AN: Hi :) Thanks for waiting so patiently. Here's the next bit. The one after is written and waiting, but further than that it gets a bit murky, because I mostly have drafts/partial scenes, so you'll have to be even more patient.

Thanks for all your comments, favs and follows :) Some answers: Roland seemed a natural solution to Regina's lack of a kid to fret over. I hope I can make this all work OK, towards the finale I've envisioned (and, just to tease you a bit: I have 4 "Arrendale chapters" already written ;))


All three kept to mundane remarks until they were safely lodged in the largest suite of rooms the B&B sported and Henry was again asleep, teeth brushed and shower, for once, skipped.

"So…" Elsa's voice rose in a slightly questioning tone.

"That would be our step-grandmother" Elena provided flatly.

Emma sat heavily, mug of tea in front of her.

"What about the kid?" she asked, fingers worrying the table runner edge.

"Unknown" Elsa shrugged. "But August couldn't have known everyone in the whole kingdom. He doesn't even have to be from the court, if what she's saying is correct."

"Sure" Emma agreed. "But it complicates things."

"Why? It's not like we were planning to kill her… By the way, I think she's worried about something" Elena leaned back on the couch. "Did you see how panicked she was? And she was actually rather, may I say, friendly. For an Evil Queen."

Emma sipped her tea.

"I think it's because of Henry" she suggested finally. "It was, well, a connection. Some common base. She has a kid, we have a kid. She's a single mother, we're a female family with a kid and no guy. She's having problems with Roland, with him running away and looking for his father, and I'm sure she guesses we have problems with Henry, too."

The all nodded slowly, each picking up her mug.

"So, what do we do tomorrow?" Elena took out her notepad and pencil.

"We must identify our family. We have August's descriptions and we know they will be in some miserable situation."

Elsa pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Actually, the next step should be to find ourselves something to do in the town, establish ourselves" she said slowly. "Not that I don't want to look for your parents, but if we spend a day or two making a real effort and, well, giving everyone a proper, innocent reason for us being here, we can then work out things faster. If we have to make up a new reason each day for why we aren't leaving, it will take much more time in total."

Elena sipped her cocoa.

"However much I'd like to do something now, Elsa does have a valid point. If we show we're here to stay, they will not question our search… We can cover this by, well, anything. Job hunt. Flat search. We could be looking for a tutor for Henry."

"Poor little Henry, ordered by the doctor to leave the big city…" Elsa mused. "We may work from that, start by visiting the hospital to check with them what would be the best section of the city to rent a flat, the school to register him as home-schooled but with option to join classes after the next term starts, all the shops to buy stuff before our things get shipped here…"

"And I can take Henry to visit Roland tomorrow" Emma rose to put her cup on the shelf. "I'll ask Regina if he can go with us to the playground. I saw one in the park. If she decides he can't go with us alone, even better. If she is the Evil Queen - and everything matches, even the scar on her lip - I need to find out what she knows, if I can. Or at least I can get some bonding time in over the kids before she knows what we are about. We should get on her good side, if she has any - and looking at Roland, I think she does, actually."

"I'll ask Ruby if she knows about any vacancies we could fill. Or maybe I could volunteer at school for after-class activities? We'll make a schedule of who is at home, who is "working" and who is socialising. I have to be online mostly during the working hours, but the two of you work when you want, so we can split it any way we need. This way there will always be one of us at home for Henry and the other two can be out there, looking for clues or being sociable or whatever."

"I'll go and visit the sheriff" Elsa offered. "As the local law enforcement, he may be a good point to start, and I may be able to get him to talk if I play the lawyer card well."

Emma nodded and pulled out her own notepad.

"I made a list of who we're looking for first. Of course we need to locate Geppetto, just to let August know he's OK. We need to find our parents. We already have the Queen. Who else?"

"The dwarves. Snow White was helped by seven dwarves."

"And there should be some court members, August said there were at least twenty people."

Emma flipped the right page open.

"Yes. There was the Blue Fairy, but I doubt we can identify her by her size now. There was someone called "Red", apparently standard human sized, so we have a chance - she wore a red cape, but I somehow doubt she'd be running around in one here and now. And there was Red's grandmother. No idea why she is so important that she got included into the Council, but we have her on the list. There were some other nobles whom August could not describe in enough details, which is just peachy, because we frigging need them."

"Useless" Elena looked up from her laptop. "The ones that August did describe are either useless, because they probably look like standard humans now, or too generic and too many people will match the description. But, actually, what you said makes me think we can find one of them immediately. And she may be very important, and useful. Red, the one you mentioned."

Emma sat closer to her.

"Red? Why Red?"

"She was Snow's best friend. She was brought into the castle and whatnot, despite the fact that she lived in the forest all her life - so she was, basically, a peasant. And she always wore red. Not only the cape, actually, all red. And she was dark-haired. Now, who did we meet in the last hours who matches this description?"

Elsa's eyebrows went up.

"You're saying Ruby is your mother's BFF? Do you think the relationship might have survived despite the curse, so we can make use of it and track down the others?"

Emma shrugged.

"She's a waitress and a barmaid. Everyone talks to the waitresses, so it may be a challenge to work out who is our mother in the crowd - even if their relationship survived."

"And as you said, Red had a grandmother, a formidable lady who shoot the crossbow quite neatly" Elena continued reading from her database.

"Granny, even if without a crossbow. I could totally see her using one on some rowdier clients, mind you" Elsa fell silent and then frowned "So we have a red-dressed young woman and her grandmother. What do you think is the ending to this story?"

"I'm wondering why August didn't see that link - at least he never mentioned it."

Emma shrugged.

"Maybe it's one of these way off from 'reality' - so our version doesn't really match the events from Enchanted Forest."

"Also, there is no big Disney movie for that one. And once he was in the orphanage, he might have been too old for nursery stories, so he just simply missed it completely."

"I wonder if she has a basket."