Rick Ruby Valentines thing

As I stepped out of the old Bel-Air cab to meet Ruby outside the news office, I noticed Rick had killed the engine. Ruby's expression changed from its usual grumpy frown, into something I had difficulty placing, somewhere between pleasant surprise and abject terror. It was an expression I hadn't seen her make in over a year. Either way, she was obviously not prepared for it. I had to make my (re-)introduction quickly, before either she ran away, or Rick popped out too early.

I'd just opened my mouth to say something, but Ruby beat me to the punch. "Bastion, what the hell. I didn't call you in today. And you…"

"Came by anyway," I completed, whether that was where she was going with it or not. "Don't worry, I won't make you get in or anything. I do, however, have somebody that wants to talk to you." I tapped on the taxi's roof, prompting Rick to come out. The man was much taller than the car he drove, to the point that I wondered how he ever fit inside it to begin with. He circled around his car in only three extra long strides, and came to about ten feet from Ruby.

Rick looked as if he had wanted to say something for years, but he wasn't making the first move. I guess he was waiting to see what Ruby did first. All I could really do from my relatively safe distance was watch them. It was a bit like introducing two cats to each other, really. On a good day, they'd just sniff and be cautious. If you're not lucky, you get hissing and clawing. I'd hoped it'd be the sniffing.

Ruby was the first to talk, after a silence that felt like it had been an hour. "Rick. I, uh, have things I gotta say to you." I'd never known Ruby to be this careful with her words.

"I think I do too, but you prob'ly better go first," said Rick, barely any of his Brooklyn accent coming through.

"Was hoping you'd say that. If I know you like I think I used to, you're probably wondering which version to give me, depending on how I make my approach. Right?"

"Yeah." The man wasn't nearly as talkative as he had been in the last six weeks worth of cab rides. It would have worried me if I hadn't picked up on how careful he was in spite of that.

"Well, this oughta make it easier on you. I'm sorry." Ruby's gaze shifts down to her feet, the brim of her hat hiding her eyes from view.

"You're sorry? ...Wait, huh? I didn't plan for that..."

"Or...maybe I just made it way harder for you. Damn it." She took off the old argyle flat cap that I now knew used to be his. "Y'know, I've had a damn long time to mull over the way our relationship turned out. Who was at fault, or even IF anybody was. All I can really figure is that it doesn't matter who did what or even anything at all. I just want to give you a damn apology."

"What are you even apologizing for? I was the asshole back then. It oughta be me." That was the Henry Winkler-like tone I knew.

"And I'm not sayin' it can't be you who says he's sorry. I just...I feel like I was definitely not as innocent as I wanted to feel like, y'know?" Ruby scratched the back of her neck with her free hand. "Whatever you're guilty of, I went right along with it. And whether that's from me being young and gullible or if I just had a void I needed filling...and I know what joke you're wanting to make, so just get it out of your system."

"I kinda don't want to, now that you've said that." Rick's eyes were wide open for once. I didn't usually see him NOT squinting. It gave his face a whole different atmosphere.

"Dammit, you're the one that was always going on about shooting blanks…" I couldn't tell if Ruby was trying not to laugh, or trying not to cry.

"I know, Ruby, I know I always used to say that kinda shit. But I also know now's not the time for it."

"...I'm sorry. I never seem to remember you have a serious side." She sniffs a bit. "Maybe that's where I fucked up back then."

"Nah, going by your logic, it was both of us. Remember the time we got caught doin' it, by that beat cop?"

"Seem to remember it was your idea to park under that bridge, that night."

"Yeah, yeah, my idea entirely..." He barely holds in a chuckle. "Y'know, we had some great times. What happened to that?"

"I think that's what I want to say I'm sorry for, Rick. I'm the reason that those times stopped. I got selfish."

"No, the Ruby I know was *always* selfish. This wasn't selfishness. This was you trying to be responsible for yourself."

"I think you might be right. I couldn't respect myself as long as we kept trying to act on those urges like that, and I ran away from it. But I do still think I was the one that fucked up."

"Well, y'know, even after you quit seeing me, that didn't mean I wasn't still rootin' for you."

"How's that?" Ruby folded her arms like she expected his next line to be really bad.

"A few well-placed favors here and there, a few elements at play, a bit of careful reconnaissance..."

"You've been spying on me?"

"Nah, not as such. I just know a few people in a few places, just by happenstance. Principal among them of course is this guy right here." Rick pointed right at me. "On that note, how ya doin', Bass?"

"Bass, you're spying on me?" Damn it, wrong conclusion!

"No no no, Ruby, not spying," Rick rallied back. "More like...you know that taxi cab guru thing you said about me?"

"Huh. I always wondered if you kept doing that."

"He's been askin' for advice here and there. It's uh, I don't think he ever mentioned your name. Just talked about you. Kinda vague but I figured it was you."

I felt a bit less on-the-spot now. I had a feeling Rick was a guy I could trust, and even though he did just blow my cover, he somehow did it in a way that...made me look better than I really was?

Ruby, meanwhile, was giving me that confused look. Like she couldn't quite tell if I could be trusted. Another expression I hadn't seen in about a year. "Come to think of it, I always wondered if you were really acting on your own whims. Some of the shit you were doing for me at the office was, well, pretty Rick-like."

"I dunno what you're talking about." I pleaded the fifth.

"The intervention? The thing with the coffee pot on Albert's desk?" Her hands slightly mimed a quick pour of coffee.

"Was my own stupid idea, and got your chief to ban me from the premises, remember?"

Rick pushed back into the conversation. "I told him to stay away for a while when that happened. Cuz, y'know, you always did seem to me like the kinda girl who needed to do things her own way."

Ruby's eyes rolled near-audibly. "I mean, you're right, kind of, but you also know I'm an impulsive bitch sometimes."

"Yeah. Which is why I kept carrying that torch for you all these years. I guess I thought you'd come back eventually." Rick let out the most defeated sigh I could recall ever hearing. "Hadn't anticipated how committed you were to never seeing me again, though. … Except for that one time, anyways."

"What one time?"

"Was, uh… '84, mid autumn I think. Dispatch said somebody from your office requested me by name."

"Damn it, that…" She struck a palm against her fire-haired forehead, with an audible slap. "I was calling it for him, not for me."

"So why request me after so long?"

"Some fucking force of habit, I don't know!"

"Yeah… well, I guess I was right not to come in and say hi that day, then." Rick idly shoved a hand into his pocket. "Woulda been too soon."

Ruby was now turned away from both of us. "God fucking… I'm sorry, alright? You know I don't think far enough ahead to lead you on. I acted like an ass."

That was about when Rick did something very inadvisable. He stepped forward, just barely within her periphery, took his hand out of his pocket, and… placed it, top center, on her back. I saw her tense up a little bit at first, but watched her as she slowly deescalated from it. Her stance was almost totally different now. She wasn't guarding herself with her arms. She wasn't poised to attack, or run. This was the rare, relaxed Ruby. She, followed by Rick, stepped closer to the news office building and leaned against the wall, side by side. Rick subtly waved me over to join them, so I took up a spot on her opposite side. I couldn't explain why my hands had started to clam up.

"Smoke?" Rick offered.

"Ain't my thing," Ruby said. It was strange how almost serene she sounded now.

"True. Figured I'd ask. It's been a while." Rick took his other hand out of its pocket, not retrieving anything from it. "And you don't know how much changes in that long. Not even with help."

I just nodded my head. This wasn't my time to talk. Except Rick was giving me the signal again. He wanted me to make a move - what kind of move, I couldn't figure out. I didn't want to keep him waiting, though, so I figured I should make an invitation. "Maybe the two of you ought to do lunch or something. You both have some catching up to do."

Ruby glanced at me with another face that I couldn't figure out. One eyebrow raised, mouth slightly open. "Bass, I don't know what you think is going on here, but--"

"Hey, y'know, he's been doing this amateur gumshoe thing for a while, whatever he's figured out probably ain't false." Rick shrugged and stuck a hand on Ruby's shoulder. That was a lot more physical than I'd ever dare to do. "He got us here, didn't he? Now c'mon, my treat today."

"Not at Irma's, I hope? I've had as much Area 51 talk as I can stand in one lifetime."

"Nah, better spot I found the other week. Greasy spoon kinda place on the other end of the expressway. Garbage plates to die for. Meanest chili you can get this far from the border."

Either her resolve breaks down, or she stops pretending to have any. "Eh… fuck it, I'm in. But not just me, alright? Let's bring him too."

"Planned on it anyway, you know me. Ain't gonna leave behind a quality wingman like Bastion."

Was I turning red? Maybe. I was definitely in for a free meal, in any case. If only to learn just what on earth a "garbage plate" was.