Chapter 16: The stable boy

Snow White and Rose Red were on a journey with their father. After their mother's death, the King was looking for a new wife. His daughters were young, and he believed they needed a maternal figure.

At the moment they were resting, but Snow and Rose hadn't gotten off their horses yet. Snow was looking at her little sister in concern. Rose was looking around as if trying to find something.

"What is it, Red?"

"I don't know." She said still looking around the forest. "I hear someone. Someone I've never heard before. It sounds strange. I don't like it. It sounds evil."

Snow frowned. She knew her sister's gift, and if she heard someone, then there was someone. She started to look around too. She thought she saw a figure behind a tree, but before she could say anything, her horse got spooked and started to run wildly.

Everyone started to prepare the horses to go after the princess, but Rose couldn't wait for them and took off after her sister. She could hear her scream for help. When she came to a clearing, she saw that another rider was after her sister trying to help her.

Rose caught up to Snow and the rider, who turned out to be a woman. She got off her horse with some difficulty and run to her sister's side, engulfing her in a hug.

"White! Are you okay?" She asked concerned.

"Yes. I'm fine. She saved me." She said turning to the woman that had saved her and looking back to her sister. "But I'm never riding again."

The woman let out a small laughed and smiled at Snow.

"Nonsense. The only way to overcome fear is to face it. To get back on that horse as soon as possible."

Snow thanked her and the woman introduced herself as Regina.

"I'm Snow. Snow White." She turned to her sister with a smile. "And this is my sister Rose Red."

"Thank you for saving White." Said Rose with a grin.

Regina smiled at the two girls. Happy that the older one was alright. The two sisters hugged Regina tightly in thanks, and the woman returned the hug happily.

Rose entered the station at the same moment that Sidney Glass was coming out. She frowned and looked after the man. She turned and looked at Emma.

"Seriously? You still trust him after the whole playground fiasco?" She said with anger in her voice.

"He wants to take down Regina, and he has resources. I'm not turning away help. Not with this." Said Emma looking intently at Rose.

"I still think he is working for Regina, and he is playing you." Rose said with a scoff.

"Noted." Said Emma dismissively, she still wasn't going to turn away help.

They approached Mary-Margaret and Mr. Gold, and the woman told them that she was going to talk with the DA. She had nothing to hide, and she was going to prove it. And just in time, as the DA came into the room with Regina.

Mary-Margaret, Mr. Gold and the DA went into the interrogation room, and Emma, Rose and Regina went into the adjoining room to observe through the two-way mirror. The interview started okay, but the DA started pressing Mary-Margaret. Mr. Gold tried to warn the woman to stop answering. The DA clearly wanted to aggravate Mary-Margaret until she made a mistake.

"Yes, of course I wanted her gone. She was the only thing keeping us apart. So, yeah, I wanted her gone. Is that what you want to hear?" Said Mary-Margaret in anger at the accusation.

Then they heard a bang against the mirror and a muffled ʽMoronʼ. The three looked at the mirror, Mary-Margaret with a sad look, the DA with a raised eyebrow in confusion and Mr. Gold with a small smirk.

Rose had lost her temper momentarily and had banged her hands on the mirror yelling the word. Emma sighed. She understood her friend's feelings. Mary-Margaret had walked straight to a trap and had fallen head first into it. Regina looked at Rose with slight surprise but then smirked looking back at Mary-Margaret, who had realized her mistake.

Snow was going to the stables to try to mount her horse again, and of course Rose went with her. The two sisters had always been close but since their mother's death they barely left each other's side. Once they reached the stables, they saw Regina kissing a man. Snow was so shocked that she dropped her saddle. The noise got the couple's attention. Snow couldn't take it and run off. Rose looked at the two adults, smiled sheepishly and run off after her sister.

Snow tripped while running and fell to the ground. Regina caught up to them then. Snow wanted to know why Regina was kissing another man when she was supposed to marry their father and be their new mother. Rose looked at her sister with a frown.

"Oh, Snow, please. Listen to me. Hey. Your father, King Leopold, he's a kind and fair man… But I don't love him."

Snow was confused about that. How could she not love their father? He was a great king and a great parent.

"Love doesn't work that way. Love, true love, is magic. And not just any magic – the most powerful magic of all. It creates happiness." Said Regina trying to convince Snow.

"White if she doesn't love dad, then she shouldn't marry him." Said Rose with a frown on her face.

The redhead was young, but she understood that love was important and if you didn't love someone, you couldn't spend the rest of your life with them. Snow thought about that.

"That man in the stables… You love him?" She asked softly.

Regina nodded, and told them how much she loved Daniel. Rose had a big smile on her face, and Snow soon had the same expression as her sister.

"Then you must marry him. We will go tell Father right away." She said happily.

Regina stopped them before they could leave. They told her that their father would understand, he was a kind man, and he wouldn't force Regina to marry him if she was in love with someone else. Regina nodded, but told them that her mother would not understand and would try to stop them.

"Snow, Rose. Do you know what a secret is?" she asked grabbing their hands and the sisters nodded. "If you really, truly want to help me. Then, what you saw, what I told you, you must keep it a secret. Can you do that?"

The two sisters nodded with a frown. The only secret they had to keep was Rose's abilities. But they were sure that they could keep Regina's secret.

"I need you to be certain. You can never speak of this. And, above all, you mustn't tell my mother. Will you do that for me?"

The two sisters smiled and nodded.

"We promise."

"How could she be so stupid?" Rose was ranting and pacing up and down Mr. Gold's shop. "I understand that under pressure we all act strangely, but come on. She had just made a mistake that could have cost her the case and now she goes and does this?"

Mr. Gold watched the woman continue to pace his shop with an amused smirk on his face.

"Well, darling. As you said, everyone behaves differently under pressure. Maybe Miss Blanchard just hasn't been under pressure enough times to learn to control herself."

Rose sighed and hoped on the counter. She had had plenty of experience of being under pressure, but she understood that not everybody had had her life.

"I get it. It's just… " She grunted. "Frustrating."

"How about I take you for a hot chocolate with hazelnut at Granny's?" Mr. Gold proposed. "I understand that it's quiet good."

"I thought our date was going to be after all this mess was cleared?" Asked Rose with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, no darling. This is not our date. This will be just two friends going out for coffee to take their minds off of this mess." He said with a soft smile.

Rose smiled and nodded. She hopped off the counter and started walking to the door.

"How do you know that I like hot chocolate with hazelnut?" She asked suspiciously.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." He said with a smirk.

He opened the door for her, and they started walking towards Granny's.

"And by the way, I have something better planned for our date than going to the diner." He told her offering her his arm.

Snow and Rose were admiring the orchids in the castle. Snow was about to touch one of the white orchids when a voice startled the two sisters.

"Careful, sweetheart. A flower is a delicate thing. Be gentle. You want it to grow and not pluck it before its time." Said Cora while tending to the other orchids.

The two sisters apologized.

"It's alright. You needn't fear me. I'm only trying to help. Perhaps, you can be the flower girls at the wedding. I can already see how close you and Regina have become. She's going to make a fine mother for the both of you." She said with a kind voice.

Cora led the two sisters to a couch and made them sit beside her. Snow was uncertain about how to act around Cora, but Rose didn't trust her. Cora sounded just like the person in the woods. Strange and evil. Rose was giving the woman a glare.

Cora noticed the look she was receiving from the youngest princess and smiled at her softly.

"I see that you don't seem to like me very much dear."

"I don't." Said Rose sharply.

Snow gasped and turned to her sister.

"Red, that's rude."

"Don't worry." Said Cora with a smile still on her face. "Your sister is still young. Maybe you just need to get to know me better."

Cora was looking at Rose with a soft smile, but the young girl still didn't trust her. Cora saw that she was going nowhere with the redhead and turned her attention to the brunette.

"It warms my heart how you and Regina share everything… Already. Perhaps, you could share something with me. Why has she pulled away from me?"

Snow looked at Rose in slight fear, and asked Cora what she meant.

"A mother knows her daughter. Regina's pulled away. I love her so much, but she's not letting me help her. And I… I know she's unhappy. Has she said something? I'd do anything to make her happy."

Snow looked at Cora, and she started to think. She and Rose lost their mother. She didn't want Regina to lose hers too. She asked the woman if she was serious.

"Of course, dear. You know, I talked to the King about your mother. He told me how much she loved you. Losing her must've been so hard." She said with concern in her voice.

Snow was warming up to Cora, but Rose just had a deeper frown on her face. Then Cora started to say how she didn't want to lose Regina. How she loved her and would do anything to make her happy. Snow then stood up and told Cora not to force Regina to get married. The woman had a confused look on her face.

Snow was about to tell her everything, but Rose grabbed her arm quickly.

"Don't, White. We promised." She said looking at her sister intently. "And I don't trust her." She added softly giving a quick look to Cora.

Snow shook her head and ignored her sister's pleas.

"She doesn't love our father. She loves someone else. She made us promise not to tell… But she'll lose you. She can't lose her mother. No one should."

Cora smiled softly and stroked Snow's hair. She had convinced the princess to tell her everything that her daughter was hiding, and Rose was not happy about it.

Snow and Rose entered the room where Regina was getting dressed. She was wearing a big wedding dress. And Snow commented on how beautiful she looked and how she hopped to look as beautiful for her wedding. Regina answered without much feeling, until Snow said something that snapped her out of her trance.

"I know you and Daniel will be so happy together."

Regina turned quickly to Snow and asked what she was talking about. Snow explained how she had told Cora about it, because she was sure that the woman would let her daughter marry the man she loved and that made her happy.

Regina asked Snow if she had told her mother about her and Daniel. Once Snow said yes, Regina tried to contain her anger.

"But I…told you…very specifically not to."

Rose frowned and hit her sister in the arm.

"I told you, you shouldn't have said anything."

"I'm sorry. I just didn't want you to lose your mother. Like we've lost ours. Are you mad?" Said Snow with tears forming in her eyes.

Regina looked at Snow and Rose with a calm expression and explained to them how she was going to marry their father and not Daniel. She told them that Daniel had left her and that they weren't in love, that it was just an infatuation.

"You see, that's the thing about love. It can come in the most unexpected places. Your father and I have something even more special, because it's not just about the two of us. It's about all of us. We're going to be a family." She said with a smile and tears in her eyes.

Snow was so happy about it, that she ignored the clear fake happiness in Regina's face, and hugged her. Rose looked at Regina with a frown. Once Snow let go of Regina, the woman turned to Rose and opened her arms. The young girl hugged her tightly and whispered an apology.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't stop Snow from telling your mother."

Regina just hugged the girl more tightly.

"Don't worry." She let go slightly and looked Rose in the face with a soft smile. "I'm just glad that you tried to protect my secret, even from your own sister."

Then Cora came in and told Snow and Rose to go pack their bags as they were going to leave early the next day. The two sisters left, Snow with a big smile and Rose with a soft one aimed at Regina and a glare for Cora.v

Rose was at the station with Emma and Mr. Gold seeing how two officers took Mary-Margaret away. Once she was escorted out, Emma turned to Mr. Gold in fury. She was saying how Regina had already won. Mr. Gold reminded her that Regina hadn't won yet, and Emma looked at him expectantly.

"Look, Sheriff. I know this is emotional, but it's also not over. You must have faith. There's still time." Emma looked at him suspiciously. "Time for me to work a little magic."

With that he left the station with a smile directed at Rose. Emma looked at her friend.

"Do you have any idea what he has planned?"

Rose just shook her head with a frown.

"Not one bit." Rose sighed. "I'm going to Granny's. Ruby asked me to hang out."

Emma nodded and watched her friend go.

At the diner, Ruby was trying to cheer Rose up, but it was difficult, seeing as she was also bummed out about Mary-Margaret. Finally, Granny sighed.

"If you are just going to mope around, do something useful and take the trash out."

Ruby sighed and told Rose to help her. They took the trash bags and went out the back to throw them in the bin. Once they did, they turned around and once they reached the parking lot, they saw a woman lying on the floor. When they saw who it was, Ruby screamed. Rose was quickly at the woman's side and told Ruby to go get help.

Shortly after, Emma and august appeared. They were both as shocked as Ruby and Rose had been. The woman was Kathryn Nolan, who supposedly had had her heart cut out by Mary-Margaret.

This changed everything about the case. This not only proved that Mary-Margaret didn't kill Kathryn, but that someone was trying to frame her. Rose and Emma looked at each other. Mary-Margaret was innocent and here was the proof.