Trigger Warning: mention of scars, suggestions of past attempts and illusions to possible future attempts and other things similar.

Upstairs Trina found herself rooting through the dresser drawer that held her swimwear. She pulled out a simple black bikini for herself and a modest one piece swimsuit in black for her sister.

She continued rooting the drawer and found matching coverups one in orange and one in black. She set the swimwear on her bed and walked back to the dresser and pulled out a cute pair of dark blue high rise denim shorts with 3 buttons.

She threw the shorts on the bed and quickly stripped out of her pajamas. Once she was naked she pulled on her bikini, shorts and the cover up over the outfit.

She went to the closet and pulled out a simple pair of wrap sandals. She went over to the dresser and pulled out a cute pink one piece with little ruffles and bows for Venus and her floaties.

She walked over to the the floor length mirror and took a look at herself. She was showing quite a lot of skin, not that she really cared. Trina had always been the more confident twin.

She took pride in her body. She was always working out, going for runs, dancing, doing yoga and her favorite, swimming. It showed too, for just having a baby 2 years ago, you wouldn't be able to tell.

She loved her body, and she loved it when others loved her body as well. Though she hated her mother she was kind of grateful for her good genes. Though some parts were definitely from her father's southern heritage.

In this world she would be considered as Latina and she definitely felt that was accurate. When she had originally left town she learnt all about the cultures of this world and took a bunch of Spanish classes.

Downstairs Regina and Venus were in a the living room watching cartoons. More so the latter but Regina was willing to put up with it for the little one.

Regina loved having another baby to spoil around the house. She loved the baby stage to toddler stage, where everything was simple and their love was endless.

Just sitting here with Venus sends memories of Henry when he was little to her mind. When he was little Henry was her whole world, he still means a lot to her now but things have changed.

He was such a little angel as a baby. He had tons of energy and was always running around. She always had to be careful with the doors, not wanting him to open it and suddenly take off.

She wonders if she should've seen this coming. If his flightiness as a child was a sign he would leave when the truth came out.

She thought that she had gotten used to people leaving in her life, but she never expected her son would be one of those people. That's what made it hurt more than anything else.

She wondered if continuing to fight to prove her love was worth it. It only ended in Henry not believing her and her being hurt, over and over again.

Saving her from her thoughts, Trina came down the stairs. "I left your swimsuit on your bed along with a towel." Trina walked over to them and picked up Venus.

"Thank you. I'll just go change and pack some things for us and we can head out."

They drove through town with the hood of Trina's car down, feeling the breeze in their hair.

Trina parks the car once they arrive at their destination. Regina gets out and picks up little Venus and Trina grabs their things from the car.

They walk in the sand to a nice spot somewhere in the middle between the water and the beach. Trina shoves the big orange umbrella into the sand and opens it up, casting some shade for the small group.

She then places the rest of their things just on the ground and takes Venus from Regina's arms. Regina then fixes up their spot by magicking up some beach chairs and a small table to place their drinks on.

While Regina is setting up the area Trina is helping Venus with her floaties. Once the arm floaties are blown up and around the little girl's arms Trina looks over at her sister to find her finished and on one of the chairs.

"You don't look like you're having a good time."

Regina looks up at her sister, "we just got here and I'm already ready to leave."

Trina makes a tsk sound with her teeth and shakes her head. "Sis, just try and relax. Do you want to come swim with us?"

Swimming was a common interest shared by the twins. However it had been years since Regina had set foot in the ocean.

"I don't know…"

"Nobody's around. And if we're in the water nobody will see anything anyway." Trina said. Regina started thinking it over, somehow her sister always had a way of persuading her to do things.

"Fine…" Regina sighed with mock reluctance. Trina clapped her hands in excitement and Venus just clapped because her mom was clapping, not really understanding why.

Trina removed her coverup and shorts quickly without thinking too much about it and picked up Venus. Regina quickly looked around, finding no one she removed her coverup, shirt, and shorts before following her sister down to the water.

Once all three were in the water they started to have fun. Lightly splashing each other with the water. Venus' squeals of joy could be heard the most out of the three and that put a smile on the twins' faces.

Eventually they had to get out of the water so not to prune too much or cramp. Regina unpacked their lunch and snacks while Trina reapplied sunscreen on Venus.

Once she finished applying sunscreen trina magicked a speaker to play some music. "Really?" Regina asked lightly shaking her head.

"Duh. You know you want to dance!" Trina stated. She turned on the speaker and pushed some buttons so the volume was raised.

Regina chuckled quietly as she watched her sister dance with her niece. She had to admit, she was beginning to have some fun. She can't remember the last time she had been able to enjoy herself like this.

Without thinking too much she stood up and started dancing. Trina turned the music up louder and the three of them just enjoyed the moment.

Eventually the three of them got tired of dancing they sat down with smiles on their faces.

"Mommy eat!" Venus exclaimed

"Is my little girl hungry? Okay, let's get you fed." Trina said. Trina reached into the basket of snacks Regina made and packed and pulled out a Pb sandwich.

"What's this? Is this for my little Vivi?" Trina played with Venus. Venus clapped her hands and nodded. Trina pulled out a plate and broke the sandwich into halves.

Regina lay down on her towel with her eyes closed just enjoying the sun on her skin. She took a moment to breathe in the air and feel the way it sat in her lungs before breathing out.

"You good there?" Trina asked jokingly

Regina opened her eyes and moved her head slightly to look at her sister. She stuck her tongue out at her before going back to what she was doing.

Ruby Lucas had woken up in her bed. She had slept in later than usual because it was her day off. She slowly sits up and stretches out the sleep from her body.

She stands up and goes over to her dresser and pulls out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She gets dressed and heads downstairs and grabs something to eat for breakfast. After eating Ruby heads out to get a start on a her jog.

A daily jog was a natural part of Ruby's routine since as long as she can remember. Her wolf was constantly in need of exercise since it has so much energy. Lately however, she had been feeling restless.

Ever since the curse broke Ruby had been having trouble getting used to the changes. Her wolf had been reactivated and it had been causing certain changes to her that she had to get used to.

There was a certain change that hadn't occurred until the Mayor's sister had arrived. Like everyone else in the diner that day she had assumed that Trina was the mayor.

The only thing that had Ruby confused was her scent, it obviously wasn't like the mayor's but at the time she didn't know that. The way Trina had spoken to her was also unlike the mayor who didn't say thank you, and certainly didn't use her name.

Trina's arrival had caused another arrival that only Ruby knows about. She knows what it means but doesn't know what to do about it. Because of Trina's sudden appearance in Ruby's life, Ruby had grown a penis.

Ruby was an alpha however she would only have grown a penis if she had found her mate. The one person she was meant to be with for as long as they lived.

"Who would have thought that my mate was going to be the Evil Queen's twin sister? What am I going to do? I can't just ignore this connection, that would be an insult to my wolf. But how will Snow react, she's my best friend?"

As Ruby carried on her jog she found herself lost in her thoughts jogging around the town and finally ending up heading towards the beach.

Once her shoes hit the sand she snaps out of her haze and realizes she was running on autopilot. She looks around and realizes she was at the beach, when she sees the objects of her thoughts her face flushes.

After a moment of thought Ruby slows down and aims her body towards the twins. Hoping to be able to approach with intruding, she notices she's not the only one approaching the twins.

Once she's closer she can see that it's Snow, David, Emma and Henry. She can also hear them from where she is and it doesn't sound too good.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Ruby asked when she stopped next to the groups.

Trina looks over to Ruby and smirks before looking back at the group harassing them.

"We were just enjoying ourselves peacefully and apparently that's a problem."

"We've gotten some complaints from concerned citizens about two witches causing havoc on the beach, we came to check it out." Emma said

"I didn't hear any havoc, and my hearing is pretty good." Ruby said. Snow looked shocked that Ruby had said anything in favor of the twins.

"Ruby…this is the Evil Queen we're talking about!" Snow said scandalized.

Ruby sighed and shook her head, Regina looked ready to set her on fire and Trina looked like she wanted to laugh.

"Mommy dance?" Venus asked confused.

Trina smiled at her daughter before picking her up, "Sorry baby, no more dancing right now. These people don't like it when we have fun."

Venus frowned before looking at the group.

"You're just as evil as her! You're lying, that's not the problem, the problem is you're evil!" Henry shouted

"Henry!" Ruby said, "Don't talk like that!"

"Hey! Don't tell my son what to do!" Emma said

Regina scoffed before moving to grab her cover up. She was beginning to get uncomfortable.

"Your son? Are we all seriously just going to ignore this? He's not your son, you gave him up and Regina raised him for his whole life! Pretty well if I remember correctly, you don't have any rights to him. He's still Regina's whether you like it or not!"

Ruby hadn't meant to say any of that, she didn't want to put herself in the middle of the strange custody arrangement they had going on but her own emotions were very unstable now that her connection to the mayors sister had started.

"Ruby! That witch is not the mother of grandson!" Snow shouted.

Regina started distracting herself with cleaning up and packing their things away. When she heard Ruby defend her she was surprised to say the least. "Maybe Snow and the wolf aren't as close after all…"

When Trina heard Ruby defend her sister she felt her heart swell and butterflies manifested in her stomach. "What the fuck? I didn't come here for this! Isn't 2 years too soon?"

"She's not my mom! I don't want anything to do with her and nobody can force me!"

Hearing that Regina's heart broke more than she thought possible. She didn't know her heart could take such a beating, she had thought the pain couldn't get any worse but she was wrong.

Henry turns around and runs away from the beach, David goes after him. Snow looks shocked but doesn't say anything and goes to follow after her true love.

"I think it's been decided then." Emma said smugly.

Regina turns around to face her and knows in her heart that she's lost her son to the blonde. Before she can stop herself or push down the urge she rushes the blonde and punches her.

Emma fights back and shoves Regina to the ground. Regina gets back up quickly but is restrained by strong arms. Ruby pulls Regina away from Emma.

"Don't do it Regina." Ruby said softly

"Might wanna listen for once in your life, you can't beat me." Emma said, wiping the blood from her lip. Emma gives Regina a quick Look up and down as she struggles against Ruby's hold.

Emma walks up to her and leans in, "Maybe you should give it another go, Nobody would miss you…"

Regina's anger deflates and she can barely hold herself up let alone fight Ruby's hold. Emma backs and smirks, "See ya around Your majesty."

Trina didn't hear what Emma said but she knows whatever it was couldn't have been good. Seeing her sister deflate so quickly hurt her and she rushed over to her.

Ruby is still holding onto Regina when Trina came rushing over. "Maybe you should take her home, I have some business to attend to. She looks like she needs some rest."

Trina nods and with Ruby's help they get her sister in the car. Regina sits in the backseat holding Venus in her arms while Ruby helps Trina put their things in the trunk.

Trina drives them home and as soon as they get inside Regina rushes to her room. Trina takes Venus to the bathroom to clean up and sets her down for a nap.

Trina knocks on Regina's door. "Sis..?" She doesn't answer so Trina opened the door and saw her sister sitting on the floor, back against her bed.

Trina walked up to her slowly and sits down. Trina wrapped her arm around her sister and held her close.

Her sister started sobbing in her arms and she just held her tightly. Eventually the sobs slowed and quieted until they became quiet snores. Trina picked her up and set her only the bed and covered her with blankets.

When the twins left the beach Ruby headed back towards the inn to freshen up. Once at the inn she quickly hopped into the shower to wash away the sweat and stress away.

A knock on the bathroom door startled Ruby out of her thoughts. "Red, Blossom called out sick. I need you to cover…" Granny called out.

Ruby sighed, "Okay Granny! I'll be out soon." She called back. There goes her plans of relaxing.

Ruby finished her shower and quickly dried off. Ruby went to her room and quickly got dressed for her shift.

Down in the diner Ruby entered the kitchen. "Two cheese burgers with a side of fries and onion rings, and two colas!"

One of the kitchen staff placed the drinks on the counter and Ruby took them. Ruby left the kitchen and took the drinks to the table, "Your food will be out soon." She said before walking away.

Ruby heads over to a different table, now empty and starts to clean up. As she's cleaning up the bell above the door rings lightly, alerting Ruby to new patrons.

Ruby looks over and sees the very people she was dreading. Snow, David, Emma and Henry. Ruby's really starting to worry about how often they're here, can't be healthy eating only diner food all the time.

She shakes her head and lets out a small sigh before heading over to them at their table. "What can I getcha?"

David answers first, "I'll have a double cheeseburger with extra onions, a side of onion rings and a Cola."

Ruby nods and writes it down and internally gags at the thought of it, "How Snow puts up with the taste I'll never understand."

Snow answers next, "I'll have a turkey sandwich, with lettuce, tomato, american cheese and mayo and a vanilla milkshake."

"I want a grilled cheese and a chocolate shake!" Henry said

"All right then, two grilled cheeses and two chocolate shakes!" Emma tells Ruby.

"Okay, anything else..? Like vegetables perhaps?" Ruby asked knowing a growing kid should be eating more than just a grilled cheese sandwich.

Henry scrunched his face up in disgust.

"Nah, we're good!" Emma said

Ruby sighed, "Okay, your food will be out soon." Ruby said before walking away and back to the kitchen.

Ruby places their drinks on a tray and walks back to their table. "Cola, Vanilla shake and two Chocolate shakes!" Ruby said with false cheerfulness.

Ruby walks off and heads off tending to other tables and patrons waiting for the orders to be ready. Cleaning up tables and straightening chairs.

Once the orders ready Ruby balances the plates with practiced ease and sets them down in front of Snow, David, Emma and Henry, before walking off.

The rest of Ruby's shift passes quickly and soon enough the diner is almost completely empty leaving Ruby, Granny and Snow. David, Emma and Henry had left after they ate leaving Snow sitting in the booth watching Ruby as she worked.

Ruby walks over to Snow, "What's up?"

"What's Up? What's up is that you've been acting strange Ruby! You're my best friend did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

Ruby lead Snow out of the diner, "I've not been acting strange. At least I don't think so" Ruby lied.

Snow gave her a look. "Don't lie to me! First at the beach earlier and then when we were ordering. Something about vegetables..? What's the deal? Did Regina get to you!?"

"Snow! Snow…relax. Nothing has happened! Regina didn't get to me…I just- don't you think a growing boy should be eating more vegetables! And why would Regina possibly have anything to do with this?"

"Ruby, Henry doesn't like vegetables. Why should we force him to eat them if he doesn't like them?"

Ruby looked at Snow like she was insane, she quite possibly might be. "Because he's a child! And vegetables are good for growing bodies! Just- forget the vegetables that's not important not really. What is it you really want to talk about?"

"Regina" the single word coming out of Snows mouth makes Ruby's blood run cold. "What about her..?"

"At the beach, that stuff you were saying…do you really believe that! She's an evil witch, I don't want her anywhere near my grandson! If it wasn't for her I would've gotten to raise Emma!"

Ruby swallowed any response she had and stayed silent.

"I think you should stay away from her too! Whatever has been causing you to act strange must be because of her and I don't want you getting hurt."

Ruby just nodded, if she opened her mouth she'd have to lie. Snow assuming she had talked "sense" into Ruby nodded as well, before walking off back to the loft.

Once Snow was gone Ruby made a break for the mansion. Ruby arrived at the Mayor's mansion within minutes. Slowing to a light jog she rushed up the walkway, easily jumping the fence. She stops in front of the door and lightly knocks on it.

She waits a few minutes and not getting any answer she looks for a doorbell. She rings it and waits. Seconds later, the door opens.

"It's you…Ruby…What are you doing here?"

"I- I uh… I wanted to check on Regina. I woulda been here earlier but My Gran asked me to cover a shift for one of the other waitresses. How is she?"

Trina stayed silent for a moment, thinking before letting a small smirk drift across her lips. "Come in…I'll make tea." Trina opened the door wider and let Ruby in.

Ruby followed Trina through the house and into the kitchen. Trina flitted around the room with ease. Trina filled the kettle and placed it upon the stove. "Milk? Sugar? Honey?"

"Uh… Milk and honey please."

Trina gathered the milk from the fridge and honey from the pantry. She grabbed cups from the cupboard and placed them onto the island. "Oh!" Trina made a noise of remembrance before grabbing coasters. "Ree is a bit anal about using coasters."

Ruby let out a small laugh, taking a coaster from Trina and placing the cup on top. "That's something her and my Gran have in common I guess."

Trina smiled before going over to the stove and picking up the squealing kettle. She poured some of the water into Ruby's cup and then her own.

"Help yourself." Trina said gesturing to the milk and honey. Ruby did and just when she was about to ask for a spoon Trina handed her one.

"Thanks…So how is she..?" Ruby said after she took a sip.

Trina sighed, "She's asleep right now. Venus is with her, lying next to her auntie Ree watching cartoons. She was doing so well, she was happy and smiling and having a good time until those people…"

"Do you know what she said to her..? I've never seen my sister deflate like that so quickly after going on the offensive. Like a popped balloon…"

Ruby sighed nodding her head. "She Implied…suggested really that she should…try committing suicide again…"

Trina froze. Her cup in her hand halfway to her lips. "I'll kill her!" Trina stood up quickly and so did Ruby.

"You can't…"

"WATCH ME!" Trina rushed out of the kitchen and headed towards the front door. Ruby was right behind her as she left the house.

"If you kill Swan, what do you think they'll do! Who's gonna look after Regina, Venus? They need you right now, you're all they have! Don't do this! Please…"

Trina stood frozen on the walkway. Trina let out a loud shout before turning around, Ruby could see tears in her eyes. "I can't be what she needs, I can't be what either of them needs! I'm barely capable of being what I need!"

Ruby inched closer to her, her arms open. Trina closed the gap between them and she fell into Ruby's arms. Ruby closed her arms around Trina, "Then I'll help you…"

Trina sniffled, turning her head, "Why..? Aren't you and Snow White like besties or something?"

"Because, you're my mate. That doesn't have to mean anything more than friendship right now, I understand there's a lot going on. But you being my mate means a lot more to me than Snow's friendship. Now let's get you inside."

TBC...