Y'all are probably going to kill me for this chapter, but I am known as a master of slow burns. *wicked grin*
Thanks for the reviews and follows. Enjoy!
Songs: Halo by Beyoncé, Redneck Woman by Gretchen Wilson (Because I couldn't bear to write with the ridiculous song listed within the prose *shakes head* Also, the video just makes me homesick and puts me in a very farm girl mood, which kind of works… minus the Christmas lights, never understood that.)
Belle leaned against Regina instinctively and covered a yawn with the back of her hand. She'd never taken a nap in her life, but she might have cut off a finger to take one in that moment. Drool dribbled down her chin and onto the old t-shirt she'd snagged from her lover's drawer. Ruby apparently never threw anything away and went through a baggy phase, which worked for her larger breasts and growing body in general. This one displayed a band called Good Charlotte. It sounded sweet, like something she'd like. Maybe Ruby had them on her Ipod. She wiped the wetness from her chin with the shirt and sighed, too tired to be frustrated with the unfortunate side effect.
"If you drool on me, I will curse your hair to remain two colors permanently," The Queen threatened.
Belle chuckled without taking her eyes from their kids working together to lay mesh all across the cement floor of what used to be a warehouse. It was meant to provide a miniscule amount of cushion when the hardwood went down for the basketball and volley ball courts. She'd surrendered to her urge to sit nearly half an hour ago to simply watch, and Regina joined her soon after that but hadn't spoken until that moment.
"You're not as scary as you want people to believe," Belle snapped back. She'd grown accustomed to Regina's empty threats throughout the day, mostly by reminding herself that Emma wanted this side of Regina present for whatever reason. Something happened the previous night after she'd spoken to Emma, and neither of her friends were ready to divulge the experience yet.
"I do seem to have lost my touch," Regina murmured, sullen.
They fell into silence again, and Belle finally turned her head to study the calculating eyes and graceful tension The Queen carried. Regina noticed, of course, but allowed Belle to lead into the conversation if she wished. The librarian spit into an empty water bottle and resumed staring at the children.
"Why had you never mentioned my mother before?" She asked quietly, not quite sure she wanted to broach this topic, but not only Emma took issues with Regina at the moment.
The Queen sighed deeply and clicked one thumbnail against the other in her lap. "I suppose, I thought you'd have approached the topic if you ever wished to speak of it. It wasn't my place or story to explore."
"She was sick," Belle insisted vehemently, spitting ire at Regina while internally directing it towards her mother. "She needed help, not locked in a room with her two children whom she wanted to harm in the hopes she realized how much she loved us. If my father had bothered to try, she might still be alive."
"I know, Bookworm," Regina admitted quietly. Belle accepted the use of the nickname, so she continued. "I used it to hurt you, to weaken your powers. Had I known it originated in wolf's rage, I might have used a different tactic," she added, irony dripping from the words.
Belle fixated those intensely blue eyes upon her again. After a moment, she cracked a smile and nodded. "I suppose that helped unleash the wolf."
"I'm inadequate in apologies, Belle. If you wish a proper one, wait for the sniveling princess in my head to emerge," Regina practically snarled at what she perceived as her weaker half, and Belle's face scrunched in some, no doubt, abstract thought. Regina rolled her eyes.
"Why do you do that?"
"What?" Regina snapped, feeling this conversation slide into an uncomfortable area too quickly.
"Say such awful things about yourself," Belle clarified. "You're split at the moment, Regina, but you're both two halves of the same woman. You talk about her weaknesses, her compassion and love, as though they're diseases. She speaks of you as a demon. Do you honestly hate yourself that much?"
The question caught Regina off guard, slapped her as hard as the coffee mug. She ground her teeth. "Have you spoken to Miss Lucas about the string of mental disorders from which your family suffers?"
Belle snorted. "Indeed, the two-day reprieve from your bullshit has provided enough time to begin planning for the arrival of our twins."
Regina chuckled. "I've always enjoyed your bite."
"Yeah? How's your chest, still burning?" Belle snapped, unable to stop herself.
"Miss French, I cannot help but think I've done something that's upset you when I have been nothing but amiable and compliant with your every wish concerning the children as per Emma's wishes," Regina called her out regally, her back and voice stiff with tension.
Belle laughed out loud. The harsh bark echoed in the stone building, and Belle winced at the hollow, mocking sound that came from her throat. "The children are the only reason I haven't ripped your throat out today," she said more quietly to keep that aggressive promise from the ears of the younger people in their presence, too far away to overhear their conversation thankfully.
"You're right, this part of you is a demon and the other part is a manipulative bitch. Who you were before the split was my friend. This part of you raped me, tortured me, and held me captive for 30 years. I've experienced the other side of you when you carried Emma's heart, and you had an emotional and nearly physical affair with my fiancée. In both cases, I found forgiveness in my heart because neither truly represented who you were. So tell me, Highness, how exactly am I supposed to feel about being alone with you for hours while Ruby and Emma are outside of Storybrooke doing gods-know-what? You're not the woman I've grown to love and respect without the balance each side of you provides the other. Excuse me."
Belle pushed to her feet and took a few calming breaths as she approached Katy, Batch, Henry, and Austin. "You guys hungry? Granny has promised us lunch at the diner," she announced to the merriment of the teenagers who quickly abandoned their project in lieu of burgers, fries, and milkshakes. Mostly, Belle just wanted to hold her daughter, to make sure she was in fact safe from harm and happy.
Katy leapt atop Austin's back and demanded to be carried, and Belle almost laughed out loud when Marco's adopted son touched her legs, jerked his hands away like she'd burned him, and then finally hiked the girl higher onto his back, keeping his grip as close to her knees as he could without dropping her. He'd filled out quite a bit since helping in Marco's woodshop and seemed to heft the girl's weight with ease. Batch laughed and touched her side, still recovering from her injuries, but probably fine. She was a wolf.
"Onward, Oz-man!" Katy directed and pointed a finger over his shoulder towards the door. The boy smiled up at her at the new nickname and hefted her weight higher before following his orders.
Belle rubbed her forehead. The girl made no sense to her at times. She definitely handled Katyline better when she brooded and snapped angrily. If the boy had been anyone else but Austin, Belle would have put a stop to it instantly. She recognized the changes, even if she refused to acknowledge them yet. Katy reacted quite normally to trauma, covering it up and ignoring it, instead of bringing it to the forefront and shying away from physical contact as most people assumed. Sure, that happened to some women, but Belle recognized the signs easier than any of them, having reacting much the same way. They needed to get ahead of this before it blew up again, before Katy intentionally put herself in a situation to be assaulted again. It hurt less when the pain felt self-inflicted.
But Austin… he was a safe outlet for the moment. He'd reached out to her first of everyone in this town, and Katy wore the pendant he'd given her beneath her shirt every day. He was sweet and compassionate and incredibly sensitive to the needs of everyone around him. Secretly, she hoped Katy started dating Austin when she was ready and then never looked back. Ever. The flurry of movement jerked her from the dark thoughts.
Henry tucked beneath his mother's arm happily, so Belle linked arms with Batch to enhance the girl's sense of belonging. Oz and Katy led the group with him hiking her higher every 30 feet or so. The boy never seemed to tire, and eventually Katy stopped tugging his hair from one side to the other, which made him playfully divert in the proper direction, zigzagging down the sidewalk. It made Katy laugh until he nearly drop her, and then she squeezed him tightly around the chest and shoulders and rested her cheek against his hair.
She actually seemed happy for one beautiful moment. Those moments never lasted. Another boy hung out the window of a passing car. "Yeah, Katy! Moving on to fresh meat! What are you going to make this one do?"
Before anyone else reacted, Regina reached out to the moving vehicle. The wheels spun, kicking up smoke, but it moved no further down Main Street. People froze on the sidewalk to stare. Katy kicked free of Austin's back and dropped to her feet, arms already crossed over her chest protectively. Batch hit her side in an instant, supporting but not crowding. Belle wrapped an arm around Henry's shoulders and pulled him away from The Queen.
"Regina, stop," she ordered, but the older woman ignored her and advanced on the car.
With a flip of her wrist, the passenger door flew open. The boy cowered in terror. Belle left Henry's side and stepped in front of Regina a few feet from them, hands up and ready to go if necessary.
"Regina, I do not like what Katy is going through any more than you do, but you need to stop. You are Head of Council. Emma is still the sheriff even if she's on medical leave. We are pillars of this community, and violence is not an option for this threat," Belle laid it out calmly. Sometimes she loathed being a good guy. A flicker of recognition sparked in Regina's eyes, and Belle relaxed slightly. "Let it go. Katyline is handling this as she sees fit."
Regina lowered her hand but kept a cool gaze on the boy's blubbering features. They'd learned their lesson. "Remember exactly who you taunt before you open your mouth," she added for dramatic effect and turned away from the kids before she lost her control.
"You should be ashamed of yourselves," Belle berated the teens. She knew how stupid and cliché it sounded, but after Regina's show, nothing else remained to be said. "Matthew, Samuel, go home before I call your mother." She also turned her back on the stupid kids, intent on checking Katy's emotional state.
"Where do you think we got it from, Miss French?" The boy yelled at her back.
Belle's eyes flashed yellow, but in the second it took her to face the boy, Austin had him jerked from the car. He punched him square in the jaw, knocking him silly, and then held him against the back door by his shirt.
"You d-d-don't know w-w-w-what you're t-t-t-talking about, so shut up and leave her alone," he stammered but the words still managed to come across angry.
"Or what?" The boy spat, finally recovered enough to be feisty again. Austin pulled back and decked him again, and the telltale sounds of cartilage crunching filled the air.
"Enough, Oz, stop," Katy yelled and rushed forward as Belle pried the boys away from each other. She grabbed Samuel by his shirt and slammed him against the car.
"Katyline Swan, enough!" Belle ordered, glanced at Regina helplessly who stood back and smirked. Of course she got all the wolf perks except for the strength, Belle grumbled silently.
"Get off me!" The boy shoved her back. "I don't know where you've been."
Batch grabbed Austin, using her wolf strength to stop him from surging forward. Katy, however, pushed past Belle and slammed the kid against the car again. "I was raped, you asshole! You happy? Is that what you wanted to hear? That I was abused over and over again in every way imaginable and to make it stop I did some bad shit? There, you got the whole story, now get the hell out of my life, and leave Austin out of this."
The boy's eyes went wide as Katy revealed the truth of her ordeal they'd fought so hard to keep private. Belle touched her arm, understanding the glare in Katy's eyes, that deathly hint of real violence swirling in her usually calm hazel. "Enough, Katyline," she said softly and gently pulled her hands from the kid's shirt. "Enough, baby." Katy let him go.
"Go home now," she directed at the boys who now looked confused and shameful and maybe like they wanted to apologize. Belle ignored it. "Put some ice on your face. You'll be fine." They nodded silently, got in the car, and drove off.
"K-k-katy," Austin called softly as he approached her.
Katy shoved away from Belle and stalked down the sidewalk. "I'm not a damsel, Austin," she yelled over her shoulder. The onlookers parted to allow her anger through. How much had they heard? Wolf rage flared in Belle's heart towards The Queen. If she'd allowed the moment to pass, Katy might have been spared this.
"Batch, get her back to the mansion if you can," Belle ordered, and the wolf took off down the street, catching up with the distraught warrior easily. "Austin, go to the diner and let Granny know that plans have changed. She'll have Alex and Annabel for a little while longer." He nodded and took off with a toss of his shaggy brown hair and shoved his hands into his pockets. His shoulders stooped with the weight of the world, too much for a kid. Too much.
Belle turned with hard eyes on Regina. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Regina shrugged. "You asked me to allow Katyline to handle this as she saw fit, did you not?"
"That is not what I meant, and you know it," Belle called her out. If not for Henry's wide eyes just behind Regina's shoulder, Belle might have decked The Queen for her behavior. She just rolled her eyes and brushed past her to grab Henry's shoulders. He looked between the two women.
"Is that what really happened to Katy?" He asked, and Belle's heart hurt all the more. He looked at his mother for answers, but The Queen retreated to that place where she felt nothing, not even for her kids. Belle saw it and squeezed Henry's shoulders. His big, brown eyes met hers again, and she closed them to cover the tears and nodded quickly. "So, she's not bad?"
Belle smiled sadly, a little wet exhalation marking the expression. "Katy's not a bad person, Henry. A lot of really bad things happened to her, and it made her do things she'd never normally do."
He shifted his eyes to Regina again who actively ignored the heartbreaking conversation. He drew the parallels between his sister and his mother anyway, shattering his world further. He never asked that day, but they both saw the wheels turning in his mind. It wasn't a matter of if he'd ask her what happened to her to make her evil, but when, and both women dreaded that conversation. Belle forgot sometimes that Regina started out as innocently as she had, so had Katy.
"Henry, I have to go find Katy and make sure she's okay. I'm going to take you to the diner and leave you with Granny, okay?" Belle explained her plan and pulled him under her arm as they started down the sidewalk. "You coming?" she tossed over her shoulder to Regina who startled at the acknowledgement. After a moment of deliberation, she followed Belle and her son at a respectful distance.
The search ended at Granny's. When they arrived at the diner, they entered to find Katy and Batch at the bar with their arms folded on the counter and chins resting atop them. A chocolate milkshake sat in front of each girl. "Go!" Katy yelled, and they sat up and grabbed the frozen drink, slurping furiously at their straws. It took all of three seconds for them both to wince in pain at the inevitable brain-freeze that followed the frantic drinking.
Katy grabbed her head first and gave up, growling as the defeat and pain took her down. Batch pounded her hands on the counter a few times in triumph. Granny shook her head from the grill behind the food window. Austin lingered behind the woman who sort of served as a mother to him now that she and Marco considered their dates a relationship and he ate at her table more often than his own.
"Ruby used to do that all the time during the curse," Granny explained where they got the idea. "Said it was impossible to be sad or angry when your brain hurt from drinking a chocolate milkshake too fast." She studied the laughing teens for a moment and smiled. "Guess she was right."
And that was the end of that.
Blatant denial. Avoidance. An abundance of happy energy. Katy dissociated from the defining moment of revealing her suffering to the public. Both Belle and Regina glanced towards the other, understanding passing between them. Katy needed to be watched and have another session with Astrid soon.
Granny made Henry a milkshake, too, and then set to their food orders while Belle looked in on the sleeping young ones in the back room. Regina helped her. Austin finally gathered the courage to join them at the bar but kept his distance from Katy. And Katy never brought the incident up again, either from embarrassment or fear or a stubborn refusal to acknowledge her own pain. She carried on as though it'd never happened, and within 20 minutes of walking into the diner, everyone else forgot, too, let it slip away in the laughter and comfort that surrounded them.
Katy even warmed back up to Austin halfway through her burger when she abandoned the food to turn on the radio and start a dance party with Batch, Alex, and Henry. He ambled up to her and stammered an apology followed by, "I know you can take care of yourself."
"Thanks, Oz," she said softly and threw her arms around his neck. He reached around her back to hug her, changed his mind, and set his hands on her shoulders. She grinned at his consideration and kissed his cheek as she pulled away. Before he reacted properly to the affection, she grabbed his hand and spun herself beneath his arm and then returned to Batch. Regina and Belle had no choice but to meet the other's eyes with a sweet grin on their lips when Austin touched his cheek oafishly and looked at Katy like the princess of his dreams. She, of course, remained completely oblivious to the crush that had been growing since he'd first caught sight of her months before Captain's death.
No, Katy had decided to either completely ignore the incident and move forward or at the very least cover it up until the opportunity arose to deal in private. Perhaps Austin's white knight act touched her more than she let on. Who knew for sure with that girl? She was a conundrum wrapped in an enigma and sprinkled with a liberal coating of ambiguity with a topper of contradiction. They loved her.
Finally, she sat down and chomped into the second half of her burger. Henry stayed close, not crowding her but wanting to protect her in the only way he knew how – by making her laugh at his stupid jokes and clumsy nature that resembled Emma's so closely that it hurt. Batch and Austin stayed near the door with the wolf staring out the window through the venetian blind she pulled down slightly.
"Beh," she said and turned around excitedly, something catching her attention. Everyone looked around, confused by what she tried to communicate. She looked directly at Belle. "Beh," she repeated and pointed at the door, waving her arm emphatically.
"The library?" Belle asked, and the wolf nodded. Katy had explained its purpose to her on the way to the youth center that morning. "You want to go to the library?"
Batch shook her head and looked at Katy helplessly. "Me," she said and pointed at her chest. When no one responded, she huffed and grabbed a menu and took it to Belle, pointing to the text. "Me," she said more softly and stared into Belle's eyes with a wounded desperation.
"You want me to teach you how to read?" Belle asked just as softly, not sure if the tears burning her eyes were genuine or the product of some stray hormone.
"Play-ease," Batch dragged the word out into two syllables easier for her to pronounce. She'd used her voice more in the past week than she had in the past year, and it felt good. She wanted more, wanted to express herself, to be seen and (for the first time in her life) heard.
Belle smiled brightly, scar stretching, and touched the girl's cheek. "Of course."
The moment ended when a blaring of obnoxious music accompanied by a loud roar of machinery sounded in the street. Belle closed her eyes in irritated amusement and shook her head. "What makes me think that's my fiancée?" She asked the young wolf who just grinned and shrugged.
They filed onto the sidewalk behind Belle and watched Ruby drive down Main Street on a big green tractor with a huge bucket on the front and a backhoe attachment with hydraulic kicks to leave it sitting in one place on the back. Emma followed in the Camry, blowing the horn and blasting "She Thinks my Tractor's Sexy" as loudly as possible with all the windows down and the sun roof open. Like them, others gathered on the street to see what new debacle Ruby Lucas started.
The wolf pulled to a stop as close to the sidewalk as she could park, leaving enough room for one car to get around her at a time, and howled, beating the steering wheel fervently. Alex returned the howl, and Belle barely stopped the toddler from bolting across the street to her other mother. "Not alone, Baby. Hold my hand," she instructed. Katy stepped forward and picked up her little sister, raising her to straddle a shoulder.
Belle stepped into the street as they parked, hands on her lower back. "This is your brilliant plan?"
Ruby killed the loud engine and stood, taking a deep breath. "You told me to buy a farm to get in touch with my wolf. So, I bought a wolf farm," Ruby yelled down to her.
"That's…" Ruby jumped down and howled again, "… not what I meant." She glanced at Emma who popped through the sunroof and pulled earplugs from her ears even though the song repeated. Belle rubbed her forehead, unable to keep from laughing as Ruby danced across the street, almost as excited and foolish as she had been when they discovered they were having twins.
The wolf dipped low, moving to the slower rhythm, and her lover stepped out to meet her. "Ruby Lucas," she berated playfully. Ruby bent to kiss her, hips still moving to the music. The moment their lips touched, Ruby squatted and lifted Belle onto her.
The librarian squeaked in surprise, and Ruby hoisted her higher until her thighs circled her thin waist. She hooked her ankles securely and smoothed Ruby's hair, frizzed from the slight humidity. The wolf grinned up at her, looking younger than she had since their return from The Enchanted Forest, and Belle leaned down to kiss her. They laughed into the kiss when Ruby started dancing again. Cars honked, and Ruby flipped them the bird without breaking the passionate but chaste lip lock with her laughing fiancée, moving her hips side to side and holding Belle's butt with one hand while the other waved wildly.
When the kiss broke, she glanced to Granny because she had to. The elder nodded her approval and grinned a little, something in her expression Ruby couldn't place. It was good, and she looked away a split second later to kiss Belle again. She carried her to the tractor and lifted her to the seat before turning to her kids. "Wanna go for a ride?" That was a stupid question.
"We'll have them home for dinner," she said pointedly at Regina, referencing their earlier request of keeping the kids for a few hours and giving them some alone time. Regina nodded.
"Hey, Baby, the little lever on the side, could you hit it and lower the bucket?" Belle searched for something indicating a lowering mechanism and pressed it, mouth opened and mesmerized by her ability to operate the giant machine. Henry, Batch, Katy, and Austin hopped in the bucket, legs dangling over the edge between the teeth. Ruby lifted Alex up to her Mama and climbed up enthusiastically. With Alex situated safely in her lap and Belle's hands around her shoulders, Ruby howled and started the tractor. Presumably, she intended to take it to the intended location of the wolf ranch, but knowing her, she probably continued driving it around for another hour just for fun.
Emma finally turned off the music and crossed the street to Granny and Regina. "So, what exactly has our wolf done?" Regina asked without closing the gap between herself and the spot where Emma stopped on the sidewalk a few feet away.
"I guess there was funding available from the crisis constituency that Stacy created when she became mayor after the wraith attack. That, plus the properties they'd confiscated from Rumpelstilskin and sold at a discounted price to help with disaster victims provided enough support to purchase a 50-acre lot, pay for the supplies they used from the hospital, and buy enough supplies to get them started on building housing. She's got Stacy's full support. Stacy's going to present it to the Council next week to turn it into a city-funded safe haven for wolves, a place for them to learn control of their rage and their ability to change without losing their memories.
"In return, Ruby wants to train them to assist as deputies for the sheriff's department or help with the library, road maintenance, beautification… whatever city-funded establishment or service that needs help. She wants to plant crops and raise animal stock to sell to local establishments. The diner, grocery store, and also to provide supplies in times of crisis. Next time Storybrooke is under fire, we'll have a trained wolf militia." The other two women stared at her with gaping mouths, surprised that Ruby managed to keep her mouth shut about something for which she obviously felt such a conviction and excitement. And had thoroughly thought out.
Emma shrugged. "She spilled her guts the second we were in the car. The tractor is for clearing land for now. Jack is doing his best to convince them to take this offer. It's volunteer-based only, but I figure once she gets stuff set up, more wolves who already live seemingly normal lives are going to start popping up. Jack holds a lot of sway in the wolf community, so between him and Ruby's alpha status and Stacy's support, I think this could work."
Granny cocked her head to the side like she heard something they couldn't. "Annabel's awake. Want me to keep her until dinner?" Her knowing gaze flicked between the two women. Emma lowered her eyes sheepishly and hooked her thumbs into the back pockets of her jeans while Regina smirked salaciously. Granny chuckled. "I'll bring her by when I help those kids get their house together tonight." She seemed happy as she ambled towards the diner.
"Thanks, Granny," Emma mumbled, still too embarrassed by what the woman undoubtedly smelled on her jeans.
Regina finally broke their separation barrier and ran her hands over Emma's arms. "From the moment I first saw them bare when you assaulted my apple tree, I've wanted your arms around me."
"Stop," Emma ordered, angry suddenly. "Belle texted Ruby about your little show of power. They were kids, Regina. What the hell were you thinking?"
Regina dropped her hands. "I was protecting our daughter," she insisted vehemently without a shred of shame or regret.
"We need to talk," Emma clipped and crossed the street.
Regina cocked an eyebrow defiantly but dutifully slid into the passenger seat without protest, mostly because nothing rolling through her mind at that moment seemed appropriate without upsetting Emma more. She'd not asked her to leave or stay away from her children, so Regina prepared to take her punishment, begrudgingly of course. The princess could apologize later, she figured, but if those sniveling peasants approached Katyline again, they'd join Ben's bones buried in the basement of the abandoned farmhouse where Cora killed herself.