As much as I would like to own them, all the characters of Once Upon A Time belong to ABC - I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended. This is purely for entertainment purposes. All writing is my own. I do not own Once Upon A Time, it's plot or it's characters.

Hey, important note for you about this one shot: in this one shot the curse never happened, and it features 'nice/innocent' Regina! Enjoy!

Just couldn't stop writing Red Snow whilst on my break, enjoy!

Fairytale Land, AU

The castle was on high alert. Something was threatening the kingdom and it had everybody on edge. Snow was helping Granny with some chores when one of the guardsmen entered the kitchen. Snow looked up in surprise.

"My queen, Queen Red and Emma have returned."

Granny and Snow immediately stopped what they were doing. Emma and Red had left the castle hours ago to see if they could track this thing down. Their return meant one of two things; either they had found it and got rid of it, or they had found it and returned to get help. No matter what it was it didn't prepare the two women for what they heard as they rushed outside.

They heard a loud whimper, Snow recognising it as her wife's. She then heard a similar, slightly higher pitched whimper, the raven haired woman instantly recognising it through her mothers instinct as Emma's.

They rounded the corner to see a crowd gathering in the courtyard. Pushing their way past various people they saw two large wolves, one black and one white, limping through the gate. Snow raised a hand to her mouth in shock as she rushed up to her wife's side, Granny rushing to Emma's.

"Red! What happened? Are you hurt?!"

The wolf just whimpered as Snow wrapped her arms around her large shoulders and kissed her head. She glanced over at her daughter, who seemed to be equally injured. Sharing a look with Snow Granny looked up at the people surrounding them. "Everybody clear off! There's nothing to see here!"

"Guardsmen, go and get Regina!" Snow called, holding onto Red tightly.

A few moments later a very pregnant and worried Regina waddled out over to them, the crowd now gone. Her face was the picture of worry as she dropped down next to the white wolf who was collapsed onto the floor in pain. Looking her over she noticed that her usually brilliant, immaculate white fur was stained red with blood.

"We need to get them to change back and get them inside" Snow said as she stood up, looking down at the black wolf. "Red," she whispered gently. "I need you to change back, love"

Red glanced up at Snow and saw the pleading look in her gaze, telling her that she had to do this so that they could tend to her wounds. Using every last bit of her will, she managed to transform back to her human form. She glanced over at Emma and crawled to her side where Regina was looking down at her with a few stray tears running down her face. Sending her daughter-in-law a reassuring smile the best she could, she reached out and placed a gloved hand on Emma's shoulder, the white wolf whimpering.

They had barely made it back, the only thing keeping them going was the thought that they had to get back and warn their people about what was really terrorising them, not to mention they had to make sure that their wives were ok, especially Regina, who was pregnant with her and Emma's first child.

Now, looking down at the white wolf who was too weak to move, her breath exceptionally shallow, she needed to make sure her pack was OK. This was when she really became the leader of her pack, stepping into her role as mama wolf. That meant getting her daughter to change back to her human form no matter how painful it might be for her.

Emma was strong, she knew it. Whether it be in human form or wolf form, she was definitely strong and fast enough to keep up with her mother and give her a run for her money. That's why she needed to do this. Red felt a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked to see that Snow had knelt down next to her to offer her some support. Turning back to Emma she stroked her head as only a mother could.

Snow watched as her wife lent forward and whispered into their daughters ear, the white wolf whimpering. Moments like these, no matter how dire they may have been, amazed her. She remembered a time when Red had been so insecure of her own wolf, but now, comforting a hurting Emma, so really saw the true Red shining through. It was if the woman transformed into the pack leader, protecting and saying all the right things to help sooth the injured wolf that was their daughter.

Her and Regina watched on in amazement as Red sat back into Snow's comforting embrace whilst Emma used her remaining strength to change back into her human form. Snow smiled and kissed the side of her wife's head as Regina cried tears of joy.

Emma looked up at the brunette, who reached forward and cupped her cheeks as tears streamed down her face. "I was so worried" She sniffled, leaning forward and kissing Emma's forehead.

Emma looked up and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her wife, although she hated the idea that she was the one that had caused the pain and the tears that was so very evident on the other woman's face. However, she didn't have time to think before she was having the life kissed out of her.

Snow and Red moved away to give them their privacy and stood up. Then James (who everybody called Charming), their best and most trusted knight, came rushing up to them.

"What happened?"

Snow let Red rest her weight on her before the werewolf answered. "The beast is roaming the forest nearby. It seemed to have been moving closer and closer to the castle, which is why me and Emma attacked. As you can see that didn't go well. You will need many men if you want to take it out."

"What is it?"

"It was large, like a flaming lion. Instead of a normal mane it had flames around it's neck and it was burning hot. It managed to injure both me and Emma before we could even hit it. I made the decision to leave to warn our people."

Snow listened to everything her wife said and let one of her hands reach out to rub soothing circles over the brunettes bruised ribs.

James nodded just as Mulan came up to them, guards and dwarves in tow. "I think I have an idea what you are talking about"

"How much did you hear?" Red asked, her wife's hand ministrations soothing her a little.

"Enough. I think it is the Yoaguai. It is a fearsome creature and I have an idea of how to stop it."

Snow nodded. "You and James can work that out. Right now my wife is in dire need of attention to her wounds, as is my daughter"

Mulan and James nodded, the Chinese woman bowing. "I will see to it that this is taken care of, my queen."

"As shall I" James added, smiling sympathetically.

Snow nodded and turned around, helping Red limp into the castle. By now Emma had been taken inside, and as much as Snow knew that her daughter needed to be tended to, she also knew that she would need to help her wife on her own, meaning that she would need to tend to her wounds. Not that she hadn't done it many times before, but it was thankfully becoming required less and less. She just hoped that now Regina was pregnant with their first grandchild it wouldn't happen as much. They needed their land to be safe for their growing family, and that meant keeping the area around the castle free from threats such as these.

Red winced as Snow escorted her up to their bed chambers, gasping as she sat down. Snow stripped her of her layers and found that she had a large gash on her shoulder and down her back. How the brunette had managed to stay awake this long surprised the smaller woman, knowing that if it was her she certainly would have either passed out from the pain or the blood loss by now.

As she surveyed her wife's body for any more injuries Granny poked her head in from behind the door. "Emma is now asleep in her and Regina's chambers."

"How come so quickly?" Snow asked.

"Regina managed to heal her with magic. She had a nasty gash on her left side, but she's far from being ready to be up and about. It really took it out of her. Regina is on her way here now to help Red"

"Is she sure about that? Wouldn't she rather be by Emma's side?" Red asked, her Granny shrugging.

"She's on her way now"

A few moments after Granny had left the door opened once again, this time admitting Regina. The brunette sat down next to her mother-in-law on the bed and smiled.

"Regina, are you sure you want to do this? I mean, you should be by Emma's side"

Regina rubbed her growing stomach as she looked at them. "Emma is asleep for now. It's my duty to not only make sure that she is OK, but my mothers too. You need healing. It's the least I can do for you after you protected our child so valiantly." The brunette smiled, her hands rubbing over her unborn child.

Red and Snow nodded, letting her get to work. Once she was finished and gone Snow lay on her back and let Red drape herself over her body, the position much more comfortable with her partially healed back. It would have been painful laying on it so Snow had offered herself up as a temporary pillow for the night. God knows she owed it to her wife who had been a cozy and warm wolf pillow many a night during the winter months.

As they drifted off to sleep, Snow holding onto her wife tightly, she knew that her and Emma had done their family proud, having protected it when they needed too. Sure, the monster hadn't been slain yet, but the two wolves had managed to identify it and now Mulan and their best knight James were out doing that for them. She had never been more proud of her wife than she was tonight. She and never been more happy to be called her wife, and she had really seen her step up and show why she was the pack leader.