The Unexpected ~ PG-13 (Chapter 2/?)
Title: The Unexpected
Summary: Several weeks after going home with one of the guys from the bar on Valentine's Day, Ruby realizes she's pregnant. When Mr. Gold realizes this, he takes a particular interest in her.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 1x19
Pairing/Characters: Eventual Ruby/Gold, Granny, Dr. Whale, Emma, mentions Graham, Ashley, and Sean
A/N: Inspired by at least a few prompts on the ouatkinkmeme, here goes.
Prologue Chapter 1
~~
Chapter 2:
"Will I be seeing you at home tonight, or do you plan on spending tonight wherever you spent last night?" Granny asked as Ruby readied to leave for the night.
"I plan on returning to the inn sooner than you might think, but not for the reason I'd guess you'd want. There are some things I need to get and then I'll be back to where I spent last night."
"And just whom might that have been with?" she asked.
"Myself. Mr. Gold let me rent an apartment from him. And before you launch into what a mistake that is or how he can't be trusted or or anything else, he wishes you would direct those comments to him rather than me given my apparent delicate state and all." Okay, he hadn't put in quite those words, but she could imagine him describing it that way.
"I'm sure he did," Granny all but scoffed. "All the easier to seem the hero, Ruby."
"I told him I needed a new place to live since I hardly feel welcome in what was my own home anymore, and he gave me a number I could work with. It's simple as that. No heroics, no catch."
"Including his wish that I take my issue with this up with him rather than you? That doesn't strike you as odd or an attempt to seem the hero in your eyes?"
"Not when he probably just wants to be sure he doesn't lose his newest tenant."
"Alright, Ruby. If you insist on continuing to make these destructive choices, then I give up. You believe what you wish about Mr. Gold, even though I'm sure you remember exactly what he wanted from your dear friend Ashley. But when he succeeds in getting whatever it is he wants from you, and alienating you from all those you've known since I sincerely doubt those like Ashley would wish to remain your friend while you're trusting that man, you will wish you had listened to me."
That time Ruby scoffed. "I'm not Ashley. And I didn't offer Mr. Gold my baby just to get an apartment from him, nor would I consider it. I also didn't offer to sleep with him, just in case you're wondering. And speaking of Ashley, at the time, she didn't want her baby. And since we're on the subject, even in Emma's case, she didn't get the chance to make up her own mind as to if she wanted to keep Henry since she had him while she was in jail. I have a choice and my mind's already made up. You can think I'll fail or that I'll come crying to you, or will maybe even go to Mr. Gold in the hope he can make it all go away. But that's not me. I don't buckle under that kind of fear or pressure, you know that. So you can call me a slut, you can think I'm sleeping with every guy in town even now, I don't care. I'm not going to let you get to me anymore. You can't live with my choices? Fine. Now you don't have to. I quit."
Granny sighed, shaking her head. She doubted the disappointment she now felt for her grand-daughter would cease. "I suppose you'll just have to learn for yourself what consequences your choices will bring. I can warn you until I'm blue in the face, but I see no point when you're clearly so unwilling to listen."
"It sounds like we finally agreed to disagree. Thank you, Granny. I'll be heading to my home now."
Ruby had been home for all of ten minutes, just long enough for her to get changed out of her (now) former work uniform and into a comfy red tank top and even more comfortable black yoga pants when she was about to sit down to a bottled water on the sofa. Only then there was a knock at her door. So much for her quiet reflection of what had all just happened tonight, she decided. In just the last 30 minutes she had basically told Granny off, told her who she had to thank for her having her own place now, and had quit her job... Which also meant she needed to start thinking about who to turn to for work.
"Mr. Gold?" she asked when she pulled open her door to see who had come to see her. "Is everything okay?"
"It is. Coincidentally, I came to ask you that very thing," he answered. "I guessed you told your granny about your decision and since I didn't receive an angry phone call or even angrier visit from her today, I wondered how you might be doing."
That would have surprised Ruby if not for thinking back to what she had told Granny earlier. Maybe she was right. Maybe he really was worried about losing his newest tenant. "Yeah, I did. And no, she didn't take it that well. But it's okay. She's set in her ways, but I don't have to live like that anymore. Not under either of her roofs."
Mr. Gold slightly smiled at that. "They aren't truly her roofs now are they, dear?"
That made Ruby laugh. "I guess not. Do you want to come in?"
"I'm afraid I can't. But thank you. I just wanted to be sure you were alright, in case you Granny took the news worse than you had imagined."
"No, not really. I mean, she's still angry but I'm not going to let her get to me anymore. It isn't healthy and it isn't helpful, so I've decided to distance myself from her until she comes around and figures out how to tolerate this, or I guess she'll never get to know her great-grandchild."
"I can't imagine anyone not wishing to know such a special part of their family." He was lost in his own thoughts for a moment, but Ruby was quick to manage to be able to snap him out of them.
"Yeah, well, I guess you do now. But don't worry, I think I know someone who might be able to help me out on the job front tomorrow, I'll still be able to take care of that by the end of the month."
"What? You mean your granny fired you?"
"I quit. Tonight. Like I said, being around her just isn't healthy right now and frankly I'm sick of having to put up with it. People make mistakes, things happen, all you can do is figure out how to move on from there. I guarantee she'd want someone to wave a magic wand and make this all disappear, and while some of that sounds great, I kind of feel like this was supposed to happen. Maybe finally give me the push I needed to be my own person, not just someone's overly frustrated grand-daughter."
"I think motherhood is already beginning to agree with you," Mr. Gold told her, unable to keep a soft smirk from his face.
Ruby chuckled. "Maybe. Thanks for coming by, even if you just wanted to know I'd still be here. I think you're the first person I've actually wanted to see today."
"Oh?" He wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, unsure why she was glad to see him.
"You're the only one who knows who isn't judging me. Right now, that means more than you probably know."
"It isn't my place to judge. Even if it were, as you said, sometimes people do make mistakes. And, if anything, in my experience, waving a magic wand as it were only creates more problems than it solves."
"It makes sense, in a world of checks and balances, you can't get something for nothing. Sooner or later there's always a price."
"Exactly." And right there, clear as day, he saw what had to be the reason she had never made a deal with him in her years as Red Riding Hood. Unlike her royal friends, she saw the truth and understood it as such. However, also unlike her royal friends, she also had means of helping and protecting herself without his brand of magic. Even now a bit of that still seemed to be the case, and it continued to impress him.
"And I guess this is mine. I screwed up, now the chips are falling where they may. But that doesn't mean I can't still get out of the way of some of the larger ones."
"You've always been a strong girl, haven't you, Ruby?" he asked her, briefly forgetting she had no memory of her true past. Before him, yes, was Ruby; but he could still see the cloaked huntress she had once been. Perhaps more so now than ever in these past 28 years. Every reason he had watched her in the woods, every reason he had longed for her even just to make a deal with him, even just to hear her say his old name, was right there.
She shrugged. "I've had to be. But then I guess you'd know a thing or two about that. I wouldn't exactly call you thin-skinned either."
"True," he admitted. "But, I should go. I am glad however to find you are still here, even if I'm sorry for the circumstances responsible."
"Me too," she smiled to him. "Have a nice night, Mr. Gold."
He smiled back to her. "You too, dear."
With that he was heading back to his black town car car and Ruby couldn't help but stare, as she often did, she realized. She was actually sorry to see him leave. Somehow he really seemed to be the only one she could talk to right now. Granted that would hopefully change once she told Emma what all had happened, but for now, it was a relief to see that maybe Mr. Gold wasn't as cruel as certain others chose to believe. He really could have taken advantage here in any number of ways, but to her mind he hadn't. All she could do now was hope that her apparent good luck would hold out just a little longer. At least long enough for Emma to hire her back at the station tomorrow morning.
Returning to the sofa and her water, simply feeling the need to hold onto something even just a plastic bottle, Ruby couldn't help but feel more than a little thankful for Mr. Gold. Odd, given how most of the town felt about him, she knew. But he hadn't had to offer to help her with Granny, or even grant her this sort of sanctuary, but he had. He also hadn't needed to essentially check up on her tonight, or be so nice to her, but he had done that as well.
She could only think the obvious was why. But then, to her knowledge, he hadn't done this with Ashley. Ashley had gone to him, and he'd hardly made it a point to either help her or to see her. So why had he done this for her? Was she a special unwed, pregnant girl? Or was there in fact something he was hoping to gain? And if so, why hadn't he mentioned it already? The hope of gaining her trust first? That might make sense, only he didn't usually seem to care about that. He was a businessman, for him a deal made and bound in ink was often the only sense of trust he required. Clearly, she realized, the man and his motivations would remain a mystery for the time being.
However, what Ruby couldn't know as Mr. Gold returned to his own home, was he had been left confused by his actions as well. True he had lusted after the girl in the distant past, and even quite a bit in their more recent past and present if he were honest with himself, but now it seemed his infatuation with her had reached a more worrisome level.
If she had been anyone else coming to him as she had, he absolutely would have more than considered attempting to make a deal for her child in exchange for her residing wherever she wished without any other form of payment. He could only presume the reason he had no plans to do that with her was because unlike the former Cinderella, Ruby had no prince to turn to and no wealth in either land that could ease the guilt of giving up her firstborn child. And he had also felt no reason to essentially punish her for the things her friends had said or done to him. She had been no part of that. The Charmings and dwarves had built that prison, the fairies had enchanted that quill to bind his powers, and Ella had been the one to trick him into using that very quill.
As if that weren't enough for him to view her in a better light, to his mind, she had also never demonized him as her friends had done. She had never made a deal with him in the first place only to renege when payment came due. In fact she had sent Snow White to him as though she potentially had some trust in either him or his magics. For that, he knew her to be different, and he was happy to treat her as such in return.
Perhaps too it was the fact Ruby had mentioned wishing to distance herself from her grandmother for the sake her health and that of her unborn child's, thus proving the care she already felt for it. Or, perhaps it wasn't that he had continued to merely lust after the girl after all. Perhaps there was something more to blame for his recent showing of near selflessness; but he dared not think it. Loving anyone, even her, even now, couldn't be possible.
Summary: Several weeks after going home with one of the guys from the bar on Valentine's Day, Ruby realizes she's pregnant. When Mr. Gold realizes this, he takes a particular interest in her.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 1x19
Pairing/Characters: Eventual Ruby/Gold, Granny, Dr. Whale, Emma, mentions Graham, Ashley, and Sean
A/N: Inspired by at least a few prompts on the ouatkinkmeme, here goes.
Prologue Chapter 1
~~
Chapter 2:
"Will I be seeing you at home tonight, or do you plan on spending tonight wherever you spent last night?" Granny asked as Ruby readied to leave for the night.
"I plan on returning to the inn sooner than you might think, but not for the reason I'd guess you'd want. There are some things I need to get and then I'll be back to where I spent last night."
"And just whom might that have been with?" she asked.
"Myself. Mr. Gold let me rent an apartment from him. And before you launch into what a mistake that is or how he can't be trusted or or anything else, he wishes you would direct those comments to him rather than me given my apparent delicate state and all." Okay, he hadn't put in quite those words, but she could imagine him describing it that way.
"I'm sure he did," Granny all but scoffed. "All the easier to seem the hero, Ruby."
"I told him I needed a new place to live since I hardly feel welcome in what was my own home anymore, and he gave me a number I could work with. It's simple as that. No heroics, no catch."
"Including his wish that I take my issue with this up with him rather than you? That doesn't strike you as odd or an attempt to seem the hero in your eyes?"
"Not when he probably just wants to be sure he doesn't lose his newest tenant."
"Alright, Ruby. If you insist on continuing to make these destructive choices, then I give up. You believe what you wish about Mr. Gold, even though I'm sure you remember exactly what he wanted from your dear friend Ashley. But when he succeeds in getting whatever it is he wants from you, and alienating you from all those you've known since I sincerely doubt those like Ashley would wish to remain your friend while you're trusting that man, you will wish you had listened to me."
That time Ruby scoffed. "I'm not Ashley. And I didn't offer Mr. Gold my baby just to get an apartment from him, nor would I consider it. I also didn't offer to sleep with him, just in case you're wondering. And speaking of Ashley, at the time, she didn't want her baby. And since we're on the subject, even in Emma's case, she didn't get the chance to make up her own mind as to if she wanted to keep Henry since she had him while she was in jail. I have a choice and my mind's already made up. You can think I'll fail or that I'll come crying to you, or will maybe even go to Mr. Gold in the hope he can make it all go away. But that's not me. I don't buckle under that kind of fear or pressure, you know that. So you can call me a slut, you can think I'm sleeping with every guy in town even now, I don't care. I'm not going to let you get to me anymore. You can't live with my choices? Fine. Now you don't have to. I quit."
Granny sighed, shaking her head. She doubted the disappointment she now felt for her grand-daughter would cease. "I suppose you'll just have to learn for yourself what consequences your choices will bring. I can warn you until I'm blue in the face, but I see no point when you're clearly so unwilling to listen."
"It sounds like we finally agreed to disagree. Thank you, Granny. I'll be heading to my home now."
Ruby had been home for all of ten minutes, just long enough for her to get changed out of her (now) former work uniform and into a comfy red tank top and even more comfortable black yoga pants when she was about to sit down to a bottled water on the sofa. Only then there was a knock at her door. So much for her quiet reflection of what had all just happened tonight, she decided. In just the last 30 minutes she had basically told Granny off, told her who she had to thank for her having her own place now, and had quit her job... Which also meant she needed to start thinking about who to turn to for work.
"Mr. Gold?" she asked when she pulled open her door to see who had come to see her. "Is everything okay?"
"It is. Coincidentally, I came to ask you that very thing," he answered. "I guessed you told your granny about your decision and since I didn't receive an angry phone call or even angrier visit from her today, I wondered how you might be doing."
That would have surprised Ruby if not for thinking back to what she had told Granny earlier. Maybe she was right. Maybe he really was worried about losing his newest tenant. "Yeah, I did. And no, she didn't take it that well. But it's okay. She's set in her ways, but I don't have to live like that anymore. Not under either of her roofs."
Mr. Gold slightly smiled at that. "They aren't truly her roofs now are they, dear?"
That made Ruby laugh. "I guess not. Do you want to come in?"
"I'm afraid I can't. But thank you. I just wanted to be sure you were alright, in case you Granny took the news worse than you had imagined."
"No, not really. I mean, she's still angry but I'm not going to let her get to me anymore. It isn't healthy and it isn't helpful, so I've decided to distance myself from her until she comes around and figures out how to tolerate this, or I guess she'll never get to know her great-grandchild."
"I can't imagine anyone not wishing to know such a special part of their family." He was lost in his own thoughts for a moment, but Ruby was quick to manage to be able to snap him out of them.
"Yeah, well, I guess you do now. But don't worry, I think I know someone who might be able to help me out on the job front tomorrow, I'll still be able to take care of that by the end of the month."
"What? You mean your granny fired you?"
"I quit. Tonight. Like I said, being around her just isn't healthy right now and frankly I'm sick of having to put up with it. People make mistakes, things happen, all you can do is figure out how to move on from there. I guarantee she'd want someone to wave a magic wand and make this all disappear, and while some of that sounds great, I kind of feel like this was supposed to happen. Maybe finally give me the push I needed to be my own person, not just someone's overly frustrated grand-daughter."
"I think motherhood is already beginning to agree with you," Mr. Gold told her, unable to keep a soft smirk from his face.
Ruby chuckled. "Maybe. Thanks for coming by, even if you just wanted to know I'd still be here. I think you're the first person I've actually wanted to see today."
"Oh?" He wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, unsure why she was glad to see him.
"You're the only one who knows who isn't judging me. Right now, that means more than you probably know."
"It isn't my place to judge. Even if it were, as you said, sometimes people do make mistakes. And, if anything, in my experience, waving a magic wand as it were only creates more problems than it solves."
"It makes sense, in a world of checks and balances, you can't get something for nothing. Sooner or later there's always a price."
"Exactly." And right there, clear as day, he saw what had to be the reason she had never made a deal with him in her years as Red Riding Hood. Unlike her royal friends, she saw the truth and understood it as such. However, also unlike her royal friends, she also had means of helping and protecting herself without his brand of magic. Even now a bit of that still seemed to be the case, and it continued to impress him.
"And I guess this is mine. I screwed up, now the chips are falling where they may. But that doesn't mean I can't still get out of the way of some of the larger ones."
"You've always been a strong girl, haven't you, Ruby?" he asked her, briefly forgetting she had no memory of her true past. Before him, yes, was Ruby; but he could still see the cloaked huntress she had once been. Perhaps more so now than ever in these past 28 years. Every reason he had watched her in the woods, every reason he had longed for her even just to make a deal with him, even just to hear her say his old name, was right there.
She shrugged. "I've had to be. But then I guess you'd know a thing or two about that. I wouldn't exactly call you thin-skinned either."
"True," he admitted. "But, I should go. I am glad however to find you are still here, even if I'm sorry for the circumstances responsible."
"Me too," she smiled to him. "Have a nice night, Mr. Gold."
He smiled back to her. "You too, dear."
With that he was heading back to his black town car car and Ruby couldn't help but stare, as she often did, she realized. She was actually sorry to see him leave. Somehow he really seemed to be the only one she could talk to right now. Granted that would hopefully change once she told Emma what all had happened, but for now, it was a relief to see that maybe Mr. Gold wasn't as cruel as certain others chose to believe. He really could have taken advantage here in any number of ways, but to her mind he hadn't. All she could do now was hope that her apparent good luck would hold out just a little longer. At least long enough for Emma to hire her back at the station tomorrow morning.
Returning to the sofa and her water, simply feeling the need to hold onto something even just a plastic bottle, Ruby couldn't help but feel more than a little thankful for Mr. Gold. Odd, given how most of the town felt about him, she knew. But he hadn't had to offer to help her with Granny, or even grant her this sort of sanctuary, but he had. He also hadn't needed to essentially check up on her tonight, or be so nice to her, but he had done that as well.
She could only think the obvious was why. But then, to her knowledge, he hadn't done this with Ashley. Ashley had gone to him, and he'd hardly made it a point to either help her or to see her. So why had he done this for her? Was she a special unwed, pregnant girl? Or was there in fact something he was hoping to gain? And if so, why hadn't he mentioned it already? The hope of gaining her trust first? That might make sense, only he didn't usually seem to care about that. He was a businessman, for him a deal made and bound in ink was often the only sense of trust he required. Clearly, she realized, the man and his motivations would remain a mystery for the time being.
However, what Ruby couldn't know as Mr. Gold returned to his own home, was he had been left confused by his actions as well. True he had lusted after the girl in the distant past, and even quite a bit in their more recent past and present if he were honest with himself, but now it seemed his infatuation with her had reached a more worrisome level.
If she had been anyone else coming to him as she had, he absolutely would have more than considered attempting to make a deal for her child in exchange for her residing wherever she wished without any other form of payment. He could only presume the reason he had no plans to do that with her was because unlike the former Cinderella, Ruby had no prince to turn to and no wealth in either land that could ease the guilt of giving up her firstborn child. And he had also felt no reason to essentially punish her for the things her friends had said or done to him. She had been no part of that. The Charmings and dwarves had built that prison, the fairies had enchanted that quill to bind his powers, and Ella had been the one to trick him into using that very quill.
As if that weren't enough for him to view her in a better light, to his mind, she had also never demonized him as her friends had done. She had never made a deal with him in the first place only to renege when payment came due. In fact she had sent Snow White to him as though she potentially had some trust in either him or his magics. For that, he knew her to be different, and he was happy to treat her as such in return.
Perhaps too it was the fact Ruby had mentioned wishing to distance herself from her grandmother for the sake her health and that of her unborn child's, thus proving the care she already felt for it. Or, perhaps it wasn't that he had continued to merely lust after the girl after all. Perhaps there was something more to blame for his recent showing of near selflessness; but he dared not think it. Loving anyone, even her, even now, couldn't be possible.