And this shall be all, folks! BlueStar77, my proverbial hat off to you for your insightful reviews, and Ava1980,your comments make me smile loads, as well! Thank you both! :)
At BlueStar77's request, this one shall include a (hopefully amusing) cameo from Granny, and then shall wrap. Feel free to review or inbox me any plot bunnies for a later story!
Thank you for reading!
"That girl!" the woman growled in frustration at the phone, which had gone, for about the seventh time that morning, to her granddaughter's voicemail. "Hey, it's Ruby. I obviously can't pick up now, but leave a message or text me and we'll talk soon!"
"Text me," Granny murmured in a slightly falsetto voice to herself as she double-dutied between the kitchen and waiting tables, "ladies' night" at The Rabbit Hole always depriving her of women workers the next morning. By mid-afternoon, they'd roll in, waxing apologetic about the stomach virus, family emergency, or broken alarm clock that she knew never actually existed.
If pressed, she would reveal that she wasn't actually angry with her granddaughter: to the contrary, now that they all remembered their pasts, she was extremely pleased and grateful that Red was coping so well with feeling responsible for Peter's brutal death and now - thanks to that wretched King George, whom she'd sooner turn out of her shop, arrow lodged firmly in his ass, than she'd even shoo away the Evil Queen herself - Billy's frame-job murder.
It was nice to watch her granddaughter have real friends, a lover, becoming truly comfortable in herself for the first time since... oh, since before her father had died. It was wonderful that Ruby was happy: but not on the diner's time!
"Ah, Snow," Granny looked up, frazzled, as the woman walked into the restaurant, looking for all the world like she had just seen a ghost. Several, in fact.
Granny slid several plates gracefully onto two different tables - old as hell, and still got it, she thought to herself, satisfied - as she lifted her head to glance at the woman alongside whom she had once fought in a war.
"You haven't got a notion where that granddaughter of mine is, would you? I've been calling her to come in for an extra shift - we're short this morning - and she's not picking up that damned phone of hers."
Snow jumped slightly at the older woman's question.
"Granny," she leaned across the bar as though the older woman hadn't asked her a thing, "I know you're busy, but when you get a chance, can you bring me a scotch, please?"
Granny paused in her perpetual motion, one hand reaching for an order slip and the other holding a plate of fries. She focused in on Snow and peered at her intently.
"What's gotten into you, girl? Is everything alright?"
Her finger itched for her crossbow instinctively, and took comfort in knowing it was right under the counter. The older woman ran her hand apologetically across Snow's slumped shoulder as the younger woman collapsed into a bar seat and Granny dropped off the fries to table four.
She returned surprisingly quickly with Snow's scotch, a concerned look in her eyes. "Now, tell me, Snow. What - " she paused as she drew breath near to Snow's face. Her wolfish senses tingled. Her eyes flew open. "You've been around my Red! Is she alright? Why are you so - "
"Yes, yes, Granny, she's - she's fine, please, don't worry," Snow murmured absently, taking a long swig from her drink.
Granny sniffed again, subtly, her nostrils flaring and trying to block out the scent of Snow's liquor and various foodie scents wafting from the kitchen.
The scent of new books and fresh lavender. That would be Belle. No surprises there: she wouldn't be surprised if Red never got the scent of that woman off of her. Children's shampoo, that would be Henry. Again, no surprise there, as Snow often spent time with the boy. Apples, cinnamon, a hint of peppermint, and vanilla, with an intoxicating twist of cider and sex... No. No, no, no, no, no. The four of them didn't - Red wouldn't - oh, yes, she would - but how did Henry get into the picture?
Realization dawned on her face. She shook her head slowly, images she truly did not need flooding unbidden into her mind.
"Snow." Granny demanded an explanation with a single word, as though it had been the younger woman's responsibility to anticipate this and do everything in her power to prevent its occurrence.
"Everything you're thinking is true." The woman was clearly in some agony, with only a trace of amusement, deep, deep, deep under the surface. "My daughter, the Evil Queen, your granddaughter, and the new girl in town. Which I particularly don't understand, considering Regina locked her up for twenty-eight years!" Snow's voice had started soft, murmuring, slightly slurred with the rapidity with which she'd downed the scotch, swiftly growing higher pitched, louder, and more full of self-righteously parental disbelief with every syllable that tumbled out of her mouth.
Granny simply stared at the girl, now a woman, she had once taken in as her own.
"So," she began, skillfully ignoring the calls for her attention from the kitchen. "My granddaughter, her girlfriend, your daughter, and her girlfriend - ooh, that's still such a doozy, isn't it? - got it on this morning. And I take it you had the distinct - ah - displeasure of - "
Snow held up her hand, yet again, in her now classic "we were cursed" position, cutting the older woman off. "Granny!" She was almost shrill, and Granny suppressed a very Ruby-like grin. "Must you rub it in?"
"Well, it seems our girls have been rather taking care of that department, wouldn't you?"
"Ugh!" Snow half-screamed, alarming half of Granny's customers and deeply amusing the rest. "Granny, whose side are you on?!" She was almost petulant, and Granny found herself amused.
"Only the side of love, my dear," Granny smirked as she refilled Snow's glass and got up to settle the storm in the kitchen. "You might want to drink that fast, girl," she called over her shoulder. "The motley crew from Sextown seems to be on their way." She sniffed the air matter of factly. "With Henry in tow, it seems. For the sake of the boy, I do hope he's taking this better than his grandmother!" She winked almost salaciously at Snow, who blanched.
"This doesn't..." Snow glanced around her cautiously, lowering her voice as she drunkenly deciding to follow Granny around as she delivered her orders, "this doesn't disturb you?"
"Oh, Snow," Granny said dismissively, too casually for Snow to quite believe her ears, "a bit of healthy sex never hurt anyone. Even if it does make that girl not answer her phone. Still, I'd rather her be indulging herself than be in a bloody row with that damnable George, wouldn't you? Anyway, surely you must have noticed that when your daughter started giving it to the Evil Queen, she wasn't quite so evil anymore?"
"Granny!" was all Snow had time to yelp before the women the two had just been discussing - as Granny had predicted, with Henry in tow - bustled through the door, laughing hard at something Regina had said, Henry doubled over with pleasure to see his mom so happy with people other than him and Emma.
The four stopped cold as they noticed Snow, only Henry still laughing as the color drained from Emma's face.
"You uh," she began, "you left, Sn - Mom. Wanna... um... and Henry wasn't in the mood for cereal, so...uh... wanna get something to eat with us?"
Snow looked quite like she'd forgotten to breathe as Granny casually helped her granddaughter swing two tables together to accommodate the six of them. She could work extra today if it meant seeing Ruby this genuinely happy again. The girl would make up for it on her next shift, anyway.
"In and out, dear, it's really not so difficult," Regina addressed Snow, not unkindly, pulling out a seat graciously and gesturing Snow towards it.
"That's what she said basically all night," Belle murmured into Emma, whose cheeks had never quite reddened so deeply. Granny chortled, her wolfish senses having enabled her to catch the snarky remark. She liked the bite this girl had: it was good for Red that her girlfriend was so bold and sharp. And hot.
Snow blinked at Regina as Granny steered her lightly into the chair.
"You want to share some chocolate chip pancakes with me, Grandma?" Henry asked eagerly, thinking maybe Snow was just hungry. He knew he never functioned well when he was hungry, so maybe she was the same.
Snow jumped slightly. "Oh, no, darling, you order your own. I'm just... I'm just going to have some water," she almost squeaked.
"A lot of it, please, Granny," Emma murmured, noticing Snow's lack of focus and knowing what it was the result of, as the elder woman shooed Ruby - who had been about to go into the kitchen to help out - back into her seat.
Before too awkward of a silence could develop, Jefferson and Michael walked in - perfect timing - with their kids in tow, and Henry promptly kissed both his mothers, bid the rest of the women good bye, and ditched them for his friends.
The silence rose again, Belle constantly trying not to giggle as Emma determinedly avoided eye contact with her mother.
"Snow," Regina began, and all four women sat up a little straighter, geared for a confrontation. "Henry tells me that many of the children, now familiar with their true origins, are interested in horseback riding lessons. Emma and I have been trying to convince their parents to let them take lessons with me, and I..." Emma watched pain flit across her face as she thought of all the associations she had with that bitch and horses, but knew - for her, for Henry, and for Daniel (who probably never would have wanted revenge anyway, the new lovers had concluded in one particularly painful evening of talking together) - that she desperately wanted to be cordial with the woman who was once the girl who broken her trust and destroyed her life, "... Well, I was wondering if perhaps you would like to instruct them with me. To assure parents that their children will come under no harm, if nothing else. I would, of course, be the lead instructor."
Emma smiled at her napkin, knowing Regina couldn't resist the last gibe.
Snow spluttered on her water. She felt Granny's appraising eyes on her pixie-cut from the kitchen.
There was a long pause in which Belle and Ruby grasped hands tightly under the table, glancing between rivals, saucer-eyed. The whole diner seemed to hold its breath.
"You cast some sort of spell to make sure I never walk in on you and my daughter - " she shot a mock-death glare at Ruby - "or my best friend again, and I'll start thinking about lesson plans." She inclined her head almost regally, a gesture she had learned from Regina. The older woman returned it.
It freaked Emma out, but she was glad for it nonetheless, and squeezed Regina's hand under the table.
Belle leaned into the table, addressing her whisper to Regina, but knowing full well the rest of the table could - and definitely would - hear it. "She didn't say she couldn't walk in on you and me, Regina: I'd say that has possibilities, wouldn't you?"
A napkin, water, scotch, a random french fry, and a splash of ketchup flew Belle's way as the table erupted in yells and laughter. Granny smirked in satisfaction as she grabbed a wet towel, extra t-shirt, and a new scotch for Snow - god knew she needed it - and thought with loving relish about having her darling Red clean up the mess she so happily helped make.
