The Talk (1/1)
Title: The Talk
Author: Fab_fan
Fandom: Fried Green Tomatoes (Bookverse)
Pairing: Ruth/Idgie
Spoilers: This is bookverse not movieverse. Thus it refers to a scene and characters in the book that are not in the movie. So, it’s a spoiler for the book.
Rating: PG
Summary: You take Idgie and Ruth. Now, you never saw two people more devoted to each other than they were, but even the two of them went through a period when they had their little problems. Ruth moved in with us once.
Note: This is my first time writing for this fandom. I’m still trying to get a feel for the characters and setting. Please let me know how I did and if I should continue with this foray into the Fried Green Tomatoes universe (both book and movie). Any tips or comments are greatly appreciated.
Onzell once said that Ruth had left one no-account, and she’d just as easily leave two. Those words blared loudly in Idgie’s head like one of the trains that passed by the café, noisy and never-ending. Ruth could just as easily leave two. Well, she’d started to, alright. For three weeks Idgie been alone in the back of that café wondering what she was gonna do. That wasn’t all true. She didn’t spend all that much time in the little place they called home right after Ruth packed up and walked the short distance to Cleo and Ninny’s house. No sir, she went right on over to the river. When enough whiskey and Pabst Blue Ribbon got in her, she could stop thinking for a few seconds about how the only person she’d ever loved had up and left her.
Of course, Eva had to show up with her bright red hair and stern words. Idgie didn’t need anyone to tell her she did something wrong and Ruth was mad at her for it. She could figure that out all on her own. It wasn’t like she did anything terrible. All she did was lie to Ruth, tell her she was going to Atlanta when she was really going to the woods. Grady and Jack lied to their wives all the time. Who was she kidding, Eva was right. Her and Ruth were nothing like those folks. Ruth had gone through hell with that bastard Frank Bennett. Then, Ruth did the bravest thing Idgie had ever known anyone to do. She left him to be with her. That’s right. She left that no-account baboon faced bastard and moved in with Idgie.
For three weeks Idgie sulked around the river and the café. She missed Ruth. She missed her more than anything. Then, she got a phone call from Ruth asking to talk. Idgie agreed as fast as she could and nearly ran to Cleo and Ninny’s. She’d do anything to get Ruth to come home. Anything. She’d even tolerate Reverend Scroggins if it meant having her come back home.
That’s how she found herself nervously standing inside Cleo and Ninny’s kitchen. Ruth sat at the tiny table, her hands folded neatly in her lap and her long brown hair covering half her face. Just seeing the other woman had Idgie’s heart pounding. She wanted to go to Ruth and take her in her arms, but she held back. Ruth wanted to talk, and Idgie wasn’t going to mess this up. It was too important. So, she stood there silently watching the woman she loved. After a few minutes, Ruth’s gentle voice pricked her ears.
“Why did you lie to me, Idgie?”
Idgie swallowed and shuffled her feet. “I didn’t mean to make you mad, Ruth.”
Idgie never meant to make her mad. She still did, though. “I know you like your freedom. You always have. With Buddy and me living with you, I understand that you’ve had to settle down some.” Her gentle voice grew scratchy and she stared down at her clasped hands, “When you came to get me from Frank, and we found out I was pregnant, you never said if it was too much.”
“That’s ‘cause it’s not.” Idgie had a feeling about where Ruth was going and she quickly interrupted her. Forgetting about giving Ruth a respectable distance and not overstepping, Idgie took a few long steps and fell to her knees before Ruth. “You and Stump are more than I ever thought I could have. Ruth,” she reached out and pushed the curtain of brunette hair behind a delicate ear, “I know I did wrong. I didn’t treat you like I should. But, never think you and Stump are anything but what I want. I love you, and I love our boy.”
Ruth inhaled deeply, “Then, why would you lie to me about where you were?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I never want to hurt you.” Idgie’s fingers carefully traced the side of Ruth’s face. “You mean so much to me, Ruth. That ain’t never gonna change. I went to the woods ‘cause I felt like I needed to. I just got so damn tired of having to tell someone where I was all the time.”
Ruth bristled slightly and tried to turn her head at that, but Idgie cupped her chin and lifted so their eyes met, “Then you were gone, and I saw what my life would be like without you and Buddy in it. I don’t want that life, Ruth. I never did. I want you.”
Ruth’s eyes shined with glossy tears, “I don’t want you to feel like you have to be here for us.” She blinked, “I know Eva…”
“I don’t. I love you, Ruth. I love Stump. I’ve only ever loved you my entire life. Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved you. Hell, I’d marry you if I could. There ain’t no one else but you, Ruth. Eva? Eva’s a friend. That’s all.”
Ruth snorted, and Idgie would have commented on how unladylike that was if she wasn’t so busy trying to get Ruth to see how much she needed her to come home. “A friend. Idgie Threadgoode do not treat me like a fool. I know what she was to you.”
“Yes, she was there for me when I couldn’t have you. That’s it. I don’t love her, Ruth. We’re friends.”
“You didn’t go to her when you told me you were going to Atlanta? You didn’t go to be with her and get drunk and…” her words trailed off unable to finish.
“No.” Idgie shook her head. “What we had together was a long time ago. It was never love, and it stopped the second you came back.”
“You always go down to the river and get drunk with that woman.”
“I go to the river, but I’m not with Eva.” Idgie knew Ruth thought Eva was a bad influence, giving her too much liquor and luring her away. But that was as far from the truth as could be. “I’d never hurt you like that. I can’t. I’m always going to love you, and I’m never gonna stop. No one could ever change that, least of all Eva Bates.” She stared intently into Ruth’s brown eyes, “I was with her because I couldn’t have you, and she was with me because she couldn’t have my brother. We were lonely. But, I’m not ever leaving you. I’ll always come home to you, Ruth. I’m certain I’m gonna love you till the day I die.”
Ruth glanced down as Idgie rested a hand on her knee, her mind flashing back to the neatly typed letter she’d received earlier, “Maybe I’ve been asking too much of you lately with the café and Buddy.”
Idgie squeezed her knee, “Never. You can ask me all you want, Ruth. You can never ask too much of me.”
Ruth’s mouth flickered with a smile at the earnest affection in her lover’s eyes. Idgie looked like she had that first summer they spent together so long ago, “You still need your space sometimes, and I know that. I don’t want to change you. You know how I feel about you going down to the river all the time, though.” At Idgie’s hopeful gaze she patted the hand on her knee, “Just talk to me about it next time, alright?”
Idgie felt so happy she could float up off the ground, “I promise I will. I’ll never lie to you again, Ruth.” She shifted on her knees, “Does that mean you’ll come back?”
Ruth did smile at that, “Take me home, you old Bee Charmer.”