bags around her as she pulled her jacket tighter to her body.

“We need to move everything from the second highest shelf down a shelf so when the delivery comes in the morning it can be packed straight into here, whatever is currently on the shelf we’re moving things onto, push them to the front so they get used first,” Ruby replied, moving another box.

Walking further into the large, cold room, Regina began to work on the shelves on the left, Ruby on the right. They worked in silence moving boxes, Regina’s teeth began to chatter from the cold. Making it to the back wall, they were almost done. Spinning around quickly to the sound of a door slamming, Ruby ran for the cool room entrance but it was locked shut before she got to it.

“Some arsehat has locked us in,” Ruby frustratingly said, hitting the door with her fist, leaving a small dent.

“Ruby, is there any other way out of here?” Regina calmly asked, walking to where the taller woman was.

“No, none, it’s a metal box of cold, one way in, one way out,” Ruby replied, sitting on the ground next to the door.

“Can we remove the door? Are you able to kick it in?”

“No and no, well, no and yes, but I’d rather not as Granny would kill me, and she’s scary, cursed or not,” Ruby responded, looking up at Regina.

“Reasonable, Granny scares me too, Henry loves her,” Regina said, sitting next to Ruby.

“Granny loves Henry, she spoils him rotten with milkshakes and extra ice cream, and pancakes, if it’s here, he gets extra no matter what,” Ruby smiled, wrapping an arm around Regina.

“It’s freezing in here, luckily not cold enough to kill us. Whoever locked us in here is now on my list after Whale and whoever set my office on fire.” Cuddling closer to Ruby, Regina rested her head on Ruby’s shoulder, trying to think of who else she saw on her way into the diner.

“We’ll find them. Do you think whoever it is, is a visitor to Storybrooke, or might there be another person in town who kept their memories that you’re unaware of,” Ruby voiced, not sure if she was making sense.

“My top guesses are Gold if he managed to get his memories back, someone new which is unlikely as the town is invisible, or someone who saw us together in an intimate way and got insanely jealous. You are absolutely stunning after all,” Regina said, trying to get closer to Ruby as the cold penetrated through her body.

“Gold was the Dark One, wasn’t he?” Ruby clarified, pulling Regina onto her lap and wrapping her arms around the dark eyed woman, feeling the shorter woman relaxing against her chest.

“He was,” Regina confirmed, feeling the warmth of Ruby’s body against her back, enjoying the feeling of being warmed up.

“What’s that in your pocket?” Ruby asked, feeling a small, hard object pressing into her.

Checking her pockets, Regina pulled out a mobile phone, fumbling slightly as her fingers were numb.

“A phone! We can call for help!” Ruby said, squeezing Regina in glee.

“Who should we call? Is anyone still awake that we know of?”

“Granny should be awake, she’s only upstairs,” Ruby answered, taking the phone from Regina and dialling the number.

Waiting for it to ring, Ruby put the phone on speaker.

“Who the hell is this? Do you know what the time is?” Came the voice from the other end.

“Granny, it’s Ruby, someone locked Mayor Mills and I in the cold room. Can you please come and open the door?” Ruby quickly said, noticing the battery on the phone getting low.

“How did that happen? I’ll be right down,” Granny replied, hanging up the phone.

“Maybe we should get up and finish the back wall before Granny gets here, make it look like we haven’t been sitting down and cuddling,” Regina suggested, standing up and stretching out her cold limbs which protested in response.

“But I like sitting down and cuddling with you,” Ruby pouted, looking up at Regina who offered her a hand up.

“And I like cuddling with you but I think Granny won’t be impressed if we left the job half done.” Quickly finishing moving the last of the boxes onto the correct shelving, the door behind them swung open and there stood Granny, not looking impressed.

“How the hell did you two get locked in here?” Granny asked, eyeing them both up as they exited the cool room.

“We were rotating the stock and the door closed behind us, we have no idea who locked us in here or why,” Ruby replied, thankful to be out of the cold and able to feel her fingers.

“When I find out who did it, I’ll make sure they’ll get a stern warning,” Regina added, crossing her arms.

“Just a warning Madam Mayor? The little shits deserve to have their arses kicked or at least a hundred hours of community service each,” Granny replied, not impressed that she had to get out of bed.

“I’ll take that into mind. Thank you for coming down and opening the door for us,” Regina said, knowing better than to say no to the grandmother of her partner.

“Yeah, thanks Granny,” Ruby added, giving the woman a quick hug.

“Now to another question before I leave you two to go to bed, Ruby, why was our lovely mayor in here helping you?” Granny asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I told Regina that I offered to work closing to thank you for babysitting Henry the other night and she offered to help and wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Ruby responded, giving her grandmother a sincere smile.

“On a first name basis I see. And if you say so I’ll believe it for now, goodnight Ruby, goodnight Madam Mayor, don’t do anything in my diner either,” Granny said, warning Ruby before heading upstairs to the bedrooms.

“I have a feeling she’s not going to forget about this or us any time soon. That last comment though.” Turning to face Regina, Ruby looked defeated and tired.

“It’s okay, she’ll find out officially eventually, and even with the curse Granny seems way to stubborn to let it slip past her, which is probably partly my fault,” Regina replied, pulling Ruby to her.

“We’ll wait a week or two and if she doesn’t drop it we tell her?” Ruby suggested, pressing her forehead against Regina’s.

“Sounds like a plan. How about we head home, watch that movie, go to bed, and over the next few days we investigate why someone is out to get us. I don’t trust the idiots who work at the police station,” Regina said, getting fed up at the lack of progress.

“That sounds like a plan, give me a minute to see if I can pick up any scents first before we leave.” Walking over to the cool room door, Ruby sniffed the air and followed the trail to the diner entrance. “I’m picking up a mix of pen ink, off musk sticks, and bleach, what a weird combination,” Ruby added, looking confused.

“Come on, let’s get out of here, we’ll leave everything for tomorrow,” Regina replied, holding Ruby’s hand. She led them out of the building, locking the door behind them. Heading home they both kept an eye out to make sure no one was following them or waiting for them in the shadows as the snow started to fall.

#red queen ouat #red queen #once upon a time #regina mills #ruby lucas #ruby x regina #regina x ruby

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