This one's a long one, hope you enjoy!
3/6/17
Errors fixed.
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 5
Red sneaks into her cold apartment, looking around for any signs of someone home. She glanced at her little living room where the only source of light from the whole place was from a green table lamp, and there she saw her grandmother, fast asleep on the green couch chair, with one of those tv dinner table in front of her. Red walks up to her and frowns by the sight.
"You were up all night working again, weren't you grandmother." She said to her sleeping grandmother.
Red's eyes wander from her grandmother's sleeping face to her tools, the long nose pliers still in her right hand while on her left she held a long silver chain with false emerald stones. Her frown deepens while her eyes wander to the tv dinner table, where the rest of her jewelry kit sat along with more chains and gems.
She picked up the table and placed it to the side, once out of the way her eyes catches the attention of the little log heater they have wasn't even plugged in. Red headed towards the outlet until she heard her grandmother mumble something and opens her eyes.
"Red..my dear." She yawned out to Red as her eyes adjusted to her granddaughter, "Why are you arriving at this hour, it's so late my dear."
"I'm sorry grandmother, I was-" Red was about to tell her a made up story until her grandmother reached for both her hands.
"Oh my dear sweet child, what on earth happened to you? Your hands, your head." Her grandmother started as she traces the bandages on Red's hands with her wrinkly fingers.
"I had a little accident in the kitchen grandmother, but I am alright. Come on, let's get you to bed." Red helped her grandmother up from the couch and guided her to her room while her grandmother started a letcher.
"Little Red, you must be careful. Always careful, there are so many bad people out in the world that want to harm you."
"I understand grandmother, I will be extra careful." Red half heartedly replied as she led her grandmother to the bedroom door.
"You can no longer trust anyone anymore, not when the big bad wolf is the sheriff now. So many reasons why everything in Fabletown is flawed child, Never trust a Wolf Red, never..."
Red parted her lips in thought, getting lost in her grandmother's words. Once her grandmother climbs into the bed Red turns on the heater, smelling the dust getting burned as the heater starts to glow orange. She tucks her grandmother in the bed and kisses her forehead, her grandmother grabs her pale hand when Red was about to pull away. "Do you need anything else grandmother?" She asked as she rests her other hand over her grandmother's.
"Stay away from the woods Red, it's not safe."
"Grandmother, we no longer live in the forest.." Red reminds her with sadness on that fact.
"Away from the streets, away from the Wolf's den." She quietly said to her granddaughter as she drifts into sleep.
Red removes herself from her grandmother's hand then quietly walks out of the room and closes the door behind her, she then stretches her arms and glances at the coo coo clock on the wall of the living room and sighs. It's almost three o'clock, she has at least two hours of sleep before she gets into work.
With a yawn she goes into her own room and kicks off her red shoes and black stockings before she crawls into bed, not even bothering to remove her clothes or turning on her own heater. Red covers her whole body with the autumn colored quilt and drifts off into sleep.
*x*x*x*
Bigby was tired, he pulled an all nighter just looking for Red around. He tracked her down at this mundy coffee shop, where her trail went cold. He walked over to the trash can outside where he noticed some tissues of blood down at the bottom, along with cups and other trash thrown by the Mundies roaming here for their morning coffee. He gave a light sniff to catch the scent of the blood than wrinkled his nose and snorted out a grunt by the unpleasant smell of the rest of the trash.
"Well, at least you're not hurt anymore." He said to himself as he rubs his nose to get rid of the lingering scent in his nostrils.
Bigby then decided to give up on his hunt and started to head back home, feeling silly for going on this manhunt for no reason. It's not like him and Red were friends, and why would he care what she does in her free time.
"Just wanted to know if she was okay is all." He said to himself as he lights up a cigarette to cover up the smell he just endured.
Talking to himself became a habit he picked up when he became sheriff, it's a lonely job after all, so it somewhat drowns out the quiet tension that surrounded him.
Once at the Woodlands Bigby started heading into the office to start the day of work, when he enters the room he sees Snow White sitting on a desk answering phone calls and writing down notes.
"Okay then, we'll get straight to it. Thank you." Snow glances up at Bigby while hanging up the phone and smiles. "Oh morning Bigby, did you get any paperwork done last night?" She asked as she organizes the files.
Bigby tries to hide a yawn that's coming then shakes it off and rubs his eyes.
"As much as i could, still working on it though." He confessed as he removed his callous hand from his face, "How about you Snow?"
Snow just let out a sigh and crossed her arms, "The best I can, we haven't had much of complaints coming in so it's not so bad. But Crane has me going left and right doing errands for him." She replies as she gestures to the white box sitting on Crane's desk, where Bufkin flew over and cracked it open just enough to sneak out a chocolate donut.
Snow gets up to place a folder on Crane's desk until she saw the green little flying monkey taking a bite.
"Bufkin! Those are for !" She called him out.
Bufkin simply looked at snow with the donut still in his mouth and gives her a smile.
"Sorry , couldn't help myself, hehe." He awkwardly laughs as he swallows the pastry goodness.
Snow sighs out and heads towards the desk along with Bigby, making Bufkin fly away with the assumption of her taking away his stolen treat.
Bigby opens the white box that revealed five donuts, he scoffs at the sight and shook his head.
"So making you pick up donuts is his first priority among running this place." He said as takes a plain donut out for himself and takes a bite.
Snow just rested her hands on her hips, giving Bigby a scolding look as he starts to chew on the bite he took. He looks back at her and pauses.
"Wut?" He asked with his mouth full.
"Those better not be my pastries you're eating !" Ichabod Crane shouted out as he walks into the office and stands in front of Bigby with a sour look on his face.
Bigby simply straighten his back and took a bigger bite right in front of Crane as he looks down on the little man.
"Wut of it?" He answers while chewing on the bite.
Crane looked intimidated then clenched his teeth and walked towards the box
"Always lacking manners, go buy your own next time!" He looks through the box and grunted out in frustration, then he glares back at Snow.
"And you didn't even bring the apple filling donuts !"
Snow White looked a bit panicked but quickly fixed her composure, "Y-you never told me what specific kinds you wanted sir, so I just got the ones I assumed you liked." Snow tried to defend herself.
"Well now you know what I want! So I suggest you go back and get me more!" He snapped back, Crane's temper towards Snow was getting Bigby on edge, he never liked how this creep treated her.
"Why not just get them yourself!" Bigby shouted at Crane until Snow grabbed his arm.
"Bigby, enough." She quietly said to him. "Of course sir, I'll be going then." She replies to Crane.
Crane just looked at Bigby and stuck his big nose up and started walking out.
"Make an appointment to an anger management class , and make sure Red Riding Hood is the one that making the donuts ! Good day!" He lastly said as he slams the door behind him.
Bigby's ears perked at the sound of her name and looked down at Snow with shock as she heads to her desk to grab her purse.
"Please don't make my job any harder by making him angry Bigby." she says to him as she starts to count her money.
"Don't worry about it then, I'll go get the donuts, you just stay here and take it easy." He said to her while leaning in on her desk.
Snow just looked at him for a moment than shook her head.
"It's okay, I'll take care of it." She said to the sheriff, she walks around the desk to head out the door but was stopped by Bigby's light tug as he grabbed her hand.
"No no, I insist. I got questions for Red Riding Hood anyways. If Crane gives you shit again, just tell him I went to get them, as an apology or something."
Snow raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Questions for Red? Has she done something wrong?"
Bigby thought for a moment than shook his head. "It's nothing like that, she's a witness on this case I just got is all."
Snow thought for a moment than nodded her head.
"Okay then, let me write down the address of the bakery she works in." She said to him while putting down her purse.
"Thanks Snow." Bigby thanked her with a smile as she scribbles down the address and rips out the paper.
"Here you go and good luck."
*x*x*x*
Red woke up by her alarm clock at her nightstand, she grumbles at it as she hits the snooze button and lazily gets up and gives out a yawn. Once out of bed she heads to the bathroom and starts brushing her teeth while staring at her reflection.
Haven't gotten enough sleep.
She thought to herself as she stares at the dark bags under her eyes, once she brushed her teeth, washed her face, and patched up her forehead with a new clean band aid she started to add a little makeup under her eyes to hide the evidence of her lack of sleep. After that she started to curled up her eyelashes and put on some light red lip gloss on in order to try and get attention to her face rather than her forehead.
Once done, Red headed to her closet and pulled out her uniform which was a cute looking white dress with three red buttons that opens up in the front, when she finished getting dressed she braided her long wavy light brunette hair that reached just above her back side and pulls up her red stockings and black shoes. Once done getting ready she leaves a note on the freezer then puts on her long red coat and started to head out with her mini brown messenger bag hanging from her side.
The bakery wasn't too far so Red arrived fairly quickly, she paid and thanked the cab driver and heads out towards the glass doors.
Time to get started.
She thought to herself as she strolls inside the small building, sounding the bell from the door. The tiny bronze bell was loud enough to catch the attention from her boss, coming out of the kitchen he crosses his arms and waits for her in front of the counter.
"You're late." He yelled at her in the face, making Red back up.
She looks up at the clock and rolls her eyes. "Just by two minutes." She stated but wouldn't cut her slack.
"That's two minutes wasted of you not baking! " He threw back as he made his way to the cash register to take out his coat from under the counter.
"I have to runs some errands and is feeling under the weather, so you are to run the place by yourself until I get back!"
Red opens her mouth in disbelief and calls him out. "Hey wait a minute I can't run this place by myself!"
"There's nothing I can do! I have things to do and your mother called in sick! So stop complaining and start baking!" He shouted at her than slammed the door shut when he stormed out.
Red growled out while glaring at her boss, watching him walk to the street and call a cab. She scoffed at him then stormed off to the phone, dialing the number of her mother's second job.
" 'Called in sick' mother never calls in sick, she never even made it to the apartment." She grumbles as the phone rings in the other end until a voice of a woman answered.
"Thank you for calling The Open Arms, will you be booking a room?"
"Hey Beauty, it's me Red. Is my mother still over there?" She asks with the best calming voice she could.
"Oh hey Red, yeah she's still here I'm afraid. The other house keeper called in sick so your mother had to take her shift, let me get her on the phone for you."
"No no, it's okay. Just wanted to know where she was at. You take care Beauty, and say hi to Beast for me." Red let's out a sigh as she hangs up and rubs her temple, feeling a bit guilty of blaming her mother for not showing up when she had no control over it.
"I guess I have no choice as well." She said out loud as she strips her coat off and hangs it on the corner.
Red walks into the kitchen, leaving the door open to hear the incoming customers. She reaches for her red apron with the ribbons and ties a bow in the back, once all set Red pulls out the ingredients and started to work.
Pouring the flour into a bowl she remembers the new clean bandages around her hands and drops her shoulders in defeat.
"Great, gonna have to put on the gloves." She pouts, once she got officially ready to bake she started working nonstop, making the jelly fillings, knitting the dough, and filling each over sized sauce pan with apples, sugar, water and every other ingredients to make for the pie fillings as the dough rises.
It was hard work for her injured hands, and being the only one working wasn't helping. Her hands would sting in pain each time she would knit the doughs shape the donuts, press down on the cookie cutters for the shapes, and throw them in the brick oven, all while hearing the bell of the front door ring each time a customer came in.
She was sure glad that actually baked something himself and has them on display, but yet most customers still would order today's special which was Red's famous pies. Mostly apple pies due for the fruit being in season, Red could only guess that's the reason why this bakery is so popular; everything was made with real fruits and by scratch, none of that artificial ingredients or canned fillings.
Once everything calmed itself down Red let's out a huff and rests her sore hands on her hips, feeling accomplished. Their was still a lot of work to be done, but with all the pastries in the ovens Red had time to catch her breath. She leans back to the floured covered table and thought about something, making her look down at the extra pie crusts.
"Might as well." She said out loud with a smile.
Red went to open up the walk in freezer and took out a heavy bag of pitted cherries from the back. Hidden only to bake certain pies that people would order and pay extra for since they are now out of season. She threw the cherries into a big mixing bowl along with granulated sugar, water, fresh squeezed lemon juice and other ingredients and mixed it all in with a wooden spoon. She left the bowl sit for the cherries to absorb the juices while Red went to put away the rest of the cherries back where she found them then took out a medium sized sauce pan and started to warm up the cherry filling.
A good hour passed and everything was fresh and ready, she left them in a cooling rack while she took the rest of the desserts out of the ovens and placed them on another cooling rack while placing the rest on display in the front.
Red couldn't help herself, she was humming out of excitement and happiness while working, she ended up making a total of three cherry pies. One for Gren, one for Holly as an apology, and one for her mundy friends to share. She felt her heart skip a beat by the thought of Travis tasting her little treat.
I really hope he'll like my pie..
She thought to herself as she starts to blush, once the pies cooled down, Red took out three white boxes and started to fold them open while smiling. Around the same time she heard the sound of the bell ringing and the door closing, knowing that a customer came in, she took off her gloves and tucked back a few strands of loose hairs behind her ears and heads to the front.
"Welcome to the Gingerbread Man's Baker-!" Red gasps and stopped right on the spot by the sight of him, her green eyes grew big and her red glossy lips hanged open by the man that looked back at her with his dark brown eyes.
"Good morning ." He said to her as he scratches his stubbled cheek, "I have some questions for you about last night."
So I kinda showed you guys how to make homemade cherry pie filling.. you are welcome lol.
And yay! Bigby and Red finally meet again!
Fave, follow, review. The more my head is petted the more I post. Lol jk jk.
Hope you enjoyed, until next time.
