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

Ruby drummed her red painted nails on the table of the booth, her other hand holding her head upright as she watched the people of Storybrooke walk around on the streets as the lights began to illuminate the dark sky. More particularly, she found, her attention had been on the couples of Storybrooke, watching their hands intertwined with one another, stealing a quick peck on the cheek before hurrying over to meet up with some friends...it all made Ruby feel kind of...jealous.

Ruby straightened up a bit. Jealous? Since when did [i]she[/i] start feeling jealous about anything. She could literally have any guy in Storybrooke, hell she could call over David Nolan right now and-

Ruby put her head back down on the desk, flicking an invisible speck of dust with her fingers and sighed. She missed Knox, there was no way around it. Granny heard an audible sigh coming from Ruby that she didn't even know she let out, and the older woman peered over at her granddaughter over the top of her glasses.

"You know...we sold a lot today..." Granny started, making Ruby look up at her granny lazily without even so much as moving her head. "-but, those poor men at the hospital that had to work all day, they never got a chance to-"

Ruby bounded up, nearly tripping over her own two lanky legs.

"I'll do it! I'll run them over some stuff." She eagerly volunteered, practically bouncing up and down on her heels. Granny smiled with a firm hold on her lips; really the only person that could really tell was a smile was Ruby. Granny then handed over a basket, already filled with a few boxes of Granny's famous chocolate chip cookies, some wrapped taffy, a small box of peanut brittle and then a box of a strawberry rhubarb pie. Ruby snatched up the basket and practically ran all the way to the hospital, not even noticing the point where the square lights no longer illuminated her path.

Ruby had been in the hospital enough lately that she knew the very room Knox would be in. She honestly didn't know how he did it, sitting at a desk for hours upon hours watching recorded footage where ninety-nine percent of the time, nothing happened. She quietly slipped into the surveillance room, spotting Knox immediately given his tall frame and set the basket of goodies down on the ground before sneaking up on him and putting her fingers over his eyes.

"You sir...need a break!"

Stiffening in his chair, Knox frowned in confusion, before raising a gloved hand and coughing into it. For a moment, the security guard was going to lecture her on the proper procedure—going to the front desk and calling him down to meet her—but he decided against it, since Ruby wouldn’t likely follow it either way. And, though he didn't want to admit it, the job recently started to feel…empty? It seemed dull, and the relief of the spontaneous, beautiful girl’s presence was what Knox couldn't outright admit to himself that he craved.
 
Now…now Know had her soft hands touching his face, covering his eyes. What to say? How to respond…? “………yes………” Saying the one word slowly, carefully, tasting the admitted defeat of boredom…he wondered what sort of expression she had on her face, from his answer. Lifting his hands up, Knox held onto Ruby's hands with his, which were still covering his eyes, “I’m not going to ask why…” Though he couldn't find a voice to say it, he was just glad to have her company.

Ruby breathed out a light chuckle as she bent forward and kissed his stubbly cheek before dropping her hands from his eyes. She then made a point of reaching over his shoulder, finding the pause button on the computer and halted the tape.

"You hungry?" She asked briefly pulling herself away from him, letting her once extended arm run up his chest and through his hair until it was forced to go away entirely with the rest of her body as she walked over to the basket she had set onto the floor. "We had some left-overs from Miners Day." She thought a moment about adding on that Granny had sent them over, but felt like Knox might find the taste of Granny's infamous chocolate chip cookies to taste just a bit...differently after that, and so she remained silent.

The security guard shivered lightly as the girl’s touch, that she felt cheeky enough to just up and do what she wanted. That was the sum of her character, a girl who knew what she wanted and went for it…frustrating, and brilliant. Almost forgetting that Ruby had just mentioned her reason for being here, the leftover baked goods from Miner’s day…Miner’s day. Knox cleared his throat and nodded quickly to Ruby…keeping his focused eyes on her face, “And how was your Miner’s day?”

Ruby shrugged, thumbing through the boxes; taking some cookies out of one to put some taffy and brittle into it instead and then carried the box back over to him, setting it on the desk in front of him.

"Same as every year, although Granny did try to set me up with a very wet Henry Carlyle a few times." She blinked, realizing that Knox had no idea what she was talking about. "He volunteered for Dr. Stevenson's dunk tank thing, really gave people a reason to want to spend their money...dunking the town creep." She quickly explained. She looked around the small room without much interest, though seeing no other chair available, Ruby promptly sat down on his lap and let her arms wrap around his neck loosely as if they had done it hundreds of times before.

"She thinks you're broody and doesn't like that you never smile, so naturally Henry was the next choice." She added on with a roll in her eyes.

With the box of sweets set before him, Knox’s eyes almost went as big as saucers…then Ruby sat on his lap. Wrapping arms around his neck, the security guard hastily set a hand on her waist, to bring what he felt was more balance to their sitting position. “Ruby.” Somehow managing a stern tone, “I’m not a chair. I can take these,” Rapping the side of the box with the knuckle of his gloved hand, “But what am I going to do with you?” The man was just about to lean down to Ruby, a little bit closer…when he finally caught what she had said about Henry.
 
Letting out a groan and sitting up a little better, leaning the side of his body against the desk, he reached over to turn the security television back on, mood considerably soured in the past few seconds. Knox knew exactly how he felt about Granny willing to pass him up for the newcomer and ‘town creep’, as a particular newspaper he didn't care much for had aptly put it…why? Her logic escaped him as to why she chose now of all times to have an opinion on whom Ruby spent time with…? Still, the louder nagging voice was telling him that the old woman was indeed right.

Ruby pressed her lips into a thin line and knitted her eyebrows together, removing one loose hand around his neck to push the pause button on the computer once more, slightly irritated that he had even turned it back on to begin with and then sternly shook her head no at him, as if scolding a child for playing with things he shouldn't be.
 
Reaching his free hand up, Knox rubbed the back of his neck, “Your grandmother has a point…I…am the brooding sort, aren’t I?” Letting out a self-deprecating chuckle…with a tight lipped smile, “You never did tell me…why do you like me?” Neither one of them said it, or claimed it...but they pretty much straddled the line between 'friend', and that much more.

"That's because I didn't say." Ruby responded, her face letting up a little from its once stern hold and let her hand move back to its loose position of being wrapped around him, letting her thumb find a bundle of tight nerves and stiff muscles and slowly started to rub it out of his neck.

With his work in surveillance during the day, his neck met with Ruby’s deep massaging was like a magical switch had been flicked on. His stiff disposition once again loosened up as he made a particularly happy sound, his eyes closing in a very relieved expression, “…forget I asked. Just…continue that, please…” His voice was not more than a quiet purr…

Ruby couldn't help but to let out a light chuckle as she hopped off of Knox's lap, grabbing a cookie from the box she had put out in front of him and stuck it into his mouth while she circled around him and let her hands fall on his shoulders again. Now behind him, she could really start digging her thumbs into the knots he had been building up in his neck for who knows how long. She did bend over at the waist slightly; just enough to let her chin rest on his shoulder as she continued to work her fingers on his tight muscles and just relaxed herself against him. She would take this over poor conversation over cheesy fries and coffee any day.

"You helped me discover who I really am." Ruby then said, cutting the silence after a while in answering his previous question.

The delicious cookie in his mouth did well to stifle a pleased groan that came with the massaging, but it was a strange thing eating something good while getting a particularly pleasing massage. Stimulation of the senses, indeed. Sitting in his chair, his eyes slowly opening (one at a time)…turning his face to stare at Ruby, her chin resting on his shoulder, “I see, so this wasn't a ploy to get into my pants?” His voice had a surprisingly playful tone to it, as he teased her.

"That depends, did it work?" Ruby asked with a quick wink.

There was only a short moment of silence, before the security guard reached over to the box on the table, pulling another cookie out and sticking it into his mouth. Setting his other free hand on the girl’s shoulder, Knox brought Ruby better levelled to him, and pushed the cookie passed her lips with his.

Ruby laughed as her teeth accepted the cookie offering from his mouth. The display had to have been very strange to anyone that might have popped into the security room right then, but she didn't care. He was playing, and so she would play back. She chewed up her portion of the cookie as best as she could, playfully let her teeth nip at his ear since they were so close.

"Sorry..." She apologized without much sincerity as she chewed up the rest of the cookie. "I thought you were the cookie." She grinned and let her body move back around so she was sitting back on his lap, her hands holding onto his shoulders once more. "Man what I would do for some whipped cream right now." She said looking down at Knox, awaiting his reaction before she went on, "Granny put a pie in the basket too, can't have pie without whipped cream."

Narrowing his eyes at the girl, though the corner of his mouth twitched up ever so slowly… “Whipped cream? Hmmm…” With no more attention on his neck, Knox rolled it back and forth, before settling and peering up into Ruby’s face, “…too bad. I would have bent the rules and allowed for a messy food product here or there, the surveillance room has been in dire need of a good cleaning either way.”

A white smile flashed across her thin face, her brow quirked as mischievous thoughts entered her mind, enough to make her cheeks flush a pleasant shade of pink as she bent down to let her teeth graze over his neck, then using her tongue to slide up and catching what crumbs might have been left-over from their cookie exchange.

“Mmmm…good girl.” Making another happy sound, and growling a little bit soon after, he didn’t like the idea of Ruby taking all of the control. With both hands on her shoulder, Knox pulled her off of him after a moment…reaching a hand out blindly, the security guard messily stab his fingers into one half of the pie...before going and smearing the sticky strawberry rhubarb pie filler along Ruby’s neck, and almost touching them to her lips in a teasing manner.
 
Instead, the man sucked the sweet substance off of his fingers, smacking his lips once his digits were clean, “The baker has my compliments, I’m much obliged.” With a rather devious smile, Knox leaned down to lick at Ruby’s sweet, sweetened neck…licking, sucking, and making nips of his own at her throat; up her chin…he was practically outside of himself in this situation. The greater part of him was confused as to why he’d do this, and in a hospital of all places, though the smaller part of him won out in asking a simple single question: why not?

Ruby let out a small gasp of surprise, but shut her mouth instantly when she felt Knox's lips on her neck as the tide had turned in the blink of an eye. Her own eyes rolled back a bit as she closed them, bracing her hands on his chest to keep her weakening knees from collapsing her body to the floor. A couple of growl sounds came from her throat in relation to the electrical shocks he was sending through her body, her hands moving to his shoulders to hold onto him tighter still, breathing out a quiet,

"Knox..."
 
Pulling away momentarily, Knox shared with the girl what he could only describe as a meaningful gaze, before planting a quick peck at the side of her mouth…then a proper kiss to her mouth. Then a deeper one…

Returning the kiss with a new-found sense of passion, Ruby almost didn't notice the lights flickering in the small room until the sound of all the computers in the room suddenly powering off caught her attention enough to open her eyes and pull her lips from Knox's for just a brief moment, though keeping her lips just mere centimeters from his own as she looked around at the now completely black room.

"I swear I didn't do it!" She felt the need to say, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness and found that she could find Knox's silhouette rather easily, even being able to make out his facial expressions, just a bit. Was that...normal?

The security guard didn't realise that the lights had flickered out till Ruby pulled away, and he had realised that nothing was putting anymore strain on his eyes. The previously dominant part of him, the part that told him to just continue with the waitress girl, was squashed in a near instant, “It’s a blackout, and the generators have probably kicked in already…” Knox couldn’t help it, and his thoughts were dragged to his father, then…
 
Giving the girl a worried look, seeing the confused look on her face was plain as day…but in the dark, “What sharp eyes you have…I need to do a quick sweep, there aren't many security staff today. Are you coming with me?”

Feeling somewhat deflated that the one moment they had together after a week-long of doing nothing [i]but[/i] working left a bitter feeling in her stomach, but Ruby nodded, more than willing to help wherever she could.

"I'll go check the upstairs." She volunteered, pulling herself away from Knox but not before planting a gentle kiss on his cheek and headed to the door, second nature to her really despite the room being pitch black.