Chapter Text
It's incredibly hard for Ruby to describe why she likes candles as much as she does. Which is, most likely, why she's never tried explaining it to anyone else.
There's just something strangely comforting about them. The subtly inviting scent of the fire itself, earthy and rich and warm. The way the small flame flickers, dancing red-orange-yellow as the wick burns down and the wax melts low. The heat of it - always so surprising when the source is so small - blistering and welcoming all at once. Altogether, it's comforting and familiar and just sort of...easy, if that makes any sense. It probably doesn't.
Maybe her affinity for them can be explained by her origins. Red had a lifetime's worth of memories being surrounded by them: gathering around the table to share a meal with Granny, hunching over scrolls and maps with Snow and, later, David as well. They were a small, but unavoidable, part of her life as far back as Red can remember.
But it's a bit more complicated than that, isn't it? After all, Red isn't all she is.
When it came to the other half of her origins, well, there'd been little reason to use candles in Storybrooke and Ruby doesn't have so much as a single memory of them that didn't revolve around birthdays or the occasional power outage. The wistful waitress had had no reason to look at candles as anything other than an old-fashioned tradition but they'd still been viewed fondly, almost entirely associated with happy moments as they were.
So maybe that's why, after the curse was broken, the first thing RubyRed found herself buying - besides clothes that actually fit - were candles. She'd only meant to buy one at the time, but wound up with an entire box and she lit one whenever she was in her room for more than a few minutes. Because, in a world suddenly dripping with contractions and internal battles over what-am-I-who-am-I-Enchanted-Forest-or-Storybrooke-Ruby-or-Red, candles were a safe haven of sorts. A place where the old and the new could meet without conflict.
As time went on, almost despite the constant danger their no-longer-sleepy town always seemed to be in, Ruby's little private tradition continued almost without her knowledge until it became just another part of her daily routine. And, after she began her relationship with Regina, it had been automatic, almost instinctual even, for her to begin lighting candles in the bedroom that eventually became theirs. And, since Regina never seemed to mind, she just kept doing it. But that's all it was, really, just a few flickering flames that never failed to make her smile and she was always mindful to douse before going to sleep.
Until today, when she came home from work - exhausted but riding the quiet high of promised holiday pay - to find the entryway of Mills Manor lit by countless flickering lights. She's enchanted, completely and utterly, but also confused because today's just a day like any other. It isn't their anniversary or either of their birthdays, Christmas isn't for another week, and, though Ruby knows Regina loves her, she isn't exactly known for showy romantic gestures.
"Regina?" she calls warily, more than a little thrown by her inability to find Regina's scent with all the candles around. Even when she takes a deep breath through the nose, eyes flaring gold as the wolf rises behind her ribs, all she can smell is evergreen and flame.
"In the living room, dear."
She feels the knot forming beneath her breast loosen at the sound and continues with her routine, kicking off her boots and hanging up her coat. Sock-clad, she pads towards the living room, surprised to find a series of floating candles leading the way.
She walks into the living room backwards, eyes tracking the candles magically anchored to the walls. "Regina, what-" As she turns her head her voice fails her and her eyes go wide. If she thought there were a lot of candles in the entryway or the hall then there weren't words to describe what she saw now. Floors, walls, ceiling - the whole of the room is awash in a sea of dancing flames. And at the center of it, bathed on all sides by candlelight, is Regina, who looks so soft and so beautiful she takes Ruby's breath away.
Regina holds out her hand and, without a sound or a moment's hesitation, Ruby crosses the room on legs she's no longer sure can support her weight. It isn't until she's standing in front of her, until she takes Regina's hand in her own, that she realizes she's trembling.
"Red."
Ruby's eyes flutter closed because no one has ever said her name, any of her names, the way Regina does. Like she's the answer to a desperate prayer made real.
"We are creatures of fiction and fairytale, you and I, and we've both had to live, and been made to suffer, with and because of it." Regina's hand squeezes hers and she squeezes back. "It's one of the many things we share, one of countless reasons we understand each other in ways others do not. But we are so much more than that."
She feels tears building behind her eyes but she blinks them away because she doesn't want to miss even a moment of this, of the way Regina's looking at her like she's the single most beautiful and surprising thing she's ever seen.
"I have done many terrible things," Regina says softly. "A seemingly endless list of sins I regret committing. But from the moment you and I took our first step down this path, I've regretted nothing. And that-" She pauses just long enough to swallow, hard, before pushing ahead. "That is because of you. Because of your strength, your bravery, your unwavering belief. It's because you possess the purest heart I've ever encountered and, despite every reason you shouldn't have, you still offered it to me without fear."
Ruby knows she's crying now, can feel the wetness on her cheeks, but Regina's hand in hers is steady and sure and quite possibly the only thing in the world keeping her from falling apart.
"We are creatures of myth and magic but we are also nothing more or less than two imperfect people who have grown beyond the stories others wrote for us. And, more than anything else in the world, what I want - what I hope you want - is to continue writing this story, our story, with you for the rest of our lives." She takes in a deep, steadying breath that Ruby tries, and promptly fails, to echo as Regina lets go of her hand and slides it into her pocket only to emerge with a small velvet box.
"Rose Eugenia Lucas…" Even as she says her name Regina's frame is taut, tense as a bowstring as she starts to lower herself down to the floor, and maybe that's why Ruby doesn't hesitate to grab her hand and guide her back to standing.
"Not," she clears her throat, "Not like that. You've never made me kneel for you, Regina; I won't make you kneel for me." She squeezes her hand between her own, the rasp of velvet against her palm making her shiver. "Just ask me. Just like this." She waits until Regina meets her gaze, until those beautiful dark eyes go wide in understanding, until she swallows and nods, before she lets go of her hand.
She can still feel the warmth of her skin when Regina, a little awed and more than a little breathless, gasps out, "Marry me?"
Ruby smiles softly, at first, but then wider and wider, not stopping until her cheeks ache with it. "Just try and stop me," she says, joyous laughter riding every syllable and, as Regina slips the ring onto her finger, she can't even pretend to be surprised that it fits because, well, this is Regina she's talking about. She thinks she should probably look at it at some point but, as she pulls Regina close and claims her mouth in a searing kiss, she supposes there isn't really any rush. This isn't an ending, after all; just another beginning. The first page of the next chapter of their lives.
It's incredibly hard for Ruby to describe why she likes candles as much as she does.
But, as she pulls her fiancé - her fiancé - flush against her, she thinks she's finally figured it out: they have the power to make wherever she is feel like home.