Robert caught Ruth returning from town on the one road their little hamlet had. She led a horse-drawn wagon laden with foods she had bartered for and leftover crops she had not been able to sell. With the setting sun at her back and a gentle breeze dancing through her thick, tight curls, she looked lovelier than any enchanted queen or fairy princess.

He had been sitting under the shade of the old oak tree, waiting for her. Memories of childhood days spent playing in the tree came flood back and strengthened his resolve.

"Were you waiting for me to get back?" Ruth asked, with a trace of amusement in her voice.

"Of course, I missed her," Robert answered, before tilted his down to kiss her quickly.

A small, shy smile came to her lips. "Are you sure you should be doing that out in the open? If your grandmother hears about this-"

"I don't care," Robert shook his head. "I love her, I really do, but I'm not gonna let her decide the rest of my life. Especially not when there's still so much of it left to live. Whether she likes it or not, I'm a grown man and the farm belongs to me. If she doesn't want you there, that's her problem."

Ruth's heart began to beat faster and her hands slid from the reins, "You mean..."

Robert kissed her again, longer and deeper this time. "Yes, I want to be your husband, if you'll have me."

"If I'll have you," Ruth laughed. "As there's anyone else in this world I'd rather spend my life with. Are you sure there won't be trouble with your grandmother?"

Everyone in the village knew that Robert's grandmother, the wizened Old Cecilia, had always assumed the worst in Ruth.

Ruth had wandered Into The Village at the age of five years old, alone and barefoot, and the first thing she did was to steal several apples from Cecilia's tree. The neighbor Janice decided to take Ruth in as her own daughter, since she was a street urchin with no family, and had paid for the cost of the apple ship stolen. But it was too late, Cecilia had already decided that Ruth was nothing but an untrustworthy thief and she never changed her mind about anything.

Robert's parents had both already died by that point, so his grandmother was his guardian and only family member. Ruth quickly became his best friend growing up, but they had to sneak around because of Cecilia's distaste for their friendship. As the years passed and Robert and Ruth got older, their friendship began to take on a different shape. Now that they had both come of age Robert decided that he would no longer live under his grandmother's thumb.

He could have made his own choices and he was choosing to marry Ruth.

As predicted, Cecilia threw at fit when she heard about their engagement, but there was nothing she could do. Robert had made up his mind and he could be just as stubborn as her when he wanted to be. She called Ruth all sorts of names, vile things that Robert would never repeat to anyone. He had finally reached his breaking point with his grandmother.

"You're being ridiculous. This whole feud you have with her, because she stole some apples when she starving and desperate? How could you hold a grudge against a child like that? And for so long?" Robert spat in disgust.

"The theft is the symptom, not the disease," Cecelia stated. "Her early life was spent without the guidance of proper parents, doing whatever she wanted. She may not have done anything to put herself in that situation, but the fact of the matter is she wasn't raised right and that stays with a person forever. She's tainted."

"Janice raised her just fine!"

"It was late. Janice just prevent further damage, but plenty of damage had already been done."

"You talk about Ruth like she's some sort of object. People grown and changed. She's not a prisoner to her past."

"That's where you're wrong. You were always too idealist, just like your father, wanting to believe the best in people. You only love Ruth because you can't see her for what she really is. That's why you need me to tell you the truth."

Robert almost shook with anger. "I don't need to hear anything else from you."

"I will never let that girl live under my roof, not for as long as I live," Cecilia snarled.

"Fine, then we won't live under your roof. After the wedding, I'm moving into Ruth and Janice's house."

Cecilia gasped, "You wouldn't leave me. Me, your elderly grandmother, all alone in this house. You know I can't take care of myself anymore."

"I won't let you starve. I'll still take care of the farm and of you, but if Ruth can't live under your roof then neither can I."

"Won't let me starve," Cecilia mocked. "I changed your diapers, I taught you how to walk. When your parents died, I raised you like you were my own. After everything I've done for you, you're going to abandon me in my old age. If you were always planning to disrespect my wished by marrying that girl, you could have at least waited until I was in the ground."

Robert shook his head, "I'm not ungrateful because I fell in love, or because I won't tolerate your hateful views. Nor I am so much of coward that I wouldn't be true to my heart while you still lived."

Cecilia started at her grandson for a long moment, then turned her back to him. "Get your fiancée and get out of my house."


David had just finished a long day of work, and when he opened the door of his office, prepared to go home, he found a young boy standing on the other side of it. It was Regina's son, he remembered dimly, which sort of made him Snow's brother and his brother-in-law. David couldn't remember his name. She kept him hidden away from the rest of the town and they didn't exactly run in the same circles to begin with.

"Uh, can I help you?" David asked awkwardly.

"You're the coma patient from a few months ago, David," the boy stated.

"Yes, who are you?"

"My name is Henry Mills. My mom's the mayor."

"I caught that."

"I have something really important to tell you. I've been trying to talk to you forever, but my mom never let me go anywhere. I'm not sure you'll believe me, but I have to at least."

David braced himself, but nothing could have prepared for what Henry said.

"Fairy tales are real. All of them actually happened. You're a fairy tale character, and so's my mom, and almost everyone in this town."

"How did you figure that out?" David exclaimed.

Now it was Henry's turned to be shocked. "You believe me, just like that?"

"Well, yeah. Hey, come in here," David led Henry back into his office and shut the door. They sat across from each other at David's desk. "I remember being in the Enchanted Forest. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that I was in a coma. I woke up and I was disorientated for a while, but then all my memories came back. Both sets of memories."

Henry's eyes were wide and shiny, full of emotion. "I knew it. I knew the Book was telling the truth. You can tell Emma and Mary, and convince of the truth."

"I'm pretty sure they'll just think I'm crazy. That's why I've been looking for a way to end the curse this whole time. I know it has something to do with Emma, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how."

"It's because she's the Savior. It says so in my book."

David look at Henry thoughtfully. "Do you have it with you?"

"Not right now, but I can bring it another time and we can look over it together."

"Good plan. Henry, can I ask you something? If you know the truth, then you know what your mother is? What she's done."

Henry nodded, "She's the Evil Queen. She hurt a bunch of people, including you, Snow White, and your family."

"Are you okay? That's a pretty tough thing to find out about the woman who raised you. And you've been dealing with it all by yourself for so long..."

Henry wasn't sure how to respond for a minute. He'd never had anyone he could talk to about those sorts of things, since no one ever believed him. "Yeah. I was scared for her for the longest time. I still am...sometimes. Mostly because I'm afraid she'll hurt people I love. I know she's capable of doing just about anything. I don't like to think that she'll hurt me too, but she killed her own dad for the curse and I'm named after him, so...that's pretty disturbing."

"I'm sorry you've had to keep that bottled up inside," David gently laid a hand on Henry's shoulder, "I promise that I'm here for you Henry. Whatever you need, whenever you want to talk. You don't have to do this alone."

Something in Henry's answering smile reminded David of Emma.


The twins were born just under two years after Ruth and Robert got married. Cecilia refused to relent about Ruth, so Ruth and Robert lived in Janice's house with their sons, David and James. Janice was a doting grandmother to them both, something that made Cecilia burn with envy. She wanted her great-grandsons to live with her, on her family farm, but that would mean accepting Ruth. If Cecilia hated anything more than people she deemed beneath her, it was admitting that she was wrong about something.

Robert kept his word and still took care of her, even though his refusal to move back home strengthened with the birth of his sons. He worked the fields, took care of the animals, and always made sure she had enough food to last the week. Twice a week he would James and David over so she could spend time with them. Ruth never crossed the property the separated their homes. As far as she was concerned, Cecilia was already dead.

During the boys' first winter, an outbreak struck the hamlet. Cecilia fell ill, though she refused to admit it. She still insisted that Robert bring the boys over to her house, even though vehemently opposed it. To their horror, Janice came down with the illness as well, and it killed her within two days. The ground was too hard for a proper burial, so Janice's body was placed in the undertaker's cellar until spring. Ruth was so distraught at the loss of her adoptive mother and fearful for the wellbeing of her sons, that she relented and told David to take the boys and stay with his grandmother until things had gone back to normal.

Despite her advanced age and poor health, Cecilia threw herself into helping Robert care for David and James. Regardless of what she thought of their mother, she loved her great-grandsons. They were identical to each other, and reminded her a great deal of her late son when he was a baby. Robert, though he was relieved that his grandmother had not deemed his sons 'tainted' like she had his wife, Robert couldn't help but worry that she was extending herself too much. When he raised his concerns about her health, Cecilia brushed him off.

Cecilia did eventually die, and joined Janice in the undertaker's cellar.

Ruth moved into the same day Cecilia's body was taken out of the house, and to her and Robert's horror James and David began to show symptoms of the illness. Having both just lost the women who raised them, Ruth and Robert was desperate to make sure their babies did not experience the same fate. They were too poor to afford the medicine they needed to save their boys and their neighbors were even worse off, so they did the only thing they could think off. They summoned the Dark One for help.

The demon placed a finger on James' cheek, "Of course I can your sweet little boys, but it's going to cost you."