AN: To those who've been asking for more Red Snow… this chapter is just for you.

"We're going to leave in ten minutes, Chip." Regina said as she walked by the prince, Belle and Snow.

"Yes, your majesty." Chip nodded his understanding as he watched the Shadow Queen move on to the other princes and knights. Once Regina was out of human earshot, he turned to his mothers, "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, Chip. What's she going to do? Stop us? She needs more help than seven men."

"It's not just a queen and seven men. It's five princes, two knights, her six advisors, a king and now four queens."

"A king and four queens?" Belle raised a brow.

"Emma's parents are coming. And they gave Emma her stubbornness, do you really think Regina was going to fight with them?"

"No…" Belle shook her head, "I suppose not." She looked to her wife who didn't look back at her, this action made her look down in fear, or was it concern over what her wife was feeling for the White Queen? "We should still go. We need to. We need to even the score."

A moment later, Queen Red turned her head the slightest amount when she smelt Snow come to the castle entrance where everyone was gathering.

Chip caught the turn of her head; he had been told that his werewolf mother had quite the wandering eye before she met his other mother. He'd heard rumors from maidens and royals that didn't know of his wolf hearing when Snow and Charming were at the same parties he and his mothers were about Snow and Red.

All he needed to see was the look in Red's eyes before he turned to Belle, "Mom, I've something I want to speak with you about." He took his mother by her shoulders and walked away, "I wanted to know if you've told me everything about Pure Ones that you know…?"

Red closed her eyes, thanking her son for rolling with punches. She turned and made her way over to Snow, pulling her to a small entryway out of site from everyone else.

"What are you doing?!" Snow hissed as she glared to the other woman, yanking her arm from Red's grasp.

"Are you all right?" Red ignored the woman's flustered state from being Red-handled into a dark corner.

"I was fine until you pulled me over here!"

"Snow…" Red's tone reminded the White Queen just who she was dealing with.

Snow blinked as water began welling her eyes, and she let her mask fall a bit. "That woman… She took her from me."

"I know."

"She continuously takes from everyone!"

"I know."

"She put me in a sleeping curse because she thought me prettier than her."

"I know." Red half chuckled.

"Have you seen her daughter? I am no competition."

"You are…" Red tilted her head and gave the White Queen a lazy smile.

"No. You are." Snow put her hands on her hips and paced a moment. She looked back to the Queen of the Enchanted Forest West and sighed. "My gods, the things she must have done to Regina. And look how… good she's turned out anyways."

Red nodded, "She keeps a bad reputation, but she's probably the smartest and bravest ruler of us all." She looked Snow in the eye, "And that is why I know that she's going to bring your daughter back."

Snow shook her head and took to pacing, holding her stomach, "I can't focus on it. I can focus enough to know why I'm going, to know I'm getting Emma back. And then I have to stop."

Red nodded, "I understand."

"Do you? Do you know what it's like to have your child taken from you?"

"Yes." Red nodded, "I also know what it's like to get them back and kill the person that took them."

Snow stared up at the other woman, "Chip was kidnapped?"

"He was a small child. He didn't even know he was gone. Or, if he did, he never told me."

"What happened?"

"Someone found out he was a different kind," Red leaned forward, emphasizing what she said before she added the last words, "of wolf. Wanted him for himself, wanted to train him to do his bidding, I'm sure. What he didn't realize or didn't care to acknowledge was that it was the night of the full moon. He probably thought it poetic, but I tracked him down in two hours."

"And then?"

"I made sure no magic or harm had come to Chip, put him in my knight's arms, told him to wait outside for a few minutes, and took off my hood."

"Red." Snow looked up, marveling at the fierceness the mother gave off.

"Snow, no one here likes Cora, everyone here wants her dead. And a few of us have personal vendettas against her and the Dark One." Red placed a hand on Snow's shoulder, "We're going to get Emma back. And then you'll take off your hood… Everyone will."

Snow laughed a sad laugh as she reached out in askance for a hug. Red was quick to enter the White Queen's hold and they stayed that way.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Snow asked after taking a calming breath and possibly holding tighter.

"What?"

"Our first weeks together." The White Queen pulled from Red just enough to see her face. "You would sneak onto the castle grounds and I would sneak out of my room. We'd first meet in the stables or under a dark archway before deciding where we could go."

Red smiled, "That is what would happen."

"But then we grew up." Snow's tone was filled with sadness.

"We grew apart." Red's tone matched that of Snow White's.

"We fell in love."

"Got married."

"And had children."

"And now our children are old enough to have wild romances not unlike ours." Red smiled.

"Mine apparently already has."

"Yours is lucky."

Snow gave the brunette a look, "Yours is. And he will find love. He's too good, too much like you not to."

"He is his mother." Red smiled, "I merely gave him his wolf, his eyes and hair. She gave him his brain."

"He has your bleeding heart." Snow said as she touched Red's chest for emphasis.

"Yes… I suppose he does." Red nodded. She glanced out to the front grounds where horses, guards and the royals were, "We should go back out there."

"Yes, you should." Regina crossed her arms as she stood at the archway of the alcove the two Queens had hidden themselves in.

"Regina!" Snow looked to the Shadow Queen wide-eyed. Then, an idea came to mind of how she could get herself out of the situation she was in, "Might I call you Regina seeing as you're in love with my daughter and all?"

Regina wasn't shaken by the comment, "Of course, Snow. Might I presume you two are not supposed to be alone together and that's why you've stolen away in the shadows?"

Snow looked down, "There is nothing between us but love and respect."

"Yes, I'd imagine so. And I imagine that your Charming and Belle have a problem with the 'love' part."

Red looked to the queen with a smirk, "You know what she meant."

"I do." Regina nodded.

"Then why presume I meant otherwise?" Snow asked.

Regina tilted her head to the other woman and gave a soft, sad smile, "Because a jealous lover doesn't know what you mean when you say you love a past lover—even if you are explicit whilst telling them."

"It sounds as though you've dealt with this personally?" Snow tried to sound casual and vague.

Regina chuckled, "If you have something to ask, ask it."

"Did you love anyone before my daughter?"

"I did." Regina nodded and looked away.

"Do you use this love to make her jealous?"

Regina shook her head, "I don't." She swallowed, "Only out of respect for the dead, though. I would use Daniel all the time if he were alive."

Snow placed a gentle hand on her forearm, "I'm so sorry."

"It's quite all right." Regina pulled and moved back into the beginnings of the dawning sun.

"Do you mind if I ask what happened?" Red called after the Shadow Queen, causing her to pause her stride.

Regina turned her head to the side but looked to neither woman, "My mother ripped his heart out and crushed it to dust ten feet in front of me because he was a stable boy and I a princess." The lump she swallowed was large. "Come," Regina gestured with her left hand, "We have a princess to save."

Red was quick to move, knowing Snow saw the same ring she had, the one that had belonged to Queen Eva, and that the White Queen was going to want a moment to talk about it. She squeezed Regina's shoulder as she passed her by and moved beyond the private point to find her wife and son.

Snow strode from the shadows of the alcove over to the Shadow Queen, linking her right arm with the brunette's left. She took the queen's hand and stared at her mother's diamond ring a moment. "This ring looks lovely on your hand." She smiled to the other woman, "My husband told me Emma proposed to you with it?"

"Yes." Regina nodded as they strode slowly to their readied horses.

"He said it was the first day she met you."

"It was." Regina smiled as she looked down to the ring again. "We were on a park bench. It was the twilight hour; everyone had gone home. She got down on her knee, pulled the ring from her necklace and asked me to marry her." Regina let out a small laugh with a sigh, "I asked her if she were crazy…" She shook her head and looked to her feet as she took each step.

"And what did she say?" Snow asked as they stopped at the white horse that seemed to be all too familiar.

"She said 'No.' That she just didn't want to seem rash. Then she leaned in and kissed me."

Snow rolled her eyes, "My daughter, the princess with all her tact in place." She smiled before sobering from her sarcasm, "That was it for you, wasn't it? You tried to deny it and walk away, or push her away. But she didn't let you and you didn't really want to in the first place."

Regina nodded, "Yes, that's it exactly. How did you—?"

"She's her father's daughter." Snow supplied. She looked over Regina then to the white horse once more, "You've her horse, her weaponry and her ring. If anyone doesn't know what you're doing, they will when they see you with Ice." She touched the horse's neck, petting him, letting him know she did in fact recognize him.

Regina magicked and apple and gave it to the horse, "Well, I couldn't very well leave him here when he knows Emma's in possible danger…"

Snow shook her head, "No, that horse loves his owner. He's like a hound in that way; fierce and loyal."

Regina nodded before she turned to the east and squinted her eyes, "It is time." She mounted the favored horse. "It is time." She called to all the other royals standing about with their respective sons and knights.

Snow found her husband and their horses, "You were right." Snow looked to her husband after mounting her tan horse.

"I know." Charming gave her that smile of his.

"She's perfect for our daughter."

"NO!" Regina's voice interrupted everyone's last minute conversations as she trotted over to Belle and Red, who had mounted their suited horses, "What are you two doing?"

"We're going with you." Belle said.

"Evening up the teams." Red provided.

"I need you to stay here." Regina begged the queens.

"Regina… You have six advisors, five princes, two knights and a king and queen. You're leaving behind an entire army, and all the other royals and the guards they brought with them… You could use two more people." Red said.

"Yeah," Belle nodded, "And with Red and Chip's noses and my know-how… What's it really gonna hurt?"

"And… if you want to go find Emma, you don't have time to argue." Red gave her a winning, arrogant smile.

Regina didn't do anything; she didn't huff in frustration nor roll her eyes. She simply turned Ice around and looked to make sure everyone else was ready to go. "Let us be off now." She looked to her ring to let it guide her.

~0~0~0~0~0~

The group had been riding for an hour, Regina at the front of the pack with Chip, Arely, and Artie, at her sides, and Alexander, Patrick, Dunstan and Gustave just behind as the roads weren't wide enough for all eight of them. Snow and Charming were in the middle with Pinocchio and Jefferson, and Red and Belle were just behind them with Bae, Genie, Graham and Hook.

A couple of birds landed on Pinocchio's shoulder. "Gods!" he tried to shoo them away.

Jefferson let out a boisterous guffaw, loud enough to cause the attention of every person on the trail and every wildlife creature in what seemed to be a mile radius, "What? Pinocchio, don't you like the wilderness?" He teased.

Regina rolled her eyes and turned back to staring at her ring, making sure she was still going in the right direction.

Pinocchio refused to take the bait. "Yes, I love it."

"Oh, come now. You hate it. You hate that even in human form, birds still find purchase on your…limbs."

This caused the rest of the advisors to chuckle, and the other royals to try to stop themselves from laughing outright.

"That pun was no fun. Now, come on. We are here for the queen. We said we would behave."

Jefferson raised his hands in surrender, "Of course, old friend. I just—"

"You just had to take opportunity where it struck."

"Exactly." The hatter nodded once, tapping his hat before it fell off his head.

Red decided that it would be a good time to talk with her wife, seeing as she was happy and amused with the goings on of the group they were with. "Darling?"

"Yes, love?" Belle looked to her wife, a wide smile gracing her features.

Red smiled back, "I talked with Snow this morning before the trip." She spoke softly.

Belle's smile faded and she looked down, "Oh?"

"I just wanted to make sure that she was alright."

Belle licked the front of her teeth, "Of course." She swallowed and turned her head to look at her wife, "What happened?"

"What? Nothing happened…"

"Obviously something did if you feel guilty enough to confess to my face that you went and 'spoke' with your ex-lover behind my back."

Chip turned from his spot next to Regina to look at his mothers in the back of the back.

Regina knit her brows, "Is everything all right, Chip?"

Chip nodded, "My mothers…"

Arely looked to see an intense stare between them, "They love each other." He observed, "Are they fighting about Queen Snow?"

Hearing his knowing words, Red turned to look at Arely with darkened features. She looked down as she thought about what to say next, "Darling, the only thing that happened was I told her that we'd been in her position before. We hugged—"

"Sure." Belle turned from her.

"Isabelle Lacey Lucas!" Red pulled the reigns of her horse and leapt to the ground. She grabbed Belle's hand, taking the reigns and stopping her horse before yanking on the hand in her grasp, causing her wife to fall in her arms.

This commotion caused everyone to stop and turn.

Red looked to the rest of them, "Go on." She gestured for them to go. "We'll catch up."

Regina inhaled deeply. She was not going to yell at them for causing distraction. She was not going to yell at them for delaying even if it only for a minute. She looked down at her ring and noticed it beginning to fade.

"What does that mean?" Artie asked.

"It means that we've gotten off course; we're going the wrong way now." She turned Ice to her right and let him trot a few paces and saw the ring dull even more before turning the opposite direction and it brightened once more.

Regina let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as Ice led the group off the road and into the plains. He took into a gallop and Regina was more than eager to let him. She simply stared at her ring making sure it stayed bright as Ice ran to his content.

As everyone followed, Snow looked back to see Belle glowering her way. She looked away, deciding she didn't want to think about the fact that Red and Belle were fighting because of her.

Charming made sure to keep by his wife as their horses broke into a run with the rest of them, "Nothing happened." He said, taking in her look of surprise. "I mean, with Red. Nothing happened…Right?" he only asked after the woman didn't respond in any way.

"Of course!" Snow now looked offended.

"So… it's okay." Charming nodded her direction, "She knows you; she knows things about you I probably don't. But she knows that you're not okay and she tried to help."

"How—?"

"I saw the look in her eyes as she walked over to you and brought you under that archway…" he ducked his head, "I had half a mind to rip her a new one, but I let it go this time."

Snow narrowed her brows, "Charming…?" she was suspicious.

"Yes, Snow?"

"Did you send Regina over to us?"

"Might have." He gave his wife a grin. "You had been alone long enough to have a good conversation."

Snow smiled at him, "We had."

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"You have no right to full name me!" Belle pushed her wife away.

"I have every right to full name you when you're acting like the prissy princess you never wanted to be!"

"I am not acting prissy nor like a princess!"

"You are! You won't listen to me! To what I've said!"

"Because what you've said isn't good enough to rationalize taking your ex-lover behind my back in front of my face!"

"I didn't take her! I took her aside to talk!"

"And why should I believe that that's all that happened?!"

"Because I'm in love with you!" Red looked at the woman as if she were crazy, "I'm in love with you." She calmed down, "You are the woman I want at the end of the day. Even when you are irrational and obnoxious."

"But you loved her." Belle had tears in her eyes.

"I thought I did. But it wasn't true love. I'm a wolf, you know I mate for life—that as a werewolf, I fall in love once and stay in love until I die." Red took two steps, slowly closing the distance between herself and her wife, "It was infatuation, a childhood romance that I thought might be real love. But we didn't survive our first real fight. We didn't stick around for each other. You…" She reached out, taking one of Belle's hands and touching her cheek, "You are real. You are a part of me that I am never giving up or getting over. She is simply my past. Do I care for her? Of course. She's a good person with a good heart." She took a breath, "And her daughter was kidnapped… and it's been almost two weeks."

Belle looked away, but let her wife keep talking.

"When Chip was taken from us… that was the most excruciating few hours of my life. And I know it was yours too." She swallowed, "Can you imagine what she's going through right now at two weeks?" She shook her head, "Yeah, I took her aside today to try to comfort her. I see her and I think of times past. But none of it could ever compare to you. Okay?" She moved from her wife to mount her horse once more.

"That's it?" Belle looked at her with scolding.

"Well…" Red looked down and kicked the dirt, "I mean… Yeah. I said what I had to say, and they are booking it in those fields. We need to catch up."

Belle shook her head at her wife's antics. "You really don't understand how I work after all these years."

Red's tone was serious, "Darling, when you change the rules constantly, I'm never in the know."

Belle gave her an amused look, "Kiss me and make up with me."

"Oh… right." A smile graced Red's face as she walked back over to her wife.

AN: Hope you Red Snow, Red Beauty/Real Beauty and the Beasters and Snowing fans enjoyed this one. Yes, I know it's a filler chapter, but I couldn't resist some relational spats and cuteness.

Read and Review! Thoughts and Feels?

I should be updating again tomorrow. For the second update today, thank ihowilde, NORTH0314, KooshGID, EvilRegal94 and Draven260.