Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time and am not making any profit from writing this story.

Note: Set after episode 4.07 "The Snow Queen."

A Wolf's Perspective

Ruby's tail twitched with impatience. It's about time.

Ten minutes: that's how long it had taken Emma to notice that the green orbs glimmering in the hillside undergrowth didn't belong to the town lights shining below. She hunched over the wheel, examining the shaggy figure waiting to be identified.

The wolf tilted her head to the right, as if asking a question: Are you going to get out of the car, or what? The slight movement also shifted the weight of the basket slung around her thick neck. It dug into the tops of her shoulders.

Emma had managed to flee to the boundaries of town. Only a mile or so south stood the Snow Queen's abominable ice wall. If not for the magical barrier preventing her escape, Ruby was sure the young woman would have driven as far as her gas tank would allow.

Another drawn-out moment passed before the runaway sheriff gathered the resolve to exit her yellow Volkswagen. All the while, the wolf continued to stare at the figure she had tracked to the outskirts of Storybrooke.

Before sniffing through the layers upon layers of scents blanketing the town, she'd spent the afternoon with Clan Charming and the ship-less captain. Mary Margaret had practically worn a path in the floorboards with her pacing; David had cradled his son in one arm and an ice pack in the other; Killian had sat brooding after breaking his gifted cell phone when it claimed Emma was out of the service area. Each in their turn had begged Ruby to find the Savior. She'd refused, explaining that she couldn't track the scent of a vehicle after so much time had passed.

Of course, that was a lie.

After several fretful hours had slipped by without word of Emma's whereabouts, the wolf had excused herself from the cramped apartment to commence her own search. Clearly the wayward member of her pack needed help finding the way home.

With a click and a creak, the driver's side door swung open. Boot soles crunched on the mixture of gravel and golden brown foliage surrounding the car.

Gripping the edge of the door, Emma protested the invasion of her privacy, "I didn't come up here for the company." Her tone was calm and steady, yet it couldn't mask the hurt seeping underneath, nor the frogginess of someone who was trying to conceal her tears.

Slowly, Ruby rose from her haunches and padded into the dim light filtering through the half-naked trees. Only a sliver of the moon could be seen; the true brightness came from the stars in the sky above and the glow of electricity from the buildings below.

Upon the wolf's advance, Emma thrust out her hands in a signal to stop. Almost immediately she retracted them, crossed her arms over her chest, and tucked her hands firmly against her sides. She swayed from foot to foot, perhaps calculating her chances if she bolted in the opposite direction.

A low growl from the wolf seemed to communicate her point: You'll never outrun me.

"Keep your distance, Ruby," Emma warned, bumping the driver's door shut with her hip. "I don't know what I'm capable of anymore. I could hurt you."

Ruby was six body lengths away now. Her approach was measured and unhurried. The wolf did her best not to make her friend feel like prey being stalked; she kept her ears up let her tail wag slightly.

"How did you find me anyway?" Emma continued.

The gap closed to four lengths.

Emma's voice climbed higher with her unease. "Did my parents follow you?"

Pressing ahead one more time, Ruby stopped when she saw the whites of Emma's eyes and the strain in her neck. Then, with great relief, she lowered her head and let the basket she'd been lugging all over town and up the hillside slip from her neck. It hit the ground with a soft thud, followed by the telltale clinking of china.

Emma appeared confused. Her shoulders released some of their tension. "What's that?"

Curiosity was a good sign. It meant she was lowering her guard enough to ask questions. That's all the encouragement Ruby needed to transform back into her more eloquent form. It wasn't lost on her how Emma retreated a few steps, putting more buffer space between them. For once, Ruby knew the recoil wasn't out of fear of her power; Emma was afraid of her own.

Ruby stood her ground, casting the blonde a weary smile. "Do you know how hard it is to track car exhaust?" she questioned. "Lucky for me, you have a very. . .rare car."

"Old, you mean?" Emma returned hesitantly, unsure whether Ruby's comment was a joke.

Ruby tried again to use humor to reduce Emma's anxiety. "I was going to call it an antique."

Her warm response was met with a huffing laugh - all too brief a sound. It was a start. This was going to be a slow process. Emma didn't trust herself right now. Without establishing a supportive bond, she'd never relax enough for Ruby's plan to work.

"Did my parents send you?" Emma glanced into the trees from which the wolf had emerged, as if expecting to see the Charmings, her son, and the pirate swarm out of the darkness at any moment.

"I'm alone," Ruby assured her, then added, "But they are worried."

"Is David okay?" Her voice broke over the possibility that she'd caused serious damage to her father.

"Bruised," Ruby answered truthfully. "He's more upset over how he and your mother reacted at the sheriff's station."

Emma shifted her weight again, leaning against the side of her car. In a trembling voice, she stated: "The Snow Queen was right. They think I'm a monster."

Ruby's heart swelled with empathy, remembering her own process of coming to terms with her transformations. "No, they don't."

Emma appeared to shrink before her eyes. She didn't - or couldn't - believe her parents still loved her. "You weren't there, Ruby. You didn't see Mary Margaret's face. The fear in her eyes. How angry she was."

Ruby started to lean forward into another step, but caught herself in time. It wouldn't do any good to back Emma into a corner, even if that corner was only in the sheriff's mind.

"You're right. I wasn't there," she conceded. "But I've seen that look before. I've been you, Emma. Different. Misunderstood. Except, people literally hunted me with pitchforks and torches. They wanted me dead because of what I am."

Emma swore softly, perhaps seeing her actions at the sheriff's station in a different light. "I'm sorry, Ruby. It's just. . .hard to picture your past because you're so. . .normal."

A short bark of a laugh escaped her red lips. She hiked an eyebrow over Emma's word choice to describe a werewolf.

"Since when is anyone in this town 'normal'?" she asked pointedly. "We're all from a different world - a place where magic like yours can be embraced."

Emma's brow darkened again as she fought against the possibility that magic could be a good thing. "The same world that accepted Regina and Rumplestiltskin's magic?" she retorted, a hint of bitterness creeping into her tone.

Ruby hoped the roll of her eyes wasn't discernable in the shadowy space between them. She emphasized, "Your magic comes from love. Not darkness."

The Savior continued to refuse her gifts. "It's just as destructive," she persisted. "I. . .I lost control today. If David hadn't pushed Killian out of the way, I could've killed him."

"But you didn't," Ruby reminded her firmly. The brunette's own frustration was starting to get the best of her.

"What difference does that make?" Emma bit back.

Her friend had no idea how lucky she was to have the cognizance and ability to run away before a mishap turned tragic. She had no gauge of how bad things could really become if she continued to fear herself and deny her inherent abilities. Ruby knew those things all too well; she'd experienced the pain and heartbreak brought on by her true nature. Maybe that's what Emma really needed to hear in order to cut herself a break.

"It means all the difference," Ruby told her in a soft tone, glancing away for a moment before rallying the conviction to share her darkest secret. "I killed my True Love because I couldn't control the wolf."

The power of her confession charged the air around them, each word a shock that burned a path from one woman's heart to the other's mind.

At last, the will to fight abandoned the blonde's body. It was as though an invisible string had been unraveled and the seams holding her together loosened. Her arms became wavering pendulums at her sides. The clench of her jaw went slack. Only her doe eyes grew larger and wet with fresh tears.

A terrible, heartfelt sympathy flooded her friend's face. Ruby pulled the inside of her cheek between her teeth. In no way had she admitted her past crime to elicit pity. Now that it was out there though, she was going to make sure that her revelation helped Emma see the light in the situation and in herself. She trudged forward before Emma could steer the conversation in a different direction.

"Yeah, it's not my favorite topic of discussion," Ruby explained as she picked up her basket. A self-deprecating smile crept onto her face. Sometimes the only way to move through grief was to grin and keep pushing forward. "It was my darkest period. . .but, a friend we share helped me through it."

Puzzled wrinkles drew across her forehead. "Who?"

Now Ruby smiled genuinely. Her heart always warmed at the thought of the kindness and compassion shown to her in those defining moments. "Your mother."

"Mary Margaret?" Emma modified, checking to see if the women were one in the same.

By Emma's own account - and the sincere remorse Ruby had witnessed at the Charming's apartment - Mary Margaret's reaction to her daughter's powers had been far from encouraging or understanding. It was hard for Ruby to believe, having experienced the opposite. The point Emma needed to recognize was that her mother was a good person. She would come around.

"She helped me realize that I am not a monster," Ruby elaborated, deliberately shuffling forward a little more. "And I'm here to tell you the same."

Emma regarded her uneasily, but did not back away. "That's why you came out here?"

Was she that blind that she couldn't see it? "You shouldn't be alone. You may not want your family or need your boyfriend -"

"Is that what he is now?" Emma mused.

"- but what you could use is a friend who's been through your situation," Ruby finished, striding forward another step.

"Stop. Don't come any closer." Panic returned to the edges of her voice, but to a lesser degree. Self-trust remained elusive, but the Savior was starting to buy into the assertion that she was no monster.

Ruby reinforced the idea by closing the distance between them until her friend was an arm's length away. "Emma, I'm not afraid of you. We're friends," she assured her with a wide-toothed grin. "I know you won't hurt me."

A pfff sound passed through her lips as she responded with her own, more reserved, smile. "Said every hero right before they died."

Closer proximity reclaimed the usual wit and friendly bond they shared. The air around them seemed a bit lighter as their moods improved. Ruby took the chance to shift Emma's attention to the pick-me-up she'd brought along. Lifting the lid of her basket, she let the curious sheriff peer inside, as if sneaking a peek at another secret.

"I have pie," she whispered excitedly, almost cartoonishly, in order to gain another smile.

It worked. "Pumpkin?"

"'Tis the season," Ruby returned. "Granny says it's balm for the soul. That and a mug of Swiss Miss."

Squatting down, she planted her bottom on the dirt, then tucked her legs underneath the left side of her body. With a pat to the patch of earth beside her, Ruby indicated that Emma should join her.

"I guess you're not going to take 'no' for an answer," she said more so than asked, a spike of wariness keeping her on her feet.

And she was right. It wasn't a question. "Nope."

By the time Emma lowered and arranged herself on the ground, Ruby had removed the plastic wrap from the pie plate and produced two forks, two mugs, two packets of cocoa mix, and a jug of milk from the confines of the her basket. The last item she handed off to Emma without a word of instruction. Only the sly smile tugging at her lips showed that she was up to something.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Emma questioned after a beat of silence had passed.

"We can't make hot cocoa with cold milk," Ruby pointed out in an overly innocent voice.

She glanced at Emma through her long lashes. Her friend was aghast at the implication of her words. She knew exactly what Ruby wanted her to do with the jug of milk.

"No," Emma proclaimed, following the single word with a slew of variations: "Nah-uh. No way. Not going to happen."

Calmly, Ruby illuminated Emma to a critical fact: "You'll only master control with practice."

"I blew a ten foot hole in the side of a brick building!" Emma exclaimed.

"I don't see any brick walls around here," Ruby responded. "Hurry up. I'm thirsty."

Out of her peripheral vision, Ruby watched Emma's face contort with a progression of emotion. Surprise morphed into a frown of consternation. Her eyes flashed with fear as she held the jug. Finally, her lips evened out in a grim line. Emma held the jug in her left hand, then shook out her right, as if dispelling her nerves.

Ruby reached over and touched Emma's wrist in reassurance. "You can do it."

Exhaling shakily, Emma placed her right index finger on the bottom of the jug, took a deep breath, and concentrated. A bubble formed and exploded on the liquid's surface, quickly followed by several more bubbles. In five seconds, the whole jug was all but boiling. The pressure of the steam inside the jug popped the plastic cap off of the top, making Emma jolt. She withdrew her finger and the bubbling ceased immediately.

Using a napkin, Ruby took the heated jug from her hand. She beamed at her friend as she poured the steaming liquid into the mugs over the mix. "Perfect!"

Pulling out a can of whipped cream, Ruby topped off their drinks and added a squirt to their pie. Rooting around the basket for its final item, she finally found the small cinnamon container and sprinkled the spice over their cocoas. She passed a mug into Emma's hands along with a fork.

"Dig in," she prompted.

Emma smiled once more. She didn't need to be told twice. It wasn't long before the women finished their slice of pie and drank their cocoa.

"Thank you," Emma said, breaking the brief silence. "I didn't know how badly I needed this."

Ruby gave an exaggerated shiver and clutched at her shoulders as though trying to warm herself. "You can thank me by building a fire," she stated. "It's freezing out here!"

"Let's not push our luck," Emma joked good-naturedly. Instead, she made a different offer: "How about a ride back to town?"

"Fair trade."

In a near fluid motion, Ruby jumped up, pivoted, and held out her hands to help Emma rise. The sheriff threw her chin up to meet Ruby's eyes. Trust reflected back at her. Then, with a grin and a shake of her head, she took Ruby's waiting hands.

A/N: Any grammar or show continuity errors are my own, since I don't have a OUaT beta. This is my first fic for this show, so any encouraging or constructive comments are greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoyed!