TO THE OLD READERS: As I was in hiatus and now I'm returning back to this story, reading again through the chapters, I found some things in the story not as good as I thought when I wrote them. So I started to write this again, fixing the problems and so on.
However, because of some 's features (keeping reviews though their chapters are no longer existing for example) I decided to completely wipe out the story's old account to start from clean table.
So that the reviews from the older version won't confuse the possible new readers and that it's more clearer to everyone that this is a new version.
Enough said, this is the new version of Cry for the Big Bad Wolf, hopefully much better than the old one.
Hopefully you'll enjoy!
Bigby's Office
The Woodland Building
Sometime at late night
Bigby, aka the Big Bad Wolf aka Sheriff Wolf, leaned back on his office chair and run a hand against his face.
Damn he felt tired.
Pinching the bridge of his nose with heavy sigh, his warm brown eyes looked at the working desk.
It was messy, everything covered under layers of papers.
Papers, letters, reports, notes... They where mostly complaints. Angry, frustrated, some more or less impolite, complaints.
And he had been going through the whole stack through the whole day and yet, it didn't seem any lesser.
In his tired, cranky mind Bigby thought, that maybe someone had slipped in more papers, or put on an illusion spell, when he hadn't been looking.
But that was very unlikely. He would have noticed and it had been just him in the small room the whole time. There was just... So damn many of these papers.
He needed an assistant or some kind of helper to sort all of these.
Just like Snow White had Bufkin.
Deciding to end for today the sheriff pulled out cigarette pack from his blouse's breast pocket. Taking one cigar between his lips he lit it.
One smoke and he would drag himself to his apartment, leave the paper pile like this. It wasn't like this pile would disappear anywhere nor get any smaller on its own.
Inhaling the bitter taste and then letting it out the wolf man watched the rising, swirling smoke.
He thought about how things were nowadays.
Four months had gone after the Crooked Man's case, when all the nasty problems of Fable community had been brought into the broad daylight.
Blackmailing, threats, illegal glamours' black marketing, slavery, corruption, murders…
It all had been fucked up when Wolf and Snow finally had discovered what had gone on for years, as the Crooked man had taken control of everything from the shadows. And Ichabod Crane, who still was hiding somewhere overseas, would probably never come back after his working for Crooked man being revealed.
Well, that was just good.
Because if Bigby would ever see that shitty weasel again, he would rip the man's head off and toss it down the Witching Well.
...That was the thing that Bigby really had wanted to do also for the Crooked man, back then, but… He hadn't.
Maybe it was a good thing too, as how the things had settled.
But even if Crane, Crooked man and his minions were out of the picture, it didn't make things any less messy than they were.
After all that sheriff Wolf and Snow White had their hands full. Fixing things that Crane neglected and Crooked man exploited for years.
Trying to make things right by the book had sounded good, when Snow had said it.
Back then.
In the beginning the sheriff and the new mayor hadn't been sure where to start, searching for the wiggling tail of this whole damn thing. And when they had found it, the shit pile of problems just kept building up without an end.
...There had been changes though, good kinds of.
At least to Bigby it seemed, that there was less things wrong every month as he and Snow tried to do their best to fix them. Listen everyone, help everyone, do good for their community.
But Fables still weren't fully trusting and that made fixing things difficult. Bigby and Snow hadn't even had time to... Well, talk.
Although he wasn't truly sure what they should talk about, outside the work he meant.
It was complicated.
He took another deep inhale from cigarette.
At least the hard work had been noticed by many and, even if few, had started to trust on the Big Bad Wolf. It was unnerving yet a good feeling for Bigby, being accepted and his efforts being noticed. And appreciated even.
Although, doing his work wasn't as easier as it had been, when he could freely do things on his own way. But no, he liked more of this, even if it was hard sometimes.
It was much better this way.
The ringing of the office phone startled the wolf man, dropping his cigarette into his lap and he trying to pat it away while searching for the damn ringing thing from under the papers.
Picking the phone up he answered with his deep, rough voice.
"This is sheriff Wolf."
"Bigby, it's me."
"Holly? What's wrong?"
"Listen, I know it's late and all but could you come here to the Trip Trap? We need you to… Look at something."
"What is it?"
"I... I can't talk about it right in the phone now. We have here some kind of situation on."
"Just tell that fucker to come here already."
"Gren, shut up will ya. So, will you come here?"
"I'm on my way Holly."
The Trip Trap Bar
The Bronx
Bigby repeated the call as he sat on the back of a taxi.
The conversation at the phone hadn't been very long and had held in so little information as Holly didn't tell… Well, anything about the situation in the bar.
So Bigby was trying to think what it might be, that would make Holly call him.
The bartender and the owner of the Trip Trap Bar was never easy to ask his nor anyone's help.
Not over a little thing at least.
Holly was, in all respect, a strong troll woman who could take care of herself and her bar on her own. Especially if Grendel was there, which he mostly was, as that troll man was very fond of her and therefore ready to do anything for Holly.
Bigby didn't need to smell it to know that there was something between those two.
Not even dozen of Huff & Puff cigarettes could cover it, unfortunately.
So it was something that even Gren couldn't take care of then.
Like a giant going on berserk or... Murder?
Hopefully not, not another one, they didn't need those. One more Fable murder would be too much for Snow White right now and Bigby didn't want that either.
The taxi came to stop and the sheriff got out right in front of the stairs that would lead down to the bar's front door.
Stepping down the Wolf listened carefully, if there was any alarming voices or something in there, but as he stood in front of the door... It was quiet.
Mild silence was nothing new at the Trip Trap, it was that kind of place. Mostly regulars came here like Woody, Gren –obviously-, Toad, Jack and other Fables.
But the complete silence behind the door at this time was something different. There wasn't even background music to pick up. It was ominous.
Sheriff didn't hesitate to walk in and look around, searching for anything deviant.
There was no crazy giant, no blood anywhere, no Mundy reporters taking pictures of uncovered Fable nor naked Woody dancing on the counter.
Ugh, the mental image, no. Never, why?
Apart from missing music, everything looked like as usual as it always was here. Even Holly and Gren were on their usual spots, she behind the counter and Gren on his regular barstool.
But the two Fables kept glancing at the backroom's door which was closed. Then they noticed him.
Bigby walked to stand next to Gren and raised a brow to them in questioning manner. He took a cautious sniff.
Nope, no blood. Just the scents of Holly, Gren, him and then-
"It's about fucking time you got here, Sheriff", Grendel greeted in his typical grumpy way, calling Bigby by his title sarcastically even, and leaned against the counter. Though there was a small smirk playing on his face...
Holly in other hand looked at the Sheriff with a thoughtful expression, her arms crossed and chin slightly down.
Bigby wasn't sure what to gather from their mixed signals, but maybe it had something to do with the fourth scent he had picked up. He had never smelled this one before, it was coming from a stranger.
The strange scent was like air in a summer after a storm and thunderbolts. As if the air was clear, fresh and light. The thunderbolts leaving behind hint of electric tone. There was also traces of cold streets, dirt and sweat.
"Holly, you called me and here I am. What's going on?" the Wolf went straight to the business, not sure should he be suspicious or what, as Holly had called him here so... What was the problem?
Unexpectedly it was Gren who talked.
"You won't believe what Holly and I found. Or what came here, if you want to put it that way", the Fable man said with a sly smirk. "Say, Mr. Wolf... You have any… Ex-bitches in the closet, or has there been any addition in the family of yours?"
The very much odd, absurd sentence confused Bigby greatly. But also made him glare, for Gren using the b-word and talking about his family.
This whole thing was starting to irritate him.
Gren was not a talker. Libelous and sarcastic, yes, but still not talking if it was not important.
And Holly absolutely was not the one to beat around the bush for anything as she was a bold... Troll lady.
She spoke as the things were, a thing that Bigby liked at her.
Finally Holly started explaining.
"Yeah... Bigby, look. I don't usually ask for help, but in this one we don't know what to do, definitely not in this particular one. If it was some stupid asshole trying some shit, we would had handle it already. But it's not. So, I just called for you so you could... You know, take care of it. This... Her. Fuck, just take her somewhere. This isn't place for a kid", the troll lady was explaining and glancing to the closed door.
"Okay.." Sheriff said unsurely, a bit bewildered by the mention of a kid. Now he also was glancing at the door.
He spread his arms while looking back at the two.
So this was about someone, a kid, her. Couldn't they be more precise?
"Just tell me what is going on and I'll look what I can do."
"I found a Mundy kid", Holly blurred out, then corrected herself more calmly: "Or a kid came here. A mundy kid. Kinda. She came here on her own."
Bigby was not expecting that nor understanding why it was this big of a problem.
Why they needed him? They could just have called Mundy police to fetch the kid and-
"First I thought she was just a lost Mundy kid, you know? Trying to look for her parents. A bar isn't the first place to look for though, unless you got one of those shitty parents... Anyhow, I was going to get her out, there were other Fables around but then... Well, she chang-"
"She is a fucking half-Fable" Gren spoiled, chuckling and smirking like crazy as Holly glared at him. She turned her gaze back to the Sheriff.
"Yeah, it seems so." Holly glanced again to the door.
"She just changed while starting to cry, but not wholly. The changing I mean. And she doesn't have a glamour and she was so confused of our questions so we just thought that she's some kind of... I don't know, a half-breed?"
Bigby stared at the two, stunned.
Grendel laughed even more when seeing Wolf's dumbfounded face. This was better than any fight or pay back to see that dumb look on the lapdog's face!
Bigby started walking straight to the door, Gren trying to hold his hurting ribs, but Holly stopped the Wolf and told Gren to shut up. She didn't want either of them to wake up their little guest in the backroom with this kind of ruckus.
Would just frighten the girl again.
Bigby wasn't sure what to think about this, at all, and he glanced from the door to Holly.
They were serious?
A half-Fable? They really existed?
"What exactly happened?" Bigby asked.
"I'll tell the whole thing. Gren, shut up already, it's not that funny anymore."
"It is!"
Bigby leaned against the backroom's open doorway, arms crossed and brows hunching over his thoughtful gaze
The backroom was dim. The only light source coming from behind him and creating a long shadow over the small, sleeping figure in backroom's bunk.
Holly had told how the kid had walked into the bar, all nervous and out of place.
And when Holly had told the kid to go away, the girl had not left. Instead, the kid had started asking about her mother, describing and asking had her mother been there.
First Holly had just tried to ignore the questions and get the kid out but the kid didn't take any steps back.
Not even when Gren finally got fed up.
That's when things had really started to go down hill, as the kid started to spat out that she wasn't afraid of freaks. Holly had been forced to use some of he troll charm to get everyone keep their places and not get to the girl who, despite her attitude and words, was shaking.
And the girl, seemingly, transformed.
Half-Fable likely, whatever that exactly meant. There weren't much about them as they were, ironically, like fable. There just weren't supposed to be them, or at least there hadn't been any yet.
Not many Fable thought such things between Mundies and Fables, nor even was it possible.
But yeah, back to the kid and what had happened.
After the girl's transformation and the tense situation Holly finally had it. The troll woman ordered everyone, expect Gren and the girl, to get out as the bar was closed for today. In the end the two trolls calmed the child down and talked, getting nothing out of her, and so the girl ended up sleeping in the backroom from exhaustion.
Bigby could imagine everyone's surprise and confuse at that moment when the girl changed.
Half-Fable…
There were no information about them, only a handful of non-proved rumors and even those were known by not so many.
Because half-Fables… There really weren't them, they were something that you didn't even think about because it wasn't even certain could Mundy and Fable have any offsprings. And nobody had tried that, at least not that they knew, so unless the half-breed's Fable parent was something very different, like a dragon or a fairy, nobody would spot a half-breed from Mundies.
There weren't even any mentions of them in the Business office's books, although Bigby hadn't really looked for the information.
But whatever the rumors said, Bigby had always trusted his senses and he would also do that now. His senses were telling him that there was a person in Holly's bunk.
A person who needed help.
From the doorway he could smell and see the so called half-Fable, he just had to see for himself that the child was what the trolls said.
…Which was soon, he just needed to… Think, how to talk to the… Child. The small... Thing.
Bigby scratched his head, staring at he bunk.
He really wasn't good with kids, if being honest, didn't feel easy around them.
Maybe because he was a wolf: people always pictured wolves as monsters who ate children and babies and so children were instinctively scared of them. And children were so tiny, and fragile. And they run around and yell, which by the way hurt his ears a hell of lot, and they asked awkward questions, stared awkwardly and-
"She has slept for an hour now, so you can wake her up anytime you want", Holly hinted, teasingly, as she and Gren studied the Big Bad Wolf.
He almost looked like being scared by the little thing.
A child? The Big Bad Wolf?
It was funny situation to witness, almost paid back to Gren the time when the Sheriff gave him a beat-up and almost ripped his arm off.
They also wanted to see how Bigby was going to response to the one thing about the girl.
"It's not gonna bite you, Sheriff", the troll man rushed after some waiting, earning a glare from the Wolf.
Gren's smirk just got wider.
"Shut up."
Taking his attention from the troll man Bigby steeled himself and started approaching the sleeping kid, thinking what was the best way to wake her up. Standing next to he bunk, looking down, he really couldn't think anything good.
Well, he had do start somewhere.
"Hey, kid."
…Nothing, the small bundle under the thick blanket just slightly moved and he could see the dark-brown hair peeking from under it.
He lightly poked the child through the cover.
"Hey, wake up", the gruff, demanding voice and poking woke up the child.
Really woke her up for good.
The blanket fell as the girl shot up, standing on the bed and scrambling against the wall.
Bigby was taken back by the strong reaction, but that was not what made him take a step back.
It was the transformation on the girl that happened, when she rose up.
She stared him back with one golden feral eye and with one normal light brown. And she growled while revealing her canine teeth to him. There was fur, same color as her hair, growing unevenly on her face that had a slight change into more beast-a-like. Some of her fingernails blackened and sharpened, some didn't.
All in all, her form kind of reminded of Bigby's own half-transforming, but more unevenly.
But wait, she… She was half-wolf-Fable?
The little girl snarled at him, more with a warning than scariness this time.
Well, she had stood her ground against a grumbling troll when Gren had lost his nerve. And after that a room full of Fables.
You have to raise a hat for that.
Bigby was so surprised of this wolf-thing reveal that he forgot to keep himself in check.
He too half-transformed.
The girl muted after seeing that, being for a moment as much surprised as Bigby was, the two –well, one and a half- pair of feral eyes staring at each other.
Holly and Gren were at the doorway and not so amused anymore. They were concerned.
They weren't so sure anymore that the Sheriff would be so nice to the kid, as the two beast ones were transformed and staring at each other.
Or would the girl do… Something, attack in fear or runaway.
And they wouldn't have any of that, they maybe were trolls but not monsters.
In this odd, tense and surprised situation Bigby took a good look at the pup.
The girl was small, maybe not even older than ten years, and she had short, straight hair. There seemed to be old, small scar over her right eyebrow.
She was wearing black hoodie, blue jeans and red sneakers that had cartoonish bones pattern on them.
Bigby stared at the girl, hearing her racing heartbeat and smelling strongly the fear radiating from her. It was the smell that made him snap out of it, shake his head to get his focus on and changing back into normal human form.
The girl didn't follow his lead though.
She kept showing her whole set of canine teeth and glared, even though Bigby could see her shaking against the wall.
In other situation, if Bigby was more of his old self and the girl lot older, he had taken the girl's act as a threat for a challenge.
But that wasn't the case now, no, the girl was just a pup who was scared.
He needed to calm her down to get information of her situation and maybe to help her.
"Hi", Bigby tried to say in gentle way, even trying to smile but only heard small puppy-like-growl coming out again.
He really wished Snow would be here with him, she knew how to talk to… Children.
"Listen, kid", the Wolf hold his hands up and decided just go right to the business. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm trying to help. I am Sheriff Wolf."
The child watched him carefully, his hands and his posture, clearly thinking what Bigby was: a threat, or something else?
Her sharp gaze made Bigby feel uneasy.
He always thought children had this kind of creepy way to stare at people. Like seeing through you, straight to the bottom of your soul and judging you.
Creepy feeling as hell.
"You don't look like a sheriff", the girl finally spoke, looking him closely. "You don't have a badge or a star with you?"
A two muffled chuckles made them look to the doorway, and the two Fables there.
"It's okay, I called him here. He really is the Sheriff", Holly assured.
"But not fucking good one if you ask me", Gren had to add, his arms crossed.
The wolf man was, more than just a little, surprised to hear and see the girl's glare changing into a shy smirk and chuckling to Gren's words.
From the girl's side to be told, she kinda liked the two trolls.
They were cool, as miss Holly named lady owned the bar and how she had told even the scariest guys before just piss off. And mister Grendel –or Gren as he preferred- was… Well, at first she had been… Intimidated by him, but she liked the way he said things like they were, bluntly and unafraid.
Yeah, they were cool and especially as Holly had promised to help her.
So if they said so, although Gren's comment was a little sketchy, she could trust this sheriff Wolf, right?
At least for now.
The girl relaxed somewhat, her form changing to human as her both eyes changed to light brown ones and claws and teeth turned back to normal and the fur faded away.
She also fell to sit on the bed, still leaning against the wall and looking cautiously up to the strange man.
Bigby thought it was for the best if he squat in front of the child, so he wouldn't seem so big and intimidating by being on the same eye level with her.
But it didn't help, she crossed her arms and lowered her chin, staring at him in that creepy way again like all children do.
See? He just wasn't good with kids.
"So… What's your name, pup?" Bigby started questioning and took out a cigarette, but then rethought while putting it between his lips. Was it okay to smoke in front of a pup?
"I'm not a pup", she corrected him. "I'm a human child. And name's Aleine", she answered shortly and Bigby nodded. Good, she was cooperating with him, they wouldn't get very far if she would just keep her mouth shut.
"Okay, Aleine. Where's your mother? Or dad? Or whoever watches after you."
She seemed to think about it for a minute, gaze going from Bigby to Holly and Gren and back to Bigby.
"You really don't know where my mom is?" she asked
"I wouldn't be asking if I would know. I don't even know what her name is."
There was a change in the girl's gaze, like a twig that somebody bends so much, that it starts to creak and crack under the pressure. Aleine's brows hunched, worry coating her face and he could hear her heartbeat raising slightly.
"What's your mother's name?" Bigby kept asking while holding his unlit cigarette between forefinger and thumb.
"Julia. Julia Bates. Brown, long hair. Green eyes. Couple of… Scars on right cheek. Human", the child started to give description of her mother in a fast pace, looking at Bigby like he should know someone like that. There was somewhat desperation, worry, creeping into her voice as she continued.
"You know someone like that, right? You have seen my mother?"
Putting the unused cigarette to his breast pocket Bigby answered truthfully: "Sorry, Aleine, but… We don't keep any humans with us. We like to keep our extinct in secret from Mundies you see, I mean from humans."
And why he was telling- Well, the kid kind of was like them, and yet was not at the same time.
But if she now was a half-Fable, they maybe had to do something about it. Her being what she was actually gave to this whole situation a new, heavy weight as how to go from here.
But for now, this was about a pup searching for her mother.
Aleine lowered her gaze, feeling pressure behind her eyes. Her chest was clenching and fear was consuming her thoughts fast. It had been days as she had searched for mom, trying to find something to get in tracks, just wandering and not knowing where to go. She had suspected the freaks but they didn't have mother, they didn't know her even. So if mama weren't with them then where was she? She couldn't just-
…It has been already days.
The girl lowered her face so that her hair fall like a curtains. She was hugging herself and what Bigby could tell, she was trying hard not to cry. Swallowing silently every sniffle and kept taking steady breaths.
The Sheriff rubbed his chin covered in stubble and felt uneasy while looking at Aleine. He felt like he had done something wrong now with the kid by making her cry. Bigby looked at the doorway in lost, but the trolls weren't there.
Looks like they as well didn't feel comfortable with sad kids. Figures. This is why he didn't want to deal with children. He made them cry in some point even if he didn't try to and then he didn't know how to fix them.
"Listen, Aleine." he tried to calm the other one. "You really don't know where you mother is?"
"No", the girl answered quietly, not looking at him. "That's why I'm looking for her", she added with some sharpness, frustration.
"…Is she a… Really a human? She doesn't turn to something different or do some… Non-human things? She doesn't talk about Fables?"
The girl lifted her gaze, her brows knitting together for the unrecognized word.
"What's that? Fables?" she asked, like Bigby had called her mother by names, but at least her reaction told that her mother didn't seem to be a Fable but a Mundy. Or then the mother hadn't told about her origins.
"Fables are…" Bigby trailed off, not sure how to explain to the kid about them. How would he put it for a child? Well…
"Like characters from stories, but real ones, you have heard stories right?"
Damn stupid question, even the kid looked at him like she thought that way.
"Yeah... For example, I'm the Big Bad Wolf."
Aleine's eyes widened from the revelation, forgetting the growing worry about her mother for a moment. Big Bad Wolf? Really? Then she looked at him skeptically, making that creepy, piercing stare again.
"You don't look…"
Like a wolf?
"Like a bad person." she cocked her head to one side. "In stories Big Bad Wolf is usually the evil one and threatening others. And saying to eat them, all the time."
Yet again the girl made him speechless. He didn't know should he take that as a compliment or be worried of his reputation.
In second thought, he wasn't supposed to look scary for the pup now.
"And what… Are Holly and Gren?" the girl looked at the empty doorway. Holly came back though, hearing Aleine's question, and Gren followed the bartender right behind.
"Just trolls", Holly summarily said.
"Oh." The girl blinked her eyes couple of times, and the Fables weren't sure was the kid really believing them. But then she said.
"So freaks, monsters, they are… Fables?"
"Fuck no we are freaks", Gren growled. "Who the fuck is saying that kind of shit?"
"N- Sorry", the girl apologized with slight wariness.
"Aleine", Bigby called her attention back to him. "Where's your father then?"
"I don't know."
"He's… Dead, or missing too?"
"I don't- No, mama never speaks about him."
"And your mother is not a- She's an ordinary human?"
"Yes, she is", the girl was getting annoyed by all these stupid questions, especially about her mother being human. Again she showed some of her teeth.
"She isn't frea- Fable. I haven't seen her so I started looking for her, then I… Saw a freak, and followed him here, because mama always says that you are nothing but trouble and don't like humans, so I thought you have done something to her as she said you would if you knew about me and now you say you don't even know her and-"
"Hey, calm down pup", Bigby was sure she was going pass out if not taking a breath. And she had seen a Fable? Bigby wasn't sure was the kid lying, was it a good coincidence, mistake-
"I'm not a pup! I'm a human girl! I am not a freak!" she almost shouted, the transforming of her happening again.
There was a small silence in the backroom, only Aleine's sounds of angry and some panic muttering as she noticed her transformations. She hugged herself tighter and bowed her head like trying to hide her appearance from them.
Damn. Fuck. Not again, why is this happening? It is not supposed to happen! Fu- Mama is gonna be mad. So mad. She will be… Go away. Go away!
After taking a few deep breaths, the freak form fading away, she looked at Bigby with teary eyes.
He didn't know what to do with upset kid, truthfully, he didn't know how to make her more calm.
"Why didn't you just go to police?"
Of course it wasn't a good idea. The girl's transformations seemed to be out of control, which gave even more questions to Bigby, but shouldn't Aleine still had done that at first? Contact the Mundy police?
"Mama said I can't show to people alone, without her. Because I… May change. And get into big trouble. You fre- Fables, don't want to be revealed to humans, so if you know I'll exist, you'll come and take mom away from me. So when she didn't come back I thought that you… Just did that, took her."
But they didn't have mama, so they said, they didn't even know her.
The Wolf pondered this information, this whole situation, for a moment because this was something that he wasn't so sure how to proceed.
Aleine is a half-Fable, but her missing mother was Mundy. So, technically, this wasn't their case, his case, to take.
This was something that Mundy police should be working on.
But in other hand Aleine is half-Fable, and that was something that would put them, Fables, all in a risk by her randomly transforming among the humans.
How had this happened? Who was the Fable-father here and where was he? Who else knew about this kid and her origin, how many had seen her transformations? Who Aleine had seen so that she had recognized them as a Fable?
Snow is going to flip when she hears all about this.
Bigby closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing deeply.
This was a big thing now, there was just so many damn questions that-
A sound from the girl stopped the Wolf's thoughts, getting his attention.
He glanced at Aleine, the half-Fable, and thought what he saw.
She saw scared, little child who obviously was worried of her mother and didn't seem to have anyone to help her. Being all alone but still trying to do her best to solve things by herself and help her mother.
There was something personal, very familiar to Bigby with the scene here.
"It's… Alright, Aleine", he said, moving his right hand towards the girl.
He just tried to pat her head but the kid snarled in a little voice and flinched more away from him.
So no touching. Got it.
"I'm not going hurt you", explained while retreating his hand. "I'm here to help."
"…You are?" even though she tried to glare with suspiciousness, she couldn't fool the Sheriff Wolf. The child was a little bit hopeful.
He smiled to her.
"Sure. It's my job as a Sheriff to help people", there was a dry, low chuckle from the doorway but Bigby ignored it completely: "And I will also help you, if you only want me to."
