I AM REUPLOADING THIS FIC 7/11/2020 AS IT SEEMS MOST PEOPLE CANT GET CHAPTER 7 DESPITE TRYING TO LOAD IT SEVERAL TIMES - CHAPTER 7 NOW AVAILABLE :)
A/N: Happy pre-Halloween! I think- THINK- this fic will be seven chapters long, so the plan is to post a chapter a day until Halloween itself :)
I've stolen the main setting for this story from my 'TIS THE SEASON Christmas fic- although, obviously, the time of year differs, so please allow me some artistic licence- as I wanted to work with something a little different than usual (for me). I think I said it in the A/N for that fic, but this setting was originally one I wanted to work with for a long, really quite dark fic, but I've since decided it might not be to the majority's taste, and I have enough to contend with working on THESE DARK PATHS! It's a fun setting to work with though, and I hope it's fun to read also!
Excuse the short length of some of the chapters. I promise there will be one per day, but as I am also struggling to get #inktober finished (a picture a day for the month of October) for my art page onheilspellend_ (shameless name drop in case anyone wants to go check the insta, there's boobs and ladies and all sorts! :p) I'm a little bit frantic when it comes to time! You will get a full story though, I promise :) I've actually PLANNED and everything... What a world!
Reviews would be awesome :)
"I have an idea."
Ruby grins, disappearing behind the counter and out into the back before the Mayor has a chance to argue.
"She has an idea."
Mary Margaret smirks in response to the brunette's uneasy frown, and Regina fires her an irritable glance before rolling her eyes.
"I fail to see why she needs to have anything to do with it at all."
"Emma's her friend, she's just trying to help."
Snow shrugs, resting a hand on her stomach with a sigh as she laments her earlier disinclination to leave the house wearing sweatpants as she'd privately wished to; the clothes store behind the cannery not exactly offering a wide range of maternity-wear, nor anything especially comfortable.
"Well, it seems like just about everybody wants to try and help... The next time your daughter opens her mouth to complain about lacking the social competency to make friends, she better believe I'll shoot her down vehemently."
The Mayor mutters as she leans back in her seat to try and catch a glimpse of what the waitress might be doing, and Mary Margaret chuckles as she reasons
"I don't think you shooting her down is ever going to exactly come as a surprise to Emma... And it's not everybody, just Ruby. Don't look so dour."
"Dour!?"
Regina protests, her teeth bared in offence, before she narrows her eyes when the door to the diner opens and closes, muttering waspishly to her companion
"It's not just Ruby... He's still annoyed about the decision we made."
Mary Margaret sighs as she glances over her shoulder to spy Hook shaking out a black umbrella before turning back to the Queen.
"He's fine. Or rather, he would be, if you would stop winding him up, Madame Mayor."
"What are you suggesting I do?"
The brunette demands, and Snow offers her a measured look as she insists
"You know exactly what you do, Regina. You pick at him."
"Hardly, and even if that were true, he should get over it. He's a grown man."
"I know, which is why I have no interest in getting involved. I just wish you'd back down a little so I didn't have to listen to it any time the two of you cross paths. David and I agreed that you should be the one to go bring Emma and Henry home, so I don't see why you continue to feel the need to jump down the man's throat every time he speaks. He's just worried about them, Regina, same as the rest of us; arguing with him about something that's already been decided on- in your favour- isn't going to help anything."
"He's not worried about them, he's worried about getting Miss Swan back to our little town before she finds herself a two-handed suitor in his absence. Given that the woman has had almost a year to enjoy a veritable buffet of options, I'm sure she's compiled quite a list."
"Mm... And, given that I know that you know Emma really quite well, I know you don't actually believe a word you just said."
"Hook isn't concerned about Henry."
The brunette insists, and Snow shrugs.
"Alright, maybe with that part, you have a point, but only just. Give the man a break, he's helped out enough times. I'll admit that you're probably correct in presuming his interest in playing the leading role with this new plan will mostly have centred around Emma, but, as I said just now- as I've said so many times over the last couple of days that it's giving me a headache!- it doesn't matter, because we all agreed that it makes more sense for you to go to New York and play the valiant hero. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised you're so keen on rescuing Emma."
"I'm not rescuing her."
Regina scoffs, pulling a face at the very notion.
"I'm keen to retrieve my son who I haven't seen for the best part of a year. The fact that that means dragging your spawn along with me in the process is neither here nor there so far as I'm concerned. She might not even want to come back..."
The brunette snaps, playing what she knows is a cruel hand for the simple fact that she's fairly certain this is something Snow is genuinely concerned about.
"She will."
The younger woman insists, and the Mayor splays her palms in a gesture that suggests she doesn't care either way as she watches the pirate take up a stool at the bar after returning Mary Margaret's amiable wave moodily.
"I'm not rescuing anyone, least of all your insufferable brat of a daughter, I just trust myself to do a better job of things than him."
Regina offers her final say on the matter, and Snow shrugs with a wince as the baby kicks and assures her wearily
"You're trying to convince me on a subject I've already agreed with you on. I know that might just be too foreign a situation to comprehend, but I don't know what else you want me to say. We agreed; you're a better fit for the job. Who better to deliver a dose of magic than someone that has magic?"
"That was your reasoning behind backing up my argument that the job of returning my own child should go to me. I don't believe it was Charming's."
"So? He agreed with you. Why do you care what his reasoning was?"
"Because his reasoning is sitting up there clad in dirty leather and a scowl, and my ego is just a little sore at being granted a request I should never have had to make- it should have been a given that I would go once we were safe to bring those two home- simply because your husband doesn't like the thought of a pirate jumping into bed with his daughter."
"Oh, I don't think it has much to do with Hook being a pirate... Although, maybe it should, now that I think about it..."
Mary Margaret frowns, before turning to her longterm nemesis and pleading wearily
"And could you please not word it that way?"
"How would you rather I put it? There are frillier ways of insinuating admiration and a longing for courtship, but I don't think any of them really apply when talking about Hook. Or Emma."
Regina purses her lips as she raises an eyebrow as if to challenge the school teacher to tell her she's wrong.
"I mean, you could just not discuss my daughter's love life at all? That's always an option."
"Funny, dear. I believe she's told you the same thing many times."
"Yes, well... It's complicated. She was my roommate for quite a while, and we talked about a lot of things I would take back now if I could!"
"Mm. Fortunately, she's past the age where you'd need to foot the bill for any therapy sessions, but I can see how your likely nightly drivel about David might now be a little traumatising."
"I could say something similar about Henry and discovering what you did during your time on the throne!"
"He knew about that, and I did pay for his sessions with Archie. I've never discussed my favoured positions while sat there for my kingdom's admiration, though, nor just how, ah, roughly I might like my crown put on-"
"-Regina!"
"If I had, I imagine I might feel just a little sheepish these days, but... I managed to refrain from emotionally scarring my own child."
"That might be pushing it."
Snow grumbles darkly.
"Whatever do you mean?... Don't worry, dear. There's always that one."
Regina points towards the school teacher's swollen stomach, earning herself an angry glower as Snow opens her mouth to warn the Queen that she's in danger of crossing the line. She's saved the trouble- and any subsequent argument- when Ruby reemerges from behind the counter looking rather pleased with herself.
"I knew we had these somewhere. Here."
The waitress smiles, holding out a cellophane bag tied with gaudy orange ribbon.
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
Regina frowns as she accepts the packet held out to her.
"You said you needed a way to get Emma and Henry to ingest the potion you and Gold were working on. Why not lace these? It seems appropriate given that Saturday's Halloween."
Ruby shrugs with a grin, and the Mayor sighs as she pockets the packet of candy corn and warns
"Fine... I certainly hope the date we've chosen to do this on isn't an omen."