Shame

"Steady, now," waved Meteor. "Don't drop him."

Ruiz hobbled down the stairs one step at a time. In spite of his injuries, he was walking down to the dining room to eat his dinner. It would be good to be out of his room for a bit, and this would work well as a test as to how well he would do on a decently lengthy journey.

Maria walked in front of him, off to the left. If he fell, she would catch him. She had not said this to him, as she had not spoken a word to him all day. Allegedly, she had spoken with Meteor at lunch, but that had been out of his range of hearing. She would nod and shake her head, but she was having trouble with her words when he was around. He would just have to wait.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, the bartender called out "That's him, over there." Ruiz looked up and saw two young stallions at the bar. Their gaze followed the bartender's hoof and turned to face him. Ruiz instinctively reached for where his belt should have been, had he not left it in his room, but rather that pulling out weapons, they applauded. This quickly spread across the room, with very nearly everypony clapping and looking his way.

Having reserved a table in the corner to both remain close to the stairs and prevent anypony from sneaking up behind them, Meteor had already decided their location and led them over to sit. The applause died down as a server came over to talk to them.

"Good evening," he smiled, pulling out a paper pad. "Before we begin, I just want to say how much I appreciate what you've done for us all. I think what we really needed was a good shove in the right direction. Can I bring you anything in particular?"

Ruiz shook his head. "I'm not picky, señor. Chef's choice. Anything's fine."

"Make it three," nodded Meteor.

"Anything to drink?"

"Doc says he has to have some kind of juice while he's recovering," interrupted Meteor. "And he definitely can't have alcohol until the stitches come out."

The server turned to Ruiz, who nodded along. He hadn't asked the doctor, but he neither wanted to argue nor drink, and a tall glass of grapefruit juice would be just fine.

As the server disappeared, ponies came up one by one to talk to Ruiz, ask him questions, talk about their part in the battle for their town, and try to buy him something, whether it was paying for his food, sending him a bottle of whiskey, or offering him some kind of expensive gift. He declined all gifts, though Meteor was quick to mark them down as being willing to help out. As the owner of the general goods store, her father was one of the bigwigs during town council meetings and noting how much everypony was willing to contribute would influence his decision.

After the eighth guest asked Ruiz how long he would be staying in town, and if he'd be willing to take the empty position of sheriff, to which Ruiz responded that he had little interest in, the server returned. With him, he carried three plates of some kind of salad, loaded with fruits and nuts. Their plates were clearly a fair bit heavier and larger than normal, as Ruiz had seen the same dish brought out twice before. It was pretty clear that they were being given preferential treatment, something he found to be very embarrassing.

The parade of ponies didn't stop there, either. Ruiz ended up having to eat slowly because he was being regularly asked to give his testimony on how a hero should act, having his picture taken for the local periodical, and having to repeat that no, he was not accepting gifts at this time. It was eventually the bartender who came over to drive them all off, yelling at them to let him eat; that there would be time to talk to him later.

Throughout the rest of the meal, Ruiz once again tried to talk to Maria. "How's your food, señorita?" She would shrug. "Is everything alright?" She would nod. Other than the occasional glance, she wouldn't look at him, unless his attention was on something else, such as a visitor, or if he decided to talk to Meteor.

After dinner, Ruiz and Maria went back upstairs, with Meteor staying behind to "handle the bill." Going upstairs was significantly easier that going down had been, whether that had something to do with a full meal inside of them or just a sign that Ruiz' recovery was going very well. It might have also been easier to go upstairs because of the shift in his center of balance.

Maria sat down on her bed as soon as they made it to their room. She had seen Ruiz walk back and forth all day, becoming more and more proficient as he learned to cope with the pain, so she had good reason to believe that he could make it back to his bed.

However, Ruiz wasn't going back to his bed right away. He moved in front of her and held out his hoof, letting her make the choice of whether or not to take it. "I know you're afraid of me, and I'm pretty sure I know why. I have a few guesses, anyway. But I want you to know that I will do everything I can to help you. I'll take you home to your family, I'll tell your parents what's happened, I'll even take care of your chores for as long as it takes you to feel better."

She looked at his hoof, reaching out with mild trepidation, and just froze when she came closer.

"I lied, señorita," he admitted, "back at the sheriff's office. Your mother didn't send me out to bring you back. I came because I wanted to; because I needed to."

She looked up from his hoof, into his eyes.

"Before I met you, I was a husk. An empty shell with nothing to live for, and nothing to work toward. I had no direction, no purpose in life. I was just wandering, wondering where my next meal would come from, or if I'd even have a next meal. I had resigned myself to die out in that desert, and it would be no more than I deserved." He took a deep breath and lowered his hoof. "You changed that, señorita. You saw me as some sort of goodly force. You trusted me to work alongside you, to keep your secrets. You outright told me that I matter, that the white mark on my chest is not the evidence that I would one day betray those I loved, and that you considered me to be better than that. And I just..." he lowered his head and sighed. "I just... really wanted to believe that you were right..."

He lowered his hoof and turned to walk back to his bed, but didn't make it more than a step before he felt her hooves wrap around his chest from behind. She hugged him gently, not wanting to hurt him, and while it wasn't what he wanted to hear, he was glad that she finally said something to him.

"I'm s-s-sorry."