A/N- Thanks for the follows! You guys ROCK! As always, please review, lemme know what you think of this story. RedBeauty FTW :D
-All mistakes are mine and I don't own OUAT or RedBeauty would be canon
It didn't take much force to get Lucas into her car.
The waitress didn't want to take a chance that he would run from her sight.
She only assured him they wouldn't be going to the Sheriff's station; Ruby too embarrassed to come to Emma with something as crazy sounding as this.
So, after about two hours of her pacing back and forth, wondering what to do, she realized they had to get away from the Diner.
Their car ride was filled with nothing but silence, the boy glancing at the window at the town that had barely changed over the years.
Ruby, however, had a hard time keeping her eyes on the road.
Whenever the car would stop, she'd take a moment to glance at the young man calling himself her son.
He did resemble her.
A lot.
The hair, the long, lanky limbs, even his smile was an exact replica of the waitress.
But to believe in something like this was insane.
Belle French was his other parent? C'mon now, not even Ruby was that gullible. She had befriended the woman, watched as the librarian stood up for her in her time of need.
There was a time where they had even-
Well that didn't matter because she was back, once again, with that idiot Gold.
And Ruby was once more alone.
The vehicle stopped in front of the building she had regretted venturing to, knowing there was only one other person who could help her with this whole situation.
Even if it were past closing time.
Even if there was a slight chance the woman had gone home to her older than dirt boyfriend.
She watched as Lucas practically pushed the door to the car off of its hinges, running to the Library entrance, yet standing still at the closed oak doors.
"You were ready to run in there a minute ago. What happened?" Ruby curiously asked, watching the kid twiddle his thumbs.
"Well...She doesn't know me. And for a second, I guess...I just fell into that routine, you know? I've been here a million times. I'm so used to it. It's different, knowing who you both are, yet you not having a clue as to who I am."
Sighing and rolling her eyes, Ruby grabbed the boy's arm, knocking on the door.
"Listen, kid. You seem really, really smart. So I trust you won't scare the ever-loving-shit out of Belle with this future junk, right? Just please, play it cool. Please."
When the boy nodded, he smiled as the door opened, revealing an extremely exhausted Belle. The Library needed renovations, and there wasn't anyone else who would help her, deeming the idea of reading completely pointless. There was enough the town was busy with anyway.
Ruby had been helping out at one point, but Granny scolded her when she started spending too much of her time over there, and not enough time at the Diner.
"Ruby?" Her eyes quickly shot to the waitress, a soft flush on her cheeks, unnoticed by the darkness.
"What are you doing here so late? I...I know Granny needed that cookbook but I told her I wouldn't have anything sorted until next week."
The taller woman cleared her throat, eyes falling anywhere but the other woman's face, shaking her head. "Well I...I thought you could use someone's assistance...Since, this place is so big...So...I brought you a helper."
She stepped back, revealing Lucas, who couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mother's mouth.
"Aww, well thank you Ruby. You're very sweet. And so are you, um-"
"My name is Lu-"
"Peter. His name is Peter." Ruby quickly shot out, receiving a glare from the boy who claimed to be her son.
"Peter? Nice to meet you. Aren't you a new face in town? I've yet to see you around here."
"Well...I...I don't really like to get out much. I like to stay at home and read when I'm not in school-Ow!" He muttered, feeling a stray boot connect with his foot.
"Belle, he'll be right in so you can show him around. I just want to have a word with the kid before you give him the grand tour."
The woman nodded, sauntering off towards her books, Ruby's gaze hard on her backside.
"What. the hell. were you. thinking?" She said it slow, as if the boy had just jeopardized their entire plan with the way he had spoken to his future mother.
"Me?! What about you? My name is Peter?"
"Well I didn't want her to say anything, since, you know, my last name is Lucas? And c'mon! 'I like to stay at home and read'? Are you sure you're my kid? Because if so, then you are such a mama's boy, and I'm not talking about a relation to me!"
"But I do! And whether you don't like it, or don't believe it, she is my other parent! I don't understand why I can't let myself be known to her?"
"You wanna know why? Because the guy she's with is a snobby little jerk that you specifically said you were trying to protect your girlfriend from! And if he finds out anything about you, well I'm sure we're all royally fucked!"
"First of all, she's not my girlfriend! And how would he find out about me? You obviously are doing such a great job by hiding my identity! Let me volunteer in the very Library my mother works at. No, he'll never find me there."
Lucas rolled his eyes and Ruby had half a mind to slap him.
Were teenagers always this difficult? It had been twenty-eight years, so she wasn't sure she even had a memory of being a normal teenager. The only thing she and Lucas seemed to agree on was being rebellious towards their guardian.
"Ok, look, maybe that wasn't smart on my part. But kid? I can't have you hanging around the Diner. I wouldn't know what to do with you with Granny up my ass 24/7. And quite frankly, I think you should spend time with her. She has no one. She doesn't even have Gold...Dunno if she realizes that or not."
The werewolf cleared her throat, noticing the uncomfortable air from the voicing of her opinions.
"Fine. But you said you were going to leave me in her care? I don't want to stay the night here alone. Can...Can I stay with you? It would probably be better off anyway. You don't want anyone to know I'm here. Mess with the future and all that junk."
There was a glint of hopefulness in his voice, and a groan in hers as she nodded.
"Yeah, sure boy. You can stay with me. Now lets get you inside so you can take the tour of this place. And one more thing."
This time, her tone of voice became dark, and Lucas' ears shot up.
"You are here as a helper. Do not give the imp any reason to go after you. If you see him and he asks why you're doing this, it's for school credit or something. And if he does anything you think is...Well inappropriate, just remember this isn't your time. He can slobber over her as much as he freaking wants."
"Yeah but I'll be there to witness it, not you. Which I'm sure you're happy about."
"Kid...I seriously don't know what you're smoking. Hell, I don't even know why I'm going along with this. But I'm telling you for the hundredth time...There is no way I get together with that woman in there. And...It's because..."
"Because you're afraid, aren't you?"
His words made her senses shoot up, as she glanced into his eyes, daring him to repeat what had just escaped his lips.
"Afraid of what?" She spat, though there was a feeling in the pit of her stomach that knew exactly what he was going to say.
"Of Gold. Of what he could do to you. To my Mom. To Granny. You raised me to protect those I care about. Though you never let me do any of the protecting. I think it's because you still can't let go of the fact that you won't lose anyone. You and Mom are very secretive about parts of your past. There are locked doors I don't know about. Especially pertaining to you."
Ruby gulped, glancing at the Library doors, trying to hastily make this conversation end.
"C'mon. It's late, and I'm sure Belle wants to go home. I'll be waiting in the car, all right?"
He didn't have to be told twice, rushing inside towards a place he had never known; never experienced since it had changed so much in so many years.
Sitting inside her car, as she said she would, the werewolf's face was buried inside her hands as she sobbed.
The boy had really hit a soft spot, and she knew if all of this were in fact true why he hadn't been told of her past, or why they had his middle name dubbed Peter.
If this were true, and he had come back, then Rumpelstiltskin was probably more frightening in the future than he had ever been during this time.
Her protective side started to get the better of her, and so Ruby decided to put aside the probability of this blowing up in her face later.
Right now, she had a boy who needed her help and a woman who needed protecting.
...Peter...
"Wow!" Lucas' eyes marveled at the collection of books upon books. There weren't any upgrades performed yet, so nothing had been transferred to the internet, nor had there been an extra building for education purposes.
The building was just one giant mass of literature. Something he had enjoyed his whole life.
"I take it you've never been inside a Library this wonderful before, have you?" Belle's eyes glanced upon the form of her helper, how his jaw was slightly slack in awe from the sight before him.
"It's...It's really amazing M-Ma'am." He let out a giant exhale, catching himself quickly before that sentence continued.
"Please, call me Belle. Or if you're more formal, Miss French is fine. Regina does it all the time. Has yet to bother me."
"Belle." The boy tried the name out on his lips, and for a moment the Librarian could see a wave of sadness etched upon his features; but she shook it past her, thinking it was probably nothing.
"So, Peter, you seem like the only other person in this whole town who loves to read as much as I do. And yet, I've never seen you before. Where have you been hiding all this time?"
Ruby was right.
He was a mama's boy.
Lying to her had seemed like something he never thought he'd be doing in a million years. He had always promised her the truth, and it had resulted in a special bond between them.
But this wasn't his true mother.
This wasn't the woman who had showed him magical places in worlds written upon paper.
Nor was it the woman who picked him up and soothed him when he hurt himself playing around in the yard as a child.
Or the woman who showed him that he could be brave; he could be courageous, and he should believe in himself, like the heroes he had grown up worshiping in his books.
This wasn't the parent who had stood there and listened as he nervously confessed who he wanted to ask to the dance; nor was it the woman who encouraged him to do so, having a similar memory as to what his heart was feeling.
This wasn't his Mom. His Belle.
So he lied.
"I'm extremely busy with school. When I get home, there's too many chores to do, so I usually stay home and read until bed. Then I get up and do it all over again the next day. But since I'm on a bit of a vacation, I decided to put my time to better use."
He must have done something right, because after that, she seemed to nod her head in understanding.
"Trust me I appreciate all the help I can get. This place has been cleaned up for the most part, but there's still so much organizing to do. And it takes quite a bit of time for one person, so I'm happy to have you on board."
"I'm happy to be of help Miss French."
"Well, it really is getting late. And I should be going home. Plus, I know Ruby is probably wondering where you are if she's your ride. I'll see you tomorrow."
With that, Lucas walked outside to where his mother was sitting in the car, her eyes looked red and glassy.
"Hey, Ma, are you all right?" He asked, a look of worry upon his face.
"Yeah, kid. I'm fine. C'mon. Let's get you to the Diner. You have a pretty big day ahead of you tomorrow."
"Ma?"
"Yeah?"
"I know you probably don't think any of this is real, but...thank you."
The waitress nodded her head. "Kid, before you came in my life, I was Red. Then Ruby. Now I'm supposed to be Mrs. French? Every time I manage to find out something about myself and become content with it, it changes. So I'll play along with your little game. See where the change gets me. Guess if this is all some sick joke, I'm going to find out anyway."
"Well it's not. I promise you that. Hey, can I meet Granny? You tell the best stories about her."
"Do I? Well I suppose we could tell her what's going on. She doesn't have a big mouth, and she is family."
His smile mirrored the ones she had often given to those she cared about.
And as each moment passed, whether in silence or conversation, she was starting to see things about him she hadn't noticed when they first met.
Maybe, just maybe, this kid was something more than just a thorn in her side.
He was running, fast.
Heart about to explode in his chest, eyes wide at unfamiliar territory.
Where was he?
He wasn't aware of much, only that snow had been piled on the ground.
This vision...this place...he'd seen it before.
He'd seen her before.
Eyes green as the last leaves on the dying shrubs, hair darker than the mountains, and a cloak, blood red.
She was worried, her face spelled it all.
Her companion seemed to be consoling her, hand rubbing up and down her back.
The woman was beautiful; with lips red as a rose, hair black as ebony, and skin white as snow.
"I know you want to protect him. If he'll listen to anyone, believe anyone, it's you."
"You think I can save him?" The cloaked woman's voice wavered, the ebony haired woman noticing how close she was to tears.
A warm smile in the darkness. "I think you can save everyone."
And in that flash of a second, He was somewhere else, a different scene in time.
The man in front of His vision looked calm, but his voice held a panicked whisper.
"You think this wolf man is me? Red, you know me."
"I know its not you...But...Maybe it's using your body?"
"Red...I can't keep hurting people. I can't hurt the ones I love. And if I hurt you? I would never be able to forgive myself."
"...The full moon nights. We can chain you, that way you can't break free. I won't let anything happen to you."
He leaned in to kiss her softly, agreeing with her plan. It had to work.
A different time now.
He heard the same male voice, but this time, it was screaming; pleading in terror.
"Red! Stop! It's me, Peter! This isn't you!"
A single tear rolled down the wolf's cheek, its lips pulled back to a snarl as it approached the man.
And then, it pounced...
Lucas heard the pounding of footsteps against the wooden floor, someone coming to check up on his now screaming form.
He was shaking, his heart racing as sweat caressed every pore on his body.
Ruby was the first one to arrive, pushing the door to what would've been Belle's room open, before she heard the voice of the second occupant.
"What the hell is going on in here?!"
Shit! Shit! Shit! This wasn't how Ruby wanted Granny to meet her great-grandson.
"Granny...It's..."
"A boy? When the hell did he get here?" She paused to study him for a moment. "There's no way you're doing anything like that with this boy. He's far too young for any of your games."
"Granny...Not now." She turned towards her son and raised her eyebrow at the disheveled form.
"What happened to you?"
"I...I had a nightmare, that's all. It's nothing." He didn't want to reveal who he saw. The images burned into his mind, but admitting them would make it all real.
"Nothing? Child, you're shaking like someone scared the piss out of you." Granny walked over to the boy, sitting next to him on the bed and pressing a cool hand to his sweaty forehead.
"You'll be all right. Ruby used to get night terrors too, when she was young." It was then her eyes washed over his face, and she raised an eyebrow.
"Boy, you really need to fix up that hair. You must be what? Fifteen? Sixteen? I thought so. A young man shouldn't look like he's ready to party. A young man should be ready to protect and defend."
"Granny, must you really chastise him like that? He looks like he's ready to fall over and die from fright."
"All right, all right. Ruby, we need to get him a glass of water. C'mon. Let him rest up a bit."
Granny was the last one to leave, closing the door behind her. "So, there's only one question I have. I don't care who he is. All I would like to know is why in blazes is there a teenage boy in our spare room-"
"Granny," Ruby interrupted, "I can explain..."
But the woman held up a hand to stop her.
"I'm not done. Why is there a teenage boy in our spare room that looks just like you?"
Ruby was taken aback for a moment, letting out a sigh of defeat.
"Because he's my son."
The elder woman's eyes quickly widened as she glanced at Ruby's stomach.
"Are you crazy? When the hell have you ever been pregnant?"
"I wasn't...Um...Belle was...You see...He's come back here, from the future. He's...Something happened in his time. And he's here to protect his girlfriend. Though she's not his girlfriend so he says. I think it's a load of cra-"
"Ruby, focus. First off, how is Belle his mother? I guess I can see it in the eyes, but...The future thing? Have you been raiding my liquor cabinets again?"
"No! Look!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out Granny's ring. The older woman quickly smacked her upside the head.
"Are you stealing from me?"
"No! The kid had it! Granny, this is your ring, but look at it! It looks even more worn out than the one you have! He said I gave it to him..."
"Oh." She knew the only way the young man would have the ring is if she willed it to him through his mother; through Ruby.
There was a somber sense in the room as the elder woman's head bowed for a moment.
"Granny...I love you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that I've been nothing but a failure to you...You of all people...You've been more of a parent to me than anyone. And I know I never say it, but...I want you to know that."
The elder woman embraced her granddaughter, a smile on her face.
"It'll be all right, Red. Listen, I want to meet him. I have a feeling he wants to meet me too. But promise me something?"
Ruby smiled, hand on her grandmother's shoulder.
"Anything."
"Take those damn streaks out of his hair. He looks like you when we first got here."
"Granny!" And with that, she followed back into the room.
"What's your name, boy?" Granny asked, intrigued at nearly everything her great-grandson had to say.
Oh, he was family all right. She could tell. Her wolf sense, and her heart could feel it.
"Lucas. Please, no one else can know I'm here." He started to show his nervousness, the terror of his mother turning into a wolf and attacking a man still had him on edge.
"We're not going to tell anyone, kid. Don't worry." Ruby swore, holding his hand in a protective manner.
"I have to find her. I have to find Charlotte. She needs me to protect her."
"Apparently this dream was worse than I thought. You're fidgeting around like a bunny rabbit. What did you see?"
Granny had seen it before.
He had practically lived through an event so traumatic, he was still living it, adrenaline pumping through his veins.
"I saw...Ma, I saw you...You turned into a wolf."
"What? Lucas don't you know-"
But Granny stopped her.
"You've never seen that before, have you? Know anything about a wolf in your time?"
"There's a wolf in Storybrooke, but...I have yet to see it."
"Ah, just as I suspected. It's all right, child. You don't have to worry about your mother or wolves anymore. But that man, Mr. Gold, I'd advise you to stay away from him. He's dangerous, Lucas. He won't have a problem capturing you and hurting the ones in this time that you love dearly."
"Ruby tells me you're volunteering at the Library? That means you're going to need all of the rest you can get. C'mon, back to bed. Here. This should help you sleep. "
Taking the ring poised around the chain Lucas had brought with him, Granny placed it over his neck, kissing his temple.
"You'll be all right. You're part of our family. There's no doubt about that."
When she walked outside again, pulling the switch down to turn the light off, a whisper escaped the elder woman's lips.
"He doesn't know. I wonder why. I wonder what keeping such an important secret will do to this boy in the future. I don't know if you should tell him. I don't know if the parent of his time wants him to know. But I would like to know why she failed to mention anything."
"I don't know. She's not me. All I know about future me from that boy is that I'm extremely protective. I must've started acting like that when..." And with that thought, she tried to escape Granny's gaze.
"Listen...Red...We don't know when. We don't know how. But you have this amazing son that was somehow brought to you. I mean, for a moment there, if it weren't for the looks I wouldn't imagine him to be your child. He seems so smart!"
A chuckle escaped into the air, as well as a roll of the wolf's eyes.
"No matter what happens, I will always love you." A smile formed itself upon the younger woman's face as a hand caressed her cheek.
"Granny? Aren't you a bit shocked? I mean...About who his other parent is?"
"Yes. The fact that Belle is his other parent, let alone Mother, is something that truly terrifies me."
"Because she's a woman?"
"No. Because she's Rumplestiltskin's woman..."
"But he doesn't own her!" She all but screamed the same thing she had been repeating for a while now.
"Don't raise your voice. And it doesn't matter. He can have anything he wants with the dark magic that surrounds him. The fact that you're her True Love and not him is something that perplexes me as well. He always made it seem like he was the only one she would ever have in her life. But that's different now. Speaking of Belle, did she meet Lucas?"
"Erm...Yes and no." The waitress' gaze soon fell to the floor, feeling a scolding look upon her.
"What do you mean 'yes and no'? Did she meet him or not?"
"Ok, she did. She met him. But under the guise of someone else. Lucas' middle name is Peter, go figure, so we used that alias...and I kind of told her that he was there to help her out at the Library. So...she's met him, but she doesn't know he's her son."
"Oh Ruby. You need to tell her."
"Granny, I can't. If I do and that imp finds out, he's bound to snap. And if he does, he will probably keep Belle from ever seeing the outside of his house again, as well as try to use Lucas to connect to the future somehow. I can't let that happen."
"Snow always thought you could save anyone, didn't she? Maybe you need to take a look at your protecting in a different angle? Instead of fighting the ones who attack those you love, why not shield the ones you are protecting instead?"
"It's...It's always so easy to just attack...To protect them while putting myself in danger."
"Maybe it's not what he needs right now. Maybe he needs more than just a protector, Ruby. I want you to remember something...I may have never said this before, but looking at him lets me know that I probably should have..."
The elder woman took a deep breath, a single tear making itself present.
Ruby was sure she had never seen Granny cry before.
"I know you're going to want to interrupt me, but don't. Please. Listen."
There was a pause in the air, more like a chill than anything else.
"What happened to Peter is not your fault, Ruby. It's mine. I should've told you about the wolf. But I tried my hardest to protect you from everything. I didn't think you would have benefited from knowing anything. I thought I was keeping you from pain, and I only managed to cause it. Please...Do not let this boy suffer for the mistakes I've made. You can't protect everyone. And he knows he can't...But to shield him? If this boy is here, and he really is from a future where you and Belle are together, then I do believe you will have him in your life in our time."
Ruby struggled to wipe the tears from her eyes, her vision of her grandmother blurring with every word the woman managed to speak.
"Protect him, but let him know what it's like to protect others. Teach him what its like to be someone who can be relied on. He made it seem like you had him caged up. And I know you wouldn't want anything happening to him, but if I never had let you go...You wouldn't be this amazing and strong woman that I've raised."
She grabbed the girl in for a hug, feeling the tears stain her shoulder.
"Now, you need to get to sleep. I'm not letting you get away with sleeping in, even if this ordeal is going on. And you need to take Lucas to see Belle tomorrow. Don't forget, you can't keep her in the dark for long..."
"I know, Granny. And thank you. I love you."
"I love you too, Red."
And with that, she walked back into her room, the elder woman's words echoing in her head.
It's not your fault...
For the first time in years, even since the curse had broken, Ruby was finally able to sleep without a single nightmare plaguing her mind.
