Chapter 5: That still small voice

Rose was with Mary-Margaret putting up the new shelves. Rose was up on a ladder with a power drill, while Mary-Margaret held the ladder.

"I knew that being an archeologist, the job as a history teacher would be a good fit for you. But I never imagined that you would have so many history books." Mary-Margaret said while looking at the piles of books around them. "Have you even read all of them?"

Rose looked at her and nodded. A small smile coming to her face, as she remembered her childhood.

"Yeah. Believe it or not, I read some of these books when I was a kid. My father was a historian and instead of bedtime stories, he would read me some history books."

Mary-Margaret was surprised at that. If she thought about it, she couldn't really remember what had her parents read to her. But she knew that reading history books was not usually done. Rose saw the confused look on the other woman and laughed.

"It was mostly stories about important characters in history. Christopher Columbus' journey to America, the conquests of Alexander the Great, the fall of the Roman Empire, and things like that." Mary-Margaret nodded, but thought that maybe those weren't topics suitable for a small child.

"I understand that he was passionate about his job, but I don't know if stories about war, death and conquest are the best for a small child." Rose shrugged; after all she had been used to it.

"He didn't just tell me those kinds of stories. I have to admit that my favorites were the ones about mythology." She pointed to a stack of books. When Mary-Margaret looked at them, she saw that they were all about mythology. Egyptian, Greek, Norse, Japanese, Indian… there were books from practically all over the world.

The older woman looked at the other books and saw that they were about all the topics Rose had just mentioned. Mary-Margaret smiled. The young woman must not have that many possessions in the States, but she had brought with her the books that reminded her of her father and their time together. Then a thought came to her mind.

"What did your mother read you?" She asked curiously. But she quickly apologized after seeing the frown on her friend's face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

Rose shook her head and smiled sadly.

"Don't worry about it. My mother died when I was very young, so I don't remember her. My father told me that she was also a historian. They met at their university and fell in love over an argument about their specialties. My father's was ancient history and my mother's was mythology." Rose turned to look at the other woman with a small smile. "I guess that is why my father read mythology books to me."

Mary-Margaret nodded and smiled. It looked like Rose's parents had truly loved each other. Rose turned to face the wall and raised the power drill, ready to make the first hole. When she barely pressed the button, the whole apartment shook violently. Mary-Margaret grabbed the ladder tightly so Rose wouldn't fall. The redhead turned to the brunet with wide eyes.

"That wasn't me!"

The two women arrived at the old mine just in time to hear Regina give her speech. After it, Mary-Margaret went back to the apartment, but Rose decided to stay and see if Emma and Graham needed any help. After all, she had experience with caves.

Henry called Archie, Emma and Rose to come behind the sheriff's car. There he started to explain how they had to go into the mine and see what was there. He was convinced that the cave in was a result of Emma weakening the curse. But before the conversation could go further, Regina intervened and split the group. Not before arguing with Archie about his sessions with Henry, going as far as threatening him, so he would talk Henry out of believing about the curse.

The next day, Rose was at the hospital for a checkup about her ribs. Dr. Whale had told her that even though the fissures were better, she still had to take it easy. He renewed her pain pills prescription and told her to come back in a couple of weeks. Rose thanked him and turned to leave, when she saw Mary-Margaret with David, the coma patient that woke up a few days ago with no memory.

Then, Rose saw David's wife Kathryn arrived with a box, and Mary-Margaret leave in a hurry. When the woman saw Rose standing behind her with a raised eyebrow, she jumped slightly and blushed a little. Rose shook her head, and both women went to their apartment.

At the apartment, the two women were joined by Emma and made smores, while talking about the situation between Mary-Margaret and David. It was obvious that Mary-Margaret felt something for David and the other two women tried to make her see that, involving herself with a married man was only trouble.

"You don't want to get involved in that M&M. Nothing good comes from involving yourself with someone that is already taken." Said Rose, while Mary-Margaret raised an eyebrow curiously at the nickname. Emma laughed.

"Don't fight it Mary-Margaret. Rose tends to give people she likes nicknames. Consider it as having Rose's seal of approval." She said while getting up. "Well, I have to go."

She went to the door, but when she opened it, she found Henry crying. She let him in, and he told the three of them what happened with Archie. Emma was furious. She took Henry to the Mayor's office and went directly to the doctor's office to give him a piece of her mind.

Rose had a feeling that Henry wouldn't stay at his mother's office and decided to follow him, and good thing she did. As soon as Emma was out of view, Henry took off to the old mine and Rose followed him.

At the mine, Henry was about to enter when he heard someone behind him.

"You are in so much trouble young man." Said Rose in her best Regina impersonation.

Henry turned quickly and seeing that it was Rose and not his mother sighed in relieve. Then he got a determined look on his face.

"I'm going in to investigate Rose. You can't stop me. I'll make everyone believe!"

Rose looked at him with a frown and sighed. She knew that he would go in no matter what she said. So, it was better for her to go with him and try to keep him safe.

"I know you will. But, let me come with you." At that Henry was surprised. He was expecting her to yell at him and drag him away saying how dangerous it was. "I'm an archeologist and I have been in a lot of expeditions. There was cave exploring in some of them. Between the two of us, we will be able to find whatever is in there." She winked at him with a smile.

Henry grinned and hugged Rose tightly.

"Thank you! I know you may not believe that you are Rose Red, but I know there is something in there that can prove it."

"I said I would help you look, but if there is even a small tremor or any sign of another cave in, we are out." She said while looking at him sternly.

Henry swallowed and nodded. A stern look from Rose was even more effective that one of his mother's, and she was the Evil Queen.

After a while of searching, they found a piece of glass. Rose didn't want to get Henry's hopes up, but she knew that was treated glass. And, therefore, it wasn't naturally found in a cave, it had to belong to something. Something put in the mine after it had been opened.

Then there was a tremor and Rose grabbed Henry and brought him close to her, to protect him from any falling rocks and debris. Then they heard a voice, and saw Archie at the caved in entrance holding a match. When Henry saw that Archie hadn't come to help them look, he took off in a run. Archie looked at Rose with a worried look and the two of them went after the kid.

Henry found what could have been the source of the glass but it was down a small crack on the wall. Archie tried to tell Henry that they had to get out, that the mine was going to collapse any moment. Henry was still doubtful of Archie, so Rose took it upon herself to get them out of there.

"Henry. Remember our agreement." Henry sighed and nodded. "Okay. Then we have to get out of here. Mines tend to have different emergency exits and breathing conducts that lead outside. We have to find one of them."

The other two nodded and all of them started to look for a lift or a tunnel on the ceiling that would led them outside. Then they heard barking. It was Pongo, Archie's dog. They followed the sound to an old lift. They started to make it work but another tremor broke the system.

Rose knew that someone had to make it up and see if they could get anyone's attention, or at least some bars on one of their phones to make a call.

"Archie, let me get on your shoulders." She said while looking at the hatch on the top of the lift. The man looked at her like she was crazy.

"Rose, you can't be thinking about going up? It's really dangerous." He started to say, but Rose raised a hand to stop him.

"And it is our only way out." Archie swallowed and nodded. He didn't like it but the woman was right.

Rose got on Archie's shoulders and took of the panel. She hoisted herself to the ceiling and prepared to climb. The walls were trickier than Rose would have liked, so she decided to put one leg against one wall and her other leg and back to the opposite wall. Little by little she started to make her way up. A tremor made her slip down a little, but she kept going. The further up she went, the more narrow the shaft became, and she had to adjust her position. Both legs against one wall, and her back against the opposite.

Once she reached the top of the shaft, she groaned when she saw steel bars cover by a metal panel. But then she heard Pongo's bark again. She raised one of her hands carefully and banged on the panel through one of the holes in the bars. Mere seconds later the panel was lifted and Rose saw Emma's face.

"Rose? You were there with Henry?" She said alarmed while she motioned for the rest to come, so they could get the bars removed.

"Yeah. I knew he would do something reckless. Like mother, like son. Right?" Rose laughed.

When they got the bars off, Graham and Emma hoisted Rose out of the shaft, careful that she wouldn't fall. She was taken to the ambulance that was waiting, so the paramedics could make sure she was okay. They told her that she was fine but she had put a lot of strain on her still recovering ribs and she would be sore for a while.

Once Emma got Henry and Archie out safely, night fell and brought with it the crickets back to Storybrooke.

Ruby approached Rose that was arguing with the paramedics that she was fine and didn't need to go to the hospital. The young waitress watched how the redhead argued her case so fiercely, that she could have sworn that one of the paramedics was about to cry. Once Rose managed to get away from them, she saw Ruby there with two beers in hand. She handed one to Rose.

"I think you deserve one after this day." Ruby said with a smile. Rose accepted it with a smile and took a sip. "Was Storybrooke getting boring for you? Is that way you went into the mine with Henry?"

Rose sighed and took another sip of her beer.

"Nah. Since I've been here, I haven't had time to get bored. Storybrooke is something else."

Ruby smiled and turned to Rose. She raised her beer towards Rose.

"Then, here's to Storybrooke not getting boring!" And the two friends clinked their bottles together. "I would hate it for you to leave if that happened. You and Emma made this town a hundred times more interesting. I can't wait to see what you get into next."

Both laughed and toasted again. Storybrooke got more interesting with each passing day. And Rose was just as curious as Ruby to see what would happen next.