#rubbapphire

|Prologue| Next |

Chapter Warnings: some minor injuries, mentions of captivity, pretty tame overall

A second meeting and a donation.

It was only a few days later when they met again. The sky, this time, was clear. The curly haired girl knocked gently on the glass door as it, again, neared midnight.

"Hello, again," Sapphire greeted in her calm way, welcoming her in. She took note of a black eye— she couldn't patch that up like she had the scrapes.

"Hey. I'm sorry to bother you again, but you said I should stop by again, and I took it to heart-"

"As you should have," Sapphire smiled and led the girl to the same small doctors office. "May I see how your hands are?"

The guest immediately nodded and offered her palms to the lawyer. Her hands were certainly cleaner, though there were some open wounds beneath the bandages. "They look better. You should have rested them more though."

"It isn't bad," the guest offered. "I just work with them a lot. Blisters happen." Sapphire nodded and rewrapped them carefully. "Would you like to take the bandage off your cheek or would you prefer that I do it?"

"Yeah, I can," The dark-skinned girl mumbled before ripping the bandage from her face with a small grunt.

"That looks better too."

"It is. Thank you, again, by the way."

"It's my job," Sapphire smiled slightly, "don't worry about it." The owner took a slow breath as she went to grab frozen peas for her guest's black eye.

Sapphire smiled to comfort; that was all. It could hurt her face to smile so much, since her normal expression was often stoic.

It was the opposite with the bruised woman. It didn't seem to fit that the guest's expression was plain. Her face was more becoming of a smile, or at least a cheeky grin, though Sapphire hadn't imagined what it might appear like for her to wear one.

"Does that help?" Sapphire asked when the girl greeted the bag of frozen vegetables with a sigh.

"You've got no idea," she relaxed, her spare hand mussing her own curly hair. "Thank you so much."

"Anytime. If you need anything, please remember that you're always welcome here." The visitor nodded and shrugged, following Sapphire to the foyer. "If it helps at all, you can always ask for Sapphire. If I'm not here, I'm only a few minutes away."

"Thank you, Sapphire, it means a lot," the girl tried out the name. "I will, next time I need to."

At this, Sapphire smile was far less forced. "You keep those peas. And be careful."

"I will."

—

"Sapphire," Pearl, a receptionist working on her psychology degree, radioed the lawyer. "There's an envelope here addressed to you."

Sapphire, used to bills and other mail being addressed directly to her, answered that she'd be down when she was done. She returned to the guest she had been speaking too. "I appreciate you waiting on that. Now, back what you were telling me, Miss Lazuli?"

The taller woman nodded, "I just can't stop thinking about it -- I was locked away from the real world for years, Sapphire. It consumed everything I am."

"You are more than your that, Lapis, I promise you. But I know that doesn't change how you're feeling right now."

"Everything just happened so fast. As soon as I was free, I, I was with her."

"Does that unsettle you?" Sapphire questioned carefully, knowing that Lapis preferred her company to the therapist.

Sapphire wasn't a psychologist, but she had more than enough experience in how to talk with the women at the shelter. She did run it, after all: the manager of her own women's shelter, only answering to the benefactors and donors.

Despite her trade, she chose to be a friend with a listening ear and a shoulder to lean on, rather than mere council. She charged nothing for her appointments and time, discussed with the police if requested, and had even testified on a number of occasions. It was a wonder she ever had any of her very limited free time at all.

Lapis had only been living with them for a month, but the new resident had taken a quiet liking to the lawyer-by-trade. Lapis wondered sometimes if they would mesh so well, once she discovered herself, whom she had never gotten to truly meet. But even if they didn't mesh well, Lapis was under the impression that she and Sapphire would remain friends as she healed.

They talked for the rest of the hour.

—

"Sapphire!" Pearl called out, as Sapphire made her way through the foyer. "The mail."

"Oh, right," Sapphire muttered and gratefully received the stack of papers. "Thank you very much, Pearl." Pearl smiled proudly and continued with her typical assignments of filing and offering quick diagnoses.

Sapphire sat and opened the letter, which was addressed in sloppy handwriting, rather than the usual black sans font. There was no return address, but the envelope was thin enough to be safe.

Miss Sapphire,

Thanks again. Won these last night. Thought if there was any luck in them, you guys deserve it.

P.S. Guy I won them from said they were from Motomart.

There was no signature, but three scratch-off lottery cards included in the envelope. Sapphire raised an eyebrow and chuckled at the odd donation.

"What is it?" Pearl asked, looking up at the rarity that was Sapphire's laugh.

"Pearl, do you have a coin?" Sapphire smiled, giggling again as she held up the cards, "we received an anonymous donation."

Pearl raised a brow at the sight of the lottery tickets, but dug a penny out of her desk quickly.

"An anonymous donation of... Drumroll, please, Pearl," Sapphire giggled, unable to stop herself from being uncharacteristically goofy.

She hadn’t slept well last night, she reasoned to herself, and this had caught her off guard.

She scratched off the first, row by row. "... Of five dollars." The second, "nothing, and..." The third, "fifty-two dollars. For a total donation of fifty-seven U.S. Dollars, redeemable anywhere Cash Case Cards are sold!" Sapphire glanced at the note again. "... More specifically, redeemable at Motomart!" Sapphire interrupted herself with another fit of giggles.

Finally, the lawyer cleared her throat. "Pearl, on your lunch break, would you like to cash these in? You can take the seven for the gas."

"Sure, Sapphire," Pearl humored her.

| prologue | Previous | Next |

Warnings: scrapes, child abuse mention, I think that’s it.

Not my best, but hey, you get to meet a “new” character!

They had first met Amethyst when she was in kindergarten. Her mother had come in with the little girl, both of them bruised and a little shaken. Sapphire soon learned that pride had brought the mother here. She just couldn’t return to her own family, whom she hadn’t spoken with since her marriage.

Sapphire also soon learned that there were some children for whom enthusiasm didn't run out. One of those children was Amethyst. At the time, the little one had still believed in the power of good over evil, the power of a penny in a fountain, the power of superheroes, and the power of tickles.

Rose, a decade younger, was quite taken with her.

Amethyst, less than a decade old, wanted to be like Rose when she grew up. Rose had quickly fallen in love with the idea of being so looked up to, and took her time to be the best role model possible. Games of tag, hide and seek, and explanations of every subtitle in the woman's old college biology books filled both with glee.

And then, Amethyst and her mother went back to him.

One had made the choice. The other had no other choice.

The next time they saw Amethyst was a year or so ago, when the girl was fourteen. Fed up with her father's temper and her mother's recently developed disposition, she had sought out the home again. Of course, Sapphire immediately called the Child Protective Services, and they had all attended to the adolescent.

Rose took her in with open arms.

Amethyst took in everything with arms crossed in front of her chest. It wasn't that the teenager rebelled against the guidance of the women at the home. But as wild as she was, she seemed like a rock emotionally, and took too many precautions to even wish to speak with a counsellor, as Rose had suggested.

The contrast between past and present broke Sapphire's heart. While they couldn't have known, Sapphire blamed herself. Rose wanted desperately to be a maternal figure in the teenager's life-- or for the girl to have a maternal figure at all. Amethyst disagreed on every turn.

"Maybe," Rose once confided in Sapphire, "if she hadn’t ever had parents to start with, Amethyst would be more willing to have a parent again at all."

"With the doc," Amethyst once mentioned to Sapphire, "I don't feel worthless." But that wasn't enough, it seemed.

Only a month later, Amethyst's mother had found her, and brought in a document declaring their home and their family fit to raised children.

"Borderline," Pearl muttered when after only one exchange with her mother, Amethyst, guilty tears in her eyes, followed her to the car. Her mother seemed almost smug, with tear stained cheeks but an angry countenance. "And she has no intention, clearly, of fighting it. How else could she have gotten the okay from the CPS?"

—

Today, Rose had another run-in with the girl.

"My parents didn't do it," Amethyst defended harshly as Rose took inventory of all of the teenager's scratches and bruises. "I just need like two bandaids and I'll be out of your hair," anger warbled her voice, and Rose sighed.

"Why would you come here if your parents didn't do it?"

"Cause I ran outta bandaids and you guys won't charge the hell out of me when I leave!" Amethyst shouted, and her arms once again were folded in front of her.

There was a heavy pause as Rose stared at the teen, trying to judge her words. "Can you tell me how you got these, Amethyst? Please?"

Amethyst's eyes dropped as something overwhelmingly familiar struck her. She felt cared about. Like she had as a child. And she felt guilty. Like she did every day. But being guilty here didn't seem dangerous or wrong. No, her guilt didn't call for belittlement. Rose's soft expression called only for honesty.

"I fight, okay?" Rose's eyes widened at the idea. "There's an underground wrestling league downtown, and I fight there."

"Why?" Rose asked slowly, taking advantage of the teen's sudden drive to honesty.

"Because I can take a hit and I want the money!" Amethyst exclaimed, and sighed when her anger left her.

"It's a girl's wrestling league? Amethyst, is this,” Rose swallowed fearfully, “sexual in nature?"

"No!" Amethyst's voice raised a decibel more. "It's a guys' league. But me and some other girls do it-- dress up like guys to get a quick buck and let out some frustration. We look out for each other -- girls helping girls or whatever. But I went in on Tuesday, when my double had work. So, she wasn't there to help patch me up. That's all."

"You're so much bett-"

"Don't," Amethyst warned before turning her gaze down again. "Don't feed me that."

Rose went another route: "It's child abuse, you kn-"

"No. It's not. It's yours truly, a twenty-three year old dude called the Purple Puma, kicking ass and taking names. He doesn't get more than a few scratches when he trips a little. There's no children — and no women in the league. It's. Legal."

"Why do you need the money so bad?" Rose asked, offering Amethyst a box of Crying Breakfast Friends Bandaids.

"I don't need those dumb cartoon characters, okay," Amethyst murmured, lightly pushing the box back to Rose. "I'm..." Amethyst looked up, her gaze caught in Rose's, and that familiar feeling returned. "I don't do it all for the cash. Sometimes the stuff I get isn't even cash-- they do stupid stuff sometimes. But I need somewhere where I can take out my energy. I get mad, and I hate it, and this helps without getting me in any trouble. It's-- It's a sport, it's -- what's the word? Cathedric?"

"Cathartic," Rose breathed. "Stuff is bad at home again?"

Amethyst nodded, shrugging. "It's never been good."

"I-- Amethyst," Rose stumbled over her words for a moment, catching Amethyst off-guard. Rose was always poised. "I have a boyfriend, now."

"And..?" Amethyst's brow raised. Her heart thumped for a moment, knowing how dangerous anyone you were close to could be, guy or not.

"A serious boyfriend. He's a good, gentle guy. He's never said anything; but the way I feel about him-- it makes me want children." Amethyst 's eyes grew two sizes, glancing to the doctor's stomach and back. "We haven't been trying. I don't want to even bring it up until he does, when he feels ready. But, it's just been reminding me-- the only time I ever wanted a child, before, was when I was taking care of you." The pink-haired woman sighed. "I want to support you with this."

"You wanna..?"

"I want to watch you do your sport... I bet you're great at it. And I can always patch you up, then, too."

"That would," Amethyst paused lightly, "that would be really cool of you. Thank you."

Rose offered the child a smile and a hug, both of which were lightly returned. "Just, tell me when it's a good time for me to come. I'll be there. Until then, visit whenever you want."

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

So! Who’s in the mood for a slow burn Rupphire fanfiction?

Sapphire DuFroid, a lawyer and the young owner of the women’s shelter just outside of town, lets in a new curly-haired visitor in the midst of a midnight rain storm. In more ways than one, she is soon to realize.

Warnings: lots of mentions of abuse, in the first chapter, mostly physical. I’ll do warnings per chapter. Rated T for now. Following chapters will be longer :)

It was storming outside, Sapphire noticed vaguely. After reading her fair share of romanticism, she stopped fearing terrible things happening when the skies turned grey. It was a plot device from centuries ago that had been ingrained in her as a child; but now that she was grown, she knew better. Worse things had happened on nights when she swore she could see every galaxy.

She ran her fingers through her bangs before closing the file cabinet. Now, her only tasks were to finish reading these papers, to play monitor, and to wait until morning came.

The stillness permeated everything, and the woman reveled in it. This was the most quiet and relaxing the days ever were, here at the shelter. This was the perfect time to just breathe.

A knock on the glass door interrupted this revelry.

Sapphire stood and glanced through the glass. When she noted the form of a young lady outside, she rushed to let her in, the lost stillness forgotten.

"Hey," the girl's gravelly voice greeted cautiously. Her hair was drenched, but even still, Sapphire could tell it was naturally buoyant. "I'm sorry, I wouldn't normally come, but.." Her dark face flushed even darker. "My hands-- I couldn't... Fix it myself." Sapphire's eye left the gash on the girl's cheek and fell to bruised wrists and bloody palms.

"Come inside," Sapphire greeted gently, holding the door open for the stranger to walk through. Sapphire glanced outside either way before relocking the doors. "Follow me, please." The injured woman followed obediently, her brown eyes focused on the heels of Sapphire's shoes.

Sapphire led the newcomer to an empty examination room. At night, doctors were solely on call here, but being the owner of the shelter, Sapphire was well versed in first aid. All the same, she couldn’t think of any incident where she was without help when trying to help another. Pushing this aside, she recalled her own training dutifully, and invited the guest up onto the small table.

"I really am sorry," the stranger mumbled, watching Sapphire retrieve a collection of glass jars. They looked more like a southerner’s drinking glass than something to carry medical supplies, but the entire room was more sterile than anything the darker woman had seen in her life. "I know I shouldn't be wasting your time, with all the other gir-"

"The other ladies are asleep," Sapphire interrupted, bringing along cotton balls and alcohol. "And you are just as important as they are, Miss." From under blonde bangs, Sapphire noticed a few tears creeping from the girl's eyelids.

"Thanks," she sniffed, wincing at the sting the alcohol brought to her palms. There was an odd silence that followed as Sapphire bandaged hands and the gash on the girl's cheek. The lawyer stepped back to look at her work, almost smiling at her success.

"Thank you," the patient sighed in relief, relaxing slightly.

The guest could just barely see a blue eye peeking from under those pale bangs. Her entire focus rested on it, and the blue eye examined her entirely in return. There was a moment of perfect understanding, they both acknowledged to themselves: She’s never done this before. She knows as little about this as I do.

The guest's mind flitted away from the moment of unexpected intimacy, and she broke the quiet, comprehending stillness. "I, I have to get going. I gotta be back by three."

"You would be safe here," Sapphire commented, helping the girl down. Another moment of understanding, of rules the guest had no say in, of security Sapphire offered so hopefully. "You would be safer here."

"I," the girl shook her head, her curly hair following suit. "No, it's not what you think. And I really do need to get back."

Once again, Sapphire comprehended how little she knew. But she knew that this woman understood Sapphire's purpose: that Sapphire only wanted to help; but that she could, nor would, do anything without the guest's expressed permission. They knew too little for more than this gentle respect of their ignorance of one another.

"I can't stop you," Sapphire answered, followed by a gentle pause. "But you can come back, anytime. I would like to see how that cut heals." They had come to Sapphire's desk, from which Sapphire grabbed a few pamphlets. “I'm always here, and you're always welcome here.”

Sapphire handed the leaflets to the guest, who frowned at the titles: Abuse and How to Handle It, Signs Of Abusive Relationships, Moving Out. She kept her gaze down and mumbled to herself, “it’s not like that.”

As intended, Sapphire didn’t hear her. “Now, may I have your name?"

"Um," the curly haired girl stuttered for a moment. "No, I'd -- no -- is that okay?"

"It's fine," Sapphire offered a small calming smile. "You'll be a Jane Doe. Don't worry."

The bruised woman breathed a sigh of relief. "I, uh, owe you one. Thanks."

"Anytime," Sapphire nodded, leading the her to the door. "Be safe getting home. Please, if you need anything, we're always here."

"Thanks," the stranger smiled. Desperate to get home, the patient pulled up her hood, wordlessly braved the rain again, and jogged out of sight.

Something in her gut told Sapphire she would be seeing that girl again. The thought was terrible, yet somehow Sapphire anticipated the night they might cross paths again.

Here’s a quick art of sapphire and ruby wearing some different clothes!!!

I think this is some kind of AU where ruby is a player and sapphire as a “normal kind of girl”

I have read a lot of fanfics about it doe.

HOPE U GUYS LIKE IT!!