Chapter 5 continuedThe marriage of Nicholas and Ruby was a bumpy ride to say the least. On his surface, Nicholas appeared to be the perfect husband. He was handsome, romantic and hard-working. He loved to come home from a hard day on the job and sweep his wife off her feet. He was always playful and had a way of really making Ruby laugh her stress away when she became overwhelmed with emotion.
On the other hand, Nicholas had never really grown up and he was extremely immature. He was reckless and he had a habit of getting himself into trouble without meaning to do it. He just seemed to have no impulse control. He meant well, but when he was in the moment and something was before him that he wanted, he just couldn't seem to stop himself.
Making faces in the mirrorSo when his ex-girlfriend, Carrie Ursine, began "coincidentally" bumping into him around town, that's when the first inkling of trouble began. Nicholas had been with Carrie when he met Ruby and in his bumbling way, he had never quite managed to break it off with her until he and Ruby were actually talking marriage. Carrie was more than a little upset, to say the least, and she was not really ready to give up her man. She continued to pursue him in an innocent-seeming way, gradually upping her game, getting a little more flirty each time. She knew him too well, and knew that it was only a matter of time before he gave in, and unfortunately she was right.
The first time, Nicholas was devastated with himself. He couldn't believe he had done something so stupid and he ran home to tearfully confess and throw himself on the mercy of his poor wife.
Nicholas asks Ruby to calm down.Ruby was more than a little upset, and though Nicholas tried to get her to calm down it was impossible. She had been completely betrayed and she had trouble controlling her emotions at the best of times. Now she was beyond all reason.
And then Nicholas did the absolute dumbest thing possible. He tried to take Ruby into his arms and kiss her, certain that if he could remind her of their feelings for each other that she would come around and begin to accept his apology.
Ruby rejects Nicholas's advancesInstead, she was completely disgusted and creeped out.
"Please," she begged, "Just get out. Don't touch me, don't try to talk to me, just leave me alone!" She turned and ran up the stairs, locking herself away in her studio, a room that no one else held the key to open. After pounding and sobbing at the door for a while, he gave up and left.
Feeling hopeless and unsure what to do with himself, Nicholas spent the night at the bar, drinking his sorrows away. On some level he knew that all of this was his own fault, but he was so desperate to save his marriage that he had to hold on to the idea that there was a way to make things right with Ruby. He didn't return home until he blackout drunk and early the next morning, Max found him passed out in the entry way.
Nicholas passed out.For the next several days, an icy chill invaded the entire house. Ruby drifted through it like a ghost, barely speaking to anyone and locking herself away with her easel and her guitar. It was the darkest period of her life, but later on the paintings and songs she produced during this period would be her most famous. The emotions that erupted and churned within her came out as visions of terrible sadness and beauty that contained within them a small, bright heart of hope. But in the meantime, her family had to deal with the fallout of what she was going through. Ruby took to sleeping in VF-23's bed, since VF-23 never slept.
V would come in each night to find her still sleeping there and sadly curl up next to her little sister, giving her a gentle bio-boost as she slept, hoping each night that the next day would bring smiles back to Ruby's face.
V finds Ruby in her bed.Throughout all this, Nicholas never gave up. It seemed like a miracle to the rest of the people in the house, but after many long talks, roof-rattling fights and rambling love letters, Nicholas and Ruby came to a new understanding in their marriage. On some level, Ruby understood that she had married an overgrown child. She knew that this would not be the only time he slipped, but she had also come to understand that for whatever reason, she simply couldn't let him go. She told herself that if she was going to accept him, she must accept him as he was and if that meant that he would hurt her sometimes, then that was the price of her acceptance. Her marriage was not going to be the one she had wished for or envisioned, but it was the one she had, and in a weird way, the one she now wanted.
The task she gave herself was to take any future disappointment and heartache and put it on the canvas or send it out into the world through music. She had already looked at the paintings and songs she had created in her emotional black hole and understood that they were something special. If her strange, not-quite-perfect relationship could give more of this to the world, then maybe, in the end, it would be worth it.
To celebrate her transformation and her growing understanding and maturity, as well as the renewal of her relationship, she went out and got herself a tattoo.
Ruby's tattooShe chose a butterfly to remind herself that while her change was painful, it was also beautiful and could bring more beauty to the world, even if it sometimes hurt her. And it did. Nicholas could never quite get his act together totally, although he did better as the years went by. Carrie continued to haunt him and he continued to fall into her trap, until thankfully, she finally met someone else and settled down to have a family of her own. This gave Nicholas and Ruby a new peace that allowed them to settle into a happier, healthier relationship and eventually discover something like normality.
Even if it hadn't, for Ruby it was all worth it. Not just for the art that she created but for the beautiful boy that was her eldest son. Out of everything she created, she was sure that Rooney was her greatest work of art.
Rooney as a toddler
Rooney as a childBONUS PICS: Max and Ruby after aging up to adult.
And that's it for generation two! I have a couple of updates on "where they are now" and then I will start on Generation 3. Thank you so much for reading and commenting. This is my first story, so I thank you for bearing with me while I figure it all out and hopefully slowly improve at my storytelling!
