a/n: Sorry for the wait on this chapter. I wanted to post this chapter at the same time as the next chapter so you wouldn't have to wait to see what Emma really thinks about the conversation with Snow and David. I hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you think.

Chapter 10

Ruby POV

I was nervous as hell on the drive to Snow and David's apartment. I knew how easily this could go badly, but I had to hope that neither Snow nor David would completely lose their cool over this revelation. Panic raced down my spine when Regina pulled the car into a parking spot in front of the building.

Henry jumped out of the car, either not worried about the coming discussion, or just wanting to get away from the heavy tension his mothers and I were radiating. Regina glanced back at me in the mirror and I tried to give her an encouraging smile, but I'm pretty sure that it came out as more of a grimace. She turned to Emma and said, "Shall we get this over with, darling?"

Emma let out a long sigh and nodded, "Yeah, let's go."

I took a deep steadying breath and opened my door. It seemed to act as a signal for the women in the front seat and we all climbed out of Regina's Mercedes. Henry just gave us an impatient frown from the building's entrance before he slipped inside, not waiting for us to catch up. I reached the door first and held it open for Emma and Regina, letting them take the lead going upstairs so that I wouldn't have to face Snow and Charming first.

As she passed me, Regina let her fingers trail across my stomach. It was a simple enough display of affection, but it immediately soothed some of my panic and brought a genuine smile to my lips. She glanced back and returned my smile as we started up the steps.

The apartment door was already open by the time we reached it, and we got to the landing in time to see Henry disappearing past Snow into the apartment. She turned a wide smile on us in greeting, but the look quickly faded into confusion when she noticed me behind Emma and Regina. "Ruby, I wasn't expecting you tonight. Did you need something?" Snow asked curiously.

I blinked, not sure how to respond because I had assumed that Emma would have mentioned that I would be joining them. I turned to my blonde friend who sheepishly shrugged at me before she said, "Actually, I invited her for dinner, Mom. There are some things we wanted to tell you and thought it might be easier to talk about tonight. Sorry that I forgot to tell you."

"Oh, well, that's okay. I thought it would just be family tonight, but you're always welcome Ruby," Snow said sweetly.

I fought not to visibly wince at the passive-aggressive statement and gave her a weak smile as I replied, "Thanks, Snow." It was difficult not to remember that for a long time, Snow and Granny were the only family I'd had after killing my mother. It hurt to be reminded that she obviously didn't consider me to be a part of her family now that she had a husband, daughter, and grandson.

"Sure, you all may as well come in. Dinner will be ready in about half an hour, so we have some time to talk before we eat," she said, stepping back to let us into the apartment. Regina's hand found mine and she gave it a quick squeeze that eased some of the heartache of Snow's statement.

When we walked into the apartment, Charming looked up from where he was sitting with baby Neal to broadly smile at us. "Hey, Ruby, I didn't know you were coming tonight," he said warmly.

"Hi, David. Yeah, Emma invited me because we have something to tell you guys," I replied, quickly moving towards him. He and I had gotten closer after the curse broke when he helped me regain control of my wolf and I felt somewhat steadier with a little distance between my judgmental friend and myself.

"Henry, would you mind taking Neal into the other room for a little while so we can talk to Snow and David?" Regina asked, taking control of the situation before Snow could start asking questions.

"Sure," Henry agreed quickly and I wondered if he wanted to escape from the situation.

"Thanks, kid," Emma said with a nervous smile at her son.

Once Henry and Neal had escaped upstairs, Regina took a seat at the table and Emma and I quickly sat on either side of her, leaving Snow and David to sit across from us. Snow was slightly frowning in her confusion over the current events and David just looked curious. I looked down; idly tracing the wood grain of the table as I silently prayed that either Emma or Regina would start the conversation.

After a minute of silence, Snow eventually asked, "What did you need to tell us? Did something happen?"

Emma let out a heavy sigh and said, "Yeah, something's happened. But it's not anything bad. We're just not certain how you're going to react. So, can you just hear us out before you say anything?"

"Oh, Emma, you can tell us anything, you know that," Snow said encouragingly.

I glanced up and saw Emma draw in a deep breath and hesitate again. Regina huffed impatiently and reached out for Emma's hand. Emma grabbed onto it like a lifeline, her knuckles turning white with how tightly she was gripping Regina's fingers. My mate didn't comment on Emma's reaction as she turned and held out her hand for me. I met her eyes and only saw confident assurance in them and I took her offered hand. As soon as my fingers touched hers, warmth flooded me, easing my tension and I smiled reflexively.

Regina returned my smile before she turned to Snow and David and stated, "When Emma and I shared True Love's kiss, Fate decided to also choose me to be Ruby's mate. We have decided not to fight Fate and the three of us have decided to be in a polyamorous relationship."

David looked too stunned to speak, but Snow immediately shrieked, "What?"

"Regina and I are involved with Ruby," Emma said flatly and I tried to hide my shock that she had implied that she was also involved with me, while I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to the idea; we'd never had that kind of friendship or talked about exploring that.

Snow's face went blank as she looked at us each in turn before a brittle smile graced her lips and she said, "Emma, I need to speak with you, privately."

"No," Emma immediately stated. "I know what you are going to say and it doesn't matter. We are not in the Enchanted Forest. I am not a princess. And in this world, consenting adults can do what they like with each other."

Pain filled Snow's eyes and her voice turned quiet and imploring as she asked, "But what about Henry? Have you given any thought to how confusing this must be for him?"

Regina tensed. "Do not use our son as an emotional weapon against us," she warned dangerously.

Snow looked affronted as she replied, "I wouldn't use Henry. I just wanted to make sure you've thought about how strange and wrong this must seem to him."

Recognizing the passive aggression in my old friend's tone, I decided to speak up. I leaned forward and softly said, "Snow, you know how long I've been alone. Don't you want me to have a chance at being happy? Of not having to swallow my loneliness as I watch all of my friends find their true loves?"

Guilt immediately filled her eyes and she shook her head, "Of course not, Ruby. You deserve to be happy, but Emma's already found her True Love and I just don't see how you could intrude on that."

I jerked back as if I'd been slapped. Regina's hand tightened on my own and Emma stood up and moved to stand behind me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I can't believe you just said that," Emma said, sounding disgusted. "First off, Ruby's not intruding. We all care about her and are happy to include her in our family. Secondly, there is nothing wrong or strange about polyamorous relationships. So get your head out of your ass and accept that you live in Maine and learn something about life outside of this town. And last, but certainly not least, if you want to know what Henry thinks about this, then ask him. But don't think for a second that he's as closed minded or bigoted as you apparently are."

Snow blinked rapidly as she tried to process her daughter's rant, and silence fell again as we waited for her reaction. Finally, she clenched her jaw and after glancing at a still shocked David, she stood and leaned across the table. Ignoring me and Regina, she gave Emma a wide-eyed imploring look as she pleadingly said, "But, Emma I just want you to be happy, and I don't see how this can possibly make you happy."

Emma swallowed hard, closing her eyes for a moment before she said, "You don't have to get it, Mom. But this is happening, with or without your approval. So, either accept that we're writing a new kind of happy ending and be happy for us, or if you can't let go of your petty prejudices, then you will lose me again, because I sure as hell don't need to deal with this kind of bigotry again. I promised myself that I was done with that when I walked out of my last foster home."

I clenched my jaw in irritation. I had no idea that Emma had needed to deal with something like this before. I glanced at Regina and saw that she hadn't been surprised by Emma's revelation. But she didn't look at me; all of her attention was focused on Snow. When I turned back to my oldest friend, I saw that she had tears in her eyes. Whether they were tears of regret or frustration, I couldn't be sure until she spoke again.

"No, Emma, this is unacceptable. I was willing to overlook you being with a woman because you found True Love. But this is unnatural, and I won't allow you to entertain such a ridiculous notion. How will this look to the town? You are the Savior and you are royalty, everyone looks to you to set a Good example, it's time you start acting like it," Snow snapped out.

I pushed up from my chair and growled, "It's time you grow up, Snow. Emma is not a rebellious teenager that you can order around. You have no say in our relationship and you should know better than anyone how far I am willing to go to protect my family from any threats."

Charming finally got over his shock and stood. He clenched his jaw and said, "Don't threaten my wife, Ruby."

I bared my teeth in warning at him, but Regina gripped my arm in a calming gesture and slowly stood. With a hard, icy tone she warned, "If you try to interfere in my relationship with either my True Love or my mate, I will destroy you. This is our happy ending and I will not let you ruin it. We have all fought too long and too hard and endured too much to risk our happiness now."

Snow and Regina stared each other down, while David glared at me. Emma was the first to break the thick silence, and I could hear the heartbreak in her voice as she quietly said, "Regina, Ruby, just let it go. Threats don't work on bigots, you can only walk away. Let's just get Henry and have our own family dinner at home."

"But, Emma—" Snow began.

Emma cut her off coldly, "No, Mary Margaret. There is nothing that you can say right now that I will believe enough to make me stay in this apartment a second longer than necessary. I'm sorry that you can't accept this, accept me. But, I'm not sorry enough to put myself through this bullshit." She didn't even spare a glance to see her mother's face crumple as she turned and walked to the bottom of the steps and yelled, "Henry, come down here. We're leaving."

When David started to move towards his daughter, I let out a low warning growl and he froze. I stayed where I was as Henry came downstairs, his face a mask of worried confusion, and Regina moved to Emma's side to greet him. "What's going on? Why are we leaving?" he asked.

"We're leaving because Snow and David don't want us here, sweetheart," Regina gently said.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't they want us here?" he asked, obviously confused.

Regina carefully took Neal from her son and said, "They don't want to support our relationship with Ruby." As she moved to give the baby to David, I swiftly closed the distance to stand at her side, unable and unwilling to let her get within reach of him without me. She lifted an eyebrow at me, but didn't comment.

"This is stupid," Henry said and moved around Emma to face his grandparents. "Why don't you want to support their relationship? Ruby makes my mom happy. What's wrong with that?"

"It's unnatural, Henry. It can never work and someone's going to get hurt. Let alone what everyone will think when they find out," Snow said in a patronizing tone.

"You're wrong. This is our happy ending, so it's got to work. And who cares what anyone else thinks," Henry scoffed.

"You're too young to understand, Henry. But this is wrong and Emma and Regina should know better than to expose you to this kind of unnatural behavior," she argued condescendingly.

I snarled, taking a step towards the woman I used to be able to tell anything to, and now I could only look at with disgust. Regina gripped my arm, holding me back as she said, "Let it go, mate. It's not worth the trouble."

I clenched my jaw, wanting to lash out in response to the hateful words Snow had said, but deep down I knew that Regina was right. From behind me I heard Emma say, "Come on, Henry, let's go. You'll never be able to reason with them."

I heard a heavy sigh from Henry and then he and Emma moved towards the door. Once it was open, I let Regina pull me away. Just before we left, I paused long enough to growl, "I never thought I'd see the day that Snow White would become the epitome of everything she hated in the world, and make me regret everything I've done for her." I didn't wait for a response as I spun and followed the rest of my family out the door, slamming it behind me.

The car ride back to the mansion was silent except for the occasional sniffle coming from Henry. Emma seemed to have retreated into her thoughts or memories, Regina drove with a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel and I silently seethed, unwilling to let myself feel the heartbreak of Snow and David's rejection. When we got back to the house, Henry immediately sprinted up the stairs to his bedroom, while Emma moved almost mechanically into the house and headed straight for the liquor in the sitting room. Regina looked torn between following her son and her True Love. As soon as Henry's door closed behind him, I could hear the damn break as he began crying.

"Go, take care of Henry, I've got Emma," I told Regina gently. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked like she was about to protest and I cut her off before she could speak. "He's crying and needs you. Emma and I will still be here when you come back down."

I could see the pain in her eyes as she glanced up towards the second floor. She met my eyes long enough to say a heartfelt, "Thank you, dear." Then she quickly disappeared up the stairs.

I watched her until she was out of sight and then drew in a deep breath before I followed Emma. She was staring out the window, a full tumbler of whisky in her hand, and I took the time to pour myself a shot and down it before I approached her. "Em, I'm sorry. I thought she would be hesitant, but I never thought she'd do that," I said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Emma didn't move, continuing to stare out the window as she emotionlessly stated, "Me either. But I can't say I'm surprised. She never really showed it, but I knew she had a hard time accepting Regina and I when we got together." She finally turned to meet my gaze with dull eyes and added, "It doesn't really matter. I lived the first 28 years of my life without parents; I don't need them in my life now."

My breath caught at the sound of utter defeat in her voice, and I couldn't hold back my own pain anymore. Tears welled in my eyes but I ignored them as I said, "I'm sorry, this is all my fault. You and Regina could have been happy without me coming in and fucking up your life. And you would still have the love and support of your parents. I never should have let this happen; I always ruin every relationship I try to have with someone. God, why haven't I learned my lesson?" By the end of my rant, I was more talking to myself than Emma and I didn't even realize that my tears had started falling until Emma brushed them away.

"Hey, stop Ruby. It's not your fault. I don't blame you for the way they reacted," she stated, cupping my cheeks and forcing me to look into her eyes.

I shook my head and stepped back, "No, Emma, you don't understand, this is my fault. I'm the one who invaded your relationship. I mean you guys had everything and then I stepped in, and now it's falling apart."

Emma closed the distance between us and determinedly said, "Nothing's falling apart, Rubes. You can't take the blame for the way Mary Margaret and David reacted. That's not your fault. It's theirs, and quite frankly, I'd rather learn they're bigots before we brought any more kids into the world." She cupped my cheek again, brushing away my fresh tears and gave me a half smile. "You're part of our family now. I don't regret that. In fact, you brought something to our family that we hadn't even known was missing. So, I want to thank you for not running when you found out that Regina was supposed to be your mate, and thank you for allowing Henry and I to be a part of your family. No matter what happens next with my parents, in my gut I know that this, all of us together, is right. It was supposed to happen, so don't run away now at the first sign of real trouble."

I swallowed hard past the lump in my throat and searched her eyes. They had cleared from the dull resignation into passionate determination. I nodded and thickly said, "Okay, I'll stay. We'll face this together."

Emma smiled sadly and leaned in to softly press her lips against mine. It wasn't a passionate kiss born out of lust and desire, but it still had warmth spreading through me, driving away my heartache. "Thank you," she said softly, resting her forehead against mine.

"No, Emma. Thank you, that was exactly what I needed," I replied just as softly.

Two sets of warm arms wrapped around us as Regina and Henry joined us in the sitting room. I'd been so focused on Emma that I hadn't heard them come down the stairs. But as soon as I felt surrounded by my new family, that warmth grew and I settled, accepting the love and strength they offered me, and returned it in kind. I knew in that moment that Emma was right, this was meant to be and I had finally found my home, the place where I belonged no matter what.

"I love you all," I whispered.

"We love you too, dear," Regina huskily replied, and I didn't fight the genuine smile that spread across my lips in response.

"I love you guys, too, but can we get something to eat now? I'm starving," Henry whined, stepped back from the family hug, bringing the peaceful moment to a close.

Emma and I chuckled as Regina replied, "Of course, sweetheart."