Author's Note: I want to thank everyone that reviewed, favorited and followed "Unexpected". It'll be a while before Charming finds out about the baby, but he will find Snow and he will find out! Now on to chapter two… (as always, please review)

Chapter Two: With Friends

Snow watched as Red and Granny guided the dwarf into the tiny bedroom where they had her leg propped up on a pillow. The dwarf had on glasses and a funny looking hat unlike any that Snow had ever seen. "How'dya do?" The chipper dwarf tipped his hat to her. She smiled but said nothing. "I'm Doc, I'm just here because your friends want to make sure you're okay." Friends, thought Snow, it had been so long since she had friends... "Can you talk? At least tell me your name."

"Mary." Snow said after a little hesitation. These strangers agreed to take care of her and even got a doctor for her? Even her own stepmother didn't do things like that unless her father took notice.

The doctor raised an eyebrow at her answer. "Now, Miss, I know you don't know or trust me yet. But it's important that you're one hundred percent honest with me. You can tell me anything..."

"Certainly you've seen my face on all those posters in the kingdom." Snow scoffed, realizing how short she had just been with Doc. "I'm sorry, sir, I'm just..."

"That's alright, Snow White." Doc grinned, Red and Granny folding laundry and putting it into the wardrobe. "As I've said, you're among friends." So many friendly faces... "So you had a run-in with our famous wolf, didn't you, princess?"

Snow sighed. Princess. That's what everyone called her when they found out who she was. "Snow's fine, thank you." After she clarified her name, she answered the dwarf. "Yes I did run into... something out there."

Doc never imagined he'd be tending to the princess herself. Unlike all the royals that rode through their town with their knights and horses and carriages, Snow was very down to earth. Of course she was a little snappy and certainly out of her comfort zone, but Doc understood. "Well, on the bright side these two ladies did clean the cut up quite a bit," Red couldn't help but beam as Doc looked back at her. "but it's still pretty bad. I'd suggest keeping off of it until it heals up a little more... That is, unless you have appointments to keep, your Highness."

Snow shook her head. Appointments? She was on the run from her own kingdom. She was carrying a child that didn't belong to her husband, in fact she wasn't even married. Royal or not, that wasn't good for any girl around here. "I don't have anywhere to truly be. No home, no family... but I shouldn't trouble you folks. Certainly you..."

"Nonsense." Granny cut her off. That girl should've known better than being thrown out or people being too busy. "It's wolf's time, in the winter, and you're expecting. We won't throw you out, you're with friends, just like Doc said. But, since we're friends, you will be honest with us, and help Red and I out. Chores and such, once you're better."

Even Granny's mouth curled into a smile. Real smiles were in the room: three of them. It was contagious and Snow soon found herself smiling too. "I'll stay as long as you'll have me, Miss..."

"Marie Lucas. Most call me Widow Lucas, but you can call me Granny." Granny, thought Snow, she had never known her own granny. Perhaps one day she would be someone's granny. Granny dismissed Doc. "If you can come back in a few days to check on her..."

"I will." Doc promised, turning in the doorway to address the fair princess. "Farewell, Snow White."

...a week later...

Snow started to move around the house. Her leg had healed up quite a bit and she could bear weight on it again. Doc still warned her about "over exerting herself" because of the baby. I've been on the run so long, thought the stubborn princess, what's a little sweeping going to do to me?

Granny and Red had gone to a town meeting, something about killing the wolf. Gods, that's all they talked about in this town! Red would tell Snow about what was going on to keep the busybody princess from going crazy on bed rest. Charming hasn't married Abigail yet, and for some reason that comforted Snow. They were engaged for almost six months now, when was the wedding going to be? Why was she so worried about him anyways? He didn't want her. That's why he left her...

"Mary!" Granny called with the door still wide open, Red standing in the doorway. Granny and Red both called her 'Mary' whenever there was a chance that someone else could be listening. "Mary, can you help me with dinner?"

The door clicked shut and Red started looking for Snow. "Mary?" She questioned, looking into the little bedroom. "Granny, she's not in her room."

"You're right." Snow smiled, the two women spinning around to find the pretty princess wearing a white housecoat sitting at a table set for three. "I made you both supper."

Red grinned and sat down at the table quickly. There was freshly baked bread, a salad, cut up fruit, a little plate of cut up meat, and filled teacups. "Gods, Snow, this is a feast!" Granny sat down beside her and Snow started to dish up the food. "There's enough food to feed everyone in town! What's the occasion?"

Snow continued to dish up the food when Granny took the ladle from her. "Today's my eighteenth birthday." Snow admitted sadly. Eighteen, finally, the year of her promised coronation. Ten years since her mother passed. One since her father passed. Nine months since her stepmother tried to kill her. Six months since she found out she was pregnant. Eighteen was not at all what it was supposed to be. "We should eat before it all cools down."

Granny chewed and thought of the fate of the girls that sat on either side of her. Newfound friends, both of them. One of them was now an adult, the other was still a child. It was only a one year difference between Red and Snow, yet that one year was the difference between the white haired woman raising a girl and a lady. "It's delicious, dear. But if we had known it was your birthday, we would've gotten you something..."

"You guys have given me everything I need." Snow told the kind woman with an undeniable smile. "You've given me a place to stay, you've saved my life, and you're both the best friends I've ever had. I think of you like... like family." Dinner went on and, for the first time in a long time, Granny was glad that there were three chairs at the table.