For WerewolfHybrid31, the 50th reviewer of Safe Haven: "It's a few days before the curse and Red and Snow have a heart to heart talk about the things they've been through and things they want to do in the future."
These days, all Red felt was helpless.
They all did, really, aside from Geppetto with his wardrobe to carve. There was nothing more that could be done, no preparations that could be made. The Queen's curse loomed in the future, maybe seconds away and maybe weeks.
Red sat through the emergency meetings, contributing nothing because there was nothing at all to be said. Her only employment was at moments like this, when Charming threw himself into one futile task or another out of the need to do something, anything. At his request she watched over Snow White in his absence, and even though Red knew well that Snow could take care of herself, she was grateful for the assignment.
"I miss how it was," Red mused as she sat beside the queen in the soldier-ringed garden. The constant armed guard protecting Snow and her unborn child made Red's job even more ridiculous.
Snow glanced up from her book. She'd been reading the same paragraph over and over again, distracted from each attempt by a new worry.
"When it was just us," Red continued. "We knew exactly what we were running from."
Snow set the book down, a faraway look in her eyes. "I can't do this, Red," she whispered. It was a voice Red hadn't heard in years, a voice that was broken and afraid. "I've never had to be alone before."
"You won't be," Red told her, taking her hand and waiting for Snow to look her way. "You'll have her with you always." She nodded down towards Snow's round stomach.
"I know nothing about raising a child." Snow pressed a hand to her belly. "I don't know where I'm going or what it's like there. I can't."
Red rose to her feet, guiding Snow up with her. The guards followed at a respectful distance as Red led the way back towards the palace. "Do you remember the night we ran away from my village?" she asked, letting the mother-to-be lean heavily on her as they climbed the stairs to the lavish nursery Snow's child would never see. "I was terrified, and I told you I couldn't do it. But you pushed me, Snow. You knew I didn't have a choice, that I had to be brave, and you never let me forget that. I would have given up years ago if not for you."
"And if I hadn't found you, I might have given up myself." Snow allowed herself a hint of a smile. "It's just so much weight to carry," she said as she sank down into the rocking chair. "Knowing that everyone I care about will be suffering under a terrible curse, waiting for twenty-eight years. How can I go that long without my husband? How can I go that long without you?"
"You will not fail," Red promised. "And you will not be without us." She walked toward the mounting pile of presents for Snow's baby shower tomorrow and picked up her own contribution, a heavy leather-bound book tied in a red ribbon. "You should open this now," she said, setting it on Snow's lap, or what little she had left of one.
Snow looked a bit confused as she untied the ribbon, and Red couldn't blame her. It was too large, too not-at-all-pink, to seem like a gift for the unborn princess. Still, Snow was gracious, thanking Red as she trailed her fingers over the gold-embossed letters on the cover. Once Upon a Time.
"I can hardly take all the credit," Red quickly told her. "It was my idea, but everyone chipped in." She opened the book and turned a few pages, landing on an illustration of Snow and Charming when they first met. "All of us are in here, all of your friends. So you can take us with you and tell Emma all of our stories."
Snow flipped farther, tears welling up in her eyes as she found a picture of herself and Red all those years ago, Red's cloak standing out starkly from the winter landscape. "This is beautiful."
"We will always be with you. And you can look at this picture and remember what you were telling me in that very moment."
"There's nothing to fear," Snow recited.