Did the last evening really happen or did she dream it? His warm breath on her neck reassured her that yes, she really decided to get involved with someone so dangerous. And she couldn't force herself to regret it.

It was too early to get up. She woke up in the middle of the night like she often did. She wasn't distressed and her heartbeat was fine. She wasn't having any nightmares. Surprisingly, she didn't even have trouble going back to sleep.

When she opened her eyes again, Bigby was already standing next to the bed and putting on his pants.
"I didn't mean to wake you up," he said and walked closer to her.

"You didn't," she said and straightened up.

He lowered down to kiss her, touching her face with his warm fingers and scratching her lips with his beard. It was a long kiss and as he leaned over supporting himself on his arm. Snow regretted that they had to go to work at all.

"I'll see you soon?" she asked or stated, she wasn't sure, she just woke up.

"Not soon enough, but yes."

Bigby smiled and kissed her again, this time it was more of a peck on her lips and it left her wanting more.

"I already miss you," she said as he was leaving her bedroom, buttoning his shirt.

"I miss you too." He gave her one last look and it was so earnest it only made her yearn for him more.

She did miss him to the point of annoyance. Was it worse than yesterday? Maybe it was. But it was also more calm than the day before, when she was on the verge of going crazy. Now she knew where they stood, so her head wasn't filled with racing thoughts torturing her with never ending, never finished reflections about their feelings. Just plainly missing him was way easier. Actually it was kind of pleasant at times, as when she recalled the evening she felt some weird shivers going over her body.

She still needed to get over it and focus on the documentation for the trial though, she couldn't just leave all the work to Blue. There were no vacation days for starting a new relationship.

"I don't know how to categorize those records," said her assistant. What a relief to hear a question about the job itself, not about using the computer or reasking the task.

"I'll show you…"

Sadly, she didn't see Bigby on her first coffee break of the day, so all she could think about was how leaving the cooks and waiters to 'just do whatever they did last year for the Remembrance Ball' was not enough and she couldn't put off the liability of finishing organizing it forever. They needed to work out the schedule and… None of this was hard, but keeping track of everyone doing their jobs in perfect synchronization was so time consuming she was already tired by just the thought of doing it while preparing the tax evasion process. But maybe… Maybe she had an idea to kill two birds with one stone.

As Beauty opened the door, Snow smelt rose fragrance air freshener.

"Hi. Are you still looking for a job?," Snow went straight to the point. She could guess the answer by seeing her in the apartment at eleven o'clock though.

"Yes, I am..." Beauty seemed surprised by the question.

"I might have something for you. Can I come in?"

"Of course."

Snow visited their apartment before and to be honest she wasn't a fan of the castle-like interior. Personally, she preferred something more modern to reminders of so-called good old days. Even before she got her big apartment as a bonus to the promotion (and did some smart reorganizing of the governmental assets, so she wouldn't have to inherit the place where Crane used to live), she strived for simpler design.

Beauty led her to the antique wooden table in the living room just as old fashioned as the rest of the apartment.

"I never left the building, I swear!" Snow heard Beast's voice behind her back. She turned around to see him, half-human and dressed only in a red bathrobe for what she could see.

"I know, Bigby would tell me if you did."

"Honey, please, that's not why Miss White is here. Let us talk?" Beast looked confused for a second and then went to some other room. Snow had nothing against him leaving, right now, exceptionally, she only wanted to see fully clothed monsters.

Beauty took a seat in front of her. She on the other hand was dressed in some loose home clothes and didn't look like she just got up from the bed.

"I can offer you contractual work in organizing a Remembrance Ball."

"But that's… That's less than a week away." Beauty opened her eyes wide.

"This affair looks exactly the same every year. By far most of the work is already done. Don't tell me you're not experienced, I'm very sure you organized hundreds of balls back in the day."

"That is true… but.."

"If you fuck it up, I will come in and save the day, I've done it for centuries. But if you do a good job, it will be one less thing off my plate. We will possibly have a bigger budget in the future and if you prove yourself to be a reliable worker, I might be able to hire you full time." Right now though, Beauty would have to be paid out of Snow's private money, but this detail could stay a secret. If everything works out, maybe Beauty could in the future cover for her for some open office hours… A sweet fantasy.

"I wouldn't even know where to start."

"I'll give you my notes on it, you will do fine."

She didn't look fully convinced, but her eyes showed she was at least considering it.

"It is just a few days, really…"

"I have to do it every year, if I spent more than a week on it, nothing else would get done."

"Yeah, but that's you.."

It was starting to feel like a waste of time, she had to hurry it up.

"Look, if you don't want this job, you don't have to take it."

"It's not that I don't want it!" She perked up.

"So you're taking it?"

"I… yes, I am."

"Great, then I will see you in my office in an hour to give you the details, if that suits you." Snow got up from the upholstered chair.

"Okay… I wanted to ask you if you wanted coffee, but it went on so fast." Beauty smiled, kind of shy.

"Thank you, I already had one."

"Bufkin, bring me the files on the preparation of the Remembrance Ball."

He flew away to the archives in silence. They still weren't on speaking terms.

"Miss White…" Blue looked up at her from his desk.

"Yes?"

"From what Flycatcher told me…" He was hesitant, which made her suspicious. "Prince Charming is back in town. I assume there is some procedure for checking…"

"Bigby will interrogate him about whether he gave away any information about Fabletown when he was away," she cut in, almost automatically. "Thank you for informing me." She tried to give him a reassuring look, but she probably failed.

At least she had an excuse to go talk to Bigby now.

"Come in, Snow," he said before she even knocked on the door. It made her smile despite the stress she was feeling. "What happened?" he asked, as she walked in, closing the door behind herself. He already knew she was upset.

"My ex is back in town," she stated as neutrally as she could and seated herself in front of his desk.

He took a drag of his cigarette.

'Why?"

"Money, I assume. He probably finally lost the good graces of all of the asinine aristocrats he was swindling. Unfortunately, it's your job to figure it out."

"How do you know he's back, did he contact you?"

"Flycatcher said something to my assistant, I don't know. You can ask Boy Blue yourself."

"I will." Bigby reached over the desk to put his hand on hers. "Are you fine?" He looked in her eyes and changed his tone, speaking softly which really should stop taking her by surprise at this point.

"No. I'm annoyed and distressed, I'll be fine when I go back to being angry."

He smiled slightly hearing that. He truly did like it when she was getting mad at her ex-husband.

"Maybe he won't stay for long."

"No clue. Maybe. I don't want to get my hopes up."

"You want to take off work to the confectionery?"

"You don't eat sweets."

"But you do."

Boy Blue could manage for half an hour without her. Didn't she hire him to have some time off?

"I have my thing going, but he has to show up to fuck it up," she said when they took their seats in a shop right next to the Woodlands. She with a piece of brownie, he with a cup of black coffee.

"Well, he left you alone for about two centuries, and you don't even know if he's planning on staying or if he's about to interact with you at all."

"Whose side are you on?" It was only partly a joke.

"I'm on your side, I'm just trying to stop you from worrying about it so much."

She could appreciate the effort, but she wasn't sure whether it was working. She would regain her… let's call it 'peace', when she'll see Charming isn't up to anything vexatious. The cake was good though.

"I just don't want to deal with him anymore."

"I think he doesn't want to deal with you either, something kept him away from the continent for this long. If I were him, I would be scared of you."

The way he said that actually made her feel better, even if only a bit. She almost smiled at him.

"You know how to flatter me."

"That's my job." This actually made her smile for real. "You're divorced, his actions have no impact on your life. Not even on your reputation, everybody knows he's a piece of shit that got dumped by every woman with a bit of common sense."

"That's true, but still… I don't want to have to talk to him ever again."

"You know there's a million people in this city who run into their exes everyday, right?" Easy for him to say.

"But you've never been one of them," she said coldly, on purpose. He wasn't phased by her quip.

"I still think you're above it, who the fuck is he to you?"

If the shop was less crowded and someone could hear them talking, she wouldn't answer. Maybe she shouldn't answer anyway, but he made her want to expose herself.

"No one, but he reminds me of being humiliated."

"I can deter him from staying in Fabletown if you can't stand him."

"It would probably make him want to stick around even more."
"I can be very persuasive."

"No.. there's really no point in making it a bigger deal than it needs to be. I just needed to complain about it." to her boyfriend. It felt pleasant to call him that, but it would need some getting used to to say out loud.

"Whatever he does, you still got me."

"I know." And she meant it, because she didn't really believe it would go down in flames and she would have two fables around making her rethink her life choices. It just felt different. She never had time to get to know and fell in love with Charming, she didn't choose him.

"***

"Great to see you on time, Beauty." Her new contract worker was now dressed in a shirt and a pencil skirt. Snow had no idea Beauty even owned such clothes, but it was a nice sign of commitment to the office job. "Here is everything you need to know and a checklist for you to follow." Snow reached for the files found by Bufkin. "In case of any problem, make up a solution. If you still have trouble, ask Blue. If Blue doesn't know how to help you, ask me."

"Okay, I get it, you don't want to even think about it."

"I'm glad we understand each other."

Right when Beauty left the office, Bigby showed up smoking a cigarette as always. Not that she wasn't frilled to see him, but did something happen? They didn't have any appointment planned for today.

"I got a report, unconfirmed, but… Your sister disappeared. Possibly, she was hurt."

"Who told you that?" she asked after a momentary stupor. There was no way… but Bigby was dead serious. Blue was looking at both of them awkwardly.

"Her boyfriend. He just rushed to my office to say her apartment is trashed…"

"Her apartment gets trashed every weekend," she said.

"Not like this, I don't think. Jack says there's a lot of blood. I'm going there to investigate, but I'm telling you right away."

Blood drained from her face. She thought she sorted things out, but then - a fucking horror. How did something like this happen? She was always fighting with Rose, but she never wished any violence to happen to her.

"I need to go with you."

He turned his face to look away.

"I don't think it's a good idea."

"I'm going anyway," she said through a tightened throat. If she were to say anything else, she would start crying.

"Uhh, Blue, I assume you can handle the office while Snow's gone."

"I'll have to."

"You don't have to do this, I know you're tough," he said as they were on their way to catch the taxi.

"That's why you think I'm going with you?" Their gazes met.

"Am I wrong?"

"Yes. You don't have to keep things from me to protect me." He wanted to say something but didn't. "You can't stop me from going with you."

"You're right about that," he said calmly and put down his cigarette with his shoe before getting in the cab. "I hope it's not as bad as Jack made it seem."

"Did he tell you something more?" Snow followed him into the car.
"Not really. At first I thought he showed up to try to get out of the punishment for his last scam…" If he was trying to read her, he had an easy job. She was sure it was clear to him she was very nervous. It didn't mean she couldn't face the facts. And she had to be there herself, it was more than a duty for her.
"Where is he now?"

"I sent him to guard her apartment." What?

"Why did you trust him with it?"

"He's the only one who can do it, if he had anything to hide, he already hid it and he wouldn't like anyone else to alter his alterations." Okay, it made sense. She almost got mad for no reason. "Wish I could do something to make you feel better."

"You can solve the case."

"I will, but I can't promise you the truth will not upset you."

"I don't expect that."

He didn't say much more, but she could see he looked more troubled as they were getting closer to the building where Rose lives… or lived… He probably didn't want to say much as long as they weren't actually there. She got even more tense. What if she will never have a chance to fix their relationship? She always thought one day they would leave their differences in the past. They used to have forever for that…

"Let's just see how bad it is," he said as they got out of the cab. Immediately he took a new cigarette from the pocket of his coat and lit it up. He looked at her with worry and sadness in his eyes when the taxi was gone. "There's gonna be a lot of blood."

"I understand."

"So we're going in."

They went by the stairs and soon they saw Jack sitting on the floor by the door to Rose's apartment.

"Everything's as you left it?" Bigby asked.

"I didn't go back there, it's horrible. You'll see. I don't want to get back there."

"Just open the door," she didn't need to hear any more about it. She just had to finally see it.

"Okay then…"

When he opened the door, Snow saw almost nothing but blood. It was everywhere, the floor was covered by it, so were the walls, every bit of furniture was stained. It was so unreal at first she didn't believe her eyes. It didn't look like a fight or murder scene, it didn't even look like a butchery. She didn't know what to call it. It was horrible, yes, but in a very strange way. Intentional. This suspicion was confirmed as she saw writing on the wall, made with blood of course, saying "No more happily ever after".

Could she still be alive if she lost so much blood? Who would do something like this? What kind of inhumane… and why? Why her? Rose was hanging out with a suspicious crowd, but this was beyond getting in trouble with some thugs.

Was that about her? Did someone hurt the sister of the deputy mayor to attack the Fabletown government? Did she bring this on Rose? It was an uncomfortable thought, but very probable, taking into consideration the message left on the wall.

The view was sickening, but she was holding up. She had to, especially if it was her fault. It didn't matter how bad it was. She owed it to her.

"Hold this, I'm going to need my smell clear." Bigby gave her his cigarette. "Both of you stay here. If anyone gets close, shut the door. No one says a word to the mundy cops."

As she watched Bigby stomping between bloody stains, examining the carpet, furniture, stereo, lamps and walls, walking into different rooms, where maybe it was even worse, she could only wonder what was going through his head. She was sure later he would tell her everything, but she was dying out of curiosity, she wanted to know if he found anything that could give any hope for finding Rose alive. She could not lose her sister again.