[u](Collaboration Featuring Major Ursa's Knox Kowalski and YoshiSkittlez's Ruby)[/u]

Ruby gave Pongo a quick pat on the rear and watched the Dalmatian run off towards Dr. Hopper, happy to be reunited with his master once again. Unable to hide her smile, Ruby couldn't help but to feel just a bit proud of what she had managed to accomplish today despite running on only a couple hours of sleep.

After she had left Knox's place last night, she had gone to the Toll Bridge on the outskirts of Storybrooke; a place she often went to whenever she and Granny would get into the [i]really[/i] large fights. She spent hours there, and last night was no different except, this time, she didn't have a place to go back to.

What Knox did last night...before they had parted ways...there was no going about it, he had kissed her; angry or not it was still a kiss and she could still feel it tingling at the tips of her lips. She hadn't planned on seeing Knox at all today, but with the unfolding of events for the morning, there was just no way around it. She did what she could to push everything aside, for the boy and the dog, but now...now what else was there?

Ruby turned, adjusting her red-knit beret and spotted Knox climbing out of the mines, her bright smile turning to a soft one of relief. He looked pretty damn bad for wear, but he was alright. Stupid. But alright. She closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled deeply. She knew what she had to do.

She quietly made her way over to Knox and put a gentle hand on his arm.

"You look like hell." She observed out loud.

The security guard gave Ruby a sharp look as a line of blood dripped down his face, "I feel fine," Pausing, Knox looked down at his shirt and noticed the contrast of the original robin egg blue and the crimson of his blood...but instead decided to focus on the damages, "My shirt's been torn in two place, but it's easily replaceable...quite unlike life, which is especially precious."

His eyes flicked over to the saved young Mason, who he remembered drew away from him in horror...this seemed to just remind him of the minor pain, and Knox winced slightly, "That bad?"

Ruby breathed a quiet laugh out of her nose, looking over her shoulder to see Regina taking Mason away from the paramedics.

"C'mon, a spot's just opened up. Let's get you checked out."

Unlike Knox, Ruby was completely unscathed. Aside from being covered in a bit of mine-dust, she looked the exact same as she did before she had gone in.

Opening his mouth as if to protest, Knox thought better of it. Instead, the man fell silent, wordlessly making his way directly to the paramedics. Even though he had been the only one (minorly) injured, and Ruby had proved him wrong quite noticeably with her lack of injury...he was strangely satisfied. Everyone was safe, and that was good enough for him...in the mine, in the cramped space, he may thought he did...but Knox really didn't regret his decision to go on in as a safeguard. More blood poured forth from his head injury.

The paramedic didn't look so shocked, more peeved by the mess his small head injury was creating, they knew the wound wasn't a big deal to fuss about. Their eyes narrowed as they began cleaning the wound, but otherwise, Knox was just sitting and letting them do the work. Removing his gloves as his head wound was being bandaged; Knox could feel them heavy and a little damp with his blood absorbed into the material. Letting out a sigh, he continued to lean back a little for the paramedic, tossing the gloves to the side. When the attending paramedic was done, he scooted back into the back of ambulance, lay back, and closed his eyes.

Ruby stuck close by, but opted to not watch. Something about the bloody mess on Knox...it was just unsettling and made her stomach churn, reminding her why she never liked watching horror movies.

After he was cleaned up, Ruby moved herself so that she was standing in front of him while he was still lying in the back of the ambulance, not having quite been given the word that he could go yet. She cleared her throat loudly, attempting to draw his attention to her.

Eyes fluttering open, Knox let out a groan as he sat up again, rubbing his bandaged head lightly with the back of his hand, "What is it...?" It was Ruby.........their eyes met, and everything that happened last night returned to him, but he ignored the urge to cringe at the memory. He'd meet all that head on, and then cringe when she finally gave him a piece of her mind. Couldn't very well blame being drunk yesterday, because he really wasn't.

Looking into his eyes and feeling her throat go dry, Ruby refused back down now. Words had to be said, and she didn't think that putting it off would be at all very good.

"I wanted to apologize." She said, somehow managing to keep her chin held high and not break their eye contact. "You were right, I was running away; from my problems, from my feelings...everything." She continued to stare at him, feeling her heart hammering in her throat so hard that it made her ears ring. Only half a second passed after those words, but it felt like an eternity to her. "Please say something." She almost whined in a slight pout.

That apology...blinking a few times as he stared over at Ruby, he was sure this wasn't a hallucination. This would make things much more difficult, not anticipating an apology. Shaking his head, and making himself a little dizzy, he leaned forward to stare closer into Ruby's eyes, "Don't apologise, I'm much worse with my feelings than you are." Reaching to cup her chin, Knox pulled her into yet another kiss.

As if Ruby's heart could beat any harder. But this time, this time she kissed back, letting her eyelids flutter closed and the increased ringing in her reddening ears blocked out all the other unwanted noise. She felt her arms raise and drape loosely around his neck and rested them there as she slowly pulled away, not because she wanted to but because she needed to breathe.

It was different. [i]So[/i] different than kissing anyone else she had ever kissed before. No one else made her ears ring and turn red, no one else made her heart threaten to jump out of her throat and no one else made her feel...appreciated. She wouldn't call it loved, because she didn't know what being loved felt like, but if she got her way and picked out what it should feel like, this was it.

Continuing to sit up, Knox let out a small laugh when he saw how red her ears had gotten…what a predicament he had dove straight into, but a rare smile curled on his lips, “Go home, Ruby.” Saying this simply, the security guard glanced back at his gloves, rubbed the back of his hand of a leftover smear of blood as his smile slowly faded, “I’m sure news of the rescue has spread like wildfire, your grandmother will need to see that you are unharmed…[i]in person.[/i]”

Ruby nodded, but only just, her head swimming in what felt like fuzz but his words got across to her easy enough. She had planned on poking around Granny's sometime today, preferably when it wasn't so busy but with everything that had just happened...

Giving her expectant look, again Knox raised Ruby's chin and stared into her eyes…”This week is going to be hectic, but I will see you at the diner in the mornings…right?” It was almost a stern tone he was speaking in, when he asked her this.

"If Granny will have me back." Ruby answered him, letting her arms untangle from their light hold around his neck and let her hand rest softly on his as he held her chin to look at her. "Thank you." She added and stretched her neck out to kiss the side of his head that wasn't bandaged up before (regretfully) pulling away from him and disappeared into the crowd of onlookers who were still quite curious about the mines.

Watching her disappear into the crowd of people, and staring into space long after she was gone...Knox let out yet another long sigh. The man didn't know what sort of expression he had on his face right this moment, but shaking his head and slowly dropping his head into his hands...

Why...what did he just do...?