CHAPTER 19

Regina and Emma walked to the diner hand in hand. Henry pushed the stroller that held his baby sister in front of them. To passersby they looked like the perfect family.

When they got to the diner Henry carefully took his sister out of the chair just as his Moms had shown him. He sat playing and cooing over Lolly as Ruby came over and got their orders.

"She's beautiful," Ruby ran her finger down the soft cheek. Lolly blinked up at her before giving a small burp. Everyone laughed.

"And she has Emma's manners," Regina chuckled. It was hard for her to tear her eyes away from her baby. Even though she was almost a week old she still hated it when she was out of her sight.

"And her Mommy's good looks," Emma squeezed Regina's hand before giving her a kiss. She couldn't remember when she'd ever been this happy.

Ruby just shook her head and compressed her lips. She took their order and quickly walked back to put give it to the kitchen. As she gathered their drink orders together Granny nudged her with her elbow.

"It's none of your business Red," Granny reminded her as she continued writing in the ledger.

Ruby knew her Gran well though. She knew she didn't need to have her eyes glued to them to be able to take in the horror show in front of them. "You don't think this is sick? And how do you think Regina's going to feel when she wakes up?" She felt sickened as she watched Emma and Henry laughing it up as if they were a perfect family.

"They're royals child. I told you that already. You're just going to have to accept that they're not like us."

"Human?" Ruby challenged.

Granny sighed. "I don't pay you to pass judgment on the customers. Just do your job and keep your mouth shut," Granny ordered. But she ran a hand up and down Ruby's arm to help take the sting out of the words.

Ruby just shook her head, "I will. But only because it will crush Regina when she learns the truth," Ruby began to walk back to the table with the drinks.

Granny grabbed her arm, "and then you can let her know that we're here for whatever she needs."

Ruby nodded and gave her Gran a small smile. She brought their drinks over to them and went about doing her job. As she brought their order over to them Emma tried, as she usually did when she came in, to engage Ruby in small talk. But Ruby had no want or care to try and mend the friendship between them. She'd quickly excused herself and carried on with work.

And though she tried to keep her mind focused only on work, she couldn't stop her eyes from straying over to the sham of a family.

~FB~

"Just – It's really important. Please Rubes? You know he's no trouble," Emma pleaded with her while bouncing around on her toes.

Ruby looked at Emma suspiciously. She had no idea what was going on but she felt really bad taking their broken friendship out on Henry. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Fine. I'll babysit. But he needs to stay out of the way. I am still working."

"I'll be good Ruby. I promise," Henry said as he took a seat on a stool at the bar.

Emma looked relieved. She was already heading out the door even before she finished talking. "Thanks," she threw over her shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah," Ruby muttered under her breath. She walked over to Henry and leaned over the counter, "How's a milkshake sound to help pass the time?"

Henry broke out on in a grin. He pushed his homework that he had brought with him aside, "Strawberry chocolate chocolate chip?" He blinked his lashes up at her while giving her puppy dog eyes.

Ruby chuckled while she ruffled his head, "You put those things away. They don't work on me," she told him even as she began adding the ingredients together. She put the tumbler into the shake machine and turned it on. "Your Mom seemed in a hurry."

"Yeah, she's on a mission." Henry had been sworn to secrecy. But it was just Ruby. He'd known her all his life. "We're going to get my Mom back," he told her happily.

Ruby frowned as she released the cup from the shake machine. She poured his shake into a glass and added whipped cream, a straw, and a cherry on top before handing it over to him. "What do you mean?" From what she could tell, Regina had made it perfectly clear to them both that she didn't want either one of them in her life anymore.

She and Granny had gone over to the house after hearing about her leaving town. Regina had let everyone know that she was resigning her post. The first few times they'd tried visiting and talking to her had ended with the door slammed in their faces. But they'd persisted. And eventually Regina had allowed them to say their peace. They'd begun by thanking her for all she'd done for them. The casting of the curse for them had been a blessing. They'd let her know that no matter what she had a friend with them for life. The three of them had spent many an afternoon together just talking since then. At first it was superficial. Then it began to turn deeper and they all began to share more intimate details of who they were and just getting to know one another better. They were slowly developing bonds between them all. It was nice.

Henry bit his lip not sure how much of the details he should give out. But he was really happy and excited. It was hard keeping it to himself. He took a big drag of the shake. It was perfect as everything else at Granny's always was. "My Mom – Emma," he really needed to figure out something fast if they were all going to live together. It was going to be too confusing calling them both Mom. He shook his head, "My Ma Emma, is going to make it so that my Mom – Regina – forgets. From now on she's only going to remember the good things."

It took Ruby a few seconds to process what he was telling her. She swallowed thickly as she tried to wipe the horror that was beginning to bubble up inside her from her face. "What do you mean? Forget what? And how?"

Henry shrugged. He continued slurping at his shake. Then he pulled out the straw and began using the spoon. He brought a spoonful up to his lips and let it hang there for a second. "It's not a curse. It's just a spell. So she won't remember that she was going to leave. And that she didn't like us anymore," Henry's voice petered out at the end. He dropped the spoon back into the glass and began playing around with his shake. He shrugged again before pulling his homework over in front of him again.

Ruby was horrified. She threw Granny a shell-shocked look but Granny only shook her head sadly and went back to the books. "There're customers waiting Ruby."

Ruby had managed to pull herself together and went back to work. About an hour later was when Emma called to say that she was at the hospital with Regina. When she'd arrived there with Henry she knew from the look on her face that this was it.

She'd waited until Emma had left to tend to something or other before she sent Henry off on an errand to see what he could scrounge up at the vending machines. Once she was alone with Regina she'd asked her questions about past events and realized pretty quickly that Regina had no idea what she was talking about. Ruby had left her that day after Emma and Henry had returned with her heart sunk into her belly.

~EFB~

After the family had eaten, Emma and Henry gave Regina and Lolly kisses before they headed out. Emma would drop Henry off to school before she headed into work herself. Regina would continue on her maternity leave for another few weeks before returning to work. She had spent a good deal of her pregnancy restructuring things so that she could do the majority of her work from home.

Ruby walked over to the side of the booth that Henry and Emma had vacated and took a seat. "She sure is a beauty," she smiled over at Lolly who had just unlatched from her Mom and was already almost back to sleep. She blinked lazily over at Ruby a few times before her eyes shut for good.

"Yeah, she is," Regina bragged with a huge smile on her face. "Would you like to hold her?"

"You don't have to ask me twice," Ruby reached out for the baby. After Regina transferred her over she held her close to her chest while putting her finger in her tiny palm. She smiled over at Regina as Lolly closed her fist around the digit. "She's going to be strong."

"She gets that from both her Moms," Regina sat up proudly.

Ruby glanced at her through her lashes. She had promised her Gran to stay out of their business. And after seeing that Regina appeared genuinely happy with Henry and Emma back in her life she'd kept quiet for her as much as anything else. Regina had spent her entire life being used and abused. She didn't know how to even begin to explain to her what was going on.

But that didn't mean she shared her Granny's views about the family. She didn't believe keeping quiet was what was best. Not for Regina anyway. She also didn't believe that them being royals made them any better than she or anyone else.

"I remember how you talked about the two of you exploring the world together after she was born. You said you wanted to show her everything that this town didn't have to offer."

Regina gave her a puzzled look. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to think back on when this could've happened. She shook her head slowly, "I don't know when I would've said that."

"It was just before your accident. You were really excited about it. You said it was high time you spread your wings and shook the dust of this old town off of you. Don't you remember?"

Again Regina's forehead creased. "I'm sorry Ruby. I can't remember that conversation at all."

Ruby shrugged and smiled. "I guess it's not a big deal. Now that you, Henry and Emma are all together again," Ruby could see Granny frowning at her with her peripheral vision. She threw her an innocent look. She rose and began to hand Lolly back over to Regina. She kissed her head and squeezed Regina's shoulder as she took her back. "You know our offer still stands. You can come to me and Granny anytime for any reason. No matter what."

Regina smiled her thanks before putting Lolly back into the stroller. She said her goodbyes and headed out.

"I told you about meddlin' chil'," Granny elbowed Ruby in her ribs.

"I didn't," Ruby protested with a feigned look of surprise. "I merely got her thinking. Now I have a job to do," she said as she filled up a tray. She sauntered past her Gran and went over to her customer.

Besides her beauty and insults the other thing that Regina was famous for was her intelligence. She was probably one of the smartest women in the entire town. Ruby had merely done what she could to get the wheels turning. Now it was up to Regina to fill in the blanks.