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Song: Who You Are by Jessie J

Emma held Henry's shoulders and walked the boy up the sidewalk to the mansion. He'd not said much yet, but Caleb pulled her aside and let her know that he talked to him. He hurt but stood strong. It was something at least. If tensions mounted too high or too quickly, Caleb agreed to take him over to Amelia's house, about four doors away, and keep him calm for the next couple of days until reality began manageable.

"Henry, you don't have to apologize to Belle right away, okay. She understands," Emma encouraged the boy when he started digging in his heels.

As if the words held magically properties, the door to the mansion flew open and Belle appeared on the stoop. Henry scowled and pushed past her, fleeing to his room. The librarian crossed her arms beneath her breasts, apparently her new nervous tick, and swallowed the pain.

"Belle," Emma greeted warmly and wrapped the woman in a light embrace, trapping her arms between them. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken our issues out on you."

Belle returned the hug and sighed heavily into Emma's shoulder. She'd become intimately familiar with her body, and somehow it felt more comfortable to hug her now. They'd grown closer physically if not emotionally. "You need a shower," she responded, all levity and no anger.

Emma laughed and pulled back without releasing the shorter woman from the loose arms around her back. Belle flashed a cheeky grin up at her. "You need a bib," Emma jabbed playfully, and Belle rolled her eyes, wiping sheepishly at the dribble that escaped the corner of her mouth.

Belle turned her head and spit without stepping out of Emma's personal space, and The Savior wrinkled her nose. "Come on, really?"

Belle rolled her eyes. "Of the things we've seen and done, spitting a bodily fluid… not even a gross or smelly one, might I add… turns your stomach?"

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess it does sound silly, but it's… I mean, you're you. I'd expect that from Ruby, but it just looks worse coming from you." Emma tried and failed to control the grimace pinching her face. Belle huffed and pushed her away.

"Take a shower before your scent completely destroys my new wolf nose," Belle ordered, pointing towards the open front door, every bit the sassy librarian that kept a healthy list of maintenance requirements of her fiancée. Poor Ruby. Emma shoved her hands into her pockets and dutifully loped towards the foyer. She really, really wanted that shower, but sometimes she just needed to be obstinate.

"Emma," Belle called when she reached the first step. Leaving one foot on the stair, Emma turned to find Belle's arms crossed over ribs again, solemn and pensive once again. "It's okay," she said simply. Forgiveness granted. It'd always been like that between them, easy to forgive and forget. Maybe because they expected so little of the other in regards to emotional support or maybe because like Ruby and Regina, they intuitively sensed when the other needed a friend and when they needed left alone.

Emma nodded, flashed a little lopsided grin, and then left Belle to her own thoughts on the stoop. She breathed deeply the new scents of the world around her. Things she'd never noticed. The sweet nectar of a flower blooming down the street, the remnants of a dog that passed by a while ago with its owner, harsher chemicals of exhaust wafting in from the town, somewhere along street a fresh banana peel. Belle closed her eyes and smiled, inhaling deeply.

Almost silent footfalls registered behind her, not just in her ears but also in the subtle vibrations beneath her feet. About 105 pounds, long strides, hands sliding into jeans, long hair brushing a soft cotton shirt. Her smile spread wider. Ruby. She inhaled again, happy when her lover's musk infiltrated her nostrils, confirming what her ears already knew, what she'd sensed intuitively. Ruby felt like this all the time. So connected to the earth and the people around her. Emma's limited body must have felt torturous and very lonely.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Ruby asked as long, thin arms wrapped around her waist and a deceptively frail-feeling body pressed into her back.

Belle leaned into her lover and raised a hand to Ruby's neck, holding it tenderly. "Yes."

"Alex finally went down. She'll probably sleep till dinner. Poor kid's exhausted." Belle nodded in agreement. "I'm going to go check on Henry," Ruby whispered into the ear she nuzzled. "And then we need to talk."

"That's cryptic," Belle responded, unable to stop the tightening of her chest.

"Good. It's not a happy subject," Ruby revealed. "Katy's being bullied. I totally broke into her phone. It's all anonymous numbers, but… some of the things that people are saying – texts, Facebook, Twitter, other things I've never even heard of," Ruby's voice deepened in the type of sorrow only a mother could feel.

"Kids?"

Ruby shrugged and pressed into her neck a little tighter. "Could be anyone. Katy gave out her number and contact information to the public when she was campaigning for the youth center, remember? All the pamphlets and flyers, everything."

"What sort of things are being said?" Belle asked, not really certain she wanted to know.

Ruby sighed and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "Most notable are the ones pretending to be Ben and describing how else she might hurt us."

"Oh for fuck's sake, hasn't the girl been through enough?" Belle exploded.

Ruby pulled her back when she tried to squirm free. "Just think about solutions while I go make sure Henry is okay. I think Eva gave me her phone on purpose so that we'd find out, so let's do this in a way that won't make Katy feel more violated by invading her privacy, okay?" Belle nodded, ire fading to a simmer but not cooling completely.

"Okay," she agreed. Ruby wrapped a hand around her throat and tipped her head up for a kiss which Belle reciprocated eagerly. She hummed, grinning too widely to extend the kiss beyond a few seconds. Her windpipe vibrated against Ruby's fingertips, and she stroked the underutilized erogenous zone with a tender thumb.

"I've missed you," Belle elucidated and pressed into those wide, plump lips she could have spent forever kissing. "Go get our boy," Belle bade wistfully. She impatiently awaited the moment she and Ruby finally closed themselves behind a locked door. Ruby heard the need in her voice, hated denying that to her lover, squeezed her belly tighter in understanding. With one more chaste peck on Belle's wet lips, Ruby forced herself to release the tantalizingly soft body in her arms and forge a path between them and the son they'd accepted as their own a long time ago.

Ruby thought very little about what she wanted to say. Maybe nothing. Maybe Henry just needed a comforting presence. She knocked softly at his door, tuning her ears into the muffled sounds of sniffling on the other side of the wood.

"Go away," he barked.

"It's just Ruby, bud," she called back, hoping it made a difference. Shuffling. The lock clicked a moment before the door cracked. The young teen glanced around as if confirming that Ruby hadn't tricked him into seeing both her and Belle.

"Can I come in?" She asked lightly, letting him know with her intonation and body language that she harbored no anger towards him.

"I don't want to talk, Aunt Ruby," he admitted honestly. She saw the need to hold himself together in those red-rimmed brown eyes that tore at her heart.

"Then don't," she offered easily. "But… will you listen?" The door opened further. Compromise accepted, she slipped inside and made a show of locking the door behind her. Just them, no need to hide. She winced at the pile of books he'd obviously torn from the shelves, destroying the presence of Belle in his sanctuary.

He flopped on the bed and leaned against the headboard, sulking petulantly with a handheld video game instead of a book escape. Ruby folded one leg beneath her and sat on the edge of his bed, facing him but not crowding him at the foot. She chewed her lower lip. Sometimes being an adult sucked, especially when she lost all the words because they seemed trite, redundant.

"We'll make it right, Henry," she finally murmured, glancing up to find the boy staring towards his window.

"What difference does it make? Maybe if we stop fixing everything, stuff will stop happening," he seethed, using anger to cover his pain. "If people just stayed gone, it would stop hurting when they left."

"True, but I wouldn't be nearly as happy without them in my life, even temporarily," Ruby agreed, offered an alternative, prayed. Belle's abandonment cut the boy so deeply, more than anyone anticipated. They should have. She'd become his rock, his best friend.

"Why did she leave?" Henry asked, more to the universe than to Ruby. He sensed she had no answers that actually offered any sort of resolution. "Everyone leaves me. Emma didn't even want me. She should have just gotten rid of me before I was born."

Ruby exhaled harshly, completely floored by the excruciating admission. The statement churned her gut so soon after Katy's suicide attempt. "Henry, look at me." He did after a long moment of indecision. "We will never stop fighting for you. Surely, you know that. Look how hard Emma has tried every single day since you walked back into her life. Do you honestly believe that she'd go through all that pain if she just stayed because she felt guilty about giving you up?"

The words touched him, presented doubt to his theories. A start, but not nearly enough. Tears dropped onto his rosy cheeks, and he wiped at them furiously with his forearm. "It's okay to not be okay, Henry," Ruby comforted him softly and touched his shin. After he accepted the physical contact for a moment and allowed more tears to fall onto his face, she applied a minuscule bit of pressure on the leg.

"Are you okay? Because you act pretty okay all the time," he tossed in her face, but Ruby saw the defense mechanism for what it was. He believed the words and felt isolated in his misery because she sat there without tears, without trembling hands.

"It's different for me. Sometimes adults have to put their own feelings aside until things start moving forward again." Ruby tried, not really understanding the concept herself. It just sounded like a bunch of bullshit. When had this mature person emerged and overly-emotional, irresponsible Ruby disappeared? She remembered what Belle said about Katy. Kids needed to see the pain in the people they depended on, looked up to, or they felt alone.

"I hurt all the time, Henry," she admitted when he failed to respond to her previous spiel about responsibility. That got his attention. "I'm mad at Belle, too. I'm mad at Regina. I'm mad at Amelia and Katy, and sometimes I'm even mad at Alex because she requires so much attention that I don't have the energy to give." She smiled sadly, allowing the tears of her grief to join his in plain sight. "I'm not okay, Henry."

Either her confession or his unbreakable hero spirit punched through. He scrambled to the foot of the bed and threw his arms around her neck under the pretense of comforting her. Ruby knew better and straightened her leg to allow him the room to lean his head on her shoulder. He cried but not quite sobbed or wailed, little hiccups here and there, soft grunts of breath against her collarbone. She cried silently, pushing her own grief aside while sharing it with the boy.

"Are mom and… Emma going to… be okay?" He asked between jerking hiccups, and Ruby rubbed his shoulder blades in a slow, soothing circle while she gathered her answer.

"I don't know," she deadpanned, not even bothering to spout hopeful, unrealistic prattle at the boy too smart to believe it anyway. "They have a lot to work through, but I know that they still love each other and they love you and Katy and Annabel. No matter what happens between them, that's not going to change."

"I hate them," Henry seethed, and Ruby refused to correct him. If that's how he felt in that moment, she accepted it without judgment. "I hate Belle." Another pause. "You and Granny are the only people I can count on. Everyone else just leaves me."

"Henry," Ruby sighed, but nothing else followed. She just held him and let him feel.

When he finally pulled back, she wiped his tears and ran fingers through his shaggy hair. "You need a haircut," she murmured, giving him something else to focus on.

"Yeah, I guess," he rasped, not really meeting her eyes.

"Want to go with me tomorrow and get one? I need a trim and my dye job fix." She held up the faded tendrils of red that became her trademark, the only thing she really kept from her wild Ruby days. She needed it as much as she needed her guitar.

"Okay," he smiled, happy to just be included in something. Ruby returned it and ran her hand straight through his hair, making it spike out in random directions. "Can I be alone now?"

"Sure," Ruby allowed easily. "Just promise me that you'll come to me if you ever need anything, to talk or sit or whatever." She held his gaze intensely, wide eyes flicking back and forth, looking for something in his. It took a few seconds, but he got it.

"Relax, Aunt Ruby. I'm not going to do what Katy did. I haven't even thought about it. I mean, I haven't thought about it beyond wondering why and how bad she must have felt, ya know." He shrugged a little, and Ruby nodded.

"I get it, Kid. I felt that badly once, couple of times, actually," she admitted. She'd never really talked about it because everyone assumed her attempts linked directly to the situation and not a deeper-rooted glitch in her mind. "She's going to struggle with it for the rest of her life. Now that she's tried, it's always going to be a solution, even if only the back of her mind. So, she needs lots of love right."

"What do you mean? When did you…" The boy's whole world just shattered, and Ruby took a deep breath. He needed this, needed to be seen and heard and trusted and spoken to.

"Remember when the curse first broke and Billy was killed by Spencer?" He nodded. "I thought I'd done it. I chained Belle in the library and went to find the crowd that night because I couldn't cope with the thought of what I held inside of me, that darkness that consumed me sometimes."

"Your wolf?" Ruby nodded with a sad, tight grin. She loved her wolf now that she'd accepted it, loved herself. "And the other times?"

"When Cora controlled my heart," she answered honestly, and he dropped his chin to his chest.

"So you tried to leave everyone, too," he integrated the new information into the fully formed opinion of the world around him.

"No, Henry. I wasn't running from the people I loved. I was running from myself because I knew if I didn't, I'd hurt them, and I couldn't bear that thought. I'd rather be dead than hurt you or Belle or any member of this family, you understand? And, I think that's why Regina needs to stay with Granny right now. She's scared, kid. She's scared of losing control of her magic, of hurting the people she could never live without. You understand?"

He nodded. "I think I'm starting to." He raised his head and met her eyes again, the life returning to his young but wise face. "It still hurts," he admitted, fighting back tears again.

"I know," Ruby empathized. He dropped his face towards the bed again, and Ruby kissed the crown of his soft brown hair. "Want me to leave you alone for a while?" He nodded without looking up. She kissed his head again, lingering for an indeterminate amount of time. Finally, she stood and crossed to the door.

"Aunt Ruby?" She half-turned to face him expectantly. His head remained bowed and he sighed deeply before speaking again. "If I pack up my books, will you carry them to the storage room in the basement for me?"

She opened her mouth to protest, knowing he removed Belle from his life further. His head jerked up. "I just need to do this right now, okay?" He glanced at the books, looked more disgusted than he'd ever looked at The Evil Queen, and dropped his gaze to the dark blue comforter wrinkling at his knee. He expected Regina to flake, Ruby realized. It wasn't fair to him, but he'd expected it and accepted exactly who his mother was. Belle knocked him off balance, took him completely by surprise and devoured the confidence he felt in their relationship with each mile beyond the town line. He needed this.

Her mouth clicked shut, and she nodded, agreeing against the pangs in her heart. Belle shoved her off balance, too, but in the absence of the crutch of Belle's love, she'd found someone inside herself that surprised her, someone strong and sure and steady. Focused. Belle needed to go, and she'd needed her to go. But, the kids… Ruby shook her head.

"I'll come get you for dinner," she murmured and pulled the door shut behind her before she sank completely into the pit of anger at this entire fucked up situation. She glanced to the other side of the balcony and found Belle standing at Alex's door, gazing wondrously at the little girl napping in her bed after such a long few days. Quietly, she traversed the rounded path that looked over the foyer from the front of the house and led to the small balcony over the front door.

Belle leaned into her almost before she ventured close enough to catch her weight against her chest. Ruby wrapped her arms beneath Belle's, adding extra support to her aching breasts. They swayed back and forth slightly. Ruby rested her cheek against Belle's soft hair and sighed contentedly.

"Ruby?" Belle said after a moment. The deep concerned in her voice sounded warning sirens in the wolf's mind. She hummed a response, and turned her lips into Belle's temple. "Are we being selfish by bringing more children into this world when we've clearly failed to protect Alexandra from this pain?"

Ah. That. That question she handled well. "The magic in our necklaces wouldn't give them to us if it wasn't right. It's the magic of The Truest Believer, remember? Emma gave it ground rules, only if we were ready."

She kissed the side of Belle's head again. "Plus," she mumbled against her temple before lifting her mouth, "this world is full of so much hurt that it's impossible to protect them from all of it. The important thing is that we're going to teach her how to survive it and take care of herself and those she loves. Sparing her pain is important, but not nearly as important as picking her up and letting her know that she's not alone when something or someone hurts her."

Leaning her head against Ruby's bony shoulder, Belle smiled up at her. "I thought I was supposed to be the smart one," she joked lovingly.

Ruby grinned. "I have my moments." She kissed Belle's forehead. "And I learned from the best."

Belle hummed her approval of that statement. "Granny does have a special ability."

Bethany chose that moment to stumble from Annabel's nursery beside Alex's room, ashen and anxious. They raised their heads, confused more than concerned. Bethany straightened her shirt and spine, gathering what dignity she had left from the incident. "Ah, Regina's here," she informed them.

Ruby lunged for the nursery faster than Belle's big brain functioned, fully expecting a knock down drag out with The Evil Queen. The wolf stopped abruptly, and Belle bumped into her back, barely moving the physically superior creature. Regina certainly had visited, but which Regina remained to be seen. She stood near the window, clutching the infant close to her chest, either a shield from them or a shield from the pain in her heart.

"Please allow me a moment with my daughter," Regina pleaded politely.

Ruby crossed her arms. "Only if you let me stay in here with you."

"I'd prefer Belle's company," Regina compromised in a small voice that told them she knew she held no position of bargaining aside from the baby in her arms. She looked broken.

"It's alright, Sweetheart," Belle assured her fiancée even as she heard the pounding of Ruby's heart increase.

"Belle, she has tried to kill you twice in as many days," the wolf protested, but Belle's sharp glare shut her mouth and sent her out the door with her tail tucked. Belle closed the door softly, mindful of the sleeping children and leaned against it warily.

"Did I injure you terribly?" Regina asked, eyes glancing to the burned shoulder beneath one of Ruby's baggy t-shirts she wore to bed sometimes.

"Nothing I can't handle," Belle clipped. "How about yours?" She nodded towards Regina.

Regina sighed her relief and moved to the rocking chair. "I believe I'll survive," she answered the question nonchalantly, and they shared a smile. No one else quite understood their relationship, but they both followed the darkness of their powers. They checked the other when it got too close.

"Thank you, for stopping me. I'm afraid Granny would not have arrived in time without your interference," Regina admitted and then smiled cheekily. "Your powers have become quite impressive."

Belle laughed. "Just say it. I was totally going to kick your ass."

Regina sucked her upper teeth and glared playfully. "I think I'd have made a comeback in the end." They shared another light moment before Regina's features darkened, and she returned her focus to the infant in her arms. "I imagine Emma will not be pleased with this arrangement."

Belle shrugged. "Annabel's your daughter, too. You should see her when you want to. What happened at the diner? Emma looked really upset when she came home." She wanted answers, but if Regina refused them, she'd not push her. Regina needed their support, too, and if they kept pushing her into Evil Queen mode, no one benefitted.

"She's truly not herself without her memories of me," Regina answered vaguely without taking her eyes from her daughter's face. She brushed a hand over a shock of black hair, her hair, and kissed the infant's forehead. Belle allowed the silence to stretch with the passing minutes.

A commotion outside caught Belle's sensitive ears, and she sighed apologetically. "Emma knows you're here," she informed her friend.

Regina nodded and stood. She kissed Annabel's head again and murmured, "Until next time, my beautiful girl," as she crossed to the crib and replaced the little body in the rightful spot. She set a plushy orange monkey over the girl's arm for a sleeping companion and covered her tiny body quickly before she noticed the absence of her mother's warmth.

"Thank you," she said graciously.

"Anytime you want to see her, Regina, just call me. I'll sit with you," Belle offered, her heart tugging aggressively at the thought of a mother denied the right to see her child, especially when she'd done nothing to harm that child.

Regina's eyes softened dramatically, tears shimmering in the dim light of the covered window. "Granny will be sending dinner soon. Please make certain Henry eats. He loses his appetite when he's upset, but he's never been able to refuse my lasagna so far. I made it for him." Belle blinked rapidly and wiped at the wetness suddenly on her face. Regina hurt so much, needed so much attention of her own right now, but whatever Emma had said or done slapped some sort of sense into her.

"I will. Emma, too," she promised. Regina tipped her head gratefully and then disappeared in a swirl of light blue magic. Light Magic, the magic of love.

Belle gasped. Regina literally split in half. One light, one dark, even in the channeling of magic. She touched the pendant between her breasts beneath Ruby's shirt and bowed her chin to her chest as heavy but silent tears fell onto her hand. She longed for that earlier time just after the wedding when they'd all been relatively at ease, working through their issues, before Ben and Jacob (and Katy, a voice in the back of her mind added) terrorized them. She'd been living at the library and dealing with the surfacing trauma of murdering her friends and enemies alike, but they'd been happy. They'd been happy enough to create two more little lives growing in her unworthy womb.

How could she possibly have reassured her children that Emma and Regina would survive this, too, when she failed to find enough hope in her heart to believe it herself?