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

Ruby paused on the porch connected to the front door of Knox's place. She couldn't help but to shift her weight awkwardly as she stared down the doorknob, debating whether or not she should actually be there. On one hand, Ruby hadn't ever really been invited over since he had offered her a place to stay during her fight with Granny, on the other hand, he had never asked for his key back. He could also be sleeping, and then what would she do?

[i]Stop thinking and just go![/i] She tried telling herself and slipped the key into the hole, turning it and then allowing herself in.

"Knox?" She called, not sure if she would prefer if he answered or not.

Knox almost didn’t catch Ruby calling out to him, as he stood in the steaming hot shower with his head down, letting (hoping) the water drown out the migraine raging though his head…as well as rinsing out the soap. Raising his head slowly, and blinking a little bit in exhaustion, he shut off the water and stepped to the steamy air.

Grabbing a white fluffy towel and drying himself off, Knox got his black boxer briefs and uniform pants (loosely) on. As he dried his hair, he stepped out into the hall to finally return the waitress’s call, “Ruby, are you still there?”

Ruby poked her head from around the wall that lead into the kitchen, nibbling on a vanilla wafer. She had heard the shower running during her search for Knox, and figured she'd raid his kitchen a little bit while she waited. What she didn't count on, however, was a shirtless Knox looking for her.

"Hey..." She said with a slight blush hinting at her cheeks, unable to take her eyes off of his exposed body for a few moments. "We found her, Jane Doe. She's going to be fine though she's suffering a pretty severe case of amnesia."

Nodding at the mention of Jane Doe, there was a tiny voice in the back of his head nagging something about the woman, but he largely ignored it. And then there was this migraine. Peering over at Ruby, who was returning with an interesting look to hi--"Hey, are those my vanilla wafers?"

"Relax; I'll replace the box later today. I haven't eaten since..." Ruby's mind wandered back to the security room where she was practically force-fed a cookie, the blush on her cheeks only getting darker. Did that count as eating?

Trying to recall the last time Knox personally saw the waitress eat something, he remembered the cookie from last night a well, and let out a few chuckles, "Replace them, and maybe we could eat an actual meal together." That last part came out off-handily, and the memory of steaks going cold came to mind.

"More importantly, neither of us have proper sleep...I'm sorry to have gotten you caught up in patrolling the hospital, since the blackout." Pausing for a moment to think, "You did well, and then you went above and beyond with finding that missing Jane Doe." 

Ruby shook her head, popping what was left of the vanilla wafer into her mouth before closing the awkward distance between the two of them, letting her arms wrap around his waist loosely and put her forehead onto his chest tiredly. She got a good whiff of his soap and shampoo before she answered; making her voice even sound like it was smiling.

"You didn't force me to stay, I wanted to." She responded, deciding to hold back the facts about her finding Jane Doe at the Toll Bridge by hearing things no one else could hear...again.

Blinking when Ruby rested her head on his chest, Knox smiled tiredly, and patted her on the back, “Don’t stand too close, or I’m going to get you wet.” Realising that the statement sounded funny, he quickly added, “I still have some towel drying to do.” Still, he let the towel hang loosely around his shoulders.

Ruby made a point of nuzzling her head into his still damp chest, wordlessly telling him that she didn't care.
 
“It’s quite evident you’ve been working harder, longer, and to better effect than I have, recently. You really should catch some much deserved sleep.” Doing his best to convince the waitress to get some rest, he thought for a long moment, before gesturing to the living room, “I would suggest the bedroom, but I’m afraid if we both go, neither of us would be getting the rest we need.”

It was then that Ruby pulled back just enough to tilt her chin up and look at his face, a playful smirk on her lips.

"You're over-confident. What makes you think I'd be interested?" She inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Shaking his head, Knox leaned his face close into Ruby’s, so close that his wet hair was grazing the side of her cheeks. A faint smile played on his lips, but from this close, his exhaustion was that much more evident…as was the waitress’s, “That train of thought is rather unimportant, at the moment…I fully intend for you to get some sleep.”

"You're no fun." Ruby frowned, but didn't seem too bothered by it evident by the playful shove she gave him on his chest.
 
Raising his face, Knox kissed into the girl’s hair, before fully drawing away…he let out that tired sigh, running a hand through his hair and quirking an eyebrow at Ruby, “Am I the only one getting a headache from lack of sleep?”

Ruby put her hand to his head, running her fingers through his hair delicately as if that would ease the pain he was experiencing. She couldn't say that she had a headache exactly. She was tired and her eyes hurt a bit, but that was as far as it went.

"Go get some sleep you big meanie. I'll talk to Granny about making up another pie for later."

Giving Ruby a glare, Knox towel dried his hair for a moment…then tossed the fluffy towel aside, going over to pull her to him, holding her face to his chest, “Come on, time to sleep.” Sighing through his nose, he pulled the waitress along to the couch with him.

Soon he was laid out on the couch on his back, with Ruby pulled on top of him, her head still rested on his chest. “You should,” A pause for a short yawn, “Did you call your grandmother last night, after the blackout…I’m sure she’s worried?”

Ruby nodded into his chest, letting her eyelids flutter closed after letting out a quiet yawn.

"Called her as soon as the power came back on. She wasn't too happy with me waking her up in the middle of the night but whatever. And she's just going to have to get over me taking today off, there's no way in hell I would have been able to do the morning shift today...at least...not with my neck still smelling like strawberry rhubarb pie..."

“…when you see your grandmother, later, give her my thanks for the pie.” With the memory of the sweet, sweet strawberry rhubarb pie filling, and now at present the soft skin of Ruby’s face resting on his bare chest…Knox squeezed his eyes shut, and thought about anything but the girl pressed more than just close to him. The man needed to get over this headache, the man needed his sleep. Ruby really did smell like strawberry rhubarb.

"Okay, but I chose to [i]not[/i] tell her what we did with it." Ruby smirked in between two yawns and nuzzled her face into his chest even further before drifting off to sleep.

-----

[i]“They’re cute, aren’t they?”
 
Recoiling from the glass display case at the sound of this melodic voice breaking through the otherwise hypnotic rhythmic pitter-patter of the rain, Knox turned to come face to face with a young woman. Her skin was pale as bone, lips as red as blood, hair as dark as the deepest waters. Eyes darting between the display case with the rabbits, and the girl his age, he furrowed his eyebrows and tried to play it off with a nonchalant tone, “Just rabbits...”
 
Her giggle caught his ear, smile was brilliant, eyes glittered with mirth, and “Your cheek was pressed against the glass!”
 
With his eyes widening a fraction, in the corner of his vision, Knox caught sight of the smudge on glass…and realised one cheek did in fact feel a temperature colder than the other, but yet again, the man tried to play it off. This time, he hastily put together his excuse, quite obviously, “I, ah...was just waiting inside for the rain to stop.” The store owner turned to give him cut-eye, but he paid no mind to this.
 
With a tilt of her head, her hair fell a certain way along her shoulders, “A big strong man like you, afraid of a little rain? If anything…there is a bar right next door, wouldn’t you have had a drink or two while waiting for the rain to let up?”
 
With a frown and narrowed eyes, Knox thumbed to the direction of the bar, “Yes, I was just about to head ther—”
 
“Good! I planned on going myself, but a girl like me needs a big strong man to keep her company!" With this cheery exclamation, the young woman linked arms with him and...Off they went. Shanghaied into spending the afternoon in a bar with...Mary Margaret, and from what he remembered feeling, he didn't particularly mind.

----- 

Laying in the shade, Knox felt the comfortable warmth of the sun beaming onto his pant leg. There was a light sensation, touching along his chest, up his neck. His first inclination was Mary Margaret, but...it started chirping, hopping onto his chin. With a hand reaching up, trying to swipe the bird off, he missed just a few inches and the bird flew off and up onto a high tree branch.

Blinking some sleep from his eyes, fingers of light poked through the leafy trees, gently touching his body with its warmth. Sitting up on the picnic blanket, and looking up blankly at the bird that had just narrowly escaped his grasp, Knox finally noticed another little bird hopping up and down. Mary, hopping up and down trying to reach for a balloon stuck among the leaves of the tree, an unfamiliar child crying beside her.

Getting up from where he sat, brushing out some grass that had mysteriously found its way into his hair, Knox tried to make sense of an already pretty obvious scene. The helium filled balloon was pretty high up in the tree, the child was making grabby hands at it, and Mary was trying to catch a string far out of reach...and from his estimation, just out of his own reach.

Thinking, smirking, and going over to Mary and--with careful strength, much to her surprise, Knox pulled her up and onto his shoulder. Adding his height onto hers, and supporting her on his shoulder, the balloon itself was just an arm's length away from her. The string was practically resting against her shirt. Quickly grasping the sudden situation, Mary Margaret grabbed onto the balloon string, and Knox was relieved that he could finally let her down.

Rolling his shoulder as Mary tied the balloon string onto the child's wrist, she still didn't face him, even as Knox wrapped his arms around her from behind, "We make a good team." His comment, met with her silence. Planting a kiss into her short cut hair, speaking quietly, "Are you still upset that I asked you to--"

"You're asking me to uproot my life, forget about my friends, and move away with you to some town I haven't heard of...I can understand your father wanting to return to his childhood home, but why do we--"[/i]

-----

Eyes blinking, Knox didn't know the exact moment when he awoken in his living room, how long he stared up at the ceiling. For a moment, he tried to remember what he had dreamt...but there was a sinking feeling in his stomach, and the shadows of the now darker room seemed to flicker alive. The sinking feeling that, despite the happiness or whatever he felt for a moment in his dream, he was losing something more important...but the security guard brushed it off, though a restlessness stayed with him.

Still without a shirt and Ruby warm, resting her head against his chest--Knox raised himself on his arms, and gently shook the unconscious girl, "Come on, I need to get up..." Peering over her, his eyes caught her soft lips. Licking his own, he leaned uncomfortably down to give her the barest peck just beside her mouth...when his entire dream, his memories came flooding in.

Trying to push away from the girl in a panic, the man landed on the cold hard floor, scrambling back and hitting the coffee table while Ruby flopped onto her side on the couch. Blinking, suddenly breaking into cold sweat...with his memories back, this whole living space, even Ruby seemed different. 

"Shit, shit, shit...I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry..." Muttering this, cursing under his breath, feeling sweat dripping down the side of his face...Knox patted down the side of his pants like they too were unfamiliar, before fishing out his cellphone and calling the hospital, ".........hello, yes. Can you get Dr Stevenson on the line?"

Ruby couldn't wipe the surprise off of her face. One minute she had been sleeping (quite comfortably), woken with a sweet kiss and the next thing she knew Knox was freaking out.

"Knox! What's wrong? Is everything okay?" Ruby pushed herself off of the couch and rested her hand on his arm as he waited for Dr. Stevenson to pick up the phone. She had never seen him like this; Knox was always so...neutral; even in the face of an emergency (such as last night's power outage) he remained perfectly vigil.

Knox's breath hitched in his throat as Ruby touched him, eyes widening as he scooted away and spoke into the phone in an even more panicked manner, "Get Dr Stevenson on the line........." Gritting his teeth, eyes shaking as he breathed harshly...closing his eyes and shaking his head, he continued, "I'm not having a panic attack, I'm fin--GET Dr Stevenson on the DAMNED line! I know who our Jane Doe is!"